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Speak Up for Earth!
Fort Collins City Council
4/21/2026
5pm Mocktail Party @ City Hall Garden
BYO cup and plate
Can you bring simple small bites? chips, dips, cookies & drinks (no alcohol at City Hall, y’all)
6:15ish Public Comment
9:00 wrap up
Join fellow Earthlings in making a brief public comment to City Council.
City Council is considering climate actions in their work session the following week.
Email cforse.fred@gmail.com to RSVP and to workshop talking points.
Topics & Talking Points: On April 28th council and City staff will be discussing “Our Climate Future Strategic Funding Plan”. That’s why we want to voice our concerns and priorities to them on April 21st. So far we have identified four areas of concern, or interest, that we’d like them to address. Of course, you can speak on whatever you like. We’ll have greater effect if we have several people speaking on the same topics:
Budgeting for cost effective climate strategies
The current process for spending our climate tax dollars does not prioritize cost effectiveness. The result is that insanely expensive projects have been funded instead of cost saving and pollution reduction measures. For example: Replacing gas powered utility carts with electric carts costs $1330/tCO2 reduced. Retrofitting outdoor lighting costs $1340/tCO2 reduced. There might be other good reasons to do these things, but the climate tax is supposed to be dedicated to reducing CO2. Cost effectiveness of CO2 reduction should be the main metric for budgeting those dollars.
In 2023 the City had identified 43 solar projects that have greater CO2 reductions per dollar and save the City money with a 10% annual Return on Investment. Why has only one of those projects been funded?
Will City Council prioritize cost effectiveness as a standard metric for budgeting our climate tax dollars?
Will the City put a cap on the cost per CO2 reduced as a qualifier for the 2050 climate tax funding?
City building performance and solar + battery projects
City staff worked for over two years to develop Building Performance Standards that council then voted down in December. That doesn’t mean that the City shouldn’t, or can’t, meet those standards for municipal buildings. The Colorado Energy Office has a concierge service for financing and completing building energy efficiency retrofits and solar + batteries projects for municipalities. The Colorado Clean Energy Fund can help finance energy improvements as well. These projects may be able to use energy bill savings to finance upfront costs at a net monthly savings to the City.
Will the City work the CEO and CCEF to maximize their programs’ potential to achieve Fort Collins’ climate goals?
Will the City lead by example on Building Performance Standards by bringing municipal buildings up to that standard?
City staff says that solar and battery projects are always being considered. What projects are currently under consideration, and what is the timeline for completion of those projects?
3. Works towards actually achieving 100% renewable electricity.
In 2018 City Council adopted a goal of meeting 100% of community electric needs with renewable energy by 2030. Now it appears that goal will not be met. Fort Collins plans to be purchasing fossil fuel electricity roughly 12% of the time in 2030. City staff’s proposed solution is to employ an accounting trick to claim that we are 100% renewable, but they acknowledge that we won’t be.
The best we can do to approach actually achieving the goal is be honest about not meeting it, and build renewable generation and battery storage within Fort Collins. When PRPA turns on their gas plants, we can instead use our stored renewable energy, and minimize fossil fuel consumption. One way to do that is to buy excess power from electric vehicles owned by residents and businesses. By purchasing power from the people instead of the fossil fuel plant, the City can not only reduce pollution and work towards meeting goals, but make electric vehicles more affordable than gas vehicles. That lowers bills for people and local businesses, and reduces tailpipe emissions - the number one source of air pollution in town.
Will you acknowledge that as long as Fort Collins purchases fossil fuel derived electricity, then we won’t reach the goal of 100% renewable?
Will you set a new goal of building out local battery storage to be charged with renewables, and then discharged when PRPA is selling fossil derived electricity?
Will you offer to buy excess electric vehicle power from Fort Collins residents and businesses when PRPA turns on their gas plants?
4. Audit Our Climate Future (OCF)
The City’s Our Climate Future reports compare Fort Collins to a few other communities but do not include comparisons to climate leaders, or nationwide trends, or to places that spend no money on climate action, or on cost effectiveness metrics. How do we learn best practices if we don’t compare our actions to leaders? How do we know we are getting our money’s worth if we don’t compare to the status quo?
How much has Fort Collins spent on climate action, not just the 2050 climate tax, but all together? How does that compare with leaders and laggards? Will City staff provide a comparison using the EPA’s zip code Green House Gas tracker?
Again, you can speak to other things. I picked these topics because of their direct relationship to budgeting, which is the topic of the following week’s council work session. We also have several very well written letters from FoCo residents that you can read.
Here’s the website to sign up to speak: Speak at City Council