Headwaters News: Week in Review

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The Rockies' Week in Review:
Top stories from Dec. 17 to Dec. 21

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In our News to Track section, on Thursday Colorado's governor gave the Bureau of Land Management his recommendations on how energy development should proceed on the Roan Plateau, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management released its initial assessment on oil-shale development in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

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Western Perspective

Green from the ground up: Dedication, doggedness and an angel donor helped Bozeman reach its goal of building an energy-efficient, environmentally sensitive public library.
Nov. 15 , 2007
Read the column and send us your comments.

News to Track

BLM releases report on oil shale development in Colo., Wyo., Utah
According to the Bureau of Land Management's draft environmental study released Thursday on the effects of commercial oil shale development on 1.99 million acres of federal land in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, those states would get an economic shot in the arm from such development, which would supplant all other uses of the land including farming, recreational use and other oil and gas development.
Grand Junction Sentinel; 12/21/2007
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Colorado governor releases his recommendations for the Roan Plateau
Gov. Bill Ritter's recommendations on proposed energy development on Colorado's Roan Plateau included a 72 percent increase in federal lands off-limits to drilling, expanding the number of "environmentally critical" acres from 21,000 to more than 36,000 acres, and the creation of narrow corridors through those lands for companies to use to access drill sites.
Denver Rocky Mountain News; 12/21/2007
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Montana development's conservation claims under scrutiny
Wade Dokken says his Ameya Preserve will be the "most sustainable community every built," allowing only 300 homes on 1,500 acres of land on a 9,500-acre parcel near Livingston, conserving the remainder acres for wildlife, but the development will also consist of second, and possibly third or fourth, homes for ultra-wealthy clientele, and the project has ignited a lot of debate in the Montana community. A perspective.
NewWest.net; 12/20/2007
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Developer emphasizes science, planning of Montana's Ameya Preserve
The proposal to build a luxury subdivision on former ranchland near Livingston is still in the preliminary stages, and developer Wade Dokken has engaged two Colorado-based firms to do perform extensive design and planning work--much more than any other such subdivision in Montana, but Park County officials said there are considerable discrepancies between the information submitted to the county and information that appears in the media and other publications. Second in a series.
NewWest.net; 12/21/2007
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Colorado county homeowners head to Wal-Mart for water for hot tubs
A Colorado water commissioner was on patrol this fall to make sure Summit County homeowners were complying with their "indoor-use" only well-water permits, and found that about half of the 500 homes he visited were illegally using the water to water grass, fill hot-tubs and ornamental ponds.
Denver Post; 12/19/2007
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Arizona, developer settle land-damage claim for a record $12.1 million
A developer and his partners will pay $12.1 million for damage done by work on a proposed development in Arizona's Pinal County, the largest such environmental-enforcement settlement in Arizona's history according to Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.
Arizona Republic; 12/21/2007
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Sun Ranch owner buys another Montana ranch
Roger Lang, who runs the Sun River Institute on his ranch in Montana's Madison Valley, said he plans to put conservation easements on much of the 7,000 deeded and leased acres in the lower Bitterroot Valley he recently purchased for $26 million from the Schroeder and Maclay families, although he said he will allow about a dozen homes to be built on the property northeast of Florence.
Missoulian; 12/16/2007
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Read "A West that Works" about Lang's Sun Ranch
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Self-made millionaire restores his Montana hometown
Norman Asbjornson, a Winifred man whose heating and air conditioning manufacturing company is one of the fastest growing, small businesses in the nation, has financed a new city hall, library, museum and community center in his Montana hometown, and created a scholarship fund at Montana State University for students who attended school in Winifred for three years--no matter their grade-point average or their financial situation.
Great Falls Tribune; 12/17/2007
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Tribes

Idaho tribe's plan to use gillnets on Snake, Clearwater river raises concerns
For the first time in years, the Nez Perce announced they would exercise their tribal treaty rights to harvest hatchery steelhead in the Clearwater and Snake rivers, and that the Idaho tribe would seek a multiyear agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service to continue commercial gillnet fishing.
Idaho Statesman; 12/20/2007
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Idaho senator's Nez Perce water rider cut from federal spending bill
Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Dianne Feinstein of California successfully stripped Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's rider from a federal spending bill that would have required immediate implementation of a federal plan to manage Northwestern dams, ruled illegal by U.S. District Judge James Redden, but integral to Idaho's agreement with the Nez Perce Tribe over water rights.
Twin Falls Times-News; 12/21/2007
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Montana tribes plead for federal help on law enforcement
Montana's U.S. Attorney General Bill Mercer, along with dozens of other federal, state and local officials met with representatives of the Fort Peck Tribes on their reservation to talk about a lack of law enforcement and criminal prosecution on the reservation.
Great Falls Tribune; 12/18/2007
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UM study: Tribes contribute $1 billion annually to Montana's economy
In what is the first-ever measure of the economic base of Montana's seven Indian reservations and that of the Little Shell Tribe, which has no land base, the University of Montana study found that Montana tribes contribute more than $1 billion annually to the state's budget, with the Flathead Reservation contributing $317 million annually, and the Blackfeet Reservation ranked second with $158 million.
Char-Koosta News; 12/20/2007
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Hopi tribe loses visionary elder
Emory Sekaquaptewa, a Hopi scholar that helped develop the tribe's first dictionary and helped revive the Hopi language that faced extinction, died Dec. 14.
Arizona Daily Sun; 12/21/2007
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USFS tweaks Idaho's roadless plan
The U.S. Forest Service released its draft environmental impact statement on the plan written by former Gov. and now Lt. Gov. Jim Risch for Idaho's federal roadless forest lands, and the federal agency said it will schedule more than a dozen meetings around the state in January and February to gather public comments on the plan.
Idaho Statesman; 12/20/2007
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Wyoming, USFWS sign pact to coordinate species protection
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Terry Cleveland, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acting Regional Director Jay Slack signed off on a deal that formalizes an existing agreement between the federal agency and the state to coordinate efforts to keep species off the federal endangered species list; Arizona is the only other state in the union to have a similar agreement with the USFWS.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); 12/20/2007
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Montanan receives federal honor for grizzly bear recovery efforts
Chris Servheen, who has served as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear recovery coordinator for 26 years, has received the Department of Interior's second highest award, the Meritorious Service Citation.
Great Falls Tribune; 12/15/2007
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Colorado site of USGS high-tech wildfire computer-modeling study
U.S. Geological Survey scientists, with help from the U.S. Forest Service and Civil Air Patrol, have set up a computer-modeling project in Colorado's Grand County to analyze fire risk and explore options to help federal and state agencies answer a wide range of questions -- before a wildfire hits.
New York Times; 12/15/2007
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Opinion

Give Yellowstone National Park's winter-use plan a chance to work
It seems no one is remotely happy with the National Park Service's winter-use plan for Yellowstone National Park but it deserves a chance to play out.
Casper Star-Tribune; 12/17/2007
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Utah can't shoot its way out of its bear problem
There were 202 human-bear conflicts recorded this year in Utah, an unusually high number in an unusual weather year, but the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources' plan to increase bear permits by 20 percent targets the wrong problem since most of the bears shot won't be the nuisance bears, and shooting more bears won't make people more bear aware.
Salt Lake Tribune; 12/16/2007
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Bloated Farm Bill epitomizes what's wrong with Washington
President Bush must follow through on his promise the veto the $288 billion farm bill which is riff with subsidies for industries that are raking in record profits.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; 12/18/2007
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Kudos to Montana, Idaho senators for work to ditch federal fees
The "Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act of 2007" sponsored by Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, along with Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, will repeal a measure slipped through Congress as a rider on a spending bill that allowed federal land agencies to impose use fees--fees that the General Accountability Office says are used primarily to collect the fees or sit unused in undesignated accounts.
Tucson Citizen; 12/19/2007
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Regional senators are wrong: guns aren't needed in national parks
The Interior Department's two decade ban on guns in national parks and wildlife refuges hasn't created a police state thus far, so a measure by 47 senators, including those from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, to end that ban is bewildering.
Casper Star-Tribune; 12/20/2007
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Politics

Nevada senator's quest to block coal-fired plants on back burner
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid proposed elevating air-quality standards in Nevada's Great Basin National Park to the same level as that required in the nation's 150 other national parks as a means to block two coal-fired power projects in eastern Nevada, but that provision was tossed from a year-end budget bill in lieu of a compromise measure that requires the General Accountability Office to study air quality in the Nevada park and make a recommendation about the standards.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; 12/18/2007
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Interior secretary picks Idahoan for wind panel
Rich Rayhill, a Boise resident who is vice-president of Seattle-based Ridgeline Energy, was selected by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to serve on a 22-member panel to study ways wind-power companies can reduce the impact of wind farms on wildlife.
Idaho Statesman; 12/19/2007
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Colorado says electronic voting machines too insecure
On Monday, Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman deemed three of the four electronic voting machines were too insecure to produce valid election results, a decision that affects 53 of Colorado's 64 counties.
Denver Post; 12/18/2007
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Pentagon announces expansion of Colorado base's mission
Under a plan announced Wednesday by the Pentagon, Colorado's Fort Carson will have 4,877 additional soldiers stationed there by 2013, requiring tens of millions of dollars of new construction on the base, a move that economists estimate will bring an additional $250 million annually to businesses in the state, and add more than 3,000 civilian jobs to the economy.
Colorado Springs Gazette; 12/20/2007
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Colorado congressman quits presidential run, endorses Romney
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo bowed out of the race to be the Republican Party's presidential nominee in 2008, in part because he feared his candidacy may split the anti-illegal immigration vote, and the Colorado Republican threw his support behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney whom Tancredo said would be the best candidate to support his position on illegal immigration.
Denver Post; 12/21/2007
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Legislature

Utah lawmakers want to trim governor's budget by $88 million
House Republicans said they would cut $88 million from the budget proposed by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., mostly in the form of property taxes, but some House GOP lawmakers said they would trim down the budget even more than that.
Salt Lake Tribune; 12/18/2007
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Colorado lawmakers ponder changes to conservation easement rules
en. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, and Rep. Alice Madden, D-Boulder, are working together to write new rules for conservation easement designed to curb abuses of the Colorado program that grants generous tax credits to landowners who protect their land from future development.
Denver Rocky Mountain News; 12/20/2007
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Broadcaster announces run for Montana state Senate seat
Republican Taylor Brown, who owns the regional radio and television network Northern Broadcasting System, announced his bid for Montana Senate District 22, now held by Democrat Sen. Lane Larson who is expected to run for re-election in 2008.
Billings Gazette; 12/21/2007
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Economy

Hundreds turn out to hear plan for Idaho nuclear-power plant
Bill Fehrman, president of MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Co., fielded some tough questions at a meeting Thursday night from some of the 400 or so people who attended the meeting in Payette to hear MidAmerican's plans to build a nuclear power plant in Idaho's Payette County.
Idaho Statesman; 12/21/2007
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Wyoming company, British Petroleum sign coal-gasification deal
Casper-based GasTech Inc. and British Petroleum partnered up to find a way to develop in-situ, or underground, coal gasification technology in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
Casper Star-Tribune; 12/18/2007
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Alberta confirms 8th case of mad-cow disease
A 13-year-old beef cow on a farm near Red Deer is Alberta's eighth confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and Canada's 11th.
Edmonton Journal; 12/18/2007
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Energy company plans 6 more wind farms in Montana
Mark Jacobson, director of business development for Chicago-based Invenergy, which operates the largest wind farm in Montana, was in the state on Tuesday to meet with landowners to discuss leasing ground for future wind farms, and said that the company plans to build six more wind farms, three of which will be located between Great Falls and the Canadian border.
Great Falls Tribune; 12/19/2007
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Report finds wage gap between whites, Latinos in Idaho
A new study conducted by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, in conjunction with Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN), studied the wage gap between whites and Latinos in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington State, and found that the percentage of white workers living in poverty went down between 1959 and 2005, while the percentage of minority workers living in poverty has stayed the same.
Idaho Statesman; 12/19/2007
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Beyond the region

FutureGen's next generation 'clean-coal' plant will be built in Illinois
FutureGen's $1.76-billion, coal-gasification plant will be built in Mattoon, Ill., and is predicted to start producing 275 megawatts of energy--with little pollutants and only 10 percent of the carbon dioxide produced by the current generation of coal-fired plants--by 2013.
Christian Science Monitor; 12/19/2007
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California officials mull their options in wake of EPA decision
After Environmental Protection Agency officials declared California's tough new laws on vehicle emissions were superseded by the nation's new energy policy, California officials said they were reviewing just how they were going to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 173 million tons by 2020 without the option of curbing vehicle emissions.
New York Times; 12/21/2007
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EPA staffers say Johnson's decision on Calif. law ignored precedent
Environmental Protection Agency staffers said that California's request for a waiver to put its vehicle-emissions law in place met all the criteria that the agency had been using for decades to grant such waivers, but that EPA Director Stephen L. Johnson ignored their findings and ruled against the waiver.
Los Angeles Times; 12/21/2007
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Golf-resort studded California valley is sinking
Parts of California's Coachella Valley, home to 120 world-class golf resorts — among them PGA West, Bermuda Dunes Country Club and Mission Hills, sank anywhere from a few inches in some locations to more than a foot in others between 1996 and 2005, and scientists with the Coachella Valley Water District and the U.S. Geological Survey said depletion of groundwater resources by new subdivisions, agriculture and golf courses was to blame for the sinking land.
Albuquerque Tribune; 12/21/2007
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Report: Foreclosures in Idaho so far this year double that of 2006
RealtyTrac, an California-based Web site that tracks foreclosures across the United States, released a new report on Wednesday that said as of the end of November, 5,338 foreclosures had been filed in Idaho, more than double the 2,508 foreclosures filed in the state in 2006.
Idaho Statesman; 12/20/2007
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Report says Utah foreclosures up 7.2 percent
Utah officials said the state's 7.2 percent increase in foreclosures between November 2006 and November this year wasn't great news, but it is certainly better news than the 68 percent increase in foreclosures nationally.
Salt Lake Tribune; 12/20/2007
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Headwaters News is a project of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana.