Our Stories

The Latest by Tom Turner

Author & Historian

July 7, 2011

A Desperately Needed Win for the Loggerheads

By Tom Turner  /  California Office

Federal judge orders the National Marine Fisheries Service to take another look at rules that govern the Gulf of Mexico fishery in loggerheads’ favored habitat

June 28, 2011

Persuasion by Coloring Book

By Tom Turner  /  Northeast Office

There is a curious technique employed by some companies involved in the resource-extraction game: When you have a controversial activity underway that is getting increasing—and unwelcome—scrutiny from the government and the public, take your case to the under-10 set. Exhibit A today is a coloring book touting the wonderfulness and cleanliness of natural gas. It …

June 21, 2011

Roadless Déjà Voodoo All Over Again in Alaska

By Tom Turner  /  Alaska Office, Northern Rockies Office, Northwest Office & Rocky Mountain Office

The long and winding saga of the Roadless Rule, adopted in the Clinton administration after an exhaustive public process, just took a new turn, though it smacks of desperation. To recap, the Roadless Rule was put in place to protect 58.5 million acres of undeveloped and otherwise unprotected land on the national forests. The rule …

June 7, 2011

A Domino Falls

By Tom Turner

The Fresno, California, Board of Supervisors has decided not to endorse a proposal by the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group to build a “Clean Energy Park,” outside town. The park would boast two big, 1,600-megawatt, French-made reactors, a solar-thermal plant, and a water desalination facility. The account in the Fresno Business Journal doesn’t mention Japan or Fukushima explicitly, but …

May 20, 2011

The Death Of The Automobile

By Tom Turner

Friends of the Earth New Zealand has just published a short, dense booklet that no one will want to read but that everyone should. “Cars at the End of an Era–Transport Issues in the New Zealand Greenhouse” by Dr. John Robinson makes a very convincing case that the days of both the private automobile and …

April 26, 2011

World Population Growth and the Food Supply

By Tom Turner

I met Bob Engelman a few years back when we were both working on book manuscripts at the Mesa Refuge near Point Reyes in Northern California. Mine was Roadless Rules. His became More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want. Well, who should turn up in my mailbox this morning but the selfsame Mr. Engelman, now …

April 21, 2011

Bakersfield Paper Goes After McCarthy

By Tom Turner

Last week we wrote about an effort by three Republican members of the House of Representatives to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects nearly 60 million acres of unspoiled lands on the national forests and to deny the Bureau of Land Management’s authority to declare its unspoiled areas “wilderness study areas” and protect …

April 13, 2011

Plugs for Two Excellent Websites

By Tom Turner

Forgive me if you already know all about these two sites, but for anyone who doesn’t I thought I’d take a minute to recommend both, without reservation. The first, and I daresay lesser-known, is Wildlands CPR. I came upon this fine institution when I was writing Roadless Rules about roadless areas in the national forests. …

April 12, 2011

Republicans Mount A New Assault On Wild Lands

By Tom Turner

Three mad hatters–Steve Pearce (R-NM), Rob Bishop (R-UT), and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) are gathering–or trying to gather–cosponsors for what they’re callling the Wilderness & Roadless Area Release Act, a law that would open national forest roadless areas and Bureau of Land Management wilderness study areas to development. This would put a bit more than 70 million …

March 10, 2011

Roadless Rule Reinstated on the Tongass National Forest

By Tom Turner  /  Alaska Office

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, adopted at the end of the Clinton administration, banned most logging and road-building on the last 58.5 million unspoiled and unprotected acres on the national forests. It was immediately challenged by states, timber companies and other interests in nine lawsuits, one of which is still awaiting final resolution. In Alaska, …