Summit county officials have a motion to intervene in an Xcel energy plan of $ 155 million

Summit County officials say that an expanding Xcel energy exposure could have direct impacts on many of its residents. They took measures to formally intervene in the review process in an effort to protect the interests of the components.

On February 18, Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon, Silverthorne, Keystone, Blue River and the Summit County Government joined forces under the name of “coalition of the mountain community” to request participation in the procedures of the Colorado Public Services Commission for the Mountain Energy Project of Xcel Energy.

This occurs more than a month after the energy supplier presented a project aimed at quelling the limitations of natural gas supply in the East mountain gas system that serves the Grand, Lake, Eagle and Summit counties. Xcel’s representatives said the proposal was promoted by the gas supply of the Marshall Compressor Station in Boulder County, being insufficient to serve gas customers reliably in that system. The plan also seeks to strengthen electrification through “non -pipelines” alternatives to help fulfill the company’s objective to be a zero net energy supplier by 2050 and help you prepare for a greater demand for energy with growing populations.

The proposal requires dozens of millions of dollars in projects in Summit county.

According to reports, the motion of the coalition to intervene seeks to protect the “environmental and economic interests of residents that can be affected by the result of this procedure.” They are represented by the Environmental Law firm based in Denver, Kaplan Kirsch.

Breckenridge’s sustainability manager, Jessie Burley, said that the motion to intervene is a “unique opportunity for our regional governments to get involved in helping to shape how the future of non -pale alternatives looks.”

The documents presented to the Utilities Commission highlight the weak weak in the transmission system that the tail ends in Brekenridge, Keystone and Grand Lake. The Xcel Plan proposes two gas injection sites near Brekenridge and Keystone, and the authorities say that the concerns regarding these plans helped boost their motion to intervene forward.

The Brekenridge site will be for Natural Liquid Gas, and the Keystone project will be a compressed natural gas site. According to the US Department of Energy, the difference between the two is compressed natural gas, compressing natural gas, and liquid natural gas is produced by purifying natural gas.

According to the January 16 project, the Brekenridge installation could cost $ 55.8 million, and the Keystone installation could cost $ 22.8 million. The Brekenridge installation is expected to be operational for heating season 2025-26. It is estimated that the Keystone installation is operational in the heating season 2026-27. The supply of supplements that both will provide will probably be needed at least until the heating season 2033-2034, presentations to the Commission.

“There is an obvious concern not only for the visual impact of something like that, but to guarantee that they are safe and protected, and our residents are safe near these industrial sites,” said the city of Keystone, John Crone.

Local officials say that the exact location of any site has not communicated to them, and the presentations detail the sites with “near” of the municipalities.

Xcel representatives say that this use of natural gas is a “stop” solution, since the company works to become a zero net energy supplier by 2050. A timeline implementation included in the presentations shows that Dillon could be obtaining a system of power supply in 2028, and the Breckenridge substation could obtain updates of transformers in 2029.

Making these electrical system updates and encouraging customers to move towards electrification by changing appliances that depend on natural gas for electricity is a pillar of the mountain energy project. Incentive -related concerns also promoted the request for the coalition of the Mountain community of having more role in the review process.

“We want to make sure that any related incentive is economically equitable and that the cost of the energy transition is not placed directly on the back of working families,” said the director of communications of the Summit County Government, Adrienne Isaac, by email.

The manager of the city of Frisco, Tom Fischer, said that the coalition would like “a more aggressive approach” than the one currently proposed in the Mountain Energy project and would like to see more consideration of the climate action objectives of the communities.

Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon, Silverthorne and the County adopted objectives related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030, 80% for 2050 and/or reaching 100% renewable electricity by 2035.

A staff memorandum for a meeting of the City Council of Brekenridge of February 25 declared that presenting the motion to intervene is the first step in what will probably be a process of six to 12 months.

In a February 26 statement provided by the representatives of Xcel, he said that the company expects to work with Summit county and other auditors throughout this process. The Sierra Club, a national environmental organization, also presented a motion to convene, citing concerns about the economic impact to club members who are also Xcel clients. This is not uncommon for the defense group. He has presented similar motions throughout the country, said his presentation before the Commission.

Another controller, the Colorado Office of the Public Services Consumer defender, estimated that the cost of the $ 155 million project would cost around $ 4,600 per client in the East Mountain Gas System.

The electronic file of the Colorado Public Services Commission shows that the last presentation made in relation to the project review process was by the commission itself on February 21. The presentation establishes the commission staff plan to examine numerous aspects of the project and the data provided by Xcel.

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