Colorado Sun
Colorado needs a new powerline-building authority and its own regional compact for affordable backup supply in order to avoid energy fights like those in Texas and at home over who should pay for pricey impacts from the same cold front, according to legislation backed by bipartisan Senate sponsors.
The proposed law, Senate Bill 72, would also create a faster review for approving vital new transmission projects in Colorado, which critics say are too often blocked by overlapping regulation and lack of cooperation among utilities and communities.
State Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat, and state Sen. Don Coram, a Montrose Republican, call their streamlined power pitch a “multibillion dollar conversation” for Colorado consumers.
Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post
According to Jessica Matlock, CEO of La Plata Electric Association, the cooperative s board is talking to Tri-State Generation and Transmission about producing more of its power locally in part as an economic development opportunity. Two other co-ops, the Delta-Montrose Electric Association and the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in Taos, N.M. have reached agreements to break their contracts.
A little over a year ago, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association released a blueprint for its energy future that was hailed by it and others as transformative. The Colorado-based wholesale power provider, long criticized for reliance on coal, said it would significantly expand its use of renewable energy and slash greenhouse-gas emissions.