Judge Suspends Administration Rules For Managing Forests

A federal district judge ruled yesterday that the Bush administration illegally rewrote the rules for managing 192 million acres of federally owned forests and grasslands in 2005 and must consider the environmental impact of its plan before offering another policy blueprint. The ruling by Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California suspends the forest rules the administration adopted on Jan. 5, 2005. Hamilton said the government did not adequately assess the policy's impact on wildlife and the environment and did not give sufficient public notice of the "paradigm shift" that the rule put in place. The judge ordered the Forest Service to suspend its 2005 rule and subject it to a new round of analysis, taking into account the environmental protections and public participation requirements in the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedures Act. The battle between environmental groups and the administration over the forest rules has raged for several years. It centers on changes to environmental protections that had been in place since the Reagan administration. Under the old policy, the government had to maintain viable populations of native wildlife in forests and monitor some populations regularly, while limiting logging and drilling for oil and gas. The new rule -- which gave economic activities as high a priority as maintaining the forest's ecological health -- made it easier to conduct drilling and logging in national forests while weakening protections for native fish and wildlife. It also accelerated the process for approving forest management plans, which can drag on for as long as seven years, thereby cutting planning costs....

NEWS ROUNDUP


Snowed under About 600 homes in north-central Wyoming remained without power Thursday evening as high winds and heavy snow persisted for a second day. In much of the state, the storm closed roads and schools and stranded travelers, leaving folks to dig out as the wintry weather was expected to give way to warmer, drier conditions today. The National Weather Service expected up to a foot of snow in many areas of the state before the storm let up, with up to a whopping 5 feet of the white stuff in the mountains. Especially hard hit are the eastern Wind River and Big Horn ranges....
4 Killed As Tornadoes Ravage 3 States A massive spring storm spawned dozens of tornadoes from the Rockies to the Plains, killing at least four people in three states, including a woman who was flung into a tree by a twister as wide as two football fields. Sixty-five tornadoes were reported late Wednesday in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska, the National Weather Service said. The storms continued Thursday afternoon, with a tornado injuring at least five people in Oklahoma City. In Colorado, Rosemary Rosales, 28, died after being found critically injured in the tree after the huge tornado destroyed several homes and damaged dozens of others in Holly, a town of 1,000 people about 235 miles southeast of Denver near the Kansas line. The Colorado tornado killed dozens of cattle and injured others so severely they have to be shot. "It's better than letting them suffer," said rancher Bill Lowe, who had about 800 cattle in his feedlot when the tornado hit. He lost at least 35 animals in the storm....
Website checks your climate change risk A computerized service that assesses global warming risks and other environmental threats is now available for any address in the contiguous USA. Three University of Arizona scientists won approval from the Board of Regents this month to create Climate Appraisal Services with an East Coast entrepreneur. They call it the first online, address-based tool for gauging climate-change hazards in the next 50-100 years. It also lists natural and man-made dangers, from hurricanes and earthquakes to pollution and disease. The service taps the scientists' own climate research, numerous public databases and studies, and data from about a dozen government agencies. For $30 and a few computer clicks, users of climateappraisal.com get assessments of 50 factors, including sea-level rise, temperature, drought, flood, wildfire and other risks expected to worsen with warming temperatures. Environmental risks include weather, disease, pollution and industrial factors — such as Lyme disease, West Nile virus, acid rain and county radon levels....
Market Approach Best for Overfishing Dilemma, Say Enviros “Cap-and-trade” programs are the best way to combat the nation’s depleting fish stocks, an environmental group argued on Wednesday. Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense, released a new report on the benefits of a “catch share system” (also called a Limited Access Privilege Program). The report comes two months after President Bush signed the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006. The new law establishes annual catch limits and accountability measures to end overfishing. It also supports limited access programs. The current state of America's fisheries is clearly unacceptable," the Environmental Defense report said. It cites some scientists' warning that "the seas could be extinct by 2048."....
'We're getting ripped off' Poor auditing, mismanagement and retaliation at the Minerals Management Service have grown worse in the past several years, costing taxpayers billions of dollars, critics and whistleblowers testified Wednesday. Two former employees, a watchdog group, an independent government office and a Wyoming Department of Audit official detailed concerns about MMS problems during a congressional hearing. "It does appear we're getting ripped off, plain and simple," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va. Rahall said drilling has increased dramatically but that the agency has "stalled" at collecting payments from companies. "At best, its performance might be described as slipshod, but some argue it is something more sinister," Rahall said....
Report: Wolves hit elk calves Wolves are reducing cow-calf ratios in elk herds in parts of northwest Wyoming, according to a report by the state Game and Fish Department. The report finds wolves are affecting cow-calf ratios in four of the eight elk herds where they are present. "We have seen a downward trend (in cow-calf ratios) in many of Wyoming's elk herds over this 26-year period," Jay Lawson of the Game and Fish Department's wildlife division said in a news release. "That trend is likely due to long-term drought and other habitat-related factors. But in half of the herds occupied by wolves, we saw a significantly greater rate of decline after wolves were established compared to herds without wolves. We can't attribute that increased rate of decline to any factor other than wolves." Game and Fish biologists have set a minimum ratio of 25 calves per 100 cows in order to maintain hunting opportunities and have said there is "little opportunity for hunting" when the ratio falls below 20 calves per 100 cows. The four elk herds in Wyoming that have wolves present and are experiencing declines have dropped below 25 calves per 100 cows, and two of those herds have fewer than 20 calves per 100 cows....
Water group argues to halt Joseph Creek grazing Attorneys for the Center for Water Advocacy argued in U.S. District Court Monday in Portland in pursuit of a restraining order to halt the grazing of cows along 95,000 acres in the Joseph Creek Rangeland Analysis Area in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. U.S. Dist. Judge Anna Brown heard the case Monday and took the matter under advisement. She had not issued a ruling as of Tuesday, according to Courtroom Deputy Eric Oss. Harold Shepherd, attorney for the water advocacy group, said that he took photos of the Joseph Creek area that he believes demonstrated the need to halt grazing in the area. The photos were entered into the record in the hearing Monday: "It looked pretty bad from our perspective and we think we showed that," Shepherd said. As the cows were scheduled to be returned to the rangeland by April 1, the water group was seeking an injunction to prevent that from happening. Therefore, Shepherd expected the judge to issue a ruling before then, he said....
Powerlink report didn't consider forest official's comments Comments from forest officials criticizing possible routes for the proposed Sunrise Powerlink through large parts of the Cleveland National Forest were not considered by a state agency before it decided to keep those options open. In a report issued two weeks ago, the California Public Utilities Commission decided to keep three southern routes for the 500-kilovolt power line as possible alternatives to one preferred by San Diego Gas & Electric Co., which would build the project. The report was issued after months of review, during which comments from affected agencies and individuals were solicited. But officials for the Cleveland National Forest were late gathering their comments and asked for a three-week extension to respond. U.S. Forest Service officials mailed the comments to the commission March 16, the last day of the extension and the same day the commission issued its report. “They didn't get any input from us before reaching their conclusions,” one forest official said. “I feel there was something morally wrong. This is supposed to be a public process.” This is just too funny. The Forest Service has been ignoring public comment for years, and now, finally, someone has ignored their comments. That, of course, is "morally wrong". I'll be back as soon as I quite laughing and can type again.
Feds bar ashes on public lands Last wishes notwithstanding, federal officials and Indian tribes are opposed to a Montana woman's plan for a business that would spread the cremated remains of her clients over western Montana's publicly owned wild mountain peaks and flower-studded meadows. To Fran Coover, her new business, Ladies in White, seemed a perfect way to blend her interest in the environment and alternatives to the American way of dying. "It's much less expensive," Coover said. "And it is far more environmentally benign." But after Coover scattered the cremated remains of her first client, she applied to the federal Forest Service, one of Montana's largest owners of wild land, for a special-use permit to continue her business. Though some officials told her it was fine to scatter the ashes on public land, she says, officials from Region I of the Forest Service, which covers Montana and Idaho, said it was against national policy and denied a permit....
Civilian uses foreseen for unmanned aircraft The unmanned Global Hawk and Predator B aircraft would be used for civilian science and technology endeavors under a test program the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center has proposed. Dryden will take delivery this spring of a civilian version of the Predator B, which will be used to measure the Earth's atmosphere and possibly to map wildfires, a valuable tool for firefighters. The aircraft has been named Ikhana. The Choctaw American Indian word - pronounced "ee-KAH-nah" - means intelligent, conscious or aware, Dryden officials said. "The name perfectly matches the goals we have for the aircraft," said Brent Cobleigh, NASA Dryden's project manager for Ikhana. "They include collecting data that allow scientists to better understand and model our environmental conditions and climate, increasing the intelligence of unmanned aircraft to perform advanced missions, and demonstrating technologies that enable new manned and unmanned aircraft capabilities." Dryden and the U.S. Forest Service are working with the Federal Aviation Administration for approvals needed to operate Ikhana over the western United States to collect data on wildfires. Ikhana will be controlled by a pilot with a joystick in a ground station....
Groups renew cause to protect lynx in New Mexico Six environmental organizations have renewed a five-year fight to have the lynx protected in New Mexico. The Forest Guardians and five other conservation groups filed a request to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Thursday to reexamine a decision it made last month. The court ruled in February the U.S. Forest Service need not consider impacts on lynx in its forest management plan. Four lynx have died in New Mexico since the reintroduction program began, according to the Forest Guardians, which suspects even more inhabit the northern forests. "It makes perfect sense, since the forests don't end at the Colorado line," said Bird. "We want the habitat protected until the lynx rehabits naturally from Colorado." Joe Lewandowski, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said lynx have crossed into New Mexico and researchers have brought them back. Similarly, at least one died, but it has not been determined whether the lynx were shot, starved to death or met their end another way. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which lists endangered species, says it conducted extensive research and found no reports of lynx in New Mexico....
Rare Salamanders Will Finally Be Considered For Endangered Species Act Protection In response to a 2004 petition and two lawsuits brought by conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined today that the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders may warrant protection as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The agency initiated a 12-month review of their status. “The Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders have two of the smallest ranges of any western salamander and are severely threatened by logging,” said Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “These salamanders need the effective protection of the Endangered Species Act to survive.” Both species live in mature and old-growth forests such as those that once covered much of the Northwest. Today only fragments of these forests remain, facing increasing pressure from logging and development. A recently completed study by the Forest Service, for example, concluded that “mature to late-seral-forest attributes provide optimal habitat for the Siskiyou Mountains salamander. Stands of mature and older forests evenly distributed and interconnected across the geographical range of this species would likely best insure its long-term viability.”....
Mountain lion, cub killed outside Nevada City The killing of a pet goat by a mountain lion has left a neighborhood divided as to whether it was fair for a state trapper to kill the lion and a cub, leaving a second cub an orphan. The incident, one mile outside Nevada City, has sparked outrage among neighboring residents who say they have come to co-exist with wildlife for a number of years. Jen Lee was the owner of Madonna, the pet goat that was killed a few weeks ago. She said she had no choice but to call the trapper after the lions killed her cat and caused her dog to give chase onto the highway where it was hit by a car. She said she feared the lions would hurt a child next. "The animal had to be killed," Lee said. "We live in a populated area. The mountain lion could have killed children." She has lived on the property, adjacent to Bureau of Land Management land, for 10 years and began having trouble with the large cat six months ago....
Digging in Texas sand — for that black gold Been to the beach lately? Some people bring those big umbrellas you stick in the sand. But some Houston companies are stinking a lot more than that into the beach: They’re drilling for oil and gas. Is that what our beaches should be used for? No place but in Texas is there a stretch of beach like this: Padre Island just south of Corpus Christi. More than 100 miles of undeveloped barrier island beachfront, the longest of its kind in the world, most all of it now a National Park — a park with strict rules to protect the seagulls, turtles and wetlands. “You cannot hunt in most of the park,” park ranger Darrell Echols said. “You cannot drive off-road.” But you can drill for oil....
An American icon in the crosshairs? Few animals stir up as much emotion and heated debate as gray wolves. In many ways these majestic predators are the symbol of American wilderness, of wild places that have not yet been clear-cut or paved over. They were once common throughout Western America, including Oregon, but a misguided policy of using tax dollars to fund extermination programs drove them to the brink of extinction. Today gray wolves represent the beginning of a great American conservation success story. Because of the safety net provided by the Endangered Species Act, and the hard work of countless biologists, landowners and concerned citizens, wolves are making a strong comeback. But in February, the Bush administration announced plans to remove western gray wolves from the endangered species list and hand over management to state governments. The proposal comes as a mixed blessing. On one hand, it means wolf populations are rebounding, at least in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming — there are still no confirmed wolf packs here in Oregon. But it also means the feds will hand the keys over to states like Idaho, which could spell disaster for Idaho’s wolves and wolf recovery in Oregon....
Washington congressmen aim bill at salmon-munching sea lions Two Washington congressmen introduced a bill Thursday to allow killing of the more aggressive sea lions who prey on Columbia River salmon, which just now are heading upriver to spawn. "Unfortunately, the news this year isn't any better than last; California sea lions are already setting their sights on this year's salmon run," said Democratic Rep. Brian Baird. The sea lions, protected by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, gather at the base of Bonneville Dam to wait for and feed on the migrating salmon. Wildlife officials have tried harassing the sea lions with large firecrackers and rubber bullets, but with little effect. "After trying every trick in the book, this is the only option left to stop the sea lions," said Republican Rep. Doc Hastings. The districts of both Baird and Hastings border the Columbia. Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington and Republican Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon are co-sponsors. Hastings said taxpayers pay millions of dollars a year to protect salmon while the sea lions gorge themselves on the fish. The bill would create a temporary fast-track process for Oregon, Washington and the four Columbia River treaty tribes to get permits to kill a limited number of the sea lions when nonlethal harassment has failed....
Feds to relax wolf regulation The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will make it easier for states to kill wolves that harm wildlife numbers in an attempt to reach a compromise with Wyoming on the state’s wolf management plan, officials announced Thursday. Fish and Wildlife regional director Mitch King said the agency plans to alter the “10(j) rule,” which gives states the authority to kill wolves that attack livestock, herding and guarding animals, and dogs under certain circumstances. The rule applies only to states with approved management plans, namely Idaho and Montana, and applies only while the wolf is protected under the Endangered Species Act. The rule also allows states to kill wolves that cause unacceptable losses to wildlife if those wildlife populations drop below state objectives. The states must complete a stringent review process and losses to wildlife must be directly linked to wolf depredation. The new rule would loosen the requirements for when states can kill wolves when they are harming wildlife numbers. It would allow states to kill wolves based not just on state objectives but also on indicators such as cow-calf ratios and cow survivability....
The Endangered Species Act Should Be Revoked Bush administration officials said Tuesday that they were reviewing proposed changes to the way the 34-year-old Endangered Species Act is enforced. Environmentalists have already protested the suggested changes on the grounds that they would reduce protection for "endangered" species and their habitats. But according to Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, "this immoral law should be revoked. "For decades the Endangered Species Act has been used to victimize property owners, to take away their land, their assets and their livelihoods. In the name of preserving animal life, the Endangered Species Act has enabled the violation of individual rights in every corner of the country, rights that our government was instituted to protect, not trample upon....
ESA: Too Broke to Fix? The Endangered Species Act was written in 1973 with the idea of protecting plants and animals that seemed to be in danger of totally disappearing. It sounded good, but like many things government, it was way too broad in scope and way too loose in controls and limits. It was obviously something written by lawyers to allow other lawyers to make their own interpretation. The following are what I see as the ESA’s core problems: Problem 1: No real guidelines for listing or delisting Problem 2: No way of tracking costs, needs transparency Problem 3: No way to mitigate negative impact to other species Problem 4: Inadequate planning and follow up Problem 5: Costs of restorations being imposed on individuals and states targeted for listing a species....
Another World War II-era plane found in Nevada lake For the second time in less than five years, the wreckage of a World War II military aircraft has been found at the bottom of Lake Mead southeast of Las Vegas. I inadvertently learned of the startling discovery from Gary Warshefski, deputy superintendent of the National Park Service's Lake Mead National Recreation Area, while speaking with him on an unrelated matter (the continued lowering of the lake's water level due to the lack of significant rainfall). Warshefski and Roxanne Dey, the recreation area's spokesperson, told me the recently-discovered plane is a Navy PBY-SA Catalina flying boat that crashed into the lake on Oct. 24, 1949. Four of the five on board were killed on impact. The PBY accident occurred 15 months following the crash into the lake of an Air Force B-29 Superfortress bomber. The B-29's crew of four and a civilian scientist aboard that flight escaped with minor injuries and were rescued by nearby fishermen. The B-29, which was conducting classified atmospheric research over Lake Mead, crashed into the water during a low-level pass over the lake. The pilot apparently underestimated the plane's height. The plane is standing upright and is reportedly in excellent condition. According to Dey, the B-29, which rests in about 170 feet of water, is in one piece. The PBY flying boat lies at a depth of 190 feet and is in two large pieces....
Groups splinter over strategy A group founded to give disgruntled cattlemen a voice and an alternative to the century-old National Cattlemen's Beef Association has now further splintered. A third grassroots entity has emerged, while some of the members of the original alternative organization say maintaining "a unified voice" would have been a better solution. Seven years ago, several energetic, concerned leaders formed the Ranchers-Cattlemen's Action Legal Fund, known as R-CALF, to tackle rising beef and cattle imports into the U.S. Adding United Stockgrowers of America to its name, the group evolved into a compelling alternative association and a relative powerhouse with nearly 20,000 active members, a satellite office in Washington D.C. and a clearly articulated position on a number of key issues, including international trade policy and Country-of-Origin labeling. A year ago last January, the founders stepped aside and the association changed its top leadership for the first time....
Proposed Animal ID Program Alarms Livestock Owners Livestock and horse owners are confused and concerned about the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) voluntary participation program, the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Karla Welsh owns Turtle Mound Farm, a once prosperous goat dairy farm near Sparks. Welsh has sold her goats due to economics and the threat of NAIS. “I have been passing out flyers and notifying everyone I can think of about this (NAIS) program. It's ridiculous to expect livestock owners to comply, especially the smaller, independent farmers and ranchers. How can we be expected to report even the smallest of movements of our livestock? A chicken goes onto someone's property and we have to contact the government? We don't have the time or the money,” Welsh said. “People need to stand up and scream ‘no' to their representatives before ‘voluntary' becomes mandatory.” Welsh believes NAIS muddies the line between religion and state, too. “I can't imagine the impact of something like this would have on the Amish. Their independence from government is their religious belief,” Welsh said....
Down Sonora Way The rain from the night before has cooled the temperature and brought out all the scents of the Sonoran grasslands. "This rain is quite unusual for the season," Ricardo Platt says as we saddle our horses in front of la Chimenea. "It rarely rains in October." The 450-acre rancho, which raises registered Quarter Horses and Paints, straddles the Rio Sonora and lies halfway between Ures, a quaint colonial town, and Hermosillo, Sonora's state capital. Two other ranches owned by Platt's family are home to trophy big game and Charbray cattle operations, but la Chimenea is the center of the horse breeding operation and home to the majority of the broodmares. "My real passion is ranching and horses," says Platt, a civil engineer whose consulting company provides personalized cross-border assistance to American investors in the state of Sonora, Mexico. Platt shares an affinity for ranching with his grandfather, a retired rancher and civil engineer who designed and installed thousands of miles of PVC, as well as earthen dams, concrete storage tanks and troughs on many Sonoran ranches during the 1980s and 1990s....

FLE

More Armed Pilots Needed, Aviation Experts Say Box cutters, ice picks, knives, meat cleavers, brass knuckles and explosive devices are among the lethal weapons undercover government agents manage to smuggle past airport security, according to aviation security experts. They say the serious security gaps underline the need to arm more airline pilots - and quickly. Despite extensive security measures put in place since 9/11, the experts note, the agents succeed in getting the dangerous items past airport security staff nine times out of ten. Determined individuals would even been able to sneak firearms onboard, taking them apart and putting them together again once on the plane, according to Larry Johnson, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent. For this reason, he told Cybercast News Service, a multi-layered approach to security that includes arming pilots, offers the best defense against a repetition of 9/11-style attacks. His conviction is shared by a number of pilots who spoke with Cybercast News Service. They say armed crew members must be called upon as "first line of deterrence and a last line of defense."....
Caught on tape: Border patrol agent steals 20 pounds of pot A border patrol agent was supposed to be guarding a truckload of marijuana. Instead watch as he looks around and helps himself to a 20-pound bundle. "You can't deny the embarrassment that comes along with looking at that video tape," Border Patrol spokesman Rob Daniels said. Michael Carlos Gonzalez didn't realize the dash cam was on, back in December of 2005, as he violated the oath of office he swore to uphold. Gonzalez called in sick the following day. Investigators say he flew to California and the bundle was never seen again. When the video tape came to light he resigned....
Video of US-Mexico border shooting appears to back immigrants' story A grainy surveillance video taken as a Border Patrol agent fatally shot an illegal immigrant from Mexico appears to lend credence to the surviving immigrants' accounts of what happened. The Cochise County attorney released the video clips and documents this week after public records requests by The Associated Press and two newspapers. The shooting has drawn condemnation from the Mexican government and spurred an FBI civil rights investigation. Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett encountered a group of four immigrants among a larger group of border crossers whom he and other agents were rounding up on Jan. 12 near Naco. The group included three brothers and one man's wife. Corbett has declined to be interviewed by investigators but told other agents that he came around the front of his SUV, saw a man with a rock in his hand close to the rear of the vehicle and fired when the man moved to throw it. The witnesses said the agent came from behind the victim, and the video appears to support that version....
Border Fence Bosses Sentenced for Hiring Illegal Immigrants The president of an engineering company that helped to build a border fence to prevent Mexicans crossing illegally into the US was hoist with his own petard yesterday when he was sentenced to six months house arrest for hiring illegal immigrants. Mel Kay, the founder and head of Golden State Fence company, was also ordered to carry out 1,040 hours of community service and was put on probation for three years. A second company chief, Ted Moskowitz, was given the same sentence after both men pleaded guilty last December to knowingly employing illegal workers. The sentences neatly illustrated the paradox surrounding the US crackdown on illegal immigration, primarily from Mexico and other Latin American countries. While many Republicans are committed to reducing the flow, many employers, particularly in the southern states, are dependant on the incomers for seasonal harvesting and low-paid manual work. When Golden State Fence was first investigated for its employment practices it was estimated that a third of its 750 workers may have been living in the country below the radar. The firm builds fencing around homes, offices and military bases and also took part in the late 1990s construction of 6,100ft (1,859m) of the 14-mile (22.5km) fence near the Otay Mesa border crossing in San Diego....
The Rising TIDE: Should We Fear the Anti-Terror Database? A recent article in the Washington Post lifted the veil a bit on the U.S. government's massive, and still growing, anti-terror database. Over 400,000 names are now considered worthy of government suspicion, but citizens that end up on this list are not entitled to know why their names arrived there or what the government does with their files. Yet there has not been a significant terror attack on U.S. soil since 2001. Is the government's database the reason for this apparent success? How long will the government's list of suspicious names become? Is the government's ever-expanding scope of surveillance worth the security it seems to be creating? If not, are there any better alternatives? The civil liberties concerns created by TIDE are both obvious and frightening. When linked to bank account, credit card, airline, rental car, visa, and other databases, it would be simple for a government intelligence analyst to monitor the movements, actions, and purchases of a given person at a near-real time rate. Intelligence analysts could also employ computer analysis of patterns and trends to predict future threatening behavior. Yet it is this very monitoring and forecasting that has most likely prevented another spectacular terrorist attack from occurring inside the United States....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Democrats move to protect species act Rep. Norm Dicks and senior Democrats warned the Interior Department on Wednesday against making major changes in the Endangered Species Act without involving Congress. The quick and unambiguous response came one day after reports that the Interior Department has been working for months to reinterpret the 1973 law in a way that environmentalists said would gut the primary tool for protecting plants and animals on the verge of extinction. The Bush administration and some Republicans have been working for years to change the act, which they say is onerous and overly expensive for landowners. At each step, however, Congress has blocked the changes. The new approach would change the law unilaterally by changing the way it is interpreted. Those changes surfaced in a 117-page document and in departmental memos that discuss ways to restrict the law without needing congressional approval....
Report Says Interior Official Overrode Work of Scientists A top-ranking official overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service at the Interior Department rode roughshod over agency scientists, and decisions made on her watch may not survive court challenges, investigators within the Interior Department have found. Their report, sent to Congress this week by the department’s inspector general, does not accuse the official, Julie A. MacDonald, the deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, of any crime. But it does find that she violated federal rules when she sent internal agency documents to industry lobbyists. Ms. MacDonald, an engineer by training, has provoked complaints from some wildlife biologists and lawyers in the agency for aggressive advocacy for industries’ views of the science that underlies agency decisions. The words of more than a dozen high-ranking career employees, from Interior Department headquarters and regional offices in California and Oregon, who are quoted usually by title in the report, describe a manager determined to see that agency findings and the underlying science conform with policy goals....
Federal officials seek critical habitat for Pecos sunflower The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to designate as critical habitat nearly 1,600 acres for the Pecos sunflower — a native plant protected under the Endangered Species Act. The showy plant survives in fewer than two dozen locations in the desert wetlands of New Mexico and West Texas. The critical habitat include areas of Chaves, Cibola, Guadalupe, Socorro and Valencia counties in New Mexico, and Pecos and Reeves counties in Texas. "The future of this plant can be secured through habitat protection, restoration projects and maintenance of core populations," said Benjamin Tuggle, Southwest regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service. Public comments on the proposal are being accepted until May 29....
Judge denies listing of westslope cutthroat A federal judge has ruled the westslope cutthroat trout does not merit the protection of the Endangered Species Act, likely ending environmental groups' decade-long effort to gain protection for the fish. U.S. District Judge Emmett G. Sullivan issued his ruling Monday in Washington, D.C. "We don't have any immediate plans to appeal it," said Sean Regnerus, water program coordinator for American Wildlands, a national group based in Bozeman, and one of several that sought the listing. Sullivan's ruling came down on the side of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a debate over whether crossbred westslope cutthroats counted as cutthroats. Montana and other western states that study westslope cutthroat populations define the fish as those with at least 80 percent westslope cutthroat genes, Interior Department officials have said. That same definition was used in the federal study....
Adopt the carrot approach to endangered species recovery Carrots could become farmers' new favorite vegetable if the Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2007 is adopted. It proposes offering farmers "carrots" for protecting endangered species rather than beating them with a stick for not protecting them. The bipartisan act provides for tax credits for landowners who own habitat or incur costs to recover species and who are a party to a qualifying agreement. Grant income received by a landowner to do a conservation project also won't be included in taxable income. Political commentators are calling the approach "groundbreaking," but it's only so because the concept of offering incentives rather than pressing down with the heavy weight of regulation hasn't been used enough when it comes to endangered species. "ESRA," as it's called, has the support of nearly a hundred property rights, environmental, resource, and hunting and fishing groups, including the American Farm Bureau. More than 80 percent of endangered species live on private property--much of it owned by farmers or ranchers--so it makes sense to offer property owners an incentive to care for endangered critters and plants. Farmers and ranchers are some of the best stewards of the land and the vast majority want to enjoy the listed species found on their property. But they have been put off by restrictions on the use of their land by Endangered Species Act regulations....
Groups fight wolf bounty Alaska's offer of $150 for each wolf killed under its predator control program is nothing more than an illegal bounty and should be stopped immediately, conservation groups said Tuesday in court filings. The groups, including Defenders of Wildlife, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, the Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club and Friends of Animals, are asking a state Superior Court to stop the state of Alaska from offering the cash payments in what Defenders describes as a "poorly disguised bounty program." "Such a program is clearly illegal," the court document says. "Over two decades ago, the Legislature revoked any authority the defendants had to pay bounties to hunters."....
Editorial - Grizzlies are ESA success story The federal government’s announcement that the Greater Yellowstone grizzly bear population shall be removed from the Endangered Species List is a significant milestone. Whether it will actually happen remains to be seen. Environmental groups are aligning for litigation that could delay actual delisting for months if not years. Predictably. One conservation group, however, is saying that it’s time to embrace success when it arrives, and allow for a species to be managed and protected without the Endangered Species Act. National Wildlife Federation spokesman David Miller said the act should be used as “emergency room treatment” rather than a long-term management strategy. We couldn’t agree more. The ESA shouldn’t be wielded as the cudgel of a perpetual litigation industry, which it has been so far....
CRY WOLF Congressman Mark Udall has seen wolves in the wild. “I felt fortunate to have the opportunity to see wolves in their natural habitat, and I reflected on how much wolves exemplify the wilderness experience,” he recounts in the foreword to Comeback Wolves, a 2005 collection of stories and poems that support wolf restoration in the West. The words exemplify Udall’s appreciation for and alliance with conservation causes. But with his eye on a Senate run — and a need to build statewide political appeal — the five-term congressman from Eldorado Springs is sending mixed signals to environmentalists. In February, he introduced legislation that would allow licensed hunters to kill elk inside Rocky Mountain National Park, carrying out a park plan to thin the binging herd. The bill offers a twist, however, on the National Park Service’s proposal to hire government sharpshooters to cull the local elk population. But both the Park Service plan and Udall’s bill perplex wolf supporters, who believe the predators’ return to the park could most effectively thin the elk herd and balance the park’s ecosystem. Wolf recovery in Yellowstone National Park and elsewhere back up their argument....
Divide Widening Over Gray Wolf Program State Game Commission members on Wednesday got an earful of the sharp differences between supporters and opponents of the endangered Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program. But Catron County officials, ranchers and some hunters said the wolves are killing livestock, threatening the viability of some ranches, thinning elk herds and frightening children and parents. Catron County Commissioner Ed Wehrheim requested that all "habituated wolves"— those that appear to show no fear of humans— be removed from the recovery area. Arizona psychiatrist Julia Martin, who interviewed Catron County children at the commission's request, said most of those she interviewed startled more easily than before wolf reintroduction and were more "clingy" with parents. Some parents now prohibit their children from playing outside unsupervised and in the woods, she said. Nine-year-old Stacy Miller of the Diamond Creek area of Catron County said she saw a wolf "ripping (her dog) to shreds" outside her family's ranch home....
Appeals court upholds water for fish before farms A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld a ruling forcing a federal irrigation project to boost flows in the Klamath River to help threatened salmon even if it means shutting off water to farms. Winter snowpack and reservoir levels this year hold enough water to provide irrigation as well as flows to sustain Klamath River coho salmon, said Cecil Lesley, chief of the water and lands division of the Klamath Basin office of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. But the ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco could set up a repeat of the 2001 irrigation shut-off to farms on the Klamath Reclamation Project the next time drought hits southern Oregon and Northern California. Farmers had sought to lift an injunction imposed last year by U.S. District Judge Saundra B. Armstrong in Oakland, Calif., which said irrigators will have to do without water in years when there is not enough for both farms and fish....
Energy Department Fined $1 Million The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday fined the federal Energy Department $1.1 million over violations of an agreement to clean up the Hanford nuclear reservation, the nation's most polluted nuclear site. The fine involved operations at a landfill that is the primary repository for contaminated soils, debris and other hazardous and radioactive waste from cleanup operations across the site. After first shutting down operations upon discovery of the failures, the EPA has permitted the landfill to resume operations under strict oversight. The EPA pointed out problems in a letter to the Energy Department on Tuesday, saying that workers did not perform weekly inspections that would reduce the risk of leaks in landfill liners and that operations did not comply with tests on compacted waste for structural stability. The violations did not release any radioactive waste, said Nick Ceto, the EPA's Hanford Project Manager....
Senate approves extension of timber payments The Senate on Wednesday approved a plan to extend payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging. The Senate plan would authorize about $2.8 billion to continue the county payments law through 2011. Another $1.9 billion would be directed to rural states through a proposal to fund fully the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program, which reimburses state and local governments for federally owned property. The plan, approved 75-22, faces an uncertain fate because it is attached to an emergency spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Bush has vowed to veto the bill because it contains a timeline for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Even so, Western lawmakers were ecstatic....
Uranium Ignites ‘Gold Rush’ in the West The revival of uranium mining in the West, though, has less to do with the renewed interest in nuclear power as an alternative to greenhouse-gas-belching coal plants than to the convoluted economics and intense speculation surrounding the metal that has pushed up the price of uranium to levels not seen since the heyday of the industry in the mid-1970s. Prices for processed uranium ore, also called U308, or yellowcake, are rising rapidly. Yellowcake is trading at $90 a pound, nearing the record high, adjusted for inflation, of about $120 in the mid-1970s. The price has more than doubled in the last six months alone. As recently as late 2002, it was below $10....
Park service revises Sylvan snowmobile proposal A revised winter-use plan for Yellowstone National Park would allow snowmobiles and snowcoaches to cross Sylvan Pass near the park’s East Entrance next winter but not after that. A draft plan released in December drew heavy criticism from Cody residents and others worried about losing wintertime tourism. Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said the draft plan wasn’t clear about whether access would be allowed this coming winter. “We remedied that in the version for public review,” he said. The National Park Service released the revised plan Tuesday. Park officials are concerned about avalanches on Sylvan Pass. They say that besides potentially threatening traffic on the route, avalanches are a risk for park employees who fire a howitzer to release snow under controlled conditions....
Are you looking at me? The dog-sized toad Environmentalists trying to wipe out the cane toad, one of Australia's worst pests, have captured one of the biggest specimens ever seen here: a male the size of a small dog. The giant cane toad, one of dozens engaged in a "breeding frenzy" in the northern city of Darwin, is 8 inches long, weighs nearly 2lb, and has a body as big as a football. "It's huge, to put it mildly," said Graeme Sawyer, the co-ordinator of the group FrogWatch, which conducts regular nocturnal hunts for the toxic creatures. The biggest toads are usually females, but this one was a rampant male... I would hate to meet his big sister." Cane toads were introduced into Queensland in the 1930s in an effort to control cane beetles ravaging the sugar crop. While the beetle still thrives, the toads have fanned out across the continent, ravaging populations of native fauna including snakes, goanna lizards and quolls (cat-sized marsupials). Their skin is poisonous, so animals that eat them die....
Judge adds odd twist to rancher's sentence Cattleman Darrell Kunzler will spend one month in jail and another month surveying fences along Cache County roadways under a state judge's sentence imposed Wednesday. Kunzler, 72, had pleaded no contest to a class A misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment in connection with the November 2004 accident that killed a 40-year-old Washington woman. A felony charge of manslaughter will be dismissed in two years if Kunzler continues to keep his cattle off roadways. First District Judge Gordon Low said he wants Kunzler to spend 200 hours of community service determining whether Cache County fences are reasonably sufficient to keep cattle off of roadways, and the judge ordered him to report the results to the animals' owners, the county attorney and Department of Corrections....
City to seek AG's opinion on cattle issue The Fernley City Council took no action on an agenda item to create a bill to establish penalties for damage created by cattle within the City of Fernley. Instead, at the advice of City Attorney Paul Taggart, the city will request an opinion from the Nevada Attorney Generals Office concerning whether the city can establish a law to declare it illegal for cattle owners to allow their cattle to roam in the City of Fernley, which may cause property damage or personal injury, and if such acts do occur, the cattle owner would face a misdemeanor charge. The city attorney told cattle owners, Dellis Bone and Don Alt that the city was not banning open grazing but making it unlawful for cattle to roam in city subdivisions. The issue came to light following complaints from Desert Bluff subdivision property owners that found Bone's bulls grazing on their lawns....
Japan supermarket chain resumes sales of U.S. beef A Tokyo supermarket on Thursday became the first major Japanese outlet to resume sales of U.S. beef since a ban was lifted last summer, and one of its first customers was the U.S. ambassador to Japan. The United States has exported beef to Japan since a ban imposed due to mad cow concerns was lifted in July 2006, but sales have been sluggish due in part to trade restrictions and consumer concerns about food safety. "I've been waiting all week to come out here," U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said at a Seiyu Ltd. (8268.T: Quote, Profile, Research) store in downtown Tokyo. The resumption of sales came a day after U.S. President George W. Bush told American ranchers that Japan, once its top export market for beef, and South Korea should fully open their markets to U.S. beef. Bush's remarks fueled the view that beef would again be a hot topic at a meeting expected to take place between the U.S. president and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, in late April or early May....

NEWS

Voters oppose eminent domain The backlash against eminent domain is so great that two-thirds of Ohio voters would ban the government taking of private property, even for public projects such as roads. That's one finding of a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, just as state lawmakers were fleshing out the details of the most significant property rights bill in decades. Lawmakers are reacting to recent U.S. and Ohio supreme court rulings on the use of eminent domain for economic development - that is, taking property from one private owner to give it to another. "Rarely do we see numbers this lopsided," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Polling Institute at the Hamden, Conn. university, which conducts independent state-level polls in swing states. "Voters just do not like eminent domain."....
Eminent anger Two-thirds of Ohio voters would ban the use of public domain even for such public projects as roads, says a Quinnipiac University poll released last week. The press release summed up the poll's findings thusly: Ohio voters support 78 - 17 percent setting limits on government use of eminent domain. In other questions on this issue: * Voters oppose 65 - 32 percent using government's eminent domain power to take private property for public projects such as roads; * Voters oppose 82 - 14 percent using eminent domain to take property for economic development; * Voters say 50 - 30 percent that government has abused eminent domain in the past. Interestingly, opposition to the use of eminent domain for public use projects pulls a majority of support across Republicans, Democrats and Independents -- but is highest for Democrats at 67 percent, defying the stereotype that donkey-party voters are generally government-friendly. Hostility to the use of eminent domain for economic development is so overwhelming across the board that it should simply put the issue off the table for discussion by politicians....
Why Monsanto loves ethanol For some time, How the World Works has been convinced that the rush to biofuels will significantly boost the ongoing rollout of genetically modified organisms. There's just too much money at stake in the energy business for it to be otherwise. The popularity of the latest biotech crops is a perfect illustration of this. These seeds aren't cheap -- they are top-of-the-line products. But for well-financed farmers and industrial-scale agribusinesses aiming to cash in on ethanol demand, seed costs are not a significant barrier. It seems reasonable to expect, in the not-too-distant future, quadruple- and quintuple- and sextuple-stacked hybrids that do all kinds of fancy things such as incorporate herbicide resistance, targeted pesticides, and modifications that make the corn cheaper and easier to industrially transform into ethanol. As more and more modifications are incorporated into a single organism, our ability to understand and predict how wide-scale proliferation of those organisms will affect the greater environment will become even more difficult than it already is. So maybe "treadmill" isn't the best metaphor to describe the current dynamic. A rocket launch into territory unknown might offer a more appropriate analogy....
Grazing geese damaging north coast ranch lands Ranchers along the north coast have their hands full this year as they grapple with the growing Aleutian goose population. Nearly 100,000 of the geese have descended on lush North Coast pastures, devouring cultivated grass that ranchers rely on to fatten their cattle in the spring. "It's just like locusts," said Jay Russ, a fifth-generation cattle rancher in Ferndale, located about 20 miles south of Eureka. Russ claims the hungry grazing geese have cost him $40,000 to $60,000 in lost feed over the past five years. A late-season hunt provided the ranchers with some relief, when an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 geese were killed, but it is unclear whether such hunts will become a permanent solution. Damage by the geese to fertile grazing land between Humboldt Bay and the Mad River is estimated at $200,000 to $400,000 a year, according to Mitch Farro, projects manager for the Pacific Coast Fish, Wildlife and Wetlands Restoration Association....
Montana may join Wyo wolf suit Some Democrats cried foul Tuesday over plans to send $150,000 to a Wyoming law firm so the Legislature can join a brewing lawsuit over the failure to remove wolves from the endangered species list. The House endorsed the plan to help the Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd challenge the federal government over the wolf issue. Supporters said the lawsuit, not yet filed, will give the state a seat at the table as an anticipated decision to delist moves into the courtroom. Opponents said the lawsuit would be a waste of money since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is already working hard to delist wolves. They argued it is particularly wrong to pay a Wyoming law firm to do the work, and to send another $50,000 to beef up legislative staff to monitor the lawsuit. The House endorsed the bill to join the lawsuit on a 58-41 vote, with some Democrats joining Republican backers of the plan....
Wildlife group considers fate of grizzly payment program With Yellowstone-area grizzlies poised to come off the endangered species list, a conservation group is deciding what to do about its program to pay ranchers for livestock killed by the bears. Since 1999, Defenders of Wildlife has cut checks for about $9,500 for cows and sheep confirmed to have been killed by grizzlies in the Montana and Idaho portions of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Payments have been scant in recent years because of fewer reported losses in the two states. The group paid $210 in 2005 for one ewe killed by grizzlies and two in Idaho that were probably killed by grizzlies. There were no payments last year. Part of the decline was because fall foods for grizzlies were abundant this year, allowing the bears to stay out of low-lying areas where they're more apt to get into trouble with livestock. Also, a 74,000-acre sheep grazing allotment south of Big Timber was retired last year. There had been numerous conflicts with predators in the past....
Montana dream sours for some rural dwellers From day one, Kurt Voight knew there was a problem. Sixteen years later, Voight and some of his fellow subdivision residents still clash with a neighbor who allows his cattle to graze on their property. "We all understand and appreciate the fact that the openness of this country is due to the stewardship of ranchers," Voight said. "But we feel this guy is taking advantage of an antiquated law that was never intended to do this." Open grazing is not the only problem for residents of many of the area's rural subdivisions, but it's one that represents the age-old tug of war between private property rights, regulations and just plain good neighborliness....
Study Links Beef to Lower Sperm Count A new study suggests that men whose mothers ate lots of beef during pregnancy may have lower sperm counts than other men. The researchers say residues of hormones given to beef to promote growth may be a factor, but that's not certain. The beef industry disputes that theory. "Nothing from this study changes the fact that during pregnancy, naturally nutrient-rich beef is a vital part of a healthy, wholesome diet for a mother and her child," Mary K. Young, MS, RD, tells WebMD in an emailed statement. Young is the executive director of nutrition for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). Fifty-one moms reported eating beef more than seven times per week during pregnancy. The average sperm concentration for their adult sons was 24% lower than men whose moms ate beef less often during pregnancy, the study shows. In addition, about 17% of men whose moms ate beef more than seven times weekly during pregnancy had sperm concentrations in the "subfertile" range, the researchers note. However, all of the men fathered children without medical treatment, according to the study....

Experiencing some internet access/performance issues...will try to get the rest of the news up tomorrow.

FLE

Christian Group Files Request for Pictures of Border Patrol Agent's Beating A Christian group has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to have the photographs of the beating of Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos released to the public. As Cybercast News Service reported, Ramos and fellow Border Patrol Agent Jose Compean were sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively, for shooting a suspected drug smuggler. "I believe once the photographs of this disgusting event are released, the anger that is growing among the American people about this case will reach a boiling point," said Rev. Don Swarthout, president of Christians Reviving America's Values (CRAVE). "And President Bush will have no choice but to pardon Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean," Swarthout added. Ramos was severely beaten while sleeping in his Mississippi prison as several illegal aliens reportedly shouted, "Kill the Border Patrol agent."....
FBI Director Mueller Defends Bureau's War on Terror Performance to Senate Panel FBI Director Robert Mueller labored Tuesday to persuade skeptical senators that the FBI can properly use its terrorism-era authority to gather telephone, e-mail and financial records of Americans and foreigners while pursuing terrorists. "We're going to be re-examining the broad authorities we granted the FBI in the Patriot Act," Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told Mueller. Citing the inspector general report on national security letters and his previous reports criticizing FBI reporting of terrorist cases, of weapons and laptops losses, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said, "Every time we turn around there is another enormous failure by the bureau." "There's another headline virtually on a daily basis," Specter added, citing a Washington Post report Tuesday that agents had submitted inaccurate data to a court that issues warrants for foreign intelligence surveillance. "The question arises as to whether any director can handle this job and whether the bureau itself can handle the job," Specter said, proposing that the panel give serious consideration to establishing a separate domestic intelligence agency like Britain's MI-5. In 1986, Congress first authorized FBI agents to obtain electronic records without approval from a judge, using national security letters. The letters can be used to acquire e-mails, telephone, travel records and financial information, like credit and bank transactions. They can be sent to telephone and Internet access companies, universities, public interest organizations, nearly all libraries, financial and credit companies. In 2001, the Patriot Act eliminated any requirement that the records belong to someone under suspicion. Now an innocent person's records can be obtained if FBI field agents consider them relevant to an ongoing terrorism or spying investigation....
FBI chief blames computers for privacy flap FBI Director Robert Mueller on Tuesday said secret "national security letters" are invaluable in unearthing telephone and e-mail logs and blamed computer snafus for deceiving Congress about how often the technique is used. This is not the first time the FBI's aging computers have become the subject of controversy. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft once blamed neglected, incompatible systems for hindering agents' ability to gather and share intelligence on terrorists. Internal audits have subsequently shown that the bureau has wasted over $100 million on computer upgrades that never worked....
DOJ Controversy Undermines FBI's Efforts The political fallout over Justice Department missteps has sidetracked fledgling discussions aimed at helping the FBI establish itself as a pre-eminent domestic intelligence agency. A classified FBI report said last year that existing laws on electronic surveillance are inadequate to investigate homegrown Islamic extremists. In little-noticed testimony, FBI Director Robert Mueller raised the issue before the Senate several months ago. Proposing a dramatic departure from current practice, Mueller said he would like to explore using the process set up under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to obtain secret warrants for searches and wiretaps for suspects who do not meet the law's current requirements but still present that type of intelligence threat. Civil liberties advocates say the Justice Department and FBI already have plenty of power to investigate intelligence cases. Kate Martin, head of the Center for National Security Studies, noted that the Justice Department has prosecuted a number of people who haven't done anything yet but have been in the early stage of planning attacks. "That is evidence that the FBI has the tools they need," she said....
FBI's 'misleading' wiretap suppressed In mid-2004, based on information from a confidential informant, FBI agent Scott Wenther submitted a 42-page sworn affidavit asking a federal magistrate judge for a wiretap of Rice's mobile phone. Wenther's request was approved. There was just one problem with some of the information in Wenther's affidavit: it was not true. Spurred by repeated requests by the defense attorneys, U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell eventually took a critical look at Wenther's claims. Russell ruled: • Wenther claimed that "physical investigation of the subjects of this investigation has been conducted." But Wenther later acknowledged in a subsequent hearing that Rice had never been the subject of physical surveillance and they didn't even know where he was. • Wenther claimed that "members of this criminal organization with known violent histories routinely carry firearms and wear bullet-resistant vests." But in reality, the FBI did not know whether Rice carried a gun. • Wenther claimed that "physical surveillance has also corroborated information provided by" an FBI informant. But that was a misleading reference to an entirely different suspect, not Rice himself. The sworn affidavit submitted by the FBI, in other words, was designed to fool the courts into approving surveillance of Rice based in part on misdirection and fabrications. Russell, the judge, took a dim view of Wenther's creativity....
Governor signs 'castle doctrine' deadly force bill Gov. Rick Perry signed into law Tuesday a bill that gives Texans a stronger legal right to defend themselves with deadly force in their homes, cars and workplaces. Both chambers of the Legislature overwhelmingly approved the measure earlier this month. The bill, backed by the National Rifle Association, states that a person has no duty to retreat from an intruder before using deadly force. The building or vehicle must be occupied at the time for the deadly force provision to apply, and the person using force cannot provoke the attacker or be involved in criminal activity at the time. Some refer to the measure as the "castle doctrine," drawing from the idea that a man's home is his castle and that he should have the right to defend it. Fifteen other states have passed similar laws. Texas is the first state to pass such a law this year, said Rep. Joe Driver, a Garland Republican who sponsored the measure....
N. Myrtle Beach gun shop settles NYC suit over sales Three more U.S. gun shops have settled a lawsuit accusing them of selling too many firearms that later fell into the hands of New York criminals. The shops, in Marietta, Ga., Youngstown, Ohio, and North Myrtle Beach were among 27 gun dealers sued by the city of New York last year as part of its unorthodox legal battle against the firearms industry. Twelve of the sued dealers have settled. Each of those shops agreed to allow a city-appointed inspector to monitor its future sales and provide extra training to store personnel. Managers and owners at the shops said financial considerations prompted their decision to settle....
Judge pulls gun in Florida court A Jacksonville, Fla., judge drew his handgun when an accused child molester was attacked by an alleged victim's father in court. "I didn't know if he was going after me or the bailiffs or the defendant," Circuit Judge John Merrett told The (Jacksonville, Fla.) Times-Union. The father, who had not seen the defendant before the court appearance, hurdled a railing and landed several punches on the handcuffed and shackled man before bailiffs restored order. Merrett said that once he saw the situation was under control, he handed his gun to the court clerk and asked her to lock it in a drawer. Merrett has a concealed weapon permit and said he'd do the same thing again, the newspaper reported. But Duval County Public Defender Bill White said the incident was frightening. He plans to talk to the chief judge about whether judges should be armed in court....
Understanding the Realities of REAL ID The proposed regulations issued by the Department of Homeland Security on March 9th "punted" on REAL ID’s most important technology, security, and privacy problems. At the same time, the Department’s own analysis helps reveal that REAL ID is a loser -- it would cost more to implement than it would add to our country’s protections. Of utmost importance, the DHS proposal lays the groundwork for systematic tracking of Americans based on their race. The bar code system standard that DHS calls for in the regulation includes machine-readable information about race and ethnicity. This is deeply concerning and unwise. Federal law and regulation should not promote a nationalID system that can track people by race. History has too many devastating examples of identification systems used to divide people based on religion, tribe, and race...Though many states have already voted to refuse the REAL ID Act, some have been waiting to see what they would find in the regulations issued by the Department of Homeland Security. Now that the regulations are out, it is clear that the states have been left holding the bag. Were they to comply with the REAL ID Act, states would have to cross a mine-field of complicated and expensive technology decisions. They would face enormous, possibly insurmountable privacy and data security challenges. But the Department of Homeland Security avoided these issues by carefully observing the constraints of federalism even though the REAL ID law was crafted specifically to destroy the distinctions between state and federal responsibilities...The privacy and data security consequences arising from REAL ID are immense, increasingly well understood, and probably insurmountable. The increased data collection and data retention required of states is concerning. Requiring states to maintain databases of foundational identity documents will create an incredibly attractive target to criminal organizations, hackers, and other wrongdoers. The breach of a state’s entire database, containing copies of birth certificates and various other documents and information, could topple the identity system we use in the United States today. The best data security is not creating large databases of sensitive and valuable information in the first place. The requirement that states transfer information from their databases to each other is concerning. This exposes the security weaknesses of each state to the security weaknesses of all the others. There are ways to limit the consequences of having a logical national database of driver information, but there is no way to ameliorate all the consequences of the REAL ID Act requirement that information about every American driver be made available to every other state....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Sweeping changes to global climate seen by 2100: study Many of the world's climate zones will vanish entirely by 2100, or be replaced by new, previously unseen ones, if global warming continues as expected, a study released Monday said. Rising temperatures will force existing climate zones toward higher latitudes and higher elevations, squeezing out climates at the colder extremes, and leaving room for unfamiliar climes around the equator, the study predicted. "Our findings are a logical outcome of global warming scenarios that are driven by continued emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases," said Jack Williams, a professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of the paper. Williams and colleagues from the University of Wyoming based their predictions on computer models that translate carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions into climate change. The emissions' estimates were taken from a report issued by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February. The models suggest that the climate zones covering as much as 48 percent of the earth's landmass could disappear by 2100....
24% Consider Al Gore Global Warming Expert Former Vice President Al Gore (D) received a warm welcome on Capitol Hill last week for his testimony on the environment and Global Warming. However, while he is now an Academy Award winner and celebrity activist, just 24% of Americans consider Gore an expert on Global Warming. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 1,000 adults found that 47% say he is not an expert on the topic (see crosstabs). In fact, just 36% of Americans say that Gore knows what he is talking about when it comes to the environment and Global Warming. Thirty-one percent (31%) say he does not know what he is talking about while 33% are not sure. Women, by a 2-to-1 margin, say Gore knows what he is talking about. Men, by a similar margin, say he does not....
Riches await as Earth's icy north melts Barren and uninhabited, Hans Island is very hard to find on a map. Yet these days the Frisbee-shaped rock in the Arctic is much in demand — so much so that Canada and Denmark have both staked their claim to it with flags and warships. The reason: an international race for oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes, accelerated by the impact of global warming on Earth's frozen north. The latest report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the ice cap is warming faster than the rest of the planet and ice is receding, partly due to greenhouse gases. It's a catastrophic scenario for the Arctic ecosystem, for polar bears and other wildlife, and for Inuit populations whose ancient cultures depend on frozen waters. But some see a lucrative silver lining of riches waiting to be snatched from the deep, and the prospect of timesaving sea lanes that could transform the shipping industry the way the Suez Canal did in the 19th century. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Russia reportedly sees the potential of minerals in its slice of the Arctic sector approaching $2 trillion....
Heat invades cool heights over Arizona desert High above the desert floor, this little alpine town has long served as a natural air-conditioned retreat for people in Tucson, one of the so-called sky islands of southern Arizona. When it is 105 degrees in the city, it is at least 20 degrees cooler up here near the 9,157-foot summit of Mount Lemmon. But for the past 10 years or so, things have been unraveling. Winter snows melt away earlier, longtime residents say, making for an erratic season at the nearby ski resort, the most southern in the nation. Legions of predatory insects have taken to the forest that mantles the upper mountain, killing trees weakened by record heat. And in 2003, a fire burned for a month, destroying much of the town and scarring more than 87,000 acres. The next year, another fire swept over 32,000 acres. The American Southwest has been warming for nearly 30 years, according to records that date to the late 19th century. And the region is in the midst of an eight-year drought. Both developments could be within the range of natural events. But what has convinced many scientists that the current spate of higher temperatures is not just another swing in the weather has been the near collapse of the sky islands and other high, formerly green havens that poke above the desert....
Scientist says he has cloned 2 wolves A former collaborator of disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk claimed Monday to have succeeded in cloning wolves. The two wolves were born Oct. 18 and 26 in 2005, said Lee Byeong-chun, a veterinary professor of Seoul National University, according to the university's office of research affairs. DNA tests showed the two wolves — named Snuwolf and Snuwolffy — are clones, the office said, adding the results would be published in the journal Cloning and Stem Cells. The team did not immediately provide any independent verification of the DNA tests. Prof. Lee's team succeeded in cloning a female dog, an Afghan hound named Bona, last year after creating the world's first cloned dog in 2005....
Ferret transplant may wait a year Plans to reintroduce the endangered black-footed ferret to Thunder Basin National Grassland may not happen this fall as originally thought. But, agencies participating in the project are optimistic that they will be able to bring the ferrets back next year. “Certainly we will move as quickly as we can, but it’s getting down to the wire for this fall,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Mary Jennings said. “If not this fall, then next year.” The agency is working to make sure adequate numbers of prairie dogs are thriving on the grassland, and solidifying support from landowners neighboring the grassland. Prairie dogs are the black-footed ferrets’ primary food source. A devastating outbreak of plague in 2001-02 decimated prairie dog numbers, although colonies are rebuilding well, said Misty Hays, deputy district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service’s Douglas Ranger District....
Opponents rally around groundwater study Opponents of Las Vegas' bid to take water from along the Utah-Nevada border say the first scientific peek at the proposal backs up their contention that it's a bad deal for Utah. The U.S. Geological Survey offered a sneak preview Monday of the agency's upcoming study of groundwater resources in the Great Basin. Ranchers, conservationists and local government officials have been eagerly awaiting the report because of what it may portend for the proposal by southern Nevada water officials to tap aquifers in the state's eastern valleys and pump it to Las Vegas via a pipeline network. The preliminary findings: There is more groundwater in the Snake Valley - which straddles Utah and Nevada - than originally thought. But there is also apparently more water flowing between Great Basin aquifers than has been historically assumed, meaning Snake Valley could eventually be impacted by groundwater pumping in neighboring Spring Valley, and perhaps elsewhere....
Congress to eye Colo. wildlife bill A Colorado bill designed to reduce the impact of oil and gas drilling on wildlife could serve as a model for federal law, state Rep. Dan Gibbs will tell a House committee today. Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, is scheduled to appear at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on how a surge in oil and gas drilling in the West is affecting the environment. Gibbs' bill, which passed the state House on Monday, would require Colorado's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to consult the Colorado Division of Wildlife on the effects of drilling on such things as animal habitats and mating. Concerns about the effects of drilling have united hunting and wildlife interests, who were previous political foes. The House committee is looking at ways to balance oil and gas development and environmental interests, said Lawrence Pacheco, spokesman for Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, who is on the panel. "This is becoming a bigger issue as we see more oil and gas development in the West," Pacheco said....
Ozone monitor to be installed on Aspen Mountain Come Friday, local officials will have another tool -- a nondescript gray, plastic box adorned with a protruding tube -- to help them get a handle on whether local and regional pollution is affecting air in nearby wilderness areas and other pristine high-altitude lands of the White River National Forest surrounding Aspen. The gray box, an active ozone monitor to be installed on Aspen Mountain, will record data on high-altitude ambient concentrations of ozone -- a compound produced when sunlight cooks byproducts of fossil fuel burning and other combustion called nitrous oxides -- said plant physiologist Bob Musselman of the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins. Musselman and physical scientist John Korfmacher, also of the Rocky Mountain Research Station, are collaborating with Andrea Holland-Sears of the White River National Forest to look at ozone in remote, high areas of the forest, Korfmacher said. "It's something the forest wants to keep an eye on," he explained, citing growing public and agency concerns about the possible impacts of increasing air pollution from expanding communities, traffic, and the booming oil and gas industry in western Garfield County....
Foreman: Conservation Movement Must Return To Roots In a recent column, I argued that nature conservationists who work to protect wilderness areas and wild species should be called conservationists, and that resource conservationists, who wish to domesticate and manage lands and species for the benefit and use of humans, should be called resourcists. I also believe that nature conservationists are different birds than environmentalists, who work to protect human health from the ravages of industrialization,and that therefore there is not a single “environmental movement.” When environmentalists turn their attention from the so-called “built environment” to nature, they can take either a conservationist or a resourcist pathway. I’ve named environmentalists who have a utilitarian resourcist view “enviro-resourcists.” And I’ve ruffled some feathers with this view. I’ve ruffled even more feathers lately by warning that enviro-resourcists have been slowing gaining control of conservation groups, thereby undercutting and weakening our effectiveness, and that nature lovers need to take back the conservation family....
Editorial - Abramoff scandal just won't go away Former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles' guilty plea to obstruction of justice last week marked another disgraceful chapter in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal. It also served as a reminder of how poorly the Interior Department and thus the West have been served during the Bush administration's six years in office. Griles became the highest-ranking Bush administration official convicted in connection with Abramoff - a still-unraveling scandal that has tentacles all over Washington. Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, resigned from Bush's Cabinet in 2006. However, there's never been any evidence that Norton knew that Abramoff or others were using her name to solicit funds from Indian tribes. She now works as a general counsel for oil giant Royal Dutch Shell - part of the same industry that was near and dear to Interior's heart. Norton was attacked by environmentalists as Interior secretary for her pro-development policies regarding oil and gas, coal and timber....
Inside the secretive plan to gut the Endangered Species Act The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is maneuvering to fundamentally weaken the Endangered Species Act, its strategy laid out in an internal 117-page draft proposal obtained by Salon. The proposed changes limit the number of species that can be protected and curtail the acres of wildlife habitat to be preserved. It shifts authority to enforce the act from the federal government to the states, and it dilutes legal barriers that protect habitat from sprawl, logging or mining. In recent months, the Fish and Wildlife Service has gone to extraordinary efforts to keep drafts of regulatory changes from the public. All copies of the working document were given a number corresponding to a person, so that leaked copies could be traced to that individual. An e-mail sent in March from an assistant regional director at the Fish and Wildlife Service to agency staff, asking for comments on and corrections to the first draft, underscored the concern with secrecy: "Please Keep close hold for now. Dale [Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] does not want this stuff leaking out to stir up discontent based on speculation." Many Fish and Wildlife Service employees believe the draft is not based on "defensible science," says a federal employee who asked to remain anonymous. Yet "there is genuine fear of retaliation for communicating that to the media. People are afraid for their jobs." Chris Tollefson, a spokesperson for the service, says that while it's accurate to characterize the agency as trying to keep the draft under wraps, the agency has every intention of communicating with the public about the proposed changes; the draft just hasn't been ready. And, he adds, it could still be changed as part of a forthcoming formal review process....
Sea lions return to dam's fish buffet line They're back -- the California sea lions that drive federal officials and fishermen to distraction by parking themselves at the Bonneville Dam to feast on spring chinook salmon as they swim up the Columbia River to spawn. Government employees dragged out the usual arsenal of large firecrackers, obnoxious noises and rubber bullets to fend off Steller sea lions, who prefer sturgeon, and reported some success. But the same tactics have famously flopped in the past against the California sea lions, who, like the Stellers, are federally protected and seem to know it. They prey on salmon that school up at the base of the dam waiting to go up the fish ladders toward spawning grounds. So far there's no sign of C404, the California sea lion who approached celebrity status by figuring out how to get into the dam's fish ladders for easy pickings. But officials are watching for him....
Editorial - A Delta water crisis? A lone judge in Alameda County is threatening to shut down the water pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that sustain 18 million Southern Californians and millions of acres of agriculture. Judge Frank Roesch's tentative ruling, which would give the state 60 days to comply, is fairly simple. Of all the paperwork on file at the Sacramento headquarters of the State Water Project (operator of the Delta pumps), there is not the "incidental take" permit that clearly shows compliance with the state Endangered Species Act. No permit, no pumping, is Roesch's logic. It is unlikely that the water pumps, the largest in the nation, will soon fall silent because of the court ruling. But the very possibility is enough to cause a political tsunami throughout the system. Developments throughout Southern California are based on a legal foundation that the State Water Project is a lawful, reliable source of supply. All kinds of business interests typically indifferent to Delta issues are about to become very interested. They will find that the Delta's stakeholders are in the early stages of considering anew how to manage the estuary. This lawsuit puts even more pressure on that process to be successful....
Protection, acre by acre For the past decade, San Diego conservationist Camille Armstrong and her colleagues have combed California for pristine parcels that might deserve the nation's most restrictive land-use designation. They've pored over maps, snapped stacks of photographs, camped far and wide across the backcountry, consulted managers of land-use agencies and lobbied politicians. They've found a big-time backer in Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., head of the Senate's environment committee. Recently, Boxer introduced her statewide wilderness blueprint for the fourth time. It proposes that more than 2.4 million acres of California – including about 45,000 acres in San Diego County – be designated as federal wilderness. It's the largest of several wilderness bills introduced in Congress this year....
Former chiefs rap snowmobiles Seven of the eight living men and women who’ve served as National Park Service directors have joined in a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne urging him to move away from snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park. The letter was released Monday, the day before Yellowstone’s winter use draft environmental impact statement was set for release. The plan is expected to call for allowing up to 720 snowmobiles a day in the park. Spanning every Democratic and Republican presidential administration from Lyndon Johnson to Bill Clinton, the seven former Park Service leaders said the proposal would undercut Kempthorne’s commitment to emphasize conservation in the national parks....
National Parks Plan Big Fee Increases The federal government has a financial plan for the national parks, but they didn’t want to release it to the public the agency serves. Instead, a few concerned citizens have to wade through the laborious process of obtaining documents under the Freedom of Information Act. Now that Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness and friends did the digging for us, we know what many of us have suspected all along. The National Park Service (NPS) has a multi-year plan to keep raising fees. About 60 percent (88 of 147) of our parks and monuments have scheduled fee increases this year or in 2008. Most of the rest plan an increase for 2009. In the end, many parks will double or even triple fees. And who says inflation is only 2.5 percent?....
Cloned Cattle Yield Test-Tube Herds for U.S. Sirloins, Milk Mark Walton, head of the world's largest animal cloning company, sees his biotechnology lab in Austin, Texas, as the next frontier in food production. Nine months ago, scientists at Walton's closely held ViaGen Inc. extracted genetic information from customers' prized cattle and transferred the DNA into bovine eggs to make embryos. Now, 75 miles away at the 300-acre Hillman Ranch in the town of Cameron, surrogate mother cows, carrying the embryos, are giving birth to calves that are clones of the clients' finest cattle. This generation of test-tube bulls and cows may be the first whose elite genes end up in America's meat and milk. U.S. regulators are set to approve the cloning of animals for the food supply as early as this year. This action will open the way for food producers to use copies of genetically superior animals to make bigger, stronger herds and, perhaps, tastier products....
It's All Trew: Sausage came in a variety of flavors History reveals that each ethnic group of emigrants coming to America probably brought a special recipe for making sausage native to their respective country. Sometimes, sausage recipes like the languages spoken, differed from village to village within the same country. When we cook sausage either by frying, baking, boiling or smoking, we often change the taste again. Sausage is the ultimate all-purpose meat. Trew family traditions date back to the Depression days, when we participated in community hog and beef butchering days in early Ochiltree County. Too young to remember sausage ingredients, I do remember mother frying sausage patties, placing them into crocks then pouring hot lard on top to preserve. I also remember fishing around in the gooey lard later trying to find patties for meals. Depending on your location, other meats were sometimes added to the ground pork. Families with active hunters and available game put venison or elk meat into their sausage mixes adding a "gamey" flavor. Some added ground beef to keep sausage from being so greasy. Link sausage made by stuffing the meat into long casing and smoking presented a different shape and taste entirely. Last, we must not forget adding rabbit. During the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, when times were the hardest, jackrabbits and cottontail rabbits were often added to sausage recipes. Cottontail rabbit numbers seemed to never vary much. There were always a few around the outbuildings providing a break from the beef and beans menu....

FLE

U.S. Can't Account for 600,000 Fugitives Teams assigned to make sure foreigners ordered out of the United States actually leave have a backlog of more than 600,000 cases and can't accurately account for the fugitives' whereabouts, the government reported Monday. The report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general found that the effectiveness of teams assigned to find the fugitives was hampered by "insufficient detention capacity, limitations of an immigration database and inadequate working space." Even though more than $204 million was allocated for 52 fugitive operations teams since 2003, a backlog of 623,292 cases existed as of August of 2006, the report said. The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has been estimated at between 11.5 million and 12 million. About 5.4 percent of them are believed to be "fugitive aliens," those who have failed to leave the country after being ordered out. The inspector general found there is not enough bed space available to detain such fugitives and that agents are hampered by an inaccurate database. Other factors that limit the teams' effectiveness are insufficient staffing, the report said....
Border Inspector Gets Nearly 6 Years An American border inspector was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in prison for taking cash and cars from smugglers, allowing them to shuttle illegal immigrants from Mexico into the United States. Richard Elizalda, a 10-year veteran of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, worked at the world's busiest border crossing, the San Ysidro Port of Entry between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego. Investigators said he sent text messages directing smugglers to his inspection lane, then waved their vehicles through. In return, he received as much as $1,000 for each immigrant, totaling $120,000 in cash starting in 2004. "This is a terrible thing that you did," U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns said. "You're one of the gatekeepers of the safety and security of the United States and you abdicated that role." Elizalda was arrested in June....
Chertoff praises "enhanced" WA licenses for border crossings High-security driver's licenses aimed at letting U.S. citizens return from Canada without a passport could be adopted elsewhere if Washington state's experiment works, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday. The pilot project, signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire and formally approved by Chertoff on Friday, calls for Washington to begin issuing new "enhanced" driver's licenses in January. They will look much like conventional driver's licenses, but will be loaded with proof of citizenship and other information that can be easily scanned at the border. Radio frequency ID chips and other advanced security features also would make the enhanced licenses less vulnerable to forgery. At about $40, they also would be less expensive than a $97 passport. Chertoff's endorsement of the pilot project comes as border states prepare for new federal security requirements mandating a passport for travelers - including U.S. citizens - who enter the country by sea or land from elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere....
Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list. The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today. "The way in which the list is being used goes far beyond contexts in which it has a link to national security," said Shirin Sinnar, the report's author. "The government is effectively conscripting private businesses into the war on terrorism but doing so without making sure that businesses don't trample on individual rights."....
Gun shop aims at city, but misfires Of all the gun shops being sued by Mayor Bloomberg, only one dealer is demanding to see evidence that New York City has suffered financially because of mayhem inflicted with illegal firearms. The demand by an attorney for Bob Moates Sports Shop in Virginia was promptly rejected yesterday by a federal judge, who advised the lawyer to buy a newspaper. "You can pick up the newspaper any day and there are people being killed on the streets of New York," said Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein. "Policemen, bystanders ... and in a substantial number of cases these are by illegal guns," an incredulous Weinstein continued. Richard Gardiner, the attorney for Bob Moates, tried to argue that the Bloomberg administration must demonstrate, for the case to go forward, that guns bought at the Midlothian shop have caused more than $75,000 in harm. But the judge cut him off. "One gun, one bullet is enough," Weinstein shot back. Bloomberg has filed federal lawsuits against 27 out-of-state dealers accusing them of illegally peddling weapons that end up in the hands of New York criminals....
Webb Aide Arrested for Gun Possession An aide to Sen. Jim Webb was arrested Monday when he entered a Senate office building with a loaded pistol belonging to the senator. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the aide was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possessing an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition. The office of Webb, D-Va., identified the aide as Phillip Thompson and said he was "a former Marine, a long-term friend and trusted employee of the senator." A congressional official briefed on the incident said Webb gave the gun to Thompson when the assistant drove him to an airport earlier in the day. Thompson, upon entering the Senate building, forgot he was carrying the weapon. "To our knowledge, this incident was an oversight," Webb's office said in a statement. It said it had no other details.