Repealing Power Plant Emissions Rules, Lakewood Zoning Overreach, and the Courts vs. the Executive

On the June 17, 2025 broadcast, Kim Monson examines regulatory overreach from Washington to Lakewood with Bob Boswell of Laramie Energy, former Lakewood City Councilwoman Mary Janssen, personal injury attorney Jon Boesen, and Epoch Times Washington correspondent Sam Dorman, connecting the dots between energy policy, property rights, driving safety, and a judiciary testing the limits of executive authority.

EPA Power Plant Emissions Rollback and Colorado Energy Policy

Start listening at 31:58 – Hour 1

Bob Boswell, CEO of Laramie Energy, explains why the Trump EPA’s move to repeal greenhouse gas emissions limits on power plants represents a long-overdue correction. Boswell argues that much of the climate change narrative is built on linear modeling that fails to capture the Earth’s complex systems, and that CO2 at 400 parts per million is far below the 1,100 ppm level at which plant life thrives most. He warns that renewable energy mandates in Colorado and California strip away consumer choice, double infrastructure costs by requiring fossil fuel backup systems, and ultimately drive up electricity prices for working families.

Turning to Colorado’s Western Slope, Boswell details how his company operates in the Piceance Basin and pays 80% of the local tax base in Collbran, a small community of 250 students now saddled with a $70 million school bond. If overregulation forces Laramie Energy to curtail operations, that bond burden shifts to ranchers and residents whose property taxes would need to increase fivefold. Boswell also highlights that Colorado has shifted from a budget surplus to a $1.2 billion deficit, driven in part by 21 new fees the legislature has imposed to circumvent TABOR’s voter-approval requirement for tax increases. Governor Polis, Boswell notes, has begun vetoing some of the most extreme regulatory measures, signaling a nascent recognition that ideology cannot replace economic reality.

“Renewables have a role, but they’re a supplement, not a replacement. And so what the Trump administration is doing is recognizing, kind of the reality of the science, of the reliability of the different field choices, and taking away these mandates and saying it’s got to be consumer choice.”

Bob Boswell, CEO of Laramie Energy

Lakewood’s Zoning Rewrite Threatens Property Rights

Start listening at 16:43 – Hour 1

Mary Janssen, former Lakewood City Councilwoman and Colorado Union of Taxpayers board member, warns that Lakewood’s sweeping zoning rewrite is a calculated assault on property rights disguised as an affordable housing initiative. Drawing on her 2022-2023 council tenure, Janssen reveals how the city’s legislative committee advanced a right-of-first-refusal ordinance allowing government to purchase apartment buildings before private buyers, a move she now connects to the zoning plan’s explicit goal of raising property values, which in turn raises taxes and pushes private landlords toward distressed sales to the government.

Janssen describes a pattern of deliberate opacity: zoning amendment documents are not posted publicly, council leaders tell residents to “just trust us,” and contentious measures are scheduled right before holidays to avoid scrutiny. She credits the Lakewood Informer and investigative work by Karen Gorday for shining a light on the rewrite, and she urges residents across Colorado to push back before similar density mandates reach their own communities.

“They just don’t want to tell you what’s going on because they think they know what’s best for you.”

Mary Janssen, Former Lakewood City Councilwoman

Summer Driving Safety and Defensive Awareness

Start listening at 62:43 – Hour 2

Jon Boesen of Boesen Law turns the conversation to practical safety as summer driving season ramps up with temperatures forecast near 100 degrees. With decades of personal injury experience, Boesen identifies three overlooked vehicle maintenance checks: tire tread depth, functional windshield wipers, and reliable brakes. He then walks through defensive driving principles, stressing that motorists should never assume another driver will stop at a red light, honor a turn signal, or yield the right of way.

Boesen recounts teaching his own children to pause before entering an intersection even on a green light, citing real-life close calls that reinforced the habit. He emphasizes that distracted driving, particularly phone use behind the wheel, remains one of the most preventable causes of serious accidents. Colorado’s hands-free law is a step in the right direction, Boesen says, but true safety begins with a mindset of constant awareness.

“When the light turns green, look and cautiously proceed, especially when you are that first car in line, second car in line.”

Jon Boesen, Boesen Law

Federal Courts, Harvard, and the Limits of Executive Power

Start listening at 72:36 – Hour 2

Sam Dorman, the Epoch Times Washington correspondent, breaks down the escalating legal battles between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary. Dorman explains how Harvard is alleging First Amendment retaliation after the White House froze roughly $2 billion in funding and issued a proclamation barring foreign students from enrolling, all in response to what the administration calls unchecked anti-Semitism and ideological bias. A federal judge in Massachusetts is expected to rule within days on whether to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the proclamation.

Dorman broadens the lens to nationwide injunctions, noting that their frequency has doubled compared to the Biden administration’s first three years. He details the legal clash over Trump’s birthright citizenship order, the DOJ’s lawsuits against sanctuary jurisdictions blocking ICE courthouse arrests, and Newsom’s fight to prevent federalization of California’s National Guard under the Insurrection Act. Each case, Dorman explains, forces courts to grapple with the boundary between executive discretion and legislative authority. He also covers Trump’s ongoing effort to move his New York business records conviction to federal court, where a Second Circuit panel heard arguments on June 11 about whether the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling creates extraordinary circumstances warranting removal after sentencing. Looking ahead, Dorman flags the Skrmetti case on cross-sex hormones for minors and the Texas age-verification case as landmark decisions expected before the Supreme Court’s July recess.

“The courts are definitely proving to be a major impediment to Trump’s agenda, and all of this is really testing the balance of power between the judiciary and the executive.”

Sam Dorman, Epoch Times Washington Correspondent