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HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The environmental review for a coal mine planned in British Columbia and opposed in Montana is being ratcheted up, likely delaying the mine proposal by up to three years, said Sen. Max Baucus, whose goal is to have the proposal scrapped.

This is absolutely fantastic news and goes a long way to reversing some of the damage to public lands that this administration has caused.

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WASHINGTON — A federal district judge ruled Friday that the Bush administration illegally rewrote rules for managing 192 million acres of federally owned forests and grasslands in 2005 and must consider the environmental impact of its plan before offering another policy blueprint.

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It was just what Wyoming’s snowpack needed.

A massive spring snowstorm that closed many Wyoming highways and schools during midweek slowly moved out of the state Friday, not before dumping huge amounts of heavy, wet snow across much of Wyoming.

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RIVER STYX — Ecologist R. Todd Engstrom stopped suddenly Friday while walking through the rustling leaves along the Apalachicola River for what could be the discovery of a lifetime

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But on Friday, Northern California U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ruled that the 2005 forest planning rule violates federal law.

She enjoined the USDA and the Forest Service from implementing and using the 2005 rule, requiring the USDA to retool the rule so it complies with the Endangered Species, Administrative Procedures and National Environmental Policy acts.

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Following through on campaign promises to exercise more oversight of energy development on federal lands in the West, the Democrat-controlled House held hearings to learn about the conflicts between recreation and drilling

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Along the Blackfoot River, heavy cranes were carefully placing huge rocks – some weighing as much 2 tons – along a berm just downstream from more equipment pounding 25-foot-long sheets of iron into the river’s banks. When that work is completed, the new structure should be able to withstand the kind of flood that only comes around once a century.

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The Devils Tower annual park pass will rise from $20 to $30, while the vehicle fee will rise from $10 to $15 and the per-person fee will rise from $5 to $7. The Fort Laramie annual pass will rise from $15 to $20 in 2009, while the per-person fee will rise from $3 to $

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“This part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the wrong place for development,” he said.
Shuler said Wednesday that the settlement “will maintain the undisturbed wilderness of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and save the American taxpayers millions of dollars”