Colorado Policymakers Looking to Crack Down on Oil & Gas Industry Once Again
Colorado lawmakers and regulators are set to turn their attention back toward a familiar target: the state’s oil and gas industry. On Thursday, Governor Jared Polis announced that he was directing regulators at the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission (COGCC), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), and the Air Quality Control Commission […]
Politicians should trust consumers to choose their own electricity provider
By Grant Mandigora Why should elected officials who won’t be office in 2040 dictate to Colorado ratepayers which energy source their electricity will come from? Democrat gubernatorial candidates Mike Johnston and Jared Polis have pledged that Colorado will generate 100 percent of its power from renewables by 2040, known as the ”100 by 40” plan. […]
Are Industrial Wind Farms Harmful?
Two issues surround whether industrial wind is the healthy alternative energy source some claim it to be. Both issues involve noise created from the constant turning of industrial blades: there is an obvious audible sound and a more subtle infrasound. These sound issues, audible sound and infrasound, are known to cause sleep disturbances and other […]
Legislative Update: hearing highlights, testimony, rent seeking, and reconsideration
SB17-188: “Repeal Income Tax Credit on Innovative Motor Vehicles,” or, as we like to call it the “repeal and repair” bill because money that would go to wealthy electric vehicle owners and corporations will instead be directed to roads and bridges. The bill passed out of Senate Finance on February 28 on a party line […]
PUC 2-1 vote forces utility to model costly social cost of carbon
Colorado Public Utilities Commissioner Frances Koncilja’s concern for ratepayers is limited to the Pueblo area. She is more than willing to load up other low-income Coloradans with additional costs. In a 2-1 vote last Thursday, Koncilja and PUC Chairman Jeff Ackermann ordered the state’s largest monopoly utility to model a $40 per ton social cost […]
Three bad House bills gives Senate GOP opportunity to stand up for ratepayers
For the better part of a decade, Colorado energy policy has been a textbook case of state government selected winners and losers. Ratepayers and working families, at the mercy of Democrat controlled legislature and executive branch, have held the losing hand. While special interest environmental left groups such as Conservation Colorado, the Sierra Club, WildEarth […]
Storing freedom
For as much as Colorado might fancy itself the next Silicon Valley, the state is stuck in a time warp when it comes to electricity service providers. Could a modest bill regarding residential battery storage spark change for 1.4 million Xcel Energy and 93,000 Black Hills Energy ratepayers? Colorado’s investor owned utility (IOU) monopoly model […]
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 […]
EPA social media machine put on hold
This is the first presidential transition of complete social media saturation, and it should come as no surprise that the Trump Administration wants control of social media accounts from activist agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where some staffers have threatened to undermine the new administration. According to an online media report, the […]
Black Hills ratepayers should direct their anger at Xcel Energy
Protests and letters to the editor show just how frustrated Pueblo ratepayers are with rising electricity bills and their service provider Black Hills Corporation. I sympathize with those ratepayers, but their anger is misdirected. The real villains are former Governor Bill Ritter and Colorado’s largest investor utility Xcel Energy. All Colorado ratepayers are paying […]
EPA employees plan resistance to Trump agency reform efforts
Back in November, the Independence Institute previewed what opposition the incoming Trump administration would likely face if campaign pledges to reform and reduce the size and scope of federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Administration, concluding that in many cases, personnel is policy. Newly leaked reports and sources within the agency hint that the personnel […]
Hickenlooper’s executive order on carbon pulled after loss of political cover
Earlier this month Governor John Hickenlooper quashed his own plans for issuing an executive order on carbon emissions for Colorado after nearly six months of speculation and pushback. The original draft plan, as we reported back in August 2016, would have directed “Colorado’s state agencies to implement policies to achieve a minimum 25 percent reduction […]
