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State regulators on verge of passing new cumulative-impact requirements on oil-and-gas projects
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Approved, State, The Sum & Substance

State regulators on verge of passing new cumulative-impact requirements on oil-and-gas projects

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado regulators are debating an “enormous” set of regulations that will require consideration of the cumulative impacts of any new or expanded oil-and-gas project on air, water and other natural resources before state officials can grant operating permits. The rules are the product of several laws passed since 2019 aiming to protect communities already dealing with significant emissions by requiring the state to consider permits in the context of existing pollution rather than focus only on the impacts of the new projects. The most recent bill on the subject, approved this year, gave the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission a specific definition of “cumulative impacts” around which it must build the new regulations. How...
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Shape the future of energy: AGNC survey calls for community voices in Northwest Colorado
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Shape the future of energy: AGNC survey calls for community voices in Northwest Colorado

By Jen Schumann | Contributor, Rocky Mountain Voice As Colorado’s coal plants close and the state pivots to new energy solutions, the future of Northwest Colorado’s economy hangs in the balance. The Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado (AGNC) is leading an effort to ensure rural communities play a central role in shaping this transition. At the heart of this initiative is a public survey, open through September 16, 2024, giving residents the chance to voice their preferences on energy sources and help guide the region's future. With coal once providing stable jobs and affordable energy, the challenge now is to identify new paths that protect both livelihoods and local economies. Building on strong foundations The Northwest Colorado Energy Initiative (NCEI), operating...
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Wood: Gov. Polis’ ‘Roadmap 2.0’ is not economically sustainable, equitable, environmentally balanced or fact-based
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Wood: Gov. Polis’ ‘Roadmap 2.0’ is not economically sustainable, equitable, environmentally balanced or fact-based

By PETE WOOD | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This past February, Gov. Jared Polis introduced his “Roadmap 2.0” that aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions in Colorado by 2050. The governor said, “Colorado has been a national model in bold climate action that improves air quality and protects our precious resources and open spaces. This updated, comprehensive Roadmap continues pushing our state forward in ways that will save Coloradans money, protect our air, and water, and ensure a more sustainable future for Colorado." Gov. Polis has doubled down on this policy that drives many local climate action plans that subsequently drive bureaucracies and mandates that make housing, transportation and the general cost of living more exp...
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White House touts $3.49 gas, a 1-cent savings from last July 4th
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Approved, Fox Business, National

White House touts $3.49 gas, a 1-cent savings from last July 4th

By JAMIE JOSEPH | Fox Business The White House boasted a one-cent decrease in the nation's year-over-year gas prices on Thursday, the "lowest holiday price" since the previous Fourth of July.  "'July 4th gas prices expected to hit lowest level in 3 years,'" White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a post on X.  The projection comes from a GasBuddy estimate this week which claimed the $3.49 average cost for gas this Independence Day represents over a $1.30 decline compared to 2022.  "For those hitting the road to celebrate Independence Day, gas prices have seen modest recent fluctuations, but most states are seeing prices near or even well below where they were a year ago," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a news release. "While the firs...
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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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