DONA ANA WILDERNESS
Sen.: "Wilderness' up in the air
Whether U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman decides to back an attempt to create a federal wilderness area in Doña Ana County will hinge on how much consensus there is for the measure, the senator said during a visit to the area Thursday. Bingaman, D-N.M., has been touring New Mexico the past two weeks during an August recess of the Senate. He said staff in his office are examining the wilderness issue and he's awaiting a report. "We've got some people taking soundings on this and seeing if this is something we ought to devote significant amounts of time to," he said, during an interview at the Sun-News office. How much consensus is the senator looking for? Bingaman said he doesn't have a specific threshold, but he'll recognize the support if he sees it. Bingaman said he's heard several differing plans for protecting federal land in Doña Ana County, but so far, none has "enjoyed the broad support you'd like to see to proceed."...."It's a question of where do we spend our time and energy," he said. "We've got lots of projects to pursue in Congress."....This is a positive for those who oppose the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance proposal and for those who are seeking alternatives to that proposal. Senator Bingaman is quite correct in that the NMWA proposal does not enjoy "the broad support you'd like to see."
Friday, August 17, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Forest Service revises plan after ruling The Forest Service on Thursday proposed rules for managing 193 million acres of national forests, responding to a court ruling that tossed out policies giving forest managers great discretion to approve logging and other commercial projects. The Forest Service said the new rules would make land management plans more adaptable to changing conditions while ensuring continued public involvement in the nation's 155 national forests. But environmentalists said the Bush administration was again trying to strip important protections for wildlife and clean water, despite a court order rejecting its approach. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell, who took over the job earlier this year, said the rules would allow the Forest Service to protect the environment in an efficient and inclusive manner. The plan includes a draft environmental impact statement with five alternatives that officials said would strengthen the role of science in forest management and allow more public involvement in the planning process....
Editorial - Politicos should stop playing politics with Piñon Canyon Since it was first initiated, we have paid careful attention to the Army’s proposal to increase the size of the Piñon Canyon maneuver site from 235,000 acres to more than 600,000 acres. Those opposed to the expansion say that the Army is overreaching, that a quarter of a million acres is more than enough for training purposes. They also are dismayed, and rightfully so, by the prospect of forcing hundreds of ranching families off lands that, in many cases, have been passed down from generation to generation. The Army, pointing to the changing nature of combat operations, contends that it needs the additional space to train the men and women who may, in years and decades to come, be charged with defending our country’s vital interests in distant and hostile lands. Modern weapons systems greatly extend the reach and complexity of small-unit operations, necessitating the expansion....
Prairie dog settlement a possibility Under a veil of secrecy, it appears a settlement in the very public Logan County lawsuit over prairie dogs is in the offing. But because the negotiations are taking place in private, few details have emerged. As a result, Tuesday's trial still officially is on the docket. What is known is that defendants in the lawsuit -- ranchers who favor keeping prairie dogs so federal wildlife officials can reintroduce the black-footed ferret, the nation's most endangered mammal -- will make some small concessions. "We're going to agree to a couple things," said Larry Haverfield, one of the defendants in the lawsuit. "And they're going to drop the case." The defendants in the case will admit they were notified by the Logan County Commission that the prairie dogs have been a nuisance. They also will have to admit they didn't object to the notice. In return, Logan County, which filed the lawsuit, will give at least two days notice in the event the county decides to enter on the land and begin the poisoning process. That presumably would then give the landowners time to go to court and obtain a restraining order to stop the poisoning....
Avoiding the Next 1910 Some still insist these conditions are “natural,” nature righting human interference. Well, that’s hooey. The history and reality of landscape fire, as PhD anthropologist Bob Zybach of Corvallis, Ore., explains, is that “aboriginals found throughout the world […] over great lengths of time, had found ways to manage vegetation to benefit their existence. The burns were to provide safety from animals and people, to keep wildfire from killing them, to provide vigor and health in plants that gave them food or fiber.” Face it, folks … the landscape we live in, even the wildernesses we have set aside, are a social construct, a social artifact stemming from human decisions to act, or not act. It is time to act. We are experiencing earlier starts, longer durations, and higher intensities, to the point where we, despite throwing billions of dollars away, are helpless – not before “Nature’s wrath” – but as a consequence of our own foolishness. The only way from here on out to fight fire, and the loss of good habitat, clean air, clean water, fine wood, all sorts of forest “benefits” to our “existence,” is to act preemptively year round, using prescribed fires in combination with, you betcha, logging....
Threat of bears shuts down glacier trail The threat from bears has shut down a popular trail in southeast Alaska. The U.S. Forest Service has temporarily closed a substantial section of the Steep Creek Trail at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. Wayne Ward, assistant director of the visitor center, said yesterday it has become impossible to ensure the safety of visitors and the bears. Portions of the popular bear viewing area and trail surrounding the sockeye and coho spawning grounds could remain closed for the rest of the season. However, the viewing platform adjacent to the parking lot and a main section of the raised walkway above the creek remain open....
Wildfire closes in on famous Yellowstone resort Firefighters prepared today to protect a historic lodge in the path of a wildfire that has spread outside Yellowstone National Park. Large sprinklers were set up around Pahaska Tepee Resort, part of which was built by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1904, and co-owner Angela Coe expected to evacuate soon. She was among the last people still at the smoke-choked resort. "I'm seriously concerned," she said. The resort's last guests left Tuesday and nearly all staff left Wednesday, when a pre-evacuation order was issued for an eight-mile-long area east of the park. About 100 structures are in that area, including the resort and the Buffalo Bill Boy Scout Camp....
BLM 'sets bar higher' for grouse The Bureau of Land Management is offering energy companies a trade-off in the Powder River Basin: Don’t drill in high-quality sage grouse habitat, and the land management agency will prioritize drilling permits elsewhere. “This is not a prohibition. We’re just setting the bar higher,” said Steven Hall, spokesman for the agency. A Wednesday press release from the BLM said decisions about new energy development in high-quality sage grouse habitat will consider recent peer-review findings on the impacts of energy development on sage grouse. Earlier this summer, the BLM accepted the results of more than five years of studies performed by University of Montana researchers, headed by professor David Naugle....
Gov: Order prevents bison hunt Gov. Dave Freudenthal has called on the federal government to resolve legal issues blocking the state from holding a bison hunt on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole. Freudenthal wrote to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne last week. The governor stated that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked the state Game and Fish Department to hold a hunt on the refuge to reduce the bison population. In response to a lawsuit filed by the Fund for Animals, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., barred the federal government in 1998 from allowing the killing of bison at the refuge. The judge agreed that the federal agencies had failed to conduct adequate environmental analysis. Freudenthal said he's concerned that the federal court order may still be in effect. He said he doesn't want the state or any hunters held in contempt of court....
Uranium mining fuels jump in claims in West Metals-mining claims on Western federal lands jumped by 80 percent in the past 4 1/2 years, some popping up near popular national parks. Overall metals-mining claims rose from 207,540 in January 2003 to 376,493 last month, two advocacy and research organizations said Thursday, based on their review of the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management records. Higher prices for gold and copper and renewed interest in uranium exploration, mainly because of global demand for nuclear power, helped fuel the jump. Between 2004 and 2006, four states - Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming - saw uranium-mining claims rise from 4,300 to 32,000, the Environmental Working Group and the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining reported....
Judge rejects salmon lawsuit A federal judge ruled the government does not have to count hatchery salmon along with wild fish when deciding whether to protect a species. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan in Eugene denied a lawsuit brought by property rights advocates, farm groups and development interests against NOAA Fisheries. It challenged all 16 listings of West Coast salmon in Washington, Oregon and California under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit claimed the government was playing a "shell game" by counting only the natural population to determine listings, harming the economy by restricting development and agriculture to protect salmon habitat. "In the absence of a challenge to (NOAA Fisheries') scientific conclusions, the ESA does not require that protective regulations treat natural populations and hatchery stocks equally," Hogan wrote in the ruling issued late Monday. Sonya Jones, an attorney for Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents plaintiffs, said they were disappointed, particularly because in 2001 Hogan ruled in favor of their argument that NOAA Fisheries could not protect wild Oregon coastal salmon as a threatened species if it did not protect hatchery fish in the same population group. "We believe this is an unlawful interpretation of the way the hatchery policy was applied to these 16 populations," Jones said of the latest ruling. "We will be appealing it."....
Plan would allow farmers to kill wolves caught attacking livestock Farmers could kill wolves caught in the act of attacking their livestock under a proposed management plan released Thursday that addresses Michigan's resurgent gray wolf population. The state Department of Natural Resources' draft plan also suggests a permitting process so livestock producers could handle wolves on their property after an attack on livestock has been verified. The proposal largely mirrors an earlier report from an advisory panel that agreed there should be no specific wolf population targets and endorsed killing wolves that prey on livestock if non-lethal methods fail. The DNR's wildlife division was scheduled to present the draft plan to the Natural Resources Commission Thursday afternoon in Lansing. States now have responsibility for keeping wolf numbers at healthy levels because the federal government plans to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list....
Reward Money Hits $9,000 In Wolf Shooting Conservation groups are offering a $4,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who shot and killed a wolf that migrated into northeastern Oregon. The reward comes on top of $5,000 offered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The female gray wolf - protected as an endangered species - was found last May outside Elgin. It had apparently crossed the Snake River from Idaho, where packs were introduced in 1995 and 1996. Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild and Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity say the shooting highlights the need to maintain federal protection for wolves, a key to restoring healthy ecosystems, despite efforts to take them off the endangered species list....
States petitioned on ocean acidification A conservation organization has requested that Alaska and six other states add bodies of water to their list of impaired waterways: the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The Center for Biological Diversity, based in San Francisco, requested that Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii list the Pacific Ocean as impaired under the federal Clean Water Act. The group wants New York, New Jersey and Florida to list the Atlantic. The reason: ocean acidification, the changing of sea water chemistry because of absorption of carbon dioxide produced by humans. A center attorney, Miyoko Sakashita, said listing the oceans as impaired under the Clean Water Act would allow states to set limits on the discharge of pollutants. The ocean's absorption of CO2 is quietly and lethally altering its fundamental chemistry, Sakashita said. "We must act now to prevent global warming's evil twin, ocean acidification, from destroying our ocean ecosystems," she said....
Land swap ends in condemnation at state park Last week, in an effort to lock up a piece of land in their newest state park, Oregon Parks Department officials took a dramatic step they’d not taken for nearly three decades: they severed a local logger’s timber rights. The drastic move, using what’s known as eminent domain, was an attempt to stop logging in the department’s 1,650-acre L.L. “Stub” Stewart State Park near Vernonia. But for Banks timber man Jim Smejkal – who signed over 113 acres of timber land for the creation of the park but maintained logging rights on the land until last week – the move left him feeling he’d been the target of a bait and switch....
A beastly crime wave The buzzards led Nick Bursio to his prized calf. He found the body just over a rise in the field, with a bullet hole in its left shoulder, near the heart. Bursio had heard of animals killed by rustlers for their meat. But not until that May morning had he ever imagined anything so senseless as shooting cattle presumably just to watch them die. "I had a hollow feeling in my gut, to see that dead calf laying there, with the mother cow bellowing nearby," said the Sonoma County rancher. "I thought, what the hell's going on in this place?" Authorities are searching for a drive-by shooter who guns down cows as they calmly munch grass in the rolling pastureland 50 miles north of San Francisco. Since February, five cows have been found dead in two counties, shot with small-caliber bullets designed to inflict prolonged pain and suffering. Nationwide, an increasing number of animal cruelty cases are being reported outside city limits: Horses, cows, goats and other farm animals are being killed, authorities say, often by angry, reckless youths, perhaps acting on dares....
UK eases foot and mouth curbs after negative tests Britain said on Wednesday it would ease restrictions on livestock movements and was likely to stand down vaccination teams after initial tests for foot and mouth disease at a farm and theme park proved negative. Authorities sealed off a farm in Kent, southern England, and Chessington World of Adventures & Zoo, a theme park in nearby Surrey, on Tuesday because of suspicions of foot and mouth. But Britain's Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds said preliminary tests had found no foot and mouth at either site. The latest report on the outbreak concludes the risk of the disease spreading outside the infected area in Surrey is now "very low," Reynolds told a news conference. "Tests from both places are negative," an agriculture ministry spokesman said....
Contaminated water kills dozens of bison Livestock are dying by the dozens in a ranching area southwest of Saskatoon because of blue-green algae flourishing in the water. This uncanny occurrence has left Wiseton and Dinsmore area ranchers scrambling to deal with the dilemma. Area rancher Ivan Thomson said about 40 of his bison have died from drinking contaminated water, with the first fatality occurring about two weeks ago. It's primarily the breeding bulls and the heavier milking females that are perishing, he said. "They're more active, so their systems require more moisture. They drink more water, then bang," he said. Thomson has moved his livestock to different pastures, but he's been finding blue-green algae sometimes pops up in water he thought was safe. Some of his bison have died within 30 minutes of ingesting the water -- sometimes while they're still standing in a water body -- while others have lived nearly two days after, he said....
Better Mad Cow Test Scientists have taken a big step towards a quick, sensitive test for the proteins that go haywire in mad-cow disease. Because people or animals can be infected for years without showing symptoms, the researchers say developing a better test will be key to preventing a silent epidemic. Right now, the only method that blood banks have for keeping deadly mad cow disease (called variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, or vCJD ) out of the blood supply is with donor questionnaires. National Institutes of Health researcher Byron Caughey has been searching for a better way for more than a decade....
EEE Hitting Louisiana Horses Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) has caused the deaths of eight horses in Lafourche Parish, La. Veterinarians also suspect the virus in two additional cases of equine illness. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Bob Odom released a statement Aug. 3 on the mosquito-borne virus' emergence in the state. "Since there is no cure for Eastern equine encephalitis [only supportive care], I am urging horse owners to vaccinate their animals," Odom said. "This is a very preventable disease, but often horse owners wait until it's too late." The progression of EEE is swift and ugly. Affected horses will struggle with muscle tremors, weakness, and staggering gaits, and they might circle aimlessly or tilt their heads at odd angles. Horses that have not been vaccinated for EEE should have two doses of the vaccine given about two weeks apart. An annual booster protects horses that have been vaccinated. Odom noted that veterinarians in Louisiana should report any suspected case of equine neurologic encephalitis. Eastern equine encephalitis is of special interest to veterinarians and human health authorities, as the virus can also infect humans. The virus cannot pass directly from horses to humans (mosquitoes are required to transmit it to mammals from infected birds), but horses can act as sentinels to alert public health officials that the virus is present in the area. There is no vaccine for humans....
Forest Service revises plan after ruling The Forest Service on Thursday proposed rules for managing 193 million acres of national forests, responding to a court ruling that tossed out policies giving forest managers great discretion to approve logging and other commercial projects. The Forest Service said the new rules would make land management plans more adaptable to changing conditions while ensuring continued public involvement in the nation's 155 national forests. But environmentalists said the Bush administration was again trying to strip important protections for wildlife and clean water, despite a court order rejecting its approach. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell, who took over the job earlier this year, said the rules would allow the Forest Service to protect the environment in an efficient and inclusive manner. The plan includes a draft environmental impact statement with five alternatives that officials said would strengthen the role of science in forest management and allow more public involvement in the planning process....
Editorial - Politicos should stop playing politics with Piñon Canyon Since it was first initiated, we have paid careful attention to the Army’s proposal to increase the size of the Piñon Canyon maneuver site from 235,000 acres to more than 600,000 acres. Those opposed to the expansion say that the Army is overreaching, that a quarter of a million acres is more than enough for training purposes. They also are dismayed, and rightfully so, by the prospect of forcing hundreds of ranching families off lands that, in many cases, have been passed down from generation to generation. The Army, pointing to the changing nature of combat operations, contends that it needs the additional space to train the men and women who may, in years and decades to come, be charged with defending our country’s vital interests in distant and hostile lands. Modern weapons systems greatly extend the reach and complexity of small-unit operations, necessitating the expansion....
Prairie dog settlement a possibility Under a veil of secrecy, it appears a settlement in the very public Logan County lawsuit over prairie dogs is in the offing. But because the negotiations are taking place in private, few details have emerged. As a result, Tuesday's trial still officially is on the docket. What is known is that defendants in the lawsuit -- ranchers who favor keeping prairie dogs so federal wildlife officials can reintroduce the black-footed ferret, the nation's most endangered mammal -- will make some small concessions. "We're going to agree to a couple things," said Larry Haverfield, one of the defendants in the lawsuit. "And they're going to drop the case." The defendants in the case will admit they were notified by the Logan County Commission that the prairie dogs have been a nuisance. They also will have to admit they didn't object to the notice. In return, Logan County, which filed the lawsuit, will give at least two days notice in the event the county decides to enter on the land and begin the poisoning process. That presumably would then give the landowners time to go to court and obtain a restraining order to stop the poisoning....
Avoiding the Next 1910 Some still insist these conditions are “natural,” nature righting human interference. Well, that’s hooey. The history and reality of landscape fire, as PhD anthropologist Bob Zybach of Corvallis, Ore., explains, is that “aboriginals found throughout the world […] over great lengths of time, had found ways to manage vegetation to benefit their existence. The burns were to provide safety from animals and people, to keep wildfire from killing them, to provide vigor and health in plants that gave them food or fiber.” Face it, folks … the landscape we live in, even the wildernesses we have set aside, are a social construct, a social artifact stemming from human decisions to act, or not act. It is time to act. We are experiencing earlier starts, longer durations, and higher intensities, to the point where we, despite throwing billions of dollars away, are helpless – not before “Nature’s wrath” – but as a consequence of our own foolishness. The only way from here on out to fight fire, and the loss of good habitat, clean air, clean water, fine wood, all sorts of forest “benefits” to our “existence,” is to act preemptively year round, using prescribed fires in combination with, you betcha, logging....
Threat of bears shuts down glacier trail The threat from bears has shut down a popular trail in southeast Alaska. The U.S. Forest Service has temporarily closed a substantial section of the Steep Creek Trail at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. Wayne Ward, assistant director of the visitor center, said yesterday it has become impossible to ensure the safety of visitors and the bears. Portions of the popular bear viewing area and trail surrounding the sockeye and coho spawning grounds could remain closed for the rest of the season. However, the viewing platform adjacent to the parking lot and a main section of the raised walkway above the creek remain open....
Wildfire closes in on famous Yellowstone resort Firefighters prepared today to protect a historic lodge in the path of a wildfire that has spread outside Yellowstone National Park. Large sprinklers were set up around Pahaska Tepee Resort, part of which was built by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1904, and co-owner Angela Coe expected to evacuate soon. She was among the last people still at the smoke-choked resort. "I'm seriously concerned," she said. The resort's last guests left Tuesday and nearly all staff left Wednesday, when a pre-evacuation order was issued for an eight-mile-long area east of the park. About 100 structures are in that area, including the resort and the Buffalo Bill Boy Scout Camp....
BLM 'sets bar higher' for grouse The Bureau of Land Management is offering energy companies a trade-off in the Powder River Basin: Don’t drill in high-quality sage grouse habitat, and the land management agency will prioritize drilling permits elsewhere. “This is not a prohibition. We’re just setting the bar higher,” said Steven Hall, spokesman for the agency. A Wednesday press release from the BLM said decisions about new energy development in high-quality sage grouse habitat will consider recent peer-review findings on the impacts of energy development on sage grouse. Earlier this summer, the BLM accepted the results of more than five years of studies performed by University of Montana researchers, headed by professor David Naugle....
Gov: Order prevents bison hunt Gov. Dave Freudenthal has called on the federal government to resolve legal issues blocking the state from holding a bison hunt on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole. Freudenthal wrote to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne last week. The governor stated that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked the state Game and Fish Department to hold a hunt on the refuge to reduce the bison population. In response to a lawsuit filed by the Fund for Animals, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., barred the federal government in 1998 from allowing the killing of bison at the refuge. The judge agreed that the federal agencies had failed to conduct adequate environmental analysis. Freudenthal said he's concerned that the federal court order may still be in effect. He said he doesn't want the state or any hunters held in contempt of court....
Uranium mining fuels jump in claims in West Metals-mining claims on Western federal lands jumped by 80 percent in the past 4 1/2 years, some popping up near popular national parks. Overall metals-mining claims rose from 207,540 in January 2003 to 376,493 last month, two advocacy and research organizations said Thursday, based on their review of the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management records. Higher prices for gold and copper and renewed interest in uranium exploration, mainly because of global demand for nuclear power, helped fuel the jump. Between 2004 and 2006, four states - Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming - saw uranium-mining claims rise from 4,300 to 32,000, the Environmental Working Group and the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining reported....
Judge rejects salmon lawsuit A federal judge ruled the government does not have to count hatchery salmon along with wild fish when deciding whether to protect a species. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan in Eugene denied a lawsuit brought by property rights advocates, farm groups and development interests against NOAA Fisheries. It challenged all 16 listings of West Coast salmon in Washington, Oregon and California under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit claimed the government was playing a "shell game" by counting only the natural population to determine listings, harming the economy by restricting development and agriculture to protect salmon habitat. "In the absence of a challenge to (NOAA Fisheries') scientific conclusions, the ESA does not require that protective regulations treat natural populations and hatchery stocks equally," Hogan wrote in the ruling issued late Monday. Sonya Jones, an attorney for Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents plaintiffs, said they were disappointed, particularly because in 2001 Hogan ruled in favor of their argument that NOAA Fisheries could not protect wild Oregon coastal salmon as a threatened species if it did not protect hatchery fish in the same population group. "We believe this is an unlawful interpretation of the way the hatchery policy was applied to these 16 populations," Jones said of the latest ruling. "We will be appealing it."....
Plan would allow farmers to kill wolves caught attacking livestock Farmers could kill wolves caught in the act of attacking their livestock under a proposed management plan released Thursday that addresses Michigan's resurgent gray wolf population. The state Department of Natural Resources' draft plan also suggests a permitting process so livestock producers could handle wolves on their property after an attack on livestock has been verified. The proposal largely mirrors an earlier report from an advisory panel that agreed there should be no specific wolf population targets and endorsed killing wolves that prey on livestock if non-lethal methods fail. The DNR's wildlife division was scheduled to present the draft plan to the Natural Resources Commission Thursday afternoon in Lansing. States now have responsibility for keeping wolf numbers at healthy levels because the federal government plans to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list....
Reward Money Hits $9,000 In Wolf Shooting Conservation groups are offering a $4,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who shot and killed a wolf that migrated into northeastern Oregon. The reward comes on top of $5,000 offered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The female gray wolf - protected as an endangered species - was found last May outside Elgin. It had apparently crossed the Snake River from Idaho, where packs were introduced in 1995 and 1996. Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild and Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity say the shooting highlights the need to maintain federal protection for wolves, a key to restoring healthy ecosystems, despite efforts to take them off the endangered species list....
States petitioned on ocean acidification A conservation organization has requested that Alaska and six other states add bodies of water to their list of impaired waterways: the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The Center for Biological Diversity, based in San Francisco, requested that Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii list the Pacific Ocean as impaired under the federal Clean Water Act. The group wants New York, New Jersey and Florida to list the Atlantic. The reason: ocean acidification, the changing of sea water chemistry because of absorption of carbon dioxide produced by humans. A center attorney, Miyoko Sakashita, said listing the oceans as impaired under the Clean Water Act would allow states to set limits on the discharge of pollutants. The ocean's absorption of CO2 is quietly and lethally altering its fundamental chemistry, Sakashita said. "We must act now to prevent global warming's evil twin, ocean acidification, from destroying our ocean ecosystems," she said....
Land swap ends in condemnation at state park Last week, in an effort to lock up a piece of land in their newest state park, Oregon Parks Department officials took a dramatic step they’d not taken for nearly three decades: they severed a local logger’s timber rights. The drastic move, using what’s known as eminent domain, was an attempt to stop logging in the department’s 1,650-acre L.L. “Stub” Stewart State Park near Vernonia. But for Banks timber man Jim Smejkal – who signed over 113 acres of timber land for the creation of the park but maintained logging rights on the land until last week – the move left him feeling he’d been the target of a bait and switch....
A beastly crime wave The buzzards led Nick Bursio to his prized calf. He found the body just over a rise in the field, with a bullet hole in its left shoulder, near the heart. Bursio had heard of animals killed by rustlers for their meat. But not until that May morning had he ever imagined anything so senseless as shooting cattle presumably just to watch them die. "I had a hollow feeling in my gut, to see that dead calf laying there, with the mother cow bellowing nearby," said the Sonoma County rancher. "I thought, what the hell's going on in this place?" Authorities are searching for a drive-by shooter who guns down cows as they calmly munch grass in the rolling pastureland 50 miles north of San Francisco. Since February, five cows have been found dead in two counties, shot with small-caliber bullets designed to inflict prolonged pain and suffering. Nationwide, an increasing number of animal cruelty cases are being reported outside city limits: Horses, cows, goats and other farm animals are being killed, authorities say, often by angry, reckless youths, perhaps acting on dares....
UK eases foot and mouth curbs after negative tests Britain said on Wednesday it would ease restrictions on livestock movements and was likely to stand down vaccination teams after initial tests for foot and mouth disease at a farm and theme park proved negative. Authorities sealed off a farm in Kent, southern England, and Chessington World of Adventures & Zoo, a theme park in nearby Surrey, on Tuesday because of suspicions of foot and mouth. But Britain's Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds said preliminary tests had found no foot and mouth at either site. The latest report on the outbreak concludes the risk of the disease spreading outside the infected area in Surrey is now "very low," Reynolds told a news conference. "Tests from both places are negative," an agriculture ministry spokesman said....
Contaminated water kills dozens of bison Livestock are dying by the dozens in a ranching area southwest of Saskatoon because of blue-green algae flourishing in the water. This uncanny occurrence has left Wiseton and Dinsmore area ranchers scrambling to deal with the dilemma. Area rancher Ivan Thomson said about 40 of his bison have died from drinking contaminated water, with the first fatality occurring about two weeks ago. It's primarily the breeding bulls and the heavier milking females that are perishing, he said. "They're more active, so their systems require more moisture. They drink more water, then bang," he said. Thomson has moved his livestock to different pastures, but he's been finding blue-green algae sometimes pops up in water he thought was safe. Some of his bison have died within 30 minutes of ingesting the water -- sometimes while they're still standing in a water body -- while others have lived nearly two days after, he said....
Better Mad Cow Test Scientists have taken a big step towards a quick, sensitive test for the proteins that go haywire in mad-cow disease. Because people or animals can be infected for years without showing symptoms, the researchers say developing a better test will be key to preventing a silent epidemic. Right now, the only method that blood banks have for keeping deadly mad cow disease (called variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, or vCJD ) out of the blood supply is with donor questionnaires. National Institutes of Health researcher Byron Caughey has been searching for a better way for more than a decade....
EEE Hitting Louisiana Horses Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) has caused the deaths of eight horses in Lafourche Parish, La. Veterinarians also suspect the virus in two additional cases of equine illness. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Bob Odom released a statement Aug. 3 on the mosquito-borne virus' emergence in the state. "Since there is no cure for Eastern equine encephalitis [only supportive care], I am urging horse owners to vaccinate their animals," Odom said. "This is a very preventable disease, but often horse owners wait until it's too late." The progression of EEE is swift and ugly. Affected horses will struggle with muscle tremors, weakness, and staggering gaits, and they might circle aimlessly or tilt their heads at odd angles. Horses that have not been vaccinated for EEE should have two doses of the vaccine given about two weeks apart. An annual booster protects horses that have been vaccinated. Odom noted that veterinarians in Louisiana should report any suspected case of equine neurologic encephalitis. Eastern equine encephalitis is of special interest to veterinarians and human health authorities, as the virus can also infect humans. The virus cannot pass directly from horses to humans (mosquitoes are required to transmit it to mammals from infected birds), but horses can act as sentinels to alert public health officials that the virus is present in the area. There is no vaccine for humans....
Thursday, August 16, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Panel: Consider nuclear power Greenhouse gas emissions in Utah can be reduced through energy conservation, investing in new coal technologies and developing more renewable energy. But the state's leaders also should consider the potential of nuclear power plants, a climate change panel decided Tuesday. The decision to raise nuclear power from a low- to mid-level priority for countering global warming came after some members of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change declared the group's work would not be legitimate unless nuclear power were treated seriously. Doing otherwise, said Farm Bureau CEO Randy Parker, "draws into question the balance and validity of this group, right here, right now." The challenge, supported by Utah Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, and Rocky Mountain Power representative Carol Hunter, came after 10 of 21 panelists voted to boost nuclear power's status on a list of ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The panelists wholeheartedly supported a host of other measures to fight global warming that previously have provoked more debate than agreement among policymakers, industry and conservationists....
Dyson: Climate models are rubbish British-born physicist Freeman Dyson has revealed three "heresies", two of which challenge the current scientific orthodoxy that anthropogenic carbon causes climate change. "The fuss about global warming is grossly exaggerated," writes Dyson in his new book Many Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe, published on Wednesday. He pours scorn on "the holy brotherhood of climate model experts and the crowd of deluded citizens who believe the numbers predicted by the computer models". "I have studied the climate models and I know what they can do. The models solve the equations of fluid dynamics, and they do a very good job of describing the fluid motions of the atmosphere and the oceans. They do a very poor job of describing the clouds, the dust, the chemistry, and the biology of fields and farms and forests," writes Dyson. Biomass holds the key to carbon, he writes - leaving us to infer that he thinks the human contribution is negligible. Overall, Dyson issues a plea for more scientific research into the behaviour of the planet's biomass....
Panelists offer mixed views on wilderness Would federally designated wilderness in Doña Ana County hinder law enforcement along the international border? Panelists and attendees speaking at a forum hosted by U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce on Wednesday in Anthony had conflicting views. Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison said he's concerned about the wilderness proposal. Garrison said his department responds to calls from the public who report illegal activity in regions proposed. "I'm concerned if we do have that wilderness ..., there won't be as many people out there," he said. "My concern then would be the smuggling and the illegal (immigrants)." Las Crucen Jodi Denning spoke during a public input session at the end of the meeting, saying she's worried about the impact wilderness will have on the safety of law enforcement officials. "I cannot begin to understand how someone could look another person squarely in the eye and tell that person that they believe that an animal, or even worse, a plant is more important than that person's life — and I'm talking about law enforcement ...," she said. "That is truly in my mind unconscionable." Denning is a member of the group People for Preserving Our Western Heritage....
Editorial - BLM should take a second look at ashes request t's a nice option for grieving families. Instead of a traditional burial or inurnment, the cremated ashes of loved ones are scattered in a special place — the ocean, a favorite mountainside, a meadow, even from a plane. In 2003, nearly 29 percent of Americans who died were cremated and that number is expected to jump to almost 46 percent by 2025. Montana's rate is even higher, with a 55 percent cremation rate in 2003. The U.S. Forest Service's policy is to reject all requests to scatter remains on its lands, citing concerns that survivors of the deceased may try to interfere with management of the land. That's understandable, but we like the approach of the National Park Service better. The Grand Canyon National Park, for example, steers people looking to scatter remains away from sites that tribes consider sacred. Alaska's Denali National Park looks at requests individually and generally grants them. The BLM and the Forest Service should at least try to come up with a similar process....
Ranch sale a model of cooperation: Land owners, environmentalist find common ground Along the golden slopes of Bobcat Ranch, recently planted rows of native grasses bend in the breeze, just across a dirt road from the field where grazing cattle served as weed control in May. Ranchers and conservationists have found common ground at the 7,000-acre spread, literally and ideologically. In late July, Audubon California purchased the ranch in a transaction that reflects a spirit of increasing cooperation among environmental groups and private landowners. “People are tired of agriculture and environmentalists butting heads,” said Vance Russell, director of Audubon's Landowner Stewardship Program, which will manage the property. “Both agriculture and environment lose when you pave over areas.” The serene landscape, silent except for the occasional call of an acorn woodpecker, offers no hint that in 2000, when it was last sold, developers considered transforming the site into an upscale housing division and a golf course. Instead, Regent Trust Co. of Great Britain purchased the land, and the property survived as a working ranch where cattle will share space with preservation-oriented research and restoration projects....
Measure would ban 'captive hunting' of deer, elk A proposed ballot initiative would prohibit private hunting preserves in North Dakota from taking paying customers to hunt deer, elk and other big game in fenced areas. Critics of the measure said it would violate landowners' property rights. Earlier this year, the North Dakota Legislature defeated a similar proposal to ban hunting within fenced preserves, concluding the move would step on the property rights of game farm operators. North Dakota has more than 100 registered deer and elk farms, many of which offer hunters the chance to come on their property for a fee. Shawn Schafer, of Turtle Lake, said the measure's language would even prohibit ranchers from raising big game to be butchered and sold for the meat....
Space for native species Wildlife managers released chemicals into the upper portions of Comanche Creek in the Carson National Forest on Wednesday, part of an ambitious effort to remove non-native fish and make room for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout in its home waters. The effort, which could take more than a decade, involves releasing the chemical rotenone into the water, a toxic agent for fish. The goal of the project is to clear non-native rainbow trout, brown trout and other fish from more than 150 miles of streams, 25 lakes and Costilla Reservoir in Northern New Mexico. Those fish generally compete with cutthroats for resources, and New Mexico’s state fish has been reduced to 10 percent of its former territory in southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico....
Phenomenon Boggles Rangers Near Santa Fe There is a mystery near Santa Fe and it is one that covers miles and miles of the Santa Fe National Forest. A blowdown wiped out thousands of trees in the forest. It is an occurrence that takes place when high winds toss sections of trees to the ground. But this one is not just a section of trees. Trees were snapped like twigs for miles near Pecos Baldy. "Thirteen hundred acres, almost 4 miles long, almost a mile wide in places, almost a continuous swath of trees just mowed down," said Miles Standish with the Santa Fe National Forest. Foresters think the trees on the ground, despite being mature, may have had only shallow root systems. "In those cases, maybe, they uprooted. And in other cases, the trees were more firmly rooted and snapped off," Standish said....
Sierra's Experimental Forest Is A Scientist's Dream It's been a year since we first told you about the Sagehen experimental forest in the Sierra-Nevada. The forest is a scientist's dream come true -- a place where research takes priority over everything else. ABC7 takes a second look at this living laboratory. The Sagehen Forest is in the Lake Tahoe Basin, a few miles north of the town of Truckee. Researchers have been coming to Sagehen for decades. But a year ago, the U.S. Forest Service officially designated 8,000 acres as an experimental forest. That insures Sagehen will be permanently preserved for research and education. Jeff Brown, Sagehen: "So now the prime focus for managing this tract is to learn from it." One of the rules here is that everyone has to share their findings. For example, a three-dimensional map of the Sagehen watershed will now be available to every scientist who comes here. It was made using global positioning satellites, a laser, and an airplane....
Sudden Oak Death: Humans Fostering Forest-destroying Disease Enjoying your August vacation? Well, (as they say in the summer movies) there's a killer in the woods. Its strike has been consistently quiet, sudden, and deadly. Unknowingly, we have all been playing into its hands... But put down that rock -- you personally are not in any danger. It's the woods themselves that are getting axed and you may be an accomplice. Melodrama aside, the threat is very serious -- the killer is an invasive, forest-destroying plant disease known as Sudden Oak Death. Caused by an (apparently) non-native water mold (Phytophthora ramorum), the disease affects a broad range of woody plants, and is particularly lethal to our native oaks. In the last few years, it has infected and killed large stands of western oaks with alarming suddenness (hence the name). From its initial California appearance sometime in the mid-1990's, the disease has been spreading rapidly, changing the landscape as it goes....
Of Cattle and Fire No fire, however, has been able to compare to the 653,100-acre Murphy Complex Fire on the border between Idaho and Nevada. Not only was it the largest fire of the summer, but the massive blaze threatened two towns, the Duck Valley Indian Reservation and numerous ranches spread out across the desolate terrain. While fire crews struggled to contain the fire, many ranchers watched as the land their livelihoods depend on was scorched. In some cases even livestock were caught by the fast-moving flames. In the wake of the fire, everyone involved has tried to assign blame. Ranchers and residents point to the state and the Bureau of Land Management, who, in turn, point to federal regulations they say tied their hands. After a tour of the affected area, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig joined the party, placing blame on grazing regulations, stating that restrictions allowed vegetation to become overgrown, providing more fuel for wildfires. But grazing in Idaho and the West is no light matter—especially not in the Jarbidge area, at the heart of the fire....
County fairboard opposes premises ID in secret ballot Custer County’s Fair Board opposes mandatory premises ID for 4-H and FFA youth. Earlier this month, the county fair board decided to sign a resolution stating opposition to the mandate requiring Colorado’s FFA and 4-H youth to obtain a premises identification in order to show their animals at the county and state fairs. Premises ID registration lists the name and address of the ranch where the animal is raised and the ranch owner. Beginning in October, Colorado State University Extension and Colorado FFA Association will require all 4-H and FFA youth enrolling in livestock projects to obtain a premises ID. At that time, the commissioners cited premises ID is voluntary for ranchers and many 4-H and FFA youth have indicated they will no longer participate in the county fair due to the new regulation....
Rodeo bull being tested for tuberculosis A Colorado rodeo bull that has been in at least a dozen states is being tested for bovine tuberculosis. Colorado Agriculture Department spokeswoman Christi Lightcap says the state's cattle industry could lose its tuberculosis-free accreditation if the bull has the disease. That would mean Colorado ranchers would have to do more testing before their cattle could be shipped across state lines. Test results are expected next week. Lightcap says the bull was tested because it came in contact with another bull that had the disease....
Panel: Consider nuclear power Greenhouse gas emissions in Utah can be reduced through energy conservation, investing in new coal technologies and developing more renewable energy. But the state's leaders also should consider the potential of nuclear power plants, a climate change panel decided Tuesday. The decision to raise nuclear power from a low- to mid-level priority for countering global warming came after some members of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change declared the group's work would not be legitimate unless nuclear power were treated seriously. Doing otherwise, said Farm Bureau CEO Randy Parker, "draws into question the balance and validity of this group, right here, right now." The challenge, supported by Utah Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, and Rocky Mountain Power representative Carol Hunter, came after 10 of 21 panelists voted to boost nuclear power's status on a list of ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The panelists wholeheartedly supported a host of other measures to fight global warming that previously have provoked more debate than agreement among policymakers, industry and conservationists....
Dyson: Climate models are rubbish British-born physicist Freeman Dyson has revealed three "heresies", two of which challenge the current scientific orthodoxy that anthropogenic carbon causes climate change. "The fuss about global warming is grossly exaggerated," writes Dyson in his new book Many Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe, published on Wednesday. He pours scorn on "the holy brotherhood of climate model experts and the crowd of deluded citizens who believe the numbers predicted by the computer models". "I have studied the climate models and I know what they can do. The models solve the equations of fluid dynamics, and they do a very good job of describing the fluid motions of the atmosphere and the oceans. They do a very poor job of describing the clouds, the dust, the chemistry, and the biology of fields and farms and forests," writes Dyson. Biomass holds the key to carbon, he writes - leaving us to infer that he thinks the human contribution is negligible. Overall, Dyson issues a plea for more scientific research into the behaviour of the planet's biomass....
Panelists offer mixed views on wilderness Would federally designated wilderness in Doña Ana County hinder law enforcement along the international border? Panelists and attendees speaking at a forum hosted by U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce on Wednesday in Anthony had conflicting views. Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison said he's concerned about the wilderness proposal. Garrison said his department responds to calls from the public who report illegal activity in regions proposed. "I'm concerned if we do have that wilderness ..., there won't be as many people out there," he said. "My concern then would be the smuggling and the illegal (immigrants)." Las Crucen Jodi Denning spoke during a public input session at the end of the meeting, saying she's worried about the impact wilderness will have on the safety of law enforcement officials. "I cannot begin to understand how someone could look another person squarely in the eye and tell that person that they believe that an animal, or even worse, a plant is more important than that person's life — and I'm talking about law enforcement ...," she said. "That is truly in my mind unconscionable." Denning is a member of the group People for Preserving Our Western Heritage....
Editorial - BLM should take a second look at ashes request t's a nice option for grieving families. Instead of a traditional burial or inurnment, the cremated ashes of loved ones are scattered in a special place — the ocean, a favorite mountainside, a meadow, even from a plane. In 2003, nearly 29 percent of Americans who died were cremated and that number is expected to jump to almost 46 percent by 2025. Montana's rate is even higher, with a 55 percent cremation rate in 2003. The U.S. Forest Service's policy is to reject all requests to scatter remains on its lands, citing concerns that survivors of the deceased may try to interfere with management of the land. That's understandable, but we like the approach of the National Park Service better. The Grand Canyon National Park, for example, steers people looking to scatter remains away from sites that tribes consider sacred. Alaska's Denali National Park looks at requests individually and generally grants them. The BLM and the Forest Service should at least try to come up with a similar process....
Ranch sale a model of cooperation: Land owners, environmentalist find common ground Along the golden slopes of Bobcat Ranch, recently planted rows of native grasses bend in the breeze, just across a dirt road from the field where grazing cattle served as weed control in May. Ranchers and conservationists have found common ground at the 7,000-acre spread, literally and ideologically. In late July, Audubon California purchased the ranch in a transaction that reflects a spirit of increasing cooperation among environmental groups and private landowners. “People are tired of agriculture and environmentalists butting heads,” said Vance Russell, director of Audubon's Landowner Stewardship Program, which will manage the property. “Both agriculture and environment lose when you pave over areas.” The serene landscape, silent except for the occasional call of an acorn woodpecker, offers no hint that in 2000, when it was last sold, developers considered transforming the site into an upscale housing division and a golf course. Instead, Regent Trust Co. of Great Britain purchased the land, and the property survived as a working ranch where cattle will share space with preservation-oriented research and restoration projects....
Measure would ban 'captive hunting' of deer, elk A proposed ballot initiative would prohibit private hunting preserves in North Dakota from taking paying customers to hunt deer, elk and other big game in fenced areas. Critics of the measure said it would violate landowners' property rights. Earlier this year, the North Dakota Legislature defeated a similar proposal to ban hunting within fenced preserves, concluding the move would step on the property rights of game farm operators. North Dakota has more than 100 registered deer and elk farms, many of which offer hunters the chance to come on their property for a fee. Shawn Schafer, of Turtle Lake, said the measure's language would even prohibit ranchers from raising big game to be butchered and sold for the meat....
Space for native species Wildlife managers released chemicals into the upper portions of Comanche Creek in the Carson National Forest on Wednesday, part of an ambitious effort to remove non-native fish and make room for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout in its home waters. The effort, which could take more than a decade, involves releasing the chemical rotenone into the water, a toxic agent for fish. The goal of the project is to clear non-native rainbow trout, brown trout and other fish from more than 150 miles of streams, 25 lakes and Costilla Reservoir in Northern New Mexico. Those fish generally compete with cutthroats for resources, and New Mexico’s state fish has been reduced to 10 percent of its former territory in southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico....
Phenomenon Boggles Rangers Near Santa Fe There is a mystery near Santa Fe and it is one that covers miles and miles of the Santa Fe National Forest. A blowdown wiped out thousands of trees in the forest. It is an occurrence that takes place when high winds toss sections of trees to the ground. But this one is not just a section of trees. Trees were snapped like twigs for miles near Pecos Baldy. "Thirteen hundred acres, almost 4 miles long, almost a mile wide in places, almost a continuous swath of trees just mowed down," said Miles Standish with the Santa Fe National Forest. Foresters think the trees on the ground, despite being mature, may have had only shallow root systems. "In those cases, maybe, they uprooted. And in other cases, the trees were more firmly rooted and snapped off," Standish said....
Sierra's Experimental Forest Is A Scientist's Dream It's been a year since we first told you about the Sagehen experimental forest in the Sierra-Nevada. The forest is a scientist's dream come true -- a place where research takes priority over everything else. ABC7 takes a second look at this living laboratory. The Sagehen Forest is in the Lake Tahoe Basin, a few miles north of the town of Truckee. Researchers have been coming to Sagehen for decades. But a year ago, the U.S. Forest Service officially designated 8,000 acres as an experimental forest. That insures Sagehen will be permanently preserved for research and education. Jeff Brown, Sagehen: "So now the prime focus for managing this tract is to learn from it." One of the rules here is that everyone has to share their findings. For example, a three-dimensional map of the Sagehen watershed will now be available to every scientist who comes here. It was made using global positioning satellites, a laser, and an airplane....
Sudden Oak Death: Humans Fostering Forest-destroying Disease Enjoying your August vacation? Well, (as they say in the summer movies) there's a killer in the woods. Its strike has been consistently quiet, sudden, and deadly. Unknowingly, we have all been playing into its hands... But put down that rock -- you personally are not in any danger. It's the woods themselves that are getting axed and you may be an accomplice. Melodrama aside, the threat is very serious -- the killer is an invasive, forest-destroying plant disease known as Sudden Oak Death. Caused by an (apparently) non-native water mold (Phytophthora ramorum), the disease affects a broad range of woody plants, and is particularly lethal to our native oaks. In the last few years, it has infected and killed large stands of western oaks with alarming suddenness (hence the name). From its initial California appearance sometime in the mid-1990's, the disease has been spreading rapidly, changing the landscape as it goes....
Of Cattle and Fire No fire, however, has been able to compare to the 653,100-acre Murphy Complex Fire on the border between Idaho and Nevada. Not only was it the largest fire of the summer, but the massive blaze threatened two towns, the Duck Valley Indian Reservation and numerous ranches spread out across the desolate terrain. While fire crews struggled to contain the fire, many ranchers watched as the land their livelihoods depend on was scorched. In some cases even livestock were caught by the fast-moving flames. In the wake of the fire, everyone involved has tried to assign blame. Ranchers and residents point to the state and the Bureau of Land Management, who, in turn, point to federal regulations they say tied their hands. After a tour of the affected area, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig joined the party, placing blame on grazing regulations, stating that restrictions allowed vegetation to become overgrown, providing more fuel for wildfires. But grazing in Idaho and the West is no light matter—especially not in the Jarbidge area, at the heart of the fire....
County fairboard opposes premises ID in secret ballot Custer County’s Fair Board opposes mandatory premises ID for 4-H and FFA youth. Earlier this month, the county fair board decided to sign a resolution stating opposition to the mandate requiring Colorado’s FFA and 4-H youth to obtain a premises identification in order to show their animals at the county and state fairs. Premises ID registration lists the name and address of the ranch where the animal is raised and the ranch owner. Beginning in October, Colorado State University Extension and Colorado FFA Association will require all 4-H and FFA youth enrolling in livestock projects to obtain a premises ID. At that time, the commissioners cited premises ID is voluntary for ranchers and many 4-H and FFA youth have indicated they will no longer participate in the county fair due to the new regulation....
Rodeo bull being tested for tuberculosis A Colorado rodeo bull that has been in at least a dozen states is being tested for bovine tuberculosis. Colorado Agriculture Department spokeswoman Christi Lightcap says the state's cattle industry could lose its tuberculosis-free accreditation if the bull has the disease. That would mean Colorado ranchers would have to do more testing before their cattle could be shipped across state lines. Test results are expected next week. Lightcap says the bull was tested because it came in contact with another bull that had the disease....
FLE
New York police report warns of mounting homegrown terrorist threat Average citizens who quietly band together and adopt radical ways pose a mounting threat to U.S. security that could exceed that of established terrorist groups like al-Qaida, a new police analysis has concluded. The New York Police Department report released Wednesday describes a process in which young men - often legal immigrants from the Middle East who are frustrated with their lives in their adopted country - adopt a philosophy that puts them on a path to violence. The report was intended to explain how people become radicalized rather than to lay out specific strategies for thwarting terror plots. It calls for more intelligence gathering, and argues that local law enforcement agencies are in the best position to monitor potential terrorists. The findings drew swift criticism from an Arab anti-discrimination group, which accused the NYPD of stereotyping and of contradicting recent federal warnings that the chief terror threat lies abroad....
Judges Skeptical of State-Secrets Claim Lawyers for the Bush administration encountered a federal appeals court Wednesday that appeared deeply skeptical of a blanket claim that the government's surveillance efforts cannot be challenged in court because the litigation might reveal state secrets. "The bottom line here is the government declares something is a state secret, that's the end of it. No cases. . . . The king can do no wrong," said Judge Harry Pregerson, one of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit who grilled administration lawyers at length over whether a pair of lawsuits against the government should go forward. Deputy Solicitor General Gregory G. Garre was forced to mount a public argument that almost nothing about the substance of the government's conduct could be talked about in court because doing so might expose either the methods used in gathering intelligence or gaps in those methods. "This seems to put us in the 'trust us' category," Judge M. Margaret McKeown said about the government's assertions that its surveillance activities did not violate the law. " 'We don't do it. Trust us. And don't ask us about it.' " At one point, Garre argued that courts are not the right forum for complaints about government surveillance, and that "other avenues" are available. "What is that? Impeachment?" Pregerson shot back....
U.S. to Expand Domestic Use Of Spy Satellites The U.S.'s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation's vast network of spy satellites in the U.S. The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.'s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement. Until now, only a handful of federal civilian agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey, have had access to the most basic spy-satellite imagery, and only for the purpose of scientific and environmental study. According to officials, one of the department's first objectives will be to use the network to enhance border security, determine how best to secure critical infrastructure and help emergency responders after natural disasters. Sometime next year, officials will examine how the satellites can aid federal and local law-enforcement agencies, covering both criminal and civil law. The department is still working on determining how it will engage law enforcement officials and what kind of support it will give them. Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow Homeland Security and law-enforcement officials to see real-time, high-resolution images and data....
Senators Question Execution Speedup Two senators have asked the Justice Department to delay new rules that would give Attorney General Alberto Gonzales authority to limit the time death row inmates spend on appeals before being executed. The bipartisan request, in a letter from two of Gonzales' most vocal Senate critics, questions how strict the federal government will be in deciding whether states ensure that defendants in capital punishment cases have had competent legal help. That's a task traditionally carried out by federal courts. But a little-noticed change last year in the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act gives the attorney general the power to decide state requests for speedier appeals that generally run for years. "States must be required to take meaningful steps to guarantee adequate representation of death row prisoners before certification occurs," said Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in their Aug. 2 letter to Gonzales. "This is especially important in light of the accelerated timing and abridged federal court review."....
Authorities say Mexican cartel growing Oregon marijuana Authorities say four men arrested in the course of raids on pot farms hidden in Southern Oregon forests this week are part of a Mexican drug cartel that is growing pot for national distribution. In recent days teams of state police, Jackson County deputies, and federal agents have cut some 42,000 marijuana plants potentially worth more than $100 million from sites near Applegate Lake about 20 miles southwest of Medford, authorities said. "I guess we provide a remote area where they can conceal some of their crops," said Capt. Lee Fox, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement agent. "It's going to be a tough battle for the foreseeable future." The investigation goes back two years, when a U.S. Bureau of Land Management special agent found a cell phone at a campsite at a marijuana plot in Jackson County, according to an affidavit filed by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency special agent in U.S. District Court. Phone records revealed calls to Genaro Zaragoza-Infante in Medford, and he was put under surveillance, the affidavit said....
New airport agents check for danger in fliers' facial expressions Next time you go to the airport, there may be more eyes on you than you notice. Specially trained security personnel are watching body language and facial cues of passengers for signs of bad intentions. The watcher could be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or the one standing behind the ticket-checker. Or the one next to the curbside baggage attendant. They're called Behavior Detection Officers, and they're part of several recent security upgrades, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawley told an aviation industry group in Washington last month. He described them as "a wonderful tool to be able to identify and do risk management prior to somebody coming into the airport or approaching the crowded checkpoint." The officers are working in more than a dozen airports already, according to Paul Ekman, a former professor at the University of California at San Francisco who has advised Hawley's agency on the program. Amy Kudwa, a TSA public affairs specialist, said the agency hopes to have 500 behavior detection officers in place by the end of 2008....
New York police report warns of mounting homegrown terrorist threat Average citizens who quietly band together and adopt radical ways pose a mounting threat to U.S. security that could exceed that of established terrorist groups like al-Qaida, a new police analysis has concluded. The New York Police Department report released Wednesday describes a process in which young men - often legal immigrants from the Middle East who are frustrated with their lives in their adopted country - adopt a philosophy that puts them on a path to violence. The report was intended to explain how people become radicalized rather than to lay out specific strategies for thwarting terror plots. It calls for more intelligence gathering, and argues that local law enforcement agencies are in the best position to monitor potential terrorists. The findings drew swift criticism from an Arab anti-discrimination group, which accused the NYPD of stereotyping and of contradicting recent federal warnings that the chief terror threat lies abroad....
Judges Skeptical of State-Secrets Claim Lawyers for the Bush administration encountered a federal appeals court Wednesday that appeared deeply skeptical of a blanket claim that the government's surveillance efforts cannot be challenged in court because the litigation might reveal state secrets. "The bottom line here is the government declares something is a state secret, that's the end of it. No cases. . . . The king can do no wrong," said Judge Harry Pregerson, one of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit who grilled administration lawyers at length over whether a pair of lawsuits against the government should go forward. Deputy Solicitor General Gregory G. Garre was forced to mount a public argument that almost nothing about the substance of the government's conduct could be talked about in court because doing so might expose either the methods used in gathering intelligence or gaps in those methods. "This seems to put us in the 'trust us' category," Judge M. Margaret McKeown said about the government's assertions that its surveillance activities did not violate the law. " 'We don't do it. Trust us. And don't ask us about it.' " At one point, Garre argued that courts are not the right forum for complaints about government surveillance, and that "other avenues" are available. "What is that? Impeachment?" Pregerson shot back....
U.S. to Expand Domestic Use Of Spy Satellites The U.S.'s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation's vast network of spy satellites in the U.S. The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.'s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement. Until now, only a handful of federal civilian agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey, have had access to the most basic spy-satellite imagery, and only for the purpose of scientific and environmental study. According to officials, one of the department's first objectives will be to use the network to enhance border security, determine how best to secure critical infrastructure and help emergency responders after natural disasters. Sometime next year, officials will examine how the satellites can aid federal and local law-enforcement agencies, covering both criminal and civil law. The department is still working on determining how it will engage law enforcement officials and what kind of support it will give them. Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow Homeland Security and law-enforcement officials to see real-time, high-resolution images and data....
Senators Question Execution Speedup Two senators have asked the Justice Department to delay new rules that would give Attorney General Alberto Gonzales authority to limit the time death row inmates spend on appeals before being executed. The bipartisan request, in a letter from two of Gonzales' most vocal Senate critics, questions how strict the federal government will be in deciding whether states ensure that defendants in capital punishment cases have had competent legal help. That's a task traditionally carried out by federal courts. But a little-noticed change last year in the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act gives the attorney general the power to decide state requests for speedier appeals that generally run for years. "States must be required to take meaningful steps to guarantee adequate representation of death row prisoners before certification occurs," said Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in their Aug. 2 letter to Gonzales. "This is especially important in light of the accelerated timing and abridged federal court review."....
Authorities say Mexican cartel growing Oregon marijuana Authorities say four men arrested in the course of raids on pot farms hidden in Southern Oregon forests this week are part of a Mexican drug cartel that is growing pot for national distribution. In recent days teams of state police, Jackson County deputies, and federal agents have cut some 42,000 marijuana plants potentially worth more than $100 million from sites near Applegate Lake about 20 miles southwest of Medford, authorities said. "I guess we provide a remote area where they can conceal some of their crops," said Capt. Lee Fox, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement agent. "It's going to be a tough battle for the foreseeable future." The investigation goes back two years, when a U.S. Bureau of Land Management special agent found a cell phone at a campsite at a marijuana plot in Jackson County, according to an affidavit filed by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency special agent in U.S. District Court. Phone records revealed calls to Genaro Zaragoza-Infante in Medford, and he was put under surveillance, the affidavit said....
New airport agents check for danger in fliers' facial expressions Next time you go to the airport, there may be more eyes on you than you notice. Specially trained security personnel are watching body language and facial cues of passengers for signs of bad intentions. The watcher could be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or the one standing behind the ticket-checker. Or the one next to the curbside baggage attendant. They're called Behavior Detection Officers, and they're part of several recent security upgrades, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawley told an aviation industry group in Washington last month. He described them as "a wonderful tool to be able to identify and do risk management prior to somebody coming into the airport or approaching the crowded checkpoint." The officers are working in more than a dozen airports already, according to Paul Ekman, a former professor at the University of California at San Francisco who has advised Hawley's agency on the program. Amy Kudwa, a TSA public affairs specialist, said the agency hopes to have 500 behavior detection officers in place by the end of 2008....
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Red faces at NASA over climate-change blunder In the United States, the calendar year 1998 ranked as the hottest of them all – until someone checked the math. After a Toronto skeptic tipped NASA this month to one flaw in its climate calculations, the U.S. agency ordered a full data review. Days later, it put out a revised list of all-time hottest years. The Dust Bowl year of 1934 now ranks as hottest ever in the U.S. – not 1998. More significantly, the agency reduced the mean U.S. "temperature anomalies" for the years 2000 to 2006 by 0.15 degrees Celsius. NASA officials have dismissed the changes as trivial. Even the Canadian who spotted the original flaw says the revisions are "not necessarily material to climate policy." But the revisions have been seized on by conservative Americans, including firebrand radio host Rush Limbaugh, as evidence that climate change science is unsound. Said Limbaugh last Thursday: "What do we have here? We have proof of man-made global warming. The man-made global warming is inside NASA ... is in the scientific community with false data."....
Environmentalists run a real Western ranch, and help heal the land John Heyneman wants everyone to know at least this much about the ranches he's running north of the Grand Canyon for a pair of conservation groups: "We're real ranchers, not a bunch of cowboys out here reading [poetry] or singing to the animals," says Heyneman, who is raising and grazing more than 1,000 head of cattle on the picturesque Kaibab Plateau and the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument just south of the Utah-Arizona line. "The cowboying we do is as real as anywhere in the country." And, to Heyneman, any talk otherwise is just so much bull. After all, cattle are cattle - even if they are "green cows." The Conservation Fund and Grand Canyon Trust bought the Kane and Two-Mile ranches - and the accompanying 860,000 acres of federal grazing permits - in September 2005 for $4.5 million. The price tag included 1,000 acres of deeded property and a ranch house, where Theodore Roosevelt and Buffalo Bill once stayed. The two ranches - now combined under the moniker North Rim Ranch - aim to blend multiple-land use, including livestock grazing, with land-restoration efforts....
Battle looms over water quality Ken Valentine's popularity took a nose dive last year when he began speaking out about water from coal-bed methane wells being dumped into the Apishapa River. The Las Animas County rancher believed the water was tainting the Apishapa with salt and managed to persuade fellow farm-club members to write to the state health department. The club later rescinded that letter, saying Valentine, a former club director, had misled them and that the energy industry - primarily Irving, Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. - was helping local farms and ranches, not hurting them. "The biggest problem with the Valentines is that they just don't want Pioneer on their land," said Tom Verquer, the club's current president. The farm-club spat is one sign of the growing tension among landowners in the Raton Basin over coal-bed methane development. ust like the Powder River basin in Wyoming, the Raton is home to ranchers who, for almost a decade, have been receiving coal-bed methane water for their livestock and to replenish streams used by the deer and elk valued by hunters....
Off-road mapping program takes on a sense of urgency Many off-road fans in Colorado are involved in an extensive program to map and identify their favorite roads and trails. In November 2005, the U.S. Forest Service introduced a regulation for recreational motor-vehicle use in national forests and grasslands. The "travel-management policy" requires every road, trail and area open to motor vehicles to be identified and designated on a map. The process, expected to take four years, is occurring in all 155 national forests and 20 grasslands. When the process is complete, each unit will publish a motor-vehicle-use map. There's a sense of urgency among those who drive off-road. "If we don't identify these roads, we could lose them," off-road fan Peter Belsky said. Once the roads and trails are identified and mapped, motor-vehicle use off the roads and outside the areas will be banned....
Off-road driving is one of America's fastest-growing trends in recreation But even more than his Jeep, Belsky loves the outdoors. "I can't get enough of it," he said. He gets as much as he can by driving his beloved Jeep on trails and roads throughout Colorado nearly every weekend. "I love it," he said. "You can see in a day of four-wheeling what you wouldn't see in a week of hiking." Belsky, entering his senior year at the University of Denver and president of the DU Off-Road Club, is hooked on four-wheeling. He was drawn to it for several reasons - that getting out in nature thing, his love of cars, and something else: "I've met some of my best friends through four-wheeling." The enterprising student isn't alone in his love of four- wheeling. You don't need to look further than the traffic heading to the mountains to realize off-road driving is one of the fastest-growing trends in recreation. A survey conducted by the U.S. Forest Service in 2004 showed nearly 48 million Americans turned their SUVs, ATVs and motorcycles off the pavement onto trails and roads on public lands that year. Nearly 2 million of those drivers headed to trails and backcountry roads in Colorado....
BLM keeping eye on competitive kayaking It was only a few weeks ago that a couple of us unwitting scofflaws stumbled over the dark side of the legal line, though, deciding it might be fun to paddle our kayaks in a head-to-head, um, "chase" to the bottom of the Gore Canyon section of the upper Colorado River near Kremmling. It was only yesterday that I discovered such race-like pursuits are not only frowned upon by the BLM, they can be quite expensive. To the tune of up to $1,000 in fines, not to mention jail time. "Competition is not a gray area. It's spelled out very clearly," Windsor explained. "If two people are competing, it's a race. If one person is competing against an established record, it's a race. Without a Special Recreation Permit (SRP), it's a violation of federal code. That's written in our guidance policy." That code may very well be put to the test this weekend, the traditional date of the annual Gore Canyon whitewater raft and kayak race that for the first time in recent history cannot be conducted legally because of the lack of the requisite SRP. Whether some facsimile of the more than 15-year tradition will be conducted at all remains to be seen. But rest assured that Windsor and the remainder of the BLM's Kremmling Field Office will be watching....
Feds Exempt 258 Million Acres From Environmental Review In a move decried by environmentalists, the Bureau of Land Management today exempted certain forestry, grazing, oil and gas, and recreation projects from environmental reviews if private interests propose project son 258 million acres of BLM lands. Environmentalists had opposed the two-year-old proposal, which was enacted today by James L. Caswell, who was confirmed by the Senate as the new BLM director Aug. 6. The expansion of the number of so-called “categorical exclusions” for certain forestry, grazing, oil and gas, and recreation activities means that those actions no longer need to undergo environmental review by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. The act requires a thorough review of federal decisions, so that any potential environmental damage can be prevented or mitigated. According to the Bureau of Land Management, the new categorical exclusions will “improve efficiency of environmental reviews.”....
Agent Green August is the peak of the wildfire season in the Western United States. Last year, over 8 million acres had burned by the end of the month, and this year you can expect the evening news to be filled with even more tragic stories about wildfires spreading across the West, devouring people and property. Who’s to blame? Fingers often point to the federal government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which controls over 250 million acres of public lands, an eighth of the nation’s total land area. Perhaps that’s why the BLM recently announced new measures to prevent wildfires. The risk is that in calling for increased use of herbicides to control the growth of vegetation, the federal agency courts legal action by extremist environmental groups. Currently, BLM treats a mere 300,000 acres with herbicides to halt the spread of invasive vegetation—more commonly known as weeds. Weeds, particularly those that are not native to the area, are a constant threat. They degrade soil productivity and choke waterways, deprive livestock of food, crowd out native plant species and, perhaps worst of all, increase the risk of wildfires. Weeds on western public lands are estimated to be spreading at the alarming rate of over 2,300 acres per day....
Two years, two crashes: Latest aerial-hunting accident leads to GF&P review Looking back on those tense moments before the crash, Tony DeCino still doesn't know how things went so wrong so fast. The airplane was running fine. The wind was light. A low pass over the brown pastures of the Cheyenne River breaks put him and gunner Dan Turgeon within 50 yards of the furry targets below. And the 12-gauge shotgun bucked repeatedly against Turgeon's shoulder, firing clusters of heavy steel shot that sent two coyotes tumbling into the grass. To that point, it was a perfect run. "We'd killed both coyotes. We'd already pulled up, cleared the terrain and were in a descent to go back and check on the animals," DeCino said. "Over the course of a couple of seconds, things changed from perfectly fine to me trying to maneuver that airplane and us being in the dirt."....
Former E. Idaho elk rancher charged with violating private game rules A former Idaho elk rancher is facing more than $55,000 in fines for allegedly violating rules governing private hunting preserves. The Idaho Department of Agriculture is charging Rex Rammell with a series of infractions related to the way he operated his business between 2004 and 2006. The agency issued a 10-page order Friday. It accuses Rammell of not filing annual inventory reports, illegally transporting quarantined elk and neglecting to notify state officials when more than 100 elk escaped his pens near Rexburg last year. Rammell says the order is a response to a lawsuit he filed against the state earlier this year....
Pinedale raises concern about BLM drilling plan Pinedale, the town at the heart of western Wyoming's gas boom, doesn't support the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's preferred plan for gas drilling in the region over the next 15 to 20 years, environmentalists pointed out Tuesday. Town officials confirmed their concerns about the plan, saying they are especially worried about maintaining the long-term viability of the upper Green River Basin's gas industry. Drilling too much too quickly, they said, could perpetuate economic swings and hinder efforts to diversify the local economy beyond gas and oil. Comments the town has submitted to the BLM also said the BLM hasn't sufficiently considered the socio-economic effects of more drilling, such as increased traffic. The town's comment letter said downtown Pinedale is getting too much gas-related truck traffic as is. "It is the worst place imaginable for oversized industrial traffic," the letter said....
Blazes stretch firefighting resources in West Helicopters, air tankers and other resources are in short supply as wildfires continue to scorch the bone-dry West. Fire managers say they're sharing the best they can, but the onerous task of prioritizing the nation's largest fires and doling out resources falls on the shoulders of seven people who meet twice daily in an Idaho conference room. Known as the National Multi-Agency Coordination Group, its members represent federal land agencies like the Forest Service, as well as state foresters and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They look at everything from the size and danger of the fires to the weather forecast. It's a delicate balance, and one that's increasingly difficult as fire seasons start early and last longer, with available resources shrinking due to tight budgets, military conflicts and other issues....
State, feds target bison Jackson wildlife managers say they are anxious to start a bison hunt that could cull the local bison herd by 25 percent this year. Killing bison, they say, is an essential part of restoring habitat and helping prevent diseases in the Jackson Elk Herd. The statements came a day after Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal asked the federal government to help lift an injunction against bison hunting on the National Elk Refuge so the state can proceed with its planned bison hunt this fall. In a letter dated Aug. 10, Freudenthal asks Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to help appeal to a federal court. “While we, like the Fish and Wildlife Service, believe that the number of bison on the National Elk Refuge needs to be reduced to protect this environmentally-sensitive area, we are unwilling to risk being found in contempt for going forward with actions that are presently prohibited by a federal court order,” Freudenthal wrote. “At some point in the not-too-distant future, bison numbers on the NER will grow so high that a reduction to management quotas will result in a political backlash.” This spring, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the refuge, issued the 605-page environmental impact statement for a program to reduce numbers of both elk and bison through increased hunting. The plan would call for bison hunting as early as Aug. 25....
U.S.-Mexico discussions will tackle Colorado River issues The United States and Mexico have agreed to discuss a range of issues surrounding the Colorado River, a key water source for both nations, the U.S. Interior Department said Monday. U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne released a joint U.S.-Mexico statement saying the discussions would include the effects of climate change and drought; urban, agricultural and environmental water needs in both nations; wildlife habitat in the Colorado River Delta; and such programs as sea-water desalination to augment supplies. The statement said existing treaties should be used to "expedite discussions in coming weeks." Moody said Kempthorne and Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, directed their technical staffs to draw up an agenda, and it would be up to those two groups to establish the outlines of the issues. The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming....
Home Again on the Kitchen Range ON fancy china and in hot dog rolls and burger buns, buffalo is finally coming of age as an alternative red meat. But it almost didn’t happen. The first time buffalo ranching took off, in the 1990s, the public wasn’t ready. People wanted only the fancy steaks and burgers; the other cuts were seen as tough and gamy, and producers couldn’t give them away. In 2000 the market collapsed. Bulls that had sold for $2,100 were going for $500. The producers who held on until 2003 found a different climate as sales began to perk up. By then many Americans had started looking at their food with a more critical eye, and they were ready for buffalo, also called American bison. Today buffalo meat, shunned no longer, has achieved an enviable position: simultaneous praise from chefs, nutritionists and environmentalists. At last, steak without guilt....
Crocs trap Australian rancher up tree for a week An Australian rancher described Tuesday how he spent a week up a tree in a remote crocodile-infested swamp as maneaters stalked him -- after he fell off his horse. The manager of the Silver Plains cattle station in the far northeast Cape York peninsular, David George, said he watched crocodiles' eyes glowing red beneath him for seven nights before he was rescued by helicopter. "Every night I was stalked by two crocs who would sit at the bottom of the tree staring up at me," George told Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper. "All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me and all night I had to listen to a big bull croc bellowing a bit further out." "I'd yell out at them, 'I'm not falling out of this tree for you bastards'." George, 53, said his nightmare began when he was thrown by his horse. Dazed and bleeding, he climbed back into the saddle and gave the animal its head, expecting it to take him home. But later, in the pre-dawn darkness, he realized it had taken him more than a kilometer into the heart of a crocodile swamp....
Red faces at NASA over climate-change blunder In the United States, the calendar year 1998 ranked as the hottest of them all – until someone checked the math. After a Toronto skeptic tipped NASA this month to one flaw in its climate calculations, the U.S. agency ordered a full data review. Days later, it put out a revised list of all-time hottest years. The Dust Bowl year of 1934 now ranks as hottest ever in the U.S. – not 1998. More significantly, the agency reduced the mean U.S. "temperature anomalies" for the years 2000 to 2006 by 0.15 degrees Celsius. NASA officials have dismissed the changes as trivial. Even the Canadian who spotted the original flaw says the revisions are "not necessarily material to climate policy." But the revisions have been seized on by conservative Americans, including firebrand radio host Rush Limbaugh, as evidence that climate change science is unsound. Said Limbaugh last Thursday: "What do we have here? We have proof of man-made global warming. The man-made global warming is inside NASA ... is in the scientific community with false data."....
Environmentalists run a real Western ranch, and help heal the land John Heyneman wants everyone to know at least this much about the ranches he's running north of the Grand Canyon for a pair of conservation groups: "We're real ranchers, not a bunch of cowboys out here reading [poetry] or singing to the animals," says Heyneman, who is raising and grazing more than 1,000 head of cattle on the picturesque Kaibab Plateau and the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument just south of the Utah-Arizona line. "The cowboying we do is as real as anywhere in the country." And, to Heyneman, any talk otherwise is just so much bull. After all, cattle are cattle - even if they are "green cows." The Conservation Fund and Grand Canyon Trust bought the Kane and Two-Mile ranches - and the accompanying 860,000 acres of federal grazing permits - in September 2005 for $4.5 million. The price tag included 1,000 acres of deeded property and a ranch house, where Theodore Roosevelt and Buffalo Bill once stayed. The two ranches - now combined under the moniker North Rim Ranch - aim to blend multiple-land use, including livestock grazing, with land-restoration efforts....
Battle looms over water quality Ken Valentine's popularity took a nose dive last year when he began speaking out about water from coal-bed methane wells being dumped into the Apishapa River. The Las Animas County rancher believed the water was tainting the Apishapa with salt and managed to persuade fellow farm-club members to write to the state health department. The club later rescinded that letter, saying Valentine, a former club director, had misled them and that the energy industry - primarily Irving, Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. - was helping local farms and ranches, not hurting them. "The biggest problem with the Valentines is that they just don't want Pioneer on their land," said Tom Verquer, the club's current president. The farm-club spat is one sign of the growing tension among landowners in the Raton Basin over coal-bed methane development. ust like the Powder River basin in Wyoming, the Raton is home to ranchers who, for almost a decade, have been receiving coal-bed methane water for their livestock and to replenish streams used by the deer and elk valued by hunters....
Off-road mapping program takes on a sense of urgency Many off-road fans in Colorado are involved in an extensive program to map and identify their favorite roads and trails. In November 2005, the U.S. Forest Service introduced a regulation for recreational motor-vehicle use in national forests and grasslands. The "travel-management policy" requires every road, trail and area open to motor vehicles to be identified and designated on a map. The process, expected to take four years, is occurring in all 155 national forests and 20 grasslands. When the process is complete, each unit will publish a motor-vehicle-use map. There's a sense of urgency among those who drive off-road. "If we don't identify these roads, we could lose them," off-road fan Peter Belsky said. Once the roads and trails are identified and mapped, motor-vehicle use off the roads and outside the areas will be banned....
Off-road driving is one of America's fastest-growing trends in recreation But even more than his Jeep, Belsky loves the outdoors. "I can't get enough of it," he said. He gets as much as he can by driving his beloved Jeep on trails and roads throughout Colorado nearly every weekend. "I love it," he said. "You can see in a day of four-wheeling what you wouldn't see in a week of hiking." Belsky, entering his senior year at the University of Denver and president of the DU Off-Road Club, is hooked on four-wheeling. He was drawn to it for several reasons - that getting out in nature thing, his love of cars, and something else: "I've met some of my best friends through four-wheeling." The enterprising student isn't alone in his love of four- wheeling. You don't need to look further than the traffic heading to the mountains to realize off-road driving is one of the fastest-growing trends in recreation. A survey conducted by the U.S. Forest Service in 2004 showed nearly 48 million Americans turned their SUVs, ATVs and motorcycles off the pavement onto trails and roads on public lands that year. Nearly 2 million of those drivers headed to trails and backcountry roads in Colorado....
BLM keeping eye on competitive kayaking It was only a few weeks ago that a couple of us unwitting scofflaws stumbled over the dark side of the legal line, though, deciding it might be fun to paddle our kayaks in a head-to-head, um, "chase" to the bottom of the Gore Canyon section of the upper Colorado River near Kremmling. It was only yesterday that I discovered such race-like pursuits are not only frowned upon by the BLM, they can be quite expensive. To the tune of up to $1,000 in fines, not to mention jail time. "Competition is not a gray area. It's spelled out very clearly," Windsor explained. "If two people are competing, it's a race. If one person is competing against an established record, it's a race. Without a Special Recreation Permit (SRP), it's a violation of federal code. That's written in our guidance policy." That code may very well be put to the test this weekend, the traditional date of the annual Gore Canyon whitewater raft and kayak race that for the first time in recent history cannot be conducted legally because of the lack of the requisite SRP. Whether some facsimile of the more than 15-year tradition will be conducted at all remains to be seen. But rest assured that Windsor and the remainder of the BLM's Kremmling Field Office will be watching....
Feds Exempt 258 Million Acres From Environmental Review In a move decried by environmentalists, the Bureau of Land Management today exempted certain forestry, grazing, oil and gas, and recreation projects from environmental reviews if private interests propose project son 258 million acres of BLM lands. Environmentalists had opposed the two-year-old proposal, which was enacted today by James L. Caswell, who was confirmed by the Senate as the new BLM director Aug. 6. The expansion of the number of so-called “categorical exclusions” for certain forestry, grazing, oil and gas, and recreation activities means that those actions no longer need to undergo environmental review by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. The act requires a thorough review of federal decisions, so that any potential environmental damage can be prevented or mitigated. According to the Bureau of Land Management, the new categorical exclusions will “improve efficiency of environmental reviews.”....
Agent Green August is the peak of the wildfire season in the Western United States. Last year, over 8 million acres had burned by the end of the month, and this year you can expect the evening news to be filled with even more tragic stories about wildfires spreading across the West, devouring people and property. Who’s to blame? Fingers often point to the federal government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which controls over 250 million acres of public lands, an eighth of the nation’s total land area. Perhaps that’s why the BLM recently announced new measures to prevent wildfires. The risk is that in calling for increased use of herbicides to control the growth of vegetation, the federal agency courts legal action by extremist environmental groups. Currently, BLM treats a mere 300,000 acres with herbicides to halt the spread of invasive vegetation—more commonly known as weeds. Weeds, particularly those that are not native to the area, are a constant threat. They degrade soil productivity and choke waterways, deprive livestock of food, crowd out native plant species and, perhaps worst of all, increase the risk of wildfires. Weeds on western public lands are estimated to be spreading at the alarming rate of over 2,300 acres per day....
Two years, two crashes: Latest aerial-hunting accident leads to GF&P review Looking back on those tense moments before the crash, Tony DeCino still doesn't know how things went so wrong so fast. The airplane was running fine. The wind was light. A low pass over the brown pastures of the Cheyenne River breaks put him and gunner Dan Turgeon within 50 yards of the furry targets below. And the 12-gauge shotgun bucked repeatedly against Turgeon's shoulder, firing clusters of heavy steel shot that sent two coyotes tumbling into the grass. To that point, it was a perfect run. "We'd killed both coyotes. We'd already pulled up, cleared the terrain and were in a descent to go back and check on the animals," DeCino said. "Over the course of a couple of seconds, things changed from perfectly fine to me trying to maneuver that airplane and us being in the dirt."....
Former E. Idaho elk rancher charged with violating private game rules A former Idaho elk rancher is facing more than $55,000 in fines for allegedly violating rules governing private hunting preserves. The Idaho Department of Agriculture is charging Rex Rammell with a series of infractions related to the way he operated his business between 2004 and 2006. The agency issued a 10-page order Friday. It accuses Rammell of not filing annual inventory reports, illegally transporting quarantined elk and neglecting to notify state officials when more than 100 elk escaped his pens near Rexburg last year. Rammell says the order is a response to a lawsuit he filed against the state earlier this year....
Pinedale raises concern about BLM drilling plan Pinedale, the town at the heart of western Wyoming's gas boom, doesn't support the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's preferred plan for gas drilling in the region over the next 15 to 20 years, environmentalists pointed out Tuesday. Town officials confirmed their concerns about the plan, saying they are especially worried about maintaining the long-term viability of the upper Green River Basin's gas industry. Drilling too much too quickly, they said, could perpetuate economic swings and hinder efforts to diversify the local economy beyond gas and oil. Comments the town has submitted to the BLM also said the BLM hasn't sufficiently considered the socio-economic effects of more drilling, such as increased traffic. The town's comment letter said downtown Pinedale is getting too much gas-related truck traffic as is. "It is the worst place imaginable for oversized industrial traffic," the letter said....
Blazes stretch firefighting resources in West Helicopters, air tankers and other resources are in short supply as wildfires continue to scorch the bone-dry West. Fire managers say they're sharing the best they can, but the onerous task of prioritizing the nation's largest fires and doling out resources falls on the shoulders of seven people who meet twice daily in an Idaho conference room. Known as the National Multi-Agency Coordination Group, its members represent federal land agencies like the Forest Service, as well as state foresters and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They look at everything from the size and danger of the fires to the weather forecast. It's a delicate balance, and one that's increasingly difficult as fire seasons start early and last longer, with available resources shrinking due to tight budgets, military conflicts and other issues....
State, feds target bison Jackson wildlife managers say they are anxious to start a bison hunt that could cull the local bison herd by 25 percent this year. Killing bison, they say, is an essential part of restoring habitat and helping prevent diseases in the Jackson Elk Herd. The statements came a day after Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal asked the federal government to help lift an injunction against bison hunting on the National Elk Refuge so the state can proceed with its planned bison hunt this fall. In a letter dated Aug. 10, Freudenthal asks Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to help appeal to a federal court. “While we, like the Fish and Wildlife Service, believe that the number of bison on the National Elk Refuge needs to be reduced to protect this environmentally-sensitive area, we are unwilling to risk being found in contempt for going forward with actions that are presently prohibited by a federal court order,” Freudenthal wrote. “At some point in the not-too-distant future, bison numbers on the NER will grow so high that a reduction to management quotas will result in a political backlash.” This spring, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the refuge, issued the 605-page environmental impact statement for a program to reduce numbers of both elk and bison through increased hunting. The plan would call for bison hunting as early as Aug. 25....
U.S.-Mexico discussions will tackle Colorado River issues The United States and Mexico have agreed to discuss a range of issues surrounding the Colorado River, a key water source for both nations, the U.S. Interior Department said Monday. U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne released a joint U.S.-Mexico statement saying the discussions would include the effects of climate change and drought; urban, agricultural and environmental water needs in both nations; wildlife habitat in the Colorado River Delta; and such programs as sea-water desalination to augment supplies. The statement said existing treaties should be used to "expedite discussions in coming weeks." Moody said Kempthorne and Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, directed their technical staffs to draw up an agenda, and it would be up to those two groups to establish the outlines of the issues. The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming....
Home Again on the Kitchen Range ON fancy china and in hot dog rolls and burger buns, buffalo is finally coming of age as an alternative red meat. But it almost didn’t happen. The first time buffalo ranching took off, in the 1990s, the public wasn’t ready. People wanted only the fancy steaks and burgers; the other cuts were seen as tough and gamy, and producers couldn’t give them away. In 2000 the market collapsed. Bulls that had sold for $2,100 were going for $500. The producers who held on until 2003 found a different climate as sales began to perk up. By then many Americans had started looking at their food with a more critical eye, and they were ready for buffalo, also called American bison. Today buffalo meat, shunned no longer, has achieved an enviable position: simultaneous praise from chefs, nutritionists and environmentalists. At last, steak without guilt....
Crocs trap Australian rancher up tree for a week An Australian rancher described Tuesday how he spent a week up a tree in a remote crocodile-infested swamp as maneaters stalked him -- after he fell off his horse. The manager of the Silver Plains cattle station in the far northeast Cape York peninsular, David George, said he watched crocodiles' eyes glowing red beneath him for seven nights before he was rescued by helicopter. "Every night I was stalked by two crocs who would sit at the bottom of the tree staring up at me," George told Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper. "All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me and all night I had to listen to a big bull croc bellowing a bit further out." "I'd yell out at them, 'I'm not falling out of this tree for you bastards'." George, 53, said his nightmare began when he was thrown by his horse. Dazed and bleeding, he climbed back into the saddle and gave the animal its head, expecting it to take him home. But later, in the pre-dawn darkness, he realized it had taken him more than a kilometer into the heart of a crocodile swamp....
FLE
Drug cartel-terrorist ties known in 2001 A former director of the Drug Enforcement Administration warned federal officials shortly after the September 11 attacks that violent drug cartels from Mexico were teaming with Muslim gangs to fund terrorist organizations overseas. Asa Hutchinson, who also has been a Homeland Security undersecretary, said that in 2001, DEA agents uncovered the link between the drug cartels and terrorist groups but too few government officials listened. "I think it's important to recognize that the link between terrorism and drug trafficking exists," said Mr. Hutchinson in a phone interview from Arkansas. "While we are fighting terrorists, we should not neglect our fight against drug traffickers. We shouldn't neglect it, because the link is there." Last week, The Washington Times disclosed a confidential DEA report substantiating the link between Islamist sleeper cells in the U.S. and Mexican drug cartels. The report, which included several documented U.S. investigations into the terrorist/cartel connection, stated that Middle Eastern operatives funded terrorist groups with drug money linked to Mexican cartels. Furthermore, the 2005 document suggests that some Islamist terrorists are disguising themselves as Hispanics....
Risk, rewards in military duty for illegal aliens What if we offered illegal immigrants a path to citizenship that included a stint in the U.S. military? The idea has been trumpeted by thoughtful people such as Max Boot, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who thinks this is the time for a "freedom legion." He's talking about a unit of the military made up entirely of the foreign-born -- including illegal immigrants -- where the compensation would include U.S. citizenship. About 70,000 foreign-born men and women serve in the U.S. armed forces, or about 5 percent of the total active-duty force, according to the Pentagon. Of those, nearly 30,000 -- or about 43 percent -- are not U.S. citizens. Roping illegal immigrants into military service could accomplish two goals at once: helping alleviate the military's recruitment worries while giving the undocumented a chance to prove that their commitment to this country extends beyond a paycheck....
Border Patrol to build fencing The U.S. Border Patrol is asking for volunteers among its agents to help build fences on the U.S.-Mexico border, even as President Bush is withdrawing half the National Guard troops he sent there last year to build fences. A memo circulated last week to Border Patrol sector chiefs said fence-building efforts on the Southwest border were going to fall short of Mr. Bush's goal of finishing 70 miles in fiscal 2007, which ends Sept. 30, "so the Border Patrol is now going back into the fence-building business." The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, called on the chiefs to provide lists of agents who "can and have built fences in the past," adding that the agency was looking for welders, equipment operators and "anyone else with construction experience." "They are moving quickly on this, so your sector's response will be needed back here by noon tomorrow," said the Aug. 6 memo, which asked that the entire Border Patrol be canvassed for agents qualified and able to work on fence construction....
Job seekers must obtain Homeland Security approval US citizens and other residents will require prior approval from Department of Homeland Security to get a job, under new immigration guidelines introduced by the Cabinet and sanctioned by President George W. Bush today. This requirement was initially part of the failed immigration bill which has now been "within the boundaries of existing law to secure our borders more effectively," according to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff And Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. The Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS) has been renamed E-verify and will initially require more than 200,000 companies doing Federal business to use the system to establish employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security Numbers. Later the system will be expanded to cover all companies and will include photo screening features through agreements to allow E-Verify access to the repository of photographs in state Department Of Motor Vehicles databases. American Civil Liberties Union pointed out that the DHS's verification system is error plagued and if the department makes a mistake in determining work eligibility, there will be virtually no way to challenge the error or recover lost wages due to the bill’s prohibitions on judicial review....
Source Disclosure Ordered in Anthrax Suit Five reporters must reveal their government sources for stories they wrote about Steven J. Hatfill and investigators' suspicions that the former Army scientist was behind the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The decision from U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton is yet another blow to the news industry as it seeks to shield anonymous sources who provide critical information -- especially on the secret inner workings of government. "The names of the sources are central to Dr. Hatfill's case," Walton wrote in a 31-page opinion. The ruling is a victory for Hatfill, a bioterrorism expert who has argued in a civil suit that the government violated his privacy rights and ruined his chances at a job by unfairly leaking information about the probe. He has not been charged in the attacks that killed five people and sickened 17 others, and he has denied wrongdoing. Hatfill's suit, filed in 2003, accuses the government of waging a "coordinated smear campaign." To succeed, Hatfill and his attorneys have been seeking the identities of FBI and Justice Department officials who disclosed disparaging information about him to the media....
Gonzales could get say in states' executions The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts. The rules implement a little-noticed provision in last year's reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held by federal judges. Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use "fast track" procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court....
Drug cartel-terrorist ties known in 2001 A former director of the Drug Enforcement Administration warned federal officials shortly after the September 11 attacks that violent drug cartels from Mexico were teaming with Muslim gangs to fund terrorist organizations overseas. Asa Hutchinson, who also has been a Homeland Security undersecretary, said that in 2001, DEA agents uncovered the link between the drug cartels and terrorist groups but too few government officials listened. "I think it's important to recognize that the link between terrorism and drug trafficking exists," said Mr. Hutchinson in a phone interview from Arkansas. "While we are fighting terrorists, we should not neglect our fight against drug traffickers. We shouldn't neglect it, because the link is there." Last week, The Washington Times disclosed a confidential DEA report substantiating the link between Islamist sleeper cells in the U.S. and Mexican drug cartels. The report, which included several documented U.S. investigations into the terrorist/cartel connection, stated that Middle Eastern operatives funded terrorist groups with drug money linked to Mexican cartels. Furthermore, the 2005 document suggests that some Islamist terrorists are disguising themselves as Hispanics....
Risk, rewards in military duty for illegal aliens What if we offered illegal immigrants a path to citizenship that included a stint in the U.S. military? The idea has been trumpeted by thoughtful people such as Max Boot, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who thinks this is the time for a "freedom legion." He's talking about a unit of the military made up entirely of the foreign-born -- including illegal immigrants -- where the compensation would include U.S. citizenship. About 70,000 foreign-born men and women serve in the U.S. armed forces, or about 5 percent of the total active-duty force, according to the Pentagon. Of those, nearly 30,000 -- or about 43 percent -- are not U.S. citizens. Roping illegal immigrants into military service could accomplish two goals at once: helping alleviate the military's recruitment worries while giving the undocumented a chance to prove that their commitment to this country extends beyond a paycheck....
Border Patrol to build fencing The U.S. Border Patrol is asking for volunteers among its agents to help build fences on the U.S.-Mexico border, even as President Bush is withdrawing half the National Guard troops he sent there last year to build fences. A memo circulated last week to Border Patrol sector chiefs said fence-building efforts on the Southwest border were going to fall short of Mr. Bush's goal of finishing 70 miles in fiscal 2007, which ends Sept. 30, "so the Border Patrol is now going back into the fence-building business." The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, called on the chiefs to provide lists of agents who "can and have built fences in the past," adding that the agency was looking for welders, equipment operators and "anyone else with construction experience." "They are moving quickly on this, so your sector's response will be needed back here by noon tomorrow," said the Aug. 6 memo, which asked that the entire Border Patrol be canvassed for agents qualified and able to work on fence construction....
Job seekers must obtain Homeland Security approval US citizens and other residents will require prior approval from Department of Homeland Security to get a job, under new immigration guidelines introduced by the Cabinet and sanctioned by President George W. Bush today. This requirement was initially part of the failed immigration bill which has now been "within the boundaries of existing law to secure our borders more effectively," according to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff And Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. The Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS) has been renamed E-verify and will initially require more than 200,000 companies doing Federal business to use the system to establish employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security Numbers. Later the system will be expanded to cover all companies and will include photo screening features through agreements to allow E-Verify access to the repository of photographs in state Department Of Motor Vehicles databases. American Civil Liberties Union pointed out that the DHS's verification system is error plagued and if the department makes a mistake in determining work eligibility, there will be virtually no way to challenge the error or recover lost wages due to the bill’s prohibitions on judicial review....
Source Disclosure Ordered in Anthrax Suit Five reporters must reveal their government sources for stories they wrote about Steven J. Hatfill and investigators' suspicions that the former Army scientist was behind the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The decision from U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton is yet another blow to the news industry as it seeks to shield anonymous sources who provide critical information -- especially on the secret inner workings of government. "The names of the sources are central to Dr. Hatfill's case," Walton wrote in a 31-page opinion. The ruling is a victory for Hatfill, a bioterrorism expert who has argued in a civil suit that the government violated his privacy rights and ruined his chances at a job by unfairly leaking information about the probe. He has not been charged in the attacks that killed five people and sickened 17 others, and he has denied wrongdoing. Hatfill's suit, filed in 2003, accuses the government of waging a "coordinated smear campaign." To succeed, Hatfill and his attorneys have been seeking the identities of FBI and Justice Department officials who disclosed disparaging information about him to the media....
Gonzales could get say in states' executions The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts. The rules implement a little-noticed provision in last year's reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held by federal judges. Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use "fast track" procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court....
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Green Activists Plan Mass Action Against 'Climate Criminals' at Heathrow Hundreds of environmental activists will descend on Heathrow Airport this week to protest climate change supposedly caused by an expanding economy. They said they want to strike a blow against the "corporate climate criminals of the world." Organizers behind the Camp For Climate Action said they intend to open up a "temporary eco-village" next to one of the world's busiest airports on Tuesday, charging that it was time for governments and corporations to get serious about global warming. Proponents say air travel is a major contributory factor. Coming at the peak of the British vacation season, the camp will monitored by scores of police officers, potentially setting the stage for internationally televised clashes between demonstrators and law enforcers. On Sunday, an advance guard of 150 activists began setting up tents, compost toilets, and kitchens in a sports ground just north of the airport perimeter fence....
Twisted Science The complexities of global warming, (renamed as climate change) should be the domain of scientific discussions. Such discussions should be held within the constraints of science, the scientific methods, the careful collection, management, and analyses of the climate data. There should include careful resolutions and explanations of conflicting data, replication, and passing the essential demands of explaining the observations of the climate data. I have never been in discussions of science and engineering issues where these values weren’t highly respected and determinant. Even competing designs, processes, and theories were lightly defended since the common understanding was that the data would determine which was superior. In contrast, falsely representing the data supporting a particular theory or design, would have been severely dealt with and career limiting. We have been told by Al Gore and others that there should be a grand debate about global warming. Yet there has been precious little debate worthy of the name....
Newsweek v. Newsweek on global warming denial This week's cover story in Newsweek reports a "denial machine," bought and paid for by big industry, is preventing critical government action to stop global warming. Meanwhile, next week's issue of Newsweek contains a scathing report by longtime contributing editor Robert J. Samuelson characterizing the previous cover story as "highly contrived" and "fundamentally misleading." "We in the news business often enlist in moral crusades," writes Samuelson in a report that will hit newsstands next week. "Global warming is among the latest. Unfortunately, self-righteous indignation can undermine good journalism. Last week's Newsweek cover story on global warming is a sobering reminder. It's an object lesson of how viewing the world as 'good guys vs. bad guys' can lead to a vast oversimplification of a messy story. Global warming has clearly occurred; the hard question is what to do about it."....
Home razing angering owners in New Orleans While Willie Ann Williams waited for federal aid to rebuild her home in the hurricane flooded 9th Ward, it was demolished — apparently by mistake. There was nothing left but bare dirt. A city official told her family the wood-frame house should not have been torn down, but no one has told them why it happened or what happens next. Williams had a building permit and wanted to fix up her house once she received money from the federally funded, state-run Road Home grant program. Now, with no house to repair, she's living in Franklinton, 70 miles away, and doesn't know whether she'll be able to come back, said Williams' daughter, Vonder McNeil. Confusion reigns with the approach of an Aug. 29 deadline — the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina — for the city to tell federal authorities which properties it wants demolished. Homes that were only damaged have wound up on a list of 1,700 condemned properties. Some houses on the list have been gutted for rebuilding or are in move-in condition. Angry homeowners are besieging City Council members and camping out at city offices. "Do Not Demolish" signs are posted on porches, and some owners are hiring lawyers for a possible legal fight....
Peer reviews flunk Bush administration plans for spotted owl The Bush administration's plans for saving the northern spotted owl from extinction have flunked a peer review by scientists. Under a contract with the administration, the Society for Conservation Biology and the American Ornithologists' Union said the government did not consider all the best available science, a requirement of the Endangered Species Act, before making room for more logging in old-growth forests. The organizations reviewed a draft recovery plan that rates the invasion of the barred owl into spotted owl territory a greater threat than habitat loss, as well as a proposal to reduce critical habitat for the owl by 22 percent. The two proposals are key to plans to bring back clearcut logging in old-growth forests on U.S. Bureau of Land Management forests in Western Oregon, aimed at increasing timber production and restoring timber revenue to county governments. The reviewers of the recovery plan said there appears to be a scientific consensus that the plans would not only fail to bring back owl populations but also would result in downgrading its status from threatened to endangered....
Study Shows Pronghorn Antelope Coexisting With Gas Wells at Current Development Levels As the fastest land animal in North America, the pronghorn antelope is also proving adaptable to science-informed development, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which has just released its second annual report on the interactions of pronghorn with oil and gas development in the Upper Green River Basin in Wyoming. Similar to the first annual report published last summer, the new data suggest that the population of the pronghorn antelope herds remain strong throughout the Anticline at the current level of development. The ongoing five-year study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) utilized input from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The Upper Green River Basin in western Wyoming holds vast reserves of natural gas, including the Pinedale Anticline, which is the nation's second largest gas field. It is also home to several species of wildlife, including pronghorn antelope that rely on the Anticline for crucial wintering range. Researchers again did not detect any differences in survival rates or body mass of pronghorn captured in and among the gas fields (designated experimental animals) and those captured at sites far from petroleum activities (designated control animals)....
Teton County program introduces kids to the outdoors It's a sunny August afternoon, and 12 pre-teens are peering into running waters of the Snake River, picking out insects on their index fingers. "Which one is that?" they ask, running toward one another and a laminated index card with sketches of various bugs. Later, they will learn fly fishing techniques and raft down different portions of the famous Wyoming river. Meet "More Kids in the Woods," a program sponsored by various partners in Teton County including the Bridger-Teton National Forest. One of 24 national recipients, Bridger-Teton officials applied for the grant _ totaling $11,800, with local partners raising an additional $24,000 _ to allow kids to spend more time on public lands. "We decided that we have many kids in Jackson that may never have the chance to run the river, take a walk in the forest, etc.," said David Cernicek, river manager for the Bridger-Teton. Cernicek was responsible for applying for the "Healthy Kids, Healthy Watersheds" grant on the Bridger-Teton....
Blazes may have lasting effects on wildlife Long after the slurry bombers and helicopters go silent, the effects of this summer's explosive wildfire season on wildlife will continue to be felt for years to come. Utah's 805 wildland fires have scorched more than 689,495 acres as of Aug. 6, according to the Boise, Idaho-based National Interagency Fire Center. In the wake of the blazes, officials have begun assessing the effects on the state's wildlife as they continue planning the long-term healing process. Near Milford, high winds and temperatures pushed a wildfire across the landscape, quickly consuming everything in its path. Biologists counted dozens of dead deer and several smaller animals such as rabbits, blue grouse and turkeys on charred landscape, said Sean Kelly, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Wildlife Resources. "It burned in everything from the desert to the high peaks," said Kelly. "Most of the losses to wildlife were smaller mammals that couldn't get away." Officials expect much wildlife will be displaced to other areas where animals will likely compete for limited territory and food, Kelly said....
City reservoirs could help restore Rio Grande cutthroat Santa Fe’s reservoirs could help save New Mexico’s state fish if the city and the state Department of Game and Fish reach an agreement this fall. The state Department of Game and Fish wants to stock tagged Rio Grande cutthroat trout from the Seven Springs hatchery in the McClure and Nichols reservoirs. The two reservoirs east of Santa Fe supply up to 40 percent of the city’s drinking water and feed into the Santa Fe River. Under the plan, fisheries staff would collect the tagged trout in late spring from the reservoirs before they spawn, harvest the eggs and sperm, and grow the fish back at the hatchery, according to fisheries Director Mike Sloane. To ensure genetic purity “if we get a fish that looks like a cutthroat but isn’t tagged, we won’t collect it,” Sloane said....
Nitrogen overload On an overcast day in April, Stuart Weiss stood in the rolling hills of a Bay Area nature preserve and lifted a bag of nitrogen-based fertilizer to his shoulder. The heavy sack, the Menlo Park ecologist explained to the small crowd gathered in front of him, symbolized the unprecedented release of nitrogen into the Earth's air, land and water, and the insidious environmental changes under way globally from the potent fertilizer. At Edgewood Park in Redwood City, where he stood, nitrogen from vehicle exhaust on a nearby freeway has led to the demise of a threatened butterfly population, according to research Weiss conducted. The clear link he established between the exhaust and the butterflies' decline attracted international attention among the growing federation of scientists studying "nitrogen pollution." "I call it the biggest global change that nobody has ever heard of," Weiss said at the spring event. "The planet has never seen this much nitrogen at any time." Human activity now releases 125 million metric tons of nitrogen from agricultural activities and fossil fuel combustion a year, compared to 113 million metric tons annually from natural sources, according to a 2007 United Nations report called "Human Alteration of the Nitrogen Cycle."....
New book looks at maverick West Texan Williams Wildcatter, rancher, multimillionaire and more, West Texas businessman Clayton Williams may be best known for his run for governor in a campaign sunk by his gaffes. The 1990 governor's race was his to lose. And that's what he did, propelling liberal Democrat opponent Ann Richards to the state's top office. The Republican's outrageous remarks and multiple missteps are considered the textbook for how not to wage a political campaign. "If the Lord wanted me to be governor, he wouldn't have brought in that storm," Williams says of the comments that lost him votes and drew international attention to the race dubbed "Claytie and the Lady." A new authorized biography, "Claytie," by Texas author and former Associated Press correspondent Mike Cochran, chronicles not only Williams' brief political career, but also his highs and lows in the oil and gas industry, cattle ranching and the communications business. It portrays him as more clever and caring than his ham-handed campaign might allow....
It's All Trew: How legends are made Research recently turned up interesting facts about the parallel lives of two Panhandle men, one who became famous and the other who became lost in the annals of history. Strangely, the reason for the difference in the outcome of their lives was, believe it or not, about 500 feet in altitude. Now, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. Charles Goodnight, the famous man, and Henry W. Cresswell, the forgotten man, became acquainted when they both arrived in Pueblo, Colo. Goodnight established a ranching venture and Cresswell started a dairy and grain farm. As they prospered, they became good friends. In time, both owned and raised a lot of cattle, grazing them on open range east of Pueblo. Both became respected customers of the Thatcher Brothers Bank in Pueblo, which eventually grew into the largest financial institution in the area. As the range settled up and became over-grazed, both men sought new grass for their herds. Goodnight drove a large herd to the Canadian River in Texas with Cresswell going along to see and investigate the country. When Goodnight stopped in the Canadian breaks, Cresswell went on in a great circle to see the wide open spaces in the northern Texas Panhandle. He was convinced it would be good cattle country. Less than a year later, Cresswell brought his herd down the same trail as Goodnight traveled, settling just down the river from Adobe Walls and his friend, Goodnight....
Green Activists Plan Mass Action Against 'Climate Criminals' at Heathrow Hundreds of environmental activists will descend on Heathrow Airport this week to protest climate change supposedly caused by an expanding economy. They said they want to strike a blow against the "corporate climate criminals of the world." Organizers behind the Camp For Climate Action said they intend to open up a "temporary eco-village" next to one of the world's busiest airports on Tuesday, charging that it was time for governments and corporations to get serious about global warming. Proponents say air travel is a major contributory factor. Coming at the peak of the British vacation season, the camp will monitored by scores of police officers, potentially setting the stage for internationally televised clashes between demonstrators and law enforcers. On Sunday, an advance guard of 150 activists began setting up tents, compost toilets, and kitchens in a sports ground just north of the airport perimeter fence....
Twisted Science The complexities of global warming, (renamed as climate change) should be the domain of scientific discussions. Such discussions should be held within the constraints of science, the scientific methods, the careful collection, management, and analyses of the climate data. There should include careful resolutions and explanations of conflicting data, replication, and passing the essential demands of explaining the observations of the climate data. I have never been in discussions of science and engineering issues where these values weren’t highly respected and determinant. Even competing designs, processes, and theories were lightly defended since the common understanding was that the data would determine which was superior. In contrast, falsely representing the data supporting a particular theory or design, would have been severely dealt with and career limiting. We have been told by Al Gore and others that there should be a grand debate about global warming. Yet there has been precious little debate worthy of the name....
Newsweek v. Newsweek on global warming denial This week's cover story in Newsweek reports a "denial machine," bought and paid for by big industry, is preventing critical government action to stop global warming. Meanwhile, next week's issue of Newsweek contains a scathing report by longtime contributing editor Robert J. Samuelson characterizing the previous cover story as "highly contrived" and "fundamentally misleading." "We in the news business often enlist in moral crusades," writes Samuelson in a report that will hit newsstands next week. "Global warming is among the latest. Unfortunately, self-righteous indignation can undermine good journalism. Last week's Newsweek cover story on global warming is a sobering reminder. It's an object lesson of how viewing the world as 'good guys vs. bad guys' can lead to a vast oversimplification of a messy story. Global warming has clearly occurred; the hard question is what to do about it."....
Home razing angering owners in New Orleans While Willie Ann Williams waited for federal aid to rebuild her home in the hurricane flooded 9th Ward, it was demolished — apparently by mistake. There was nothing left but bare dirt. A city official told her family the wood-frame house should not have been torn down, but no one has told them why it happened or what happens next. Williams had a building permit and wanted to fix up her house once she received money from the federally funded, state-run Road Home grant program. Now, with no house to repair, she's living in Franklinton, 70 miles away, and doesn't know whether she'll be able to come back, said Williams' daughter, Vonder McNeil. Confusion reigns with the approach of an Aug. 29 deadline — the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina — for the city to tell federal authorities which properties it wants demolished. Homes that were only damaged have wound up on a list of 1,700 condemned properties. Some houses on the list have been gutted for rebuilding or are in move-in condition. Angry homeowners are besieging City Council members and camping out at city offices. "Do Not Demolish" signs are posted on porches, and some owners are hiring lawyers for a possible legal fight....
Peer reviews flunk Bush administration plans for spotted owl The Bush administration's plans for saving the northern spotted owl from extinction have flunked a peer review by scientists. Under a contract with the administration, the Society for Conservation Biology and the American Ornithologists' Union said the government did not consider all the best available science, a requirement of the Endangered Species Act, before making room for more logging in old-growth forests. The organizations reviewed a draft recovery plan that rates the invasion of the barred owl into spotted owl territory a greater threat than habitat loss, as well as a proposal to reduce critical habitat for the owl by 22 percent. The two proposals are key to plans to bring back clearcut logging in old-growth forests on U.S. Bureau of Land Management forests in Western Oregon, aimed at increasing timber production and restoring timber revenue to county governments. The reviewers of the recovery plan said there appears to be a scientific consensus that the plans would not only fail to bring back owl populations but also would result in downgrading its status from threatened to endangered....
Study Shows Pronghorn Antelope Coexisting With Gas Wells at Current Development Levels As the fastest land animal in North America, the pronghorn antelope is also proving adaptable to science-informed development, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which has just released its second annual report on the interactions of pronghorn with oil and gas development in the Upper Green River Basin in Wyoming. Similar to the first annual report published last summer, the new data suggest that the population of the pronghorn antelope herds remain strong throughout the Anticline at the current level of development. The ongoing five-year study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) utilized input from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The Upper Green River Basin in western Wyoming holds vast reserves of natural gas, including the Pinedale Anticline, which is the nation's second largest gas field. It is also home to several species of wildlife, including pronghorn antelope that rely on the Anticline for crucial wintering range. Researchers again did not detect any differences in survival rates or body mass of pronghorn captured in and among the gas fields (designated experimental animals) and those captured at sites far from petroleum activities (designated control animals)....
Teton County program introduces kids to the outdoors It's a sunny August afternoon, and 12 pre-teens are peering into running waters of the Snake River, picking out insects on their index fingers. "Which one is that?" they ask, running toward one another and a laminated index card with sketches of various bugs. Later, they will learn fly fishing techniques and raft down different portions of the famous Wyoming river. Meet "More Kids in the Woods," a program sponsored by various partners in Teton County including the Bridger-Teton National Forest. One of 24 national recipients, Bridger-Teton officials applied for the grant _ totaling $11,800, with local partners raising an additional $24,000 _ to allow kids to spend more time on public lands. "We decided that we have many kids in Jackson that may never have the chance to run the river, take a walk in the forest, etc.," said David Cernicek, river manager for the Bridger-Teton. Cernicek was responsible for applying for the "Healthy Kids, Healthy Watersheds" grant on the Bridger-Teton....
Blazes may have lasting effects on wildlife Long after the slurry bombers and helicopters go silent, the effects of this summer's explosive wildfire season on wildlife will continue to be felt for years to come. Utah's 805 wildland fires have scorched more than 689,495 acres as of Aug. 6, according to the Boise, Idaho-based National Interagency Fire Center. In the wake of the blazes, officials have begun assessing the effects on the state's wildlife as they continue planning the long-term healing process. Near Milford, high winds and temperatures pushed a wildfire across the landscape, quickly consuming everything in its path. Biologists counted dozens of dead deer and several smaller animals such as rabbits, blue grouse and turkeys on charred landscape, said Sean Kelly, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Wildlife Resources. "It burned in everything from the desert to the high peaks," said Kelly. "Most of the losses to wildlife were smaller mammals that couldn't get away." Officials expect much wildlife will be displaced to other areas where animals will likely compete for limited territory and food, Kelly said....
City reservoirs could help restore Rio Grande cutthroat Santa Fe’s reservoirs could help save New Mexico’s state fish if the city and the state Department of Game and Fish reach an agreement this fall. The state Department of Game and Fish wants to stock tagged Rio Grande cutthroat trout from the Seven Springs hatchery in the McClure and Nichols reservoirs. The two reservoirs east of Santa Fe supply up to 40 percent of the city’s drinking water and feed into the Santa Fe River. Under the plan, fisheries staff would collect the tagged trout in late spring from the reservoirs before they spawn, harvest the eggs and sperm, and grow the fish back at the hatchery, according to fisheries Director Mike Sloane. To ensure genetic purity “if we get a fish that looks like a cutthroat but isn’t tagged, we won’t collect it,” Sloane said....
Nitrogen overload On an overcast day in April, Stuart Weiss stood in the rolling hills of a Bay Area nature preserve and lifted a bag of nitrogen-based fertilizer to his shoulder. The heavy sack, the Menlo Park ecologist explained to the small crowd gathered in front of him, symbolized the unprecedented release of nitrogen into the Earth's air, land and water, and the insidious environmental changes under way globally from the potent fertilizer. At Edgewood Park in Redwood City, where he stood, nitrogen from vehicle exhaust on a nearby freeway has led to the demise of a threatened butterfly population, according to research Weiss conducted. The clear link he established between the exhaust and the butterflies' decline attracted international attention among the growing federation of scientists studying "nitrogen pollution." "I call it the biggest global change that nobody has ever heard of," Weiss said at the spring event. "The planet has never seen this much nitrogen at any time." Human activity now releases 125 million metric tons of nitrogen from agricultural activities and fossil fuel combustion a year, compared to 113 million metric tons annually from natural sources, according to a 2007 United Nations report called "Human Alteration of the Nitrogen Cycle."....
New book looks at maverick West Texan Williams Wildcatter, rancher, multimillionaire and more, West Texas businessman Clayton Williams may be best known for his run for governor in a campaign sunk by his gaffes. The 1990 governor's race was his to lose. And that's what he did, propelling liberal Democrat opponent Ann Richards to the state's top office. The Republican's outrageous remarks and multiple missteps are considered the textbook for how not to wage a political campaign. "If the Lord wanted me to be governor, he wouldn't have brought in that storm," Williams says of the comments that lost him votes and drew international attention to the race dubbed "Claytie and the Lady." A new authorized biography, "Claytie," by Texas author and former Associated Press correspondent Mike Cochran, chronicles not only Williams' brief political career, but also his highs and lows in the oil and gas industry, cattle ranching and the communications business. It portrays him as more clever and caring than his ham-handed campaign might allow....
It's All Trew: How legends are made Research recently turned up interesting facts about the parallel lives of two Panhandle men, one who became famous and the other who became lost in the annals of history. Strangely, the reason for the difference in the outcome of their lives was, believe it or not, about 500 feet in altitude. Now, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. Charles Goodnight, the famous man, and Henry W. Cresswell, the forgotten man, became acquainted when they both arrived in Pueblo, Colo. Goodnight established a ranching venture and Cresswell started a dairy and grain farm. As they prospered, they became good friends. In time, both owned and raised a lot of cattle, grazing them on open range east of Pueblo. Both became respected customers of the Thatcher Brothers Bank in Pueblo, which eventually grew into the largest financial institution in the area. As the range settled up and became over-grazed, both men sought new grass for their herds. Goodnight drove a large herd to the Canadian River in Texas with Cresswell going along to see and investigate the country. When Goodnight stopped in the Canadian breaks, Cresswell went on in a great circle to see the wide open spaces in the northern Texas Panhandle. He was convinced it would be good cattle country. Less than a year later, Cresswell brought his herd down the same trail as Goodnight traveled, settling just down the river from Adobe Walls and his friend, Goodnight....
FLE
Security firms working on devices to spot would-be terrorists in crowd Scientists and engineers have been asked to devise ways of analysing people's behaviour and physiology from afar, in the hope they may reveal clues about their mental state and even their future intentions. Under Project Hostile Intent, scientists will aim to build devices that can pick up tell-tale signs of hostile intent or deception from people's heart rates, perspiration and tiny shifts in facial expressions. The project was launched by the US department of homeland security with a call to security companies and government laboratories for assistance. According to the timetable set out, the new devices are expected to be trialled at a handful of airports, borders and ports of entry by 2012. The plans describe how systems based on video cameras, laserlight, infra-red, audio recordings and eye tracking technology are expected to scour crowds looking for unusual behaviour, with the aim of identifying people who should be approached and quizzed by security staff, New Scientist magazine reports. The project hopes to advance a security system already employed by the US transportation security administration that monitors people for unintentional facial twitches, called "micro-expressions", that can suggest someone is lying or trying to conceal information....
Secrecy may be spy program's defense The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program has a built-in feature the Justice Department believes may shield it from ever being challenged as unconstitutional: secrecy. The administration has acknowledged it intercepted some U.S. telephone conversations without warrants as it hunted for terrorists. Whose calls? The government isn't saying. And since only those who were spied on have grounds to sue, it's almost impossible to mount a successful legal challenge. A federal appeals court in Ohio dismissed one such challenge last month because the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups could not prove the government had listened to their conversations. The court did not rule on whether the program was constitutional. Unless the government decides to release information about its wiretaps — as part of a criminal case, for example — the Justice Department said Monday the constitutional question may never be answered. A senior Justice Department official made the comments at a briefing before a hearing Wednesday in San Francisco, where lawyers are trying to challenge the program's legality. The official, who insisted on anonymity because of the pending litigation, said such challenges must first clear a difficult hurdle. "They would have to somehow get, through discovery or admission from government, that they had in fact been surveilled," the official said....
Upkeep Of Security Devices A Burden In 2003, the FBI used a $25 million grant to give bomb squads across the nation state-of-the-art computer kits, enabling them to instantly share information about suspected explosives, including weapons of mass destruction. Four years later, half of the Washington area's squads can't communicate via the $12,000 kits, meant to be taken to the scene of potential catastrophes, because they didn't pick up the monthly wireless bills and maintenance costs initially paid by the FBI. Other squads across the country also have given up using them. "They worked, and it was a good idea -- until the subscription ran out," said Mike Love, who oversees the bomb squad in Montgomery County's fire department. At the local level, he said, "there is not budget money for it." Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the area has received more than $1 billion in federal money to strengthen first responders and secure the region. That money has bought satellite phones, radios, protective suits, water-security monitors and a host of other items. But local officials are grappling with how to maintain the huge infusion of equipment....
Fear, Frenzy, and FISA Like Bill Murray's hapless weatherman in Groundhog Day, America is locked in a perpetual September 12, 2001. How else to explain this weekend's frenzied passage of a sweeping amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), effectively authorizing the program of extrajudicial wiretaps first approved in secret by President George W. Bush shortly after the terrorist attacks of 2001? How else to make sense of a Democratic Congress capitulating to the demands of a wildly unpopular executive for yet another expansion of government surveillance powers, mere months after the disclosure of the rampant abuses that followed the last such expansion? The hasty passage of the massive USA PATRIOT Act, a scant 45 days after those attacks, was ill-considered but understandable. Six years later, however, the administration has grown comfortable with the prerogatives panic affords. And, perversely, it has learned that it can continue to wield those prerogatives even under a Democratic majority, provided it insists on regarding Congress always and only as a last resort. Consider the provenance of this "emergency" legislation. President Bush first authorized the National Security Agency to carry out a range of surveillance activities without court order, the full scope of which is still unknown, but which at the least included monitoring communications between persons in the United States and targets abroad. (Wholly international communications had always been exempt from the privacy restrictions imposed by U.S. law.) When this was revealed by The New York Times late in 2005, the administration insisted that national security required that intelligence agents be allowed to bypass even the super-secret—and highly compliant—FISA courts. Then, following the 2006 midterm elections, which gave Democrats a congressional majority, the Department of Justice abruptly announced that it had found a way to work within FISA after all. Finally, according to The LA Times, a spring ruling by a FISA court judge found that even this restricted version of the six-year-old program ran afoul of the law. Suddenly it became urgent that Congress "modernize" what was invariably described as "the 1978 FISA statute," conjuring images of forlorn agents in white polyester leisure suits vainly hunting for al-Qaeda terrorists hidden under Pet Rocks. Yet FISA had already been updated dozens of times since its initial passage, including six major amendments since the September 11 attacks, giving the administration myriad opportunities to request all the "modernization" it required, subject to thorough public debate....
Security firms working on devices to spot would-be terrorists in crowd Scientists and engineers have been asked to devise ways of analysing people's behaviour and physiology from afar, in the hope they may reveal clues about their mental state and even their future intentions. Under Project Hostile Intent, scientists will aim to build devices that can pick up tell-tale signs of hostile intent or deception from people's heart rates, perspiration and tiny shifts in facial expressions. The project was launched by the US department of homeland security with a call to security companies and government laboratories for assistance. According to the timetable set out, the new devices are expected to be trialled at a handful of airports, borders and ports of entry by 2012. The plans describe how systems based on video cameras, laserlight, infra-red, audio recordings and eye tracking technology are expected to scour crowds looking for unusual behaviour, with the aim of identifying people who should be approached and quizzed by security staff, New Scientist magazine reports. The project hopes to advance a security system already employed by the US transportation security administration that monitors people for unintentional facial twitches, called "micro-expressions", that can suggest someone is lying or trying to conceal information....
Secrecy may be spy program's defense The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program has a built-in feature the Justice Department believes may shield it from ever being challenged as unconstitutional: secrecy. The administration has acknowledged it intercepted some U.S. telephone conversations without warrants as it hunted for terrorists. Whose calls? The government isn't saying. And since only those who were spied on have grounds to sue, it's almost impossible to mount a successful legal challenge. A federal appeals court in Ohio dismissed one such challenge last month because the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups could not prove the government had listened to their conversations. The court did not rule on whether the program was constitutional. Unless the government decides to release information about its wiretaps — as part of a criminal case, for example — the Justice Department said Monday the constitutional question may never be answered. A senior Justice Department official made the comments at a briefing before a hearing Wednesday in San Francisco, where lawyers are trying to challenge the program's legality. The official, who insisted on anonymity because of the pending litigation, said such challenges must first clear a difficult hurdle. "They would have to somehow get, through discovery or admission from government, that they had in fact been surveilled," the official said....
Upkeep Of Security Devices A Burden In 2003, the FBI used a $25 million grant to give bomb squads across the nation state-of-the-art computer kits, enabling them to instantly share information about suspected explosives, including weapons of mass destruction. Four years later, half of the Washington area's squads can't communicate via the $12,000 kits, meant to be taken to the scene of potential catastrophes, because they didn't pick up the monthly wireless bills and maintenance costs initially paid by the FBI. Other squads across the country also have given up using them. "They worked, and it was a good idea -- until the subscription ran out," said Mike Love, who oversees the bomb squad in Montgomery County's fire department. At the local level, he said, "there is not budget money for it." Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the area has received more than $1 billion in federal money to strengthen first responders and secure the region. That money has bought satellite phones, radios, protective suits, water-security monitors and a host of other items. But local officials are grappling with how to maintain the huge infusion of equipment....
Fear, Frenzy, and FISA Like Bill Murray's hapless weatherman in Groundhog Day, America is locked in a perpetual September 12, 2001. How else to explain this weekend's frenzied passage of a sweeping amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), effectively authorizing the program of extrajudicial wiretaps first approved in secret by President George W. Bush shortly after the terrorist attacks of 2001? How else to make sense of a Democratic Congress capitulating to the demands of a wildly unpopular executive for yet another expansion of government surveillance powers, mere months after the disclosure of the rampant abuses that followed the last such expansion? The hasty passage of the massive USA PATRIOT Act, a scant 45 days after those attacks, was ill-considered but understandable. Six years later, however, the administration has grown comfortable with the prerogatives panic affords. And, perversely, it has learned that it can continue to wield those prerogatives even under a Democratic majority, provided it insists on regarding Congress always and only as a last resort. Consider the provenance of this "emergency" legislation. President Bush first authorized the National Security Agency to carry out a range of surveillance activities without court order, the full scope of which is still unknown, but which at the least included monitoring communications between persons in the United States and targets abroad. (Wholly international communications had always been exempt from the privacy restrictions imposed by U.S. law.) When this was revealed by The New York Times late in 2005, the administration insisted that national security required that intelligence agents be allowed to bypass even the super-secret—and highly compliant—FISA courts. Then, following the 2006 midterm elections, which gave Democrats a congressional majority, the Department of Justice abruptly announced that it had found a way to work within FISA after all. Finally, according to The LA Times, a spring ruling by a FISA court judge found that even this restricted version of the six-year-old program ran afoul of the law. Suddenly it became urgent that Congress "modernize" what was invariably described as "the 1978 FISA statute," conjuring images of forlorn agents in white polyester leisure suits vainly hunting for al-Qaeda terrorists hidden under Pet Rocks. Yet FISA had already been updated dozens of times since its initial passage, including six major amendments since the September 11 attacks, giving the administration myriad opportunities to request all the "modernization" it required, subject to thorough public debate....
Monday, August 13, 2007
SPLIT ESTATES
H.R. 3221, The Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007, passed the House of Representatives on August 4th by a vote of 241 - 172.
Many in the West are interested in the split estate problems, and Section 7221 (see below) of H.R. 3221 attempts to address that issue. There is no similar provision in the Senate version of this legislation, so it will be decided in conference between the two houses. Those of you with an interest in this issue may want to contact your U.S. Senators.
For more information on the split estate issue go here.
SEC. 7221. SURFACE OWNER PROTECTION.
(a) Definitions- As used in this section--
(1) the term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the Interior;
(2) the term `lease' means a lease issued by the Secretary under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.);
(3) the term `lessee' means the holder of a lease; and
(4) the term `operator' means any person that is responsible under the terms and conditions of a lease for the operations conducted on leased lands or any portion thereof.
(b) Post-Lease Surface Use Agreement-
(1) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in subsection (c), the Secretary may not authorize any operator to conduct exploration and drilling operations on lands with respect to which title to oil and gas resources is held by the United States but title to the surface estate is not held by the United States, until the operator has filed with the Secretary a document, signed by the operator and the surface owner or owners, showing that the operator has secured a written surface use agreement between the operator and the surface owner or owners that meets the requirements of paragraph (2).
(2) CONTENTS- The surface use agreement shall provide for--
(A) the use of only such portion of the surface estate as is reasonably necessary for exploration and drilling operations based on site-specific conditions;
(B) the accommodation of the surface estate owner to the maximum extent practicable, including the location, use, timing, and type of exploration and drilling operations, consistent with the operator's right to develop the oil and gas estate;
(C) the reclamation of the site to a condition capable of supporting the uses which such lands were capable of supporting prior to exploration and drilling operations or other uses as agreed to by the operator and the surface owner; and
(D) compensation for damages as a result of exploration and drilling operations, including but not limited to--
(i) loss of income and increased costs incurred;
(ii) damage to or destruction of personal property, including crops, forage, and livestock; and
(iii) failure to reclaim the site in accordance with this subparagraph (C).
(3) PROCEDURE-
(A) IN GENERAL- An operator shall notify the surface estate owner or owners of the operator's desire to conclude an agreement under this section. If the surface estate owner and the operator do not reach an agreement within 90 days after the operator has provided such notice, the matter shall be referred to third party arbitration for resolution within a period of 90 days. The cost of such arbitration shall be the responsibility of the operator.
(B) IDENTIFICATION OF ARBITERS- The Secretary shall identify persons with experience in conducting arbitrations and shall make this information available to operators and surface owners.
(C) REFERRAL TO IDENTIFIED ARBITER- Referral of a matter for arbitration by a person identified by the Secretary pursuant to subparagraph (B) shall be sufficient to constitute compliance with subparagraph (A).
(4) ATTORNEYS FEES- If action is taken to enforce or interpret any of the terms and conditions contained in a surface use agreement, the prevailing party shall be reimbursed by the other party for reasonable attorneys fees and actual costs incurred, in addition to any other relief which a court or arbitration panel may grant.
(c) Authorized Exploration and Drilling Operations-
(1) AUTHORIZATION WITHOUT SURFACE USE AGREEMENT- The Secretary may authorize an operator to conduct exploration and drilling operations on lands covered by subsection (b) in the absence of an agreement with the surface estate owner or owners, if--
(A) the Secretary makes a determination in writing that the operator made a good faith attempt to conclude such an agreement, including referral of the matter to arbitration pursuant to subsection (b)(3), but that no agreement was concluded within 90 days after the referral to arbitration;
(B) the operator submits a plan of operations that provides for the matters specified in subsection (b)(2) and for compliance with all other applicable requirements of Federal and State law; and
(C) the operator posts a bond or other financial assurance in an amount the Secretary determines to be adequate to ensure compensation to the surface estate owner for any damages to the site, in the form of a surety bond, trust fund, letter of credit, government security, certificate of deposit, cash, or equivalent.
(2) SURFACE OWNER PARTICIPATION- The Secretary shall provide surface estate owners with an opportunity to--
(A) comment on plans of operations in advance of a determination of compliance with this section;
(B) participate in bond level determinations and bond release proceedings under this subsection;
(C) attend an on-site inspection during such determinations and proceedings;
(D) file written objections to a proposed bond release; and
(E) request and participate in an on-site inspection when they have reason to believe there is a violation of the terms and conditions of a plan of operations.
(3) PAYMENT OF FINANCIAL GUARANTEE- A surface estate owner with respect to any land subject to a lease may petition the Secretary for payment of all or any portion of a bond or other financial assurance required under this subsection as compensation for any damages as a result of exploration and drilling operations. Pursuant to such a petition, the Secretary may use such bond or other guarantee to provide compensation to the surface estate owner for such damages.
(4) BOND RELEASE- Upon request and after inspection and opportunity for surface estate owner review, the Secretary may release the financial assurance required under this subsection if the Secretary determines that exploration and drilling operations have ended and all damages have been fully compensated.
(d) Surface Owner Notification- The Secretary shall--
(1) notify surface estate owners in writing at least 45 days in advance of lease sales;
(2) within ten working days after a lease is issued, notify surface estate owners regarding the identity of the lessee;
(3) notify surface estate owners in writing within 10 working days concerning any subsequent decisions regarding a lease, such as modifying or waiving stipulations and approving rights-of-way; and
(4) notify surface estate owners within five business days after issuance of a drilling permit under a lease.
(e) Regulations- The Secretary shall issue regulations implementing this section by not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(f) Relationship to State Law- Nothing in this section preempts applicable State law or regulation relating to surface owner protection.
H.R. 3221, The Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007, passed the House of Representatives on August 4th by a vote of 241 - 172.
Many in the West are interested in the split estate problems, and Section 7221 (see below) of H.R. 3221 attempts to address that issue. There is no similar provision in the Senate version of this legislation, so it will be decided in conference between the two houses. Those of you with an interest in this issue may want to contact your U.S. Senators.
For more information on the split estate issue go here.
SEC. 7221. SURFACE OWNER PROTECTION.
(a) Definitions- As used in this section--
(1) the term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the Interior;
(2) the term `lease' means a lease issued by the Secretary under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.);
(3) the term `lessee' means the holder of a lease; and
(4) the term `operator' means any person that is responsible under the terms and conditions of a lease for the operations conducted on leased lands or any portion thereof.
(b) Post-Lease Surface Use Agreement-
(1) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in subsection (c), the Secretary may not authorize any operator to conduct exploration and drilling operations on lands with respect to which title to oil and gas resources is held by the United States but title to the surface estate is not held by the United States, until the operator has filed with the Secretary a document, signed by the operator and the surface owner or owners, showing that the operator has secured a written surface use agreement between the operator and the surface owner or owners that meets the requirements of paragraph (2).
(2) CONTENTS- The surface use agreement shall provide for--
(A) the use of only such portion of the surface estate as is reasonably necessary for exploration and drilling operations based on site-specific conditions;
(B) the accommodation of the surface estate owner to the maximum extent practicable, including the location, use, timing, and type of exploration and drilling operations, consistent with the operator's right to develop the oil and gas estate;
(C) the reclamation of the site to a condition capable of supporting the uses which such lands were capable of supporting prior to exploration and drilling operations or other uses as agreed to by the operator and the surface owner; and
(D) compensation for damages as a result of exploration and drilling operations, including but not limited to--
(i) loss of income and increased costs incurred;
(ii) damage to or destruction of personal property, including crops, forage, and livestock; and
(iii) failure to reclaim the site in accordance with this subparagraph (C).
(3) PROCEDURE-
(A) IN GENERAL- An operator shall notify the surface estate owner or owners of the operator's desire to conclude an agreement under this section. If the surface estate owner and the operator do not reach an agreement within 90 days after the operator has provided such notice, the matter shall be referred to third party arbitration for resolution within a period of 90 days. The cost of such arbitration shall be the responsibility of the operator.
(B) IDENTIFICATION OF ARBITERS- The Secretary shall identify persons with experience in conducting arbitrations and shall make this information available to operators and surface owners.
(C) REFERRAL TO IDENTIFIED ARBITER- Referral of a matter for arbitration by a person identified by the Secretary pursuant to subparagraph (B) shall be sufficient to constitute compliance with subparagraph (A).
(4) ATTORNEYS FEES- If action is taken to enforce or interpret any of the terms and conditions contained in a surface use agreement, the prevailing party shall be reimbursed by the other party for reasonable attorneys fees and actual costs incurred, in addition to any other relief which a court or arbitration panel may grant.
(c) Authorized Exploration and Drilling Operations-
(1) AUTHORIZATION WITHOUT SURFACE USE AGREEMENT- The Secretary may authorize an operator to conduct exploration and drilling operations on lands covered by subsection (b) in the absence of an agreement with the surface estate owner or owners, if--
(A) the Secretary makes a determination in writing that the operator made a good faith attempt to conclude such an agreement, including referral of the matter to arbitration pursuant to subsection (b)(3), but that no agreement was concluded within 90 days after the referral to arbitration;
(B) the operator submits a plan of operations that provides for the matters specified in subsection (b)(2) and for compliance with all other applicable requirements of Federal and State law; and
(C) the operator posts a bond or other financial assurance in an amount the Secretary determines to be adequate to ensure compensation to the surface estate owner for any damages to the site, in the form of a surety bond, trust fund, letter of credit, government security, certificate of deposit, cash, or equivalent.
(2) SURFACE OWNER PARTICIPATION- The Secretary shall provide surface estate owners with an opportunity to--
(A) comment on plans of operations in advance of a determination of compliance with this section;
(B) participate in bond level determinations and bond release proceedings under this subsection;
(C) attend an on-site inspection during such determinations and proceedings;
(D) file written objections to a proposed bond release; and
(E) request and participate in an on-site inspection when they have reason to believe there is a violation of the terms and conditions of a plan of operations.
(3) PAYMENT OF FINANCIAL GUARANTEE- A surface estate owner with respect to any land subject to a lease may petition the Secretary for payment of all or any portion of a bond or other financial assurance required under this subsection as compensation for any damages as a result of exploration and drilling operations. Pursuant to such a petition, the Secretary may use such bond or other guarantee to provide compensation to the surface estate owner for such damages.
(4) BOND RELEASE- Upon request and after inspection and opportunity for surface estate owner review, the Secretary may release the financial assurance required under this subsection if the Secretary determines that exploration and drilling operations have ended and all damages have been fully compensated.
(d) Surface Owner Notification- The Secretary shall--
(1) notify surface estate owners in writing at least 45 days in advance of lease sales;
(2) within ten working days after a lease is issued, notify surface estate owners regarding the identity of the lessee;
(3) notify surface estate owners in writing within 10 working days concerning any subsequent decisions regarding a lease, such as modifying or waiving stipulations and approving rights-of-way; and
(4) notify surface estate owners within five business days after issuance of a drilling permit under a lease.
(e) Regulations- The Secretary shall issue regulations implementing this section by not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(f) Relationship to State Law- Nothing in this section preempts applicable State law or regulation relating to surface owner protection.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)