Testimony on HB22-1355 Producer Responsibility (recycling) bill
Late in the evening on April 7th, 2022, I had the opportunity to testify in front of the Colorado House Energy & Environment Committee. A previous bill had run long, so we didn’t get started until 10:00 pm. Each person had two minutes to speak and most of the House Representatives seemed to be nodding off, so I don’t know how much difference it made, but below is what I wrote out as a guide for my comment. You can find information about this bill, and the recording of the hearing in the links below.
Bill Text: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb22-1355
FAQ from the bill sponsors: https://www.recyclingforallcoloradans.org/
Recording of the bill introduction and testimony (starts at 9:58:45 PM): https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00327/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20220407/-1/13123
Mister Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to present to you this evening.
My name is Jake Niece and I am a Ouray County Commissioner, Ouray County is also a member of Colorado Communities for Climate Action. I am here to support this bill.
Ouray County is a small rural county of about 5,000 permanent residents in southwest Colorado. We are lucky to have two recycling operators in the region - a small local operator and a large nationwide company. But lower volumes of materials and longer hauling distances make for thin margins in rural areas.
With the limited time I have here I want to comment on the paradigm changing nature of shifting responsibility for single-use packaging waste from individual members of the public, onto the companies that produce the waste.
The “Keep America Beautiful” ad campaign in the 1970s, conducted by leading beverage and packaging corporations, convinced the public to carry the financial burden of recycling – collecting, sorting, washing, baling, reselling, remanufacturing. Many individuals also carry the emotional guilt that those individual recycling actions are never enough, and never have been enough. Especially as we learn that the majority of supposedly recyclable materials in Colorado are never remanufactured into anything useful, and are landfilled or incinerated instead.
The public should not carry this burden.
Finally a request. I recognize this bill focuses on packaging materials, but I ask that you expand the producer responsibility concept to Colorado’s clean energy transition. And require end of life recycling plans for electric vehicle and utility-scale batteries, solar panels, wind turbine blades, and the associated electronics.
Let’s apply the circular economy thinking being pioneered in this bill, to new high environmental impact industries before they become environmental waste problems too.
Thank you committee members and I’m happy to answer any questions.
Dealing With Climate Change
This summer is on track to be ANOTHER record-breaking wildfire season, Canada experienced a 120° heat wave, the floods in Germany were shocking, the 20 year drought on the Western Slope continues despite some good rain in July, and the 1922 Colorado River Compact will likely be triggered next year, meaning severe mandatory water cutbacks.
We didn’t need the new IPCC report last week to tell us that climate instability is getting worse. It’s no longer off in the distance; the climate change future is here now.
However, we are still inside the window to act until about 2030, and climate impacts are not off/on, they’re on a sliding scale. So, the answer to “why bother if it’s already happening” is, “it can keep getting worse.” For example, 20 years ago you could set your watch by the monsoon schedule, now it is unpredictable, and if climate instability gets worse, every monsoon could look like last year’s.
Yet, in the face of this we can be proud of our State for passing several aggressive climate bills that will help us adapt, and eventually eliminate CO2 emissions.
HB21-1208 establishes grants for wildfire and drought mitigation projects starting in 2023.
HB21-1290 increases Just Transition funding for retraining and relocating people out of the fossil fuel industry.
HB21-1162 ends the use of single-use plastic bags and styrofoam in Colorado in 2024. It also allows local governments to further reduce use of single-use plastics.
HB21-1266 requires electricity production and the gas industry reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 48% by 2025, and 60% by 2030. It hardens enforcement, eliminates pollution loopholes, and directs penalties to be invested into impacted communities.
SB21-072 creates a Colorado Electric Transmission Authority that better connects Colorado’s transmission lines to national infrastructure. This will allow independent electricity producers like Ouray Hydro access to the national market, and providers like SMPA more freedom to choose where to purchase our electricity. It prevents the problem Texas had this winter when they could not access the national electricity market, and breaks the grip of large companies like Tri-State and Xcel to enable a free-market approach.
The climate crisis is an overwhelming problem with too many problems to tackle as an individual, and that feels overwhelming. Advise that helps me is to consider where your passions and skills overlap, then look through that Venn diagram for a place to engage.
Jake Niece
Ouray County Commissioner
Support for the San Miguel Power Association Red Mountain Electrical Reliability and Broadband Improvement Project
I was disappointed to learn of CDOT’s denial of SMPA’s road closure permit on Hwy 550 after the unjustified hysteria created by a small handful of “elected officials.” I’d like to make clear that this elected official, in the strongest terms possible, supports the SMPA Red Mountain Electrical Reliability and Broadband Improvement Project. And I support it being executed as soon as possible.
I recognize this project will cause a scheduled inconvenience, however I argue that a loss of electricity, loss of internet and cell phone connectivity, a wildfire, and associated mudslides would be orders of magnitude more disruptive to business. If SMPA cannot complete this work, and a destructive fire starts because maintenance was delayed, we as ratepayers would shoulder the cost of a lawsuit through higher rates, just like PG&E in California. Additionally, one would think the post-fire mudslides plaguing I-70 would be a lesson in what SMPA is working to prevent.
It is true that we needed better communication from SMPA about the closures, but one must recognize the logistical difficulty in coordinating helicopter availability, arborists, linemen, CDOT approval, Forest Service approval, road flaggers, budgets, and weather. Helicopter availability is limited by their priority use on wildfires across the country.
Further, the claim that this project will “crush our economy as our businesses are finally rebounding after the COVID-19 closures” is not based on reality, as indicated by sales tax revenue and visitation numbers. While the pain and profits of Covid have not been evenly distributed, our region is over-saturated with tourism activity, and a planned, intermittent closure on Hwy 550 will not change this.
It is exactly this kind of unwarranted panic over a planned and controlled inconvenience that has deferred so many infrastructure projects across the United States, that we as a nation are now being forced to react to infrastructure failures on an emergency basis. This is a classic example where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
As a Ouray County Commissioner, I urge CDOT to approve SMPA’s Hwy 550 closure permit. And I urge the elected officials performatively panicking to please calm down and recognize that needlessly delaying this project will harm the whole region in the long-run.
Jake Niece
Ouray County Commissioner
jniece@ouraycountyco.gov
Short Term Rentals
This is an individual note from Jake Niece as one Ouray County Commissioner. I do not claim to represent the views of other Board members, or the Ouray County government as a whole.
In an effort to communicate more, especially for people who do not have the ability to attend Ouray County’s many public meetings, I’d like to share my reasoning for voting to extend the mask requirement.
My goals are to prevent as many Covid cases as possible, and to keep our businesses open and profitable.
Right now, not everybody who wants to be vaccinated has been. Many people, including myself, have not had enough time for our vaccinations to reach full efficacy. Our population under 16 also does not have the ability to be vaccinated. If we are too quick to discard the public health measures that are working to keep our Covid spread down, we risk more sick people, and we risk more restrictive requirements from the State. It would be like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you’re not getting wet.
Masks are one very effective and easy tool we can use to keep us in green. Our public health order does the same thing as the State requirement we’ve already been living with, we just extended it to all colors on the Covid dial so that the rules are predictable, and don’t yo-yo back and forth. I also don’t want to pass the buck to business owners. It is my opinion that part of the job of elected positions is to take responsibility for issues that some people do not like. I do not want to put that responsibility on someone who is just showing up to work.
The State government makes rules with the front range in mind, and the green level makes sense if we assume it’s just us year-round residents in the County. Our case numbers are low now, but the current green status doesn’t take into account the large influx of visitors on the way for summer from across the country, and internationally.
The Board will reevaluate the mask requirement again in 30 days. I am drafting up a list of metrics we can reference as a decision framework to use when reevaluating the mask requirement for public indoor spaces. I’ll bring it up for discussion at a public meeting with the Public Health and Medical Director before the next reevaluation.
Based on everything we have learned about this virus in the last year, and with direction from the Public Health Director, extending the mask requirement for now is the right decision to keep people healthy, keep our businesses open, and return to a more normal existence as soon as possible.
Jake Niece
Ouray County Commissioner
Resolution Opposing Ballot Initiative 16 aka PAUSE
In response to concerns about Initiative 16 (aka PAUSE), I drafted a Resolution opposing a proposed Colorado State ballot initiative that would criminalize common and accepted veterinary and animal husbandry practices. The Ouray BOCC passed it unanimously.
Direct link to signed Resolution here
Read MoreA Note on Ouray County’s Mask Requirement
This is an individual note from Jake Niece as one Ouray County Commissioner. I do not claim to represent the views of other Board members, or the Ouray County government as a whole.
In an effort to communicate more, especially for people who do not have the ability to attend Ouray County’s many public meetings, I’d like to share my reasoning for voting to extend the mask requirement.
My goals are to prevent as many Covid cases as possible, and to keep our businesses open and profitable.
Right now, not everybody who wants to be vaccinated has been. Many people, including myself, have not had enough time for our vaccinations to reach full efficacy. Our population under 16 also does not have the ability to be vaccinated. If we are too quick to discard the public health measures that are working to keep our Covid spread down, we risk more sick people, and we risk more restrictive requirements from the State. It would be like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you’re not getting wet.
Masks are one very effective and easy tool we can use to keep us in green. Our public health order does the same thing as the State requirement we’ve already been living with, we just extended it to all colors on the Covid dial so that the rules are predictable, and don’t yo-yo back and forth. I also don’t want to pass the buck to business owners. It is my opinion that part of the job of elected positions is to take responsibility for issues that some people do not like. I do not want to put that responsibility on someone who is just showing up to work.
The State government makes rules with the front range in mind, and the green level makes sense if we assume it’s just us year-round residents in the County. Our case numbers are low now, but the current green status doesn’t take into account the large influx of visitors on the way for summer from across the country, and internationally.
The Board will reevaluate the mask requirement again in 30 days. I am drafting up a list of metrics we can reference as a decision framework to use when reevaluating the mask requirement for public indoor spaces. I’ll bring it up for discussion at a public meeting with the Public Health and Medical Director before the next reevaluation.
Based on everything we have learned about this virus in the last year, and with direction from the Public Health Director, extending the mask requirement for now is the right decision to keep people healthy, keep our businesses open, and return to a more normal existence as soon as possible.
Jake Niece
Ouray County Commissioner