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Barkus and Rehberg

In a blog I wrote about two weeks ago I wondered out loud how long it would take before the Aug. 27 boat crash into the rocks of Wayfarer’s State Park became fodder in Denny Rehberg’s 2010 reelection bid. And the answer is ... not very long at all!

Democratic challenger for Rehberg’s seat, Dennis McDonald, has been issuing press releases almost daily blasting Rehberg for how he handled the accident and its aftermath, saying his drinking was irresponsible and asserting that Rehberg bears some responsibility for the injuries suffered by his younger staff members for allowing them to get on the boat driven by Kalispell Republican state Sen. Greg Barkus – who had been drinking that night, though it remains unknown how much.

Let’s be clear: McDonald is not making subtle allusions. He is coming out guns blazing and calling Rehberg’s handling of the crash a “cover-up.”

From the Flathead Beacon

A proposed travel and recreation plan for a section of the Kootenai National Forest has some mountain bikers in northwest Montana concerned that they could lose access to trails they have ridden for years. And though any new restrictions on trail access for cyclists are far from finalized, the case demonstrates how mountain biking, a relatively new sport when compared to uses like horseback riding or snowmobiling, can prove difficult for federal land managers to categorize.

The area in question is known as the Galton Project, a section of the Fortine Ranger District stretching from U.S. Highway 93 to the edge of the Kootenai Forest south of Dickey Lake. The Galton Project encompasses the Ten Lakes Wilderness Study Area (WSA), which was established in 1977. After a 2007 lawsuit settlement with the Montana Wilderness Association, the U.S. Forest Service is moving more quickly to establish travel plans for the Ten Lakes WSA.

Investigation Ongoing

Kalispell state Sen. Greg Barkus is back in Kalispell, and said he remembers little of the circumstances of an Aug. 27 boat crash near Bigfork that injured him and four others, including U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont.

As for when the results of the crash investigation will come to light and whether charges will be filed, Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan responded to inquiries from the Beacon by saying he, “can no longer discuss the details of the case, nor can I tell you why.”

Blood alcohol results could take weeks; Barkus may face felony charges.

It may be weeks before the state crime lab in Missoula returns the blood alcohol content report of state Sen. Greg Barkus, who was driving his boat the night of an Aug. 27 crash near Bigfork that injured him and four others, but Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan said his department is working as fast as possible on the case.

Corrigan said the investigation indicates Barkus was driving the boat 40 miles per hour the night of the crash and the Republican state senator had been drinking alcohol. Corrigan has subpoenaed Barkus hospital records and is waiting for blood test results from the state crime lab. The results, along with some other evidence from the investigation will determine the degree of charges Barkus may face, but Corrigan is weighing felony charges.

Schweitzer Flip-Flopping?

Beyond the eventual success or failure of any bill overhauling the American health care system, another battle looms in Congress: climate change.

The passage of legislation to limit heat-trapping carbon emissions poses the second great challenge for Democrats, many of whom campaigned last year with promises to take action against global warming. In December, President Barack Obama will head to a United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the successful passage of a U.S. climate change bill will allow him much firmer standing in any international agreements.

Yet the lead effort to emerge out of Congress so far, the so-called “cap-and-trade” bill, sponsored by Democratic Congressmen Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, is already generating opposition in Montana – and some of it is coming from the left. 

Monday, Aug. 31: Click here for an update.

Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg is lucid and recovering from a three-hour surgery on a broken ankle Friday and a fracture around his eye after his involvement in a boat crash near Bigfork Thursday night, but two members of his staff suffered more serious injuries.

Rehberg, two staffers, Kalispell Republican state Sen. Greg Barkus and his wife, Kathleen were hospitalized in stable condition after their 22-foot boat ran into rocks in the dark near Wayfarer’s State Park.

Dustin Frost, Rehberg’s state director, suffered a head injury and doctors at Kalispell Regional Medical Center are currently monitoring his condition, according to Erik Iverson, a family friend and former chief of staff for Rehberg who held a conference call with reporters Saturday morning.

Update

The United Nations plans to send a fact-finding mission to Canada to investigate environmental threats to the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park due to proposed coal and energy mining activity in the area.

Representatives of U.S. and Canadian conservation groups opposed to mining activity that could harm the water quality and wildlife of the Flathead River Valley are in Seville, Spain, this week for a meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), petitioning to have Waterton-Glacier declared a “World Heritage Site in Danger.”

By a unanimous vote, the 21-country panel that governs those issues decided Friday to send a mission to the region to “evaluate and provide recommendations on the requirements for ensuring the protection” of Waterton-Glacier, according to Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association, who has been attending the conference in Seville this week. The committee requested a report on the potential impacts of proposed natural resource development operations in the Flathead River Valley due Feb. 1 of next year. [more]

There was much evidence last week that the infamous era of “Timber Wars” in northwest Montana seems to have gone out with, not so much a bang, as a whimper. That isn’t to say that disputes over land use, timber, recreation and wilderness won’t continue as long as there is public land. But the interests involved in such disputes seem to be looking toward processes that might get them some of what they want, if not everything, while avoiding some of the deep acrimony that arises from such disagreements.

Take, for example, the “Three Rivers Challenge,” a plan assembled by the Lincoln County Coalition, a diverse group of residents that includes everyone from fishing guides to mill operators, from motorized vehicle lovers to conservationists. The group’s plan to participate in the management of the Kootenai National Forest’s Three Rivers Ranger District was borne out of a collective feeling of exhaustion and frustration that so many land use issues end up being decided in the courts, and too often divide communities in the process.
[more]

While no special interest group, whether left-leaning or right-leaning ever emerges from a Legislature declaring total victory or total defeat, the dismal state of the economy and a number of bills aimed at expediting natural resource development by rolling back certain environmental regulations made for a tough 90 days when it came to conservation issues, says Ryan Busse, the vice chairman of the state board of the Montana Conservation Voters.

“There were some really unveiled, outright, right-at-the-heart attacks on environmental and conservation measures,” Busse said. “Several of these bills presented this kind of false choice of ‘it’s either jobs or it’s environmental protection’.” [more]

The Consequence of Pricy Cigarettes

On April 1, the price of a pack of cigarettes rose 62 cents across the country when a new federal tax kicked in – causing the average price of a pack to hit around $6 in Montana. The result of President Barack Obama’s reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which helps pay the healthcare costs of kids in families whose incomes are too high to receive Medicaid, the new tax is expected to raise tens of billions of dollars in CHIP funding. The decreasing number of smokers due to the higher cost of cigarettes is also aimed at decreasing national healthcare costs.

But while the long-term effects of the cigarette price hike may prove beneficial, the dramatic increase in smokers trying to quit, because they can no longer afford the habit, has put enormous strain on Montana’s tobacco prevention program. And with a statewide smoking ban set to hit bars and casinos in October, the number of smokers trying to quit in Montana seems as if it will only grow.
[more]

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