Mike Simpson
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Wilderness in the Boulder and White Clouds mountains after 40 years of trying! Yesterday the U.S. Senate, just like the U.S. House did earlier this summer, passed a 275,000 acre wilderness bill for the scenic Boulder and White Clouds mountains. They rise on the east side of the famous Sawtooth Valley in central Idaho. Of…
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The Idaho Statesman reports that Mike Simpson has withdrawn the rider which would have prevented the BLM and US Forest Service from addressing the ongoing issue of disease transmission from domestic sheep to bighorn sheep and would have bypassed years of analysis and a long public process which generated 15,000 public comments. The rider would…
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This week there have been two significant developments for bighorn sheep in Idaho that relate to the closing of domestic sheep grazing in occupied bighorn habitat. Payette Decision Moves Forward First, in an unusual ruling from the bench, Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that the closing of three domestic sheep allotments on the Payette National…
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League of Conservation Voters lists the top ten- The League of Conservation Voters has been ranking members of Congress on their conservation records for many years now. They have just released their ten worst — ” powerful and outspoken opponents of clean air, clean water, conservation and climate action.” Mike Simpson of Eastern Idaho (who…
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Release of 32 bighorn underway- This release by the Nevada Department of Wildlife, Nevada Bighorns Unlimited and private individuals has taken 20 years to be accomplished. The stock for the release came from Nevada to the south around Stonewall Mountain near Tonapah. They are desert, not Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. Bighorn are now back in…
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A cement plant in a sparsely inhabited part of Oregon produces massive amounts of neurotoxic mercury. Idaho’s Simpson wants to give them a free pass to pollute Idaho- Mercury is not an unavoidable contaminant of cement. However, the deposit near Durkee, Oregon contains a very high level. Durkee, Oregon itself is a bit of nothing…
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Update on efforts to kill the anti-conservation measures in the House’s DOI budget bill for 2012- This is a thorough update to the earlier story we posted on this. House Democrats to Take Aim at Policy Riders in Interior, EPA Spending Battle. New York Times. By Jean Chemnick. A fair amount focuses on why (shudder)…
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Fiscal Year 2012 – House Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill – Part 3 Another provision of the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill would make it impossible for land management agencies to help bighorn sheep by reducing interaction with disease ridden domestic sheep if it might conceivably reduce livestock grazing. Because of the precedent set by the decision made by…