Photo: Craig Daily Press

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association – an obstacle to cheap, clean energy for far too long.

Tackling Tri-State

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is a large electric co-op serving Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Since the 1970s, it has developed considerable infrastructure for generating and transmitting electricity, with most of it tied to coal plants and coal mines. Tri-State rules the West with an iron fist, preventing its member co-ops from developing and purchasing cleaner, more affordable energy via restrictive contracts; lobbying on behalf of the coal industry; and contributing to more than 11.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution every year—equivalent to the amount released by 2.4 million cars!

WildEarth Guardians has embarked upon a campaign to compel Tri-State to transition to clean, renewable energy. Our goal: a cleaner planet and empowered people.

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The Resistance Begins

Tri-State is the American West’s largest co-op utility company and one of the nation’s largest carbon polluters. Its restrictive contracts mandate member co-ops purchase at least 95 percent of their electricity from Tri-State, which limits members’ ability to develop their own electricity-generating facilities or purchase more affordable and cleaner energy from other providers. Furthermore, the steady stream of money means Tri-State itself has little incentive to develop cleaner, more affordable sources of energy.

But one by one, member co-ops are beginning to resist. In 2016, Kit Carson Electric Co-op in northern New Mexico bought out its contract, and other members are challenging or considering challenging the 95 percent constraint. Why? They realize they can obtain cheaper, cleaner, and—in many cases—more locally generated power than Tri-State is providing.

Tri-State’s economic position is tenuous. Its members are uneasy. We see an opportunity to expose these vulnerabilities and move Tri-State away from fossil fuels, empowering local renewable energy development. This is our path forward to diminishing the political influence of the fossil fuel industry in the American West, significantly reducing carbon emissions, and paving the way for rural energy independence and rural economic development.

The Truth of Tri-State’s Fossil Fuels

30 percent renewables…still sucks!

Read the Story

Photo: WildEarth Guardians

How You Can Help

Help shift the power to create a fossil-fuel-free American West! Be a guardian for climate by joining the conversation, learning about current issues, and making your voice heard. Together, we're a powerful force for nature and a force to be reckoned with.

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Betsy Gaines Quammen

Member, Board of Directors

Betsy Gaines Quammen is a historian and conservationist. She received a doctorate in Environmental History from Montana State University in 2017, her dissertation focusing on Mormon settlement and public land conflicts. She has studied various religious traditions over the years, with particular attention to how cultures view landscape and wildlife. The rural American West, pastoral communities of northern Mongolia, and the grasslands of East Africa have been her main areas of interest. After college in Colorado, caretaking for a bed and breakfast in Mosier, Oregon, and serving breakfasts at a cafe in Kanab, Utah, Betsy settled in Bozeman, Montana, where she now lives with her husband, writer David Quammen, two huge dogs, an overweight cat, and a pretty big python named Boots. She is the author of American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God, and Public Lands in the West.

Contact

[email protected]
406-396-0321

Matthew Koehler

Communications Manager

Matthew Koehler joined WildEarth Guardians as the Communications Manager in 2020, bringing 25 years of experience working to protect and defend public lands, wildlife, wilderness, and democracy. He grew up in the rural Wisconsin Village of Elkhart Lake, surrounded by the Kettle Moraine State Forest, where his family goes back six generations. His love for nature came from his parents, a housepainter and a nurse, and time the family spent hiking, canoeing, cross-country skiing, and camping on public lands. He moved to Missoula, Montana in 1995 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with a history degree and later obtained a secondary teaching certificate from the University of Montana, for history and English. Voted best activist by the Missoula Independent in 2007 and awarded the Fund for Wild Nature’s “grassroots activist of the year” in 2010, he enjoys gardening, cooking, and spending time in nature.

Julian Kanter

Legal Intern

Hi, I’m Julian Kanter. I am a rising 2L at Willamette University College of Law. I decided to attend law school to fight against social injustice and make a positive impact on the environment. Learning about industrial agriculture was the catalyst for my interest in environmental law. I am thrilled to be focusing on wildlife and giving a voice to the plants and animals of our natural world.

Erin Woolley

Legal Intern

Erin Woolley is a rising third-year law student at the University of Colorado Law School, pursuing certificates in both Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources Law and American Indian Law. Originally from Northern California, Erin misses the Pacific Ocean, but loves exploring Colorado’s beautiful outdoors, spending her free time hiking, camping, and learning about the native wildlife. Erin is excited to be working with WildEarth Guardians this summer and protecting wild rivers!

Maggie Flaherty

Wildlife Program Intern

Maggie Flaherty, originally from a small town in Northern California, is a rising senior at Dartmouth College. She is majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Spanish. At Dartmouth, she spends most of her time engaging in sexual violence prevention efforts as well as playing water polo. In her free time, she likes to hike and swim outdoors. Maggie is very excited to be working with WildEarth Guardians’ Wildlife and Wild Places Programs.

Grace Erispaha

Legal Coordinator

Grace Erispaha is a rising senior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota pursuing an undergraduate degree in Economics and Environmental Studies. She is originally from Gilbert, Arizona and gets to experience the best of both worlds: brutal winters and scorching summers. Grace is excited to learn more about legal processes and hopes to apply to law school by her graduation.

Andrew Cliburn

Legal Intern

My life totally changed on December 4th, 2017 when the president came to Salt Lake City to reduce Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Before that day, I had been a career hospitality worker—interested in wilderness to be sure—but living a selfish existence pursuing careerism and creature comforts. That selfishness went out the window when the president cruelly reduced two sacred and protected places that meant so much to so many. Since then I’ve completed two years of law school and get to work this summer with the most uncompromising organization in Earth advocacy—WildEarth Guardians.

Victoria Frankeny

Legal Intern

Victoria Frankeny is a rising third-year law student at Lewis & Clark Law School. She came to Portland, Oregon to pursue a career in environmental litigation and is currently working towards her Certificate in Environmental & Natural Resource Law. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she has been enjoying everything the Pacific Northwest has to offer, such as Mount Hood, the Pacific Ocean, and the overabundance of ferns and evergreens. Victoria is thrilled to be working with the WildEarth Guardians’ attorneys this summer on Endangered Species Act and Public Lands issues.

Ryan Benson

Communications Intern

Ryan Benson is a senior at Yale majoring in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Originally from Charlotte, NC, she now spends most of her time in New Haven, swimming, running, and making her way through vegetarian cookbooks. She is excited to be working on WildEarth Guardians’ newsletter this summer with Dave Levine.

Contact

[email protected]

Leia Barnett

Greater Gila Campaigner

Born and raised in the foothills and arroyos of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, Leia is thrilled to bring her love and deep reverence for the high desert country of the Southwest to the Greater Gila campaign. Leia graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Mexico’s cultural anthropology program, where she focused on the ways the more-than-human world can be reimagined through anthropological theory and practice. When she’s not endeavoring to understand the complexities of a successful conservation campaign, Leia can be found mountain-side or river-side, praising the feathered and four-legged ones, and planning her next epic snack.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association – an obstacle to cheap, clean energy for far too long.

Tackling Tri-State

No More Fracking Public Lands

The Resistance Begins

The Truth of Tri-State’s Fossil Fuels

How You Can Help

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Raise Your Voice

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Support Our Work

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Betsy Gaines Quammen

Member, Board of Directors

Contact

Matthew Koehler

Communications Manager

Julian Kanter

Legal Intern

Erin Woolley

Legal Intern

Maggie Flaherty

Wildlife Program Intern

Grace Erispaha

Legal Coordinator

Andrew Cliburn

Legal Intern

Victoria Frankeny

Legal Intern

Ryan Benson

Communications Intern

Contact

Leia Barnett

Greater Gila Campaigner