L March 11, 1991 VoL 23 No. 4 A Paper for People who Care about tbe West Onedollar Missouri: a river basin at war by Peter Carrels and Lawrence Mosher Iy, is the Corps of Engineers. But the going to require new legislation by Janklow's brash, aggressive style basic issue is economic and social equi- Congress. It's as simple as that" has made him a popular figure in South hey call it the Big Muddy ty. How should the river be managed, Dakota. Following a one-term stint as because of the mountains of silt and by whom? . he politics of the Missouri River attorney general, he was twice elected Tit moves. It is the country'S "The current system is basically basin, however, seem anything governor. He views the federal control of longest river and usually carries four unmanaged," asserts a retired Bureau of Tbut simple. Three of the upper the Missouri River as both unfair and times the flow of the mighty Colorado. Reclamation engineer Michael Clinton, basin states - Montana, North Dakota unwieldy. But a four-year drought has humbled the who worked in the basin for years. and South Dakota - filed suit against Janklow also represen ted the upper Missouri River and plunged its 10 basin "There is no forum, no vehicle, no pro- the Corps once again last month over the basin states in another lawsuit last year, states into a sour quarrel with one anoth- cedure for the varied interests in the Corps' management of the river's six when they unsuccessfully sued the Corps er and the Army Corps of Engineers, the basin to reach a consensus on what their dams and reservoirs. Their complaint is to stop water releases from the Oahe river's federal boss. resource strategies ought to be." that the Corps has favored the navigation reservoir. Janklow argued that the releas- On popular river reservoirs in the Not so, replies the Corps' Ed Dick- interests of the lower basin states over es hurt the state's recreation and sport Dakotas, record low-water levels have ey, acting deputy assistant Army secre- the recreation interests of the upper fishing industries. He contrasted the marooned boat access ramps and threat- tary for civil works. "I find no merit in basin. upper basin recreation industry'S annual ened fish spawns, jeopardizing a bur- this approach." But in an interview, "I don't intend to back down to fed. income of $67 million to the navigation geoning recreation industry. Several Dickey nevertheless acknowledged that eral bureaucrats who prefer to protect industry's $14 million in the lower basin. communities in different reaches of the the 1944 Flood Control Act - thy navigation over meeting the needs of our The upper basin states won a tempo- river have suffered shortages of drinking Corps' marching orders - is an citizens," declared South Dakota's Gov. rary order stopping the Corps from water. Irrigators and domestic water anachronism that badly needs updating. , George S. Mickelson. releasing water, but it was overturned users have watched their intake pumps "Here's a system that was autho- "The Corps is slavishly tied to the just three days later by the 8th U.S. Cir- suck mud, then air. Navigation seasons rized for one mix of outputs, and one of barge industry," says William Janklow, a cuit Court of Appeals. During those have been cut and hydropower produc- those outputs - irrigation - never former governor of South Dakota who three days the hamstrung barge industry tion slowed. developed," Dickey explained. "In fact, now heads the upper basin legal team. caused quick reactions. Never before have the river's opera- we're getting a lot more hydropower "But there's no place left to turn. The . "Following that injunction," recalls tions and water allocations so divided than was ever envisioned. And now we Corps throws us crumbs and operates the John Madgett, general manager of Mid- the basin's diverse interests. The light- have recreation as a new and unforeseen river the way the downstream states ning rod of dissatisfaction, unsurprising- player. So any substantive changes are want it operated." Comtnuedonpage 10 Missouri RIver atJudith Landing, Montana Marc Gaede 2- Higb Country News - Marcb 11,199~liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.!ii!iiiiiii~iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~•••••••••••••• _ Dear friends, ing up in landfills across the nation because there is no market to recycle it. For the first time in the 21-year his- handedly developed the recycled paper Reclaiming used paper requires a de-ink- tory of High Country News, the paper market in the United States. By collect- ing plant, which costs between $20 mil- you are holding is made from recycled ing and combining purchase orders from lion and $50 million - an investment stock. erratic and far-flung markets, it has per- corporations are reluctant to make until Well, mostly. suaded mills to experiment with and they are sure of the demand. This paper - the best deal we have . expand their lines of recycled papers. To promote recycling, the federal found so far - is made from 54 percent Conservatree sales rep Gerard Glea- government now only buys paper that recycled fiber by weight It's an offset son immediately redirected our search contains at least 50 percent recycled paper instead of newsprint, costs more from newsprint to offset paper (used for fiber. However, the new EPA standards than twice what our old paper did, and office supplies and book printing). Of for labelling recycled paper count mill took two frustrating years to find. the several options he came up with, one scraps and pulp substitutes, which means HeN prides itself on its appearance. light-weight paper best fit our printer's mills can still qualify for government For the past decade we have printed on requirements for folding and cutting contracts and maintain business as usual. "Mandollrite,' a premium stock manu- machines. Conservatree says the EPA's new factured by Boise Cascade. At 72 per- That paper, Conservatree' S "Eco- standards allow "phony recycled prod- IDGH COUNTRY NEWS cent brightness, it is whiter and smoother Offset," carries the company's second ucts that do nothing to address the (ISSN/019115657) is publjshed biweek- than most newsprints. Unfortunately, it best environmental rating. It is made (by nation's environmental problems." The ly, except for one issue during July is also made of 100 percent virgin pulp- weight) from 45 percent de-inked paper company has developed an alternative and one issue during January, by the wood and is bleached by a process that (recycled from printer overruns or labelling system that rates paper by its High Country Foundation, J24 Grand releases dioxins - a deadly toxin (HCN, spoils); 9 percent post-consumer waste impact on landfills and recycling efforts. Avenue, Paonia, CO 81428. Second- 2/12/90). (returned through home or office recy- Those categories are post-mill material, class postage paid at Paonia, Cod- The result is a beautiful but glaring orado. cling programs); 10 percent filler (miner- de-inked material and post-consumer POSTMASTER, Send address changes inconsistency, very much at odds with als and clays); and 36 percent virgin material. to HIGH COUNTRY NEWS, Box 1090, the paper's mission and the beliefs of its pulpwood. Our new paper fits the last two cate- Paonia, CO 81428. staff and readers. Many readers have It has 78 percent brightness, making gories, and our order, though smaIl, Subscriptions are $24 per year for questioned us about it, in letters that it whiter than our old paper. The 36 per- should help push the industry towards individuals and public Ilbrarfes, $34 invariably made our collective con- cent virgin pulp is bleached in the tradi- building de-inking plants to handle used per year for institutions. Single copies science squirm, In late 1988 we launched tional chlorine bleach process, which paper. $1 plus postage and handling. Special a search for a recycled alternative, and produces dioxins. The 54 percent recy- The cost of becoming environmen- Issues $3 each. that's when we found out what a tiny cled fiber is bleached by a new sodium tally correct is substantial. The new paper we really are. hypochloride process, which produces paper comes in at more than two times TomBeU TheNew York Times, which owns a no measurable dioxins, but still gives off the cost of the old, which raises our total Editor EmerltWi majority share of three large paper mills, some toxins such as chloroform gas. printing bill by 60 percent. Its heavier Ed Marston and Betsy Marston recently ordered its mills to at least par- According to Conservatree's calcu- weight increases postage costs by 1.6 PNbUsher au EdiJor OIJ Leave tially convert to recycled pulp. HCN is lations, our five-ton test batch of recy- percent Combined, the move to recycled Lawrence Mosher printed at the.Glenwood Post, which cled paper, compared to 100 percent vir- paper has increased the cost of printing EtUtot- buys its newsprint in block orders for a gin paper, will result in a savings of 46.5 and mailing an average issue of HeN Mary Jarrett dozen or so weeklies and shoppers. The standard-size trees; 11,234 kilowatt- (11,000 copies) from $1,926.23 to Deputy Editor Post is locked into a multi-year contract hours of electricity; 19,180 gallons of $2,463.87, for a total of $537.64 - a with Boise Cascade, which has no recy- linda Bacigalupi water; 164.4 pounds of air pollution and whopping 28 percent! Anodate Publisher cled paper operations. Louie Miller, 8.22 cubic yards of landfill space. Over the course of a year that will manager of newsprint marketing for Perhaps more important is the Steve Hinchman raise the cost of supplying our more than Assodate Editcw Boise Cascade.