Center News

Exploration of Global Groundwater Overuse Wins 2016 Knight-Risser Prize

The Desert Sun/USA Today

A sobering exploration of groundwater overuse in the United States and around the world has won the 2016 Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism. The series "Pumped Dry: The Global Crisis of Vanishing Groundwater" was written by Ian James of the Desert Sun, with photographs, a documentary film and information graphics by Steve Elfers and Steve Reilly of USA Today. The winners will share in a $5,000 prize and will be invited to Stanford to take part in an environmental journalism symposium this fall.

This year's competition also gave a special recognition to "Killing the Colorado," a series by the investigative website ProPublica and Matter magazine. 

Established in 2005 and co-administered by the Bill Lane Center and the John S. Knight Fellowships at Stanford, the Knight-Risser Prize celebrates the best western environmental journalism each year.

Read more about the winners, and see the complete series on the Knight-Risser Prize website »

Recent Center News

The Biden Administration helps coal towns embrace clean energy; gray wolves move back into Southern California; two tribes prompt a pause in construction of an energy transmission line in Arizona; state authorities block efforts to move towards more sustainable water use; a burning tundra releases methane into the atmosphere; and other environmental news from around the American West.
On Nov. 29 at the Commonwealth Club of California, Bruce Cain discussed his new book on sustaining the American West in the face of grave threats from climate change.
In remembering the late Sandra Day O'Connor, BA '50, LLB '52, the Bill Lane Center for the American West reflects on the remarkable legacy of this trailblazing Supreme Court Justice, with gratitude for her service to the Western region.