NEWS ROUNDUP

Rancher wins $600K in suit against enviros Tucson's Center for Biological Diversity must pay rancher and banker Jim Chilton $600,000 because the environmental group defamed him with a press release and photos posted on its Web site, a jury decided Friday. In a 9-1 verdict, jurors in Pima County Superior Court awarded Chilton $100,000 for the harm done to his reputation and Arivaca cattle company. The jury tacked on an additional $500,000 in punitive damages meant to punish the center and deter others from committing libel....
Enviro center that lives by the suit gets burned by the suit The lawyer giveth, the lawyer taketh away. The Center for Biological Diversity has built a national reputation - and made a living - by suing the federal government on behalf of endangered species. In 2003, it got reimbursed for $992,354 in expenses after winning in court - about double what its 10,000 members donated that year. But now that same legal system has hit the Tucson-based group with a $600,000 judgment - one-quarter of the center's net assets at the end of 2003, according to the most recent annual report posted on its Web site....
Group fights for property rights It's a classic David versus Goliath tale. Recognizing that together they have a louder voice, the small farm owners in eastern Colorado are joining up to take a stand against the state government over compensation for property taken from them. The property is mainly water rights and the organization is the Property Rights Foundation of the West (PRFW). The group came into being as a result of many farmers in Morgan County and surrounding areas finding some of their wells shut down by the Colorado government. The group feels that these closings represent the government taking private property for public use without just compensation. Members of the group are looking for a good case so that they can start the legal proceedings and hopefully set a precedent that will help the rest of the members in their individual battles....
Federal judge weighs arguments in Montana coal-bed methane case The U.S. Bureau of Land Management relied on an inadequate environmental study when approving expansion of a coal-bed methane project, and did not provide enough opportunity for public comment while the project was being considered, a watchdog group said in federal court. U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson is weighing the arguments he heard Thursday in the lawsuit filed by the Northern Plains Resource Council. The group is challenging the BLM's permission for Fidelity Exploration & Production Co. to expand its coal-bed methane project in the Badger Hills of southeastern Montana. Northern Plains wants Anderson to order a more thorough environmental study of the project, and order opportunities for public comment....
US to allow oil exploration in protected area of Alaska Citing a need for domestic energy sources, the government plans to open for exploratory drilling thousands of acres on Alaska's North Slope that have been protected for decades because of migratory birds and caribou. The Bureau of Land Management has concluded that oil and gas exploration in the northeastern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska can be conducted with ''minimal impact" on the area's wildlife. While most of the 22 million-acre reserve is open to oil development, its lake-pocked northeastern corner has been fenced off, dating back to the Reagan administration, because of environmental concerns. That area also is viewed as having the highest oil and gas potential within the reserve. Interior Secretary Gale Norton is expected to sign off on the bureau's recommendation next week, said a department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because a final action has not been announced....
Klamath farmers take on new threat Klamath Basin farmers, who have spent years fighting for irrigation water, now face a battle over the flow of another key resource: electricity. The power company PacifiCorp has notified state officials of the expiration of a deal that for decades has supplied farmers on the Oregon-California line with some of the cheapest electricity around. It means about 1,300 farms, most in Oregon, could be socked next year with more than tenfold rate increases. Such a steep rise, they say, would unravel the plumbing of a region that depends on electric pumps to move its precious water....
Off the Road No one could invent Quartzsite, Ariz. It's a mile or so beyond imagining. Picture a forlorn desert town of about 3,500 souls, a crossroads of trailers, dust, wind and a heartless summer sun blazing down at 110 degrees. With just a handful of tall trees, the only shade is under your hat. Now fast-forward past the cruel season into November and December, and watch as this southwest Arizona community—at the junction of Highway 95 and Interstate 10, 130 miles west of Phoenix—transforms into a temporary Shangri-La for retirees fleeing the northern cold. Most come in giant RVs to claim a spot at one of 73 RV parks or one of the sprawling Bureau of Land Management campgrounds. And what a sight these motorized Conestogas make, thousands and thousands of them sparkling in the sun for as far as you can see....
Antlers worth $25K stolen A Grand Junction man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of trying to sell a unique set of elk antlers worth more than $25,000. The antlers belong to a New Zealand man, Neville Cunningham, who was trying to have a duplicate set made of the 10-point antlers, which are approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall. “The antlers are huge, and because of the size, that is the market value,” Grand Junction Police Department spokeswoman Kris Olson said. “I’ve never seen antlers this huge come off an elk,” Police Department Service Technician Julia Marston said. “A moose maybe, but not an elk. They fork, and then they fork again.”....
Western Heritage, Cowboy Style For Americans who care about Western heritage, open spaces, animals and cowboy lore, the place to be from January 22nd to January 26th is Elko, Nevada, the home of the 21st Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The mission of the Western Folklife Center, the Poetry Gathering’s host, is to "enhance the vitality of American life through the experience, understanding and appreciation" of the American West. Revered cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell—who once managed a 36,000 acre ranch in Jiggs, Nevada— recalled that when the first poetry gathering was held, a few locals set up some folding chairs in the Elko Junior High School auditorium. "I didn’t think anyone would show up. But I figured for the few who did, we would probably have a pretty good party," said Mitchell. But to Mitchell’s surprise, more than 2,000 fans trekked to Elko. And attendance at the gathering has increased every year to nearly 10,000 people from all over the world....