New Public Lands Agenda A new report details pressing public-lands issues for the Obama administration, lays out options for action
March 25, 2009
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Fact
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at the University of Montana offer a review of Mark Bittman's "Food Matters: A guide to conscious eating."
March 20, 2009
April 16-17: Designing the New West; Bozeman, Mont. Read a preview.
N.M.-Arizona power line reflects renewable-energy dilemma
A 460-mile power line that would stretch between solar- and wind-energy plants in New Mexico and markets in Arizona, and carry 3,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to keep a handful of coal-fired power plants offline and will allow utilities to meet mandated green energy requirements, also passes through wildlife rich habitat.
Washington Post; 04/16/2009
- Utility begins work on Idaho-Salt Lake City transmission line
PacifiCorp, the Oregon-based utility that does business as Rocky Mountain Power and Pacific Power, has begun construction on the $600-million, 135-mile transmission line project between Downey, Idaho, and Salt Lake City, which is part of a massive $6-billion, 2,000-mile project that will eventually cross parts of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and possibly Colorado by 2014.
Salt Lake Tribune; 04/15/2009
Italian company opens world's largest geothermal plants in Nevada
Italy-based Enel Green Power dedicated the world's largest geothermal plants on Wednesday, both located in Nevada's Churchill County.
Lahontan Valley News; 04/16/2009
- Company quintuples size of Nevada solar project
San Diego-based Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of New York-based Sempra Energy, announced Wednesday that it would expand its solar-power installation from 10 megawatts to 58 megawatts and rename the installation "Copper Mountain Solar."
Las Vegas Review-Journal; 04/16/2009
U. of Arizona laboratory tackles medications in water issue
The Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants at the University of Arizona in Tucson is researching the effect the trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs and other pollutants found in the nation's water supplies may have on residents' health. Free registration may be required to read this article.
Arizona Daily Star; 04/13/2009
Study takes 'big picture' look at CBM drilling in Montana basin
A hydrologic consultant hired by the Northern Plains Resource Council to examine how coalbed methane drilling operations could affect aquifers in the Powder River Basin in southeastern Montana released his study that said if the predicted 26,000 coalbed methane wells are drilled, 40 percent of the recharge water will eventually be pumped from the basin, and it could take a couple of hundred of years after drilling has stopped for the aquifers to recover.
Billings Gazette; 04/14/2009
BuRec predicts Lake Mead will fall to 1965 levels
With another below-average water year predicted for the Colorado River, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water managers lowered their projections for water levels in Lake Mead in July another 8 feet, with water levels currently just 30 feet above the level where Nevada, Arizona and Mexico would have to reduce their combined water use by 400,000 acre-feet a year.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; 04/14/2009
Wyoming residents sound off about Colorado water plan
Colorado businessman Aaron Million got an earful Tuesday night at a meeting in Green River, where Wyoming residents told him they're not interested in his plan to pump water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir south to Colorado's Front Range cities.
Casper Star-Tribune; 04/16/2009
Idaho water decision will determine fate of Treasure Valley development
The application for water rights of Arizona developer M3 for its proposed Treasure Valley subdivision is one of the 10 largest ever submitted to the Idaho Department of Water Resources, and while M3 officials said the aquifer underlying its 6,000 acres is much larger than originally thought, the 2,000 water well owners in the Valley say it's not.
Idaho Statesman; 04/16/2009
Obama nominates former Idaho AG to head BIA
President Obama has nominated Larry EchoHawk, who served as Idaho's attorney general in the 1990s and nearly won his race to be governor of that state in 1994, to head up the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); 04/13/2009
Montana water projects net $60M of BuRec's $900M stimulus funds
Two major water projects on Montana's Hi-Line will share in $60 million of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's $900-million share of federal stimulus funds: the Rocky Boy's Northcentral Montana and Fort Peck/Dry Prairie water projects--which will also get $17 million from the current federal budget.
Great Falls Tribune; 04/16/2009
Montana schools on, near reservations get $1.6M in federal funds
U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester announced Thursday that 28 schools on or near Montana's seven Indian reservations will share in $1.6 million of federal stimulus funds allocated to improve or repair school facilities, with Browning Elementary receiving the largest share of $304,110.
Great Falls Tribune; 04/17/2009
USGS to study climate change effects on Yellowstone grizzly bears
Based on preliminary findings that male grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park are hibernating later in the fall, the U.S. Geological Survey will conduct further research on when the 600 or so bears in the region den up for the winter.
Great Falls Tribune; 04/13/2009
Wolf that wandered from Montana to Colorado found dead
Ed Bangs, gray wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said that the cause of death has not yet been determined for Wolf 341F, a young female that was part of a pack in Montana that ranged between Livingston and Gardiner, but 341F had wandered to Colorado, where she was found dead last week.
NewWest.net; 04/15/2009
N.M. group sues Interior Dept. over endangered species
WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Interior Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to act on a petition seeking federal protection for four species in New Mexico and the Southwest: the white-sided jackrabbit, the Jemez Mountains salamander, Wright's marsh thistle and the Chihuahua scurfpea.
Santa Fe New Mexican (AP); 04/17/2009
Federal appeals court halts expansion of Idaho phosphate mine
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision Friday that will temporarily halt the expansion of the Smoky Canyon phosphate mine owned by J.R. Simplot Co. in Idaho.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); 04/14/2009
BLM asks federal judge to split grazing suit between 6 states
Attorneys for the Bureau of Land Management argued Thursday in Boise that a federal lawsuit challenging 16 separate BLM management plans across six states should be split among those states, but the lawyer for Western Watersheds Projects, which filed the lawsuit, said the plans' common defect--that the BLM never considered a no-graze option to preserve grouse habitat--provide the basis to keep the lawsuit intact.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); 04/17/2009
Report warns logging set to begin in West's roadless forests
A new report from Environment America, "Quietly Paving Paradise," warns that logging projects are set to commence in previously undeveloped forests in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska.
brightgreenblog (Christian Science Monitor); 04/15/2009
Proposed mine in Montana 'poster child' for reworking 1872 law
A silver mine proposed in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area in the Kootenai National Forest in extreme Northwest Montana is being offered as Exhibit A in the battle to rework the 1872 hardrock mining law, but the mining industry says this is not the time to impair companies that provide good-paying jobs in states that need them.
New York Times (Greenwire); 04/16/2009
Arizona study isolates heat as factor in tree deaths
University of Arizona researchers working in the Biosphere 2 laboratory isolated an increase in temperature as an underlying cause for tree deaths for the first time, and found that an increase of just 7 degrees Fahrenheit could result in a fivefold increase in pinon die-offs.
Arizona Republic; 04/14/2009
Beaverhead-Deerlodge plan deserves more from Montana lawmakers
Montana's three federal lawmakers should state unequivocally whether or not they support the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership, which identifies 700,000 acres of the national forest's 3.3 million acres that could be used for timber harvest and designates nearly 575,000 acres as wilderness, and if they do support it, do something to get this proposal through Congress.
Missoulian; 04/12/2009
- There are better ways to protect Montana wilderness than BDP
Local newspapers are urging Montana's congressional delegation to get the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership legislation through Congress, but if this bill is Montana's only chance to get wilderness designated in decades, then the state should opt out because the status quo is better than this bill. A column by Bill Schneider.
NewWest.net; 04/16/2009
Stalled planned community in Idaho provides a good lesson
Home buyers and Idaho county planners should take this lesson rom Avimor, the planned community north of Boise that never quite got off the ground and is now up for sale: There's a lot of landscape between promises made and promises kept.
Idaho Statesman; 04/14/2009
Montana stream-access law ends decade of disputes
The Montana Legislature crafted a good resolution to a decade-long dispute over the public's right to access waterways from county bridges and roads, a measure Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed into law this week.
Billings Gazette; 04/15/2009
Wyoming needs lots of answers about Flaming Gorge proposal
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has just begun its environmental assessment of a project to ship water from Wyoming's Flaming Gorge Reservoir to Colorado's Front Range cities, and Wyoming should allow that process to proceed but should also ensure that any questions it has are answered by that study.
Casper Star-Tribune; 04/16/2009
Obama taps N.M. man to head up Interior Lands agency
The Obama administration named Ned Farquhar deputy assistant secretary of the Land and Minerals Management for the Department of the Interior last week; Farquhar spent a decade working on energy initiatives for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and was an adviser to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on environmental issues.
Wilcox Range News (Wick Communications); 04/16/2009
Thousands turn out for 'Tea Party' protest in Boise
A Tax Day protest in Idaho's capital city drew 2,500 or so people, despite cold, wet weather.
Idaho Statesman; 04/16/2009
Colorado state judge rules seizure of tax preparer's records illegal
Larimer County District Judge James Hiatt ruled Monday that Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck and Sheriff John Cooke violated the privacy rights of the clients of Amalia Cerrillo, many of whom are Hispanic, and ordered that documents obtained in the raid cannot be used in the Colorado county's criminal identity-theft investigation.
Denver Post; 04/14/2009
Utah Highway Patrol declines to enforce new immigration law
The head of the Utah Highway Patrol announced Wednesday that the state's largest police agency will opt out of enforcing Utah new immigration law that takes effect July 1, saying the department just doesn't have the money or personnel to expand their enforcement duties.
Salt Lake Tribune; 04/16/2009
Idaho
Idaho House sends bighorn sheep grazing bill to governor
Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter holds the fate of bighorn sheep that wander onto domestic-sheep grazing allotments in his hands, after the House sent legislation to him that mandates state wildlife officials either relocate the wild sheep or kill them.
Idaho Statesman (AP); 04/17/2009
Idaho House passes bill to allow workers to keep guns in cars
Three employers in Idaho -- Cabela's, Home Depot and Hewlett-Packard -- prohibit employees from keeping guns in their cars, and a bill passed in the Idaho House encourages them to reconsider that ban by limiting their civil liability in state court actions should those guns be used in a crime.
Idaho Statesman; 04/14/2009
Montana
Montana governor signs stream-access bill into law
Legislation crafted to clarify a Montana Supreme Court decision granting the public's right to access waterways from county bridges and roads was signed into law by Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Monday.
Billings Gazette; 04/14/2009
Montana Legislature sends horse-slaughter bill back to governor
The Montana Legislature rejected Gov. Brian Schweitzer's changes to legislation that would allow horse slaughterhouses to be operated in the state and sent the measure back to the governor, who now has 10 days to sign or veto the measure, or do nothing and allow it to automatically become law.
Billings Gazette; 04/17/2009
Montana governor amends energy-projects bill, sends it back
Gov. Brian Schweitzer added nearly 36 amendments to legislation designed to streamline the permitting process for energy projects and sent the bill back to the Montana Legislature for action.
Great Falls Tribune; 04/17/2009
Appraisal sets value of Montana coal reserves at $1.4 billion
The coal reserves owned jointly by Montana and Great Northern Properties in the southeastern corner of the state were appraised to be worth $1.4 billion, and while the Montana Rural Education Association and private industry are pushing for development of those reserves, environmental groups and others are fiercely resisting such development.
Billings Gazette (AP); 04/14/2009
Montana senators say Mint bill will help Stillwater palladium mine
A bill sponsored by Montana Sen. Max Baucus that will allow the U.S. Mint to produce palladium versions of Saint-Gaudens' ultra-high-relief bullion coins passed on April 14, and palladium from the Stillwater Mine in Montana could be used to create those coins.
Platinum Today; 04/15/2009
Nevada mine again produces gold bars
The first gold bar in nine months was poured at Nevada's Jerritt Canyon Mine on Wednesday, after the mill was shut down to install emissions controls to meet Nevada Division of Environmental Protection standards.
Elko Daily Free Press; 04/17/2009
Report tracks recession's effect on nation's illegal immigrants
A study released this week by the Pew Hispanic Center found that workers in this country illegally were more likely to be unemployed than either citizens or legal immigrants, and in the West, where illegal immigrants found work in the construction and service industries, many have decided to either leave the region or return to their home country.
NewWest.net; 04/17/2009
Montana mill opens second shift to keep loggers employed
Spring break-up in Montana usually means loggers are out of work from April 1 through the end of June, but this year Sun Mountain Lumber in Deer Lodge is opening up a night shift and training loggers to work the line to keep logging crews off the unemployment line.
Montana Standard; 04/14/2009
Utah's unemployment rate climbs to 5.2 percent
Two years ago, Utah had one of the fastest-growing job markets in the nation, but for the year that ended in March, the Beehive State had shed 32,800 jobs, pushing the state's jobless rate to 5.2 percent, which is still considerably lower than the national 8.5 percent unemployment rate.
Salt Lake Tribune; 04/17/2009
Alberta, B.C. lead in increase in bankruptcies in Canada
The number of bankruptcies in Canada in February increased 22 percent from the rate a year ago, and were up 13.1 percent from January, and in Alberta and British Columbia the year-over-year increase were 67.4 percent and 44.8 percent, respectively.
Toronto Globe and Mail; 04/17/2009
USFS crafts new wilderness rule to address 'snowkiting'
Snowkiting is about a decade old in Oregon, and U.S. Forest Service officials are working on new rules to specifically ban the sport in wilderness areas.
Portland Oregonian; 04/13/2009
Palin: Alaska lives with climate change, touts cleaner n-gas
Departing from her past stance on climate change, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday that her state was living with the effects of global warming and urged faster development of natural gas resources as a cleaner alternative to oil and coal.
Los Angeles Times; 04/15/2009
EPA orders pesticide makers to test 67 chemicals
The federal Environmental Protection Agency ordered pesticide makers to test the effect 67 chemicals may have on human and animal endocrine systems.
Washington Post; 04/17/2009
Oregon-B.C. high-speed rail corridor on Obama agenda
On Thursday, President Barack Obama rolled out his funding plan for 10 high-speed rail corridors, including one that would run between Eugene, Ore. and Vancouver, B.C.
Portland Oregonian; 04/17/2009
'New West' economy proves another bust for Oregon town
Bend, a former timber town in Central Oregon, was reborn as a Mecca for outdoor recreation a couple of decades ago, but now that boom, too, has ended, leaving the businesses that lived off the building boom closing, and hundreds of homes in foreclosure or sitting empty.
Seattle Times; 04/12/2009
Residents of Idaho planned community OK with stalled plans
The proposed sale of the Avimor planned community near Boise doesn't bother the few residents who have actually built their homes there, as they have access to the natural amenities the area offers and no crowds.
Idaho Statesman; 04/13/2009
Oregon developer puts Montana Rock Creek parcel up for sale
Michael Barnes has listed the Ranch at Rock Creek, a development at the mouth of one of Montana's most prized trout fisheries, up for sale, asking $5.75 million for the entire 142 acres.
Missoulian; 04/11/2009
Montana resort faces an uphill challenge
As with other resorts in the West that offer recreation opportunities just out the door of high-end homes, Tom Maclay's Bitterroot Resort in Montana has been hit hard by the national economy, although he doesn't have to deal with half-built homes for which he must find financing. A perspective.
NewWest.net; 04/14/2009
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