Craig Roepke, the Interstate Stream Commission deputy director, just passed along a list of the studies that would have been completed on the Gila this year, if Gov. Bill Richardson hadn’t axed the funding yesterday: Extinction Risk Analysis for Spikedace and Loachminnow ($30,000) Land-Use and Land Management of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers ($50,000) [...]

Bill Richardson today line-item vetoed (PDF — check page 243) $945,000 to study the ecology of the Gila River. The funding was tied to the Arizona Water Settlements Act, which might provide 14,000 acre-feet of water per year. In addition, the act sets aside $66 million for water projects in southwest New Mexico. This is [...]

One thing I noted during last week’s candidate forum in Nevada was just how tall Bill Richardson is when he’s up on stage. He dwarfed the other candidates when they all stood for photographs during the intermission. This morning, another photo appeared in my inbox: It isn’t just anybody that can make Arnold Schwarzenegger look [...]

There’s an interesting discussion of sorts underway in the comments section of John Fleck’s blog over the recent release of a study on the Colorado River. Tom Yulsman wrote the following: [N]othing in the NRC report sounded terribly new. We knew that droughts much worse than what we’ve experienced in the last 100 years have [...]

Good news for New Mexico, and the rest of the Western states, because it looks like Denver has been chosen as the location for the 2008 Democratic National Convention: National Democrats announced today that they have picked Denver over New York for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Denver’s selection brings the high-profile political gathering to [...]

Last month, I wrote a story (no longer on the Daily Press site, for PDF version click here) on firefighting costs, and a report issued by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. I looked at the ways in which New Mexico has worked to improve conditions in the wildland urban interface — where forests meet homes and [...]

The Albuquerque Tribune, via Headwaters News: The Supreme Court ruled against the oil and gas industry today in a dispute over how many years into the past the government can reach to collect money for leases on federal land. In a 7-0 decision, the court refused to limit the number of years the government can [...]

We’ve received a lot of calls today from people wondering if we had heard about the Freeport-McMoRan buyout of Phelps Dodge. I assure you, we did. I’m still trying to gather my thoughts. Both of my parents worked for Phelps Dodge (my mom was communications director for NM Operations before she left for her D.C. [...]

Via Greg at The Horse’s Mouth comes this Time story on post-election spin myths. My favorite: MYTH: The losses Republicans suffered this election were no different than what you usually see in a President’s sixth year in office. REALITY: Redistricting minimized what might have been a truly historic shellacking. The numbers alone do look like [...]

There’s a new blog on the block (and on the sidebar’s New Mexico Blogroll) that I’ve meant to talk about. But, with the election and all, things got a little busy. Nonetheless, I present to you Alternative Comment, based in Las Cruces. The blog’s author is a self-described “renewable energy advocate.” Take a look at [...]

The Salt Lake Tribune wrote a scathing editorial featuring Congressman Steve Pearce this morning, and legislation he wrote that some are calling a land grab. It wasn’t pretty: There have been many proposals for clarifying road rights of way in the West. The one being sponsored by New Mexico Republican Rep. Steve Pearce is the [...]

Looks like there’s more buzz this week about an early Western primary for the Democrats. The Salt Lake Tribune has the latest, including an incredible introduction: Every year, Congress tweaks federal law to try to make ethanol more realistic as a fuel for cars. The grain alcohol consumes more energy to create than it produces. [...]