The Magazine

A Sierra Club member’s attempt to compromise on oil and gas development on potential wilderness lands along the Overthrust Belt — a 60-mile wide swath of high petroleum potential that runs from northwestern Montana south into Utah — has won only mild praise and some criticism from the energy industry.

The Alaska National Interest Lands Act, which includes protections for Gates of the Arctic National Park, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and other wild lands, faces a tricky Congress debate and a looming deadline.

Despite President Jimmy Carter’s warning that he will veto any appropriations bill that includes six contested water projects, Congress has included those projects in the 1979 Public Works Appropriations bill.

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.

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.

When the Forest Service began its second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) a year ago, industry representative feared it. But now, as environmentalists and even agency officials themselves criticize the plan, timber and mining interests are the only ones who seem pleased.

Sen. Malcom Wallop’s shifty and compromising environmental record is an indication of politics in Wyoming, where “conservative” and “conservation” and still uneasily linked.

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.

Montana’s congressional delegation may be going through major changes this year after almost two decades of stability under the combined leadership of Democratic Senators Mike Mansfield and Lee Metcalf.

Political attacks against Arizona Congressman Morris Udall are one example of recent political backlash against environmentalism, and may be part of a larger shift toward conservatism.

Jay McGrew, an independent energy conservation consultant, says “the insulation business is a little bit like the insurance business. The salesmen always want to sell you more than you need.”

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.

Colorado’s congressional delegation has the best environmental voting record of any state in the Northern Rockies. Only on the issue of water has Colorado recently voted as a typical inland Western delegation.

As with any other Western religion, the worship of uranium is a mixture of love and fear of the deity worshiped. And fear of radioactive uranium may be well justified.

All three of North Dakota’s congressmen were first elected before the environment was a major political issue, and because the state has a strong tradition of returning incumbents to office, all three continue to be re-elected despite their generally poor environmental records.

Enthusiasm for solar electric technology is being dampened by the reality that most consumers cannot afford it.

William O. Douglas has articulated one of the most progressive environmental concepts of recent times: that the natural world should have legal rights.

Conservationists are alarmed by a bill that would makes it easier for the Bonneville Power Administration to build power plants in Western coal-producing states.

Indian tribes, given land that a hundred years ago was often considered wasteland, realize that the vast wealth of their coal, oil, gas, and uranium can represent both a threat as well as a blessing, and are taking steps to increase tribal influence over Indian-owned energy resources.

A highway accident on Colorado’s southeastern plains resulted in a spill of ground-up concentrate of uranium oxide, raising danger of radiation poisoning in the vicinity.