COLORADO SPRINGS–El Paso has become the second Colorado county to reject Xcel Energy’s permitting request for a massive new power-line project intended to connect wind and solar energy generated on the Eastern Plains to metro Denver-area communities. The billion-dollar-plus project is an important element of Gov. Polis’ ambitious 100% renewable energy mandate for the state.
The vote against Xcel’s Colorado Power Pathway project comes hot on the heels of neighboring Elbert County’s rejection of the energy monopoly’s permit request there last month.
With neither of the counties even being served by Xcel as an energy provider, the sentiment seems to be that the project brings no real benefit to their respective communities.
According to Kerry Jiblits, with the Elbert County Environmental Alliance, the 550 mile-long project would decrease property values, negatively impact the heavily animal trafficked migration corridor, and come within 80 feet of some people’s homes.
Jiblits was interviewed on a recent episode of Independence Institute’s* energy podcast, PowerGab. “They have not conceded anything to Elbert County residents,” Jiblits said. “There is absolutely no benefit to Elbert County.”
The $1.7 project is intended to “improve the state’s electric grid and enable future renewable energy development around the state,” according to Excel’s website. Construction has partially begun across the 12 county-long stretch through eastern Colorado. Segment 5, encompassing Elbert, El Paso, and Arapahoe counties remains a point of conflict with the El Paso Board of County Commissioners unanimously rejecting the land use permit last Thursday.
Xcel may take Elbert County to court over the matter and has threatened landowners there with eminent domain. Amy Cooke, the Institute’s energy policy director and co-host of Power Gab, says this threat to property owners is intended to override local decision making,
“El Paso and Elbert counties rejected the project because it offers their residents no benefits—only costs,” Cooke told Complete Colorado. “Xcel’s threats to the counties shows just how far Governor Polis, the progressive left majority in the legislature, and the Public Utilities Commission are willing to go to satisfy an ideological agenda, no matter the impact on rural communities or ratepayers.”
In the Thursday hearing, El Paso commissioners expressed concerns for wildfire hazards, as well as the potential for “undergrounding” the power lines for less risk, to which developers said the cost would outweigh the benefits.
Xcel had already filed condemnation proceedings on several affected landowners in El Paso County as of June 17, according to county documents.
* Independence Institute is publisher of Complete Colorado.
