Is the Southwest’s Water Problem Serious Enough Yet?

May 22, 2026

One month after proposing to put a man on the moon, JFK said getting drinking water from the ocean would be “one of the great breakthroughs of history” that would “dwarf any other scientific accomplishments.” Californians have worried about water for decades. The Colorado River, upon which the entire Southwest depends, is dying. The region’s […]

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California Could Finally Get Serious About Water

May 15, 2026

The Wall Street Journal headline said “San Diego Now Has So Much Water That It’s Selling It.” The article said San Diego generates enough water to rescue Arizona, though that’s jumping the gun just a bit. No such deal has actually been finalized yet, but the fact that the conversation is underway marks a new […]

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Is Every Government Employee a Cop Now?

May 2, 2026

I don’t know anyone else who tracks the number of federal cops, but the watchdog group Open the Books occasionally reports on the burgeoning number of federal agencies with law enforcement divisions. The latest report, “The Militarization of Federal Bureaucracy” detailed the astonishing scope of federal police power. There are over 200,000 federal officers with […]

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Passing the Bill to Find Out What’s In It

April 29, 2026

The Colorado legislature can only meet for 120 days a year, every legislator can only introduce five bills, bills must be passed by the 90th day, new programs must have a sunset clause, all meetings must be public and documents available for everyone to read. Except for the exceptions. Forty states have similar constraints, because […]

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Jade Dragon Meets Green Energy

April 21, 2026

Green is an important color in Chinese culture. Jade symbolizes harmony with nature; the dragon represents transformation. Green tea symbolizes health; green bamboo implies resilience. And now, China wants to be known for its leadership of the global transition to green energy. But the transition does not include China – that image is fake, no […]

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Where Money Meets Power

April 15, 2026

I follow ups and downs of the environmental industry almost like a part-time hobby, for several reasons. For one, many environmental groups pretend to be local, grassroots activists, when in fact many are nationally organized and funded as part of a larger network. But also, their growth, influence, finances, and occasional declines offer fascinating insights […]

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Giving States a Seat at the Table

April 10, 2026

I attended a meeting recently about federal ownership of Western lands, and various proposals to transfer some of it to states. To settle a bet, I asked a popular AI tool how that might work, just to test its objectivity. It said, “Transferring public lands to state control can lead to significant challenges and risks […]

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NEPA Was Never Meant to be a Weapon

April 1, 2026

In 1970 when President Nixon presented to Congress “Reorganization Plan No.3,” no one foresaw the eventual result – some of history’s greatest environmental successes, and a virtual stranglehold on economic progress. America’s air and water are far cleaner today, automobiles emit virtually nothing, and many formerly polluted lands have been cleaned up. But the cumbersome […]

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Look What They’ve Done to Her Song

March 18, 2026

The New Seekers are best remembered for wanting to buy the world a Coke in their classic hit, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.” But a year earlier, they first hit the charts with another standard, “Look What They’ve Done to My Song,” featuring the sad lyric, “It’s the only thing that I […]

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Greenpeace Judge Might Just Beat the Dutch

March 14, 2026

My granddad had a great expression when something was remarkable or astonishing: “Well, if that doesn’t just beat the Dutch!” It was a linguistic heirloom of the 17th Century when England and the Netherlands were commercial and naval rivals. Something had to be extreme to surpass even the Dutch, so that eventually became a common […]

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