Water

  • Nevada Water Authority shaken by growing push-back to their effort to drain groundwater from under the Nevada desert

    Ralph Maughan

    Nevada’s “water wizard” to ask for vote of confidence in face of opposition to more draining the desert- Southern Nevada Water Authority’s boss, Pat Mulroy, thought by many to be the most powerful woman in the Interior West, says she wants a quick vote from Water Authority members [this is a board, not the public]…

  • Utah, Nevada nearing deal on Snake Valley aquifer

    Ralph Maughan

    So are Utah and Nevada going to team up to dewater Nevada’s Snake Valley, or is there just a bit less environmental destruction now planned? Utah, Nevada nearing deal on Snake Valley aquifer. Groundwater » Greens fret Vegas project may dry up valley around Great Basin National Park. By Brandon Loomis. The Salt Lake Tribune.…

  • Saving Energy by Managing Irrigation

    Brian Ertz

    In much of the West, pumping water to keep alfalfa growing in the desert through the hot season is an extremely wasteful endeavor.  Kate Galbraith writes about an energy conservation initiative in Idaho that pays irrigators to turn off the pumps during peak demand. Saving Energy by Managing Irrigation New York Times blog Doing more…

  • Kim Trotter: Arguments for rebuilding Teton Dam don't hold water

    Ralph Maughan

    Some bad ideas just won’t die- My first involvement in a conservation battle was trying to stop the building of the Teton Dam. We lost. It failed in June 1976 as it was filling for the first time. It killed eleven and cost a billion dollars in damage payouts. It would have been a money…

  • Senator Crapo speaks forbidden words about Idaho salmon

    Ralph Maughan

    Crapo “Does that mean dam breaching must be on the table? Yes.” Senator Craig would never allow that kind of talk, nor would Idaho’s water political establishment. Crapo didn’t say he favored breaching the 4 salmon- killing dams on the lower Snake River in Washington State. He just said it had to be on the…

  • Plan to dewater SW Wyoming to fuel growth in Colorado a bad idea

    Ralph Maughan

    NYT Times thinks so. It should be obvious to everyone- That’s what we need, more urban sprawl on the front range of the Rockies in Colorado; and the water to fuel it will by pumped in from far away — SW Wyoming — the upper Green River. This kind of thinking is so pre-recession, and…

  • Ninth Circuit puts hold on expansion of the big Smoky Canyon phosphate open pit mine

    Ralph Maughan

    Successful appeal by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition sends case back to district court- Federal appeals court blocks mine expansion. By Rebecca Boone. AP. I was told that In summary, the appellate court: 1.  Issued a stay of mine development activities; 2.  Ruled that the Idaho magistrate judge erred in disregarding GYC’s demonstration of harm to…

  • Grim death toll for tundra swans in N. Idaho

    Ralph Maughan

    Old toxic mining waste along the Coeur d’Alene River kills at least 150 a year- Toxic marshes deadly to swans: Coeur d’Alene River laden with lead from Silver Valley mining. By Spokesman-Review in the Seattle Times. This is not really a new story in the sense that it happens every year.  I knew that in…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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