Category: Energy

  • House Tax Bill Accelerates Public Lands Resource Exploitation

    House Tax Bill Accelerates Public Lands Resource Exploitation

    The debate over provisions in the recently approved House tax legislation (Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill) has numerous environmentally destructive provisions which I will get to in a moment. However, one victory amid the unbridled promotion of resource development was the removal of an amendment that permitted the sale of 450,000 acres of public lands across…

  • Trump Oil Directive Will Lead to Greater Climate Crisis And Wildlands Losses

    Trump Oil Directive Will Lead to Greater Climate Crisis And Wildlands Losses

    I published Energy: Overdevelopment and The Delusion of Endless Growth a few years ago. In my research for that book, I gained a couple of insights about energy and its ultimate costs. First, oil and gas are sold on the global market, ultimately setting the price of oil and gas at the pump. Second, energy companies…

  • Trump’s Assault On Alaskan Wildlands

    One of the first Executive Orders from the Trump Whitehouse is to reverse environmental protections for federal lands in Alaska and hasten, expand, and encourage resource development. Sec. 2.  Policy.  It is the policy of the United States to: (a)  fully avail itself of Alaska’s vast lands and resources for the benefit of the Nation…

  • Lessons from the LA Wildfires

    Lessons from the LA Wildfires

    The fires in Los Angeles are still burning as I write this. The loss of property, the disruption and loss of lives, and the trauma these fires created are horrendous. Nevertheless, there are lessons we can learn to change fire policies to mitigate (not prevent) such tragedies in the future. Wildfires are a natural part…

  • Indian Iron Curtain (Or the Emperor Has No Clothes)

    Indian Iron Curtain (Or the Emperor Has No Clothes)

    How many people know that in the state of Washington, more wolves are killed by Native people than any other group? You probably haven’t heard about this, even from wolf advocacy groups. How many conservationists know that Native people are among the staunchest advocates for oil development on Alaska’s North Slope, including in the Arctic…

  • Navajo Endorse Red Rock Wilderness Act

    Comb Wash in Bears Ears National Monument is one of the roadless areas within America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act. Photo George Wuerthner  The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s (SUWA) 8-million-acre wilderness proposal S. 1535 “America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act” just got an important endorsement from the Dine or Navajo Tribe. President Biden recently expanded the Bears…

  • “America’s largest wind farm:” An environmental disaster?

    “America’s largest wind farm:” An environmental disaster?

    Recent news stories focus on how a conservation easement on a large ranch in northwest Colorado is blocking a major new transmission line, and therefore stalling the enormous Chokecherry-Sierra Madre wind farm in southcentral Wyoming. While these articles make some valid points about the need for renewable energy, they gloss over the reality that this…

  • Response to HCN “Fight over tribal sovereighty”

    Allen River,  Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska. Photo George Wuerthner  Hats off to High Country News for publishing A quest for Alaska oil sparks a fight over tribal sovereignty by Max Graham in their July 6th edition. It represents a good start in providing a more balanced perspective on Native American resource extraction…

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