Economists urge Obama, Congress to protect more public lands

Protecting public lands can be a boon for the private sector, attracting companies and workers to the communities that border them, more than 100 economists wrote in letter to President Obama this week.

Protect the Flows group lobbies Salazar, congressional leaders on Colorado River health

Five representatives of a coalition of 250 small businesses in the Colorado River Basin called Protect the Flows have been in Washington the last two days meeting with congressional leaders and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to advocate for policies that maintain sustainable water levels in the river and its tributaries.

Uranium mill opponents blast rosy new economic report on nuclear power

A Canadian company hoping to revive the long-dormant uranium mining hotbed of southwestern Colorado is touting an economic report prepared for Montrose County showing world uranium demand is expected to double in coming year, according to the Telluride Daily Planet.

State touts big game harvest, but sportsmen’s group fears Obama rule could impact habitat

Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) officials on Monday reported that 214,000 hunters harvested 48,018 elk in Colorado last fall – a 22 percent success rate. However, some conservation groups are worried the Obama administration’s National Forest Planning Rule unveiled last month could adversely impact fish and wildlife habitat on 13 national forests and grasslands encompassing 14.5 million acres of public lands in Colorado.

Proposed uranium mill creates culture clash in Montrose County

The debate over a uranium mill proposed by a Canadian company in the western end of Montrose County has come down to a question of what people would rather have in their back yard: uranium processing, farms and ranches, or…

Can outdoor recreation and energy sector coexist on Colorado’s Western Slope?

The oil-and-gas debate on Colorado’s Western Slope is as rife with contradictions as the ridgelines and valleys of Garfield County are with drilling rigs.

Hunters in pickup trucks you’d expect to see plastered with “Drill here, drill now” bumper stickers instead sport the “Save the Roan” rallying cry. Ski-area executives whose industry in some cases was built with oil money can’t buy enough wind energy nor contribute fast enough to campaigns to raise oil and gas severance taxes.