Millworkers helped produce uranium for the nation’s nuclear defense program in the 1950s and ’60s. Now many are ill from exposure to radiation, but getting compensation is difficult. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/12.17/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Marjane Ambler
Indians in the melting pot: ‘old ways’ don’t melt
For more than 25 Western tribes that hold vast quantities of coal and uranium, the energy crisis is another source of pressure to abandon their cultural identity. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/12.11/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
The Sagebrush Rebellion: Misdirected dynamite
The real danger of the Sagebrush Rebellion is not that the federal lands will be taken over but that the deep sentiments aroused by the effort will drive a wedge between agricultural and environmental interests. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/12.4/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Study of radioactive homes ‘lost’ for eight years
A study, initiated by the Environmental Protection Agency but never released to the public, documents high radioactivity in more than a hundred communities where uranium tailings were used as construction fill material. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/12.2/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
NRC tailings control too lax, Wyoming charges
Western Nuclear Inc. has agreed to comply with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and stop construction of a uranium tailings dam that the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission already permitted, highlighting the gap between state and federal regulations. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.24/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Agency’s wilderness grazing policies ‘too pure’
Some conservationists trying to increase the amount of designated wilderness object to the regulations that the Wilderness Act places on grazing because those regulations draw opposition from ranchers. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.23/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
New coalition inspired by FARM conference
The future of agriculture in the Rocky Mountain states may hinge on a trade-off with energy development spurred by the energy crisis. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.22/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Ranchers’ group demands legal lasso for wild horses
With the unexpected blessing of a wild horse advocate and several environmentalists, a rancher group has filed suit to force the, federal government to thin wild horse herds in southwest Wyoming. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.19/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
U.S. Steel urges workers: fight EPA air regs
U.S. Steel has set Lander, Wyoming, astir by announcing that unless the Environmental Protection Agency relaxes its requirements for air pollution controls at the company’s mill in Utah, it will have to close both the mill and its Wyoming mine. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.19/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Uranium industry’s expansion prospects bleak
The Three Mile Island nuclear accident has only added to the uranium industry’s troubles, which include the erratic price of uranium and pending political decisions. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.16/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Wheatland strives for boom town perfection
Although residents of Wheatland, Wyo., may disagree about the positives and negatives of the boom created by construction of a nearby coal-fired power plant, they take pride in the way they have worked together with the consortium of power utilities building the plant. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.11/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Western governors aren’t wild about more wilderness
A summary of the stance toward wilderness taken by Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm, Utah Gov. Scott Matheson, Idaho Gov. John Evans, Montana Gov. Thomas Judge, Wyoming Gov. Ed Herschler, and South Dakota Gov. William Janklow. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.7/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
States ponder: who should pay to keep air clean?
When Congress passed the Clean Air Act amendments in 1977, it didn’t approve federal funds for the studies necessary for air quality classification, meaning that most states have trouble accessing the law’s protections. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.5/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Nation now molding its first Indian water policy
President Jimmy Carter has taken the first step toward establishing a national Indian water policy, which has been defined de facto by large water projects that flood Indian lands while not providing a proportional share of the water. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/11.4/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Merson flaunts environmental bias
Despite criticism, Alan Merson, recently appointed the regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver, doesn’t back down from claims that he’s an environmentalist. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/10.19/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Power emissions may reduce ag productivity
Preliminary results from studies of vegetation near the Colstrip, Montana, coal-fired power plant indicate that plants are absorbing sulfur dioxide, and that crops and grazing land could be dramatically affected in the long term. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/10.15/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Activists torn over what’s best for wild horses
The federal government is desperately searching for ways to manage the horse and burro populations in ways that will be economically feasible and publicly acceptable, but environmental groups acknowledge there’s little chance of pleasing everyone. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/10.14/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Dirty air a health hazard in 30 areas of West
While air pollution is generally not considered to be a problem in the West (with the obvious exceptions like Los Angeles and Denver), all Western states have areas that do not meet minimum federal clean air standards. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/10.11/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Two more reservations want Class I air quality
The Flathead and Fort Peck Indian Reservation councils have decided to seek Class I protection for their air under the Clean Air Act. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/10.8/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Idaho elects wilderness champ and foe to Congress
Idaho voters continue to elect both Sen. Frank Church, who has gained a national reputation as an environmental leader, as well as Rep. Steve Symms, who is known for wanting to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/10.7/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
