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Tag: Energy Policy

Rocky Mountain Voice: Boots on the Ground, Uncovering Colorado’s Hidden Truths
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Rocky Mountain Voice: Boots on the Ground, Uncovering Colorado’s Hidden Truths

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Rocky Mountain Voice has spent the last two years covering stories that don’t fit neatly into a news cycle. We’ve reported on fraud, government overreach, and policy failures by doing the unglamorous work — pulling records, talking to whistleblowers, and sticking with stories long after other outlets lost interest. Our commitment isn’t just to report. It’s to make sure Coloradans have access to information that challenges the official narrative. Looking back, it’s hard to ignore how much of this would have stayed buried if no one had been willing to stick with it. Take Tina Peters, then Mesa County Clerk, who found herself in the crosshairs after preserving election records. Much of the media responded by framing her a...
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When policy hits home: The people paying the price for Colorado planning
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

When policy hits home: The people paying the price for Colorado planning

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com What all these laws, rules, “roadmaps,” and captured processes are doing to the people who actually live here. We’ve spent four chapters documenting the system: Part 1: How Colorado got quietly rewired. Part 2: The rule that choked our roads. Part 3: The advocacy-industrial complex behind it. Part 4: How “public comment” became a choreographed performance. Today, we end where this story always should have begun. Not in the Capitol.Not in a CDOT Zoom room.Not in Boulder conference halls.Not in 200-page policy PDFs. But in the real lives of the people who live with the consequences. Because none of this – none of it – is theoretical. These aren’t abstract “policy disagreements.”These are i...
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Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado lawmakers are pressing Gov. Jared Polis to reverse course on electrification after recent power shutoffs raised fresh concerns about grid reliability and public safety. “We write to express grave concerns over your administration’s aggressive push for statewide unfunded electrification mandates,” the lawmakers wrote in a Dec. 23 letter. “This agenda, driven by crony politics and excused by nonscience climate alarmism, favors select industries at the expense of Colorado families and businesses.” They warn the state’s energy agenda “is economically harmful and endangers lives by further straining an already fragile electric grid.” The letter was signed by Reps. Ken DeGraaf (HD-22), Brandi Bradley (HD-39), Scott Botto...
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Xcel Power Shutoffs Leave Colorado Small Businesses Facing Major Losses
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Xcel Power Shutoffs Leave Colorado Small Businesses Facing Major Losses

By Sage Kelley | The Denver Gazette Restaurants west of Denver are still coming to grips with product losses and future revenue concerns after power shutoffs last week by Xcel Energy due to high winds. “It’s like living in a third-world country,” Brandon Bortles, owner of Nosu Ramen and Abejas Bistro in Golden, said Tuesday. “We’re all behind the eight ball. I want to know, are we going to do this 10 times a year? What are we going to do in the future? Just shut down the town every day?” Xcel Energy turned off the power multiple times to at least 48,000 customers amid severe winds and extreme wildfire danger between Wednesday and Friday. As many as 160,000 customers were without power at some point, officials said. The initial shutoff occurred Wednesday morning ...
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Colorado Blackouts Offer a Stark Warning About the State’s Energy Future
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Blackouts Offer a Stark Warning About the State’s Energy Future

By: Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado For those of you who shared this magical experience, congratulations — you’ve now had a sneak preview of Colorado’s 100% renewable energy lifestyle. No waiting. No reservation required. For us fortunate 110,000, the reality of “unreliable energy” arrived quickly: The house goes dark; people get cold; refrigerated food and medicines quietly die; folks on home oxygen machines fumble around in the dark for backup tanks; no cooked meals; garage doors refuse to open; Teslas sit silently, judging their owners, and worst of all — no electronic entertainment. Nirvana. Absolute green, renewable Nirvana. There’s a certain poetry in chasing a wind-powered energy future only to be plunged into darkness by a little wind. It’s l...
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Court Halts Colorado Effort to Mandate Gas Stove Health Warnings
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Uncategorized, Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Court Halts Colorado Effort to Mandate Gas Stove Health Warnings

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–A federal judge on Friday sided with an appliance manufacturing trade group in pausing enforcement of a Colorado law requiring consumer warning labels on gas stove appliances. Plaintiffs see the ruling as a win against state compelled speech, albeit a temporary one, as the litigation will likely continue. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) filed a complaint in August against the state regarding House Bill 25-1161. In effect since Aug. 6, the law requires retailers to attach air quality warning labels to gas-fueled stoves sold in Colorado. The yellow label reads: “Understand the air quality implications of having an indoor gas stove.” It includes a QR code linking to a Colorado Department of ...
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Republicans Should Just Say No To Josh Hawley’s Crusade Against Data Centers
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Republicans Should Just Say No To Josh Hawley’s Crusade Against Data Centers

By Booker Lightman | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Data center boom is creating a political conundrum for Republicans, or so Politico would have you believe. For while President Trump and the large majority of Republican elected officials are in favor of data centers, Josh Hawley, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie stand in opposition to the Trump administration.  These are the same names that are always being praised by the media for their “bravery” in “standing up” to Trump. It’s not hard to see why.  Most Congresspeople get little attention outside their districts, but if a Republican Congressman speaks out against Trump, suddenly he or she is the darling of a mainstream media apparatus that would love nothing more than to set the Right...
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Colorado Law Shields Xcel From Most Legal Claims Over Power Outages
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Law Shields Xcel From Most Legal Claims Over Power Outages

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette Xcel Energy customers who lost refrigerated or frozen goods during the utility’s public safety power shutoffs face steep hurdles in recovering damages through lawsuits, given the limits on liabilities approved by state regulators. Colorado law and utility rate rules issued by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, which regulates commercial energy companies, limit liability for service interruptions, even when outages result from proactive de-energization to prevent wildfires. Xcel Energy’s rate rules, issued by the PUC and largely upheld by Colorado courts, contain clauses that shield the utility from claims for power interruptions. Jack Luellen, senior counsel at Buchalter, said these rules mean the company is not liable...
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PUC clean heat rule sparks call for public action over rising utility costs
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

PUC clean heat rule sparks call for public action over rising utility costs

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Email the PUC about their natural gas rule this December. I wanted to share with you another way you can speak up to the PUC re. their Clean Heat Rulemaking. In addition to speaking up at their January 14th meeting, you can also send in an email prior to their finalizing their Clean Heat Plan December 22nd.I received the below from a reader recently. Quoted here with links intact:“Per the Commission’s usual process, any individual, stakeholder or organization may request that the Commission reconsider its decision on these rules. Such requests are due by Dec. 22. The Commission will consider these requests and publicly deliberate at a January weekly meeting. Any one wishing to make public comment or request ...
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Delay as policy: A double standard Colorado must answer
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Delay as policy: A double standard Colorado must answer

By RMV Editorial Board Colorado is asking a court to decide whether doing nothing can amount to doing too much. In its lawsuit over frozen federal funding, the state argues that agencies crossed the line when they allowed congressionally approved programs to stall through delay and inaction. At some point, Colorado contends, refusing to decide becomes a veto Congress never granted. That argument deserves to be taken seriously—and it raises an unavoidable question closer to home. If delay is unlawful at the federal level, why has it become routine at the state level? The standard Colorado is asking courts to enforce In its lawsuit over frozen electric vehicle infrastructure funding, Colorado argues that process cannot be used to achieve outcomes lawmakers ...
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