SUWA Wilderness Bill Finally Gets Hearing

The Red Rocks Wilderness Act, a bill long championed by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance will get a congressional hearing after heavy campaigning for 20 years. The bill was first introduced in 1989 and has been reintroduced every year since with many co-sponsors although mostly without support from Utah House [...]

Detailed Water Quality Database from NY Times

The NY Times compiled what appears to be the most organized and user friendly database on water quality violations from around the country. A database was put together by state that shows which dischargers have violated their Clean Water Act permits most frequently, and how much they have been fined [...]

Excellent Comments on Water Grab

Dr. Brian Moench, head of UPHE has written amazing comments on the water grab from a human health perspective. Check them out and more importantly integrate them into your own comments to snakevalley@utah.gov and others.

Secondary Service Claims–When your disability begets another disability

This type of claims is real common where the disability is diabetes since so many service connected conditions can cause diabetes. Legal definition is “except as provided by section 3.300(c) disability which is proximately due to or the result of a service connected disease or injury shall be service connected. [...]

State Ready to Cut Deal on Italian Nuke Waste?

ABC 4 is reporting that the state may be ready to cut a deal with Energy Solutions on bringing Italian Nuclear Waste to its 439 acre waste facility in Clive, Utah. Its been learned that the company has been in talks with the Utah Attorney General’s Office. The State [...]

CITIZENS’ HEARING ON THE SNAKE VALLEY WATER DEAL

Utah proposes to sign an agreement to permit the Southern Nevada Water Authority to pump
36,000 acre feet of water per year from Utah’s Snake Valley to Las Vegas. This deal could
devastate area ranching, wildlife and recreation, and turn this West Desert valley into a dust
bowl affecting the air quality [...]

Salient Points to Send to Policymakers

Terry Marasco from Baker, NV, long time activist against the water grab sent me these great points. Send comments to snakevalley@utah.gov

RE: Concerns with the UT NV Water Agreement

August 23, 2009

1. The removal of [...]

Look for New Bike Lanes and Green Lanes

The City has released a schedule of work that has been done already or will be done in the near future in the area of bike lanes and other transportation projects. The city has already created significant new bike lanes in the SW quadrant of the City and will soon [...]

Car Sharing in SLC

SLC has contracted with U Car Share (a subsidiary of U-Haul) and now has a car sharing program just like more progressive cities such as Eugene/Portland, Or, Madison, and Berkeley. There is a one time $25 fee that I think can be waived through a promotional deal, and then each [...]

Water Deal Uniformly Panned

Although Utah State DNR head continues to laud what he says is a fair water deal between Utah and Nevada most others are uniformly rejecting the agreement. Foremost among the opponents of the deal are the Utah Association of Counties not usually known to be on the forefront of environmental [...]