Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: Infrastructure

Colorado Faces Summer Power Crunch As Comanche Power Plant Repairs Are Delayed Again
No Comments
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Faces Summer Power Crunch As Comanche Power Plant Repairs Are Delayed Again

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun Xcel Energy has until April 15 to present a plan for dealing with the projected electricity shortfall during the hottest days of summer. elays in getting Xcel Energy’s damaged Comanche 3 coal-fired power plant back online may create a shortfall in electricity this summer, requiring customers to cut back on use during heat waves and other peak periods. Concerned about the potential gap between electricity generation and demand, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission this week ordered Xcel Energy to file a plan by April 15 to deal with the looming deficit. Xcel Energy had projected a manageable 77-megawatt deficit in capacity for this summer, but when Comanche 3’s return to operation was pushed from June to Augus...
Read More
FCC Bans Foreign Routers Over Chinese Cyber Threat Concerns
No Comments
Just The News, Approved, National

FCC Bans Foreign Routers Over Chinese Cyber Threat Concerns

By Steven Richards | Just the News The Intelligence Community previously assessed that Chinese hackers were burrowing into U.S. network infrastructure to lie in wait for future attacks. The problem might be found in the countries of origin were routers are manufactured. The Federal Communications Commission took radical action this week to ban the import of internet routers manufactured in foreign countries, citing the unacceptable security risks posed by Chinese hackers to U.S. critical infrastructure. Internet routers connect computers, cellphones, and other electronic devices to the internet. In the modern, digital economy, routers are everywhere, used by citizens, businesses, schools, utility providers, emergency services, and the U.S. military. More than 90% of ...
Read More
Planned Outages And Policy Goals Fuel Concerns About Colorado Energy Future
No Comments
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 ...
Read More
Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing
No Comments
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...
Read More
High Winds Trigger Powerline Safety Measures in Boulder County
No Comments
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...
Read More
Rural Colorado Road Concerns Gain Ground As Bipartisan Resolution Moves to full Senate
No Comments
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...
Read More
Denver Budget Cuts Cost City Over 1,100 Years of Experience
No Comments
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
Read More
Massive Power Outage Leaves Nearly 200,000 Denver Area Residents in the Dark
No Comments
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
Read More
Trump Rejects Arkansas Valley Water Pipeline Bill Citing Federal Taxpayer Burden
No Comments
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...
Read More
Colorado Congressman Accuses Polis Administration Of Mismanaging Road Funds
No Comments
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 ...
Read More