Wind
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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…
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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…
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Previously logged and thinned forest that burned at high severity in the Jocko Lakes Fire, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner There are daily news stories about the recent large wildfires in 2020. In nearly all of these media accounts, the large blazes are almost always attributed to a lack of active forest management. In other words,…
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The Wilderness Society just teamed up with Yale University to release a report promoting renewable energy development on public lands, and like the recent Michael Moore documentary Planet of the Humans, it’s stirring up controversy. The report suggests we should ramp up utility-scale renewable production on federal public lands, with a particular focus on Nevada’s…
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Will the new, low petroleum prices cut the legs off tar sands and oil shale? Almost every American now sees that the price of oil has plummeted. Driving by a gas station makes seeing it easy. Gasoline is below $3 a gallon, often well below. In fact crude oil prices are down by 40% since…
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There are a lot of wildlife related stories. Washington Post and Wildlife Services- There have been many efforts to raise public perception of the depredations of the misnamed federal agency “Wildlife Services,” which might have been named that so that folks will confuse it with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or a state fish…
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News on wind and solar farms keeps getting worse- It doesn’t have to be that solar and wind power alternative energy has to be hard on people and animals. However, the way they are being rolled out is damaging. For example, the SW desert solar farms seem to be spreading the debilitating fungal disease, coccidioidomycosis…
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Talk about the need for a presidential candidate science debate leads somewhere- Back in 2008 there was mounting concern that science had always been left out of the presidential debates. This concern led to efforts to demand presidential candidates discuss these issues. Soon there was the formation of Science Debate 2008. This group, small at…
