November 11, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Wildlife
While state biologists wait for federal authorities to declare a second species — wolverines — endangered by climate change, one lone male wolverine is making the case that Colorado mountains are a critical refuge.
But the wolverine, M56, arrived on his own, and it likely would take an act of the state legislature to import any others.
Now entering a fourth winter after trekking from Wyoming across the Red Desert into Rocky Mountain National Park, M56 has not only survived but thrived. Food apparently hasn’t been a problem — marmots in summer, meaty elk bones during winter.
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November 7, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Water
A western Colorado water district is fighting for rights to divert and store huge amounts of water from the White River — enough to sustain a large city — for uses that include oil shale industrial development.
Colorado’s Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments by the Yellow Jacket Water Conservancy District, which is challenging a state water court’s decision rejecting its rights to 140,000 acre-feet of water from the river — water that otherwise would flow into the Green and Colorado rivers.
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November 3, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Water
Denver resident Peggy Chiu has squelched water waste in her four-person household: Xeriscape instead of lawn, low-flow toilets and washer, turning off taps while brushing.
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November 3, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Water
Denver resident Peggy Chiu has squelched water waste in her four-person household: Xeriscape instead of lawn, low-flow toilets and washer, turning off taps while brushing.
She and her husband, Kevin, honed water-saving habits while working in Honduras. When they rinse fruit or refresh the dogs’ water dish, they catch the wastewater and pour it on plants.
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November 1, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Natural Resources, Oil and Gas Drilling
Longmont voters’ ban on oil and gas drilling in their city has ignited anti-fracking forces along Colorado’s Front Range — and pro-industry groups are pushing back.
Aurora, Commerce City, Denver, Fort Collins, Lafayette and Louisville residents on Monday were mobilizing to push for similar bans on drilling inside their towns
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October 23, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Energy, Environment, Transportation
China is pitching a “pure electric” all-wheel-drive car that gets 186 miles per charge — targeting public officials tasked with greening their vehicle fleets.
The managers of Colorado’s 5,800-vehicle state fleet took the $63,000 Build Your Dreams E6 for a test drive. So did municipal fleet chiefs from Denver and Pueblo. And they liked it. The E6’s range more than doubles the distance other electric vehicles can cover before running out of juice.
But Colorado officials — poised to spend $21 million to replace 585 state vehicles — are wedded to cars and trucks that run on made-in-Colorado compressed natural gas.
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October 19, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Natural Resources, Oil and Gas Drilling
Colorado health authorities will not fully enforce new EPA rules designed to protect people from air pollution at oil and gas facilities.
The state’s Air Quality Control Commission voted instead for a partial adoption of the federal clean-air rules. They plan to hold public meetings next year to consider full implementation.
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October 7, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Pollution
Mobile equipment is being installed on the South Platte River to clean benzene from groundwater spreading from under Suncor Energy’s oil refinery to metro Denver’s adjacent sewage-treatment plant.
Suncor had proposed that Metro Wastewater help handle the cleanup. Metro declined.
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October 1, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Water
Denver’s wastewater system endures the municipal equivalent of a continual colonoscopy — snaking robot cameras inspecting every turn of the massive sewer system. Last week, the examination prevented a catastrophe.
The cameras caught two exceptionally large blockages that threatened to back up sewage and foul the Sand Creek greenway.
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September 28, 2012 · The Denver Post
By Bruce Finley, Denver Post Staff Writer
Environment, Land
Fifteen bicycle-rental companies that deliver to trails along Vail Pass were sent letters this week advising them that after Nov. 1, they will need U.S. Forest Service permits to continue the service.
Similar letters were sent this year to companies that drop off all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles.
The permits may also be required for drop-offs on non-national forest land, if the bikes will be used on national forest land, White River National Forest district ranger Jan Cutts said in the letter.
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A journalist and lawyer, Bruce Finley has investigated local, national and international issues with on-site reporting in more than 40 countries. In his position as a staff writer for the Denver Post, he is focusing on environment-related news including water challenges, the oil and gas boom and wildfire.
