http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/main/C108/L108/ New West Network: The Voice of the Rocky Mountains en info@newwest.net Copyright 2009 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:49:17 MST Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:49:17 MST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/y_nM1OHCJS0/ Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:28:21 MST The latest salvo against the nation's agricultural-industrial complex is on the big screen. Food, Inc., a documentary by filmmaker Robert Kenner, is a forceful indictment of concentrated cattle ghettos, squalid chicken factories and cornfield deserts. At the film's core is this thesis: the way we eat has changed more in the past 50 years than in the previous 10,000, and not for the better. Sure, our shopping cart loads are getting cheaper, but our health, the environment, the animals and the people who handle them pay the price, Kenner argues. "We spend less of our paycheck on our food than anytime, but it comes at a heavy cost," Kenner told a crowd at the Aspen Institute's Aspen Ideas Festival, after a screening of the film. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/food_inc_takes_aim_at_corporate_ag/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/Vs56ITt6b7w/ Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:46:19 MST Fueled by $180 million in federal stimulus money, the National Security Agency will build a one-million square foot data center outside of Salt Lake City. According to the Salt Lake Tribune: Hoping to protect its top-secret operations by decentralizing its massive computer hubs, the National Security Agency will build a 1-million-square-foot data center at Utah's Camp Williams. The years-in-the-making project, which may cost billions over time, got a $181 million start last week when President Obama signed a war spending bill in which Congress agreed to pay for primary construction, power access and security infrastructure. The enormous building, which will have a footprint about three times the size of the Utah State Capitol building, will be constructed on a 200-acre site near the Utah National Guard facility's runway. Congressional records show that initial construction -- which may begin this year -- will include tens of millions in electrical work and utility construction, a $9.3 million vehicle inspection facility, and $6.8 million in perimeter security fencing. The budget also allots $6.5 million for the relocation of an existing access road, communications building and training area. Officials familiar with the project say it may bring as many as 1,200 high-tech jobs to Camp Williams, which borders Salt Lake, Utah and Tooele counties. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/utah_lands_new_spy_center_idaho_doesnt_come_close_to_needed_infrastructure/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/ozt_Y5CFO-4/ Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:40:20 MST For the first time in a century, the mountain West has more Democratic senators, and more Democratic congress members, than Republicans. That's part of a shift across the region and the nation, say a pair of Stanford University professors, that has the Republican Party in crisis. "There is no silver bullet for Republicans," says Doug Rivers, professor of political science at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. "For the short-run, the news is pretty bad." http://www.newwest.net/city/article/democrats_make_historic_gains_in_west/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/xdGgstx7c5g/ Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:48:23 MST Anything wolf makes big headlines--and, it seems, is never old news. For fourteen years since conservationists and the federal government brought the wolf back to the northern Rockies (plus several years leading up to the reintroduction), anything and everything about the Big Dog has been, to say the least, controversial. But something hasn't happened yet that could make it much more contentious. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/what_could_make_the_wolf_even_more_controversial/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/KN-9am4xf04/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:56:27 MST The passage of the Waxman-Markey Climate bill is a historic, bold step in the right direction in terms of embracing innovative and sustained business practice. Hailed globally as a "sea of change in U. S. policy on climate," this legislation will reshape energy policy by capping greenhouse gas emissions for the first time, boost production and investment in renewable electricity, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and tend to our cherished natural resources. Concurrently, the bill will create jobs here in the United States and help businesses and communities hardest hit by these new changes. We commend our forward thinking leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and say job well done. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/outdoor_leaders_praise_passage_of_climate_bill/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/lA73Dey6v9k/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:14:15 MST A report out this week from the national Smart Growth America group takes a look at where transportation stimulus money is going on the state level and it found that in most cases, especially in the West, states are spending too much on new roads and not enough on maintenance and repair of existing infrastructure or on public transportation options. The report is exhaustive, and you can read the whole thing here, but two main points from the group are these: Not enough money is being spent on repair and maintenance: "Despite a multi-trillion dollar backlog of road and bridge repairs, states committed almost a third of ARRA STP money--$6.6 billion--to new capacity road and bridge projects rather than to repair and other preservation projects" Not enough money is being spent on public transportation: "By allocating few funds (3.7%) to public and non-motorized transportation, states made less progress on modernization, rapid job creation, enhancing public transporation, long-term economic growth, reducing greenhouse gases, oil dependence and providing low cost transportation choices," the report states. Read on to see the report's findings on how specific Western states rank in the group's assessment. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/is_the_west_spending_too_much_stimulus_on_sprawl/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/FLTX21wf54k/ Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:10:30 MST Hiking to Shirts Lake, accessible from West Mountain Road around Cascade Reservoir in Idaho's beautiful Valley County, was a part of our kids' childhoods. The fishing, camping, swimming and messing around in the mountains turned them both into lovers of nature and the earth. Son is a hiker and mountain biker, and Daughter, close to finishing a degree in environmental science, wants to spend her life trying to save the planet. Getting kids outdoors really does help them stay rooted in what's real. The lake, no doubt named after somebody named Shirts, rises from the town of Cascade's 4,760 foot elevation to 7,700 in Idaho's beautiful Valley County, where it is no longer early spring but not quite mid-spring. That means wildflowers and songbirds, and a weekend family hike to Shirts took us through meadows and mountainsides grinning with both. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/the_high_mountain_pleasures_of_an_idaho_family_hike/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/LF-Cvlheg0M/ Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:42:06 MST Putting a formal stamp on its difficult transaction that netted it 15 stores from the bankrupt Sportsman's Warehouse chain, UFA Co-operative Limited,of Calgary, Alberta, has quickly rebranded the stores as part of the Wholesale Sports chain it has owned and operated for many years in Canada. The new signs are going up right now, says Natalie Dawes, of UFA, but customers still might find temporary banners in some locations. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/ufa_rebrands_its_15_spsortsmans_warehouse_stores/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/WeAcnNcxl_Q/ Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:50:51 MST The Interior Department released maps on Tuesday detailing vast stretches of public land in the West that could be opened to utility-scale solar development. The so-called Solar Energy Study Areas make up 670,000 acres in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and California. The proposed areas focus on lands considered to have excellent solar access and manageable slopes, with roads and transmission lines or corridors nearby, and with at least 2,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land. Sensitive areas, wilderness areas and other lands with high-conservation values were ruled out. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/interior_unveils_solar_hot_spots_across_west/C108/L108/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newwest/city/boise/~3/9GL6D76H0Nc/ Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:25:39 MST Beetle hysteria has raised its head again, and I am not talking about the Fab four. A prominent article in the New York Times titled "Tiny Beetle Adds New Dynamic to Forest Fire Control Efforts" quotes many foresters and others who suggest that beetle-kill trees across the West will create larger wildfires and by implications are "destroying" our forests. For instance, Montana's State Forester Bob Harrington said as much at conference recently, as in the article. While it may seem "intuitively obvious" that dead trees will lead to more fires, there is little scientific evidence to support the contention that beetle-killed trees substantially increases risk of large blazes. In fact, there is evidence to suggest otherwise. At the heart of this and many other media reports are flawed assumptions about fires, what constitutes a healthy forest, and the options available to humans in face of natural processes that are inconvenient and get in the way of our designs. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/beetle_hysteria_again/C108/L108/