Environment Category Archive

Conservation group sues feds to protect rare Nevada wildflower

A conservation group filed a lawsuit against two federal agencies Tuesday in an effort to protect a rare Nevada wildflower.

Environment Report: County Celebrates Then Sinks Its Climate Plan

San Diego County celebrated meeting 98 percent of its 2020 target to cut greenhouse gas emissions in a kind of climate “mission accomplished” press release last week.

Poll: Majority of Likely Voters Don’t Attribute California Wildfires to ‘Climate Change’

A majority of likely voters across the country do not consider “climate change” the driving factor of catastrophic wildfires in the west, a Rasmussen Reports poll released Thursday showed.

Trump administration proposes allowing new roads in Alaska’s Tongass forest

The Trump administration has proposed reopening the Tongass National Forest to road-building, setting the stage for more logging, mining and development in the heart of North America’s largest temperate rainforest.

Yellow jacket buzzing? Leave it alone if you can, says horticulture expert

Before you get tempted to take a swat at that yellow jacket wasp buzzing around the garden, think twice.

Opponents of Colorado River pipeline project view delay as progress

Regional water conservation groups and a Clark County commissioner welcomed a request by Utah officials Thursday to extend the federal environmental review of a controversial plan to divert billions of gallons of water from the Colorado River to southwest Utah.

City of Henderson Highlights Progress and Successes in 2020 Sustainability Report Card

The City of Henderson has released its 2020 Sustainability Report Card

Will Natural Disasters Force a New American Migration?

Wildfires rage in the West. Hurricanes batter the East. Droughts and floods wreak damage throughout the nation.

Oil Companies Are Profiting From Illegal Spills. And California Lets Them.

California may be a global leader on combating climate change, but state regulators have allowed companies like Chevron to make millions from inland oil spills that can endanger workers and damage the environment.

Taiwan plant hunters race to collect rare species before they’re gone

In the forests and on remote offshore islands of Taiwan, a group of conservationists are racing to collect as many rare plant species as they can before they are lost to climate change and human encroachment.

Around 270 whales stranded on sandbar off Australia’s Tasmania

Marine biologists were planning the rescue of around 270 whales stranded on a sandbar off the remote west coast of the Australian island of Tasmania on Monday.

Sea of Slush: Arctic sea ice lows mark a new polar climate regime

At the edge of the ice blanketing part of the Arctic Ocean, the ice on Monday looked sickly. Where thick sheets of ice once sat atop the water, now a layer of soft, spongey slush slid and bobbed atop the waves.

Burned jaguars, fire tornadoes: Blazes in Brazil wetland deliver climate warning

A fire has been burning since mid-July in the remote wetlands of west-central Brazil, leaving in its wake a vast charred desolation bigger than New York City.

Uganda reverses forest destruction by inviting in … loggers

For decades, farmers hungry for land and families needing firewood whittled away at Uganda’s forests, home to endangered gorillas, elephants and chimpanzees.

PLC Yield Update Deadline is September 30th

Price Loss Coverage (PLC) is an option under the 2018 Farm Bill that protects farmers from lower commodity prices.

Subsidies Encourage Kansas Ranchers To Make Room For The Lesser Prairie Chicken

Lesser prairie chickens don’t really bother Mike McCarty. He likes them just fine, but doesn’t think people understand how hard it is to balance wildlife conservation and being a rancher and farmer in southwest Kansas.

Mercury released by permafrost thaw puts Yukon River fish at risk: study

If carbon emissions continue at current rates, so much mercury will leach from thawing permafrost that fish in the Yukon River could become dangerous to eat within a few decades, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications.

More than 17K rare Nevada wildflowers destroyed

More than 17,000 plants of a rare Nevada wildflower were discovered destroyed this past weekend in western Nevada.

St. Lucie County Aquarium Receives Travelers’ Choice Award from TripAdvisor

The St. Lucie County Aquarium, featuring the Smithsonian Marine Ecosystems Exhibit, recently earned the Travelers’ Choice Award from TripAdvisor, based on the number of positive reviews and visits to the Aquarium for the past year. The designation means the Aquarium is one of the area’s Top 5 attractions.

As world falls behind on U.N. wildlife targets, bright spots offer hope

All the world’s governments have fallen short on pledges made a decade ago to protect wildlife, though cases of conservation show that the destruction of nature can be slowed, and even reversed, according to a U.N. report published on Tuesday.

Environment Report: State Throws Cold Water on Pricing Scheme

Water customers in Imperial Beach and Coronado were at risk of a suspect pricing mechanism, according to a ratepayer watchdog, until state regulators stepped in late last month.

Pursuing Independent Water Sources, San Diego Ignores One Beneath Its Feet

San Diego is not well endowed with many freshwater sources to support its growing population, so some water experts are perplexed the city’s ignoring a self-replenishing local groundwater source that, though small in size, is safe from the threat of natural disasters and reliably recharged by the San Diego River.

More Kansans Than Ever Believe In Global Warming, Yale Survey Shows

Climate change is at the root of this year’s extreme weather events, from the wild swings between flooding and drought in Kansas to larger hurricanes and some of the worst wildfires the West has seen.

Foliage season dawning at Mount Charleston

Fall at Mount Charleston means bold strokes of autumn color on mountainsides and gold aspen coins tossed along the trail

World wildlife plummets more than two-thirds in 50 years

Global animal, bird and fish populations have plummeted more than two-thirds in less than 50 years due to rampant over-consumption

Wild weather this year shows growing impact of climate change, scientists say

The planet is showing signs it’s in peril. In recent weeks, the world has seen ferocious wildfires in the U.S. West, torrential rains in Africa, weirdly warm temperatures on the surface of tropical oceans, and record heat waves from California to the Siberian Arctic.

Trump will extend drilling ban off Florida, expand it to two more states

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will sign an executive order to extend the ban on oil drilling on the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida as he seeks to win support ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Underwater: Australia’s oil industry faces new indigenous heritage test

A discovery of ancient artefacts on the seabed off Australia’s west coast has opened up a new frontier for resource companies to watch out for in conserving indigenous heritage.

Trump’s U.S. EPA chief claims climate-change fight hurts the poor

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday accused Democrats of hurting the poor with policies aimed at fighting climate change

Nevadans Urge U.S. Government to Pass Pershing County Wilderness Bill

Vast stretches of land in rural northwest Nevada will be preserved if Congress can finally pass legislation

K-State Research Among First to Analyze Safety of Industrial Hemp as Cattle Feed

A pair of studies at Kansas State University is bringing new insight to farmers and producers seeking to incorporate industrial hemp in cattle feed.

BLM roundup to target about 1,200 wild horses in Nevada

The Bureau of Land Management plans to round up about 1,200 wild horses from the Diamond Mountain Range in central Nevada starting this month.

Winter sea ice in Bering Sea reached lowest levels in millennia: study

The Bering Sea ice cover during the winters of 2018 and 2019 hit new lows not seen in thousands of years, scientists reported on Wednesday, adding to concerns about the accelerating impact of climate change in the Arctic.

Becker Preserve Temporarily Closes For Restoration Project

St. Lucie County’s Environmental Resources Department (ERD) will temporarily close the Richard E. Becker Preserve, located at 3398 Selvitz Road in Fort Pierce, starting Thursday, Sept. 3, as crews begin a massive restoration project that will restore the natural flow of 10-Mile Creek in that area.

They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen?

This is a story about frustration, about watching the West burn when you fully understand why it’s burning — and understand why it did not need to be this bad.

Nevada residents criticize Lake Powell pipeline plan in Utah

A group of residents in a southern Nevada town that sits along the Colorado River are organizing a campaign to oppose a proposed pipeline that would divert billions of gallons of river water to southwest Utah, reflecting intensifying struggles over water in the U.S. West.

Trash problem growing at Lake Mead

People dumping piles of trash around the Lake Mead National Recreation Area appears to be a growing problem.

‘Heartwrenching’: at least 40 dolphins dead near Mauritius oil spill

The number of dolphins washed up dead near a Mauritius oil spill site increased to 38 on Friday, a government official told Reuters.

POLLUTION PROFITEERS: The Mystery House: How a Suspicious Multimillion Dollar Real Estate Deal Is Connected to California’s Deadliest Fire

As Arctic ice melts, polluting ships stream into polar waters

As melting sea ice opens the Arctic to navigation, more ships are plying the loosely regulated polar waters, bringing increasing amounts of climate-warming pollution, a Reuters analysis of new shipping and fuel-consumption data shows.

St. Lucie County Recycles 2,000 Tons of Concrete for New Artificial Reefs

Fishermen and divers have additional numbers to add to their GPS devices as St. Lucie County’s recently recycled 2,000 tons of concrete to create additional artificial reefs in roughly 100 feet of water offshore.

Antarctica ice shelves vulnerable to meltwater that could cut ice ‘like a knife,’ study finds

Meltwater could undermine the walls of ice holding back Antarctica’s glaciers, scientists reported on Wednesday, a finding that underscores concern about the potential for a significant sea level rise.

THE BATTLE FOR DECATUR: PFAS Contamination Divides an Alabama Town

The battle that has erupted over PFAS chemicals in this small Southern town on the Tennessee River is just one of a series of conflicts playing out throughout the United States.

Environment Report: Real Estate Sellers Aren’t Required to Disclose Sea Level Rise Risk

Though it’ll be decades before the sea truly swallows parts of San Diego’s coastline, we already know which properties are at risk. The city studied it. The U.S. Geological Service studied it.

Environmental, tribal groups sue to block Alaska refuge drilling

More than a dozen environmental groups and one representing northeast Alaskan tribal villages sued the Trump administration on Monday over a plan to open the sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

Indictment: Kansas Man Planted Poppies In Effort to Manufacture Heroin

A Kansas man was charged in a federal indictment unsealed today with growing thousands of poppy plants at his home in Clay County in an effort to manufacture heroin, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

Public Health Advisories for Kansas Lakes Due to Blue-Green Algae

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), in conjunction with the
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT), has revised its list of public health
advisories for Kansas lakes due to blue-green algae.

Environmental group plans lawsuit to save endangered blue butterfly

The Center for Biological Diversity said Thursday it will sue two federal agencies to block a ski resort expansion that it says could lead to the extinction of the Mount Charleston blue butterfly.

Fish found only in the Nevada desert? Meet some of our endemic species

Despite being located in the hot and dry Mojave Desert, Nevada is home to 52 fish species found nowhere else in the world.

2020 Republican River Compact Administration Annual Meeting

This year’s Republican River Compact Administration (RRCA) Annual Meeting will take place on August 21 at 10:30 AM Central Time (9:30 AM Mountain Time).

Trump administration finalizes oil drilling plan in Alaska wildlife refuge

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said his administration was considering whether to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

World temperature record set in California’s Death Valley

A thermometer at Death Valley’s Furnace Creek in the Southern California desert has soared to 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 Celsius), the highest global temperature in more than a century, the U.S. National Weather Service said.