Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

"Dow-Freeport, the largest chemical plant complex in the Western Hemisphere, dominates—and pollutes—the Lower Brazos Watershed."

"Five weeks before President Joe Biden announced a historic new ban on new uranium mining around the Grand Canyon, Sarana Riggs approached the barbed-wire fence surrounding an inactive mine in an Arizona national forest, a Geiger counter in her hand."

"President Joe Biden on Tuesday [announced] plans to block expanded uranium mining around the Grand Canyon by declaring the area a new national monument."

"U.S. President Joe Biden will curb land development on a stretch of nearly 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) near Arizona's iconic Grand Canyon, a move intended to cement his environmental credentials in the electoral battleground state."

"Homeless in America’s hottest big metro, Stefon James Dewitt Livengood was laid out for days inside his makeshift dwelling, struggling to breath, nauseous and vomiting."

"Almost 6 million Texans, or about 20% of the population, live in an area susceptible to flooding, according to first-of-its-kind data gathered as part of a statewide effort to harden Texas against floods and rising sea levels."

"A deadly heat wave continues across the Southwest, and an often forgotten group of people affected are prisoners. Many inmates struggle to stay cool in aging facilities, including in Texas — where some 100,000 prisoners live in large facilities that lack air conditioning."

"Across Schuyler Wight’s two West Texas ranches, about 250 abandoned oil and gas wells sit open and unused, creating a link from the dusty surface to smelly chemicals and gases thousands of feet underground."

"For nearly a decade, the state of Arizona has leased this rural terrain west of Phoenix to a Saudi-owned company, allowing it to pump all the water it needs to grow the alfalfa hay — a crop it exports to feed the kingdom’s dairy cows. And, for years, the state did not know how much water the company was consuming."

"For the last several months, one of the nation’s largest pipeline operators has gone from one local government meeting on the Navajo Nation to another, outlining plans for what could end up being the country’s longest hydrogen pipeline."