In the Rockies today, as Congress returns to Capitol Hill, the fate of the massive Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008 appears to be in question.
A story in Saturday's Casper Star-Tribune indicates that Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn's threat to filibuster the bill, which contains the Wyoming Range Legacy Act and the Snake Headwaters Legacy Act, effectively killed the measure, despite Sen. John Barrasso's vow to fight to get the Senate to vote on it.
But an Albuquerque Journal article published Sunday said Congress could act on the bill this week, and quoted N.M. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, who assembled the 150 pieces of public lands and water rights legislation into the omnibus bill, as saying the measure had a slightly less than 50-50 chance of getting heard yet this session.
Rockies today
Kempthorne tells NPS, BLM to reach accord on Utah leases
Aides to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne waded into the controversy between the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management over the BLM's plan to lease energy parcels near some of Utah's national parks, and the Interior Department ordered the BLM to take the Park Service's objections to those lease parcels seriously.
Albuquerque Journal (AP); Nov. 17
N.M. says EPA decision on Utah plant applies to Desert Rock
New Mexico Assistant Attorney General Seth Cohen said a Nov. 13 decision by an Environmental Protection Agency appeals board that the EPA must reconsider an air permit granted to a Utah coal-fired power plant to re-evaluate carbon-dioxide emissions means that the permit issued to the coal-fired Desert Rock project should be re-evaluated as well.
Farmington Daily Times; Nov. 15
State engineer urges Wyoming to make use of Colorado River water
At a two-day conference on water-management issues in Wyoming's Upper Green River Basin, the state's water engineer urged state and local governments to do what they can to put the state's share of Colorado River water to use to ensure it's not appropriated in the future by downstream users.
Casper Star-Tribune; Nov. 17
Oklahoma senator succeeds in blocking public-lands omnibus bill
Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn's filibuster threat has apparently tabled a massive public-lands omnibus bill, although Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso said that he intended to fight for the bill, which contains the Wyoming Range Legacy Act and the Snake Headwaters Legacy Act, as well as bills to designate areas of Idaho, Colorado and Oregon as wilderness.
Casper Star-Tribune; Nov. 15
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Congress may vote on Navajo Nation water-rights legislation
Contained within a large package of public lands and water-rights bills is a measure that would settle a decades-long dispute over water rights in Northwestern New Mexico that would allocate water to the Navajo Nation and provide funding for a major pipeline to carry that water to the eastern reaches of the Navajo Nation and Gallup, N.M. You may have to view an ad to read this article.
Albuquerque Journal (AP); Nov. 16
Northern Idaho's second-home market hit hard by economic crisis
Over the past two decades, Northern Idaho's economy bloomed with the proliferation of second-home communities, but the national economic meltdown has stomped the area's economy, with many major developments stalled, and unemployment rates more than double now what they were last year at this time.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP); Nov. 17
Environmental groups fight Yellowstone's telecommunication plan
The National Park Service directed each of its 391 park areas to develop a telecommunications plan, and the plan submitted by Yellowstone National Park proposed a modest expansion of cellphone coverage in developed areas as well as providing wireless internet access in its hotels, a plan environmental groups are protesting.
Los Angeles Times; Nov. 17
Opinion
Utah's public lands again the target of presidential powers
In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton stretched his executive-decree power by creating the 2-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, and now President George W. Bush seems set on leasing large swaths of the Beehive State for energy development.
Santa Fe New Mexican; Nov. 15
Obama would do well to follow Kempthorne's example in the West
As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take the helm, he should pay attention to the lessons learned from the recently-announced Klamath River deal and the continued controversy of the Clinton-era "roadless rule," and follow Interior Secretary's Dirk Kempthorne's collaborative model to reasonable policy.
Idaho Statesman; Nov. 17
Beyond the region
Three major wildfires destroy hundreds of homes in California
Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes over the weekend as three major wildfires burned in southern California that burned across tens of thousands of acres and destroyed more than 500 homes.
Los Angeles Times; Nov. 17
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As wildfires rage, so too does the debate about fire retardant
Increasing concerns about the chemicals contained in fire retardant has caused some federal agencies to limit the use of it, and the U.S. Forest Service has an entire laboratory dedicated to testing retardants developed by private companies.
New York Times; Nov. 15
Oregon experimental forest closes for the winter
The 40-square-mile Starkey Experimental Forest and Range in northeastern Oregon closed for the season on Saturday, to allow researchers to live-trap and radio-collar 40 Rocky Mountain elk and roughly the same number of deer among the 450 captive elk and 250 deer that live within the fenced enclosure.
Portland Oregonian; Nov. 16
Canadian scientists say light beams can make medical isotopes
Problems at the 51-year-old Chalk River reactor in Canada, where most of the world's medical isotopes are manufactured, have led to a global shortage of the radioactive molecules, but scientists at a British Columbia laboratory said intense beams of light should be capable of generating the much-needed isotopes -- without the security risks the weapons-grade uranium used now has.
Vancouver Sun; Nov. 17
Obama wrote federal employees, promising to change Bush's policies
Weeks before the election, Barack Obama wrote to employees of seven federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, promising that if he was elected he would beef up specific programs and roll back some policies put in place by the Bush administration.
Washington Post; Nov. 17
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