Tag: lawsuit

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.

Conservation groups were elated Wednesday by a U.S. District Court decision in Wyoming affirming the Interior Department’s ability to weigh environmental impacts when issuing oil and gas leases on public lands – as long as it does so in a timely fashion.

Four environmental groups hope a judge will allow them to intervene in a lawsuit filed by a Morrison businessman and the green-bashing American Tradition Partnership challenging Colorado’s aggressive renewable energy standard of 30 percent by 2020.

Conservation groups today filed suit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for allegedly illegally approving thousands of oil and gas wells on federal land in western Colorado without conducting proper air-pollution analysis.

A Denver district judge this week rejected motions by the state of Colorado and a Canadian uranium mining company to throw out a lawsuit challenging the proposed Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill in Montrose County. Denver District Judge Brian Whitney sided with the Telluride-based Sheep Mountain Alliance, which contends the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) may have violated various state and federal laws in issuing a permit for the mill. The lawsuit can now move forward.

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.”

A Telluride-based environmental group claims state regulators violated various state and federal laws last month when they issued a radioactive materials license to the proposed Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill on Colorado’s Western Slope. In a legal challenge filed in Denver District Court last week, the Sheep Mountain Alliance alleges the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) violated both the federal Atomic Energy Act and the Colorado Radiation Control Act when it issued a license for Toronto-based Energy Fuels to build the first new uranium processing mill in the United States in more than three decades.

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.

Few things get Coloradans as riled up as access to our public lands. The debate tends to rage on numerous fronts, but by far the most contentious battles are fought over off-road vehicle access: where, when, how and when is enough enough? Officials with the Pike-San Isabel National Forest in southern-central Colorado touched off a powder keg of controversy recently when they issued a Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) that conservationists say includes more than 500 miles of illegal roads and tracks – or “rogue” trails – formed by all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) or motorcycles over the years.

‘Tis the season to beat the crap out of someone (allegedly) on the ski slopes. Friday’s incident at Beaver Creek ski area -- in which a Georgia man was charged with misdemeanor child abuse for punching a teenage girl who bumped into his 4-year-old son – is reminiscent of another slope rage case at Beaver Creek that resulted in a federal lawsuit.