MAMA: Make America Mine Again
Our national security and economic prosperity (including Colorado’s) depend on it After falling behind foreign regimes, the U.S. may begin to develop and mine its own deposits of a whole host of minerals vital to our national security and economic prosperity. In a December 20 executive order, President Trump directed federal agencies to develop a […]
Bears Ears: When local residents successfully fight feds, we all win
President Trump and Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke have righted a wrong, marking a victory for local voices and fair and just government. After months of meeting and conferring with local residents, tribal leaders, and elected officials, the Trump administration reduced the size of the 1.35 million acre Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent. As […]
2017 Colorado Energy Outlook
In the wake of one of the most surprising electoral outcomes in recent memory, we here at the Independence Institute have been assessing what the next few months, the 2017 Colorado legislative session, and the general future of energy policy in Colorado will look like under a President-elect Trump administration and a split legislature with […]
February 23 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Conflicting views over Colorado CPP prep; Gold King Mine persists for Navajo Nation
An E&E story ‘Colo. steps back from crafting formal plan for EPA rule’ might give readers pause, thinking that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment was backing off its previous statement to proceed with “prudent” Clean Power Plan development even as a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court was in effect (paywall): Colorado […]
December 10 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Fracking ban faces CO Supremes; fracktivist compares technology to slavery; House GOP calls Interior EPA spill report a “whitewash”
Yesterday, the Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments over Longmont’s fracking ban: On Wednesday, the state’s highest court will consider Longmont’s voter-approved ban on hydraulic fracturing within city limits. Longmont voters added the ban to the drilling method, also called fracking, to the City Charter in 2012, convinced that a city-negotiated set of regulations on oil […]
December 10 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Fracking ban faces CO Supremes; fracktivist compares technology to slavery; House GOP calls Interior EPA spill report a "whitewash"
Yesterday, the Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments over Longmont’s fracking ban: On Wednesday, the state’s highest court will consider Longmont’s voter-approved ban on hydraulic fracturing within city limits. Longmont voters added the ban to the drilling method, also called fracking, to the City Charter in 2012, convinced that a city-negotiated set of regulations on oil […]
July 16 Colorado Energy Roundup: Sec. Jewell adds Colowyo Mine visit; renewable energy mandate upheld
A week after the Department of the Interior declined to move forward with an appeal in the Colowyo Mine case, and facing mounting pressure to visit the northwest portion of Colorado during a scheduled trip to Aspen, Sec. Sally Jewell appears to have conceded to a meeting with county commissioners: Moffat County Commissioner John Kinkaid […]
May 14 Colorado Energy Roundup: fracking, ozone, and a national renewable energy standard
Energy In Depth‘s Simon Lomax pokes holes in the American Lung Association’s report on ozone–and the Denver Post‘s reporting on it–with input from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment: Citing its own April 29 “report card” on the region’s air quality, the ALA told the Denver Post that levels of ground-level ozone – […]
Salazar approved solar project a bust
Almost a year ago to the day the Department of Interior issued a press release boasting that Secretary Ken Salazar had “approved the first large-scale solar energy plants ever to be built on public lands.” As with Obama administration renewable energy initiatives, there were the promises of massive amounts of electrical power and “green jobs.” […]
