Author – The Durango Herald

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

Land conservation overcomes congressional gridlock

Fans of Utah’s spectacular redrock country can savor congressional action this week that advanced protections for a million acres of the incomparable San Rafael Swell, and one of the Colorad...

DATE: Feb 17, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

New Mexico grapples with air pollutants

We who live in these parts sometimes call it the Four Corners, other times the San Juan Basin or even the Colorado Plateau. It’s reflective of the geographic flexibility of our home region, ...

DATE: Jan 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Change confronts rural electric co-ops

The comedian Lily Tomlin used to have a favorite shtick where she played Ernestine, the snorting, smirking phone operator. She would end her bit with the line, “We don’t care, we...

DATE: Dec 16, 2018 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Election moves energy policy to the forefront

With the midterm elections behind us, it’s worth pondering what the outcome means for the environment next year. One can expect significant action in Colorado and New Mexico in t...

DATE: Nov 18, 2018 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Energy dominance comes to national forests

The Trump administration unabashedly promotes energy dominance above all else on America’s public lands. But even knowing that, it’s hard not to be astonished by the latest onslaught to prio...

DATE: Oct 21, 2018 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Fires and droughts should set off alarm bells

Our beloved Animas River has taken a shellacking the past few years, the most recent insults a combination of record low flows and wildfire induced mudslides. The Animas might be the blaring...

DATE: Sep 15, 2018 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

The Village at Wolf Creek staggers onward

Are we doomed to the zombie Village at Wolf Creek endlessly stalking the San Juan Mountains? No matter how many times apparently dead, it seemingly staggers back to life, lurchin...

DATE: Aug 18, 2018 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green