In the Rockies today, Utah's oilshale resources, Colorado's forests and a proposed wilderness in Nevada are in the news.
As oil prices continue to drop, squeezing oil out of shale in the Uintah Basin becomes less profitable, but energy companies working in the Utah basin said they're forging ahead, because they're confident market conditions are going to change for the better.
In Colorado, where millions of trees have been killed by pine-bark beetles, the state and the U.S. Forest Service are both working on plans to spend millions of dollars to remove beetle-killed timber and reduce wildfire risk.
And in Nevada, where more than 3 million acres of land have been protected as wilderness or national conservation areas in the past decade, there is a move afoot to protect hundreds of thousands of acres in southeastern Nevada, including "Newspaper Rock," a petroglyph panel in an area known to locals as "the Red Rock of Mesquite."
And in our In-depth section, High Country News explores what it takes to reclaim areas in some of the West's most productive fossil fuel basins.
Rockies today
Companies say drop in oil prices won't slow oilshale work in Utah
The energy companies working on developing oilshale resources in Utah's Uintah Basin said falling oil prices won't curtail their operations.
Deseret News; Nov. 13
Colorado, USFS announces plans to tackle beetle-killed forests
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and state lawmakers are working on legislation that would allocate $5.5 million for a variety of forest programs, including fuels-reduction projects near communities, and a U.S. Forest Service official said that agency intends to spend tens of millions of dollars in the state to treat forests decimated by pine-bark beetle infestations.
Denver Post; Nov. 13
Nevada lawmaker seeks wilderness designation for Gold Butte
Nevada U.S. Rep. Jon Porter shopped legislation around the rural communities near Gold Butte that would have created a 360,000-acre conservation area including 220,000 acres of strictly protected wilderness in southeastern Nevada, but dropped the measure when the Bunkerville town advisory council opposed it, and now U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley is supporting similar legislation.
Las Vegas Sun; Nov. 13
Arizona, Utah picked for Medicare pilot health records project
Medicare picked Arizona and Utah to participate in a pilot project that allows senior citizens to post their medical records on Google or some other commercial Web site because of those states' diverse mix of older residents and their urban-rural split in population.
Arizona Republic; Nov. 13
Illinois energy company's plan for N.M. mesa concerns neighbors
Chicago-based Invenergy signed a two-year option on 7,000 acres of state land atop a mesa in New Mexico's San Miguel County, with the intent of studying the area for a wind farm, but residents in the surrounding area are concerned about the impact the turbines will have on their views and the noise generated by the wind farm.
Santa Fe New Mexican; Nov. 13
B.C. tests forests, soils to learn extent of arsenic contamination
Beginning in the mid-1980s and ending in 2004, monosodium methanearsenate, a pine-beetle insecticide that contains arsenic, was used on wide swaths of forests in British Columbia, and now the Canadian province has begun testing treated and untreated trees, as well as soils in the areas, to determine current arsenic levels.
Vancouver Sun; Nov. 13
Groups sue BLM in New Mexico over Four Corners' dirty area
Dine CARE and WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management in New Mexico on Wednesday alleging that the agency failed to monitor and control emissions from oil and gas operations in the Four Corners region of the state that allowed ozone pollution to rise to unacceptable levels.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); Nov. 13
Idaho, federal agencies fund biologist to work in Yellowstone system
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service and the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society are jointly funding a full-time wildlife biologist to work on large carnivore management issues in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Billings Gazette; Nov. 13
Opinion
Despite its outrage, Canada profits from Alberta's oilsands
Canadian officials need to stop disparaging Alberta's oilsands operations and start understanding that, without the economic underpinnings of the province's energy production, the country would be in worse dire straits than it is now.
Edmonton Journal; Nov. 13
Beyond the region
Agreement reached on removing 4 dams on Klamath River
U.S. Department of Interior officials, PacifiCorp executives and the governors of Oregon and California are expected to sign a nonbinding agreement today that will provide a roadmap for turning over four dams on the Klamath River to a nonfederal entity and begin removal of those dams by 2020.
Portland Oregonian; Nov. 13
Oregon lawmakers ready to take 'big picture' approach on land use
A task force appointed to examine Oregon's land-use planning system recommended the state take a regional approach to planning, and Oregon lawmakers are expected to act on those recommendations in the upcoming legislative session.
Portland Oregonian; Nov. 13
Washington state biodiesel plant begins production
Inland Empire Oilseeds produced its first batch of biodiesel last weekend, using canola oil trucked into its Odessa plant west of Spokane, but company officials said they intend to buy a crusher so they can begin using locally grown canola seeds at the Washington plant next year.
Spokane Spokesman-Review; Nov. 13
As vote count continues in Alaska, Stevens falls behind Begich
Election officials in Alaska estimated they still have about 30,000 votes to count in Sen. Ted Stevens' re-election race, but the Republican senator who had been leading fell behind Democratic challenger Mark Begich by a 814-vote margin on Wednesday.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP); Nov. 13
Obama energy plan has roots in 2004 consensus policy
President-elect Barack Obama's energy plan closely follows the National Commission on Energy Policy’s (NCEP) 2004 plan, and includes goals for new electric-hybrid vehicles, renewable-energy jobs, conservation policies that would cut foreign oil consumption by 10 percent, and a cap-and-trade program on greenhouse gas emissions.
Christian Science Monitor; Nov. 12
Report: 10 percent of homes sold in Washington county sold for a loss
A new report from Zillow.com said that, in the year that ended Sept. 30, 10 percent of the homes in Spokane County sold for a loss, and that home values in the Washington county dropped 9 percent in the past year.
Spokane Spokesman-Review; Nov. 13
Billions of bailout funds paid out, but watchdog posts remain unfilled
Since Congress passed the $700-billion financial rescue package, $290 billion of that money has been committed, but no action has been taken to fill the oversight posts established by Congress nor has the first monitoring report required by federal lawmakers been completed by the initial deadline.
Washington Post; Nov. 13
Obama administration releases 'Plum Book' of positions
The Plum Book is published every four years, detailing open positions in the new administration, and this year's book has about 1,000 more jobs than the last.
Washington Post; Nov. 13
In depth
Across the West's drilled lands, reclamation efforts vary
New Mexico's San Juan and Permian basins, Wyoming's Powder River Basin and the Piceance in Colorado are the West's most productive fossil fuel basins, and they share another distinction: their fragile lands are the most difficult to reclaim and efforts to do so vary from state to state and from agency to agency.
High Country News; Nov. 10
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