Thursday, 10/8: 4,000 Colorado customers & elected leaders deliver letter to Xcel proposing energy planning principles

Denver, CO -- Thursday morning, clean energy advocates, community members, and elected officials will deliver a signed Letter of Principles to Colorado’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, regarding their upcoming Electric Resource Plan that will determine which resources are used to generate electricity moving forward. 

The letter is signed by 4,000 Xcel electricity customers and Pueblo residents, as well as 70 elected officials from Xcel’s service territory. 

The letter asks Xcel to honor nine key principles that range from committing to building clean energy instead of new gas plants to engaging the community on transition decisions that will reduce pollution across Colorado. The full letter is copied below. 

WHAT: 

Sierra Club, 350 Colorado, Mothers Out Front, and elected officials from across the Front Range will deliver a Letter of Principles to Xcel Energy that sets clear expectations for an equitable and affordable clean energy future for Colorado communities. The letter also calls for the retirement of the highly polluting Comanche coal plant in Pueblo and Cherokee gas plant in Denver.

WHEN:

Thursday, October 8th from 10:00-10:30 a.m. MT

WHO: 

• JAMIE HARKINS, Mayor of Lafayette 
• CANDI CDEBACA, Denver City Council
• JUAN MARCANO, Aurora City Council 
• JAMIE VALDEZ, Community Team Coordinator, Mothers Out Front
• SUNNI BENOIT, President of the Board, 350 Colorado
• LUCY MOLINA, community organizer in Commerce City
• REN SMITH, Fossil Free Front Range organizer, Sierra Club

HOW:

Register for the VIRTUAL event at this link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

VISUALS:

We will provide B-roll and photos of the petition delivery at Xcel Energy’s Headquarters in Denver following this press event.

LETTER OF PRINCIPLES TO XCEL ENERGY:

Dear Xcel Energy Board of Directors and CEO Alice Jackson,

We, the undersigned, are writing in regards to the next Electric Resource Plan (“ERP”) that Xcel is required to file in the spring of 2021 with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. As this plan will decide how Xcel generates and supplies electricity to customers, it will be critical to continuing to move Colorado communities away from fossil fuels toward clean energy. By law, this plan must show how Xcel will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions 80% by 2030 relative to 2005 levels.

We ask that Xcel use the following principles as it develops its resource plan. We understand that the goals below should be pursued within the constraints of ensuring safe, reliable, and affordable electricity. Within those constraints, we ask Xcel to:

1. Recognize that reducing CO2 emissions 80% by 2030 is a floor, not a ceiling. If it is cost-effective to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 80% by 2030, Xcel should do so.
2. Retire the maximum number of coal units that is cost-effective.
3. Minimize the use of existing gas-fired power plants and the acquisition of new gas plants.
4. Maximize the use of renewable and storage resources that have zero direct emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.
5. Coordinate with workforce leaders to develop fair workforce transition plans for any workers affected by the retirement of existing power plants.
6. Plan for robust community engagement in communities that may be impacted by Xcel’s resource planning outcomes.
7. Ensure that communities with existing fossil fuel infrastructures share in the benefits of new clean energy infrastructures, especially communities that have been disproportionately burdened by environmental injustices due to fossil fuel infrastructure in the past.
8. Incorporate all cost-effective and achievable energy efficiency and demand response resources into the plan
9. Include robust levels of transportation and buildings electrification in the plan in order to reduce economy-wide GHG emissions consistent with state goals.

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