Chi’chil Biłdagoteel exemplifies the larger struggle tribes face over protecting off-reservation, culturally important lands.
Mining
Posted inArticles
The rise of the restoration economy
Filling the economic void left by the extraction economy by healing the land.
Posted inArticles
Deep-sea mining creates a ‘cylinder of sound’ risking impacts on marine life
A new report shows that noise from just one mine could travel more than 300 miles across the ocean.
Posted inArticles
Copper Mine near Tucson dealt a blow
But the Canadian company gets a win for its other, nearby operation at Copper World.
Posted inArticles
Worrying about the dust next door in this Montana mining town
Residents of a Butte neighborhood are concerned about what’s wafting from a nearby open-pit mine that can coat their homes and vehicles.
Posted inJune 1, 2022: A Legacy of Weapons and War
Who’s after rare metals in the Klamath Mountains?
While the region has a small cache of tellurium, politics and economics are in the way.
Posted inArticles
Two Southwest tribes raise concerns over uranium storage
Tribal communities in Arizona and Utah face environmental problems connected to the same radioactive resource: uranium.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
A terrible lighthouse, swift treasure hunters, and a paranormal ghost town
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
Russia’s war reverberates in the West
Putin’s military moves — and the globe’s response to them — have unexpected consequences for the region.
Posted inArticles
EVs’ demand for copper escalates threat against Apache’s Oak Flat
A massive copper mine in Arizona could destroy an Apache community’s most sacred land.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
Cows, coal and climate change: A Q&A with the new BLM director
Tracy Stone-Manning discusses how the federal agency sees conservation, the climate crisis and the Indigenous history of public lands.
Posted inArticles
Cleanup of abandoned uranium mines creates a demand for workers
A growing industry for environmental remediation needs a local workforce with the right training.
Posted inArticles
The dizzying scope of abandoned mine hazards on public lands
As many as 500,000 abandoned mine features litter federal land, many posing environmental or physical safety hazards that especially threaten Native communities.
Posted inArticles
Conservation groups should be able to lease land to protect it
‘Use it or lose it’ rules can bias public-land management in favor of extraction.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential
Electric vehicles drive up demand for ‘green metals’
The need for energy-transition metals breathes life into new mines in the West.
Posted inArticles
Biden’s ‘herky-jerky’ first year on Western issues
The new president sacrificed bold executive action to try to win over Congress.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential
Cultural extraction at the edge of the abyss
Butte, Montana, doesn’t have a major art museum. Instead, it has a gigantic toxic pit.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Gold country: A precious metal, a mining mega-corp and a captive workforce
In 2019, two gold-mining giants joined forces, with huge consequences for the Northern Nevada community and economy.
Posted inArticles
40 years after its closure, the Jackpile Mine’s toxic legacy continues
‘They have to look at it every day and wonder if that’s the reason why they’re dying.’
Posted inArticles
Two Democrats kill chances of reforming outdated hardrock mining law
The nearly 150-year old law allows mining companies to extract resources like copper and lithium royalty-free.