Unserved rural homes and businesses may finally get broadband thanks to $250 million in federal spending. But after looking at the maps, some have their doubts the money will reach its goal Tamara Chuang4:03 AM MST on Dec 10, 2020 Credibility: Original Reporting Sources Cited Elon Musk’s SpaceX is coming to Colorado. Sort of. The California aerospace firm was among …
Vibrant Clean Energy study argues for energy imbalance markets and regional transmission to lower costs
November 2, 2020 by Allen Best Lowering electricity bills in Colorado: Study makes the case to Colorado legislators and others about the benefits to consumers of advanced energy markets https://www.vibrantcleanenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CO-EIM-Options-Report.pdf Powerpoint: https://www.vibrantcleanenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CO-EIM-Options-Presentation.pdf by Allen Best A new study commissioned by two electrical cooperatives in Colorado makes the case again for developed markets and coordinated transmission of electricity both through energy imbalance markets …
Gas Interests Threaten Local Authority in 6 States
January 19, 2021 Alejandra Mejia and Kimi Narita, NRDC https://www.nrdc.org/experts/alejandra-mejia/gas-interests-threaten-local-authority-6-states Continuing last year’s worrisome trend, efforts to strip local communities of decision-making authority over the health impacts and cost of their future homes and buildings have been introduced in several state legislatures. If adopted, these bills could hamstring local government’s ability to lead in the fight against local air pollution and …
Gov. Polis claims Colorado has already achieved a 40% GHG reduction ahead of milestones
And thus that analysis provided by third-party entities on Colorado’s lack of progress and need to phase out coal by 2025 or stop expanding fossil fuel production are irrelevant… Polis did say the roadmap calls on the Public Utilities Commission, for example, to make the target 80% reduction in electric power emissions by 2030 a “floor” rather than the ceiling, and Polis …
People of Colorado v. the State
The state relies on the Suncor polluters to tell it what’s happening. In so doing, it holds fast to the neoliberal playbook of putting corporate interests and profits before people’s health and wellbeing. Suncor has a state permit to emit 800,000 tons of pollutants a year. That is equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions from 174,000 cars on the streets …
Butchering the Mythic West
Manifest destiny, the concept coined by newspaper editor John O’Sullivan, a proponent of annexing Texas, called on early American citizens and settlers to claim their right to land from coast to coast. As a doctrine, it depended on the notions that white Americans were morally superior, that these white Americans had a mission to spread our institutions as far across …
10th Circuit: EPA must revisit Colo. smog plan
A federal appeals court has ordered EPA to go back to the drawing board on its smog plan for Colorado. The Denver skyline is pictured. Visit Denver Pamela King, E&E News reporter, Jan 6, 2021 EPA must go back to work on its approval of a plan to address smog and acid rain in Colorado after a ruling yesterday from …
Zombie mines idle cleanup while workers suffer in limbo
https://publicintegrity.org/environment/while-zombie-mines-idle-cleanup-and-workers-suffer-in-limbo/, excerpt 2020 U.S. coal production has fallen by a third in the past decade, and temporary cessation has emerged as an escape route for cash-strapped owners. One in five non-abandoned coal mines now sits idle. Hoops’ companies have idled coal operations more often and for longer than nearly anyone, and the Blackjewel and Revelation bankruptcy proceedings offer a master …
CU Boulder RASEI Decarbonization Report December 2020
Jeffrey Logan, associate director for policy and analysis at RASEI and co-author of the report, each sector contains policy options that offer practical building blocks for federal, state and local government decision-makers. https://www.colorado.edu/today/2020/12/16/report-outlines-solutions-curbing-us-carbon-emissions Researchers at CU Boulder’s Renewable & Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) on Thursday released a report outlining key steps the U.S. can take to drive carbon dioxide emissions to zero. …
Transitioning away from coal means more jobs in Colorado and beyond
Excerpt, Nov 30 2020, Colorado Sun, Susan Atkinson https://coloradosun.com/2020/11/30/fossil-fuels-clean-energy-opinion/ Coal-industry employment has been shrinking for years, mainly because of mechanization, not regulation. In 1980, producing 100 tons of coal per hour required 52 miners; by 2015 that number dropped to 16. Even though more coal was being mined, coal mining lost 58% of its jobs between 1980 and 2015. In 2018, there …