Author: Kathy Fackler
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Making Climate Policy Work in a Changing World
Colorado should lead on climate—but not by pretending we can decarbonize in isolation or on a fixed schedule no matter the cost. A durable climate policy must balance emissions reductions with affordability, reliability, and fairness for today’s Coloradans and future generations.
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What Colorado can teach Washington about energy
Co-authored with Delta County Commissioner Wendell A. Koontz – In Delta County, a solar project that once divided neighbors became a model for how to build trust, protect land, and move clean energy forward. Washington could learn a thing or two.
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Energy security starts at home: Colorado families should invest in tech now
Investing in home energy efficiency upgrades like heat pumps and solar panels protects families from volatile energy prices while strengthening Colorado’s electrical grid—and federal incentives expire at the end of 2025.
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How policy volatility could break America’s power grid
America’s energy policy is starting to feel like a game of Calvinball – the anything-goes sport from Calvin and Hobbes where the rules change mid-play to favor whoever’s holding the ball. That’s the reality for utilities and energy developers trying to plan in an era of constant surprises.
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After America’s great energy divorce, what’s next?
The world is moving toward cleaner, cheaper, more distributed energy whether America leads or follows. The question isn’t whether this transition will happen — it’s whether American innovation, American workers, and American companies will drive it.
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Welcome to Powering Forward
Powering Forward is about navigating changing conditions in these uncertain times. It’s human-focused and hopeful, a space where energy, climate, and community come together, told through the lens of Western Colorado and the policies that shape it.
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Bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act is smart policy
We all face increasing threat from the West’s hotter, drier, denser forests. That’s just a fact. Last year we lost 9 million acres to wildland fire. We can’t fix hot, and we can’t fix dry — not in the short term anyway. But we can fix dense.
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Thankful for Reps. Hurd and Evans for standing up for clean energy tax credits
If Congress takes the energy credits away, not only will it waste capital expenditure funds already invested in the specific projects, but the project failures will trigger a chain reaction — not just in Colorado, but across the United States.
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Support for HB25-1040
HB25-1040 would include nuclear energy as another zero-carbon resource for utilities and energy planners to consider, subject to community support, economics, and safety review processes. The bill passed with strong bipartisan votes and was signed into law by Gov. Polis on March 31, 2025.
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IRA invests in energy, water and rural America
The Inflation Reduction Act makes a generational investment in low-carbon energy and helps Americans adapt to a warming climate. Its energy tax credits are popular in many Republican districts, sparking local investment, building domestic supply chains, and accelerating innovation in technologies like geothermal, advanced nuclear, battery storage and carbon capture.
Powering Forward 