BackstoryThe controversy surrounding Mount Taylor — a volcano in northwest New Mexico sacred to several tribes — began in 2008, when the tribes sought to protect it from further uranium mining (“Dueling Claims,” HCN, 12/7/09). After contamination from the mines sickened workers, they fought to have 400,000 acres of federal, state and private lands designated […]
Mining
Posted inDecember 24, 2012: The new Wild, Wild West
A mining rush in Canada’s backcountry threatens Alaska salmon
Last summer, John Grace, one of the world’s elite kayakers, traveled more than 3,000 miles from his North Carolina home into the wild northwest corner of British Columbia, to explore the Iskut River. It’s the biggest tributary of the Stikine River, which flows all the way to the Alaska panhandle coast, and together they’re the […]
Posted inNovember 9, 2009: Roadless-less
Metalpalooza ’09
Just a year ago, copper, molybdenum and platinum prices plummeted, taking mining jobs and production levels across the West down with them. Now, metal prices are climbing back, which could breathe new life into shuttered mines and shelved expansion plans. Copper behemoth Freeport-McMoRan plans to resume operations at its dormant mine in Miami, Ariz. Idaho-based […]
Posted inGoat
The cost of progress
The Environmental Working Group just released a two-year study focusing on the toxins found in five minority women at the forefront of environmental justice battles. Within each community, these women work tirelessly to protect citizens from various forms of pollution. And within each of these women, scientists found significantly higher amounts of toxins than other […]
Posted inGoat
A midnight lease on the mesa
High Country News has reported on the Bush administration’s “midnight deregulations,” the host of hurried laws issued in the waning days of the administration, which – whether aimed at fisheries, air pollution, or oil shale – generally promise to benefit big business while undercutting environmental protections. But now that Obama’s in the oval office, some […]
Posted inMay 26, 2008: On Cancer’s Trail
On Cancer’s Trail
The women in Stefanie Raymond-Whish’s family have a history of breast cancer. Now the young Navajo biologist is asking why.
Posted inMay 26, 2008: On Cancer’s Trail
A patient
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “On Cancer’s Trail.” Kathleen Tsosie sits in the waiting room of the San Juan Regional Cancer Center in Farmington. A one-year breast cancer survivor, she has just received devastating news: A new growth has been spotted in her remaining, healthy breast. Dressed in a […]
Posted inMay 26, 2008: On Cancer’s Trail
A well
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “On Cancer’s Trail.” Between Haystack Rock and Mount Taylor, on an expansive sweep of desert near the eastern edge of the Navajo Reservation, Kerr McGee and Homestake mined uranium ore for decades, hauling it down the road in uncovered trucks. The Homestake Mill is […]
Posted inMay 26, 2008: On Cancer’s Trail
An activist
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “On Cancer’s Trail.” Scientific research on breast cancer is important, but if lives on the reservation are being saved right now, it’s largely through the efforts of people like Nellie Sandoval, Stefanie Raymond-Whish’s mother. Sandoval, a retired high school guidance counselor, works to ensure […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 2007: The Efficiency Paradox
Condemned
Out on the range, old eminent domain laws erode private property rights
Posted inNovember 13, 2006: Bred for success
Spinning coal into gasoline
Questions hang over promise of clean diesel and energy independence
Posted inSeptember 4, 2006: Blast from the Past
Reborn
The West casts a wary eye on the latest nuclear craze
Posted inSeptember 4, 2006: Blast from the Past
The Hot West
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, “The Fourth Wave,” in a special issue about the West’s resurgent uranium economy. THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE MINING AND MILLING In 1983, mining ceased at Kennecott Energy’s Sweetwater open-pit uranium mine (at right) near Rawlins, Wyo. Uranium ore from traditional open-pit or […]
Posted inWotr
Pombo’s plan to privatize the West must be stopped
What is it, exactly, that makes the West special? There are certainly many answers to that question, but perhaps the one that Westerners would give more than any other is our “wide open spaces.” Despite much development, there is still open space in the West: space to hike, to hunt, to breathe free, to escape […]
Posted inWotr
We need to store fat from the gas-feeding frenzy
Every fall, black bears enter a ravenous state in which they will do almost anything for food. Biologists call it hyperphagia — the time of super-eating. Bears in hyperphagia can get into trouble if their search for calories leads them to our backyards or to garbage cans behind the local diner. We Westerners have also […]
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
Public-lands agenda turns more radical, urgent
As political winds start to turn against him, Pombo pushes to sell off forests, parks, wilderness areas
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
The Great Salt Lake’s dirty little secret
High mercury levels may have a surprising source
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Tales of Colorado’s high-elevation tailings
In 1983, an anonymous caller warned Doc Smith that “his river would turn red.” Sure enough, the next day, the rancher and veterinarian watched toxic mining metals surge through the Arkansas River as it crossed his property. This wasn’t the first time: His grandfather had fought the effects of mining on his ranchlands and livestock […]
Posted inDecember 20, 2004: Stand Your Ground
Nevada BLM cleans out cleanup project manager
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Conscientious Objectors.” Earle Dixon was in for a surprise this fall, when he showed up for a meeting at his office in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Carson City Field Office. Over the previous year, Dixon had overseen the cleanup of the Yerington […]