Wednesday, January 07, 2004

NEWS ROUNDUP

Decision thwarts ranching advocates Ranching advocates winced after a federal judge chose to uphold a 1996 livestock removal order affecting the Gila National Forest and the Apache National Forest. A Dec. 23 press release from the Center for Biological Diversity announced that the Diamond Bar and Laney cattle companies will have to remove hundreds of cattle from two former national forest grazing allotments within 30 days of the Dec. 22 injunction or face severe federal penalties. The Diamond Bar allotment occupies 146,470 acres and the Laney allotment occupies 27,926 acres. Both allotments are located in Catron County, N.M. This precedent-setting decision sides with the U.S. Forest Service's opinion that grazing rights must be obtained by applying for a permit with the Forest Service. The Laneys tried to claim that by owning the private property rights, they did not need a permit to graze cattle on the land. The decision by the judge means the argument used by the Laneys was ineffective and that ranchers who are grazing without a permit will not be able to successfully use it to their defense in the future...New Potential Threat for Peregrine Falcons The impressive Peregrine falcon, which fought its way off the U.S. endangered species list less than five years ago, may soon be facing a different kind of threat. Findings published in the current issue of the journal Environmental Science and Technology suggest that the creature's eggs may be susceptible to contamination from a popular flame retardant chemical, which scientists previously thought did not pose a threat to wildlife...Feds offer $7.1 million for private conservation The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a $7.1 million pie for private lands conservation, and landowners and their partners can seek a slice of the funding through March 8. The federal government this week put out the call for proposals for funding for "on-the-ground" conservation efforts that benefit imperiled species. In its second year, the Private Stewardship Grants Program last May funded 113 grants worth $9.4 million to individuals and groups to take on conservation projects for endangered, threatened and other at-risk species on private lands in 43 states...House of Sand and Strictures It is axiomatic that if you find a beautiful spot and build on it, you risk making the site less beautiful. That is especially true in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, where views are long, water is scarce and buildings can be seen for miles. Only 13 percent of Pima County, which encompasses Tucson, is open for development, according to John Strobeck, owner of the Bright Future Consulting Company, which analyzes the home building market in Tucson. The rest is government land: Indian reservations, parks and national forests. Development is further restricted by Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations demanding proof that any new home have adequate water for the next 100 years. Building sites must also be surveyed for plants like pineapple cactus and saguaro, and during construction, those plants must be either maintained or replanted. And then there is drought and risk of fire. Nevertheless, 7,000 homes are built each year in Pima County...HSUS Hollywood Office Releases Annual 'Foe Paw' Report '20/20's' John Stossel, 'Jimmy Kimmel Live,' 'The Simpsons,' and 'Fear Factor' are given the thumbs down for their negative animal messages in the 2003 "FOE PAW" REPORT, the annual top ten dishonor role compiled by The Humane Society Of The United States (HSUS) Hollywood Office, part of the nation's largest animal-protection organization. The HSUS Hollywood Office monitors the news and entertainment media for its coverage of animal issues and, as presenter of the annual Genesis Awards, also honors the media for the very best in pro-animal coverage...Tony Curtis to unveil his artistic sheep As the first of quite a few celebrities painting bighorn sheep to save the endangered species, film actor Tony Curtis will present his artistic vision at 3 p.m. today at The Lodge at Rancho Mirage. The artist, Academy Award nominee and star of such films as "Some Like It Hot," painted the fiberglass replica that will be displayed and auctioned for charity. His bright acrylic canvases have been compared to Matisse...Search for Mexican gray wolf continues Two wolf experts, Don Lonsway and Mike Haen, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services Division were expected to arrive at Binder Park Zoo on Tuesday night to aid in the search of the missing Mexican gray wolf. The trained wolf biologists and trappers will aid zoo employees already scanning the area with their additional equipment and expertise of wild wolves. It's unclear what specific techniques they may use... Wolves kill Wamsutter cattle According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Wildlife Services has confirmed that wolves killed several beef cattle in the Wamsutter area. It appears that one or two wolves were involved in the killing and Wildlife Services animal damage control specialists have been authorized to remove up to two wolves from the area, which is not far from the Colorado border. Rancher Charlie Juare said when he began gathering cattle on the checkerboard area of the Red Desert north of Wamsutter right after Christmas, two extremely crippled cows were found, as well as other stiff and sore cattle. Injuries to the cattle include having their tails chewed off near the backbone and severely infected wounds to their front legs at the elbow. All of the affected cattle are yearling bred heifers weighing about 900 pounds at this time of year. One of the cows couldn't get up and subsequently died. Federal wildlife officials skinned her carcass and discovered the trauma associated with wolf predation. A second cow was killed as well, he said...2 more endangered wolves found dead Two more endangered Mexican gray wolves have been found dead bringing the total to 11 deaths in New Mexico and Arizona since March. A female wolf from the Hondah Pack was found dead on the White Mountain Apache Reservation on Christmas Eve. An alpha male of the Cienega Pack was found on the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona on Dec. 21. Both deaths are being investigated, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown said...Federal Coal-Mining Policy Comes Under Fire Internal government documents show that officials from a variety of agencies unsuccessfully criticized the Bush administration's effort to let coal miners continue the practice of "mountaintop removal" mining -- the leveling of mountain peaks to extract coal -- in Appalachia. At issue is a draft environmental impact statement analyzing the effects of the widely practiced technique on streams, wildlife and forests and proposing three approaches for regulation. Although the administration said all three approaches would improve environmental protections, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the administration's alternatives to regulate mountaintop removal mining "cannot be interpreted as ensuring any improved environmental protection," according to a document obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request...Elk numbers plummet; wildlife managers respond by regulating hunters Elk numbers continue to plummet in the northern Yellowstone elk herd, according to a report released late Tuesday. The herd is now the smallest it's been since the 1970s. A Dec. 18 flight by state and federal biologists found 8,355 elk despite "relatively good survey conditions," which means good weather and enough snow to make elk visible from the air. That's a drop of at least 880 elk, or 9.5 percent, from last year's count of 9,215, when conditions were poor and biologists said they probably missed a lot of elk. The herd has dropped by an average of 6 percent a year since 1994, when the herd had at least 19,359 elk. That timespan coincides with the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995... In Selling Nature's Treasures, Dozens Buy Trouble Yesterday, officials with the National Park Service and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries announced the sting operation based at the Elkton store. It was all part of a multiyear, multi-state investigation into the illegal harvest or sale of American ginseng and black bear organs, much of it for exportation to Asia. More than 100 people from several states could face charges resulting from the investigation, which tracked the illicit plants with a recently developed arsenal of special dyes and silicon chips. More than 40 people have been been charged in sealed indictments. Two were in custody...BLM orders more study of coal-bed methane drilling plan Agreeing in part with concerns raised by a conservation group, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday ordered more environmental analysis on 18 planned coal-bed methane wells southwest of Gillette. Marathon Oil Corp., through its subsidiary Pennaco Energy, has not yet begun drilling the wells and the remanding of the environmental study does not revoke or suspend drilling permits the BLM granted in September, according to Phil Perlewitz, acting deputy state director for minerals and lands. No timetable is set for the additional study. "I would anticipate it would be done as soon as possible," Perlewitz said...Western Shoshone tribes divided over land dispute with government Two elderly Indian sisters haul hay, mend fences and round up cattle at their ranch in this remote Nevada valley. Between chores, they spearhead one of the most controversial land battles in the West. It's a conflict that has pitted Western Shoshone Indians against the federal government for decades and deeply divided Western Shoshone tribes along the way. At its center are Mary and Carrie Dann, obstinate and blunt women whose deeply lined faces and callused hands speak of a life of hard work on this arid, high desert. Many people consider the sisters modern Indian heroes. Others consider them fanatics out of touch with reality...Pair 'duel' over badlands Ten months after Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson challenged his New Mexico counterpart to settle a land dispute with a duel, they took up their guns. Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson (left) and New Mexico counterpart Patrick H. Lyons get set to 'duel' south of Austin. Patterson's challenge last year led to Wednesday's photo op. Sort of. Patterson and New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Patrick H. Lyons traded pleasantries instead of gunfire Wednesday as they posed with .44-caliber flintlock dueling pistols during a trip to an exotic game ranch. The 145-year-old land dispute involves 603,485 acres in West Texas that New Mexico lawmakers said they lost because of a flawed survey. The strip of land is three miles wide and 320 miles long, according to the New Mexico State Land Office, which called it land "that technically belongs to New Mexico." It includes the Texas towns of Texline, Farwell, Bledsoe and Bronco, the Texas General Land Office said. (Take a look at the photo and you will see which state raises real cowboys)...Column: Mainstreaming Green The environmental movement has spent three years playing defense against a president they call the most anti-environment in history. Now they want payback, and hope to pull off a notoriously tough task: making green issues a big deal in a national race. Already, the environment has become an issue in the Democratic contest, though not always in the way environmentalists would hope. Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) campaign recently circulated literature that misleadingly claims Howard Dean compiled a poor environmental record as Vermont governor. But looking beyond the primaries, there are signs that green issues could play an important role this year, when the environmental differences between the eventual nominee and Bush will be massive compared to any between the Democrats themselves. Enviros say their 2004 campaign will be bigger and, more importantly, better than past cycles, and strategists believe the White House's dismantling of environmental protections leave Bush vulnerable to attack...Bush planning to add another Utahn to EPA The Environmental Protection Agency is in position to pluck another Utahn -- this time, former Gov. Mike Leavitt's chief of staff. President George Bush on Wednesday announced he intends to nominate Charlie Johnson, 67, to work as chief financial officer of the EPA. If confirmed by the Senate, Johnson, president of Huntsman Cancer Foundation and member of the Utah Board of Regents, will again join forces with Leavitt, who now heads the agency...County joins desert posse in get-tough desert dust operation The county joined nine Coachella Valley cities in adopting a law to dramatically reduce desert dust by 2006. Riverside County's participation in the region's stringent Fugitive Dust Control Ordinance was crucial because it means builders and developers can't escape dust control requirements by moving projects outside local city boundaries. "It is the most serious air quality problem in the desert," Supervisor Roy Wilson said of the tiny dust particles known as PM10 - meaning particulate matter is less than 10 microns in diameter. Coachella Valley skies have exceeded federal limits on PM10 since 1999. The Environmental Protection Agency has given the valley until 2006 to clear the skies...SRP, UA plot history of Arizona droughts to gauge threat now Salt River Project and the University of Arizona will study droughts dating back nearly 1,500 years in an effort to gauge how serious a threat the current drought is to the region's long-term water supply. Researchers in UA's Tree Ring Laboratory will reconstruct annual runoff and streamflows on the Salt, Verde and upper Colorado rivers and some of their tributaries. Those rivers provide much of the Valley's drinking water. Findings from the joint study could help SRP and other water agencies better plan for droughts, offering hints about how long dry spells can last on the major rivers and how often drought occurs on two major river systems at the same time... Earthquakes rattle Jackson area Four earthquakes shook the Jackson, Wyo., area early Wednesday morning, including a magnitude 5.0 earthquake that was the largest ever recorded in Teton County. The 5.0 quake struck at 12:51 a.m. and shook for about six seconds, according to Lance Cook with the Wyoming State Geological Survey. The quakes were centered near lower Slide Lake just outside Kelly, Wyo., which is northeast of Jackson. After the first shake, a 3.7 earthquake was recorded at 1:27 a.m., followed by a 4.1 earthquake at 1:44 a.m. and a 4.0 earthquake at 2:23 a.m. The quakes happened in the area of the Gros Ventre Fault, which lies beneath the Gros Ventre mountain range. The area, which typically experiences several quakes a year, was the site of a 3.5 earthquake on Dec. 30...Mexican charreada Gerardo "Jerry" Diaz has vowed to keep the tradition of charro alive through acts woven into the Mexican extravaganza he will present this weekend at the National Western Stock Show. The event will feature a new spin on a historic event: the charreada, featuring the skillful horsemanship of charros, Mexican gentlemen known for horsemanship, roping and preserving the ethics of family life...Some cuss words aren't really cuss words I suspect the commandment about not taking the Lord's name in vain has kept a lot of good people out of heaven, especially those who own livestock or who work with worn-out farm machinery. I doubt the Lord himself could load hogs or operate a hay baler without losing his temper. Through history we read of the teamster who could singe the hair on his mule's ears with profanity and the prevaricator who could cuss like a sailor. I can still taste the lye soap Grandma Trew used to wash my mouth after I uttered my first cuss word in her presence. Though her remedy was more effective than a month of sermons, it would be judged as cruel and unusual punishment by today's standards and bring about a lawsuit. That could be the reason Grandpa Trew's worst words were "my goodness."...
Nevada Live Stock Association
9732 State Route 445, #305
Sparks, NV 89436
775.424.0570

For Immediate Release
January 7, 2003

Testimony Favors Court Order Before Cattle Impoundment

The Nevada Live Stock Association (NLSA) once again defended "due process" to be afforded those in the cattle industry threatened with impoundment actions by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). "Personal property in cattle is the subject matter of the state not the federal government or Bureau of Land Management (BLM)," said NLSA Lawyer Mike Van Zandt. The hearing occurred December 22, 2003 in the Second Judicial District Court, Reno, Nevada. Judge Janet Berry presided over the court motions and testimony.

As filed, "The purpose of the hearing is to determine the validity of action on the part of the department (Department of Agriculture) in determining whether the BLM is in legal possession of impounded cattle and issuing Brand Inspection Clearance Certificates to the BLM for impounded cattle." (Case No. CV03-06171).

Unforeseen admissions occurred during the testimony phase of the hearing. Under cross-examination from NLSA attorney Van Zandt both Department of Agriculture Director Don Henderson and head brand inspector Jim Connelley admitted that it had been the "firm policy" of the department not to allow impoundment and sale of cattle by any person without a court order. Henderson and Connelley in testimony alleged that after consultation with Deputy Attorney General and her subsequent issuance of an unofficial opinion letter regarding BLM livestock impoundment they had changed their "firm policy". Gina Session, at the time was a Deputy to Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and now serves under Attorney General Brian Sandoval.

Connelley testified that, "I still think it is abhorrent to not have a court order." In addition, from the witness stand he pointed at his own attorney, Gina Session, and said, "It was you that told us to do it this way."

Don Henderson, also under cross-examination, testified that the Brand Department changed their "firm policy" upon the instruction of Frankie Sue Del Papa, through Gina Session.

Essentially, the testimony revealed a doubt between the Department of Agriculture and Gina Session on the issue of the validity of the BLM not having to produce a court order for documentation of legal possession. From the testimony, it appeared that the brand department before Frankie Sue Del Papa and Session's interference had been relying upon their interpretation of the Nevada Revised Statutes and over 100 years of brand law. The Department's "firm policy" was based upon the brand being prima facie evidence of ownership in a dispute. Anyone disputing the brand had to prove otherwise, before legal possession could take effect.

"Our sources have told us that contracts were issued to federal rustlers to confiscate 3,000 head of livestock which could easily be accomplished under Session's unofficial opinion. This policy exposes the State to an extraordinary liability, while it allows the federal government to play fast and loose with rancher's property," said Ramona Morrison, NLSA Secretary.

Van Zandt established crucial evidence during argument and testimony that the Brand Inspection Clearance Certificates issued at the Colvin cattle impoundment for the BLM were issued because the BLM was a "very special person" who did not need a court order like everyone else.

"The owner (Ben Colvin) of record appeared in the left hand corner where it is supposed to, and the branded cattle were listed with Ben Colvin's brand, and yet, a third party signs as the owner or authorized agent. So, I do agree it is abhorrent," said Jackie Holmgren after the hearing was concluded. "If this kind of brand inspection is now to be considered lawful, after Judicial Confirmation, heaven help us all," said Jackie Holmgren.

NLSA Brand Chairman David Holmgren consulted with Dave Pooser a Vice President at Nevada State Bank, Reno, Nevada on the issue. Mr. Pooser said, "The problem is that any regulated entity has to rely upon law in an orderly society. It potentially gives the BLM or government agencies a superior lien that then would inhibit the banks ability to lend."

David and Jackie Holmgren, submitted affidavits to the court, for the NLSA and were representatives for the Association at the hearing. David Holmgren is Chairman of the NLSA Brand Committee and Jackie Holmgren is on the Executive Board. NLSA Chairman Helen Chenoweth-Hage, several directors, and other officers of the Association attended the hearing.

Gina Session, Deputy Attorney General was counsel for Director Don Henderson and head brand inspector Jim Connelley of the Nevada Department of Agriculture. Mr. Connelley is named in a grand jury investigation pending in Esmeralda County over the impoundment and sale of Goldfield, Nevada rancher Ben Colvin's cattle in 2001. Colvin is a NLSA director from Esmeralda County.

Brian Sandoval Attorney General for Nevada attended the hearing. BLM solicitors were in the audience and consulted with Gina Session several times during the hearing.

Chairman Helen Chenoweth-Hage commented that, "This is a keg of worms that needs resolving on the lawful presumption that due process must be afforded. Judge Berry said, 'Judges do not make law.' I whole-heartedly agree. The ex-Attorney Generals' staff doesn't either."

Session based her entire argument of the BLM being in legal possession upon case law that involved only public land. Van Zandt told the Judge Berry that, "These are not public lands."

A Mr. Lister, from Pioche, Nevada, also submitted a motion to dismiss at the hearing. He noted to Judge Berry that, "It is only Cowboy logic" that a court order is needed before private property can change ownership.

Judge Berry has asked all parties to submit post trial briefs and she will issue her Judicial Confirmation sometime in early spring 2004.

Contacts: Ramona Morrison (775) 424-0570
Jackie Holmgren (406) 321-1215
MAD COW NEWS

NCBA to Hold Satellite Town Hall Meeting on BSE Response

01/06/2004

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) will hold a Satellite Town Hall Meeting, Jan. 8 from 7-8 p.m. Mountain Time, to answer producer questions and discuss NCBA's response to the discovery of a single Canadian-born cow in the U.S. with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

NCBA Chief Executive Officer Terry Stokes, Vice President of Government Affairs Chandler Keys and Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs Gary Weber, PhD, will provide the latest information on the BSE case, discuss USDA regulatory issues and address efforts to resume U.S. beef exports. Additionally, the senior staff will discuss NCBA's BSE crisis response plan, which is implemented with NCBA member dues and with beef checkoff dollars on behalf of the Cattlemen's Beef Board and state beef councils.

The 60-minute Satellite Town Hall Meeting will broadcast live on RFD-TV. Cattlemen from around the nation can call into a telephone number provided on-screen to ask questions of and provide input to the NCBA staff.

The live broadcast can be viewed on the RFD-TV agricultural channel available on:

DISH TV Channel 9409

DirecTV Channel 379 (Multi-Sat System Required)

MediaCom Cable Providers, Check Local Listings

NCTC Cable Providers, Check Local Listings

C-band coordinates, T5-20, 41 Mghz., Horizontal, 6.2-6.8 audio

A tape of the show will be rebroadcast three times on the RFD-TV channel at six hour intervals, following the initial broadcast. The program will also be broadcast on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. Mountain Time.

BSE has protectionist legislators, industry jumping on Buy U.S. bandwagon Recall Canadian livestock. Stop importing their beef products. Slap Born in the U.S.A. stickers on meat packages in grocery stores. A wave of protectionism hit the United States on Wednesday, a day after genetic tests confirmed that a Washington state cow that tested positive for mad cow disease had been born on an Alberta farm. U.S. Agriculture Department officials have been careful to call the continent's second mad cow case a North American problem. And even-handed stories about the cow's origin were played inside major American newspapers. But some took advantage of the news to promote long-held agendas that stress buying American and blaming Canada for the latest assault on the industry. Leo McDonnell, president of the Rancher and Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, said recalling all Canadian livestock and shutting down beef imports again would allow Americans to regain their $3.6-billion US export market by next week. "We're looking at some heavy losses," said McDonnell. "And it's not even a cow from the U.S. I mean, you know, (the disease) is not native to the United States." He was backed by Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader, and other politicians from Midwest beef states. "Obviously we need to get as much information about the safety of products from Canada as we can," said Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat. "The only way we can do that effectively is to stop the product from coming into this country."...Calves Killed to Prevent Mad Cow Disease A winter storm Wednesday delayed federal officials' plans to bury 449 calves killed to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. State officials, meanwhile, said disposing of the carcasses at a landfill was safe. It may be "a day or two" before trucks are able to remove the carcasses, which officials had planned to bury at a regional landfill in southern Washington, said Robert Nelson, a state Agriculture Department spokesman. A worker at the landfill, about 60 miles south of Yakima, said it was closed Wednesday after receiving about a foot of snow...Leading Democratic Senator Calls For Immediate Country-of-Origin Meat Labeling The U.S. Senate's top Democrat is calling on the U.S. food industry to immediately begin labeling meat with its country-of-origin. South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle's comments come after the first case of mad cow disease in the United States was traced to Canada. Under a bill passed by the House of Representatives and awaiting Senate approval later this month, beef would be required to be labeled with its country of origin. The measure would apply to other perishable commodities, including fruits, vegetables, fish, lamb and pork, but not chicken. The House bill would delay the measure's implementation by two years. The chamber's Republican majority argued the labeling would be too costly for the meat industry...Japan says must move slowly on lifting US beef ban Japan consumer confidence could be eroded if a ban on U.S. beef, due to mad cow concerns, is lifted too soon, Japanese Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Wednesday. Following a meeting with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Nakagawa, whose remarks were translated into English, said moving too quickly "could result in loss of confidence" among Japanese consumers. He added that it is best to "move forward step by step" on eventually ending Tokyo's ban on American beef...U.S. Faces Pressure on Beef Safety While the Bush administration tries to thaw a freeze on beef exports because of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, consumer and farm groups said on Wednesday that Americans deserve to know the source of their lunchtime hamburgers and dinner steaks. They joined Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle in calling for an immediate federal order to put country-of-origin labels on meat. The labels are scheduled to be mandatory by Sept. 29 but House Republicans have sought to delay them because of the cost to the U.S. meat industry. Farm activists and consumer groups said food-origin labels were a speedier way to bolster food safety than a national animal identification system. The Bush administration opposes labeling and says it will speed up creation of the ID system. U.S. meat industry sources said another option being discussed would require U.S. slaughter plants to test only cattle over the age of 30 months for mad cow disease and only if the meat was intended for Japan...Opening the border is taking longer than thought at first Ontario Cattlemen's Association president Ron Wooddisse says it's unlikely the discovery of a BSE-infected cow in Washington state last month will delay the opening of the U.S. border to live Canadian cattle under 30 months old. "My projection is that the border will open up in two to four months," Wooddisse said in an interview with Voice of the Farmer. That prognostication hasn't changed since a second cow infected with BSE was discovered south of the border, he said, stressing that it was never realistic to believe the Americans would miraculously reopen the border as soon as the calendar turned over to 2004. "We all knew it would take longer," he said...Decision on beef ban will wait for fact-finding team Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday the government will not rush to decide whether to lift a ban on U.S. beef imports following confirmation that an American cow infected with mad cow disease was born in Alberta, Canada. "We have to look into the matter in detail before making a judgment (over the import ban). We will wait for a report from a fact-finding team, which leaves for the United States on Thursday," Fukuda said. Earlier Wednesday, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Wednesday it will dispatch a fact-finding team to the U.S. and Canada to gather information about the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S...Cattle prices rally Cattle prices jumped Wednesday after a report out of Japan hinted the top U.S. beef market may lift its import ban on U.S. beef if tests prove the meat does not have mad cow disease. CME live cattle for delivery in February closed up the daily trading limit of 1.50 cents a pound at 75.400 cents. The contract had closed at 90.675 cents on Dec. 23, before the mad cow discovery was announced. On Wednesday, the Nikkei news agency reported that Japan's agriculture ministry was reviewing a plan that could allow imports of U.S. beef if it was inspected by private firms. "That gives us a sliver of hope where Japan can possibly justify lifting the ban," said Jim Clarkson, livestock analyst with A & A Trading Inc in Chicago. The cattle market was also buoyed by confirmation on Tuesday that the infected cow in Washington state had been imported from Canada...FDA chief says America's beef supply is safe The Texas-raised head of the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that his agency's procedures worked as expected in handling the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. Dr. Mark McClellan, FDA commissioner, said all of the parts of the cow infected with the brain-wasting disease that the FDA regulates have been accounted for. The animal, born in western Canada in 1997, was slaughtered in Washington state last month. "Because we have these vigilant systems in place, that gives us a high degree of confidence in our beef supply," said McClellan, who was in San Antonio to speak to scientists gathered for the first meeting of the Texas Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. FDA's oversight relevant to mad cow disease includes the use of cattle parts in animal feed and the rendering of non-edible tissue for use in drugs, cosmetics and other products...Ottawa rules out ban on use of slaughterhouse waste in cattle feed Federal officials have ruled out a ban on feeding slaughterhouse waste to cattle even though some government scientists say such a ban is the only way to be sure of stopping mad cow disease. Brian Evans, chief veterinarian for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said a ban would not be based on science and would be impossible to enforce. Britain and other European countries have maintained such a ban for years and it has been under study in Canada. But a panel of foreign experts advised against the idea, said Evans...Mad Cow, Iron Levels Knock Out Potential Blood Donors The American Red Cross is in dire need for blood donations, but there are some new restrictions that may impact whether you can give blood. The mad cow disease that raced through countries across the Atlantic has created new directives for potential donors here in the United States. According to the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac chapter of the American Red Cross, people cannot donate if, since January 1, 1980, you have: Spent a total time that adds up to 3 months in the United Kingdom. Spent a total time that adds up to 6 months or more in any country in the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Turkey, or Oman. Received a blood transfusion in any of these regions...Florida Ranchers Relieved As Cattle Prices Hold Steady Wider BSE Testing May Woo Buyers The United States will have to institute wider-spread testing of cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy before key importers will open their borders to U.S. beef again, a key U.S. meat industry official said Tuesday. Richard Fritz, the vice president for trade development for the Denver- based U.S. Meat Export Federation, told DTN it is unclear how much testing the United States will have to do to satisfy trading partners, but that it will have to be on a larger scale than the 20,000 cows that were tested annually before the case of mad cow disease was discovered...Food: Beefing it up like the president After all, President Bush is still eating beef. On Jan. 2, though having been on a successful hunt for quail at Falfurrias, Texas, he declared, "As a matter of fact, I ate beef today, and will continue to eat beef." Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman, announced that despite the mad cow scare, the U.S. food supply was safe and public risk from the discovery of the disease was low. For this particular Brit, those positive proclamations rang too many apprehensive bells. In May 1990, the British minister of Agriculture in John Major's Conservative government appeared on television enthusiastically encouraging his 4-year-old daughter Cordelia to bite greedily into a hamburger. British beef, he claimed merrily, was "completely safe." Just five years later, in another May, the first recorded victim of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease died. Like most of the other 119 British victims as of December 2002, Stephen Churchill was pitifully young -- 19. In December 1995, the year of his death, Prime Minister John Major declaimed, "There is no scientific evidence that BSE can be transmitted to humans or that eating beef causes it in humans."...Japanese team in Brisbane for beef talks A Japanese Ministry of Agriculture delegation arrives in Brisbane today to talk to local producers about redirecting US-bound exports to Japan. Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) spokesman Peter Barnard says the delegation will meet with officials from export companies Teys Brothers and Australian Meat Holdings before heading to Sydney for further talks. "The product beef that the United States was sending to Japan and Korea will now be marketed in the domestic market in the United States, so there's likely to be an easing of demand for Australian beef in the United States, while at the same time there's increase for Australian beef in Japan and Korea," Dr Barnard said. Dr Barnard says local companies will put forward a strong argument for expanding into the Japanese market...Secrecy of beef recalls blasted Federal regulators have more power to order and publicize the recall of a batch of canned corn or auto parts than they do a load of tainted beef or poultry -- a gap consumer groups call outrageous. USDA rules barred local officials from naming five Vietnamese restaurants in Alameda County suspected of serving beef bones from the Washington slaughterhouse where a single cow was found to have mad cow disease last month. Meanwhile, the final destination of 10,000 pounds of beef from the 19 other cows slaughtered with the diseased Holstein on Dec. 9 remains a secret under U.S. Department of Agriculture rules. By contrast, products with less than 2 percent meat, poul-try or pork face different recall guidelines, overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which include the publication of batch numbers, quantities and the tainted items' distribution network...Facts vs. Fears: Mad Cow Reality BRIT HUME, HOST: The Agriculture Department (search) said today that that cow, out in Washington State that was diagnosed with Mad Cow disease (search) last month, came from Canada. The department also said it will slaughter another 450 cattle from that quarantined herd in which the sick one was found. At least 37 countries have now banned the import of U.S. beef. But is any of this really necessary? For answers, we turn to David Ropeick, of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, who is co-author for "Risk, A Practical Guide For Deciding What`s Really Safe And Dangerous In The World Around Us." He joins us from our Boston Bureau. Welcome to you, sir...Researchers Seek to Clone 'Mad Cow Disease' Resistant Cattle Strain With about $300,000 in funding from the National Institutes of Health, scientists in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) at Virginia Tech are trying to clone cattle that are genetically incapable of developing "Mad Cow Disease." As federal and state government officials grapple with strategies to limit the economic and health risks associated with the troublesome discovery of the nation's first case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) -- or Mad Cow Disease -- Drs. Will Eyestone and Bill Huckle are conducting important research with the little understood molecules believed to cause the deadly brain-wasting disease... Accurate BSE test of live animals is goal of Ohio research Ohio State University researcher Srinand Sreevatsan not only believes early detection is the best way to fight mad cow disease. He's also creating tools to make it possible. "There is a desperate need for a fast and reliable test for the diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in live animals," said Sreevatsan, a scientist with the Food Animal Health Research Program (FAHRP) on the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center's (OARDC) Wooster campus. "Early detection could lead to efficient surveillance systems that may avert or control this group of diseases."...Mad cow has state's ranchers wary of selling cattle About 1,200 animals were sold Monday at Centennial Livestock Auction in Fort Collins. The operation that draws from Colorado, Wyoming and Utah normally runs through 8,000 to 9,000 cattle a day this time of year, auction owner Wayne Kruse said. "Some of the guys who sold were pretty nervous about this (mad cow) thing," Kruse said. "We had a lot of cattle consigned, but some converted to next Monday and some decided to wait until later in the year." The sale was one of the region's first after the holidays and after the announcement Dec. 23 of the country's first case of mad cow disease. At the Winter Livestock Auction in La Junta, general manager John Campbell said about 400 to 500 cattle would be sold Tuesday. The normal total at the southeastern Colorado auction ranges from 4,000 to 5,000. The Ranchland Livestock Auction in Wray on Colorado's eastern plains canceled a sale Jan. 2 because no cattle were offered for sale...Ottawa earmarks funds for anti-BSE measures The federal government is introducing increased surveillance and tracking to further reduce the risk of mad cow disease, Federal Agriculture Minister Bob Speller said Tuesday. Speller has obtained funding for a package of anti-BSE measures which are already underway. He did not give a dollar amount or specify how many animals would be tested. Brian Evans, chief veterinarian at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said the goal is to be able to detect a one-in-a-million case of mad cow... Tyson cuts beef production due to lower demand US meat processor Tyson Foods is reducing operating hours at its US beef plants due to lower demand for US beef following the discovery of a case of BSE, or mad cow disease. "We plan to keep the plants at reduced hours while we evaluate the effect of the discovery of mad-cow," Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. Tyson, which operates 11 beef processing plants in the US and one in Canada, exported US$1.7bn worth of beef last year to countries including Japan and South Korea, reported AP...KGH removes beef from menu Beef isn't what's for dinner -- or lunch and breakfast -- at Kennewick General Hospital's Ivy Cafe. The menu posted for January offers plenty of chicken, pork, fish and turkey, but nothing that would come from a butchered steer, calf or cow. Even though the hospital's food supplier guarantees that its beef products have no connection to cattle stock affected by mad cow disease, the beefless menu is a courtesy for people who don't have a choice not to eat beef, said Christy Evanson, the hospital's director of food and nutrition...Meat packers to be scrutinized Federal officials will be keeping an eye on meat packers to make sure they don't use mad cow disease as an excuse to pay ranchers less for their cattle than what the animals are worth, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said Monday. Burns asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman last week to "scrutinize livestock transactions" to ensure ranchers get a fair price for their cattle. J. P. Donovan, a Burns spokesman, said Monday that Veneman has personally promised the senator that her agency would look into cattle transactions...Mad-cow rules could affect Hispanic meals Meat safety regulations aimed at reducing the risk of mad cow disease may have their biggest impact on some Hispanics, whose culinary favorites may include tacos filled with brain and small intestines, soup with spinal cord bits and, at holiday times, a cow's head. The rules, imposed after the Dec. 23 disclosure of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, prohibit the sale of skull, brain, eyes, vertebral column and spinal cord from cattle older than 30 months...Beef pulled from school menus Fears that mad cow disease could spread to children have prompted some school officials to take beef off school lunch menus. The Jefferson County School District, the largest in Colorado, is taking a handful of beef and beef byproducts out of its school cafeterias until it can confirm they are safe to eat. A food contractor in Aspen has also stopped serving beef indefinitely to elementary and middle school students over fears of a mad-cow outbreak. "I know the government says beef is safe, but I don't believe the government has much credibility right now," said Anne Owsley, owner of The Lunchroom Co. in Aspen... In N.J., a link to mad cow? Although U.S. health officials say no one has gotten mad cow disease from American beef, a Cinnaminson woman says seven people died of a closely related disease after eating at the Garden State Race Track in Cherry Hill. The seven apparently died of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal brain-wasting malady, according to a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Janet Skarbek, an accountant, discovered the cases after an acquaintance died of the illness in 2000. She contacted the CDC. Now, it is asking her questions. The human version of mad cow disease is a very similar condition known as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The differences between the two can be definitively detected only by examining brain tissue in an autopsy. Health experts are skeptical of the contentions of Skarbek. If a link were established between the deaths and the victims' diets, it would be the first time beef has been linked to sporadic CJD, they say...U of I team working on food-tracing system University of Illinois scientists may develop technology used to trace cattle and hogs back to the farms on which they were raised. It's focused on creating, maintaining and tracing food products through the U.S. food distribution system. A team of researchers plans to develop technology to trace meat from a single cow or soybeans from an individual field all the way to the grocery shelf. Dahl's piece of the research project centers on a small, implanted device for livestock that's about the size of a single grain of sand. It draws power from radio waves that examine the device for data. About 25,000 of the implants suspended in a small bottle of water are barely visible. That means they're too small to be taken out and switched to another animal...Wash. cattlemen 'tickled' at prices after mad cow Fewer cattle made it to the auction block at the Toppenish Livestock Commission, but the prices they drew made cattlemen smile for the first time since word broke that mad cow disease had been detected in the state. Only about 100 cows were sold Monday, with the market high 61 cents a pound for an 1,850-pound cow. That was down only 2 cents from the 63-cents-a-pound high for slaughter cows in late December, said John Top, co-owner of the Yakima Valley-based auction...

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

OMB issues guidance on "green" competitive sourcing plans The Office of Management and Budget has asked federal agencies to craft plans for letting contractors bid on federal jobs from now through 2008. The multiyear plans will help it decide which agencies deserve a "green" rating, or top marks in competitive sourcing, said OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson in a Dec. 22, 2003 memorandum announcing the planning exercise. He added that OMB would evaluate plans based on how well they support an agency's mission. "OMB will assess a plan's effectiveness in a manner that accounts for the agency's unique mission and workforce needs as well as the agency's demonstrated ability to conduct reviews and competitions in a reasonable and responsible banner," Johnson wrote in the memorandum, which was distributed to the President's Management Council. The plans could serve as a window into how agencies would comply with the competitive sourcing initiative in a second term of the Bush administration, if the president is re-elected. Until now, most agencies have worked to implement OMB-approved plans to earn a "yellow" rating, which signals mixed results...Forest advisory board supports aggressive plan The Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board voted Monday to support a 10-year accelerated option for insect and fuels treatment that would help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and restore forest health. State Representative and Advisory Board Vice Chairman John Teupel of Spearfish made the motion in favor of a 10-year option that would see the U.S. Forest Service treat an average of 39,000 acres annually to reduce the threat on areas in the high hazard category. Though some of his fellow advisory board members argued that the more aggressive seven-year option for fuels treatment might reduce wildfire danger more quickly, Teupel favored the 10-year plan as "aggressive but executable."...Military, Local Officials Coordinate Firefighting Efforts Local Navy and Marine flight crews took a big first step Monday toward becoming certified to fight civilian brush fires. After last October's disastrous firestorm, forestry officials are eager to recruit aerial reinforcements from the military. Officials said that it's going to take a lot of intense training, planning and logistical work to coordinate their firefighting efforts -- but that they can do so. On Monday, pilots and flight crews from the California Department of Forestry met with counterparts from Naval Station North Island, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and the California National Guard to map out the process of coordinating radio frequencies and air-operation protocols, as well as the sticky topic of chain of command. Authorities also want to have the military pilots certified to fight civilian fires, an effort that has been cleared by the Pentagon...Resorts sprouted after Sun Valley With the opening of Sun Valley as the nation's premier winter resort, it was only a matter of time before Idahoans began looking to other mountaintops as a way to cash in on the fun. Popular folklore says Averell Harriman considered Mount Bonneville - the highest point in the Portneuf Range - for his Sun Valley resort, but decided it was too difficult to get to. No matter. In 1947, 11 years after Sun Valley opened, several Pocatello daredevils formed the Alpette Ski Club and pooled their resources to buy a New Sweden rope tow, which they placed on Scout Mountain...Both sides claim win in minnow decision A decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit to vacate its earlier decision in the endangered species Rio Grande silvery minnow case is being declared a victory by both sides of the issue. Representatives of the state and agricultural community called the decision by the 10th Circuit a victory. Environ-mentalists said it gets the appeals court out of the picture but does not undo their earlier victory in federal district court in Albuquerque. The court ruled that an appeal of the Court of Appeals' June decision regarding diversion of water to maintain a habitat for the silvery minnow was made moot by events occurring after the entry of the injunction order, which expired on Dec. 31. The appeals court had agreed during the summer with Chief U.S. District Judge James A. Parker of Albuquerque. Each court held that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation can take water from middle Rio Grande irrigators and others who contract for imported water through the San Juan-Chama Project if it's needed to sustain the minnow. The State of New Mexico, the federal government, the City of Albuquerque and irrigation districts had asked the appeals court to reconsider its decision. "The injunctive order from which this appeal was taken no longer provides the court with a live controversy to review," the 10th Circuit judges wrote, which were released on Monday...Endangered wolf escapes from Battle Creek zoo An endangered Mexican gray wolf remained on the loose Tuesday after escaping from Binder Park Zoo. Three wolves escaped from their enclosure through a small hole they stretched in their exhibit fence early Saturday morning. Two wolves quickly were recaptured, but one climbed the zoo's 9-foot perimeter fence and got away. "This is not a situation that is taken lightly at Binder Park Zoo," Geise said. "We are very concerned for the safety of this animal, and we are taking every possible measure to see that it is returned safely." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service owns the wolf and two service biologists who specialize in wolves are aiding in the search, Geise said... Petition to list "eastern" sage grouse rejected The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a petition to list "eastern" sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act, saying there's no evidence they are a unique subspecies of other sage grouse found in the West. But the agency said it will continue a preliminary review of other pending petitions involving the species as a whole. A finding on those petitions, including one filed last month by 20 conservation organizations, is expected by the end of March, the agency said...Column: Puzzling times Land acquisitions in our local communities are not necessarily real estate transactions between two willing parties but are sometimes classified as controls and "takings." They come in many forms other than a deeded sale of property. If we were to put a jigsaw puzzle together with each piece representing a "controlling program," we could see how close the puzzle is to being complete... Editorial: Species act has support Signed into law Dec. 28, 1973, the law is designed to provide a safety net for fish, wildlife and plant species on the brink of extinction. It is arguably the most comprehensive conservation measure ever crafted. The act makes it illegal to kill, harm or harass listed species. And it allows for protection of critical habitat for listed species. Several signature species, including the American bald eagle, the peregrine falcon and the southern California sea otter, have rebounded from perilously low numbers through protection afforded by the act. The Endangered Species Act has strong public support. In a Lou Harris & Associates poll commissioned by The Olympian several years ago, 71 percent of the adults surveyed called the act somewhat to very effective in protecting plants and animals from extinction. And two-thirds of those polled wanted Congress to reauthorize the act... Groups seek end to Park Service's 'Blanket Approval' Policy Four conservation groups have cited the National Park Service for authorizing wholesale Wilderness Act violations by its own staff at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. Sequoia and Kings Canyon contains more than 700,000 acres of congressionally designated wilderness in some of the wildest country in California. The Wilderness Act prohibits such things as motor vehicles and aircraft landing in wilderness. The prohibitions apply not only to the public who visit wilderness, but also the federal agencies that administer it. The Act allows federal agencies some latitude to engage in practices prohibited by the Wilderness Act but only when the practices are absolutely needed for administering the wilderness... Report says bear attack occurred during the day The bear that killed Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard attacked them at their campsite at midday, not at night as was widely believed, according to a National Park Service report. The report, released Dec. 29 by a technical board of investigation for Katmai National Park, says the attack began at 1:58 p.m. Oct. 5. The time is based on a date stamp found in a digital video camera the couple turned on just before the attack. The digital video contains the sounds of the attack but no pictures, apparently because the lens cap was on...Religious debate rages at National Parks With pages of eye-catching photographs of the Grand Canyon and the blue waters of the Colorado River, the hardback "Grand Canyon: A Different View" is a medium seller at the national park's bookstore. But the book's use of a biblical time scale to claim that the Grand Canyon is only a few thousand years old has thrust the park into the debate over religious materials at public sites. Some critics say examples from the Grand Canyon to the Lincoln Memorial show the National Park Service has caved to pressure from conservative and fundamentalist Christian groups, accommodating their requests to post or alter materials. But National Park Service officials deny the accusation, saying they seek legal advice before acting. Parks also may sell or post materials considered inspirational, such as poetry and photographs, as long as they don't make scientific claims, the agency said...BLM releases report on Otero Mesa The controversial fate of southern Otero County's Otero Mesa is a step closer to being decided with the Bureau of Land Management's release of a proposed Resource Management Plan. The plan, also known as the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement), outlines decisions that will guide the management of almost two million acres of federal public lands and mineral estate administered by the Las Cruces BLM field office. "What this document shows is a proposed plan how we would administer oil and gas leasing," said Tom Phillips, BLM land use planner in the Las Cruces office. "This is our proposed plan. The final EIS. This is at the end of five years of development." There will be a 30-day protest period, Phillips said. Protestants have to send their documents to the BLM director in Washington...Column: Hydrogen's Dirty DetailsThe day after George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address, the president of the National Mining Association, Jack Gerard, wrote him a letter applauding Bush's plan for a pollution-free future powered by fuel cells, the battery-like devices that use hydrogen to release energy. "Coal - reliable, abundant, affordable and domestic," wrote Gerard, "will be the source for much of this hydrogen-powered fuel." Gerard is right: The so-called hydrogen economy will be a boon for the mining industry. The clean-energy future that many environmentalists have dreamed of has been turned over to the coal industry and a notoriously dirty Siberian mining company run by Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin. A deal personally smoothed over by Bush has given Norilsk Nickel, one of the world's worst polluters, a toehold on American soil - and a major stake in the hydrogen economy. The new mining frenzy is emerging as yet another piece of Bush's "black hydrogen agenda," according to the Green Hydrogen Coalition, whose members include the Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and Jeremy Rifkin, a leading proponent of hydrogen fuel cells...BLM may shave coal lease Federal land managers want to cut 123.6 million tons from a lease by application (LBA) for federal coal in the southern Powder River Basin. The West Antelope LBA Tract is one of five under consideration in the Bureau of Land Management's South Powder River Basin Coal final Environmental Impact Statement, which was released for a 30-day public comment period on Christmas Eve. Under the BLM's proposed alternatives, the agency would make available five new leases for a total of 1.5 billion tons of federally-owned coal in a competitive lease process. Antelope Coal Co., a subsidiary of Kennecott Energy, had applied for one new lease tract containing about 3,542 acres and 294 million tons of coal to extend the life of its Antelope coal mine straddling the Campbell and Converse county line in northeast Wyoming...State to oppose prairie dog listing State officials will soon ask the federal government to drop the black-tailed prairie dog as a candidate for the threatened species list. Pennington County ranchers say the state should do more - and fast. George Vandel, the top biologist for the state Game, Fish & Parks Department, told the Pennington County Commission and a large group of area ranchers Tuesday that GF&P Secretary John Cooper and state Agriculture Secretary Larry Gabriel will make the formal request to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Vandel said the state's request will contain preliminary data from a survey indicating the state has more than 200,000 acres inhabited by prairie dogs, including 170,000 acres of nontribal land. The survey is nearly complete...Colorado set to post record in 2004 for oil, gas well permits A record 2,500 permits to drill oil and gas wells in the state are expected to be issued this year, furthering the Rockies' claim as a hot spot for energy producers. The 2004 forecast by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, based on a poll of 600 companies actively operating in the state, is substantially higher than the previous record of 2,378 permits set in 1980. "There has been a sustained drilling boom for three years in a row, but we believe 2004 will be an all-time record," said oil and gas commission Director Rich Griebling...Following busy year, Wyoming tries to cope with coalbed growing pains In the last four years, the Bureau of Land Management office here has expanded three times. The staff has jumped from 25 employees to 76. The Forest Service, which shared the office with the BLM for years, has been squeezed out. "We've beefed up knowing that the onslaught is coming," said Beels, project manager for oil and gas in the BLM's Buffalo office. The signs are obvious in places like the Lower Prairie Dog Creek drainage, just outside Sheridan. Older pickup trucks steered by ranchers are giving way to new pickups driven by gas company officials and tractor trailors hauling pipes and equipment. The rolling ranchland is still a bucolic setting, but increasingly is home to giant compressors, underground pipes, new roads and scores of squat beige boxes that house coalbed methane wells...Heated discussion marks first post-fire meeting Skepticism and disagreement marked the beginning of an experimental "consensus" process for planning post-fire management projects in the Flathead's North Fork Valley. The Flathead National Forest launched the process Monday at the Kalispell Center WestCoast Hotel, with 83 out of 110 registered participants showing up. The crowd included some of the most vocal environmental and multiple-use activists in the Flathead Valley, creating a charged atmosphere for the start of a process that will continue with a series of meetings over the next 10 days...Energy firms paying tab for GOP trip A dozen or more congressional Republicans will gather at a resort in balmy Phoenix this week to hear the legislative wish lists of Western coal, power and mining companies - and raise money from them. The four-day conference begins today with a $1,500-per-person round of golf and private dinner, dubbed "Mulligans and Margaritas." The money raised from industry officials will be divided among the re-election campaigns of the lawmakers, most of whom serve on committees that oversee the mining and energy industries... An Environmental Memoir It is strange to recall, given his spectacular misdeeds in office, that Richard Nixon was among the 20th century's most progressive political leaders on matters of the environment. During his presidency, Nixon set in motion policies that cleaned waterways, removed grit and fumes from the air, saved big chunks of critical habitat and hundreds of plant and animal species, reduced and in some cases banned the use of deadly pesticides and created several interlocking federal agencies to protect the environment and the public domain. "That environmental agenda," Washington insider Russell Train writes in his memoir, "Politics, Pollution, and Pandas," "was so wide-ranging, and yet so comprehensive, as to be without precedent in the history of the United States."... Former Colo. Arsenal Gets a Cleanup site once branded as the most polluted square mile in America, where sarin gas and other weapons of mass destruction were manufactured for decades, has been declared free of chemical weapons. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal, 10 miles north of Denver, once represented 60 percent of the nation's chemical weapons production capacity, but is now on its way to becoming a federal wildlife preserve. The federal Superfund site has undergone a $2.2 billion cleanup aimed at transforming it into a wildlife preserve...Dixon dairy faces federal suit over 1.3 million gallon spill A Dixon dairy that spilled more than 1 million gallons of manure-tainted water into streams leading to the Sacramento River faces a federal lawsuit for violating the Clean Water Act, environmentalists said Tuesday. The Sierra Club notified Heritage Dairy owner Peter Albers last week that it intends to sue him in U.S. District Court for a November spill that began when a pump failed in a manure storage lagoon. Federal environmental lawsuits require 60 days notice before they can be filed. The Sierra Club has targeted large livestock operations as a national priority in its campaign to prevent pollution, but it's the first Clean Water Act lawsuit the club has threatened to bring in California...Western States Submit the Nation's First Plans to Reduce Haze over National Parks and Wilderness Areas Five Western states and the City of Albuquerque have completed the nation's first air quality plans designed to reduce haze over federally protected Class I areas, such as national parks and wilderness areas. The states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wyoming -- all members of the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP) -- each submitted their plans to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December. These states are among the 13 WRAP states that are working together with Western tribes, federal agencies, industry, and environmental groups to conduct research and develop policies to reduce haze in the West. A key element of each state plan is an innovative strategy to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from major industrial sources such as coal-fired power plants, smelters, and refineries. The plans institute a regional cap on sulfur dioxide emissions in the five states. The cap limits the tons of sulfur dioxide that can be emitted annually by industrial sources in the five state region. If industrial emissions remain below the cap, no further regulation takes effect. If the cap is exceeded, an emissions trading program is triggered to ensure the environmental goal is achieved. Under the emissions trading program, sources are given an annual emissions allowance and must limit their emissions to that level or purchase additional allowances from another source with excess allowances. Other important elements of the plans are strategies to reduce smoke from prescribed fires and strategies to increase the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency...San Joaquin County farmers to battle California laws on agriculture discharge Farmers, agricultural water providers, environmentalists and the public in general will be allowed to voice their opinions Wednesday on new rules requiring farmers to monitor pesticides and other items discharged from their land to California waterways. Six appeals representing farmers and one appeal by a coalition of environmentalists have been filed with the California Water Resources Control Board, a division of the California Environmental Protection Agency...Seize the opportunity It's not exactly a full-scale victory for Rio Grande water users and rights owners, but the federal appeals court decision to vacate its earlier ruling on water for the silvery minnow allows them to catch their breath. In what was more a technical decision than a ruling, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said its June decision that would allow the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to divert San Juan-Chama water from Rio Grande irrigators to habitat for the minnow was moot because the lower court preliminary injunction it upheld had expired. The decision sends the case back to federal district court in Albuquerque for a new hearing before Judge James A. Parker, who issued the preliminary injunction that the state had appealed to the 10th Circuit. In rehearing the case, Parker will have to deal with a new federal law sponsored by U.S. Sens. Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman, both of New Mexico, that passed Congress in November and was signed by President Bush. That law prohibits the federal government from taking San Juan-Chama water for the minnow... Wyoming Livestock Board approves emergency brucellosis testing The Wyoming Livestock Board on Tuesday unanimously approved emergency rules requiring testing of cattle for brucellosis. Testing for the disease, which causes cattle, bison and elk to abort and can lead to chronic flu-like symptoms in humans, is optional in Wyoming. Mandatory testing could affect tens of thousands of cattle, industry experts said. The board adopted the rules to allay concerns from other states about the safety of Wyoming's cattle in wake of the finding of brucellosis in a herd in Sublette County... Calgary's big money proposal: Potential $1 million payout turns heads During the NFR in Las Vegas, officials from the Calgary Stampede announced that their event will pay out more than $1 million for this year. And the money will bring some major changes to the Calgary Stampede and create new questions for the PRCA. Prior to 2004, 10 competitors qualified for Sunday's Stampede Showdown rounds. The top four would advance to the finals with the champion earning a winner-take-all $50,000 bonus. The money in the bonus round did not count toward the world standings. This summer, the Calgary Stampede is changing the format, increasing its payouts and how competitors qualify...Paying attention But today, I wasn't able to concentrate on much of anything. Not with her on my mind. You'd have to see her to know why my thoughts ran like a stampede of steers through five holes in a fenceline. She was as pretty a cowgirl as my eyes ever had the pleasure to witness and, best of all, she liked cowboys. More important, she liked this cowboy, at least enough to say "yes" when my bumbling mouth stuttered a request for a date to the Stock Show. Now all she had to do was arrive and I'd be the happiest man holding up a hat this side of the Atlantic. It was a week ago I asked her, stumbling over the words, and I'd been a nervous wreck since...
MAD COW NEWS

DNA Tests Verfiy U.S. Mad Cow From Canada

Genetic testing confirms that the cow diagnosed with the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was born in Canada, agriculture officials said Tuesday.

The test results will allow investigators to intensify their search for the source of infection, most likely from contaminated feed, in Alberta, where the Holstein was born in 1997.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced the mad cow diagnosis on Dec. 23, the first time the disease has been found in the United States since its discovery in Great Britain in the mid-1980s.

The DNA tests on the cow, on one of its offspring and on the semen from the cow's sire, as well as records that show the cow came from a dairy farm in Alberta, make "us confident in the accuracy of this traceback," said Dr. Ron DeHaven, the Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian.

Brian Evans, a Canadian agriculture official, said independent testing from a Canadian lab agreed.

Canadian officials had announced last May that a cow in Alberta had been diagnosed with the disease.

While no links have been found between the two cases, investigators now will focus on looking for common sources of feed, Evans said.

He added, "We have not got sufficient evidence to make any feed link between the two farms."...

USDA technical briefing and Webcast On BSE with Canadian and U.S. Officials including Dr. Ron DeHaven, Chief Veterinary Officer, USDA and Dr. Brian Evans, Chief Veterinary Officer, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, January 6, 2004

MR. CURLETT: Hello. I'd like to welcome everybody to today's BSE situation update. I apologize for the late start today. Today we have with us Dr. Brian Evans, the chief veterinary officer for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. And we have Dr. Ron DeHaven, the chief veterinary officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They will both make statements today, and then we will take some questions. We ask that you limit your questions to one, as we have a lot of people on the line, and that you state your name and affiliation prior to asking your question. And with that, I will turn it over to Dr. DeHaven. Thank you.

DR. DEHAVEN: Ed, thank you very much, and thanks to all of you for joining us, particularly on such short notice.

Today we are updating on recent events that have occurred since the briefing that we held yesterday by phone. We now have DNA evidence that allows us to verify with a high degree of certainty that the BSE positive cow found in the state of Washington originated from a dairy farm in Alberta, Canada. This DNA evidence is based on a comparison of DNA from the brain of the positive cow with the DNA from the semen of her sire, as determined by records on the farm in Alberta.

Additional DNA test results involved the yearling heifer calf on the index farm, which was born from this positive cow. Breeding records on that calf confirm that she was born from the positive cow, bearing the same tag number found on the positive cow at slaughter, which is also the same tag number found on the record on the dairy farm in Alberta, Canada.

This new DNA information, coupled with the documentation that we have obtained from our colleagues in Canada, from the owner of the dairy farm in Mabton, Washington, and through import records makes us confident in the accuracy of this trace-back.

Clearly other elements of the investigation will continue, and will continue on both sides of the border, and may provide additional information.

I'd like to point out that from the very beginning of this investigation the cooperative efforts on both sides of the border have been tremendous. Indeed, we are sharing colleagues, with Canadian personnel actively involved in our epidemiological investigation in the United States, as well as their U.S. counterparts actively involved in the investigation and activities on the Canadian side of the border.

So I want to thank our Canadian colleagues for their professionalism, for their thoroughness, and for their assistance in this investigation.

And now I'd like to pass the microphone to my friend and colleague, Dr. Brian Evans, the chief veterinary officer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Brian?

DR. EVANS: Thanks very much, Ron. As Dr. DeHaven has clearly indicated in his opening address, the DNA results conducted in Canada, and being reported today as well, fully complement and reflect those returned from the U.S. laboratory.

As indicated as well, in reaching the determination being announced today, it is very important that we all recognize the fact that the DNA results themselves are but one step in a broader fabric of elements that are being fully considered as we continue to pursue all of the avenues of the investigation.

The cooperation at the field level and at the laboratory level continues to be exemplary from our perspective, and it reflects the commitment that we both share to protecting public animal health and food safety in the broader North American context.

The finding today is but one step, as Ron has indicated, down a road, which we will continue to pursue in parallel on the Canadian and U.S. sides. The important next steps that we will collaborate on, as he has indicated -- we will look at areas like how this animal has become infected, and therefore feed investigations will be intimate to that determination.

Equally, joint decisions relative to ongoing tracing of associated animals and appropriate depopulation and testing strategies, will be a second key component of the investigation, which we will continue to work through.

And finally, at the end of the day, as we try to bring conclusion to all the avenues of the investigation, we are equally committed to continue to work together in any other manner that would be dictated by the findings of the investigation, so that again other factors are fully taken into account to ensure that there is no outstanding issue, no rock unturned, to ensure at the end of the day, no matter who assesses the integrity of the investigation, that it will withstand any scrutiny brought to bear, and will reflect collectively again our interests to continue to protect public and animal health.

DR. DEHAVEN: With that, operator, I think we could go to questions. Operator, if you could, we would like to have a short question-and-answer period, please...

Consumers group wants carcass testing to stop spread of mad cow Consumers Union says the government's proposals to stop the spread of mad cow disease are inadequate. Senior research associate Dr. Michael Hansen says one of the most effective ways to stop mad cow is to test every carcass for traces of the disease. Hansen says Europe and Japan have been doing this for some time and have prevented diseased animals from getting into the food chain...Rabbis say kosher beef may be safer against mad cow disease Orthodox Jewish rabbis say kosher regulations on beef already include precautions that the government is using to guard against mad cow disease. One rabbi says kosher slaughtering bans animals that cannot stand on their own and forbids stunning cattle with air injections before slaughter -- a technique that might dislocate brain tissue, which is a carrier of mad cow disease. He says the kosher practice of removing cattle's sciatic nerves may also help protect against mad cow disease... Fear, frustration, pessimism greet DNA mad cow confirmation in Alberta It's just as well that Alberta rancher Ron Beniuk was sitting down when he heard Tuesday the DNA confirmation that an American cow diagnosed with mad cow disease originated in Alberta. "I'm sitting down, 'cause I can't get no lower," said Beniuk, who has 175 cows near Lac La Biche north of Edmonton. Beniuk fears that confirmation will only lead to more Alberta-raised cows being found with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. "There are cows that were fed the same feed and everything that are still in the system," he said. "When they get butchered they're going to find some more BSE. That cow wasn't fed that bone meal by herself." The fear and the uncertainty is getting to him...Enzyme Fully Degrades Mad Cow Disease Prion Research by North Carolina State University scientists, in conjunction with scientists from the Netherlands and BioResource International, an NC State spin-off biotechnology company, has shown that, under proper conditions, an enzyme can fully degrade the prion - or protein particle - believed to be responsible for mad cow disease and other related animal and human diseases. These transmissible prions - believed to be the cause of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the technical name for mad cow disease, as well as the human and sheep versions, called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and scrapie, respectively - are highly resistant to degradation, says Dr. Jason Shih, professor of biotechnology and poultry science at NC State. But the new research, which tested the effects of a bacterial enzyme keratinase on brain tissues from cows with BSE and sheep with scrapie, showed that, when the tissue was pretreated and in the presence of a detergent, the enzyme fully degraded the prion, rendering it undetectable...Deaths rise in Britain from variant of mad cow The number of people in Britain who died from a brain disease related to mad cow increased in 2003 for the first time in four years, the Health Department has announced. Eighteen people died in 2003 from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the agency said Monday, up from 17 in 2002. The disease, known as vCJD, is thought to stem from eating infected beef and attacks the human brain in much the same way as mad cow attacks the bovine brain. To date, 139 people in Britain have died from "definite or probable" cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the agency said, and another six are still living with it. Statistically, the increase could be just "random noise," said Dr. Simon Cousens, who tracks the disease at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Still, there is no uniform opinion on whether death from exposure to mad cow disease is falling in Britain, Cousens said...Governor proclaims 'American Beef Week' Gov. Kathleen Sebelius had a suggestion Monday for dinner: "Go buy a burger. Eat a steak." Sebelius' lighthearted message was a serious suggestion that consumers continue to eat beef despite the discovery last month of a cow infected with mad cow disease in Washington state. The governor made the remark as she signed a proclamation marking "American Beef Week." Sebelius said governors of Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas all signed similar proclamations to reassure consumers the nation's beef supply remains safe. Those states are among 10 that are responsible for about 75 percent of the beef market in the United States, Sebelius said. "We all recognize that it's not only significant for our economies, but it's a key part of the diet of Americans," she said. "Hopefully, Kansas and American consumers will continue to buy and eat beef."...Cattle Prices Sink, Japan to Retain Ban Cattle prices fell sharply in Chicago on Tuesday after officials with top importer Japan said they will keep their ban on U.S. beef imports, two weeks after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. On Tuesday, live cattle for February delivery at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed down 1.40 cents a pound at 73.900 cents. That benchmark contract had closed at 90.675 cents on Dec. 23, before the mad cow discovery was announced...Mexican officials to visit U.S. for mad cow talks Mexican officials will visit Washington next week to see what steps the United States is taking to prevent the spread of mad cow disease following the identification of one case last month, officials said on Tuesday. "We extended an invitation to a technical team from the Mexican agriculture ministry to visit the United States, they accepted our invitation and they will be arriving in Washington on Monday," J.B. Penn, an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told reporters in Mexico City. U.S. agriculture officials pushed Mexico, a major consumer of meat from its northern neighbor, to lift the ban on beef imports at talks in the Mexican capital on Tuesday...Experts Seek Analysis of Human Mad Cow Scientists have yet to document a single U.S. case of someone getting the human version of mad cow disease from contaminated beef. Then again, they might not be looking hard enough. Some experts say scientists should be looking more closely at cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - a brain-destroying disorder that kills hundreds of Americans each year - to see whether some of these deaths were, in fact, caused by beef from cattle infected with mad cow disease. "Could there be one (missed) case in there? Maybe," said Lawrence Schonberger, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist who has studied CJD for more than a decade. "In this game, we never say something's impossible."...Amending the US beef business Americans today are learning far more than they ever wanted to know about the process of turning cows into thousands of products that even a hard-core vegan would have trouble avoiding - cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fire-extinguisher foam, lubricants, the glue that holds plywood together. Not to mention the steaks, roasts, hamburger, and other meat items that human carnivores regularly devour. The process is necessarily violent and mechanical, involving slicing, grinding, and high-pressure blasting and compression. It's much safer than it was years ago - both for slaughterhouse and meat- processing workers, as well as for consumers. But it has also run the risk of mixing the potentially disease-causing parts of the cow (brain, spinal cord, and parts of the intestine) into the muscle meat and other food products - including sausage - that many Americans eat every day. Meat from the infected Holstein was mixed in with 20,000 pounds from other cows before being shipped to market. Some doctors now suspect that people diagnosed with Alzheimer's may in fact have the human version of the neurological disease, which incubates years before appearing in the form of mental and physical degeneration. No one knows for sure if there is any possible link to animals with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE (the scientific name for mad-cow disease), however. That's because until now the inspection system for cattle headed for the slaughterhouse has been relatively minimal...Aussie Beef Prices Soar Fears of an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States have sent the price of wholesale Australian beef in Japan surging by as much as 40%, according to a report Tuesday. The price of benchmark frozen Australian beef has jumped to Y950 yen a kilogram in Tokyo -- up Y270 yen (US$2.54), or 40 percent, since Dec. 23 -- just before the government slapped an import ban on U.S. beef, the business daily Nikkei Shimbun reported. According to figures from the Japan Meat Trading Center, wholesale U.S. beef prices have plummeted, while the prices of Australian cuts have steadily increased since the Dec. 24 ban, which was imposed after the discovery of the first American case of mad cow disease...Mexico to Weigh Importing Some U.S. Beef Mexico, one of the biggest markets for American beef, will consider allowing imports of some cuts of meat as exceptions to a ban imposed after the United States' first case of mad cow disease was discovered, officials said Tuesday. But Agriculture Secretary Javier Usabiaga said a decision to make those exceptions could take months and would only occur after Mexico was satisfied that U.S. controls were adequate. Mexico also wants to send its own experts to the United States to examine the controls. Cuba also is negotiating new purchases of American cattle, confident that concerns over mad cow disease will be quickly allayed and the animals shipped will be healthy, said Pedro Alvarez, head of Cuba's food import company. Cuba earlier considered postponing some purchases of American cattle because of mad cow concerns...

Monday, January 05, 2004

NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service decision on grasslands expected soon The U.S. Forest Service is expected to issue a decision soon regarding 16 appeals against its Northern Great Plains Management Plans Revision, a document involving the management of national grasslands in Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana. The plan revision was finalized in July 2002, capping seven years of development. Five of the appeals involve grazing and mineral development in northeast Wyoming's Thunder Basin National Grassland... Contractor quits horse roundup in Carson National Forest A contractor hired to round up wild horses in the Carson National Forest has thrown in the towel. New Mexico Horse Project director Carlos LoPopolo failed to capture a single horse in the Jarita Mesa Wild Horse Territory. He blames stormy weather and the flu, which struck many of his crewmembers and halted work for 13 days. A U.S. Forest Service contract gave LoPopolo's group 30 days to round up the horses, beginning December First...Conservation group buys Sage Creek land The Conservation Fund has purchased 160 acres of land along Sage Creek in the Pryor Mountains, with plans to close the deal on an adjoining 160 acre tract in March. The purchase is part of a plan to buy six 160-acre tracts belonging to the Schwend families. The Conservation Fund will then sell the land to the Custer National Forest. Money for the purchase came from a $750,000 appropriation in the Interior budget. Gates Watson, the Montana representative of the nonprofit Conservation Fund, said his group is in the process of drawing up plans to request money from the 2005 budget for the four other tracts...Alaska Wildlife Experts Use Floating Lab In service for 16 years, the Tiglax has emerged as a major player in managing the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, which extends from the state's southeastern arm to the Aleutian Islands to the Arctic Slope. It's a floating science center with access to many of the 2,500 islands, islets and headlands that make up the 3.5 million-acre refuge. Researchers from federal agencies, universities and other institutions use the 120-foot vessel for hundreds of projects, keeping track of the health and welfare of the Far North's abundant marine life. Most of the research is done along the Aleutians and Gulf of Alaska during the warmer months, when lush grasses sprout waist-high and the region comes alive with millions of returning seabirds, whales, otters and sea lions...Some say mouse is hurting business A study suggesting that Preble's meadow jumping mouse may not need protection under the Endangered Species Act comes too late for some developers and landowners. Developer Al Alba said his company, Omnivest Realty, lost more than $1 million as a result of mouse habitat protection that caused an 18-month delay on a Colorado site where he plans to build affordable housing. A recent Denver Museum of Nature and Science study called the mouse's protected status into question, suggesting it's not a genetically distinct subspecies worthy of protection under the Endangered Species Act. "I didn't know whether to cheer or cry when I heard about the museum study," Alba said. "In any case, it came too late to have any bearing on our project. We just had to bite the bullet, take the loss and move on." The study was released on the same day that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that there was insufficient evidence to support three separate petitions to remove the mouse's protected status...Supporters champion stronger ESA Supporters of the Endangered Species Act say the law has been the difference between existence and extinction of many plants and animals, but that more needs to be done to ensure permanent recovery of imperiled species. Calls for increased commitment to the act comes on its 30th anniversary --- celebrated Dec. 28 --- as the Bush administration is considering moves to make significant changes to the law... Costs of ESA provoke ranchers' wrath Livestock producers in Wyoming say the Endangered Species Act has appropriately helped a couple of species survive, but for the most part, they feel, the act is a land use tool that hurts ranchers. Asked to look back on the 30-year history of the Endangered Species Act, Wyoming Stock Growers Association executive vice-president Jim Magagna said the ESA is not working the way it was intended. The act is having huge, negative impacts on the state's livestock producers, he said... Editorial: Common enemies Utah ranchers today are fearing that a decision expected early this week from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will move a once-common bird called the greater sage grouse toward the protections of the Endangered Species Act. If the government does start the process toward protecting the ground-dwelling bird, whose numbers have dropped dramatically over the last 20 years, ranchers fear their ability to graze their herds on public lands will be subjected to more restrictions. But public lands are in need of more restrictions, and would be even if there were no such beast as the greater sage grouse. Ranching throughout the West, already heavily subsidized with cheap grazing permits, is threatened by basically the same factors that have pushed the grouse and its cousins to the brink of extinction -- drought, urban sprawl and overly aggressive oil and gas exploration being the most prominent...Feds delay new elementary school A possible threat to the habitat of two endangered species means that some students may be starting school in a portable classroom rather than a brand-new campus this fall, a school official said Monday. Lake Elsinore Unified School District has put on hold its plans for building the new Ronald Reagan Elementary School off Baxter Road while it works out with federal agencies the potential impacts of the project on the species and takes appropriate action to protect their habitat, district officials said Monday. In July, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified the 13-acre parcel as a possible habitat area for the Quino checkerspot butterfly and the coastal California gnatcatcher, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service official said Monday. Both species are listed by the federal government as being endangered...Appeals Court Favors State Over Minnow New Mexico and other Western states have won another victory over the silvery minnow. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has set aside an earlier decision that allowed the federal government to take water from states or cities to protect an endangered species. State Attorney General Patricia Madrid said the court's ruling applies not just to the silvery minnow, but also to all similar cases. "I think it's a victory for state's rights to say the federal government cannot tell New Mexico how to use its precious and scarce water resources," Madrid said...Snowmobile case surfaces in new court In the latest twist over snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park, a federal judge in Wyoming has agreed to revive a court case that challenged a ban on the machines that was issued near the end of the Clinton administration. U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer said on Dec. 31 that he would reopen the case but did not set a schedule for when it would proceed. Attorneys on both sides of the snowmobile fight were notified of the decision Monday. The decision could mean that the dispute over snowmobiles moves into two federal courts...Coalbed methane: The lawsuits As drilling for coalbed methane slowly picks up in southeastern Montana, legal battles over development of the natural gas continue to pit conservationists, American Indians and landowners against government agencies and developers. At latest count, there are four cases pending in U.S. District Court in Billings, another case from the district on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and one suit pending in Montana District Court. Most of the lawsuits challenge two environmental studies approved earlier this year by Montana and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Montana and Wyoming. Conservation groups, landowners and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe all sued the BLM and U.S. Department of Interior shortly after BLM approved plans in Montana and Wyoming for coalbed methane development. The suits allege the environmental analyses were inadequate and violated federal laws...Conservationists, tribes urge caution in coalbed methane development Conservation groups in 2003 won key rulings on issues of tapping coalbed methane in Montana, and they aren't relaxing their efforts. The Northern Plains Resource Council, a Billings-based non-profit group representing conservationists and family agriculture, has filed at least six lawsuits over coalbed methane. Five are pending and a sixth was settled in NPRC's favor. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe has joined one of the suits against the Bureau of Land Management, saying it fears development plans threaten tribal ways of life. Developers have accused the conservation group of being obstructionist and anti-industry. The group says it only aims to ensure that coalbed methane development doesn't deplete or degrade water resources, or drive farmers and ranchers out of business...Ready, set, Montana takes measured approach to coalbed exploration The year 2003 was a turning point for coalbed methane development in Montana. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and state of Montana completed a long-awaited environmental study that will guide development of an estimated 26,000 wells in the state in the next 20 years. In March, the Montana Board of Environmental Review adopted numeric water quality standards for salts in groundwater discharged by coalbed methane wells. The standards apply to the Powder, Little Powder and Tongue rivers and Rosebud Creek in southeastern Montana. The numeric standards are to protect the rivers' water quality while allowing developers to discharge some of the huge quantities of groundwater that are brought to the surface to release the natural gas. The wrangling over the numeric standards between landowners, who worried about protecting their soils and crops, and developers, who were concerned that too stringent standards could stymie methane production, ended with standards that both sides said they could live with...Editorial: A cow eating grass You remember the story of the clever art student, the one who framed a blank canvass and titled it "Cow Eating Grass." Where was the grass? The cow ate it all. Where was the cow? Why would she stick around if there was no grass? At the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, that's not a joke. It's a mission statement. In another of those carefully timed announcements (Friday afternoon, when all the bigfoot Washington reporters are off to their weekend houses in Virginia), the BLM released an analysis of its own proposed new rules for grazing rights on the millions of acres it supposedly holds in the name of all of the American people. The agency's own analysis declares that the agency's proposed rules are just wonderful, except for "some short-term adverse effects" that will result from an approach that is even more see-no-evil than the existing one...Helping Mother Nature: Nonprofit group works to protect desert tortoises from too much -- and too little -- human interaction Betty Burge of Las Vegas can't think of an animal more endearing than the desert tortoise. "There's hardly an animal that you can walk up to in the wild, that's this big that's nonthreatening. Even children like them," says Burge, 71, who has largely devoted the past 31 years to studying and protecting the gentle reptile. Aside from inexorable loss of habitat as city replaces desert, the tortoise's placid approachability also places it at risk, notes Burge, who helped found the nonprofit Tortoise Group. Since 1982 it has been advising people on the proper care, feeding and habitat for pet tortoises...Big chill triggers jump in U.S. natural gas U.S. natural gas prices made big gains Monday on the first trading day of the year, propelled by cold weather and persistent market concerns about the nation's ability to meet demand as its gas supplies lag. A 10-percent jump in U.S. gas futures prices Monday fits a volatile pattern seen in recent months that most energy analysts blame on the market's inability to find equilibrium...Wyden deftly walks political line Sen. Ron Wyden helped Republicans turn controversial legislation regarding public lands and Medicare drug benefits into law in 2003. But the Portland Democrat appears to be riding out the anger from some of his urban, liberal supporters -- people who opposed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act as a backdoor effort to boost logging on public lands and the Medicare prescription drug bill as the first step toward privatizing the federal program. Oregon political experts say that Wyden's actions reflect the savvy calculations of a man skilled in navigating the state's political waters...Smith branches out by writing text for Fielder's forest book Colorado landscape photographer John Fielder and Glenwood Springs resident Steve Smith have paddled rivers and promoted environmental protection together. Now they have teamed up on Fielder's latest book, released late in 2003. Smith, a consultant to environmental organizations, has penned a 10,000-word essay accompanying the photos in "Seeing Colorado's Forests for the Trees." Smith's text covers the gamut: the different types of trees found at different elevations in Colorado; the history of man's use and enjoyment of forests; the impacts of fires, and infestations of insects and weeds; and the conservation ethic that has arisen side by side with logging, road development and other human incursions into the backcountry... Bush Makes Time for 'Hook and Bullet' Set The National Rifle Assn. was represented at the White House meeting; so were Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Altogether, President Bush spent more than an hour with the leaders of some 20 hunting and fishing groups in the room named for Theodore Roosevelt, the first conservationist president. The unusually lengthy meeting -- followed by a major decision in its favor -- shows the "hook and bullet" crowd, as the anglers and hunters call themselves, to be a powerful new force on environmental issues in Washington. Traditional environmental groups, which have been hostile to the president from the start, have had a hard time catching the administration's ear. The hunters and anglers are more effective with the Bush administration, some of their leaders said, because they represent millions of Americans, many of whom vote Republican, and because they reject the confrontational strategy of the environmental movement...3 Top Enforcement Officials Say They Will Leave E.P.A. Three top enforcement officials at the Environmental Protection Agency have resigned or retired in the last two weeks, including two lawyers who were architects of the agency's litigation strategy against coal-burning power plants. The timing of the departures and comments by at least one of the officials who is leaving suggest that some have left out of frustration with the Bush administration's policy toward enforcement of the Clean Air Act. "The rug was pulled out from under us," said Rich Biondi, who is retiring as associate director of the air enforcement division of the agency. "You look around and say, `What contribution can I continue to make here?' and it was limited." Cynthia Bergman, a spokeswoman for the agency, said of the departures, "This is an office of several hundred employees -- and to have one political appointee and two career employees leave is not indicative of unrest or departmentwide frustration."...Column: Politics in the lab hits US scientific integrity In theory, science is supposed to be cold, analytical, dispassionate - and studiously apolitical. But in the real world of competing demands for federal research dollars, savvy scientists of all disciplines - from cognitive psychologists running rats through mazes to nuclear physicists operating massive particle accelerators - recognize that a certain amount of political meddling in their research by policymakers in the executive branch and Congress is to be expected. However, there are limits - limits the Bush administration has frequently disregarded by imposing stringent political controls on a broad variety of federal scientific programs and activities. This has raised acute concern in the American scientific community that the administration's drive to stamp its conservative values on science isn't just affecting policy decisions, but undermining the integrity of the US research infrastructure itself...Ozone standards pose health risk, scientists report The air Americans breathe contains more ozone from pollution than the Environmental Protection Agency estimates, Harvard scientists report. Ozone can cause pain, breathing difficulties, and coughing. It can damage the lungs, EPA warns on its Web site, and it can also make one susceptible to respiratory infections. Those active outdoors are particularly at risk for exposure, the agency says. To calculate air quality standards for ozone, EPA distinguishes between the background or "natural" levels of ozone in the air and that caused by pollution in North America. "Our results actually indicate that EPA is overestimating the background level, and as a result is underestimating the health risk associated with ozone pollution," atmospheric chemist Arlene Fiore says. This assumption skews the air quality standards that EPA sets, making them weaker than they could be, Fiore and co-authors report in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, published by the American Geophysical Union...Pollution database lists 300 spills over 5 years On Nov. 11, 1998, an equipment malfunction caused the Montana Sulphur and Chemical Co. plant in Billings to release nearly 14 tons of sulfur dioxide into the air during a 2 1/2-hour period. Near Cut Bank on March 10, 2002, vandals turned loose railroad cars that derailed into a building containing batteries and caused abouts six gallons of acid to leak into the ground. Those were two of more than 300 suspected or actual unauthorized spills, discharges and releases of pollution in Montana reported over the past five years to a national clearinghouse maintained by the federal government. An Associated Press review of the National Response Center's database shows a wide variety in the types of spills and releases reported - from seemingly insignificant releases of hair spray to tens of thousands of gallons of ethanol. In about six of every 10 incidents, the chemical or substance reached a body of water, usually a nearby river or stream, the analysis found...Water Sentinels Go 'Knee-Deep' Kruzen is one of eight regional staffers in the Water Sentinels program. Now in its second year, the program educates the public about local water-quality problems and the lack of environmental law enforcement. Sierra Club chapters recruit, train, and equip teams of volunteers and field them to threatened waterways, where they take regular water samples, compile evidence, and build momentum for state-level enforcement actions focused on specific watersheds...New dam rivaling Grand Coulee suddenly not so unthinkable Workers in coveralls are drilling through the basalt beneath this empty, wind-torn basin to see what it would take to erect a mighty new dam -- a colossal structure as tall as the Space Needle and as wide as the Grand Coulee. It's an odd backward lunge to early-day Northwest efforts to corral nature through monumental feats of engineering. The enormous project pushed by drought-weary Eastern Washington farmers calls for siphoning millions of gallons from the Columbia River and piping it into a downward-sloping valley between Yakima and the Tri-Cities...'Halt water deals', Senator calls on General Land Office to halt water deal negotiations Senator Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, asked the Commissioner of the General Land Office to postpone further negotiations with private companies on prospective water deals until legislators can examine the proposals. Fraser, in a letter to GLO Commissioner Jerry Patterson, said he was troubled by recent newspaper accounts of potential water deals being negotiated by the state agency. "In reading about these proposed ventures, I am also surprised at the pace of the negotiations, especially given that the Texas Legislature has not been afforded the opportunity to review the proposals in detail," Fraser wrote. Fraser noted that the Legislature in 1997 enacted major water policy legislation, Senate Bill 1, which created 16 regional water planning districts throughout the state to ensure local control of water planning decisions...Editorial: Waterway words Along some of its course, the river is not much Rio and even less Grande, but its water brings life to fields and cities -- and has been very much in dispute for many years. It is refreshing, then, to see a proposal that would bring the governors of New Mexico, Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas together to draft a water agreement. Water from the Rio Grande has been a source of conflict between Mexico and Texas for generations. Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, which also has an interest in the river, doesn't think the U.S. and Mexican governments are paying enough attention...Deer dispute is now federal case Just outside the window of Hollywood Park's town hall, a deer herd was seen Monday afternoon quietly strolling through a hilly yard next door. The four were naturally unaware that a longtime explosive debate about managing their abundant population in this North Side town had just moved hours earlier from nearby town hall to a federal courthouse. Town residents and members of the Hollywood Park Humane Society joined together to file a lawsuit claiming that a much-debated 2002 municipal ordinance is both inhumane to the deer, and unconstitutional to homeowners who should be able to use their land as they want. Under the ordinance, anyone caught feeding deer is subject to a $500 fine, even if the feeding is done on private property. About two dozen citations have been handed out since its December 2002 inception, officials said...Gunfire punctuates Montana's bar culture After he shot his dog but before he murdered the jukebox, Gregory Michael Pepin explained to the bartender that he would dearly love to shoot himself. He just didn't have the nerve. What he did have, as he sat at the bar, was a snootful of tequila and a semiautomatic rifle with 30 bullets in the clip. The bartender, his hands trembling, poured Pepin a drink and tried to talk of happy days. It was going rather well, Roger Malmquist, the bartender, remembers thinking, when the jukebox suddenly started up. As the bartender tells the story, Pepin whirled on his barstool and fired four rounds into the jukebox. The music stopped. Moments later, the phone rang behind the bar. Pepin silenced it with five more bullets. Then the jukebox, wounded but not yet dead, erupted with another song. Pepin whirled again, fired two more rounds and finished it off. The bartender, trembling still, poured Pepin another drink...In Dewey, Mont., blame it on the jukebox "Almost all of these bars had a shooting in them," said Louie Rivenes, bartender for 20 years at the H Bar J. And here in Dewey last month, there was Gregory Pepin, his semiautomatic rifle and the bullet-riddled jukebox. "I talked him out of shooting the five televisions, the mirrored back-bar, the kegs, the windows and the doors," Malmquist said. "I reminded him of how he had changed that flat tire for the gal and how I tabbed him, and he started to calm down." Then, that jukebox played, the phone rang and all hell broke loose. Malmquist said he watched in fear and disbelief as Pepin emptied his 30-round clip...