Climate Suit Would Hurt Colorado

Originally Published in The Pueblo Chieftain – August 23, 2020 Boulder County, San Miguel County, and the City of Boulder have lawsuits against the Oil and Gas industry. They allege environmental damage and climate change from carbon emissions related to the industry. Perhaps there is such damage, and perhaps not. I am not writing to […]

Dirty secret: EPA & CDPHE coercion, not collaboration, led to CO methane rules

Just as President Trump and new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt begin dialing back Obama-era regulations, Governor John Hickenlooper is erroneously trying to paint Colorado’s “model” methane rules as some sort of industry-environmental Kumbaya.   A week ago Sunday on Meet the Press the Democrat and possible 2020 presidential campaign contender told host […]

December 17 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Environmental ‘Propaganda’ Agency; electric rate hikes called ‘discrimination’; anti-energy activists promise to ‘ratchet up’ efforts

Some commodity pricing is giving Colorado Xcel ratepayers a temporary reprieve from escalating energy costs: Xcel said the new rates will result in “significantly lower bills, particularly for natural gas customers, for the second half of the current winter heating season. “Compared on a year-to-year basis to better gauge the seasonal impacts of weather, both […]

December 17 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Environmental 'Propaganda' Agency; electric rate hikes called 'discrimination'; anti-energy activists promise to 'ratchet up' efforts

Some commodity pricing is giving Colorado Xcel ratepayers a temporary reprieve from escalating energy costs: Xcel said the new rates will result in “significantly lower bills, particularly for natural gas customers, for the second half of the current winter heating season. “Compared on a year-to-year basis to better gauge the seasonal impacts of weather, both […]

June 18 Colorado Energy Roundup: Pushback on EPA ozone rule effect on rural US, oil and gas operations get the thumbs up from Colorado communities

The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed ozone rule–reducing acceptable ground-level ozone from 75 ppb to between 65 and 70–has drawn criticism from 22 medically trained members of Congress (E&E Greenwire, behind paywall: In a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the 22 Republican members of the House and Senate raised questions about the analysis underlying EPA’s […]

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 – […]

Energy by the Numbers

Sound energy policy must be rooted in fact rather than fiction and reason rather than emotion. Recently, the Institute for Energy Research released a well-researched, extensively-cited, easy-to-read primer on energy. We encourage you to read all 68 pages of Hard Facts: An Energy Primer.  For those who want a cliff notes version, a few key […]

Stupid is as stupid does

Colorado MoveOn member Kyle Elston sent the following email asking Colorado’s anti-fossil fuel, kool-aid drinking community to electronically sign a petition telling Routt County Commissioners to put a moratorium on “all future oil and gas exploration permits until” — you’ve probably guessed it already — more stringent rules and regulations are in place. Read the […]

Media acts like eco Chicken Littles

Has any media outlet bothered to ask if the EPA’s theory on groundwater contamination in Wyoming and hydraulic fracturing is even right? The Independence Institute’s Energy Policy Blog can’t be accused (at least not accurately) of being in the tank for the oil and gas industry. We’ve been on opposite sides of several of the […]

Wyoming Governor reacts to EPA "draft finding" on fracturing

While the rest of the world loses its collective mind over an Environmental Protection Agency “draft finding” that hydraulic fracturing may be the cause of groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming, Governor Matt Mead is a voice of reason. In a press release from his office, Mead stated, “the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft study on Pavillion […]

Is Colorado "addicted" to economic activity?

Part two of a series responding to a Denver Post guest column titled “Is Colorado addicted to oil?” from Gary Wockner of Clean Water Action. Gary Wockner’s editorial is long on conjecture and short on facts. It’s little more than 20 questions, which could be answered if Wockner bothered to do a modicum of research. […]