Carbon Free Electric Supply for Colorado is a Nice Dream

I am positive that Xcel Energy and Governor Elect Jared Polis love the positive media reports on their plans to become a 100% carbon free electric supplier in Colorado.  They do not care what it may cost electric customers – they cannot know what it will cost because the technology doesn’t even exist yet! Of course, Xcel is a monopoly supplier with a guaranteed rate of return on their investments and that is all they need to know.  

I am a retired electrical engineer who spent my 42-year career in the electric power industry, worked for an investor owned utility, a municipal one, and lastly a cooperative.  So, I am a believer in a reliable electric grid with reasonable costs, and it makes sense to have this industry as a regulated monopoly to achieve the optimal level of investment without duplication of very expensive infrastructure.  Sadly, it seems today’s regulators have become more politically interested in climate change than assuring the lowest, environmentally acceptable cost to provide service. I am a believer in climate change since it has always been changing;  I will believe in the need to eliminate carbon based fuels when the environmentalists, media, and politicians advocate for expanded use of nuclear power in addition to wind/solar/battery power, elimination of space heating with natural gas & propane, banning the burning of wood, and outlawing all other forms of CO2 emissions.  I could even support a carbon tax if the proceeds were used 100% to fund research for commercialization of nuclear energy including fusion.

I saw today that Arnold Schwarzenegger would like to go back in time to eliminate the use of fossil fuels altogether, claiming he would use hydrogen and renewable resources.  I do not know where he is going to find free hydrogen growing on a tree a few hundred years ago when the industrial revolution began. I think we all should realize that our modern way of life and prosperity are the direct result of using inexpensive sources of energy.  Of course, if I was as rich as Arnold, I may take for granted the ability to have an electric powered Hummer as my favorite ride too. And when he travels back in time, I ask that he also go “Back to the Future” and bring us a boatload of Mr. Fusions to power everything!

By the way, I voted for Jared Polis and democrat KC Becker in my district.  And even though I’d prefer to have seen the State Senate remain in Republican control for a balance of power to hopefully force some reason before new laws are enacted, I trust our representatives to consider the cost of their decisions on all of us.  Maybe that is just wishful thinking. They need not raise taxes to accomplish much of their agenda, just force all the utilities to do what they want and have them raise their electric rates. Tax funding for rural broadband? No need here when my local electric cooperative has decided to subsidize broadband internet service by charging millions of dollars to electric customers.  Why not do the same to fund affordable housing, college tuition, and whatever else some would have the majority of us subsidize for others?

Les Shankland, P.E., Grand County

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To the Editor:

My wife and I were recently in Winter Park for the weekend.  We stopped in the Perk to get coffee and saw the Winter Park Times and came across an article about Kratom.

I’m not sure if it was written by someone at the Times or a a copied article but I would ask you to look further into Kratom. There is so much misinformation and blatant lies out there. I, as well as millions of others, have used Kratom for various reasons and used it safely.  The AKA, American Kratom Association, has so much information and science on the safety of Kratom. There has never been a death directly attributed to pure leaf Kratom alone. There has been so much time and money spent on looking into every alleged overdose and not one, not one time has an autopsy shown Kratom to be the only substance in the body. Every death has been attributed to poly drug use or even in some cases a ‘gun shot’ wound to the chest, but somehow, Kratom was the cause of death.

It has been an absolute life saver for me and many others. I ask that you look at the people that benefit from this plant and the science behind the safety of it.

If you’re open to it I can give you countless stories of it improving someone’s life. Or, please go to https://www.americankratom.org/ and follow the science.

Disclaimer:  There are bad products out there bad businesses selling a bad product and other issues. I do believe there needs to be more study done on this plant as well as professional businesses selling it the correct way but again I ask that you look into the truth of the plant in what it does.

Again thank you for taking the time to talk to me and I hope you are open to researching it more.

Joshua Miller,  Colorado Springs CO