Storing freedom 2.0: battery storage bill is back
First aid kit. Bottled water. Extra food. Most of us keep these things on hand, in case of an emergency or if the electricity goes out. We don’t need permission from the grocery store to stock up. Nor can the grocery store come into our home to monitor how we use our supplies. In fact, […]
Coopted, corrupted and busted: OCC, regulatory process need fixing
The regulatory space at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is the playground of corporate lawyers, unelected bureaucrats, and well-funded special interest groups. They have “stakeholder” meetings that include only themselves. Then they issue press statements slapping each other on the back for their hard work securing a “settlement” that forces Colorado working families and […]
Xcel lies. Reality dies…and so does affordable power
How Xcel is playing loose with numbers and gaming the system in its favor. Xcel Energy is a monopoly with no competition. Still it spends millions of ratepayer dollars on PR campaigns and lobbyists to convince the media, lawmakers and its hostages customers – the entire state – that it is “responsible by nature.” The […]
Tax reform brings ratepayer relief across country but not in Colorado
Across the country, utility regulators and elected officials are asking regulated monopolies in their states how they plan to pass along to customers savings from lower tax rates due to the federal tax act. Many utilities are responding. Customers from Boston to Portland are seeing their rates slashed due to the decreased the U.S. corporate […]
Power quality, promises, and profits
Power quality. That’s the phrase I heard several times after chatting with some small business owners whose livelihood – as well as those of their employees – depends upon good power quality: Good power quality can be defined as a steady supply voltage that stays within the prescribed range, steady a.c. frequency close to the […]
MAMA: Make America Mine Again
Our national security and economic prosperity (including Colorado’s) depend on it After falling behind foreign regimes, the U.S. may begin to develop and mine its own deposits of a whole host of minerals vital to our national security and economic prosperity. In a December 20 executive order, President Trump directed federal agencies to develop a […]
Capitulation or deliberation? CSU shouldn’t rush into early closure of Martin Drake Power Plant
If the Board of the Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) doesn’t even know the per-kilowatt-hour cost for the municipal utility’s Martin Drake Power Plant – the power plant it is charged with overseeing – then the Board has no business making financial decisions that will dramatically impact the lives of every CSU ratepayer. Yet, that’s exactly […]
Bears Ears: When local residents successfully fight feds, we all win
President Trump and Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke have righted a wrong, marking a victory for local voices and fair and just government. After months of meeting and conferring with local residents, tribal leaders, and elected officials, the Trump administration reduced the size of the 1.35 million acre Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent. As […]
Retired KS lawmaker and geophysicist warns PUC against Xcel’s “inherently damaging” energy plan
“Inherently damaging” is how former Kansas State Representative and Chairman of House Energy and Environment Committee Dennis Hedke (Republican) describes Xcel Energy’s “Colorado Energy Plan” in a letter to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and copied to the Colorado State Senate majority leadership and the Independence Institute. Hedke sent the letter certified mail and […]
Public support for Xcel’s controversial plan? The rest of the story…
By Amy Oliver Cooke with contributor Tyson Thornburg A cursory review of the emails and letters sent to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) seems to indicate significant support for Xcel Energy’s costly and controversial Colorado Energy Plan. Our guess is that’s exactly what Xcel wants the media, the public, and the PUC to believe. […]
Time to put our money where our heart is: NPS fee increase is necessary
By Amy Cooke with contributor Tyson Thornburg My love affair with Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) has been personal and life-changing. Since the park’s creation in 1915, RMNP has been the premier example of Colorado’s natural beauty. Who could blame me or anyone else for treasuring it? It was the Bicentennial, summer 1976. From my 13-year-old […]
Slaying a dragon: Pruitt strikes down the CPP
President Obama and the eco-left’s draconian federal scheme to regulate carbon emissions comes to an end, but Colorado still faces a similar dragon closer to home. I don’t think I’ve ever written this, but thank goodness for the EPA! Well, actually, thank goodness for Administrator Pruitt’s announcement that he will “formally sign a proposal to […]
