A Paper for People 'who Care about the West Idaho's potato king Proposes 100 power plants he sound of jaws drop- thereby bypassing the lock elec- 1 - ping could be heard tric utilities such as Pacific Power Tthroughout Idaho after and Light and. Utah Power and the state's richest man, indus- Light have on transmission. trialist J .R. Simplot, announced At the time, however, the in late December that he wants firm did not mention a fleet of to build 100 coal-fired power coal-fired plants. But,even with- plants along the Snake River over out the coal plants, southern the next 50years. California utilities have never Simplot said he hoped to indicated they are interested in begin building two 1,000. purchasing power from Idaho. megawatt plants a year starting In addition to doubts about in the 1990s, turning Idaho into the market for huge amounts of an energy farm for the Sourwest, electricity, there is also a ques- . "You try to project this' out 50 . tion about Simpler's ability to years and you get something. so convince Idaho to accept the big you can't imagine;" Simplot plants. Bruce Bowler, a Boise told an Idaho Statesman reporter, attorney and environmentalist, "(In) 5Qyears, we would have a said, "I think it's insane ... In hundred .. a hundred .. 1,000. today's context of things, (Sirn- megawatt plants in Idaho on this plot's plan) is so completely river. " incredible for so many reasons I Simplot, the self-made billion- can't cite them all." . aire who heads a world-wide A major obstacle is water. agribusiness company, said the The plants would require cooling coal burning plants will be part water out of the Snake, and more of his newly-formed Western water would be needed to run' a Power, Inc. The company an-, coal-slurry pipeline to carry coal nounced its intention to develop from mines in Wyoming to the numerous hydro sites in Idaho plants along the Snake. Bowler last June, and to then ship that said demand for Snake River power to the Southwest through a water is already too high. Heart Lake in Idaho's Mallard· Larkins 'Wilderness Study Area transmission line it would build, (Continued on page 14) Idaho wilderness bill Andrus .and McClure agree OISE,' Idaho .. Sen. major national group concerned James McClure and Gov. with wilderness, The Wilderness BCecil Andrus released an Society, has decided to leave it. Idaho wilderness bill late in 1987 .Tom Robinson, the.group's inter- that has things for everyone to mountain regional director" in love and hate, But.on- balance, Boise, said the opposition of timber .companies ana.' off·road- 'McClure and Andrus to any vehicle users appear to have the changes in the bill "left us no most to love, and conservationists alternative but to oppose it." appear to have the most to hate. TWS also said the 1.4 million lei round numbers, the bill acres was not a large. enough would designate 1.4 millionacres share of the 9.3 million acres of as wilderness and another unroaded national forest land 300,000 acres as subject to eligible for wilderness. Moreover, special management. The reo TWS said, several provisions of mainder of the immense 9.3 the bill would threaten existing million acres of roadless land in wilderness. Idaho would get "soft release" .. "There are matters of princi- if it were still roadless in 10 to 15 pie and precedence at stake," years, it could be reconsidered said Steve.Richardson, TWS chief for...wilderness. The proposal is counsel in Washington, D.C. far smaller than the 3.9 million .'This proposal .contains provi- acre billintroduced by Rep. Peter. sions and language that are , Kostmayer, D:Pa., on behalf' of simply inconsistent with the ,~ conservationists . purposes and inrent of the 1964 ..McClure and Andrus'rele'ased ..WildernessAcr.', their privately crafted bill on a The disposition of Idaho's 9.3 j.R. Simplot take it or leave it basis. The (Continue/on page 12) l =~- Andy Bartson sent in six back issues of HCN, including a rare one (in 'this office) containing Utah Creaky rancher Cecil Garland's article. on This is the first issue after' our stream reclamation. Andy also prom- Christmas break, and creaking into ises to subscribe "when I get an action was difficult. Most of the address." problem was psychological: a fear Spring in South Dakota that two weeks of soft living may have lost us the ability to put out a Pete Carrels, our South Dakota paper. There is also a reluctance to bureau person, called on Jan. 8 to subject ourselves again 'to the say, "It's up to eight degrees below discipline imposed by HCN's every- here -- it's like spring. I went out in ; ",tG.J" ... other-week schedule. Those who my shirt sleeves." produce daily or weekly newspapers On the same day, we spoke with HighCoUPtryl\ews will feel little sympathy. Mark Gordon in Kaycee, Wyo. He HIGH COUNTRY NEWS QSSN/OI91/l6l7) We have not yet precisely toted reported clear, sunny skies even i. published biweekly, except for one issue up the Research Fund results, but it though it was storming in Colorado during July and one i••ue duringJanuary, 'by and most of Wyoming. Kaycee, he the High Country News Foundation. 124 is clear that, despite the stock Lee Sayre Grand Avenue, Paonia, Colorado 81428. market crash, readers gave gen- explained, is outside of Wyoming's Second-dais pottage paid at Paonia, Colo- erously. We topped last year's total snowbelt. We had thought you had the former owner is a Paonia police rado. by a modest amount, and thanks to to be outside Wyoming to be outside POSTMASTER: Send address changes to officer named David Duncan, and in HIGH COUNTRY NBWS, Box 1090. Paonia. that increase, to more subscription its snowbelt. December, Mr. Duncan gave Donna CO 81428. income, and to a jump in grants Tom Bell Western Colorado's valleys, es- a ticket for allowing her dog to run at a"itor B",_rihls HCN will be here through 1988. A pecially HCNs North Fork Valley, is large when the dog showed up at his more detailed report will follow. In experiencing its first real winter home. Ed Mareton the meantime, thank you again for since 1977-1978.There is much snow Donna explained the circum- P.6Jis." your generosity. on the ground, and below zero stances to town judge Lynn French, Betsy Muston temperatures at night, with day-time but was still hit with a sizable fine. BJilor Honoring the living temperatures rarely reaching above Donna then told officer Duncan that The Bulletin Board section of the 20 degrees. We can no longer boast she couldn't afford such fines, 'and Judy Moffa~ of going outside in shirt sleeves D.fI_IopM_.' Nov. 23., 1987, issue announced a that if she got another ticket, she scholarship honoring noted Wyoming during winter days. Luckily, because was going to have his former dog Rocky Barker western Colorado lacks wind, we are killed. "He looked surprised," she Craig Bigler geologist David Love. That notice provoked a telephone call from a spared the "monster snowdrifts" the said, "and asked me not to do that." Peter Carrels Denver Post headlined recently as Bruce Farling person in Vermont who had heard Donna is very good-natured, which is Pat Ford .that we had announced Love's death. devouring the state's eastern plains. how she ended up with Duncan's . -'.",. - _-~atric!aGuthrie unwanted dog in the first place, and <: :We reread the. Bulletin Board notice Proud in Boulder Jitp Sriik probably won't have it killed. Regional Bereaes several times to be sure it had not implied such a thing. It hadn't. The Eric and Sara Lundgaard want us Welcome help C.L. Rawlins confusion may have been caused by ro know that not all Boulder PQdry Stlitor. the fact that we are unused to contributors to the Research Fund Readers promptly receivmg our honoring the living. are residents of Boulder, Colo. "We snappy-looking HCN t-shirts can Steve Hinchman live very happily in' Boulder City, thank a volunteer in the Paonia. BtiitotWIlR_s_.rr:/) Assuming the worst , ~" " -'; -.... " -.,..; - .',....; --:- .Nevada, and are.extremely proud of"; ,::.•office, _.S~6..is.:I:e~,;Sayre,,' who: 'just Michael Crawfordr Dr. David R. Robinson of North our little community of 12,DODnextto moved to the valley from- Colorado ., Gus Wilmerding Miami, Fla., has nor. endeared ·HoovetDam."· Springs; Colo..A..long'Jime: reader of I"terns himself to us. He filed a complaint the paper, Lee stopped in recently to against HCN with the U.S. Postal Reclaimed office ask if we needed some volunteer Roo.Sunderland D.r4rooM Service for allegedly failing to run HCN's. toxic office is now oc- help. his ad even as we took his money. cupied. The Pittsburgh Paint labora-: "I just assumed all non-profit C.B. Elliott We had run his ad, but hadn't sent tory told us they had found an organizations needed volunteers," Cirr:"J.h'o"IProtl.clio. him a copy of the .issue with the ad irritant in the paint we put on the she said. Restraining an urge to in it. That's our oversight. But we're office in very early November. shout hooray, we agreed that any . Peg-iYRobinson help was welcome. GNpbicsITyp,s,tli"g puzzled as to why he would file an Staffers C.B. Elliott and Steve official complaint with the Post,Office Hinchman discovered the irritant Lee tells us she visited the Paonia Mary Moran without first calling or writing to us.