NEWS ROUNDUP


Illegal discharge ignites criticism State regulators are investigating what they believe to be a rogue attempt to hide an illegal water discharge by a coal-bed methane operator in the Powder River Basin. A suspicious rancher in the Spotted Creek area recently discovered what appeared to be an underground water pipeline deliberately directed into a roadway culvert, hidden well out of view of passersby. "It's a serious situation. It appears somebody was trying to hide the fact that they had a discharge that was not permitted," said John Wagner, administrator of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Water Quality Division. Wagner said DEQ is seeking legal action against Lance Oil & Gas Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Gas Resources. Krista Johnson, a spokeswoman for Western Gas, said the company has launched its own investigation into the incident. It's not the first time Lance Oil & Gas has broken the rules. The company was assessed $72,000 in penalties in 2004 and 2005 for six illegal discharges in the coal-bed methane fields, according to DEQ records....
University says it complied with terms of grant for logging study A federal agency restored funding Wednesday for a study that has provided hard evidence for conservationists opposing the Bush administration's policy of logging after wildfires. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's decision to lift its suspension of the final year of a three-year grant came after Oregon State University said it had complied with provisions that barred it from using any grant money to lobby Congress and required its researchers to inform a BLM scientist about plans to publish in a journal. "Both sides have agreed to work together to continue the long productive relationship gathering science and data on the ground," said BLM spokesman Chris Strebig. In a letter to BLM, OSU noted that the editor in chief of Science magazine had acknowledged his staff included the reference to "informing the debate" over a salvage logging bill pending in Congress in supplemental material posted online, not the actual article, even after the researchers had told them to remove it. The Bush administration has backed the bill. Moreover, Peggy S. Lowry, institutional authorizing official at OSU, wrote that the two lead researchers had shown a PowerPoint presentation of their findings to the BLM scientist overseeing their work and explained that they were submitting it for publication....
U.S. Will Cover O.C. Wildfire Cost As a stubborn wildfire continued to burn across the canyon lands in northeast Orange County on Wednesday, the U.S. Forest Service said it would cover all firefighting costs because it accidentally started the blaze. The fire, which has changed direction several times since it broke out before dawn Monday, grew Wednesday to about 8,635 acres. More than 2,000 firefighters were working to bring it under control. The forest service apologized for letting a small, controlled burn spark a blaze that threatened homes, forcing the evacuation of 2,100 homes in Anaheim Hills and the city of Orange. Residents were allowed to return late Tuesday. The cost of battling what's called the Sierra fire, named after the peak where it started, exceeds $2.25 million so far, officials said. The fire was 35% contained by Wednesday evening. Full containment is not expected before the weekend....
Key Challenges for Science Identified by the USGS to Support Western Water Management Ensuring stable water supplies has grown more complex as the challenges facing water managers continue to mount, especially in the West. Informed decisions of water users and public officials will be necessary to ensure sufficient freshwater resources in the future to support a growing population and economy. The USGS has released a report that examines Western water availability, the modern role for science, and the value of monitoring and research to ensure an adequate water supply for the Nation’s future. According to USGS scientist and coauthor of the report, Mark T. Anderson, "Effective water management in the West is challenged by increasing and often competing needs among various water users: agricultural use and consumption by cities, maintaining water reservoirs and ensuring in-stream flows for aquatic ecosystems, industrial and energy production, and recreation. Scientific information becomes a crucial factor for resource managers to support their decision-making." Such factors as a demographic shift, climate variability (including the potential for severe sustained droughts), climate change, water-rights issues, depletion of ground water in storage, introduction of new storage and water use technologies, and protection of endangered species, add to a growing complexity for water management. Several of the key scientific challenges are examined in this report, including the determination of sustainable ground-water use and the physical habitat needs of ecosystems and individual endangered species....Go here to view the report.
Winnemucca Ranch developers plan thousands of homes Saying they will spare the meadows, developers of the Winnemucca Ranch plan to build up to 8,700 homes in the hills overlooking the green fields and nearby ponds. "We're trying to do things the right way," spokesman Jim Bauserman, representing Reno developers Stan Jaksick and Randy Venturacci, said. In March, they bought the 8,687-acre ranch 30 miles north of Reno that is proposed for annexation. Up to 50 percent of the land would be left as natural areas, including 1,400 acres of meadows used for pasture and wildlife corridors, Venturacci said. The project hinges on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approving a land exchange. The developers would gain Winnemucca Valley and Upper Dry Valley for their project on 8,687 acres....
Critics alarmed: The area along the Green and San Rafael is popular with rafters and tourists A stretch of the Green River popular among rafting enthusiasts and touted by the state's travel Web site for its scenic and peaceful qualities could now also be sought out by energy companies for exploration. The state Bureau of Land Management office has announced that a Feb. 21 oil and gas lease sale will include parcels in and around the Green and San Rafael rivers between Green River and Moab. Included are three parcels encompassing 3,700 acres along the Green River in Labyrinth Canyon, long a popular spot among river runners. The sale also takes in about 100,000 acres around the San Rafael River and in the San Rafael Desert, at least parts of which have been identified as potential wilderness areas. Local river outfitters are also opposing the lease sale, arguing that it will not only spoil the solitude of the area, but harm their businesses. "We use the canyon corridor in the course of our regular business for canoeing, camping and hiking. The wilderness qualities of the corridor and the side canyons are essential to our business," Theresa Butler, co-owner of the Red River Canoe Co., said in a letter to the BLM protesting the lease sale. "Oil and gas development in these parcels would be in direct conflict with our business."....
Proposed guidelines changes on cultural sites in works Proposed changes in guidelines governing how the federal government and the state assess potential effects of oil and gas development and other activities on historic and cultural sites in Wyoming has raised concerns from a group that advocates protecting such sites. Lesley Wischmann, co-founder of the Alliance for Historic Wyoming, said Wednesday that her organization worries the proposal would give the Bureau of Land Management too much authority over deciding what cultural sites would be protected. But Judyth Reed, BLM historic preservation coordinator in Wyoming, maintains the proposed changes do nothing to increase the BLM's authority and are aimed simply at helping the agency and the state streamline the process. In states where it manages a large amount of federal land, the BLM consults with states on cultural resources found on federal land, such as historical buildings and burial grounds, and whether they warrant protections from development and other projects....
Gibbons urged change in BLM mine oversight before manager fired Rep. Jim Gibbons urged the Bureau of Land Management to shift oversight of a contaminated mine the month before the agency fired its site manager, according to documents submitted Wednesday at a whistleblower hearing. Bob Abbey, ex-BLM director for the state of Nevada, testified at the administrative hearing that Gibbons' request to transfer responsibility for the former Anaconda copper mine from its Carson City field office to BLM state headquarters in Reno had nothing to do with Abbey's decision to fire Earle Dixon in October 2004. Dixon, who had been BLM's site manager in charge of leading its cleanup efforts, accuses the agency of retaliating against him for speaking out about the dangers of uranium, arsenic and other toxic materials at the mine near Yerington, 65 miles southeast of Reno. Abbey transferred lead oversight of the mine to Reno headquarters shortly after Dixon's firing, but he said that Gibbons' request had "little bearing" on that decision....
Off-road scramble on tap Off-road motorcycle enthusiasts from throughout the country will be zooming through washes and along old Jeep trails Saturday during the Holy Joe Hare Scramble. The national event along an 11-mile course near Mammoth is expected to attract 220 riders, said Adam Johnston, president of the nonprofit Arizona Motorcycle Riders Association, which puts on eight races a year in the state, including the Holy Joe. As part of the motorcycle association's agreement with the Bureau of Land Management, volunteers will repair any damage the race causes on the pre-existing trails along the course. Before and after races, volunteers also clean up trash left by other outdoorsmen....
Park County, feds cooperate on wolves With wolf numbers on the rise in Park County, and state and federal officials unable to agree on a plan to manage them, one little-known federal program continues to work at mitigating their impact. Field agents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program met with Park County commissioners this week and reported on their efforts to manage conflicts between ranchers and wolves. A report of recent Wildlife Services activities in the region listed 17 wolves killed since Nov. 1 as a result of livestock depredation problems. That number, covering a period of just more than three months, appears to indicate a steep increase from the 13 wolves killed for depredation countywide, and 37 killed statewide, in the previous fiscal year ending in September. Wildlife Services agents declined to comment on the specifics of the apparent increase, citing pending litigation over wolf management issues among local, state and federal governments. But the increase may be due in part to a 25 percent increase in Park County's overall wolf population....
Cattle kills by wolves cost ranchers $20,000 Twenty domestic animals, primarily cattle, valued at a total of $20,000 were confirmed killed by wolves in Park County last year. Craig Acres, eastern district supervisor for Wildlife Services, told the county commissioners Tuesday the predation took place between Oct. 1, 2004, and late September 2005. He added that the confirmed kills varied from the reported animal deaths and values, which came to 40 animals valued at roughly $40,000. Confirmed wolf kills result in reimbursement to producers. He cautioned people not to draw conclusions about the confirmed numbers, because unconfirmed kills are often those in which the livestock is discovered too late to actually identify, by tracks, tooth marks or other means, the actual cause of death....
FWS expands Idaho habitat for endangered sturgeon The federal government Wednesday set aside more critical habitat in the Idaho Panhandle for the Kootenai River white sturgeon, an endangered wild fish that has not successfully reproduced in more than 30 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added another 6.9 miles of the Kootenai River in Boundary County on the Canadian border to the 11.2 miles that were protected in 2001 for the largest freshwater fish in North America. The designation means federal and state agencies must consult with the service before undertaking projects that might affect the habitat. The additional habitat will result in an estimated $370 million to $790 million loss to farmers, hydropower operators and other river-dependent industries over the next 20 years, according to a draft economic analysis done by a Washington-state firm under contract to the service....
New Ammo Regs Help Combat Lead Poisoning In Waterfowl No one knows exactly how many waterfowl, wading birds and other kinds of avians have died accidentally from lead poisoning linked to hunters' ammunition loads, but over the years the toll has been substantial, experts say. Doomed birds have perished from lead exposure but not as a result of being struck by gunshot. Rather, they succumb from ingesting beebees that gather on the bottoms of ponds, lakes, marshes and in the fields where sportsmen and women hunt. Now the Fish and Wildlife Service is breaking new ground in the campaign against lead poisoning by working with ammo manufacturers to make the stuff in shotgun and bullet shells easier on avians that accidentally swallow the errant shot. The federal agency, which oversees waterfowl management in the U.S. and has strongly advocated for wetlands protection, announced that hunters will have four new shot types, all non lead, to put in their guns. "The Service's approval of these four shot types demonstrates our determination to make it easier for waterfowl hunters to comply with the restrictions on lead shot. Hunters now have a wider choice of shot types and this will continue to lessen the exposure of waterfowl to lead," said Service Director H. Dale Hall in a press release....
Water-use lawsuit nears settlement An 18-year-old court battle over how much San Joaquin River water should flow from a dam to bring back the salmon that once lived there could be nearing an end as environmental activists, farm representatives and federal water officials close in on an agreement. A hearing on the case was postponed Tuesday for 30 days after the parties filed a document telling Sacramento U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton they hoped to settle within the next month. "The goal is to be expeditious and try to wrap it up as quick as we can," said Cole Upton, chairman of Friant Water Users Authority, which delivers river water to about 15,000 farmers and is a defendant. Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger became the first governor to weigh in on the dispute, increasing the pressure on the Department of the Interior to join Friant and the Natural Resources Defense Council in a three-part settlement....
U.S. Proposes Energy Leasing in Eastern Gulf The government is proposing to open a large area of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas leasing despite strong opposition from Florida officials. The Interior Department's leasing proposal, released Wednesday, would encompass more than two-thirds of an area known as Lease 181, while continuing to ban oil and gas development in waters within 100 miles of the Florida coast. President Bush in 2001 assured Florida officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush, his brother, that the Lease 181 area would be protected through this year. The new proposal, expected to become final early next year, would cover the 2007-12 leasing period. Separately, the department expressed continued interest in possibly opening waters off Virginia to gas drilling. Congress would have to come up with an arrangement whereby the state would seek permission to develop the offshore area....