In 2008, California voters granted egg-laying hens the right to enough space to lie down, stand up, and stretch their wings. Egg farmers warned that the measure would increase costs, forcing them to leave the state to compete. And Idaho hastened to woo the would-be émigrés. “(Poultry is) a really great industry to have around,” […]
Politics
Posted inRange
The monumental fight over Otero Mesa
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House The decade-long tussle over energy development in New Mexico’s Otero Mesa has been reinvigorated recently, as hardrock mining claims now threaten the region for the first time. The area, sometimes referred to as the “Southwest’s Serengeti,” is a 1.2 million-acre stretch of undisturbed Chihuahuan Desert grassland. The sprawling but sensitive […]
Posted inRange
Religious Intolerance Plays Role in Presidential Politics
Judge a person by his character, not his race, color or creed. It seems Americans — liberals and conservatives alike — could use a booster shot on this topic, at least when it comes to the issue of Mormons, or members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Two men with LDS roots, Mitt Romney […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2011: Ganjanomics
Ganjanomics: bringing Humboldt’s shadow economy into the light
One evening last October, I met with Anna Hamilton in the Northern California town of Garberville. A singer-songwriter with a barbwire voice, Hamilton is known locally for her radio show, Rant and Rave, Lock and Load and Shoot Your Mouth Off — which, it turns out, is a pretty good description of her approach to […]
Posted inGoat
Gutter Trash
On August 1, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage officially charged Arne Fuglvog, a veteran commercial fisherman and the fisheries aide to U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, with the crime of poaching wild Alaskan fish. His crimes led to an eventual charge and sentencing for misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act, which protects wildlife, fish, […]
Posted inGoat
Game on, Government!
Updated 8/3/2011, 2:46 pm A grouse, a prairie chicken, and a rabbit walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, “There’s a two for one special on drinks tonight. Who’s game?” Okay, cheesy pun, I admit. But here’s a worse joke: In June, Safari Club International, a wealthy hunters’ rights group, filed a […]
Posted inRange
What does it mean nowadays to be a Westerner?
By Steve Bunk, NewWest.net Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt’s re-entry in the political fray in recent weeks, which he says was precipitated by fears over the future of the nation’s wild lands, brings up the question of what it means nowadays to be a Westerner. To many people, the answer probably would be […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2011: Ganjanomics
A border crosser does not an immigrant make
I take exception to the use of the word “immigrant” by HCN or Utah (HCN, 6/27/11). As one knowledgeable about Mormon values, I pondered what had come over the Beehive State, but then I remembered Mormons are, if nothing else, pro-business. I also pondered presidential and media hypocrisy as another state “supersedes” federal jurisdiction on […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2011: The Global West
A former energy company lawyer now fights for the other side
In the 1990s, oil and gas was booming, and industry attorney Lance Astrella had it all: a thriving practice, a plump paycheck and a reputation as one of the best in the business. Then one night, disturbed by rumors of drillers trashing private property, he attended a community meeting in Denver. One by one, people […]
Posted inGoat
Ignorance is blissless
Ever noticed how the loudest, most enraged environmental critics (you know, the ones with the tumescent neck vein that throbs angrily at the slightest mention of endangered species or roadless areas) are usually the people who know the least about environmental issues? “Global warming? That’s BS! Our state had record snowfall this year.” “Green energy? […]
Posted inGoat
A civil disobedient for the modern era?
Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them?Or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded?Or shall we transgress them at once? In 1849, Henry David Thoreau posed these questions in his essay, “Civil Disobedience.” Yesterday, a civil insurgent from the climate-change generation, Tim DeChristopher, was sentenced to […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2011: The Global West
Milestone in Cobell Indian trust case
In a crowded federal courtroom near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on June 20, the first person to testify was Elouise Pepion Cobell, a member of Montana’s Blackfeet Tribe. Cobell, 65, exemplifies persistence. She grew up in a house without utilities and has worked as a banker and the treasurer of her tribe. Testifying […]
Posted inGoat
Bad bills on the rise
Two bills being considered in the House continue Republican-led efforts to weaken environmental protections. HR. 1581, the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act, would drop protections on at least 43 million acres of public land. Roadless national forest lands and wilderness study areas would be “released” for unfettered access to off-highway vehicles, oil and gas […]
Posted inExtreme green
Suckling responds: Cashing in? Nope, just saving species every day
Note: This is a response to a Writers on the Range column by Ted Williams, headlined “Extreme Green.” Industry-funded zealots are angling to prevent nonprofits from protecting veterans, children, workers and the environment. With the absurd argument that nonprofits are getting rich by making the government follow its own laws, they want to ensure that […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2011: The Global West
Can YOU carry a concealed weapon in Wyoming? A guide
When President Obama took office, state lawmakers started loosening firearms restrictions, fearing the administration would try to toughen gun laws. It hasn’t, but states continue to relax their own. On July 1, Wyoming became one of four states to allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. (Arizona, Alaska and Vermont are the others.) […]
Posted inGoat
California firefighting agency gives up its Very Large Air Tanker
When the news broke last week that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection canceled its contract with the company that supplies its biggest chemical-dropping jet – literally, the Very Large Air Tanker — I was reminded of an argument Andy Stahl, Executive Director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE) had made […]
Posted inGoat
Pipeline politics
updated 7/13/2011 The Yellowstone River oil spill is a stark reminder of something we often forget: oil spills aren’t just for coastal folks. In case you missed the news, here’s what happened: On July 1, the Silvertip pipeline, an underground conduit for ExxonMobil, split open, spewing some 42,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River […]
Posted inArticles
Montana’s top gun-rights advocate has a national impact
Guns are Gary Marbut’s life. A self-employed, self-sufficient jack-of-all-trades who lives outside of Missoula, Mont., Marbut says that if he didn’t cast his own bullets, he couldn’t afford to shoot as much as he does: 10,000 to 15,000 rounds per year. He shoots in both rifle and handgun competitions, teaches concealed weapons classes (he’s had […]
Posted inArticles
A right to be protected: Gary Marbut’s case for gun rights
This video was produced in association with the University of Montana School of Journalism.