Bush Administration

Backers of the controversial FRAC (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals) Act, including co-sponsor Diana DeGette (D-Denver), were quick to caution Thursday that a proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study of hydraulic fracturing shouldn’t be seen as an alternative to legislation.

Environmental attorneys were encouraged by the tone of a final 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on the controversial 2001 Clinton Roadless Rule in Denver Wednesday. Representing a coalition of conservation and wildlife groups, lawyers for the firm Earthjustice are arguing for the court to reinstate rules put in place by Pres. Clinton to protect more than 58 million acres of largely roadless public lands nationwide, including more than 4 million acres in Colorado.

Farmers in the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico unveiled an interesting ad buy over the weekend, praising Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for his more measured approach to oil shale research and production than the previous administration.

A study by an association representing the oil and gas industry – not surprisingly – found Interior Secretary Ken Salazar engaged in political gamesmanship when he pulled back leases on 60 parcels of BLM land sold in a heavily protested and fraud-marred auction last December in Salt Lake City.
Salazar, who outright pulled eight of the [...]

Some water experts warn the upper Colorado River is an endangered species if current residential growth patterns and water consumption patterns continue along the state’s Front Range, and they’re increasingly concerned proposed energy production on the Western Slope will accelerate its demise.

“I hope America can’t come here and trash out my country here to support the current [oil shale] industry,” said one Routt County commissioner.

The Los Angeles Times continues to follow the e-mail trail in the 11th-hour Bush administration bid to lock in low royalty rates for highly speculative, as-yet-unproven oil shale production in the Green River Formation of northwest Colorado, eastern Utah and southwest Wyoming.

A last-minute Bush administration bid to allow oil and gas drilling on nearly 8,000 acres of public land near Arches and Canyonlands national parks in southeastern Utah was permanently blocked by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Thursday, much to the relief of environmental groups fighting the move since late last year.
A favorite desert recreation haven for [...]

DENVER — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday gave the strongest indication to date that the draft of Colorado’s roadless rule, which allows road-building exemptions for wildfire mitigation in wilderness areas, will at least be closely considered as the Obama administration moves toward a comprehensive national rule.

A Colorado U.S. District Court judge has granted an extension until Nov. 16 for federal government attorneys trying to reach a settlement with environmental groups over midnight rule making by the Bush administration for oil shale leasing on the Western Slope.
A coalition of environmental groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, Colorado Environmental Coalition and [...]

An international visa program that for years has allowed ski instructors and other resort workers from Australia, New Zealand, South America and Europe to work at Colorado ski areas just took another major hit – this time from an unlikely source in the Obama administration.
The Aspen Daily News reports 57 foreign ski instructor set to [...]