High Country News

Sacrificial Land: Will renewable energy devour the Mojave Desert?

An unlikely group of activists is championing a new bill to protect the Mojave Desert. But even if it passes, large swaths of once empty land will be developed.

by Judith Lewis Mernit, Apr 22, 2013
High Noon

Environmentalists are arguing passionately over large-scale solar development on California's Mojave Desert.

by Judith Lewis , May 11, 2009
Cowboy up to the energy boom

In today’s complicated West, where retirees battle energy companies and environmentalists fight transmission lines carrying green power, maybe we need some heroic cowboys to help straighten everything out.

by Paul Larmer, Jun 09, 2008
Walking on a Wire

Los Angeles needs green power, but some environmentalists are up in arms over plans to build transmission lines across the Mojave Desert.

by Judith Lewis, Jun 08, 2008
Erratic behavior

The Mojave Desert's Giant Rock has long been home to UFO buffs and wild parties, but nowadays it’s fallen victim to graffiti and litterbugs.

by Michelle Theriault, Dec 10, 2009
Discovery and recovery in a Mojave casino town

Mary Sojourner's new novel, Going Through Ghosts, takes the reader on a journey of love, loss, abandonment and death.

by Alexa Mergen, Aug 01, 2010
What's the best place for Big Solar?

Environmentalists have been too busy squabbling over proposed solar plants to pay much attention to one of the most promising sites: Gila Bend, Ariz.

by Sarah Gilman, May 27, 2012
On losing nothing

Climate change will transform both the Arctic and the Mojave Desert, but for different reasons

by Sarah Gilman, Apr 15, 2013
Heard around the West

Calendar girls get the brush-off in Carmel, Calif.; sniffing out endangered species; looking for a blonde bombshell; "The Bitchin’ Post" meets airport security; "stealth towers" in Colorado Springs

by Betsy Marston, Mar 07, 2005
Solar spree

New solar energy projects are coming to California and Nevada.

by Cally Carswell, Oct 24, 2010