http://www.newwest.net/topic/main/C67/L/ New West Network: The Voice of the Rocky Mountains en info@newwest.net Copyright 2009 Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:41:39 MST Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:41:39 MST http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/roadless_rule_bill_the_timing_is_right_so_just_pass_it/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/roadless_rule_bill_the_timing_is_right_so_just_pass_it/C67/C67/ Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:42:04 MST Unnoticed by many, two members of Congress from Washington have decided it’s about time to do something to resolve the seemingly endless debate over the future of our last roadless lands. Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Jay Inslee, both Democrats, have re-introduced the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act (S.1738, H.R. 3563) to codify the Clinton-era Roadless Rule that has been on a legal roller coaster for the past nine years. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/how_the_royalty_in_kind_went_from_wyoming_to_the_national_stage/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/how_the_royalty_in_kind_went_from_wyoming_to_the_national_stage/C67/C67/ Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:57:39 MST When President Bill Clinton signed the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Simplification and Fairness Act of 1996 into law in Jackson Hole, his Washington, D.C.-based Minerals Management Service director, Cynthia Quarterman, came out to attend the August ceremony. Her summer had been busy and, one might assume, stressful. She had appeared several times before different Congressional committees investigating her agency’s work collecting oil and gas royalties. At one vituperative hearing in mid-June, she had been grilled by a New York Democratic Congresswoman, Carolyn B. Maloney, who clearly did not believe Minerals Management Service was doing its job.  At the hearing, Quarterman had been confronted by Maloney’s own hostile report, issued jointly with the private nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, that accused Minerals Management in its entirety, “including its politically appointed leadership over several administrations,” of “bad faith,” and said the Interior Department had such a “dismal record of negligence, misfeasance, and incompetence” that there was no hope Minerals Management could improve. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/the_problem_of_the_small_state_senator/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/the_problem_of_the_small_state_senator/C67/C67/ Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:27:47 MST In the ongoing red state/blue state, small state/big state public opinion tussle, the small states have been on the losing end lately, with small state Senators having huge influence on two major pieces of legislation, influence that is either significantly weakening, and even threatening to kill, those bills. That leaves plenty of people wondering how it is that a handful of senators who represent a tiny fraction of the nation’s population get to decide for all of us. But I think the real question needs to be whether that tiny fraction of the nation’s population is really being represented, and if not, what are they going to do about it. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/give_me_some_real_health_care_reform_and_nobody_will_get_hurt/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/give_me_some_real_health_care_reform_and_nobody_will_get_hurt/C67/C67/ Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:13:09 MST We're all thinking about health care reform and if Congress can really come through for us on an issue that touches us all. At the same time, I suppose you're asking what this issue is doing on the outdoor page. The answer is, I might have found a way for our the-end-justifies-the-means Congress to pass meaningful health care reform without hurting their NRA grade. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/dino_museum_to_close_its_doors_shutting_down_the_public/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/dino_museum_to_close_its_doors_shutting_down_the_public/C67/C67/ Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:43:38 MST Revolution rages in Tehran and the world is transfixed by millions of Iranians demanding free speech. Laramie, Wyoming is light years away from the Islamic world, but amid charges of repression of free speech and totalitarian decisions, a revolt is gaining momentum against the University of Wyoming (UW) trustees -- and its emblematic martyr is Big Al, the Allosaurus. Facing an $18.3 million budget shortfall, UW decided to close the school’s Geological Museum in response to the state of Wyoming’s mandated 10 percent budget cuts. The museum will close to the public July 1; its director and assistant are among the people who will lose their jobs as a result. Big Al -- whose incredibly-preserved bones greet museum visitors -- will become a recluse. Some researchers may be able to see him, but not the public. The same goes for other museum prizes, including one of the only mounted skeletons of an Apatosaurus (or Brontosaurus, as it was formerly called). http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/wyomings_national_elk_refuge_on_ten_most_imperiled_list/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/wyomings_national_elk_refuge_on_ten_most_imperiled_list/C67/C67/ Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:42:21 MST A grim future is predicted for the 25,000-acre National Elk Refuge in Wyoming unless the sprawling home to elk and bison gets an infusion of new policies and resources, according to a new report from the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The group ranks the wildlife sanctuary -- which has one of the largest concentrations of elk in the world -- as one of America's Ten Most Imperiled Refuges. The refuge was established in 1912 in the wilderness south of Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks in an effort to resuscitate elk herds, which had faced mass starvation after bitterly cold winters and human encroachment, PEER notes. The results have not been good. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/sage_grouse_offers_opportunity_for_compromise_in_wyomings_land_use_battles/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/sage_grouse_offers_opportunity_for_compromise_in_wyomings_land_use_battles/C67/C67/ Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:59:49 MST I consider myself pretty middle-of-the-road when it comes to contemplating energy-development issues in Wyoming. I'm certain that some of my fellow citizens would refer to me as one of those "enviros," a label I willingly accept. However, I'm not naive enough to expect that the energy industry will ever view Wyoming's sagebrush flats as anything more than an all-you-can-eat buffet. With an encouraging nod from the party once in power, these companies have been fattening their coffers over the past eight years. Now it's high time that a cooperative effort was made to assess the costs. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/political_irony_reigns_as_president_obama_signs_masterblaster_bill/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/political_irony_reigns_as_president_obama_signs_masterblaster_bill/C67/C67/ Wed, 27 May 2009 17:00:08 MST I suppose I should let it go, but nobody else does, so why should I? This is my third column about the now-infamous administrative rule to allow loaded, concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges (links at end of column). The rule evolved into a symbolic and high priority political battle, and both pro-gun and anti-gun groups seized on it as a way to find out who had the power. And now we know. The gun lobby wins, easily, which is no surprise to me. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/house_holds_hearing_on_northern_rockies_ecosystem_protection_act/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/house_holds_hearing_on_northern_rockies_ecosystem_protection_act/C67/C67/ Thu, 21 May 2009 09:32:56 MST UPDATE, May 21, 2009: The 111th Congress will take a close look at the so-called "Wildest Bill on the Hill," the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), starting with a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives. The House Natural Resources Committee announced today that its subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands will hold the hearing on May 5, 2009. NREPA also had a hearing in the same subcommittee early in the 110th Congress, but the bill never made it to the floor for a vote. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/branding_wilderness_lite/C67/C67/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/branding_wilderness_lite/C67/C67/ Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:40:16 MST Editor's note: Second in a two-part series on resolving the conflict between mountain bikers and hikers over protecting roadless lands. Click here for the first part, plus a very interesting comment thread. Last week, I wrote about options hikers and wilderness groups had to make peace with mountain bikers so the two key constituencies could work together to protect roadless land. One option was urging Congress to pass another organic act creating a true alternative land designation. But what to call it? In past commentaries, I'm used the words "Wilderness Lite" to refer to various land designations that provide almost as much protection as the "Big W" Wilderness Congress designates under the Wilderness Act of 1964. Basically, cutting to the chase, I can more precisely define "Wilderness Lite" as "Wilderness that allows mountain biking."