Mark Pearson, Author at San Juan Citizens Alliance

Dec 18 2025

Colorado Steps Forward to Protect Wetlands

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Rivers

Over the past few years, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued decisions upending decades of well-established environmental protections. Earlier this year, in a case brought by Colorado county governments challenging the routing of a train hauling oil tank cars, the…

Dec 17 2024

Elections and Climate Policy

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column

Elections have consequences. Many are wondering what the just completed presidential election might hold for climate policy and action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our region has made much progress in cutting climate warming pollution. Colorado and New Mexico are…

Feb 07 2024

BLM Assessing Big Game Corridor Protections

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column

Winter is a good time to think about the stresses facing deer and elk herds. For big game already struggling with deep snows, public land managers can mitigate development that unnecessarily further complicates already challenging conditions. The Bureau of Land…

Nov 21 2023

Looking Back on 2023

By Mark Pearson Of Interest

Our work to protect the landscapes and communities across the San Juan Basin is oft-times a roller-coaster. While we were recently celebrating the tangible energy transition from coal to solar with groundbreaking at the San Juan Solar project near Farmington,…

Jun 30 2023

Chaco Gains Reprieve from New Drilling

By Mark Pearson Coal, Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition, Oil & Gas

A cherished landscape gained a measure of new protection this month when Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signed an order creating a 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park that precludes future oil and gas leasing. The decision culminates…

May 24 2023

Energy Choices Come into Focus

By Mark Pearson Coal, Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition, Oil & Gas

Whitewater boating season offers a metaphor for our local energy supply. We’re in the calm pool edging closer and closer to the lip of the rapid, before plunging into frothy waves below. That’s the position La Plata Electric Association finds…

Mar 01 2023

Regional Energy Transformation Accelerates

By Mark Pearson Coal, Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition, Oil & Gas

The Four Corners region is on the cusp of a rapid transformation from coal to renewable energy. The massive coal-fired San Juan Generating Station near Farmington is slated for demolition later this spring, accompanied by the simultaneous construction of large…

Aug 22 2022

Climate legislation is unprecedented in scope

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Durango Herald Column

This past week Congress passed sweeping legislation that takes a serious swipe at attacking the root causes of climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act aims to cut carbon emissions by more than 40% by the year 2030. It’s the most…

Jul 18 2022

Closure of San Juan Generation Station signals coal’s demise

By Mark Pearson Coal, Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition, Oil & Gas

The Four Corners took a significant step toward a coal-free future as Unit 1 of the San Juan Generating Station closed forever on June 30. The event occurred without fanfare, and represents the inexorable decline of mining and burning coal…

Jul 06 2022

Electric co-ops cut costs through independence

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition, LPEA Spotlight

June marks a significant milestone among rural electric cooperatives within the Tri-State system, notably for our neighbor Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in Taos, New Mexico. Six years ago, Kit Carson blazed a new path for electric co-ops in our region…

Apr 19 2022

Abandoned mines, wells present vexing problems

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition, LPEA Spotlight

Our region hosts an abundance of abandoned mine sites and orphaned oil and gas wells. They contaminate our water and air with acid mine drainage and leaking methane. They are the legacy of decades of resource extraction, and unfortunately, taxpayers…

Apr 01 2022

Local electric supplies set for big change

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition, LPEA Spotlight

La Plata Electric Association’s board of directors voted in February to dramatically revamp our local source of electricity. In a unanimous decision, the board agreed to a partial buyout of its existing electricity supply contract with Tri-State Generation and Transmission.…

Mar 10 2022

Poor environmental review derails oil and gas leases

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Oil & Gas, Wildlife

Last week, a federal court ruled that the Bureau of Land Management failed to follow the law in selling oil and gas leases across Southwest Colorado in two recent auctions. The ruling applies to 14 parcels involving about 10,000 acres…

Jan 20 2022

Region’s future electricity supply in play

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition

Electricity customers across Southwest Colorado have the opportunity this month to provide feedback about the future of our electricity supply. The Colorado Public Utility Commission is reviewing plans for long-term electric generation resources put forth by Tri-State Generation and Transmission,…

Dec 28 2021

Conservation Gains Across Four Corners Mark the New Year

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

After a whirlwind year, it’s time to take stock of some conservation gains over the past 12 months. We often ride a teeter-totter of conservation policy, down one year, up the next, but overall many a cherished landscape across the…

Nov 22 2021

Land near Chaco Canyon receives protections

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Oil & Gas

This week the Biden administration took action to safeguard lands surrounding Chaco Canyon from impacts associated with encroaching oil and gas extraction. The Department of Interior announced a two-year moratorium on new oil and gas leasing within the 10-mile zone…

Nov 03 2021

Opportunities for Dolores River Conservation

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Rivers

One of the most remarkable features of Southwest Colorado is the spectacular canyon carved by the Dolores River. On those occasions when an abundance of snowpack blesses our region, adventurers can enjoy floating through 100 miles of a wild canyon…

Sep 02 2021

Opportunities abound for engagement on climate change

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Durango Herald Column

A friend recently lamented the apparent disappearance of Colorado’s trademark cobalt blue skies, those piercingly clear summer days in the mountains when you can see almost forever. Instead, our peaks and valleys are obscured by smoke in a ritual repeated…

Aug 20 2021

National forest land exchange poses troubling trade-offs

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

A festering land exchange controversy near Pagosa Springs is emblematic of larger questions about public lands and private demands. It is the latest in a series of exchanges whereby wealthy landowners covetous of adjacent national forest lands contrive a means…

May 26 2021

Electric Co-ops Boost Local Energy Supplies

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Renewable Energy

An inspiring story of rapid energy transition is playing out in a neighboring rural electric cooperative in northern New Mexico. Just recently, Kit Carson Electric Cooperative announced it is ahead of schedule to complete several solar projects by the end…

Apr 19 2021

States Pursue Competing Energy Visions

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Renewable Energy

Colorado and Wyoming are on rapidly diverging paths to distinctly different energy futures. Colorado’s Legislature next week will contemplate further greenhouse gas emissions reductions, with stricter requirements for rapid transition away from coal and other carbon emitting fuels. The intent…

Mar 25 2021

Gold King Legacy Leads to Stronger Water Protections

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Gold King Mine

Colorado is currently considering ways to strengthen rules for protecting water from future hardrock mining operations. It’s a direct link back to the Gold King Mine spill in 2015, though one perhaps obscured by the passage of time. The path…

Feb 23 2021

States, Industry, Consumers Leading Climate Change Policy

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Durango Herald Column

Events of the past year drove home the reality of our changing climate. Colorado experienced the three largest wildfires in recorded history, two of which burned across high mountain forests in October, a month normally reserved for the onset of…

Jan 22 2021

Land Protection on Deck for New Congress

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

Congress reconvenes this month with major unfinished business around land conservation legislation of great significance to Southwest Colorado. After decades of analysis and consideration, last year bills advanced through the U.S. House of Representatives to enact wilderness and other protective…

Dec 23 2020

New Administration Means New Environmental Rules

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column

The changing of the guard of presidential administrations frequently brings substantial reversals of previous rules and policies. The Trump administration gained notoriety for its widespread attempts to abandon or undermine rules intended to reduce pollution or safeguard public lands. It’s…

Nov 25 2020

Utility to Assist Navajo Energy Transition

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition

The accelerating transition from coal-fired electricity to renewables is great news for the climate, but poses tough economic challenges to dependent communities like Farmington and Shiprock, New Mexico. After decades of a local economy linked to the jobs around mining…

Oct 20 2020

Unlawful Public Lands Head Invites Chaos

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

A Montana judge recently ruled the head of the Bureau of Land Management had illegally served as the agency’s director for more than a year. That’s a big deal, seeing as it is the nation’s largest land manager. In Colorado,…

Sep 25 2020

Will wolves join lynx as recovered species in Colorado?

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Species

Twenty years ago, Colorado wildlife officials restored long-missing lynx to the state’s forests and mountains. It was a joy to watch lynx bound away from their release point at Rio Grande Reservoir and take to their native habitat. Changing societal…

Aug 21 2020

Defense Spending Bill May Provide Path to Land Conservation

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

As Congress nears the finish line this year, the fate of conservation legislation dealing with a million acres in Colorado is left hanging. The House of Representatives has now twice passed both the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act and…

Jul 20 2020

Electric Co-ops Closer to Securing Tri-State Exit Fees

By Mark Pearson Coal, Durango Herald Column, Renewable Energy

Last week, La Plata Electric Association inched closer to gaining the basic information it has long desired to evaluate whether it makes sense to stay with Tri-State Generation and Transmission as its wholesale electricity supplier or jump ship to potentially…

Jun 23 2020

Carbon Capture is an Elusive Dream

By Mark Pearson Coal, Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition

Our region took a major step toward a cleaner energy future recently when New Mexico regulators gave Public Service Co. of New Mexico approval to retire the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station outside Farmington in two years. But alas, it’s…

May 20 2020

Chaco Drilling Plans Advance Despite Pandemic

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Oil & Gas

While much of the country grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, it’s full speed ahead at the Department of Interior approving oil and gas development projects. One of the most contentious is a proposal for over 3,000 new oil and gas…

Apr 27 2020

As Coal-Fire Power Plants Close, Our Skies are Clearing

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, Renewable Energy

One of the noticeable, and remarkable, changes in recent years has been the dramatic improvement in visibility and air pollution in the Four Corners. Longer-term residents routinely comment on the increased clarity and the sharper vistas of distant ranges like…

Mar 20 2020

LPEA Drives Statewide Policy Change

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Renewable Energy

The transformation in Colorado’s energy landscape over the past year is nothing short of breathtaking. A good part of that transformation owes to the leadership of La Plata Electric Association. Who might have imagined a year ago that LPEA would…

Feb 14 2020

Legislation Ensures Lasting Conservation

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

Photo: John Fielder Last week, the Bureau of Land Management finalized plans to open millions of acres of southern Utah to energy development, oil and gas drilling, coal mining and a variety of other extraction activities. These were the…

Jan 28 2020

Road, Bridges Threaten Dolores River Canyon

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

Conservationists pursue protective designations like wilderness or wild and scenic rivers to help ensure the undeveloped character of cherished places is guaranteed into the future. It’s a bulwark against the creeping industrialization that often threatens to consume the quiet valleys…

Nov 17 2019

Colorado plans to create new methane rules

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Oil & Gas

In 2014, our region gained notoriety as the nation’s methane hotspot. Researchers at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noticed via satellite measurements a plume of methane over the Four Corners that dwarfed anywhere else in the country.…

Oct 20 2019

San Juan Mountains legislation faces vote in U.S. House

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

This week marks the 10th anniversary of long-simmering efforts to obtain added wilderness protections for the high ranges of the San Juan Mountains. Back in 2009, then Rep. John Salazar first introduced the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act, legislation aimed…

Sep 20 2019

America’s environmental safety net unravels

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Species

The summer brought a whirlwind of change to America’s bedrock environmental laws, or at least the rules that implement those laws. The Trump administration has made no secret of its disdain for environmental rules that might impede the interests of…

Aug 17 2019

Wildlife corridors need protection

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Species

As Colorado fills up with people and our forests evolve in response to a changing climate, what happens to our renowned wildlife? Can we make space for migrating game herds and dispersing species? With more traffic, U.S. Highway 160 and…

Jul 20 2019

Energy dominance comes to Colorado

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Oil & Gas, Species

Conservation advocates routinely harp on the single-minded focus of the Trump administration exhorting resource exploitation on our public lands. In case that just sounds like hyperbole, recent real-life examples help illustrate the reality of the Department of Interior’s energy dominance…

Jun 16 2019

Our energy supply system is transforming

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, Energy Transition, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy

In just a few weeks, Public Service Co. of New Mexico will initiate the process to officially retire the San Juan Generating Station, the 1,600-megawatt, coal-fired behemoth outside Farmington that once burned coal day and night to generate electricity. It’s…

May 19 2019

Wilderness deserves restraint, humility

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Forest Health, Lands Protection

The Forest Service’s recent decision to approve using chain saws to cut out downed trees in wilderness areas might strike some as no big deal. But for longtime advocates for the wilderness concept generally, and supporters of the Weminuche and…

Apr 21 2019

New Mexico moves to protect Chaco Canyon from drilling

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Oil & Gas

Anyone who has traveled the U.S. Highway 550 corridor to Albuquerque recently knows for themselves the extent of greatly expanded drilling activity. Advances in fracking technology have unlocked access to oil deposits tightly trapped in the Mancos and Gallup shale…

Apr 18 2019

Western Colorado Deserves Clean Air Too!

By Mark Pearson Oil & Gas

This month, the Colorado legislature passed landmark oil and gas reform legislation that directs the state to adopt next generation methane standards and expand air quality protections statewide. On Tuesday, the Air Quality Control Division will hold a public hearing…

Mar 19 2019

Colorado Bill Aims to Modernize Regulation of Oil and Gas

By Mark Pearson Oil & Gas

Colorado is finally trying to revamp the regulation of oil and gas development for the 21st century. And it's long overdue. For decades, Colorado's official charge to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was to "foster" oil and…

Mar 18 2019

Decisions loom about local electric supply

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Renewable Energy

Spring is in the air, and with it comes potentially big changes for our electric power supply. Leadership changes abound at both our local rural electric cooperative, La Plata Electric Association, and its wholesale electric supplier, Tri-State Generating and Transmission.…

Feb 17 2019

Land conservation overcomes congressional gridlock

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Rivers, Species

Photo: Jason Hatfield Fans of Utah’s spectacular redrock country can savor congressional action this week that advanced protections for a million acres of the incomparable San Rafael Swell, and one of the Colorado Plateau’s longest wild river segments through Desolation…

Jan 19 2019

New Mexico grapples with air pollutants

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy

We who live in these parts sometimes call it the Four Corners, other times the San Juan Basin or even the Colorado Plateau. It’s reflective of the geographic flexibility of our home region, one that water and air easily transcends.…

Dec 15 2018

Change Confronts Rural Electric Co-ops

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, Green Business, Renewable Energy

Photo: Wildearth Guardians, Flickr The comedian Lily Tomlin used to have a favorite shtick where she played Ernestine, the snorting, smirking phone operator. She would end her bit with the line, “We don’t care, we don’t have to, we’re the…

Nov 18 2018

Election moves energy policy to the forefront

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Durango Herald Column, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy

Photo: US Department of Energy, Flickr With the midterm elections behind us, it’s worth pondering what the outcome means for the environment next year. One can expect significant action in Colorado and New Mexico in two areas where states have…

Oct 21 2018

Energy dominance comes to national forests

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Forest Health, Lands Protection, Oil & Gas

The Trump administration unabashedly promotes energy dominance above all else on America’s public lands. But even knowing that, it’s hard not to be astonished by the latest onslaught to prioritize oil and gas development on our national forests. We are…

Sep 15 2018

Fires and droughts should set off alarm bells

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, Forest Health, Lands Protection, Renewable Energy, Rivers

Our beloved Animas River has taken a shellacking the past few years, the most recent insults a combination of record low flows and wildfire induced mudslides. The Animas might be the blaring alarm bell for our society’s failure to act…

Aug 18 2018

Max density rendering of Village at Wolf Creek

The Village at Wolf Creek staggers onward

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Species, Wolf Creek

Are we doomed to the zombie Village at Wolf Creek endlessly stalking the San Juan Mountains? No matter how many times apparently dead, it seemingly staggers back to life, lurching with a blank gaze and lifeless arms in its 30-year-long…

Jul 21 2018

New leadership at EPA, same rollbacks

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, Forest Health, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Rivers, Species

Photo: Wikipedia Commons By the time Scott Pruitt resigned as the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, he was the poster child for bungling personal entitlement. As Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa put it, Pruitt was the swampiest of the Washington,…

Jun 16 2018

For 50 years, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act preserves waterways

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Rivers

Fifty years ago, Congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. It was a counterpoint to the West’s flurry of dam-building in the 1950s and 1960s that saw dams erected across many of the region’s rivers. The mighty rivers of…

May 19 2018

Photo of wildflowers in Ice Lake Basin by Jason Hatfield

San Juan Wilderness Act strategically protects mountains’ beauty

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

Photo: Jason Hatfield With spring full bore upon us, it’s hard not to cast an envious eye toward the high country and start daydreaming about alpine wildflower hikes. One favorite destination for many is Ice Lake Basin outside Silverton, one…

Apr 21 2018

LPEA board vote hinges on vision for power supply

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column

This year’s La Plata Electric Association board election is a pivotal referendum on the future of our electric supply. Are co-op members happy with the status quo, being joined at the hip for the next 32 years to Tri-State Generation…

Mar 17 2018

Interior Department hears resistance to energy leases

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Oil & Gas

Five years versus five days. That succinctly describes the different weights accorded to constituents raising objections to expanded oil and gas leasing in landscapes with special circumstances. As the Trump administration attempts to accelerate energy development through its self-described energy…

Feb 18 2018

La Plata Electric Association grapples with era of change

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, LPEA Spotlight, Renewable Energy

It’s a challenging time for La Plata Electric Association. The electric utility world is undergoing a classic technology disruption, where rapid advances threaten to upend decades-old business models. LPEA is locked into a contract for the next 30 years with…

Jan 21 2018

View of Animas Valley from Animas Mountain

To plan, or not to plan – land use in La Plata County

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

It might be easy to chuckle at the silliness of the conspiracy theorists convinced the United Nations is scheming with La Plata County to forcibly relocate rural folks into urban housing centers. Easy, unless you’re the county commissioners bearing the…

Dec 16 2017

Now’s the time to voice your views about our public lands’ future

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Oil & Gas, Wolf Creek

Last week’s events punctuated by the Trump administration’s cavalier abandonment of a century’s worth of American conservation practice is greatly discouraging. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wiped out more than 1 million acres of protected landscapes in two national monuments in…

Nov 18 2017

hiker in arctic national wildlife refuge

Sen. Gardner’s vote can determine fate of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Oil & Gas

With the onset of winter, it’s never too early to daydream of next year’s adventures. Nowhere compares with the raw, spontaneous wildness of Alaska’s primeval landscapes teeming with abundant caribou and grizzly bears. In particular, the aptly named Arctic National…

Oct 20 2017

Trump signing executive order to review national mnuments

New bill puts nation’s public lands in jeopardy

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

Last week, the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee passed a bill to prevent presidents from creating national monuments. It would severely limit the future preservation of many remarkable places similar to those we now take for granted – such…

Sep 15 2017

Flooding and rescue after Hurricane Harvey

Hurricanes are a stark reminder of the costs of climate change

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, Renewable Energy

Photo By: Lt. Zachary West As we stand transfixed by the enormously powerful hurricanes churning across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, one can’t help but think about our place in the climate-change continuum. Here in the San Juan Basin,…

Aug 21 2017

Power struggle with Tri-State won’t end soon

By Mark Pearson Coal

A few weeks ago, we sent forth our champion with bated breath and hopeful expectations to plead our case before Tri-State, to please allow us to generate more electricity locally here at home in La Plata Electric Association’s service area.…

Jul 14 2017

EPA Cuts Corners to Ignore the Law

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection, Oil & Gas, Rivers

Waiving rules to prevent methane pollution. Stripping wetlands of protection under the Clean Water Act. Throwing out restrictions against strip-mining mountaintops and dumping the spoils into streams. The Trump administration has an ambitious agenda to eliminate protections for air, water…

Jun 16 2017

West’s utilities abandon coal because it costs too much

By Mark Pearson Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column

“It’s all about the economics,” the expert said. “Technologies have improved to make other forms of energy less expensive than coal.” One might figure sure, that’s some tree-hugging environmentalist arguing for solar and wind energy. But in fact, that’s the…

May 19 2017

A Challenge to our National Monuments: Will the Lords of Yesterday Prevail?

By Mark Pearson Durango Herald Column, Lands Protection

We’re in uncharted waters. A presidential administration just launched an overarching attack on more than 11 million acres of previously protected landscapes. The Trump administration’s new initiative to overturn national monuments designated over the past 20 years is unlike anything…

Apr 28 2017

Meet our new Executive Director, Mark Pearson!

By Mark Pearson Lands Protection, Of Interest

Just in time for my first week on the job, returning to the role of Executive Director at SJCA, I was greeted by a new presidential administration’s assault on Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (CANM). Déjà vu all over…

Mark Pearson

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