Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)

"Colorado's agricultural agencies are in panic mode after several independent studies found dangerous levels of pesticides in marijuana products."

"The Interior Department plans to cancel a long-suspended oil and gas drilling lease near Glacier National Park that's on land considered sacred to the Blackfoot tribes of the U.S. and Canada, according to court documents filed Monday."

"Yellowstone National Park is proposing to reduce its celebrated bison herd by 1,000 animals this winter by rounding up those wandering into adjacent Montana and delivering them to Native American tribes for slaughter, officials said on Wednesday."

"A national movement urging President Barack Obama to stop any new federal leases for fossil fuels turned its attention on Salt Lake City Tuesday, staging a victory party after the Bureau of Land Management postponed an oil and gas lease sale."

"SALMON, Idaho -- Native American tribes on Wednesday called for the U.S. government to halt plans to strip grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone of Endangered Species Act protection because it would open the way for trophy hunting in Idaho and two other states bordering the national park."

"A federal judge in Nevada has thrown out the Obama administration's approval of what was projected to be the Silver State's largest wind power project, ruling that the Interior Department did not properly evaluate potential impacts to golden eagles and Mojave Desert tortoises."

"Federal wildlife managers have determined that grizzly bear numbers in and around Yellowstone National Park have rebounded sufficiently to propose stripping the animals of U.S. Endangered Species Act protections in the months ahead, a spokesman told Reuters."

"A fire at a nuclear waste dump in Beatty did more than just snarl traffic — it shone a light on the close relationship between the state of Nevada and the company that runs the low-level repository."

"DENVER -- The release of 3 million gallons (11 million liters) of toxic wastewater from a defunct southwestern Colorado gold mine that was triggered by the Environmental Protection Agency was preventable, a government review of the spill concluded on Thursday."