The River of Lost Souls Life and Death on the Animas by Jonathan Thompson May 28, 2018 | $5 | Vol
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REBEL YELL | POT’S FUTURE | WATER BOTTLE BATTLE High Country ForN people whoews care about the West The River of Lost Souls Life and death on the Animas By Jonathan Thompson May 28, 2018 | $5 | Vol. 50 No. 9 | www.hcn.org 50 No. | $5 Vol. 28, 2018 May CONTENTS Editor’s note The scarred and the scenic Every summer, readers stop by Paonia for a tour of High Country News’ headquarters. And like everyone else who sets out to explore the West, they always ask: What’s there to see around here? The usual response is to send them to our beauty spots — the clear, trout-filled lakes atop 10,000-foot Grand Mesa; the immense aspen for- est between here and the cute-as-a-button ski town of Crested Butte; the vertiginous chasm at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park; even the patio of a local winery with a spectacular view of the West Elk Mountains. But as publisher of a publication whose journalists cover the region’s most difficult environ- mental and social issues, I can’t help but encourage people to peek behind the beautiful scenery. “You should check out the dismantled coal mine owned by a billionaire in the town of Somerset,” I tell them. “Also the reservoir built by the Bureau of Reclamation, which is already a third filled with silt from the aptly named Muddy Creek. And don’t miss Sylas Garippo, age 3, plays on the bank of the Animas River at Santa Rita Park in Durango, Colorado, several days the freshly cut stump of the Ute Council Tree in Delta, after the spill at the Gold King Mine in August 2015. Sylas normally would play in the water, but the river was closed. JERRY MCBRIDE/DURANGO HERALD where tribal leaders once met in the shade before the U.S. government expelled them in 1881.” FEATURE The West is so scarred by its turbulent, exploit- ative, hubris-fueled past — and present — that we 12 The River of Lost Souls have often thought of publishing A Guidebook to the On the cover Life and death on the Animas By Jonathan Thompson Real Ugly West. But then again, that might be redun- An orange sludge dant. Almost every issue of this magazine delves into tinges the Animas CURRENTS the complex layers of history that underlie our region, River where it runs and, like a Hawaiian volcano, periodically erupt. through Durango, 5 Rebels vs. reporters Contributing Editor Jonathan Thompson has Colorado, days after The Sagebrush Rebellion takes a Trumpian turn the August 2015 spill excavated the Four Corners area for more than two at the Gold King Mine 6 The next episode for California cannabis decades, unearthing everything from the politi- above town. Why Compton said no to pot cal fractures beneath Utah’s Bears Ears National JERRY MCBRIDE/ Black women rewrite weed’s legacy in Los Angeles DURANGO HERALD Monument to the real cause of the Gold King Mine 6 The Latest: White Sands National ... Park? disaster in 2015. Thompson’s cover story on the 8 Consider the source uranium boom that left a dangerous toxic legacy in Communities challenge the bottling of Mount Shasta’s water and around his hometown of Durango, Colorado, and deeply marked his own family, not only adds 8 The Latest: A win for wolverines another chapter to the story of the West, it is literally a chapter, slightly reworked, from his new book: DEPARTMENTS River of Lost Souls, published by Torrey Press. I highly 3 FROM OUR WEBSITE: HCN.ORG recommend it. This issue also features another dive beneath 4 LETTERS the surface, the second installment of HCN board 9 THE HCN COMMUNITY Sustainers’ Club member Wayne Hare’s “Civil Conversations” series, which explores the African-American experience Complete access 91 MARKETPLACE to subscriber-only in the West. Hare travels to the progressive city of content 22 DEAR FRIENDS Portland, Oregon, where he uncovers its racist roots HCN’s website 23 WRITERS ON THE RANGE and the kind of practices that locked generations of hcn.org A quiet goodbye to the Selkirk caribou By Ben Long African-Americans into economic and social depres- Digital edition 42 PERSPECTIVE sion, not only in Portland, but in every major U.S. hcne.ws/digi-5009 city. Like Thompson’s, it’s an uncomfortable story, but ‘Alienated’ in Portland: How segregation, redlining and racism critical for understanding this place. As you head out pushed out black residents By Wayne Hare Follow us on the road this summer, we hope that these vicari- 26 ESSAY ous journeys with our writers help deepen your own The benediction of a bird By Melissa Hart understanding of our beautiful and ugly West. @highcountrynews 28 HEARD AROUND THE WEST By Betsy Marston —Paul Larmer, executive director/publisher 2 High Country News May 28, 2018 From our wEbSiTE: HCN.ORG Pruitt’s ethics investigations haven’t stopped his rollbacks Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is the subject of at least 11 ethics investigations. More than Trending 180 members of Congress, including several Republicans, have demanded his resignation. Utah admits Meanwhile, Pruitt continues to gut pollution climate regulations and to weaken the science that change is real supports the EPA’s work. In April, Pruitt The Utah Legislature announced the rollback of a rule requiring recently adopted a automakers to increase average fuel economy resolution that moves to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. In May, the state from denying Pruitt signed a controversial new rule that global climate change many researchers and medical professionals to recognizing that worry will hamstring the agency’s ability finding a solution is to use good science in its work, under the crucial, writes Jack guise of increased transparency. The EPA also Greene in an opinion recently proposed weakening rules governing piece. Students at how coal ash, a toxic byproduct from coal- Logan High School burning power plants, is stored. And the helped get the agency is working to loosen regulations resolution passed. concerning benzene pollution in communities During an evening near petroleum refineries. program, they A staffer exits the Senate subway with a poster detailing EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s ethics MAYA L. KAPOOR explained their issues, in Washington, D.C. BILL CLARK/CQ ROLL CALL VIA GETTY Read more online: hcne.ws/pruitt-ethics motivation: “We, as youth leaders of Utah, have assembled with you, our state leaders, to address what we consider to be the “Wyoming is paramount issue of our generation — that footing the bill of a changing climate. We hope this dialogue will … ultimately lead for everybody to action to address this challenge on all levels — local, state else’s water and national.” JAK C GREENE projects.” You say —Mark Christensen, Campbell County, DIANE BRODAK: “It will Wyoming, commissioner, explaining why he take young adults all supports the POWER Counties Act. The bill over the U.S. to help would amend the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act Amka Aliyak, alias Snowguard, is Marvel Comics’ new female make these changes. to funnel more federal royalties from oil and Indigenous superhero, a 16-year-old Inuk from Pangnirtung, These kids should go gas extraction back to the counties where Nunavut. JIM ZUB/LINE ART BY SEAN IZAAksE/COLOURS BY MARCIO MANYZ/MARVEL state to state and help the minerals were produced. The federal get it started. Very government currently gets half the royalties; Native superheroes should be drawn from real life proud of them.” 80 percent of that money is earmarked for In April, Marvel Comics announced a new illustrations of Indigenous people. Lee Francis, ELENA HILARIA LÓPEZ: the Bureau of Reclamation to support water superhero: Amka Aliyak, or Snowguard, an Inuk who established Indigenous Comic Con and projects across the West. Campbell County “Youth wins the day. teenager. To understand her world and add whose family is Laguna Pueblo, welcomes the Once again.” would receive an additional $160 million in depth to her character, writer Jim Zub reached change: “We’re not the Tontos in these stories royalties, if the bill passes. out to the Inuit community. That represents anymore.” SUSAN JUSTICE: “This TAY WILES a shift: Native characters have typically been GRAHAM LEE BREWER ‘new’ generation Read more online: hcne.ws/mineral-royalties portrayed as caricatures rather than thoughtful Read more online: hcne.ws/native-superheroes needs to start speaking up and out about everything. “We spend … Way to go, high schoolers!” Tribes lead the battle approximately 70 against the opioid crisis to 80 percent of our Read more online: hcne.ws/utah-climate The opioid crisis has disproportionately time and resources and Facebook.com/ 13 devastated tribal communities across Percent of the electricity on dealing with highcountrynews the country. In April 2017, the Cherokee used by Western problems related Colorado’s Delta-Montrose Nation sued manufacturers, distributors Electric Association that and pharmacies — the first lawsuit of its to opiates.We see is supplied by small kind in U.S. history. Since then, hundreds what’s happening to hydropower installations of other tribes, counties, towns and states our people, and we have followed the Cherokee Nation’s lead on local irrigation canals. are overwhelmed.” CARL SEGERSTROM and filed their own suits. SUZETTE BREWER —Kathleen Preuss, director Read more online: of social services for the hcne.ws/small-hydro Read more online: hcne.ws/tribes-opioids Upper Sioux Community DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Never miss a story. Sign up for the HCN newsletter at hcn.org/enewsletter. www.hcn.org High Country News 3 lETTERS Send letters to [email protected] or Editor, HCN, P.O.