Republicans cry foul over ‘hidden’ enforcement costs for drilling regs
Republicans looking to gut new Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) drilling regulations adopted in December and now subject to the approval of the state legislature just got some much-needed ammo in what promises to be a contentious fight.
Western Slope braces for energy bust, but oil and gas regs still hotly debated
Call it a slowdown or call it a bust, but it’s clear the natural-gas boom stoking the fires of development on Colorado’s Western Slope the last several years is all but over.
Industry expert: 40 percent fewer natural gas rigs will be operating by June
Colorado’s natural gas boom of the past several years is quite rapidly going bust, according to one industry analyst who spoke to a group of real estate agents in Grand Junction last week.
USGS study: Western forests dying at alarming rates due to climate change
A new U.S. Geological Survey study paints an ominous picture for the nation’s western forests, finding that the mortality rate for trees has doubled over the last several decades because of rising temperatures and dwindling water supplies tied to global waming.
Salazar lays down law on Interior scandals
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar wants the Justice Department to take another look into scandals at the Minerals Management Service with an eye to further criminal prosecution and plans to undertake a "fundamental restructuring of the MMS royalty program," which last year reaped $23.4 billion from oil and gas companies that drill on public land. Salazar, the former Democratic senator named recently to the Obama Cabinet, announced his plans for MMS Thursday afternoon after meeting with the agency's employees in Lakewood.
Salazar’s oil shale comments run counter to Lundberg energy bill
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in recent days has dampened the hopes of state lawmakers who are pushing to revive Colorado’s long-dormant oil shale industry.
Ritter names Madden climate czar
Living in Colorado can be confusing. Last week saw record-breaking warmth along the Front Range, with temperatures reaching the 70s. Earlier this week, we marked the coldest night of the year as the mercury fell below zero. It seems as though there ought to be someone to call when the weather swings so wildly, someone in state government who could coordinate things when residents have questions or complaints about the climate changing like it does. Alas, that someone won't be former House Majority Leader Alice Madden, the Boulder Democrat named this week to the new position of climate-control coordinator. She has other fish to fry.
Wildlife group: Cull elk at national park with wolves, not sharpshooters
An environmental group called on the Department of the Interior to cease fire on a plan to use volunteer sharpshooters to reduce elk herds in Rocky Mountain National Park, instead urging officials to release wolves into the park "as part of the long-term solution to the elk over-browsing problem."
Salazar travels to Lakewood Thursday to announce strict ethics policy reform
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Wednesday he plans to visit Lakewood on Thursday with a message of sweeping reform for the Department, which he said has been "tarnished by ethical lapses and criminal behavior that has extended to the highest levels of government."
In scathing remarks delivered at the White House, the former senior senator from Colorado said he plans to meet with federal employees at the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the agency that collects billions of dollars for the federal government from oil and gas companies that drill on public land. Salazar said he would make it clear he "will no longer tolerate" the "ethical transgressions" that led to last summer's MMS "scandal involving sex, drugs, and inappropriate gifts from oil and gas companies."
Lundberg will still press for oil shale tax break in state Senate
Former Rep. Kevin Lundberg may have been bumped up to the state Senate, but the Berthoud Republican has no intention of leaving behind the first bill he introduced in the House this session — a tax break for the oil shale industry.