Political theater at the Ray Nixon plant
Energy secretary and congressmen make the case that coal keeps the lights on and electricity affordable. To make that case they must be selective in their facts.
Gaps narrowing between high-speed EV chargers on Colorado’s highways
Ironically, sale of EVs has faltered in 2026 even as drivers now are within 30 miles of fast-charger on 83% of federal and state highways
We can’t build our way out of this ‘drought’
Some of those on the campaign trail call for more storage. They need to visit Green Mountain Reservoir.
Agribusiness and its antithesis
Wendell Berry understood what Harvard business professors and at least several agriculture secretaries did not. He understood culture.
More utility-scale battery storage
Black Hills Energy plans 50 megawatts at Pueblo to allow it to store excess wind energy to help meet peak demands
A first in this canal’s 110-plus-year history
Farmers served by the Government Highline Canal as of today will get no water, a result of last winter’s dismal snowpack and low levels in Green Mountain Reservoir
Amid the y’alls, two themes at the Colorado Water Congress conference
Many political office-seekers spoke at the annual summer conference in Steamboat. Some ‘y’alled to the attendees. Others not so much. Most called for more water storage and “forest resilience.”
Extinction of the Gunnison sage-grouse
We still have these birds in Colorado, but the Trump administration is not improving their odds of survival. Not at all!
Absurdity of the Colorado River crisis
Nearly half the river’s water goes to growing feed for livestock, including large herds overseas. That should not continue.
Another record for renewables in Colorado
Wind, solar and hydro delivered 56.1% of Colorado’s electricity in the second quarter of 2026
Green Mountain 15.9% full
Reservoir on the Blue River in western Colorado started the runoff with the lowest water level since it began filling in the 1940s. Now, it’s even lower.
Lawn watering ends Oct. 1 in metro Denver
Temperatures 5 degrees above average. Precipitation 4 inches below.
The view of a hinterland native
Michael Bowman farmed and ranch in far eastern Colorado. He says the rural-urban divide is a myth concocted by those who want to capitalize on division.
Rare optimism about the Colorado River
Brad Udall says the seven basin states have “blundered” their way into a situation that may produce better sharing of the diminished waters
A historian with a very long view
Jessica Tierney and other paleoclimatologists have a strong and growing grasp of temperature and hydrology shifts of the past. What can they tell us about our rapidly changing climate now?
Ambition, affordability and the nexus of climate change politics
Our Colorado mountain town is being hammered by climate change. We are responding in many ways. But cost matters.
Geothermal interest in southern Colorado
State Land Board issues request for proposals in five counties, three of them in the San Luis Valley
Colorado has new leader for carbon management
Jennifer Walker Graf to lead commission charged with overseeing geothermal and carbon capture as well as more traditional oil and gas regulation
Why Colorado has lost federal funding
States with two Democratic senators lost money in nearly every case. Casualties were two very Republican areas of Colorado.
In 2002, we had Colorado River water cushions. Now they’re gone.
“We know climate change is real. We know we’re living it, but no one expected it to move this quickly.”
