Environment

The scope of wolf hunting in Idaho substantially increased after the 2021 legislative session, when Senate Bill 1211 was signed into law.

Wildlife conservation groups petition U.S. Forest Service to stop aerial wolf hunting in Idaho

BY: - December 8, 2023

Wildlife conservation groups have filed a legal petition asking the U.S. Forest Service to prohibit aerial gunning of wildlife in national forests in Idaho. The petition was filed Nov. 29 by International Wildlife Coexistence Network, the Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project. “Killing wolves from helicopters is barbaric and scientifically unjustifiable, and we […]

Clear-cuts and logged swaths of the Tillamook State Forest from above on Oct. 13, 2023. (Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Habitat plan for western state forests could cost counties $18 million a year in timber revenue

BY: - December 8, 2023

To avoid major lawsuits under the federal Endangered Species Act, state and federal agencies have crafted a plan to reduce the amount of timber logged from Oregon’s western state-owned forests annually by up to 40%. Officials in some counties that have relied on those timber revenues for the past 80 years are angry and worried […]

Solar panels atop storage units in rural Virginia were funded by a Rural Energy for America program grant. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

USDA grows solar power in rural Oregon despite limited transmission, assistance

BY: - December 1, 2023

More farmland across the U.S. will need to host power-generating solar panels for the country to decarbonize the electric grid and meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture. But that’s not the sell that officials at the USDA’s Rural Development office use to entice Oregon farmers […]

The Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake River, in southeast Washington.

Feds consider removing Snake River dams in leaked agreement with plaintiffs in lawsuit

BY: - November 30, 2023

The Biden administration and federal agencies are prepared to remove four lower Snake River dams to save imperiled salmon species, according to a leaked proposal among parties in a federal lawsuit and the administration’s environmental council. Republican representatives in the Northwest, as well as some electric utilities, are not pleased about the proposed agreement.  The […]

An electric vehicle fills up.

Ahead of climate conference, U.S. House panel tussles over curbs on emissions

BY: - November 29, 2023

Republicans on a U.S. House panel argued Wednesday against aggressive moves to meet carbon reduction goals, saying U.S. fossil fuel companies are working to make their products cleaner. Democrats on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Minerals countered that to achieve further reductions, federal policies should be continued […]

A wolverine makes its way across a snowy landscape in Montana.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists wolverines as ‘threatened’ under Endangered Species Act

BY: - November 29, 2023

After more than two decades of petitions by wildlife conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed wolverines as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The decision marks a win for conservation groups, who have petitioned for a federal listing since 1995 and have gone through six rounds of successful litigation […]

Wildfires in September 2020 burned a large swath of the Oregon Cascades. (Photo courtesy Oregon State University)

Climate change, drought, wildfires reduce value of private forestland in the West by billions

BY: - November 27, 2023

Investing in private timberland in the West has become increasingly risky, according to a new study from Oregon State University researchers, with values declining by billions of dollars in the last two decades.  The economic value of private timberland in California, Oregon and Washington has declined by about $11 billion since 2004, or around 10%, […]

A map of the Gas Transmission Northwest Express pipeline, or GTN Express, from the Idaho-Canada border to Southern Oregon. It runs from the Canada-Idaho border to Malin, a town in southern Oregon’s Klamath County.

West Coast leaders urge feds to reverse decision allowing natural gas pipeline expansion

BY: - November 22, 2023

State attorneys general in Oregon, Washington and California and two Oregon-based environmental groups are asking federal energy regulators to reconsider their approval of a natural gas pipeline project that would increase the flow of gas through the Northwest.  Federal regulators voted unanimously Oct. 19 to allow Calgary-based TC Energy to expand the capacity of its […]

Emissions from an oil refinery.

Reliability v. sustainability: Inside the debate over the EPA’s proposed carbon rules

BY: - November 22, 2023

Electric reliability has been a hot topic lately — from congressional hearings to regulatory agencies and at the regional transmission organizations that run the electric grid in much of the country. The American electric grid is undergoing a major change, prodded by state and federal decarbonization policies, market forces pushing cheaper and cleaner forms of […]

Projects to restore Columbia River Basin health in Oregon get $31 million

BY: - November 20, 2023

Oregon tribes, state agencies, farmers and ranchers are getting more than $31 million from the federal government to reduce toxic pollution in the Columbia River and its tributaries. It’s the last of $79 million that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has dedicated to improving the health of the Columbia River Basin since 2021, under the […]

The Elliott State Forest after a section was logged near Loon Lake. (Photo courtesy of Francis Eatherington)

Oregon State University drops out of plan to manage Elliott State Research Forest

BY: - November 17, 2023

After five years of collaborating with tribes and state agencies to create the largest research forest in North America, Oregon State University officials have decided they will no longer participate in its management. The announcement came in a letter from the university’s new president, Jayathi Murthy, to the State Land Board on Monday, just over […]

Lookout Point Dam is among 13 on the Willamette River and its tributaries managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Many residents say publicly they support maintaining hydropower at Willamette River dams

BY: - November 16, 2023

The trade-offs between hydropower dams and endangered salmon in the Willamette Valley have been on full display in public feedback in a series of meetings hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  The public meetings took place as an operational change at two dams meant to help fish is deluging rivers with mud.  Willamette […]