Opposition swells against leases that could impede wildlife migration corridors.
Pollution
Posted inApril 16, 2018: Cashing in on Standing Rock
Latest: Toxic-tinged wildlife refuge deemed safe for visitors
But conservation groups fear contamination at Colorado’s Rocky Flats still lingers.
Posted inArticles
California steps up for environmental justice
In the absence of federal leadership, a new state office for communities affected by pollution takes shape.
Posted inArticles
Natural gas wells make poor neighbors
Without a rule to prevent waste, living close to industry is difficult and dangerous.
Posted inMarch 19, 2018: Desert, Divided
A trapped coyote; human waste pollutes Denali; public lands on the runway
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
‘I saw more dead birds in that one pit than hunters would poach’
Egged on by industry lobbyists, Interior Department weakens bird protections.
Posted inArticles
Scott Pruitt’s EPA drags its feet on controlling pollution
An anti-regulations agency delays enforcing the rules it was created to oversee.
Posted inArticles
Meet the artist who makes trash into art
How one painter recreates the sublime beauty of nature on the plastic bottles you threw away.
Posted inArticles
The Cold War’s nuclear legacy still leaches
Washington’s Hanford site is a lesson for politicians considering new nuclear weapons.
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A new generation of activists, born next to an oil refinery
Long in the grips of industry, working-class parents take a lesson from their children.
Posted inMarch 5, 2018: Drilling Chaco
Resistance to drilling grows on the Navajo Nation
Indigenous activists try to quell a rising tide of oil and gas exploration in Chaco Canyon.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
A look into a climate-altered Alaska
Experiments in the permafrost zone near Denali simulate a warmer North.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
An unfrozen North
The world’s permafrost holds vast stores of carbon. What happens when it thaws?
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
The big public land sell-out
Even without wholesale land transfers, public lands are already being conveyed to industry.
Posted inArticles
When Copper Kings leave, what happens to the slag?
To jolt its economy, a town explores the many uses of the byproduct of its smelting history.
Posted inArticles
Libby, Montana, tries to shake its ‘Superfund stigma’
Rebranding could help the town distance itself from past asbestos pollution.
Posted inArticles
Want to revitalize a depressed economy? The EPA can help.
A Montana town is using an obscure program to help clean up contaminated areas.
Posted inArticles
In a shuttered mill, a Montana town sees business potential
Frenchtown is waiting on a Superfund designation to clean up toxic remnants.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
‘Orphaned’ oil and gas wells are on the rise
Wells left behind by industry threaten to overwhelm Western states.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Latest: Idaho gets nation’s first International Dark Sky Reserve
Designation recognizes decades of work to reduce light pollution.