After almost a decade of plodding analysis, the Bureau of Land Management’s Farmington Field Office is attempting to rush through a plan to authorize thousands more oil and gas wells...
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One of the noticeable, and remarkable, changes in recent years has been the dramatic improvement in visibility and air pollution in the Four Corners. Longer-term residents routinely comment on the increased clarity and the sharper vistas of distant ranges like…
By Diana Vernazza Here in Southwest Colorado, the weather is beginning to turn warmer, the rivers are rising and trees slowly leafing out. The first butterflies of the season are...
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If you are having troubles following the San Juan Generating Station carbon capture project being proposed by the City of Farmington and Enchant Energy, you are not alone. In fact,...
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Our local elected officials have been chasing Enchant Energy’s promises of a resuscitated coal industry for roughly a year and a half now. This has cost the City over a...
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The transformation in Colorado’s energy landscape over the past year is nothing short of breathtaking. A good part of that transformation owes to the leadership of La Plata Electric Association. Who might have imagined a year ago that LPEA would…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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Photo: WildEarth Guardians Last week, Tri-State announced it intended to close its Colorado and New Mexico coal generation assets ahead of schedule. This week Tri-State made a second announcement on...
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Today Tri-State announced the first part of their long-awaited Responsible Energy Plan, which described their intention to close two coal plants and one coal mine ahead of schedule. While the...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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A Rulemaking to Hold Tri-State Accountable The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is holding a rulemaking process through October 15th about Tri-State's Electric Resource Plan (ERP), which will fundamentally impact co-op...
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New Mexico recently passed a landmark energy transition bill known as the Energy Transition Act (ETA). The bill was groundbreaking not just for setting an aggressive renewable portfolio standard, but also for creating funding to ensure a just transition for…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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In just a few weeks, Public Service Co. of New Mexico will initiate the process to officially retire the San Juan Generating Station, the 1,600-megawatt, coal-fired behemoth outside Farmington that once burned coal day and night to generate electricity. It’s…
We made a video about who we are and what we do! A big thanks to Sean Owen of No Special Abilities Productions for making this happen. Of course,...
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The Four Corners finds itself in an unprecedented economic landscape and elected officials are choosing to expend valuable time, resources and money pointing fingers and aggressively combatting the entities working to make sure our communities don’t get left behind. The…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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Spring is in the air, and with it comes potentially big changes for our electric power supply. Leadership changes abound at both our local rural electric cooperative, La Plata Electric Association, and its wholesale electric supplier, Tri-State Generating and Transmission….
New Mexico just passed one of the most progressive energy transition bills in the country! The Energy Transition Act (ETA), which just passed the house and now heads to the Governor’s desk, paves the way for a just transition to…
I watched the nearly four-hour filibuster from Senator Bill Sharer on the Energy Transition Act from my home in Farmington on Wednesday. The bill passed overwhelmingly, 32-9, with strong bipartisan...
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San Juan Citizens Alliance is actively working to move New Mexico forward to a sustainable energy economy. We believe an important step towards this desired future, especially for us in Northwestern New Mexico, is the passage of Senate Bill 489,…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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The Energy Transition Act will reduce electricity costs for New Mexicans, leverage affordable clean energy, and provide economic relief to the Four Corners. Today, a coalition of New Mexico labor, community, and environmental organizations celebrated the passage by the…
Woot woot! A new Governor in New Mexico along with a host of bold, progressive, new State House representatives, looking to the future and creating opportunities. We’re hopeful we can make big strides in clean energy, a just transition for…
After almost 6 years spent outside of Farmington and San Juan County, it is great to be back in the community I grew up in and will always call home. It is refreshing to experience the kindness I remember being…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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We who live in these parts sometimes call it the Four Corners, other times the San Juan Basin or even the Colorado Plateau. It’s reflective of the geographic flexibility of our home region, one that water and air easily transcends….
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)* Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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Photo: Wildearth Guardians, Flickr The comedian Lily Tomlin used to have a favorite shtick where she played Ernestine, the snorting, smirking phone operator. She would end her bit with the line, “We don’t care, we don’t have to, we’re the…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)* Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
Read MorePhoto: US Department of Energy, Flickr With the midterm elections behind us, it’s worth pondering what the outcome means for the environment next year. One can expect significant action in Colorado and New Mexico in two areas where states have…
The era of coal is over. We must demand a just transition for impacted families and communities now. APS, having profited billions from the hardworking families and communities of northwestern New Mexico, has a responsibility to help fund that transition….
Our beloved Animas River has taken a shellacking the past few years, the most recent insults a combination of record low flows and wildfire induced mudslides. The Animas might be the blaring alarm bell for our society’s failure to act…
Photo: Wikipedia Commons By the time Scott Pruitt resigned as the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, he was the poster child for bungling personal entitlement. As Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa put it, Pruitt was the swampiest of the Washington,…
Photo: Rob Zeigler There have been a lot of tears in the office lately. And it’s not because the Animas is running the color of charcoal, massacring our already vulnerable native fish populations. And it’s not because a billionaire developer…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)* Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
Read MoreAround 800 ballots were not delivered on time. If you didn't receive yours (or if you threw it away), call LPEA immediately. LPEA: (970) 247-5786 Did you vote yet?! If you...
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Photo: Ted Wood Storey Group In December and January, intense negotiations were ongoing over a Public Service Company of New Mexico-backed bill relating to the closure of the San Juan Generating Station, the coal-fired power plant near Farmington. This piece…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)* Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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It’s a challenging time for La Plata Electric Association. The electric utility world is undergoing a classic technology disruption, where rapid advances threaten to upend decades-old business models. LPEA is locked into a contract for the next 30 years with…
Regulations around energy production can be complicated, but it’s also really important to our region’s ability to pursue local renewable energy through our rural cooperatives. This week, we joined forces with our partners at Local First to file a motion to…
A major tenet of our work over the past decade has been that coal-fired power plants in the Four Corners region have exerted an enormous toll on human public health and natural systems (air, water, land). It is now apparent…
This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)* Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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This blog series covers the monthly La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)* Board of Directors meetings. We’re tracking the board for transparency and accountability, as well as to stay current on...
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Was 2017 a challenging year? Hell yes. And that's why our work is so critical. We’re here because public and environmental health doesn’t always get prioritized over corporate interests. We’re...
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Photo: Anna Peterson Last week, we took three big steps toward a local, renewable energy future. We unveiled the extent of grassroots support in Durango, gained the City of Durango as an enthusiastic ally, and finally felt a breeze…
Photo By: Lt. Zachary West As we stand transfixed by the enormously powerful hurricanes churning across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, one can’t help but think about our place in the climate-change continuum. Here in the San Juan Basin,…
By Guest Blogger: Donna Stewart Part III in a four part series on Renewable Energy. See Part I, The Rising Tide of Renewable Energy and Part II, Solar Power: Who Came Up With That?? Ah, the Seventies! Paislies! Poofy smocks! Blondie,…
By Guest Blogger: Donna Stewart Part II in a four part series on Renewable Energy. See Part I, The Rising Tide of Renewable Energy You could say solar power was “discovered” when humans first started strategically setting crops to optimize…
As the father of a 3-year-old boy, I’ve become an expert on the topic of momentum. You see, my little guy has yet to cross paths with a hill he doesn’t want to race down. Grassy, rocky, dirt, paved –…
As the world transforms in response to technological innovation and evolving political preferences, chaos claws at order, building the future with every rip and tear. It’s a painful thing, this process. Inevitable, yes, but still painful. In April, San Juan…
This holiday season I’d like to propose a corollary to Durango’s well-loved buy local movement: give local. December is a month awash in fundraising requests, and let’s face it: being on the receiving end can get tiresome. But let’s face…
In his Tuesday column, “The Republicans’ Incompetence Caucus,” conservative New York Times writer David Brooks excoriated the more radical elements of the Republican Party. Sordid intra-party politics playing out in broad daylight, now that’s a writer’s ticket. And yet, I’ll…
A do-over. That’s what we and our partners asked the Department of Interior (DOI) for when they released their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine Energy Project last year. Did we get…
We live in exciting times. Just how exciting? Check this out. What was a fairly sedate affair historically – the La Plata Electric Association annual board of director’s election – has transformed into a proxy vote for the community’s vision…
Over the past few weeks, one thing has become clear here in New Mexico: coal is a bad investment. Today, Public Service of New Mexico is charging ahead with a plan to continue burning coal at the nearby San Juan…
Am I a hypocrite? Of all the responses I get to this column, by far the most common attack pertains to my supposed hypocrisy. They usually go a lot like this: “Well hello to all you liberal brain dead fools!!!!…
Good news! (Kind of). Once again, election season is upon us. No, no – not the 2014 midterms. I’m talking about the annual La Plata Electric Association Board of Directors election. For the uninitiated, LPEA is our electric cooperative. Unlike…
