As a crucial deadline approaches, Coloradans turn out to speak their minds
News
Posted inDecember 26, 2005: A New Green Revolution
A desperate move to protect cattle ranchers
Wyoming’s plan to kill suspect elk could become a ‘political disaster’
Posted inDecember 26, 2005: A New Green Revolution
Where have all the rangers gone?
Forest Service tries to crack down on rogue off-roaders, but lacks staff to enforce rules
Posted inDecember 26, 2005: A New Green Revolution
Energy companies score massive refund checks
If forced to retract wilderness leases, the BLM could owe billions
Posted inDecember 12, 2005: The Final Energy Frontier
The Latest Bounce
“House Republican Caucus seeks fun-loving individuals to share warm winter evening.” That invitation appeared in a recent e-mail that Utah House Majority Leader Jeff Alexander sent to legislators and lobbyists. House Republican leaders endorsed the “speed dating” idea as a fund-raiser. On Jan. 5, lobbyists who’ve donated to political action committees will each get a […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2005: The Final Energy Frontier
Sheepherders flock to better-paying jobs
Western ranchers have long relied on foreign workers to tend sheep on the open range. But increasingly, sheepherders are literally walking away from their flocks — and their work visas — in pursuit of more lucrative jobs. The work sheepherders do is hard, the lifestyle is austere, and the pay is low — about $800 […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2005: The Final Energy Frontier
BLM boosts winter drilling
The mule deer herd that winters on the mesa east of Pinedale has suffered a 46 percent population decline since 2002, despite a Bureau of Land Management policy that banned most natural gas drilling in the area in wintertime. Now, the BLM wants to allow several more companies to drill throughout the winter — and […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2005: The Final Energy Frontier
‘Green’ seal of approval considered for national forests
The Forest Service is considering “green” certification for timber produced on the national forests. And though environmental groups have long touted such certification as a way to improve the management of privately owned forests, they have misgivings about using it for the public lands. Green certification for lumber is something like organic certification for food; […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2005: The Final Energy Frontier
A bullet for the bearer of bad news
Biologists support salmon protection, and Congress yanks their funding
Posted inDecember 12, 2005: The Final Energy Frontier
Flood insurance crimps Western waterways
Federal program fosters development, damages rivers and wetlands
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
The Latest Bounce
Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., is ready to reopen the U.S. coast for offshore drilling (HCN, 7/25/05: Will the real Mr. Pombo please stand up?). New drilling has been prohibited off the coast, except in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, since the early 1980s, thanks to a congressional moratorium. But in October, Pombo introduced a […]
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
Congress loosens organic standards
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Agriculture gets a half-step greener.” Large-scale organic food producers have beaten back an effort to strengthen national organic standards. The Organic Trade Association, which represents 1,600 farmers, distributors and grocers, had feared that stricter standards would hinder […]
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
Agriculture gets a half-step greener
Nonprofit promotes new eco-label for crops grown with fewer chemicals
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
The little wilderness that could
New Mexico conservationists build support from the ground up, and win one
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
Trouble on the Valles Caldera
Push to keep cows on preserve clashes with mandate to make money
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
Public-lands agenda turns more radical, urgent
As political winds start to turn against him, Pombo pushes to sell off forests, parks, wilderness areas
Posted inNovember 14, 2005: Back On Track
The Latest Bounce
Assistant Secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson, who oversaw the Bureau of Land Management and the Interior Department’s mining and oil and gas operations, resigned on Oct. 28. On Watson’s watch, the BLM dramatically increased the number of oil and gas drilling permits it issues. But Interior Secretary Gale Norton also commended Watson for her […]
Posted inNovember 14, 2005: Back On Track
Property-rights measure overturned
The property-rights movement’s latest star has fallen. On Oct. 14, a judge ruled that Oregon’s Measure 37, passed by voters last year, was unconstitutional. The measure allowed landowners who believed they’d lost property value due to land-use regulations to demand that state or local governments either pay compensation or waive those regulations (HCN, 6/13/05: So […]
Posted inNovember 14, 2005: Back On Track
Doubling density near Durango
After two decades of trying to hold the line against an increase in oil and gas drilling, commissioners in La Plata County recently signed deals allowing two energy companies to double the density of coalbed methane wells near Durango. Now that the companies’ infill applications have been approved by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation […]
Posted inNovember 14, 2005: Back On Track
Business booster still guides national park rules
A newly released National Park Service management policy will reduce environmental protection and boost commercial interests, according to conservation groups. Specific words, entire paragraphs and whole chapters in the new rules trace back to a controversial document written this past summer by Paul Hoffman, the Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. […]