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Planned Outages And Policy Goals Fuel Concerns About Colorado Energy Future
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Planned Outages And Policy Goals Fuel Concerns About Colorado Energy Future

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado I’ve lived in Colorado since 1970. And you know what Colorado had back in 1970? High winds blowing down the Front Range. I moved to Boulder in 1984 and have been there ever since. And you know what Boulder has had all that time? A freakin’ lot of high winds. I remember as a college kid walking around the CU campus after windstorms, stepping around uprooted trees and massive broken branches that made the sidewalks impassable. I’ve seen rooftop shingles go flying off Boulder buildings, signs ripped down, and semi-trucks overturned. All of which is to say that for the last 55 years I have personally witnessed a crap-ton of high winds in our mountain state. But only in the last few months have I witnessed our ...
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Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Xcel shut off power Saturday afternoon in parts of Boulder and Jefferson counties—roughly 18,000 customers in all. The wind was up, fire danger was high, and outages weren’t limited to the shutoff areas—some hit in the foothills, others farther into the mountains, where crews were still working Sunday. House Bill 26-1246 had come up earlier in the week during a committee hearing. Rep. Ken DeGraaf pointed to those kinds of events as a warning. “Public safety power shutoffs… have become increasingly normalized,” he told lawmakers. What followed wasn’t just a debate over one bill. It was a clash between two different ways of thinking about how Colorado should power its future. At its core, the disagreement comes down to this: should...
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High Winds Trigger Powerline Safety Measures in Boulder County
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

High Winds Trigger Powerline Safety Measures in Boulder County

By: Tyler Melito | Denver7 Several projects in Boulder are underway to move power lines underground — a move residents Denver7 spoke with say they welcome. BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — High winds predicted for Thursday are prompting proactive measures by energy providers like Xcel. The company plans to implement an enhanced powerline safety setting — making lines more sensitive and automatically shut off power if something hits the line — on Thursday in several counties to allow power to remain in service with additional sensitivity protections in place. But Xcel and the City of Boulder are working on a long-term solution amid community pushback on public safety power shutoffs. Part of that includes continuing to bury power lines; 60% of the city's power lines...
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Rural Colorado Road Concerns Gain Ground As Bipartisan Resolution Moves to full Senate
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Rural Colorado Road Concerns Gain Ground As Bipartisan Resolution Moves to full Senate

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette A Republican legislator said he was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday when the state Senate’s transportation panel advanced a resolution brought to him by county commissioners urging the Colorado Department of Transportation to invest more money to fix roads. Road maintenance is “probably the No. 1 issue” in his seven-county district, said Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling. Morgan County’s transportation infrastructure is the worst, he added. According to a 2023 CDOT assessment, 70% of the roads in the county are in the “red” for maintenance, meaning they’ll soon be undrivable. A Reason Foundation report ranked Colorado 47th in the nation for rural road conditions. Pelton mentioned a 2021 funding legislation, Sen...
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Denver Budget Cuts Cost City Over 1,100 Years of Experience
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Budget Cuts Cost City Over 1,100 Years of Experience

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette Last summer, the city of Denver lost nearly 160 employees as part of structured layoffs to help Denver Mayor Mike Johnston close a $250 million budget gap. But the city lost much more than just its employees. It lost more than 1,158 years of combined experience, according to analysis and reporting from Axios. Along with the loss of 265 years of experience among 30 employees, the city’s transportation department took the biggest hit, followed by planning and development, which lost 128 years of experience. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Massive Power Outage Leaves Nearly 200,000 Denver Area Residents in the Dark
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Massive Power Outage Leaves Nearly 200,000 Denver Area Residents in the Dark

By: Robert Garrison | Denver7 DENVER — A large power outage in the southeast area of the Denver metro on Sunday afternoon left nearly 200,000 people in the dark, affected airport operations, and 911 service in some areas. Xcel Energy said a transformer failure and the resulting equipment damage at one of its substations just before 3 p.m. Sunday was to blame for the outage that left more than 195,000 people without power. CORE Electric customers were also impacted. https://twitter.com/MaggieB_TV/status/2018186933889908989?s=20 READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
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Trump Rejects Arkansas Valley Water Pipeline Bill Citing Federal Taxpayer Burden
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Trump Rejects Arkansas Valley Water Pipeline Bill Citing Federal Taxpayer Burden

By Sophia Villalba | Denver7 DENVER — President Trump has vetoed a bill aimed at providing reliable, clean drinking water to rural communities in southeastern Colorado. It's another setback for the decades old "Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act" that would have completed a 130-mile pipeline bringing drinking water to 39 Colorado communities on the Eastern Plains. This is the president's first veto of his second term in the Oval Office. He rejected the bipartisan bill that passed both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate unanimously, saying the project would cost federal taxpayers too much money. The Arkansas Valley Conduit was first approved back in 1962, but according to the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, it wasn’t built for deca...
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Colorado Congressman Accuses Polis Administration Of Mismanaging Road Funds
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

Colorado Congressman Accuses Polis Administration Of Mismanaging Road Funds

By: Hanna Powers | KDVR FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — A Colorado congressman is accusing the state of mismanaging transportation dollars, arguing that despite record funding, roads across Colorado are in worse shape than ever. Rep. Gabe Evans, who represents Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, shared an exclusive letter with FOX31 that he is sending directly to Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Department of Transportation Executive Director Shoshana Lew. In the letter, Evans raises concerns about roadway safety, crumbling infrastructure, and what he describes as a failure to prioritize basic road maintenance over mass transit and climate-focused projects. “This stretch of I-25 is one of the busiest highways in the state,” Evans told FOX31, pointing to the corridor that ...
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Hacked Denver Signs Flash Anti-Car Messages as Transportation Debate Heats Up
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Hacked Denver Signs Flash Anti-Car Messages as Transportation Debate Heats Up

By Daniel Boniface | The Denver Gazette Denver transportation officials said an anti-car message that was displayed on traffic signs in Denver on Friday was the result of a hack. One sign, photographed by The Denver Gazette on Friday evening at E. Colfax Avenue and Lincoln Street near the Colorado Capitol, shared the message “Cars ruin cities.” “Yes, the sign was hacked,” Nancy Kuhn, a spokeswoman for the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, told The Denver Gazette in an email Sunday. “We heard about it last night and sent someone out to address it.” A second sign was apparently hacked on 14th Street in Denver, displaying the same message, and a photo of it was posted on various social media accounts, including The Denver Urbanist an...
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Elbert County Pushes Back as Xcel Tries to Force Power Line Route Through Private Land
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Elbert County Pushes Back as Xcel Tries to Force Power Line Route Through Private Land

By: Tori Mason, Jaimie Dodge | CBS Colorado Elbert County neighbors have spent years fighting Xcel Energy, and it's not even their utility. Residents say they're exhausted, scared, and furious as Xcel works to push ahead with a transmission project that would cut directly through their land. Residents along the proposed Power Pathway route are still battling the utility over a segment of the 550-mile transmission line that would cross Elbert County. More than 50 people spoke against the project at a public hearing on Tuesday in Kiowa. Commissioners denied Xcel's local permit in June, but the company is now appealing to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC), which will make the final decision. That ruling isn't expected until April 2026. READ...
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