Latest news with #CampbellHawkins
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Black Hills Energy developing emergency shutoff program
(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — Black Hills Energy (BHE) is developing a program to allow the utility to shut off power in high-wildfire risk areas during 'extreme conditions.' According to BHE, the utility is preparing to launch the 'Public Safety Power Shutoff' (PSPS) program by mid-summer 2025. BHE said the PSPS program involves 'selectively and proactively' shutting off power to high-risk fire areas during extreme weather conditions until those conditions improve, with the goal of preventing electric facilities from becoming a source of wildfire ignition. 'At Black Hills Energy, the safety of our customers, employees and communities is our highest priority,' said Campbell Hawkins, vice president of Colorado utilities. 'We believe that a Public Safety Power Shutoff program is a necessary and critical tool for wildfire prevention and mitigation, particularly for utilities with high fire risk areas.' BHE said if a power line is proactively de-energized during a shutoff, it will not be turned back on until conditions improve, and until crews have inspected power lines. This process may result in outages lasting a few hours or a few days. 'Peer utilities are currently implementing and executing similar programs,' Hawkins said. 'To determine if a Public Safety Power Shutoff is necessary, Black Hills Energy will leverage industry criteria that include a combination of wind gust speeds and low relative humidity.' According to Hawkins, BHE does not intend to trigger a shutoff based only on a Red Flag Warning being issued by the National Weather Service; however Red Flag Warnings do trigger other operational responses already in place, which are outlined in the company's Wildfire Mitigation Plan. BHE said it would communicate with customers before any shutoff occurs, and said the shutoff would only be used as a last resort. During and after a PSPS event, BHE said public notifications would occur through phone calls, emails, text messages, social media, media outlets and BHE's website. BHE reminds the community to have a backup plan in place for medicine that needs to be refrigerated or medical equipment that is powered by electricity. This could mean finding a place you can go during an outage or having a backup generator. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
City of Pueblo talks about results of 2A
(COLORADO SPRINGS) —With ballot Measure 2A resulting in a 'No' vote from the public, the City of Pueblo is pivoting to look into other alternatives for the end of the agreement in 2030. Public Works Director for the City of Pueblo, Andrew Hayes said, 'We really want to make sure that we're fully doing our due diligence to investigate other possible alternatives and market conditions.' The City is already having conversations with other surrounding cities about teaming up for a joint municipality. Pueblo also plans to be more informative to the community about the other avenues they are exploring over the next 5 years. Black Hills Energy Vice President Campbell Hawkins said, 'They [The voters of Pueblo] recognize that it wasn't feasible or affordable for the city to acquire our assets for over a billion dollars, and there really isn't a practical path going forward.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado.
