Massive environmental destruction promised by the Resolution Copper Mining project at Oak Flat campground near Superior in theory could be halted by findings from an upcoming study. The federal process of producing an environmental impact statement on the project can’t stop the planned mine directly, anti-mining activists admit. But depending…
A new climatology report shows that the much-heralded El Niño weather pattern this year already is winding down, having failed to soak Arizona with snow and rain. In January, the Pacific Ocean-driven weather phenomenon spurred the state’s mini-snowpocalypse in January with flurries north and south and lots of rain in metro…
Environmental victories can be few and far between in Arizona, which is why a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to reject a proposal to widen roads and build infrastructure on a parcel of USFS land near the Grand Canyon has conservation groups, Native American tribes, and environmentalists across the…
Environmentalists are celebrating an order from a federal court that the state of Arizona must comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s pollution reduction plan for coal-fired power plants in the state. At the center of the case is the cloud of haze that often hangs over the Grand Canyon and…
Andy Tobin says he’s “nervous” and “concerned” about a conflict of interest that will prevent him from voting on many major decisions as the newest Arizona Corporation Commission member. Tobin’s a Republican ex-lawmaker who served as Speaker of the House and, for a short time, director of the now-vanished state…
With mere days left for the public to comment on whether Arizona should renew air-quality permits for three uranium mines near the Grand Canyon, multiple tests found that the amount of uranium dust in soil near one of the mines is four times higher than background levels. Energy Fuels Incorporated,…
Scientists have warned for years that the continued burning of fossil fuels may send Earth’s ice caps into a near-total meltdown someday, submerging many of the world’s greatest cities. A bombshell new study in the journal Science Advances predicted that if people keep adding carbon to the atmosphere at the…
Granite Mountain Hotshot Superintendent Eric Marsh did not make or receive cell phone calls in the three hours leading up to the burn-over that claimed his life along with 18 other members of his crew during the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, 2013, his wife Amanda Marsh tells New…
Key evidence that could explain why the Granite Mountain Hotshots moved from a safe location into a treacherous box canyon where 19 men died on June 30, 2013, was in the Office of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s possession but was not provided to a contracted state investigation into the…
Abengoa, the Spanish company that built the expansive $2 billion concentrated solar plant near Gila Bend, is broke and headed toward a possible bankruptcy filing. It’s the latest solar scandal for the Obama administration, which picked Abengoa for billions in lucrative loan guarantees. This week, Abengoa filed in Spain for…
A new independent study from the economic consulting firm, BBC Research and Consulting, finds that if Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva’s Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument bill passes, it will bring in $51 million annually to the economy of Northern Arizona. The figure comes from the combined economic value of…
Arizona is now one of five states suing the Environmental Protection Agency over an updated provision within the Clean Air Act. While Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich calls the change “unreasonable” and “nearly impossible for Arizona to attain,” environmental groups are applauding the effort, and say the new rule will…
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has rejected a plea from the Navajo Nation for assistance in dealing with the fallout of August 5 Gold King Mine spill that sent more than three million gallons of toxic wastewater downstream into critical Navajo waterways. In a letter containing almost no details or…
An Arizona nonprofit dedicated to protecting a herd of horses that runs free along the Salt River has dropped a lawsuit that aimed to block the U.S. Forest Service from rounding up and auctioning off the animals. Simone Netherlands, president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, said it…
It takes a saguaro cactus about 75 years to achieve its iconic, armed stature. It takes a couple burly poachers about 30 minutes to steal it. “They just wrap it in carpet to protect themselves from the spines, then they dig up its roots and heft it into a truck,”…
About 100 members of the Phoenix Latino community, most of them high school students, descended on the Arizona capital as part of a national day of climate action. They came armed with a simple message for Arizona’s elected officials: climate change is real, it’s killing our community, and you need to…
On Wednesday, Dotty the wild mare was running footloose and fancy free along the Salt River. Thursday, a kayaker found her dead, floating with the current. The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, which has been tracking the herd she belongs to for the past 17 years, declared the death…
Phoenix city officials ordered an open-air mulching facility to shut down this week after a months-long tussle with nearby residents and business owners, who complained the odor and particulates emanating from the facility were making them sick. In a letter to Green Earth Recycling, which set up on the corner…
A Tempe City Council woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a new Arizona law blocking local governments from banning the use of plastic shopping bags. Lauren Kuby, with help from the Arizona Center for Law in the Public interest, argues that Senate Bill 1241 violates a provision of the state’s…
On last night’s episode of the Late Show, host Stephen Colbert ripped into Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar for boycotting Pope Francis’ address to a joint session of Congress. “As a Catholic, I’m a total Francis fan-boy, but not everyone likes what he’s doing,” Colbert told the audience. “Anger at the…
The federal government is making shooting up the desert harder and harder to do. The latest loss to Arizona target shooters is a portion of the Sonoran Desert National Monument just southwest of metro Phoenix. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, acting on a court order from March, this week…
A new tree-ring study from the University of Arizona shows that snow levels in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, the central-California mountain range that supplies much of that state’s fresh water, haven’t been this low for 500 years. The study’s lead author, Valerie Trouet, tells Californians to brace for more record…
