The first payouts from a historic class action suit against the federal government will be sent to American Indians within the week. The settlement will be split by 500,000 American Indians, including many here in the Northwest.
Washington environmental regulators say a new 6,000 page plan for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is very useful. But it lacks a definitive path forward for treating a large part of the radioactive sludge there.
The Northwest may have another species listed as endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday (Monday) proposed listing the Mazama pocket gopher as threatened in the South Puget Sound region of western Washington. This is the third time this fall the government has moved to protect a critter that depends on dwindling Northwest prairies or coastal grasslands. Correspondent Tom Banse reports from Olympia.
For the third time this fall, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to add a Northwest meadow critter to the endangered species list. This time, it's the Mazama pocket gopher. But, the listing is fairly limited.
