When North Faces start melting, and Aspens start dying, it gets the attention of two CEOs from namesake companies. Today, the CEOs of The North Face and Aspen Skiing Company weigh in on the urgency of climate policy action. Here's a piece of the essay, followed by a link to the full text on High Country News:

As CEOs of two of the most widely known consumer brands in the outdoor recreation market -- Aspen Skiing Company and The North Face -- it gets our attention when our companies' namesakes start to vanish before our eyes. Although we operate different businesses, we share concern about the impact of climate change on our companies, the economy, the environment and our customers. We also agree that now is the time for dramatic action by Congress to curb greenhouse gas emissions, stimulate investment in renewable energy sources and clean technology, and encourage energy efficiency."

Read the rest of the essay here.

Related Links:

Kids just say no—to fossil fuels

A surprising sneak peek at the clothesline revolution

It’s Getting Ha! in Here: Maria Bamford

Michael BennetSen. Michael Bennet sent this letter to Grist reader Matthew Ott in October, responding to questions about the senator’s stance on climate legislation. Bennet calls the House climate bill, which passed in June, “a significant step in the right direction,” and he sounds generally positive about the Kerry-Boxer climate bill that’s now being considered in the Senate.

Dear Matthew:

Thank you for contacting me regarding comprehensive energy and climate change legislation in the 111th Congress. I appreciate hearing from you.

The nation has come a long way in pursuing a consensus on energy policy and climate change, and it is clear that this is a pivotal moment if we are to make lasting progress. Now is the time for lawmakers to make the difficult decisions on policies that will tackle the rise in greenhouse gases, stimulate the economy, and help lead America to energy independence. Congress and the Obama Administration are both working to curb harmful emissions, and we are closer than ever to implementing policies to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The House of Representatives’ passage of H.R.2454 is a significant step in the right direction. The bill includes the implementation of a market-based cap-and-trade program that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by requiring polluters to trade pollution allowances; a renewable electricity standard (RES), which requires electricity providers to produce 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by the year 2020; significant provisions for energy efficiency in the transportation, home, and commercial sectors; and modernization of our outdated electricity grid. H.R.2454 also contains important provisions for intergovernmental cooperation on climate research, promotes renewable energy technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration, and includes a title that protects U.S. consumers and industry and promotes green jobs during the transition to a clean energy economy.

In the Senate, S.1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, introduced by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Senator Barbara Boxer of California, seeks to build upon the progress of the House bill, and includes even greater standards for CO2 reduction. S.1733 has been referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee. For more information on the progress of this bill, I suggest visiting the EPW website at http://epw.senate.gov.

Track the climate debate and take actionI value the input of fellow Coloradans in considering the wide variety of legislation that comes before the Senate each year. Although I am not a member of the Senate EPW Committee, I will keep your concerns in mind as the Senate considers climate change legislation.

For more information about my priorities as a U.S. Senator, I invite you to visit my website at http://bennet.senate.gov/. Again, thank you for contacting me.

Do you know what your senators think about climate legislation?  Ask them, then tell us what you find out.

Related Links:

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

What to make of the new climate poll

Obama administration officials grateful for early spring

Mark UdallSen. Mark Udall is considered a likely “yes” vote for a climate bill in the Senate, though he wants to see more support for nuclear power and natural gas.

In this letter to Grist reader Matthew Ott in Colorado, Udall doesn’t mention climate legislation specifically, but he calls for a strong renewable energy standard.  He also touts his support for development of carbon-capture-and-storage technology for coal-fired power plants.

Dear Matthew,

Thank you for contacting me about renewable energy. I appreciate your taking the time to share your specific thoughts about this subject.

I strongly support reducing our country’s dependence on fossil fuels, and I support steps toward greater use of renewable energy sources. Renewable energy technologies stimulate the private sector, add jobs, reduce our reliance on imported oil, and have a positive impact on air and water quality. Several years ago, in Colorado, I worked with then-Speaker of the House Lola Spradley, a Republican, to support passage of Amendment 37, which established a renewable electricity production standard (RES) requiring that utilities produce a certain amount of renewable energy. That amendment was so popular that Governor Bill Ritter and the Colorado legislature increased the RES to require that 20 percent of the state’s electricity be produced by renewable energy resources by 2020.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, I worked to promote renewable energy technology and investment while serving as co-chair of the 217-member Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus. I have also been a strong supporter of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and other critical tax incentives that allow Coloradans to benefit from renewable energy advances.  Moreover, I believe that we must work to produce all energy in a more environmentally-friendly way. That is why I support development of carbon capture and storage technology for coal-fired power plants and authored a provision in the 2007 energy bill which promoted research into this technology.

Increasing our renewable energy use will not solve all of our country’s energy problems, but in Colorado with the sun in the San Luis Valley, the wind on the Eastern Plains, and the brain power at our top-notch universities, we are positioned to be the national leader on this important front. I recently co-sponsored a bill on the RES, S. 433, which would require the nation’s utilities to draw 25  percent of their power from renewable sources by 2025. As a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I worked with the bipartisan committee to draft a comprehensive energy bill that the Senate will hopefully vote on later this year. The bill that passed out of the Committee was not as strong as I would have like, especially with regards to the RES, but I believe it is a step in the right direction and will continue to work to strengthen the legislation when it comes to the Senate floor.

This is an important moment for our country. We are poised to reclaim our role as the world leader in addressing the problem of global warming and promoting renewable energy, while working to boost our economy.

Track the climate debate and take actionI will continue to listen closely to what you and other Coloradans have to say about matters before Congress, the concerns of our communities, and the issues facing Colorado and the nation.  My job is not about merely supporting or opposing legislation; it is also about bridging the divide that has paralyzed our nation’s politics.  For more information about my positions and to learn how my office can assist you, please visit my website at www.markudall.senate.gov.

Do you know what your senators think about climate legislation?  Ask them, then tell us what you find out.

Related Links:

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

What to make of the new climate poll

Obama administration officials grateful for early spring

This story was written by ProPublica's Abrahm Lustgarten.

Timothy Wirth.They were tough words for the natural gas industry to hear. In a blunt speech before the Colorado Oil and Gas Association last week, Timothy Wirth, a former Colorado Democratic senator and Under Secretary of State for global affairs in the Clinton administration, warned industry leaders that they need to pay attention to the environmental and climate concerns that are shaping national policy, or risk being left behind.

Wirth took the industry to task for not engaging in the climate legislation being debated in Congress -- a bill he said every other energy industry was deeply involved in -- and for fighting the changes taking place in energy policy rather than participating and seeking fresh opportunities.

Wirth, who today is president of Ted Turner's United Nations Foundation, is no enemy of the oil and gas industry. He described clean-burning natural gas as the single most important component of a new energy supply chain that can help cut greenhouse gas emissions, and he said the use of the nation's bountiful natural gas reserves is essential to curbing climate change. But he also said the industry is preoccupied with the wrong priorities and is off message.

"The time has come for the natural gas industry to get organized, take the gloves off, and get thoroughly engaged in helping our country advance rapidly toward a low-carbon economy," Wirth said.

In his speech he offered some advice: The industry should identify its key priorities, work to get its regulatory house in order and recognize the big picture rather than complain about details in legislation like the climate bill.

"What are the options?" he asked the industry executives in a question and answer session after his speech. "You can stay where you are today. ... Your industry is going to continue to wallow. That's your own choice."

Read the text of the speech [PDF], or watch it.

Reprinted courtesy of ProPublica.

Related Links:

What Do Coal and Dirty Dorm Rooms Have in Common?

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Obama going to Copenhagen

In a small community near a broad expanse of valley floor known as the West End, there's a certain glow in the air. It's the glow of progress, the glow of prosperity ... and the glow of the uranium miners coming home from work?

The Paradox Valley in southwestern Colorado.Courtesy U.S. Geological SurveyProbably not; we all know radiation doesn't actually make someone glow. However, the people of Paradox Valley in western Colorado may soon have a unique opportunity to rediscover exactly what impact uranium mining and refining can have.

Energy Fuel Resources Corp (EFR), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toronto-based Energy Fuels, has a proposal on the table that, if passed, will allow the first uranium/vanadium refinery to be built on U.S. soil in 25 years. Residents of the area are up in arms and have begun a petition which they hope will stop the proposal dead. Time is short; the final public meeting is scheduled for June 10, 2009, which gives them just one day to get enough signatures. You can sign the petition here.

So what exactly do uranium/vanadium mills produce? Similar to oil refineries, they take raw uranium/vanadium ore and turn it into enriched uranium that can be used in nuclear plants, the medical field, nuclear weapons, and a wide variety of other applications.

Unfortunately, uranium mills and mining also produce millions of tons of radioactive waste, called "tailings," that are stored in giant pits lined with multiple layers of plastic (called "cells") and then buried with more dirt or clay (called the "cap"). Radioactive dust from the tailings -- radon -- is released through the cap to disperse in the air. The sites are continuously monitored to ensure that the radon diffuses sufficiently so that it doesn't harm the nearest full-time inhabitants. These radioactive remains pose a threat to people, animals, and agriculture through air and water-borne contaminants. (More information on uranium mining impacts in the area is online here.)

Because the site is on private land (privately owned by the company building the mill), the only other agency besides the county that will regulate the mill operations will be the Colorado Department of Health and the Environment. No federal oversight or environmental impact statement will be required (Telluride Daily Planet, May 30, 2009).

Even more interesting than the proposed uranium mill are all of the old and new uranium mining sites to which EFR has purchased the rights. In the near term, the company plans to reopen two mine sites in Colorado (both a few miles from a brand-new resort and spa in Gateway) and one nearby in Utah. In addition, ERF has obtained the rights to explore 16 other sites in Colorado and Utah, and controls more than 200 other sites on 1,120 acres in northern Arizona. All of these locations are technically close enough to the proposed mill site for truck delivery of raw uranium/vanadium ore.

Of course, not everyone is against the proposal. It will create 85 full-time jobs in a relatively low-income area with fewer than 2,000 residents. Not only that, developing new mines and reopening old ones in Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico could potentially create a uranium-mining boom the likes of which haven't been seen since the bountiful days of Cold War bomb making. EFR estimates that at least 200 more full-time positions could open in Colorado alone as these mines expand production.

The inhabitants of the area are familiar with the impact of uranium mining. This area was one of the uranium meccas of the Southwest for decades; in fact the federal government just finished a Superfund uranium clean-up project at the now-abandoned town of Uravan, a nearby uranium boom-town started in the 1920s. The Superfund project took 22 years to complete, starting in 1986 and closing in September of 2008. The total cost of the clean-up effort was $127 million, with an additional $750,000 assigned to fund long-term surveillance of the site. (More information on the Superfund project is online here.)

Historically, uranium miners in towns such as Nucla and Naturita died from lung cancer at five times the number expected in a similar-sized group of American men, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the New Mexico Tumor Registry (Durango Telegraph, Jan. 17, 2008). In Montrose County, where Uravan lies, cancer rates happen to be some of the highest in the state (National Cancer Institute, 2001-2005 averages). However, as former Nucla mayor Roxy Allex said, "People need to make a living, and the bottom line is you can't be picky about what you do when your family's food on the table is the big issue."

Related Links:

Ask Umbra on trash, toxics, and tots

Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change

One doctor’s quest to sound the alarm on ‘wind turbine syndrome’

Fighting for the Waxman-Markey climate bill may be sexy and hip (and worthwhile), but here in the Roaring Fork and Vail Valleys of Colorado, without much fanfare, we are engaged in some trench fighting to solve climate change.

A view from one of the ski lifts at Vail in Colorado.Courtesy Pravin8 via FlickrThe battle: trying to elect progressive board members to the rural coop (Holy Cross Energy) that supplies power to  the heart of ski country and and two of the largest, and most high profile, ski resorts in the United Sstates -- Aspen and Vail. It's a tough fight because nobody knows about it. Yet the stakes are huge: climate change threatens this major part of colorado's economy, and the utility has bought into a big chunk of yesterday in the Comache 3 coal plant.  

Meanwhile, Holy Cross' board president recently said that "civilizations have historically thrived in warmer periods as opposed to ice ages." (Perhaps, but it's not clear that Holy Cross's two largest customers, both ski areas, or the thousands of employees that work there, would concur...). Never mind climate change, that coal fired power is going to get pretty pricey very soon. 

The fight goes on mostly behind the scences because utility politics has never really grabbed the public's fancy. (It doesn't help that Holy Cross failed to mention the board election or the opportunity to run for a seat in its newsletter to customers. And then there's the fact that the coop sends out rebate checks DURING the election period, an act that almost certainly favors the incumbents.

Nonetheless, the fight--for democracy and climate stability--goes on, and if you want more details, check out this recent article from the Colorado Independent: Ski-country electric co-op prez hit for anti-Ice Age, pro-coal rhetoric.

Related Links:

Treat energy efficiency like a utility

The North Face, Aspen, and climate policy

Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)

Related Links:

Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change

Global boiling declares war on Thanksgiving

The North Face, Aspen, and climate policy

Related Links:

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Obama going to Copenhagen

‘Copenhagen Diagnosis’ offers a grim update to the IPCC’s climate science

The Bush administration on Monday cleared the way for tens of thousands of acres in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to be used for oil-shale development, publishing final rules governing how federal land will be leased for extraction of the expensive, pollute-y, only recently un-banned fuel source. Companies tapping into oil shale will have to pay far less in royalties than the going rate for conventional gas and oil. Still, commercial oil-shale leasing is at least five to 10 years off.

Related Links:

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Obama going to Copenhagen

‘Copenhagen Diagnosis’ offers a grim update to the IPCC’s climate science

Enviros are psyched to see two Udalls heading to the Senate: Mark Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico. The two cousins, both big boosters of clean energy and conservation, were heavily backed by green groups.

Related Links:

Inhofe to Boxer: “We Won, You Lost, Now Get a Life!”

Merkley wants Senate jobs bill to help finance building efficiency retrofits

Reflecting on the lameness of my profession

Related Links:

Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change

The North Face, Aspen, and climate policy

Cash for Clunkers brought us ... more clunkers!

Related Links:

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Obama going to Copenhagen

‘Copenhagen Diagnosis’ offers a grim update to the IPCC’s climate science

Related Links:

The North Face, Aspen, and climate policy

It’s Getting Ha! in Here: Maria Bamford

Gore on the Daily Show: extended dance remix

Related Links:

Making buildings more efficient: rationalizing retrofit markets

Making buildings more efficient: looking beyond price

Merkley wants Senate jobs bill to help finance building efficiency retrofits

Related Links:

The North Face, Aspen, and climate policy

Ask Umbra on her hotness, corporate gift baskets, and more

Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)

Related Links:

Inhofe to Boxer: “We Won, You Lost, Now Get a Life!”

Merkley wants Senate jobs bill to help finance building efficiency retrofits

Reflecting on the lameness of my profession

Related Links:

Inhofe to Boxer: “We Won, You Lost, Now Get a Life!”

Merkley wants Senate jobs bill to help finance building efficiency retrofits

Reflecting on the lameness of my profession

John McCain stirred up a tizzy last week with a comment about a Colorado River compact that allocates water among seven Western states. The compact "needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties," McCain told Colorado's Pueblo Chieftain. "I think that there's a movement amongst the governors to try, if not, quote, renegotiate, certainly adjust to the new realities of high growth, of greater demands on a scarcer resource." Coloradans on both sides of the aisle objected, taking McCain to mean that he favors diverting water away from upper basin states, including Colorado, to give to lower basin states, including McCain's home state of Arizona. They also pointed out the contract was just renegotiated in December. McCain said this week that his comment was "mistakenly construed as a call to rescind" the compact. Colorado Democrats, however, remain unimpressed. "The word 'renegotiate' does not have double meaning," says Gov. Bill Ritter, adding that McCain's statement "just showed to me either a naïveté or even a hostility toward water usage in Colorado."

Related Links:

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Obama going to Copenhagen

For McCain, it’s really all about the fake snow

Related Links:

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Obama going to Copenhagen

‘Copenhagen Diagnosis’ offers a grim update to the IPCC’s climate science

Toxic chemicals pumped underground to break up seams of rock and increase oil and gas production have a fun nickname: fracking fluids, short for fracturing. (Go on, say it: frack!) But the fun stops there. Fracking fluids go largely unregulated, despite millions of gallons of use and hundreds of reported spills each year. Thanks to proprietary trade laws, energy companies don't have to disclose the ingredients of the chemical mix they pump into the earth, but the U.S. EPA nonetheless says fracking fluids are safe for the environment and groundwater. In a recent incident in Colorado, emergency-room worker Cathy Behr was diagnosed with chemical poisoning after treating a man who had been caught in a fracking-fluid spill that was never officially reported. "I always thought that the industry probably took chances," says Behr. "But I always thought someone was watching them." Colorado issued its first regulations for fracking fluid this week, applauded by environmentalists and opposed by industry.

Related Links:

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Obama going to Copenhagen

‘Copenhagen Diagnosis’ offers a grim update to the IPCC’s climate science