Water managers, farmers, electric utilities, skiers and some 30 million water users breathed a sigh of relief in recent weeks with news that snowpack in the basin of the Colorado River was better. The relief may be temporary. The drought that has plagued the region for 11 years may become the new "normal."

"Mining companies can proceed with their challenge to U.S. EPA's new policies on mountaintop-removal coal mining, a federal judge has ruled in a preliminary decision that says EPA may have exceeded its legal authority."

"Arch Coal Inc. could have cut the stream damage from its proposed Spruce Mine in half without significantly increasing coal-production costs, according to a previously secret engineering report prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

"Experts worry that the world is facing a looming food crisis, one that we are currently not well prepared to deal with."

"The Copper Mountain mine is one of a growing number of old, shuttered mines around the world that are being revisited, refurbished and reopened by companies hoping to cash in on the current surge in prices for copper, gold, nickel and a host of other metals."

"Federal regulators on Thursday vetoed Arch Coal Inc.'s proposal for the largest mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history, saying the company had refused to adopt alternative mining plans that would do less environmental damage."

"A Russian company that took control of uranium mines in Wyoming is barred from exporting produced material and executives at U.S.-based subsidiaries will remain in charge, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report."

"Members are linked by the spiritual connections between their local desert landscapes and the parched sacred grounds that have nurtured some of the world's great religions."

The Obama administration's efforts to toughen mine safety enforcement, following the Upper Big Branch disaster in April that killed 29, are encountering the same old evade-and-delay resistance from the mining industry. Those are the tactics that appear to have led to the disaster in the first place.