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Colorado Communities Kept in the Dark About New ICE Detention Plans
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Communities Kept in the Dark About New ICE Detention Plans

By Taylor Dolven | The Colorado Sun All Walsenburg Interim City Administrator John Galusha knows about the plans for the long-closed private prison in the city he oversees is what he’s read in the news: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is considering reopening it to detain immigrants. And he’s not alone. Huerfano County Administrator Carl Young doesn’t know if the prison will reopen. And Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade and Hudson Town Manager Bryce Lange are similarly in the dark about proposed plans to reopen detention facilities in their communities. Most local government leaders reached for this story said the private prison companies that own the facilities wouldn’t need local government approval to reopen them as-is. But they would need local resources, like water ...
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Southern Ute Tribe taps Animas–La Plata water rights after 60 years of roadblocks
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Southern Ute Tribe taps Animas–La Plata water rights after 60 years of roadblocks

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun For years, two tribes have pointed to the barely used, multimillion-dollar project near Durango to show tribal water access challenges in the Colorado River Basin This summer, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe rolled out miles of temporary rubber water lines. The above-ground tubes had one job: carrying water to oil and gas operations on the reservation. But the pipelines also represent something else: a historic moment in a drawn-out, arduous debate over water in southwestern Colorado. In May, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe tapped into its water in the controversial Animas-La Plata Project, the first time a tribe has used its water from the project since it was authorized in 1968. The Animas-La Plata Project has come to encapsulate long-held dre...
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Outdated Systems and Bureaucracy Stall Critical Water Projects in Colorado
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Outdated Systems and Bureaucracy Stall Critical Water Projects in Colorado

By Jerd Smith | The Colorado Sun A new report says that using new technology, and streamlining processes are among factors that allow other states to issue permits much faster Colorado lags far behind neighboring states when it comes to keeping special permits critical to stopping pollutants from entering streams current, a new report says. Colorado’s backlog has, at times, surged to 70%, while six other states surveyed have fairly few lapsed wastewater treatment permits, according to the report, with Arizona and Oregon, for instance, showing permit backlogs of just 10%. The analysis was commissioned last year to help the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and state lawmakers understand why the situation has deteriorated and how it can be fixed. The per...
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Rancher gets additional $100K for livestock wolf kills in 6-5 CPW commission vote after heated debate
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Rancher gets additional $100K for livestock wolf kills in 6-5 CPW commission vote after heated debate

By Tracy Ross | Colorado Sun The Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission voted 6-5 to compensate rancher Conway Farrell after a heated debate that revealed division on the commission. A rancher who received $287,408 in compensation for livestock killed by wolves in 2024 was granted an additional $100,046 on Thursday, after the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission narrowly approved his latest claim.  The vote on the table was for the commission to adopt CPW staff’s recommendation to deny rancher Conway Farrell’s claim for direct losses of 89 calves during the time wolves were known to be attacking his sheep and cattle in 2024. The commission voted 6-5 to reject the guidance, effectively granting Farrell’s request.  Commissioners Gabriel Otero, Eden Vardy, Frances S...
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EPA reasserts control over Colorado’s coal phaseout amid grid concerns
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

EPA reasserts control over Colorado’s coal phaseout amid grid concerns

By Michael Booth | Colorado Sun Colorado Springs Utilities is already considering delays to a closure scheduled for 2029, while governor says state is moving beyond coal Trump administration rollbacks of key state anti-pollution policies continued this week, with the EPA telling Colorado it can’t set deadlines for coal power plant closures under Clean Air Act rules. Colorado Springs Utilities is already using the ruling to consider extending its Nixon 1 unit in Fountain past a planned December 2029 closure, and environmental groups decried the EPA ruling as a “shocking” warning of looming assaults on anti-pollution laws. “There’s every reason to be concerned that this proposal could be the opening salvo of a broader attack on Colorado’s efforts to move away from costly and dirt...
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Trump DOJ Subpoenas Colorado Hospital in Gender Care Investigation
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Trump DOJ Subpoenas Colorado Hospital in Gender Care Investigation

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun Children’s Hospital Colorado, the state’s largest pediatric specialty hospital, has received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of an apparent investigation into gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The hospital received the subpoena this week. It did not disclose the contents or say whether the subpoena seeks patient records. “We are engaging outside counsel and evaluating it to determine how we should respond,” the hospital wrote in a statement Thursday. The subpoena comes one month after Fox News, citing an anonymous source, reported that the DOJ had opened an investigation into three children’s hospitals across the country, including Children’s Hospital Colorado. The others were Boston Children’s Hospital and Chi...
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Lake Powell Power Crisis: Hydropower Threatened as Water Levels Plunge
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Lake Powell Power Crisis: Hydropower Threatened as Water Levels Plunge

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun Federal officials reported Tuesday that the water level in Lake Powell, one of the main water storage reservoirs for the Colorado River Basin, could fall low enough to stop hydropower generation at the reservoir by December 2026. The reservoir’s water levels have fallen as the Colorado River Basin, the water supply for 40 million people, has been overstressed by rising temperatures, prolonged drought and relentless demand. Upper Basin officials sounded the alarm in June, saying this year’s conditions echo the extreme conditions of 2021 and 2022, when Lake Powell and its sister reservoir, Lake Mead, dropped to historic lows. The basin needs a different management approach, specifically one that is more closely tied to the actual water supply ea...
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CPW Confirms More Wolf Packs While Keeping Ranchers in the Dark
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

CPW Confirms More Wolf Packs While Keeping Ranchers in the Dark

By Scott Franz | The Colorado Sun Colorado’s wolf population grew this spring with the formation of three new packs. The state designated the new wolf families as the One Ear Pack in Jackson County, the King Mountain Pack in Routt County and the Three Creeks Pack in Rio Blanco County. They join the Copper Creek pack, which formed in Grand County last year and was moved to Pitkin County in January. The new pack designations were mentioned in a “wolf update” slideshow presentation, which was included in the online agenda for an upcoming Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting on Thursday. CPW has not announced how many pups have been confirmed in each of the new packs. Last year, the agency did not name the Copper Creek pack until pups were confirmed. Earlier this year, CPW s...
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Colorado Sues Trump Admin Over Withheld Funds Due to “Failure to Deliver”
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Sues Trump Admin Over Withheld Funds Due to “Failure to Deliver”

By Erica Breunlin | The Colorado Sun Colorado has joined 23 other states and Washington, D.C., in suing the Trump administration over its decision to freeze $6.8 billion in grant funding that helps school districts across the country operate after-school programs, train teachers, and boost resources and support for kids with significant learning needs. That money includes an estimated $80 million that would have flowed to Colorado school districts, which now face uncertainty about the level of staffing and programs they will be able to offer this next school year — about a month away for many districts. Colorado is one of four states leading the lawsuit, according to Attorney General Phil Weiser. They filed the lawsuit Monday, naming the U.S. Department of Education, Education Sec...
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Feds unfreeze $4M for Upper Colorado River Basin watershed restoration
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Feds unfreeze $4M for Upper Colorado River Basin watershed restoration

By Jerd Smith | Colorado Sun The cash will allow work in fire-damaged watersheds and the Kawuneeche Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park to continue Millions of dollars in federal funding have been released to continue restoring lands and streams in the fire-scarred Upper Colorado River Basin watershed in and around Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park. The roughly $4 million was frozen in February and was released in April, according to Northern Water, a major Colorado water provider and one of the agencies that coordinate with the federal government and agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service to conduct the work.  Esther Vincent, Northern Water’s director of environmental services, said the federal government gave no reason for the  freeze and release of funds....
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