Current policies favor the oil and gas industry. Planned updates could better protect national parks surrounded by dense drilling activity.
Dinosaur National Monument
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Energy, Environment, News
Drilling leases on 58,000 acres of public land in Colorado were awarded without proper environmental review
Oil and gas leases on 58,000 acres of public lands in northwest Colorado were awarded by the federal Bureau of Land Management without adequate consideration for air quality and wilderness protections, a federal district judge ruled – but she stopped short of voiding the leases. U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Krieger remanded the leases to […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Energy, Environment, News, Outdoors
Coal is fading in northwest Colorado. The region is betting its economic future on another natural resource.
DINOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT — The 10 rafts are secured to the banks of the Green River. The tents are up. The sun is setting over the sandstone canyon walls. As 30 rafters dig into steaming bowls of chili, it’s time to start planning for the future. How can northwest Colorado entice and manage visitors, protect […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Education, Energy, Environment, News
In rural Colorado, one town is looking to its community college to help survive the end of coal
By Jason Gonzales, Chalkbeat Colorado Even in the dark of night, chalky smoke from the coal power plant looms over Craig. For generations, coal has been a constant in this northwestern Colorado city. But by 2030, the Craig Station stacks will go quiet as Colorado shifts to renewable energy. Coal has fueled not only Colorado’s […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Energy, Environment, Transportation
Anticipating a bust, the Colorado coal town of Craig gets an unexpected boost
If there was one thing everyone agreed on in Craig back in early March, it was that predicting a future without coal was impossible. Two months earlier, the operator of the Craig Station power plant said it would close one of its units by 2025, and the other two by 2030. The coal-fired plant is […]
Posted inBusiness, Crime and Courts, Culture, Growth, News
Trouble in Dinosaur: Cop fired, town hall searched as border town reckons with new pot money, old problems
Dinosaur is out there. In so many ways. This town of 320 people, give or take a few, is smack dab up against the Utah border in sparsely populated Moffat County. Its closest neighbors are Rangely, 18 miles to the east, and Vernal, 33 miles across Colorado’s western boundary. For years, Dinosaur has had just […]