NEWS ROUNDUP

Montana Pollution Rules Draw Federal Objections Federal energy officials are opposing new rules by Montana to force companies that extract methane gas from underground coal beds to clean up the water pollution caused by drilling operations, even as state officials cite an unreleased 2003 federal report that says cleanup costs are relatively inexpensive. The Denver office of the Environmental Protection Agency produced the report but never published it, saying it related to a proposed drilling application that was dropped. A Montana consulting firm obtained a copy of the EPA report, however, and handed it over to Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D). Last month, Montana's Board of Environmental Review, citing the EPA paper and other economic studies, voted to force coalbed methane companies to leave the state's streams as clean as they were before drilling started, although the companies do not have to clean up existing pollution. "We want to develop energy in Montana, but we want to do it right," Schweitzer said in an interview. "Here's the bottom line with the federal government: They're usually not helpful, and they weren't this time, either." The Energy Department and the Wyoming congressional delegation are backing companies that are trying to block Montana's new rules, on the grounds that they could hamper energy development. The department submitted analyses by two of its national laboratories concluding that the state's regulations were "unnecessarily stringent" and "inconsistent."....
Cities move to defend against railroad attacks Boston officials envision keeping rail cars carrying hazardous chemicals at least 10 miles away unless the city is their destination. A plan in Chicago would prohibit such tanker cars in its downtown Loop. In Cleveland, city officials are considering banning them near Lake Erie, water treatment plants, and crowded neighborhoods. Transport of these chemicals presents one of the knottiest public policy problems in the effort to protect the nation's cities from terrorist attack. Federal law requires railroads to carry such chemicals, which are used in manufacturing, water-purification systems, and wastewater-treatment plants. But with no federal regulations for securing the transport of these chemicals, The District of Columbia has enacted rules of its own and at least five other cities are considering them. These moves have drawn a sharp rebuke from industry and federal officials, who say such piecemeal efforts are misguided. Since 9/11, they point out, railroads have fortified rail yards and worked with the chemical industry to conceal where and when these tanker cars pass near or through cities. The threat looms large. Government studies suggest that the explosion of one tanker car carrying, say, chlorine would cause up to 100,000 deaths in a densely populated area. So Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago have proposed ordinances requiring that such deadly chemicals be rerouted around them unless they're destined for the cities themselves. The fact that the rail industry, with federal support, has sued the District of Columbia over its law has not deterred them....
Bush's Interior Nominee: Comfort in Consensus Eagle Island State Park here has horse-riding trails, picnic tables and a water slide. Under a recent compromise between the Idaho Legislature and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, President Bush's nominee to oversee the nation's public lands as secretary of the interior, the park may one day get its own gravel mine, too. Aides to Mr. Kempthorne defend gravel mining at Eagle Island, outside Boise, as a way to raise money for park improvements without causing undue environmental harm. But others see it as a lobbed softball that his critics in the United States Senate will smack toward the fences at his confirmation hearing, raising questions about his judgment and environmental priorities. The hearing may begin as early as next month. Is it your position, Governor — pause, clear throat, sip from water glass — that mining inside America's parks is good public policy? "It's going to be like stepping on a rake," said Justin Hayes, program director for the Idaho Conservation League, an environmental advocacy group concerned about the mining plan. Governor Kempthorne, a second-term Republican, declined to be interviewed. But an analysis of his positions and votes over a 20-year public career in Idaho, and interviews with people who have worked with him, suggest that the plan, which he accepted as a provision of a parks improvement bill approved this week by the overwhelmingly Republican Legislature, reveals much about him....
Buried treasure in Texas From atop a 40-foot-high walkway on a towering natural gas rig, Doug Hampton scans the grassy scrubland that has served ranchers since the 19th century. He doesn't see much evidence of that history now -- no cattle, horses or cowboys. Instead, out on the horizon, he sees the future of this vast expanse north of Fort Worth. "Just look out there. See?" he said, pointing to another solitary steel structure. "There's a rig over there, another out there and another way out there." Mr. Hampton is a project manager for Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp., one of several companies tapping into the nation's fastest-growing natural gas field -- the Barnett Shale. The reservoir is vital to a tight U.S. supply market, has become a template for other fields nationwide, and is turning oil and gas into this region's most important industry. The changing landscape is making wells on high schools and private property a familiar sight. Even Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is reviewing its options with 12 companies to lease land for drilling....
Couple still waiting for government's promised Clark Fork River cleanup work some 20 years later Some 20 years ago, Kathy Hadley was fuming. She and her husband Wayne had already spent years writing letters, going to meetings, doing whatever they could to try and convince government officials they'd forgotten an important piece of the puzzle when they designated areas around Butte and the Milltown Reservoir as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup sites. “I'd show them the map and point to that thin little blue line that connected Butte with Milltown,” Hadley said. “I told them they'd forgotten the Clark Fork River.” So finally, she called her sister and lined up a trip to Washington, D.C. Before they boarded the homeward-bound airplane, the upper Clark Fork had become part of the largest Superfund site in the country. Two decades later and the Hadleys are still waiting for the promised cleanup of the upper 120 river miles of the Clark Fork River. The Environmental Protection Agency signed a Record of Decision outlining the cleanup 2 1/2 years ago. But work won't start until a consent decree is also signed, outlining who will pay for what. No one knows for sure when that will be completed, although there are rumblings that it's getting close. The Hadleys aren't going to hold their breath....
Park's wolf idea causes worries With an elk population nearly double what biologists say it should be, Rocky Mountain National Park officials are looking for ways to manage the overgrown population. Officials at the park, which straddles the Continental Divide in Larimer and Grand counties, are considering a variety of options to cut back on elk. Re-introducing gray wolves is one of the options being considered. But the prospect of re-introducing the carnivores, which were eradicated from Colorado more than 60 years ago, has raised concerns from Colorado ranchers, including those in Moffat County. Les Hampton, a former Moffat County commissioner working with the Colorado Division of Wildlife on wolf issues, said this week that he is worried about the U.S. Park Service's plans. Hampton told the Moffat County commissioners Tuesday that re-introducing wolves in Rocky Mountain National Park could lead to wolves being re-introduced at other national parks, including Dinosaur National Monument. "I don't like what's going on," Hampton said....
Environmentalists appeal forest grazing ruling An environmental group continues to seek an end to grazing in Medicine Bow National Forest between Cheyenne and Laramie, appealing its federal court case. The Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance claims that cattle have been causing unacceptably high levels of fecal coliform bacteria in creeks in the forest's Pole Mountain section. The group says that violates the Clean Water Act. In January, the U.S. District Court in Denver ruled against the alliance and another plaintiff, the Center for Native Ecosystems, saying they needed to show not only a Clean Water Act violation, but lack of good faith in implementing best management practices. "We feel the district court was wrong," alliance spokesman Jeremy Nichols said. Ranchers who graze cattle and sheep in the forest, represented by Mark Eisele, president of the Pole Mountain Cattlemen's Association, have said they operate legally and have taken many measures to reduce the effect cattle have on streams. Such measures include pumping water out of streams and wetlands to water tanks to help keep cattle and their droppings away from those streams and wetlands....
Utah lawmakers revive lands-for-schools issue A recent finding by the U.S. Census Bureau that Utah remains last in the nation in the amount of money it spends per school child is reviving interest in a plan to make the federal government turn over some of the vast public lands it holds to pay for schools. Versions of the idea have been around for years, and they mostly have gone nowhere. But in an election year in which school funding remains a big issue, lawmakers' interest is picking up again. This past week, Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced legislation first championed by fellow Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop. And Bishop recently plugged it before what he said was a receptive audience at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. "I'm encouraged," Bishop said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I think there is some traction with the idea." The bill would require the Interior Department and Forest Service to give 5 percent of public land to Western states. States would hold the land in trust to be sold or leased with the proceeds going to public schools. The idea is based on the argument that Utah and 12 other Western states lose out on sales tax because of their vast acres of public land. The federal government owns on average just over half the land in those states, compared to about 4 percent in the rest of the country. Western lawmakers argue that Westerners put a larger share of their personal incomes toward state and local taxes as a result....
Suit over motorized closures is settled Four environmental and recreation groups have reached a settlement with the U.S. Forest Service over a lawsuit that was filed last December. The settlement restores the motorized closures made in the March 2003 Revised Forest Plan for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The suit - filed by Nordic United, Bridgerland Audubon Society, Winter Wildlands and the Bear River Watershed Council - was sparked by a Forest Service decision made last July that cut in half a 9,000-acre area set aside for nonmotorized recreation in the Franklin Basin area of Logan Canyon. Under the terms of the settlement, the area will be restored to the acreage established in the 2003 Forest Plan. "This settlement agreement illustrates the willingness of skiers and conservation organizations to work with the Forest Service to resolve winter recreation conflicts in the Bear River Range," Wally MacFarlane, president of Nordic United, said in a statement....
Trail Controversy: Shawnee plan leaves many equestrian spots open It's the start of tourism season in Southern Illinois, and campground owner Tom Luchies has plenty of empty sites. In fact, all of the campsites at 34 Ranch, an equestrian campground in Herod, were open at the beginning of April, one month after the forest administration for the Shawnee National Forest announced its adoption of a trail designation plan. Luchies said campers riding their horses out of his campground into the Shawnee National Forest last year faced too many hassles from hikers and Forest Service personnel for them to feel welcome in the forest. Luchies watched one of his last permanent campers pulling out of his campground one pleasant Wednesday in early April. He said those campers had reserved a site for the full year last year. This year, he said they told him they feel there are less stressful recreational opportunities elsewhere....
Prospects dimming for Senate passage of endangered species bill A bipartisan group of senators trying to craft an Endangered Species Act rewrite has failed to reach consensus, signaling dwindling prospects of Senate action in the wake of House passage of an endangered species bill last year. Although talks continue, the stalemate is welcome news for environmentalists. They viewed the House-passed bill as dangerously extreme and feared that no matter what the Senate produced, the final product could be unacceptable because of the need to combine the two efforts. "If I cried, it's probably crocodile tears," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "It's hard to see, with an extremist piece of legislation like that, how anything acceptable could result." For property rights advocates, though, Senate inaction would be a missed opportunity. The House bill by Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., would require the government to compensate property owners if steps needed to protect species thwart development plans. It also would stop the government from designating "critical habitat" where development is limited....
Corral your inner cowboy Weathered cowboys on horseback swing lassoes skyward roping the first of 400 calves to be branded in traditional ranch fashion. Men and women in dusty Stetsons and worn chaps swoop in, each with a job in the branding process. Short and sassy Nancy Wilson, the 56-year-old matriarch of Wilson Ranches, burns the identifying LE on the bawling calf's side. It's a sight to see for a city dweller, which is just the point at Wilson Ranches Retreat Bed and Breakfast. Phil and Nancy Wilson, owners of the 9,000-acre spread near Fossil in Central Oregon, opened the B&B six years ago, wanting to share their Western life. Granted, it's not a vacation for everyone, particularly those who like the pampered grandeur of swank hotels. The ranch resides a good three hours east of Portland, on sprawling acreage dotted with cows and horses and the occasional coyote. The bunkhouse -- a renovated 1910 Sears Roebuck catalog home -- offers seven comfortable rooms, two with private baths. One of those has a clawfoot tub and lots of Epsom salts for post-riding soaks....
Cattle jam on Daly City street in run-up to rodeo It's something you might see in a dream: 21 adult Texas longhorns weighing up to a ton each, and 85 young steers at 600 pounds each, trotting up Geneva Avenue. That was a real-life responsibility for the chaps-wearin', gun-totin', lasso-throwin' cowhands who guided the herd Thursday morning from the Baylands' former railway yard to the Cow Palace for the 61st Grand National Rodeo. The Daly City institution began Friday and runs through April 15, and plenty of livestock will be on hand for urban cowboys and girls to take a gander at, among other draws. About 17 riders kept tabs on the Thursday procession, which recreated the kind of cattle drive that funneled steers from trains to the rodeo grounds until truck shipping became the norm. "We herd the cars, they herd the cows," said Daly City Police Sgt. Lou Pezzola, 43, who has done traffic control for the cattle drive for the past four years. "The cattle pretty much know the routine better than us."....
Boys with true grit Frederick is a small, bucolic community. The traffic is sparse and the signal lights are treated as more of a suggestion than the rule of law. This is where President Theodore Roosevelt came to hunt in the summer of 1905. It is where Comanche Chief Quanah Parker leased his tribe's pastures to Texas ranchers W.T. Waggoner and Burk Burnett. It is where Jack "Catch 'Em Alive" Abernathy built his reputation for catching wolves live, by driving his fist down their throats. It was a feat that both bewildered and thrilled Roosevelt....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Be careful with that big mustache With the advent of cowboy poetry has come a leap in the wearing of large mustaches not seen since the administration of Chester A. Arthur. And along with its popularity, it has stirred an increased scrutiny in the realm of fashion vs. sanitation that last appeared during the Afro-wearing years. As any Afro-wearer can tell you, if you wanted a job in the college cafeteria, you were required to wear a net. To date I have not seen any cowboy waiters at Dairy Queen wearing a net on their 'stache, but it can't be too far off. To comply with the International Bureau of Grooming and Fastidiousness, Reg. 002, on this date of the Hirsute Moon in regards to public display of facial hair defined as, though not limited to: mustache, cookie duster, pencil thin, handle bar, caterpillar, cow catcher, lip brush, broom, nose tickler, flavor enhancer, Copenhagen reservoir, soup strainer, ant trail, moth attracter, louse nest and bird house for the migrating house fly, a copy of this regulation should be prominently displayed over the sink in Spanish and English, in establishments where food is being served, animals are allowed to run free or surgery is being performed....