Energy and Environment

Bears Ears National Monument.

In new collaborations, tribes become stewards of parks and monuments

BY: - September 22, 2023

In a rural area of Michigan’s Thumb region, a small state park preserves a collection of sandstone carvings that date back many hundreds of years. One of the carvings, a figure with a bow and arrow, symbolizes ancestors shooting their knowledge ahead seven generations. Some might say that arrow landed in 2019. That year, descendants […]

Lake Mead.

Feds’ cash stream supports Colorado River conservation — but the money will dry up

BY: - September 20, 2023

Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the West are grappling with drought that’s worsening because of climate change. Despite a megadrought, states in the West have been able to avoid drastic cuts to their allocations of Colorado River water this year not only because of surprising storms but also thanks to generous financial incentives from […]

Cars on a road.

It may have just gotten harder to protect minority communities from pollution

BY: - August 29, 2023

In recent years, some states have invested in air quality monitoring, applied extra scrutiny to permitting decisions and steered cleanup funding to minority communities that have borne the brunt of pollution for decades. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down race-conscious college admissions policies, state lawmakers are facing a […]

Firefighters in Washington state.

Towns could save themselves from wildfire — if they knew about this money

BY: - August 18, 2023

PACKWOOD, Wash. — Last year, Don Pratt fled from his home as a wildfire swept down the mountainside here in Washington’s Cascade Range. “Heading out, I thought it was the last time I was going to see the house,” he said. As residents evacuated and smoke engulfed the small mountain community, fire crews with bulldozers […]

Eleven of the 16 youth plaintiffs in the Held v. Montana case pose for a photo after Day 5 of the trial on Friday, June 16, 2023. Top row (left to right): Lander Busse, Badge Busse, Grace, Rikki Held, Olivia. Bottom row (left to right): Kian, Mica, Claire, Eva, Taleah, Sariel.

Judge sides with youth in Montana climate change trial, finds two laws unconstitutional

BY: - August 14, 2023

This story first appeared in the Daily Montanan. The State of Montana’s failure to consider greenhouse gas emissions from energy and mining projects violates the state constitution because it does not protect Montanans’ right to a clean and healthful environment and the state’s natural resources from unreasonable depletion, a judge ruled Monday in a victory […]

A geothermal plant in Nevada.

Tech breakthrough could boost states’ use of geothermal power

BY: - August 4, 2023

Lawmakers in some states have been laying the groundwork to add geothermal power to the electrical grid and pump underground heat into buildings. Now, a technological breakthrough could dramatically expand those ambitions — and perhaps unleash a new wave of policies to tap into geothermal sources. Last month, a company announced the successful demonstration in the West of […]

A man near a housing development in Colorado.

The ‘future of housing’ has arrived in all-electric Colorado developments

BY: - August 3, 2023

This story first appeared in Colorado Newsline, part of the States Newsroom network. Grand Junction homebuilder Darin Carei decided to forgo a natural gas hookup to his Brookfield South Residential subdivision after learning the cost to bring in gas lines would be equal to installing solar panels on each of the houses that overlook the […]

Bumper-to-bumper traffic.

New law pushes Washington cities and counties to plan for climate change

BY: - July 25, 2023

Planning for severe storms, flooding, wildfires and poor air quality will soon be required for Washington cities and counties. A new law passed by the legislature this year requires local governments to consider climate change in their 20-year comprehensive plans beginning in 2025. The Department of Commerce released early guidance last month for how to […]

A wind turbine off the coast of Rhode Island.

Budding US offshore wind industry facing rough seas

BY: - July 14, 2023

BOSTON — Just as the U.S. is plunging into the deep end of offshore wind energy development, the nascent domestic industry is facing major supply chain problems, surging costs, permitting delays and other headwinds that could affect the aggressive installation timelines state and federal governments have targeted. Those obstacles, chiefly triggered by the pandemic, inflation […]

Offshore oil rig in Alaska.

In blue California, lawmakers struggle to drop fossil fuels from state pensions

BY: - July 12, 2023

California could soon divest its public pensions from fossil fuel companies, as the state legislature looks to force the nation’s largest non-federal retirement funds to sell off nearly $15 billion in assets. The Democratic effort is part of a growing international movement by government, religious, nonprofit and academic institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies. […]

Oil rig in the West on federal land.

Western states’ budgets, industries rely on federal lands. So does wildlife.

BY: - July 11, 2023

Across the West, a vast swath of federal land has been staked out by oil and gas drillers, miners, cattle grazers, loggers, renewable energy developers and outdoor recreationists. Soon, the federal agency that oversees those lands will allow them to be leased for a new purpose: conservation. Earlier this year, the Bureau of Land Management […]

A smokestack in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Alaska and 9 other states threaten to sue EPA over wood-burning stove standards

BY: - July 6, 2023

Alaska and nine other states have notified the Environmental Protection Agency they intend to sue if new standards for certification of wood-burning stoves are not issued soon. The EPA last issued standards for wood-burning stoves in 2015, and new standards are due at least every eight years, said the notice of intent to sue, which […]