NEWS ROUNDUP

Feds promise 'honest look' at wolf petition A federal wolf official said he is looking forward to seeing a Wyoming petition to remove wolves from Endangered Species Act protection, and promised to "give it an honest look." Ed Bangs, Rocky Mountain area wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, made his comments after the Wyoming Game and Fish Department last week announced -- along with other state officials -- its intention to submit its own petition for delisting. Bangs said anyone can petition to delist a species, though it is usually the Fish and Wildlife Service doing that. Although it is rare for another entity to successfully file for delisting, there have been a handful of cases....
Book details how ranchers protect wildlife habitat, way of life Rural ranches with majestic scenery and wildlife habitats are vanishing as the West grows at an exponential rate. With current economic forces proving uncontrollable for ranch owners, many feel pressured to subdivide and sell their land. “But ranchers don’t have to sell their land,” said Jack Wright, head of geography at New Mexico State University and president of the New Mexico Land Conservancy. In his latest book, “Saving the Ranch: Conservation Easement Design in the American West,” Wright and Albuquerque architect Anthony Anella outline the process of saving land by donating a conservation easement that can mix limited development with land protection. He said this is the first book that focuses on helping landowners understand the legal process of donating easements. A conservation easement is an agreement between a landowner and a not-for-profit land conservation organization or agriculture organization that permanently protects the natural wildlife habitat and landscape of a property by limiting how the land is used in the future....
Column: Fidelity Exploration fails good neighbor test In rural Montana, we "neighbor." When someone down the road is branding, you help out. You look out for your neighbors because their interests are your own. You do what it takes to make your community a better place to live, work and raise a family. We live in a community that neighbors Stillwater Mining Co.'s East Boulder Mine. The mine is one of the most responsible in the country thanks to the "neighboring" created by the Good Neighbor Agreement between SMC, Northern Plains Resource Council and its affiliates, Stillwater Protective Association and Cottonwood Resource Council. As negotiators of the Good Neighbor Agreement and longtime members of Northern Plains, we read with interest the commentary by Mike Caskey of Fidelity Exploration and Production Co. (June 21 guest opinion) lamenting the "unreasonable" standards for methane extraction called for by Northern Plains. According to Caskey, the bar is too high for the industry to reach. Fidelity could learn a thing or two from Stillwater and its officers. Stillwater stepped up to the plate and partnered with us to hammer out an agreement that protects our community while encouraging responsible development. The agreement goes beyond state and federal requirements and encourages creative problem solving to protect our water and communities....
Greens sue to protect rare wildflower The Deseret milkvetch grows only one place on the planet - on fewer than 300 acres between the towns of Thistle and Birdseye at the southern end of Utah County. Fearing future road expansion and urban sprawl will threaten the native wildflower's tiny range, a pair of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to craft a recovery plan for the species. "The Deseret milkvetch was thought to be extinct for a long time. It was seen for the last time in 1909, then not again until 1981," said Erin Robertson, a biologist with the Colorado-based Center for Native Ecosystems. "It's come back from the brink once and we want to ensure that the Fish and Wildlife Service meets its obligations."....
That Tree Stood for So Much Jason Wilson was just 21 when a Lakota elder gave him a spirit name. Three years later, on a September day in 1998, the bearded redhead from Missouri lay in a fetal curl on the floor of a Humboldt County forest, rocking and sobbing in the duff. Next to him was 24-year-old David Nathan "Gypsy" Chain, his head cracked open by the blow of a tree felled by an enraged logger. Chain had inspired Wilson to disrupt old-growth logging on private land. It was Wilson's first act of civil disobedience. Now, Chain was dead. The legacy of that death, Wilson soon decided, was the weight the Lakota elder had warned of. He vowed to carry it with honor. From that day on, "Shunka" would be his forest name, joining the list of adopted monikers that give Humboldt's logging protesters a blend of anonymity and fairy tale folly. Shunka's long struggle to redress Chain's death would depend, more than anything, on a 700-year-old tree the protesters had named Aradia....
Grizzly bear kills couple in tent Two people camping along the Hulahula River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have been killed by a grizzly bear. Alaskan officials discovered the bodies and an unused firearm in a tent on Saturday at a campsite near the river. They also shot and killed the animal. The couple, whose names were not released, was believed to be in their late 50s or early 60s, North Slope Borough police said. They were from Anchorage and had been on a recreational rafting trip down the river, Alaska State Troopers said yesterday. The victims were in their tent when the attack occurred, according to Tim DeSpain, spokesman for Alaska State Troopers. The campsite was clean, with food stored in bear-proof containers. "The initial scene indicates that it was a predatory act by the bear," DeSpain said....
Feds try new royalty program The federal government is trying a novel approach to collect royalties from oil and natural gas companies that drill wells on federal lands. Under the royalty-in-kind program launched last year, energy companies can simply hand over a portion of the oil or gas produced to the U.S. Department of Interior. Currently, producers estimate the value of the oil and gas they've pumped and then pay royalties - a system that has exposed some of them to lawsuits charging they've undervalued their royalty payments. The department sells the commodity to intermediate buyers. Then it splits the proceeds with the producing states when production is located onshore or in state waters, typically 3 miles from the shore. In most states, the royalty money goes toward school districts and local governments....
Oil shale development will needs vast chunks of land Squeezing oil from oil shale will take up large chunks of land and pose some environmental hurdles, said a Utah congressman who is watching the resource closely. “It’s got to be a huge operation,” Rep. Chris Cannon, a Republican from Provo, said of drawing oil from the oil shale of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The Department of Interior is contemplating 160-acre research and development leases of oil-shale lands, an amount of land that’s far too small to provide a lot of information, said Cannon. It will take about a ton of shale to produce a barrel of oil, Cannon said, posing the question about what is done with the rock left over after the oil has been removed....
Column: Private Property in Peril Property owners beware. If an owner does not make maximum productive use of his property, government is now empowered to transfer the property to another person. This is the essence of the Supreme Court’s ruling last week in Kelo v. City of New London (No. 04-108). The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution only permits government to take property for “public use” upon paying “just compensation” to the owner. Via the Kelo decision, the Court has deleted the words “public use” from the Bill of Rights and made property ownership less secure. In the years after ratification of the Bill of Rights, Supreme Court justices viewed the preservation of property as a primary object of American law. Justice William Paterson in Vanhorne’s Lessee v. Dorrance (1795) averred, “the right of acquiring and possessing private property, and having it protected, is one of the natural, inherent and inalienable rights of man.” Justice Samuel Chase declared in Calder v. Bull (1798) that an act taking property from A and giving it to B “is against all reason and justice” and is thus prohibited by the Constitution....
Column: Supreme Court Ruling Opens the Door to Abuse As economists, we share O’Connor’s concerns for two reasons. First, economic theory tells us that secure private property rights are one of the essential foundations of a free society and an important engine of growth. By raising the odds that eminent domain powers will be exercised expansively, the Kelo decision has seriously undermined those rights. If privately owned land can be taken for any use developers and local government officials creatively can cloak in a “public purpose,” then private property plainly will be worth less. The pop you heard last week may have been the bursting of the real estate “bubble.” Second, by deferring to the expertise of New London’s public officials, as set forth in the city’s “carefully considered development plan,” the Supreme Court has opened the door wider to rent-seeking by powerful local interests. The Kelo decision supplies convenient camouflage for eminent domain actions that are little more than corporate welfare in disguise. The only pretext now needed is to claim, as New London did, that transferring property from one private party to another will serve the “public purpose” of stimulating the local economy, “creating” jobs and new sources of tax revenue....
US proposes end to cotton subsidy scheme The US on Tuesday proposed the elimination of a subsidy scheme that has paid more than $2.4bn to millers and exporters of US cotton over the past decade, saying that it intends to comply with a World Trade Organisation ruling in March that favoured Brazil. The administration of President George W. Bush said it would propose to Congress the ending of a special scheme for cotton farmers known as the Step 2 programme. The WTO has said Step 2 is in violation of world trade rules, and has depressed global cotton prices, to the detriment of cotton farmers in Brazil and other developing countries. The scheme has been critical to persuading US cotton buyers to favour domestic cotton over cheaper foreign cotton, and also allows US cotton to be competitive internationally....
John Whitfield Middleton: Man of Mystery Historians have speculated endlessly, and entertainingly, about the life and disputed death of William H. Bonney, aka William Antrim, aka Henry McCarty, aka Billy the Kid. Some believe he succumbed in Old Fort Sumner, N.M., in 1881 when allegedly fired upon by Sheriff Pat Garrett in a dark room. Some believe he lived well into the 20th century under the name Brushy Bill Roberts in Hamilton in Central Texas. Brushy Bill, according to Brushy Bill, was born in 1859. According to his death certificate, he dropped dead of natural causes in 1950 at the age of 91. We have no conclusive evidence that The Kid was killed by Garrett. We weren’t there. We have no conclusive evidence that Brushy Bill Roberts was The Kid. For all we know, he may have been Bing Crosby or Bob Hope. What puzzles us is the historical neglect of another fascinating character in this mix who could have solved the entire mystery....
It's All Trew: Saving energy has always been worthwhile Saving energy is a worthwhile effort no matter the age or era. Whether for economical reasons only or just plain common sense, a significant effort in energy saving was made in the early-day oil fields of the North Fork of the Red River near Kellerville and Magic City. Though idle today and probably destined for salvage, the huge "power" source stands as a monument to ingenuity and mechanization. Some call it a power wheel, others say eccentric, but all agree it is an icon of the past. Using one power source instead of many certainly saved energy, investment costs and labor....

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