We’ve moved the newsletter here.
For the past few years we’ve published the Rockies Today newsletter here on Medium. It’s been great for adding multimedia to our regional news curations. And it’s grown our audience beyond email subscribers. But now we’re trying out the editorial newsletter platform Revue, which puts the entirety of Rockies Today right in subscribers’ inboxes, making it simpler to digest daily goings on around the region.
So, at least for now, you can read and subscribe to Rockies Today here:
If you’re curious, a story on the thinking behind Revue:
We’re not abandoning this website, though. We’re working hard to build…
Rockies Today for Monday, August 26
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
Wyoming’s coal industry adjusts to a new normal
In the Powder River Basin, “this summer changed everything,” writes the Casper Star-Tribune’s Camille Erickson in this long-read on the rightsizing of the top coal-producing region in the country.
A healthy basin is still possible, even after an “extraordinary” and “chaotic” three months in the basin, according to [University of Wyoming economist Rob Godby]. It simply needs to consolidate and increase its efficiency in a tightening market.
“Unfortunately, there’s an adjustment that needs to happen,” Godby said. …
Rockies Today for Friday, August 23
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
Nebraska high court OKs Keystone XL pipeline path
Today the Nebraska Supreme Court approved the Keystone XL oil pipeline’s planned path through the state, a significant victory for the developer and supporters of the pipeline that’s been in limbo for more than a decade. But the ruling’s not the final word. Remaining hurdles include a federal lawsuit in Montana seeking to block construction.
The unanimous decision was a victory for TC Energy, formerly TransCanada, and a blow to groups fighting the 36-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline, which was proposed more than a decade ago.
The court, in…
Rockies Today for Thursday, August 22
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
BLM to weaken protections of central Mont. wilds
In reporting on the Interior Department’s management of public lands under the Trump administration, PBS NewsHour zooms in on the BLM’s push to promote oil and gas development on lands with “wilderness characteristics” in central Montana.
This is public land, just a fraction of the 245 million acres in the United States administered by the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM.
Now, though, a familiar question hangs above this terrain, how best to use and protect it. Land fights in the West over energy production and conservation have…
Rockies Today for Wednesday, August 21
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
Multiyear snow droughts to become more common
A University of Idaho-led study published this month finds that consecutive low snow years could become six times more common across the West over the latter half of the century.
“Across the West, we’re generally losing a lot of our snowpack — in many places, low snow conditions will be increasingly consistent from year to year,” Adrienne Marshall, the study’s lead author, said in a university news release. “Every time we have a snow drought, we’re delving into our water resources and the ecosystem’s resources. …
Rockies Today for Tuesday, August 20
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
Insurers pull back in wildfire-prone Western states
Following years of record-setting wildfires in both size and cost, officials in Western states are getting more complaints from people whose insurance companies have refused to renew their coverage.
In Montana, insurers have changed the way they evaluate wildfire risk, according to Bob Biskupiak, the state’s deputy insurance commissioner.
Decisions that were once made based largely on how quickly a fire department could reach the property now involve third-party analytics companies, Mr. Biskupiak said. …
Rockies Today for Wednesday, August 7
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
Editor’s note: Rockies Today is taking a summer break. You can expect the next edition to be published the week of August 19. Thanks for reading.
Reckoning nears for fossil fuel-dependent states
Climate action on public lands would force a reckoning for fossil fuel-dependent states and communities, writes Carl Segerstrom in this High Country News analysis. Wyoming’s especially vulnerable, as it continues to rely on fossil fuels and lags behind other states in transition planning.
In 2018, record-setting federal oil and gas lease sales in the booming Permian Basin helped pump more than $600…
Rockies Today for Tuesday, August 6
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
Greater sage grouse counts show three-year slide
Spring counts indicate that greater sage grouse populations in Idaho, Nevada and Oregon have fallen for a third consecutive year, supporting fears the troubled bird may be on a West-wide population slide, WyoFile’s Angus M. Thuermer Jr. reports.
The three states hold about 42% of the species’ population and surveys show each saw bird numbers decline between 2018–2019. Idaho statewide lek counts indicate a 25% decline in males. Nevada saw 8% fewer males on breeding-ground leks, officials there report. Oregon’s population estimate is down 24.9% …
Rockies Today for Monday, August 5
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
Colorado becoming a patchwork of oil and gas rules
Boulder County wants to enact tougher regulations. Weld County wants to make it easier to drill. And the state is scrambling to keep up.
When county commissioners met this summer to ponder local control of oil and gas operations in Boulder County, residents came with signs proclaiming “I am over O&G’s $ influence.” In Weld County there were “Recall Jared Polis” T-shirts — a sartorial critique of the governor who signed the new oil and gas legislation.
Rockies Today for Friday, August 2
Today’s top stories from around the region curated by Mountain West News
‘Insane’ wildfires in the Arctic spark feedback loop
As summers get drier and warmer, infernos such as those in Alaska and Siberia could become more common—and push traditional firefighting methods beyond their limits.
Unusually aggressive wildfires in the Arctic are releasing waves of greenhouse gases, lasting longer, reaching deeper and burning at higher latitudes than in previous years, and experts say this is fueled by climate change.
Canada’s territories have been spared the worst of this year’s fire season, but alarming wildfires in Alaska and Siberia underscore how vulnerable this country’s Far North is to a…
