Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper speaks with Inside Energy Reporter Dan Boyce about the ongoing fight over local control of oil and gas development and his thoughts on heading off ballot measures to ban fracking with a special session of the state legislature.

Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper on debate over local control of fracking

Hundreds of people gathered across the nation on Tuesday, in four different cities to give the Environmental Protection Agency a piece of their minds. 

The subject: proposed new rules to cut carbon pollution from power plants 30 percent by 2030.

The rules, announced back in June, would be the biggest step taken by the US so far to combat the effects of climate change. 

Public hearings are going on in Washington DC, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and the only hearing in the West-- in Denver. 

Our Inside Energy Reporter Dan Boyce stopped by.


Hundreds Pack EPA Hearings On Proposed Carbon Rules

Inside Energy reporters Jordan Wirfs-Brock and Dan Boyce discuss Jordan's new grid outage database, which details 15 years of blackouts in the U.S.

Jordan and Dan discuss the new IE grid outage database

There are now over half a million oil and gas workers nationwide. And as the industry has grown, so have the number of fatalities. In 2013, 112 oil and gas workers died on the job. Today Inside Energy begins a series of stories we call DARK SIDE OF THE BOOM, using brand new data analysis to look at fatality rates in America’s oil and gas fields. In part 1, Prairie Public’s Emily Guerin explores the history of another hazardous industry: mining.

Dark Side Of The Boom: How Dangerous Is Too Dangerous?

Dark Side Of The Boom: Why Is Wyoming Safer?

How I Say Gigawatt

Americans are continuing to see relief at the pump, as gas prices keep slipping to levels not seen in years.
 
That’s due, in part, to US oil flooding the market, much of it produced through the controversial technique known as fracking.

Over the next few months, our Inside Energy team will be examining the financing behind the country’s energy boom…

In this first story, Reporter Dan Boyce looks into how that financing may impact you, through your investments.  


How You're Invested in Oil and Gas

The Boom: Short Term Gain, Long Term Pain

Meet The Men Who Study Man Camps

State Officials Misrepresent North Dakota's Spill Problem

Low Oil Prices and the Surprisingly Exciting World Of Mineral Auctions

A listing of the greater sage grouse under the endangered species act could deeply affect the industries making up the backbone of the Western economy.

Think agriculture, oil and gas and mining.

So,  nearly a dozen states are working to save the bird from listing and nowhere is more important than Wyoming, where nearly forty percent of the entire sage grouse population lives.

Our Inside Energy Reporter Dan Boyce tells us about an unprecedented collaboration of stakeholders working to protect both industry and sage grouse.

WY Team Working To Save Both Sage Grouse And Industry

In The Bakken Oilfield, An Explosion In Electricity Demand

As a member of the American public, you own coal. Yes, coal. The black rock we burn for electricity. Many of the country’s biggest coal deposits are on federal land- land that belongs to the American public. So, when companies mine that coal, they make payments, called royalties, to the federal government and to the states. Those royalty payments, which many say are far too low, are at the heart of a conflict that pits coal against climate. Inside Energy’s Leigh Paterson reports.

To Mine Or Not To Mine? Is That The Question?

Sand is a key ingredient in hydraulic fracturing, but breathing in too much of it can be deadly.
Many companies in the industry have responded by changing the way they handle frack sand. Reporting for Inside Energy, Anna Boiko-Weyrauch of Rocky Mountain Public Broadcasting explains that the industry is the latest to confront the problems sand can cause for workers.


Silica Poses Health Risk for Oil & Gas Workers, Technology Responds

In south-central Montana, plans are underway to get more coal out of the ground and onto ships headed to Asia. The Crow Tribe of Montana and Cloud Peak Energy of Wyoming are partnering to develop a new coal mine on the reservation and to open a new export terminal in Washington’s Puget Sound. Although coal prices are in decline and a protest movement is growing, the Crow are undeterred. For them, coal equals survival. Amy Martin visited the Crow reservation and has this report.

Why Montana's Crow Tribe Turns To Coal As Others Turn Away

"Running on Empty:" North Dakota's Oilfield Slowdown in 5 Numbers and a Song

PART II: Living On Top Of Forgotten Oil And Gas Wells

Listen to more than 30 years of weekly U.S. coal production, compressed into 3 minutes. This "data sonification" maps coal production to tones - high pitches represent more production, lower pitches represent less production.

Listen to U.S. Weekly Coal Production 1984 to 2016

America’s coal industry is hurting, facing layoffs and bankruptcies. The drop off in coal production over the past year is staggering. But what does it sound like? We've mapped the data to music so you can hear coal production fall off a cliff.

Listen To U.S. Coal Production Fall Off A Cliff

Waste from fracking is often radioactive but there are no federal regulations governing how and where it is dumped. States deal with it with a patchwork of regulations and recommendations. In the Ohio River Valley and the Marcellus region, companies and regulators are struggling to find safe ways to get rid of it. Glynis Board reports from Ohio Valley Resource.

Getting Rid of Drilling's Radioactive Leftovers

Questions over the country’s energy future surfaced in the Presidential debate Sunday night. It was a surprising 5 minutes of actual policy discussion in an otherwise tense debate focused mainly on character assassinations. For Inside Energy, StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Susan Phillips takes a look at how the facts stack up to the candidates comments on energy.

Energy 101 For Presidential Candidates

For weeks this spring, students and teachers at the school in tiny Midwest, Wyoming reported strange smells and headaches. Then, in May, the school shut down after health officials detected dangerous levels of potentially toxic gases. But for months, no one could answer the questions: What were the gases? And how did they get into the school?

What Happened In Midwest? The Mysterious Gas Leak That Shuttered A School

While One Tribe Fights Oil, Another Cautiously Embraces It

Trump Jumps Into Pipeline Fight

President Trump idealizes a traditional view of American life, an America based on industry and lifting up the image of the blue collar working man.

And no working man has been more lauded under this administration than the American coal miner. 

The economics for coal aren’t looking good, between regulations and low prices for natural gas and renewables.

Still, Trump has been trying to fulfill his campaign promise to bring back mining jobs.

Inside Energy’s Dan Boyce recently spent a weekend with a Colorado coal miner, for a perspective on the ground.

Coal Under Trump: One Miner's Perspective

It’s been a busy week for lawmakers in the nation’s capital pushing their bills that fall in line with the Trump Administration’s energy dominance agenda. Congresswoman Liz Cheney is working to make it harder for federal agency’s to unilaterally approve a federal coal leasing ban. Congressman Evan Jenkins is seeking to do away with the Obama-era social cost of carbon calculation. E & E Reporter Dylan Brown walks us through what happened and why it’s important.

Energy Dominance A Theme In D.C.

The American West is known for its wide open spaces.

That can make for some pretty epic road trips -- unless you have an electric vehicle and you’re stuck hours away from a charge….

Sales of E-Vs are climbing and some forecasters predict half of the vehicles sold worldwide will be electric by 2040.

But, in present day, a lack of charging stations is still holding back this transportation revolution.

Inside Energy’s Dan Boyce reports on an agreement between Western states to try and calm so-called “range anxiety.”

Nervous About Electric Vehicle Road Trips? You’re Not Alone

President Trump is set to announce a plan to shrink the boundaries of two national monuments in Utah: Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monument, the latter created by President Obama one year ago this month.  Trump’s action will mark an important milestone in the story of these two red buttes which has become an outsized symbol for a slew of western issues. Inside Energy’s Leigh Paterson reports.

Trump Admin To Shrink Utah Monuments

An increasing number of cities are claiming they will go it alone to meet the emission reduction targets of the Paris Climate Agreement. This comes in the wake of President Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris accord  earlier this year. Just last week, mayors from more than 50 North American cities signed a formal agreement to reduce greenhouse gases in their communities. Inside Energy’s Dan Boyce looks at how they’re doing in trying to reach those goals.

Are Cities Leading The Way On Climate?

President Donald Trump has used the term “clean coal” a lot lately, but what is clean coal? Well, it can mean a lot of different things, depending who you ask. For some, it's history. For others, it's a fantasy. And for still others, it's a necessity. But could it become a reality that helps bring back coal and helps stop climate change? Inside Energy’s Madelyn Beck digs deep.

Clean Coal: Folly or the Future?

Four stories chronicling the growing conflict between oil and gas drilling and suburban development, in the aftermath of an April 2017 natural gas explosion in Firestone, Colorado that resulted in the death of two people. Submitted in the "Continuing Coverage" category for the 2018 RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards.

2017 Continuing Coverage: Firestone Explosion

Tax reform is going to impact renewables, oil and gas, and energy overall in the western U.S. Now that the President has signed the final tax bill into law, what does it mean for western energy? Inside Energy helps unpack.

Tax Reform's Impact On Western Energy

A natural gas boom in the U.S. is changing the power sector in the country. It's credited with bringing down American carbon dioxide emissions more than any other factor. But, one difficult to control component of the natural gas industry threatens to undermine those gains. This audio special from Inside Energy explores the serious and persistent problem of methane leaks.

Invisible Leaks: Where "Clean" Natural Gas Falls Short

Is having oil and gas development nearby bad for your health? In this story, we’re going to dig into what is known and what is unknown about these dangers and why those unknowns still exist, as more and more wells are drilled. We’re going to meet different people with different perspectives, who are all gathering data or studying it. They’re looking for answers and living with unknowns.

Living With Uncertainty- An Inside Energy Podcast Special

Inside Energy was a public media collaboration, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, that produced from 2014-2017. Our audio stories will help inform you of the tensions and tradeoffs in American energy issues. Don’t miss our podcast: http://insideenergy.org/podcast

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