NEWS ROUNDUP

Bush Appointee Lied to Congress A Bush administration appointee misled Congress in 2002 on the negative impact of new power plant emissions rules on ongoing federal lawsuits against coal-burning utilities. The Environmental Protection Agency in August eased rules for utilities to make it easier for them to revamp facilities without triggering expensive pollution-reduction requirements. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen says in a report released today that EPA Deputy Administrator Jeff Holmstead gave "false and misleading testimony" in July 2002 to a joint Senate committee by claiming the rules would not harm ongoing federal lawsuits. Holmstead calls Public Citizen's assertions "absolutely outrageous and completely untrue," and said the rule changes had not harmed the cases. Buit Holmstead, in defending the EPA's positions, told other lies about the issue, including a misrepresentation of positions of a former EPA official... Sen. Clinton still intends to place hold on EPA nominee Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she still intends to block Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, after her office received new details of how the White House and EPA fought over air quality concerns after Sept.11. Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee had requested more information about an August EPA inspector general's report which found the agency was pressured by White House officials to prematurely assure New Yorkers the air pollution from the World Trade Center rubble posed no health threat. Documents sent to committee members show there were screaming arguments between some White House and EPA staff, as members of the White House Council on Environmental Quality insisted on changes to EPA's public statements about the air around ground zero...Column: Leavitt Hold-Up The source of Leavitt's confirmation difficulty is not policy, but politics. Senate Democrats have decided that slowing Leavitt's confirmation is in their political interest. The margin by which voters trust Democrats more than Republicans is greater on environmental protection than on any other issue. Thus, Democratic strategists surmise, anything that keeps environmental issues in the public eye works to the Democrats' advantage. Some even hope to drag the confirmation to the end of the year, forcing President Bush to consider a recess appointment, thereby giving Democratic presidential candidates an issue throughout the spring. It's no wonder that every Democratic senator still running for president has placed a hold on Leavitt's nomination. At Leavitt's confirmation hearing, Democratic senators devoted most of their attention to current Bush administration policies, largely ignoring Leavitt's record in Utah...Cattle don't keep time, but Leonard Johnson does It's 5 a.m., an hour before dawn coaxes the chill from the high-country air, and 66-year-old Johnson is cooking bacon and eggs and brewing coffee in his cowboy cabin. Nearby, one of his employers, Ed Booth, begins to stir, and soon the two men are seated at a small table, eating and talking about what lies ahead. It's Sept. 29, and today Johnson, Booth and a dozen others will drive 1,300 head of cattle from their summer grazing grounds north of Creede down the mountain to the various ranches from which they hail. Booth is one of four ranchers who pay the Forest Service to let their cattle graze on 1,000 acres of the Rio Grande National Forest in the summer. He and other members of the Park Cattlemen Association have been taking their cattle to the national forest for 50 years. Come the end of summer, it's time to move those little dogies back home... Editorial: Let's leave the howling to the wolves If NWF's having trouble getting things right, it's in good company. When it comes to figuring out what comes next with wolf recovery, almost no one is getting it quite right. The path toward restoration of a species that had been nearly exterminated from the lower 48 states leads through uncharted territory, and the route best taken is debatable. What's more, restoring threatened and endangered species in recent decades has, in general, been a quixotic undertaking in this country. We have a lot more experience - and, for some, perhaps comfort - addressing failures than successes. Which is what we've got on our hands with wolves - a rousing success. Healthy, thriving populations of wolves have been restored to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. It's happened far faster and with fewer problems than many people dared hope in 1995, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began transplanting wolves from Canada to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, leapfrogging migratory wolves that had already begun slowly recolonizing western Montana on their own...Greens intend lawsuit over mountain plover A coalition of conservation organizations notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Friday that they intend to sue over last month's withdrawal of Endangered Species Act protection for the mountain plover. The 60-day notice of intent to sue is required under the act and gives the Interior Department that much time to respond or settle out of court...Summer's Salmon Die-Off Worst In Recorded History Nine of every 10 threatened Butte Creek spring-run Chinook salmon may have died before they could spawn this summer, a federal agency said in asking that Pacific Gas & Electric Co. be ordered to do more to avert annual fish kills. A greater percentage of salmon died in Butte Creek, near Chico, than in the massive Klamath River kill in Northwest California a year ago that killed 33,000 fall-run fish. This summer's die-off in the state's largest spring run is the worst since the state began keeping track. Still, more fish survived than existed before PG&E began diverting water for hydroelectricity in the Sacramento River tributary, said California Department of Fish and Game fishery biologist Paul Ward on Friday... Provisions Benefiting Energy Industry Are Folded into Bill Now Republicans drafting broad energy legislation have decided not to wait for EPA to issue its final report. Instead, the House-Senate compromise on the energy bill exempts the technique, known as "hydraulic fracturing," from some of the controls of the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act. The little-noticed decision shows the extent to which the far-reaching energy legislation has become a catchall for environmental provisions long advocated by industry lobbyists. Some controversial initiatives, such as one allowing oil and gas exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, could yet be removed from the bill to improve chances of passage in the politically divided Senate. But other less prominent environmental provisions, especially ones dealing with water issues, seem likely to survive, according to congressional aides in both parties. For example, language agreed to by House-Senate negotiators would, for the first time, end a requirement that construction activities related to oil and gas exploration operate with a permit under the Clean Water Act... Proposal keeps recreation on fringe of Headwaters reserve Visitors would be kept mostly to the edges of the 7,400-acre Headwaters Forest Reserve along California's northern coast, under a U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan sent to Congress this week. Millions of dollars would be spent over eight years to restore watersheds and the ancient redwood forest that was purchased in 1999 by the state and federal governments for $380 million to save it from logging by Pacific Lumber Co...BLM offers $1,000 reward to catch vandals at Lovelock Cave Federal officials frustrated by ongoing vandalism at a historic cave site in northern Nevada announced a $1,000 reward Saturday to help catch the crooks. The reward will go to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the vandalism at the Lovelock Cave recreation site southwest of Lovelock, Bureau of Land Management officials said... Fishing is history at Skull Point reservoir A Lincoln County coal mine is seeking federal permission to use the small Skull Point Reservoir near Kemmerer as a sediment control pond, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said the proposal marks the demise of a once-popular recreation area that offered good fishing experiences to local anglers for many years...Chirikof's wild cattle herd face expulsion from island home They are touted as some of the hardiest cattle in the world, robust members of a wild herd that's roamed this remote Alaska island for more than 100 years. The herd on Chirikof Island is a mix of Angus, Siberian and other breeds that survived long stretches without a human caretaker. Initially introduced in the late 1800s, the cattle supplied meat for early pioneers, including whaling crews and an Arctic blue fox industry established by Russian fur traders... BLM to restrict usage along West Walker River Bureau of Land Management plans to restrict motorized vehicles and prohibit camping along a one-mile stretch of the West Walker River east of Smith Valley have been finalized, officials said Friday. The emergency closure, prompted by environmental damage to the popular Wilson Canyon Recreation Area, is scheduled to take effect when the notice is published in the Federal Register...Udall urges Norton to keep wilderness policy Rep. Mark Udall, D-Boulder, has urged Interior Secretary Gale Norton to keep the current policies that allow for interim wilderness protection for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Colorado. Since 1997, the BLM's various state directors have developed the interim wilderness protection policy in Colorado. The policy was implemented with public input and received more than 3,000 comments from citizens across the state concerning it and lands examined under it for wilderness potential. Last month, as a result of a settlement in a case in Utah, the BLM rescinded similar policies related to lands proposed by citizen groups for wilderness designation in that state, and Norton applied the Utah settlement to BLM lands nationwide...Mustang trainer's love not mere horseplay Enter Phil West, 44, a Mono County sheriff's deputy who has honed his own brand of mustang training over the years. West tries to attend as many BLM adoptions as possible, he said, giving educational demonstrations on the gentling and trust process that needs to happen between a mustang and its trainer. West lives in Bishop, where his wife, daughter and son all ride mustangs he has gentled and trained. West uses one of the horses for the mounted patrol... Column: Squeezing multiple use Multiple use was once the guiding principle behind public lands management. The idea was that many uses could be balanced across many acres. America was a place for all walks of life - cowboys and fishermen, loggers and miners, family vacationers and wildlife... These high-profile use conflicts highlight the sort of controversy public lands are known for. Traveling through the Thompson Creek country you can see a few places where livelihoods are made. Yet I saw no huge clearcuts, no overgrazed range, and no gas wells discharging into surface water. The scale was modest, and you get the feeling that people can live there without the benefit of a trust fund or comfortable retirement account. You will also find a lot of remote and wild country, which is one reason why some environmentalists would like to see the creation of a new wilderness area there...Bush eases land rules for miners, angering environmentalists The Bush administration has announced that it will start allowing companies that mine gold, silver, and other precious metals as much public land as they need to help them develop their claims. The decision, a reinterpretation of the 1872 Mining Law, came in response to pressure from the mining industry and members of Congress in big mining states. They said that because of the requirements of modern mining, it takes more space to work a standard 20-acre claim than the five acres allowed for "mill sites" in the 130-year-old law. Concerned that government regulators were failing to restrict the size of mining sites, John Leshy, the Interior Department's solicitor in the Clinton administration, issued an opinion in 1997 stressing that only one five-acre "mill site" should be allowed for every 20-acre mineral claim. The Bush administration's action on Friday overturns that decision. A legal opinion, released in Nevada on Friday evening, said that the 1872 law does not limit how many five-acre mill sites could be granted along with a mining claim...Rangers ask help with pot gardens: Money still needed to stop drug problem, they tell lawmakers Police and park and forest rangers pleaded their case for more drug enforcement money and resources to a trio of congressmen Friday morning. The hearing at Sequoia National Park's Wuksachi Lodge offered some surprises for the lawmakers and shed light on bureaucratic obstacles facing local, state and federal narcotics officers as they combat a burgeoning problem of marijuana and methamphetamine being produced in national forests and parks and on other public lands...Klamath plan meets opposition: Conservation groups say a proposed land transfer threatens old growth and wilderness Fearing a potential decline in wilderness preservation and stepped-up logging operations, 17 Northwest conservation groups this week opposed the transfer of national forest lands the size of Rhode Island to the Klamath Tribes. Instead, the groups argued for the federal government to purchase 400,000 acres of private lands to compensate the tribes and bring an end to the region's water battles. But conservationists, led by the Oregon Natural Resources Council, found no support Friday among Klamath farmers and tribal leaders, who said any such plan would only bring more anger and division to the region. The proposal comes as farmers and tribes, with the Bush administration's support, try to forge an agreement to assure farmers in the Klamath Project a predictable, if reduced, water supply and to restore fish and wildlife promised to the tribes under their 1864 treaty with the government... Deal protects riverside land: 8,000 acres along Skykomish barred from development People worried about suburban sprawl along the scenic Skykomish River can rest a little easier after a local conservation group announced yesterday that a large piece of land along the river -- almost 8,000 acres -- will be permanently protected from development. Under the deal, the land's owner, Hancock Timber Resource Group, sold the land to private individuals. They then sold a conservation easement -- a bundle of property rights that forbids development -- to the state Department of Natural Resources for $2.4 million. The Cascade Land Conservancy, a local, non-profit land trust, brokered the deal. The Forest Legacy Program paid for it. The program, part of the U.S. Forest Service, helps states protect forests... Book Review: Visit Yellowstone with first tourists In "A Ride to the Infernal Regions: Yellowstone's First Tourists," Eugene Lee Silliman lets you read a firsthand account of what National Park Service historian Lee Whittlesey describes as "the first documented commercial tourist party" to visit the area. Silliman has edited the 1871 and 1872 articles written by Calvin C. Clawson, a Deer Lodge newspaper editor who made that first tourist trek. Clawson wrote about the three-week journey in 17 installments printed in the New North-West, a territorial newspaper. The stories of Clawson's trip with four other men and guide Gilman Sawtell are brought together in the new book... Cave in Missouri veritable 'Ice Age time capsule' The dynamite that blasted into limestone for a new road in Greene County uncovered proof that 1,400-pound short-faced bears roamed the Ozarks during the Ice Age, and they struggled with arthritis and gout. Mr. Forir and other researchers are also investigating the possibility that herds of peccary — piglike animals — sought shelter in caves thousands of years ago, as opposed to being dragged in by predators for food. "Everywhere you look in here, you find something significant," said Mr. Forir, president of Missouri Speleological Survey... Mauled filmmaker was warned about his behavior For a dozen years, park rangers and bear biologists warned Timothy Treadwell that his up-close encounters with Alaskan brown bears were inexcusably dangerous. For all of those years, Treadwell ignored the warnings, insisting that he had a special gift - that bears accepted, even welcomed, his presence in Katmai National Park. Summer after summer, he returned to remote Kaflia Bay, making camp in dense brush on a trail thick with grizzlies, pressing in close as the bears grazed in deep meadows or fished the coastal salmon runs, breaking every rule the rangers imposed. "I love you," he chanted, as he set up a video camera inches from a bear. "I love you, I love you, I love you."...Crapo's closed water talks continue In an attempt to convince the conservation groups to stay out of the courts, Crapo has brought people from every related interest he could think of to a series of talks that, most recently, took up most of Thursday and Friday morning. And the farmers, irrigators, ranchers, city leaders, environmentalists, conservationists and politicians at least agreed on one thing: To keep talking. And here's what they're talking about: 3.5 million acres of farmland, bringing in about $2.9 billion a year. And they're talking about the fish that led Lewis and Clark from what would become Idaho, along the Snake and Columbia rivers, to the Pacific Ocean. But they're talking behind closed doors - like the other major water debate going on between water users and the Nez Perce Tribe. The tribe claimed the rights, by seniority, to virtually the entire Snake River, and if the three-year mediation effort leads to an agreement, it could radically effect anything Crapo's group decides as well... Cowboy church attracts worshippers A life-size cardboard cutout of a smiling Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger stands in the background of the stage. The curtains are made of red handkerchiefs hung over horseshoe-shaped fixtures. It's not a normal setting for a worship service, but the Cowboy Church in a theater room on the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper rounds in Benton drew 27 people last Sunday. It's part of a growing trend to cater to "country folk" who might not be comfortable with the trappings of organized religion. "We don't need all the "thees and thous,'" said church founder Dan Boyd, whose white beard and suspenders have some confusing him with country singer Charlie Daniels. "People don't say those King James prayers when they're hurting." The nondenominational church is similar to hundreds popping up nationwide that create a setting for worship that reflects a cowboy way of life...On The Edge Of Common Sense: My cow is sick - can you write a poem? I have a friend who is a well-known actor. We see him in the movies and on television often. However, he started out shoein' horses. I've always appreciated that in him. He has a useful skill. Sure, he can act, but can he do anything? You bet, when the chips are down, he can shoe your horse. I went to veterinary school so when I graduated and went lookin' for a job and the prospective employer asked me, "What can you do?" I could say, "I kin fix yer cow!"...Government considers testing cattle for mad cow infection While no case of mad cow infection has ever been found in the United States, the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration are looking at new ways to combat the disease. One proposal being discussed is to test all cows that get sick and die on the farm, even if mad cow is not suspected. Discovery of a sick cow in Canada has led the United States to re-examine ways to protect U.S. herds. Veterinarians and food safety regulators test for mad cow because it is linked to a similar incurable illness that affects humans, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The Agriculture Department wants to test for mad cow disease in cattle that get sick or die on the farm. The idea is to head off any problem early, prevent the brain-wasting illness from infecting animals and, ultimately, to protect consumers. The agency also is proposing that farmers end the practice of sending the carcasses to rendering plants to process them for pet food and animal feed, in an effort to lower the risk for the disease... No foot-and-mouth found at border Preliminary tests indicate cattle quarantined because they had blisters in their mouths are not sick with foot-and-mouth disease, the Agriculture Department says. Peter Fernandez, associate administrator for the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, made the announcement Friday, a day after U.S. officials quarantined the herd of 40 cows because of the blisters. Fernandez said scientists at the department's laboratory in Plum Island, N.Y., were still checking for other diseases, but the cattle "are not sick with any foreign animal disease that would stop trade." ...Mexico closes border as USDA tests cattle Mexico has shut down its borders to livestock trade with the United States after U.S. officials quarantined a herd of cattle that may have symptoms of disease, Agriculture Department officials said Friday. The 40 U.S. cattle that were stopped Thursday before crossing the border into Mexico at Nogales, Ariz., do not have a fever, which is a key symptom of disease, said Peter Fernandez, associate administrator for the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Mexico's decision to shut down trade Friday morning may have been premature, he said...