Critics say a last-minute amendment made an “end run around public regulation” for Project Jupiter.
Politics
Posted inArticles
Permitting reform would de-fang bedrock environmental laws
Proposed bipartisan legislation would eviscerate laws meant to prevent irreversible environmental destruction.
Posted inArticles
Diné leaders demand the return of Bears Ears, fully intact
‘They call it protection. We call it theft.’
Posted inNovember 2026: Altered Landscapes
Eugene could fund climate projects across the city
If passed, the measure would tax large corporate retailers to help the Oregon city meet its climate goals and improve quality of life for residents.
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Will Coloradans choose the ‘right to hunt’?
A constitutional amendment on the November ballot asks who should choose how to manage the Centennial State’s wildlife.
Posted inOctober 2026: Origin Stories
Native nations sue over Endangered Species Act changes
Environmental work being done by tribes across the country will be made more difficult now that the Trump administration has more narrowly defined ‘harm.’
Posted inOctober 2026: Origin Stories
How old battles over land, power and identity continue to shape the West’s politics
Origin stories from an unsettled region.
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The Forest Service is poised to hand off one of the West’s most visited landscapes
Critics say this is a test case for privatizing public lands.
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Montanans are demanding better Indian education, setting an example for other Western states
Experts say good education is about relationships – and a constitutional amendment doesn’t hurt.
Posted inOctober 2026: Origin Stories
Hail is a multibillion-dollar problem — and could get worse
At a Colorado cold lab, scientists race to better understand hail in a warming world.
Posted inArticles
How the Interior secretary has let down public lands and the nation
Doug Burgum was once seen as a conservationist. Reality shows otherwise.
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American Samoans punished for voting in Alaska get relief after a yearslong nightmare
Alaska officials accused American Samoans caught in a unique legal limbo of illegally voting but finally dropped those charges this month.
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Wyoming chooses public lands at the ballot box
Voters finally felt the threat to public lands had reached a critical point, observers say.
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Tohono O’odham fight border wall on sacred, sovereign lands
The nation is using the courts and lobbying congressional Democrats to stop construction near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Southern Arizona.
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What the new rules for a shrinking Colorado River mean for tribal nations
‘None of us is in the exact same situation.’
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Solar and wind continue to push coal off the West’s grid
Trump’s war on clean energy falters.
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Arctic drilling in Alaska won’t get environmental review in new proposal
The Interior Department will soon publish a ‘categorical exclusion’ that will rubber stamp oil and gas development in Alaska’s remote National Petroleum Reserve.
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Mining execs bought big in company stock days before Bears Ears’ cuts
House Democrats have opened an investigation for insider trading.
Posted inArticles
It’s a make-or-break year for Hood River’s pear farmers
After a dismal 2025 season, the pears being picked right now could mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
‘Quite frustrating:’ what it’s like to have a treaty with the United States
Heirs to the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott explain their ancestors’ wisdom and how they defend it today.