Tag: Department of Interior

Chevron is giving up its experimental oil shale lease in Western Colorado. The company is one of only three companies holding a federal lease to research oil shale development in Colorado but officials say they would rather pursue other projects.

Congress last week allotted $4 million to study and combat the outbreak of white-nose syndrome — a mysterious and menacing disease that is killing off North American bats by the millions.

Invasive weeds at a former nuclear trigger factory at Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge raise the specter of nuclear contaminants spreading to surface water, a report from the Interior Department states. But there isn't enough money to eradicate the weeds, and even if there was, the contaminated ground may prove too dangerous for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released a report that assesses climate change risks and how these risks could impact water operations, hydropower, flood control and fish and wildlife in the western United States.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released a report requested by President Barack Obama showing that two-thirds of all offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico and half of all onshore leases on federal lands are not currently being used by the energy companies that purchased the leases.

Salazar, the focus of repeated grilling Wednesday on whether he plans to run for governor given the withdrawal of Gov. Bill Ritter, sidestepped those questions and outlined an aggressive new leasing program meant to continue domestic oil and gas development but under stronger environmental and health protections.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday called on his department’s inspector general to investigate so-called midnight oil shale leasing regulations issued in the waning days of the Bush administration. “We want to avoid the booms and busts of the past,” said Salazar, a former U.S. senator from Colorado, referring to a devastating oil shale bust on the Western Slope in the 1980s. “We want to ensure the potential development is done in a way that is environmentally appropriate."