In the Rockies today, a new report urges the National Park Service to do more to confront climate change; New Mexico wants to use abandoned mine funds to clean up uranium mines; and Idaho reports good compliance with a new law on keeping wild and domestic sheep apart.
The National Parks Conservation Association issued a new report on the impact climate change is having on the nation's parks and the wildlife in those parks that urged the Park Service to get more aggressive about ensuring wildlife have corridors to move to cooler areas.
New Mexico has asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to reverse a two-year-old decision from the Solicitor General that funnels the majority of abandoned mine cleanup funds toward coal mine remediation.
Before the 2007 decision, states could use Abandoned Mine Lands funds to clean up any mine that posed a threat to public health or safety.
And in Idaho, where the state Legislature passed a law this past session that required the removal or killing of wild sheep that roamed onto domestic sheep grazing allotments, the Idaho Fish and Game Department said its approved plans with 11 ranchers to keep the species from commingling.
Rockies today
NPCA report urges Park Service to get serious about climate change
In a 53-page report that details the effects of climate change on the nation's parks, the National Parks Conservation Association urges the National Park Service to come up with plans and funding to adapt its lands to temperature-related climate change, including establishing wildlife corridors between parks to allow species free movement to cooler climes.
Los Angeles Times; Aug. 7
SNWA makes surprise move in Las Vegas pipeline matter
Southern Nevada Water Authority chief Pat Mulroy announced Thursday that she will call for an "up-or-down" vote from the SNWA board sometime this month on a proposal to pipe groundwater from rural eastern Nevada to Las Vegas, a move made in response to increasingly vocal opposition to the project.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; Aug. 7
Idaho OKs 11 plans to keep domestic, bighorn sheep apart
The Idaho Legislature passed a law this past session requiring that if bighorn sheep commingled with domestic sheep on grazing allotments, the wild sheep must be relocated or killed, and set an Aug. 5 deadline for the sheep ranchers to come up with an acceptable plan to keep the sheep apart, and so far the state Fish and Game Department has approved 11 such plans and are continuing to work with two ranchers on others.
Idaho Statesman; Aug. 7
N.M. wants AML funds to go toward cleanup of uranium mines
Until a Bush administration decision two years ago, states could use abandoned mine grants to clean up any mine that presented a public health or safety hazard, and now New Mexico is asking Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to reverse that decision and allow those funds to be used to clean up any hardrock mine, especially uranium.
Santa Fe New Mexican (AP); Aug. 7
Wild weather whips Utah wildfire season into life
A wildfire believed to have been ignited by lightning Wednesday evening in western Utah was driven by high winds across nearly 22,400 acres on Thursday; the Big Pole Fire is just one of 24 burning in the Beehive State at this time.
Salt Lake Tribune; Aug. 7
N.M. welcomes EPA's decision on perchlorate levels in water
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to reconsider setting limits on perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel, fireworks and military explosives, in water, a decision that New Mexico applauded as the chemical has been found in groundwater monitoring wells near Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the White Sands Missile Range, and in or near drinking water wells at Kirtland Air Force Base, the Melrose Bombing Range near Clovis and Cannon Air Force Base.
Santa Fe New Mexican; Aug. 7
Nuclear-plant developer may move project out of Idaho's Elmore Co.
In a press release Thursday Alternate Energy Holdings Inc. CEO Don Gillispie said that delays he's encountered in Elmore County on getting permits for his proposed nuclear power plant may force him to move the project elsewhere in Idaho, but state officials quickly released a counter press release denying that the state had offered a parcel of state land for the project.
Twin Falls Times-News; Aug. 7
B.C. offers ultra-low royalty rate to lure energy development
On Thursday, British Columbia announced a nominal 2 percent royalty rate on new wells drilled between September and next June, a direct response to Alberta's announcement earlier this year that it was lowering its royalty rate to spur development.
Toronto Globe and Mail; Aug. 7
Opinion
Federal courts should give lynx lawsuits the boot
The lawsuit filed by snowmobiling groups from Wyoming and Washington state over the federal government's designation of critical habitat for lynx is based on concerns that snowmobiles might eventually be banned from such areas--and now that six environmental groups have asked to join the fray, the already unnecessary, expensive lawsuit seems destined to grow--a situation the court can resolve by kicking the litigation to the curb, and a similar lawsuit filed in Montana should also be tossed.
Casper Star-Tribune; Aug. 7
Obama administration draws deep from enviro community
High Country News columnist Ray Ring updates the list of folks from the environmental community who have joined the Obama administration.
High Country News; Aug. 7
Beyond the region
U.S. Senate votes 68-31 to confirm Sotomayor
Judge Sonia Sotomayor became the first Hispanic woman Supreme Court justice on Thursday, when her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on a 68-31 vote.
New York Times; Aug. 7
Report: Canada lost 45,000 jobs in July
Canada's unemployment rate in July of 8.6 percent is the highest reported in 11 years.
Toronto Globe and Mail; Aug. 7
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