FORT COLLINS — Colorado State University is asking state lawmakers for $29.2 million to replace a district heating plant whose boilers date to the 1960s, after a January 2024 failure knocked out steam production for seven hours during sub-zero temperatures and caused freeze damage across the main campus.
The District Heating Plant Sustainability Upgrade has been before the Capital Development Committee three times since FY 2023-24 but has never received full funding. The Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting did not recommend the project for FY 2025-26.
The failure involved Boiler #2, installed in 1965. Boiler #3 dates to 1960. During the January 2024 incident, the longest stretch without steam occurred when temperatures were at or below zero, according to CSU’s capital budget request to the legislature.
CSU’s proposal would replace the aging Boiler #3 with an electric central heating and cooling system backed up by two low-emission boilers, shifting significant energy use from natural gas to electricity. Natural gas combustion currently accounts for 35% of CSU’s total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the capital budget request.
The university has already invested $20 million in its Moby GeoX geothermal exchange project, one of the largest geothermal energy exchanges west of the Mississippi. That system, completed ahead of schedule in 2020, replaced 60-year-old steam and cooling infrastructure at Moby Arena with 342 well holes bored 550 feet deep and 80 miles of underground pipes. CSU has committed to 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
Meanwhile, a bill that would allow Colorado cities and counties to place speed cameras on interstate highways passed Second Reading in the House on February 19 after clearing committee on an 8-3 vote two days earlier.
HB 26-1071, sponsored by Rep. Tisha Mauro (D-Pueblo), Rep. Monica Duran, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, would amend current law that reserves interstate speed camera authority exclusively for the state. Under the existing framework established by SB 23-200, the Colorado Department of Transportation can operate automated vehicle identification systems on interstates, but local governments cannot.
The bill’s momentum follows CDOT’s Highway 119 pilot program in Boulder County, which achieved an approximately 80% reduction in speeding since launching in July 2025. The decrease occurred even before civil penalties of $75 per violation began on January 12, 2026, according to SkyHi News.
Wheat Ridge sought to install a speed camera on Interstate 70 between the Wadsworth Boulevard and 32nd Avenue exits in summer 2025 but was denied under the current prohibition, according to Carscoops. Wheat Ridge police cited crash investigations on I-70 as a significant resource drain. Since June 2025, the city’s two existing cameras on local streets have generated roughly $208,000 in revenue.
Mike Rawluk, who discussed both stories on The Kim Monson Show, urged listeners to pay attention to bills moving through the legislature. “These random bills, they mean a lot to our rights, and we need more people there at these things,” Rawluk said on The Kim Monson Show.
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