Federal and state investigations have found lax safety practices at oil refineries going back a decade.
After a string of accidents, refinery workers strike for safety
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Aldo Leopold explains it all
Should nature be protected for humans or from humans?
Posted inFebruary 16, 2015: Chainsaw Diplomacy
Beautiful yet harrowing photos of urban sprawl
Review of ‘Lake Las Vegas/Black Mountain’ by Michael Light.
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An experiment in privatizing public land fails after 14 years
It is no secret that some state legislators in the West want to boot federal land management agencies from their states. They argue that agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service cost too much and are too detached from local values, and that states could make money by running our vast open […]
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California’s water future at a crossroads
A state commission begins deliberations on how to spend $2.7B for water storage.
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Fractivists target Denver to build support
A new campaign launches to stop fracking before it starts in and around Denver.
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Fewer trade secrets for Wyoming fracking fluid
A court settlement will make it harder for companies to hide chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.
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Canada’s mining boom spills into U.S. waters
How do you protect a river that begins in another country?
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Crude tactics worked against the sage grouse
For years now, the oil and gas industry has been stirring up trouble for sage grouse. The possibility that the prairie-dwelling birds might receive Endangered Species Act protection gives oil executives high-grade anxiety. It would threaten jobs, they say. It would ruin the economy. It would reduce profits. All the noise the industry has made […]
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Feds demand payback for misused stimulus funds
Millions of dollars for carbon sequestration that apparently never happened.
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The increasingly unequal West
Rich get richer while everyone else wallows in a region once known to be economically egalitarian.
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Dry January means more drought across West
After a rainy December, many states now have lower-than-normal snowpacks.
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A wilderness bill for both sides of the aisle
U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson tries another Boulder-White Clouds bill in Idaho.
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Oil pipelines are going to keep breaking in rivers
On the second day of July in 2011, I walked down to my hay fields to see if the Yellowstone River had flooded its banks. It had — but so had crude oil leaking from Exxon’s Silvertip Pipeline, which runs underneath the river upstream from my farm south of Billings, Montana. That was the beginning […]
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A new film tells the story of the Klamath River agreements
Republican lawmaker-turned-filmmaker, Jason Atkinson on why conservation doesn’t have to be a partisan issue.
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Plunging oil prices are saving Alaskan ecosystems — for now
The new governor shelves controversial roads, dams and other developments.
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Let’s talk about the “Z” word
I am a rancher in a ranching community, so I imagine you’re not surprised to learn that we don’t like anyone else to tell us what we can do with our land. This worked when we all raised cattle. Even when some folks started raising sheep or buffalo, we generally got along. The requirements of […]
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Attacks on federal research funding anger scientists
Politicians lay siege to the National Science Foundation.
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Why we risked getting arrested in Utah
Twenty-five people who took direct action last summer to stop a tar sands strip mine on Utah’s East Tavaputs Plateau accepted plea deals on Jan. 25 to avoid more serious charges such as “felony riot.” We took the risk of going to prison in the first place because we felt we’d become the last line […]
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National forests to decide where snowmobiles are welcome
A new rule requires the government to specify areas for winter motorized users.