FRACKING STUDY RELEASED
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency has released a progress report on its research into potential impacts of natural gas hydraulic fracturing and drilling on drinking water. The update released Friday doesn’t come to any conclusions and the final report won’t be released until 2014. The EPA says information on fracking chemicals has been collected from nine companies and 24,925 wells. Computer analysis is also being done on well construction. The EPA says it is working with scientists, the industry, and environmental groups to examine any possible impacts. Sampling at five locations in Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Texas has been completed, and lab studies are being done on drilling wastewater. The industry and many states say the process is safe when done properly, but critics dispute that.
COLORADO UNEMPLOYMENT
DENVER (AP) – The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment says nonfarm jobs increased 8,000 from October to November. The department said Friday more than 2.3 million people were employed in Colorado at the beginning of last month. Private sector payroll jobs increased 7,000 and government jobs were up 1,000 during the month-long period. The department says the state’s unemployment rate dropped two tenths of one percentage point over the month to 7.7 percent. Those figures were in line with national unemployment rates.
BOEING LAYOFFS IN COLORADO
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – Boeing is cutting about 100 jobs in Colorado after losing a major contract.
The company told employees this week that their jobs will be eliminated Jan. 31. Boeing Co. lost a contract to maintain software used by the Air Force Space Command to control the Global Positioning System satellite network. Company officials are telling employees they can apply for other openings in the company. Boeing still has more than 2,000 employees statewide, working on contracts that include software and engineering for a system designed to intercept incoming warheads in space.
COLORADO OBSERVES MOMENT OF SILENCE
DENVER (AP) – Colorado observed a moment of silence on Friday to remember the 26 people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Bells also tolled in Denver at 9:30 a.m., the time when the shooting started on the east coast. Gov. John Hickenlooper and governors across the country called for the moment of silence and also asked government buildings and places of worship to ring bells 26 times in honor of those who died at the school.
