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ASPEN — Aspen city officials are calculating how they can nudge the recycling rate upward. About 16 percent of solid waste is diverted into recycling, which is far higher than the rate in Colorado, but well below the national rate of 30 percent.
Why is the land of Denver and John Denver so so-so? The Aspen Daily News explains that it is, relatively speaking, a place of wide-open spaces, which means that it costs less to dump trash. Even in the Roaring Fork Valley, one of Colorado’s priciest neighborhoods, the cost is $50 a ton at the landfill. It can be three times as high along the East Coast.
In the neighboring Eagle Valley, nobody keeps track of the recycling rate from Vail and outlying towns, although one knowledgeable figure estimates 10 percent.
In Wyoming, however, the story is much, much higher. Teton County – which is nearly synonymous with Jackson Hole — last year diverted 32 percent of trash, concrete and construction debris from the landfill. That’s twice as good as Aspen, probably three times as much as Vail.
Why so much better in Jackson Hole? The landfill tipping fee is only $50, but it is located 90 miles south of Jackson, near Pinedale. That adds on transportation costs, although it may speak to a greater environmental ethic in Jackson Hole. In Colorado’s Grand County, meanwhile, officials are unsure of what to do next.
Although it’s closer to Denver, ironically it’s also more geographically isolated. As such, the cost of getting bottles, cans, and newspapers to market caused the recycling operation to shut down operations in the Fraser-Winter Park area. The Sky-Hi Daily News reports it would take a $306,000 subsidy to continue recycling in four towns.
However, operating the landfill also involves a huge subsidy. Last year, the county swallowed a $5.5 million debt.
<b>Moly mine foes gain a big bat in Washington</b>
CRESTED BUTTE — Opponents of a molybdenum mine being planned on the outskirts of Crested Butte now have a heavy-hitting bat in hand.
The Red Lady Coalition, an opposition group, has retained DLA Piper. It is the world’s largest legal firm, more importantly, one with a high profile in Washington D.C.
The firm is providing its services for free. Chairman of the firm is George Mitchell, former majority leader in the U.S. Senate. Among the figures employed in the firm’s Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Group are both Dick Gephardt and Dick Armey, both former majority leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives. Gephardt was a Democrat from Missouri and Armey a Republican from Texas.
“We will explore all appropriate avenues — both legal and political — to make sure that the Red Lady retains its character as one of the country’s treasured natural landmarks,” said Lisa Dewey, a partner in DLA Piper.
The Red Lady is the nickname for Mt. Emmons, the mountain located immediately to the west of Crested Butte. It is within that mountain that the molybdenum deposit owned by U.S. Energy is located. Opponents told the Crested Butte News that DLA Piper’s “vast public policy experience and extensive capacity in environmental litigation will help ensure that the case of the opponents is presented credibly and effectively before Congress, but also the Forest Service and other federal agencies, as well as state and local governments.”
<b>Vail’s airport may get a major name change</b>
GYPSUM — So much depends upon what you call it. “It,” in this case, is the airport located in the town of Gypsum, 37 miles west of Vail. “It” was formally proclaimed the Eagle County Regional Airport in the late 1980s, when it was expanded sufficiently to accommodate major jets, which now routinely deliver passengers for Vail, Beaver Creek and, to a lesser extent, Aspen and Snowmass — but also to the oil and gas industry that is now feverishly at work to the west.
“It” is also called the Vail-Eagle airport by some, or sometimes even Vail’s airport.
But consultants who have been paid $90,000 to create a “brand” suggest something altogether new: Colorado International Airport.
The chief executive of the firm, Jim Adler, said both Vail and Eagle are too limiting. The name Eagle doesn’t mean much beyond Colorado.
Why is the land of Denver and John Denver so so-so? The Aspen Daily News explains that it is, relatively speaking, a place of wide-open spaces, which means that it costs less to dump trash. Even in the Roaring Fork Valley, one of Colorado’s priciest neighborhoods, the cost is $50 a ton at the landfill. It can be three times as high along the East Coast.
In the neighboring Eagle Valley, nobody keeps track of the recycling rate from Vail and outlying towns, although one knowledgeable figure estimates 10 percent.
In Wyoming, however, the story is much, much higher. Teton County – which is nearly synonymous with Jackson Hole — last year diverted 32 percent of trash, concrete and construction debris from the landfill. That’s twice as good as Aspen, probably three times as much as Vail.
Why so much better in Jackson Hole? The landfill tipping fee is only $50, but it is located 90 miles south of Jackson, near Pinedale. That adds on transportation costs, although it may speak to a greater environmental ethic in Jackson Hole. In Colorado’s Grand County, meanwhile, officials are unsure of what to do next.
Although it’s closer to Denver, ironically it’s also more geographically isolated. As such, the cost of getting bottles, cans, and newspapers to market caused the recycling operation to shut down operations in the Fraser-Winter Park area. The Sky-Hi Daily News reports it would take a $306,000 subsidy to continue recycling in four towns.
However, operating the landfill also involves a huge subsidy. Last year, the county swallowed a $5.5 million debt.
<b>Moly mine foes gain a big bat in Washington</b>
CRESTED BUTTE — Opponents of a molybdenum mine being planned on the outskirts of Crested Butte now have a heavy-hitting bat in hand.
The Red Lady Coalition, an opposition group, has retained DLA Piper. It is the world’s largest legal firm, more importantly, one with a high profile in Washington D.C.
The firm is providing its services for free. Chairman of the firm is George Mitchell, former majority leader in the U.S. Senate. Among the figures employed in the firm’s Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Group are both Dick Gephardt and Dick Armey, both former majority leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives. Gephardt was a Democrat from Missouri and Armey a Republican from Texas.
“We will explore all appropriate avenues — both legal and political — to make sure that the Red Lady retains its character as one of the country’s treasured natural landmarks,” said Lisa Dewey, a partner in DLA Piper.
The Red Lady is the nickname for Mt. Emmons, the mountain located immediately to the west of Crested Butte. It is within that mountain that the molybdenum deposit owned by U.S. Energy is located. Opponents told the Crested Butte News that DLA Piper’s “vast public policy experience and extensive capacity in environmental litigation will help ensure that the case of the opponents is presented credibly and effectively before Congress, but also the Forest Service and other federal agencies, as well as state and local governments.”
<b>Vail’s airport may get a major name change</b>
GYPSUM — So much depends upon what you call it. “It,” in this case, is the airport located in the town of Gypsum, 37 miles west of Vail. “It” was formally proclaimed the Eagle County Regional Airport in the late 1980s, when it was expanded sufficiently to accommodate major jets, which now routinely deliver passengers for Vail, Beaver Creek and, to a lesser extent, Aspen and Snowmass — but also to the oil and gas industry that is now feverishly at work to the west.
“It” is also called the Vail-Eagle airport by some, or sometimes even Vail’s airport.
But consultants who have been paid $90,000 to create a “brand” suggest something altogether new: Colorado International Airport.
The chief executive of the firm, Jim Adler, said both Vail and Eagle are too limiting. The name Eagle doesn’t mean much beyond Colorado.
