Ghosts of ‘Black Sunday’ hover over BLM’s cautious oil shale move

Wednesday’s move by the Bureau of Land Management to proceed with more oil shale leases for Exxon Mobil and two other companies conjured up memories for some of the “Black Sunday” bust of May 2, 1982, when Exxon laid off 2,200 oil shale workers on Colorado’s Western Slope. But this time will be different, an Exxon spokesman told the Colorado Independent Thursday.

Climate change fight absent in DC but on in Calif. over Prop 23

In the absence of meaningful legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions in Washington, the fight surrounding California’s ballot measure, Proposition 23, is rapidly becoming the biggest — and most highly funded — energy issue in the current campaign season.

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Ritter decries GOP politicizing of drilling regs while touting wildlife deals

As Colorado voters turned in last-minute ballots to pick a Republican candidate for governor Tuesday, the current governor stood on the west steps of the state capitol in Denver and tossed a huge wrench in the GOP campaign machine’s attacks on his “New Energy Economy.”

Ritter, oil and gas industry to announce major wildlife accord

State officials have struck a deal with Exxon Mobil, EnCana, Williams and other major oil and gas companies operating in the Piceance Basin of Colorado’s Western Slope, agreeing to minimize impacts to wildlife when drilling in important habitat areas.

Gov.…

Green shareholders push Williams, Exxon to clear air on hydraulic fracturing

Green investor groups are pushing some of the nation’s largest natural gas drilling companies to come clean on hydraulic fracturing, a process that injects undisclosed chemicals deep underground and could pose a risk to groundwater supplies.