Goats on weeds

LAHONTAN, Nev.–More than 1,400 acres at the Carson River Ranches, Nevada state park have been treated for weeds using goats for prescribed grazing. Park regional manager Eric Johnson explains the project and the benefit to the state.

American Bus Association names White Pine County’s “Fire and Ice” event one of North America’s top 100 for 2008

Nevada event to be held at Cave Lake State Park January 18-20, 2008

[See Related: the White Pine County Fire and Ice show video.]

ELY, Nev.–The American Bus Association announced today that the White Pine County Fire and Ice Show, to be held on January 18-20, 2008, has been designated as one of the top 100 events in North America by an elite tourism industry selection committee.

Inclusion in the Top 100 list, published as a supplement to the September/October issue of Destinations magazine, indicates that Fire and Ice offers excellent entertainment value to both tour groups and individual travelers from around the world.

“The White Pine Fire and Ice Show started as a small, local event but has turned into a major outdoor entertainment attraction for the western United States,” said Steve Gray, park supervisor at Cave Lake State Park.

Yucca fault line might spring surprise (LVRJ)

Letter, maps suggest it’s not where scientists had thought it was

LAS VEGAS–Bore hole drilling operations at the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site have turned up preliminary evidence that an earthquake fault line passes beneath the place where project officials want to build concrete pads for storing thousands of tons of highly radioactive spent fuel.

A letter and maps from the U.S. Geological Survey obtained last week by the Review-Journal show that the Bow Ridge fault passes directly beneath the footprint of a pad where spent fuel canisters would age or cool down before they are entombed in a maze of tunnels inside the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Rock core samples extracted by drill rigs about 250 feet below the surface indicate that the fault is hundreds of feet east of where scientists had thought it was.

Read the complete story at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Judge refuses to stop Yucca water use (LVRJ)

Energy Department can finish Phase 1 drilling

LAS VEGAS–U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt on Thursday denied motions by Nevada attorneys to make the Department of Energy stop using the state’s water for all bore hole drilling operations at the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site.

In so doing, Hunt urged lawyers for both sides to sit down and work out their differences rather than “dig in their heels” and not budge on their respective positions.

“I am directing — sharply suggesting, short of requiring — that the parties get together seriously and reasonably,” Hunt said after announcing his decision without hearing arguments.

Later, he said, “The court could craft an agreement that neither one of you are going to like.”

Read the complete story at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.