In Utah, Republican Rep. Merrill Cook was fishing for
green votes when he told his urban Wasatch Front district that he
wants to see more Beehive State wilderness protected – without
saying exactly how much (HCN, 8/3/98). But his support for
wilderness didn’t endear him to environmental
groups.
In early September, the Sierra Club and
the League of Conservation Voters endorsed his Democratic
challenger, Lily Eskelson, a teacher and former president of the
Utah Education Association. Eskelson says she supports the 5.7
million-acre wilderness bill now before
Congress.
In Idaho, the League
of Conservation Voters plunked down $200,000 for a campaign to keep
Idaho Rep. Helen Chenoweth from winning a third term. The
Republican faces Democrat Dan Williams, the same challenger she
narrowly defeated in the last election. The League is hoping its
money will sway between 2 and 5 percent of voters in November – all
that’s necessary, they say, to defeat one of the leaders of the
anti-environmental contingent in
Congress.
In Arizona, critics
say a citizens’ initiative known as the “Growing Smarter”
referendum is not what it appears. The measure promises $20 million
a year for the acquisition and protection of state trust lands now
open to development, and that has lured the support of private land
trusts seeking to preserve open space.
But the
measure would also outlaw many tools used to manage growth, says
the Sierra Club. If the developer-supported Proposition 303 passes,
the state could not require developers to pay mandatory impact
fees, nor could the state enact growth boundaries as part of a
growth management plan.
“There are a few (open
space) groups that are supporting it because they desperately want
the money,” says Sierra Club’s Sandy Bahr. “We’re encouraging
people to oppose it.”
* Dustin
Solberg
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline On The Trail.
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