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Questions Grow Over Weiser’s Role in Boulder Climate Lawsuit
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Questions Grow Over Weiser’s Role in Boulder Climate Lawsuit

By Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado For years, City and County of Boulder officials have defended their ongoing climate lawsuit against energy companies by pointing to its outside counsel arrangement, where lawyers work on a contingency fee agreement along with repeated assurances that local taxpayers would not be paying for the arrangement. However, new comments from Boulder District Attorney and Democrat state attorney general candidate Michael Dougherty raise serious questions about whether Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser – and potentially Colorado taxpayers – helped support that legal operation from behind the scenes. If so, it would represent a clear flip flop from Weiser, who has long voiced skepticism about the legal merits o...
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Roan Plateau Acreage Included In Potential December Oil and Gas Lease Auction
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Grand Junction Sentinel, Approved, Local

Roan Plateau Acreage Included In Potential December Oil and Gas Lease Auction

By: Dan West | Grand Junction Daily Sentinel This screenshot shows acreage on the Roan Plateau being considered by the Bureau of Land Management for a December lease sale.Source: BLM This week, the Bureau of Land Management opened a 30-day public scoping period on a proposed oil and gas lease sale of up to 126,744 acres, including acreage on the Roan Plateau between De Beque and Rifle. The BLM is seeking public input on 114 oil and gas parcels in Colorado that could be included in a December 2026 lease sale. Several parcels included are on the Roan Plateau north of Parachute, an area that has been the focus of past legal battles over oil and gas development. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT GRAND JUNCTION DAILY SENTINEL
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Lawmakers Put Reliability And Energy Costs Ahead Of New Climate Mandates In 2026
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The Sum & Substance, Approved, Commentary, State

Lawmakers Put Reliability And Energy Costs Ahead Of New Climate Mandates In 2026

By: Ed Sealover | Commentary, The Sum & Substance This legislative session was supposed to be a defining one for the utility and energy sectors — one in which legislators would debate and pass a long-discussed plan to move up the net-zero emissions deadline by 10 years and also remake the Public Utilities Commission. But the story of the 2026 session for energy advocates instead turned out to be all about what didn’t happen. No 2040 net-zero plan got introduced. No radical changes came through the extension of the PUC. And for the first time in over a decade, no existential threats to the oil and gas sector received debate in the 75th General Assembly. The topics that took center stage instead were reliability and affordability of energy sources. Legislators h...
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Dozens Of Amicus Briefs Challenge Boulder Climate Case Before SCOTUS
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Dozens Of Amicus Briefs Challenge Boulder Climate Case Before SCOTUS

By: Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in the now 8-year old Boulder climate lawsuit, more than three dozen amicus briefs submitted in the case have made the same essential point: Boulder’s lawsuit against oil and gas companies is an unconstitutional attempt to use state courts to dictate national energy and climate policy, and the high court should put a stop to it.   The briefs represent one of the broadest coalitions to weigh in on climate litigation in years, spanning the U.S. Department of Justice, 78 members of Congress, 27 state attorneys general, energy-producing Colorado counties, former senior national security officials and major business, legal and policy organizations.  Ahead of oral arg...
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Supreme Court Asked To Halt Boulder’s Taxpayer Funded Climate Lawfare
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Supreme Court Asked To Halt Boulder’s Taxpayer Funded Climate Lawfare

By Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado In a brief filed Thursday with the U.S. Supreme Court, defendants argued the high court should end Boulder’s climate lawsuit once and for all to avoid a “chaos” of a patchwork of state court rulings governing energy policy. In February, after eight years of Boulder pursuing its taxpayer-funded climate lawsuit against Exxon and Suncor, SCOTUS agreed to review the energy companies’ petition on whether state and local governments can use tort law to regulate global greenhouse gas emissions. The Court will hear oral arguments in the case during its fall term this year. SCOTUS has the opportunity to deliver a major blow to the national climate litigation campaign and its attempt push public policy through the c...
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GOP Opposition Halts Last-Minute Bill Challenging Natural Gas Amendment
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

GOP Opposition Halts Last-Minute Bill Challenging Natural Gas Amendment

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Colorado lawmakers pulled back plans to counter a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right of consumers to use natural gas. The bill’s backers said the legislation would not have significantly affected the initiative’s impact, even as debate intensifies among environmental groups, the oil and gas industry and policymakers. The bill — initially planned by House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D‑Dillon, Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D‑Denver, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D‑Evergreen — would have addressed how the ballot measure might affect the state’s air quality. Bacon said the initiative’s wording is overly broad and could create unintended consequences. The proposed constitutional amendment, introduced b...
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Colorado Democrats Drop Effort To Limit Natural Gas Ballot Proposal
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Democrats Drop Effort To Limit Natural Gas Ballot Proposal

By Taylor Dolven | The Colorado Sun The initiative would give Coloradans a “right to natural gas” in the state constitution. State Democratic lawmakers abandoned their effort to blunt the potential impact of a proposed ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to give Coloradans a “right to natural gas.” Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, had pledged Friday to introduce a bill that would ensure the amendment doesn’t threaten public safety or local air quality. They would have had to introduce the bill on Monday in order to have enough time to get it passed by the end of the legislative session on Wednesday. Republican House members asked t...
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Trump Signs Executive Orders To Fast Track U.S. Energy Infrastructure
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Approved, Just The News, National

Trump Signs Executive Orders To Fast Track U.S. Energy Infrastructure

By Kevin Killough | Just the News The five orders seek to address a number of bottlenecks and impediments to coal, natural gas and petroleum production, including financial support, infrastructure development, improved supply chains, and permit expediting. President Donald Trump has signed five executive orders that address critical segments of the nation’s energy infrastructure – a move made under the presidential determinations of the Defense Production Act that allows a U.S. president to mobilize industry for purposes of national security.  The two-term president has long pushed for energy development and the infrastructure to support it as a key aspect of national security. The orders, signed amid the U.S. war with Iran, seek to address issues with the aging...
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Colorado Regulators Approve Aurora Area Wells Despite Fierce Community Opposition
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Colorado Regulators Approve Aurora Area Wells Despite Fierce Community Opposition

By Kelly Werthmann | CBS Colorado Colorado regulators on Tuesday cleared the way for a controversial oil and gas project near the Aurora Reservoir, following a yearslong battle by community members to block the plan. In a narrow 3-2 vote, the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission approved the permit for SM Energy's Sunlight-Long well development plan. The decision follows more than six hours of presentations and deliberations on Tuesday, marking the culmination of at least seven public hearings regarding the site's potential impact on the surrounding area. CBS The approval allows for fracking operations to move forward approximately 3,000 feet from the nearest homes. Members of the community group Save the Aurora Reservoir (STAR) have fought th...
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Federal lease sale brings $8 million boost as Colorado energy shifts to Washington-controlled land
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Federal lease sale brings $8 million boost as Colorado energy shifts to Washington-controlled land

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) quarterly oil and gas lease sale in Colorado generated over $8 million, the most successful such sale the federal lands agency has enjoyed in recent years. The BLM, as well as energy policy experts credit the successful lease sale in large part to the Trump administration’s pro-energy production policies. According to its recent press release, the BLM on March 31 leased 68 parcels of federal land for drilling in Colorado, generating $8.1 million. Over 42,000 acres were leased across Weld, Jackson, Routt, Arapahoe, Delta, Mesa, Rio Blanco, Gunnison, and Garfield counties. This sale was conducted with lower royalties embedded in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which reduced th...
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