Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Oil and gas

The special session leaves Polis with a $783M deficit — here’s how he can fix it without new taxes
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The special session leaves Polis with a $783M deficit — here’s how he can fix it without new taxes

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Governor Polis recently called—and lawmakers have now concluded—a special session aimed at addressing the estimated State budget deficit of $1.2 to 1.6 BILLION. That means that every man, woman and child in CO has to pay $208 more this year. That’s in addition to all of the other current local, county, state, sales and special district taxes they are already paying. But kids don’t pay taxes; adults do. I think CO taxpayers and citizens already pay enough in taxes. While lawmakers passed roughly $300 million in tax changes during the session, the ball is now in Gov. Polis’ court. He has been given authority to sign the bills and make deep spending cuts, up to $300 million, to close the remaining $783 million gap. Rather than a...
ExxonMobil and Suncor to U.S. Supreme Court: Stop Boulder and San Miguel Co. climate change lawsuit
Denver Business Journal, Approved, Local

ExxonMobil and Suncor to U.S. Supreme Court: Stop Boulder and San Miguel Co. climate change lawsuit

By Jackson Guilfoil | Denver Business Journal Story Highlights • ExxonMobil and Suncor petition Supreme Court to dismiss climate lawsuit. • Colorado Supreme Court allowed lawsuit to proceed in state court. • At issue is whether climate change impacts should be federal or state matter. Two oil and gas titans are again asking the U.S. Supreme Court t...
Elk Fire forces evacuations: Northwest Colorado battles fast-growing blaze
Fox31, Approved, State

Elk Fire forces evacuations: Northwest Colorado battles fast-growing blaze

BY SPENCER KRISTENSEN | KDVR - FOX 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Three large wildfires caused by lightning strikes are burning in northwest Colorado in Rio Blanco and Moffat Counties, the Bureau of Land Management reported on Monday morning. Here’s what to know about each fire: Elk Fire The Elk Fire is the largest of the three fires. Initially reported on Aug. 2, the fire has grown to 3,000 acres as of Monday morning and is burning in the Oak Ridge area, nearly 10 miles east of Meeker. The fire is burning on private, state and BLM lands. Evacuation and pre-evacuation orders The Rio Blanco Sheriff’s Office ordered evacuations on Sunday and continued with pre-evacuation orders on Monday afternoon. READ THE FULL STORY AT KDVR - FOX 31
Permits denied, leases lost: Inside the MOU reshaping oil and gas production in Colorado
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

Permits denied, leases lost: Inside the MOU reshaping oil and gas production in Colorado

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s 2024 MOU with BLM is being used to block drilling on federal land, reroute energy dollars and shift authority from Washington to regulators aligned with the Polis anti-fossil fuels agenda. In September 2024, a document quietly signed by BLM Colorado Director Doug Vilsack just eight weeks before the Presidential election may have done more than establish interagency cooperation. Critics say it handed away federal power. The document—a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC)—opened the door for Colorado to impose sweeping restrictions on oil and gas production.  Those restrictions now apply even to federally controlled minera...
Gaines: Colorado’s unelected boards hold the real power—and it’s hurting rural counties
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State, Substack

Gaines: Colorado’s unelected boards hold the real power—and it’s hurting rural counties

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Regulatory Capture and Colorado's Unelected Boards I wrote a bit back (see the first link below) about how our state is increasingly turfing what ought to be legislative control to a series of unelected boards, how legislative laziness has effectively handed over control of our state to them.Rulemaking and regulation might make things more efficient, it might enable higher policy output with less time, but it is not without cost. It's one of those costs I want to cover today: policy by unelected board opens us up to control, not by the people, but by industry and (increasingly in Colorado) advocates.This is due to cronyism in board appointments and also what might loosely be termed a form of "regulatory capture" (if you wil...
Trump nominates Coloradan Kathleen Sgamma to head up Bureau of Land Management 
Approved, National, Washington Examiner

Trump nominates Coloradan Kathleen Sgamma to head up Bureau of Land Management 

By Callie Patteson | Washington Examiner President Donald Trump has nominated Kathleen Sgamma to head up the Bureau of Land Management, further cementing an oil and gas focus for the Department of Interior under his administration.  The nomination was formally sent to the Senate from the White House on Tuesday, where it will be considered by the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, according to the congressional record.  Sgamma has served as president of the Denver-based oil and gas trade group Western Energy Alliance since 2006. For over 50 years, the group has represented independent oil and gas producers, advocating increased access to public lands for drilling as well as mining operations. READ THE FULL STORY ON THE WA...
Biden bans new oil and gas drilling in 625 million acres of federal waters
Approved, National Review

Biden bans new oil and gas drilling in 625 million acres of federal waters

By David Zimmermann | National Review President Joe Biden will ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in more than 625 million acres of federal waters, the White House announced Monday, striking a final blow against domestic energy production just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The outgoing president is set to use his authority under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East Coast, West Coast, eastern Gulf of Mexico, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and gas leasing. Cast as a way to preserve the fishing and tourism industries in the affected states, these steps do not expire. “My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a lo...

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