Selling every seat in the House — and Senate

Widespread use of political action committees, a relatively new phenomenon on the American political scene, is driving politics in many Western states. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/15.1/download-entire-issue

No one knows the extent of groundwater pollution in the northern Rocky Mountain states. And even when contamination is discovered, it is often difficult to pinpoint the source. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/15.1/download-entire-issue

Does the Rocky Mountain identity really exist? Do people here feel the pull of regionalism like, say, midwesterners or New England natives? Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.25/download-entire-issue

One can be a technotwit, a businessman, a flower child or even a woman and win elections in the Rockies, but it helps if one also knows how to swing a rope, or at least a fly rod. To read this article, click the “View a PDF from the original” link below. This article appeared […]

Is a sense of place — a link between bios and region — vital? One of America’s greatest afflictions is a feeling of homelessness, estrangement, anomie. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.25/download-entire-issue

The residents of Phoenix, Albuquerque and Tucson are no more southwesterners than the American employees of oil companies, living in Saudi Arabia in sealed compounds complete with Wataburger stands, are Saudi Arabians. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.25/download-entire-issue

The basic paradox of the powerful nuclear weapons that reside in Cheyenne, Wyo. and other Western locales is that they are too powerful to be used. But if this is so, they lose all their strategic and diplomatic value — so we have to keep threatening to use them. To read this article, click the […]

A welding engineer with the Washington Public Power Plant Supply System says the plant has structural problems that could cause costly delays. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.24/download-entire-issue

Whitewater enthusiasts who ignore the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that prohibits floating across private land are guilty of third degree criminal trespass. (The second installment of a two-part feature on the future of white-water sports in Colorado.) Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.23/download-entire-issue

In some instances, after a storm, the amount of lead in Colorado’s South Platte River was up to 10 times higher than state water standards permit. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.23/download-entire-issue

The Reagan administration has sent Congress a list of rivers it recommends for inclusion in the Nation Wild and Scenic Rivers System, the first time in four years that any rivers outside of Alaska have been recommended. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.22/download-entire-issue

Today in Colorado, rafters, kayakers, canoeists and thousands of tourists proclaim whitewater recreation as the sport of the ’80s. (The first installment of a two-part feature on the future of white-water sports in Colorado.) Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.22/download-entire-issue

ARCO has closed not only its infamous Washoe Smelter at Anaconda, but also the copper refinery at Great Falls, the mile-wide Berkeley Pit and the entire underground mining operation underlying Butte, Montana. (Plus articles on copper depression in Arizona and Utah.) Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.21/download-entire-issue

A Bureau of Reclamation wind turbine demonstration project in Wyoming may show the future promise of wind power. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.21/download-entire-issue