Doug Burgum was once seen as a conservationist. Reality shows otherwise.
Oil
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Studies link New Mexico drilling to radiation, air pollution, health risks
Small towns in the Permian Basin have become a petri dish for the perils of living amid the nation’s largest oil fields.
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Arctic drilling in Alaska won’t get environmental review in new proposal
The Interior Department will soon publish a ‘categorical exclusion’ that will rubber stamp oil and gas development in Alaska’s remote National Petroleum Reserve.
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New Mexico’s rising climate-disaster costs are being paid by oil and gas revenue
The state is in a double bind of fossil fuel extraction and the destructive results of burning it.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
What Standing Rock’s propaganda war means today
Ten years after the standoff, exclusive documents reveal that digital mercenaries targeted local communities and stirred up anti-protest sentiment.
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The BLM may stop notifying landowners about drilling under private land. Ranchers are alarmed
Western cattlemen are poised to lose almost all opportunity to comment on oil and gas development underneath their property.
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Elk herd habitat near Dinosaur National Monument to open for drilling
On June 16, the feds will open Colorado’s biggest public land sale in modern history, threatening wildlife and recreation.
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Emails show Interior delivered new drilling permits for Burgum’s billionaire ally
Oil and gas giant Continental Resources wanted the BLM to sign off on new wells in Wyoming, despite a court injunction there. The agency obliged.
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The public got one week to comment on Chaco Canyon drilling. It’s almost over
Indigenous leaders, New Mexico political leaders accuse feds of rushing a decision about the sacred site.
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War exposes the energy dominance lie
True energy independence comes from weaning ourselves from fossil fuels.
Posted inMarch 2026: The Uncertainty of Farming in the Colorado River Basin
Wildlife loves Wyoming’s ‘Golden Triangle.’ So do oil companies
How Trump’s oil-and-gas agenda threatens a critical, and little-known, ecosystem.
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Trump’s BLM nominee waffles on public land sell-off stance
Steve Pearce, the White House’s second oil and gas-connected pick, is ”not so sure” he’s changed.
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The AI Age perpetuates fossil fuel burning
Ancient energy sources power the future.
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Alaska’s public lands are a political battleground
The first year of the second Trump administration saw a bewildering array of federal actions in the 49th state. Here’s your guide to where things now stand.
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Western climate litigants keep fighting
After disappointing losses in Alaska and Montana, an Indigenous-led climate case is making strides in New Mexico.
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Will this threatened frog stop drilling near Denver?
Northern leopard frogs were found near the site of what would be one of state’s largest fossil fuel operations.
Posted inIssues
Western economies falter under the Trump administration
Tariffs, layoffs and federal funding clawbacks stress budgets.
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The nation’s energy dominance falters
Trump is killing clean energy, and it’s not even helping fossil fuels.
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Proposed Wyoming oil and gas leases overlap wildlife corridors
BLM lease sales planned for next summer land along migration paths. Public comments accepted through Nov. 17.
Posted inOctober 2025: Limits to Growth
In a changing Arctic, how much noise is too much?
Alaska’s bowhead whales can hear the climate changing. Scientists are listening in, too.