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In the Rockies today, a lawsuit is filed to stop energy leasing on Colorado's Roan Plateau, the public gets more time to weigh in on a change in national parks' gun policy, and the BLM rounds up hundreds of horses in Nevada.
Ten environmental groups have sued the Bureau of Land Management to keep energy leases on Colorado's Roan Plateau from being auctioned off on Aug. 14.
The leases are opposed by hunters and anglers who said wells present a danger to the plateau's wildlife habitat.
A proposal to change gun policy in national parks to align the policies with the states within which the parks lie has fostered a good deal of opposition from former and present Park Service employees.
The change was expected to be addressed this summer by policymakers, but pressure from critics of the proposal got the public comment period extended to Aug. 8.
And as the Bureau of Land Management rounds up hundreds of horses to get them off arid lands in Nevada that no longer have the graze or water to sustain them, the head of the House Natural Resources Committee asked the federal agency to wait until September before finalizing its options, one of which is euthanasia, for dealing with the tens of thousands of wild horses currently being held in agency facilities.
Rockies today
Sportsmen panel works on decade-long national wildlife policy
The Sporting Conservation Council, a panel of 12 experts put together by then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton in 2006, took a comprehensive look at wildlife, and the threats that are reducing species and habitat, and released a report last week that is the first step in developing a national wildlife policy.
Casper Star-Tribune; July 14
Groups sue to stop energy leases on Colorado plateau
A coalition of 10 environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking an injunction on the Bureau of Land Management's planned auction of energy leases on Colorado's Roan Plateau on Aug. 14.
Denver Post; July 12
Presidential candidates target Hispanic voters
Democractic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday during a speech before the National Council of La Raza that Latino voters in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado put those Western states in contention in this presidential election; Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain was scheduled to address the Latino civil rights group today.
Washington Post; July 14
BLM begins rounding up hundreds of wild horses in Nevada
Scarce food and water on the range in Nevada have prompted Bureau of Land Management officials to remove wild horses off those lands, with 161 horses captured since Friday from the Fox and Lake mountain ranges, more than 300 rounded up last week near Lovelock and plans to bring in 114 more this week.
Reno Gazette-Journal; July 14
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Rahall asks BLM to wait on wild horse euthanasia plan
West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, urged the Bureau of Land Management to wait on its plan to reduce wild horse numbers until the Government Accountability Office releases its report on the BLM's management of wild horse herds in September.
Casper Star-Tribune; July 14
Comment period on guns in national parks extended to Aug. 8
Critics of a proposal that would change the gun policy in national parks to that of the state within which the park lies were successful in getting the public comment period on the controversial measure extended to Aug. 8.
Casper Star-Tribune; July 14
Colorado finds no lynx kittens
Efforts to reintroduce Canada lynx into Southwest Colorado began in 1999, with 218 lynx released into the wild since that time, and 116 kittens have been born in the state, but not this year when annual surveys found no evidence of any kittens.
Durango Herald; July 12
Opinion
Court right not to let hard times push cows onto marginal lands
Government subsidies for ethanol has pushed corn production onto the nation's hay fields, driving the price of hay to more than double it was last year, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to allow grazing and haying on lands set aside under the federal Conservation Reserve Program would imperil already marginal lands and a federal district court judge in Seattle made the right decision when he suspended that ruling.
New York Times; July 12
Latest proposal highlights CRP 's fundamental boondoggle
As prices for corn and soybeans keep going up, driven ever higher by demand and ethanol subsidies, farmers are asking to be released from Conservation Reserve Program leases and to be allowed to now plow millions of acres set aside, a plan environmental groups said puts fragile lands that shouldn't be tilled up at risk, but if the lands were so fragile in the first place, why is the federal government paying farmers not to plant them?
Las Vegas Review-Journal; July 14
Beyond the region
One fire quelled as two others ramp up in E. Washington
Spokane Valley residents returned Sunday to their homes after being forced from them late last week by a wildfire that burned 13 homes, but two other wildfires erupted in eastern Washington state: the Willow Fire that has burned some 20,000 acres near Soap Lake and the Cold Springs wildfire on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest that has burned hundreds of acres near Mount Adams. Contains a roundup of wildfires burning in the state.
Yakima Herald; July 14
Anheuser-Busch accepts $52B offer from Belgium brewer
Under a deal that must yet be approved by the companies' stockholders and regulatory agencies, Belgium brewer InBev SA would take over Anheuser-Busch Cos., creating the world's largest brewer.
Washington Post; July 14
Bush administration asks Congress to save Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae
In an effort to save the nation's two largest mortgage companies, President Bush proposed a package of loans and investments to shore up confidence in the two government-sponsored enterprises.
New York Times; July 14
Court ruling, EPA decision stalls regulation of greenhouse gases
On the heels of a United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decision Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency had overstepped its authority in 2005 when it passed the Clean Air Interstate Rule designed to curb industrial air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency director said that any regulation designed to address heat-trapping gases would overreach the federal agency's authority.
New York Times; July 12
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Montana OKs silver mine project near Libby
DOE official tells nation's governors need for foreign oil won't go away
Presidential politics an issue at Native American youth conference
Protests on BLM leases in New Mexico dismissed
Rapid development pushes tougher land-use rules in Colorado county
Gold mining giant pitches a bid for Alberta oil, gas company
Idaho governor takes transportation dilemma on the road
Rising fuel prices smack residents of rural Montana
N.M. governor seeks new protections for Otero Mesa
National parks superintendents meet this week in Utah
Idaho dairyman plans to reopen Wyoming cheese factory
Colorado ballot initiative first in nation to address when life begins
Colorado city named 2nd best place to live by Money Magazine
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Exclusively
on Headwaters:
NewVoices/NewWest:
Culture
Clash: Can the federal No Child Left Behind Act coexist with Montana's
Indian Education for All?
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Regional Conferences
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BLM public meetings on geothermal energy development:
July 14: Reno, Nevada; Washoe County Library - Spanish Springs Branch, 7100 Pyramid Highway
July 15: Salt Lake City, Utah; Salt Lake City Library, 210 East 400 South
July 16: Tucson, Ariz.; Pima County Public Library, Dusenberry River Branch, 5605 E. River Road
July 17: Cheyenne, Wyo.; Laramie County Library, Willow Room, 200 Pioneer Avenue
July 21: Boise, Idaho; Boise Public Library, 715 South Capitol Boulevard
July 22: Albuquerque, N.M., University of New Mexico, Conference Center, Room C, 1634 University N.E.
July 23: Helena, Mont.; Lewis and Clark Main Library, 120 S. Last Chance Gulch
July 24: Denver, Colo.; PPA Event Center, 2105 Decatur Street
July 28: Seattle, Wash.; Seattle Public Library, University Branch, 5009 Roosevelt Way, N.E.
July 29: Portland, Ore.; Multnomah County Library, Central Branch, 801 SW 10th Avenue
Sept. 8-11: The U.S. Geological Survey's Third Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, Estes Park, Colo. Read a preview.
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