PUC Sides With Xcel Over Elbert County

The Denver Post, in a report by Judith Kohler, says the Colorado Public Utilities Commission has sided with Xcel Energy in its fight with Elbert County over a portion of the Colorado Power Pathway project. The ruling overturns the countys rejection of permits for about 48 miles of transmission lines and related equipment, part of a broader $1.7 billion project stretching across the Eastern Plains.

Kohler explains that Elbert County commissioners unanimously denied the permits in 2025, arguing Xcels application was incomplete and failed to meet county regulations. Local officials and residents did not dispute the broader need for transmission infrastructure, but they wanted the line pushed farther east, where they argued it would affect fewer landowners, residents, wildlife areas, and scenic views. The PUC, however, concluded that the statewide interest in reliable and economical electric service outweighed the countys local land-use objections.

The article also notes why the fight matters beyond one county line. The Colorado Power Pathway was approved by the PUC in 2022 and is considered central to increasing renewable energy on the grid while improving overall system reliability and resilience. That is the key sentence in the whole affair, because it explains why this dispute was never just about route maps and permit paperwork. It was always about who gets steamrolled when state ideology arrives with legal authority.

The Bullet Point Brief

• The PUC overruled Elbert Countys permit denial and sided with Xcel on a segment of the Colorado Power Pathway project. So once again, local control is warmly embraced right up until the state wants something else.
• Elbert County commissioners were not saying no to transmission in principle. They wanted a different route, farther east, that they believed would harm fewer people, properties, and views. That is called governing the place you were elected to represent.
• The PUC said state law requires balancing local and statewide interests, and in this case the statewide interest won. Funny how that balancing act seems to end with the same side flat on the mat.
• The article quotes resident Kerry Jiblits saying, The fact that a board of people who have been appointed by one man can overturn a decision made by a group of commissioners who are elected by the citizens, I think thats a travesty. She is exactly right, and bless her for saying it plainly.
• The broader project is tied to grid reliability and expanding renewable energy across the state. Which is another way of saying the little local guy got run over by the larger political machine driving Denvers preferred energy future.

My Bottom Line

Somehow, when a statewide appointed body talks about balancing the needs of the state versus the needs of the local governing body, the state always wins. Amazing how that works. The word balance gets used like a soothing bedtime story, but the ending is always the same: the appointed class in Denver informs the elected locals that their concerns have been respectfully ignored.

Kerry Jiblits nailed it. The fact that three people appointed by one man can overrule county commissioners elected by the citizens is a travesty. That is not some minor procedural quibble. That is the whole democratic insult in one sentence. Elbert Countys commissioners were chosen by the people who actually live with the consequences. The PUC commissioners were chosen by Jared Polis, and somehow they just happen to reflect Jared Polis ideology in tidy lockstep. What a miracle.

And lets not pretend this project exists in some ideological vacuum. I do not think Xcel would be building this Power Pathway project absent the legislative mandate forcing the renewable energy transition. The state has chosen its preferred energy doctrine, then built the regulatory machinery to make sure local communities get out of the way. Once that machine is running, every county hearing becomes a formality with snacks.

That is the larger Colorado story now. The local little guy loses to the whims of the metro, Democrat ruling elite. Rural communities are expected to host the infrastructure, absorb the land-use hit, tolerate the disruption, and then smile while being told it is all for the greater good. Funny how the greater good so often gets defined by people who do not have to stare at the towers out their front window. That is not balance. That is centralized power wearing a polite name tag.

Source: The Denver Post