Bill aims to reauthorize CO PUC; Colorado pine beetle devastation accelerates in Front Range forests; Lawmakers want to repeal roadless rule in natl. forests

Headlines Tuesday, May 26, 2026

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    Bill aims to reauthorize CO PUC; Colorado pine beetle devastation accelerates in Front Range forests; Lawmakers want to repeal roadless rule in natl. forests KGNU News

Bill aims to reauthorize CO PUC

Colorado lawmakers have passed a bill reauthorizing a powerful state regulatory body after pushback from Xcel Energy and a coalition of business and labor groups.

HB26-1326 reauthorizes the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, or the PUC. for another seven years.

The PUC regulates thousands of businesses, including monopoly utilities like Xcel, ride-share operators, telecommunications giants, towing companies and other private entities.

Every few years, lawmakers review and reauthorize the commission, through what’s called a “sunset” review. That process began in October 2025 after a state policy office submitted a report to improve the PUC.

Some of those suggested improvements, however, were controversial, including securitization requirement proposals. The bill awaits Governor Polis’ approval.

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Colorado pine beetle devastation accelerates in Front Range forests

A new state report reveals that pine beetle damage in Colorado expanded aggressively in 2025, chewing through nearly 150% more Front Range ponderosa pine than the year before.

State Forester Matt McCombs warned that the relentless spread will soon become exponential, threatening widespread forest loss over the next two decades.

Officials state there are not enough resources to save the majority of the ponderosa forest, meaning the focus must shift to reducing wildfire risks from the dead wood.

While expensive chemical treatments can save specific high-value trees, communities are being urged to prepare for a major landscape transition. At the same time, urban areas are facing a separate crisis as the invasive emerald ash borer beetle has expanded throughout Colorado.

The state forest service tracked pine beetle damage across nearly 5,500 acres in 2025, a massive spike from the previous year.

Officials warn that the rapidly dying trees will add dangerous, explosive fuel to areas where residential neighborhoods meet the wildlands.

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Lawmakers want to repeal roadless rule in natl. forests

Last week, Lawmakers on the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands debated legislation that would repeal the Roadless Rule, sponsored by Wyoming Republican Harriet Hageman.

The 2001 rule bans building roads in certain areas of national forests, to preserve intact, undeveloped landscapes and to keep the agency’s resources focused on managing forests rather than maintaining infrastructure.

The debate was mostly split along party lines, with Democrats pointing to the watershed health and biodiversity benefits of roadless areas and Republicans discussing wildfire risks.

At times, both parties even cited the same research. Hageman said “our prediction that the Roadless Rule would devastate large swaths of the Interior West have in fact been confirmed by a 2021 Johnston study that shows that roadless areas burned at disproportionately higher rates, despite being cooler and moister.”

But Maxine Dexter, an Oregon Democrat, pointed out that the foundational finding of the Oregon State University study was more complex than Hageman claimed, saying “roadless national forests in the American West burn more often and a slightly higher severity than national forests with roads, but the end result for the roadless forest is greater fire resilience, and I think that’s something we all want.”

In addition to this legislation, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is also spearheading an agency-level effort to rescind the rule.

This story was reported by Rocky Mountain Community Radio.

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Superior 13-year-old will compete in Scripps National Spelling Bee

A 13-year-old from Superior will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee today.

Derek Li, who is finishing seventh grade at Boulder’s Summit Middle School, follows in the footsteps of his sister Blanche, a freshman at Fairview High School who competed in national spelling bees twice.

Li, along with Fort Collins sixth-grader Nikhil Ganta, will represent Colorado in the national event, competing against 245 other students from around the country.

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