Tribes Want To Give Colorado River the Same Legal Rights as a Person [9]
"The move by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first."


EJToday is a daily weekday digest of top environment/energy news and information of interest to environmental journalists, independently curated by Editor Joseph A. Davis [1]. Sign up below to receive in your inbox. For queries, email EJToday@SEJ.org [2]. For more info, read an EJToday FAQ [3]. Plus, follow EJToday on social media at @EJTodayNews [4], and flag stories of note by including the @EJTodayNews handle on your posts. And tell us how to make EJToday even better by taking this brief survey [5].
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"The move by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first."
"Misleading Mailer: Despite locals’ health concerns, the Chamber of Commerce has gone to unusual lengths to promote a data center, including sending a mailer with inaccurate information. 'Concierge Service': The chamber has a five-member operations team dedicated to xAI, one of Musk’s companies, as it tries to transform Memphis into a global hub of technological innovation."
"A powerful dust storm wreaked havoc on Nevada’s annual Burning Man festival over the weekend, tossing around early attendees’ campsites and trapping incoming Burners in up to eight hours of stop-and-go traffic."
"Donald Trump’s attacks on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) risk exposing the US to another Hurricane Katrina, staff at the agency have warned Congress in a withering critique that also takes aim at its current leadership."
"Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza killed five journalists Monday, according to health officials, including one who days earlier had reported for The Associated Press on children being treated for starvation at the same facility."
"A rare human case of a flesh-eating parasite known as New World screwworm has been confirmed in a Maryland resident as the Trump administration is trying to prevent the resurgence of an insect largely eradicated from livestock decades ago."
"President Donald Trump’s administration is set to spend nearly $100 million, or 14% less, on the research arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) than the level mandated by Congress for this year, according to a budget document seen by Science."
"Solar power is having a bumper year as developers race to complete installations before Trump’s policy changes pull the rug out from under the industry."
"Air pollutants from U.S. oil and gas operations are causing 91,000 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of health issues each year — with racial and ethnic minority populations bearing the biggest burden, a new study has found."
"The operator of New England’s electric grid warned Monday that the Trump administration’s move to halt a nearly completed offshore wind farm will cause risks to the reliability of the electric grid."
"Exposure to high temperatures could result in long-lasting damage to health of billions of people, scientists warn"
"This deadly bacteria, which hits low-income people the hardest, was once an “only in New York” problem. Extreme heat is now increasing its prevalence."
'Robb Rynd and his brother grew up farming and wanted to do more of it outside their day jobs, so they went in together on what’s now a little over 200 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum. Last year was a good year, and Rynd said he enjoyed walking the fields with his kids to see how the corn was doing. This year is a different story.'
"U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams late Thursday issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting more detainees from coming to the site, barring new construction and giving the state 60 days to remove many of its major elements."
"The Trump administration on Friday ordered that all construction stop on Revolution Wind, a $4 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that is already mostly built."
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[9] https://www.sej.org/headlines/tribes-want-give-colorado-river-same-legal-rights-person
[10] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/activism
[11] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/biodiversity-1
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[18] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/water
[19] https://www.sej.org/taxonomy/term/81
[20] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national
[21] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/southwest
[22] https://www.kunc.org/news/2025-08-20/the-colorado-river-is-this-tribes-lifeblood-now-they-want-to-give-it-the-same-legal-rights-as-a-person
[23] https://www.sej.org/headlines/inside-memphis-chamber-commerce-push-elon-musk-s-xai-data-center
[24] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/climate-change
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[26] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/energy
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[31] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/technology
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[33] https://www.propublica.org/article/memphis-xai-colossus-elon-musk-chamber-messaging
[34] https://www.sej.org/headlines/wild-dust-storm-wreaks-havoc-burning-man-festival-campsites-blown-away
[35] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/disaster
[36] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/northeast
[37] https://nypost.com/2025/08/25/us-news/wild-dust-storm-wreaks-havoc-at-burning-man-festival-as-campsites-blown-away-traffic-delays-pushed-to-8-hours/
[38] https://www.sej.org/headlines/fema-staff-warn-trump-cuts-could-expose-us-another-hurricane-katrina
[39] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/forests
[40] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/25/fema-trump-hurricane-katrina
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[44] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international
[45] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/middle-east
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[62] https://www.sej.org/headlines/heatwaves-are-making-people-age-faster-study-suggests
[63] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/25/heatwaves-making-people-age-faster-study-suggests
[64] https://www.sej.org/headlines/climate-change-bringing-legionnaire-s-disease-town-near-you
[65] https://www.wired.com/story/this-deadly-bacteria-was-once-an-only-in-new-york-problem-not-anymore/
[66] https://www.sej.org/headlines/weather-key-perfect-ear-corn-climate-change-making-it-dicier
[67] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/food
[68] https://apnews.com/article/corn-pollination-climate-change-extreme-weather-heat-4762f4eedaa22d0d3cbe41164319f4f3
[69] https://www.sej.org/headlines/judge-orders-alligator-alcatraz-closed-over-nepa-failures
[70] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmentalists
[71] https://www.eenews.net/articles/judge-orders-alligator-alcatraz-closed-over-nepa-failures/
[72] https://www.sej.org/headlines/trump-administration-orders-work-halted-wind-farm-nearly-built
[73] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/climate/trump-administration-halts-revolution-wind.html?unlocked_article_code=1.gk8.4b9-.ZRWymzCaWl4n&smid=url-share
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