Crowdog
03-08-2002, 06:59 AM
This is good news. Put some pressure ($$$) on the greenies.
Crowdog
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Environmentalists could face damages
By Jerry D. Spangler and Donna Kemp Spangler
Deseret News staff writers
Like a rancher gunning for a coyote in the hen house, Utah lawmakers are itching to hunt down some varmints, the kind that carry briefcases into court and try to close off dirt roads and stop cattle grazing and mining and other activities on public lands.
Before the gavel fell Wednesday night, lawmakers had decided to spend $140,000 to hire an attorney to defend rural interests in long-standing battles with environmentalists and the federal government.
And they had passed a law to allow ranchers, miners and oil developers to file countersuits and recover damages — legal costs, lost wages and materials — from anyone who delays projects on state and federal lands through "improper" litigation. Although SB183 was targeted at recovering delay costs from opponents of Legacy Highway (see related story), the impact of the legislation is much broader than that.
Lawmakers are aiming their bill at Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which routinely appeals federal decisions to grant grazing, mining and oil and gas permits, and the Sierra Club, which has challenged the state on Legacy Highway.
Lawmakers say groups and individuals are still free to challenge developments based on environmental law, but if they lose then they have to pay for the delays and the legal costs.
Conservationists are frustrated but not completely surprised by lawmakers' actions.
"They love lawsuits," said Heidi McIntosh, issues coordinator for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
"It's just they don't love our lawsuits."
To McIntosh, it boils down to lawmakers' disdain for protecting Utah's unique environment.
"Despite the fact that Utah has one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, there is anti-environmental legislation passed year after year that wastes taxpayers' money," she added. "They are shooting themselves in the foot. They need to wake up and understand that the (environment) is bigger than them. In cases that target public lands, it is owned by all Americans and cherished by all Americans."
Other bills passed this session could be seen as helping as well as hurting the environment:
Lawmakers refused to grant the Army Corps of Engineers an exemption to a permit requirement to ship low-level radioactive waste to Envirocare's waste facility in Tooele County. That means the Corps will not send hundreds of tons of waste there, but that will cost the state $500,000 in lost revenue and Tooele County about $300,000.
A resolution opposing the construction of a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev., died a quiet death on the Senate floor after Gov. Mike Leavitt weighed in on the idea. He told bill sponsor, Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, that it could jeopardize the state's ongoing litigation to block a nuclear waste storage site in Tooele County.
Lawmakers gave up on two proposed dams on the Bear River, removing them from the state's list of projects to deliver future water to the Wasatch Front. SB92, sponsored by Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, pulls the proposed Honeyville dam and another one near Amalga Barrens off the list of possible dam sites.
The Utah Rivers Council backed the legislation, arguing the dams would inundate 15 miles of farms, ranches, Shoshone burial grounds and wetlands along the Bear River. "Passage of this bill is a massive victory," said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council. "Passage of this bill allows Box Elder and Cache County residents to get on with their lives without worrying what the Division of Water Resources is going to do next."
They prevented county attorneys from using nuisance ordinances to go after farmers whose operations generate odors that bother neighbors.
Bill sponsor Sen. Leonard Blackham, R-Moroni, says it will protect farmers from harassment from the increasing numbers of people who move into rural areas but object to the smells. "People have to just live with it," he said.
On a related note, lawmakers voted to spend $1.5 million in taxpayer money to buy out a rendering plant in Provo that causes noxious odors. The plant that processes dead animal parts was once in a rural area but has since been surrounded by homes and businesses.
Lawmakers passed a bill that calls for enhanced penalties for anyone who attacks a business involved in producing or selling animal products.
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http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,375014327,00.html
Crowdog
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Environmentalists could face damages
By Jerry D. Spangler and Donna Kemp Spangler
Deseret News staff writers
Like a rancher gunning for a coyote in the hen house, Utah lawmakers are itching to hunt down some varmints, the kind that carry briefcases into court and try to close off dirt roads and stop cattle grazing and mining and other activities on public lands.
Before the gavel fell Wednesday night, lawmakers had decided to spend $140,000 to hire an attorney to defend rural interests in long-standing battles with environmentalists and the federal government.
And they had passed a law to allow ranchers, miners and oil developers to file countersuits and recover damages — legal costs, lost wages and materials — from anyone who delays projects on state and federal lands through "improper" litigation. Although SB183 was targeted at recovering delay costs from opponents of Legacy Highway (see related story), the impact of the legislation is much broader than that.
Lawmakers are aiming their bill at Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which routinely appeals federal decisions to grant grazing, mining and oil and gas permits, and the Sierra Club, which has challenged the state on Legacy Highway.
Lawmakers say groups and individuals are still free to challenge developments based on environmental law, but if they lose then they have to pay for the delays and the legal costs.
Conservationists are frustrated but not completely surprised by lawmakers' actions.
"They love lawsuits," said Heidi McIntosh, issues coordinator for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
"It's just they don't love our lawsuits."
To McIntosh, it boils down to lawmakers' disdain for protecting Utah's unique environment.
"Despite the fact that Utah has one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, there is anti-environmental legislation passed year after year that wastes taxpayers' money," she added. "They are shooting themselves in the foot. They need to wake up and understand that the (environment) is bigger than them. In cases that target public lands, it is owned by all Americans and cherished by all Americans."
Other bills passed this session could be seen as helping as well as hurting the environment:
Lawmakers refused to grant the Army Corps of Engineers an exemption to a permit requirement to ship low-level radioactive waste to Envirocare's waste facility in Tooele County. That means the Corps will not send hundreds of tons of waste there, but that will cost the state $500,000 in lost revenue and Tooele County about $300,000.
A resolution opposing the construction of a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev., died a quiet death on the Senate floor after Gov. Mike Leavitt weighed in on the idea. He told bill sponsor, Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, that it could jeopardize the state's ongoing litigation to block a nuclear waste storage site in Tooele County.
Lawmakers gave up on two proposed dams on the Bear River, removing them from the state's list of projects to deliver future water to the Wasatch Front. SB92, sponsored by Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, pulls the proposed Honeyville dam and another one near Amalga Barrens off the list of possible dam sites.
The Utah Rivers Council backed the legislation, arguing the dams would inundate 15 miles of farms, ranches, Shoshone burial grounds and wetlands along the Bear River. "Passage of this bill is a massive victory," said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council. "Passage of this bill allows Box Elder and Cache County residents to get on with their lives without worrying what the Division of Water Resources is going to do next."
They prevented county attorneys from using nuisance ordinances to go after farmers whose operations generate odors that bother neighbors.
Bill sponsor Sen. Leonard Blackham, R-Moroni, says it will protect farmers from harassment from the increasing numbers of people who move into rural areas but object to the smells. "People have to just live with it," he said.
On a related note, lawmakers voted to spend $1.5 million in taxpayer money to buy out a rendering plant in Provo that causes noxious odors. The plant that processes dead animal parts was once in a rural area but has since been surrounded by homes and businesses.
Lawmakers passed a bill that calls for enhanced penalties for anyone who attacks a business involved in producing or selling animal products.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,375014327,00.html