Dear HCN, While Jon Christensen did a great job of detailing Nevada’s battle against the permanent storage of nuclear waste (HCN, 7/2/01: Can Nevada bury Yucca Mountain?), the story unfortunately was not broad enough to tackle the question of what if Yucca Mountain’s opening is delayed. That issue, too, encompasses the West. The fact is […]
Jeff Schmerker
Posted inJuly 3, 2000: A river resurrected
Tooele opens the door to more toxics
UTAH Writer Chip Ward has called his home turf of Tooele County, Utah, the “most extensive environmental sacrifice zone in the nation” (HCN, 2/14/00: Canaries in the Utah desert). The 7,600-square-mile county on the western edge of the state is home to a chemical-weapons burner, a biological warfare proving ground, a bombing range, a hazardous-waste […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
The least of these
A tiny, colorful fish that lives in the desert springs and marshes of western Utah is on the rebound – without ever having been listed as threatened or endangered. The algae-feeding least chub once lived throughout Utah’s West Desert, but by the early 1990s, the fish were found only in four ponds along the Utah-Nevada […]
Posted inDecember 8, 1997: Mono Lake: Victory over Los Angeles turns into local controversy
One dam falls, another rises
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A dam proposed for the Diamond Fork River near Provo, Utah, all but died this October. The Central Utah Water Conservancy District backed off in the face of financial concerns and rising public opposition, pulling the dam from the “preferred alternative” in an environmental impact statement. One of the last […]
Posted inOctober 16, 1995: In the heart of the New West, the sheep win one
Looking for a quiet, old neighborhood?
If a proposal by Utah’s Trust Lands Administration goes through, state-owned lots containing Native American ruins will go on the block to provide money for public schools. One lot includes an Anasazi house structure probably dating to the time of Christ; another contains a Fremont culture dwelling dating back 1,000 years. State officials say they […]
Posted inAugust 7, 1995: Fighting fires, and indignities
Sign of the times
Jordanelle, Utah’s newest state park, opened in early July with a new mountain reservoir and a good deal of controversy. A park sign that was supposed to educate visitors about the damage cattle can cause in streamside vegetation included pictures of a cow standing next to a damaged stream and a cowpie. The text read: […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
A modest proposal
Utah county commissioners passed wilderness recommendations on to Gov. Mike Leavitt March 31, and, as expected, they didn’t ask for much. The counties recommended about 1 million acres of Bureau of Land Management wilderness – about half what the BLM itself recommended and one-sixth of that urged by the Utah Wilderness Coalition. The counties left […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 1995: No more ignoring the obvious: Idaho sucks itself dry
Utah wilderness bill under way
Utah’s congressional delegation has once again promised a Utah BLM wilderness bill, and this time – to the dismay of environmentalists – it may be able to deliver. Gov. Mike Leavitt, representatives Enid Greene Waldholtz, Jim Hansen, and Bill Orton (the lone Democrat), and senators Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch are all working on a […]