Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 13

Casper StarVTribune mm Thursday, January 17, 2002 OBITUARIES B3 WEATHERCALENDAR B4 O) In Brief Lummis won't ram for governor FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS 7 1 1 Thermopolis, his childhood home, Casper and Cheyenne. If Lummis seeks a second term as state treasurer, it will leave only two of the five elected seats open in this year's elections. Gov. Jim Geringer and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Judy Catch-pole are barred from seeking re-election by term limits. State Auditor Max Maxfield and Catchpole had both been contemplating running for secretary of state.

Maxfield said Tuesday, however, that he will seek re-election as auditor now that Meyer has decided to run for a second term. Maxfield said that was his intention from the beginning. Catchpole, who has not commented on her plans for when she leaves office, is currently out of the country. Please see LUMMIS, B2 as a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor for personal reasons, she told supporters in a letter sent out last week. Lummis, a lawyer and former legislator who is in the last year of her first term as state treasurer, is the second elected state official to pull out of the Republican gubernatorial contest.

Secretary of State Joe Meyer announced Monday he will not be a candidate, saying he decided he was unwilling to undergo the financial commitment and other pressures of an intense campaign for the nomination. Lummis, 47, had been unavailable for comment on her political plans for more than a week. She said in a note to the Casper Star-Tribune Wednesday that she wanted to finish contacting people before she issued a press release on her political plans. Lummis did not say in the letter, however, whether she intends to attempt a bid at re-election for state treasurer. She was enroute to Denver for a "Citizen of the West" dinner late Wednesday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.

One of Lummis' supporters who received the letter, Michael Walden-Newman, the executive director of the Wyoming Taxpayers Association, said Wednesday that he hopes Lummis will seek a second term as treasurer now that she has decided against entering the governor's race. "I think she's done a phenomenal job as state treasurer, and what she has done in managing state funds and improving the state's revenue picture is just tremendous," he said. Lummis' decision leaves four potential candidates for the Republican nomination for governor: Eli Bebout of Riveron, a former house speaker; Raymond Hunkins, a Wheatland lawyer; Bill Sniffin, a former Lander newspaper publisher and businessman; and Stephen Watt, Rock Springs, a peace officer and state representative. Watt is the only one of the four to make a formal announcement. The Democrats have three contenders: Dave Freudenthal, a Cheyenne lawyer and former U.S.

Attorney; Paul Hickey, a Cheyenne lawyer; and Toby Simpson of Greybull. Simpson has formally announced his candidacy. Freudenthal is scheduled to announce his candidacy today during appearances in CYNTHIA LUMMIS By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis has withdrawn from contention -rap' 3 Three killed in crash MONETA Three people were killed in a fiery head-on collision on U.S. 20-26 Tuesday. Killed were Donald Ingram, 65, and Martin Hobbs, 26, both of Riverton, and Victor Steven Cuzzort, 46, of Mills, Bruce Burrows, spokesman for the Wyoming Department of Transportation, said.

Cuzzort was driving west when his 2000 Hyundai crossed the center line on a curve near Moneta and struck Ingram's eastbound 1990 Chevrolet Suburban, Burrows said. There were signs that Ingram tried to avoid Cuzzort's car, he said. Hobbs was Ingram's passenger. The wreck occurred at about 3 a.m. about four miles east of Moneta.

The victims were wearing seat belts, a Wyoming Highway Patrol officer said. Input sought on power line The Bureau of Land Management is currently seeking comments on an environmental assessment (EA) for a proposed power line between the Town of Shell and Trapper Canyon. The Big Horn Rural Electric Company wants to build a three mile long power line starting near the John Allen electric substation and ending near the mouth of Trapper Canyon. About 4,000 feet of the line will be on public land. The EA on the project is available form the BLM's Worland Field Office.

Written comments will be accepted until Feb. 15. Comments should be mailed to: BLM, Worland Field Office, Attn: Victor Trickey, P.O. Box 119, Worland, WY. 82401-0119.

Crime reporting bill drafted GILLETTE -A bill drafted by a Gillette legislator would require doctors and other health care providers to report suspected crimes to police. Currently patient confidentiality prevents doctors from reporting suspected crimes involving patients, such as a shooting or a drunken driving accident. The bill, sponsored by Rep. George McMurtrey, R-Gillette, would require health care providers to report certain crimes or risk being penalized with a $750 fine and six months in jail. Campbell County Sheriff Byron Oedekoven approached McMurtrey about sponsoring the bill because the current law can hinder criminal investigations.

Under the bill, suspected crimes that must be reported Include evidence of stabbings, shootings, drunken driving accidents and assaults. County rejects special election RIVERTON The Fremont County Commission has rejected holding a special election to allow voters to decide the fate of a $25 million proposal for an integrated solid waste disposal system. The commission voted 3-2 Monday against the election. Commission Chairman Scott Luther, who voted against the election, said more information was needed on the proposed disposal system. The proposal was supported by each of the county's six municipalities, tlie two tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation and the Wind River Environmental Quality Control Cornmisskxi.

Lander solid waste district attorney Keith Gingery said he did not know if the solid waste board would seek a second election, or take other and more drastic measures such as hiking landfill fees to address the county's waste disposal needs --a Coalbed quality monitoring system on the rivers and requires Wyoming to allow no impairment to the rivers due to coalbed methane discharge waters. But the Montana Department of Environmental Quality contends the groups are twisting vulnerable real-time data from a U.S. Geological Survey Web site to push their own agenda and thwart the coalbed methane industry, which pulls water from coal aquifers and dumps it on the surface. "I have problems with how The Powder River runs dry near Arvada in this Sept. 10 photo.

Low-flowing rivers provided poor data to a water monitoring system that is part of and agreement between Wyoming and Montana, officials say. Groups claim water pact violated DEQ official disagrees, says data cited is flawed Power plant location discussed SHERIDAN (AP) Construction could start in May on a proposed $120 million power plant fueled by coal-bed methane. But even partners in Buffalo Power Co. LLC, owner of the proposed plant, say that start date is optimistic and depends on approval by the state Industrial Siting Council, Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality and the state engineer's office. If the approvals are granted, the plant could be built somewhere in Sheridan County by May 2004.

The plant, according to the report, is designed for a nominal 220-megawatt combined cycle, and would generate about 135 megawatts while consuming 1,300 million Btu per hour of coal-bed methane gas. The company has not decided on a site for the facility, except that it will be in Sheridan County. A map handed out at a public meeting Monday showed three general areas proposed for the plant two northeast of Arvada and one south of there. The plant would be about six miles from Arvada. Officials estimated the site could be chosen within the next four weeks.

Once the site is selected, the company can apply for permits from the state engineer's office and DEQ. The public meeting was the first of two scheduled by the state Industrial Siting Council. Nearly 100 area residents crowded the courthouse second-floor meeting room to near capacity. Another meeting will be Feb. 14 at the courthouse before members of the Industrial Siting Council and will be a legal Please see PLANT, B2 would add more than 30 percent to its $130 million standard budget.

The bulk of that request, $31 million, is for a projected 20 percent increase in primary care services, with services to the elderly, the blind and the disabled being the primary factors for driving up costs. Geringer reduced that request by $1 million, and he denied the agency's proposal to add $10 million for outpatient and physician reimbursements. The increase in spending on prescription drugs is a nationwide phenomenon, and figures in the health department's budget proposal explain Please see HEALTH, B2 (307) 4 i DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune In particular, they want to know if the discharges will push more salts into the rivers, which could hurt downstream irrigators. Regulators believe baseline data can be gathered now while the rivers are receiving little or no coalbed methane discharge waters. Compton said an unfamiliar monitoring program, as well as low and intermittent stream flows during the past six months, have complicated efforts to measure baseline salinity and electrical conductivity (EC) levels in the three rivers.

And the real-time data Please see GROUPS, B2 percent boost marked the midpoint of three weeks of budget hearings the committee has scheduled for agency heads to justify their spending proposals for the fiscal year 2003-04 biennium. After the hearings, the JAC plans to begin working on amendments to Geringer's proposed $1.51 billion General Fund budget in preparation for the Legislature's budget session that begins Feb. 11. In the Office of Medicaid, the department's largest request for additional spending is to add $41 million to the budget for mandatory services, which 442-6916; e-mail editorstrtb.com; fax Methand some groups are trying to interpret the data." said Art Compton, administrator of water quality for DEQ in Montana. As Montana prepares to host its own coalbed methane industry possibly to the tune of 39,000 wells regulators from both states are working closely to determine whether discharge water from coalbed methane wells will negatively impact existing uses of the rivers.

In order to do that, a monitoring system was set up to determine the rivers' naturally occurring pollution levels. 41 percent, increase to its $54 million standard budget. Gov. Jim Geringer recommended that the Legislature cut $82 million from the department's request, including all but $6 million in new spending for developmental disabilities. His proposal would increase the agency's budget to about $908 million, or 16 percent more than its current standard budget, and it would involve $393 million In General Fund spending.

The health department was the only agency budget the JAC examined Wednesday, which the news desk (307) 266-0583 or (800) By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter GILLETTE An alliance of irrigation, agriculture and conservation groups in Wyoming and Montana say initial data collected in an interstate water monitoring system on the Tongue, Powder and Little Powder rivers indicates violations to an agreement between the two states. The alleged violations were highlighted in a December letter to Montana Gov. Judy Martz asking her to rescind a memorandum of understanding. The document, struck in July, helped establish a water Health By BILL LUCKETT Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE The Wyoming Department of Health, state government's 900-pound or $900 million gorilla, wants a 27 percent budget increase for the fiscal year 2003-04 bienniutn. Department Director Garry McKee and other agency officials explained their budget request Wednesday to members of the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC).

The department's standard biennial budget is about $780 million, and McKee is seeking about a $210 million Increase to bring its budget to just under $1 billion. department seeks huge increase $990M request would be 27 Of that request, about $460 million would come from the state General Fund, which is nearly a third of available General Fund dollars for the biennium. The largest spending hikes would be: Office of Medicaid, seeking a $67 million, or 35 percent, increase to its $193 million standard budget. Developmental disabilities, seeking a $58 million, or 31 percent, increase to its $186 million standard budget. Prescription drug program, seeking a $22 million, or and comments ab jut this page, call State Editor Nadia White.

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