WSCOGA and CHC face off over North Fork drilling plan

Even though drilling has slowed way down on the West Slope over the past two years, drilling has increased ever-so-slightly in Garfield, Rio Blanco and Mesa counties. There were nine rigs operating in the Piceance Basin as of June, compared to three last year. So while that’s triple last year’s rig count, it’s far from […]

New report denounces carbon capture and sequestration

A new report from the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) criticizes federal and state policies that subsidize and support the expansion of carbon capture and sequestration technology (CCS).   The report, Too Good to Be True: The Risks of Public Investment in Carbon Capture and Sequestration, concludes that CCS technology is expensive, inefficient, dirty […]

Review: Junk Raft

Junk Raft An Ocean Voyage and a Rising Tide of Activism to Fight Plastic Pollution By Marcus Eriksen Beacon Press July 2017 216 pages At the outset, author Marcus Eriksen exposes the truth behind the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, supposedly floating between California and Hawaii that is twice the size of Texas. In 1997, Captain […]

Public health webinars now available online

In case you missed them, there were a couple excellent and informative public health webinars this month. Luckily both are now available to view online. Better yet, these webinars are free! Also featured is a new online resource for tracking your exposure to hazardous chemicals in the environment. Fracking and Children’s Health In the last […]

Big Oil in the Rocky Mountain State

The Overwhelming Tawdriness of Government in Colorado Guest post by Phil Doe* After five months of doing nothing of value, although spending millions in the furtherance thereof, the Colorado legislature closed up shop last month. The people should demand a refund for nonperformance, but instead they will have to ante up more money to pay […]

Gas leak discovered in De Beque home

The COGCC is investigating another gas leak in a home. This time it’s in De Beque on the West Slope. The Daily Sentinel reported that Xcel Energy noticed the leak on May 15, while surveying for possible leaks. The leak was found in the crawlspace of a home on Minter Avenue. The gas did not […]

Report reveals fires and explosions underreported by Colorado operators

A new report from researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health shows that statistics on oil and gas fires and explosions are underreported because of the state’s lenient system of allowing operators to self-report incidents. Is reporting “significant damage”’ transparent? Assessing fire and explosion risk at oil and gas operations in the United States […]

Tell AG Coffman to drop the appeal

Let Attorney General Cynthia Coffman know you’re not happy that she is fighting for oil and gas rather than Colorado citizens On May 18, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman appealed a court decision in Martinez vs. the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC). That case, filed by a group of Colorado youth, maintained that […]

Trump flips off Earth

During the same week Trump announced the U.S. will exit the Paris climate agreement, NOAA scientists reported that the second-biggest jump in atmospheric CO2 on record occurred in 2016. Second Biggest Jump in Annual CO2 Levels Reported as Trump Leaves Paris Climate Agreement NOAA released its annual update on greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere […]

Leslie Weise files intent to sue against Colorado Springs

 On February 8, the Colorado Court of Appeals dismissed a contempt citation against whistleblower Leslie Weise, which had been brought up by Colorado Springs Utilities because Weise spoke with a reporter about the contents of an air quality report which was sent to her by mistake. She had originally sought the report  through a Colorado […]