Environment

After a new mining company recently announced that it intends to develop a rare-earth metals mine in the headwaters of the Bitterroot River, the Bitterroot National Forest issued a statement saying it hadn’t received a mining application from the company.

The lawsuit alleges that the Bureau of Land Management failed to take a "hard look" at the impact ConocoPhillips' drilling project will have on the environment.

The court sided with two organizations that sued the Fish and Wildlife Service for not carrying out its own decision, made almost 23 years ago, to place an experimental population of 25 grizzlies in the Bitterroot Recovery Area.

A bill that would add more emphasis in the Montana Constitution to the ability to hunt, fish and trap brought out some surprising testimony, including opposition from the Montana Stockgrowers Association and support from a California website creator.

The federal government will send $2.5 billion over the next five years to states, local governments and tribes to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Biden administration officials said.

Bending to the economic interest in exploiting Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope, the move undercuts a Biden campaign promise to stop new oil drilling on federal lands.

The 21-acre conservation easement would preserve some of the habitat and agricultural soils on the valley bottoms that are quickly being lost in Missoula as growth spreads ever-further from the city center.

Though the project has broad support from elected officials in Alaska, it’s strongly opposed by environmental groups. Some are already planning a lawsuit to block the project.

A spokesman for Montana Democrat Jon Tester, another moderate from a rural state up for reelection next year, said Friday the senator is undecided on the measure.

Temperatures are still cool in western Montana, but with days getting longer, the first plants of spring will soon make an appearance. Unfortunately, a once-common pollinator might not be around to visit the wildflowers.