Natural Resources

"U.S. EPA faced a hostile Supreme Court today as the agency defended its authority to issue compliance orders under the Clean Water Act without allowing an immediate hearing on the underlying issue."

"The Obama administration is set to announce on Monday that it will block new uranium mining on one million acres in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon, lobbyists and Interior Department employees who had been informed about the decision said on Friday."

"LAKE ANDES, S.D. (AP) — Famous for its role as Harry Potter's companion in the books and movies, a species of majestic, mostly white owls is being sighted in abundant numbers this winter far from both Hogwarts and its native Arctic habitat.

It's typical for snowy owls to arrive in the U.S. every three or four winters, but this year's irruption is widespread, with birders from the Pacific Northwest to New England reporting frequent sightings of the yellow-eyed birds. As many as 30 were spotted in December around South Dakota's Lake Andes.

All along the Mississippi-Missouri river system, floodplains have been reclaimed  as farmlands. Often government agencies like the Corps of Engineers must make agonizing choices between these two beneficial uses.

Can southwest Alaska make money from its rich mineral deposits without destroying the Bristol Bay fishery that is currently an economic mainstay?

"Humans are having an effect on Earth's ecosystems but it's not just the depletion of resources and the warming of the planet we are causing. Now you can add an over-abundance of nitrogen as another "footprint" humans are leaving behind. The only question is how large of an impact will be felt. In a Perspectives piece in the current issue of Science, Arizona State University researcher James Elser outlines some recent findings on the increasing abundance of available nitrogen on Earth."