Governor Bill Ritter appointed former state House Majority Leader Alice Madden, a fellow Democrat, to the $80,000-a-year job of climate-change coordinator yesterday. The new post, which is funded through private grants, is meant to address a range of issues, such as expanding renewable energy and protecting air and water, according to Boulder’s Daily Camera.

It’s unclear how much Madden will be able to improve the climate, and she appears to have her work cut out for her. The latest news from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder isn’t good, according to ScienceNOW Daily News. If gases keep spewing into the atmosphere at the current rate, the ill effects could linger for 1,000 years.

In one tidbit that will cheer up environmentalists, it doesn’t appear that oil will be squeezed from Colorado rock anytime soon. Rules and leases for new oil-shale fields, pushed through during the Bush administration’s final days, are now under review and face an overhaul, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar tells The Denver Post.