Natural Resources

"In a modest victory for environmentalists, the Obama administration said Monday that it was designating nearly one million acres of Arizona land near the Grand Canyon off limits to new uranium mining claims for two years."

"The Corps is proposing to eliminate the use of its streamlined permit process -- in this case Nationwide Permit 21, or NWP 21 -- for the approval of surface coal mining in Appalachia."

"The National Park Service is proposing the extension of rules for boating on the Colorado River through part of Grand Canyon National Park to the landmark's entire 277-mile river corridor."

"California officials said Wednesday they are trying to avert the federal government's threat to seize six parks that could be closed to help reduce the state's ballooning budget deficit."

Engineering projects hope to save Louisiana's shrinking coastal wetlands by diverting sediment from the Mississippi River -- but a new study says there is not enough mud in the Mississippi to do the job.

Two brothers are busting levees to return the Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge to its primeval condition.

"The Mekong has long flowed freely, supporting one of the world’s great inland fisheries. But China is now building a series of dams on the 2,800-mile river that will restrict its natural flow and threaten the sustenance of tens of millions of Southeast Asians."