Coal companies have been blasting mountains, dumping waste rock into streams, and undermining private and public lands for more than a century. It’s apparently lucrative to do so. But a recent filing by a coal company shows just how far they have drunk their own Kool-Aid (or coal ash?) in justifying the damage mining can …
The Forest Service finally admitted it. It took the agency two environmental assessment drafts and a draft and final environmental impact statement, but they admitted it. The agency finally admitted that it would be “environmentally preferred” to protect the wildest, most pristine part of the Sunset roadless area in western Colorado from bulldozing for road …
Coal is dirty. It’s the dirty fuel that gives us mercury in our lakes, acid rain in our skies, carbon pollution, leaky ash ponds, and scraped-off mountains and buried streams in Appalachia. And just like the coal itself, Arch Coal’s proposed West Elk mine expansion into the Sunset Roadless Area in western Colorado will be …
We’re in! Judge Martone of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona today granted our motion to intervene to defend the Department of the Interior’s decision to ban new uranium mining claims for 20 years across 1 million acres of public lands adjacent to the Grand Canyon. Today’s order – read it here …
At the beginning of the last century, Ralph H. Cameron was a booster of the Grand Canyon. He wanted to promote – and cash in on – the Canyon as a tourist destination. He helped expand Bright Angel Trail, now one of the most popular trails into the Canyon from the South Rim. But at …
Getting energy from oil shale is a half-baked idea. Literally. Oil shale, also known as kerogen, is a waxy pre-petroleum substance found in rock layers in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Unlike pools of oil in the ground, it can’t be turned into liquid fuel for transportation unless it’s baked to 700 degrees. And no company in …
About a century ago, a Republican president said: In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any …
As fall turns to winter, President Obama has continued his virtually unbroken streak of bending over backwards for the coal industry in the West. For those who love Western public lands and could do without more subsidies to Big Coal, Mr. Obama has been more Grinch than Santa. For example, the Forest Service recently consented …
