Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)

"Under a chrome-colored sky ribboned by rainclouds, local outfitter Jake Hutton led a horseback tour of the Kelly Parcel, telling stories all the while."

"For the second time this year, a chemical recycling plant built to turn waste into usable products has closed, casting further doubt on the viability of an upstart industry that has been plagued by financial and technical challenges in its effort to scale up."

"A pair of moderate Utah Republicans won primary elections Tuesday for U.S. Senate and governor over far-right candidates who are loyalists to former President Donald Trump, the latest example of how Utah is a rare Republican state that doesn’t fully embrace Trump’s stranglehold on the GOP."

"Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, one of the largest rural cooperative utilities in the U.S., is bringing the energy transition home to its massive western service territory. It’s acquiring its first large-scale solar power plants as it prepares to shift away from its current dependence on coal power."

"Gov. Jared Polis vetoed legislation on Friday that would have banned state incentives for projects to process waste through pyrolysis and gasification — techniques to break down plastics using heat applied in low-oxygen environments."

"Two conservation groups from Montana and Idaho sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week over commercial grazing agreements in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge that were renewed last year but which the groups say rely on an environmental analysis from 1994 in violation of federal law."

"Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown is under fire from Democrats for 2022 remarks in which he expressed support for plans to store federal nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain."

"New research questions the long-held theory that reintroduction of such a predator caused a trophic cascade, spawning renewal of vegetation and spurring biodiversity."