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NERC Report Raises New Questions About Colorado Energy Reliability
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NERC Report Raises New Questions About Colorado Energy Reliability

By: Sarah Montalbano | Complete Colorado The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) 2026 State of Reliability report contains lessons for Colorado’s electricity sector. While the grid as a whole “continues to deliver reliable electric service,” challenges are mounting thanks in part to the “declining availability of aging combustion generation.”  NERC’s report finds that power plants failed more in 2025, with the fleet-wide forced outage rate climbing to 9.2 percent against “historical norms rarely exceeding” 8 percent. Coal-fired plants saw their forced outage rate rise from 11.2% in 2024 to 14.1% in 2025. NERC surveyed owners of generators that s...
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RNC Sues Griswold Over Overseas Voters With No Colorado Residency History
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RNC Sues Griswold Over Overseas Voters With No Colorado Residency History

By: Mike Krause | Complete Colorado DENVER–The Republican National Committee on Friday filed suit in Denver District state court against Secretary of State Jena Griswold, challenging her office’s policy of allowing overseas voters who have never set foot in Colorado to cast ballots in state elections. Filed just four days before Colorado’s primary election, the suit argues Griswold’s implementation of the state’s overseas voter law runs headlong into the Colorado Constitution’s residency requirement. Griswold is also a candidate for Colorado attorney general in the June 30 Democrat primary. “Residency is not inherited and cannot be established by proxy,” the complaint reads. “An individual who has never personally made Colorado his or her home has not ...
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Boulder Climate Lawsuit Emerges as Flashpoint in Colorado Democrat Primaries
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Boulder Climate Lawsuit Emerges as Flashpoint in Colorado Democrat Primaries

By Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado In the Colorado primary elections this year, oil and gas perspectives are showing up in a unique way: Boulder’s now 8-year old climate lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the Boulder case during its fall term, placing the issue on a national stage right in the middle of election season. Given Boulder’s targeting of energy companies and potential to increase prices, it threatens to undermine national Democrats’ focus on affordability. In Colorado, the case raises important questions for candidates seeking office: where do they stand on energy production, climate litigation, and the use of courts to drive policy outcomes? Boulder pops up in ...
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Boulder prepares for Sundance as housing rules face a real-world test
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Boulder prepares for Sundance as housing rules face a real-world test

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado There are few things more satisfying to watch than socialists getting mugged by reality. The Sundance Film Festival is invading my hometown of Boulder early next year. Sundance drew 85,000 attendees last year in Park City, Utah. Boulder’s hotel room inventory is about 2,900. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when Hollywood’s anti-capitalist elite collide with basic supply and demand, we’re about to find out. When things don’t go as planned, the planner-class doubles down on its religion: more planning. When restrictions, rules, permits and fees don’t produce the desired outcome, more restrictions, rules, permits and fees are needed. Sundance is an event for and by well-heeled, artsy, socialist elites. So, Boulder is perfe...
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Colorado Voters To Decide Whether Road Taxes Stay On The Road
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Colorado Voters To Decide Whether Road Taxes Stay On The Road

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado DENVER — Colorado voters will have the chance this November to constitutionally guarantee that revenue intended for building and maintaining the state’s highways actually goes to fixing the roads, after proponents of Initiative 175 submitted enough valid signatures to earn a spot on the 2026 statewide ballot. The Colorado Secretary of State’s office on Tuesday announced that of the 189,355 total petition signatures submitted, 143,112  were deemed valid, easily clearing the 124,238 threshold required of all citizens’ initiatives. Because 175 amends the state Constitution, signatures from at least two percent of registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 state senate districts were also required. They cleared that hurdle as well...
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Citizen Movements Across Colorado Gain Ground at City Hall
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Citizen Movements Across Colorado Gain Ground at City Hall

By: Mike Krause | Complete Colorado In a recent episode of  Independence Institute’s public affairs tv show, Devil’s Advocate, host Jon Caldara sits down with Brandon Wark, creator of Free State Colorado, to look a the the rise of citizen activism, and how ordinary Coloradans can influence local government. The two dive deep into the idea idea that meaningful political change often begins not under Colorado’s gold dome, but at city councils, school boards, and local ballot boxes. You can see the entire episode on YouTube. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COMPLETE COLORADO
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PowerGab Examines the Cost of Energy Mandates as Xcel Seeks Massive Rate Hike
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PowerGab Examines the Cost of Energy Mandates as Xcel Seeks Massive Rate Hike

By: Mike Krause | Complete Colorado In a recent episode of Independence Institute’s* PowerGab energy podcast, hosts Amy Cooke and Jake Fogleman look at Xcel Energy’s request for a massive electricity price hike in Colorado (originally $355 million, now pared down to roughly $245 million). The duo zero in on why utility bills keep rising, and how decisions made years ago are now hitting ratepayers hard. Cooke argues that rate hikes are “lagging indicators,” the result of layers of policy choices, regulatory approvals, and energy mandates dating back more than a decade. She points specifically to the Colorado Energy Plan and the decision to accelerate retirement of coal-fired power plants, with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) prioritizing emissions red...
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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser Faces Scrutiny Over Access to Lawsuit Records
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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser Faces Scrutiny Over Access to Lawsuit Records

By Adam Herbets | The Center Square (The Center Square) - Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has filed dozens of lawsuits against the federal government, priding himself on his ability to fight and win cases against the Trump Administration, but he has yet to answer questions about the costs of those lawsuits to taxpayers. His office publishes a partial list of cases but otherwise keeps the full list behind a $331 paywall. While the partial list highlights "the total amount of federal funds successfully defended" by Weiser's lawsuits, it doesn't tell taxpayers the cost of pursuing the lawsuits. It also doesn't show whether taxpayers paid outside firms to do any of the work. Unlike a number of neighboring states, Colorado state law does not requir...
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Questions Grow Over Weiser’s Role in Boulder Climate Lawsuit
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Questions Grow Over Weiser’s Role in Boulder Climate Lawsuit

By Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado For years, City and County of Boulder officials have defended their ongoing climate lawsuit against energy companies by pointing to its outside counsel arrangement, where lawyers work on a contingency fee agreement along with repeated assurances that local taxpayers would not be paying for the arrangement. However, new comments from Boulder District Attorney and Democrat state attorney general candidate Michael Dougherty raise serious questions about whether Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser – and potentially Colorado taxpayers – helped support that legal operation from behind the scenes. If so, it would represent a clear flip flop from Weiser, who has long voiced skepticism about the legal merits o...
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Colorado’s budget keeps growing. Florida just cut spending again
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Colorado’s budget keeps growing. Florida just cut spending again

By Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado While Colorado’s majority Democrats lament the state’s persistent budget challenges, Florida’s Republican majority just celebrated reducing spending for a second consecutive year in another business-as-usual state budget.  Colorado legislators have plenty of lessons they could learn from Florida, instead, they are more likely to double down on more tax and spend, economy-wrecking policies.  How the states compare  Governor Jared Polis recently signed a $46.8 billion state budget, an almost 7 percent increase over last year’s $43.9 billion in spending, this despite legislators’ constant catastrophizing about Colorado’s “budget shortfall.”  That amounts to approximately $7,800 for every Color...
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