Nearly 50 million acres of pristine national forest land gained protection.
Colorado adopted one of the strongest fracking disclosure rules in the country.
Denver environmentalists were the force behind some of the greenest headlines nationwide in 2011. Work by the team of lawyers at the Mile High Earthjustice was vital in resolving the fracking and roadless issues, said staff attorney Mike Freeman.
In a third national headline, environmentalists with the Rocky Mountain Sierra Club worked with local activists to stop a proposed nuclear power plant in Pueblo. The Pueblo Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted against the proposal in April.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver issued the landmark decision in October. The appellate court reversed a lower court decision and affirmed the validity of the Roadless Rule –a 2001 federal rule that protects wild national forests and grasslands from new road building, logging and development.
EarthJustice had led the legal defense of the Roadless Rule since it was first attacked under the Cheney/Bush Administration. “The public forests we fought so hard to protect are now safe,” Earthjustice attorney Tom Preso said earlier. “All Americans can now know that a key part of our nation’s national heritage won’t be destroyed.”
Efforts by Earthjustice and the Colorado Environmental Coalition were instrumental in the new hydraulic fracking disclosure rule announced in December by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
In the face of dramatic revelations about fracking in the media, Colorado ended up with one of the strongest disclosure regulations in the country. The initial proposal would have given companies broad leeway.
The fracking rule isn’t perfect, said Freeman. It allows companies a shield of sorts under a trade secrets provision. With the ruling, companies will need to justify trade secrets under penalty of perjury.
The requirement that companies reveal all chemicals and concentrations in fracking fluids makes Colorado a leader among states, said Freeman. Other states restrict disclosure to chemicals in the workplace.
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