Category: The West
40 million people rely on the Colorado River. It’s drying up fast.
One of the country’s most important sources of fresh water is in peril, the latest victim of the accelerating climate crisis. by Abrahm Lustgarten Friday, August 27, 2021 The Water Crisis in the West On…
The American West is burning but Trump hasn’t mentioned historic wildfires in ‘any way, shape, or form’ for nearly 3 weeks
“President Trump’s silence and complete disregard for the millions of people at risk is horrifying,” said one climate advocate. by Jessica Corbett, staff writer Climate action advocates and journalists are calling out President Donald Trump’s silence…
West continues to face deadly flames compounded by heatwave, blackouts, and coronavirus
‘Entire Western US on Fire.’ Seventy wildfires raged across California, Oregon, Washington, and other western states on Wednesday. by Julia Conley, staff writer Wednesday, September 9 A record-shattering heatwave, continuing wildfires, power blackouts, and the coronavirus…
Megadrought brings dry future to West, growing U.S. cities
by Alexandra Tempus May 7, 2020 In 2002, Utah was reeling from four years of dry conditions that turned the state “into a parched tinderbox,’’ as the Associated Press reported at the time. “Drought Could Last…
‘This system cannot be sustained’ This year, tribal nations enter negotiations over Colorado River water.
By Anna V. Smith/ High Country News March 10, 2020 The Colorado River Basin is the setting for some of the most drawn-out and complex water issues in the Western U.S. In 2019, the Colorado River…
Judge voids Trump oil and gas lease sales on nearly 1 million acres of Sage Grouse habitat
“The judge confirmed that it’s illegal to silence the public to expand fossil-fuel extraction.” by Andrea Germanos, staff writer Environmental advocates cheered a federal judge’s ruling Thursday that voided oil and gas leases on roughly one…
Report: ‘No Evidence That Fracking Can Operate Without Threatening Public Health’
More than 1,500 scientific studies on the health and climate impacts of fracking prove its dangerous effect on communities, wildlife and nature. By Tara Lohan, The Revelator In 2010 when I first started writing about hydraulic…
BLM suspends oil & gas extraction leases in Little Colorado River Valley
Flagstaff The Trump administration has suspended 4,200 acres of oil and gas leases on public land in Arizona’s Little Colorado River Valley as part of a joint motion filed in federal court yesterday (Feb 5) after…
‘Nobody can build like I can build. Nobody’: watch winds knock down Trump border wall
“What a perfect visual metaphor for a presidency fuelled by hot air.” by Eoin Higgins, staff writer Mother Nature: 1. President Donald Trump: 0. That’s the scorecard from the southern border after gusts of wind of…
Lawsuit: Trump admin violating the Endangered Species Act in AZ & NM: Cattle trampling waterways.
“It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to keep livestock from trampling these fragile southwestern rivers, but the Forest Service has turned a blind eye,” said Brian Segee, an attorney at the Center. “We found cows, manure and…
How one Utah community fought the fracking industry — and won
Kanab, a small Utah town that’s home to the famous Best Friends Animal Society, took an unconventional path to face down a frac sand mine that threatened the region’s aquifer. By Tara Lohan, The Revelator A…
Pendley acting BLM chief on green ‘radicals’ and the ‘war on the West’
By Timothy Cama, Environment & Energy Greenwire Report Environmentalists are “extremists” or “radicals.” Bureaucrats often lie or cheat to accomplish their goals. The government is carrying out a “war” on the western United States. Native American…
Trump’s border wall threatens an Arizona oasis with a long, diverse history
The waters of Quitobaquito in southern Arizona have attracted diverse visitors for thousands of years. Jared Orsi, CC BY-ND By Jared Orsi, Colorado State University A few hundred yards from the Mexican border in southern Arizona…
Moving Bureau of Land Management headquarters to Colorado won’t be good for public lands
Sheep grazing on BLM land near Shoshone, Idaho. BLM/Flickr, CC BY John Freemuth, Boise State University and James R. Skillen, Calvin University The Trump administration has pursued many controversial goals in managing U.S. public lands, including…
US green economy growth dwarfs Donald Trump’s highest hopes for the fossil fuel industry
The sun may be setting on the USA’s green economy leadership. Jason Blackeye/Unsplash, CC BY-SA Lucien Georgeson, UCL and Mark Maslin, UCL While US President Donald Trump may be “the world’s most powerful climate change denier”,…
To find Jose Montelongo, ICE agents targeted his whole family
One family’s ordeal under Trump’s zero tolerance immigration tactics. *Note: Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals By Sarah Tory High Country News One afternoon last April (2019), a group of agents with…
When disaster strikes, Indigenous communities receive unequal recovery aid
U.S. citizens recovering from natural disasters receive $26 per person, per year from the federal government. Tribal citizens? Just $3. By Allison Herrera High Country News In the last decade, more than 70 natural disasters have…
