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Environment/Energy

A view of the San Juan Mountains near Telluride.

U.S. Senate passes measure to fully fund Land and Water Conservation Fund, tackle National...

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a bipartisan bill that would achieve the long-held goal of fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund...
Suncor Energy contractors work along Sand Creek after the detection of a chemical sheen on the water outside the oil refinery north of Denver on Wednesday, May 27, 2020.

Suncor reports chemical sheen on Sand Creek, breach of containment area at refinery north...

Contaminated water has been seeping into Sand Creek just up from where it meets the South Platte River near the Suncor Energy oil refinery...
Photo of smoggy downtown Denver skyline via the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air Pollution Control Division, Technical Services Program, Wednesday, March 6, 2019.

Clearing the air: Stay-at-home eases Denver’s ‘brown cloud’

As Denver and the state begin to reopen this month, people will emerge from their houses having gotten a taste of some potential new...
Arkansas River below Lake Cheraw in July 2018. Many of Colorado's rivers and streams are intermittent and ephemeral, making their classification under the Clean Water Act difficult. (Photo credit: Jerd Smith, Fresh Water News)

Colorado AG, top water quality regulator vow to challenge new Clean Water Act rule

Colorado and other Western states will be hard pressed to shield their rivers and streams under a new federal Clean Water Act rule finalized...
A BLM intern works to identify idle oil wells and urge operators to either put them back in production or plug them permanently. Abandoned oil and gas wells can be pathways for methane to leak into the atmosphere. (Photo courtesy of Bureau of Land Management)

Guest Post: Protect our public lands from the consequences of this recession

The long-term economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be profound, affecting nearly all sectors of our lives. One effect that hasn’t...
Extraction Oil & Gas well pad site near Windsor, Colorado. (Photo by Ted Wood/The Story Group)

The pandemic is battering oil-state economies COVID-19 reverberates across the energy world.

Long before New Mexico or Wyoming identified any cases of COVID-19, even before residents began hoarding eggs and sacks of flour, state budgets were...
health impacts. Elyria-Swansea

Guest Post: The Trump administration is failing Latinx communities Latinx people have been disproportionately...

Early last month, I had my first coronavirus scare. I attended an event along with a pastor I had known for years. Less than...

I-70 construction near Elyria-Swansea continues despite pandemic-related health concerns A spokesperson for Gov. Jared...

Gov. Jared Polis is not stopping construction to widen Interstate 70 near Elyria-Swansea and Globeville in Denver, despite concerns that the project is making...
Photo of smoggy downtown Denver skyline via the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air Pollution Control Division, Technical Services Program, Wednesday, March 6, 2019.

Guest Post: Pollution protections vitally important during and after coronavirus crisis Trump's EPA gives...

At a time when America is under assault from the deadly new coronavirus, Trump’s EPA has told polluters that they will not face enforcement...
Firestone house explosion, April 17, 2017. Photo by Dennis Herrera.

Update: State fines oil and gas company for 2017 Firestone explosion The company responsible...

Update: This story was originally published on March 12. On April 13, the COGCC voted unanimously to levy the $18.2 million fine. "For my family...
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