Author – The Durango Herald

Legislation ensures lasting conservation

Last week, the Bureau of Land Management finalized plans to open millions of acres of southern Utah to energy development, oil and gas drilling, coal mining and a variety of other extraction...

DATE: Feb 12, 2020 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Road, bridges threaten Dolores River Canyon

Conservationists pursue protective designations like wilderness or wild and scenic rivers to help ensure the undeveloped character of cherished places is guaranteed into the future. ...

DATE: Jan 17, 2020 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Land exchange threatens roadless area, wild rivers

Land exchanges are back in the news with a recently unveiled exchange proposed at the base of Wolf Creek Pass. A private ranch wants to acquire adjacent national forest roadless ...

DATE: Dec 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Colorado plans to create new methane rules

In 2014, our region gained notoriety as the nation’s methane hot spot. Researchers at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noticed via satellite measureme...

DATE: Nov 17, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

San Juan Mountains legislation faces vote in U.S. House

This week marks the 10th anniversary of long-simmering efforts to obtain added wilderness protections for the high ranges of the San Juan Mountains. Back in 2009, then Rep. John ...

DATE: Oct 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

America’s environmental safety net unravels

The summer brought a whirlwind of change to America’s bedrock environmental laws, or at least the rules that implement those laws. The Trump administration has made no secret of i...

DATE: Sep 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Wildlife corridors need protection

As Colorado fills up with people and our forests evolve in response to a changing climate, what happens to our renowned wildlife? Can we make space for migrating game herds and dispersing sp...

DATE: Aug 17, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Energy dominance comes to Colorado

Conservation advocates routinely harp on the single-minded focus of the Trump administration exhorting resource exploitation on our public lands. In case that just sounds like hy...

DATE: Jul 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Our energy supply system is transforming

In just a few weeks, Public Service Co. of New Mexico will initiate the process to officially retire the San Juan Generating Station, the 1,600-megawatt, coal-fired behemoth outside Farmingt...

DATE: Jun 16, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Wilderness deserves restraint, humility

The Forest Service’s recent decision to approve using chain saws to cut out downed trees in wilderness areas might strike some as no big deal. But for longtime advocates for the w...

DATE: May 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

New Mexico moves to protect Chaco Canyon from drilling

Anyone who has traveled the U.S. Highway 550 corridor to Albuquerque recently knows for themselves the extent of greatly expanded drilling activity. Advances in fracking technolo...

DATE: Apr 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Decisions loom about local electric supply

Spring is in the air, and with it comes potentially big changes for our electric power supply. Leadership changes abound at both our local rural electric cooperative, La Plata Ele...

DATE: Mar 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green