Editor’s note: James Mills is journeying around the West, exploring issues of diversity in Western national parks. Port Arthur, TX is a long way from Colorado. But when Texas environmental justice advocate Hilton Kelley delivered a message to the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, he demonstrated an activist power that transcends that distance. The 32nd annual Telluride […]
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The kids are not all right (with climate change)
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House A few weeks ago, a band of juvenile activists made headlines around the country when they, with the help of some eager adults, filed lawsuits demanding our nation’s leaders do their part to reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Two 11-year-olds in Boulder signed onto the Colorado suit, […]
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When is a Jeep trail not a road?
A popular redrock canyon in Southern Utah is the latest proving ground in the undying Western debate over roads on federal public land. Last Friday, a U.S. District Court ruled that an old jeep trail up Salt Creek in Canyonlands National Park is not a “highway,” thereby upholding the park’s 2004 decision to officially close […]
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The diabetes industry
High Country News recently reported on an epidemic of diabetes among Native Americans who have, over the years, switched from traditional diets to mainstream processed food. And I can personally attest that this chronic disease can strike someone of Scotch-Irish-German ancestry — like me. In the fall of 2009, my vision was getting blurry, so […]
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Why Salazar backed down from Wild Lands
By Matthew H. Davis After strong opposition from several Western states and a pending lawsuit, Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is backing down from his controversial “Wild Lands” policy. “I am confirming today that the Bureau of Land Management will not designate land as ‘Wild Lands,’” Salazar said in a memo to Bob […]
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New Indian Energy Policy Draft Rewrites Bush-era Law
Several months ago at the State of Indian Nations address in Washington D.C., Jefferson Keel, President of the National Congress of American Indians, implored Congress and the Obama administration to dispose of the hurdles that have kept tribes from tapping their own energy resources. Since then, many more tribal leaders have come before the House […]
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It’s about dam time
Switches will be flipped today on the Elwha River, as generators at two notorious hydroelectric dams — the Elwha and the Glines Canyon — are turned off. It’s a significant first-step in a process that will continue this summer, prepping the dams for their impending destruction. Now, the pieces have finally fallen into place. This […]
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A slice of life for the average EJ organizer
Many people wonder what keeps a Sierra Club environmental justice organizer busy. We could ask my fellow EJ organizers around the country and most would tell you that the times around and after Earth Day are frequently the busiest. As spring melts the last of the snows (it snowed in Flagstaff just recently), and flowers […]
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Ordinary wild
The cougar looks thin, his narrow belly dragging close to the ground as he slinks along. Paws as big as saucers on the oil-spotted concrete. Mouth agape in a terrified pant below wild, shifting eyes. Shifting at cars that whoosh by, shifting at men who flicker at the edge of his vision — they’re clearly […]
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Coal-to-liquids plant founders
In 2008, Montana was abuzz about a huge clean coal project in the works. The Australian-American Energy Company (AAEC) had agreed to collaborate with the Crow Tribe to build the $7 billion Many Stars coal-to-liquids plant on the reservation. The tribe would provide coal and water, both abundant on tribal lands. The energy company would […]
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The mixed blessings of extra water
A new addition to the “mixed blessings” file: The town of Payson, Arizona, will soon get relief from its perennial water shortage, having cut a deal with utility power-broker Salt River Project for a share of the water from the nearby C.C. Cragin Reservoir (formerly known as the Blue Ridge Reservoir). You can’t blame Payson […]
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Will genetically modified salmon be labelled?
Care to know whose genes are hidden in your salmon fillet? If the federal government approves genetically modified salmon for public consumption, there will be no telling if your seafood dinner’s DNA has been doctored — unless states demand it. Four states — California, Oregon, Vermont and Alaska — are preparing for a federal approval […]
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Water scarcity makes some types of energy less appealing
By Jeff Thomas Water and energy have been inexorably linked in human history at least back to ancient Babylonia, where windmills helped power irrigation as early as 1700 BC. Since then, that relationship has become one of the great axioms of the industrial age – that is, it takes great volumes of water to extract […]
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Uranium cleanup begins on Navajo Nation
On top of Oljato Mesa on the Navajo Nation, these days the sound of wind and birdsong has been replaced by the snarl of heavy machinery. And to many residents the cacophony is welcome – because of what it represents. The Environmental Protection Agency is finally starting to haul away the toxic remnants of decades […]
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Freedom Ride West
Editor’s note: James Mills is journeying around the West, exploring issues of diversity in Western national parks. In 1961, a long bus ride from Washington D.C. to New Orleans changed the world forever. The PBS American Experience documentary “The Freedom Riders” documents this journey. As you watch it, I hope that it will open As […]
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While Non-Believers Punked the Rapture, the West was Punked
When Christian fundamentalists opened their eyes last Saturday evening, only to find that nothing, (at least there in their living rooms,) had changed, non-believers felt suddenly and gleefully exalted. In an unexpected twist, the sinners had been enraptured — at least metaphorically speaking — while their devout counterparts had kept their feet planted firmly on […]
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Utah goes for the gold
If you live in Utah, you can now pay your local bills or taxes with gold or silver coins, thanks to a law passed by the state legislature this year. The new Utah law directs the state treasurer to set the exchange rate (so many dollars for a given weight of gold or silver) and […]
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The Sound of … Journalism?
They say sex sells. But does music teach? This seems to be the case with a couple recent music videos — one on the potential health hazards of hydraulic fracturing (which we’ve covered quite a bit here at HCN, from lack of regulations to health studies to health hazards in the chemical mix) — and […]
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Lead bullets find a champion in Tester
Last January, three endangered California condors were found dead in Arizona. The cause of death: lead poisoning. After eating carrion riddled with spent lead ammunition, the birds’ digestive systems likely shut down, starving them to death. Since condor reintroduction began in Arizona in 1996, 15 have died of lead poisoning; in California, 18 condors have […]
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Oil Industry Wins Subsidy Game, Again
Little more than a year after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, 4 dollar-a-gallon gas has prompted a bout of political amnesia. Despite various moratoriums on offshore drilling, the House of Representatives passed three separate bills last week that would hasten and expand domestic oil production. Then a Senate bill that had gained considerable momentum […]