GAO
Yellowstone Bison: Interagency Plan and Agencies' Management Need Improvement to Better Address Bison-Cattle Brucellosis Controversy. GAO-08-291, March 7.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-291
Friday, April 04, 2008
The Worst Moment in History to Demand Biofuels I told the Sustainable Agriculture students at Iowa State University last week, “Human numbers are still expanding rapidly. With more people and higher incomes, we’d need to double farm output by 2050 even without biofuels. . . . Food needs will stabilize and then decline after 2050, but any wildlife species crowded off the planet by the huge land requirements of biofuels in the next 40 years will be gone forever.” Unfortunately, at least three-fourths of the world’s wild species are in the warm tropics where we’re now going to grow millions of acres of sugar cane for ethanol and put in huge palm oil plantations for biodiesel. I told my Iowa audience, “the Great Plains where we sit today had 60 million bison, 100 million antelope, prairie dogs and an interesting set of grasses. That isn’t many species, and those species have not gone extinct. But biofuels threaten thousands of species. Sugar cane takes less land per gallon of ethanol produced, but it’s produced on tropic lands with much more biodiversity than the Great Plains. Indonesia sits at the juncture of two incredibly species-rich ecosystems, yet we’re clearing it for biodiesel. Every bit of poor-quality land we sacrifice for biofuels carries far more species risk than growing high yields on high-quality land with pesticides, fertilizers and biotech seeds.” Meanwhile, burning those biofuels worsens the greenhouse gas problem. Two new studies in the journal Science (T. (Searchinger, 319:1238-40 and J. Fargione, 319: 1235-1238) point out that if the biofuels are grown on land converted from forest or grasses, the stored soil carbon gasses off into the air as CO2. As a result, I explained, corn ethanol is twice as bad for global warming as burning gasoline or diesel. And we are already using virtually all of the world’s good farmland to produce food and feed....
Musgrave wants GAO probe on Pinon Canyon spending More than one Pinon Canyon area rancher has been angered in recent weeks over a telephone call from an Army-paid public relations firm wanting to question them about their views on the proposed expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., has responded by asking the General Accountability Office - the investigative arm of Congress - to determine if the Army is violating the 2008 federal budget law, which include's her one-year ban on the Army spending any money on the proposed 414,000-acre expansion. Musgrave and Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., attached that ban to the budget legislation last summer and both the House and Senate approved it. A spokesman for Musgrave said this week that she remains opposed to any expansion of the 238,000-acre training area northeast of Trinidad and believes her amendment should have blocked the Army from hiring consultants to survey landowners. Salazar endorsed her GAO request when contacted Thursday. Mack Louden, a board member of the Not 1 More Acre group opposed to the expansion, said he received a call from the consultants recently to ask about his opposition to the expansion. "When I asked how they could be calling me, legally, when they were prohibited from spending money on the expansion, they said the Army was paying them out of 2007 money," Louden said in a recent interview....More carefully crafted language should be included in the next bill. If DOD is still spending 2007 dollars they were clearly appropriated too much money. Will Congress stand up for the separation of powers or does "Congressional Intent" mean nothing?
Oil, gas officials voice concern on possible drilling halt Lines are drawn in a classic northern New Mexico land-use battle as Rio Arriba County Commissioners move to impose a six-month moratorium on new oil and gas drilling. Meanwhile, the Texas company poised to drill in the Tierra Amarilla region of the county is pleading ignorance of the county's environmental concerns. Rio Arriba County is rooted deeply in land-use issues. It was in Tierra Amarilla that a group of Spanish land grant protesters seized control of the county courthouse June 3, 1967, to focus attention on land-use matters. If county commissioners follow through with plans to slap a six-month countywide moratorium on oil and gas drilling later this month, oil and natural gas workers in San Juan County stand to take a significant hit, local industry officials claim. Causing the concern to county commissioners and to a group of their constituents east of Tierra Amarilla is Fort Worth, Texas-based Approach Resources Inc.'s plan to drill for oil in an 8- to 10-mile square area it has targeted about 3.5 miles east of Tierra Amarilla. Cattle rancher John Sena's 900 acres is ground zero for Approach Resources' plans and is home to at least two of the test well drilling sites. Sena is not impressed by the company's choices. "I figure the company is not taking into consideration the drainage and impacts on the natural environment," he said. "It looked like they went to the easiest places to drill." One site is 250 yards from Tierra Amarilla Creek. Another would place its drilling pit atop an area Sena is reseeding for his cattle and for the elk hunting venture he operates. Runoff from both sites drains into El Vado Reservoir, from which the cities of Santa Fe and Albuquerque want to draw water....
Gas officials: Spills didn't harm water Water samples are clean enough to drink in areas where drilling-related fluids spilled in recent months north of Parachute, two companies involved in the incidents say. “We’re feeling really good there’ll be no environmental impact,” Marathon Oil representative Bob Coleman told the Garfield County Energy Advisory Board on Thursday night. About 30,000 barrels of water that had been used for hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells spilled from a Marathon pit when a liner failed above Garden Gulch. Berry Petroleum spilled about 2,500 barrels in three incidents involving one pit in the same area and failed to immediately report the first two, according to a Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission citation issued against Berry. The spills occurred above Parachute Creek, which is used by ranchers and is the source of Parachute’s irrigation water....
Rare mouse could affect grazing on Lincoln land Legislative protection for a species of mouse that prefers living in livestock enclosures or beaver habitat could have a significant impact on ranchers who graze their cattle on Lincoln National Forest lands. The WildEarth Guardians, an environmental group, sent a letter to the Forest Service March 19, demanding that immediate steps be taken to prevent the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse's extinction. But the Forest Service said ranchers shouldn't get too worried just yet. "We have been looking at this species for some time now, and it is on our sensitive species list," said Sacramento Ranger District Biologist Rene Guaderrama. "I don't feel it is going to affect any new grazing activity at this time." The group alleges that cattle grazing, climate change, drought and beaver removal are the leading threats to the mouse. Given the recent designation of the jumping mouse as a formal candidate for Endangered Species Act protection, WildEarth is calling on the Forest Service to review all of its current and future plans for potential impacts, particularly cattle grazing permits. "This rare mouse is barely hanging on," said Dr. Nicole Rosmarino, wildlife program director for the group. Rosmarino said grazing must be adjusted on the Carson, Santa Fe and Lincoln national forests in order to prevent the jumping mouse's further decline. The Guardians allege that grasses, the jumping mouse's principal food source and hiding cover, are currently managed for a target height that is eight times shorter than what the mouse needs....
CLIMATE CHANGE: New Value For Old Forests Newly sensitised to the dangers of climate change, researchers around the world are making progress in helping to protect old growth forests that are threatened by fires, urban development and logging. This week the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) published a scientific summary of the ‘Old Forests, New Management’ international conference, held February, in Hobart, Tasmania, that is expected to influence current thought and policy worldwide. IUFRO, which networks more than 15,000 forest scientists in almost 700 member organisations in over 110 countries, co-hosted the Hobart conference along with the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry, Tasmania. "We are making good progress in the United States and Australia in recognising the non-timber values of old growth, defining old growth, finding ways to protect existing old stands and developing new silvicultural systems that can retain or create biodiversity in managed forests," said Tom Spies of the United States Forest Service. "However there's been much less progress at reaching social consensus on how much to protect and how to move from forest economies dependent on old-growth to ones based on sustainable management of native and non-native forests," added Spies, a scientist long familiar with old growth forests and the public debates surrounding them....
Pilotless Drones to Battle Pot Growers The U.S. Forest Service has bought a pair of flying drones to track down marijuana growers operating in remote California woodlands. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the pilotless, camera-equipped aircraft will allow law enforcement officers to pinpoint marijuana fields and size up potential dangers before agents attempt arrests. Rey said there are increasing numbers of marijuana growers financed by Mexican drug cartels using California's forests to stage their operations. "We're dealing with organized efforts now — not just a couple of hippies living off the land and making some cash on the side," Rey said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. The purchase of the two SkySeer drones, for a combined $100,000, reflects rising interest in remote-controlled aircraft among law enforcement, science and other government agencies. Once used almost exclusively by defense and intelligence agencies, drones are now routinely flown by the Department of Homeland Security to patrol the Mexican border. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hopes to use them on weather missions. The two Forest Service drones differ from those used by other agencies. They're lighter — less than five pounds apiece — and can fly for only about an hour....
Authorities ask for help in finding those responsible for shooting windmills Authorities are asking for help in finding the people responsible for $14,000 worth of damage to two windmills in Pawnee National Grassland. The vandalism occurred when "irresponsible" shooters hit the two windmills that are used to power water tanks that aid cattle that graze on the land, according to a release. The incident, which occurred earlier this week, can carry a felony charge. Those with information about the vandalism are encouraged to call (970) 498-2507. Authorities with the Forest Service also are asking that residents adhere to the rules when shooting on public land. The rules for this legal activity include the provisions that residents cannot cause property damage or shoot within 150 yards of a building, residence, campsite, recreation site or occupied area and cannot shoot across or on a Forest Development road or body of water. Those not following these rules can receive up to a $5,000 fine and/or up to six years in jail.
Energy money secures sage grouse easement In the first project of its kind, funds from oil-field development in Sublette County have been used to buy a conservation easement on ranchland with the intent to protect sage grouse habitat. The Conservation Fund announced Wednesday it has completed a project with partners that will protect 1,042 acres of sage grouse habitat on the Botur ranch, southwest of Daniel. It is the first use of funds from the Jonah Interagency Office for permanent land conservation, The Conservation Fund said in a statement. The protected land is on Cottonwood Ranches, owned by Freddie Botur and his family. Money for the project came, in part, from mitigation funds energy companies paid to offset their impact on the environment. The Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust and The Nature Conservancy, through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, also contributed. Wyoming Stock Growers will monitor the easement. The property contains more than four miles of riparian and wetland habitat along Muddy Creek and is surrounded by public land. In addition to sage grouse habitat, the property provides winter and yearlong habitat for pronghorn, moose, mule deer and elk. The project also involves improvements to more than 25,000 acres of adjacent land managed by the Bureau of Land Management....
Mojave Tortoises Moved for Army Training Scientists have begun moving the Mojave Desert's flagship species, the desert tortoise, to make room for tank training at the Army's Fort Irwin despite protests by some conservationists. The controversial project, billed as the largest desert tortoise move in California history, involves transferring 770 endangered reptiles from Army land to a dozen public plots overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Fort Irwin has sought to expand its 643,000-acre training site into tortoise territory for two decades. The Army said it needs an extra 131,000 acres to accommodate faster tanks and longer-range weapons used each month to train some 4,000 troops. Desert tortoises are the longest-living reptiles in the Southwest with a potential life span of 100 years and can weigh up to 15 pounds. Their population has been threatened in recent years by urbanization, disease and predators including the raven. Weeks before the relocation, two conservation groups threatened to sue Fort Irwin. The Center for Biological Diversity and Desert Survivors contend that the land set aside for the desert tortoises is too close to an interstate highway and is plagued with off-road vehicles and illegal dumping that would disturb the animals. The groups served Fort Irwin with a 60-day notice of intent to sue and plan to file the lawsuit after the desert tortoises have been moved....
Chemical Industry's Influence at EPA Probed A congressional committee is investigating ties between the chemical industry and expert review panels hired by the Environmental Protection Agency to help it determine safe levels for a variety of chemical compounds. Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, have demanded documents from the EPA and the American Chemistry Council to probe the roles of nine scientists who are serving on EPA panels or have done so in the past. The lawmakers sent a letter to the chemical industry Wednesday, expanding a probe that began earlier this month. Dingell and Stupak want to know how much the chemistry council has paid consultants, lawyers, scientists and a scientific journal in efforts to affect public policy. "I don't remember the last time Congress investigated a trade association like this," said Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group, which contends that the chemical industry has stacked EPA panels. "Maybe for the first time, we might find out the extent of industry influence. It's a landmark investigation and has called into question the ethics of the entire industry."....
Land Grant Symposium Scheduled at UNM School of Law The University of New Mexico School of Law’s Natural Resources Journal, the school’s oldest publication, hosts “Land Grants and the Law: A Symposium on the Disputed Legal Histories of New Mexico’s Land Grants,” Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at the UNM School of Law. New Mexico’s Spanish and Mexican land grants have been the subject of social and legal conflict since the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Presentations at the symposium explore recent developments in the law, history and politics of the land grants, including a discussion of the 2004 Government Accountability Office’s report analyzing whether the federal government has fulfilled its obligation to grantees. The relationship between land grant holders and the U.S. Forest Service, and how and why some community land grants have survived while others have been vanished are among topics to be discussed.
Cattle return to Argentine market after strike Cattle entered Argentina's main livestock market after a two-week absence on Thursday, as ranchers ended a strike that had left butchers' counters bare in a country where steak is a staple, traders said. Beef supplies in supermarkets and butchers will start returning to normal at the weekend, Alberto Williams, vice president of the Butchers' Association, was quoted as telling daily newspaper Clarin. At Buenos Aires Liniers market, more animals than normal were on sale on Thursday -- normally a slow day. Far more business was expected on Friday. "Today, animals started to enter the market again and buyers were very keen after the shortages caused by the strike," one cattle broker said. The market also will open on Saturday to help shops restock meat counters, market president Roberto Arancedo told local radio. fter a three-week strike over a tax hike on soy exports, farmers on Wednesday called off the protest for 30 days to negotiate with the government. The government of Argentina, a leading global beef exporter, has limited beef sales repeatedly in recent years to control domestic prices....
Six cattle shot in northeast Wyo. Six heifers, including some carrying calves with championship rodeo bloodlines, were shot to death over the weekend in Campbell County. The cows were worth more than $10,000. Casey Cunningham of the Wyoming Livestock Board says four Red Angus cows and two Bramer Cross cows are believed to have been shot overnight Saturday or early Sunday morning. He said three different guns were used in the shootings, including a .22-gauge shotgun. The Bramers were carrying calves sired by a prominent bull on the Professional Bull Riding circuit. Cunningham and rancher Max Burch said such calves had the potential to be worth thousands of dollars if they were born healthy. The ranching company is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone involved in the shooting.
AFI Dallas movie review and director interview: Crawford First-time filmmaker David Modigliani's potent documentary, Crawford, tells the remarkable story of what happens to the people of a small Texas community when neophyte president George W. Bush buys a ranch outside town and designates it his personal Camp David. Just as remarkable, as you'll discover from the audio interview, is the story behind the making of the film. As David reveals, he originally intended to mine the drama surrounding Bush's adopted hometown in order to construct a play about the place. Before beginning his research, he had no interest whatsoever in filmmaking. But what he discovered (and what you will discover independently upon watching the film) is that the flesh-and-blood characters populating this one-horse - yet remarkably diverse - Central Texas community were too improbably fascinating on their own to support fictional interpretation. Charmingly, some of the conversations of locals recorded by the filmmakers have been subtitled for the convenience of filmgoers from - for instance - Connecticut, who might otherwise have difficulty penetrating the pronounced Texas drawl. Our cast of featured characters includes a Baptist minister with big hair; a rode hard/put away wet rancher; a fiercely conservative horse breeder with a flair for the dramatic; a school teacher with a dangerously open mind; a curio shop owner with a well-developed sense of commerce; and a young student named Tom Warlick who stands outside the mainstream at his own peril....
Musgrave wants GAO probe on Pinon Canyon spending More than one Pinon Canyon area rancher has been angered in recent weeks over a telephone call from an Army-paid public relations firm wanting to question them about their views on the proposed expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., has responded by asking the General Accountability Office - the investigative arm of Congress - to determine if the Army is violating the 2008 federal budget law, which include's her one-year ban on the Army spending any money on the proposed 414,000-acre expansion. Musgrave and Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., attached that ban to the budget legislation last summer and both the House and Senate approved it. A spokesman for Musgrave said this week that she remains opposed to any expansion of the 238,000-acre training area northeast of Trinidad and believes her amendment should have blocked the Army from hiring consultants to survey landowners. Salazar endorsed her GAO request when contacted Thursday. Mack Louden, a board member of the Not 1 More Acre group opposed to the expansion, said he received a call from the consultants recently to ask about his opposition to the expansion. "When I asked how they could be calling me, legally, when they were prohibited from spending money on the expansion, they said the Army was paying them out of 2007 money," Louden said in a recent interview....More carefully crafted language should be included in the next bill. If DOD is still spending 2007 dollars they were clearly appropriated too much money. Will Congress stand up for the separation of powers or does "Congressional Intent" mean nothing?
Oil, gas officials voice concern on possible drilling halt Lines are drawn in a classic northern New Mexico land-use battle as Rio Arriba County Commissioners move to impose a six-month moratorium on new oil and gas drilling. Meanwhile, the Texas company poised to drill in the Tierra Amarilla region of the county is pleading ignorance of the county's environmental concerns. Rio Arriba County is rooted deeply in land-use issues. It was in Tierra Amarilla that a group of Spanish land grant protesters seized control of the county courthouse June 3, 1967, to focus attention on land-use matters. If county commissioners follow through with plans to slap a six-month countywide moratorium on oil and gas drilling later this month, oil and natural gas workers in San Juan County stand to take a significant hit, local industry officials claim. Causing the concern to county commissioners and to a group of their constituents east of Tierra Amarilla is Fort Worth, Texas-based Approach Resources Inc.'s plan to drill for oil in an 8- to 10-mile square area it has targeted about 3.5 miles east of Tierra Amarilla. Cattle rancher John Sena's 900 acres is ground zero for Approach Resources' plans and is home to at least two of the test well drilling sites. Sena is not impressed by the company's choices. "I figure the company is not taking into consideration the drainage and impacts on the natural environment," he said. "It looked like they went to the easiest places to drill." One site is 250 yards from Tierra Amarilla Creek. Another would place its drilling pit atop an area Sena is reseeding for his cattle and for the elk hunting venture he operates. Runoff from both sites drains into El Vado Reservoir, from which the cities of Santa Fe and Albuquerque want to draw water....
Gas officials: Spills didn't harm water Water samples are clean enough to drink in areas where drilling-related fluids spilled in recent months north of Parachute, two companies involved in the incidents say. “We’re feeling really good there’ll be no environmental impact,” Marathon Oil representative Bob Coleman told the Garfield County Energy Advisory Board on Thursday night. About 30,000 barrels of water that had been used for hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells spilled from a Marathon pit when a liner failed above Garden Gulch. Berry Petroleum spilled about 2,500 barrels in three incidents involving one pit in the same area and failed to immediately report the first two, according to a Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission citation issued against Berry. The spills occurred above Parachute Creek, which is used by ranchers and is the source of Parachute’s irrigation water....
Rare mouse could affect grazing on Lincoln land Legislative protection for a species of mouse that prefers living in livestock enclosures or beaver habitat could have a significant impact on ranchers who graze their cattle on Lincoln National Forest lands. The WildEarth Guardians, an environmental group, sent a letter to the Forest Service March 19, demanding that immediate steps be taken to prevent the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse's extinction. But the Forest Service said ranchers shouldn't get too worried just yet. "We have been looking at this species for some time now, and it is on our sensitive species list," said Sacramento Ranger District Biologist Rene Guaderrama. "I don't feel it is going to affect any new grazing activity at this time." The group alleges that cattle grazing, climate change, drought and beaver removal are the leading threats to the mouse. Given the recent designation of the jumping mouse as a formal candidate for Endangered Species Act protection, WildEarth is calling on the Forest Service to review all of its current and future plans for potential impacts, particularly cattle grazing permits. "This rare mouse is barely hanging on," said Dr. Nicole Rosmarino, wildlife program director for the group. Rosmarino said grazing must be adjusted on the Carson, Santa Fe and Lincoln national forests in order to prevent the jumping mouse's further decline. The Guardians allege that grasses, the jumping mouse's principal food source and hiding cover, are currently managed for a target height that is eight times shorter than what the mouse needs....
CLIMATE CHANGE: New Value For Old Forests Newly sensitised to the dangers of climate change, researchers around the world are making progress in helping to protect old growth forests that are threatened by fires, urban development and logging. This week the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) published a scientific summary of the ‘Old Forests, New Management’ international conference, held February, in Hobart, Tasmania, that is expected to influence current thought and policy worldwide. IUFRO, which networks more than 15,000 forest scientists in almost 700 member organisations in over 110 countries, co-hosted the Hobart conference along with the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry, Tasmania. "We are making good progress in the United States and Australia in recognising the non-timber values of old growth, defining old growth, finding ways to protect existing old stands and developing new silvicultural systems that can retain or create biodiversity in managed forests," said Tom Spies of the United States Forest Service. "However there's been much less progress at reaching social consensus on how much to protect and how to move from forest economies dependent on old-growth to ones based on sustainable management of native and non-native forests," added Spies, a scientist long familiar with old growth forests and the public debates surrounding them....
Pilotless Drones to Battle Pot Growers The U.S. Forest Service has bought a pair of flying drones to track down marijuana growers operating in remote California woodlands. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the pilotless, camera-equipped aircraft will allow law enforcement officers to pinpoint marijuana fields and size up potential dangers before agents attempt arrests. Rey said there are increasing numbers of marijuana growers financed by Mexican drug cartels using California's forests to stage their operations. "We're dealing with organized efforts now — not just a couple of hippies living off the land and making some cash on the side," Rey said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. The purchase of the two SkySeer drones, for a combined $100,000, reflects rising interest in remote-controlled aircraft among law enforcement, science and other government agencies. Once used almost exclusively by defense and intelligence agencies, drones are now routinely flown by the Department of Homeland Security to patrol the Mexican border. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hopes to use them on weather missions. The two Forest Service drones differ from those used by other agencies. They're lighter — less than five pounds apiece — and can fly for only about an hour....
Authorities ask for help in finding those responsible for shooting windmills Authorities are asking for help in finding the people responsible for $14,000 worth of damage to two windmills in Pawnee National Grassland. The vandalism occurred when "irresponsible" shooters hit the two windmills that are used to power water tanks that aid cattle that graze on the land, according to a release. The incident, which occurred earlier this week, can carry a felony charge. Those with information about the vandalism are encouraged to call (970) 498-2507. Authorities with the Forest Service also are asking that residents adhere to the rules when shooting on public land. The rules for this legal activity include the provisions that residents cannot cause property damage or shoot within 150 yards of a building, residence, campsite, recreation site or occupied area and cannot shoot across or on a Forest Development road or body of water. Those not following these rules can receive up to a $5,000 fine and/or up to six years in jail.
Energy money secures sage grouse easement In the first project of its kind, funds from oil-field development in Sublette County have been used to buy a conservation easement on ranchland with the intent to protect sage grouse habitat. The Conservation Fund announced Wednesday it has completed a project with partners that will protect 1,042 acres of sage grouse habitat on the Botur ranch, southwest of Daniel. It is the first use of funds from the Jonah Interagency Office for permanent land conservation, The Conservation Fund said in a statement. The protected land is on Cottonwood Ranches, owned by Freddie Botur and his family. Money for the project came, in part, from mitigation funds energy companies paid to offset their impact on the environment. The Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust and The Nature Conservancy, through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, also contributed. Wyoming Stock Growers will monitor the easement. The property contains more than four miles of riparian and wetland habitat along Muddy Creek and is surrounded by public land. In addition to sage grouse habitat, the property provides winter and yearlong habitat for pronghorn, moose, mule deer and elk. The project also involves improvements to more than 25,000 acres of adjacent land managed by the Bureau of Land Management....
Mojave Tortoises Moved for Army Training Scientists have begun moving the Mojave Desert's flagship species, the desert tortoise, to make room for tank training at the Army's Fort Irwin despite protests by some conservationists. The controversial project, billed as the largest desert tortoise move in California history, involves transferring 770 endangered reptiles from Army land to a dozen public plots overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Fort Irwin has sought to expand its 643,000-acre training site into tortoise territory for two decades. The Army said it needs an extra 131,000 acres to accommodate faster tanks and longer-range weapons used each month to train some 4,000 troops. Desert tortoises are the longest-living reptiles in the Southwest with a potential life span of 100 years and can weigh up to 15 pounds. Their population has been threatened in recent years by urbanization, disease and predators including the raven. Weeks before the relocation, two conservation groups threatened to sue Fort Irwin. The Center for Biological Diversity and Desert Survivors contend that the land set aside for the desert tortoises is too close to an interstate highway and is plagued with off-road vehicles and illegal dumping that would disturb the animals. The groups served Fort Irwin with a 60-day notice of intent to sue and plan to file the lawsuit after the desert tortoises have been moved....
Chemical Industry's Influence at EPA Probed A congressional committee is investigating ties between the chemical industry and expert review panels hired by the Environmental Protection Agency to help it determine safe levels for a variety of chemical compounds. Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, have demanded documents from the EPA and the American Chemistry Council to probe the roles of nine scientists who are serving on EPA panels or have done so in the past. The lawmakers sent a letter to the chemical industry Wednesday, expanding a probe that began earlier this month. Dingell and Stupak want to know how much the chemistry council has paid consultants, lawyers, scientists and a scientific journal in efforts to affect public policy. "I don't remember the last time Congress investigated a trade association like this," said Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group, which contends that the chemical industry has stacked EPA panels. "Maybe for the first time, we might find out the extent of industry influence. It's a landmark investigation and has called into question the ethics of the entire industry."....
Land Grant Symposium Scheduled at UNM School of Law The University of New Mexico School of Law’s Natural Resources Journal, the school’s oldest publication, hosts “Land Grants and the Law: A Symposium on the Disputed Legal Histories of New Mexico’s Land Grants,” Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at the UNM School of Law. New Mexico’s Spanish and Mexican land grants have been the subject of social and legal conflict since the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Presentations at the symposium explore recent developments in the law, history and politics of the land grants, including a discussion of the 2004 Government Accountability Office’s report analyzing whether the federal government has fulfilled its obligation to grantees. The relationship between land grant holders and the U.S. Forest Service, and how and why some community land grants have survived while others have been vanished are among topics to be discussed.
Cattle return to Argentine market after strike Cattle entered Argentina's main livestock market after a two-week absence on Thursday, as ranchers ended a strike that had left butchers' counters bare in a country where steak is a staple, traders said. Beef supplies in supermarkets and butchers will start returning to normal at the weekend, Alberto Williams, vice president of the Butchers' Association, was quoted as telling daily newspaper Clarin. At Buenos Aires Liniers market, more animals than normal were on sale on Thursday -- normally a slow day. Far more business was expected on Friday. "Today, animals started to enter the market again and buyers were very keen after the shortages caused by the strike," one cattle broker said. The market also will open on Saturday to help shops restock meat counters, market president Roberto Arancedo told local radio. fter a three-week strike over a tax hike on soy exports, farmers on Wednesday called off the protest for 30 days to negotiate with the government. The government of Argentina, a leading global beef exporter, has limited beef sales repeatedly in recent years to control domestic prices....
Six cattle shot in northeast Wyo. Six heifers, including some carrying calves with championship rodeo bloodlines, were shot to death over the weekend in Campbell County. The cows were worth more than $10,000. Casey Cunningham of the Wyoming Livestock Board says four Red Angus cows and two Bramer Cross cows are believed to have been shot overnight Saturday or early Sunday morning. He said three different guns were used in the shootings, including a .22-gauge shotgun. The Bramers were carrying calves sired by a prominent bull on the Professional Bull Riding circuit. Cunningham and rancher Max Burch said such calves had the potential to be worth thousands of dollars if they were born healthy. The ranching company is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone involved in the shooting.
AFI Dallas movie review and director interview: Crawford First-time filmmaker David Modigliani's potent documentary, Crawford, tells the remarkable story of what happens to the people of a small Texas community when neophyte president George W. Bush buys a ranch outside town and designates it his personal Camp David. Just as remarkable, as you'll discover from the audio interview, is the story behind the making of the film. As David reveals, he originally intended to mine the drama surrounding Bush's adopted hometown in order to construct a play about the place. Before beginning his research, he had no interest whatsoever in filmmaking. But what he discovered (and what you will discover independently upon watching the film) is that the flesh-and-blood characters populating this one-horse - yet remarkably diverse - Central Texas community were too improbably fascinating on their own to support fictional interpretation. Charmingly, some of the conversations of locals recorded by the filmmakers have been subtitled for the convenience of filmgoers from - for instance - Connecticut, who might otherwise have difficulty penetrating the pronounced Texas drawl. Our cast of featured characters includes a Baptist minister with big hair; a rode hard/put away wet rancher; a fiercely conservative horse breeder with a flair for the dramatic; a school teacher with a dangerously open mind; a curio shop owner with a well-developed sense of commerce; and a young student named Tom Warlick who stands outside the mainstream at his own peril....
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Inaction on Polar Bear Criticized Senate Democrats yesterday deplored the Bush administration's failure to meet a legal deadline for determining whether global warming is pushing polar bears toward extinction and lashed their scheduled star witness -- Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne -- for declining to appear in his own defense. Kempthorne announced 15 months ago that his department would determine within a year whether the bear should be added to the endangered species list because rapidly disappearing sea ice threatens its ability to hunt and survive, but he has yet to issue a decision. A coalition of environmental groups has sued the Interior Department for missing the one-year deadline to act. "The Bush administration is violating the law, and that is why we're here today," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, opening the hearing. "These species do not have an indefinite time to be saved. . . . Time is running out for the polar bear, and time has run out for this decision."...
EPA Is Sued for Answers on Emissions Officials from 18 states and several environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday in an effort to force the administration to determine whether greenhouse-gas emissions are endangering public health. The plaintiffs said the agency is ignoring a year-old Supreme Court ruling that the federal government has legal authority under the Clean Air Act to control carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. They asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to compel the EPA to act within 60 days. "What we have is an environmental agency acting completely contrary to its essential mission and duty," said California Attorney General Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. (D) in a telephone news conference. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently reported that EPA staff members had determined in December that the emissions endanger public health, but the process stalled after the EPA forwarded the findings to the White House. The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming yesterday voted 12 to 0 to subpoena all EPA documents related to the staff action, along with records of the agency's decision to block California from regulating tailpipe greenhouse-gas emissions on its own....
Green lobbyists seek grass-roots love With the Senate set to tackle two complicated pieces of global warming legislation after its spring break, green-energy lobbyists used the recess to ramp up grass-roots support in key congressional districts. Interest groups aiming to weigh in on the cap-and-trade bill and the renewable energy tax credits filled congressional district offices with volunteers and flooded local airwaves with commercials. Both bills would provide tremendous growth opportunities for solar and wind power, make carbon emissions more expensive for polluters and increase the country’s energy independence. And both bills would rely keenly on Republican swing votes to get the job done. The House recently sent the Senate a bill that would reroute $18 billion in oil industry tax credits to develop wind and solar power, a move decried by much of business and industry. The Senate is also considering a global climate bill sponsored by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) that could slash carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2050 through a cap-and-trade program. Lobbyists hope a solid grass-roots movement will be instrumental in capturing the support of Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire and other Republicans who have been unpredictable in their climate-change votes. While both bills have received a healthy dose of Republican support, lobbyists are still trying to corral the 60 votes needed to stave off a filibuster....
Group offers rancher compensation in Wyoming A conservation group is hoping to entice more Wyoming stockgrowers to participate in its compensation program for livestock killed by wolves if stockgrowers undertake measures to help prevent conflicts between the two animals. "Not all ranchers just want to kill a bunch of wolves," Suzanne Stone, regional representative of Defenders of Wildlife, said. "A lot of ranchers are working hard to make sure they can coexist with wolves. We want to help support those ranchers." The compensation program will be similar to the one the Defenders of Wildlife administered before wolves in the Northern Rockies were removed from the federal endangered species list. To be eligible for compensation under the post-delisting Defenders program, stockgrowers must try to employ nonlethal methods of avoiding conflicts with the canines, Stone said. Those include removing dead or dying animals from grazing areas in a timely manner, doing more range riding when possible and corralling the livestock at night when practical. Jim Magagna, rancher and executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said even with the compensation program, many ranchers will still have more incentive to remove wolves that are attacking their livestock than to try to coexist with them. But Truman Julian, a Kemmerer-area rancher and chairman of the Lincoln County predator management board, said he believes most ranchers outside the wolf trophy game zone will be interested in trying to work with compensation program....
Cody rancher receives first ‘kill' permit The Game and Fish Department has issued a wolf kill permit to a landowner near Cody inside the new wolf trophy game zone. The agency will issue a similar permit to a rancher near Dubois. “We have issued a lethal take permit to a landowner to take four wolves on the South Fork of the Shoshone River,” spokesman Eric Keszler said. “He's having trouble with wolves harassing his cattle.” The second permit will be issued to a rancher near Dubois for two wolves in response to cattle depredation, Keszler said. The state took control of management of the wolves on March 28 when the animal was removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act. Inside the trophy game zone - with its borders running through Cody and Meeteetse and outside Dubois, Jackson and Pinedale - ranchers aren't allowed to kill a wolf on sight, but instead must enlist G&F's help or obtain take permits. Outside that zone, wolves may be shot on sight by anyone with no limits....
Delisting sets new hurdles for initiative calling for removal of wolves in Idaho Supporters of an initiative demanding wolves be removed from Idaho say they are within an achievable 10,000 signatures of their goal with less than a month before the May 1 deadline for filing. But organizers aren't sure how many of the people who have signed are registered voters in Idaho - a requirement for each of the 45,893 signatures needed to get the issue on the Nov. 4 ballot. And now they've got another problem - the federal government has gotten out of the wolf business, removing Rocky Mountain wolves from Endangered Species Act protection. The state is now in charge of wolves and plans to make it easier for ranchers and hunters to kill the animals. The initiative would end that and return control to the feds - and likely return the endangered species protections many Idahoans are glad to leave behind. "We wouldn't be able to hunt wolves this fall," said Steve Nadeau, Fish and Game large carnivore manager and the state's point man on wolf management....
Uranium mining worries ranchers Belle Fourche rancher Tom Davis said Wednesday afternoon that he was better educated but still worried about his water supplies following a state Water Management Board meeting about in situ uranium mining. Davis said his ranch, parts of which have been in his family for 107 years, is far from the uranium exploration near Edgemont but close to similar work near Aladdin across the border in Wyoming. That makes Davis worry about the three wells he counts on for drinking and livestock water. "We're down in the Lakota aquifer, and what happens if that stuff gets into the Lakota?" he said after a day-long meeting of the South Dakota Water Management Board. "Is it going to end up in our outfit?" That's unlikely to occur, according to the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources resource specialists who spent most of Wednesday explaining Black Hills hydrology and planned uranium mining to the water board and citizens. The board is working on amendments to existing rules that uranium companies would need in South Dakota to extract the valuable mineral through injection-and-recovery well systems....
Ranchers face charges after 34 elk shot dead Two Northwest Colorado ranchers, apparently frustrated by foraging elk eating hay intended for livestock, now face thousands of dollars in fines and multiple felony charges for allegedly killing 34 elk. Rodney Heath Culverwell, 41, and Kenneth Wolgram, 43, have been charged with 18 and 16 felony counts, respectively, of willful destruction of wildlife. Each was charged additionally in Moffat County District Court on Tuesday with 18 and 16 respective misdemeanor counts of illegal possession of wildlife. If convicted, each felony count carries a sentence up to two years in prison and $100,000 fine. Officers of the Colorado Division of Wildlife said they found the dead elk on property owned by Culverwell, listed as Rio Ro Mo Land Company, and at Wolgram’s property. Both are about 15 miles west of Craig. DOW spokesman Randy Hampton said officers completed a six-week investigation into the shootings and made the charges. “We don’t typically see that level of charges,” Hampton said. “This is a significant case.” According to a search warrant affidavit, officers began investigating Culverwell’s property Jan. 28 after two passersby notified the DOW they saw three dead elk — a bull, a cow and a calf — in the pasture. Months earlier, on June 12, 2007, Culverwell had e-mailed a DOW officer about concerns of elk eating cattle feed and asking permission to kill the wildlife. “If I have not heard from you within 2 weeks I will assume that you do not care and these matters must be taken care of by other means,” Culverwell wrote, according to the affidavit....
Senators rap Forest Service cuts Senators on the powerful Appropriations Committee vowed Tuesday to reverse proposed budget cuts to the U.S. Forest Service and toyed with the idea of moving the agency from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Interior. President Bush's proposed 2009 budget would reduce funding for firefighter readiness, hazardous fuels reduction work, law enforcement, construction and maintenance, recreation and research, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Interior subcommittee. "I don't know how anyone could really consider this a serious budget proposal," she said. The administration requested $4.1 billion for the Forest Service, a full 8 percent below 2008 levels, Feinstein said. But she added that the cuts are actually much deeper because the budget did not fully account for increases in fixed costs including salaries and higher firefighting expenses. "The way we look at it, the Forest Service is being cut nearly 15 percent," she said. Feinstein pledged to work with the top Republican on the subpanel, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., to undo the cuts. Allard said the Forest Service was targeted more than other agencies, which was "not justified." He said escalating firefighting costs shouldn't come at the expense of the agency's other programs....
Scientists: Tahoe Wolverine not from state The mysterious wolverine captured in photographs from a remote camera in the Tahoe National Forest is not a native of California or Washington, U.S. Forest Service scientists revealed Wednesday. A DNA analysis of scat collected near where the feisty predator was photographed last month revealed that the animal is a male that shares genetic traits with wolverines in the Rocky Mountains, but it was not clear exactly where it came from or how it got to California. "This is just one gene we've looked at and this one is most prevalent in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, but it can also be found in lower portions of Canada and Alaska," said Michael Schwartz, a research ecologist and the genetics team leader for the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Mont. "While we can't rule everything out, we know that this type never occurred in the historical California population and it does not occur in the contemporary Washington cascade population," he said....
Group files second suit against USFS An environmental watchdog group on Wednesday sued the U.S. Forest Service for a second time over the agency's use of aerial fire retardants. The Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an Oregon-based nonprofit group, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Missoula. The lawsuit is part of the group's campaign to reform the Forest Service's wildland firefighting mission. The campaign includes banning retardant airdrops nationwide unless people or homes are threatened, focusing on fire prevention around communities, and allowing more remote wildfires to burn as a natural part of the ecosystem. The lawsuit accuses the Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service of failing to fully evaluate the environmental impact of the aerial retardants. Studies show the ammonium-based retardants are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms, and promote the spread of flammable invasive weeds. FSEEE won an earlier retardant-related lawsuit against the Forest Service when U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled that the agency had violated federal law by failing to properly review the environmental impact of retardants on national forests. That lawsuit - which was filed in 2003, a year after a retardant airdrop killed 20,000 fish in an Oregon stream - was dismissed in February when the Forest Service complied with Molloy's order to complete an environmental assessment of aerial retardants....
Forest Service proposing revision of mining regs The Forest Service is proposing to revise the 36 CFR 228 Subpart A regulations governing locatable mineral activities on the National Forests. The proposed rule would revise the regulations for locatable minerals operations conducted on National Forest System lands. The revised rule would apply to prospecting, exploration, development, mining and processing operations, and reclamation under the mining Law of May 10, 1872, as amended. The original regulations were promulgated in 1974 and were based on the Forest Service authority in the 1897 Organic Act. Since 1974 several inefficiencies and problems in these regulations have become apparent and field managers have asked that the regulations be revised and updated. The revisions will follow recommendations and suggestions made by field personnel, the National Academy of Science, the mining industry, conservation groups, interested individuals and the current administration....
Judge tosses case over forest road issue A federal judge has shot down a lawsuit challenging road management actions associated with timber salvage projects on the Flathead National Forest. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued a ruling Monday, striking down all claims made in the lawsuit filed by the Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan. Prevailing were the Flathead National Forest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a series of Western Montana loggers and lumber mills that intervened in the case. "It's a big decision,' said Joe Krueger, the Flathead Forest's environmental litigation coordinator. °°It proves that what the forest has been doing is lawful, it validates that we have followed all the laws and regulations." The two environmental groups did not challenge timber harvesting involved with the West Side Reservoir and Robert-Wedge post-fire projects; they did, however, contend the projects violated road density standards for grizzly bear habitat security and the Endangered Species Act....
Crackdown on processing 'downer' cattle advances California lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation that would slap slaughterhouses with criminal penalties if they process meat from cattle and other livestock that are too sick to stand. The 6-1 vote by the Assembly Public Safety Committee was in response to the illegal processing of sick cattle at a Southern California slaughterhouse, which last month resulted in the country's largest beef recall. Although the federal government oversees slaughterhouse operations, the legislation by Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, would levy fines on packaging plants that sell meat in California from so-called "non-ambulatory" cattle, swine, sheep or goats. "This is an issue that every one of us, every person who eats meat, has a stake in," Wayne Pacelle, president of Humane Society of the United States, told the committee. Michael A. Ramos, San Bernardino County District Attorney, urged lawmakers to create the new criminal penalties in California law. "At minimum, we need to hold these people responsible," he said....
Confined animal bill corralled in committee Under threat of a petition drive for a ballot question, Colorado lawmakers and state Agriculture Commissioner John Stulp are moving forward with a bill to increase regulations on confined animals that are raised for pork and veal. Senate Bill 201, sponsored by Dist. 6 Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, would prohibit the confinement of gestating sows or calves raised for veal in a way that does not allow the animal to stand up, lie down, and turn around without touching the enclosure’s sides. “My concern is to avert a ballot initiative, which I feel this does,” Stulp said during testimony last week before the Senate Agriculture Committee. “This recognizes the need … to address future husbandry issues and hopefully get out ahead of the curve.” Unlike the potential ballot measure, the bill does not include regulation of caged egg-laying hens. Stulp said the bill also deals with confinement of milk calves even though Colorado as yet has no veal production facilities. He said veal producers have expressed interest in moving to the state at the invitation of dairy farmers....
Terreton Sheep Ranchers Cling to History, Battle Declining Industry As economic pains seep into agriculture, sheep ranchers are finding it difficult to survive in a dying business. Many will tell you Idaho was founded on sheep. In 1918, there were more than 2.5 million head. That's six times the human population, according to the Department of Agriculture. It wasn't until the 1970s that the number of people in Idaho outnumbered the sheep. A local ranching family is clinging to their history and their way of life while battling a declining trade. "We've been here since about, oh, 1885, so my husband and I are fourth generation. My son J.C. is fifth," Cindy Siddoway said. "Things are changing a lot. In the 120 years, it's not near as easy to run these sheep now as it used to be. The areas are changing," J.C. Siddoway explained. The sheep trade is adjusting. With lambing season in full swing on the ranch, J.C. Siddoway checks in on all the ewes finding the best breeders mixed through the maze of pens....
EPA Is Sued for Answers on Emissions Officials from 18 states and several environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday in an effort to force the administration to determine whether greenhouse-gas emissions are endangering public health. The plaintiffs said the agency is ignoring a year-old Supreme Court ruling that the federal government has legal authority under the Clean Air Act to control carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. They asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to compel the EPA to act within 60 days. "What we have is an environmental agency acting completely contrary to its essential mission and duty," said California Attorney General Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. (D) in a telephone news conference. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently reported that EPA staff members had determined in December that the emissions endanger public health, but the process stalled after the EPA forwarded the findings to the White House. The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming yesterday voted 12 to 0 to subpoena all EPA documents related to the staff action, along with records of the agency's decision to block California from regulating tailpipe greenhouse-gas emissions on its own....
Green lobbyists seek grass-roots love With the Senate set to tackle two complicated pieces of global warming legislation after its spring break, green-energy lobbyists used the recess to ramp up grass-roots support in key congressional districts. Interest groups aiming to weigh in on the cap-and-trade bill and the renewable energy tax credits filled congressional district offices with volunteers and flooded local airwaves with commercials. Both bills would provide tremendous growth opportunities for solar and wind power, make carbon emissions more expensive for polluters and increase the country’s energy independence. And both bills would rely keenly on Republican swing votes to get the job done. The House recently sent the Senate a bill that would reroute $18 billion in oil industry tax credits to develop wind and solar power, a move decried by much of business and industry. The Senate is also considering a global climate bill sponsored by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) that could slash carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2050 through a cap-and-trade program. Lobbyists hope a solid grass-roots movement will be instrumental in capturing the support of Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire and other Republicans who have been unpredictable in their climate-change votes. While both bills have received a healthy dose of Republican support, lobbyists are still trying to corral the 60 votes needed to stave off a filibuster....
Group offers rancher compensation in Wyoming A conservation group is hoping to entice more Wyoming stockgrowers to participate in its compensation program for livestock killed by wolves if stockgrowers undertake measures to help prevent conflicts between the two animals. "Not all ranchers just want to kill a bunch of wolves," Suzanne Stone, regional representative of Defenders of Wildlife, said. "A lot of ranchers are working hard to make sure they can coexist with wolves. We want to help support those ranchers." The compensation program will be similar to the one the Defenders of Wildlife administered before wolves in the Northern Rockies were removed from the federal endangered species list. To be eligible for compensation under the post-delisting Defenders program, stockgrowers must try to employ nonlethal methods of avoiding conflicts with the canines, Stone said. Those include removing dead or dying animals from grazing areas in a timely manner, doing more range riding when possible and corralling the livestock at night when practical. Jim Magagna, rancher and executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said even with the compensation program, many ranchers will still have more incentive to remove wolves that are attacking their livestock than to try to coexist with them. But Truman Julian, a Kemmerer-area rancher and chairman of the Lincoln County predator management board, said he believes most ranchers outside the wolf trophy game zone will be interested in trying to work with compensation program....
Cody rancher receives first ‘kill' permit The Game and Fish Department has issued a wolf kill permit to a landowner near Cody inside the new wolf trophy game zone. The agency will issue a similar permit to a rancher near Dubois. “We have issued a lethal take permit to a landowner to take four wolves on the South Fork of the Shoshone River,” spokesman Eric Keszler said. “He's having trouble with wolves harassing his cattle.” The second permit will be issued to a rancher near Dubois for two wolves in response to cattle depredation, Keszler said. The state took control of management of the wolves on March 28 when the animal was removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act. Inside the trophy game zone - with its borders running through Cody and Meeteetse and outside Dubois, Jackson and Pinedale - ranchers aren't allowed to kill a wolf on sight, but instead must enlist G&F's help or obtain take permits. Outside that zone, wolves may be shot on sight by anyone with no limits....
Delisting sets new hurdles for initiative calling for removal of wolves in Idaho Supporters of an initiative demanding wolves be removed from Idaho say they are within an achievable 10,000 signatures of their goal with less than a month before the May 1 deadline for filing. But organizers aren't sure how many of the people who have signed are registered voters in Idaho - a requirement for each of the 45,893 signatures needed to get the issue on the Nov. 4 ballot. And now they've got another problem - the federal government has gotten out of the wolf business, removing Rocky Mountain wolves from Endangered Species Act protection. The state is now in charge of wolves and plans to make it easier for ranchers and hunters to kill the animals. The initiative would end that and return control to the feds - and likely return the endangered species protections many Idahoans are glad to leave behind. "We wouldn't be able to hunt wolves this fall," said Steve Nadeau, Fish and Game large carnivore manager and the state's point man on wolf management....
Uranium mining worries ranchers Belle Fourche rancher Tom Davis said Wednesday afternoon that he was better educated but still worried about his water supplies following a state Water Management Board meeting about in situ uranium mining. Davis said his ranch, parts of which have been in his family for 107 years, is far from the uranium exploration near Edgemont but close to similar work near Aladdin across the border in Wyoming. That makes Davis worry about the three wells he counts on for drinking and livestock water. "We're down in the Lakota aquifer, and what happens if that stuff gets into the Lakota?" he said after a day-long meeting of the South Dakota Water Management Board. "Is it going to end up in our outfit?" That's unlikely to occur, according to the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources resource specialists who spent most of Wednesday explaining Black Hills hydrology and planned uranium mining to the water board and citizens. The board is working on amendments to existing rules that uranium companies would need in South Dakota to extract the valuable mineral through injection-and-recovery well systems....
Ranchers face charges after 34 elk shot dead Two Northwest Colorado ranchers, apparently frustrated by foraging elk eating hay intended for livestock, now face thousands of dollars in fines and multiple felony charges for allegedly killing 34 elk. Rodney Heath Culverwell, 41, and Kenneth Wolgram, 43, have been charged with 18 and 16 felony counts, respectively, of willful destruction of wildlife. Each was charged additionally in Moffat County District Court on Tuesday with 18 and 16 respective misdemeanor counts of illegal possession of wildlife. If convicted, each felony count carries a sentence up to two years in prison and $100,000 fine. Officers of the Colorado Division of Wildlife said they found the dead elk on property owned by Culverwell, listed as Rio Ro Mo Land Company, and at Wolgram’s property. Both are about 15 miles west of Craig. DOW spokesman Randy Hampton said officers completed a six-week investigation into the shootings and made the charges. “We don’t typically see that level of charges,” Hampton said. “This is a significant case.” According to a search warrant affidavit, officers began investigating Culverwell’s property Jan. 28 after two passersby notified the DOW they saw three dead elk — a bull, a cow and a calf — in the pasture. Months earlier, on June 12, 2007, Culverwell had e-mailed a DOW officer about concerns of elk eating cattle feed and asking permission to kill the wildlife. “If I have not heard from you within 2 weeks I will assume that you do not care and these matters must be taken care of by other means,” Culverwell wrote, according to the affidavit....
Senators rap Forest Service cuts Senators on the powerful Appropriations Committee vowed Tuesday to reverse proposed budget cuts to the U.S. Forest Service and toyed with the idea of moving the agency from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Interior. President Bush's proposed 2009 budget would reduce funding for firefighter readiness, hazardous fuels reduction work, law enforcement, construction and maintenance, recreation and research, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Interior subcommittee. "I don't know how anyone could really consider this a serious budget proposal," she said. The administration requested $4.1 billion for the Forest Service, a full 8 percent below 2008 levels, Feinstein said. But she added that the cuts are actually much deeper because the budget did not fully account for increases in fixed costs including salaries and higher firefighting expenses. "The way we look at it, the Forest Service is being cut nearly 15 percent," she said. Feinstein pledged to work with the top Republican on the subpanel, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., to undo the cuts. Allard said the Forest Service was targeted more than other agencies, which was "not justified." He said escalating firefighting costs shouldn't come at the expense of the agency's other programs....
Scientists: Tahoe Wolverine not from state The mysterious wolverine captured in photographs from a remote camera in the Tahoe National Forest is not a native of California or Washington, U.S. Forest Service scientists revealed Wednesday. A DNA analysis of scat collected near where the feisty predator was photographed last month revealed that the animal is a male that shares genetic traits with wolverines in the Rocky Mountains, but it was not clear exactly where it came from or how it got to California. "This is just one gene we've looked at and this one is most prevalent in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, but it can also be found in lower portions of Canada and Alaska," said Michael Schwartz, a research ecologist and the genetics team leader for the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Mont. "While we can't rule everything out, we know that this type never occurred in the historical California population and it does not occur in the contemporary Washington cascade population," he said....
Group files second suit against USFS An environmental watchdog group on Wednesday sued the U.S. Forest Service for a second time over the agency's use of aerial fire retardants. The Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an Oregon-based nonprofit group, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Missoula. The lawsuit is part of the group's campaign to reform the Forest Service's wildland firefighting mission. The campaign includes banning retardant airdrops nationwide unless people or homes are threatened, focusing on fire prevention around communities, and allowing more remote wildfires to burn as a natural part of the ecosystem. The lawsuit accuses the Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service of failing to fully evaluate the environmental impact of the aerial retardants. Studies show the ammonium-based retardants are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms, and promote the spread of flammable invasive weeds. FSEEE won an earlier retardant-related lawsuit against the Forest Service when U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled that the agency had violated federal law by failing to properly review the environmental impact of retardants on national forests. That lawsuit - which was filed in 2003, a year after a retardant airdrop killed 20,000 fish in an Oregon stream - was dismissed in February when the Forest Service complied with Molloy's order to complete an environmental assessment of aerial retardants....
Forest Service proposing revision of mining regs The Forest Service is proposing to revise the 36 CFR 228 Subpart A regulations governing locatable mineral activities on the National Forests. The proposed rule would revise the regulations for locatable minerals operations conducted on National Forest System lands. The revised rule would apply to prospecting, exploration, development, mining and processing operations, and reclamation under the mining Law of May 10, 1872, as amended. The original regulations were promulgated in 1974 and were based on the Forest Service authority in the 1897 Organic Act. Since 1974 several inefficiencies and problems in these regulations have become apparent and field managers have asked that the regulations be revised and updated. The revisions will follow recommendations and suggestions made by field personnel, the National Academy of Science, the mining industry, conservation groups, interested individuals and the current administration....
Judge tosses case over forest road issue A federal judge has shot down a lawsuit challenging road management actions associated with timber salvage projects on the Flathead National Forest. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued a ruling Monday, striking down all claims made in the lawsuit filed by the Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan. Prevailing were the Flathead National Forest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a series of Western Montana loggers and lumber mills that intervened in the case. "It's a big decision,' said Joe Krueger, the Flathead Forest's environmental litigation coordinator. °°It proves that what the forest has been doing is lawful, it validates that we have followed all the laws and regulations." The two environmental groups did not challenge timber harvesting involved with the West Side Reservoir and Robert-Wedge post-fire projects; they did, however, contend the projects violated road density standards for grizzly bear habitat security and the Endangered Species Act....
Crackdown on processing 'downer' cattle advances California lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation that would slap slaughterhouses with criminal penalties if they process meat from cattle and other livestock that are too sick to stand. The 6-1 vote by the Assembly Public Safety Committee was in response to the illegal processing of sick cattle at a Southern California slaughterhouse, which last month resulted in the country's largest beef recall. Although the federal government oversees slaughterhouse operations, the legislation by Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, would levy fines on packaging plants that sell meat in California from so-called "non-ambulatory" cattle, swine, sheep or goats. "This is an issue that every one of us, every person who eats meat, has a stake in," Wayne Pacelle, president of Humane Society of the United States, told the committee. Michael A. Ramos, San Bernardino County District Attorney, urged lawmakers to create the new criminal penalties in California law. "At minimum, we need to hold these people responsible," he said....
Confined animal bill corralled in committee Under threat of a petition drive for a ballot question, Colorado lawmakers and state Agriculture Commissioner John Stulp are moving forward with a bill to increase regulations on confined animals that are raised for pork and veal. Senate Bill 201, sponsored by Dist. 6 Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, would prohibit the confinement of gestating sows or calves raised for veal in a way that does not allow the animal to stand up, lie down, and turn around without touching the enclosure’s sides. “My concern is to avert a ballot initiative, which I feel this does,” Stulp said during testimony last week before the Senate Agriculture Committee. “This recognizes the need … to address future husbandry issues and hopefully get out ahead of the curve.” Unlike the potential ballot measure, the bill does not include regulation of caged egg-laying hens. Stulp said the bill also deals with confinement of milk calves even though Colorado as yet has no veal production facilities. He said veal producers have expressed interest in moving to the state at the invitation of dairy farmers....
Terreton Sheep Ranchers Cling to History, Battle Declining Industry As economic pains seep into agriculture, sheep ranchers are finding it difficult to survive in a dying business. Many will tell you Idaho was founded on sheep. In 1918, there were more than 2.5 million head. That's six times the human population, according to the Department of Agriculture. It wasn't until the 1970s that the number of people in Idaho outnumbered the sheep. A local ranching family is clinging to their history and their way of life while battling a declining trade. "We've been here since about, oh, 1885, so my husband and I are fourth generation. My son J.C. is fifth," Cindy Siddoway said. "Things are changing a lot. In the 120 years, it's not near as easy to run these sheep now as it used to be. The areas are changing," J.C. Siddoway explained. The sheep trade is adjusting. With lambing season in full swing on the ranch, J.C. Siddoway checks in on all the ewes finding the best breeders mixed through the maze of pens....
FLE
Memo Justified Warrantless Surveillance For at least 16 months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, the Bush administration believed that the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil didn't apply to its efforts to protect against terrorism. That view was expressed in a secret Justice Department legal memo dated Oct. 23, 2001. The administration on Wednesday stressed that it now disavows that view. The October 2001 memo was written at the request of the White House by John Yoo, then the deputy assistant attorney general, and addressed to Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel at the time. The administration had asked the department for an opinion on the legality of potential responses to terrorist activity. The 37-page memo is classified and has not been released. Its existence was disclosed Tuesday in a footnote of a separate secret memo, dated March 14, 2003, released by the Pentagon in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. "Our office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations," the footnote states, referring to a document titled "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States." Exactly what domestic military action was covered by the October memo is unclear. But federal documents indicate that the memo relates to the National Security Agency's Terrorist Surveillance Program. That program intercepted phone calls and e-mails on U.S. soil, bypassing the normal legal requirement that such eavesdropping be authorized by a secret federal court. The program began after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and continued until Jan. 17, 2007, when the White House resumed seeking surveillance warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court....
Centers Tap Into Personal Databases Intelligence centers run by states across the country have access to personal information about millions of Americans, including unlisted cellphone numbers, insurance claims, driver's license photographs and credit reports, according to a document obtained by The Washington Post. One center also has access to top-secret data systems at the CIA, the document shows, though it's not clear what information those systems contain. Dozens of the organizations known as fusion centers were created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to identify potential threats and improve the way information is shared. The centers use law enforcement analysts and sophisticated computer systems to compile, or fuse, disparate tips and clues and pass along the refined information to other agencies. They are expected to play important roles in national information-sharing networks that link local, state and federal authorities and enable them to automatically sift their storehouses of records for patterns and clues. Though officials have publicly discussed the fusion centers' importance to national security, they have generally declined to elaborate on the centers' activities. But a document that lists resources used by the fusion centers shows how a dozen of the organizations in the northeastern United States rely far more on access to commercial and government databases than had previously been disclosed. Those details have come to light at a time of debate about domestic intelligence efforts, including eavesdropping and data-aggregation programs at the National Security Agency, and whether the government has enough protections in place to prevent abuses. The list of information resources was part of a survey conducted last year, officials familiar with the effort said. It shows that, like most police agencies, the fusion centers have subscriptions to private information-broker services that keep records about Americans' locations, financial holdings, associates, relatives, firearms licenses and the like....
Military skirting law to spy The military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, the ACLU said Tuesday. The American Civil Liberties Union based its conclusion on a review of more than 1,000 documents turned over by the Defense Department after it sued the agency last year for documents related to national security letters, or NSLs, investigative tools used to compel businesses to turn over customer information without a judge's order or grand jury subpoena. "Newly unredacted documents released today reveal that the Department of Defense is using the FBI to circumvent legal limits on its own NSL power," said the ACLU, whose lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court. ACLU lawyer Melissa Goodman said the documents the civil rights group studied "make us incredibly concerned." She said it would be understandable if the military relied on help from the FBI on joint investigations, but not when the FBI was not involved in a probe. The FBI referred requests for comment Tuesday to the Defense Department. A department spokesman, Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, said in an e-mail that the department had made "focused, limited and judicious" use of the letters since Congress extended the capability to investigatory entities other than the FBI in 2001. Goodman, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, said the military is allowed to demand financial and credit records in certain instances but does not have the authority to get e-mail and phone records or lists of Web sites that people have visited. That is the kind of information that the FBI can get by using a national security letter, she said....
Defiant South Carolina Wins Real ID Extension Despite blasting a defiant last day letter to the Homeland Security Department over pending federal rules Monday, South Carolina Republican governor Mark Sandford secured South Carolinians the right to use their driver's licenses to board planes without being patted down, at least until 2010. Just hours after getting Sanford's jeremiad, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff signed the state's extension (.pdf) personally, writing that "like Montana, your letter sets forth in detail how South Carolina will in fact meet the principal security requirements of Real ID – as a matter of South Carolina's independent judgment, and not as an act of compliance." Like other rebellious states, South Carolina rejected Real ID mandates, saying the $4-$20 billion dollar program was an unfunded mandate that invaded citizens' privacy and put them at risk of identity theft due to massive, connected databases of sensitive information. Sanford's letter was extraordinary, however, since he used most of his words explaining why he thought Real ID was invasive, unfunded and dangerous. "Montana's letter smirked," Scannell said. "New Hampshire's was down right disrespectful and you could see the scotch tape from where they cut-and-pasted pages from their DMV handbook." "But Sanford's five-page letter was Fort Sumter-quality," Scannell said, referring to the South Carolina military installation where the Civil War started....
Senators Fault DHS Pressure On Real ID Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee criticized the Department of Homeland Security yesterday for pressuring reluctant states to adopt new federally approved driver's licenses, with one accusing Secretary Michael Chertoff of "bullying" the states into compliance under a threat of blocking citizens' travel. "We ought to engage in a fairer, more productive negotiated rule-making with the states," the committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), told Chertoff. "Maybe people want to have a national ID card in their state. In my state, they don't." Leahy spoke at a hearing that touched on a range of homeland security issues, from the border fence to the backlog in the naturalization process. But, several times, the conversation between the secretary and the senators circled back to the initiative for a uniform driver's license, known as the Real ID program. Conceived as a security measure after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it is meant to strengthen the authenticity of driver's licenses and make it tougher to use them as fraudulent proof of identity. Many states have bristled, saying it poses privacy concerns and creates a financial burden. DHS has estimated the cost at $3.9 billion. "Bullying the states is not the answer, nor is threatening their citizens' rights to travel," Leahy told Chertoff. "From Maine to Montana, states have said no." Seventeen states passed legislation rejecting Real ID, and DHS has given them until May to comply with the law or find that their driver's licenses would no longer be accepted as federal identification, meaning their residents would have to show passports as proof of identity before boarding planes....
Immigration agent shifts blame Federal immigration agent Cory Voorhis sat at the defense table in federal court Tuesday, but opening statements by his lawyer indicated that the legal team would try to put the actions of Gov. Bill Ritter and the city of Denver on trial. Bill Taylor, attorney for the special agent, said his client was "shocked, angered, and yes, bewildered" when he read statements by Ritter, then a candidate for governor, in an August 2006 newspaper article saying that when he was Denver district attorney, his office had always been tough on illegal immigration. Voorhis' experience as an immigration agent, and as someone who worked at the Denver County Jail for three years, was that illegal immigrants were regularly pleaded out by Ritter's office from the crimes they actually committed — which could lead to deportation — to a fictional charge of agricultural trespass — a non-deportable offense. (Records show Denver defendants, including illegal immigrants and U.S. citizens, were given this plea 152 times from 1998 through 2004). "Defense attorneys asked the jail to put immigration holds on their clients because they would get better deals," Taylor told the jury, and an alternate, made up of nine men and four women. "U.S. citizens claimed to be illegal immigrants to get a better deal."....
Along U.S.-Mexican border, an erratic patchwork fence After driving 10 miles along the expanded US-Mexican border fence near her farm, Dawn Garner offers her dour assessment: "Anyone can plainly see this wouldn't stop a flea, let alone a migrant or terrorist." A jagged patchwork of metal mesh, corrugated steel, vertical bollards, chest-high railroad rails, and waist-high barbed wire has been cobbled together along the southern border east of Naco by various National Guard units over the past summer. Hard-hatted workers from a general contractor, Sundt Inc., continue to dig ditches and grade terrain across plains of fluorescent-green prairie grass framed by saw-toothed mountains. "This [fence] is just too easy to cut into, climb over, or go under or around," says Ms. Garner. Twenty to 40 illegal migrant workers cut across her five-acre farm daily, she says. Unlike in San Luis, Ariz., and San Diego, where double-and- triple metal walls are backed by lighting and cameras, the fencing being built along this part of the US-Mexican border is piecemeal. Such a fence is pointless, say local ranchers. The border patrol, however, contends that it is cost-effective, and more potent than it seems. Here in Naco, the wall is being built on mostly federally-owned land. So there is little of the outrage over fair compensation and invasion of private property as there is in Texas, or complaints about cutting landowners off from land that falls on the Mexican side of the wall, as in the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation to the west. "We don't want a Berlin Wall or anything, just something that keeps migrants from flooding our backyards," says Garner, accelerating her bright yellow Jeep down the gravel road that runs alongside the newly-built fencing stretching east from the tiny border crossing at Naco toward New Mexico. As Garner drives, an eclectic array of fence styles and materials flutter by in the bright sun....
Memo Justified Warrantless Surveillance For at least 16 months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, the Bush administration believed that the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil didn't apply to its efforts to protect against terrorism. That view was expressed in a secret Justice Department legal memo dated Oct. 23, 2001. The administration on Wednesday stressed that it now disavows that view. The October 2001 memo was written at the request of the White House by John Yoo, then the deputy assistant attorney general, and addressed to Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel at the time. The administration had asked the department for an opinion on the legality of potential responses to terrorist activity. The 37-page memo is classified and has not been released. Its existence was disclosed Tuesday in a footnote of a separate secret memo, dated March 14, 2003, released by the Pentagon in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. "Our office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations," the footnote states, referring to a document titled "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States." Exactly what domestic military action was covered by the October memo is unclear. But federal documents indicate that the memo relates to the National Security Agency's Terrorist Surveillance Program. That program intercepted phone calls and e-mails on U.S. soil, bypassing the normal legal requirement that such eavesdropping be authorized by a secret federal court. The program began after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and continued until Jan. 17, 2007, when the White House resumed seeking surveillance warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court....
Centers Tap Into Personal Databases Intelligence centers run by states across the country have access to personal information about millions of Americans, including unlisted cellphone numbers, insurance claims, driver's license photographs and credit reports, according to a document obtained by The Washington Post. One center also has access to top-secret data systems at the CIA, the document shows, though it's not clear what information those systems contain. Dozens of the organizations known as fusion centers were created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to identify potential threats and improve the way information is shared. The centers use law enforcement analysts and sophisticated computer systems to compile, or fuse, disparate tips and clues and pass along the refined information to other agencies. They are expected to play important roles in national information-sharing networks that link local, state and federal authorities and enable them to automatically sift their storehouses of records for patterns and clues. Though officials have publicly discussed the fusion centers' importance to national security, they have generally declined to elaborate on the centers' activities. But a document that lists resources used by the fusion centers shows how a dozen of the organizations in the northeastern United States rely far more on access to commercial and government databases than had previously been disclosed. Those details have come to light at a time of debate about domestic intelligence efforts, including eavesdropping and data-aggregation programs at the National Security Agency, and whether the government has enough protections in place to prevent abuses. The list of information resources was part of a survey conducted last year, officials familiar with the effort said. It shows that, like most police agencies, the fusion centers have subscriptions to private information-broker services that keep records about Americans' locations, financial holdings, associates, relatives, firearms licenses and the like....
Military skirting law to spy The military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, the ACLU said Tuesday. The American Civil Liberties Union based its conclusion on a review of more than 1,000 documents turned over by the Defense Department after it sued the agency last year for documents related to national security letters, or NSLs, investigative tools used to compel businesses to turn over customer information without a judge's order or grand jury subpoena. "Newly unredacted documents released today reveal that the Department of Defense is using the FBI to circumvent legal limits on its own NSL power," said the ACLU, whose lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court. ACLU lawyer Melissa Goodman said the documents the civil rights group studied "make us incredibly concerned." She said it would be understandable if the military relied on help from the FBI on joint investigations, but not when the FBI was not involved in a probe. The FBI referred requests for comment Tuesday to the Defense Department. A department spokesman, Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, said in an e-mail that the department had made "focused, limited and judicious" use of the letters since Congress extended the capability to investigatory entities other than the FBI in 2001. Goodman, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, said the military is allowed to demand financial and credit records in certain instances but does not have the authority to get e-mail and phone records or lists of Web sites that people have visited. That is the kind of information that the FBI can get by using a national security letter, she said....
Defiant South Carolina Wins Real ID Extension Despite blasting a defiant last day letter to the Homeland Security Department over pending federal rules Monday, South Carolina Republican governor Mark Sandford secured South Carolinians the right to use their driver's licenses to board planes without being patted down, at least until 2010. Just hours after getting Sanford's jeremiad, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff signed the state's extension (.pdf) personally, writing that "like Montana, your letter sets forth in detail how South Carolina will in fact meet the principal security requirements of Real ID – as a matter of South Carolina's independent judgment, and not as an act of compliance." Like other rebellious states, South Carolina rejected Real ID mandates, saying the $4-$20 billion dollar program was an unfunded mandate that invaded citizens' privacy and put them at risk of identity theft due to massive, connected databases of sensitive information. Sanford's letter was extraordinary, however, since he used most of his words explaining why he thought Real ID was invasive, unfunded and dangerous. "Montana's letter smirked," Scannell said. "New Hampshire's was down right disrespectful and you could see the scotch tape from where they cut-and-pasted pages from their DMV handbook." "But Sanford's five-page letter was Fort Sumter-quality," Scannell said, referring to the South Carolina military installation where the Civil War started....
Senators Fault DHS Pressure On Real ID Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee criticized the Department of Homeland Security yesterday for pressuring reluctant states to adopt new federally approved driver's licenses, with one accusing Secretary Michael Chertoff of "bullying" the states into compliance under a threat of blocking citizens' travel. "We ought to engage in a fairer, more productive negotiated rule-making with the states," the committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), told Chertoff. "Maybe people want to have a national ID card in their state. In my state, they don't." Leahy spoke at a hearing that touched on a range of homeland security issues, from the border fence to the backlog in the naturalization process. But, several times, the conversation between the secretary and the senators circled back to the initiative for a uniform driver's license, known as the Real ID program. Conceived as a security measure after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it is meant to strengthen the authenticity of driver's licenses and make it tougher to use them as fraudulent proof of identity. Many states have bristled, saying it poses privacy concerns and creates a financial burden. DHS has estimated the cost at $3.9 billion. "Bullying the states is not the answer, nor is threatening their citizens' rights to travel," Leahy told Chertoff. "From Maine to Montana, states have said no." Seventeen states passed legislation rejecting Real ID, and DHS has given them until May to comply with the law or find that their driver's licenses would no longer be accepted as federal identification, meaning their residents would have to show passports as proof of identity before boarding planes....
Immigration agent shifts blame Federal immigration agent Cory Voorhis sat at the defense table in federal court Tuesday, but opening statements by his lawyer indicated that the legal team would try to put the actions of Gov. Bill Ritter and the city of Denver on trial. Bill Taylor, attorney for the special agent, said his client was "shocked, angered, and yes, bewildered" when he read statements by Ritter, then a candidate for governor, in an August 2006 newspaper article saying that when he was Denver district attorney, his office had always been tough on illegal immigration. Voorhis' experience as an immigration agent, and as someone who worked at the Denver County Jail for three years, was that illegal immigrants were regularly pleaded out by Ritter's office from the crimes they actually committed — which could lead to deportation — to a fictional charge of agricultural trespass — a non-deportable offense. (Records show Denver defendants, including illegal immigrants and U.S. citizens, were given this plea 152 times from 1998 through 2004). "Defense attorneys asked the jail to put immigration holds on their clients because they would get better deals," Taylor told the jury, and an alternate, made up of nine men and four women. "U.S. citizens claimed to be illegal immigrants to get a better deal."....
Along U.S.-Mexican border, an erratic patchwork fence After driving 10 miles along the expanded US-Mexican border fence near her farm, Dawn Garner offers her dour assessment: "Anyone can plainly see this wouldn't stop a flea, let alone a migrant or terrorist." A jagged patchwork of metal mesh, corrugated steel, vertical bollards, chest-high railroad rails, and waist-high barbed wire has been cobbled together along the southern border east of Naco by various National Guard units over the past summer. Hard-hatted workers from a general contractor, Sundt Inc., continue to dig ditches and grade terrain across plains of fluorescent-green prairie grass framed by saw-toothed mountains. "This [fence] is just too easy to cut into, climb over, or go under or around," says Ms. Garner. Twenty to 40 illegal migrant workers cut across her five-acre farm daily, she says. Unlike in San Luis, Ariz., and San Diego, where double-and- triple metal walls are backed by lighting and cameras, the fencing being built along this part of the US-Mexican border is piecemeal. Such a fence is pointless, say local ranchers. The border patrol, however, contends that it is cost-effective, and more potent than it seems. Here in Naco, the wall is being built on mostly federally-owned land. So there is little of the outrage over fair compensation and invasion of private property as there is in Texas, or complaints about cutting landowners off from land that falls on the Mexican side of the wall, as in the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation to the west. "We don't want a Berlin Wall or anything, just something that keeps migrants from flooding our backyards," says Garner, accelerating her bright yellow Jeep down the gravel road that runs alongside the newly-built fencing stretching east from the tiny border crossing at Naco toward New Mexico. As Garner drives, an eclectic array of fence styles and materials flutter by in the bright sun....
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Environmental Laws to Be Waived for Fence The Bush administration will waive more than 30 environmental and land-management laws in order to finish building 470 miles of border fence in the Southwest by the end of the year, officials said yesterday. The move, permitted under an exemption granted by Congress, will be the most sweeping use of the administration's waiver authority since it started building the fence to curb illegal immigration. It will affect environmentally sensitive areas in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. In a statement, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said the agency has no choice but to bypass the standard environment reviews required of the federal government. The use of the waiver authority means that the agency will not have to conduct detailed reviews of how the fence's components will affect wildlife, water quality and vegetation in the area where it is to be built. Some environmentalists have complained that the fence will disrupt the migrations of various species, including imperiled ones such as jaguars. Two environmental advocacy organizations, Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club, have filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the waiver provision. Rodger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife's president, said yesterday's announcement bolsters his group's argument....
Not An Energy Crisis but a Crisis of Confidence Wild polar bears, meanwhile, live around 30 years, and are also doing well. There are an estimated 20,000-25,000 wild polar bears today, up from an estimated 8,000-10,000 in the late 1960s. Yet many environmentalists are pressuring the Department of the Interior to list the bear as an endangered species. As the price of gas shows us, though, the real endangered species these days is the American motorist. And, if environmentalists succeed, that problem will only worsen. New oil and natural gas production in Alaska and in its surrounding waters would immediately be put at risk if the polar bear is listed as "endangered." There would be virtually no chance to open up even a small portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an area estimated to contain 10 billion barrels of oil. That's enough to replace what we'll import from Saudi Arabia over the next 15 years. Our government is also leasing oil and gas rights in a vast area off Northwest Alaska estimated to contain 15 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It's already conducted extensive studies that show energy exploration in this area would harm no bears. In fact, the leases specifically set aside areas believed to be habitat for polar bears. However, an endangered-species listing would put this highly promising source of domestic oil and gas off limits. Unfortunately, new energy exploration isn't the only activity that would run afoul of a polar-bear endangerment listing. Environmentalists want to use fears about global warming to limit our country's energy use. Otherwise, they warn, the polar bear's icy habitat could become a watery grave....
'Running up and down with guns' I don't know about California -- where we've had some lady joggers dragged off by lions in recent years -- but rangers elsewhere don't seem to be doing all that well. In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2006 -- the most recent year for which we have records -- one man was stabbed to death by a drunk and, in a separate incident, a woman was shot dead. Also that year, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a woman parked at an overlook and wearing headphones while studying for final exams "was killed by a handgun by a suspect on a killing spree," the Park Service says. At the Amistad National Recreation Area that same year, a woman was found floating in a reservoir in about five feet of water. "She appeared to have blunt force trauma to the head and was possibly stabbed," the agency said. Two more 2006 murders were reported in Washington, D.C., area "park units" -- both gunshots to the head. And the "relatively small" count of 11 violent deaths in the national parks in 2006 doesn't include rapes, other non-fatal assaults, or places from which law-abiding citizens are now de facto excluded, such as the Saguaro National Monument west of Tucson, where locals say the stream of illegals being hauled north by their "coyotes" can make the place resemble an old-fashioned stock car track. "If you're hiking in the back country and there is a problem with a criminal or an aggressive animal, there's no 911 box where you can call police and have a 60-second response time," explains Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association. Half the U.S. Senate seems to agree. "While park rangers now use bulletproof vests and automatic weapons to enforce the law, regular Americans in states where conceal-and-carry law exists are denied the opportunity for self-defense," explains Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. So, if 50 U.S. senators are of a mind to start restoring some of our purloined constitutional rights, what's the hang-up? Aha. Also back in February, The Associated Press found Senate Republicans protesting that "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is trying to protect the two leading Democrats for president by shielding them from a difficult vote on an issue that many rural voters consider crucial" -- the proposal, lodged in the current public lands bill, to restore the right of law-abiding citizens to carry their loaded firearms in the national parks. But why should the vote be "difficult"?....
Is a New, Dangerous Biohazard Site Coming to Your State Soon? What would it take to convince you that your town should play host to the world's most feared human and animal pathogens? Believe it or not, five states are locked in fierce competition over a proposed bioterror lab that would have them doing just that. In 2002, the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was given control of Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York. Now DHS is seeking a home in the heartland for a National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) that would take over Plum Island's work, along with its potent microbial cultures. The fact that many diseases are now known to jump between humans and animals, combined with this decade's terror-fixation, has led the federal government to convert the agricultural problem of sick livestock into the national-security problem of bioterrorism. Lying off the east end of New York's Long Island, Plum Island (which was under the Department of Agriculture until 2002) is the only place in the nation where scientists have previously been allowed to handle the pathogens that cause foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, Rift Valley fever, African swine fever, and other horrific maladies that, if let loose on the mainland, could cause billions in agricultural losses and even threaten human populations. NBAF will be a "biosafety level 4" (BL-4) facility, providing the highest degree of isolation for the world's most dangerous organisms (Plum Island was one notch down, at BL-3, because it was isolated by water). Locations being eyed as possible sites include the University of Georgia campus in Athens; the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan; Flora, Mississippi, near the capital city of Jackson; a research farm 17 miles northeast of Duke University in North Carolina; and a former ranch near San Antonio, Texas....
Not An Energy Crisis but a Crisis of Confidence Wild polar bears, meanwhile, live around 30 years, and are also doing well. There are an estimated 20,000-25,000 wild polar bears today, up from an estimated 8,000-10,000 in the late 1960s. Yet many environmentalists are pressuring the Department of the Interior to list the bear as an endangered species. As the price of gas shows us, though, the real endangered species these days is the American motorist. And, if environmentalists succeed, that problem will only worsen. New oil and natural gas production in Alaska and in its surrounding waters would immediately be put at risk if the polar bear is listed as "endangered." There would be virtually no chance to open up even a small portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an area estimated to contain 10 billion barrels of oil. That's enough to replace what we'll import from Saudi Arabia over the next 15 years. Our government is also leasing oil and gas rights in a vast area off Northwest Alaska estimated to contain 15 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It's already conducted extensive studies that show energy exploration in this area would harm no bears. In fact, the leases specifically set aside areas believed to be habitat for polar bears. However, an endangered-species listing would put this highly promising source of domestic oil and gas off limits. Unfortunately, new energy exploration isn't the only activity that would run afoul of a polar-bear endangerment listing. Environmentalists want to use fears about global warming to limit our country's energy use. Otherwise, they warn, the polar bear's icy habitat could become a watery grave....
'Running up and down with guns' I don't know about California -- where we've had some lady joggers dragged off by lions in recent years -- but rangers elsewhere don't seem to be doing all that well. In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2006 -- the most recent year for which we have records -- one man was stabbed to death by a drunk and, in a separate incident, a woman was shot dead. Also that year, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a woman parked at an overlook and wearing headphones while studying for final exams "was killed by a handgun by a suspect on a killing spree," the Park Service says. At the Amistad National Recreation Area that same year, a woman was found floating in a reservoir in about five feet of water. "She appeared to have blunt force trauma to the head and was possibly stabbed," the agency said. Two more 2006 murders were reported in Washington, D.C., area "park units" -- both gunshots to the head. And the "relatively small" count of 11 violent deaths in the national parks in 2006 doesn't include rapes, other non-fatal assaults, or places from which law-abiding citizens are now de facto excluded, such as the Saguaro National Monument west of Tucson, where locals say the stream of illegals being hauled north by their "coyotes" can make the place resemble an old-fashioned stock car track. "If you're hiking in the back country and there is a problem with a criminal or an aggressive animal, there's no 911 box where you can call police and have a 60-second response time," explains Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association. Half the U.S. Senate seems to agree. "While park rangers now use bulletproof vests and automatic weapons to enforce the law, regular Americans in states where conceal-and-carry law exists are denied the opportunity for self-defense," explains Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. So, if 50 U.S. senators are of a mind to start restoring some of our purloined constitutional rights, what's the hang-up? Aha. Also back in February, The Associated Press found Senate Republicans protesting that "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is trying to protect the two leading Democrats for president by shielding them from a difficult vote on an issue that many rural voters consider crucial" -- the proposal, lodged in the current public lands bill, to restore the right of law-abiding citizens to carry their loaded firearms in the national parks. But why should the vote be "difficult"?....
Is a New, Dangerous Biohazard Site Coming to Your State Soon? What would it take to convince you that your town should play host to the world's most feared human and animal pathogens? Believe it or not, five states are locked in fierce competition over a proposed bioterror lab that would have them doing just that. In 2002, the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was given control of Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York. Now DHS is seeking a home in the heartland for a National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) that would take over Plum Island's work, along with its potent microbial cultures. The fact that many diseases are now known to jump between humans and animals, combined with this decade's terror-fixation, has led the federal government to convert the agricultural problem of sick livestock into the national-security problem of bioterrorism. Lying off the east end of New York's Long Island, Plum Island (which was under the Department of Agriculture until 2002) is the only place in the nation where scientists have previously been allowed to handle the pathogens that cause foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, Rift Valley fever, African swine fever, and other horrific maladies that, if let loose on the mainland, could cause billions in agricultural losses and even threaten human populations. NBAF will be a "biosafety level 4" (BL-4) facility, providing the highest degree of isolation for the world's most dangerous organisms (Plum Island was one notch down, at BL-3, because it was isolated by water). Locations being eyed as possible sites include the University of Georgia campus in Athens; the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan; Flora, Mississippi, near the capital city of Jackson; a research farm 17 miles northeast of Duke University in North Carolina; and a former ranch near San Antonio, Texas....
FLE
Where U.S.-Mexico border fence is tall, it works U.S. border patrol agent Michael Bernacke guns his SUV down the wide desert-sand road that lines the U.S.-Mexican border through urban San Luis, Ariz. To his right stands a steel wall, 20 feet high and reinforced by cement-filled steel piping. To his left another tall fence of steel mesh. Ten yards beyond, a shorter cyclone fence is topped with jagged concertina wire. Visible to the north, through the gauze of fencing are the homes and businesses of this growing Southwest suburbia of 22,000 people. "This wall works," Bernacke said. "A lot of people have the misconception that it is a waste of time and money, but the numbers of apprehensions show that it works." The triple-and double-layered fence here in Yuma is the kind of barrier that U.S. lawmakers - and most Americans - imagined when the Secure Fence Act was enacted in 2006. The law instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to secure about one-third of the 1,950-mile border between U.S. and Mexico with 700 miles of double-layered fencing - and additionally through cameras, motion sensors, and other types of barriers - by the end of the year to stem illegal immigration. Bankrolled by a separate $1.2 billion homeland security bill, the Secure Fence Act would, President Bush said in 2006, "make our borders more secure." By most recent estimates, nearly half a million unauthorized immigrants cross the border each year....
Nearly 50 illegal immigrants working as security guards arrested A task force led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 50 illegal immigrants in weekend raids of mostly Latino night clubs in Dallas, officials said Sunday. Authorities raided 26 businesses, including night clubs, restaurants and pool halls. They were targeting employees working as security guards for two security companies, which officials declined to identify. Law enforcement teams of local, state and federal officials simultaneously hit the 26 businesses around 11 p.m. Saturday and arrested 49 people. They recovered four pistols. Those arrested will faces charges of being in the United States illegally. Federal law also prohibits illegal immigrants from possessing weapons. Four people arrested were from El Salvador and the rest were from Mexico, officials said....
Mexican drug cartels move into human smuggling As U.S. border security has tightened, Mexican drug cartels have moved in on coyotes, human smugglers who are paid to bring illegal immigrants into the United States. The traffickers now use their expertise in gathering intelligence on border patrols, logistics and communication devices to get around ever tighter controls. They are slowly gaining control of much of the illegal passage of immigrants from Mexico to the United States, U.S. border officials say. "This used to be a family business. The coyote and the migrant were from the same town; they were connected," said Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez, chair of the department of transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o studies at Arizona State University. "Now, because of the so-called security needs of the border, what's been created is this structure of smuggling in the hands of really nasty people who only treat the migrant as a commodity." U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Special Agent Joe Romero and other law enforcement officials say the Mexican drug cartels have even merged human smuggling with drug trafficking, forcing immigrants to act as "mules" in transporting drugs as the price of passage. "The drug cartels have determined this is big business," Romero said as he overlooked a narrow strip of desert between El Paso, Texas, and the nearby Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez. Drug cartels "control these corridors. Just like we're watching them here, they're watching us. ... It used to be, 'Get across the fence and run.' Now it's a lot more organized." Moreover, crimes committed by drug gangs that have become common in Mexico are now crossing the border, police officials say. Phoenix Police Cmdr. Joe Klima notes that 350 kidnappings were recorded in the city last year, a crime he describes as previously nonexistent....
Critics call Border Patrol standards lax As the U.S. Border Patrol expands into one of the nation's largest federal law enforcement agencies, critics say it should establish minimum educational requirements and end a long-standing policy of accepting recruits without a high school diploma or GED. Concerns about Border Patrol's hiring efforts come as the agency races to satisfy a Bush administration mandate to have 18,319 agents on the job by December. In the last year, the agency has been criticized for taking too many shortcuts, such as cutting its academy training schedule, as part of the biggest recruitment campaign in its history. Recruiting standards are higher at most other federal law enforcement agencies. For example, a college degree and three years of professional experience are required by FBI agent recruits. The Houston Police Department and Harris County Sheriff's Office require not only high school, but two years of college. ''Since that has not been a requirement since our inception, it stands to reason that we would have had agents who did not have a high school education or GED, however few those may be," said Lloyd Easterling, a Border Patrol assistant chief for security operations....
Cartels training recruits near U.S. The ranch near this border community is isolated, desolate and laced by arroyos - an ideal place, experts say, for training drug-cartel assassins. Mexican drug cartels have conducted military-style training camps in at least six such locations in northern Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon states, some within a few miles of the Texas border, according to U.S. and Mexican authorities and the printed testimony of five protected witnesses who were trained in the camps. The camps near the Texas border and at other locations in Mexico are used to train cartel recruits, ranging from Mexican army deserters to American teenagers, who then carry out killings and other cartel assignments on both sides of the border, authorities say. "Traffickers go to great lengths to prepare themselves for battle," said a senior U.S. anti-narcotics official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Part of that preparation is live firing ranges and combat training courses. ... And that's not something that we have seen before." Many of the camps are temporary, used for a time and then abandoned or used intermittently. Others are hidden on private land behind locked gates and have more permanent facilities, the officials said....
FBI: Eco-Terrorism Remains No. 1 Domestic Terror Threat For nearly seven years, the nation has turned its terror focus on Al Qaeda and the hunt for Usama bin Laden. But there is a domestic terror threat that federal officials still consider priority No. 1 — eco-terrorism. The torching of luxury homes in the swank Seattle suburb of Woodinville earlier this month served as a reminder that the decades-long war with militant environmentalists on American soil has not ended. "It remains what we would probably consider the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat, because they have successfully continued to conduct different types of attacks in and around the country," said FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko. The FBI defines eco-terrorism "as the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature." For years, officials have battled against members of shadowy groups such as the Earth Liberation Front and its brother-in-arms, the Animal Liberation Front. Law enforcement has made strides prosecuting cells, but it's been unable to end the arsons that have plagued developments encroaching on rural lands in the West. FBI estimates place damages from these attacks at well over $100 million....
Supreme Court won't intervene in Jefferson case The Supreme Court Monday let stand an appeals court ruling that curtails the FBI's power to search congressional offices. The case arose out of the FBI's raid of the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) in 2006. Jefferson, who is fighting federal corruption charges, sought the return of the seized materials, claiming they were protected by the constitutional privilege known as the Speech and Debate Clause. That clause is intended to ensure that legislative process is free from interference from the executive branch. Last year, in a setback for the government, the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. ruled that some of the materials grabbed by the FBI were likely protected by the privilege--even though agents had properly obtained a search warrant-- and should have been subject to Jefferson's review before they were handed over. The government appealed to the Supreme Court, which Monday declined to hear the case. That lets the appeals court decision stand. The court's ruling means that the Speech and Debate clause applies to searches by federal agents. The Justice Department complained that the decision would force it to give members of Congress advance notice before a raid is conducted, but the opinion doesn't say that. It simply requires that the member be given some opportunity to review and set aside materials related to the legislative process....
More than 10% of pilots allowed to fly armed More than one in 10 of the nation's airline pilots are cleared to carry a handgun while flying, and the number will continue to grow, according to a Transportation Security Administration projection. The TSA, which has declined to disclose the number of armed pilots, revealed in a recent budget document that 10.8% of airline crewmembers were authorized to carry guns. The Federal Air Marshal Service, a TSA agency that runs the armed-pilots program, reports that 85,000 to 90,000 pilots and crewmembers flying domestic passenger and cargo planes are eligible to carry a gun. That puts the number of armed pilots at about 9,500 — a figure Air Marshal spokesman Nelson Minerly did not dispute. The marshal service keeps the exact number confidential. The TSA projects the program to grow to 16.5% of eligible pilots by the year 2011....
Citizens’ group calls for independent investigation of in-flight mishap to prevent cover-up The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is calling for an independent investigation of an in-flight discharge of a pistol carried by an armed U.S. Airways pilot to prevent any whitewashing, cover-up or scapegoating in the incident. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said the incident is alarming because of allegations that the pilot may have been following strict Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules when the mishap occurred. Those rules came under fire today from the Airline Pilots Security Alliance (APSA), which represents thousands of commercial airline pilots. “Today, we are calling for an independent investigation of this incident, to be conducted by a panel of civilian firearms instructors and gun safety experts,” Gottlieb stated. “This will eliminate any possibility or future assertion that the TSA whitewashed this incident and used the pilot as a scapegoat to preserve unsafe regulations. “Conversely,” he added, “such an investigation by non-government experts who are also not connected to APSA or the airlines could determine, without bias and free from any influence or coercion, whether the pilot was handling his firearm safely, or in an unsafe manner. We want the truth....
State leads way on RFID privacy Washington state has passed some of the first laws in the country related to privacy and radio-frequency-identification (RFID) technology. Last week, Gov. Christine Gregoire signed into law two bills protecting consumer privacy by making it a felony to possess information gained from an RFID-enhanced driver's license, except when crossing international borders, or to maliciously scan someone's identification remotely without their knowledge and consent. As a state with many travelers who cross the border frequently, Washington has become a test bed for RFID. It's one of four states that have signed agreements with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to use RFID technology in optional-enhanced driver's licenses that became available in January. Critics say that is a precursor to establishing a national ID card. While the new technology "does simplify border crossings with neighboring countries, it also presents new and broad opportunities for identity theft and surveillance," said Rep. Deb Eddy, D-Kirkland, who sponsored HB 2729, which goes into effect in June. Because the data on the chip is not encrypted, its unique number can be captured from a distance, Eddy said. The licenses are shipped with a foil sleeve to prevent radio transmission. HB 2729 says personal information on identity cards may be released to law-enforcement agencies only for customs and border-protection purposes. Personally identifying information may be released to law-enforcement agencies for other purposes "only if accompanied by a court order," the law states....
States fight as REAL ID deadline nears Frustrated by unfunded federal mandates, a number of states are revolting. The latest case in point: stiff resistance to REAL ID, a controversial post-9/11 law that aims to make driver's licenses more secure. The Department of Homeland Security set Monday as the deadline for states to get an extension for implementing REAL ID. Miss this deadline, DHS warned resistant states, and come May, your residents won't be allowed to board planes with their current driver's licenses. Montana is one state that's been opposed to the DHS requirements. Rather than request an extension, it sent DHS a letter explaining what it's already doing to strengthen licenses. Still, DHS responded on March 21 by granting an extension. New Hampshire, another REAL ID holdout, took a similar path with DHS and also got an unasked-for extension last week. Beyond REAL ID, a series of federal moves in recent years have stepped on states' toes, including the No Child Left Behind Act and federal tort reforms, says David Davenport, professor of public policy at Pepperdine University in California. "The pendulum is swinging a little bit back towards states' rights now, and that's one context in which to see this REAL ID battle," he says. The law requires that states make it harder to tamper with driver's licenses, and it makes state motor-vehicle agencies more secure. It also tightens standards for how people may use documents to establish their identity. Many states balked at the measures. Seventeen, including Montana, passed legislation opposing REAL ID. With no states near compliance, most opted to request an extension, but Montana, New Hampshire, Maine, and South Carolina refused to do even that....
U.S. business interests at risk from domestic spying At what point does government snooping become a hindrance to commerce? That must be the question a lot of companies such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. must be asking themselves after a recent episode in Canada where a controversy over the use of online tools has emerged. It began with a Lakehead University switch from dedicated computer systems to using various Google services and tools that reside in the Internet cloud. While saving the school money and proving the unique viability of hosted software services, concerns over U.S. snooping resulted in a debate over privacy. While none of this discussion has swept into the U.S. media as yet, the implications are clear. In an article in the Globe and Mail this revealing trend was expressed: "Some other organizations are banning Google's innovative tools outright to avoid the prospect of U.S. spooks combing through their data," Simon Avery wrote. "Security experts say many firms are only just starting to realize the risks they assume by embracing Web-based collaborative tools hosted by a U.S. company, a problem even more acute in Canada where federal privacy rules are at odds with U.S. security measures." Eyes on our data So any company wanting to develop "software as a service," hosted services, Web-based email or any sort of initiative that involves remote databases that are accessed over the Internet, now has to deal with one big privacy question: Will the U.S. government be snooping in on our data? You must assume that the answer is yes. There goes the Software as a Service strategy from Microsoft and others -- down the drain....
Where U.S.-Mexico border fence is tall, it works U.S. border patrol agent Michael Bernacke guns his SUV down the wide desert-sand road that lines the U.S.-Mexican border through urban San Luis, Ariz. To his right stands a steel wall, 20 feet high and reinforced by cement-filled steel piping. To his left another tall fence of steel mesh. Ten yards beyond, a shorter cyclone fence is topped with jagged concertina wire. Visible to the north, through the gauze of fencing are the homes and businesses of this growing Southwest suburbia of 22,000 people. "This wall works," Bernacke said. "A lot of people have the misconception that it is a waste of time and money, but the numbers of apprehensions show that it works." The triple-and double-layered fence here in Yuma is the kind of barrier that U.S. lawmakers - and most Americans - imagined when the Secure Fence Act was enacted in 2006. The law instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to secure about one-third of the 1,950-mile border between U.S. and Mexico with 700 miles of double-layered fencing - and additionally through cameras, motion sensors, and other types of barriers - by the end of the year to stem illegal immigration. Bankrolled by a separate $1.2 billion homeland security bill, the Secure Fence Act would, President Bush said in 2006, "make our borders more secure." By most recent estimates, nearly half a million unauthorized immigrants cross the border each year....
Nearly 50 illegal immigrants working as security guards arrested A task force led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 50 illegal immigrants in weekend raids of mostly Latino night clubs in Dallas, officials said Sunday. Authorities raided 26 businesses, including night clubs, restaurants and pool halls. They were targeting employees working as security guards for two security companies, which officials declined to identify. Law enforcement teams of local, state and federal officials simultaneously hit the 26 businesses around 11 p.m. Saturday and arrested 49 people. They recovered four pistols. Those arrested will faces charges of being in the United States illegally. Federal law also prohibits illegal immigrants from possessing weapons. Four people arrested were from El Salvador and the rest were from Mexico, officials said....
Mexican drug cartels move into human smuggling As U.S. border security has tightened, Mexican drug cartels have moved in on coyotes, human smugglers who are paid to bring illegal immigrants into the United States. The traffickers now use their expertise in gathering intelligence on border patrols, logistics and communication devices to get around ever tighter controls. They are slowly gaining control of much of the illegal passage of immigrants from Mexico to the United States, U.S. border officials say. "This used to be a family business. The coyote and the migrant were from the same town; they were connected," said Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez, chair of the department of transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o studies at Arizona State University. "Now, because of the so-called security needs of the border, what's been created is this structure of smuggling in the hands of really nasty people who only treat the migrant as a commodity." U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Special Agent Joe Romero and other law enforcement officials say the Mexican drug cartels have even merged human smuggling with drug trafficking, forcing immigrants to act as "mules" in transporting drugs as the price of passage. "The drug cartels have determined this is big business," Romero said as he overlooked a narrow strip of desert between El Paso, Texas, and the nearby Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez. Drug cartels "control these corridors. Just like we're watching them here, they're watching us. ... It used to be, 'Get across the fence and run.' Now it's a lot more organized." Moreover, crimes committed by drug gangs that have become common in Mexico are now crossing the border, police officials say. Phoenix Police Cmdr. Joe Klima notes that 350 kidnappings were recorded in the city last year, a crime he describes as previously nonexistent....
Critics call Border Patrol standards lax As the U.S. Border Patrol expands into one of the nation's largest federal law enforcement agencies, critics say it should establish minimum educational requirements and end a long-standing policy of accepting recruits without a high school diploma or GED. Concerns about Border Patrol's hiring efforts come as the agency races to satisfy a Bush administration mandate to have 18,319 agents on the job by December. In the last year, the agency has been criticized for taking too many shortcuts, such as cutting its academy training schedule, as part of the biggest recruitment campaign in its history. Recruiting standards are higher at most other federal law enforcement agencies. For example, a college degree and three years of professional experience are required by FBI agent recruits. The Houston Police Department and Harris County Sheriff's Office require not only high school, but two years of college. ''Since that has not been a requirement since our inception, it stands to reason that we would have had agents who did not have a high school education or GED, however few those may be," said Lloyd Easterling, a Border Patrol assistant chief for security operations....
Cartels training recruits near U.S. The ranch near this border community is isolated, desolate and laced by arroyos - an ideal place, experts say, for training drug-cartel assassins. Mexican drug cartels have conducted military-style training camps in at least six such locations in northern Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon states, some within a few miles of the Texas border, according to U.S. and Mexican authorities and the printed testimony of five protected witnesses who were trained in the camps. The camps near the Texas border and at other locations in Mexico are used to train cartel recruits, ranging from Mexican army deserters to American teenagers, who then carry out killings and other cartel assignments on both sides of the border, authorities say. "Traffickers go to great lengths to prepare themselves for battle," said a senior U.S. anti-narcotics official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Part of that preparation is live firing ranges and combat training courses. ... And that's not something that we have seen before." Many of the camps are temporary, used for a time and then abandoned or used intermittently. Others are hidden on private land behind locked gates and have more permanent facilities, the officials said....
FBI: Eco-Terrorism Remains No. 1 Domestic Terror Threat For nearly seven years, the nation has turned its terror focus on Al Qaeda and the hunt for Usama bin Laden. But there is a domestic terror threat that federal officials still consider priority No. 1 — eco-terrorism. The torching of luxury homes in the swank Seattle suburb of Woodinville earlier this month served as a reminder that the decades-long war with militant environmentalists on American soil has not ended. "It remains what we would probably consider the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat, because they have successfully continued to conduct different types of attacks in and around the country," said FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko. The FBI defines eco-terrorism "as the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature." For years, officials have battled against members of shadowy groups such as the Earth Liberation Front and its brother-in-arms, the Animal Liberation Front. Law enforcement has made strides prosecuting cells, but it's been unable to end the arsons that have plagued developments encroaching on rural lands in the West. FBI estimates place damages from these attacks at well over $100 million....
Supreme Court won't intervene in Jefferson case The Supreme Court Monday let stand an appeals court ruling that curtails the FBI's power to search congressional offices. The case arose out of the FBI's raid of the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) in 2006. Jefferson, who is fighting federal corruption charges, sought the return of the seized materials, claiming they were protected by the constitutional privilege known as the Speech and Debate Clause. That clause is intended to ensure that legislative process is free from interference from the executive branch. Last year, in a setback for the government, the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. ruled that some of the materials grabbed by the FBI were likely protected by the privilege--even though agents had properly obtained a search warrant-- and should have been subject to Jefferson's review before they were handed over. The government appealed to the Supreme Court, which Monday declined to hear the case. That lets the appeals court decision stand. The court's ruling means that the Speech and Debate clause applies to searches by federal agents. The Justice Department complained that the decision would force it to give members of Congress advance notice before a raid is conducted, but the opinion doesn't say that. It simply requires that the member be given some opportunity to review and set aside materials related to the legislative process....
More than 10% of pilots allowed to fly armed More than one in 10 of the nation's airline pilots are cleared to carry a handgun while flying, and the number will continue to grow, according to a Transportation Security Administration projection. The TSA, which has declined to disclose the number of armed pilots, revealed in a recent budget document that 10.8% of airline crewmembers were authorized to carry guns. The Federal Air Marshal Service, a TSA agency that runs the armed-pilots program, reports that 85,000 to 90,000 pilots and crewmembers flying domestic passenger and cargo planes are eligible to carry a gun. That puts the number of armed pilots at about 9,500 — a figure Air Marshal spokesman Nelson Minerly did not dispute. The marshal service keeps the exact number confidential. The TSA projects the program to grow to 16.5% of eligible pilots by the year 2011....
Citizens’ group calls for independent investigation of in-flight mishap to prevent cover-up The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is calling for an independent investigation of an in-flight discharge of a pistol carried by an armed U.S. Airways pilot to prevent any whitewashing, cover-up or scapegoating in the incident. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said the incident is alarming because of allegations that the pilot may have been following strict Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules when the mishap occurred. Those rules came under fire today from the Airline Pilots Security Alliance (APSA), which represents thousands of commercial airline pilots. “Today, we are calling for an independent investigation of this incident, to be conducted by a panel of civilian firearms instructors and gun safety experts,” Gottlieb stated. “This will eliminate any possibility or future assertion that the TSA whitewashed this incident and used the pilot as a scapegoat to preserve unsafe regulations. “Conversely,” he added, “such an investigation by non-government experts who are also not connected to APSA or the airlines could determine, without bias and free from any influence or coercion, whether the pilot was handling his firearm safely, or in an unsafe manner. We want the truth....
State leads way on RFID privacy Washington state has passed some of the first laws in the country related to privacy and radio-frequency-identification (RFID) technology. Last week, Gov. Christine Gregoire signed into law two bills protecting consumer privacy by making it a felony to possess information gained from an RFID-enhanced driver's license, except when crossing international borders, or to maliciously scan someone's identification remotely without their knowledge and consent. As a state with many travelers who cross the border frequently, Washington has become a test bed for RFID. It's one of four states that have signed agreements with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to use RFID technology in optional-enhanced driver's licenses that became available in January. Critics say that is a precursor to establishing a national ID card. While the new technology "does simplify border crossings with neighboring countries, it also presents new and broad opportunities for identity theft and surveillance," said Rep. Deb Eddy, D-Kirkland, who sponsored HB 2729, which goes into effect in June. Because the data on the chip is not encrypted, its unique number can be captured from a distance, Eddy said. The licenses are shipped with a foil sleeve to prevent radio transmission. HB 2729 says personal information on identity cards may be released to law-enforcement agencies only for customs and border-protection purposes. Personally identifying information may be released to law-enforcement agencies for other purposes "only if accompanied by a court order," the law states....
States fight as REAL ID deadline nears Frustrated by unfunded federal mandates, a number of states are revolting. The latest case in point: stiff resistance to REAL ID, a controversial post-9/11 law that aims to make driver's licenses more secure. The Department of Homeland Security set Monday as the deadline for states to get an extension for implementing REAL ID. Miss this deadline, DHS warned resistant states, and come May, your residents won't be allowed to board planes with their current driver's licenses. Montana is one state that's been opposed to the DHS requirements. Rather than request an extension, it sent DHS a letter explaining what it's already doing to strengthen licenses. Still, DHS responded on March 21 by granting an extension. New Hampshire, another REAL ID holdout, took a similar path with DHS and also got an unasked-for extension last week. Beyond REAL ID, a series of federal moves in recent years have stepped on states' toes, including the No Child Left Behind Act and federal tort reforms, says David Davenport, professor of public policy at Pepperdine University in California. "The pendulum is swinging a little bit back towards states' rights now, and that's one context in which to see this REAL ID battle," he says. The law requires that states make it harder to tamper with driver's licenses, and it makes state motor-vehicle agencies more secure. It also tightens standards for how people may use documents to establish their identity. Many states balked at the measures. Seventeen, including Montana, passed legislation opposing REAL ID. With no states near compliance, most opted to request an extension, but Montana, New Hampshire, Maine, and South Carolina refused to do even that....
U.S. business interests at risk from domestic spying At what point does government snooping become a hindrance to commerce? That must be the question a lot of companies such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. must be asking themselves after a recent episode in Canada where a controversy over the use of online tools has emerged. It began with a Lakehead University switch from dedicated computer systems to using various Google services and tools that reside in the Internet cloud. While saving the school money and proving the unique viability of hosted software services, concerns over U.S. snooping resulted in a debate over privacy. While none of this discussion has swept into the U.S. media as yet, the implications are clear. In an article in the Globe and Mail this revealing trend was expressed: "Some other organizations are banning Google's innovative tools outright to avoid the prospect of U.S. spooks combing through their data," Simon Avery wrote. "Security experts say many firms are only just starting to realize the risks they assume by embracing Web-based collaborative tools hosted by a U.S. company, a problem even more acute in Canada where federal privacy rules are at odds with U.S. security measures." Eyes on our data So any company wanting to develop "software as a service," hosted services, Web-based email or any sort of initiative that involves remote databases that are accessed over the Internet, now has to deal with one big privacy question: Will the U.S. government be snooping in on our data? You must assume that the answer is yes. There goes the Software as a Service strategy from Microsoft and others -- down the drain....
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Save The Earth — Hug A Logger As environmental alarmists entertain themselves by turning off lights, their efforts sometimes lead to unintended consequences. A new study, for example, shows they may be warming the earth by saving trees. In the green scheme of things, trees are a good thing and deforestation is bad. We must plant as many trees as we can to suck up all that CO2, the pollutant that sustains all plant and therefore all animal life on earth. Old-growth forests must be protected from those nasty loggers. Trouble is, according to Thomas Bonnicksen, professor emeritus of forest science at Texas A&M University, forests left in "pristine" condition have too many trees and too many dead ones, both of which provide fuel for the devastating forest fires that ravaged California last year. Bonnicksen is also a visiting scholar at the California Forest Foundation and has authored a study available at its Web site (calforestfoundation.org). It shows that four large California wildfires produced 38 million tons of greenhouse gases through fire and subsequent decay of dead trees — 10 million from the fires themselves and 28 million from the post-fire decay. This is equivalent to the emissions from 7 million cars for an entire year. Bonnicksen says the four fires studied involved forests averaging 350 trees per acre where 50 an acre is considered normal. Some California forests, he says, have more than 1,000 trees per acre, with young trees growing under big trees, serving as "ladder fuel" and dead trees and woody debris on the ground. He advocates "thinning" the forests so they're less like time bombs waiting to explode. "Harvested trees can be turned into long-lasting wood products that store carbon," he notes, adding that it's important to remove trees destroyed by fires and insects "so that they don't decay and send more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere." So it just might be forest fires that are causing global warming, not the other way around, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently claimed....
New Mexico faces possibility of new wilderness designation It is the first day of spring 2008 and New Mexico rancher Tom Mobley has yet to push a blade of sediment from the dry earthen stock pond on his Dona Ana County ranch. “I started the request to clean this tank in October 2007 and I still don’t have the approval to do a thing,” he said, as he thumbed through a 16-page document he had received from the Las Cruces, NM, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office detailing the procedure he would have to follow upon receiving final approval for the work. The tank that Mobley is worried about happens to be located in one of a number of Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) scattered across part of the 2,400,000 acres of Dona Ana County. Because the location is in the WSA, the allowance to clean it does not follow normal BLM procedures for maintenance of such structures. Mobley must wait for the process, which includes interested party comments, to conclude. “This is one reason why ranching under wilderness designation in this country won’t work!” he concluded as he throws his hands up and heads out the door. Miles south of Mobley’s ranch in the Potrillo Mountains, rancher Dudley Williams is out early checking windmills before the wind comes up. “Can you imagine our dilemma trying to maintain these mills without having unrestricted access to them?” Dudley shakes his head. The Williams Ranch spreads over some 345 sections of country that runs nearly to the Mexican border on its southern extension. The ranch has over 95 miles of pipelines, 200 miles of fence, and 175 miles of roads. It also has a 150,000-acre WSA footprint overlaying it. A group of Dona Ana County ranchers and loyal allies mobilized and formed a group they call People for Preserving Our Western Heritage (PFPOWH). Their effort is aimed at countering the efforts of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA), which had positioned three paid staffers within the community, along with an extended organization that is tied to major environmental entities, for the purposes of securing their ideas of wilderness within the county. In draft legislation presented to the New Mexico congressional delegations in December 2007, PFPOWH introduced the concept of Rangeland Preservation Area(s) (RPA). This designation would elevate similar protective measures as wilderness, but also allow local conditions to be honored and considered....
Post-delisting wolf kills begin At least three wolves were killed by Wyoming residents over the weekend, after the animal was removed from the federal endangered species list. Large numbers of hunters reportedly prowled the state’s newly designated wolf predator area in Sublette County Friday, Saturday and Sunday, locals and outfitters said. At least two wolves were killed near an elk feedground in the Pinedale area, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Another was killed, also in Sublette County, by a rancher, a local predator board member said. The Star-Tribune received reports that a fourth wolf was possibly taken, also in Sublette County, but that kill has not yet been confirmed. All three of the confirmed wolf kills happened in the Cowboy State’s newly designated predator zone for wolves, where the animals can be shot on sight without limits, as long as the time, location and sex of each kill is reported to the Game and Fish Department within 10 days. Wolves in the state’s extreme northwest corner are now in the animal’s trophy game zone, and are still afforded some protection. Wolves in the rest of the state are considered predators, similar to coyotes. Eric Keszler, spokesman for the Game and Fish Department, said the two wolf kills reported so far both happened Friday, about one to two miles west of the Jewett feedground outside of Pinedale. Both were gray-black, one male and one female. One rancher outside the trophy game zone killed a wolf Friday on his private property, said Cat Urbigkit, a member of the Sublette County Predator Board....
Pacific Ethanol suffers a bigger-than-expected loss Pacific Ethanol Inc., a California biofuels darling that boasts political connections and an investment from Bill Gates, is short on cash and suffering from higher corn and plant construction costs, which threaten to derail the once-promising biofuels maker. The Sacramento company on Monday posted record-high sales but a larger-than-expected $14.7-million loss in the fourth quarter, reflecting a financial squeeze that has clouded prospects for ethanol producers nationwide. Pacific Ethanol reported the loss just days after it shored up its depleted coffers with a $40-million cash infusion from Lyles United, a company whose affiliates have provided construction services to Pacific Ethanol and had previously lent it funds. The Lyles investment provided a bit of good news for the company and helped remedy several violations of Pacific Ethanol's credit agreement with a group of lenders. The company recently postponed construction of its Imperial Valley ethanol plant, said it suffered from large construction cost overruns and admitted to having a "material weakness" in its financial controls -- problems it says it has since fixed. The company operates ethanol plants in Madera, Calif., and Boardman, Ore., and has a major interest in an ethanol production plant in Windsor, Colo. Two others have yet to come on line; a plant in Burley, Idaho, is in the start-up process and a plant in Stockton is set to open this year....
As Fight for Water Heats Up, Prized Fish Suffer It’s a simple fact of life across the rural West, as it is here in Montana’s mountain-ringed Big Hole River Valley. Flooding river bottoms to grow hay sustains the economy but means less water in the river for the prized wild trout population. The competition for water is not new, but it is intensifying as the climate here gets warmer and drier. “The biggest worry for trout is that smaller streams will simply run dry in late summer and temperatures in the remaining pools will exceed lethal levels,” said Steven W. Running, a climate scientist at the University of Montana in Missoula who is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Even if the stream has good flow 11 months of the year, fish have to survive the highest stress conditions in late summer. We could lose the populations in these smaller streams, and they won’t come back.” By all accounts, these kinds of changes in the West’s celebrated trout fisheries are happening quickly — faster, experts say, than in other parts of the country. A new report by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, based on research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows temperatures in the West the last five years increased by 1.7 percent, compared with 1 percent elsewhere. Floods, wildfires, livestock grazing and roads only make the picture worse. Some studies project the loss of Western trout populations in some regions could be more than 60 percent, and the loss of bull trout could exceed 90 percent by 2050. Salmon will also see a decline, up to 40 percent....
Petrified Forest park expansion stalled Government plans to more than double the size of Petrified Forest National Park appear to be in jeopardy because Congress has failed to come up with the cash to buy surrounding properties it approved for expansion in 2004. Without government funding, an irreplaceable treasure of dinosaur bones and Indian ruins may be lost as ranchers sell off their spreads for subdivision and development, according to David Gillette, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Petrified Forest is just one of 56 federal historic and recreation sites that "could lose land inside their borders to developers this year," according to a study to be released April 8, by the non-profit National Parks Conservation Association. The report, "America's Heritage: For Sale," identifies Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland as other examples. According to Helsel, Congress has appropriated $44.4 million for National Parks expansion purchases in 2008. The National Parks Service has a wish list of 1.8 million acres it would like to acquire, she said, at a projected cost of $2 billion. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., who chairs the Committee on House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, has proposed a mandatory spending program of $100 million annually over the next decade....
Forest roadwork may drive up state jobs U.S. Forest Service officials and environmentalists say the $4.7 million that Congress recently allocated for roadwork in the Northern Region national forests will provide a mini jolt of economic and ecological benefits. But with Montana, northern Idaho and North Dakota facing a critical road maintenance backlog of hundreds of millions of dollars on their national forests, the funding will only address the worst cases of crumbling roads and culverts damaging water quality and blocking fish passage. “This is a huge opportunity to get a jump on some of these needs that are affecting water quality and fish passage, but there's a long way to go,” said Fred Bower, the Forest Service's regional transportation planner in Missoula. Nationwide, the Forest Service has long struggled to keep up the 400,000 miles of roads that crisscross national forest land. The agency currently has an estimated $10 billion nationwide backlog of road maintenance needs. Congress' recent $39.4 million allocation was the first time it has set aside money specifically for decommissioning national forest roads. The funding, which is part of the Legacy Roads and Trails program, will be spent on road and trail decommissioning and maintenance, bridge repairs and the removal of fish barriers, especially in areas where forest roads are harming water quality and threatened or endangered species....The local NPS and FS employees can't go up on the hill and lobby for larger appropriations from Congress, but they are good at using the media to accomplish the same thing.
Colorado looks at new oil, gas regs After three months of debate over a preliminary plan, state officials Monday released a draft rewrite of Colorado's oil and gas regulations that yanked or modified parts that drew the most fire from the industry. The proposals will implement new laws requiring that decisions about oil and gas development give additional weight to public health, wildlife and the environment. Supporters say regulations must be updated in the face of an unprecedented, statewide natural gas boom. The industry warned that preliminary proposals released in January could drive up costs and dampen companies' interest in Colorado, where the industry generates billions of dollars in economic benefits and employs tens of thousands of people. State officials said they listened and made changes, including dropping a proposed application for drilling permits that the industry argued would add months to the approval process. Instead, the state has proposed expanding an existing form to include more information to evaluate the potential health and environmental impacts. "The industry talked about regulatory uncertainty and that time is money," said Mike King, deputy director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. King said the state also listened to landowners and communities near gas fields concerned about water quality. A new proposal would prohibit construction of oil and gas facilities within 500 feet of drinking water sources and impose conditions within a half-mile. The rules would apply in a 5-mile zone upstream from where the water enters a community system. Grand Junction and other communities protested gas leases that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved on federal land in their watershed. King said state officials "are adamant" that the draft rules would apply to federal land because of the state's jurisdiction over water and wildlife. King said the state is talking to federal officials and wants to work with them....
Can't Say 'No' To Canada's Tar Sands Oil At a time when saying anything good about fossil fuels is like declaring war on the environment, it may seem like wishful thinking to press for an expansion of U.S. oil refining capacity. Yet it is precisely this sort of thinking that is necessary if we are to make use of a vast, secure and reliable supply of fuel from Canada's oil sands. The tar sands hold an estimated 174 billion barrels of crude oil, making Canada's oil-sands deposits second only to Saudi Arabia in global reserves. The U.S. currently obtains 1 million barrels a day from Canada's tar sands, but with planned investments the daily supply could exceed 3 million barrels by 2015. But extracting heavy oil from tar sands and transporting it by pipeline for refining is a difficult and costly process. Producers are developing new drilling techniques to reduce the large volumes of natural gas and water needed to separate the oil from sand. And the oil companies, which have pledged to reduce greenhouse emissions in their operations, are making the needed investments to meet environmental regulations. Yet the greenhouse-gas issue overshadows all other considerations. The challenge is how to produce and refine enough oil to meet rising energy demand, while mitigating carbon dioxide emissions. Refiners have set a goal to improve energy efficiency 10% over the next decade, and one way they are making progress is capturing excess heat from their operations to produce additional electricity. An indication of change is the way oil companies now see unconventional sources of oil such as tar sands. Refineries throughout the Midwest and Gulf Coast are being retrofitted to accommodate the heavier oil. And companies are investing larger sums than ever in developing new technologies to reduce airborne and water emissions. Even though the companies are confident they can meet environmental requirements, opponents are determined to block the necessary permits. If our refineries can't take advantage of this secure source of oil from tar sands, other countries — notably China — will move in....
Green Fuel Plants Turning Rivers Brown In their haste to save the environment, “green” fuel enthusiasts are turning public waterways brown as some companies eager to get processing plants up and running quickly are failing to honor the conditions of their environmental permits. "What is being sold as green fuel just doesn't pencil out," California Representative Brian Bilbray, who spoke out against the $18 billion energy package recently passed by Congress that provides tax credits for biofuels, told the International Herald Tribune. According the National Biodiesel Board, biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable and suitable for sensitive environments, even sensitive riparian ones. But scientists — and people living near biodiesel refineries — say that’s seriously understating its potential environmental impact. Some biodiesel plants are discharging glycerin, which is normally non-toxic and the principal biodiesel byproduct, into rivers and streams. "You can eat the stuff, after all," says Environment Canada researcher Bruce Hollebone, one of the world's leading experts on the environmental impact of vegetable oil and glycerin spills. "But as with most organic materials, oil and glycerin deplete the oxygen content of water very quickly, and that will suffocate fish and other organisms. And for birds, a vegetable oil spill is just as deadly as a crude oil spill."....
Parody Ad Takes Up Cause of Ringed Seals, Says Polar Bear Populations are Prosperous and Growing In light of environmentalist campaigns pressuring the Administration to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, the National Center for Public Policy Research, joined by Citizens United, has released for the Internet a lighthearted parody political ad to remind the public that the polar bears' situation isn't as dire as some environmental organizations are leading the public to believe. The ad, a parody of the wild charges and breathless style of many political campaign ads, lets the public know what is not always clear from environmentalist lobbying campaigns: The global population of polar bears is 22,000, about double what it was just four decades ago. "Many people will be surprised to learn there are 22,000 polar bears and their population has doubled," said David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research. "While obviously many aspects of our parody ad - such as the polar bears in suits, lobbying Congress - are complete fiction, the steady growth in the global polar bear population is real. We hope that people who view our parody ad seeking a laugh will remember that fact, and perhaps be inspired to look a little more deeply into the basis of environmentalist claims regarding the polar bear." The ad is being released in conjunction with a National Center for Public Policy Research policy paper, "Listing the Polar Bear Under the Endangered Species Act Because of Projected Future Global Warming Could Harm Bears and Humans Alike," by Peyton Knight and Amy Ridenour....
WTO rejects EU beef hormone ban but also raps US, Canada The World Trade Organisation on Monday ruled that the European Union, United States and Canada all failed to respect global trade rules in a long-running row over beef treated with growth hormones. The EU was at fault because its present justifications for an import ban -- which were revised after a previous WTO ruling -- were not backed up by scientific evidence, the WTO said. The US and Canada meanwhile did not follow WTO procedures strictly by maintaining retaliatory measures against Brussels, the global trade body found in a report. The case goes back nearly 10 years to 1998 when the WTO ruled Washington and Ottawa could slap higher tariffs on a list of EU products after it condemned Brussels for banning beef producing with certain growth-promoting hormones -- used by the US and Canada -- without a scientific assessment of the risk. The EU had contested these sanctions, saying that they were no longer justified because it had found a new scientific basis for banning hormone-treated beef and had updated its law in 2003. Brussels then filed two fresh complaints against the United States and Canada for maintaining their retaliatory measures....
New Mexico faces possibility of new wilderness designation It is the first day of spring 2008 and New Mexico rancher Tom Mobley has yet to push a blade of sediment from the dry earthen stock pond on his Dona Ana County ranch. “I started the request to clean this tank in October 2007 and I still don’t have the approval to do a thing,” he said, as he thumbed through a 16-page document he had received from the Las Cruces, NM, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office detailing the procedure he would have to follow upon receiving final approval for the work. The tank that Mobley is worried about happens to be located in one of a number of Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) scattered across part of the 2,400,000 acres of Dona Ana County. Because the location is in the WSA, the allowance to clean it does not follow normal BLM procedures for maintenance of such structures. Mobley must wait for the process, which includes interested party comments, to conclude. “This is one reason why ranching under wilderness designation in this country won’t work!” he concluded as he throws his hands up and heads out the door. Miles south of Mobley’s ranch in the Potrillo Mountains, rancher Dudley Williams is out early checking windmills before the wind comes up. “Can you imagine our dilemma trying to maintain these mills without having unrestricted access to them?” Dudley shakes his head. The Williams Ranch spreads over some 345 sections of country that runs nearly to the Mexican border on its southern extension. The ranch has over 95 miles of pipelines, 200 miles of fence, and 175 miles of roads. It also has a 150,000-acre WSA footprint overlaying it. A group of Dona Ana County ranchers and loyal allies mobilized and formed a group they call People for Preserving Our Western Heritage (PFPOWH). Their effort is aimed at countering the efforts of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA), which had positioned three paid staffers within the community, along with an extended organization that is tied to major environmental entities, for the purposes of securing their ideas of wilderness within the county. In draft legislation presented to the New Mexico congressional delegations in December 2007, PFPOWH introduced the concept of Rangeland Preservation Area(s) (RPA). This designation would elevate similar protective measures as wilderness, but also allow local conditions to be honored and considered....
Post-delisting wolf kills begin At least three wolves were killed by Wyoming residents over the weekend, after the animal was removed from the federal endangered species list. Large numbers of hunters reportedly prowled the state’s newly designated wolf predator area in Sublette County Friday, Saturday and Sunday, locals and outfitters said. At least two wolves were killed near an elk feedground in the Pinedale area, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Another was killed, also in Sublette County, by a rancher, a local predator board member said. The Star-Tribune received reports that a fourth wolf was possibly taken, also in Sublette County, but that kill has not yet been confirmed. All three of the confirmed wolf kills happened in the Cowboy State’s newly designated predator zone for wolves, where the animals can be shot on sight without limits, as long as the time, location and sex of each kill is reported to the Game and Fish Department within 10 days. Wolves in the state’s extreme northwest corner are now in the animal’s trophy game zone, and are still afforded some protection. Wolves in the rest of the state are considered predators, similar to coyotes. Eric Keszler, spokesman for the Game and Fish Department, said the two wolf kills reported so far both happened Friday, about one to two miles west of the Jewett feedground outside of Pinedale. Both were gray-black, one male and one female. One rancher outside the trophy game zone killed a wolf Friday on his private property, said Cat Urbigkit, a member of the Sublette County Predator Board....
Pacific Ethanol suffers a bigger-than-expected loss Pacific Ethanol Inc., a California biofuels darling that boasts political connections and an investment from Bill Gates, is short on cash and suffering from higher corn and plant construction costs, which threaten to derail the once-promising biofuels maker. The Sacramento company on Monday posted record-high sales but a larger-than-expected $14.7-million loss in the fourth quarter, reflecting a financial squeeze that has clouded prospects for ethanol producers nationwide. Pacific Ethanol reported the loss just days after it shored up its depleted coffers with a $40-million cash infusion from Lyles United, a company whose affiliates have provided construction services to Pacific Ethanol and had previously lent it funds. The Lyles investment provided a bit of good news for the company and helped remedy several violations of Pacific Ethanol's credit agreement with a group of lenders. The company recently postponed construction of its Imperial Valley ethanol plant, said it suffered from large construction cost overruns and admitted to having a "material weakness" in its financial controls -- problems it says it has since fixed. The company operates ethanol plants in Madera, Calif., and Boardman, Ore., and has a major interest in an ethanol production plant in Windsor, Colo. Two others have yet to come on line; a plant in Burley, Idaho, is in the start-up process and a plant in Stockton is set to open this year....
As Fight for Water Heats Up, Prized Fish Suffer It’s a simple fact of life across the rural West, as it is here in Montana’s mountain-ringed Big Hole River Valley. Flooding river bottoms to grow hay sustains the economy but means less water in the river for the prized wild trout population. The competition for water is not new, but it is intensifying as the climate here gets warmer and drier. “The biggest worry for trout is that smaller streams will simply run dry in late summer and temperatures in the remaining pools will exceed lethal levels,” said Steven W. Running, a climate scientist at the University of Montana in Missoula who is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Even if the stream has good flow 11 months of the year, fish have to survive the highest stress conditions in late summer. We could lose the populations in these smaller streams, and they won’t come back.” By all accounts, these kinds of changes in the West’s celebrated trout fisheries are happening quickly — faster, experts say, than in other parts of the country. A new report by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, based on research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows temperatures in the West the last five years increased by 1.7 percent, compared with 1 percent elsewhere. Floods, wildfires, livestock grazing and roads only make the picture worse. Some studies project the loss of Western trout populations in some regions could be more than 60 percent, and the loss of bull trout could exceed 90 percent by 2050. Salmon will also see a decline, up to 40 percent....
Petrified Forest park expansion stalled Government plans to more than double the size of Petrified Forest National Park appear to be in jeopardy because Congress has failed to come up with the cash to buy surrounding properties it approved for expansion in 2004. Without government funding, an irreplaceable treasure of dinosaur bones and Indian ruins may be lost as ranchers sell off their spreads for subdivision and development, according to David Gillette, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Petrified Forest is just one of 56 federal historic and recreation sites that "could lose land inside their borders to developers this year," according to a study to be released April 8, by the non-profit National Parks Conservation Association. The report, "America's Heritage: For Sale," identifies Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland as other examples. According to Helsel, Congress has appropriated $44.4 million for National Parks expansion purchases in 2008. The National Parks Service has a wish list of 1.8 million acres it would like to acquire, she said, at a projected cost of $2 billion. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., who chairs the Committee on House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, has proposed a mandatory spending program of $100 million annually over the next decade....
Forest roadwork may drive up state jobs U.S. Forest Service officials and environmentalists say the $4.7 million that Congress recently allocated for roadwork in the Northern Region national forests will provide a mini jolt of economic and ecological benefits. But with Montana, northern Idaho and North Dakota facing a critical road maintenance backlog of hundreds of millions of dollars on their national forests, the funding will only address the worst cases of crumbling roads and culverts damaging water quality and blocking fish passage. “This is a huge opportunity to get a jump on some of these needs that are affecting water quality and fish passage, but there's a long way to go,” said Fred Bower, the Forest Service's regional transportation planner in Missoula. Nationwide, the Forest Service has long struggled to keep up the 400,000 miles of roads that crisscross national forest land. The agency currently has an estimated $10 billion nationwide backlog of road maintenance needs. Congress' recent $39.4 million allocation was the first time it has set aside money specifically for decommissioning national forest roads. The funding, which is part of the Legacy Roads and Trails program, will be spent on road and trail decommissioning and maintenance, bridge repairs and the removal of fish barriers, especially in areas where forest roads are harming water quality and threatened or endangered species....The local NPS and FS employees can't go up on the hill and lobby for larger appropriations from Congress, but they are good at using the media to accomplish the same thing.
Colorado looks at new oil, gas regs After three months of debate over a preliminary plan, state officials Monday released a draft rewrite of Colorado's oil and gas regulations that yanked or modified parts that drew the most fire from the industry. The proposals will implement new laws requiring that decisions about oil and gas development give additional weight to public health, wildlife and the environment. Supporters say regulations must be updated in the face of an unprecedented, statewide natural gas boom. The industry warned that preliminary proposals released in January could drive up costs and dampen companies' interest in Colorado, where the industry generates billions of dollars in economic benefits and employs tens of thousands of people. State officials said they listened and made changes, including dropping a proposed application for drilling permits that the industry argued would add months to the approval process. Instead, the state has proposed expanding an existing form to include more information to evaluate the potential health and environmental impacts. "The industry talked about regulatory uncertainty and that time is money," said Mike King, deputy director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. King said the state also listened to landowners and communities near gas fields concerned about water quality. A new proposal would prohibit construction of oil and gas facilities within 500 feet of drinking water sources and impose conditions within a half-mile. The rules would apply in a 5-mile zone upstream from where the water enters a community system. Grand Junction and other communities protested gas leases that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved on federal land in their watershed. King said state officials "are adamant" that the draft rules would apply to federal land because of the state's jurisdiction over water and wildlife. King said the state is talking to federal officials and wants to work with them....
Can't Say 'No' To Canada's Tar Sands Oil At a time when saying anything good about fossil fuels is like declaring war on the environment, it may seem like wishful thinking to press for an expansion of U.S. oil refining capacity. Yet it is precisely this sort of thinking that is necessary if we are to make use of a vast, secure and reliable supply of fuel from Canada's oil sands. The tar sands hold an estimated 174 billion barrels of crude oil, making Canada's oil-sands deposits second only to Saudi Arabia in global reserves. The U.S. currently obtains 1 million barrels a day from Canada's tar sands, but with planned investments the daily supply could exceed 3 million barrels by 2015. But extracting heavy oil from tar sands and transporting it by pipeline for refining is a difficult and costly process. Producers are developing new drilling techniques to reduce the large volumes of natural gas and water needed to separate the oil from sand. And the oil companies, which have pledged to reduce greenhouse emissions in their operations, are making the needed investments to meet environmental regulations. Yet the greenhouse-gas issue overshadows all other considerations. The challenge is how to produce and refine enough oil to meet rising energy demand, while mitigating carbon dioxide emissions. Refiners have set a goal to improve energy efficiency 10% over the next decade, and one way they are making progress is capturing excess heat from their operations to produce additional electricity. An indication of change is the way oil companies now see unconventional sources of oil such as tar sands. Refineries throughout the Midwest and Gulf Coast are being retrofitted to accommodate the heavier oil. And companies are investing larger sums than ever in developing new technologies to reduce airborne and water emissions. Even though the companies are confident they can meet environmental requirements, opponents are determined to block the necessary permits. If our refineries can't take advantage of this secure source of oil from tar sands, other countries — notably China — will move in....
Green Fuel Plants Turning Rivers Brown In their haste to save the environment, “green” fuel enthusiasts are turning public waterways brown as some companies eager to get processing plants up and running quickly are failing to honor the conditions of their environmental permits. "What is being sold as green fuel just doesn't pencil out," California Representative Brian Bilbray, who spoke out against the $18 billion energy package recently passed by Congress that provides tax credits for biofuels, told the International Herald Tribune. According the National Biodiesel Board, biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable and suitable for sensitive environments, even sensitive riparian ones. But scientists — and people living near biodiesel refineries — say that’s seriously understating its potential environmental impact. Some biodiesel plants are discharging glycerin, which is normally non-toxic and the principal biodiesel byproduct, into rivers and streams. "You can eat the stuff, after all," says Environment Canada researcher Bruce Hollebone, one of the world's leading experts on the environmental impact of vegetable oil and glycerin spills. "But as with most organic materials, oil and glycerin deplete the oxygen content of water very quickly, and that will suffocate fish and other organisms. And for birds, a vegetable oil spill is just as deadly as a crude oil spill."....
Parody Ad Takes Up Cause of Ringed Seals, Says Polar Bear Populations are Prosperous and Growing In light of environmentalist campaigns pressuring the Administration to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, the National Center for Public Policy Research, joined by Citizens United, has released for the Internet a lighthearted parody political ad to remind the public that the polar bears' situation isn't as dire as some environmental organizations are leading the public to believe. The ad, a parody of the wild charges and breathless style of many political campaign ads, lets the public know what is not always clear from environmentalist lobbying campaigns: The global population of polar bears is 22,000, about double what it was just four decades ago. "Many people will be surprised to learn there are 22,000 polar bears and their population has doubled," said David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research. "While obviously many aspects of our parody ad - such as the polar bears in suits, lobbying Congress - are complete fiction, the steady growth in the global polar bear population is real. We hope that people who view our parody ad seeking a laugh will remember that fact, and perhaps be inspired to look a little more deeply into the basis of environmentalist claims regarding the polar bear." The ad is being released in conjunction with a National Center for Public Policy Research policy paper, "Listing the Polar Bear Under the Endangered Species Act Because of Projected Future Global Warming Could Harm Bears and Humans Alike," by Peyton Knight and Amy Ridenour....
WTO rejects EU beef hormone ban but also raps US, Canada The World Trade Organisation on Monday ruled that the European Union, United States and Canada all failed to respect global trade rules in a long-running row over beef treated with growth hormones. The EU was at fault because its present justifications for an import ban -- which were revised after a previous WTO ruling -- were not backed up by scientific evidence, the WTO said. The US and Canada meanwhile did not follow WTO procedures strictly by maintaining retaliatory measures against Brussels, the global trade body found in a report. The case goes back nearly 10 years to 1998 when the WTO ruled Washington and Ottawa could slap higher tariffs on a list of EU products after it condemned Brussels for banning beef producing with certain growth-promoting hormones -- used by the US and Canada -- without a scientific assessment of the risk. The EU had contested these sanctions, saying that they were no longer justified because it had found a new scientific basis for banning hormone-treated beef and had updated its law in 2003. Brussels then filed two fresh complaints against the United States and Canada for maintaining their retaliatory measures....
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