Page 4 - John Messner News Today

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) is scheduled to host a pair of public meetings on the Western Slope next week, including a visit to Glenwood Springs to hear comments about oil and…

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will conduct meetings in Glenwood Springs and Paonia in early November to hear from regions with oil and gas development.

HOW did a gardener’s son from Kelso become one of the most successful blockade runners of the US Civil War – and who was he anyway?

Eric Edwards, right, Tom Vessels and Eugene Vessels, in rear, inspect one of the generators at the Elk Creek mine on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. The generator uses the captured methane gas to create electricity which then goes into the power grid. Miguel Otárola/CPR News and is republished here by permission.  The Elk Creek mine above the town of Somerset may have closed years ago, but methane gas still silently seeps out of its collapsed walls and into the atmosphere. Tom Vessels, a former g...

Eric Edwards, right, Tom Vessels and Eugene Vessels, in rear, inspect one of the generators at the Elk Creek mine on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. The generator uses the captured methane gas to create electricity which then goes into the power grid. The Elk Creek mine above the town of Somerset may have closed years ago, but methane gas still silently seeps out of its collapsed walls and into the atmosphere. Tom Vessels, a former gas executive turned entrepreneur, is on a mission to eliminate that...

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — About a decade ago, Routt County was a popular place to pursue building an oil well. Commissioner Tim Corrigan recalls it was estimated there were as much as a half billion barrels of oil in the county just waiting to be recovered. “My guess is that number was probably exaggerated, but at the time, the developers were really pretty excited about Routt County” Corrigan said. There was a frenzy of activity with a number of larger operations leasing a significant amount o...

As the state tries to reform its relationship to drilling, an expensive task awaits. Image credit: Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images March 11, 2021 From the print edition When an oil or gas well reaches the end of its lifespan, it must be plugged. If it isn’t, the well might leak toxic chemicals into groundwater and spew methane, carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere for years on end. But plugging a well is no simple task: Cem...

By Kim O’Connell | December 21, 2020 Waterside stargazing at Assateague Island National Seashore. Photo by Getty Images The rhythmic trills of the evening cicadas had faded, and I’d just fallen into a deep sleep when I heard the unmistakable sound of a tent flap being unzipped. In the darkness, my teenage son crunched away from our campsite, presumably to answer the call of nature. But when he didn’t come back right away, I sat up and called his name. “Mom, come out here,” he whisp...