NEWS ROUNDUP

BLM hears public's concerns on drilling The "inherent conflict" that exists when the federal government leases the underlying minerals to exploration companies could be eased if surface owners received part of the royalties, several speakers told a Bureau of Land Management "listening tour" Wednesday. "Perhaps a small portion of the royalties that currently go to the federal government, perhaps 1 percent, would smooth things out," said Phil Moyer, of Grand Junction. "There is high conflict because the geography dictates high-density drilling." Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis also urged top BLM resource managers to make recommendations that 1 percent of the royalties go to the surface owners. "Those that own the development rights don't mind the impacts so much because they're getting paid and are less likely to complain," Meis said. "But so far, this suggestion has been laughed at." A number of property owners in resource-rich western Colorado also touted the royalty share proposal and urged the BLM to devote more time, staff and money to inspection of drilling operations and enforcement of regulations. Also high on their list was notification of property owners before lease parcels are offered for sale, with several saying that people often have no idea the mineral rights under their land have been leased until a representative of a drilling company shows up at their door. Many also spoke of damage to their land, noise from drills and service trucks, impacts on water and wildlife, light pollution at night and other disruptions to rural areas....
State, feds differ on split estate It has been nearly nine months since Wyoming's Split Estates Act became law, yet little has happened regarding a showdown with the Bureau of Land Management, which claims the law cannot be applied to millions of acres of federally managed lands in Wyoming. BLM managers will be in Casper Friday to listen to concerns regarding split-estate issues. Laurie Goodman, president of the Landowners Association of Wyoming, said it's important for all citizens to attend the BLM's "listening" sessions, because there's much at stake -- not only for surface owners, but also for those who enjoy all the opportunities federal lands offer. "It's been one year, and the Split Estates Act has not slowed down drilling. It has not caused a huge cost burden on the producers at all. I'm going to ask the BLM, 'Why can't you simply recognize the state's statutes?"' Goodman said. When the BLM took the position that Wyoming's Split Estates Act did not have authority over federal minerals, Wyoming Attorney General Patrick Crank made it clear the state intends to defend its position that it does. But so far, there have been no legal challenge launched from either side....
Methane wells ordered to halt Saying it's the worst violation it has dealt with in the coalbed methane industry, the Wyoming state engineer's office has ordered a producer to cease production in 14 coalbed methane wells. The office has also issued stop-use orders for at least four storage reservoirs that were in operation without proper permits. "This is the most severe order we've issued," said State Engineer Patrick Tyrrell. The office has not yet decided whether to take legal action against Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc., but it did reject the company's pending applications for 83 wells and several storage reservoirs in the Wild Horse Creek drainage area in eastern Campbell County earlier this month....
Kayak Park Bill hits floor of Colorado Senate With meager runoff the past few years, my runs down the lower Blue River, north of Silverthorne, more often than not ended up with my kayak shoaled out in the shallows, stuck in the mud. That's about where the Colorado State Legislature appears to be with its latest effort to define Recreational In-Channel Diversions (RICDs), those stream flows sought by towns to sustain whitewater kayak parks. Like a water fight among rafters, boaters and traditional water users - developers, ranchers, cities and farmers - are circling each other and splashing the river with their political paddles. If they find a compromise, it could help establish some certainty for how those recreational water rights are claimed and administered. But the bill that's up for discussion on the Senate floor this week would create a second class water right under Colorado's first-in-time, first-in-right doctrine, as The Mountain Mail in Salida reported March 20. At issue is the ability of towns to claim river flows for kayak play areas. Existing state law includes provisions for such facilities, but in a case involving a whitewater park in Gunnison, the Colorado Supreme Court said the rules are still a bit murky, essentially sending the issue back to the Legislature....
Wind Energy Demand Booming: Cost Dropping Below Conventional Sources "When Austin Energy, the publicly owned utility in Austin, Texas, launched its GreenChoice program in 2000, customers opting for green electricity paid a premium. During the fall of 2005, climbing natural gas prices pulled conventional electricity costs above those of wind-generated electricity, the source of most green power. This crossing of the cost lines in Austin and several other communities is a milestone in the U.S. shift to a renewable energy economy," says Lester Brown, President of Earth Policy Institute. Austin Energy buys wind-generated electricity under 10-year, fixed-price contracts and passes this stable price on to its GreenChoice subscribers. This fixed-price energy product is quite attractive to Austin's 388 corporate GreenChoice customers, including Advanced Micro Devices, Dell, IBM, Samsung, and 3M. Advanced Micro Devices expects to save $4 million over the next decade through this arrangement. School districts are also signing up. Round Rock School District, for example, projects 10-year savings to local taxpayers at $2 million. A similar situation has unfolded in Colorado with Xcel Energy, which is the state's largest electricity supplier. Xcel's 33,000 Windsource customers, who until late 2005 were paying $6 more each month for their electricity, are now paying slightly less than those using conventional electricity, which comes mostly from natural gas and coal....
16,000 acres of forest offered for sale to Conservation Fund Home to spotted owls, coho salmon and steelhead trout, the Big River tract and the Salmon Creek watershed represent almost 16,000 acres of redwood and Douglas fir forest in Mendocino County. The land is currently owned by the Hopland Timber Company, but may soon be sold to conservationists. "We recognize that there are certain values in those two watersheds and we believe that a conservation group could do good work there," said Stephen Levesque, area manager for Campbell Timber Management, the company overseeing the sale for the Hopland Timber Company. Levesque said the land is not currently up for public sale. The Conservation Fund, a group that gathers money to buy privately held land in order to promote economic development and environmental protection, has been offered the opportunity to buy the land. The group hopes to raise $48 million to purchase the land in order to protect the endangered species living on it. Kelly said the fund plans to raise the $48 million through loans and grants from California Public Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Board. The loans would be repaid from revenue generated by harvesting timber from the land using methods less harmful to the environment....
Beetle 'epidemic' rends Northwest forests The region's largest infestation of mountain pine beetles in 20 years has hit more than a million acres of forests in northern Idaho and Montana, while 2.5 million acres in Washington face disease and insect problems. Recent flight surveys by the U.S. Forest Service and state forest management agencies found that years of drought have left forests in the Northwest vulnerable. The surveys found that 1.1 million acres of forest came under attack by mountain pine beetle in northern Idaho and Montana in 2005, an increase from the 675,000 acres the year before. The Washington Department of Natural Resources reported that mountain pine beetles were at "epidemic" levels, with a 28 percent increase to 554,000 acres. Overall, insect and disease problems are present in 2.5 million of Washington's 21 million acres of forest, up from 1.9 million acres the previous year....
Column: Interior Department Recruits Hunters, Anglers, Yea-Sayers The Department of Interior will announce the formation of the Sporting Conservation Council today, a group of men and women drawn from prominent shooting sports and hunting organizations. According to the press release: "The council will provide important input in the areas of habitat restoration and protection; the impact of energy development on wildlife resources; forest and rangeland health; hunting access to federal lands; and other issues in which the sporting and conservation community can provide a valuable perspective to resource managers and senior leaders throughout the department…" Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton says, "We wanted to find a way of institutionalizing the role of sportsmen and women in the decision-making process at Interior. Now, for the first time, sportsmen and women will have an officially sanctioned committee to advise Interior on issues important to them and the country." Any hint that the current Department of Interior is listening to citizens who spend time in the outdoors, and seem to value wildlife, for whatever reason, is welcome. The forming of the council is a result of the extraordinary activism of hunters and fishermen in opposing some of the most extreme plans of both the Department of Interior and the Bush administration in general....
Owl inducted into owl hall of fame Could it have been any other owl? Fat Broad, the spotted owl from Corvallis, became the first bird inducted into the North American Owl Hall of Fame. Honored earlier the month, Fat Broad is perhaps best remembered as the face of the spotted owl controversy, appearing with a logger in a January 1991 LIFE magazine photograph. ``Neither of them look too happy; it really kind of captured the whole controversy,'' said her longtime handler, Eric Forsman, a U.S. Forest Service research biologist....
National Forests To Allow Corporate Ads he U.S. Forest Service is opening its landscapes, roads, marinas and ski resorts to corporate advertising under new rules slated to become permanent this spring, according to comments filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The rules would also preempt state and local restrictions governing promotion of alcohol, tobacco products and gambling. "Vistas of our national forests may soon include giant inflatable beer bottles, banners for chewing tobacco and snack food kiosks," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "Under this plan, every tacky commercial promotion will be welcomed, subject only to approval by a Bush administration appointee." The focus of the plan is to encourage corporate donations to support "special events, such as races, competitions [and] festivals" on national forest lands....
Judge backs Forest Service on Tomahawk timber sale A federal judge has backed plans by the U.S. Forest Service to allow logging in an area of the Superior National Forest north of Isabella. Judge Joan Erickson said the Forest Service adequately studied the environmental effects of logging in the Tomahawk area, just south of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Forest Service received help defending the logging plan in court from the state's timber industry. The Sierra Club filed the suit in federal district court in May to stop the Forest Service from selling trees in the area. The Sierra Club said the Forest Service failed to consider the effects of logging near the BWCAW....
Canyon raft trips shifted; lottery replaces wait list More people will be able to raft down the Colorado River each year, but visitors will be spread out over a longer period of time and will be forced to travel in smaller groups, according to a new plan the National Park Service formally adopted Thursday. More rafters will be shifted to fall, winter and spring months while the number of daily summertime launches will decrease. The result will be more tourists overall. The new plan also eliminates the waiting list for those who want to raft the river in non-commercial boats, replacing it with a lottery system. More than 7,000 trip leaders are on the waiting list, said Jeffrey Cross, project manager for the plan. Many people have been waiting to go on trips for more than a decade, he said....
Climate Data Hint at Irreversible Rise in Seas Within the next 100 years, the growing human influence on Earth's climate could lead to a long and irreversible rise in sea levels by eroding the planet's vast polar ice sheets, according to new observations and analysis by several teams of scientists. One team, using computer models of climate and ice, found that by about 2100, average temperatures could be four degrees higher than today and that over the coming centuries, the oceans could rise 13 to 20 feet — conditions last seen 129,000 years ago, between the last two ice ages. The findings, being reported today in the journal Science, are consistent with other recent studies of melting and erosion at the poles. Many experts say there are still uncertainties about timing, extent and causes....
87-year-old woman resists selling ranch Marie Wissler wants to hang on to her 814-acre ranch, a rural island of rolling grassland amid custom homes on large lots in northern El Paso County. But Wissler, 87, and the ranch that her late husband’s family homesteaded are facing new pressure. The Lewis-Palmer School District wants 61 acres on the ranch for a second high school. The district has offered Wissler $955,000 for the land. She said no. Property values in the area are soaring, but the price is not the issue. “I don’t need the money,” said Wissler, widowed 12 years ago. She roams the ranch on an ATV and now checks a certain hillside for the purple anemones that herald spring. She said she’s turned down larger sums from developers. Wissler’s three grown daughters, who live in other states, also have said no to the school district. Dave Dilley, district superintendent, said the school board is reviewing its legal rights. The Wissler family says that means an eminent domain claim and forced sale through condemnation. Dilley said district officials have never used those terms....