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Nature and Environment

Visitors take in Colorado River views at Horseshoe Bend outside Page, Arizona.

Infrastructure bill includes billions of dollars for Western water projects

Nov 10, 2021 $300 million will help implement drought contingency plans in the Colorado River Basin.
The Grand Canyon.

US agency decides against flooding Grand Canyon amid drought

Nov 4, 2021 Agency officials said opening the bypass tubes at the Glen Canyon Dam would have reduced the elevation of Lake Powell at a time when it's at historic lows.
Downtown Tucson, Oct. 23, 2019.

Pima County considers permit for company that will emit trace amounts of cancerous gas

Nov 3, 2021 The company previously violated air quality laws in Georgia
The Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness west of Safford.

Ranch near Aravaipa Creek now in public hands

Nov 2, 2021 Trust for Public Land says move will protect area once eyed for weapons testing.
The proposed site of the Rosemont Copper mining project is in the Santa Rita Mountains in Southern Arizona.

State OK's open-pit mine site's reclamation plan near Tucson

Oct 31, 2021 Opponents argued that Hudbay Minerals Inc. didn’t address major issues.
File image of monsoon rain in Saguaro National Park.

Interior Department releases Indian Youth Service Corps Program draft guidelines

Oct 29, 2021 The department said the Indigenous youth corps will work on conservation projects in public, tribal and Hawaiian lands.
A Mexican wolf.

US proposes changes to Mexican gray wolf management

Oct 28, 2021 Officials argue removing population limits and setting goals for genetic diversity will help the endangered species.
The Colorado River Basin continues to be sapped dry by increasing temperatures and diminished precipitation.

Drought to continue, say weather experts

Oct 26, 2021 The 2021 monsoon did little to help.
The late-afternoon sun on Lake Powell, April 2018.

Drought projections show steadily dropping reservoirs

Oct 23, 2021 New measurements for drought conditions in the West are delivering a grim long-term forecast in the Colorado River basin.
Attorneys in Apache Stronghold v USA arguing their cases in front of U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit October 22, 2021.

Oak Flat appeal heard in U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

Oct 22, 2021 Apache Stronghold's attorneys predict the court will rule on the case sometime next year. If favorable, it could pause the proposed mining project at the Apache sacred site.
Outside the Tucson Water building in downtown Tucson.

$1.7M in Air Force funds go to Central Tucson PFAS project

Oct 21, 2021 Efforts to address the water contaminates via the project began in 2020.
County officials and media tour a biogas refining plant at the Tres Rios Water Reclamation Facility, Oct. 21, 2021. The newly-dedicated plant will supply renewable natural gas, or RNG, to Southwest Gas, reducing the utility's demand for fossil-fuel based gas.

Biogas plant makes fuel, money for Pima County

Oct 21, 2021 Facility purifies waste methane for commercial use.
Lake Mead outside Las Vegas, Nevada, serves as the Colorado River's largest reservoir and a key water source for Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico.

Forecasters expect drier, warmer winter in Southwest

Oct 21, 2021 Drought conditions are expected to continue or worsen across Arizona over the coming months.
The so-called bathtub ring in Lake Mead.

Vice president visits Lake Mead

Oct 18, 2021 Vice President Kamala Harris surveyed drought conditions and made a case for the Biden Administration’s infrastructure plans.
Arizona Game and Fish focuses on efforts to study and save the endangered humpback chub, a small fish that lives in the Little Colorado River in the Grand Canyon region.

U.S. formally removes Colorado River fish's endangered status

Oct 18, 2021 The humpback chub is one of about a dozen that are native to the Colorado River system and four that are currently endangered.
Wendsler Nosie Sr. at Southside Presbyterian Church October 13, 2021, during Apache Stronghold's "spiritual convoy" to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concerning their motion for Temporary Restraining order and preliminary injunction at Oak Flat.

Ahead of hearing on Oak Flat, a 'spiritual convoy' travels to court

Oct 15, 2021 The nonprofit Apache Stronghold is traveling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California to try and block copper mining at the Apache sacred site.

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