Colorado Supreme Court Rejects Xcel Bid to Fast-Track Ranchland Dispute
By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun
Xcel tried to condemn a 550-foot strip of Cheyenne County ranchland to connect two wind farms to a substation. The landowner objected to the route.
Xcel Energy’s bid to have the state Supreme Court weigh in on a dispute with a Cheyenne County landowner over a 550-foot right-of-way to connect wind farms to the Goose Creek substation was rejected by the court Monday.
In a brief unanimous decision, the court denied the utility’s attempt to have the state’s highest court overturn a Cheyenne County district judge’s ruling that Xcel Energy did not have the power to use eminent domain to acquire the right of way.
Xcel Energy argued that the case raised serious statewide issues on the future of clean energy policy in Colorado...