The indelible history of mining poisons a town yet extracts something new.
Mining
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Our imperiled public lands
President-elect Trump, a Republican-dominated Congress and Utah launch an all-out assault on environmental protection.
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How Utah’s Christmas Festival has buoyed a changing coal community
Thirty-five years ago, Helper was nearly a ghost town. Now, art and tourism are providing new paths forward.
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2024 set the stage for clean energy on public lands
Thanks to Biden administration policies, the momentum behind the energy transition could be hard to stall.
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Utah’s coal mines can’t find enough workers
A mine just reopened in eastern Utah, but the industry has changed.
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Beautiful Bears Ears is at risk, again
What are the consequences for the land if the incoming president shrinks the national monument?
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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.
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Will exploratory lithium mining continue near a sacred hot spring?
A judge will decide the fate of Ha’Kamwe’ as the Hualapai Nation fights the drilling in court.
Posted inOctober 2024: Latino Vote
The downballot issues driving the West’s 2024 elections
From climate and public lands to shifting political allegiances, the region faces critical choices at the ballot box.
Posted inJuly 2024
Abandoned mines cover the West
Their legacy is destruction and pollution of lands and waters.
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Voters from both parties want enduring public lands protection
Opinion: The Biden administration has made progress protecting lands that belong to all Americans. But there’s more to be done.
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Endangered wildflower threatened by Nevada lithium mine
Tiehm’s buckwheat is found nowhere else in the world, and the planned mine would sit square in its habitat.
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Spring on Alaska’s Unuk River shouldn’t mean fighting for our way of life
Transboundary-mining pollution threatens our sovereign rights.
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What’s next for the Owyhee Canyonlands?
Supporters call it ’the largest conservation opportunity in the West.’
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Stolen Indigenous land is the foundation of the land-grant university system. Climate change is its legacy.
Extractive industries are filling public university coffers on stolen land.
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Is uranium poised for a renaissance?
As prices climb, mining proposals proliferate. But it might just be hype.
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
As glaciers melt, potential salmon habitat collides with outdated mining laws
In Alaska and British Columbia, climate change may open new rivers to fish – and to gold mines.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2024: January 2024
How 3 Indigenous women are leading the way on climate change
These experts bring knowledge and justice to the climate conversation.
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2023 in Native environmental news
The beat’s biggest news that you might have missed.
Posted inDecember 1, 2023: December 2023
Take a toxic tour of the Great Salt Lake
Utah grapples with its future of industry around its dying inland sea.