Power plays

The bill was drafted in response to a Yellowstone County judge’s finding that DEQ unlawfully failed to consider greenhouse gas and lighting impacts when approving a gas plant that has garnered opposition from Yellowstone County residents and climate advocacy groups.

Montana’s Republican legislators took extraordinary measures Friday to ban regulation of greenhouse gasses, a move intended to nullify a court order against state regulators and NorthWestern Energy.

The power plant has faced several legal challenges, which the utility hasn’t won. Republicans have proposed several bills plowing a regulatory road for NorthWestern’s project. Local government control and state environmental enforcement are bill targets.

In a case before the Montana Public Service Commission, the Montana Consumer Counsel, a small state agency with a duty to consumers, is advocating on the same side of the settlement as the energy behemoth, a $3.5 billion power company with a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.

The utility company has reached a settlement agreement with four parties previously opposed to its proposal to raise residential electricity rates by 25% and natural gas base rates by about $14 million.

A bill is headed to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s desk that redraws the Public Service Commission district lines in a matter that Democrats have criticized as unfairly balancing them to favor Republicans.

The Beacon is discontinuing its weekly print edition and consolidate its efforts as a digital-daily publication.

Last week, the social media platform Twitter added a label to NPR’s account that called the national broadcaster “state-affiliated media” and “government-funded media.” In response to what NPR has said was inaccurate and misleading designations, the broadcaster stopped posting content to Twitter. The move has impacted public radio stations in Colorado.

Who’s waging it, why, and what’s at stake if they win.

The ACLU called the move a violation of free speech rights that "would set an alarming precedent for excessive government control over how Montanans use the internet."

TikTok gave the world a glimpse of Native communities and connected its users. Now, many fear what they would lose if the app goes away.

The legislation arose from concerns over how social media contributes to declining youth mental health.

Unless courts strike down Montana’s law — which they should — we are quickly moving toward a world where apps are legal in some states but not in others.

“It is indestructible. Water is alive, it is life. Mankind needs to embrace a new paradigm about the nature of water. A paradigm that mankind is not Master of Water, water is the master, so we must learn to work with and respect water.”

Avangrid and the NTUA signed a memorandum of understanding last week to jointly explore opportunities for developing up to a gigawatt of solar, wind and back-up battery storage on the reservation. The partnership could create hundreds of jobs for Navajo workers, while providing a new, sustainable stream of revenue for the tribal government.

One thing all of the disputing parties agree on is that Montana’s current management of Yellowstone bison is broken. The animals are the only wildlife in the state regulated by the Montana Department of Livestock.

30x30 has been pitched as a key tool in the climate fight. Indigenous people say it threatens their lives.

A bill that would codify parts of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law passed the Senate on Friday after a contentious discussion on the floor.

“This bill and its intent is tremendous for our tribal languages," said Sen. Susan Webber of Browning.

Thirst Gap is a six-part podcast series about how the Southwest is adapting to water shortages as climate change causes the region to warm up and dry out. The series zooms in on people and places grappling with limited water supplies in the Colorado River watershed, and examines the trade-offs that come with learning to live with less water.

It will take almost four years to develop a new plan for restoring grizzly bears in wild country along the Montana-Idaho border, according to a proposed workplan submitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

One of Wyoming’s flagship mule deer herds has lost more than half of its animals to an unusual inverted snowpack that’s still killing scores of animals

“It’s a zoo. You show up at the trailhead and you’re gonna count every state (license plate) in the country,” said longtime hunter Dave Carrado, of Durango.

Canals in the snow are a short-term solution meant to protect migrating bison and travelers along Highway 191, but nonprofit organizations, biologists, road ecologists, agency officials and other advocates are also looking toward longer-term solutions.

Officials are warning Montanans to keep themselves and their pets away from dead birds, as a bird flu outbreak now in its second year starts to infect more mammals.

When it comes to hunting, the discomfort some of us feel may speak directly to our cultural denial of death itself.

As the chorus of opposition to trains hauling waxy crude through Colorado grows, the architects of the Uinta Basin Railway launch a rebranding campaign.

Dominion Energy Inc. is considering selling its gas-distribution companies serving North Carolina, Ohio and parts of the Western U.S., according to people familiar with the matter. The potential sales come as lawmakers and regulators across the U.S. debate the future of natural gas for home heating and cooking as more towns and cities look to phase it out.

More than 100 U.S. municipalities have passed policies to restrict fossil-fuel use in buildings, though only about 25 cities have followed Berkeley’s model.

EPA has underestimated methane emissions from oil and gas production by an average of 70 percent, or 6.1 million tons, over the past decade, scientists said on Monday. During the same period, however, the United States has seen a decline in methane intensity, or the amount of methane emissions released relative to the amount of oil or gas produced, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Effort to tighten rules on so-called forced pooling shows difficulty of reforms.

Idaho Power is preparing to supply energy for the next 20 years, anticipating an increasing population and more business growth.

The National Renewable Energy Lab wrote software to cut the review period for a rooftop solar permit by 30 days. State plans $1 million in grants for more to adopt the app.

Energy companies want to store captured carbon dioxide in the tiny holes within geologic formations. But most states have no laws on the books for regulating the emerging industry.

As Lake Powell water levels drop, native plants are reclaiming Glen Canyon.

The federal government laid out its ideas for Colorado River water cuts. Colorado officials say the onus is on California and Arizona.

Even before the Jacob City fire, Soldier Canyon was already prone to flooding. But now there’s a combination of burned-over terrain and Utah’s record snowpack — this side of the Oquirrhs are at 223% of average — leaving “a lot of water in our upper elevation and it's just waiting to come down," said Bucky Whitehouse, the emergency services director of Tooele County.

Hundreds of victims of the Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak fire have engaged the services of a local lawyer as they navigate a complex path to promised federally-funded compensation.

The new Public Lands Rule would put conservation on par with other uses.

Undoing a legacy of white gatekeeping demands changing perceptions about who belongs in the outdoors — and sometimes financial help.

$25 million effort to protect 2,000 acres of private land around Mount Tom in Jefferson County solidifies a new, complex model for conserving public lands in an increasingly crowded Colorado.

St. Luke’s Health System is asking the Idaho Supreme Court to force the Gem County Sheriff to serve legal summons to anti-government activist Ammon Bundy in its civil lawsuit against him.

Idaho spends less on schools per student than any other state. Kids are sweating, freezing and struggling to learn.