Colorado Department of Natural Resources

Gov. Bill Ritter Wednesday announced the formation of a Colorado Department of Natural Resources task force to tackle “complex legal, regulatory and policy issues” surrounding carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in the state.
The 12-member Carbon Capture and Sequestration Task Force will start delving into policy issues facing the state’s coal and electrical utility industries as [...]

Members of Colorado’s environmental community liked the selection Monday by Gov. Bill Ritter of Jim Martin, head of the Department of Public Health and Environment, to take over for Harris Sherman as executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
“Martin’s leadership on the state air commission was essential to cutting mercury pollution 90 [...]

Water experts are meeting en masse in Denver today and Wednesday to try to figure out how to plan for an expected doubling of Colorado’s population to 10 million people by 2050, according the Durango Herald.
State water officials, in conjunction with the Western States Water Council, are trying to sort out conflicts between growing residential [...]

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.

Colorado’s successful effort to get the Bush administration to stop fast-tracking a proposed roadless rule for the management of 4.4 million acres of the state’s untrammeled backcountry is winning praise from public policy watchdog groups and conservationists.

The Colorado Independent disclosed last week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture hoped to publish the controversial Colorado roadless rule in the Federal Register by Jan. 16, four days before the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

The Bush administration and the Bureau of Land Management are pushing relentlessly ahead with plans to fast-track Colorado’s long-dormant oil shale industry, but a study released this fall exposes one factor that could put a big damper on the boom: a serious lack of water.