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Mountain News: Pipelines disputed across the continent

JASPER, Alberta — In two very different places last week, one a mountain town in Alberta and the other the farm-and-ranch country of Nebraska, the question of how the bitumen from Alberta's tar sands may be exported was debated.
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JASPER, Alberta — In two very different places last week, one a mountain town in Alberta and the other the farm-and-ranch country of Nebraska, the question of how the bitumen from Alberta's tar sands may be exported was debated.

In Jasper, 200 people gathered to hear 40 aboriginal leaders from British Columbia explain their opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline that would transport the diluted bitumen to a port at Kitimat, B.C. The aboriginals fear the risk of the pipeline leaking, despoiling the creeks whose salmon have provided them sustenance.

While transport company Enbridge is offering the First Nations $280 million in net income over the next 30 years to cross their land, one of the leaders, Pete Erickson, also known as hereditary Chief Tsohdih, said it's not about the money. It's about protecting ancestral lands.

"We're here about just simply the Earth," he told Jasper's Fitzhugh, a newspaper. "And I think most people are grounded, and they listen to that message."

In Nebraska, the issue was much the same. In the farming town of Neligh, 70 people listened as a lawyer described their legal options as another company, TransCanada, tries to extend a 36-inch pipeline called Keystone XL through their property.

One of those at the meeting, fourth-generation rancher Karl Connell explained that it wasn't just the money, and it wasn't just the question of whether a foreign company should be able to force him to accept its pipeline through a process called eminent domain.

It was also, said Connell, a question of how a ruptured pipeline would affect his ability to grow grass to feed cattle on his ranch in the Sand Hills. TransCanada has assured him of the pipeline's safety, but he isn't buying it.

Gas drilling faulted for fouled air

JACKSON, Wyo. — Air in Jackson Hole remains of high quality, despite the proximity of one of the West's great natural gas bonanzas just an hour to the south.

The American Lung Association tells the Jackson Hole News& Guide that Jackson Hole had just one day of bad air in the last three years. On that one bad day, ozone concentrations were high enough that young children, the elderly and people with respiratory disease were advised to stay indoors. What caused that high level of ozone was not reported.

About an hour south, in the valley between the Wind Range and Wyoming mountain ranges, the air quality is far worse. Pinedale and Sublette County had 15 alert days, 14 because of ozone and one because of particulates. Included were several days when everybody, including healthy adults, was advised to stay outdoors.

The primary problem is the pollution caused by engines used to drill for natural gas in the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline fields, two of the hot spots in the Rocky Mountain West. Some ozone, however, is natural.

But ozone can always travel great distances. Ozone from China, for example, could trip high-ozone days in cities along the West Coat into unhealthy days.

Commissioners explain contradiction

GUNNISON, Colo. — The Gunnison County commissioners have endorsed a plan that would allow expanded coal mining below public lands about 48 kilometres northwest of Crested Butte. The Crested Butte News says that a local resident, Richard Karas, sees a contradiction. This same county government has enlisted in an effort to reduce carbon emissions 20 per cent by 2020.

Commissioner Paula Swenson said that change takes time — and that the nearby coal at least produces fewer emissions of sulfur dioxide than most, if not carbon dioxide. "I would love to say we're going to be in wind and solar energy in the next five years, but the reality is that we're not," she said.

A light-rail link someday?

PARK CITY, Utah — Cities in the Salt Lake Valley have an excellent light-rail system. Should light-rail someday be extended to what locals called the Wasatch Back, meaning Park City and other communities on the east side of the mountain range?

A planning group formed to look at transportation options has talked about that possibility, although participants tell The Park Record there's no consensus. Daily bus service between Park City and Salt Lake City was instituted only last year.

Aspen a model for how to trim waste at events

ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen banned bottled water from racecourse dispensaries last year when the USA Pro Cycling Challenge came through town. This year, other stops along the weeklong bicycle extravaganza may well do the same thing.

City officials tell the Aspen Daily News that other host communities along the tour in Colorado are studying Aspen's efforts to reduce the amount of waste produced. Aspen also requires that the event have recycling and composting bins, and that "shwag" given out in conjunction with the race be made from reusable and recyclable materials.

San Juan peaks may be named after couple

TELLURIDE, Colo. — Several years ago, mountaineers Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff were killed in an avalanche in Tibet. Family and friends of the couple are keen to have two 3,962-metre peaks in the Telluride area named in their honor.

The San Miguel County commissioners are supporting the naming in the vicinity of Mt. Wilson, looking down on where the couple lived. Final say in the matter belongs to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, which mostly relies on federal land managers and local officials for guidance.

Eagle to vote again about shopping mall

EAGLE, Colo. — Nine years ago, when a professional basketball player was accused of rape, metropolitan and national reporters who flocked to the county seat of Eagle, located 50 kilometres west of Vail, described the town as "tiny."

And maybe it was. But the town of 6,500 has been growing far more rapidly than its businesses. Population grew 114 per cent from 2000 to 2010. Sales tax collections have grown only 22 per cent. Without improved collections, say some, the town will slowly, steadily fall on hard times. Sales taxes account for 40 per cent of municipal operations.

To help rectify that situation, the town board this year approved a giant complex along the interstate that could yield 733,000 square feet of commercial space and 550 rental units. Developers expect the stores to draw shoppers from Vail to Aspen to Steamboat Springs.

Town voters on May 22 will decide whether the project goes forward. Early last year, in a narrow vote, they rejected a similar proposal, many on the grounds that the project would make Eagle like anywhere else.

Among those opposed is Yuri Kostick, the new mayor. He argues for silver buckshot instead of a silver bullet. "The town needs to try to do as many different things as possible txso increase its revenue," he tells the Eagle Valley Enterprise.

Project supporters, however, point out that town residents must drive 20 or 30 miles for even the most simple of everyday items.