ALBANY, N.Y. - Advanced drilling techniques that blast millions of gallons of water into 400-million-year-old shale formations a mile underground are opening up "unconventional" gas fields touted as a key to the nation's energy future.

A House committee approved a bill Wednesday that would waive environmental regulations for Border Patrol activities within 100 miles of any U.S. border.

The long-awaited Draft Environmental Impact Study on the potential effects of the proposed South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway extension — a project that would give the East Valley another artery to the Phoenix region’s west side — is now available to the public for review and comment.

WASHINGTON - When it comes to global warming, the Bush administration puts its faith in volunteerism and new energy technologies to scale back America’s Everest of heat-trapping gases. But government studies say the results are at best uncertain.

Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, fellow citizens: Every year, by law and by custom, we meet here to consider the state of the union. This year, we gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.

February 2, 2005

Having lived in upstate New York, then Minnesota, Jon Storm knew only clean air before moving here. But after he moved to the East Valley in 2001, he began suffering from watery eyes and weekly sinus infections.

On land once farmed for alfalfa in the middle of fields and new homes, thousands of solar panels sit quietly generating electricity for Salt River Project.

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials announced today that a draft version of a report that examines surface water quality in Arizona is available for public review and comment.

An ozone high pollution advisory has been issued for Friday by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

The Arizona Legislature is expected to work late into Thursday night on a $8.1 billion budget that dramatically increases spending, but a dispute has erupted over the state's environmental protection agency.

To erase our massive federal deficit, this is my list of wasteful and job-killing agencies:

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has issued an ozone health watch for Wednesday.

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency is ready to drop its requirement that motorcycles undergo emissions inspections in the Valley, the last area in the country to require the tests.

FLAGSTAFF — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has imposed new pollution limits on three coal-fired Arizona power plants, aiming to protect the environment and air quality for wilderness areas and landmarks such as the Grand Canyon.

Reading Governor Brewer’s statement regarding the federal government’s enforcement of the laws related to air pollution at the Grand Canyon left me both disappointed and hopeful. Quoted in the East Valley Tribune on July 29, 2012, Brewer stated “I don’t think it has anything to do with air quality … It has everything to do with the Obama administration going to war on coal … It’s more about politics and not science.” I was disappointed that the governor was blaming amendments made to the Clean Air Act in 1990 by the 101st Congress on our current president.

A federal appeals court halted efforts by Asarco to obtain nearly 11,000 acres of federal land to expand its copper mining operations near Kearney.

Want to know what the air condition is outside today or if a health alert has been issued? Ask your smartphone.

The Maricopa County Air Quality Department will hold a public meeting to discuss its 2011 Air Monitoring Network Review 1 p.m. Aug. 23. The meeting will be at the Air Monitoring Division’s offices at 2145 S. 11th Ave., Suite 170, Phoenix.

A federal appeals court has slapped down efforts by home builders to overturn a decision that two stretches of the Santa Cruz River are legally “navigable.”

The air in more than 300 U.S. counties — including Maricopa, Pinal and surrounding counties — is simply too dirty to breathe, the government says, ordering a multibillion-dollar expansion of smog cleanup in cities and towns across the country.

WASHINGTON – A bill that would grant the Department of Homeland Security unprecedented access to federal lands near the border was sharply criticized Friday for giving the department unchecked authority.

Intel Corp. is going “green” in a big way. The semiconductor giant said Monday it will purchase more than 1.3 billion kilowatt hours a year of renewable energy certificates, which will make Intel the largest corporate purchaser of green power in the U.S.

Johnson Utilities, the water provider for the San Tan Valley area of northeastern Pinal County, was found to have violated multiple environmental regulations in regard to its handling of an August E.coli scare, according to a notice given to the company by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality on Oct. 9.