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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

CO Ranchers, Communities Applaud Slow Approach for Oil Shale

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Tuesday, October 27, 2009   

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. - The Obama administration says they'll be taking a closer look at some Bush-era deals to promote the development of oil shale in Colorado, and now local ranchers and communities say the "go-it-slower" approach has them breathing a sigh of relief.

Doug Monger, a Routt County Commissioner, says it's good news that research into oil shale development will move forward, but he's glad that the potential effects on water, wildlife and the larger environment will be more seriously considered.

"The impacts would be horrendous - we're happy that we're backing off and slowing down and taking a little bit of time to make sure we do things right."

Proponents of developing oil shale say it can be a way to reduce dependence on foreign energy. But Monger says any development needs to be thought through slowly and deliberately to make sure the Western slope doesn't become an energy sacrifice zone.

Reed Kelley is a cattle rancher near Meeker, who sits on the board of the Colorado Independent Cattlegrowers Association, and who says some of his neighbors would have been directly affected by oil shale development as it was proposed under the last administration.

"Water taken off of irrigated hay pastures would be a tremendous impact, and that's what some of these companies have already applied for."

Kelley says people in the area also rely heavily on hunting big game locally, both for personal use and as a source of income through guiding. He worries oil shale development could take those opportunities away.

"Tremendous impacts; particularly on their winter range in this case, it could have a very negative impact."

Last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former U.S. Senator from Colorado, announced an inquiry into last-minute changes favoring energy companies involved in a handful of oil shale projects.




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