Lakewood residents are at elevated cancer danger from releases of toxic ethylene oxide by the Terumo BCT medical equipment sterilization plant in their neighborhood, according to a new assessment from the Environmental Protection Agency targeting the riskiest sites in the nation. The EPA said Wednesday it is making a new push to educate neighbors “on […]
Michael Booth
Michael Booth is a Colorado Sun reporter covering health, health policy and the environment.
Email: booth@coloradosun.com Twitter: @MBoothDenver
Posted inNews
Colorado shuts down “illegal” mining operation upstream from Jeffco communities
Colorado officials have shut down what they call an illegal mining and milling operation south of Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and above Jefferson County communities, saying uncontained chemicals like cyanide for gold processing are a hazard to the public and environment. Rocky Flats Environmental Solutions, which says it is not a mining operation but […]
Posted inClimate, News
Can Copper Mountain do something about climate change using its own slopes?
Ski area officials in the West know they will lose up to 25% more of their snowpack between now and 2050, after suffering through 20% losses already in a decadeslong drought. Through snowmaking from local river water and isolated geographic luck, Colorado ski areas have managed so far to avoid devastating impacts from climate change […]
Posted inEnvironment
Microplastics are seemingly everywhere — including Colorado’s snowpack
Samples from Colorado’s mountains find growing rate of shredded plastic fibers.
Posted inEnvironment, Health, News
Colorado has been spreading biosolids with “forever chemicals” on farms, records show. How dangerous is it?
Metro Denver’s wastewater treatment system is spreading sewage biosolids laced with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” at its farm in eastern Arapahoe County and on private farms that buy the material as fertilizer, according to test records obtained by the Colorado Sun. The likely presence of the ubiquitous and dangerous chemicals on Colorado farmland, placed there […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Boulder County has choices to make about smokestacks, a quarry and open space. Which way will they go?
Boulder County residents driving Colorado 66 are all too familiar with the view on the way to Lyons or Rocky Mountain National Park: A big Cemex quarry on the north, gouging into a popular open space area and tumbling rocks into a conveyor belt overhead, and the imposing smokestacks of the Cemex cement kiln on […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado has 200,000 tons of orphan greenhouse gases that no one claims, environmental groups say
Nearly 200,000 tons of orphaned greenhouse gas emissions seemed to go off the books of a coal plant when a utility sold its partial share of the power. Another utility made a vague promise to replace 80% of its transmission through clean resources, without revealing how that magic total will be reached. Maybe these Colorado […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
How Colorado plans to spend $12 million in new funding on an e-bike program
Colorado officials are detailing plans to give out $12 million in statewide electric bike rebates approved by this year’s legislature, following on the wild success of a Denver e-bike assistance plan that maxed out its first round of 3,250 applications in a matter of weeks. Denver, meanwhile, said it plans to announce a new round […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Colorado air pollution panel fails to fix whistleblower complaints, environmentalists say
Environmental groups say a state science and policy panel failed to fix problems tagged by whistleblowers that the state broke EPA rules in how it sets pollution caps for companies, and that now the state will continue to rubber stamp unlawful permits and harmful emissions. The advisory panel had two industry votes to one environmental […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News
Coloradans need somewhere to safely dump old computers and TVs. This new Denver service is trying to help.
Craig McNeal wrestles the Toshiba wall-mounted TV — once futuristic, now problematic — onto the recycling warehouse’s scale. While still wrangling it into position, he guesses: 60 pounds? The impassive scale reveals just how big is the challenge ahead: 64 pounds, to be precise, of obsolete plastic, metal and microchips that must be taken apart […]