Colorado News Updates

The Colorado Department of Transportation is planning to acquire a parcel of land in Denver that could create opportunities for infrastructure improvements.

Faced with more people driving Colorado’s increasingly clogged roads and fouling air that’s flunking federal standards, state health officials this week embraced an alternative vision — that hundreds of thousands of drivers soon, if given options, will shift to zippier electric vehicles that don’t pollute and roll 300 miles on a charge.

Colorado’s Legislature passed a sweeping overhaul of the state’s oil and natural gas laws, giving local governments more power to regulate drilling in one of the nation’s top crude-producing regions.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a bill that will open interstate trucking opportunities to people between the ages of 18 and 21 — as soon as federal law allows such activity.

Tighter rules on Colorado oil and gas development struck out at the ballot box in November and at the state Supreme Court in January. Now, Democrats, who control the Legislature, plan to introduce a sweeping bill to redefine the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission’s mission to emphasize public health and safety.

Colorado moved to boost electric-car sales by taking the first step toward adopting a zero-emission-vehicle mandate patterned after one in California that’s under threat from the Trump administration.

With its 180-degree bends, 7% grades, dangerous drop-offs and strong wind gusts, the hazardous material truck drivers hauling heavy petroleum loads who make the 9.5-mile journey though Colorado’s Loveland Pass call the drive a “white-knuckle experience.”

Although the Colorado Motor Carriers Association is publicly neutral on Propositions 109 and 110, Vice President Patti Gillette acknowledges that the projects recommended would ease congestion and improve safety.

On Nov. 6, voters may spoil BP’s welcome. That’s when it will be decided whether to limit drilling in an initiative that some say could cut the state’s oil output by more than half. The vote is being closely watched, not only by companies keen to join the Colorado boom but also by outsiders who see a potential blueprint for blocking development.

The “Fix Our Damn Roads” proposal to sell $3.5 billion in bonds to finance state road and bridge projects has made the ballot, Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced Aug. 22.