Author: Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from easing rules on mining, drilling and grazing across millions of acres in Colorado and six other Western states, saying such activities left unchecked were likely to harm a struggling bird species.   The ground-dwelling greater sage grouse is at the center of a bitter conflict between…

A newly appointed Trump administration official with ties to Colorado said his past support for selling federal lands was “irrelevant,” after his selection to oversee an agency managing nearly a quarter-billion public acres in the U.S. West drew a backlash. Acting Bureau of Land Management Director William Perry Pendley moved to disavow his longtime advocacy…

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Trump administration on Friday finalized changes to sweeping federal land use plans for Western States to ease energy industry restrictions in a way officials say will protect a struggling bird species. The changes by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will guide future efforts to conserve greater sage grouse, ground-dwelling birds…

Every day many millions of gallons of water loaded with arsenic, lead and other toxic metals flow from some of the most contaminated mining sites in the U.S. and into surrounding lakes and streams without being treated, The Associated Press has found. That torrent is poisoning aquatic life and tainting drinking water sources in Montana,…