"Colorado wildlife experts are at odds over whether a ballot measure to ban the hunting of certain wildcats would help or hurt the formidable felines that have long been intrinsic to Rocky Mountain ecosystems."
"America’s golden eagles face a rising threat from a black market for their feathers used in Native American powwows and other ceremonies, according to wildlife officials, researchers and tribal members."
"After a five-year wait, Lorraine Black and Ricky Gillis heard the rumblings of an electrical crew reach their home on the sprawling Navajo Nation."
"For the first time under President Joe Biden, a federal permit for a new lithium mine has been approved for a Nevada project essential to his clean energy agenda, despite conservationists’ vows to sue over the plan, which they say will drive an endangered wildflower to extinction."
"Colorado lawmakers are pressing the Biden administration to offer payments to Native American tribes that are unable to use their full share of the Colorado River, arguing the groups should be compensated for reducing pressure on the drought-stricken waterway."
"The Biden administration just approved a massive geothermal energy project in Utah, marking a significant advance for a climate-friendly technology that is gaining momentum in the United States, the White House confirmed to The Washington Post on Thursday."
When Hurricane Helene ravaged a swath of the Southeast in September, leaving at least 230 people dead, it also temporarily took out a critical repository of climate data in Asheville, North Carolina. That got Reporter’s Toolbox thinking about the risks to some of the nation’s other important storehouses of environmental information, whether from extreme weather, hackers or politics. Here’s a shortlist.
"A fossil fuel giant with deep ties to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, along with other powerful pro-business groups, are explicitly pressuring Gorsuch and his fellow justices to rule in favor of oil and gas interests in an upcoming Supreme Court case."
"Waking up to long-overdue system upgrades, dozens of towns that were awarded federal ARPA dollars may see them ‘clawed back’ for lack of resources to complete paperwork."
"Miners aim to meet a growing demand for emissions-free energy, though a failure to clean up old sites haunts the industry."
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