BACKSTORYA methane “hot spot” over the Four Corners region has puzzled scientists for nearly a decade: Concentrations of the greenhouse gas were far higher than could be accounted for by official inventories from known contributors — an underground coal mine, landfills, and oil and gas infrastructure. So in 2015, NASA scientists began an intensive examination […]
Pollution
Posted inAugust 22, 2016: 100
Latest: Officials open a criminal investigation of EPA’s role in the Animas river spill
Agency contractors were excavating debris at the old mining site when the river flooded with wastewater.
Posted inAugust 8, 2016: Line of Descent
Latest: Obama administration to continue Navajo Nation uranium cleanup
The EPA has already spent $100 million to remediate decades of mining.
Posted inArticles
Chemical safety law that gives EPA more power passes Congress
The bipartisan measure represents the most sweeping environmental law to pass in decades.
Posted inArticles
Why the EPA fails to enforce the Civil Rights Act
Despite a new environmental justice action plan, the EPA has a poor record of protecting communities of color from toxic environments.
Posted inArticles
New Mexico sues EPA and others over Gold King disaster
The suit is the first blow in what is likely to be a long legal fracas.
Posted inJune 13, 2016: Water to Dust
Latest: After 26 years, a settlement over Rocky Flats plutonium contamination
The site near Denver was once home to a nuclear weapons plant.
Posted inArticles
Science education program teaches impacts of fossil fuels at their source
In Colorado’s oil- and gas-producing counties, science teachers broach a thorny subject in their own backyard.
Posted inMay 16, 2016: Grizzly Face-Off
West Coast cities sue Monsanto to pay for chemical cleanup
Cities take a new tack to fight pollutants: targeting companies who make them.
Posted inArticles
Why doesn’t the West report its lead data?
Lead poisoning in children is underreported nationwide, and the West’s lack of data is particularly glaring.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
Inside the moss mystery: How the organisms helped reveal Portland’s pollution
Surveys of tree moss uncovered contamination that may have led to higher cancer rates.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
Silverton’s Gold King reckoning
How the Animas River disaster forced Silverton to face its pollution problem — and its destiny.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
A Gold King Mine Timeline
A tangled history of profit, tragedy and unfulfilled dreams.
Posted inArticles
Thousands of fish die in Colorado, amid flood recovery projects
Concrete used to rebuild bridges on the Front Range appears to be the culprit for the deaths of 5,600 trout and other fish.
Posted inArticles
New report: West Coast waters face double threat
Ocean acidification, driven by global fossil fuel emissions, is being exacerbated by local pollution.
Posted inArticles
Fracking linked to groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming
Contaminants that likely came from fracking were found in an aquifer that supplies drinking water.
Posted inArticles
Photos: The costs of air pollution in Bakersfield, California
In the Central Valley, oil and agriculture both support and harm communities, making air pollution a complex problem.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
The ‘poisoned landscapes’ we leave behind
Q&A with photographer David T. Hanson about his new book, ‘Wilderness to Wasteland,’ which shows a dystopian side of progress.
Posted inArticles
Scalia was Supreme Court’s leader on limiting environmental rules
A conservative legal foundation fears its winning streak may be over.
Posted inArticles
Western states react strongly to Supreme Court stay of Clean Power Plan
Some states stop all work on cutting greenhouse gases but others forge ahead.