In the Rockies today wolves and climate change are both in the news.
A federal judge in Montana set a hearing on Aug. 31 on a motion to return wolves in Idaho and Montana to the endangered species list.
That hearing is the day before wolves can be hunted in Idaho, where 4,000 wolf tags were sold on Monday, the first day they became available.
In Montana, licenses to hunt wolves are scheduled to go on salethe day of the hearing, although hunts in both states could be derailed by the federal judge's decision.
On the climate change front, Arizona Sen. John McCain and Colorado Sen. Mark Udall took a tour of Rocky Mountain National Park, before moving on to a hearing in Estes Park about how climate change is affecting that park in Colorado and other national parks.
In British Columbia, at a bioenergy conference, the B.C. Forests Minister blamed climate change for the pine beetle epidemic, floods and forest fires, and said that the world is nearing the tipping point on global warming.
But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a decidedly different take on climate change, and wants the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a trial on the science of climate change, calling such an event "the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century."
Rockies today
Judge sets hearing on Montana, Idaho wolf-hunt injunction
U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy will hear arguments next Monday on whether wolves in Idaho and Montana were properly removed from the federal endangered species list, and the fate of wolf hunts in those states planned to start in September will hinge on the judge's decision.
Missoulian; Aug. 25
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On first day of sales, Idaho sells 4,000 wolf tags
In south-central Idaho, 1,200 wolf tags sold in the first half hour on Monday, the first day the tags were sold, and 4,000 tags were sold in total on the first day, but the wolf hunt in the state is still in question, as a hearing on returning wolves in Idaho and Montana to the endangered species list is scheduled in federal court in Montana on Aug. 31, the day before the first hunt is planned in Idaho.
Twin Falls Times-News; Aug. 25
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Licenses to hunt wolves in Montana go on sale on Aug. 31
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department will begin selling licenses to hunt wolves in a season set to begin in some areas of the state on Sept. 15, but the sale is dependent on the outcome of a hearing scheduled for that day in federal court in Missoula in a case asking that wolves in Montana and Idaho be returned to the endangered species list.
Great Falls Tribune; Aug. 25
Arizona, Colorado senators campaign for nuclear power
After touring Rocky Mountain National Park on Monday and seeing the beetle-killed trees in the Colorado park, Arizona Sen. John McCain and Colorado Sen. Mark Udall hosted a formal Senate hearing in the Estes Park town hall to hear testimony on changes scientists are seeing in that and other national parks, and both senators said nuclear power must be part of the nation's energy mix.
Denver Post; Aug. 25
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B.C. Forests minister warns world near tipping point on climate change
At a bioenergy conference in British Columbia on Monday, B.C. Forests Minister Pat Bell told 200 of the world's leading experts on bioenergy that forest fires, flooding and the pine beetle epidemic that has large swaths of trees in the Canadian province and elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain West are visible indications that the world is nearing the tipping point on climate change.
Vancouver Sun; Aug. 25
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U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants trial on climate change
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in an effort to fend off potentially sweeping caps on emissions, asked the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a public hearing on the science of man-made climate change, a trial the nation's largest business lobby called "the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century."
Los Angeles Times; Aug. 25
Nevadans support solar project, want water use curbed
At a meeting Monday night in Nevada about a $1-billion, solar thermal project on Bureau of Land Management Land in the Amargosa Valley 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, residents said they supported the solar-power project but wanted Solar Millennium, the German power plant developer, to develop a plant that uses less water.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; Aug. 25
Opinion
Colorado cities' water grab puts agriculture at risk
Recent letters from the Arkansas Basin Roundtable, as well as the Metro and South Platte roundtables, asking Colorado to investigate " ... the potential water that could be gained by drying up Western Slope agriculture," makes one wonder what residents plan to eat once those farms dry out.
Durango Herald; Aug. 25
Beyond the region
Chinese companies cut prices to get ahead in solar market
Backed by strong government support, Chinese solar panel manufacturers are cutting prices of their products to nearly half to help them edge out U.S. manufacturers and are preparing to build plants in the U.S. to assemble their products there to get around protectionist legislation.
New York Times; Aug. 25
Drop in bottled water market may affect Nestle's Oregon plan
Nestle Waters North America is contemplating building its first bottling plant in the Northwest in Cascade Locks, Ore., but those plans may be affected by the 3 percent drop in the company's bottled water sales so far this year.
Portland Oregonian; Aug. 25
Crews contain Dry Creek fire in central Washington
Crews began mopping up the Dry Creek Complex wildfire that burned across 48,902 acres on the Benton and Yakima county lines in Washington state.
Tri-City Herald; Aug. 25
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