Environment
Environment
![Adult fall Chinook salmon in the Priest Rapids Hatchery. CREDIT: PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/080314salmon_qslzfg-500x500.jpg)
Federal 9th Circuit Court Orders More Action To Protect Salmon And Steelhead In Columbia Basin
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency must do more to protect Columbia basin salmon and steelhead from dangerously warm river temperatures.
![Grand Coulee Dam File Photo - CREDIT Bureau of Reclamation](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Grand-Coulee-Dam-File-Photo-CREDIT-Bureau-of-Reclamation-500x500.jpg)
U.S. House And Senate Pass Bills To Compensate Spokane Tribe For Losses From Grand Coulee Dam
The U.S. House voted on Monday to pay compensation to the tribe for its losses when Grand Coulee Dam was built in the 1930s and 1940s.
![Mica Dam in British Columbia is one of three Canadian projects built under the terms of the 1964 Columbia River Treaty. CREDIT: DAR56 - TINYURL.COM/YC4K2DTJ](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/mica_dam-500x500.jpg)
Columbia River Treaty Renegotiation Brings Out Crowd And Contention In Tri-Cities
The Columbia River Treaty is costing U.S. ratepayers and public utility districts too much. That was the broad sentiment at a sometimes-tense town hall Monday about ongoing treaty negotiations. At the Richland meeting Monday night, negotiating officials laid out the complicated back-and-forth between the U.S. and Canada.
![Demonstrators take part in a protest on climate emergency outside the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid on Friday. CREDIT: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1188316280-d2976f4a1564edbeac82e0eb27afac11e6eb3f1e-500x500.jpg)
U.N. Climate Summit Goes To Extra Time, But Ends With Major Questions Unresolved
The talks showed deep divisions, as small countries highly vulnerable to rising seas and powerful storms were at odds with wealthy, high-emitting countries like the United States.
![Towns living among forests have taken notice after recent deadly wildfires in Northern California, particularly after Paradise. But for the rural community of Foots Creek in Southern Oregon, wildfire has long been on their radar. CREDIT: April Ehrlich/JPR News](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/LogHouse_E_0-1-500x500.jpg)
Across The West, Communities And Landowners Prepare For Their Own Paradise Wildfire Scenario
It’s been a little over a year since the Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise, which impacted thousands of lives in Northern California. The disaster also alarmed people across the West, who are now asking themselves: Could a fire like that happen here?
![A de Havilland Beaver floatplane converted to electric battery-powered propulsion prepares to land on the Fraser River in Richmond, British Columbia. CREDIT: Tom Banse/N3](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/de-Havilland-Beaver-floatplane-battery-power-CREDIT-Tom-Banse-N3-500x500.jpg)
It Flew! All-Electric Seaplane Completes Milestone First Flight Near Vancouver, British Columbia
A fully electric seaplane has made its first flight over the mouth of the Fraser River near Vancouver. The maiden flight represents a milestone in the long process of reducing the aviation industry’s emissions, noise and costs by electrifying short-to-medium distance commercial flying.
![Environmental activists rally outside of New York Supreme Court in October in Manhattan, the first day of the trial accusing ExxonMobil of misleading shareholders about its climate change accounting. CREDIT: Drew Angerer/Getty Images](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Environmental-activists-Exxon-knew-CREDIT-Drew-Angerer-Getty-Images-500x500.jpg)
Judge Rules In Favor Of Exxon In Climate Change Fraud Case
In a three-week trial, New York state prosecutors argued that the oil company had downplayed the financial risks it faces from possible climate regulation. Attorney General Letitia James said doing so made Exxon’s assets appear more secure than they really were, which in turn affected its share price and defrauded investors.
![Frank Miles, a cod fisherman, is trying to figure out what to do now that the federal cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska is closing for the 2020 season. CREDIT: Kavitha George/KMXT](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Frank-Miles-cod-fisherman-Gulf-of-Alaska-CREDIT-Kavitha-George-KMXT-500x500.jpg)
Alaska Cod Fishery Closes And Industry Braces For Ripple Effect
In an unprecedented response to historically low numbers of Pacific cod, the federal cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska is closing for the 2020 season. The decision, announced Friday, Dec. 6, came as little surprise, but it’s the first time the fishery has closed due to concerns over low stock.
![A recently dead pheasantshell mussel is rotting in its shell. Snails, crawfish and other river inhabitants will eat the flesh. "Nothing goes to waste," says Virginia biologist Tim Lane. CREDIT: Nathan Rott/NPR](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dsc02498-46cbc7cfb349d677582da52e8c24d44f29d97692-500x500.jpg)
Nature’s ‘Brita Filter’ Is Dying And Nobody Knows Why
A mysterious die-off of freshwater mussels has scientists scrambling to find a cause. Freshwater mussels clean water and provide habitat to countless other species.
![Seen in August 2019, the remains of a home destroyed in Northern California's 2018 Camp Fire. Rich Pedroncelli/AP](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/ap_19269687344325_wide-5714899c006a485228b6c259667ef1bf2f6ef95f-500x500.jpg)
PG&E Announces $13.5 Billion Settlement Of Claims Linked To California Wildfires
The utility hopes the settlement will help it emerge from bankruptcy proceedings by the end of the year. When it declared bankruptcy in January, the company faced potential liabilities of $30 billion.
![File photo. Wildlife officials expect returns of salmon in Washington state will be low this year. CREDIT: U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/chinook_salmon-500x500.jpg)
Northwest Dam Managers To Increase Columbia River Flows To Help Chum Salmon
For the increased flows to occur, water will be released more than 850 river-miles northeast of Bonneville Dam. The water is then captured and released as needed to keep the salmon redds, or nests, underwater.
![Peter Melnik, a fourth-generation dairy farmer, owns Bar-Way Farm, Inc. in Deerfield, Mass. He has an anaerobic digester on his farm that converts food waste into renewable energy. CREDIT: Allison Aubrey/NPR](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/img_2485_custom-9b9f4b90200643d5a02ef95b4d08231891bd8571-500x500.jpg)
Shockingly Chewable: Farmers Are Using Food Waste To Make Electricity
Dairy farmers in Massachusetts are using food waste to create renewable energy. Each farm produces enough to power about 1,500 homes. This helps prevent the release of methane, a greenhouse gas.