Merson flaunts environmental bias

Despite criticism, Alan Merson, recently appointed the regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver, doesn’t back down from claims that he’s an environmentalist. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.19/download-entire-issue

A federal judge’s order to halt construction of the Grayrocks Dam in Wheatland, Wyo., could shrink the generating capacity of the 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant the dam would have served. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.19/download-entire-issue

Members of the Navajo Tribe and local Indian pueblos have formed the Native American Appropriate Technology Action Council as a way to develop and promote technologies like solar that are cheap, decentralized, and that generate a spirit of self-determination. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.18/download-entire-issue

A Sierra Club member’s attempt to compromise on oil and gas development on potential wilderness lands along the Overthrust Belt — a 60-mile wide swath of high petroleum potential that runs from northwestern Montana south into Utah — has won only mild praise and some criticism from the energy industry. Download entire issue to view […]

The Alaska National Interest Lands Act, which includes protections for Gates of the Arctic National Park, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and other wild lands, faces a tricky Congress debate and a looming deadline. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.17/download-entire-issue

Despite President Jimmy Carter’s warning that he will veto any appropriations bill that includes six contested water projects, Congress has included those projects in the 1979 Public Works Appropriations bill. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.16/download-entire-issue

George Perkins Marsh’s seminal book Man and Nature would be his lasting contribution, but it was only a sideline to his lifelong curiosity over man’s role in nature’s changes. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.16/download-entire-issue

Preliminary results from studies of vegetation near the Colstrip, Montana, coal-fired power plant indicate that plants are absorbing sulfur dioxide, and that crops and grazing land could be dramatically affected in the long term. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.15/download-entire-issue

Although the Department of Energy has focused its attention on encouraging “active” solar technology — which uses separate collectors, pumps and fans — recent research indicates that “passive” systems are cheaper and more effective. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.15/download-entire-issue

The most immediate effect of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision is that the Forest Service may have to buy water from states to meet the needs of fish and wildlife. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.14/download-entire-issue

The federal government is desperately searching for ways to manage the horse and burro populations in ways that will be economically feasible and publicly acceptable, but environmental groups acknowledge there’s little chance of pleasing everyone. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.14/download-entire-issue

When the Forest Service began its second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) a year ago, industry representative feared it. But now, as environmentalists and even agency officials themselves criticize the plan, timber and mining interests are the only ones who seem pleased. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.13/download-entire-issue

At the peak of the Oregon Trail emigration, in 1850, more than 50,000 people made the overland trek in wagons and carts. Now, the fading ruts of the bygone route are a place where time seems to stand still. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.13/download-entire-issue