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Albert County commissioners tell PUC Xcel's preferred Power Pathway route threatens safety and property values
Summary
Albert County commissioners testified that the Public Service Company of Colorado presented a preferred transmission route with limited alternatives, raised concerns about fire-safety signoffs and eminent-domain timing, and said monetary payments alone would not allay their public-safety worries.
Albert County elected officials told the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Friday that Xcel Energy’s (doing business as Public Service Company of Colorado) preferred path for the Power Pathway transmission segment through eastern Albert County posed distinct local harms that money alone would not fix.
Commissioner Byron McDaniel, who presided over the county’s June 2025 denial of the company’s permits, said the route passes close to planned subdivisions where, he said, volunteer fire departments are already stretched. “It’s more than money,” McDaniel said when asked whether a fee or a fire-truck purchase would resolve the county’s concerns. “It has to do with the volunteers and the available…volunteer’s capacity.” (Byron McDaniel, sworn witness.)
County witness and former clerk- recorder…
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