2009
Press Release Archive
- December 18, 2009: In a Guest Commentary published in the Denver Post, WRA President Karin P. Sheldon and CU Scholar-in-Residence for Environmental Sciences Paul Komor wrote that oil shale's potential development would completely derail this nation's goals to reduce its climate-changing carbon emissions. Looking at the lessons learned from Canada's tar sands industry, oil shale would put the nation on a trajectory to sharply increase its CO2 emissions, in contrast to this nation's long-term best interests.
- December 9, 2009: Western Resource Advocates and Tri-State reached accord on electric resource planning. Under the new planning process, Tri-State will voluntarily supplement the information in its electric resource plan filings with the PUC and expand its public involvement process, beginning in 2010. The agreement comes after the Colorado PUC had initiated an investigatory docket to examine whether the rural electric coop should come under state regulations from which it's currently exempt.
- December 4, 2009: The Utah Supreme Court called the proposed Sevier Power Plant's air discharge permit "woefully inadequate," sending the permit back for re-evaluation. The Court said plant proponents, and the Utah agency charged with oversight of air permits, must do a better job of mitigating human health impacts with a revised permit application. This is a big win for WRA's Utah office that has been working hard to improve Utah's air quality
- November 17, 2009: Gary Graham has been named as the new Transmission Project Director at Western Resource Advocates. WRA's Transmission Project plays a leading role in encouraging proper siting of power lines to avoid important public land areas, such as wildlife habitat and national parks, and to link renewable energy sources to demand centers while advancing access to the grid for renewable energy.
- November 12, 2009: A parcel of more than 900 acres near the Black Mountain Roadless Area in the Routt National Forest in Colorado were pulled from a November BLM Oil and Gas lease sale after WRA filed a protest about its inclusion. The BLM agreed that the parcel had substantial natural resource values and that leasing could further fragment habitat and migration corridors for big game and several species of concern.
- October 20, 2009: Interior Secretary Salazar's proposal to reform Bush-era oil shale rules provides a welcome look at the cloud of cronyism and corruption that plagued the previous administration's handling of this potential resource. Questions remain, however, as to whether another round of federal research leases on public lands is appropriate at this point.
- October 20, 2009: Idaho is becoming a hot spot for geothermal energy. With 13 megawatts of developed geothermal power already providing electricty to 10,000 homes, yet more geothermal power remains to be put to use in areas such as Idaho's Raft River Valley near Boise. Clean energy, more jobs and less pollution make geothermal an extremely attractive resource for the Northwest.
- October 5, 2009: WRA's Water program released the "New House, New Paradigm" report, a case study of water-smart developments in the West. The report found that new communities that successfully achieved significant water savings incorporated a water-smart ethic into the planning, building, and living phases of the process. The data in the report shows the steps necessary to achieve more sustainable water use as the West continues to grow. Read the report here.
- October 5, 2009: Greater Chaco Canyon, an area rich in archeological treasures, is no longer up for oil and gas drilling after WRA convinced the BLM that doing so would be extremely inappropriate. Over 10,000 acres were removed from a pending lease sale. The Native Puebloan dwellings in the region are listed as a World Heritage Site, pulling visitors to this remote area from all around the world.
- September 17, 2009: Nine parcels totaling nearly 13,000 acres were pulled off the oil and gas auction block in Colorado after WRA pointed out that these lands were federally protected as a National Heritage Area, contained essential habitat for wintering animals, or because they contained endangered species.
- August 6, 2009: This year's National Clean Energy Summit will focus on "Jobs and the Economy." This job creation is already underway as companies such as Ormat Technologies are tapping into the West's bountiful supplies of renewable energy. Read the press release or examine the full Clean Energy Pioneers report.
- May 26,2009: WRA and partners Environmental Defense Fund and Rocky Mountain Farmers Union launched the "Clean Energy Pioneers" project to tell the stories of everyday leaders throughout the West who are blazing the trail for clean, renewable energy. Each month, the CEP project will publish a newsletter featuring a different western state and the stories behind their clean energy successes. To visit the program's website, click onto www.cleanenergypioneers.org.
- March 18, 2009: WRA released its "Water on the Rocks: Oil Shale Water Rights in Colorado" report shedding light on the vast portfolio of oil shale water rights.
The report is the first to catalogue the extensive holdings of water rights that oil shale development companies could put to use, if they find a commercially viable technology to extract the kerogen from oil shale. Developing these water rights would have impacts that would be felt throughout Colorado and along the length of the Colorado River. View the report here.
- January 28, 2009: Colorado Governor Bill Ritter honored WRA with a Governor's Excellence in Renewable Energy award for its work utility companies to move toward clean, renewable energy and away from polluting fossil fuels.
- January 16, 2009: WRA was among 13 groups filing suit against the outgoing Bush Administration on land use regulations and public lands management plans that accelerate commercial leasing of public lands in the absence of sufficient information on how it could affect public health, environmental quality and without understanding its costs to the region and nation.
- January 07, 2009: A Water Court judge finalized the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park water right decree, officially ending a contentious water rights battle. The Gunnison River will now see healthier, more natural streamflows for the first time since completion of the three-dam Aspinall Unit.
