Battle lines over a proposed Bears Ears monument are blurred, dividing tribes and towns.
Jonathan Thompson
Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands. Follow him @LandDesk
Posted inMay 30, 2016: Trial by Fire
Latest: EPA finalizes rules to reduce methane leakage
The rules target new oil and gas infrastructure.
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New Mexico sues EPA and others over Gold King disaster
The suit is the first blow in what is likely to be a long legal fracas.
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In Utah, the fight for a Bears Ears monument heats up
In a place where history, culture and geography intermingle, ‘local’ can be hard to define.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
Silverton’s Gold King reckoning
How the Animas River disaster forced Silverton to face its pollution problem — and its destiny.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
A Gold King Mine Timeline
A tangled history of profit, tragedy and unfulfilled dreams.
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This is what an oil bust looks like
Low prices have energy companies and communities reeling as rig counts plummet and unemployment climbs.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
How not to forget the West’s past atrocities
The national park system does more than celebrate beauty. It also commemorates the ugliest parts of our past.
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A new and more dangerous Sagebrush Rebellion
At first, as the armed occupation in Oregon’s High Desert unfolded in January, it looked like a widescreen version of the flare-ups we’ve seen in the West ever since the Sagebrush Rebellion erupted in the 1970s. Recall the so-called “oppressed ranchers,” their anti-federal rhetoric and the sight of cowboy-hatted heroes riding to their rescue. But […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2016: Sagebrush Insurgency
The rise of the Sagebrush Sheriffs
How rural ‘constitutional’ peace officers are joining the war against the feds.
Posted inFebruary 2, 2016: Sagebrush Insurgency
Graphic: The hidden connections of the Sagebrush Insurgency
Where a sprawling network of actors find common cause.
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Authorities closing in on Oregon’s Malheur occupation
FBI calls for removal of occupiers following eight arrests and the death of one man late Tuesday.
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BLM proposes rules for oil and gas methane emissions
The rule will help conserve natural gas and mitigate pollution, targeting 100,000 existing wells.
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Massive leaks are an everyday occurrence in gas fields
California’s Aliso Canyon is a reminder that methane emissions are widespread, poorly regulated — and ongoing.
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The first Sagebrush Rebellion: What sparked it and how it ended
Today’s movement is a radical, perverted version of the 1970s-80s rebellion.
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Who’s who inside and on the outskirts of the Malheur occupation
Here are the most vocal occupiers, along with a core group of militia members staying in Burns.
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The BLM’s inconsistent approach toward rule breakers
A look at how the feds have — and have not — punished individuals for defying regulations.
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Economic diplomacy in Sagebrush Rebel country
A new science and education center gives rural Utah a boost.
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Slow-motion methane disaster
Aliso Canyon has leaked more greenhouse gases in two months than a coal mine does in a year.
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Pot growers put huge energy demand on the grid
Utilities should view legalization as an opportunity, not a threat.