Mining of tar sands in Alberta Canada has left a landscape of razed boreal forest dotted with pools of toxic wastewater. It also produced 1.49 million barrels of crude oil last year – every day. Now, the first-ever commercial tar sands mine proposed in the United States is facing its second legal challenge from Western […]
denvern
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Telemocracy #4
As if you needed more evidence. It is now undeniably clear: John Hickenlooper is Satan, and hates America. As I mentioned in the first installment of Telemocracy, the negative campaign ad is a proud American tradition. Since John Hickenlooper – Denver mayor and current Democratic candidate for governor of Colorado – apparently has no respect for the American Way, […]
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Full frackin’ disclosure
New regulations in Wyoming requiring gas companies to disclose chemicals used in fracking go a long way toward addressing a rising chorus of health and environmental concerns. But, like a wholesome, Wyoming first date, it’s just a start, and they don’t go all the way. Drillers have long contended that the chemical cocktails they use […]
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Land trade angers locals
A land swap between the feds and the most generous campaign contributor to a Colorado congressman is stirring up controversy on the state’s Western Slope. If the plan goes through, the National Park Service will gain two valuable inholdings, and, proponents say, the traded federal land will be even better protected than it is now […]
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Telemocracy #3
You thought he had receded into the bowels of history, relegated to the proverbial footnotes of our politics. Indeed, Dan, of “potatoe” fame, has passed into the relative obscurity of Phoenix sprawlurbia – and yet, the Quayle name lives on … Behold, the second iteration, Ben Quayle. Quayle 2.0 is honoring the spirit of his father’s […]
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Telemocracy # 2
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” –Hunter S. Thompson, in Rolling Stone, 1974 Who knew that the home of a gigantic desert lake that is mercilessly full of salt could get even weirder? Utahn politics have begotten some truly magnificent works of campaign art this cycle – let’s get right to it.
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Rain rights
Let the water wars commence – or not. Douglas County will soon be the site of Colorado’s first large-scale rainwater harvesting project — an important step away from a more than century old state policy that made the practice illegal, perhaps without good reason. The Colorado Water Conservation Board voted unanimously last month to make Sterling Ranch, a […]
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Telemocracy #1
Greetings, earthlings, and other denizens of the West. This is the first installment of what will be an ongoing High Country News roundup of Western campaign commercials. I have scoured the interwebs, and picked out a few that are particularly great in their own special ways. In today’s episode, “If you can’t say something nice, put it […]
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It’s getting warmer in here – and drier
A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) offers a mixed picture of how climate change will affect Western water supplies. Some places will see more moisture, most will see less. For the majority of the region, sustainability of water resources is set to become a serious problem. The study was conducted by […]
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We’ve got hot dates
Here at High Country News, we’re proud of the fact that we’ve got all of our stories from 1993 on available online, in a free searchable archive. But over the last few years, a bug worked its way into the system. You may have noticed that when you did a search, most older stories showed […]
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Will the real data please stand up?
Facing a comprehensive federal investigation on the health and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing of gas wells, some natural gas advocates seem resistant to finding any answers at all. In preparation for its much-anticipated study this summer the Environmental Protection Agency is holding public hearings around the country, asking citizens to help determine the study’s […]
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New face, old body
The dissolution of the Minerals Management Service has led to a revival of two venerated bureaucratic traditions: infighting and hoarding of office supplies. While BP-owned oil continues gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, the section of the Department of the Interior tasked with regulating offshore drilling and collecting royalties has been dissolved and divided into […]