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Housing costs top list of Colorado voters’ concerns, poll finds
Growing concerns among Coloradans about the high cost of living are being driven in large part by worries over rising housing costs, a poll released Monday by the Colorado Health Foundation found. Nearly a third of Coloradans fear they could lose their homes in the next year because they can’t afford rent or mortgage payments, […]
Climate-friendly transportation standards required for Colorado metro areas under new state policy
Colorado transportation officials on Thursday endorsed the state’s most detailed plan yet to shift billions in funding away from high-polluting road and highway projects and towards public transit and other more climate-friendly options. The state Transportation Commission voted unanimously to approve a policy directive containing detailed implementation plans for the state’s new greenhouse gas standards, […]
Colorado wildfires: Updates on the 2022 season
When Colorado lawmakers and emergency officials gave an update in April ahead of the 2022 wildfire season, their assessment was grim. “We may very well be heading into the worst fire season in our state’s history,” Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Democrat from Boulder, said at a news conference at the Capitol. “I hope I […]
Colorado judge rules defamation suit against Joe Oltmann, FEC United can proceed to trial
A Colorado judge has ruled that a defamation lawsuit by a former employee of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems against a network of far-right conspiracy theorists tied to former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign can proceed to trial, rejecting the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case. In a 136-page ruling issued Friday, Judge Marie Avery Moses […]
Climate, environmental bills survive legislative ‘gauntlet’ at session’s end
A suite of environmental bills were among the measures that won passage in the chaotic final days of Colorado’s 2022 legislative session. Democratic-backed legislation to better regulate toxic air pollution, improve Colorado’s dismal recycling rates and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings all won approval from lawmakers and are headed to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk, […]
Colorado’s legislative session has a 120-day limit. It wasn’t always that way.
The final weeks of Colorado’s 2022 legislative session, which is constitutionally required to end by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, have seen Republican lawmakers escalate stall tactics aimed at running out the clock on legislation being considered by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. “The minority caucus over (in the House) is not a group of people that […]
Time running out for ‘must pass’ air pollution bill opposed by business groups
A coalition of environmental and community groups is urging Colorado lawmakers to back a “must pass” air pollution bill, as the clock winds down on the legislative session and a host of powerful corporate interests quietly mobilize against it. The House of Representatives passed House Bill 22-1244 on a 41-24 vote Friday, with all Democrats […]
As coal burning goes away in Colorado, money for coal workers goes up
Lawmakers in the Colorado General Assembly are poised to pass another round of funding for the state’s efforts to ensure a “just transition” for coal workers impacted by the shift to clean energy — and are again winning bipartisan support for the workforce and community grant programs that Republicans once decried as “Orwellian,” “egregious” and “offensive.” […]
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 […]