ELKO COUNTY, Nev. — The Ruby Mountains in northeast Nevada are known for hiking trails to 11,000-foot peaks and alpine lakes. Now, the U.S. Forest Service is considering making 54,000 acres of land in the mountain range available to lease for oil and gas development.

But a coalition of almost a dozen conservation groups has said opening the Ruby Mountains to energy companies would threaten wildlife and encroach on a popular area for outdoor recreation.

"It's one of the prettiest areas in the state: big glaciated valleys, beautiful streams, a lot of wildlife,” said Shaaron Netherton, executive director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness. “If there's one area that's totally unsuited for oil and gas development, it's the Ruby Mountains."

The area being considered for potential leasing falls outside protected wilderness areas. The Forest Service has done some environmental analysis and said further, more detailed analysis would be done before any potential lessee could begin digging.

In fall 2017, the Forest Service took public comments on the proposed lease area, but the comment period reopened this week because of high public interest. While oil and gas drilling could potentially bring money to the state, Netherton said the economic benefits of a robust outdoor recreation industry should be taken into consideration, too.

"There's heli-skiing, there's guides and outfitters, there's bed-and-breakfasts, there's all kinds of folks who utilize the Ruby Mountains for economic benefits to the community,” she said.

The Forest Service has said it's considering making the area available to lease because a member of the public submitted a letter of interest to the Bureau of Land Management. The Forest Service will take public comments until April 23.


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Southwest Wisconsin is seeing a surge in clean energy, emerging as a hotbed for large-scale renewable projects proponents said are economically benefiting the community.

About 10% of Wisconsin's electricity is from renewable sources. The industry employs about 6,500 people and invests $15.5 million a year in property, state and local taxes, and more than $15 million annually in land lease payments.

Kaden Crapp, field representative for the Wisconsin Land and Liberty Coalition, said along with the economic benefits, clean energy has the potential to provide the state with autonomy.

"One of the biggest benefits that including these renewable energies into the state grid can bring is that we can start becoming a net exporter," Crapp explained. "By being able to create our own Wisconsin-grown energy and be able to distribute it to other states as well."

Several proposed projects are slated for the area including the Whitetail Energy Center, the Badger Hollow Wind Energy Center and the Uplands Wind project. Each is projected to generate millions of dollars annually and collectively produce hundreds of megawatts of energy to power homes and businesses across the state.

Amy Seeboth-Wilson, director of grants for Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, said the school is leading the pack in innovation in the renewable energy space. She noted it offers degrees to prepare students for the rising industry and is the first in the Wisconsin Technical College system to install solar arrays with batteries.

"I think a lot of people appreciate how Southwest Tech is leaning into technological innovation and demonstrating how it can be really useful as a way to save money, and how it can benefit our communities," Seeboth-Wilson observed. "There's a lot of excitement around having that conversation and it's been exciting to be a part of that."

Josh Bedward, director of facilities for Southwest Tech, said the solar arrays offer a dual benefit by saving them about $30,000 annually in utility costs while serving as a battery backup, ensuring continuous service to students even during utility outages.

"By saving that $30,000 on our operating cost, that allows us to reinvest in programs and our students," Bedward pointed out. "That's something that we'll be able to continue to invest back into them."

The renewable-energy influx has faced some controversy with critics saying they replace some of the state's agricultural uses. Opponents say less than 2% of Wisconsin's 14 million acres of agricultural land would be needed to reach the state's clean-energy goals.

Minnesota lawmakers are scheduled to be in special session Monday in hopes of adopting final budget agreements for 2026 and advocates said there are both wins and losses for work centered around environmental protection.

Ahead of the overtime negotiations, the Legislature sent Gov. Tim Walz some elements of the state's next spending plan. It gives renewed support for specific programs under Minnesota's Legacy Amendment. The fund draws from sales tax revenue to protect wetlands, forests and other natural resources.

Ann Mulholland, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota chapter director for the Nature Conservancy, was excited to see $33 million set aside for prairie conservation.

"In Minnesota, we still have not much more than 1% of our native grasslands left," Mulholland pointed out. "It's really important to protect what is left."

Researchers said restoring grasslands helps prevent carbon from releasing into the atmosphere. A separate budget agreement covering the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund still needs a vote. It would cancel a $5 million Department of Natural Resources appropriation for enhancing grasslands in state-owned wildlife areas. With a projected deficit on the horizon, lawmakers from both parties said difficult decisions have to be made.

Minnesota's Legacy Amendment also includes $19 million for forest-related projects. Whether it is prairie restoration absorbing carbon emissions, or figuring out the best way to manage forested lands, Mulholland stressed the support helps Minnesota keep pace with the effects of climate change.

"We think this funding is critically important not just to mitigate climate change and pulling that carbon out of the air, but to actually help nature adapt to climate change," Mulholland emphasized.

She said there's added urgency in light of the recent wildfires in northeastern Minnesota. The bills being considered could fund research to look at the effects of climate change on habitat and wildlife in the most affected part of the state. To avoid steeper cuts for environmental work, there was an agreement to boost various fees, including the aquatic invasive species surcharge for watercraft.


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Over the past 12 months, 884 oil and gas spills were reported near homes in Greeley, Fort Lupton, Kersey, La Salle and Platteville, according to Spilling the Truth, a new public alert system launched by Colorado Rising for Communities.

Christiaan van Woudenberg, principal data analyst with EcoCarto, said the goal is to make it easier for residents to know about the risks to agricultural land, livestock, water resources and community health. In April alone, 229 spills were reported in Weld County, more than six per day.

"The number of spills that we're seeing have just grown so dramatically," he said. "Really in the last months, we've seen, again and again, a record number of oil spills reported in Weld County."

Spilling the Truth taps data compiled by the state's Energy and Carbon Management Commission, and is summarized by neighborhood in both English and Spanish. Postcards are sent out once a month, and alerts can also be found online at corfc.org/spills. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association and Weld County did not respond to requests for comments before deadline.

Alerts will also be shared across social media platforms in an effort to increase awareness and industry accountability. Woudenberg says currently, oil and gas operators are focused more on mitigation, not prevention. At the most, they have to file a spill report, do lab analysis and haul away some contaminated soil to the local landfill.

"So what we'd really like to see happen is that the operators themselves are more focused on preventing these spills," he continued," he continued. "And that the regulatory agencies put in place rulemakings and practices that really direct these oil companies to do that."

Because many well sites are only inspected once every few years, Woudenberg said it is hard to estimate the number of spills that go undetected. He noted that there are some 11,000 producing wells in Weld County alone, not counting shut-in wells and temporarily plugged and abandoned wells.

"Every oil well ever drilled in Colorado will eventually leak," he said. "This is a forever problem. The more wells you drill, the greater this problem is going to be for future generations."


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