News & Updates
Montana Supreme Court affirms landmark youth-led climate decision, upholding constitutional rights to a safe and livable climate
In a historic ruling today, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed 6-1 the decision of the district court in the landmark case, Held v. State of Montana, siding with the 16 youth plaintiffs who had sued the state over its promotion of fossil fuel extraction and its...
Permitting “Dirty Deal” dead: 680 orgs opposed EPRA, Sen. Manchin set for retirement
Outgoing fossil fuel booster Sen. Joe Manchin’s latest effort at passing “permitting reform,” characterized as a “Dirty Deal” because it would grease the wheels for expanded oil and gas drilling on public lands and mandate liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports as called...
EPA finalizes determination of water quality violations in Los Alamos County; PCBs in some areas more than 10,000 times safety limits
On December 9th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final designation decision that stormwater discharges from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Los Alamos County are contributing to violations of water quality standards and that these...
Community, conservation groups successfully defend NM clean air rule from industry challenge
Community and conservation groups successfully defended a “proximity proposal” and other provisions of New Mexico’s ozone precursor rule from an Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico (IPANM) challenge before the New Mexico Court of Appeals. IPANM’s legal...
Feds finalize Canada lynx recovery plan, propose first-ever habitat protections in CO, NM
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized a recovery plan and proposed new critical habitat designations for threatened Canada lynx, including for the first time areas in the southern Rockies. Conservation groups had prevailed...
House passes bill to weaponize tax code against nonprofits
This morning, the federal House of Representatives voted 219-184 to pass H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. The bill, framed as an anti-terrorism bill, would give the president, via the Secretary of the Treasury, the power...
Court rules federal program that kills grizzly bears and other wildlife in Montana violated the law
On Friday, a federal district court in Missoula ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s wildlife-killing program Wildlife Services failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act before killing or removing grizzly bears in Montana. Management...
Statement on Trump election: The West’s lands, waters, and life are resilient. So are we. We are in this together—again.
This morning, we are reminded of Terry Tempest Williams’ haunting declaration: “Finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find.” In the coming months, we will need—more than ever—to create that beauty. For we now find ourselves, once again,...
Missed opportunity for climate in oil and gas plan for Colorado River Valley, Grand Junction field offices
Today, the Bureau of Land Management finalized its resource management plan/final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction field offices, which will determine how 2 million acres of land in western Colorado is...
Conservationists seek to defend basic federal oil and gas fiscal reforms from industry complaint
Today, a coalition of conservation groups filed a formal request to intervene in an industry lawsuit in order to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s oil and gas leasing rule finalized in April. The rule contains decades-overdue fiscal reforms, including changes to...
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