BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – A federal judge has approved a deal requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to finalize by next year plans to reduce haze-causing pollution from coal-fired power plants and other sources in four Western states.      The reductions are required under the Clean Air Act. They were first announced more than a decade ago, but have yet to be widely enacted.      The order from U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello in Colorado, issued Tuesday, follows a settlement between the EPA and environmental groups.      The Environmental Defense Fund, WildEarth Guardians and National Parks and Conservation Assocation sued the agency for failing to address haze-causing emissions inMontana,Wyoming,Coloradoand North Dakota.      In theWestern U.S., haze is blamed for reducing visibility by half versus natural conditions, to a maximum of 60 to 90 miles. … Read entire article »

CASPER,Wyo.(AP) – TheWyomingOil and Gas Conservation Commission has decided to abandon adopting rules for methane farming.      The commission made the decision Thursday inCasperafter receiving guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others.      The decision allows twoColoradocompanies to proceed with methane farming inWyomingunder existing oil and gas rules.      Methane farming involves encouraging coal-eating microbes that are naturally present in underground coal seams to multiply and produce methane gas. The technique is targeted at getting depleted coal-bed methane wells to resume producing small but steady volumes of natural gas.      Commission Supervisor Tom Doll tells the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/oRmWtI ) that the six-month process of drafting the rules, collecting public comment, reconsidering the rules and then killing them wasn’t a waste of time. … Read entire article »

RAWLINS (AP) – Officials with theU.S.Bureau of Land Management plan to staff a trailer inCarbonCountyto urge people to respect public lands.      Workers from the agency’s Rawlins field office plan to be in a trailer at Dad Junction, on Highway 789 north of Baggs, from Friday through Sunday, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.      The agency says that with deer hunting season opening, workers and to answer questions from the public on off-highway vehicle use, camping regulation and other programs affecting public lands. … Read entire article »

RAWLINS,Wyo.(AP) – State Department of Transportation officials sayWyoming70 in south-centralWyomingwill probably close earlier than normal this fall.      Part of the paved road washed out in May and it is a one-lane, gravel and dirt road in that area.      WYDOT spokesman Ross Doman tells the Rawlins Daily Times (http://bit.ly/pxM0dW) that it will be difficult for snow plows to clear the stretch of road that isn’t paved when it starts snowing.      So the plan is to keep the road open as long as possible in October and then close the road for the winter earlier than usual.      Doman says crews are working above the slide area in preparation for a new permanent two-lane road to be built next year. … Read entire article »

MEDICINE BOW,Wyo.(AP) – The Historic Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow is 100 years old.      The famous hotel opened on Sept. 30, 1911, built on the site of the former Elkhorn Hotel. The Virginian is located on the town’s main street along the Old Lincoln Highway, U.S. 30.      The hotel derived its name from a novel by Owen Wister about a foreman on a ranch at Medicine Bow. There also was a TV series in the 1960s and early 1970s that was loosely based on the novel.      The hotel is now owned and run byVernonand Vickie Scott.      The hotel’s centennial was featured this summer during the annual Medicine Bow Days celebration. … Read entire article »

RAWLINS, Wyo. (AP) – Authorities say the driver of a semi-truck that slid down an embankment and crashed into a home in Rawlins has died.      The Rawlins Daily Times (http://bit.ly/qpJS4c) reports the truck ran off the right side of Interstate 80, went through a barbed-wire fence and plowed through two fields before crashing into a home in the southern part of the city Thursday afternoon.      The driver was pronounced dead at a hospital.      No one was in the home at the time of the crash, but the newspaper reports the truck narrowly missed a stop sign and a child’s bike that was parked at the corner. … Read entire article »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – A 44-year-old man is dead after the pickup he had just stolen in downtownCheyennewent off the road and rolled.      The Wyoming Highway Patrol identified the man as Kenneth Roark, ofTorrington.      The patrol says Roark stole the 2003 GMC pickup and was speeding along an Interstate 25 service road when the crash occurred about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday about 2 miles north ofCheyenne.      The pickup had not yet been reported stolen.      The patrol says the crash occurred on a slight curve in the road. It says Roark was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle. … Read entire article »