Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Pollution
Posted inArticles
‘I saw more dead birds in that one pit than hunters would poach’
Egged on by industry lobbyists, Interior Department weakens bird protections.
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Scott Pruitt’s EPA drags its feet on controlling pollution
An anti-regulations agency delays enforcing the rules it was created to oversee.
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Meet the artist who makes trash into art
How one painter recreates the sublime beauty of nature on the plastic bottles you threw away.
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The Cold War’s nuclear legacy still leaches
Washington’s Hanford site is a lesson for politicians considering new nuclear weapons.
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A new generation of activists, born next to an oil refinery
Long in the grips of industry, working-class parents take a lesson from their children.
Posted inMarch 5, 2018: Drilling Chaco
Resistance to drilling grows on the Navajo Nation
Indigenous activists try to quell a rising tide of oil and gas exploration in Chaco Canyon.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
A look into a climate-altered Alaska
Experiments in the permafrost zone near Denali simulate a warmer North.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
An unfrozen North
The world’s permafrost holds vast stores of carbon. What happens when it thaws?
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
The big public land sell-out
Even without wholesale land transfers, public lands are already being conveyed to industry.
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When Copper Kings leave, what happens to the slag?
To jolt its economy, a town explores the many uses of the byproduct of its smelting history.
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Libby, Montana, tries to shake its ‘Superfund stigma’
Rebranding could help the town distance itself from past asbestos pollution.
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Want to revitalize a depressed economy? The EPA can help.
A Montana town is using an obscure program to help clean up contaminated areas.
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In a shuttered mill, a Montana town sees business potential
Frenchtown is waiting on a Superfund designation to clean up toxic remnants.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
‘Orphaned’ oil and gas wells are on the rise
Wells left behind by industry threaten to overwhelm Western states.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Latest: Idaho gets nation’s first International Dark Sky Reserve
Designation recognizes decades of work to reduce light pollution.
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The 26,000 tons of radioactive waste under Lake Powell
The West’s uranium boom brought dozens of mills to the banks of the Colorado River — where toxic waste was dumped irresponsibly.
Posted inDecember 25, 2017: Bear Essentials
Latest: The EPA drops mine cleanup proposal
Obama-era plan required mining companies to prove they can pay for remediation.
Posted inDecember 11, 2017: Scorched Earth
In a burning West, wildfire smoke threatens public health
Montana hospitals handled an increase of respiratory-related problems this year.
Posted inDecember 25, 2017: Bear Essentials
Interior Department’s return to the ‘robber baron’ years
Secretary Ryan Zinke will be known better for cynicism than conservationism.