Climate scientist Anthony Westerling is working to
illuminate the connection between rising global temperatures and
the increasing ferocity of the West’s forest fires
Items by Matt Jenkins
In Ogallala Blue: Water and Life on the Great
Plains, William Ashworth examines the effects of
groundwater dependency in a dry land
In the anthology Comeback Wolves, 50
Western writers talk about the complex emotional – and
practical – responses evoked by the return of this iconic
predator
Phoenix, Ariz., is determined to disprove the idea that
the West will someday run out of water and that every boom has to
come to an end
Outgoing Interior Secretary Gale Norton has opened the
door for counties and states to claim control of roads crossing
federal lands
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John Keys resigns;
Phoenix finally gets some rain, but drought continues; Bonneville
Power Administration must keep the Fish Passage Center open; Forest
Service looks to outsource more jobs
The Utah Legislature has approved money for
"preconstruction" work on a new dam for the Wasatch Front and a new
pipeline for the booming city of St. George
In Washington, tribes have been shut out of a plan for new
Columbia River dams that are being touted as good for salmon as
well as farmers
EPA abandons attempt to regulate hydraulic fracturing; BLM
briefly cuts forestry school funding and Republican Rep. Greg
Walden grills logging critic Dan Donato; California regulator tries
to stop ecological crash in San Francisco Bay-Delta
The designation of a new wilderness area in Utah –
the Cedar Mountain Wilderness -- may make it harder for nuclear
power plant operators to ship radioactive waste to the Skull Valley
Goshute Indian Reservation
White Pine County, Nev., seeks federal help to fight Las
Vegas groundwater grab; fired workers suddenly regain jobs at
National Renewable Energy Laboratory; marijuana is
Washington’s No. 8 agricultural product
Citizens use a little-known legal doctrine called qui tam
to fight energy company profiteering – and make money in the
process
The seven states of the Colorado River Basin have come to
a groundbreaking agreement that, among other things, will allow
cities such as Las Vegas to lease water from out-of-state farms
during times of drought
Pete McCloskey plans run against Rep. Richard Pombo; 11
alleged eco-terrorists indicted; BLM gives six companies chance to
work on oil shale production; Gray Development buys expensive state
land in north Phoenix.
The San Francisco Bay-Delta Authority votes to disband,
even as the Bay-Delta itself -- beset by high water exports,
disappearing fish and declining water quality – may be
dying
Petroglyph boulders moved for controversial Albuquerque
highway; Hilmar Cheese can drill "test well" for its wastewater;
Richard Pombo’s plan to fast-track oil shale stymied;
wilderness vs. helicopter skiing in Wyoming
A federal judge has ordered the government to buy back
offshore oil and gas leases that energy companies say can’t
be developed, leading some to wonder if the BLM will have to do the
same with leases in potential wilderness areas
Concerned citizens overflow a meeting in Delta, Colo., as
a crucial deadline for protecting roadless areas in national
forests nears
As energy companies go after "unconventional" natural gas
– such as tight-sands gas and coalbed methane –the
environmental impacts are becoming increasingly apparent
The end of the oil and gas era may be in sight, but the
current energy boom in the West means that a rough and wild ride is
still ahead
Richard Pombo wants new offshore drilling; Nevada gold
mines spew mercury across West; grazing fees don’t pay for
program; judge slams Forest Service over refusal to look at
environmental impacts of fire retardant
Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson resigns; Texas
oil baron Oscar Wyatt indicted in Iraq oil-for-food scandal;
Congress won’t fund "bunker buster" nukes; Fish and Wildlife
OK with lynx mortality at proposed Wolf Creek ski village
Whistleblower Earle Dixon’s complaint denied;
Colorado moose has chronic wasting disease; Colorado wind power
gets cheaper than traditional electricity; court nixes
BuRec’s 10-year Klamath River plan
Gold mining gets go-ahead near South Pass, Wyo.; Eric
Griego loses election to Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez; W.R. Grace
tells Libby, Mont., residents they’re not that sick;
farm-labor broker Global Horizons ordered to pay penalties, back
wages and taxes
U.S. Geological Survey gets Yucca Mountain research
funding cut; logging halted on Giant Sequoia National Monument; New
Mexican politicians fight proposal to drill in Valle
Vidal
Nevada is fighting with the four Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico over its right to use water from the Colorado River’s tributaries, in particular the Virgin and the Muddy rivers
With only a tiny share of the Colorado River available to
it, Las Vegas decides to get the water it needs from elsewhere in
the state – underneath the rural high-desert Basin and Range
country
California Coastal Commission rejects 36 oil and gas
leases; EPA proposes two-stage regulation for radiation exposure at
Yucca Mountain; developer’s attorneys have to pay legal fees
in lawsuit against environmentalist; wannabe border patrol
volunteer lose
Judge Dee Benson reconsiders the Norton-Leavitt 2003
wilderness settlement; New Mexico’s Otero Mesa back on the
oil and gas auction block; former NOAA administrator James Lecky
accused of doctoring science in controversial biological
opinion
In Gardens of New Spain, William W.
Dunmire tells the story of how Mediterranean plants and foods came
to North America and changed the way its inhabitants eat
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