Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

"Building more regional infrastructure to distribute electricity in the West could help states more affordably meet their clean energy goals, a new study found. And they could turn hefty profits selling power out of state."

"After repeated violations, the state of New Mexico has stepped in — but problems are a reminder that safe water is not available to all Americans".

"In a small Texas city, officials say land previously treated with a prescribed burn stopped the Windy Deuce Fire from entering neighborhoods. But the practice of intentionally burning excess vegetation has faced opposition from some private landowners."

"A new memo from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is raising concern about the infrastructure at the Glen Canyon Dam and its ability to deliver water downstream should levels at Lake Powell continue to decline."

"Uncertainty about the health effects of abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation risks drawing out for decades the clean up of radioactive waste piles the EPA designated as Superfund sites in March."

"The largest uranium producer in the United States is ramping up work just south of Grand Canyon National Park on a long-contested project that largely has sat dormant since the 1980s."

"An appeals court with a famously conservative bent narrowly rejected the Biden administration’s request to reconsider its August ruling that stripped the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of authority to license private nuclear waste storage facilities not located at a reactor site."

"Sarah Stogner plucked a piece of cement off a rusted steel pipe jutting from the ground on a West Texas ranch. The chunk, part of the plug for a long-dormant oil well, crumbled in her hand."