State utilities prepare to meet coal-conversion

Two investor-owned utilities will be moving away from burning coal toward natural gas, under a new Colorado law passed with strong bipartisan support. And one result could be a sharp upswing in natural gas production in Northern Colorado.

House Bill 1365 was signed by Gov. Ritter in April. It calls for investor-owned Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy to submit plans showing how they intend to reduce their coal-fired electric generation capacity by 900 megawatts or by 50 percent, whichever is smaller, by Dec. 31, 2017. The plans are due by Aug. 15 and are scheduled to be…