Becoming California won’t be cheap
Another summer, another command from Hick on High. Breaking out his best Barack Obama rule-by-executive-fiat pen, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed the erroneously titled “Maintaining Progress on Clean Vehicles” executive order. Load up your Nissan Leaf, the 21st Century family truckster. It’s California or bust! Hick’s two-page executive order has more platitudes than substance and […]
Coopted, corrupted and busted: OCC, regulatory process need fixing
The regulatory space at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is the playground of corporate lawyers, unelected bureaucrats, and well-funded special interest groups. They have “stakeholder” meetings that include only themselves. Then they issue press statements slapping each other on the back for their hard work securing a “settlement” that forces Colorado working families and […]
Public support for Xcel’s controversial plan? The rest of the story…
By Amy Oliver Cooke with contributor Tyson Thornburg A cursory review of the emails and letters sent to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) seems to indicate significant support for Xcel Energy’s costly and controversial Colorado Energy Plan. Our guess is that’s exactly what Xcel wants the media, the public, and the PUC to believe. […]
Slaying a dragon: Pruitt strikes down the CPP
President Obama and the eco-left’s draconian federal scheme to regulate carbon emissions comes to an end, but Colorado still faces a similar dragon closer to home. I don’t think I’ve ever written this, but thank goodness for the EPA! Well, actually, thank goodness for Administrator Pruitt’s announcement that he will “formally sign a proposal to […]
Xcel’s backroom deal likely to screw ratepayers…again
Rumor has it that Colorado’s largest monopoly utility Xcel Energy is about to renege on a 2004 settlement that cost ratepayers dearly. And, Xcel will do it with the Governor John Hickenlooper’s blessing. Why? Because they don’t want to change their Electric Resource Plan (ERP) as I (and likely others) have suggested they should do […]
Hick proves Mark Twain’s quote to be true
Parts of Governor John Hickenlooper’s announcement of his climate change executive order reminded me of Mark Twain’s famous quote: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” Below are some of my favorite Hick quotes followed by my commentary. “We will tap […]
Global warming executive order or corporate welfare program for Xcel or both?
Doing his best Barack Obama rule-by-fiat impersonation, Governor John Hickenlooper signed an Executive Order (EO) to compel Colorado ratepayers to pay for compliance with the Paris Climate Treaty from which President Trump recently withdrew the United States. For someone who follows state level energy and environmental activity, this was a surprise. Usually these things get leaked, […]
The real reason for special session may be blowing in the wind
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Rumor has it that the real reason our banjo picking Governor wants a special session has more to do with industrial wind – meaning his favorite monopoly Xcel Energy – and less to do with fixing our damn roads! Governor John Hickenlooper publicly says he may call a special session “to deal with topics that […]
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 […]
Podesta emails: Fracking ban is ‘an extreme position’
This might be news to the “keep it in the ground” folks, but you aren’t on the Clinton campaign radar, according to recently released Podesta emails. Just prior to Super Tuesday, Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders released an ad in Colorado last saying he is “the only candidate to oppose fracking,” which prompted this response […]
Anti-fracking ballot measures’ failure is a win for Colorado, but it’s only temporary
The announcement today by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office that Initiatives 75 and 78, two anti-energy measures targeting hydraulic fracturing and oil and gas natural resource development and endangering property rights throughout the state failed to gather sufficient signatures to make the November ballot, was certainly welcome news for us at the Independence Institute’s […]
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 […]
