Missing: more than 600 boxes of documents from the
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in southern
Idaho (HCN, 9/29/97). Federal scientists studying the effects of
the laboratory’s underground radioactive storage facility on
downwinders fear the boxes were lost or destroyed by past INEEL
employees; they say that at least 60 of the boxes may have
contained information important to their
research.
A coalition of 19 environmental groups
has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of the
northern goshawk, a raptor that lives in old-growth forests
throughout the West. Environmental-ists first asked the agency to
list the goshawk as endangered in 1991, kicking off a long legal
battle (HCN, 3/30/98). Two previous lawsuits have forced the agency
to reconsider its decision not to list the bird, but the agency has
stuck with its denial. Environmentalists involved with the suit
hope the third time’s the charm.
BP-Amoco Corp.
may now have an easier time satisfying Wyoming’s cleanup
requirements for its refinery site in the city of Casper (HCN,
2/15/99). The state legislature recently passed a bill that relaxes
state standards for cleanup of “brownfields,” or old industrial
sites. Lawmakers say the bill will finally free up the sites for
other uses, but environmentalists say it’s a dangerous deal.
“Without hyperbole, this is the worst environmental bill in the
session,” says Mac Blewer, a lobbyist for the Wyoming Outdoor
Council. The bill is now on its way to the desk of Gov. Jim
Geringer, who has lent lukewarm support to the
measure.
The battle over the proposed Crown Jewel
open-pit gold mine in the Okanogan Highlands of north-central
Washington (HCN, 8/31/98) continues. Although the Washington State
Department of Ecology has approved a water-quality permit for the
state’s first large-scale gold mine, the agency predicts that the
proposed mine will violate water quality standards. A local
environmental group, the Okanogan Highlands Alliance, appealed
Ecology’s decision in mid-February.
Two of the
Canada lynx released in southern Colorado three weeks ago (HCN,
2/15/99) have starved to death. Three more lynx, all females, are
still roaming the Rio Grande National Forest. The Colorado Division
of Wildlife may release as many as 50 more cats this winter, but
biologists now say they’ll keep the lynx in holding facilities for
an extra week or two to make sure they’re in prime
condition.
* Michelle Nijhuis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Wayward West.
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