Amelia Templeton

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell made her first public stop in the Northwest in Portland today, six weeks into the job. Amelia Templeton from our EarthFix team reports that local activists wanted to know how she will handle coal leases on federal land.

Voters in two Southwest Oregon counties have defeated short-term property tax increases that would have raised revenue for public safety. Amelia Templeton reports.

A plan to build 17 miles of mountain bike trails on the slopes surrounding Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood has hit a snag. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit today [Thursday] saying the plan would harm alpine meadows. Amelia Templeton of Earthfix reports.

The Interior Department today recommended removing four dams on the Klamath River by the year 2020. The dam removal is proposed as part of a settlement to end the water wars in Southern Oregon and Northern California.

A proposal to export liquefied natural gas from a terminal at the mouth of the Columbia River has hit a major setback this week. Oregon courts have affirmed that it was legal for Clatsop County in 2011 to reverse its position on a pipeline connected to the project.

An Oregon state representative has introduced a bill to try to curb the export of raw logs. A House committee held its first hearing on the bill today.

Two Western Oregon tribes are a step closer to regaining some of the land they lost 150 years ago. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have drafted a bill that would return about 30,000 acres of forest to tribes living near Roseburg and Coos Bay.

The Supreme Court today decided in favor of the timber industry in a case about the regulation of muddy waters that flow off logging roads. In a surprising move, one of the court’s conservative justices dissented, and sided with the environmentalists.

Should the U.S. export its abundant supply of shale gas? Oregon Senator Ron Wyden tackled that question in a hearing today. It’s his first since he took over chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

 The Secretary of Interior has formed a task force to determine if coal companies are underpaying royalties for coal mined on public land and sold in Asia. And it has confirmed it is investigating one coal company for potential criminal wrongdoing.