Happy Monday, everyone. Let’s get straight to it: A number of readers have been asking us over months: How are things going with Boulder’s partnership with Xcel Energy post-municipalization? Where do we stand with the city’s ambitious renewable electricity targets?
We asked Tim Drugan, who’s been covering wildfires, water and climate policy for us, to take a bite out of this complex topic. You can read what he learned below, along with plenty of other Boulder-local news and information. This includes local reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe vs. Wade, as well as updates from John Herrick on tomorrow’s primary election — including the final campaign finance tally.
Thanks for reading,
Stacy, publisher
Quickly
🌤️ Sunny, t-storms possible: Expect highs in the lower 80s today, with a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.
🗳️ Primary election 2022 is tomorrow. Key things to know: All ballots are due by 7 p.m on Tuesday, June 28. You can find 24-hour ballot drop box locations, by city, here. In-person vote center locations are also listed here (for Boulder, Lafayette and Longmont). If you’re voting in person, make sure to bring a current and valid ID (most common is a Colorado driver’s license). Note: If you’re a qualified resident, you can still register to vote up to, and including, Election Day. You’ll have to vote at a vote center — it’s too late to get a mail-in ballot. See additional voter requirements and information here.
💰 Final campaign finance reports for commissioner seat: Ahead of Tuesday’s election, candidates for county commissioner have each spent roughly $70,000 on mailers, consulting and other election expenses in their efforts to win over voters, making it the most expensive race in this year’s Democratic primary, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Colorado Secretary of State on Friday. Elaina Shively, director of the Center for Prevention and Restorative Justice at the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, has spent $71,780 on campaigning, slightly more than her rival Louisville Mayor Ashley Stolzmann, a chemical engineer, who has spent $67,601. (Read our previous coverage of the primary, and campaign cash, here.)
🚔 In sheriff’s race, Johnson outpaces foe: In the race for Boulder County sheriff (the only other Democratic primary in the county), Curtis Johnson, a division chief with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, has spent $104,961, far more than Louisville Police Chief David Hayes, who has spent $12,137. The office is being vacated by Sheriff Joe Pelle, who was first elected in 2003. (Pelle has endorsed Johnson.)
📢 ‘March for Women’s Freedom’: In response to the Supreme Court decision overturning the landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that protected the right to abortion, YWCA Boulder County, Women’s March, League of Women Voters and other community organizations are hosting a “march for women’s freedom” on Saturday, July 9. Participants will begin gathering in front of the Boulder County Courthouse at 9 a.m.
📅 Out Boulder County to hold webinar on what happens next: LGBTQ advocates are concerned the same legal reasoning used in the Supreme Court’s decision may be used to deny marriage and intimacy rights to gay couples. Out Boulder County is hosting a Zoom webinar on Wednesday, June 29, at 6 to 7 p.m., to discuss the potential impacts of the ruling with Scott Skinner-Thompson. Skinner-Thompson is a professor of law at CU Boulder and faculty member in the LGBTQ Studies Program. You can submit questions here.
🆕 Legislation to protect abortion providers statewide: In a joint statement, State Sen. Julie Gonzales and State Rep. Meg Froelich announced they’re planning to draft a new bill, focused on providers: “Our legislature already took steps to enshrine this fundamental right [to abortion] into state law by passing HB22-1279, the Reproductive Health Equity Act, and State Representative Meg Froelich and I have just filed a bill title to protect Colorado abortion care providers and ensure access for anyone who seeks abortion care at this critical time.”
😷 Stazio Fields closed this week: The Covid-19 testing site at Stazio Ball Fields in Boulder will be closed June 27 through July 3. You can find information on alternative testing sites available here.
🚲 Transportation feedback: The City of Boulder is soliciting feedback on concerns about transportation safety through June 29. “The feedback will help the city create a Vision Zero Action Plan that will identify specific actions the city can take over the next five years to improve transportation safety and reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on our streets.” Fill out the questionnaire here. (Read our coverage of the city’s “Core Arterial Network” initiative here.)
📒 Boulder has a new chief financial officer: The city has promoted interim Chief Financial Officer Kara Skinner to ongoing CFO. Skinner has worked in Boulder’s Finance Department since 2017. She came from Colorado Springs, where she held various finance roles. “Kara has a strong vision for the future of the city’s financial strategy and Finance Department, and she has demonstrated the ability to lead staff teams effectively and compassionately through significant change,” City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde said.
🏆 Congrats to local book award winners! Colorado Book Awards winners were announced on Saturday, June 25, and they include two Boulder-local authors. Congratulations to Jenny Shank, who won for General Fiction for her collection of short stories, “Mixed Company.” Olivia Chadha won for her book “Rise of the Red Hand” in the Young Adult Literature category. Carter Wilson, of Erie, won the Thriller category for “The Dead Husband.”
Top Story
Can Boulder really get to 100% renewable electricity by 2030? Community advisory panel and utility Xcel Energy may have differing ideas about the path forward
By Tim Drugan
In 2020, citizens of Boulder voted for a new franchise agreement with Xcel Energy, putting an end, for now, to a years-long push for “municipalization”: where the city would split from Xcel to become its own utility. With Boulder controlling its own power grid, the city could have had complete control over where its power came from — or at least that was the idea. With climate models presenting a bleak future unless humanity takes aggressive action, renewable energy would have been the obvious choice.
Now Boulder must work with Xcel, a shareholder-owned utility, to reach its decarbonization and renewable energy goals.
One of Boulder’s core climate targets is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 70% by 2030, down from a baseline of 2018 levels. As electricity currently accounts for roughly 41% of Boulder’s emissions, part of reaching that 70% reduction means achieving 100% renewable energy by 2030.
Helping the city navigate this partnership with Xcel is a community advisory panel. Made up of 17 members of the community, the panel gives voice to Boulder’s homeowners, businesses, and other groups that might be affected by the partnership. In mid-May, the panel put out a recommendations report, presenting ideas on how the partnership should proceed if it hopes to reach the established climate targets.
Recommendations presented in the report include broad ideas such as “Develop the Roadmap to Zero Emissions Electricity” and “Develop System-level Solutions that Accelerate Grid-Wide Emissions Reduction.” These overarching points are then broken down into more detailed bullet-points while remaining fairly high level.
Though these recommendations align with what experts say is necessary for a city to get to zero emissions, the report, according to two panel members, represents a leisurely reaction to a pressing issue. Because of uncertainty surrounding Xcel’s plans for how to achieve Boulder’s climate targets, the panel maintained a broad view rather than delving into how actions could be implemented, members said. Some aspects of the report also conflict with Xcel’s vision for Boulder’s future.
“Things have moved very slowly,” said Julie Zahniser, a retired speech pathologist and panel member. “Here we are a year and a half after the election and we’re still at general goals.”
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BRL Picks
🇺🇦 Night out for Ukraine: On July 7, some 50 restaurants across Colorado will be donating a portion of their proceeds to help Ukraine. The event is organized by Boulder-based Sunflower Seeds Ukraine (SFSU), with Ukrainians of Colorado. SFSU was founded by young Ukrainian immigrants to Colorado. Donated money is used to supply medical and protective gear. Participating restaurants in Boulder include Ask’kara, Blackbelly and the Dushanbe Teahouse. See the full list here.
🎵 Tonight’s Concert in the Park: Via the city’s historic Boulder Concert Band: “One of our most popular summer concerts is approaching! Grab a chair, a picnic, your people, and head out to Viele Lake to spend some time your Boulder Concert Band.” Check it out tonight, June 27, between 7-8 p.m. at Harlow Platts/Viele Lake. Can’t make it? The city’s free Concerts in the Parks series runs through August.
🎻 Boulder’s own Takács Quartet: The Grammy Award-winning quartet will open the Colorado Music Festival’s six-week summer concert season at Chautauqua Auditorium, on June 30 and July 1. The quartet will join the orchestra for John Adams’ Absolute Jest. Learn more and get tickets here, and check out performers for the entire series.
Covid-19 Updates: June 27, 2022
- 262 daily new cases (7-day avg.) ⬇Down 15% over preceding 7-day avg.
- 9 patients hospitalized with Covid (7-day avg.) ⬇Down from a high of 14 last week.
- 49% percent of ICU is occupied. ⬇Down from avg. of 69% since July 2020.
What We’re Reading
📖 Colorado now one of just a few places in the region where abortion access is the law: The Reproductive Health Equity Act [RHEA] of 2022 “codified the right to an abortion in Colorado, allowing an individual to get one at any point during a pregnancy. It also prevents local governments from banning the procedure or limiting access to contraceptives. The Supreme Court decision does not affect any of the protections guaranteed by the RHEA. Abortions will remain legal in Colorado unless the state legislature decides to repeal the law. That’s unlikely unless Colorado Republicans claim control of the House, the Senate and the governor’s mansion…Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains said it expects to see appointments increase by about 20 percent in 1 to 3 years. More than 400 people from Wyoming came to Colorado for an abortion in 2021, and the number of people from Texas who came to Colorado for an abortion nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021.” [CPR]
📖 Colorado becomes first state to get federal waiver to create lower-cost health plan: “Federal approval of a state waiver application means it’s full steam ahead for the ‘Colorado Option’: a heavily regulated, lower-cost health insurance plan that private carriers must offer starting next year.” Under state law (HB-1232), private insurers will have “to offer the Colorado Option on the state’s health insurance exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, to individuals and small businesses. Insurers must reduce premium rates on the standardized plan by 15% over three years.” [Colorado Newsline]
ICYMI from BRL
🆕 ‘Seniors for Seniors’: Boulder’s Frasier Retirement Community launches endowment and becomes grantmaker for underserved residents. The peer-to-peer giving program grew out of money repurposed from Frasier’s $5.1 million purchase of the Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in 2015, which is being developed for affordable senior housing.
🚗 ‘We’re at a pivot point’: Boulder’s departing transportation director emphasizes tradeoffs as the city pursues a new vision for its roadways In a continuation of Boulder Reporting Lab’s exit interview series, Erika Vandenbrande discusses her department’s challenges and opportunities as the city plans to overhaul its cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.
🔥 ‘These areas are made to burn’: When it comes to the health of the forests surrounding Boulder, there is no replacement for fire. The answer to a centuries-old debate surrounding our relationship to nature could be a bitter pill for Boulder, according to OSMP Vegetation Stewardship Senior Manager Chris Wanner.
🚌 ‘Where are the buses?’: Boulder neighborhood built for public transit could lose services. The City of Boulder is calling on RTD to restore buses serving the fast-growing Boulder Junction Transit Village.
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