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The Rule 211 gamble: How two towns used Colorado law to effectively shut down an oil company’s core assets
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

The Rule 211 gamble: How two towns used Colorado law to effectively shut down an oil company’s core assets

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Buried wells, sworn affidavits and a state determined to make an example. This is the opening chapter of a three-part series on one oil and gas company’s final stand—and what the documents and data actually reveal. Start with the towns. Stay for the verdict. Start with the towns. Stay for the verdict. In September 2024, the cities of Dacono and Frederick uploaded a PDF to the Energy and Carbon Management Commission’s (ECMC) filing system. It was short, simple—and explosive. The two municipalities weren’t asking for a cleanup, a fine or a negotiated fix. They were asking the state to order the permanent plugging and abandonment of 45 wells operated by K.P. Kauffman Company (KPK). Their argument relied on Rule 211, a provision historically u...
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O’Donnell: Colorado’s new wildlife commission will conserve everything—except common sense
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

O’Donnell: Colorado’s new wildlife commission will conserve everything—except common sense

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Democratic Party swept to power in Colorado in the 2018 general election (the first time since 1936) under the guise of being a progressive party with the best interests of all Coloradans at heart. When they assumed office they embraced, en masse, the philosophy of the RadicalxChange movement, which—depending on your level of cynicism—shares some unsettling parallels with those catchy World Economic Forum slogans about how we’ll all “own nothing and be happy” by 2030. (No, that line’s not in the RadicalxChange handbook, but the vibe isn’t far off.) The movement also espouses adopting a “more democratic” concept for elections known as quadratic voting. Colorado was THE first test case for quadratic voting EVER in the...
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Ganahl: Trump’s new MABA commission puts conservation back in the hands of the people
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Ganahl: Trump’s new MABA commission puts conservation back in the hands of the people

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice While most folks were watching fireworks, President Trump was signing something far more lasting—an Executive Order that could reshape how we care for the land we love. It’s the kind of bold step we need to bring common sense back to how we manage the wild, wide-open spaces that make this country worth fighting for. The creation of the Make America Beautiful Again (MABA) Commission is about more than pretty trails and national parks. It’s about restoring common sense and local control in how we care for the land we love. As a board member of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC), I’ve long pushed for this kind of approach—where conservation doesn’t mean locking up our lands, but opening them to responsible use, careful steward...
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Rep. Suckla: The Dolores NCA and GORP aren’t collaborative acts—they’re a legislative ambush
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Rep. Suckla: The Dolores NCA and GORP aren’t collaborative acts—they’re a legislative ambush

By Larry Don Suckla | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I’ve spent most of my life in the saddle. I was born and raised in Southwest Colorado. I’ve worked the land, ranched cattle, and served my neighbors as both a County Commissioner and now your elected representative in the Colorado State House. My family owns one of the largest ranches in the region, tens of thousands of acres built by my grandfather and worked by my father before me. Today, I still help run that ranch with my own children. It sits squarely inside the proposed boundaries of the Dolores River National Conservation Area. And nobody from the federal government or Senator Hickenlooper or Senator Bennet’s office ever asked us a single thing about it. Not one phone call. Not one visit. Not even a letter. The...
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