NEWS ROUNDUP

Idaho wilderness bill would give local governments land, money An Idaho congressman introduced legislation Thursday that would set aside more than 300,000 acres of rugged central Idaho as new wilderness while giving the state and surrounding communities millions of dollars and an estimated 3,000 acres of federally owned land as compensation. Republican Rep. Mike Simpson said his $20 million proposal would offset the economic impact of protecting the scenic Boulder and White Cloud mountains from development. Sweetening wilderness designations with land gifts and cash payments to neighboring communities is the future of wilderness legislation, he said. "In the past, it was always where the (boundary) lines would be drawn," Simpson said in a telephone briefing. "In this bill, we've expanded that debate ... We've tried to take care of the needs of the recreationists, the counties, the ranchers." Under the proposal, the state of Idaho, the counties of Custer and Blaine, and the towns of Stanley, Challis and Clayton would receive - free - a total of about 3,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management property. The land could be developed however local governments see fit, although 960 acres going to the state would be earmarked for an off-road-vehicle park near Boise....
BP wants to double wellheads Officials from gas giant BP told La Plata County commissioners Tuesday about a plan to double the number of wellheads on 65 square miles south of U.S. Highway 160 between Durango and Bayfield. Larson said BP wants to double the number of wellheads on slightly bigger pads because the current spacing - one pad per 160 acres - allows the company to extract less than half the coal-bed methane gas available in the section. An additional four wellheads per section would allow extraction of 75 percent of available gas, Larson said. BP proposes to use directional drilling to increase its production, Larson said. Directional drilling involves boring out and down at up to a 35-degree angle from an existing pad, to about 2,500 feet. The second bore would extend about one-quarter of a mile from the pad. The selling point is that there would be no new roads, no new pipelines and in some cases no new electrical lines....
11 States Challenge Break on Mercury for Coal Power Plants A coalition of 11 states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, filed a lawsuit yesterday challenging a new federal rule that allows coal-fired power plants to buy pollution credits to avoid lowering their mercury emissions. In March, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled rules that ordered utilities to reduce mercury emissions by 70 percent by 2018. Power plants that do not exceed a nationwide cap can sell their credits to plants that do. Federal officials have likened the system of trading pollution credits to a similar system that has reduced emissions that cause acid rain. The lawsuit, however, states that the cap-and trade system would create "hot spots" around some plants that purchase the rights to emit more mercury....
Editorial: Senate should craft a saner energy bill When the U.S. Senate solves the filibuster mess and gets back to other tasks, it should craft a saner energy bill than the one that emerged last month from the House. The House measure is an industry giveaway that threatens the West's air, water and wildlife. On Tuesday, the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee began work on its version of the energy bill. Oil companies complain that environmental rules hamper energy development, so it's a sure bet they'll pressure the Senate to follow the House's lead. Democrat Ken Salazar, the only Coloradan on the Senate committee, should rally Westerners to restore balance to the legislation. At more than 1,000 pages, the 2005 energy bill is 200 pages longer than last year's and contains several environmental rollbacks. Most troubling is a vague but sweeping amendment that would end the public's say about oil and gas drilling even on public lands and national forests....
House Rebuffs Push to Soften Offshore Drilling Ban A bipartisan coalition of coastal-state lawmakers beat back an effort in the House on Thursday to weaken the decades-old ban on new oil and gas drilling offshore, but it is bracing for a potentially tougher battle ahead. The vote was 262 to 157 to defeat an effort to exempt new natural gas drilling from the federal moratorium, which covers most coastal waters except for large parts of the Gulf of Mexico. Opposition to easing the restrictions came from coastal-state delegations, including those from California, New York, Massachusetts and Florida. While environmentalists celebrated their victory, they said they were worried about other efforts in Congress to break through the federal moratorium on new offshore drilling. Bipartisan efforts are underway in the Senate, for example, to offer billions of dollars to entice financially hurting states to opt out of the moratorium. The bill's sponsors hope to include the measure in a sweeping overhaul of national energy policy now being drafted in the Senate....
Coalbed development gets support Powder River County rancher Rick Rice thinks it's time people heard from farmers and ranchers who welcome the prospect of coalbed methane development. "We want the people of the world to know that a majority of us who live here and will face the brunt of the impact are for it and want it to happen," he said. Rice, who ranches between Broadus and Ashland, said nearly 400 of Powder River County's 1,800 residents have signed petitions calling on the Northern Plains Resource Council, a regional conservation and agriculture group based in Billings, "to moderate its obstructionist inclinations." Rice said 67 people attended the first meeting he organized in Broadus. Last week, at a meeting that attracted 45 people, they adopted the name Citizens for Resource Development. The petition says the NPRC "has gone to excessive and obstructive lengths" in its "self-assumed watchdog role in the development and utilization of various natural resources in our state." It accuses Northern Plains of aligning itself with "radical environmentalists" whose goal is to wipe out agriculture with the aim of "rewilding" large areas of land....
Judge turns down tribe's bid to block Yucca nuclear dump A federal judge has denied an Indian tribe's plea to block plans for a nuclear waste dump in Nevada based on a claim that the project would violate a 19th century treaty. U.S. District Judge Philip Pro ruled Tuesday that the Western Shoshone National Council could not demonstrate ''immediate and irreparable'' harm because the Yucca Mountain repository has yet to open and a disputed rail line has yet to be built. Lawyer Robert Hager, representing the tribe, said Wednesday that no decision had been made whether to appeal. He noted that the judge's ruling left open the possibility that the tribe could seek an injunction later....

Info sought in wolf killing Federal officials are looking for anyone who may have information about the death of an endangered Mexican gray wolf whose body was found along U.S. 60 east of the eastern Arizona community of Vernon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is particularly looking for information on any suspicious activity or any vehicles that may have been parked along the highway between about 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on May 9, when the wolf was found dead. Authorities said the wolf had been feeding on a roadkill elk on the shoulder of the road. The cause of the wolf's death is still being confirmed. A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information leading to the apprehension of those responsible for the wolf's death....
House blocks wild horse law Lawmakers voted Thursday to block a six-month-old law that allows the government to sell wild horses and burros, with opponents of the law protesting that the animals were ending up in processing plants and on the tables of foreign restaurants. The 249-159 House vote would stop the Bureau of Land Management from using any money in a $26.2 billion bill funding next year’s natural resources and arts programs to sell horses that roam public lands in Western states....
Floods threaten access to Jarbidge ... Elko County declares a state of emergency Elko County commissioners declared a countywide state of emergency Wednesday because of widespread flooding that has taken out bridges in Jarbidge and washed out roads elsewhere in northern Nevada. Jarbidge is the most threatened community, with two bridges out of service and residents facing isolation if there is more flooding. Mountain City District Ranger Dan Dallas said that the north bridge at Jarbidge is "impassable. There's a 20-foot hole in the back of the bridge." And he said the south bridge over the Jarbidge River toward Charleston is totally impassable because of the flooding caused by heavy rainfall. "It's in the river," he said....
Rising rivers menace southern Utah sites Robert Newsted is keeping the visitors at his recreational vehicle park on high ground. For the past three days, he has been moving them from the rising flood waters of the Sevier River, which by Wednesday had submerged about 15 RV sites and all 18 tent sites at the Riverside Motel and RV Park just west of Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah's Garfield County. The river also washed out a section of bridge in the area of the town known as Old Hatch. Newsted used the bridge to access his house....
The Fruit of Your Coins Mark Dowie, a prizewinning investigative journalist, was talking about the need to revamp American environmentalism long before the Reapers declared it dead. His Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1996 book Losing Ground cast a critical eye on green activists' failing tactics, and his more recent work -- encapsulated in a film short below -- focuses on myopic environmental philanthropy and the struggles of local and regional groups to get a slice of the funding pie. The 25 largest environmental organizations in the U.S. get a whopping 70 percent of the $3.5 billion doled out to green groups each year, Dowie points out in the short film "Empowering the Grassroots," created by Randy Olson of Shifting Baselines. That leaves the 15,000 or so smaller environmental nonprofits in the country scrounging around for leftovers. Dowie takes big green funders and foundations to task for unduly favoring gigantic conservation groups, and challenges them to more effectively seed the grassroots and reinvigorate a moribund movement. To watch the seven-minute film short, pick your format and bandwidth....
Calf Born in New Mexico With 5 Legs One of Orlando Romero's calves has a leg up on the other 25 calves born within the last two weeks on his ranch east of Tucumcari. The calf was born with an extra leg, with two hooves, growing from its back. Ranchers in the area aren't quite sure what to make of the little Limousin heifer. That is, if they can catch her. "She moves like a damn deer. I had a heck of a time trying to catch her," said Jess Weaks, the ranch caretaker. "She's pretty ornery, that's for sure." The week-old calf's extra leg does not touch the ground. It is attached to the calf's back between the shoulder blades, and hangs to its right side....
From homesteaders to here and now He knows what it’s like to live on the same ranch for 85 years and he knows how to keep that same 740-acre ranch (located at an elevation of 7,640 feet) in operation. Bud knows about the special connection between a man and his horse and he has a special way of communicating with animals. He also knows what it’s like to be a county commissioner for 12 years and what it’s like to see an entire county grow from nothing into what it is today – much like the beets and carrots and potatoes do in his garden every spring and summer. Margie has her own treasure chest of knowledge. She knows how to survive as a rancher’s wife, how to keep her household running smoothly, even if she can only get into town for supplies once a month. She knows what it’s like to help a first-time mother with her colicky baby and also how to run county health programs....
American cowboys gallop across the screens of Cannes American cowboys are back in the saddle - and on the big screen - here at the 58th Cannes Film Festival, which comes to a close tomorrow night. In ``Down in the Valley,'' Edward Norton is a wannabe cowboy from the L.A. suburbs and Sam Shepard stars as a fading western star coping with a nervous breakdown in ``Don't Come Knocking.'' And then there's Hollywood rough rider Tommy Lee Jones who yesterday premiered his Tex-Mex flick, ``The Three Burials of Melguiades Estrada.'' Jones not only stars in the $25 million western, he co-wrote it with Mexico's ``21 Grams'' writer Guillermo Arriaga, and co-produced and directed the film. It's a classic Old West set-up where Jones stars as a weathered old-time Texan who kidnaps a callow Border Patrol guard played by Barry Pepper to bury his murdered friend in Mexico. Unlike many films here at the festival, ``Three Burials'' is a celebration of America while still critical of the Border Patrol....
Crafts of the cowboy To hear Bill Black tell it, he’s just a guy who makes things from dead cows. The former cow boss of the MC Ranch these days stretches, scrapes and cuts the hide of dead cows into living pieces of functional art, creating hackamores, quirts and other horse tack. Likewise he hitches horsehair for belts, hatbands, headstalls and decorations on reins and pommels. Rawhide braiding and horsehair hitching transformed from a workaday hobby to a paying lifestyle about nine years ago for Black, 50. It was a change for the former buckaroo, who for several years was the MC Ranch cow boss, working out of headquarters not too far south of his present home and workshop in the Warner Valley east of Lakeview, Ore....

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