Conclusion: Reflection and New Hope for 2020
Conclusion of our series on the Colorado Green New Deal As the summer ends, it’s time to wrap up our series on the Colorado Green New Deal (CGND). Democrats in the house, senate, and governor’s office have been dedicated to moving the state toward what the Polis Administration describes as a “clean energy future.” This […]
Housing Data Vindicates Extraction Companies
By: Tegan Truitt Sixth blog in our series on the Colorado Green New Deal In Colorado, the number of natural gas wells tripled from about 17,000 in 2004 to around 40,000 by the end of 2017. Crude oil production also spiked in the same time frame, increasing from a meager 114,000 barrels in 2004 to […]
Unjust Transition: The Flawed Moral Reasoning of House Bill 1314
By: Tegan Truitt Fifth blog in our series on the Colorado Green New Deal Last legislative session, the Democrats introduced a series of sweeping environmental bills we are labelling collectively the Colorado Green New Deal (GND). Just like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s infamous proposal, the legislation is haphazard, piecemeal, and riddled with flaws that are as sweeping […]
Xcel Energy’s Versatile, Profitable Carbon Tax
To my knowledge, Colorado is the only state in which regulators allow utilities to incorporate a carbon tax into the economic models used to make resource acquisition decisions (see here and here). Ratepayers can’t see it in their monthly bill, but the tax is used in the models, and the models dictate spending. It’s the […]
Primer: HB 1291, an Illegal Rip-off
What is HB 1291? On Monday, by a 58-7 vote, the Colorado House of Representatives passed HB 1291, legislation that approves the Air Quality Control Commission’s Regional Haze State Implementation Plan. HB 1291 comes before the Senate State Affairs Committee next Tuesday, April 19. What is a Regional Haze State Implementation Plan? In the 1977 […]
The Conservative Case for HB 1240
Republican lawmakers in the General Assembly will have a rare opportunity to repeal an energy tax this Monday, when the House Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to take up Representative Spencer Swalm’s HB 1240. Rep. Swalm’s bill targets a surreptitious energy tax that was authorized by the General Assembly in 2008 with […]
CDPHE’s Regional Haze State Implementation Plan: At Least $100 Million Too Expensive
On January 15, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) submitted to the General Assembly a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to comply with the Regional Haze provision of the Clean Air Act. The General Assembly must approve the SIP before it can be sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for final review. […]
Don’t Let the PUC Hide the Cost of HB 1365
“I have a moderate proposal” was how PUC Chairman Ron Binz introduced his interpretation of cost recovery provisions in HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, legislation that effectively mandates fuel switching from coal to natural gas for almost 1,000 megawatts of base-load electricity generation along the Front Range. It was a very important […]
