January 14, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land, Natural Resources, Pollution, Water
It’ll take at least a decade before Cotter Corp.’s contaminated Colorado
uranium mill is cleaned up under a new deal aimed at accelerating work
at the site.
The agreement settles a long-running dispute about the
surety fund - state officials have estimated cleanup would cost as much
as $40 million - and also sets Cotter’s timetable and penalties if
deadlines aren’t met.
A watchdog group criticized the deal, saying plans
were revised with little public input.
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January 7, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land, Oil and Gas Drilling, Pollution, Water
Workers at Suncor Energy ’s oil refinery north of Denver - nearly all 500 - have had their blood tested for benzene as Suncor excavates pipeline to deal with tainted tap water and tries to contain contamination of Sand Creek.
Nobody knows how long drinking water at the Suncor refinery has contained benzene. Results of blood tests were kept confidential.
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December 20, 2011 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land
Denver metro planners who often don’t see eye to eye on land-use issues are trying to create a green ring of public open space flanking the metro area’s two-thirds-completed high- speed beltway.
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September 13, 2011 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land, Natural Resources, Pollution, Water
PLATTEVILLE — Colorado’s wave of gas and oil drilling is resulting in spills at the rate of seven every five days — releasing more than 2 million gallons this year of diesel, oil, drilling wastewater and chemicals that contaminated land and water.
At least some environmental damage from the oil-and-gas boom is inevitable, industry leaders and state regulators say, with a record-high 45,793 wells and companies drilling about eight more a day.
But a Denver Post analysis finds state regulators rarely penalize companies responsible for spills.
This year, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has imposed fines for five spills that happened three or more years ago. The total penalties: $531,350.
State rules obligate regulators to take a collaborative approach, negotiating remedies when possible rather than cracking down. In fact, the COGCC recently declared four companies responsible for the largest number of spills to be “Outstanding Operators” and lauded them for environmental excellence.
Oil and gas companies have reported 343 new spills this year, bringing the total since August 2009 to more than 1,000 spills, state data show.
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March 26, 2011 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land, Natural Resources
For years, federal land managers have aimed at letting wildfires burn to boost forest health — and save taxpayers some of the billions the government spends dousing nearly every blaze.
“We’re looking for opportunities to let fire play its natural role in the landscape,” regional U.S. Forest Service chief Rick Cables said this week.
But Colorado’s growing population and energy industry near forests, combined with surging numbers of wildfires, is making a let-it-burn approach increasingly difficult.
Twenty-seven wildfires have threatened the northern Front Range suburbs this month, nine times the 15-year March average of three.
Rather than try to let some wildfires burn to stimulate forests and grasslands, federal officials have moved into traditional suppression, mobilizing ground crews early and pushing to pre-position slurry bombers on runways to stop the flames.
Over the past year, federal land managers in Colorado let 30 remote wildfires run their course, agency data show. Meanwhile, more than 3,000 wildfires were suppressed in Colorado.
Nationwide, firefighters suppress about 99 percent of the more than 71,000 wildfires that break out each year, mostly in Western states.
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May 20, 2010 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land, Pollution, Water
Denver-area water providers are pressuring state mining regulators to force Cotter Corp. to clean up a defunct uranium mine contaminating groundwater and a creek that flows into a major reservoir.
The latest water-quality tests showed that Ralston Creek below Schwartzwalder mine carried as much as 390 parts per billion of uranium, which is 13 times higher than the 30 ppb health standard. Contamination of groundwater at the source — inside the mine — exceeded the standard by 1,000 times.
Drinking water remains safe, authorities say, because uranium is removed from Ralston Reservoir water by municipal water treatment plants.
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April 16, 2010 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land, Pollution, Water
A defunct uranium mine in Jefferson County is contaminating groundwater near a reservoir, but government regulators and mine executives have yet to settle on a plan for cleanup.
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March 10, 2010 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land
Prodded by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the Forest Service is reviewing a Colorado coal-mining company’s stalled request to build roads in a federally protected “roadless” forest. The high-level handling reflects tension over efforts to preserve 58.4 million acres of relatively roadless national-forest land across the country. President Bill Clinton’s initiative to create the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule led to years of arguments — including government efforts to defend the rule today in Denver’s 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Colorado has proposed an alternative state plan for managing 4.1 million roadless acres in a way that makes exceptions for coal mining, ski areas and towns threatened by wildfire that want to remove beetle-killed trees.
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January 17, 2010 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land
Two miles deep in their latest tunnel, coal miner Steve Baker and his cohorts barely blink at underground hazards: a cavern collapsing behind them, explosive gas around their boots, roiling clouds of black dust. But they dread the above-ground parrying of state and federal politicians over protection of the nation’s forests. Decisions expected soon by Gov. Bill Ritter and the Obama administration may threaten the miners’ livelihoods — and the future of a traditional industry in western Colorado.
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January 16, 2010 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land
The mountain pine beetles that have ravaged about 3 million acres of Colorado and southern Wyoming forests may be exhausting their primary food source — raising the prospect that the beetle epidemic could end, state and federal foresters said this week. Regeneration of decimated forests has begun as the U.S. Forest Service hires loggers to remove dead trees. “I think we’ve seen the worst of it,” said Sky Stephens, Colorado State Forest Service entomologist.
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For 20 years, journalist Bruce Finley has investigated local, national and international issues with on-site reporting in more than 40 countries. A staff writer for 