Elections have consequences: Wonder if Dr. Wolk has changed his mind?
Remember when Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) chief Dr. Larry Wolk told the Denver Post‘s Vincent Carroll that his agency was “the conduit for the EPA”? The response followed a question from attorney Ray Gifford that Carroll then posed to Wolk in the context of President Obama’s controversial Clean Power Plan (CPP) […]
Elections have consequences: Xcel owes ratepayers a new plan
“Elections have consequences, and at the end of the day, I won.” – President Obama to House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, January 23, 2009 The same is true in 2016 with President-elect Donald J. Trump who promised to kill the controversial and likely illegal “Clean Power Plan” (CPP). Now Xcel Energy and the Colorado Public […]
Ratepayer Coalition opposes Xcel Energy’s proposed settlement on Rush Creek
Xcel Energy announced that the company reached a settlement with multiple intervening parties on the Rush Creek Wind Farm. Xcel needed the settlement to keep on its already greatly compressed time line as the Denver Post reported on September 6, “The settlement between Xcel Energy and multiple parties heads off three days of hearings before the Colorado Public […]
Xcel Energy, PUC, and OCC are Irresponsible by Ratepayers
By Amy Oliver Cooke and Michael Sandoval Is it time to eliminate the Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) and elect our Commissioners who serve on the Public Utilities Commission (PUC)? Maybe. Our recent insider perspective on the so-called approval process by supposedly neutral regulators leaves us pondering that very question. The most recent Xcel Energy […]
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 […]
Seizing power: Hick may issue exec order to slash emissions
Developing story One of the worst kept secrets in Colorado energy policy circles finally is public thanks to PoliticoPro. Governor John Hickenlooper has floated a draft executive order to slash carbon emissions from the power generating sector by 35 percent by 2030, as compared to 2012 levels. Doing his best President Obama impersonation, the Governor […]
The ‘War On Coal’ threatens a sleepy Colorado mining town
(Craig Station, Moffat County, Colorado. Photo: Michael Sandoval) CRAIG, Colo. — Coal, from extraction to use as a generation source, forms the literal bedrock of Craig. (Welcome to Craig. Photo: Michael Sandoval) The past few years have shaken the once quiet town, as an onslaught of federal government regulations and actions by environmental activists bent […]
Two sloppy mistakes poison Xcel’s well of public support and entire Rush Creek application
By John Knetemann and contributors Xcel Energy’s well of public support for the Rush Creek Wind Farm, a $1.1 billion, 95,000-acre wind farm boondoggle on Colorado’s Eastern Plains appears to be poisoned. Conventional wisdom says Xcel’s application along with the so-called public approval process via the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for the Rush Creek Wind […]
Press release: Xcel Energy, irresponsible by nature and ratepayers?
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For immediate release July 6, 2016 Contact: Michael Sandoval 303-279-6536, ext. 124 michael@i2i.org Contact: Amy Cooke 303-279-6536, ext. 107 amy@i2i.org Don’t Rush ‘Rush Creek’: Xcel’s wind project irresponsible by nature, think tank study says DENVER, Colo — Colorado ratepayers and taxpayers face uncertainty if the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) grants expedited approval on Xcel Energy’s […]
Update on the BLM’s fracking regulations: White House response
By John Knetemann Last Wednesday, an Obama-appointed Federal judge rejected the Bureau of Land Management’s new regulations on hydraulic fracturing. During a press briefing at the White House, the first question asked was on this ruling. Press Secretary Josh Earnest responded with the following: Well, my understanding is that this is something that will be […]
Smack down: Bureau of Land Management fracking regulations rejected
By John Knetemann All the Bureau of Land Management has is a hammer, and everything to them is a nail. Today, Wyoming federal judge Scott Skavdahl rejected the Bureau of Land Management’s new fracking rules published under the name “Oil and Gas; Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands.” According to the Bureau of Land […]
May 2 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Supreme Court rules on fracking bans; ALA report on ozone misleading; some officials want all the regulations
Craig Power Station in Craig, Colorado The Colorado Supreme Court’s long-awaited ruling on local fracking bans and moratoria has upheld long standing precedent: The Colorado Supreme Court today upheld decades of state law that places authority over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, squarely in the hands of state officials. The court ruled in a pair of […]
