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VOLUME 33 | ISSUE 28
WEEK OF JULY 13, 2023
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After home destroyed, Johnstown couple seek better pipeline safety rules
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BY JUDITH KOHLER THE DENVER POST
located 19 miles south of County Road 18 with the Northland planned unit development. It will not be open to the general public, but will sell used cars at wholesale rates to dealers around the Denver Metro area. CarMax is a national retailer of used cars with 244 locations across the country and six locations in Colorado. During the public hearing, Steve Hudak, CarMax Auto Superstores real estate representative, said the company is looking forward to being part of the Fort Lupton Community. “Carmax is very involved in the communities with the CarMax foundation so, our employees are very involved in the communities where they work by matching donations to 501c3 companies matching dollar for dollar. We organize
Mark and Julie Nygren didn’t set out to be activists, but they are suggesting changes to the oversight of Colorado’s oil and gas pipelines based on their experience of losing their home and seeing part of their farm contaminated by a leaking gas line. More than four years after discovery of the leak, the Nygrens are still renting a house in Johnstown, just north of their Weld County property, and remain embroiled in a lawsuit against DCP Midstream Operating Co., which owned the pipeline. As the Colorado Public Utilities Commission considers new pipeline-safety rules, the Nygrens want to share their hard-won insights with regulators. “We’re farmers, we don’t want to be activists. But we also want our neighbors and our communities to be safe and we are concerned that not enough attention has been paid to our situation to correct it from happening to someone else,” Julie said in a recent interview. Conor Farley, an administrative law judge at the PUC, heard recently from the public on a proposal to implement a 2021 law requiring the state to strengthen safety rules and adopt regulations to comply with federal requirements. Several times during the three-hour-plus hearing, speakers referred to the “Nygren rules.” The couple recommended changes to the draft rules based on events that required the digging of a pit on their land that was more than 20 feet deep and 3 acres wide to muck out the pollution. “The story of Mark and Julie Nygren serves as a poignant reminder of what is at stake in this rule-making. All Colorado residents, in urban and rural areas, deserve to feel safe in their homes and be protected from avoidable pipeline accidents,” said Rep. Tammy
SEE COUNCIL, P5
SEE FARMERS, P7
• Page 9
•In-door dining and large gatherings prohibited by new restrictions
Auto auction center gets City Council nod
COVID-19
Wholesale facility to recondition used cars from across state •A fundraiser to combat domestic abuse • Page 3
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Trinity and Liliana Vigil selling lemonade at their grandpa Richard Vigil’s yard sale July 7, part of Fort Lupton’s Community Garage Sale. The city hosts the sale annually and their grandfather was selling pictures and furniture PHOTO BY BELEN WARD along his Park Avenue fence. See more photos, page 4.
BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
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Fort Lupton will get a pre-auction re-conditioning and maintenance center for used cars, bringing in 240 new jobs, City Councilors agreed. The CarMax officials received approval from council members at their July 5 meeting to set up a 70,646 square foot vehicle service facility, one 4,864 square foot auction facility, and one 936 square foot nonpublic carwash, private fuel tank, and staging area. The property planned unit development is
VOICES: PAGE 6 | OBITUARIES: PAGE 7 | LIFE: PAGE 8 | CALENDAR: PAGE 10
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