Jonathan Ratner to speak tomorrow, Sept. 10 in Jackson, Wy
Man with the data the ranchers fear, will speak at Teton County Library-
Jonathan Ratner, whose data gathering efforts to test for e. coli contamination in Wyoming creeks indirectly caused the Wyoming legislature to pass their draconian “data trespass law,” will speak tomorrow, Sept. 10 at the Teton County Library in Jackson, Wyoming at 6 pm. He will talk about water quality, which has become a raging issue in Wyoming as the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality moves to downgrade the standards for contamination by fecal coliform bacteria in creeks.
Ratner is the Wyoming director of the Western Watersheds Project.
There would be a change of status for 87,775 miles of creeks in Wyoming (those with an average flow of less than 6 cubic feet a second — 76% of the state’s waters). The rationale is that the waters of streams with this low a flow do not come in contact with people enough to be considered primary waters meriting a primary e. coli standard. Instead they are secondary and only have to meet a seccondary standard, which is 5 times weaker (dirtier). This is obviously false with all of the remote wilderness creeks in the state. A creek with less than 6 cps can be extremely important for recreation, not to mention fish and wildlife.
Meanwhile Angus M. Thuermer Jr. of WyoFile has written a lengthy article describing recent events in this controversy. The EPA has rejected Wyoming’s changes so far, though only because they have not held a proper public hearing where everyone has notice and records are kept. Read “Water hearing to be held under protest.” Wyoming DEQ is arrogantly claiming a public hearing does not need to be held, but the EPA is forcing them.

Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He has been a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and also its President. For many years he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
5 Responses to Jonathan Ratner to speak tomorrow, Sept. 10 in Jackson, Wy
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Recent Posts
- Western Rewilding Network Proposal August 9, 2022
- Holiday Farm Fire And Industrial Logging August 8, 2022
- Another Misleading New York Times Fire Article August 4, 2022
- San Pedro Grazing Challenged August 3, 2022
- M-44 Ban On Public Lands Near Enactment August 1, 2022
Recent Comments
- Beeline on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- Ed Loosli on A Greater Yellowstone National Park Proposal
- Hiker on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- Mark L on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- rastadoggie on Holiday Farm Fire And Industrial Logging
- Rosemary Lowe on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- Ida Lupine on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- Ida Lupine on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- Pat on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- Laurinda Reinhart on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- Glenn on Western Rewilding Network Proposal
- Sam on Holiday Farm Fire And Industrial Logging
- Jeff Lonn on Holiday Farm Fire And Industrial Logging
- Mark L on Another Misleading New York Times Fire Article
- Ida Lupine on M-44 Ban On Public Lands Near Enactment
Deny, deny, deny! What hope is there for a civilization that ignores reality and buries or ignores information that is essential to life?
How did the meeting go Jonathan?
Nancy,
This week’s issue of the Jackson Hole News and Guide has a sidebar article on Ratner’s talk.
See: Water-quality activist slams DEQ
Thanks for the update Ralph.
What are the procedures if one wants to check on the water quality in their local streams, creeks, say in Montana?
While walking through our national forest, A random step placed on a cow pie (in a minefield of pie)leads one to believe that the effort to clean the minefield is outnumbered. It has been said, nothing worthwhile happens in the brevity of a lifetime, “so we have hope”.