About

Powering Forward is a blog about energy, climate, community, and change told through stories of Western Colorado and the people shaping its future.

This isn’t just a policy blog. It’s a place to explore how change happens on the ground – where clean energy goals meet grid reliability, economic realities, and local priorities. It’s a place for stories. About farmers adopting new technologies to save water, fuel and inputs. About utilities balancing loads – and loaded politics – as they bring renewables onto our grid. About coal towns working to stay on the map as the energy world shifts. About elected officials and civic leaders working to manage all this change.

You’ll also find my own perspective here – opinions shaped by years of citizen advocacy, conversations in Washington and on the Western Slope, and a belief that good policy can grow from the middle out.

Energy is changing. So is the West. If you’re looking for practical insights that favor bipartisanship and an optimistic outlook on politics and people, you’re in the right place.  

Thanks for reading. Let’s power forward together across the energy divides.

---

My name is Kathy Fackler. I’m a longtime citizen advocate with a background in software engineering and a belief in America. I’ve lobbied Congress as a private citizen for 25 years, focusing since 2017 on pragmatic approaches to energy and climate policy.

I’m an active member of Club 20, a coalition of counties, communities, businesses, individuals and associations in Western Colorado, and serve on their Energy Advisory Team. At the national level, I collaborate with Citizens’ Climate Lobby to pass policy solutions that address the challenges of climate change. Both organizations are non-partisan. Both believe we need diverse options to address our energy needs.

I’m not a Colorado native. I wasn’t raised on a ranch. I’m not an expert on energy. And I don’t fit neatly into the environmental movement. I’m a born-and-bred city girl, slightly left of center, who now splits time between Durango and San Diego, and splits focus between the national policy debates in Washington and regional problem solving in Colorado. That gives me a unique perspective.