Sam Brasch

Climate / Environment Reporter

@samuelbrasch[email protected]

Sam Brasch covers climate and the environment for CPR News. Sam came to CPR in 2015 as the recipient of the organization’s first news fellowship.

Education:
Bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy, Colorado College.

Professional background:
Sam came to Colorado Public Radio in 2015 as the recipient of the organization’s first news fellowship. The year-long position allowed him to hone his journalistic skills working alongside CPR reporters, producers and editors.

Following his fellowship, Sam was awarded an 11-Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship from the University of California Berkeley where we worked with mentors like Michael Pollan to produce a radio documentary on kosher slaughter practices.

Sam rejoined Colorado Public Radio in 2016 as a contract reporter where he filled in for newscasts, reported on the state legislature and supported long-term feature stories and interviews for “Colorado Matters.”

Before his career in broadcast journalism, Sam worked for Modern Farmer Magazine where he wrote articles on goat towers and lambie jammies, and promoted the magazine's work on social media.

Purplish

ALL OF THE BILLS!!!!

Colorado’s 2019 legislative session is over. The last four months of frantic lawmaking were a test for Democrats, who took complete control of the state Capitol last November. This episode, we look back at everything they were able to achieve — and why arguments over process at times got in the way of their biggest goals. And how Republicans, who lacked the votes to block legislation, found other ways to make their voices heard. The result was a session that showed passing bills isn’t as simple as just having a majority.
By Sam Brasch
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The First Fractivist

Ken Crumb’s story likely sounds familiar. A Front Range resident sees oil and gas drilling in his community. He doesn’t like it and organizes his neighbors to pass a local drilling ban. The thing is, in Ken’s case, this all happened more than 30 years ago. And that community he rallied was Greeley — not exactly a hotbed of anti-fracking sentiment today. This episode, we look back at perhaps Colorado’s first fractivist. What Ken did ended up limiting local control of oil and gas development. Now, Democratic lawmakers have passed a bill to tilt the scales back in the other direction.
By Sam Brasch
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Electoral College Dropouts

Colorado is on the verge of becoming the 12th state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The plan could someday commit all of Colorado’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who gets the most votes nationwide — no matter who wins the state.
By Sam Brasch