In the Rockies today, future plans for federal lands in the Rocky Mountain West dominate the page.
In Colorado, Gov. Bill Ritter released his much-anticipated recommendations for energy development on the Roan Plateau on Thursday.
Although the federal government isn't bound by the recommendations, federal land managers said they welcomed future discussions with the governor.
Also on Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management released its preliminary study of the impact commercial oil shale development would have on 1.9 million acres of federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
The report says that such development would supplant any other uses of the land, including other energy development.
The report also said such development was a good ten years out.
Headwaters News is taking a holiday.
Today is the last day we'll publish in 2007. We will post a Year in Review on Monday providing a round-up of what we believe were some of the top news stories of the year in the Rocky Mountain West.
Our next daily edition will post Jan. 2.
Rockies today
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; Dec. 21
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; Dec. 21
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; Dec. 21
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; Dec. 21
Montana-based airline terminates East Coast flights
Billings-based Big Sky Airlines announced that on Jan. 7 it would terminate all flights to Boston and Ohio, and would also cut another 30 flights from 47 flights to Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado and Washington state, and if the Montana carrier can't find a buyer, it will also stop flights to Sheridan, Wyo., and Denver.
Billings Gazette; Dec. 21
Colorado city takes heat for hearth
Aspen Mayor Mick Ireland believes that the natural-gas community hearth in the heart of the Colorado resort city sends a wrong message in a town that is trying to do its part to conserve energy and limit greenhouse gas emissions, and said he believed the flame should be extinguished.
Denver Post; Dec. 21
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; Dec. 21
Opinion
Closure of Utah school can provide a lesson on federal education law
West Middle School in rural Fort Duchesne is being shut down because its students failed to make mandatory gains under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which means the students, primarily Ute children, will now be bused 20 miles to Vernal, and Utah education officials should carefully monitor how the students fare in their new surroundings.
Salt Lake Tribune; Dec. 21
Tancredo's fiery anti-immigration rhetoric fizzled out
Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo's decision to withdraw from the 2008 presidential race isn't much of a surprise, but it would have been nice if some of his grandstanding and political bravado had translated into a modicum of progress on the immigration issue.
Denver Post; Dec. 21
Beyond the region
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; Dec. 21
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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; Dec. 21
Earmarks redux: Federal spending bill has funds for a ferry in Alaska
There were more than 11,000 earmarks contained in the $555 billion annual "omnibus" spending bill that Congress passed this week and the $459 billion defense bill approved last month, including $20 million for a "expeditionary craft" to ply the water between Anchorage and windblown rural peninsula of Matanuska-Susitna Borough in Alaska, $100,000 for signs in Los Angeles' fashion district and $250,000 for a culinary and wine center in Washington state.
Washington Post; Dec. 21
USDA makes policy changes in the wake of repeated beef recalls
The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued 20 recalls of beef this year, and in several instances agency officials were either slow to correct longstanding deficiencies in testing or missed several red flags that should have prompted quick action.
Washington Post; Dec. 21
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; Dec. 21
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