Boulder moves to acquire [steal] Xcel Energy distribution network through condemnation

Daily Camera ^ | 7/17/2014 | Erica Meltzer

[catnipman]

Article Subtitle:

Utility says city's filing 'ignores state law and is premature'

"Boulder initiated long-threatened condemnation proceedings against Xcel Energy on Thursday, filing a legal petition seeking to acquire through eminent domain portions of the company's electric distribution network to serve as the backbone of a future municipal utility."

...

[catnipman]

Popcorn-worthy three-ring circus with City of Boulder, Xcel Energy, and the Colorado PUC, as City of Boulder tries to steal a chunk of a privately owned electric utility.

You know, 'cause Boulder can do it better. And cheaper. Oh, and of course, GREENER! Yeah, right.

(Actually, it'd be fun to see Boulder get their wish and try to build and operate a power utility from scratch, sort of like the dog catching the car it's chasing and then wondering what to do with it.)

[Red Badger]

This would be a misuse of ‘eminent domain’....................

[mountainlion]

Did you hear the one about the liberal’s dog with bumps on his head? It was chasing parked cars.

[Da Coyote]

Boulder will fu...er...Obama this up like everything else they’ve ever tried.

Remember the classic ineptness of the Boulder Keystone...er...Police Dept following the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.

If one takes out the truly talented in that town (NIST, CU’s STEM departments), one is left with an average IQ just slightly below that of Joseph Biden.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

This would be a misuse of ‘eminent domain’....................

..................and certainly not the first such misuse, either.

[Red Badger]

If this is allowed, then what is to stop a government from taking, say a Wal-Mart or McDonald’s, because they want to be ‘in charge’ of food distribution?................

[defconw]

Maybe they have figured out how to use pot smoke to run the place? Wait ....What?.... :)

[Former Proud Canadian]

Haha, somebody gets it.

[DManA]

Because electricity is every one’s “right”.

[Red Badger]

...Or taking over a construction company because they want to be in charge of ‘housing distribution’..............or a hospital or clinic or anything they set their eyes upon.

Ahab & Jezebel in the 21st century................

[cincinnati65]

Ayn Rand was a better prognosticator than Nostradamus.

[mountainlion]

Boulder, 32 square miles surrounded by REALITY!

[meatloaf]

Thanks for posting this if for no other reason, the entertainment value. The Boulder city council has no idea what is facing them. With the upcoming rate increases, they’ll be hard pressed to keep the utility in the black. AFAIK, they’ll still need PUC approval to raise rates.

They are drooling at the potential income stream without recognizing the normal operating risks and the huge downside from the EPA’s actions.

It’s not often you see folks dropping trou and grabbing ankles on that scale. After it’s all over and done city officials will probably wish they’d been ENRONed instead.

[Vince Ferrer]

What would we do without our precious supply of lily whites? I had to think about this for a minute, but what I think they are doing is they want to build a firewall to keep out any electrons excited by carbon based electrical generation. Which would mean that Denver would use the impure electrons, not that the impure electrons would go away. But Boulder would then be able to claim hippier than thou status.

[thinkthenpost]

WOW, taking an already improved property! I am dumbfounded by how BRAZEN the City of Boulder is to even consider, to even give voice to this idea. If Boulder wants to get in on the energy game just buy it, but to abuse and corrupt the entire system through condemnation proceedings,...... WOW!

Recently passing through what I believe is around the halfway point of my life, I occasionally will comment with I’m closer to the end than the beginning.
I unfortunately have begun to make the same comment about our country. Examples of this type of thinking and actually following through with action. I believe we are closer to the end of the United States than we are to the founding!

At least something we might recognize as America

[IronJack]

Xcel has already done all the heavy lifting — building the generation and distribution infrastructure — and now Boulder thinks they can take over with all the hard work completed. But the operations & maintenance costs of an electrical utility are staggering. And as the infrastructure ages and has to be replaced, those costs will do nothing but go up.

This will become another liberal black hole that will swallow whole galaxies of money. And even eminent domain requires that the city pay Xcel a fair and reasonable price for its condemned property. Therefore, Xcel gets a huge cash windfall and Boulder buys a massive headache.

[GraceG]

[ Boulder, 32 square miles surrounded by REALITY! ]

In Colorado it is “Lovingly” Referred to as the “People’s Republic of Boulder”

[catnipman]

” they want to build a firewall to keep out any electrons excited by carbon based electrical generation”

I’ve always lamented the fact that there is no firewall against stupidity, since stupidity is the leading cause of catching computer viruses (and many other ills as well).

[GeronL]

wow

Soviet Union is coming back

[mountainlion]

In Colorado it is “Lovingly” Referred to as the “People’s Republic of Boulder”

Well, at least in polite conversation. I grew up about 15 miles east of IT.