News Sheet

Colorado’s Green Energy Mandates are Pure Fantasy & Folly

Solar panel plant
Solar panel plant
Written by Scott K. James

Colorado’s ‘clean energy goals’ read like a fairy tale—except the ending sucks and your utility bill skyrockets. Mandates, lies, and magic timelines that even solar CEOs say won’t work.

The Colorado Sun just dropped another green-flavored pipe dream written by the usual fan club pushing this fantasy: KC Becker, the former lefty cheerleader of the Colorado House. The piece worships at the altar of “clean energy goals” while ignoring basic physics, economics, or reality.

The Bullet Point Brief

  • Colorado’s magical clean-energy timeline is straight outta Disney—except Mickey Mouse would’ve run better projections.
  • KC Becker is back peddling her unicorn-sparkle legislative mandates. If you liked unaffordable housing, you’ll love unaffordable power.
  • Even solar and electric industry insiders admit timelines are bonkers—but hey, let’s triple down!
  • Apparently we’re okay being dependent on foreign dictators for oil as long as we hit our virtue-signaling goals by 2040.
  • Legislators keep playing Soviet Central Planners—picking winning industries with tax money while killing off Colorado jobs.

My Bottom Line

Repeat after me, slowly so even Denver bureaucrats can follow: Energy policy = national security. Why—seriously WHY—do we outsource energy production to regimes who hate us? Iran doesn’t want us to thrive. Saudi Arabia wouldn’t mind watching us flail. And yet our leaders hamstring Colorado’s own energy industry—the one capable of producing cleaner and cheaper power—under the guise of moral superiority.

Instead of letting the free market figure it out (crazy thought), our legislature continues its game of regulatory roulette. They’re betting big on tech that’s not ready and mandating timelines that even green energy execs laugh at over cocktails in Aspen. We could drill here responsibly. We could create thousands of jobs while keeping lights on during a snowstorm without praying to a wind turbine god. But instead? We’re acting like stubborn fools in a climate cult sermon led by people who’ve never worked outside academia or campaign fundraisers.

A real energy policy would unleash every source possible (read: All the above energy policy)—from natural gas to nuclear to wind to solar—and let them duke it out in a competitive economy, not inside an Excel spreadsheet made by folks who’ve never balanced their own damn budget. Until then, enjoy your climbing electricity bills and grid unreliability. Maybe you’ll learn how to hand-crank an iPhone by 2030.

About the author

Scott K. James

A 4th generation Northern Colorado native, Scott K. James is a veteran broadcaster, professional communicator, and principled leader. Widely recognized for his thoughtful, common-sense approach to addressing issues that affect families, businesses, and communities, Scott, his wife, Julie, and son, Jack, call Johnstown, Colorado, home. A former mayor of Johnstown, James is a staunch defender of the Constitution and the rule of law, the free market, and the power of the individual. Scott has delighted in a lifetime of public service and continues that service as a Weld County Commissioner representing District 2.