Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)

"SEATTLE — As regulators in the region weigh the potential impacts of trains full of coal moving along the Columbia River and the shores of Puget Sound, trainloads of oil are quietly on the move."

"Foresters are on the watch for a potential invasion of an insect that has decimated millions of acres of forest across the West and in Canada, with continued evidence showing the mountain pine bark beetle is on the march into Nevada and the Sierra."

"BILLINGS, Mont. -- Eastern Montana residents will weigh in this week on a proposed 83-mile coal railroad with the potential to usher in a dramatic expansion of mining in the state and increase exports of the fuel to Asia."

"SALT LAKE CITY -- The U.S. Department of the Interior scaled back a Bush administration plan Friday to lease Western range lands for development of oil shale and tar sands, the unconventional sources of oil found in pockets of the Rocky Mountains."

"LONGMONT, Colo. — Longmont's city charter will now ban fracking."

"Drinking water in one out of eight Denver homes with lead plumbing may be contaminated with lead — a health hazard that causes brain and nerve damage, especially in children."

"No matter who wins the election Tuesday, the Bureau of Land Management is going to have to thread a needle to find routes Idaho Power Co. and Rocky Mountain Power can use for the Gateway West power line across southern Idaho."

"LARAMIE, Wyo. -- The idea behind the sculpture that appeared on the University of Wyoming campus about 16 months ago was simple but provocative: a swirl of dead wood and lumps of coal, intended to show the link between global warming and the pine beetle infestation that has ravaged forests across the Rockies."

"After years of working to obtain permission from the state, Alberta-based U.S. Oil Sands Inc. was given the final go-ahead Wednesday to develop the first commercial oil sands project in the US."