Big Pivots

1 week ago | realvail.com | Allen Best |Big Pivots

Colorado has a new data center in Aurora, near I-70 and E-470, that by almost any calculation falls under the heading of “mega.” There is considerable evidence of others planned on land near DIA and perhaps elsewhere (photo/Allen Best). Colorado’s electrical utilities and supporters cried foul a few weeks ago about a bill being prepared for introduction in the final weeks of this legislative session.

1 month ago | realvail.com | Allen Best |Big Pivots

Colorado sends four Democrats and four Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives. Of them, Jeff Hurd, a Republican from Grand Junction, and Gabe Evans, a Republican from Fort Lupton, will be the most interesting to watch during the next two years. These two representatives, both new to Congress in January, were among 21 Republican signatories in the House to a letter calling for restraint in efforts to gut the Inflation Reduction Act.

2 months ago | kiowacountypress.net | Allen Best |Big Pivots

State Senator Larry Liston, a Republican from El Paso County, has carried a lonely torch during the last two legislative sessions. His bills that proposed to classify nuclear energy as “clean” in Colorado went exactly nowhere. This year’s nuclear bill has a different look. It has four prime sponsors, two of them Democrats. And it comes after warnings about rapidly escalating electrical demand for data centers. House Bill 25-1040 will get its first committee hearing on Thursday afternoon.

Nov 2, 2024 | realvail.com | Allen Best |Big Pivots

Colorado aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 and achieve net-zero by 2050. Would a second Donald Trump presidency frustrate those ambitions? Not entirely. The energy transition train has already left the station. Colorado has become a national leader in transforming our energy systems, beginning with how we produce electricity. No president can stop that. The economics of renewable energy are too compelling.

Oct 9, 2024 | kiowacountypress.net | Allen Best |Big Pivots

Life beyond coal for Colorado begins in 2031. By then, Xcel Energy will have closed its last coal-burning unit, Comanche 3. What will Xcel do next? We’ll find out October 15 when Xcel submits its Pueblo Just Transition electric resource plan. It’s called that because Xcel, as a monopoly, has been ordered by state regulators to examine how it can also assist Pueblo, site of the closed coal plant, with new tax base and jobs in this next phase of the energy transition.