One window for public input: PUC delays all gas-case comments until January 14

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project

Save your comment for the PUC til January

I have to fix an earlier goof. In an earlier newsletter (see the first link below), I invited people to sign up for the Dec 10th PUC meeting to speak about their recent natural gas decision.

I have since learned that if you are planning on speaking to the PUC on the 10th, you are not allowed to speak about this particular issue.

Before talking about why, let me first remind you (and encourage you) to save your comments for January. You should still have the opportunity to speak up January 14th virtually, so I encourage you to do so. Details on how to sign up for that meeting will be forthcoming along with my prepared testimony on or about January 10th.

Returning to the present, the reason that you cannot speak about the natural gas decision on the 10th has everything to do with the decision (as is often the case with PUC decisions) being marked as “pending”, specifically to what’s known as RRR, until 12/22.

RRR stands for “rehearing, reargument, or reconsideration”. In the context of the PUC, this refers to a procedural request allowing parties to challenge or seek review of a PUC decision before it becomes final. It’s common for the PUC to put all their decisions in the RRR category after making them, often to allow people time to digest and perhaps seek a rehearing.

This might sound like a good thing, and it may be as I’ve heard stories about possible appeals or taking this decision to court, but giving that 20 day breather effectively prevents you from speaking about this decision in December.

Screenshot 1 comes from the PUC’s own calendar and has language about public comment which I have heard before in other contacts with the PUC. Since the natural gas decision is now pending before the PUC, you cannot speak about it until after the 22nd of December.

Take this as a chance to brush up your commentary and gather together an even bigger group of people to speak at January’s virtual meeting. I will be back with updates on how to do that soon. Stay tuned.

https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/the-pucs-and-co-democrats-fight-against

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

 

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