EPA’s Ozone Decision Means That HB 1365 Is Most Cost-Ineffective Environmental Policy, Ever
The putative mission of HB 1365 is for Colorado to address “reasonably foreseeable” federal air quality regulations in a holistic fashion, which is supposedly more cost-effective than a piece-meal approach. When it rolled out the legislation, the Ritter administration told the PUC that there were eleven “current and foreseeable air quality requirements (see slides 13 […]
PUC Chair spends lots of time out of the office
Just about the time that Xcel Energy customers have recovered from the sticker shock of this summer’s air conditioner tax, ratepayers await another decision from the Public Utilities Commission on how much more their bills will increase – this time due to HB 1365, the controversial fuel-switching bill. Our paper “Colorado’s Clean Air Clean Jobs […]
Heading into HB 1365 Crunch Time, A Rundown of Who Is Hoping for What
As reported yesterday by Mark Jaffe in the Denver Post, the PUC on Monday partially ruled on Xcel’s HB 1365 implementation plan. Nothing controversial was determined; instead, the PUC approved elements that were common to all of the plans “on the table.”* The disputed subject matter was left for today—namely, what is to be done […]
Why Wouldn’t Wirth Say “New Energy Economy”?
Governor Bill Ritter takes a great deal of pride in having coined the phrase “New Energy Economy” to describe the raft of expensive energy policies his administration has pushed through the General Assembly. Earlier this year in Aspen, for example, Governor Ritter noted that, “If you Google it [the phrase “New Energy Economy], I think […]
Primer for Forthcoming PUC Decision on Boulder’s Smart Grid City
As the Denver Post’s Mark Jaffe noted, sometime soon the PUC is expected to make a major ruling on Boulder’s Smart Grid City (“SCG”), a pilot project for so-called “smart grid” technologies that has been much maligned for costing Xcel three times what the utility had initially estimated. Specifically, the PUC will rule on a […]
Response to Senator Tim Wirth's Denver Post Column on Colorado's "Clean Energy Economy"
On Tuesday November 30, former Colorado Senator Tim Wirth wrote an op-ed for the Denver Post on Colorado’s “Clean Energy Economy.” The article, titled, “Leading the way to a sustainable energy future,” is mostly wrong. To wit, he suggested that the 2010 Clean Air Clean Jobs Act (CACJA), legislation that effectively requires fuel switching from […]
Can CDPHE Be Trusted To Measure Ozone?
Earlier this month, I asked whether CDPHE (a.k.a., “the Department”) is cooking the books on Colorado ozone. In particular, it struck me as suspicious that the Department used data from 2006, an anomalously active wildfire season, as inputs for models used to project ambient air concentrations of ozone through 2020. You can read all about […]
Disorder in the Court! Disgusted PUC Staff Threatens To Walk Out over Xcel’s Discovery Gaffe
On Saturday morning, a defiant PUC Staff threatened to walk out of proceedings on the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act unless the PUC agreed to disqualify an accelerated version of Xcel “preferred” HB 1365 implementation plan. This unprecedented outburst was precipitated by the revelation that Xcel had failed to fully comply with a discovery request. […]
Xcel Changes Tune on “Recommended” Plan
A Quick Review of HB 1365… HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, mandates that Xcel file a plan by August 15 2010 that would: be implemented by December 31, 2017; meet “reasonably foreseeable” state and federal air quality regulations; achieve at least 70% reductions in nitrogen oxides emissions from at least 900 megawatts […]
Will Peabody’s Motion Scuttle HB 1365?
A Quick Review of HB 1365… HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, mandates that Xcel file a plan by August 15 2010 that would: be implemented by December 31, 2017; meet “reasonably foreseeable” state and federal air quality regulations; achieve at least 70% reductions in nitrogen oxides emissions from at least 900 megawatts […]
HB 1365 Update: Roundup of Arguments on Xcel's Four New Plans
A Quick Review of HB 1365… HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, mandates that Xcel file a plan by August 15 2010 that would: be implemented by December 31, 2017; meet “reasonably foreseeable” state and federal air quality regulations; achieve at least 70% reductions in nitrogen oxides emissions from at least 900 megawatts […]
New Mexico Governor Rips a Page from the Ritter Playbook
There is no more dangerous an individual than an ambitious lame duck Governor like Colorado’s Bill Ritter or New Mexico’s Bill Richardson. With nothing to lose politically, such executives are free to entrench unpopular policies via the regulatory state. Of course, NO ONE understands the impossibly arcane mechanics of the regulatory bureaucracy, so these Governors’ […]
