Community Action Coalition of Colorado
Welcome to Community Action Coalition of Colorado. We organized in October 2021 as a group of rural residents opposing Xcel Energy’s proposed very high voltage powerlines through our properties. Our Facebook group, Community Action Coalition of Colorado, is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/227189036139025.
Under threat with Xcel’s right to eminent domain; the State of Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission publicly declaring that they plan to “slather Eastern Colorado” with industrial wind turbines, solar installations, and new transmission lines; and all of this backed by government subsidization of “renewable energy”, it’s no surprise that we were unable to stop or relocate the power lines proposed for Segment 5 of Xcel’s $2 billion Colorado’s Power Pathways expansion plan. Yet, we did provide much-researched information as feedback to Xcel Energy regarding their various proposed routes, and had some influence on which proposed routes were selected. The factors considered may have been strengthened by our fairly thorough petition having more than 900 signatures on Change.org.
During the feedback process with Excel’s Colorado’s Power Pathways Segment 5, a member alerted us to the state’s proposed ‘Powerline Trails’ bill that was under review and revision processes in the Colorado House of Representatives. By then, it appeared the most egregious stipulations had been removed, but no exceptions or adaptations for rural and agricultural settings had been included. After several communications sent to the state House of Representative members and another set of communications to the sponsors of the bill, we received notice that some adaptations had been made for rural and agricultural properties.
Our wins have been small, but with a growing group it’s possible that greater numbers will give us the strength and influence we need to make much larger impacts. Come join us!
Elbert County Environmental Alliance
Our group has many members in common, and we work closely with the Elbert County Environmental Alliance (ECEA), previously known on Facebook as the “Save the Bijou Basin” group. ECEA has been fortunate in obtaining funding and professional support that our coalition currently lacks. They have a fantastic website chock-full of great information. To stay well-informed, I suggest that you periodically check their site here.