Carbon Cowboys: Myth, Land, and Political Synthesis in the Rocky Mountain Energy Boom

Abstract

This dissertation traces the Rocky Mountain energy boom, a period of intense political, economic, and environmental change in the Rocky Mountain states between 1973 and 1983 rooted in oil, gas, and coal extraction projects. It tracks key legal, environmental, political, ideological, and business interests that came together in a powerful regional configuration that would have national consequences for conservative politics and thought. Following oil executives and their political organizations dedicated to resisting federal regulation on public lands, it argues that the oil industry in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah created powerful networks that molded the mountain landscape, recast western collective memory, redefined expectations of government intervention, and steered the priorities and power of the New Right.