Colorado lawmakers are currently deliberating Senate Bill 26-22, a proposal by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) to give them permission to “extend the deadline to find an affordable and reliable replacement power supply” for its Ray Nixon coal-powered plant. CSU wants to extend the deadline to 2040, instead of retiring it by the end of 2029, as promised. In 2020, when I was on the Utility Board and City Council, we proposed to State officials, after much due diligence, to stop burning coal at Nixon in 2029. This was part of a compromise that allowed CSU to avoid having to install expensive new air pollution controls at Nixon to comply with Regional clean air standards. What I learned then was that the Nixon coal plant was one of the largest air polluters in Colorado. In 2024 alone, Nixon emitted more than 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). To put that into perspective, the U.S.…