Greater Yellowstone Environmental News Feed

Salazar taps minerals chief

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:40:21 -0600

WASHINGTON -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has appointed Elizabeth Birnbaum, a veteran congressional aide and former Interior Department attorney, to head the department's Minerals Management Service.

The agency has been the focus of controversy over its management of offshore leasing programs and ethics violations, including a sex and drug scandal involving a number of agency workers at its Denver office. Within days of becoming interior secretary, Salazar vowed to clean up the agency.

Birnbaum is a former associate solicitor at the department. Since 2007 she has been staff director of the House Administrations Committee. She is also a former vice president for American Rivers, an environmental advocacy group. The appointment does not require Senate confirmation.

Birnbaum replaces Randall Luthi, former speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives who assumed the MMS leadership post in July 2007, after the resignation of another Wyoming resident, Johnnie Burton.

Burton, a former Natrona County legislator who was director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue from 1995 to 2002, had come under criticism for not acting when she first heard of billion-dollar errors with oil and gas drilling leases made before her tenure with the MMS. ...

EPA says Monsanto mine violates law

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:38:18 -0600

BOISE, Idaho � Federal regulators say an Idaho mine that Monsanto Co. depends on to make its Roundup weed killer has violated federal and state water quality laws almost since it opened, sending selenium and other heavy metals into the region's waterways.

The Environmental Protection Agency said problems at the St. Louis-based company's South Rasmussen Mine near the Idaho-Wyoming border were documented first in April 2002. That's just 15 months after it won Bureau of Land Management approval, according to documents released by the EPA to The Associated Press.

More recently, the mine has been unable to stop discharges of heavy metal-laden water from a waste dump, despite BLM conclusions nearly a decade ago that precautions wouldn't "allow selenium or other contaminants to migrate from the lease."

Monsanto takes phosphate ore from the mine and turns it into elemental phosphorous, a key Roundup ingredient. Toxic selenium and other heavy metals are also exposed during open pit mining and dumped in waste rock piles, where they can concentrate and be carried away by runoff or natural springs.

Disclosure of South Rasmussen's problems comes at a sensitive time for Monsanto: It's seeking federal approval for a new mine nearby, Blackfoot Bridge, to supply the Roundup component once Rasmussen is played out in 2011. But environmentalists contend the company's assurances that cutting-edge measures will keep naturally occurring selenium from spreading remind them of earlier promises long since broken.

In 2007, the EPA ordered Monsanto to stop releasing selenium-tainted water from South Rasmussen's Horseshoe Dump. Though the company has tried to remedy the problem, it's still violating the federal Clean Water Act, federal officials said.

"The measures they have implemented aren't working," said Eva DeMaria, an EPA enforcement official in Seattle. Monsanto "is aware of our concerns. They are trying to address it."

Asked if EPA plans further action, DeMaria declined comment. "It's under investigation," she said.

In the 1990s, sheep and horses died from selenium poisoning related to mining elsewhere in southeastern Idaho's rich phosphate belt. At least 17 phosphate mines here are now under federal Superfund authority.

Just this May, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality added Sheep Creek, a Blackfoot River tributary being polluted by South Rasmussen, to its list of waterways that don't meet state standar...

Is a wild animal wild when it can�t roam?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:29:58 -0600

Human interference with how animals move about the landscape is impacting everything from disease transmission in elk to social structure in wolves, sometimes making them less wild and more like domestic livestock.

The thoughts from local biologists and conservationists come after the migration-themed Greater Yellowstone Coalition annual meeting at Jackson Lake Lodge last weekend.

The region�s elk herd is an example of a species tat has become less wild as humans have disrupted their migration patterns, Lloyd Dorsey, the coalition�s Jackson representative, said in an interview.

�Feedgrounds have truncated the historical migration like dams on a river system impeded the movements of salmon or other native fish species,� Dorsey said. �While there are still elk migrations in this part of the ecosystem that are impressive in their length, and some individual elk do bypass feedgrounds and make it out to their ancestral winter ranges, many of the elk are short-stopped.�

The feedgrounds, in combination with human development, have provided an obstacle to the upper Snake River plains in Idaho, the Upper Green River Basin and the Wind River country around Dubois in Fremont County that served as wintering grounds for big game animals and indigenous peoples, according to Dorsey.

�Renowned conservationists in this region have, for generations, expressed concern that artificially feeding big-game herds turns those wild animals into domesticated animals,� he said. Scientists also think diseases such as brucellosis are exacerbated by the crowded conditions on feed lines.

Dorsey quoted state game warden D.C. Nowlin�s statement, made shortly after the first extensive elk feeding elk feeding in 1909: �If our elk are to remain really wild and to be hunted under restrictions of wild game, they should not be semidomesticated and attracted to the ranches by continuous winter feeding,� he said 100 years ago. �Such treatment would soon take them out of the category of wild animals and put them in a class with the elk of eastern game parks.�

Dorsey said there remain winter ranges in the region in the Gros Ventre River valley, Buffalo Valley, Upper Green River basin, and south of Jackson that could support the elk herd naturally, although not in the numbers that exist today.

Some restoration possible

�The good news is that the ancestral winter ranges are largely on public land, and there are opportunities to...

The Human Footprint: GYC Annual Meeting in Jackson

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:32:55 -0600

...

Simplot wins legal round, with warning

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 08:10:42 -0600

A federal appeals court has decided jobs are more important than a potential threat to the environment at J.R. Simplot�s Smoky Canyon Mine in Eastern Idaho, which means the company can, for now, go forward with plans to expand its phosphate mining operations on public lands there.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in the latest chapter of a convoluted legal struggle, lifted a stay imposed on the company following challenges from environmental groups.

Had the decision gone the other way, Simplot would have begun laying off a combine 114 employees at its Don fertilizer plant in Pocatello and at its Smoky Canyon Mine. But the Circuit Court�s decision was not unanimous. Dissenting Judge William Fletcher expressed concern that �we are allowing irreparable harm in the form of permanent damage to the environment to take place before a decision on the merits is made not later than August 4, 2009.�

Simplot�s track record �is very bad in respect to its past abuse of the environment,� Judge Fletcher noted. �There is a strong public interest in avoiding additional irreparable damage to the environment beyond that which Simplot has already inflicted and failed to remediate.�

Get that, Simplot?

If the mine goes forward, which now seems likely, nothing less than 100 percent compliance with all federal mandates�in particular the Clean Water Act�will be acceptable. Idahoans cannot tolerate further harm to a region already polluted from past phosphate mining, such as occurred in the 1990s when horses and sheep died from grazing in areas tainted by selenium. The Blackfoot River and its tributaries have seen populations of cutthroat trout decimated.

Magistrate Judge Mikel Williams earlier had refused to grant a preliminary injunction to halt the mine expansion, denying that it would cause �irreparable injury� even though 100 acres of timber would be harvested and 150,000 cubic yards of topsoil and 450,000 cubic yards of overburden would be removed, awaiting reclamation. The Circuit Court supported that ruling, but all that is subject to a final decision on the merits that is due by August.

The Circuit Court noted that it considered public interest in lifting the stay. Shutting down the Don Plant would mean a loss of $80 million to $100 million to the local economy, estimates union president Steve Landon. And it�s fair to say that thousands of farmers depend on the fertilizer produced at the plant.

But there is a broader public interest as ...

Simplot shooting the messenger over layoffs

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 15:42:39 -0600

By Mike Clark

The J.R. Simplot Co. recently announced the layoffs of 114 employees related to phosphate mining, and in doing so aimed the finger of blame at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the conservation community.

Simplot�s finger should�ve been pointing squarely in its own mirror instead.

Lost amid the sound bites about imperiled jobs in Pocatello and Afton, Wyo., is the grim story Simplot doesn�t want on the front page: For decades, the mining giant has been knowingly poisoning the lands and waters of southeast Idaho well beyond state and federal legal levels. And instead of cleaning up the deadly selenium contamination in the streams and groundwater around its massive Smoky Canyon Mine site, Simplot is using the threat of lost jobs as leverage to enlarge its toxic Superfund footprint.

In short, given that Simplot has no solution for its pollution and is basing its entire case for expansion on jobs, it is seeking a bailout � not from the federal government, but from its responsibilities and the laws that other companies must follow.

GYC is not, nor have we ever been, opposed to phosphate mining, if it can be done without poisoning the area�s trout streams and wildlands. We have sued only to halt further Smoky Canyon expansion until Simplot cleans up the selenium poisoning at its four Superfund sites and demonstrates that it won�t similarly contaminate the new site.

Simplot has had years to rectify this long tainted history at Smoky Canyon and three other mine sites, which are so thoroughly contaminated that they all qualify for designation as Superfund sites � meaning they are among the most polluted places in the country. Yet Simplot has offered little more than empty promises.

For nearly a quarter-century, state water-quality standards have been exceeded in some streams affected by Simplot�s phosphate-related selenium runoff. The company is responsible for ruining more than 20 miles of the Sage Creek drainage. This past fall, Simplot�s own scientists revealed that selenium concentrations in Pole Canyon Creek, supposedly cleaned up in 2007, are more than 1,000 times higher than Idaho�s industry-friendly standard.

Selenium is serious stuff. In high concentrations like those at the Smoky Canyon Superfund site, it permeates the food chain and persists for hundreds of years. The poisoning causes massive reproductive failures and birth defects in animals. It has decimated area fish and wildlife while damaging the liveliho...

Legal battle puts jobs in jeopardy

Wed, 3 Jun 2009 15:28:32 -0600

The possibility of job cuts at the J.R. Simplot Don Plant and the Smoky Canyon Mine are the "unfortunate byproduct" of litigation, said Marv Hoyt, director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, one of several groups contesting the expansion of Simplot's mining operations.

Last September, the GYC, along with other environmental groups, including Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club, filed a lawsuit to stop planned expansion of the Smoky Canyon Mine, which lies within the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Caribou County along the Idaho-Wyoming border. The mine is the sole source of phosphate used at the Don Plant.

The lawsuit alleges that Simplot is in violation of the Clean Water Act, an amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972, and the U.S. Forest Management Act, designed to protect wildlife.

Simplot officials announced Monday that if the expansion is halted, the company will be forced to lay off 78 workers in Pocatello and an additional 36 employees at the mine due to a shortage of phosphate ore. Officials said if the lawsuit is not resolved, it could shut down both operations within 18 months when the phosphate ore in the existing section of the mine is exhausted.

In a press release Monday, Hoyt said Simplot officials stated just last month that it had enough ore to continue operating at its current production level through the summer of 2010.

"There are other sources of phosphate ore available to Simplot, if only they would make the effort to obtain it," Hoyt said.

Hoyt said Ashely Creek Phosphate of Utah, adjacent to the Simplot's Vernal, Utah, phosphate mine, has attempted to sell phosphate to the company from their reserves for a number of years.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mikel H. Williams denied a request for a preliminary injunction to halt the expansion in April. The groups successfully appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, temporarily stopping the expansion. The case was returned to Williams in April.

Last month, Williams ruled that the ban would be lifted May 23, but the decision was again appealed and the expansion again halted.

Hoyt said construction of a haul road at the Smoky Canyon Mine would require Simplot to open the mine in violation of the court order in order to obtain material to build the roadway.

"It's not just road construction, it's mining," Hoyt said.

Hoyt said the GYC is also asking Simplot to reopen the environmental ...

GYC's annual confab will focus on migration

Wed, 3 Jun 2009 16:34:09 -0600

Conservationists will gather at Jackson Lake Lodge on June 12 for this year�s Greater Yellowstone Coalition annual meeting, marking the 26th year the group has worked to preserve habitat and wildlife in the region.

The events start the evening of June 11 with a reception at the Old Wilson School House. The meeting continues the following morning at Jackson Lake Lodge with opening remarks by Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott.

University of Utah geophysics professor Robert Smith will then give a presentation about the Yellowstone Hotspot and the Teton Fault.

That evening, Wyoming author Alexandra Fuller will deliver the keynote address. Fuller will discuss her book The Legend of Colton H. Bryant, based on the life and death of a roughneck working in Sublette County.

The afternoons will be dedicated to various field trips around the Jackson Hole area including hikes around the Lawrence Rockefeller Preserve and Phelps Lake, a discussion of wolf ecology, a hike to Hermitage Point and a trumpeter swan migration field trip. For details, visit the coalition�s Web site at [ http://www.greateryellowstone.org ]www.greateryellowstone.org

Jeff Welsch, communications director for the group, said the theme of this year�s meeting is migration.

�Migration is a real key component to our strategic plan,� he said, explaining that the group was founded with the idea that to protect the parks, you need to protect the land surrounding them as well, especially migration corridors between nearby habitats. �Migration again has become a key topic.�

Welsch said Jackson Hole is important for migration issues because of the Path of the Pronghorn from the Upper Green River Valley to Grand Teton National Park as well as the various elk herds that move from summer to winter range in the area each year.

Saturday morning, author and Wyoming Public Television producer Geoffrey O�Gara will start off the migration discussion followed by Wyoming Game and Fish Department bighorn sheep expert Kevin Hurley, who will give a presentation on migration in the Beartooths.

Welsch said this is the first time in two decades the group has held the meeting in either Grand Teton or Yellowstone. �These parks really are the core of our work and are what make this region so special,� he said....

Yellowstone Coalition to honor Camenzind

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 14:03:01 -0600

By Cory Hatch

Jackson Hole conservationist Franz Camenzind is the recipient of this year�s Greater Yellowstone Coalition Sargent Award for Lifetime Achievement in Conservation, the group announced Friday.

Camenzind, a resident of the region since 1970, will retire this summer from his post as executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance after 25 years with the group. Camenzind will be presented with the award June 13 at the coalition�s annual meeting at Jackson Lake Lodge.

�Franz has spent a lifetime conserving not just Jackson Hole but western Wyoming and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,� said Greater Yellowstone Coalition Conservation Director Craig Kenworthy.

�For all the changes around Jackson, it is amazing that we still have the abundant and iconic wildlife,� Kenworthy said. �A great deal of credit for that over the last 25 years goes to Franz and his vision and his leadership. People who are in Jackson 10 or 25 or 50 years from now are going to benefit from the legacy of conservation that he is leaving behind.�

Camenzind said he was �deeply humbled� by the award.

�Coming from an organization that I was a part of from the beginning and is made up of my peers, that kind of recognition is very gratifying,� he said.

�There are so many deserving people in the conservation movement in this region, to be singled out is quite an honor,� Camenzind said. �Having been in this business for so long, everything that anyone believes I�ve achieved has been done through the efforts of many people, not just myself.�

Camenzind said he probably will share the award with his grade-school teacher, who is in her 90s.

�She used to pull me by the ears to get me to behave,� he said.

...

Simplot plans to lay off 114 mine, plant workers

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 14:04:49 -0600

By JOHN MILLER | Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho � J.R. Simplot Co. plans to issue layoff notices to 114 employees at a phosphate mine and a fertilizer plant, blaming legal challenges from environmental groups trying to halt the agricultural conglomerate's proposed expansion of the mine near the Idaho-Wyoming border.

The 36 layoffs at the Smoky Canyon mine are set to take place Saturday, with 78 job reductions at the Don fertilizer plant near Pocatello slated for July 11.

In late May, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped the company from preparing for the expansion, with the judges saying they needed more time to review all the issues.

Garrett Lofto, president of Simplot's AgriBusiness Group, said Monday the company could shutter Smoky Canyon and the fertilizer plant completely in 18 months if the situation isn't resolved. The mine is the only supplier of the Don plant, shipping phosphate beneath three counties in an underground pipeline.

"The delays caused by special interest groups over the past nine months have placed us in a no-win situation," said Lofto in a news release, adding Simplot has released 199 contracting company workers, and has not filled 22 vacant positions.

The mine employs 210 workers, while the plant has 350 employees. The company says it has less than a year of phosphate ore left; the proposed expansion would keep the mine and the plant operating through 2025.

"It is essential that the company complete expansion of the new sections simultaneously with exhausting existing sections in order to provide a steady and reliable supply of ore to our Pocatello plant," Lofto said.

Environmental groups including the Greater Yellowstone Coalition oppose the mine expansion, fearing it would further harm a region already polluted from past phosphate mining. Pollution from other mines in the 1990s resulted in the deaths of horses and hundreds of sheep grazing in areas tainted by selenium.

Marv Hoyt, director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition's Idaho Falls office, said he suspects layoffs may also be a function of the economy, not just litigation, with rival fertilizer makers like Canada's Agrium Inc., warning phosphate production will operate significantly below capacity.

"They've been threatening layoffs, and finally they realized they were crying wolf one too many times," Hoyt said of Simplot's move. "They have enough phosphate ore to run...

Northern Rockies Wolf Protection Back in Court

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 08:14:19 -0600

MISSOULA, Montana, June 2, 2009 (ENS) - The removal of Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in Idaho and Montana is being challenged by legal action filed today by a coalition of 13 conservation groups.

On April 2, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dropped the wolves from the Endangered Species list, finalizing an effort launched by the Bush administration to deprive the wolves of legal and habitat protections, allowing state management and hunting.

In delisting wolves, the Fish and Wildlife Service authorized Idaho and Montana to reduce their wolf populations from a current population of roughly 1,500 wolves to 200 to 300 wolves in the two states.

The Service believes that with approved state management plans in place in Montana and Idaho, all threats to the wolf population will be sufficiently reduced or eliminated in those states. Montana and Idaho will manage for more than 15 breeding pairs and 150 wolves per state.

Wolves will remain a protected species in Wyoming because a federal court previously ruled that Wyoming's hostile wolf-management scheme leaves wolves in "serious jeopardy."

Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains (Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

In this case, the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice represents Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society of the United States, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, Western Watersheds Project, Wildlands Project, and Hells Canyon Preservation Council.

The Fish and Wildlife Service originally announced the decision to delist the wolf in January, but the new administration decided to review the decision as part of an overall regulatory review when it came into office.

On March 6, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar affirmed the Fish and Wildlife Service decision to remove gray wolves from the list of threatened and endangered species in the western Great Lakes and the northern Rocky Mountain states of Idaho and Montana and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

"The recovery of the gray wolf throughout significant portions of its historic range is one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act," Salazar said then. "When it was listed as endangered in 1974, the wolf had almost disappeared from the continental United States. Today, we have...

Fingers pointed as park�s winter visits fall

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 14:01:59 -0600

By JESSICA MAYRER Chronicle Staff Writer

Winter visitation through Yellowstone National Park slid by 14 percent last season from the year prior, and local snowmobile advocates are pinning much of the blame on a series of lawsuits filed by environmental organizations seeking to curb motorized access into the park.

�They know that it�s going to hurt the operators in West Yellowstone,� said Brad Grein, co-director of Citizens for Balanced Use, which is fighting snowmobile restrictions. �People cancel, and that is a huge number of that 14 percent.�

Grein acknowledges that an ailing economy contributed to the decline. But he said a string of lawsuits filed by conservationists is worsening an already challenging climate by spooking folks away from planning snowmobile trips.

Several conservation organizations have been fighting to curb snowmobile use in the park, arguing the machines harm the environment and wildlife with noise and pollution.

In turn, prompted largely by juridical decisions, the park has implemented a series of different caps on how many snowmobiles are allowed in Yellowstone daily. U.S. District Court judges weighed in on the issue twice last year, pressing the park service to announce a 318 cap and then to abruptly revert to an existing cap of 720.

The park�s own science has said that 540 snowmobiles daily through the park is harmful, said Craig Kenworthy from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, one of several organizations representing more than two million members seeking to limit snowmobile use in Yellowstone.

�In an economic downturn, it�s easy to point fingers and say, �this is your fault,�� he said.

And if anyone is to blame for declining tourism, it�s the park service because it hasn�t come up with a sustainable winter-use plan, said Sean Helle from nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, which represents GYC in the legal fight.

Years of study show that snowmobiles harm the environment, Helle said. And the country�s oldest national park is best preserved by shifting to the more environmentally friendly snowcoaches.

But Grein has his science, too. He points to studies that show elk are more spooked by cross-country skiers than snowmobiles.

�Certainly we�re not opposed to people cross-country skiing anywhere,� he said.

While economic and legal challenges played a role in declining park traffic, other forces like light snow pack early in the season impacted tour...

Appeal blocks phosphate mine

Fri, 29 May 2009 10:43:08 -0600

The J.R. Simplot company's plans to expand an Idaho phosphate mine have been put on hold by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The firm has sought to expand the Smoky Canyon mine, which is located in a national forest, to ensure an adequate supply of phosphate for its fertilizer production operation.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service approved the expansion, but in September 2008 environmental groups challenged the federal agencies' environmental review of the project.

The plaintiffs - the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife - claimed that the expansion would contaminate water with selenium and otherwise harm the environment.

On Thursday, May 21, a three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit reinstated the stay that had been lifted May 13 by the Idaho District Court. The circuit court panel said it needed to further consider evidence in the case.

"In light of the voluminous filings by the parties, we have not had adequate time to evaluate the serious issues raised by this case," according to the decision.

Susan Richardson, director of company communications for Simplot, said the company is being patient but hopes the 9th Circuit decides in its favor in the near future.

"We certainly understand the judicial process takes time," she said.

According to Simplot, the company annually extracts about 2 million tons of phosphate ore for phosphate fertilizer production from the site.

Unless the expansion project moves forward, phosphate extraction at the mine can continue for only about two years, according to the company.

The expansion would provide enough phosphate to keep the facility operational for 15 years, according to Simplot. In all, the mine and related fertilizer manufacturing plant in Pocatello, Idaho, employ more than 500 people.

Another federal judge in Idaho recently threw out a separate case related to the mine expansion.

On May 19, Chief U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill dismissed a case filed by Ashley Creek Properties, a company that claimed to have an interest in the mine.

The company filed suit against several federal agencies, claiming that the government's environmental review of the expansion failed to consider alternative sources of phosphate in Utah, where selenium pollution would not be a risk.

Winmill dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Ashley Creek ...

Mine work halted, again

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:13:43 -0600

In what has been a ping-pong game between courts, the onus is back on J.R. Simplot Co. to prove that its phosphate mines in southeast Idaho can be expanded without harming the environement.

Upper Valley For Or Against Rebuilding Teton Dam?

Wed, 20 May 2009 10:30:31 -0600

The Teton Dam broke in 1976, flooding the town of Rexburg, Idaho. Now there's talk of rebuilding it.