"[Colorado] State health officials are letting Cotter Corp. dump 90,000 gallons of radioactive sludge and solvents from its uranium mill into an impoundment pond the agency knows to be leaking."

From his deck, Bob Arrington can hear the rustle of aspens and the chirp of birds. He can see the golf course; Battlement Mesa, still spring green, to the south; and Roan Plateau, pink and tan, to the north. Soon he may also be able to see a drilling rig — right near the sixth hole."

"The Ruby Mountains, a major Great Basin range, appears to harbor only half as many small animals as were found there in the 1920s, according to a new study by Utah Museum of Natural History researchers."

Abandoned mines in Colorado and across the West are contaminating many streams with toxic discharges.

"The state of Idaho has authorized sheriff's deputies in a tiny mountain town to kill wolves blamed for preying on pets and elk, a spokesman for the state fish and game department said on Tuesday."

"An old compact may not be enough to keep the Tongue River from running dry."

"On a quiet back road near Turtle Lake, a metaphorical battle is being waged between neighbors Katrina Blair and Scott Sallee. The two fight over city contracts, but the differences are philosophical, ecological and – for Blair, at least – almost religious."

"Expanding Kennecott’s open-pit mine wouldn’t create enough air pollution to stop the copper giant from burrowing deeper into the Oquirrh Mountains. So ruled the Utah Air Quality Board in giving Kennecott Utah Copper a critical go-ahead Wednesday to enlarge its mine on the western edge of Salt Lake County — despite objections from anti-pollution advocates and a warning from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the expansion may not be approved."

"Though the only natural gas drilling company active in Idaho today has no plans to employ a method blamed around the country for polluting drinking water, industry officials say other companies could one day."

"Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is introducing a plan today that would allow bison in Yellowstone National Park to travel north outside the park boundaries into Montana's Gardiner Basin during winter months."

"An estimated 352,000 pounds of lead washed into Lake Coeur d'Alene on Jan. 18 after flooding related to a rain-on-snow event."

"An Idaho House committee supported Wednesday a move to seal off more data related to confined-animal feeding operations from the public eye, making it harder for the public to tell if state regulations are enforced."

"Wyoming, famous for its crisp mountain air and breathtaking, far-as-the-eye-can-see vistas, is looking a little bit like smoggy Los Angeles these days because of a boom in natural gas drilling."

"A Canadian company hoping to compete with China's near-monopoly of rare earth elements — metals critical for everything from U.S. military weaponry to wind turbines — wants to open a strip mine inside a national forest in northeast Wyoming."

"Neighbors of a toxic mine in northern Nevada have filed a class-action lawsuit against BP America and Atlantic Richfield Co. accusing them of intentionally and negligently concealing the extent of the contamination leaking off the abandoned site for decades."