After oil companies go bust, the state is left paying to clean up abandoned wells, tanks, machinery and sludge pits.
Oil
Posted inArticles
The Trump team sets double standard on migratory bird rules
The administration said it will go hunting for cases of wind energy companies unintentionally killing migratory birds — something it has long argued is not a violation of federal law.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
How one California community is turning an old oil field into protected habitat
Despite federal policies complicating Fullerton’s conservation success story.
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
Supreme Court puts Utah’s oil train back on the rails
The 8-0 decision overturned the U.S. Court of Appeals decision that the project’s environmental impact statement was insufficient.
Posted inArticles
Working in the Permian Basin comes at a high cost
Oil workers in New Mexico are subjected to harrowing conditions that lead to death, injury, disease and terrible tolls on mental health and family life.
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
Days before Trump took office, Interior approved oil and gas leases for land bought during 2019 public auction
Company can begin to issue plans for drilling near Chaco Canyon buffer zone on Navajo Nation allotment.
Posted inArticles
These states use stolen Indigenous land to fund prisons
State trust lands generate millions of dollars for carceral facilities and programs every year, largely from extractive industries like oil and gas drilling.
Posted inArticles
Trump’s nominee for leading Interior attempted to rip up rules governing public lands
North Dakota sued the Interior Department at least five times under Gov. Doug Burgum. Now he’s set to run the agency.
Posted inArticles
Outgoing Bureau of Land Management director optimistic about public lands
Tracy Stone-Manning discusses the BLM’s achievements and talks about the future as we enter a new political era.
Posted inArticles
Jimmy Carter’s mixed environmental record
The former president emphasized conservation, protection — and coal mining.
Posted inArticles
Beautiful Bears Ears is at risk, again
What are the consequences for the land if the incoming president shrinks the national monument?
Posted inArticles
Resource production or preservation? Election puts Alaska lands on the line
From oil in the Arctic to the Ambler Road, Alaska’s resource and conservation battles await a new administration’s fate, affecting communities, ecosystems and industries alike.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
What Project 2025 has to say about Native communities
The initiative focuses heavily on resource extraction of tribal lands but lacks detail on other key issues.
Posted inArticles
Fracking inside the neighborhood
As a planned community near the Rockies rises, so do concerns over a oil and gas operation that would stretch under the homes.
Posted inArticles
The mother-daughter duo fighting fossil fuels in Colorado
How Madhvi and Lalitha Chittoor teamed up against a proposed oil and gas development.
Posted inArticles
Kamala Harris tries to navigate the convoluted politics of oil and gas
Drill, Democrats, drill?
Posted inOctober 2024: Latino Vote
States own lands on reservations. To use them, tribes must pay.
How schools, hospitals, prisons and other institutions in 15 states profit from land and resources on 79 tribal nations.
Posted inArticles
5 takeaways from our investigation into state trust lands on reservations
An investigation by High Country News and Grist reveals how public institutions benefit from extractive industries on Indian reservations.