MONTANA

Judge: Feds must reconsider climate impacts of mine

BILLINGS – U.S. officials have again been faulted by a federal judge for failing to adequately consider the potential climate change effects of expanding a massive coal mine in the sagebrush-covered hills of southeastern Montana.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan recommended Feb. 11 that the Interior Department be given 240 days to re-analyze the expansion of Cloud Peak Energy’s Spring Creek Mine near Decker.

But Cavan said mining shouldn’t be stopped in the interim, frustrating environmentalists who have campaigned for years to curtail coal production from the huge strip mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana.

A final decision is up to U.S. District Judge Susan Watters. If she adopts Cavan’s recommendation, it would mark a setback to the Interior Department’s attempts to downplay the climate change impacts of burning fossil fuels extracted from public lands.

In the Montana case, government officials asserted that burning the coal would have little effect on global emissions. That claim was first made by Interior officials under President Barack Obama and has been carried forward under President Donald Trump.

Environmentalists – WildEarth Guardians and the Montana Environmental Information Center – sued after the expansion was approved, claiming climate change hadn’t been fully considered. That led to a 2016 order for officials to re-examine the environmental impacts, and then another lawsuit when that study was completed.

The judge said the agency needed to consider the damages those emissions could inflict on society, as well as the human health impacts from other pollutants emitted by coal-burning power plants.

NEW MEXICO

Petition seeks impeachment of governor over border stance

SANTA FE – An online petition has been launched to impeach the Democratic governor of New Mexico over her decision to withdraw National Guard troops from the border with Mexico.

More than 30,000 people have endorsed the online petition that urges a Republican state legislator to charge Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with treason for aiding illegal entry into the country.

Lujan Grisham has ordered all but a dozen New Mexico National Guard troops to return from the border in a move that challenges President Trump’s description of a security crisis. California Gov. Gavin Newsom also has ordered the withdrawal of most state National Guard troops from the border.

The creator of the impeachment petition against Lujan Grisham identified himself as John Daniel of Ruidoso. He could not immediately be reached.

New Mexico is one of four U.S. states sharing a border with Mexico.

WYOMING

City of Casper sues opioid drugmakers

The City of Casper has filed a federal lawsuit against more than 15 opioid manufacturers and distributors across the country, alleging the drug companies misrepresented the addictive properties of their prescription painkillers, the city announced.

The lawsuit seeks millions of dollars in total damages to pay for costs of care for Casper’s residents as well as to recover the city’s costs for responding to the opioid epidemic.

Mayor Charlie Powell said the city’s leaders decided to take action during a recent executive session.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by Jackson attorney Jason Ochs, names more than a dozen defendants. They include OxyContin maker and opioid giant Purdue Pharma; Cephalon Inc., which produces opioids; Teva Ltd., which – according to the suit – works with Cephalon to “market and sell Cephalon products” as well as making and selling its own products; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which produces opioids including duragesic, or fentanyl; Endo Health Solutions, which sells opioids like Percocet; and Allergan and Watson Laboratories, which are both linked to Actavis, another defendant who makes opioids.

Also named as defendants are Walgreens and Walmart, which both have sold prescription opioids.

In a statement, Purdue said it shared the city’s concerns about the opioid crisis and would work collaboratively with Casper and the state of Wyoming to bring forward meaningful solutions.

However, the company said it vigorously denied the city’s allegations and looked forward to the opportunity to defend itself.

NORTH DAKOTA

State ponders ban on public firearm buyback programs

BISMARCK – North Dakota legislators are considering a ban on public firearm buyback programs, which local governments and law enforcement agencies even in some gun-friendly conservative states commonly use to voluntarily remove weapons from the street.

Republican state Rep. Luke Simons, the primary sponsor of the bill, told a House committee that firearm buybacks do nothing to increase public safety and shouldn’t be subsidized by taxpayer money.

Rep. Mary Adams, a Grand Forks Democrat, questioned the need for such a ban. She said no one’s Second Amendment rights are threatened if participant willingly turn in their guns.

Buyback programs have been in place in other states for decades and are designed to give people a safe place to get rid of unwanted weapons. Simons said he did not know if any gun buyback events had occurred in North Dakota but doubted they had.

Kansas and Indiana passed similar legislation in 2014 that bans local governments from using taxpayer money for gun buyback programs to remove weapons from circulation.

Simons said he believed the programs threaten gun rights and send a message to children that the “government is buying evil guns to get them off the street.”

NEW MEXICO

Bill calls for lifting cap on state’s film incentives

ALBUQUERQUE – Incentives aimed at attracting more filmmakers to New Mexico would get a boost under legislation supported by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as neighboring Texas and other states contemplate similar proposals to sweeten the draw for production companies.

Flanked by fellow Democrats and representatives of the film industry, the governor said the legislation “represents a return to the right kind of attitude about New Mexico’s film and television industry.”

The measure would eliminate the state’s cap on rebate payouts for the industry and make other changes that supporters say would result in more productions coming to the state.

Lujan Grisham’s predecessor, Republican Susana Martinez, had signed legislation in 2011 imposing a $50 million annual limit as a way to provide budget certainty and protect state finances while New Mexico struggled through the economic downturn.

The state followed up in 2013 with the “Breaking Bad bill,” named after the Emmy-winning TV drama that filmed primarily in Albuquerque during its five seasons. The goal was to enhance incentives for television productions.

State officials have said New Mexico has marked three consecutive record-breaking years and it’s lining up to be another monumental year. The industry has drawn more in-state direct spending from film and TV productions each year since 2014, topping out at $505 million last fiscal year, according to the state film office.