HISTORICAL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY FOR LOCAL HISTORY, DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, GREELEY HISTORY MUSEUM, LONGMONT MUSEUM, AND USGS HISTORICAL MINING PHOTOGRAPHS.

The year 1864 was full of monumental events and circumstances in American history. Most commonly we understand 1864 as the culminating year of the American Civil War. It was the year when Union forces finally broke the back of the Confederacy. It was the year of General Grant’s wilderness campaign in Virginia and General Sherman’s march on Atlanta. It was also the year of President Lincoln’s reelection less than six months before he would become the first American president to be assassinated.

The new Colorado Territory in 1864 must have seemed well removed from these great societal upheavals far to the east. But in nature as well as in history everything is connected. The distraction of the Civil War left the infant territory, crazed with gold fever and inundated with new pioneering settlers, with insufficient direction and leadership. Men like barely literate Colonel John Chivington, who had no business holding positions of influence and leadership, nevertheless rose to prominence within the power vacuum and lawlessness that was Colorado’s frontier.

August 1, 1938. St. Theresa Church in Frederick, Colorado

Gold was discovered in Colorado in 1858, and then the Homestead Act of 1862 gave hordes of primarily white settlers visions of riches and freedoms to be found in the empty West. Except the West was not actually empty when their convoys of horse-covered wagons thundered over the prairies. Various societies of Native Americans had been living and traveling through Colorado’s high plains and mountains for thousands of years.

The Plains Indians relied on the enormous herds of bison for all aspects of their livelihoods: food, shelter, tools, clothing. A single bison herd could be so large that one could not see from one end to another, a heaving sea of undulating fur and thumping hooves on dirt from horizon to horizon.

Native American leaders like Chief Niwot (Left Hand) of the Southern Arapaho understood the tragic mathematics of the situation. His people had already undergone a population collapse. The westward-moving frontier brought an invisible shockwave in the form of infectious diseases that devastated Native populations even before most whites arrived on the scene. With the territory thinned by diseases, the pioneer horde followed, never exhausting, always growing. Masses of gold seekers and homesteaders moved into the area, treaties were broken, land was taken, and the bison the Native Americans depended on were annihilated by the millions — all in a few short years.

By 1864 the Native leaders were losing control of their warriors as the prospect of starvation brought increasing anger and desperation. That year escalating attacks and reprisals erupted between pioneers and Native Americans in what is known today as the Colorado War. This culminated in the Sand Creek Massacre southeast of Denver. There, in late November of 1864, just weeks after the reelection of President Lincoln far to the east, around 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne peoples, mostly children, women, and elderly men, were senselessly slaughtered and mutilated by the ignoramus Chivington and his men. The massacre was carried out with the full support and direction of Colorado’s territorial Governor John Evans who viewed the Native Americans as little more than obstacles in his way to amassing the great fortune that was his life’s goal.

1920-1930. Undated views of Rocky Mountain Fuel Company’s Columbine coal mine showing mine buildings, company houses, an overview of the company town, and railroad tracks washed out by a flood.

Most of the white settlers who arrived in this ancient land were not part of a powerful elite but were instead opportunists with meager means willing to throw their life’s lot into a new and exciting land. It would be unfair and inaccurate, however, to paint all white settlers with the same brush, either positive or negative. Each settler who came west in search of a better life was an individual human being who brought their own values, dreams, and aspirations with them. As in all societies a full spectrum of behaviors could be observed among the settlers, from the violent and lawless to the altruistic and compassionate. But many of them simply found themselves caught up in the whirlwind of greater forces they had little control over.

The McKissick brothers (Thomas, John, and William) were early settlers in what we now call Colorado’s Carbon Valley. In that fateful year of 1864, the brothers joined the ranks of a militia called the St. Vrain Valley Home Guard. The militia constructed a sod fort near present-day St. Vrain State Park called Fort Junction, so named because it was located near the confluence of Boulder Creek and the St. Vrain River. The purpose of the fort was to defend against real or imagined threats of attack from area Native Americans. In August of 1864 word of an impending attack spread throughout the land. and area settlers congregated in the new fort to await a conflict that never materialized.

Two of the McKissick brothers, John and Thomas, would become early Weld County sheriffs (in 1865 and 1867). By that time, it was becoming known that the land they settled was blessed, not with the yellow metal that brought so many to the area, but with a black rock that would power much of the growing Front Range area for decades to come.

The McKissick coal mine opened in 1872, one of the earliest commercial coal mines in the state. The Carbon Valley brackets the eastern end of a vast coal seam that extends in an arc from the base of the Rockies near Superior, through the coal towns of Louisville, Lafayette, and Erie, and ending in what today we call the Tri-Town area of Frederick, Firestone, and Dacono.

2003. Frederick City Hall: Built in 1907, it served as the city hall for several years. In 1974 a new structure was built and the old town hall building was moved to the city park and renovated as the Miner’s Memorial Museum.

Big growth, small towns

On a map the three towns are stacked one atop the other, Dacono at the bottom in the south, then Frederick in the middle, and Firestone, the largest of the three, capping the northern end. All three towns were officially founded in 1907 or 1908.

Firestone, in the north, is named after Ohioan Jacob H. Firestone who founded the Firestone Coal and Land Company but never resided in the town (or anywhere in Colorado for that matter). Frederick, in the middle, was platted by three sisters who named the town for their father,  Frederick A. Clark, who owned the land that became the town. Dacono, in the south, was named by one of its founders, Charles Baum, who used the first two letters of the first names of three women: Daisy, Cora, and Nora (Da-Co-No). Daisy was Baum’s wife, but his relationship to the other two ladies is unconfirmed. It is speculated that they may have been Daisy’s sisters or friends.

Like the town of Louisville to the southwest, many Italian immigrants worked the coal mines of the Carbon Valley. Back then these were small towns built specifically to support the mines. There were five long-standing coal mines in Frederick alone, operating well into the 1940s.

Even in the early 20th century, these three towns were overshadowed by bigger and faster-growing neighbors. To the west and northeast were the colony towns of Longmont and Greeley, and to the south was the growing center of regional commerce, Denver.

There is little in this area to attract large-scale settlement other than resource extraction. Carbon Valley is not actually a valley. This is a flatland as nondescript as any other part of Colorado’s Great Plains. The town centers are near, but not on, the waterways of the St. Vrain River, Boulder Creek, and the South Platte River. While irrigated water could help turn the prairie into crop production, the soil is relatively poor and the climatic conditions somewhat harsh. Here is an open, windy, and stark environment where the lushness of the Rockies is visible to the west but just far enough away to remind of their distance. When the first settlers looked upon this land, few, if any, trees cast shade over the scorching prairie in the summer or provided shelter from wind-driven wintertime storms. These towns came into being for one reason and that reason was coal.

1939. Fort Junction dedication: The monument was erected by the Frederick, Firestone, Dacono Lions Club and the Rinn Community as a memorial to the sod enclosure built by the pioneers of the area during the Indian “troubles.”

New Connections

The coal mining history of the Tri-Towns follows a similar pattern to the other coal mining towns to their southwest. A day in the life of a Tri-Town coal miner was tough and dangerous. Miners often dropped down the shafts before sun-up and emerged after sun-down, six days a week, to toil in an unhealthy underworld of lung-damaging coal dust and creaking support timbers. Gruesome accidents like cave-ins, explosions, or runaway two-ton coal carts were a constant menace weighing on the mind of every miner who descended into the darkness with his pick and a lunch pail.

Labor laws, at least in the early days, were virtually non-existent, and worker strikes demanding better pay and conditions were often put down with brutal indifference by both the mining companies and state authorities. For more than a half-century throughout the Northern Colorado Coal Field, from the Marshall Mesa to Firestone, the coal miner and his family were in a constant struggle with a life where his wage was just enough to put food on the table but never enough to bring his family out of poverty and danger.

This was also seasonal work as the coal mines typically operated in winter. Coal miners who swung their picks at black rocks underground in winter often toiled under a hot prairie sun in sugar beet fields in the summer, the cash crop of the time.

The Northern Colorado Coal Field was typically mined within a few hundred feet of the surface, but far below the coal field in western Weld County, underneath thousands of feet of ancient bedrock, is a massive reserve of oil and natural gas. As the coal mining industry declined by the middle of the 20th century, oil and gas extraction accelerated.

1973. Miners entering the Lincoln Mine

In those days the towns of the Carbon Valley were still tiny, isolated communities. Interstate 25 had yet to be constructed, and no one needed to transit through the Tri-Towns to get anywhere else. Oil and gas exploration and extraction was relatively far removed from the views and homes of Front Range citizens who, at the time, typically resided much farther south or west.

The construction of Interstate 25 began to change that situation. In 1958 the first stretch of the new interstate, called the Valley Highway (still a favorite term used by old school traffic reporters), was constructed through Denver. It ran for 11 miles between Evans Avenue in the south and 48th Avenue in the north. More sections were added from there. Next came the stretch through Pueblo, then Colorado Springs. In 1961 the arrow-straight 14-mile section called the “Longmont Area” was completed between Highway 7 to the south and Highway 66 to the north.

This brought the new interstate highway within about two miles to the west of the Tri-Towns and set the stage for the future explosive growth to come. In the early 1960s these towns were still far removed from the encroachment of the Denver metropolitan area to the south or Longmont to the west. It would have been difficult for locals at the time to imagine that within 50 years their small towns would become bedroom communities of a city expanding like an amoeba to envelop them into its vast array of quiet suburbs.

One of the early business establishments that capitalized on the new interstate highway was a biker bar and beer garden opened in 1985 called Jerry D’s, named after its original owner Jerry Denovellis. Jerry D’s achieved local iconic status as a biker stop and local hangout before temporarily closing under new ownership. The restaurant is being revived, however, as new owner Brad Linkus, who also owns IMI Motorsports in Dacono, seeks to restore and re-launch it soon as Jerry D’s 2.0.

1966. Ceremonies marking completion of paving of Frederick, Colorado’s entire 4.5 mile street system

Developing lands

The growth boom finally hit the Tri-Towns at the turn of the century, now among the fastest growing communities in Colorado. In 1990 the three towns had a combined population of just over 4,500 residents. Today almost 44,000 people call these towns home with Firestone and Frederick each at over 18,000 and Dacono nearly 7,000. The growth will continue as new housing developments merge with other new developments in Erie to the south and Longmont to the west.

What was once an out-of-the-way location on the way to nowhere is now prime real estate for commuters in all directions. Downtown Denver is a reasonable 25 miles south, a straight shot down I-25, while Longmont is a 12-mile jaunt to the west, and Greeley is a 30-mile, lightly trafficked drive through the prairie to the northeast. While soaring real estate has priced many middle-class buyers out of locations to the south and west, the Tri-Towns has become a haven for those wanting the peace and quiet of the suburbs within an affordable price range.

The new housing developments have brought new controversy as well. Oil and natural gas wells that were once far removed from the backyard grills and trampolines of suburbanites far to the south and west are now located within and near residential areas. The wells did not move nor did the long-standing extraction ownership rights to them —  the housing developments moved in around them. Simultaneous to the growth in housing, increased pressure to extract domestic fossil fuels and generally favorable economic conditions to do so created a clash between the interests of new residents and old industry as new fracking operations popped up just when real estate agents planned open houses for the new homes within eyesight and earshot of the fracking rigs. The controversy came to a head tragically in April 2017 when a residential home exploded, taking the lives of two residents. The explosion was caused by leakage from gas lines from a nearby well that were cut during home construction.

2008. An oil pump sits in a field as a thunderstorm blows through the town of Dacono.

These opposing interests continue with relentless growth. Like Erie just to the southwest, the Frederick, Firestone, and Dacono now seek a renewed focus to maintain their small-town identities while managing explosive suburban housing growth. It all hinges on the small downtown districts of each of them. The town of Frederick, for example, recently rebranded its image, choosing the perhaps somewhat vague slogan, “Built on what matters.” And, in Firestone, residents celebrated the town’s centennial in 2009 with the unveiling of its Centennial Clock and time capsule, containing mementos that will be revealed in 2059.

Time marches on as they say, and by 2059 there will have been many more changes and events, some foreseen while others will be surprises. It is likely that, by that time, the entire area will have been swallowed up by the Denver-Boulder-Longmont-Greeley amoeba with suburban houses stretching far and wide, interspersed with the green spaces that will exist only by design. The overtaking of the once vast and windswept prairie by a relentlessly advancing human population will have been mostly complete by then, at least in this area. Perhaps by then the oil and gas extraction will have followed the decline of the coal industry a century before it as we continue a century-plus transition from dirty to clean energy.

But growth in this area is inevitable, and our look back at history can help us focus on how that growth can be managed well, with thoughtfulness and respect for those who came before us and who built these towns on what matters.

The post Frederick, Firestone, and Dacono: Building on what matters appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Has “sustainability” become an eye-rolling buzzword that’s tossed around boardrooms and shoehorned into public policy as an afterthought?

Communities in Boulder County and their leaders are banking against that cynicism — but what do we mean by the term “sustainability”? At its core, when it comes to ecological sustainability, we’re talking about survival. Too dramatic? We mean the ability of communities, organizations, and individuals to behave in a manner that protects and maintains our ecosystems for current and future generations of human beings. No ecosystem means no humans.

Small towns and cities across the country are looking for ways to strengthen and diversify their economies, attract residents, build lasting infrastructure, and ensure resiliency against future climate events. Especially in areas highly dependent on tourism — like Boulder County — they also want to maintain their distinct identities and not lose what makes each place unique to visitors and residents alike.

Colorado is experiencing an alarming increase in climate change-related events — severe and devastating droughts, wildfires, and flooding are becoming more frequent and costly. The oil and gas industry, especially fracking operations, are major contributors to methane pollution. Cutting methane emissions from oil and gas, according to the David Suzuki Foundation, is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to address climate change.

At its core, when it comes to ecological sustainability, we’re talking about survival.

In response to these challenges, the state has set ambitious sustainability goals. In 2019, Governor Polis signed an executive order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050. The state has also set targets to increase renewable energy production, improve energy efficiency, and reduce waste.

While these goals are commendable, achieving them will require a concerted effort from all communities in the state, including smaller towns and cities. With smaller revenues and tax bases than larger centers, is there any way to balance urgent economic needs with ecological preservation at a municipal scale?

Erie’s challenge

Many communities have developed detailed sustainability strategies to address these increasingly complex challenges. Erie has established a Sustainability Advisory Board to advise the town’s board of trustees on “matters that relate to the planning, development, maintenance, and management of sustainability activities throughout Erie.”

According to Alissa Kuzmich, a member of the Erie Sustainability Advisory Board, the town is experiencing a period of growth yet still has a very strong community feel. “We recently had a Hope & Gratitude Project,” she told Yellow Scene. “It was in the old town called Briggs, the main street that the old town is on. School children filled the streets with luminaries talking about what they were hopeful for.”

Many communities have developed detailed sustainability strategies to address these increasingly complex challenges.

The Sustainability Division partnered with the Erie’s Tree Advisory Board and the Parks and Recreation Department to hold an Arbor Day/Earth Day Celebration event. It brought in exhibitors related to horticulture, tree management, the solar industry, and electric vehicles — the latter hosted by Drive Electric Colorado. “There’s no pressure for purchase,” said Kuzmich. Instead, at this event people have the opportunity to ask questions without a sales pitch. This year the event is planned for April 29th.

“One of the things that’s happening right now that’s pretty cool is called Elevate Erie — it’s a comprehensive plan. It sets the vision for the next five years,” Kuzmich told YS. “With all the growth we’ve had, sustainability was invited to be part of that conversation.” The board gives input on Erie’s development, along with members of many other organizations, to ensure equitable representation across the community.

The town also has a noble goal to become a zero waste community. The concept of zero waste aims to minimize environmental impacts throughout the entire lifecycle of a product — beyond recycling and composting — to include design, use, and material management. Erie plans to increase access to recycling and composting while reducing waste that ends up in its landfill. The town claims that recycling and composting are some of the most effective ways to reduce “consumption emissions.’.

Nederland: Small but mighty

Nederland, aka “Ned,” is just west of Boulder with a population less than 1,500. The town attracts tourists with its picturesque scenery, fishing, skiing, cycling, camping, shops, boutiques, and even a vibrant music scene. YS spoke with Sustainability Coordinator Leah Haney who is relatively new to the role. Haney executes the Sustainability Advisory Board’s goals for renewable energy and zero waste by 2025. The board acts as a partner with Boulder County, the state of Colorado, and the local business community to determine resource availability and align these with the needs and wants of residents. The partners “make collective decisions,” said Haney, “coming from and guided by Boulder County’s requirements and what we’ve set for ourselves locally.”

The town attracts tourists with its picturesque scenery, fishing, skiing, cycling, camping, shops, boutiques, and even a vibrant music scene.

One of the initiatives Haney is particularly proud of is Nederland’s Construction & Demolition Debris Recycling Deposit Program “where a credit goes to renovators or builders or demolition companies if they can divert and save some of those materials to reuse. They get a credit back. This was a big program implemented by the town, but it hasn’t been used a whole lot yet, we’re working on the outreach part,” explained Haney.

The town is also working on a community solar garden that Haney hopes will lead to more businesses installing solar panels. Nederland is also transitioning to electric vehicles and is on a waitlist to get an all-electric Ford Lightning truck, which Haney doesn’t believe many mountain towns have. The town will also be adding more EV chargers to accommodate tourists from neighboring Denver as well as locals who wish to make the switch.

Haney was pleasantly surprised that sustainability initiatives were not a hard sell. Local food production is a high priority for many, and building up a community greenhouse and farmers market are a common goal.

What’s challenging in a town of this size, according to Haney, is making sustainability a priority in a community with limited human resources, all while maintaining a small town feel — which is the reason people come to visit. “This was a different town 20 years ago,” said Haney. “It will continue to change over time, and we get to help decide what that looks like. One of the benefits of being a small town is that we get to instigate change — probably pretty well — with just having a small community, maybe quicker than a larger municipality.”

Lafayette: Greening community engagement

Lafayette is a small but eclectic and engaged city full of character, and according to its Sustainability Manager Elizabeth Szorad, this willingness of residents to get involved with sustainability is one of its greatest assets. The downtown is culturally vibrant and art focused. Many popular community events are centered around artists and their creativity. Szorad capitalized on this and held a call for artists to create digital art to place on waste containers throughout downtown.

The downtown Lafayette is culturally vibrant and art focused. Many popular community events are centered around artists and their creativity. ? City of Lafayette

“Overall, we have a very great community, very involved,” Szorad said. “They care about our downtown, our neighborhood aspects, and building that community. We’re in a really nice spot in terms of growth.”

Lafayette is subject to a heat island effect, especially in the downtown corridor. A “cool roof” solution of shade provided by trees to mitigate this effect is one effort that will be proposed at a Lafayette City Council soon. Szorad said they’re at the beginning stages of analysis to determine how to make the city more resilient against the effects of extreme heat. “Can we find trees to provide shade in our downtown?” Szorad asked. “That comes into the conversation about water conservation — how much water would that need? Do we have enough water to grow the trees necessary to produce shade?”

The heat island effect

Szorad has been encouraged by the level of engagement of residents in Lafayette and their willingness to learn how to live more sustainably. She believes the key to implementing sustainability within a community is not a “zero to one hundred” approach but, rather, incremental behavior changes where everyone does their part.

One of Lafayette’s key priorities in “greening” the city has been focused on water conservation. In 2013, Lafayette instituted a permanent water conservation ordinance to protect its resources. The city partnered with local nonprofit Resource Central, offering three programs for residents to conserve water: Lawn Removal Service, Garden in a Box, and Slow the Flow programs are designed to reduce the amount of lawn residents have, replace them with waterwise yards which may include permeable green landscaping or other water-efficient plant material, and evaluate existing outdoor sprinkler systems.

Water conservation projects are top of mind to Szorad: “Due to climate change and earlier snowmelt in general, there’s a greater emphasis on what we’re going to do with our water conservation initiatives. Not only on the policy side — we are looking at different building codes.” The community has xeriscaped facilities that do not require water, such as roadways and medians, and will also be converting a facility in 2023 to be one of the largest demonstration xeriscape gardens in Colorado.

The gardens will be a community gathering space where residents and students can come learn about conservation and wildfire prevention. Lafayette also holds an annual Gas-Powered Mower and Leaf Blower Take Back Event, where residents receive an electric lawn equipment voucher in exchange for the return of their existing gas-powered equipment. This year’s event is taking place on April 22.

“Due to climate change and earlier snowmelt in general, there’s a greater emphasis on what we’re going to do with our water conservation initiatives. Not only on the policy side — we are looking at different building codes.”

“Part of our philosophy is to practice what we preach in sustainability as an organization,” Szorad told YS. “So if we do get calls like, ‘What are you doing about water conservation or recycling?’ We can tell our story to residents, so they understand that this is a priority — and they can look into what resources are available to make those incremental changes,” she explained.

The town is enhancing its sustainability plan by turning it towards a climate action plan. Lafayette will also be introducing a multi-modal transportation plan to include an e-bike rebate program which Szorad says has already been successful in Boulder and Denver. The goal is to change commuters’ transportation mode. In a city of nine square miles with an average trip of three miles, Szorad said that commuting translates very well to e-bike use, even with the addition of cargo. For this initiative, Lafayette is partnering with nearby Louisville. Creating regional partnerships increases the size of sustainability teams, which are usually limited in smaller localities.

Boulder County: A multi-pronged approach

The county refers to itself as a “global leader in climate action,” and the county’s Office of Sustainability, Climate Action & Resilience believes that radical transformation is required to meet the challenges faced by residents impacted by the climate crisis.

YS spoke with Christian Herrmann, the office’s Climate Communications Director. Herrmann said they’re “lucky in terms of being a local government that has a really passionate population that wants governmental action on the climate crisis and sustainability.”

Zach Hedstrom of Boulder Mushroom – ? Boulder County. Office of Sustainability, Climate Action & Resilience

Boulder was one of the first counties in the United States to establish a designated climate action fund to kickstart innovative projects and technologies that fight the climate crisis through carbon dioxide removal. “Instead of just reducing emissions by cutting fossil fuels and reducing pollution, we also believe that’s not enough,” said Herrmann. “We need to start innovating and actively sucking the legacy emissions and carbon dioxide that’s in the atmosphere out of the atmosphere.”

Herrmann points to the Marshall Fire — which was Colorado’s most expensive to date — as an example of the extreme wildfires the Boulder County area is experiencing. The Boulder Watershed Collective, Grama Grass & Livestock, and Boulder Mushroom — a local mycology center — have partnered with assistance from the county’s Climate Innovation Fund to decompose wood chips and inoculate them with mycelium in an effort to help the soil retain moisture and carbon dioxide, thereby making land more resilient and less prone to wildfire.

Herrmann sees the need for communities to partner. Local governments in the western U.S. are pooling resources to remove CO? out of the atmosphere. Four Corners Carbon Coalition, a partnership between Boulder County, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe, and Flagstaff just launched a first round of grants for projects that use removed CO? to produce concrete. Concrete production represents over 7% of all global emissions.

“We need to start innovating and actively sucking the legacy emissions and carbon dioxide that’s in the atmosphere out of the atmosphere.”

“We’ve focused a lot as an organization on agricultural climate solutions,” said Herrmann. “That’s a huge puzzle piece — that local soils and local populations have access to food that’s produced nearby. In addition, farmland, when managed well, can function as carbon sinks.” Carbon sinks are anything natural, such as vegetation, the ocean, or otherwise, that accumulate and store carbon compounds.

BOCO also partnered with Mad Agriculture and the James Beard Award-winning Zero Foodprint to launch Restore Colorado. Restaurants and food businesses can sign up and use 1% of customers’ bills to fund local farms and ranches to support local regenerative and carbon farming practices such as composting and tree planting. Over thirty-two Colorado restaurants and businesses, like Annette, Dry Storage, River and Woods, Somebody People, and all Boulder Subway sandwich locations, are taking part in the program.

The county is also tackling climate change in a more systematic way in the courtroom. The county, along with San Miguel County, filed a lawsuit in 2018 against oil companies Suncor and ExxonMobil demanding that they contribute to the costs associated with climate change, estimated to top $150 million dollars by 2050. The communities are supported by EarthRights International, Hannon Law Firm, and Niskanen Center. The case has been remanded to Colorado state court as of 2020.

The end — and a collectively renewable beginning

Climate activists and organizations have long been sounding the alarm. The Colorado Sierra Club has been advocating for climate change solutions with recommendations from air and water quality to public health, wildlife preservation, and fuel consumption. The social justice and equity component of environmentalism can’t be overstated. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences indicates climate change and extreme weather events have a disproportionate burden on vulnerable populations.

“I think that’s what we need to tackle the climate crisis — we need local action.”

“In general, children and pregnant women, older adults, certain occupational groups, persons with disabilities, and persons with chronic medical conditions are more vulnerable to health stressors, such as extreme heat, floods, poor air quality, and other climate-related events,” the report states. The unfortunate reality is that those with less access to resources have less of a way to impact governmental policies despite being the most affected by a changing climate.

Despite this, there’s an appetite in BOCO and North Metro to fight back. Initiatives are often fueled by passion and a willingness to turn the tide and protect the fragile local ecosystems.

“I think that’s what we need to tackle the climate crisis — we need local action,” Herrmann told YS. “We need people to be thinking about their gardens, improving the health of their gardens, and growing their own food … and you also need to be tackling more systemic action to help shift the system where possible.”

We need to be realistic. Oil and gas companies as well as the military — the world’s single largest consumer of oil according to studies by Brown University’s Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs — are the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. It’s clear that community initiatives, while laudable, practical, and helpful, will never be enough to stop dangerous emissions from leaking into the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a special report on the impacts of global warming in 2018 with clear conclusions: “Limiting global warming to 1.5ºC would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” The IPCC’s report indicated that we have 12 years to act decisively. That was five years ago already. Proponents of fracking would like us to believe the economic effects of halting fossil fuel extraction would be dire. This ignores the extreme costs of disaster event-related losses — $2.97 trillion over the past two decades according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction: “While better recording and reporting may partly explain some of the increase in events, much of it is due to a significant rise in the number of climate-related disasters. Between 2000 and 2019, there were 510,837 deaths and 3.9 billion people affected by 6,681 climate-related disasters. This compares with 3,656 climate-related events which accounted for 995,330 deaths (47% due to drought/ famine) and 3.2 billion affected in the period 1980-1999.”

“We need people to be thinking about their gardens, improving the health of their gardens, and growing their own food … and you also need to be tackling more systemic action to help shift the system where possible.”

Focusing on economic impacts of slowing oil and gas also ignores the growth in the clean technology and energy sectors. Clean energy boosts employment levels. Jobs are expected to expand to 43 million worldwide by 2050. It also reduces consumer costs, is commercially viable, and allows universal access to energy. The industry’s “math” simply does not compute.

Coloradoans want to see change, and as a region disproportionately and disastrously affected by the climate crisis, they’re taking initiative and holding their representatives to task. No one is naive here. Residents know that systemic global change is needed to truly halt the effects of the climate crisis.

Even faced with these sobering facts, small changes do make an impact, and local communities are bringing awareness to the severe and devastating effects of climate change to our environment. Our ecosystem depends on it, and thereby so do we.

The post The Power of Local Action: How Municipalities Are Making a Difference in Sustainability Efforts appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

By Eric Galatas, Public News Service (via AP Storyshare)

The post Coloradans Launch ‘Fracking Fuels the Flames’ Campaign appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

(This article is courtesy of bouldercounty.gov.)

10/2/2022 UPDATE: The Boulder County Government Commissioners unanimously voted to reject Extraction’s offer. The legal battle is on.

Boulder County to examine proposal against threat of forced pooling

Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County received a letter from Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc., on July 5, 2022, offering to lease county-owned mineral rights in connection with Extraction’s “Blue Paintbrush” well pad planned in Weld County.

The Blue Paintbrush pad is located approximately 1,000 feet east of the Boulder County line on land over which Boulder County owns a conservation easement. Extraction has permits from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) to drill up to 32 wells on the pad. The Blue Paintbrush wells are designed to drill horizontally from the Weld County site to produce oil and gas under four square miles of Boulder County, where Boulder County is the majority mineral owner. Boulder County filed a lawsuit in 2018 arguing that its conservation easement and several existing leases do not allow for the approved drilling, but that suit was unsuccessful.

According to Extraction’s offer letter, if the county does not agree to lease 552 acres of mineral rights or to accept a working interest in the Blue Paintbrush wells, Extraction will seek a statutory (or “forced”) pooling order from the COGCC. Extraction filed an application with the COGCC to force pool the minerals on July 7, which is currently in a regulatory waiting period.

If the COGCC approves the application, it would require Boulder County to allow its mineral interests to be accessed by Extraction and would require the county to share in the cost of drilling and producing the oil and gas. Boulder County believes it has strong arguments against forced pooling, but the outcome of a COGCC proceeding is not certain.

Boulder County has a long-time policy of not voluntarily leasing its mineral rights for development. However, considering the threat of forced pooling and the significant amounts of land, minerals, and money at stake in this situation, the county will complete a full public process before rendering a decision on the offer.

At a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, the Parks & Open Space Advisory Committee (POSAC) will review Extraction’s lease offer. POSAC’s proceeding is the first step in the process by which the county makes determinations whether to dispose of open space property by selling it or, in this case, leasing it for development. After hearing a presentation from county staff and considering all public comments, POSAC will make a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), which will take up the question at a public hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 4 p.m.

To provide comments to POSAC before its Thursday, Aug. 25, meeting, sign up to speak at the meeting, or to view the POSAC meeting remotely, go to boco.org/posac. Spanish interpretation will be provided for registered participants. Habrá interpretación en español disponible para los participantes registrados.

Depending on the number of people signed up to speak, speaking time may be limited to three minutes. Pooling of speaker time will be permitted up to a total of ten minutes. All speakers wishing to pool their time must be signed up for and present at the meeting. Speakers are requested not to repeat statements made by previous speakers other than to express points of agreement or disagreement.

After POSAC makes a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), the BOCC will accept public comments on this issue at commissioners@bouldercounty.org. The public will also be able to speak at the 4-7 p.m. Nov. 1 public hearing in front of the BOCC. Sign up to receive the BOCC Advance Agenda, which includes links to register to attend and/or speak at public hearings.

The post Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. seeks to lease Boulder County-owned minerals appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

By Eric Galatas
Public News Service (via AP Storyshare)

A new study mapping methane pollution across five oil and gas production basins in states including Colorado found a small number of sites account for a disproportionately high level of overall pollution.

Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund, one group behind the study, said nearly 40% of emissions are coming from what are sometimes referred to as “super emitter” sites.

“So these are big leaks, these are big problems,” Goldstein asserted. “What that means, though is that if we can find them and fix them, we can get a handle on this problem pretty quickly.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release national standards to limit methane pollution at oil and gas sites as soon as this fall. Some critics of rules, including those passed in Colorado requiring oil and gas operators to find and fix leaks and reduce flaring, have argued the cost of implementation can be prohibitive, especially for smaller operators.

Methane is 80 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and is a major contributor to climate change. It is also the primary component of natural gas.

Goldstein pointed out companies benefit by capturing emissions and bringing more gas to market. He said the International Energy Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and regulators in states with strong emission standards reached similar conclusions on the rules’ economic impacts.

“And again, those state-level regulators have also found these rules to be very cost-effective,” Goldstein noted. “I think the balance of the information from an economic standpoint is on the cost-effectiveness and the wisdom of getting these sorts of standards in place.”

Goldstein emphasized there is a critical need for ongoing, open-source monitoring of methane emissions at local and regional scales to guide efforts to reduce pollution. He added the study’s findings strongly suggest federal regulators should model new rules on successful standards at work in states including Colorado.

“We’re finding less super emitters in the states that have been getting strong standards in place,” Goldstein stressed. “That’s a really good headline for EPA to see as they’re working to try and get similar standards in place across the U.S.”

The post New Maps Expose Methane ‘Super-Emitter’ Sites appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Public News Service and was shared via AP StoryShare. It was written by Eric Galatas, a writer for Public News Service. 

by Eric Galatas, Public News Service

A new analysis shows big oil companies are much more reluctant to lower gasoline prices when crude prices drop than they are to raise prices when crude costs rise.

In one example documented by the group Accountable.US, when crude prices dropped by just over 1% in April, oil companies raised gas prices by nearly 2%.

Jordan Schreiber, energy and environment director for the group, said consumers might expect prices at the pump to go down as the cost of crude oil drops, but gas prices remain stubbornly high.

“We would hope that the American people who have been really having a tough time paying for gasoline over the last few months would see some price drops,” Schreiber noted. “But unfortunately, this is just another example of big oil really gouging folks at the pump.”

After crude prices dropped by nearly 2% in May, companies raised gas prices by nearly 4%. In June, after crude dropped by more than 7%, it took days for prices to drop by just 2%. Industry groups have deflected criticism linking pricing to record profits, and have called on the Biden administration to open up more public lands for drilling to help ease prices.

Schreiber countered oil and gas companies left parcels of public lands they had specifically requested on the table at a recent drilling auction, and noted the industry already is sitting on thousands of untapped leases.

Schreiber believes the primary cause of high prices can be found in company ledger books. Last year, the top 25 oil and gas companies saw a record $237 billion in profits.

“We’re looking at Quarter Two earnings calls this week, and we anticipate those to be record-breaking for 2022 as well,” Schreiber pointed out. “The oil and gas companies have little to no incentive to actually bring this down. And so they can point fingers all they want to, but the reality is they’re just gouging American consumers.”

Schreiber added she hopes the analysis will serve as a wake-up call for Congress to take action, and she called on voters to urge their representatives to pass a windfall tax to hold big oil accountable.

She contended it is not reasonable or sustainable for the American people to continue footing the bill for companies’ record profits.

“Rather than turning those profits back around to boost production or invest in clean energy, they’re just sending it all back to shareholders and stock buybacks,” Schreiber stressed. “Truly record-setting amounts of money going back to shareholder and buybacks this year and last year.”

Analysis: https://bit.ly/3PWdZnP

The post Big Oil Keeping Prices High as Crude Prices Drop appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Boulder County Fairgrounds will close its free coronavirus testing and vaccination sites this March as demand for both has continued to decrease. • The Boulder County Coroner’s Office is investigating the death of a 48-year-old Caucasian male who was involved in an incident within Eldorado Canyon State Park, in unincorporated Boulder County, on March 3rd. The cause of his death is to be determined. • The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently confirmed that expenditures for foundation removal at homes destroyed by the Marshall Fire are eligible for financial reimbursement through the Private Property Debris Removal (PPDR) program. In addition to foundations, FEMA has included reimbursement eligibility for the removal of structural footings, basements, and burned vehicles remaining on private property. • President Joe Biden has selected D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, making history by picking a Black woman for the Supreme Court. • The Boulder County Coroner’s Office is investigating the death of a 97-year-old Caucasian female who was identified as Mary Staub of Louisville, Colorado. Staub was found in the 1800 block of Plaza Drive. Her cause of death is yet to be determined. • Leroy Garcia has stepped down from his position as leader of the Colorado Senate. Garcia will become special assistant to the assistant secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs within the U.S. Department of Defense at the Pentagon. Steve Fenberg has been elected as his replacement. • President Joe Biden will be sending an additional $800 million in military assistance, making a total of $2 billion in such aid sent to Kyiv since he took office. The administration has not only provided Ukraine with financial aid but also with weapons. These include 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 100 grenade launchers, 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and mortar rounds, and an unspecified number of drones. • The five-member Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) voted unanimously to adopt the new rules on financial assurance, also known as bonding. These rules will take effect in April and are considered “the strongest in the nation.” • The Colorado GOP has launched an investigation into environmental groups that they believe are connected to Russian oligarchs. Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown is calling on Colorado-affiliated environmental groups to divest and donate any Russian contributions that they have received. • Political Action Committees (PAC) are preparing to dump millions of dollars into political campaigns of candidates on both sides of the aisle. PACs such as PDC Energy, Noble Energy, and Seneca Oil and Gas are all individually donating to candidates who they hope will support their agendas. • Colorado oil producers have received approval for nearly 3,000 drilling permits so far this year. Even with all of these approved permits, oil producers have told shareholders that they have no plans to increase oil production and will instead use excess funds to pay off investors.

Small Talk

“If you did not plan for growth, you are not going to be able to achieve growth today. Capital discipline today for oil companies is basically no (production) growth.”

– Occidental Petroleum CEO downplaying the potential growth of oil production

“It’s also time to look into these radical environmental groups who have spent years working to stifle energy independence and demand that they donate and divest any donations they have received from Russia or any Russian-affiliated companies and groups.”

– Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown on the importance of investigating environmental groups

“We’re incredibly sad to see you go but we also understand this is a longtime dream of yours. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be an assistant to an assistant in Virginia? But in all seriousness, President Garcia, we are so proud of you.”

– Steve Fenberg wishing Leroy Garcia good luck on his new position in the U.S. federal government

“We’re going to give Ukraine the arms to fight and defend themselves through all the difficult days ahead.”

– President Joe Biden on Russia’s continuing invasion of Ukraine

“This is the news from FEMA that we were hoping to hear. I cannot thank our partners at FEMA enough for the guidance and financial support they’ve provided. Their contributions to this recovery effort have gone well beyond financial assistance and I’m very happy they’ve been here working alongside all of us since the beginning.”

– Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy on FEMA’s support after the Marshall Fire

By The Numbers

• 98.71 new COVID cases per 100,000 people
• 636 civilians have been killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• 3 people have died in Colorado due to avalanches this season.
• 2947 gas and oil drilling permits have been approved in the state of Colorado.
• 54 complaints have been raised against insurance companies due to “adjuster-handling issues, claim delays and unsatisfactory settlement offers.”

The post Month in Review | March 2022 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In 2009, Colorado Democratic Governor Bill Ritter spoke to a crowd of 2000 people at a three-day conference of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. He was direct about the future of methane in the state: “Natural gas is a vital part of the New Energy Economy. It is a permanent part of the New Energy Economy. It’s not a bridge fuel, not a transition fuel, but a mission-critical fuel.”

With this fusion of state and industry, the widespread destruction of Colorado’s environment was underway. It was engineered primarily by the Colorado Democratic Party, supported by major environmental organizations like the Colorado Environmental Coalition and the Environmental Defense Fund, and delivered Colorado’s shale to the profiteers and CEOs of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.

The New Energy Economy exists today as Colorado’s fossil fuel era 2.0. It’s increasingly deadly to both people and planet and, because Boulder County is the latest offering to the executive class of the carbon age, requires a tremendous degree of political theater to advance. Important members of the Boulder County political class are rising to this task.

The City of Lafayette, for example, is led by six Democratic Party Councilors. They are currently placing the final touches on town drilling guidelines written by longtime Colorado attorney Jeff Robbins, of Goldman, Robbins, Nicholson, & Mack. Robbins, charging Lafayette taxpayers a modest $300/hour, boasts the qualification of having served on Governor Hickenlooper’s infamous 2014 “Oil and Gas Task Force”. Robbins completed identical regulations approved by the Boulder County Commissioners to facilitate large scale fossil fuel extraction [beginning] in 2017. These regulations are routinely represented by politicians as a method to protect public health and the local environment.

This claim is arguably the most misleading and irresponsible falsification by political leadership taking place in Colorado today. The regulations legalize the flaring of cancer causing volatile organic compounds and provide for, “Evacuation routes”, while anticipating, “…well integrity problems; explosions; fires; gas, oil or water pipeline leaks or ruptures; hydrogen sulfide or other toxic gas emissions; or hazardous material vehicle accidents or spills”. They make no consideration of climate change.

After questioning by Lafayette Councilor Merrily Mazza, Robbins revealed that the regulations were submitted to the oil and gas industry for review prior to Council vote. Lafayette Public Information Officer Debbie Wilmont later revealed that no one working in the medical or health care fields was consulted in their writing. This should give some illumination as to the real consideration behind the regulations. They are being moved forward now and will legalize industrial harm to the public, local ecology, and the global climate. Lafayette politicians are playing their loyal role to oil and gas profits.

Industry and government at the city and county are sharply aware of the universal rejection of drilling and have weakened all public attempts to gain control of the oil and gas threat. This has taken on multiple forms but is most easily observed in the Lafayette council’s established record of derailing any attempt to build rights-based legal defense to prohibiting drilling that is considered “extraneous” to the oil and gas industry. They accomplished this in 2014 through a legal maneuver with the Colorado Oil and Gas Association that eliminated public participation in the litigation against the democratically codified ban on fracking. After narrowing the legal battle to defend the local ban, the council guaranteed the measure’s loss. Like all members of the political class they now hide behind superficial legal defeats as a means of environmental crowd control.

Local and state politicians are betting heavily that the people will not notice, remain confused, or will be kept as spectators in this high-stakes game. With greater political sophistication and a widespread distrust of corporate-driven politics, history has regularly demonstrated otherwise. This is the conflict that will define Boulder County for generations to come. Don’t sit this one out.  

The post Legalizing Oil Drilling, Criminalizing Sustainability appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

We Got the Funk

Spruce jewelry is very obviously inspired by the landscape, especially with pieces named Maple and River. You can see it in the irregular, flowing pieces that seem so intricately effortless. We adore these earrings that are both feminine, delicate and funky.

Spruce Jewelry: sprucejewelry.com

Where to buy: Encore, 439 Main St., and Suburban Hill, 2015 Ionosphere St., in Longmont

Foodie Gift Boxes

Cheese: it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Cured, Boulder’s new cheese and unique food shop, is offering gift boxes that include cheese, meats, breads, olive oil, pickles, sweets and more. Baskets range from the “day trip” to the “vacation,” which includes cheese knives and custom-made cheese board. We love the “Colorado road trip” basket with local cheese and cured meats from Il Mondo Vecchio, local pickled beets and Ritual Chocolate, among other items. It’s the perfect gift for the foodie in your life. Prices range from $75 to $250.

Cured: curedboulder.com

Where to buy: Cured, 1825 B Pearl St., Boulder

Festive Gift Tags

A Fobbie sounds like it could be some newfangled toy or a new character on Sesame Street. Really, it’s a concept developed by a Colorado inventor: a gift tag with a patented “slot system” for weaving ribbon through and securing it to your gift. Fobbie simplifies the gift wrapping-process and makes the holidays just a little easier. $1.49 each

Fobbie: fobbie.com

Reusable Bags

It can be tough to find gifts for your favorite environmentalist…You never even thought about presents’ carbon footprints. Well, RuMe  could just be your saving grace. RuMe offers multi-functional, design-driven reusable bags and totes. Not only are they über green but the bags have a sleek style perfect for anyone with eco-tendencies.

RuMe: rumebags.com

Where to buy: McGuckin Hardware, 2525 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder

Pillows and Rugs

Nicole Linton is like many Boulderites: Her business values combine sustainability, cultural diversity  and global awareness. And alpacas. Linton’s é bella uses alpaca fur fibers from Peru to create bold, beautiful rugs and pillows. Abstract patterns and bright colors create a modern aesthetic that seems to bring comfort, warmth and a funky style into
any home.

é bella: ebelladesigns.com

Where to buy: é bella, 2304 Pine St., Boulder (call for studio hours: 303.442.6226); holiday  pop-up store at studio from Nov. 23–Dec. 23

Mod Modules

Everyone needs storage, but there is no need to sacrifice aesthetics for practicality. The bright, modern storage modules from Denver’s Housefish are contemporary beauties that can be stacked or used as a console for your entertainment system. All Housefish furniture is made with sustainably harvested wood in Denver.

Housefish: housefish.com

Where to buy: I Heart Denver, 500 16th St., Denver

Shoes for Kiddos

You often think your kids resemble monkeys, and now, you can make it legit. Created by a CU grad and single mom, Monkey Toes are adorable sneakers and Mary Janes for tots adorned with hand-painted monkeys and other animals.

Monkey Toes: monkey-toes.com

Where to buy: Fruehaufs, 1665 33rd St., Boulder

The post Finding the Eclectic Elements appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Sure, gas prices have already started to fall, and they are expected to drop more throughout the summer. But as drivers watch their vehicles gobble up $60 a refill, the rumors that gas could fall 25 cents a gallon in the next couple of months is like, well, a drop in the barrel. Especially with your vacation days adding up and your Subaru begging you to get out and play.

Colorado has one of the lowest gas prices in the nation as of now. Even if paychecks won’t be ripped in half for road trippers, the price of oil is still around $100 a barrel and hovering around $4 a gallon nationwide.

“People will be watching the family budget closer if gas prices stay high,” said Colorado AAA’s Spokesperson Wavelyn Dreher. “Air travel costs are also going up as airlines add on fuel surcharges.”

Travelers will surely shell out big bucks on state-to-state road trips through the Rocky Mountains—at least it’s less expensive than flying, right?—and even with travel expected to curb if gas prices don’t fall, experts in the industry are optimistic. Even with a potentially bleak outlook, the state of Colorado Tourism’s spokesperson Roland Alonzi sees the clouds clearing.

“Road trips are a big part of Colorado’s identity, and getting there is half the fun,” Alonzi said. “I think people will plan their trips very economically, instead of making huge itineraries.”

But the whole issue does bring back some bad memories. With the recession hitting budgets hard in late 2007, thousands of people sat back and watched as their bonuses and decent paychecks continued to disappear in a large financial cloud of smoke, while the wad of vacation money avoided the sock in the drawer. During the peak of the recession, there were large declines in tourism—we’re talking up to 16 percent—in the mountain states, including Colorado, which continued until 2011.

Lucky for us, Colorado may be one of the best places in the world to vacay for less. Four national parks, 50 state parks and six monuments across the state of Colorado offer tourists ways to stay busy on the road and keep the rainy day fund in the sock drawer. Also, brewery, ice cream and even tea tours are offered at little to no cost, giving families or couples a new, interactive travel dynamic that will likely please everyone involved.

The Rocky Mountain region’s American Automobile Association has reported the top activities for the last five years: Consistently, dining, spending time with family and friends and shopping have been the top three reasons to travel to the mountain states. Still, the alternatives are even more affordable.

“Outdoor experiences are the new thing for vacationers,” Alonzi said. “People won’t be cutting their trips short, but they’ll eat out less and do things that take up a whole day or two.”

Road Trips – And Countless Adventures on the Open Road

• In Search of Rapids
• Southern Exposure
• A Grand Journey
• Jack Dempsey’s Knock-Out Tour
• Into the West
• Northern Lights
• Utah Bound
• Middle America History Tour
• Paying At the Pump

The post Paying At the Pump appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.