Colorado highway engineers are seeking U.S. Forest Service approval to use remote-controlled blasters to trigger small snowslides in an attempt to keep big avalanches from blocking Berthoud Pass.
State government enforcers increasingly are letting oil and gas companies that break rules do public service projects instead of imposing formal penalties.
The shift reflects evolving efforts by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to cope with expanding industrial operations in a way that demonstrably helps harmed communities.
The COGCC “continually seeks to put into practice a robust enforcement program,” COGCC director Matt Lepore wrote in response to Denver Post queries.
LOVELAND PASS — Oil and gas tankers roared through Colorado’s high-mountain tundra at a rate of one every five minutes Monday morning, two days after a crash that spilled 4,000 gallons of diesel and unleaded fuel into waterways that flow toward Denver’s Dillon Reservoir.
FRISCO —Coloradans living in forests are trying to fireproof their communities as larger and hotter wildfires destroy more homes and firefighting costs grow intolerable.
Increasing numbers of burn-zone residents are finding they have little choice but to coexist with wildfire — part of the natural environment and crucial to keeping forests healthy.
FRISCO —Coloradans living in forests are trying to fireproof their communities as larger and hotter wildfires destroy more homes and firefighting costs grow intolerable.
Increasing numbers of burn-zone residents are finding they have little choice but to coexist with wildfire — part of the natural environment and crucial to keeping forests healthy.
County authorities and local fire chiefs are encouraging the shift toward greater self-protection, aided by the federally backed Fire Adapted Communities program.
HORSETOOTH RESERVOIR — Top U.S. environmental officials Friday began a push to protect the nation’s federally run water-supply reservoirs against wildfires.
The fear is that worsening wildfires will trigger erosion that damages dams, canals and pipelines, and shrinks water storage, ultimately driving up water costs for ratepayers.
Stafford Brochu, 75, has considered the costs of fireproofing as he rebuilds his 5,200 square foot stucco home that was destroyed by the Black Forest fire in June.
A heat-activated indoor sprinkler system would cost around $30,000, Brochu said. “And that doesn’t include the cost of the generator” to run the sprinklers if firefighters had to shut down electricity. “We’re talking a lot of money.”
Federal fire managers ordered safety stand-downs Monday morning and gave hundreds of wildland firefighters the option of packing up and going home after 19 elite crew members were killed in Arizona.
“The immediate impact of that fire is on re-focusing everybody throughout the fire community on safety,” said National Interagency Fire Center spokesman Randy Eardley. “They will talk about it, reflect on it and refocus their efforts on safety.”
GOLDEN — Workers in the nation’s largest brewery have transformed their operations and no longer send any garbage to dumps.
After nearly two years of developing ways to divert 135 tons of trash each month, MillerCoors leaders on Monday announced that all waste now is recycled.
Two years ago, brewery managers were paying Waste Management to haul those tons of glass, spent grain and hops, plastics and metals for burial in metro landfills. MillerCoors now projects a $1 million a year revenue boost from the sale of recycled materials at the Golden plant alone.
At least 1,500 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil will be hauled from the oil and gas spill along Parachute Creek to Utah for final disposal.
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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