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Tag: Natural Resources

The push to redefine beneficial use ignores 100 years of western water law
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, State

The push to redefine beneficial use ignores 100 years of western water law

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com Last week when some marauding teens bashed a mailbox with a bat, angry neighbors posted on nextdoor.com, “there needs to be a law against that.” Is that just an impulse reaction, or do they really not know there is a law against that. Since 1909, it has been a federal offense to tamper with, vandalize, deface, or destroy mailboxes, under penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. People often think things ought to be illegal that already are, that we should regulate things we already do, even that things ought to be defined that already are. I couldn’t help wondering how serious recent headlines were, announcing that several environmental industry groups had petitioned the Bureau of Reclamation to stop allowing water to be wast...
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Colorado River faces new threat as zebra mussels take hold
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Fox31, Approved, State

Colorado River faces new threat as zebra mussels take hold

By: Spencer Kristensen | FOX31 KDVR DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife officially declared a portion of the Colorado River as “infested” with invasive zebra mussels after sampling detected adult zebra mussels in the river and another nearby lake in Grand Junction, CPW announced in a press release on Monday afternoon. “While this is news we never wanted to hear, we knew this was a possibility since we began finding veligers in the river,” said CPW Director Jeff Davis in the press release. “I can’t reiterate this enough. It was because we have a group of individuals dedicated to protecting Colorado’s water resources that these detections were made.” On Aug. 28, the Aquatic Animal Health Lab suspected veligers, the microscopic larval stage of zebra mussels, were collected fr...
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BLM opens 130,000 acres in Colorado to boost oil and gas production
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

BLM opens 130,000 acres in Colorado to boost oil and gas production

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Planned lease auctions started Tuesday, with one of the largest offerings in more than 20 years that set a revenue record as the Trump administration reverses Biden-area slowdown The BLM on Tuesday leased 14 oil and gas parcels spanning 7,895 acres in Colorado for more than $6.7 million, setting a revenue record in one of one of the largest state lease sales in at least 20 years.  And more are coming as the BLM plans the largest sale in more than two decades in March 2026 and the second largest in December, with a total of 174 parcels spanning nearly 124,000 acres offered in both auctions. The pending auctions reveal the Trump administration’s stark shift from President Joe Biden, who offered fewer acres of public land for oil and g...
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Rio Grande crisis leaves farmers desperate and states divided
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Fortune, Approved, National

Rio Grande crisis leaves farmers desperate and states divided

By Susan Montoya Bryan, Morgan Lee | The Associated Press via Fortune A simmering feud over management of one of North America’s longest rivers reached a boiling point when the U.S. Supreme Court sent western states and the federal government back to the negotiating table last year. Now the battle over waters of the Rio Grande could be nearing resolution as New Mexico, Texas and Colorado announced fresh settlement proposals Friday designed to rein in groundwater pumping along the river in New Mexico and ensure enough river water reliably makes it to Texas. New Mexico officials say the agreements allow water conservation decisions to be made locally while avoiding a doomsday scenario of billion-dollar payouts on water shortfalls. Farmers in southern New Mexico increasingly have...
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Trump Cuts Through Forest Bureaucracy With Common-Sense Logging Reform
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National, Approved, DENVER7

Trump Cuts Through Forest Bureaucracy With Common-Sense Logging Reform

By: Morgan Lee and Becky Bohrer | Denver7 SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Trump administration plans to rescind a nearly quarter-century-old rule that blocked logging on national forest lands, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Monday. The roadless rule adopted in the last days of Bill Clinton's presidency in 2001 long has chafed Republican lawmakers, especially in the West where national forests sprawl across vast, mountainous terrain and the logging industry has waned. The rule impeded road construction and “responsible timber production” that would have helped reduce the risk of major wildfires, Rollins said at the annual meeting of the Western Governors Association. “This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests," Rollins said. ...
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