River-access bill hits snag in Colorado Senate

A bill that could buoy or sink Colorado's rafting industry and affect hundreds of thousands of river enthusiasts and landowners may have floated through the House, but it's on the rocks in the Senate.

The Capitol battle pits two core Colorado values against each other: the love of the outdoors and the allegiance to personal property rights.

The bill would guarantee the right of existing commercial rafters to float through private land, a practice now threatened by a conflict between a developer and outfitters on the Taylor River near Almont.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14527068#ixzz0hiPZWU4d

Senior-water rights holders sue Colorado

Lawyers for senior water-rights owners sued the state government Monday in La Plata County and five towns, saying the state engineer is failing to protect water-rights owners from gas and oil companies.

Gas and oil companies remove water from the ground after they drill wells. In a previous case, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of two Archuleta County families - the Vances and the Fitzgeralds - and required gas companies to get water permits for their coal-bed methane wells.

Read the full article from the Durango Herald here .

BLM scurries to correct lease error in Colorado wildlife refuge

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says it plans to cancel an oil and gas lease in the Garfield Creek State Wildlife Area unless the company owning it agrees to land-disturbance restrictions that the BLM mistakenly failed to impose when the lease was issued.

The agency is seeking to resolve an oversight when the lease was issued for 1,520 acres at the wildlife area, south of New Castle. The lease’s majority owner is Dejour Energy (USA) Corp., which acquired it from the initial buyer.

The wildlife area covers more than 13,000 acres. Its owner, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, doesn’t want it disturbed by oil and gas development, but it can’t stop such activity because it doesn’t own the underlying mineral rights

Read the full story from the Grand Junction Sentinel here .

Shell Oil drops fight for water rights in Colorado

Shell Oil announced it was abandoning its fight for a conditional water permit from the Yampa River for oilshale work in Colorado's Rio Blanco County, where the company holds three federal research and development oilshale leases, and company officials said the termination of the water fight does not mean its walking away from those leases.

Read the full story from the Grand Junction Sentinel here .

Colorado water board's buy will keep streams flowing

Two important streams near Crested Butte will have better water flows in late summer thanks to a recent instream, water-right purchase by the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

The board acquired 5.45 cubic feet per second of water in the Breem Ditch water right for instream-flow use in Washington Gulch and the Slate River, two highly visible, water-short streams north and east of Crested Butte.

According to the board, irrigation demands often completely dry up Washington Gulch by the middle of July and significantly deplete flows in the Slate River. The acquisition will allow Washington Gulch to flow year-round, even during dry summers, and it will help fix flow shortages to the Slate River.

Read the full story from the Grand Junction Sentinel here.  

Gas companies in Colorado seek legal rights for discharged water

It may be brackish and thousands of feet underground, but in Colorado, every drop of water counts. That's why gas companies are filing applications for rights to water that comes out of their wells during the process of producing natural gas.

“The oil and gas industry is only seeking the water rights associated with oil and gas production," said Bruce Gantner, a ConocoPhillips environmental consultant who is handling comments about the company's application.

But some observers of the process called it a “water grab" and question the legal framework for the gas companies' claims. Read the full story from the Durango Herald here.

Colorado group urges protection of Hermosa Creek watershed

The Hermosa Creek watershed - 155,000 acres stretching from the north Animas Valley to just beyond Purgatory - deserves protection because of its sterling water quality and corresponding natural resources, including diverse flora and fauna and recreation, the River Protection Workgroup says.

A report outlining protective measures will be available to the public Feb. 8. Read the full story from the Durango Herald here.

Colorado U.S. representatives unite to fight pine-bark beetles

A destructive force for Colorado’s forests is proving to be a unifying one for its congressional delegation.

In a rare show of solidarity, all seven U.S. House of Representatives members from Colorado agreed to cosponsor legislation to combat the effects of the state’s bark beetle infestation.

“The bark beetle has hit my district hard, and I’m glad we’re working together to hit back. This is something we can all agree on,” said U.S. Senator John Salazar, whose district includes much of western Colorado, in a joint news release with the rest of Colorado’s House delegation. Read the full story from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel .

Denver Water's Western Slope water plan draws opposition

Denver has hit turbulence in its biggest water-supply project since the 1960s — a $225 million effort to prevent future shortages.

Denver Water proposes to divert enough for 45,000 families from mountain rivers on the western side of the Continental Divide, then pump it through tunnels to Front Range reservoirs, including an expanded Gross Reservoir above Boulder.

But the plan requires federal approval, and at public hearings, opponents concerned about environmental harm have argued that Denver must rely more on using less water — not pump more from the mountains.

Forest Service to update natural gas drilling plan in Colorado

The U.S. Forest Service is using a break in the natural gas boom to reassess what lands in the White River National Forest should be open to drilling.

The agency is updating a 17-year-old document that determines what lands are available for leasing for gas exploration. White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams said the document will help him determine where drilling is appropriate and under what conditions. Read the full story from the Aspen Times.