More white-tailed deer are dying in the Northwest of viruses that often cause more die-offs after hot summers and droughts. Continue Reading Northwest Deer Dying Of Drought-Related Viral DiseaseRead More
The number of ferruginous hawks in Washington continues to decline. The birds face multiple threats, including wildfires, urban sprawl and loss of prey. Continue Reading Ferruginous Hawks In Washington Deemed EndangeredRead More
Fire officials hope to avoid another Labor Day weekend marked by extreme fires. Continue Reading Fire Officials Ask You Not To Make A ‘Tougher Season’ Tougher This Labor Day WeekendRead More
Wildlife advocates sued Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer after he deputized hound handlers to track and kill cougars. Continue Reading Judge Rules Klickitat County Sheriff’s ‘Dangerous Wildlife Policy’ Read More
As wildfires have burned throughout the Northwest this summer, some forest stands have fared better than others. Managers say that’s thanks, in part, to thinning and prescribed burns, which have made the stands more resilient in the face of wildfire. Read More
Whoosh Innovations said its fish passage system could transport salmon quickly over the Snake River dams – and generate $60 million over 10 years by diverting water from fish ladders to hydropower turbines. Continue Reading Could A New Fish Passage Read More
Sea otters are undeniably cute, but cuteness only goes so far when major economic interests are at stake. That's an inference you can make from the emergence of organized pushback to the possible reintroduction of sea otters along the Oregon Coast. Read More
Scientists have discovered they can track fire lines and can quickly draw attention to spot fires using satellites. Continue Reading How The View From Space Is Helping Fight Wildfires On The GroundRead More
Northern leopard frogs are rapidly disappearing in the Northwest. Biologists hope this effort will help the population in Washington. Continue Reading Hopping Into The Wild: Endangered Frog Release Could Help Read More
Funding to help fix culverts could open up cold water habitat to Northwest salmon. Continue Reading U.S. Senate Infrastructure Package Could ‘Significantly Improve’ Salmon HabitatRead More
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attend a virtual wildfire briefing with seven governors. CREDIT: Https://Www.Youtube.Com/Watch?V=PzvDeLvcQ7U The federal government is asking how it can help better fight wildfires burning across the West. President Joe Biden on Friday met with seven western governors to hear their concerns. Wildfires burning across the Read More
This summer’s heat wave led to some unhealthy hot water for salmon. But, fish managers said it hasn’t been as devastating for salmon runs as the warm water temperatures were in 2015. Continue Reading Fish Read More
If you’ve ever backpacked in the Northwest’s mountaintops, you’ve likely spent some time among whitebark pines. These important trees are bringing together researchers across the West, who want to save them from a fatal fungus. Read More
There are thread-like worms on Mount Rainier that reserachers are looking at live at 32 degrees or they die... called ice worms. Continue Reading The Mysterious Return Of Glacier Ice Worms On Mount RainierRead More
More manatees have died already this year than in any other year in Florida's recorded history, primarily from starvation due to the loss of seagrass beds, state officials said. Continue Reading Florida Breaks Annual Manatee Death Record In Read More
Indiscrete comments made by an ExxonMobil lobbyist to undercover activists may figure prominently in upcoming congressional hearings about the role of oil companies in the battle against climate change. Continue Reading Read More
Last year, Wyoming and Montana — another major coal state — asked the Supreme Court to override a decision by Washington state to deny a permit to build a coal export dock on the Columbia River. The interstate lawsuit followed years of unsuccessful attempts by the dock’s developer, Utah-based Lighthouse Resources, to contest the permit denial in federal court. Read More
The state’s new fuel standards will slowly lower the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gasses coming out of vehicle tailpipes through 2035. That means cleaner technologies biodiesel or renewable natural gas will get a boost over gasoline and diesel. Read More
Recycling works, but it's not magic. As America continues to lead the world in per capita waste production, it's becoming more and more clear that everybody – manufacturers and consumers — "over-believes" in recycling. Continue Read More
Lowering the amount of carbon that comes out of your tailpipe has become a quest for some Washington lawmakers. Now, new standards that would promote biofuels over gasoline are closer to becoming law than ever before. Read More
Conservation groups and scientists are challenging a federal decision to build a road through the Mount St. Helens blast zone, saying it would damage more than two dozen decades worth of irreplaceable research plots. Continue Read More
Military cleanups, federal Superfund sites, firefighter training facilities — all are among reasons cited by Chemical Waste Management, or CWM, to expand its hazardous waste operation outside the Columbia River town of Arlington. Continue Reading Read More
Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to preserve protections for 3.4 million acres of northern spotted owl habitat from the US-Canada border to northern California, the latest salvo in a legal battle over logging in federal old-growth forests that are key nesting grounds for the imperiled species. Read More
Congresswoman Deb Haaland would be not just the first Native American Interior Secretary, but also the first in a presidential cabinet. She faced tough — and, at times, misguided — questioning from Republican lawmakers worried about the president's climate goals. Read More
The U.S. Interior Department is delaying and reviewing the Trump administration’s last-minute roll-back of federal protections for the imperiled northern spotted owl, which called for slashing protections from millions of acres of Northwest forests. Read More
The Washington Department of Ecology defended its denial by saying the refinery, which would convert fracked natural gas into methanol to be shipped to Asia, would emit vast amounts of greenhouse gases. If built, it would be among the top 10 greenhouse gas emitters in the state. Read More
In rainy Oregon, communities tap a network of streams and creeks to supply millions of residents with cold, clean water. The problem is that the land surrounding drinking water streams is, in many cases, owned not by the towns or the residents who drink the water, but by private timber companies that are now logging more intensively than ever, cutting trees on a more rapid Read More
Set aside the pandemic. Ignore the collapse in demand. Forget about the time oil prices went negative. Look at everything else that happened this year, and — Well. Oil still had a pretty terrible year. Continue Reading It Wasn’t Just The Read More
David Bowen has owned his own bar in Cle Elum, been a Kittitas County commissioner and managed groundwater nitrate cleanup in the Yakima Valley. Now, he’ll hold the U.S. Department of Energy accountable for its cleanup at the site using the Tri-Party Agreement. That’s a 1989 document struck between Ecology, the federal Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Read More
Coho salmon returning to freshwater each fall often die, gasping for breath and swimming aimlessly, before they are able to spawn. Scientists now know why. After years of chemical sleuthing, scientists have pinpointed the toxic substance that’s been killing large numbers of coho salmon in Northwest creeks. Read More
The Jan. 6 auction was set before the end of the comment and nominations period. If leases are finalized before Joe Biden takes office, they could be difficult to revoke. Continue Reading Trump Administration Rushes To Read More
The groups, often at the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to dams and hydropower, say climate change has created a need to hear each other out. Even when it comes to tough issues. Continue Reading Read More
The fires in Washington are largely under control now, but the state has been experiencing dangerous, even deadly, wildfires for years, something Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee says are only made worse by climate change. Continue Reading Gov. Read More
This latest rollback proposal, issued Tuesday, comes from the Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region. It would end a 25-year-old provision that prevents logging of trees that exceed 21 inches in diameter in six national forests across Eastern Oregon and Washington. Read More
COVID-19 is changing how the U.S. disposes of waste. It is also threatening hard-fought victories that restricted or eliminated single-use disposable items, especially plastic, in cities and towns across the nation. Continue Reading COVID-19 Read More
Supporters say the measure, known as the Great American Outdoors Act, would be the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century. Continue Reading ‘Most Significant Conservation Read More
Firefighters are wrapping up after three days at this season’s first big wildfire in eastern Washington. As crews began heading home, the Saddle Mountain Fire had burned about 10,000 as of Wednesday, July 8, in steep terrain on part of the Saddle Mountain Wildlife Refuge. Read More
Historically, the Yakama Nation Tribal School was a school “of last resort,” says principal Adam Strom, where students came after they could no longer attend other area schools. That’s changing. He says courses like this one in environmental science and natural resources are a big reason why. Read More
The Great American Outdoors Act would permanently allocate $900 million to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which finally lapsed almost two years ago. Continue Reading U.S. Senate Passes Big Funding Boost To Read More
Deforestation, climate change and the disturbances it can exacerbate – like wildfires, extreme droughts and insect outbreaks – are decimating old growth forests across the globe. That means forests worldwide are filling in with younger and shorter trees, according to a new study. Read More
The Trump administration is rushing to finalize some of its biggest environmental rollbacks ahead of November's election. Some affected groups say they're too distracted by the pandemic to engage. Continue Reading Federal Read More
Energy demand plummeted because of the pandemic shutdown. A big question is whether new habits like telecommuting and flying less will endure, and mean lower oil consumption in the future. Continue Reading Our Pandemic Habits Cut Carbon Read More
The Trump administration on Monday moved to block a Washington state law that imposed safety restrictions on oil shipments by rail following a string of explosive accidents. Continue Reading Trump Administration Says Washington State Read More
American and Canadian marine scientists -- and one talented dog -- are seizing an unexpected opportunity presented by the coronavirus pandemic. They are trying to establish whether Pacifc Northwest whales benefit from the current drop in boat traffic and underwater noise. Read More
State agencies and advocates have been alarmed by federal environmental policy rollbacks that continue unabated by the global coronavirus pandemic. Continue Reading Federal Environmental Policies During Pandemic Raise Concerns Read More
Coal use has plummeted in part because it's more expensive than natural gas or renewable energy. Mines are shutting down, and some power plants may run out of places to stockpile coal. Continue Reading Pandemic Shutdown Is Speeding Up The Collapse Of Read More
Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling in deeper and deeper waters, where payoffs can be huge but risks are greater than ever. Continue Read More
Will the current lull in activity make a difference in the air we breathe or the future of climate change? Continue Reading As Many People Stay Home, Will The Environment Improve — At Least Temporarily?Read More
The state Dept. of Ecology will bring the student crews back next summer. But the agency will will hire more adult crews, ages 18 and up, to pick up litter. There won’t be as many openings as with youth workers because the adults will work longer than three weeks. Read More
For the second year in a row, Democrats’ signature bill for instituting a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was stymied by a Republican walkout. Now, the focus falls on Gov. Kate Brown. Continue Read More
