Washington’s Hanford site is a lesson for politicians considering new nuclear weapons.
Pollution
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inArticles
Libby, Montana, tries to shake its ‘Superfund stigma’
Rebranding could help the town distance itself from past asbestos pollution.
Posted inArticles
Want to revitalize a depressed economy? The EPA can help.
A Montana town is using an obscure program to help clean up contaminated areas.
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inDecember 25, 2017: Bear Essentials
A map of $1.1 billion in natural gas pipeline leaks
In seven years, pipeline incidents have killed nearly 100 people nationwide.
Posted inNovember 27, 2017: Profit and Politics
A tale of two parks: How the Bakken boom transformed a landscape
While a North Dakota national park is an oasis from drilling, a nearby state park is thrown open.
Posted inNovember 27, 2017: Profit and Politics
Threatened plants on state lands have few protections
Politics, land ownership and imperiled plants collide in New Mexico.
Posted inOctober 30, 2017: The Changing Face of Woods Work
Handbook to ranching; pizza-loving bears; high hopes for medical marijuana
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.