Last month the HCN magazine ran a story on the furor over a conservation deal meant to keep two environmental groups from suing to stop construction of the Ruby Pipeline, a 675-mile-long natural gas pipe stretching from Opal, Wyo., to Malin, Ore. Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Association opposed fragmentation and destruction of sagebrush habitat that would be caused by the project. Concerned that lawsuits would lead to expensive delays, the pipeline company, El Paso Corp., proposed two conservation funds totaling $22 million to protect habitat from another destructive force, cattle grazing. TO READ MORE....