NEWS ROUNDUP

Earth's Climate Warming Abruptly, Scientist Says Earth's climate is undergoing an abrupt change, ending a cooler period that began with a swift "cold snap" in the tropics 5,200 years ago that coincided with the start of cities, the beginning of calendars and the biblical great flood, a leading expert on glaciers has concluded. The warming around Earth's tropical belt is a signal suggesting that the "climate system has exceeded a critical threshold," which has sent tropical-zone glaciers in full retreat and will melt them completely "in the near future," said Lonnie G. Thompson, a scientist who for 23 years has been taking core samples from the ancient ice of glaciers. Thompson, writing with eight other researchers in an article published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the ice samples show that the climate can and did cool quickly, and that a similarly abrupt warming change started about 50 years ago. Humans may not have the luxury of adapting to slow changes, he suggests. "There are thresholds in the system," Thompson said in an interview in his lab at Ohio State University. When they are crossed, "there is the risk of changing the world as we know it to some form in which a lot of people on the planet will be put at risk." Thompson's work summarizes evidence from around the world and ice core sampling from seven locations in the South American Andes and the Asian Himalayas. It considerably extends the reach of a growing number of scientific findings documenting the historically unusual warming of Earth. A top scientific panel last week endorsed an earlier study, by Penn State professor Michael E. Mann, that concluded the recent warming in the Northern Hemisphere is of a scale probably unseen for 400 to 1,000 years.....
Country star leads charge in well protest Astride a horse in the shadows of skyscrapers in downtown Calgary, country singer and Alberta rancher Ian Tyson led several community groups yesterday in a protest over energy development plans in the Foothills southwest of Calgary. The Foothills are rolling and beautiful, generally untouched by industrial development, with only the occasional well dotting the celebrated and iconic landscape. The area is also an important watershed. is in the early stages of what could be a large development in the region, with potentially hundreds of wells. "It's scary. Everything is changing," said Mr. Tyson, who has ranched in the Foothills for more than a quarter century and has put out a series of records extolling cowboy culture and ranch life. Three community groups presented a letter to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, which approves oil and natural gas wells, and to Premier Ralph Klein, who is in Washington this week to promote increased energy exports to the United States....
Salazar attacks BLM leases Ten months after the enactment of the Energy Policy Act, the Bureau of Land Management is facing scrutiny over arranging oil and gas leases in Colorado without adequate public input. This issue came to light Tuesday when Kathleen Clarke, director of the Bureau of Land Management, testified before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. One of the purposes of the Energy Policy Act, which President Bush signed in August, is to combat the growing dependence on foreign energy in part by increasing production in the Rocky Mountain region. The BLM is responsible for managing the oil and gas resources on federal lands. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., demanded that Clarke discuss how the BLM determines its lease-granting process and to consider the public's views before finalizing any arrangements. This comes in the wake of the BLM's plan to lease public lands for oil and gas exploration in the Grand Junction-Palisade area, despite public concern about the effects on the area's watershed....
Small-Business Groups Hail Executive Order on Eminent Domain Small-business advocates are voicing their support for an executive order by President Bush that curbs the powers of federal agencies to seize private property for public projects. The order, which the president signed on Friday, marked exactly a year to the day that the Supreme Court ruled local governments have the right to buy private homes and businesses for the purpose of economic development under the constitutional powers of eminent domain. Bush moved to limit those powers to instances that clearly benefit the general public and "not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interests of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken," the executive order said. The president also directed the attorney general to monitor its use by federal agencies....
Washington Property Rights Initiative Draws Shadowy Supporter and Big Money Opposition The push for an Oregon-style waive-or-pay property rights law in Washington state has a inspired an opposition movement, one that is well-funded and serious and going head-to-head with the property rights folks. I-933 is a Washington state initiative backed by farm bureaus and opposed by environmental groups and unions. The struggle over 933 is one waged by two campaigns that, financially, are remarkably well-matched. According to public finance documents filed with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, the pro-933 Property Fairness Coalition (PFC) had raised $378,000 by the end of May. The opposition group called Citizens for Community Protection (CCP) raised $387,000. The more rightward PFC, meanwhile, took money from a number of county farm bureaus, but more than half — $200,000 — comes from a deep-pocketed group called Americans for Limited Government, or ALG, according to public records. ALG, based in Illinois, has ties through its board members to other conservative groups like the Cato Institute. The organization is spending millions of dollars in a nationwide ideological campaign of grassroots action. Its money funds libertarian-oriented political initiatives around the country, primarily in the form of spending caps and Measure 37-like property rights laws....
Pull the plug: USGS report is enough to stall Nevada water plan Ranchers in the Snake and Spring valleys in western Utah who depend on a delicate ecological balance of water, plants and weather for their livelihood have had ample reason to protest Nevada's plan to take groundwater out from under them. A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey shows their concerns are justified. Utah officials need more environmental data to confirm and expand on the USGS findings, but this report alone should be enough to pull the plug, at least temporarily, on Nevada's plan to pipe scarce water from Utah's fragile western desert to irrigate Las Vegas' thirsty new casinos and rapidly increasing subdivisions. The study, requested by the Forest Service because of concerns the plan could also hurt natural features in Great Basin National Park, identifies five areas in the park and five outside that would likely be affected by withdrawing water from the aquifer that lies beneath the Nevada-Utah border....
Burns pushes ban on new Front oil, gas leases Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., on Tuesday took steps to permanently prevent new oil and gas leasing on federal, public lands in the Rocky Mountain Front. Based on the language of the bill, no new oil and gas leases would be granted on Forest Service land and adjacent Bureau of Land Management property on the Front, said Matt Mackowiak, a spokesman for Burns. The bill protects valid, existing rights. But if those rights expire or are relinquished to the federal government they are subject to the withdrawal. Based on the bill, Congress also could revoke the measure in the event of an energy emergency caused by an oil or gas shortage. The language went through the Interior Appropriations subcommittee and will go before the full committee on Thursday, Mackowiak said....
Water and Wildlife Threatened by Rio Grande Logging Proposal Today, a coalition of private land owners and conservation groups took action to stop a logging proposal in the remote, upper watersheds of the San Luis Valley. The coalition charged that the US Forest Service failed to follow procedure to protect water resources, has not complied with wildlife requirements, and generally ignored the cumulative effects of the logging. The County Line timber sale is located high in the Conejos River watershed adjacent to the South San Juan Wilderness and the Continental Divide Trail. Several land owners surrounded by national forest slated for logging joined the lawsuit. "The Forest Service is degrading our public assets for the benefit of the extraction industries and disguising the activity as a 'healthy forest' policy. It is proven and observable that the American lumber industry is unable to conduct a salvage logging operation without seriously diminishing the forest's natural capability to regenerate itself." Said Randal McKown, a private property owner in the timber sale area and plaintiff on the lawsuit. "The effect of the County Line operation will be an ugly scar on an important recreational landscape for many generations of Americans."....
Senate subcommittee approves Interior-EPA spending bill Acting swiftly, a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday boosted President Bush's request to fund land, air and water programs in a $26.1 billion fiscal 2007 spending bill for the Interior Department and conservation agencies. The Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved its $26.1 billion measure by voice vote. Members complied with the request of Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns, R-Mont., to hold off amendments until the full committee meets. The bill compares with $26.3 billion enacted for fiscal 2006, $25.5 billion Bush requested and $25.9 billion proposed by the House last month. The House also adopted an amendment to stop giving oil and gas companies relief from paying royalties while fuel prices are at record highs. Senate said a similar proposal is expected in the full committee....
Navy gets permit to use sonar that may affect whales, dolphins Federal regulators granted the Navy a permit Tuesday to use sonar in a maritime exercise despite environmentalists' concerns it could disturb or even kill whales and dolphins. It was the first such permit granted to the Navy, and one environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said it would file a lawsuit today to prevent the sonar's use. The monthlong exercise, which includes anti-submarine training, involves naval forces from eight nations. It began Monday off the Hawaiian Islands. The sonar part of the exercise begins after July 4 and lasts three weeks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) gave the Navy a permit to use mid-frequency active sonar, which can affect marine mammals' behavior. In documents released Tuesday, NOAA determined that the exercise would cause no significant environmental impact....
A sea of opinions surrounds future of Santa Rosa Island Tim Vail, a fourth-generation California rancher, is on Capitol Hill this week for the second time in his life. His first visit was in 1986 when his family sold Santa Rosa Island to the National Park Service but continued to operate a commercial elk- and deer-hunting operation on it. And now Vail, along with two cousins who run the island’s hunting business, is back because Santa Rosa, part of Southern California’s Channel Islands National Park, is caught in a fierce legislative battle surrounding the island’s deer and elk, as well as the hunting operation. “We are ranchers, not politicos,” Vail said. At issue is a provision introduced by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and adopted as part of the House 2007 defense authorization bill that would allow veterans and their families to hunt on Santa Rosa past a court-set deadline of 2011. After following the measure’s progress, the Vails say, they believed it was time to come to the Hill to offer a different solution for the island’s future....
Investigate This: Wetlands Restoration Flap Tempers are flaring in Marin County over a project to restore wetlands, a project some claim is happening at the expense of humans' health and safety. Homeowners in a new Novato development say it was never disclosed to them that big trucks would be hauling toxic materials so close to their backyards. The work starts early in the morning and continues throughout the day, along Todd Road, barely 20 feet from their homes – and right under some people's bedroom windows. "We're in bed with trucks,” said homeowner Chrissy Theran. So why are the trucks here? Because next to the development is the old Hamilton Air Force Base, which sat for decades right next to the bay, in Novato. The huge construction project now underway will turn the base back into what it was in the first place – wetlands bordering the water. Tempers are flaring in Marin County over a project to restore wetlands, a project some claim is happening at the expense of humans' health and safety. Moreover, the entire wetlands restoration project isn't scheduled to be completed until roughly the year 2020....
Troubles for farmers may linger even after dry spell ends A drought over a third of the nation has grown so severe that consumers could be facing higher prices for everything from beef to bread by the end of the year. Conditions have become so dire that "the middle of the United States and certainly the Southwest are well on their way to one of the worst droughts in history," says Carl Anderson, professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University. Texas, Arizona, Louisiana and Mississippi have been hit the hardest, and the dry weather continues to heighten the risk of fire. Fires have scorched 3.5 million acres this year. Some cities in Texas and the entire state of Georgia have begun restricting water use, even after rains this week. For ranchers, the financial losses are likely to linger beyond the drought....
Anti-NAFTA Sentiment Rising in Mexico Concerned about the looming elimination of tariffs on different agricultural products, Mexican farm and labor organizations are renewing calls for a renegotiation of sections of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In Tamaulipas state, leaders of the Federation of Rural Landowners, and the Tamaulipas Regional Ranchers Union, support the growing demands to reopen the agricultural clauses of the NAFTA for revision. Eduardo Espronceda Galindo, the president of the landowner's group, contended that increased trade liberalization would trigger a larger "exodus to the big cities." Espronceda's warnings come less than two years before all tariffs on corn, bean and powdered milk products are set to expire. Anticipating economic blows from the 2008 tariff teardown, several Mexican national organizations have prepared a preliminary document that urges the next Mexican president to demand either the partial suspension or cancellation of NAFTA's agricultural provisions. Sometimes identified with the PRI and PRD political parties, the organizations backing the appeal include the Mexican Electrical Workers Union, Caritas, the General Union of Workers and Farmers (Ugcom), and the big National Farmers Confederation. The groups maintain that NAFTA has "represented the total collapse of the agricultural and industrial productive economy," resulting in massive unemployment and the disappearance of thousands of small businesses....
AMC's cable TV western "Broken Trail" scores big The debut of "Broken Trail," an AMC network western starring Oscar winner Robert Duvall, rounded up nearly 10 million viewers to rank as the biggest cable telecast so far this year, Nielsen Media Research reported on Tuesday. The two-hour premiere on Sunday night also achieved the rare feat of drawing the night's largest audience of any show on all of U.S. television, including the four major broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Part one of the four-hour epic, the first original TV movie ever to air on AMC, averaged 9.8 million viewers in all, surpassing the night's No. 1 program on broadcast TV, "60 Minutes," which drew 9.2 million on CBS. In addition to being 2006's most watched cable telecast to date, "Broken Trail" also shattered AMC's own all-time ratings record while ranking as the second-most watched cable movie on any network since 1995 (behind the TNT western "Crossfire Trail," starring Tom Selleck, in 2001)....
On the Edge of Common Sense: No beast more noble than the mighty horse Why the horse? It's like asking why the sun? Why the heart? Why the color purple? If there were a monarchy, the horse would be king. Equidae hold an exalted position in the society of mankind. On their backs, humans become a better species. No matter how you stack up other domesticated animals, none has quite the stature of the horse. Perhaps it is because of the inherent wildness that is always lurking behind their eyes. It is a quality that is shared with cats. Regardless of how tame or trustworthy, the potential for a feral reaction that can maim or destroy lies within their power. Horses have always possessed the potential for heroism. Thunderous poetry like "The Man From Snowy River" to "East is East and West is West" elevates the horse to mythical proportions. I grant there are many examples of dogs saving the day, but dogs have become too domesticated, too subservient. Indians had dogs for millennia and never invented the wheel. Coronado gave them the horse, and they became warriors....