EditorialCore samples for testing stacked in sheds on Beverly Beethe?s farm, the site of a future niobium mine in Elk Creek, Neb., on Dec. 8, 2022. (Arin Yoon/The New York Times)
EditorialElk Mountain, an area at the center of a legal dispute over access to public land that is surrounded by a private ranch, in Elk Mountain, Wyo., Nov. 15, 2022. (James Stukenberg/The New York Times)
EditorialA Sacramento County crew clears a tangle of downed trees from a road in Elk Grove, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)