NEWS ROUNDUP

U.S. Oil Reserves Get a Big Boost An oil discovery by Chevron Corp. has bolstered prospects that petroleum companies will be able to tap giant reserves that lie far beneath the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Oil analysts and company executives said newly released test results from a well 175 miles off the coast of Louisiana indicate that the oil industry will be able to recover well more than 3 billion barrels, and perhaps as much as 15 billion barrels, of oil from a geological area known as the lower tertiary trend, making it the biggest addition to U.S. petroleum reserves in decades. The upper end of the estimate could boost U.S. reserves by 50 percent. "This looks to be the biggest discovery in the United States in a generation, really since the discovery of Prudhoe Bay 38 years ago," said Daniel Yergin, chairman of the consulting firm Cambridge Energy Research Associates Inc. "There's been a lot of anticipation about what's called the Wilcox formation, and this is the validation of the theory and of the technology," he said, using another name for the area of the Gulf. Cambridge Energy forecasts that the deep-water area of the Gulf of Mexico will produce 800,000 barrels of oil a day within seven years and account for 11 percent of U.S. oil production. That would not solve the world's energy problem or eliminate U.S. reliance on oil imports, but it would help stabilize U.S. oil production, which has been declining, and cover some of the world's rising demand for petroleum. Prudhoe Bay, in northern Alaska, produced about 1.5 million barrels a day at its peak....
Environmentalists win round against U.S. Forest Service The federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled Tuesday the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations have a dog in the fight against the U.S. Forest Service concerning policy changes that deal with logging and road building in national forests. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the environmental groups have standing in the suit and that a U.S. district judge must hear their arguments in the 5-year-old case. The Sierra Club had argued that the Forest Service had changed its policies concerning environmental impact surveys after logging in national forests in North Georgia was stopped by the courts in 1999. Before the change in policy, the Forest Service was required to analyze the effect of each logging and road building project on "proposed, endangered, threatened and sensitive species or PETS." After the change, Forest Service officials argued they didn't necessarily have to perform an analysis on each project if they believe they can protect a species without one. They argued they could rely on existing data to make decisions. The suit relates to the Southern Region, an area with 12.6 million acres in 13 states....
Male Bass Across Region Found to Be Bearing Eggs Abnormally developed fish, possessing both male and female characteristics, have been discovered in the Potomac River in the District and in tributaries across the region, federal scientists say -- raising alarms that the river is tainted by pollution that drives hormone systems haywire. The fish, smallmouth and largemouth bass, are naturally males but for some reason are developing immature eggs inside their sex organs. Their discovery at such widely spread sites, including one just upstream from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, seems to show that the Potomac's problem with "intersex" fish extends far beyond the West Virginia stream where they were first found in 2003. The cause of the abnormalities is unknown, but scientists suspect a class of waterborne contaminants that can confuse animals' growth and reproductive systems. These pollutants are poorly understood, however, leaving many observers with questions about what the problems in fish mean for the Potomac and the millions of people who take their tap water from it....
Wolf Attacks Five People If you were confronted by a wolf would you turn and run? The Ministry of Natural Resources says that's actually the worst thing you could do. The Ministry is stressing the importance of animal safety to local residents and research scientist Brent Patterson listed several tips that could get you out of a dangerous situation with a wolf. Patterson says the idea that wolves are more afraid of us then we are of them is not always the case. He says the top things you should do when in close contact with a wolf is make lots of noise and make eye contact. He says people should never turn and run away from a wolf because there is a good chance the animal will chase you. He says wolf attacks are not very common, however all animals are unpredictable. Park officials shot and killed a wolf that attacked five people in a provincial park near Wawa on the holiday weekend. They do not know what prompted the lone wolf to attack. The wolf struck in Katherine's Cove, a popular tourist spot on Lake Superior along the Trans Canada highway. None of the victims were seriously injured, but they were taken to a hospital in Wawa for treatment. The animal's carcass will be examined in Sault Ste. Marie.
When a wolf strikes, it's no picnic Brenda Wright says she and her two children had just eaten their turkey sandwiches and settled onto their beach towels when the horror began. Her son, Casey, 12, noticed a black, doglike animal running across the Northern Ontario beach where the family was enjoying the last day of summer vacation. In a sudden and unrelenting attack, the animal ripped into Casey's buttock, tore his mother's hands and leg, and bloodied his 14-year-old sister's scalp, lunging after the family of six as they fled screaming into Lake Superior. "I was trying to fight him off and he grabbed my finger. I thought he pulled it off. ... Honest to God, it looks like hamburger meat," Wright said Tuesday from her mother's home in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Wright's family was not the only one to face the wolf. The attacks by one Canis lupus ended with the animal dead and several people, including a 3-year-old girl, bloodied, torn and terrified. For Jerry and Rachel Talbot, it started at around 4 p.m. The Wawa, Ontario, couple, on their way to a wedding with granddaughters Leah, 3, and Madison, 5, pulled off the highway for a quick swim at a popular day picnic area in Lake Superior Provincial Park. According to park staff, more than a dozen others were enjoying the end of the Labor Day weekend at Katherine's Cove when the Talbot family wandered onto the beach and began to remove their shoes. Jerry Talbot noticed a black animal chasing a girl across the sand. Too slow for the girl, the animal veered off and grabbed a slower, smaller target: Leah....
Montana Firefighters Battling With Bees Firefighters battling a wildfire that has blackened nearly 290 square miles and burned 26 homes faced a new challenge, authorities said Wednesday: bees. The blaze that started with lightning on Aug. 22 has forced hundreds to evacuate. After being grounded by smoke for a day, firefighting helicopters returned to work Wednesday, pouring water on the fire that was 45 percent contained. Bee stings among firefighters have surged to as many as 50 a day, information officer Joan Dickerson said. Some of those stung required medical attention. "We've had a couple of our leaders taken to the hospital," she said, but added that she had no explanation for the surge in stings....
Feds plan pine beetle attack After getting a look at insect-infested forests in the Rockies, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and other federal officials unveiled a plan Tuesday to make it easier for all levels of government to more quickly attack the bark-beetle epidemic in the West. The plan, which the Bush administration plans to send to Congress this week, would change the way the federal government approves and administers contracts so that logging and other work to fight wildfire threats and tree-killing bugs can be carried out more easily across various government jurisdictions. "If we don't find a way to work better together on these boundaries, we're all going to pay the price in the long run," Bosworth said in a news conference in a state building across the street from the Colorado Capitol. Bosworth referred to a flight he, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey and Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett took earlier in the day over central and northern Colorado. He said wide swaths of beetle-infested forests stand out as splotches of brown and rust-colored dying trees....
Pot farms ravaging park land The discovery of 22,740 marijuana plants growing in and around Point Reyes National Seashore last week wasn't only the biggest pot seizure ever made in Marin County. It was an environmental mess that will take several months and tens of thousands of dollars to clean up. The crops seized on the steep hillsides overlooking Highway 1 were planted by sophisticated growers who cleared vegetation, terraced land, drew water from streams through miles of irrigation hoses and doused acres of land with hundreds of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides. Such operations are turning up in greater numbers within state and national parks throughout California. Federal officials estimate the state produces half of all the marijuana seized on public lands nationwide....
Editorial - Will Sequoias survive? An especially disturbing target is the Sequoia National Monument, created in 2000 by President Bill Clinton. The monument -- next to the national park of the same name -- hosts half of the surviving big trees. Some are 3,000 years old and 30 feet around. The monument designation was intended to safeguard these rough-barked skyscrapers and the surrounding forests. Incredibly, the Bush team has picked apart wording in the monument designation to produce an excuse for timber cuts. The argument is that forest health requires clearing small trees up to 30 inches in diameter to remove fire hazards. In reality, though, this plan is plain-and-simple logging. Yes, small trees that pose a fire danger will be removed, but doing so includes cutting trees up to 300 years old. The timber business in the south Sierra is all but through -- only one major mill remains -- so why continue it with plans that could harm the last stands of sequoias? Fortunately, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco halted the federal plan. He called the tree-cutting arguments "decidedly incomprehensible,'' mainly because the federal agency neglected required scientific studies. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and environmental groups challenged the plan last year....Isn't it interesting that the Feds would push hard for timber harvesting in national monuments, while at the same time they are eliminating livestock grazing from national monuments. One has to wonder why the Bush administration is so supportive of industry -- except for livestock grazing.
Forest Service promoted man who lit major fire On a breezy, hot September day in Utah in the midst of the 2003 drought, Forest Service District Ranger Bill Ott started a million-dollar-plus fire. He was the burn boss on a prescribed burn meant to clear out scrub oak brush on 600 acres. But Ott also lit the fire in an area that wasn't supposed to burn at all, according to a review of the fire, interviews and published reports. The flames took off. They quickly consumed nearly 8,000 acres of the Uinta National Forest. The Cascade II fire filled the skies of Salt Lake City with a thick blanket of smoke. More than 500 firefighters and a dozen aircraft assaulted the flames. Since then, Ott has been promoted to assistant director of fire operations for the Rocky Mountain region of the Forest Service. That makes him second in command for fires in a five-state region. Ott's current boss, regional forester Rick Cables in Denver, said he did not know of Ott's role in the Cascade II fire when he was promoted....And yet, still some wonder why so many folks have lost faith in the Forest Service to manage anything, much less millions of acres.
'Innovative' Roan plan to be released today Bureau of Land Management officials are slated to unveil what they're calling an "innovative" final plan for managing the controversial Roan Plateau today, two years after a draft plan called for opening up the vast mesa north of Rifle to drilling for natural gas. Observers expect the final plan to do the same, worrying environmentalists, outfitters and several nearby communities who have sought to keep wells off the top of the plateau. Representatives of the gas industry have called on opening the area to drilling, eyeing what they believe to be a vast supply of natural gas deep below. "It would surprise me to see it go any other way," said Rifle Mayor Keith Lambert, whose town joined every other community in Garfield County to oppose drilling on top of the plateau. Details of the plan will be released at a 10:30 a.m. press conference in Battlement Mesa, near the western flank of the plateau. BLM officials have signaled that the final plan could look quite different from the draft plan, including a number of changes suggested by state wildlife officials who feared the draft plan would endanger wildlife....
Biologist Accused of Destroying Plants To prosecutors, Robert "Roy" van de Hoek is a vandal with pruning shears. To supporters of native California shrubs and trees, he's a martyr. Once again, he's in court. The Los Angeles City Attorney's office says the former park supervisor cut down non-native plants in one of the largest coastal wetlands in Southern California, killing a ficus tree and myoporum shrubs. He is facing six misdemeanor charges that include injuring vegetation without permission. Each count could bring jail time and thousands of dollars in fines. Van de Hoek arrived for an arraignment last week looking ill at ease in a borrowed navy blazer that hung limply on his gangly frame. He also brought attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr., famous for defending Michael Jackson against molestation charges brought by what he cast as overzealous prosecutors....
Survey finds high number of blue butterflies A survey showing higher-than-expected numbers of a unique Nevada butterfly has revived a debate over whether it needs protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. Some experts now conclude the listing of the Sand Mountain blue butterfly may not be necessary. But conservationists say the listing is the only way to save the butterfly from extinction. It's only found at Sand Mountain near Fallon, whose huge sand dunes are popular among off-road vehicle enthusiasts. Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to conduct a year-long review of whether the butterfly should be protected under the Endangered Species Act....
Washington County Endorses Controversial Land Sale ST. GEORGE County commissioners endorsed a proposed land deal that would nearly double the size of this fast-growing city by auctioning nearly 38 square miles of federal land to private developers. Commissioners signed a resolution Tuesday, supporting the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006, a bill sponsored by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. “We consider it an extremely important piece of legislation ... for our future,” said Jim Eardley, chairman of the Washington County Commission. The bill offers wilderness protection for 343 square miles, although half of that already is protected inside Zion National Park and many other areas already are managed by federal agencies as potential wilderness. The bill also would expand a preserve for the threatened desert tortoise....
Biologists are seeking answers As natural-gas development makes a steady march across the Powder River Basin northwest of here, sage grouse are suffering, and now there's data to prove it. Preliminary results from a doctoral thesis by Brett Walker of the University of Montana show that sage grouse abandon breeding grounds that are near natural-gas wells and pumping stations and flock to leks that are outside the edges of development. "Inside the natural-gas fields, sage grouse leks are 25 percent of what they were (before development)," Walker said last week to a roomful of professional wildlife managers and biologists. Walker's research project was one of many discussed at a meeting of The Wildlife Society on the University of Wyoming campus. Walker's research, which he conducts with fellow graduate students Kevin Doherty and Dave Naugle, focuses on the Powder River Basin that stretches from north central Wyoming into Montana. Their preliminary findings show that the outlook for sage grouse there is grim unless researchers and industry can find alternative methods of gas extraction that disturb the habitat less than current techniques. Between 1989 and 2005, the overall population of sage grouse dropped 84 percent, Walker said....
Counties Can't Unilaterally Seize Control Over National Park Trails, Federal Court Rules A federal court has ruled that Utah counties do not own routes within national parks, national monuments and wilderness study areas merely because they say so. In 2005, Kane County Utah adopted an ordinance that opened hundreds of miles of routes to dirt bikes, all terrain vehicles and other off-highway vehicles (OHVs). In so doing, the county claimed as its own every hiking trail within county borders in Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. The county ordinance also opened to OHVs scores of routes within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that the federal Bureau of Land Management had closed in order to protect fragile desert landscapes from the scarring and disturbance that can accompanying OHV use. The August 24 ruling was a victory for The Wilderness Society and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, represented by Earthjustice attorneys as well as former Earthjustice attorney Robert Wiygul and attorneys at SUWA. The Wilderness Society and SUWA sued the county for violating the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause which says U.S laws take precedence over conflicting local ordinances on federal land. Kane County tried to get the case tossed out of court, in part, on the grounds that the county already owned rights-of-way to the routes under an arcane 1866 law known as R.S. 2477. But federal district court Judge Tena Campbell, ruled that the county's mere claim of ownership of rights-of-way was meaningless unless backed up with proof that the routes meet the test set out in the 19th Century law, something Kane County has so far refused to offer....
Local oil and gas production A balancing act Area oil and gas producers, legislators, environmentalists and residents agree the industry must protect the environment as it drills new wells. But their opinions about what regulations are necessary and how they affect business differ. Micky O'Hare owns Maralex Resources Inc., which drills and operates wells in Colorado and New Mexico. He said the U.S. energy crisis could be solved within five years if the government backed off on its regulations and allowed the industry to develop the country's resources. He added the oil and gas industry has made a strong effort to minimize its environmental impacts and does not need a watchdog on its shoulders. But many say that state enforcement, while good, is not the problem. Jeremy Vesbach, director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, said the federal government needs to do more to protect the land. Instead, he said it's created exemptions that increase drilling and ignore environmental damages that harm ground and surface water....
Probe launched into public lands management The Interior Department's inspector general has launched an investigation into environmentalists' complaints that the Bureau of Land Management promised to rig oil and gas leasing to benefit Utah counties and oil companies. Inspector General Earl Devaney notified Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., that he had opened an inquiry in a letter sent last week. Hinchey had requested the investigation based on a memo from Robert Weidner, a lobbyist for several Utah counties, to his county officials expressing enthusiasm for the interim Utah BLM director's promise to work to "reduce restrictions on access to public land." The July 18 meeting was attended by BLM Deputy Director Jim Hughes, interim BLM State Director Henri Bisson, county officials and representatives from each of the 10 major oil and gas companies operating in Utah. Bisson has since been replaced as Utah state director by former BLM chief of staff Selma Sierra. Hinchey and several environmental groups complained the BLM was making commitments in closed-door meetings to - as Weidner put it - "fix" resource management plans....
Whistleblower Vindicated in Federal Law Judge Decision A federal administrative law judge has ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) illegally fired one of its employees for blowing the whistle on environmental and worker safety hazards at an abandoned Nevada copper mine. Earle Dixon, who was hired by BLM in October 2003 to manage the cleanup of hazardous materials at the Anaconda Mine near Yerington, Nev., filed a complaint with the Department of Labor after BLM dismissed him on Oct. 5, 2004. When an OSHA regional administrator determined BLM had legitimate business reasons for firing Dixon, Dixon filed an appeal with the Department of Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges. Dixon argued that BLM terminated him because he voiced concerns that the Anaconda Mine cleanup efforts were not being conducted in compliance with environmental laws such as the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. Dixon also claimed that he clashed with BLM and other parties involved in the mine cleanup because Dixon believed BLM safety and health policies were being ignored, putting workers at risk of exposure to radiological hazards. Administrative Law Judge Richard Malamphy, who presided over a 3-day hearing in February in Reno, Nev., ruled Aug. 31 that BLM fired Dixon in retaliation for his whistleblowing activities. Malamphy ordered BLM to award Dixon back pay as well as $10,000 in moving expenses. The judge also ordered BLM to provide Dixon "a favorable or at least a neutral job reference."....
Burning Man flames out without major incidents Thousands of celebrants danced, hugged and cheered as the annual Burning Man counterculture festival climaxed with the traditional torching of its namesake object on the northern Nevada desert. Accompanied by a spectacular fireworks show, the 40-foot-tall wooden figure known as "The Man" went up in flames Saturday night and tumbled to the Black Rock Desert, 110 miles north of Reno. The eclectic art festival was to end its weeklong run Monday after the burning of more artwork Sunday night, including the "Belgian Waffle," the "`Temple of Lights" and the "Temple of Hope." Organizers bill the festival as "an annual experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance." "I like the idea of temporary art," Marissa Long-Peak, 23, of Portland, Ore., told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "There is something a lot more unique about destroying something you create." No major problems were reported by authorities. The crowd peaked at 39,100 at midnight Friday, up 6.6 percent over last year, said Jamie Thompson, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The event is held on public land managed by the agency....
Fans of Jedediah Smith to hold Fall Rendezvous Fans of 19th-century trapper and explorer Jedediah Smith will converge in Redding this weekend to celebrate his 1828 trek across what would become southwest Shasta County. The Sacramento-based Jedediah Smith Society will hold its annual Fall Rendezvous Friday through Sunday. The public is invited to an hourlong presentation on the frontier fur trade by Yreka author Alex Miller at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shasta College Museum, near the campus' south entrance. Miller wrote the two-volume "Chronology of the American Fur Trade." For more information, call 225-4754. The Jedediah Smith Society has 220 members, said its executive director Haworth Clover, 73, a Sacramento historian and author. He expects about 30 members to attend the Redding rendezvous, a word used in the 19th century to describe remote gatherings of trappers -- and sometimes Indians -- where furs were traded, supplies procured, liquor consumed and games played....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Airplanes becoming akin to cattle trucks We were sitting in the Los Angeles airport waiting for a flight, just watching the local fauna when Will observed the striking similarities between airports and feedlots. We were in a seating area, confined in a controllable number; penned, one might say. Once our area was full, another group was started. Some pens were calm. Others had bullers, crypt orchids, cell phone shouters, whiners or unruly children, which kept their lot stirred up and trying to jump the fence. On a signal from the gate attendant, the group was pushed into a crowding pen and sorted into smaller bunches to be loaded in the front deck, the belly and the tail and pushed down an alley, up the loading chute and into the airplane. "It's all about turnover," Will said....