Items by Geoffrey O'Gara

A visit to the Grand Canyon, without handrails
A visit to the Grand Canyon, without handrails
A wild river is “a necessity of the human spirit.”
Geoffrey O'Gara Essay Aug. 22, 2016 From the print edition
The Big Secret: Highly toxic pesticides in the Rockies
Although the use of toxic chemicals for agriculture in the Rocky Mountains is a public health concern, it is not a matter of public record.
Geoffrey O'Gara Nov. 10, 2013 From the print edition
Bicentennial bash is more than a party for tribes
Tourists following the Lewis and Clark Trail may not get the eager welcome from Native Americans that they’d like
Geoffrey O'Gara Aug. 16, 2004 From the print edition
The Last Open Range
Wyoming’s Green Mountain Common Allotment is one of the West’s last big, wide-open landscapes – but these days, ranchers, environmentalists, history buffs and the BLM are arguing over whether it’s time to start putting up fences
Geoffrey O'Gara March 1, 2004 From the print edition
Waterless in Wind River?
Midvale, Wyo., farmers worry after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed last year that the tribes of the Wind River Reservation have rights to over 500,000 acre-feet of water.
Geoffrey O'Gara Aug. 27, 1990 From the print edition
Saga of a High Country Newsman
The effort to get the word out -- about wilderness, about archaic mining laws, about illegal shooting of golden eagles, and so many more issues besides -- would cost Bell his ranch, many of his friends, and, very nearly, his sanity.
Geoffrey O'Gara Sept. 25, 1989 From the print edition
The middle of the madding crowd
Has much changed since Rudyard Kipling toured Yellowstone in 1889 and wished he were dead, rather than be among preening American tourists?
Geoffrey O'Gara Opinion June 24, 1983 From the print edition
Gas sours wildlife in Wyoming
Wildlife killed by poisonous, hydrogen sulfide-laden "sour gas" leaking from a natural gas well raises concerns about future oil and gas drilling in Wyoming.
Geoffrey O'Gara Aug. 20, 1982 From the print edition
Watt's wilderness proposal sets agenda for energy industry
To an energy industry stretched thin, Interior Secretary James Watt's temporary ban on oil and gas drilling in wilderness areas is something of a favor.
Geoffrey O'Gara Opinion March 5, 1982 From the print edition
Juggling wildlife and 'other needs'
Is U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service head Robert Jantzen cutting an already undernourished budget and favoring ranching interests over wildlife in his predator control and grazing policies?
Geoffrey O'Gara Jan. 22, 1982 From the print edition
Getting no breaks at C.M Russell
Livestock grazing and wildlife clash in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's management plan for the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Geoffrey O'Gara Oct. 30, 1981 From the print edition
The Overthrust moneybelt: Difficult dispersal of impact dollars
A natural gas boom around Evanston, Wyoming, has brought a rise in violent crime, traffic and disintegration of rural culture, but funds set aside to mitigate the impacts haven't been properly applied.
Geoffrey O'Gara June 26, 1981 From the print edition
Project Lighthawk gets conservationists off the ground
With his small plane, Michael Stewartt flies journalists, government officials and activists around the Rocky Mountain region to give them a birds-eye view of strips mines, coal-fired power plants and areas of scenic beauty.
Geoffrey O'Gara May 29, 1981 From the print edition
'Ecotage' seeks wild ends but won't make friends
No philosophical or psychological rationale speaks to the effectiveness of ecotage, Politically, what made sense for the Sixties activists is unlikely to work for wilderness advocates in the Eighties.
Geoffrey O'Gara Opinion May 1, 1981 From the print edition
Jeffrey City: "I don't know a person in town who isn't thinking of leaving"
In Jeffrey City, Wyo., a 25-year-old boom town that lies in one of the most hostile environments in the country, the local union struggles to hold the town together amid layoffs caused by a downturn in the uranium industry.
Geoffrey O'Gara Dec. 26, 1980 From the print edition
Anaconda: The smelter shuts down, and so does the town
Citing antiquated equipment, pollution control problems and foreign competition, Atlantic Richfield Co. announced recently that it will not reopen its Anaconda, Montana, copper smelter, which employs nearly 1,000 people.
Geoffrey O'Gara Nov. 14, 1980 From the print edition
Powder River's new rail track moves forward despite foes
Chicago and North Western Transportation Corp. is inching its locomotives towards the coal fields of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. But local ranchers, Wyoming's governor and the powerful Burlington Northern Railroad are all trying to keep it out.
Geoffrey O'Gara Oct. 31, 1980 From the print edition
States, courts, cutbacks put pressure on strip mine agency
Even as strip mines multiply throughout the Rocky Mountain states, the federal agency responsible for overseeing reclamation of mined lands -- the Office of Surface Mining -- is reeling under a series of blows.
Geoffrey O'Gara July 11, 1980 From the print edition
In situ uranium project springs leak, but pumps again
The fate of Wyoming's first commercial-size in situ uranium mine remains uncertain following a Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision giving the operation 90 days to prove it can operate without polluting ground water near Buffalo, Wyo.
Bob Thacz and Geoffrey O'Gara June 13, 1980 From the print edition
Cache la Poudre River: last Front Range chance to flow
Farmers and advocates of Front Range growth winced last month when the U.S. Forest Service and State of Colorado recommended that most of the Cache la Poudre River be protected from major development.
Geoffrey O'Gara May 2, 1980 From the print edition
Workers, plants, confusion come to 'sweeten' Evanston gas
Two large "sweetening" plants -- which remove toxic hydrogen sulfide from natural gas -- are slated for construction near Evanston, Wyoming.
Geoffrey O'Gara May 2, 1980 From the print edition
Fraud freezes oil leases; reform bill falters
The future of federal gas and oil leasing has been thrown into turmoil by evidence of extensive fraud, an Interior Department shutdown of the present program, and a report critical of legislation intended to overhaul the system.
Geoffrey O'Gara April 4, 1980 From the print edition
The grizzly: How many? Where? For how long?
The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, a group of game experts from state and federal agencies, may determine the future of the grizzly.
Geoffrey O'Gara March 21, 1980 From the print edition
How many coal bucks should a smart state lasso?
States apply a variety of severance taxes to non-renewable resources such as coal, defying efforts to create a unified, national approach.
Geoffrey O'Gara March 7, 1980 From the print edition
Teapot Dome earns big as private drillers steam
Oil pumped from the federal oil reserve at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, sells at prices six times higher than oil from adjacent private fields because of price controls.
Geoffrey O'Gara Jan. 25, 1980 From the print edition
Federal energy program taking shape in Congress
After more than seven years of trying, Congress is close to enacting a comprehensive national energy program that would include a government-sponsored synthetic fuels program and a "fast-track" board to speed domestic energy projects.
Geoffrey O'Gara Jan. 11, 1980 From the print edition
Hail and farewell! 1979
A Holiday season ode to the West's environmental issues of 1979: "It's time for reviewing the year first to last: // A remembrance of two dozen deadlines past. // Water and wilderness, endangered species, // Oil, Alaska, railroads and coal leases;"
Geoffrey O'Gara Opinion Dec. 28, 1979 From the print edition
Canny CERT gets respect, money, problems
Despite its problems and dissidents, the Council of Energy Resource Tribes -- comprising 25 tribes who own one-third of the low sulfur coal west of the Mississippi and as much as half the privately owned uranium in the country -- is emerging as a serious player in the energy development game.
Geoffrey O'Gara Dec. 14, 1979 From the print edition
DeSmet coal-to-gas plant in the works again
The small town of Buffalo, Wyoming, may face an influx of more than 20,000 people if Texaco Inc. and Texas Eastern Corp. go ahead with plans for a strip mine and coal gasification plant near Lake DeSmet.
Geoffrey O'Gara Nov. 30, 1979 From the print edition
Wildlife and livestock face off in refuge battle
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management are cutting back on grazing permits in Montana's Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, angering ranchers.
Geoffrey O'Gara Nov. 2, 1979 From the print edition
Northern Tier oil pipe likely to go if dollars flow
The 1,500-mile Northern Tier pipeline, which would transport Alaskan crude oil from Port Angeles, Wash. to Clearbrook, Minn., is expected to be approved by Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus and President Carter.
Geoffrey O'Gara Sept. 21, 1979 From the print edition
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