BUCKEYE — The scorching of Colorado forests by super-intense wildfires is worsening the water woes for Eldon Ackerman and other Larimer County farmers, jeopardizing thousands of irrigated acres that normally produce millions of dollars in crops.
Importing water from the Missouri River to Colorado’s semi-arid Front Range has emerged as an option western states are considering to deal with increasing overuse of the Colorado River.
That diversion is listed as a long-term possibility after review of more than 100 sometimes far-fetched ideas submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Among them: “Towing an iceberg wrapped in some type of plastic to California and capturing the meltwater”; tapping the Mississippi River; and “filling large nylon water bags” in Alaska for distribution down south.
Bureau of Reclamation officials on Tuesday said the “Missouri River Reuse Project” will be evaluated for feasibility following the release in coming weeks of a federal government study on water supply for the West.
The increasingly common practice of disposing of oil and gas drilling wastewater by injecting it underground can trigger earthquakes, according to federal scientists who studied quakes since 1970 in Colorado and neighboring states.
A Longmont-area farmsteader irked about odor, noise and leaks from gas wells by his house — whose complaints drove state regulators to negotiate a $15,000 fine against Encana — marched back to the regulators Thursday demanding tougher punishment.
Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation commissioners agreed to let Rod Brueske make his case at a formal hearing in the coming weeks.
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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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.
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.
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.
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
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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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.
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