Jonathan Thompson

With little snow covering the mountain backdrop, a lone golfer putts out on a green on the Broken Tee Golf Course, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, in Sheridan, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

As abysmal snowpack rapidly melts in Colorado, drought may be too hopeful a term (抖阴ap)

March 18, 2026 at 5:01 a.m.

We are two and a half decades into the Southwest抖阴ap most severe drought of the last 1,200 years, and this winter鈥檚 snow dearth is one of the most extreme on...

This Sept. 4, 2011, file photo shows the main plant facility at the Navajo Generating Station, as seen from Lake Powell in Page, Ariz. The plant closed in 2019. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)-->

Trump gives coal a boost, guts renewables and will return haze to the Four Corners (抖阴ap)

August 5, 2025 at 1:02 p.m.

In defiance of the free market that has boosted renewable energy, the Trump administration is acting to undo those positive changes and make the air dirty again by throwing multiple...

Coal mining is seen in Wyoming's Powder River Basin in this undated photo. (Courtesy of Powder River Basin Resource Council)

抖阴ap: Wyoming’s pro-pollution policies truly boggle the mind

October 15, 2024 at 5:05 a.m.

The intent here is to lament the imminent extinction of the moderate, conservation-leaning, pragmatic Western Republican.

THORNTON, COLORADO - MAY 19: A closed sign keeps people out of North Creek Farms Park on May 19, 2021 in Thornton, Colorado. Great Western Petroleum is in the process of plugging an abandoned well site that was underneath the park. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

抖阴ap: How taxpayers got stuck with the bill for one abandoned oil and gas well 鈥� one of millions

March 7, 2023 at 3:02 p.m.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized $4.7 billion in federal funds for cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells. The truth is that it抖阴ap also a corporate bailout.

An aerial view of Arch Canyon in Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended that President Trump reduce the size of Bears Ears and two other national monuments established by his immediate predecessors.

Guest commentary: Biden needs to rollback Trump’s environmental rollbacks — and then some

November 24, 2020 at 6:17 a.m.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden has indicated that he鈥檒l quickly roll back the rollbacks as soon as he鈥檚 inaugurated. Yet a reset is not enough. In fact, many of the rules...

PONCHA SPRINGS, CO - FEBRUARY 11: The majestic Rocky Mountains make for a beautiful backdrop for new homes the new Tail Wind Village subdivision on February 11, 2020 in Poncha Springs, Colorado. Affordable housing has become a problem in Chaffee County where the cost of homes is skyrocketing but wages and seasonal work make it hard for people to afford to buy homes.

Guest Commentary: The West抖阴ap population may be on the verge of a new boom — COVID migrants

October 13, 2020 at 2:55 p.m.

A new wave of urban migrants may be crashing into the suburban and rural West once again. You could even call them COVID migrants.

In this July 27, 2018 photo, the Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyo.

Commentary: Trump鈥檚 methane rule rollback burns the natural gas bridge

September 28, 2018 at 12:01 p.m.

This summer鈥檚 statistics on electricity use and generation included a significant gem: Over the last 12 months, power generation from coal has dropped to a three-decade low. That was party-worthy...

Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has led to clashes between protesters and law enforcement in recent weeks.

Thompson: The twisted economics of the Dakota聽Access Pipeline

December 4, 2016 at 12:32 a.m.

Protesters who oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline aren't being attacked in the name of jobs, the economy or energy independence. They鈥檙e being attacked in the name of profit.

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