Utopian energy dreams are doing great economic and security damage.

This is from The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page on July 18: “Soaring oil and natural gas prices. Electricity grids on the brink of failure. Energy shortages in Europe, with worse to come.” All caused by the West’s utopian dream to punish fossil fuels and sprint to a world driven solely by renewable energy. Political leaders must recognize this manifest debacle and admit that the world will need carbon fuel for decades to remain prosperous and free.

Twenty states have passed legislation or enacted executive orders to achieve net-zero fossil fuel usage by various dates in the future. In Colorado, a 2019 law (SB 19-236) codified a pledge previously made by Xcel Energy, whose service territory covers approximately 60% of the state’s load. It is mandatory “so long as it is technically and economically feasible.”

While Europe struggles to revive shuttered coal-fired electrical generating facilities, Xcel Energy is planning to close our local plants in Hayden and Craig. Would it not make sense for our energy security to keep these plants operating until and unless a carbon dioxide-free solution is actually proven?

Bill Rutledge

Steamboat Springs