The Colorado Independent

Posts by Troy Hooper

Troy Hooper covers environmental policy for the American Independent News Network. His work has been published in The Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Huffington Post, San Francisco Weekly, Playboy, New York Post, People and dozens of other publications. Hooper has covered the Winter Olympics in Italy, an extreme ski camp in South America and gone behind the scenes with Hunter S. Thompson on election night in 2004. Born and raised in Boulder, Hooper has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Obama administration challenges oil, gas companies to drill already leased lands

By | 05.16.12 | 10:46 am

Oil and gas companies are tapping only about 28 percent of federal offshore sea floor they have leased and 56 percent of the onshore land they’ve leased is also sitting idle, the Interior Department said Tuesday.

American Rivers ranks Green, Crystal among nation’s most endangered waterways

By | 05.15.12 | 5:39 am

Water withdrawals are threatening the Green River as potential dams and diversions are putting fish, wildlife and recreation at risk on the Crystal River, according to a new report.

Students, Polis agree pizza not a vegetable; Congress not so sure

By | 05.14.12 | 3:50 pm

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis is trying to convince Congress that pizza is not a vegetable.

Opponents to Koch land swap say proposed gas project compromises trail easements

By | 05.10.12 | 2:43 pm

Billionaire businessman Bill Koch organized a tour last fall for western Colorado residents to survey property he is offering in a multifaceted land swap that requires an act of Congress to complete. But he forgot to mention the potential for drilling.

At Colorado oil drilling site, Mitt Romney tries to apply heat to Obama’s energy policies

By | 05.09.12 | 2:31 pm

FT. LUPTON — Standing in front of an oil derrick and a tanker truck, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney attacked the Obama administration’s energy policies Wednesday, dismissing the fact that domestic oil production has gone up since the president took office.

Snowless ski race helps connect dots between climate change, real problems

By | 05.07.12 | 9:21 am

Gnarly terrain greeted a group of climate change activists in Aspen over the weekend.

DeGette calls federal fracking rule ‘a good first step,’ but warns of ‘a devil’s bargain’

By | 05.04.12 | 3:06 pm

In a concession to the oil and gas industry, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proposed a rule Friday that wouldn’t require the disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluids until after drilling is completed.

BLM to defer disputed auction for oil, gas leases in tranquil North Fork Valley

By | 05.02.12 | 12:54 pm

The Bureau of Land Management is deferring all parcels associated with the August oil and gas lease sale in the North Fork Valley.

‘Flexibility’ the hallmark of preferred, controversial Colorado roadless rule

By | 05.02.12 | 12:21 pm

The preferred plan to manage 4.2 million acres of roadless forests in Colorado will allow for more flexibility than the national rule. That additional flexibility will allow local communities to protect themselves from wildfires, ski areas to expand and coal mining companies to construct venting for methane in the North Fork Valley.

‘Black Sunday’ lessons from 30 years ago coloring Colorado oil shale debate today

By | 05.02.12 | 9:54 am

Thirty years ago, Herb Bacon was working in the old U.S. Bank of Grand Junction when a man operating Exxon’s local oil shale project walked into the lobby with his usual pep in his step. Little did either man know it then, but two days later–on what is now known as “Black Sunday”–Exxon pulled the plug.

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