Environment
Colorado River Water Crisis Deadlines Loom in 2026
The clock is ticking on Colorado River water management, and Congress may have less time than it thinks.
Government Operations
Congress Demands Answers on Funding Cuts to Army Corps
The Trump administration is proposing to cut the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers budget by roughly 36 percent in a single year, dropping from approximately...
Legislation
Republicans Push to Open Millions of Forest Acres
A sprawling package of public lands legislation comes before the House Natural Resources Committee on May 19, with seven bills that together represent a...
Government Operations
Sewage Disaster In Washington DC: Who's to Blame?
An estimated 240 to 300 million gallons of raw sewage poured into the C&O Canal National Historical Park and the Potomac River after a 72-inch sewer line...
Public Lands
Committee Examines AI Threats to Water Infrastructure
A cybersecurity firm's report published just 11 days before the hearing documented the first known AI-assisted cyberattack on water utility infrastructure,...
Environment
Federal Law Lacks Clear Wildfire Fuel Reduction Mandate
The federal government has no law explicitly requiring it to reduce the combustible vegetation that makes wildfires catastrophic. That gap sits at the...
Environment
Outdated Fishing Law Faces Overdue Congressional Reform Push
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary federal law governing U.S. marine fisheries, is drawing renewed attention in the...
Environment
Colorado River Compact Expires As Water Crisis Looms
The Colorado River drought has pushed two of the country's largest reservoirs to near-record lows, and the legal framework holding together water management...
Energy
Committee Debates Tribal Health And Energy Expansion Stakes
Six bills spanning Indian health funding, wildfire risk, Alaska Native arts, tribal water infrastructure, hydropower, and oil and gas permitting are headed...
Public Lands
DOI May Approve First Tribal Energy Resource Agreement In Two Decades
Tribal lands hold roughly 20 percent of known U.S. oil and gas reserves, 30 percent of coal reserves west of the Mississippi River, and 50 percent of...
Public Lands
Century of Fire Suppression Created Forest Tinderbox Crisis
A new Congressional Research Service report on wildfire mitigation hazardous fuels lays out in stark terms the scale of the problem facing federal land...
Civil Rights
Salmon Fund Elimination Threatens Western Tribes' Treaty Rights
A Congressional Research Service report on the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund is drawing renewed attention on Capitol Hill as the Trump administration...
Government Operations
Federal Obligations to Tribal Forests Remain Critically Underfunded
A new Congressional Research Service report on tribal forestry lands at a moment of maximum tension: the Trump Administration is cutting federal agency...
Public Lands
The Army Corps Budget Fight Taking Shape Over Water
The Trump administration's U.S. Army Corps of Engineers FY2027 appropriations request is setting up a collision with Congress over how the federal...
Public Lands
Will Federal Historic Preservation Program Be a Thing of The Past?
A new Congressional Research Service report on federal historic preservation programs lands at a moment of real tension between Congress and the White House...
Public Lands
Congress to Examine Proposed Dramatic Budget Cuts at Interior
The Trump administration's Interior Department FY 2027 budget lands before the House Natural Resources Committee on May 13 carrying a stark proposition: cut...
Environment
Senate Kills Colorado Clean Air Resolution Along Party Lines
Democrats forced a vote. Republicans blocked it. The result was never in doubt.
Environment
Fishing Law Faces Pressure Over Strict Catch Limits
The Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary federal law governing marine fisheries in U.S. waters, hasn't been comprehensively reauthorized since 2007, and the...
