Guest Opinions
In Montana, Keystone Pipeline Draws Praise and Concern
After the State Department released its final environmental impact statement Friday on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which is intended to carry crude oil from the Alberta tar sands in Canada through eastern Montana and down to the Gulf Coast, supporters and opponents of the project raised an immediate hue and cry. In Montana, the Rocky Mountain state that would be most directly affected by the pipeline, the controversy was encapsulated in two releases.
The Northern Plains Resource Council is very worried, but Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, is delighted. Those opposing reactions are published here.
New West Feature
Grizzly Shooting Charges Elicit Outrage in Idaho
Criminal charges levied earlier this week on Jeremy Hill, who shot and killed a grizzly bear cub in his yard last May near Porthill, Idaho, just below the border with Canada, have sparked statements in his defense by Idaho’s local, state, and federal politicians.
Hill pleaded not guilty in federal court on Tuesday to the misdemeanor charge of killing an animal protected by the Endangered Species Act. A sow and two cubs wandered into his yard, and he said he was defending his six children.
New West Feature
State Department Pipeline Report Ignites Fervor
The web is abuzz with news of the U.S. State Department report released today, which concludes that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from the oil sands developments in Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast will have minimal environmental impacts.
The $13 billion pipeline of TransCanada Corp (TRP) would extend 1,661 miles from Alberta through parts of Saskatchewan and eastern Montana on its way through five more states to Houston, Tx., and Port Arthur, La.
[more]Mountain Biking
In Colorado, Mountain Bikers Get Video Guides to Trails
In case you didn’t know it, the world-famous Whistler Bike Park in Whistler, B.C., Canada, has a south-of-the-border rival: Colorado’s Trestle Bike Park, otherwise known as Winter Park Resort’s summer playground outside Boulder, Colo.
And the people at Vital MTB, which creates videos and other online content to connect the BMX, motocross and mountain biking scenes, have been super-busy this summer building an online video directory of all of Trestle’s trails.
[more]New West Feature
Clean Energy Coalition Offers Blueprint for the West
A new report entitled Western Grid 2050: Contrasting Futures, Contrasting Fortunes examines two very different energy investment pathways facing the 11 Western states: business-as-usual or a new, clean-energy trajectory.
The report finds that with intentional policymaking and planning today, the West can successfully make the transition to a clean-energy economy that will deliver benefits in employment, the environment and public health for decades to come.
New West Feature
Rep. Lummis Lashes Out at Environmental Lawsuits
Sparks flew during last week’s annual convention of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, in Casper.
U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), chastized conservation groups WildEarth Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Western Watersheds for excessive recourse to lawsuits, which she claimed are giving the environmental movement “a black eye.”
[more]New West Feature
Montana and Colorado Get Big Grants to Protect Fish and Ferrets
Among more than $53 million in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants announced last evening to help protect habitat for threatened and endangered species, Montana was a big winner for native fish, while Colorado was awarded substantial funding to reintroduce the extremely rare black-footed ferret to a safe place.
Montana’s Stimson Forestlands Conservation Project in Missoula County will receive $4 million to fund a conservation easement of more than 9,300 forested acres. The land, adjacent to another easement of 18,700 acres, continues a landscape-scale conservation effort of several years in northwestern Montana aimed at protecting bull trout, Columbia redband trout, mountain whitefish, pygmy whitefish, and westslope cutthroat.
Kayaking
Kayaking the Compromised Jordan River
I’ve never much liked Russian olives. Now, however, I have even more reasons to wish them gone from the wetlands, meadows and riverbanks they’ve invaded. In fact, I might even go so far as to make the following statement: I hate Russian olives.
This time it’s personal.
[more]Snake River Alliance Feature
Idaho Wind and Solar Projects Run into Roadblocks
It’s been a tough few weeks for Idaho wind and solar energy developers, what with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) slamming the brakes on 14 wind projects, and with developers locking horns with Idaho Power Company over the terms of their contracts.
On July 27, the PUC opted not to reconsider its earlier disqualifications of 14 contracts for wind projects, on grounds that the contracts weren’t submitted before a PUC-ordered cutoff date. Nine of those contracts were between developers and Idaho Power; the other five were with PacifiCorp, an Oregon company that does business in Idaho as Rocky Mountain Power.
[more]Summit Daily News Feature
Ski Resort Expansion Threatens Lynx Habitat
Dense, sub-alpine forests are what comprise the terrain for Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Peak 6 proposed expansion—meaning the project’s effect on lynx has come under significant public scrutiny.
The Forest Service issued an amendment that allows the project to move forward despite being “likely to adversely affect” lynx and despite the project being situated in primary lynx habitat.
