Oil shale and its not-so-repetitive past: The Center of the American West probes the West's oil shale resources
and the past and future efforts to pull the oil out of its rocky bed
Aug. 6, 2009
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- EnShale poised to begin processing Utah oil shale
At a newly-built plant built on private land in Utah's Uintah County near Naples, EnShale Inc., a subsidiary of Bullion Monarch Mining (BMM), plans to begin processing oil shale.
Vernal Express; 08/12/2009
- Current oilshale plans just aren't big enough
Tapping into the oil trapped in shale in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming will take a whole lot of water and processing -- and perhaps the best way to get the oil out of the rock is to dig it up, haul it to Louisiana--where the 27 million gallons of water needed daily is in ample supply--and process it there. A Writers on the Range column by Ed Quillen.
High Country News; 08/13/2009
Keeping Safe: On Montana's Blackfeet Reservation, the Po'ka Ranch looks beyond bars and walls to help troubled youth.
June 18, 2009
Fact & Fiction sponsors a review of Richard Manning's Rewilding the West: Restoration in a Prairie Landscape
Aug. 5, 2009
Greater Yellowstone Coalition's 2009 summer outdoor adventures and projects:
- Aug. 22 : Hike to the High Lakes of the Beartooth Plateau, near Cody, Wyo.
Interior Sec'y headlines water forum in Montana
At the H20 09 Forum, sponsored by the Urban Institute at Montana State University Billings, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urged for more water efficiencies in the West, where estimates are that the population will increase 45 percent over the next couple of decades.
Billings Gazette; 08/11/2009
- Interior Secretary takes a tour of Glacier National Park in Montana
Montana Sen. Max Baucus said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has a better understanding of Montana's fight against coalbed methane development, coal and gold mining in the headwaters of the Flathead River in British Columbia after dipping his hands in the Montana river during a tour of Glacier National Park.
Missoulian; 08/12/2009
- Interior secretary says leases on Colorado plateau will be honored
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told the Grand Junction Sentinel that the leases on Colorado's Roan Plateau would be honored; Salazar has been criticized for withdrawing 77 energy leases in Utah that he said were too close to national parks, although more recently he has said some of those leases may be honored.
Grand Junction Sentinel; 08/13/2009
Montanans snap up tickets for Obama town hall today
Hundreds of folks stood in line for hours for a chance to get a free ticket to attend a town hall meeting today at the Gallatin Field Airport in Montana.
Great Falls Tribune; 08/14/2009
Former President Clinton speaks at Nevada clean-energy summit
Former President Bill Clinton spoke at the National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 at University of Nevada-Las Vegas on Monday, and urged the nation to quit squandering time and start building green energy projects, which he said would help replace some of the 7 million jobs lost in the United States over the past couple of years.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; 08/11/2009
Nevada, Utah reach tentative deal on Snake Valley water
Under a proposal released Thursday, Nevada and Utah would agree to share all the unallocated water in the Snake Valley, putting a final decision on a proposed 285-mile pipeline from the valley to Las Vegas until 2019, but critics of the proposed deal said any draw down of the aquifer in the valley is unacceptable.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/14/2009
Colorado water board tells employees to look for unused water
The board of the Southwestern Water Conservation District asked its staff last week to begin looking for unallocated water in the Animas-La Plata Project in Colorado, specifically the 10,460-acre-foot share of water allocated to Colorado.
Durango Herald; 08/11/2009
Six Colorado schools picked for Wind for Schools Program,
The federal-state Wind for Schools Program builds wind turbine on schools that supply power--and science lessons--and six schools in Colorado were selected to participate in the program, including one in Wellington, the only Front Range school picked.
Denver Post; 08/11/2009
Wyoming city votes to join opposition to Green River pipeline plan
On a 5-4 vote Tuesday, the Rock Springs City Council decided to join groups opposing a plan to pipe water from Wyoming's Green River Basin to Colorado's Front Range cities.
Casper Star-Tribune; 08/13/2009
Utah road department wants cities to take over old highways
As the Utah Department of Transportation opens new highways to in northern Utah, it wants to hand off responsibility for the older roads to the communities they serve, but officials of those cities say they can't handle the maintenance costs--an argument the state is making as well.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/14/2009
Montana tribe raises the bar on coalbed methane water quality
A federal lawsuit is already pending over restrictions put in place in Montana over discharge water from coalbed methane operations in the Powder River Basin that runs along the Montana-Wyoming border, and now the Northern Cheyenne Tribe is proposing even more stringent restrictions during some months of the year that tribal officials said are necessary to protect the Tongue River as it flows through tribal lands in southeastern Montana.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); 08/13/2009
N.M. pueblos to share $11M in HUD housing funds
New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman announced Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had awarded $11 million in housing grants to six pueblos in the state, with the Zuni Pueblo and the Mescalero Apache Nation each getting $3 million; the Isleta and Ohkay Owingeh will get $2 million each; and the Laguna and Taos also receiving funds.
Santa Fe New Mexican (AP); 08/12/2009
Crow tribal leader gets Presidential Medal of Freedom
Joe Medicine Crow, a 95-year-old Crow tribal leader, was one of 16 people who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a Washington, D.C. ceremony Wednesday.
Billings Gazette (AP); 08/13/2009
AP: Federal gov't sitting on millions of dollars of energy leases
The Associated Press has calculated that energy companies have paid nearly $100 million to the federal government for energy leases that have yet to be developed due to protests and lawsuits, about $40 million of which is for energy leases in Utah.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/10/2009
Obama administration says it will defend roadless rule in 10th Circuit
In court documents filed Thursday in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Obama administration said it would support the 2001 ban on logging and road building put in place by the Clinton administration.
Casper Star-Tribune; 08/14/2009
Colorado forges ahead on beetle release to kill tamarisk
The federal government suspended the release of yellow-striped Diorhabda beetles on stretches of tamarisk in eight Western states after a lawsuit that charged the beetles threaten habitat for the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher in New Mexico and Arizona, but Colorado officials are continuing to use the bug to battle the water-guzzling plant on the Arkansas River.
Denver Post; 08/10/2009
NPCA report highlights wolverines in Montana national park
The National Parks Conservation Association's 55-page report that addresses the challenges climate change presents the nation's parks presents wolverines in Montana's Glacier National Park as a species that could be wiped off the face of the earth by climate change.
Missoulian; 08/11/2009
Alberta wildlife officials defend killing of 12 bears at landfill
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development officials said the removal of 12 bears from an improperly fenced landfill at a hamlet in the northern area of the province was necessary because the bears had become too accustomed to humans and presented a public safety hazard.
Edmonton Journal; 08/14/2009
Idaho launches project to trap, radio-collar grizzly bears
State wildlife biologists will work with the Grizzly Bear Study Team to trap and radio-collar grizzly bears in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in eastern Idaho.
Idaho Statesman (AP); 08/11/2009
Park officials will remove grizzly bear, cubs from Montana park
A 17-year-old female grizzly bear and her two cubs have used up their chances in Glacier National Park by wandering into camps and resisting efforts to scare them away, and officials of the Montana park said that they've made the tough decision to remove the mother bear, although they're hopeful they can capture the cubs and send them to a zoo.
Missoulian; 08/13/2009
Pilot study tracks disappearance of glacier in Montana mountain range
A new study released the end of July documents the rate the glaciers in Montana's Beartooth Mountain Range are melting.
Billings Gazette; 08/14/2009
Colorado woman's death a tragic reminder about feeding bears
Coloradan Donna Munson was found dead near her Ouray County home, killed by one of the black bears she'd been feeding for years, an activity that put her--and the wildlife she fed--on a tragic path.
Durango Herald; 08/11/2009
New air tankers for the USFS need no further justification
Congress already has reams of statistics, graphs and data proving that air tankers provide the best, first line of attack on wildland fires, so asking for more such information while the U.S. Forest Service's fleet continues to age and deplete is a ridiculous example of being penny wise and pound foolish.
Idaho Mountain Express (Sun Valley); 08/12/2009
Current health-care legislation has its own obesity problem
Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi called a provision of the 1,000-page draft of health care legislation that earmarks $10 billion annually for such things as farmers' markets, sidewalks and grocery stores in under-served areas "an $80 billion slush fund for additional pork-barrel projects," a moniker that fits the bill perfectly.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; 08/12/2009
Civility could make Montana town hall more productive
Dissent is as American as apple pie, but civil discourse will make the town hall meeting today in Montana with President Obama much more productive than simply shouting one's views over another's.
Great Falls Tribune; 08/14/2009
BLM's new chief calls job "a great opportunity"
Bob Abbey served as the state director of the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada for eight years, and now he leads the federal agency, and in a recent interview with the Elko Daily Free Press, he said his plans in the near term as head of the BLM will focus on renewable energy projects on the agency's lands.
Elko Daily Free Press; 08/13/2009
Herbert sworn in as Utah's 17th governor
Gary Herbert became Utah's 17th top executive on Tuesday, where he faces a projected $700 million projected budget shortfall next year and an economy that's stumbling.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/12/2009
National group gives N.M. poor grade for tracking stimulus spending
New Mexico has two web sites dedicated to tracking how that state is spending federal stimulus funds, but a recent report by the national policy resource center, GoodJobFirst, gives the state low marks for providing good information about such spending.
Santa Fe New Mexican; 08/13/2009
Idaho governor says he'll run for re-election
Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter told KPVI-TV that he intends to run for re-election in 2010, but the Republican governor said he'll wait on making a formal announcement.
Idaho Statesman (AP); 08/14/2009
Idaho legislators may backtrack on road funding decision
In order to end an impasse with Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, the 2009 Legislature agreed to shift about $4.5 million in funds for trail work to the state transportation department for road work, but now members of a legislative task force are reconsidering that decision.
Idaho Statesman (AP); 08/12/2009
Arizona legislators serve up previously-vetoed budget to Brewer
A vote on Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's plan to temporarily increase the state's sales tax fell two votes short in the state Senate, so Republican senators decided to return a previously vetoed budget that requires cutting $600 million from the state's budget and relies on federal stimulus funds to balance the budget to the governor's desk.
Arizona Republic; 08/13/2009
Montana, Illinois firms want to make pipe at former mill site
A Stevensville-based pipefitting company is in talks with an Illinois company to turn a former lumber mill in Montana into a manufacturing facility for a special kind of plastic pipe used in municipal water systems, and if the plans work out, 380 new jobs would be created at the Bonner mill site.
Ravalli Republic; 08/13/2009
Uranium company goes on a buying spree in Wyoming
Uranium One, one of the world's largest uranium producers with operations on four continents, has recently bought several uranium facilities in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); 08/13/2009
Natural gas closes in on forestry as B.C.'s top economic player
Over the past decade, British Columbia's natural gas exports has almost tripled to $3.2 billion, while its softwood lumber sector has fallen by nearly half to $3.6 billion.
Toronto Globe and Mail; 08/11/2009
Largest player in Colorado's Piceance Basin expands holdings
Williams hasn't identified the seller of 21,800 acres of gas development rights in Colorado's Piceance Basin, but the $258-million deal will boost the company's holdings in that basin to more than 200,000 acres.
Grand Junction Sentinel; 08/11/2009
Sterlite raises its cash bid for Asarco to $1.59B
United Kingdom-based Vedanta Resources Plc, bidding through its Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. unit, raised its cash offer for Arizona-based copper producer Asarco LLC to $1.59 billion, along with a "copper participation note" note worth $208 million; other bidders for Asarco include Grupo Mexico SAB and Harbinger Capital Partners.
Arizona Daily Star; 08/12/2009
Eight Arizona businesses make Inc's Top 500
Inc. magazine released its annual list of the 500 fastest-growing private firms in the United States and eight Arizona firms are on that list; and Utah's Skullcandy is ranked 14th, and MonaVie is ranked 18th, the best showing of companies in the Rocky Mountain West.
Arizona Republic; 08/13/2009
Republic wins bidding war for Denver-based Frontier Airlines
Republic Airways Holding enriched its offer for Denver-based Frontier Airlines, and won out over Southwest.
Denver Post; 08/14/2009
Millions of sockeye salmon missing from B.C. river
Early estimates said that between 10.6 million and 13 million sockeye salmon were expected to make their annual swim up the Fraser River in British Columbia, but the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said to date only 1.7 million have made the trek, and no one knows what happened to the other nine million or so fish.
Toronto Globe and Mail; 08/13/2009
USFS faces deadline on air tankers used to fight wildfires
There are only 19 air tankers still being used to combat wildfires, and four of them are based at Moses Lakes, Wash., this year, where officials said that the planes have been instrumental in battling the 100 or so lightning-sparked wildfires, but in three years, the 19 planes will be too old to fly or too costly to repair, and the U.S. Forest Service has to convince Congress it's necessary to replace the planes.
Seattle Times; 08/10/2009
Energy Sec'y Chu tours Washington state facilities
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu took his first tour of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state on Monday, and today he'll tour the Hanford nuclear complex.
Tri-City Herald; 08/11/2009
Washington, Oregon governors endorse new Hanford plan
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a new tentative cleanup plan -- and timeline for completing the work -- for the Hanford nuclear complex in Washington state that earned the endorsement of both Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski; public comment on the new plan will be taken Sept. 24 through Nov. 9.
Portland Oregonian; 08/12/2009
Wind development's impact on Wyoming topic of symposium
At the first ever Wyoming Wind Symposium, hundreds gathered in Laramie to discuss all aspects of wind-energy development, and how such development will change the landscape in the Cowboy State.
Casper Star-Tribune; 08/14/2009
Wind developers discuss stumbling blocks to development in Wyoming
At the Wyoming Wind Symposium, developers of wind-energy projects said uncertainty over transmission capacity, government regulation and taxes are the three biggest obstacles to wind development in that state.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); 08/14/2009
Wyoming land board endorses sage grouse decision
The Wyoming board of Land Commissioners voted Friday to pull about 1 million acres of state land located within core areas of sage grouse habitat from wind-energy development.
Casper Star-Tribune; 08/09/2009
BPA: Oregon, Washington wind farms hit new production peak
The Bonneville Power Administration said 22 wind farms in Washington and Oregon hit a new peak of production on Aug. 6, producing 2,089 megawatts of power on the evening of Aug. 6.
Portland Oregonian; 08/13/2009
New high-rise in Oregon city sports wind turbines
The new Twelve West building in downtown Portland was built to achieve the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification -- platinum -- by the independent U.S. Green Building Council, and the high-rise building in the Oregon city is topped off with four wind turbines designed to provide a learning lab for small, urban wind-power systems.
Portland Oregonian; 08/14/2009
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