The Great American Clean Up
Join the Pikes Peak Group on May 2nd for the Great American Clean Up at the Roswell Reach in Colorado Springs. We will be joining the Roswell Neighbors group to clean up litter and garbage along the path.
We will be meeting at 9AM at the corner of Steele Dr. and West Polk Street. The clean-up will last until 12PM. You can register here on the Fountain Creek Watershed District's website.
This is a great way to get involved in a local clean-up effort and to meet like-minded folks in the Colorado Springs area. You can also find out how to get more involved in the Pikes Peak Sierra Club group.
Legislative Update 2026
Sierra Club Colorado held a successful Lobby Day on March 9th, speaking with local legislators and leadership about our priorities for the session and bill we support and do not support. It was an enjoyable day, being with fellow environmentalists and meeting new and interesting people.
Sierra Club's Pike Peak Group's big priority for the day was speaking with legislators against the proposed extension on closing the Ray Nixon coal plant outlined in SB26-022. Colorado Springs Utilities claims they are unable to close the plant by the 2029 agreed upon deadline. The proposed bill only requires that CSU propose a plan which would achieve 80% renewables by no later than 2040 and would not allow the Air Quality Control Commission or Air Pollution Division to impose conditions on the grant of an extension if it would appear to impact reliability or increase rates by more than 1.5%. The bill is presently pending before the State Senate Transportation and Energy Committee. At the time of this newsletter, no hearing date has been set.
Local activists are meeting bi-weekly to combat this proposed extension. You can see the schedule on our website. You can help by letting CSU know that as a ratepayer, you expect them to keep to their deadlines for getting us off of coal. You can also contact your legislators asking them to oppose this bill.
April News
Conservation Report
By Jim Lockhart
For updates on the group’s campaigns and issues, please click here!
Thank you, Olivia!
With a bittersweet heart, the Pikes Peak Group and the Colorado Chapter bid a fond farewell to our Green Corp organizer, Olivia West. For the last four months, Olivia has spearheaded the fight to keep CSU accountable for closing the Ray Nixon Coal plant by their agreed 2029 deadline. She brought folks from all over the area together to form a broad coalition that want to move away from coal to clean, renewable energy. We wish her the best in her future endeavors and will always cherish her time here in Colorado Springs. Best of luck Olivia!
Call for Conservation Committee Members
The Pikes Peak Group is looking for volunteers to join our Conservation Committee. We have been lucky for the past few years to have an amazing volunteer, Jim Lockhart heading up the committee. As Jim begins to wind down his role a bit, we are hoping a new generation of leaders will help take up the charge.
Our Conservation Committee has five major priorities: Wilderness and Wildlands; Fountain Creek; Urban Issues (including Open Space and Development, Recycling); Beyond Carbon; and Wildlife. Within these topics are a wide range of issues that can be explored and tailored to individual interests and passions.
Please consider joining our Conservation Committee today! Together we can ensure Colorado Springs is a healthy, safe, and environmentally-minded community. Please contact Jim if interested!