The demise of the oil and gas industry in Colorado — predicted after the passage of legislation and regulations focused on protecting public health, safety and the environment — does not appear to be imminent. Plans for nearly 1,900 new oil and gas wells are before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2022 […]
greenhouse gas
Posted inNews
Colorado’s governor encourages people to switch to electric vehicles. So why isn’t he driven around in one?
Gov. Jared Polis and his administration have encouraged Coloradans to carpool and use electric vehicles to help meet the state’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals. But Polis often spends an hour and a half being driven to and from Denver in a hulking, gasoline-powered Chevrolet Suburban. Over the past two years, Polis was driven by […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Prying the leaf blowers from Coloradans’ cold, dead hands
I usually don’t pay much attention to the state legislature until the final week of the session. It’s like my dad used to say about basketball games, it’s just a lot of back and forth until the final two minutes. Why get your hopes up? This year I’m making an exception, though, for a bill […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Economy, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado joins in effort to develop “hydrogen hub” to make clean-burning fuel for vehicles more available
By Mead Gruver, The Associated Press CHEYENNE— Four Rocky Mountain states will cooperate on developing ways to make the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen, more available and useful as clean-burning fuel for cars, trucks and trains, the states’ governors announced Thursday. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming will plan a “hydrogen hub” to […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Gas-powered lawn equipment sales would be banned in parts of Colorado under Democrats’ latest climate bill
Two Democratic state lawmakers have introduced a sweeping climate and environment bill that would outlaw gas-powered lawn equipment along the northern Front Range, set new greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and force insurance companies operating in the state to conduct a climate assessment. Senate Bill 138 also aims to make carbon capture and sequestration easier […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Colorado delays key clean truck rules until 2023. Environmental justice groups are furious.
Colorado pollution regulators now say they won’t finish long-anticipated clean truck rules until 2023, prompting cries of betrayal by environmental groups that say acting now is vital to cutting greenhouse gas and ozone-causing emissions that harm impacted communities. Key groups included by law in energy transition rulemaking said they’d been assured the rules for cleaning […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
West Elk mine cannot leak methane, must flare the greenhouse gas, judge rules
The West Elk coal mine must keep flaring dangerous methane and seek state air pollution permits instead of leaking the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, in a consent decree hailed by environmental groups across Colorado. Though burning the methane on-site near Somerset creates CO2, it causes far less damage to the atmosphere than allowing raw […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, News
Xcel promises to speed closure of coal-fired Comanche 3 electric plant. Environmental groups are unsatisfied.
Xcel Energy has agreed to accelerate the closure of its coal-fired Comanche 3 power plant by five years to 2035 as part of a settlement, supported by state, local and union officials, but opposed by environmental groups. Comanche 3 in Pueblo, one of the largest remaining coal-fired power plants in the West, has been a […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
A new rule to slash oil and gas emissions appeals to the industry, but Colorado activists worry it won’t work
The Polis administration is banking on an untested, first-in-the-nation type of regulation to sharply cut oil and gas sector emissions to meet state greenhouse gas targets — drawing praise from the industry, but roiling environmental groups and some local officials. The draft “greenhouse gas intensity target” rule, to be submitted to the Air Quality Control […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: To make agriculture more climate-friendly, carbon farming needs clear rules
As the effects of climate change intensify and paths for limiting global warming narrow, politicians, media and environmental advocates have rallied behind “carbon farming” as a mutually beneficial strategy for society, the environment and farmers. Agriculture covers more than half of Earth’s terrestrial surface and contributes roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Paying farmers […]