NW Colorado wants public hearings on Xcel coal-power plans
Denver Business Journal - by Cathy Proctor
Public hearings are needed to decide how Xcel Energy Inc. will determine which of its Front Range coal-fired power plants will be shut down or switched to natural gas, according to several local governments in northwestern Colorado.
Those governments -- including county commissions in Moffat, Routt and Rio Blanco counties -- filed an emergency petition Wednesday with the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission seeking public hearings on the matter.
They're worried that shutting down Front Range coal plants, or switching them to run on natural gas, will cost jobs in their communities, said the local authorities' attorney, Paul Seby with Denver-based Moye White LLP.
The petition will be heard at the commission's next hearing, on July 15, Seby said.
Minneapolis-based Xcel (NYSE: XEL) -- Colorado's largest power utility -- is supposed to file a plan outlining which coal plants will be shuttered or switched to natural gas with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission by Aug. 13.
Xcel's coal plants collectively generate about 900 megawatts of power.
The petition seeks public hearings on what criteria will be used to craft Xcel's plan.
It takes aim at the process of implementing HB 1365, the "Clean Air-Clean Jobs" act signed by Gov. Bill Ritter on April 19. The act requires Xcel to cut nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 80 percent from several of its Front Range coal plants by the end of 2017 in order to meet anticipated federal regulations on emissions levels.
The act says Xcel and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) should work together to figure out emissions requirements.
"Different people are going to have different views on what those requirements might be," Seby said. "So you need to have a process with input from people and then make a decision, instead of letting the staff and Xcel decide. It needs to be public and they're not planning on it being public."
On June 2, Attorney General John Suthers told the PUC in a filing that the CDPHE didn't have time to include the PUC's staff in those meetings between Xcel and the health department.
"With all due respect, [PUC] staff does not have the expertise to contribute to the CDPHE's assessment of state and federal air quality requirements ... and CDPHE does not have the time and resources to educate, explain, and discuss with staff or any of the other intervenors such assessments at this time," Suthers said in the filing.
cproctor@bizjournals.com
