Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 11

Wyoming Sunday, OBITUARIES. WEATHER January Casper 20, Star 2002 B8 B3 In Brief FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Hubert Bebout dead at 85 Former Wyoming state representative and mayor of Shoshoni Hubert Bebout died of natural causes on Friday. He was 85. Bebout was also the father of former Wyoming House Speaker and current gubernatorial candidate Eli Bebout. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

at the United Methodist Church in Riverton. Police looking for burglar CHEYENNE Police were looking for a man who tried to break into a grocery store cash machine with a pickax. The man broke into Capitol City Super Foods by climbing through a vent in the roof, police said. An employee who was coming to work spotted the man around 4:45 a.m. Wednesday, Sgt.

Don Simmer of the Cheyenne Police Department said. The man was able to elude the employee and flee in a light blue or silver extended cab pickup, police said. The man did extensive damage to the cash machine but was unable to steal any money from it, police said. The man also ransacked an office inside the store and took a small amount of cash, police said. Anyone with information is asked to call Cheyenne police at (307) 637-6520 or the Silent Witness hot line at (307) 638-TIPS.

Commissioners: Rewrite EIS GILLETTE Campbell County commissioners plan to ask the U.S. Forest Service to rewrite a draft environmental impact statement on the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. The proposal takes "all the economics out of the area," Commissioner Fred Oedekoven said. "It burdens the land with so many stipulations, it is not even economical." About 206,000 acres would no longer be zoned as multiple use, and instead be reserved for special use. The acreage includes 129,000 acres in Converse County, 64,3000 acres in Weston County and 12,6000 in Campbell County.

Commissioner Alan Weakly said the Forest Service did not follow an agreement it made with the counties in 2000. The agreement would make oil, gas and coal production difficult about 40 percent of the grasslands. Between 29 and 43 percent of grazing also would be lost, officials said. Commissioners also expressed concern that areas of the grasslands that are not designated as wilderness would still be managed as wilderness. They also believe the Forest Service breached its authority in managing air quality and is mandating buffer zones that are not supported by science.

The comment period on the proposal ends Tuesday. Enzi announces loan program GILLETTE U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, announced a loan program intended to make it easier for residents to build manufacturing housing in Campbell County. The Manufactured Housing Single Loan Pilot will allow home buyers to save money, he said.

Under the program, lenders will be able to consolidate funding for manufactured homes into one loan with one, inexpensive down payment. Home buyers could save up to $1,300 on a $100,000 piece of property, he said. The pilot project was created to help address the fast growing housing needs of Gillette, he said. The community has been strained by a boom in the coalbed methane industry. State Editor BLM puts gas project on hold By JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau GREEN RIVER A large natural gas project planned for southwest Wyoming in the southern end of the Red Desert has been put on hold following an administrative appeal, Bureau of Land Management officials say.

A coalition of conservation groups led by Biodiversity Associates of Laramie and the Montana eyes CBM coalition By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter GILLETTE To date, fewer than 500 coalbed methane wells have been drilled on the Montana side of the Powder River Basin, but folks in Big Sky country can already feel the boom rumbling across the border from Wyoming where 12.000 wells have been sunk. Some predict as many as 39.000 wells in Montana in the next 10 years. To prepare for such activity, some Montana county commissioners are looking to their counterparts in Wyoming who already have a few years experience in dealing with the social and environmental impacts that come from the industry's large-scale drilling and pipeline construction work. Two officers and one member of the Montana Counties Coal, Oil and Gas (MCCOG) group attended a recent Coalbed Methane Coordination Coalition (CBMCC) meeting in Buffalo to see how the group operates. The 1.5-yearold coalition is a partnership of five Wyoming counties, the state and industry.

It is designed to share information about coalbed methane development and offer advice to county residents impacted by CBM development. The Montana county commissioners say they like the idea of the coalition and they want to learn from the group's experiences and efforts so they can help Montanans avoid some of the pains of coalbed methane development. "We're looking at what's been going on in Wyoming and trying to get organized up here for when (coalbed methane development) comes in," said MCCOG member and Powder River County Commissioner Don McDowell. Rosebud County Commissioner Joan Stahl, who serves as MCCOG Secretary, and FalIon County Commission Chairman Will Duffield, who serves as MCCOG President, also attended the Thursday meeting. McDowell said the Montana commissioners are undecided about forming a group like the Please see METHANE, B2 Wyoming Outdoor Council won a legal appeal last month that challenged the Decision Record for the Vermillion Basin Natural Gas Project in southern Sweetwater County, Biodiversity and BLM officials said.

The federal Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) ruled Dec. 2 that the BLM violated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations by failing to adequately consider a range of drilling alternatives, including a Tele-kinetic VERMILLION BASIN directional drilling alternative. Ted Murphy, assistant field manager for ninerals and lands for the BLM's Rock Springs Field Office, said the IBLA affirmed the BLM's decision with the exception of its "treatment of certain alternatives" that were considered but dropped from further analysis. He said the IBLA ordered the agency to provide a rational basis for failing to analyze fully the alternatives calling for directional drilling, project-wide well densities and varying number of wells. BLM spokesman Andy Tenney said the agency issued a new scoping notice Jan.

11 announcing its intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) to supplement the earlier Decision Record. "We're pleased the BLM has been directed to go back and MARK GOCKE Star Tribune Correspondent Pete Sibley of Jackson carves a tele-turn recently at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort near Teton Village. Land swap withdrawn By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE Pat Broe of Notch Peak Ranch withdrew a proposed three-way land swap in August, Jim Whalen, an assistant director of the Office of State Lands and Investments advised opponents to the deal in a letter. In a Jan. 4, 2002 letter to Sam R.

and Holly T. Clymer of Wheatland, Whalen said Broe submitted no additional proposals since withdrawing the original last summer. Cheyenne, Jackson and Greybull papers win awards The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle in Cheyenne, the Jackson Hole News and Greybull Standard were recognized as the best newspapers in Wyoming on Saturday during the Wyoming Press Assocation's annual convention. The three newspapers all received the WPA's "general excellence" awards for their work in 2001, the highest honor given by the WPA, which represents all of Wyoming's legal newspapers. The Tribune-Eagle was given the award for the state's daily newspapers, the Jackson Hole News received the award for large weekly newspapers and the Greybull Standard was recognized among small weekly newspapers.

"All our newspapers did their jobs ad- The Clymers had written to the state office regarding their concerns about the long-term effects of state land exchanges on public access to public lands. They also authored a guest column on the same topic published in the Sunday, Jan. 13 editions of the Casper StarTribune. In the guest column they also complained of the secrecy surrounding the pro- mirably this year in the wake of September's terrorist attacks," said WPA President Scott Walker, vice president of marketing and promotion for the Tribune gle. "But the best will always rise to the top and these awards are designed to recognize that kind of superior performance." The honors are among the five "major awards" handed out to daily, large weekly and small weekly newspapers designed to recognize outstanding performance in the areas of overall quality, photography, typography, advertising and editorial writing.

The WPA's "Pacemaker" awards, honoring excellence on a day-to-day basis in 21 separate areas of newspaper publishing, were awarded earlier in the convention. In addition to winning the Deming Please see AWARDS, B2 posal as other Wheatland area residents did earlier. At the time Notch Peak hadn't submitted a formal proposal and apparently never did submit one. Holly T. Clymer said Tuesday that she wrote the letter to the newspaper because of reports of recent activity by Broe that may signal a revival of the land exchange.

"It's been small talk around Wheatland for awhile," she said. "My issue isn't with Mr. Please see SWAP, B2 WPA major DAILIES General Excellence 1. Wyoming Tribune Eagle 2. Casper Star-Tribune Editorial Excellence 1.

Wyoming Tribune Eagle 2. Gillette News-record Photographic Excellence 1. Casper Star 2. Wyoming Tribune Eagle Advertising Excellence 1. Wyoming Tribune 2.

Casper Star-Tribune Typographic Excellence 1. Casper Star-Tribune 2. Wyoming Tribune Eagle LARGE WEEKLIES General Excellence White. For information, questions and comments about this page, call the news desk (307) 266-0583 or (800) 442-6916; e-mail fax (307) 266-0568. consider directional drilling," said Erik Molvar with Biodiversity Associates.

"This is exactly the way the (appeal) system is designed to operate." Five energy companies proposed the project in 1999 that called for drilling up to 56 natural gas wells in the Vermillion Basin in south central Sweetwater County. Wexpro, Questar Exploration and Production, Enervest, Please see VERMILLION, B2 Senators address Enron money By Associated Press with staff reports The media and Democrats are trying to portray Enron's demise as a political scandal, Sen. Craig Thomas, said on Saturday. "It's not a political scandal," he said. A growing list of lawmakers in Washington are unloading Enron Corp.

contributions as questions arise about the company's collapse. Thomas, who was re-elected in 2000. has received $7,000 in campaign contributions from Enron employees, according to the Washingtonbased Center for Responsive Politics. Sen. Mike Enzi, has received $4,500, and Rep.

Barbara Cubin, $5,000. Enzi and Cubin are up for re-election this year. The Enron matter came up when Thomas and Enzi addressed a gathering of Wyoming publishers, editors and journalists Saturday morning. Cubin could not attend. Asked about the Enron contributions, Enzi said he will look into any contributions he received from Enron or its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen.

Enzi sits on the Senate Banking Committee, which is planning hearings on Enron. But Enzi said he did not think Congress was the best body to investigate the energy giant's demise. Earlier this week it was reported by the Washington Post and The Hill that Enzi had already returned $3,500 worth of Enron donations. Coy Knobel, Enzi's press secretary, said that the other $1,000 will either be returned to Enron or donated to charity Thomas, who sits on the Senate Energy and Finance committees, said any problems appear to have been with internal company operations and not with any government official or agency. Dan Kunsman, 'Thomas' press secretary, said earlier this week that the senator will not return any Enron money that he has received.

Questions have been raised Please see ENRON, B2 NOTCH PEAK RANCH By the Associated Press award winners 1. Jackson Hole News 2. Jackson Hole Guide Editorial Excellence 1. Jackson Hole Guide 2. Jackson Hole News Photographic Excellence 1.

Jackson Hole News 2. Jackson Hole Guide Advertising Excellence 1. Green River Star 2. Casper Journal Typographic Excellence 1. Jackson Hole Guide 2.

Jackson Hole News SMALL WEEKLIES General Excellence 1. Greybull Standard 2. Dubois Frontier Editorial Excellence 1. Lovell Chronicle 2. Newcastle News Letter Journal Photographic Excellence 1.

Thermopolis Independent Record 2. Newcastle News Letter Journal Advertising Excellence 1. Lovell Chronicle 2. Thermopolis Independent Record Typographic Excellence 1. Greybull Standard 2.

Basin RepublicanRustler.