RMCO's Recent Statements and News Releases

July 21, 2010: RMCO submitted joint comments to the Colorado Water Conservation Board on its draft Colorado River Water Availability Study Phase I, on behalf of RMCO and some of the participants in our Water Adaptation Steering Committee -- representatives of Aurora Water, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, Denver Water, and the Western Water Assessment at the University of Colorado. RMCO also submitted our own separate comments.

May 26, 2010: RMCO and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), released a report, Special Places at Risk in the Gulf: Impacts of the BP Oil Catastrophe. The report lists the 15 top national and state parks and wildlife areas, and their key resources, threatened by oil contamination from the BP oil blowout. The news release announcing the report

April 7, 2010: RMCO and the Natural Resources Defense Council released a profile on climate change effects on Glacier National Park. Glacier is one of the 25 national parks identified as most vulnerable to the effects of a changed climate in our October 2009 report, National Parks in Peril. This new profile details and documents the particular ways in which Glacier is vulnerable.The RMCO news release.

March 19, 2010: On behalf of ourselves and others including the Colorado State Climatologist, officials of Colorado River Water Conservation District, Denver Water, Colorado Springs Utilities, and Western Water Assessment at the University of Colorado, we submitted testimony to congressional appropriations committees in support of increased funding for key climate/water data collection systems. See the separate testimony to the House Apppropriations Committee's Interior and Agriculture subcommittees.

March 8, 2010: RMCO applauded the final passage by the Colorado General Assembly of a bill strenthening the state's requirement for how much clean energy investor-owned utilities must use to generate the electricity they sell -- carrying out a portion of a key recommendation of the Climate Action Panel RMCO convened. The RMCO news release.

February 5, 2010: RMCO director of programs Tom Easley testified in the Colorado General Assembly in support of a bill to strengthen by 50% the state's requirement for how much clean energy investor-owned utilities must use to generate the electricity they sell. The RMCO testimony.

October 1, 2009: RMCO and Natural Resources Defense Council released National Parks In Peril: The Threats of Climate Disruption. The report documents that climate disruption is the greatest threat ever to our national parks, lists the 25 most endangered parks, and makes 32 recommendations for actions to protect the parks. The RMCO news release.

August 24, 2009: RMCO president Stephen Saunders testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Parks about climate disruption in national parks and management options. The RMCO testimony.

February 12, 2009: RMCO director of programs Tom Easley testified in the Colorado General Assembly in support of a bill to fund Colorado Water Conservation Board water adaptation programs, many of which were included in Governor Ritter's Colorado Climate Action Agenda and also in RMCO's Climate Action Panel recommendations. The RMCO testimony.

January 29, 2009: RMCO director of programs Tom Easley testified in the Colorado General Assembly in support of a bill to clarify that rural electric cooperatives can set graduated rates based on a consumer's level of electricity consumption, as recommended by RMCO's Climate Action Panel. The RMCO testimony.

June 10, 2008: RMCO recommended that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency strengthen its draft strategy for dealing with the water quality effects of climate change by focusing more on the impacts likely to occur in the West. The RMCO letter to EPA.

April 28, 2008: RMCO recommended that the Colorado Public Utilities Commission require Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest electric utility, to reduce its emissions of heat-trapping gases by 20% by 2020. This would be the the first major action of the administration of Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., to achieve the kind of reductions in heat-trapping gases that will be needed to meet the state climate-protection goals the governor established (when he adopted the goals recommended by RMCO's Climate Action Panel). The RMCO comments to the PUC.

April 12, 2008: RMCO commented on a draft plan by a task force of the Western Governors' Association to promote the

establishment of wildlife corridors in the West to help wildlife deal with changes in habitat resulting from climate change. The RMCO letter to WGA.

January 14, 2008: RMCO issued a news release on the prediction by the U.S. Forest Service and the Colordao State

Forester that, because of warmer temperatures and drought, mountain pine beetles have spread so much that all of Colorado's mature lodgepole pine forests would be "killed" within three to five years. "Without global warming, we would not be losing our lodgepole forests," said RMCO president Stephen Saunders. The RMCO news release.

December 8, 2007: The Rocky Mountain News published an opinion-editorial column by RMCO president Stephen Saunders supporting the decision by Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., to have Colorado consider adopting California's standards require new cars and trucks to emit fewer heat-trapping gases. The RMCO op-ed column.

October 10, 2007: Mayors John Hickenlooper of Denver, Doug Hutchinson of Fort Collins, and Steve Burkholder of Lakewood announce that the Project Directors of the Colorado Climate Project have approved the recommenations of the Climate Action Panel which they appointed. The RMCO news release.

September 13, 2007: The Climate Action Panel approves its recommendations for actions to reduce Colorado's contribution and vulnerability to climate change. The RMCO news release.

April 6, 2007: RMCO comments on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report on the impacts of climate change. “This is the most authoritative statement possible that climate disruption is already showing up in the American West as less snow, less water, more drought, and more wildfire, and unless we take a lot of action it’s likely to get much worse," said RMCO president Stephen Saunders. The RMCO news release.

February 2, 2007: RMCO comments on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report on the basic science of climate change. “The world’s scientists have done their job, and now it’s up to the rest of us. With the overwhelming evidence in today’s consensus statement, it’s time for the remaining holdouts to join those of us who want to solve this problem while we still can,” said RMCO president Stephen Saunders. The RMCO news release.