"Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth on Thursday unveiled a plan to rehabilitate communities hurt by the decline of the U.S. coal industry - an appeal to a political constituency seen as important in the November election."

"The Bureau of Land Management on Thursday issued a right-of-way permit supporting a roughly 200-mile industrial road through the Northwest Alaska wilderness to a region that the state says could support several mines."

"Thursday a wide array of Alaska Native, commercial fishing, and sportfishing groups issued statements criticizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Pebble Mine after copies of the document were delivered to interested parties via USPS a day before its publication in the Federal Register."

"A new report concludes U.S. waters “have insufficient protections for a healthy future,” and that the problem has gotten worse under the Trump administration."

"A bipartisan bill that would spend nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands is on its way to the president’s desk after winning final legislative approval."

"Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) has added his name to the growing list of those challenging the legality of William Perry Pendley's authority to lead the Bureau of Land Management."

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is poised to give its blessing later this week to an Alaska copper and gold mining project the Obama administration tried to block because of concerns it could harm the state’s salmon industry."

"A coalition of states, environmentalists and American Indians on Monday renewed its push to stop the Trump administration from selling coal from public lands after a previous effort to halt the lease sales was dismissed by a federal judge."

"Nearly half a century after a Gold Rush-era quicksilver mining operation shut down in northern California, mercury continues to flow into a nearby creek, and federal officials blame the mine’s state landmark status for cleanup delays."

"Lisa Schulte Moore loves nature. To stand in an old-growth forest, she says, 'I can only describe it as healing.' When she moved to Iowa to teach ecology at Iowa State University, she didn't get that same feeling when she found herself amid acres of corn. She wasn't hearing birds or seeing many bugs. 'All I can hear are the leaves of the rustling corn,' she says. 'Not one biological noise. You know, they call it the green desert.'"