Dumping grounds

Energy Fuels Resources’ plant outside Blanding is often touted as the nation’s only operating uranium mill. But for decades, the larger purpose of the mill has been to dispose of the waste from contaminated military and industrial sites for a fee, which has generated millions in profits for Energy Fuels at the expense of the environment and the Ute Mountain Ute tribal members who live nearby, according to a report titled “The Business of Radioactive Waste” released Tuesday by the Grand Canyon Trust. According to the new report, the Utah facility is a poorly regulated radioactive-waste disposal site where 700 million pounds of material has been interred over the years just a few miles from the Native American community in San Juan County known as White Mesa.

Cities, towns and businesses have for years been trying out a ragtag assortment of solutions to address the affordable housing crises striking towns across the Mountain West. Truckee’s modeling another approach. It’s paying the “anti-Airbnb” firm Landing Locals and deploying cash from a recently-expanded tax on short-term rentals to “unlock” second homes, existing housing stock that often sits vacant. The partnership is in part a short-term patch to house locals now as the community works to build more housing long-term.

Native American tribes and organizations throughout the nation are working to ensure that Indigenous voices are heard as states go about drawing political maps that determine who will wield power for the next decade. On tribal lands where 75% of roads that qualify for federal funding remain unpaved and 12% of homes do not have access to sufficient sanitation facilities, the stakes are high. The Center for Public Integrity interviewed dozens of tribal leaders, organizers and political analysts around the country to examine the impact of redistricting on Native Americans. 

A relatively dry February pushed Lake Powell below a key water level for the first time since the lake was considered “full” in 1980, and has led to deeper projected drops over the next two years.

Fires have gotten larger, more frequent and more widespread across the United States since 2000, according to a new CIRES Earth Lab-led paper. Recent wildfires have stoked concern that climate change is causing more extreme events, and the work published today in Science Advances shows that large fires have not only become more common, they are also spreading into new areas, impacting land that previously did not burn.