NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: Listen to public on gas drilling Controversy over coal-bed methane drilling roils across the West. It's possible to access natural gas in coal seams without causing severe environmental harm, but the Bush administration's all-or-nothing approach ignores possible compromises - and makes the issue far more divisive than need be. Last week, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management released a draft environmental study to allow 500 new gas wells in the San Juan Basin. Some would be in one of southwestern Colorado's most intact low-elevation forest ecosystems, the HD Mountains. The plan entails 94 miles of new roads and disturbing almost 1,000 acres of old-growth forests. The BLM and the Forest Service should rewrite the draft environmental impact statement to require energy companies to use existing roads and place drill pads outside the HD Mountains, then use slant drilling and other advanced techniques to search for coal-bed methane.... Piñon picture differs Tree experts have differences of opinion over the future of New Mexico’s piñons. Flyovers of north-central New Mexico last September resulted in estimates that 45 million of the state tree have died from a combination of drought, bark beetles and other opportunistic insects over the last three years. Although the die-off has yet to affect much of Southern New Mexico, in broad swaths of Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Taos, Los Alamos, Sandoval and Bernalillo counties, few piñons are left.... Rendezvous returns Carson City to Wild West Re-living the past is an important part of Rex Norman’s life. Norman, dressed in rugged mountain man garb reminiscent of the 1820s and 1830s, is among many celebrating the history and heritage of the West at the 21st annual Carson City Rendezvous. “The story of the West is fascinating. And to me, the history of western expansion covering the period of explorers and trappers is especially fascinating,’’.... Forest Service eases pressure to log roadless areas The U.S. Forest Service has backed off trying to sell timber in the most controversial stands burned by the 2002 Biscuit fire, deciding against an emergency declaration to speed up logging in roadless areas that environmentalists and some scientists want left alone. The decision decreases the likelihood any logging could begin this year in roadless areas.... Federal agencies at odds on lynx plan A Forest Service lynx-protection plan that exempts energy and logging projects may actually prevent the predator's recovery in the southern Rockies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday. Forest Service officials originally proposed a stronger conservation strategy developed by their lynx biologists. But they inserted exemptions for oil and gas development, energy-transmission lines and healthy-forest projects to comply with recent White House policy directives. "They're proceeding with a project that, frankly, doesn't look like it has much to do with recovering lynx," said Brian Crowder of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which also panned the proposed lynx plan.... Endangered 'mouse that doesn't exist' might be delisted Amy and Steve LeSatz want to be able to teach their clients the finer points of riding and roping in their own arena but can't because of a mouse that may never have existed. The only decent site on their property for building an arena in southeastern Wyoming lies within 300 feet of Chugwater Creek. Building there is far too expensive because of the Endangered Species Act restrictions intended to protect the Preble's mouse. "The mouse that doesn't exist," Amy LeSatz noted dryly. After six years of regulations and restrictions that have cost builders, local governments and landowners on the western fringe of the Great Plains as much as $100 million by some estimates, new research suggests the Preble's mouse never existed. It instead seems to be genetically identical to one of its cousins, the Bear Lodge meadow jumping mouse, which is considered common enough not to need protection.... When the Bush Energy Policy Confronts Ancient Art Blaine Miller, a quiet, slow-talking 57-year-old archaeologist, has made a career of studying the haunting scenes of net-wielding hunters and sinuous horned snakes on the smooth rock faces of Nine Mile Canyon near here. His colleagues consider him a leading expert on the 400- to 1,500-year-old images etched and daubed on the canyon walls. But Mr. Miller's bosses at the Bureau of Land Management barred him from evaluating recent proposals for natural gas exploration around the canyon after a gas company executive complained about his work. Mr. Miller said he had sought more stringent protections for the rock art than the government eventually required. His bosses said he had the appearance of a conflict of interest. The quiet drama that has played out in the last year because of Mr. Miller's removal from the development review reflects not just the polarization typical of battles between industry and preservationists, but also the pressures on the regulators controlling federal land.... Hearing on Otero Mesa scheduled for June 17 New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is serious about protecting Otero Mesa from drilling. And to that end, the Oil Conservation Commission, a division of the State Land Office, will hold a public hearing to discuss the issue on June 17 at 9 a.m. in Santa Fe. "The BLM has continued to ignore the state's message that we will protect Otero Mesa from drilling," said Joanna Prukop, secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. "The governor, by executive order, has asked the Oil Conservation Division to propose pit rules for this globally and ecologically significant area. Water resources, the unique Chihuahuan Desert, and threatened species are all concerns that the BLM fails to adequately address." The governor's executive order, issued earlier this year, placed a moratorium on pits needed for oil and gas drilling until rules are adopted that require special containment of mud and wastes produced by the drilling. In addition, the order asked the State Engineer's Office to apply strict criteria when considering applications of water well permits. Richardson also instructed the Game and Fish Department and its commission to take measures to protect the area's threatened species....