NEWS ROUNDUP

Pentagon Is Pressing to Bypass Environmental Laws for War Games and Arms Testing The Defense Department, which controls 28 million acres of land across the nation that it uses for combat exercises and weapons testing, has been moving on a variety of fronts to reduce requirements that it safeguard the environment on that land. In Congress, the Pentagon has won exemptions in the last two years from parts of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It has sought in recent years to exempt military activities, for three years, from compliance with parts of the Clean Air Act. Also, the Pentagon, which controls about 140 of the 1,240 toxic Superfund sites around the country, is seeking partial exemptions from two laws governing toxic waste. And two months ago, it drafted revisions to a 1996 directive built on a pledge "to display environmental security leadership within Department of Defense activities worldwide."....
Bush signs coin law to help bald eagles A law signed by President Bush creating a set of commemorative coins honoring the bald eagle could raise as much as ten (M) million dollars for recovery efforts benefiting the national symbol. Surcharges on coin sales will go to an endowment managed by the not-for-profit American Eagle Foundation based at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which will distribute the interest through grants to eagle preservation projects around the country....
Group values wolves over livestock Possibly one of the more infamous characters in Western ranching history sits across the way -- Jon Marvel. Marvel isn't the Jessie James bad boy-type infamous. No, instead he's more of the Henry David Thoreau with an attitude and a lawsuit-in-hand infamous. And, Marvel has proven himself to be a true enemy of many a livestock producer. Of ranchers, Marvel says, "Their day is over. Let's face it, it really is." Then, taken at first glance, Marvel's next statement seems curiously out of place. "I personally opposed the reintroduction of wolves in '95 and '96," he says. Why would an avid opponent of ranching appear to essentially side with the enemy when it comes to wolves? With Marvel, little is as simple as it seems....
Programs to compensate ranchers' losses get mixed reviews In fact, one of the things that has added to that level of acceptance -- livestock producers in particular -- is a compensation program provided by Defenders of Wildlife. Even before the first wolves were reintroduced, it became apparent that one of the major controversies of the species recovery would be livestock losses due to wolf predation. Defenders instituted a mechanism to ease that controversy and encourage a greater tolerance for wolves -- a reimbursement program for livestock producers. Today, the state of Idaho administers a complementary program to further promote acceptance. Defenders established its reimbursement program in 1987. The plan pays market value up for livestock killed by wolves. Livestock owners receive up to $2,000 for confirmed wolf kills and 50 percent of market value for probable kills. Since 1987, Defenders has paid almost $430,000 in compensation....
Editorial: Fifth Amendment restored Roger Marzulla, a former Reagan Justice Department official and a leader in the modern property rights movement, went to court, arguing farmers had a property right to that water. When promised deliveries were reduced due to "environmental protection" concerns, that amounted to a taking under the U.S. Constitution, he pointed out. U.S. Claims Court Judge John Paul Wiese agreed, awarding the plaintiffs $14 million plus attorneys fees and interest -- expected to add up to $26 million. Tuesday, over the protests of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Bush administration announced it has agreed to settle the suit, paying $16.7 million to central valley farmers and irrigation districts whose water deliveries were cut to protect the endangered fish. Although the settlement contains language stating that it establishes no legal precedent, Mr. Marzulla agrees the case "establishes the fundamental principal that the government is free to protect the fish -- it simply has to pay for the water it takes to do so." And that's exactly what has the green extremists' kitty-cats cowering under the bed, as they protest the prospect of actually having to set some priorities, paying back the real costs accrued by innocent third parties as these zealots literally move whole rivers in their doomed race to "save" every weed and bug on the planet....
Alaska oil spill damage now looks worse More than 600 oiled seabirds have been spotted near a broken ship off Alaska's Aleutian islands, and federal biologists now suspect hundreds or thousands more will be discovered in coming weeks. Meanwhile, water samples in bays surrounding the two sections of the broken cargo carrier the Selendang Ayu have shown enough oil contamination that Alaska state game agents yesterday shut down a commercial crab-fishing season that was to open in January and will close that area to commercial fishing for Pacific cod and rockfish....
Foresthill sled dog race canceled The 2005 Foresthill Sled Dog Classic - a fixture in the mountains above Foresthill for the last decade - has been canceled. the race, which organizers estimate attracted 3,000 spectators over two days of mushing last February, was to have been held Feb. 5 and 6. But Sharon Stahl, president of the Foresthill Sled Dog Classic Committee, said Monday that organizers couldn't work around tougher U.S. Forest Service regulations on the course....
Chambers Applies for Old Job as Park Police Chief The U.S. Park Police chief fired for discussing alleged funding and manpower deficiencies with the media has re-applied for her old job. A public employees' lobbying group that has supported Teresa Chamber's fight for her job in the past is now encouraging the National Park Service to re-hire the career law enforcement administrator. Chambers was first placed on leave and then terminated after she told the Washington Post that traffic accidents had increased on at least one federal highway patrolled by U.S. Park Police in the Washington metropolitan area since the number of officers assigned to patrol it was cut to half the recommended level....
Gas drilling set in S. Padre dunes With the winter sun gleaming on its full, tawny coat, a lone coyote pauses to watch human visitors as they examine a new gas well in a remote corner of Padre Island National Seashore. At the end of a caliche road more than a mile from the Gulf of Mexico, the well protrudes from the bulldozed earth in the middle of a 2-acre drilling pad. Sometime early next year, National Park Service rangers expect to be managing more than the coyote and the rich array of wildlife found on the nation's largest seaside park. They will also be closely overseeing the drilling of five more gas wells on the same pad a mile behind the dunes by BNP Petroleum Corp., a Corpus Christi firm....
Western states will tap out natural gas An environmental group says the government's own research shows that natural gas resources in several Western states would satisfy national demand for only a short time. The Environmental Working Group in Washington said it used data from the Bureau of Land Management, Energy Department and other sources to show that drilling for oil and gas in several areas of Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah and Montana would not lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil and gas....
Trappers deny shooting coyotes in urban area Federal trappers killing coyotes on University of Nevada, Reno property near the Hidden Valley subdivision say they use traps to catch the predators and sometime shoot them in the head to put them out of their misery. But photos of dead coyotes taken on the UNR Main Station Farm show animals with apparent gunshot wounds to their sides but no sign of having been trapped, such as injuries to their legs....
In a chokehold Southern California's environment is fast approaching the tipping point as an onslaught of foreign plants overwhelms efforts to protect the region's natural landscape. In Los Angeles County, authorities warn that nonnative plants, including pampas grass, arundo and yellow star thistle, have largely displaced many native species. More than 300 invaders have colonized the Santa Monica Mountains alone, says Christy Brigham, restoration ecologist for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area....
It's All Trew: Baling wire was the duct tape of its day Due credit is always given to the hunters, soldiers, scouts, marshals and Texas Rangers for the winning of the West. Very little credit is given to the one thing that held the West together. That historical icon is "baling wire." Baling wire to some men is what safety pins are to women. It is a quick, easy way to make emergency repairs. If the repair is completed in good fashion, the temporary fix often becomes permanent, thus providing many interesting improvisations and subjects for humorous stories. Like alcoholism, overuse of baling wire seems to be an inherited tendency. Some farms and ranches are literally held together by baling wire. Descendants usually just add more wire. Old cowboys called such places "a baling wire outfit" and the owner "Baling Wire Bill."....