In the Rockies today, a Government Accountability Office report confirmed what the Bureau of Land Management has been saying for some time: The federal agency can't afford to feed the tens of thousands of wild horses and burros it has penned up and take care of the 33,000 running wild, too.
Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo's support of the Omnibus Public Lands Bill, a collection of 150 bills that includes Crapo's Owyhee Canyonlands bill, earned the Idaho Republican the wrath of the American Land Rights Association, which put out a call for members to target Crapo for joining with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to push the bill through Congress yet this year.
And in Montana, new rules are in place for energy development on state lands along the Rocky Mountain Front; a coal-fired power plant gets an air-quality permit that regulates small particulate emissions, and an exclusive resort near Bozeman files for bankruptcy protection.
Rockies today
GAO report details BLM's need for options in wild-horse management
A Government Accountability Office report released Monday said that the Bureau of Land Management cannot continue to feed the 30,000 wild horses and burros in its holding facilities and manage the 33,000 animals in the wild, and that the agency must be given more management options.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP); Nov. 11
Park Service worries that BLM's Utah plans will leave roads behind
National Park Service officials said that the Bureau of Land Management's proposal to lease lands near Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument for energy development may mean that new roads will be built to allow such development and when the gas is gone, the roads will remain.
Deseret News; Nov. 12
Exclusive Montana development files for Chapter 11 protection
The Yellowstone Club, an exclusive development in Montana near Bozeman, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Monday, asking the court to allow it to take on another $4.5 million in debt to pay operating expenses.
NewWest.net; Nov. 11
USFS approves one request from Montana resort
On Monday, the U.S. Forest Service approved Bitterroot Resort's request to provided guided ski tours, alpine glade skiing and a mountain bike trail system on the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana, and now the resort will move on to an environmental analysis.
NewWest.net; Nov. 12
GAO: Obama should make Indian Trust Fund reform a priority
The Government Accountability Office has made two recommendations for the Interior Department's reform of its Indian Trust Fund: Provide Congress with a timetable for such reform and develop a plan that details staff and financial needs once needed changes are in place.
Missoulian; Nov. 12
Montana issues PM2.5 air permit for proposed coal-fired power plant
The modified air-quality permit issued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for the proposed Highwood Generating Station near Great Falls may be the first such permit in the nation that addresses particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller.
Great Falls Tribune; Nov. 11
National property rights groups wrangle over Idaho wilderness bill
The American Land Rights Association sent out an alert on Monday calling Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo's Owyhee Canyonlands bill a "land grab," a position another group, Stewards of the Range, called "not right or truthful."
Idaho Statesman; Nov. 12
Montana puts tougher oil, gas rules in place on Rocky Mountain Front
In response to concerns about drilling leases on state lands along the Rocky Mountain Front, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation adopted stricter rules for oil and gas exploration.
Great Falls Tribune; Nov. 11
Opinion
GAO study on wild horses is right on the money
A study by the Government Accountability Office that found the Bureau of Land Management can no longer afford to keep tens of thousands of wild horses and burros locked up in holding facilities is correct, and Congress should immediately mandate the BLM to sell or euthanize those animals, which is surely more compassionate than forcing them to spend years in crowded captivity.
Grand Junction Sentinel; Nov. 12
Oilshale development in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado can wait
The Bush administration's push to get rules in place by the end of the year for development of oilshale deposits in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado is unnecessary, potentially dangerous and puts water resources in those states at risk, and with so much to lose, a measured approach is not only recommended but mandatory.
Salt Lake Tribune; Nov. 12
A 'green' New Deal is the wrong solution
There's a strong move afoot in the United States to reinvigorate the economy by launching a "New Deal" solution by investing heavily in "green" energy, but as the U.S. has already seen, heavily subsidizing an energy sector--grain-based ethanol--doesn't always pan out as promised.
The Economist; Nov. 12
NRA wastes its members' money on fear mongering
The National Rifle Association has shifted from focusing on hunting and habitat to political pandering to the Far Right, and squandering a great deal of its members' money on misguided campaigns against the federal government. A guest column by Pat Williams, senior fellow at the University of Montana's O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West of which Headwaters News is a program.
Pat Williams, Center for the Rocky Mountain West; Nov. 12
Beyond the region
USGS: Alaska's N. Slope holds 85.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
A study to be released today by the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that Alaska's North Slope holds one of the nation's largest deposits of gas hydrates that contains enough recoverable natural gas to heat 100 million average homes for a decade.
Washington Post; Nov. 12
Coalition prepares to press immigration agenda with Obama
On Tuesday, dozens of immigration advocates gathered in Washington, D.C. to urge President-elect Barack Obama to keep his campaign promise to put 12 million illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship, and to work on plans to stage a massive demonstration in the nation's capital the day after Obama is sworn in as president.
Washington Post; Nov. 12
Tax-law change in bailout bill could give banks $140B windfall
A five-sentence notice in the massive bailout bill passed by Congress in September repealed a 22-year-old section of tax law that conservative economists and Republican lawmakers have been trying to get rid of for decades, and which could give banks a windfall of up to $140 billion.
Washington Post; Nov. 10
Oil prices hit lowest level in 20 months
Oil prices closed Tuesday at $59.33 a barrel, the lowest since March 2007, taking the per-share price of some of Canada's largest energy companies down for the ride, too.
Calgary Herald; Nov. 12
EPA rules water treatment at Wash. uranium mine must continue
The Environmental Protection Agency ruled that Newmont USA Limited and its subsidiary Dawn Mining Company, which own the Midnite Mine Superfund Site on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington state must continue to treat contaminated water at the site.
Idaho Statesman (AP); Nov. 10
In depth
Colorado company works on plan to convert ethanol plants to butanol
Butanol, a close cousin of ethanol, that contains more energy than ethanol and is less corrosive, which makes shipping of the alternative energy easier, is the newest alternative fuel to hit the headlines, and Douglas-based Gevo Inc. said all it would take to convert ethanol plants to butanol plants is to change the bacteria used to munch on feedstocks to an E. coli derivative and to add some equipment.
Denver Post; Nov. 12
Solix Biofuels to build algae-fuel plant on reservation in Colorado
Solix Biofuels, a spinoff company formed in 2006 from Colorado State University research, announced plans to open an algae fuel plant on Southern Ute land in southwestern Colorado to produce oil feedstock that can be refined into diesel fuel.
Durango Herald; Nov. 12
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