The protests are fueled by a diverse array of causes, from tribal sovereignty to fossil fuel dependence.
Energy & Industry
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Tribes win one fight, lose another in pipeline protest
The Obama administration intervened in favor of tribes, for now.
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California nixes funding for coal export terminals
Governor’s bill blocks transport to markets in Asia.
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Tribes band together to fight an oil pipeline
The Standing Sioux protest in North Dakota reverberates around the world.
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Photos of the North Dakota pipeline protest
Background on the Standing Rock Sioux pipeline protests and how social media and climate activism raised their profile.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
Latest: Feds warn states against letting mining companies self-bond
Three major coal companies have filed for bankruptcy this year.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
Latest: NASA determines methane hotspot is from natural gas production
BACKSTORYA methane “hot spot” over the Four Corners region has puzzled scientists for nearly a decade: Concentrations of the greenhouse gas were far higher than could be accounted for by official inventories from known contributors — an underground coal mine, landfills, and oil and gas infrastructure. So in 2015, NASA scientists began an intensive examination […]
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Podcast: The cult of Tesla
What is it about Tesla and Elon Musk that has attracted such fierce devotion from so many people?
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How to share a dammed river
Boaters are joining wildlife advocates, farmers and power companies to parcel out each cubic foot of Western rivers.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
An electric-power giant is poised to fail
A radical change could be coming to the way electric co-ops across the country do business.
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Where are the fracking fights this fall?
Fracktivists look to exercise local control over energy development this November.
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Will a bigger energy grid make way for renewables?
Utilities are embracing California’s bid to expand its grid, but states aren’t so sure.
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Report: Coal jobs will decline with or without federal regulations
A new study from the Energy Information Administration finds the Clean Power Plan speeds coal’s decline.
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How Utah coal interests helped push a secret plan to export coal from California
Companies and investors are trying to survive a collapsing U.S. coal market.
Posted inJuly 25, 2016: Salmon Power
‘Keep It in the Ground’ prompts online oil and gas leasing auctions
Protests against drilling on public lands continue.
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How the Keep it in the Ground movement came to be
A look back at a decade of coverage of anti-fossil fuel protests.
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Federal coal leasing needs a major overhaul
The winds of change are blowing hard across our Western coalfields. Competition from cheaper fuels such as natural gas, wind and solar has dampened domestic demand for coal. This trend ‒ plus a bust in export markets after a brief boom ‒ has driven five major coal companies into bankruptcy court. There, they seek protection […]
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Dispatch from coal country: Advocates and adversaries duel over leasing reform
In western Colorado, two visions for the future of fossil fuels collide at a BLM listening session.
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By the numbers: Western coal mine layoffs
Coal mines are scaling back and shutting down — and jobs are disappearing.
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Why is an Estonian energy giant trying to revive failed Utah oil dreams?
There’s a new proposal to extract oil from shale, at great cost to the Colorado River Basin.