Residents of a tiny, unincorporated, coal town on Colorado’s Western Slope are pitted against billionaire mine owner Bill Koch in a fight for clean drinking water. KBUT’s Christopher Biddle wanted to find out if this David versus Goliath story is as simple as it sounds.
This past June, the West Elk Mine punched a mile of road and two drilling pads for methane venting into lands that conservation groups say should be roadless, according to federal policy.
An appeals court Judge says the US Forest Service should have considered alternative wildlife protections before it gave a permit to Colorado’s largest active coal mine.
When Blondie’s Diner closes around 9 p.m. and a table of hunters finish their green chili cheeseburgers and head back to their hotel, the town of Naturita feels a bit like a ghost town.
There are two new marijuana dispensaries still open late with green neon signs, but on a November night at the start of hunting season, not many customers are partaking.
It’s a good day when Tammie Delaney hears a train rumbling down the tracks outside of the century-old granary building she owns in Hayden.
“Oh, you get the train noise today!” she shouts as a train whistle pierces the usual silence in the small town of about 2,000 people.