BLM sage-grouse guidance ruffles some enviro feathers

Reactions from conservation groups both nationally and on the ground in Colorado have been mixed regarding this week’s U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) guidance for the preservation of habitat for the greater sage grouse.

Endangered Species Act settlement deal could break listing logjam

A federal judge late last week signed off on a deal struck between the WildEarth Guardians environmental group and the U.S. Department of the Interior that would compel the federal government to reach final Endangered Species Act listing decisions on 253 species in the next five years.

Groups serve feds with notice of intent to sue over Arapahoe Snowfly

A coalition of environmental and citizen activist groups today filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for failing to act on a petition to list the Arapahoe Snowfly – native to the Poudre…

Groups petition Fish and Wildlife to list Poudre River snowfly as endangered

If you want a clear indication of just how healthy, or unhealthy, the Cache la Poudre River on Colorado’s northern Front Range is these days, look no further than the Arapahoe snowfly, aka Capnia Arapahoe.

Known to frequent just two…

Sage grouse ruling ruffles feathers of Colorado oil and gas industry

Colorado oil and gas industry officials Monday were nervously eyeing Friday’s decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designating the greater sage grouse as “warranted but precluded” for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Conservationists, meanwhile, reacted Friday with…

Natural gas drilling regs stirring heated debate on Western Slope

A dustup between politicians and landowners at an oil and gas royalty owners meeting in Grand Junction last weekend underscores the complexity of the new drilling regulations – and the heated emotions they stir in some mineral-rights holders.

Obama punts 11th-hour oil shale, park gun rules to Salazar

Environmentalists and unarmed national park enthusiasts got a bit of a reprieve Tuesday when the new Obama Administration issued a memo halting further progress on a series of controversial midnight regulations pushed through in the waning days of a lame duck Bush White House.

Environmental groups to sue BLM over ‘midnight regulations’

Even as Republican state lawmakers gear up to make Colorado a more oil-shale-friendly business climate, a group of national and regional environmental groups Tuesday announced their intent to sue the BLM over so-called “midnight” leasing regulations pushed through by the Bush administration.