California’s Westlands irrigation district wants to blame a tiny endangered fish for its water troubles, but the real culprit is simply long-term drought.
Ending hunger
A vision of food empowerment
Mountains of mercury
The pollution costs of cement production
Legal pyro
How a fireline grunt torched her way to the top
Urban oilscape
One of the West’s most car-happy places sprawls across some of its oldest and most productive oilfields. About 28 million barrels are pumped annually from 5,000 wells in the Los Angeles Basin and just offshore, according to the Center for Land Use Interpretation. These photos were drawn from the organization’s recent L.A. exhibit, “Urban Crude.”…
Native power in Tucson
On the evening of Jan. 27, a distinguished group of journalists, environmentalists and tribal leaders will come together at the University of Arizona for an HCN-sponsored event entitled “Power Struggle: Energy, Activism and the role of the Media on the Hopi and Navajo Nations.” For more information, see our ad on page 20 and visit…
Solidarity, not suits
After reading the recent interview with Kieran Suckling, it occurs to me the one reason we’re having so much trouble advancing meaningful conservation opportunities is we’re spending too much time, energy and money fighting each other (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). The litigation and lawsuits advanced by the Center for Biological Diversity are having the exact…
Thanks for the memories
As one of the original members of the Mexican Wolf Coalition, I read with amusement Kieran Suckling’s self-serving statements about the circumstances leading up to the Mexican gray wolf being released back into the wild (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). I have a different recollection. Indeed, some members of the Mexican Wolf Coalition were more cautious…
Wait ’til you read the one about Sean Hannity
Although Jonathan Thompson’s politics and mine are identical, I think that he does our cause a disservice by injecting ad hominem throwaway lines that detract from his excellent points. In the Dec. 7 editor’s note, he simply does not need the cracks about John McCain or Sarah Palin. For better or worse, McCain is doing…
If only he could have …
Regarding Paul Larmer’s editor’s note about Cedar Hill and cell towers, cell coverage is forever (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). I think it’s valid to ask why we need it everywhere, why it is inevitable, and whether in landscapes of beauty and integrity we should swallow the whole safety argument. Is the illusory cocoon of convenience…
Blinded by the wind
I find Jonathan Thompson’s love affair with wind turbines hard to comprehend (HCN, 12/21/09 & 1/4/10). Perhaps he has been mesmerized by the slowly rotating turbines. Or is his dislike of the oil and gas industry such that he is willing to see the great vistas of the West destroyed in the name of renewable…
The genesis of the West
Douglas Brinkley’s new biography tells the story of TR
The EPA rides again
Agency swings into action, to industry’s dismay
‘The Cadillac of California irrigation districts’
Westlands has more than a tiny fish to blame for its troubles.
Water war, or peace?
As 2009 came to an end, I asked readers of our HCN Commons e-mail newsletter what they thought the West’s big issues would be in 2010. The predominant response wasn’t all that surprising: Water, water and water. Several people agree that this could be the year when water agencies finally acknowledge the natural limits of…