By Michael Rummel | LawWeekColorado.com
While lobbyists have always been a fairly regular fixture at the Colorado General Assembly, there have been moments in Colorado history when their presence wasn’t appreciated. Late January 1957 was one of those moments.
Improvements in transmission technology had made power generation using natural gas a more economic and feasible option following World War II. The 1950s also saw a rise in the production of natural gas in the Denver Basin, adding to the existing natural gas developments on the Western Slope.
These factors led to a rise in interest from municipalities in pursuing natural gas power plants for their citizens. But an issue arose when Rocky Ford attempted to build one. According to a Rocky Mountain News article from the time, the Colorado Supreme Court’s interpretation of laws on the books prior to the natural gas era led to the denial of the municipality’s attempt to build a natural gas plant.