Climate Guardian at WildEarth Guardians, based in Denver. Working to keep coal in the ground and transition the United States to a more sustainable energy economy.
JD/LL.M., University of Denver Sturm College of Law, 2016
B.A., Indiana University, 2009
shughes@wildearthguardians.org
While this blog is dedicated to detailing WildEarth Guardians’ efforts to confront climate change in the American West, the reality is, saving our environment is inextricably linked to advancing tolerance, defending equality, and empowering social justice. Whether it’s the fact that climate change and environmental destruction disproportionately affect […]
Coal is dying and all the buck-toothed (and frankly, creepy) animations in the world can’t revive it. That doesn’t stop industry from trying, however. And it doesn’t stop their plans from continuing to go down in flames. Case in point: the coal company, Ramaco, and their attempt to […]
Last week, WildEarth Guardians joined a coalition in calling on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to deny Arch Coal’s demands to expand its West Elk mine underneath western Colorado’s National Forests. While an underground coal mine, Arch Coal has to build and operate […]
Coal is dying, yet President Trump and his cronies are still doing everything they can to use our public lands and resource to prop up this failing industry. The latest is a resurrected plan to open up nearly 2,000 acres of National Forest backcountry so Arch Coal can […]
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement last week was a major disappointment, but not altogether surprising given his allegiance to the fossil fuel industry. Still, it was a pretty major slap in the face considering that Americans supported the agreement by a ratio of five to one, including the […]
In a stunning win for the climate, clean air, and just for people and the planet in general, yesterday, the Senate voted 51-49 to keep rules in place to curtail carbon pollution from fracking operations on our public lands. The significance of this win can’t be overstated. In this […]
On Saturday, WildEarth Guardians in Denver joined our brothers and sisters in D.C. and throughout the world in the Peoples Climate March. It was a truly inspiring act of resistance to the climate deception being advanced by President Trump and his cronies. In D.C, thousands began marching from the […]
In case you missed it, on April 26, Trump issued an executive order requiring Secretary Zinke to review national monuments that were set aside for public use under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The order, which appears to affect 25 existing national monuments, is sure to spark an intense political and legal battle. The Antiquities Act gives presidents […]
Join WildEarth Guardians as we march at the Peoples Climate Movement this April 29th – happening across the country to stand up for our communities and climate. Explore the Peoples Climate Movement website and see if there is a local march to join. Trump has consistently shown that his priority is […]
Last week the U.S. Office of Surface Mining held a series of public meetings around its environmental review of operations at the San Juan coal mine. The mine fuels the San Juan Generating Station near Farmington, New Mexico, the source of millions of tons of toxic air pollution. The review […]
