Review of December 8 PUC Hearing on HB 1365: PUC Punts
The PUC decided almost nothing during four hours of deliberations yesterday. The two major issues discussed were cost recovery and what to do with the 352 megawatt Cherokee 4 coal fired power plant in Adams county. Regarding cost-recovery, the debate focused on timing. Xcel wants to be paid up front for the investments required to […]
PUC Chair spends lots of time out of the office
Just about the time that Xcel Energy customers have recovered from the sticker shock of this summer’s air conditioner tax, ratepayers await another decision from the Public Utilities Commission on how much more their bills will increase – this time due to HB 1365, the controversial fuel-switching bill. Our paper “Colorado’s Clean Air Clean Jobs […]
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 […]
Why Wouldn’t Wirth Say “New Energy Economy”?
Governor Bill Ritter takes a great deal of pride in having coined the phrase “New Energy Economy” to describe the raft of expensive energy policies his administration has pushed through the General Assembly. Earlier this year in Aspen, for example, Governor Ritter noted that, “If you Google it [the phrase “New Energy Economy], I think […]
Primer for Forthcoming PUC Decision on Boulder’s Smart Grid City
As the Denver Post’s Mark Jaffe noted, sometime soon the PUC is expected to make a major ruling on Boulder’s Smart Grid City (“SCG”), a pilot project for so-called “smart grid” technologies that has been much maligned for costing Xcel three times what the utility had initially estimated. Specifically, the PUC will rule on a […]
Disorder in the Court! Disgusted PUC Staff Threatens To Walk Out over Xcel’s Discovery Gaffe
On Saturday morning, a defiant PUC Staff threatened to walk out of proceedings on the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act unless the PUC agreed to disqualify an accelerated version of Xcel “preferred” HB 1365 implementation plan. This unprecedented outburst was precipitated by the revelation that Xcel had failed to fully comply with a discovery request. […]
Xcel Changes Tune on “Recommended” Plan
A Quick Review of HB 1365… HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, mandates that Xcel file a plan by August 15 2010 that would: be implemented by December 31, 2017; meet “reasonably foreseeable” state and federal air quality regulations; achieve at least 70% reductions in nitrogen oxides emissions from at least 900 megawatts […]
Will Peabody’s Motion Scuttle HB 1365?
A Quick Review of HB 1365… HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, mandates that Xcel file a plan by August 15 2010 that would: be implemented by December 31, 2017; meet “reasonably foreseeable” state and federal air quality regulations; achieve at least 70% reductions in nitrogen oxides emissions from at least 900 megawatts […]
Is CDPHE Cooking the Books on Colorado Ozone? [Update]
Is the Department of Public Health and Environment cooking the books on Colorado ozone? Without explanation, CDPHE plugged 2006 meteorological data into the models it used to project ambient air concentrations of ozone. That’s suspicious, because 2006 just so happens to be the second worst year of Colorado wildfires on record. According to the 2015 […]
Incriminating Emails Suggest Gov Ritter Played Puppet Master on HB 1365
Last Thursday, seven Colorado State Senators sent Governor Bill Ritter a letter demanding that he remove PUC Commissioners Ron Binz and Matt Baker from deliberations on HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act. The Senators’ request is based on almost 70 pages of emails, obtained by the Colorado Mining Association with a Colorado Open […]
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 […]
