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In the Rockies today, work begins on fine-tuning a policy change that allows visitors to carry guns in national parks.
Now that President Obama has signed off on the legislation, the Interior Department is working out how it plans to implement the new law.
In national parks, the current policy says carrying a loaded gun in plain sight is probable enough cause for a ranger to stop someone as a possible poacher--under the new rules, rangers will have to catch poachers in the act.
And in parks such as Yellowstone, that cover a multi-state region, jurisdictional issues between each state will have to be ironed out.
Also in the news, the new assistant secretary of Interior hears from Utahns on shelved energy leases; Montanans sound off about healthcare reform--and they show up in force to support a plan to resume Amtrak service along the North Coast Hiawatha route, which runs through the southern part of the Big Sky State.
Rockies today
New assistant secretary of Interior faces angry crowd in Utah
Hundreds of oil and gas field workers and their families showed up to talk with David Hayes, who has been assistant secretary of the Interior for less than a week, at a meeting in Vernal on Tuesday night, where they vocalized their displeasure with the Interior Department for canceling energy leases on 77 parcels of land in eastern Utah.
Salt Lake Tribune; May 27
Idaho Lt. Gov. Little, others meet with federal officials on salmon
At a meeting Tuesday in Portland with NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, Idaho Lt. Gov. Little urged federal officials to keep salmon negotiations on track.
Idaho Statesman; May 27
Interior Department begins fine-tuning guns-in-parks policy
The Department of the Interior is struggling to reconcile an array of legal, jurisdictional and practical questions on how to implement a law passed last week by Congress allowing visitors to carry guns into national parks and wildlife refuges.
New York Times; May 27
Baucus' aide gets an earful at healthcare meeting in Montana
Montana U.S. Sen. Max Baucus is the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and is the point man on the national debate on healthcare reform, and at a listening session in Missoula on Tuesday on that issue, Baucus' chief of staff, Jon Selib, heard plenty about health-care reform and considerable support for a single-payer system.
Missoulian; May 27
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Antitrust laws may stand in the way of healthcare reform
The Obama administration has spent months working to get healthcare providers to universally cut costs, but antitrust lawyers say that cooperative price fixing, even if intended to make healthcare cheaper, could breach antitrust laws.
New York Times; May 27
Tester's meeting on Amtrak route draws a crowd in Montana
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester hosted a town hall meeting in Bozeman Tuesday on the feasibility of restoring passenger service along a southern route in Montana that Amtrak discontinued 30 years ago.
Bozeman Daily Chronicle; May 27
Man-made islands may help remove pollutants from ponds and lakes
A Montana man has invented a "floating island" made of foam and recycled plastic bottles, that filters out heavy metals and chemicals in the water, and now the Billings zoo is using one in its otter tank and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is using a 22,000-square-foot "island" in Oregon.
Christian Science Monitor; May 20
Company to test storage of wind-generated power in Montana
Cascade County is hosting a research project funded by Helena-based Exergy Development and NorthWestern Energy, to test how well a "vanadium redox battery" stores wind-generated electricity.
Great Falls Tribune; May 27
Opinion
Hikers should pay fair share of rescue costs
Fees paid by boaters, hunters, anglers and ATV riders partially fund the money given by Utah to counties to help pay for search-and-rescue operations, yet hikers who get into trouble in the backcountry generally outnumber other outdoor recreationists who may need the same service, and Utah should come up with a system to make hikers pay at least a little toward the search-and-rescue fund.
Salt Lake Tribune; May 27
There are better ways to pay for health-care reform than alcohol tax
The Senate Finance Committee's plan to tax beer, wine and hard liquor to fund health care reform is just plain silly, and the chairman of that committee, Montana's own Max Baucus, ought to take a hard look at the billions of dollars that could be saved if waste, outrageous billing practices and the abuse of nonprofit status were first addressed.
Helena Independent Record; May 27
The true cost of cap and trade
University of Chicago economics professor Casey B. Mulligan says questions still surround the proposed cap and trade legislation making its way through congress; and asks how the bill might affect global and household economies.
New York Times; May 27
Beyond the Region
PacificNorthwest laboratory tracks salmon's swim to the ocean
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will use data collected from acoustic tags implanted by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers biologists in juvenile salmon to track the fish from John Day Dam on the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean to gain a better understanding of why some fish survive the journey and others don't.
Tri-City Herald; May 27
Expert urges Alberta, Canada to act quickly on carbon capture
Robert Page, TransAlta professor of environmental management and sustainability at the University of Calgary, said that Canada and Alberta should take the lead on carbon capture and storage, an issue of heightened importance in light of efforts in the United States to address those emissions.
Calgary Herald; May 27
Solar leasing finds a new market
California-based SunRun Inc. recently expanded its solar panel leasing service to Massachusetts, allowing residents there to have panels installed on their homes for about $1,000 plus a monthly fee, and the Boston Globe reports the trend is catching on in the state.
Boston Globe; May 24
In depth
Obama draws thousands to fundraiser for Nevada senator
At a fundraiser for Nevada U.S. Sen. Harry Reid at Caesars Palace Colosseum, President Obama told the 4,000 or so in attendance that Sen. Reid needed the same kind of grass-roots support that Obama got in Nevada to win re-election next year.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; May 27
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Dozens protest outside Reid fundraiser in Las Vegas
As President Barack Obama and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid made preparations for an evening fundraiser at Caesars Palace Tuesday, dozens of protesters gathered on the Las Vegas Strip outside the resort to criticize the Nevada Democrat.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; May 27
Biden outlines 'green jobs' plan at speech in Denver
At a speech Tuesday at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Vice President Joe Biden told a crowd of about 200 community members and local Democratic leaders how the Obama administration would spent $550 million to train residents of public housing projects in "green-collar" jobs, such as weatherizing homes to make them more energy efficient.
Denver Post; May 27
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Idaho senators shed dislike of stimulus plan, ask for funds
Court: Harbinger can join bidding for Asarco
Crow tribal members arrested in N.M. on fraud charges
Western towns consider disincorporation
Idaho's top water official to retire June 30
N.M. city ranks 2nd in the nation in Kiplinger's annual survey
Colorado panel begins work on rewriting mining rules
Annual count finds moose numbers down 44 percent in Wyoming
Grizzlies on the prowl in N.W. Montana valley
Nevada governor vetoes registration fee for off-road vehicles
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Exclusively
on Headwaters:
NewVoices/NewWest:
Culture
Clash: Can the federal No Child Left Behind Act coexist with Montana's
Indian Education for All?
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Regional Conferences
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June 3-5: Natural Resource Law Center's 30th annual summer conference: Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry, Boulder, Colo. Read a preview.
June 11-13: Greater Yellowstone Coalition's 26th Annual Meeting and Rendezvous: From Parks to Prairies, Jackson Lake Lodge, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
June 14-16: Western Governors' Association Annual Meeting, Park City, Utah
June 17-18: NewWest.net and Boise State University present "Planning in the West," Boise, Idaho
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Headwaters
News is a program of the Center
for the Rocky Mountain West at the University
of Montana. |
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