NEWS ROUNDUP

'Fracking' regulation may undo energy bill Environmentalists have launched a new offensive against an oil-drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing that could throw up a roadblock to the new energy bill Congress is considering, much as the dispute over the issue of liability for the gasoline additive MTBE contributed to the bill's breakdown during the last session. So far, the oil industry and its allies on Capitol Hill have been able fight off proposals for tighter regulation of the practice, which critics said can lead to the pollution of underground water supplies that supply rural towns and ranchers. Hydraulic fracturing is the process of injecting hundreds or even thousands of gallons of highly pressurized fluids into the ground in order to fracture rock formations and allow oil and natural gas trapped in them to flow into wells where they can be brought to the surface....
Judge refuses second attempt to stop Biscuit logging A federal judge has refused a second time to stop logging in an old growth forest reserve on the Siskiyou National Forest burned by the 2002 Biscuit fire. In a 30-page ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan denied a preliminary injunction sought by the Cascadia Wildlands Project, concluding that their arguments did not raise serious questions, and were not likely to prevail in a full trial. The lawsuit had sought to shut down the Fiddler timber sale on grounds that the U.S. Forest Service failed to fully consider or disclose the environmental consequences of the logging, particularly the threat of spreading a deadly root rot disease affecting Port Orford cedar. Sparked by lightning, the Biscuit fire burned 500,000 acres in the summer of 2002, making it the largest fire in the country that year. It has since become a battleground — with the Bush administration and the timber industry on one side, and environmental groups and some Democrats on the other — over how best to restore the forest and habitat critical to the northern spotted owl and salmon....
"Toad Tunnels" Built to Help Amphibians Cross Roads John Serrao, a naturalist in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, says that unless Buffo americanus and other amphibians get help crossing the road, their local populations will disappear. Scott Jackson, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, said one way to help amphibians survive road crossings is to construct so-called amphibian tunnels beneath the pavement. European countries have constructed these amphibian tunnels for decades. Jackson led a team that installed the first such tunnel in the U.S., which was built in Amherst in 1987....
Miami caviar importer must pay $1 million for illegal smuggling One of the country's largest caviar importers was sentenced to pay $1 million in fines on Friday after its executives admitted to illegally smuggling the delicacy into the United States, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Judge Alan S. Gold sentenced Miami-based Optimus Inc., which has done business under the names Marky's Caviar and the International Food Emporium, on federal wildlife and smuggling charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. Gold ordered the money to be paid to an account used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide financial incentives for information leading to wildlife law violators. Optimus, one of America's largest importers of sturgeon caviar, must also adhere to a strict wildlife compliance plan and will be supervised by the government and courts during years of probation. Company executives admitted that they had purchased about 5.9 tons of smuggled caviar in five shipments....
Forum arranged on goose-cattle conflict They swarm onto pastures to graze like mini-cows, and become de facto additions to many ranchers' herds. Aleutian cackling geese, thousands of which stop over in the Humboldt County area during their spring migration, can rob cattle -- and hence a key part of the local economy -- of nourishing spring grass. The geese, which nest in the Aleutian Islands, have recovered from precipitously low numbers, and an estimate this week had 40,000 geese in Humboldt County. Geese need to eat to make their migration, and they prefer short-grass pastures. The impact hasn't gone unnoticed....
Groups seek more notice on BLM leases Three conservation groups said Friday that they are asking the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for four months' advance notice of oil and natural gas lease sales in Wyoming and for notification of landowners who would be affected by proposed lease offerings. The request from the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Powder River Basin Resource Council and Wyoming Outdoor Council comes after the federal agency announced new requirements for protesting oil and gas lease sales. Currently, notice of proposed lease sales are made at least 45 days before the sale date, and protests can be filed up to 4 p.m. the day before a scheduled lease sale. But under the new plan, set to take effect with a June lease sale, protests would have to be filed no later than 30 days after notice is made, the BLM said. Officials have said they're trying to make the protest process fairer for all involved. But the conservation groups contend the plan doesn't allow adequate review time....
Groups demand clarity on drill plan Conservation groups and citizens Friday claimed the formal comments from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association to the Bureau of Land Management on its draft management plan for the Roan Plateau run counter to earlier industry public comments and presentations that called for much less natural-gas development in the area. The industry group, along with two others, submitted comments that called on the BLM to develop a new alternative to allow year-round natural-gas drilling on the 34,758 acres of public lands on top of the plateau, where some 3,000 wells would be drilled, with 40-acre spacing over the 127,000-acre plateau planning area. The Roan Plateau is between Rifle and Parachute. The Save Roan Plateau coalition that submitted comments to prevent drilling on top claimed industry officials said at a Jan. 28 Garfield County Commissioners hearing and a Feb. 9 BLM Northwest Resource Advisory Council meeting, among others, that they favored “best management practices” and extra protections for what the BLM calls “areas of critical environmental concern” on the plateau’s top. Industry officials had also said they could limit development on top of the plateau to existing roads and outlined a “responsible use” or “common sense” alternative to develop the plateau’s energy resources, the coalition said. That included a statement that less than 1 percent of the surface on top of the plateau would be affected and that any development would utilize strict safeguards. Now, the coalition said the industry group has called for about 16 percent of the surface to be disturbed....
Gas exec: BLM can’t stop drilling It would be illegal for the Bureau of Land Management to bar or delay natural-gas drilling on top of the Roan Plateau between Rifle and Parachute, an energy industry official said Thursday. If access to the 73,602-acre area is even delayed, the BLM would violate the 1998 congressional act that transferred the area from the Department of Energy to the BLM, said Colorado Oil and Gas Association Executive Vice President Greg Schnacke. However, Schnacke said the energy industry has not threatened legal action against the federal government if access is denied or delayed when the final plan comes out, scheduled for this fall....
Governor questions grazing on national monument Gov. Ted Kulongoski is urging the federal government to stop trying to maintain cattle grazing on the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, when it was created to protect native species. A letter from the governor's office to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management criticizes the latest version of the management plan the agency is drawing up, arguing that it is trying to get around the language that established the monument and that calls for eliminating livestock grazing if it is shown to harm the native plants and animals. "The Monument Proclamation makes it very clear that protection of biological diversity is the primary purpose for creating the Monument," Mike Carrier, natural resources policy director for Kulongoski, wrote in the April 13 letter to Elaine Marquis-Brong, state director of BLM in Oregon. "Any secondary use, including pre-existing uses, must show compatibility with the primary purpose. In the matter of grazing, the BLM will have difficulty meeting this stated purpose even with its planned approach."....
Editorial: We've Got Issues Whatever the merits of their arguments, we think it all to the good that Michael Shellenberger, Ted Nordhaus, and Adam Werbach (henceforth known as "the reapers," to save on syllables and to amuse ourselves) are attempting to spark an open, public debate over the future of environmentalism -- if it has one, that is. It's not enough for the leaders of the environmental movement to discuss these issues in closed-door meetings and the privacy of their offices, or via email and listservs. The debate over environmentalism's current health and future prospects deserves a wide airing, open to voices rarely heard in the boardrooms of big green organizations. We'll be bringing an array of perspectives on the movement's future to the pages of Grist in coming weeks and months. In this editorial, we clarify what we see as the most salient issues and constructive questions emerging as part of this debate....
U.S. Appeals Injunction Barring Canada Cattle A court order blocking U.S. imports of cattle from Canada is causing ``enormous hardship to the domestic meat processing industry,'' the Justice Department said in its appeal of the injunction. The brief said the government plan to ease a nearly two-year- old ban on Canadian cattle doesn't pose a threat to humans from mad cow disease. The appeal is in response to a March 2 court order issued by U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull in Billings, Montana, in a lawsuit filed by a ranchers group known as R-CALF. "The injunction enhances the economic position of the plaintiffs, who are its only real beneficiary, while inflicting harm on others,'' the Justice Department wrote in its appeal, filed yesterday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said this week that the domestic meatpacking industry will permanently lose jobs to Canada unless the ban is lifted soon. Canada's cattle processing capacity had increased 20 percent in the past year and there are projections it would increase another 10 percent by the end of this year, he said in March....
White House may ease ‘downer cattle’ ban The Bush administration said on Friday it may allow some injured cattle to be slaughtered for human food, easing a regulation that the Agriculture Department adopted 15 months ago after the nation's first case of mad cow disease. Consumer groups said they oppose any changes in regulations aimed at keeping the deadly disease out of the food supply. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns suggested that the ban on downer cattle may be eased after the USDA completes an enhanced surveillance program of U.S. cattle later this year. "There is a compelling argument: If you've got an animal that's clearly under 30 months that broke a leg in transit, there is no threat of BSE whatsoever," Johanns told reporters after addressing the National Cattlemen's Beef Association....
Cowboys adapt to rising fuel prices A survey of college rodeo contestants and coaches during Friday's slack round at the 50th annual Ropin' and Riggin Days at The Arena at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds revealed just how thrifty and adaptive these cowboys and cowgirls can be when confronting a problem. "I think they're finding ways to throw more people into the rig, if they can," Eastern Wyoming College coach Jake Clark said. "... You hear conversations about, 'Let's fuel up here or let's fuel up there.' They used to never think about that. They'd fuel up anywhere. College rodeo is sanctioned by the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, not the National Collegiate Athletic Association. In other words, unlike big-time football or even lesser-know NCAA sports such as gymnastics, where student-athletes' trips are covered by their schools, college rodeo is a club sport with a budget that matches its lower-rung status. In general, college rodeo contestants are charged with providing their own way to and from the 10 regular-season rodeos, hauling their own horses if they compete in timed events, feeding themselves, making their lodging accommodations and paying their $40 entry fees per event. Unlike NCAA athletes, college rodeo contestants not only are allowed to compete for cash, but compete professionally on the side....
‘The feeling is so nice’ Dr. Nacho Rodriguez, Mexico City physician, roper and author, got a special feeling when he walked into the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore. Nacho and Kem Rogers, son of Jim Rogers, are in Claremore for the Will Rogers Wild West International Expo. A defining moment in Will Rogers life was the summer of 1893. He was 13 and his mother had just died. His father took him to the Chicago World’s Fair, where he saw Vincente Oropeza, a Mexican vaquero and part-time matador who introduced trick roping to America. A young Will went home and started practicing with a vengeance on a skill that would later be his trademark on stage and in the movies....

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