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UN Retreats From Extreme Climate Forecast Sparking Policy Debate
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Approved, National, TownHall.com

UN Retreats From Extreme Climate Forecast Sparking Policy Debate

By Dmitri Bolt | Townhall The United Nations-backed climate panel over the weekend walked back one of its “worst-case scenario” greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, as a new report found that those projections “have become implausible.” The scenario predicted that humanity would double down on fossil fuels and take no action to mitigate climate change, and used it to make predictions about what the future may hold. Those scenarios included massive sea-level rise, global crop failures, and the rapid melting of polar ice. Democrats used the fearmongering to push Americans to pay billions of dollars to pursue mitigation efforts, while Europe practically castrated its own economy to do the same. And yet the scenario has been walked back, although climate scientists argue that it is due to...
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What’s Likely to Change at Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

What’s Likely to Change at Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Likely changes to the Public Utilities Commission As I write this, the ultimate fate of the Public Utilities Commission sunset bill, HB26-1326 (the first link below), is unknown. I think that its becoming law is solid enough that we can wrap up what changes to this important unelected body we will see. Toward that end, I present you a couple of references which make a decent attempt at hitting endpoints on the ideological spectrum. Link 2 is a wrap up report by the Independence Institute’s energy policy writer Sarah Montalbano. Link 3 is to a contemporaneous article by the Colorado Sun’s Mark Jaffe. I’ll leave it to you to read through either or, what’s better, both. There are some things that stuck out t...
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Coastal desalination could save Colorado’s water. The pushback? Cost
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Coastal desalination could save Colorado’s water. The pushback? Cost

By Michael J Badagliacco, “MJB” | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s water rights must never become a bargaining chip.  The 1922 Colorado River Compact apportioned 7.5 million acre-feet annually to the Upper Basin, including Colorado, and the same amount to the Lower Basin states. The 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act fixed specific Lower Basin shares: California 4.4 million acre-feet, Arizona 2.8 million acre-feet, and Nevada 0.3 million acre-feet. The 1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact later assigned Colorado roughly 51.75% of the Upper Basin’s share, or about 3.86 million acre-feet. The 1964 Arizona v. California Supreme Court decree confirmed federal oversight of these mainstream allocations while highlighting the need for supply solutions beyond repeate...
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Colorado Lawmakers Close 2026 Session With Greater Government Control And Higher Fiscal Risk
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Close 2026 Session With Greater Government Control And Higher Fiscal Risk

By Jake Fogleman | Complete Colorado The Colorado legislature officially adjourned May 13, after weighing more than 600 bills over the course of 120 days. Lawmakers entered the 2026 legislative session facing a set of familiar problems: another billion-dollar budget deficit, rising voter frustration over affordability, and growing concerns about Colorado’s economic competitiveness and business climate. Yet despite those warning signs, the Democrat-dominated legislature largely doubled down on the same governing philosophy that has increasingly defined the Capitol in recent years—more fees, more special interest tax benefits at the expense of other taxpayers, and more attempts to carve revenue streams out from under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). To be sure, not...
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Supreme Court Asked To Halt Boulder’s Taxpayer Funded Climate Lawfare
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Supreme Court Asked To Halt Boulder’s Taxpayer Funded Climate Lawfare

By Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado In a brief filed Thursday with the U.S. Supreme Court, defendants argued the high court should end Boulder’s climate lawsuit once and for all to avoid a “chaos” of a patchwork of state court rulings governing energy policy. In February, after eight years of Boulder pursuing its taxpayer-funded climate lawsuit against Exxon and Suncor, SCOTUS agreed to review the energy companies’ petition on whether state and local governments can use tort law to regulate global greenhouse gas emissions. The Court will hear oral arguments in the case during its fall term this year. SCOTUS has the opportunity to deliver a major blow to the national climate litigation campaign and its attempt push public policy through the c...
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Colorado Lawmakers Renew Public Utilities Commission Authority But Sidestep Reform Debate
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Renew Public Utilities Commission Authority But Sidestep Reform Debate

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun Xcel, Black Hills, some businesses backed failed attempts to amend the bill to grow the commission to 5 members in the interest of “ideological diversity.” Facing rising utility bills, clean energy mandates and new demands for power, especially from data centers, a chorus of utilities and business groups is united saying the Colorado Public Utilities Commission needs an overhaul. In part, the push appears to be prompted by some controversial commission decisions. On Saturday, Republican lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill dealing with the routine reauthorization of the commission to expand the three-person panel to five members. “We’re simply not getting a good representation on the PUC with three people,” said Rep...
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GOP Opposition Halts Last-Minute Bill Challenging Natural Gas Amendment
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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...
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Colorado Democrats Drop Effort To Limit Natural Gas Ballot Proposal
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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...
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Colorado Lawmakers Move To Extend Coal Plant Operations As Energy Prices Rise
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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...
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Colorado’s War On Natural Gas Could Cost Coloradans Dearly
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s War On Natural Gas Could Cost Coloradans Dearly

By Elizabeth Caven | Commentary, The Denver Gazette In a state where winter isn’t optional, you’d think reliable heat wouldn’t be either. Yet, Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission seems increasingly comfortable with discarding the very energy source that keeps the majority of households in the state warm: natural gas. Residents are not thinking about long-term regulatory frameworks when they go to turn up the heat in January. They are asking much simpler questions: Will their homes stay warm, and can they afford it? This is what makes Colorados current energy trajectory so puzzling and, increasingly, troubling. Natural gas continues to be the backbone of the states energy sphere even as lawmakers at the Capitol seem determined to ignore that fact. A recent report published ...
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