In Colorado, a sale of 110 low-producing oil wells illustrates a hot potato effect, and how funding remediation eventually comes from the public.
Natural gas
Posted inJuly 1, 2022: Living with Rivers
The hydrogen blues (and greens and grays)
Is this wonder fuel truly green — or just another fossil fuel in disguise?
Posted inArticles
The San Juan Basin’s fossil fuel transition slowed by economic and cultural bonds
The region’s history with prosperity in the oil and gas industry looms over conversations about how to diversify its economy.
Posted inArticles
What the Ukraine war means for Western lands
War hawks and climate hawks alike are calling for energy independence.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
Russia’s war reverberates in the West
Putin’s military moves — and the globe’s response to them — have unexpected consequences for the region.
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Biden’s broken promise on climate?
The administration resumes oil and gas leasing — and fixes a dysfunctional system in the process.
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Biden pledged to stop drilling on public lands. What happened?
The president reversed a key part of his agenda that was intended to combat the climate crisis.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
Cows, coal and climate change: A Q&A with the new BLM director
Tracy Stone-Manning discusses how the federal agency sees conservation, the climate crisis and the Indigenous history of public lands.
Posted inArticles
Redlined neighborhoods have double the oil and gas wells
A new study shows how fossil fuels and structural racism collide.
Posted inMarch 1, 2022: The Cloning Conundrum
How a Tacoma gas facility started a fight over climate change, sovereignty and human rights
A Washington methane gas project is compounding a crisis of tribal consultation, pension funds and national immigration practices.
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Interior devotes billions to plugging old oil wells. Is it enough?
The agency under-counted abandoned wells by more than half, which means the effort covers only a fraction of the cost.
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The Westiest programs in Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The act is the New Deal redux, with a splash of ecosystem restoration.
Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door
Why reducing methane emissions matters
What you can’t see can hurt.
Posted inAugust 1, 2021: A Mega-Dairy Comes to the Desert
Climate change wreaks havoc on the electricity grid
Heat and drought combined are especially harmful to the power system.
Posted inArticles
Can the sun solve New Mexico’s energy conundrum?
The state is dependent on oil and gas, but Carlsbad has opportunity to become the epicenter of renewable energy.
Posted inJune 1, 2021: Once and Future Fires
Cannabis has a carbon problem
The burgeoning marijuana industry gobbles up electricity.
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Massive drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope given go ahead
Critics say the lease is at odds with President Biden’s pledge to combat the climate crisis.
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Is California’s carbon offset program actually helping the environment?
How a nonprofit cashed in on carbon credit exchanges without reducing emissions.
Posted inMay 1, 2021: Beauty and Biodiversity in the Borderlands
Has Eugene, Oregon, found a ‘superpower’ for climate action?
The city’s eyeing changes to its natural gas contract to fund climate ambitions.
Posted inArticles
Wyoming’s schools at risk as the state’s extraction industries erode
One of the biggest spenders per student in the nation, the state has tied the expenditure to mineral wealth. Will legislators vote to raise state taxes?