Logistical hurdles and a lack of solar incentives keep panels and plants apart.
Water
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
First came the record-setting fire. Then came the record-setting floods.
‘I don’t trust the water:’ How post-fire flooding has destabilized a rural community’s drinking water.
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
Western states step up to save their wetlands
The West’s vital wetlands are in trouble — but states are working to safeguard them.
Posted inArticles
Trump quits deal with Northwest tribes to restore salmon
The plan to remove four hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin that blocks the free flow of salmon was canceled.
Posted inArticles
Can fracking wastewater be reused?
New Mexico’s legislators are eager to repurpose “produced water,” but environmental organizations say that there is no safe way to do that.
Posted inArticles
USGS’ biological research arm could vanish
Trump is on a multipronged mission to eliminate a science agency that conservationists, toxicologists, universities and more call irreplaceable.
Posted inArticles
Massive pipeline spill seeps toward Colorado’s Animas River
23,000 gallons of gasoline leaked on the Southern Ute reservation in December.
Posted inArticles
Trump’s unprecedented attack on America
We need an army of Raúl Grijalvas to stem the flood of ‘bullshit’ emanating out of the White House.
Posted inArticles
NOAA issues critical drought warnings during cuts to agency
The embattled agency continues to disseminate crucial updates in a hostile political environment.
Posted inArticles
Contamination threatens the last source of clean groundwater in west New Mexico
The toxic legacy of Cold War uranium mining and milling has shattered lives, destroyed homes and created a pollution problem for an entire region.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
As the Great Salt Lake recedes, industry rises
Utah’s Inland Port Authority works with local officials to boost development, but residents feel ignored.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
‘Rights of nature’ laws take root in the West
Thanks to voters in Everett, Washington, the Snohomish River watershed now has legal standing.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
A renewable diesel plant may put the Columbia River at risk
Farmers, tribes and environmental advocates in rural Oregon raise alarms about the empty promises of biofuels.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
The video game that makes the climate apocalypse look good
In The Alluvials, artist Alice Bucknell reimagines the Los Angeles water system.
Posted inArticles
Poll finds majority of Westerners support climate action and conservation
Colorado College’s annual survey included residents of 8 Western states, the majority of whom identified as politically conservative or moderate.
Posted inArticles
EPA takes unprecedented step to remove uranium waste from the Navajo Nation
The decision opens the door for new ways to manage uranium pollution on tribal land.
Posted inArticles
Wildfires are too much for municipal water systems. In Los Angeles, firefighters tried anyway.
Water systems aren’t designed for unlimited demands during wildland-urban interface fires.
Posted inArticles
The Biden administration weighs in on Colorado River management
Amid mounting drought, changing federal leadership and stalled state negotiations, new federal proposals aim to chart a forward path.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
Can land repair the nation’s racist past?
California’s approach to Black reparations shifts toward land access, ownership and stewardship.
Posted inIssues
Fish camp in Alaska – without the fish
Yukon River communities fight to maintain their salmon fishing traditions.