Controversial roadless rule on the road to approval
A new set of state rules for managing millions of acres of roadless public lands in Colorado — rules critics say are loaded with loopholes for oil and gas drilling, logging and ski-area expansion — are now out of the public arena and expected to be finalized sometime next year.
Palin rehashes nom speech, lashes out at Wall Street
In her second solo campaign appearance in the Lower 48, Sarah Palin revved up a crowd at an indoor rodeo in Golden with well-worn excerpts from her acceptance speech and fresh applause lines about the banking crisis that dominated the news Monday morning.
Conservation Voters hits back at Western Skies’ ads
The Colorado Conservation Voters Campaign Fund unveiled a new television campaign Monday to counter a Western Skies Coalition ad that inaccurately portrayed State Sen....
Salazar: ‘Drill, baby, drill’ not enough
When Congress convenes on Monday, if the country's financial system isn't in a complete free-fall, lawmakers plan to take up a comprehensive energy bill aimed at easing voters' fears over this summer's oil shock. Of course, it's been 30 years since Jimmy Carter warned of a "national catastrophe" and urged America to wean itself off fossil fuel — even before Global Warming was a glint in climatologists' eyes — but this is America. Why tackle an impending crisis over decades when you can put it off to the very last minute?
Energy blog follows Hurricane Ike damage
The excellent energy blog, The Oil Drum, is closely monitoring the effects of Hurricane Ike on the refineries and off-shore drilling platforms in the Gulf Coast.
According to co-editor Professor Goose, the Galveston-area oil industry can refine up to 5 million barrels per day (bpd) — or about 30 percent of the nation's total oil refining capacity. The area took a direct hit by the storm according to satellite image maps at the site.
Commenters are predicting oil and natural gas shortages and prices spikes, the extent of which won't be known until more comprehensive damage reports are in.
Obama’s excellent Colorado adventure
Obama's coming back to Colorado for at least three different stops on Monday and Tuesday (yup, we’re definitely a swing state folks), but not just for a huge front-range blowout like last time. Instead, Obama will head to the 3rd Congressional District with stops in Pueblo and Grand Junction Monday and then Denver the following day. As the Communications Director for John Salazar's first run for Congress back in 2004, I think these stops are a brilliant move.
Read more of Jeff's commentaries: • Not safe for work computers: At the Interior Dept or otherwise • Matt Damon grills Sarah Palin • Setting aside politics on September 11 • There goes the neighborhood
Not safe for work computers: At the Interior Dept or otherwise
Stories about unethical behavior at the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service just keep coming. Back in high school I learned that Shakespeare's plays always have violence, sex, or drugs in the first act, and this story has all three. It keeps the attention of even the least intelligent among us which explains why, my friends, this scandal ain't going nowhere anytime soon.
Read more of Jeff's commentaries: • Matt Damon grills Sarah Palin • Setting aside politics on September 11 • There goes the neighborhood • Reid to Lieberman: No lunch seat for you!
Put your severed left forelegs on the Governor’s desk
As Washington Independent correspondent Art Allen reported yesterday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is a proponent of a video game-style of hunting, where hunters shoot animals, like wolves and bears, from the sky in a low-flying airplane.
UPDATED: Obama, Palin set Colorado events Monday
Two weeks after accepting the nomination at Invesco Field, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced a return visit to Colorado scheduled on Monday. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin returns to the state early in the week too, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
The petroleum pledge: Western Skies backers sign onto ‘energy action plan’
Rep. Frank McNulty is one of a trio of GOP state lawmakers thought to be behind the Western Skies Coalition — a Virginia corporation raising oil and gas money to target key state senate races.
In an interview with Colorado Independent, McNulty (R-Highlands Ranch) declined to discuss the group's funding sources Tuesday, but he did acknowledge signing its “Energy Leadership Action Plan” pledge.