Politics

For a lifelong Coloradan, this has been a strange election year. We’re a “swing state” where the polls are close in the presidentail race, and that’s a novelty. In the past 60 years, the Democratic candidate has carried Colorado only three times: Harry Truman in 1948, Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and Bill Clinton in 1992. […]

The Bush administration just won’t quit trying to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Big rewrites require Congressional approval, so instead they’re quietly revising the regulations that implement the act.  In August, the administration proposed letting federal agencies decide for themselves if, say, a new dam or highway would harm any endangered or threatened species, rather […]

Did you know that politicians don’t pay for their gas? Well, now you do. You’ll know even more — no, you’ll be a veritable expert in energy policy — after you watch this music video, which Joe Romm of climateprogress.org describes as “the first (and hopefully last) song ever inspired by Newt Gingrich.” Wow. Just […]

The McCain campaign — by now looking for any dirt they can get their hands on — has just released a web ad  attacking Obama for his ties to Acorn, the progressive community organizing group. The ad tries to link Acorn to the mortgage crisis and accuses it of trying to steal the election by […]

We’ve got a tight U.S. Senate race in Colorado. The incumbent Republican, Wayne Allard, is stepping out after two terms. Competing to replace him are Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Bob Schaffer. Udall’s environmental credentials seem pretty solid, given his voting record in the House, where he has represented Colorado’s second congressional district for the […]

The burning question in Sevier County, Utah, to build or not to build a new 270-megawatt coal-fired power plant, will be answered by voters in November.  Sevier County citizens collected enough signatures to place Proposition 1, which would amend the county’s land use ordinance to require a vote before approving any permits for coal-fired plants, […]

The October 1st edition of the radio science show “Earth and Sky” featured a US Forest Service official asserting that the acreage of individual wildfires has increased dramatically in just a decade. The Deschutes National Forest in Oregon was provided as an example and climate change was held up as the cause for the dramatic […]

The scandal-plagued Interior Department has certainly provided plenty of material for journalists during the seven-plus years of the Bush administration. Unfortunately, the tabloid-style headlines have come at a price: the pervasive mismanagement of the nation’s natural resources, from endangered species and clean water to federally-owned oil and gas reserves. Are things likely to be any […]

The EPA’s “self-inflicted lobotomy” is about to be reversed — at least partially. More than a year ago, in response to Bush budget cuts, the agency began dismantling its network of 26 technical libraries, a crucial repository of scientific information for the agency’s own researchers and the public. It closed several regional libraries and moved […]

The September 15th edition’s Snapshot focused on the high cost of restoring the Going to the Sun road in Glacier National Park. The Snapshot reports restoration which is now underway will cost $240 million to complete. I found this price tag for “restoring” only one Glacier NP road curious. I live near Redwood National Park […]