ELKHORN CITY, Ky. - The Russell Fork River, which carves a spectacular 52-mile path along the Kentucky-Virginia border, has landed on the list of America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2016.

Avid kayaker Steve Ruth, a member of the Elkhorn City Area Heritage Council, described the listing as a "real tightrope to walk" in his hometown of Elkhorn City, where outdoor recreation manages to coexist with the coal industry. According to the nonprofit conservation group American Rivers, the Russell Fork is threatened by mountaintop removal, citing a proposal at a Virginia mine.
Ruth said there's been "fairly heavy" surface mining in the headwaters of the Russell Fork for decades.

"The river is no more endangered at this moment than the last 50 years," he said. "It's taken a whole lot of punches. Frankly, the amount of punches that it's taken the last few years are decreasing."

While he opposes mountaintop removal and surface mining, Ruth said he doesn't believe river tourism and recreation will be affected by the project at the Doe Branch Mine, at least five miles from the Russell Fork.

However, American Rivers has said the proposal puts the river at a "crossroads." Jessie Thomas-Blate, American Rivers' associate director for river restoration, said the mine would discharge toxic wastewater into Russell Fork tributaries, which she claimed would be a direct threat to the river.

"If there is something we can do to help protect a particular river," she said, "then that's something that we feel like we can call attention to, and hopefully maybe raise increasing awareness throughout the region to talk about the issues that are associated with this type of mining overall."

American Rivers wants Virginia's governor and the Environmental Protection Agency to deny permits for the mine and stop the project.

The Russell Fork traverses the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi River, and its long run of Class 5 whitewater rapids attracts kayakers from around the world. While he thinks the mining threat could be overstated, Ruth said he appreciates the added attention to one of Kentucky's outdoor gems.

"It's great when folks out there in the world recognize that you have a treasure and recognize you have something that's a great attraction," he said, "and they feel that they want to make sure that it is preserved."

The river and gorge are the main attractions of Breaks Interstate Park, which draws more than 350,000 visitors a year. According to American Rivers, the park generated nearly $10 million across the region last year.

The report is online at americanrivers.org.


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The Trump administration's long-term plan for artificial intelligence could have far-reaching environmental impacts across the country.

His strategy calls for the removal of land use rules considered prohibitive to the construction of AI data centers. Last year, then Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Microsoft would invest $1 billion to establish a new AI data center in Laporte to generate cloud computing infrastructure.

Ben Murray, senior researcher for the advocacy group Food and Water Watch, said fossil fuel plants are already being reopened to help meet high energy demands.

"We just need to be aware that anything that prolongs our reliance on fossil fuel is going to increase the problems that we're seeing from the climate crisis," Murray explained.

Murray argued high-tech progress should not come at the expense of increased household energy prices. Residents' support is low due to concerns about increased traffic and noise near the centers. The Trump administration said environmental and permitting regulations will only slow America's dominance in the AI field.

A report last year found emissions from data centers owned by Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft were more than seven times higher than officially reported. Computer servers using AI require far more energy than those without. A ChatGPT query, for example, can use up to 10 times more electricity than a standard Google search.

"These companies can seem as if they're decreasing their emissions and meeting net-zero goals but in reality, the emissions are amping up faster than ever for these companies," Murray pointed out.

Murray noted the push for more data centers is already leading Big Tech companies to backtrack on their climate goals. It is possible to power AI services with renewable energy sources, he added, but doing so requires political will.

As of June 2025, a 1,200-acre corn and soybean field just outside of New Carlisle has turned into eight Amazon-led AI energy centers. The tech giant plans to construct a total of 30 at the site.


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After one year, Washington's first comprehensive bee survey has documented 15 species that have never been collected in the state before.

The project is cataloguing native bees, which includes nearly all species in the state, but excludes honeybees.

Karla Salp is a communications consultant with the Washington State Department of Agriculture's Washington Bee Atlas program, which conducted the survey.

She said the data will serve as a baseline to track bee populations.

"The reason why this is happening in the first place is to answer the question, how are pollinators doing in Washington state?" said Salp. "And the answer is we don't know, because we've never actually looked at even what bees we have throughout the state."

Salp said the project also involves compiling a list of plants that each bee species pollinates so residents can make their yards more attractive to these beneficial insects.

As honeybee numbers continue to decline rapidly, Salp explained that native pollinators may become more important to Washington's agriculture.

"Knowing what native pollinators we have and how we can support them is really a sustainability issue" said Salp, "to make sure that whether we have honeybees here or not, there are options for pollination."

Volunteers collected over 17,000 bees on more than 600 different host plants.

Salp said the process of identifying them is slow because each one must be viewed under a microscope, and there is still considerable work to be done.

"We're expecting to find a lot more species" said Salp, "that are either rare or even new to the state. "

If people are interested in volunteering, an online application for the Bee Atlas program is available on the Washington State Department of Agriculture website.




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The Trump administration wants to overturn a conservation rule that had garnered more public comment than any in U.S. history up until that time.

Commonly known as the Roadless Rule, the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulation prohibits road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvesting on nearly 60 million acres of national forest land.

Sarah McMillan - the senior attorney and director of the Wildlands & Wildlife Program at the Western Environmental Law Center - said before it was adopted in 2001, 1.5 million people submitted comments, with the vast majority in support of the rule.

"This was a rule that was carefully, thoughtfully developed," said McMillan. "There was a long process of inventorying these roadless areas and identifying these remote, often mature and old-growth trees. This didn't happen overnight."

A rollback of the rule would allow more logging and drilling on federal lands, which McMillan said would worsen climate change, harm wildlife & vital ecosystems, jeopardize water quality, and negatively affect recreational opportunities.

The Bush administration attempted to repeal the Roadless Rule in 2005, but lost in the courts.

In announcing the proposed rollback, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins claimed more logging would improve forest management, which would in turn decrease forest fires.

But McMillan said that argument is disputed in a 2020 Wilderness Society study that found just the opposite.

"The truth is, un-roaded areas burn at a significantly lower rate than areas with roads," said McMillan. "So, fires start near roads."

McMillan said it doesn't make sense to allow private developers to log more trees when the planet is undergoing a biodiversity and climate crisis - especially because old-growth trees create a buffer against climate change.

Forests cover almost 30% of New Mexico's land area.




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