While Congress does nothing, Western state lawmakers pass a flurry of consequential and/or crazy — bills.
Coal
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2023: Food Justice
Revisiting the Rock Springs Massacre
In 1885, white coal miners in Wyoming Territory, murdered at least 28 Chinese men and ran the rest of the Chinese out of town at gunpoint. These artworks bring that history back to the present.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence
How a dinosaur is redefining a rural coal town
The 74 million-year-old fossil of Walter the hadrosaur brings paleo-tourism to Craig, Colorado.
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The Willow project is part of a larger trend: energy colonialism
Five decades ago, the late Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah described America’s ‘power madness.’
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Is carbon capture the solution for jobs and climate action in fossil fuel country?
A project in Wyoming’s coal region brings the new technology, but critics say it carries unacceptable risks.
Posted inDecember 1, 2022: Beyond Illusion
Carbon capture convolution
A complicated process, explained.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
Can ravaged economies be healed with a restoration industry?
Cleaning up the West could be as lucrative as wrecking it.
Posted inArticles
Climate game changer? Or fossil fuel giveaway?
A break down of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
The EPA has more options to rein in climate change than you think
There are still many ways to shut down major polluters — including some options the agency isn’t using.
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In Alaska, coal is dwindling as green energy is on the rise
The closure of Healy Unit 2 signals a rise in renewable energy projects around Alaska.
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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
Will carbon capture help clean New Mexico’s power, or delay its transition?
A virtually unknown company has a $1.4 billion plan to extend the life of the state’s largest coal-fired power plant. Critics say it’s likely to be a costly distraction from a just transition.
Posted inArticles
New Mexico’s landmark coal transition law faces an uncertain timeline
Despite momentum in 2017, drought and supply chain problems are complicating the shift from fossil fuels.
Posted inJuly 1, 2022: Living with Rivers
Your ears will perk up at these new Western podcasts
Four new podcasts envision change in juvenile justice, energy and ranching.
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
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 inMarch 1, 2022: The Cloning Conundrum
The place that coal built and fire burned
Extractive industry laid the infrastructure for the suburban sprawl that fueled Colorado’s destructive Marshall Fire.
Posted inArticles
Will the EPA partially close a Wyoming coal plant that’s one of the nation’s largest polluters?
The decision affects the local economy and air quality — and could create an opening for renewable energy.
Posted inArticles
Harry Reid’s legacy will be remembered on the land
A reflection on what endures after the death of the longtime senator from Nevada.