5th lawsuit filed against EPA over 2015 mine waste spill
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A fifth lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over a mine waste spill the agency inadvertently triggered in 2015, polluting rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
The lawsuit was filed Aug. 3 in federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by 295 Navajo farmers and ranchers. Their attorney, Kate Ferlic, said Friday the lawsuit asks for about $75 million.
The suit says the farmers and ranchers lost crops and livestock and had to pay to haul clean water because the spill kept them from using the polluted rivers.
The EPA referred questions to Department of Justice officials, who did not immediately return a phone call.
A judge consolidated the new lawsuit with cases filed previously by the Navajo Nation, New Mexico, Utah and a dozen New Mexico residents. Those suits seek a total of $2.3 billion.
In a meeting Colorado GOP chair Brita Horn calls ‘illegal,’ Republicans vote to demand her resignation
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 38 seconds ago
Roughly half the membership of the Colorado Republican Party’s state central committee on Saturday voted overwhelmingly to approve a resolution expressing “no confidence” in state GOP Chairman Brita Horn’s leadership and calling for her immediate resignation in an online meeting...
Colorado Medicaid probe uncovers millions of dollars in alleged transport fraud ring
Nico Brambila
nico.brambila@denvergazette.com
Updated 1 hour ago
Colorado Medicaid officials detected $25 million in abnormal billing over just four months two years ago — a surge that prompted a new state law and the suspension of dozens of providers in what authorities now describe as an organized...
One small step for dialing back the partisanship | SONDERMANN
Eric Sondermann
eric-sondermann@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
Much ink, including a good deal of my own, has been spilled on the excesses of super-charged, toxic partisanship in this current era. Except for true believers along with those who profit from this all-consuming poison, there is broad agreement...
Greeley voters to decide fate of project that includes minor league hockey arena
Hap Fry, Special to The Gazette
hap-fry@gazette.com
Updated 2 hours ago
GREELEY • The fate of the Cascadia development — and quite possibly the future direction of the city — is in the hands of Greeley voters this Tuesday during a special city election on whether the landscape-altering project should be...
Colorado Politics Calendar Feb. 23-Mar. 1
Rachael Wright, Special to Colorado Politics
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 3 days ago
CoPo’s weekly political calendar helps you find political and public policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances,...
Meeker rancher leads one of Colorado’s earliest attempts to transfer federal lands | A LOOK BACK
Rachael Wright, Special to Colorado Politics
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: Former state Rep. Nick Theos, R-Meeker, was one of several people testifying before the Senate Agriculture Committee on Senate Bill 81-170, which would transfer ownership of public lands from the federal government to state control....
Democrats Michael Bennet, Phil Weiser make their cases to be Colorado’s next governor ahead of primary
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
Nearly eight months before ballots will be counted in Colorado’s race for the its open gubernatorial seat, voters are lining up behind two of the state’s leading Democrats, who are facing off in a primary that will likely determine which...
Colorado GOP officers set competing meetings to hold ‘no-confidence’ votes on state chair Brita Horn
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 18 hours ago
Once again, members of the Colorado Republican Party’s central committee have scheduled separate, competing meetings to consider whether the state GOP’s governing body supports its chair, but this time neither meeting will be held under a bridge. State GOP Chair...
Colorado Democratic candidate submitted 1,600 signatures — only 29 were valid
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 1 day ago
When he turned in some 1,600 signatures last month, Eric Nelson said it demonstrated “strong grassroots support from voters” across the district and a “growing momentum” for his “inclusive, community-centered leadership.” On Thursday, the Secretary of State rejected Nelson’s petition...
Colorado bill disqualifies former ICE agents from getting job in local law enforcement | Bills in Brief
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 23 hours ago
Colorado lawmakers introduce hundreds of bills each year. Bills in brief cuts through the noise by explaining which proposals matter, what’s at stake, and how decisions at the Capitol could affect everyday life across the state. Colorado legislators are pushing legislation to...
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Club 20 won't allow lieutenant governor Lynne to debate for Jared Polis
Club 20, the venerable Western Slope coalition of government and business leaders, said Friday that Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne won’t be allowed to stand in for Democratic nominee Jared Polis in next month’s political debate in Grand Junction. When Polis announced which debates he would accept last week, Club 20 didn’t make the cut. Instead, […]
Bank of the West's environmental stand faces blowback
Bank of the West’s decision to divest from certain fossil fuel investments has run headlong into threats of retaliation in states that get much of their revenue from coal, oil and natural gas extraction. The San Francisco-based bank recently made it known that it would be “investing where we feel we can make the most […]