Natural Resources

"After years of neglect, the site of the long-closed U.S. Steel Duluth Works may be be on the verge of revitalization."

"President Barack Obama will arrive today in Alaska, expected to touch down this afternoon in Anchorage, and his three-day visit will showcase the impacts of global climate change on Alaskans, primarily those in coastal communities."

"President Barack Obama on Monday will officially restore Denali as the name of North America's tallest mountain, siding with the state of Alaska in ending a 40-year battle over what to call a peak that has been known as Mount McKinley."

"With warming seas creating new opportunities at the top of the world, nations are scrambling over the Arctic — its territorial waters, transit routes and especially its natural resources — in a rivalry some already call a new Cold War."

"U.S. officials responsible for the Aug. 5 spill of toxic mine waste in southwestern Colorado had no plan in place for dealing with a catastrophic breach of the kind that fouled a long stretch of the state’s Animas River, an internal inquiry has concluded."

"A coalition of environmental groups and Native American tribes is asking officials to overhaul federal mining standards ahead of new uranium mining near the Grand Canyon."

"U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she has asked President Obama to bypass Congress and create three new national monuments in California, giving federal protection to more than 1 million acres of mountain ranges, sandy expanses and forests lying roughly between Palm Springs and the Nevada border."

"'Conditions may exist that could result in a... release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters,' stated a 2014 EPA report on the inactive Gold King Mine, whose toxic waters befouled rivers in 3 states earlier this month."

"As far away from society as you might seem while floating on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, or hiking along its shorelines, heavy metals are polluting the river in concentrations that could pose a health risk."