Environment
W.R. Grace's Eastern Mess
W.R. Grace Asbestos Requires Cleanup in Massachusetts
W.R. Grace asbestos cleanups are going on in more places than just Libby, Montana and Spokane, Washington these days.
A story today by Nancy H. Gonter in The Republican, a publication covering Western Massachusetts, says the Environmental Protection Agency will help clean up vermiculite contamination in the dirt around a former W.R. Grace factory in the small city of Easthampton, Mass. The Easthampton plant, in operation from about 1949 to 1989, reportedly received 258,000 tons of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore from Libby, Montana. It manufactured Grace's Zonolite attic insulation.
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The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act
Montanans Overwhelmingly Support Tester’s Forest Bill, Poll Shows
The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, landmark legislation introduced last month by Montana Sen. Jon Tester, enjoys strong support from Montanans in nearly all walks of life, according to a new statewide poll.
The poll, conducted in late July by Boulder, Colorado-based Harstad Strategic Research (HSR), found that 7 in 10
Montanans support the new bill, which focuses on job creation, forest management, clean water protections, and issues relating to wilderness and the economy.
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Guest Column
Grizzlies, Fleece and Ibuprofen, Oh My
I could have dealt with the pain, but the chocolate fudge Clif bar lodged somewhere mid-sternum made the ascent up Mist Ridge early in the morning the ultimate endurance test.
I should have taken the time this morning to cook my gruel-like instant oatmeal, but the mosquitoes around our campsite were relentless, attacking in wave after tenacious wave, like the Normandy invasion. Both the insect cloud and the presentation of my freeze-dried food dampened any appetite I could have summoned. So I set off to gain 1,000 feet in altitude in a two-mile climb, fortified with what felt like a handball from the gym stuck in my esophagus.
This was day three of a backpack trip in Yellowstone National Park’s (YNP) Pelican Valley, so my pack should have been lighter. Despite its custom fit and the titanium products I was packing, it felt as if I were carrying another person on my back -- giving a piggyback ride to a sadistic imp.
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From the Flathead Beacon
Flathead Lakers Grapple With Conservation
The fate of the north shore and a warming lake were two issues attendees were greeted with at the Flathead Lakers annual meeting at Flathead Lake Lodge last week.
More than150 landowners and conservationists honored one of the Flathead’s key attractions and heard testimony to the importance of its continued preservation.
The shallows, wetlands and sloughs found along the north shore of Flathead Lake, between Somers and the Flathead River, provide for a rich ecosystem frequented by more than 200 species of birds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains a Waterfowl Production Area along 7 miles of shoreline, but speakers at the meeting voiced concern about the surrounding acreage of farmland that remains at risk of encroaching development.
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Alternative Energy
UM Native American Lab Snags Big Green Energy Grant
Big dollars for green energy -- and for a unique University of Montana program -- arrived this week at the UM Native American Research Laboratory (NARL), considered the only such research facility in the nation for Native college students.
NARL Director Michael Ceballos said the laboratory has received a $300,000 two-year grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new process that boosts the efficiency of ethanol production. The goal is to perfect an enzyme technology that makes celullosic ethanol -- a high octane, renewable fuel produced from the stalks and stems of plants -- easier to make and cheaper to buy.
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Wolf Warring
Wolves Will Be Shot, Legally or Not, Idaho Official Says
An Idaho Fish and Game commissioner told a gathering of Western attorneys general that hunters are so angry about Idaho's wolf population, they will hunt the animals in the state's backcountry this fall -- whether the law allows it or not.
"It will either be a state-authorized one or it will be an illegal one," Commissioner Randy Budge said about the upcoming hunt, according to Idaho Mountain Express staff writer Jason Kauffman.
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Plotting the Future for Grizzlies
How Will We Hunt Grizzlies?
For people who have an opinion about grizzly bear hunting, the time to speak up is now.
Three state agencies -- Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game -- are looking for comments on proposed guidelines for future bear hunting seasons. The hunts, according to the agencies, would only take place if grizzly bear populations are robust enough to withstand the "discretionary" mortality.
According to FWP, none of the states are considering a grizzly hunting season at this time. But if populations ever swell to the point where there are "surplus bears," Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have drafted an agreement for developing quotas and other matters related to bear hunting.
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Green Car Debut
Nissan Turns Over New Leaf, Unveils Electric Car
Get your motors running, electric car devotees: Nissan on Sunday unveiled its first all-electric car, the Leaf, according to a report in Grist from Agence France-Presse. Nissan's mid-sized hatchback is slated to go on sale in late 2010 in Japan, the United States, and Europe, the Grist story says.
Nissan hopes the pure electric vehicle will "lead the way to a zero-emission future" and attract hordes of eco-conscious buyers, many of whom long for an affordable car that is greener than today's hybrids. The Leaf can travel more than 100 miles on a single charge, with a top speed of 87 miles per hour, Nissan said. Company executives, who held a press conference about the car at Nissan headquarters in Japan, did not give a list price for the Leaf, but said it would cost about the same as a comparable gas-powered model.
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Wilderness Deflected
NREPA: New York Times Praises Wilderness Act, Unfortunately?
A New York Times editorial today calls for the passage of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, saying it's a "truly enlightened environmental policy" that would balance "the needs of both nature and local economies." So what's the problem?
Foes already complain the bill is an elite Easterner's idea being foisted on the West. And no matter how misguided it might be, the "you ain't from aroun' here, are ya?" backlash can be fierce.
An anti-NREPA Facebook group by today's count has 3,090 members. (Not pulling any punches, it's called Don't Mess With the West: Oppose Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.)
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Let There Be Dark
AMA Links Light Pollution to Cancer, Health Woes
The American Medical Association this month passed a resolution that recognizes a host of problems with light pollution, including health issues -- such as breast cancer -- that are "associated with human eye exposure to light at night."
The AMA resolution (view it in full here) explains that the increasing amount of light in the world, including streetlight glare and intrusive light that "trespasses" into bedroom windows and homes, is linked to higher rates of cancer and other health woes. It harms wildlife as well, the medical group says.
As the AMA puts it: "Light trespass has been implicated in disruption of the human and animal circadian rhythm, and strongly suspected as an etiology of suppressed melatonin production, depressed immune systems, and increase in cancer rates such as breast cancers." In addition, it "disrupts nocturnal animal activity and results in diminished various animal populations’ survival and health," the group says.
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