NEWS ROUNDUP

Two grizzlies killed by hunters this fall Two grizzly bears have been killed by hunters in the Crandall area this fall, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. Hunters in both encounters claimed they shot and killed the bears in self defense. A federal investigation was continuing, investigator Tim Eicher said...Funding for river habitat is sought Alleging government neglect, conservationists today will call for decades of funding to revive high-elevation river habitat in the Sierra Nevada where two-thirds of California's water originates. The suggestion is part of a report being released today by the broad-based conservation group Sierra Nevada Alliance. The report also says global warming and population growth pose further threats to the Sierra and millions of future Californians...Column: The Enron of non-profits Its famous name and high-profile campaigns convinced legions of people to invest in it - because it was devoted to the public interest. But complex corporate structures enabled it to violate tax laws with impunity, and engage in illegal activities on a regular basis. Enron? Global Crossing? The Soprano family? Hardly. The culprit, according to a story in The Sunday Times of London, is none other than Greenpeace. The Times reports that Public Interest Watch, a nonpartisan Washington, DC group that monitors non-governmental organizations, has analyzed Greenpeace's operations and requested that the Internal Revenue Service investigate the organization. "The Rainbow Warriors have deliberately, systematically and illegally solicited and transferred millions of dollars a year in tax-deductible contributions into non-tax-exempt entities, in support of improper and sometimes illegal activities," says PIW executive director, Mike Hardiman. The Tax Code, longstanding IRS practices and California law all clearly differentiate between taxable, and tax-exempt contributions, and how they can be used... APC Mobilizes Against More "Heritage Areas" Sites Leading the fight against the authorization of more "Heritage Areas," the American Policy Center is organizing a coalition of property rights groups to fight four pending pieces of legislation. Testifying last month before the House Resources Committee's subcommittee on National Parks, APC's Legislative Director, Peyton Knight, argued against the proliferation of heritage areas, warning that "they disguise restrictive federal zoning practices" that strip local owners of their property rights. Mr. Knight reminded the subcommittee that "the Heritage Areas are administered through the National Park Service, which he characterized as being 'a federal agency with a history of hostility towards private landowners."...Newspaper, group seek Animas-La Plata meeting details The Durango Herald and a grassroots organization have asked for details about a meeting where officials representing entities involved in the Animas-La Plata Project discussed cost overruns. The formal request was made after the head of the Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District refused to allow a reporter to listen to a tape of the Aug. 14 meeting in Ignacio. Representatives of the newspaper and Taxpayers for the Animas River are trying to determine if the district provided proper public notice of the meeting...Arsonist torches truck of activist The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity is stepping up security after an employee's truck was set on fire outside the environmental group's office. Activist Shane Jimerfield's 2003 Toyota Tundra was destroyed Monday at about 2:15 a.m. in what the center calls "an apparent political attack." A gas can that Jimerfield says wasn't his was found in the bed of the pickup, a police report said. "I'm working here, it's late, I'm pretty tired and ready to leave, then I hear this low booming sound," Jimerfield said in an interview. "My window looks out over the parking lot and I see there are these flames shooting up into the sky."... US Objects to EU Beef Decision The US government and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association reacted negatively Wednesday to the European Union's announcement that its prohibition on beef growth hormones had "entered into force" and that it would ask the World Trade Organization to lift trade sanctions awarded to the US and Canada. The EU now considers itself in compliance with WTO requirements in this case, although US officials said they fail to see how that is accurate. After the European Union banned the sale of US and Canadian beef from cattle that received growth hormones, the Clinton administration took a case to the WTO, saying there was no scientific basis for the decision. The WTO ruled in favor of the US and Canada in 1998 and in 1999 allowed the US and Canada to impose punitive tariffs on the European Union if it did not lift the ban. The European Union has chosen to pay the tariffs, which are applied to a selected list of products in the amount of $116.8 million USD and $11.3 million CDN...BSE expert says Japanese case implies larger outbreak The recent finding of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a 23-month-old bull in Japan suggests that Japan may have more cases of the disease than previously suspected, according to a University of Minnesota expert on the disease. "For me the Japanese case suggests that in fact they had a much larger epidemic than most people realize, because this animal had a massive exposure to develop the disease this early," said Will Hueston, DVM, PhD, director of the university's Center for Animal Health and Food Safety in St. Paul. The occurrence of BSE, or mad cow disease, in an animal less than 24 months old is rare and implies that the animal was exposed to a large dose of infective material, Hueston explained. "With this disease, the larger the exposure, the shorter the incubation time," he said...