While Congress does nothing, Western state lawmakers pass a flurry of consequential and/or crazy — bills.
Renewable Energy
Posted inArticles
Biden plan will earmark millions of acres of public land for solar development
Proposed updates to the Western Solar Plan would also close sensitive areas to utility-scale solar projects.
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 inJanuary 1, 2024: January 2024
12 not-so-easy steps to decarbonize the grid
Electrifying will make a difference if that power comes from clean sources.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2024: January 2024
Labor unions and environmentalists are working together on the energy transition
In 2023, groups found solidarity on the climate, but work lies ahead.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2024: January 2024
The New Mexico co-op breaking up with fossil fuels
An 80-year-old electricity supplier goes all in on decarbonization.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2024: January 2024
How 3 Indigenous women are leading the way on climate change
These experts bring knowledge and justice to the climate conversation.
Posted inArticles
Pondering public lands and the energy transition conundrum
Fighting the climate crisis will require difficult choices.
Posted inOctober 2, 2023: The Dark Side of the Sheepherding Industry
New legislation is creating a clean-energy project pulse
Will the manufacturing renaissance finally displace fossil fuels?
Posted inArticles
BLM aims to grow wind and solar development on public lands
A proposed rule decreases the fee for renewable power production that experts say currently bolsters fossil fuel extraction.
Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen
Geothermal: Hot or not?
This old, abundant, relatively clean energy source has barely been tapped.
Posted inArticles
Can retiring farmland make California’s Central Valley more equitable?
Planning for the future of groundwater also offers an opportunity to plan for climate justice.
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Biden’s push for power lines
Can a flurry of new power lines tame California’s solar conundrum?
Posted inArticles
San Carlos Apache call for international intervention over copper mine at Oak Flat
At the U.N., leaders describe the destruction of Indigenous sacred sites as a ‘major human rights violation.’
Posted inArticles
BLM approves plans for a massive transmission line across the West
The $3 billion TransWest Express would send wind power from Wyoming to California.
Posted inApril 1, 2023: The Path Forward
Why electrify?
The push to evict natural gas appliances from buildings, explained.
Posted inApril 1, 2023: The Path Forward
The natural gas pushback
Local communities want to electrify, but gas interests have other ideas.
Posted inArticles
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.’
Posted inArticles
Can net-zero homes really be affordable?
A Colorado nonprofit is constructing its second affordable housing complex with an eye toward mass production.
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.