Natural Resources

A new report from the USGS looks at the potential for uranium mining in the West -- inlcuding one site in the Grand Canyon watershed area.

"Oil and gas drillers haven't been pushed off federal lands by the Obama administration, an environmental group contends, so much as they have jumped at other opportunities."

"Leaders from Montana and British Columbia signed an agreement Thursday banning mining and drilling in a valley along the U.S.-Canadian border north of Glacier National Park."

"Rep. Dean Heller says he is worried about an Interior Department memo that calls for carving two national monuments out of parts of central and Northern Nevada to protect American Indian cultural sites and habitat for sensitive wildlife."

"Mining and drilling for oil, gas and coal will be banned in the Canadian portion of the Flathead River Basin, under a new partnership with the state of Montana announced Tuesday in British Columbia's Speech from the Throne, an annual address that identifies the Province's legislative priorities for the coming year."

"The tourism industry could fund payments for ecosystem services to underwrite and insure its investments. And by harnessing private-sector investment, billions of dollars worth of vulnerable yet valuable marine and coastal ecosystems could avoid Cancun’s fate, says a growing group of governmental organizations, environmental groups and non-governmental organizations."

"Last year, reactive nitrogen was identified as one of nine key global pollution threats... ."