All Posts Tagged With: "coal-fired plants"

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West Slope Miners Protest Coal Bill

“You might wonder why I got all the applause,” he said speaking to a crowd of hundreds. “It’s (because) I’m just one of the coal miners here. I’m one of the ones … afraid this bill is going to do away with my job.” Winey was one of several coal miners who spoke to members of the Colorado PUC yesterday in Grand Junction during a public input session on the fallout of the Clean Air, Clean Jobs Act.

31Aug2010 | admin | 1 comment | Continued
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Xcel Lays Out Plan for Natural Gas Conversion of Metro Denver Power Plants

The proposal from the state’s largest utility, which still faces months of public input at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, would phase out coal-fired generators in Denver and Boulder — like the contentious Valmont facility pictured — and retool most units to run on cleaner natural gas.

17Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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EPA Tackles Coal Ash with Hearing in Denver

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected Denver as one of five sites for public hearings scheduled nationwide on proposed rules for coal ash from power plants. The meeting will take place on September 2nd at the Grand Hyatt on Welton Street.

26Jul2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Regional Perspective —
A Tale of Two Coal-Fired Plants

The close links between mining and energy production are hardly limited to Illinois. Big coal has a big interest in seeing a new Sunflower plant built in Kansas. Colorado’s Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has promised to purchase electricity from Kansas and numbers Sunflower among its members.

14Jul2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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In Their Own Words — Hickenlooper Vs. McInnis Transcript

McInnis: We have so many Colorado products, we have such a great future ahead if, in fact, we get the right leadership in place. Whether it’s clean coal, whether it’s solar, natural gas. Now we’ve got significant oil finds.

30Jun2010 | admin | 1 comment | Continued
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Commentary: Colorado’s Big Carbon Spill

In recent weeks, Xcel has begun full operation of the new 750 MW coal plant in Pueblo. While Pueblo bears all of the pollution from the coal plant, essentially all of the electricity will be used in places like Denver and Boulder; Pueblo, already the home of two other Xcel coal plants, gets almost none of the electricity.

27May2010 | admin | 2 comments | Continued
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Ritter Signs Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act Into Law

The measure brought together an unusual coalition of supporters that are normally on opposite sides of the issues, including the Governor’s biggest Republican critic, Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry of Grand Junction, and the state’s natural-gas industry.

19Apr2010 | admin | 2 comments | Continued
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State’s Fuel Switching Ignites Heated Debate

Underlying supporters’ argument that the impact on ratepayers would be relatively minimal is an assumption that utilities could obtain long-term natural gas supply contracts — but that hasn’t been the norm between power companies and natural gas producers.

6Apr2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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State Senate Gives Preliminary Approval
to Coal Plant Measure

Utilities that own coal-fired power plants would be be required to submit plans to the Public Utilities Commission by Aug. 15 on an emissions-reduction plan that covers 900 megawatts or 50 percent of the utility’s generating capacity, whichever is less. The measure received support from all but three Democrats, and only three Republican votes.

31Mar2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Colorado Coal Fight Could See Repeat at Nation’s Capital

A fight in the state legislature over a bill that could require the state’s largest utility to switch from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas may be a precursor to a bigger battle in Washington over climate legislation.

25Mar2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act Generating
Widespread Support

“Republicans and Democrats, power companies and energy producers, doctors and conservationists all have worked together to craft this smart, clean air solution for Colorado,” said Vickie Patton, a senior clean air attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund.

22Mar2010 | admin | 3 comments | Continued
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Governor Urges Lawmakers to Back
Coal Plant Measure

Momentum for House Bill 1365 continued this week as the House Transportation and Energy Committee voted 10-1 to endorse the measure, after Gov. Ritter encouraged members to back a framework for retiring or retrofitting coal-fired power plants along the Front Range, which is called for in the proposed legislation.

22Mar2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Preempt EPA Emission Rules for Front Range

The bipartisan legislation seeks to replace coal-fired power plants with cleaner-gas driven facilities. Supporters hope it will boost the state’s NG industry and prevent the EPA from imposing emission rules of its own for bringing the Front Range into compliance with federal clean air standards.

16Mar2010 | admin | 4 comments | Continued
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Viewpoint: The Billion Dollar Block of Concrete

The insider joke is that utilities always want to build the next “billion dollar block of concrete” — not for the power, but because it can be added to their “rate base” and thus earn these returns. Why is their return on capital far higher than you or I can make on a secure investment?

13Mar2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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IGCC Technology in a Reduced Carbon World — GE Energy Makes Its Case

This plant could become a model for new power generating facilities worldwide and help position the United States as a leader in low carbon power generation,” said Jonathan Briggs, regional director of the Americas for Hydrogen Energy.

17Nov2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Westmoreland Coal’s Losses Grow

The Colorado Springs-based energy company reported its losses for the quarter jumped to $12.4 million from $3.49 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue fell 20.5 percent to $112.4 million during the same period.

10Nov2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
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