Retiring Xcel CEO ‘OK if no more coal’ after investing $1 billion-plus on Comanche 3 plant

“I’d be OK if there were never any more coal,” says retiring Xcel Energy CEO Dick Kelly, who invested more than $1 billion in Pueblo’s coal-fired Comanche 3 power plant. Leslie Glustrom of Boulder-based Clean Energy Action puts the interview “in the vein of ‘I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.’ Burritos are only $3 mistakes and the indigestion lasts for a day. Coal plants are $1 billion mistakes and the ‘indigestion’ lasts for decades.”

Bill to stall closure of Xcel coal-fired power plant fizzles late in session

Lawmakers earlier this week pulled the plug on a bill aimed at stalling the closure of Xcel Energy’s aging and inefficient Cameo Station coal-fired power plant east of Grand Junction.

House Bill 1282, introduced late in the legislative session that…

A contrast in styles: Protesting energy policies in New York, Colorado

If it seems like it was just a few months ago when Xcel Energy was asking for a nearly $160 million rate increase – and drawing polite protests like the one pictured here in downtown Denver – that’s because…

Xcel seeks nearly $180 million rate hike to cover coal-fired Comanche 3

Xcel Energy’s rate-case hearing before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission runs through the end of the week, with some wags saying the state’s largest utility intentionally asks for too much ($177.4 million) so the PUC can lop off $30…

Company withdraws Hunter Canyon-area mine application

The company proposing an underground coal mine west of Grand Junction in Mesa and Garfield counties has pulled its permit application with the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety because of new requirements by the U.S. Bureau of Land…

San Miguel electric co-op goes green in most recent board election

At least one Colorado rural electric co-ops is leaning greener this week after a pro-renewable candidate, former Telluride Mountain Village Mayor Rube Felicelli, beat out incumbent Tony Forrest for a board seat on the San Miguel Power Association.

Ski-country electric co-op prez hit for anti-Ice Age, pro-coal rhetoric

Holy Cross Energy, viewed by many as one of the most progressive rural electric co-ops in the state, isn’t nearly forward-thinking enough for some renewable-energy advocates looking to oust longtime president of the board Tom Turnbull, a Carbondale-area rancher.

In a little-publicized board election to be determined June 5, Turnbull is being targeted by Glenwood Springs businessman and Carbondale resident Marshall Foote, who has the endorsement of the most environmentally aggressive ski company in the state, Aspen SkiCo.

Ritter, Suthers set aside partisanship to fight air pollution

The only things missing from the ozone-busting tag team of Gov. Bill Ritter and Attorney General John Suthers are Mexican wrestling masks to completely shield their partisan identities.

The state’s chief executive and chief lawyer have teamed up to fight the belching coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant and the planned Desert Rock plant located just over the state’s southwestern border with New Mexico.