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Show WASATCH Chernoby] Still Claiming Lives BELARUS MOUNTAIN Snowmobiles Pollute Air in Yellowstone — Almost one-forth of this former Soviet republic west of Russia remains contaminated from nuclear radiation from the explosion at the Chernoby! nuclear power plant in neighboring Ukraine in 1986. A newly-released Belarus govern- ment report stated that at least 220,000 of its 10 million citizens suffer from physical ailments as a result of the Chernobyl meltdown. The number of cases of leukemia, thyroid cancers and tumors is still climbing as a direct result, the government report said. The worst contamination is along the country’s southern border with Ukraine, where leukemia cases doubled in 1995 from those reported in 1994, following an upward trend that began in the late 1980s. Neighboring Ukraine reported that 125,000 people died in 1994 as a result of the Chernobyl disaster. YELLOWSTONE — Increased snowmobile traffic is causing air pollution in Yellowstone National Park. As many as 1,000 snowmobiles day now enter the park during a the winter months. On several occasions last winter, acceptable air quality standards were exceeded, park officials say Park winter visitation increased to 140,000 last winter But unlike automobi es, the EPA has no standards for emissions from snowmobiles. Snowmobile critics and wanted to encumber private property owners with such regulations, a state forestry official said. Instead, they offer only voluntary guidelines and hope loggers will want to practice sound forestry techniques On private land, loggers may remove every standing tree, regardless of the environmental cc NSequences volunteer feeder-watchers last year Each volunteer watches a feeder once every two weeks and records the kinds and numbers of birds they see. Logging on private land on the north slope of the Uintas has been particularly damaging, according to US Forest officials ecological organization has been accused by Russian counterintelligence agents of divulging military secrets and claim that the ecologists are fronts for as emits as much 1,000 automo- Environmentalists Dubbed Spies MOSCOW, SALT LAKE CITY — Olympus Hi gh graduates from the class of ‘59 are helping keep the federal wolf reintroduction program going, despite The successor Norwegian News Capsules WHO’ FIRST? ROME — Experts from around the world gathered in Rome in December is a The report issued by the Genevabased Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated there is “a discernible human influence on climate.” “That is a very important change” from the previous report, said Narasimhan Sundararaman, the panel’s secretary general. on Godwin Obasi, from the World Meteorological Organization said the conclusion was serious. “This is a warning to humanity that we have gone beyond the point where the sustainable use of the atmosphere as a highly mobile dump possible without for man’s waste is serious conse- quences. Logging Roads Outnumber Highways WASHINGTON — Enough logging roads have been built in the Northwest to circle the globe 13 times. Logging roads are being built in the national forests of the Pacific Northwest much faster than the construction of highways and streets. More than 325,000 miles of logging roads, twice as much as existed in 1960, crisscross public lands in British Columbia and six Northwest states. An organization Northwest Environmental called Watch the is warning that logging roads are causing serious erosion and sedimentation in streams that harms dwindling salmon populations. could reya budget MOAB — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement that may help determine whether Atlas Corporation should be allowed to leave uranium mill tailings on the banks of the Colorado River. Atlas has proposed capping the tailings, rather than hauling them to a site 14 miles away, near the Moab airport. Company officials say they can’t afford to the expense of hauling the 10.5 million tons of tailings away. Critics contend that the tailings are sitting on an active fault and could be de stabilized by an earthquake. Some critics say there already is significant seepage of tailings into the Colorado. No Logging Rules On Utah’s Private Lands Unlike the US Forest Service, which has strict regulations for logging on public lands, Utah has no regulations that lands. are govern logging on private cuts in Congress The Olympus class of ‘59 sent $12,000 tosthe US Fish and Wildlife Service to continue the reintroduction program. The $550,000 allocation for 1996 was slashed by $200,000 on an amendment by Republican Montana Senator Conrad Burns. In 1996, the Wildlife Service plans to re-introduce another 30 Canadian wolves to portions of Idaho and Yellowstone Park. A number of other private donors are helping the program, officials say. Last month, $35,000 in donations went to radio collars for tracking candidate wolves in Canada. Where of 1993-94. Another theory is that the aimed birds are not dying out but prefer natural food when they can find it. The Cornell program drew 12,000 at controlling erosion and PAGE 19 charged with radiation put a chill seeking t lieved in the former to be Soviet @: Critics Diss Feds for Vail Expansion VAI Colo The propc expansion of Vail ski sed 1,000 resort on Forest Service lands is angering envi ronmentalists. The $20 million expansion would increase the resort’s skiing area by 25 percent. This north-facing “Super Vail’ area holds snowfall better than the resorts existing south-facing slopes It is expected to be open by the season for the 1999 World Alpine Championship Critics say the Forest Service have essentially approved the Vail plan Smith, Colorado already. Rocky Environmental Coalition said Vail is big enough already. “Vail is already the second-largest ski area in North America, but they won't be happy until they have runs on the moon.” ee ee Into IT the Birds Go? Federal regulations on public land protecting rivers, streams and lakes. But the Utah Legislature has not formally secre problems to Did All ATLANTA — Birdwatchers can't seem to understand why so many birds did not appear at bird feeders in the East this year. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology conducts annual bird population studies based on observations at feeders. One theory for the reduced bird numbers is that many non-migrating birds died out during the harsh winter be state out linked T Union. acre Atlas Wants to Cap Tailings on Colorado Western Federal Security Service, a of the KGB accused a group of espionage follow The accusations have environmental groups sOrt to finish a report that states man key cause of global warming A The Oslo-based Bellona Foundation, which has been tracking ecological issues in the far north since 1989, Humans a Key Cause of Global Warming — ing its study of nuclear radiation disposal from Russian military installa tions revealing Environmental Russia espionage Olympus High Class of ‘59 Helping Wolf Program California air-quality officials contend each snowmobile carbon monoxide biles. TIMES Advertising Makes CALL in the Cents 801-649-8046 SOON NUM ELA IYI SPACE RESERVATION DEADLINE January 10, 1996 |