Earth Protect Blog

U.S. lags behind China, Europe; Colorado among states where electric car sales rising quickly By Judith Kohler This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Based on quicker-than-expected moves to electric vehicles, a leading provider of data and analytics to the energy industry predicts that electric cars and light-du...

  By Edith M. Lederer The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS>> A report issued on the eve of the first major U.N. conference on water in more than 45 years says 26% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe drinking water and 46% lacks access to basic sanitation. The U.N. Wor...

  By Bruce Finley This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Colorado’s mountain snowpack heading into spring on Wednesday measured at 136% of the 30-year norm — an indicator that water supplies could swell depending on the overall drought, soil moisture, melting rates and future precipitation. “The snowpack h...

COMMERCE CITY City rules don’t allow residents to tear out turf from grass strip between sidewalk, road By John Aguilar This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. COMMERCE CITY>> Derek Rinehart wants to disrupt the cohesion in his neighborhood — and he wants to save hundreds of gallons of water doing it. Bu...

State opts for veto power on spent nuclear fuel ALBUQUERQUE>> New Mexico’s governor has signed legislation aimed at keeping spent nuclear fuel produced by commercial U.S. nuclear power plants from being shipped to the state, just hours after the measure cleared its final legislative hurdle. ...

DENVER ELECTION How the next mayor and council can protect the environment By Conrad Swanson Denver boasts one of the country’s fastest-growing economies and expects to add tens of thousands of residents by the end of the decade. But the city’s rapid and continued expansion comes at a co...

By Tara Copp The Associated Press WASHINGTON>> A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick. The data had long been sought by retired military aviat...

BERLIN>> Governments gave their blessing on Sunday to a major new U.N. report on climate change, after approval was held up by a battle between rich and developing countries over emissions targets and financial aid to vulnerable nations. The report by hundreds of the world’s top scientists wa...

By Michael Phillis and Amancai Biraben The Associated Press Minnesota regulators knew four months ago that radioactive waste had leaked from a nuclear power plant in Monticello — but they didn’t announce anything about the leak until last week. The delay in notifying the public about the November...

  The Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE>> Record snowfall and rain have helped to loosen drought’s grip on parts of the West as national forecasters and climate experts warned Thursday that some areas should expect more flooding as the snow begins to melt. The winter precipitation wiped out...

“Ambitious” policy targets nitrogen oxide leakage to meet federal standards “Ambitious” policy targets nitrogen oxide leakage to meet federal standards By Judith Kohler This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The state’s oil and gas industry will face new rules cracking down on emissions as the state battles to b...

  By Jane Margolies The New York Times Spying an empty spot in a parking lot, a driver flicks on the turn signal and steers the car into the space. This little maneuver happens so often across the country that it’s done almost without a second thought. But now, the humble parking spot is su...

By Lisa Friedman The New York Times WASHINGTON>> In one of its most consequential climate decisions, the Biden administration is planning to greenlight an enormous $8 billion oil drilling project in the North Slope of Alaska, according to two people familiar with the decision. Alaska lawmak...

LIVING SHORELINES” By Wayne Parry The Associated Press NEPTUNE, N.J.>> Coastal communities around the world are adding a tropical twist to shoreline protection, courtesy of the humble coconut. From the sands of the Jersey Shore to the islands of Indonesia, strands of coconut husk, known as...

By Gabe Stern The Associated Press CARSON CITY, Nev.>> Nevada lawmakers are considering a remarkable shift in allowing the water agency that manages the Colorado River supply for Las Vegas to limit single-family residential use in the desert city and surrounding county. It’s another potenti...

Select committee looking for ways to protect customers from skyrocketing rates By Judith Kohler This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. As Colorado legislators and officials from the state’s regulated utilities sorted through ways to avoid a repeat of this winter’s huge increases in heating bills, one lawmaker as...

By Nic Coury and Stefanie Dazio The Associated Press WATSONVILLE, Calif.>> A Northern California agricultural community famous for its strawberry crop was forced to evacuate early Saturday after the Pajaro River’s levee was breached by flooding from a new atmospheric river that pummeled the ...

WILDLIFE Pythons, invasive and hungry, are making their way north in Florida By Patricia Mazzei The New York Times MIAMI>> So much for all the efforts to slow the proliferation of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades over the last two decades, including with paid contractors, trained ...

Water sources across state contain potentially hazardous levels of toxins under new plan By Conrad Swanson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Dozens of water sources across Colorado previously thought to be safe would now violate the federal maximum contaminant level for PFAS, or toxic “forever chemicals,” ...

The virus has claimed geese, ducks, even 2 Chilean flamingos, data shows By Conrad Swanson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The highly pathogenic avian influenza — or bird flu — sweeping across the globe has killed more than 12,000 wild birds in Colorado, and the virus is jumping into mammal populations a...