Energy Bill Could Help Wyoming
The U.S. Senate put its partisan tendencies aside this week and passed a sweeping bill aimed at modernizing the U.S. energy sector. Matt Laslo reports from Washington the bill includes provisions that could help the state’s ailing energy industry.
Coal Communities Consider Life After Layoffs
Wyoming’s powerful coal industry is starting to feel the full force of the market’s decline. Three of the state’s four largest producers are now in bankruptcy. Last month, two of the country’s largest coal mines- both in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin- laid off 15% of their workers. And that’s on top of hard times in both oil and gas. As the state’s energy booms go bust, Wyoming is facing the colossal task of having to replace some- or live with less- of its main economic drivers. Inside Energy’s Leigh Paterson reports from Gillette, Wyoming’s coal capital.
Candidate Liz Cheney Expresses Her Views On Coal And Energy
In coming weeks we will speak with candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives about a variety of issues and provide stories about topics of interest. We begin our series with Republican Liz Cheney. Cheney is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney who also was Wyoming’s congressman. Ms. Cheney has been an attorney, she’s worked in the U.S. State Department where she worked on U.S. policy in the Middle East. She also was a Fox news contributor and co-authored a book with her father. Today we talk about energy issues, specifically coal.
Those were some comments on energy from U.S. House candidate Liz Cheney. We will be hearing from other candidates throughout the rest of the spring and summer. Wyoming Public Radio will also co-sponsor a Laramie debate on May 2nd that we will broadcast live.
Wind Turbine Technician: The Country's Fastest Growing Profession
Picture the wind turbine technician, a worker with a hard hat and climbing harness perched atop a tall white tower, making sure those power-generating blades are spinning just right.
That job, maintaining wind turbines--that’s the fastest growing profession in the country right now. Inside Energy reporter Dan Boyce puts that in context.
New Handbook Offers Straight Talk To Native Girls About Rape
April is sexual assault awareness month…a good time to talk with the editor of a new book being handed out for free to Native women around the country called What To Do When You’re Raped. Comanche member Charon Esetoyer is the director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center. Melodie Edwards talked to her about how the book offers straight talk to Native girls and women.
Wyoming Schools Get Poor Report Card For Native American Absenteeism
Most people on the Wind River Reservation have seen Craig Ferris on the sidelines of the basketball court at Wyoming Indian High School. As head coach, he’s led the Chiefs to four state championships. But most days, Ferris can be found driving around and knocking on doors—putting the full-court press on a major problem for reservation schools: attendance. Ferris works for Wyoming Indian Elementary. Wyoming Public Radio’s Aaron Schrank spent a day on the job with him and has this report.
Four Insights From The New Director Of NREL
The cost of wind and solar power have fallen dramatically in recent years. Still, renewables only account for a fraction of the energy produced in the United States. One person confronting this issue sits in an office in Golden, Colorado.
His name is Martin Keller and he is the new boss at the National Renewable Energy Lab.
Keller, who hails from Germany, tells Inside Energy’s Dan Boyce the lab needs to spur more innovation to increase the amount of renewable energy available.
People In The Picture: National Geographic Photographer Captures Western Landscapes Amid Throngs
To mark the National Parks Service Centennial this year, National Geographic Magazine is devoting its entire May issue to the country’s first national park – Yellowstone. Charlie Hamilton James is one of the photographers whose work will be featured in the issue. His niche is aquatic wildlife photography – animals like cutthroat trout, beavers, and otters. James is from the UK and relocated to Jackson for a year to shoot these pictures in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. He told Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard that while he was here he took his family on some classic western road trips.
