The Energy Department has repeatedly invoked emergency powers to stop the closure of coal plants around the U.S. and reopen oil pipelines in the West. As court challenges inch forward, utilities and energy companies are dusting off equipment that was headed for the scrap heap.Continue readingWhat’s the energy emergency? To an administration keen on fossil fuels, it may be the threat of alternatives
Author: Felicity Barringer
Intensifying groundwater pumping is warping the earth’s surface and wreaking havoc with built infrastructure – including the canals that bring irrigation water. Continue readingIn search of water, farmers undermined the San Joaquin Valley. Can collective effort raise their fields, canals – and prospects?
In its early 20th century heyday, Allensworth, California was celebrated as a model of Black self-sufficiency; then came loss and a long decline. A new generation is bringing new ideas, new money, and ambitions for a model economic and environmental rural community. Continue readingA Central Valley family’s quest to revive a historic Black town is the work of generations
Hemmed in by aging infrastructure, water scarcity and ratepayer resistance, utility managers seek to balance maintaining equitable service and remaining solvent.Continue readingSanta Cruz water utility grapples with a paradox: what to do when conservation becomes bad for business
Professor Luthy’s work focuses on ways to ensure that water overflows in both urban and rural California can be captured and stored underground. He spoke with & the West about the measures the state needs to consider to protect its water supplies into an uncertain future. Continue reading‘We need to plan for a more water-resilient future:’ Q&A with Richard G. Luthy, urban water expert
With promises of jobs and hopes for tax breaks, server farms are reshaping local grids, plumbing, and politics. Are they a boon for communities, or a burden?Continue readingThirsty for power and water, AI-crunching data centers sprout across the West
Architects of the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act tried to forestall conflict between state regulators and local groundwater users. But judging plans “inadequate” creates hard-to-reconcile differences.Continue readingEfforts to preserve California’s groundwater enter a new phase: a season of judgement
A fixture of the West for millennia, the storms are becoming more frequent as the byproduct of water diversions and climate change.Continue readingRising from dead and dying lakes, western dust storms menace species, drivers, and public health
New technologies and spiking power demand are drawing attention to the Ring of Fire beneath us.Continue readingIn the shadow of wind and solar, geothermal energy gets a fresh look
A federal push to return American Bison herds to tribal control raises hopes that the once-abundant species can regenerate landscapes and restore native traditions. Continue readingDo buffalo still roam the American West with Native tribes? And if so, where?