NEWS

Ranchers tell governor about problems with wolves Gov. Bill Richardson told a Catron County town hall packed with ranchers and their supporters that he favors re-establishing the endangered Mexican gray wolf in the wild - a program many ranchers would like to see end. "I'm for a sensible, fair wolf restoration program," he told about 80 people at the meeting Wednesday. But ranchers complained about losing livestock to wolves on their allotments in the Gila National Forest of southwestern New Mexico. "The environmentalists have taken away logging; the wolves will take away cattle. This will pretty much ruin this country," said area resident Tom Macnab, who said many of his friends are ranchers. The governor - who asked for suggestions "short of saying 'no wolves' " - ended up appointing a task force headed by Ned Farquhar, his senior energy and environmental policy adviser and including concerned citizens from the town hall. Richardson wants recommendations within 60 days....
President Bush and Sen. Boxer ocean bills conflict on fish farms Imagine thousands of salmon or tuna living in steel cages 20 feet below the surface of the ocean, 10 miles off the Mendocino Coast. That vision could become reality under a bill proposed to Congress by President George Bush earlier this month. Bushs plan to create a process that would allow fish farms three to 200 miles offshore came at the same time as a broad ocean health bill was introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer. The national media are predicting the Bush and Boxer bills could conflict over aquaculture-fish farms. Environmentalists and some commercial fishing groups support the Boxer bill, while the Bush bill is opposed by both groups....
Senate rejects McCain-Lieberman climate change proposal The U.S. Senate on June 22 rejected a mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reduction proposal from Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. The Senate rejected the plan by a 60-38 vote, marking a wider margin of defeat than when it voted on a similar plan the men put forward in 2003. At that time, the measure was rejected by only 12 votes. Opponents argue that proven technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are lacking and mandatory caps would damage the economy and contribute to higher energy prices. Proponents of the amendment, which would have been attached to the energy bill, acknowledged ahead of time that passage would be unlikely, especially after the Senate on June 21 approved a voluntary carbon emissions reduction plan....
Bush set to shun G8 allies on global warming Unconvinced that the world is warming, U.S. President Bush looks set to shun pleas by his main industrial allies to step up a fight against climate change at a Group of Eight summit next month. The July 6-8 talks will test how far other G8 nations, and big developing countries whose leaders will also attend, are willing to stick to U.N. schemes to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases without the United States, the top polluter. "The choice at the summit is a weak agreement or no agreement at all," said Elliot Diringer, a director of the Washington-based Pew Center, an environmental think-tank....
Nuclear Industry Poised for Comeback The U.S. has not started a reactor project for 29 years, but President Bush is calling for a new era of nuclear power, saying it would reduce air pollution and dependence on foreign energy. If new reactors are built, the first could go into Clinton or two other possible sites nationwide. The Senate, meanwhile, is preparing subsidies and incentives for utilities to build nuclear plants. The nuclear industry has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new technology in recent years. And the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has hired scores of engineers to accommodate an atomic renaissance. But the sober reality of nuclear power is that the U.S. will move slowly and cautiously, at best, because Wall Street financiers and the nation's utility industry still have vivid memories of the legal, financial and regulatory debacles that resulted from the building binge of the 1970s. Even with subsidies and other incentives, few expect any construction to start within five years, and only a handful of plants are expected to begin during the next 10 years....
Column: UN Book Exposes Flaws of Environmentalist Argument While environmentalist causes are almost always born anecdotally, they're certainly not always absent of statistics -- and the pages of this UN atlas are chock full of them. Just enough, as they say, to be dangerous. You see, the facts and figures sprinkled throughout this book -- and the bulk of the environmentalist argument in total -- are not necessarily invalid, but they always seem to be missing one concept. That concept is "of." X number of acres of rain forest have been cut down. OK, but of how many total? Cities have grown X amount per year, on average. I believe you, but how much of our remaining space is left? Carbon dioxide emissions for the decade were X tons. Great, that seems like a lot, but what specific events are honestly going to happen because of this? Unfortunately, the caveat question "of" often elicits a lot of "I don't knows," "maybes," and "possiblies." Unless you're one who believes the end result must be dire merely because its source statistic appears in print, the numbers presented by the traditional environmentalist argument are rarely meaningful....
Impostor critters still get new digs Researchers have learned that eight salamanders found at an Ann Arbor high school construction site are not an endangered species. Researchers first thought they were the endangered smallmouth salamanders. But tests show the amphibians are hybrids -- part blue-spotted salamander and part Jefferson salamander, York Township research scientist James Ball determined, the Ann Arbor News reported Monday. Ann Arbor Public Schools officials said they still plan to treat the salamanders as if they were endangered. Per an agreement with the state Department of Natural Resources, the district will create two new ponds and improve others at the site to relocate pond animals disrupted by construction. The district has budgeted $200,000 for the relocation project, a district spokeswoman said....
Column: Hard work teaches many lessons A tour of the Melvin Price Lock and Dam No. 26 at Alton, Illinois brings reality to the need of these massive structures on the Mississippi River. This lock and dam opened shortly after the Flood of 1993, replacing a structure that was worn beyond repair. Following the steamboat era, new transportation methods were introduced for commerce to the rivers in the early part of the 20th century. Parts of the Mississippi River were too shallow for these loaded barges to navigate. Congressional authorization and legislation provided for a 9-foot channel with a minimum width of 300 feet be provided for commercial traffic. An integrated system had to be devised. A series of 29 locks and dams were built in the form of a staircase making navigation possible between Minneapolis, MI and St. Louis, MO. This successful project began in the 1930s but is now outdated for modern navigation and the structures are virtually worn out....

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