Colorado Policymakers Looking to Crack Down on Oil & Gas Industry Once Again

Colorado lawmakers and regulators are set to turn their attention back toward a familiar target: the state’s oil and gas industry. On Thursday, Governor Jared Polis announced that he was directing regulators at the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission (COGCC), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), and the Air Quality Control Commission […]
The socialization of Colorado’s auto market

With the swipe of their pens, Governor John Hickenlooper started, and Governor Jared Polis is completing what is essentially the socialization of Colorado’s automobile market. Through two executive orders, the Governors have directed the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) to follow California’s emissions standard that includes mandating […]
Irresponsible by ratepayers: Is Xcel floating legislation for mandated CO version of CPP?

If it’s devious and being done behind closed doors, it must be Xcel Energy. Late Friday, two reliable sources independently sent me a copy of what appears to be draft legislation that the monopoly investor-owned utility is quietly shopping around the Gold Dome, in search of a sponsor. Xcel’s name isn’t anywhere on the draft, […]
Dirty secret: EPA & CDPHE coercion, not collaboration, led to CO methane rules

Just as President Trump and new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt begin dialing back Obama-era regulations, Governor John Hickenlooper is erroneously trying to paint Colorado’s “model” methane rules as some sort of industry-environmental Kumbaya. A week ago Sunday on Meet the Press the Democrat and possible 2020 presidential campaign contender told host […]
Elections have consequences: Wonder if Dr. Wolk has changed his mind?

Remember when Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) chief Dr. Larry Wolk told the Denver Post‘s Vincent Carroll that his agency was “the conduit for the EPA”? The response followed a question from attorney Ray Gifford that Carroll then posed to Wolk in the context of President Obama’s controversial Clean Power Plan (CPP) […]
2017 Colorado Energy Outlook

In the wake of one of the most surprising electoral outcomes in recent memory, we here at the Independence Institute have been assessing what the next few months, the 2017 Colorado legislative session, and the general future of energy policy in Colorado will look like under a President-elect Trump administration and a split legislature with […]
Huisman: CDPHE plows ahead; implementation model ignores cost of Clean Power Plan
On Monday February 22nd, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s (CDPHE) Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) held a public meeting to discuss the status of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which the U.S. Supreme Court officially stayed on February 9th. The agenda for this previously scheduled meeting was modified in order to […]
February 23 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Conflicting views over Colorado CPP prep; Gold King Mine persists for Navajo Nation
An E&E story ‘Colo. steps back from crafting formal plan for EPA rule’ might give readers pause, thinking that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment was backing off its previous statement to proceed with “prudent” Clean Power Plan development even as a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court was in effect (paywall): Colorado […]
February 18 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Costly Clean Power Plan event video; EPA Animas River spill gets Congressional scrutiny; fracking ban off 2016 ballot
The Independence Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute joined forces on February 16 in Denver to provide an update on the Environmental Protection Agency’s costly Clean Power Plan, including where the rule stands with regard to the U.S. Supreme Court stay issued earlier in February, as well as the impact of the death of Associate […]
Victory for II Legal Action

Validation for Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and relief for ratepayers. We applaud the SCOTUS decision.
February 11 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: SCOTUS stay on Clean Power Plan edition
Join us Tuesday, February 16 at noon as the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Independence Institute discuss the latest on the EPA’s Clean Power Plan/111d rule, including the SCOTUS stay issued this week. Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, and Raymond Gifford, a partner at the law firm Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer, LLP and a […]
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment plans to ignore SCOTUS stay, proceed with Clean Power Plan implementation
From the CDPHE website, calling the decision to proceed on developing implementation despite the stay issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on the Clean Power Plan, while litigation is proceeding, as a “prudent” move: Statement on U.S. Supreme Court Decision Regarding the Clean Power Plan Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court stayed the U.S. Environmental […]