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U.S. NEWSFriday 29 January 2016
Nevada governor seeks change in sage grouse mining rule
SCOTT SONNER Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval sits in his office at the Capitol in Carson City, Nev. Sandoval is press- across the West should be
Associated Press ing the Obama administration to alter its sage grouse protection plan to free up thousands of withdrawn from potential
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The gov- mining claims by shrinking the restricted area in exchange for making other unprotected areas “mineral entry” for another
ernor of gold-rich Nevada off limits. 10 years.
is pressing the Obama In a Jan. 15 letter to BLM
administration to alter its (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison) Director Neil Kornze, San-
sage grouse protection doval argued a more ef-
plan to free up thousands he says contain higher Interior Secretary Sally Jew- adopted new regulations fective way to protect the
of mining claims by shrink- chicken-sized bird is to step
ing the restricted area in quality habitat more criti- ell decided in September restricting development up wildfire restoration and
exchange for making oth- reduce “out-of-control”
er unprotected areas off cal to the survival of the the greater sage grouse around grouse habitat that mustang populations. He
limits, restoring burned out says there’s no scientific
rangeland and reining in imperiled bird, according didn’t warrant Endangered some critics say are just as basis for the mining with-
wild horse herds. drawal, but asks that if
Gov. Brian Sandoval main- to interviews with his aides Species Act protection onerous as endangered necessary, it be limited to a
tains his alternative would maximum of five years. He
exclude only about 6 per- and documents obtained across 11 western states, species protection for also urged federal officials
cent of the federal land to clarify their “confusing”
the government has tem- by The Associated Press. where its numbers once ranchers, miners and oth- definition of “valid existing
porarily withdrawn from claims,” which Jewell insists
future mineral develop- are exempt.
ment in Nevada. Previously In detailed comments at-
unverified mining claims in tached to the letter, San-
the state are effectively doval’s office outlined the
frozen across 4,200 square plan he says would protect
miles — a swath nearly as 49 additional leks — the
large as Connecticut. bird’s traditional breeding
The moderate Republican grounds — while dropping
wants to swap about one- protection of five others in
fifth of the withdrawn area, the government blueprint.
some 555,000 acres, for Slightly shifting protection
394,000 alternative acres boundaries based on new
maps would release all
totaling an estimated 16 ers. Jewell also initiated a but 1 percent of the 3,726
mining claims currently in
million have dwindled to as 2-year ban on new mining limbo in the biggest U.S.
gold-producing state, he
few as 200,000. exploration in grouse habi- said. q
But almost simultaneously, tat while the government
the Forest Service and Bu- studies whether tens of
reau of Land Management thousands of square miles
Kansas ponders greenhouse gas limits for coal plant
JOHN HANNA to Sunflower in 2010, are working on a plan
for complying with a U.S.
Associated Press just before the federal Environmental Protection
Agency rule issued last year
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The government began to require states to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
Kansas Supreme Court regulating greenhouse gas from power plants. Kansas
must drop its emissions
considered Thursday emissions. Environmentalists levels by 43 percent by
2030.
whether the state can challenged it on other “They’d like to pretend
this isn’t happening, but it
avoid limiting greenhouse grounds, and the Supreme is,” Amanda Goodin, an
attorney for Earthjustice,
gas emissions from a Court in 2013 directed the which is representing the
Sierra Club, said after the
proposed $2.8 billion coal- agency to set tougher court’s hearing. “They
need to wake up and
fired power plant despite standards for pollution get emission limits in this
permit.”
the federal government’s such as mercury, nitrogen Sunflower has sought to
build the plant for nearly
efforts to combat climate dioxide and sulfur dioxide. a decade. It didn’t obtain
a permit from KDHE until
change. The department in 2014 Democratic Gov. Mark
Parkinson brokered a deal
The court heard arguments issued what it calls an with the company and the
Republican-dominated
Thursday from attorneys in “addendum” to the 2010 Legislature that included
approval of some green
a lawsuit filed by the Sierra permit and argues that energy initiatives.q
Club in 2014 to prevent limits on greenhouse
Sunflower Electric Power gas emissions are still not
Corp. from building the required for the new plant.
895-megawatt facility next The Sierra Club said the
to an existing coal-fired agency must impose such
plant outside Holcomb, restrictions because of
in southwest Kansas. The President Barack Obama’s
state Department of Health efforts to target coal-fired
and Environment has twice power plants as a major
given a go-ahead for the source of greenhouse gas
project without setting emissions.
limits on greenhouse gas The Supreme Court could
emissions. rule later this year, and
The department first issued such a decision would
a pollution-control permit come as Kansas officials
