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
Last year, utility experts were stunned when Xcel Energy’s request for renewable proposals brought record-low bids for wind and solar in Colorado – the lowest ever received by a utility, nationally. Extraordinarily, these low bids meant that wind sources with storage were now cheaper than coal! This week, in […]
Guardians pushes back against Trump’s scheme to expand the Alton Coal Mine, ruining the air quality and driving away tourism at Utah’s National Parks.
WildEarth Guardians pushes back against a proposal to expand two federal coal leases in a national forest in Utah.
Last week, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining held a series of public meetings feigning efforts to give the public an opportunity to voice their concerns over a plan to keep the San Juan Mine open until 2033, even though it’s only customer, the San Juan Generating Station […]
This weekend, I ventured to the Jim Bridger Coal Mine and Generating Station outside of Rock Springs, Wyoming. The Jim Bridger mine has been a consistent target recently: In 2016, we overturned the expansion of the mine (PacifiCorp had requested a 120-acre lease that would add 738,000 tons […]
2017 was one of the most fatal years for coal miners; a shocking increase after a record low in coal miner deaths the year prior. There were fatalities across the United States, from Alabama, West Virginia, Montana, Kentucky, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. None of the fatalities were from unexpected […]
Trump and Zinke have been working extra hard to make good on Trump’s promise to bring coal back, as evident in the recent desperate attempt to save a failing mining company, Westmoreland Coal. On the table is a proposal by Westmoreland Coal to expand its Rosebud Coal Mine […]
