NEWS ROUNDUP

Calif. sues 6 carmakers in global warming suit California filed a global warming lawsuit on Wednesday against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and three other automakers, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have cost the state millions of dollars. State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California was the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles' emissions. The lawsuit also names Chrysler Motors Corp., the U.S. arm of Germany's DaimlerChrysler, and the North American units of Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.. It also charges that vehicle emissions have contributed significantly to global warming and harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of the most populous state in the United States....
Judge Voids Bush Policy on National Forest Roads In the latest round of legal Ping-Pong over the future of 49 million roadless acres of national forests, a federal judge in California on Wednesday reinstated Clinton-era protections against logging and mining on the land and invalidated the Bush administration’s substitute policy. The judge, Elizabeth D. LaPorte of Federal District Court in San Francisco, said the new policy had been imposed without the required environmental safeguards. The reversal, however, does not cover nine million acres of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska because a separate set of legal opinions determines their use. Judge LaPorte ruled in a suit filed by a coalition of environmental groups and states that objected to the decision last year to scuttle what was widely known as the “roadless rule” of 2001. The administration replaced that rule with a policy of state-by-state management under which governors submit recommendations for the use of national forest lands within their borders. Judge LaPorte said that the original rule had laid out “the inherent problems in this kind of local decision making,” particularly “the failure to recognize the cumulative national significance of individual local decisions.” In repealing the 2001 rule, she said, the Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, had failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires agencies to conduct detailed environmental analyses of alternative approaches. Judge LaPorte said the Forest Service had failed to consult federal agencies responsible for protecting endangered species. Among other points, her order enjoined the service “from taking any further action contrary to the roadless rule without undertaking environmental analysis.”....
Ruling could revive Wyo roadless suit Wyoming officials thought their legal challenge of a Clinton administration rule banning road construction on nearly 50 million acres of national forest land across the country was rendered moot by the Bush administration. But a California judge's ruling Wednesday to overturn the Bush administration plan -- which could have cleared the way for more commercial activity in national forests -- could mean a return to the courtroom for Wyoming officials. Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the state would seek to revive a lawsuit that led a federal judge in Cheyenne to strike down the Clinton rule in 2003. That ruling had been rendered moot when the Bush administration issued its own rule. But U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte in California has now ruled that the Bush rule is illegal as well. "Obviously, this decision in a federal district court in California tends to resurrect an issue which had been deemed moot," Freudenthal said Wednesday....
Idaho to move ahead with roadless plan despite federal court ruling A federal court in California has overturned a Bush Administration rule governing America's 58 million acres of roadless areas. But Idaho, which will unveil its plan for the state's 9.3 million acres of roadless area Wednesday, says it'll move ahead anyway. The Bush administration in May 2005 passed a rule replacing former President Clinton's mandate to shield roadless areas. Bush allowed governors to petition to protect roadless areas, nullify land-use plans that stopped development and management, or have the Forest Service create new plans. Brad Hoaglun, a spokesman for Governor Jim Risch, says whether Bush's rule should be allowed will be resolved in the courts. Hoaglun says "What you have is two judges who have made opposing rulings."....
State Requests EPA Fine For Spill At Hanford Nuclear Site Washington state issued a notice of violation Tuesday to the U.S. Department of Energy for leaking a highly toxic and potentially cancer-causing agent into ground at the heavily contaminated Hanford nuclear reservation. The leak of sodium dichromate occurred as workers were digging up an old pipeline near a nuclear reactor, about a half-mile from the Columbia River. The concentrated material potentially endangered workers, as well as the already contaminated groundwater and the spawning salmon and other fish species in the river, said Jay Manning, director of the Washington Department of Ecology. The notice alerts the Energy Department that the state believes the agency and its contractors violated the Tri-Party Agreement, the legal cleanup pact signed by the state, Energy Department and federal Environmental Protection Agency, Manning said. The state also asked the EPA, which regulates cleanup at that part of the site, to issue a fine....
BLM restricts off-road travel on southern Utah badlands Moving to protect two species of cactus, the federal government slapped restrictions Wednesday on cross-country motorized travel on the sprawling badlands around Factory Butte, a towering monolith in southern Utah. The Bureau of Land Management closed 222 square miles of public land except for designated routes with a notice published in the Federal Register. Officials said all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes still have open areas to roam, including a four-square-mile natural basin along State Route 24 called Swing Arm City, plus 220 miles of dirt roads and trails. The action has been expected for months. Last spring, a government survey found the badlands held pockets of endangered Wright fishhook and threatened Winkler cactus. But off-roaders who worship Factory Butte's wide-open terrain, about 180 miles south of Salt Lake City, were angry....
Column - For once, preservation wins out, as a state purchase protects land and fish Not often is there good news about Arizona's carnivorous suburban sprawl. But here's a bit: Due to a sterling little deal between real estate agents, government agencies and one nonprofit group, a slice of crucial natural habitat is being spared. In July, the Arizona Game and Fish Department announced its $2.25 million purchase of nearly 900 acres of an old ranch nestled along the Santa Rita Mountains, south of Tucson. This adds to adjacent property also bought for preservation in 2004, all amid a subdivision sprouting across the 20,000-acre Salero Ranch. A spring-fed oasis called Coal Mine Canyon was specifically targeted, and the buy was brokered by The Trust for Public Land, a San Francisco-based group helping to preserve parks, gardens and wildlife habitat. The heart of this pact was an innovative, private-public mechanism that's gaining national prominence. But its soul is the Gila topminnow and other wildlife clinging to nature's quickly unraveling threads....
Group files suit to block Minnesota trapping The Animal Protection Institute says it's filed suit to force the State of Minnesota to abide by the Federal Endangered Species Act. Traps set for predators are also killing endangered animals. According to the Institute's Camilla Fox, the animal advocacy non-profit first sent the DNR a notice of a potential lawsuit last spring. "We filed a letter of intent to sue to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in April of this year," Fox says. "Our letter detailed our concerns regarding the illegal take of threatened and endangered species such as Canada lynx, bald eagles, grey wolves. And our letter asked them to make the necessary changes to protect these species." However, Fox says, the DNR never replied. Fox says her group has accumulated documentation that at least 24 bald eagles have been trapped in Minnesota over a 15-year period. At least half died. She says more recent documents show that rare Canada lynx have been caught....
Mercury accumulates in animals Mercury pollution from power plants and other industrial sources has accumulated in birds, mammals and reptiles across the country, according to a national environmental group. The report is the first major compilation of studies investigating mercury buildup in such wildlife as California clapper rails, Maine's bald eagles, Canadian loons and Florida panthers. In all, scientists working with the National Wildlife Federation found 65 studies showing troublesome mercury levels in 40 species. "From songbirds to alligators, turtles to bats, eagles to polar bears, mercury is accumulating in nearly every link of the food chain," said Catherine Bowes, an author of the report who manages the federation's mercury program in the northeastern states. High mercury levels in popular fish such as swordfish and canned albacore tuna prompted government health warnings in 2004 aimed at pregnant women and children. Mercury is a neurotoxin that can damage fetuses and cause mental retardation, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, blindness and deafness. The contamination also can kill or harm wildlife....
Feds investigate grizzly bear death Federal and state officials are investigating the death of a grizzly bear found southwest of Augusta on the Rocky Mountain Front. The 4-and-a-half-year-old, male bear was found on private land near Bean Lake, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly biologist Mike Madel of Choteau. Because grizzly bears are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating along with game wardens from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Madel said he could not comment on how the bear died, but said it was from other than natural causes, including illness, injury or attack by another animal. He said FWP staff found the dead bear on Sept. 11. The bear had been radio-collared several months ago and its collar was transmitting a mortality signal, he said....
Fort Huachuca dropped from species suit A federal judge has approved a settlement dropping Fort Huachuca from a lawsuit after the military post agreed to ask for a new review of the fort's impact on endangered species along the San Pedro River. The lawsuit, filed in June 2005 by the Center for Biological Diversity, named several federal agencies — including the Army, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration — alleging violations of a 2002 biological opinion issued by Fish and Wildlife. Under the stipulated agreement that U.S. District Judge Cindy Jorgenson authorized on Sept. 15, the Center for Biological Diversity agreed to drop the fort from its lawsuit because the fort decided in March to seek a new biological opinion from Fish and Wildlife. "We unilaterally decided, not related to the lawsuit, because of changes in numbers and missions, to reconsult, and we felt that this mooted the lawsuit," said Tanja Linton, a spokeswoman for the fort....
Federal plan would remove wolves from endangered, threatened lists More than a year after its initial plan was reversed in federal court, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is again proposing to remove Wisconsin's gray wolves from the federal Endangered Species List. But this time, the agency has singled out Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota instead of lumping other states into the delisting proposal, which was overturned by a federal judge in Oregon last January. Officials say the wolf population in the western Great Lakes region now numbers close to 4,000 animals, including more than 3,000 in Minnesota. Wolves have become well-established in Wisconsin and Michigan, with numbers totaling at least 425 and 405, respectively. In Wisconsin, the wolf population was estimated at between 425 and 455 in the winter of 2005. The 2006 wolf population count is due in April. Federal delisting from both the endangered and threatened list would return all management authority to the state wildlife agencies in the areas covered by the population segment. Under federal control, state biologists have had limited, inconsistent authority to trap and kill some depredating wolves....
Feds get an earful People packed into the Sublette County Library Tuesday to bend the federal government's ear about its cooperation -- or lack thereof -- with local communities and organizations. Comments during the three-hour meeting included criticism about the Endangered Species Act, criticism about expansive energy development, suggestions for reforming the National Environmental Policy Act, and criticism of heavy-handed federal rule. Dan Budd, a cattle rancher, told representatives of the Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency that the concept of cooperation was "a farce." "We cooperate, you dictate," he said. He said it seemed the only reason for the federal government to issue cattle grazing permits is to have someone to punish. Dr. Tom Johnston, Sublette County health officer, said the federal government should look more closely at the aggregate effects of policies. Specifically, he said the BLM continues to approve more and more projects that "are environmentally unsound and present human health risks." Johnston said increased energy development and air pollution, combined with permitting of development at Fremont Lake -- Pinedale's source of drinking water -- shows a "federal stubborn refusal" to listen to local will and health issues....
Beavers bounce back At dusk, a crowd of late summer tourists scrambled to the top of a roadside hill in Hayden Valley eager to catch a glimpse of two wolves in the area. While binoculars and expensive spotting scopes peered far across the valley, a lone brown beaver slipped into the nearby Yellowstone River and downstream, undetected by the hillside throng. The moment might have been a metaphor. The dramatic return of the wolf to Yellowstone grabbed worldwide attention, but the quiet resurgence of the beaver at the same time -- particularly on the Northern Range -- has barely been noticed. Over the past decade, the number of beaver colonies counted in Yellowstone has grown from 49 to about 85. In the northern reaches of the park, the number has jumped from zero in 1996 to nine last year....
South Dakota Stockgrowers Back Ferret Policy During their annual membership meeting held in Spearfish, S.D., September 15, 2006, the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association (SDSGA) voted unanimously to support the Pennington County Commission’s opposition to the reintroduction of additional ferret populations in the state. SDSGA District 3 Director Marvin Jobgen, Scenic, S.D., says the Stockgrowers appreciate Pennington County for taking a tough stand against the expenditure of tax dollars on more ferret recovery areas before cleaning up the mess created by the overpopulation of prairie dogs on Forest Service and Park land. “Like Pennington County Commissioners, the Stockgrowers are disgusted with the destruction prairie dogs have caused on federal lands and private property in and around Conata Basin. It’s ludicrous for government agencies to allow prairie dogs to destroy the habitat for every species of wildlife that exists in the prairie dog towns, all in the name of ‘saving’ the black footed ferret,” Jobgen said....
Let It Burn Ever since the Big Blowup of 1910 ripped through the wilderness of western Montana and northern Idaho — incinerating 3 million acres of forest in 48 hours, killing 57 people and endangering the political future of then-President William Howard Taft — foresters and the media that quote them have talked about fires the way generals talk about war. Firefighters battle blazes on their frontlines and, as they contain them, mop up their smoldering remnants. But last week, when fire expert Richard Minnich was watching the nightly news, he began to suspect that the rhetoric was shifting: “I heard this weather guy, Josh Rubenstein, talking about the fire up in the Los Padres Forest [known as the Day Fire because it started on Labor Day]. He showed some insight that I rarely see in the media. He said, ‘It’s better that it got burned off in the weather we’ve got right now instead of waiting for the Santa Anas to come along over the weekend.’ He actually suggested that the forest might need to burn.” Minnich is a professor and fire-ecology specialist at UC Riverside who sometimes irritates the U.S. Forest Service with his theories about fuels and fire management, which he documents with photographs of those fuels and the aftermath of the fires to prove he’s right. He has long been critical of forest-fire suppression in the San Bernardino Mountains, where billions have been spent tamping down conflagrations that would have nurtured a healthy forest. Watching the news that night, however, Minnich thought maybe the Forest Service was treating the Day Fire the way he might if he were in charge. “My suspicion is that they’re fighting it hard on the I-5, but letting it [burn] all it can in the wild parts. They might actually be doing the right thing.”....
Mountain lion kitten shot in western North Dakota; hunter cited The first mountain lion has been killed in this year's experimental hunting season in North Dakota, but the hunter was cited because it was a kitten, state officials say. Mountain lion kittens, which can be identified by their spots, are off limits under new state rules, as are female lions accompanied by kittens. Killing them is a misdemeanor that could bring jail time and up to a $1,000 fine, officials say. Deputy state Game and Fish Department Commissioner Roger Rostvet said the female mountain lion, about 5 months old, was shot early Saturday night near Grassy Butte. He said it will count toward the quota of five lions for the experimental season. The hunter, from the Minot area, told authorities he did not know the animal was a kitten, Rostvet said. He did not identify the hunter. ``The individual turned the cat in as he was supposed to,'' Rostvet said. ``Last year, that cat would have been a legal cat.''....
Ten Years Later: Grand Staircase-Escalante Still Elicits Both Cheers and Jeers from Utahns This past Monday marked the 10th anniversary of the creation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. The 1.9 million-acre wilderness was signed over to the protective custody of the federal Bureau of Land Management by President Clinton on Sept. 18, 1996. Since that date, the monument has been a major point of contention between environmentalists and local activists concerned with the potentially negative impact of the monument on the regional economies of Garfield and Kane counties. Although a lot has changed in ten years, there is still plenty of emotion on both sides of this debate. While a large part of the initial controversy stemmed from a perception that Clinton was playing politics with Utah’s land—the monument was created in the last months of Clinton’s reelection campaign against Bob Dole after unsuccessful attempts to get wilderness legislation through the GOP-led Congress—most of the animosity pertains to land use issues. The monument’s biggest casualty was the proposed Andalex coal mine on the Kaiparowits Plateau. Although President Clinton’s proclamation did not expressly prohibit development of existing mining leases, preserving the monument as a “unspoiled natural area” would necessarily mean limiting the implementation of roads, power lines, and other infrastructure required to operate the mine. In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, then-congressman Bill Orton of Utah remarked that the decision to set aside the land for a National Monument was “shortsighted.”....
Oil-shale plan advances The federal government has taken a step toward approving the reopening of an oil-shale mine in Utah, one of four experimental works on Western lands that are intended to boost domestic oil production. In Colorado, three oil companies won environmental clearance in August for their plans to start producing shale oil by heating layers of rock using electric oven-like elements, steam injection or hot natural gas. Utah's is the only mining project where oil shale will be brought to the surface, crushed into gravel and fed into a furnace-like retort. The White River Mine was abandoned by three major oil companies in 1985 when falling crude prices made shale oil -- long an elusive bonanza in the West -- uneconomical. The White River Mine reaches a relatively thin layer of oil shale 1,000 feet underground. The richest layer is only 58 feet, compared with zones 1,000 feet thick in Colorado that are closer to the surface, where heating the ground is thought to be more practical. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management posted a report late Monday on an agency Web site that suggested the White River Mine could be reopened without any environmental problems....
Bids sought for livestock pens, barns, grazing land near prison A dozen corrals next to the Penitentiary of New Mexico on N.M. 14 once were used for a highly touted wild-horse program for prison inmates. In recent years, the livestock pens have been used to hold buffalo that are raised for meat. Now, the state Corrections Department is seeking bids in an effort to find out who wants to lease the corrals along with associated structures and 22 acres of grazing land. The wild-horse program started in the mid-1980s and ended in 1990, Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland said. There were similar programs at prisons in Los Lunas and Las Cruces, she said. The program was popular with inmates and administrators alike. One of its most vocal advocates was former state District Judge Bruce Kaufman, who frequently bemoaned the fact the program had ended. In an interview at the time of his retirement in 1994, Kaufman said no paroled New Mexico convict who participated in the program had returned to prison....
Nevada Wild Horses Face Massive Round-Up Wild horses have been plucked off Nevada ranges in the tens of thousands and now more face a massive round up. But this time the roundup will take horses from the most accessible, and most visited herd. Many flock to the Cold Creek area to see the herd, and residents love the wild horses, but soon that may all be gone. The picturesque community of Cold Creek has about five dozen homes, fewer than 100 full time residents, but twice as many regular visitors - hooved visitors that is. The area, north of Las Vegas, is a routine pit stop for several bands of wild horses. Residents are used to finding horses in their front yards in the late afternoons. The roundup proposed for January would remove three quarters of the horses that roam the area. A few years ago, BLM said the region could support 171 horses. Now it thinks the number should be around 50. The people who live out here don't buy the excuses....Massive???
Deputy Kills Cougar In Yard Near Santa Fe A young mountain lion was killed by a sheriff's deputy Tuesday night in a rural but populated neighborhood south of Santa Fe. Four Santa Fe County deputies went to the scene about 10 p.m. after receiving reports from residents of an area about two miles east of the Lone Butte General Store on New Mexico 14. Homeowner Steve Smail had walked out of his home, flashlight in hand, to see why the family dog was barking at a tree. Smail looked up and "was face to face with this huge cat," said Smail's daughter, Nicole Maes. Game and Fish Department spokesman Dan Williams said the cougar was about 5 feet long, had a 20-inch tail and was 18 to 20 months old....
Senator Allen's National Heritage Area Threatens to Disproportionately Harm Minorities Legislation introduced by Senator George Allen (R-VA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) to create a federal "National Heritage Area" that encompasses portions of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania is likely to disproportionately harm minority families in the region by making homeownership more inaccessible, say members of the Project 21 black leadership network. The "Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act of 2006" is S. 2645 in the Senate and H.R. 5195 in the House. "Rather than promote initiatives that harm property rights and make it harder for minorities to obtain a piece of the American Dream, Senator Allen should focus on protecting the property rights of all Americans," said Project 21 member and Virginia resident John Meredith. Meredith, who has experience working on environmental and land use issues, is also the son of James Meredith, the first black student admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962. "The last thing that wealthy, preservation interest groups need is a leg up from the federal government-especially when that leg up comes on the back of minorities and the lower middle class," said Meredith....
Suits Say U.S. Impeded Audits for Oil Leases Four government auditors who monitor leases for oil and gas on federal property say the Interior Department suppressed their efforts to recover millions of dollars from companies they said were cheating the government. The accusations, many of them in four lawsuits that were unsealed last week by federal judges in Oklahoma, represent a rare rebellion by government investigators against their own agency. The auditors contend that they were blocked by their bosses from pursuing more than $30 million in fraudulent underpayments of royalties for oil produced in publicly owned waters in the Gulf of Mexico. “The agency has lost its sense of mission, which is to protect American taxpayers,” said Bobby L. Maxwell, who was formerly in charge of Gulf of Mexico auditing. “These are assets that belong to the American public, and they are supposed to be used for things like education, public infrastructure and roadways.” The lawsuits have surfaced as Democrats and Republicans alike are questioning the Bush administration’s willingness to challenge the oil and gas industry....
White House Outlines Global Warming Fight The Bush administration yesterday laid out a long-term "strategic plan" for using technology to curb the impact of global warming, reiterating its position that basic scientific research and voluntary actions can curb greenhouse gases linked to climate change. Addressing complaints by environmentalists and some scientists that Bush has not done enough to cut the nation's emissions of such gases, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said the 244-page "Climate Change Technology Program Strategic Plan" promotes initiatives such as sequestering carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere and promoting hydrogen-powered cars. Energy Department officials described the plan -- which has taken four years to produce -- before the House Science subcommittee on energy yesterday. It immediately came under fire from senior Hill Republicans as well as several outside scientists and policy experts....
Indian Tribe To Block Border Fence An Indian tribe, whose members regularly help smuggle illegal immigrants and drugs into the U.S., will not allow a fence to be erected along a vulnerable stretch of the Mexican border which happens to be on tribal land. The Tohono O’odham Indians own the second biggest reservation in the country, about 2.8 million acres in the Arizona desert, and it happens to include a 75-mile border with Mexico that is used daily to smuggle drugs and migrants. Tribal members have vowed to fight the double-layered fence, approved by the House and set to be approved by the Senate this week, along their portion of the Mexican border. Evidently the tribe of around 15,000 wants to keep the privilege of crossing the border regularly to visit relatives and friends and even perform native ceremonies in both countries. One tribal council member said “animals and our people need to cross freely.” Unfortunately, that also means that illegal immigrants and drug smugglers will also cross into the U.S. freely. A few years ago, a Congressional investigative report revealed that more than 100,000 pounds of marijuana, 144 grams of cocaine and 6,600 grams of methamphetamine were seized on the Tohono O’odham Nation....