California tribes are headed to the White House Tribal Nations Summit tomorrow, where they will ask Congress and the Biden administration to create or expand several national monuments. The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla tribe in the Coachella Valley would like the president to establish a new Chuckwalla National Monument and expand Joshua Tree National Park. Thomas Tortez Jr., chairman of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, said the area is an important wildlife corridor. .
A small, rural Pennsylvania community has taken a proactive approach to an area many small towns struggle with: grant funding. The City of Meadville collects property taxes but needs additional resources for some projects. Jaime Kinder, mayor of Meadville, sought assistance from Allegheny College, which developed a grant-writing course. .
November is Native American Heritage Month, and a South Dakota organization is working to help establish leadership skills for Indigenous youth. Data compiled by the Center for Native American Youth show young people within this population face many obstacles, from high school graduation rates below the national average to being over represented in foster care. John Richard, youth and family specialist with the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation on the Pine Ridge Reservation, said it underscores how Indigenous youth are still reeling from trauma experienced by past generations, and added their programs focus on providing structure and healing. .
In what s described as the first such project in the upper Midwest, a Minnesota utility is retooling one of its power distribution systems to make room for battery storage. Officials say it helps ensure service reliability while providing economic benefits. Connexus Energy recently broke ground on the project at its substation in the Twin Cities suburb of Vadnais Heights. .
Ohio oil and gas companies wasted $93 million worth of natural gas in 2019, enough to meet the yearly energy demands of the state s most populous cities, according to a new analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund. Sarah Spence, executive director of the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum, said tighter state regulations and regular inspections would prevent methane the main component of natural gas and a major contributor to global warming from being leaked, vented or flared from wells, or from pipes during the transportation process. "It really doesn t make a whole lot of sense," Spence pointed out. " .