November, 30 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Niwot High School Students Call on Boulder County Commissioners to Ban Fracking
Students release powerful video opposing proposed fracking site ahead of key public hearing.
WASHINGTON
Today, The Niwot High School Environmental Club released a video in which students, ranging from age ten to eighteen, urge the Boulder County Commissioners to protect their future by enacting a ban on fracking. The video launched ahead of a major Boulder County Commissioner hearing meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 4:00 p.m. where commissioners will hear public comment on proposed revisions to its Article 12 regulations addressing oil and gas operations.
Niwot High School sits just three miles away from Crestone Peak Resources' proposed fracking site. At 140 wells, the fracking site, if granted permit, would be the largest in the state of Colorado. Fracking emits carcinogens and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, jeopardizing the health and well-being of humans and the environment. Thus, the prospect of the development of the largest fracking site in the state, only a few miles away from the Niwot high school and community, is terrifying to students, teachers, and community members alike.
"We, the youth of Colorado, simply ask our elected officials to do their job, to protect us by using their power and the opportunity presented by SB 19-181 to protect Colorado's future. Ban Fracking," said Maya Beauvineau, a senior at Niwot High School.
Motivated by the immediacy of the threat to their community, as well as the awareness of the repercussions of oil and gas extraction on their future, students at Niwot High School are declaring enough is enough. Since first learning about the proposed Crestone Peak Resources fracking site in 2019, the Niwot Environmental Club, a group of roughly 30 students from Niwot High School, has dedicated its efforts toward organizing the youth voice against fracking.
"The idea that elected officials would allow for something that is so detrimental to the environment and to our health is mind-blowing," said Desta Soma, Freshman.
Throughout 2020, club members have urged Boulder County to lead the state toward a genuinely safe, healthy, and clean future by enacting a ban on fracking at local Boulder County Commissioner Public Hearings. At the Oil and Gas Planning Commission Hearing in November, students demanded increased setbacks of 2,500 feet from open space and land occupied by humans--rather than the 2,000-foot setbacks from only lands occupied by humans that are currently proposed in Boulder County.
Despite the overwhelming public support for stricter regulations, the Planning Commission did not act to increase setback distance following the hearing. The Niwot Environmental Club, however, remained undeterred. The club hopes the county commissioners will listen to the voices of the rising generation, along with countless other colorado citizens from all walks of life, and act to genuinely protect the health and well-being of humans, the environment, and wildlife as SB 19-181 obligates them to do.
The Boulder County Commissioners are set to finalize updated regulations this month as the current moratorium on oil and gas drilling in Boulder County is set to expire on December 31, 2020. Those interested in participating in Tuesday's public hearing can sign up here or provide written comment to oilgascomment@bouldercounty.org
You can watch and share the video @350colorado on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
'Win for Government Ethics' as George Santos Sentenced to 7 Years for Fraud
"Now more than ever, a commitment to transparency and accountability is key to ensuring that candidates and elected officials serve the public, not their own interests," said one campaign finance reform advocate.
Apr 25, 2025
Government ethics watchdogs on Friday said the sentencing of former Republican congressman George Santos to more than seven years in prison for fraud was a victory for "the many voters and donors who were deceived" by the disgraced lawmaker.
"Santos' brazen fraud and misconduct, which included serious violations of federal campaign finance laws, was an affront to his constituents, his donors, and the integrity of our democracy," said Saurav Ghosh, director of campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center. "The fact that he was held accountable should speak loudly to anyone contemplating similar actions aimed at exploiting the democratic process for personal gain."
Santos received his 87-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert in the Eastern District of New York eight months after he pleaded guilty to two felony counts and admitted to using his campaign fundraising operation for personal gain.
The former New York congressman, who flipped a blue seat in a Long Island district in 2022 and was charged by prosecutors just months later, admitted to submitting false reports to the Federal Election Commission, stealing financial and personal information from elderly and cognitively impaired donors to fraudulently charge their credit cards, and using campaign contributions for luxury shopping and a hotel room in Las Vegas.
"The robust enforcement of campaign finance and ethics laws is critical to ensuring that our democracy works for everyday Americans, not politicians' personal interests."
Seybert said during the sentencing that Santos had committed "flagrant thievery" during his brief political career.
He is required to report to prison by July 25 and was also ordered to pay more than $373,000 in restitution.
"This accountability for his pattern of unethical and illegal conduct is a win for government ethics," said Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Ghosh praised "the diligent enforcement efforts of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which helped bring about this result."
"Now more than ever, a commitment to transparency and accountability is key to ensuring that candidates and elected officials serve the public, not their own interests," said Ghosh. "The robust enforcement of campaign finance and ethics laws is critical to ensuring that our democracy works for everyday Americans, not politicians' personal interests."
Keep ReadingShow Less
After Uproar, Trump Reverses on Mass Suspension of Student Visas
While the backtracking by the administration was welcome, one immigration expert warned people to "stay tuned for a round 2.0 of this."
Apr 25, 2025
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
A U.S. Department of Justice attorney told a federal court on Friday that the Trump administration will restore the visa status of thousands of foreign students after removing their information from a nationwide database, which led some universities to inform students that they must immediately self-deport and sparked numerous legal battles.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated over 4,700 international students' records on the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which "sparked more than 100 lawsuits, with judges in more than 50 of the cases—spanning at least 23 states—ordering the administration to temporarily undo the actions," according toPolitco. "Dozens more judges seemed prepared to follow suit before Friday's reversal."
In a statement read aloud during a federal court hearing on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Carilli explained that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations."
"Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain active or shall be reactivated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination," Carilli added, referring to the National Crime Information Center.
According toWUSA9's Jordan Fisher, Carilli also said the Department of Justice intends to file a similar statement in the other cases, but ICE reserves the right to terminate SEVIS records in the future based on student behavior.
The journalist added on social media that "I spoke with an attorney last night who said he's already talked to foreign students who left the U.S.—fearing they would be deported otherwise. This decision does not restore any canceled visas, and now they may face real difficulties returning."
Responding to the news on social media, American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick said that "this is massive," but added this is "not the end" of the issue.
"ICE says it is going to develop a new policy to terminate SEVIS records legally in a way that aligns with their plans," he stressed. "So stay tuned for a round 2.0 of this—which would presumably be less chaotic, at the minimum."
Despite the development in the Washington, D.C. court, and the Justice Department's supposed plan to share its update with other courts across the country, some cases seem to be proceeding, at least for now.
Boston Globe reporter Steven Porter said on social media that he asked the ACLU of New Hampshire about the Friday statement, "(since they represent multiple plaintiffs whose SEVIS records were terminated), and legal director Gilles Bissonnette said they still don't know the nature or extent of these reversals."
"Bissonnette said the government hasn't given any indication that it intends to restore Dartmouth doctoral student Xiaotian Liu's student status absent an order from the court," so Liu still has 'an urgent and critical need' for immediate relief," Porter reported. "A federal judge in New Hampshire is likely to rule today on whether to grant a preliminary injunction in Liu's case. There is currently a temporary restraining order in place."
In addition to the SEVIS terminations, the Trump administration is targeting universities' federal funding as well as trying to deport several immigrants involved in campus protests against the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, widely condemned as a genocide against Palestinians.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Slotkin Panned Online After Claiming That Voters Don't Know What 'Oligarchy' Means
"It's condescending to say that the median person doesn't understand what oligarchy is," said one progressive strategist. "They're living it."
Apr 25, 2025
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' tour headlined with this word has drawn more than 107,000 Americans in blue and deep-red states alike. Former President Joe Biden's use of it in his farewell speech prompted a spike in Google searches. And one recent poll found that a majority of U.S. voters, including 54% of Democrats and more than two-thirds of Independents, know exactly what it means.
Yet Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) was among the Democratic politicians insisting this week that no one does.
The word is "oligarchy"—a government ruled by a small group of elites—and as experts have warned for years, the U.S. increasingly resembles one. As Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have told huge crowds in places like Nampa, Idaho and Greeley, Colorado in recent weeks, President Donald Trump's alliance with billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has made the country's shift even more obvious.
But even as evidence mounts that Americans understand that the political system has been captured by corporations and the wealthiest people—and are living their day-to-day lives with the results, including higher healthcare costs and disinvestment in public services—Slotkin toldPolitico on Thursday that Democrats should "stop using the term 'oligarchy,' a phrase she said doesn't resonate beyond coastal institutions."
On Bluesky, The Nation writer John Nichols said that the tens of thousands people who have packed stadiums and parks in recent weeks to hear Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez speak would disagree with Slotkin.
Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin says Democrats should stop using the term "oligarchy" because, she says, no one knows what it means. These people say she’s wrong.
[image or embed]
— John Nichols (@nicholsuprising.bsky.social) April 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Slotkin's advice for Democrats, which she dubbed her "war plan" and gave ahead of several speeches she has planned, also included a call for the party to stop being "weak and woke," phrases she said she heard in Michigan focus groups.
Her comments echoed those of former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a longtime Democratic operative who told California Gov. Gavin Newsom on his podcast last week that using terms like "oligarchs" and "special interests" makes Democrats "worse marketers"; Newsom appeared to agree that people don't "understand" what an oligarchy is.
Emanuel also appeared on the political and pop culture podcast "I've Had It," hosted by Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, and seemed caught of guard when Welch took him to task for his suggestion that Democrats should end their advocacy for issues that affect transgender Americans.
"That is total bullshit, that is buying into the right-wing media narrative, and I'm so sick of Democrats like you selling out and saying this," said Welch. "You know who talks about trans people more than anybody? MAGA... We've got to fucking fight. They're the gender-obsessed weirdos, not us. We're the ones who fight for Social Security, we fight for Medicare, and yeah, we're not gonna bully trans people."
Semafor political reporter Dave Weigel said Emanuel's derision of the word "oligarchy" is a clear "shot at Sanders/AOC, who keep saying it."
At one stop on the Fighting Oligarchy Tour recently, Sanders told a crowd that the enthusiasm for his and Ocasio-Cortez's message is "scaring the hell out of" Trump and Musk.
But shortly after Slotkin's comments, Ocasio-Cortez remarked—without naming the senator—that "plenty of politicians on both sides of the aisle feel threatened by rising class consciousness."
Angelo Greco, a progressive strategist who works with grassroots organizations including Our Revolution and One Fair Wage, told Common Dreams on Friday that establishment Democrats' dismissal of the term oligarchy is "out of touch" and "underestimates" voters.
"Tell me that farmers don't understand what the oligarchy is when there's a consolidation of the agribusiness that impacts them. Tell me that workers in Michigan don't understand what it means when trade deals that are written by multinational corporations have led to lower wages and plant closures," said Greco. "It's condescending to say that the median person doesn't understand what oligarchy is. They're living it."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular