The coal issue is a big, big deal. Coal “separation” taxes are a big component of what funds Wyoming’s state budget. And there are far too many idiot Republicans who are on board the AGW ship of fools...
The wolf issue is big. The economic impact isn’t to only ranchers - there are outfitters and tourist businesses who are seeing an impact from the rapidly declining elk and deer numbers in north/west Wyoming. The number of tags issued goes down, and so do the number of hunters. We were “promised” that the wolves would be contained in Yellowstone. That’s a laugh. They’re finding them as far away as Lander, up into Montana, Idaho and now Oregon.
These are all issues *now* - and the health care thing (as detestable as it is, and as unconstitutional as it is) doesn’t really get into our faces until 2011 to 2012. Freudenthal has to deal with what is on his plate now, today, and what he has been fighting since he got into office. He’s finishing what he started, for which I applaud him. If he starts a lawsuit on the health care issue now, it will be an issue that has to be pursued by the next governor, since he won’t be running for the seat this fall’s election.
So if I were in his shoes, I’d be doing the same thing: finish what I started, let the next guy in office take up this battle and see it through.
You can add Colorado to the list. One turned up dead on the White River about a year ago with the collar still beeping. Lots of rumors of sightings south of your Sweetwater County, but nobody's admitting to anything.