JACKSON COUNTY — Tan pump jacks, 140-year-old oil field technology, bob up and down amid the purple sage in this rural corner of Colorado, lifting oil from deep below and also fueling a very 21st century frenzy: cryptocurrency mining. The pump jack wells are tied to natural gas generators powering trailers filled with bitcoin mining […]
greenhouse gases
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Yes, we can help reduce greenhouse gases
It was a freakishly warm and very windy day. Driving back from Dillon on Highway 93, it was difficult to keep the car on the road. Debris such as plastic swimming pools and construction materials blew across the road, making it challenging to keep the car on the highway. As we neared Boulder, the road […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Economy, Education, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Budgets fat with fossil fuel revenue at odds with climate-change goals in states like Colorado
By Morgan Lee and Mead Gruver, The Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. — Government budgets are booming in New Mexico: Teacher salaries are up, residents can go to an in-state college tuition-free, moms will get medical care for a year after childbirth, and criminal justice initiatives are being funded to reduce urban violence. The reason […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Environmental coalition demands Colorado speed up clean truck rules, citing long delays in air pollution cuts
A coalition of Colorado environmental groups has filed a petition with the Air Quality Control Commission demanding they finish rules for cleaner trucks by the end of this year, saying they are harming Colorado residents through a series of delays in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and ozone. The AQCC should order staff at the Air […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: No, natural gas should not be part of our energy mix
In their op-ed titled “Natural gas should remain a key option in Colorado’s clean-energy mix,” the authors would have us believe that, long-term, natural gas should be part of the mix for our state’s goals for ending the use of fossil fuels. Let’s be clear: When we have ended the use of fossil fuels, natural […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Broomfield’s “best practices” for oil and gas are held up as a model. But they don’t curb neighbors’ complaints.
Broomfield has been a leader in local regulation of oil and gas drilling, and its approach is being held up as a formula for allowing more drilling in suburban areas. But residents caution that while things may be better in Broomfield, that doesn’t make them good. Even with 147 required “best management practices” for operators, […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Colorado needs to cut greenhouse gas pollution from industry. They’ve put it off until 2023.
Colorado officials won’t pass rules cutting greenhouse gas emissions from large manufacturers until 2023, once again disappointing environmental advocates who say mandatory targets for 2025 and 2030 are slipping out of sight. Last spring, the Air Pollution Control Division had rulemaking for the next round of industrial emissions cuts planned for 2022. Environmental groups say […]
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 inBusiness, Climate, Energy, Environment, Equity, News, Politics and Government
First-in-the-U.S. rules that give oil and gas industry leeway in slashing emissions OK’d in Colorado
Colorado air regulators have adopted a sweeping set of rules to slash methane emissions from oil and gas operations, including a controversial, first-in-the nation program giving industry a freer hand in determining how to cut pollution. The “intensity program,” under which operators will have to reduce emissions by set percentages based on the amount of […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Economy, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Biden sets out oil, gas leasing reform, stops short of public-lands ban
By Matthew Daly, The Associated Press The Biden administration on Friday recommended an overhaul of the nation’s oil and gas leasing program to limit areas available for energy development and raise costs for oil and gas companies to drill on public land and water. The long-awaited report by the Interior Department stops short of recommending […]