NEWS ROUNDUP

Rancher wins noise fight with gas industry In about a year, Sid Lindauer hopes he won’t hear as much noise from several natural-gas compressor stations near his ranch north of Parachute. For 312 years, Lindauer and others have tried to get the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to adopt stricter noise regulations for such things as the compressor stations, about a half-mile north of his 20-acre ranch on Garfield County Road 215. In December, those efforts bore fruit with the adoption of new, stricter noise standards. “I think it was a tremendous first step to solve a lot of noise problems with the industry,” Lindauer said. “This is very important for me on the ranch.” Compressor stations pressurize gas to deliver it through huge pipelines to sales points. Each compressor has huge motors and large cooling fans. Current statutory limits are 55 decibels from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 50 decibels from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Under the new rules, which take effect at the end of January, allowable noise levels will drop by five decibels for most new oil and gas construction. Lindauer took readings in September 2002 that found sound levels at 60 to 68 decibels at his property line. Then, he described it as an “unbelievable, ghastly roaring sound.” Since then, mitigation by Williams Production and EnCana Oil and Gas has cut his noise levels in half, Lindauer said....
ENVIRONMENTAL HYSTERIA DEBUNKED "We must deal with climate change now. Evidence of catastrophic climate change is now too great to ignore. All human life is at risk". With dire warnings like this, radical environmentalists urge us to abandon our wasteful ways, and demand that the government take drastic, even totalitarian action to save civilization and even life on earth. No, I'm not talking about the global warming crisis. I'm talking about the great global cooling crisis – an impending life-destroying "ice age" which hundreds of newspapers and magazines warned us about in the 1970s. Just 30 years ago, some reputable scientists even went so far as to warn that unless we acted immediately, the entire human race could freeze to death before the year 2000. Obviously, they were dead wrong. Now radical environmentalists have come full-circle, and many are warning us that unless government takes drastic action immediately, global warming will soon spawn unending "killer hurricanes", flood our coastal cities, and turn farmlands into wastelands. As best-selling author Michael Crichton asks, "When will they ever learn?" Crichton's State of Fear novel is a fast-paced fictional work, in which the hero stumbles on an insidious global warming plot. In fact, State of Fear is a cautionary tale of the destructive consequences of irrational fears of imagined threats that never materialize and which are fueled largely by small special interest groups with hidden agendas, media hype and political hysteria....
Harris County Master Urban Rancher Program to Begin Feb. 3 For many suburban families, work may be in the city, but home is on the range. Small-acreage operations are increasing in number, according to Wayne Thompson, Texas Cooperative Extension agriculture agent in Harris County. Helping these operations, known as "ranchettes," is the focus of the Master Urban Rancher program. Extension will offer the next Master Urban Rancher class in Harris County beginning Feb. 3. The 12-week program will include lectures at the Hermann Park Garden Center, 6001 Fannin St., and site visits to successful small-acreage operations. These ranchette owners and Extension specialists will speak on such topics as agricultural economics for small businesses, pasture management, on-site wastewater treatment systems, fence construction and farm pond management....
Forest Service takes comments on cloud-seeding program Medicine Bow National Forest has begun taking public comments on part of a study to assess whether cloud seeding can boost precipitation in the state. Cloud seeding involves spewing silver iodide into clouds to coax more rain and snow to fall. Wyoming has contributed $8.8 million toward a five-year cloud-seeding project in the Wind River, Medicine Bow and Sierra Madre ranges. The goal is to add to the scientific data -- which so far has been mixed -- on whether cloud seeding works. The project is being carried out by Weather Modification Inc. of Fargo, N.D. It has submitted a proposal to Medicine Bow National Forest to operate up to 16 ground-based, cloud-seeding devices starting this winter. Some aerial cloud-seeding would take place, as well....
Wildlife group pays ranchers Defenders of Wildlife cut more than $18,000 in checks to Montana ranchers for livestock killed, or probably killed, by grizzly bears in 2005. The $18,089 was compensation for 18 cows, 10 sheep and 53 chickens, according to the conservation group. The amount is the second-highest since the compensation program began in 1997. Most of the conflicts between grizzly bears and livestock in 2005 were clustered around the Rocky Mountain Front and the Blackfeet Reservation, Minette Johnson, who works out of the group's Missoula office, said Monday. The most costly attacks happened in April as grizzlies emerged from hibernation and in the fall as wild berry crops dwindled and the bears prepared to enter dens for the winter. Defenders pays ranchers market value for livestock that government investigators can confirm was killed by grizzlies. The group pays 50 percent of market for animals that were probably killed by bears....
Bear attack victim makes slow progress Come Tuesday morning, after the holiday hubbub finally dies down, Johan Otter's going back to work. Last week, he went jogging. Twice. None of which would be news, of course, except that the California man spent most of the past four months in surgery or in hospitals or at home in his bed, recovering from an Aug. 25 grizzly bear mauling in Glacier National Park. "I'm a little anxious," he said about his anticipated return to work next week, "but I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited about getting some of my normal life back again." Normal, though, remains a ways off for the physical therapist from Escondido. Otter still can't see quite right when he looks down, because the bear all but ripped one eye out. He has no feeling in the top of his head. And his neck's still mighty stiff from where the grizzly broke it in five places while working to peel off Otter's scalp....
Births of cloned horses awaited in Purcell From a laboratory in Texas to a pasture south of Purcell lies a chain of scientific breakthroughs that soon will produce the nation’s first commercially cloned horses. The 19 pregnant mares who roam the 160-acre Royal Vista Southwest ranch are nearing the end of their 342-day gestation, with the first cloned foals due in February. The clones come from six high-profile performance horses and are valued at $150,000. “We check these mares frequently and it’s kind of fun to ultrasound these babies - they sure look good,” said Dr. James Bailey, a veterinarian and co-owner of Royal Vista Southwest, which operates ranches in Purcell and Fort Collins, Colo. “Were getting close, so it’s really exciting.” So far, only one cloned horse has been born in the United States, at Texas A&M University. Italy produced the world’s first cloned horse in 2003....
It's All Trew: Girls can be as ornery as boys George had purchased a fresh gentle milk cow that the girls named Daisy Bell. The family enjoyed fresh milk, butter and cream and made a pet out of Daisy Bell's calf. All was going well as George did the milking in the morning before daylight. Suddenly, Daisy Bell's milk production dropped and George was afraid she might have eaten some poison weeds as the cow became nervous and agitated at times. Each evening the youngest daughter watched for his return from riding and walked out to meet him on the trail. One evening, after telling about the day she became silent for a while then blurted out, "Old Daisy Bell bucks like hell." Instantly George realized why the cow's production had dropped. He also kept the secret quiet that evening so the girl would not get in trouble with her sisters for tattling....