Magazine
Life in the wasteland

December 9, 2002

Eureka, Utah, unearths a toxic legacy just as its only hope for rescue, the federal Superfund cleanup program, blows away. Also in this issue: Thousands of park and forest jobs could go to private contractors.

Feature

Life in the wasteland
Eureka, Utah, a struggling former mining town, was named a Superfund priority site in September, but the Environmental Protection Agency is running out of funds for cleanup, and the Bush administration shows no interest in replacing them.
Lolly Merrell Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition

Sidebar

Superfund: On the Hill… on the ground
Timelines trace the birth, life and decline of the Superfund law, both on Capitol Hill and on the ground in the West.
Staff Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Brownfields program makes cleanup profitable
The "Brownfields" program, an offshoot of Superfund, is designed to redevelop contaminated sites into real estate, but critics say it is not always up to the challenge.
Laura Paskus Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition

Essays

Like Butte, a lonely dog hangs on
A mysterious, mangy, half-wild dog known locally as "The Auditor" has made the moonscape of the Butte’s Berkeley Pit his home for 16 years, hanging on to life as stubbornly as the town of Butte itself.
Matt Vincent Essay Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition

Book Reviews

Cow-free crowd ignores science, sprawl
Welfare Ranching’s authors, George Wuerthner and Mollie Matteson, are romantics who ignore the threat of sprawl and the studies of scientists in their quest to ban all cattle grazing on the West’s public lands.
Ed Marston Essay Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Ranching advocates lack a rural vision
Ranching West of the 100th Meridian is a book of essays that promotes the false idea that Westerners must choose between condos and cows in a landscape never meant for cattle grazing.
John Horning Essay Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition

Writers on the Range

What Dick Cheney might have learned in Rock Springs, Wyoming
Dick Cheney once lived in the boom-and-bust community of Rock Springs, Wyo., but didn’t learn there the lessons that he might have learned to help him deal with unintended consequences in a war against Iraq.
Paul Krza Opinion Essay Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Heard Around the West
Camouflage for consumers; SWAT team busts dog; saving Smokey’s job; New Mexico "most stupid" state; turning a mine into a tourist attraction; and hermit "Dugout Dick" lives in a cave in Idaho.
Betsy Marston Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition

Dear Friends

Dear friends
Kiss a super idea (Superfund) goodbye; more election reflection; visitors; correction and apology; and hello to Utah, radio station KUER.
Greg Hanscom Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition

News

Administration, industry stamp out clean airregs
The auto industry, backed by the Bush administration, is trying to halt California’s progressive auto-emissions regulations.
Jamie McEvoy Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
The push is on to privatize federal jobs
The Bush administration has ordered federal land-management agencies to identify jobs that might be performed more cheaply by the private sector.
Mark Matthews Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Outside the agency, it’s a cold, cruel world
Displaced federal employees may find it difficult to adapt to work in the private sector.
Mark Matthews Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Election Bounce
Beef checkoff rule upheld by courts; California red-legged frog loses critical habitat; Hanford’s Fast Flux Test Facility will not be shut down; Neal McCaleb announces resignation as director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and EPA eases rules on coal-fir
Laura Paskus Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Farmers band together to stave off sprawl
In California’s Central Valley, farmers are working together to create "farmland security perimeters" to protect their land from development.
Cosmo Garvin Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Cowboys fight oil and gas drillers
Fed up with energy companies and the BLM, several ranchers in northwestern New Mexico have locked their gates, blocking private roads to natural gas wells.
Gail Binkly Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Condit Dam removal hits snags
Plans to take down Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington are stalled over the problem of what to do about the sediment that has backed up behind the dam.
Andrew Engelson Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Klamath water worth more in river
A U.S. Geological Survey study, suppressed by the Interior Department in October, says that recreation adds more than agriculture to the economy of the Klamath River Basin.
Joshua Zaffos Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Fish and wildlife have rights, too
Montana’s Supreme Court rules that citizens and government agencies can maintain water rights without "using" the water, while the Wyoming Legislature stalls over a bill that would allow irrigators to leave water instream temporarily.
Joshua Zaffos Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition

Letters

Darwinism on the Klamath River
Rodney Eveland Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Leave your political passions at home
John Krizek Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Gas debate needs common sense
Mike Matheson Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Rowell devolved to kitsch
Tom Clayton Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Bay is an environmental treasure
D.D. Trent Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
Fees cut people out of public lands
Dell Manners Dec. 9, 2002 From the print edition
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