High Country readers delivered pointed commentary this week on legislation, local policy, and government accountability — spanning energy infrastructure, alcohol taxes, wildfire management, and Tina Peters, jailed election activist.
Salida distillery owner and Chaffee County Commissioner P.T. Wood warned that HB26-1271 would impose a 60 percent excise fee increase on Colorado’s alcohol producers, threatening 131,000 jobs and $22 billion in economic activity statewide. Wood called the hike — structured as a “fee” to bypass TABOR — one of the hardest cost increases his industry has faced in generations.
A reader zeroed in on grid reliability. Jeany Rush urged the House Energy and Environment Committee to vote yes on HB26-1124, a grid resiliency task force bill, while opposing HB26-1278, which would expand high-voltage transmission infrastructure before costs and risks are fully disclosed. Rush argued private companies should not have eminent domain authority over landowners prior to full project approval.
On wildfire policy, Vince Phillips raised questions about Chaffee Common Ground’s $9.4 million in spending since 2024, arguing that mechanical tree thinning and mastication on steep slopes and diverse terrain deserves closer scrutiny despite the program’s reported 15,000 acres of fuels reduction.
Jennifer Earp-Adamson submitted a 1942 parable from her great-grandfather’s Kansas periodical, urging readers to actively preserve the freedoms they have inherited. J. Rush filed a formal complaint with the DOJ, CDOC, and Governor Polis on behalf of imprisoned election activist Tina Peters, alleging false prosecution and unsafe prison conditions.
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