Denver’s proposed disposable bag ‘fee’ obviously a tax
Members of the Denver City Council are proposing an ordinance that would impose a 5-cent charge on disposable (paper and plastic) bags used to carry purchases at point of sale at grocery and convenience stores with “over 1500 square feet” of retail space. Proponents call this bag charge a “fee.” But with even a little […]
Colorado’s Competitive Standing to Attract Business
This paper explores a compilation of Colorado rankings from the “2013 State and Business Tax Climate Index.”
Gaylord-style corporate welfare is unconstitutional
By what authority can the state government take tax money out of your pocket and give it away to a private corporation? The answer is that corporate welfare schemes, such as so-called “public-private partnerships,” flagrantly violate the Colorado Constitution.
Not Build It?
The cost of one of Denver’s FasTracks lines has gotten so high that RTD, the transit agency, is actually considering not building it. The press kindly reports the cost of the Longmont-to-Denver “Northwest” commuter-rail line as rising from $895 million to more than $1.7 billion, but that ignores the actual initial cost projections. As the […]
Fast Spending on FasTracks
The projected cost of the Denver-to-Longmont, or Northwest, rail line–one of six approved by Denver-area voters in 2004–has risen from the 2004 estimate of $462 million to $1.4 billion. For all that money, RTD won’t even get to own the rail line, but will merely rent it from BNSF. Moveover, most of the route from […]
Regarding HB 1365, Here Are Two Numbers To Remember
$8 Doesn’t anyone remember the summer of 2008 when natural gas prices spiked to $8 dollar/mmbtu? Currently, coal supplies almost 70% of Xcel’s electricity portfolio; In 2018, thanks to the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, coal will supply less than half, while natural gas’s share will increase to more than 40%. The upshot is that […]
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 […]
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 […]
HB 1365 Update: Independent Power Producers Pitch a Plan That Is Sure To Be Ignored
Primer on HB 1365 Primer on HB 1365 Plans Now in Play Study on the Dubious Foundations of HB 1365 Archive of HB 1365 Posts Independent Power Producers Pitch a Plan That Is Sure To Be Ignored In the course of PUC deliberations on HB 1365, there’s been a long running dispute between Xcel and […]
Review of November 3 PUC Hearing on HB 1365: Xcel Axes Coal, Environmentalist Plans
Review of November 3 PUC Hearing on HB 1365 Primer on the Many Implementation Plans that the PUC Is Considering Primer on HB 1365 Timeline of Implementation Plans Study on the Dubious Foundations of HB 1365 Archive of HB 1365 Posts Oped Last Week in Denver Daily News: Ritter’s Phantom Carbon Tax Xcel Identifies Which […]
Preview of November 3 PUC Hearing on HB 1365
Primer on the Many Implementation Plans that the PUC Is Considering Primer on HB 1365 Timeline of Implementation Plans Study on the Dubious Foundations of HB 1365 Archive of HB 1365 Posts Oped Last Week in Denver Daily News: Ritter’s Phantom Carbon Tax CDPHE Clears Xcel’s Two New Fuel Switching Plans Before the PUC can […]
Confused about All Those HB 1365 Plans? Then This Post Is for You!
There are at least twelve HB 1365 plans being considered by the PUC, and it can get very confusing trying to follow them all. But don’t fret—I’ve done the work for you! Here’s a handy primer on the plans now in play. HB 1365 Requires a Plan, Not Action HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean […]
