By Sam Bower Plans to expand coal operations at Arch Coal’s West Elk Mine in Somerset recently were stalled by a federal judge after environmental groups sued the government for allowing increased extraction. And in the mine’s conference room, West Elk environmental engineer Kathy Welt lamented during a recent interview the lawsuit and the potential…
CRESTED BUTTE- As climate change constrains skiing and biking seasons and outdoor recreation emerges as an economic mainstay in Crested Butte, residents are raising concerns. Some assert that the town may be at carrying capacity for tourism. “Normal Monday to Friday locals are pissed,” said Evan Marcus, a ski and bike coach for Crested Butte…
Farmers in the San Luis Valley are working alongside researchers and government officials to maximize their yields of potatoes in a valley that may be undergoing aridification due to Climate Change. The depletion of water in the valley’s complicated aquifer system due to slow downward trends in snowfall could be disastrous for agriculture. Governmental programs…
SALIDA – Jerry Mallett and Mike Rosso, two citizens of Salida who were evacuated in September from the Decker fire, said that they had never thought they may have to pack up and leave. Mallett and Rosso have been living in their separate mountain homes for nearly 20 years each, and while they say the…
By Sam Bower For a scientist who spent years investigating the environment, accelerated climate change has led to deep mental anguish and frustration. “Destroying the planet is the saddest thing in the world,” said Elizabeth Bower, who graduated from Smith College with a degree in environmental science in the 1980s. After college, she worked as…
By Sam Bower COLORADO SPRINGS – Sitting in the conference room with its drop ceiling hiding evidence of the relic boiler that used to occupy the space, workers in Colorado Springs’ coal-fired Martin Drake Power Plant grappled with the impending 2035 decommissioning as part of a shift toward cleaner energy. “This is home,” plant manager…
