This piece is part of Yellow Scene Magazine’s Opinion section. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent a reported news position. At Yellow Scene, opinion pieces speak freely, challenge assumptions, and say the quiet parts out loud.

Guest Contributor: Bernard Douthit

I wanted to thank Mike Broemmel for posting a thoughtful commentary about Governor Jared Polis and the broader question of political leadership in Colorado. I took some time to underscore Mike’s argument with some important details.

Like John Hickenlooper before him, Jared Polis has remained personally popular for much of his time in office. But popularity and branding are not the same as transformational leadership.

On some of Colorado’s most pressing challenges — healthcare costs, tax policy, housing affordability, and environmental justice — Polis often governed like a cautious purple-state technocrat rather than the leader of a state that has repeatedly shown a willingness to embrace ambitious public policy.

Colorado is not Mississippi or Alabama. This is a state that:

• Put single-payer healthcare on the ballot — 150,000+ signatures
• Repeatedly approved large transit expansions
• Legalized marijuana early
• Rejected hosting the Olympics
• Regularly supports local tax increases for schools, parks, and infrastructure

Yet Polis governed as though bold structural reform was politically impossible.

Healthcare is perhaps the clearest example.

Colorado Democrats repeatedly described healthcare affordability as an emergency, yet avoided the kind of political confrontation that real cost containment would require.

Instead of aggressively confronting hospital monopolies and market concentration, the state often relied on commissions, task forces, transparency measures, and heavily branded “public option” reforms that produced incremental change while leaving the underlying system largely intact.

According to multiple studies, including research from the RAND Corporation, Colorado still has some of the highest hospital prices and some of the most profitable hospital systems in the country. Polis governed more like a manager of the healthcare marketplace than a reformer willing to challenge entrenched economic power.

And contrary to the claim that Colorado is too moderate for ambitious healthcare reform, more than 150,000 Coloradans signed petitions to place single-payer healthcare on the ballot through Amendment 69. The measure ultimately failed, but it was also outspent by the healthcare industry by roughly 8-to-1. That history matters.

Tax policy presents a similar story.

Polis consistently opposed more progressive approaches to taxation and largely embraced Colorado’s libertarian tax culture rather than challenging it. Yet during the same period, homeowners across Colorado experienced dramatic increases in property taxes following the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment and the rapid rise in home values.

While Polis and legislators eventually passed relief measures, many homeowners still saw property tax increases far beyond what those policies offset. The response often felt technocratic and incremental rather than structural. And many Coloradans are still asking a simple question: with property values and tax collections rising so dramatically over the last decade, where exactly did all of that additional revenue go?

The same pattern appears with Suncor.

Colorado markets itself as environmentally conscious and climate-forward, yet one of the metro area’s largest and most controversial industrial polluters continues operating near densely populated communities. For decades, residents of north Denver and Commerce City have raised concerns about emissions, odors, and public health impacts, while Suncor has repeatedly faced fines and violations.

Why was there never a truly ambitious long-term plan to relocate, phase down, or fundamentally transform one of the region’s most problematic industrial facilities?

Important things are worth fighting for. Clean air for millions of residents should have been one of them.

The contrast between Polis and other Democratic governors is striking.

Tim Walz pushed universal school meals and labor protections in Minnesota. Gavin Newsom moved California toward state-supported insulin manufacturing and aggressive climate initiatives. Gretchen Whitmer repealed right-to-work laws and advanced major infrastructure investments in Michigan. Jay Inslee built one of the country’s most ambitious state climate agendas in Washington.

Compared with many Democratic peers in similar political conditions, Polis often appeared more focused on political positioning, branding, and technocratic moderation than on pursuing defining structural reforms.

I voted for Jared Polis twice. Like many Coloradans, I hoped he would govern with more courage and ambition than he ultimately did.

Competence matters. But at a time when healthcare affordability, housing costs, environmental risks, and economic inequality are worsening, competence alone is not enough. Colorado needed leadership willing to confront entrenched interests and pursue solutions equal to the scale of the problems we face.

Jared Polis Once Sold Colorado (and the Nation) a Shimmering Emerald City

Original article by Mike Broemmel

He was the libertarian-minded tech governor. The “different kind” of Democrat. The wealthy entrepreneur who promised efficiency over ideology, innovation over inertia, and a fresh political vocabulary that supposedly transcended the stale battles of the past. For a time, many bought the performance. The curtain stayed firmly closed.

But eventually, in politics as in The Wizard of Oz, the machinery begins to sputter. The smoke thins. The booming voice loses resonance. And somewhere in the back of the chamber, Toto pulls at the curtain.

What remains is not the great and powerful wizard. What remains is merely a man frantically working levers.

The Leader Who Never Was

History is crowded with political figures who mistook branding for leadership.

There was Ron DeSantis, once marketed as the inevitable heir to Trumpism before collapsing beneath the weight of his own synthetic persona. There was Michael Dukakis, whose technocratic competence could never ignite genuine public trust. There was British Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose ideological theater imploded in real time before the world’s financial markets.

And now there is Jared Polis.

The tragedy — or perhaps the farce — of Polis is not simply that his governorship appears to be collapsing. It is that the collapse reveals something darker: there may never have been much substance there to begin with.

Polis governed like a man permanently auditioning for a future role. A presidential run. A national media identity. A carefully focus-grouped brand called “reasonable futurism.” He floated above conflict, avoided moral clarity whenever possible, and cultivated the image of being smarter than the room without ever proving capable of leading it.

Colorado increasingly became a state managed through vibes, branding campaigns, and social media aesthetics rather than coherent civic vision. And eventually, voters notice.

The Emerald City Illusion

For years, Polis benefited from Colorado’s broader economic and demographic momentum. The state grew. Wealth poured in. Tech money expanded. Denver transformed into a glossy urban postcard marketed to affluent transplants.

But underneath the emerald glow sat worsening affordability, deepening housing crises, visible urban deterioration, and growing public frustration about safety, infrastructure, and basic governmental competence. The contradiction became impossible to ignore.

Polis often seemed less interested in governing Colorado than in narrating Colorado — endlessly promoting an image of innovation while ordinary residents confronted a state increasingly unaffordable to live in.

The Wizard projected grandeur on the giant screen. Behind the curtain? Panic. Improvisation. Hollow performance. The problem with governing as branding is that eventually reality insists on participating.

The Politics of Evasion

Great leaders absorb political risk when principle demands it. Polis perfected the opposite instinct.

Again and again, he positioned himself slightly outside the emotional center of consequential debates, forever triangulating, forever calculating. During moments requiring moral force, he often defaulted to managerial language and carefully sterilized ambiguity.

That instinct has now reached its grotesque culmination in the Tina Peters clemency debacle.

The decision to commute the sentence of the former Mesa County clerk convicted in an election security breach tied to 2020 election conspiracy theories detonated across Colorado’s political landscape. Even members of Polis’s own party reacted with fury and disbelief. Critics argued the move rewarded election denialism while signaling weakness in the face of pressure from Donald Trump and his allies.

Polis defended the clemency as a response to sentencing disparity concerns after an appeals court questioned aspects of Peters’s sentencing. But politically — symbolically — the damage may already be irreversible.

Because the issue is no longer merely Tina Peters. The issue is collapse.

The Final Flame in the Inferno

Every failed governing regime has its final defining image:

For Richard Nixon, it was the helicopter departure from the White House lawn.
For Rudy Giuliani, it was Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

For Jared Polis, it may well be the moment he chose clemency for Tina Peters.

Not because the legal arguments are entirely frivolous. Reasonable debate exists over sentencing severity. But leadership is not merely legal interpretation. Leadership is moral comprehension. It is understanding the symbolic weight of decisions within historical context.

And this decision landed like gasoline on an already raging fire.

At precisely the moment democratic institutions remain under sustained assault by election conspiracists, Polis handed one of the movement’s most celebrated figures a political victory. Trumpworld rejoiced. Election deniers claimed vindication. Colorado Democrats openly revolted. The wizard’s machinery exploded in plain view.

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

That line from The Wizard of Oz endures because it captures an eternal political truth: power often depends upon performance more than substance.

Jared Polis mastered performance politics. But performances cannot govern forever.

Eventually citizens ask harder questions. What did this administration actually build? What moral vision did it defend? What crises did it truly solve? What courage did it display when courage became expensive?

And increasingly, the answers feel uncomfortably thin.

The great irony is that Polis spent years cultivating the image of the pragmatic adult in the room — the sophisticated governor above partisan hysteria. Yet his governorship may ultimately be remembered for collapsing into exactly the kind of muddled opportunism he once implied he transcended.

The Emerald City flickers. The smoke machine dies. And standing behind the curtain is not a visionary statesman. Just another politician desperately pulling levers while the audience finally sees the truth.

—————————
From: Politix INK
https://mikebroemmel.com/politix-ink

The post Guest Opinion: Why Jared Polis has disappointed us appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This piece is part of Yellow Scene Magazine’s Opinion section. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent a reported news position. At Yellow Scene, opinion pieces speak freely, challenge assumptions, and say the quiet parts out loud.

As a person with a disability, my personal experiences with job employment have been poor. Nearly every summer I suffer the pain of not getting personal work or job opportunities. I remember on one particular occasion when I tried to get a job as a lifeguard, I was dismissed from the position even though I proved that I am an extraordinary swimmer and treader in water. It made me wonder whether they chose to focus on me only as a person with a disability. 

The unemployment rate for people with disabilities sits at 7.8%, nearly double the 4.6% rate of those without. Likewise, the labor force participation rate for men with a disability is 43.0%, compared to 40.8% for women. This stat is significant because it measures the percentage of the population that is either actively working or looking for work. A lower rate highlights that a large portion of disabled individuals face systemic barriers to entry, effectively excluding them from the economic workforce entirely before unemployment numbers are even counted. This means roughly 60% of disabled individuals are neither working nor looking for work. This high inactivity rate is often due to severe barriers like a lack of workplace accommodations, inaccessible transportation, and the fear of losing essential disability benefits.

There are programs in place to help those with disabilities find employment. However, there should be a greater focus on programs that help individuals gain specific experience for the career paths they actually want to pursue. Furthermore, the interview process itself must be structured with built-in accommodations to ensure candidates with disabilities have the resources they need to succeed from day one.

While some individuals navigate this system successfully, experiences vary wildly. My friend Andrew, a Colorado Springs resident with a disability, has had a remarkably positive journey with his career aspirations.

“Right now I work for the RMAC for Colorado Springs, however my dream is to be a commissioner there,” Andrew said. “I feel like I can achieve a lot of things and face no challenges.”

While I am incredibly happy for Andrew and inspired by his optimism, his smooth experience is unfortunately not the reality for the vast majority of people with disabilities. Financial and work conditions are not the only challenges that disabled people face, because navigating daily life also means dealing with major health barriers.

People with disabilities risk developing more health issues in their lives. According to the World Health Organization, some persons with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier than those without disabilities.

Luckily, there are services in place to help people overcome these health barriers. For example, Colorado has programs to help those in need. People who are blind or deaf can receive services to help them safely navigate and communicate. The Colorado Division for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind Communities has a direct goal to help people connect, participate, and thrive. Their program opens up access to technology, mentorship, and legal support.  Another great solution to these health issues would be creating more workout and personal training programs specifically for people with disabilities. This would give everyone the opportunity to stay active, be healthy, and prevent future health issues.

At the same time, staying safe and healthy is hard to do when the people who are supposed to protect you are the ones causing harm.

Law enforcement is helpful in many ways, but sometimes officers abuse their power due to prejudices they hold against people with disabilities. The actions taken by police and the government often raise more problems than solutions because of false claims and profiling of innocent people.

For instance, an article published by CBS highlighted a case where a thirteen year old boy was mistaken for bringing a bomb into school, only for officials to find out it was actually a toy bunny. Even more recently, an article on Courthouse News Service from March 2026 detailed how Special Olympics athlete Shawn Nicholas, who has an intellectual disability, was arrested and unlawfully thrown to the ground with excessive force.

To solve this serious problem, law enforcement officers must learn about people with disabilities through required training and government funded classes. But the issues do not just stop with the police; they are deeply rooted in how everyday people view us.

My personal experience with ableism from society is very widespread. What impacts and hurts me the most is how much society spreads the belief that there are only certain jobs people with intellectual disabilities can do, like working at a grocery store, retail, or janitorial work. The society I have grown up with has often made me feel like an alien and unnatural. Ableism is the discrimination against people with dyslexia, language disorders, Tourette syndrome, autism, and other disabilities. Ableist people believe their actions are fair, and they are quick to be unwelcoming to anyone who has a disability.

I experienced this firsthand while scrolling on social media, where I found a creator who makes supportive content for the disability community. In one video, she talked about a horrible post from a woman online who wrote, “If you rely on someone for care constantly, you are a burden on them, get used to it, and learn to be more thankful.” The creator and I both reacted in shock at how discriminatory that is.

When discussing this with others, one interviewee told me, “Discrimination against people with disabilities is wrong and not good, it makes us feel very upset.” Overall, ableism in today’s society is harming people in all parts of the world, and it is absolutely crucial that society changes.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays ready to lead, no matter who’s in charge.

The post The Structural Barriers Facing Disabled Coloradans appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The Town of Erie Colorado is weighing whether to sell or lease a portion of its mineral rights tied to the state-approved Draco oil and gas project, a decision that has exposed divisions on council, raised questions about the town’s negotiating process, and highlighted uncertainty about how much authority Erie actually has.

At a special meeting on April 21, town staff emphasized that no final agreement has been reached and no vote has been scheduled. Council questioning made clear that key aspects of the proposal, including how it originated, how consultants were selected, and what the town actually owns,remain unresolved.

Erie Environmental Services Director David Frank

The Draco project, approved in March 2025 by the Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC), allows for up to 26 wells to be drilled from a site in unincorporated Weld County, extending horizontally beneath portions of Erie. Town officials reiterated that the project is expected to move forward regardless of local action. “I would fully expect, no matter what action the town takes, that 26 wells will be drilled,” Erie Environmental Services Director David Frank said.

Town of Erie Councilmember, Dan Hoback

Early in the meeting, Early in the meeting, Councilmember Dan Hoback began pressing staff on the fundamentals of the deal: when the town was first approached, how negotiations began, and why Alameda Minerals was selected without a competitive process. When asked about this piece of the process, Frank said, “I’m not aware of any other companies that do this exact work.”

 By the end of the meeting, those questions had evolved into a broader challenge to both the process and the assumptions underlying it.

“I have serious concerns about conflict of interest,” Hoback said. The consultant, Alameda Minerals, is led by a former oil and gas executive with ties to the industry involved in the project, a connection that drew scrutiny during the meeting. He also warned that the absence of a formal request-for-proposals process could expose the town to legal and audit risks.

More significantly, Hoback disagreed with the idea that Erie lacks leverage. While town staff and some council members emphasized the town’s relatively small percentage of mineral ownership, Hoback emphasized that without permission to drill through town-owned minerals, operators may not be able to reach large portions of the approved drilling area. “The inability to drill through Erie land without owning its mineral rights can be a major, major impediment to the ability of Draco to drill much of its planned area, currently approved or not,” Hoback said.

Town officials declined to provide additional documentation or answer detailed questions about the procurement process, citing the ongoing nature of negotiations.

Those competing interpretations of the town’s authority sit at the center of the debate. Erie’s leverage stems from Colorado SB24-185, which prevents operators from forcing municipalities into pooling agreements. But how that law will function in practice, and particularly whether operators can drill through or around municipal minerals, remains untested.

Public comment reflected both that uncertainty and a sharp divide over how the town should respond. Sixteen residents and stakeholders spoke at the meeting, with the majority opposing a sale or urging alternatives such as delaying action or retaining the town’s mineral rights. Five supported moving forward with a sale or lease, including three who identified themselves as representing business or industry interests, such as mineral rights owners and energy companies.

Former state senator and attorney, Mike Foote

Former state senator Mike Foote, who worked on oil and gas legislation for years, described the current moment as the result of a long effort to give local governments control over their mineral rights. He recalled earlier policies that allowed a single mineral owner to force others into leasing, calling it something he “couldn’t believe” when he first encountered it. 

The 2024 law, he said, was designed to change that dynamic. “This was a hard-fought provision,” Foote told council, urging them to “take advantage of it” and follow the will of the community. “There’s nothing in the law anymore that says that you have to say yes.” He warned that approving a deal would entangle the town with the oil and gas industry for decades. “This puts Erie in business with oil and gas for a long, long time,” he said. “I would urge you [… ] to say no.”

Other residents raised concerns about long-term environmental and infrastructure risks. Steve Hochgesang pointed to the lifespan of plugged wells and containment systems, warning that decisions made now could create long-term liabilities, particularly for groundwater and waste disposal.

In contrast, speakers aligned with mineral interests emphasized financial realities and potential legal consequences. Kole Kelley, an oil and gas attorney at Fennemore Law, argued that development is already approved and that refusing to participate would not stop drilling but would result in forgoing compensation. He warned that the town could face litigation if it interferes with mineral owners’ ability to realize value from their assets.

Those competing perspectives were reflected in the council’s closing statements.

Hoback remained the most openly critical, raising concerns about procurement, transparency, and conflicts of interest, while also emphasizing the town’s decision-making power in this moment. “Other companies cannot drill through our land to reach other people’s mineral rights. So I’ll be a bit of the voice of the wilderness and say, yeah, we can impact Draco, despite the narrative that’s been making its way through social media and tonight’s presentation. um The initial approval of the Draco pad was not a rollover and play dead moment.  In fact, we should be fighting harder than ever,” Hoback said.

Councilmember Anil Pesaramelli aligned more directly with residents opposing the deal. “I am for health and safety,” he said. “I urge everyone to stop this sale.”

Councilmember Brian O’Connor took a more cautious position, expressing frustration with the process and emphasizing the need for more information before any decision is made.

Town of Erie Councilmember, Emily Baer

Councilmember Emily Baer delivered one of the most detailed and forceful closing statements, drawing on years of work in oil and gas regulation. 

She pushed back on the idea that selling mineral rights would improve safety, noting that many of the cited protections are already required by the state regardless of any deal. “To imply there are safety regulations that will go unenforced unless Erie sells its minerals is misleading,” she said.

Baer also argued that the town retains meaningful authority under current law, including the ability to deny subsurface access. She framed the decision as a question of values and long-term governance. “My principles are not up for purchase,” she said, reiterating her opposition to selling the town’s mineral rights.

Councilmember John Mortellaro took a more logistical tone, emphasizing that the project has already been approved and suggesting the town should consider whether it can secure benefits from an outcome it cannot prevent.

Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Bell and Mayor Andrew J. Moore both framed the decision in similar terms, emphasizing inevitability and the potential to capture value. Moore rejected claims that the town could significantly alter the project, calling that idea “100% false,” and stressed the importance of protecting negotiations.

Bell drew a direct comparison to a past landfill decision, where the town chose to accept development in exchange for compensation rather than oppose it without leverage. “If you’re going to dump trash in my backyard, you’re going to pay me for it,” he said, describing the philosophy guiding his position. His remarks made clear that he views the mineral rights as a negotiating tool rather than a mechanism to stop drilling.

To some council members, the project is unavoidable and selling the mineral rights are a means of extracting value and oversight. Others view those same rights as one of the town’s only remaining tools to challenge or constrain development.

No vote has been scheduled, and officials said any agreement would be subject to a future public hearing. Until then, core questions remain unresolved, including the exact location and value of Erie’s mineral rights, whether the town followed standard procurement practices, and how much influence Erie ultimately has over a project already approved by the state.

For now, the debate in Erie is not just about oil and gas. It is about whether a town that fought for the authority to say no will use it.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays ready to lead, no matter who’s in charge.

The post Erie mineral rights hearing divides council over control, transparency and who decides appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

On April 6, Weld County Commissioners approved a county code that will define data centers and where they can be developed. The ordinance (2026?01) updates Chapter 23 of Weld County Code by adding language about data centers, and guidelines on where they can be built. While not specific to one data center project, it adds parameters to what future projects can look like. 

The ordinance applies to the entire unincorporated Weld County, and is not specific to one particular site. 

The new code clarifies data centers as, “A building or buildings used to house information technology or telecommunications equipment with which digital information is processed, transferred, and/or stored, with no limitation on peak electrical load.” 

This definition was amended following discussions and public comment during the April 6 Board of Commissioners meeting. 

The code adds that data centers can “include associated ancillary structures, including but not limited to offices, security buildings, cooling water tanks, and backup power systems with a total generation of less than fifty megawatts.”

Commissioners clarified during the board meeting that the 50 watt limitation is just for backup power, and does not limit the total power of the project. 

Several Weld County residents spoke during the public comment to share concerns about the possible impacts of AI data centers. Concerns they pointed out were possible noise pollution, water usage, and electric consumption. Several spoke out and asked the board to pause their decision. 

“Put on the brakes a little bit,” one resident said. 

A Loveland resident highlighted the current drought in Colorado,  as a reason to delay moving forward with the new Code Ordinance. 

“We understand well how precious water is in the world, but especially here in Colorado for our farms and ranchers,” she shared.

Another resident was more blunt in their reservations , “We don’t have the water for these things.”

Weld County Board of Commissioners discuss Code Ordinance 2026-01 with the Department of Planning Services.

A.I. data centers across the country consumed around 17 billion gallons of water in 2023, according to the Association for Cleaning and Facility Solutions. Data centers are projected to be using approximately 68 billion gallons of water by 2028. Globally, they are expected to consume anywhere from 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water in 2027, according to a 2023 study published by Cornell University.

David Eisenbraun, the director of Weld County’s Department of Planning and Development Services, told Yellow Scene Magazine that Colorado is familiar with water scarcity as a semi-arid state. Future developments could utilize dry cooling or closed loop systems, which rely on less water than some of the systems currently being used by data centers. 

“However, we did not choose to mandate or specify a particular type of technology because in the data center world, technology is changing so rapidly, that was something we advised them [the board of commissioners] to not try and dictate,” Eisenbraun said.

As of April 7, over 40% of Weld County was in a severe drought, and around 38% was in an extreme drought. Just under 20% of the county was in a moderate drought. 

Despite the worry some people shared, other residents were in support of the ordinance. One Weld County citizen felt it would “level the playing field,” while another stated the county needs to “keep moving forward.” 

Code Ordinance 2026-01 was approved with a 4-1 vote, following around 3 hours of public comment from more than 25 residents. April 6 was the third reading of the ordinance, and each one included public comment. 

Scott James was the “no” vote. 

The Board of Commissioners first read the code in January. Since that time, board members have investigated data centers already in Colorado, and other parts of the country. They identified what worked well and what didn’t, according to the board members. 

In addition to defining data centers, this ordinance also lays out where they can be built. With approval from a Use by Special Review (USR), they can be built in the I-1 (Light Industrial) zone. Centers can also be built in other Industrial Zone districts after being approved by an administrative Site Plan Review. The Use by Special Reviews are required to hold a public hearing in front of the Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners. 

The approved code ordinance also prohibits data centers being built on agricultural land, requires  “Will Serve” letters for electricity, and implements dBA noise regulations. 

Weld County is not the only place in Colorado where residents are vocal about opposing data center developments. 

Tensions are on the rise in Colorado Springs due to a proposed data center near the Garden of the Gods, KOAA News5 reported. The crowd at a recent public forum was large enough to warrant two meetings, with a third one to be scheduled in the future. The debate got heated at times, according to KOAA, as several in attendance were clear about their opposition to the project. 

There are currently more than 50 data centers across 5 markets in Colorado, according to Data Center Map. The markets are Loveland, Walsenberg, Fort Collins, Denver, and Colorado Springs. Denver is the largest market, with 46 total data centers. 

In February, Denver City Council announced that they would file a moratorium on new data centers. It will last for several months, if approved, but will not stop current projects. The pause will allow city officials to go over guardrails and review regulations regarding new data center developments in the city, according to Mayor Mike Johnston. Projects that were already permitted or are already underway might be expected to follow any new regulations. 

Eisenbraun told Yellow Scene that the Department of Planning Services is not concerned about the environmental impacts of developing data centers in Weld County.

“We have good state agencies who can regulate the air quality permitting side,” Eisenbraun said. “We have a great county environmental health department who’s very good at managing wastewater, septic permits, things like that.”

Eisenbraun hopes that in the future, residents can see the potential benefits of data centers in Weld County.

“With these data centers being large property tax producers and then low infrastructure impacts, minimal impact on roads and traffic and things like that, I do think people are going to see the benefit of these when they’re done in the correct zone districts and properly mitigated,” he said.

A handful of data center projects have expressed interest in Weld County as a development site, according to Eisenbraun. However, no plans have been approved yet. 

In today’s corporate world, finding true, honest journalism is getting harder, and that includes local news, too. From corporate takeovers to the nonprofit industry, finding reporters willing to ask the hard questions seems like a thing of the past.

Which is why Yellow Scene remains fiercely independent and never, ever accepts quid pro quo. We are only beholden to our readers, not funders.

The truth is, we really cannot do this without you. If you value our journalism, become a sustaining supporter for $8 a month. Your support keeps honest reporting alive and gets the hard copy delivered to your home.

The post Weld County Adds Data Centers to County Code During Drought appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Erie officials are considering selling or leasing the town’s mineral rights to energy company Civitas Resources, a decision that could determine oil and gas development beneath large parts of the community, as talks continue largely behind closed doors. Municipal mineral rights refer to the town’s ownership of minerals beneath the surface that can be leased or sold to energy companies for drilling.

Over the past several months, the council has met in executive session at least 10 times to discuss matters related to negotiations and the potential sale of property, with little public disclosure about the scope, timeline or terms of a possible agreement with oil and gas operator Civitas Resources. Public agendas describe these sessions using broad statutory language — such as “negotiations” or the “purchase, acquisition, lease, transfer or sale” of property — without identifying specific projects or mineral rights. The lack of detailed public information has raised concerns among residents, who say they were unaware that discussions were taking place until recently.

The issue at hand is whether Erie should sell or lease its mineral rights,  which are tied to the approved Draco Pad and could involve drilling beneath large portions of the town, and how that decision might affect public health, development, and  property values.

That distinction could be significant. If Erie retains its mineral rights and declines to lease them, it may be able to influence the configuration of drilling operations. If it sells those rights, that leverage could be reduced or eliminated.

The response received from Mayor Moore was the same as his March 17 Facebook post.

The issue first surfaced publicly in December 2025, when the Town Council voted 4-3 to move forward with hiring Alameda Mineral Advisors to negotiate a potential agreement involving the town’s mineral assets. The firm is led by Matthew Owens, a former chief operating officer of Civitas Resources. Under the agreement, Alameda is tasked with representing the town in negotiations and helping structure a potential sale or lease of its mineral rights.

According to town documents, the agreement allows for up to $4.5 million in compensation tied to the negotiation process and any resulting transaction, including a commission based on a percentage of the deal’s value. 

While the council has not publicly confirmed the full structure of a potential deal, in a December 16th council meeting Mayor Moore mentioned that Civitas Resources expressed interest in acquiring the town’s mineral rights. Civitas is the parent company of Extraction Oil & Gas, which owns the approved Draco Pad project, a fracking development that has drawn sustained opposition from some community members.

Former Erie Mayor Justin Brooks wrote in a Facebook post that selling the town’s mineral rights would be “clearing the way for this massive and experimental drilling project to move forward.”

The involvement of Owens has become a focal point for criticism, particularly given his prior role with Civitas and the perceived lack of transparency.

Many residents,  like Jennifer Bertman, have raised concerns that a consultant who stands to benefit financially from a successful deal may not be positioned to provide impartial guidance.  “To hire a former Civitas employee as a consultant who stands to make millions if the sale goes through is a conflict of interest,” Bertman wrote in an email to the Town Council.

Civitas Resources declined to comment.

Town code requires public officials to disclose and recuse themselves from decisions where conflicts of interest exist, though it is unclear how that standard applies to contracted consultants.

Owens has declined to comment.

As Erie mineral discussions struggle to find footing in a public forum, some argue that the lack of transparency is due to the format of conversations.

Councilmember Dan Hoback said the structure of executive sessions can limit meaningful public input. “Contract negotiations always take place in executive session, so public engagement often comes only once a contract or other agreement is largely in place,” Hoback said.

Under Colorado law, public bodies may enter an executive session to discuss negotiations, legal matters, and personnel issues. While no formal votes can be taken in those sessions, discussions can shape decisions that are later approved in public.

Some residents feel this “closed-door” dynamic has effectively frozen them out of the conversation regarding mineral rights. With no public hearings scheduled and only a brief window for comment at the upcoming March 24 meeting and a town hall scheduled for April 2nd, many feel the town’s feedback loop is broken.

Councilmember Emily Baer has publicly urged community members to become involved. “Council serves to represent the people,” Baer said. “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”

Still, many residents say participation is difficult due to the lack of public information on what is being considered. Without dedicated public meetings or detailed disclosures, some residents argue that by the time a vote reaches the floor, the real decisions have already been made in private.

The questions facing Erie are unfolding within a broader shift in Colorado oil and gas law.

A 2019 law, Senate Bill 19-181, shifted the state’s regulatory framework to prioritize public health, safety, and welfare while giving local governments more authority over siting and land use.

More recently, Senate Bill 24-185 introduced new limits on the forced pooling of municipal mineral interests. The law requires state regulators to deny certain pooling applications involving local government-owned minerals unless operators revise their plans.

However, the law remains largely untested in practice, and it does not offer a guaranteed path to stopping drilling entirely.

“It requires the operator to amend the application to avoid municipal unleased interests — not deny the whole thing outright,” said Heather Sabo, an Erie resident who has closely followed oil and gas permitting.

County Line Rd & Arapahoe Rd, Erie Colorado

That shift gives Erie greater authority over where and how drilling occurs within town limits, but it does not eliminate development altogether, making decisions about whether to retain or sell municipal mineral rights a key factor in how much leverage the town ultimately has.

Beyond legal and financial questions, many residents point to potential health impacts associated with oil and gas development near residential areas.

Baer cited research and personal experience in describing those concerns, including her son’s illness following nearby drilling activity. “There are more than 1,700 peer-reviewed health studies that point to the negative health impacts that can and have been recorded, living near oil and gas development,” she said.

Public health findings on oil and gas impacts vary, though multiple studies have identified associations between proximity to drilling and certain health risks. The role those findings play in shaping local policy decisions is often debated.

Erie does not currently have a dedicated public health department, and residents have called for more localized study of potential impacts.

A central question remains unanswered: why would Erie choose to sell its mineral rights at this moment?

Possible motivations could include financial considerations or efforts to influence how future oil and gas development in Erie takes place. However, the town has not publicly outlined its reasoning.

Without that explanation, some residents say the process feels driven more by private negotiation than public deliberation.

Residents have organized online and through community networks, calling for the release of nonconfidential documents, dedicated public meetings and greater transparency about the potential deal.

For now, the outcome of the mineral rights discussions — and their implications for Erie’s future — remain uncertain. What is clear, residents say, is that decisions of this scale carry consequences beyond any single contract.

When decisions of this scale are made largely out of public view, residents say, trust in the process itself becomes part of what is at stake.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.
Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays, ready to lead no matter who’s in charge.

The post Erie Mineral Rights Deal Advances Largely Out of Public View, Raising Concerns Over Transparency and Conflicts appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

[ Boulder County ]

• Newly formed Boulder County Employees Union, representing 1,400 employees, accuses the county of delaying negotiations during layoffs and a budget deficit.
• Russell Vought, the director of Office Management and Budget under the Trump Administration, has called to close the National Center of Atmospheric Research, located in Boulder, claiming it was a leader in climate alarmism.
• Erie hometown hero, Jacob Slavin, will be representing the United States in Italy as he joins the roster for the national Olympic hockey team.
• For commuters taking the Diagonal Highway from Longmont to Boulder, be aware that speeding fines doubled on January 12.

[ State ]

• Colorado Springs Utilities is stating that they are unable to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030, as requested by the state, without shutting down the Nixon 1 coal generated unit near Falcon, which they refuse to do.
• More than 20 female faculty members at the University of Colorado Denver filed a class action lawsuit in Denver district court Friday, alleging systemic wage discrimination based on gender.
• 46-year-old Kristen Marie Kovatch of Fort Collins was the victim of a mountain lion attack. This is the first death caused by the animal in Colorado since 1999.

[ National ]

• The Trump administration sent shockwaves through the U.S. mental health and drug addiction system late Tuesday, sending hundreds of termination letters, effective immediately, for federal grants supporting health services. Many of the group impacted are non-profits working at the street level.
• The House Oversight Committee will seek to hold former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress after she did not appear for a scheduled deposition as part of the Republican-led panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, Chairman James Comer announced Wednesday.
• The Environmental Protection Agency says it will stop calculating how much money is saved in health care costs avoided and deaths prevented from air pollution rules that curb two deadly pollutants.

[ International ]

• The United States has started evacuating hundreds of troops from its largest air base in the Middle East ahead of potential military action by President Donald Trump against Iran, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter.
• Last year was the third-warmest in modern history, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s climate change monitoring service. In 2025, the average global temperature was approximately 2.65 Fahrenheit higher than from 1850 to 1900,  the period scientists use as a reference point, since it precedes the industrial era in which massive amounts of carbon pollution have been pumped into the atmosphere.
• Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are hosting the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland today amid President Donald Trump’s efforts to take over the vast, semi-autonomous Danish territory. Buying Greenland could cost the U.S. as much as $700 billion

[ Quotes ]

“I tend to think of death as the last and best reward for a life well lived.”

–Bob Weir, founding member of the Grateful dead who passed away at the age of 78 this month.

“Every summer everybody got sick. One summer it was my turn, not just to get sick but to get disabled from it.”

–Carol Boigon: a Colorado resident, Polio survivor, and a new member of the pro-vaccine team that is working amidst the revised federal guidelines.

“[This was an] extraordinary, aggressive action that is deeply concerning and raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work.”

–Matt Murray, Executive Editor of the Washington Post after federal agents executed a search warrant at reporter Hanna Natanson’s home in search  of classified information.

“I agree with President Trump, I agree with Marco Rubio. I think Vice President Vance would be a great nominee.”

-Governor of Virgnia, Glenn Youngkin adding to the bid to push J.D Vance towards the Republican nomination for the 2028 election.

“Spain did not recognize the Maduro regime. But neither will it recognize an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region toward a horizon of uncertainty and belligerence.”

– Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez

[ By the Numbers ]

1000+

The number of protests across the country asking for accountability or the abolishment of ICE after the murder of protester Renee Good.

7%

The decrease in land inhabited by prairie dogs in 2025 due to the lethal removal program put in place by Boulder County.

$2.7 Billion

The estimated amount of lost economic productivity and revenue in Colorado due to disruptions in childcare for in families with infants and toddlers. A crucial number as affordable childcare becomes at risk.

1500+

The number of attack ads the Trump administration has put out against transgender participation in sport, despite the occurrence being extremely rare.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays, ready to lead no matter who’s in charge.

The post Month In Review | December 2025 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When Notes of Dissent Marching Band first appeared publicly on June 14, 2025, at the No Kings protest, they didn’t arrive as a novelty act. They showed up as something Colorado protest culture has been missing: organized sound, collective rhythm, and an open invitation to participate, regardless of skill level.

Since that debut, Notes of Dissent hasn’t faded back into rehearsal spaces. They’ve become a regular presence at actions across the Front Range, using music to amplify protest, build community, and make resistance unmistakably audible.

The band spans Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs, and it’s built intentionally around access rather than polish. You don’t need to march. You don’t need to read music. You don’t need to own an instrument. What matters is showing up and being willing to contribute to something collective.

How Notes of Dissent Is Showing Up

Notes of Dissent now regularly attends GEO/ICE Detention Center vigils in Aurora every third Wednesday at 6:00 pm, committing to a consistent presence outside the facility as part of ongoing opposition to immigration detention.

They’re also a fixture at the ongoing protest of Drip Café in Denver, which is operated by a church with a documented history of anti-LGBTQ positions. The café describes itself as a faith-based nonprofit aimed at serving Denver’s unhoused community, a mission that has drawn both supporters and sustained criticism from local organizers.

In addition to recurring actions, Notes of Dissent mobilizes around one-off protests and town halls when they arise, particularly those connected to ICE facilities and enforcement. Participation isn’t rigid—people are encouraged to show up where they can, when they can, and plug in locally.

Rehearsals Across the Front Range

Rather than centralizing in one city, the band rehearses regionally:

• Denver meets Sundays at Washington Park

• Fort Collins rehearses Sundays at Twin Silo Park

• Colorado Springs gathers Sundays at America the Beautiful Park

• Boulder meets Saturdays at East Boulder Community Park

All rehearsals are weather-permitting and structured to welcome beginners, returners, and people figuring it out as they go.

Coordination and Collective Decision-Making

Notes of Dissent holds a weekly online band meeting, where members are encouraged to participate in discussions and decisions shaping the group’s direction. The structure reflects how the band operates in the street: collaborative, flexible, and member-driven.

Who Can Join

The band is actively welcoming low brass, percussion, strings, vocalists, dancers, and color guard—but the list doesn’t stop there. People who haven’t played since high school. People who can’t march. People without instruments. People who don’t read music.

Notes of Dissent has loaner instruments. They welcome all physical abilities. They accommodate access needs. The emphasis isn’t on performance, it’s on participation.

In a political moment that thrives on exhaustion and isolation, Notes of Dissent is turning protest into shared sound—loud, collective, and unapologetic.

Learn more about them on their website or make a donation, so they can keep marching on, turning resistance into rhythm.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.
Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays, ready to lead no matter who’s in charge.

The post Notes of Dissent Marching Band wants you to join them appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The Louisville City Council’s Jan. 13 special meeting centered on the city’s Comprehensive Plan, a 20-year policy document that will guide future development, housing, infrastructure and land use decisions.

City staff and council members emphasized that the plan is intended to function as a flexible framework rather than a prescriptive rulebook. While the main document outlines broad policy goals, it also includes a short Action Plan appendix that identifies specific tasks the city could pursue to implement those goals. Officials said the appendix was designed to allow future councils to adjust strategies if conditions or priorities change.

In total, the plan outlines roughly 50 goals related to growth, land use, housing and infrastructure. The mayor and planning staff described it as a tool to support more balanced decision-making as Louisville continues to grow.

Affordable housing emerged as a central theme of the discussion. City staff noted that while Louisville has seen steady job growth over the past 15 years, housing production has not kept pace. The plan aims to close that gap by increasing residential development and expanding the range of housing options available.

Proposals include allowing more diverse housing types, such as duplexes, in areas currently dominated by single-family homes. Rather than treating affordability as a standalone issue, the plan integrates housing goals into broader land use and growth strategies.

Council members also reviewed proposed “place types,” which define the scale and density of future development across the city. The plan projects potential growth over the next two decades and outlines how infrastructure, public services and utilities could be planned to support it.

Figure 4. Community Statistics Breakdown
Compiled using data from the City of Louisville, the Louisville Housing Assessment, the 2020 U.S. Census, and the 2023 ESRI Business Analyst.

According to council members, the framework is intended to accommodate growth at a manageable pace while maintaining a diverse tax base and protecting natural resources. Sustainability considerations are incorporated throughout the document.

A future Land Use Map included in the plan estimates potential buildout capacity across the city. Officials said the map is intended to help developers and residents understand where growth is anticipated and how infrastructure investments may be prioritized, while still reflecting community values.

The council also discussed how land use planning could support economic development and tourism. Members referenced large-scale events, such as the Sundance Film Festival, as examples of opportunities that could bring economic activity and community engagement if infrastructure and land use policies are aligned to support them.

Throughout the meeting, council members stressed that the Comprehensive Plan can be amended over time and that public input will continue to play a role in shaping its implementation. One member encouraged residents to participate and help guide future decisions.

The meeting concluded with a reminder about a city-hosted open house at The Simon, at the corner of South and Main streets. The event is intended to provide residents with information about the Comprehensive Plan and an opportunity to submit feedback.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays, ready to lead no matter who’s in charge.

The post Louisville Lays Out 20-Year Vision for Housing and Development appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Recently, the City of Boulder moved to narrow the scope of the Police Oversight Panel’s work, a decision that has drawn pushback from panel members and residents who say it weakens civilian oversight of police misconduct, particularly in cases involving use of force and allegations of discrimination.

Under the change, the police monitor, not the 11-member civilian panel, now has greater authority to decide which misconduct complaints reach the panel for review. City officials say the shift is necessary to conserve limited resources and focus attention on the most serious cases. Panel members argue it reduces transparency and undercuts the panel’s original purpose.

When Boulder created the Police Oversight Panel, it was intended to increase accountability and public trust in policing by ensuring independent civilian review of internal investigations. That structure required the police monitor to summarize every misconduct complaint for the panel, allowing members to weigh in even when allegations were ultimately deemed unfounded. That process is now changing.

Under the new system, complaints are first reviewed by the police department’s Professional Standards Unit. The police monitor and the unit then jointly determine whether a complaint is unfounded or warrants further investigation. If both agree that a complaint is unfounded, it does not go to the panel at all. The Chief of Police retains final authority over disciplinary outcomes.

The panel’s mandate remains unchanged on paper. It is still required to review critical incidents involving serious bodily injury and to make recommendations on disciplinary actions following internal investigations. Those recommendations are forwarded to the city manager, city council, and the police chief. But panel members say the new screening process limits their ability to independently assess how misconduct complaints are handled, particularly in cases that may fall short of serious injury but still raise concerns about police behavior.

Police Monitor Sherry Daun outlined the updated process during a December meeting. After receiving a complaint, her office sends it to the Professional Standards Unit for a preliminary review. If the unit determines the officer’s actions were consistent with department policy, the case may be classified as unfounded or exonerated and never reach the panel. Further investigation only proceeds if the unit agrees it is warranted.

Daun said her role includes reviewing evidence, requesting additional materials when necessary, applying department rules, and drafting allegations and recommendations. She also certifies that investigations are fair and complete. While the panel can still review certain cases, the timing and scope of those referrals now rest largely with the monitor.

Before coming to Boulder, Daun worked as director of investigations for Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which operates under a fully investigative model. “We did the complete investigations,” she said during the meeting, describing a system where civilian investigators handled police misconduct cases from start to finish.

Sherry Daun Photo Courtesy of City

Daun explained that cases are typically classified as serious misconduct, misconduct investigations, community inquiries, community feedback, or unspecified incidents. Allegations are deemed unfounded when the officer did not commit the alleged act or was not involved, and exonerated when the officer’s actions are found to be lawful or justified under department policy.

Several panel members and residents raised concerns about relying on internal determinations to screen out complaints. They pointed to situations where officers may technically follow policy while still causing harm or eroding community trust. Others questioned the fairness of officers investigating fellow officers, arguing that even well-intentioned internal reviews can carry inherent bias.

Daun defended the change as a matter of efficiency and due process. “The city must not unduly extend investigations when there is sufficient evidence to determine that the officer’s actions were within policy,” she said, adding that the approach aligns with commitments to fairness for both officers and complainants.

Lizzie Friend, a co-chair of the Oversight Panel, suggested creating a clearer process for information sharing that preserves transparency without interfering in investigations. She called for more proactive data sharing and regular reporting so the panel can understand patterns and context, even when individual cases are screened out early.

Public comment during the meeting reflected deeper concerns about the city’s history with police accountability, particularly in cases involving people of color. Several speakers referenced the 2019 case of Zayd Atkinson, a Black Naropa University student who was repeatedly questioned by police outside his apartment while picking up trash. The incident drew national attention and played a central role in the creation of the Oversight Panel.

For many residents, that case exemplifies why broad civilian review matters. They warned that allowing complaints to be filtered out before reaching the panel risks repeating past failures and undermines the reason the panel exists at all.

During the December meeting, multiple community members warned that limiting the panel’s access to misconduct complaints could allow discriminatory or harmful behavior to go unexamined. Speakers said the new screening process shifts the panel’s role from independent oversight to a largely advisory function, reducing its ability to challenge internal police conclusions or identify broader patterns of misconduct.

“The panel needs to have full transparency and oversight to prevent cases of discrimination and police violence,” one community member said during public comment. “I believe that the panel needs to be empowered to do their job and not have new processes prevent that”

As the city moves forward with the new policy, panel members have called for stronger transparency measures to ensure civilian oversight remains more than symbolic, and that complaints, particularly those involving use of force or discrimination, do not disappear behind closed doors.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays, ready to lead no matter who’s in charge.

The post Meeting Clarifies Changes to Boulder Police Oversight Panel appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This piece is part of Yellow Scene Magazine’s Opinion section. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent a reported news position. At Yellow Scene, opinion pieces speak freely, challenge assumptions, and say the quiet parts out loud.

As the U.S. claims control over Venezuela’s future, Americans are responding not with rallying energy, but with exhaustion, disbelief, and growing fear for their own democracy.

They may act with force, but they no longer control belief

Today we woke up to a set of headlines that have Americans talking. Overnight, the United States carried out a strike on Venezuela. Some reports describe it as the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, followed by Donald Trump telling reporters at a January 3, 2026 press conference, held after the attacks, that the United States would take control of Venezuela and place its oil industry under U.S. management.

People are uneasy, and not just about foreign policy. The economy does not feel as strong as this administration claims. Democratic guardrails are eroding in plain sight. And despite the familiar language of strength and freedom, Americans do not seem to be buying it. They are not rallying around the concept of “America the Great.”

That reaction tells us more about the state of the country than any press briefing ever could.

This legitimacy disconnect did not come out of nowhere. It is reinforced every day by the material reality Americans are living with.

What the hell is happening in Venezuela?

As more information becomes available, one thing is already apparent: the administration’s version of events is not aligning with what reporters, international observers, and Venezuelan dissidents are describing on the ground.

The official narrative frames this action as liberation, freeing the Venezuelan people and Americans from a criminal drug cartel. That framing does not withstand even basic scrutiny.

This action had no congressional authorization, no international mandate, and no clear legal justification.

Whatever language is used to describe it, whether strike, seizure, or abduction, it represents a unilateral use of power with serious implications for constitutional oversight, international law, and future precedent.

Beneath every explanation offered so far, one constant keeps resurfacing.

Oil.

Venezuela holds some of the largest oil reserves in the world. Years ago, its government reclaimed control of those resources, shifting them away from foreign, often American, corporate dominance and into state hands.

Whether that control was handled responsibly or disastrously is a legitimate debate. It does not justify U.S. intervention legally, historically, or morally.

This is a familiar pattern.

Which is why focusing solely on the character of Nicolás Maduro misses the larger point. You do not have to believe Maduro is a good leader, or even a legitimate one, to recognize that unilateral force carried out without legal authorization is still illegal. The obvious question then becomes what comes next. Invading China?

Socialism, state control, and a well-worn shortcut

Part of how actions like this are sold to the American public relies on political shorthand that collapses important distinctions.

Socialism refers to collective or democratic control of economic resources. State control refers to centralized authority exercised through government power. They are not the same thing.

That complexity has been flattened into an easy shortcut: socialism becomes tyranny, capitalism becomes democracy.

Venezuela does not fit neatly into either category. It is best understood as a state-controlled oil economy shaped by corruption, sanctions, and repression, not as a clean example of socialism as an economic theory. Naming that accurately matters, not to defend the regime, but to prevent propaganda from doing the work of justification.

When reclaiming resources from multinational corporations is treated as authoritarian by default, force can be sold as liberation rather than extraction.

The hypocritical pretext of drugs

Drug trafficking has been offered as a moral justification for U.S. action against Venezuela. It is a familiar claim, and a selective one.

Venezuela is not a major drug-producing country. Some trafficking routes pass through its territory, as they do through many countries in the region. That does not amount to evidence of a state-run narco enterprise.

The hypocrisy becomes harder to ignore in context. Trump has welcomed cartel-linked families into the United States and shown tolerance toward criminal actors when it aligned with his interests. He is also notably cozy with Saudi Arabia and its leadership, despite well-documented ties between the Saudi state and extremist networks, including figures linked to al-Qaeda.

Americans have seen this script before.

Vietnam was justified through a credibility gap later exposed by the Pentagon Papers.

Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were sold with urgency and certainty, only to be revealed as fiction.

Afghanistan was framed as a necessary response to terror, stretching into a twenty-year occupation that ended in withdrawal and devastation, and it did nothing to reduce what the United States calls terrorism. If anything, it expanded it.

That history is not distant. It shapes how people hear claims like these now.

American buy-in is missing

What makes this moment distinct is not only the action itself, but how Americans are responding to it.

The public is not disconnected in the way it is often portrayed. People are talking, sharing information, and trying to make sense of what they are watching unfold. Many are openly naming authoritarian drift and the erosion of democratic norms.

Large-scale protests, including the recent No Kings demonstrations that became the largest protest in American history, make one thing clear; aside from MAGA followers, the public is not supporting the actions of the current administration.

What is missing is consent.

The government has acted, but it has failed to convince the public that this action represents them. Protest is widespread, but it is protest against state power, not mobilization behind it.

Exhaustion is not apathy

This disconnect is reinforced by the conditions people are living under.

Housing insecurity is widespread. Medical care remains precarious and tied to employment. Debt keeps millions under constant pressure. Job stability feels fragile even for those technically employed.

Layered on top of all this is exhaustion. Just one year into Trump’s second term, people are tired, and that fatigue is not accidental. It is the point of attack after attack on civil liberties.

People are expected to perform citizenship inside a system that no longer seems capable of protecting them. When leaders insist the economy is strong while daily life feels brittle, trust erodes further.

Are non-voters to blame?

Roughly one-third of Americans did not vote, and they are often blamed for the state of the country. That framing is convenient and incomplete.

Some are discouraged, convinced participation no longer changes outcomes. Others refused to choose between candidates they felt neither represented nor listened to them, with Gaza playing a decisive role. Still others were blocked by voter suppression, access barriers, or intimidation, factors that remain consistently underexamined in post-election narratives.

In many cases, Democratic leaders responded by blaming “the left” rather than examining their own failures to listen, adapt, or meaningfully respond. That reluctance is hard to separate from the fact that they accept much of the same corporate and lobbying money as the GOP.

Disengagement exists, but what we are witnessing is a participation crisis rooted in legitimacy, not indifference.

When the Democrats echo the same story

Cynicism deepens when Democratic leaders reinforce the same framing.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis publicly celebrated the removal of Venezuela’s leadership while acknowledging the absence of congressional oversight and a clear plan. Statements like these attempt to split the difference, condemning procedural failures while endorsing the outcome.

For many Americans, that contradiction confirms there is no meaningful institutional opposition to executive overreach, only variations in tone.

Why “freedom fighters” are cheering it on instead of fighting

MAGA did not appear overnight. It was built over decades through coordinated propaganda efforts by organizations like the Heritage Foundation, whose mission was to reshape political reality for conservative voters.

MAGA voters often frame themselves as distrustful of government and defenders of freedom. Yet as the leaders they support act in openly authoritarian ways, resistance has been replaced by celebration.

Freedom is defended when it is personal or partisan, and dismissed when it applies universally. That alignment explains enthusiasm, but it does not create legitimacy. It also illustrates how authoritarianism gains power, not by convincing everyone, but by securing a loyal minority willing to excuse force as long as it targets someone else.

Force without legitimacy

Force does deliver short-term results. It can remove leaders, criminalize dissent, and illegally seize assets. What it cannot do is compel belief.

Rule by force produces compliance, not consent. Over time, systems built on coercion require constant escalation to maintain control, while public trust continues to erode. The result is not stability, but a governing structure that survives by pressure rather than participation.

What can we learn from history?

Authoritarian systems rarely collapse all at once. More often, they hollow out slowly as belief erodes faster than force can compensate.

In late Soviet Eastern Europe, regimes did not fall because tanks disappeared, but because legitimacy did.

Spain’s dictatorship ended through prolonged stagnation, elite fracture, and public disengagement that made continued repression unsustainable.

Even the French Revolution began as a legitimacy crisis rooted in extraction without representation.

Closer to home, the Vietnam War unraveled not only on the battlefield but in public consciousness. Once the Pentagon Papers exposed the gap between official narratives and reality, belief collapsed. The war did not end immediately, but its legitimacy never recovered.

History does not promise restoration. It offers clarity.

America is not returning to a normal most people recognize. There is always an after. What ours will be, and how long it will take, remains unknown. Force can hold power for a time, but it cannot manufacture belief. And when belief disappears, something else always begins. History rarely offers certainty. It does, however, record what happens when people stop accepting what no longer feels legitimate.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays, ready to lead no matter who’s in charge.

The post The Venezuela Strike and America’s Crisis of Belief appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: The journalist for this Yellow Scene Magazine story has been kept anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the reporting. They visited an ICE facility to verify conditions and interview a detainee while maintaining anonymity for safety and journalistic integrity.

According to a Facebook post by Victor Galvan on March 20th, political prisoner and long-time Colorado community member Jeanette Vizguerra told friends and family that she was receiving two pieces of bread, some jam and an apple per day at the Geo ICE Detention Center in Aurora, Colorado. As ICE activity has exponentially increased locally and nationally, this claim raised critical concerns about the physical well-being of detainees, among a litany of concerns about human rights violations. 

Journalists are not permitted in the Geo ICE Center, so with the help of community organizers, I was able to visit with a detainee as a “friend” and further investigate claims. For their safety, the interviewee’s name will be omitted.

Visiting a detainee requires navigating strict scheduling and security protocols. Visitors must bring the detainee’s “A-number,” valid ID, and adhere to strict dress codes. 

After around three hours of delays, intensive security screening, and sitting in a lobby with an American-flag-backdropped picture of Trump looming over it, visitors were ushered into a prison-like visitation booth, complete with white-cast cement walls, fluorescent lights, and shoddy phones to communicate through. My subject is an immigrant who told me they had been detained for over a year at the Aurora ICE Center. Despite willingly submitting themself to detention and deportation, the latter process had been continually delayed, subjecting them to further mistreatment in detention. 

In 2012, my interviewee was diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease, a set of persistent symptoms following Lyme infection. Its clinical recognition remains debated, similar to “Long COVID” following coronavirus infection. According to accredited medical resource LymeDisease.org, “An LDo published survey of over 3,000 patients with chronic Lyme disease found that patients suffer a worse quality of life than most other chronic illnesses, including congestive heart failure, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and arthritis. Over 70% of patients with chronic Lyme disease reported fair or poor health.” The interviewee had been able to manage their symptoms to much success before imprisonment, but lack of proper care in the facility allowed the disease to progress to a debilitating degree.  

Considering that proper nutrition is central to treating Lyme Disease Persistent Symptoms (LDPS), my interviewee had a keen investment in the claims I was investigating. Since the visitation with Jeanette Vizguerra in March, ostensibly, the meals have improved for the wider detainee population in the GEO ICE Center. It was reported that three meals a day are served, typically consisting of a silver-dollar-sized portion of salad, small portions of beans (or other protein), rice, potato, cornbread, and fruit. Multiple doctors in the past advised that this detainee cut out gluten and sugar from their diet, so they are generally restricted to salad, beans, and rice.  

A STOP sign bearing a “fascism” sticker stands outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Aurora, Colorado, photographed by unnamed journalist.

“It isn’t enough food to ever feel full from,” they told me. “I will often eat the food they give me, even if I’m not supposed to for my health, just because I’m so hungry.”  Whether all detainees, including political prisoners or those under punishment, receive similar meals is unclear. 

Another troubling aspect of the detainee’s treatment is the handling of their medication. Correct timing and dosing are crucial for treating.  “It’s important that my medications are spread out over the day, especially around meals,” the interviewee told me. “But staff usually give me all the medications at once to save time, which makes me sick.”

Since imprisonment, the subject’s overall health has taken a sharp decline. They report a chronic fatigue, which makes any physical activity next to impossible; trouble focusing, so extreme it prevents them from reading (one of their favorite activities and one of few activities afforded to detainees), and other impairing psychological problems, including schizoaffective symptoms. 

My interviewee’s experience at the Aurora Geo ICE Center illustrates the severe consequences of inadequate care, consequences that are being felt by the tens of thousands of detainees reported across the United States. The need for oversight and accountability for detainees, particularly those with chronic and medically complex conditions, is incredibly urgent. If GEO and ICE continue to operate with little transparency and no meaningful accountability, it is likely that Aurora and the nation will continue to see worsening reports of abuse, neglect, and death in these facilities. Organizations such as CO Stands Together and many others are advocating for such transparency and accountability from Geo and Colorado leaders. Such organizations are also providing a wealth of opportunities for Colorado residents to stay informed and get involved, such as attending the weekly vigil in honor of Jeanette Vizguerra held at the Aurora ICE center, supporting detainees with donations for commissary, and much more. 

The post Sick with ICE: Healthcare at the Aurora ICE Detention Center appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

photo by Janine Robinson

Erie Elections 2024

As the Unofficial Election results for Erie trickle in, the town’s ballot measures have shown candidates who appear to be leading and winning the election. 

However, per the Erie government website, Andrew Moore is set to win against Justin Brooks with 10,384 votes, while Justin Brooks has received 9,807 votes. This has placed Moore in the lead with 577 more votes. Council Members for District 1 have shown John Mortellaro leading with 2,652 votes, followed by Andrew Sawusch with 2,633 votes. 

One of the candidates running for District 2 has been met with heightened controversy. Dan Maloit, who the ballot measures have shown is placing third with 2,078 votes, has been served with a lawsuit for allegedly doxxing and posting nude photographs of an ex-partner online. 

The victim, who chose to stay unidentified, claims she had found out about the nude photos being posted online 2 years ago, back in 2022. Once she started doing a deeper search on the web, she realized that photos had actually been posted of her online dating back to 2016. 

Since these allegations have arisen, Maloit filed a countersuit in September and has denied any of them, claiming they are intended to sabotage his political career. In a Facebook post on November 4, 2024, Maloit states, “I believe the allegations are false and are made in addition to other private matters that exist between the plaintiff and myself.”

District 3 has shown Brian O’Connor leading with 2,626 votes, Travis Pinz with 1,612, and Emily Baer with 2,885. 

The city of Erie, with 11,566 votes, has voted yes for a 5% excise tax on the sale of Marijuana. This means that starting January 2025, a tax will be imposed on the sale of Marijuana both medicinally and recreationally. The big change is that Marijuana will be able to be sold and purchased in the city of Erie, something that hasn’t happened in the city since the legalization of Marijuana in Colorado back in 2012. 

962 yes votes have gone toward question 7B regarding RTD annexation. Over 90% of the city of Erie is already annexed into the RTD district. The RTD annexation vote would result in providing more unannexed areas in the city of Erie for public transportation systems such as the RTD. This voter approval will bring about multiple benefits for the people of Erie, including transportation services, access to rides, parking benefits, and free fares that would be eligible for residents and youth during the summers. 

What’s next? Election results for the city of Erie will be finalized on November 26, 2024. 

Stephen Redfearn

The City of Boulder responds to the NAACP

The NAACP has issued a press release expressing its concern about the recent hiring of Stephen Redfearn, a police officer with a dark reputation by the City of Boulder. 

Stephen Redfearn was recently hired last year into a permanent position as head police chief in the City of Boulder. On October 14 of this year, the NAACP released a press release condemning the hiring of Stephen Redfearn due to his history of covering up the murder of Elijah McClain.  

In the press release submitted to YS, the NAACP claims that Redfearn is not only “anti-black” but also lacks “cultural competence,” which should, by all rights, disqualify him for the position of head police chief of the City of Boulder. 

The press release also contained a transcript of a recorded confidential meeting that took place in July of this year between members of the City of Boulder and Stephen Redfearn.

According to the City of Boulder’s manager, Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, the meeting was secretly recorded without the members’ knowledge or consent, and members were asked to sign an agreement not to publish any details of the meeting anywhere online. According to Colorado law, Colorado is a one-party state, meaning that the NAACP did not need to inform the members of the City of Boulder that they were being recorded. 

The press release provided by the NAACP contains a transcript of the recording during the meeting. In this transcript, there were heated exchanges between Redfearn and Darren O’Connor, the chair of the NAACP Boulder County’s criminal justice committee. A “crude” comment was made toward Redfearn’s sexuality by O’Connor, which prompted Redfearn to express his being gay as a prominent reason why the NAACP condemned his hiring. Redfearn further claims that O’Connor smirked at him during the meeting anytime Redfearn spoke, resulting in questionable comments made by Redfearn that prompted O’Connor to state that such comments further prop up  “a system of racism.”

Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde recently came forward, issuing a statement accusing three members of the NAACP of blackmailing her with the recording. According to Rivera-Vandermyde, the members used the recording to pressure the City into not going through with the hiring of Redfearn. Rivera-Vandermyde claims that the NAACP’s actions have been “unethical and unacceptable.” Rivera-Vandermyde even goes as far as stating that Redfearn had nothing to do with Elijah’s murder, “Without repeating their misleading account of his involvement, I want to make clear again that there were no allegations against then-Aurora Police Captain Redfearn in connection with this case.”

What’s next? There have been no updates pertaining to the hiring of Stephen Redfearn. In an email sent to Boulder Weekly, Darren O’Connor said, “The lack of good faith begins and ends with her (Rivera-Vandermyde) and Redfearn,” he closes it by saying, “The truth is, she spent the City’s time and money creating a sham process in which Redfearn was always going to be chosen. An untold amount of money was spent hiring facilitators of the conversation, with the hope that the offering of a conversation would be sufficient to silence our critiques.”

graphic by Ray Manzari

2024 Elections and Blaming Minorities for Trump’s Victory 

As the old saying goes, if you scratch a liberal hard enough, a fascist bleeds.

As Donald Trump embraces his second Presidential election win, rather than focusing energy on the Democratic party and why Harris’ party did not succeed, strategists and even voters have succumbed to blaming minorities — many who make up only less than 1 percent of the American population — as being the main reason for Trump’s victory. 

Poll trackers show that 54% of the Latino population intended to vote for Harris and 33% for Trump. However, the final numbers came out as 55% of white and Hispanic males voted for Trump, while 53% of white women also did. Yet Muslims are often taking the blame for Harris’ loss. According to the Council of Islamic Relations, the Democrats had 22,000 fewer votes this year from Arab Americans and saw a 9,000 vote increase for Donald Trump. CAIR has listed that 53.2% of the Arab vote went to Jill Stein, while 21.4% of the Arab American vote went to Trump, and about 20.3% went to Harris. 

While many Democratic voters and strategists claim that a vote for the Green party is a vote for Trump, that isn’t entirely the case. Prior to the election, many Arab Americans, allies, and anti-genocide voters had expressed the importance of voting for the Green party as a message to the Biden and Harris administrations that genocide is a staunch red line for many American voters. Newsweek states, “Roughly 60 percent of us here in the United States now say the two-party system has failed.” 

Following the election, many Harris voters resorted to social media to express their outrage and fears with Trump’s newly announced presidency by scapegoating Arab Americans, Black men (who voted 78% for Harris, down 2% from 2020) as well as other minorities for the failure of Harris’ campaign. 

A series of tweets, TikTok, and social media posts by Democratic voters displaying racist and disturbing reactions toward Trump’s victory swarmed social media outlets. Many Democratic strategists blamed others, and even die-hard true-blue Democrats called for death and violence against Arabs and other minorities, as well as calling for the complete obliteration of Gaza, “When Gaza is Blown off the map, they’ll have Trump’s vote to thank.” one user tweets. “Good luck with new Trump settlements,” another user comments on Instagram. Another prominent Twitter user by the name of Derrick Daniello, whose account was recently suspended, tweets, “Don’t worry… they’re gonna die under Trump. I hope Netanyahu levels Gaza…America isn’t an Arab state. The craziness we see in Europe will never happen in America.”

Latino and Hispanic Americans have also been faced with the brunt of the Democratic reaction to Trump’s win, as many Democrats expressed their lack of care and support for the deportation of Latinos and Hispanics who voted for Trump. The American Journalist Ronald Martin told the Independent, ““If that dude’s [a Trump voter] mama gets deported, that’s on him, and I’m gonna play Scarface’s ‘No Tears,’” expressing no sympathy toward the deportation of Latinos and directing the blame on them for voting for a presidency that many claims is Anti-immigrant. 

While Arab Americans, specifically Palestinian and Lebanese Americans, have been witness to the relentless annihilation of their people and destruction of their homes, the Democratic party and its followers believe that Arab Americans should unequivocally stand by the party that is funding the murder of their families. 

According to the United Nations, the number of children killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7 is higher than four years of world conflict. Two days before the election, Al Jazeera stated that 70% of the Palestinians killed in Gaza have been women and children. 

What’s next? Are American voters seeking justice and reform today, or only when it pertains to them? While the next four years may seem rather bleak, one thing that we Americans can take the time to do is reflect and focus our energy inward toward the failure of the Democratic party that felt imperialism and genocide were more important than winning an election. 

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter (and get our printed copy monthly at home.)

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

The post A Nation in Flux: Local Elections, National Debates, and a Polarized Future appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

#DeLaVacasDesk is an op-ed piece by Yellow Scene Managing Editor De La Vaca

A mother in Mead, Colorado reached out to ask, relatively casually, “Wondering if you had heard anything about the incident at Mead HS yesterday?”

Yesterday would’ve been Tuesday, May 18th. 

Mead, Co, is as innocuous, even boring, as it sounds… on most days.  Mead has an elevation of 5,003 ft. It’s population is a paltry 4,631 (as of 2019) humans. 

“Mead is a small, rural community located 29 miles north of Boulder in Weld County. … A fun fact of Mead, CO is that it was the filming location for Die Hard 2. The majority of the filming took place at the town’s historic Highland Lake Church,” and is the town’s main claim to fame, apart from their annual Sugar Beet Festival.

It’s not the kind of place you would expect to make state, and potentially national, news. That is, unless you’re familiar with the racial dynamics of small towns, in an area of Colorado – from Denver North through Loveland – that’s rife with white supremacist activity, right wing organizations, heavily armed militias, and a history of KKK activity.

The racial dynamics of America – given ongoing police brutality and impunity –  have made waves across America In recent years. Police brutality was nowhere so grossly personified as in the Spring 2020 murder of George Floyd, where officer Derek Chauvin smirked with his hands in his pockets for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, including 2 minutes 53 seconds after George Floyd had already died and was unresponsive. 

The subsequent, massive, global protests and demands for justice that took over the streets of Colorado, particularly Denver, through the early months of the pandemic in 2020, and which resulted in numerous class action lawsuits, new legislation governing police activity, and hundreds if not thousands of assaults of citizens at the hands of violent police, were an expression of a world absolutely done with letting police get away with actual murder.

It should be noted that Gordon McLaughlin was sworn in as the district attorney for the 8th Judicial District this past January, representing Larimer and Jackson counties, and just this afternoon indicted two officers for police brutality and complicity with brutality (not the official charges), in the arrest of a 73 year old women with dementia. He said, in part, “Without that law being passed, SB 217, I think this would have been significantly more difficult to prosecute.” This is a direct outcome of the George Floyd murder.

The profound impact of reporting around the trial of George Floyd, the non-stop television coverage, and particular and specific information learned from the testimony of Dr. Martin Tobin – a physician with the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and Loyola University Medical School in Chicago – thoroughly debunked defense attempts to mislead about George Floyd’s cause of death. The testimony, and subsequent conviction, left the world breathing a little bit easier. A collective sigh and cheer erupted internationally as viewers watched Derek Chauvin’s eyes dart back and forth as he was convicted on all counts.

One would think that that painful chapter in history had closed, in spite of the fact that former officer – and current and future prison inmate – Derek Chauvin filed appeals. But… Mead decided that wasn’t going to happen. On May 18th, one student painted his face in blackface and his friend smiled wide for the camera as he kneeled on his friend’s neck. A third kneeled on his back. An unknown number took photos and Snapchats, which is where the image was first discovered.

This is, of course, exactly how George Floyd was murdered, literally snuffed out by a police state that refuses to value non-white lives, which has a history of impunity and disregard for black and brown lives specifically.

The high school student with the black face on had put his face in a diesel truck’s exhaust pipe, then scraped the pipe for more soot to apply. 

The mother who contacted us said, “My son just showed me a post from a friend who goes to school there. I haven’t heard anything about it in the media and am hoping there will be consequences for the students. My son said lots of racist things have happened there (said there are lots of “white hicks” that go there)… but that the principal never does anything about it.”

A letter, which appears to have been sent to Principal Ayers, which had the sender’s name redacted, said in part, “[redacted] understands that not everyone in his friend and on social media and that people can use things to twist and harm him with their opinion of how they want to view something. After speaking with [redacted] and seeing the post and knowing that he did not threaten anyone, make any racial slurs, or purposely harm anyone we believe no further action or discipline is necessary. As for the student who forwarded this post to you that is their opinion and they have a right to view it any way they want [sic]. This appears to be a letter in support or in defense of the student in black face, presumably from a family member or friend.

I can’t help but wonder if the person who sent that correspondence has any idea about the impact of racist behavior on the emotional, psychological, and intellectual safety and development of their peers. The research is widely available. Ignorance – especially around education – is a reprehensible choice. Much like being a racist or tolerating racism.

9News has also reported on this incident, and says St. Vrain Valley School District is investigating but has no comment. An email to principal Ayers was not replied to as of the time of publication. This will be updated should that change.

The Principal of Mead High School sent an email, which acknowledged the incident, and said in part, “we take this type of conduct very seriously and have begun an investigation into the mater.” They are also offering counseling to students who may need it. Questions can be directed to 720-494-3940.”

You can reach out to St. Vrain Valley School District Equity Department here:

Equity in St. Vrain Valley Schools

This story is breaking and will be updated.

The post Mead HS Students Mock Black Death: Black Face/Kneeling Incident Dismissed as Harmless #DeLaVacasDesk appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

May 10, 2021
Erie Board of Trustees
645 Holbrook Street
Erie, Colorado 80516
Re: Air Quality Monitoring 

Dear Erie Board of Trustees, 

As residents of Erie, Colorado, we are deeply concerned over the toxic stew of air pollutants released from oil & gas operations into our communities every day. Exposure to volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) such as benzene and ethylbenzene are linked to increased risk for asthma, low birth weight, cancer, cardiac problems, and other respiratory issues1. Residents near oil & gas operations suffer headaches, dizziness, and nose bleeds in addition to the nuisances of noise, odor, and traffic. Current air quality standards set forth by the CDPHE are insufficient to protect our health, safety, and welfare. We need industry-standard, robust, and permanent air quality monitoring in Erie to properly correlate these air quality issues with the symptoms experienced by Erie residents near fracking operations. 

Given the proliferation of oil & gas operations within and along its borders, the Town of Erie must be protective of its residents to understand and act on the negative impacts of oil & gas on our air quality. We demand the Town engage with Boulder A.I.R to install long-term permanent air quality monitoring stations in Erie, as well as Ajax Analytics to provide short-term/immediate response air quality monitoring. This blended approach will be a crucial first step along the way to protecting Erie residents from the negative impacts of unconventional oil & gas exploration. 

Sincerely, 

Erie Impacted Residents 

<<residents>> 

_____________________________ 

1 https://www.psr.org/blog/7th-edition-of-fracking-compendium-highlights-oil-and-gas-risks-harms/

Jennifer Crossland, Erie resident 

“It’s in my backyard. One full year of noise lights and smells. Sick animals… I am under 800ft from 4 large fracking sites!!!!! With crazy vents!!! This is not good and safe for our community. It’s a shame.” 

Eric Duggan, Erie resident 

“My wife and I have felt the effects of fracking in headaches, sleepless nights from noise and coughing. We have been confined to our homes, hesitant to walk outside or open our windows. We have spent hundreds on air purifiers to manage the danger of VOCs posed to everyone but especially pregnant women. Fracking near our home has changed a dream first home purchase into a nightmare. Fracking and housing should not be near each other, but at the very least we must have air quality monitoring so that we can become aware of any leaks or immediate danger posed to all of the young families in Erie.” 

Kristen Rilling, Erie resident 

“My home is almost 1 mile from the major papa Joe and yellow hammer sites and I am still feeling the impact of the operations with noise, odor, and vibrations. I have three young children and I am horrified that oil and gas activity is allowed so close to residential area. As a medical professional capable of reading and understanding medical literature, there is no doubt in my mind that living this close is a health hazard to my children and my husband and I. I’m embarrassed we live here.” 

Kelsey Barnholt, Erie resident 

“Vibrations from the sites near my home keep us up at night. We are scared of the impact of BTEX chemicals on myself and my growing children. It’s a mystery as to what levels of VOCs we are being exposed to. I have spent $1300 on air purifiers, and it’s not enough for my whole house. I’m worried my house will decrease in value because of the heavy industrial site just 1/2 mile away. We desperately need adequate air quality monitoring.” 

Kristina Frost, Erie resident 

“The ongoing noise pollution is unacceptable, and as someone who already has high cancer risk and a prior history of chemical reaction to pollutants allowing fracking operations so close to our homes like this shows a callous disregard for Erie citizens and prioritizes oil profits over human quality of life.” 

Jacquelyn Thomas, Erie resident 

“Unfortunately myself and our children have experienced severe chronic headaches, bloody noses and an increase in asthma symptoms when we go on walks, ride bikes and play around the neighborhood. I would love to be able to enjoy the wonderful community we have here in Colliers Hill without the negative health challenges.” 

Danielle do Olival, Erie resident 

“We’ve been having headaches constantly… among other things.” 

Angela Kearney, Erie resident 

“I hear the noise and humming every night. It keeps me up. I’m also very concerned about the air quality. This should never have been allowed so close to a residential area.” 

Lainey Bartley, Erie resident 

“My son has been suffering from asthma as well as nose bleeds and his pediatrician believes it’s due to the fracking.” 

Kim Wroblewski, Erie resident 

“Fracking-related noise has led to many sleepless nights, and I continue to be concerned for my family’s health and wellbeing with the wells being so close to our neighborhood.” 

Lara Roehrig, Erie resident 

“We have three young children and are concerned about the air quality for them. When we bought in Colliers Hill almost two years ago, we knew there would be fracking, but didn’t know or imagine how much there would be. It makes me sad to see it right next to homes.” 

Leslie Dickinson, Erie resident 

“The noise has been going on since March and wakes me up most nights. Sometimes it vibrates our windows. This is coming from the wells across the road (CR 10) from Colliers Hill. I’m on the other side of Horizon Blvd and it’s LOUD. Please make it STOP!!! I AM BEGGING YOU!!! I just want to sleep through the night. This should not be happening next to a developing/established community. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??? As for the air quality, I cannot run near CR10 if there is a breeze from the Northeast. It smells like chemicals and natural gas. Some days I can even smell it from our house. My son and I have asthma. WHAT ARE GOING TO BE THE CONSEQUENCES TO OUR HEALTH IF THIS CONTINUES???” 

Beth Ewaskowitz, Erie resident 

“Air quality is not a ‘once in a while’ thing that should be measured – there needs to be constant monitoring to protect the safety and health of our residents. This needs to happen and with the full weight of our leadership behind it so our residents know that their health, well-being, safety, and property values are valued above any monetary gains that may be had by this industrial activity.” 

Melissa Larson, Erie resident 

“We are newer residents to Erie, and have been quite shocked by the air quality here, and the level of fracking going on in the area. If Erie is going to allow fracking, they need to also monitor the air for the people that live here.” 

Valentine Matrat, Erie resident 

“I have 2 young children, 19 months and 1 months old. I had not had to use any asthma medicine since I was 14 years old. Then we moved to Colliers from California and my PCP had to prescribe Albuterol after a few episodes where I was back to wheezing. I am worried for my children’s health. They deserve to grow up breathing nice crisp clean mountain air.” 

Amy Weber, Erie resident 

“Monitoring the air of Erie is literally about the most basic thing we can do here. I spent months sending noise complaints to the oil and gas commission when we had fracking happening right outside our neighborhood. Unfortunately, every single neighborhood in Erie seems to have experienced this, and nothing can ever be done. The oil and gas companies have long been the priority to Erie, it is past time the town acts on behalf of its citizens, even in this most basic way. Something can be done. We at least need to know what is in our air.” 

John Shea, Erie resident 

“Our lives have been turned upside down by this heavy industry in our neighborhood.” 

Meredith Shefferman, Erie resident 

“We’re deeply concerned about the poor air quality in Erie. Please protect your constituents by installing constant air monitoring so that we can hold Oil & Gas accountable.” 

Jaime Brewer, Erie resident 

“I have a newborn and a two year old and am very concerned about their health since we live so close to the fracking sites. My 2 year old has already had nose bleeds and my headaches have increased with the fracking.” 

Elisabeth Fisher, Erie resident 

“I fully support continuous community air monitoring and consider it to be a wise and prudent investment to promote public health, safety and welfare, now and in the future.” 

James Briars, Erie resident 

“Air quality monitoring is vitally important for Erie residents. Please vote to approve and implement it.” 

Anne Hamilton, Erie resident 

“We’ve lived in Erie for 20 years and have noticed air quality has deteriorated tremendously in the past 4 years. I myself, my grandson, and my daughter have severe asthma and have had to increase medications including steroids to be able to even function. It is the town’s responsibility, especially with the passing of this b181, that Erie take care of its community, not just in beauty or looks or roads or building so many houses that nobody can move around anymore, but in being able to be outdoors and breathe clean air rather than being in the house with all the windows closed. With all of the uploading of all of these Wells the smell, the taste, and the lack of being able to see our mountains is from all of this fracking going on. It seems like the town of Erie is more interested in getting money from all these oil companies than giving us, who by the way pay the taxes to build the roads, a healthy place to live! Give us an air quality monitor so that it can be told how dangerous our air is so that something can be done about it, not just ignore it!! “We have a beautiful view of the mountains but we cannot see them as much as we used to because of the pollution. We also have to keep our windows closed because of the smell with all of the uploading and drilling that’s going on in Erie. It’s just wrong, and money cannot be the determining Factor when People’s Health is at risk!!!” 

Katie Winterringer, Erie resident 

“The air quality has caused additional health issues for my husband.” 

Jesse Winterringer, Erie resident 

“The air quality has greatly affected my health these last few month with many drs visits and trips to the allergist etc.” 

Summer Welty, Erie resident 

“Headaches, nose bleeds, sleepless nights, chemical smells.” 

Steven Shapiro, Erie resident 

“Noise, gas smells, ground shaking. Please get the air quality monitor.” 

Diana Shapiro, Erie resident 

“Sinus Headaches since new fracking started North of Colliers Hill this winter. Very noisy at night. We really want the air quality monitored. Thank you.” 

Annette Lombardo, Erie resident 

“Since the wells started up I have been having great difficulty managing my asthma which has not given me any trouble in years.” 

Leigha Burns, Erie resident 

“Concerned with the air quality that will result from the fracking going on by Collier Hills neighborhood and my immune compromised child. Would like my kiddo to be able to play outside safely.” 

Sharon Schuessler, Erie resident 

“Our dreams of a new life with our family here have been compromised. We are scared for our health.” 

Kirsten Eades, Erie resident 

“I have had headaches since they started and trouble sleeping due to noise and vibration. I would ask the town to implement air quality monitoring to help keep O&G within regulation.” 

Luke Hitpas, Erie resident 

“Saddened for the constant noise and poor air quality so close to homes, parks, and school. This isn’t just one well pad, it’s a major fracking operation that should not have been approved in the first place. Please protect our health.” 

Michael Pesce, Erie resident 

“I smell the gas and hear it everyday.” 

Erika Deakin, Erie resident 

“Boy have I ever! From being kept awake for weeks in Grandview (while pregnant) to being kept awake for MONTHS in Vista Ridge, fracking is the worst thing about Erie. The Waste Connections site (I believe, I don’t think it was Pratt) was so unholy smelly that I was trapped in my house for days on end. Couldn’t sit on my porch, couldn’t run outside. We purchased our own sound monitor to prove from INSIDE OUR HOUSE that WC and Pratt were louder than what is allowed during the day at industrial sites. The industry did not care. I’ve had skin cancer (which may be unrelated) and my youngest daughter has nearly daily nosebleeds while fracking is occurring. Also may be unrelated, I’m not a scientist so I don’t know. ” 

Tasia Foss, Erie resident 

“My whole family has suffered from severe headaches almost daily since moving to Erie. When we took an extended vacation this year to a place with better air quality they completely went away. Please consider enforcing laws that will control air pollution to better the quality of life here.” 

Tim Burns, Erie resident 

“We were affected by the noise over the past couple of weeks but now more worried about the air quality with an immunocompromised toddler. I am providing a statement regarding these concerns during the COGCC Public comment period on Wednesday 5/5.” 

Brandy Monckton, Erie resident 

“Some days my eyes hurt when I’m outside and it feels harder to breathe.” 

Katherine Erstad, Erie resident 

“Lived in Anthem Highlands where they implemented this equipment when massive fracking sites went in there – it’s the least that should be done!” 

Lisa Parmley, Erie resident 

“We are a ways away from it and it is loud. We’re very worried about the air quality. In our last home we were much closer to i25 and we thought we were moving to a better, healthier place, but are concerned w/ so many fracking sites near us that the air quality might be worse here. It’s very reasonable to ask for measuring like this. There are even schools nearby; that this is so difficult to get is really quite disturbing.” 

Ina Felsch, Erie resident 

“Collier’s Hill is beautiful! I really don’t want it ruined by bad air quality. I like using all the trails and with the O&G happening, I fear for my health. Would be nice with some air quality measuring.” 

Lyndsey Kujawa, Erie resident 

“As soon as we purchased our home we learned about the fracking and now we are moving. It’s awful and I hope something will be done for future generations, because it can be done – it’s a matter of those in power deeming it “necessary”.” 

Carissa Carroll, Erie resident 

“It’s getting absolutely ridiculous, drive around and ALL you see is fracking! Erie residents didn’t pay big $$ for this!” 

Heather Shea, Erie resident 

“I now have asthma from living next to multiple new wells.” 

Brad & Cindy Taylor, Erie residents 

“We feel like we live in the middle of Commerce City. One site is bad enough, but the sheer number of sites is shocking – with relentless noise and toxic releases at all hours – monitoring is critical and must be ongoing. Monitoring after complaints are registered about a release is worthless and dangerous. We moved here six years ago, Brad was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer four years ago.” 

Indumathi Chandrasekharan, Erie resident 

“Definitely noise pollution it is very loud on certain days and headaches most of the days.” 

Candace Larsen, Erie resident 

“Two fracking wells near our home in the past ten years or so. Submitted many complaints.” 

Annette Nevitt, Erie resident 

“My and my husbands’ breathing and allergies have gotten worse since moving from Thornton, CO less than a year ago.” 

Jennifer Miller, Erie resident 

“I’m terribly worried about air quality but also the effects on our settling soil. We have areas of our yard that have started to sink after fracking started and we are terrified of their operation compromising our soil stability and thus our foundation. This is a serious problem.” 

Johnny Hennessy, Erie resident 

“We live much further than many of our neighbors in Collier’s Hill. And we can hear them fracking much louder than the cars that drive on Erie parkway at 3am. I can only imagine how much vibration and noise those closer hear and feel.” 

Peter Jaumann, Erie resident 

“Please put an in-depth and meaningful monitoring network in place that can be coupled to meteorological conditions to warn and protect Erie’s citizens proactively from episodes of bad air quality.” 

Holly Bilka, Erie resident 

“Fracking activity near our home has caused us to lose sleep from the noise, and has had immediate negative impacts on our health – eye, nose & throat irritation as well as frequent headaches. Please say YES to good air quality monitoring & to holding the O&G companies accountable for their impacts on Erie residents!” 

Ariel Fox, Erie residen 

“Fracking is bloody hideous looking in my backyard. And I’d like to have the privilege of clean air to breathe. It’s not mid-Ohio-valley bad (ex: DuPont) from my childhood, but in no way do I ever want it to get that bad here in the beautiful town of Erie.” 

Jennifer Mier, Erie resident 

“As an asthmatic, air quality monitoring is imperative to my health and how much time I am able to spend outside. I loved having the NOAA tower so close for so long. It is imperative to have a reliable way to measure the air quality now that the tower is gone, especially since Erie appears 

to be ground zero for fracking. The monitoring holds the industry accountable for their own emissions, which really should be recaptured anyway.” 

David Mier, Erie resident 

“This is desperately needed with all of the fracking being done in Erie.” 

Jeffrey Hartzell, Erie resident 

“First its just the drilling and fracking and then it’s the permanent install north of colliers hill. All of that was pushed through before set back regulations tightened. Now there’s dozens of wells within 2000 feet from our home where we don’t know how it’s affecting our children. The walking paths are great at Colliers Hill be we only use half of them now because of the odors and aesthetics just north of the community. All to line the pockets of a dying industry in lieu of supporting other forms of energy that are less deliterious and more sustainable for us all.” 

Brett O’Sullivan, Erie resident 

“Pollution from oil wells is horrible!” 

Ashley Pontiff, Erie resident 

“With a large dump in the middle of our town, along with many drilling sites, air quality monitoring should be a no brainer.” 

Lisa Flanigan, Erie resident 

“The noise in Collier’s Hill is not acceptable let alone the air quality.” 

Chris Burks, Erie resident 

“This is not adversely affecting us (yet) but you have to feel for the neighbors who are having a hard time with all this disruptive activity so close to their homes. Anything we can do to help keep air quality as high as possible is a win.” 

Russ Crossland, Erie resident 

“Yes we live right across the street from the fracking site in colliers hill.” 

Ashley Smith, Erie resident 

“I don’t know that I have been negatively impacted by the fracking or air quality. But I would like more monitoring.” 

Nathalie Tuhari-Katz, Erie resident 

“The nightly vibration of my house is unreal.” 

Heather Szott, Lafayette/Erie resident 

“My “allergies” (and those of my family) seem to get worse by the year — in the winter. Hmm… how can that be — most plants are dead/dormant during that time, right? After tracking allergens for years, I’ve come to the conclusion that the poor air quality in Erie and our proximity to fracking wells is causing these problems. My husband never had asthma until we moved here and my son’s asthma was under control in Westminster, but not here. Also, our symptoms are much worse during inversions.” 

Alexa Schuessler, Broomfield 

“My parents are Erie residents and I echo the concern shared in the letter above.” 

Kyle Roth, Berthoud 

“I had to uproot my family and move away from Erie, out of fear for my families health and safety. This industry is morally bankrupt and is not compatible in the least with residential development. It’s time to ban fracking.” 

Mary, Boulder 

“We left Erie because of the open ended policy on fracking, lack of willpower to take a firm stance against oil and gas by the Erie board of trustees, and the dismantling of beautiful pristine space and the poor air quality.” 

Lindsey Paquette, Broomfield 

“We moved out of the Anthem neighborhood due to the negative impacts of suburban fracking and the constant threat of additional o&g developments around us, both in Broomfield and Erie. Air quality monitoring is critical because it gives the government the data it can use to make decisions that protect public health.”

S. Fox, Lafayette

“I’ve been living in Lafayette, and just during the first 2 years of living there, experienced such exacerbation of asthma and heart arrhythmia, due to local disastrous air quality, that I had to sell my condo and move out, much further from all the fracking! It had been my first home, and I had to leave that, along with close friends and wonderful neighbors. Air does not recognize town boundaries! Thank you, in advance for at least planning to install constant air quality monitoring in Erie.” 

Joe Szott, Lafayette 

“It’s gotten so much worse the last few years, we need more info on this issue.” 

Jane Clevenger, Loveland 

“I can’t breathe with our air rated F by the Amer Lung Assoc.” 

Tricia Olson, Boulder 

“Gunbarrel is definitely impacted by the poor air quality in Erie!” 

Sophia Dunbar, Longmont 

“What you do or don’t do impacts ALL of us nearby. Please care for this land, water and air!” 

Amanda Janusz, Niwot 

“My air quality in Niwot is significantly affected by Erie’s air quality, as we get back winds from weld county and the toxic air gets trapped in the boulder valley due to inversion and the mountains keeping it trapped. My 6 year old was preasthmatic for years due to the F air quality in boulder county. This affects everyone in this entire area.” 

Nick Duncan, Warrenton 

“I have concerns for very close friends in Erie Colorado.” 

Megan Wilder, Boulder 

“Poor air quality and toxic emissions from the oil & gas industry in Boulder County, Weld County and beyond affect us all. We must monitor, measure and then end this pollution immediately. We’ve waited too long already.” 

Shaina Oliver, Denver 

“Most importantly I am an Indigenous mother of four, we are the descendants of the genocide known as the “Indian Removal Act” known to the Dineh as “The Long Walk of the Navajo”. These types of policy violations have run a long historic impact on Indigenous people, community, health, wealth, and environmental wellbeing. As a tribal affiliate of the Navajo Nation, I have seen the devastation of land degradation and health impacts contributed by Coal, Uranium, Oil, and Gas. Because of these disparities, Indigenous people now have the highest rates in asthma, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, leukemia, adverse birth outcomes, and premature deaths than the general population. I was born premature and low-birth weight, with a birth defect and diagnose with asthma in my infancy. When Indigenous people leave the reservation, we are segregated into communities where housing are a lot closer to polluting industries and waste sites.” 

Cleo Dioletis, Denver 

“The air in Colorado has made breathing hard and affects our health. No more fracking, Please” 

Andrew Griggs, Erie Sandra Duggan, Erie 

Chris Klumph, Erie Geoff Winterbourne, Erie 

Kyle Barnholt, Erie 

Kerri Mirtsching, Erie 

Kelli Shanahan, Erie 

Jenny Kratzke, Erie 

Kelly McPherson, Erie 

Abigail Pillitteri, Erie 

Robert Felsch, Erie 

Robert Thomas, Erie 

Nathalie Katz, Erie 

Karen Hoppis, Erie 

Heather Kimling, Erie 

Julie Pellom, Erie 

Tony Wolf, Erie 

Kathleen Montes de Oca, Erie Scott Reynolds, Erie 

Stephanie Reynolds, Erie Charla Wright, Erie 

Brett Miller, Erie 

Matt Mirtsching, Erie 

Cary Lynch, Erie 

Steve Lewis, Erie 

Jill Albert, Erie 

Heather Davies, Erie 

Josephine Sterr, Erie 

Jesse Sterr, Erie 

Judy Neff, Erie 

Gerard Clayton, Erie 

Laura Hartzell, Erie 

Jeffery P Dunn, Erie 

George Hudetz, Erie 

Jill Goodwin-Helgerson, Erie Nadia Anthony, Erie 

Denise Yuen, Erie 

Kasie Koveleski, Erie 

Leanne Vielehr, Erie 

Katharine Warner, Erie Vanessa Sayers, Erie 

Scott Sayers, Erie 

Francisco Banuelos, Erie Kimberly Thompson, Erie Allie Klinger, Erie 

Amardeep Dhillon, Erie 

Whitney Pecenkovic, Erie Hamza Pecenkovic, Erie Brittany O’Brian, Erie Matt O’brian, Erie 

Christopher Seber, Erie Aaron Maggard, Erie Karen Edwards, Erie Meredith Canode, Erie Bari Gisin, Erie 

Paulette Bradford, Erie Bray Lake, Erie 

Mark Lake, Erie 

Carly Kesterson, Erie Deanna Hydock, Erie Brittney Housley, Erie 

James Faughnan, Erie Melissa Yang, Erie 

Berenice Garcia, Erie Cindy Calder, Erie 

Kristina Weiss, Erie Heather Werner, Erie Brittany Jenkins, Erie Mecca Scott, Erie 

Roseanna Falls, Erie Alicia Graves, Erie 

Sharon Schneider, Erie Holly Wheeler, Erie 

Patricia Gilfillan, Erie Fiona Gilfillan, Erie 

Ben Johns, Erie 

Kelli Bercovitch, Erie David Mason, Erie 

Chris Hatton, Erie 

Harry Schuessler, Erie Lauren Lease, Erie 

Abby Dobmeier, Erie Jennifer Sebastian, Erie Marlena Safarian, Erie Jacob Holland, Erie Chayn Lush, Erie 

Patty Ingalls, Erie 

Janine Haan, Erie 

Emily Wolf, Erie 

Marcella Constantini, Erie Rosa Salazar, Erie 

Jennifer French, Erie Lisabeth Tremblay, Erie Sarah Meyer, Erie 

Corie Littlejohns, Erie Marcia Bruning, Erie Marina Bashneva, Erie Rachel Miller, Erie 

Alicia Scott, Erie 

Tonja Drippz, Erie 

Ryan Garcia, Erie 

Karen Hoppis, Erie 

Erica Mannard, Erie 

Angie Keister, Erie 

Jennifer Fleming, Lafayette Elizabeth Blakley, Lafayette Suzanne Engert, Lafayette Jeff Knorr, Lafayette 

Kate Christensen, Lafayette Cindy Lurie, Lafayette 

Tom Stumpf, Longmont Charlene Wilkinson, Longmont Casey Smith, Longmont Dana Smith, Johnstown Kimberly Wagner, Littleton Marty Bruck, Boulder 

William Van Eimeren, Boulder Rita Kovshun, Aurora 

The post Impacted Residents Petition – Continuous Air Quality Monitoring | Open Letter to the Erie Board of Trustees appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Yellow Scene Magazine is doing a 3-part series on Boulder County’s Compost facility at Open Space Rainbow Nursery 

This is PART 1. 

Part 2: Rainbow Open Space Composting Facility: Origins, RCAB, Minutiae, and Staff Errors

Screenshot, Boulder County Community Planning & Permitting Department

Boulder County has proposed building a class III composting facility on a roughly 40 acre plot, once home to the former Rainbow Nursery, and currently the Rainbow Open Space, on the eastern edge of the county. The new project hopes to help the county work towards its Zero Waste Action Plan but has been met with increasing scrutiny in recent weeks.

There are many benefits to having an in-county composting facility, such as cutting down on waste transport emissions and costs, diverting organic waste away from landfills, and achieving county sustainability initiative goals, the new project has faced backlash by concerned residents as the plans came to light. With two active lawsuits, local residents are voicing their contempt for the county’s plans and the negative impacts a facility of this scale can have on the area. Major potential issues associated with the new facility may include odor, property devaluation, potential groundwater contamination, the use of biosolids, destructive environmental impacts, and traffic increases along US-287, and have all been highlighted as concerns the county needs to address . 

Fueling the fire, the county, prior to purchasing the land, held a Conservation Easement (CE) on the property. CEs provide protection against development of property deemed of significant value and are meant to exist in ‘perpetuity’. The property is designated significant agricultural land of national importance. Any private citizen would be restricted by the CE but because the ownership of the CE and the property merged under one owner (the county), the Easement was extinguished and the restrictions were removed due to the doctrine of merger. Professor Nancy Mclaughlin, Law Professor at the University of Utah, says “relying on the doctrine of merger to extinguish the easement is entirely inappropriate.” Moreover, the county used Open Space funds to purchase the property, acknowledging in a closing memo that they were considering using the property as part of the county’s zero waste initiative. 

At the time of writing this, the county has placed a hold on the project while they reassess to ensure that the special use review process goes according to plan. Andrew Barth, Communications Specialist at Boulder County Public Works, the contact listed on the official Boulder County Compost Facility website, explains, “the team from public works and our consultants are diving back into the plans right now to refine … because we don’t want to go through special use review and then have them say no.” Asked what caused the hold, Barth says, “it’s just making sure we really do what we’re saying, we can build, will mitigate all the environmental concerns that everybody’s having.”

Programs of this scale have specific requirements as to how they must be communicated to the public prior to their approval by the Board of Commissioners. If the special use review is continued and the hold is released, there will be opportunities for the public to join the conversation as the local government goes through the motions to potentially approve the project. Local residents and all of the Trustees and the Mayor for the Town of Erie have expressed discontent with how the project has been publicly vetted. Local resident and neighbor to the property in question, Nancy Davis, told Yellow Scene that only twelve people were notified of the project at first. Barth refutes this claim, stating, “it was actually, I think, twenty-two properties were informed directly and invited to a meeting on site.” Erie Trustee, Brandon Bell, puts it plainly that “the lack of transparency on this is sickening,” and Erie Trustee Sara Loflin said, “It is clear to me that there has not been substantial outreach or public process on the part of the county.” 

According to Barth, the project was still “in the design phase where we’re trying to ensure that it could happen” and that the four public hearings would occur down the line once the project has moved to the Boulder County Commissioners and also the Parks & Open Space Advisory Committee.

Although all Erie Trustees and the Mayor have expressed their frustrations in light of the public outcry at the February 9th, 2021 meeting, an email chain acquired by Yellow Scene shows that, on behalf of the Town of Erie, Deborah Bachelder, the Planning Manager/Deputy Director at Planning and Development, sent a memo to Boulder County Community Planning & Permitting acknowledging the benefits of the new facility. In the memo were three conditions for the county to address: commit to an odor study if complaints occur, mitigation of materials being blown off-site due to high winds, and additional controls if traffic increases exceeding 5-10% depending on the road.

Although this project only came to fruition in the past year, the idea for a composting facility has long been in the works as a beneficial in-county opportunity to help advance sustainability initiatives. Former Mayor and current Executive Director of Eco-Cycle Suzanne Jones explains that, “having a community owned compost facility in Boulder County is something that’s been discussed for over 15 years.” Boulder County currently takes its organic waste to the A1 Organics facility in Keenesburg, whose Chief Technical Officer, Bob Yost, has worked as a paid consultant for PEH Architects to help design the new facility. Removing the need to bring waste to Keenesburg would cut down on truck emissions and associated costs thereby allowing compost to become more affordable. Furthermore, the facility would aid in the slowing of landfill expansion by diverting organic waste to be reused as compost, however Boulder County already brings much of its organic waste to the A1 Organics facility in Keenesburg.

Compost is a nutrient-rich substance that would allow residents and farmers alike access to valuable soil that allows for carbon sequestration and improves crop health. CDOT is also a large user of compost for various infrastructure developments. Suzanne Jones says it’s “a really wonderful vision that’s been in the works for many years and would help all of the cities in the county reach their goals around climate zero waste and regenerative ag. (agriculture)” 

Residents are concerned, however, that a facility of this scale would increase traffic in the surrounding area and on US-287, commonly regarded as both a busy and accident prone roadway. Barth clarified that, “we really didn’t … find it was gonna create a massive addition to traffic on 287… those trucks are already on those roads.” But residents have raised the concern that the facility will accommodate around 70 active companies and that although outbound truck traffic may decrease, traffic coming into the county is bound to increase. In an email acquired by Yellow Scene, CDOT’s Tim Bilobran questions the traffic report conducted by Fox Tuttle, questioning the projection of, “37 real truck trips per day, which seems very low to me if potentially over 70 companies will be using this location and drawing vehicles from as far away as Keenesburg.” Another concern is the increase in production that the facility may experience over the next two decades. Slanted to produce 100,000,000 pounds of compost each year, the facility may increase those numbers by another 25 – 100 million pounds. Residents want to be assured that the county has put enough work into knowing just how much traffic will increase in the surrounding area.

Screenshot, Boulder County Community Planning & Permitting Department Boulder County Compost Facility, PEH Architects, A1 Organics, SCS Engineering

At this time, it has not yet been decided who will run the facility. Barth mentioned that when the time is right the county will decide whether to run the facility or open it up to a bidding process. A1 Organics is certainly a strong contender, or at least has an interest. When asked why he would help to build a facility that would take business from A1 Organics, Bob Yost responded with, “I’d rather do it that way than be given the opportunity to bid on operating it and [it] be designed poorly.” 

Another potential contender mentioned by residents is Ecocycle. Suzanne Jones, when asked, said, “It seems much more likely that an expert compost facility operator like A1 Organic[s], who is helping them on the design build, would be a likely candidate for operating the facility.”

Biosolids

Boulder County’s proposed compost facility will be a class III facility, which means it will also be allowed to accept Class A Biosolids for composting. Whether the facility will process them from the getgo is to be determined, Barth says. “We’re designing the facility to accept them, whether or not they would be accepted right away would be a part of the operations plan.” It’ll largely be up to who runs the facility.

Biosolids, or treated sewage sludge, is the product of local wastewater treatment plants and defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment facility… that can be recycled and applied as fertilizer to improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate plant growth.” Boulder County has at least seven different wastewater facilities. Using biosolids at the proposed facility will allow Boulder County (and others) to reuse their sewage sludge for compost. According to the study, “Pathogens in Biosolids” (2006), biosolids have been shown to “improve the productivity of soils or enhance revegetation of disturbed ecosystems,” when applied to farmland. 

Biosolids are commonly designated as Class A or Class B, depending on the amount of pathogens removed. According to the EPA, federal regulation “40 CFR Part 503 treatment processes for Class A biosolids eliminate pathogens, including viruses. Generally, pathogens may exist when requirements are met under 40 CFR Part 503 for Class B biosolids.” The facility will potentially be accepting Class A biosolids.

Biosolids have been a point of controversy due to the potential for pathogens to remain even after they’ve been treated at wastewater facilities. One example, according to the City of Boulder Water Resource Recovery Facility, is that they are “not equipped to completely remove all of the chemicals and compounds found in various medications” if they were to be flushed down the toilet. Pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and helminths (parasites) can lead to illness, but according to a study titled, “Human Health Risks From Biosolids Applied to Land” (2006) “Class A biosolids are not intended to have detectable concentrations of pathogens.” The study goes on to conclude that “there is no scientifically documented evidence of the public having health problems from pathogens in biosolids, knowledge gaps and outdated operational criteria allow for doubts and concerns about the risk to the public from such organisms.” 

Biosolids are nutrient rich and contain nitrogen and phosphorus and small amounts of potassium. These nutrients are essential for crop growth. Other concerns about biosolids include potential runoff and leaching of nitrate, soluble and sediment bound phosphate in runoff and erosion, and a build up of soil potassium levels due to continued annual application.

The United States is a major user of biosolids for farming; the only areas where biosolids are federally banned are on certified organic farms. Some states have placed restrictions on their use and the country of Switzerland has banned them outright out of concern that any chemical soil contamination impairs soil fertility.

Odors

Odors can be lovely, but oftentimes they are not. With compost and biosolids come specifically offensive odors, and for local residents and specifically those living in Erie, it’s an unwelcome thought. Offensive odors are caused by the decomposition of material producing ammonia and the sulphuric smell often associated with biosolids. At the February 9th Erie Board of Trustees meeting, to which Boulder County was invited but declined, residents voiced concerns specifically about potential odors that may occur at the facility, especially if biosolids are used. 

Concern surrounds the potential for particulates to travel and be inhaled by surrounding neighbors. In a study conducted by the Canadian National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, titled “Odour from a Compost Facility” (2018), it’s explained that aerobic decomposition will emit bioaerosols and microbial volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The amount of bioaerosols and distance travelled will be largely dependent on the size and technology of the facility as well as the local winds but have been detected both upwind and downwind from composting facilities. The study says that, “microbial VOCs are considered to be the main source of odor from compost facilities as many of these compounds can be smelled at extremely small concentrations, below what is known to be harmful to human health.” In regards to health impacts to nearby residents of the facilities they reviewed, “exposure to VOCs has the potential to induce acute toxicological effects such as inflammatory and immune effects, as well as sensory irritation in the eye, nose, or throat.” They do mention that although “VOCs are odorous even at very low concentrations, they are not considered to be the primary cause of health symptoms for residents near to composting facilities.”

Among the many types of composting technology, the county has chosen to use aerated static pile composting, also known as in-vessel, that is shown to reduce odor by 90-95%. In-vessel technology is more expensive than other methods but it provides far greater control over the compost if properly managed. Bob Yost, A1 Organics, doesn’t think the odors will be much of an issue so long as the facility is properly managed.”This is an enclosed composting system, I don’t foresee, properly operated I think that there’ll be limited if any odor issues with the facility.” Nearby residents continue to be concerned about what that 5-10% could equate to. Some have even threatened to sell their properties and leave if the facility is built. 

Water contamination 

The Rainbow Open Space property’s eastern border follows along the Leggett ditch, a local irrigation canal that serves other surrounding properties. According to the ecological assessment done by Birch Ecology, groundwater sits at roughly five feet below the surface, there’s a small pond on the property, and wetlands border the north- and southeastern borders. Concerns have been raised that particulates from the facility could potentially contaminate the surface and groundwater either by being blown due to high winds or on the off chance that one of the in-vessel structures fractures and leaks water. Another concern has been that the Leggett ditch could be affected during construction or that groundwater could be exposed.

In a letter acquired by YS sent by the Leggett Ditch and Reservoir Company (the Company) to Jean Ott, Community Planning & Permitting, the Company asserts that they strongly oppose the new facility because “high water and rain events would result in a serious risk that storm flows and contaminants would be discharged into the ditch.” They go on to say that “ground water contamination including E.Coli and Salmonella is likely based on the hydrology information available” and that “the proposed Compost Facility would alter the natural drainage into the Leggett ditch from the property proposed to be developed.” This would “modify the manner and quantity of storm water discharges into the ditch.” 

Man made irrigation pond, wetlands. Via PEH Special Use Review

Another document acquired by YS through the public record are comments provided by Kim Hutton, Water Resources Manager at City of Boulder Public Works, and Bethany A. Collins, Real Estate Supervisor, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Department. After acknowledging the significant benefits that the facility could provide, the letter goes on to say, “the City of Boulder has concerns regarding the potential impacts to water quality in the Leggett Ditch and Panama Reservoir posed by the construction and operation of the composting facility.” They continue that, “it is imperative to the City’s interests that appropriate conditions are put on the construction and operation of the facility to ensure that water quality in the Leggett Ditch and Panama Reservoir will not be degraded, as such water will be used for municipal and irrigation purposes.” Representing the City of Boulder they offer nine comments of recommendation, including: ensure that the surface and groundwater is not contaminated, that pre-construction well sample data be collected, and that high wind assessments are completed to prevent debris from blowing off-site.

Ecological Assessment

An Ecological Assessment & Wildlife Impact Report was conducted by Birch Ecology, located in Lyons, CO. The assessment is a thorough depiction of the existing conditions of the property as well as an assessment of what protected flora and fauna are or may be found on the property. Local residents have voiced concern that the assessment simply wasn’t robust enough and that true field studies must be conducted. In an interview with Delia Malone, Colorado Ecologist and chair of the Wildlife Committee of the Sierra Club’s Rocky Mountain Chapter, Malone believes that “the ecological resources addressed in this report are incomplete and thus are an inaccurate representation of the ecological resources of the area.” One threatened species that is specifically mentioned in the report is the Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse (PMJM). According to the Birch Ecology assessment, the property does not contain a suitable habitat for the PMJM. Malone says that the recon Birch Ecology conducted was nothing more than a walk through, “there’s no scientific rigor” and that “given the near proximity to other [PMJM] populations, what should occur are live-trapping surveys.” 

According to Andrew Barth, “What we found is that mostly, it’s just birds out in that canopy out there.” For Malone, even “just birds” are enough to want to protect the property. Malone explains that, “There has been an exponential decline [in birds]… about 2.9 billion less birds today in North America then we had in 1970” and blames the continued “conversion of natural habitat to all sorts of development”. When “this area [was designated] as open space [CE] 30 years ago, that was visionary. It’s not in pristine shape… but it still provides important habitat for wildlife, habitat that is being converted and eaten up by human development.” When asked what else she would recommend the county do before deciding to build the facility, Malone pointed towards breeding bird surveys (during nesting season), more vegetation surveys, and a thorough understanding of the edge effect (i.e. how far the facility could impact surrounding areas, especially the wetlands and other habitats nearby).

Wetlands PEH Special Use Review

Conservation easements 

In 1994, the land owners at the time, Barney C. and Cheryn H. Barnett, entered into an agreement with the county for a Conservation Easement (CE). CE’s are generally considered to protect properties in perpetuity (i.e. forever). Their use has grown exponentially in recent decades as a way to protect land from development and are often advertised as doing just that. According to Nancy Mclaughlin, University of Utah, the issue with Rainbow Nursery is that Boulder County is setting a precedent that whenever land is purchased by the same entity that owns the CE, the CE and all its protections are automatically extinguished without any sort of process. 

Yellow Scene acquired the original deed between the Barnetts and the county in which the purpose of the CE is defined:

It is the purpose of this Easement to preserve and protect in perpetuity the significant agricultural attributes of the property, its continued agricultural use and its open space values.

Nowadays, CEs tend to have a section on how the easement may be extinguished, something that the 1994 CE did not include. A sample template of a CE that Boulder County would use today includes a section on extinguishment. The county asserts that what they are doing is legal, but even then, residents wonder if it should be. In the passed 2019 Colorado HB19-1264, any land with a CE that was used for a tax credit may not be extinguished by merging ownership. It’s not certain whether the Rainbow Nursery property was ever claimed as a tax credit. When asked why the new bill was so specific to tax credits, Mclaughlin says recent tax related abuses could have focused the bill, adding that it’s important to consider the potential for future amendments. “If people are upset about it, maybe they can convince the Colorado Legislature to tighten up the language about the merger.” 

The concept behind the Merger doctrine is that there is no need for the owner of a property to hold a CE upon themselves because they are the ones that want the easement. Why this should explain the ability for the county to build a composting facility on once protected land is not clear. Mclaughlin explains that although the ownership is the same, the two entities also need to be held in the same right. Because a CE is so specific and is meant to benefit the public, it may not be considered to be held in the same right as open space land. In the deed it states, “Whereas the grantee recognizes the public benefit to be served by such a preservation” and “Whereas, the Grantor desires to sell an interest in the Property to the Grantee in order to assure its preservation in perpetuity,” The Grantor being the Barnetts, the Grantee being the County. It is the purpose of the CE to protect the land indefinitely at the benefit of the public and according to Mclaughlin, “a conservation easement does not cease to serve any purpose when the holder of the easement acquires the underlying land. The easement continues to provide the significant benefits to the public for which it was created.”

Mclaughlin says the precedent shouldn’t be to simply extinguish CEs and that the County has other methods at their disposal, such as the option of condemnation. That would cause the County to be held accountable to explain their reasoning to take currently designated open space land and build a composting facility upon it. According to Mclaughlin, as well as many residents, CEs are meant to offer protection from development on one’s land including from the government and should require an extraordinary process to remove them. Mclaughlin wonders, “why did they say the CE was perpetual?”. If they wanted a way to get rid of the easement when it was signed in 1994, “why didn’t they draft the easement to give them the right to terminate”?

Where we are

Some residents are worried that, because they’re building a compost facility, many of the real concerns are falling to the wayside, that it’s almost taboo to speak negatively about a facility that should be inherently good. What residents want are the facts and the truth, and Boulder County has a duty to provide that and to ensure that all residents are taken care of, and taken into account, not just the greater good or the 12 (or 22) properties they think are important. It also doesn’t help that local groups such as the Coalition for Local Compost Climate Action, which is associated with Eco-Cycle and run by Dan Matsch, Manager at Eco-Cycle, is sharing information that simply isn’t accurate. In the FAQ question on the coalition webpage, it reads, [the property] “was never intended for public recreation or officially-designated open space.” In an interview with Janis Whisman, Real Estate Division Manager for Boulder County Parks & Open Space, she asserts, “I want to make sure that you understand that this property still is open space and it will remain open space until that process occurs.” By process, Whisman is referring to the need for the county to reimburse the Open Space tax fund via the Sustainability Tax fund if the facility were to be built.

As to what will occur at the former Rainbow Nursery, only time will tell, but both support and backlash are growing as the project becomes increasingly publicized. The concerns are real, the benefits are real, the potential harms are real, and the public process needs to exist for all to partake. Once the county continues the special use review, it is required that they notify the public and that public hearings occur. If the local government functions as it should, it will take all feedback into consideration to assure the public that the government is doing its job correctly and that it is serving its constituents to the level and competency, and transparency, that they deserve.

This is part 1 of a 3 part series by Laurenz Busch for Yellow Scene Magazine. Follow along by liking Yellow Scene. 

The post Rainbow Open Space: From Protected Land to a Class III Compost Facility? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

It was a strange morning. January 20th had been in progress since the midnight before and it was just after noon as I left I left my home in Erie and stopped by the local gas station for a cup of coffee and gas. President Biden and Vice President Harris had already taken their oaths of office, Jennifer Lopez had already sung, and Arlington cemetery was abuzz with cannon shots and the official presidential motorcade. As I drove the county roads on my way to the on-ramp, heading into downtown Denver, I noticed the city seemed much more alive than it has in quite some time. This is inauguration day.

It was a view of the town that struck me as being at odds with what I felt inside, knowing I was on my way to photograph and document at the Colorado State Capitol as left leaning rally-goers sought to send a message to Biden and Trump’s death cult pro-coup MAGA-stans were supposed to be massing to demand his installment as king…bit I digress. Here I was in Erie and there were kids walking down back roads where I’ve never really seen people walk before. The streets were bustling. Local work sites were filled up and busy. Maybe it was the 56-degree day, in the middle of winter, or maybe it was me projecting hope or optimism onto a day that, I have to admit, I have been slightly dreading. 

It was a nice reminder that even if parts of the world fall apart, not all parts of the world fall apart, that even if parts of America are falling apart, it’s not all of America. Even if Denver might be roiled with turmoil, lots of areas around the Front Range and across our state are holding it together; forward facing, gorgeous, and shining bright like a new administration on its way to the White House to hopefully (don’t hold your breath too long) undo the damage Donald J. Trump inflicted.

Arriving at the Capitol it was clear that none of the Trump supporters, the #MAGAcoup crowd, the white supremacist overthrow collective, were going to make it. I was pointed to a group of about five – “if you wanna see fascists, look over there” on the edge of Lincoln and 14th streets, with masks on, taking pictures and hanging out, but otherwise not engaging. I was also pointed to a “Karen” who had apparently been attempting to instigate, pretending to be a journalist, who had been escorted out a handful of times already. 

At this rally, hosted by Colorado Brown Berets and Denver Communists, there were about 200 participants, over the course of the day. They came with intention, to send a message to the newly-inaugurated Biden-Harris administration that the children in the cages needed to be released immediately, that oil and gas pipelines have to be killed, that wars have to be ended, that Black and Native lives matter, and that racist policing has to be curtailed. 

And that last part, in itself, is an excellent point because I was here at the state capitol on January 6th as the #GOPcoup acted in sedition and stormed the U.S. Capitol Building. I was here on the Colorado State Capitol lawn, surrounded by right-wing militia members, where I was ultimately shoved into traffic, which was summarily ignored by the Executive Protection Unit of the Colorado State Patrol. There were at least three times as many Trump supporters on that day, but a clear half of the total cops deployed for today’s peaceful rally. The CSP officers today were there from the beginning, not deployed later in the day, as it appeared on January 6th. 

Arriving January 6th I was able to hang out for hours before officers arrived or made their presence known. Today, officers were everywhere, obvious, on all four sides of the capital, on both balconies, on side streets, parked at the RTD terminal, willing to walk through the middle of a crowd to insulate a right wing agitator – instead of preventing his incursion – with pepper ball gun in a show of force; a show that told the crowds, yet again, that the officers are always on the side of white people, on the side of white supremacy, on the side of the violent agitators. 

There were also armed bike patrol officers on site and, as we know, bike units are there like mounted (horse) units as a riot control measure. The bikes are used as mobile barricades. I approached a sergeant with the bike division on the north side of the Capitol and I asked him if he could explain to me why there were multiple deployments of officers, including riot control measures, when this level of response wasn’t given on January 6th… but I didn’t get my question answered because he motioned to his officers to leave and they fled. That’s correct, they fled a member of the media asking reasonable questions. I later tried to ask the sergeant what his name was, but he ignored me. 

That is the Colorado State Patrol, exempted from the state law to hold officers accountable, SB 217, but tasked with and enforcing Denver City policies; a lovely loophole for Colorado state police repression to continue without accountability. 

To the final point, there were left-wing community defense organizations on site to help insulate and protect from white supremacist aggression. That was necessary because – apart from the fact that #MAGAtraitors had claimed intent to hold 50 capitols hostage today – on at least three occasions, excluding events that transpired while I wasn’t around, white supremacist agitators approach the crowd, attempting to engage and disrupt. The patrol members on site didn’t prevent that, didn’t engage them, didn’t protect. The agitators were all grown white men. There were children in the crowd at the rally. 

White supremacy attempted to rule the day, even though the crowd on the capitol grounds should be allowed to engage in their first amendment rights without threat of violence. That’s literally why the officers were on site, but it seems they only defend constitutional rights, First Amendment rights, when it’s the right wing demanding to be heard. It’s the same as January 6th, where officers were lined up and facing counter-protestors while the officers facing the MAGA crowd were just hanging out; this I witnessed after I was assaulted and shoved in traffic, but it was ignored by officers who told me to get out of the street. 

White supremacist agitators walk through, Brown Berets keep singing (lower left)

They came to disrupt but the Brown Berets, Latinx people, stood at the microphone and led the crowd in traditional songs till they left. And the event continued with the recitation of poetry, with Black and Brown performers singing and rapping, and with the group sending their message: that Joe Biden isn’t off the hook just because he’s not Trump, that Kamala Harris isn’t off the hook just because she’s a Black and Indian woman, that the United States government isn’t off the hook just because we have a new administration in place.

I’m reminded of watching Biden’s inaugural address this morning, and his claim of a peaceful transfer of power, the first in a long line of lies I expect from his administration. Power in America has never transferred as peacefully as people believe it has over the last 240 years but, if there ever was a violent transfer of power, this year was it. We should be clear that it’s Black and Brown bodies, Indigenous bodies across the nation, that fought tooth-and-nail to prevent Donald Trump from having a second term. We can’t forget that it was nearly one-hundred-thousand white supremacists who attended Trumps #SaveAmericaRally and tens of thousands who stormed the US Capitol, prepared to take hostages and execute members of Congress, in an attempt to install Trump as a dictator or King. 

For the last 529 years, through today, and as long as they’ve had breath in their lungs, regardless of white supremacy, regardless of white policing, regardless of white preferences in prosecutorial and judicial logic and outcomes, regardless of media, Indigenous people are still here, Black bodies are still here, and they’re going to be heard. They’re going to fight. And I thing they’re going to win. 

This is a letter from #DeLaVacasDesk.

Agitator is spoken to by officers, allowed to enter rally, officers follow to protect

The post On holding Biden’s feet to the fire, disproportionate policing, and white supremacists: the Colorado Capitol on Inauguration Day 2021 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Photographer Kenneth Wajda was in Denver for the Impeach Trump Car Parade and Rally that took place on January 10th, four days after Trump and the Republican party attempted an armed coup. The rally, which called for the removal and impeachment of President Donald Trump, began in the parking lot of South High School in Denver, drove up through downtown Denver and ended at Manual High School, January 10, 2020. Wajda shoots for Yellow Scene Magazine and is a prolific local photographer. You can visit his website here.

Here are his images.

Community organizer Tay Anderson speaks to the crowd gathered at the Impeach Trump Now Car Rally in Denver.

RTD Board Director Shontel Lewis speaks to the crowd gathered at the Impeach Trump Now Car Rally in Denver.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser speaks to the crowd gathered at the Impeach Trump Now Car Rally in Denver.

Cars drive up Lincoln Avenue through Denver at the Impeach Trump Now Car Rally in Denver.

Cars drive up Lincoln Avenue through Denver at the Impeach Trump Now Car Rally in Denver.

Cars drive up Lincoln Avenue through Denver at the Impeach Trump Now Car Rally in Denver.

Cars drive up Lincoln Avenue through Denver at the Impeach Trump Now Car Rally in Denver.

Cars drive up Lincoln Avenue through Denver at the Impeach Trump Now Car Rally in Denver.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter (and get our printed copy monthly at home.)
Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

The post Impeach Trump Car Parade and Rally: January 10th | Kenneth Wajda Photos appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s note: This article is a contribution by our editorial intern staff, Kate Lieberman and Ashley Kay Mauer, with support, direction, editing, and writing by YS Editor De La Vaca.

Web image

 On a cool Wednesday afternoon in December, community members gathered for a press conference to plead for an audience with Interim Superintendent Kristopher Schuh regarding the food crisis Jefferson County students and families are facing in the wake of COVID-19, and a shift to online learning.

Pastor Reagan Humber, a member of House for All Sinners and Saints and Colorado for the Common Good, led the conference and was joined by representatives from Jefferson County Education Support Professionals Association, Jefferson County Education Association, B’nai Havurah Synagogue, Taking Neighborhood Health to Heart, Co-Op at 1st and Jovial Concepts, Go Farm Golden, BGOLDN, Arvadans for Social Justice, Triad Early Childhood Council, Jefferson County Food Policy Council, Lakewood United Church of Christ, and Jefferson County Poor People’s Campaign. Numerous concerned citizens and community members joined via Zoom.

On Monday, November 30, JeffCo announced a reduction in their food distribution model that caused alarm. The new plan reduced the locations and time frames at and during which food would be distributed to hungry students and families to just 15 sites and to just Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM. 

This past Friday, December 4, Humber and collaborators reached out to Interim Superintendent Christopher Schuh, who was appointed in August after Superintendent Jason Glass accepted a new position as Kentucky’s State Commissioner of Education. They requested an audience and Schuh declined. Instead, they met with Steve Bell, Chief Operations Officer, and Erica Edwards, Director of Operations of Food and Nutrition Services. Schuh expressed confidence in his staff’s decisions, but Humber and his associates left the meeting with more questions than answers.

Bell suggested that the changes in distribution were made in answer to abuse of the system. “He alleges that individuals without students are picking up and selling meals,” Humber said. “While we are in the midst of a global pandemic we cannot be distracted by circling wagons or ludicrous red herrings.” Even if Bell’s sources are accurate on this matter, and to date no proof of these claims has been offered, there is still the question of whether or not it is really a concern worthy of limiting help to the people who do rely on it.

On Monday, December 7, the district announced a modification to their plan from November 30, which lengthened the pickup hours from one to two and added four additional pickup locations. Humber recognizes that this is a step in the right direction, but he is still concerned that it is not enough and that his voice and the voices of the concerned people he has been working with are still not being heard.

Schuh had agreed to a meeting in the following two weeks, following backlash for his initial refusal. However, a date for this meeting has not been arranged and because it stalled for too long – we haven’t had word that the meeting took place – it is too late to develop a new model for food distribution for the holidays. The longer changes are postponed, the longer students and their families go hungry.

Kristin Welch works with Co-Op at 1st and Jovial Concepts, organizations that have been doing their part to help feed and employ people who are struggling, even though it is not a normal part of their operation. Welch hopes to be a part of the discussion with Schuh and points to four main areas of change to increase the number of people JeffCo can feed. Those four areas are: Extending food pickup hours, possibly to include evenings and weekends, increasing transportation of ready to eat meals, utilizing existing staff to ensure food for the entire week, and improving communication so families know what is available to them. With JeffCo’s resources, Welch believes they can benefit families on a large scale.

Web image

Wally Maistryk is a professional bus driver, a member of JeffCo Education Support Professionals, and president of the Jefferson County Transportation Association. He agrees with Welch that existing staff, himself and other bus drivers, are capable and willing to provide their time to transport food and services to all JeffCo kids and families in need. “If JeffCo leadership can provide the food along with the addresses and locations where we can meet our kids and families, our transportation supervisors can route our buses for proper delivery and help keep JeffCo kids fed through their Christmas and New Year holidays.” A sign outside of Ralston Valley High School wishes students happy holidays and well wishes for their health and safety. Maistryk and his bus staff want to do their part to ensure that those wishes are more than empty words.

Photos by Ashley Mauer

Maistryk’s proposal would be particularly important to help students in food deserts, areas where people lack access to nutritious food. Rhiannon Wenning, a social studies teacher at Jefferson Junior/Senior High School and representative of the Jefferson County Education Association, shared that some children are walking 40 to 60 minutes each way, sometimes in the dark, to get to one of the distribution locations and others are not even close enough for walking to be a feasible option. “We are one of the largest districts in the state and we should be a leader in providing hot, nutritious and accessible meals to our students,” Wenning said.

Jennifer Muñoz is a secretary for the Title I office at JeffCo. She is concerned with food insecurity among the students. Two years ago her office had a giving tree and a five year old asked for a gift card to King Soopers so his mom could buy food. Food insecurity – not knowing where your next meal will come from – is a heavy weight for adults, let alone young children. Two years ago that kindergartener experienced food insecurity and the situation has only been worsened by COVID. Muñoz insists that JeffCo has the resources to feed the community and keep people employed, but action is needed now to make it happen.

If JeffCo can help feed these hungry people, then they don’t become a burden to food banks, a problem that Tyson Neath has been witnessing. Neath is the executive director of BGOLDN, a food bank in Golden that tries to ensure that no one in the community goes hungry. BGOLDN, like other food banks, has found itself having to pick up the slack left in the wake of JeffCo’s students no longer being fed by the school system. “When we have to step up to fill a gap, it takes away from what we can offer to others,” Neath says. He hopes that community conversation and collaboration can improve the current district model to improve access to food.

After hearing from all of these different people it’s clear that this is a huge crisis, but it doesn’t need to be a crisis; everyone who spoke is willing and waiting to help. 

Thirty percent of Jefferson County Schools are on free and reduced lunch and several are Title I schools, some with almost 100 percent free and reduced students. The usage of these organizations is skyrocketing right now. 

A service that is currently being provided by JeffCo is grab and go meals. Organizations put together bulk packs of meals for families to last for a fews days. The idea is that this way they can have enough food to carry them over until the next pickup day. Although this is great, it is not all that is needed to solve the issue. There are an estimated 3,000 homeless students that attend JeffCo Schools; their transportation is limited and they are living in hotels, out of their cars, or in unsafe conditions. These people make up 96 percent free reduced lunch students. These students don’t have the capability to prepare bulk meals, much less store them in some cases. One recommendation is more meals that are ready to eat. But iff pickup times are limited to twice a week, ready to eat meals cannot be distributed often enough to feed these homeless students and families without the same storage concerns. 

Photo by Kate Lieberman

One of the major problems is communication. There are a lot of families that are simply unaware of what is available, so they miss the opportunity to take advantage of the programs that are in place to assist them. Having advertising and information online is a great tool, but it is not an effective way to get word to families that lack internet access and/or devices. A visit to Ralston Valley High School revealed lots of COVID related signage, but nothing that pertained to food pickup or distribution. A sign at the main entrance informs people that visitors are allowed for pre arranged meetings only, so going inside to ask questions isn’t an option either. If the distribution locations themselves don’t indicate that they offer these services, anyone without internet access is being excluded from these opportunities.

“This is a crisis, but this doesn’t have to remain a crisis. We are concerned about children eating; this should be a no brainer,” Humber said in plea for Schuh to meet with them so they can discuss possible solutions. He admits that they might not have all of the relevant information or all of the answers, but they seek a collaborative process to try and help provide families with the food they need to live, a change that is necessary now, not when it is convenient.

If you are interested in getting involved and helping out, check out the organizations we listed and see where you can volunteer at or where you can donate. Make a change and make sure that these hungry families and kids are getting the food that they need during these dark times. There is a direct action, feeding the food insecure, on January 2nd, both to help people and to call attention to district inaction. 

The post Food Insecurity Across Jefferson County Schools: Taking a Turn for The Worst appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM-DONATE NOW!

Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we are now publishing some press peleases in whole. 

Former sheriff’s sergeant arrested for using excessive force

The 13-year veteran assaulted an in-custody inmate with a Taser 

Boulder County, Colo. – Earlier today, former sheriff’s sergeant Christopher Mecca, 51, was arrested and booked through the Boulder County Jail on the charges of 3rd Degree Assault and Official Misconduct after assaulting an in-custody inmate with a Taser. In addition to being criminally charged, Mecca previously resigned his employment during the disciplinary process, in lieu of termination, for violating a number of policies, including departure from his training, and for egregious violations of the core mission and values of the sheriff’s office. 

Former Sgt. Christopher Mecca

The post Former sheriff’s sergeant arrested for using excessive force | Press Release appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM-DONATE NOW!

Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we are now publishing some press peleases in whole. 

October 1, 2020 

NAACP Boulder County Chapter: 

Dear President James and colleagues, 

Based upon your concerns over the hire of former Boulder Police Department Officer John Smyly in the computer support section of the sheriff‘s office, the hire was given another review. We have concluded this hire was not helpful to our equity work, and I wish to inform you of the resolution to the issue. 

Our staff spoke to John Smyly yesterday concerning the controversy over his temporary position here. John is not enjoying the spotlight or controversy and understands it is necessary for him to leave. He has agreed to immediately seek other employment outside of the county government. We will try to b his position and transfer the work and have him finish the projects he has in progress on our RMS replacement so that we don’t have to start over. This was very difficult because John has not violated any policies here and has been a very productive, pleasant employee. He will leave as soon as possible, and we placed a written deadline on departure by the end of the year. 

I am not normally involved in hiring decisions. When our staff interviewed the candidates for this term position, Smyly was the best qualified applicant. Some understood the past controversy in his role as a city police officer, so they brought this decision to some of our executive staff members, including myself, for discussion. We looked at this through the lens of safety and exposure. This was a temporary, non-enforcement job with no public contact or representation. We did not see any opportunity for harm. Ultimately, I approved the hire. 

We failed to consider the sentiment, or “trigger” that it might cause for people of color. That’s my fault, I take responsibility. We have been engaged in race equity training and discussions and are committed to continuing those efforts and working with county staff on whatever tools might help us in those efforts. Obviously, I still have things to learn. 

Respectfully, 

Joe Pelle 

Sheriff Joe Pelle 

The post Boulder County Sheriff Pelle response to NAACP BC | Press Release appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we are now publishing some press peleases in whole. 

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAACP Boulder County Letter to Boulder City Council on
Police Accountability and Housing for Homeless during the Pandemic

See [this embedded] letter.

• •    Conflict of interest by Police Auditor Monitor Mr. Joseph Lipari.
  •      Officer Smyly who held a gun on a Naropa student, went on paid leave for many months, and is now serves in the Sheriff’s Department on the taxpayer’s dime.
  •       Officer Lolotai was put on leave for social media posts in support of Police brutality, resigned rather than face inquiry and is free to serve in another community.
  • Earlier this year, homeless clients were turned away from full shelters during a snowstorm during a Pandemic; this practice resulted in the death Mr. John Aldridge earlier this month.
  •      City Council must review and change how they serve homeless community members to:

Prevent additional deaths due to harsh weather

Provide housing during the Pandemic/Flu season

Take measures to ensure public health of all citizens in the COVID era.

For more information contact:
Susan Pfretzschner
Chair
Communications Committee
NAACP Boulder County
Media.naacpbouldercounty@gmail.com
303-440-6346

The post NAACP Boulder County Letter to Boulder City Council on Police Accountability and Housing for Homeless during the Pandemic appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Emma Maiocco, of Dawson School in Lafayette, organized a protest for #BlackLivesMatter in Erie, CO on Wednesday, June 10th. The protest was attended by upwards of 50 people, who took over all four corners of Erie Parkway and County Line Road. An overwhelming amount of cars honked in support as they drove through the intersection, in the time we were there. The mood was jovial and excited, with shouts of “Black Lives Matter” erupting as cars approached.

Image by Erin Gallagher

Image by Erin Gallagher

Image by Erin Gallagher

 

The post High Schoolers host #BLM protest in Erie, Walgreens Closed for the Day appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

*All links open in a new window. Click on images to enlarge.

Denver erupted. Many have argued it was a necessary eruption, predicated on Denver’s well earned status as one of the most abusive police departments in the nation. In 2010 Denver Police Department was ranked #1 in terms of excessive force complaints, and a 2014 Office of the Independent Monitor report found that “45 percent of the complaints of serious misconduct by deputies, including inappropriate force, non-consensual touching and biased behavior, were never reported to the sheriff’s Internal Affairs Bureau to be investigated.” Use of force issues continue across the metro region, with Boulder in the spotlight for the excessive force incident against Zayd Atkinson, which resulted in a settlement and the creation of the Boulder Police Oversight Taskforce, and the Sammie Leon Lawrence IV incident.

America – and Denver specifically – were primed by generations of police abuse and “tough-on-crime” politics for an eruption. With already heightened domestic tensions, given the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant economic collapse, with so many out of work and looking at the system for answers, the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor lit a fuse that, over the course of nearly two weeks, hasn’t been extinguished.

Importantly, Denver DA Beth McCann, it was reported today, declined to press charges against the officer who fatally shot 16 year old Alexis Mendez-Perez, who was suspected of “burglary”, an allegation we find confusing given he was accused of entering an abandoned house. Abandoned. It’s also a confusing, and infuriating, outcome, because, according to reporting, “Mendez-Perez was struck once in the “mid back,” according to an autopsy report. The shot left “no soot deposit or gunpowder stippling of the surrounding skin.” That is significant because it suggests that Mendez-Perez was at least several feet away from the shooter when he was hit – and consequently indicates there was not a struggle going on.”

Given this, and the incredible concessions to #DefundThePolice #AbolishThePolice, and #PoliceAccountability activists nationwide, we don’t expect to see a calming of turmoil, even if we expect to see the media move on to other topics.

These images were captured by our editor, De La Vaca, over the course of several days of #DenverProtest coverage. He had to cease coverage because, as part of the Denver Police Department’s documented, unnecessary assaults on peaceful protests and targeting of journalists and media, he was shot in the groin by a well aimed rubber bullet. We have a more images from local photographers Alexander Pringle and Kenneth Wajda coming.

The post Denver’s Protests: The First Few Days [Images] appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

[Updated 6.8.2020 to correct the name of the court.]

[Updated: 10:30pm]

I wrote earlier today about the class action lawsuit brought againt the Denver Police Deparment. See here.

The judge in the case, Judge R. Brooke Jackson, requested language for a Temporary Restraining Order against the Denver Police Department. That language was provided and the ruling was issued this evening, dealing a severe blow – a clear reprimand – to the City of Denver, Mayor Hancock, Chief Pazen, and the entire Denver Police Department. Use of force that exceeds legal limits or that imposes restrictions on the exercise of First Amendment rights are out of bounds. Hypothetical harm is not enough of a harm to merit use of force, as seen in Denver, and the limits against free speech seen in our local protests. This is a clear win for the First Amendment, the protests, and America.

The ruling has several parts, including Background, Standard of Review, Likelihood of Success on the Merits, Irreparable Harm to the Movant, Balancing Harm to the NonMovant, Public Interest, Conclusion, and the Order [cited in whole below]. Some areas of specific import include that:

“”Officers used physical weapons and chemical agents to prevent not just peaceful demonstration, but also the media’s ability to document the demonstrations and plaintiffs’ and third parties’ ability to offer aid to demonstrators. Peaceful demonstrators’ legitimate and credible fear of police retaliation is silencing their political speech—the very speech most highly valued under the First Amendment.”

That is, the police were **actively** working to obstruct media documentation and healthcare provisions to the injured. If America no longer has a free media, are we free? Only under dictatorships or fascism is media controlled, limited, or in this case actively targeted.

“Citizens should never have to fear peaceful protest on the basis of police retaliation, especially not when protesting that very same police violence.”

“Plaintiffs do not expressly discuss the potential harm to the public interest. The most likely potential harm is an increase in property damage. Although I do not agree with those who have committed property damage during the protests, property damage is a small price to pay for constitutional rights—especially the constitutional right of the public to speak against widespread injustice. If a store’s windows must be broken to prevent a protestor’s facial bones from being broken or eye being permanently damaged, that is more than a fair trade. If a building must be graffiti-ed to prevent the suppression of free speech, that is a fair trade. The threat to physical safety and free speech outweighs the threat to property.”

And “I believe in everything that Commander Phelan testified during tonight’s hearing about the duty of the police to protect the rights of citizens who demonstrate and protest. However, the Denver Police Depart has failed in its duty to police its own.”

Police – whether they choose to accept it or not – or constrained by the laws they are tasked with enforcing. In fact, many argue a higher level of accountability should be enforced against those whose duty is the law. None should be above it. Unfortunately, we’ve seen a national police movement of unnaccountability targeting protestors, the media, and those who act to support the injured, community street medics. It’s hugely important that the Denver Police is called out for not policing its own.

You can read the entire ruling HERE. This is the text of the order, against the Denver Police Department:

“Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order, ECF No. 10, is GRANTED in

PART. The Court temporarily enjoins the City and County of Denver, and specifically the

Denver Police Department and officers from other jurisdictions who are assisting Denver Police

Officers, from employing chemical weapons or projectiles of any kind against persons engaging

in peaceful protests or demonstrations. To be better assure that this idealistic order is carried out,

the Court temporarily enjoins the Denver Police Department and officers from other jurisdictions

working with Denver Police Department officers from using chemical weapons or projectiles

unless an on-scene supervisor at the rank of Captain or above specifically authorizes such use of

force in response to specific acts of violence or destruction of property that the command officer

has personally witnessed. The Court further orders that:

1. Kinetic Impact Projectiles (“KIPs”) and all other non- or less-lethal projectiles may never

be discharged to target the head, pelvis, or back.

2. KIPs and all other non- or less-lethal projectiles shall not be shot indiscriminately into a

crowd.

3. Non-Denver officers shall not use any demonstration of force or weapon beyond what

Denver itself authorizes for its own officers. Any non-Denver officer permitted to or

directed to be deployed to the demonstrations shall be considered an agent of Denver

such that Denver shall ensure such officer is limiting their use of force to that authorized

by the Defendant.

4. All officers deployed to the demonstrations or engaged in the demonstrations must have

their body-worn cameras recording at all times, and they may not intentionally obstruct

the camera or recording.

5. Chemical agents or irritants (including pepper spray and tear gas) may only be used after

an order to disperse is issued.

6. Any and all orders to disperse must be followed with adequate time for the intended

audience to comply, and officers must leave room for safe egress. If it appears that the

intended audience was unable to hear the order, the order must be repeated prior to the

use of chemical agents or irritants.

DATED this 5th day of June, 2020, 8:39 p.m.

The post Denver’s US District Court Rules Against State, Denver Police Department, in Use of Force Class Action Lawsuit appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

All images by De La Vaca for Yellow Scene Magazine

Edward Milo Schwab, Lead Counsel

[Update 6.10.2020 at 20:00 to reflect the fact that Amy Schneider wasn’t there as a medic.]

[Update: Within minutes of posting this I was called and told that the judge was going to rule tonight. This was confirmed by both Brad Evans and Mike McDaniel, who said “We had an emergency conference call hearing with the judge and opposing counsel at 6 and expect a temporary restraining order against the DPD tonight.”  The state, from what I was told, is not happy.]

At 3 p.m. this afternoon, in front of the Alfred A. Arraj Federal Courthouse on 19th Street in downtown Denver, Denver lawyer Edward Milo Schwab announced a class action lawsuit against Denver Police Department. Stating that “the Denver Police Department cannot be trusted with the use of non-lethal [what Schwab called “less-lethal” during the press conference] weapons against protestors, the various allegations include excessive force (count 1) and first amendment violations (count 2). The lawsuit was filed in court yesterday, June 4, seeking a trial by jury, but was deferred to Federal court, denying “Denver citizens a voice,” said Schwab.

On the ninth straight day of Denver protests, arguably spurred on by police aggression, the incidents that comprise the lawsuit, outlined in a 25 page filing, specifically address numerous police shootings of street medics and local media, who were engaged in covering and/or supporting injured persons who participated in the “Justice for George Floyd” #BlackLivesMatter protests. These protests began in Minneapolis but quickly spread across the nation, including to here in Denver, Longmont, and Boulder, with an Erie march planned for next week and other statewide protests. 

The lawsuit focuses on the experiences of four specific persons: Agazi Abay, Mike McDaniel, Amy Schneider, and Gabriel Thorn. Schwab said that in the upcoming hearing we will hear from the four plaintiffs “and others”, leaving open the door for other injured parties in the Denver metro area to join the class action lawsuit.

Speaking of her experience with the police, Schneider said that that “Monday night was really one of the most traumatic nights of my life,” recalling that after helping with some imjured folks, though not there as a medic, and after being targeted with pepper balls and watching the injured fall around her, she “was just trying to get home safely and make sure everyone around me got home safely,” but she “was still tackled anyway.” 

Mike McDaniel, a friend I know from the local political scene, spoke about helping a Black man who had “staggered out of a cloud of tear gas,” offering him milk to ease the pain, just him and the injured party in an alley, and they were subsequently fired on a second time by officers. Why the Denver Police felt it necessary, and whether it’s legal, to shoot at a community volunteer medic who was helping an injured party will hopefully be uncovered in the course of this lawsuit. 

While we believe tear gas, which is a banned weapon of war, should never be used against civilian populations, I am also against the use of “non-lethal” munitions like rubber bullets and pepper balls being used against a non-violent crowd. Understanding that there is a difference in the definition of “peaceful protest” between the lay protestor and the police, I also believe that there are more suitable measures for crowd dispersal available to local police. It has been pointed out that in Hong Kong, over the course of 455 days, there were only two deaths, with 9000 arrests, an average of 19.7 per day, while America’s first 7 days of protest saw 13 deaths and 5,600 arrests, averaging 800 per day. 

Collected muntions, via Brian Loma

Federal Police on site

Questioned on the use of other non-lethal weapons, what was inappropriate for police to use, or not, Schwab said that he couldn’t answer, having not seen any examples of police using their weapons constitutionally. Regarding the weapons mentioned in the brief – rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper balls – Schwab said that, “I’m not sure that the police can be trusted to use them constitutionally.”

Even while just setting up for a press event at the courthouse, replete with cameras and press, Federal police showed up, ostensibly to let their presence be known and check on us. Brad Evans, media event organizer, went over to greet the office and told him, unironically, “we’re not here to protest”. I can’t help but feel like that is already an indictment of the relationship poliuce have with locals, and now with the local media. We shouldn’t have to assauge any police fears to do our jobs without concern for our safety. 

As a Denver Metro journalist covering the protest, I was myself targeted by the Denver Police Department and Aurora Police Department, who brought tanks and were assisting in the suppression. I was shot three times over the course of three days of coverage. I was shot twice with pepper balls on my first day or coverage, 5.30.2020, while holding a camera and wearing a clearly identifiable press badge. On my second day of protest, 5.31, I was shot with a rubber bullet in my left testacle, an injury I feel still, while standing still interviewing a street medic on Colfax, near Wendy’s, while clearly holding a camera, holding a cell phone to record video, displaying a press badge, and very clearly wearing a white helmet with the word media written on it four times. 

I can think of no more obvious targeting of journalists than in my own case, though there are several that are noteworthy, including targeting Denver Post journalists who had very large cameras and press identifiers on him. The lawsuit brief is replete with horrific examples. 

We look forward to following this case to see the outcome. It should be noted that I was asked to join the class action lawsuit and, if the opportunity is there, I most likely will. We fully believe in standing for freedom of the press, especially in the age of Trumpian “fake news”. We believe in police accountability. And we believe in standing for the right of protestors to exercise their first amendment rights free of the threat of police violence. Notably, this morning, it was announced that the colorado legislature is proposing a bill to make it a fireable offense for an officer to not stop “inappropriate use of force,” called the Police Integrity and Accountability. 

“It would appoint the state attorney general to independently investigate use of force cases that result in death or serious bodily injuries, and removes immunity from prosecution for officers, opening the door for individual lawsuits,” according to reporting from Fox 31. “On top of that, the bill would prevent officers from finding work at a neighboring department if they’re fired.”

“It will strip your immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action if you kill someone,” Rep. Leslie Herod said. We look forward to a world where no one is above the law. This class action lawsuit may be a great step in the right direction. 

#DeLaVacasDesk

The post Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Denver Police Department, Alleges Police Violations appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Graphic by De La Vaca 

The environment is a crucial issue for the current generation of Coloradans. Environment is critical to our state identity, yet concerns are heightened due to the impact of environmental conditions on the health of residents, the quality of communities, and the sustainability of the planet. It’s a global concern, but especially contentious in Colorado due to the prevalence of the oil industry and the concerns of environmental advocates.

Governor Jared Polis was able to tap into this issue during his gubernatorial campaign, garnering support from progressive groups – even while doubted by our local health and safety organizations – by expressing a determination to regulate the oil and gas industry, and by articulating plans to implement renewable energy programs.

Now that Polis has completed his first year in the Governor’s Office, let’s evaluate his progress.

Before diving into the details, it can help to analyze the crucial factors that contribute to environmental conditions in Colorado. By far the two main sources of pollution in the state are vehicles and oil extraction activities. It’s Spring. Let’s lean into the green by discussing the environmental issues facing Colorado, the progress that Gov. Polis has (or hasn’t) made, and the challenges that must still be overcome.

Vehicle Pollution

The abundance of cars on the road have contributed to historic air pollution in Colorado. Anyone remember the brown cloud? Cars and buses that are fueled by traditional gas and diesel fuels emit hazardous greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane gases. RTD reports owning nearly 1000 buses, with annual diesel fuel use of 5.214 million gallons. While moderate levels of greenhouse gases can be manageable, the transportation trends in the state have led to exorbitant and dangerous emission levels.

According to a study conducted in 2018 by the Denver Regional Council of Governments, the number of cars on the roads in the Front Range area have soared with average vehicle miles traveled by cars reaching 84.3 miles per car per day, which reflected a 15 percent increase from just five years earlier. These numbers are predicted to grow. State transportation systems have also been unable to manage the growth, which has further exacerbated pollution rates via congestion.
Colorado has failed to manage the increased growth. CDOT has engaged in construction projects, such as the I-70 expansion. Experts have criticized the I-70 project by pointing to data suggesting that adding more lanes increases the cars on the roads and maintains congestion levels. Additionally, many communities – specifically in Denver’s District 9 – have complained that the projects has been highly disruptive, and is splitting neighborhoods and displacing residents.
CDOT also attempted to alleviate traffic congestion by expanding the routes and stations of its bus and light rail systems. Despite these efforts, the volume of passengers on public transit has been declining in recent years, presumably in response to inadequate route planning and increasing costs; until recently, Denver had the nation’s highest transit cost.

Oil and Gas Pollution

The frequency of drilling activities and the operations of oil companies are also contributing to our environmental problems. Expansive subsurface minerals make Colorado very appealing to extraction companies. A historically pliant CO political class has enabled the industry’s expansion. Data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) verifies that Colorado has among the largest reserves in the country. We’re the 5th largest oil producing state with the 6th largest natural gas reserves, the 8th largest coal reserves, and the most coalbed methane reserves of any state. Drilling activities were rampant in Colorado in the 20th century, but recent decades have seen increased operations with the new extraction technique known as fracking, or hydraulic fracturing.

As a result of the advances, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the amount of active wells and drilling sites has steadily risen since the year 2000, and between 2017-2018 the state experienced a whopping 70 percent increase in drilling applications. The state has approximately 60,000 currently active wells and 20,000 additional wells that have been recently abandoned.

Statistics also specify the most common locations of these wells. Over half of all Colorado wells are located in the Weld County region, stretching from the North Denver metro area to the Wyoming border. Though 191 separate oil and gas operators are in Colorado, the majority of drilling activities are facilitated by a handful of companies. Just eight companies account for about 81 percent of all oil and gas production, with the largest being Noble Energy, PDC Energy, Occidental Petroleum, and Extraction O&G.

Supporters of oil and gas promote the benefits the industry provides. They emphasize lucrative jobs, energy services, and tax revenue paid to local and state governments. The facts underlying these claims are reasonable on the surface. The petroleum industry in CO employees about 90,000 workers (out of over 3 million), and every year the industry generates about $13.5 billion (out of nearly $350 billion) in economic activities and contributes around $1 billion to local and state taxes.

“Oil and natural gas is a a fundamental building block that exists in countless products we all use, from medical supplies and construction materials to smartphones and clothing,” says Jake Taylor, Communications Coordinator of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, which serves as the primary political and regulatory voice for the industry in CO.

Environmental advocates counter that modern technology can and should replace many of these services, and that the benefits provided by the industry are outweighed by the destructive impact extraction activities have on the environment and, by extension, the likelihood of human survival on earth. Pollution is exacts severe consequences at the local, state, and global levels.

The Local Consequences: Residents Health

Studies have shown that air pollution is harmful to humans and community life. One study showed the health risks incurred by people who live near wells sites. Conducted by ICF International (Oct. 2019), the report analyzed the overall impact of oil and gas operations on residents. The researchers concluded that residents living within 2,000 feet of drilling locations are vulnerable to respiratory problems, headaches, dizziness, nosebleeds, and nausea. This is largely due to hazardous chemicals released into the air, including benzene, ethylbenzene and toluene.

Another study conducted by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center (2012) showed residents living near well sites are also at a disproportionately higher risk of developing cancer.

National studies also illustrate the health impacts. Research from over 150 studies, for example, demonstrated that the pollution generated by fracking can render residents susceptible to birth defects, respiratory disorders, neurological problems, reproductive deficiencies, blood disorders, asthma conditions, and developmental impairments.

This body of research has indicated that people living close to well sites have an increased risk of minor and short-term health impacts as well as severe and long-term conditions. With Colorado having a modest setback requirement of only 500 feet from homes and 1,000 feet from schools, many residents express legitimate and well founded concerns.

Statewide Consequences: the Brown Cloud

The brown cloud hovering over the Front Range area is another detrimental consequence of the pollution in the air.
[Editor’s note: for a longer conversation on the Colorado Brown Cloud and air pollution, see Deb Cameron’s piece page 53.]

According to the American Lung Association, this ozone problem establishes the Denver and northern Front Range area as one of the most polluted metropolitan regions in the country, only ranking behind New York, Houston, Phoenix, and the major California cities.

The Global Consequences: Approaching Climate Change Catastrophe

The global climate crisis is the large-scale consequence of environmental inaction, a fact agreed on by the global scientific community. Climate change is caused by human behavior, especially industrial activities, oil drilling, and vehicles; a viral study found that over 70 percent of climate change was caused by just 100 companies – 99 are oil and gas companies.

We are already experiencing the impacts of climate change, including melting ice glaciers, rising ocean levels, and submerging coastal cities. This is also leading to the ensuing hazards of destroyed ecosystems, extreme weather, extensive droughts, and unprecedented storms. Collectively, this is known as climate catastrophe.
Overwhelming scientific evidence suggests that climate change will be irreversible by 2030. The two most essential methods by which Colorado can help alleviate the climate change crisis is to reduce the emissions from vehicles and the pollution from drilling.

Even the oil and gas industry emphasizes the need to address climate change concerns. “One would be hard-pressed to find an industry that employs more environmental management experts than the oil and natural gas industry,” Taylor points out.

It should be pointed out that, historically, when industry research emerges that counters industry claims, it is suppressed. See Exxon. Arguably, non-industry scientists should have full access to industry based science for peer review.

With environmental issues being crucial to Coloradans, Polis campaigned as an environmental progressive. So let’s take a look at the solutions he has proposed and policies he has implemented during his first year in the office of the Governor.

Increasing Electric Cars to Improve Air Quality

Implementing the Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) program was one of the first actions Gov. Polis took upon entering office. In January of 2019, Polis signed an executive order that established Colorado as a Zero Emission Vehicle state. The program aims to reduce carbon emissions released from Colorado vehicles by increasing the number of electric cars sold in dealerships and by diversifying the electric models that are available.

The amount of electric cars offered by dealerships has been severely limited by Colorado not being a ZEV state. ZEV states require auto dealers to ensure that a specific proportion of vehicles offered on their lots are electric. This compels manufacturers to send electric cars to ZEV states to meet the requirements. Polis hopes this can have a substantial impact on emissions levels, as the plan aims to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and 90 percent by 2050.

Increasing the number of electric cars that are available can also be advantageous for the state. While Colorado only had about 24,000 registered electric vehicles as of July 2019, the ZEV program aims to have 130,000 registered electric vehicles by 2030. Despite having far less electric cars and models available than many other states, Colorado actually ranks fourth in the nation for percentage of electric vehicle purchases, according to statistics from EVAdoption.

Using Renewable Energy to Protect the Environment

With Gov. Polis campaigning on a plan to have Colorado use 100 percent renewable energy by 2040, it’s important to assess the actions that he has taken to help reach that mark. Investing in renewable energy can influence the renewable adoption rate.

Currently renewable energy sources constitute a relatively small portion of electricity generated. Wind is the most effective source of renewable energy for Colorado. The state has substantial wind resources on the eastern plains and the mountains to the west. Currently 79 percent of Colorado’s renewable electricity derives from wind technologies, the use of wind turbines has tripled since 2010, and now Colorado’s 2,275 wind turbines establish us as the 8th-ranked state in the nation for wind power capacity. The state can also capitalize on solar, as Colorado currently ranks 12th in the nation for solar power capacity with 1,300 megawatts already installed.

Certain programs implemented by Gov. Polis and policies passed by the state legislature can help amplify the use of renewable energy throughout the state. The governor is offering an array of financial rebates and tax incentives that encourage homeowners and businesses to install solar panels, including deals to entice the use of community solar gardens in which one centralized solar source can generate electricity for several homes in the area. The state also recently negotiated a pioneering agreement with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to streamline the licensing process that would convert existing infrastructure into hydropower facilities. Furthermore, in January of 2020 the governor formed two pilot programs that can help the beer and cannabis industries become more energy-efficient and renewable-dependant.

Gov. Polis also worked with the statehouse in 2019 to pass a renewable friendly budget. The budget passed for fiscal year 2020 designated $3 million for renewable investments, such as modernizing the electrical grid, funding renewable technology projects, and enhancing infrastructure capabilities for solar and wind energy sources. Other bills signed by the governor also serve to support renewable energy and alleviate environmental pollution.

HB 1003 expanded the access and availability of community solar gardens, HB 1231 established new energy efficiency standards for plumbing appliances, HB 1260 developed new energy efficiency codes for buildings, and SB 236 intensified the requirements for regulating the carbon emissions of electrical utility companies. Additionally, HB 1272 allows owners of commercial buildings or residential complexes to receive financial assistance when they renovate the electrical systems of their buildings to improve the energy standards on their properties.

Oil and Gas Regulations: The Mixed Response to SB 181

The most pivotal piece of legislation of the 2019 legislative session was also the most controversial. SB 181 is a massive omnibus bill that modifies and overhauls the regulatory standards for the oil and gas industry and gives unprecedented new local controls to local governments. The bill was received with a mixture of praise and criticism from people on both the environmental and industry sides of the issue.

Many groups that advocate for the oil and gas industry lament that the bill is too extreme and could impair the ability for the industry to operate in Colorado.
“One of the reasons our industry opposed SB 181 is because of the patchwork of regulations it would incentivize, which we are now seeing take place,” explains Taylor. “Companies of all types prefer consistency and predictability, and regulatory efforts that are constant moving targets between local and state government agencies can lead to confusion.”

In contrast, some environmental groups are concerned with critical limitations and the long delay to implementation diminishing its intended effects. For example, because the bill cannot be implemented until the rulemaking stage is complete, and that extensive process is expected to be finished during the summer of 2020, hundreds of wells have been pushed through, often with a rush, to ensure they are permitted by the state under current, industry friendly, rules. To evaluate the potential impact of SB 181, it can help to elaborate on the strengths and weaknesses of the consequential legislation.

Strengths of SB 181

Some policies incorporated into SB 181 have been applauded by environmental advocates. One fundamental change involves the role that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) fulfills. The previous policy specified that the role of the COGCC was to “foster” oil and gas development, which implied that the agency functioned to support the industry. SB 181 made a subtle but important change. Instead of “foster,” the bill states that the role of the COGCC is now to “regulate” oil and gas development, which implies that the agency functions to manage the complex operations of the oil industry according to established state and federal rules and to decrease excessive pollution resulting from drilling activities. Arguably, the bill now compels the agency to focus on promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of the public. Additionally, SB 181 dramatically changed the structure of the COGCC board. The board previously consisted of 9 members with 3 from the oil and gas industry, but the bill reduces the board to just 5 members with only one from the industry.

The bill also modifies the responsibilities of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). The bill empowers the Air Pollution Control Division to enact more effective emission requirements and to impose fees on heavy polluters. Reporting standards have also been improved by SB 181. Whereas the CDPHE previously only collected and reported information regarding greenhouse gas emissions every four years, the bill now requires the agency to compile data and file reports every year. Furthermore, the bill magnified the ability for the CDPHE to enforce strict emission standards, monitor air pollution levels, and collect climate change data.

The increased local control over the oil and gas industry is perhaps the most appealing part of the bill for many communities. Previously local governments had very little influence over the details of the permitting process and were generally required to accept the decisions of the commission. SB 181 grants local governments greater authority to approve, regulate, and monitor the oil and gas companies trying to operate in their communities. The local control and land use authority granted by the bill require the companies to first receive approval from the local government before they can apply for the permits from the state commission. During the review process, the local governments can have a significant impact on drilling sites, well locations, and setback requirements.

Local governments can also establish emission standards, implement monitoring programs, and impose fees for the inspection process and fines for any leaks or spills. Another new power granted to local governments is the ability to establish official noise limits that the drilling companies must accommodate. Thus, many communities are hopeful that, once the rules are finally enacted and the law goes into effect, SB 181 provides their local governments with the necessary authority to ensure the health and safety of their communities.

The Weaknesses of SB 181

Certain identified weaknesses with SB 181 have generated complaints from both the environmental and industry sides. Regarding the oil and gas industry, companies claim that the local control aspect of the bill enables communities to establish strict rules that can be prohibitive to their operations. Even though it has not been implemented yet, some oil and gas companies blame the overhaul of the regulatory process for the struggles that their businesses are facing. While some companies contend that SB 181 is responsible for their problems, Gov. Polis and many environmental advocates argue that the financial difficulties of the Colorado oil and gas industry are caused by natural market forces and intense foreign competition.

Environmental advocates also criticize the scope of the bill. Some point out that it is not ambitious enough to solve our environmental issues and that the policies will not provide the substantial reduction in drilling that the state – and earth – requires. For example, shortly after SB 181 was signed, oil and gas companies in Colorado – including Noble Energy, O&G Extraction, and PDC Energy – sent company memos to inform their investors that the bill will have a minimal impact on industry operations and that they should be able to maintain the same productivity.

The long delay to implementation has been especially frustrating for many environmental advocates. While finishing the rules process by the summer would already have been difficult, the Coronavirus pandemic has forced the board to pause discussions until the crisis subsides, a further delay.
Meanwhile, COGCC records show that during the delay an abundance of permits have been issued to build many new wells. Since Gov. Polis signed the bill almost one year ago, about 2,000 permits have been approved for additional wells and no permit applications have been denied. In turn, the permitting and drilling process has been continuing for the past year under the same flawed standards that SB 181 is supposed to reform.

In 2019, the industry shattered the previous oil production record in Colorado and enjoyed a 12 percent increase in overall production over the previous year. This encouraged the environmental group Colorado Rising to file a lawsuit against the COGCC to have the permitting process suspended until the rules are finalized. The lawsuit is still in progress, but the commission is not expected to suspend the permitting process and the industry should expect to continue to operate under the same favorable conditions.

The lack of official setback requirements in SB 181 also concerns many communities. With studies indicating that fracking and extraction activities present severe health hazards for people within 2,000 feet of operations, experts contend that the current Colorado setback standard of 500 feet is inadequate and that the state should establish a uniform distance requirement of about 2,000 feet. SB 181 leaves the setback standards to local governments.

Having local governments determine setback requirements creates problems for residents, depending on their local government’s commitment to health and safety. This will lead to piecemeal regulation and subject communities adjacent to more lax areas to the whims of those officials and the winds that blow pollution across legal boundaries.

Industry advocates often resist the concept of setback requirements and refute the claims that drilling is harmful to communities. “Colorado’s oil and natural gas industry is safe,” says Taylor. “Our operators are committed to producing our resources cleaner, better and safer than anywhere in the country, utilizing cutting-edge technology and innovation alongside one of the toughest regulatory frameworks in the country.”

But environmental groups believe the research confirms that drilling near neighborhoods is harmful to residents and that SB 181 failed to address the setback requirement issue. Colorado Rising is attempting to address this flaw in the bill as well. For the past few election cycles, the organization has placed initiatives on the ballots to propose statewide setback requirements but have not yet been able to pass the requirements. In the 2018 cycle, Prop 112 sought to establish a setback requirement of 2,500 feet, but it was defeated by a 45-55 percent margin. With SB 181 failing to address the setback requirement issue, Colorado Rising plans on placing another statewide setback measure on the ballot in the upcoming election cycle.

Final Thoughts

Because many factors contribute to the environmental conditions and health standards of Colorado, it is helpful to identify the problems that confront the state and the solutions that our lawmakers propose. The primary factors causing air pollution in the state include vehicle exhaust and the drilling activities of oil and gas companies. With Gov. Polis campaigning to address environmental concerns in the state, residents must remain engaged by keeping track of the successes and failures of his environmental record and initiatives. Establishing the Zero Emission Vehicle program should be advantageous in moving towards a cleaner air environment in Colorado. His investments into renewable energy could substantially improve the ability of the state to reach his ideal target of becoming 100 percent renewable by 2040, going a long way toward reducing or dependence on gas and, thus, our unwillingness to seriously regulate oil and gas, up to and including a full ban on extraction and drilling.

The oil and gas issue, however, is very contentious. The state needs to encourage completion of the rulemaking process so local communities can make full use of the powers they were given by this legislation. Anything less diminishes the accomplishment and is viewed as the state delaying completion to ensure drilling levels are maintained and the industry is happy, at the expense of communities. Currently the Gov. Polis administration and his signature SB 181 bill have not significantly altered the excessive rate at which oil and gas companies are receiving permits from the state and building wells in our communities. Supporters remain hopeful that the implementation of SB 181 and the increased control of local governments can reduce the amount of drilling that occurs in the state, improve the quality of the air that we breathe, and maximize the safety of our communities and the health of our residents. For all these reasons and more, we feel that Governor Polis has done much for the environment – thought mostly in word.

Will the deeds ever be accomplished?

[direct-stripe value=”ds1585186899760″]

[direct-stripe value=”ds1585187021807″]

[direct-stripe value=”ds1585187374542″]

[direct-stripe value=”ds1585187109306″]

The post Polis v Earth: Reckoning appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

.

The world teeters – as it is wont – on the precipice of revolution and reimaginations of antiquated, failed ideas. Yesteryear has never been as near as it is today, with a second, apparently failed run for president by Senator Bernard Sanders, the most consistent politician in America, being proven the only prescient candidacy we had. Medicare-for-All, worker’s rights, minimum wage laws, domestic economic concerns, and visionary leadership – things Americans voted for four times when electing and reelecting America’s most famous socialst, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt – are common concerns in 2020. Why? Well…

Coronavirus – also called COVID-19 or #theRona – has ravaged the planet and a lackluster American response (based on a failed American capacity under the Trump administration) threatens to upend the US in more ways that I can delineate here. 

Governor Jared Polis has reacted strongly to the onset, even if a statewide shelter-in-place was needed sooner than was enacted, and is needed longer than currently planned. Locally, the Weld County Sheriff said he’d “rather take my chances with the virus than socialism,” an abdication of responsibility and a scientifically illiterate response to a crisis he is sworn to address; Weld County jail inmates have sued the Sheriff for risking the lives of inmates. 

At the time of this writing, Boulder County has ~300 cases. Times-Call reports on Monday, April 13th, that we’ve had our 11th COVID-19 related death. America has over 20,000 deaths, taking the top spot globally for number of cases and number of deaths.

We’re all a little scared, and with good cause. CU students ended up with Coronavirus while attending St. Patrick’s day parties on the Hill, encouraging community spread. A local wedding in Erie was lambasted on local Facebook pages but, I was told, “no public shaming is allowed” so the original poster rejected comments pointing out the danger they posed to us locally. Driving around Boulder County for supplies I witnessed dozens of people failing to distance, enjoying life as if nothing apocalyptic was happening. Denver park and front range mountain community photos are shared with pleas for people to #stayhome. 

These are the things that will bring this situation to a head, meaning overwhelmed hospitals, excessive loss of life, an economy in ashes. New Jersey reported that 700 police officers had the virus. Doctors and nurses are living away from family for fear of transmitting to their loved ones. California projects 56 percent of the population will contract it. 

The virus has a 1.2 percent mortality rate. Some quick math: if we have a Boulder county population of 326,000 (give or take), and even 25 percent are infected, the mortality rate can be as high as 1,000 people (in just our little corner of Colorado). Predictions for the state are response dependent and range from ~350 to ~350,000. We’re already at ~300. While some of our neighbors are out playing, hanging out, having get-togethers, I’d challenge them to decide which 1,000 people they plan to sacrifice. If you can’t fathom it, think of your family and friend circles. Which 1 or 2 people in your immediate life can you live without? 

That’s not math I’m willing to do. That’s why Yellow Scene Magazine offices have been empty, why everyone’s fully remote. We have writers retooling articles to address the moment. We have articles in progress. We have photographers in the street documenting the eerie silence of the world as the pandemic encourages us to remain at home. We’re still here, though, doing our jobs, documenting, writing, sharing your stories, being a conduit of hope and information – the two intertwined in dire times. 

It’s your job to do the same: stay home. 

Live your life as safely as possible. So much of the nation has it worse than we do. Colorado is a privileged state and no area more so than Boulder County. If you need help, reach out to a local mutual aid page. If you need contact, call friends. If you need air, it’s Springtime; go for a walk. And if you need hope, read YS. We’re here for you. 

The world may be on its knees, in need of a long term reprieve, but ultimately that’s up to us. Everything Bernie was fighting for is being implemented or discussed; what was fringe in 2016 is party talking points, damn near orthodoxy, today. I once heard that a tax, once implemented, is never repealed. Once things change, they tend to stay that way. The changes being made now – considerations of a Universal Basic Income, payments to citizens, Universal Health Care, increased wages for “essential” employees, etc – have been long overdue. 

Will we get to keep these benefits? It’s a tough question, rooted in our own personal capacity for action. 

As you spend your nights with family, as people you know fall ill, as society is further strained, ponder the question: do we concede to power and go back to failed “business as usual” or do we demand the world FDR envisioned, the one Bernie fights for today, the one most Americans support (according to polling), a permanent implementation of universal healthcare, UBIs, and other forms of globally accepted social safety nets… or nah? 

I leave you with the description of CoroNAH: Beyond the Pandemic, a mixtape by Denver’s favorite Democratic Socialist, Candi Cdebaca. It’s the hope I have for all of us, the actions I want us all to be engaged in: “Crushing on liberation. Breaking up with capitalism. Celebrating socialism. Flirting with revolution. Drunk on love. Seducing imagination. Ride the rollercoaster with us! For our people.” For our neighbors. For our nation. For our survival today and always.

For all of us, with love from #DeLaVacasDesk: #stayTFhome 

[direct-stripe value=”ds1585187109306″]

The post Notes on YS, #theRona, and the CO response: #DeLaVacasDesk appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

.

.

.

OPINION: From De La’s Desk

Responding to the call of 16 year old Greta Thunberg of Sweden, an entire planet of hopeful, tired, terrified activists and protectors mobilized to call for action to avert climate catastrophe. The world showed up today, to stare down eradication and to stand up for the earth and all its diverse inhabitants.

In Manchester, 10 year old “Primary school pupil Lillia, from Oldham, took to the stage as hundreds of children and adults gathered in St Peter’s Square,” Manchester Evening News reported. She began by questioning her mayor’s actions, reminding him of promises he had made several months before and asking what he had done since. He replied, “probably not enough”. She implored the adults who had gathered, “To adults I say, you have the power to vote. We need you to keep amplifying our voices. We can’t wait until we’re old enough because we need action now. With all of us working together in solidarity we can bring about change,” a message that resonates around the world.

In Swansea, Wales (not Denver), a majority youth march ended at council chambers, after which “the group spontaneously decided to go inside,’ Wales Online reported. A “witness said that the security were unsure how to react and the group, which was largely children, ended up in the council chamber,” where they echoed Greta’s call for listening to scientists.

650,000 were reported to have gathered in Sydney, Australia.

1.1 millions students were dismissed from New public schools to participate in the strike.

Early estimates, shared on twitter and not counting North and South America, suggest 3 million participants. When North and South America are factored in we can expect to reach up to 5 million global citizens particpating in the #GlobalClimateStrike.

Millions have marched around the world as part of today’s Global Climate Strike. 

It was no different here in the city of Boulder where approximately one hundred locals, with several dozens coming and going throughout the event, took over the sidewalks at the corner of 28th and Pearl, followed by speeches on the patio in front of Starbucks. This location was a strategic pick given the amount of traffic that passes by, the Starbucks (a company which refuses to end use of single-use Plastics), and the accessibility. 

After an afternoon of protest that included a widely diverse spectrum of people, signs in hand, smiles spread, with cars honking in support, some speeches were given. Speakers included clergy, a poem from a Sufi monk named Moji Agha, the dozens that gathered to hear the speakers were marked mostly by their happiness. It was a strange thing to notice, but it was the smiles, it was a three year old boy rapt with attention staring up at the monk, it was the grandparents holding signs along grandchildren. 

The fact that we all hope to be true is true, and this is important: while the world is careening off course, while climate change is real, while the future is bleak and made more so by inaction at the highest levels, it still has a heart and soul in the humanity of those who stand up and say, No More. Signs with slogans like, “There is no planet B” and “I am only 7 I Believe in Science, Why don’t you?” point to a generation – generations – who have not and will not surrender to the greedy.

My favorite moments was while sitting on the grass listening to the honks and beeps and the chants and waves, and a young man who couldn’t have been more than 12 or 14 years old – with all the excitement of a sports enthusiast watching his favorite team – shouted to his mother and his grandmother, “This has been amazing. I’m loving every second. It’s amazing what a few people in their right minds can do”. 

…a few people in their right minds. That really struck me. You almost have to be out of your mind to subject the earth to the senseless devastation, to a future of dystopian proportions, where our very survival as a species isn’t guaranteed. 

This climate strike isn’t the tipping point of climate action. This isn’t the moment earth was saved, but it’s another step in that direction. We have a lot more fighting to do and – let’s be clear – it may get ugly before the powers that be concede to the demands of survival. TruthDig’s recent article on the role of capitalism in this “first extermination level event”, the increasing levels of global degradation, the ecology of economics, and existential antagonisms predicated less on natural occurrences leading to extinction events but on an intentional and willful kill off of the planet and the life dependent on it, including our species, by the capitalist elite makes that clear. 

We have to end capitalism *as we know it* if we have any hope of surviving; no, that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of capitalism, but a form of Green Democratic Socialsm would be the best start. The rich reaping reward by scraping generations off of our planetary lifeline – sure that they will be fine – will not be fine. There is no escaping what’s coming. 

This means that, as Greta pointed out to our own U.S. congressional committee hearing on climate change, “I don’t want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the scientists. And I want you to unite behind the science. And then I want you to take real action.” 

Today, millions gathered around the world to demand the same. 

Pictures of the Boulder #GlobalClimateStrike action by De La Vaca unless otherwise noted. 

Image of Denver Action by Eve Pizzamigilio

Image of young Activist by Eve Pizzamigilio

The post #GlobalClimateStrike BOCO: Earth v Eradication appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The post Unnecessary Heroes, Martyrs to America’s Gun Fetish | #DeLaVacasDesk appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

One month after eight officers surrounded a Black Naropa student for the non-crime of cleaning as part of his work study job on his own rental property, Boulder Police Department officers seem to feel the national spotlight had dimmed enough to repeat much of the same behavior.

This time, again on film, police told a young Black man, Sammie Leon Lawrence IV, to drop what he had in his hand: a walking aid he repeatedly identified as ADA compliant. As he speaks to officers from a distance that appears beyond what’s required by BPD’s obstruction ordinance, police tell him to move. Lawrence replies, “I’m just watching sir. I am not seeing myself impeding in any way shape or form. If there is anything you wish to do involved with this, I would gladly step back, because I am not trying to impede you.”

Disregarding Lawrence’s comments about his walking aid and his willingness to step back if the police were going to do anything, Officer Lolotai rapidly escalates the situation, kicks Lawrence’s walking aid away, and takes him to the ground. Lawrence ended up with multiple deep resulting abrasions and later claims officers and medical personnel failed to protect him as he suffered a seizure in their care, resulting in him striking the ground with his head while handcuffed.

What a difference a month makes.

Boulder City Attorney Tom Carr was voted out as City Attorney in Seattle and called out there for “block[ing] . . . police-misconduct information from going public.”

Responding to concerns from NAACP Boulder County Branch members about Lawrence’s treatment, Carr says he reviewed the videos. He called the encounter “hostile,” and claims Lawrence’s walking aid “would make a quite formidable weapon if used as such,” but does not address that Lawrence offered to “gladly step back,” and clearly never made any threat with his walking aid.

Carr shared that no-one besides the young Black disabled man was arrested. Nevermind, it appears that the more things change in Boulder, the more they stay the same.

The post Community Corner: What a difference a month makes appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

.

Polis Signs SB191 into law

Can Colorado lead the nation – as we have in so many other areas – by passing significant climate change legislation and demonstrating to naysayers across the country that, yes, we can create vibrant new industries while quitting our addictions and saving the planet, and our species, for generations to come? Some are hopeful, many are not. We’ve passed the tipping point. The only question now is: how bad will it be?

A 2014 Chicago Council Survey found that most Americans were not extremely concerned about climate change and did not see it as a threat; simultaneously half of Americans said that the government is not doing enough to deal with the problem. Over 70 percent of Americans support the US participating in an international treaty to address climate change, yet June 1 of 2017 President Trump announced that the US would withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement that was predicated on a global response to addressing the issue. Nearly 30 percent of citizens don’t believe climate change is real. Yale.edu reported that “seventy percent of Americans now accept that climate change is happening, outnumbering those who don’t…Yet few Americans, 6 percent, say they believe nations can and will successfully combat climate change”.

Erik Solheim, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme, points out in a statement in Oct 2017 that, “…we still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future.” The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change offers suggestions for how the world can get on track to a cleaner, more sustainable future. It claims that with a heavy investment in solar and wind energy, dramatic increases in the efficiency of appliances, electrification and hybridization of cars, and the development of new forests around the globe; we may be able to set the world on a course to keep global warming below 2 °C — but only if those initiatives are implemented globally before 2030.

To be clear: the IPCC report is dire, and there are more damning reports out there (see: Deep Adaptation report), but even where the IPCC report suggests we can avert the extinction of our species and climate catastrophe, this is predicated on concrete, clear, decisive global action now. As in right now.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis campaigned on transitioning Colorado to full renewables by 2040, a target 10 years too late and a project completely underwhelming and ineffective for the problem at hand. Colorado’s democratic supermajority is currently debating new climate change legislation; the “Just Transition” plan, according to Denver’s Westword, House Bill 1261 is officially titled the Climate Action Plan To Reduce Pollution.

Is HB 1261 enough?

The consensus is all over the place regarding human effect on climate change, a product of a failed education system, lobbying efforts predicated on industry supremacy resulting in politicians actively deceiving the public about the situation, and a complicit media. Colorado meanwhile has been known as environmentally aware and progressive in eco-green and healthy trends. We pride ourselves on our outdoors industries, the beauty of our skies, the height of our mountains, our lakes, trails, and streams. Our new logo, unveiled by the governor, is our famous C logo with a cute tree behind it. There was arguably more furor over the logo change than the hypocrisy of a Colorado that simultaneously embraces the outdoors motif while sitting on its hands in the face of climate change.

At this point it is going to take more than a catchy trend or a cute logo to veer onto a sustainable path forward.

Climate change is a global issue and each nation, providence, and state should be making efforts to meet the demands of change. Globally, we’re an old man who has been smoking his whole life, refusing to put down the cigarette but not wanting to die. To continue the metaphor, at best, we’re switching to tobacco vapes and snuff, but not willing to quit entirely. Our addictions are killing us. Colorado – it must be said – is addicted. To oil and gas. To pipelines. To natural gas.

In a widely read report published in the Guardian, a study proved that just 100 countries were responsible for 71 percent of climate change. Of those, 99 are oil and gas companies. One is a cement company. As a society we know what the issue is but…we’re lighting up that cigarette and ignoring the consequences.

As a state, what is Colorado doing now that there is a democratic supermajority? Is there any real difference from stop gap, kicking the can down the road measures or are we still heading into dirtier days with the booming oil and gas industry?

Former Governor John Hickenlooper announced revisions to the state’s climate plan in early Jan of 2018 at a symposium on clean energy and climate change. In the revisions he called for a new rule on reporting greenhouse gas emissions that mirrored a federal rule, working with utilities to increase the use of renewable energy, and building more charging stations for electric vehicles. Since a growing body of research suggests that the changing climate and subsequently warmer winters will drastically shrink the snowpack in mountain states such as Colorado; the update also proposed that climate variability be included in statewide water planning and forest management practices.

Not to confuse Hickenlooper with an environmentalist, he has been widely blasted by the green lobby, environmental activists, and community advocates as Chickenlooper (a reference to his inability and unwillingness to stand up to the oil and gas industry or, worse, to stand up for the citizens of Colorado) and – even more on the head – Frackenlooper. In a recent Mother Jones article asking, “Is John Hickenlooper the Fracking Candidate? His signature climate achievement isn’t doing much for the climate”, Rebecca Leber wrote that, “Hickenlooper represents the uncomfortable balancing act that a Democratic candidate who has had close ties with the fossil fuel industry must sustain when trying to demonstrate his concern with the threat of climate change.”

Giddy up Hick’s efforts to balance his love of geology and his understanding as the industry as “environmentalists at heart” in hopes of getting both sides – oil and gas and actual environmentalists – on the same page and erase his profoundly anti-earth legacy, aren’t doing much. “None of [it] is enough to remove the nickname ‘Frackenlooper’ that his environmental critics bestowed on him for his long-held position, described in his 2016 memoir, of fracking as good for the country’s energy supply, our national security, our economy, and our environment.’”

On the heels of Hickenlooper’s efforts in office, Governor Polis as a candidate and as Colorado’s new governor pushes the goal of producing 100 percent of Colorado’s power from renewable sources by 2040. “In the absence of national leadership, states like Colorado, along with local governments and private and public companies, are leading the way on climate,” Polis said at a news conference in Jan 2019 when announcing his executive order aimed at putting more electric and zero-emission vehicles on the state’s roads. While Polis’ intent is well received, many maintain a realistic view point. Infrastructure upgrades need to be considered. An average an electric vehicle increases household electricity consumption by about 30 percent. Support for rural areas will be critical to handle growing energy loads. And the political will hasn’t been there to truly overhaul entrenched systems in the first place.

Colorado’s current electricity mix is only 18.28 percent wind and solar and 78.2 percent fossil fuels. Polis’ bold goal has been discouraged and denounced by republicans across the state, claiming that an overly aggressive measure would be damaging to constituents. Yet an analysis recently released by Vibrant Clean Energy called the “Colorado Coal Retirement Study”, concluded that by retiring its fleet of coal-fired power plants while increasing electric sector jobs in renewables, the state could save more than $2.5 billion through 2040 and eliminate 510 metric tons of emissions. Supporters emphasize that bills have been introduced that would offset job training in communities directly impacted by the shutdown of coal-fired power plants.

By remaining proactive and anticipating problems created by this transition, Polis’ plan has the opportunity to create good-paying renewable energy jobs for Coloradans while phasing out the use of fossil fuels, reducing emissions, and updating infrastructure to support the 100 percent renewable goal.

First Steps: SB19-181

The good news is the state has already taken steps to signal to oil and gas that change is coming. The passing of SB19-181 “Protect Public Welfare Oil and Gas Operations” bill was an incredible half step in the right direction. Before anyone gets upset at our description of the bill as a half step, let’s be clear: the world cannot handle any more fracking, any more methane leaks, any more oil spills, any more carbon creation. The world is past the tipping point and the only reasonable legislation – the only legislation of oil and gas that goes far enough to save the planet and our species – is legislation that either outright ends oil and gas operations or mandates net negative impacts.

Colorado Rising, a statewide environmental activist group “started by local people and grassroots groups across the state who are dedicated to protecting our communities from the hazards of oil and gas development and fracking to public health and safety” put out a statement in neutral support of the bill, a testament to that fact that it’s in the right direction, but not the right amount. The official position of Colorado Rising in regard to the bill is that, “While Colorado Rising is currently taking a neutral stance on SB-19-181, this bill is a very important step towards empowering communities. If the legislature can pass it without watering it down or creating loopholes [which they did], the bill will help protect the health and safety of countless Coloradans. It is vitally important to provide immediate relief to communities instead of stubbornly waiting for a 100% perfect bill. We are encouraged that this bill will better preserve our land, air, water and reduce our contribution to climate change. Passage of this bill will also give Coloradans a better legal footing for future interactions with the oil and gas industry.”

The better footing point is important, as it points to the ability to use this precedent for further, more effective legislative action. Colorado Rising Communications Director Ann Lee Foster says that, “While it would be immoral and unconscionable not to pass this bill, it does not go far enough to protect communities from dangerous oil and gas […] This bill leaves much work to be done in regards to enforcement, accountability and establishing definitive health and safety protections.”

In a press release dated April 16th, the day Governor Polis signed SB19-181, Colorado Rising said, “While SB-181 does not address all of the concerns and threats associated with industrial fracking activity, it is a desperately needed tipping back of enormously unbalanced scales in favor of people and environment. SB-181 is the most substantial shift we have seen in decades and puts communities on much better footing when confronted with industrial oil and gas in their backyards.”

Regarding the loopholes and amendments our Democratic majority allowed, Colorado Rising said, “Despite some concerning amendments, SB-181 is still a step in the right direction. There were some very obvious loopholes granted to industry. Rulemaking will be critical in protecting Coloradans [sic] and making sure 181 fulfills the new mandate of prioritizing health and safety.”

Following the signing of 181 into law, 350 Colorado – an independent state affiliate of 350.org, a global organization building a movement to solve the climate crisis – sent out emails detailing next steps, including: working on a toolkit to help local communities pass moratoriums while rulemaking commences. The toolkit will be publicly available next week, pushing for good rulemaking at the state level (through COGCC, AQCC) and in our communities, keeping community posted when hearings are scheduled and sharing talking points and other action opportunities, and continuing education efforts of public officials, community members and students of the dangers of oil and gas drilling & climate change.

A Turning point

The oil and gas industry has had drastic influence over the political and regulatory process in Colorado over the last several years. With Xcel Energy’s recent commitment to a carbon-free energy grid by 2050 and the now democratic trifecta in place, it seems 2019 maybe the turning point for Colorado’s inaction on climate change. Conservation Colorado’s top priorities for state leaders in 2019 include goals for fighting climate change and advancing energy job innovation by utilizing a just transition to improve the state’s energy usage, move toward 100 percent renewables, and create a reduction in carbon pollution.

In addition, Conservation Colorado is emphasizing creation of a plan to achieve one million electric vehicles on Colorado roads by 2030 by setting clean car standards and locating funding for transportation planning and efficiency.

HB 1261: What is it?

The official title of this bill is “Climate Action Plan To Reduce Pollution

Concerning the reduction of greenhouse gas pollution, and, in connection therewith, establishing statewide greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals and making an appropriation.”

Section 1 of the bill, as posted on the state’s legislative website, leg.colorado.gov, “states that Colorado shall have statewide goals to reduce 2025 greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26%, 2030 greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50%, and 2050 greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90% of the levels of greenhouse gas emissions that existed in 2005.” It would, essentially, “put Colorado on track to meet greenhouse gas reductions goals similar to those set out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, lawmakers say, slashing emissions from an array of sources, such as transportation, electricity generation and oil and gas drilling,” according to a report on the bill from the Colorado Independent in March 2019.

Polis’ prod the industry, it is reported, clashes with KC Becker’s demand approach. An environmental lawyer by trade, she’s looking at serious and enforceable mandates. In an interview with the Independent she says, “The governor’s office, he’s generally saying, ‘Oh, let’s just see if this happens on its own. Typically none of this happens voluntarily.” That level of undermining from the Governor’s office doesn’t bode well for the legislation introduced. It means, essentially, the legislation will have possible been scaled back, that the teeth may have been removed, and that loopholes will most likely have been introduced, as we saw with SB19-181.

As expected, the Independent found that “This new goal is still short of what scientists say is needed to avoid irreversible climate change, which in Colorado is expected to result in more intense heat waves, droughts and wildfires.” We have more climate catastrophe to look forward to, if this is correct. The UN IPCC report discussed earlier points out that “the only way to ensure global temperatures don’t rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) — the point at which climate change becomes irreversible — is to have net zero emissions by 2050.” The world is not on track to meet this goal. Colorado is not on track to meet this goal.

Final Thoughts: Not enough

It seems that Colorado is taking a leading position in addressing climate change issues by directly creating and passing legislation. That in itself is hopeful, but the oil and gas legislation signed into law and the climate change legislation under consideration are both inadequate to reckon with the future calamities expected as climate change worsens.

We’ll look back on this era as the death throes of a profoundly greedy, intellectually failed, morally vacuous society. The worst part is knowing that the billionaires who own the companies that created the mess – along with complicit politicians – will probably be the ones most likely to survive. The future is uncertain, climate change is here, our global response is submission to our addictions – to oil and gas, to consumption, to greed –  and so we take another puff off that cigarette as the disease of our addiction takes over. Colorado may be taking steps in the right direction, half steps, but – should anyone still be unclear about this – that is no way to rise to the challenge we face.

On April 16, the day Governor Polis signed SB19-181 into law – HB 1261 was approved. It was on an expected party line vote, 41-23, and it now heads to the Senate with 17 days left before the May 3 adjournment.  

The post From Blue Wave to Green Sweep: Can CO’s Democratic Supermajority Save the Future? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

A couple of hundred excited activists and concerned community members assembled at the Boulder Bandshell to take part in the global, youth led, climate change protest: Fridays for Future. The event was organized locally by Earth Guardians, including Marlow Baines, who was interviewed by Yellow Scene prior.

One might expect that in a pro-environmental, liberal leaning, highly educated space like Boulder, Colorado, there would have been a massive turnout to protest governmental inaction — failures at the highest levels — in regards to climate change. Indeed, given that the earth was warned in the 1980’s that inaction would lead to irreversible effects by the year 2000, that the UK broadcast Warming Warning in 1981, one of the earliest known publicly televised mentions of climate change, and, finally, given that the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report from the United Nations indicates that the continuation of our species is in jeopardy if fundamental, global changes aren’t made by 2030, one would think the streets would be full of people.

Boulder County turned out under 200 people.

While the crowd was noble, eager, happy, and hopeful, with on site musicians and poster making stations, and plans for a march down Pearl Street and a celebration in the park after, the turnout was not nearly enough. I had expected thousands, given the recent regional activism around climate change and oil and gas concerns. Arguably, while a beautiful day for a protest, after two snow days courtesy of the bomb cyclone, many parents couldn’t justify a third day off (nor take a day off themselves). Thanks, Colorado weather. Or, should I say, thanks climate change?

Deep Adaptation, a recent report by Professor Jem Bendell published directly to the web after it was rejected by an academic publishing house, “because I can’t wait any longer in exploring how to learn the implications of the social collapse we now face,” Bendell said, suggests in stark terms that we will experience the severe effects of climate catastrophe in our current lifetimes, including war, famine, and climate refugees. The report paints a horrific picture of the future of the planet, including the dubious prospect of the continuation of our species.

And still, global inaction continues at the political level and local activism is minimal. 

The Action Network’s Colorado Youth Climate Strike: Boulder information page suggested that numerous schools will be participating, including CU Boulder but, in reality, it look like mostly parents with kids and a few autonomous individuals. Thankfully the rest of the world is on the case, including sixteen-year-old Greta Thunbern, who was recently nominated for the Peace Prize for her effort around climate change.

Citing the “tens of thousands” of youth who protested today, Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said in an open letter shared to The Guardian,

“These schoolchildren have grasped something that seems to elude many of their elders: we are in a race for our lives, and we are losing. The window of opportunity is closing – we no longer have the luxury of time, and climate delay is almost as dangerous as climate denial.

 

My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry.”

No wonder, indeed.

Mikey J.

Mikey J, addressing the crowd at Boulder Bandshell on behalf of the Earth Guardians, told a story of failure and throwing in the towel. “Coming to this beautiful university, in this beautiful city, and all I learn about, everyday, is how we are failing our planet the same way we can fail a test,” Mikey  said, clear that “time is almost up.” He implored action on climate change at the local. “Sure, our chances are slim…[but] the harder the challenge, the greater the goal.”

Pointing to the freedoms we enjoy as Americans – freedoms that should spur us on to action given the foundation for activism we have, such as the right to be a part of our government, for redress, to support scientific institutions, and freedom of press  – “but for how much longer?” Declaring us all humans, in spite of political affiliations, and the hitherto unique nature of our life on earth, he asked everyone “to join my cause” and consider ourselves “guardians of the planet.”

Congressman Joe Neguse – at the bandshell with his wife and child – said the event was “inspiring” and that he was “so inspired by the young people who gathered here today to send a signal and a message that they demand that their political leaders take a stand and ultimately move the needle on climate change.”

Neguse is a champion and co-sponsor of the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led Green New Deal, saying that “I have full faith that we’re going to get it done with their [the youth’s] help and voice.” Neguse reminds everyone to “keep putting pressure on elected officials across our country” to support the Green New Deal. From 5 original co-sponsors when the GND was introduced, there are now over 90 co-sponsors with momentum growing. “Call your friends and family that might live in other neighboring congressional districts and other states, encourage them to get the word out and call their members” to support this important legislation.

Neguse – while not voting on the controversial oil and gas regulation bill that has passed the senate and now heads to the house – is a “strong supporter” of  SB 181 as well.

The post Fridays for Future: Boulder marches to stop climate change appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Screenshot, Fenberg FB live

Signaling that times have changed, from steam trains to electric cars, with Colorado built projects landing on Mars, and our neighborhoods having some of the worst air quality in the nation, KC Becker followed Stephen Fenberg’s remarks at the capitol today, marking a small, but important (if inadequate), shift in Colorado’s relation to oil and gas.

Speaking in the rotunda at the Colorado State House, Governor Jared Polis unveiled the major areas of the new bill – written by KC Becker and Stephen Fenberg – that reimagines the regulations that address the oil and gas industry and the local governments that seek to regulate them.

“I said that I would put health and safety first and support local control. I feel this bill is consistent with those principles and delivers them in a way that allows us to implement them successfully to the colorado oil and gas commission,” Governor Polis said.

“Putting health and safety first, of communities, of workers, is critical. And in a state as diverse as ours…there’s not a one size fits all approach to how we view integrating o&G operations into different communities. Under current law, communities are hamstrung in creating rules that work for their local residents.”

Address that hamstringing, Polis outlined the parameters of the soon-to-be-introduced legislation (no new legislation was posted to either KC Becker or Stephen Fenberg’s legislative pages at the time of this writing), including:

1. Clear language that local governments have land use authority as they do in almost any other area of economic activity, to protect their public health, safety, welfare, environment, and wildlife
2. Clarifies that local governments have the authority to regulate oil and gas operations, including land use and surface impacts, siting and nuisance – clarifying what has hitherto been a legal grey area
3. Provides clear guidance to avoid conflict between local and state governments. “Coloradans should be safe in their own homes…”
   1. Clarifies that the mission of the COGCC is to regulate oil and gas activities rather than foster oil and gas development.
   2. Balances representation on the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission, including a commissioner with public health expertise
   3. Directs the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission to increase disclosure of pipeline and flowline locations, and enhanced monitoring for pipelines
   4. Ensures proper financial assistance for operations in Colorado designed to prevent danger from orphaned well, an increasing issue with the increased volume of drilling in our state

Polis made clear that, “we know that this bill won’t solve every issue…but it goes a long way. The steps in this bill are reasonable, important steps that we can take right now.” Some in the activist community have already responded to Fenberg’s facebook live video with assertions that a ban is what we need, rather a mixed bag of vague or half-step measures that politicians hope will pacify activists and concerned citizens while being palatable to the oil and gas industry.

The event concluded with the introduction of Erin Martinez the survivor of the infamous Firestone explosion who related the fears her child lives with. She also said that her family is moving a second time because oil and gas found a developable space under her neighbors home and she wants to keep her family safe. She named Anadarko specifically, the operator of the well that caused her home to explode, and also the subject of recent examinations by Yellow Scene regarding early access to the legislation discussed today. Read that here.

In the end, Polis was on point, saying, “It’s the right thing to put health and safety first”. The question now is – once the actual text of the bill is available for review – will this legislation actually do that?

Editor’s Note: The name of Erin Martinez was corrected from an incorrect earlier spelling.

The post Fenberg, KC Becker, Polis give a preview to the new Oil & Gas Legislation appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

We are in Erie. The most fracked city in the state of Colorado.

In fact, we have earned the unfortunate nickname “Tour De Frack” by many, including legislators adapting the term. We do not have a choice where a drill or a well goes, whether it is next to our houses or schools, no matter how close it is. Neither does any other community in Colorado.

Don’t want fracking? Guess what, you don’t have a say. You can go to town hall meetings, legislative sessions, and the like — all day long — trying to convey the serious health consequences for those living next to it, as well as the massive impact fracking has on our finite supply of air and water. It does not matter. Your voice is drowned out by millions (and millions…) of dollars spent by the industry to ensure alternative energies and products are suppressed, that misinformation is spread, that any opposition is met with lawsuits — and to ensure that our legislators know their lobbyists by first name.

https://denver.craigslist.org/gov/d/denver-pro-oil-and-gas-democratic/6818388896.html

With a Blue Wave sweeping our state legislation, I asked several of our Democrat elected officials, “Why can’t Colorado pass a ban (or at least a moratorium) with a Democrat majority in our state legislation?” I spoke to six total; Matt Jones, Matt Gray, Stephen Fenberg, Edie Hooton, Jonathan Singer and Angela Williams. Calls to KC Becker went unreturned for interview. 

Every single legislator gave me the same answer: “Because it won’t pass.”

From our conversations, in their own words:

Edie Hooton (HD 10):

…what I would say is, in order to get legislation through, this is just fundamental, you need a consensus. You need 33 in the House, and you need 18 in the Senate. And just because you’re a Democrat, just because you have a D beside your name, doesn’t mean that you’re going to be onboard with the ban. Now, if somebody rang a bell on a fracking ban, every Boulder County legislator would vote for it. And we could probably get a handful of others, but then, there you are seen possibly compromised and characterized. So, first of all, it wouldn’t get passed. It would not pass the legislature, it wouldn’t do that. And the legislators supporting it and running those bills, would then … be characterized in a way that might reduce their effectiveness on a bill that we can get consensus on, that would actually make a lot of difference for Colorado.

Stephen Fenberg (SD 18):

If I could get a ban passed I would, but it won’t pass at the state. They will tie anything like that up in court and the state will get sued.

Matt Gray (HD 33):

Well, the ban and moratorium were different questions, I think. But their relations are similar. A ban, the hardest part of a ban in my mind is that we are not yet in a place where we don’t need oil and gas in the state of Colorado. We have almost every single person on cold nights, like last night, that lives here is kept alive by the fact that we have gas furnaces in almost every building that we live in. We’re not in a place yet where we can say we’re at 100% renewable energy, and so we can’t just disregard the need for oil and gas in the state.

And to the extent that we need to continue it, and for as long as we need to continue using it, I would rather the economic benefits of that and the jobs and the taxes and the employment come from Colorado than come from Iran, Saudi Arabia, somewhere along there. I think that as long as we are using these fuels, I would rather these fuels come from Colorado rather than they would come from somewhere else.

I’m a strong supporter of moving to renewable energy as quickly as possible to combat climate change and a lot of other health instances. But as long as we have it, just because if we instituted the ban in our state, it doesn’t mean we’re not going to use those fuels anymore, it doesn’t mean we’re not going to create the carbon emissions anymore. It just means it’s going to come from somewhere else, and the economic benefits that come with it are going to come from somewhere else and we’re just going to say, “Well look, we’re still going to be users … The impacts we’re going to put somewhere else.” You know what I mean? We’re going to say, Wyoming you deal with it, the impacts. Oklahoma you deal with the impacts. We’re not changing the overall carbon picture. We’re not changing the overall climate change picture, we’re just saying somebody else needs to deal with it. (emphasis ours)

That I don’t think is the right approach. I think the right approach is to come up with combined, come up with a policy where we work towards renewable energy and to addressing climate change as effectively and as quickly as we can. I think that work is going on. But for as long as we are consumers of oil and gas, I think that it’s okay that folks in Colorado develop that oil and gas while we work towards minimizing that need as quickly as we can.

Angela Williams (HD 7):

Why do you want to interview me? I said everything I am going to say at the Town Hall. There are drilling opportunities and some communities want that. It’s not fair to those communities to pass a ban. The jobs are too important.

FYI for Senator Williams and anyone else making the jobs/economy argument but forgetting (or omitting) the facts: O&G is approximately 1% of the job market, employing 40,000 people while most of those jobs are filled from out of state people, and O&G makes up approx. 3% of our state economy. A look at our State Budgets and Economy shows this quite clearly. (7-11 employee and bank tellers should not be included in the count.)

These answers are puzzling. Is the new Blue Wave going to be more of a Blue Puddle?

This is a story of Politics 101. The players include:

• Oil & Gas — and their lobbyists
• Legislators — and their Constituents (which should include you and me, but seems to be big donors more than voters)
• Spin Doctors
• The question of philosophical moral ground, species & planetary survival, the health and safety of citizens and the wishes of Oil & Gas trumping them all

Politics are often seen as universally corrupt. We all are watching the current presidency unfold before us. When you are in the trenches, up close, the degree at which Oil & Gas has harmed and corrupted our planet and governing legislation is so much more magnified, leading to the absolute refusal to do anything significant about it. In this place of inaction (or inability to act) to stop the onslaught, we get to see just how much the actions of oil and gas efforts, along with a complicit political class, are harming the environment.

If you have not read Joel Dyer’s investigative pieces on the industry, they are by far the most comprehensive breakdown of how oil & gas controls not just Colorado, but our country, and indeed the planet. We recommend these readings to get you caught up on the work Dyer is doing:

• Behind the Curtain – 2015
  https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/behind-the-curtain/
• Who Killed the Vote on Fracking? – 2014
  https://www.boulderweekly.com/…/who-killed-the-vote-on-fra…/
• Who Killed the Vote on Fracking? Part Two – 2014
  https://www.boulderweekly.com/…/who-killed-the-vote-on-fra…/

We  created a spreadsheet of all the fracking companies in Colorado and then looked them up on TRACER at the Secretary of State. TRACER gives the public records for campaign contributions.  From there we looked up all the PACS that the Oil & Gas Industry has donated to over the years. Since 2016, Oil & Gas has made more than $24,000,000 in political contributions to influence Colorado state policy.

Yes, that is $24 Million in 3 years.

This does not count the $40,000,000 they spent to defeat Proposition 112, nor the $35,000,000 they spent to try and pass Amendment 74. Nor does it count individual contributions or undisclosed donations. In fact, more than one in five dollars donated to campaigns in Colorado comes from oil & gas. Why does this industry need to spend this kind of money? (If they had put that money into alternative energies they could get rich all over again.)

The COGCC (Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission) is the oversight group meant to regulate the oil and gas industry. The Commission has largely been made up of lobbyists and former employees of oil and gas for the better part of their history. To date, there has not been a permit they do not like. If an application is missing information, it is rejected. If an application sits too long, it is closed. To our knowledge they have never, ever denied a single well application. 

Their stated mission: “The mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) is to foster the responsible development of Colorado’s oil and gas natural resources”, isn’t even pretending to regulate for health and safety.

Meanwhile, the numbers are staggering (citations at bottom):

1. Colorado has 80,000+ wells, of which 60,000+/- are active and 20,000+/- orphaned – up from 22,000 active twenty years ago.
2. Shockingly, over 75%-90% of it is shipped out of state and much of that out of the country. We are not using what we are extracting here in Colorado.
3. Gas prices to heat your home have gone up 61.2% in the last twenty years.
4. The bond to cover the costs of abandoned wells is roughly $10,000, yet it costs $85,000 to clean up an orphaned well, resulting in taxpayers forking out $7 million in 2017 to cover the shortfall. Colorado has over 300 orphaned wells and many of the companies that created them have since filed bankruptcy. A common tactic.
5. A well uses between 1.5 and 16 million gallons of fresh water – which can not be reused.
6. Wells emit toxins that can be seen with infrared, thus fracking is the number one reason we now have an F rating for air quality in Colorado.
7. Spills have increased 17% in the last year and there are an average of 12 spills a week.
8. 1,333 workers died in the nation’s oil and gas fields between 2003 and 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The nationwide death toll in 2014 of 144 was the highest in more than a decade.
9. Employees are 7x more likely to get sick.
10. Low birth rates are attributed to living near a fracking site for pregnant mothers. A study done by Princeton University that looked at data from 1.1 million babies found that  infants born within 1 kilometer of a well were 25% more likely to have low birth weights (less than 2500 grams or 5.5 pounds) than infants more than 3 kilometers away, as reported in Science Advances. Babies born near fracking sites showed significantly lower scores on a standard index of infant health. Weld County, where fracking is the among the most dense in the nation, infant mortality rates are 200% that of surrounding counties.
11. A study by Lisa McKenzie, PhD, MPH University of Denver, Environmental and Occupational Health showed a strong correlation between proximity to drilling operations and childhood leukemia. Children with acute lymphocytic leukemia were found to be 4 times more likely to live near oil and gas development than children with other types of leukemia.
12. The Colorado Department of Public Health found that people who live within a 1/2 mile of fracking are more likely to experience the most grave health impacts from exposure to toxic emissions like cancer, respiratory illness, and neurological disorders.

This does not include the countless testing these suburbanites are getting done on their blood and their children’s blood, showing benzene, ethylbenzene, and O-xylene – all cancer causing chemicals, typically produced by fracking.

The community is more than frustrated. They are scared. And they aren’t being heard.

These aren’t “eco-terrorists” as many in the Oil and Gas Industry like to call them. They are not the fringe. These are moms living in Broomfield, Erie, Commerce City and throughout the state. These are scientists, medical professionals, business owners, lawyers, writers, educators, and working professionals. It is Suburbia. Most didn’t start as activists, but have become activists, over time, as yet another drill, another well, is placed within 500 feet of their homes.  

When suburbia is rising up, that should tell our politicians something.

These are usually the most comfortable communities, middle America, where the major issues used to be enough hours in the day for kids’ activities and making it to the neighbor’s weekly barbecue. This isn’t where most agitation begins. To be clear, none of the community members  I spoke to wanted to be angry with the Democrats. They wanted to believe and trust that they would look out for them, as constituents. But over the years, they have been sold out every time. After all, it was Democrats who gave us the CO Clean Air Clean Jobs Act of 2010, which mandated fracking in Colorado, resulting in an F rating in air quality today.

Complicity or something else?

Accusations surfaced recently regarding the new oil and gas regulation bills being shown to oil and gas industry people prior to submission to the floor. The story was broke by Eldorado Underground in a video posted to Facebook. In it, a woman going by E claims to have overheard two gentlemen, one named Joe Milczewski, who the Greeley Tribune wrote was named Director of Government Relations for the Rockies Region by Anadarko in January 2019. The second gentleman named is Larry Holdren. According to his LinkedIn page he’s the co-founder of the Colorado Energy + Water Institute and director of Holdren Strategic Communications.

Screenshot from Video allegedly showing Joe Miecelzsky and Larry Holden

Miss. E, in the video, says “the thing that caught my attention was Joe from Anadarko started talking about how he oversaw what was happening with oil and gas in Boulder and Broomfield…They then started talking about how Fenberg and KC Becker had told them that they could get an advance look at this legislation, review the legislation that’s coming out. Next they said that they didn’t want that to be public knowledge, meaning KC Becker and Fenberg did not want that collaboration, that partnership to be public knowledge.”

We contacted both KC Becker and Stephen Fenberg who are the legislators crafting the bill. KC Becker denied the allegation. Stephen Fenberg responded with the following:

“I don’t know why they would be making the claims, I have never even heard of them. I have never met them or knew of them to meet with them. To me it’s weird, why would you trust someone from the industry that you supposedly never trust, over the words of people that are actually your allies, trying to solve the problem. I don’t have much to say to it, because it’s not true. We have been working with the advocates every step of the way, working with the groups working on this issue, for some of them to turn around and accuse us of being corrupt is just kind of, I don’t know if it’s worthy of a response. To be totally honest if you asked the companies, Anadarko that they said they work for, they would say ‘this person has never even met with Stephen Fenberg.’

There is zero chance anyone has seen the bill before. The common practice is to work out bill language with stakeholders before its introduced. That is the very common practice. Its encouraged and not considered unethical. Some would say it’s actually irresponsible to write a bill without involvement of the impacted parties. On this particular bill, I have very consciously not done that, because I don’t think the industry is a trusted partner and they have shown year after year, that all they are interested in is status quo and killing any legislation that comes out. Working through language with partners and industry folks only works if they are considered good faith partners and I don’t consider them one of them.

They haven’t seen it and they won’t until everyone else does.”

Calls to Joe Milczewski were responded to with, “I will need my media team to speak to you.” On a follow up call, Larry Holdren stated that he has “never met Stephen Fenberg and that can guarantee that he will not be seeing any drafts of any bills.”

The Highest Levels:

Governor Polis and many of our Boulder County elected leaders tell us they are working on new legislation to protect us; legislation that will make it easier to regulate the industry. Here is what they are telling us they plan to do:

• More electric cars
• Redefining the purpose of the COGCC to health and safety first
• Appointing as new COGCC Head, Jeff Robbins, a lawyer who has experience in dealing with cities and oil and gas issues. (Only time will tell if he is actually new blood or just more of the same…)
• A very vague idea of local control – that does not include the right for communities to ban fracking

Meanwhile there are still 6,300 new permits sitting at the COGCC waiting to be rubber stamped for approval, our air is still rated F, our bodies are still being poisoned, Erie is facing a new proposed “waste site” that will be imposed on residents, a series of new underground pipelines are being proposed, they still want to frack Rocky Flats, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warning about climate catastrophe beginning in 11+ years is still a reality.

While electric cars are good, they are not enough if we are going to continue to frack. Time is running out if you take the IPCC warning at all seriously. Our governors’ 2040 renewables goal is literally 10 years past the date of no return.

So tell us, Blue Wave, how do we stop our communities from being fracked to death? Because we sure as hell still don’t know that answer, not in a world where oil & gas controls our state and our politicians.

Politics 101.

UPDATE 03.05.2019

HB19-181: Protect Public Welfare Oil And Gas Operations

Sponsors Sen. S Fenberg, Rep. K. Becker, Sen. Mike Foote

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb19-181

Our analysis:

Does the bill protect us from Climate Change? No.

Does the bill prevent oil and gas from drilling? No.

But we are endorsing it.

Overall it is a very well written bill and while it is not the answer to all of Colorado’s Oil & Gas problems, it takes a big step toward protecting residents.

We hope it is one of many bills the legislation will be putting forth and that our legislators do not allow money to be the influencing decision, but rather health and safety.

A Brief oversight of the major pieces of the bill:
What the bill does is create stronger oversights of the COGCC.
Currently the COGCC is to have 3 members from Oil & Gas and one from Environment to authorize permits. The end result has been a rubber stamp. The bill requires the COGCC to be made up of 1 O&G, 1 environmental protection, 1 soil conservation, 1 agricultural producer (or royalty holder), 1 public health, and requires the Director to hire 2 Deputy Directors.

It requires the COGCC change its language from “foster Oil & Gas” to “regulate Oil & Gas”.

It requires operators to install air constant emission monitoring equipment and it allows local governments to be able to monitor  inspect oil and gas facilities; impose fines for leaks, spills, and emissions.

Currently local governments are unable to impose any of this.

It requires operators to go to the local government for approval to drill before being able to go to the COGCC.

Currently, operators go to the COGCC and than the local governments resulting in threats of lawsuits if local governments do not approve after it’s been approved by the COGCC.

It changes the language around leaving it in the ground is not wasteful.

Currently, it is stated to not take it out is wasteful.

Colorado Rising Director, Joe Salazar breaks it down from his keen legal mind:

Sources

1. https://corising.org/colorado-map-oil-gas-wells/
2. https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=CO
3. https://i2i.org/colorados-electricity-rates-continue-to-rise/
4. https://www.cpr.org/news/story/hickenlooper-executive-order-aims-to-clean-up-colorado-s-long-forgotten-abandoned-wells
5. https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/faq/how-much-water-does-typical-hydraulically-fractured-well-require
6. https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/10/30/here-are-the-biggest-contributors-to-denver-area.html
7. https://www.denverpost.com/2018/01/12/colorado-oil-gas-spills-increase, https://kdvr.com/2018/02/19/oil-and-gas-spills-happen-nearly-12-times-a-week-in-colorado/
8. https://aflcio.org/sites/default/files/2017-03/1647_DOTJ2016_0.pdf
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4469339/
10. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/12/13/hydraulic-fracturing-negatively-impacts-infant-health, http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/12/e1603021, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321801272_Hydraulic_fracturing_and_infant_health_New_evidence_from_Pennsylvania
11. http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/PublicHealth/About/news/Pages/Newsroom.aspx?&newsid=1087
12. http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/PublicHealth/About/news/Pages/Newsroom.aspx?&newsid=1087

Additional sources (no reason to short ourselves on all the knowledge at our fingertips): https://www.marketplace.org/2017/11/15/sustainability/environmental-protection-agency-drilling-fracking-wells, https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_and_fracking#Air_pollution, https://www.colorado.edu/business/sites/default/files/attached-files/cbr_2018_issue_3.pdf, http://www.metrodenver.org/media/396253/Economic-Profile-2015.pdf, https://www.colorado.edu/business/sites/default/files/attached-files/cbr_2018_issue_3.pdf, https://www.cpr.org/news/colorado-data, https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2017/06/02/colorado-cogcc-drilling-permits-martinez/?fbclid=IwAR14Dbj_wOcMSgC_rgfqwfC056-VQ8Wixb0SxoXAjVUaEB4soBJRBv6QdtQ

State Budgets: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/fy18-19bib.pdf, https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/dec2018forecast.pdf, https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/GeneralFund0718.pdf

The post The Blue Puddle: Colorado’s Legislators v Oil and Gas-Update 3.5.2019 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

2018 was a spectacular year for Yellow Scene. Our team covered the breadth of our lovely community, top to bottom, side to side, edge to edge, deep into the cracks and crevices, and highlighted so much of what makes Boulder County – and the entire region – amazing. As a part of that coverage we created a cover series called Legendary People in Legendary Places.

And damn it was legendary.

Every month of our series, which was shot entirely by the incredibly talented and wonderful Paul Wedlake, we shifted our people focus to match the issue focus, from last year’s February Best of the West, highlighting long-term winners of our annual open reader’s poll, to showcasing the founders and staff at some of our favorite green and organic products companies in the April Green Issue. We highlighted educators from our local institutions for our August Smart Issue and September has the most epic showcasing of restaurateurs, restaurant owners and chefs for the Indulgence Issue; nothing short of legendary.

We are ending the year with the December-January double issue by highlighting some of the legendary business folk that have been making, creating, and recreating Boulder’s greatness. And in doing so we invited long time business leaders out for our UnRetired segment.

Truth be told, we had hoped for a more diverse group but the fact is the county is 90.5 percent white, according to the last estimates from census.gov, and historically whiter, so we didn’t have much to work with. Much respect to Naropa University staff who hosted this shoot and voiced concerns about the lack of diversity. We are also very concerned.

If our recent Facebook fiasco is any sort of indicator, we owe it to ourselves to be extremely clear: there is nothing inherently wrong with being straight, white or male. It’s the way we use our access, privilege and platforms to benefit the world around us that matters. Selfishness sucks.

We are proud to live in a Boulder County that strives for ally work, progressive action and support for all aspects and areas of our communities, even if we find some areas lacking.

We would be remiss in our duties, however, if we failed to point out that Boulder County has a long way to go in creating, supporting and ensuring the lifeline for businesses owned by people of color, women, the differently-abled and our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender family.

We owe it to ourselves, to our children, to the planet, and to the future to showcase and promote diversity. De Colores means all of us, wrote the author Elizabeth Martínez.

Does that mean we won’t highlight white, male-owned businesses anymore? Of course not. Not only would that be impossible, it would be stupid. But we will be speaking to the diversity of our communities, the unheralded areas and aspects that make Boulder County what it is. To be clear, our state demographer told the entire assembled Boulder Economic Forecast audience that people of color, Latinx specifically, are the future of Boulder County’s workforce.

Our business communities, entertainment circles, our dating scenes, our entire lives — and especially our media — need to be active participants in opening the world of BOCO goodness to everyone. Yellow Scene will make sure that we’re at the forefront of that. Congratulations to our entire year long list of Legends, people and places. You make BOCO great.

Happy 2019 everyone.

Johnathen De La Vaca

Managing Editor, Yellow Scene Magazine

editorial@yellowscene.com | 303-828-2700 x503

The post From De La Vaca’s Desk: Cover Concerns: Boulder County’s Diversity Issues appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

[Editor’s note: Katherine Merlin, Esq. is co-counsel for the plaintiffs in Martinez v COGCC, alongside Dan Leftwich with lead attorney; Julia Olson. This is a guest column on the recent and profound Martinez v COGCC ruling.]

Camp, County Rd. 19, Photo by Brooke Dryden

In 2013, eight Colorado children filed a petition for rulemaking with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), the state agency with sole and exclusive jurisdiction over regulating non-federal oil and gas activities in Colorado. The 50+ pages of the petition were crammed with evidence from peer-reviewed, published scientific papers about the health and safety dangers posed by oil and gas development – hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in particular. This evidence included global warming from methane leakage and venting, but also water pollution, toxic air emissions, links to developmental effects on the unborn. The children (the eldest of whom were only 13) asked the COGCC to stop issuing new permits for oil and gas development in Colorado until more certainty could be obtained that the industry was not causing these types of catastrophic health and safety impacts on Colorado residents.

The COGCC denied the children’s request for rulemaking, saying among other things that the agency lacked the authority to stop issuing permits. It said that its authority required it to foster and promote the industry, and that it was merely allowed to “balance” health and safety against the needs of industry. The children’s appeal was based on the statutory mandate of the COGCC, the plain English of which said that the COGCC had to foster and promote industry “in a manner consistent with” protecting public health, safety, and welfare, and the environment. The argument was that the words “in a manner consistent with” do not set up a balancing test, but create a mandatory condition, which the agency could not simply overlook as it had been doing.

It should be noted that in its decision the COGCC never disputed the scientific evidence put forward, including evidence regarding the catastrophic projected impacts of climate change. The COGCC does not deny that climate change exists, it merely ignores the fact that Colorado’s oil and gas industry is responsible for a large percentage of Colorado’s overall climate emissions.

After a “rubber stamp” ruling from the District Court, a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the children’s petition. “[T]he clear language of the Act,” said Judge Fox, for the court, “supported by the Act’s legislative evolution and the Commission’s own enforcement criteria — mandates that the development of oil and gas in Colorado be regulated subject to the protection of public health, safety, and welfare, including protection of the environment and wildlife resources.” Judge Laurie Booras, who wrote the dissenting opinion, is resigning from the bench January 31, after a panel of judges found multiple judicial improprieties, including an email in which she referred Judge Fox as “the little Mexican.” The named plaintiff in the Martinez case also identifies as Latinx/indigenous.

This decision, had it been allowed to stand, would have ensured that the COGCC evaluate scientific evidence about the risks and benefits of the activities which it regulates, and would have required them to deny permits where there were unacceptable health and safety impacts. It was an open question about what degree of health and safety impact would be permissible, and it is likely to have invited further legal challenges. However, a standard which permits some degree of carefully analyzed risk seems obviously vastly superior to a standard which requires no analysis, has no limit on acceptable risks, and only requires industry to take “cost-effective” and “feasible” steps to limit harm.

The case was appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court by Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and the two intervenors in the case, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the American Petroleum Institute. Dozens of environmental organizations, parent and teacher associations, local governments, and others wrote amicus briefs urging the court to uphold the Court of Appeals decision, and to protect Colorado’s people from a greedy and rapacious industry that has already caused numerous civilian and worker fatalities.

Yesterday, the Colorado Supreme Court placed the profit of industry above the lives of Colorado residents. The Colorado Supreme Court not only reversed the Court of Appeals, it actually found that the COGCC had been providing too much consideration of health and safety in its “balancing” test. Instead, the Court reasoned, the COGCC must actually foster the development of oil and gas, preventing adverse environmental impacts to the extent necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare only after taking into consideration cost-effectiveness and feasibility.

This standard is beyond the wildest dreams of industry. Any potential rule or requirement to protect the public from catastrophic fires or explosions, or from climate change, must now be evaluated as to whether or not the industry can afford it.

Gas well flaring, Colorado, Image by Brooke Dryden

To show just how murderous and evil this a rule this will be, consider this hypothetical: A company wants to frack at Rocky Flats (this just happened). The COGCC now lacks statutory authority to say no, because it must foster the development of oil and gas, and there is no cost-effective or feasible way to prevent the disturbance of the radioactive material at Rocky Flats other than by saying no to the project.

It is easy to see the warnings of oil and gas activists as hyperbole if you are unfamiliar with the oil and gas industry in Colorado. However, they are anything but hyperbole. Anadarko’s former employees filed a whistleblower suit against the company, claiming health and safety violations. The complaint likens Anadarko’s Colorado operations to “a ticking time bomb.” Multiple deaths have occurred, and numerous other accidents have been “near misses.” Industry employees have been made to pay their own hospital bills after being injured on the job.

Colorado is now at the mercy of industry; our health and safety now depend on what the industry claims it can afford to spend to protect us.

The post Martinez v. COGCC: Unmasking Colorado’s Explicit Prioritization of Profit Over Health and Safety in Oil and Gas Regulations, by Katherine Merlin, Esq. appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

BCAW Press Release Header, Screenshot

November 6th marked the end of the election season, but only the start of activism around oil and gas.

It would be reasonable to assume oil and gas professionals would revel in the victory over proposition 112, the controversial setback measure), even while pro-health and safety activists continue their work, but you would be wrong. In fact, oil and gas employees and contractors have been threatening and harassing members and participants of Broomfield Clean Air & Water (BCAW), a local concerned citizens environmental activist group. BCAW’s mission is “to protect the citizens of Broomfield from adverse health, safety, and environmental impacts of oil and gas exploration and drilling within residential communities”, according to their facebook group, which has 2400 members.

The anti-proposition 112 victory was bought and paid for by Protect Colorado and allies; the Colorado Secretary of State’s TRACER site listed their total spending at $37,733,213.05 in oil and gas industry and ally contributions. Equally important to the proposition 112 defeat was the fuel tossed on the frack well fire by *nearly* the entire Democratic slate, from Governor elect Jared Polis and Governor John Hickenlooper on down, who showed profound unwillingness to endorse the controversial measure increasing oil and gas regulations. These same Democrats, it should be noted, regularly offer lip service to the idea of a fossil fuel free Colorado by 2041 (note: that’s 11 years too late to save the planet according to global scientific consensus), even while eschewing oil and gas regulation.

BCAW allege in a press release, corroborated by screenshots of the conversation (provided to Yellow Scene and embedded below) that, “employees and allies from the oil and gas industry threatened physical violence and showed utter contempt towards the residents of Broomfield in a conversation initiated by Broomfield Clean Air and Water (BCAW) on their Facebook page regarding a large on-site fire, which resulted in a 1-mile radius evacuation, that occurred just days ago in nearby Weld County.”

Naming names, BCAW claims that “Dan, believed to currently work at Liberty Oilfield Services and who wrote under the pseudonym ‘Dano Damano,’ extolled his praise on the pending large-scale drilling project of Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. in Broomfield and arrogantly stated, ‘too bad. 139+ wells are coming to your town and I and others like me don’t want or need your approval to do what we do.’”

“Greeley resident and employee of HighPoint Resources [later identified as a third party contractor], an oil and gas development and production company, Brennon Myers ratcheted up the conversation stating, ‘you sound pathetic and emotional, just like have [sic] these specimens in Colorado you call men.’  Brennon did not stop there and told another female commenter, ‘Send your husband over so I can beat his ass, Cuz obviously he can’t put his bitch on a leash.’”

“Oil and gas insurance specialist with Alliance Business Services, LLC of Thornton, Colorado, Anthony Palmer responded to another female resident who was appealing to the oil and gas industry to work with residents on solutions rather than against them by stating, ‘you ignorant S%$#! You spew nothing but ignorance and hatred! Your [sic] an idiot that needs an education!’”

“Evans resident and employee of Select Energy Services, Brynn Heil, sent an unsolicited message to BCAW stating in part, ‘Fuck you. [Broomfield] is a disgrace to Colorado.’”

This level of violent and disrespectful discourse merits scrutiny and a serious level of attention from the folks who command the oil and gas empires of Colorado. Indeed, the legitimate fear is that violent rhetoric becomes violent actions. Additionally, the disrespect shown, as pointed out by Eric Rutherford (former candidate for House District 33) demonstrates a level of incivility and unwillingness to play nice with neighbors that should indict any industry profiting off of Colorado lands.

In an apology shared to BCAW, Ken Wonstolen, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of HighPoint Resources, said, “HighPoint Resources finds the social media postings by oil and gas industry personnel that you reported to us unacceptable, and apologizes to your organization, as well as to any individuals that were subject to this abusive conduct. Brennan Myers is not an employee of HighPoint Resources. However, we hold our contractors to the same standard of conduct we expect from our employees, and accordingly, Mr. Myers’ contract service has been terminated.

Again, our sincere apologies. Please be assured that HighPoint will work hard to earn the trust of all Colorado citizens in the way it conducts business.”

That’s a small win, though we suspect Mr. Myers will find work at any one of the numerous oil and gas outfits in the region.

A call to Liberty Oil Field Service was met with no comment. A call to HighPoint Resources was not answered. A call to Alliance Business Services, LLC was also not answered. Lastly, a call to the main HR line for Select Energy Services was not asnwered. This article will be updated with relevant info should any of these companies return our calls.

Screenshots of the exchanges are below:

The post Local O&G Employees Threaten, Harass Environmental Activists in Broomfield appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Acme Site Map by De La Vaca for Yellow Scene

We feel it serves the town to provide transcripts of our elected and appointed/acting official’s comments in regard to highly divisive issues. It should be noted that much of the conversation and concern was about the possibility of propositions 112 and 74 passing, which neither did. Are we in a better place with the operator agreement in place? Arguably we are. But the loopholes in the agreement – of which there are many – make it likely that Crestone will find ways to undermine the intent of the agreement and continue to operate in the best interests of their shareholders and their industry. We hope we’re wrong. Presented here is the transcript of the presentation made by acting town administrator Farrell Buller with some notes from our editor.

MAYOR CARROLL: …We’ve been informed by Crestone that they had submitted their application for the Erie Vessel site, last week, and that they were gonna be submitting the Acme site tomorrow. Whether or not we approve the operator agreement for either the 15 or 30 wells. So they are moving forward as they told us last week.

The second item is how we got here. A lot of people have questions. So after the vote on Tuesday, Crestone’s attorney reached out to our attorney to see if, or to tell us that between then and Tuesday they still were open to negotiating if we wanted to. Our attorney reached out to the board, as that legal obligation exists, and one or more of our trustees said they were willing to talk further with Crestone to see what additional items we could get. So we did some more negotiating on Thursday, we made six changes, and now that’s how we are here today.

So with that, we’re gonna do presentation on the operator agreement.

FARRELL BULLER: Good afternoon Mayor and Board of Trustees. Farrell Buller, Acting Town Administrator for the town of Erie. We are gonna go through a presentation of about ten slides, talking through not only the changes that have happened since October 30th to date, but just to kind of give some overall context and concept of how we got here since about June. After my presentation we will be doing some Q and A with the citizens and for the board’s direction I just want to take a minute to explain how that will happen because we don’t have a sign in sheet today. How that will happen is, Amy Teetzel who is our operations manager will have a microphone and she will be at that end of the aisles if you have a question that you would like to ask, whether that’s addressing the board or Crestone or staff, you can go to the end, ask your question and it will be addressed verses coming and standing for three minutes and talking and not getting any interaction. The board’s desire was to have a little more of that feedback so we’ll go each row and give people the opportunity to ask a question.

[Editor’s note: one could not be faulted for thinking that this move appears to be less about interaction with the citizens, less about “a little more of that feedback”, than about preventing the coordination of another presentation by citizens, who had signed up in order, en mass at the last board of trustees meeting to incredible effect. You can read about that and see those slides here.]

Why are we here? Why are we in this setting, in this conversation? So, the desire of this Board of Trustees is to have less wells in Erie, less well pads in Erie, to work towards elimination of the Vessel mineral site, to enact safeguards for residents over and above what’s required by the state, and then to settle the current pending litigation against Crestone. A little bit about how we got here, in the beginning of May, right after the current board elections were held, this board began working with staff immediately on how can we do oil and gas better? So, instantly we changed things from, we didn’t have notice of where these agreed on well pads were in the town, whether it was by Crestone, Extraction, Anadarko, other providers, so immediately we were instructed to create a map and put that on the website.

Erie Oil & Gas ACtiviy Map, from erieco.gov

That happened in early June and at that time was the first time we publicly shared both Vessel site and the Acme site and Crestone’s plans, as well as other operators but I’m just gonna stick to those today. In June we also began working on a new approach that the Board of Trustees wanted to have with Crestone, and additional operators. On July 10, the Board of Trustees adopted a six month moratorium for all new oil and gas permits. That moratorium was adopted with the caveat that we would begin working with operators to create updated operator agreements.

[Editor’s note: The caveat “that we would begin working with operators” doesn’t imply that an operator’s agreement needs to be made or agreed to, just that efforts towards that end are occuring.]

So something has to happen within those six months to show progress working with those entities. That’s what happened at that time. Between August and October, we all went to work; Staff, Board of Trustees, our legal attorney, Crestone, their legal attorneys, and basically worked through from where we were in 2015 to where were are in 2018, about October 18th when the first operator agreement was released to everybody, and to the public, on our website.

During that time other things that had happened in conversations that had been had is town staff began to identify additional experts we could utilize, looking into air quality projects, new oil and gas experts that had different studies, that we could utilize them, not only on this operator agreement but for any type of development, any type of testing like that. We secured additional resources. The Board of Trustees began working on citizen engagement. That was through a multitude of facets. They did do a survey [linked here] that went out to and came back from 525 people, they offered to do three sessions of one-on-one face-to-face meetings, the Mayor and additional board members have attended monthly meetings with residents that have been put in various areas of the community to try to draw out different conversations and different feedback. This will be our third public meeting, regarding this conversation. As well as this board was elected with a different level of knowledge of oil and gas than some of our previous boards, so all of that expertise that they had obtained prior to this August 1st date also rolls forward and anytime a citizen comes and speaks at a Board of Trustees meeting, all of that information is captured. The board also regularly receives emails ongoing of this topic and other topics that they take into consideration.

On October 18 and October 19th, we presented the Board of Trustees with this updated operator agreement as well as to the public. From October 19th to the present, we’ve continued to refine the operator agreement. So we wanted to demonstrate some of the changes from a really vast level. We realize that a lot residents may or may not have been part of this same conversation in 2012 when this first got worked on, as well as in 2015, this brings us to 2018. You can see up there from BMPs, which are best management practices, in 2012 we had six. We had this same provider which I believe is called Encana. In 2015, we had 19 best practice management identified. In 2018, at the 10/30 meeting we had 31 best practices identified and today we still have 31.

With regards to odor, you can see that in 2012 and 2015 we didn’t have any type of odor control plan. It wasn’t in people’s radar of being a really high important topic and really something we needed extreme, extreme attention to really pay attention to. The odor control plan was identified in 2018 with this operator agreement and it’s still in the operator agreement. With regards to sound mitigation, in 2015 we had just the A limit on drilling, and we know that at times it seemed like a lot of complaints would come from the C level noise of drilling so there is a cap in our current agreement and that has been addressed at a much more attainable level for all parties in the 2018 operator agreement, both versions.

Specific to air, you’ll that the safeguards in 2012 and 2015 are different than the safeguards in 2018 in both of those operator agreements. Specific from October 30 to today, one of the requests that was made in that time was changing the fluid used to help address air quality, which also affects likely odor.

Additional safeguards, over and above the state law, is something that this board has been highly focused on. The four items that are listed in the 2018 operator agreement: [1] monthly inspections for all Crestone wells in Erie, [2] additional stakeholders review i.e. that could be Broomfield or other interested parties that we identify, most recent operator agreement among local entities, so I think that’s important because other local entities have adopted something likely hasn’t been put into practice, so we have some experience with what we’ve put into practice, we know how it’s supplied, we know the outcome, so it’s that assess, plan, implement, evaluate. [3?] We’ve been able to evaluate and we’re back to the next stage. A lot of the entities that recently adopted operator agreements likely use the 2015 Erie’s agreement as a base or starting point. [4] Finally, we have a new and improved risk analysis that was requested, so as there is a potential risk identified, that will come into the town staff and the town board. An important thing to identify for the 2018 today’s operator agreement that we’re reviewing, everything on the list from 10/30’s operator agreement is a carry-over, so I just didn’t rewrite all those. Those are all in.

The other five things that were recently negotiated, led by board of trustee Christiaan van Woudenberg, were to prohibit Gibson D822 drilling fluid, the addition of Pratt and Waste Connections well pad sites to this agreement, so if there’s something going on these best management practices still apply, a guarantee of a connection to the electric grid, additional distance from the residents, that is definitely one thing this Board of Trustees has heard and it was indicated that should there be any give in trying to move that well pad site further from the residents that we expected that and Crestone has been able to do that. Additionally, this agreement, the terms have been reduced from 10 years to 5 years. Some of the additional administrative safeguards, this will satisfy the odor litigation, which we have our next deadline I believe November 12th coming up, monthly inspections will be ongoing for all sites in perpetuity, that was not the case in 2015, detailed reports, studies, and plans are required describing how Crestone will mitigate the impacts and satisfy all the BMPs.

That’s important because prior to this, we were the ones directing Crestone to do these things that was very prescriptive and what we learned is we’re not the expert, and as their technology improves, we actually wanna guarantee that we receive that technology so now [1] it will be a plan that is submitted and reviewed by all entities. [2] Other stakeholders, such as the city and county of Broomfield, can be listed as an interested party with the rights to review plans for each pad site. [3] Administrative approvals, not just consultations, [are] required for each identified pad site. [4] Crestone will pay a fee of $35,000 per well pad site to cover town costs. [5] The town has the right to conduct inspections of the well pads and related facilities without notice. [6] The town may propose that Crestone adopt new technologies in the future, such technology will provide a material benefit for public health, safety, welfare, to the environment of the town of Erie. [7] Additional landscape requirements have been included and then [8] a master pipeline license agreement so that all the operators and the town and the residents and any of those stakeholders groups are participatory and understand what the full plans were.

[Editor’s note: a point brought up by a citizen speaker, which bears out here, is that the town’s ability to propose new technology for Crestone to use does not guarantee Crestone will have to use it. That rings of the prescriptive position that town claims it’s trying to avoid.]

One of the things the Board of Trustees directed staff do is help identify what is the overall plan, not just trying to look at everything so segmented as an ongoing basis. A couple of the risks and rewards, one risk and considered and identified is not knowing the size and duration of Acme at this time.

[Editor’s note: in the course of answering a constituent question, Jason Oates of Crestone Peak Resources said the wells at Acme would be in production for 25 years following an 18 month drilling phase. Why acting town administrator Buller is pushing for this agreement but claimed not to know that is unclear.]

Obviously, all of those pieces are the next step. When we hear people talk about traffic, environmental, lights, sight, drop off times, things like that… all of those come in the next step when an application actually comes to the town, so the town doesn’t have that application at this time. Not having control of the 12 new reports and studies; again those are above and beyond what the state approves and recommends as a regular basis, not having inclusion of the recompletions of existing wells. Recompletion of existing wells. Thirteen of the new BMPs make those inclusive so we can hold those to the highest standard possible. Any rewards at this time, obviously the “why” slide of having less wells in Erie around people, less well pads, closing Vessels Minerals, improving and increasing local control, and settling the pending litigation. Another rewards is having plans versus prescriptive BMPs, I just identified what those were when they’re prescriptive, it’s ‘do this’ and that’s exactly what we will get and when it’s a plan then we have the ability to make recommendations and as technology improves or as the town or staff or a consultant identifies a better option or better practice, we now have the right to have Crestone look into that.

[Editor’s note: to say that prescriptive – literally “relating to the imposition or enforcement of a rule or method” – means to “ ‘do this’ and that’s exactly what we will get” is a lower standard than plan, which is described here as “the ability to make recommendations and as technology improves or as the town or staff or a consultant identifies a better option or better practice, we now have the right to have Crestone look into that” makes no sense to us. It makes less sense in light of the prior assertion that the town’s ability to “propose” new technology does not guarantee its use. It appears, based on the language here, that the town added BMP’s in the new negotiation in exchange for lowering the already minimal enforcement standards.]

The other identified reward is to improve the overall welfare of Erie Air Park through the funds accrued in the Air Park URA [info here]. Just so everyone is aware of what we’re talking about when we say these two pad sites, the back layer map is the map that’s on our website that I mentioned has been up since about early May, and that shows where the anticipated sites are right now with our three main operators. We did also add the Coyote site, which technically isn’t in Erie but was moved to Erie. We have that so our residents are aware of what’s happening.

This appears to be the same map, but was taken from Trustee van Woudenberg’s website post

The Vessels Mineral pad site would be 20 acres and 30 wells and the Acme pad sight would be 20 acres and either 15 or 30 wells. This is a picture specifically of the Acme site, you can see Erie in the most middle and what we have done is put on there how many feet that is from residents houses so that you can see just kinda where we’re at and how many buildings that we’re actually talking about. The other thing I mentioned that I just wanted to make sure people are aware of are the URA, this blue area. The Acme site is there because I realize the map format changes. This is what’s called the Urban Renewal Authority Area, this was created in about 2008 and basically what it does is it captures revenue specifically in this area to put back into improving the area. When this was created in 2008, items that were considered important to this area were remaking those roads to make them much improved and meet current standards, potentially sewer options, potentially water options, so just making improvements to this area. This is the area where those funds received would be spent. They can’t be spent in like all the gray area, for example.

The other thing with this is we do have other stakeholders that participate such as Saint Vrain Valley School District, Mountain View Fire Protection District, Weld County, so all of us are part of the same URA to help improve this area. In decisions on how those dollars, collected and spent, Erie has about a 15.8 mil so that’s how we know the dollars would be significant in this area to make improvements to that land.

This Board of Trustees has heard some conversation about the recent elections and we just wanted to provide some information on a couple of things that we know. The election is happening November 6th. The changing governor and outcomes of Proposition 112 and Amendment 74 are the primary outcomes that may shift oil and gas landscape after the election. The operator, aware of potential impacts of permits submitted or modified after November 6th has submitted or indicated they will submit all permits by November 5th, with or without an updated operator agreement. What we can expect if Proposition 112 passes: section 6 specifies the 2500 foot setback would apply to oil and gas development permitted by the state after the proposition goes into effect. The timing of the approval of the permits by the state will be impacted by Erie’s decision, whether or not we enter into an updated operator agreement.

[Editor’s note: much conversation has been had about the timing of this event. As pointed out at the meeting, the election date isn’t the important date. In fact, it’s the certification of the election – which should happen in December – that is the date that impacts applications. Trustee Haid has even pointed out that, should the board of trustees be willing (and it doesn’t appear that that would be the case), they could work with the COGCC to deny any existing permit applications (such as Acme and Vessels) based on proposition 112.]

As the operator indicated, the permits will be submitted one way regardless. Nothing in Proposition 112 mentions previous agreements with municipalities. Proposition 112 explicitly states that there is no exception to reducing a setback, but municipalities can increase the setback. Next steps for this Board of Trustees, obviously to continue getting citizen feedback through education sessions, public meetings, monthly meetings, however the board deems most appropriate. I think that is just conveyed but this isn’t the end of this conversation and it’s not the end of oil and gas in Erie, or how it affects our residents. To improve the public meeting processes, to continue to work with a variety of experts, to work with neighboring communities, and to continue to negotiate with the remaining oil and gas operators. That’s important because we’ve already continued to meet with some of the other operators. The draft that I received from one of them on an operator agreement was less than our year 2015 agreement so that will obviously come into play if we have an updated one or not at this time. That is the end of my presentation.

The post Erie’s Acting Town Administrator: Presentation to the Board of Trustees [Transcript] appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The Erie Board of Trustees, in defiance of massive opposition by Erie residents and local and community organizations, has passed the updated operating agreement with Crestone Peak Resources. Trustee Charles was clear that, “It’s been quite extraordinary how many people have been against this agreement,” based on the emails he’s received. A conversation with Trustee van Woudenberg, in advance of this vote, indicated that he fully believed that the operator agreement would indeed pass. It appears he was right.

In a short email interview with Trustee Haid, he responded “no comment” when asked if he thought the board was convinced that the OA does enough for the citizens of Erie – given proximity to election day – for them to ignore their own recent board vote and what appears to be the will of the citizens.

A request to Mayor Carroll for comment in advance of this vote was not replied to as of press time.

No substantive answers were offered to the many questions about the logic of the apparent rush to get this operator’s agreement done before the November 6 election. Trustee Haid, who voted yes for a second time, indicated in a matrix he made and posted to Facebook, that if proposition 112 passes and proposition 74 fails, that the “the town could request a hearing with the COGCC asking for any non-accepted permits to be denied on the basis of 112. If we do that, the 2015 OA is nullified. Otherwise we continue under the 2015 OA. Acme and Vessels are drilled. Old BMPs apply.” When asked about the chances of the board of trustees requesting a hearing with the COGCC asking that the permits be denied (after engaging in full faith negotiations with Crestone and signing an agreement) on the basis of 112 and no one compensates them, Haid said that, “my matrix was quickly assembled and with no input from anyone other than ballotpedia”… and that he had not consulted any other board members to make that claim.

Today’s public meeting and vote was scheduled as addressing a new agreement, and not a reopening of the prior agreement, though the line between that being fact and fiction is thin. In fact, acting Town Administrator Buller gave a presentation to begin today’s board meeting, a presentation which could be characterized as an education session for residents on why they have misunderstood the OA, where only six updates were made to the 10/30 Operator agreement and this agreement is being voted on under the same resolution name, resolution 18-400. These updates are based on community input from public comment and following negotiations with Crestone representatives since 10/30.

While the room was completely full, it should be noted that dozens of residents were not allowed in to council chambers, citing capacity. Broomfield Ward 4 Councilman Krieger was the first to offer to leave post comment and reply to allow others in. Many went home before the chance to enter.

Images courtesy of Shavonne Blades

Images courtesy of Shavonne Blades

The vote came down to a 4-2 vote, with Trustee Woog absent. Trustee Gippe, Mayor Pro Tem Deakins, and Mayor Carroll were in favor. Trustees Charles and van Woudenberg voted against.

You can review the updated agreement and all supplemental information on the town website here.

The post Erie Board of Trustees Passes Massively Opposed Operator Agreement with Crestone Peak Resources appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Screenshot, Highway 7 Coalition letter to Erie Board of Trustees

A local group of concerned citizens and activist groups, including the Highway 7 Coalition, have sent a letter dated November 3 to the Town of Erie Board of Trustees requesting that they, “cease consideration of adopting the proposed Amended and Restated Operator Agreement with Crestone Peak Resources LLC (Operator Agreement)”. The Board of Trustees has planned a new vote for November 4 at 2 pm in council chambers. This meeting is a mere five days after the board voted down the agreement and only two days before votes on relevant propositions, including 2500′ setbacks (proposition 112) and state compensation for owners decreased poperty value due to state regulation (proposition 74). Trustee Haid posted a list of updates to the operator agreement since the October 30 vote on his official Facebook page, viewable here.

The post [Updated] Highway 7 Coalition, Others Urge Delay of Erie Board of Trustees Vote on Crestone Operator Agreement: Letter appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In the spirt of transparency, we have transcribed portions of the last Erie Board of Trustees meeting, October 30, 2018. We include the full comments of the public discussion period (as well as the powerpoint presentation used by the residents), which was 100 percent about the Crestone operator’s agreement and 100 percent against the operator’s agreement. Also transcribed are both rounds of the board of trustees discussion and the final vote. The Board of Trustees has scheduled a new vote on Resolution 18-400 for this Sunday, November 4th, at 2 pm. The logic for this eludes us, given Crestone’s November 1 deadline. Please contact editorial@yellowscene.com with transcript corrections, spelling updates, or anything else.

You can review our article on the last board of trustees meeting and its outcome here. A short piece on the public comment session hosted by the board of trustees at the city courthouse on October 27th can be found here.

Transcript of Board of Trustees Meeting: Public Comments (slideshow slides are at bottom of the comments):

SUSAN PHILLIPS-SPEECE: Mayor Carroll, Trustees, I’m Susan Phillips-Speece, I reside at 4180 Wild Horse Drive in Anthem Ranch. I am also a member of the Anthem Ranch HOA Board of Directors, and on behalf of the Board of Directors, and our more than twenty-one hundred residents, I would like to urge the town of Erie to insist on best management practices such as closed-loop systems, prohibited venting, tankless systems, traffic controls, emergency plans, and the highest level of environmental protections when negotiating with any oil and gas entity. We would ask Erie to focus on protecting public health, safety, welfare and our environment for all of the citizens of Erie and your nearest impacted neighbors. We press that you regulate oil and gas development to the highest degree that you are able to within your governmental structure. We want to provide these protections by following the science in the minimizing the impact of oil and gas operations on the community by maintaining this gorgeous area that we all enjoy living in, recreating in and raising our families. On a personal note, I know that you’ve received a letter from Kevin Standbridge and the city and county of Broomfield, and having served on Broomfield’s oil and gas task force, I know the challenges that you face in dealing with oil and gas operations. Mr. Standbridge’s letter provides excellent advice and comes from all the work that our taskforce and the city staff did to protect Broomfield as much as we could. And so I totally support and urge your thoughtful consideration of Kevin’s letter. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you.

LAURA DAVIS: Good evening Mayor, Board, Trustees, I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I’m Laura Davis and I’m here representing the city and county of Broomfield and my capacity as the Assistant Public Health Director. As Susan alluded to you, a letter was submitted regarding Broomfield’s comments related to the oil and gas operator agreement that you guys are contemplating. Again, I want to compliment you guys because it’s clear there’s been a lot of thought and effort and discussion put into this whole process and negotiating the operator agreement. I won’t reiterate completely what’s in the letter but there are a couple things that we want to make sure, again, that the letter is part of the public record this evening and that’s the main reason I’m here. But there are a couple things of note. Again, we submitted approximately 16 comments related to the operator agreement outlined in appendix A. Most of those are related to either emergency response, traffic, air quality, and noise. Those were ones that were special attention that we want consideration on. I think the main point that we’re looking for is that we would like to collaborate with the city of Erie, county of Erie, wherever possible on some of these and have, maybe, the possibility of being able to review and comment on some of the plans that will be required as a part of that operator agreement. Again, we’re one of your closest neighbors. We share a lot of the same issues and impacts, and so I think that there’s some opportunity there for collaboration. The other thing that I will note that also is in the letter in item 16, we’ve undertaken a big air monitoring and testing program that involves Colorado State University as well as Ajax Analytics and we’re installing 18 air monitoring stations as well as using some classic canisters to do sampling of our communities to determine what the oil and gas impacts actually are. Again, we’d like to have an opportunity to maybe discuss the potential of participating in that particular project with the town of Erie because of the apt we’ve had and there are some good synergies there where we may be able to collect some data and really make some good decisions and hopefully inform policy making going into the future. I appreciate the time, for allowing me to come speak to you, and thank you for your consideration in this matter.

LIZ FISHER: Good evening trustees, I’m Liz Fisher. I live at 635 Moffat Street in the town of Erie and I’d like to give a somewhat paraphrased version of correspondence I sent you earlier. I’m asking you to delay vote on the operator agreement with Crestone or to vote against the resolution tonight. There are too many serious questions about so many of its provisions. To go forward now, would be a rushed judgment. Some of the outstanding issues that pop out at me, meriting closer scrutiny include but aren’t limited to, transparency, being that documents or other vital information were not released to residents until the last minute. Due process, we have no public hearing with the first or second rating for seeking vote tonight. Settling the litigation with Crestone, despite the fact the judge has ruled in Erie’s favor in a partial summary judgment. Doubling the size of the ACME wall pad in return for not drilling in vessels. This is too steep a trade-off for residents who will be impacted. Another issue is public safety and last weekend’s explosion and fire at an out of service storage tank near Briggsdale, Colorado clearly shows us the extreme volatility of hydrocarbons, even when a very small amount of residual of oil and vapor is present. It’s important to note, same danger exists with any well, pipeline, or infrastructure regardless of any BMPs that the town and Crestone may agree on. Consider that election day is right around the corner with Proposition 112, 2500 foot setbacks before voters. Adams County, this morning, enacted a temporary moratorium on new drilling applications because of that ballot measure. It’s important. Keep in mind the Colorado Supreme Court will soon be ruling in the Martinez case and ask yourselves, if the town’s proposed operator agreement with language that nearly requires a protective approach to how safety, the environment and wildlife is sufficient. Shouldn’t we be prioritizing those concerns? At last Saturday’s question-answer session, Mayor Carroll stated she was not willing to play chicken with Crestone. That’s an interesting analogy but not really applicable. Typically, in the game of Chicken, two cars rush head on at each other, first car to veer off is the chicken. But what we have here is Crestone trying to bully the town, taking more time to negotiate is not an unreasonable or rash act by any means. So standing your ground in this situation is not playing chicken. Stand up for your citizens, thank you

RACHEL BALKCOM: I’m Rachel Balkcom, 265 Skylane Drive. The Goodies that I gave you include a petition from Broomfield and Erie residents. The last we checked there was over 600 signatures in there to ask that we delay the vote, primarily because we have had such a significant process issue. We do question the legality of that and also overall we haven’t had a chance for participation and comment. We also gave you this entire powerpoint that we’re gonna go through one-by-one so we’re all in order and we also gave you a letter that I think most of you have seen from a lawyer about the Quasi-Judicial status. So, what we are going to talk about primarily is that there has been insufficient public engagement as I mentioned, there are several shortcomings in the operator agreement, which could of course have been remedied if we had draft processes and were able to give comment throughout and then do new versions of that more than just in the last week and then the general rush of approval. You all have heard me talk about it some, although a couple of you weren’t there, so we have ACME and the operator agreement. I don’t know if you all have done two of these things together before, my guess is you probably haven’t, and it feels like it gets really awkward because while we have not been able to talk to you about ACME, you have not been able to read any of the letters, you have not been able to read the application, you are voting on something today, the application of which you have not read. Which seems pretty significant to me. There are details in there that I know, because I’ve read it, that you do not know and that’s concerning. In addition of course, in any legislative process, we have options other than just one night for public comment. Ideally we have, as I understand as you all have done this before, there are different readings of that agreement. So, that hasn’t happened. Giving folks who are full-time teachers and running schools and everything else that these folks do, five days to try to really get this legal document, I actually just think is ungenerous. I feel like we deserve more than that, just to be able to understand it and really ask questions and have more of a process with you. Part of that, the difficulty to not speak about ACME this whole time, is that my understanding is that it’s a first amendment issue. It’s a freedom of speech issue, that we have not been able to actually voice our perceptions and our perspective on that. And of course, then it being a shock made that harder. Lastly, we do care a lot that Broomfield hasn’t been able to participate in this. They’re are neighbors, they’re across the street. Just because they’re in a different town does not mean that they should not have a voice.

BRIAN BEDNARD: Brian Bednard, 280 Skylane Drive. In the limited time we’ve had available to review the operator agreement, hearing residents have identified several shortcomings that we feel are critical and need to be considered and be accomodated in the agreement. First of all, the existing operator agreement for a 1000 foot setback that has been given away in the new agreement and that decrease has a significant impact on public health and safety for Erie,

not just Erie but our neighbors to the south. Best management practices do not adequately address the increase concerns for such a large scale oil and gas operation. It just recently doubled from the initial, up to 30 wells. It doesn’t address the heavy truck usage during peak hours restricting levels of air emissions, preparing and maintaining an emergency preparedness plan, including evacuation routes and a system of notification. Air quality monitoring and reporting and the completion of a risk mitigation plan, including a whole risk analysis of the cumulative impact of all wells. Another major issue that I’ve brought up in two other meetings is the fact that you are placing a series of 30 wells adjacent to an abandoned coal mine that’s already experienced subsidence.

The oil industry will tell you that some subsidence is not an issue during drilling and fracking, it’s the reintroducing of the waste water. That is simply not true. The example I gave last Saturday is that in England there is two wells being drilled and fracked for the first time in seven years and one of their best management practices was to monitor the seismic activity, it tripped the threshold that caused them to stop drilling, they started again in 18 hours and the mono-seismic activity actually doubled. Residents would like the opportunity to address other concerns in the operator agreement, like the town waiving it’s rights to call a hearing for applications 2 and 2A at the CGOCC if staff feels that the best management practices have been met and this effectively precludes our participation. There are no plan or pipeline map available for us to review until the last couple of days and there still is no timeline available for us to see how many years this is going to last. My last point that I’m going to make is that on page 12 of the proposed agreement it states that neighborhood meetings will be held prior to Crestone submitting form 2A and as far as I know there has been no neighborhood meeting held, yet four pages later it says that they will submit their application on the first of November. I ask you, how in the world can that happen?

NANCY BEDNARD: My name is Nancy Bednard and I also live at 280 Skylane Drive. Thank you for letting me talk tonight. The state election occuring in one week has made your implications regarding the future laws that pertain to oil and gas development. We ask that our right to vote be respected and that the board will pause issuing any new permits until after this important election. Accordingly, we respectfully request that the vote be delayed until all interested parties have had the opportunity to offer input and all facts have been discerned and shared. By making these requests, we are not asking the board to allow projects to move forward in other communities in Erie. Quite the contrary, we are coming together as a community to ask that they board look at all future development from the scope of protecting the health, safety, and welfare of our residents. This mega site is in an area for emissions under certain weather conditions that will be trapped in low lying areas under temperature inversions, intensifying the polluting effects of O&G processes. The Highway Seven Coalition for which the long term vision is to make Highway Seven safer, reduce traffic congestion, and introduce more public transportation options as communities served by that road continue to grow. It is already over capacity and therefore this coalition will study and provide input on the result and impacts of the significant increase in volume of large truck traffic related to this project. This mega site is exempted from many of the best management practices that do exist, even though this project has not been approved and is well within the time frame to enact application changes. The proposed ACME pad is incompatible land use, in fact the current Erie zoning map shows this approved for in city residential which is consistent with the adjacent land use. So please consider our concerns on this.

JOHN BEYARD: Hi, I’m John Beyard and I live at 275 Skylane Drive and I want to talk a little bit about the COGCA itself. The main clause in it being that it’s implemented in a manner consistent with the protection of public health, safety, and welfare including protection of the environment and wildlife resources. Of course, everyone knows what that means but I want to emphasize that it does not mean development first and then public safety and health next but all the development has to be done in compliance with and subject to and protective of public safety and welfare. So others already have, and will after I speak, identified some issues that have not been answered. How this operative agreement does not address some safety and health issues. These issues have to be answered first, before a vote can be taken on it. It only makes sense. If it’s going to be in compliance with public health and safety then we need to know what all those issues are and I don’t think that they’ve all been identified. So to be in compliance with this act, the vote must be delayed. So there have been several studies done that identify some public safety issues. There’s a New York compendium study, which was updated in March, and it’s a compilation of peer-reviewed studies on the health impacts of oil and gas. The MacKenzie study from April 2018 showed a strong correlation between proximity of oil and gas wells with rates of pediatric leukemia. Finally, the Pennsylvania study from this month shows that waste water contamination is making its way into mussels and shellfish in Pennsylvania which leads to a question about exposure and our food security. So we have to have more data about how the density of wells in proximity to our neighborhoods and communities will impact our long term health. Thank you very much.

CODY SPIKER: Good evening, my name is Cody Spiker. I live at 265 Skylane Drive. I would like to focus, with these few minutes, on the presence of VOCs, volatile organic compounds, which are increasingly linked to oil and gas development. Especially as they are being built closer, and closer, and closer to homes and buildings and children and bodies. Earlier this year, numerous Erie residents had their blood tested and the results showed elevated levels of benzene, ethylbenzene and xylene, all known carcinogens, in their blood. You’ll see on the slides, in the case of Beth Herskowitz (sp), her son’s levels were in the 85th percentile.  So, children are being essentially poisoned at this point. With this knowledge in hand, we absolutely require more concrete research about the health impacts of high density drilling that’s happening our community, before adding or even considering adding more. Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has rejected the blood testing methodology that was used in these cases, but it refuses to point out or offer an alternative solution that would look at the impacts that oil and gas development in close proximity to communities. This is beyond a severe oversight and one that we must address before moving forward. Don’t want to be repetitious but that is exactly where we’re at right now. We do not need to vote on this right now, we do not have all the information on hand. More and more research is pointing at the harmful effects of oil and gas development in close proximity to homes and people and to all of you, and all of us. We’re all in this place together. This operator agreement is incomplete. It needs to consider and give a way for residents to know what they’re being exposed to and facing. This vote must be postponed. Thank for your time.   

SARAH LAUGHLIN: My name is Sarah Laughlin and I live at 652 Sun Dance Circle. I would reiterate that we need to be protecting health and safety and we need to delay this vote because the operator agreement does not adequately address health, safety or welfare. The traffic impacts are not addressed in the operator agreement and we don’t have a traffic impact assessment required of things like Highway Seven. The town of Erie is already engaged in the Highway Seven Coalition, which has acknowledge time and again for the last couple of years that Highway Seven is beyond capacity. Highway Seven, since 2014, has had a history of fatal crashes. Since 2014, it has been noted to go simply from Sheridan Boulevard to 287, just four miles, can take well beyond 40 minutes. I know many of us have sat in that traffic jam. Adding tens of thousands of additional industrial trucks trips to Highway Seven during any time of day puts both public health and safety at risk. We cannot afford to further jam up Highway Seven without the improvements that have been discussed, and without a full traffic impact analysis. One of the pieces we’ve seen is that given the delays on Highway Seven, the evidence from all of the literature has concluded that every minute of delay in primary response for certain life-threatening medical emergencies, there is a measurable effect on mortality, and I think that’s one thing we’ve failed to consider when it comes to the operator agreement. So as folks have said before, one of the major pieces regarding health and safety is that we have neglected a traffic impact study and to really measure what that looks like in comparison with the work that’s being done by the Highway Seven Coalition so I would urge you to delay and thank you.

SARAH RIMMEL: Hi I’m Sarah Rimmel at 265 Skylane Drive. Just to reiterate, health and safety must be protected and we rely on all of you here to do that. The vote needs to be delayed. Over the last year, over hundreds of thousands of complaints have happened regarding oil and gas development and that’s not new to you all here. I’m concerned that our operator agreement does not sufficiently address issues and mitigation of odor and dust in our environment. We we know that odor and dust symptoms of significant air pollution and that Colorado is consistently receiving an F rating from the American Lung Association for air quality in Erie so these issues are really important and they can’t be overlooked. Last year, kids lost thousands of days of school due to asthma and smog related health issues in Colorado. Again, this is not something to overlook and we rely on the Board of Trustees and we rely on representatives of oil and gas here tonight to really do what you all can to make sure that we have time to address this, to learn what we need to learn. I also just want to talk about some of the complaints at Coyote pad. Just to read off a quick snippet of some of the complaints that were shared from the Coyote trail sites from the COGCC website. This is one specific complaint, and it says ‘noise vibrations. I woke up at five a.m. this morning to vibrations again. Looking out my window there’s a new drill and three new pumps. Could someone please pretend to care? I have had my house on the market for 43 days. No one wants to buy it. I cannot continue to live like this. Not only do you not care but you know that you’re hurting people. Is there no integrity or caring about people?’ Again I think that there can be solutions that are workable, that are not ignoring the health concerns of our residents, and again I just really hope that folks here will take that into consideration and not overlook that. This our citizens, this is your neighbors, this is our children, this is our future generations. And also, just thinking about the ACME site and anthem and the residents, it’s not to be overlooked. So thank you.

DAWN FRASER: I’m Dawn Fraser at 3025 Piper Drive S. There are still critical elements that have not been addressed in this OA. Unfortunately open public comment is only being allowed for the first time tonight and the Board of Trustees has not seen tons of letters and impacted concerned Erie and Broomfield residents because of the Quasi-Judicial status. Because of this the vote on the OA must be delayed to address these concerns and comments. It’s not clear how the BMPs will be enforced and why one of the pads is exempt from key BMPs. There’s no reason for any of the pads to be exempt. Under the existing OA there have been hundreds of resident comments that have gone without response by Crestone, including enforcement requests and questions. The OA must have specific criteria that can and will be enforced. The town of Erie should show how this will be accomplished with this OA. Based on these criteria and the others we’re talking about, I’d like to see the vote tonight delayed to ensure Erie resident concerns are addressed in this new OA before moving forward.

HECTOR OLANZA: Hello my name is Hector Olanza and I live in 295 Skylane Drive. Accidents happen even in the safest environments. Most recent one was at Greely High School where the whole game was evacuated due to a valve failure last September. The most recent one, the other one, was in Aspen, Aspen Ridge Elementary was shutdown over venting and flaring. Which brings the question, what is the plan for worst case scenario? Who makes the immediate decision such as where are students, teachers, parents will be sheltered, will be placed or evacuated? How long does the evacuation take and what is the protocol? Who will get notified first? What is the school’s role in all this? Are parents expected to drive through the traffic to get their kids? How will all kids be released if they are to be evacuated and how quickly? What is the risk of exposure? What are the side effects that the kids will encounter? How will parents be notified in a evacuation or shelter in place in that scenario? I’m assuming you guys probably thought about all that kind of stuff, or no?

Have the police or school or operator identified safe zones where parents can unite with each other if they are evacuated? What will be the emergency service management operator in the school district protocol or plan for communicating with each other through an ETA?

So basically to wrap it up, what I’m trying to say is think about the consequences and worst case scenarios. Accidents happen, we aren’t perfect and so are machines, and think about the future generations and what consequences will be taken if you guys are rushing.  

PAMELA BIORE: I’m Pamela Biore and I live at 275 Skylane Drive. I’m here to present this summary. There has been insufficient public engagement, several shortcomings in the operator agreement, a rush for approval, significant health considerations that have not been explored with each pad in the operator agreement. The residents here and very concerned about this, we have faith that you will do the right thing. On July 10th of this year, the Board of Trustees validated that faith when you declared that it is important to understand, minimize, and regulate the adverse impacts of oil and gas exploration, extraction and related options on the health, safety, welfare on the town and its citizens. Not to mention the impact on quality and enjoyment of our homes when we worked hard to be there. During this six month moratorium, you promised to study how they can best address these concerns by pursuing five key factors. Every factor at the end of each key was stated they would protect, preserve the public health, safety, and welfare of the environment. We expect that to happen. In your hearts I know, there has been significant public engagement. There are too many shortcomings in the proposing operator agreement and there is an unfair rush for approval. If you believe, and if you want us to believe, that Erie is the place that will protect and preserve public health, welfare and the environment, please do the right thing and delay on this operator agreement vote.

MONICA CORVER: Monica Corver, 1559 Hickory Drive. Mayor, Trustees. As I listened to the video from Saturday, I was particularly struck by a comment from several BOT members that because vessels is in the middle of town, the optics of what people driving through Erie might see is something we would not be proud of. That was the message to the residents and the audience. It sounds like the BOT doesn’t want O&G to be the focal point of Erie but it’s OK to put it in other neighborhoods of Erie where it’s a bit more hidden. Years ago, residents were invited to two meetings to read their ideas of what they wanted in an operating agreement out loud and on record. You gave residents 24 hours to find sitters, cancel weekend plans, and read through an agreement with 30 percent available content. What are the plans for residents to participate in the process going forward? The OA has no fines, no fees for any violations. Crestone negotiating with reps, is that what you want? For the town to do business with a company like this? Why is the odor lawsuit a part of the OA? This should stand on its own. The OA should also include unincorporated Erie. Why is the OA being rushed to appease shareholders? There are many things not properly addressed in OA, I have several concerns and I forwarded comments to you this morning. If ACME is approved for 30 wells, Vista Ridge will be surrounded by 100 active wells including Coyote. The vessels move does not mean that another operator can’t go in and drill that down the road. Keep this in mind, there are no guarantees. I would encourage you to delay the vote tonight until the operator agreement is agreed upon and residents have had time to digest and provide feedback. I’m gonna read a few comments from my notes.

Has Centroid (?)  been back to the Pratt and waste connections to determine if the Denver Landfill is still emitting the odors exceeding regulatory limits?

Will they blame the highway exhaust from Highway Seven in exceeding odors when they start drilling at ACME?

Regarding Gibson 822 drilling fluid: there’s no guarantees and they will play with the additives. It should say that no drilling should take place until a viable alternative is identified and proven.

Will the site be immediately shut down if an alert notification is received for odors?

The odor complaints protocols I found to be very confusing.

I couldn’t tell if…*buzzzer* Is that? Am I being cut off? I guess you can read the rest of my notes.

LAURIE ANDERSON: Hi I’m Laurie Anderson and I’m from 3496 Yale Drive in Broomfield. We’ve been doing this for quite a while coming before Broomfield city council members and commenting on the 84 wells in our area. Despite all this engagement, this one snuck up on us. We had no idea that these 30 wells were coming just north of the Anthem community, the one I live in, and more so even the Anthem Ranch. I do wanna say that over these past two years we have been engaged as citizens in not only the local level but the state level. Through commenting at the COGCC and trying to rule makings and commenting at hearings at the state, we have come to the point as citizens had to do something ourselves. I’m a volunteer for Colorado Rising, I spend many many hours out there. I have collected hundreds of signatures, and done a lot of campaigning. I mean this is not the appropriate time to say this but we have an election coming up on Tuesday, just six short days away in which time the rules could change. This has been a long time in the making and here were are just finding out these new 30 wells, I think it was just 15 and all of a sudden it’s 30 and yet we’re at a critical point in time where the people are about to vote. I seriously request that you wait and let’s see what happens on Tuesday. Adams county, as somebody else just mentioned, just took a vote this morning and they passed a moratorium as a short term one only going through November, I think they have six weeks. I think that maybe the town of Erie can do a short moratorium and see what happens, just let it all play out and then decide. The other big piece that I’ve been involved with is risk analysis, you’ll hear more about that shortly. We were looking at different areas, a lot of them are safety related. Explosions, fires, well blowouts – they’re not uncommon. Lightning strikes are not uncommon. Fires and explosions do happen. There were 23 just last year and they were reportable, meaning that they are quite significant. The other area that we look at, probably one of the biggest concerns, is the air quality because when you have an explosion or fire you know what happens. You see the aftermath, you know what just went down. The air quality, we don’t know what we’re breathing. Our city is undertaking a huge project. First of its kind, I do believe, where they’re actually going to measure the pollutants at multiple locations and throughout the phases. Including, not only just the drilling and fullback and production but they’re going to monitor it and the CDPAG has already put out data showing that the highest elevation is during fullback at which time is greatly increased and is not a short duration. 30 wells will last for months. Thank you.

ANDY KRAMER: Good evening Mayor Carroll and Erie’s Board of Trustees. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening. I’m Andy Kramer and I live at 4252 Corte Bella Drive Broomfield Colorado. I live 20 feet south of State Highway Seven. This is a rhetorical question, how many of you have been vaccinated for this season’s flu? Those of us who have been vaccinated did so for our own personal health, safety, and welfare. Additionally, we chose to be vaccinated for the health, safety, and welfare of the entire community. Vaccinations lessen the spread of illness. In 2017, the community of Broomfield passed proposition 301 to amend the city charter. This proposition made the health, safety, and welfare of Broomfield citizens a top priority when considering oil and gas operations within the city of Broomfield. In a sense, Broomfield was taking proactive and precautionary measures when working with the oil and gas industry. Knowing that concerns related to oil and gas operations do not confine themselves within our city limits alone, we Broomfield voters also believe that proposition 301 protects the neighboring cities around us just like vaccinations. Tonight, those of us living in Broomfield are respectfully asking Erie’s Board of Trustees to consider not only the health, safety and welfare of Erie residents but also the same for Broomfield residents. Particularly those with close proximity to the proposed Crestone well pad that is immediately to the north of State Highway Seven. We request that you delay taking any vote on this proposed oil and gas site until all interested parties have provided input into this development and until all concerns detailed in yesterday’s letter to you from Kevin Standbridge, Deputy City and County Manager of Broomfield, are respectfully considered. Thank you for your time and attention.

PATRICK TALBOT: My name is Patrick Talbot and I live at 4681 Wilson Drive in Anthem Ranch. I live across the street from the 30 well pad and my son lives here in Erie. About two years ago, when we first heard about an operator planning 140 wells in our neighborhoods, with setbacks of about 700 feet, I was among the first to identify significant risks to health, safety, and welfare. The issue in my mind was that while a yearly risk, let’s say a catastrophic well blowout is insignificant, the cumulative probability of one of more catastrophic explosions for 140 wells over 30 years is significant. It is about 34 percent for that single risk based on a single well annual explosion rate of one in 10,000. They are other serious risks, including risks of pipeline explosions, air pollution, wildfire, water contamination, odor, light pollution, property value depreciation and operator instabilities. They guarantee that one or more hazards will occur. During the last two years, our work has been instrumental in alternative site selection which doubled setback distances. An excellent spreadsheet tool for alternative site analysis was built by the Broomfield Citizens Task Force. Along with a co-author, Laurie Anderson who you heard from a bit ago, I completed a preliminary version of a citizen risk analysis. We are readying this for publication in an oil and gas journal. Although Broomfield hired third party experts, DNVGL, that contract is for hazard identification. Which is a first step in a quantitative risk assessment and it does fall short of the required risk analysis for Broomfield. Risk in fact, as I mentioned, is 107 times in a suit against Broomfield. I am willing to share out citizen’s risk analysis with your community, quantifying and mitigating risks is a winning strategy. Thank you.

ERIC RUTHERFORD (Candidate for State House District 33): Thank you. My name is Eric Rutherford, my address is 549 Zircon Way. I see three law enforcement officers here, thanks for your service. I used to be a federal agent. I want to point out before you make this decision this evening that more people were killed in the oil fields of Colorado than we lost in the DEA since 2005. The health and safety of the people of this community is the most important thing you can do, so please make your decision, study all the information and reports and take them serious because my understanding is these wells are gonna be going between two neighborhoods and a busy freeway. I remember, when we lose an agent in the DEA, we go to the ends of the earth to make sure it never happens again. So might the right decision because we will be judged when those people come after us in 50 to 100 years. I’m Eric Rutherford, thank you.

KIM MCNAUGHTON: Good evening Mayor Carroll and the board. My name is Kim McNaughton and I’m a Broomfield resident who is directly impacted by Erie’s oil and gas decisions. This may be the only way that I am allowed to participate in your public process. I owned a house in Vista Ridge for nine years, my son attended Primrose and Black Rock Elementary. In 2013, we moved across the street to Broomfield. Like lots of my Broomfield neighbors, I frequent many Erie businesses. In a letter sent to Governor Hickenlooper on July 30th of this year, several elected officials from Broomfield and Erie stated that governments needs to stand together against these border wars and not be swayed by this divisive approach. Also stating that these multi-well mega pads do not belong near our houses, schools, and water sources. By excluding Broomfield in engaging in this process it appears Erie is creating a new front in the border wars, but it’s not working. Look around you, the residents here have united. Hundreds of letters from Broomfield residents and leadership have been sent regarding this matter, with request that Broomfield become a party of interest in this megapad project. The city of Broomfield sent a letter to the town of Erie’s community development department, dated July 17 2018, regarding this project. In fact you received a letter today from Broomfield’s Deputy City and County Manager Kevin Standbridge. To date, the city of Broomfield has not received a response to these questions. In fact, Mrs. Davis here representing the city has to come speak at public comments to get your attention. Broomfield and Erie residents should not be denied having input to a project with such significant impact to its residents. When communities are ignored, in important matters such as these, we have two systems in place given to us by the constitution. We show up at the ballot box, and we show up in the court houses. The state election occuring in one week has major implications regarding the future laws that pertain to oil and gas development. We ask that our right to vote be respected and the board pause from issuing any new permits or approve any new agreements until after this important election next week. Thank you.

JEAN LIM: Good evening, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening. My is Jean Lim and I live in the Wildgrass subdivision of Broomfield. As a citizen veteran with over two years of attending and participating in COGCC meetings, I first wanted to acknowledge that the city of Erie is most likely faced with unpleasant choices, dictated by insufficient local control over oil and gas development. However, the solution is not to hurry and approve an inadequate agreement, but to delay this vote until all parties can review the operator agreement thoroughly and can collaborate at the maximum extent possible. As our Erie neighbors have emphasized the best management practices in the operator agreement do not adequately address the increase concerns for large scale oil and gas development in close proximity to densely populated residential communities. They do not address heavy truck usage during peak hours, restricting the levels of air emissions, repairing and maintaining emergency preparedness plans, air quality monitoring, and the completion of a risk management plan. In the operator agreement, the ACME pad megasite near dense residential neighbors in both Broomfield and Erie is exempted in any of the BMPs that are in the operator agreement, even though the project has not been approved and it is well within the framework to enact application changes. There is no public platt, pipeline map, or timeline available for public review that reflects the total number of new wells proposed by Crestone to place at ACME. As a Broomfield resident, I appreciate the efforts of the city of Broomfield to offer their specific comments in reviewing the operator agreement. Please delay the vote so you have time to consider them. Thank you.

LIZZY LARIO: Good evening Mayor and trustees, thank you for your time this evening. My name is Lizzy Lario and I also live in the Wildgrass subdivision and have been a partner with Jean the past year and a half. I’m here tonight to speak in support of my neighbors in Broomfield, specifically the Anthem neighborhood, as well as our neighboring community of Erie, that you delay the vote of the Crestone operator agreement. I was incredibly impressed and moved by the presentation earlier and really all of the comments, and I hope you were too. I urge you to listen to your citizens. I echo all of the concerns voiced in the presentation and all of the comments. It all feels very very familiar. BMPs, traffic studies, risk analysis, public engagement is critical. There is too much left to discuss and consider. As Mrs. Fisher stated, the Martinez case has yet to be ruled upon. Specifically, residents want their local governments to work together to ensure the state upholds and enforces the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act, which states in section 34-60-1021A that is declared to be in the public interest when the oil and gas development is done, quote, in a manner consistent with protection of public health, safety and welfare. Including protection of the environment and wildlife resources. We are asking that we all take the important steps to foster this attitude and work together to ensure residents basic right to health and safety. Please delay this vote. Thank you.

SHAVONNE BLADES: Hi I’m Shavonne Blades, I live in Erie, I’m also the Publisher of Yellow Scene Magazine. I’m nowhere near as eloquently informed as my counterparts in the community, they certainly are far more knowledgeable than I but as a member of the media, I have one question that I have not been able to resolve since Saturday’s meeting and that is: why? I just really frankly cannot legally understand the why. I’ve been told that there is threats that we will be sued. I have been told that ACME will move forward on November 1st through the state, regardless of what the city does. So as a member of the community, and a member of the media, I look at it and it says one of two things to me. Either ACME has us by the short thread and we can’t do anything or the election, which nominated five of you to this seat that the city trusted you to protect us, went wrong…went down a wrong path, and I’d like to believe that’s not the case. I don’t believe that the legal reasoning for why this cannot be delayed has been adequately answered. I really do not understand the why, and as a member of the media that’s a question that motivates us. I look at Adams County, just passed a moratorium today. Erie’s had a moratorium for several months. Does ACME really control Erie that much that we have no say? That’s what it’s leaving me to believe. That we have absolutely no say in what happens in our community. So I guess, my question is why? Thank you.

KEVIN KREEGER: My name is Kevin Kreeger, I know some of you already obviously. I’m a city council member in Broomfield, Colorado. I represent Ward four. The northern tip of it includes Anthem Ranch and Anthem Highlands, which are above Highway Seven. I am not here to speak for our council as a body, I’m here to speak on behalf of the residents I represent. There’s obviously a tremendous amount of concern over gas and oil drilling in residential areas. As you know, Broomfield has been wrestling with this ourselves. There are innumerable peer-reviewed studies at this point that show that living within a half-mile, or even a full mile, of this drilling causes severe health defects, problems to fetuses, problems to the elderly, problems to kids, probably problems to all of us. The people who I represent are extraordinarily concerned about being boxed in by oil and gas, some of it occurring in the city and county of Broomfield, but also occurring in jurisdictions around us and possibly with this project in Erie just across the street from them. Because of the wind direction, it is likely that the residents I represent in Broomfield will actually more of the toxicity in their neighborhoods than there will be in Erie neighborhoods. Not that I want it in Erie neighborhoods. Because of the topography, the sound is more likely to be experienced and burdened and be a problem by Broomfield residents in the north part of the city than Erie residents. What I am asking is that you take into consideration above all other considerations, the health and the safety of people. Because I know some of you and because I trust the people that I know, I have a lot of mixed emotions because I want to believe that you’re going to do the right thing. But on the other hand, it has not been a transparent process and has not involved input from Broomfield and even a lot of input from Erie residents. When a process is not transparent, it does not mean that it’s corrupt but it does make people wonder. It raises people’s instincts and people get nervous, and it creates distrust. Even though I know some of the people on this board, even I have to wonder what is happening behind closed doors. I ask that if there are possibly financial considerations or any other considerations being weighed, that none of them come close to approaching the consideration of health and safety of the people both in Erie and in Broomfield. I ask you to delay this vote until we can work, Broomfield, with you more closely and I ask you to consider nothing above the health and safety of people. Thank you for your time and allowing me to speak here.

DEVEN SHAFF: I’m Deven Shaff, I’m a city council member of Broomfield. I represent Ward three, I don’t speak for the entire council, I did want to comment. I speak for those residents that I do represent. The impacts of those in Broomfield could be greater to those of Erie. Concerning noise, concerning odors, concerning air pollution. As Council Member Kreeger mentioned, because of the topography, because of the wind direction, these are concerns to Broomfield and we do want to continue to evaluate that, and evaluate this plan to ensure that those protections are being met for Broomfield residents. I would ask you to ensure that the health, safety, welfare and the environment is being considered with this operator agreement. That is our duty to our constituents and our communities. I would like to ensure that the transparency, involvement of your citizens is being considered. That you rely on the expertise of your citizens, the staff members of neighboring municipalities that continue to go through this, there is a lot of experience. Don’t feel the pressure that you have to negotiate on the spot or you know in this meeting, that you take the time to plan this fully prepared, that all the t’s are crossed and that there aren’t any surprises after you sign on that dotted line. Make sure that you don’t make mistakes that other municipalities have made. Please take your time with this, thoughtfully consider this before you do sign the agreement. Thank you.

VINCE MILLER: My name is Vince Miller, I live in Anthem Ranch and although I’m retired my professional background includes work as a geophysicist and a

As we’ve previously heard, this proposed site for the ACME pad is appalling for a number of reasons but meteorologically it’s atrocious. The reason it’s atrocious is because when we have our typical temperature inversions here, or our nighttime winds often times from the south, it means that the pollutants that are trapped in the air will be breathed by residents of Erie, or Broomfield, and even occasionally LaFayette, if not further depending on how long these conditions last. Counties along the Colorado Front Range occasionally break ozone standards from the EPA and in the summer of 2014 it was discovered the ozone exceeded standards even over the mountains in Grand County in Granby that came from the Front Range. The VOCs responsible for the ozone come in large part from the emissions from oil and gas facilities in our area, particularly Weld County. Ozone is, of course, dangerous to all citizens but particularly dangerous unfortunately to those of us who live in Anthem Ranch, the elderly…I hate to call myself that but I guess I am…and of course it’s rather dangerous to the infants and young people. You’ve probably heard of the name April Beach in Erie Rising, perhaps not for a while. Of course, April Beach and her family had the misfortune of living in a low lying area northeast of the airport. They were surrounded by five well heads, a BTEX burner, two separators, two conduits of tanks. They were 735 feet from an existing well, 759 feet from a newly fracked well. They had horrific medical problems and health problems, they ended up moving. She gave testimony in front of the COGCC, which of course oil and gas did not want her to give, it was anecdotal but she gave it anyway. She moved. Here’s what his Erie Rising webpage says even though they don’t exist at this time as far as I know. It says ‘it is the duty of our publicly elected officials to uphold and protect the rights of the citizens and keep us safe. It’s our duty as citizens, as members of the community, to raise our voices and exercise our rights to protect ourselves, our families, and our future,’ which is what I think most of us are here for. That’s what we’re doing. The new setback rules, at the time that they were put in August 2013, the COGCC said that they had nothing to do with human health impacts and in fact that research should be done on them. What kind of research has been done on them? Nothing from the state. Oil and gas constantly says, “hey we’re your friend, we’re gonna help you. Come to us, we’ll do it”. Well here’s what they did. In the 2014-2015 blue ribbon task force report, commissioned by Governor Hickenlooper, they voted down recommendations to protect the public from possible negative health impacts from oil and natural gas. They voted down recommendations to enhance public health and safety from oil and gas development. What in the world do they know that they don’t want us to know? So my question for you is, will you stand up for the citizens of Erie? Will you stand up for your neighbors? Because oil and gas and the COGCC certainly will not and do not. Thank you.

Transcript of Board of Trustees Meeting: Board Discussion & Vote

Question to Crestone Representative Jason Oates regarding plans, regardless of the Board of Trustees vote on Resolution 18-400:

JASON OATES: Jason Oates, 1801 California. What we have laid out is we are planning on submitting our permits either way, either for the Acme or Vessels and Acme.

MAYOR PRO TEM DEAKIN: So having been part of these conversations as we’ve been working through this, I’ve had a lot of opportunity to reflect on the many times and many hours that I’ve sat out there commenting on these same issues, talking about the impact to both of our homes in Erie over the last 16 or so years. Put plainly, I’m not happy with what we have. It is not a perfect solution, but we’ve worked very hard to try and make it suck less. I’ve been trying to think of a more delicate way of saying that. I’ve looked at the issues that my family has dealt with, I’ve looked at the issues that residents have dealt with, recognizing that we can’t stop some of these sites from going in, some of these wells from going in, the best we can do it try to mitigate them and reduce the level of harm. We can’t eliminate the harm, we can’t eliminate the impact you guys are gonna feel. But I feel like by increasing the number of BMPs from 14 or so to 31, by putting in new sound mitigation, new sound enforcement, by opening up existing wells to inspections whether they’re part of the OA or not, every well that Crestone operates in Erie is gonna be covered under monthly inspections which was not the case previously, we now have new BMPs on recompletions, revisits to the site, I think it’s going to suck less. It’s not going to be perfect. So I’m torn because I feel the frustration, and I’ve felt the frustration you guys have had.

I feel that we’ve had very few opportunities and I appreciate that our neighbors and partners have come to us and have offered help. I think there are things that we can definitely take you up on and we’ll love to take you up on. We’d love to participate in air monitoring of Broomfield, we’d love to participate in all sorts of things. But we have limited resources in this town, and when our neighbors come to us and say ‘you need to fight, you need to fight this things to the death and throw all the town’s money at it,’ we don’t have the resources to do that. Furthermore, and I’ve shared this with some of the board members, I feel the weight of making a decision when there is a vote – I’ve cast my ballot, I’ve gotten my email from Weld County saying my vote has been counted and I voted in favor of 112. 112 doesn’t help us right now. It quite simply doesn’t help us because most of these things are either under the current operator agreement or are ready to have a form filed with COGCC in advance. As you heard there are two sets of paper. There’s the one that complies with this agreement and there’s one that follows the current process and gets in ahead of the deadline and we have no control. So the best impact I can have for Erie residents and for our affected neighbors is to put as many controls on it as we can and check the sites to proper review through our town processes, site specific reviews, where we can look at traffic management plans, where we can look at site specific mitigations that might be required. I know people are not gonna be happy with it, I apologize that I can’t make it perfect.

I just feel like this is the best that we can do right now without losing the deal. So thank you.

TRUSTEE CHARLES: I want to thank all of the residents from both Erie and Broomfield who came out tonight to give their public comment, and additionally those who emailed us and came to past community engagements. That’s all I have for now, thank you.

TRUSTEE GIPPE: I wanna thank everybody in attendance for coming and voicing their concerns. It’s obviously not an easy issue to deal with for us or for the citizens. A lot of great points were made by a lot of the residents that came today, things that aren’t really anything new to us. Things that we’ve been thinking about for several months. This operator agreement has been being worked on for months. It’s been years since the last one, which we had years to review to sort of understand what the shortcomings of that one were. I wanna thank our staff and our attorneys for all the work they’ve done on this as well. Thank you.

TRUSTEE WOOG: *skipped first round of discussion*

TRUSTEE VAN WOUDENBERG: I’ll echo some of the statements that Trustee Deakin made. In this process where the town and Crestone Peak Resources are negotiating a business contract, the parties come to the table with a collection of carrots and sticks to enforce a position. I said to numerous people that the town doesn’t have much of a stick to bring to the table for the negotiations, and the few carrots that the town is able to provide really are in the practice and the spirit of making it easier for Crestone to drill in Erie. That’s an unfortunate reality of the business side of the negotiations. So, in a way we’ve been told that an operator agreement is really the only way for the town to enact any sort of additional local control, any additional requirements on any operator beyond what the state provides at the COGCC. I think, painfully, through experience over the last years, residents at Vista Ridge have learned that Pratt and Waste Connections and County Trails and in other neighborhoods with Morgan Hills and Woolley Becky Sosa that the regulations that are in place at the state for the COGCC, in particular, around noise and odor, are insufficient to protect the health, welfare and safety of the residents in the communities where residential drilling occurs.

For over a thousand complaints to have been filed for the Pratt and Waste Connections sites, for the COGCC field inspectors to come out and assert that in every single one of those cases the operator was working within the limits of the COGCC and that no violations had occurred, is unconscionable. I can’t say that there is anything in this operator agreement that solves any one, much less all of those issues. However, going back to this notion of the business negotiation, is it the case that an operator agreement that had one best management practice that enforced a single regulation beyond what the COGCC does, would that be a win for the town? From the business perspective you’d have to say yes. But I think what it really boils down to is, are we as elected officials doing our job to adequately protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents of Erie? I feel that we still have a good ways to go, that the negotiations here are a good start. That this is not the end of it. That we have more work to do.

That’s what I’ve got for now, thanks.

TRUSTEE HAID: This has been a tough night. This has been a tough week or so going into this whole thing. One of the most clarifying aspects that we were asked by multiple people is why? Why are we moving at this pace? And I think it’s obvious. We have applications that are gonna drop on November 1st and it’s either gonna be two different pads or it’s gonna be one. We are getting, for the greater town of Erie, we are getting a better situation by adopting this. If we don’t, we potentially lose the ability to do this again. Not completely, but if we come and say ‘we need two weeks’ and then those applications are put in and things move forward and then we come back to Crestone and say ‘ok now we’re ready,’ is there an opportunity for them to say ‘well, you had a chance.’ Having an operator agreement like this will give us the opportunity to go to other operators in town and say ‘meet these.’ Because these BMPs are better than the state requires. We are sucking less by doing this. That’s all I have.

TRUSTEE GIPPE: Just makes me think after hearing some of the comments from my fellow trustees just about the ability of oil and gas to mitigate the dangers. These have been long, ongoing negotiations and I understand that they’ve come to the table in good faith and appreciate the efforts they’ve made. My concern is the ability of someone or something to mitigate damage from something they either don’t know the full extent of or can’t admit to. That’s a big concern of mine going forward.

TRUSTEE WOOG: Thank you Mayor Carroll. There’s quite a few things the public brought up, I’m going to address a few and some were even tonight. One thing we heard a lot was insufficient public engagement. Probably some of you would agree, I would like to see more community involvement. I would appreciate meetings in public, less behind closed doors. There are some legal issues we cannot discuss out here but I think it’s a disservice to our public to hide anything, even if we’re not trying to hide anything. I’d like to see in the future if there’s a way to do that, we’d obviously have to talk to council but I think it causes more divide in our community when there’s things we’re hearing that you’re not hearing. And again, I know some of this could be, or would be, a legal issue but if there’s anything we can do in the future here to discuss more in public, I think that would be better for the whole community. Number two, call it what you want, I call it a subsidy. I really don’t understand number ten on page 16 here on the operator agreement, “Crestone will incur substantial additional construction and production costs. Erie will not require any payment fee or other compensation for or in connection with the construction and operation of the flowlines and gathering lines.” To me, we don’t need to give them that. I just don’t understand why, especially a board that has, I don’t wanna say, fought oil and gas, I guess I could say that. I just don’t understand why we’re giving them that. I think they can afford that. Three, the zoning.

Vessels minerals is in an industrial zone, we’re looking at over a 1000 foot setbacks there, and now we’re proposing or maybe agreeing to eliminating that. I think as most know, the Acme site will be 522 feet from the nearest resident so to add to this Acme site and to add more wells so close, I don’t get that. We have board members who support 2500 foot setbacks so, I don’t see how it makes sense to eliminate or get rid of a site zoned industrial over 1000 feet to Acme with 522. My vote tonight is not a reflection on Crestone, it’s not an admission that I wouldn’t be open to future negotiations, I just see some issues with this. That will be what I base this decision on. Thank you.

TRUSTEE HAID: I wanna address a little this concept of a subsidy. So what we have in the agreement, what has been calculated, is the cost to Crestone from moving from Vessels to Acme is $3.5 million. What we’ve put into this agreement is waivers or cancelation of fees for pipeline crossing so that they can move their product from the locations to the processing facility to the tune of somewhere around $75,000. So we’re giving up $75,000 and they’re giving up $3.5 million. There’s one less drilling location here. It seems like we’ve got a little bit of a win here when we put that money. Or we’re not even putting money in, we’re just waiving fees. I don’t think it’s a subsidy, I don’t think it’s giving money to them to drill. I think what it is is two parties, coming to an agreement and trying to do what we can with the few carrots we have in order to have less drills and less well locations in Erie. Thank you.

MAYOR CARROLL: I think all of us up here would love for the Acme site to be further away from residents. In a perfect world, we’d have drilling not in residential areas. I think we all, or most of us, want that up here just like our citizens out there. But we’re bound to current state laws, and we’re bound to what our code gives us authority to do. So I think we can all empathize with the frustration of having a site, whether it’s Pratt and Waste Connections, Acme, Vessels, whatever it may be, they’re close to somebody and no one’s gonna be happy. This process with the operator agreement, we did a lot more resident engagement than the last process. Last time we did one meeting with the public at the beginning to gather feedback and then we had one meeting for the operator agreement at the end and the code updates for something separate and so we wanted to give residents different ways for engaging with us. I feel like we did a good job in giving residents differents options to talk to us and share their opinions, and really talk about what they’re concerned about so we can address those concerns instead of trying to be bound by specific items that residents were asking for. From our last negotiations, we were more successful discussing solutions to problems rather than trying to prescribe a solution to the experts who know their technology.

To speak to, kind of, our knowledge base, last time we worked in a vacuum. It was just us and it was our attorneys, and it was google, whatever we could think of, and this time we reviewed Broomfield’s operator agreements and their code, we looked at Boulder County’s, we looked at Dacono’s, we worked with the COGCC, the CDPHE, we had our own oil and gas consultant so we had every aspect of our agreement and the corresponding pipeline agreement and odor plan, reviewed by experts in that field. We didn’t rely on our own knowledge. We also looked to our neighbors. We feel we could include as much as possible, that’s out there now, and then additional items that we wanted, up and beyond that. So I know a lot of people have stated this, we’re at a junction of two decisions. If we approve the operator agreement, we do get additional safeguards for residents and one less site is drilled in Erie. If we don’t approve this tonight, two sites get submitted and we don’t any of these additional safeguards. We don’t get air quality monitoring paid for by Crestone, we don’t get sound monitoring, we don’t get leak protection at their sites. We lose a lot, and sure the taxpayer could fund a lot of those studies but that would cost a lot of money. We have money but we don’t have millions of dollars to be spending on ongoing studies. So I think having Crestone take on the financial burden to do monitoring where we get to decide with them who’s gonna do that, is beneficial to our residents. Like Mr. Oates stated and Mayor Pro Tem Deakin stated with 112, it’s frustrating that there are multiple votes, 74 and 112, that influence the oil and gas development happening in a week or two. But us delaying, not voting on anything tonight is not going to be impacted by the outcome of the election and I get that that’s frustrating. It’s out of our control as a board. Crestone has plans to move forward so I think many of us are trying to work within the bounds of what we have because my comment about playing chicken was I don’t wanna say ‘hey let’s negotiate for two more weeks and just call them on their bluff and see if they’re actually gonna submit permits because I think they are. They’re a company, they’re looking out for their best interest. We’re trying to look out for residents best interest. I don’t blame them for their plan and I don’t want to second guess that because I don’t want to miss out on all the safeguards I was mentioning earlier for residents. I just kinda wanted to talk through some of the things that were in the plan because I know a lot of comments have come up both in email and last Saturday and tonight about things that we’re lacking or things we want addressed.

Crestone will have to turn in numerous reports and studies to our staff that will have to review and approve them. It’s a really long list, I’m just gonna mention a couple. Air quality impact assessment and mitigation plan, emergency response plan, geological report, landscape and reclamation, spill prevention control, traffic management plan, water quality, impact assessment mitigation and noise mitigation and monitoring. I think Broomfield residents brought up a lot of concerns around some of those plans. That’s a really good place that our staff can work with you guys and the process, because Crestone’s paying us to do the review and referrals so we can include experts, agencies, other municipalities in that process. I think we all would like our staff to work with Broomfield, whether it’s the city council, residents, we’ll have the staff work that out with you guys on you guys can be included.

Crestone’s gonna be doing noise monitoring on four sides of their facility at 350 feet away and we have two regulations. One is for DVA and one is a new one for DVC. We heard residents concerned about that on Saturday and so we really pushed back on Crestone and said we need something for DVC because right now when we had the problems at Pratt and Waste Connections we made a complaint to the state, a couple days later they came out, they did their testing, it’s a long process. So, for DVC, which is one of the biggest problems we had with Pratt and Waste Connections, they’re gonna be monitoring that and if they go above 3dB, above ambient, based on their initial monitoring measurements, that will trigger a low frequency noise, in fact it’s the same thing the state requires but it would take them a week or two to come out and actually require that and Crestone is committing to do that as soon as they go over that threshold. Based on their analysis of ambient noise at one of their sites, ambient plus three is still about 4dB than at Pratt and Waste Connections. So I see that as we’re gonna be controlling DVC better than at Pratt and Waste Connections and that was one of our big problems for residents. One of the residents asked about, if this moves forward, when the neighborhood meeting would happen? At that was addressed in article four item seven, so because a site moving into the agreement they would hold the neighborhood meeting after. So that is addressed. That’s in there.

I’d have to dig in the agreement to see the radius.

This is kind of similar to something we had before but a little different. We had the right to enact with additional ordinances any environmental requirements based off of federal or state studies if our BMPs are sufficient to protect health, safety and welfare so there is a credible study out there done by the state, or the state has signed onto it’s one of their agencies, that opens up doors for negotiation. So we’re not stuck to BMPs for multiple years. I don’t think we had something as robust as that in our last agreement. As Trustee Haid said, the $3.5 million Crestone is spending to consolidate sites is being offset by about $75,000 of our fees. The cost for us to actually review crossings is very minimal staff time so it makes it easier on our staff, simpler for us so we know where the flowlines are going to be. We don’t have to do approval every time it comes through. I think that’s a more than fair balance or trade. There’s more to it than just those two dollars.

I know there was concerns about the way an article was written about the fees that made it sound like we were waiving $3.5 million of fees but we’re not cause that’s not something we would be OK doing. If, so say, residents have concerns or we think that there’s violations happening we can inspect sites when we want. If there are findings, we have to turn those into Crestone within 48 hours so they can act upon that. We wouldn’t do that as a town but we have a consultant that would. I think that helps, if there’s concerns by residents, that kind of gives us another avenue to address them.

Leak detection and repair, we when we did our engagement sessions, we heard from residents ‘how do I know the air I’m breathing is safe?’ That was one of their biggest concerns. Doing air quality monitoring is one way and we’ve also talked about staff talking to the Broomfield folks about what they’re doing so that we could look at what we could do outside of this agreement for air quality monitoring around Erie, not necessarily at a certain site. Air quality monitoring is one thing but it really comes down to leak detection. If the equipment’s not leaking, than the air quality should be fine. The fact that Crestone has upped their frequency, yet again, the last agreement we had monthly for the first year and then it dropped down to quarterly or something. They’ve committed to do monthly leak detection repair on every site in town, both existing and new. So I think that will go along way to showing residents that the equipments functioning, we’re fixing leaks as quick as possible, and that’s gonna keep our air quality safer, longer term for residents. I understand there are concerns for the drilling and fracking stages but we’re talking 20 years. When these things are operational we’re gonna be able to just show that they’re safe. The two last things I had were, there’s a long list of things we’re not including in there. Fracking fluid, benzene, ethylbenzene, others that they won’t use. Another concern I heard from residents too is they don’t wanna see the oil and gas sites, and so we have language in here to include landscape buffers to help mitigate the visual impacts of different sites around Erie. So that’s a long list, I really expanded upon the agreement, like Deakin said it’s not perfect. It’s not gonna be perfect. The law is not in Erie’s favor to have the upper hand, to get everything we want. Like Trustee Van Woudenberg said, we’ve moved the needle further. We need to keep pushing on other operators, with our own code so we can just keep moving things forward. I think this is a step in the right direction.*

*We’ve reached out to Mayor Carroll for information on the new vote and to confirm her transcript. We will update if she responds. She did put up a facebook post on her official Mayoral facebook page addressing this topic. You can view that here.

VOTE:

Mayor Carroll: Let’s see, if there’s a motion to approve…

Mayor Pro Tem Deakins: I move to approve 18-400

Mayor Carroll: Ok, is there a second?

*11 seconds of quiet**

Mayor Carroll: Can I second the motion?

**discussion with counsel**

Mayor Carroll: Ok, I will second the motion then. So, all in favor of this agreement?

**assorted ayes**

Mayor Carroll: All opposed?

**assorted No’s**

Mayor Carroll: So I don’t know who said “no”.

Jessica Koenig (Dep. Town Clerk): clarifies (unclear audio)

Mayor Carroll: Trustee Gippe, were you a yes?

Trustee Gippe: I’m a no.

Mayor Carroll: Ok, so operator agreement fails. And that was the last item, so we will adjourn this meeting.

The post Erie Board of Trustees Meeeting Transcript: Public Comment, Board Comment, and Vote on Resolution 18-400 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Graphic by De La Vaca

I’ve been going over and over this in my mind. I’ve had conversations with friends about it over the years, conversations that have intensified in the Trump age of resurgent, virulent, vehement white supremacy. It’s been three years since the Dylann Roof shooting on June 17th, 2015, and, truth be told, I wrote much of this on the one year commemoration of his massacre; three years is so short a time frame to realize that it feels like millenia ago given the volume of massacres America subjects itself to. I wish things were getting better, but it’s not. Nothing is better. In trying to make sense of Charleston, and everything since, I’ve read and reread the manifesto found in the wake of Charleston. The fact is, Dylann Storm Roof’s actions stunned a few people, shocked many, and lived out the expectations of the millions of others who have an historically informed understanding of life for non-White flesh in the United States. He showed us all, again, America’s embedded and grotesque underbelly of White supremacy, psychopathy, hatred, and cold-blooded murderous intent when he walked into the historic, Black, Emanuel AME church, spent a bewildering hour observing the prayers of a group of African American Christians, and then shot them all dead. Point. Blank. The cruelest act of racial hatred in recent memory was committed, true to form, against Black bodies that were peaceful. To be sure, this violence operates at the intersection of racism/White supremacy and gun violence. And in a nation consumed with debates on both of these fronts, it’s important to point out that inaction continues to demand deadly payment.

We need to have a conversation with Dylann in order to understand him (as crazy and painful as that sounds, yes, it is important) – I’ll be calling him Storm, short for Stormfront, in honor of his middle name and his affiliation with the White Supremacy website that has launched more White terrorists than any other. We have to do this to understand the failures of our society if we seek to redress wounds and address/remove future threats. It’s a lesson long past due.

The calculated hate unleashed in Charleston was beyond the scope of belief for many people born after, say, the 1960’s Civil Rights push, unless you remember the history of neo-Nazi attacks on houses of worship, including the recent Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting (2012) and the Overland Park Jewish Community Center shooting (2014). While Americans often ignore race based hate crimes, the emergence of #BlackLivesMatter during an especially violent, anti-Black year of police murder helped make Charleston international news. 2015 was called the Year of the Mass Shooting by PBS.  Racism has been bad for a long time, literally since European settlers decided to come to these shores and Columbus’ first joural entries were about enslavement. Contrary to some opinions, racism hasn’t gotten much better, even if the most overt forms of racist violence have subsided; here we’re talking about an explicit White supremacist terrorist shooter, targeting a large group of Black people. 

My concern is this: Storm was on to something. Have you read his manifesto? He was *actually* right about a lot of things. Mind Blown, I know. Stay with me. Don’t flip out just yet; I’m on your side.

Dylan Roof was kinda right. Let me explain: he found a few truths, recognized some half-truths, and he identified patterns of stereotype and oppression that many of us recognize from our own lived experiences. Bluntly put, he didn’t understand what he found and, true to the ignorance of racial hatred, he allowed what he found to be skewed, twisted, manipulated, and turned to terror. Where the rest of us saw these same things and said, “racism bad, white supremacy bad, oppression bad,” he instead gave in to the darkside, if you’ll forgive a Star Wars fascism metaphor.

Dismissing Storm’s manifesto as the scribblings of a hate filled lunatic – a reasonable course of action – accidentally and critically ignores the conversations occurring in White supremacist America;  the America whose post-Charlottesville racism and democratic failures gave birth to the rise of President Donald Trump and the explosion of white supremacy in action that we’re all surviving today, the America we all have to navigate. This is the very same America where people of color continue to be killed at incredible rates, where White nationalist run over Americans with their cars and shoot at others, an America where the Becky’s and Karen’s of the world continue to call the police for questionable (read: absolutely normal) behavior, and where Native Americans are still surviving open air prisons, having land stolen, being denied basic human rights, and in an America where Native women remain the most likely to suffer sexual assault, harassment, and rape. Given the indispituable facts of this America, our America, Trump’s America, I absolutely propose to take seriously the racial truths Storm accurately identified, how those were mutated into Hitlerian falsehoods and terror, and, even more seriously, how broader society is complicit in allowing him to come to such a conclusion.

Dylann Storm Roof is a lost soul, having been formally sentenced to death this past January 11, 2018, but he was clear in his intent and his mind was sure at the outset;. it remains set, as he wrote in his jailhouse letters that, “I do not regret what I did”.  He is not lost because of some chemical imbalance or some trauma – traditional NRA scapegoats whenever guns are used to commit a massacre – as if either of these excuses could forgive the terror he committed. Dylann is lost because he was never given the tools, either at home or at school, not by community nor faith, not by media nor society, to allow him to understand the racial discomfort he felt; the White Fragility; the anomie that comes with lost racial, and racially supported, economic superiority. He was left to grow angry in a sea of information that told him he was superior, that he should’ve been rich, that he should’ve got the girl, and that people of color were his lesser. That’s your failure, White America. America’s failure is leaving our young to navigate seas of systematic racial inequity and hate where White supremacists trawl the waters looking to radicalize young White men and women, turning their confusion into hate, and their hate into terror.

I’m not excusing him. There is no excusing what Storm did. But there is learning from it and holding the findings up to those in power; to the President, to Congress, to the Department of Education, to our politicians, to the police, to each other, and to ourselves. Take note, America, of the violently emotional, dissonant landscape we have created, in which hateful young white people like Dylann Roof (and his sister) are percolating.

The important part is this: Storm thought a lot about race issues; his writings and his thoughts are critical to examine in depth because if any of us think that “only Dylann Roof” could come to the conclusions he came to and act on them, we would be dead wrong. Emphasis on dead. That fact has been borne out again and again since his massacre on June 17th, 2015. We know we would be wrong because examples of violent white supremacist patriarchy have been acted out time and again since Storm (see: incels), and they’re only speeding op, only exacerbating in the Trump era. We need to examine his thinking and see where it failed if we hold out any hope of reaching the next young, White, male shooter before it’s too late, again.

The basic facts we find, upon engaging in a review of Storm’s manifesto, are manifold. I will lay out the basics here for those who don’t want to re/read his vile screed.

What Dylan Roof found:

• White supremacist sites are guiding and teaching angry, disenfranchised young white people.
• Prejudice works both ways. He referred to all of it as “racism,” though, and we know it is not.
• America is a melting pot. Even immigrants have the right to be here.
• Europe also has severe problems with racism.
• Black folk (PoC in general) are more tuned in to race than White people.
• Jewish folk have a long history of agitating for social justice, “especially among African Americans”.
• White people have no serious racial awareness, and it’s a problem when dealing with racialized people.
• White people are taught, from school and society, that White people are superior to Black people and that PoC are beneath White people.
• Education systems fail all of us and teach white supremacy.
• White flight happens partly because of fear (of racial confrontations).
• Integration is not without a downside.
• Poor whites feel left behind and owed, as well as “lessened”.
• White supremacist seeking national/racial separatism is stupid.
• Racial stereotypes abound.
• The White cultural deficit is real and really problematic.
• Jewish people are racially/culturally aware.
• Latinos suffer from internalized oppression and White supremacy (cites Univision).
• East Asians (Asians) suffer from the same.
• Patriotism is a joke to many.
• The military is fighting bullshit wars.
• We spend too much on Israel.
• We have terrific bright spots in American history to be proud of.
• Not all of us can catch the meaning in a movie about complex issues like race.
• Charleston has a long, important history to the African American experience.
• There are lots of great minds out there.

Looking at the list, decontextualized, it seems strange that someone who saw all this could have been responsible for one of the worst racist mass murders in modern history. Summed, these are the thoughts of someone on the verge of a racial justice awakening, the logic of someone struggling to understand why the system operates in such a racist way. But you missed the point, Storm. Though your murderous actions are entirely yours to own and pay for, the fact that you couldn’t quite connect the dots in your thinking is not entirely your fault. None of us is politically activated on our own. This is an idea I’ve come across recently. We like to think we’re deep, conscious folks who figured all this [insert: racism, sexism, homophobia, capitalism, etc] out, but the reality is that we come to these ideas by way of those who came before us. We’re politically activated by our parents, by our friends, by our experiences, by reading on the experiences of others. This makes a white awakening—a movement to politically activate young white people towards progressive, inclusive politics—a white movement. The rest of us, all we can really do is resist: we can protest and dance and chant. We can obstruct and offend and occupy. But we can’t save white people. We can’t fix whiteness. That’s on y’all.

Here’s the point: If we care to have the conversation and change the narrative, there’s a better world available to us; one that understands the histories of pain, violence, hate, subjugation, poverty, erasure, and suffering as much as it values the beauty, power, hope, compassion, creativity, generosity, purpose, and glory in all shades of humanity. There’s a world that wants to acknowledge our flesh and our pain while working with us and for us as equals instead of seeking to dominate.

That’s the world I want.

I want a world where I don’t have to leave American soil to finally put down my racial baggage to suddenly feel fully human (as a Native American, I’m not the target of racial animus outside of the Americas). I spent two years in Europe, where no White women felt the need to cross the street to avoid me and no police officers stopped me for being the wrong color for the area. There’s a world where young people are taught that diversity is beautiful, that the better people are those who work in the service of others, that the best people lay down their lives for others. There’s the world where I can be an atheist and know that nine beautiful people praying in their church will go home to their families safe and alive. There’s the world where Dylann Storm Roof will get a hug and an explanation from his elders, a lesson from his father, reinforcement from his teachers and from society at large, and examples from his brothers and peers, that remind him that his life has value, as much but no more than anyone else’s, and none need lose all for want of more than they deserve.

The great Jewish scientist, immigrant, and thinker, Albert Einstein said, to paraphrase: The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing the way we think. He was right. He lived through an era of great scientific advancement, incredible and terrifying achievement, and he also witnessed one of the worst genocides in history: the holocaust.

Racial hate, envy, greed, violence, scapegoating: these are not means to an end. They are merely an end. They are an end for good and beautiful lives, an end for one’s own humanity. They don’t help us transition from petty, warring peoples to a great, global citizenry. They don’t hold accountable those who are responsible for the massive inequality in the world, for genocide, imperialism, slavery, mass rape and murder, and the massive continental resource thefts of the last few centuries.

These things you felt and acted on, Dylan—these vile, base responses to fear, these manipulations by racists—are only an end. And you’ve given yourself an end. And yet you gave new life to the fight against racism, even as racism continues to grow; I see this resurgence as the death throes of a people, a system, a way of life that’s soon ending. In the end, after all has been said and written and done, as we look to the failures in our schooling around how we equip young minds to deal with the structures and strictures of the past, as we look into the inadequacies of our social safety net, into our continued policing issues, into the hollow and often hateful rhetoric of our politicians, into preserving and protecting the lives of our precious young people of color and rescuing our radicalized white youth from the twisted logic of white supremacy, we can in part thank you for that new life, while we mourn the lives you took.

Dylan Roof is no race war hero. He is no martyr. He is an abberation of nature, a failure of logic and imagination and hop; he’s a failure of America. And soon, only others on the verge of failure will seek to remember his name. Meanwhile, we will all work towards a brighter future, combating the failures of our nation’s past, and we will always #SayTheirNames:

Cynthia Hurd, 54

Susie Jackson, 87

Ethel Lance, 70

Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49

Hon. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41

Tywanza Sanders, 26

Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74

Rev. Sharonda Singleton, 45

Myra Thompson, 59.

The post Three Years After Dylann Roof: on Resurgent White Nationalism: Op-Ed appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In a state that took some of the earliest steps towards minimizing the impacts of drugs-as-crime in our commuities, it’s a shock to see reports that the Colorado War on Drugs continues at an alarming rate. The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition reports that, “a surge in drug felony filings — mostly for simple possession — is driving demand for prison beds and having a disproportionate impact on women.” You read that correctly. Colorado is disproportionately locking the ladies for simple drug possession. The surge is part of the heavy handed response to non-marijuana drug possession instituted under Senate Bill 13-250, which created a “new stand-alone framework for all drug offenses and took effect on October 1, 2013. Previously, drug crimes were classified alongside other, nondrug-related misdemeanor and felony crimes.”

According to the CCJRC Special Report, dated March 12, 2018, “the Colorado General Assembly is considering funding requests from the Department of Corrections for multiple prison expansion plans, which could add more than $30 million to a budget that is rapidly nearing $1 billion for the first time in Colorado’s history. An analysis of state court and prison data finds Colorado’s war on drugs is a major driver of the DOC’s ‘need’ for more prison beds, and it is having a particularly dramatic impact on women. Drug felony filings have increased sharply in judicial districts around the state — the vast majority of which have been for simple possession — resulting in an increase in the number of people being sentenced to prison, especially women. As a result, Colorado’s prison population is projected to grow for the next several years, and the DOC, which initially asked the Legislature for $922 million for FY 2018-19, has requested additional funding to reopen two closed prisons: $18.8 million for Colorado State Penitentiary II in Cañon City, and $12.3 million for Huerfano County Correctional Facility. Reopening prisons to, in part, accommodate an influx of low-level drug offenders is the opposite of what the General Assembly envisioned when it enacted Senate Bill 13-250 in 2013. The legislation was intended to comprehensively reform state drug laws in order to reserve prison beds for high-level dealers while prioritizing treatment and community supervision for individuals charged with possession. Five years later, it is clear that it did not go far enough.”

Classifcations of Drug Felonies and Drug Possessions, via SB 13-250:

Screenshot: CCJRC Felony Report

Effects on Boulder County:

Screenshot: CCJRC Felony Report

Meanwhile, budgets for the Colorado Department of Corrections are surging parallel to increased arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates predicated on this hieghtened criminalization approach. Where Yellow Scene Magazine advocates for many methods to address the health crisis drugs present, further criminalization and incarceration is not one of them. Read our report on the opiate crisis here. 

Screenshot: CCJRC Felony Report

The post CCJRC Reports: Colorado Prison Boom as $1B Budget Looms appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

GOP Tax Bill graphic, by De La Vaca

It’s the fight of our lives. Actually, that’s not true. It’s the fight for your children’s lives. And their children’s after that. And you’re losing. We all are.

I’m writing this the morning after the U.S. House passed a “tax reform” bill that will slash $1.5 trillion in total taxes… and creating a matching deficit in the process. For anyone who isn’t really paying attention, they might start to think, “Well, I pay a lot in taxes, so this means I get to keep more of my money? What’s so bad about that?”

There’s no shortage of sources you can go to for a complete run-down on just how much the GOP put the screws to an assortment of things they hated, such as the individual mandate on the Affordable Care Act which will effectively result in the destruction of the whole system.

One of the better-written articles is by taxation specialist and Forbes contributor Tony Nitti, available here: bit.ly/ForbesTaxRunDown. The part I want to call your attention to, however, isn’t about the bill itself so much as it is the way the GOP went about this. There isn’t a single American who should be able to honestly rationalize the complete disregard for process and the people when you read this excerpt from his column:

“On the Senate floor, things went from shady to sham rather quickly. First, a list of possible amendments was handed out around Capitol Hill, but only to lobbyists, rather than journalists. Then, after a flurry of 11th-hour bargains were made to nail down the final few wavering Republican Senators, the final version of the bill — now reduced to a lithe 479 pages — was made available in the dead of night, and was voted on before you awoke. Even more embarrassing was the state the text of a bill that will shape our economy for the next decade was in, as it was complete with — and I’m not making this up — key amendments and alterations hand-written into the margins of the page, with large swaths of text simply crossed out. One enterprising twitter personality offered a $25 gift card to anyone who could decipher a critical piece of chicken scratch located on page 187.

That isn’t hyperbole. The vote occurred just before 2 a.m. Eastern Time. On a bill that was “completed” only hours before. And a real, significant effort was made to keep the bill out of the hands of journalists. There’s no good that comes from a government that operates in the dead of night, hand-in-hand with lobbyists, outside of the public view, and without time for any public discourse. This is how fascists destroy a populace.

This is no longer just about our President. This is about the efforts of the GOP to legitimately subvert due process and the rule of law. The contempt their actions show for the entire American populace — whether or not you’re on their side of the aisle — should be seen as the violent attack on our way of life it really is.

There’s nothing “Great” about any of this, other than the shame we should all feel for allowing this to happen on our watch.

[Editor’s Note: since this writing, the GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Bill has gone through the congressional reconciliation process, was adopted by the Senate, was voted on a second time in the House to satisfy the Byrd Amendment’s requirements regarding deficit increases and was signed by President Trump. Government would shut down with a failed government funding bill soon after, on January 20, 2018, the one year anniversary of Trump’s inauguration.]

The post Duly Noted: It’s The Fight Of Our Lives appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

It was an interesting night at Boulder City Council’s first meeting of the new year. Temperatures were up and concerns were heightened over the Christmas day death of Benjamin Harvey, a Texas transplant who became homeless and passed, alone and frozen, after being banned by Boulder’s emergency shelter. The well attended meeting opened to round after round of jazz hand applause (“No clapping please; we want everyone to feel safe,” council president and mayor Suzanne Jones requested) as citizens condemned the apparent barbarity of current homeless policy in Boulder.

Benjamin Harvey, Courtesy of Echo Sir Louis

The open comments section opened with Michaela Mujica-Steiner telling a story about how, “On the evening of December 24th, I was in my home having Christmas with my family” and continuing, “I think the main reason this tragedy happened is because we need consistent services for our homeless. There has to be some kind of appeal process with a neutral [arbiter].” Boulder homeless shelters currently operate as a fiefdom (one commenter referred to the ruler as a dictator], with no appeal or reprieve process in place to safeguard against personal grudges, arbitrary punishment, of overzealous application of rules.

James Duncan followed soon after with a note about his birthday. The council congratulated him, as did the room, and he said, “So for each of you I made a ‘tiny house…or tent” to applause the prompted the crackdown. He continued, “they’re really easy to make, these tiny home,” a none-to-subtle nod to the burgeoning tiny homes movement in Colorado. He ended by asking the entire room to sing a special version of Happy Birthday for him:

Homes and shelters for you

Homes and shelters for me

Homes and shelters for everyone…

Homes and shelters for all.”

James Duncan, Tiny Homes for City Council, by De La Vaca

Danner O’Conner, a local activist who’s facebook feed is replete with information and exasperation with the current homeless policy situation, spoke about how “it was a hard holiday,” with a lot of loss, including “for a family in Texas that lost a son, a friend, a brother in our streets…it’s really confusing” and ”it’s unconscionable to save whatever money we’re saving,” with closed shelters at the seemingly arbitrary 20 degree cutoff.

Currently, the emergency shelter only operates if the temperature dips below 21 degrees. A CDC hypothermia guideline documented presented to council by a following speaker and former BOHO board member, highlighted the fact that “while hypothermia is most likely at very cold temperatures, it can occur even at cool temperatures (above 40 degrees) if a person becomes chilled from rain, sweat, or submersion in cold water.” Many would argue, obviously, that frostbitten and snow flurried nights would qualify. The night of Mr. Harvey’s death saw temperatures dip into the teens.

Leo Scott, founder of Colorado Homeless, spoke with an obvious and pained emotion in his voice about how according to Boulder city ordinance, “animals have more rights that we do.” He called for, as is being fought for in other places, like California, a homeless bill of rights.

Leo Scott of Colorado Homeless, by De La Vaca for YS Magazine

The Camera’s Alex Burness reports that, “As expected, the CIty Council just approved the landmarking of a series of properties downtown,” to address the issue of inadequate emergency and temporary shelter for the homeless.

We expect to see more movement on this issue for numerous reasons, including the death of one local person on Christmas day but because, as one commenter put it, “It should be easy for the new 2/3-women Council to end this expensive, fruitless, destructive and lethal policy towards the homeless.””

The post Boulder City Council: surviving while homeless appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

1} The Beet Goes On
Six farmers who lease land from Boulder County Parks and Open Space asked for the county’s permission to raise Roundup Ready sugar beets, which are modified to resist an herbicide called Roundup. The farmers asserted that growing the genetically modified crop would allow them to stay competitive, with bigger harvests and fewer expenses. Despite opposition and a negative recommendation from Boulder County Food and Agriculture Policy Council, Parks and Open Space staff recommended that the county allow the beets, requiring them to make efforts to limit cross pollination. But on Aug. 25, commissioners opted to delay the decision until more information is gleaned. What’s Next: County staff will go back to the books, looking at developing a general GMO policy and a comprehensive plan for Boulder County’s cropland.

2} You Down With BEC?
Broomfield City Council approved the contract late last month that secures Peak Entertainment, LLC, as the new BEC manager. Peak, a joint venture between well-known entertainment promoter AEG Live and sporting venue manager Kroenke Sports Enterprises, will replace Broomfield Sports and Entertainment. The three-year contract can be renewed up to 30 years and will make Broomfield more financially vested in the venue than in the past. The city will be required to pay for the first $450,000 in losses over the first three years of the contract. Broomfield and Peak Entertainment will share initial improvement costs up to $1 million; the city will pay up to $500,000 of those. Broomfield will share in revenue as well. What’s Next: Peak Entertainment took over operation on Sept. 1. They will continue to announce plans.

3} Renovating 36
“Going forward, U.S. 36 is all about money.” That’s what Colorado Department of Transportation Executive Director Russell George told a crowd during the launch of the Help Us Fix U.S. 36 campaign, which supporters are hoping will raise awareness and bring in cash for Highway 36 improvements. Planners have introduced possible options for an overhaul of 36, including managed lanes for carpools and toll payers, bus rapid transit, corridor walkways and updates to aging bridges and pavement. It’s expected to cost $1.3 billion. Political leaders and transportation officials at the launch discussed seeking federal support in upcoming months. “Highway 36 is my top highway to fund,” Rep. Jared Polis said during the event. What’s Next: The Final Environmental Impact Statement for the renovation of Highway 36 will be released in mid September.

4} Doors Wide Shut
The Longmont Times-Call, a Lehman Communications newspaper, filed suit against the Longmont City Council in August. The newspaper claims the council violated Colorado open-meetings laws when it allegedly adopted a decision on a legal matter during a June 23 executive session. According to the suit, following the meeting Mayor Roger Lange and a member of council told Times-Call reporter Rachel Carter that City Council had done a “straw poll” and decided during the closed-door meeting to appeal a recent court ruling. “This conduct constitutes the ‘adoption of a position’ by the City Council, an action that the Colorado Open Meetings Law expressly prohibits a local public body from doing in the course of an executive session,” the suit reads. Times-Call is asking the court to listen to the meeting tapes. What’s Next: The city has since filed an answer to the suit, denying wrong doing and saying the meeting was properly closed. Times-Call is expected to file a reply in September.

5} Teachers’ Dirty Looks
The Boulder Valley School District saga continued when hundreds of outraged teachers—including those from other districts, showing solidarity—filled a school board meeting to support union leaders, who called contract offers “demeaning.” A week prior, union members rejected a contract that gave a one-year, 1-percent stipend and no cost of living increase. Similarly, St. Vrain School District also struggled to resolve contract issues; as of press time, St. Vrain’s union had rejected two district offers. What’s Next: Both districts and unions continue to seek mediation; reports from the Colorado Education Association are due out soon.

The post Boiling Point appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In Colorado, the Realtor often doubles as a runner, the cook as a climber. But balancing work and play can be painful. Athletes and experts give you tips on rest, recovery and the myth of the weekend warrior.

The Price of Winning: Youth athletes are injuring themselves more often and more seriously than ever before. Here’s how to keep your child from becoming a statistic.

You can’t go a day off the bike, the river calls your name and your home has become secondary to the mountains. But your shoulders and knees can feel it…When You Love Colorado Too Much

The Myth of the Weekend Warrior:

1. From desk to dirt
Going from your office to the road can take a toll on your body. Even something as a simple as being in a recreational soccer league can put you at risk for injury, especially if you don’t exercise on your non-game days. “If there is someone getting regular exercise—even enough to keep their heart rate up for 20 minutes each day—they will recover that much better and faster on the harder workouts than someone who is sedentary,” said Lynn Voss, orthopedic surgeon at Boulder Orthopedics.

2. Your body is a Trek
Maybe it’s procrastination. Maybe, ironically, it’s laziness. But weekend warriors tend to be fairly reactionary when it comes to their bods. Experts advise athletes to treat their muscles, bones and joints like they treat their bikes or cars: You wouldn’t wait until the engine blows or the frame is busted to take it to the shop would you? Even though your muscles feel strong, maintenance is vital to preserving your pace.

3. Whoa, cowboy
Overtraining is a one-way road to Hurtsville. It’s too much too soon, and it can get you into trouble. Voss of Boulder Orthopedics recommends athletes who are in training build up 10 percent a week for three weeks, back off 20 percent for a week, build up 10 percent for three more weeks, and again back off 20 percent. “You need to rest to increase strength,” Voss said.

4. To stretch or not to stretch
There’s been something of a controversy about stretching for some time: one study will recommend stretching only after exercise and another will suggest stretching before. Voss says it’s best to start with a quick warm up—break a light sweat during a quick jog or bike ride—then stretch and go about your workout. The same goes for those doing “overhead sports,” like basketball or baseball: toss a few to get warmed up, stretch and then start putting zip on the balls.

5. Variety is the spice of sports
You are a “runner.” You love running. You refuse to swim unless there’s a flood. But experts say cross-training can be beneficial to serious athletes. Tracey Bernett, a Longmont runner who has done triathlons for 30 years, mixes in Pilates and weight training to build up her core muscles, sport-specific muscles and complimentary muscles.

6. When the going gets tough…
Bernett, the Longmont runner, suggests that athletes increase massage right before and after a big event. “If I get a massage right after a marathon, I skip an entire painful day of recovery,” she said. Sally McJoynt Pillsbury, owner of Performance Sports Massage, says a post-event massage is for flushing out toxins and aiding in lymphatic drainage—not tackling deep tissue.

7. get Rolfing
If you’ve heard one thing about Rolfing, you’ve heard about the pain. But Jonathan Martine, certified Rolfer and Rolfing instructor at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, says times have changed in the Rolfing industry. “Over the years, we’ve adjusted the way we work with the body,” Martine said. “We now work with the person rather than on them.” Rolfing tackles the fascia of the body (a form of soft tissue) and works to improve posture, balance and alignment.

8. The myth of the Weekend Warrior
Diane Dandeneau has two choices: She can work out every day, enjoy 100-mile rides on Saturdays, and then comfortably relax the rest of her weekend, or she can do nothing throughout the week and then endure a weekend ride that leaves her exhausted, sore and in pain. This is why the 47-year-old road cyclist, mountain biker and avid hiker says there is a myth about the weekend warrior: “Being fit and getting workouts in throughout the week allows me to have a blast on the weekend,” she said. “You can’t just be a weekend warrior.”

9. Massage: not just for the busted and broken
You wait until your muscles begin revolting against the stress and strain of your lifestyle…and then you call the massage therapist. McJoynt Pillsbury, a longtime Boulder sports massage therapist who has worked on both pros and weekend warriors, says seeing a therapist regularly ensures athletes are aware of the conditions of their muscles. “We can tell where they need to strength train or stretch, which can help prevent injuries,” she said.

10. The right kind of doping
Voss suggests taking a Motrin right before the big event. “You’ll be in less pain during the event and less sore after,” he said.

The post Weekend Warrior’s Guide to Sports Medicine appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In our effort to create an expansive Best Of, Yellow Scene regretfully left out a few categories. Listed here are the omitted winners:

Wine Shop
EC.c : Tenacity Wine Shop
EC.r : PJ’s Wine & Spirits
BD.c : Boulder Wine Merchant

Liquor Store
EC.c : & EC.r: Daveco Liquors
BD.c : & EC.r: Liquor Mart

Date Night
EC.c : Praha
EC.r : Sugarbeet
BD.c : John’s Restaurant
BD.r : The Med

The post More of the Best appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

1} A Friendly Reminder
The economy sucks and seems to be getting suckier. But just in case it wasn’t obvious enough, we now have more proof. State labor officials reported that in March Colorado’s unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent, up 0.4 percent from February. Estimates show that Colorado has more than 62,900 fewer workers than it did a year ago. In January, national joblessness reached 8.1 percent, and in some states, unemployment rates hit double digits.
What’s Next: Economic recovery? Not yet, but Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Executive Director Donald J. Mares told 9News that, “We are trending at a slower rate, we have fewer people out of work (than the rest of the country) and Gov. Ritter’s moving Colorado forward with some initiatives that we think will help stem it.”

2} Bucking the Law?
Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck isn’t above the law. In fact, he’s right in the middle of it. State District Court Judge James Hiatt has halted an identity theft investigation that could implicate more than 1,000 suspected illegal immigrants—until he decides whether Buck and other law enforcement agencies used legal tactics to glean information on suspects. Hiatt ordered Weld County officials to fork over documents they took while searching a tax preparer’s office last year. The paperwork is the foundation for charges involving fake Social Security numbers, which are often used by illegal immigrants for employment. The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed the lawsuit against Buck and Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, claiming that they violated privacy rights of taxpayers when they seized the documents.
What’s Next: Hiatt is expected to make a decision in April.

3} Grocers Sober Up—For Now
Kings Soopers, your dreams of aisles flanked with stacks of shiny cans of silver and blue and glistening brown bottles may be over…or are they? Last month the bill that would allow grocers to sell full-strength beer, House Bill 1192, died in committee. Those who voted against the bill suggested a desire to protect small businesses. But the Centennial State’s Safeways and 7-11s may not have to wait too long to sell suds. Advocates say that Coloradans have not seen the end of this issue.
What’s Next: Advocates will likely work to bring the issue to the voters of Colorado, possibly even on the 2010 ballot.

4} Churchill Shoots, Scores!
Ward Churchill’s fait was in the hands of a jury: Was he the victim of a right-wing crusade—or himself? After deliberating for several hours, a unanimous Denver jury announced the University of Colorado fired its famously controversial professor as vengeance for publishing an essay in which he compared some Sept. 11 victims to Nazi Adolf Eichmann. While they found he was fired for protected free speech—and not because of academic misconduct like the university claimed—the jury was not about to let Churchill reap rewards for the victory: He was offered $1 for damages. Churchill’s case took a starring role in local and regional headlines last month, when his four-week wrongful termination trial brought state elected and university officials to testify about the firing.
What’s Next: Denver Chief District Judge Larry Naves will now decide if CU will have to take Churchill back.

5} Driver Gets Charged
The Boulder woman who hit and killed Louisville resident John Breaux after she veered her PT Cruiser off U.S. Highway 287 in Lafayette on Jan. 30 was officially charged in Boulder County Court last month with one count of criminally negligent homicide. Mary Jo Anne Thomas, 62, could receive a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Prosecutors did not pursue a felony charge of vehicular homicide because toxicology reports showed Thomas was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. At the scene of the accident, Thomas failed roadside tests and took 30 seconds to respond to questions, according to police. Thomas’ attorney said she suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Breaux was a local fixture in Louisville and considered a goodwill ambassador in the community.
What’s Next: Thomas’ next court appearance is slated for May 8.

The post Boiling Point: April 2009 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

1} Beer Battle Coming to a Head
When we last left Colorado’s craft brewers, they were hoping to tap into some stout opposition against House Bill 1192 from liquor store owners and a suds-savvy public. As opposition to the proposed legislation allowing supermarkets and convenience stores to sell full strength beer has grown, so has lobbying for it. Pointed rebuttals about the negative impact that H.B. 1192 would have on local jobs and wages, not to mention selection, have begun to hit home. What’s Next: Opponents hope this bill dies in committee and soon. If it doesn’t, look for serious cash to flow from the grocery chains well into March as they try to buy legislators’ support for the law.

2} Whither Then, Home Rule?
The town of Frederick will be holding public meetings to answer questions from its residents about adopting a home rule charter. The process works something like this: home rule municipalities adopt a charter that outlines the rules of the town including zoning regulations, building codes and development guidelines. More importantly, a home rule city can levy taxes and collect impact fees from developers. All incorporated towns operate under state statute (hence the term “statutory city”) unless its citizens opt for home rule—something that 98 Colorado municipalities have done to date. What’s Next: A series of town meetings about the home rule process. Places and times: 1–2:30pm March 7, Rinn United Methodist Church; 7:30–9pm March 17, Legacy Elementary; and 10–11:30am March 23, Frederick Town Hall.

3} Could Be a Hit
The City of Lafayette is considering building more playing fields on 24 acres of jointly owned open space on Colo. 42. Lafayette’s dream of six new, artificial turf playing fields is being rudely awakened by the estimated $8 million price tag. Lafayette officials say demand is there, and because its use as a ball field was part of the original purchase agreement, don’t expect Boulder County to object. What’s Next: Other, cheaper options for increasing access and capacity at Lafayette’s ball parks include overhauling the Lamont Does field and installing lights on two of the City Park ball diamonds—significant capacity for a fraction of the cost. Barring some unforeseen stimulus, and of course the obligatory “study” for a couple grand, don’t expect this Astroturf reverie to last much past Opening Day.

4} It’s Just an Idea
Rock Creek residents got their swarm on after finding out about a plan submitted in February by Richmond Homes to the Superior Town Board. Dozens of neighbors showed up at the initial meeting looking to throw cold water on the idea of letting Richmond give the town 15 acres of commercial land in exchange for 11 acres at Indiana Street and West Torreys Peak on which it would get to build 38 homes. Irate residents said the proposed homes would change the look and feel of their neighborhood for the worse. They also complained that more homes would force down already sagging property values in the area by flooding the weak market, produce increased crowding in the school and add to traffic in the area. One alternative from the crowd was that the parcel be made into a park; something that side of town is lacking. What’s Next: Despite taking a year to work out terms for such a land swap with the city, Richmond Homes must still submit a formal development plan and perform various studies before the idea can proceed. Regardless, don’t look for opposition to the scheme to abate.

Boulder County residents interested in installing solar panels on their homes, upgrading their hot water heaters and furnaces, and adding some insulation may begin to submit applications as soon as April and begin work in May. According to a time line approved by county commissioners, the bond-financed improvements will commence after applicants attend a series of mandatory workshops about the program. What’s Next: The big picture is a good one, but look for tweaks and changes in the program as details get ironed out.

The post Boiling Point appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.