Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 9

Sierra Club claims Forest Service still 'business as usual' Opposes proposed rule to streamline appeals process 1 -i a Judy Hamilton Shir-1 ribunc One of Jackson's famed antler arches, which mark entrances of the city square park, is as much a reminder of passing winter as remaining patches of snow and tourists in shirtsleev es. ArVilllcr rClllIIUIltS Tne auction of thousands of antlers shed in March and April by elk wintering at the National I.Ik Refuge just north of town has become a spring tradition in Jackson, with this year's event set for May 1 5. Group includes Wyo river on threatened list passed by 'ongress and signed In President Bush last year Amid cries from the commodities industries and like minded politicians that Irivolous appeal-, were thwarting timbering and other resource development, the Bush administration had originally sought to eliminate the appeal-, process altogether A coinpiomise was readied limiting the right to appeal to cil izens who participate in the I ores! Serv ice's comment and notice period prior to I SI decisions. hen the compromise legisla tion was approved last year, both environmentalists and industry groups said the compromise was acceptable. But the way the I otest Serv ice has written the rule to implement the legislation effectively circumvents hat Congress as try nig lo do assure thai the public had a role in the decision-making process.

Kirchncr said I he law itself, he said, provided that the agency could declare an emergency to allow limbering or other activ ity only during the "automatic stay." Kirchner said. I he automatic stay clause requires thai permits, if approved by the I SIS, be withheld until appeals are resolv cil. However, the proposed rule to implement the law allows the agency to declare an emergency and grant a timbering or drilling permit even before the public comment period on such a permit is complete. Kirchner said. "It's a pretty broad definition of emergency." he added.

"Most people would think an emergency is something like a dam is about to break. But to the Forest Service it means there's been a storm and there's timber on the ground, oi there's insects out there." he said. But Riley, speaking on behalf of the timber industry, said Congress has alway granted the Forest Ser-vice latitude in declaring emergencies, and that is no different under the proposed rule. Meanwhile. Kirchner said that because the Clinton administration has et to fill all its appointments in the Department of Agriculture.

"You've got a lot of holdovers in the career positions who are kind of carrying on the business as usual. "It's an awkward situation with respect to the president." Kirchner said. At the recent "limber summit." Clinton pledged that government agencies vvoald follow ihe law when administering and managing natural resources, but now the orest Serv ice is crossing the administration. Kirchner said. By IIL'OII JA( KSO Star- Tribune stall vi liter CASI'I A proposed rule to streamline the appeals process on drilling, timbering and other activities on national forests violates the spirit and intent of federal legislation, both environmentalists and industry groups agree.

But while the industry would like to see the rule implemented now and possibly reworked later, a lawyer for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Lund says the rule is an example of "business as usual" at the forest Service. The law should be withdrawn and rewritten, said Kevin Kirclin-er, a staff attorney with the Sierra Club Legal Defense fund. At the least, the forest Scrv ice should extend the 15-day comment period on the new rule, which closes April 29. he said. "It's bizarre that they even imagined they could do this in the first place" in 1 5 days.

Kirchncr said. I he signal that it sends to folks is that it's business as usual" in the orest Service, he said, despite the new administration. But the industry would like to see the rule implemented now and perhaps reworked later, said Jim Riley of the Intermountain orest Industry Association. Riley said the orest Serv ice rule still allows people to file appeals on timber sales and other resource development whether or not they have participated in the process. Congress intended to limit the ease by which people could delay development by filing appeals.

Riley said. Instead, the Forest Service still allows people to file appeals on orest Service decisions even if those people did not participate in the original forest planning process or during public comment periods. I he Forest Service already has had more than six months to write the rule and "the responsible thing to do" is implement it now and perhaps rework it later. Riley said. A House subcommittee is scheduled to hold hearings on the proposed rule this morning, and the Forest Service could decide this week lo extend the comment period, a USFS spokesperson in Washington said.

"There needed to be an opportunity for people to look al this and say 'yeah, that's what we wanted' or 'no that's not what we Susan Yont-Sheperd said. The proposed rule, published last week in the federal register, would implement legislation Federal Lnergy Regulatory Commission, Little Horn asserts that its project will create doens of construction jobs and some permanent jobs in northeastern Wyoming, and provide clean energy to the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. In its statement, American Rivers said the hydropower project threatens wildlife. Indian water rights and the environmental health of the river, much of which is eligible to be included in the federal Wild and Scenic River system. Matthew Huntington, director of hydropower programs for American Rivers, said economic prosperity is nr.

"age-old claim" By DAVID HACKLTT Slur-Tribune Washington bureau WASHINGTON The Little Big Horn River is among the IS most threatened rivers in North America, according to American Rivers, a national conservation group. Trie organization was scheduled to release its annual list of the continent's 25 most threatened and endangered rivers at a press conference here today. The Platte River in Nebraska was included among the 10 most endangered rivers on the list. According to American Rivers, large areas of habitat critical to migratory waterfowl along the Platte have been lost to development, sedimentation and agriculture. A written statement released prior to the Tuesday press conference said the remote, pristine qualities of the Little Big Horn are threatened by a proposed hydropower project.

Little Horn Lnergy Wyoming, is the company that is seeling a federal license to buiTd a $1 billion pumped storage project on the river in the Big Horn National Forest about 35 miles west of Sheridan. Company officials in Sheridan and Stamford, were unavailable for comment Monday. In its license application to the Sullivan asserts True will manipulate GOP Advocates say more wolves killed near Yellowstone Park of developers seeking local support for their projects. Such claims are often inflated, he said, while the economic value of ild backcounlry often goes unrealized until it is lost to development. Jill Morrison, a spokeswoman for the Powder River Basin Resource Council, praised American Rivers Monday for acknowledging the pristine qualities of the Little Big Horn as well as the threat it faces.

Morrison said her group and the Sheridan Area Resource Council nominated the Little Big lloria for the American Rivers list. The river has been included on the list in four of the last five years. tent ial leaders to spend more time developing real solutions to problems than picking candidates. Based on True's published statements. Sullivan said Democrats by definition are "bad and unacceptable" and so are Republicans who supported a government program or a tax increase to fund education or basic government services.

"If our non-Democrat friends find they do not hav the resources or the proper ideological stripes to be a part of Chairman True's new order, they can and ill have a home with us." Sullivan said. Sullivan also noted True's comments suggesting that he and Secretary of State Kathy Karpan will "sut ler" for their early support of Bill Clinton's candidacy for president. Sullivan said he remains proud of that support and believ es most Americans believe they should support their president. "Most importantly. I support him as a friend, as a man I know to be committed to the critical issue facing this country." Sullivan said, "and mov ing from the materialistic malaise that has gripped this country ov er the past few years to support for a system that unites this country." Nevertheless.

Sullivan said he isn't comfortable vv ith some parts of Clinton's progiam. such as the Blu tax thai would have been detrimental to Wyoming. He said he made his objections known to Clinton with the result that the tax burden has been shifted. Sullivan said the western stales have economic problems connected to federal land management that the new administration must recognize. Although everyone needs lo support health care reform.

Sullivan said he wants to be sine the program developed by the Clinton administration recognizes the unique nature of the distances and the populations the intal West "I hope we can woik through those issues vviihout being sin-dent, without being an iisatn e. without being difficult." he said 1 1 1 By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHLYLNNL The Wyoming Democratic Party welcomes Republicans who don't fit into the "new order" of OOP State Chairman Diemer True, (iov. Mike Sullivan says. The Democratic chief executive, who will complete his second term next year, said one thing to watch for as the I UIM elections approach will be how many Republicans buy True's "smiling assurance of openness while he manipulates the entire party for his chosen few candidates and interests." True, a former state senator from Casper, has said he intends to stay neutral and maintain an open primary campaign for governor next year rather than trying to limit the number of candidates. Although True has said he would like to see a conservative elected governor, he said last eek and again during the OOP Central Committee meeting in Casper that he is not "a stalking horse" for any candidate.

Sullivan delivered his attack on True late Saturday night at a Democratic Parly banquet in Rawlins. Sullivan said it is tempting to dismiss True as "the modern-day Richie Rich of comic book fame." That would be a mistake, he said, because Richie Rich didn't have a political agenda. Sullivan was referring to the wealth of True and his family who have wide oil and agricultural holdings in the slate. He said the strength of the yoming Democratic Parly lies with the independence of the Wyoming voters who are more concerned about a person's character than political atViliation. the minority parly, he said, must continue lo allow open de-hale rather than deciding in advance who gels which office, he said, vv Inch may turn out to lie the Republican Partv's approach for 1 4 ll would be belter.

Sullivan said, lor political leaders and po Crash kills official, injures legislator CHLYLNNL (AP) 1 he coordinator for Wyoming's Aging Services was killed and his wife, a first-term legislator, was injured when the pickup truck they were in was hit by another vehicle. Laramie County officials said. Elvin Scott Sessions, 56. died Sunday when the truck he was driving collided ith a car at about 2 p.m. at an intersection north of Cheyenne, said Laramie County Sheriffs Deputy Mark Fanning.

Sessions' wife, Kathryn Sessions, 51, suffered a fractured shoulder and was reported in stable condition Monday al Memorial Hospital of Laramie County. Sessions is a Democratic representative from Cheyenne elected for her first term in November. Fanning said a preliminary investigation indicated that a car driven by Michael Harmon, 1, of Cheyenne, was traveling south on a Cheyenne road when it went past a slop sign and hit the Ford pickup driven by Sessions. Sessions was partially thrown from Ihe truck, which rolled over him. Harmon was taken to the Warren Air Force Base for treatment, while a male juvenile passenger in Harmon's ehicle was taken to the Memorial Hospital of Laramie County for treatment.

Gov. Mike Sullivan said he was sorry to hear of Sessions' death. Heavy snow blankets Big Horns CHEYENNE (AP) Heavy snow continued to pummel the northern Big Horn Mountains Monday, with more than a loot common in several areas. The winter-like conditions prompted the National Weather Serv ice in Cheyenne to issue a storm arning for the Big I loins and a snow and blowing snow advisory Tor northeast Wy oming. Bear Lodge in the Big Horns had received more than a foot of new snow since early Monday, the weather serv ice reported at mid-aftcrnoon Monday.

Meanwhile, the lower elevations in Sheridan County had received from 5 to 7 inches. Snowfall in the north-central Wyoming mountains Sunday night ranged from 6 to 15 inches, and forecasters said another fool could fall Monday. rcintioduclion plan because could destroy the nativ packs they believe exist. They instead want the federal government to search for existing wolves and protect them under the Lndangercd Species Act. The I'rbigkits compiled then lis! of wolf deaths based on records obtained from the National Paik Service and forest Service through the Freedom of Information Act.

They describe nine reports involving sightings of 12 wolf carcasses. Ihe first came from George Gruell. a former wiUhic biologist for the Bridger-1 National forest, who said a nonresident hunter shot a wolf in the etou Wilderness a few years before he arrived in l(w. In another report, several people said they saw a r-looi-lomj wolf pell attached to a Jeep leav the Bridger- felon in In a llS5 memo. Fouesl Ham mond of the Wyoming Game ami I ish Depailinenl wrote that two wolves were likely killed in the B-l 's Kemmerer Ranger Disti i in the prev ions 1(1 years, and thai sheepherdei mav have killed tw" others in July 1 'N5 Ihe I'rbigkits aNo included wolt strtuk by a vchide in Mo-i tan.

i about miles nouh ol 'l I-low stone on M.iv 21.1 I '-i and ildlilc believ ed the es aped tiom apuv il 1 i he i hi m. mil il i liom the ilit LANDLR (API Two wolf" advocates say they have ev idence that the wolf shot last fall near Yellowstone National Park was not the only one killed in the area in the last 25 years. Jim and Cat Urbigkit say records obtained from federal agencies and other sources show al least a dozen of the endangered animals have been killed in and near Yellowstone. The wolves were shot by hunters and ranchers, struck by vehicles or killed by other means, they said. "Based on our research.

I'd say at least 12 wolves have died from non-natural causes since lloV said Cat Urbigkit. She added that the information supports their contention wolves have survived in northwestern yoming and were not wiped out in the llM0s. The I1. S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-v ice said they cannot prove or disprove the accounts compiled In the I'rbigkits.

"If you look through this list, it has a lot of 'so and so said ihis." but not really any physical evidence." said I Bangs, who's leading an environmental impact statement review to return gray wolves to the greater Yellowstone area. "I hat doesn't mean that liicy didn't happen Hell. I wasn't there. Maybe there are dead wolves all over Wyoming. But ith no phy ev idence.

how dovouknow Bangs s.nd I he I ibigkits oppose the woH.