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Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands. Follow him @LandDesk
Despite a hostile administration, local governments in the West recognize the need to
continue the energy transition, and they have plans.
The 46th president finished his term in customary contradictory style.
The former president emphasized conservation, protection — and coal mining.
President-elect Trump, a Republican-dominated Congress and Utah launch an all-out assault on environmental protection.
When assessing the region, not much was normal but climate change.
What are the consequences for the land if the incoming president shrinks the national monument?
What the Senate contest says about the unexpected shift in Western politics.
From climate and public lands to shifting political allegiances, the region faces critical choices at the ballot box.
Drill, Democrats, drill?
Engineering for flood resilience can address storms heightened by climate change.
The state wants to build a highway through tortoise habitat.
Extreme heat doesn’t discriminate; the ability to escape it does.
Have politicians finally found a way to take public land out of the public’s hands?
Their legacy is destruction and pollution of lands and waters.
AI, cryptocurrency “mining” and our digital lifestyles imperil the energy transition — and the planet.
A new accounting reveals deep disparities in Western water consumption.
The next presidential election will have huge ramifications for the planet.
Livestock has indelibly altered the region’s land, water and air.
The administration makes the biggest land-management moves in a half century.