Tag: natural gas drilling

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis on Thursday followed up his reintroduction this week of the FRAC Act -- which would tighten federal regulation of natural gas drilling’s impacts to water quality -- with the BREATHE Act, a bill that would remove two exemptions for gas drilling under the Clean Air Act.

Colorado’s coal industry is on fire lately, going after natural gas producers with gusto in the wake of last year’s controversial Clean Air, Clean Jobs Act, which requires Xcel Energy to convert several coal-fired power plants on Colorado’s Front Range over to natural gas or alternative fuel sources such as wind and solar.

As The New York Times continues to expose infighting in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its regulation – or the lack thereof – of the nation’s booming natural gas industry, county officials in Colorado are grappling with health impact assessments (HIA) of their own. Garfield County this week released a second draft of an HIA conducted by the Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH) and first released last fall. It looks at the potential health impacts of a proposal by Denver-based Antero Resources to drill up to 200 new natural gas wells in the Battlement Mesa community.

Despite three Republican county commissioners seen as largely supportive of the oil and gas industry, one of the most heavily drilled counties in Colorado claims the state’s oil and gas drilling regulations “fail entirely” to address the cumulative impacts of increasing the concentration of natural gas wells, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

Arguably one of the most popular mayors in Denver history, John Hickenlooper is also something of a national curiosity -- an out of work geologist turned brewpub millionaire. A Democrat who appeals to Republicans with a non-confrontational approach that emphasizes business savvy and team-building. Sunday, The New York Times ran an upbeat six-page profile of Hickenlooper in the magazine section. The reporter pointed out that he received little scrutiny during the campaign because of Republican dysfunction that kept the media spotlight out of Hickenlooper's eyes. You could say the same for The Times profile.

Citizen activists on Colorado’s Western Slope are pointing to a Texas case of well-water contamination caused by oil and gas drilling activity as a prime example of what they want to avoid in this state and what regulators should be guarding against in heavily drilled Garfield County.

A small town on the Western Slope of Colorado with the unlikely name of “Silt” has become ground zero for the natural gas hydraulic...

A U.S. district court judge this week ended a year of negotiations between 10 environmental groups and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)...

Poll after poll, survey after survey, Coloradans continue to say they have serious reservations about the “drill, baby, drill” method of economic recovery. But still, Republicans and former Republicans on third-party tickets continue to run on regulation-roll-back platforms.

A Republican ski area general manager challenging an incumbent Democratic county commissioner in gas-rich Garfield County says winter sports, outdoor recreation and tourism there are no more threatened by drilling than other parts of the state are impacted by alternative energy.