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journalist, editor, trail runner, cyclist, runs the Land Desk newsletter covering lands and communities of the Western U.S.-Four Corners Region.
I also talked with Western environmental journalist Jonathan P. Thompson, author of the @landdesk.bsky.social newsletter, for this week's Boiling Point podcast. Great conversation about the Colorado River, coal plants and national parks. Listen in: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Podcast Episode · Boiling Point · 08/14/2025 · 39m
Appreciate @landdesk.bsky.social covering the transition from fossil fuels to renewables -- oh, wait, I mean efforts to extend the life of antiquated coal-fired power plants & build new fossil methane pipelines to meet growing power demand from energy-intensive data centers.
"Interior Department has gone even further with a new order that threatens to kill all new renewable power development on federal lands." - @landdesk.bsky.social writing about the Interior Department's new "capacity density" order: www.landdesk.org/p/trumps-war... 🔌💡
If we're in an energy emergency, why kill the cleanest, best, and fastest growing sources?
Morons.
Burgum: "When the sun goes down, you have a catastrophic failure called sunset and there's no solar energy produced, and yet we're subsidizing these things that are intermittent, unreliable, and expensive. We've gotta get back to base load."
No, there is not plenty of water for data centers www.landdesk.org/p/no-there-i...
And, yes, we should worry about it, along with the facilities' power use
The West’s data centers suck (water and power). Lots of great information and visualizations here from @landdesk.bsky.social @highcountrynews.org www.hcn.org/issues/57-8/...
From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies.
The #RioGrande has gone dry in Albuquerque -- John Fleck (InkStain.net) coyotegulch.blog/2025/07/16/t...
In which I compare the Colorado River Compact to an inherited potato farm. www.landdesk.org/p/colorado-r...
A supply-driven plan is on the table, but many sticky details remain up in the air
@landdesk.bsky.social explains the Colorado River Compact of 1922 open.substack.com/pub/landdesk...
Kanab, Utah, used to be an out of the way, podunk town best known as a center of the Sagebrush Rebellion. Now it’s getting overrun by high-end luxury resorts and gated communities — despite the lack of water. www.landdesk.org/p/as-the-col...
Kanab gets a bunch of new development, Imperial Irrigation District scoffs at farmland solar
