Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

"In the five years before a massive leak of toxic gas killed four workers at DuPont's La Porte property, four plant managers had come and gone."

"CARLSBAD, N.M. — On Feb. 5, 2014, a truck hauling salt caught fire deep in the maze of tunnels of the federal government’s only underground nuclear waste dump. Thick, black smoke forced an evacuation of workers as it billowed to the surface through exit shafts."

"The number of imperiled wolves found only in the American Southwest climbed to 109 in 2014, marking the fourth consecutive year that the population of Mexican gray wolves has risen by at least 10 percent, federal wildlife managers said Friday."

"HOUSTON -- It was DuPont's third deadly U.S. accident in five years and the deadliest of them all. On November 15th, a chemical leak in LaPorte took the lives of four workers, including two brothers."

"Rare wolves in the American Southwest will be allowed more room to roam but some could be marked for death if they prey too heavily on elk and deer prized by hunters, under a rule issued by federal officials on Monday."

"The people who live in the northwest corner of New Mexico consider Darlene Arviso to be a living saint. 'Everybody knows me around here. They'll be waving at me," she says from behind the wheel of the St. Bonaventure Indian Mission water truck. "They call me the water lady.'"

"Texas is not Kentucky. Or West Virginia. That's clear to everyone."

"MILAN, N.M. - Jonnie and Milton Head's granddaughter won't bring her children to visit them at their home here in the Bluewater Valley. 'There's five times the EPA recommended daily dosage of airborne radiation,' Jonnie explains."

"AUSTIN — In 2007, Texas regulators quietly relaxed the state’s long-term air pollution guideline for benzene, one of the world’s most toxic and thoroughly studied chemicals. The number they came up with, still in effect, was 40 percent weaker, or less health-protective, than the old one."