RSS Feed
Author Archive
How Many Climate Change Refugees Should America Let In?
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on November 27th, 2015
EcoWatch: The United Nations estimates that climate change will create 200 million migrants and refugees throughout the world. How many climate change refugees should America let in?
A vote in the U.S. House of Representatives last week created a firestorm of controversy about how many refugees from Syria should be allowed in the U.S. The House vote, which would further restrict Syrians from entering America, received support from nearly all the Republicans and 47 Democrats, including my Colorado Democratic...
Posted in 
Colorado Supreme Court to Make Historic Ruling on Fracking Bans
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on September 24th, 2015
EcoWatch: Tensions are rising to a crescendo across Colorado as the Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to hear the extremely controversial issue of whether fracking bans and long-term moratoriums are allowed in the state. Back in 2012 and 2013, five Colorado cities—Boulder, Broomfield, Lafayette, Longmont and Fort Collins—all enacted long-term moratoriums or bans. Boulder County also enacted a long-term moratorium. So far: The City of Boulder’s long-term moratorium was not challenged and remains intact....
4 Ways to Beat the California Drought and Save the Colorado River
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on April 21st, 2015
EcoWatch: The epic drought in California is beatable and we can save the Colorado River. All of Southern California—including the massive farm fields in Imperial County, the grapes and golf courses in the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs, and every person from Los Angeles to San Diego—gets most of its water from the Colorado River. The very same drought that has hammered southern California is almost as bad across the entire Southwest U.S.—including in the mountains of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado which are...
Stop the War Against the Colorado River
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on January 14th, 2015
EcoWatch: “Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
As we head into 2015, the health of Colorado River is at extreme risk as is the economies of states in the lower part of the river in Arizona, Nevada and California that depend on flows in the river. Drought continues in the Southwest U.S., climate change is predicted to decrease river flows an additional 10 to 30 percent, and the level of Lake Mead—the reservoir that holds water for much of Nevada,...
Drought Drains Lake Mead to Lowest Level as Nevada Senator Calls for Govt Audit
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on July 9th, 2014
EcoWatch: As the largest reservoir in the U.S. falls to its lowest water level in history, Nevada State Sen. Tick Segerblom introduced a bill title and issued a press release on July 8 calling for an “independent scientific and economic audit of the Bureau of Reclamation’s strategies for Colorado River management.”
Sen. Segerblom’s position represents the growing political impatience with the current management system for the river. He takes hard aim at the Bureau of Reclamation as being responsible for...
Are People Living Near Fracking Sites Getting Sick?
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on April 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: On April 11,Colorado State Rep. Joann Ginal`s (D-Fort Collins) House Bill 1275 was heard, and died, in committee in the Colorado State Legislature. Rep Ginal`s bill asked and proposed to answer a very honest and simple question, "Are people living near oil and gas drilling and fracking getting sicker than people who don`t?" And, the bill would have provided that information to the public in a short timeframe.
Clean Water Action has a door-to-door campaign in the Denver metro area and across the...
Hickenlooper Not the Only Government Official Trying to Frack Colorado
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on March 10th, 2013
EcoWatch: Over the past few weeks, Colorado`s Governor John Hickenlooper has gotten a lot of negative attention. First, for telling a U.S. Senate committee that he drank Halliburton`s frack fluid and second, for threatening to sue the City of Fort Collins for its ban on fracking.
But Hickenlooper isn`t the only government official trying to frack Colorado.
Helen Hankins, who directs the Colorado office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has also been in the very-uncomfortable glare of public...
Colorado’s Bully Governor Says He Will Sue Fort Collins to Overturn Fracking Ban
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on February 27th, 2013
EcoWatch: Governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper says he will direct the State of Colorado to sue Fort Collins to overturn its fracking ban.
In a precedent setting vote, last week the Fort Collins City Council voted to ban fracking in Fort Collins city limits. The very next morning, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association--the industry trade group representing oil and gas companies--issued a statement saying they would sue Fort Collins to overturn the ban. Now seven days later in a televised interview, the...
Fort Collins Bans Fracking as Democracy Comes Alive in Colorado
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on February 20th, 2013
EcoWatch: “If you don’t fight for what you want, you deserve what you get.” --Van Jones
Almost exactly nine months ago on May 22, 2012, I wrote an editorial in the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper, Fort Colllins Should Ban Fracking. And yesterday, on Feb. 19, a sharply divided Fort Collins City Council voted 5-2 to ban fracking in the City of Fort Collins.
Nine months ago the conversation around fracking was relatively new in Colorado and few people and environmental groups were directly addressing...