John Trochman calls himself a “Christian Patriot” and defender of the American Constitution. The soft-spoken man with a Robert E. Lee beard is also a field general in the “Militia Of Montana,” a paramilitary survivalist organization formed to fight what it perceives as oppression by the federal government. The number one threat to freedom, Trochman […]
Politics
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Utah’s wildlife division is gutshot
The phone to Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources can sometimes ring three dozen times before it’s picked up. Some of the offices are now empty, and the biologists who worked in them are gone. “We’re all walking around here paranoid, wondering who’s next,” mutters a biologist well into his second decade on the job. “Everybody’s […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Endless pressure, endlessly applied
Never have a president and secretary of the Interior so disappointed conservationists as have Bill Clinton and Bruce Babbitt. The firing of Jim Baca as Bureau of Land Management director is simply the icing on a multi-layered cake of betrayal. We shouldn’t be surprised, though. Between nomination and taking office as secretary of the Interior, […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Environmentalists strike out in Idaho
BOISE, Idaho – Environmentalists took a thrashing in the 1994 Idaho legislative session, which ended on April Fool’s Day. With conservative Republicans running the House and Senate, the legislature passed laws that enhanced industry at the expense of the environment. “When it suited them, the powers that be shut us out,” said Mexlinda Harm, lobbyist […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Wallop bows out
Sen. Malcolm Wallop, Wyoming’s senior Republican senator, has decided to bow out of politics after serving for 18 years in the U.S. Senate. A major player in federal water and energy policy, Wallop had considered a run for Wyoming governor, but decided instead that his “political Energizer bunny” had run out. He will return to […]
Posted inMarch 21, 1994: On the borderline
New Santa Fe mayor says: “This town is not for sale’
Defying predictions and the clout of big money, Santa Fe, N.M., voters elected former city councilor Debbie Jaramillo mayor March 1. She promised to rein in runaway development and return city government to the people. Pre-election polls and campaign funds had shown Jaramillo lagging well behind other candidates. Projected winner Peso Chavez raised $86,400 from […]
Posted inMarch 21, 1994: On the borderline
Bruce Babbitt as Captain Consensus
What do the following personages have in common: Albert Schweitzer, Linus Pauling, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and Bruce Babbitt? Type O blood? A secret fondness for fondue, perhaps? Nope. According to Ed Marston, the normally skeptical publisher of High Country News, they all should be recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. […]
Posted inMarch 21, 1994: On the borderline
How to turn lemonade into lemons
The environmental movement seems intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. With a perverse political sense that values bad news and dismal foreboding over progress and natural evolution, environmentalists are putting a tragic, apocalyptic spin on every event. Take the firing of former Bureau of Land Management head Jim Baca. It was unfortunate. […]
Posted inMarch 7, 1994: Pay as you waste, says EPA
Baca is back
Jim Baca, who was recently shot out of a cannon in Washington, D.C., hopes to soft-land in the governor’s mansion in Santa Fe, NM. Baca was fired by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt as head of the Bureau of Land Management (HCN, 2/21/94) in a dispute over management style. He has announced that he will run […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
BLM chief Jim Baca leaves amidst cheers and boos
Jim Baca’s nine-month run as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management chief ended Feb. 3. After Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt made it clear in a private meeting that Baca’s services at BLM were no longer desired, the usually outspoken Baca reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a piece of paper containing his resignation. […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
Jim Baca says the Department of Interior is in deep trouble
A few days after Jim Baca was fired from his job as director of the Bureau of Land Management, he said: “I will look into New Mexico political races and maybe run for governor. Maybe it’s the governors who are running policy on public land.” Baca says he did anger several Western governors. “I went […]
Posted inDecember 27, 1993: Yellowstone
Environmentalists shouldn’t have helped force out Dale Robertson
Opinion writer says that former Forest Chief Dale Robertson shouldn’t have been replaced by Jack Ward Thomas. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Environmentalists shouldn’t have helped force out Dale Robertson.
Posted inDecember 27, 1993: Yellowstone
She wants her colleages to feel free to say: ‘Madam Secretary, you’re full of crap’
Department of Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary pledges to start cleaning up her agency. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline She wants her colleages to feel free to say: ‘Madam Secretary, you’re full of crap’.
Posted inDecember 27, 1993: Yellowstone
DOE unlocks some classified data
Department of Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary launches an “openness initiative” that reveals the DOE’s sordid past. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline DOE unlocks some classified data.
Posted inDecember 13, 1993: Jack Ward Thomas: Hail to the chief
How many are there?
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline How many are there?.
Posted inNovember 29, 1993: Butte, Montana, seeks a new life
Some in West want Bruce Babbitt’s head
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Some in West want Bruce Babbitt’s head.
Posted inNovember 29, 1993: Butte, Montana, seeks a new life
Hail to the chief
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Hail to the chief.
Posted inNovember 29, 1993: Butte, Montana, seeks a new life
A room full of heroes
A conference of government employees sponsored by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) elicits stories of perseverance. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A room full of heroes.
Posted inNovember 15, 1993: The decline and fall of salmon
Robertson out, Unger in, Thomas in limbo
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Robertson out, Unger in, Thomas in limbo.
Posted inNovember 15, 1993: The decline and fall of salmon
Recall defeated in Utah
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Recall defeated in Utah.