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Xcel Energy Prepares Shutoffs In Drought Stricken Regions In Western And Southern Colorado
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Xcel Energy Prepares Shutoffs In Drought Stricken Regions In Western And Southern Colorado

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado Xcel Energy announced that customers in parts of western Colorado and the San Luis Valley should prepare for possible power shutoffs on Wednesday. Strong winds, combined with dry conditions and low humidity, will result in high wildfire risk. "To reduce the risk of wildfire and support public safety, we are planning for a possible Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) beginning on Wednesday, April 22, around 9 a.m. MT for some customers in Garfield, Mesa and Pitkin counties, and around 11 a.m. MT for some customers in Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Rio Grande and Saguache counties," the company said. Many of these areas are already experiencing extreme or exceptional drought, and the National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag...
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U.S. Blockade Could Break Iran If Washington Holds The Line
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The Federalist, Approved, Commentary, National

U.S. Blockade Could Break Iran If Washington Holds The Line

By Helen Raleigh | Commentary, The Federalist The U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is a significant escalation that carries considerable risks and rewards. This week, the United States imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. The action marks a significant escalation following the collapse of peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. While the move carries considerable risks, it also offers substantial potential rewards. The Strait of Hormuz, with Iran controlling its northern shore, has long been one of the world’s most critical energy arteries. Before the war, roughly 20 percent of global seaborne oil trade and significant volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) passed through its narrow waters. Sin...
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Colorado Regulators Override Local Denial To Advance Renewable Energy Grid
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local

Colorado Regulators Override Local Denial To Advance Renewable Energy Grid

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun The ruling was based on a statute used just 3 times in 21 years allowing regulators to override local land use decisions on electric and gas infrastructure projects. State utility regulators have overruled local land use decisions and cleared the way for Xcel Energy to build its $1.7 billion Power Pathway transmission line through Elbert County. The line will bring Eastern Plains wind and solar to the Front Range. The Elbert County Commission voted in June 2025 to deny Xcel Energy two key permits responding to protests by landowners and ranchers and an unwillingness by the utility to reroute the path, which cut through the heart of the county. The county commission and many landowners sought to have the route moved fa...
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Colorado Lawmakers Push Major Expansion Of Public Utilities Commission Authority
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Uncategorized, Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Colorado Lawmakers Push Major Expansion Of Public Utilities Commission Authority

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – Colorado lawmakers are trying to introduce major changes to how the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) operates. The PUC, consisting of three members appointed by the governor, oversees numerous industries serving the public, from setting rates for your monthly electric bill to regulating Ubers. New legislation not only extends the PUC for another 11 years, but also introduces an onslaught of changes claiming to protect Coloradans.  However, according to critics, it adds additional burdens to an already over-regulated industry, takes transparency away from consumers and gives an already powerful board of unelected bureaucrats, even more power in other areas. Rideshare companies targeted House Bill 26-1326, Sunset ...
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Federal lease sale brings $8 million boost as Colorado energy shifts to Washington-controlled land
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Federal lease sale brings $8 million boost as Colorado energy shifts to Washington-controlled land

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) quarterly oil and gas lease sale in Colorado generated over $8 million, the most successful such sale the federal lands agency has enjoyed in recent years. The BLM, as well as energy policy experts credit the successful lease sale in large part to the Trump administration’s pro-energy production policies. According to its recent press release, the BLM on March 31 leased 68 parcels of federal land for drilling in Colorado, generating $8.1 million. Over 42,000 acres were leased across Weld, Jackson, Routt, Arapahoe, Delta, Mesa, Rio Blanco, Gunnison, and Garfield counties. This sale was conducted with lower royalties embedded in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which reduced th...
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Ambitious Climate Targets In Boulder Clash With Energy Realities
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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...
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Hidden Costs And Secret Repairs Cloud Colorado’s Largest Coal Plant
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, State

Hidden Costs And Secret Repairs Cloud Colorado’s Largest Coal Plant

By Ishan Thakore | CPR News Last week, state utility regulators sharply questioned Xcel Energy’s repairs to Colorado’s newest coal-fired power plant, Comanche 3.  Since it opened more than a decade ago in Pueblo, the behemoth plant has been beset by technical problems and months-long outages. It has been offline since August 2025, when it suffered a catastrophic breakdown. Xcel now believes the plant won’t reopen until at least August 2026, because repairs have been delayed.  Multiple commissioners on the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said the plant’s woes could put the state in a bind during the summer, when demand for electricity can skyrocket.  “Not to state the obvious, but we have a real problem with Comanche 3,” said ...
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Colorado Legislative Malpractice
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Legislative Malpractice

By Michael Hancock | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When Ideology Replaces Stewardship, the Patient Doesn’t Recover — It Declines There is a reason malpractice carries such moral weight in medicine. A physician is entrusted with the care of a patient. When that trust is violated—through negligence, arrogance, or ideological blindness—the consequences are not abstract. They are physical, measurable, and often irreversible. What we are witnessing in Colorado today is a different form of malpractice. Not medical, but legislative. The patient is the state itself—its economy, its infrastructure, its fiscal health, and ultimately, its people. And the pattern is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: policies enacted not in service of long-term stability, but i...
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When “Protecting Seniors” Meets Fiscal Reality: A Self-Inflicted Crisis
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

When “Protecting Seniors” Meets Fiscal Reality: A Self-Inflicted Crisis

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Any legislator who has opened their inbox lately has seen the urgent appeals: AARP warning that Colorado’s Senior Homestead Property Tax Exemption is under threat. The message is emotionally compelling—and fundamentally correct. Eliminating or weakening the exemption would amount to a tax increase on seniors, many of whom live on fixed incomes after decades of contributing to their communities. But what those emails don’t say is just as important as what they do. Because the current threat to the exemption did not emerge in a vacuum. It is the predictable result of a broader shift in Colorado’s fiscal philosophy—one that AARP itself has helped advance. A Record of Priorities—And Who Gets Left Behind If the curr...
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As climate costs rise, will Colorado follow New York’s “breathing room” playbook?
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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...
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