On a recent podcast hosted by acclaimed freestyle skier Lynsey Dyer, the head of the Outdoor Industry Association boasted about talking with groups she disagrees with politically. Amy Roberts, the executive director of the largest trade association representing...
The Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) is a self-directed, public-private partnership that supports voluntary, proactive conservation across parts of 11 states in the West. One of the IWJV’s more prominent success stories is that it helped build the capacity for the U.S....
The City and County of Boulder and San Miguel County (county seat of Telluride) have joined coastal states and communities by filing lawsuits against oil and natural gas companies regarding climate change.
It’s easy to shake our heads and...
The Outdoor Retailer convention, a major outdoor recreation industry event, was relocated from Salt Lake City to Denver this year because of differences with Utah officials over monument designations and other public lands issues.
Last Wednesday night before the...
At the risk of revealing too much about myself, I have to admit that sometimes I go off on tangents.
Such was the case after reading an article in E&E News about the hydraulic fracturing rule withdrawal. A former Interior employee is anonymously quoted as saying, “So I guess my professional life from 2012-14 is being erased.” After pausing to enjoy some Schadenfreude and reflect on how many countless regulatory people in our industry spent years of their professional lives countering the regulatory overreach of thousands of bureaucrats, I exercised the power of social media and...
It’s the eighth day of Hanukkah and the week before Christmas. Normally I like to keep things light during the holidays, but I can tell something’s bugging people by the number of times I’ve been forwarded articles about a recent study claiming fracking causes low birth rates. ...
Western Energy Alliance has been supporting efforts to relocate BLM out West and has helped drive that discussion forward. I recently testified before the House Natural Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee in a hearing about reorganizing the Department of the Interior (DOI).
Besides showing support for moving the BLM headquarters out West, where 99% of the land and economic impact from public lands are located, I discussed other ideas for DOI reorganization that Secretary Zinke has floated.
...
EPA recently announced new appointees to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Council (CASAC). The two boards, which are required by law to provide independent advice to EPA, play a valuable role in how the agency collects, interprets, and applies scientific information. While the SAB advises EPA on...
Environmental Groups Should Follow Our Lead & Release Their Emails
Monday, an environmental group filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit asking for communications between Western Energy Alliance, other industry groups and the Department of the Interior regarding sage...
I wish, like James Joyce and Friedrich Nietzsche, I could draw ample literary references from ancient Greek and Roman poets and philosophers, but alas, when the need arises, my head goes to Seinfeld. The show just had a knack of succinctly summarizing common situations in a funny and memorable way.
So it was when reading this article about a zero energy district in Ft. Collins. The city, Colorado State University, and the Colorado Clean Energy Cluster had garnered taxpayer money and private funds for the project to make a district that generated as much energy as it used. The focus...
PDF version