In late December, crews moved five boulders
with numerous prehistoric petroglyphs out of the path of a
controversial road being built on the edge of Albuquerque
(HCN, 6/27/05: Suburbia blasts through a national monument). The
road, which cuts through Petroglyph National Monument, was touted
as a way to alleviate traffic congestion on the city’s
fast-growing West Side. But in early January, the city announced
that it only has enough money to pave two of the four proposed
lanes in the project.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has granted Hilmar Cheese permission to drill a
“test well” to inject wastewater from its cheese factory
three-quarters of a mile underground (HCN, 6/27/05: Factory wants
to squeeze cheese underground). After treating the wastewater to
remove fat, the Modesto, Calif., company will pump the salty
remnants below the local aquifer. Attorneys for Hilmar and the
Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board are still
negotiating a multimillion dollar settlement after Hilmar was cited
for flushing the wastewater onto surrounding fields — and
contaminating groundwater — since the early 1980s.
In early December, Congress put the kibosh on Rep. Richard
Pombo’s attempt to fast-track oil-shale development
in the West (HCN, 12/12/05: Congress bets on oil shale). Pombo,
R-Calif., had proposed that a third of potential oil shale lands be
offered for lease within one year and that energy companies receive
lavish royalty rebates. Leasing will proceed at a slower pace, but
the Bureau of Land Management is holding a series of public
meetings in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to gather comment on oil
shale development.
Another conflict between
wilderness and helicopter skiing has arisen, this time in
Wyoming (HCN, 1/24/05: The Utah backcountry gets crowded). In June,
the U.S. Forest Service allowed a Jackson-based company called High
Mountain Heli-Skiing to take one group of skiers per day into the
Palisades Wilderness Study Area in the Snake River Range. Four
environmental groups, represented by the public-interest law firm
Earthjustice, have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the
decision.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Latest Bounce.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
