A half-century ago, the ‘Big Buildup’ transformed the West; now, it’s all coming to an end.
Jonathan Thompson
Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands. Follow him @LandDesk
Posted inJanuary 1, 2021: No Place Like Home
How the Zoom boom is changing the West
Remote workers are flocking to Western towns.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
20 signs that the climate crisis has come home to roost
From Alaska to Wyoming, evidence shows the climate is off-kilter in the West.
Posted inArticles
Biden needs to go beyond a Trump reset
The president-elect has an opportunity to rebuild better than before.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
When ‘usual residence’ is a prison
Census method of counting prisoners distorts demographics.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
Where people are migrating in, and out of, the West
While the region continues to grow, migration patterns are in flux.
Posted inAugust 1, 2020: Infectious Ideologies
The job loss epidemic
COVID-19 impacts ripple through every sector of the economy.
Posted inJuly 1, 2020: 'I am here fighting for my life and future children'
Western police are geared up for war
But who’s the enemy?
Posted inJune 1, 2020: Dissent at a Distance
Who wins and who loses with these 4 regulatory rollbacks?
Under a pandemic, Trump backslides pollution and wildlife protection standards.
Posted inMay 1, 2020: Lives on Lockdown
The pandemic is battering oil-state economies
COVID-19 reverberates across the energy world.
Posted inApril 1, 2020: Land-Grab Universities
As temperatures rise, Arizona sinks
Climate change and unregulated wells are depleting the West’s groundwater reserves.
Posted inArticles
The botched efforts to stop coronavirus and climate change
Why a decisive societal response is needed.
Posted inMarch 1, 2020: Predator (Mis)perceptions
Untangling the global oil market
The U.S. is a net exporter of petroleum, so why isn’t it energy independent?
Posted inMarch 1, 2020: Predator (Mis)perceptions
Trump targets a bedrock environmental law
Three years of rollbacks have taken a toll, without delivering real benefits.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2020: How One Woman Took a Stand Against Tribal Disenrollment and Paid For It
Observe the BLM’s displacement
Moving land-management HQ out of Washington illustrates the ‘deconstruction of the administrative state.’
Posted inDecember 9, 2019: Crossing to Safety
Nuclear power is clean – if you ignore all the waste
Compare the annual waste produced by a coal-burning power plant and a nuclear generating station.
Posted inDecember 9, 2019: Party Favors
Wyoming’s coal-fired economy is coming to an end
The state faces a future without an industry that’s been very good to it.
Posted inNovember 25, 2019: Forever Mines
BLM chief’s wild horse fixation distracts from the real threats to public land
Species extinction, near-constant wildfire and widespread drought are a few dangers William Perry Pendley might consider instead.
Posted inArticles
Allowing off-highway vehicles in Utah’s national parks is a mistake
More mechanized traffic in already crowded parks is another Trump administration gift to industry and Utah politicians.
Posted inOctober 14, 2019: Severed Ties
The West moves ever closer to a unified power grid
A unified grid would allow for easier sharing of wind and solar power.