From New Mexico to the eastern slopes of the Cascades, the West is suffering from a sixth year of drought. Various combinations of thin snowpack, hot weather in spring and summer causing premature runoff, and scant summer rain are to blame. The drought is a contributing factor to wildfires which have burned over 2 million […]
Climate Change
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
EPA hands off Superfund tailings to Idaho
BOISE, Idaho – In a deal hailed as a first nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to let Idaho environmental authorities take the lead in cleaning up old mine tailings in Triumph, near Sun Valley. The question is, will the state be any more successful than the EPA in devising a cleanup plan for […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
House of Garbage
HOUSE OF GARBAGE Call it the house that Goodwill built. A recently completed home in Missoula, Mont., carries the concept of second-hand construction materials to new levels. Built by the Center for Resourceful Building Technology, the 2,400-square-foot house showcases dozens of innovative products. Recycled newspaper went into its wall panels, shelving and insulation; light bulbs […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Drought for the Northwest
Although snowpack levels throughout the West are average or better this year, the Northwest faces another year of drought. As of mid-May, the water content in Washington’s and Oregon’s snowpack was between 20 and 59 percent of normal, while precipitation in the Snake River Basin averaged just half of normal. Low reservoir levels and trickling […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Utah utility takes aim at Colorado air
The U.S. Forest Service determined last summer that air pollution was reducing visibility and increasing degradation from acid rain in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area in northern Colorado’s Routt National Forest. It should come as no surprise, then, that Colorado forest officials, environmentalists and air-quality managers – not to mention the Environmental Protection Agency and […]
Posted inMarch 7, 1994: Pay as you waste, says EPA
State-by-state trash
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Pay as you waste, says EPA. Idaho had 85 landfills, according to Katie Sewell, solid waste coordinator in the state department of environmental quality; by summer, that will be down to 30, and most of the panhandle counties will ship their trash to big […]
Posted inMarch 7, 1994: Pay as you waste, says EPA
Federal land managers put up no-dumping signs
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Pay as you waste, says EPA. New EPA rules haven’t been the only federal vexation for rural counties. About 425,000 square miles of “land that nobody wanted” is administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management, and in almost 300 places in the West, […]
Posted inMarch 7, 1994: Pay as you waste, says EPA
A guide to some trashy reading matter
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Pay as you waste, says EPA. When it comes to trash, most reading matter is so boring that it belongs in the local landfill. Two informative exceptions: The Garbage Primer: A Handbook for Citizens, produced by the League of Women Voters and published in […]
Posted inMarch 7, 1994: Pay as you waste, says EPA
Pay as you waste, says EPA
It’s a new world for rural trash
Posted inMarch 7, 1994: Pay as you waste, says EPA
Washington county splits in half over proposed dump
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Pay as you waste, says EPA. HOOPER, Wash. – Burying Seattle’s garbage in rural eastern Washington is like putting a toilet in a refrigerator, according to cartoonist Milt Priggee of the Spokane, Wash., Spokesman Review. That sums up the feeling of opponents of a […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Texan fights out-of-state wastes
In Sierra Blanca, Texas, someone burned Bill Addington’s family lumber yard to the ground last September. Addington says the arson was a message to him and others: Stop protesting the importation of sewage sludge and nuclear waste. Addington heads a citizens’ group of over 70 people which has resisted waste disposal from other states for […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Recycling cans changes an industry
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, Northwest is asked to give up 18 dams. Andy Kerr’s proposal to dismantle or not build 18 dams rests in part on the fact that Americans in 1992 recycled 67.9 percent of their aluminum cans. That recycling saved an immense amount of […]
Posted inDecember 27, 1993: Yellowstone
The bottom line on pollution
Protesters moon a coal-fired narrow-gauge train to protest pollution. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The bottom line on pollution.
Posted inDecember 27, 1993: Yellowstone
‘Empty’ county can’t find room for trash
Wayne County, Utah, can’t find a place for its garbage due to tougher federal regulations. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline ‘Empty’ county can’t find room for trash.
Posted inNovember 1, 1993: Sunbelt confrontation
Waste goes west
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Waste goes west.
Posted inSeptember 20, 1993: Triumph, Idaho, to EPA: Get out
Testing for toxics
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare report on arsenic and lead levels in blood samples of Triumph residents suggests no need for concern. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Testing for toxics.
Posted inSeptember 20, 1993: Triumph, Idaho, to EPA: Get out
Triumph, Idaho, to EPA: Get Out
Locals balk at EPA’s plan to declare Triumph, Idaho, a Superfund site due to mining waste. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Triumph, Idaho, to EPA: Get Out.
Posted inSeptember 20, 1993: Triumph, Idaho, to EPA: Get out
Rural Colorado county says it is being dumped on
An advocacy group charges that a Waste Management landfill is contaminating their water supply. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Rural Colorado county says it is being dumped on.
Posted inSeptember 20, 1993: Triumph, Idaho, to EPA: Get out
Triumph: A great place to grow kids and fish
Profile of Triumph, an Idaho town that could be declared a Superfund site by the EPA. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Triumph: A great place to grow kids and fish.
Posted inSeptember 20, 1993: Triumph, Idaho, to EPA: Get out
State of Idaho wants to lead the cleanup drive at Triumph
State struggles to find money to pay for the tailings cleanup at Triumph, Idaho. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline State of Idaho wants to lead the cleanup drive at Triumph.