Another One Bites the Dust

August 19, 2015

Voltaire once wrote that “men argue; nature acts.” We see that action repeatedly in catastrophic forest fires across the western United States, and each time we hope it may be the last. This week we’re seeing yet another forest go up in smoke – Glacier National Park in Montana – while land managers, politicians, lobbyists, […]

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Still Cuckoo

August 19, 2015

Last week I wrote about the federal push for private landowners in Mesa County to help identify and designate habitat for a bird called the yellow-billed cuckoo – the original mascot of Cocoa Puffs cereal. My column has rarely generated more feedback, because so many people are frustrated with the notion that environmental protection always […]

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Cuckoo Over Birds

July 18, 2015

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The federal government wants private landowners in arid western states to help identify and designate important habitat for a certain bird species, so the land can be protected against development, and thereby save the bird from some dire fate. If that sounds familiar, it’s because we have […]

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What, Me Worry?

June 26, 2015

I recently shared a conference podium with Alex Epstein of the Center for Industrial Progress, author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. He argues persuasively that our use of technology and energy has transformed the natural environment into a livable one. “Most of the natural world is too hot, too cold, has too much […]

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Not All Renewables Are Created Equal

June 17, 2015

This week the U.S. House Appropriations Committee is working on the annual spending bill that funds the Interior Department and the EPA, and there are all the usual arguments over how much the funding should increase. President Obama asked Congress to raise last year’s $30 billion by 10 percent, which is unlikely (the first draft […]

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And Justice for All

June 11, 2015

I speak and write often about policies that limit public access to public lands, because I worry about a giant philosophical divide, based on the theory that mankind’s presence is always bad for the environment. People are not part of the environment in this theory. They are an intrusion that should be stopped whenever possible. […]

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Let the Sun Shine on Freedom

June 1, 2015

There is a fairly touchy conversation underway in the halls of the Nation’s Capitol about the future of the solar energy investment tax credit (ITC), because it is set to expire at the end of 2016, and President Obama has asked Congress to make the credit permanent. The solar ITC is 30 percent, meaning the […]

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High Speed Happy Hour

June 1, 2015

Some of us in the big square States apparently do not understand the need to subsidize every aspect of life in the nation’s Capitol. Every few years, some of us push back against the massive taxpayer subsidies for Washington, D.C. National leaders always come through for D.C., though, explaining to the rest of us how […]

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Lean Compromise or Fat Lawsuit?

May 28, 2015

The President of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, William Perry Pendley, has become a highly sought-after speaker in recent years, partly because the work of his organization is interesting to audiences throughout the West, but also because he is a gifted and entertaining speaker. He often begins speeches with the always-amusing opener, “My name is […]

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Reign of EPA to Rein in the Rain

May 28, 2015

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reigns supreme over broad and complex issues involving air and water pollution, hazardous waste, chemicals, radiation, and a wide range of other environmental hazards. Does that include rain? Absolutely. The EPA has proposed new regulations to “rein in the rain,” as some skeptics have put it. The requirements were proposed […]

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