Of Interest Archives - San Juan Citizens Alliance

Apr 01 2024

What’s New with LPEA?

By Emelie Frojen Energy Transition, Of Interest, Renewable Energy No Comments

La Plata Electric Association has seen a lot of change over the past several months. From receiving its buy-out calculation and voting to exit its contract with Tri-State, filing suit against Tri-State, issuing a pass-through rate increase, to a major…

Dec 29 2023

Clean Air, Clean Energy: The Forecast for 2024

By Rane Dickerson Of Interest No Comments

2023 was a great year for local climate and energy wins! La Plata County adopted the strictest community protections from oil and gas on the Western Slope. While La Plata County originally contemplated a hard oil and gas setback of 0ft,…

Nov 21 2023

Looking Back on 2023

By Mark Pearson Of Interest No Comments

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,…

Feb 03 2021

Clean Air, Mining Reform, & More: Updates at the New Mexico Legislative Session

By Mike Eisenfeld Energy Transition, Of Interest No Comments

Several bills were heard yesterday in the New Mexico Legislative Session House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee with good outcomes! 1. The Oil and Gas Subdivision Parcels Bill (HB 136) was drafted purportedly to address exemptions to subdividing lands to…

Jan 07 2021

SJCA Annual Update Video

By sjca Energy Transition, Lands Protection, Of Interest, Rivers No Comments

Since we couldn't see everyone in person this year, we made a video to show you what our staff has been up to & update you on some of our top campaigns! Check it out!

Oct 16 2020

What’s Your Plan?

By sjca Lands Protection, Of Interest, Take Action No Comments

SJCA believes that responsible management of our public lands protects our communities’ heritage, supports healthy wildlife and their habitat, sustains a strong and self-reliant economy, and preserves our quality of life for generations to come. To help our members and…

Jun 12 2020

Key Findings on Gray Wolves Released

By Gary Skiba Of Interest, Species 4 Comments

This November, Colorado residents will vote on Proposition 107. If passed, it will require the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife to reintroduce wolves to the state by the end of 2023. Colorado State University’s Center for Carnivore-Human Coexistence, in…

Apr 17 2020

Conservation Matters Now More Than Ever

By sjca Coal, Lands Protection, Of Interest, Renewable Energy No Comments

By Diana Vernazza Here in Southwest Colorado, the weather is beginning to turn warmer, the rivers are rising and trees slowly leafing out. The first butterflies of the season are looking for nectar, and the birds are noisily building nests.…

Mar 09 2020

Deadline March 10th For Local Input on Rollback of Environmental Law

By sjca In the News, Of Interest No Comments

Breaking: The Trump Administration has proposed changes that would rollback critical elements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bedrock environmental law. NEPA is fundamental to protecting public health, safety, and our environment, and the vast majority of Western…

Mar 18 2019

Colorado Passes Landmark Mining Reform Bill!

By sjca Gold King Mine, Of Interest, Rivers No Comments

This is a big step forward for protecting the rivers and taxpayer dollars in Colorado! While the federal 1872 Mining Law is still in desperate need of reform, this improvement for Colorado provides long overdue protections for our water resources…

Nov 28 2018

Join the discussion – Bonita Peak Community Advisory Group

By sjca Of Interest, Rivers No Comments

It’s been over two years since the designation of the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund site above Silverton, CO, and questions remain as to the severity and extent of more than a century of hard-rock mining pollution in the upper…

Mar 20 2018

Support HB 18-1301: Safeguarding Water Quality During Hardrock Mining Reclamation

By sjca Gold King Mine, Of Interest, Rivers No Comments

Animas River after the Gold King Mine Spill, August 2015. Photo by Kathy Myrick. "The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land." - Luna Leopold More than two years after…

Aug 03 2017

TAKE ACTION: EPA / Superfund Funding Threatened

By sjca Gold King Mine, Lands Protection, Of Interest, Rivers 2 Comments

“The budget request before us today is downright offensive. I can’t square this with your rhetoric about returning EPA to its core responsibilities. Nothing was spared. EPA’s core is hollowed out...These cuts aren’t an intent to rein in spending, they…

Jun 01 2017

Solar Power: Who Came Up With That??

By sjca Climate Change, Of Interest, Renewable Energy One Comment

By Guest Blogger: Donna Stewart Part II in a four part series on Renewable Energy. See Part I, The Rising Tide of Renewable Energy You could say solar power was “discovered” when humans first started strategically setting crops to optimize…

Apr 28 2017

Meet our new Executive Director, Mark Pearson!

By Mark Pearson Lands Protection, Of Interest 8 Comments

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…

Dec 22 2016

SJCA Board President Looks Toward 2017

By Erika Brown Climate Change, Lands Protection, Of Interest, Oil & Gas No Comments

Photo: Alex Pullen By Chris Wilkins I’ve learned a lot of things serving on the SJCA board – how a non-profit budget works, how many acronyms there are in the government, how LONG everything takes in the environmental world. It…

Dec 21 2016

Veteran board member bids farewell, reflects on SJCA’s 30th

By Erika Brown Of Interest No Comments

By Chuck McAfee Thirty years for San Juan Citizens Alliance—this year we’re 30 years old and more effective than ever. That’s what comes to mind when I think about the Alliance. The reasons that we are here are so fundamental—air,…

Dec 21 2016

Image for Cookies for Calls: No Pruitt for EPA

Call your Senators: No Pruitt for EPA!

By Erika Brown Climate Change, Coal, Of Interest, Oil & Gas, Rivers No Comments

Last night we hosted an event called Cookies for Calls: No Pruitt for EPA. We handed out homemade cookies to those of you who stopped by and made a call to your Senators. Many of you had never called an…

Dec 13 2016

Reminisces of East Fork

By Erika Brown Lands Protection, Of Interest One Comment

By Mark Pearson, Former SJCA Executive Director and Current Board Member Like you, I’ve been captivated by the wild landscapes of the San Juans and southwest Colorado for many years. That’s why I quickly gravitated to San Juan Citizens Alliance…

Dec 07 2016

SJCA Wins: Reflecting on 2016

By Erika Brown Of Interest No Comments

Photo: Alex Pullen If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Frederick Douglass There is no lack of struggle in our work. We constantly grapple to prioritize campaigns against myriad threats to our community, find creative solutions to roadblocks and are challenged…

Nov 17 2016

Protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Durango

An antidote to the Trump movement: Greater security for all

By sjca Durango Herald Column, Of Interest One Comment

Here’s a question for you. Can I call President-elect Donald Trump out as a dangerously uninformed and unprincipled bigot without alienating his supporters? Better question. Why am I worried about alienating someone who voted for a dangerously uninformed and unprincipled…

Nov 10 2016

Canyon of the Ancients National Monument waste pit protest

Let them come.

By sjca Of Interest 4 Comments

Friends, At the close of the constitutional convention in 1787, Ben Franklin strode out the doors of Independence Hall to be greeted by a question from an onlooker in the crowd. “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a…

Jun 21 2016

Coal Will Say Anything – Beach Party

By Erika Brown Coal, Of Interest No Comments

Need some levity? This is for you. When you’re ready to take on reality again, check out some information we put together about the Four Corners Power Plant. Warning: It’s not that funny.

Jan 14 2016

BHA responds to anti-public lands Malheur extremists

By Erika Brown Lands Protection, Of Interest, Species No Comments

This is a great short video by our friends at Backcountry Hunters and Anglers on the standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. It’s an important sanctuary, particularly for birds, and belongs to each of us.

Dec 17 2015

Keep your holiday giving close to home

By sjca Climate Change, Coal, Durango Herald Column, Forest Health, Gold King Mine, Green Business, Lands Protection, Of Interest, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Rivers, Species No Comments

This holiday season I’d like to propose a corollary to Durango’s well-loved buy local movement: give local. December is a month awash in fundraising requests, and let’s face it: being on the receiving end can get tiresome. But let’s face…

Oct 15 2015

Rabble-rousing can inspire us to make change

By sjca Coal, Durango Herald Column, Of Interest, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy No Comments

In his Tuesday column, “The Republicans’ Incompetence Caucus,” conservative New York Times writer David Brooks excoriated the more radical elements of the Republican Party. Sordid intra-party politics playing out in broad daylight, now that’s a writer’s ticket. And yet, I’ll…

Dec 16 2014

Highlights of 2014

By Erika Brown Climate Change, Coal, Forest Health, Lands Protection, Of Interest, Oil & Gas, Rivers, Species No Comments

Ever wonder what the Alliance has been up to? Or how we put your donations to work? If so, this blog is for you. As we head into 2015, we thought we’d take a moment to recap some of our…

Nov 14 2014

SJCA Brand & Web Get An Overhaul

By Erika Brown Of Interest No Comments

Welcome to the Alliance’s new website, our completely overhauled home on the web designed to help folks stay abreast of Alliance campaigns and take action when public participation is needed. With all the bells and whistles of a 21st century…

Oct 14 2014

New Conservation International Video Series – Nature is Speaking

By sjca Forest Health, Lands Protection, Of Interest No Comments

Wow. A new and really hard-hitting storyline from Conservation International. Nature Doesn’t Need People, People Need Nature. Check out the storyline – told through a series of short vidoes – at natureisspeaking.org. Here’s one narrated by Julia Roberts: https://youtu.be/WmVLcj-XKnM?list=PL5WqtuU6JrnXjsGO4WUpJuSVmlDcEgEYb

Jul 09 2014

Over The Years, My Feelings About Old Glory Evolve

By sjca Durango Herald Column, Of Interest No Comments

It’s the fifth of July, and it’s early. I’m alone on a dirt road in the mountains, climbing. The American flag dominates my thoughts, three archetypes rising from somewhere deep. The angry flag In 2003, I marched down Massachusetts Avenue…

Jun 04 2014

Don’t Be A Leader – Be A First Follower!

By sjca Of Interest No Comments

Ever think we place too much emphasis on leaders? We do, too. This video shows that it’s the first follower, not the leader, that creates a movement. What lesson can we learn as community activists? https://youtu.be/V74AxCqOTvg?list=LLlTTFRO9bPoJJ1WIEcFlDGg

Jun 01 2014

Focusing Is About Saying No

By sjca Of Interest No Comments

So many small organizations struggle to stay focused – especially small organizations with tight budgets that need focus more than anything else. Great short clip of Steve Jobs describing focus, or strategy, as what you say “no” to, not “yes.”…

May 14 2014

Side-Splitting Viral Video – Follow The Frog

By sjca Of Interest No Comments

We are always looking for great examples of storytelling here at the Alliance. And man... did we find one with this video. Engaging, hilarious, and convincing (even if we don’t fully support the “buy this way to save the world”…

Apr 23 2014

“Clean Coal” Parody From This Is Reality – Take 2!

By sjca Climate Change, Coal, Of Interest No Comments

We couldn’t help it.... here’s another video from This is Reality ripping on “ clean coal. " Too funny....! https://youtu.be/uFJVbdiMgfM

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