Page 5 - Flathead Beacon // 12.10.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM
NEWS
DECEMBER 10, 2014 | 5
W•O•R•D•S of the Week
AN INDEX OF RECENT NEWSMAKERS
LIBBY
A long-delayed risk study released this week for Libby, where hundreds of people have died from asbestos poisoning, concludes cleanup practices are reducing risks to residents. But the U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency acknowledges there is no way to remove all the asbes- tos from the area.
LAND BILLS
Montana’s congressional lead- ers last week introduced a suite of major public lands bills they expect Congress to approve, including the North Fork Wa- tershed Protection Act and the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, which would designate new sections of wilderness in the state for the first time in three decades.
AMTRAK
Eight months after Amtrak adjusted its schedule through northwest Montana to curb delays, the long-distance pas- senger train is still struggling to stay on time during trips between Chicago, Seattle and Portland. In October, the westbound Empire Builder was on time just 6.5 per- cent of the time.
SKI SEASON
Winter is here and ski areas across the region are starting the chairlifts. Enjoy a safe season on the slopes!
‘Historic’ Montana Lands Package Nears Finish Line
North Fork Watershed Protection Act, new wilderness areas in Bob Marshall expected to pass U.S. Senate
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
A raft of public lands measures is head-
ed for a vote in the U.S. Senate this week following a last-minute series of negotia- tions between the state’s congressional leaders, who together marshaled a bundle of Montana bills into the historic package.
The product of 11th-hour arbitrations that nearly collapsed in the waning mo- ments of Dec. 2, the sprawling lands pack- age was rolled into the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass piece of legislation that has lawmakers optimistic it would sail through the Senate with the lands bills intact.
The U.S. House easily passed the de- fense spending bill on Dec. 4.
In a significant conservation move for Northwest Montana, the package contains the North Fork Watershed Preservation Act, which has been in the works for nearly 40 years and removes 430,000 acres of the North Fork of the Flathead River from en- ergy mining, as well as the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, which would add about 67,000 acres to the Bob Marshall Wilder- ness Complex, along with 208,000 acres of conservation management areas and a new noxious weed control program – while
See Land PAGE 20
The South Fork Flathead River flows through the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
GREG LINDSTROM FLATHEAD BEACON
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