Does Sen Priola represent the district he was drawn into? Enjoy high utility rates, want them to go higher? And because it's Friday, cacti.
It is not at all unreasonable to expect that someone representing you in the Colorado State Senate should listen to you. Maybe they don't agree, but they should listen to you.
This would be true, of course, unless you're Senator Kevin Priola. If you live in the district he was DRAWN (and not elected) into, you don't really enjoy this right.
Do you think that the folks in Greeley, Evans, LaSalle, Milliken, Gilcrest, Platteville, and Fort Lupton support things like drug injection sites?
Priola is a sponsor.
More in the op ed below if you're curious (written by the gentleman who represented these communities prior to being term-limited out).
If you are in his district, I would urge you to speak up. If Priola won't come to you, go to him. Flood his office with polite but firm emails and calls and tell him your thoughts on how much you feel represented and listened to.
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2023/03/09/cooke-unelected-senator-kevin-priola-disregards-weld-county/
Like paying high utility rates? Want them to go higher?
Boy have I got a bill you'll want to support!
If you try to read the bill below (or the summary, etc.), you'll see a whole lot. You'll see a lot of definitions and legalese.
You can skip all that because here is the relevant part for you and I as consumers:
--Current law requires energy providers to achieve an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (relative to 2005 levels)
--This bill, as others have in the recent past, moves up benchmarks both in percentage and time. To put a fine point on it, it bumps up the reduction to 46% by 2027.
I.e. cut the state's greenhouse gas emissions for power generation by half from 2005 in 4 years from now.
Can you imagine what this will do to your prices? Assuming we can hit this arbitrary target, guess who gets to fund the new equipment and etc. to make this happen.
Exactly.
One last tidbit. Besides raising prices, this bill is likely mainly directed at CDPHE and those that CDPHE regulates. If you do some quick looking, you'll note that all the utilities that the Public Utilities Commission regulates already have Clean Energy Plans on file. So, in addition to bumping up deadlines, we're increasing the scope of regulation in this state.
If you want to speak up on the bill, it's headed to committee on April 5th. I was not able to testify that day due to teaching at that time, but I will send the email below to the sponsors and committee on the 2nd of April. If you find any of it useful, please feel free to copy.
Email follows.
An open letter to the sponsors of SB23-198, "Clean Energy Plans" and the members of the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee ahead of the bill's April 5th Hearing.
Hello to all,
My name is Cory Gaines and I am a resident of Logan County. I had hoped to testify in person but my schedule prevents it. If anyone on the committee would like to read some or all of this letter during the hearing, please feel free to do so.
I'm writing today in opposition to SB23-198.
I'll keep this short because, despite the complicated language and definitions in the bill, this is actually rather simple to me and other Coloradans who are consumers.
Your bill will raise prices on Coloradans and comes at a time when our energy prices are already high.
The argument might be made (and my guess is that the supporters likely will make it) that we have to do this to protect our environment and slow global warming.
Believe me when I tell that as both a father and someone who enjoys breathing clean air and maintaining our beautiful environment, I have just as much interest in protecting our air and environment as you. I just think that your approach, besides being costly and making life harder for Coloradans will not be as effective as others.
For example, I'd like to ask you how much Colorado utility providers right now, today, contribute to the overall greenhouse gas emissions. Now I'd like to ask you how much utilities in places like China, or traffic in LA or Chicago contribute.
Why are you making our lives more expensive to trim a tiny fraction of emissions from a tiny fraction of global emissions?
I do not understand this kind of thinking and urge you to revisit your bill in light of this.
I urge the committee to vote no.
Cory
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-198
Last one of the day and you know what that means: something for fun, not related to politics.
I thought I'd update you a bit on things around the garden, especially now that the snow has finally receded and things are reliably in the sun.
I attached some pictures of cacti and how they fared spending most of the winter covered in snow. Unfortunately not all are going to be a success story.
The prickly pears (the ones that are paddles), cholla, and others in the front beds are going to be fine I think. They look dead, but that's how outdoors cacti always look: deflated and dead. As it warms, they fill out and pop right back up.
The ones in the tub that I move under the porch, however, are dead. If you look at them closely (esp apparent in the picture of the mammillaria cactus) they're yellowed out. That means severe damage. They're not going to make it. A little ray of hope peeks through nonetheless: if you look closely next to the main cactus the buds it was growing look like they fared a bit better. Maybe they can be salvaged.
I have read that you can cut off the soft and rotten parts of cacti to save the roots. The rotten part scabs over, leaving you able to salvage something that can grow more buds or etc.
I may try that once it warms up a little. I don't see how I have much to lose. In addition, I will also try cutting off and replanting the pups that surround the main plant.
Looking ahead to next Winter and not wanting to repeat this, I got an idea from my agaves.
I didn't include any pictures of my agaves because I wanted to leave them under their covers a bit longer (if you look in the cholla pic, you'll see a couple milk jugs, those are "greenhouses" for my mini agave and its pup). I tend to worry about them more given that I've had a harder time overwintering them.
It may still be the case that they'll all die, but I get the sense that they'll come out okay. I put this to keeping them shaded and covered in burlap.
That makes me think that perhaps I need to do the same with the cacti in my tub. If those cacti are apt to be damaged while exposed to the elements and sun, a thick layer of burlap and then mulch may make them more stable. I have heard the trouble with plants rotting is the temperature swings, not necessarily the absolute temp. This is certainly the case with strawberries and it's the reason I cover them with mulch.
I think it's worth a shot and will figure out a better way to try next year.
One last bonus photo. I'm trying again to get sweet potato slips going for my garden this year. I bought slips three years ago and they're horrifically expensive. I tried last year to get some going and failed. As you can see in this year's go 'round though I think I may get some slips!
Have a good Friday!