Earlier this month, Sen. Harry Reid spoke to The Nevada Independent about his legacy on environmental issues, from settling disputes on the Truckee and Walker rivers to closing the Reid Gardner Generating Station and cleaning up the Anaconda Copper Mine. Reid also talked about the role of Congress in crafting legislation and climate action in a Biden administration.

This week's Indy Environment looks at what's at stake with Clark County's effort to rewrite its Master Plan and Development Code. The detailed planning efforts offer a significant opening to address climate change and to correct past planning injustices.

This week's Indy Environment newsletter looks at the OneWater Nevada Initiative, an effort in Northern Nevada to safely treat wastewater, store it and reuse it in the future.

A new report from environmental groups concludes that Nevada will not meet its 2050 greenhouse gas reduction goals with existing policies, and it urges the state to adopt an ambitious approach, including a transition to roughly 80 percent renewable energy by 2030.

This week's Indy Environment looks at the results for Question 6, a measure amending the Nevada Constitution to spell out renewable requirements for electric utilities.

Across the state, regulators have issued more rights to water than there is water to go around. Water users are closely watching a test case in Diamond Valley to understand the limits of the law and the potential paths forward.

An effort to privatize public land at the former Anaconda Copper Mine in Yerington would leave the federal government with little oversight over a massive cleanup led by state regulators who have faced criticism for relying on company data to assess an aquifer with high uranium levels.

The election is two weeks away. Thousands of Nevadans have already cast their votes by mail or in person, and environmental issues are on the ballot — they always are. And they are on the ballot at every level of government. With 12 days to go until Election Day, this week’s Indy Environment newsletter highlights what’s at stake.

For parents, the heavy smoke from wildfires deepens existing concerns around the health effects of poor air quality, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only is the heavy smoke a public health concern for sensitive groups, it can also ripple out through the economy, threatening the safety of outdoor workers.

This week's Indy Environment newsletter looks at legislation introduced by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as an alternative to the Navy's proposed expansion of the Fallon Range Training Complex.

More than two months later, NV Energy is releasing more information about the decision-making process that led to the request for power conservation, as well as data that may help state utility regulators determine whether the conservation request was a one-time unusual request or a sign that the utility needs to do more to ensure resource adequacy as climate change and other factors drive more strain on the system.

This week's Indy Environment looks at a greenhouse gas emissions source that is starting to come under increased scrutiny amid discussions about climate change: natural gas use in homes and businesses.

The situation playing out along the Muddy River is not unique across the Southwest and in the Colorado River Basin. As climate change and overuse reduce water supplies, the gap between “paper water” (the legal right to use water) and “actual water” (what’s available) is widening.

This week's Indy Environment newsletter looks at a paper that recreates a 13,000-year climate history for the Great Basin and presents a potential worst-case scenario for what climate change could look like.

On Tuesday, the herd of one-to-three year old Spanish goats from High Desert Graziers in rural Smith Valley began their “firefighting” work of chewing up sagebrush, bitterbrush, manzanita and cheatgrass on a 100 acre plot of private property off of Highway 50. The area, in the mountains and hills between Carson City and Lake Tahoe, is considered to be at extreme risk of wildfire.

This week's Indy Environment looks at what's next in the lawsuit seeking to bring more water to Walker Lake after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled on the public trust doctrine.

Experts hired by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) expressed concerns in July that a state-approved report downplayed the groundwater pollution caused by the former Anaconda Copper Mine near Yerington, according to comments obtained by The Nevada Independent.

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state cannot reshuffle existing water rights to prevent environmental damage, despite recognizing a legal principle that requires the government to preserve natural resources for future generations.

This week's Indy Environment newsletter looks at the investigation into the destruction of more than 17,000 Tiehm's buckwheat plants, a rare species that is being considered for state and federal protection.