The proposed Desert Rock power plant on the Navajo Nation near Farmington, N.M., will need to find a new source of cash after the U.S. Department of Energy denied a $450 million stimulus funding bid for carbon-capture controls last week. The funding would have covered about 43 percent of the cost of those controls. The […]
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Down on copper mine
Plans to move forward with what would be the third- or fourth-largest copper mine in the country have been shelved for another year. The U.S. Forest Service has postponed an environmental impact study for a proposed copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, 30 miles southeast of Tucson, Ariz., until April 2010 (see our 1997 […]
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Bluegrass in red rock country
This past weekend, the HCN interns took a road trip out to nearby Moab, Utah, to experience some of the West’s most dramatic landscapes and hear some good ol’ tunes at the yearly folk festival. The sunset faded as we left Colorado, cruising through darkness on I-70 to the Cisco exit. On Utah State Route […]
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Indian Eco-battles
Today the Arizona Republic wraps up an excellent three-part series on coal, water and green jobs conflicts on Indian lands in northern Arizona. Sunday’s story focuses on the Navajo Generating Station near Page, responsible for pollution haze over the Grand Canyon and ranked as the nation’s third-largest emitter of nitrogen oxides by the EPA, who […]
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Cold War clean-up
Stimulus funds are now being used to tackle one of the West’s biggest nuclear messes: The 65-year old atomic dump in Los Alamos, N.M. is finally getting some much-needed attention. On Thursday the New York Times reported that a team of workers using $212 million in federal stimulus money will clean up the site on […]
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Harvesting grievances
All summer long, farmers in California’s Central Valley have complained about their parched fields—one even likened their communities to tumbleweeds about to blow away—and they blame their thirsty crops on fish. Endangered Species Act protections for smelt and salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta limit the amount of water pumped out of Northern California, much […]
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Claws out for big cat protection
Macho B’s death, contentious and untimely, could also be criminal. The capture, collaring and euthanization of America’s last known wild jaguar in March was illegal, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, who brought a lawsuit against Arizona Game and Fish Department yesterday. The Center asserts that AZ Game and Fish did not have the […]
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Bright sunshiny day
Arizona has more clear, sunny days than any other state in the West. In the summer months, sheets of mirage-casting heat waves pour down across expansive miles of desert. Yet for years this sunny state has lagged in developing its solar industry, relying instead on coal and nuclear power. Recently, though, that’s started to change. […]
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Victorious in Victor
Students and teachers at the Teton Valley Community School in Victor, Idaho, are heading back to school with a new spring in their step. That’s because their design won the 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom–a competition hosted by Architecture for Humanity, selected from more than 400 qualified entries from over 65 countries, which I blogged […]
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Hunters become the hunted
Yesterday, on the opening day of Idaho’s first wolf season in decades, at least two hunters made quick use of their recently purchased wolf tags. The hunt began amidst whirling debate, after Montana Federal Judge Donald W. Molloy delayed ruling on a lawsuit brought by 13 environmental groups to halt the hunt. Concerned that the […]
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Eenie meenie (money) moe
In this era of hyped-up security concerns about our southern border, why would a remote Montana border station with a daily average of three travelers get $15 million of stimulus money? Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus say it’s because they asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to fund projects in their state, whose […]
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Classroom innovation
In eastern Idaho, one small rural school recently gained international fame. In late July, the Teton Valley Community School of Victor, Idaho, was recognized as one of eight finalists in the 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom. The competition, sponsored by Architecture for Humanity, received 400 submissions from 65 countries. Finalists included two other U.S. teams […]
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Bribery slips under the border
It starts with a $50 bill. Then $5,000, just to look the other way at the port of inspections. Suddenly the formerly-loyal U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer has become yet another link in the chain of corruption, bribery, contraband and violence that plagues the southern border. And he’s not the only one. An Associated […]
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California sun and spray
California’s farmworkers support an $11 billion industry, making the state the nation’s leading agricultural producer and exporter. But their working conditions are often difficult – they’re exposed to harmful pesticides and dangerous levels of thirst and heat. Now, the LA Times reports that the state is considering approval of another hazardous pesticide, and it’s facing […]
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Let it burn?
Despite wildfires smoldering across the West in recent weeks (outside of Denver, in Southern California, and near Arizona’s Kitt Peak Observatory), one Colorado town is backing off on wildfire protection. Breckenridge, Colo., a mountain resort town about 80 miles southwest of Denver, this week revoked an ordinance requiring homeowners to thin vegetation and remove trees […]
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Social justice hits the road
For three months, Chloe Noble and Jill Hardman have been living out of backpacks and sleeping on the streets of Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. They walk miles every day, and depend on the kindness of strangers. These women aren’t actually homeless — but they very well could be. Noble and Hardman are the creators […]
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End of an exodus?
As the debate rages on over border fence construction and the environmental and population impacts of immigration, a report released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center showed a marked decrease in Mexican migrants entering the U.S. Migration rates into the U.S. from Mexico dropped almost 40 percent between 2006 and 2009, while migration back to […]
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Fossil Creek fracas
A few hours northeast of the 110-degree concrete jungle of Phoenix, Ariz., a powerful, cool creek courses through a lush oasis, creating blue-green swimming pools and dramatic waterfalls for campers and day-hikers. But lack of funding for a Forest Service management plan has allowed Fossil Creek to become a refuge for drug and alcohol use, […]
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A dam marvel
Hundreds of feet above the Black Canyon’s raging Colorado River, the longest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere is almost complete. In a month workers will finish construction on the arch support of the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge, open to the public in fall 2010. The new 4-lane bridge, on Highway 93, will replace the […]
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Food fight
Who knew ordering a steak dinner could be so political? The American food industry is undergoing some major policy changes, challenging ranchers and farmers across the West. Oregon cattle ranchers are struggling to deal with the recession, increasingly health-conscious consumers, and environmental concerns about land use . Fears over food safety have led to a […]