Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)

"Phil Anschutz -- who has made money out of everything from a well explosion to a failing railroad -- is looking to wager $9 billion on the fierce winds of Wyoming."

After years of disagreement, planners from California and Nevada seem to have finally agreed on a plan that will allow development while protecting Lake Tahoe's crystalline waters.

"BILLINGS, Mont. -- Opponents of a railroad that would open Montana's coal fields to new mining have asked federal officials to halt their review of the proposal, alleging it would be much larger than disclosed with impacts stretching to the West Coast."

"Utahns have choice words for the ugly, unhealthy clouds that periodically shroud its valleys in winter -- like the one we can expect to endure through Thursday."

"SEATTLE — As regulators in the region weigh the potential impacts of trains full of coal moving along the Columbia River and the shores of Puget Sound, trainloads of oil are quietly on the move."

"Foresters are on the watch for a potential invasion of an insect that has decimated millions of acres of forest across the West and in Canada, with continued evidence showing the mountain pine bark beetle is on the march into Nevada and the Sierra."

"BILLINGS, Mont. -- Eastern Montana residents will weigh in this week on a proposed 83-mile coal railroad with the potential to usher in a dramatic expansion of mining in the state and increase exports of the fuel to Asia."

"SALT LAKE CITY -- The U.S. Department of the Interior scaled back a Bush administration plan Friday to lease Western range lands for development of oil shale and tar sands, the unconventional sources of oil found in pockets of the Rocky Mountains."

"LONGMONT, Colo. — Longmont's city charter will now ban fracking."