A NEPA Categorical Exclusion by Lynn Boulton Still in effect today, the 1872 General Mining Act makes it very difficult for the federal govern-ment to deny proposals for hard rock mining. The Act and rising gold prices reaching a height of $2,038/oz on August 5, 2020, has stimulated gold exploration in California and Nevada. Over … Continue reading Gold Exploration in Long Valley
Nevada’s Outback
The Next Green Energy Ground Zero by Kevin Emmerich, Basin and Range Watch Large-scale renewable energy developers have been looking for ways to develop vast swaths of Nevada public lands for about twelve years now. Their problem has always been a lack of available transmission access and capacity. Just about every basin in Nevada has … Continue reading Nevada’s Outback
Mo-ja-ve
Poem by Shannon Salter, read at the site of the Yellow Pine Solar Project in Pahrump Valley Jackrabbit, you are my brother! The blue whale burst off inside you The white sun It is 1905 and America has built the Union Pacific Railroad And the heart of God has put his face onto the cement … Continue reading Mo-ja-ve
Trump’s Border Legacy and a Civics Lesson
One Citizen can Make a Difference by Nick Ervin He is gone. Yet his legacy, in all too many regrettable ways, persists. Donald Trump is now a private citizen, but the consequences of his four year assault on America's environment live on to haunt us. The destruction has occurred at so many levels and can … Continue reading Trump’s Border Legacy and a Civics Lesson
The Climate Costs of Tourism
We are All Locavists Now - Let's Stay that Way! by Steve Hollenhorst We've all thought it while stuck in our contracted pandemic worlds of home, zoom meetings, grocery runs, and local exercise circuits. We can't help but think, "I can't wait to travel again." Like starving castaways, we fantasize over the places we will … Continue reading The Climate Costs of Tourism
In Love with Death Valley – a Visitor from Europe
by Monica von Behr It was in 2011, on a research-trip for a documentary, that my husband and I saw Death Valley for the first time. It was love at first glance: the overwhelming space, melting into a bluish infinity, surrounded by far away mountain ranges, vaulted by an enormous unlimited sky. We never had … Continue reading In Love with Death Valley – a Visitor from Europe
Cyanide Heap Leach Gold Mine at Indian Pass – will this Travesty of Justice never end?
From: Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, March 9, 2021 Subject: Update on Imperial USA Corporation/Kore mining exploration project at Indian Pass. In 1994, Glamis Gold, a Canadian gold producer, attempted to obtain permits to operate a mine on the sacred and culturally significant land at Indian Pass in Imperial County, CA. At the time, … Continue reading Cyanide Heap Leach Gold Mine at Indian Pass – will this Travesty of Justice never end?
GREEN ENERGY MEETS MINING BY DAVID VON SEGGERN
Thacker Pass, Nevada THE RECENTLY APPROVED (2/20/2020) Sierra Club policy “Mining and Mining Law Reform Policy (including minerals for Clean Energy)” states in its opening sentences: Mining by its very nature is a dirty business and highly disruptive of the natural and human environment. It involves disturbing the terrestrial and/or marine environment with short term … Continue reading GREEN ENERGY MEETS MINING BY DAVID VON SEGGERN
SKILL AND SPIRIT
Teaching field geology on public lands by Marli Miller SIX PAIRS OF EYES stared blankly at me. Cows. Amazing how big those creatures are, especially when you’re sitting on the ground ‒ so I was grateful they hadn’t already tried to share my tiny bit of shade. I stood up, shouldered my pack, and walked … Continue reading SKILL AND SPIRIT
Protecting Public Lands
Can conventional planning work? by Stephen McCool IT WASN’T TOO LONG ago that I was sitting on the banks of the Rio Negro − a major tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil − reflecting on changes that are coming to that region. And like the Amazon Basin, change is coming to the California desert. … Continue reading Protecting Public Lands