Energy prices in Colorado mostly go one way: up. CPR's back at it with the labels. SLV and the cranes.
Energy prices in Colorado mostly go one way: up.
Our governor (see screenshot 1 attached) loves to brag about how Colorado's commitment to renewables and electrification lower prices.
But does it?
The PowerGab episode linked first below delves into that in great detail. It's definitely worth a watch.
If you intend to bring some reality to conversations about our state's energy mix, prices, and rhetoric, you need to understand how Polis (as is his wont) and others are playing word games to hide reality. You need to inform yourself so you can better understand the mountains of detail and counterpoint our media leave out of the discussion.
Pay particular attention to the discussion about capacity factor and levelized cost. Pay particular attention to how comparing energy prices in Colorado greatly changes depending on whether you include all 50 states or our nearest neighbors.
To aid in that, and if you prefer text to video, I included Mr. Fogelman's written report from the video's show notes second below.
To give you a quick visual, an appetizer that justifies the title of this post, I refer you to screenshot 2 attached.
This is a bar graph that shows Colorado's energy prices vs. year. The far left bar in any year's data is Colorado. The middle bar is the Mountain West average (a group of states near to Colorado which share our climate, etc.). The far right bar is the national average.
When Governor Polis brags about how our state has below national average prices for energy, he's right. We do.
What he leaves out is the fact that this national average is driven by energy price heavies like California and Hawaii. I'm a reasonably tall man next to a random American, but put me in a group with a bias toward some NBA players and I'm short.
A fairer comparison for Colorado's prices would focus in on our neighbors. Neighbors who share similar climates and who pull any needed out of state energy from nearby. Compared to those, Colorado is back to being tall on prices again.
Anyone who has paid a utility bill in this state for about 5 years can easily tell you what direction our prices have gone in. Some of this is undoubtedly inflation. Some of it, however, is the policy choices that our governor (the one who engages in unchecked bragging about how the policies are making things cheaper) has signed into law.
Take advantage of opportunities like the one in the video below to see what you won't see in other places so you can better counter BS like our governor spews on a regular basis.
https://i2i.org/fast-facts-about-colorados-electricity-sector-in-2024/
CPR's back at it with the labels.
The CPR article linked first below is another in a long (LONG) string of Trump fear porn by some of the left-leaning Front Range outlets: it details cuts made in the US Dept of Education.
Interestingly, and to be fair, this one is notable for including some counterpoint to the running media narrative about the Trump administration heartlessly ripping apart agencies in the state and the horrors that will inevitably cause.
This article actually (I know, I was shocked too) includes the voices of people who applaud the moves by the Trump administration and also considers the possibility that, while cuts may hurt some, they might have some benefit.
If you're worried about full balance, don't be. As a percentage of the whole article it's not much. There's plenty of doom and gloom to go around.
There was one other, subtle note in here and that's what I wanted to point out. I have written before about press labels (see related content) and this provides a great chance to review that.
Screenshots 1 and 2 attached are taken from this article. I highlighted the relevant text.
I also linked to the websites of these groups 2nd and 3rd below, keeping with the order of the screenshots.
When it comes to a news organization labeling someone or labeling another organization, I think most reasonable people would agree that the label ought to be fair and ought to fairly reflect what that person or organization does, what they stand for.
What could be fairer, then, than simply taking someone's self-characterization and using that?
In this sense, calling Ready Colorado a conservative organization is fine. They call themselves that. Referring to New Era Colorado merely as a "...group which advocates on youth and student issues" is not fair because it fails to convey to the casual reader what values this group holds.
Multiple times in New Era Colorado's site you see the word progressive. Some times it mentions how today's youth are progressive. Others it mentions how the group is involved in "key progressive fights" (see screenshot 3 attached which is found on their webpage linked fourth below).
Unfortunately, this kind of labeling disparity happens far too often.** You cannot depend on the media to always correctly relay to you a sense of the values of someone they're quoting.
As an informed reader, then, you should be constantly asking yourself about possible motives behind any quotes you see in an article and also behind any labels a reporter applies to a group (whether that is merely copying a self-applied label or one the reporter makes for him- or herself).
Use Google or some other search engine and do as I did here: take a quick look at the website of the group or individual who is quoted.
**I wrote the reporter to ask her perspective on this disparity. She did answer but not anything pertinent to my question save for noting (fairly) that she did point out both were advocacy org’s. If I get a more complete answer, I'll update.
https://www.cpr.org/2025/03/12/how-us-department-of-education-layoffs-impacts-colorado/
https://readycolo.org/
https://neweracolorado.org/
https://neweracolorado.org/campaign/making-policy/
Related:
An earlier op ed of mine on how the press (mis)use ideological labels.
There is a clear and unmistakable disparity that follows ideological lines when it comes to who is labeled, and how they're labeled.
Probably too late for Spring, but check back this Fall.
That time of the week again. Last post til Sunday and thus time for something for fun, something not related to politics.
I was texting with a friend who lives in the San Luis Valley recently and she told me about sandhill cranes stopping through the valley on their annual migration.
If you've read this page long enough you've probably picked up on the fact that I like birds and birdwatching. Thus, this comment had my attention.
I knew of the cranes stopping in various spots (Nebraska being one due to another friend having travelled up there to see them), but I didn't know Colorado played host as well.
If you've not been, or not been in a while, consider popping down into the valley to drive around and take in the sights, birds included. If you want to see the cranes, it's probably too late for Spring, but they come back through in Fall apparently.
I linked to a National Park Service webpage below which has some details and links for further exploration. If any locals are reading and have tips, please pop them into the comments for the benefit of all!
Time to ... fly. Back at it Sunday!
https://www.nps.gov/grsa/planyourvisit/sandhill-crane-migration.htm