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• Lawmakers aim for tighter restrictions on oil and gas industry Play Video

  April 12, 2013 10:22 AM

  Some state lawmakers want tighter regulations on the oil and gas industry in Colorado. There are several bills being considered in the legislature. One of those proposals is to increase fine minimums from $1,000 to $15,000 for everyday a violation exists. The fines have been in place since the 1950's.... more »

• Council Set to Vote on Fracking in City Limits Play Video

  March 12, 2013 12:22 PM

  To drill or not to drill, that is the question facing Colorado Springs City Council Tuesday. Council members are voting on new regulations that would allow oil and gas drilling within city limits. In particular, the concern is over hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. The process is already permitted... more »

• $1 million grant for Pa. gas drilling health study

  February 18, 2013 11:44 AM

  DANVILLE, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania health company says it has gotten a $1 million grant to study possible health impacts of natural gas drilling on the Marcellus shale. Geisinger Health System said Monday that the Degenstein Foundation had awarded the money to help underwrite what it called a "large-scale,... more »

• Hickenlooper promotes gas drilling at DC hearing

  February 12, 2013 12:08 PM

  DENVER (AP) - Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says natural gas drilling is helping the economic recovery and reducing pollution but requires strong regulation now that wells are coming closer to populated areas. Hickenlooper made the comments Tuesday in Washington, D.C. before a U.S. Senate committee looking at the opportunities and... more »

• Mars rover finishes first drilling project

  February 9, 2013 1:13 PM

  LOS ANGELES (AP) - To scientists' excitement, the Curiosity rover has completed its first drilling on Mars and is preparing to analyze a pinch of powdery rock. Images beamed back to Earth overnight showed a fresh drill hole next to a test hole the rover made earlier. The feat marked... more »

• BLM pulls drilling parcels near national monument

  January 28, 2013 12:03 PM

  GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - The federal Bureau of Land Management has pulled three parcels east of Dinosaur National Monument from an oil and gas lease sale after concerns were raised by the National Park Service and conservation groups. The agency deferred the three parcels, totaling more than 5,000 acres,... more »

• Council discusses oil and gas drilling

  January 15, 2013 7:01 PM

  COLORADO SPRINGS - As part of a work session, members of the Colorado Springs City Council are hearing presentations from representatives of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) to get a better understanding of their power to regulate drilling within the city. The COGCC established new rules... more »

• Oil fracking war heats up in Colorado Springs Play Video

  November 28, 2012 12:48 AM

  COLORADO SPRINGS- Controversy continues over oil and gas fracking. After 3 hours of debate at city hall, council members voted 6-3 to move forward with plans allowing companies to buy city land and drill for oil and natural gas through a technique called fracking. The process involves using... more »

• BLM offers North Fork parcels for oil and gas leases

  November 17, 2012 7:58 AM

  GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - After deferring plans to lease 30,000 acres for oil and gas development in the North Fork Valley, the federal government is going ahead with plans to lease parcels on two-thirds of that acreage. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Friday that following further analysis,... more »

• CSU prepares to study emissions from drilling ops

  August 18, 2012 11:59 AM

  Garfield County commissioners are set to hear from Colorado State University researchers Monday about a proposal to study emissions from natural gas operations. Some residents in the Battlement Mesa community are worried that nearby drilling is exposing them to hazardous substances. County officials say research is needed to fill... more »

• Towns now waiting on drilling tax proposal

  May 2, 2012 5:42 AM

  DENVER (AP) - A turf war between Colorado's local governments and oil and gas companies heats up again. A Republican House committee was expected to vote Wednesday on a measure that would take severance taxes from local governments that enact drilling moratoriums. The bill was proposed after local governments and... more »

• Ultra Resources preps for El Paso County drilling

  February 18, 2012 11:28 AM

  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Ultra Resources is moving ahead on its plans for drilling in El Paso County. The AP reports crews started work Friday on an access road that will lead to the first drilling site in the county, and a drilling rig is expected to pop up... more »

• Drilling proposal faces Colorado Senate test

  February 16, 2012 5:37 AM

  A Republican bill to boost the Colorado oil and gas industry faces its first test Thursday in the Democratic state Senate. The bill would ban local governments from regulating oil and gas drilling. The proposal comes after some Front Range cities and counties have proposed local limits on where drilling... more »

• Commissioners to consider drilling moratorium

  September 27, 2011 7:41 PM

  COLORADO SPRINGS - The El Paso Board of County Commissioners will consider enacting a four month suspension of any new land use applications for oil and gas exploration at their regularly scheduled meeting Thursday. The suspension, if approved, would put off the acceptance of new applications until January. Commissioner... more »

• Criminals drilling holes to steal gas

  September 13, 2011 4:40 PM

  Criminals in Colorado Springs are stealing 40 maybe 50 bucks of gas, but the crime is costing car owners a lot more. Suspects are drilling holes in gas tanks that then have to be replaced. more »

• Drilling permit process streamlined

  June 28, 2011 5:36 AM

  DENVER (AP) - Rep. Mike Coffman has introduced legislation to streamline the process for getting oil and gas drilling permits on leases of federal land. The trade groups Western Energy Alliance and Colorado Oil and Gas Association support the Colorado Republican's bill. The Bureau of Land Management has... more »

• Environmental groups challenge Shell drilling plan

  June 9, 2011 11:57 AM

  ATLANTA (AP) - Environmental groups are asking a federal appeals court to throw out a U.S. government decision to approve a Shell oil exploration plan that involves five proposed wells under more than 7,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation... more »

• Governor Hickenlooper backs hydraulic fracturing in oil drilling

  April 1, 2011 12:27 PM

  GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - Gov. John Hickenlooper is backing hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas drilling. But he says companies should disclose what chemicals they use in their fracturing fluids. Hickenlooper made the comments Thursday during a visit to Glenwood Springs. Fracturing fluid is mostly sand and water... more »

• Colorado reviews whether drillers used diesel fuel

  February 2, 2011 7:28 AM

  DENVER (AP)-The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is reviewing whether companies have injected fluids containing diesel fuel into the ground to help extract oil and gas in Colorado. On Monday, congressional Democrats, including Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, said they found that from 2005 to 2009, companies have injected... more »

• Feds: No significant impacts from Baca drilling

  January 7, 2011 2:04 PM

  DENVER (AP) - Federal officials are again saying they don't believe exploratory drilling at the Baca National Wildlife Refuge will cause significant impacts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service originally made that conclusion in 2008 after it reviewed plans from Lexam Explorations to drill wells to look for oil... more »

• Colorado may close state parks, lease for drilling

  January 1, 2011 5:38 PM

  DENVER (AP) - State parks in Colorado may be closed, while others could be opened up for oil and gas drilling to raise money for the cash-strapped parks system. Deep budget cuts to the parks system have prompted a five-year plan to close several parks to save money. The... more »

• Salazar visits Vestas, lifts drilling ban

  October 12, 2010 8:32 PM

  U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is lifting the ban on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The former U.S. Senator from Colorado spoke about the issue as he kicked off a national renewable energy tour on Tuesday. His first stop was the Vestas wind tower factory in... more »

• Interior Secretary Salazar lifts oil drilling moratorium

  October 12, 2010 1:35 PM

  Citing "significant process" in the safety of future drilling operations, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar ha lifted the deep water drilling moratorium. This affects rigs drilling in 500 feet of water or more. Each company will have to certify that it has complied with all safety rules and regulations.... more »

• Battlement Mesa health study coming out

  September 20, 2010 6:37 AM

  Battlement Mesa residents are awaiting a report on the health effects of oil and gas drilling. Environmental and health officials planned to release a draft Monday of the study on the proposal by Antero Resources to drill up to 200 wells near Parachute. Residents in the community of... more »

• Economy: Oil cleanup both bonanza and bust

  August 27, 2010 8:19 AM

  An Associated Press analysis finds some places have done pretty well since the Gulf oil spill while others have been hit by a double-whammy. The worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history has spurred something of an economic boom in some communities where cleanup operations are based. But other... more »

• Colorado residents fume about gas drilling odors

  July 23, 2010 9:30 AM

  Western Colorado residents who say they're already getting sick from odors from natural gas operations are worried about the effects of 200 more wells proposed for the area. Residents gathered Wednesday in Battlement Mesa to air complaints about nausea, dizziness, coughing and burning eyes they say are caused by... more »

• EPA takes new look at gas drilling, water issues

  July 21, 2010 11:59 AM

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing this week for a third round of hearings - this time in Canonsburg, Pa. - on the controversial natural gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." A wealth of natural gas is locked into the Marcellus Shale deep beneath Pennsylvania, New... more »

• Feds ask court to reinstate drilling moratorium

  July 7, 2010 1:16 PM

  Federal authorities have asked an appeals court to reinstate a moratorium on deepwater drilling declared after BP's oil well blew out in the Gulf of Mexico. In a filing late Tuesday in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the government challenged a federal judge's finding the Interior Department... more »

• Gulf drilling can proceed

  June 24, 2010 11:57 AM

  WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration says it is complying with a judge's ruling overturning a moratorium on new drilling in the Gulf - so a motion to enforce the order by opponents of the moratorium should be denied. The Justice Department says in court papers that Interior Secretary... more »

• Even Sting wonders about the gulf oil leak

  June 10, 2010 4:06 PM

  British rock star Sting says like everyone, he's paying attention to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and wonders why such a deep well was approved to begin with. "The problem in the first place is what were they doing drilling that deep without any safeguards? Who... more »

• West Slope growth rate slows

  June 7, 2010 9:28 AM

  State officials say population growth fueled by the western Colorado energy boom is slowing down in Grand Junction and surrounding Mesa County. But the state Demographer's Office says the area's population isn't expected to shrink. Elizabeth Garner, the state demographer, says Mesa County's growth rate may not pick up... more »

• Gulf tube siphoning 20 percent of leaked oil

  May 17, 2010 8:18 AM

  Reporting its first success in containing the massive Gulf oil leak nearly a month after it started, BP on Sunday said oil and natural gas were flowing via a mile-long pipe to a ship at the surface. Yet even as the company reported the success, scientists warned oil that... more »

• BP focuses on tube to stem Gulf oil gusher

  May 13, 2010 3:55 PM

  BP officials trying to contain a gushing Gulf oil leak will first try sucking oil away from the well with a tube that will be inserted into the jagged pipe leaking on the seafloor. Company spokesman Bill Salvin said Thursday BP hopes to start moving the 6-inch tube into... more »

• Despite gulf spill, Americans still want drilling

  May 13, 2010 8:11 AM

  A new poll finds that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill hasn't stained President Barack Obama nor dimmed the public's desire for offshore energy drilling. While some conservative pundits have called this "Obama's Katrina," that's not how the public feels. The AP-GfK poll found that BP PLC, the company... more »

• Colorado's long-term effects from Gulf oil spill

  May 9, 2010 9:37 PM

  Seafood and gas prices may be the immediate impact Coloradans will see from the oil spill in the Gulf. Some scientists say Coloradans should be concerned with the long-term effects. "Even if we don't see a spike in prices for gas in Colorado, what we may see is increasing... more »

• Federal judge upholds drilling in southwestern Colorado

  May 4, 2010 8:58 AM

  A federal judge has upheld approval of gas wells in parts of the southwestern Colorado mountains, rejecting arguments by environmentalists that the plan doesn't adequately protect sensitive areas and wildlife. The ruling issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch (maych) says any flaws in the plan authorizing about 140... more »

• Environmentalists call oil spill a "game changer"

  April 30, 2010 12:24 PM

  The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is raising questions about the risks of offshore drilling. And environmentalists are mobilizing around the issue, calling the disaster "a game changer." It's too early to know the full impact of the spill, but a consultant to Defenders of Wildlife... more »

• Obama bans new drilling following gulf oil spill

  April 30, 2010 10:26 AM

  No new offshore drilling will be authorized until authorities learn what caused the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, an aide to President Barack Obama said Friday as oil oozed ashore in Louisiana. Senior adviser David Axelrod also defended the administration's response to the April 20 accident in... more »

• Leaking oil may be attacked by chemicals underwater

  April 29, 2010 5:00 PM

  BP officials say they are hoping to try an unusual technique to stop the flow of oil from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico. BP PLC chief operating officer Doug Suttles says the company is studying whether to use chemicals to break up the oil under water.... more »

• Report says drilling threatens Colorado wildlife

  January 20, 2010 9:46 AM

  A new report by a conservation group says that large tracts of land in northwest Colorado that support the country's largest mule deer and elk herds are under lease for oil and gas drilling. The Colorado Wildlife Federation says its report is intended to give the public and policymakers a... more »

• Deal to protect famed Utah canyon signed

  January 5, 2010 3:46 PM

  An agreement meant to protect a central Utah canyon rich with ancient American Indian art while allowing for nearby mineral development has been struck. The unusual pact governing Nine Mile Canyon was signed at the Utah Capitol on Tuesday by federal and state agencies, conservation and archaeology groups, tribal leaders... more »

• California drought forces more to drill, deplete water

  December 16, 2009 4:38 PM

  New data from satellites show the vast underground pools feeding faucets and irrigation hoses across California are running low, a worrisome trend federal scientists largely attribute to aggressive agricultural pumping. The measurements show the amount of water lost in the two main Central Valley river basins within the past... more »

• Growth south of Denver straining water supplies

  December 7, 2009 10:45 AM

  The number of water wells being drilled in the fast-growing area south of Denver has decreased, but that hasn't diminished concern about future water supplies. The number of new wells has dropped as drilling has become more difficult and expensive because of falling water levels. A state report indicates... more »

• Cavern could collapse, taking part of N.M. city

  November 10, 2009 11:13 AM

  The bright yellow signs on U.S. 285 are the first indication that things aren't right in Carlsbad. "US 285 south subject to sinkhole 1,000 feet ahead," motorists are warned. But there is little other evidence that in southeastern New Mexico's oil country, a giant cavern sits beneath the... more »

• Salazar OKs some drilling on disputed Utah lands

  October 8, 2009 4:43 PM

  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says he will permit oil and gas drilling on 17 of the 77 Utah land parcels that were hurriedly readied for leasing in the waning days of the Bush administration. Salazar also said at a news conference Thursday that leasing will be prohibited on eight parcels.... more »

• Judge to hear arguments in drilling auction case

  September 25, 2009 12:12 PM

  A federal judge will hear arguments Friday to decide whether a college student charged with disrupting a federal auction for oil and gas drilling leases in Utah can claim he was acting in the interest of the greater good. Tim DeChristopher says he wanted to protect wild lands near Utah's... more »

• Colorado gas debate flares over well-site estimate

  September 2, 2009 11:27 AM

  An energy company has told investors there are up to 3,200 potential drilling sites on federal land on western Colorado's Roan Plateau, prompting renewed criticism from environmental groups. An attorney for the environmental groups says that would be 15 times more sites than the Bureau of Land Management included in... more »