The Colorado Independent

Posts Tagged Garfield County

Anadarko’s billion-barrel oil boom stirs fracking fears along Colorado’s Front Range

By | 11.15.11 | 8:35 am

Revelations Monday that Houston-based Anadarko may be sitting on up to a billion barrels of oil along Colorado’s Front Range immediately raised concerns about the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing in an area of increased residential growth in recent years.

Drilling on the Roan Plateau on Colorado's Western Slope.

Community activists fuming over air-quality issues stemming from natural gas drilling

By | 08.29.11 | 5:29 pm

Increasingly, air quality is becoming almost as hot a topic in Colorado communities near natural gas drilling operations as hydraulic fracturing and the potential for water contamination.

Gas drilling at the entrance to Battlement Mesa in Garfield County (David O. Williams photo).

Colorado gas activists point to old West Virginia fracking case as ‘smoking gun’

By | 08.05.11 | 3:44 pm

Anti-gas-drilling activists in Colorado are pointing to a 1984 case in West Virginia as the smoking gun proving the industry and government agencies that regulate it have been lying all along about hydraulic fracturing contaminating groundwater supplies.

Gov. John Hickenlooper (Kersgaard)

Western Slope watchdog groups leery of Hickenlooper oil and gas appointments

By | 08.03.11 | 10:32 am

Western Slope oil and gas watchdog groups this week questioned whether the new board members appointed to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) last week by Gov. John Hickenlooper will lean too heavily toward industry and Front Range concerns.

Drilling on the Roan Plateau on Colorado's Western Slope.

New air study finds dangerous chemicals near gas drilling communities in Colo., N.M.

By | 07.13.11 | 3:29 pm

At least 22 toxic chemicals, including four known human carcinogens, were found in nine separate air samples taken near natural gas drilling operations by community advocacy and environmental groups in Garfield and La Plata counties in Colorado and the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, according to a new report from Global Community Monitor.

fracking pond

Eagle County landfill eyes taking gas-drilling pit liners banned by Garfield County

By | 07.06.11 | 10:01 am

Eagle County’s landfill manager is considering disposing of natural gas drilling pit liners that neighboring Garfield County stopped accepting two years ago because the massive, high-density polyethylene sheets are potentially toxic and too tough to handle.

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Ground Zero law firm to announce gas drilling lawsuit at Denver Capitol today

By | 03.24.11 | 8:29 am

A New York City law firm today will hold a press conference on the West Steps of the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver to announce a lawsuit against a Denver-based natural gas drilling company for the alleged contamination of a Silt family’s property “leading to their forced exile from their home and serious health effects.”

Gessler history of fighting unpaid election fines hovers over proposed rule changes

By | 03.09.11 | 1:14 pm

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, according to the Denver Post, will be proposing a new set of rules that would waive or reduce a significant number of campaign finance fines for political committees that fail to file disclosure reports. As an elections law attorney for primarily conservative causes, Gessler represented groups that either flat-out failed to register with the secretary of state and later engaged in electioneering activity or failed to file disclosure reports – sometimes for years. Now he tells the Post he’ll roll out rules in the next few weeks that will make it easier to reduce or waive such fines.

(image: Gasland)

‘Gasland’ misses Oscar bid but NYT story yanks red carpet out from under gas biz

By | 02.28.11 | 11:21 am

Actor Mark Ruffalo didn’t win an Oscar for best supporting actor Sunday night for his role in “The Kids Are All Right,” but he did make headlines for his role supporting the anti-natural-gas-drilling documentary “Gasland,” which also came up short during the annual Academy Awards. Josh Fox’s “Gasland” film was up for best documentary – an award that went instead to “Inside Job” – and Ruffalo wore a blue water droplet pin to show his support for clean water and Fox’s investigation of the drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing, including incidents of water contamination in the gas patches of Colorado. The natural gas industry has gone to great lengths to debunk the film.

The retirement community of Battlement Mesa is the subject of a massive natural gas drilling plan.

NYC law firm that handled World Trade Center case eyes natural gas drilling in Garfield County

By | 02.08.11 | 5:06 am

Residents of Garfield County neighborhoods impacted by natural gas drilling have been approached by a New York City firm that last year landed a $712.5 million settlement for workers injured in the World Trade Center cleanup. A representative of Napoli Bern Ripka LLP will attend a meeting of potential plaintiffs Feb. 22 at the Glenwood Springs Community Center, according to an activist group fighting to mitigate drilling impacts. Also on hand will be attorneys from the Aspen law firm of Thomas Genshaft PC.