Science & Environment

Terry Tempest Williams Becomes Wildcat To Protect Climate

KUER 90.1 | By Judy Fahys

Published February 19, 2016 at 7:00 AM MST

Author and activist Terry Tempest Williams started a new company with her husband, Brooke, to explore new ways of "developing" energy on public lands. Here she's part of a discussion with the host of the radio show, To the Best of Our Knowledge.

Terry Tempest Williams is, for many Americans, the voice of Utah’s wildlands. A Utahn, she’s an author who took on a surprising new role this week. She and her husband, Brooke Williams, were protesting a U.S. Bureau of Land Management oil and gas auction, when they ended up buying energy rights on public land in southern Utah, some of them within sight of Arches National Park. Williams sat down with KUER’s Judy Fahys on Wednesday in the KUER studios to talk about how and why she’s become a wildcatter.

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Judy Fahys

Judy Fahys has reported in Utah for two decades, covering politics, government and business before taking on environmental issues. She loves covering Utah, where petroleum-pipeline spills, the nation’s radioactive legacy and other types of pollution provide endless fodder for stories. Previously, she worked for the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, and reported on the nation’s capital for States News Service and the Scripps League newspaper chain. She is a longtime member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors. She also spent an academic year as a research fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In her spare time, she enjoys being out in the environment, especially hiking, gardening and watercolor painting.

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