Arvada zaps and dumps some voracious fish 

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Good midday, Colorado, hope you’re out there enjoying this lingering, exceedingly green spring. Can’t tell you how much a nonscorching May helps set our brains up for a brilliant summer — it’ll be hot zephyrs and xeriscaping on the Front Range soon enough. Sixty degrees in mid-May is a blessing.

And the late season storms are boosting potential runoff as well, as everybody’s weather friend Chris Bianchi shows us:

But of course, much like the playoff saga of your Nuggets and Avalanche, it’s more complicated than that. If somebody’s up, somebody else is likely down, and the map shows southern Colorado facing some trouble in river basins severely impacted by recent years of drought.

So cross your fingers for the Dolores River, for Nate MacKinnon fighting off Dallas clutch-and-grab, and Michael Porter Jr. somehow geo-locating his jump shot. Let’s keep this spring thing going.

On to lots of news, including some literal fish out of water.

TEMP CHECK

CLIMATE

What did the 46-pound carp eat? Most of Arvada.

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The entire history of human-introduced invasive species is watermarked with the subtitle, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

It’s a variant on the political meme of enthusiastically joining the Leopards Eating Faces Party and waking up surprised to find leopards, well …

Somebody in 1992 thought it was genius to dump bighead carp, native to China, into the lake at Jack B. Tomlinson Park in Arvada, to eat the muck that tends to produce massive algae blooms in summer dog days.

Oh, they ate.

How much did they eat?

Well, state Parks and Wildlife stunned and pulled out a 46-pounder that refused to back away from the omelet station. Thirteen buddies over 40 pounds were tased at the waffle bar, the taco truck and the all-you-can-eat frozen yogurt dispenser.

The state agency was acting on a tip from a startled angler, which seems a bit judgy to us but on balance was probably the right environmental move. The buffet bruisers were inhaling all the food needed to support desirable sport fish and native Colorado species. The 1992 models were supposed to be gone by 1995 when the study ended. They persisted.

Some of the bighead battleships were stunned for removal by a five-course turkey dinner. Others floated to the surface from parks officials electro-shocking the water.

Did state parks get them all? Turns out these out-of-context carp might have skipped sexy time in favor of meal time, eating themselves right into the finals of the Darwin Awards. “The size of the bighead carp removed indicates natural reproduction has most likely not taken place, which was the best-case scenario,” a biologist said.

Here’s the whole motley crew. Not the parks employees — they’re heroes. It’s the fish that nightmares are made of.

Colorado EV sales drop, mirroring national trend

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Sales of clean fuel vehicles in Colorado slowed in the first quarter of 2024 despite a growing stack of lucrative rebates available, according to the Colorado Auto Dealers Association, though some green economy enthusiasts said overall electric vehicle trends are strong.

Battery-only electric vehicles, the largest category of clean fuel combinations, went a bit soft at a time they’re supposed to be on a steady growth arc Colorado needs in order to reach 940,000 EVs on the road by 2030, a long-stated target. A climbing number of EV sales is crucial to both the ozone cuts needed to get out from under EPA sanctions, and to meet the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Perhaps extra worrisome is that the drop also came as a number of lucrative, stackable incentives for buying EVs kicked in. Lower-income buyers who qualify can pile up federal, state, Xcel and a special cash-for-clunkers deal to get as much as about $21,000 off a new EV.

Despite the incentives, the share of full battery-electric vehicles newly registered in Colorado dropped to 13.8% for the first quarter of 2024, from 16.3% in the last three months of 2023. The raw number of BEV sales was about 6,600, down from about 8,900 in late 2023. That’s out of total new vehicle registrations of about 48,000.

The drop also diverged from overall vehicle sales in Colorado, which rose 2.8%, slower than national sales growth averages but still welcome to dealers making up for sales lost during the pandemic shutdowns.

Combining the two clean-vehicle categories, battery electric and plug-in electric hybrids, put Colorado’s share at 19% of overall sales so far in 2024, down from 20.4% in late 2023.

The news follows signs of similar soft EV markets in California, always the market and policy leader for car sales, and across the rest of the nation.

We have more on the numbers from the auto dealers, and their implications for Colorado, today at coloradosun.com.

MORE CLIMATE NEWS

• Cemex not going away quietly, no surprise. Cemex has too much invested in its large Lyons cement factory to shut down just because of a letter from Boulder County, Michael Booth reports. The company is formally objecting to the plant termination letter by saying its own traffic study is flawed and the county shouldn’t rely on it, on top of other barriers to county action that Cemex claims in its favor.
  — The Colorado Sun
• Some rare hope for the Colorado River’s future? New climate research offers a dose of optimism for the overstressed Colorado River: Wetter conditions may be on the horizon, Shannon Mullane reports. Past studies found that 2000 to 2021 marked the driest period in the Colorado River Basin in the past 1,200 years. But that is likely to change, according to recent research from the University of Colorado and the University of Hawaii. Precipitation in the basin naturally rises and falls, and it may be due for an upswing — good news for a river system that provides for 40 million people whose reservoirs sit at historic lows.
  — The Colorado Sun
• Thornton will get its pipeline start in Larimer County. After years of trying to placate local residents and battling environmental groups they say had impossible ideas, Thornton finally won approval from Larimer County for the 10-mile start of its pipeline bringing clean Poudre River water down to Adams County. The county commissioners said it was one of their hardest decisions, ever. Those environmental groups still might sue over the 1041 permit, however.
  — The Colorado Sun
• Sage grouse are squawking: What’s with all the traffic? The rerouting of U.S. 50 traffic while engineers figure out how to repair a cracked bridge over Blue Mesa Reservoir has some unforeseen consequences — on the birds. The gravel detours cut through prime habitat for the protected sage grouse, potentially making mamas too nervous to nest. Pilot cars and other measures are meant to minimize the threat, Olivia Prentzel reports.
  — The Colorado Sun

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HEALTH

It’s bird flu X 2 as state uncovers a new outbreak

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Let’s start with the bad news first: Colorado’s outbreak of bird flu in dairy cattle has expanded.

On Wednesday of last week, federal officials confirmed a second instance of bird flu, or highly pathogenic avian influenza, in a dairy herd in Colorado. The state Department of Agriculture said the herd is in northeastern Colorado, the same general location as the first herd in the state to be struck by bird flu. But the state is still investigating to figure out whether there is a connection between the herds — remember, dairy cows move around a surprising amount — or if this new outbreak originated from another source.

Olga Robak, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said the new outbreak was found after cows in the herd showed signs of illness. But it took two weeks before the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the outbreak because its lab is so backed up.

As Robak tells it, in an email to The Sun, this delay didn’t have any impact on the state’s response because there’s a two-step process to confirm bird flu cases. First, the state submits test samples to a National Animal Health Laboratory Network facility in Fort Collins at Colorado State University.

In this case, that happened April 24, and the lab returned a “presumptive positive” result the following day. The test results are then sent to the USDA to confirm. But, in the meantime, state officials launched their containment efforts to try to keep the virus from spreading outside the affected herd, Robak wrote in her email.

So bird flu is still going moo in Colorado. But here’s the good news: Unless you own a dairy farm, it doesn’t seem to be affecting you.

The state has reported no human cases of bird flu, at least none since a worker on a poultry farm tested positive two years ago in the first known human case of bird flu in the U.S.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment revealed during a virtual town hall meeting last week that it is monitoring approximately 70 dairy workers who were possibly exposed to bird flu. But a department spokesperson said this week that so far none have shown signs of illness, meaning they don’t meet the criteria to be tested.

In addition, the state’s flu surveillance system isn’t picking up any unusual activity. The state isn’t seeing any spikes or local blips in hospitalizations for flu or emergency visits for flu-like illness. Wastewater data, which can potentially detect viruses that are spreading without causing severe illness, is quiet.

As a reminder, there’s been no detection of bird flu spreading person-to-person while this current strain is circulating. Dairy cattle that get sick are not dying. Beef seems to be safe. And milk, while it can get virus in it, is not a concern so long as it’s pasteurized.

Things could of course still turn — as we’ve written before, viruses have a way of surprising, especially if given a lot of runway to mutate — but so far this is mooooving in the right direction. (Sorry.)

MORE HEALTH NEWS

• A bill to get the lead out of aviation fuel awaits the governor’s signature. A couple weeks ago, we told you about a new study that found slightly higher amounts of lead in the blood of kids who live near airports — possibly the result of lead pollution from small planes that still use leaded fuel. Lawmakers at the state Capitol this year passed a bill trying to nudge airports and pilots toward unleaded fuel, but it won’t be a quick fix.
  — The Colorado Sun
• New grant money hits lead pipes. Speaking of lead: Old paint and old water lines are also significant sources of lead exposure in Colorado. But now, as Tatiana Flowers reports, the state is working with contractors and others to assemble a giant map of all the lead water service lines across the state’s 900 community drinking water systems. To help with that, Colorado is getting more than $30 million in grant funding from the federal government.
  — The Colorado Sun
• Treating multiple sclerosis before any symptoms appear. A 15-year-old boy in Colorado started receiving treatment for multiple sclerosis before he ever had an attack or symptoms, thanks to a Children’s Hospital Colorado study that spotted telltale signs in his brain. He’s now on a drug that his family hopes may stop the degenerative disease from ever getting started. As Jennifer Brown reports, the case provides doctors a chance to find out exactly how beneficial early detection can be — and why it may be important to step up screening.
  — The Colorado Sun
• Colorado’s out-of-state abortion surge continues. Colorado’s abortion rate among residents has remained relatively flat over the past decade. But following the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the subsequent enactment of various abortion bans and restrictions around the country, the number of out-of-state patients coming to Colorado for abortions continues to rise. Jennnifer Brown reports that the surge is leading to a big increase in requests to an organization that provides medical and travel assistance for abortion patients.
  — The Colorado Sun

CHART OF THE WEEK

You might glance at a poll on general sentiments about climate change news and think, hmmm, attitudes haven’t changed that much in recent years. And that would be true, judging from the latest installment of an ongoing Gallup Poll topic, above.

But a typical self-doubting environment reporter, who spends a good amount of their time on climate issues, might see another pattern: A big majority of the public is either satisfied with the current tone of news reporting, or wants even more emphasis on climate change. The most recent total of those two numbers is 62%.

Yes, that leaves 37% of folks thinking climate change news is exaggerated. So don’t worry, we’ll stay humble on the topic.

There’s so much we don’t know — thanks for sticking with us while we keep asking.

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Thanks for sharing the news cycle with us. Take a note from the waning attention spans in our public schools and make your own personal Field Day sometime this week, if only for a stroll next to a creek. Green is good for the brain.

Cheers.

— Michael & John

Corrections & Clarifications

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Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.