How an Idaho citizens’ coalition gunned down a dirty power plant — and what it means for the West
Magic Valley Uprising
Posted inWotr
Global warming can give you the chills
It was an odd juxtaposition: As news outlets were reporting last winter about astonishingly frigid conditions in Russia, where nearly 40 deaths had been linked to temperatures as low as 24 degrees below zero, they were also reporting an announcement by climate experts that 2005 was the hottest year worldwide in more than a century. […]
Posted inWotr
Wacky California is pragmatic leader of the West
The Interior West has long regarded California as a sort of rich eccentric uncle whose behavior is an embarrassment to the rest of the family. I have some firsthand knowledge of this attitude, because I am a fourth-generation Californian, who moved to rural western Colorado in 1992. The sidelong glances I received from a few […]
Posted inWotr
Corn ethanol isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
This was supposed to be a cakewalk, a no-brainer, a slam-dunk. Ethanol from corn lessened our dependence on foreign oil, they told us. It helped our struggling Midwestern farmers. It was much better for the environment. Who could not support this? As it turns out, quite a few of us. Ethanol plants are sprouting like […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Ingredients: History, preservatives
Preserving Western History is “the first college reader to address public history in the American West.” “Public history,” explains the introduction, means history presented outside classrooms. All of us consume public history, by visiting parks, watching TV shows and reading magazines. Behind the scenes, even the most basic presentation of history can involve slicing, dicing, […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
A season of change
At the beginning of winter a few years ago, nature writer Bruce Stutz lay in a hospital bed in New York, recovering from heart surgery. Eight months later, seeking the same renewal that nature experiences each year, Stutz set out on a trek from New York to Alaska to mark the coming of spring — […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Ode to a very hot spot
Despite its sensationalistic cover, John Soennichsen’s book, Live! From Death Valley, is a serious look at this unpredictable corner of California’s Mojave Desert. That’s not to say the author doesn’t have fun with his subject: He dives into the area’s bizarre geological history and its eccentric local characters, and tells plenty of self-deprecating stories about […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
The tide of new generations
“Town Shopping” is a great article, but John forgot to mention geezerdom as the number-one factor affecting his high country experience (HCN, 3/20/06: Town Shopping). You’re getting old, dude, just like the rest of us. Remember when Loveland Pass was the only way to Denver? When Vail was a high-valley cow pasture? When a night […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Is Pombo the kick we need?
Dare I say it: The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has to go. I’m sure many megalopolis developers, real estate cronies and ranchers-without-a-cause would agree with me, though not for the same reasons. The ESA protects habitat for a single species, not the entire ecosystem. This is short-sighted, biased and inappropriate given current ecological understanding. When […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Give Norton some credit
I disagree with Paul Larmer, and think it’s highly unfair to kick Gale Norton in the back of the leg on her way out the door (HCN, 4/03/06: Norton Departs). Norton dealt directly with two of the largest Interior issues in the West during her tenure. You mentioned in passing the Colorado River water issue, […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
The rise of American socialism
Your fine article “Town Shopping” describes “realtors’ rise to power” (HCN, 3/20/06: Town Shopping). That rise to power rests on the rise of American Socialism, in my opinion — the use of government (from the halls of Congress to your county board of commissioners) for personal gain. It’s seen prominently in various targeted benefits to […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Too many people just like Fayhee
At first, I thought your jabs at the real estate profession were mildly amusing. I mean, in a recent issue you had two letters from Paonia realtors taking you to task for some comments you made; you stabbed them back with a cartoon placed smack in between the letters, and not less than two pages […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Gays aren’t going away
Bob Hayward of the Native American Church can be that naive only by choice (HCN, 4/03/06: Keep the closet closed, please). I was first introduced to homosexuality in southern Montana. How it relates to New York intellectuals is beyond me. Mr. Hayward may as well get used to our presence, because we are not going […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Guest farmworkers get a new deal
Foreign workers in the West’s fields and orchards have a new bodyguard: the United Farm Workers of America. Last month, the union signed a contract with Global Horizons, a California-based company that’s one of the country’s largest suppliers of foreign agricultural labor. At peak harvest, the company employs more than 4,000 workers in 28 states, […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Corporations ask feds to set emissions limits
Last month, executives from six of the country’s largest energy companies made a startling request to federal lawmakers: Set mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions. At an April 4 climate conference held by New Mexico Sens. Pete Domenici, R, and Jeff Bingaman, D, the leaders of Shell, General Electric and others said they would prefer […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
County and Forest Service bury the shovel
A long-running dispute over an infamous dirt road in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest may be winding down. The Forest Service and Elko County, Nev., are asking a federal judge to approve a settlement over the county’s claim to South Canyon Road in Jarbidge Canyon. Although the agency still refuses to recognize the county’s assertion of […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
The Latest Bounce
There’s gold in them thar hills — and tailings in that thar lake. The Army Corps of Engineers confirmed its decision to let a mining company dump millions of tons of mine waste into an Alaskan lake (HCN, 7/25/05: Mining waste dumped in streams — and now lakes). Last fall, environmentalists sued the agency to […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Heard around the West
MONTANA Every year, as many as 700 deer collide with cars in Montana’s Ravalli County — so many that the roadsides reek to high heaven. It’s a big problem, made worse by the fact that growing populations of both deer and people have reduced the number of places where deer carcasses can be “discreetly dumped,” […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
A very brief conversation with a Jet Fighter
I used to walk the bombing ranges of southern Arizona. Sometimes I had permission, out doing field research in the deep Sonoran Desert. And sometimes I walked illegally, with no one knowing I was there, avoiding loud booms and bright flashes of light, camping in ragged canyons where nobody ever goes. Drumbeats of bombs sounded […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
In Washington, a broad-based effort aims to kick the oil habit
At a Georgetown theatre one December evening, a special, invitation-only screening of a new movie took place. Unlike most such events, though, the intent was neither to promote the movie nor to raise money, but to make a point. The movie was Syriana, the fast-paced if somewhat hard-to-follow George Clooney-Matt Damon flick about skullduggery from […]