Corridors of National Interest – or Special Interest?

October 4, 2024

Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual famously advised, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” he explained, “What I mean by that [is] it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” He was talking about the financial crisis of 2008, which Congress was so desperate to […]

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Animal Cruelty on This Year’s Ballot

September 27, 2024

Wolves yelp, bark, and howl at night to commmunicate, establish territories, and even to show affection. They do not actually howl at the moon, although that romanticized vision was cited by many voters who thought returning wolves to Colorado would somehow enhance their lives. Artworks showing silhouettes of wolves howling at the moon are very […]

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A New National Sacrifice Zone

September 20, 2024

A couple years ago a little-noticed report called, “Beyond Carbon-Free: A Framework for Purpose-Led Renewable Energy Procurement and Development” was published by an energy company in Seattle, together with the Nature Conservancy and the National Audubon Society. It suggested that the goal of net-zero carbon emissions would require “massive areas of land for development,” perhaps […]

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Easements on Water – An Idea Whose Time…

September 13, 2024

French novelist Emile Souvestre famously wrote in 1848 that “There is something more powerful than strength, than courage, than genius itself: it is the idea whose time has come.” It was later paraphrased by Victor Hugo, often quoted as, “More powerful than the tread of an army is an idea whose time has come.” It […]

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“Cumulative Impact” Should Work Both Ways

September 10, 2024

They’re getting old now, but I still know people who lament the urban sprawl they think ruined Denver. They miss sleepy little towns that used to be miles away from Denver and have completely separate identities – places like Parker, Golden, and Louisville. Today it’s one giant “metroplex,” as the Census Bureau calls it, and […]

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Can the Federal Government Own Land Forever?

August 30, 2024

The U.S. government paid $55 million for the entire West.  That’s less than a sixth of the annual budget of Grand Junction. In five separate treaties, the U.S. acquired the whole country from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The 1803 Louisiana Purchase cost $23.2 million for all or parts of 14 states. In […]

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Protecting Dolores Canyons – From What?

August 23, 2024

The Sentinel’s Dennis Webb wrote an excellent and thorough article a few weeks ago about the effort to protect Dolores Canyons, including proposals for a national monument, a national conservation area, and several other options. As he chronicled, opinions are almost as varied as the communities potentially affected. One Nucla resident who opposes the monument […]

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Making Computers Out of – Wind?

August 16, 2024

I just attended a reception with Colorado oil and gas employees, and the conversation was eye opening. I expected to hear about how difficult life in America would be without fossil fuels. There was some of that, but not in the way I expected. Many of the conversations were not about how badly we need […]

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The Great Electric Vehicle Pushback

August 7, 2024

Though still only in her 40s, Germany Kent is an award-winning journalist, activist, beauty queen, producer, business leader, philanthropist, and author of the best-selling series of “Hope Handbooks.” She’s been around enough to have learned some of life’s great truths and is frequently quoted, this being among her wisest advice: “It is more important to […]

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First, Let’s Define Our Terms

August 2, 2024

Years ago as a high school and college debater, I was trained to begin making my case by defining key terms. A debate gets incoherent if the two sides don’t agree on what the topic is, or what is being proposed. Voltaire famously wrote, “Define your terms… or we shall never understand one another.” The […]

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