In the Rockies today, Yellowstone National Park prepares to open Monday for its winter season with a 720 daily limit on snowmobiles, but so far no snow.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition has challenged the limit, put in place by a federal court decision, but acknowledges its lawsuit won't affect this year's plan.
In Montana, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation hosted a tri-state meeting to discuss brucellosis management in the Greater Yellowstone region.
In Nevada, where federal efforts to build a nuclear waste repository have been ongoing since 1982, the Department of Energy's latest report to Congress suggested tripling the repository's capacity, a suggestion Nevada U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley called "delusional."
In Arizona, the population growth has slowed dramatically, to the lowest rate of increase reported since 1990.
Rockies today
DOE: Yucca Mountain facility must be bigger
The Energy Department's report to Congress said that its proposed nuclear waste repository in Nevada should be tripled in size, and that there are no reasons to prohibit such an expansion.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; Dec. 10
Arizona population growth slows to lowest in 18 years
Arizona gained just 100,000 residents in the past year, the smallest increase reported since 1990.
Arizona Republic; Dec. 10
Yellowstone National Park opens Monday for winter season
Amid disputes over snowmobile limits, Yellowstone National Park opens for its winter season on Dec. 15, although since there's very little snow in the park right now, snowmobile use isn't an option.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle; Dec. 10
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Greater Yellowstone Coalition challenges park's winter plan
Greater Yellowstone Coalition officials said they have no intention of disrupting snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park this winter season, but filed its lawsuit challenging the 720-snowmobile limit to get that limit tossed before the 2009-2010 winter season.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle; Dec. 10
RMEF hosts Montana meeting on regional brucellosis options
At a conference in Billings this week hosted by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, representatives from livestock, veterinarian and wildlife groups in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, as well as Yellowstone National Park and the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming, and other groups met to discuss how brucellosis is affecting elk, bison and livestock in the Greater Yellowstone Area.
Billings Gazette; Dec. 10
Passage envisioned by N.M. students makes wildlife safer
In 2003, a group of New Mexico students pressed the Legislature to address the problem of vehicle-wildlife collisions, and now in the Tijeras Canyon, just east of Albuquerque, fences funnel wildlife into an underpass, keeping them off Interstate 40, and reducing the number of yearly collisions from more than two dozen to just three.
Christian Science Monitor; Dec. 10
Fertilizer company calls Great Salt Lake land swap a 'win-win'
The Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp. and Utah have agreed to a land swap that opens up 37,083 acres on the lake for possible future fertilizer production ponds in exchange for 30,181 acres of existing wildlife habitat near Promontory Point that could be protected from future development.
Salt Lake Tribune; Dec. 10
Opinion
Calls to relist Yellowstone grizzly bears are premature
This year's high mortality rate for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem has prompted some conservation groups to call for the big bear's return to the federal endangered species list, but given estimates that the total population of the bears has increased despite the high mortality rate, those demands are premature at best.
Casper Star-Tribune; Dec. 10
Idaho city needs to make fire standards mandatory
In the wake of last summer's fatal Oregon Trail wildfire, Boise city officials reviewed the Idaho city's fire codes and made a list of recommended changes to those codes, and while it's understandable why the city mandating that roofs be replaced with fire-resistant materials, it could require homeowners to make their yards more fireproof.
Idaho Statesman; Dec. 10
Beyond the region
Rio Tinto to cut work force by 12.5 percent
Rio Tinto Group announced Wednesday that it would slash its work force by 14,000 across its worldwide operations and put more of its properties up for sale, although company officials declined to elaborate where the job cuts would take place nor would they indicate what properties were up for sale.
Toronto Globe and Mail (AP); Dec. 10
Oregon on short list for European solar company's plant
Oregon officials said the state's relatively large subsidies, skilled semiconductor-industry workers and its proximity to California's robust solar market were cited as reasons a European solar company was considering Gresham as a location for a manufacturing plant.
Portland Oregonian; Dec. 10
Oregon's Intel takes the lead in small-chip technology
Intel is Oregon's largest private employer, and its engineers at the Hillsboro plant created the newest class of computer chip, one that is just 32 nanometers, that has more computing power and demands less energy than the current 45-nanometer chip.
Portland Oregonian; Dec. 10
U.S. Senate confirms watchdog for $700B bailout
Neil F. Barofsky is now the special inspector general for the $700 billion bailout package passed in September, and he has 60 days to provide his first report on how the first $310 billion was doled out.
Washington Post; Dec. 10
California lawmakers confront $28 billion shortfall
California's $28-billion shortfall isn't the largest the Golden State has ever seen, but the current credit crisis will make getting help from private lenders much harder.
Christian Science Monitor; Dec. 10
Native Londoner creates portable beds for U.S. homeless
Peter Samuelson, a naturalized U.S. citizen, helped found the Starlight Foundation and the Starbright Foundation, which recently merged to become the Starlight-Starbright Children's Foundation, and he recently turned his attention to creating a mobile, single-person shelter for homeless people in Los Angeles, and now is working to ratchet down the cost of the "EDARs" from $500 to $400.
Los Angeles Times; Dec. 10
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