This week's Indy Environment looks at recreation areas closing as the state puts measures in place to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The newsletter also looks at a letter state regulators sent to the company responsible for the Anaconda Copper Mine and projections that the solar industry might see job losses in the wake of the pandemic.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a preliminary permit Thursday to build a new reservoir in the mountains above Pyramid Lake as part of an energy storage project.

Not only does the proposal face opposition, there is also a time crunch with Rep. Mark Amodei looking to package an omnibus Northern Nevada lands bill. At the center of the debate are even larger questions and anxieties about how the region, facing high housing costs and the increasing urgency to address climate change, should grow in the coming decades.

Rep. Mark Amodei introduced legislation Tuesday that looks to advance several proposed Northern Nevada land bills, open federal public land to potential development, protect areas as wilderness and prohibit oil and gas leasing in the Ruby Mountains.

This week's Indy Environment newsletter breaks down a ruling against the pipeline, the state's decision to review regulations for an endemic buckwheat species and includes a Q&A with Las Vegas' Director of Parks and Recreation.

A District Court judge has once again scuttled the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s plans to obtain and pump rural groundwater about 300 miles from eastern Nevada, prompting one Clark County commissioner to call on the water authority "to look in a different direction.”

The Nevada Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case weighing how state regulators should consider “public trust” values — the environment or recreation — when the sustainability of lakes or rivers could be harmed by how the state has allocated water rights.

“It’s a really exciting time because all of our competitors and peers on the Strip — Caesars, Sands, Wynn — we’re all sitting together at a table talking about the issues surrounding food insecurity and food donations and how we can collectively come together as a unit to help drive and scale food donations even more within our city,” said Price. “It’s amazing to see all of us coming together to help drive this very important cause.”

This week's Indy Environment newsletter looks at new research forecasting diminished Colorado River flows due to higher temperatures. It also takes a look at some questions facing the Washoe County Lands Bill and a coal plant moving toward natural gas.

As Democratic Nevada caucus-goers weigh which candidate to support in the final days before declaring their preferences on Saturday, polling suggests climate change is at the top of voters’ minds. On Wednesday, at the final debate before the caucus, candidates all agreed climate change poses an existential threat. Where they diverged was over what they planned to do about it.

In Fallon, many residents support the Navy. American flags line the streets of Fallon’s downtown. Driving into town on U.S. 50, a jet is on display next to the road. But residents and politicians from across the political spectrum are frustrated. How much land is too much?

This week's Indy Environment newsletter looks at how climate change might be a key issue in the Nevada caucus. It also breaks down a BLM whistleblower complaint reported by The Nevada Independent and POLITICO over the weekend.

With bipartisan support, the Legislature created a mining oversight commission in 2011 that supporters hoped would mirror the Nevada Gaming Commission. Then after four years, the commission stopped meeting. As Gov. Steve Sisolak looks to revive it, what is its future?

Two top Nevada gold operators, Nevada Gold Mines and Coeur Rochester, are crying foul over the Department of Energy’s recent decision to designate a private Texas facility as the long-term storage site for mercury generated from their mining. The agency’s decision to use the Texas facility, Waste Control Specialists (WCS), came with a hefty storage fee: $37,000 per metric ton.

This week's Indy Environment newsletter looks at how Nevada might be affected by the Trump administration's decision to scale back federal protections. The newsletter also looks at the Navy's request to expand its military base near Fallon and an opportunity for geothermal production.

For decades, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe has worked with state wildlife managers to figure out a way to reintroduce bighorn sheep to the Lake Range, which rises east of the desert lake. Bighorn sheep all but disappeared on the tribe's land — and across the West — in the early 1900s as Western expansion decimated their ranks through disease and overhunting.

“Congress has a lot of people who can come up with bills, and they can decide if they can pass a bill, and that’s their job,” said Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry. 

The legislation proposes a ban on oil and gas leasing on public land where there is zero to low oil potential. Under the bill, a parcel’s prospects for development would be determined based on a study known as a Reasonably Foreseeable Development Scenario, crafted with a public comment period.