News

The Navajos have taken their protest of the Navajo and Hopi Land Settlement Act to an international jury. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.24/download-entire-issue

With little fanfare, the Bureau of Land Management has paired down public lands under consideration for protection as wilderness to 24 million acres in 11 western states. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.23/download-entire-issue

After the U.S. Department of Interior recently lifted a moratorium on federal tar-sands leasing, Utah officials set goals for developing the state’s tar sands resources. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.22/download-entire-issue

Chicago and North Western Transportation Corp. is inching its locomotives towards the coal fields of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. But local ranchers, Wyoming’s governor and the powerful Burlington Northern Railroad are all trying to keep it out. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.21/download-entire-issue

Three Indian tribes in North Dakota have adopted seismic exploration regulations, issued permits and hired Indian guides for oil developers, all to address a lack of authority by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.21/download-entire-issue

A proposal to create the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area in southwest Montana is being countered by Montana Sen. John Melcher and Burlington Northern Inc., which owns a checkerboard of timber lands in the area. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.20/download-entire-issue

The proposed Northern Tier Pipeline would carry up to 900,000 barrels of oil a day from a tanker port on Washington’s Puget Sound through Idaho, Montana and North Dakota, terminating at a refinery in Clearbrook, Minn. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.19/download-entire-issue

As wilderness recreation becomes more popular, land management agencies are creating permit systems and other systems for dealing with the increased visitation. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.18/download-entire-issue

Since 1975, Montana has funded 145 renewable energy projects — including solar, hydro, biomass and geothermal — with money from the state’s coal severance tax. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.18/download-entire-issue

In a break with tradition, the school district in one of western Colorado’s most productive coal regions is building seven new schools, all of them to be heated with natural gas, an imported commodity. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.17/download-entire-issue

Less than a month after Crested Butte, Colo., passed an ordinance aimed at protecting its watershed, city leaders find themselves face to face in court with AMAX, the mining giant that hopes to extract molybdenum nearby. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.17/download-entire-issue

ASARCO recently began its second season here of drilling for copper and silver ore samples in the Cabinet Mountains of northwest Montana, an area designated as wilderness and home to grizzly bears. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.15/download-entire-issue

The on-again, off-again relationship between the Atlantic Richfield Corporation and the oil shale industry is finally off — and this time possibly for good. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.15/download-entire-issue

Tough new ambient air quality standards proposed for Montana have been sidetracked by last-minute questions over the effect they might have on Anaconda Co.’s copper smelters. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.14/download-entire-issue

A dispute over funding of the Garrison Diversion Project has prompted unprecedented lobbying in the U.S. Senate by Canadian government officials, plus opposition efforts by environmentalists. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.13/download-entire-issue

A citrus millionaire from Florida wants to revive the century-old narrow gauge railroad route between Durango and Silverton, Colorado. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.13/download-entire-issue

The fate of Wyoming’s first commercial-size in situ uranium mine remains uncertain following a Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision giving the operation 90 days to prove it can operate without polluting ground water near Buffalo, Wyo. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.12/download-entire-issue

If all goes well, peregrine falcons raised near Salt Lake City will reach breeding age and return to historic nest sites on the Wasatch Range to the east. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.12/download-entire-issue

The National Coal Consumers Alliance pushes hard for legislation that would limit coal severance taxes imposed by states like Montana and Wyoming. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/12.11/download-entire-issue