Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

"An internal investigation reveals regulators had wrongly assessed the water pressure built up inside the Gold King mine before releasing toxic wastewater".

"Four of the dirtiest plants, which sit on Native American soil, were expecting more lenient goals under the Clean Power Plan, but the EPA shifted gears."

"The 585 earthquakes that Oklahoma had in 2014 was a lot. But this year, Oklahoma has had more than that in less than nine months."

"A stretch of river fouled by toxic waste from an abandoned gold mine in southwestern Colorado last week was reopened to kayaking and rafting on Friday while water from river-fed irrigation canals was deemed safe for crops and livestock."

"On Sunday morning, hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic gas were accidentally released from the Shell Oil facility in Deer Park [Texas]."

"Oklahoma regulators are imposing new restrictions on energy companies injecting wastewater underground, in the latest effort to stem a sharp increase in earthquakes."

"To comply or not to comply. That’s the question now facing Texas officials regarding the Obama administration’s ambitious Clean Power Plan. The sweeping regulatory initiative, unveiled [Monday] in its final form, aims at transforming the nation’s electricity-production system to slash emissions of climate-disrupting air pollution."

"Several earthquakes shook Oklahoma on Monday as the state experiences a sharp increase in the frequency of tremors linked to wastewater disposal from gas and oil drilling, including from fracking, state and federal officials said."

"Scores of Native American demonstrators protested at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday against a proposed $6 billion copper mine in Arizona at a site that members of the Apache tribe say is sacred."