arizona

Millions of people rely on the Colorado River, but the climate crisis is causing the river to dry up, putting many at risk of “severe water shortages,” according to new research, as The Guardian reported. Longer periods of drought and rising temperatures have decreased the river’s annual flow by 20 percent compared to the last […]

By Molly Matthews Multedo Not much rain falls in the desert city of Tucson, Arizona. And as the climate warms, it’s getting even drier. So when it does rain, it pays — literally — to make the most of it. Imelda Cortez visits families, bringing materials to test their water. She works with an initiative […]

There is an outcry in Arizona after footage captured border wall construction bulldozers plowing over iconic cacti that are protected in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument — a monument created to protect Organ Pipe and Saguaro cacti, as Newsweek reported. The video depicts the bulldozers running roughshod over the national monument and clearing saguaros in […]

The Trump administration is delaying construction on its long-promised border wall that would cut through protected stretches of the Arizona desert. The Department of Homeland Security was scheduled to replace waist-high barriers with taller fencing in a wildlife refuge, national monument and conservation area later this month. However, government attorneys filed a brief this week […]

The Navajo Nation has decided to stop pursuing the acquisition of a beleaguered coal-fired power plant in Arizona, locking in the plant to be taken offline and its associated coal mine to close later this year. A Navajo Nation Council committee voted 11-9 last week to stop pursuing the purchase of the 2,250-megawatt Navajo Generating […]

Conservation groups filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of a permit that allows a huge master-planned sprawl development project near Benson, Arizona to proceed. The Villages at Vigneto would transform 12,167 acres of largely undeveloped habitat into 28,000 residences, 3 million square feet of commercial space, four golf courses, […]

By Stephen Nash The Trump administration’s decision to keep many U.S. national parks open during the current federal government shutdown, with few or no staff, spotlights how popular and how vulnerable these unique places are. Some states, such as Utah and Arizona, have spent heavily to keep parks open rather than lose tourist revenues. Unfortunately, […]

By Tara Lohan In the last few weeks of 2018, the Trump administration set the stage for a big battle over water in the new year. At stake is an important rule that defines which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. The Trump administration seeks to roll back important protections for wetlands and […]