NEWS ROUNDUP


Groups press drilling bill Business groups have stepped up their lobbying efforts in support of a bill that could lead to more offshore oil and gas development. The bill, which faces a cloture vote today in the Senate, is more limited than a House measure already passed. It would only expand offshore drilling to an area in the eastern Gulf of Mexico known as Lease 181. The House version, by contrast, gives states more authority to determine whether to allow drilling off their coasts. Drilling moratoriums are now in place for most offshore areas. Drilling critics worry that conferees will use the opportunity presented in conference to broaden the Senate measure as well. But business groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Chemistry Council, which represent companies stung by high prices for natural gas, have been out in force on Capitol Hill urging yes votes....
Senate Passage of Energy Bill Appears Assured The Senate moved closer on Wednesday to passing a bill that would expand energy production in the Gulf of Mexico. A procedural vote of 86 to 12 allowing the debate to begin signaled wide support for opening up large new tracts for drilling. Thirty-one Democrats and one independent joined all but one Republican, Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, in the early test vote, usually a strong indicator of a bill’s potential to pass with bipartisan support. But the consensus may be fragile, and the bill, if approved in a final vote that is expected next week, would still have to be reconciled with a very different drilling bill approved by the House. The bill identifies 8.3 million acres for new energy development in the gulf, four times the area sought by the Bush administration through its lease program for 2007-12. It would also create protections for Florida’s western coastline and establish a program that gives other gulf states — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama — 37.5 percent of royalties from energy production that now accrue to the federal government, potentially a shift of billions of dollars in revenues....
Column: New Land Rules Serve Ranchers, Hamper Conservationists In the latest showdown between contrasting visions of the American West, the federal Bureau of Land Management has rolled out new regulations for livestock grazing on public lands. Environmentalists are taking the agency to court, warning that the rules would trample environmental protections, further endanger wildlife, and close avenues for public oversight. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) claims its new rules, announced earlier this month, will promote "flexibility" for ranchers who have access to hundreds of millions of acres of public rangelands. But conservation groups say the Bureau is seeking to enhance its "working relationship" with ranchers by suppressing public stakeholders. John Carter, Utah director of the Western Watersheds Project, a group that opposes cattle-grazing on federal lands, called the rules "another step in the effort by public-lands ranchers to divest the American people of ownership of these lands." Arguing that cattle roaming the Western states form one of the most destructive uses of the country's natural resources, groups complain that the new rules would make it nearly impossible to fully address livestock damage to local wildlife. They say that additional bureaucratic hurdles would paralyze the enforcement of Clinton-era guidelines intended to balance grazing with other public-land uses like camping and fishing....
Water rights activists question Nevada-Utah deal Water rights activists in Nevada and Utah raised questions Wednesday about a plan to split up water rights in Snake Valley, on the border between the two states, and in the process help get more water to booming Las Vegas. The Great Basin Water Network sent a letter to U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging him to seek a delay in a pending compact between the two states that would apportion the water rights in the valley, near Great Basin National Park. Susan Lynn, executive director of the network, said more than 80 ranchers, Indians, environmentalists and others signed the letter, which calls the agreement premature. The letter adds the compact would "ease the way" for the Southern Nevada Water Authority to start drawing on eastern Nevada water via a planned $2 billion pipeline to Las Vegas. The SNWA's current vice-chairman is Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid, Sen. Reid's son. The letter also states that the public was "largely excluded" from discussions about the agreement until word of its existence was leaked inadvertently on a government Web site....
Wyoming wildlife officials unveil elk brucellosis plan Ranchers would be encouraged to change their cattle operations under a new state plan for managing brucellosis in feedground elk in western Wyoming. Incentives, financial or otherwise, would be sought to help sway producers to make changes that may lessen the risk of elk and cattle coming into contact - or of elk spreading brucellosis to cattle. The source of any such funds isn't specified in the plan, released Wednesday by the state Game and Fish Department. But Jared Rogerson, a brucellosis feedground habitat biologist with the agency, said the state likely would pursue federal dollars. Agency officials say the plan is aimed at lowering the risk of brucellosis spread, either from elk to cattle or among elk that gather on feedgrounds in the fall and winter. But it stops short of calling for the immediate elimination of any of the three feedgrounds in the Upper Green River Elk Herd Unit, north of Pinedale....
Unfragmented Landscape Working Wilderness: The Malpai Borderlands Group and the Future of the Western Range, by Nathan Sayre. Rio Nuevo Publishers, $22.95. That acknowledged, Working Wilderness is an enjoyable read about something taking place in our own backyard that epitomizes the "think globally, act locally" admonition. "It's a volatile mixture of people and land, history and ecology, passion and politics," author Nathan Sayre promises--and then delivers...And that's only logical when the book itself zeros in on the nonprofit Malpai Borderlands Group, a diverse panoply of ranchers, scientists, public agencies and private conservationists--all with preconceived notions, many with conflicting aims. Not only are the players local and readily identifiable; their 800,000 acres of borderland, a 1,250-square-mile triangle where Arizona and New Mexico meet Sonora and Chihuahua, is familiar turf to those who live in this neck of the woods...In a chapter subhead titled "Origins of Mutual Distrust," Sayre, a geography professor at the University of California at Berkeley, admits to readers that while the historical Western range may be broken, "the polarized politics of rangeland conflict, pitting ranchers against environmentalists in a kind of holy war, made wholesale reform unattainable." Instead, it took innovative approaches emerging from the grassroots level, poking up through layers of indifference, habit and bureaucracy, to get differing agendas on the same page. "Imagine the Western range as an enormous puzzle whose pieces have not only come apart but changed their shapes as well. They cannot be put back together according to the old picture. The Malpai Group has chosen to look at all the pieces in this 1,250-square-mile puzzle and insist they can be one whole again. The Group remains many years away from completing this new picture, but they are further along than anyone else."....
No subsidy provided for killed livestock in wolf program The US Fish and Wildlife Service says it will continue to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, but not everyone is pleased with the news. Many area ranchers have been vocal opponents of the reintroduction effort because of livestock depredation. Neither the current program nor recommendations accepted this week provide for any government subsidy or reimbursement for wolf-killed livestock. The recommendations would authorize states and tribes to issue permits to use non-lethal means to harass wolves engaging in “nuisance behavior or livestock depredation” and lethal means if they attacked domestic dogs....See how these Federales "think". A rancher can only holler or throw rocks at a wolf if he is killing a calf, but if that wolf attacks his dog then by golly he can blow the hell out of him. You can't protect your livelihood but you can protect your pets. That's Federale "thinking" in full display.
Forest Service blasts Idaho logjam Teams of explosives technicians from the U.S. Forest Service blasted a logjam on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River on Wednesday. Rafters -- stranded since Monday by the pileup of 30-foot-long logs, as well as boulders and debris -- will be able to float through by Thursday, Forest Service officials told the Idaho Statesman newspaper. The logjam temporarily blocked about 200 rafters from passing through a remote stretch of wilderness, outfitters said. The Middle Fork, a 100-mile stretch of water in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, is considered one of the most thrilling whitewater floats in the country. After the blast, crews continued working with ropes and hand tools, moving several remaining logs. As many as 60 logs had plugged the river at the Pistol Creek Rapids. The Forest Service planned to scout the river first to make sure the path was clear before sending the rafters through....I didn't know you could blow up stuff in a wilderness area. Do you reckon they would blow up something to help a rancher? Nope...except maybe to protect his dog.
Oft-criticized Parks chief resigns post The director of the National Park Service announced her resignation Wednesday from an agency often at odds with environmentalists and Westerners for shifting its focus from conservation to recreation. Fran Mainella headed the agency for six years and most recently oversaw a controversial rewriting of management policies for the parks under its care. Mainella is leaving her position to devote more time to her family, according to a Park Service release. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told Mainella that perhaps her most important contribution was her "effort to foster a culture of partnership within the National Park Service," according to a letter released by the Interior Department. Mainella and the Park Service were sharply criticized by some members of Congress after the agency released a management proposal that would have placed more emphasis on recreation and expanded the use of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles on federal land....When I worked at Interior, the Parkies would cut your throat if you messed with their turf. Looks like they're still at it. It will be interesting to see who Kempthorne appoints as Director of NPS, and also as Assistant Sec. of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Should give us a feel for where he will take the dept.
Burns criticizes firefighters, says they didn't heed ranchers Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a "poor job" dousing a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows. Burns and the firefighters - members of the Augusta Hot Shots from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia -were at Billings Logan International Airport awaiting flights, according to Burns and Forest Service representatives. Burns approached the firefighters and told them they had "done a poor job" and "should have listened to the ranchers," according to a report prepared by Paula Rosenthal, a state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation employee who was sent to the airport to speak with the senator. Burns also said he had heard from one rancher that fire crews on the Bundy Railroad fire put a strip of fire retardant on the edge of Bureau of Land Management federal land, implying the fire crews were more interested in protecting public land than private....
Smokey Bear's New Anti-Fire Messages These past few days in the East County show once again how a small campfire can turn into mass destruction. To help reinforce the importance of fire prevention, the U.S. Forest Service is turning to an old friend. The message is not new, but as man-made wildfires devour more and more California land, it's a point that bears repeating. "As Americans are watching these terrible wildfires, we want to use this moment to remind them all through the Bambi and Smokey Bear PSAs to be extra vigilant in the wilderness," said Peggy Conlon of the Ad Council. The Ad Council, along with the forest service, is using Bambi and her wilderness friends to further drive home Smokey Bear's point. The public service announcements will run throughout the season....Do the Federales really think the illegal immigrants who started the fire will be watching Smokey & Bambi on TV?
Federal agency removes falcon from endangered list When the first breeding pair of endangered northern aplomado falcons in half a century were spotted near Deming in 2002, biologists and the showy raptor's fans were ecstatic. Now, environmental groups are vowing to fight in federal court against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove the bird from the endangered species list at the same time the agency starts reintroducing captive-bred northern aplomado falcons in Southern New Mexico. They say the decision is premature, violates the Endangered Species Act and decreases protections for the raptor's habitat. The federal agency announced its final decision Wednesday to downlist the northern aplomado falcon to a "nonessential experimental species," and reintroduce the birds in Southern New Mexico, saying it is the quickest way to re-establish the bird of prey that once roamed the state's skies. The agency is working with the nonprofit Peregrine Fund, based in Idaho, which plans to release up to 150 northern aplomado falcons a year over the next decade in Southern New Mexico, possibly beginning as early as mid-August. "I think we share the same goals as the environmental groups that want to recover the bird," agency spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown said. "We just disagree on how. We think bringing in birds will help recover the birds more quickly."....
Appeals judges approve drilling for oil in NPR-A A federal appeals court Wednesday affirmed a decision that clears the way for oil drilling in part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals backed a ruling by Judge James K. Singleton Jr. of Anchorage in January 2005 that rejected efforts by a coalition of environmental groups to increase wildlife protections in the northwest section of the 23.5-million-acre NPR-A. "We're certainly disappointed in the decision," said Stan Senner, executive director of Alaska Audubon. "We think BLM failed to consider a range of alternatives in the northwest NPR-A." The decision affects 8.8 million acres south and west of Barrow, Senner said. Singleton in January 2005 found that the environmental groups failed to make their case that the government, which is leasing land for oil and gas drilling in the reserve, violated environmental and other laws....
Warming warning targets parks Global warming threatens to damage 12 of the nation's most prominent parks, including Rocky Mountain and Mesa Verde national parks, according to a new report. The study, released Tuesday by the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, says global warming will hit harder in the West, citing research that indicates temperatures will rise 3 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. Among the global-warming changes forecast for the parks are the loss of glaciers at Glacier National Park by 2030, the eradication of Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park and reduced rafting opportunities at the Lake Mead and Glen Canyon natural areas. "A climate disrupted by heat-trapping pollution is the gravest threat our national parks have ever faced," said Stephen Saunders, an author of the report and a former deputy assistant secretary of the interior overseeing the National Park Service. In Colorado, big changes are forecast at Mesa Verde and Rocky Mountain national parks. Rocky Mountain is ranked among the top three parks vulnerable to ecosystem changes....
In Texas, Conditions Lead to a Rabble of Butterflies For a moment, Carol Cullar thought she was seeing fall leaves gusting down the highway south of Quemado, Tex., on the Mexican border. But it is blistering midsummer, Ms. Cullar, director of the Rio Bravo Nature Center in Eagle Pass, realized. And leaves would not all be flying north at two or three feet off the ground — car radiator height. These were butterflies. At least 200,000 of them, she guessed, perhaps a half-million. It was an invasion, she said, “like nothing I’ve ever seen.” South Texas is under siege from swarms of airborne migrants: tens of millions of Libytheana bachmanii larvata — snout butterflies to y’all — along with Kricogonia lysides, or yellow sulfurs, that have taken advantage of an unusual drought-and-deluge cycle to breed in spectacular if not record profusion. The smallish, dull-colored snouts take their name from an appendage they attach to branches to disguise themselves as leaves. Blinded drivers who have to pick the critters off their grilles to avoid dangerous engine overheating are less than enthralled, as are the mottephobes, who fear butterflies and moths. But lepidopterists are thrilled with the spectacle, which they predict may be only the beginning of a population explosion of snouts....
Ohio Supreme Court Rejects Taking of Homes for Project The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that a Cincinnati suburb cannot take private property by eminent domain for a $125 million redevelopment project. The property rights case was the first of its kind to reach a state’s highest court since the United States Supreme Court ruled last year that municipalities could seize property for private development that public officials argue would benefit the community. The Ohio decision rejected that view, and is part of a broader backlash. Since the ruling last year, 28 state legislatures have passed new protections against the use of eminent domain. “This is the final word in Ohio, and it says something that I think all Americans feel,” said Dana Berliner, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice, a public-interest law firm in Arlington, Va., who argued on behalf of the homeowners before the Ohio court. “Ownership of a home is a basic right, regardless of what the U.S. Supreme Court may have decided.” Since the Ohio case was argued based on the state’s Constitution, yesterday’s decision cannot be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which decides matters involving federal law. The United States Supreme Court decision last year made it clear that state constitutions could set different standards for property rights. “The Ohio decision takes the loophole that was left by the U.S. Supreme Court decision and drives a Mack truck right through it,” said Richard A. Epstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago. Mr. Epstein said the decision was especially surprising coming from the Ohio Supreme Court, which he said had rarely reached unanimous decisions and had often sided with developers. “But this decision indicates that the justices were entirely distrustful of planning officials and developers working under nebulous criteria.”....Go here to read the decision.
Water and the West The West hasn't run out of water, but there's no longer enough for everyone who needs it. Urban growth and drought have boosted demand for water and crimped supply. Something has to give, and it's looking like the giver will be agriculture, as thirsty cities and suburbs increasingly buy up water rights to ranches, hay farms and other ag enterprises. Water that once supplied cattle and hay fields is now being shifted to fast-growth areas such as greater Denver, Las Vegas and southern California. The implications of this shift are profound. Beef producers with expansion hopes may find themselves with fewer options because land without water is of limited use. In addition, the infrastructure of rural communities will suffer as ag shrinks, leaving fewer customers for farm supply and equipment dealers. These issues create friction between rural communities and the cities that are buying up water. They also spur tension between producers who willingly sell their water rights and leave, and those who stay behind to continue in agriculture....
Cattle deaths labeled a crisis by ag commissioner With an estimated 120 dairy cows a day succumbing to the ongoing heat wave, San Joaquin County officials declared an emergency Tuesday to help farmers dispose of the carcasses. "We have a significant problem, a crisis problem," county Agricultural Commissioner Scott Hudson said after winning the unanimous emergency proclamation from the Board of Supervisors. With that proclamation, officials hope to set procedures, perhaps as early as today, to allow farmers and ranchers to dispose of large animals at landfills, compost or bury them on the farm, or simply hold them for rendering at some later date - all practices usually prohibited. Part of the problem is that there are only four or so rendering plants in the Central Valley to handle dead livestock properly since last year's closure of a Modesto facility, officials noted....
Knight backs simpler voluntary national animal ID system The Senate Ag Committee held a hearing Wednesday on the nomination of several top agriculture officials. Among them is, Bruce Knight, the current Chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, who has been nominated for the post of USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. If confirmed, Knight will oversee key USDA agencies, including the Grain Inspection and Packers and Stockyards Administration, the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. In that role, Knight will also be the administration’s point man on national animal ID. Missouri GOP Senator Jim Talent told Knight he doesn’t support a mandatory national animal ID program. “I also think that it’s the kind of program that either makes its value known to producers, or it doesn’t,” Talent said. “And if it doesn’t, then, obviously, a compulsory program’s not going to be a good idea. And if it does, then you’re going to get a lot of sign-ups without that.” Talent invited Knight to share his views, and Knight agreed with Talent that national animal ID should be a voluntary program. Knight also said national animal ID would be among his top priorities, and should be simplified to increase its adoption by livestock producers. “There is room for improvement making this touchable, tangible and understandable for farmers and ranchers,” Knight said. “We need a voluntary program that’s very easy to understand, and a program that is very apparent to producers why it’s important to both themselves as an individual and to the industry good as a whole,” he added....
Japan says lifts ban on US beef imports from Thursday Japan said it had formally decided to allow U.S. beef imports, suspended for the past six months, to restart from Thursday from all but one of 35 U.S. beef processing plants authorized by the U.S. government as suppliers to Japan. Japan's decision will take effect later in the day after it notifies the United States, a government official said. The decision came after the government concluded, based on a report from Japanese inspectors, that most of the authorized U.S. beef plants had no problems complying with Japan's safety requirements. Japan requires U.S. suppliers not to export beef from animals older than 20 months, and to eliminate specified risk materials suspected of spreading mad cow disease, such as spinal cords, before shipment....
Short term, heat wave may lower prices for beef Prolonged drought had already taken a toll on the pastures and fields of the Great Plains before this month's heat wave. Last week's triple-digit heat and the prospect of hitting 100 degrees again this weekend has made the situation even more critical. "We're seeing cattle moving into the feedlots 30 to 60 days early in the northern Plains," said John Harrington, an analyst with DTN. "All across Montana and the Dakotas, pasture is significantly below normal." An increase in cattle being sent to market early could, in the short term, lower beef prices for consumers. In the long term, though, it could mean an increase in prices....
Team Liberty plans to join the Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Shawn Davis of Tucumcari and eight other horsemen from Quay County are setting their sights on The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race of September 2007. Entered as Team Liberty, they will be one of the inaugural teams riding in the first race. The 13-day event from Sept. 3 through Sept. 13, 2007 will be from Santa Fe to Independence, Mo. The race will be 550 miles over 11 days. Davis, who is an inspector with the New Mexico Life Stock board, is Team Liberty’s captain. Other members are Pete Walden, Donnie Bidegain, Ryan Hamilton, Dustin Nials, Dereck Owen, Kacee Bradley, Paul Leonard and Dawson Higgins. “It’s a challenge because of the length of the race and it’s never been done before,” said Davis, organizer of the local team. Preparation is also about getting riders in shape. Beginning in November, not only will the horses be stretching out for five to eight miles, three times a week, “the guys will be running, too,” Davis said. Often, because of the terrain or to meet daily goals, the rider will dismount and run along with his horse, said Davis, who runs about a mile and a half four times a week....
Cowboys Celebrated in South Dakota Ten-gallon hats, boots and jeans were the preferred dress on Saturday as "cowpokes" across the country celebrated the National Day of the American Cowboy. Designated by presidential proclamation in 2005 as the fourth Saturday of each July, this annual event honors the history, culture and traditions of those who live a good portion of their lives in the saddle. Cowboys from across the northern plains gathered at the High Plains Western Heritage Center in Spearfish, South Dakota, to raise their hats to the men - and women - who lived the life that has become the image of the Old West. As familiar cowboy songs played in the background, they traded stories about their own cattle days, and shared some cowboy poetry. The Heritage Center was established in 1989 to house cowboy memorabilia and help preserve the history of this region. George Blair's father was one of the founders. At 84, Blair says he considers himself a cow "man," not a cow "boy."....