National Day of Prayer encourages the faithful to pray for improved circumstances
Wyoming Tribune Eagle (05/07/09)

CHEYENNE -- Today, many Americans will set aside a special moment for prayer.That could be just what this nation needs, say organizers of today's National Day of Prayer say.

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Job recovery likely to be slow when recession ends, UW economist says
Wyoming Tribune Eagle (05/07/09)

Robert Godby says it could take up to two years just to restore all the positions that have been lost.CHEYENNE -- The length of the current recession depends on who you ask, an economist from the University of Wyoming says. Some experts believe the economic dip began in December 2007; others add or subtract a few months from that.Regardless, 2009 opened in the midst of the worst downturn since World War II, said Robert Godby, associate professor and chairman of the University of Wyoming's Department of Economics and Finance.On Wednesday during a breakfast at Little America as part of Small Business Summit '09, Godby discussed why a recovery won't produce a quick job market rebound.Some 5 million jobs have disappeared since the beginning of the recession. And even a strong recovery would mean the creation of 250,000 new jobs every month. At that pace, it would take two years to restore all of the lost positions.Today's outlook points to a slower recovery, so it could take five to six years to regain all of those lost positions, Godby said.And today's employers have learned how to operate with slimmer budgets and staff. He said even as the economy recovers, some are more likely to unfreeze overtime for the employees they have than to hire new people.

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Lawmakers bicker over wilderness bill
Casper Star-Tribune (AP) (05/05/09)

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans blasted a wide-reaching wilderness bill Tuesday and ridiculed its most high-profile supporter, singer Carole King.GOP members of the House Natural Resources Committee, including Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said the bill would make residents of five Western states "feel the Earth move under their feet" as land is transferred from publicly accessible parks and forests to off-limits wilderness.They also said the bill could cause employment rates to go "tumbling down" by banning logging, oil exploration and other development on nearly 24 million acres across Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington.King, an Idaho resident and longtime environmental activist, said she was not offended by the GOP's spoof of her 1971 hit song, "I Feel the Earth Move.""If that's their best shot, we won't have any problem passing this bill," she said as she waited to testify in favor of the measure, which if adopted would be the second-largest wilderness expansion in U.S. history.

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Freudenthal weighs in on climate bill
Casper Star-Tribune (05/05/09)

Gov. Dave Freudenthal stepped into the congressional debate over climate change legislation this week, penning a letter to U.S. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.Freudenthal argued against a low carbon fuel standard, saying it places an undue burden on "small business refiners" to pay the full cost of carbon emissions generated by the fuels they produce.He also argued in favor of providing smaller refiners access to some carbon credits so they wouldn't have to compete for 100 percent of the credits they need in an open-auction market."The draft climate bill proposes to make the few small business refiners in my state responsible for all consumer carbon emissions for fuel they supply," Freudenthal wrote. "It appears that each year, cap and trade would require these small refiners to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to cover the carbon use of several million consumers."The House Energy committee is working on a bill aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing more renewable electricity generation, one of President Barack Obama's top priorities. Key to the effort is a "cap and trade" proposal that would set a ceiling and put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Companies could either purchase or receive their allowance for free, and then buy or sell portions of their allotment to meet emissions limits.As written, the bill provides no guarantee of a cost pass-through to consumers of gasoline and other fuels that emit carbon, and that threatens the viability of small oil refineries, Freudenthal said."If enacted as written, the new energy policy for much of the interior West would be to load all consumer, commerce, agriculture, industry and military carbon emissions from transportation fuel on the backs of a few small processors of crude oil," Freudenthal wrote.

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