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Conflicting reports fuel fracking debate tied to Wyoming town
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on September 29th, 2012
Reuters: Government testing of a drinking water aquifer near a tiny Wyoming town has shown concentrations of gases like ethane and propane and diesel compounds, but a natural gas company said it did not cause the contamination.
A report by the U.S. Geological Survey showed petroleum-based pollutants in samples from a monitoring well in the aquifer adjacent to Pavillion, Wyoming, which is at the center of a national debate over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
A draft study released in December by...
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Idaho resort town ordered to evacuate over wildfire
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on August 19th, 2012
Reuters: Authorities on Saturday ordered the evacuation of a small mountain resort in Idaho as firefighters braced for the possibility that a wildfire that has charred 82,000 acres could reach the town of Featherville in the evening.
Smoke from the Trinity Ridge Fire in the Boise National Forest blanketed roadways leading to Featherville, raising health concerns and reducing visibility, said Gary Walker, spokesman for the Elmore County Sheriff's Office.
Featherville has fewer than 100 full-time residents...
Wildfires menace towns in Idaho, California
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on August 17th, 2012
Reuters: A wildfire roaring through mountainous terrain in Idaho's Boise National Forest headed toward a resort town on Thursday, as voluntary evacuations began and firefighters scrambled to make a last stand against the advancing flames.
The Idaho blaze, sparked by a utility vehicle that caught fire, has charred nearly 70,000 acres of sagebrush and woodlands east of Boise over the past six days, burning a rental cabin and six non-residential structures, authorities said.
The fire is one of dozens burning...
Ravaged by fires, Western ranchers face “scary” summer
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on July 13th, 2012
Reuters: It took less than an hour last month for a Montana wildfire to reduce Scott McRae's ranch to thousands of blackened acres devoid of the grasses that were to sustain hundreds of cattle.
"That is 500 mouths to feed with nothing to eat in sight," said McRae, 53, co-owner of a family ranch founded in the 1880s in southeastern Montana.
McRae is among scores of ranchers across the U.S. West whose grazing lands have been charred by blazes or ravaged by drought amid a regional shortfall of the alfalfa...
Climate change threatens Yellowstone region
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on September 29th, 2011
Reuters: A warming climate is imperilling the wildlife and landscapes in the Yellowstone National Park region, two environmental groups said in a study.
The report by Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and Greater Yellowstone Coalition shows temperatures in the past decade in the Yellowstone area have exceeded the rate of warming worldwide compared to the 20th Century average.
Left unchecked, climate change is likely to transform the greater Yellowstone area, which includes parts of Wyoming, Idaho...
Judge approves key endangered species deal
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on September 10th, 2011
Reuters: The U.S. government has until 2018 to decide whether to set aside critical habitat or provide other protections for hundreds of imperiled species, under an agreement approved on Friday by a federal judge.
The deal struck in July settles lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity accusing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of being too slow in assigning safeguards under the Endangered Species Act to various plants and animals faced with extinction.
"With approval of this agreement, species...
Idaho fire prompts evacuation of nuclear facility
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on August 26th, 2011
Reuters: Firefighters struggled on Thursday to control a fast-growing 28,000-acre wildfire raging within several miles of spent nuclear fuel stored at a U.S. Energy Department lab in the high desert of eastern Idaho.
The growth and intensity of the blaze, the nation's largest active wildfire, prompted the Idaho National Laboratory to order a key facility on the 890-square-mile site evacuated of all nonessential personnel, lab officials said.
The Materials and Fuels Complex, about 38 miles from Idaho...
House panel to examine oil pipeline safety
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on July 9th, 2011
Reuters: ExxonMobil on Saturday submitted a draft clean-up plan of its Yellowstone River oil spill to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Few details were immediately available of the draft report submitted by Exxon, which according to an EPA order should spell out how the oil giant will monitor the environment, clean up pollutants, restore damaged areas on the Yellowstone and dispose of hazardous wastes.
Exxon turned in the report, which was ordered by the EPA, as a congressional panel said it...
Montana governor threatens lawsuit over oil spill
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on July 9th, 2011
Reuters: Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer continued on Friday to press Exxon Mobil over an oil spill into the Yellowstone River and threatened to take the company to court as clean-up continued a week after the leak.
Schweitzer has been increasingly critical of Exxon in the days since one of its pipelines burst on July 1, spilling what the company estimates was up to 42,000 gallons of oil into the river.
"We're going to hold them liable in court," Schweitzer told reporters following a public meeting...
Montana pulls out of oil spill joint command
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on July 8th, 2011
Reuters: Montana's governor withdrew his state on Thursday from participation in a joint command team directing the cleanup of oil spilled from a burst Exxon Mobil pipeline, saying citizens "can't get straight answers" from the company.
In establishing the state's own incident command center in Billings, just downstream from Friday night's spill on the Yellowstone River, Governor Brian Schweitzer cited what he characterized as a lack of public transparency by Exxon.
Schweitzer said Exxon had restricted...