The federal Bureau of Land Management today auctioned 55,186 acres on the Roan Plateau for oil and gas development, reports Mark Jaffe.

The sale at the Denver Marriott West in Golden raised $114 million from a half dozen bidders.

In back-and-forth bickering on the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell attempted to force Democrats to vote on a measure opening up coastal waters for drilling when gas reached $4.50, $5 or even $7.50 a gallon, reports The Salt Lake Tribune.

"If $5-gallon gasoline isn't an emergency, I have to ask what is an emergency?" McConnell said.

"It's a phantom solution," countered Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., noting that such drilling would not affect gas prices in the short term. Watch video of McConnell bidding up the price, and Salazar's reactions.

From the U.S. Department of State...

"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joins the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Aspen Institute in an...

The state of Colorado filed one of the 17,000 protests against the Bureau of Land Management's plan to lease the Roan Plateau for drilling next...

Colorado and federal officials sparred with environmental groups before a national advisory committee Wednesday over a proposed rule to manage 4 million acres of roadless forests, report Anne Mulkern and Mark Jaffe.

"The state of Colorado does believe that this is a solid, sound vehicle for protecting the state's roadless areas," state Department of Natural Resources director Harris Sherman said at the meeting.

But Pam Kiely, acting director of Environment Colorado, criticized the hurried pace for approving the rule.

Former Justice Department official Monica Goodling interviewed attorney Cliff Stricklin, then recommended him for the job of first assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado because he was politically suitable, a Justice Department investigation found, reports Felisa Cardona.

Stricklin, now in private practice with the Denver firm Holland & Hart, is best known for leading the prosecution team in the federal insider-trading case against former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio.

To those whose one-word solution to the U.S. energy dilemma is "drill," Sen. Ken Salazar has a one-word response: "Incomplete," reports AP.

The Colorado lawmaker says drilling for more domestic oil and gas is part of the solution, and he's joining fellow Democrats to push for extension of renewable energy tax credits.

Republicans, bolstered by the public's frustrations with high pump prices, want to lift restrictions on drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"There are those within the GOP who've taken the position that we will drill our way out of energy dependence. I think that answer is incomplete," Salazar said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "Those who come down to the proposition who say our answer is one word, 'drill,' are not being forthright with what we have to do in the long term."

Sen. Ken Salazar told reporters Wednesday that he would introduce legislation to address how workers from the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons...

A group of Southeastern Colorado residents, members of the The Piñon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, are denouncing the Army's recently released report on the proposed expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, and are calling on the Army to drop its "illegal plans" to acquire land in Piñon Canyon, according to a press release issued Monday.

A top Army civilian said today that the Army will purchase land to expand Pinon Canyon only from "willing sellers" and that it is "very, very unlikely" that condemnation will be used for those purchases.

Keith Eastin, assistant secretary of the Army for installations and environment, said that if the Army can acquire 100,000 acres on the south end of the existing maneuver site, it probably would not return to ask for any more land in the near future.