The GOAT Blog

2008 wildfire redux
Forest Service rhetoric meets on-the-ground reality.
2010: The year that was
HCN's year in review
2012 in numbers
The author tries to save the world from doom by listing important energy and climate figures
3,000 miles to Paonia
A roadside inspection of Western issues
Yellowstone Griz small
Yellowstone Griz small
The grizzly bear population in and around Yellowstone National Park has grown robust enough that the animals are dispersing outwards via habitat corridors like the one provided by the Centennial Mountains.
59,000 trees can't be wrong
Big new forest study documents a regional die-off.
6,000 years without enviro laws
What happens when you combine uranium, creationism and Arizona politicians?
Climate change by any other name ...
Western towns work on "sustainability" and "economic efficiency."
Climate change: moving from science to policy
Hitching a ride with Montana climate scientist Steve Running
Give me your huddled masses...
...but send your sick back to Mexico.
How the federal election could impact public lands
Four more years of road deterioration? Or a concerted effort to address the problem?
A cottonwood in a canyon in GS Escalante NM
If you can't beat 'em, shoot 'em.
Idaho proposal to cull Lolo-area wolves is back before the feds.
In salty, seaside beaver ponds...
...endangered salmon thrive.
In case you're having a good day...
...this ought to put a damper on things.
It takes a village...
to raise a library.
A flick of the wrist...
The Navajo-Gallup Water Project is on its way.
Mining for dark matter in Lead, South Dakota
How the Sanborn Lab's search for the universe's secrets is reshaping a Black Hills mining town
Mo' Money...
...mo' solutions?
Move over Yucca Mountain...
There's a controversial new repository in town
New hcn.org
Built from the ground up, not a pixel transferred, not a line of code spared.
Oh mining boom, we hardly knew ya...
The global metals bust deepens.
Outlawed...
Organic farmers?
Ozone in the air
Air pollution over gas fields is sometimes worse than in major cities.
TBD stands for...
...Texas Billionaire Developer.
Tell me sweet little lies...
Doublespeak in the bottled water industry.
The East is fracked
Shooting gnarly chemicals into the ground to release natural gas isn't just for the West anymore.
The also-rans...
Not a good year for independent and third-party candidates.
They're baa-aaack. . .
Is the West ripening for a Right wing comeback?
Well hell, continued
Drinking water wells in the Lower Yakima Valley pump "toilet bowl" water. Ick.
Yet another tar-sands hazard
Acidic oil from tar sands endangers the public and the environment.
A bear ate my old landlord?!
HCN staffer Tammy York talks about basement living and close encounters of the wild kind
A bear of a season
What can we learn from a summer of headline-grabbing attacks?
A midnight lease on the mesa
An appeal filed today challenges a hasty permit revision for Arizona's Black Mesa Complex.
A bridge to nowhere?
The climate friendliness of natural gas comes into question, again
A caribou rescue?
The Lower 48's last caribou get critical habitat
A change is gonna come
Corporations take heed of "local."
A civil disobedient for the modern era?
Tim DeChristopher, the jailed environmental activist, follows in Thoreau's footsteps
A culture of violence
As gang activity escalates in Indian Country, lawmakers scramble to address the issue.
A dam marvel
A monolithic bridge over the Colorado River is nearing completion.
A dismal future for tourism?
If Hal Rothman was right about Las Vegas, harder times loom in the West
A dog day report card
Agencies and states flunk "Prairie Dog Management 101."
A fatal fungus, revealed
Scientists pinpoint the cause of white nose syndrome, which has devastated Eastern bat populations and could move West
A feel good ferret story (mostly)
Black-footed ferrets are well on their way to recovery
A Flood of Fault
Shakeout from Missouri River flooding includes predictable blame game
A Grand Disappointment
New Colorado River book is flawed from the start
A grizzly situation
Protected bears die -- thanks to careless humans.
A guidebook we might use
We might need a new kind of outdoor guidebook if an outdoorsy drill-here drill-now U.S. Senate candidate gets his way.
A horny problem
California case highlights illegal market for rhino horn
A look inside a clean water regulator's mind
Why the EPA ignores factory farm pollution
A man needs a parade
The bizarre true story of a tar sands "protest" in Utah headlined by Neil Young and Daryl Hannah
A monumental danger
Arizonans try to reclaim a national monument from drug violence, trash and trafficking
A mouse divided
Is it worth protecting only half the population of a threatened subspecies?
A new brand of trust land?
Washington State looks to shield working forests from urban sprawl
A new day dawning?
Compromise catches on in southern Utah
A "New Era" for Indian Country?
Fed-aided energy extraction is nothing new. But renewables could be.
A new era of clean air regulation is dawning
A new line of defense
DeChristopher argues that what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
New Mexico wildfire poses a double threat
Radiation risks an additional problem at Las Conchas fire
A pack of problems for wolves
Disease and federal indecision and inaction make life hard for the West's wolves.
A pleasing discovery
The truth about eastern Oregon
The West's crucial 2014 U.S. Senate races
A pro-tax revolt?
The future of the West's strictest anti-tax laws hangs in the balance
CAFO air pollution crackdown?
Groups petition EPA to regulate ammonia
A revision to our energy future
Conservationists will influence new energy corridors
A river of rain
Scientists try to predict how much water makes a landslide
Shell game
Oil shale speculation on the western slope may rearrange Colorado water rights in unexpected ways.
A royal(ty) mess
Are mining companies paying their fair share for the coal and minerals extracted from public land?
A shift in the gas debate?
Federal panel stands up for more stringent oversight of fracking. Does it matter?
A small victory for Libby
Asbestos victims in the nation's "deadliest Superfund site" will finally get some compensation
A Solar Plant a Tortoise Could Love
Could eSolar's Sierra SunTower help to end the Mojave land wars?
A Swift SWIP hike
Hiking 500 miles of a transmission line route. With beans.
A swim through housing data
Home prices are rebounding, even in the most troubled markets, but what does it mean?
A tale of two power plants
Rulings for haze reductions play out differently for two southwest power stations
A tale of two press releases
Two sides of the spin coin, from the BLM and enviros.
A tale of two wolf populations
The remarkably smooth recovery of gray wolves in the Great Lakes
What diabetic grizzlies can tell us about human obesity
A towering problem
North America's communication towers rack up 7 million bird deaths a year, a new study reports
A walk in the (burned) woods
A first-hand look at the Las Conchas fire -- and older burns -- in New Mexico.
Pearls of discontent
A bitter battle rages between Park Service and California oyster farm
A water hog, redeemed
Tamarisk and native trees use the same amount of water.
A Western obstructionist gets obstructed
Sen. Inhofe's Bible theories won't lead environmental committee
A Westerner too reasonable for the White House?
Former Utah gov. Huntsman may be too politic for politics
A wild week in Washington
A wolf pack and a grizzly emerge from the shadows of the Cascades
A win for Monsanto on GMO crops
A "Roundup" of news about genetically-modified crops and their apparently unstoppable rise.
A Wyoming wonder
Forest Service prioritizes prairie dogs, not poison
ABC censors clean energy ad
Saying that Big Oil buys influence is apparently not something you can do on prime-time TV.