New West Feature

Work Begins to Tap Huge Mineral Deposits in Idaho

Yesterday’s announcement by the Canadian company, Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines Ltd., that it had received final approval from the U.S. Forest Service to begin exploring for molybdenum in Idaho’s Boise National Forest is bound to refocus attention on an old federal law that plays a central role in mining decisions.

The 1872 National Mining Act, which still governs how mining occurs on federal lands, has been a bone of contention between environmental groups and mining companies for decades. 

New West Feature

If Denver Wants Winter Olympics, It Will Have to Show the Money

Informal talks this week between Denver’s mayor and Colorado’s governor about the 2022 Winter Olympics would be the start of a long process full of hurdles, should Denver make a serious bid for the Games.

On Sunday, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper confirmed to the Denver Post that the idea interests them, but both expressed awareness of how long and winding any road to the Olympics would be.

High Country News Feature

Utahns Oppose Las Vegas’ Snake Valley Water Grab

In August 2009, the state of Utah sacrificed its western flank in return for development opportunities in its southern bounds.

At least, that’s the way many residents in Western Utah’s Snake Valley perceive a water agreement the state inked with Nevada. In that deal, Nevada received rights to the majority of available groundwater in the 100-mile long Snake Valley—the last remaining piece in a Las Vegas water buy-up by Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager Patricia Mulroy. 

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.

New West Feature

Unemployment, Foreclosures Hit Rockies Children Hard

Utah, usually the only Rocky Mountain state among the nation’s top 10 in an annual assessment of how children are faring, did less well in this year’s report.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2011 Kids Count places Utah seventh, down three places from last year. Idaho ranks 22nd, Colorado 25th, Wyoming 28th, Montana 33rd, and New Mexico 46th.

New West Feature

Blame the Weather on Peru

Montana State University (MSU) researchers have been busy in the discovery department lately.

Three scientific papers out of the university that were published recently range from the effects of Peru’s ocean temperatures on Montana weather, to a shortage of oxygen in the lungs, to dinosaurs at the South Pole.

New West Feature

In Colorado, Critics Decry Melt-in-Your-Mouth Tobacco

Citizens of Denver and Colorado Springs are excited about a public hearing set for Wednesday on the current test marketing in the cities of dissolvable tobacco products, which critics say are packaged to appeal to young people, a charge hotly denied by corporate officials.

It’s the second round of test marketing by the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company of the brightly packaged, flavored line of lozenges and strips that deliver nicotine when they dissolve in the mouth. The first tests were done this spring in Indianapolis, Portland, Ore., and Columbus, Ohio. The marketing in Colorado is accompanied by a program in Charlotte, N.C.

Summit Daily News Feature

Has the Beaver Become an Intruder?

It’s been said that the West as we think of it—the “fast-flowing streams and invitingly open banks, celebrated in photographs and songs and pickup truck commercials,” as Kevin Taylor wrote in 2009 in High Country News—is an illusion.

In Taylor’s article, the message of this illusion was preached by Grand Canyon Trust project manager Mary O’Brien, who said the species that could bring us back to a wetter landscape that existed before white settlers arrived.

New West Feature

Sage-grouse vs. Grazing Comes Down to Idaho Court

The extended legal battle over greater sage-grouse entered what might be a critical phase last week as a federal judge heard a case in Idaho, the outcome of which could have major implications for management of livestock grazing on many millions of acres throughout the West.

The geographic scope of the case, which includes public lands in Idaho, Nevada, California, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, makes it one of the largest environmental lawsuits in U.S. history.

Even so, Idaho District court Judge B. Lynn Winmill’s decision could be more dependent on procedural considerations than on adjudication of the actual issues.