Northwest (OR WA)

"Rising water temperatures in the Columbia River Basin are raising questions about whether fishery managers must take new steps to save the imperiled fish."

"Standing water lies beneath the home Sonny Curley shares with his parents and three children on the Quinault reservation a few steps from the Pacific Ocean in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. The back deck is rotting, and black mold speckles the walls inside, leaving the 46-year-old fisherman feeling drained if he spends too much time in the house."

"The industry-backed measure to protect fossil gas looks to have received enough signatures to appear on the ballot in November."

"An Oregon appeals court on Wednesday overturned a trial victory by Monsanto owner Bayer AG in a decision that adds to an ongoing debate over the company’s efforts to create a nationwide legal and legislative shield from lawsuits alleging Roundup weed killer causes cancer."

"Aging structures dubbed 'deadbeat dams' choke off habitat and threaten human life in some instances. Native nations are at the forefront of the effort to address these lingering dams".

"Over the past 80 years, one of the most resilient and hearty owls has practically engulfed a continent. Not everyone is pleased."

"The Biden administration said officials historically gave “little, if any, consideration” to impacts on tribal fishing. But some sought deliberately to upend the harvest, according to documents obtained by ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting."

"BNSF Railway must pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state, a federal judge ordered Monday after finding that the company intentionally trespassed when it repeatedly ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the tribe’s reservation."

"After a decades-long struggle, a Native American tribe won the right to resume its hunting traditions off Washington state's coast when federal regulators granted a waiver on Thursday allowing the Makah people to hunt up to 25 gray whales over a decade."

"Oregon authorities have expanded shellfish harvesting closures along the state’s entire coastline to include razor clams and bay clams, as already high levels of toxins that have contributed to a shellfish poisoning outbreak continue to rise."