Durango may be moving on, but wider fears about the toxic spill still reverberate.
Mining
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Animas River spill: only the latest in 150 years of pollution
Mapping the other threats to the Animas and San Juan Rivers.
Posted inAugust 17, 2015: Little Big Bird
The Latest: San Carlos Apache lobbies to protect lands threatened by copper mining
Resolution Copper company engineered a land swap with the feds, but locals oppose it.
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Nevada’s gold mining industry is hanging on — for now
Gold producers in Elko see job growth, despite an international price drop.
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Dispatch from White Hope Mine dispute in Montana
The constitutionalist group Oath Keepers is defending a mine that the Forest Service says is out of compliance.
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When our river turned orange
Nine things you need to know about the Animas River mine waste spill.
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Idaho mining dispute raises questions about the future of wilderness
A grandfathered mining claim has opened the doors to development.
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Rare-earth mining in the West: an interview with the reporter
Listen to KDNK Radio speak with Tim Heffernan about the big bust.
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Old mines still plague Montana’s Clark Fork
Why one of the nation’s largest Superfund river sites can’t address pollution from abandoned mines.
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The U.S.’s only rare-earth mine files for bankruptcy
How plain old economics could end Molycorp’s Mountain Pass Mine in the Mojave Desert.
Posted inJune 22, 2015: Dust to Dust
Why rare-earth mining in the West is a bust
Forget the hype. In the global rush for energy-critical elements, our region can’t compete.
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Sightseeing at an open pit mine in Arizona copper country
The mines are still in business, yet towns that once flourished are now mostly gone.
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Oath Keepers show up for a public lands dispute in Oregon
Plus a Cliven Bundy supporter is charged and BLM emails about the Nevada standoff were released.
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Idaho’s Panther Creek comes back from the dead
Two decades after restoration began, life returns to a stream sterilized by mining.
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Forest Service sticks up for coal mining on roadless lands
The agency will calculate climate impacts of mine expansions in western Colorado.
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Canada’s mining boom spills into U.S. waters
How do you protect a river that begins in another country?
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How Native Americans have shaped the year’s biggest environmental debates
And how lawmakers can improve their record next year.
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Mining proposal threatens Arizona town’s water supply
Report outlines risks that mine will deplete aquifer and contaminate groundwater.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
The Latest: Ruptured tailings pond spills waste in Canada
Backstory In the remote northwestern corner of British Columbia, next to Alaska, plans for large mining and hydropower projects have sounded alarm bells on both sides of the border. Critics, mostly environmentalists and tribes, warned that Canada’s resource rush threatens rivers that support a vital wild salmon fishery in both countries, and that the race […]
Posted inAugust 18, 2014: Alaska's Uncertain Food Future
Jared Polis abandons anti-fracking initiatives
A Democratic family feud takes a surprising turn in Colorado.