EPA found that state regulators allowed 2,500 to be contaminated.
Latest: California fracking companies inject protected aquifers with wastewater
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Keeping the dust down in California’s Owens Valley
A civil engineer battles Los Angeles over its air pollution legacy.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
January exodus
HCN’ers get into the backcountry, editor Betsy Marston sees Berlin and art director Cindy Wehling takes a trip to Hawaii.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Grief’s possible outcomes
Review of ‘The Possibilities’ by Kaui Hart Hemmings.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Glass half full?
On Jan. 1, I joined 15 friends on a raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. That morning, our boats were covered in snow; the canyon’s red cliffs, capped with white, looked like giant slabs of frosted carrot cake. The ranger said locals had never seen the place so wintry. So we […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
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… on Judith Lewis Mernit’s story, “Why are environmentalists mad at Jerry Brown?” Fred Rinne: “Brown takes big money from the Western States Petroleum Association and will not end fracking in our state. His water plan would, if enacted, wipe out river, estuary and bay ecosystems to benefit a few billionaire agribusiness crooks and developers.” […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Beauty and malevolence in Montana
Review of ‘The Ploughmen’ by Kim Zupan.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Community solar comes of age in the West
A neighborhood solar experiment in Washington gains traction in other states.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Chronicling the work of an early Native American artist
Review of ‘In Search of Nampeyo: The Early Years, 1875-1892’ by Steve Elmore.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Bullets, Oil, Fire
“This Land Is Their Land” exposes the problems of blocked access, but frames it in terms of landowners vs. access seekers. I have been on both sides of the issue, and I understand that it is not that simple. Like many residents of Albuquerque’s wildland-urban interface, I live a 10-minute walk from public land that […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Balancing the pulls of domesticity and wilderness
How I take inspiration, and cautionary advice, from Ed Abbey’s family misadventures.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Access and disparity
Marshall Swearingen’s article on the ongoing battle over access to public lands (“This Land Is Their Land,” HCN, 2/2/15) highlights two of the most crucial concepts in the formation of the culture of the West: private ownership rights and the large amount of land held in the public domain. These two elements and the balancing […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
$300 fine for tracking mud on streets, dress codes for sheriffs, and more.
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
Big dig, big disgrace
A new mega-tunnel won’t save Seattle from the tyranny of traffic.
Posted inArticles
Demographic shifts and the Native voting block
In 1980, 20 percent of the U.S. population was minority; today, 37 percent is.
Posted in2015
D.C. correspondent to expand HCN’s reach
“Elizabeth brings us incredible expertise on issues, a solid reputation in the D.C. journalism and environmental communities, and strong storytelling abilities,” says Jodi Peterson, managing editor for High Country News. “She’ll help inform our readers of critical Western issues surrounding public lands, energy, economic development and communities, and how they shape, and are shaped by, national […]
Posted inArticles
The riddle of the circle of ancient power
“Walk left,” the sign says, at the entrance to the roped-off site. It’s a place that hammers me in the chest. The world spills away, down into the Bighorn Basin, across Wyoming and north into Montana, a huge gallop of space. Brown miles stretch out veined with river courses, serrated with ridges and mountain ranges. […]
Posted inArticles
New hope for beetle-killed landscapes
Can native forest fungi combat the West’s bark beetle epidemic?
Posted inArticles
Utah’s public lands aren’t about to change hands
Plenty of ink has been spilled lately over Utah’s Transfer of Public Lands Act, the controversial law requiring the federal government to turn over 31.2 million acres of public land to the state of Utah – without even a token payment to the U.S. Treasury. But should the American public take this proposal seriously? The […]