Stories - AZPM

A solar array used by Tucson Electric Power to add renewable energy to the grid, August 2019

How Arizona gets its energy

This week, The Buzz focuses on electricity — how it’s created and where it’s needed.

Pima County gets poor marks for ozone pollution

Maricopa, Pinal counties again rank among the worst in the country for ozone pollution in an annual report from the American Lung Association.

Water levels in Lake Powell, seen here in May 2021, are dipping dangerously low. The federal government has proposed an unprecedented plan to cut back on water supplies for Arizona, Nevada and California. The measure aims to keep water levels high enough to generate hydropower at the Glen Canyon Dam.

Lake Powell is critically low, and still shrinking. Here’s what happens next

The future of the reservoir is largely uncertain, but climate science and recent actions by the government are providing some hints as to what might happen in the near future.

Invasive Species: Arundo

Follow volunteers from Watershed Management Group as they attempt to remove Arundo donax (giant reed) from Tanque Verde Creek in east Tucson.

The late-afternoon sun on Lake Powell, April 2018.

Interior Department considers emergency cutbacks to water supplies

Reductions would be felt most sharply in Central Arizona.

The vaquita is a critically endangered porpoise that lives in the northern part of the Sea of Cortez. It is considered the smallest and most endangered cetacean in the world.

Conservation group says waters less risky for endangered vaquita porpoise

The group partnered with the Mexican Navy to bring down the number of fishing nets in Mexico's Vaquita Refuge

Senate votes to make Arizona monument a national park

Chiricahua National Monument encompasses more than 12,000 acres.

Rush Dougherty looks on as Leaf owner David Gebert checks out his electric car. Both men are members of TEVA, the Tucson Electric Vehicle Association.

No 'pain at the pump' for a small percentage of Arizona drivers

Electric vehicle owners aren't shocked by gasoline prices.

A scientist releases a bucket of longfin dace into the Santa Cruz River on March 23rd, 2022.

Longfin dace return to lower Santa Cruz River

The dace were last in the area over a century ago.

U.S. Senate committee hears 2 bills on tribal water rights in Arizona

CRIT Chairwoman Amelia Flores said her tribe has already helped to stave off the effects of a historic drought by fallowing its fields and taking other measures.

Capacity at Lake Powell continues to shrink

A high-tech combination of aerial and underwater radar found that the reservoir can hold 7% less water than when it was built.

A canal carries Colorado River water to farmland near Poston, Arizona, owned and operated by the Colorado River Indian Tribes, a key player in Arizona's Drought Contingency Plan.

U.S. Senate committee to hear testimony on tribal water rights

The chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes is in Washington, D.C., this week to testify for a bill that would allow her tribe to lease its water to other parts of Arizona.