Energy issues will be at the forefront of discussions this week among government and industry leaders, with three events scheduled in Salt Lake City.
The Western Governors Association will have an electricity transmission roundtable Wednesday to discuss electricity transmission. State and federal officials will have a joint workshop Thursday on the development of biofuels. Friday will feature the 16th annual Western States Energy Conference, presented by the Utah Association of Energy Users.
The activities are expected to shed light on causes of the current energy crisis and possible solutions, although answers have proven to be elusive during the past year.
"This is a time like I have never seen in my 23 years in the energy business," said Scott Gutting, president of the Utah Association of Energy Users.
Wednesday's roundtable will feature Utah's Mike Leavitt; Idaho's Dirk Kempthorne, the association's chairman; and Wyoming's Jim Geringer, lead governor for energy issues.
The event is designed to identify information and decision-making bottlenecks that inhibit investments in electricity transmission capacity. Participants — including representatives of the Bush administration, Indian tribes, local government, utilities and environmental organizations — will consider solutions to relieve the bottlenecks that may be related to planning, financing, siting and permitting.
The roundtable is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Airport Hilton.
Utah is in the center of a "tightly connected" Western power grid, "and there's no feasible way the state can isolate itself from others," said Doug Larson, executive director of the Western Interstate Energy Board, the energy arm of the governors' association.
"From a state perspective, there are a lot of implications as to where it may be able to buy and sell power and whether there is sufficient transmission to get that to markets," he said.
Wednesday's activities are an offshoot of recommendations made by Western governors during an energy roundtable Feb. 2 in Portland.
"My guess is they will try to come to some agreement regarding the next steps to resolve those bottlenecks," Larson said. "Maybe it will involve the planning process or regulatory changes. It's really not a predetermined agenda but something that will evolve during their discussion."
The general session of the Western States Energy Conference will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Friday at the downtown Hilton Hotel. The Utah Association of Energy Users, comprised of large companies, is presenting the conference, but participants include business end-users, marketers, utilities, regulators and lawyers.
Focusing on the future of energy markets in the Rockies, the conference speakers will discuss the state's energy policy, recent price spikes in the West, the region's response to the California crisis, the region's gas markets, Western pipeline and drilling expansion and Utah's energy generation problem.
"The reason this year's conference is so important is that the whole Western market has gone haywire," Gutting said. "California is dramatically affecting natural-gas prices in Utah and to some extent electricity also. The conference will give people some background as to why things have gotten as crazy as they have, and by learning about that, they can do some planning in the future.
"The activities Friday, candidly, will not give people the answers, but it will give them the background they need to understand how to get the answers. People are looking for an easy answer . . . but that's just not the case right now."
Thursday's biofuels workshop, open to the public, is sponsored by the Utah Office of Energy Services and the U.S. Department of Energy. It will go from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the State Library, 250 N. 1950 West.
Speakers will discuss the development of the biofuels industry in the state, focusing on ethanol production, economic development, environmental benefits and making Utah more energy-independent. They will also talk about identifying opportunities, problems and solutions for the use of biofuels in the state.
Biofuels include ethanol- and methanol-based fuels produced from farm crops, such as corn and soybeans, and municipal solid and industrial waste. Biofuels can be used for electricity generation and to power motor vehicles.
Utah is one of six states this year to participate in the Ethanol Workshop Series sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Regional Biomass Energy Program, which began in 1999. It offers states the chance to use grass-roots interest and discussion to evaluate opportunities and barriers for ethanol fuel use and production.
The Office of Energy Services, Salt Lake-based Clean Cities Coalition and transportation planners are interested in promoting biofuels as alternative fuel sources.
Gov. Mike Leavitt has projected that by 2010, fuel consumption in Utah will have grown by 160 million gallons of gasoline and 99 million gallons of diesel over today's figures.
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