High winds, fire danger: Could Xcel do more to prevent power outages?

Re: “Extreme winds fuel fire, outages,” April 7 news story and “Xcel’s preemptive shutdown criticized,” April 9 news story

In response to complaints about Xcel proactively cutting off electricity to 55,000 Front Range customers during our windy weekend, would you rather take your chances with a devastating fire?

Those who say that Xcel has done this to avoid lawsuits are only seeing half the issue — lawsuits would follow loss from wildfire.

Is having electricity every minute of every day more important than whether wind-driven wildfire burns your house (or someone else’s) to the ground, as we saw in the Marshall fire?

Weather forecasting is imperfect at best. I consult 3 weather apps, which base their predictions on the same National Weather Service data — they often disagree. I think Xcel made the right call with the information available.

— Nancy B. Weil, Denver

I live in north Boulder and I am one of the 55,000 Xcel customers whose electricity was shut off from 3:02 p.m. Saturday, April 6, until 4:24 p.m. on Sunday, April 7. Interestingly, the houses immediately one block west of me and in the neighborhood west of me did not lose their power. I received two phone calls from Xcel giving me a heads up, which allowed me to at least fully charge my electronics, but I really didn’t believe it would happen because we didn’t have any power poles or transformers in our neighborhood. I was wrong.

Xcel claims that this preventative de-energizing action is not the result of the lawsuits from the Marshall fire. I find that hard to believe. The smart preventative measures that Xcel needs to do and should have been doing for these many years are investing manpower and money into upgrading the electric infrastructure. Isn’t that why we pay our bills? Will I now have to be concerned during the summer months that my electricity will be cut off when there is a high wind warning together with high fire danger? I can tell you that Xcel’s website was not informative regarding the resumption of power this time, and I don’t expect it to be so for any future shutdowns.

The PUC better stop approving rate hikes and look at how Xcel is not providing consistent electricity to their customers.

— Teri Jacobson, Boulder

Downed power lines sparking fires, high winds blowing embers everywhere, trees and shingles catching fire, blowing embers creating more fires and windblown embers: disaster! On my block, a downed utility pole tangled in two trees. But the line was de-energized, so no sparks, no fires.

We will never know how many lives and houses were saved. Xcel was right to cut the power in the massive windstorm.

— Jan Marie Belle, Denver

Xcel Energy has a problem, and they know it. They cannot design and maintain power distribution lines that can withstand typical Colorado Front Range wind events. Xcel’s solution seems to be to not invest in high-wind-safe power distribution systems. Instead, let’s just cut off power for 24 to 48 hours to 55,000 customers so we don’t get sued for causing wildfires.

Clearly, with global warming ramping up, this problematic solution will continue to be Xcel’s No. 1 choice. So, the legislature should step in and require Xcel to pay for 48-hour Powerwall energy backup systems for the 55,000 customers who will routinely be without power during Colorado’s routine high wind events. I estimate these backup power systems would cost Xcel more than a half-billion, which could be better used to design and maintain wind-safe power distribution systems in the first place.

— Reed Bailey, Boulder County

Christian Nationalism threatens our freedoms and democracy

Re: “Coloradan on trial for Jan. 6 wanted to bring God to the Capitol,” April 7 commentary

I have to admire Krista Kafer’s comments on what she perceives as religious nationalism. Certainly, the trends that she shows of this alarming tendency in other countries are certainly rearing their ugly heads here. I never thought that the religious freedom guaranteed in the Bill of Rights would be under threat by a tiny, vocal minority, but yet it is. Should those of us who do not agree with the beliefs promulgated by Christian Nationalists fear for our safety? Sadly, this appears to be the case.

— Clarence Colburn, Thornton

I appreciated Krista Kafer’s calling out Christofacism (my term, not hers) and other religious extremism in her recent column. It was disappointing that she didn’t mention the work of the group Christians Against Christian Nationalism.

Formed in 2019, the movement has provided a platform to combat Christian nationalism in the U.S. that threatens both our democracy and the religion itself. Church leaders from many denominations have joined the movement, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, American Baptist Churches, Sojourners and Latino Christian National Network. In addition, over 30,000 individuals signed the statement to preserve our public space as a safe place for all, regardless of their religion or worldview.

Christian nationalism seeks to threaten freedom of belief and free exercise of religion with an “our-way-or-the-highway culture.” It’s sobering to realize my faith practice could be abolished if the Christian extremist agenda plays out. (I identify as a practicing Christian of European descent).

— Carlene Goldthwaite, Fruita

I’m sure that Krista Kafer has cemented her position as the conservative Republican that right-wing Republicans love to hate. She sheds light on a matter that many so-called “evangelicals” fail to understand (I say so-called because the label “evangelical” has been co-opted to serve the purposes of a political ideology and no longer, as it did in the past, define historic theological and biblical commitments). Apparently, these insurrectionists and election deniers want a theocracy, albeit with their God and his chosen instrument (Donald Trump) in charge. They misconstrue the founding history of this country — the Puritans were seeking to escape a church-state system. And they twist (or better, they ignore) the Bible to support their agenda. Jesus said in no uncertain terms: “My kingdom is not of this world. … But now my kingdom is of another place” (John 18:36).

Kafer correctly points out the poison that Christian Nationalism poses for our democracy. In this ill-advised syncretism, character does not matter, so rallying behind Trump makes sense as long as their side wins — and sadly they have the majority of Republican members of Congress on their side.

— William W. Klein, Columbine Valley

— Editor’s note: Klein is professor emeritus of New Testament Interpretation at Denver Seminary in Littleton.

Though I often don’t agree with Krista Kafer’s views, I religiously read her weekly column to get her perspective on today’s political and social issues. I use the word religiously to reflect on Sunday’s Perspective on Christian Nationalism. Krista has been consistently and thoroughly sounding the alarm for the threats to our nation’s democracy.

Please do not let her be the only voice of reason! Bravo for her to take her stand both in writing and in action!

— Cindy Le Coq, Littleton

Wasting water

Re: “Where does the basin’s water go?” April 7 news story

Thanks for telling us that a significant amount of water in the upper Colorado River Basin is used to irrigate alfalfa. It was a great relief. For a minute there, I was worried it was being used to flood medians on streets in the Denver Metro area.

— Barry Noreen, Denver

Maybe more should be anti-growth

Re: “Despite questionable poll, most Coloradans aren’t anti-growth,” April 7 commentary

Might the reason why there is not more opposition to growth be that most people still believe the statement from the 1% that the economics of growth trickle down? In fact, for the past 40 or so years, the wealth from growth has trickled up, and this explains a large part of the growing income disparity in the country.

If the question was, instead, do you support the results of growth, you would get a far different answer.

With growth, we get increased congestion, less affordable housing, dirty air, less available water, more crowded public spaces, increased crime and homelessness, more income disparity, and a lessened quality of life. With that understanding, very few people would favor more growth.

The kicker is that you cannot grow indefinately on a finite planet, and don’t want to grow more when you have already outgrown the biological assets of the planet as the 8 billion people have.

— Don Thompson, Alamosa