In the Rockies today, coalbed methane and water, overhaul of the 1872 mining law and private land in national parks are in the news.
A study of the effects of coalbed methane development on surface and groundwater began Tuesday, more than a year after Congress' deadline for the study.
A National Academy of Sciences met with federal and state officials on Tuesday to begin the work, which will review coalbed-methane operations in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, as well as North Dakota.
Also on Tuesday, more than 400 groups signed off on a letter to New Mexico Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici, members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asking them to get a bill overhauling the General Mining Act of 1872 through the Senate.
The House has already passed its version of an overhaul bill, but the Senate is still working on its version.
And the National Parks Conservation Association released its report on Tuesday detailing private inholdings in 391 properties managed by the National Park Service, and the risk development of those lands pose to the national park system.
Rockies today
Federal panel begins coalbed-methane water study in 5 Western states
The 2005 federal energy bill mandated a study to be completed within a year of the effect coalbed methane drilling operations would have on surface and groundwater in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and North Dakota, and on Tuesday, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences met Tuesday in Denver with federal and local agencies to begin the work.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); April 9
Montana, Wyoming groups part of national push on mining reform
More than 400 groups, including 30 from Montana and four from Wyoming, signed a letter this week urging N.M. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici, who sit on U.S. Senate committee that is working on revamping the 1872 General Mining Law, to address issues important to hunters and anglers while rewriting the law.
Billings Gazette; April 9
NPCA report: Millions of acres of private lands in national parks at risk
A National Parks Conservation Association report released Tuesday said 4.3 million acres of privately held land in 391 national parks across the nation are at risk of development because Congress has failed to appropriate funds to buy the lands.
Los Angeles Times; April 9
Colorado groups propose deal to keep trail open to mountain bikes
After the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management proposed 51,000 acres of land in southwestern Colorado be classified as wilderness, a decision that would prohibit mountain biking on a portion of the popular Colorado Trail, a coalition of conservation and recreation groups pitched a plan of their own that would classify some of the Hermosa Creek watershed as wilderness, and the remainder as a national conservation area.
Durango Herald; April 9
Troubled luxury hotel market leaves Colo. resort without a buyer
The Peaks Resort, built 17 years ago in tiny Telluride, has yet to turn a profit, and with the evaporation of the luxury hotel market, the Blackstone Group which has owned the Colorado resort since 2005, has yet to find a buyer.
New York Times; April 9
All 10 wolves killed in Wyoming were killed in Sublette County
U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services agents killed four wolves on Monday on a ranch in Wyoming's Sublette County after the wolves reportedly killed calves in a pen over the weekend, bringing the total number of wolves killed in Wyoming since the state took over management of the species from the federal government to 10, all of which were killed in Sublette County.
Casper Star-Tribune; April 9
FBI investigates fire that destroyed unoccupied luxury home in Idaho
A 3,000-square-foot home under construction on Hayden Lake in Idaho burned to the ground early Tuesday morning, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the matter as a possible case of ecoterrorism.
Coeur d'Alene Press; April 9
Opinion
Congress needs to rein in Arizona's Sheriff Joe
Unwilling to tackle immigration reform, Congress has had no problem handing huge swaths of the job to other federal and local agencies, with Homeland Security Czar clearcutting forests of regulations to build a wall on Mexico's border, and through a program known as 287(g), handing off enforcement authority to a growing number of local law enforcement agencies, such as media-hungry Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona's Maricopa County, known for his media-intensive sweeps of day laborers.
New York Times; April 9
Montana should get more public comment on powering up campgrounds
Before the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department shells out hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide power to more campgrounds in western Montana, the public should be allowed to throw their two cents in.
Missoulian; April 9
Beyond the region
Oil companies announce plan to build Alaska pipeline
BP and ConocoPhillips announced Tuesday that they would build a natural-gas pipeline from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay to Canada, a $30-billion project that will take at least a decade to build.
New York Times; April 9
Federal panel wants to ease compensation process for ill Hanford workers
An advisory panel has recommended to the federal Health and Human Services Department that workers in Hanford's 300 Area from September 1946 through 1961 and workers in the 200 Area from 1949 through 1968 be eligible for compensation if they develop any of a wide range of cancers.
Tri-City Herald; April 9
Farmers yank fields out of federal conservation program to plant crops
For some farmers in the nation's breadbasket, putting acres of grasslands into the federal Conservation Reserve Program created 25 years ago to pay farmers to keep land out of production was a good deal, but with rising commodity prices, those lands are increasingly going under the plow.
New York Times; April 9
GAO report finds rampant misuse of federal credit cards
"SmartPay" cards, the equivalent of federal credit cards, are to be used for official government purchases and technically are capped at $2,500 per purchase, but a Government Accountability Office audit of the use of those cards found fraud and flagrant abuse of the system.
Washington Post; April 9
Court documents detail abuse of victim at Texas polygamous sect
In court documents filed in Texas, an affidavit details abuses suffered by a young woman that led to state authorities' raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints near Eldorado and the taking of hundreds of children into protective custody.
Salt Lake Tribune; April 9
In depth
National report says uninsured more likely to die young
Families USA's report issued Tuesday provides a state-by-state estimates of the number of deaths due to the lack of health insurance, and in Utah, the estimate was that every week, three Utahns die because they aren't covered by a health insurance plan.
Salt Lake Tribune; April 9
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