In the Rockies today, more on the massive public lands bill before the U.S. Senate, Wyoming as a bright spot in the nation's economy, and snowmaking on Arizona San Francisco Peaks is put on hold.
Last week, Sen. Harry Reid said he'd try to get the Senate to vote on the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, which includes 140 separate pieces of public-lands legislation.
The Idaho Statesman takes a look today at the legislation included in the package that would add hundreds of miles of riversin Idaho, Arizona, Oregon and Wyoming to the nation's Wild and Scenic Rivers.
The New York Times says natural-gas production in Wyoming is keeping the nation's economic woes at bay in the Cowboy State.
And in Arizona, where tribes are fighting a ski resort's plan to use wastewater to make snow on the San Francisco Peaks, a federal appeals court put construction at Snowbowl ski Resort on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court can decide whether to hear the tribes' appeal.
Rockies today
Massive lands bill will protect hundreds of miles of rivers in the West
If the U.S. Senate lives up to Majority Leader Harry Reid's promise given last week, a massive lands bill that would add 852.8 miles of rivers in Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and Massachusetts to the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers system, will come up for a vote in November.
Idaho Statesman; Oct. 6
Utah researcher captures West's wildlife sounds for archive
Jeff Rice, a University of Utah research librarian, is on the hunt to capture each and every natural sound in the West, and store his work in the Western Soundscape Archive, a Web-based sound clearinghouse headquartered at the University of Utah library.
Santa Fe New Mexican (AP); Oct. 5
While other states scrape by, Wyoming rolls in revenue
Wyoming's natural gas resources are second in the nation to only Texas, and over the past five years production in the Cowboy State has ramped up, providing good-paying jobs and pouring surplus revenue into the state's coffers.
New York Times; Oct. 6
Yellowstone-area states press for brucellosis management zone
Officials from Wyoming, Idaho and Montana said that the creation of a brucellosis-management zone around Yellowstone National Park that would allow cattle producers the option to not slaughter their herds if an animal was found to have brucellosis.
Casper Star-Tribune; Oct. 5
Appeals court delays snowmaking on Arizona's San Francisco Peaks
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision issued last Friday puts construction at Arizona's Snowbowl ski resort near Flagstaff on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court can decide to hear the appeal filed by tribes against the resort's plan to use wastewater to make snow on the San Fransciso Peaks, considered sacred by many tribes.
Reznetnews.net (AP); Oct. 6
Nevada officials see little chance in keeping mussels out of Lake Tahoe
Nevada officials said their hopes that Lake Tahoe would be kept free of invasive quagga and zebra mussels were diminished by last month's discovery of the fast-multiplying mussels in a high-elevation lake in Colorado, thought to be less at risk from the invasive species than Lake Tahoe.
Reno Gazette-Journal; Oct. 6
Maine warns Montana community to be ready for Plum Creek
Three years ago, Plum Creek Timber Co. presented a massive development plan for Maine's Moosehead Lake, but that state's development regulations forced Plum Creek to scale back those plans, and residents around Montana's Whitefish Lake, where Plum Creek has substantial holdings, are wondering if their lake is next in line for the company's development plans.
Missoulian; Oct. 5
Utah congressmen voted against $700-billion bailout bill
U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson and Rob Bishop declined to vote for the massive financial rescue bill that passed both the Senate and the House last week, although Rep. Chris Cannon, along with both of Utah's U.S. senators, voted for the legislation.
Deseret News; Oct. 4
Opinion
Utah's desert no place for a nuclear power plant
Here's a little tidbit for those folks on the board of Utah's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration who are poised to lease 2,500 acres of SITLA land three miles west of Green River to Emery County, whose officials plan to lease some of those acres to a North Carolina company that wants to build a nuclear power plant in Utah: Building a water-intensive project in a desert doesn't make sense.
Salt Lake Tribune; Oct. 6
Efficiency, renewables will pave way to energy independence
Buildings in the United States account for nearly 40 percent of the nation's energy consumption and nearly that amount of its greenhouse-gas emissions, and retrofitting those buildings to become more energy efficient will provide immediate payoffs in reduced energy use.
Christian Science Monitor; Oct. 6
Another federal court decision, another obstacle to wolf delisting
A decision by a Washington, D.C. federal district court judge that order the Bush administration to put gray wolves in the Great Lakes region back on the federal endangered species list cuts to the heart of managing federal endangered species and may have implications for wolves in Rocky Mountain West and for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone area.
Idaho Statesman; Oct. 6
Beyond the region
Race is on in Washington state to turn pond scum into biofuel
Bill Gates and Boeing are pouring funds into research to find a way to turn algae into biofuel, and most of the research is being done on the West Coast, including at the University of Washington and Washington State University.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Oct. 6
Researchers find high levels of flame retardant in Californians' blood
California began requiring the use of PBDEs polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, three decades ago to slow the ignition of furniture and bedding when exposed to open flames, and researchers have found Californians to have twice as much of the PBDE chemicals in their blood and nearly 10 times as many in their homes as in the rest of the country.
Los Angeles Times; Oct. 4
International panel says a quarter of all mammals face extinction
Researchers with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimate that one in four of the world's mammals will soon be extinct, and that half of the world's mammal species are in decline.
Denver Rocky Mountain News; Oct. 6
In depth
Citigroup gets court order to stop Wells Fargo buy of Wachovia
Wells Fargo's decision to step in and offer to by all of Wachovia's assets quashed Citigroup's $2.2 billion plan to buy just Wachhovia's banking operations, but Citigroup's lawyers went to court and they said a judge has blocked the Wells Fargo deal.
New York Times; Oct. 6
Countrywide will spent $3.4B of $8.4B loan aid package in California
Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest lender and loan servicer that was recently bought by Bank of America, settled claims by 11 states that it engaged in predatory lending practices for $8.4 billion, which will be used for direct loan relief for homeowners.
New York Times; Oct. 5
Analyst: Tighter credit market will hammer junior mining firms
At the Toronto Resource Investment Conference, an analyst warned that tight credit conditions and falling commodities markets will pound small mining companies in Canada, forcing some of the nation's 1,500 smaller companies out of business.
Toronto Globe and Mail (Reuters); Oct. 6
Sales of carbon offsets remain strong, despite nation's economic woes
Economists said one of the reasons that the carbon-offsets market, plunking down dollars to ease your mind about cross-country flights or other greenhouse-gas emitting activities, is still going strong is that the upper-middle class consumers haven't quite yet been hit with the economic woes that have curtailed spending in other economic strata.
Washington Post; Oct. 6
California governor says state needs $7-billion, short-term loan
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. that the state may need a $7-billion, short-term loan to meet its expenses, and an official of the National Association of State Budget Officers said a dozen or so states may be in the same position by the end of the year if credit markets don't improve.
Washington Post; Oct. 6
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