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Energy and Environment

On a 160 acre parcel near Meeker, Colorado, Shell Energy Corporation is trying to efficiently extract the hydrocarbons from a layer of rock known as the Mahogany Shale. It's been tried before, many times, dating back to when cowboys noticed that if you used certain dark rocks in your fire ring, they'd catch fire. But Shell is taking the effort to a new level, spurred by record energy prices, accommodating federal land managers, and a willingness to radically evolve the technologies for extracting fossil energy from the earth.

It will take ten to fifteen years to discover if the experiment will produce economically viable amounts of oil and natural gas, or if the EROEI – the energy returned on energy invested- will balance out, but the technologies involved in the experiment are so new that in the course of operations, some entirely different process may yet reveal itself, drawing the elusive genie of energy from the thousands of square miles of ancient seabed algae.

Shale oil conjures images of vast, highly destructive mining processes, and of the massive, government-subsidized projects that came to a crashing halt on so-called Black Sunday, May 2nd, 1982, when cratering oil prices led Exxon pull out of its operations in Colorado.

The Shell experiment, though, is very different. [more]

Innovations in Philanthropy

Start-up companies aren't usually in a position to spend money on philanthropy, and New West is no exception. Happily, though, one of our investors, Boulder-based venture capitalist Brad Feld, has helped develop an innovative new way for companies like ours to get involved in community philanthropy even at an early stage. I'm delighted to announce today our membership in the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, which is affiliated with the national Entrepreneurs Foundation.

The concept is simple: entrepreneurial companies donate shares equal to about one percent of their equity to the Foundation. If the company is successful, those shares will have significant value and the Foundation will thus share in the success. Companies can designate preferred beneficiaries of the shares, and we've chosen the Missoula Community Foundation and the Idaho Community Foundation. We can't of course make any guarantees, but we hope our involvement with the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado will eventually translate into meaningful support for these organizations.

Our thanks to Brad and everyone involved with the Entrepreneurs Foundation for their creativity and commitment in developing this concept. And please be in touch if you're interested in getting involved.

'A Candidate Who Happens To Be Black'

Nov. 4's 85 days away, the dog days are upon us and, like a dog worrying at an old sore, the presidential campaign has suddenly come down to one tired and tiresome issue: race.

In Colorado this November, voters will decide on an anti-affirmative-action measure that would ban the use of race in college admissions, government hiring and contracting. The presence of that referendum on the same ballot as Barack Obama's historic candidacy, writes Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, on The Wall Street Journal's Web site, could generate "heated rhetoric" and "sharply divide the electorate along racial lines." [more]

Western Book Roundup

With the Democratic convention coming up, everybody in Denver seems to be thinking about politics these days, and writers are no exception. Denver novelist Nick Arvin (who I interviewed last year) wrote an editorial for this weekend's Rocky Mountain News about Barack Obama's skills as a writer, which predated his political ambitions. Arvin's thesis:

"I'd like to suggest that the fact that Obama is a writer -- not just a typer of e-mails and compiler of legal briefs but a writer of literary quality with the ability to craft compelling narrative and interrogate his own feelings on the page -- tells us some things about him that are worth considering as he competes for the presidency. These ideas flow from a few simple observations about writers generally."

And speaking of the Rocky, in contrast to all the bad news about book review sections disappearing from newspapers across the country, the Rocky's Editor-in-Chief John Temple has announced an innovative fiction contest, "A Dozen on Denver."

Also in the Roundup: Joyce Carol Oates' JonBenet Ramsey novel, Daniel Grandbois reads in Boulder, and a British take on the best Western novels. [more]

2nd Congressional District Race

As of 10 p.m., with 27% of the precincts reporting, Internet entrepreneur Jared Polis holds a four-percentage-point lead over former state senate president Joan Fitz-Gerald for the 2nd congressional district seat. If that lead holds, it will be an upset, though not a huge one considering the cash that Polis has been able to pump into the race. [more]

Ride For Prizes

Seeking a way to encourage his own two boys to bicycle to school, software entrepreneur Rob Nagler three years ago created a system that would record the students' every ride, and award them a series of prizes based on the number of two-wheeled school trips.

Today that system – now powered by an ingenious sensor technology known as the "Freikometer" – is going nationwide, with a sponsorship from the leading U.S. bicycle maker Trek. [more]

The Denver Post today has a piece by Mark Jaffe on what's become perhaps the most important story in the New West: the fundamental conflict between the booming resource economy and the New Western amenity economy. With Colorado poised to implement new rules on energy development - and the BLM about to auction leases on the Roan Plateau over the objections of almost all state leaders - the angst over oil and gas drilling especially is about to get worse. Jaffe quotes a Rifle-based outfitter whose hunting business has been decimated by drilling, and says the number of wells in Colorado will increase more than six-fold over the next few decades. Given all the belated global concerns about energy security and gas prices, you definitely get the sense that hunters and wilderness advocates are facing a long uphill battle. (Photo by Zach Ornitz, special to the Denver Post.)

Ride Rage

Abusing cyclists – it's all the rage! I found this out the other day, using one of the mid-block crosswalks that interrupt Canyon Blvd., in Boulder – the kind that have flashing yellow lights to alert motorists that yes, they have to stop for the unprotected person risking life and limb to cross the street in traffic.

"Get off that bike!" a blowsy bottle-blonde in an SUV shouted, so loudly that I stopped, startled, in mid-street. "You're not a pedestrian!" [more]

Western Book Roundup

I just finished reading an insightful memoir by one of my favorite writers, Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, in which he discusses how long distance running has enhanced his life and ability to write. The book doesn't have much to do with our region, but at the end, Murakami (who runs a marathon every year) writes a funny anecdote about the experience he had running in Boulder:

"One other memory I hold dear is running high up in Boulder, Colorado, with Yuko Arimori, the Japanese silver medalist in the marathon at the Barcelona Olympics. This was just some light jogging, but still, coming from Japan and running all of a sudden at a height of ten thousand feet was very tough—my lungs screamed, and I felt dizzy and terribly thirsty. Miss Arimori gave me a cool look and just said, 'Is something the matter, Mr. Murakami?'"

This prompted me to think that with so many avid runners in the mountain West, there must be some great literary writing about running set here. But as I pondered this, I was only able to come up with one example—Rick Bass's beautiful short story "Fires," from his 1997 collection In The Loyal Mountains. So does anyone out there know of any other remarkable stories or books about running in our region? If so, let me know!

Also in the Roundup: the Boise Nonfiction Writers host Courtney White, and the High Plains Book Awards adds a category for regional writing by women. [more]

Diary of a Mad Voter: Jessica Peck Corry

While the decline of Republican dominance in Colorado has been the topic of endless media speculation, the GOP has one bright spot heading toward November: The initiative process.

A report carried in this week's LA Times falsely suggested otherwise. Titled "GOP suffering from a lack of (ballot) initiative," reporters Dan Morain and Nicholas Riccardi eagerly proclaimed that "The strategy of pushing propositions likely to draw conservatives to the polls has faltered as Republicans face mishaps in drafting measures and a more aggressive opposition."

While Morain and Riccardi are right that Colorado initiatives are facing aggressive opposition from well-funded liberals, including multiple millionaire and labor-backed lawsuits, the fact remains that of the four initiatives certified for the November ballot, all represent conservative or free-market efforts. [more]

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