High Country News September 16, 1996
Feature
The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
The EPA's Toxic Releases Inventory report documents the annual industrial pollution of land, air and water in the U.S., with six of the top 10 polluters located in the West.
An off-the-books polluter
A loophole in the Toxics Release Inventory keeps mining pollution, except for that caused by smelters, off its lists.
Related Stories
Top 20 polluters
Top 20 companies are ranked according to how many pounds of pollution they release into the air, water and land.
The Toxic West
Charts for each state in the West depict top five chemicals released in air, water and land, and top 10 facilities.
For more information
How to obtain information on the Toxics Release Inventory.
Dear Friends
Dear friends
Fall interns Katie Fesus and Patrick Dowd; and fall brings coolness and rain to the dry, hot Western Slope.
News
Opal Creek is blowing in the (political) wind
Retiring Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield introduces a bill to protect the old growth of Opal Creek - but some environmentalists have serious reservations about it.
Bombs go up in smoke in a rural Utah county
After 20 years and many delays and false starts, the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah begins incinerating chemical weapons in August.
What goes around, comes around
Nye County, Nev., county-movement leader Dick Manning loses two lawsuits in court.
Do cows become the Prescott?
A Wilderness Society lawsuit charges that the Forest Service violated the law by allowing grazing in the Prescott National Forest without considering whether the forest could handle it.
Multicultural grazing boards off to a good start
The BLM's Resource Advisory Committees appointed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt help to ease tension and begin consensus among ranchers and environmentalists.
Grazing bill returns for another round
A bill sponsored by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., would reinstate rancher-dominated grazing advisory boards, phase out Resource Advisory Committees, and keep grazing fees low.
It's the grizzlies and the birds, stupid
President Clinton may lack the poetry to articulate the irrational, aesthetic love for nature that truly lies behind environmentalism.
Utahns roar over lion hunt
The Utah Wildlife Board greatly increases the number of mountain lions hunters are allowed to kill.
A summer of smoke and ashes
Marines and Army soldiers help firefighters in the most intense fire season since 1969.
Book Reviews
Tourism summit
A conference, "Seeking Common Ground," is held Sept. 24-26 in Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Two reports set the stage for Sierra Nevada's future
Reviews of "Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project Report" and "Sierra Nevada Wealth Index."
Bear with us
Review of "Bear Aware: Hiking and Camping in Bear Country" by Bill Schneider.
Low cost legal aid
The Project for Participatory Democracy has put out "A Guide to Citizen Law Enforcement: Fighting Environmental Crime at Facilities of the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense."
Recycling gets rapped
The Environmental Defense Fund pamphlet, "Anti-Recycling Myths," responds to a New York Times article denouncing recycling.
Getting Beneath the Surface of Public Lands Issues
The Foundation for American Communications' conference, "Getting Beneath the Surface of Public Lands Issues," held Oct. 4-6 in Englewood, Colo.
Conservation and Conservatism: Reflections on clean water
"Conservation and Conservatism: Reflections on clean water," held Sept. 21, in Three Forks, Mont.
Bear of the Land, Bull of the River: Protecting Ecosystem Indicator Species
Alliance for the Wild Rockies holds its 11th annual rendezvous on Sept. 27-29 in Corvallis, Mont.
Essays
Choose not to go boldly outdoors
The writer suggests that Westerners start a sabbatical for the land - letting it rest entirely sometimes from hiking and other recreation.
Heard Around the West
Heard around the West
The Cody, Wyo., "Boobyprise"; Andy Kerr a controversial columnist for Oregon's "Wallowa Chieftain"; Immigration raids disrupt Jackson, Wyo., tourist season; unexpected balloon adventure in Vail, Colo.; grizzly that mauled a man in Glacier Nat'l Park.
