Author
Xcel Energy to speed up Colorado’s last scheduled coal plant closure to 2031
The planned shutdown of the last coal-fired power plant scheduled to be operated in Colorado has officially been accelerated — again. In a settlement agreement reached with state officials and environmental groups and filed with the state Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday, Xcel Energy said Unit 3 of its Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo will […]
Rep. Boebert involved in ‘beginning stages’ of White House Jan. 6 planning, ex-aide says
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado was involved in the “beginning stages” of talks with senior White House officials that ultimately led to efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to decertify the 2020 election results, a former top aide told congressional investigators. Cassidy Hutchinson, a former assistant to White House Chief of […]
Passenger rail board’s first meeting begins work on ‘rapidly’ bringing service to Front Range
With a few words uttered over Zoom Friday morning, Colorado transportation officials adjourned the final meeting of one railroad commission and convened the first-ever meeting of another, beginning a new chapter in the state’s long-running efforts to bring passenger rail service to cities along the Front Range. The hybrid meeting marked a changing of the […]
Petition for faster clean-trucks rule rejected by Colorado air commission
Advocates for stronger climate action suffered the latest in a long line of defeats in their efforts to accelerate the pace of Colorado’s greenhouse gas policymaking in a meeting of state air commissioners on Thursday. Members of the Air Quality Control Commission unanimously rejected a petition from environmental justice advocates to reverse a delay in […]
Denver proposes stronger recycling rules to combat climate change, reduce waste
Denver officials on Tuesday laid out plans to nearly double the city’s rate of recycling and composting over the next five years, boosting local efforts that have long lagged behind the national average as part of a broader program to fight climate change. The city’s Sustainable Resource Management Plan is the first comprehensive update to […]
EPA downgrade of Denver to ‘severe’ air quality violator would trigger new emissions rules
Big changes to air pollution rules in the Denver metro area could be on their way after the federal government once again flunked the region for its unhealthy ozone levels. The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday formally proposed to reclassify a nine-county region in and around Denver as a “severe” violator of federal air quality […]
Far-right conspiracy theorists triumphant at Republican state assembly
Joe Oltmann, a far-right conspiracy theorist who in December called for Democratic Gov. Jared Polis to be hanged, was briefly nominated for governor by delegates at the Colorado Republican Party’s state assembly on Saturday. The motion from the floor was seconded by state Rep. Patrick Neville of Castle Rock, a former House minority leader, Colorado […]
Colorado primary candidates advance after Republicans, Democrats hold state party assemblies
Colorado Republican candidates who have promoted baseless claims of election fraud, including one who was recently indicted on felony counts, dominated at the party’s state assembly Saturday. Democrats on Saturday also held their state party assembly, though it was a largely uneventful, since incumbents went mostly unchallenged. The assemblies were the culmination of the grassroots […]
‘Don’t say gay’? LGBTQ references stripped from Colorado academic standards update
A committee tasked with revising Colorado’s K-12 social studies standards to be more inclusive of minority groups will tell the State Board of Education next week that it’s dropped language referring to LGBTQ people from its recommendations for kindergarten to third grade. That’s among the changes made by the 35-member Social Studies Standards Review Committee […]
Extremist election deniers, GOP lawmakers rally outside Colorado Capitol
Local and national leaders of a right-wing movement that seeks to violently overturn the results of the 2020 election rallied outside the Colorado Capitol on Tuesday, rehashing an array of baseless conspiracy theories and telling a crowd of hundreds of supporters that they’re fighting a “spiritual battle” against evil. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a close […]
E-bikes, electric school buses eyed in air-quality proposals ahead of 2022 ozone season
One year after Colorado’s long-running battle with air pollution took another turn for the worse, Gov. Jared Polis joined Democratic lawmakers at the Capitol on Thursday to tout a package of new funding aimed at averting another smog-filled summer in 2022 and beyond. “(This) is a package of bills that is a major step forward,” […]
South Platte River restoration project awarded $350 million in infrastructure bill funds
A long-planned project to restore healthy ecosystems along the South Platte River and two other waterways in central Denver got a major boost from the federal government this week, in the form of $350 million in funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The funding for the South Platte River Project, spearheaded by Denver […]