In the Western states, either the legislature or petition-toting individuals can take issues directly to the voters by putting initiatives on the ballot. This year, the West is a hornet’s nest of initiatives: Voters face 82 ballot measures in 10 states. Come Nov. 7, for example, Coloradans will choose whether to legalize marijuana, and Californians […]
On the ballot: Voters could be energized, or exhausted, by ballot initiatives
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Dear friends
MONGOL STOPOVER Seventeen Mongolians, including environmentalists, politicians, journalists and representatives of the mining industry, showed up on HCN’s doorstep in late September as part of a tour around Colorado. The tour, organized by the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation, was intended to “establish a foundation for trust and relationship-building between participants” in order to yield “viable […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Good work in Washington
Seven years ago, I climbed aboard my aging Toyota Tercel and headed south through a blizzard so strong that it packed my wheel wells with ice. To keep the tires turning, I had to stop at small-town car washes and blast the ice blocks out with hot water. It was the first of many trips […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
A River Once More
In Oregon, an unprecedented alliance is working to put water someplace it hasn’t been in a long time: in the river.
Posted inWotr
Don’t forget the cup holders
We are not addicted to oil. We are addicted to moving around and exploring what’s out there, be it the top of the mountain or the climbing wall in the new recreation center on the edge of town. The words of that explorer of the future, Captain Kirk, stay with us because he fed our […]
Posted inWotr
When a gas pipeline blows, you get out fast
My family and I live in Clark, Wyo., on the Montana-Wyoming border, and though I used to tell people that I live on the edge of Yellowstone country, I now admit that I’m in an industrial zone, where things can get dangerous and go very wrong. Early in the evening of Aug. 11, a neighbor […]
Posted inWotr
Idaho’s permissiveness leads to elk on the lam
Sometime in August, 100 or more elk from an Idaho game farm escaped though a hole in the fence. The elk were from a domestic herd bred for huge horns and are known as “shooter bulls,” meaning they’re destined to be shot with bow and arrow or rifle by clients who engage in an elaborate […]
Posted inWotr
A simple act
No matter what time of day or night the phone rings, the voice that summons me sounds tired and desperate. But that’s not the only reason I go. I’m known there, so I seldom wait long before someone comes for me, leads me into the little room, closes the door, asks to see my ID […]
Posted inWotr
Don’t like the local rag? Start your own
My fingers pounded on the sticky keyboard. It was 2 a.m.; I’d given up drinking coffee a few hours earlier and was now chewing coffee beans chased with chocolate chips. In less than five hours, I’d make the 50-mile drive over two high mountain passes to the printer’s in Durango, in western Colorado, fretting the […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
Big yellow taxi — in Duke City
At once meditative and profane, Robert Leonard’s Yellow Cab traces his after-dark odysseys as a University of New Mexico anthropology professor who moonlights behind the wheel of a taxi. Leonard makes us privy to the stream of confessions from the back seat, narrating them in a breezy, urban voice, with the world-weary persona of someone […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
What’s wrong with the EPA?
If you’re wondering why this nation’s environmental laws aren’t implemented coherently or consistently, grab David Schoenbrod’s latest, Saving Our Environment from Washington. From a Natural Resources Defense attorney turned Yale law professor, the book is part memoir, part manifesto. And considering the potentially boring topic, Schoenbrod does an excellent job of explaining how laws such […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
A tribal renaissance
If, when you think of Indian country, you think first of its particular heartaches — alcoholism, violence, poverty, and hopelessness — then read Blood Struggle, Charles Wilkinson’s inspiring account of Indians’ political and legal victories during the last fifty years. A catalog of Indian achievements rather than problems is rare, welcome, and a little unexpected, […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
Resist!
In response to your Sept. 4 story, “States crack down on illegal immigrants”: I care about the West. I don’t want to walk in a forest which sports two humans for every tree, or hike on an ocean beach that is solid human bodies — Coney Island, for instance. Resisting immigration seems to be the […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
Enviros avoid the real problem
“Reborn” by Jonathan Thompson in your Sept. 4, 2006, issue beautifully displayed the intellectual dishonesty of the environmental movement, as exemplified by Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore. Neither friends nor enemies of the environment want to reduce demand by “talking about population control or conservation measures. …” Instead, they want to build nuclear power plants to […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
The next boom: oil shale
Remnants of the nuclear frenzy that swept across the Colorado Plateau from the 1950s still scar the landscape, especially in the form of exploration roads carved into the wilderness. Bob Dawson’s image on the cover of your Sept. 4 issue reflects the fact that impacts on the built environment often fade more quickly than disruptions […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
Nuclear power is no silver bullet
Nuclear power cannot solve all our energy needs. Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore thinks a greater amount of our power should come from nuclear energy. However, it’s unsuitable for anything beyond baseload demand because nuclear power plants cannot be easily turned on and off. There are ways around this, but they add considerably to the already […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
Fight fire with fire
When Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., verbally attacked a Forest Service Hotshot crew in the Billings airport in July (“You did a piss-poor job. … didn’t do a goddamn thing but sit around and get paid $10,000.”), the Hotshots did the only thing federal employees can do: Instead of responding to Burns, they called back to […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
The BLM chooses to say ‘yes’
John Leshy is correct when he states in your Sept. 4, 2006, article “When Can the BLM Say ‘No’?” that “It’s absolutely clear that the agencies have discretion (about offering leases).” The BLM’s attitude that it has “little authority to prevent drilling,” is the consequence of a self-imposed Bush administration policy not required by any […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
‘They both do not exist’
“They both do not exist.” — Wyoming Attorney General Patrick Crank, equating the federally protected Preble’s meadow jumping mouse with the mythical jackalope. Crank made the comparison at a congressional hearing on the mouse in Greeley, Colo., in September. U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., led the hearing. This article appeared in the print edition of […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
Give us your poor, your uninsured…
Many Westerners live in poverty, but even more lack health insurance. U.S. Percentage below poverty level: 12.6 Percentage without health coverage: 15.7 New Mexico Percentage below poverty level: 17.9 Percentage without health coverage: 21.1 Arizona Percentage below poverty level: 15.2 Percentage without health coverage: 8.1 Montana Percentage below poverty level: 13.8 Percentage without health coverage: […]