NEWS ROUNDUP

Greenpeace ordered to pay loggers for lost work Greenpeace and two of its protesters must compensate loggers who couldn't work during an anti-logging protest, the B.C. Appeal Court has ruled. The case dates back to 1997, when a group of environmental protesters sailed to Roderick Island, some 200 kilometres north of Vancouver Island, on a boat called Moby Dick.... Writer helped environmentalist disable lion trap An Esquire magazine writer working on an article about environmentalists assisted them in disabling a mountain lion trap, according to a federal complaint accusing the writer of trespassing. The complaint also accuses John H. Richardson of entering a closed facility and interfering with a mountain lion hunt in Sabino Canyon. He was arrested March 24 along with environmentalist Rodney Coronado, who was trying to disrupt the hunt for lions, the complaint said.... U.S., states toil to cut wildfire risk As drought threatens to create another record wildfire year, federal and state officials told Congress Wednesday they are using new authority it gave them last year to clear extra fuels to help prevent small fires from becoming catastrophic. "For 2004, the Forest Service anticipates treating hazardous fuels on 1.6 million acres," and 60 percent of that will be in forests adjacent to urban areas, Mark Rey, undersecretary of agriculture, told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs. Besides the stepped-up work by the Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is awarding 30 fuels reduction contracts this year and is on track for another 80 next year, testified Assistant Interior Secretary P. Lynn Scarlet. Montana Gov. Judy Martz, representing the Western Governors' Association, said combined efforts by federal, state and other partners since 2003 have managed to reduce fuels on 5.5 million acres, including 138,374 in Utah.... Blazes halted: Cooler weather aids firefighter efforts Firefighters got a break Wednesday as cooler air and lighter winds helped halt the advance of two blazes that torched 25,585 acres of Southwest County this week. By Wednesday, 3,173 firefighters from departments all over California had been dispatched to the Eagle and Cerrito fires. The two were the largest of four fires that, in all, burned more than 28,000 acres of Southwest County and Camp Pendleton since Sunday and destroyed more than a dozen houses as well as sheds, vehicles and the Dorland Mountain Artist Colony.... Feds free up money to prevent California fires Sen. Dianne Feinstein complained this week that $120 million designated by Congress for dead tree removal in San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside counties had not yet been given out. The delay was partly because the counties were required to match 25 percent of the money with local funds. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has agreed to eliminate the matching fund requirement on that pot of money, Feinstein announced Wednesday, meaning counties will get the millions without committing a local share. Veneman has also agreed to reduce from 50 percent to 25 percent a matching fund requirement on another $48 million in U.S. Forest Service money designated for fuel-reduction projects on state and private lands, Feinstein aides said. The Forest Service is spending an additional $44 million for projects on federal land, money that never required a match.... Bush Admin. Urged to Keep Roadless Rule Democrats and environmentalists urged the Bush administration on Wednesday not to make any more changes to a rule that bars construction of roads and other development in nearly one-third of national forests. The administration already exempted the nation's largest national forest -- the Tongass in Alaska -- from the rule and is considering a plan to allow governors to request exemptions for national forests in their states.... Glacier threatens to block Alaska river An advancing glacier is threatening to choke Russell Fiord and back up the river running into the fiord, cutting off salmon and steelhead migration and destroying Yakutat's livelihood. Hubbard Glacier is surging forward by as much as 12 feet a day, and residents are considering their options, such as a $1 million diversion trench away from the Situk River.... ARRA Applauds House Resources Committee Action on H.R. 3247 Americans for Responsible Recreational Access (ARRA) today commended the House Resources Committee for sending H.R. 3247, the TRAIL Act, to the full House of Representatives for further legislative action. This bill will protect lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from destructive individuals and groups by giving these agencies the power to impose significant fines for irresponsible behavior. It will also help prevent additional Federal lands and waterways from being closed to recreational use.... Column: ELF Rising In the liberal oasis of Boulder, Colorado there are whispers, an inkling that something is amiss. There are winks, nods, and hush-hush conversations in bars, dinner halls, and poetry readings at coffee shops. Aging liberal activists who are no strangers to G8 summits, IMF meetings, and WTO trade talks are immersed in “chatter”. They aren’t comparing bean bag bullet scars. They are talking about action with a keen eye on destruction. Few political activists wanted to talk about what they were hearing, and certainly no one wanted to be identified. The fear of enemy combatant status understandable or not keeps most of what they know and say off the record. But they all agreed they foresee a battle with Bush and big business at the hands of the biggest known threat to domestic security, the Earth Liberation Front.... Decision on dams raises questions Colorado's major water suppliers, the Forest Service and state officials said Tuesday they don't know if a recent federal court ruling would sap mountain reservoirs. In a victory for conservationists, a federal judge ruled last week that the Forest Service can't allow streams below dams to go dry, endangering fish, wildlife and habitat. Most Colorado cities store water in reservoirs on Forest Service land.... Forests are not what they used to be Forests impact both standards. When trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide that they convert into cellulose and oxygen, helping clean the air. But when fires destroy forests, they have a tremendous negative impact on air quality. This hasn't always been the case. Just 150 years ago, forest fires burned so differently, their smoke would not violate today's air quality standards. Fires burned low to the ground, and smoke was generally contained in the forest. Compare that with images of the Southern California fires last fall that devastated forestland: towering flames and huge, dark plumes billowing through the sky. The change is because our forests have become unnaturally crowded. Since humans have been putting out forest fires for a hundred years, we now have a superabundance of fuel that causes the kind of fires that used to burn quietly on the forest floor to explode into intense conflagrations.... Governor assails salmon plan Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Tuesday denounced the federal government's plan to alter its strategy for saving Northwest salmon, saying it could threaten more than a decade of habitat restoration work and Oregon's quality of life. The governor's remarks follow reports that NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency overseeing efforts to restore wild salmon runs, will count millions of fish raised in hatcheries annually when deciding whether salmon deserve continued protection under the Endangered Species Act.... Norton: Park will open to snowmobiling next winter Although the issue remains mired in legal dispute, snowmobiling is likely to be part of Yellowstone National Park next winter, Secretary of Gale Norton said Wednesday. "I am certainly confident that it will be," Norton said during a question-and-answer session with reporters in a telephone conference. Before next winter season, National Park Service officials may have to conduct further environmental studies, examine the numbers of snowmobiles allowed into the parks and look at management practices, Norton said. She did not provide details.... Bush OKs Utah land transfer The Bush administration on Wednesday strongly endorsed giving Beaver County clear title — at no cost — to lands in the recently closed Minersville State Park, so the county could assume control and operate it. "Normally, we would require payment of fair market value," Bob Anderson, deputy assistant director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, told the Senate Energy Committee. "However, we recognize the unique circumstances here." In 2002, Utah decided to close the 200-acre state park around a lake because of budget shortfalls. Beaver County sought to assume control — but wanted clear title so that, if necessary, it could sell off parcels for cabins and lodges to finance park operations.... U.S. to study drilling for natural gas on federal lands The U.S. Department of Energy said on Wednesday it is forming a group composed of federal agencies that will examine the feasibility of expanding natural gas supplies by drilling on federal mountain and coast lands. The group will study last September's report from National Petroleum Council, composed mainly of energy executives, that found consumers could save $300 billion in natural gas costs over 20 years if more federal land in the Rocky Mountains and coastal areas is open to drilling.... Navajo win another round over Peabody Last fall, a federal appeals court ruled the Navajo could revisit their lawsuit against the government based on a thicket of other provisions in law and policy that give rise to a federal fiduciary trust obligation for Indian resource leasing, or so the Navajo contend. Breach of fiduciary trust obligations could conceivably activate specific laws mandating monetary compensation for material damages the tribe suffered pursuant to the breach. And on April 13, Emmet G. Sullivan, federal District Court Judge for the District of Columbia, ruled that a Navajo lawsuit against Peabody Coal can proceed under RICO, the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law. (Peabody now generally goes by the name Peabody Energy, and by Peabody Holding Company as the named plaintiff in the Navajo RICO lawsuit.)....