Natural Resources

"Salty soil in California’s Central Valley spurs sacrifice zones, solutions and, in some cases, solar panels."

"A mining company’s debt-cutting plan will leave taxpayers facing a bigger bill for cleaning up nearly two dozen hazardous sites primarily in the central U.S., including a swath of northeast Oklahoma that once produced lead ore for bullets in both World Wars."

"Watermen fear creating Mallows Bay national marine sanctuary could hurt their livelihood, despite assurances".

"Over the past decade, farmers in the Great Southern Plains have suffered the worst drought conditions since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. They've battled heat, dust storms and in recent weeks, fires that devoured more than 900,000 acres and killed thousands of cattle. These extreme conditions are being fueled by climate change. But a new report from an environmental advocacy group says they're also being driven by federal crop insurance policy that encourages farmers to continue planting crops on compromised land, year after year."

"Powerful Republican congressmen and governors are pressing President Donald Trump to take an unprecedented step: Reverse his predecessor’s creation of several national monuments under a law that dates back to Theodore Roosevelt. No president has ever attempted such a reversal, and legal experts doubt it could succeed."

"The Interior Department would see a 12 percent cut to its overall budget in fiscal 2018 under President Trump's proposal unveiled today."

"President Trump's proposed budget for Fiscal 2018 was roundly criticized Thursday by the nation's environmental and conservation community, which said not only that it would "undermine" and be a "disinvestment" in public lands, but could lead to operational reductions across the National Park System. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, however, said it represents a "savings" for taxpayers."

"State safety inspectors wouldn’t inspect West Virginia’s coal mines anymore. They would conduct 'compliance visits and education.'"