Chris Peterson of the Hungry Horse News reports that the North Fork Watershed Protection Act took another step to becoming law last week. Sen. Max Baucus said the bill, which bans future energy leases on federal lands in the North Fork and Middle Fork of the Flathead River drainages, was unanimously endorsed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Getting a bill out of committee is one of the first steps to getting it passed. Read the full article here.