BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Oil and gas development in the Western U.S. could continue to cause sage grouse numbers to decline despite limits on drilling meant to protect the struggling bird species, according to scientists. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and Colorado State University reached the conclusion after examining the effects of drilling on greater sage grouse over a ...

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — The Latest on smoke coming from a refinery in Denver area (all times local): 2:20 p.m. The Denver Fire Department says sulfur dioxide was released from a refinery that sent plumes of smoke into the air after a power failure. Suncor Energy says a power failure shut down its plant in Commerce City north of ...

I encourage my daughter to try her best at everything she does in hopes that she becomes the best.  After all what parent wouldn’t want to see their kid standing on the podium at the Olympics with a gold medal hanging around their neck?  But what’s the cost of becoming the best, and isn’t it ok to just be “good”? ...

VERPLANCK, N.Y. (AP) — Four protesters have emerged from an above-ground section of a steel natural gas pipeline that’s being built underneath the Hudson River after they climbed into it to protest a pipeline from Pennsylvania to New York. A protest group says Rebecca Berlin, Mackenzie Wilkins, Dave Publow and Janet Gonzalez entered a work site early Monday and entered ...

As reports about the devastation from Hurricane Matthew flood in, no pun intended, we can’t help feel concern for our neighbors on the southeastern coast of the United States. In North Dakota, on the plains, we have wind all the time. People from out of state visit and comment about the constant wind. And we do get occasional tornadoes. But after ...

TORONTO (AP) — The name Deepwater Horizon is synonymous to most with environmental catastrophe and corporate negligence. For Mike Williams, who survived the April 2010 oil-rig explosion by plunging into the Gulf of Mexico from several stories up, it was about something else. “My 11 brothers that got killed were immediately forgotten,” Williams said, speaking from his Sulphur Springs, Texas, ...

ATLANTA (AP) — The Latest on the gas shortage caused by a pipeline spill (all times local): 4:15 p.m. Federal officials say highly flammable vapors keep investigators from the site of a gas leak for the first few days after it was discovered. The pipeline leak in Alabama has led to gas shortages across the South. Harmful chemicals in the ...

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Swiss commodity traders accused of deliberately blending toxic fuel and dumping it in West Africa say African governments are to blame for low standards and failure to invest in refineries and newer vehicles to lower exhaust emissions that cause respiratory and other diseases. “What is very clear is that the role of improving fuel quality in ...

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a potential act of terrorism, a finding that would realize long-held fears of an attack in the immigrant-rich state that has struggled to stop the recruiting of its young men by groups including the Islamic State. A young Somali man dressed as ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A utility that owns a well that leaked massive amounts of natural gas and drove thousands of families from their Los Angeles homes pleaded no contest to a criminal charge Tuesday as part of a $4 million settlement with prosecutors. The deal requires Southern California Gas Co. to adopt a leak-monitoring system at its Aliso Canyon ...