Ditch our franchise with Xcel, pursue the Muni
The best solution to prevent powerline fires, and to lower electric costs, is for everyone where practical to have home solar and some battery storage, so if powerlines are turned off most have some home electricity. This is what Germany incentivized with “feed-in tariffs” to pay homeowners higher than market rate for excess electricity they sent to the grid. On Feb 15, Xcel’s President testified to Boulder City Council that only one third of power cost is for generation, and 2/3 is for transmission and distribution! If our money was being used to subsidize home solar mostly instead of big solar and wind projects and MULTI-BILLION transmission/distribution projects, we could ride out being isolated by powerline shutdowns and save up to 2/3 of our bills! But, since Xcel is GUARANTEED “cost plus profit” they have gigantic incentives to waste our money on unnecessary new big solar/wind and transmission projects.
This is yet another reason to ditch our franchise with them and continue pursuing the publicly-owned municipal power (the “Muni”) we were working on. We voted to give up largely because their superior squads of lawyers cost the city tens of millions of dollars. BUT those lawyers are now busy fighting hundreds of millions of lawsuits for reportedly starting the Marshall Fire, which resulted in even higher housing costs all around. So we should leave ASAP while their lawyers are busy — AND before we ratepayers are paying for those lawsuits! Longmont, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, etc. all have muni power and have cheaper rates, higher reliability, more undergrounding — AND the same poles and conduits are also used for superior municipal internet. It’s not the cities running these systems but professionals hired by the cities. Any profits would go to us the ratepayers, not investors. Xpel Xcel!
Evan Ravitz, Boulder
Protections for victims of domestic crimes will save lives
As a member of the Zonta Foothills Foundation of Boulder County, I am grateful our Colorado legislature passed HB24-1122, Protection Orders for Victims of Crimes. It proposes enhanced protections for victims of domestic crimes and empowers judges to include children in these orders. This bill is a positive step towards ensuring the safety and well-being of women and children in Colorado.
In the past several years advocates have noted, in case studies and data on domestic violence, glaring gaps in our violence laws. This bill addresses that shortcoming in Colorado law. HB24-1122 contains many critical elements:
• Clear orders in simple language.
• Expanded court jurisdictions even in counties without a family court.
• Assurance of proper service protocols if a temporary order is revoked or denied before the other party is informed they will not be served the order.
• Cost protections whereby petitioners won’t be charged fees for seeking a protective order and for serving legal documents in domestic violence matters.
• Flexible continuance whereby, if you are having trouble serving the other party, you can ask for more time to do so.
Other important aspects are a temporary protection clause, extending up to one year, which can include minors and can be made permanent under certain circumstances. Temporary care of shared children can be awarded for up to a year after the protection order. Since the most dangerous time in a woman’s life is when she leaves her domestic partner, the bill includes a new legal mechanism for firearms restrictions as well. If there is use or threat of violence the respondent is restricted from having weapons or ammunition during the order. This will save lives.
Zonta “envisions a world in which no woman lives in fear of violence.” We advocate to build a better world for women and girls and this bill is doing just that.
Sharon Trumble, Zonta Foothills Foundation, Boulder
