Rocky Mountain Media Grok

Western GOP Bucking Against Energy Boom

By Chris Lombardi, 7-21-06

A harbinger of a Western shift? When Montana Senator Conrad Burns proposed a ban on new oil and gas leases on the Rocky Mountain Front last month, and energy company Questar followed up with a donation of their energy leases to a sportsman's conservation group, New West's Courtney Lowery wondered if the move might be the beginning of a larger trend within the Western GOP.

A number of conservation-minded moves by Western Republicans in recent weeks have led USA Today to wonder the same. The Bush administration has been pushing hard for increased drilling on federal lands with great success: according to the BLM, permits have jumped from 3,540 in 2002 to 7,018 in 2005. But the Burns proposal, along with a recent roadless proposal by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a drilling ban by New Mexico's Heather Wilson, and recent comments by Wyoming GOP Sen. Craig Thomas about protecting national forests, suggest that Western Republicans are beginning to push back.

Mark Rey, the Bush administration's undersecretary of Agriculture, was quoted in USA Today saying that the recent objections do not represent a Western revolt against drilling, but rather a general concern that "development is done sensitively and well."

Look out, Boise. The national eye has turned to you. After making yet another "Best Places" list earlier in the week, the New York Times is lauding the town in its "36 Hours" travel feature today. "[Boise] offers all the outdoor advantages of more ballyhooed Western towns but with less, well, ballyhoo," the article ballyhoos.

With gas prices near record highs, Albuquerque couldn't have picked a better time to launch a new commuter rail service. The New Mexico Rail Runner is just four days old and its ridership is far surpassing expectations. The system is adding new cars to accommodate the load and still "people were packed like sardines, and we had to turn people down," a transportation official was quoted in the Albuquerque Tribune.

It's a feeding frenzy for home buyers along Utah's Wasatch Front. Median selling prices in Salt Lake County and Utah County are up over 20 percent from last year, while some hot towns like Holladay and North Salt Lake are seeing staggering 47 and 63 percent increases respectively. "Half the time you can't get a home in the neighborhood you want because there are five other people making an offer on the same place," realtor Bryan Kohler was quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune. "Some homes are sold even before the sign goes up."

Three members of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front have pled guilty to 16 arson attacks, including a series of 1998 arsons in Vail, called the most costly act of "eco-terrorism" in the US. The three have also agreed to help investigate a series of firebombings at ranger stations, horse corrals, a ski resort and lumber mill offices in the West.

Finally, several stories today remind us to be careful out there in the wilds this summer. Hikers are missing in three Rocky Mountain states today.. While the Denver Post reports that fatal lightning strikes are way up for the year thus far. Lighting killed a 17-year old Woodland Park boy on a soccer field this week, the fourth lighting fatality in Colorado this year, and one more than the yearly average for the state.

Have a great, safe weekend out there.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.