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Overflow communities: Sonoran Institute's latest publication explores the result of development cascading into Wyoming, Idaho counties from Wyoming's Teton County
June 12, 2008
- Developer challenges Wyoming county's development moratorium
The developer of Teton Meadows Ranch in Jackson have filed a lawsuit in Wyoming state district court asking that the six-month moratorium on development imposed by the Teton County Commission last month be overturned.
Jackson Hole News & Guide; 06/12/2008
Fact & Fiction and the Bookstore at the University of Montana offer a review of Dorothy Handsaw Patent's "When the Wolves returned: Restoring Nature's Balance in Yellowstone."
June 29-July 1: Western Governors' Association Annual Meeting; Wildlife corridors, climate change, energy and managing water on agenda, Stetson Village
Jackson Hole, Wy. Read a preview
Sept. 8-11: The U.S. Geological Survey's Third Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, Estes Park, Colo. Read a preview.
Montana pulls energy leases on Rocky Mountain Front from auction list
After conservation groups and the state's Fish, Wildlife and Parks agency protested four parcels of energy leases along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation deferred leasing the parcels for six months.
Billings Gazette (AP); 06/11/2008
Montana couple offers Rocky Mountain Front ranch to state for park
Chuck and Sharon Blixrud are offering Montana their nearly 1,000-acre Seven Lazy P guest ranch that lies along the Rocky Mountain Front for a new state park.
Helena Independent Record; 06/12/2008
Federal judge lets Colorado River states join Glen Canyon dam suit
A federal judge allowed Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming to intervene in support of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in a lawsuit filed by the Grand Canyon Trust against the federal agency over management of Glen Canyon Dam.
Las Vegas Sun (AP); 06/11/2008
EPA, homebuilders sign off on Clean Water settlements
Four of the nation's largest homebuilders have agreed to pay $4.3 million in fines for Clean Water Act violations in failing to control run-off from construction sites, most of which were in Arizona, Nevada, California, Florida and Texas, although the settlement covers sites in Utah as well.
Salt Lake Tribune; 06/12/2008
Lake Powell pipeline plan gets cool reception at Utah meeting
More than 300 people attended the second of three planned meetings hosted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on a proposal to build a 158-mile pipeline from Lake Powell in Arizona to a reservoir in Utah's Washington County to provide water to three Utah counties, where dozens of attendees fired questions at state and federal regulators who successfully sidestepped questions on the project's cost and the ratio of power generated by the project versus the power needed to operate it.
Salt Lake Tribune; 06/12/2008
N.M. laboratory once again takes the lead for fastest supercomputer
Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roadrunner supercomputer bumped BlueGene/L at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California from first place as the world's fastest computer, with the N.M. laboratory's supercomputer sustaining a speed of 1.026 petaflops, or a million billion calculations per second.
Santa Fe New Mexican; 06/10/2008
Colorado county OKs impact fees on energy, development
Beginning in mid-July, Rio Blanco County will begin collecting impact fees on energy operations and new developments.
Grand Junction Sentinel; 06/10/2008
Another breach in century-old irrigation canal reported in Nevada
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is investigating the failure of the 103-year-old Newlands Project near Fallon, the second time in six months a portion of the canal failed in Nevada.
Las Vegas Review-Journal (AP); 06/13/2008
NPS considers returning Badlands acres to Ogalala Sioux
The U.S. military confiscated what is now the southern portion of Badlands National Park in South Dakota from the Ogalala Sioux during World War II to use the area as an artillery range, and now the National Park Service is considering returning the 133,000-acre parcel to the tribe.
Los Angeles Times; 06/09/2008
Federal gov't denies $58 billion owed in Indian trust case
The parties to the Cobell lawsuit on the federal government's handling of lands and funds held in trust for tribes made their opening statements in the trial on Monday in Washington D.C., with lawyers for the Indian plaintiffs arguing that the federal government owed them $58 billion, and lawyers for the government arguing that the amount owed was in the "millions not billions."
Billings Gazette; 06/10/2008
Late Nevada rancher wins water suit against USFS
The late Wayne Hage, a Nevada rancher who sued the U.S. Forest Service in 1991 over the agency's requirement that Hage use only hand tools to keep irrigation canals clear of brush and trees, won his lawsuit on Friday, when a federal appeals judge ruled the U.S. Forest Service's hand-tool regulation resulted in the agency's wrongful taking of that water right.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP); 06/11/2008
USFS, BLM approve expansion of Idaho phosphate plant
A phosphate mine operated by the J.R. Simplot Co. in southeastern Idaho received needed approval from the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to expand its operations by 1,400 acres, which will allow mining in designated roadless areas, and at least one group has already promised to go to court to stop the expansion.
Idaho Statesman (AP); 06/12/2008
Wyoming state veterinarian suspects Daniel cattle had brucellosis
Walter Cook, Wyoming's state veterinarian, said preliminary blood tests on two young adult cows from a herd in the Daniel area indicated that the animals had been exposed to brucellosis, although a definite diagnosis won't be made until tissue tests are completed within the next couple of weeks.
Jackson Hole News & Guide; 06/13/2008
- Montana will lose brucellosis-free status after heifer tests positive
Montana officials said the state won't officially lose its brucellosis-free status until the order is published in the Federal Register, but once that occurs, livestock producers in the state will incur additional expenses and possibly lose sales, and if additional animals in the Paradise Valley herd where the heifer tested positive for the disease also test positive, that rancher may have to destroy the entire herd.
Montana Standard; 06/10/2008
Wyoming to start slow on wolf hunt
At a meeting in Jackson on Wednesday, Wyoming Game and Fish Department wolf program coordinator Mike Jimenez laid out the details of the state's first wolf hunt, which bases hunting quotas on 35 percent of the state's wolf population being removed by any means, i.e., hunting, illegal kills or control actions.
Jackson Hole News & Guide; 06/13/2008
- Montana panel endorses wolf hunt limit of 75 per year
At a meeting on Thursday, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission proposed a 75-wolf limit for the state's fall hunt, but the commission won't make a final decision on that quota until August.
Helena Independent Record; 06/13/2008
Colorado wildfire scorches 42,000 acres
A wildfire believed to be sparked by lightning Wednesday on the Army's Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site had burned 42,000 acres by Thursday evening, but firefighters successfully beat back the flames that had threatened eight ranches.
Denver Post; 06/13/2008
BLM releases plan to auction energy leases on Colorado's Roan Plateau
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Monday that it would sell energy leases on 55,186 acres of Colorado's Roan Plateau at its Aug. 14 auction.
Denver Post; 06/10/2008
U.S., Colorado reach deal on Gunnison River water rights
The three-decade battle on Gunnison River water flows through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in western Colorado appears to have been settled, although the agreement reached Friday between the U.S. and Colorado, and conservation groups and water users, must still be approved by the Colorado water court.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP); 06/07/2008
Lawsuit alleges Montana's Rock Creek mine will harm bull trout
A coalition of conservation groups have filed a lawsuit to stop the Rock Creek copper and silver mine proposed in Montana's Cabinet Mountains because they fear the mine will increase the sediment load in Rock Creek and harm bull trout, but Revett Minerals officials said the mitigation measures the mine will put in place will actually improve the water quality of the creek.
Missoulian; 06/11/2008
Parks Canada report blames humans for grizzly bear decline in Banff
For the first time, Parks Canada took a look at grizzly bear deaths and the causes of those deaths in Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Kootenay, Waterton, Mount Revelstoke and Glacier national parks between 1990 and 2007 as a whole, and said that Canadian Pacific Railway through Banff and the Canadian National Railway in Jasper were the largest killers of grizzly bears.
Calgary Herald; 06/08/2008
SNWA's plan for Snake Valley aquifer endangers fresh water supplies
Southern Nevada Water Authority's plan to pump up to 16 million gallons of water a year from the Snake Valley which underlies Nevada's Great Basin National Park along the Nevada-Utah border puts that fragile ecosystem at risk, since the aquifer not only provides precious water to sensitive wildlife and fragile habitat, but also holds a polluted aquifer beneath the salt desert at bay.
Deseret News; 06/09/2008
Passing the NPS Centennial Initiative a win-win for Congress
House Democrats need to get over their fear that they'll do something that the outgoing president can celebrate, and pass the National Park Service Centennial Initiative that would allow the agency to raise $1 billion in private money between now and 2016, match that money with $1 billion in federal funds over and above current allocations for the park system, and use the money to address vital needs of our national park system.
New York Times; 06/10/2008
Colorado governor's plan for Roan Plateau better than the BLM's
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter's six-phase energy development plan for the Roan Plateau is not only environmentally superior to the Bureau of Land Management's all-at-once plan, but it also makes more sense economically.
Denver Post; 06/11/2008
Ranchers have only themselves to blame for brucellosis
If ranchers in the Greater Yellowstone Area want to get rid of brucellosis, they need to get rid of Wyoming's feedgrounds which raises the concentration of the infection to about 30 percent of the animals.
NewWest.net; 06/13/2008
Nation's policy on horse slaughter needs a dose of common sense
The folks who fought hard to end the slaughter of horses in the? United States probably never asked themselves, "Then what?"--and surely never imagined the consequence of people abandoning horses on public lands, left to fend for themselves, after their owners could no longer feed them.
John A. Baden, Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment; 06/13/2008
Appeals court ruling breathes new life into Nevada-USFS road dispute
A dispute between a Nevada county and the U.S. Forest Service over who owns the South Canyon Road got new life from a federal appeals court ruling that said two environmental groups were wrongly denied a seat at the negotiation table earlier this decade, and vacates an agreement reached in 2001 and implemented in 2006.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP); 06/10/2008
Montana's congressman: Better bill exists to fund rural schools
Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg said he voted against Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio's bill to extend federal payments to rural counties most affected by a loss of timber income because that bill tied the payments to oil revenues, but said he would support another bill sponsored by Oregon Rep. Greg Walden that would renew federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes funds and Secure Rural Schools for another four years.
Ravalli Republic; 06/09/2008
Montana's new driver's license full of new security features
Montana officials unveiled the state's new driver's license which contains a plethora of features designed to make it harder to alter and contains a digital strip on the back that contains all the information contained on the front of the license that law enforcement officers can scan in using electronic devices in their vehicles.
Helena Independent Record (AP); 06/11/2008
Utah congressman's oil-shale bill unlikely to get Colo. senator's support
A spokesman for Sen. Wayne Allard said that the Colorado Republican had not yet seen legislation sponsored by Utah Rep. Chris Cannon that would allow the president to waive federal regulations to clear the way for oil-shale development, but said that just as Allard opposes efforts to keep oil-shale development in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming from moving forward, he would oppose any effort to skip regulatory steps.
Grand Junction Sentinel; 06/11/2008
Raid on Arizona waterparks will test Arizona's employer-sanction law
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Department conducted an immigration sweep on two Arizona water parks and arrested nine employees suspected of using fraudulent documents to obtain employment will put the state's new employer-sanction law to its first test, although officials of the company that owns the waterparks said they're confident the company will prevail as new hires' status were checked using E-Verify, the federal database designed for just that purpose.
New York Times; 06/12/2008
Panel to hold hearing on proposed coal-fired power plant in Montana
The Montana Legislature's Agency Oversight Subcommittee will hold a hearing Tuesday on the proposed coal-fired Highwood Generation Station planned near Great Falls, including the state Board of Environmental Review's recent order that requires an additional study of emissions-control technology for PM2.5, which stands for particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller.
Great Falls Tribune; 06/09/2008
Montana lawmakers delve into air-quality permit process
An oversight committee of the Montana Legislature's Environmental Quality Council met Tuesday in Helena to review the process the state Board of Environment Review used to issue an air-quality permit for a proposed coal-fired power plant near Great Falls.
Great Falls Tribune; 06/11/2008
Arizona Legislature nixes federal Real ID legislation
The Arizona House passed legislation that would prohibit the state from participating in the federal government's Real ID program, and if Gov. Janet Napolitano signs the bill, Arizona would be the 10th state to formally decline participation in the program.
Arizona Republic; 06/12/2008
Citizens panel picks 3 to replace late Arizona state lawmaker Jake Flake
A Navajo County citizens panel selected three Republicans: Snowflake real estate agent Sylvia Allen, Show Low City Councilman Gerry Whipple and Charlie Hendrickson, an Arizona Public Service Co. area supervisor, as potential candidates to replace Arizona state Sen. Jake Flake, who died last month.
Arizona Daily Sun (AP); 06/13/2008
Rising gas prices hit rural residents of N.M., Wyoming the hardest
Nationwide, U.S. residents spend an average of 4 percent of their take-home income on fuel for their vehicles, but in rural parts of the nation, including parts of Wyoming and New Mexico, residents are spending as much as 16 percent of their take-home pay on gasoline and diesel for their cars and trucks. Has a graphic.
New York Times; 06/09/2008
Billionaires at work pulling oil from Bakken formation in N.D., Montana
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there are about 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil trapped in the Oreo-cookie-like Bakken formation that underlies the prairies of North Dakota, Montana and southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and with new technology available, there are companies already at work pulling the light, sweet crude from the ground, including Phillip Anschutz, the founder of Qwest Communications.
Edmonton Journal; 06/09/2008
Residents of N. Utah don't like Idaho pipeline plan either
Residents of three counties in northern Utah oppose the Ruby Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline from Wyoming to Oregon that would pass through their counties, and they're also not enamored of the plan for a competing interstate pipeline that rivals the Ruby in size and capacity, that would pass just north of Utah's border in Idaho.
Salt Lake Tribune; 06/12/2008
Arizona university offers up its rooftops for solar research
Three companies will provide solar panels, at their expense, on 330,000 square feet of rooftop space on the Arizona State University's Tempe campus, that could eventually provide nearly one-fifth of the power needed on the main campus.
Arizona Republic; 06/10/2008
Kennecott Copper Utah plans new molybdenum processor
Rio Tinto, the parent company of Kennecott Copper Utah, will spend $270 million on a new facility near its existing Salt Lake City smelter to process molybdenum onsite that will produce a higher chemical-grade material, and will allow the company to begin recovering and selling rhenium, a rare metal used in jet engine turbines.
Deseret News; 06/11/2008
Report: B.C. forestry sector not out of the woods yet
The U.S. housing slump and the rise in the value of the Canadian dollar, along with the devastation caused by pine bark beetle infestations were all cited as reasons British Columbia's forestry sector of the economy would continue the downward path begun in 2004 this year, although 2009 is forecast to be a bit better.
Vancouver Sun; 06/12/2008
New Mexico's largest utility pulls out of biomass-power project
Officials with the Public Service Company of New Mexico cited delays in construction of a proposed $90-million, biomass power plant as their reason for pulling the plug on a 20-year contract with Western Water and Power.
Santa Fe New Mexican; 06/13/2008
Arizona utility inks deal to buy geothermal power from N.M. plant
The Salt River Project signed a deal with Raser Technologies Inc. to buy 10 megawatts of power from a plant operated by the Utah company in New Mexico.
Arizona Republic; 06/13/2008
Drought pushes California to invoke development water law
The California Legislature passed a law in 2001 that required developers to prove they had a 20-year supply of water for new developments, a law that hasn't been used until now that drought has caused a statewide shortage of water.
New York Times; 06/07/2008
Accord clears the way for new Washington state gold mine
Miners are at work cutting tunnels and shafts into the Buckhorn Mountain in north-central Washington state for what will be the state's first gold mine to open in more than a decade, includes a timeline for the Crown Jewel mine.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP); 06/09/2008
President orders all federal contractors to use E-Verify
Under an order issued by President Bush on Monday, all companies doing business with the federal government must verify new employees' status using E-Verify, a federal online database operated by the Department of Homeland Security in conjunction with Social Security designed to give employers the ability to quickly check an employee's status.
Los Angeles Times; 06/10/2008
Weather wreaks havoc on Washington state's blooming crops
Cherry growers in central Washington have been hit particularly hard by this spring's wet, colder weather, but producers of every crop that blooms in that area of the state said their crops have been set back by the weather as well.
Tri-City Herald; 06/12/2008
Utility's concerns could power down solar efforts in Oregon
Pacific Power's concerns about third parties in solar power projects that collect tax breaks and enjoy the profits of selling unused power back to the utilities could shut down about 80 percent of the commercial solar-power projects in the works in Oregon if the state's utility regulators' decision goes the wrong way.
Portland Oregonian; 06/12/2008
Wyoming ranks second in nation for youth incarceration
The 2008 Kids Count report says Wyoming's rate of incarceration of youth, 334 per 100,000 children as compared to the national average of 125 per 100,000, is second only to South Dakota in the nation, and cited the state's lack of alternatives to jail and juvenile detention, as the reason for the state's high ranking.
Casper Star-Tribune; 06/12/2008
Annual report finds Utah kids living the good life
The annual report issued by the Annie E. Casey Foundation again found Utah in the Top 10 of most of the categories that include low-infant mortality and high rates of parental employment, but the state's rate of children living in poverty continues to increase, as does the percentage of children who lack health-insurance coverage.
Salt Lake Tribune; 06/12/2008
Kids Count: Poverty rates keeps N.M. near the bottom in kids' well-being
The annual Kids Count reported issued by the Annie E. Casey Foundation produced another dismal round of numbers for New Mexico: an increase in the death rate for children aged 1 through 14, high dropout rate, high rate of teen pregnancies, low rate of parental employment, and a high rate of single-parent families. You may have to view an ad to read this article.
Albuquerque Journal; 06/12/2008
Reports puts Montana at 29th for kids' overall well-being
The annual Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed a decrease in mortality rates for children but an increase in infant mortality, and an increase in high school dropout rates, but the percentage of children living in poverty stayed the same, as did the state's overall ranking.
Montana Standard (AP); 06/12/2008
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