Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: Climate Policy

Boulder Climate Lawsuit Emerges as Flashpoint in Colorado Democrat Primaries
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

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 ...
Read More
Lawmakers Put Reliability And Energy Costs Ahead Of New Climate Mandates In 2026
No Comments
The Sum & Substance, Approved, Commentary, State

Lawmakers Put Reliability And Energy Costs Ahead Of New Climate Mandates In 2026

By: Ed Sealover | Commentary, The Sum & Substance This legislative session was supposed to be a defining one for the utility and energy sectors — one in which legislators would debate and pass a long-discussed plan to move up the net-zero emissions deadline by 10 years and also remake the Public Utilities Commission. But the story of the 2026 session for energy advocates instead turned out to be all about what didn’t happen. No 2040 net-zero plan got introduced. No radical changes came through the extension of the PUC. And for the first time in over a decade, no existential threats to the oil and gas sector received debate in the 75th General Assembly. The topics that took center stage instead were reliability and affordability of energy sources. Legislators h...
Read More
GOP Opposition Halts Last-Minute Bill Challenging Natural Gas Amendment
No Comments
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

GOP Opposition Halts Last-Minute Bill Challenging Natural Gas Amendment

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Colorado lawmakers pulled back plans to counter a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right of consumers to use natural gas. The bill’s backers said the legislation would not have significantly affected the initiative’s impact, even as debate intensifies among environmental groups, the oil and gas industry and policymakers. The bill — initially planned by House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D‑Dillon, Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D‑Denver, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D‑Evergreen — would have addressed how the ballot measure might affect the state’s air quality. Bacon said the initiative’s wording is overly broad and could create unintended consequences. The proposed constitutional amendment, introduced b...
Read More
Colorado Democrats Drop Effort To Limit Natural Gas Ballot Proposal
No Comments
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Democrats Drop Effort To Limit Natural Gas Ballot Proposal

By Taylor Dolven | The Colorado Sun The initiative would give Coloradans a “right to natural gas” in the state constitution. State Democratic lawmakers abandoned their effort to blunt the potential impact of a proposed ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to give Coloradans a “right to natural gas.” Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, had pledged Friday to introduce a bill that would ensure the amendment doesn’t threaten public safety or local air quality. They would have had to introduce the bill on Monday in order to have enough time to get it passed by the end of the legislative session on Wednesday. Republican House members asked t...
Read More
Colorado Lawmakers Move To Extend Coal Plant Operations As Energy Prices Rise
No Comments
E&E News, State

Colorado Lawmakers Move To Extend Coal Plant Operations As Energy Prices Rise

By Jason Plautz | E&E News A plan to postpone the retirement of the Ray Nixon Power Plant comes as Colorado wrestles with its climate targets. CLIMATEWIRE | Colorado lawmakers are poised to extend the life of a coal plant three years beyond a state-mandated retirement deadline — a backtrack that underscores Colorado's growing tension between climate goals and energy affordability. Under state law, Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) was required to shutter the Ray Nixon Power Plant by the end of 2029, part of the state’s effort to fully move away from coal power by 2031 and run a 100 percent renewable energy grid by 2040. But the process of replacing the plant with renewable sources has proven more expensive and time-consuming than anticipated, and CSU h...
Read More
Where money meets power: Inside the rise of the environmental industry
No Comments
GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Where money meets power: Inside the rise of the environmental industry

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com I follow the ups and downs of the environmental industry almost like a part-time hobby, for several reasons. For one, many environmental groups pretend to be local, grassroots activists, when in fact many are nationally organized and funded as part of a larger network. But also, their growth, influence, finances, and occasional declines offer fascinating insights into Americans’ interest in the environment, and their perceptions of groups who presume to speak for them. I use the term “environmental industry” to illustrate the unparalleled growth of these organizations, both in money and power – often the primary objectives. U.S. environmental organizations reported to the IRS assets of well over $200 billion by 2022 (most recent available...
Read More
Ambitious Climate Targets In Boulder Clash With Energy Realities
No Comments
Just The News, Approved, Local

Ambitious Climate Targets In Boulder Clash With Energy Realities

By Kevin Killough | Just the News Boulder, Colorado is suing oil companies for climate change and setting aggressive emission-reductions target. A Just the News analysis shows the city is unlikely to reach either of those goals, but the city says it's not backing down. When it comes to anti-fossil fuel policies, few cities have pursued them with as much gusto as Boulder, Colorado. In 2006, Boulder became one of the first local governments in the nation to adopt emission reduction targets. Then in 2019, the city went into a full-blown panic over emissions, declared a “climate emergency,” and exponentially increased its targets. While progressive cities feel good setting targets to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, achieving those targets is another thing entirely.&nb...
Read More
As climate costs rise, will Colorado follow New York’s “breathing room” playbook?
No Comments
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

As climate costs rise, will Colorado follow New York’s “breathing room” playbook?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project NY’s narrative on “breathing room” for climate mandates here in Colorado? I got the issue of Sarah Montalbano's energy newsletter about a week ago.** In it, Ms. Montalbano details how New York Governor Hochul recently mentioned how that state needs some "breathing room" on its self-imposed climate mandates. This is a site/newsletter dedicated to Colorado issues, so I will leave the rest of her newsletter there, save for one quote which will be relevant for us here. Quoting with links left intact: "Hochul blamed factors such as a 'global pandemic,' and 'some of the highest inflation we had seen in years,' for rattling supply chains, as well as a 'hostile' administration in Washington eli...
Read More
Planned Outages And Policy Goals Fuel Concerns About Colorado Energy Future
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Planned Outages And Policy Goals Fuel Concerns About Colorado Energy Future

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado I’ve lived in Colorado since 1970. And you know what Colorado had back in 1970? High winds blowing down the Front Range. I moved to Boulder in 1984 and have been there ever since. And you know what Boulder has had all that time? A freakin’ lot of high winds. I remember as a college kid walking around the CU campus after windstorms, stepping around uprooted trees and massive broken branches that made the sidewalks impassable. I’ve seen rooftop shingles go flying off Boulder buildings, signs ripped down, and semi-trucks overturned. All of which is to say that for the last 55 years I have personally witnessed a crap-ton of high winds in our mountain state. But only in the last few months have I witnessed our ...
Read More
Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Xcel shut off power Saturday afternoon in parts of Boulder and Jefferson counties—roughly 18,000 customers in all. The wind was up, fire danger was high, and outages weren’t limited to the shutoff areas—some hit in the foothills, others farther into the mountains, where crews were still working Sunday. House Bill 26-1246 had come up earlier in the week during a committee hearing. Rep. Ken DeGraaf pointed to those kinds of events as a warning. “Public safety power shutoffs… have become increasingly normalized,” he told lawmakers. What followed wasn’t just a debate over one bill. It was a clash between two different ways of thinking about how Colorado should power its future. At its core, the disagreement comes down to this: should...
Read More