Opinion: The smartest guys in the room
Remember back when the executives of Enron, convinced that they were the “smartest guys in the room”, instigated the California energy crisis, lost billions of dollars, and some ended up in jail. That title is now used to identify any group that thinks they are way smarter than they actually are. Thus we come to Boulder’s franchise agreement with Xcel/PSCo, where the smartest guys told us last fall that this was a great deal, we’d get ten years of back undergrounding, a whole host of great projects, and maybe get to 100% renewables by 2030. After the 53%/47% vote on the Franchise Agreement last November, Xcel/PSCo filed for PUC approval. Shortly thereafter I tried to intervene in the proceeding, because I wanted to ensure that specific issues would be considered. The Administrative Law Judge hearing the case, as well as the PUC itself, turned down my request to intervene, but not before I had communicated my issues. This triggered a closer look by both the PUC trial staff and the Off