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Tri-State set to pay $70M in aid to Craig, Moffat County to offset closing power plant, coal mines
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Tri-State set to pay $70M in aid to Craig, Moffat County to offset closing power plant, coal mines

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun Moffat County and the city of Craig are in line for $70 million in aid from the utility shuttering the local power plant and the coal mines that supply it, under a settlement filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. Tri-State, which provides wholesale power to 41 rural electric cooperatives in four states, also agreed to locate a new natural gas-fired unit in Moffat County and transfer a water storage right to the county. “This community assistance agreement is a win for our community now and into the future,” Moffat County Commissioner Melody Villard said in an email. The settlement, part of Tri-State’s Electric Resource Plan, must still be approved by the PUC. The electric resource plan lays out the utility’s proposal for deve...
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Report: Colorado can and should improve energy permitting process
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Approved, State, The Center Square

Report: Colorado can and should improve energy permitting process

By Joe Mueller | The Center Square Colorado can improve its procedures, public input, timelines and coordination of state, federal and local governments to improve the environmental permitting process, according to a report. The state made significant progress in reforming regulatory processes in the past decade but improvements need to be made, according to James Broughel, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute and author of the report, “Distilling Efficiency; Colorado’s quest to refine its permitting process.” “The state appears to be moving in the wrong direction with recent changes targeting the oil and gas industry, which have created a more burdensome permitting environment,” according to the report. “Enacting targeted legislative changes, insti...
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Nursing homes go dark as more utilities cut power to prevent wildfires
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Approved, Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

Nursing homes go dark as more utilities cut power to prevent wildfires

By KATE RUDER | Colorado Springs Gazette via KFF Health When powerful wind gusts created threatening wildfire conditions one day near Boulder, Colorado’s largest utility cut power to 52,000 homes and businesses — including Frasier, an assisted living and skilled nursing facility. It was the first time Xcel Energy preemptively switched off electricity in Colorado as a wildfire prevention tool, according to a company official. The practice, also known as public safety power shut-offs, has taken root in California and is spreading elsewhere as a way to keep downed and damaged power lines from sparking blazes and fueling the West’s more frequent and intense wildfires. In Boulder, Frasier staff and residents heard about the planned outage from news reports. A Frasier official called th...
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Dozens of energy groups ask Congress to overturn Biden’s green power plant rules
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Approved, National, The Daily Signal

Dozens of energy groups ask Congress to overturn Biden’s green power plant rules

By Nick Pope  | The Daily Signal Dozens of energy policy and advocacy groups are pushing Congress to repeal one of President Joe Biden’s signature climate policies. A coalition of more than 40 organizations signed on to a letter being circulated Thursday to lawmakers, taking aim at the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized emissions-reduction regulations for coal-fired and new natural gas power plants. The letter urges lawmakers to back expected resolutions from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Rep. Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, that would overturn the rules using the Congressional Review Act, a tool allowing lawmakers to overturn certain federal regulatory actions. The EPA’s rules, finalized in April, require many existing coal plants a...
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Moriarty: Democrats’ Colorado Energy story has a bad ending
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Moriarty: Democrats’ Colorado Energy story has a bad ending

By Tom Moriarty | Guest Columnist Colorado Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado democrats tell us a story about fossil fuels. This story has three parts: fossil fuels are bad, the democrats have a plan to eliminate fossil fuels, and their plan is working. They pander to the “fossil fuels are bad” fear that has been exaggerated by relentless climate porn. This old fashioned fear mongering is an effective political strategy among their base and many in the middle. But “feat not,”they say, because the Colorado democrats have a plan to slay the fossil fuel monster. This plan was laid out in the Polis administration's 2019 document “Roadmap to 100% Renewable Energy by 2040 and Bold Climate Action.” The title is unequivocal: “100% Renewable Energy by 2040.” Now that is the kind of plan...
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The state’s largest utility will file a new wildfire mitigation plan next month. What might that look like?
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

The state’s largest utility will file a new wildfire mitigation plan next month. What might that look like?

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun An inquiry by state regulators into Xcel Energy’s April “public safety” electricity outage — which created chaos in parts of the Front Range — has yielded a list of potential steps utilities and communities might take to limit future problems. Faced with high winds April 6, Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electricity provider, preemptively shut down parts of its electric grid to reduce wildfire risk. The shut-offs lasted through April 7. Local emergency management officials complained there was inadequate notice of the shut-offs and in Boulder County the wastewater treatment plant was close to dumping raw sewage into Boulder Creek before power was restored. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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NW Co. Energy Initiative: Prioritizing the need to address energy poverty
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Approved, Commentary

NW Co. Energy Initiative: Prioritizing the need to address energy poverty

By Northwest Colorado Energy Initiative In the debate surrounding energy and climate change, where discord often drowns out reason and cooperation, a rallying cry for unity emerges: the imperative to address energy poverty. It transcends political divides, urging collective action toward a future where every individual can thrive in this world. At the recent Energy and Environment Symposium in Garfield County, a statement from Liberty Energy’s publication, "Bettering Human Lives," resonated profoundly: “Zero Energy Poverty by 2050 is a superior goal compared to Net Zero by 2050.” This declaration reframes the discourse, shifting from the divisive "how" to the unifying "why." While debates often revolve around the mechanics of transitioning to renewable energy, they overlook who...
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Orr, Rolling: Xcel power blackout showcases the high cost of unreliable electricity
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Approved, Commentary, completecolorado.com

Orr, Rolling: Xcel power blackout showcases the high cost of unreliable electricity

 By Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling | Complete Colorado Hundreds of thousands of Xcel Energy customers in Colorado recenlty lost power as high winds damaged power lines, and Xcel preemptively shut off the power to 55,000 customers to mitigate the risk of wildfires. Among the customers who lost power were homeowners and small businesses who received little to no warning. The Denver Post detailed how families experienced entire refrigerators and freezers full of food spoiling, forcing them to refill them at a time when food costs are 25 percent higher than they were four years ago. Business owners without power lost tens of thousands of dollars due to the outages, which stemmed from lost revenue from being unable to do business and lost products. Restaurant...
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Cooke: Oppressive EPA emissions standard will cost Coloradans plenty
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Approved, Commentary, completecolorado.com, State

Cooke: Oppressive EPA emissions standard will cost Coloradans plenty

By Amy Oliver Cooke | Complete Colorado There’s so much gaslighting in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently announced vehicle emissions standards, it may be guilty of expanding the Biden Administration’s carbon footprint simply with the news release. The EPA’s announcement claims its “strongest-ever” emissions standards will: Expand consumer choice in clean vehicles Protect Public Health Address the Climate Crisis Save Drivers Money The reality is that the new standards won’t do much, if anything, for the environment. They will cost consumers more money, reduce vehicle choices, and harm public health. Most egregious is the dictatorial nature of Washington, D.C. deciding for Americans across our vast nation how they can exercise their mobility freedom....
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Plan to ensure there’s end-of-life cash to plug all Colorado oil wells may fall short, study says
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Plan to ensure there’s end-of-life cash to plug all Colorado oil wells may fall short, study says

By Mark Jaffe | Colorado Sun New Colorado rules to insure there is enough cash to plug each oil and gas well in the state at the end of its life may not generate enough money to do the job, according to an analysis by Carbon Tracker. The report by the nonprofit environmental think tank said that in the short-run the state may end up with less in financial guarantees than it had before the new rules were adopted nearly two years ago and about 39% of oil and gas companies still have not completed financial assurance plans. The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, which adopted and administers the financial assurance rules, disputes those findings. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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