https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/ab7736a39aa3b6e831dc093012bb6c23.pdf 242697c3d191e536f4a00ebd8839886b PDF Text Text Simpson cautious about help for St. Stephen’s radon victims By TOM KURTZ \ Star-Tribune correspondent ST. STEPHEN’S — Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson’s office is waiting on data on the high incidence of illnesses associat­ ed with radon gas poisoning near the defunct Susquehanna uranium mill before committing to legislatiye efforts to com­ pensate possible victims harmed by the contamination. Northern Arapaho tribal officials are preparing letters to the Wyoming congressional delegation asking for federal leg­ islation to aid people who lived near the uranium processing plant two miles south of Riverton, where some 900,000 tons of uranium tailings were stored in an above-ground pile from 1958 to 1988. Northern Arapaho Tribal Attorney Andy Baldwin said the decision to turn to the state’s congressmen was prompted by re­ search indicating a high incidence of lung cancer, birth defects and other illnesses associated with uranium tailings and ex­ posure to radon gas. Sen. Simpson’s press secretary said Wednesday that his of­ fice is concerned about the situation on the Wind River Indian Reservation and welcomes hearing from the tribal council, but will wait to review the research data before backing leg­ islative compensation. “Until we receive what the tribes have got, it’s too early to say what the best course would be,’’ Stan Cannon said. “But it is a little early to say we will rush right in and introduce some legislation.” Sen. Simpson successfully backed legislation signed into law by President Bush last October which authorizes federal com­ pensation for uranium miners and “down-winders” of nuclear blast sites who were harmed by radon exposure. But the Radi­ ation Compensation Exposure Bill does not cover persons down wind from abandon uianium mines and mill tailings dumps. Cannon said. , “It’s a little different though, because the exposure of min­ ers to radon was in an underground situation,” Cannon said. He said he would be interested to see what the study of exposure to tailings by the tribe may show. “To my knowledge, we are going to break new ground on this,” he said. In the upcoming session of Congress, a U.S. House of Rep­ resentatives bill seeks to appropriate an initial $5 million to the radiation act and Cannon expects that amount to be raised to $15 million when it moves through the Senate. “That’s really just a drop in the bucket,” he said. “This is go­ ing to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars to compen­ sate everyone, not just the miners and down-winders.” Baldwin said the tribe’s research on the effect of mill tailings is continuing, two years after the unusually high incidence of illness near the site of the mill was noticed. “One of the things about this project is it has really been proven to be a long-term effort,” he said. “We look at this as a continuing process.” Tribal officials are still trying to contact everyone who might have been exposed to the contaminant, Baldwin said. More data on the situation from the U.S. Department of Ener­ gy and the reservation’s own Wind River Environmental Qual­ ity Commission, which is conducting air and water tests, is needed, he said. i Meanwhile, the tribal chairman. Burton Hutchinson, Sr., is preparing letters to go out to the congressional delegation, asking for legislation to add mill tailings to the radiation act, 'Baldwin said. As many as 120 persons near St. Stephen’s appear to have possibly suffered ill health as a result of radon exposure and he said he expects that number to climb. �By KATHARINE COLLINS Sdfuthwestern Wyoming bureau ROCK SPRINGS — Wyoming bankers say a proposed hike in federal grazing fees will haye some adyerse effect on nearly eyery bank in the state. Dick Van Pelt, executiye yicepresident of the American Na­ tional Bank in Laramie and chair­ man of the Wyoming Bankers As­ sociation (WBA) agriculture com­ mittee, said no bank in the state would be totally immune to shocks in the ranching economy. “We’ye written our congres­ sional delegation,” Van Pelt said. “I’m certain they feel the same way we do. The fee hike could take the profitability out^ of Wyoming ranches and that’s a concern for any bank in Wyoming. The agriculture indus­ try is fairly substantial in Wyoming.” Despite the worries in the banking industry, Mike Saunders, a spokesman for the federal Farm Credit System in Wyoming, said his agencies are not reducing cred­ it to public land liyestock opera­ tors. “There are a lot of yariables Please see GRAZING, A12 Continued from Al and a lot of cooks in the kitchen,” he said. “And our experience has shown that a lot of things can hap­ pen in politics and consequently we’re not changing our position on loans to operations inyolying public lands.” Still, Saunders yoiced concern about the potential impact of high­ er grazing costs on short-term and long-term agricultural credit lines in the state. Van Pelt said that Gretchen Tea, WBA executiye director, will call on Wyoming Republican ^ens. Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simp-I son this week in Washington to lobby against the fee hikes. A successful House measure passed earlier this year could boost fees from the current $1.97 per an­ imal unit month (AUM) to as high as $8.70 by 1995. A less drastic measure, which also passed the House, would increase the/fee to $5.05 per AUM by 1995. The issue is expected to reach the Senate floor Wednesday or Thursday, as an amendment to the Senate Ap­ propriations Bill (see related sto­ ry)In addition. Van Pelt said, the chief topic for the WBA annual meeting next January will be the effects on agricultural credit that changes in the grazing fee structure could cause. Exactly what form the agenda item will take will de­ pend on Congress’ final action on grazing fee increases. Saunders said officials in the ^arm Credit System “belieye a fee . hike is certainly going to haye an impact on a lot of operations, their cash flow, and subsequently their ability to seryice debt. “We think it will haye an im­ pact on the quality of our portfolio ... As the price of (federal graz­ ing) leases goes up, we think the price of real estate will go down,” he said. Saunders is president of the western diyision of Farm Credit Seryices, a member-owned cooperatiye comprised of the federallychartered Production Credit Asso­ ciation (PCA) of the Midlands and the Federal Land Bank Associa­ tion (FLBA) of the Midlands. The western diyision includes Wyoming and the Nebraska pan­ handle. The FLBA issues long-term loans for farmers and ranchers, loans that are secured by the land itself. The PCA makes operating and shorter-term loans to coyer annual expenses associated with farming and ranching — such as the pur- cuase of seed, liyestock and equip­ ment. Money for farm loans is gener­ ated through the sale of bonds, which are bought and sold daily on the nation’s money markets. The bonds are backed and guaran­ teed by the federal goyemment. Saunders said he has reyiewed portfolios in the four area lending offices his diyision superyises in the state. He said nearly all loans in the Kemmerer area would be af­ fected by a fee increase, about 70 percent in Gillette, 60 percent in the Casper area, and about 50 per­ cent in Worland. The impact a fee increase will haye on any one operation depends upon the operation’s proportion­ ate reliance on federal lands, Saun­ ders said. The total impact on the Farm Credit System in Wyoming, he said, is that approximately $40 mil­ lion of the $170 million FLBA portfolio would be placed at some risk. Saunders did not quantify the risk, howeyer. And about $ 16 million of the $73 million PCA portfolio would be “impacted to some extent. It could make a marginal loan unse­ cured or undercollateralized.” Saunders said the Wyoming sheep industry stands to be hurt the most by grazing fee increases. He said sheep operators rely more heayily on public land, and “the industry has not been profitable for seyeral years.” Saunders cited one “moderate­ ly large” southwestern Wyoming sheep operation that he said could not withstand the kinds of grazing fee hikes passed by the House. He described the operation as a “break-eyen” outfit, just meeting its expenses last year. “We took their same cash flow and plugged in the $8.70 — their operation is about 80 percent on public lands — and analyzed the impact on their cash flow,” Saun­ ders said. “They go from breakeyen to losing $107,000 a year.” He said the proposed first-year increase in grazing fees to $4.35 per AUM would produce a loss of $35,000 for the operation. Supporters of the fee hikes say that the current fees are so low that they represent a subsidy that is un­ fair to producers who compete with Western ranchers. Saunders said that leased fed­ eral grazing lands, though not strictly considered collateral on loans, haye a “perceiyed yalue” which enhances the creditworthi­ ness of the lease-holders. A change in fee structure, or a reyised method of allocating leas­ es — for example, the use of competitiye bidding as has been pro­ posed by some lawmakers — would throw the entire farm cred­ it system into disarray, Saunders said. “Traditionally the leases on public lands haye been considered assured,” he said. “There really are no guarantees, they’re not per­ petual but... any public land asso­ ciated with a particular operation generally remains with that oper­ ation.” �vvntinueu irom yvi Reagan responded to pressure from anti-abortion forces and “changed drastically the U.S. world popula­ tion program.” The new policy prohibited assistance to any orga­ nization that even with its own funds counsels, refers or provides abortion services. Anti-abortion forces were alarmed by reports of forced abor­ tions and coerced sterilization in China, and convinced the Reagan administration to cut off aid to the entire UNFPA program, since it provided funding for contracep­ tives in China. Bush has also blocked yearly Congressional efforts to restore funding to the UNFPA, Fornos said. But this year, he said, Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson has “crafted a compromise which will make the White House see the rea­ sonableness of his proposal.” Both the House and the Senate earlier this year passed by wide margins a $15 billion foreign aid bill that provides $20 million in funding for UNFPA. But Bush has threatened to veto “any reproduc­ tive rights changes,” Fornos said. Simpson has proposed a mech­ anism whereby U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. William Pickering would have special responsibility for disbursing the funds. “The Simpson compromise is that $20 million will be made available as a lump sum to be dis­ bursed by Pickering on a project by project basis,” Fornos said. “He will assure himself there are no abortion or coerced sterilization uses intended for the money.” Fornos said Bush would be “well advised to heed” Simpson’s proposal and to “resume interna­ tional leadership” on global popu- ; lation control. “To veto a $15 billion foreign^ aid bill just because there are $20 million for contraceptives is hypocrisy,” Fornos said in an in­ terview earlier on Tuesday. “It’s absolutely outrageous ... It’s ap­ peasing the extremists in our own society, giving them an ideological victory which they’re not able to receive from the American peo­ ple.” Simpson said Wednesday that some form of compromise on the contraceptive issue was essential for the success of the entire foreign aid package. “During consideration of the foreign aid authorization bill, two opposing camps with their deeply held convictions were at a stand­ off” Simpson said in a prepared statement released by his office. “I was asked by (Senate Minor­ ity Leader Robert) Dole to step in and find some compromise that would address the core concerns of each side. I am pleased that most of my colleagues find some merit in this proposal.” A spokesman for Thomas said the Wyoming congressman tenta­ tively believes that Simpson has offered “an acceptable compro­ mise.” . Liz Brimmer said Thomas op­ posed the House foreign aid au­ thorization not only because of the funds for UNFPA but also because “he feels strongly that it’s not up to the U.S. to pay for every program in the world.” Brimmer said Thomas is “very much in favor of family planning programs,” but agrees with Bush that any popula­ tion planning funds sent to China “could be used for coerced abor­ tions.” Sen. Malcolm Wallop was not available for comment. Fornos said the general popula­ tion of the U.S. is “more enlight­ ened than our politicians,” and heavily favors massive aid to worldwide family planning efforts. He cited a recent Harris polls showing that 72 percent of Amer­ icans support voluntary family planning and aid for those pro­ grams “over any other kind of aid we’re giving, — food or anything else.” Fornos called the current strug­ gle in the U.S over abortion rights an “American political dilemma” which the U.S. is “visiting on the backs of poor women” throughout the world who are “most in need of help.” Fornos said if anti-abortion groups really want to address the “awesome incidence of abortion,” which he said in 1990 reached 60 million worldwide, they “should be on the front lines with us.” “They should strike at the root cause. They should help prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place,” Fornos said. On the brighter side, Fornos said that the U.S. will spend about $320 million this year in its own family planning programs around the world. He cited as one achieve­ ment a failing birth rate in Kenya, which once had the highest birth rate in the world. Fornos will be in Casper today, where he will address students at Casper College at 10 a.m., and the Committee on Foreign Relations at the Hilton Inn at 7 p.m. �Tuesday, September 17,1991 ment and that revenues from graz- • ing fees would increase by $110' million, of which half would go^ back to states to improve public ' rangelands. . Jeffords said the fee hike is jus-' tified because the federal govern-" ment pays $65 million more per year on range programs than it; collects in fees under the existing ■ system. ' Ranchers can absorb the in-crease without suffering hardship,,' he said, because federal statistics’ By DAVy HACKETT ? show that grazing fees account Star-Tribune li^ashington bureau j tor only three percent of the aver- ’ age annual operating costs of pub- ’ WASHINGTON — Senators lie lands ranchers. from western states Monday took But Western senators, includ-' turns bashing a proposal by one of ing_ Wyoming Republican Sen.' i their colleagues from Vermont' Malcolm Wallop, insisted that the' that would increase fees charged fee hike would pulverize theirs to ranchers who graze livestock; states’ economies. ; on federal lands. ■ The western lawmakers criti- ’ The proposal, which was of-’ cized Jeffords as an Easterner who fered as an amendment to the fis-; has never visited the West and has cal 1992 Interior appropriation!; a distorted perception of livestock' bill by Sen. James Jeffords, Ri operations in western states. Vt., would increase the grazing Wallop said Jeffords’ amend­ .Jsfi^harged by the Bureau of Land, ment threatens the Viability of N^anagement and IJ.S-J»orest Ser-‘ thousands of western ranches as' vicsjrom $1.97 per animal Unit well as the economies, of many month (AUM) in 1991 to $2.6? ranching communities. in 1992. J Wallop described the livestock An AUM is the amount of for­ industry as the “underpinning” of age needed to feed one cow and Wyoming’s tax base. one calf, or five sheep, for one “This is a cheap vote for an month. , ; . The Senate is expected to vote i—(S."vironmental) rating,” which i Will boost campaign contributions on the measure sometime this ! at the expense of 31,000 ranchweek. Staff spokesmen for Sen. ing^families. Wallop said. Al,an Simpson, R-Wyo., the asThis has not been thought sistant Republican leader, said out, he said. “It has been brought Monday afternoon that the vote . out. It has been trotted out.” is too close to predict. . : Jeffords asked Wallop why the Though the House of Repre^ ’ people of Vermont and other sentatives overwhelmingly ap-i ' states that pay more in taxes than proved grazing fee increases in ' they receive in subsidies should 1990 and 1991, Jeffords said hiaj ' send $11 million per year to 16 proposal marks the first time the ; 1 western states that pay less in taxissue has been raised on the Sen- iI es than they receive. ate floor since 1978. Wallop accused Jeffords of ex­ Jeffords proposal is identical ; aggerating subsidies paid to to a fee increase which was spon- ! stockgrowers, noting that ranchers sored earlier this year by Rep.' t must pay for improvements on Ralph Regula, R-Ohio. Regula of- ? ftderal rangelands. He also said fered his plan as a compromise to ' that recreational users from east" a steeper increase supported by i ern states receive a subsidy when Rep. Mike Synar, D.-Okla. they pay a “pittance” to use fed­ Synar’s higher fee hike was eral lands. passed by the House and was in- ; Conrad Burns, R-Mont., flatly eluded in its version of the Interi­ stated that “there is no (federal) or appropriations bill, which the program to protect the cowboy.” Senate is now considering. Regardless of whether the Sen­ Under the Jeffords-Regula ate approves Jeffords proposal, plan, the fee would increase to the issue will have to be consid­ $5.09 per A^UM in 1995. The fee ered when a House-Senate con- ' would climb to $8.70 per AUM ference committee meets to work in 1995 under the Synar plan. out a final version of the bill. Jeffords said Interior Depart­ A grazing fee hike was nar­ ment officials assured him that ■, rowly averted in conference last “no reduction in grazing would ! year largely due to the efforts of occur as a result” of his amendretired Sen. James McClure, RPlease see GRAZING, A12 ■ f Idaho. • I McClure’s replacement. Sen. 5 -J Don Nickles, R-Okla., has said he f would support a moderate in­ crease. ■ - .-I Western legislators basil grazing fee bik('|(Jaii �1 Wilderness Society faults vote;' Sullivan^ stock gnwps praise it CHEYENNE (AP) — Iji® vow^ould protect Wyoming’s f ! U.S. Senate’s Tuesday vote to economy. In Wyoming, Gov. Mike Sul' kill a proposal to increase fed! eral grazing fees won praise from livan said he is encouraged by ‘ the governor and livestock orga- the Senate’s action. He said the I nizations, but was criticized by- fight against higher grazing fees /the Wilderness Society. ' / ; has been difficult and would i In Washington, the Senate have had severe implications for t voted 60-38 to kill a measure by the Wyoming enconomy. “It still means a potential con­ Sens. James Jeffords, R-Vt., and Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, ference committee on the grazing J that would raise the current $ 1.97 fees, and I’m hopeful that such a j monthly fee for a cow and calf to conference will be successful in 1 $2.63 next year and to $5.09 by avoiding the drastic increase that' has been proposed in the 1995. Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R- House,” Sullivan said. The House of Representatives Wyo., who with Sen. Alan Simoson, R-Wyo., organized the op­ has approved two grazing fee in­ position to the increase, said the Please see VOTE, All •* b ! I 1 ' I 1 i > ; , .............. _ to open some eyes on a few of the Continued from Al issues. i creases — one of which eventual “I think they (Congress) ly would quadruple the costs of grazing livestock on federal land. thought Wyoming was one solid Bob Budd, executive director mass of federal land rather than of the Wyoming Stock Growers the checkerboard it is,” said Ellis, Association, said the niargin ot who runs about 500 cattle on his the vote on the proposed fee in- ranch. Because he grazes about 40 per­ crease shows that facts won out. He said some Wyoming pro- cent of his livestock on public ducers even traveled to Washing- land, the fee increase would have ton, D.C., with their financial been devastating for his operation, books to show members of Ellis said. “In our particular case, it meant Congress what higher fees would life or death,” he said. “We would do to their operations. “They are the ones who de­ have had to go out of business.” Farm, Bureau President David serve the credit,’’ Budd said of the Flitner applauded Wallop for his ranchers. ‘ ' In Washington, a spokeswoman efforts to defeat the proposed fee for The Wilderness Society was increase considered by the Sendisappointed by the vote but hap­ Hte “Sen. Wallop knows his facts py to see the Senate finally disand exhibited great leadership in cuss the matter on the floor. explaining grazing fees to the Sen­ “I think this demonstrates the incredible power of the Western ate,” Flitner said from his Laramie livestock lobby in the Senate,’’ office. “This issue is of great impor­ said Nancy Green, the Society’s Bureau of Land Management pro- tance to many livestock produc­ ers and Sen. Wallop’s leadership is gfam director. “On the other hand, this is the recognized by those producers in first time that grazing fee reform Wyoming and the West and by the has reached the Senate floor and SoriHtc Rep, Craig Thomas. R-Wyo., that’s significant ... in achieving said the vote shows “that some­ reform,’’she said. John Ellis, who ranches about times, wisdom and common sense 20 miles north of Medicine Bow, wins out.” Thomas said he planned to was one of about 15 Wyoming producers who traveled to Wash­ I stress the importance of no fee in­ ington, D.C., last week to lobby crease to House members ap­ against grazing fee increases. He pointed to the conference com­ said the group of ranchers seemed mittee. fat..uA �Senate^defeats proposed iii-azi.i» fee hike. 60-38 Ry DAVID HACKETT Star-Tribune IVashingion bureau WASHINGTON —Aproposal that would increase fees charged to ranchers who graze livestock on federal land was soundly defeated by the Senate X. Tuesday 60-38. A- Sen. Malcolm Wallop. R,>Wyo., who led the fight on the Senate floor to kill the measure, } said the vote shows that a major, ity of senators agree that the fee hike is bad economic policy and bad environmental policy. The fee hike proposal “is not just about the effect the increase would have on ranchers and stock■ men, it’s about the effect it would have on our small towns in Wyoming, our small businessmen and our banks,” Wallop said. “It is fundamentally the live­ stock industry, the agriculture in­ Please see FEES, A12 Continued from Al • , i j , dustry, which is the underpinning of our tax base,” Wallop told his colleagues during the two-day de­ bate. Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt., the ; chief sponsor of the proposal, tried to mold victory out of defeat, stat, ing that 38 votes constitutes a strong showing considering that the Senate has not debated grazing ‘ fees since 1978. Jeffords offered his proposal as an amendment to the Senate’s ver­ sion of the fiscal 1992 Interior ap■ propriations bill. The amendment is identical to a - fee hike which was sponsored ear­ lier this summer by Rep. Ralph , Regula, R-Ohio, and approved by - the House of Representatives as part of another bill. _ Jeffords’ amendment would have changed the formula used to calculate federal grazing fees, and increased the existing fee of $ 1.97 per animal unit month (AUM) to $2.62 in 1992. The fee would continue to in­ crease under Jeffords’ proposal through 1995 when it would be $5.09 per AUM. One AUM is the amount of for­ age needed to feed one cow and one calf, or five sheep, for one month. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, DOhio, a Jeffords co-sponsor, said self-styled fiscal conservatives in the Senate speak a different lan­ guage on the question of grazing fees. “You are constantly urging us to balance the budget,” Metzenbaum shouted. “You say cut the deficit and get rid of the special interest subsidies. Well, here is an oppor­ tunity to do so.” But Sen. Pete Domenici, RN.M., defended the present grazing fee by attacking subsidies to dairy producers. “We’re a bush league team compared to dairy subsidies. Dairy subsidies amount to $800 million a year.” And Sen. Tim Wirth, D-Colo., said, “The unintended conse­ quences (of the proposed increase) are going to be very deleterious to our environment.” Wallop and other western sen­ ators argued that the fee hike would destroy thousands of small family ranches, unravel western communities and cripple the economies of western states. Wallop also said a fee increase would leave western ranchers no choice but to fence off their land from federal acreage, thereby harming wildlife that needs open range to migrate. . Sen. Al Simpson, R-Wyo.. de­ scribed Jeffords’ amendment as “the ancient game of stop the cow­ boy from using the public lands.” Simpson also said Jeffords plan is “a minuscule attempt (to reduce the federal budget deficit) that doesn’t even register on the screen.” Metzenbaum said studies by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service show that no ranchers would abandon their ranches as a result of Jeffords pro­ posal. The “real issue,” he said, is whether wealthy ranchers will pay a fair price to use public grazing lands. Said Metzenbaum, sarcastical­ ly, “The tears are flowing copi­ ously and we all have our hand­ kerchiefs out for the poor little rancher. But that’s not the issue. The issue is that the top 300 per- I mittees control 90 percent of the v (federal) acreage in the West.” i Many of those 300 permittees, j he said, are among the wealthiest' individuals and corporations in the world. Sen. Al Gore, D-Tenn., said he is sure many family ranchers would feel negative effects from a fee hike but that Jeffords amend­ ment “makes a transition that is sensitive to these people and the environment.” ; Earlier this year the House passed a grazing fee proposal sponsored by Rep. Mike Synar, DOkla., that would increase the fee to $8.70 per AUM in 1995. Synar’s proposal was made part of the House version of the Interi­ or appropriations bill, which J means that a House-Senate con- [ ference committee must still con- I sider the matter. f : Jeffords said he thinks Tues- f day’s vote increases the chances i that the conference committee will) agree to a grazing fee increase. ; Wallop said the vote means Synar’s proposal is out of the ques- i tion and that the conference com- • mittee could agree not to change the formula or raise the fee at all. . In Wyoming, Wyoming Farm > Bureau President Dave Flitner~i praised Wallop for his handling of ' the grazing fee issue. “Senator t Wallop knows his facts and ex- ' hibited great leadership in ex- • plaining grazing fees to the Sen- ' ate,” Flitner said in a prepared re­ lease. �[Friday/ September 2(^19911 Delegation asks VA i to shift urologists to Cheyenne hospital From staffreporti^OA CHEYENNE —■ Wyoming^ congressional delegation has asked Veterans Administration Secretaiy Ed Derwinski to temporarily shift urologists from other VA fa­ cilities to Cheyenne’s VA Medical Center. ---------------■ Sens. Malcolm Wallon and Al Simpson and Rep. Craig Thomas. all Republicans, said in a Sept. 18 letter to Derwinski that they are concerned about reports of a back­ log of urological patients because of the lack of a staff urologist this summer at the Cheyenne facility. As an alternative to bringing in urologists from other VA center, the delegation suggested referring patients to non-VA urologists in the region. “Either step will alleviate much of the concern on the part of the patients and their families, and this should be your very first prioriPlease see V^ A14 �< “Federal agencies are uhdef , J mandate by law to go forward with recovery,” he said. “There is no law that requires Congress to actonanEIS.” 4 The amendment also requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser­ vice to include in its EIS a wolf reintroduction plan proposed ear­ lier this year by a federal wolf management committee which was mandated by Congress. The wolf committee’s plan would classify existing grey wolves in most of Montana, By DAVID HACKETT . . Wyoming and Idaho as “experi­ Star-Tribune tVashington bureau < mental, non-essential” under sec­ tion lOj of the Endangered WASHINGTON —An amend­ Species Act. ment that forbids the Interior De­ The wolf committee’s plan partment to reintroduce experi­ would allow states to kill and oth­ mental populations of gyy wolves erwise manage wolves while fed­ in the greater Yellowstone region in 1992 has been approved by the ■ ( eral wildlife officials prepared to reintroduce wolves to Yellow­ U.S. Senate. stone. Wyoming Republican Sens. ■ Key congressional leaders Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpi , quickly trashed the plan as an at­ son, and other Western senators, , tempt to circumvent the Endan­ succeeded in adding the amendment to the Senate’s fiscal 1992 j! gered Species Act. The House included in its fiscal Interior Appropriations bill, i -; 1992 Interior spending bill a pro­ Spokesmen for both Wyoming , vision that calls for the National senators said the amendment is ’ Park Service to spend $348,000 intended to counter a wolf rein- troduction provision contained in ‘ • j to prepare an EIS and proceed with implementation of a 1987 the House-passed Interior spending bill. , J .wolf recovery plan that extends full protection to wolves and their A House-Senate conference habitat under the Endangered committee will have to agree to.fiSpecies Act. nal language later this month. ? The Endangered Species Act In a brief speech on the floor of . j is up for reauthorization by the Senate, Simpson described the amendment as an attempt to fa< Congress in 1992. Simpson said Wednesday that cilitate a compromise on reintroduction of the grey wolf. j it makes no sense for Congress to mandate a wolf management com­ Evan Hirsche, a spokesman for Defenders of Wildlife, derided the “ j mittee, then ignore its recom­ measure as’“species specific leg-» fg mendation. He described the wolf com­ islation” and a clear case of polit* ' -J ical intervention in the Interior j mittee’s plan as a reasonable com­ Department’s legal obligation to . M promise. He also said the disagreement recover endangered species. between environmentalists and The measure, which was ap­ livestock growers about allowing; proved by the Senate late Wednes­ state game officials to manage day, would provide $348,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser* g wolves can be solved without dis­ carding the entire plan. vice to conduct an environmental Rob Wallace, a member of impact statement (EIS) on rein» Wallop’s’staff, said his boss and troduction of the grey wolf in,Yel; other western senators want the iQwstone National Park and cenFish and Wildlife Service to pre­ tral Idaho. ' pare the EIS, instead of the Park The amendment prohibits the expenditure of funds in 1992 for j Service, because it is the agency with the best technical expertise. the actual reintroduction of Fish and Wildlife Service Di­ wolves, and requires Interior Sec? rector John Turner, a former retary Manuel Lujan to provide , Wyoming state senator from copies of the final EIS to the Sen- ' Teton County, was one of the ate Energy and Natural Resources chief architects of the wolf com­ Committee and the Senate Envi­ mittee’s plan, though he was not a ronment Committee. member of the committee. Hirsche, whose group is suing the Interior Department to in an effort to force it to proceed with j wolf recovery, blasted that part ] of the amendment. _ Senate i revisions j �Monday, September 23,1991 Simpson claims special Simpson interests boost budget Bv JOAN BARRON By _ Star-Tribune capital bureau to get more federal Medicaid mon­ , CHEYENNE - Senator Al ey. Simpson said there are people Simpson lashed out at special in­ terest groups Sunday and blamed in health care who are “living off them for blocking attempts to cut the chaos” in the Medicaid pro­ gram. federal spending and programs. The Republican, first elected to “This is a very generous coun­ the U.S. Senate in 1978, kept the try,” Simpson said. “There aren’t audience entertained with stories many people outside the net. of his 13 years in the Wyoming Yet, he told legislators attend­ ing the Western Legislative Con­ Legislature and anecdotes about ference that he continually gets the peculiarities of Washington. But his tone turned harsh when letters asking special financial help he talked about the pressures from for one special interest group or special interest groups and the another. People, on the one hand, de­ amount of money the nation mand that Congress do something spends on such things as veterans about the federal budget deficit, benefits, including disability pay­ but on the other, object when he or ments for an ex-serviceman “who any other elected officials tries to tore up a knee playing basketball for special services at Heidelberg.” curb spending, Simpson said. Special interest groups at the He said people should act as federal level make pale by com­ citizens first and not as members of the American Association of parison state legislative lobbying Retired Persons or veterans’ or­ groups, he said, and use creative ganizations or any other group that tactics to get a senator or con­ gressman’s vote, such as bringing lobbies congress. As an example of federal spend­ in old friends to front for them. He said a good lesson he ing levels, he said the budget for learned as a member of the the Medicaid program that pays Wyoming House representing Park. medical expenses for the poor now costs the nation $670 billion per County was how to be a member Please see SIMPSON, AIO year. The states, he said, are trying Continued from Al ' of both the majority and minority parties. “I think it’s important that the Congress of the United States at least fall into the hands of Re­ publicans for six months,” Simp- » son said. “Because what has hap- | pened is not the membership, it’s j the staff.” I The entrenched staff members | refuse to give staff or research as- i sistance to minority members, he I said. When the Republican con- | trolled the Senate, they got rid of | “encrusted” staff to the benefit of 5 the system, he added. < Staff members also are creative / and think of “thousands of things” ; day and night, have tender egos i and came to Washington to make policy but “know very damned •’ little about life.” Simpson also predicted that. U>S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas will be con­ firmed ultimately, if not by the Senate Judiciary Coinmittee, then by the full Senate. “I’ve never seen the black com­ munity more split,” Simpson said of the reaction to the nomination of the black conservative. “I think we’ll like him and he will go on the court and I think he’ll surprise people,” Simpson said. �Simpson predicts Thomas will win Senate approval By DAVID HACKETT Star-Tribune iVashington bureau WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Court nominee Clarence Thn . ponderous and boring, said Wyoming Sen. Alan Simnsnn Marshall by a vote of 65-35 or, possibly, 70-30. ”’PSon also said he thinks the Senate Judiciary ComSf 8 6® Thomas to the full Senate by a vote uPdldlSed M ’* ’ will wind "" Thomas nomination regardless of whether the committee votes to approve him Simpson, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee Please see SIMPSON, A12 Continued from Al and a vocal supporter of Thomas, said he thinks the nominee was forthright in answering the com­ mittee’s questions. Some observers have criticized Thomas and the Bush administra­ tion for choosing a strategy of eva­ sion in preparing the nominee for his confirmation hearings. But Simpson said much of that criti­ cism comes from groups and indi­ viduals with specific, narrow in­ terests. Simpson, who often sides with abortion rights advocates, said the National Organization of Women urged the committee to vote against Thomas to show future nominees that evasion on the ques­ tion of abortion rights is unac­ ceptable. Simpson acknowledged their frustration but said single-issue politics should not determine the .. fate of a Supreme Court nomina­ tion. “Our job is not to hear his opin­ ion on substantive issues,” Simp­ son said. “Our job is to determine competency, character, integrity.” “How do you do that?” he said. ' “You do that by asking him ques­ tions about his views about life, about privacy, about the Constitutioui about the Declaration of Independence, about freedom, about racism ... He answered those questions very forthrightly. He just didn’t answer the jackpot question ... and he shouldn’t have to.” Simpson also acknowledged that the hearings were often un­ bearably tedious and bland. But the process is necessary, he said, to evaluate the nominee’s “judicial temperament.” Historically, Simpson said. Ju­ diciary Committee hearings on Supreme Court nominees have been less rigorous for the nomi­ nee than they have been in the re­ cent past. “Judge White was asked eight questions when he went on the bench,” he said. “One justice sat outside the judiciary room not too many years ago and said, ‘Did you gentlemen have any questions of me?’ and they said ‘No.’ For 100 years nobody asked anything.” Simpson said the process reached the opposite extreme with the defeat of Supreme Court nom­ inee Judge Robert Bork. The les­ son of Bork’s defeat, he said, is that nominees should avoid con-' troversial arguments with mem­ bers of the committee. Films of the Bork hearings will be played to every future Supreme Court nominee, Simpson predict­ ed, “because if you want to get in­ to a good old yeasty dialogue and do some good old argument, pre­ sent your case and do it in a spir­ ited way, you will be defeated.” “In fact, if you answer the question on abortion, you will be de/eated either way,” Simpson said. �Tuesday, September 24,1991 Simpson to write book on press freedoms, politics By JULIA PRODIS t J S) Associated Press writer * CHEYENNE —America’s “haughty and pampered press” had best brace itself. U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, the man who called Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Peter Arnett an Iraqi sympathizer for re­ porting from Baghdad during the Gulf War, is writing a book on the First Amendment. And he doesn’t plan to go easy on the Fourth Estate. “A lot has been written from a journalist’s perspective. This will be an effort to say it from the other side,” says Simp­ son, some reporters’ favorite interview because of his sharp tongue and quick wit. “It will be very different from what the press perceives itself to be, I assure you that,” the Senate Mi­ nority Whip promised. The 60-year-old Wyoming Republican, who has a history of bouts with the media, said he plans to expose the “hypocrisy” of the press, its credence of “gossip and rumor” and its “abuse” of its own professional code of ethics. Nationally-syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, who has tar­ geted Simpson in his columns and in televised debates, sar­ donically welcomes the book. “I believe that the First Amend­ ment should extend to Senator Simpson,” Anderson said in a telephone interview from Washington. “He should be allowed to report anything he wishes no matter how ridiculous and his publishers should be allowed to publish any books they wish, no matter how inappropriate.” The senator, stressed that he holds the First Amendment and the freedoms of the press in high regard. But Charles Levendosky. editorial page editor at the Casper Star-Tribune, said Simpson’s perception of the First Amend­ ment could send a “dangerous” message to the American public. “He could be sort of a leading voice for curbing the press. That’s what concerns me about writing about the First Amendment. He really, in my discussions with him, has a very hazy notion of what the First Amendment is all about and I’m afraid he could be a spokesman for special interest groups that would like to regulate the press in some fashion.” �Simpson moves to force clean coal grant for Konels j rector, said the DOE’s Source Selection Board, which recommends which projects should be fi­ nanced with clean coal money, had given the K' CHEYENNE — U.S. Sen. Al Simpson has Fuel project top priority in the area of new fu­ amended federal legislation to rectify a situation el forms. within the Department of Energy that he said . But Erickson said the department’s source met a Wyoming clean coal project federal fund- selection officer, who makes the final decision on the recommendations, instead favored fi­ iiig. Simpson announced Thursday that he nancing a $170 million coal gasification project amended the Senate’s Interior appropriations in Nevada that had not won the board’s support. bill to guarantee that the DOE will provide $44 “Once he did that, (the program was) $170 million in clean coal funds for efforts to build million short and he re-ordered the projects.’’ Since there was not sufficient money to fi­ a “K-Fuel’’ plant near Gillette. nance the $44 million K-Fuel project, it was The amendment follows DOE denial of a request for $44 million from the Wheatland dropped from consideration by the officer. The officer used most of the $20 million Fuels Corp., a Wisconsin company, for the construction of a plant to enhance the value left over after financing the Nevada project to and energy content of low-sulfur Wyoming fund the Cordero Mining request for $17 mil­ coal using the process developed by K-Fuel, a lion for work to build a dryer to remove mois­ ture from Wyoming coal. Wyoming company. The Source Selection Board had not recom­ The request, amounting to about halt the cost of the plant, was denied by one official in mended that the Cordero request be approved, the DOE despite the fact a department com­ Erickson. “This round (of the clean coal program) mittee had given the project top priority for contained funding of $671 million,’’ he said. funding under the clean coal program. “The confidential information that found ‘ ‘The Cordero thing was $ 17 million. So they its way into our hands calls into real question are giving us the crumbs.’’ Erickson said the process used to select prothe integrity of the federal clean coal programi jects for funding under the program is usually and the judgment of high DOE officials in­ volved in the selection process,” Simpson said. kept confidential, but the information was Brent Erickson, Simpson’s legislative di- leaked to Simpson’s office. By JIM ANG,ELL\ Associated Press writeif 'H- ■ He added that when Simpson’s office ques- ' tioned the source selection officer, he told staff members he based his decision in part on en­ ergy efficiency and technicaf diversity. “He funded three of these (coal gasifica­ tion projects), which is really redundancy, plus ' he funded two scrubber (projects),” he said. “So we ended up with about 2.5 percent of . the total pot of money.’’ . j Simpson said while he was pleased the ; Cordero project won funding, he believed both I Wyoming projects should have received the i federal money. ) “It seems that over the entire history of the » ; clean coal program, DOE has been most re- I luctant to fund ventures in the Roc^ Mountain I West,” he said. “I find that troubling and quite j unacceptable.” 'j Simpson’s amendment would require the , DOE to use any money remaining in its clean y coal accounts for the K-Fuel project until the ;• amount provided totals $44 million. Erickson said the total could be reached quickly because the DOE gets back money it gives to projects that fail. “So the money could be available relative­ ly quickly,” he said. In addition, the DOE usually keeps a re­ serve of about 20 percent of the program’s to­ tal budget to cover cost overruns, Erickson said. �' State gets grant for, low Birthweights ; 9q3 I ; y •i - f . • ; '■ “■ . '' '• CASPER — Wyoming has re-1 ceived $266,000 federal grant to j help reduce the number of low- ■ birth weight babies born in the , state, Sen. Al Simpson said in a ; prepared statement this week. The money will help support the “Best Beginnings” program, f which “promotes prenatal cafe and “ nutritional counseling for low-income pregnant women,” the, sena-( tor said. < “Wyoming ranks third in the I nation in low-birth weight deliv-1 eries,” Simpson said. j Best Beginnings will help link J medical care providers, the feder- ) ^1 Women, Infants and Children > program, and pf^ects at the Uni-i 'versity of Wyoming in a “unified • single project,” according to Sixnp- son’s statement. I Simpson said the grant will also be used to pay out-of-state doc­ tors “for the purpose of relieving Wyoming physieians for temporary periods.” “Plain old bum out” is one of the major reasons the state has had a problem retaining physicians in recent years, Simpson said. Bring­ ing in doctors from out-of-state to occasionally relieve Wyoming physicians “will alleviate that to some degree,” he said. The “Rural Health Outreach” grant, funded by the U.S. Depart­ ment of Health and Human Ser­ vices, will be jointly administered by the state Department of Health and the Sheridan County Public Health Office. �Pofl ffi c V S £: €0 2 u _< c 5 o’S ' .2 o .5 P ; ■ 6! S -o " £ S '5P2-S i I” *- o 2 > ®“®.fl fl fl <0 _ ’rt O « 2^3 g’g o u 2 o M ccolfl u .fl M-S O«43 BO 5 CKj S' w * .E "S 'o “ •£ « -S 55^ c o 5i » ■ O U 33 w e O o 5 g >,S ; 'o . w ES o o «.2, 5 S*® BO fl -y c u S’ o “"O fl « 2 S 00 t* q u *0 a o tZ3 2 ; . S ,P... BO ■ ’ fl u ‘ «j CZ3 - fl B£ fl ® O ’e E o' CO o U “o w 5tBO^.2^ •O o s £43 S ■s -fl . Cfl « « - 2 h's <u—I** fl Sflo°g2flg>.o o<2Pc — ” S-®’-® .2 eg 'Oo<SR®’®2’a«i BOO -a S ” “"E " S K S B fl 124 a.> SB 2 g a >» 2 51^ .fl , 2 « BO* ^eswr i 1661 JIMI’S Continued from Al year, the governor’s favorable rat­ ings increased by 12 percent. Simpson followed Sullivan, with 62 percent of those polled saying the senator does either an excellent or good job. Rep, Craig Thomas was third in the poll with a 56 percent fa­ vorable rating and Sen. Malcolm Wallop had the lowest favorable rating with 46 percent of those who responded saying he does an excellent or good job. Wallop showed the largest negative rating among those polled, with 51 percent saying his perfor­ mance was only fair or poor. - Compared to a year ago,. Rep. Thomas’ ratings increased by 9 percent while Wallop saw a de­ _______ crease of 1__________ percent. The latest poll shows that 16 percent of respondents did not know who the governor is. Twenty-seven percent and 32 percent respectively could not name Sen. Al Simpson or Malcolm Wallop. Thirty-two percent could not name their congressman. Here are the full ratings of politicians: Sullivan: 14 percent excellent, 55 percent good, 25 percent only fair, 4 percent poor, and 2 percent don’t know. Simpson: 18 percent excellent, 44 percent good, 27 percent only fair, 10 percent poor, and 1 percent don’t know. Thomas: 11 percent excellent, 45 percent good, 31 percent only fair, 9 percent poor, and 4 percent don’t know. Wallop: 7 percent excellent, 39 percent good, 30 percent only fair. 21 percent poor, and 3 percent don’t know. Of the 400 people interviewed, 45 percent said they are registered to vote as Republicans, 27 percent said they are registered Democrats, 9 percent are registered as inde­ pendents and 18 percent polled said they are not registered to vote. One percent refused to answer the question. The Wyoming Legislature is doing a “good” to “only fair” job representing the opinions of Wyoming citizens, according to 82 percent of those polled. Twelve percent responded that the Legislature is doing a “poor job”. Only 0.3 percent responded it was doing an “excellent” job, the same number that responded “don’t know”. - ■’ In other issues addressed by the f poll, 50 percent of poll respon- i dents said that the state’s news­ papers continue to be the most important source of information about what’s going on in the state. Television also scored high on the list with 28 percent of respondents reporting they depend most on that medium while radio came in a dis- ■ tant third with 12 percent of re- ; spondents reporting that they depend on radio for their informa­ tion. Other sources of news infor­ mation for the state included per­ sonal friends, 0.5 percent, associ­ ation you belong to, 0.3 percent. Two percent of those polled re­ ported “don’t know”. �Saturday, September 28,1991 < Simpsoiu^Not time system . ’teM to dimi CHEYENNE (AP) — Too. much uncertainty exists over the political situation in the Soviet Union to dismantle plans to create . a mobile MX missile system, according to U.S. Sen^il SimpsonSimpson said Friday he was disappointed with the Senate s6733 vote to cut $225 million from the MX “rail garrison” research and development budget “While we would all wish to believe that the world, right now at this moment, is safe from a nu­ clear threat and is becoming the truth is that there is a high de­ gree of chaos and confusion over who has control, and who will re­ tain control, of the nuclear weapons presently in the Soviet Union,” he said in a news release. “No one can predict with any cer­ tainty who has the ‘black box. in their hands now, let alone who >. will have it in the years to come. Now is not the time for the Senate to cave in to some euphoric avalanche of wishful thinking. z The Senate on Thursday cut the money earmarked for the devel­ opment of a prototype rail car that would carry missiles in the rail garrison” system. 1 The system, to be headquar­ tered at E-E. Warren Air Force : Base in Cheyenne, would involve placing the multiple-warhead missiles in rail cars for dispatch on > the nation’s rail lines in times of national crisis. . Simpson said there is still a : chance that the funding for the rail car development could go through, given the House’s appropnation of $260 million for the project. Please see MX, A14 V .£3 0 O 00 9 Z! 2 s e •O u 2 s ■§ e — O O o ■2 i o 2 g .3 £ rS O S S'® 2 S 0,2 c fa 2 « - «« S o.2 c rs-s . - 1 v 4 : «:fa 0-0 043 o.: c. .2: > “ « ® .. .t; s' g s 2.3 2 fa .S M 5 « ’‘5’®«fa£-'«£ec g,S2|P.gla-ls 4^ M c o 2 «5 ® S. « « o V o .o " S S ' MS S- o ® — ® s2 o <ai -* 6§§ <0 c -S p co <U Cm c C„--------M O i S M sa— g e ®.S S ® C O ® § ® -3 o-S - “ ; o2 r g M > «°° S^3 ,0 •? S 2 « c c^'m £ c2 5 05 & SSS^S ■•3 2 <D-S,o O o rj § 0= g c Z 2 " 2-5 05 ? oK CJ* iir uCQ^ i c ® § 2 CB 3^1 w 2 ® e^ S.® S 60^ 2t;-= § _ 32 S* I-O e s a<« o ’es 22 “gx- SB-S^E o 60— O W S^-Sg-g X *- C ’C O ® o Ss c >•“— 3)® . S C-fiS « = 2«^ -2 o i 2 c U < n es u C S! f- !► (H �P i f- !; < '•fc. - ..'it*-*.,--, Seiiale>yot^ |Mmers J^15 imlKoii to vic of radiation JWi t/3 - isr •is ; }■ ;, Continued from Al ‘^enate’s defense spending bill pri­ marily at the behest of western Senators, including Wyoming Re'publicans Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson. y Rep. Craig Thomas and sever-al other members of Congress , Trom western states wrote a letter Sept. 25 to Rep. John Murtha, DStar^fribune Washington bureau Pa., the chairman of the House j defense appropriations subcomWASHINGTON — The Senr , mittee, asking him to vote to in­ ate voted to approve a $270.4 bil- ^/clude $15 million for radiation lion defense spending bill Thurs- victims in the final bill. day that includes $15 million to ; Murtha could not be reached compensate former uranium min- Tor comment and his spokesman ers and victims of fallout from -did not return the Star-Tribune’s nuclear weaponTtests. ,{phone call Friday. The money, which was includ' ed as part of the Senate’s fiscal 1992 defense appropriations bill, would mark the federal govern- menf s first installment under the . ; Radiation F-yrnsnrfi Compensation Act. . —THeTT5 million is three times ; as much as the $5 million allocat­ ed in the House-passed defense , • ■-*: spending bill. A House-Senate ■ conference committee will prob­ ably meet next week to write a fi' nal version of th'e bill. The act was passed last year as a formal apology to uranium min­ ers and fallout victims who be- , came ill or died as a result of their exposure. (See related story. Bl.) The money would go into a ’ trust fund to compensate forrner ■ uranium ^miners, downwind vic­ tims of fallout from nuc ear weapons tests, and nuclear , weapons test-site workers who de- , veloped cancer and other diseases as a result of their exposure. . Surviving family members or individuals who' died from their J ’ exposure are also, eligible under the law to receive compensation payments. , The money was added to me ■ Please see MINERS, A14 ■ • ■ . ' | �tified, ” said Simon, who like othi er Democrats argued that Thomas and he will probably still come up ; with 65,” Simpson said Friday in a had not been candid with the pan­ el when he tried to disavow conradio interview. troversial views he had expressed “Sixty-five to 35 would be my ; guess as to the final vote,. said in the past. ‘ ‘ He strained to please an audi- j Simpson, a member of the com­ ence of 14 on this committee, and mittee. “The very worst would be may have succeeded with a ma­ 60-40.7 . Simpson said he thought the jority but his lack of candor trou­ Senate will vote on Thomas’ nom­ bles me,” Simon said. He and other opponents argued ination next Thursday or Friday. that Thomas was not a credible Though he is a staunch Thomas witness when he testified that he supporter, Simpson said he be­ lieves the nomination process does had never formed or expressed an not provide the Senate with opinion about the 1973 Supreme enough useful information about Court decision that legalized abor­ tion... . ,• r.. the candidate. “That simply defies beliet, “But unless we get this process changed, every nominee will just Simon said. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Dsit there and study video tapes and try to figure out how to answer the Mass., said Thomas was asking the committee to make a “leap of senators’ questions in a way where they won’t get in trouble — and faith” when he said his praise of an anti-abortion article in an 1987 we’ll lose the energy and power of the court because no one will speech should not be taken to speak in a controversial way about mean he necessarily opposed abor­ anything and I think that’s terri­ tion. Thomas testified that the re­ ble,” Simpson said. mark was a “throwaway line” and Although the Senate could vote as early as next Thursday, oppo­ did not amount to an endorsement nents urged senators to take more of the article’s conclusions. “If senators buy the view that time to study the hearing record. Justice Thomas, is a member of Leahy said senators should have the Supreme Cou , will approach sufficient time to study the com­ mittee’s report, which will not be Roe vs. Wade wi' an open mind, there is a bridge i Brooklyn they filed until Tuesday. ' In addition to possibly keeping might also like tc >uy,” Kennedy . Thomas off the court as it begins said. Republicans denied that its new term in October — in which case retiring Thurgood Mar­ Thomas had tailored his testimony shall could return to hear cases — to ,win support of senators. “There’s been no confirmation a long delay would give opponents 1 conversion, ” said Sen. Strom a chance to round up more votes Thurmond, R-S.C. against Thomas. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ac-. But both sides say that is an up­ hill fight. None of the Senate’s 43i cused Democrats of applying “a Republicans so far have said they liberal set of litmus tests tha^re operating to the denigration^mi­ would oppose Thomas, and nine Democrats have declared “their norities in this country.” / support for him. \ _ There were two votes Friday after Judiciary Committee mem­ bers made lengthy statements ex­ plaining their positions. ’ First, the panel voted 7-7 on the ; motion to endorse the nomination. All six Republicans and Sen. Den­ nis DeConcini, D-Ariz., voted for , Thomas; the other seven Democrats voted “no.” . The panel then voted 13-1 to follow its usual custom for Supreme Court candidates and : send Thomas’ nomination to the > full Senate for consideration. Si- i mon cast the negative vote. ■ The 43-year-old Thomas was ; nominated by Bush to be the na- i tion’s second black Supreme Court justice, succeeding Marshall, who was the first. Thomas is a conser.vative, Marshall a staunch liberal. Simon said thst at fh^ outset of the confirmation hearings nearly three weeks ago he was predict­ ing that Thomas would win the committee’s support on an 11-3 ■vote. “His support eroded as he tes- ■ Cohtiiiued from Al t/" �Delegation: Laws contributed, but did not cause closing By 13AVID HACKETT , Star-l h6une H^ashinston bureau ' • " ...... ” ’ WASHINGTON — Federal environijental laws, contributed to, but did.not c&use. Amoco Oil Company’s decision to cjose its Casper refinery, members of the Wyoming congressional delegation said iStursday. ; Sen. Alan Simpson, R-AVyo., said he, Wyoming Rep. Craig Thomas and Sen. Malcplni Wallop met with Amoco officials ■Hiursday who told them the refinery is clos­ ing because of “economies of scale, dwin­ dling supplies of sweet crude oil, locale” apd expenditures necessary to comply with ffderal environmental laws. ■ In a letter to the Wyoming delegation dated Oct. 3, H. Laurence Fuller, chairman ahd chief executive officer of Amoco, said, “J^n estimated $150 million would have to hf invested at the refinery over the next 10 years for environmental projects needed to comply with existing and anticipated leg­ islative and regulatory actions.” : Fuller said such an investment cannot be justified in yieyyofthe refineiy’s small size and marginal economic performance. Simpson said Amoco officials also told Wallop also said he regretted the decision Simpson said Amoco officials told him him they will spend millions of dollars to but that he could not argue with the compa- ■ . that portions of the recently reauthorized clean up the refinery site. ' ny’s economic rationale. ' Clean Air Act that call for reformulated • " “This is.an, extensively_contaminate(^^.. -Rep. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo.,,said he ■ gasoline and reduced industrial emissions—' area,” he said. -S - thought' Amoco had been spending money to portions he helped pass — did not factor Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., said fed-upgrade the refinery for some time and was. -int6?the company’s decision to close the re- eral emissions standards, waste disposar '- disappointed by its decision to leave Casper, finery. ■ ■ regulations, mandatory replacement of un-. ■ -“I had no inkling this would happen,” he ' Simpson blamed federal laws that require derground pipes, and oil storage tank repair; ".'said. ‘ "f;;' f the company to weld and add new bottoms to requirements all contributed to Amoco’s “I’ve gotten the feeling that they had put its storage tanks, replace underground pipes decision to close its refinery and transfer money into (the refinery) and would put with pipes above the ground, and move its its 210 employees. j -j more into it but apparently they evaluated it sewers to the surface. Other factors also contributed to the do-' from an economic standpoint and decided “What’s the purpose of rewelding tanks sure, Wallop said, such as declining pro- they can’t do it. It’s sad for Casper, for < — are they splitting?” he said. “What’s the ' duction in Wyoming of sweet crude oil,; Wyoming and especially for the 210 em- ! purpose of putting second bottoms on tanks which the Casper plant is built to refine, ployees who will be uprooted.” that have been sitting there for 30 or 40 and the plant’s physical distance from Den­ Thomas said the shutdown is an example years where the ground beneath them is ver — the primary market for its product. of why environmental laws need to be bal- •' compacted? What’s the purpose of bringing “I think those things made it marginal anced in a manner that protects jobs. pipes to the surface?” before and (environmental) regulations He also said that Amoco officials indi­ Said Simpson, “You have to stay realis­ tipped it over,” Wallop said. cated that the Clean Air Act was not a factor tic. Of course you don’t sponge away laws Wallop said he thinks the closure is the in their decision to close the facility. that have been beneficial to the environ­ latest loss in a gradual erosion of Ameri­ “I’ve held for some time to the notion ment but we better realize that when we can oil refining capacity. that some environmental constraints are don’t have refineries and nuclear plants that “American refining capacity is being overkill,” he said. “Clearly, you need envican ___________ function,, thejy _ go offshore and do it driven offshore because of a blizzard of fed- ronmental protection but it needs to be ar"sorheplace else.’ eral regulations,” he said. ranged” with equal attention to jobs. �Sportsmen’s^aucus foiintlation doesn’t inclw By DAVID HACKETT Star-Trihiine fVashington bureau WASHINGTON — Despite the impor­ tance of hunting and fishinti to Wyoming’s economy, none of the Cowboy State’s three congressional delegates were listed as members of eithef the House or Senate Sportsmen’s Caucus until this week. A spokeswoman for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Foundation, an af­ filiated non-profit organization, said Wyoming GOP Sen. Alan Simpson joined the Senate Sportsman’s Caucus Wednesday, two days after the ^tar-Tribune in­ quired about the group’s membership. Simpson said Wednesday he doesn’t know when he formally joined the Senate Sportsman’s Caucus, which was organized last spring, but that he did respond affir­ matively earlier this year to a verbal invi­ tation from the group’s chairman, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. “I think it’s a great idea and a great op­ eration,” Simpson said. Wyoming Sen, Malcolm Wallop said he had never heard of the Senate SporfsJ’ man’s Caucus but that he is interested in joining. <, .i-ss, ; ; ■ “It suits my habits and my state’s,” said Wallop, whose 1988 re-election campaign published bumper stickers which read: “Another sportsman for Wallop.” : : R ep. ■ Crai g Thom a s. R-Wyo., said he has attended meetings of the House Sportsmen’s Caucus, which is three years old, and that he feels able to promote sports­ men’s interests without formally joining the group. ,-,^.Thq House sportsmen’s caucus mem- , tjefsoifj’ iricludes’lO!? representatives, in-'': ■eluding members' from Montana, Idaho, Colorado and other western states. '.The Senate sportsmen’s caucus includes IS’ members,'several of whom also hail from western states. Congressional cau­ cuses are informal,’ bipartisan organiza­ tions that are usually dedicated to fur­ thering particular special interests. . .Unlike congressional committeeSfth'Sy have no statutory authority to enact legislation. Essentially, congressional caucus­ es are little more than lobbying groups. . . More than 50 congressional caucuses exist solely for the purpose of promoting s'pecial interests such as steel, textiles, -;i............ y- le any Wyoming congressmen Simpson said Wednesday that he hah it affords him an ability to give visibility to issues of importance to Wyoming.” verbally agreed to join the caucus and that Thomas is a member of several groups, he was subsequently invited to deliver thp too, such as the Republican House Mining group’s innaugural speech but was forced Caucus and the Republican Task Force to decline because of a prior commitment. on Indian Affairs. Though Simpsoti was not listed as a ' Spokesmen for the House and Senate caucus member as of Monday, Beth Rentz, sportsmen’s caucuses described their re­ the executive director of the Sportsman’s spective groups’ objectives in similar. Caucus Foundation, said she received p terms. ' . • note from Simpson’s office .Wednesday The spokesmen both said, basically, expressing the senator’s interest in j oining. that their groups seek to protect hunters’ _ __ _^‘Hejustjoined up this week,” she said. . rights and improve wildlife habitat for the ^‘I’m jjrivileged to,work with these, gen­ benefit of sportsmen.') F >■’ • ’ demen.”'..-; A’?:; * Mark Simonich,'a member of Sen. Asked about the earlier invitation, Burns’ staff, said his boss, Idaho GOP Rentz said, “Do you have any idea what Sen. Larry Craig, and Sen. Richard Shel-- crosses a senator’s desk? Things T^ll .’ by, D-Ala., organized the Senate Sports­ . through the cracks.- A a men’s Caucus last spring. Wallop’s name was was hot among Burns is the chairman of the Senate those senators who'were inyited to join sportsmen’s caucus, Shelby is co-chair­ as charter members of the Senate caucus. man and Craig is the secretary. In June, Si- ) Simonich offered no explanation for the monich said, the senators mailed a limited omission, other than to say that the group’s number of invitations to join the new cau­ organizers wanted to keep it small for the cus to a select group of senators. first few months.- > ? L Simonich said Simpson was among the Simonich said another round of invita-, select group but that he apparently failed tions will go out later this year or early in to respond with a letter of acceptance. 1992. ' JU. '. ’’ ; „ copper, space, military reform, wine, and tourism, among other things. . ‘ Many members of Congress belong to ■ caucuses that represent industries or spe­ cial interests that are of particular impor- tance to their districts.; ' ; Walt Gasson, planning coordinator for' the Wyoming Game & Fish Department, said a University of Wyoming study shows that hunters and fishermen injected $288 , million into Wyoming’s economy between July 1, 1990 and June 30 1991. . “That (sum) is straight expenses on' things like licenses, ammo and groceries,”, Gasson said. “That doesn’t include-any multiplier effect or anything that some.people might consider economic voodoo.”’ In addition to their committee assign­ ments, some lawmakers, including all' three members of the Wyoming congres­ sional delegation, belong to more than one congressional caucus. - !' . j Simpson and Wallop, for example, both belong to the Congressional Beef Caucus and the Rural Health Caucus, among oth­ er organizations. Earlier this week, Stan Cannon, Simpson’s press secretary, said Simpson belongs to those groups “because �Simpson: Give Mexico special' trade^tatiis to Wyoming lamb f .i*■-;, CHEY JI E^P) — U.S. Sen; ; / ‘ ‘While I certainly applaud this^ e n 'Xian Simpson has asked the govr cmment of Mexico to include lamb ^Ss one of the meats that will qual•ify for a special trade status. ji- In a letter to Mexico’s ambasrsador to the United States, Gustarjo Petricioli, Simpson said lamb ^hould receive the same advan­ tages to compete in Mexico as oth•fer meats that qualify under the 5J.S. Department of Agriculture’s ^Export Credit Gurantee Program. 1_ “Of the commodities listed in •the department’s announcement, '$20 million was earmarked for frozen or chilled meat, including •beef, pork, poultry and offal,” the Wyoming Republican said .Wednesday. action....! am deeply troubled that lamb was somehow omitted from ; the list of acceptable naeats. l am sure this is an error. ” Allowing American lamb into Mexico would “represent a brand new market for American sheep producers — something that they ; truly deserve,’’he said. ' Simpson’s effort follows last week’s announcement by U.S. ; Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., that he is pushing to open the Mexican market to live breeding sheep.; Simpson said he. Wallop and U.S. Rep. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., are “committed to opening new markets for. Wyoming sheep ranchers.” | �I .. _____ ................ _________ Smipsoii: Simpson Panel did well Kith allegations By DAVID4TACKETT Star-Tribune Washington bureau WASHINGTON — The Sen­ ate Judiciary Committee is thor­ oughly sensitive to women’s , rights and concerns and properly j handled sexual harassment alle- j gations against Supreme Court >. nominee Clarence Thomas, Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson said Wednesday. The Wyoming Republican pre- , dieted that Thomas will win Sen-t . ate confirmation next week. Responding to criticism that the Judiciary Committee ignored charges of sexual harassment lev- : eled at Thomas by University of i Oklahoma professor Anita Hill, ' Simpson said Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., handled the matter most appropriately. Several lawmakers have ques­ tioned why the committee had not deemed the allegations worthy of more extensive treatment earlier in the process. The same question was posed Wednesday to Senate Majority leader George Mitchell. Please see SIMPSON, AIO * Continued from Al (See main story above). Simpson is a member of the Ju­ diciary Committee and an outspo­ ken supporter of Thomas’ nomi­ nation. Newsday and National Public Radio disclosed last weekend that the FBI had investigated charges' by Hill that Thomas had sexually harassed her when they worked together at .the Department of Ed­ ucation and later at the Equal Em­ ployment Opportunity Commis­ sion. Simpson said Wednesday that Hill had originally sought anonymity in making her charge and that Biden had refused to pur­ sue the matter on that basis. . “This woman craved confiden­ tiality,” Simpson said. “Biden told her this is not a Star Chamber...” ■ “You can’t conduct a just soci­ ety on the basis of anonymous ac­ cusations,” he said. “The basis of constitutional government is to be confronted by your accusers.” • Not until Hill agreed to divulge her name to menibers of the com­ mittee did Biden proceed with an investigation of her allegations, Simpson said. Members of the committee were then made privy to the FBI’s report, “including (Sens. Edward) Kennedy (D-Mass.) and (Howard) Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) who would have been eager to go forward,” Simpson said, but elected not to. Monday night, however, Simp­ son lashed out at an NPR reporter for interviewing Hill about her al­ legations. Simpson told the Wash­ ington Post that he waved a jour­ nalistic ethics code at reporter Ni­ na Totenberg as she left ABC’s studios after a heated confronta­ tion with Simpson Monday night on ABC'S “Nightline.” Simpson said he accused Toten­ berg of having ruined Hill’s life by invading her privacy, the Post reported Wednesday. “I said, 'Nina, I just want to tell you those things I said were not said lightly. I meant everything I said.’ She whirled on me and said, 'You big (expletive) ... You are so full of (expletive). You are an evil man.’” “I said, 'Nina, you love to dish it out, but you sure don’t like to take it.’ ” The committee ultimately voted. 7-7 on Thomas’ nomination, which meant that the nomination was sent to the Senate floor with-, out a committee recommendation. Hill’s allegation was consid­ ered seriously by both the com­ mittee and its staff, some of whom happen to be women, Simpson said. The Senate was scheduled to vote on'Thomas Tuesday but de­ layed it for a week to allow time for a hearing on charges of sex ha­ rassment. Simpson said Thomas would have won no more than 47 votes Tuesday night but that he thinks several members will change their votes after Hill’s charges are aired. He said he thinks most mem­ bers want to see Thomas present his side of the story and that many will again support the nominee, assuming no damaging revelations emerge. Simpson said he expects Thomas to win 41 Republican votes next week and that between 12 and 18 Democrats will side with him as well to give Thomas a majority, albeit a narrow one. �Monday; October 14/1991? ■ Simpson cancels Sweetwater meetings . ROJZK springs Sen. Al aimpson, R-Wyo., has cancelled a se­ I nes ot town meetings next week iii Sweetwater County. . The cancellations follow last week’s action by the Senate to delay -the vote on whether to confinh Judge Clarence.Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, Simpson’s Press Secretary Stan Cannon saii ?' . Simpson, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Com­ mittee, IS one of the 14 people involved in the new hearing and ins review sexual harassment charges against Thomas ' . The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the Thomas con­ firmation Oct. 15, Cannon said. I The meetings were scheduled Oct. 14 at the Green River City Coun­ cil chambers, at Leo’s Community Center in Superior and at the Holiday Inn in Rock Springs. Simpson will reschedule the meetings. M �»«• Tribes ponder increased gaming on reservation * Bji: KATHARINE COLLINS^ Southwestern iVyoming bureau '■ • ETHETE — Officials on the Wind River Indian Reservation say they are considering the expansion of gaming activities. ; Alan O’Hashi, a planner and grant writer for the Northern Ara­ paho tribe, says the Arapaho tribe is “beginning some planning” to draw more people to the reserva­ tion to play bingo. He noted that a tribe in Wisconsin successfully draws busloads of bingo players from metropolitan centers. ,' “It’s something that’s definite­ ly being discussed,” O’Hashi said. “It would make the reservation more of a destination. The Afapaho Business Council is beginning some planning.” The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), passed in 1989, spells out the tribal, state and federal authorities for regulation of gaming and gambling on Indian reservations. ■; Traditional Indian games are classified as class I games, are al­ lowed on reservations, and are un­ der the control of tribal authori­ ties. ' Class II games on reservations are liiqited to the types of games allowed under state law. For instance, since Wyoming allows bingo, tribes may also authorize or­ ganizations to run bingo games as fund raisers. The IGRA also set up the National Indian Ganjing Commission to oversee Class II gaming. Class III includes traoKside and off-track horse racing, and casino gambling, and Class i’ll activities on Indian reservations must be negotiated under a state-tribal comcom­ pact. In this category only horse rac-, ing is allowed in Wyoming, and to date no compact has been ne­ gotiated between the state and the Wind River Indian Reservation tribes. . Wyoming Republican Sen. Al Simpson considers it “very important that he be involved io eco­ nomic development” on theWind River Indian Reservation, accordinjg to spokesman Stan Cannon. But Cannon said Simpson “just doesn’t feel it’s appropriate for him to pass judgement” on whether gaming and gambling should be pursued by the tribes as a part of their plan for economic development, “It’s really the tribes’ discre­ tion,” Cannon said..“They’re lim­ ited to what state law allows.” O’Hashi said “there’s ongoing negotiations” between the state and tribes on the whole question of gaming and gambling, but noth­ ing concrete has developed. “I know the governor isn’t too crazy about „ gambling ... in general,, ” z*\ ii t__ 1. !____ _ t. . • . 1 1,1 O’Hashi said. “So he’s asked the tribes to stay within Class II. From our standpoint it behooves the tribes to stay within Class II, so we don’t run into extra regulation by the state.” �Heritage Foimdatioii^ fonuii schedule set By the Star-Tribune staff ( rASPF.R — The Wyoming itage Foundation’s ninth annual forum will cover a variety of multiple use issues on federal lands and will feature numerous national political figures, according to a release from the group. • . This year’s forum, “Multiple Use of Federal Lands: Asset or Liabili­ ty?” is expected to draw between 500 to 600 people from the Wyoming and surrounding region, a release from the heritage founda­ tion said. Issues to be discussed will range from grazing fees to timber quotas, access to federal lands to lease ac­ tivity for mining, tourism promotion to restrictions on.outlitter^ Program highUgnts include a keynote address by Sen. Ma.lcolm Wallop on the history of multiple use and the development of the west. A morning panel chaired by Chuck Chidsey, a rancher from Boulder, Wyo., will be held to dis­ cuss “Federal Land Grazing and the American West”. Rep, Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., Sen. 'Conrad Burns R-Mont., and Sen. Jim Jeffords, R-Vermont, will discuss the problems of multiple use and different perspectives of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Bums opposes increases in the graz­ ing fees and Jeffords has been one of the leaders in the Senate in favor of an increase in grazing fees. Jack Messman, president of Union Pacific Resources, will be the luncheon speaker. Messman will discuss how decisions of a major company are made regarding re­ source development and how these decisions are influenced by state . and federal actions. ’ The afternoon panel, “Land { Management: The Making of An­ other Appalachia?” will be chaired by Rep. Eli Bebout, D-Fremont. Gov. Mike 'Sullivan will lead a governor’s round table discussion to pinpoint western state perspectives. Gov. Bob Miller of Nevada and Lt. Gov. Dennis Rehberg of Montana will join Sullivan in the discussion. Phil Burgess, President of the Center For The New West, will talk about the economics of multiple use. Finally, Sen, Alon Simpson will moderate a press conference where representatives of the media ask program participants questions about the use of federal lands. , The Nov. 1 meeting will be held i at the Casper Inn and Convention Center. Registration is $50 for advance prepaid registration and $60 at the door. The program runs from • 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. A no-host ' reception will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday night. For more informa­ tion, please call the Wyoming Heritage Foundation at (307) 577-8000. �Wolf study iiKliiig earns praise from 1 vudlife group < CHEYENNE (AP) — Defend­ against the recommendation. ers of Wildlifs^n Friday praised a Wyoming’s two U.S. senators, Congressional committee for Malcolm Wallop ancfAlan Simp“paving thc^ay fqr wolf recQvery , Son, have supported the committee in the northern Rockies.’’ recommendation,, belieyingi if •V A House-Senate conference better that land'mana'gers have ;committee on Thursday approved some flexibility in controlling the an appropriations bill that includes predators. If wolves were to mi'$348,000 for an environmental im- . grate into the area on their own, :pact study on wolf reintroduction they'would be accorded the,full protection of the Endangered 'into the Yellowstone area. ‘ ;w, ‘ ‘Approval of an EIS represents Species Act and ranchers would the most significant step ever tak- have little recourse, they said. The Wyoming Farm Bureau, Jen toward actual wolf recovery in land around Yellowstone National with the support of Wyoming Con­ ‘Park,’’ said Rodger Schlickeisen, gressman Craig Thomas, has op­ president of the national cqnser- posed any form of wolf reintroduction, worried livestock would ■ . vation organization. ! The legislation w^s not specif­ be decimated by the predators. ic about the focus of the EIS, In August, Defenders of! whether is would center on a 1987 Wildlife filed a lawsuit against In­ wolf reintroduction plan or a plan terior Secretary Manuel Lujan for prepared last spring by a federal failing to carry out theT987 wolf .;Wolf Management Committee. recovery plan. “We thank the Congress for That committee recommended that ;wolves be down-listed from,en­ siding with the wolf, but we will ‘ dangered to “experimental, non- remain vigilant,” Schlickeisen} < essential,” allowingiyolves to be said in a news release. “The onus in on the Interior j I shot if they attack livestock. ? ;“The environmental impact Department to implement the 1987 5 Statement is to cover a broad range recovery plan, first by expedi-’ 'of alternatives, ’,’the legislation tiously completing the environ­ mental impact statement...and then , .Jsaid. I 'I / Defenders of Wildlife had a to actually reintroduce the wolf as * iTepresentative on the Wolf Man- required by the Endangered f'agement Committee but voted Species Act.” i, �Simpson: Opposition ‘contrived’^ By the Associated Press U S. JSen. Alan Simpson, whose support of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has an-' gered women’s groups, believes some of his opposition is “con­ trived.” “The calls come in and some of it you can tell it is contrived. In other words, somebody has called them and said, ‘Call Simpson and tell him he is off the rail, bizarre, anti-women,’” the Wyoming Re­ publican said. He also said some of his re­ marks made during the sexual ha­ rassment hearing were “misin­ terpreted” because they were re­ duced to “sound bites and snip­ pets” on the news. In particular, the senator ques­ tioned why Anita Hill, who ac­ cused Thomas of sexually harass­ ment, waited 10 years to make her allegations, and how she could have maintained a cordial rela­ tionship with him over the years if the allegations were true. He also had during the hear­ ings that he had received calls and faxes from people warning to watch out” for Hill. • But Sharon Brieghtweiser with the Wyoming chapter of the Na­ tional Organization for Women said Simpson’s comments were .very clear to millions of Ameri­ cans who were glued to their TV sets for the duration of the hear­ ings. She said Simpson showed a ^teat deal of disrespect for Anita and all women during the ;;hearings. I do think it is a pattern. I ;lBink it’s really come to the fore;fi0nt on this that a number of peojojg that haven’t been able to see «tm — people on the national wire 3iave seen him now, not just peo,’jSIe in our state,” Brieghtweiser :S^id. People that watch TV were jBle to witness the types of phras$s’ that he used, the type of vin■ Z^ctiveness and we’re just amazed 'Jt the way he conducted himself. T*ye had calls from all over the 'United States as well as all over Wyoming from people just say^g ‘it’s an embarrassment. I feel Wrry for you, I’m going to change my party affiliation. I’m never go­ ing to vote for this man again. So it’s not an isolated incident.” But Simpson says such attacks against him are unfounded. “There is nothing in my past background that can give any in­ dication whatsoever (of being in­ sensitive to women),” Simpson said Friday in a weekly interview with Wyoming reporters. , “I don’t have to have that kind of a saliva test by activists and zealous groups who I can never satisfy,” he said. �Four of 22 Simpson documents attack Ilill By DAVID HACKETT Star-1 ribune n'ashtngton bureau WASHINGTON — Four docu­ ments released by Wyoming Re­ publican Sen. Alan Simpson support his assertion at a Senate hearing that he received warnings to “watch out” for Professor Anita Hill, but the other 18 documents the senator released do not. Simpson said Friday that the material he has made public does shed doubt on Hill’s credibility and her sexual harassment charges levied against newly sworn U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence - - Tuesday, October 22,1991 1 Thomas before he was confirmed by the Senate. — The Wyoming Republican placed the documents into the Congressional Record Oct. 15 af­ ter being criticized for “imitating” former U.S. Sen. Joe McCarthy during Senate Judiciary Commit­ tee hearings over the weekend of Oct. 12. The hearings were convened to evaluate charges by Hill, a Uni­ versity of Oklahoma Law School professor, that she was sexually harassed by Thomas when she worked under his supervision at Please see SIMPSON AIO '^.Aiuunuea trom Al' them discussing Thomas’ integri­ the Equal Employment Opportu­ ty and his working relationship nity Commission and the U.S. De­ with Hill without expressing strong partment of Education. sentiments about Hill’s Character. During the hearings, Simpson Four documents made public by stated, “And now, I really am get­ Simpson are particularly deroga­ ting stuff over the transom about tory about Hill. Professor Hill. I have got letters In a letter to the Judiciary Com­ hanging out of my pockets. I have mittee, Mary Constance Matthies, got faxes. I have got statements a Tulsa lawyer, states that she from her former law professors, heard two of Hill’s former female statements from people who know students describe her as “aggres­ her, statements from Tulsa, Okla­ sive,” “ambitious,” and “very out­ homa saying ‘watch out for this spoken.” woman.’ But nobody has got the “This trait was reportedly pre­ guts to say that because it gets all sent in Ms. Hill to such excess that tangled up in this sexual harass­ these women lawyers character­ ment crap.” ized her as a ‘bitch,’” Matthies Speaking on the Senate floor Oct said. IS, Simpson said he would insert In a letter to Sen. Strom Thur­ the material into the Congressional mond, R-S.C., Dennis Alan Olson, Record as a reply to the “cowardly a Dallas, Tex. law professor who charged headlines and baiting” con­ formerly taught at Oklahoma, de­ cerning his alleged McCarthyite tac­ scribed Hill as “ a detailed, cold, tics. and calculating person” who “ap­ Four of the 22 documents Simp­ peared to recognize her protected son inserted into the Congressional position as a black woman in an Record clearly impugn Hill’s char­ era of affirmative action and to use acter. The rest do not appear to sup­ that protected position for all it port his characterization of the doc­ was worth...” uments as warnings to “watch out” An affidavit from a member of for Hill. the law firm where Hill worked at Two of the remaining docu­ her first job out of school said he ments praise Hill, and eight are ei­ had told her her work was unac­ ther not directly about Hill or refer ceptable and she should seek oth­ to Angela Wright, a second wom­ er employment. That appeared to an who charged Thomas with sex­ be in direct contradiction to Hill’s ual harassment but did not testify Senate testimony, in which she had before the committee. said there had been no suggestion The other eight documents refer of problems with her work before to a variety of subjects, some of she chose us leave the firm for a government job. A statement by Harry Singleton, a former assistant secretary of education, similarly denies Hill’s claim of having no choice but to follow Thomas to the EEOC. “If Ms. Hill was being harassed by Judge Thomas and did not feel comfortable continuing to work with him, she could have remained ...” Singleton stated. Of the other documents, one statement attributed to Andrew Fishel, a former Education De­ partment worker, refuted Hill’s contention that she was forced to follow Thomas to the EEOC. Fishel said Hill told him at the time she was “flattered” to be offered the EEOC job. Fishel also vouched for Thomas’ integrity. Another of the documents is a letter of recommendation for Hill from Thomas to Charles Kothe, dean of the school of law at Oral Roberts University. Another letter from Sandra Bat­ tle, an attorney for the U.S. Edu­ cation Department, describes Hill as a “dedicated, serious and coop­ erative employee.” Battle stated that, “based on my personal knowledge, I have no rea­ son to question the integrity or credibility of either the Judge Thomas or Professor Anita Hill.” Some of Simpson’s material, however, does not even mention Hill, such as a letter from Thomas to Wright, dismissing her from the EEOC Simpson said Friday that the group of documents support his assertion that Hill’s description of how Thomas acted toward her lack credibility and consistency. But Betty Friedan, who is the author of “The Feminine Mys­ tique” and founder of the National Organization for Women, blasted Simpson and other GOP members of the Judiciary Committee for their tactics. Friedan said Simpson and his Republican colleagues never real­ ly considered Hill’s charges and answered them by, “accusing her of lying and having people accuse her of worse than that — perjury, erotomania, schizophrenia, psy­ chosis ...” Friedan also said the Republi­ cans’ tactics have made it more difficult for all women to redress grievances of on-the-job sexual harassment and sexual assault. “Activist women like (Friedan) ' may believe that but other women, ' who are thoughtful and have com­ mon sense, do hot believe that,” Simpson said. “They know that if you’re in Washin^on, D.C. during the 1980s ... any women who felt sexually harassed in two jobs (would not) follow the perpetrator to the next job and then, after the perpetrator had left his influence over her life ... she still maintained contact and the only time the contact ended was when she knew he had mar­ ried.” �■w. ■ i ; ■ ♦ ' He should be very deeply dis' turbed at the tactics of his own party, which created this situation '• in the first instance,” the senator said, adding that he was convinced a Democratic member of the Ju­ diciary Committee had leaked word about Hill’s comments on Thomas to the press. “I think that it’s a very des­ perate act and from what we know we haven’t found any Republi­ cans yet who were really out to ^■.CHEYENNE (AP) — ate kill the nomination of Clarence Thomas,” Simpson said. Democratic Party Chairman Graves also claimed that Simp­ Chuck Graves hng unleashed a son participated in a “calculated verbal assault on U.S. Sen, Alan . White House-orchestrated attack ..Simpson, saying the Republican on a witness who had volunteered has “sold his soul to the devil” to come forward.” and cares little for Wyoming. “1 don’t think he was after the Chuck Graves’ attack stems ^facts. He was tryifig to choke off, i jrdm Simpson’s conduct in the re­ ;through a public relations attack , I cent confirmation hearings for ■on national television, any search ! Supreme Court Justice Clarence Tor the facts by the committee,” i Thomas as well as his diatribes the Democrat charged. , | against CNN Correspondent Peter ; Graves said Simpson’s com- j Arnett during the Persian Gulf ,ments during the hearings were ■ ..War,., “demeaning to the women of -; “I think somebody has got to ■ Wyoming and the Equality do something” about Simpson’s iState,” and demeaning to the conduct in the confirmation hear­ Estate’s GOP chair, Lorraine Quarings, Graves said Tuesday. “I feel berg. the people of Wyoming have al­ ; “He represents all the people J lowed this to go on for too long. ’ ’ •in Wyoming, but the impression is - . Simpson has been attacked in fthat he only represents the presinewspaper editorials and letters- yent in this particular issue,’’ the to-the-editor for his questioning of ^Democrat charged. Anita Hill on her claims that “I didn’t take any marching Thomas sexually harassed her a orders from the White House,” decade ago. ■ Simpson replied. ; . When reached Wednesday in ' “The Republicans sat down his Washington office the sena­ 'before the Clarence Thomas nom- A tor said Graves’ remarks didn’t ■ination and we said, ‘What is our f surprise him terribly. Yole here? Our role is to see that , - . “I know Chuck, I’ve, known ^Clarence Thomas is treated fair- j him a long time and I know he’s ly’” and to see that his nominathe Democratic state chairman and :tion is confirmed. i know his job is to knock off Re­ «- Simpson’s attacks earlier this publicans,” the Senate Minority iyear on Arnett, whom the sena- , Whip said. “He’s had a very hard ilor called an Iraqi sympathizer, ! time of that as chairman of the Vere just “another example of the > party.” ■problem,” Graves said. - And while Graves said that • “I think he’s so impressed with during the confirmation hearings :’his power now that it’s,perva­ Simpson “engaged in an adver­ sive,” he said. I sarial tirade that abused not only the rights of the witness, but the ?• entire process,” Simpson replied that the Democrat’s own party was responsible for the contro­ versial hearings. , ,J Rimpson’ ^sold soul Io De �UUU tUllUlUg'lAl Ulk, XUlCaiVl Jaai House HKes Simpson’s K-Fuels amendment By DAVID HACKETT Star-Tribune fyashington bureau vention in the Department of Energy clean coal program? Wyoming Republican Rep. Craig WASHINGTON — The House of Thomas defended the amendment, saying Representatives Thursday stripped an it represented a reasonable direction to amendment from the Interior appropria- the Department of Energy to use any untionsjiill that would provide $A4 mil- spent clean coal money for K-Fuels. lion in unobligated clean-coal funds to Rep. Mike Synar, D-Okla., who has build a K-Fuels plant near Gillette. ^uared off with the Wyoming delegation The Senate had earlier approved the in the past over grazing fees, entered the amendment. It now must decide whether fray on the side of critics of the K-Fuels to agree to the House action, insist on funding, who succeeded in stripping the its position and send the bill back to the amendment from the bill. Synar ac­ House, or work out a mutually acceptable knowledged off the floor that a potential compromise. impasse over the issue could boost his In a lively debate Thursday, House hopes of getting a grazing fee hike members attacked the amendment, au­ through this year. . thored by Wyoming GOP Sen Alan After it was all ovct, Stan Cannon, iimpson. as unwarranted special interPlease see K-FUELS, A12 i i < Continued from Al Simpson’s press secretary, said his boss will insist on including the K-Fuels amendment in the bill when it is considered by the Senate probably sometime next week. The Senate initially approved Simpson’s amendment in Septem­ ber as part of its version of the fis­ cal 1992 Interior spending bill, which includes some funding for the Department of Energy. The amendment was unusual in that it specifically earmarked un­ spent funds in the clean coal-pro­ gram up to S44 million to go to a certain kind of project. The project would have to be one with top ranking in its cate­ gory that was beaten out for fund­ ing earlier by a lower-ranked pro­ ject. That definition applies only to the project of Heartland Fuels hic., a subsidiary of Wisconsin Power & Light, which seeks $44 million from DOE for construction of an $88 million K-Fuels plant near Gillette. The plant would dry Wyoming coal to boost its energy content and reduce its sulfur con­ tent. The $5 billion Clean Coal Tectnology Program is intended to stimulate technological innova- ' tions aimed at cleaner, more effi­ cient uses of coal. The program consists of five rounds. Companies submit their project proposals for federal fimding and the winners are selected by the Source Evaluation Board (SEB), an eight-member commit­ tee backed by about 100 DOE technical advisers. Several House members took to the floor Thursday to attack Simpson’s amendment as a dangerous invitation to other mem­ bers of Congress to intervene in the program on behalf of projects in their districts. “If we go down the slope of starting to micromanage the cleancoal process, there will be no end to it.” said Regula. Scott Klug, R-Wis., defended the amendment, saying the K-Fu­ els proposal had been ranked first for funding by the SEB but that DOE officials “shifted the guide­ lines in the middle of the deci­ sion process” and chose other pro­ jects. ; j ’ j i | ' I ■ ordinarily is approved as a block of money dispersed as the DOE directs. Simpson introduced the amendment to force the DOE to spend the $44 million on K-Fuels after the Department had select­ ed for clean coal funding a differ­ ent Wyoming project — a coal up­ grading plant by Sunedco’s Cordero Mining in Gillette. Simpson successfully got the Senate to direct DOE spending af­ ter his office received leaked in­ formation from the Department of Energy that showed the K-Fuels plant was rated higher than Cordero in the DOE’s original ranking of clean coal projects. A House-Senate conference committee last week agreed to keep Simpson’s amendment in the bill, despite objections by Rep. Sid Yates, D-Ill., the chairman of &e House Interior appropriations ■ subcommittee, and Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, the subcommit■ tee’s ranking Republican. Yates and Regula said Simp­ son’s amendment “politicized” the clean-coal program. Project fiinding decisions have traditionally been left to techni­ cal experts at the Department of Energy, they said, and Simpson’s amendment constituted unwar­ ranted congressional interference. Simpson said the leaked infor’’ mation “calls into real question the integrity of the federal clean­ coal program, and the judgment of high DOE officials involved in the selection process” largely be­ cause a project ranked lower than K-Fuels received funding. A spokesman for the DOE said last week that the object of the program is to choose the best pro­ jects for available funds. The DOE official expressed un­ happiness with the leak about KFuels’ original rating, and said the agency is seeking the source of the leak. ■ HI ■ KI But Kep. boo walker, K-ra., refuted Klug, saying DOE docu­ ments show that the K-Fuels plant was ranked 19th overall and first in the “new fuel forms” category. Walker further noted that other number-one projects in their cate­ gories also were not chosen for funding. Wyoming Rep. Craig Thomas said Simpson’s amendment is jus­ tified because the DOE chose to fund a less expensive project pro­ posed by Cordero Mining Com-<, pany, of Gillette, which was ranked second in the new fuel forms category. “The language does not desig­ nate any new money,.” Thomas said. “It doesn’t take money away , from the projects that are funded. It simply says that when the se­ lected projedts do not use the mon­ ey, that money should go to the project with the highest ranking.” Synar, who is a strong propo­ nent of increased grazing fees on federal lands, sided with critics of the amendment and suggested the K-Fuels process is undeserving. “We went through thisvonce with the Synthetic Fuels Corpora-tion,” Synar said. “If you like Syn- ' fuels, you’re going to love this.”. The House voted to strip the amendment from the bill by voice vote, meaning individual votes, were not tallied. Synar acknowledged off the floor that defeating Simpson’s amendment might create a political impasse in which Congress would be unable to pass an Interior spending bill. Without an appropriations bill. Congress would have to appropri­ ate fiscal 1992 Interior funds through a so-called continuing res­ olution. Synar noted, with a smile, that that would provide a vehicle to which he would seek to attach a grazing fee hike. ■ I*'-■— .. ; Friday, October 25,1991 Tk �Simpson greeted by protesters, m Laramie ' 5? ’ . to honor l>»nor his father, falher. the former Wyoming governor and U.S. sen­ ator — Sgfl» Alan Simp.-.. Picketers arrived about a onesotl..R7.Wyn., encountered a group half hour before Simpson and held of picketing ^ramie residents Fri­ signs expressing support for Ok­ day who said they are “embar­ lahoma law professor Anita Hill rassed” by the senator’s behavior and opposition to the “uncivilized during the recent Clarence Thomas , tactics used by Simpson during confirmation hearings. the Thomas confirmation process. About 35 protesters turned out Asa prop, the group carried a to greet Simpson as he arrived for box of fictitious letters they a lunch meeting with University claimed represented the concerns of Wyoming political science stu­ of folks from all over the country dents who have recently returned telling us to watch out for this euv from government internships in Simpson.” Washington, D.C. “We’re really getting these let­ Simpson was in Laramie to help ters pouring in over the transom,” raise additional funds for the Po­ joked Willy Ludlow, referring to litical Science Department’s Mil­ Simpson’s recent claim that he had ward Simpson Chair, established _PIehse see SIMPSON, A14 -.1 ------------- ur<XTU Z^X^t _.,,__ Once inside, Simpson joked received numerous letters ques4! that the reception reminded him tioning Hill’s character. j of the treatment his father had reAs Simpson arrived at the UW;} ' ceived when “he too followed a Foyndation House, picketers ’< somewhat controversial course.” cleared a path and quietly smiled ’ Simpson said earlier that when at him as he walked to greet his ( governor, his father had been crit­ brother Pete, who now serves as : icized for his stand against capital UW vice president for develop- ! punishment. ment. In a press conference later FriOne. member of the picketing , , day afternoon, Simpson defended group, UW English professor ' his record on womens’ issues but said he also felt justified in de­ Jeanne Holland, said the group’s fending Clarence Thomas against only purpose was to “remind the “the unsubstantiated claims leaked good senator of two things.” by unknown staffers on capitol “One, we were very embar­ hill.” rassed to have watched his behav­ “My record speaks for itself,” ior during the confirmation de­ Simpson said. “Sixty-eight perbate. It was particularly embar­ rassing to know that he is sup­ . cent of my staff are women. I’m pro-choice. I support repeal of the posed to be representing us in p.C.,” Holland said. “Secondly, j gag rule. (The federal prohibition it might serve him well to remem­ i on the release of abortion related ber that we are not going to forget 1 information by federally funded ' clinics). I introduced legislation it.” ! virtually doubling the penalties ! for sexual harassment. I have a i solid record. Now that is being ig! nored.” Simpson said the Thomas con­ firmation “debacle” will likely re■ suit in a drop in his popularity in ■ the state, j •B' “I guess it’s a fact of life,” . Simpson said. “The longer you’re '■ in, the more people you upset. That’s what they call politics.” Citar-1 ribune Laramie bureau ^33 ¥ J5h M kJVFll, 1* ' �.Sunday,Qctober27.199i;^-^.; Simpson: Lamb i added to export ! credit prg^a^g) | By the Associated Press i ' Chilled and frozen lamb has been added to the list of meats '■? ** qualifying for the U.S. Depart­ ment of Agriculture’s Export Credit Guarantee Program, U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson said. f The USDA and Mexico ap-, proved addition of lamb to the program earlier this week, the Wyoming Republican said. Simpson, who asked two weeks ago that the export credit program be extended to said he ap­ preciated the swift response. ■ In pushing to add lamb to the ^ist of meats in the program, Simp­ son said $20 million had been ear­ marked for,beef, pork and poultry. Simpson said it is important ? that lamb have the same compel- ‘ itive advantage in Mexico. Simpson said Wyoming’s con­ gressional delegation will contin­ ue to monitor the federal invest!- i gation of an alleged monopoly in the lamb-packing industry. Sheep producers blame a t monopoly for the low prices they < receive. 1 �;.-A’ DOE Continued from Al POE official apologizes for remarks about leak one on his staff contacted Feibus Simpson is one of several sen­ or his superiors to express con­ ators who have called for an in­ cern about the original remark re­ vestigation of how sexual harass­ ported earlier. ment charges against Supreme “My hunch is what happened Court Justice Clarence Thomas in that situation had nothing to do were leaked to the media. with Wyoming,” Simpson said. “It Simpson’s amendment, which had to do with his superiors. The /Z/t By DAVID HACKETT was approved by the Senate, network is very real. The Region 8 would require the DOE to spend people monitor everything anyone and Charles PELKEY up to $44 million in unobligated in one of the agencies says and Star~Tribune siajt writeri z clean-coal funds on a project to probably faxed (the article) back to build a K-Fuels plant near Gillette. Washington where they said WASHINGTON — A,Department of Energy official has' Feibus wrote this week, “Un­ ‘What’s this guy doing? He hasn’t apologized for remarks he made concerning leaked information fortunately, 1 chose to express my the ability to talk about this.’” that Wyomin;^ Sen. Alan Simpson used to persuade lawmakers irritation over the unauthorized Asked a second time if he had ;o fund a K-Fuels project in Gillette. release of internal information in pressured DOE officials to repri­ The apology apparently came after Simpson’s staff conlanguage that not only does not mand Feibus, Simpson replied “I acted the Energy Department regarding a news story reporting represent the view of the Depart­ can assure without any reserva­ the remarks. ment of Energy, but also does not tion whatsoever the answer to that In a letter to the Stair-Tribune dated Oct. 23, Howard Feibus, reflect my professional standards. is no.” ____________________ ____ 0^0, lui uici^v>C lirector of coal combustion andvilla control systems for the DOE, “In no way did I intend my Stan Cannon, Simpson’s press apologized for saying “the leak is just like what happened to statement to draw any inference secretary, said Friday that a pall Judge Thomas— a lot ofcrap just got laid out.” to the integrity of Senator Simpson had been made by Simpson’s staff i That quote from Feibus appeared in a Star-Tribune story or to his actions in representing to the DOE concerning Feibus’ re- about a DQE investigation into the source of a leak that Simphis constituents,” Feibus conclud­ , ... „. SO" uSed in sponsoring an amendment to the Interior approed. Cannon also said that Simp- priations bill. The House of Representatives son’s office supplied DOE with a , Please see DOE, Al 2 voted Thursday to remove the copy of the Oct. 22 article. amendment from the Interior ap­ Cannon repeatedly emphasized i propriations bill, on the grounds that the nature of the call was not Jttt" that it represented unwarranted to demand an apology or to intim­ special intervention in the clean idate Feibus but to deterpiine j coal program. whether Feibus was expressing the , The Senate now has three op­ DOE’s position or his own per- ; tions. It could agree with what the sonal opinion. House did with the amendment, “We were very surprised that a , insist on its inclusion by voting to DOE official would make these ’ send the bill back to the House, comments,” Cannon said. “We : or work out an agreement that contacted — at the staff level —. would require approval in both (DOE’s office of) congressional^^ .I houses. affairs to ascertain'in what capac*'» Simpson argued for the amend­ ity Feibus was speaking.” : b ;; -Jtr ment based on an internal DOE “Maybe our contact triggered ' document that scored the K-Fuels something,” Cannon said. “We ' project higher than another pro­ thought that comment was a little ject which received funding in the inappropriate and we thought the fourth round of DOE’s Clean Coal best thing to do was go through ft . Technology Program. congressional affairs...” , Feibus, who wrote his letter in Carole Beeman, a . DOE Europe where he spent the week spokeswoman who was asked Fri­ on business, said in the letter, “My day if Simpson’s office had con­ W; reference to the Judge Thomas sit­ tacted DOE about the letter, said, f, uation in discussing the leak of in­ “We don’t believe it is appropriate >1 ternal DOE Clean Coal project ito discuss any conversations be-i ii evaluation information was not tween i , the department and.mem-? : jjS!; appropriate. Moreover, the Ian- bers of Congress,i.” guage 1 used in describing the . __,,,_^ _ leaked information was unprofes­ sional.” Interviewed in Laramie Friday, 1' Simpson said neither he nor any- ' Siibpson’s Staff had contacted agency on K-Fuels co ent $ �■ •• t tij.*___ ■ ■ ■ ■■ Simpson j Simpson criticisms CHEYENNE (AP) — U.S. Sgrf. Alan Simpson expressed remofsF SaturdaylcTr his sharptongued criticism of Anita Hill during the Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Ihr-tice Clarence Thomas. “I have been riding high, a bit too cocky, arrogant, yeah, too smart by half sometimes,” the Wyoming Republican told about 300 people at a GOP fund-raiser. Among those in attendance were Wyoming natives Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Hu­ manities. The evening started as a hu­ morous “roast and toast” of the senator. But it took a somber note when Simpson told the crowd that Please see SIMPSON, AIO Continued from Al the last several weeks had been “very painful.” Simpson was one of Thomas’s strongest defenders and Hill’s biggest detractors earlier this month during hearings investi­ gating Hill’s claims that Thomas had sexually harassed her. He angered feminist groups with his attacks on Hill and her credibility, at one point suggesting that the law professor had a crush on Thomas. Ever since, the senator has been criticized by women’s groups and lambasted in newspaper editorials and cartoons. He was picketed by about 40 people on Friday when he made an appearance at the Uni­ versity of Wyoming, his alma mater. “I see some of my previous life’s behavior held up to a prism 1 had never noticed before through different eyes. For it has been per­ sonally uncomfortable to see your good name equated with Mc­ Carthy, sleaze, slime, smarmy, evil, ugly, mean-spirited, slash­ er, vindictive, menacing and much, much more,” he said. “I do not blame the media for anything, nothing. I do not blame activist feminine groups, for any­ thing, nothing. They’re blameless. The responsibility is mine and I shall handle it and handle it well.” �Senate calls for renaming of Casper federal courthouses^ " WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday to name the U.S. courthouse in Casper the “Ewing T. Kerr U.S. Courthouse” after Wyoming’s senior federal judge. The bill, which was co-sponsored by Wyoming Sens. Alan Simpson and Malcolm Wallop, was passed by unanimous consent Wednesday — meaning no roll call vote was ordered. The Wyoming Republicans introduced the bill on the floor of the Senate Tuesday night and praised Kprr as a “vital part of his community, his state and his country.” Kerr, the senior U.S district court judge for Wyoming, was appointed to the federal bench by President Eisenhower in 1955 and became the senior federal judge for Wyoming in 1975. The bill notes that Kerr has dedicated 64 years of his life to the practice of law in Wyoming, including 36 years as a fed­ eral judge. • The courthouse is located at 111 S. Wolcott. The House of Representatives must pass the bill as well before the courthouse can be renamed. . , ’ ’ Z ; ; �Wallop, SiiwsoiTseeK sheep revisions;’ CIIEYEMME ^J-S- Sens. Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson are calling on the U.S.'Department of Affnculture to develop a plan to restructure the_sheep indugtp^ , Wallop and Simpson say they are concerned that while the demand for lamb remains steady and retail prices nse, pnces paid to producers have fallen. �J ' Sunday, November 1 Health care ideas outBifed at forum (V Sullivan says Washington stalled due to 1992 election f By HUGH JACKSON ; Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER — Providing group health insurance for employees of small companies and recruiting doctors to Wyoming are likely to be subjects of health care legisla­ tion during this winter’s upcoming budget session, members of a leg­ islative committee said at a health care forum Saturday. • A health care reform bill sup­ ported by Sjen. Al Simpson, RWyo., however, may be intro­ duced only to remain in limbo with 40 other health care measures currently before Congress, Simp­ son said at the same forum. And any comprehensive na­ tional health care solutions will not be forthcoming before the 1992 election, because the Bush administration refuses to provide any ’ leadership on the issue. Democratic Qov. Mike Sullivan told the League of Women Voterssponsored forum. Members of the Legislature’s Select Committee on Health Care, outlined the “ideas” that, though still in the drafting process, would likely be introduced as bills at the- ‘ budget session beginning in' February. * Wyoming must “guarantee in­ surability” for people who work . for companies of 25 employees dr 5 less, said Rep. Rick Tempest, R-' ; Natrona. . . ■ Legislation may be introducedto require insurance companies to: offer a basic coverage policy to; small companies. Tempest said. A citizens’ committee would be established to define what benefits constitute basic coverage, the rep­ resentative said. Insurance companies them­ selves, either voluntarily or by i law, would set up a re-insurance pool to cover the costs of the high­ er risks entailed in offering the coverage programs. Tempest said. , In an effort to attract doctors to the state — and keep them here ■; — T^ep T.es Rnwrnn, R-Natrona. ' _ said legislation is being drafted to ~ reimburse doctors for their medi­ cal school tuition if they locate in ; Wyoming. Low-interest loans to cover a ' new physician’s start-up costs — Please see HEALTH, A12 Health Continued from Al and attract him or her to the state — is another proposal Bowron said may emerge in the upcoming budget session. ■ ■ “Medicine is a business” Bowron said, and if the state is willing to make low-interest loans to other types of industry in the name of economic development, health care should not be excluded. At the federal level, Simpson told the forum he supports a plan likely to be introduced in the Sen­ ate next week by Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I. The plan incorporates many features of the some 40 other plans currently before Congress includ­ ing: Making it easier for employ­ ers to purchase health care for their employees; eliminating discrimi­ natory insurance practices; re­ forming the malpractice litigation system; expanding existing gov­ ernment coverage programs to cover those who currently do not qualify for those programs; pre­ ventive care; and providing states flexibility to experiment. . • The plan differs from other health care reform acts before Congress, Simpson said, in that if has a funding mechanism. Currently, employers get tax exclusions and deductions for pro­ viding health benefits. Chafee’s plan would allow such tax incen­ tives only for providing a “no­ frills” basic policy, excluding some elective procedures and “frills” such as hairpieces for chemotherapy patients or unlimit­ ed infertility treatments, Simpson said. The federal treasury could hope to recoup $40 billion annually by excluding the tax incentives, hence paying for the Chafee program, the senator said. Labor unions will attack the plan as an “unconscionable attack on fnnge benefits,” Simpson said. Other interest groups are likely to attack it as well, he said, and the measure will probably be intro­ duced without the funding mech­ anism. Without a funding system, no health care reform legislation will pass, Simpson said. Sullivan, meanwhile, said he' was recently in Washingtonj D.C. attending a forum for Democratic governors on health care. Congressional leaders of both parties told the governors that nothing would be done about health care at the national level until after the 1992 election, Sul­ livan said, because the Bush ad­ ministration is not providing any leadership on the issue. . -. The congressional leaders also told the governors that compre­ hensive action would not be al­ lowed at the state level because it would mean losing momentum for national comprehensive reform. In the meantime, Sullivan said, Wyoming should adopt small busi­ ness insurance reform like that outlined by the legislative com­ mittee. The state should also make at attempt to reform the malpractice system by instituting a system of mandatory, non-binding arbitra­ tion, the governor said. Allowing arbitration, however, would require an amendment to the Constitution, he noted. The state Supreme Court earlier ruled such arbitration was un­ constitutional because it restricts litigant’s access to the courts. I . j ' ; ' �Tuesday; N o v em b er 5 ,1 9 9 1 * Bl^ plans ' to reduce ; royaltie^n i some wells By The Associated Press | A. proposal by the U.S. Bureau { of Land Management to reduce | the royalty rate assessed on strip- t . per wells is being praised by L Wyoming’s congressional delegation as a wise economic and en- rf ergymove. Oil companies currently pay a ?' royalty of 12.5 percent on production from stripper wells. S. . Under the BLM proposal, wells vaveraging less than 15 barrels of p. oil a day would pay a royalty rate i; ranging from 1.3 percent for one P barrel a day to 11.7 percent for wells producing 14 barrels of dai- j lyI The congressional delegation 5. believes the reduced rates would j. encourage companies to keep the low-volume wells in production. . 1*' “On the same day the Senate • | refused to debate a bill to increase P ' our domefetic energy production, A the Department of-Interior is i forcedto reduce royalty payments 1' in order to keep one sector of our < domestic oil industry alive,’’Ssn,. ' Malcolm Wallop said. “Wyoming has nearly 3,000 / operating stripper wells which produce over 5 million barrels of i? ' oil a year. This is obviously a re- t source we cannot afford to lose,’’ i ' the Republican said. “Yet the low V .worldwide oil prices threaten the : survival of these wells. The decision by the Interior Department | is a smart one — it could ensure the recovery of this ‘endangered species.’’’ Sen. Alan Simpson said the move to ease royalty rates on strip- per wells might encourage some companies that have already “shut ip in’’such wells to reopen them. g “From a conservation per- € spective, we also need to get every drop of oil out of a field that we K I can,” Simpson said. “Right now J?80 percent of the 3,700 ‘shut in’ 7 ■ stripper wells have the potential to ; return to production.” '’ Rep. Craig Thomas said such a A > rate reduction just might gener­ ate more production and more • jobs in Wyoming. 't “Governments have a tendency to increase taxes when pro- jj; duction is down,” Thomas said. “That’Ska bad policy. It stalls growth; I’m pleased with this S plan.?’ M f ■ ■ ■ ' ' ■ . . �Thursday, November 7,1991 Congress approves final interior legislation without K-Fuels funds Editor's note: Part of this story was inadvertantly dropped from some editions of the Wednesday Star-Tribune. The story appears in full todav. / >■ fT^ » By DAVID HACKETT^ Star-Tribune Washington bureau WASHINGTON — Congress has approved a 1992 Interior ap­ propriations bill that contains mil­ lions of dollars for Wyoming hut no money sought by Wyoming Re­ publican Sen. Alan Simpson for a K-F uels n I a n t in Gillette. The bill was passed by both chambers of Congress late last week. It includes about $23 million for work in Yellowstone and Hraiid Tclon National Parks, on the Wind River Indian ReservaJtiuu. at the National Fish Hatchery in Saratoga, at the Western Re­ search Institute in Laramie, and Continued from Al gram which they said has tradi­ tionally relied on technical evalu­ ations, not politics, to determine winners and losers. Simpson, Sens. Robert Kasten, R-Wisc., and Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, proposed a compromise amendment last week that would have provided $5 million from the DOE’s fossil fu­ el research fund. Yates and Rep. Bob Walker, RPa., however, attacked the second amendment as well. “The amendment is even worse than the original Senate amend­ ment ...” Yates said. “At least 50 percent cost sharing is required for other clean coal technology pro­ grams but the Heartland amend­ ment proposes no cost-sharing in any respect.” Yates also said DOE’s fossil energy fund was reduced by $6 million this year and that with­ drawing another $5 million for Heartland would place an unfair additional burden on the program. Brent Ericksonj a staff sj iikt•’-man for Simpson, said the second amendment was offered for acquisition of Cokeville Mead­ ows near Kemmerer In a compromise dubbed “corn for porn,” the bill also maintains federal lands livestock grazing fees at current levels and reduces “de­ cency” restrictions, on grants by the National Endowment for the Arts, In the final version of the bill, the Senate yielded to the House of Representatives’ refusal to pro­ vide $5 million from the Depart­ ment of Energy’s fossil fuels re­ search fund for design and con­ struction of the K-Fuels plant. Simpson originally attached an amendment to the interior spend­ ing bill that would have allocated $44 million in unobligated funds to the K-Fuels project from the DOE’s Clean Coal Technology Program. The project was passed over by the DOE after Heartland Fuels, because it had been discussed by the House-Senate conference com­ mittee, which had been.preparcd to vote for it. Erickson said Regula, the rank­ ing Republican on the House Inte­ rior appropriations subcommittee, also had signed off on the second amendment but that Yates refused to go along. The spending bill sets aside $ 11 million in fiscal 1992 for con­ struction of roads in Yellowstone National Park and $2.26 million for planning and construction work on the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway in Grand Teton National Park. Yellowstone also is slated to re­ ceive $850,000 for winter opera­ tions but no money was provided for construction of the Continental Divide snowmobile trail in Grand Teton Park. The bill appropriates $ 1 million to acquire Cokeville Meadows, near Kemmerer but does not ap­ propriate $408,000 to acquire land along the portion of the Clarks Fork River designated as a wild and scenic river. The Star-Tribune earlier re­ Inc., a subsidiary of Wisconsin Power & Light, applied for $44 million. The money would have paid about half the cost of con­ structing the plant. Simpson offered his amendment after obtaining leaked DOE docu­ ments that showed the K-Fuels plant had been scored higher than another Wyoming project which was selected for funding. The House of Representatives, led by Interior Appropriations Sub­ committee Chairman Rep. Sid Yates, D-Ill., and Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, stripped Simpson’s amendment from the bill. Simpson argued that his amend­ ment was justified because the DOE had acted arbitrarily in pass­ ing over the Heartland proposal. But Yates and other House members said the measure amount­ ed to political meddling in a pro­ Please see INTERIOR, AIO ported incorrectly that the $408,000 was included in the final version of the bill. Neither does the legislation pro­ vide any funds to acquire the Coff­ man Ranch, in the Big Horn Moun­ tains, north of Arminto. Improvements to the Wind Riv­ er Irrigation Project worth ,$ I mil­ lion are funded under the bill. Wyoming Republican Sen. Mal­ colm Wallop had sought twice that amount. Modifications to the National Fish Hatchery in Saratoga worth $2,135 million will paid for under the bill, along with a $5 million grant to the Western Research In­ stitute in Laramie for continued fossil energy research. I �Simj^on, WaUpp sign on t^GOP healrii hfll pared statement. Simpson spokesman Stan Can­ non said Friday the bill is “the ma­ jor GOP initiative” from the Senate CASPER -J- Wyoming Repub-, on health care, The measure joins some 40 oth­ f.lican Sens. Malcolm Wallop and “ Al Simpson this week joined 16 er health care reform bills which other GOP senators in co-spon- are currently before Congress. Of soring legislation which would the major proposals, one by Senate give small businesses and their Democratic leaders would extend employees tax credits for pur­ health insurance to all Americans by requiring employers to provide chasing health insurance. At a Wasl^ington news confer­ basic coverage to workers or pay ence this wefek. Republican sup­ into a public program. Under the GOP legislation, porters said the package could cost small businesses and individuals $ 150 billion over five years. The senators have not outlined would be provided a tax credit for a method of paying for the bill, health insurance. Key provisions however, and the lack 6f a funding of the measure would: • Establish income tax credits mechanism is a “potential Achilles’ heel” of the measure, for individuals to cover costs of Simpson and Wallop said in a pre- health care services and insurance 4, j ii By HUC^ JACKSON Star-Tribune staff writer with A^ire reports J • . - . ■'* Continued from Al insurance when calculating their income taxes. Full tax deductions ftlso would be provided to people who must buy insurance because their employers do not provide in■ jturance coverage. • Provide tax credits to small businesses to encourage them to Establish health coverage for their uninsured workers or expand it to Family members. i • Establish a tax credit for in­ dividuals to cover costs of “preyfcntive” medical services, in­ cluding cancer screening. I. The bill’s introduction came Just two days after Democratic 9en. Harris Wofford won a spe­ cial election in Pennsylvania af­ ter making nationwide health in­ surance a centerpiece of his camJjaign. * Cannon said the plan has al­ ready been criticized as little more than a response to the Pennsylva­ nia election.. ; ■ But Cannon discounted such criticism, saying the senators’ have ALAN SIMPSON Measure needsfiinding mechanism premiums. For example, a couple earning less than $32,000 a year could claim a tax credit of up to $1,200. • Allow self-employed people to fully deduct the costs of health Please see HEALTH, A12 been working on the legislation for 18 months. Former Republi­ can Sen. John Heinz, whom Wof­ ford was elected to replace, was a key figure in the GOP senators’ work before his death in April, , Cannon added. Another feature of the legisla­ tion would cap damage awards and lawyers’ fees in an effort to control the expensive effects of malprac­ tice suits on health industry costs. In addition, states would be re­ quired to develop “some kind of voluntary alternative dispute res­ olution procedures” under the bill. Other features in the legislation would expand federal rural health grants to improve access to health services in rural areas,'expand the Health Professions Training Acts to expand placemient of doctors and nurses in rural states, and ex­ pand “the cohceiit of federally qualified fiefcilities ... to include more Wyoming health providers,” the Wyoming senators’ statement said. �- Senate committee OKs ; increased PILT payments p, By DAVtn hacrtptt Washington bureau I *" " to ■ Wl .ha, was approved ,hi. ^Sk^Sa^eST r S»a>e Energy I ■ ' fed^eral payments in lieu of tav^c (PiLT) I , and pro^de tor future adnisimpL/k Consumer Price Inde^ JT ® I I f <b J IS opposed to it. ’ *de BusH administration oo.JXsadteaVgov’i™"^^^^^^^ P. P ■ .states, double governments, ’ncreases in the •’ ‘ ">e«na of ■!" '«'■>- '“■‘a. ■ tax base in many Western «*"<'"»'">«' according to Sen. Timothy Wirth D Colo'^^the h sponsor. tJ Colo., the bill s chief ?’’and’^proSiS;'’S?Sr nm^af"' '''“'P'’ f">”' : formS ® are rnacje according to one of three ■ to JI’J^g’^’^tton would increase the amount under this formula .crease that to 22 cents per acre ® ■ «™ino^b!°a’Sn'rsSul«'5 Fe„‘p7e',Ja7&S^^ ^ac bill would in■<'- “ThVbH"’"'’'!;' “P’'' 'oo'^vft2oZ"S“'' * formul^’ ** double the amounts paid under that 'week. *”ay vote on the legislation as early as next passed by l"he sL”°e o^^n'a HLT’m o.herlegk,,„„'?r,he ^°S! p? ’ '’'‘-'P I I �Saturday, November 16,1991 : Siinpsoii^ Wallop introduce By DAVID HACKETT ( Star- Tribune li'a.iliiiigton bureau WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture would be directed to create a comprehensive lamb price and supply report­ ing program under legislation sponsored by Wyoming Republi­ can Sens. Alan Simpson and Mal­ colm Wallop? Dave Flitncr, president of the Wyditiihg Fann Bureau, said early enactment of the legislation i.s es­ sential to the viability of many lamb producing operations in Wyoming. The bill, which was introduced earlier this month, would direct the USDA to report to Congress within 90 days on ways to improve the department’s lamb price and Supply reporting services. liX USDA would then be required to implement a new price and supjJly reporting program within 180 days. Lamb producers say market conditions have deteriorated to a point where it is uneconomical for many of them to remain in busi­ ness. A widening disparity between increasing retail lamb prices and persistently low wholesale prices, producers say, is indicative of their woes. Flitner said a dearth of infor­ mation about wholesale prices and supplies makes it difficult for pro­ ducers to determine a fair price for their product. “If you don’t have market in­ formation, you’re sitting in the dark,” he said. “You don’t know if the market has tended up or down and you can fall prey to people who do have that information.” Rock Springs resident Jim Magagna, president of the, American "■Sheep• Industry ■ Association, told a House subcommittee two weeks ago that producer prices have' steadily declined since 1987 in re­ lation to retail prices. Lamb producers received 24.7 percent of the average retail price in 1987, he said, compared to 15.7 percent of the average retail price today. Magagna laid some of the blame for the disparity on the USDA for providing market information which he described as minimal and unreliable. “Coverage of some of the in­ dustry’s major live markets has been neglected,” he said. “In­ creased coverage of certain mar­ kets by USDA Market News would enable lamb producers to better lamb price reporting bill evaluate market conditions.” In the past, Magagna said, US­ DA was a major source of infor­ mation about retail, wholesale and live lamb prices. But in 1981, he said, USDA stopped reporting retail lamb prices and since then has gradually de­ creased reporting wholesale prices for carcasses and cuts to where its information is no longer reflective of market conditions. Jo Ann Smith, the USDA’s as­ sistant secretary for marketing and inspection services, wrote a letter to Rep. Craig Thomas. RrWyP-, earlier this year in which she as­ serted that her agency’s reporting system does provide accurate in­ formation. “We report carcass lamb prices in three locations,” said Smith. “Two locations have sufficient vol­ ume to establish a market on a de­ livered carlot basis.” “The third location ... is used by the industry as a common de­ nominator for pricing sales made to other geographical areas which do not have sufficient volume to es­ tablish a delivered market on a reg­ ular basis,” she said. Smith said the increasing vol­ ume of boxed lamb cuts on the market will make it possible for USDA to provide better informa­ tion about that segment of the markct. Smith also said the USDA is working with Virginia Polytech­ nic Institute on a study of the rela­ tionship between retail prices, wholesale prices and live prices for lamb. She said the study could assist producers with price dis­ covery. The Simpson-Wallop bill would direct the USDA to improve its re­ porting of wholesale and retail prices for lamb cuts and carcasses as well as pelts, offal and live lambs in six regions of the country. The legislation also calls for more information concerning sheep and lamb inventories, price and supply relationships between brokers and retailers, as well as in­ formation about imports and ex­ ports of sheep. Thomas is working on a com­ panion bill that he hopes to intro­ duce in the House of Representa­ tives, according to press secretary Liz Brimmer. Simpson, meanwhile, is orga­ nizing a “national lamb forum” in which representative of all seg­ ments of the lamb industry will meet with lawmakers to discuss conditions in the industry. The forum is scheduled for Dec. 6 at Little America in Cheyenne. �Saturday, November 16,1991 Wyo Fann Bureau resolution calls on presiclefit, Congress to revive economy „Bx£ANDYMOHT TON^ Star-Tribune correspondent RAWLINS — President George Bush and the U.S. Congress need to develop emer­ gency legislation to rescue the U.S. economy, the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation said in a lution adopted Friday at its annu­ al meeting here Friday. The resolution, proposed by the group’s president, Dave Flitner of Shell, calls for drastic tax cuts, spending and budget reform, and relief and compensation for regu­ latory takings. Flitner said Friday that the Farm Bureau is totally committed to winning the battles over what he described as unfair and excessive government regulation. Farm Bureau has taken the lead in addressing the problems facing Wyoming, problems that represent a microcosm of those facing the nation. Like it or not, our state is the proving ground for environmental and.economic is­ sues that will set sues that will set America’s agen­ da into the next century. iPs a challenge the people of Wyoming have accepted with relish,” Flitner said. Delegates on Friday also ap­ proved a resolution asking for re­ peal of the federal Endangered Species Act until the federal deficit is reduced. The act then could be reinstat­ ed, but with stipulations, the Farm Bureau resolution states. Those stipulations include: a requirement that costs of recov­ ery be determined in advance of any such attempts, and that if a wild population of a species is present anywhere in the world it need not be reintroduced in the U. S. The resolution further says the federal government should be li­ able for damage caused by any reintroduced species, and that so­ cial, economic and safety needs of people should be given prefer­ ence when preparing environ­ mental assessments of endangered . .. species reintroduction, Flitner said. Delegates also adopted resolu­ tions that favor transfer of federal lands to private ownership in areas where the federal lands are hard to manage because of their size or location and that there be no net gain in federal lands. That means if the federal government obtains private land and removes it from the tax rolls, it must return other federal land to private ownership, Flitner said. The Farm Bureau wants juris­ diction of designated wetlands to be turned over the state govern­ ment and opposes the taking of private property through the Rails and Trails Act. Farm Bureau meetings continue today with a legislative panel fea­ turing Rep. Craig Thomas and Byra Kite of Sen Malcolm"Wallop s staff. Sen. Alan Simpson was scheduled to meet with tEe Farm Bureau on Friday but could not get to Rawlins due to weather con­ ditions. �n — 2 n \J >T-« M 53 53- T {/) i/i 'CJ 'Cl G> -• n 5 S=s a ©‘■o S3 3° n» Q- o a rt 3 ? c'n —1 3 Q. 3o5 '^caD^ ^2*i-!aoa£2.i> '- 6.™ g-g g ® ''SS S £? ° § o « ” 33 g £2 3 a.' 5 .S"2 CL?; « q » -roSngn. trS'" O n o o 5 o 3® 2:^“ tg “ „ 2 '<TO-g JJJ ” 05 .' AL Q 3 a > P < 03 3 5 O’ SS < xs 3 ° I to 2 a Q B. B= •K 3 Continued from Al ridiculously, interfere with the Opponents say the proposal the use of predator control devices 1 constitutional rights of private would deter federal agencies fromI landowners,” Wallop said last June in areas surrounding the park. considering public welfare ahead People in Carbon and Hig I during a Senate floor debate on of parochial and private interests. Horn counties think wolves will Syinms’ amendment. Long-standing federal environ­ “As Robert Frost said, ‘Good migrate to the point where it would mental laws, worker safely rules cause them to Iea\c the (livestock) fences make good neighbors,’” industry,” he said. and even fair housing regulations Wallop said. “In Wyoming, the are threatened by the measure they ® wolf sighting and federal government is a large .1 say. neighbor with almost 50 percent the BLM limits M-44 and trap­ The “just compensation clause” ping, coyotes increase and live­ of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. ownership of the state. (Symms’ stock decreases on private lands. amendment) will help our neighbor Constitution bars the government I hat s a taking of an opportunity to within its Fifth Amendment from taking private property with­ stay raise sheep or horses or whatev­ fence.” er. out making just compensation. Simpson said some public land ThfilLS. Supreme Court Im< re­ Louisa Wilcox, program direc­ management policies were prop­ tor for the Greater Yellowstone peatedly ruled that taking of prop­ erly changed 25 years ago in re­ Coalition, said Symms’ measure erty may be construed not only as sponse to real environmental abus­ seizure or occupation of private es. Since then, he said, “we are IS unnecessary because property property but as regulatory activity owneis can challenge governiiieni that deprives properly owners of seeing this mcnlality of conserva­ agencies in court when they bction or environmental protection economic use of their property. leve their rights have been vio­ But historically the court has gen­ at any cost sweep across federal lated. boundaries ... onto our private erally found that taking by regula­ lands.” She said the amendment would tion has occurred only in a few send a “dampening signal” to fed­ Simpson characterized Symms’ limited and relatively extreme cas­ eral agencies which would iialiiamendment as a measure of pro­ es. rally become sluggish in protecliiig tection for private property rights The new legislative proposal, against “environmental initiatives natural resources because of an which was sponsored as an amend­ ... that restrict commodity use and overriding concern about the ef­ fects of their decisions on private ment Io the Senate’s version of the development.” highway bill earlier this year by property owners. / , Wyoming Rep. Craig Thomas Sen. Steve Symms, R-ldaho, {Republican, is a cosporisor vyould codify an existing execu- of similar legislation which was • or^cr which was signed into introduced earlier this year in the *^98^8' President Reagan in House of Representatives but was ’ 988. ' .............. ........... , not made part of its version of the ' highway bill. p C P g" 5?^. O < T3 *0 C. 3- d o 2CT30Q X*. Ci- ** »•' to ST* Z Se* P 8 S 3 = 3 g to 3 dr « p 2 cS fO TO n, "a n 3 rf, n » a £. p rt* d fS 0-3" Q to OQ 3 ST/S 3 rt 1 “ to to :e*8 3 p; "TO 3 m < 1-1 re © 050 '*<^5^ J-. c/Jfti S " c M O K JJ, (—— — A 3" 2 o O rt 3 3 to • 'O a 3 » g 2 S. o in ta 2 3 S'ja o CL 3- > to fw ^ £. a 3 o 3 C d >1 c« a OQ 6 a8 o 2 fP C/3 a <2 "3 § => 3 a 2 2 5' 3 “S' to 3 — u - ^TO o 2. E § 5'_TO 3 n E w § s’" -3 2-3'2 S £ 3 O) o to w 3 fp 3 fV O 2 OQ n> 3 to (/) ^ to o 3. «J S?-* s O « 3 £ « < g E a G >-» , to o 2 a- =■ o <z»’ 2 ® *^3 3 £ to <T1 ” o o’g o 3 « —• S c^ 3 o I OQ M on d ay, N o v em b er 1 8 ,1 9 9 1 to 2 o OQ C to �Wednesday, November 20,1991 Lamb probe expands to include 'ers, retailers By CANDY MOULTOll^^ Star-Tribune correspondent ENCAMPMENT — The Jus­ tice Department has shifted its in­ vestigation of the lamb packing industry to include field interviews with producers, officials say. Sem Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., meanwhile has scheduled a meet­ ing on Dec. 6 in Cheyenne in­ volving producers, feeders, pack­ ers, and retailers to discuss lamb price disparity, a Simpson spokesman says. An official with the Wyoming Wool Growers Association said the' renewednivestigative activity by the Justice Department is the re­ sult of efforts by the Wyoming congressional delegation. “The investigation has been stepped up because of the concern by our delegation,” according to Carolyn Paseneaux, executive di­ rector of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association. Rep. Craig Thomas. R-Wyo., wrote to Acting Attorney General William Barr Nov. 1 asking that the Justice Department suspend its “armchair investigation” and take “this investigation to the field.” “Interview producers, stockyard and auction operators and others, and get a real feeling for what the lamb industry and its re­ lated components are doing,” Thomas wrote. “Our-nation’s en­ dangered lamb industry deserves nothing less,” he added. The Justice Department is now meeting with producers in Western states. Justice officials will meet with Utah and Wyoming producers soon, Paseneaux said. Last week Robert Kramer, as­ sistant chief of the Justice De­ partment’s litigation antitrust di­ vision in Washington, D.C., par- ticipated in the Rocky Mountain Sheep Marketing Association’s annual meeting in Idaho Falls. “I’m interested in numbers, ob­ servations, suspicious statements and even rumors. It is very sel­ dom that we start an investigation with hard evidence. We usually start with something smaller or less significant,” Kramer said in Idaho Falls last week, the Asso­ ciated Press reported. Federal officials are investi­ gating why producers are getting only about 43 cents per pound for live lambs while retail lamb sells for about $5 per pound. The in­ vestigation started last summer. At that time Justice Department officials said they were having a difficult time in getting producers to provide information. Sheep in­ dustry spokesmen have said the producers will give what informa­ tion they can. They have continu­ ally asked Justice Department of­ ficials to work more diligently on the investigation. Wyoming’s congressional del­ egation has been working collec­ tively and individually “trying to get them to move,” Thomas said of the Justice investigation. The Justice Department inves­ tigators “have an inclination to say, ‘that sounds bad, bring us some evidence,’” Thomas said Tuesday. He and other congres­ sional representatives have urged the department to go “beyond thb Beltway.” “We renewed our request for them to get out in the country and do some things,” Thomas said. The Justice Department’s eff fort in Idaho and its plans for meet­ ings in other states is encourag­ ing to the Wyoming Wool Grow­ ers. “We hope that this change will actually open up the door that has been closed,” Paseneaux said. �Wednesday, November 29,1991 Simpson: Enc^ngered Act will stand E°««n«ere<l Soecjes As™ utioa^o X"fr.2e:?rTh™X°''" 7 r :° "8^’- AC. bu., ,„ S'pXn, &\7.VeT„X"”‘^w,?b have .„ livestock popSkSs other predator harming eas to assure^landowners that'coneress ■ designation aren federal .„fl„eS« S Sb^rSstS." ‘ �►► Stale, Simpson support new federal AML rules By KATHARINE COLUNS^^ Soullm csiei n Wyoming bureau ROCK SPRINGS — Proposed rules implementing changes to the federal Abandoned Mine Recla­ mation law (AML) which allow states greater flexibility in spend­ ing their share of AML money should benefit Wyoming, officials say. The new proposed rules, which reflect congressional changes in 1990 to the 1977 AML law, ap­ pear little changed from a draft released in April that drew state Continued from Al pear for another six months, offi­ cials said. When the draft rules were cir­ culated to state and tribal AML program managers around the country in April, the reaction of Beach and members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation was less positive. Beach then said OSM officials were “proposing by regulation (a set of) requirements that are over­ ly onerous.” He said then Wyoming would have to spend “a couple of years more” and another $30 million on completion of all remaining coal and non-coal reclamation before building projects — including a mineral research center for the University of Wyoming geology department — could even be con­ sidered. The proposed rales still say that OSM is concerned that the AML program not be “side-tracked” by a new provision allowing the con­ struction of public facilities relat­ ing to the coal or minerals industry in states “impacted by coal or min­ erals development.” AML funds should remain tar­ geted on the program’s “primary mission to reclaim lands and wa­ ters damaged by coal and non-coal mining processes,” the regulations say. But Beach said “excellent co­ operation” among state officials, federal OSM representatives and staff from the Wyoming congres­ sional delegation offices has now convinced him that Wyoming will have flexibility in the use of AML funds. “Though we’ve been in a sort of a vacuum, we’ve been able to de­ fine what the state has to produce before we have the final rules ... Six to eight months ago (OSM) said they would not consider any state programs until final rules were adopted,” Beach said. Just before adjourning in Octo­ ber 1990, Congress extended for three years the tax on coal pro­ duction — 35 cents a ton on sur­ face-mined coal and 15 cents a ton on coal mined underground. An agreement hammered out in the fi­ nal hours of the 1990 budget deficit p.ack.Tce provided that AML criticism. But Gary Beach, the director of the Wyoming AML program, and a spokeswoman for Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo.. say they are more confident now that the pro­ posed rules will provide the state hoped-for leeway to spend the money on public projects not di­ rectly connected to actual mine reclamation. The new law became effective Oct. 1, but the rule-making process has taken much longer than antic­ ipated, and final rules may not apPlcase see AML, All revenue,s could be used for con­ struction of public facilities relat­ ing to the mining industry in states impacted by coal and non-coal mining. First imposed in 1977, the tax was levied to finance correction of the environmental degradation and public safety hazards posed by past coal mining activities. Wyoming is the nation’s largest coal producer, and coal companies in the state have paid about $531 million into the fund since the tax was imposed. Since 1984, when Wyoming certified to OSM that it had substantially addressed coalrelated abandoned mine problems, the state has been allowed to use some of its funds for non-coal problems. Under the law, and the amend­ ment, one-half of the tak paid into the fund by coal producers must be spent in the state where the col­ lections were made. The other 50 percent is distributed according to historical coal production patterns and therefore is directed primarily to Eastern states. In a meeting in Washington three weeks ago, Wyoming and UW officials were informally told by OSM Director Harry Snyder that the proposed mineral research center appears to fit criteria estab­ lished by Congress under the 1990 amendments. At the same meeting, Wyoming officials were told that in the face of federal delays in proposing rales to implement the amendments, Wyoming could proceed with the adoption of its own rules. Snyder also said he would “en­ tertain” Wyoming’s new proposals by comparing them with the law passed a year ago, rather than wait­ ing for final adoption of the pro­ posed rules. A spokeswoman for Simpson said the proposed rules contain “no surprises.” Laurie Goodman said Simpson is satisfied that the pro­ posed regulations are “pretty much going to mirror what the state has been working on for the past year.” Beach credited Simpson with the foresight to have included in the 1990 amendments language that justified use of AML money to construct a mineral research center at UW. The law now stipulates that AML funds may be used for “activitie.s or construction of specific buildings or facilities related to coal or mineral industry in Slates impacted by coal or minerals de­ velopment” if the governor of the state determines there facility is needed. The proposed regulations con­ tain a section of “comment” by state program managers who re­ viewed the draft, and “response” by OSM officials to the comments. Commenters raised the ques­ tion of exactly how a slate would determine the “need” for such fa­ cilities, and how a stale would prove that it has been “impacted" by coal or mineral development. “The proposed regulations ... would require a State to clearly set forth why the State perceives an “urgent need,” why the State has proposed this project ahead of pro­ jects involving the public health and safety and why other funds are or are not being utilized,” the text reads. “OSM’s proposed regulations do not contemplate a special show­ ing regarding the impact of coal or mineral development... Impacts are hard to define ... OSM would expect the State, however, to fully explain the impact.s on the State and why such impacts have creat­ ed an urgent funding need.” �Friday, November 22,1991 Simpson defends VA system inBystatement for House panel DAVID HACKET'/^^committee for its concern but sounded “a note of caution.” “It is so easy sometimes, and WASHINGTON — Wyoming all too seductive, to point to a few Sen. Alan Simpson savs concern tragic cases — and tragedies do about the quality of health care happen — while ignoring the at Veterans Administration hos­ many instances of superb medical pitals is justified but should not be care provided by dedicated and allowed to “lead us into harmful qualified medical professionals,” he said. sensationalism.” In his statement, Simpson said In a written statement to the House Subcommittee on Human the VA has implemented a new Resources, Simpson urged his approach to management called House colleagues to “always con­ “continuous quality improve­ sider that the quality of care in ment,” which he said has been VA medical centers compares fa­ successfully used in hundreds of vorably to care provided by simi­ industrial and health care organi­ lar such hospitals in the private zations. Simpson also said the VA’s sector.” The subcommittee Thursday “surgical mortality and morbidity wrapped up a two-day hearing on results compare favorably with the quality of health care at VA those of the private sector.” “At the Cheyenne VA medical hospitals. Wyoming Rep. Craig Thomas. center, I also understand that the is the ranking Republican on the number of patients has increased 95 percent since 1986,” he said. subcommittee. Simpson, a former chairman of “That... obviously tells us some­ the Senate Committee on Veter­ thing about the quality and desirans Affairs, applauded the sub­ Please see SIMPSON, A12 Star-Tribune n'ashington bureau Simpson^/ Continued from Al ability of health care that veterans place on the Cheyenne VA hospi­ tal.” Simpson also praised VA Sec­ retary Ed Derwinski and exhorted the subcommittee to “exercise caution against letting isolated in­ cidents color our views to such an extent that we would trash an entire system and the many dedi­ cated professionals who staff it.” �r Thursday, November 28,1991 State gets $748 million in federal highway cash Wyoming to receive^ 1.51 for each dollar paid in federal taxes DAVID HACKETT Star-iribiine iVashington bureau WASHINGTON — A $151 billion highway bill that autho­ rizes $748 million for road pro­ jects in Wyoming during the next six years was approved by Congress Wednesday as law­ makers adjourned for the year. The bill authorizes Wyoming to receive $124.6 million in each of the next six years, compared to $83.4 million the state received in each of the last five years under the highway bill that expired Sept. 30. The legislation passed Wednesday, which resulted from weeks of negotiations between House and Senate conferees, is much more favorable to Wyoming than the highway bill passed by the House in October. Under the House-passed bill, Wyoming would have received only $473 million dining the next six years. That bill also would have transformed Wyoming into a so-called donor state, meaning that it would have contributed more to the federal highway fund than it received. Under the bill passed Wednes­ day, Wyoming will continue to receive more federal highway money than it pays into the high­ way fund. Wyoming received $1.29 for every dollar it contributed to the highway fund between 1987 and 1991. Beginning next year, the state will receive $1.51 for ev­ ery dollar it contributes to the fund. Rep. Craig Thomas. R-Wyo., said the bill is financed largely by an extension of an existing 2.5cent gasoline tax through 1999. Wyoming GOP Sen. Alan Simpson, a member of the Senate committee which helped draft the bill, said the bill provides $20 million to Wyoming for recon­ struction of county roads that are not part of the state highway sys­ tem and would not otherwise qualify for federal funds. Sen. Malcolm Wallop. RWyo., described the bill as a “great deal” and said it will pre­ serve jobs that might otherwise have been lost. The legislation provides $45 million for road construction on public lands in Wyoming man­ aged by the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and the Bureau of Land .Management. Please see WYOMING, A12 _____ oming Continued from .41 The bill also authorizes spend­ ing $240,000 to study the feasi­ bility of using alternative modes of transportation, such as monorails, in three national parks, including Yellowstone. Wallop is the author of the al­ ternative transportation amend­ ment. Congress appropriated the money for the study earlier this year. All three members of the Wyoming congressional delega­ tion expressed satisfaction over a decision by the conferees to elim­ inate about $35 million for con­ struction of the so-called Heart­ land Expressway between Scotts Bluff. Neb., and Rapid City. S.D. The new route would have pro­ vided a four-lane link between 1-80 and 1-90, thereby reducing traffic on 1-25 through Wyoming. Another provision in the bill permanently increases the allow­ able weight limit for commercial trucks in Wyoming to 117,000 pounds, the same limit as in neigh­ boring states. Wyoming also will be permitted to proceed with a planned refer­ endum on whether to allow triple trailers to traverse the state’s high­ ways. �Wyo’s year in Congress - a mixed bag Ry DAVin HArKFTT . Continued from Al Star-Tribune Washington bureau 1' Hill to issue panieky warnings of economic upheaval as environ­ mental lobbyists crowed about a “just" victory'. In the end, a grazing fee inereasp proposed as a compromise by Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, foundered on an obscure back room deal that was derisively dubbed “corn for pom.’" The deal was cut by a select group of conferees on the 1992 Interior appropriations bill. The trade nixed restrictive language affecting grants by the National Endowment for the Arts as well as increased grazing fees. Congress did not pass a massive energy bill in 1991 either. The bill had been Wyoming Republican Sen. Malcolm Wallop’s top legislative priority for the year. The legislation was a veritable bonanza for the oil and gas industry, the nuclear power industry as well as coal producers. It clearly would have raised revenue and created jobs in Wyoming, though conservationists criticized it as a prescription for environmental deterioration and “business as usual” energy gluttony. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee spent months writing the bill, virtually ignoring other issues. By October, however, the legislation faced overw'helming opposition and its sponsors ultimately failed to head off a fatal filibuster. Wallop himself was successful in using the threat of a filibuster to Wyoming’.s advantage on another issue — federal mineral royalty management costs. After voting in 1990 to charge states 25 percent of the U.S. Mineral Management Service's mineral royaltv- management costs, lawmakers were poised this vear to increase the charge to 50 percent. Wyoming would have been required to pay about S2S million in royally management fees in 1992 WASHINGTON — The year in Congress may be remembered mostly for mendacious Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and questions of war, but lawmakers did not go home without enacting legislation of particular significance to Wyoming. Scorekeeping analogies fail to describe Wyoming’s fortunes in Congress during 1991. Simply stated, the year was a mixed bag. “You don’t have time to savor victory or anguish in defeat,” said Wyoming GOP Sen. Alan Simpson. “It just kind of hits you in the face like a wash rag and you move on.” In some cases, what Congress did not do was as important to Wyoming as what it did do. The campaign for increased grazing fees on public land, for example, appeared likely to achieve critical mass in 1991. Public lands ranchers raced to Capitol Please see CONGRESS, A12 166T '6Z JaquiBAON 'Appuj after paying about S13 million in 1991. Rep. Craig Thomas, and other members of the House of Representatives, managed to strip the proposed increase from the 1992 Interior appropriations bill but the Senate was less agreeable. Wallop vowed to filibuster the bill and take on Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., 1 ” the heavy hitting chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. In the end. Wallop and Byrd cut a deal that requires Wyoming and other states to pay roughly the same amount paid in 1991. The deal also requires the MMS to study its management costs and consider whether states could do its job more efficiently. Congress did act affirmatively in 1991 on a variety of initiatives of importance to Wyoming. For example, the expenditure of $11.9 million for modifications to the Buffalo Bill Dam and reservoir was authorized early in the year as part of an emergency spending bill. The money, which had already been appropriated by Congress, was tied to a reclamation reform bill in 1990 by lawmakers who were in a position to block water projects until they got their wav on reclamation reform. Though the Wyoming congressional delegation succeeded in attaching the authorization to another bill, it faces an identical challenge in winning authorization for the final S5 million for the dam project. Lawmakers may have voted to pay the first so-called peace dividend in 1991 to former W^vominu uranium miners and their families by appropriating S30 million to a trust fund established last year under the Radiation Exposure Compensation .Act. The money represents the first installment under the act, which was passed in 1990 as an apology to uranium miners, downiwind victims of nuclear fallout from weapons tests, and nuclear weapons test-site workers. Early in the year the House of Representatives voted to provide only $5 million to the fund. The Senate later voted to triple that amount, but still only half of what victims’ advocates think will be needed in 1992. In November, the defense appropriations conference comm­ ittee increased the total to $30 million. Radiation victims’ advo­ cates attributed the increase to defense spending reductions and persistent, bipartisan pressure by western lawmakers. The end of the Cold War also meant the end of the MX rail garrison mobile missile system. Despite objections by Wallop and Simpson, Congress voted to scrap the system that would have been headquartered at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne. Wallop said he thinks rail garrison might have survived if President Bush had not announced unilateral reductions in American nuclear forces arrayed against the Soviet Union. What Congress takes away in the form of missiles mounted on rail cars it can put back in the form of airplanes and construction projects. That is exactly what it did in appropriating funds for eight new C-130H transport planes for the Wyoming Air National Guard and a handful of projects at F.E. Warren. Other 1991 congressional actions that affected Wyoming include, among others, enactment of a massive six-year highway bill that provides a total of S748 million to the Cowboy State and a vote against $44 million in Energy Department fund.s for a K-Fuels plant in Gillette. �Saturday, November 30,1991 Legislation to boost cattle. lamb industries approved CHEYENNE (AP) — Legisla­ tion intended to boost the cattle and lamb industries has been ap­ proved by Congress. On Thursday, Congress ap­ proved a provision in the Farm Bill that requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create a comprehensive system for report­ ing current lamb prices at all mar­ keting levels in the lamb industry. Wyoming’s congressional del­ egation, U.S. Sens. Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson. ana~U.S. Rep. Craig Thomas, pushed for the legislation in hopes it help rec­ tify the problems in the lamb in­ dustry. “It’s quite concerning and quite puzzling that while the retail prices of lamb products has remained steady over the past few years, the wholesale prices paid to our sheep producers has declined,’’ Wallop said. “Gathering and distributing accurate pricing information will hopefully shrink the curious and unfair spread between wholesale and retail prices.’’ In a separate vote on Wednes­ day, the Senate defeated a dairy proposal that Wallop and Simp­ son say could have resulted in a flooded beef market. The proposal would have raised the dairy price support of milk from $10.10 to $11.10 per hun­ dred weight. Wallop and Simpson said the proposal would have encouraged milk producers to put a certain percentage of milk cows out of production. The cattle market shares buyers with the dairy industry. A government directive to restrict milk production could have lead to an oversupply of cows, the senators said. �Saturday, November 30,1991 Defense bill targfei^yo CHEYENNE ^P) — Eight new $28-milIion aircraft and more than $9 million in construc­ tion projects at the W^yoming Air National Guard base here are part of the defense bill approved last weekend by Congress, members of the Wyoming congressional delegation said. Included in the legislation is authorization for 12 new C-130 H aircraft for the Wyoming Air National Guard. The appropria­ tions bill, however, allocates mon­ ey for only eight new aircraft, costing $28-milIion apiece, to re­ place the Wyoming Guard’s C1.308 aircraft that is 25 to 30 years old. In either case, the Wyoming Air National Guard will receive more of the modern planes than any other state, officials said. The C-130s are transport planes. To support the new aircraft. Congress allocated for construc­ tion and improvements at the Wyoming Guard facility: $2.2 million for a new avionics main­ tenance shop; $3.5 million for a corrosion-control facility; and $3.8 for a new fuel storage com­ plex and replacement of storage tanks. The expenditures are part of next year’s major spending and program priorities for the U.S. Department of Defense, approved by Congress over the weekend, lLS4_Sens, Alan Simpson and Malcolm Wallop and'U S. Rep CraigJJiomasi said on Monday. President Bush is expected to sign the authorization and appro­ priations bills into law, they said. �Sunday, December 1,1991 Bill would extend ^j^ylight Savings Time ilv?oS” <AP)-U^Sen. Alan Simpson savs he was “heavy lobbied by civic-minded third-graders from Highland Park FI d“: STavin^Ti™ "Si’Mon to "xu„d ogm savings 1 ime an extra week. u Wyoming Republican said he introduced such a bill after Sas on'iaf.^ ‘""’f"’”" giving chiidrS, a„ hoS fl U SSS’Xcon^cTn™ an ucaton XSc” rioL Congress recessed before it got to the '»"»ider,.,„„ when Sharron Rasmussen succeeded in obtaining �Monday, December 2,1991 Wyo senators: EEminate soda ash tariff WASHINGTON Sens. Malcolm Wallop and Al Simnson have asked U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills to help eliminate the 10 percent tariff placed on soda ash in Europe, according to a release from Simpson’s office. Wallop and Simpson were joined by 14 of their Senate colleagues in urging Hills to use the ‘Uruguay Round” of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade talks to give soda ash problems top priority sta­ tus, the release said. In their letter to Hills the senators wrote, “Europe represents a ma­ jor new market for U.S. soda ash exporters. The soda ash market in the European Community is approximately $1.7 billion. potential for expanded U.S. sales in the European community is substantial. The U.S. industry believes that in the absence of the 10 percent EC duty on soda ash, it could sell up to 400,000 tone per year in Europe.” I �Thursday, December 5,1991 National lamb for^ inOieyenne Friday -SilS^^Wyo.7anlMike^Sn°?‘” ‘““<1 hySen. Alan :ABa Inc:rwiIlbe held here FriSy ‘"“f offic—o( Con-’ ?anr;:S“ •«*««. packers, • prices. me disparity between market and retail lamb S“ »f «■= 'amb :cials said producerXerScuni^A „ Department offl:*atry spokesmen hayrsaI?S”o?„S7^S?:*^°™?i°"-im I i Sd*:" and*Ki£ny “S°“'been working collective R-Wyo., said of the7us?icefniSa«„^77 ^raig Thomas, begin at 8:30 a.m. at Little America^An® ^?mb forum will and strategies, moderated bv Simne “ ^‘scussion on solutions Preside„.?ftheA,SS&dS.;,'’Se™1L“^^i'Sp“:^^^^ �‘Takings’ measure dropped from final highway bill Property rights weighed against federal environmental laws By DA Vin HACKETT^O^ Star-Tribune Washington bureau ' WASHINGTON — An amendment passed by the Senate requiring federal agencies to consider whether their actions constitute a “tak­ ing of private property” was dropped last week from the final highway bill approved by Congress. A spokesman for Sen. Steve Symms, R-Idaho, the senator who sponsored the amendment, said his boss will propose the measure again next year probably as an amendment to a bill reauthorizing the federal Endangered Species _^^cr_ The proposal, which would codify a standing executive order signed by President Reagan, has been praised as a^safeguard for property rights 1661 '£ laquiaaaa "Xrpsjnqi and reviled as an assault on federal environ­ mental laws. The measure authorizes the U.S. Attorney General to certify that every federal agency adheres to a set of guidelines that require them to evaluate and avoid the risk of taking property by regulatory action before acting. No federal regulation promulgated after en­ actment of the measure could become effective until the agency responsible for its enforce­ ment is certified by the attorney general. The proposal also would make federal agen­ cies evaluate potential property takings when enforcing existing regulations, proposing reg­ ulations, and commenting on proposed legis­ lation or making other policy statements. The Senate voted last summer to include Symms’ amendment in its version of the high­ way bill. The House version of the bill, how­ ever, did not include the measure and a con­ ference committee ultimately chose to strip it from the final version of the bill which was passed last week by Congress. The “just compensation clause” of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars the government from taking private property with­ out paying for it. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that taking of property may be construed not only as seizure or occupation of private property but as regulatory activity that deprives owners of economic use of their property. Historically, however, the Court has gener­ ally found that taking by regulation has oc­ curred only in a few limited and relatively ex­ Please see BVTERIOR, AIO �Saturday, December 7,1991 JH orum seeks sheep industry solutions MOULTON Star-rribune correspondent CHEYENNE — Profitability problems and their possible solutions dominated discussion from all segments of the sheep industry at the National Lamb Forum here Friday. Without an improvement soon, many producers will be forced out of business, many speakers said. Organized by Sen. Alan Simpson and co-sponsored by Con-Agra, the forum drew about 150 people from throughout the United States. Producers, pack­ ers, feeders and retailers came from most western states to discuss issues and to suggest options for strengthening the industry. Most agreed supply and demand is a critical issue, but forum participants were divided on how to make changes. Some suggested improved marketing and promotional efforts, combined with “yield grading,” — grading of the meat as is already done in the beef industry — could strengthen prices. Simpson said the industry must develop a “unified approach” to dealing with the future of the lamb mar­ ket. “Producers are absolutely crippled" by the low . Please I.A MR 417 I- �Saturday, D ecem b er 7,1991 CoiiAgra: Ma&’liQt to blaiiie for low prices By JULIA PRODIS Associated Press writer CHEYENNE — Low prices for lamb producers is caused by too much supply and not enough de­ mand — not the concentration of the meatpacking industry, the chief executive officer of the massive ConAgra food company said Fri­ day. Mike Harper made his com­ ments at the National Lamb Fo­ rum sponsored by U.S. Sen.,Alan Simpson, R-Wyo. Attended by more than 200 sheep ranchers from several Western states, the forum was intended to help resolve the differences between sheep pro­ ducers and packers and give ranch­ ers a chance to air allegations of monopolistic practices they say is driving their prices down. “The whole industry is de­ pressed,” Harper said. “Noone is making a good return. If some­ body's making money, it’s not us.” ConAgra, headquartered in Omaha, Neb., had $19,5 billion in lamb sales in fiscal 1991 and a 26 percent share of the nation's lamb market. “What we need to do is get rid of distrust,” Harper told the group. “Il’s important to us that you're fi­ nancially OK. If you’re not finan­ cially OK, we’re not financially OK.” To increase profits, either sheep production needs to be limited or demand increased, he said. While lamb in groceries is sell­ ing for more than $4 per pound, producers only get about 55 cents per pound from the packing hous­ es, leaving ranchers wondering who’s making money. Jim Magagna, president of the American Sheep Industry, was re­ luctant lo Blaine any one sector of the industry for the discrepancy in producer and consumer prices. 1 lowever, he said, the industry def­ initely lacks a competitive mar­ ket. “There’s money being made it '.M'uld a appear somewhere bethe ictailer and the produc­ er Magagna said. “But we can’t point a linger.” Quite simply, he said, there is little market information to indi­ cate the chain of lamb prices from producer to consumer to find where profits are being made. However, he said, “I think there’s enough evidence that they (ConAgra) are finding some de­ gree of profitability or they’d be getting out just as our producers are getting out.” A number of sheep ranchers have been getting out of the busi­ ness, unable to break even without prices of at least 65 cents per pound, Magagna said. For the past three years, prices for producers have been much lower. After sheep producers raised their concerns, Simpson, along with Wyoming U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop and U.S. Rep. Craig Thomas, helped spur a federal in­ vestigation into possible monopo­ listic practices in the industry. “Somebody’s got to find out who’s doing what to who — hope­ fully we can find that out today,” Simpson told the group. “Industry cooperation will lead us to this — profitability of the nation’s sheep industry.” Wyoming is the third largest sheep-producing state in the coun­ try and produces more sheep per rancher than any other state. “The problem is from the farm gate to the plate of the consumer,” said Carolyn Paseneaux, execu­ tive director for the Wyoming Woolgrowers Association. “If we don’t solve this problem we will have a lot of sheep producers that won’t be here.” �Monday, December 9,1991 Time to get off Sen. Simpson’s back A great deal of scorn has been heaped upon Sen. Alan Simpson during the last few weeks because of his role during the recent con­ firmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In spite of perhaps the most pro­ found apology of his political ca­ reer, the senator continues to be lampooned in cartoons, columns, guest editorials, and letters to the editor. To admit that he has earned such treatment many times, and that he may deserve some criti­ cism for his recent antics, does not relieve his detractors from their own responsibility to fairness and balance. Although Simpson’s unfortu­ nate exaggeration in enumerating correspondence he had received critical of Ms. Hill was a note­ worthy gaffe, he is not guilty of some of the evils that his critics claim. The most unfortunate part of the entire hearings debacle is that those guilty of the most villainous conduct have essentially been ig­ nored. The identity of at least one of the prime culprits is known, yet he remains unscathed. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the Senate Judiciary Committee chair­ man and a prime scoundrel in this sorry caper, deserves resounding denunciation. It was his decision to air the easily sensationalized alle­ gations in the public forum. What folly! Were Biden possessed of a de­ tectable backbone and identifiable common sense, this tribunal would have properly convened in closed session for the deliberation of sen­ sitive business rather than in the circus atmosphere of media ex­ cesses. Whether Biden was motivated by visions of extensive national press coverage, or was simply re­ sorting to repugnant means to ma­ lign a political foe, is unimportant. The simple fact is that his indis­ cretion led to severe damage to the reputations of two people and po­ larized perhaps as many as 250 million. Notwithstanding that the press is uncompromising in its quest for total exposure (if the Fourth Es­ tate is not personally involved), the recent hearings clearly demon­ strate that when the reputations of individuals are at stake, it is best to keep the reporters and spectators out. Public proceedings of this na­ ture can cause a great deal of harm to both the accused and the accus­ er, whether or not the allegations are true. As Biden opted for the low road, the whole process de­ generated into the charade wit­ nessed by millions on television. The other main miscreant(s) are those who leaked the confidential FBI report to the media. This con­ temptible act makes Simpson’s quantitative embellishment pale by any standard. Perhaps the most outrageous at­ tack leveled against the senator re­ cently was that of state Democrat­ ic Party Chairman Chuck Graves who was quoted in the Star-Tri­ bune as saying Simpson has “sold his soul to the devil.” This bla­ tantly partisan offensive would have appeared far more credible had Graves also slammed his par­ ty’s prominent plagiarizer and presider of parody, Joe Biden. There would also be much more merit in reproaches directed against the loathsome methods em­ ployed by Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and Ohio’s Howard Metzenbaum. Specter accused Hill of perjury. If he can indeed prove that, the former Philadelphia pros­ ecutor should bring charges against her, as others have suggested. Making such allegations while hiding behind the cloak of con­ gressional immunity is a thor­ oughly disgusting technique if he does not intend to seek indictment, denying the accused a chance to defend her reputation in court. Metzenbaum’s weapon of choice was unsworn innuendo used to as­ sail the character of John Doggett, a witness for Thomas. The judge’s supporters have re­ peatedly been vilified while, amaz­ ingly enough, Biden, Metzenbaum, and the leakers (one and the same?) have remained untouched for the most part. As the lowly tac­ tics of Thomas’ opponents have continually escaped criticism, it causes one to wonder if the seem­ ingly endless onslaughts against Sens. Simpson, Hatch and Specter are motivated more by disagree­ ment with political philosophy rather than any objective standards of fair play. That trio was certainly rigorous in its questioning of Ms. Hill. Con­ fronting our accusers is the Amer­ ican way. In this nation, the burden of proof is on the accuser, not the accused. One is not automatically convicted here just because a charge is made. That is a signifi­ cant difference between our legal system and those of more authori­ tarian countries. And that some­ one made serious eleventh-hour allegations against the judge does not mandate an automatic change in our entire system. It is ironic that so many of Simpson’s harshest critics are those who normally favor ever in­ creasing protections being afford­ ed to criminal defendants. Appar­ ently some would hypocritically deny a political rival like Thomas the same presumption of inno­ cence. The way that the hearings were conducted is a sad commentary on the current state of congressional affairs in America. Sen. Simpson, like any other politician, undoubtedly deserves criticism at times. He has been chastised and criticized. It is now time to get off his back and get on to other concerns. (Steven Peek writes a monthly column for the Star-Tribune. He lives in Casper.) �Endangered Species Act pi’Ojjijises major congressional battle I By DAVID HACKETT Star- Tribune Washington bureau ft OQ Vi 3 ss g p S Please see ACT, A10 p O a VZJ ■3 o 3. 5 n iU Vi ■5'3 3 g g g 5-3 Vi ft o S S' S’ re ® p ' ? P 5 3 In addilhiii the iii'p. I r «’.■)! eral found ih.a o failed to mount uih . i; plans for many apccic.. o.... legally protected and that it hua done a poor job of managing costs and information related to the en­ dangered species program The report further staled tlial t i animal and plant species disap peared during a 10-year period without ever having been desig nated by the Fish and Wildlife Ser­ vice for federal protection undet the Endangered Species Act. Rep. Craiti Thomas, R-Wyo., said he would have to “look pretty darn hard” at the funding increas­ es advocated by Studds because “tremendous expenditures go on after it’s clear that species are no longer endangered.” Thomas said he thinks the act “has merit and will be and should be renewed.” But Thomas cited a need to balance economic costs to society with the cost of protecting species of animals less important, such as the Colorado sqnawfish, which he described as "a trash fish which we poisoned for years, then spent millions to reconstruct.” “It seems to me there’s a dif ference between (proteeling) a chub and a grizzly bear, bui I don’t know how to put it in the law,” he said. “My interest has been in bal- in O 5 -3 O 3 3 5' c* 3* z. a 3* H ’0*0 r-g 3 3 C3 'I’ g g q S’SS 0 ft 2. re re p- a 3-,. P 3 a re ui OT tre >< » a a >-1 Stra UM o o P "" c 5 g g a 3 ■< o-g 3 re « 13 g o p 3 g. a g. o rn — a o g.g p re P 2 p >p receives only 0.2 percent of the funds needed to protect hundreds of threatened and endangered species. c/j 3 “p O Vi O P c Continued from Al enforcement of the act. They also sounded broad philosophical po­ sitions that are contrary to Studds’. The Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency which is chiefly re­ sponsible for enforcing the law, would be authorized under Studds’ bill to spend $59 million on en­ forcement in 1993. The agency’s budget would increase incremen­ tally each year thereafter until it reached $100 million in 1997. Studds’ bill would further re­ quire the Fish and Wildlife Ser­ vice to implement recovery plans by Dec. 31, 1996 for all the species that are already officially listed as threatened or endangered. Recovery plans for species that are listed after 1992 would have to be developed and implemented no more than two years after they are listed. Studds’ bill contains several other provisions that ap­ peal to the conservation commu­ nity, including one that would al­ low communities and states to par­ ticipate in the establishment of habitat conservation plans. The bill would authorize a $20 million fund from which habitat conservation grants to states and communities would be awarded. The legislation would address some of the shortcomings in the law which were spelled out in a report last year by the U.S. Interi­ or Department’s inspector gener­ al’s office. The inspector general reported that the Fish and Wildlife Service ple, is expected to spend heavily in an attempt to change the act. The act has imposed limits on logging operations in the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest as a means of preserving the endan­ gered spotted owl. Utilities and water development and farm groups also are expected to seek changes in the act. Well funded environmental groups, too, will array a formidable force of lobbyists and lawyers who will be intent upon thwarting the timber industry and its allies, as well as seeing the act reinforced and improved in a way that many commodity producers in the West find offensive. Studds’ bill is already popular with environmentalists. It would vastly increase the U S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s budget for carrying out fhe law, as well as supply more money to the Commerce and Agriculture departments for simi­ lar purposes. None of the three members of the Wyoming congressional dele­ gation had studied Studds’ bill as of last week but they all expressed general opposition to the concept of increased federal spending for WASHINGTON — Congress is barely adjourned and already I the first salvo has been fired in what is likely to be one of the most I contentious legislative battles of ' 1992 — reauthorization of the End^ngercd Species Act. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., chairman of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, has introduced a bill that would provide more money and stricter enforcement of the Endangered Species Act. Studds’ bill, which is co-sponsorcd by 30 other House members, is particularly significant because the law falls under his commit­ tee’s jurisdiction in the House. No such legislation has been in­ troduced in the Senate but it sure­ ly will be and the ensuing debate is certain to be loud and laborious, especially considering that 1992 is an election year. Legions of lobbyists are already preparing to besiege Capitol Hill with arguments for and against changes to the law both major and minor. The timber industry, for exam­ O Act y/ a P n O 3* a a 0 0*3 Vi ST o « 3 a O p C O 3 w 3 O Q. ft rt •?' 3 »n o g g- S S 5 g 3 I i �Tuesday, December 10,1991 Wyo niuy need more niatcliing Highway money 6» ) '1' By JOAN BARRON Star-i ribune capital bureau CHEYENNE — Wyoming will receive about $26 million more this year in federal highway money than last, but may have to come up with a bigger percentage of state funds as a match to get the federal money, the direc­ tor of the Department of Transportation said Monday. Don Diller told the Joint Interim Committee on Transportations and Highways the new fed­ eral highway funding bill will give Wyoming 5’2(2 --I fi3 G G ■* $748 million over six years but the amount in­ cludes money for federal forest roads and roads on ^e Wind River Indian Reserv'ation. Diller said he has not seen the federal bill, but hopes to have more information on what it contains later in the week. The committee, meanwhile, approved a ma­ jor $550,000 highway study that showed a $ 105 million shortfall in money needed for upgrade and expansion the consultants considered de­ sirable for state highways over the next 10 years. The estimated shortfall included- $80 million for state highways; $12 million for o’ 2. o “ M 5^ <r o ? I '2 M 2 ^3 o o :• o o OQ w G 3 « OG 3 3 S'*’®.ft — ft 2 3^ ft 3 =’. = ? 2 2 A« Q “! o’" “ Z ft S' ® Si. — ^*3 ■ <■ 2. » Ig' 2 g-SS-aS =i§ 3 « StS ”'“'•0 3 izi” S.® ® o c «.s O ’*'*^ «* Q o 3 «h^TO Q Q =r’a p o ’ CA O .w. P £ o si G < M — M 3* 2. * G G C G c c. <V3 '< 3* » G P - O‘ 3 G T OQ 0^3:2 3 1 ™ “ o T’oq o ft ft 5'® 3 3 3 3 3 21 G 3 3: s5-nft —“ 3 . 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The study was prompted primarily by the Legislature’s increasing inclination to tap into highway funds for other projects. Sen. Robert Grieve, R-Carbon, chairman of the joint committee, said Monday he was preparing for another attempted “raid” on high­ way funds in light of the state’s budget prob­ lems. Diller said the new federal highway funding bill will give Wyoming $106 million the first Please see HIGHWAY, A8 ®3 O n> o ^3 oil O 3 S ™ 3 o 2 3 • 3 2 Vi I 3 fo — P —. ■o p * G 2 M ^2 p £. c* O ag �‘IleM’llaiitl lixpressway’ gets funds boost By DAVID HACKETT Star-Tribune Washington bureau WASHINGTON — About $30 million in federal funds for the so-called Heartland Expressway between Scottsbluff, Neb. and Rapid City, S.D., was authorized in this year’s highway bill con­ trary to earlier reports. The six-year highway bill, which was passed in November just before Congress adjourned for the year, authorizes the ex­ penditure of $640,000 to study the feasibility of converting the existing road between the two citie.s into a 4-lane expressway. The bill also authorizes $29.6 million “to improve the Heartland Expressway.” Some Wyoming residents are unhappy with the Heartland Ex­ pressway primarily because it would provide an alternate fourlane link between 1-80 and 1-90, thereby reducing the volume of traffic on 1-25 through Wyoming. In a joint statement released Friday, members of the Wyoming congressional delegation said “they were pleased to see this pro­ ject peeled back to basic im­ provements” but that “the fight is just beginning” over the proposed expressway. Wyoming uur ben. Alan Simpson’s press secretary, Stan Cannon, said the bill would pro­ vide money to maintain the exist­ ing two-lane road but not to up­ grade the route to an expressway. Dorothy Endacott, a spokeswoman for Sen James Ex­ on, D-Neb., said, however, that there is no restriction on how the money may be used and that it could be used to begin work on converting the existing route into an expressway if the feasibility study supports doing so. But Endacott said that South Dakota and Nebraska must vote to commit matching funds to the feasibility study before the fed­ eral money can be released. En­ dacott also said that the highway bill is only an authorization and that none of the money in it has been appropriated yet. Exon and his colleagues from Nebraska earlier this year sought $300 million to upgrade the entire route to an expressway. The high­ way bill passed by the House of Representatives in October au­ thorized $35 million over six years. The bill passed by the Sen­ ate contained no money for the project. The sum included in the final bill was agreed to during lengthy conference committee meetings in November. Because of erroneous informa­ tion supplied to the Star-Tribune the day Congress passed the | highway bill, an earlier report in­ correctly stated that funds for the Heartland Expressway had been stripped entirely from the high­ way bill. �Wednesday, December 18,1991 Bin funds trad^ study^ CHEYENNE (AP) — A call for a study into the transportation and trade flow between the United States, Canada and Mexico is con­ tained in the omnibus highway bill, according to U.S. Sen Alan Simpson. “The trade corridor study will map and document the routes used now to transport goods between the three nations and how im­ provements at various border points could facilitate an even ^eater flow,” the Republican said in a news release from his Wash­ ington office. �Earlier this year those poor road conditions and the growing num­ ber of automobiles in the park prompted U^S. Sens. HaJcolm ^llop and Alan Simnson. both Wyoming Republicans, to propose the study of alternative trans­ portation systems for Yellowstone Yosemite and Denali. Wallop has suggested that a monorail similar to the one that runs in Disney World be con­ structed in Yellowstone, although -National Park Service officials have said it would be impractical and too costly. I66T '61 Jaqui33aQ 'Xrpsintjj^ Conservationists have wel­ comed the study, as has Barbee who earlier this year said “it nev­ er hurts to be visionary.’’ Meanwhile, the environmental assessment now under way will highlight which roads are candi­ dates for reconstruction and which can get by with less costly resur­ facing and rehabilitation projects Hudson said. ’ Reconstruction costs in the park average roughly $1 million per mile, while restoration work is closer to $200,000 per mile he said. “Those things are basically stopgap. You can hold a road,’’ he said of resurfacing and rehabilita­ tion projects. “So some of the roads would get that, but eventu­ ally they would need to be recon­ structed as well.’’ Whether the park will get the money it needs for the road pro­ gram is hard to say, since it com­ petes with all other national parks for dollars. Currently, the Nation­ al Park Service provides Yellow­ stone with about $6 million a year for road work, according to Hud­ son. �Delegation cautiously supports rule change requirements and the sizeable cap­ ital investment needed to devel­ men colTgret’ op a lease. Thomas, however, said he is a sional delegation expressed tem­ pered support for a proposal to re­ little perplexed by the timing of duce mandatory coal prodnctinn the proposal, which happens to from f^ral leases but said they coincide with what is widely re­ garded as the beginning of a major pro^s^l of the surge in demand for federal coal, "'y ‘*’’"8 * imagine ^meaU of Land Maqqgp- ic *5.®y **?‘o accom­ iSlcnt has proposed a new rule that would permit coal companies to modate the additional burden of annually produce 0.3 percent of permitting,” he said. JodLBraytort, a member of recoverable coal within a given federal lease, instead of 1 percent J^epublican Sen, MalcoimJiV^op^s^ff, said her boss under existing rules. Many coal companies favor the tavors changing the diligence re­ Idea because it would give them quirement to mitigate extensive more flexibility to cope with fluedelays that can make luations in demand. It difficult for companies to com­ r say the proposal is a ply with the existing rule. Aside from that, however federal coal giveaway and an in­ vitation for companies to specu­ Brayton said the proposal appears late. rather irrelevant to existing market conditions. .^I^Craig Th^pmas, R-Wyo. “Diligence doesn’t seem to be said he is not concerned that the rule change would lead to ram­ our problem at this point,” she pant speculation because of “cum- said. Laurie Goodman, a staff spokeswoman for Wyoming GOP i pen^aaSjrnpson, said her boss ' is torn” and shares some confu­ sion about the timing of the pro­ posal. Goodman said she wanted to gather more information from the BLM before discussing the proposal in detail. �I Saturday, December 28,1991 Delegation l^s VA surgical unit plan ■sii3:Ss=sa~£?- . And the delegation said that it’s the only VA center that^ffi.rc gical services within a 150-niile radius. � https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/4feba8d1947dda01cad3886d5965cf17.jpg a73ea477a9bac0e715d9a6e5f4460676 https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/cce403accfc2b6ee11b00107778d9483.jpg e45d4a7464a5a0bed12a0021bdb9b925 https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/89ef6ad6fe79fe73b76e11c87d6a09e2.jpg 961cfda2ff9b6c845b76f6bec9b385cd https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c9010d2bab1c9e623e307f73ae57ca24.jpg 1f3278dac4d358d3f24571a06a55ef3b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alan K. Simpson Vertical File Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Archivists are happy to assist anyone with accessing the physical or electronic copies of the files. The Casper College Goodstein Foundation Library is glad to grant uses of this material that it actively manages and cares for and will provide its publication policy upon request. Date Created Date of creation of the resource. This is a collection of files regarding U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson that were used by the Casper Star-Tribune. These files and documents are part of a larger collection of Casper Star-Tribune vertical files consisting of a series of file folders arranged by people, places, and events. These files at times have a corresponding file of photographs and negatives created and used by the Casper Star Tribune from 1967 until the middle of 1995 according to a newspaper article on the donation from February of 2000. Subject The topic of the resource Politicians United States; Politicians Wyoming Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper Star-Tribune Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Casper Star-Tribune Vertical File, NCA 01.ii.2001.02-Alt WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Provenance A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource. The Casper Star-Tribune gifted 20 years of photographic negatives and prints and many of these corresponding files and article scans to Casper College early in the year 2000. The vertical files have been managed by the Casper College Archives and Special Collections housed in its Western History Center. The repository started the process of arranging and describing these files at the series level in January of 2024. Relation A related resource The finding aid for these and other items in this collection is available for viewing: <a href="https://caspercollegearchives.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/25364" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://caspercollegearchives.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/25364</a> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper articles Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alan K. Simpson 1991 Casper Star-Tribune Articles (September-December) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Archivists are happy to assist anyone with accessing the physical or electronic copies of the files. The Casper College Goodstein Foundation Library is glad to grant uses of this material that it actively manages and cares for and will provide its publication policy upon request. Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1991 Subject The topic of the resource Politicians United States; Politicians Wyoming Description An account of the resource PDF of various scanned newspaper articles from September through December 1991 regarding U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson. The articles are part of a collection of files and photographs that were created and used by the Casper Star-Tribune from 1967 until the middle of 1995. Items in this collection may support the use of other collections in the repository or vice versa. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper Star-Tribune Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper Star-Tribune Vertical File, NCA 01.ii.2000.02-Alt WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context NCA 01.ii.2000.01_PeV_AlanSimpson_Casper Star-Tribune Articles_1991_Sept-Dec Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Relation A related resource <a href="https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/collections/show/39" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/collections/show/39</a> Provenance A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource. The Casper Star-Tribune gifted 20 years of photographic negatives and prints and many corresponding files and article scans to Casper College early in the year 2000 according to a newspaper article on the donation. The vertical files have been managed by the Casper College Archives and Special Collections housed in its Western History Center. The repository started the process of arranging and describing these files at the series level in January of 2024.