News

An estimated 6,000 protestors flocked to the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons facility northwest of Denver, Colo., to call for the closure of the facility and an end to the nuclear arms race. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.9/download-entire-issue

Just as Earth Day 1970 is often referred to as the birthday of a wider public awareness of environmental concerns, organizers hope that Sun Day May 3 will be remembered as the one single event that brought solar energy into the public’s eye. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.8/download-entire-issue

The Flathead and Fort Peck Indian Reservation councils have decided to seek Class I protection for their air under the Clean Air Act. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.8/download-entire-issue

Vigorous protests from Idaho citizens apparently have postponed the U.S. Forest Service’s plans to spray 60,000 acres of northern Idaho forests with pesticides including 2,4,5-T — the main ingredient in Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War — as a way remove brush and speed the regeneration of new trees in clearcuts. Download entire issue […]

The U.S. Forest Service has issued policy guidelines for access and drilling on oil leases in roadless lands identified by the second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II). The policy guidelines will be particularly important for national forests that lie over the Overthrust Belt. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.6/download-entire-issue

Montana’s Colstrip coal-fired power plant units 3 and 4 were recently about to break ground, but a state court has ruled that the plants must comply with certain provisions of the Clean Air Act, potentially delaying or permanently stopping construction. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.5/download-entire-issue

Lawmakers attacking Colorado’s mined land reclamation regulations in the state senate claim that the state bureaucracy made life tougher for the mining industry than was originally intended. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.4/download-entire-issue

The Saskatchewan government has rejected a recommendation by the International Joint Comission — an independent organization that arbitrates boundary disputes between the U.S. and Canada — to halt construction of the 300 megawatt Poplar River power plant currently under construction eight miles north of the Montana border. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.3/download-entire-issue

As a moratorium on large-scale diversions from Montana’s portion of the Yellowstone River comes to an end, questions arise about how to allocate the water for energy, fisheries and agriculture. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.2/download-entire-issue

Three utilities are planning a lawsuit against the state of Montana, claiming that the state’s 30 percent coal severance tax is illegal, exorbitant, and a violation of the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.1/download-entire-issue

Two Colorado environmental groups are charging that the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board is violating the law by not requiring two oil shale projects to obtain mining permits for their current phases of operation. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.22/download-entire-issue

After the Environmental Protection Agency shut down construction of Montana Power Co.’s Colstrip units 3 and 4 because of lack of two permits required by federal and state laws, more than a hundred laid-off construction workers have become pawns in the battle. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.20/download-entire-issue

A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that the Interior Department must not resume federal coal leasing until new environmental studies have been made and a complete reevaluation of the leasing program is conducted. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.19/download-entire-issue

The mining industry is highly critical of the federal strip mining regulations recently published by the U.S. Interior Department. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.18/download-entire-issue

As President Jimmy Carter issued restrictions to off-road vehicle (ORV) use, building on the restriction issued in 1972 by then-President Richard Nixon, the Geological Society of America released a report detailing the impacts of ORV use, primarily in California. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.17/download-entire-issue

The Carter Administration’s proposals for reforming national water policy may ruffle the longstanding laws of prior appropriation, and have Western politicians and water user groups fighting mad. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.16/download-entire-issue

The crush of new uses for agricultural land — mining, housing, and urban expansion — has steadily driven the cost of land beyond the point at which agriculture is profitable. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.15/download-entire-issue

A summary of the coal-fired power plants proposed in every Northern Rockies state, plus a review of the official and unofficial hurdles to building them. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.14/download-entire-issue

A brief natural history of the pronghorn antelope and discussion of concerns about habitat loss in Wyoming’s Seven Lakes area, where energy development is accelerating. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.12/download-entire-issue

The nation’s dam builders have been put on alert: President Jimmy Carter’s assault on their pet projects is only the beginning of what he wants to be a reversal in national water policy. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.11/download-entire-issue