The Bureau of Land Management in Colorado has issued Christo, the bespectacled artist behind the 2005 art project “The Gates†and a number of other large-scale works (along with his late wife Jeanne-Claude), an environmental impact statement on his upcoming project, “Over the River.†For “River,†Christo plans to layer fabric panels along 42 miles of the Arkansas River in southern Colorado, but the state’s environmental review “concludes that the project would have consequences for the [local] landscape and communities,†according to the Times, and suggests it be seriously reduced in size. Naturally, the controversy-courting artist loves this: “We were banging our heads and asking to have an environmental impact statement for such a long time,†he said. Now that there’s even a whole protest group, Christo must be doubly pumped! [NYT]