Changes

In March 2010, Xcel - Colorado's largest utility - [[Xcel Energy]] promised to cut air pollution over the next seven years, . It will do so by either retiring Front Range coal-fired power plants or replacing them with natural gas and other sources of power. The company is required to submit plans by Aug. 15 to the state Public Utilities Commissions to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions at coal plants by up to 80 percent over the next eight years.<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10024446 "Xcel Promises to Cut Pollution in Colorado"] AP Press, March 5, 2010</ref> In August, 2010 Xcel filed its plan to curb emissions from its coal-fired power plants along the front range. The plan stated that Xcel would shut down the [[Cherokee Station]]'s fourth coal-fired generator by 2022 and replace it with a new, natural gas-fired generator. Xcel’s plan also called for the shutdown of Cherokee’s three other coal units before 2017, as well as the construction of a new natural gas plant. However, in late September 2010, the Colorado public health department and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) went after Xcel’s $1.3 billion plan to curb emissions from these power plants. The PUC stated that when it ruled that it can’t consider actions that occur after 2017 — the deadline in the Clean Air, Clean Jobs Act signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment stated that Xcel's “truncated plan” that stops at 2017, and does not include shutting down Cherokee’s fourth coal unit, won’t meet tighter ozone regulations that are expected from the federal government and thus won’t meet the intent of the Clean Air, Clean Jobs law. Hearings on Xcel's plan are set for late October, 2010.<ref>[http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/10/04/daily24.html "Xcel's clean air plan hits snag"] Cathy Proctor, Denver Business Journal, October 5, 2010.</ref>