"BUTTE — The number 5,410 has special meaning to Butte. It’s the critical water level – 5,410 feet above sea level – of the Berkeley Pit. The water in the pit must be kept below that elevation or risk contaminating Silver Bow Creek."

"YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – If you've hiked in the Northern Rockies above 9,000 feet, you've hiked among a whitebark pine forest."

"Wyoming wolves are back under federal projection after a ruling Tuesday by a federal judge in Washington, D.C."

"An oil boom in Wyoming is having a filthy side effect. A string of accidents, ranging in geography from a remote gulley in the Powder River Basin to a refinery in downtown Cheyenne, already has made this year the state's worst for oil spills since at least 2009, state records show."

"Described as a historic package of Northern Nevada lands bills — six introduced by Congressman Mark Amodei and one by Rep. Steven Horsford — will be up for final passage in the House as a bipartisan suspension bill on Monday, Sept. 15."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved an aquifer exemption for a coal gasification pilot project in Campbell County [Wyoming] this week, drawing criticism from landowners worried that the facility could contaminate a potential source of drinking water."

"Climate change could kill up to 90 percent of the forests covering the Rocky Mountains, warned  the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists today in a new study based in part on projections made by the U.S. Forest Service."

"DENVER — Seeking to head off a costly election-year fight over oil and gas drilling that could threaten vulnerable Colorado Democrats, Gov. John W. Hickenlooper said Monday that he had reached a deal to keep two antifracking measures off November’s ballots."