Serving the community since 1866
WEEK OF JULY 17, 2025
VOLUME 159 | ISSUE 29
$2
HAVING A BALL
Kayakers compete in newly formatted downriver race P2
Colorado considers challenging ‘energy emergency’ January declaration invoked by BLM to fasttrack rain facility expansion BY DAVID O. WILLIAMS COLORADO NEWSLINE
In city documents and meetings, City Manager Scott Vargo and Police Chief Joe Harvey have described how the city’s current ordinance can be difficult to enforce, as outdoor music is required to be 65 decibels or less. City employees are trained to use measurement devices, but wind, crowd noise and traffic can interfere with the readings. However, Vargo and Harvey said the bigger problems is that, when a city employee contacts someone using an amplification device and asks them to turn it, they will only do so temporarily — until the city employee has left the immediate area. Thus, the problems persist. “It’s not that we don’t try to enforce existing regulations,” Vargo said at the June 10 work session. “It’s just a much more difficult enforcement technique that we have to go through.”
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office will consider joining a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s declaration in January of a national energy emergency, he told Newsline in an exclusive interview. The Trump administration’s Bureau of Land Management invoked the emergency declaration to complete accelerated environmental review of a permit to expand a loading facility near Price, Utah for oil coming out of the nearby Uinta Basin. The expansion could increase oil capacity on the main rail line through Colorado by up to 80,000 barrels a day. It’s anticipated that the expansion of what’s known as the Wildcat Loadout facility — located on publicly owned federal lands — and other nearby facilities will allow the trucking and transfer to rail of up to 75% of the oil proposed for transport in the Uinta Basin Railway project. Eagle County and state officials have long opposed increased oil trains along the Colorado River. In a June 27 letter to Jerry Davis, acting Utah state director for the BLM, Weiser wrote that an expedited environmental assessment for the proposed Wildcat right-of-way expansion would be a “violation of applicable laws and regulations” that would block proper public input and “subject Colorado communities to significant economic, environmental, and health and safety risks.” Weiser argued there is no national energy emergency given the United States produced more oil last year than any nation in history, and he urged the BLM to follow standard, legally required procedures in reviewing the project. An attorney for Eagle County and an environmental group that successfully sued the federal government to delay the rail project, also sent letters. However, the BLM issued its approval, finding “no significant impact” related to the expansion, which Colorado opposes due to increased derailment, wildfire and oil-spill risks, and
SEE MUSIC, P5
SEE ENERGY, P5
Golden targets amplified music downtown Public hearing scheduled for July 22 council meeting BY CORINNE WATERMAN CORINNE@COTLN.ORG
Downtown Golden may soon be a little quieter, as city officials are considering an ordinance that would restrict amplified music. The draft ordinance would only apply to public right of way, such as streets, sidewalks and alleyways, within the Downtown Development Authority boundaries. It wouldn’t affect special events or private properties, including commercial businesses that host outdoor musical performances. Acoustic music would still be allowed. Megaphones would also be allowed as long as they weren’t being used to ampli-
fy music, including singing, Golden staff members have clarified. The City Council has scheduled an ordinance second reading and public hearing about the issue at its July 22 meeting. Anyone wishing to submit written or verbal comments may do so at that time. If passed at the July 22 meeting, city staff said the ordinance would take effect on or around July 30. “This is not about banning street musicians,” City Councilor Patty Evans said at a June 10 work session. “ … They have some really great talent; it just needs to be quieter.”
WESTMINSTER
MINSTER
WINDOW ‘The amplification has gotten out of control’
Evans and other councilors said they’ve received numerous complaints about street musicians — sometimes called buskers — playing so loudly that downtown employees can’t hear their customers if the business’ doors are open.
VOICES: 8 | CALENDAR: 19 | PUZZLES: 20
WINDOW
GOLDENTRANSCRIPT.NET • A PUBLICATION OF THE COLORADO TRUST FOR LOCAL NEWS