By Paige Huntoon, Guest Writer at NewWest.net ABOUT THIS SERIES: Students from The University of Montana School of Journalism, with the help of American Public Media’s Public Insight Network, reported and wrote stories for New West on the energy economy of the Rocky Mountain region. The project originated as part of the Green Thread initiative […]
Energy & Industry
Posted inRange
Out of their mines
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House In a narrow canyon, not far above where I live in Boulder, is the old, abandoned Captain Jack Mill. In its heyday in the late 19th century, gold and silver were processed there, after being blasted from their hiding places in several area mines. Nowadays, contaminants from those efforts, including […]
Posted inRange
SEC Loosening of Rule Let Natural Gas Firms Recalculate Reserves, Potential Profits
Marian Wang, ProPublica Editor’s note: This blog post was originally published at ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Natural gas has been widely promoted across the political spectrum as a key to solving U.S. energy problems. “The potential for natural gas is enormous,” President Obama said recently, referencing […]
Posted inRange
With Heavy Government Help, Solar Continues Expansion in West
By Michael Beall, Guest Writer at NewWest.net ABOUT THIS SERIES: Students from The University of Montana School of Journalism, with the help of American Public Media’s Public Insight Network, reported and wrote stories for New West on the energy economy of the Rocky Mountain region. The project originated as part of the Green Thread initiative […]
Posted inJune 27, 2011: Hydrofracked?
Hydrofracked: One man’s quest for answers about natural gas drilling
Pavillion, Wyoming There are few things a family needs more than fresh drinking water. And Louis Meeks, a burly Vietnam War veteran with deep roots in the central Wyoming grasslands, had abundant water on his 40-acre alfalfa farm, which is speckled with apple and plum trees, on a rural dirt road five miles from the […]
Posted inJune 27, 2011: Hydrofracked?
Abrahm Lustgarten on fracking
Since 2008, Abrahm Lustgarten has reported for ProPublica on the environmental threats posed by gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in communities nationwide. He won the George Polk Award for his coverage in 2010, one of the most prestigious prizes in environmental journalism. In this episode of High Country Views, Cally Carswell talks with Lustgarten about […]
Posted inRange
To Drill or Not to Drill is Not the Only Question
By Anne Fahey, Sightline.org This post is part of the research project: Word on the Street A while back I wrote about how public opinion data are informed in great part by how survey questions are framed. Nothing shocking there. I used the American public’s increasing support for offshore drilling as an example. It turned out […]
Posted inMay 30, 2011: Wolf Whiplash
BLM shields renewable projects from mining speculation
“Some snotty bugger went in and staked a bunch of mining claims just to make a hurdle,” says Dave Shaddrick, president of the Nevada Mineral Exploration Coalition. Four claims, actually, filed last April on the site of the contentious 400-megawatt Silver State solar power plant near Las Vegas, Nev. Some believe that locals, angry that […]
Posted inRange
A toothless watchdog
Since the elections last November, I (like a lot of people, I suspect) started to ruminate about the nature of our government – both state and federal – and corporatism. Governor Susana Martinez’s election in New Mexico and the tsunami of other corporate-sponsored candidates elected to Congress made me fear that corporate interests would gain […]
Posted inMay 30, 2011: Wolf Whiplash
A nuclear watchdog pushes feds on safety
On April 14, California State Sen. Sam Blakeslee grilled Nuclear Regulatory Commission official Troy Pruett on the seismic hazards facing California’s nuclear plants. It was roughly a month after a tsunami generated by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake swamped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. Blakeslee, whose Central Coast district includes Pacific Gas & Electric’s Diablo […]
Posted inGoat
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 […]
Posted inGoat
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 […]
Posted inGoat
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 […]
Posted inGoat
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 […]
Posted inGoat
Eminent domain expands
In early May, a business-supported eminent domain measure became law in Montana. It allows privately-held utilities to condemn private property for transmission lines and other “public good” projects if they cannot reach agreement with landowners. That means that two major new transmission lines slated to cross Montana can go forward. The lines were put on […]
Posted inBlog
Biomass energy production in the Interior West
In November I wrote a post exploring reasons many western political elites are gung ho for biomass energy production. This follow-up post explores the push for biomass energy projects where it is strongest – in the Interior West – and profiles developments in SE Oregon’s Klamath County. A wood chip truck is unloaded at a […]
Posted inGoat
Mountain of … bluster
President Barack Obama’s decision to put the kibosh on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository has been a favorite punching bag for House Republicans in recent weeks, thanks in part to the debacle at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant stoking fears over the safety of nuclear waste stored at more than 100 temporary sites around […]
Posted inRange
Should oil refiners disclose more health and safety info?
By Eric De Place, Sightline.org Much to their credit, the United Steelworkers and the AFL-CIO want more sunlight on oil company practices. The unions believe that a string of accidents — including the deadly 2010 fire at Anacortes, Washington where Steelworkers are employed — is evidence that more safety information should be made public. WSJ’s MarketWatchreports: […]
Posted inMay 2, 2011: The Westerner in D.C
Wind farms test efforts to cooperate on Oregon’s Steens Mountain
On a hazy autumn day, Fred Otley leans against his flatbed pickup and talks about managing the Otley Brothers Ranch in desolate, windy southeast Oregon. A careful rotation of grazing and fire sustains the open mosaic of juniper and sagebrush on the valley slopes, he explains. He points to the water tank he installed to […]
