Regulators Add Cherokee Plant to the ‘No Coal’ Xcel List

Interesting development reported at Colorado Energy News. The members of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted to deactivate another coal-burning power plant on the Front Range. The Cherokee power plant in north Denver will be retrofitted to burn natural gas by 2017. These type of retrofits were made mandatory when a broad coalition of government, environmentalist, and Xcel officials came together to help pass the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act this year. Natural gas is a cleaner fuel with less particulates and CO2 emissions than coal. Plus it's easier and faster to fire up a natural gas-fired power plant when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. I will be interested to see what the Front Ranges air quality is like in 2017 as compared to today.