Marijuana growers around this famously pot-friendly city next year will start paying special fees to offset their contributions to climate change.
A new county assessment on electricity usage by marijuana growers is the latest effort by governments and power companies to respond to the heavy demand that legal marijuana grows place on the power grid.
In Colorado and Washington states, the vast majority of the legal recreational marijuana is grown indoors under powerful lights used to mimic the sun. Those lights consume huge amounts of electricity, and it's a business model that only works out because the crop is so valuable: A single plant can be worth $6,000 once harvested, processed and sold at retail.
"They're using more energy than almost anybody else," said Ron Flax, Boulder County's sustainability coordinator. "There's nothing else that comes close."