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From our friends at Colorado Sierra Club…

Sign the petition calling on PRPA to chart the path to northern Colorado’s clean energy future!

When the city of Fort Collins committed to a goal of achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030, it was the broad public support--and achievability--of that goal, that moved 6 out of 7 councilmembers to vote “yes.” On the night of the city vote in October of 2018, “dozens of people filled the council chambers” and called on Fort Collins city councilmembers to commit to charting a path for Fort Collins’ clean energy future.

Just 9 months prior to Fort Collins making its 100% renewable commitment, the city of Longmont committed to its own goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2030. Along with sharing the same commitment to 100% clean energy, the cities of Fort Collins & Longmont share a regional electric power provider. That utility--Platte River Power Authority (PRPA)--serves the four cities of Fort Collins, Longmont, Loveland, and Estes Park. After more than a year of community-member led campaigning from all four cities, PRPA committed to their own goal of achieving a 100% non-carbon resource mix by 2030. Next, the cities of Estes Park & Loveland passed city resolutions supporting PRPA’s goal.

Fast forward to March of 2020, and PRPA is currently in the process of finalizing its long-term energy plan, or Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). With just 10 short years away from the 2030 clean energy target, PRPA’s IRP is critical to creating a plan for achieving its city & utility 100% renewable energy goals. Yet despite this fact, PRPA still has no plans to retire its 280 MW Rawhide coal plant. In fact, Rawhide is not slated to retire until 2046--16 years after the 2030 target. Furthermore, PRPA is even considering building a new gas plant in 2036, despite city commitments to achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

Fortunately, PRPA’s IRP is a window of opportunity for community members in all four cities to call on PRPA to honor its member city commitments to 100% renewable electricity by planning for the retirement of the Rawhide coal plant. Community members are also calling on PRPA to commit to not building any new fracked gas plants that will burden communities with fossil fuel debt and hinder the achievement of any 100% renewable goals. Additionally, community members are demanding that PRPA use the Social Cost of Carbon in this planning process to account for the true costs of climate change on our communities from natural disasters to weakened infrastructure. Unlike investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy or Black Hills, PRPA is not required by the state to use the $46 per ton of CO2 Social Cost of Carbon in their resource planning. Yet including the Social Cost of Carbon in any resource planning is imperative to account for the community health, environmental, and economic burden of the continued burning of fossil fuels.

There are many things community members in Northern Colorado can do to make their voices heard through this process, but with PRPA’s IRP wrapping up by June, the window of opportunity is closing.

Take action now:

Sign the petition calling on PRPA to chart the path to northern Colorado’s clean energy future!
Email your city councilmember & Mayor asking them to hold PRPA accountable to the city & utility 100% renewable goals! Find their contact information here.

Have a question or want to get more involved? Reach out to Sierra Club Beyond Coal Organizer Sarah Snead at sarah.snead@sierraclub.org or 443-974-6291