Environment & Public Lands

A legislative commission is asking Utah’s governor to take another look at an agreement with Nevada over water rights in the Snake Valley.  Federal law required the states of Utah and Nevada to work out an agreement before the Southern Nevada Water Authority could pump groundwater from the Snake Valley to Las Vegas.  The deal was worked out more than three years ago, but Governor Gary Herbert decided just last month he wouldn’t sign it based on opposition from residents living in the area.  

  Notch Peak is a 9600-foot mountain about 35 miles west of Delta, Utah.  From the top, it’s a two-thousand foot drop straight down – and that’s one reason why it’s become a favorite spot for BASE jumping – jumping off the cliff with wing suits and parachutes.  There have been two fatalities there in the past year, one just ten days ago.

  A coalition of community and environmental groups is asking the Utah Department of Transportation to reconsider building a new freeway along the west side of Davis County.  Their so-called "Shared Solution" asks U-DOT to study improving east-west roads and walkable communities as an alternative.

Community activist Lori Kalt wants to avoid a new freeway cutting through her neighborhood on the west side of Farmington.

Governor Gary Herbert demonstrated three simple things Utahns can do to help lower harmful emissions as he kicked off Clean Air Month at a house across the street from the State Capitol today.

Governor Herbert says Utahns aren’t always aware of the simple ways we can help clean up the air but gave these three tips while declaring May Clean Air Month. One could update older fuel storage containers, use paints with low amounts of volatile organic compounds, and replace gas powered yard equipment with cleaner alternatives.

  Chevron had a setback this week when its pipeline near Willard Bay State Park failed a pressure test.  Repair work will have to continue before the pipeline can go back into full operation.

More than 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from the pipeline on March 18th.  Willard Bay’s North Marina has been closed since then.  Fred Hayes, the director of Utah’s Division of State Parks, says it could take longer than planned to re-open the beach and campgrounds.

  The state of Utah has released the final version of its plan for protecting the greater sage grouse.  The plan designates 11 Sage Grouse Management Areas stretching from Rich County to Kane County and outlines goals for improving existing habitat and protecting the birds from threats such as energy development, predators and wildfire.

Climate activist Tim DeChristopher made his first public appearance last night since being released from federal custody on Sunday. He was sentenced in 2011 to two years in federal prison for derailing a 2008 Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction. DeChristopher joined hundreds of his supporters at the Tower Theater in Salt Lake City for a screening of the documentary Bidder 70, which details his act of civil disobedience and his conviction. 

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is now taking public comment on proposed new cleaner fuels and cars standards. Known as Tier 3 of the Clean Air Act Amendments, they’re designed to improve air quality and public health by reducing the sulfur content of gasoline and making cars more efficient. 

  Utah Governor Gary Herbert is out of the country right now on a trade mission in Israel.  But that didn’t stop environmentalists from holding an Earth Day rally right in front of the Governor’s Mansion on South Temple.

As traffic whizzed by on one of Salt Lake City’s busiest streets, demonstrators wrote their messages of protest on blue ribbons.  They had to tie them to a volleyball net because they weren’t allowed to put them on the governor’s wrought-iron fence.

Hundreds of migrating birds crash-landed at Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground overnight, apparently mistaking a parking lot in a snowstorm for water.  Al Vogel, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Army, says these are eared grebes, a species that can’t take off from land.  Vogel says the Army’s own wildlife specialists and the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources are working to rescue the birds that survived.

"They’ll take the birds to a nearby pond on post, let ‘em rest there and then they’ll take off and continue their migration," Vogel tells KUER.