The truth frightens Western Resource Advocates
“Three things that cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” Budda Western Resource Advocates (WRA), a multi-state renewable energy advocacy group and intervenor supporting Xcel Energy’s Colorado Energy Plan (CEP), filed a motion on July 16 requesting that the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) disallow huge portions of the Coalition of […]
Coloradans are taking on the state’s largest monopoly utility
Originally published on thehill.com Just because President Obama’s controversial and costly Clean Power Plan is dead at the federal level doesn’t mean Colorado ratepayers are out of financial danger. Nearly 1.4 million state electricity customers await a Colorado Public Utilities Commission (COPUC) decision on Xcel Energy’s legally tenuous Colorado Energy Plan (CEP). With COPUC approval, Xcel, the state’s largest […]
Xcel’s Colorado Energy Plan no cheap ‘first class’ seat to NYC
The CEO of San Francisco based Energy Innovation Hal Harvey absurdly compared Xcel Energy’s massive fuel switching scheme called the Colorado Energy Plan (CEP) to a cheap first class airline seat to New York City. Many of us in Colorado know that’s not true; the experience has been more like flying on an abusive airline – you know the one where […]
Post Katrina: Autonomous Charter Schools Prove Successful
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, instituting school choice in New Orleans has helped enliven and rebuild education and has reinforced proof of the effectiveness of charter school management. The study What Effect Did the New Orleans School Reforms Have On Student Achievement, High School Graduation, and College Outcomes? , conducted by Douglas Harris and Matthew Larsen, […]
Janus v. AFSCME: Free Speech Wins, Unions Lose
The Supreme Court of the United States today dealt a major blow to public sector employment unions. At issue was whether public sector unions are permitted to withhold fees, without consent, from employees who do not want to join the union. The specific law at issue in the case is an Illinois law that allowed […]
Congratulations DSST
Colorado’s charter schools are no rookies when it comes to setting school choice standards–so it’s no surprise that the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) charter school network received this year’s Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools, an award given to the country’s best public charter school network. The Broad Prize is awarded to […]
Becoming California won’t be cheap
Another summer, another command from Hick on High. Breaking out his best Barack Obama rule-by-executive-fiat pen, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed the erroneously titled “Maintaining Progress on Clean Vehicles” executive order. Load up your Nissan Leaf, the 21st Century family truckster. It’s California or bust! Hick’s two-page executive order has more platitudes than substance and […]
Two very Different Views on Modest PERA Reform
Remember the teacher walkouts this spring? According to the Colorado Education Association (CEA), one purpose of the rallies was to put pressure on the legislature to not require teachers to pay more into their Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) accounts and not to raise the retirement age for new teachers. The CEA was disappointed in […]
Swift condemnation for Boulder climate lawsuit and DC think tank
“That was fast,” writes Energy in Depth’s Rebecca Simon regarding how quickly leading Coloradans and others denounced the city of Boulder and its “especially unfortunate” climate change lawsuit against the oil and gas industry. Her excellent summary includes commentary from the Denver Post, former Attorney General and Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, former head of […]
Two little but costly words
How the words “SHALL” and “MAY” are used in a bill can make all the difference. And, so it is with HB18-1270 “Public Utilities Commission Evaluation of Energy Storage Systems.” According to the summary on the Colorado General Assembly Web site: The bill directs the public utilities commission to adopt rules establishing mechanisms for the procurement […]
Coloradans are taking on the state’s largest monopoly utility
With COPUC approval, Xcel, the state’s largest monopoly utility, plans to shift its generating portfolio from away from majority hydrocarbons (coal and natural gas) in favor of industrial wind, solar, and battery storage.
Xcel’s CEP, Comanche: Facts versus platitudes
MYTH: “In CO, energy from renewable energy projects w/ storage is cheaper than existing coal plants,” Conservation Colorado’s Pete Maysmith tweeted at me, citing a Vox column as his source. The column covered Xcel Energy’s “Colorado Energy Plan” (CEP) and renewable energy bids to replace 660 megawatts of coal-fired power from Comanche 1 and 2 […]
