Conservation groups say it was a close call last week when a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contractor began clearing a site near Moab which contained dinosaur tracks believed to be 112 million years old. A wooden boardwalk was removed from a portion of the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite and some ground cover was cleared before work was stopped. The Center for Biological Diversity heard about the incident on social media and fired off a cease and desist letter to the BLM to halt work. .
Illinois has more lead pipelines than any other state in the nation, but a new plan from the Biden-Harris administration could boost the state s lead-line removal efforts. The Biden-Harris Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan calls for $15 billion over the next decade to replace all the country s lead pipelines. Angela Guyadeen, director of the Safe Water Initiative for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said financing lead-line removal projects is a major barrier for most communities. .
Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill proponents say could benefit water quality not only locally, but in places as far-flung as the Gulf of Mexico. The proposal would update the state s conservation programs and help local organizations set goals and implement projects to reduce the spread of excessive nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, that end up in the water. Eliot Clay, state programs director for the Illinois Environmental Council, explained the nutrients can disrupt marine ecologies and cause harmful algal blooms. .
By Sammy Fretwell, Adam Wagner and Anita Lee for McClatchy News and The Raleigh News and Observer, with support fromthe Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan for North Carolina News Service reporting for the Raleigh News and Observer-Public News Service Collaboration Fins surfaced in the tidal creek, drawing Matt Wright s attention away from the boat in the growing dusk. The 48-year-old Illinois resident was on his first tour of a salt marsh when dolphins appeared around the vessel, gently swimming through the estuary as shadows advanced across the tideland. Brilliant green spartina grass stood in the marsh mud, contrasting sharply with the dark water. .