Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)

"Battle lines over a proposed Bears Ears monument are blurred, dividing tribes and towns."

"Energy companies in Colorado are spending millions of dollars to derail a push by environmentalists to put measures on November's ballot that would stifle oil and gas drilling in the state, according to a Reuters review of campaign finance records.

Environmental groups are now gathering signatures for two statewide initiatives that would transfer regulatory control of oil and gas development to local governments and create more stringent setback requirements to keep oil and gas activities away from occupied structures.

"SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- For a long time, the lake that lends its name to this city was taken for granted by most here and treated as a sewer by some of the nation's biggest polluters."

"Conservationists are crying foul over U.S. land managers' initial conclusion that there are no environmental concerns with an off-road race that will cross 650 miles of Nevada desert and cut through a new national monument."

"Can one man’s pie-in-the-sky idea save one the West’s most iconic and underloved rivers?"

"The Oakland City Council voted unanimously Monday to block the handling and storage of coal in Oakland, effectively halting a developer’s controversial plan to ship coal from the port."

"New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Colorado in the nation’s highest court alleging the state should be held responsible for the Gold King Mine spill and its handling of the contaminants that have leached from surrounding mines for decades."

"Firefighters across Arizona and New Mexico battled 31 wildfires on Wednesday, their efforts complicated by a relentless heat wave and bone-dry conditions. And in the Angeles National Forest, on the northern edge of Los Angeles, two fires kept more than 300 families from their homes as the fires threatened to merge into one."

"GILLETTE, Wyo. — After Kullin Orcutt lost his job at the Peabody coal mine this spring, he knew what he needed to do: join the exodus. “Leave Gillette, leave the state,” he said."

Dust and emissions from an Idaho smelter left a legacy of lead poisoning among a generation of children near what is now a Superfund site.