JH Underground – news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Of all the choices facing voters in the Nov. 6 election, none is easier than Proposition #3, the proposal to clean up and cap the old landfill south of town and begin planning a new trash transfer station.

The price tag is steep — $14.5 million in sales tax revenue — but the county has to take action, facing a deadline from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. As this video illustrates, toxic chemicals are leaching from old trash into groundwater and eventually could contaminate the Snake River.

County residents either can pay for the cleanup via sales tax — with tourists bearing their share — or property tax.

The ballot measure also would pay for planning of an improved facility on the site for trash transfer, recycling and composting. Expanding these services can help the community save money in the long run. The more waste we divert, the less we will pay for trash hauling to the landfill near Idaho Falls.

The proposal is one of three for specific-purpose excise tax, or SPET, revenue. Also up for vote are the proposal to buy the 10-acre Forest Service property on North Cache for $13.5 million, which I do not support, and Proposition #2, finishing the pathway connection between West Broadway and Wilson for $4.4 million, which I do support.

Posted under County Government, Environment, Politics, Town Government

Tags: conservation, recycling, snake river

Even when they were useful, it was annoying that Jackson Hole had so many phone books, let alone now that they have been rendered as essential as 35mm film or eight-track tapes.

Even more irritating than coming home to find your neighborhood littered with unwanted paper is receiving a package slip in your post office box, waiting in line and finding that it’s another phone book. For Idaho Falls.

San Francisco recently took the lead in banning such waste, but I suppose the market will take care of the problem sooner than later. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than a story told by a neighbor, who while being solicited for an ad in a phone book (unsuccessfully) watched with amusement as the sales rep searched for a listing on his phone.

The people who distribute these phone books on our doorsteps seem to disappear quickly and quietly. Maybe we should find where they live, dump our unwanted items and let them recycle. Like, say, an old washer or dryer.

Thanks to the person who works tirelessly to make sure paper waste is recycled at the post office, and Jackson Community Recycling for keeping a bin for phone books at each satellite station.

Update: Not sure how effective it is, but this national opt-out site allows residents to select which phone books, if any, they wish to receive.

Posted under Business, Environment, Politics

Tags: Media, recycling

Word has filtered out since last winter, and they have been on the shelves for a few weeks, but Snake River Brewing Co. is hosting a party Wednesday to celebrate its latest innovation: cans.

The pub is canning two of its signature brews: Pako’s IPA and Snake River Pale Ale. The cans are made in a factory in Worland and filled in Jackson. The pub is distributing them to vendors around town by bike.

The party is in conjunction with BikeWire, a bicycle courier network spearheaded by Andy Zimmerman of the pub’s next-door neighbor, Fitzgerald’s Bicycles. The service helps connect users needing or willing to transport goods by bike. Festivities run from 2 to 7 p.m. on the pub’s loading dock.

There were several factors behind the switch to cans, says Tim Harland, the pub’s vice president of sales and marketing.

Read More…

Posted under Business, Environment, Food, Wyoming

Tags: barack obama, beer, cycling, recycling, restaurants

Legal gunslinger Kent Spence stars in this PSA for the Bag2Differ campaign, which helped Jackson Hole place eighth among 31 Western ski communities in the Reusable Bag Challenge.

Between March 1 and Sept. 1, shoppers in Jackson used canvas or cloth bags nearly 150,000 times, eliminating the need for roughly 370,000 plastic bags (reusable sacks can hold 2.5 times as many groceries as their plastic counterparts). That’s the equivalent of 163,000 pounds of carbon dioxide that won’t be emitted into the atmosphere, not to mention clogging landfills, streams and forests with litter.

Read More…

Posted under Economy, Environment, Ski Resorts

Tags: colorado, conservation, recycling

At JH Underground, powered wholly by renewable energy without the slaying of trees, every day is Earth Day.

But once a year, the rest of America decides to pay at least token attention to the health of our planet, and eco-savvy Jackson joins in solidarity.

So, at risk of inviting parody from Stuff White People Like, here is the list of events slated for Earth Week. Yes, a whole week. (Insert your own jokes about Birkenstocks, Toyota Priuses, organic food and Barack Obama.)

The fest culminates in the ECO-Fair on Saturday in the Jackson Whole Grocer parking lot, where all things crunchy will be on display. Also noteworthy: Green Drinks at LMC on Wednesday and a showing of the frog movie “The Thin Green Line” on Friday at Center for the Arts.

Read More…

Posted under Economy, Environment, Food, Holidays

Tags: conservation, films, recycling