COLORADO SPRINGS – As the implications of climate change grow more dire, scientific reports are encouraging a faster shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy in order to reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Some municipal utility officials are beginning to address harm their power plants may be causing to the environment. Colorado Springs Utilities…
SUMMITVILLE MINE — At the top of a snowy peak in the middle of the San Juan Mountain Range in Rio Grande county Colorado sit piles of toxic orange sludge covered in fresh white snow. The sludge, dirt, and heavy metals removed from the creek water has been moved here as part of a United…
WELD COUNTY – Scattered brick houses sit amid tidy farm fields in politically-conservative Weld County, the heart of Colorado’s oil and gas drilling boom. Here, fossil fuel companies regularly tout their adherence to golden rule principles – treating your neighbor as you would want to be treated. The companies claim they want to be good…
SAN LUIS VALLEY – Great Sand Dunes National Park maybe the most desolate place in Colorado, but this inhospitable landscape is may be an economic jackpot for the financially plagued San Luis Valley. As agriculture in the region faces an uncertain future, tourism is emerging as a promising new revenue source. “It’s inspiration,” says Fred…
GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK – The sun glints off of a long line of cars sitting outside the entrance of Great Sand Dunes National Park. It got so congested that park officials even went as far as to place an outhouse along the road for guests as they waited to enter. The park simply…
ERIE- Erie resident Amanda Harper stands by the road in front of her house, the sun sinking towards the Rockies, wondering whether voters will help her pass a statewide set back rule on oil and gas next week Her dog circles around her nudging a dirt caked ball. She throws the ball and the dog…
COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado Springs Utilities officials are embarking on major shifts in the way they are producing electricity for a growing city. With the planned closing of the coal-fired Martin Drake Power Station by 2035, and a wide public backlash to coal, utility officials say they are looking towards renewables. “But we will never…
DENVER– A huge federal government freezer west of Denver holds the nation’s collection of ice cores crucial for analyzing climate change. The ice cores come from Antarctica, Greenland and Alaska. In order to keep them from melting, curators keep the freezer set at around at least as cold as minus 11 degrees Fahrenheit. They have backup generators in…
DENVER – Scientists studying ancient air trapped in ice cores in the federal government’s minus-40 freezer say there’s no doubt human air pollution is causing global climate change. But U.S. politicians, especially at the federal level, are failing to lead the shift away from fossil fuels that scientists say is necessary to avoid environmental catastrophe.…
COLORADO SPRINGS – Monster hurricanes associated with climate change once again have hammered the southeastern coast of the United States. New federal research finds water is also likely to cause havoc in landlocked states such as Colorado. “More run-off, more rain, more snow,” says U.S. Geologic Survey research hydrologist William Battaglin. “As temperatures go up,…
