While Congress does nothing, Western state lawmakers pass a flurry of consequential and/or crazy — bills.
Solar Energy
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
How solar geoengineering is clouding issues of tribal consent
‘Move fast, break things’ approach runs into issues of tribal authority.
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 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 inArticles
Biden’s push for power lines
Can a flurry of new power lines tame California’s solar conundrum?
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 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 inArticles
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.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2023: The Reveal
Save public lands: Put solar on Walmart!
Parking lots and big-box store roofs could generate oodles of clean power.
Posted inArticles
The green metal mining boom is on
Now is not the time to loosen mining regulations.
Posted inArticles
Wildfires are burning away the West’s snow
A new study finds wildfires are burning more high elevation areas and dramatically impacting the West’s snowpack as a result.
Posted inArticles
The Green New Deal didn’t crash California’s grid
Climate change is wrecking the electricity system.
Posted inArticles
The divide over Diablo
Greens battle greens over the fate of California’s last nuke plant.