Chalk one up for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in northern
Idaho. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge rejected the state’s
attempt to stop the tribe from taking control of the southern third
of Lake Coeur d’Alene and part of the St. Joe River, reports the
Spokane, Wash., Spokesman Review. The decision came on the eve of
the tribe’s “Water Potato Day,” a holiday celebrating the root that
grows to about the size of an egg, and is one of the most important
traditional foods the Coeur d’Alenes take from the lake (HCN,
8/17/98).
The courts have been
kicking motorheads out of the pool this fall. In mid-October, San
Juan County, Wash., banned jet skis and other “personal watercraft”
from its waters. Although the watercraft industry sued to kill a
previous ban, a Washington Supreme Court judge dismissed the
challenge this summer (HCN, 8/4/97). Time is also running out for
jet skis and motor boats on Lake Tahoe. On Oct. 1, U.S. District
Judge Frank Damrell rejected an appeal from the industry
challenging a ban on two-stroke carbureted motor boat engines. The
ban goes into effect next
June.
Moab, Utah, residents
and environmentalists got a hit of cold water in the face in
September when Atlas Minerals Corp. filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy. The company’s uranium tailings pile is leaking
radioactive elements, ammonia and other pollutants into the
Colorado River (HCN, 4/13/98). Atlas has put down a $6 million bond
to clean up the tailings, but the project could cost between $19
million and $150 million, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. “Where are
they going to get the money?” asks Cullen Battle, an attorney for
the Flagstaff, Ariz.-based Grand Canyon Trust. His group is suing
Atlas, and plans to sue the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
force a clean-up.
The federal
government will help foot the bill to clean up Oregon’s streams and
rivers. Gov. John Kitzhaber and other officials announced in
October that farmers will get up to $200 million in subsidies over
15 years to plant trees along waterways where farming and ranching
have damaged endangered salmon habitat. Oregonians shot down a
ballot initiative that would have forced similar measures on
farmers two years ago (HCN, 11/25/96). “This is huge,” Oregon Trout
conservation director Jim Myron told the Portland, Ore., Oregonian.
“It could make a really, really big difference for fish.”
* Greg
Hanscom
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Wayward West.
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