"Several times a day, long trainloads of coal trundle through Missoula to power plants in Washington. Those routine runs generate lots of electricity for homes and lots of consternation for politicians and scientists concerned about the trade-offs. In the short term, coal's convenience and low price make it a simple answer to the nation's energy needs. But its pollution, damage to water supplies and impact on global climate may produce a long-term cost we're unable to afford."

"FAIRFIELD -- The arsenic exposure risk in Fairfield is official, the health danger real. Those who live in the Cedar Valley town stand a higher risk of getting some cancers, nerve damage and brain injury with exposure to contaminants from old mine tailings over an extended period of time, according to a new Utah study."

"PLATTEVILLE — Colorado's wave of gas and oil drilling is resulting in spills at the rate of seven every five days — releasing more than 2 million gallons this year of diesel, oil, drilling wastewater and chemicals that contaminated land and water."

"U.S. prosecutors charge a man who said he was protecting his family. State residents and officials are outraged."

"Wild horses on the vast rangelands of Wyoming can continue to roam free, for now, after the U.S. government's Bureau of Land Management postponed a planned roundup, horse advocates said on Tuesday."

"Wyoming and the U.S. Department of Interior have reached an agreement that would end federal protection for wolves in the state and allow hunters to kill more than 50% of those living outside Yellowstone National Park."

The former Rocky Flats federal nuclear plant was supposedly cleaned up before it was repurposed as a National Wildlife Refuge. But lack of money and invasive plants may keep plutonium worries alive.

"Federal regulators knew potentially contaminated bark and wood chips were being sold from a Superfund site in the asbestos-tainted town of Libby, Mont., for three years before they stopped the practice, according to a letter from the Environmental Protection Agency to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus."

"The Fish and Wildlife Service has been flooded with public comments over a proposed management plan for the second-largest national wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states, including an 8,000-acre net decrease in potential wilderness area and significant changes in how livestock are managed."

"For a decade, the people of Libby have longed for the day when they will be rid of the asbestos that turned their town into the deadliest Superfund site in America. Now they are being forced to live through the agony all over again."

"[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."