Please Join Us
In the past year, plans for two new coal plants in Nevada have been shelved. Eleven thousand acres of cultural lands in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon have been protected from oil and gas drilling. The Gunnison River surges with spectacular rapids after a 30-year battle over water rights ended in greater protection for the river. These achievements would not have happened without Western Resource Advocates.
Please join us, or renew your giving online, to make a meaningful difference for the West and its many treasured places. There is much work to be done to defend the West’s blue skies, flowing rivers, and magnificent lands.
As you make your philanthropic decisions this year, we hope you will consider an exciting opportunity to significantly strengthen our environmental efforts in the West going into 2010. WRA has received a $100,000 challenge grant from an anonymous donor and we hope you can help us meet the challenge!
Planting Shade Trees Saves Energy "Phoenix Green" Report Shows
A new Western Resource Advocates' report "Phoenix Green: Designing a Community Tree Planting Program for Phoenix, Arizona" explores the substantial energy savings that can be reaped, and the increased quality of life obtained, by planting shade trees to shelter houses from summer heat. Through coordinated urban treeplanting programs, electrical utilities can benefit from substantial reductions in peak electricity demand, while their customers can live in cooler homes and lower their electric bills. The "Phoenix Green" report lays out how such a program can be implemented and puts hard numbers to the amount of energy that can be conserved. Click here to visit the report's web page.
Read WRA's Winter Newsletter
WRA's Winter 2009 newsletter reports on our recent successes and commemorates our first 20 years. From the Great Salt Lake to Chaco Canyon, WRA has been busy making sure government and private enterprise do what's right for the West and its inhabitants. Our work is leading to improvments in air quality in Wyoming, water quality in Utah, better land use in New Mexico, and wiser energy choices across the West.
This special six-page edition of our newsletter looks at the accomplishments of the WRA's first 20 years and the celebration hosted in September with many of the people instrumental to WRA's success.
Read the Winter 2009 newsletter here.
Tri-State, WRA Reach Accord on Electric Resource Planning
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Western Resource Advocates have reached an accord regarding the rural electric provider’s resource planning process. Under the new planning process, Tri-State will increase the information in its electric resource plan filings with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and adopt a public input process, beginning in 2010.
WRA Energy Program Director John Nielsen said this agreement is significant because it "provides an opportunity for members of the public to work with Tri-State to consider the role that clean-energy resources might play in its resource plan. We think that this is in the best interest of all Coloradans and consistent with a strong Colorado energy policy.”
Read the full press release about this important agreement.
"New House New Paradigm" Report Studies Development Approaches That Work in the Arid West
"New House, New Paradigm" is a report produced by WRA's Water Program that makes recommendations for “water-smart” residential development in the West. This report describes the nexus between land use and water demands and shows how water-smart housing will be essential to meeting the needs of a rapidly increasing population while still preserving rivers and watersheds. The report details how new development can be planned and built to use significantly less water than the status quo, and offers measures that can be used to keep residential water use rates low.
The full report and the executive summary are available on line.
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Help protect the West's land, air, and water.
Click here to see how you can help us meet our goal!
Upcoming Events
The Promise & Peril of Oil Shale Development
February 5, 2010
This program presented by the Natural Resources Law Center will features several WRA staff as presenters. WRA Water Program Director Bart Miller will be one of the four experts empaneled to discuss "The Impacts of Oil Shale Development on Water Resources." WRA President Karin P. Sheldon will moderate a session on Oil Shale Law & Policy.
For more information on this event, visit the NRLC website
ProGreen Expo
February 10, 2010
WRA Staff Attorney Robert Harris will present "Oil Shale and Water in Colorado: The Hidden Tension between the Gas in Your Tank and the Water Needed by Your 'Growing' Business" at this gathering for members of the landscaping industry. More information on this event can be found on its website.
Public Interest Environmental Law Conference
February 27, 2010
WRA staff will be among the featured presenters on a panel discussing "Squeezing Oil From Stone: The Legal, Political, and Moral Implications of Oil Shale and Tar Sand Development in the United States." Lands Program Director Mike Chiropolos and Utah Office Director Joro Walker will offer their expertise on potential development of these two controversial resources. Click here for more information about this year's PIELC.
Please check back regularly for additions to our events schedule, or sign up
for our e-newsletter to get updates delivered to your inbox.
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