Page 8 - John Messner News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

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 of land, and the county was receiving a lot of applications for drilling permits, Corrigan said. Many...

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: Cement must be pumped down into it to block the opening, and the tubes connecting it to tanks or pipeli...

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 whispered. “The stars are amazing.”I stepped out of my tent, let my eyes adjust and followed the soun...