The Home Front: Dacono residents learned ‘how they will be impacted by Anadarko’s plans to drill 73 oil and gas wells’

“Dacono residents mulled Wednesday whether Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s agreement to move two proposed well pads further from homes and outside city limits justifies the city losing tax revenue at a meeting with the company’s staff and city officials,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “About 40 Dacono residents gathered at the Frederick-Firestone Protection District Business and Education Center to learn how they will be impacted by Anadarko’s plans to drill 73 oil and gas wells on four pads. Through negotiations with Dacono leaders, Anadarko — which was blamed for the deadly home explosion in Firestone last year — agreed to move the so-called Buddy and Ranger well pads about a half-mile south of their originally proposed locations on parcels bordering the more heavily developed city center and Glens of Dacono areas.”

“Heather Seitz was nervous when Greeley’s Public Works Department was getting ready to pitch its solution to the massive flooding problem that haunted residents who live near Woodbriar Park,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “It felt as if there was no way the city’s Culture, Parks and Recreation Department would accept it. Seitz wanted to scrape off the face of the park, a project that would take a year and a half and essentially mean starting from scratch and finding a way to direct all that water to the park and not to residents’ basements. To her surprise, the parks department embraced the idea. Workers there didn’t love the park, either. They had plans of their own to renovate it.”

“Fire restrictions will go in place Friday on public lands in Colorado’s central mountain region, while Montrose County’s sheriff increased restrictions in the unincorporated part of that county due to the severity of current conditions,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Meanwhile, officials say restrictions continue not to be needed on the Grand Mesa National Forest.”

“The wild horses in Moffat County’s Sand Wash Basin will not be receiving supplemental water, at least not right now,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “The Bureau of Land Management told the Wild Horse Warriors for Sand Wash Basin advocacy groups Tuesday that the agency would not allow volunteers to haul supplemental water into the basin at this time. “Wild Horse Warriors will not give permission to others to haul water, and Wild Horse Warriors will not haul water without permission, but we are going to continue to stay in touch and monitor daily what’s going on with water,” said Cindy Wright, an organizer with the volunteer organization. ‘In the meantime, we will be preparing for when the state says ‘go’ to be ready to go with the water. That’s not gone away. This is just a delay. It’s not going to happen when we thought it was going to happen. We still believe that it will happen.'”

“Larimer County is on the fast track for high fire danger, as abnormally warm days pile up and moisture eludes the region. Fire restrictions are likely if the weather pattern continues, Poudre Fire Authority battalion chief John Lippert said,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “He predicted Larimer County will enter a period of high fire danger by Sunday or Monday. “We’ve got a lot of fuels that grew this spring, and now they’re drying out,” he said. “This is kind of an unusual year, because it got hot so quick.”

“Mustard-agent weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Deport are again being processed and destroyed at the water-based neutralization plant, Army officials announced Wednesday,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant has been idled for 10 months while engineers reworked some of its internal systems. That work now is complete and the plant resumed destroying 155 millimeter howitzer shells this week. Greg Mohrman, project manager at the plant, announced the successful testing Wednesday. ‘By restarting the plant slowly and methodically, we will bring equipment and people back up to normal operations with the goal of sustainable 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operations,’ Mohrman said in a message to plant staff. ‘The last 10 months have taught us a lot about perseverance and teamwork.'”

“The head pastor of Resurrection Fellowship apologized Tuesday for comments made during a February sermon in which he said the city of Loveland chose his church over others to hold Sunday services in the downtown Rialto Theater,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “In a video of the sermon, Rev. Jonathan Wiggins says Resurrection Fellowship, also known as Rez.Church, received an agreement to rent the Rialto when other churches did not, and that the city would advertise for their services.”

“Combine eight of the Vail Valley’s premier builders with a great cause, and good things will happen,” reports Vail Daily. “And, with a bit of luck, a lot of money will be raised for charity. The Vail Board of Realtors presents the town of Avon’s Playhouse Project — a name almost as big as some of the structures — has brought together companies and individuals to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Vail Board of Realtors Foundation and Habitat for Humanity of Eagle and Lake counties.”

“Facing protests from dockless bike-sharing companies, Boulder’s City Council nonetheless voted unanimously late Tuesday to launch a pilot program intended to limit where the free-floating cycles end up,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “The program, which will last two years, will limit operators to fleets of 100 bikes, with an option for 50 additional e-bikes or adaptive cycles. It will also require all bicycles be able to lock to something via a built-in mechanism, in order to prevent bikes being abandoned in sidewalks or public rights-of-way, a problem that has plagued other cities that have allowed dockless bikes. “We’re trying to be proactive with this ordinance and avoid negative consequences,” said Senior Transportation Planner David Kemp.”

“Thousands of houses and cars were damaged early Wednesday by large hail during the worst overnight storm in El Paso County in more than 20 years,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “Between 1 and 3 a.m., hailstones up to 3 inches in diameter pummeled Fountain, Fort Carson and other areas southeast of Colorado Springs. The last time the county was hit by a severe hail storm overnight was in 1995, when 2-inch hail fell, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo. Hail up to an inch also was reported near the Air Force Academy and Black Forest, the Weather Service reported.”

“Could Colorado’s standards for health lessons for its fourth-graders be biased against guns? That’s what some members of the Colorado State Board of Education believe, and although their concerns didn’t prevail at a board meeting Wednesday, it all made for a provocative discussion,” reports The Denver Post. “Joyce Rankin, a Republican from Carbondale, got the conversation started by criticizing as too negative a section explaining the potential dangers of weapons at home, in school and in the community. She wanted to add a discussion about the benefits of using guns for self-defense.”

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