Thanks for the article on the inspirational and tenacious Debbie Sease (HCN, 5/2/11). I work for The Wilderness Society and elders like Debbie, Johanna Wald of the Natural Resources Defense Council and volunteer Marge Sill with the Sierra Club in Reno are the inspiration for me and so many other women in the movement. While […]
Politics
Posted inMay 30, 2011: Wolf Whiplash
Indebted to Debbie
Kudos on your terrific article about Debbie Sease (HCN, 5/2/11). Those who have worked to protect land, water and wildlife with Debbie throughout her career know how talented she is and how much she has accomplished. All who love the West’s wild lands are indebted to Debbie.Johanna WaldSan Francisco, California This article appeared in the […]
Posted inRange
Utah goes for the gold
If you live in Utah, you can now pay your local bills or taxes with gold or silver coins, thanks to a law passed by the state legislature this year. The new Utah law directs the state treasurer to set the exchange rate (so many dollars for a given weight of gold or silver) and […]
Posted inGoat
Oil Industry Wins Subsidy Game, Again
Little more than a year after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, 4 dollar-a-gallon gas has prompted a bout of political amnesia. Despite various moratoriums on offshore drilling, the House of Representatives passed three separate bills last week that would hasten and expand domestic oil production. Then a Senate bill that had gained considerable momentum […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Upholding the right to take naps
NORTHERN ROCKIES There are some photos you really don’t want to take. One is an extreme close-up of a quiescent Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park — the kind of photo you’d get by standing as close as possible and pointing your camera down at its small pool of water — just before the geyser […]
Posted inRange
Same Old Song and Dance Over CA Parks
By Laura HugginsOnce again California is threatening to close state parks. Seventy (out of 270) parks are on the chopping block this time around (see an interactive map of the planned closures). The plan is to place the parks in “caretaker status,” which means gates would be closed and people would not be allowed to enter. What a dismal idea […]
Posted inWotr
We’re not all Right in Idaho
A March Gallup poll probably surprised no one when it determined that Idaho, Utah and Wyoming rank among the five most conservative states in America. The trio came in second, fourth and fifth, respectively, putting them in the archetypal company of Mississippi, which was first, and Alabama, third. Being a conservative in a blue state […]
Posted inMay 16, 2011: Ripple Effects
Wild lands by any other name
The quarter-billion acres of mostly arid territory overseen by the federal Bureau of Land Management have become an unlikely battleground in the war over wilderness. Last December, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ordered the BLM to identify any “lands with wilderness characteristics,” and, when appropriate, protect them as designated “wild lands.” Salazar’s order in full is […]
Posted inGoat
New Mexico governor continues anti-green push
For the past few months, New Mexico’s new governor Susana Martinez has been sending a message about her priorities and how she’s going to run the state. And it’s not one enviros like. Last week, the governor pushed her influence one level deeper into the state’s Environment Department, reassigning some of the Departments’ bureau chiefs […]
Posted inMay 2, 2011: The Westerner in D.C
Bridging American Indian students’ scientific achievement gap
Michael Ceballos’ grandfather dropped out of school at 13 to help support his family. He worked for the Santa Fe Railroad, first laying track, then as a foreman. When he retired, his grandchildren thought he might spend his pension and bonus on a new car. Instead, he enrolled in college. Today, his grandson, a genial […]
Posted inMay 16, 2011: Ripple Effects
Partisan missteps
Sierra Club lobbyist Debbie Sease laments the lack of Theodore Roosevelt-style conservationist Republicans in the current Congress (HCN, 5/2/11). As one cause for that deficiency, she need look no further than her own organization. Protection of the environment is historically a nonpartisan issue. All citizens want to breathe clean air and drink clean water. Unfortunately, […]
Posted inGoat
Blocking solar power … with national monuments?
If you follow basic media coverage of debates over whether to protect various bits and chunks of public land from development, you’re probably painfully familiar with the following archetypal stances. We’ll call them Merle and Becky. Merle, a hardscrabble, hardworking local resident who may be involved in local government or small business and is eager […]
Posted inWotr
When all else fails, go to court
The national environmental movement is spinning its wheels in Congress and accomplishing very little. The big groups lobbied like crazy in 2008 and 2009 on the crucial issue of limiting the fossil fuels that cause climate change, but couldn’t get the Senate to approve even a moderate move to curb carbon emissions with a “cap-and-trade” […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
“The country is gonna go to the bow-wows”
WYOMING To say that former Sen. Alan Simpson, 79, of Wyoming doesn’t mince words is putting it tepidly. On MSNBC’s Hardball TV show recently, he blasted presidential hopefuls from his own Republican Party because of their positions on social issues: “Who the hell is for abortion?” he asked. “I don’t know anybody running around with […]
Posted inRange
Swapping politics for science
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House It’s not often a government agency asks Congress to limit the amount of money it spends to do its job. But that’s what the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) did last month when it told Congress that it wants a cap put on how much it can […]
Posted inGoat
Fracking fluid spill raises concerns over regulation
On April 19, a mechanical problem at a Pennsylvania natural gas well caused thousands of gallons of briny water and fracking fluid of unknown composition to spew out of the well, overwhelm containment facilities and flow across a field and into a pond. The local emergency management agency told seven families to evacuate their homes. […]
Posted inMay 2, 2011: The Westerner in D.C
The most influential conservationist you’ve never heard of
Washington, D.C. When environmentalists needed somebody to stand in front of the cameras on the U.S. Capitol lawn last summer, to connect BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the debate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Debbie Sease got the call. The veteran Sierra Club lobbyist — flanked by two […]
Posted inMay 2, 2011: The Westerner in D.C
A misguided investigation ends an era in Arizona
Calling the National Park Service case against Billy Malone “misguided” is a kindness. Others use words like “corrupt” or “fiasco” when speaking of the bungled federal investigation that cost taxpayers nearly a million dollars, ruined the reputation of one of the last old-time Indian traders and may have transformed an authentic Indian trading post into […]
Posted inMay 2, 2011: The Westerner in D.C
Profile: Corey Shott, National Wildlife Federation
Montana native Corey Shott grew up in Missoula, came to D.C. to earn a bachelor’s in political science at George Washington University and made politics her career: An internship with Montana Sen. Max Baucus, then campaign work for various Democratic candidates, then a couple of years as a “junior lobbyist” for a D.C. firm that […]