Posted: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 12:00 am
Feds respond to grizzly lawsuit
BOISE, Idaho - The federal government has responded to seven environmental groups that filed suit recently, seeking to restore endangered species protection for grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone area.
In a document filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, federal lawyers argued that the environmental groups - including the Western Watersheds Project, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and others - were wrong in their allegations, that they were not entitled to any legal relief, and that they may not have the standing to bring the lawsuit in the first place.
The environmental groups sued over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to lift the 32-year-old "threatened" status for the 500 to 600 bears in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, saying their numbers had recovered.
The groups say the grizzly gene pool is still too small to assure future viability of the species. But Chris Servheen, Fish and Wildlife's grizzly bear recovery coordinator, says the bears have proved over the last two decades that they can adapt to changes in their food supply.
I-25 crash kills motorcyclist
CHEYENNE - A Colorado motorcyclist was killed Thursday in Platte County after a crash into a guardrail along Interstate 25, the Wyoming Highway Patrol reported Monday.
Kelly A. Anderson, 43, of Parker, Colo., was with a group of riders enroute to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota when the crash occurred about 16 miles north of Wheatland, the Highway Patrol report shows.
An inexperienced motorcyclist, Anderson was riding a borrowed 2003 Honda motorcycle with a second motorcycle being operated in the same lane to her right. As the motorcycles entered an uphill right-hand curve, Anderson's motorcycle went too wide, left the roadway and struck the guardrail.
Anderson, who was wearing a helmet, was thrown from the bike, hit several guardrail posts and died at the scene. The crash occurred at 12:14 p.m.
Anderson was the fourth motorcyclist to die on Wyoming highways in August.
Highway will get passing lanes
ROCK SPRINGS - The "Jonah 500" is getting a few more passing lanes, state highway officials say.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation is adding 15 new passing lanes along U.S. Highway 191 between Rock Springs and Pinedale.
The "Jonah 500" is the term locals use to describe the increased truck and vehicle traffic on Highway 191, as thousands of workers head to and return from the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline gas fields in southwest Wyoming. The new passing lanes aim to alleviate the congestion.
In May, the state awarded a $14 million contract to build 15 more passing lanes, each slightly more than a mile in length, and to extend the length an existing lane.
"Doing the posted speed limit of 65 mph, motorists will have the opportunity to safely pass other vehicles about every five minutes when the project is completed," said WYDOT spokeswoman Theresa Herbin.
The project is due to be completed by Oct. 31, 2008.