Fossil fuel rules catch Western towns between old economies and new green goals
FARMINGTON, N.M. — It's late afternoon in Farmington, and the sun is casting an orange glow on sandstone cliffs where new mountain bike trails have been carved into the powdery dirt beneath.
A group of middle school girls are learning trail etiquette and practicing climbing hairpin turns.
"Alright girls, we'll climb up," instructs Amy Conley, a coach with the local non profit Farmington Area Single Track, or FAST.
Demand for the after school program has grown exponentially since it began in 2020. Conley, who grew up in Farmington, is thrilled to see all the newfound use of public lands that surround her hometown.
"My whole family has worked [in the] oil field, and now it's changing," Conley says. "There's not as much as there used to be, so it's a lot different."
The oil and gas fields built Farmington. For decades,natural gas and coal from
