Forty-five years of High Country News boom and bust cover stories.
Economy
Posted inArticles
How ‘amenity migrants’ push out locals
Communities once sustained by local labor now rely on stock market dividends.
Posted inMarch 16, 2015: Wild Ride
Lessons from boom and bust in New Mexico
What we can learn from the oil and gas roller coaster ride in Farmington and beyond.
Posted inMarch 16, 2015: Wild Ride
An oil well, by the numbers
A deep dive into drilling, operating and producing.
Posted inArticles
Don’t expect oil prices to rebound anytime soon
Global forces conspire to keep energy prices low, for better and worse.
Posted inArticles
USDA announces new grants to reduce ‘grain drain’
With the average age of farmers still rising, grants to help out newbies don’t get to the root of the problem.
Posted inFebruary 16, 2015: Chainsaw Diplomacy
Statistical realism
David Hughes crunches unpopular numbers for the shale oil boom.
Posted inArticles
After a string of accidents, refinery workers strike for safety
Federal and state investigations have found lax safety practices at oil refineries going back a decade.
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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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Plunging oil prices are saving Alaskan ecosystems — for now
The new governor shelves controversial roads, dams and other developments.
Posted inJanuary 12, 2015: What Are We Thinking?
Should nature have standing to sue?
Even today, the natural world needs a co-plaintiff: us.
Posted inJanuary 12, 2015: What Are We Thinking?
Should we put a price on nature?
A nuanced look at ecosystem services.
Posted inJanuary 12, 2015: What Are We Thinking?
Where can we say ‘Yes’ to oil and gas?
What we give up in so-called sacrifice zones.
Posted inArticles
The Forest Service bets on second-growth logging in Alaska
But can timber still keep island communities in the Tongass afloat?
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As water demand slows, utilities seek new solutions
Will new pricing models be the answer to both revenue problems and water waste?
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Game of drones
Nevada looks to the boom in unmanned aerial vehicles for an economic boost.
Posted inArticles
The oil boom hasn’t busted, but it’s straining at the seams
Oil patch communities and states are starting to feel the impacts of sliding prices.
Posted inArticles
Conflicting forecasts for natural gas
A new study suggests that estimates for U.S. supplies may be vastly overstated.