Closing power plants

According to a December 27 Gazette article, the Craig coal-fired Unit 1 power plant is being closed at the end of the year and the other two units are scheduled to close in 2028. Closer to Colorado Springs, Comanche 1 coal-fired power plant in Pueblo has already been closed and Comanche 2 was supposed to close at the end of the year, but it is being kept open because Comanche 3 is not fully operational. The December 20 Gazette reported the Colorado Springs Utilities plans to close its coal-fired Nixon power plant by the end of 2029. All of these closures are being required to meet Colorado’s goals to reduce GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions and to decarbonize the power system. Those Colorado goals were established years ago in response to the primary goal of the Global Climate Change initiative: reducing (actually eliminating) fossil-fuel GHG emissions so that the global temperature increase threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius would not be exceeded. The first failure of the Global Climate Change program is that that 1.5 degree threshold has already been exceeded during Summer 2023 and then globally during 2024 and 2025. Thus, the leadership has increased the threshold temperature increase to 2.0 degrees.

The objective of the United Nations COP30 meeting last month had been to receive the next five-year climate change plans from about 200 countries. While about 70 countries had submitted plans for continued, small reductions in GHG emissions, The absence of a plan from the USA and many other countries led to a contentious meeting. Information that China had been renovating and building new coal- and gas-fired power plants at the rate of 100 per year for the last five years had been covered up. Thus, China’s GHG emissions now represent more than 30% of the global emissions. India had also been building coal- and gas-fired power plants that now accounted for 70% of their energy. Similarly, Indonesia had substantial GHG increases during the last five years.

The second failure of the Global Climate Change programs has been the increases in GHG emissions from these three countries have been larger than all of the other countries’ decreases. That is, there are now larger global GHG emissions than there were five years ago. Thus, the conclusion of the COP30 meeting was that further reductions in coal- and gas-fired power plants in those other countries are no longer a requirement of the Global Climate Change program.

Therefore, no further climate change-related closures of power plants are required in Colorado. Rather, implementation of Carbon Capture Storage on all existing and new coal- and gas-fired power plants would be a responsible reduction in GHG emissions. For the Colorado Springs Utilities 2026 Budget, no plan for the Nixon power plant closure, no replacement with a new 12 natural-gas power plant, and no Energy-wise program that doubles the cost during 5 pm to 9 pm weekdays are the conclusion.

Russell Elsberry

Colorado Springs

Trying the same thing repeatedly

Colorado is about to employ the same concepts of commissions, policy, and subsidies to force a very uneconomical transition. Although the comment is wrongly attributed to Albert Einstein, the comment fits the situation …

“Insanity is repeating the same experiment over and over, expecting different results” … Colorado’s present PUC proposes nothing different than the steps that others have already tried, steps that are demonstratively failing.

There is no evidence based on what has happened in other states in the US and in other first world countries in the world today that governments employing policy to reduce the use of fossil fuels and replace them with renewables has resulted in any reduction in the price of electricity or made an impact on earth’s average temperature.

In fact, the more that governments have mandated the use of electricity generated by wind and solar, the higher the price of retail electricity and the larger the government subsidies [and by extension, taxes] are required to execute their decarbonization policies. The cost impact of “decarbonization” on the consumer is becoming unaffordable. In the US, California and the New England states are examples of significantly increased electric rates due to policy-driven reductions in fossil fuel use. In the EU, Germany is leading the decarbonization effort. Germany has one of the highest electricity rates on the continent, their electric grid is unstable during dunkelflaute (German for “dark doldrums”) periods, and its industries are failing due to the cost of energy.

Outside the EU, the UK is a good example of a decarbonization policy driving increasing electric rates, higher taxes to subsidize policy, and failing industries due to the higher cost of energy. Apparently, Colorado’s unelected PUC will probably decide to repeat the experiment.

When unsubsidized retail electricity at the consumer’s meter is more dependable and economical than natural gas at the consumer’s meter, the transition from natural gas to electricity for heating and cooking will occur without any government intervention, increased taxes, increased rates, offsets, assistance, policy changes, or subsidies.

It is an extreme disappointment to see Colorado repeating the same experiment, expecting different results.

Gary Barrett

Colorado Springs

College sports has devolved

I agree with R.J. Gardner’s letter to the editor that the “student athlete” is a thing of the past. He discussed the NIL & transfer portal as killing education for the student athlete. I would like to expand that premise to include the topic of sports betting in college and profesional sports as also contributing to runaway capitalism which has killed any sign of loyalty, character and intellectual development. Some athletes are transferring multiple times in their “4 year college career”! How can they hope to graduate with a college diploma after multiple transfers? Both college and professional sports have evolved into “What’s in it for me now”.

The other issue that should be addressed at this time is the dissolution of college conferences into a complete free for all without any penalties. The traditional concept of NCAA conferences of a finite number of similar, geographically located teams should be reinstated. The Big 10 Conference consists of 18 teams, the Big 12 has 16 teams, and the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conf.) has 17 teams (of which 2 are California teams!). The NCAA Independent teams used to be well over a dozen teams, which has shrunk to only 2 Independents: U Conn and Notre Dame. No longer can a team play all other conference teams when they play up to 15 games each season, yet the College Football Playoffs offer tremendous placement seeding/advantages to Conference Champions over everyone else.

The NIL, Transfer Portal and rampant sports betting at the college and professional level has already killed any hope of an education, school loyalty, and lower their athlete’s character and intellectual development. They will no longer be prepared for real-life situations as an athlete, worker or as a successful person. This has already devolved into recruiting potential athletes at the High School level, and even lower. When athletes and coaches are freely jumping to other schools it destroys continuity in sports.

Jim LeFebvre

Colorado Springs