The numbers on energy assistance, and where it's going, don't lie. ECE's new rules for the state's UPK program. Being humane, even to animals you may not like.
The numbers on energy assistance, and where it’s going, don't lie.
I got the link below from Rep Ken DeGraaf. It is a report that the Colorado Energy Office is required to prepare and submit to the Members of the General Assembly, Legislative Audit Committee, and State Auditor, and Rep DeGraaf was kind enough to pass along.
There's a whole lot here, and if this topic is a passion, please poke around in the report. If you find something that you think is noteworthy, please let me know.
There are a couple things I want to share with you and I will do so in this post and in a follow up post later (too much for one go).
The link at the bottom is what Rep DeGraaf shared and it has links to reports running from 2007 to 2024. The EOC reports always run one year behind. For example, the 2023 EOC report runs up to Sept of 2022.
There are a variety of ways that the report authors parse the data, but in this post, I want to focus on overall assistance needed by fuel type, in particular natural gas and electricity.
The screenshots labeled as 2019 and 2023 show the total number of people needing assistance and the total dollar amount spent on that assistance up to Sept of 2018 and 2022 respectively.**
The number of people needing assistance with gas went up 230% in between those years and the number needing assistance with electricity went up by 176%. The dollar amounts went up by 370% and 273% respectively.
As a comparison, I chose to look at propane. Propane is a heating and cooking fuel frequently used in rural areas that don't have NG pipes running to them. Thus, a look at propane would likely give a look at a different population (wood and wood pellets were also listed as fuels that people wanted assistance with--you could probably make the same argument).
If you look at the side by side comparison screenshot, you'll see the number of people needing assistance with propane went up 116% while the fuel went up 203%.
If you're looking for patterns here I would urge caution. Remember that all we have here are disparities and not causes. I could think of at least a dozen reasons for the patterns here.
There is one thing that I believe is noteworthy, however. Look at the increase in fuel prices (assistance needed) vs. the number of people needing (well, asking at least) for assistance.
It's obvious that as prices goes up more would need help; seeing them both go up doesn't really surprise me. Seeing the amount of assistance jump faster than the number of people needing it (and likely across both urban and rural areas) says to me that prices are rising rapidly and it's hurting certain segments of society A LOT.
Out of curiosity, I thought I'd check to see if this was unique to fossil fuels (and things generated by using fossil fuels). I checked wood and wood pellets in the two reports. Interestingly, the number of people needing assistance with wood as fuel WENT DOWN by 8% while the total assistance needed went up by 173%. Striking.
Pellet users needing assistance jumped by 128% and the cost of assistance jumped 208%, echoing increases above.
Wood and pellets can't be blamed on Ukraine. It can't be blamed on Texas' winter storm. It can't be blamed on changes to oil and gas drilling rules.
The reasons why, as I mentioned above, are complicated. I'm not even going to guess. Regardless of cause, one can confidently say that energy, all kinds of energy, has gotten a hell of a lot more expensive in this state and it's hitting some people hard.
In future looks at these reports, we'll delve more into how and what kind of assistance is offered and how that's changed with time.
**You will note a difference in formatting. If you go to the original reports, you'll see the 2019 report unpacks the assistance data by company AND fuel type while 2023 just does summary data. For 2019 I only took screenshots of the totals and cut out the extra rows.
Related:
Speaking of inflation hitting hard, let me quote the article on a Parker citizen trying to repeal his town's grocery tax:
"'Since food has gone up 22% in the last two and a half to three years. That not charging 3% sales tax would help families,' said Williams [David Williams a Parker resident leading the effort to get rid of Parker's 3% tax]."
One other noteworthy thing I want to mention. If you don't like a particular policy where you live, local initiatives are something you can do to change them, just like in the Parker effort.
In contrast to statewide initiatives which have essentially become the playground of bigger, monied groups, a local initiative is most definitely feasible on a shoestring budget.
If you have an idea and don't know where to start, let me know. I'll connect you to resources.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/parker-citizen-group-organizes-grocery-tax/
New rules coming for Universal Pre-K, including a state-mandated curriculum, rules about suspension/expulsion, but NOT including state money.
The State Dept of Early Childhood Education just released new rules for the state's UPK program.
The Chalkbeat article linked first below details what the Chalkbeat reporter thought was interesting and, if education is a concern, it's worth a read.
I went straight to the rules themselves and so that is what you'll find linked second below. You will want to choose the most current version, the file named 2024-3-28_UPK with the red text in it to follow along with what I'm going to discuss here.
The things that caught my eye because of my potential concerns here are what you see in the screenshot.*
Who sets what gets taught and what is that?
Why is the state pushing so hard on expulsion and suspension (and making this a state level decision)?**
I emailed the state's ECE office to get specifics on this so I could share. I will update if and when I hear.
In the meantime, if this issue is a concern, and you haven't yet, go to the third link below and sign up for updates so you can follow and/or get involved in the decisions.
As I have said before, these tiny little-visited departments don't get a lot of people involved so your voice won't be as diluted here as it can be for, say, things like a bill in front of the Colorado legislature.
*It's also important to note that the new requirements won't come with state funding, nor is there a lot of confidence that the state will have enough money for this program at all. This felt like an entirely different topic, so I took a screenshot of the Chalkbeat article section that deals with money and will attach it here without further comment.
**This set off bells for me because of my reading on the so-called school to prison pipeline. The way and/or whether schools suspend or expel students figures largely in writings on that topic.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2024/03/28/colorado-universal-preschool-quality-rules-adopted/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s3yXGXbb1LwfninG4AwE0o_N6ubZgAQG
https://cdec.colorado.gov/
Being humane, even to animals you may not like.
If you have read this page long enough, you'll know I'm no fan of wolves nor of wolf reintroduction.
I am, however, a fan of treating animals humanely whether I like the animals or no. The "gentleman" in the article below did not do that and thus deserves scorn and as much legal penalty as allowed.
According to witnesses at a bar a Wyoming man hit a wolf with his snowmobile (on purpose it seems), taped its mouth shut and took it to a bar to show off to people and left it sitting there suffering with mortal injuries.
It is legal in WY to try and kill a wolf with a snowmobile. I'm not sure whether this was done because the wolf threatened something (that's about the only reason I'd use a snowmobile--if it's what I had to hand and the wolf was immediately threatening someone or my animals or property), I'm not sure if the man just hit it as a way of hunting wolves, but it's legal. Not knowing why per se and noting that it's legal, I'm not too concerned about using a snowmobile to try and kill the wolf.
The problem I have lies in taking an animal who is mortally wounded and leaving it to suffer for hours to entertain yourself and others in a bar.
The proper thing to do, the human and humane thing to do, would have been to put the wolf down if you noticed it was still alive after hitting it with a snowmobile.
Plain and simple not okay whether you like wolves or not.
https://coloradosun.com/2024/04/16/dying-wolf-struck-by-snowmobile-shown-off-in-wyoming-bar/