Elbert County commissioners direct staff to draft competing approval and denial resolutions for Xcel’s Power Pathway after contentious hearing

At a public hearing in Kiowa, Elbert County commissioners heard technical briefings from Xcel Energy and county staff, then voted to have the county attorney prepare competing draft resolutions — one that would approve the permit and one that would deny it — to be finalized at a special meeting July 2, 2025, at 1 p.m.

The hearing centered on Xcel Energy’s proposed Colorado Power Pathway transmission line, the company’s wildfire-mitigation measures, and land-acquisition tactics including condemnation. Patrick Kuretisch, who identified himself as working for Xcel Energy and supporting transmission operations on wildfire matters for Colorado, told the commissioners that Xcel has filed wildfire mitigation plans (one in 2020 and an update for 2025–2027) and that the company uses multiple tools to reduce risk. “We do take that extremely seriously,” Kuretisch said, and explained that Xcel uses a mix of weather models and an internal meteorological team (four meteorologists) and “we provide 24/7 monitoring of our lines” with redundant protection systems and situational awareness tools such as Pano AI cameras.

County staff described how local conditions could be addressed through conditions of approval. Staff reiterated that while some project-level information is managed at the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) level, information the county wants considered must be part of the local land-use record. Staff summarized suggested conditions drawn from county practice and referral agency comments: completed agreements and fire-district forms prior to construction start in those districts, construction-site safety and emergency action plans, preconstruction wildlife and nest-clearance surveys (with seasonal timing), cultural- and biological-resource monitoring during construction,…