Alan Halaly
Alan Halaly is a water reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering water and environmental issues for the masthead. He has held this beat since January 2024, focusing on how policy decisions and infrastructure projects shape the region’s water future. His coverage connects high-level decisions on the Colorado River, dams, mining and data centers with everyday consequences for communities living under mounting heat and growth pressures. Across the environment beat he writes deeply reported explainer pieces on new laws, lawsuits and regulatory shifts, grounded in on-the-ground impacts rather than abstract metrics.
Colorado River cuts and Hoover Dam turbines
A core strand of Halaly’s work follows the Colorado River system and the legal, financial and engineering choices that determine how its water is managed. He has covered Nevada’s lawsuit challenging a federal Colorado River plan, writing on the “devastating” cuts state officials say the proposal would trigger. He reports on investment and funding flows into the river, including a $20 million commitment from Amazon aimed at bolstering its resilience. He follows operations at Hoover Dam, explaining why federal agencies are replacing three turbines with newly released funds and what that means for power generation tied to river conditions.
Even in breaking news, such as the recovery of a body from the Colorado River after flash flooding in the Grand Canyon, he frames events within the broader realities of extreme weather and river safety. Taken together, these pieces show a reporter who treats the Colorado River not as a backdrop but as a working system whose governance, infrastructure and risks are central to his beat.
Heat, parks and everyday climate impacts
Halaly’s environment coverage also follows how rising heat and water scarcity reshape daily life, from parks to workplaces and homes. He has reported on Las Vegas parks ripping out grass, detailing the heated debate over whether removing turf to save water worsens urban heat for residents. In his reporting on septic system regulations, he chronicles how a health district responded to public uproar by rescinding proposed rules affecting about 18,000 systems, highlighting the tension between environmental protection and household costs.
In coverage of a new Nevada law intended to prevent heat deaths, he examines whether planning and implementation are sufficient to protect people exposed to extreme temperatures, treating climate risk as a workplace and public health issue rather than a distant forecast. These stories show a consistent interest in how policy tools - law, regulation and design choices - translate into lived experience under hotter, drier conditions.
Lithium mines and protected landscapes
Another recurring focus is the collision between energy transition projects and conservation, especially around lithium mining. Halaly has covered federal approval of an expansion at the nation’s only operational lithium mine, explaining how regulators weigh supply-chain and climate goals against local impacts. He reports on lawsuits alleging that federal agencies violated the Endangered Species Act when approving a lithium mine, tracing how environmental law is used to contest large-scale projects.
He extends this lens to historic landscapes, including lawsuits seeking to protect the Old Spanish Trail from development, presenting preservation and growth as competing claims on the same terrain. In coverage of gold mines that promise a town a “second act,” he shows how extraction can be both an economic lifeline and a new environmental chapter for small communities.
Across these pieces his reporting foregrounds the local stakes of national debates over mining, heritage and habitat, with legal filings and community voices side by side.
Data centers, AI and public funding
Halaly regularly writes on the rise of data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure, treating them as environmental and fiscal stories, not just technology features.
He has examined how a “data center tsunami” has swept across Nevada and whether lawmakers are moving fast enough to regulate the industry, including issues such as water use, energy demand and zoning. In coverage of the teachers union’s push for data centers to help fund schools, he traces how tax policy and incentives around these facilities intersect with public education budgets.
By following both legislative debates and funding mechanisms, he places the data center boom within a broader narrative about who benefits from growth and who absorbs its environmental and infrastructure costs.
Career background and recognition
Before joining the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s environment desk, Halaly reported across multiple beats at metropolitan dailies, digital outlets and public media. His previous reporting roles include work for the Miami Herald, public radio affiliate WUFT, The Daily Beast and Miami New Times, where he built experience in accountability and enterprise coverage. His journalism has been recognized by organizations such as the Hearst Journalism Awards program, the Online News Association and the Society of Environmental Journalists, marking him out as a reporter whose environmental coverage meets national standards.
He describes his current role as covering water in the nation’s driest state for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, an emphasis that aligns with his consistent focus on rivers, reservoirs, utilities and the people who rely on them.
4 more environment journalists.
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Alex Lubben
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Alexander C. Kaufman
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