The West has a plethora of land and a shortage of houses. Some are wondering if a solution lies within.
State Government
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The good, the bad and the ugly of the state legislative season
While Congress does nothing, Western state lawmakers pass a flurry of consequential and/or crazy — bills.
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How states make money off tribal lands
Ten states own 1.6 million acres of land within 83 tribal nations’ reservations. How did they get there?
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A proposed bottle-deposit bill in Washington would help the environment — and low-income communities
The legislation would add a premium for bottles returned by organizations supporting people who rely on deposit refunds.
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Stolen Indigenous land is the foundation of the land-grant university system. Climate change is its legacy.
Extractive industries are filling public university coffers on stolen land.
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
Learning to live with musk oxen
The species were introduced to Alaska’s Seward Peninsula decades ago, without local consent. Now they pose danger to life and property.
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Gov. Newsom releases new plan to save California salmon
A wave of dam removals is planned, but salmon strategy relies on voluntary water cuts.
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New Mexico pushes back on Big Oil
New bills in the legislature could curb industry excesses.
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
Washington’s solar permitting leaves tribal resources vulnerable to corporations
Tribal officials say the process threatens cultural resources and what remains of healthy Indigenous foodways.
Posted inDecember 1, 2023: December 2023
Has Montana solved its housing crisis?
A spate of new state laws will spur housing development. Will anyone be able to afford what’s getting built?
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New Mexico’s displaced coal miners have gotten the shaft on severance pay
The state’s just transition plans promised by the Energy Transition Act haven’t panned out for many workers.
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California will need $21.5 billion to clean up its oil sites. Who’s going to pay for it?
As industry transitions away from fossil fuels, its profits will fall behind remediation costs.
Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen
How the tiny brine shrimp can help protect the Great Salt Lake
A conversation with the sixth-grade activists behind Utah’s new state crustacean.
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What hazardous cargo moves on Colorado railroads? It’s a ‘black box’, even to state regulators
In many Western states, 19th-century laws and deregulation allow chemical- laden trains to roll in obscurity — leaving hazmat teams guessing.
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Western legislatures take on foreign land ownership
Six bills in six states propose limits on who can own land, homes and natural resources in the region.
Posted inMarch 1, 2023: Moving Parts
Green colonialism is flooding the Pacific Northwest
The Yakama Nation is fighting a pumped hydro storage development near Goldendale, Washington – but it’s just one of many.
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5 new state bills that could shape the future of energy in Alaska
The state’s legislative session has just begun. Here are the bills climate activists are watching.
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Montana’s anti-Indigenous politics aren’t going away
The now-dead proposal to ‘investigate’ reservations was neither the beginning or the end of combative attitudes towards tribal nations in the state.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2023: The Reveal
In a warming world, California’s trees keep dying
That could doom the state’s plan to fight climate change with the help of nature.
Posted inMarch 1, 2023: Moving Parts
Here’s what it takes to build Alaska’s highways of ice
Frozen rivers are vital transportation routes for communities outside the state’s traditional road system.