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Welcome to The Conservation Current — a plain-English guide to where energy, public lands, and policy intersect.
Energy and wild lands can coexist — if we build smarter.
This newsletter is about making that coexistence visible, one story at a time.
If you’ve ever wondered how a transmission line ends up across a migration route, or what “siting reform” actually means, you’re in the right place.
Each week I unpack how we build the grid without bulldozing what makes the West wild.
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⚡ What You’ll Find Here
- The Weekly Pulse: a Friday roundup of the biggest stories in public-lands energy — policy, projects, and politics — told in 5 minutes.
- Deep Dives: long-form features on uranium, data centers, grid tech, and the messy trade-offs behind “clean energy.”
- Guides & Explainers: “Plain English” walk-throughs on permitting, siting, and conservation finance.
🗺 Topics We Cover
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| Public Lands | Where the federal footprint meets future power demand. |
| Energy Transition | The hard math behind decarbonizing without sprawl. |
| Siting & Wildlife | How to build big without breaking migration routes. |
| Policy & Permitting | Laws, loopholes, and the slow dance of reform. |
| Transmission & Storage | The connective tissue of a cleaner grid. |
| Data Centers & AI Power | The new heavy loads shaping tomorrow’s wires. |
💬 Who Writes This
I’m Michael Khamis.
I work at the intersection of energy systems, conservation, and technology, with roots in Salesforce ops and a year-long clean-energy finance program at Yale.
When I’m not writing, I’m usually chasing light across public lands, running on trails, or showing my daughter about life outdoors.