First US Critical Minerals Mine Nears Approval in AZ Biodiversity Hotspot
"The U.S. Forest Service said it plans to approve South32’s Hermosa project in Patagonia, Arizona, despite the water problems the mine is already causing."

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"The U.S. Forest Service said it plans to approve South32’s Hermosa project in Patagonia, Arizona, despite the water problems the mine is already causing."
"A federal work group says Covid vaccine injuries deserve urgent attention, even as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shifts away from talking about vaccine policy."
"As soon as the barrier broke, a flood of poison brought death to the river. Gushing through the fragile wall built to hold back mining waste in Zambia’s copper belt in February 2025, more than 50m cubic litres of acid and heavy metals poured into the Chambishi stream – a tributary of the Kafue River, the country’s longest waterway."
"The United States on Thursday temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil that is currently at sea, allowing it to be shipped to buyers around the world as the Trump administration scrambles to contain energy prices that have been soaring because of the war in Iran."
"The Trump administration has tapped an eye doctor with no background in air pollution science to advise the Environmental Protection Agency on what levels of air pollutants are safe to breathe."
"The Trump administration on Thursday filed a new lawsuit against California over its strict limits on planet-warming pollution from cars, arguing that the restrictions would unlawfully force a rapid transition to electric vehicles in the state."
"The International Energy Agency’s executive director has called hydropower a “forgotten giant,” and has urged governments to do more to remember it. U.S. President Donald Trump has said hydropower is “fantastic,” a sharp contrast to his disdain for wind and solar."
"The Iran conflict is driving up energy and fertilizer costs, raising alarms over a return of food inflation. Farmers are bracing for resource shortages that could drag down harvests."
"In a map update posted last month to U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s website, the agency charted a major expansion of the border wall. It included terrain belonging to one of America’s most iconic wild areas, Big Bend National Park, an 800,000-acre desert landscape that includes the entire Chisos mountain range and more than 100 miles of the Rio Grande."
"Proposed legislation offers perks for data centers that invest in clean energy. A broad coalition supports the bill, but details still need to be hammered out."
"Fish are evolving ever smaller in order to survive temperature increases, new research warns. It’s a biological shift that will rob billions of meals from those who rely on fish for protein."
"World leaders have tried and failed to curb climate change by appealing to nations to act for the common good. Now, the Iran war and its costly energy crunch have some experts wondering if selfishness and nationalism may be a more likely way to save the planet, by boosting support for homegrown renewables over imported fossil fuels."
"On a recent afternoon, deep in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and less than an hour’s drive from Shenandoah National Park, a tricolored bat was moving its mouth rapidly, as if it was trying to chew something. In fact, it was echolocating, using its mouth to shape and direct pulses of ultrasonic sound as a way to survey its surroundings."
"A group representing many of the world’s wealthiest countries agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects of the Iran war on energy markets and the halt of cargo shipping through the Strait of Hormuz."
"Top US regulators met with Bayer’s CEO last year to discuss “litigation” issues – including “Supreme Court Action” over its glyphosate weed killer – just months before the Trump administration took a series of steps to boost Bayer’s case at the high court, internal government records show."