The Environmental Protection Agency asked nine natural gas companies Thursday to voluntarily disclose the chemical components used in a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing.

It was a Monday morning in April 2009 when four ranchers from Southwest Colorado finally got the state Legislature's attention. They already had won a case in Durango water court that - if the state Supreme Court upheld it - could force every gas and oil well in Colorado to get a water permit. A few lawmakers, like former Sen.

Jim Fitzgerald, sees the ghosts in the ancient water channels that filter down his land from the slopes of the HD Mountains. He sees the spirits of past people in 1,200 year-old pit houses, or a century-old arroyo cut by the first cattle ranchers in the region. Jim and his wife, Theresa, live off the grid on the slopes of the mountains southeast of Bayfield.

The environmental law firm Earthjustice Tuesday challenged a May court ruling in favor of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management that would allow dozens of natural gas wells in the HD Mountains between Durango and Pagosa Springs in Southwest Colorado.

Colorado Democrat Diana DeGette withdrew a proposed amendment today from House water legislation that would have expanded regulation of a controversial oil and gas production technique some say has contributed to groundwater pollution. DeGette's amendment to a water-infrastructure bill (H.R.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday announced new, tighter rules for leasing public lands for oil and gas production — rules that the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States said will create more red tape and uncertainty for investors, delaying drilling operations. Salazar, a former U.S.

A proposal to drill nearly 500 wells on 90,000 acres along the western base of western Colorado's Grand Mesa is getting a lot of attention from area residents, environmental groups and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The area where Colorado Springs-based Fram Operating LLC has proposed drilling for natural gas would stretch from around Palisade to the Delta area, about 45 miles away.

The calamitous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico isn't just a mess for the people who live or work on the coast. If you drink coffee, eat shrimp, like bananas or plan to buy a new set of tires, you could end up paying more because of the disaster.

Two entrepreneurs, speaking to the Garfield County commissioners this week, described a new system designed to treat “produced water” from the oil and gas drilling process, so that water could be reintroduced into local aquifers and streams. Called the “OPUS II,” the system is made by VWS Oil & Gas, a global division of Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies.

Gas groups began filing for water rights the first quarter of 2010. The companies include BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. They are filing applications for rights to water that comes out of their wells during the process of producing natural gas.