DRA launches state legislative blog

Dakota Rural Action launched a new site to help members navigate South Dakota’s 2016 legislative session. The site includes a 2016 legislative guide, a breakdown on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s report to the legislature, and an analysis … Continued

Latest issue of Western Organizing Review

WORC’s latest newsletter, the Western Organizing Review, is hot off the press, featuring articles and columns on: Western states struggle with oil and gas radioactive waste The View from WORC – New WORC Chair Nancy Hartenhoff-Crooks introduces board officers Positive reception … Continued

IORC wins cottage food rules

Idaho Organization of Resource Councils members are celebrating a major victory for local food production. The Health and Welfare Committees in both chambers of Idaho’s state legislature unanimously passed rules making sales of non-hazardous homemade goods direct to consumers legal in the … Continued

DRA members win urban chicken pilot program

Dakota Rural Action members scored a victory on Jan. 26 when the Brookings, SD, City Council approved a one-year pilot program to allow residents to raise chickens in their backyard. DRA’s Brookings Chicken Advocates have been organizing to legalize backyard chickens … Continued

DRC members speakout against factory farm

This week, Dakota Resource Council members spoke out against a proposed 9,000-hog factory farm in Cass County, North Dakota, west of Fargo. DRC members are concerned about the community, economic and environmental impacts of the hog farm. But this single pig farm isn’t their only … Continued

Pacific Northwest totem pole dedicated in Billings

About 120 people gathered at the Northern Plains Resource Council building in Billings last Friday to dedicate a totem pole carved by members of the Lummi Nation in Washington state. The totem pole is a gift from the Lummi to members of the Northern Cheyenne in … Continued

coal leasing pause coal royalties

Judge supports reclamation suit at Spring Creek

Landowners and downstream water users were successful in gaining a review of the status of reclamation by federal and state agencies overseeing mining at Cloud Peak Energy’s Spring Creek Mine in southeastern Montana. Federal Judge Susan Watters affirmed an earlier decision … Continued

Coal train dust a public health risk

A team of scientists led by Dr. Dan Jaffe, professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry at the University of Washington, carried out a study of pollution emitted from coal trains and freight trains in the Columbia River Gorge. The study … Continued