On April 17, 2017, an uncapped 1-inch pipeline leaked methane into the basement of the Martinez family’s home in Firestone in southwestern Weld County, fueling a fireball that leveled the house, killing Erin Martinez’s husband and brother, and leaving her badly burned.
In the wake of that tragedy, Colorado leaders vowed to prevent a repeat, pledging comprehensive public pipeline maps and better inspections. Thirty months later, that still hasn’t been done.
In today’s Denver Post, environmental reporter Bruce Finley takes a comprehensive look at the lack of progress in locating and mapping Colorado’s widening web of oil and gas pipelines, including the tens of thousands of miles of so-called “gathering lines” that remain unregulated.
For Martinez, fighting for comprehensive public mapping and more frequent inspections have become a life mission. “We have all these lines running through the ground that are carrying these dangerous energy things,” she told Finley. “And we don’t even know where they all are.”
— Matt Sebastian, Denver Post enterprise editor
Thirty months after fatal Firestone blast, Colorado’s widening web of underground pipelines still not fully mapped
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Investigator finds 43 Catholic priests in Colorado sexually abused at least 166 children
At least 166 children were sexually abused by 43 Catholic priests in Colorado over the past 70 years, and more than half of those children were abused after the state’s three dioceses knew the priests were abusers, a state-led investigation found.
The abuse spanned nearly every corner of the state — in an Estes Park trailer and Denver homes, in church rectories and at camps, according to a damning report published Wednesday by the state attorney general’s office. Read more.
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The court last month stunned the state’s judicial system when it ruled that defendants cannot be sentenced to both prison and probation for charges in the same case, deeming the sentences illegal and unenforceable, David Migoya reports.
“This is going to result in a ton of litigation,” defense attorney Scott Robinson said. “This appears clearly to go against what many defense lawyers and prosecutors have assumed to be true for years, that different types of sentences can be imposed on different charges in the same case.”
Immigration dispute with Trump administration costs small Colorado towns
The state of Colorado asked a federal judge last week to quickly rule in its favor and force the Justice Department to hand over millions of Byrne JAG dollars that have been held up by an immigration policy dispute between the state and the administration of President Donald Trump, Justin Wingerter reports.
Six months after Colorado’s sweeping oil and gas law took effect, fight over path forward hasn’t faded
Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill six months ago that he hoped would end Colorado’s “oil and gas wars.” But skirmishes continue as work intensifies on new rules that are intended to put human and environmental health at the center of how drilling is carried out, Judith Kohler reports.
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The first female African-American doctor in Denver, Dr. Justina Ford, and her patients were denied access to Denver hospitals. Even so, late in life she estimated that she had delivered about 7,000 babies during her 50-year career.
Read more from John Wenzel and watch a video on Ford from Hyoung Chang here.
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