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2.High Country News - Feb. 22, 1980• •• 1 ~

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Misdirected dynamite _The Sagebrush Rebellion: .'

PERCENTAGE OF LANDThe real danger of the Ssgebrush Rebellion is not thstthe federal lands will betaken over but that the deep sentimenta aroused by the effort will drive a wedgebetween agricultural and environmental interests.Legal experta agree thst Nevada and other states hsve a very weak case in their

bid to take over federsl lands within their boundaries. In fact, many of therebellion's foremost spokesmen practically will admit that it is a public relationshype - an attempt to bring national attention to problems they face trying to workwith federal desk jockeys.David Leroy, Idaho's attorney general and a vocal proponent of the rebellion, told

a group in Sun Valley last fall that he sees it as a plea for a more meaningfulpartnership between states and the federal government in making land manage-ment decisions.

BY STATE

IN FEDERAL OWNERSHIP

OR CONTROL

/I,Re,?"ls have a saddlebag full of problems they can reach into for examples. Theycite labor department regulatiens that require hot and cold running water anddwellings with' constant temperatures for sheep herders satisfied with eonaidera-bly less. A rancher tells of a iand exchange he has been trying to arrange with theBureau of Land Management: the BLM wants the land and the terms have been. agreed to, but red tape has stalled it for eight years. Another rancher says thatwhen he showed a BLM man antelope grazing on his land as evidence of the goodbrowse there, tbe BLM cowboy accused him of herding the antelope there frompublic lands. . .

10%

tainty caused by the rebellion lawsuits and legislative efforts will bring all actionson public lands to a halt for 10 years. .. .

Whether or not BLM and Congress respond as Wicks predicts, we know alreadythat the rebellion fever has set some ranchers and environmentalists at eachother's throats. And that no doubt pleases some mining companies and landdevelopers who fear the two groups' collective strength.Environmentalists, farmers and ranchers should be working together to solve

common resource problems. Environmentalists should not use the rebellion as avehicle to arouse sentiment for the public' lands and against ranchers. Ranchersand farmers should refrain from joining the other rebels in spreading misinforma-tion, such as maps that show all federal land with "Keep Off' signs or 'statementsthat millions of acres are being withdrawn from any public use.As Jim Posewitz of the Montana Fish, Game and Parks D~partmen~ says, you

'can't go around throwing dynamite at random. . _ t.',~_

- Marjane Ambler

BLM no doubt has its own side of the stories. However ~anyone who has tried towork with the BLM - which is the principle target of the rebellion -'has his or berown tales of bureaucratic bungling, unnecessary red tape, 'ignored public input,lack of understanding ofthe West or just plain arrogance.

The W~t is entering a. difficult transition period in its relationship with itsprinciple landlord. The BLM is suddenly changing from a caretaker to an activemanager, and neither the agency nor the public land users are quite ready for thetr~nsformation. ' . ,"The rancher is gettingt,o be a lilUe pipsqueb.k who can't do aiything without the

, " • J ,!' .

okay of some young fellow who is well-educated, but who doesn't know the land,"one oldtimer complained recently.Another said he was born in Wyoming and raised with the concept that the

, federal government is bad. "The idea was like mother's milk," he said.The Sagebrush Rebellion is only going to make this new eta more difficult - for

everyone. Gary Wicks, director of tbe Utah BLM, predicts that the legal uncer-

We're left with the pleasjint feelingthat a whirlwind- has arrived.Michael comes from San Francisco,

where he spent "four.years working as awriter for the "Sierra Club, freelancingon the side for such publications as theRocky Mountain News and Outsidemagazine, and writing much of the, material for the 'Club's environmentalnews service. Even before he got here,his influence was felt in the paper -our expanded front-page index was aresponse to a suggestion in one of hisletters.Michael majored in geography at col- ,

lege, and water, politics and agriculturalland use are three areas in which healready knows the issues and shouldhave much to contribute. Perhaps he'llwrite about the weather, too: He wasinitiated on his first day in Wyomingwhen his car, after making tnE;!long,hard trip over the mountains from the- .We.st Coast, simply refused, to start. Hemay have considered running the 10miles from Joan's house to town - thatwould' be nothing compared with themarathon he ran in December-s- but wegot him in by car, fearing the effects ofone shock too many' on the first day.There's still room for one last word

about Marjane Ambler, who wethought had left us to go pack for Hous-ton last week. With midnight approach-ing, she comes in to announce that it'stime tostop - forget tbe extra energypage story, she says, the paper is full tothe brim. Finish "Dear Friends" and hitthe sack. Sometimes you have to be toldto '!top, and that's part of a managingeditor'sjob. Don't know how we'll man-age without her. --:rk.-:8~

Dear Friends,We've welcomed a new writer to the

staff this week. He arrived on Mondayin a Volkswagen bug teetermg under.the weight of a huge cardboard boxwrapped in plastic and affixed withwide, black tape.The box lias never been openede-Tbe

back seat has not been emptied, Ournew man, Michael Moss, took outhistypewriter, a fewbooks and his sleepingbag and set himself-to writing WesternRoundup.

DRinion.SPRING ~PLANTING ,-yThis spring plarit something that

will really grow. Place High Coun-trY Ne_ in the hands of a friendand watch a growing awarenesstake root.

Enclosed is. $15 for 25 tssues,Send HCN to my friend:

nameaddress ------..;.'---city ----------state & zipOr lend .them • Ned copy:"'" ask for a _"'Pte.HIgh Country _ &ox K, Landor. WY. 82520.

- Plib&o'bf'SarB Hunter-WilesMichael M088

·GRAZING AND WILDERNESS HOLES IN AIRPORTSTORY

POSITIVE ABOUT PROFITS

Dear HCN, ,

Your editorial of Jan. 11 was a mostinteresting (and disturbing). one. Youheadlined the piece "Congress' windfallprofits plan not taxing enough for us."A main between-the-lines-theme wasthat taxes are somehow beneficial,' butprofits are bad.Have you considered there would be

no "windfall" if oil prices hsd not beencontrolled by the federal governmentsince 1971? . . .Chevron's fiscal activities in 1978, in

round numbers, were 85 follows:PROFITS $1 billion (less than halfwent to our quarter of a million owners,the balance was plowed backand spentin the business in 1979).PLOWBACK$2 billion (our biggest budget, by far, isfor domestic exploration). TAXESPAID $3 billion.Please, consider that when American

businesses make profits they use thevast majority to produce goods and ser-vices Am.ericans want.Too often funds raised from taxes are

spent to 'produce counter-productiveregulations or goods and services

-nbureaucrats. want, There's a differ-1",ence.I'd like to see our- national attitude

become more positive about profits andmore negative toward taxes. The neteffect would be less coercion by gov-ernment and more choice and betterprices for consumers.

Owen MurphyPublic Affairs ManagerChevron U.S.A. Inc.

VICTIMS OF PREJUDICE

Dear HCN,

Reflecting on the Jan. 11th fea turearticle "New kind of 'public interestgroup pushes growth" has made merealize more than ever that human be·ings are ,increasingly victims of oneanother's prejudices. We cannot blamedisease, suffering, cruelty and themalignancies which increasinglydominate our social spheres nn any-thing but our own lack of understand-ing of where we came from and wherewe are going.When people such as Mr. Watt, Mr.

Shipley, and "clear Rocky Mountam"Spring Water" -Coors, spend their timeand energ'ies poisonirig- not only the ~n-vlronment wh!ch$upports all of us, but,more distressi.ngly, the minds of theirfellow meT! who- do_pot know enoughfacts to make sound judgements, they"are being a disservice not only to hu-manit,y, J:,ut ip the end, to themselvesand creation.

Va~ Shipp '",<.

Versailles, Ken.

Feb. 22, 1980 - High Country News-3

WHY NOT BOTH?

Dear editora..Your new. goat is handsome, espe-

cially in Hannah Hinchman's fineslyle, but Imiss the T~tons.CoUldn't we have both? Insteadofthe

double rule across the top, why not thecontour of the mountains? ~

Dan ElliottCasper, Wyo.

SMILING GOATIEDear editors,

Congratulations on choosing the,mountain goat' as your new emblem.We sorely miss the valiant goat whoonce proudly rode the trains of thenow-merged and forgotten. GreatNorthern Railroad. My only regret isthat you didn't choose a more "smiling"go~tie.

Linda WeiralherBillings, Mont.

LIKES IT STRAIGHT

. Dear HCN,

I like your mountain goat eventhough its horns weren't curled beforeits picture was taken.

Ed FossSeeley Lake, Mont.

ONE OUT OF THREE

To the editors:

High Country News .ised to be one ofIPY three favorite newspapers. Theother two have died.Allliealth to you.

John McPheeNew York, NY

High Country Hews

Dear HCN, Dear HCN,

The independent, natural resources bfweeklv

of the Rockies .

"Pubibhed biwe:kLy at 3a 1 Main. Lander .Wyo-,82520. Telephone :307·3:t.!·4R17. Sec-ond class postage paid at Lander. IUSPS No.OH74801 All rights to publication of articlesherein are reserved.

PublisherEditor:Associate' EditorStaff WriterContributing EditorCorrespondents

. Thomps A. Bell• _Gl'Of(rey O'Gara

Joan Nice. Michael Moss

~PeterWUdPhilip White

Timothy LangeJazmyn McDonaldHannah Hinchman

Sarah DollSara Hunter~Wiles

Will MurphyBefsy_ Schimelpfenig

I'vebeen interested in the debste bet-ween wilder~ess and grazing Dut"am to-. tally shocked at the position someenvironmentalist-conservationists aretaking. The wilderness battle has been toolong fought to start compromising it now.Congress gives us this wilderness defin-

ition: "A wilderness, in contrast with those -~reas where man and his own works domi-nate the landscape, is hereby recongized asan area where the earth"·and its commun-ity of life are untrammeled -by man ...re-taining its priineVai :;char~cter and influ-ence, without pef-menent- improve"ments. ..which is pqotected and man-aged so as to preses-ve.lts natural con-dition ..."I'm bothered by the role our quasi-

environmentalists are taking concerningour Western ranges. Very fewenvironmentalist-conservatio.nista under-standgrazing 'principles'or range ecology.

Iread the bureaucratic rhetoric writtenby Dick 'Carter oftbe Utah Wilderness As-sociation, and if that's the stand that ourenvironmental coordinators are taking, I·will no longer support their movement butchange my allegiance to the naturalistcause.

Your recent.tstory on the JacksonHole Airport completely missed thepoint.Grand Teton National Park's local

staff had agreed with the Jackson Air-port Board on a noise "abatement" planwhich would have left the way wideopen for starting commercial flights ofBoeing 737 jets into the park nextsummer· f· • -,/,

The agreement by these "guardians" 'of our national parks would impact 64times as much land in and aroundGrand Teton with unacceptable noiselevels, compared with present airport .landings and takeoffs, according to fig-ures by the Envirenmejrtal ProtectionAgency. 'Fortunately, Director Whalen took

the Park Service's legal obligation toprotect the park more' seriously thanthe. staff at Grand Teton. For this weowe him our deep thanks.Apparently your reporter was taken

in by the deliberately ambiguous word-ing of the local park's announcementson the agreement. It is simply not pos-sible to ,.set aside the most controver-sial issue" (your words) of jets when thelocal Airport Board, the Federal Avia-tion Administration, and Frontier Air-lines all have immediate .plans to ap-prove and commence regular jet flightsin a few months if they are no.t stopped.And it is-the Park Service's legal re-'sponsibility to stop them.

Philip M. HockerSierra Club Conservation ChairmanWilson, Wyo.

Business ManagerArt-ProductionEditorial AssistantPhotographyCirculation

Suhscriptions $15.00 per year ..Single-copie\75 cents.

Call for permission to.reprjnl any artide!'ior ·jllu~lrali()ns. Contribution!' (nl<lllU",-

cripts. photos. artwork. will ~ welcomedwith the understanding that the edilorscannOI be hdd responsi ble fur I()~sor dam-age. Articles and letters will be published<l,[ld ,edited at the discretion .oC IhtO'{'dilors.To have a sample copy !'ent tu a friend

'stmd us his or her addre:,;!'.Write'to Box K. Lander, V'/yo .. ~:l5:W.

'.; --;;-¥"" -~.,~:;.":"--.-~--- " .. -~~-=-~-..-~~~:~2~~~.'-7-~~.'~~T;~::;:-:-"'..-:..::..:;.:--.::~":L:.:' i.:'.~'.:::':~-:-'~:":'':'~r---T------:-'-~~~-~~::;;..:.

Bill HashimOntario, Oregon

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4-High Country News - Feb. 22, 1980

Troubled uranium town, • •(continued from page 1)

a few thirnblefulls of radium. Gramssold for $120,000 apiece.In 1922, the flamboyant brothers'

. boom went bust. From a rich lode disco-vered in Africa, radium soon was beingproduced for a bargain $70,000 a gram.Jo Junior Camp was abandoned.A subsidiary of Union Carbide, U.S.

Vanadium, bought the old mill, 3,500acres of the camp and StandardChemical's mining claims. By 1936 anew mill and small town had been builtand rechristened Uravan.Between then and 1942, Carbide pro-

duced most of the world's vanadium atUravan and a mill in Rifle, Colo. Theunmarketable uranium was dumped,along with torrs of tailings.Then the U.S. Army Corps of En-

gineers arr-ived-to work with Carbide ona secret project. Until 1945, theyleached. uranium from the Uravan tail-ings for the first atomic bombs. Whenthe war ended, so did the immediateneed for the Uravan mill, and the townemptied a third time. But not for long.As the Cold War developed, the U.S.

Atomic Energy Commission began buy-

information have been blamed for thedelay. .The department team hopes to write

a new' license sometime this summer .But radiation chief Montgomery said,"Unless they're (Carbide) willing tomake changes and bring the mill to thecurrent state of the art, I don't thinkwe'll renew their license. It's up tothemto bring the mill up to standards. It isfederal law that dictates what this is tobe. We're not pushing this because wewant to bring trouble for Union Car-bide."And John Yeagley, head of the solid

wastes division in the U .8. Environ-mental Protection Agency's RegionVIII offi~e in Denver, said, "I don'tthink they could invest enough moneyin that site to make it acceptable bytoday's standards."

NEW RULES

From the company's point of view,"today's" standards are actuallytomorrow's, and they aren't completelyknown. The NRC last April issued its

Photo by Timothy LangeSTALACTITES formed on the east bank of the San Miguel River about %miles downstream from the plant as a result of seepage from the mill wasteponds.

,ing uranium at high prices. Anothercarnotite prospecting and mining boomswept the area, and in 1949 Uravangeared up for renewed production. Ad~ditional company housing was built,and in 1956, Carbide invested in a mod-ern grindi ng and leaching plant to im-prove the old mill's capacity. Sincethen, Uravan each day has turned outabout 4,00.0 pounds of yellowcakeuranium concentrate and perhaps fivetimes as much vanadium. The van··adium is further treated at Carbide'sRifle mill. About 75 percent of the orecomes from company-owned mines, therest from independents under Carbidecontract.Under an agreement with the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, CoI-.orado is one of25 states that handles itsown licensing of radiation sources.Carbide;s Uravan mill license was upfor renewal by the health department'sradiation section in July 1975. But re-licensing has been held up for 4\'.0years.Uncertainty over changing regula· 'tions, understaffing at the health de-partment, events at other mills andcompany delays in'supplyin!i adequate .

draft Generic Environmental ImpactStatement on uranium milling, and last_ August proposed new regulations that• would restrict the location of mills and'require careful pollution controls andcomplete reclamation. The EPA hasbeen developing new airborne radia-tion standards, some of which remainunfinished, some ofwhich become effec-tive this year.Bob Beverley, the director of en-

vironmental control in Carbide's GrandJunction office, said the uncertaintyover how these new and proposed regu-lations will translate into c6ncreterules has been the company's majorhang-up in supplying the health de-partment with complete informationabout the Uravan facility.Companies, including Union Car-

bide, have criticized NRC's proposedrules, which are scheduled for final ap-proval in May. Beverley-explained. "Weprobably have 500 pages of very criticalcomments on the impact statement ....!twas written to justify preconceived no-tions." The industry claims NRC hasexaggerated health dangers_associatedwith uranium milling and that the re-

suIting regulations will boost com-panies' costs. unnecessarily. Other cri-tics argue the proposed rules aren'tstrict enough.One'NRC proposal would require all

uranium tailings to be buried to reduceemissions of Radon-222, a radioactivegas known for its potent cancer-causingeffects on uranium miners. Since tail-ings remain dangerous for thousands of- years, NRC wants them buried at least10 feet underground in impermeablebasins to prevent erosion and groundwa-ter seepage.For the past 25 years, Uravan has

dumped its tailings' into two ponds atopClub Mesa. A company plan to spend$10 to $15 million stabilizing these

. piles where they are would meet theNRC's proposed criteria, said Bever-ley.Others are skeptical. Dave Shelton, a

staff member ofColorado's Mined LandReclamation Board, said, "There's noway those tailings will remain on tballlsite for long periods. Those tailings willeventually wind up in the river" if theyaren't moved. Montgomery agrees.Besides being susceptible to erosion-

and earthquakes, the pond bottom~ arenot sealed, and contaminated. waterseeps through the mesa face where itnow is collected, and discharges intothe river. Health officials want 0 keep,the radioacti vewater from reaching theSan Miguel after Carbide dismantlesthe mill and moves on.The company has been searching for I

new places for the 7 to 24 million tons ofadditional tailings it must dumpduringthe-mill's remaining 15-year life. Pre-sumably, old tailings could be.moved tothe new; site. One impediment is thathalf the tailings are left from the yearswhen Carbide worked under contractwith the AEC, and the company expectsthe government to share responsibilityand costs of any move. The feds have notagreed yet to do that.For some time now, state health offi-

cials have worried that the tailingswon't wait for company or governmentaction to move them, but will move ontheir own ~ over the cliff, bringing dis-aster to Uravan townspeople.As each Club Mesa pond fills, bull-

dozers scrape some of the sandy tailingsinto' ever higher dikes near tlie mesacliff. One dike crest is now 14d .feetabove the base of the tailings.In 1974, Carbide agreed with the

health department-to install a rockberm to make the dam on the No.2 pilesafer. But the company never did, andthe department didn't push it. Duringthe past year, however, wide sloughingat the No.2 pile has made health offi-cials edgy. After a tailings spills lastsummer at Churchrock, N.M., the de-partment ordered Carbide to stop dis-charging tailings into first one pond,then the other. On Jan. 4 this year, hav-ing no place for its daily 1,300 tons oftailings, the mill closed. Hasty talks be-- tween health officials and Carbide per-sonnel yielded a 45-day interim solu-tion. The company would dump taili?gs'

"

!

Photo by Timothy LangeSINCE THE 1.890s, radium, van-adium and uranium have been ex-, tracted from the area's carnotiteore.

into an un-used pond away from themesa cliff while Carbide consultantsand health officials evaluated safetymeasures that have been under con-struction on the No, :l pile since Sep-tember 1979.

WORRIED ABOUT ECONOMY -

Although the four-day shutdown re-sulted in no layoffs. Montrose Countyofficials weren't pleased. County Com-missioner Guy Mock says. "The reportthat. caused the mill-to dose indicatedthat this tailing pile is up there justhanging on the side of the cliff ready tofall down on the town. And that's nottrue." Mock explai ned the importanceof Carbide to the county':"" $439,000 in1977 taxes and $40 million each year tothe local economy - and added, 'No-body on this current board of commis-sioners is inclined togo along with someof the extreme attitudes of'the en-vironmental type. ".\Loyalty to Carbide comes from long-

standing ties. Commissioner NeilReams was once a millhand. MontroseSheriff Tom Gilmore, whose deputy isthe only law in Uravan, hauled ore forCarbide 15 years ago.One worker, Bill Kettle, who pays

$38.50 a month rent on his company-- owned three bedroom house in Uravan,said, "I don't see what the holler isabout on that tailings pile. I saw thatpile grow. Iwas there when there wasnothing up there on that mesa "but pi-nyons and juniper." Kettle, president ofLocal 13545 of the United Steel Work-ers union at the mill, insisted. that "thiscompany 'has worked overboard onsBfety and health."A press release issued by Carbide

The Uravanniilllicense came up for renewal _in 1975.FO,I; 41,2years, changing regulations; un-derstaffing at the health department, and com--pany delays have held up relicensing, while themill ke\epsoperating.

ii

_.after the mill reopened J~n. 8 con-cluded, "Although the Corporation isconfident the tailings pile is safe, thereis essentially no probability of a tail-ings darn failure affecting the housingarea which is across the San MiguelRiver from the mill and tailings dis-posal facilities (sic)."

Carbide's consultant's see thingssomewhat differently. In the company's1978 environmental report, a consult-ing firm outlined for conjecture's sake a ."worst case" dam failure at Uravan.They estimated about 200 million gal-Ions afwater and 2 million tons of tail-ings would plunge over the mesa, de-stroy the lower millworks and entombmuch of the town. Such a structural

"Unless Carbide is wil-ling to make changesand bring the mill to thecurrent state of the art, Idon't think we'll renewtheir license."Colorado Depart-

ment of Health

failure, they wrote, "is considered re-mote."As it often -does when it needs addi-

tional information, the state health de-partmentaskedfor NRC's help. On Oct.30,1979, NRC' inspector Joe Kane vis-ited the site and reported Ia ter, "Ourinspection has revealed significant re-tention darn instability ...and (withoutchanges) the safety of the residents ofUravan should be considered as a majorconcern." Further signs of instabilityled to the temporary shutdown inJanuary. >

While Carbide believes its No. 2pondis safe to use again, Alan Pearson ofthestate Division of Water Resourceswrote in aJan. is report "that it was n~tsafe enough to "meet licensing criteriafor continued operation."The health department has until Feb.

22 (today) to decide whether it is satis-fied that Carbide's consultants areright in assuming that Uravan resi-dents will be adequately protected bymonitoring systems and rock bermsalong the tailings base.

Besides meeting the long- and short-.term requirements fOT"managing tail-ings; .Carbide must comply with newEPA standards for airborne radiationexposure to the general population. The-standard that tiikes effect Dec. 1 in-cludes everything buf radon exposure,which is particularly difficult becauseof .day-to-day variations in naturalradon even in areas where no tailings ormills exist.Everyone is exposed to some radia-

tion from outer space "and natural ear-thbound el.ements. People are also_ex- _posed' to human~caused radiation, themost common being medical X-rays.Previous'federal rules allowed uraniummills (and other parts of the uraniumfuel cycle like reactors) to expose thepopulation at large to a level of radia-tionthat the Surgeon General's officehas subsequently estimated wouldabout double leukemia, rates among ex-

posed people. The new proposed EPAstandard is 20 times stricter."By existing and future engineering

methods," said Beverley, "it should bepossible (for Uravan) to meet the stan-dard."Montgomery greeted this assertion

skeptically. "Maybe they can convinceme, but I doubt it," he said. A consultingreport under the radiation section'sscrutiny cites one spot in Uravan regis-tering 10 times the new standard, andearlier sampling showed some readingsof 20 to 30 times the standards:One health official noted that Car-

bide is stuck with a 'legacy at the site;the EPA standard does not separateradioactivity caused by old tailingsscattered throughout Uravan from thecompany's current emissions. Carbidecon-sultants suggest possibly pavingareas with high readings, controllingemissions better and studying the situ-ation further. But it may be necessaryto move the town to meet the standard,and Carbide is also studying that ex-pensive option.No cancer surveys have been carried

out in Uravan. Money is unavailable for- II '

such an effort and regulators call itfutile anyway. In a small populationlike Uravan's, the significance ofcancer, figures would be statisticallyundeterminable, according to EPA'sYeagley.The changing standards strain state

officials' resources, as well as- thecompany's. The state also must ensurecompliance with "the old license.Health physicists on : a pre-

announcedInspectton hi July 1978cited the -company for breaking therules in five instances, including sale Ofcontaminated scrap, use of tailings fordikes along the river and seepage ofradioactivity into the San Miguel.Carbide also ignored for 18 months a .

requirement to work out a- financialbond-with the state to pay for adequateair and water radiation surveys and foreventualreclamation at Uravan. Thesituation developed into a frosty ex-change of letters between Bob Beverleyand Al Hazle; who is head of the healthdepartment's Division ofRaliiation andHazardous Wastes and, Montgomery'sboss. Beverley argued "overaight,"something Hazle said was. especiallyhard to accept because Beverleyhad chaired the state's Radiation Ad-visory Committee, which helped todraft the bond regulations in the firstplace. .Hazle in December 1979 told visiting

executives from Carbide's New Yorkheadquarters that he questioned thecompany's commitment to making theneeded changes. Carbide claimedotherwise. Beverley noted that of the41> years of delay, at least "2'h to 3years were. the department's fault."

ANOTHER PERMITUravan's effect on water quality also

presenta problems.~'From the time of the Flannerys tillthe late 1950s, the mill's radioactiveand other sewage was casually flusheddownstream. In ~1958, Carbide beganwater treatment.As with NRC, the staW hIlS agreed

with EPA to issue its own permitsunder the federal Clean Water Act.Within limits, Carbide is allowed todischarge wastewat"er directly intowaterways, a' privilege' no otheruranium mill has. The health depart-ment should have renewe4 Carbide's

water permita by September, 1979, butlike their counterparts in the radiationsection, the health department's waterquality engineers are severely back- .logged.Calculations show the Uravan mill

contributes more salts to the ColoradoRiver System than any other industrialpolluter. However, 98 percent of thesystem's pollution comes from agricul-tural sources.EPA guidelines for discharge permita

ha ve been tied up in various sorts oflitigation. The health department'swater engineer evaluating Carbide'spermit, Steve Snider, thinks-that whenthe new guidelines are issued, he'll beable to require a phased end to thecompany's discharge. But Beverley,said, "The feds .are coming up with,..guidelines right now, and I am per-sonally quite confident that they willnot require zero discharge."Again, just keeping Carbide in com-

pliance with the current permit istough. Based on company data, bet-ween 1914 and 1978, a sixth ofUravan's sampled discharges exceededpermit limits for Radium-226, theprimary radioactive concern.At Uravan, the yellowcake-making

process produces toxically and radioac-tively contaminated waste liquids.These are evaporated in the ClubRanch, Ponds, which Carbide built in1963. Unevaporated water is piped,back to tlie mill, treated, then dis-charged into the San MigueLCarbide is happy with this system,

pointing out in the environmental repport that the ponds are "enhancing theriver by catching salts that wouldotherwise add to the salt load of theriver .~'Snider agrees it's helped. "The San

-Miguel River has been improving for 15.or 20 years':' he-said. "Life in it now isprobably as plentiful as it bas been thiscentury. But it's hard to say if it'sclean." And there are obvious problems.On _a number of occasions, pipeline

breaks have sent thousands of gallonsof radioactive wastes into the SanMiguel. Moreover, these recurrent ac-cidents are accompanied by a steady,uncontrolJed seepage from the ponds'themselves. -Crystalline stalactitesmark the riverbanks where the ClubRanch Ponds drip whitish-yelJow fluidinto the San Miguel as they have donefor at least a decade. Studies of possibledegradation from this seepage arehighly contradictory. No one. is certainjust how much seepage occurs or where·it alJ goes.In the environmental report, consul-

tants Dames & Moore concluded thatthe "probability of any radioactive ef-

)I 105ITiOl'{OFT-HE

I TAIUNCiS~ IDWDSil>"1 .A:ND P.I.LE S!I: .AB:::JvE THEI i ~ lVllUUCLI RIVER...... _tUB.ANDJJ1I'lCl'IoN

, • _. l40><TROSE; ·UEAV.AN

':-"~ ~T£UURIDE

- SOUTH W£5TE:B:!'r CDlORADO-

Timothy Lange is a correspondent forHeN based in Colorado. Research forthis article was paid for by the HCNResearch Fund.

Feb. 22, 1980 - High Country News-5

fluent entering the eco-system viagroundwater is considered neglibible."But Bob Shukle, chief of the healthdepartment's water quality division,wrote in an Oct. 10, 1979, internalmemorandum that the company's owndata showed "seepage is impactinggroundwater with both chemical andradiological parameters, and in turnsurface water impact is resulting:'For 10 years, everyone from the Fed-

eral Water Quality Administration tothe health department has recom-mended that the Club Ranch Ponds be.lined. Carbide has ignored the repeatedrecommendations. Now, the company -plans a new water treatment system.According to Beverley, the ponds wilJeither be discontinued or will be linedat a cost of$5 million, although Carbidehas made no guarantees this will bedone. Regulators in the Health depart-ment, NRC, EPA and other govern-ment offices say there is "no way" a newuranium mill would "be allowed alicense to operate where Uravan istoday. But once a mill is established,moving it presents serious difficulties,some of them political.Montrose County Commissioner Neil

Reams wrote the health department ayear ago, "The economic and social ef-fects that COuld occur should UnionCarbide be forced to shut this plantdown or move the mill to anotherlocation would be an absolute disasterto the people in the West End of Men-trose Oounty and a severe setback tothe economy of Montrose County as awhole."Yeagley stressed that, in spite of ob-

vious inadequacies at old mills such as."..Uravan's, "we need to strike a'balancewitllthesekinds of operations. We can'tjust say, based on today's standards,we'regoing to shut you down.". Jim Montgomery, who strongly be-lieves the Uravan operation will haveto be moved, sympathizes with thosewho would be affected by such a deci- .sian. "We're not interested in throwingpeople out of work," he said.He also isn't interested in taking

chances. On a wall near his desk, ablow-up ofa color slide shows the risingmushroom of a 1950s atomic. bomb testin Nevada. Hundreds of American sol-diers watch, unprotected. "I like to lookat that picture and remember that wedon't always know as much as we thinkwe know when we do things," he mused.

6-mgh Country News - Feb. 22, 1980

..... -by-Joan-N-lce ...... --~- ....... Federo/ coyote contro/mellows;A tall, stout man with his sleeves roI-

led up sits at a cafe table in WaltmanWyo.After some pleasantries, a woma~behind the counter shouts, "Got anycoyotes, Jim?"Jim grimaces and 'nods. "I wish we

could make environmentalists eat allthem coyotes, I lost near 30 sheep last .night." .No one in the small cafe seems too

surprised. The sheep growers' coyoteproblem has been around a long timeand similar cafe scenes are played outin small towns all over the West. Al-though toe conversational ritual ~e.minds themof'painful problen1s, it's thesheepmen's equivalent of "Have youhad a busy <lay?"The perennial coyote problem was

acknowledged by Congress 49 yearsago, when it passed a law that put thefederal government in the business ofcoyote killing to protect the livestockindustry, particularly sheep opera"tions. Ranchers, conservationists, thegovernment and the general publichave: been yapping at each other abouthow best to keep the coyotes at bay eversince,A recent policy shift made by the In-

terior Department in its Animal Dam-age Control program has raised hacklesamong aheepmen and generallypleased environmentalists. Thesheepmen, who first asked the depart-ment to review the program, see the")action as a betrayal.On Nov. 8 Interior Secretary Cecil

Andrus ordered that the federal prog-ram:- focus on trying to reduce

livestock-coyote .ccnflicts, rather thanon killing predators;- emphasize controls that don't in-

volve killing;- try to target problem coyotes and

leave the others in peace.

To achieve these goals. Andrus. placed restrictions on the federal prog-ram's use of certain traditional coyote-killing techniques:- He banned "denning," that is, kil-

ling a litter of coyote pups in the den;- He reaffirmed 8."ban on routine use

of poisons and halted government re-search on the controversial poisonCompound 1080;.- He decided to allow aerial shooting

only where high livestock losses haveoccurred;'- He required that traps be used "in

the most selective and humane mannerpossible."Accustomed to a much less cautiou~

approach, sheep -ranchers and theirsupporters around the West are angrilysaying it will never work. The new pol-icy, they say. takes away or restricts oldkilling techniques, such as trapping,aerial gunning, denning and poisoning,while not offering enough assurancethat the gentler approach will work.The decision has "added fuel to the

fires of the sagebrush rebellion (ananti-federal movement)," says Idahosheepman Laird Noh. He expects

"The price of fur has put .more people on the trailof the' coyote than anyfederal program." .

predator control anarchy to result, withranchers doing whatever they can toprotect their herds. . 1

On the other hand; Dick Randall, aformer government trapper who nowworks for Defenders of Wildlife, saysthe decision "shows real progress inthinking. They (the federal govern-ment) used to say, 'All predators arebad. Let's kill whatever we can until

. . Delenden of Wildlife photo by Dick RandallKILLING COYOTE PUPS by raiding dens won't be allowed In the newfederal animal damage C9ntrol program. interior Secretary Cecil Andrussays the practice is inhumane and doesn't pinJ!Olnt problem coyotes.

the money runs out.' Now they are seri-ously trying to find the best way to solvethe problem."Environmentalists say the result will

be more effective predator control, aswell as more effective use of taxpayers'money. humaneness to coyotes and bet-ter protection forother wildlife species.

Cynthia Wilson,Andrus' staff aide onthe issue and a former Audubon Societylobbyist, admits the' decision has beenhighly controversial among sheepgrowers; but says, "People are misin-terpreting Andrus and reacting hyster-ically."The volume ofthe protests does seem

out of proportion to the old program'ssize and the new program's power. I~l1979 federal Animal Damage Control I

agents killed only about a tenth of the600,000 to·700,OOO coyotes that U.S.Fish and Wildlife researcher DonBalser estimates humans kill eachyear."The price of fur has put more people

on the trail of the coyote than any fed-eral program," saysdim Posewitz, ad-ministrator .of ecological services forthe Montana Division of Fish, Wildlifeand Parks.Despite these attacks, "The coyote is

in no danger," Balser says. "It has in-creased Its numbens and spread itsrange in spite of man's efforts."But most surprising to many obser-

vers is the realization that Andrus' pol-'icy will not affect most non-federal con-trol efforts on federal lands. The' new. doctrine of humane, non-lethal controlswill govern only how federal money. andemployees' time are spent. J

"Nothing in .the revised policy pro-hibits ranchers and herders from carry-ing out private predator control ac-tivities where there is no conflict withstate and federal laws already in ef-fect," Andrus told the audience at a re-cent conference on predator control inAustin, Tex.Andrus 'can't control private- actions

.because states have jurisdiction overresident wildlife, even on federal lands.So in most states a rancher on fed~ralland cl:>uld shoot coyotes from a helicop-ter without worrying about Andrus' re-quirement that high losses be shown.PIe could not use Compound 1080, how-ever, because, the Environmental Pro-tection Agency has banned it for use asa predator poison on both public andprivate lands.

SOFT ON COYOTE CONTROL

What will sheep growers do now thatthey think the federal government hasgone soft on coyote control? Noh, headof the National WoolGrowers Aesocia-·tion's environmental committee, saysseveral courses of action are being con-sidered. At a meeting in Janua.J:Y tbeassociation's board of directonf'decidedto look into state, privaWc;nd county,cco~trol- effor.ts~ Through variousmechanismsvra"hchers and stat.e andlocal goy.ernments have been payingabout"''' third of the cost of the $6·million-a-year federal program. Muchof that money could be withdrawn .tosupport locally-initiated efforts. Insome Wyoming cOQnties,predator .con·trol boards have been handling I!rob-lems locally for years. For counties withplenty of livestock, "money (to supportan effective coyote control program) is

no problem," according to Lyle Crosby,predator control administrator for theWyoming Department of Agriculture.

At the same time, Noh says, ranchersare trying to change the federal policy.Sen. John Tower of Texas (H) has intro-duced a bill that would include the De-partment of Agriculture, which ran-chers view as more sympathetic thanInterior, in the predator control prog-ram. It would require the two depart-ments to carry out a program tha tutilizes both "lethal and non- lethal con-trol measures." Itwould also permit useof sodium cyanide devices and au-thorize research on 1080.

~he public, as its feelings are re-flected Ina nationwide poll conductedby Yale University for the Ll.S. Fishand Wildlife Service, seems to be sidingwith Andrus on the issue. A majoratyofthe people contacted by the Yale re-searchers did not object to killingcoyotes. but indicated a strong prefer-ence for non-lethal methods or huntingonly individual coyotes known to havekilled livestock. Most people wert' op-posed to shooting and trapping as many

Wild burros in Grand Canyon Na-tional Park will be removed this springby helicopter and herding, according to 'Park Service officials. Public resist'anceto Park Service plans to shoot the bur-ros lind an offer fromthe fund for Ani-mals.to pay for the removal led to adop-tion of the plan.Park Service officials estimate. the

removal of over 300 burros will cost$120,000. If the live removal plan fails,

o the Park Service will resort to shooting,which is considered a more economicaluse .of taxpayer money. ,Jim Walters, a Park Service resour-ce

management specialist at Grand Can-yon, does not foresee any majorchanges in the final enviro~mentalstatement on the plan. However, hedoes not expect the plan to satisfy thosewho still think it is unnecessary to re-move the burros. "Horse and burro lov-ers will object the hell out.of it," he said."but people who want us to manage th~burros in the park will be happy, happy,happy." .Russel Gaspar, an attorney for the

American Horse Protection Associa-tion, Inc., confirmed Walter's expecta-tions. He said his organization ap-proves the plan as 'an alternative toshooting but do~~not believe removal isnecessary;'t all. The International Soc-iety for the Protection ofMustangs andBurros also disapproves of remov"ingthe burros. Yet both organizations saidthat if the plan goes through, theywould be willing to help..The question of what to do with thewild· burros has been brewing since1969~when there was a public outcryover 'killing burros, which had beengoing on since 1924. A total of2,SOOhadbeen killed when the practice was ;t.oP-ped in 1969.'Many professional and' environmen-

.. tp.l groups think the ne~ plan is over-due. Studies have shown that burroshave caused considerable ~amage to thenative flora and fauna in the past 10

"""* r .... tR ...... ;2

Feb. 22, 1980 - High Country News-7

,mutton-raisers talk mutit:Jy--------~~.~.1-- ..._ --~~~_.'-----. Ranchers are not the only ones wor- "a financial rathole." She says that

~~~-~-~. ~f:-~- - -rying about the policy. Montana's even if researchers had "found a way to// ~. ~ ,. r- ..~ 1-·- ." Posewitz says he thinks portions of it use the poison that didn't kill wildlife.

""J.....'"'\i.- - are impractical. Of Andrus' goal of con- other than coyotes, an attempt to .re-.~~:-~ .,1;;, trolling only offending animals, register it through the EPA would

.,,~- ,If, ,(\'/0- ,t~..-.' Pesewitz says, "We can't even catch the surely have entangled Interior in 8guy ripping off the 7-11 grocery store lawsuit.red- handed:' "The Secretary was very pragmatic,"The 1080 research ban is particularly Wilson says. "He decided to look for

offensive to Posewitz. "Prohibiting other means that don't carry the bag-research is severe. We haven't done

gage of controversy."that.t-o plutonium." Before the research Despite Andrus' assurances to theban, Posewitz's office had submitted a sheep industry, Noh is convinced that1080 research proposal to the federal the new policy means "the disintegra-government for funding, but was tion of a federally-organized program.turned down.

We may see 8 hodge-podge of variousAndrus thinks his critics are over- efforts at state programs, private prog-

reacting. A.t the Austin meeting he . 'rams _ or whatever can be raked to-said, "Some ranchers are under the im- gethsr to try to protect livestock.".pression that under the new policy we The way Noh sees it, that's more of awill kill a coyote only if we spot it de- threat to environmentalists than tovouring a freshly killed lamb. This is

sheepmen, because a less humane, lessnot true:' Instead, Andrus said, by con- professional effort could result.trolling "offending animals;' he means

While predator control anarchy couldconcentrating' federal efforts in areas make a difference to individual coyoteswhere losses are highest. and to other wildlife, it probably

wouldn't affect the coyote population asa whole. According to Balser, "It's toobig, too stable, too secure for man tomove it much."

' ..,

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•

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~

d 'WILL 1HEOHENDIN·(;"-'.~\ COYOTE PUM£ RAISE. L"

. \ HIS PAW! ~" ~Cartoon by Monica Cronberg, reprinted with permission from .the National Wool Gr-ower.

coyotes as possible and strongly op-posed to poisoning, ~The study, "Public Attitudes Toward

Critical Wildlife and Natural HabitatIssues," was published in October,shortly Before Andrus announced 'hisnew predator policy. 'The sheepmen's main worry seems to

be how the Fish and Wildlife Servicewill implement the program.

At -the Austin, Tex., meeting, -"An-drus' speech sounded quite good," Nohsays. "He said we were going to con-tinue to use lethal techniques until wefound some non-lethal methods thatwork."But Noh and other sheepmen fear

that the FWS will use Andrus'generalities to pull the coyote-protection rug out from under ranchers.

A 'FINANCIAL RATHOLE'

Wilson calls the 1080 research prog-ram, which involved toxic sheep collars"

take Grand Canyon burros==========,====~,,',,; years, causing soil erosion, trampled

vegetation and fouled water sources,Archeological sites have also beendamaged, according to the Park Ser-vice.But the Humane Society of the U,

nited States and others believe there isnot enough-data to warrant total elimi-nation of the burros. They are wary ofthe Park Service's reports, not.ingthatin 1976" officials said there were 2,000to 3,000 burros living in the Grand Can-yon. In .1977., it was discovered therewere only 276.The main argument for total removal

of the wild burros'Is their status as an"exotic" species, introduced into the can-:yon by prospectors in the 1870s. After.mining proved to be unprofitable, thepack animals were left to roam.Opponents of the burro management

plan feel that over the, 'ensuing 100years, the burro has become a 'naturalpart of the desert ecosystem, Others feelit represents a species such as the pre-historic equid, a burt-o-Hka animal,which researchers believe was eradi-cated by aboriginal man 11,500 yearsago. They say the burro is simply reoc-cupying an ecological niche left vacantby a similiar animal.The Park Service argues it is "highly

unlikely that the scientific communitycould or would come to the conclusion ~the domestic donkey is native to theUnited States." The burro was domesti-cated in Africa 5,000 years agoand in-. troduced to North America during th~ ,16th century by Spanish explorers.Even when a burro can be seen and

heard, steep walls, side canyons and therugged terrain make capture difficult.The Park Service expects that after the.first burros are caught, the task will-become lncreasingly difficult.Only qualified .individuals and

groups will be allowed to enter the parkto capture and remove the burros. Qual-ificationa will be based on an abilityto workwithin the canyon environmentin a safe and productive' manner. Thesuperintendent will issue a park permitthat outlines collection techniques,

equipment, logistic procedures and dis-position. of the captured. burros. TheFund for Animals and other burro pre-servation groups will be encouraged tohelp in the removal program, to insureno harm comes to the animals. ThePark Service suggests that professionalwranglers be used.The use of horses and trained dogs

will be allowed as long as all. feed iscarried in. and efforts' are made to

minimize any impacts caused by theirpresence ..

lect them. The local Indian tribes do notwant the burros, .and neither doesMexico.The goal of the Park Service is to re· '

move the burros as quickly as possiblewhen bhe 30-day comment period on theenvironmental statement is up, March10: After the plan becomes effective, acase-by-ease evaluation of the removalprogram will determine whether shoot-ing is necessary.

Helicopters will.also be allowed to re-'move already-captured burros. Im-mobilizing drugs, shot from a dart gun, '.will 'also be permitteo, under closesupervision from the Park Service.

The burros removed during the adop-tion program will immediately becomethe property of the individuals who col-

THE "EXOTIC" BURRO is soon to be exported, .~,t"' ".

,I '~ .orr.ro

- ._-. .' ..

" , .

by Vicky Boyd

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - It had beenso long since anyone had seen a green-back. cutthroat trout in Colorado thatmost experts thought. the fish was ex-tinct.

Then, in 1969, a pure strain of thecutthroat turned up in Como Creek, a ..small tributary of Boulder Creek. Nowthe Colorado Division of Wildlife is try'ing to save the species by tossing fishfrom Como Creek into other. suitablestreams around the state. While effortsto raise the fish in hatcheries havefailed, the transplants are thriving, Dievision officials 'say,The greenback is the only native

game fish on the eastern slope of the'Continental Divide in Colorado.Acidity, rate offlow and temperature

are just a few of the factors consideredin choosing new homes (or the fish, ac-cording to Rolf Nittmann, fisheriesbiology manager for the Division. After

a' stream is deemed suitable, the corn-petition - brook, rainbow and browntrout - are killed. with a poison calledrotenone. Keeping out the Competitionis simple in lakes, but in streams otherspecies of trout may migrate into theintroduction area. So the Division hasmade the transplants in places withnatural barriers, such lis waterfalls orsteep upstream grades, or it has erectedman-made barriers. For added protec-tion the places with gr~enbacks -Como Creek, Black Hollow, GlassCreek, Bear Lake, Forest Canyon andthe South Forkof the 'Pondre - havebeen closed completely to fishing.The greenback's decline was proba-

bly caused by the introduction intoColomdo's streams of brook, rainbowand brown trout - all "exotie" species,which do not occur naturally.According to Nittman, brown trout

were introduced between 1893 and'1903 and rainbows were introduced in'1886. Some were brought inbY the fed-eral government and some werebrought in by individuals, probably inan attempt to diversitY fishing. Sincethey've been around lID long, Nittmanrisays, "1 don't know if you can call themexotic any more."Interbreeding occurs between rain-

bow and greenback, leading to hybridswarms and a loss of the pure parentgreenback stock. With brook trout,

Cutthroats' make a

•

greenback cutthroat trout

, '

.'2 p

IIla comeback

Feb. 22, 1~0 - High Country News-9

competition for food is the nemesis, notinterbreeding.

And yet the division continues tostock Colorado waterways With exoticspecies. In 1977 alone, Nittmann saysover 10.9 million rainbow trout (themajor species used in stocking prog-rams) were released.In the 1950s, kokanee salmon were

introduced to reservoirs in Colorado.One of the Division's more recent pro-jects was the introduction ·c,i Sac-ramento perch to the Great Lakes oftheArkansas River Valley in the southernpart of the state. Either an environ-mental impact statement or an en-vironmental assessment report has tobe filed before introduction of thespecies, and then "they are brought inunder very controlled conditio~s,"Nittman says: _The Division won't allow importation

of certain "trash fish" species .such assticklebacks, black carp, white carp,bowfins and walking catfish, however.

brrol<. trout

But what about the future of thecutthroat? Its status as one of the 11fish' on the Division's Threatened andEndangered Species list allows theagency to "do more in terms of man-agement," Nittmann says."Threatened is defined as any species

likely to become an endangeced speciesin the near future. An 'endangeredspecies is defined as presently beingfaced with extinction," Nittmann says., Since greenbacka can be introducedsuccesafull,y, lind there are signs thatpure strains might be found elsewhere,the Division' classified them asthreatened, Nittmann says.The outlook for greenback cutthroat

has improved, For the. past two years,funds collected by 'Colorado's incometax cheek-off program for non-gamewildlife have been used.toprovide aid tosome of the state's imperiled species,including the cutthroat. Also;since it isclassified' ,",S a threatened species, thefederal government provides funds toaid in the restoration program.

While efforts to raisegreenbacks in hatch-eries have failed, wildtransplants are thriv-ing. ' . ,---

Vicky Boyd is ajoumalism student atColorado siate University in ForfCol- .lins, Colo. She free-lances for the,Triangle Review, a Fort Collins weekly .:

, ,

H)·High Coimtry News - Feb. 22, 1980 ..

Bat Line~ the natioa ad arouad the world

A RABBIT IN EVERY POT? "Itwould be cheaper," says energy expertAmory Lovins, "to save oil by havingthe Treasury pay fromhalf to all of thecost of giving people free diesel Rabbitsin return for scrapping their Bron-tomobiles" than to have the federalgovernment embark on a crash synthe-tic fuel production program: In an arti-cle in the February issue of Friends of .the Earth's publication, Not ManApart. Lovins offers a scathing critiqueof the administration and ,Congress' 'approach: to energy problems. Theirsolutions, Lovins says, reflect "a pro-found misunderstanding of the natureboth of the United States energy prob-lem and of our political process." .:SABOTAGE MADE EASY. Sabotag-ing a nuclear power plant wouldn't betoo difficult, if Robert Kapler's experi-ence is any indication. Using phonyidentification, the young newspaperreporter got a job 8S 8 power plant sec-urity guard. A few days later he wasable to wander unchallenged into tbeplant's unlocked control room and takepictures. Kapler llroke the story in TheGuide, a small Harrisburg, Pa., areaweekly newspaper. The plant involvedwas the infamous Three Mile Island.PIGS ·AND COAL. The federal gov-emment's Animal Research Laborat-ory in Oak JUdge, Tenn., has. apentyeara studying the effects of nuclearradiation on animals and trying to.evaluate the dangers of low-level dosea. to humans. Now, the Associated Pressreporte the lab will add a new target -coal. "There are a lot ofchemicals, mostof them .organic, in .the coal processwhich can cause cancers," says the lab'sdirector, Dr. H.E. Walburg. Scientistsat Oak Ridge are studying how cad-mium and benzopyrene, two ofthe moredangerous byproducts of coal produc-tion, affect pigs.STATE VETO: 'DIVISIVE PAR.OCHIALISM.' States couldn't say"no" to nuclear wastes in a bill spon-"sored by Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.). Butthey would be able to participate withthe federal government in choosing awaste site within their borders. Accord-ing to the newsletter NuclearFuel,Hart's bill is the frontrunner amongseveral pieces of legislation before ,theSenate Environment and Public WorksSubcommittee on Nuclear Regulation."In my view an absolute state veto givestoo little weight to the nationalinterestand too free rein to divisiveparochialism." Many state officials feel_ differently. Nevada Gov. Robert Liatsaid that: states need "a veto in theiraraenalin order to have fully effectivenegotiations."RETmEMENT BENEFIT: COAL.The Fort Union Coal Mine, near Gil-lette, Wyo., ia offering free.coal to per-sons over 62 ..The mine has beendia-tributmg' coal for heating honies to oldfolks sinj:jl Jan. l5,-mine ..supermten>dent Stu Felde told wire services. TheFort Union Mine; owned by South.'Dakota construction contractor MelvinDelzer, produces about 1.2 million tonsof coal a year.

ENERGY

Photo by Mike McClure

ALLUVIAL VALLEY LANDS in the Gillette area may he a stumbling block to development offederal coal reserves. Pictured above is AMAX's Belle Ayr Mine, the largest COlli strip mine in theregion.

Finding could snag coal leasesA preliminary Bureau of Land Man-

ageme-nt survey has designated morethan half of the federal coal in the coal-rich Gillette area o(Wyoming as poten-tially: exempt from leasing because ofsensitive alluvial valley lands.

Wyoming BLM officials noted thatthe study could bemodified considera-bly in the next 'few months, when thefigures and data are reviewed. Theagency's supervisor for leasing in theEastern Powder River Basin, GlennBessinger, called the figures "a littlescary," and refused to release the studypending revision. He said only that thestudy found "over 50 percent" of thearea potentially alluvial. -At stake are 20.1 billion tons of pre-

sently uncommitted federal coal in thealmost 300,000 acre Gillette ReviewArea. BLM officials are applying vari-

ClivU0.MultrumAll.en~lronmentally sound, water··less waste treatment system forhom,es, cabins and campgrounds.Composts toilet wastes and er-ganic garbage Into a rich fertilizer,conserving nutrients, water Aridenergy.

/t:~:~:~T'\ .WASTES ~ ~ARDEN

\~J~FOOD7

FOR INFORMATION ANO NAMEOF NEARESTDISTFlIBUT9R CON·TACT: .Clivus Multrum Northern Rockies205 Meadowl .Rd •Whltenlh, MT. 59937(406) 882,3854

ous "suitability" criteria.to the area inpreparation for leasing federal coal by -.mid-1982.Alluvialvalleys, where deposits of '

sand and clay are left by flowing water,are protected from coal developmentunder lhe 1977 Surface Mining and.Re-clamation Act. Industry officials areexpected to react angrily to figures in-dicating a greater amount of alluvialland than previously projected.

Environmentalists expressed fearthat such high figures might fuel at-tempts now afoot in Congress to dis-.mantle the federal strip rrrine law."I didn't expect anything that high,"

.said Sara Gorin Jones of the PowderRiver Basin Resource Council. A previ-ous BLM estimate of alluvialIends inan area south of'Gillette.had been much. lower, Jones said.

.

BLM officials in Casper said theiragency has not set firm definitions orstandards on alluvial valleys for its of-, fices in the West, and cautioned againstviewing the figures .as final.BLM.'s preliminary review found

I'i213,400 acres and 29.4. billion tons ofhigh- and moderate-potential coal inthe review area. Of that, 41,600 acresand 5.3 billion tons were already underfederal leases tocoal companies; 12,800acres and .1.7 billion tons were state-owned; and 14,100 acres and .9 hill iontons could be excluded from considera-tion because of ongoing gas and oil de-velopment.In deciding that more than half of the

remaining unleased 132,900 acres offederal coal could be ruled out because,of alluvial lands, BLM officials in-eluded a one-fourth mile buffer strip on-each side of alluvial valleys .

PAID AB''{ERTISEMENT

FICTION and FACTfrom ETSI'S ALMANAC

FICTION: Use of underground. aquifer water for coal slurr-ypipelineshas never been put to an actual test; ETS!"sMadison Forma-tions Projections are purely hypothetical.

FACT: The Black Mesa pipeline from Arizona to Nevada has been inoperation since 1970, using only aquifer water. The U.S.Geological Survey, which monitors this system, reports noloss of water for any other user.

"Slurry Pipelines - Moving The Nation's CoalSafely, Cleanly, Silentiy, Cheaply"

~ET51 Energy Transportation Systems, Inc.330 South Center StreetCasper, Wyoming 8260113071265-1800

Ir

..., .....

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•.,ii"" LA, 52;::"

Feb. 22, 19i1O- High Country News-ll

Corter approaches hot waste question cautiouslyby Dede Feldman .

The controversial Waste IsolationPilot Project (WIPP) in Carlsbad, N.M.,has been canceled in the face of Presi-'dent Carter's comprehensive new nuc-lear waste management policy sent toCongress on Feb. 12. Under the new pol-icy,'WIPP, whichwasto be the nation'sfirst repository for low level defense'wastes, will join the ranks of severalother potential waste storage sitesaround the country., Among the sites are granite beds at.the Nevada Test Site, salt domes alongthe Gulf Coa~t in Louisiana and basaltand hardrock formations at Hanford,Wash. 'Until announcement of the newpol-

icy, WIPP was the government's and thenuclear industry's best hope for a quickdemonstration that 'nucl ear wastecould be stored, safely. WIPP had beenscheduled to go into operation by themid- to late-1980s.Under the president's new, more

cautious approach, sites- around thecountry will be, studied to determinetheir suitability for storage of bothcommercial and military nuclearwaste. By 1985,after intensive evalua-

tion of four or five sites; one will bechosen as the first of several regionalrepositories" with the opening of the in-itia l-site sometime after 1990.The new policygenerally follows the

recommendations of the Interagency

HouseArmed Services Committee. Thecommittee, and its chairman, MelPrice{D-IlU, stirred up controversy in NewMexicoseveral months ago when theyrefused to give the state a say in theproject.While not giving states the veto over

nuclear waste sites within their bound-aries, the new policy establishes a StatePlanning Council that will includestate. local and Indian representa-tives. The council will work with the'pr,esident and DOE on the question ofhow states will render "consultationand concurrence" on the location andlicensingnf waste facilities. ~,

"It's definitely" a victory," said Don'Hancock- of the Southwest Researchand Information Center in Albuquer-que. "In essence it kills WIPP becausethe only. advantage to WIPP was that itwas the most researched and the farth-est along."Hancock said he thought technical

problems and transportation difficul-ties make WIPP's chances of selectionunlikely.Carter has asked Congress for over

$700 million in fiscal year 1981 for thenuclear waste disposal program.While it is too early to predict con-

gressional reaction to the package. Rep.Price has already moved to challengethe administration's plan to cancelWIPP. Last week he asked that a u-thorization forWIPP be included in theFY 1980 DOE supplemental appropt-ia-ticns.bill nowbefore the House Energyand Power appropriations subcommit-tee.If Congress backs Price's plan, DOE

can proceed with the project. A BudgetImpoundment Act passed during theNixon years requires the. executive tospend appropriated money on the pro-ject Congress specifies.In order to successfully challenge

Carter, however, Price may need thesupport of two-thirds of both branchesof Congress since the supplemental ap-propriations bill could be vetoed byCarter. -

WIPP was the nuclear-industry's best hope fora quick demonstration that nuclear waste couldbe stored safely. Environmentalists now saythat Carter's decision makes WIPP's selectionunlikely.

Review Group on Nuclear Waste Man-agement in March 1979.The group re-commended the use of regional wasterepositor-ies to be licensed by the Nuc-lear Regulatory COJ;nmissionfer thedisposal of both commercial and de-fense wasjes. The Department of.Energy, however, whichwas part of thereview group. was the lone dissenter,calling instead for an unlicensed te~pository- for defense wastes only. Therepository, which was to store wastesfrom the Idaho National EngineeringFacility, Rocky Flats. Hanford 'and theLos Alamos Scientific Lab, was WIPP- in the salt beds ofSoutheastern NewMexico.DOE has been promoting WIPP for

several years. Presidential advisors,however, were known to ·favor the re-view group's planbecause they thoughtit was econom-ical and prudent giventhe technical problemsofnuclear wastedisposal.Another group that' has pushed for

. quick -construction of WcIPP is the

charged for the cost of preparing en-vironmentet impact statements on ap-plications. to run power lines acrosspublic lands. Idaho Power Co., the Pub-lic Service Co. of Colorado, MontanaPower Co., and two California utilitiessay environmental statements on fed-eral eights-of-way are tor, the public'sbenefit, not the utilities', and thereforeshould he paid for by taxpayers.

From. the·SourceThe Roeki. aDd Great Plaiu -

PIPELINE CLOGGED IN WYOM·ING. Attempts to bring a bill before tbeWyoming legislature that would allowexportof water from the state in a coalslurry pipeline were defeated earlierthis week in both houses. The bill,which would have allowed exportation,~f20,000 acre-feet of water from the- Little Big Horn River-in northeastern.Wyoming, required a two-thirds votefor consideration during this year'slegislative budget session. Backers ofthe bill promised to ensure minimumstream flow, protect the Little BighornCanyon, and provide higher tax reo·venues for Sheridan County. GO\;. EdHerschler (D),whokilled a similar coalslurry proposal approved by the legisla-ture last year,_rallied bill opponents inthe legislature to defeat the bill.RIO PUERCO CLOSES BEFOREOPENING, On the verg~ of beginningoperation, the Rio Puerco uraniummine near Albuquerq-ue,N .M. has beenclosed down indefinitely by its owner,-the Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp. Despitea considerable investment in buildingand site-preparation, a Kerr-McG_eespokesman said "continuing politicaland regulatory uncertainty" made themine's future doubtful. It would haveproduced 510tons ofuranium ore dai~y.SUIT FILED ON EIS COSTS. SixWestern utilities have filed a suitagainst the U.S. Bureau of Land Man-agement claiming they should not be

QUICK SWITCH TO GASIFICA-TION. With the ink.still wet on bi.Ilsnow before Congress to subsidizesynthetic fuels, developmerit, a Utahgroup has made a quick switch from aprojected coal-fired electrical plant toplans for a massive .coal gasificationplant. 'Ph. plant would be built at anestimated cost of up to $2 billion onstate-leased land in Garfield County insouthwest Utah and produce 250 mill-ioncubic feet ofgas daily. "1would favorphasing out government participationas soon as' possible," said the presidentof Utah Resources- International, Inc.,one of the pantuers in the project, but,he added, the legislation "does providethe finance and incentive...to get suchprojects going." i

CERT AGREEMENTS UN~ER'TAIN. Some of the energy developmentplans announced with great fanfarelest December at a Phoenix, Ariz.meeting of the Council of.Energy Re-source Tribes (CERrl seem to be falling -apart. First, there is the unresolved fu-. ture of Shell Oil Co.'s proposal for alarge' strip mine on the Crow Reserva-o•-tion in Montana. The on-again, off- -again $12 million project has been buf- 'fetted by a tribal power struggle. Now.the Nez Perce tribal council has_re·jected a low-head hydroelectric projectthat was planned for the ClearwaterRiver in Idaho. A CERT spokesmansaid the project was rei.~ted for' en~ .vironmental reasonS.

In an initial reaction to the newwaste policy, New Mexico Gov. BruceKing said he was pleased and expectedthe state to ha ve a greater role than itwould have under DOE's plan.One New Mexico environmental

group that has been working to defeatWfPRfor over five years is also happywith the president's new proposal.

.WYOMING LEGISLATORS considered a bill this week:to take water from

. the little Big Horn .River to slurry coal out of the state. Proponeb,ts of thebiU added a provision to protect the .Little Big Hom Canyon. picturedabove, but the bill was defeated.

l2-High Country News - Feb. 22, 1980~----....-

LOONEY LIMERICKStiy ZaDell. CoI_

He came East, to the wild, wild WestIn his clunker; and to guage by his zestHe ought 'to go far(In his job, not his car)

Michael Moss, we all wish you the best

ALCOHOL FUEL INFORMATIOJIIIn response to public requests for informa-

tion about gasohol and other alcohol fuels,the Department of Energy has set up aNa-tional Alcohol Jnformation Center. Thecenter will operate Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to5 p.m. mountain time, and can be reached bycalling toll free (BOO) 525-5555 or writing thecenter in care of the Solar Energy ResearchInstitute, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden,Colo. 80401. .

MOJIITAN,4. COAL MINEA draft environmental impact statement

discussing the impacts of a coal mine nearColstrip, Mont., is available for public com.ment., The .statement evaluates West'ernEnergy Company's proposal to extend stripmining operations at its Rosebud mine. A. copy of the plan can be obtained from theDepartment of State Lands, Capital Section,Helena, Mont. Comments are due by March~ .

Trackingsfolfowups on previous stories

Bulletin BaardSURFACE MINING

A study by the National Academy of Sci-ences' Committee on Surface Min.irrg andReclamation (COSMAR) called SurfaceMining of Non-eonl Minerals has been re-leased. Hearings on the report have beenscheduled throughout the West. The studyfound that environmental problems causedby non-coal mines (such as uranium, phos-phates, oil shale, molybdenum', and copper)are in need of attention, and that federalregulation is necessary, particularly inareas such as fugitive dust, radioactivity,water pollution, and social impacts.The report is available for $11.50from NAS's Office of Publications,'2101 Ccnst.itu t.ion Ave., NW,Washington, D.C. 20418. 'Separate reportson oil shale and tar sands ($9.25), uranium($12.95) and construction minerals ($7.50)are also available. Written comments can besubmitted through March 21 to Robert B.Smythe, Council on Environmental Quality,722 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, D.C.-20006.A hearing for public comment will beheld Feb. 26, 9 to 5, at the Federal Building,Rm. 239, 1961 Stout St., Denver, Colo.

WYOMING WOODBURNERSThe Wyoming Energy Extension Service

is offering copies of the Wyoming Wood.burner's Guide for $1 at the WEES office atSheridan College. The guide Is a referencefor those in the market for a woodstove orinterested in learning more about the stovethey already own.

Consolidationcoal plan

(For previous story, see HCN 8-10-79)

The Department of Interior haa .ap-proved a controversial mining and re-clamation plan submitted by Conaolida-tion Coal Co. for mining on the NavajoReservation .'Interior's Office of Surface Mining

had previously hesitated to approvethe plan because Consol had not de-monstrated in its application that thearid Southwestern site could be re-'claimed.The National Indian Youth Council

and 12 individual Navajo Indians areproiesting the mine approval, sayingthe Interior Department did not complywith the National Environmental Pol-icy Act and historic preservation laws.Hearings continue' next week on thegroup's attempt to get a preliminaryinjunction, according to RichardHughes, an attorney for NIYC.To win approval, Consol had to agree

to 24 special stipulations, many ofthe.mdeaigned to assure reclamation. W.ithinseven years, the company muat show a"trend" toward re-establishing differ."ent tyPes of vegetation that exist onundisturbed lands in the area. It mustalso establishexperimentaI plots to trydifferent revegetation techniquea.This is both the first plan approved in

- an arid area and the first plan approved

on Indian lands since passage of theSurfsce Mining Reclamation and Con-trol Act in 1977.lnterior aources had wid HCN they

expected' the plan to be approved be-cause of political pressure from NewMexico's two senators and one of its'congressman, and from the Navajo Tri-bal Council. The council had 'approved .Consol's. contract application, withstipulations.When outgoing Assistant Secretary

Forrest Gerard announced the plan'sapproval, he said, "Our approval of thislease and mining plan was continge,nt

APPROPRIATETECHNOLOGY SHOW

A 25-minute slide-tapa program exploringthe ideas_of E.F. Schumacher, author ofSmall Is Beautiful, is available for purch-ase or rent. For more information; contactPathways to the Future' series, ChristensenAssociates, Suite 200, Chapel North Build-ing, 62 North Chapel St., Newark, Del.19711 or call (302)454-1313.

ENERGY BOOKSReaching Up. Reaching Out: A Guide

to Or.ganizing Local Solar Events by the'Solar Energy Research Institute is availablefrom the Superintendent of'Documents, U.S.Printing Office, Washington, 0.01120402,stock number 061-000-00345-2. Also availa-ble is Jobs and Energy from the Council onEconomic Priorities, 84 Fifth Ave., NewYork,N.V. 10011.

WETLAND-RIPARIANMANAGEMENT

The Bureau of Land Management is de-veloping new guidelines for the protection ofwetlands and riparian (stream-side) areason its public lands. A copy of the guidelines,

on the passing of tough te-sts - testsdesigned to insure the balance of be-nefits to the Navajo people."The mine, is expected to produce for

38 years. Consol has agreed to allocateat least 70 percent of the jobs to Navajotribal members, according to She-BanNews.

TVA,..Wyomi ng

agreement•

(for previous story. see HCl:" 9-21-79)

Te~nessee Valley Authority Chai~-man David S. Freeman has agreed to lethis agency's uranium project nearDouglas, w.yo.. be subjecttto all statelaws. Wyoming state attorneys drew upa contract after Freeman met withWyoming Gov. Ed Herschler recently

...

which will be published in the Federal Re,gtster, can be obtained from the Director,Bureau of Land Management, 18th and Ct.Streets, NW, yYasnington, D.C. 20240.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATIONWORKSHOP'

The Bureau of Land Management willoffer two summer environmental educationand natural resources workshops, for threeundergraduate or graduate credits each. TheJUge 2-20 course will be at New MexicoState University in Las Cruces. The July 14to August 1 course will be at the Universityof New Mexico at Albuquerque. For furtherinformation contact the Bureau of LandManagement, Public Affairs Office, P. O.Box 1449,.8anta Fe; N.M. 87501 or call (505)988.6316.

WYOMING WILDERNESSASSOCIATION

A new group is-seeking members to workfor the protection and wise management ofWyoming's wild land resources. KeithBecker, one ofthe founders, is a rancher andformer executive director of the WyomingOutdoor CO!,1nciJ.For more information con-_ tact WW A, P.O. Box 876, Laramie, Wyo.82070.

. LAND STATISTICSThe 1977 edition of "Public Land Statis-

tics" is now available. Information on publicland acreages, income and recreationalusage is included. The _publication can beordered from any state-office ofthe Bureau ofLand Management.

and sent it to the' TV A board for ap-proval this month.The contract stipulates that TV A

must meet all state law requirements,jncluding the industrial siting. act, andmake payments in lieu of taxes ..As afederal- agency, TVA could clai~ im-munity to local taxes and possibly statelaws without such an agreement. Localofficials estimated they would lose asmuch as $1 million a year in taxes.Wyoming Attorney General John

Troughton said a response from 'TVA isexpected soon.Wyoming had threatened to withhold

state leases from TVA unless it signed acooperative agreement. However, GaryHarmon of TVA's Casper, Wyo., .officesaid the state leases involved onlyabout 800 acres oftbe tota127,000 acresTVA plans to mine. "I don't think that(loss of the state leases) would hurt theoverall picture," hesaid.x

Photo copyright 1980 by Ann and Myron Sutton

LIMITED RAINFALL on Navajo Nation land limits the potential fo~ reclamation, so ConsoIida ..tio n Coal Co. will have to meet- special criteria.

• High Country News-13

Feb. 22, 1980Western RoundupToxic herbicides blamed in Montana miscarriages case

by Michael MossWomen living in the forested Swan

Valley in western Montana a re suffer-ing an unusually high rate ofmiscar-

_ riage, and, while no laboratory testshave been done, residents think her-bicide spraying may be the cause.Nine often pregnant women living in

a stretch of the valley north of MissQuiahad miscarriages during- a one yearperiod ending last fall, according to theMissoulian. The one woman who had achild that. year lived out of state duringmost of her pregnancy.The cause has not been documented,

but residents are blaming the wide-spread use of2·,4~Dand other herbicidesin the area.Six of the affectedwomen have fil~ a

class-action suit in district courtagainst the herbicide manufacturers

and the companies and government'agencies that use them.The suit charges the defendants,

which include Dow Chemical Co. andBurlington Northern, with making andusing the herbicides"in a negligent andreckless manner, with little or no con-cern for the effect of these products onthe health of individuals directly or in-directly exposed to them."lronicaUy, the women and their

families moved to Swan Valley to avoidthe dangers of urban living."We found these people to be living

the pristine life, growing their own food.and watching their eating habits," 'saidcounty health officer Dr. Ralph Cam-pbell, who is investigating the case.Facing another spring spraying Jiea-

son, the women say they don't wantcompensation, but rather answers to

, ,Alaska lands 'withdrawn by AndrusThe U.S. Senate has again delayed

consideration ofthe Alaska lands-legis-lation, and, in retaliation, Secretary ofInter.ior Cecil Andrus has withdrawnfrom commercial ex~loitation some 40million acres of the disputed 'federalwildlands in Alaska.A dozen wildlife'-rich areas in the

state, including additions to theexist-ing Arctic National WildhfeRange and14 million acres in the Yukon Delta, arenowned waterfowl staging area, areto be managed as wildlife refuges orconservation areas (the equivalent ofnational parks).New mining and other development

will be banned for 20 years, althoughmany observers are considering thewithdrawals permenent.eince it wouldtake an.act ofCongress to reverse them.The Secretary's action follows an

even larger land withdrawal made byPresident Carter' in late 1978. In thatmove, some 56 million acres were pro-tected as national monuments.Combined with the latest withdraw-

ala, and' an additional 12 million acresslated for future withdrawal, alm~st110 million acres of federa Iwildlands inAlaska-will be protected by administra-tive action.- Conservationists emphasized thattheir fight is far from over. Monumentand wildlife refuge status, while pro-viding ~considerable natural resourceprotection, are not as thorough as wil-derness designation, which only Con-gress can provide.Legislation passed by the House last

May would put 128inillion acres ofland .into conservation system 'units, withsome 67 million acres protected as wil-derness.Prospects for Senate action on the

legislation this year are dim; however.In a late night session on February 7, 'isenators representing both sides of th~eissue agreed to delay consideration ofthe bill until aft.erthe Republican Con-vention Tn July at the earliest. Con-gressional recesses planned in Augustand September may postpone it further.The agreement caught everyone by

surprise, as action on the legislationwas' expected by March, in pant becauseof floor time freed up by the stalled

'SALT II ratification.Both Alaska senators, Mike Gravel

·il))and Ted Stevens (R), were decidedlypleased with the delay. In ajoint press'conference held the same night, thesena tors acceded tha t they pushed thepostponement to allowthe energy crisisto worsen and thus put more develop-ment pressure on such areas as the arcticrange. , -The reaction to A~drus' decision from

conservati~nists, shocked by theSenate delay earlier in the week, wasjubilant. Chuck Clusen, head of theconservationist-backed Alaska Coali-tion, said Andrus' action ranks with the"courageous" move taken by Carter increating the national monuments.. "For the Senate to "put off this voteuntil late summer, while there arelarge blocks of time available in itsschedule in March, is incomprehensibleto us," Clusen said. "It can only be in-terpreted as a move by Alaska de-velopment interests fearing "3 conserva-tion victory now."

their questions: Who is spraying what,wh~re arid when, and what health ef-fects is it having.The chemical 2,4-D is being used in

Montana and throughout the forestedWest in place of a more controversialherbicide, 2,4,5-T. 2,4,5-T was tem-porarily banned by the EnvironmentalProtection Agency after studies linkedits use to a similarly- high rate of mis-carriages and other health problemsamong residents of Alsea Basin, Ore.While officials say 2;4,5-T is not

'being used in the Swan Valley area, theForest Service, the state highway de-partment, Burlington Northern, areafarmers and the general public areusing 2,--4·D.A member of the phenoxy chemical

family, the herbicide was a componentofAgent Orange, the defoliant used inVietnam that is now being intensivelystudied for possible long-term healthproblems in veterans exposed to it.2,4-D may contain a contaminant cal-

led dioxin, a severely toxic chemicalthat has been proven to cause cancer inanimals.Scientific studies on the health ef-

fects of 2.4,5-T and 2.4-D are only nowbeing done by EPA and other agencies.The lack of scientific evidence is aid-

ing manufacturers in their fight to getthe temporary ban on the use of2,4,5-Tlifted. EPA is now holding hearings onthe issue. Political pressure, as well asscientific evidence, may determine theoutcome.Voters in northern California's Men-

docinoCounty last summer banned theaerial application of phenoxy her-bicides in areas of the county not con-trolled by state or federal agencies. Pet-itions are circulating in Oregon to get ameasure on the fall ballot calling for astatewide ban.Alsea Basin residents also resorted to

demonstrations-and threats of violenceto air their fears, a tactic that the SwanValley residents say they may take upif spraying is resumed this spring.

Unlike 2,4·,5-T,the chemical 2.4-D isan unrestricted toxic substance, and isused widely in everything from lawnfertilizer to roadside weed control, aswell as forestry."Until there is adequate documenta-

tion, we would be very hesitant to prop-ose any ban on the use of 2,4-D," LouJohnson, chief of the toxic substancesbranch of the EPA .in Region VllI toldHCN,Environmental groups in the North-

west have proposed-the replacement ofchemicai weed and brush control with.manual, hand-release methods.

Idaho •,.House rejectsSymms' wilds bill

In a vote wedded to electoral politics,the full House Interior panel has re-jected the compromise River of No Re-turn Wilderness bill advanced by Rep.Steve Symms (Rddabc).The Symms bill was offered as a sub-

-stitute tothe subcommittee-passed ver-sion, which closely resembles the mea-sure passed bythe Senate in November.The Senate bill was sponsored by Sen.Frank Church <b-ldahol.Symms. w40 is opposing Church in

the .....senator'e re-election bid this fall,was voted down 25 to Hi.f~Itcame as no surprise to us," said

Chris Lay, administrative assistant toSymms. "The vote was a strict partyline-up '- democrats for Church andrepublicans for the congressman."The Symms substitute w,ould pre-

serve 0.6 million acres less t-han the 2.4million acre subcommittee-Church bill.Several areas considered high qualitywildlands byconservationists were alsoomitted in the Symms bill.At press time, weakening amend-

ments to the Church measure werebeing otTeredby both Symms and Rep.James Santini <D-Nev.1.

Photo copyright by Boyd Norton

THE YUKON RIVER DELTA, thesta:ging area for millions of waterfowl, is one of the twelve newwildlife refuges in Alaska established by Secretary Andrus. '

.::.:.l4-~Hi==·g:::..h -=Co=Un=try~N:.::e.:::ws:.-..:F..::eb::...:. 2:::e2,~19~80::..- __ State of Wyomin g Public Not ice ----'--~-_____,---'------.,.....PU~P08E OF PUBLIC NOTICE

TIlE PURPOSE OFTllISl>um.JC NOTICB IS TO STATE THE STATE OF WYOMING'SINTENTIONTO Il!SUB WASTEWATER DISCHARGE PERMIT UNDER THE FEDERAL WATER PoLLUTIONCONTROL ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1972 (FWPCAA), P.L. 92·500 AND TIlE WYOMING ENVIRON·MENTAL QUALITY ACT (35-11·101 ee. seq., WYOMING STATUTES 1957, CUMULATIVE SUPPLE·MENT 19'73).IT IS TIlE STATE OFWYOMING'S INTENTION TO ISSUE WASTEWATER DISCHARGE PERMITS

TO(2)1WOOlLTREATERFACILITIESANDU) ONECOMMERCIALFACILITY;TOMODIFY'(2) OILTREATER PERMITS, Ii) MUNICIPAL PERMIT AND (I) ONE INDUSTRIAL PERMIT, AND TORENEW (9\ NINE on. TREATER PERMfl'S, (I) ONE INDUSTRIAL PERMIT, (I) COMMERCIALPERMIT, (I) ONE MUNICIPAL PERMTT, AND (I) ONE FEEDLOT DISCHARGE PERMIT WITIUNTHE STATE OF WYOMING. .

APPLICANT INFORMATION ATLANTIC.RICHFIELD COMPANY

(!) APPLICANT NAME 1860 LINCOLN STREET, SUITE 501,.DENvER, COLORADO 80295

MAILING ADDRESS

FACll.rrv LOCATION,

ilEcLUSE NORTH UNIT, BA'lTER¥NO. I, SW14, SECTION 25. T57N,R75W, CAMPBELL CO'UNTY, ,WYOMING

PERMIT NUMBER Wy-00285D9

E. DOYLEHUCKABAY. LTD.

1706 SECURITY LIFE BillLDlNGDENVER, COLORADO 80202

NO. i·13 FEDERAL-KREJcI; NE'4; SW%.. SECTION 13, T36N,R84W, NIOBRARA COUNTY, WYOMING

(2) APPLICANT NAME,

MAILING ADDRESS,

FACILITY LOCATION,

PERMIT NUMBER

Facilities are typical oil treaters located in Campbell and Niobrara Counnee, Wyoming. The producedwater is aep8,fated fro.mthe petroleum product through the use of heater treaters and skim ponds. Thedi8Charges are to ClaaalV waters, Dead Horae Creek and Cruy Woman Creek, respectively, via unn,ameddrainages.The discharges must meet Wyoming's Produced Water Criteria effective immediately. Chapter VII of

the Wyoming Water Quality Rules and Regulations infers that 88 long as the Produced Water Criteria ismet. the water ia BUitable for beneficial use. There is DO evidence to indicate that limitations morestringent than the Produced Wilter Criterl8. are needed to meet Wyoming's Water Quality Standards. TheDepartment will continue to evaluate the disehargee and. ifnecessary, will modify the pennits ifevideneeindicates that more stringent limitations are needed. . 'Semi-annual self-monitoring is required for all parameters with the exception of oil and grease, which

must be monit:ored quarterly. The proposed expiration date for the Atlantic Richfield permit is December31, 1984, and for the Huckabey permit is December 31, 1982.

(3) APPLICANT NAME,

MAILING ADDRESS,

MARGARET A. MINEAR

P,O. BOX 80POWDER RIVER, WYOMlNQ ~~ .

HELL'S HALF ACRE,NATRONA COUNTY, WYOMING

.-fi !.FACILITY LOCATION'

PERMIT NUMBER Wy-Q028444

- Hell's Half Acre.is a small commercial development consisting of a store, filling station, bar motel andcampipuund,lOcatedin weetern Natrona CoUntY on U.S. Highway 20-26. The waBtewatertreatment facilitJserving the development is a small eaee-eoeeer package plant. The plant discharges to an unnameddrainage which is a tributary of the South Fork of the Powder River (Class IV water).The proposed permit limply requires that the existing treatment plant be operated at maximum

efficiency until July I, 1980, at which time compliance with National Secondary Treatment Standardsmust be achieved. It is ezpected that compliance will be achieved by compliance 'of a septic-tank and leachfield system. After July I, 1980, the permittee must begin monitoring Ci any discharge with reporting fAreeultll quarterly. The permit ill scheduled to expire on December 31, 1984..

(4) PERMIT NAME,

MAILING ~DRESS,

TEXACO, INC.

P,O. BOX 2100DENVER, COLORADO 80201

GWEIoj KNAPP'BATTERY, WEST OREGONBASIN FIELD, NE14, SECTION 35.TSIN,'RI0IW, PARK COUNTY,WYOMING

Wy-0002241

FACILITY LOCATION,

PERMIT NUMBER;

FACILITY LOCATION, STATE D BATTERY, WEST OREGONBASIN FIELD, mvv., SECTION 36, 'TSIN, RIOIW, PARK COUNTY, WYOMING

Wy·OOO2356. .

FatUities are typical oil treaters located in Park County, Wyoming. The produced' water is separatedfrom the petroleum product through the use of heater treaters and skim ponds. The discharges are toOregon Coulee, a C1au IV water, via an unnamed drainage.The discharges must meet Wyoming's Produced W~ter Criteria effective immediately. No chemical

limitations have been imposed on these facilites except for oil and grease (10 mg-l) and pH (6.0 -9.0). Thisis due to the extreme aridnesa of the area which allows for beneficial use of the water for agriculturalpurposes. There is no evidence to indicate that limitations more stringen~ than the Produced WaterCriteria are needed to- meet Wyoming's Water Quality Standards. The Department will continue toevaluate the discharges and, if neceeaary, will modify the permitil if evidence indicates that more stringentlimitations are needed.Semi-annual self-monitoring i8 required for all parameters with the exception of oil and grease, which'

must be monitored quarterly, The proposed expiration date for the permits is December 31, 198~.

(5) PERMIT NAME, CITY OF POWELL, WYOMING

P,O. BOX 100BroWELL, WYOMING 82435

CITY OF POWELL,PARK COUNTY, WYOMING

PERMIT NUMBEl!; Wy-0020648.'nle wastewater treatinent facilities &erving the City of Powell, Wyoming consist of a three ceO ~n-

aerated laROODayatem which is operated in parallel. The discharge from cells Dumber-1 and number 2 isfrom ODe pipe and the diacbarge from ceU'n~ 3 is from another pipe. Both diecbargee are to BitterCreek (Clue n_~\,

FACILITY LOCATION,

The proposed permit for this facilit:y requires that the existing system be operated at maximumefficiency until January 1, 1982. At that time, Em'upgraded treatment 8Y~m must be on line and thatsystem must meet National Secondary Tu18tment Standards and Wyoming's in-stream water qualitystandards. The proposed permit includes limitB on BOD5, total 8uspend,ed'solids, fecal coliform bacteria,pH, and a prohibition agairlst the discharge of tOtal residual chlorine. Since there is no evidence ..thatamm'mia is a significant water quality problem in the receiving stream, the proposed permit contains nolimitations on that parameter, however, it is required that ammonia be monitored and reported on aregular basis. .The proposed permit contains a section which requires the City to begin planning for expansion of the

wastewater treatment facilities once 80 percent of the design flow is reached.Self-monitoring requirements in the propoeed ~it require the monitoring of all limited parameters

on a routine basis with reporting of results quarterly. The proposed permit is scheduled to expire onJanuary 31, 1985.

\6) PERMIT NAME,

MAILING ADDRESS,

BIG HORN COAL COMPANY

P.O. BOX 724SHERIDAN, WYOMING 82801

SHERIDAN COUNTY, WYOMING

Wy·OO22519

FACILITY WCATION,

PERMIT NUMBER

The Big H0ll! Coal Company operates a large, open pit coal mine at the junction of Goose Creek and theTongue River, approximately 10 miles north of Sheridan, Wyoming. The existing discharge pennit for thiscoal mine allows for the discharge of pit and surface runoff water from a total of 5 locations to the TongueRiver and Goose Creek (both Class 11waters), -The Company has now requested that the location of discharge point 004 be changed. This change in

location is not considered to be significant and the proposed permit grants 'the requested change. Also, itW88 requested and granted that discharge point005 be eliminated. 88 there has been no discharge for sometiJVl! now. The proposed permit contains effiuent limitations which reflect the most recent Federal "bestpracticable treatment" standards for the coal mining industry. These standards are being met presently.No evidence indicates that more stringent requirements are necessary to comply with Wyoming's in-stream water quality standards. However, the situation will continue to be monitored and. ifnecessary, thepennit may be JI.1odified to include more stringent requirements. •In addition, the permittee must control runoff from 'disturbed areas, monitor the quality of effluent

discharged and report results to DEQ on a monthly basis.The proposed expiration date of the permit is December 31, 1984.

(7) PERMIT NAME,

MA1LlNG ADDRESS,

AMOCO PRODUCTION COMPANY

P.O. BOX 1400RIVERTON, WYOMING 82501

CROOKS GAP UNIT, SWv.., NW14,.SECTION 18, T28N, R92W; .f.REMONT COUNTY, WYOMING

Wy-0002224

FACILITY LOCATION,

PERMIT NUMBER,

Facility is a typical oil treater located in Fremont County, Wyoming. The produ~d water is separatedfrom the petroleum product through the use of heater treaters and skim ponds. The discharge is to CrooksCreek (CI888 D stream) via an unnamed drainage. '. .The discharge must meet Wyoming's Produced Water Criteria effective immediately. No chemical

limitations have been imposed on this facility except for oil and grease (10 mg-l) end pH (6.5-8.5). _This isdue to the extreme endneee of the area which allows for beneficial use of the water for agriculturalpurposee. There is no evidence to indicate that limitations more stringent than the Produced WaterCriteria are nSeded'to meet Wyominjs wa'€ei"Quality Stand8r&"Tfie~Departmi!Dt will continue toevalua~ the discharge and, ifnecessar)', will modify the permit if evidence indicates that more stringentlimitations are needed.Semi-a~ual self-monitoring is required tor all parameters ~th the exception of oil and grease, which

must be monitored quarterly. The proposed expiration date for the permit is December 31, 1983.

(8) PERMIT NAME,

MAILING ADDRESS'

C.E. BREHM DRILLING COMPANY

P.O. BOX 4088CASPER, WYOMING 82601

FACILITY LOCA'rION, C.E'. BREHM NO, 1 DOVE, SW1J4,SE14, SECTION 19, T57N,R97W. BIG HORN COUNTY, WYOMING

PERMIT NUMBER,

(9) PERMIT NAME'

MAILING ADDRESS,

Wy-0001333

M & K On. OPERATIONS

P.O. BOX 1487CASPER, WYOMING 82602

FAcn.ITY WCATION, HUNT NO. 12 LEASE, SWv..,NWY4, SECTION 26. T50N,RI02W, PARK COUNTY, WYOMING

PERMIT NUMBER,

no: PERMIT NAME,

MAILING ADDRESS:

Wy-0027774, '

MARATHON On. COMPANY

P.O. BOX 120CASPER, WYOMING 82601

GARLAND FIELD, KENNEY COAST AbBAITERY, NEI4, SECTION 19, T56N,R97W. BIG :tIORN COUNTY, WYOMING

Wy-0025631

FACILITY LOCATION,

PERMIT N,UMBER

un PERMIT NAME,

MAn.ING ADDRESS,

TE¥CO,INC..,

P.O. BO<' 2100DENVER, COLORADO 80201

FACILITY LOCATION,,

WIUSTLE CREEK FIELD, SW.lj4, SECTION i~,T56N, -R98W, PARK-C0I,J,NTY, WYOMING

.Wy"()002429

UNION OIL CO¥P"NY OF CALIFORNIA

P.O. BOX 2620CASPER, WYOMING 82601

RICHARD'S 'LEAsE, NWv... NE

~:~g~~9RZ5~~~~WYOMlNG

PERMIT NUMBER

~12,)PERM~NA~:

MAILING ADDRESS,

FACIL1'I:.Y WCATION,

Wy·0023922

,.

, 'Feb. 22, 1980- High Country News-IS

.,Facilities are typical oiltreaten located in Big Hom and Park Counties, Wyoming. The pn;duced water

is separated from the petroleum product through the use ofheater treaten aIld Bk,jm pondll. The Brehm andUnion facilities discharge to Sage Creek, a ClUB II water. The Marathon facility d.iachargee to ArnoldueLake, a CI888 Ill.water. The M &: K and Tel:8CO facilities dillCharge to Class IV waters, thoee being theSouth Fork of Sage Creek and Mantua Draw, re.pectively. _ ~The discharges must meet Wyoming's Produc:ed Water Criteria effective immediately. Chapter VII of

the Wyoming WateJ:Quality.Rules and RegulatioDi inters that .. long 88 the Produced Water Criteria ismet, the water is suitable for beneficial U8e. There, is no evidence to indicate that limitations morestringent than the Produced Wa~ Criteria are needed to meet WyomiDg'a Water Quality Standards. TheDepartment will continue to "evaluate the discharges and, if necessary, will modify the permits if evidenceindicates that more stringent limitations are needed.Semi-annual aelf·monitoring is" requit:ed for all parameters with the exception of eil.and grease. which

must be monitored quarterly. The proposed. expiration date for the permits ia December 31, 1983.

(13) PERMIT NAMK

MAILING ADDRESS,

FACILITY LOCATION,

PERMIT NUMB,EIlo

(14) PERMIT NA:ME,

MAIUNG ADDRESS,

FACILITY LOCATION,

PERMIT NUMBEIlo

(15) PERMIT NAME,

MAILING ADDRESS,

FACILITY LOCATION,

pERMIT NUMBER,

!IoHIO PETROLEUM

P.O. BOX 673RUSSELL, KANSAS 67665 '

GOVERNMENT MOORE LEASE, EASTTISDALE FlEW, NE\4, SECTION 27, .,T4IN, RSIW •.JOHNSON COUNTY. WYOMING

Wy-0000531

TERRA RESOURCES, INC.

P.O. BOX 2500CASPER, WYOMING 82601

TEXAS N BATTERY, SALT CREEKFlELD. sECTION 19, Tl8N, R39W,NATRONA COUNTY, WYOMING

Wy-0024252

WALTER DUNCAN OIL PROPERTIESt ,

1300 WRITERS CENTER IVDENVER, COLORADO 80222

REYNOLDS FEDERAL NO, I-FEDERAL NO. W-24753, NE14, NE14, SECTION 1, T62N, R68W,CROOK COUNTY. WYOMING '

Wy-0026921

.Facilities are'typical oil treaters locatel:l in Johnson, Natrona and Crook Counties, Wyoming. nteproduced w~ter is separated from the petToleumprodud through the use of heater treaten and skim ponds.The discharges are all received by CI8lI8 IV waters, thoee being Wall C~ek, Castle Creek and 1b.ompeonCreek, respectively., The discharg~ must meet Wyoming's Produced Water Cri~ria effective immediately. Chapter VII ofthe Wyoming Water Quality Rules and Regulations infers that as long as the Produced Water Criteria is

".~.~·,met, tbe water-iB suitable'for-'beneficial uae.-There-is-'no evidence 'to indicate that, limitationa morestringent than th~ PrOduced Wtlter Criteria are needed to meet Wyoming's Wa~er Quality Standards. TheDepartment will continue to evaluate the diacltargea and, ifnecessary, will modify the permits if evidence, ,indicates that more stringent limitations are needed. "

Semi-annual self.molritoring is ~uired for all parameters with the exception of o·itand grease" which,.must be monitored'quarterly. The propoaed expir;ationdate forthe permits isDecember 31, 1981, except forthe Duncan permit which will expire on December 31, 1983;

(IS) PERMIT NAME'

MAILlNG 'ADDRESS,

FACILITY LOCATION,

PERMIT NUMBER:

BUFFALO SAND AND GRAVEL, INC.

P.O.:apX 912BUFFALO, WYOMING S2834

4 MILES SOUTH OF THETOWN OF BUFFALO, WYOMING

Wy-0022811

Facility is a small sand and gravel washing operation which lies approximately 4miles ~uth ofButTalo,Wyomibgon an intermittent stream (Bull Creek -CI8ll81V). Bull Creek nOW8very rarely imdonly duringperiods of flash flood and heavy runoff. The stream bed is made up of loose sand. The point of discharge isapproximately 6 miles from the neatest ~anent stream (Clear Creek - CI88I m.According to the owner and employees, discharge to the stream bed Oexut8 very rarely and only when

excess water occura in the extraction operation. From visual appearance, the water MelDS to sink into thestream bottom within 50 feet ofthe,po~t\of discharge. Under normal operations the gravel wash water i8recycled.Due to the nature of the effluent and condition of the receiving channel, the proposed permit will allow-

gravel wash watertObe discharged with no.eft1uent limitations or monitoring requirements. The permit isscheduled to expire March 3~, 1986.

(17) PERMIT NAME,

MAILING ADDRES&

FACILITY LOCATION"

PERMIT NUMBEIlo

JOHN E. SCOTT. JR.

BOXKEVANSVILLE, WYOMING S2836

SCOTT HILL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT,NATRONA COUNTY, WYOMING

Wy-0023698

Scott Hill is a small, private houaing-arealocated east of the City of Casper, Wyoming. Wastewatertreatment for th:e area ia provided by a small package plant which di8charges to Sandy Draw (Class II·water). Under no:rmai circumstances the discharge does not reach the River.'!he proposed permit requires compliance with National Secondary Treatment Standarlis effective

immediately. In addition. the proposed permit contains a strict limitation on fecal coliform bacteria and aliberal limitation on total residual chlorine-baSed on the State's in·stream water quality standards.'!he proposed permit requires monitoring!! eft1~nt quality on a regular basil with reporting ofresults

quarterly. The permit ia scheduled to expire on March 31,1986.

(18) PERMI'J1 NAME,

MAILING ADDRESS,

FACIJ.JTY LOCATION,

PERMIT NUMBEIlo

TOWN OF EDGERTON, WYOMING

P.O, BOX 407EDGERTON, WYOMING S2635

TOWN OF EDGERTON,NATRONA COUNTY, WYOMING

Wy·002062I

The wastewater treatment facilttiee servUlg the jownofEdgerton, Wyomina: conais,t,of a 8mall single·cellnon.aerated lagoon. In the put, thia lagoon did not discharge, however, DOW, due to population

increaees, the I.aooD is beginning to di.ec4ai1e a &mall amount to Salt Creek (CIMS IV water) via anunnamed drainage. .'Ibe prwoaed pennit requires only that the existing r.cility be operated at IDlIXimum efficiency.

However, the proposed permit also requires the Town to submit a'ScheduleofComplianceto meet Federaleftluent atandarda and Wyoming's in-stream water quality standardI once Federal pant funds-are offered,l'bestandards, which:will eventually have to hemet, ineludeeftluent limitatiOnsOD 8OD5, tota18W1pendedsolids, fecal coliform b&cteria, pH aDil total n.idual chlorine.'Ibe propoeed perqlit contaiDl a aection which requires the Town to begin planning for expansion of the

wastewater treatment facilities once 80 percent fI the de8ip flow is -ruched.Self-monitoring requirements in ihe proposed pennit require the monitoring of aD limited parameters

on a routine baais, with reporting of results quarterly. 'lbe proposed permit is aeheduled to expire on March31,1986.

(19) PERMIT NAME,

MAIUNG ADDIlES&

BARD RANCH COMPANY

FACILITY LOCKTION,

P.O. BOX 1048WHEATLAND. WYOMING 82201

NW\4, SECTION 29, TUN, ,RS7W. PLATTE COUNTY, WYOMING

PERMIT NliMBEIlo Wy·OO22314

'I1te Bant RanCh Company o~te8a cattl~feedlot of approximately SOOanimal capacity on the bankaofChugwater Creek (Clau II ~ater), approximately 3 miles southeast oftheTown flWh_tland, Wyoming.The feedlot is uncovered and ~re is signiru:ant pollution danger to Chugwater Creek both from runofffrom the feedldt and animal activity witbing the creek bed.Runoff control consista of an inter'oeptditeh on the east .ide of the Creek and a collection sump. Inpmral

theee controls are inadequate and thefollowing improvementa are neer:!.!d: (1) 'IbecoftQ'ol ditch neeU to beenlarged and the dikeon the west side of the diteh needs to be protected &om cattle which tend to b'aDlple itdown; (2) Methods to prevent orcontrol the acceI80f cattle to the stream must be employed; eed, (3) Thereare currently no controls at all on the west Bi'deof the Creek, which must be corrected.The proposed permit requirea tha~ immediately, all runo1f:from the feedlot be eliminated ezcePt that

eJu:eu nmofl' which would result from a 25 year---24hour precipitation event (2.7 ineheB). In addition, thepermittee must eliminate those pens which.are built out into the Creek and thuelimit the 'direct accesa ofthe cattle to the stream. The propoeed permit is schedUled to expire on Mardl 31, 1986.

STATE-EPA TENTATIVE DETERMINATIONS

"'ntative detenninationa have been made by the State of Wyoming in cooperation with the EPA staffrelative to eftluent limitations and conditions to be impoeed on the permits. These limitatiorUl andconditions wiD a88ure that State water quality standards and applicable provisions of the FWPCAA will beprotected. '

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Public comments are invited any time prior to March 23, 1980. Commenta may bedir8cted to theWyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division, Permits Section, HathawayBuilding, Cheyenne; Wyoming 82002, or the U.s. Environmental Protection Ageng, Region VlD, En·fon::ement Diviaion, Permits Administration and Compliance Branch, 1860 Lincoln Street, Denver, Col-orado 80295. All commenta received prior to March 23, 1980 will beconsidered. in the formulation affinaldetermination8 to be imposed on the permit.

ADDmONAL INFOro.IATiON

Additional infonnation may be obtained upon request by calling the State ofWyoming, (307) 777·7761,or EPA, (303) 327-3874, or by writina: to the aforementioned adclreuee.The complete applicationa, draft permi'" and related documenta are a~lilble for review IlIIid: reproduc-

tion at the aforementioned addreases. Public Notice No.: Wy.8D-002

CLASSIFIEDS THE MONTANA WILDERNESS FEDER-ATION is seeking an Executive Director.Candidates should have strong backgroundsin organizational management and naturalresource issues, along with p~lic speaking,writing and editing skills. Duties includedeveloping conservation strategies, coor·dinating activities of volunteers, maintain·ing organizational records, producing amonthly newspaper and fundraising. To ap.-ply, or for more information, contact MWF,Box 4373, Missoula, MT 59806. Applicationsa,ccepted through April 25.

NIGHT MOON - the elephants are singing,and th~y do make frightening souQds. Butwhatever shall be next, in our acrosticmonikounds. - little bear.WILD HORIZONS EXPEDITIONS, Box234S,H. Jackson. Wy. S3001 (307) 733-5343.Guided backpacking, mountaineering, skitouring, field seminars in conservation. Em·phasis on all aspects of conservation andwilderness educatIon. Custom and familytrips, small groups, free, brOChure.

PUBLIC NOTICEU.S. ENVI,RONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region VIII is re-questing public comment on a population projection variance requestsubmitted by the S,tateof Wyoming. The State has requested that a totalof 812,246 people be approved for the year 2000,This figure is 328,246higher than a projection made by the Bureau of Economic Analysis(BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce. The State's projection was de-veloped to fulfill the requirements of the EPA regulations on MunicipalWastewater Treatment Works (40 CFR !"art 35, Appendix A, September27, 1978). Statewide population projections, once approved by the EPAAdministraior and disaggregated to the regional level, will be used for:(1) Areawide Water Quality Management Planning; (2) sizing of munici-pal wastewater treatment plants; and, (3) the facility needs s.urveyunderSection 516(b) of the CleanWaier Act. A copy ofIhe variance request canbe obtained from Mr. Phil Kiner, Division of Research and Statistics,Department of Administration and Fiscal Conirol, Room 302 EmersonBuilding, .Cheyenne. Wyoming 82002, phone 777-7504.The commentperiod will be open unlil March 31, 1980. Forward commenis to Mr. Mike13trieby,Water Planning and Managem'l.nt Branch (8W-PM), U.S. EPA,Region VIII. 1860 Lincoln Street, S'uite 103, Denver. Cqlorado, phone(303) 837,4963.

16·High Country News - Feb. 22, 1980

ILee Stephenson and George R. Zac-har, .eds., Harper and Row, NewYork, 1979. $2.50, paper, 339 pages.IDUBlrations.

RevJew by Peter Wild

Atomic power plants for hobbyists,automobile engines no bigger thanfists, energy so cheap it wouldn't have

to be metered - such we-re the fantasiesthat leaders in government and indus-try used to promote a nuclear future.Years before Three Mile Island, RalphNader was denouncing the nuclearpath as a "technological Vietnam." As awhole, the nation preferred the rosyimaginings of the "experts" to activists'warnings.. Now, with all the fateful irony of aGreek tragedy, the public is beginning

to question its former wisdom. Yet evenbefore the potentially deadly drama re-cently played out in rural Pennsyl-.vania, promoters of atomic power werehaving second thoughts. In 1978 Gen-eral Electric, along with other reactormanufacturers, was secretly trying toslip out of the nuclear noose.The corporation's change of heart had

little if anything to do with concernsabout sick cows, increasing rates of skinand lung cancers in humans. birth de-fects or other nightmares being passedon to generations to come. Instead, itsboard of directors realized that, despitebillions of dollars in taxpayer subsidy,the nuclear reactor business was turn-ing into a financial rat hole.How did a nation that prides itself on

its practicality get into such a mess?That's the c basic question thatAccidents Will Happen attempts toanswer with a selection of 20 essays.The writers include a lawyer, a U.S.senator, a friend of Karen Silkwood(who was allegedly murdered'in 1974for her anti-nuclear activism) and amedical doctor. The various back-grounds and approaches to the questionliven the book, despite some overlap ofmaterial. The editors provide a short

Une ~ T&fget LRT-8E .. V2

course on basic atomic physics, a. dis-cussion of why insurance companiesdon't care to take on nuclear industriesas clients, and chapters concerning thedangers of 'shipping and storingradioactive substances.The book ends on a prolonged upbeat.

Nearly a third of its pages. argue infavor of economically sane and' en-vironmentally safe alternatives to thenuclear madness'.Accidents. Will Happen, an up-

dated edition of Countdown to a Nue-lear Mosatortum, is an unabashedpolemic, a thorough and accessibleprimer for the general reader.Charts and diagrams illustrate the

more technical chapters, while news-paper cartoons sprinkled throughoutthe text maintain a sense of humor de-spite the book's earnestness.

.OLDYILLOWSTORI DAyS·..;......--- __edited by Paul Schullery, ColoradoAssociated University Press,Boulder,1979. $12.50, cloth; $5.95, paper, 250pages. Photographs.

Review by Peter Wild

In the summer of 1877, nine vacationersromped about Yellowstone National Park.Exploring the sights by day, at night theyentertained each other with impromptuperformances around the campfire. Un-beknownst to them, a band oflndians dog-ged their tracks. Each evening the Nez

o

by Maureen Dempsey

The headlights illuminate something.. hite moving in the middle of the road.Stunned, it moves slowly out of the way.The car swerves as the outline of wingsopens up in front of the windshield.Then another set, ,more visible. Greathorned owls, 8S startled as we were.The pair flies off into the security of

the morning darkness, Five a.m. andwe have three hours more of driving.Our destination is the Barcross Ranch,eight miles outside of Cora, Wyo. Weare hoping to make it in time to joinlohn Barlow for the morning feed run.The sun begins to light up the north-

western flank of the Wind River Range.Rolling terrain greets us on both sidesof the highway as the fog dissipates.Arriving at the ranch, wejoin John in

the barn where he keeps his Belgians,the breed of draft horse he uses to pullthe sleigh that carries feed for the cat-tle. .They are large, sturdy-looking

horses, but gentle, JohI\ tells us. They

Perce lurked in the bushes, puzzling overthe antics of the white people.One morning the renegades

materialized from the forest. With whoopsof glee, they plundered the wagon ofthestupefied tourists, beat the sightseers, andcarried them off in several directions towilderness strongholds.Thisaccount of the famous attack, writ-

ten by one of its woman survivors, is thefirst and most dramatic selection in OldYellowstone Days, and it immediatelyestablishes the wild and woolly flavor ofthe Yellowstone of a hundred years ago,

weigh around 1,700 pounds. Youwouldn't want to put your foot under-neath one of those hooves. As he saysthis, one of the horses steps lightly onhis foot. Laughing, he leads two of theBelgians out toward the sleigh.He harnesses two in front, pointing

out the leader, and puts the other twobehind. The sleigh is like a flatbed wa-gon, 12 feet long or so. Bales of hay arepiled on top of each other, lea vinga seatfor the driver. John has the reins in hishands: come on, hop on. _The cold morning .air whips around

us as the horses move along at a-steadytrot towards the pasture. The moun-tains are behind us, blue sky overhead.Iask John if these are the same kind ofhorses they use on the Budweiser com-mercial. The Budweiser horses are

when 'it was the nation's only nationalpark .•Even under more -civilized circums-

tances, not everyon-e praised 'the famedpreserve ----=. nor the rubbernecks it at-tracted. On his way from India to England,Rudyard Kipling made an obligatory visitto the attractions and sniffed, "To-day f aminthe Yellowstone Park, and I wish I weredead."Nevertheless, Kipling probes further,

deftly turning his writer's scalpel on na-ture and its admirers. He looks down hisnose at the wonders: "The Park is just a

Clydesdales, he tells us, and he doeshave a team.of them that are younger,in training. He says his don't do anyfancy high-stepping moves, they have amore practical use. He wonders howthey ever trained those horses to step tothe music.Dancing horses or not, his'are beauti-

ful. Proudly-held heads, hooves thatalmost-look tOQheavy.' for their legs.When asked why he uses them, he sayssimply that he prefers them. Not asnoisy as a machine, no fumes from thegasoline, and when you get stuck in thesnow all that is required is .some coax-ing. Ire mentions perseverance. Plushe's been around Belgians and Clydes-dales all his life, growing up on the ranchhe now runs.We visit, watch, photograph as he

makes his rounds; then head back to thehouse around noon. His wife, Elaine,treats us to biscuits, butter and meatfrom their cows, vegetables, cake -fordessert. I'm ready for a nap, but we haveto drive home to Lander.Walking out the front hall, I notice'

something by Aldous Huxley taped tothe wall: "Perhaps the most valuableresult of all education is to make youdethe thing you have to do, when it oughtto be done, whether you like it or not; itis the first, lesson that ought to belearned: however early a man's train-ing begins, it is probably the last lessonthat he learns thoroughly."John notices me nodding my head

and says it is a good thing for a ranchervto remember.

howling wilderness of three thousandsquare miles full of all imaginable freaksofa fiery nature." As for the naive Ameri-cans he encounters: ·"En route we passed .other carriages full of trippers, who haddone their appointed five days in the Park,'and yelped at us fraternally ..'.." His acidrendition of the Fourth-of-July celebrationhe chances upon is best left to be savored intoto.'Other chron<iclers took the park more

seriously.tGeorge Anderson, third milit-ary superintendent, brought order to the. poachers" haven. In an 1897 reminiscenceexcerpted from the Journal of the Unitedstates Cavalry Association the Armyofficer bemoans Congress' neglect of parkaffairs. With good reason: he had to fund

"The Park is just ahowling wilderness ofthree thousand squaremiles full of all imagin-able freaks of a fiery na-ture."

Rudyard Kipling

patrols against lawbreakers from his ownslim .purse.Elsewhere we meet Owen Wister record-

ing impressions of geysers and peaks long'before he wrote The Virginian; and wecatch glimpses of wilder park daysthrough the eyes of renowned Western ar-tist Frederic Remington.

Ofmore cuzioue note is the contributionofWilliam Owen. In 1883 Owen made thefirst bicycle tour of Yellowstone, on ahigh-wheeled "ordinary." John Muir,

Theodore Roosevelt, John Burroughs andseveral worthy but less familiar writersround out the anthology.. 'Scholars acquainted ';'ith the park's his,torywill find Iittle new in the collection.Yet editor Schullery has selected piecesspanning the years 1877 to 1903 whichgive the lay reader 11 piquant views ofwhat remains the foremost jewel in ournational p~rk system.