Tag: Conservation

Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics

This is what greed sounds like: Meet Utah’s own wannabe Once-ler, Republican Mike Noel

by Andrew Villeneuve

“When you turn the man­age­ment over to the tree-hug­gers, the bird and bun­ny lovers and the rock lick­ers, you turn your her­itage over.” – Repub­li­can State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mike Noel Ever since Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma used his pow­ers under the Antiq­ui­ties Act to cre­ate Bears Ears Nation­al Mon­u­ment, the pro-greed, anti-con­ser­­va­­tion fac­tion of the Utah Repub­li­can Par­ty has […]

Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics

Progressive Ideas We Need: Funding a clean energy future through pollution penalties

by Greg Evans

Editor’s Note: Today and through­out this week­end, NPI is run­ning a spe­cial series here on the Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate called Pro­gres­sive Ideas We Need, high­light­ing pro­pos­als that would raise qual­i­ty of life in our region and in the Unit­ed States as a whole. Each post is con­tributed by an NPI staff, board, or advi­so­ry coun­cil member. […]

Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics

Like a scene from The Chronicles of Narnia: Frozen Franklin Falls is a winter wonderland

by Andrew Villeneuve

One of the great advan­tages of liv­ing in the Pacif­ic North­west is the near­ness of nature, includ­ing unspoiled moun­tains and ocean beach­es. Thanks to the work of many sus­­tain­a­bil­i­­ty-ori­en­t­ed Wash­ing­to­ni­ans, Ore­go­ni­ans, and Ida­hoans, we have pro­tect­ed many of our beau­ti­ful and wild places from being scarred or destroyed. One such place is the Moun­tains to […]

Posted inLive Coverage, Technology, World Commmunity

NN15 Panel: People Power: Energy, Electricity, & Climate Justice

by Rennie Sawade

Dirty fos­sil fuel util­i­ties are oppos­ing pro­gres­sive change, rais­ing rates and killing the plan­et, but peo­ple across the coun­try, led by youth and First Nations activism, are tak­ing back pow­er. Cli­mate hawks and eco­nom­ic jus­tice activists are work­ing togeth­er to make our pow­er grid and pol­i­tics clean­er, and fight­ing for more afford­able and equi­table energy […]

Posted inBreaking News, Our Environment, Policy Topics

U.S. House passes ill-conceived bill to gut the Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to designate national monuments

by Andrew Villeneuve

Act­ing as if they don’t have any­thing bet­ter to do (and they cer­tain­ly do!) the Repub­li­can “lead­er­ship” in the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives today engi­neered a vote on a bill that would gut the Antiq­ui­ties Act, leg­is­la­tion dat­ing back the ear­ly 1900s that allows pres­i­dents to des­ig­nate nation­al mon­u­ments. As Ken Burns and his team […]

Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics, Public Service

President Obama picks REI CEO Sally Jewell to serve as the next Secretary of the Interior

by Andrew Villeneuve

Great news from our nation’s cap­i­tal this morn­ing: At an event in the White House­’s State Din­ing Room, Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma announced that he has cho­sen Wash­ing­ton’s Sal­ly Jew­ell to serve as the Sec­re­tary of the Depart­ment of the Inte­ri­or. Jew­ell, fifty-sev­en, is cur­rent­ly the chief exec­u­tive offi­cer of Recre­ation­al Equip­ment Incor­po­rat­ed, bet­ter known as […]

Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics

Colorado gets new national monument thanks to President Obama; will Washington be next?

by Andrew Villeneuve

Ear­li­er today, with the stroke of a pen, Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma trans­formed one of Col­orado’s most beloved and best known sights — pre­vi­ous­ly pro­tect­ed as Chim­ney Rock Archae­o­log­i­cal Area — into Chim­ney Rock Nation­al Mon­u­ment, exer­cis­ing his author­i­ty under the Antiq­ui­ties Act of 1906. The move brings the site one step clos­er to the coveted […]

Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics

Wolves’ comeback breeds tensions

by Kathleen Reynolds

A con­tro­ver­sial and divi­sive fig­ure is rear­ing its scruffy head in Wash­ing­ton. Absent from our state for at least sev­en­ty years, the wolf is mak­ing a vig­or­ous come­back. And while Native Amer­i­cans hon­or it in sto­ry, ani­mal lovers appre­ci­ate its eco­log­i­cal role (not to men­tion its fam­i­ly loy­al­ty and intel­li­gence), many ranch­ers dis­trust it because […]

Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics

ExxonMobil pipeline bursts in Montana, spilling crude oil into Yellowstone River

by Andrew Villeneuve

As if we need­ed anoth­er reminder that the oil indus­try is a dirty indus­try… An Exxon­Mo­bil pipeline run­ning under the Yel­low­stone Riv­er in south cen­tral Mon­tana rup­tured late Fri­day, spilling crude oil into the riv­er and forc­ing evac­u­a­tions. The pipeline burst about 10 miles west of Billings, coat­ing parts of the Yel­low­stone Riv­er that run […]