A War to End All Wars

May 5, 2015

I attended a conference a few days ago where a number of speakers lamented policies they call “the war on coal.” War is a harsh term, but in general they refer to the current Administration’s stated desire to wean the American economy of its dependence on coal for generating electricity. Both the White House and […]

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This Land is My Land

April 29, 2015

A recent report lamenting the fact that some federal land is not open to the public was ironic, to say the most. The paper documented 4 million acres of “landlocked” areas in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming that are inaccessible to the public. Written by a Denver environmental group called the Center […]

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Speed Limits and Light Bulbs

April 15, 2015

There are about three people in the entire United States who feel nostalgic about the old National Speed Limit Law. It was passed in 1974 in response to an energy crisis and a frenzy of legislation intended to make us consume less. It prohibited speed limits higher than 55 MPH, and was among the most […]

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A Clear Case of Uncertainty

April 6, 2015

A powerful congressman who had been in office 20 years once asked me, “Do you mean to say you can own the land, but someone else can own the minerals under it, and they can access it whether you like it or not?!” Believe it or not, severed mineral rights are even harder for some […]

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Preserving Scenic Beauty, or Political Conflict?

March 26, 2015

When President Obama used his executive authority to declare Brown’s Canyon in Colorado a national monument, he followed a proud tradition, and re-opened a festering political wound at the same time. It was the 16th time Obama has used authority under the Antiquities Act to create national monuments, increasing land and water “protected” against future […]

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Grousing About Promises

March 18, 2015

My home county (Mesa County) commissioners have decided to join several others in suing the federal government for listing the Gunnison sage grouse as “threatened.” It is the right move. Sometimes the courts are the last resort against bullies. The controversy over the bird’s listing is not just ironic (we have been here before but […]

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Just Because It’s There

March 12, 2015

The information age has brought Americans closer together in countless ways. Yet the gulf of misunderstanding between east and west may be wider than ever before. The growth of knowledge, information, and instant communication has dramatically increased our access to other points of view. It has also reduced our need to listen. We now tailor […]

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Frying Birds in Midair

August 20, 2014

At the most modern solar power plant in the world, researchers are now saying the magnified sun rays are setting birds on fire in midair – by the thousands. They call them “streamers,” because of the smoke plume that is quite visible as they ignite and plummet to earth. Stories of the scorched birds were […]

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Build it Now – But Not Here?

April 28, 2014

There is an impassioned conversation inside the Beltway lately about massive investments in liquefied natural gas (LNG) around the world, while several such projects in the U.S. have been abandoned or put on hold. Part of that conversation is about how different European politics and economics would be if the major energy supplier were the […]

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The Voice and The Vision of Bo Callaway

March 20, 2014

“The voice and the vision” – those were the words of the campaign song that accompanied Howard “Bo” Callaway through his 1980 U.S. Senate race (my first campaign as a staffer), but the words really capture much of his life and legacy. In Georgia, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., Bo Callaway pioneered a principled approach to […]

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