Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 11

Casper StarTribune Sund.iy, May 20, 2001 OBITUARIES B3 WEDDINGS B4 In Brief WOC shot down in grazim W0IiIBE lo) 12) suit By JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau GREEN RIVER A federal judge has ruled against the Wyoming Outdoor Council in its bid to secure a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against livestock grazing on the huge Smiths Fork Allotment in southwest Wyoming. Attorneys for the WOC said they were disappointed but not surprised by the ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Brimmer following a two-day motion hearing this week in Cheyenne. Attorneys for the Smiths Fork Grazing Association called the ruling a "major victory" for ranchers and permittees using the allotment. The WOC filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management on May 10 seeking a temporary halt to livestock grazing on the Smiths Fork Allotment.

The allotment is located north and east of Cokeville in Lincoln County. The WOC was seeking an emergency restraining order to prevent the turnout of the cattle on the allotment scheduled for May 17. The group also sought a permanent injunction that would prevent livestock grazing on the allotment until a long-term management plan could be completed. In his ruling denying both motions, Judge Brimmer found that the WOC failed to meet four of the necessary elements needed for injunctive relief. Those elements included the presumption that the WOC's suit would succeed on its merits, that the WOC would suffer irreparable harm if the injunction was not issued, that the harm to the WOC outweighed the harm to the permittees and that the injunction would not be adverse to the Please see WOC, B2 Thunder Basin Grasslands Brushman Changes afoot in NEWyo ft 3 JEFF TOLLEFSONAP Cody artist Austin Kuck paints a new western landscape mural replacing a long-standing mural of a lone horseman on the wall of the Corral Western Ranchwear building in downtown Cody on Friday.

ay ciay loan complaints rew FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Bebout backers start campaign RIVERTON An exploratory committee has filed papers with the secretary of state's office to support a gubernatorial candidacy for former House Speaker Eli Bebout, R-Riverton. Bebout has gone as far as saying he is "leaning toward" running as a Republican in 2002 without actually announcing plans to run. The form dated Tuesday was filed by Dean McKee, of Lander, who is listed as the committee's treasurer. Sen. Robert Peck, R-Riverton, is the committee chairman.

Bebout retired from the House last year. Republican Gov. Jim Geringer is in his second term and will not be eligible for re-election. Group predicts valuation boost RAWLINS The Consensus Revenue Estimating Group predicts Carbon County's assessed valuation will go up from $337 million to more than $460 million this year. County Clerk Linda Smith said that could mean "a very good budget year." But Presiding County Commissioner Art Zeiger urged caution, saying the forecast is "basically a wild guess." "I'm not ready to say we've got a 36-percent increase coming.

I think we have to be conservative. It's just prudent," he said recently. He expects the assessed valuation to reach $400 million, maybe a little more with help from gas production. The county's valuation has fluctuated over the years, from as low as $188.6 million in 1977 to as high as $614.2 million in 1982. Jackson Lake may be drained JACKSON -The U.S.

Bureau of Reclamation may drain most of Jackson Lake this summer to send water to Idaho irrigators if there is a severe drought, an agency engineer said. Mark Croghan, hydraulic engineer for the agency in Burley, Idaho, said a hot, dry summer could prompt the release of nearly 750,000 acre-feet of water from the Jackson Lake reservoir into the Snake River. The reservoir has 847,000 acre-feet of water in storage. There is less than 45 percent of average snowpack in the mountains as a result of this past year's mild winter, officials said. The threat drought prompted the agency to develop a water management plan.

This summer could be one of the driest years on record, Croghan said. "Jackson Lake will see more of an impact that we've had since 1994 or 1992." he said. Web surfing help available LARAMIE Parents can get help with guiding their children's use of the World Wide Web with a new bulletin from the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service (CES). "Families in the fast lane: Making the most of the Internet" is for parents interested in learning the basics of Internet searches or the finer points of helping children manage public media such as the Web. An informative feature of "Families in the fast lane" Is the list of online resources for parents.

The booklet is available on at the Web site at (www.uwyo.eduagcespubs2.li tm). Printed copies, available for a nominal fee, and can be obtained through local CES offices, or from the UW College of Agriculture Resource Center, P.O. Box 3313, Laramie, 82071; or e-mail bixbydfuwyo.edu. State law prohibits loan rollovers to be sure the lenders are charging the proper interest rate. Wyoming law on payday loans or post-dated checks allows an interest rate of 20 percent per month or $30 per month, whichever is greater.

"Our law doesn't allow for rollovers and that seems to be what gets people in trouble Please see PAYDAY, B2 that carry exorbitant cumulative interest rates and may prevent a borrower from ever being able to pay back the principal.of a loan. Consumer complaints about payday loans have been few say Joe Mulberry of the state's Consumer Credit Code office in the state Division of Banking, and Chris Petrie of the Consumer Affairs Office in the By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE Other states are trying to cope with an explosion of payday loan offices that gouge people with high interest rates and trap them in a web of debt. But Wyoming's Consumer Credit Code prohibits loan rollovers or extended loans Wyoming Attorney General's Office. Mulberry said that as of the end of April, the state had 46 licensed locations for small lenders. Cheyenne has 13 while Casper has nine.

The lenders are licensed by the state and their loan documents are examined by the division every two or three years By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter GILLETTE Northeastern Wyoming residents are one step closer to learning how the U.S. Forest Service will change the way it manages the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. Changes include reserves for prairie clogs and black-footed ferrets, as well as new roadless areas. A final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Thunder Basin National Grasslands portion of a four-state national grasslands management plan revision is due for public review in mid-June, said Be Sprentall. coordinator for the Northern Great Plains Management Plans Revisions.

The document will trigger a six-month review period for the public and for local government agencies to comment. A Record of Decision and final action plan could be published in a year and set a new management plan into action. The FEIS is the most recent exercise in the management revision, which began in 1992, Sprentall said. National Grasslands in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wyoming are under review in the Northern Great Plains Management Plans Revisions. In 1999, the Forest Service issued a draft EIS for all of the national grasslands and individual "preferred alternatives" for each.

Campbell County Commissioners and the Thunder Basin Resource Coalition took exception to the Forest Service's preferred alternative for the Thunder Basin National Grasslands, saying it would unnecessarily impede grazing and minerals development. The commissioners said the Forest Service gave commissioners in the three-county region little opportunity to participate in scoping meetings, which are required through the National Environmental Policy Act, said Campbell County Commission Chairman Alan Weakly. Forest Service officials contend they published notices of meetings in local newspapers. Still, Campbell County recruited Weston and Converse counties as well as the state to form a coalition, earning "Cooperating Agency Status" with the Forest Service essentially forcing the federal agency to review the draft EIS with the counties' coalition and the State of Wyoming at its side. "I'm really proud of what we did because it did stop that plan to be revised." said Susie Downs, director of the Thunder Basin Resource Coalition.

"For one thing, (the coalition) made county commissioners more aware of what was going on. and now they are staying more abreast to what's going on keeping their thumb on the Forest Service, and that's good." After a revision with the coalition, the counties and the Forest Service agreed to swap "set-ofls." or wilderness areas that would be Please see CHANGES, B2 Record run Hanna wind farm delayed 4 r-v 'A i I 1 1 transmission facilities." "You can't put wind on a train or send it through a pipeline." Until more power lines are built, he said, fixing the bottlenecks in existing lines would increase capacity enough for Elk Mountain to sell electricity to the Bonneville Power Administration. "Wind power is by far the fastest new kind of power you can build," he said, and only existing coal-fired power plants can generate electricity more cheaply. The wind farm received a special use permit last year from the Carbon County Planning Commission. Morley has described the proposal as nearly identical in appearance and environmental effects to SeaWest's large wind farm near Arlington.

Kevin Schulte, ho oversees land acquisition for Renewable Energy Systems USA an Austin-based wind farm developer, said that "there's a lot of windy federal land. If I told you where, every developer would be running there." Montana and Wyoming, areas rich in natural gas, are also prime territories for wind farms, said Dennis Elliott, a scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. So are the coastal areas of the Alaskan refuge, he added. RAWLINS CAP) Construction of a wind farm near Hanna is on hold while Elk Mountain Wind seeks transmission capability and buyers for the electricity. Bruce Morley, a partner with the company, said he is confident a buyer will be found for the 100 megawatts that will be generated by the 100-turbine facility.

"We're going slower than we had hoped," he said. At the same time he believes the project and many others like it are inevitable because of Wyoming's wind-power potential. Elk Mountain Wind has submitted bids to provide electricity to the Bonneville Power Administration. The wind farm is planned for Sevenmile Hill, which is halfway between Hanna and Medicine Bow off U.S. 30.

Besides Morley, the other partners are Tomen Power Corp. and Arch Energy Resources. Besides buyers, Morley wants more power lines to get the electricity to California and the Pacific Northwest. The lines through Carbon County are running at capacity and it could take five years for new long-distance lines to be built. But, he said, "Since the demand is really there, there's no doubt companies will build 1 1 I K1 KEVIN POCHAP Alicia Craig of Gillette starts her second lap in the 800 meter race Friday at the state track meet in Casper.

Becky Hammitt, left, from Cheyenne East, has been Craig's primary competition in the distance events this year. Craig set state records in the 800-, and runs at the state meet this year. For complete state track and field coverage see Dl. State Editor Nadia White. For Information, questions and comments about this page, call the news desk (307) 2064)583 or (SX)) 442-6916; e-mail editorstrib.com; fax (307) 2664)568.

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