Name Perry Walker Vocation Astronomer, engineer Age 61 Home Base 10-acre hilltop near Daniel, Wyoming Known for Keeping an eye on the air pollution caused by natural gas drillers He says “I can talk to these (natural gas) operators about their technology. I can understand just about anything they throw at me. And I find […]
Politics
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
The push is on for ‘clean coal’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Magic Valley Uprising.” Westwide, the power-plant industry has proposed building several dozen new coal-fired plants — the biggest such buildup since the 1980s. But at the same time, the industry is moving toward a new “clean coal” era, nudged by citizen uprisings like the […]
Posted inApril 17, 2006: The War on Wildfire
Enviros wary of ‘Nevada-style’ wilderness bill
Utah proposal includes public-lands sale, utility corridors
Posted inApril 17, 2006: The War on Wildfire
Pete McCloskey rides again
In February, a new vendor appeared at the weekly farmers’ market in this southern Bay Area town. Pete McCloskey, a soft-spoken 78-year-old farmer with a thatch of unruly gray hair, stood before a folding table flanked by bags of organic oranges. But McCloskey wasn’t pushing fresh fruit; he was hawking his homegrown politics. Former Rep. […]
Posted inWotr
Don’t blame the Indians for the Abramoff scandal
It is a bitter irony that Indian nations have become scapegoats for corruption in Washington, D.C. In response to the Abramoff lobbying scandal, one newspaper in Montana, the Missoulian, even called for a ban on any tribal contributions in federal elections. Some perspective is needed. In the 2004 election, contributions from so-called casino tribes to […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Washing our hands
I met Interior Secretary Gale Norton in the public restroom at Denver International Airport. She was coming out of the handicapped stall with a black roller bag. She is a tall, handsome woman. We ended up washing our hands at neighboring basins. Should I, or shouldn’t I? I did. “Secretary Norton — ” “Yes?” she […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Norton Departs
A look at Interior’s counterrevolution — and its unintended consequences
Posted inWotr
Thank you, Gale Norton
Five years ago, the Interior Department, which oversees one-quarter of the nation’s land, 9,000 employees and nine federal agencies, appeared to have turned a corner. Outgoing Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had just pulled off a remarkable conservation offensive, getting his boss, Bill Clinton, to create and expand more than a dozen national monuments in the […]
Posted inWotr
Seeing the legacy of Interior Secretary Gale Norton
I met Gale Norton, who has announced her resignation as Interior Secretary, in the public restroom at the Denver International Airport. She was coming out of the handicapped stall with a black roller bag. She is a tall, handsome woman. We ended up washing our hands at neighboring basins. Should I or shouldn’t I? I […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
ESA talks end in stalemate
While major disagreements remain, Pombo claims consensus
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
Painting for progress
The call of the wilderness sounded more like a holler to Joan Hoffmann in 1963. At 13, already a headstrong artist and budding environmentalist, she was determined to go backpacking with the Sierra Club. Neither her urban family of Southern California golfers, nor the fact that she had to sew her own sleeping bag, could […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
Is everyone a Realtor?
Realtors are everywhere in the West these days — including the seats of power
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
Public acres for sale
President Bush revives proposal to sell desert and forest land
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
States tighten rules, challenge feds to follow
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Save Our Snow.” During the summer of 1943, the streets of Los Angeles filled with a nauseating brown haze. Visibility shrank to three blocks, and residents endured smarting eyes, sore throats and spells of vomiting. The problem, it turned out, was a combination of […]
Posted inWotr
The many problems of Richard Pombo
This must be the winter of Richard Pombo’s discontent, or it would be if they had winter in California. It isn’t just that his plan to privatize 15 national parks and other public lands went kerblooey, or that he found it prudent to give away embarrassing campaign contributions. It isn’t just that three Democrats are […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Dr. Sharon and the lion hunters
NAME Sharon Seneczko VOCATION Small-animal veterinarian AGE 45 HOME BASE Custer, South Dakota KNOWN FOR Educating the public about mountain lions. SHE SAYS “Nobody is looking at the value of wild animals until they’re gone. That’s why I’m stepping up to the plate now. We have to leave a place for wildlife.” Inside a veterinary […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
The many problems of Richard Pombo
This must be the winter of Richard Pombo’s discontent, or it would be if they had winter in California. It isn’t just that his plan to privatize 15 national parks and other public lands went kerblooey, or that he found it prudent to give away several thousand dollars of embarrassing campaign contributions. It isn’t just […]
Posted inWotr
It’s true: Guns don’t kill people
When I was in sixth grade, my entire class was marched into the school gym for Hunter Safety class. There, for several class periods, the public school system helped us understand the difference between the deer we could shoot and the ones we shouldn’t, the ethics of “shooting your wife’s deer” (which always made me […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2006: The Killing Fields
Public-lands freedom fighter
NAME Stephen Maurer AGE 68 HOME BASE Albuquerque, New Mexico KNOWN FOR Fighting the Soviet-backed regime in Hungary, his native country; working to protect public lands in his adopted country. HE SAYS “Don’t use (the phrase) ‘federal lands.’ They are ‘public lands.’ If it’s the government’s land, it belongs to them, and it’s not ours.” […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Planting seeds for preservation
In Cities in the Wilderness, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt asks: “Is it realistic to suggest expanding land protection programs in a season when the Bush administration and Congress are intent not upon expanding, but upon shrinking the reach of our environmental laws?” Babbitt’s answer is a resounding “Yes.” He continues, “History instructs […]