A railroad must pay for illegally dumping toxic waste
in Montana in the 1970s and 1980s. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Railroad Co. used the Park County landfill to dump
perchloroethylene, a solvent that can cause cancer and birth
defects. The discarded barrels were marked “non-hazardous.” On July
21, a Montana jury ordered the railroad to pay the county $14.5
million. Park County attorney Clifford Edwards told the Billings
Gazette, “You know, if you poop in somebody else’s yard, you have
to clean it up.”
Vandals have again struck the
home of environmentalists in Escalante, Utah (HCN, 5/24/99).
Wilderness advocates Tori Woodard and Patrick Diehl came home to
find the windows and doors of their house smashed in and telephone
lines cut. Escalante Mormon Bishop Wade Barney told the Salt Lake
Tribune, “Come on now, they asked for it. They’re lucky they’re
still in as good of shape as they are.”
The Vail
ski resort in Colorado says it didn’t realize its new road crossed
a half-acre of protected wetlands. The Army Corps of Engineers,
which has since closed the road, says Vail’s road was never
approved. Fines could reach $50,000 a day. In addition, three
groups – Sinapu, Colorado Wild and the Wilderness Society – said
they plan to sue the resort because its road violates the Clean
Water Act.
Also, in Colorado, Telluride’s ski
area is expanding, but not if a local couple and a statewide
environmental group have their say. On June 22, Philip and Linda
Miller and Colorado Wild Inc. appealed the decision to allow skiing
in Prospect Basin. They said the expansion would harm old-growth
spruce forests and wildlife.
In the Columbia
River near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, chinook
salmon may be swimming in “hot” water (HCN, 9/1/97). The Government
Accountability Project, a Hanford watchdog group, says high levels
of radioactive strontium 90 have been found in mulberry bushes
growing 100 feet from the spawning beds of fall
chinook.
Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah has
officially entered the race for U.S. president. “I’m going to run
because I’m tired of the divisiveness (in Washington D.C.),” Hatch
told the New York Times. “I think I can bring both sides together.”
– Keri Watson
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Wayward West.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
