Regarding the Budd-Falen piece on feeding off the government dole, I don’t know what to say. Well, actually I DO know what to say, but Jonathan, being the puritanical soul that he seems to be, probably would not publish a long string of expletives.
Could we possibly have a more corrupt administration than the one we’ve got?
You probably saw this but it may be good news for other types of renewable energy projects as well.
Wind Energy Projects Reinstated: On December 8 and 9, 2025, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that President Trump's executive order to halt all new or renewed permits and leases for onshore and offshore wind energy projects was "unlawful" and "arbitrary and capricious". This decision vacates the order and clears the path for stalled wind projects to move forward.
Hot damn. This is some investigative journalism. ❤️ So grateful to journalists, who despite hurdles and personal trade-offs, keep doggedly seeking facts and sharing information. Now for enough people in position to give a damn, to give a damn. (And is it nerdy to read a piece and then plan to take a rainy evening to poke around Census Bureau maps and data? Thanks for sharing the resource!)
This is the first of the Propublica series that Jon mentioned in this post. There are 3 separate posts and like Jon, they did a really good job of telling the story - Budd-Falen is just one of these millionaire "ranchers" taking advantage of, well ALL of us, because we, the taxpayers make up the millions of dollars this grazing allotment program actually costs. Just think, $1.35/MONTH for each cow and calf! It costs me more than that to feed my cat!
Any way - these articles are really well researched & written.
I have known about this for years - thru Wild Horse & Burro program.
Ranchers ruin just about everything in the west. From western watersheds describing Wildlife Services "In 2023 alone, the agency reported killing over 375,000 native animals, including more than 300 gray wolves, 68,000 coyotes, 430 black bears, and 24,000 beavers."
We have had ranching/fossil fuel interests in our government for many generations and the general public living in non western states has no clue. Also, your map of Phoenix area reminds me of the suburban sprawl areas I have to drive through for work this year. Queen Creek Az. is building thousands more new homes and has no highways. People spend an hour just getting to the eastern edges of Phoenix. Same with Surprise in the northwest. I can't ever imagine living in either location and the desperation of hours in their cars makes for some crazy crazy driving.
Nice set of spreads for associate Interior Sec Budd-Falen.
As usual with these folks, "the nuts are running the nuthouse." At times comical, but at times effective in so many destructive ways. Wasn't there supposed to be a "New West" and a "New South" that would be more enviro/progressive? Remember country and southern musicians playing for Jimmy Carter. "Cosmic cowboy" style. All that.
Regarding the Budd-Falen piece on feeding off the government dole, I don’t know what to say. Well, actually I DO know what to say, but Jonathan, being the puritanical soul that he seems to be, probably would not publish a long string of expletives.
Could we possibly have a more corrupt administration than the one we’ve got?
Nope - at least so far. But then who knows - once dumpty passes on????
You probably saw this but it may be good news for other types of renewable energy projects as well.
Wind Energy Projects Reinstated: On December 8 and 9, 2025, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that President Trump's executive order to halt all new or renewed permits and leases for onshore and offshore wind energy projects was "unlawful" and "arbitrary and capricious". This decision vacates the order and clears the path for stalled wind projects to move forward.
Hot damn. This is some investigative journalism. ❤️ So grateful to journalists, who despite hurdles and personal trade-offs, keep doggedly seeking facts and sharing information. Now for enough people in position to give a damn, to give a damn. (And is it nerdy to read a piece and then plan to take a rainy evening to poke around Census Bureau maps and data? Thanks for sharing the resource!)
This is the first of the Propublica series that Jon mentioned in this post. There are 3 separate posts and like Jon, they did a really good job of telling the story - Budd-Falen is just one of these millionaire "ranchers" taking advantage of, well ALL of us, because we, the taxpayers make up the millions of dollars this grazing allotment program actually costs. Just think, $1.35/MONTH for each cow and calf! It costs me more than that to feed my cat!
Any way - these articles are really well researched & written.
I have known about this for years - thru Wild Horse & Burro program.
https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2025/12/04/free-range/
Ranchers ruin just about everything in the west. From western watersheds describing Wildlife Services "In 2023 alone, the agency reported killing over 375,000 native animals, including more than 300 gray wolves, 68,000 coyotes, 430 black bears, and 24,000 beavers."
We have had ranching/fossil fuel interests in our government for many generations and the general public living in non western states has no clue. Also, your map of Phoenix area reminds me of the suburban sprawl areas I have to drive through for work this year. Queen Creek Az. is building thousands more new homes and has no highways. People spend an hour just getting to the eastern edges of Phoenix. Same with Surprise in the northwest. I can't ever imagine living in either location and the desperation of hours in their cars makes for some crazy crazy driving.
Thanks for this. The NV Budd-Falen reporting is particularly helpful.
Big WTF, but what's new.
Nice set of spreads for associate Interior Sec Budd-Falen.
As usual with these folks, "the nuts are running the nuthouse." At times comical, but at times effective in so many destructive ways. Wasn't there supposed to be a "New West" and a "New South" that would be more enviro/progressive? Remember country and southern musicians playing for Jimmy Carter. "Cosmic cowboy" style. All that.