Seven’s Gate Taproom is crowded on the evening of Jan. 27 with people chatting casually, enjoying libations and looking at informational pamphlets from the Sierra Club. People are here for one reason—to hold Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) accountable for closing the Ray D. Nixon Power Plant by 2029.
The Sierra Club is a nonprofit organization working across the U.S. to conserve the environment with the help of volunteers and activists. According to community organizer Olivia West, they are currently working with other Colorado conservation groups, including 350 Colorado, to set and uphold clean energy goals in the state through 2050.
The Nixon Power Plant, located south of the city in Fountain, is CSU’s last operating coal power plant and was previously slated to be closed in 2029, in line with the state’s goal of having 80% of its energy come from renewable sources by 2030.
However, the CEO of CSU, Travas Deal, is now saying that CSU is considering keeping the Nixon Plant, as closing it would mean higher energy bills for Colorado Springs residents.
In an interview with CPR News, Deal said, “What we’re looking at is an option to utilize Nixon to help maintain reliability and to keep cost points as low as possible as we look for a longer term decarbonization strategy.”
The Sierra Club rejects Deal’s claim that closing the plant would be more expensive, saying that coal is one of the most expensive sources of energy, second only to nuclear, according to a study done for the Sierra Club by the Applied Economics Clinic.
In order to hold CSU accountable for the deadline to shut down the power plant by 2029, the Sierra Club is engaging community members and students across Colorado Springs to push for change.
Jim Lockhart is the Conservation Chair of the Pikes Peak Chapter of the Sierra Club and is helping to gain community support for the Clean Energy for Colorado campaign.
“It’s really the voters who decide for the Colorado Springs Utilities board and the city council, and they listen to voters,” said Lockhart, regarding the importance of community organizing around environmental issues.
The Sierra Club is primarily focusing on stopping bill SB 26-022 from passing. This bill would allow entities to extend the deadline to meet the 2030 carbon emissions goals and would allow for the Nixon Plant to stay open longer.
The bill is co-sponsored by Amy Paschal, a Democratic state representative for Colorado’s District 18, where the plant is located.
On Jan. 22, West came to Colorado College to run a workshop on how students could get Paschal to stop co-sponsoring this bill. West was joined by CC students and Sierra Club interns, Aspen Fisher ‘28 and Madeleine Louisell ‘27.
Back at Seven’s Gate, both CC students and non-CC students gather to work on the same projects and stop the bill from passing by learning how to petition, writing postcards and calling legislators.
“If we provide them basically with an excuse or tell them that their constituents don’t want this, then they’ll more easily be able to back away from co-sponsoring the bill,” said West.
“That’s the way we get things done in this city,” said Lockhart.
The Sierra Club will continue its work to shut down the Nixon Plant, collaborating with students from CC and University of Colorado Colorado Springs as well as the greater Colorado Springs community.