Time for Colorado Energy Office to receive more than an audit

The Colorado Energy Office continues to show some irregularities in its spending and handling of tens of millions of dollars, according to a newly released performance audit. A 2011 Independence Institute investigation of the CEO, formerly the Governor’s Energy Office, sparked the call for a 2012 audit by the Office of the State Auditor that […]
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 […]
The ‘War On Coal’ threatens a sleepy Colorado mining town
(Craig Station, Moffat County, Colorado. Photo: Michael Sandoval) CRAIG, Colo. — Coal, from extraction to use as a generation source, forms the literal bedrock of Craig. (Welcome to Craig. Photo: Michael Sandoval) The past few years have shaken the once quiet town, as an onslaught of federal government regulations and actions by environmental activists bent […]
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 […]
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 […]
February 4 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Local governments face production-related revenue downturn; more red tape sought for resource development; Wyoming’s cautionary tale
Pushing for bans on fracking or other measures to limit responsible natural resource development will only exacerbate problems at the local level, putting education, infrastructure, and other critical services at risk, on top of the drop noted here in the Denver Post due to commodity prices tanking: Because 97 percent of Platte Valley’s budget comes […]
February 4 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Local governments face production-related revenue downturn; more red tape sought for resource development; Wyoming's cautionary tale
Pushing for bans on fracking or other measures to limit responsible natural resource development will only exacerbate problems at the local level, putting education, infrastructure, and other critical services at risk, on top of the drop noted here in the Denver Post due to commodity prices tanking: Because 97 percent of Platte Valley’s budget comes […]
January 27 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: COGCC rulemaking pleases no one; anti-fracking measures disastrous for Colorado economy; pushing back against Clean Power Plan
Even small changes to oil and gas regulations can have deep and damaging effects on Colorado’s economy, according to researchers at the University of Colorado: A statewide, 2,000-foot buffer zone between drilling rigs and homes, schools and businesses would take a hammer to Colorado’s oil and gas industry, already reeling from low commodity prices, as […]