Wednesday, May 31, 2006

NEWS ROUNDUP

Ethics Group Criticizes Henry Paulson Nomination for Treasury; Cites Nature Conservancy Conflict of Interest and Fannie Mae Fraud Peter Flaherty, resident of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), criticized the expected nomination today of Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary. NLPC was the sponsor of a shareholder proposal at the Goldman Sachs annual meeting on March 31. The proposal, which generated significant media attention, asked for a report on Paulson's apparent conflict of interest in chairing both Goldman and the Nature Conservancy. In November 2005, Goldman Sachs adopted an "Environmental Policy" that closely parallels the Nature Conservancy agenda on key issues like global warming. Moreover, Paulson's son Merritt is a trustee of a Nature Conservancy-related group that was the recipient of a Goldman Sachs donation in the form of a tract of land totaling 680,000 acres in Chile. In his remarks at the annual meeting, Flaherty also noted that the Nature Conservancy has been mired in scandal in recent years, as detailed in a Washington Post series and in Senate hearings. The group sold ecologically sensitive land at a discount to its own trustees on which they built multi-million-dollar vacation homes, and structured land donations so wealthy donors could improperly receive tax breaks. Goldman's defense, delivered at the meeting by John H. Bryan, chairman of the Goldman Governance Committee, was essentially that the Goldman board reviewed the environmental policy and the Chilean land deal and approved them. Bryan specifically denied that the Nature Conservancy was involved at all in the land deal. According to the Nature Conservancy tax return, however, it was paid a consulting fee of $144,000 by Goldman for assistance on the land deal. In an April 4 opinion article in the Wall Street Journal titled "Green-Nosing," business writer Judith Dobrzynski wrote, "It's ludicrous to suggest that Goldman's board acted alone, as if directors didn't know of Mr. Paulson's involvement with the conservancy or his advocacy of environmental causes." Flaherty said, "There remain unanswered questions about Paulson's personal and business ethics. At Goldman Sachs, Paulson promoted his own personal interests at the expense of shareholders. As Treasury Secretary, will he promote the public interest, or his own?"....
Paulson Wrong Choice for Secretary The White House made an unfortunate mistake in nominating Henry M. Paulson, Jr. to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The Goldman Sachs chairman's other role as chairman of the board of the Nature Conservancy, which is under investigation for financial misdealings that benefited some of its officers and donors, should automatically disqualify him for the top Treasury job. “No conservative administration should consider appointing anyone who works for the Nature Conservancy to any position and certainly not to one carrying the high responsibilities of Treasury Secretary. The financial scandals at the Nature Conservancy uncovered by the Washington Post are only the tip of the iceberg. The Nature Conservancy has served as the agent for turning millions of acres of productive private land into federally-owned land and has made huge profits doing so,” said CEI’s Director of Energy & Global Warming Myron Ebell. “The question that needs to be asked is, what will Mr. Paulson be able to do as Treasury Secretary to benefit the Nature Conservancy and its big corporate partners?” “The Nature Conservancy is one of the most feared environmental groups throughout rural America,” said R. J. Smith, CEI Adjunct Scholar. “While promoting itself as a ‘private’ conservation group, small landowners, family farmers, ranchers and tree farmers know it as a strong-arm real estate agent for the federal government. It acquires land at fire-sale prices from landowners bankrupted by environmental regulations, then turns around and sells most of it to the federal government at inflated prices. The last thing America needs is more range and forest land for the federal government to mismanage and burn down.”....
Treasury Nominee Is a Major GOP Donor In nominating Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, President Bush tapped a major Republican donor who has been more generous to the party than outgoing secretary John Snow. While Paulson has a long record of giving to Republicans, his wife and his employees at Goldman Sachs favor Democrats, according to research by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. The Center found that Paulson and his wife, Wendy, have contributed more than $426,000 since 1989 to federal candidates, party committees and political action committees controlled by members of Congress. Most of the money—$370,000—has gone to Republicans, almost all of it from the Treasury nominee himself. His wife has given three-quarters of her share to Democrats. Wendy Paulson has given $6,000 to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaigns and $5,000 to her political action committee, HILLPAC. Together, the Paulsons have given $10,000 to the Democratic Party of Idaho. For her $5,000 gift to the state party, Wendy Paulson listed her occupation as “conservationist.” She has served on the board of the Nature Conservancy, and her husband has most recently served as board chairman. In addition to the couple's contributions to candidates and parties, Wendy Paulson has been a major contributor to the League of Conservation Voters' 527 fund, which campaigned for Democrat John Kerry and against George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. She has given at least $401,000 to the League's political activities since 2000....
Some on right wary of nominee's green links Although Henry Paulson's nomination to be Treasury secretary is expected to sail through Congress, conservative groups that defend individual liberties expressed adamant opposition to it yesterday because of the Goldman Sachs chairman's ties to the Nature Conservancy. Mr. Paulson is chairman of the environmental group, which purchases huge tracts of land to set them aside and prevent them from being developed. Property rights advocates charge that the group preys upon financially feeble rural landowners, family farmers, ranchers and tree farmers, purchasing their property at bargain prices and then selling it at a profit to the federal government. Myron Ebell, analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, said Mr. Paulson has the potential to wreak far more havoc in economic policy than his predecessor, Paul O'Neill, who was fired in 2002 for questioning President Bush's tax-cut plans. He said Mr. Paulson could become an outspoken advocate for curbs on global warming and other environmental causes within the administration....
Wyoming Game & Fish Commissioner: Elk at refuge starving A member of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission charged that elk were intentionally starved to death over the winter at the National Elk Refuge, an accusation the refuge manager labeled "ridiculous." Clark Allan, of Jackson, outlined his complaint in a 12-page letter dated May 5 to the regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency that oversees the refuge outside Jackson. "To put the mismanagement on the refuge into perspective, I can easily tell you that if a local rancher sustained the losses the Refuge has sustained and brought this herd into spring in similar body condition, he would almost certainly be prosecuted for cruelty to animals," Allan wrote. Allan said he was complaining as an individual commission member that calves were starved to death to "further a political agenda" over the management of elk herds in Wyoming. "Department biologists who are charged with management of elk in the State of Wyoming indicate that the loss of elk calves from the 2005/2006 winter will have a severe impact on elk numbers in the Jackson Hole elk herd for several years to come," Allan wrote. "Furthermore, it will result in significant loss of hunting opportunity for Wyoming sportsmen, ... compounded by the fact that the Jackson Hole elk herd is expected to sustain an extreme number of large predators."....
Piñon neighbors unsettled by Army's plan to expand In a federally protected grassland, paleontologist Bruce Schumacher worries about the future of a hillside where he is unearthing bones of the largest dinosaur species that ever lived. To the west, 83-year-old rancher Edith Hall wonders if Army tank tracks will run across the Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts behind her barn. Two hours south, down a dirt road to an isolated town, parents in Trinchera fear the end of their 55- student school. They all occupy what Fort Carson calls a "potential area of interest" for expanded military maneuvers - more than 1 million acres in parts of three counties. They don't know when, if or where the Army will extend its reach across a dry land, where cattle graze amid canyons speckled with ancient pictographs and dinosaur bones....
Endangered Species Act is becoming major issue After several fairly easy attempts to clinch the incumbency, Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, is facing perhaps his most challenging quest to hang onto his congressional seat. Pombo, the chairman of the House Resources Committee, has found himself on the receiving end of attacks and allegations from numerous groups — namely environmental — that question his integrity and ties to special interests and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "The primary has been more high-profile than it has in the past," Pombo said. "I'm a committee chairman. I'm a big target." The biggest curve ball, however, was when former Congressman Paul "Pete" McCloskey Jr. moved from Yolo County to the 11th Congressional District with the sole purpose of defeating Pombo, who is seeking an eighth term. One of McCloskey's main reasons for campaigning to return to Congress is Pombo's attempt to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, which McCloskey co-authored. "To me, the Endangered Species Act is a valuable thing," McCloskey said. "To him, it's a bar to development." Pombo argues that the rewrite is necessary and includes requirements to recover species....
Back to the Biscuit Chip Dennerlein acknowledges that administrative appeals and lawsuits haven't stopped U.S. Forest Service plans to salvage fire-killed timber in the 2002 Biscuit fire's inventoried roadless area. But the director of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project isn't giving up. "If information, truth and knowledge count for anything, if modern forestry conservation and biology count for anything, the Forest Service will not sell this sale," he said while visiting the upper portion of Unit 3 in the Mike's Gulch sale on Tuesday. Mike's Gulch, the first roadless area sale expected to be offered, will be put up for auction in mid-June. In addition to the Mike's Gulch sale, the agency also plans to offer the larger Blackberry sale in early August. Both are in the Illinois Valley Ranger District west of Kerby. Although Forest Service officials could not be reached for comment late Tuesday afternoon, an evaluation of the Biscuit fire timber salvage project released last month by the agency has concluded that no significant new information has surfaced in studies criticizing the salvage effort. The evaluation was in response to an environmental group's lawsuit to stop the salvage logging....
West's new tune: Hands off our lands For years, selling off some of the U.S. government's vast land holdings has been a goal of many Western conservatives. But now it's become the third rail of the region's politics: touch it and you'll get burned. Consider the reaction to the Bush administration's proposal this year to sell off hundreds of thousands of acres of national forests and other public lands: Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., declared the plan "dead on arrival." It was quickly rejected by the public and disowned by Republicans in Congress. Now, the selloff proposal - while it remains alive - has been pushed into the shadows. Even President Bush's new interior secretary has spoken out against a key aspect of the plan. "Among congressional Republicans, there's a recognition that this can't be done. But the administration seems stuck with its proposal," said Daniel Kemmis, senior fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana. Other recent selloff plans have met similar opposition. A Nevada congressman's proposal to sell public land to mining companies was shelved under pressure from hunters and Western county commissioners....
Woman pleads guilty in ecoterror case One of three people accused of plotting to blow up a U.S. Forest Service genetics lab and other targets pleaded guilty to conspiracy, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Lauren Weiner, 20, of Pound Ridge, N.Y., agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of her plea bargain. That includes testifying against Eric McDavid, 28, of Foresthill, Calif., and Zachary Jenson, 20, of Monroe, Wash. They remain in the Sacramento County Jail and could face five to 20 years in federal prison if convicted of conspiring to use fire or explosives to damage property. The three were arrested Jan. 13 as they allegedly bought bomb-making materials at a Kmart in Auburn, east of Sacramento. Three days before their arrests, the three are alleged to have scouted the Nimbus Dam and nearby fish hatchery on the American River near Sacramento, and the Forest Service's Institute of Forest Genetics near Placerville, in the foothills east of Sacramento. The three planned to act in the name of Earth Liberation Front, an underground group of environmental activists, investigators said....
Are supertanker wildfire bombers worth extra cost? Federal fire managers say new supertanker jets being developed by private companies will dramatically increase the amount of fire retardant dropped on wildfires and will work in concert with ground crews and other tanker aircraft. Now, they are trying to decide if the extra airpower is worth the higher cost. ''You can spend millions of dollars putting out a single stump,'' U.S. Forest Service aviation specialist Scott Fisher, chairman of the Interagency Airtanker Board, said Tuesday while watching a modified Boeing 747-200 passenger jet drop 20,500 gallons of water on an empty field during a demonstration flight. Oregon-based Evergreen International Aviation is trying to persuade federal land managers to add the 747 to the fleet of 16 smaller fixed-wing air tankers used on wildfires around the country each year. Another company, Oklahoma-based Omni Air International, has proposed using a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 it has modified to carry up to 12,000 gallons of water, about half the payload of the 747. Conventional air tankers can only deliver up to 3,000 gallons of water, foam, gel or other retardant on a fire before returning to a base for reloading....
Beavers keeping Forest Service busy Sometimes the best course of action is simply to say "dam it," U.S. Forest Service officials in Aspen concluded this spring. Short stretches of two popular hiking trails in the Aspen area are flooded because of nearby beaver dams. The Weller Lake trail is flooded about 30 yards from its trailhead off Highway 82 east of Aspen. The Capitol Creek trail is flooded about seven-tenths of a mile from its trailhead. In bygone eras the Forest Service would destroy the dams and possibly even shoot the beavers to deal with the problems, according to Martha Moran, a recreation manager for the Aspen-Sopris District. Now the agency is letting nature take its course while seeking alternatives for safe access. Beavers have dammed Capitol Creek for years but the effects on the trail are getting progressively worse, Moran said. At least 100 yards of the trail are now in wetlands. Hikers and equestrians are forced to stay on the swampy, muddy main route or create braided trails to avoid the slop. "People are getting mud up to their knees," Moran said....
Al Gore the Environmental Titan? Al Gore has returned to the political spotlight in exalted fashion, propping himself up for a potential presidential bid in 2008. Front and center in Gore’s new rhetorical entourage is the state of nature, and in particular, global warming. And while Gore may be delivering an important message about the fate of our fragile ecosystems, one must be weary of the messenger’s past. For Gore’s own environmental record leaves much to be desired. Al Gore’s reputation as the Democratic standard bearer of environmentalism dates back to the early 1990’s when his book Earth in Balance outlined the perilous threats to the natural world. Gore also showboated his green credentials at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, which garnered the newly minted Senator great respect among Beltway greens who praised him for his willingness to take sides on controversial issues. While serving as vice president under Bill Clinton, Gore was put in charge of the administration’s environmental portfolio, but had little to show for it. Other than his alleged environmental convictions, Gore was politically timid when push came to shove in Washington. During Clinton’s campaign for president in 1992 Gore promised a group of supporters that Clinton’s EPA would never approve a hazardous waste incinerator located near an elementary school in Liverpool, Ohio, which was operated by WTI. Only three months into Clinton’s tenure the EPA issued an operating permit for the toxic burner. Gore raised no qualms. Not surprisingly, most of the money behind WTI came from the bulging pockets of Jackson Stephens, who just happened to be one of the Clinton/Gore’s top campaign contributors....
For ranger station site, let bidding bout begin From the mid-1930s until five years ago, the U.S. Forest Service's Willamette National Forest had its Blue River Ranger District headquarters just outside the town of Blue River, 40 miles east of Eugene-Springfield up Highway 126. The complex, ultimately including an office building, five houses, a warehouse and a fueling station, has sat vacant since 2001, when the Blue River and McKenzie ranger stations consolidated. Now, the Forest Service plans to sell the whole 3.5-acre property, located at 51668 Blue River Drive, via an auction that will begin Monday. The facility will be open for inspection by prospective bidders on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The bidding will start at $200,000. Those wishing to take part in the auction must submit an initial auction bid and a refundable deposit of $50,000 - payable by cashier's or certified check, bank or postal money order or credit card - to the Forest Service. Selling surplus government property by auction isn't a new idea - the Forest Service currently has a half-dozen properties up for sale around the Pacific Northwest - but reliance on the Internet to accept and track the bids is a sign of the high-tech times....
FAA takes the wind out of wind farms The federal government has stopped work on more than a dozen wind farms planned across the Midwest, saying research is needed on whether the giant turbines could interfere with military radar. But backers of wind power say the action has little to do with national security. The real issue, they say, is a group of wealthy vacationers who think a proposed wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts would spoil the view at their summer homes. Opponents of the Cape Wind project include several influential members of Congress. Critics say their latest attempt to thwart the planting of 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound has led to a moratorium on new wind farms hundreds of miles away in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Federal officials declined to reveal how many stop-work orders have been sent out. But developers said that at least 15 wind farm proposals in the Midwest have been shut down by the Federal Aviation Administration since the start of the year. "This is a big, ugly political maneuver by a handful of people who are undermining America's energy security," said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a non-profit group that promotes renewable power. Vickerman and others said that despite the government's recent concern about proposed wind projects, it is allowing dozens of current wind farms to continue to operate within sight of radar systems....
Ala. man warned against capturing gator Authorities have told a Montgomery County, Ala., man he must call in help to remove an 8-foot alligator that's taken up residence in his farm pond. Ben Simpson said he didn't think much about the gator's arrival three years ago until he heard reports about the reptiles killing three women in Florida. "We've never had a problem, but after what's happened in Florida, it makes me nervous," Simpson told the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. "We have grandchildren going down to the pond all the time," he said. However, officials have told Simpson he cannot personally remove the 8-foot gator, which would violate the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Instead, he must contact the county's conservation officer to hire a licensed trapper, who is allowed to kill an alligator and sell its meat and the skin....
Florida's gator count estimated at 1 million To the unaided eye, the swampy wilderness seems to sleep at night. Only eerie murmurs, grunts and an occasional splash break the darkened silence. But light it up and the illusion fades. Alligators are everywhere, their red bulbous eyes glowing on the water's black surface. White birds flutter through the haze of a powerful spotlight. Turtles rest on logs in the sawgrass. Snakes slither through weeds. Even with rampant development and loss of wetlands, officials estimate there are more than one million alligators in Florida - a miraculous comeback for a species that was approaching extinction 40 years ago. State officials and environmentalists attribute the population growth to strict federal regulations on sales of alligator products like skin and meat and a strong conservation effort....
BLM: King coal will keep growing There's a black-ringed supernova in northeast Wyoming, and federal regulators expect it to expand significantly over the next 14 years. Based on the decades-long trend of escalating demand for Powder River Basin coal and current market indicators, production could increase 50 percent to 591 million tons annually by 2020, according to the Wyoming Bureau of Land Management. That increase would nearly triple the amount of surface disturbance and require a major expansion of railroad service to the region. Mike Karbs of the BLM Casper Field Office said the projections are part a formal "review" of production scenarios, which becomes a tool for the BLM and other agencies in land use planning....
Proceed with caution, officials urge on oil shale development Garfield County Commissioner Tresi Houpt is pleased U.S. senators are headed to the Western Slope to learn more about oil shale this week, but she wants to make sure they understand the grand promises and broken dreams that accompanied the last effort to extract oil from shale rock. In a letter sent by Houpt and 12 other elected officials in western Colorado, government leaders urged the senators at Thursday’s Energy Committee field hearing in Grand Junction to slow down. The letter, which will be submitted to the committee, lauds the Bureau of Land Management’s oil shale research and development demonstration program as an important “first step” toward determining the potential for developing oil shale commercially. The BLM’s research and development program would issue small 160-acre leases to companies wishing to test oil shale technologies. The agency is expected to issue those leases to several companies some time this summer, and only after the pilot projects are proven would commercial-scale leases be made available. But under the 2005 Energy Policy Act, expedited commercial leasing is required on public lands at the conclusion of an environmental study, due to be complete by Feb. 8, 2007, according to BLM officials’ reading of the act. Lynn Rust, deputy state director for energy, land and minerals at the BLM’s state office in Denver, said Congress called for the commercial program so the secretary of the Interior Department may offer oil shale leases by 2008. “Our letter simply asks the committee to wait for the results of the pilot programs before we start commercially leasing public lands,” said Grand Junction City Councilwoman Teresa Coons, who signed the letter. “We’re not saying we don’t want to do oil shale. We’re just saying we should proceed with caution, take a step back and work in a logical sequence.”....
Agencies scrutinize arsenic from mines The federal government is stepping up efforts to investigate and control arsenic contamination from mines near the northwest corner of San Bernardino County. Officials are worried that arsenic-laden dust kicked up by wind and by off-road vehicles is a health hazard to residents and recreationists. One federal agency is considering keeping the public out of contaminated areas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will review test results from recent soil samples to determine arsenic exposure among people living or playing in the area, said Libby Vianu, a regional representative of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a division of the CDC. The samples were collected around the mining community of Red Mountain. The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees public land around Red Mountain and nearby communities, has secured $500,000 in emergency funding to begin controlling the contamination. Vianu and BLM officials will host a community meeting tonight in Johannesburg to discuss the arsenic and how to deal with it. Arsenic, which can occur naturally in rock, or be a byproduct of ore processing, can be deadly in high enough concentrations. The toxic element has been found in soil and mine-waste piles around the Kelly silver mine just outside of Red Mountain and the Yellow Aster gold mine in nearby Randsburg....
Controlling Missouri River at issue since the 1800s The massive old steamboat is on stilts now, standing sentry over the river it helped reshape. The Capt. Meriwether Lewis, which workers used to straighten and dredge the Missouri River between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sioux City, Iowa, now sits about 100 feet from the water. On a recent May morning, Harold Davis, president of the Brownville group that cares for the steamboat-turned-museum, points toward a giant steel apparatus at the front of the boat. "It worked like a vacuum," Davis said. "They could cut a channel 20 feet deep with this, if they needed to." The Meriwether Lewis and three others like it shaved about 240 miles off the roughly 2,600-mile river, the nation's longest, and left a straighter, deeper waterway that is easier to navigate. However, unintended consequences of the straightening plus construction of large dams in Montana, the Dakotas and Nebraska affect not only the river but the lives of those around it. At the center is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which straightened the river and now seeks to ease resulting conflicts. The mix includes often contradictory demands for ecological restoration, wildlife protection, flood control, water conservation and hydropower supply....
Who Should Decide Land Use? U.S. Government Already Does "Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America," by Bruce Babbitt. Island Press, $25.95. "Wildfire and Americans: How to Save Lives, Property and Your Tax Dollars," by Roger G. Kennedy. Hill and Wang, $26. It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that the federal government has no business in land use regulation, that decisions about what should be built and where must be made at the local level, where people understand their landscapes and have a strong vested interest in doing the right thing. This view has lots of political support. Initiatives as diverse as reshaping the federal flood insurance program and enhancing the Endangered Species Act have foundered amid accusations that they would produce, in effect, unacceptable federal control over local land use decisions. This view is wrong, at least according to Bruce Babbitt and Roger G. Kennedy. In new books, they say the federal government has long played a powerful role in local land use decisions. But its influence has been disguised — as tax deductions for mortgages, as highway programs or as logging concessions. Both senior officials in the Clinton administration, Mr. Babbitt, former interior secretary, and Mr. Kennedy, who headed the National Park Service, cite different examples and offer different suggestions. Their underlying message, however, is the same....
Species on endangered list challenged Ever since a 3-inch fish protected by the Endangered Species Act stopped construction of a dam in Tennessee in 1978, the law has been known as one of the toughest environmental laws on the books. Environmental groups have used it to halt development in pristine lands across the nation. Today, the law designed to protect animals such as the manatee from extinction also has become a legal tool of property-rights groups and developers. In a counterpunch to environmentalists who have filed lawsuits aimed at protecting hundreds of plant and animal species by listing them as endangered or threatened, property-rights groups such as the Pacific Legal Foundation are filing lawsuits to have animals and plants removed from the list so that development can proceed. Meanwhile, industry groups have filed dozens of legal challenges aimed at allowing development on lands set aside by the U.S. government to help protect endangered species. "The conventional wisdom is that environmental groups exclusively used this provision in court, but today, the industry lawsuits challenging critical habitat designations far outnumber environmental challenges," says Pat Parenteau, a law professor at Vermont Law School in South Royalton, Vt. In a study he published last August on active litigation involving the Endangered Species Act, Parenteau counted 45 lawsuits filed by industry groups and five filed by environmental groups. At the forefront of the movement is the National Association of Home Builders, which recently prevailed in a legal battle over Arizona land that had been designated as a habitat for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl. Two environmental groups have sued to restore the designation, and a court hearing on the issue is scheduled for Friday....
Population is bald, but not thinning With spikes in his boots and a rope looped around a tree trunk, Gary Meinke edged his way straight up a 60-foot cottonwood. His target at the crown above: baby bald eagles. Nearly extinguished by pesticides that thinned their eggshells, bald eagles have made a comeback across the United States. In the 1980s, the popular nest at Barr Lake State Park was the only one in the eastern half of Colorado. There are now at least 60 nesting pairs in Colorado, and many more winter in refuges near prairie dog colonies. Still, the symbol of America remains a bird protected by the Endangered Species Act. At nesting sites like Barr Lake, dedicated volunteers still risk their necks each spring by pulling newborn eagles from treetop nests so their legs can be banded with state and federal tags....
Report: Yellowstone air shows some degradation There’s good news and bad news about air quality trends in national parks, but the news is mostly bad when it comes to Yellowstone National Park. Of six air quality categories studied from 1995 to 2004, Yellowstone has four categories with statistically significant declining air quality trends -- the worst trend line in the nation. The nation’s first national park improved significantly in one category -- visibility on clear days. The areas in significant decline include pollutants such as ozone, as well as acid-creating sulfate, nitrate and ammonium ions in precipitation. “Yellowstone is the economic engine for this region,” said Tim Stevens, a Gardiner, Mont.-based representative of the National Parks Conservation Association. “Unless we can reverse these trends, we risk killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.” Wenzler and other conservationists believe the situation will get worse. The federal Department of Energy reported last month that 129 coal-fired power plants are in some stage of development in Western states. “I’m afraid that the national parks in the West are going to get hit with a tidal wave of new energy development,” he said. A December 2005 analysis for the Western Governors' Association predicts that volatile organic compounds discharged from oil and gas activity will double by 2018 and that oxides of nitrogen will rise by some 30 percent....
Organic farms see growth on more demand Earthbound Farm's fields of organic baby spinach and romaine lettuce are a living symbol of the organic food movement's explosive growth in recent years. What started two decades ago as a three-acre roadside farm in this valley 90 miles south of San Francisco has grown into the country's largest grower of organic produce, with more than 100 types of fruits and vegetables on 28,000 acres in the U.S. and abroad. Earthbound's extraordinary growth is only the most visible example of how organic farming is changing. Small family farms created as an alternative to conventional agriculture are increasingly giving way to large-scale operations that harvest thousands of acres and market their produce nationwide. And with Wal-Mart, Safeway, Albertson's and other big supermarket chains expanding their organic offerings, the transformation may only be in its early stages. Organic food only makes up 2.5 percent of U.S. food sales, but it's the fastest growing segment of the market. Sales reached nearly $14 billion last year, up from $6 billion five years earlier, according to the Organic Trade Association in Greenfield, Mass....
Argentina's Beef Industry Relieved To Be Exporting Again Argentina will begin exporting beef again Tuesday and the beef industry, which had seen profits plummet amid a 10-week-old ban on beef exports, is relieved about it. After suffering repeated setbacks this year, cattle ranchers and beef exporters were granted a reprieve late Friday when the government announced it would partially lift the ban. "The new policy is positive," said Javier Ordoqui, president of Carbap, the country's biggest cattle ranchers organization. "This alleviates the situation for ranchers, who were in a very bad way because of the huge decline in prices we've seen since the ban was announced. The ban really harmed ranchers." Argentine President Nestor Kirchner banned beef exports in March to prevent soaring domestic and foreign demand from pushing local prices beyond the purchasing power of average Argentines. The strategy worked, at least partially. Livestock prices declined by up to 30%, although retail prices declined by much smaller amounts on supermarket shelves. The ban was the most severe in a string of policies aimed at reducing beef prices. Among other things the government has raised taxes, changed production and sales rules, and pushed the industry into signing price control accords. Kirchner also insulted ranchers, branding them "greedy profiteers" who supported the country's military dictatorship in the 1970s. Last week ranchers began to react en masse, with thousands organizing protests in the country's interior. As the anger mounted, ranchers began to talk of carrying out a nationwide strike in which they would stop selling beef. But Friday's announcement has alleviated much of the tension and reduced the likelihood of a strike. "I don't think there will be a strike," said Ordoqui, whose organization represents the owners of more than half of Argentina's estimated 55 million head of cattle....
On the Edge of Common Sense: U.S. is a beacon for the world's mistreated With your permission I would like to indulge in a little naked patriotism. The United States of America, during my lifetime, has become a nation like none other on earth. Not because it is the most powerful nation on earth, but because we, more times than I can count, have taken the side of the oppressed with no intention to conquer, rule or pillage. In the act of offering our assistance, we have sacrificed blood, money and lives. We have beat ourselves up. We have questioned our motives. Our leaders have engaged in heated debate about the hows and whys, but we continue to be the single brightest light for the world's mistreated. We will take on the schoolyard bully. In spite of all our mistakes, missteps, misjudgments and misgivings, the world today would be a completely different place if our country; conservative; liberal; black; white; rich; poor; north; south; Manhattan, N.Y.; or Manhattan, Kan.; Americans all, had turned our back on the injustices and inhumanities that relentlessly stalk the globe. Supporting the troops and their families on the front lines in the war on terror is not a partisan action. It is an act of pride, compassion, love, concern, anguish and hope. They carry our colors into harm's way, and have since 1776....

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

NEWS ROUNDUP

Hunkins wants 'unconditional surrender' Ray Hunkins, the Republican challenger to Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal, threw red meat to a Farm Bureau crowd on Friday, declaring he would seek “unconditional surrender” from the U.S. Interior Department when it comes to wolf management in Wyoming. Hunkins spoke here on the final day of a wolf seminar involving landowners, outfitters, state and federal biologists, lawyers and legislators. At the seminar the day before, Freudenthal vigorously defended the state's wolf management plan, which has been rejected by the federal government largely because it provides no protection for wolves in most of the state. In Hunkins' remarks on Friday, Freudenthal's probable GOP challenger in November accused the former Wyoming U.S. attorney of helping bring wolves to Wyoming. In his capacity as a federal lawyer, Freudenthal was involved in defending against a court challenge to the federal wolf reintroduction program, arguing well enough that the agency won that case, Hunkins said. Hunkins said Freudenthal had a chance to recuse himself from arguing in favor of wolf reintroduction in the West, but did not do so. “That was his choice,” Hunkins said. In contrast, Hunkins praised the current U.S. attorney in Wyoming, Matthew Mead, who had opposed wolf reintroduction and filed a motion to recuse his office and himself from any involvement with the current wolf litigation. “That motion was granted by the trial judge, and our U.S. attorney for Wyoming in 2006 is not involved in wolf litigation,” Hunkins said. He praised Mead for following his convictions, saying Freudenthal could have done the same and did not....
Sheep may save birds from turbines Munch some grass. Save some hawks and eagles from gruesome deaths. California, the nation's leader in wind energy, is looking at livestock grazing as a way to reduce the widespread killing of eagles, hawks and owls in the whirling blades of wind turbines. In research with implications for the growing wind power industry, the California Energy Commission has approved $380,000 for scientists to test grazing as a tool to save raptors on Contra Costa grassland. The test will begin using sheep to see whether the animals can eat down grass to the right height to drive away ground squirrels that lure raptors into fatal turbine collisions. Scientists believe the squirrels, a raptor food source, will relocate away from turbines if the surroundings grass is either too low to hide the rodents from predators, or too high to obscure their ability to spot enemies overhead. "The project could be a boon to making wind energy more environmentally acceptable," said Doug Bell, wildlife programs manager for the East Bay Regional Park District....
Keeping Bears and Ranchers Happy on the Blackfoot Concerns over bears in the Blackfoot began to build in the late ‘90s, when grizzly activity – and conflicts between the big bears and humans – took a sharp jump in the watershed. The Blackfoot is just the southern tip of a huge bear ecosystem – grizzly roam across the Flathead, Swan and Mission Valleys, tracking across the Glacier Park, the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat wilderness areas, and even moving into Canada. But the Blackfoot is critical, low-elevation lands within that bear habitat. The increase in bear/human conflicts worried some locals: Those worries hit a peak with the death of Great Falls hunter Timothy Hilston in 2001, who was killed by a grizzly while dressing a fallen elk in the Blackfoot’s block management area. That’s when the Blackfoot Challenge decided to step in. In the ‘70s, private landowners in the Blackfoot Valley loosely organized to proactively try to maintain the valley’s scenic beauty and ranching history. The group has since become a template for other rural communities seeking to manage growth pressures. Community leaders put their heads together with fish and wildlife officials and wildlife groups; they decided to contract with Dr. Seth Wilson, a wildlife researcher with Yale University, to help minimize problems between landowners and bears....
Tahoe land sale blocked The Homewood Mountain Resort's ski area occupies the largest piece of developable property remaining in the Lake Tahoe basin. With elevations reaching 1,600 feet above the lake's famed blue waters, the views from its slopes are spectacular. The property includes two lakes and crosses three watersheds. And it's for sale. If owner Jeff Yurosek has his way, 1,086 acres will be sold to the U.S. Forest Service under a deal that will keep the struggling ski business open. The estimated $60 million to $65 million the property is likely to fetch will be used to build an expanded commercial center on land along Highway 89 that will remain privately held. That plan was moving forward largely in secret until Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, brought it to an abrupt halt this month. But when the text of a 2007 spending bill for the Interior Department was made public just before its approval by the House, it revealed a provision by Doolittle -- a powerful House Appropriations Committee Republican and an ardent private-property rights defender -- torpedoing the sale. In essence, Doolittle's one-sentence provision prohibits the Forest Service from spending any money from any source to buy the Homewood land next year....
U.S. to continue use of aging P-3 firefighting plane U.S. investigators have yet to say if the latest crash of an old military-surplus air tanker was again due to structural failure, but the Forest Service will use P-3 planes during fire season in California nevertheless, officials have acknowledged. Meanwhile, two companies developing huge air tankers out of former 747 and DC-10 airliners are clamoring for attention in hopes of landing federal contracts to replace the aging P-3s and others — an uncertain prospect. In another development, this one involving the ground battle against wildfires, federal officials acknowledged that many of the 5,000 firefighters employed by private firms that contract with the U.S. government are immigrants, with an untold number working illegally. Officials said they are uncertain whether the current immigration debate will affect the size of the overall federal firefighting force. Authorities said they will work with other federal agencies to improve the process of identifying violators....
With Illegal Immigrants Fighting Wildfires, West Faces a Dilemma The debate over immigration, which has filtered into almost every corner of American life in recent months, is now sweeping through the woods, and the implications could be immense for the coming fire season in the West. As many as half of the roughly 5,000 private firefighters based in the Pacific Northwest and contracted by state and federal governments to fight forest fires are immigrants, mostly from Mexico. And an untold number of them are working here illegally. A recent report by the inspector general for the United States Forest Service said illegal immigrants had been fighting fires for several years. The Forest Service said in response that it would work with immigration and customs enforcement officers and the Social Security Administration to improve the process of identifying violators. At the same time, the State of Oregon, which administers private fire contracts for the Forest Service, imposed tougher rules on companies that employ firefighters, including a requirement that firefighting crew leaders have a working command of English and a formal business location where crew members can assemble. Some Hispanic contractors say the state and federal changes could cause many immigrants, even those here legally, to stay away from the jobs. Other forestry workers say firefighting jobs may simply be too important — and too hard to fill — to allow for a crackdown on illegal workers....
Wyden 'block' threat staged to score win for safety net U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden vowed Friday to halt the confirmation process for several presidential appointees until the Bush administration finds an adequate solution for funding reauthorization of the county timber safety net. On the floor of the Senate, Wyden said he would work to hold up the nomination of David Bernhardt to become solicitor for the Department of the Interior. He said he would block additional nominees until there is "an acceptable way to fully fund county payments." "I regret that the lack of concern at the White House and the inertia in Congress forces me to put a hold on David Bernhardt," Wyden said on the floor. "It is time for everyone to focus their attention on the needs of the more than 700 rural counties in over 40 states who are depending on the reauthorization of this county payments legislation." Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson said he was pleased by Wyden's action, although he said Oregon's senior senator could possibly face a backlash from political leaders for messing with the confirmation process. "It raises the consciousness. It sends a message to the Senate and to everyone else that this is an important issue," Robertson said....
Mercury In Fish Linked To Forest Fires Donna Olson sat in the stern of a canoe, bagging up the tiny perch that floated to the surface of Lum Lake. Even in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, among the most pristine waters in the nation, there's mercury in the fish. The toxic metal rises up the stacks of power plants and has to come down somewhere. When it does, it's soaked up by soil, plants, trees, sediment and fish. And people who eat fish. And once mercury has settled on a forest, it can be released again when a fire burns the woods. That's why Olson and Brent Flatten were out on the little wilderness lake one recent morning. They're part of a U.S. Forest Service fisheries research team trying to determine the impact of forest fires on mercury levels in fish....
Ranchers question Border Patrol's effect The Border Patrol is bigger than ever, but ranch manager Bill Hellen says he is seeing more illegal immigrants than ever. When the Border Patrol put up a new checkpoint on a highway near Hebbronville, about 50 miles from the border, illegal immigrants simply went around it, slashing his fences and sneaking through his ranch, he said. He doesn't see that changing any time soon, even with President Bush's promise of 6,000 new agents along the border. "All the ranchers surrounding the checkpoint say the same thing," he said. "It's just a constant strain of illegal aliens on our pastures." The Border Patrol doubled in size from 1995 and 2005, reaching 11,500 agents, but many experts and critics agree with Hellen that the buildup hasn't done much good. "What we find pretty consistently is that the number of agents just does not seem to be related to the number of apprehensions that they make," said Linda Roberge, a senior research fellow at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University who studies immigration. "The flood, it may go up and it may go down, but there's always more that get through than get caught."....
16,000-acre ranch near Billings going up for sale From atop a high ridge northwest of Billings, Vince Carpenter and Jack Dietrich are looking out over an immense, breathtaking landscape. Most of what they're looking at is within the boundaries of their Bar Diamond Ranch. Hundreds of calves are grazing on the pastures below, and beyond them hills studded with ponderosa pine roll off toward the horizon. Meadowlarks are trilling and juniper bushes are heavy with berries, heavier than Carpenter ever remembers seeing them. Near the edge of a high cliff, Carpenter and Dietrich have just been looking at a carefully constructed circle, about 15 feet across, made of stacks of sandstone slabs. Carpenter thinks it may be a place where American Indians used to gather for ceremonial purposes. He points to a faint track that leads down to the base of the hill, and from there to a few ancient tepee rings. They will soon start advertising in regional publications, offering for sale a 16,000-acre ranch that is one of the larger private land holdings in Yellowstone County. The sale will break up a partnership that began at a holiday gathering more than 40 years ago, a partnership that knitted two families together and that over the years has done nothing to diminish the friendship of Jack and Vince....
Finding History in the Bottom of a Pint Glass “Students told me history was dull and dry, so I said OK, I’m going to give you some liquid history,” said Tom “Dr. Colorado” Noel. “You tell them you’re giving a lecture on bars, and people show up. It’s a good way to get students to stay awake.” Noel has been teaching at CU since 1972, where he earned his masters and Ph.D., and is currently Professor of History and Director of Public History, Preservation and Colorado Studies at the University of Colorado in Denver. He also gives tours of Colorado and Denver for the Smithsonian Instition, the Colorado History Museum, the Denver Museum of Natural History, and Historic Denver, Inc. In his book Colorado: A Liquid History & Tavern Guide to the Highest State, Noel gathered stories about Colorado through its historic drinking establishments. With the liver of a lion, Noel takes readers through 300 of the state’s most notable and historic saloons. Since being published in 1999, the book has never been out of print. Noel’s statewide pub crawl has taken him to every Denver tavern mentioned in the book; he’s still in pursuit of the rest. “When I started the book I was a thin man in good health. That’s no longer true,” he said. “I used to go to ten bars a night, now it’s two or three.”....
Basque Ranching Culture Thrives Many ranches, particularly in California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada, were involved in the range sheep business because it was profitable. And the shepherds who tended their flocks were almost invariably Basque, a people with a homeland - northern Spain and southern France - but no one nation to call their own. When the Basque herders first arrived in America in the mid-1800s, sheep herding was a job that required no knowledge of the English language and little formal education - but for an ambitious man provided an opportunity to acquire his own sheep band within a few short years. One could take sheep in exchange for wages and then head out with a band into the then-unclassified public lands administered by the United States government. This was all before the U.S. Congress passed the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934, which divided and designated livestock grazing allotments on public lands. These sheep bands were called "tramp sheep outfits." The new sheep owner, once he became established, sent back to the Basque country for a relative or friend, and the process started all over again. The origins of the Basque people are still a mystery, although some consider them direct descendants of the Iberians, people who once inhabited Spain. Their unique language is called Euskera, and is unrelated to any Indo-European language today. They are an inherently friendly, fiercely independent people who were known in the Middle Ages as skilled boatmakers and courageous whale hunters. Later generations grew up in an agrarian society and worked with their livestock on isolated mountain farms throughout the Pyrenees Mountains. Basque immigration to the western United States, sparked by both poverty in the homeland and a reluctance to serve either France or Spain in their colonial wars, began around 1850, when gold was discovered in California. Many Basques soon learned, however, that gold was hard to find, and turned to working and owning livestock on ranches. Basque-owned itinerant sheep bands soon ranged from the Pacific Coast to the High Sierras. By the early 1860s, many Basques had become established ranchers, and they were so prominent in the western range sheep business that they were regarded as the industry's founders....
It's All Trew: Work continued despite weather conditions Last winter’s near-zero temperatures brought to mind the early day winters long before insulated clothing and good car heaters were invented. Instead of our sunny weather, we suffered from blizzards and continuous “blue northers” raging across the Midwest on a regular schedule. Heavy rain on unimproved black dirt roads brought announcements from schools that school buses would only run on the pavements. At that time, the nearest pavement to our house was nine miles away. Snow days were snow weeks back then. Rural residents thought nothing of being stranded at home for days at a time because they were prepared for that eventuality. No matter the weather conditions, work on the farm or ranch continued. Livestock had to be tended and chores were done regardless. Everyone wore long-handles, extra socks, and a regular suit of clothing with overalls over the top. Add overshoes, a heavy coat, neck scarf, mittens and a cap with ear flaps and you could barely walk, let alone mount a saddled horse. I have written before about the late John E. Ekelund, an early day Amarillo pioneer who worked in a clothing store. After each blizzard, cowboys from around the area rode their horses into Amarillo to purchase more warm clothing. Many had frostbitten faces, fingers and toes and sported peeled and bleeding faces after being exposed to the extreme Panhandle cold winds....

Sunday, May 28, 2006

This is a wee bit late. My ISP sold and I guess the transition was a little bumpy as I went for almost 36 hours without access to the internet.

Happy Memorial Day to each and every one of you.



SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

Fruits of our labor

by Larry Gabriel

Like most farmers and ranchers, I have two jobs. One is being a West River rancher. The other is my city job as Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Agriculture.

While driving from the ranch to Pierre this week, I felt a little like one of those old horses that hates to leave the barnyard. When traveling away from the barn he resists direction just to let you know he doesn’t want to go, but he tries to run when you turn his head toward home.

However, the horse and I have different motives. The horse just likes the comfort and security of his barn. I do too, but it is more than that. What I miss when I leave is the feeling of having done a good day's work with visible results.

Whether I fix fence, bale hay, build a barn or work cattle, there is some tangible work product I can look at when the day ends on the ranch. I know that I have produced something.

Most of the time, I can't do that in my city job. I see mounds of paper (including edited versions of this column), but tangible results of something produced or improved are rare and infrequent in that job. I can work hard and long for many days without seeing one tangible thing produced. I suppose many desk jobs are like that.

Farmers and ranchers are extremely fortunate in that regard. There is rarely a day of labor that does not produce a tangible result. I do not mean to imply this is exclusive to us. Artists, craftsmen, carpenters, masons and even writers can see tangible results of their labor I suppose, but it is different with a farmer or rancher.

The fruits of our labors are many. We feed the people of the world. We build economies, families, citizens and values that become the building blocks of our future. We build communities, roads and rural commerce. We build a life. We build a nation.

What a great feeling it is after a day of hard work to be physically tired but not mentally strained. At such times I often put my feet up in the cool of the evening and review the accomplishments of the day, while giving passing thought to those of tomorrow. It is a rare privilege to live such a life.

Maybe it is just me (or the nature of city jobs), but my desk job almost never produces anything close to the satisfaction I feel after a good day's work on the ranch.

Of course it is not free. About two thirds of farm and ranch families have one or both spouses working off the farm.

I wish more people understood that when people fight to save their "family farm", I understand why they are fighting and what they are fighting for, even if I don't always agree with what they claim is the threat.

There are many threats to our way of life, but we can overcome them, if we stick to our traditional values.

When others learn to value the fruits of our labors as much as we do, we can relax at the end of our day without fear of any threats to our way of life.

Mr. Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
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Roping another day of honor

By Julie Carter

It seemed long overdue when last year the U.S. Senate proclaimed July 23 to be the National Day of the American Cowboy.

Fittingly, the senate has again given the cowboy the honor of the day and July 22 celebrations are on calendars all across America.

The resolution again recognizes the cowboy as one "who loves, lives off and depends on the land and its creatures for livelihood." It also names rodeo as a livelihood of the cowboy that transcends race, sex and spans every generation.

Never has there been a day when making a living as cowboy was more difficult than today.

Recognizing that the pioneering spirit that helped establish the American West continues to be a foundation of solid character and commons sense, the day of honor is earned.

The resolution calls the cowboy an American icon, part of America's commitment to an esteemed and enduring code of conduct. The wonder and awe of that icon spans continents and still today, sparks big dreams in small boys.

While honored to be honored, the cowboy himself won't be impacted by his name on a resolution. He will go on about his day of work perhaps even slightly embarrassed there is such a fuss about the whole thing.

As far as being an icon, if you ask the average cowboy about it, he'll say "What's that?"

I doubt the suits on Wall Street will acknowledge the honor given to the cowboy. He'll probably order chicken for lunch and continue believe his food comes from the grocery store. The same for the majority of the masses in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Washington D.C. Sadly a pretty big chunk of folks in former "cow towns" like Denver and Albuquerque have the same mindset.

Santa Fe is dedicating a day of their annual rodeo in June to the National Day of the Cowboy. The cowboys and cowgirls entered in the Rodeo de Santa Fe will bask in a little extra limelight because of it.

But on July 22, the actual day of honor, most of America's cowboys will be checking cattle, drinking troughs, fixing pipeline leaks, branding a few late calves, building fence or other assorted less-than-glorious "cowboy" duties.

"Cowboy" has become more than a job, more than way of life. Cycling through the fads of popular genre, it again has found a place at the forefront of marketing genius and saleable themes. Put it in boots and a hat, a little rawhide with the hair still on it, add some silver conchos and a jingle here and there, and you have a collectible of the American West.

Emulated in a thousand ways in a million places, the bottom line to "cowboy" doesn't come from his wardrobe or even from his occupation. It comes from within his heart and soul.

It is a spirit of honor, integrity and grit that stirs within all men, some just chose to live by those traits. Cowboy is not a hat, a job or genre. It is a choice.

The cowboy is not the dying breed he is said to be by those that drive down the highway looking for him.

As Lee Marvin told Jack Palance in the 1970 movie Monte Walsh, "As long as there is one man on one horse pushing one cow, there will always be cowboys."

© Julie Carter 2006
OPINION/COMMENTARY

The High Price of Land-Use Planning

Most people know that the San Francisco Bay Area has one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. However, not everyone realizes that, as recently as 1970, Bay Area housing was as affordable as housing in many other parts of the country. Data from the 1970 census shows that a median-income Bay Area family could dedicate a quarter of their income to housing and pay off their mortgage on a median-priced home in just 13 years. By 1980, a family had to spend 40 percent of their income to pay off a home mortgage in 30 years; today, it requires 50 percent. What happened in the 1970s to make Bay Area housing so unaffordable? In a nutshell: land-use planning. During the 1970s, Bay Area cities and counties imposed a variety of land-use restrictions intended to make the region more livable. These restrictions included urban-growth boundaries, purchases of regional parks and open spaces and various limits on building permits. These regulations created artificial land shortages that drove housing prices to extreme levels. Today, residents of Houston, Texas, can buy a brand-new four-bedroom, two-and-one-half bath home on a quarter-acre lot for less than $160,000. That same house would cost you more than five times as much in Marin or Contra Costa counties, seven times as much in Alameda County, and eight to nine times as much in Santa Clara, San Mateo, or San Francisco counties. In fact, planning-induced housing shortages added $30 billion to the cost of homes that Bay Area homebuyers purchased in 2005. This dwarfs any benefits from land-use restrictions; after all, how livable is a place if you can't afford to live there? The benefits of protecting open space are particularly questionable. The 2000 census found that nearly 95 percent of Californians live in cities and towns that occupy just 5 percent of its land. Many San Francisco Bay Area counties have permanently protected more acres as open space than they have made available for urban development. When such actions make it impossible for middle-class families, much less low-income families, to afford their own homes, they represent a sad distortion of social priorities....

Al Gore's New Film

Al Gore's new film on climate change, "An Inconvenient Truth," hit theaters on May 24. We can almost guarantee that the media will go crazy over it. Most of the media share Gore's view that man-made global warming is real, and that the federal government and the United Nations should do something drastic about it. Some seem to think the film could propel Gore into the White House in 2008. But we have found skeptics of the Gore theory as far away as Australia. In response to my last commentary on how the media act as if there are no critics of the theory worth paying any attention to, I received a note from a scientist in Australia, Bob Carter, who wrote, "Congratulations on your column on April 21 regarding global warming. Your call for more balanced reporting is strongly needed, and I do encourage you to continue with it." Carter, who is a geologist at James Cook University, in Queensland, engaged in paleoclimate research, directed me to an article of his from the Telegraph in England, in which he points out that though there was in fact some warming between 1970 and 1998, there has been none since then. Here is his website, where you can read a number of articles challenging the conventional wisdom, and find a list of 40 other scientists who agree with him. In effect, Carter is pleading for balance from the media. But the media don't seem to care. A Washington Post article earlier this month by Doug Struck continued the media onslaught to convince us that global warming is rapidly destroying the world, in this case contributing to disease and pestilence....

Does Al Gore Need to Go on an Energy Diet?

As former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary on global warming fears debuts today, a new video from the Competitive Enterprise Institute tracks Gore’s own “carbon footprint.” CEI’s 70-second video points out that Gore himself is a big user of the hydrocarbon fuels that produce carbon dioxide when combusted. Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” asks, "Are you willing to change the way you live?" The Gore documentary and new book of the same name go on to suggest ways that people can reduce their carbon footprint, yet Mr. Gore has clearly not taken his own message to heart. He even says in the documentary that he has given his global warming Power Point slide show more than 1,000 times all around the world. The CEI video, which may be viewed at: http://streams.cei.org/, includes footage of Gore and his constant air travel with two CO2 meters running at the bottom of the page that compare Gore’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with those of an average person. "All the evidence suggests that Mr. Gore is an elitist who passionately believes that the people of the world must drastically reduce their energy use but that it doesn't apply to him,” said Myron Ebell, CEI's director of energy and global warming policy and the creator of the video. "While the CEI video pokes fun at Mr. Gore's profligate consumption of the world's petroleum resources, we don't begrudge his lifestyle that requires using as much energy as a small village in America or a medium-sized town in Africa,” Ebell explained. “The mobility that jet fuel and gasoline provide is a good thing and the benefits of abundant energy should be available to all people, not just the elite. CEI calls on Mr. Gore to stop preaching against the petroleum products he uses so lavishly and instead join us in promoting access to energy," Ebell concluded....

Inconvenient Truths Indeed

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" opens around the country this week. In the film Gore pulls together evidence from every corner of the globe to convince us that climate change is happening fast, we are to blame, and if we don't act immediately, our Earth will be all but ruined. However, as you sit through the film, consider the following inconvenient truths: (1) Near the beginning of the film, Gore pays respects to his Harvard mentor and inspiration, Dr. Roger Revelle. Gore praises Revelle for his discovery that atmospheric CO2 levels were rising and could potentially contribute to higher temperatures at a global scale. There is no mention of Revelle's article published in the early 1990s concluding that the science is "too uncertain to justify drastic action." (S.F. Singer, C. Starr, and R. Revelle, "What to do about Greenhouse Warming: Look Before You Leap. Cosmos 1 (1993) 28-33.) (2) Gore discusses glacial and snowpack retreats atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, implying that human induced global warming is to blame. But Gore fails to mention that the snows of Kilimanjaro have been retreating for more than 100 years, largely due to declining atmospheric moisture, not global warming. Gore does not acknowledge the two major articles on the subject published in 2004 in the International Journal of Climatology and the Journal of Geophysical Research showing that modern glacier retreat on Kilimanjaro was initiated by a reduction in precipitation at the end of the nineteenth century and not by local or global warming....

Don't Be Very Worried

Since 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, America's population has increased by 42%, the country's inflation-adjusted gross domestic product has grown 195%, the number of cars and trucks in the United States has more than doubled, and the total number of miles driven has increased by 178%. But during these 35 years of growing population, employment, and industrial production, the Environmental Protection Agency reports, the environment has substantially improved. Emissions of the six principal air pollutants have decreased by 53%. Carbon monoxide emissions have dropped from 197 million tons per year to 89 million; nitrogen oxides from 27 million tons to 19 million, and sulfur dioxide from 31 million to 15 million. Particulates are down 80%, and lead emissions have declined by more than 98%. But now comes the carbon dioxide alarm. CO2 is not a pollutant--indeed it is vital for plant growth--but the annual amount released into the atmosphere has increased 40% since 1970. This increase is blamed by global warming alarmists for a great many evil things. The Web site for Al Gore's new film, "An Inconvenient Truth," claims that because of CO2's impact on our atmosphere, sea levels may rise by 20 feet, the Arctic and Antarctic ice will likely melt, heat waves will be "more frequent and more intense," and "deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years--to 300,000 people a year." So what is the reality about global warming and its impact on the world? A new study released this week by the National Center for Policy Analysis, "Climate Science: Climate Change and Its Impacts" (www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st285) looks at a wide variety of climate matters, from global warming and hurricanes to rain and drought, sea levels, arctic temperatures and solar radiation. It concludes that "the science does not support claims of drastic increases in global temperatures over the 21rst century, nor does it support claims of human influence on weather events and other secondary effects of climate change." There are substantial differences in climate models--some 30 of them looked at by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--but the Climate Science study concludes that "computer models consistently project a rise in temperatures over the past century that is more than twice as high as the measured increase." The National Center for Atmospheric Research's prediction of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warming is more accurate. In short, the world is not warming as much as environmentalists think it is. What warming there is turns out to be caused by solar radiation rather than human pollution. The Climate Change study concluded "half the observed 20th century warming occurred before 1940 and cannot be attributed to human causes," and changes in solar radiation can "account for 71 percent of the variation in global surface air temperature from 1880 to 1993."....

The Rhetoric of the Environmental Movement

What I hope to do is to explore certain traits common to the rhetoric of the environmental movement that I find particularly inimical to rational discourse and that serve only to support untenable and fallacious conclusions and recommendations that, if accepted, would prove devastating to civilization. These center, first, around a profound misuse of the term "rights"; second, around the notion that men in primitive pre-technological societies live in harmony with the environment while modern man is antagonistic and destructive of nature's resources; and, finally, that technology itself is, by its very nature, toxic. One of the more distasteful features of environmental rhetoric is the terminological confusion with which it is riddled, whereby certain grants of privilege are constantly confused with rights. The rights to which serious political discourse has traditionally referred are negatively conceived and refer to limitations on how governments may act towards their citizens or how citizens may act toward each other. This conception of rights is the one put forward in, among other documents, the Declaration of Independence, the American Bill of Rights and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.[2] Rights so conceived do not require that others be forced to act in specific ways if I am to exercise my rights but only that they refrain from intervening in certain areas without my consent. Thus, my right to life does not entail that others are obligated to do everything within their power to keep me alive but only that they cannot kill me. Unfortunately, environmentalists have a tendency to employ the term "rights," not in this negative manner but in its far more vulgar sense, to refer to some privilege that entails that others not refrain from acting, but positively act in certain ways. They are, of course, not alone in this. The last hundred years have witnessed a serious erosion in political discourse as politicians have increasingly invoked such terms as "liberty" and "rights" solely to elicit certain emotional responses in their hearers. This deterioration in political language has reached a point where it is now not uncommon to hear people speak of their "rights" to "higher education," to "quality health care," even to "truth in airline scheduling," and so on.[3] Environmental discourse, far from being immune to such imprecision, has embraced it. And environmentalists, especially those employed as government functionaries of one kind or another, regularly use the term to refer to privileges that entail an obligation on others to provide certain services....

Dutch told to return land they won from the sea

A photograph of a grinning boy, riding a toy tractor, has pride of place in the kitchen of Aarnout and Magda de Feijter, the owners of a 148-acre farm in the Dutch province of Zeeland. The picture is of their first grandson, Louis, and the de Feijters have always dreamed that he will one day take over the expanse of wind-rippled flax fields that has been in their family since 1835. But there are other plans. In the name of European Union environmental directives, their farm is earmarked for flooding - the first time in Holland's centuries-long battle against water that a substantial piece of land is to be deliberately returned to the sea. Some 230 years after its flat pastures were wrested from the waters, the de Feijters' farm - their home for 33 years - is to be re-flooded to reverse the disappearance of Zeeland's mudflats and salt marshes. For the family - raised in a province that owes its very existence to dyke systems dating from the Middle Ages - the plan is "un-Dutch". Breaching dykes is behaviour associated with invading armies, noted Mr de Feijter. Flooding a "polder", as land enclosed by a dyke is known, "has always been an act of war", he said. The couple have planted chestnut trees and apple orchards and resent hearing that it is ecologically less important than salt marshes. "Isn't this landscape beautiful?" said Mrs de Feijter. "There are birds, there are flowers. It's green." The final decision must be ratified by parliament next year, but chances of a reprieve look slim. Dutch officials support the project, part of a scheme to re-flood 1,500 acres of land on the banks of the Western Schelde estuary. The re-flooding has been imposed by the EU Habitats directive, and the EU Birds directive. The end will be quick. Engineers will build a new dyke behind the de Feijters' land and demolish their 150-year-old farmhouse. Then they will breach the high, grass-sided dyke at the bottom of their drive and the sea will rush in....

Friday, May 26, 2006

NEWS ROUNDUP

Indicted commander wants statement tossed The attorney for the former commander of an elite wildfire team accused of setting two forest fires asked a federal judge Thursday to toss his client's confession made to federal investigators. Attorney Grant Woods argued investigators coerced his client into admitting he intentionally started two fires in 2004 at the Coconino National Forest that together burned nearly 22 acres. Investigators questioned Van Bateman in October about the wildfires. Agents say they told Bateman, who did not have an attorney at the interview, that he could leave at any time and could refuse to answer questions. "In my mind, I had no option but to answer the questions put before me," Bateman told U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt in court Thursday. "I felt that if I didn't answer, they would hold it against me." Bateman said he feared he would be fired from his job as fire management officer at the forest's Mogollon Ranger District and would lose the retirement benefits he had accrued in 34 years with the Forest Service....
Column: Border fence an ecological nightmare And thus, by any measure of the Leopoldian Oath, I have to deem the border fence an ecological nightmare. It is fitting that this fence is all about immigration. Immigration, of course, is not just a human activity, but something that every critter on this planet does to one extent or another. The fence will stop human immigration, and will stop most wildlife migration too. The border fence that already exists in parts of Southern California has wreaked ecological havoc; the new triple-decker fence will make matters worse. In San Diego, for example, the U.S. government may have to suspend or completely ignore most of its environmental laws - the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act - to build and accommodate the border fence that will separate San Diego and Tijuana. Over the last few decades, the city of San Diego, the state and federal governments and the Mexican government have spent nearly $600 million to protect the sensitive ecology of the Tijuana River Estuary, where the last portions of the fence would be built. The estuary will be ecologically harmed by the new triple-decker fence. The conflict in Tijuana is a mere ecological fragment of what could happen all along a potentially fenced U.S./Mexican border, which contains a biologically rich swath of parks, forests, wilderness areas, and bi-national wildlife habitat....
Nevada lawmakers urged to rein in water authority Nevada lawmakers have been urged to make sure that this state doesn't duplicate what happened in the Owens Valley in eastern California - whose water was taken to supply the booming Los Angeles area. White Pine County, Nev., rancher Dean Baker and California water attorney Greg James, testifying before the Legislature's interim committee on water resources, both cited the Owens Valley case as one that shouldn't repeat itself in Nevada. The presentations Wednesday came as part of the committee's review of the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plan to tap groundwater in rural Clark, Lincoln and White Pine counties. Over the next decade, the water authority intends to build a $2 billion pipeline network to carry groundwater to Las Vegas from dozens of wells scattered across eastern Nevada. The project is expected to supply the Las Vegas Valley with enough water for as many as 425,000 homes. James and Baker urged the panel of lawmakers to introduce legislation next year that would shape how such large-scale water transfers are done....
Column: Power rangers activated There hasn’t been much reason for joy at the path the Forest Service has taken over the last several years under the direction of the resource-ravaging Bush administration. But this week’s news that the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest intends to put six Forest Rangers on the trail of ATV scofflaws is a move all Montanans should be celebrating. In case you missed it, Forest Service spokesman Jack de Golia announced Monday that his agency would be applying to Montana’s Off-Highway Vehicle and Recreational Trails Program for funding to put the additional rangers in the woods on the 3-million-acre national forest. Currently, only three enforcement officers patrol the forest—“That’s a million acres apiece,” de Golia explained. Given the destruction currently occurring on national forests caused by rampant and often-illegal ATV use, it is well past time for the federal agency that’s supposed to be “stewarding” our forest resources to get on the stick. “Enforcement is a problem,” de Golia admitted. “We just don’t have enough people to cover all the roads and all the ways to get in.” Sure enough, the numbers bear out de Golia’s assessment in grim detail. Of the 291 incident reports of illegal ATV use filed on the forest in the last five years, only 21 tickets were issued for violation of off-road rules. That means nine out of every 10 rogue ATV riders slipped freely away, leaving only eroding ruts and noxious weeds behind to mark their passage....
Feds to fund study of prairie dogs Although people may see families of prairie dogs living on the side of the roads everyday, some environmentalists fear that there is a danger they may become extinct. "The Gunnison's prairie dog has been listed on a petition as a possible endangered species," said Jeff Cole, wildlife manager with the Navajo Fish and Wildlife Program. Because this poses as a possible threat for the ecosystem, the Navajo Nation Fish and Wildlife Department applied for a grant through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and received $150,000 to conduct a study that will determine whether Gunnison's prairie gods really are in danger of becoming extinct. But before anyone buys a "Save the Prairie Dogs" bumper sticker, remember that putting prarie dogs on the extinction list is only being proposed. "We see them everywhere," said Cole. "They're not going extinct." To make that statement official, the program has to complete the study....
Poll: Majority supports oil drilling Floridians support lifting a ban on oil drilling 100 miles or more from the state's Gulf Coast beaches by a 51 to 42 percent majority, and many say rising gasoline prices have influenced their approval, a poll released Thursday showed. Such support stunned environmentalists, who have counted on opposition from Florida and other coastal states to deflect growing sentiment for offshore drilling among inland and oil state politicians. The U.S. House just last week rejected proposals to open more offshore areas to drilling, but those efforts are expected to continue. Most Floridians, however, still oppose drilling closer to shore. They disapprove of a congressional proposal to allow natural gas drilling as close as nine miles from shore by a 55 to 36 percent margin. The poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute was taken May 15-22 among 1,086 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent....
Helicopter mapping project moves to Ketchikan coastline Two helicopters will be flying low over the coastline near Ketchikan in the next few weeks, collecting information for detailed maps. The coastal mapping project is being done by Coastal and Ocean Resources Inc., which already has mapped coastlines of Washington state and British Columbia, as well as Cook Inlet, Kodiak Island and Katmai in Alaska. The digital video imagery from the Alaska surveys is available online, where viewers can "Fly the Alaska Coastline." Also collected during the surveys is scientific data such as shoreline type and the location of kelp, eelgrass and shellfish beds. "We've really worked hard at getting the information up and accessible on the Web," said CORI President John Harper....
OMB, Congress spar on competitive sourcing again Congress again is using the appropriations process to undermine the Bush administration's policies for competitive sourcing. Under H.R. 5384, the Fiscal 2007 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, the Agriculture Department can spend no money to study, or enter into a contract with a private party to carry out a study relating to rural development or farm loan programs by using competitive sourcing, unless Congress gives its approval. Like last year, when similar language was included in the fiscal 2006 version of the bill, the Office of Management and Budget opposes such restrictions. “The administration urges the House to eliminate this provision,” OMB said in its policy statement. Competitive sourcing, which is governed by the OMB’s Circular A-76, typically pits a private-sector vendor against a team of federal employees to determine what is referred to as the most efficient organization. OMB has pushed public-private competitions for contracts to get the best deal....
EPA workers blast agency's rulings By pandering to farmers and chemical manufacturers, the Environmental Protection Agency risks gutting a 10-year-old law designed to safeguard children from dangerous pesticides, workers within the agency charge. In a letter sent this week to agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, nine representatives of unions representing about 9,000 EPA scientists, risk managers and other workers said the agency "has lost sight of its regulatory responsibilities in trying to reach consensus with those that it regulates, and the result is that the integrity of the science upon which Agency decisions are based has been compromised."
Since 1996, the Food Quality Protection Act has been under attack from both sides -- pesticide makers and farmers asserting that the law is being applied too stringently, and environmentalists and consumer advocates charging that it is being undermined. The law was intended to protect children from hazardous effects of pesticides in foods and in the environment....
Environmental ‘Father Figure’ Blames Peers For Wrecking the Environment Leading environmental scientist James Lovelock blames fellow environmentalists for damaging the environment with renewable energy solutions, while claiming to save it. Lovelock told StockInterview.com, “Their solutions are basically urban-political solutions. It’s mostly made up of urban people, who know almost nothing about the countryside and still less about the ecosystem.” Lovelock scoffed at their embrace of renewable energy sources, saying, “They are being very foolish. They are living in a dream world.” Instead, the atmospheric scientist and bestselling author actively advocates adding more nuclear energy as a solution to the energy crisis, saying, “There is no sensible alternative to nuclear power if we are to sustain civilization.” Best known for his Gaia Theory, Lovelock’s bylined articles in Reader’s Digest (March 2005) and London’s Independent newspaper strongly urged other environmentalists to follow his lead in endorsing nuclear power. His recent book, The Revenge of Gaia, which discusses the current energy crisis, has caused a stir in the British Isles. Aside from taking swipes at solar power and wind energy, Lovelock fumes when talking about another renewable energy source, “They continue to insist on wanting to run their cars on bio fuels. This is one of the maddest ideas of the lot.”....
Intl Decision On BSE Standards Seen Helping US Trade Case The U.S. will now have a much stronger case to make that there is virtually no mad-cow disease risk here thanks to a decision Wednesday by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health to relax country standard requirements. Previously, a country had to wait seven years after its discovery of mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, before it could be considered in the "negligible risk" category -- the category for countries with the least BSE risk. That has now been changed and countries must wait until 11 years after birth date of the last native-born cow discovered with the disease. The U.S. reported finding its latest BSE case in March, but U.S. Department of Agriculture officials say the infected cow was more than 10 years old when it died. Under the previous guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health, known commonly as OIE, the U.S. would have had to wait until 2013 before it could be recognized as a "negligible risk" country. Under the new guidelines, approved Wednesday by unanimous vote, there will be little or no waiting. "For the U.S., this is much better," said Alex Thiermann, an OIE chairman. He also called the new age-based guideline more "realistic."....
Dance returns to dwelling Almost 800 years ago a kiva within the Long House cliff dwelling on Wetherill Mesa served as a dance plaza for the ancestral Puebloan people. Tuesday afternoon, native songs and dance returned with echoes through Rock Canyon in celebration of the park's centennial. A native of the Pueblo of Zia from New Mexico offered a prayer service, and five Ute Mountain Ute tribal members sang, drummed and danced to a long-ago beat during a ceremonial service attended by about 200 people. The honored guest Tuesday was first lady Laura Bush, who spoke about Mesa Verde’s role in America’s cultural heritage. Occupied by Ancient Puebloan people from about 1145 to 1279 A.D., the Long House site features 151 canyon-rock rooms, 21 kivas, a dance floor and storage bins for ceremonial items and foot drums. The mood Tuesday was sunny, yet seemingly solemn, with soothing music from the flute of David Nighteagle. Ravens, swallows and swifts flew the perimeter of the park dwelling prior to and during the ceremony....
Along for the 'Ride' Nine years ago, Fort Worth native Jeff Fraley and Dallas' Harry Lynch made Chasing the Dream, a modest documentary about bull-riding. Most of that film's fans discovered it on video and cable TV, although it did earn some theatrical screenings. Fraley and Lynch kept the film small, in part because it was the first crack they'd ever taken at making a movie. With Ride Around the World, Fraley and Lynch have returned to cowboy culture in a big way -- literally big, as in the oversize IMAX format, but also in the sense of scope. Here, they've gotten out of rodeo arenas and gone around the world to trace the evolution of the cowboy. The cowboy life has changed so little, the filmmakers point out, that the movie doesn't need to journey into the past. From its opening scenes at West Texas' 6666 Ranch (aka "Four Sixes), it jumps to Morocco to film Berber horseman, descendants of the Moorish people who would conquer Spain, which in turn brought the vaquero to New World territories that would become Argentina and Mexico. From there, the vaqueros spread north, bringing their cowboy culture to what would become the western United States....

Thursday, May 25, 2006

FLE

Gonzales's Rationale on Phone Data Disputed Civil liberties lawyers yesterday questioned the legal basis that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales used Tuesday to justify the constitutionality of collecting domestic telephone records as part of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism program. While not confirming a USA Today report May 11 saying the National Security Agency has been collecting phone-call records of millions of Americans, Gonzales said such an activity would not require a court warrant under a 1979 Supreme Court ruling because it involved obtaining "business records." Under the 27-year-old court ruling in Smith v. Maryland , "those kinds of records do not enjoy Fourth Amendment protection," Gonzales said. "There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in those kinds of records," he added. Noting that Congress in 1986 passed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act in reaction to the Smith v. Maryland ruling to require court orders before turning over call records to the government, G. Jack King Jr. of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said Gonzales is correct in saying "the administration isn't violating the Fourth Amendment" but "he's failing to acknowledge that it is breaking" the 1986 law, which requires a court order "with a few very narrow exceptions." Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said, "The government is bound by the laws Congress passes, and when the attorney general doesn't even mention them, it is symptomatic of the government's profound disrespect for the rule of law." Gonzales, in addition to mentioning the Supreme Court case on Tuesday, said there "is a statutory right of privacy" but "with respect to business records there are a multiple number of ways that the government can have access to that information," including issuing national security letters, a type of administrative subpoena....
The Snooping Goes Beyond Phone Calls Furor and confusion over allegations that major phone companies have surrendered customer calling records to the National Security Agency continue to roil Washington. But if AT&T Inc. (T ) and possibly others have turned over records to the NSA, the phone giants represent only one of many commercial sources of personal data that the government seeks to "mine" for evidence of terrorist plots and other threats. The Departments of Justice, State, and Homeland Security spend millions annually to buy commercial databases that track Americans' finances, phone numbers, and biographical information, according to a report last month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Often, the agencies and their contractors don't ensure the data's accuracy, the GAO found. Buying commercially collected data allows the government to dodge certain privacy rules. The Privacy Act of 1974 restricts how federal agencies may use such information and requires disclosure of what the government is doing with it. But the law applies only when the government is doing the data collecting. "Grabbing data wholesale from the private sector is the way agencies are getting around the requirements of the Privacy Act and the Fourth Amendment," says Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington and a member of the Homeland Security Dept.'s Data Privacy & Integrity Advisory Committee. The Justice Dept. alone, which includes the FBI, spent $19 million in fiscal 2005 to obtain commercially gathered names, addresses, phone numbers, and other data, according to the GAO. The Justice Dept. obeys the Privacy Act and "protects information that might personally identify an individual," a spokesman says. Despite the GAO's findings, a Homeland Security spokesman denies that his agency purchases consumer records from private companies. The State Dept. didn't respond to requests for comment....
NSA rejected system that sifted phone data legally The National Security Agency developed a pilot program in the late 1990s that would have enabled it to gather and analyze huge amounts of communications data without running afoul of privacy laws. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, it shelved the project -- not because it failed to work but because of bureaucratic infighting and a sudden White House expansion of the agency's surveillance powers, according to several intelligence officials. The agency opted instead to adopt only one component of the program, which produced a far less capable and rigorous program. It remains the backbone of the NSA's warrantless surveillance efforts, tracking domestic and overseas communications from a vast databank of information, and monitoring selected calls. Four intelligence officials knowledgeable about the program agreed to discuss it with The Sun only if granted anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject. The program the NSA rejected, called ThinThread, was developed to handle greater volumes of information, partly in expectation of threats surrounding the millennium celebrations. Sources say it bundled four cutting-edge surveillance tools. In what intelligence experts describe as rigorous testing of ThinThread in 1998, the project succeeded at each task with high marks. For example, its ability to sort through huge amounts of data to find threat-related communications far surpassed the existing system, sources said. It also was able to rapidly separate and encrypt U.S.-related communications to ensure privacy....
Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut Former AT&T technician Mark Klein is the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit against the telecommunications company, which alleges that AT&T cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic surveillance program. In a public statement Klein issued last month, he described the NSA's visit to an AT&T office. In an older, less-public statement recently acquired by Wired News, Klein goes into additional details of his discovery of an alleged surveillance operation in an AT&T building in San Francisco. Klein supports his claim by attaching excerpts of three internal company documents: a Dec. 10, 2002, manual titled "Study Group 3, LGX/Splitter Wiring, San Francisco," a Jan. 13, 2003, document titled "SIMS, Splitter Cut-In and Test Procedure" and a second "Cut-In and Test Procedure" dated Jan. 24, 2003. Here we present Klein's statement in its entirety, with inline links to all of the document excerpts where he cited them. You can also download the complete file here (pdf). The full AT&T documents are filed under seal in federal court in San Francisco....
LISTENING IN A few days before the start of the confirmation hearings for General Michael Hayden, who has been nominated by President Bush to be the head of the C.I.A., I spoke to an official of the National Security Agency who recently retired. The official joined the N.S.A. in the mid-nineteen-seventies, soon after contentious congressional hearings that redefined the relationship between national security and the public’s right to privacy. The hearings, which revealed that, among other abuses, the N.S.A. had illegally intercepted telegrams to and from the United States, led to the passage of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to protect citizens from unlawful surveillance. “When I first came in, I heard from all my elders that ‘we’ll never be able to collect intelligence again,’” the former official said. “They’d whine, ‘Why do we have to report to oversight committees?’ ” But, over the next few years, he told me, the agency did find a way to operate within the law. “We built a system that protected national security and left people able to go home at night without worrying whether what they did that day was appropriate or legal.” After the attacks of September 11, 2001, it was clear that the intelligence community needed to get more aggressive and improve its performance. The Administration, deciding on a quick fix, returned to the tactic that got intelligence agencies in trouble thirty years ago: intercepting large numbers of electronic communications made by Americans. The N.S.A.’s carefully constructed rules were set aside. Last December, the Times reported that the N.S.A. was listening in on calls between people in the United States and people in other countries, and a few weeks ago USA Today reported that the agency was collecting information on millions of private domestic calls. A security consultant working with a major telecommunications carrier told me that his client set up a top-secret high-speed circuit between its main computer complex and Quantico, Virginia, the site of a government-intelligence computer center. This link provided direct access to the carrier’s network core—the critical area of its system, where all its data are stored. “What the companies are doing is worse than turning over records,” the consultant said. “They’re providing total access to all the data.”....
Gonzales: U.S. could track reporters' phone calls Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday he believes journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information, citing an obligation to national security. The nation's top law enforcer also said the government will not hesitate to track telephone calls made by reporters as part of a criminal leak investigation, but officials would not do so routinely and randomly. "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," Gonzales said, referring to prosecutions. "We have an obligation to enforce those laws. We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected." In recent months, journalists have been called into court to testify as part of investigations into leaks, including the unauthorized disclosure of a CIA operative's name as well as the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said she presumed that Gonzales was referring to the 1917 Espionage Act, which she said has never been interpreted to prosecute journalists who were providing information to the public....
Bush's 'Big Brother' Blunder George W. Bush’s warrantless phone data collection may not only violate the U.S. Constitution but expend so much money and manpower that America is made less safe – by diverting resources away from more practical steps, like inspecting cargo and hiring translators. Yet, because the operation is wrapped in layers and layers of secrecy – based on the dubious argument that al-Qaeda might not realize it’s being spied on – the public doesn’t know how much the project costs, who’s getting contracts and whether it does any good. So far, however, what administration officials and computer experts have been willing to describe shouldn’t give Americans much confidence that their trade-off of Fourth Amendment freedoms for a little extra safety is a particularly good deal. The project’s designers say the National Security Agency’s electronic warehousing of trillions of phone records from calls made by some 200 million Americans is intended to seek out “patterns” from conversations involving alleged terrorists and then to apply the digital outline to the stockpiled records. That search, presumably, then spits out the phone numbers of other callers in the United States who fit into the “patterns.” These computer-generated tips then go to the FBI, which may question the suspects or use other investigative strategies. There are, however, logical flaws to this “Big Brother” computer scheme, especially the idea that the project is likely to discern many usable “patterns” of phone calls that if applied to the population would detect much suspicious activity. The 9/11 hijackers, for instance, made very few substantive calls about their plot, recognizing the risk of electronic surveillance and preferring face-to-face meetings as a way to avoid detection, according to the 9/11 Commission Report....
F.B.I. Missed Many 'Red Flags' on Key Informer, Review Finds A Justice Department review released Wednesday found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation missed numerous "red flags" indicating that one of its own informants might be a longtime Chinese spy. The report urged broader changes at the F.B.I. in its handling of informants to prevent security breaches. As early as 1987, senior officials at the F.B.I. received word that Katrina Leung, a prominent Chinese-American businesswoman in Los Angeles who was also a bureau informant, might have had unauthorized contacts with Chinese officials, according to the review, conducted by the Justice Department inspector general's office. Despite warning signs through the 1990's, the F.B.I. continued using her as one of its most highly paid informants, paying her a total of $1.7 million, the report found. It was not until 2001 that the F.B.I. began actively investigating the possibility that Ms. Leung might be spying for China. That investigation also showed that she and her F.B.I. "handler" in Los Angeles, a veteran agent named James J. Smith, had been having a secret affair for 18 years. Mr. Smith, now retired from the F.B.I., pleaded guilty in 2004 to a charge of lying about their affair, and he received a $10,000 fine and probation. Ms. Leung, meanwhile, originally faced espionage-related charges for the unauthorized possession and copying of classified materials — which prosecutors charged she had taken surreptitiously from Mr. Smith's briefcase during their visits together. But a Los Angeles judge threw out the charges last year because of prosecutorial misconduct, and Ms. Leung ultimately agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges of lying to the government and making a false tax return. Like Mr. Smith, she also received probation and a $10,000 fine....
Hastert tells President Bush FBI raid was unconstitutional House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) told President Bush yesterday that he is concerned the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) congressional office over the weekend was a direct violation of the Constitution. Hastert raised concerns that the FBI’s unannounced seizure of congressional documents during a raid of Jefferson’s Rayburn office Saturday night violated the separation of powers between the two branches of government as they are defined by the Constitution. “The Speaker spoke candidly with the president about the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s raid over the weekend,” Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said yesterday in confirming his boss’s remarks. Hastert told reporters yesterday that he understands the reasons for the investigation but objected to the manner in which the raid was conducted. “My opinion is they took the wrong path,” Hastert said. “They need to back up, and we need to go from there.” Republican objections are independent of any facts in the corruption probe against Jefferson. Their complaints pertain solely to constitutional questions about the raid itself....
Man Killed by Air Marshals Was Shot 11 Times The federal air marshals who killed a mentally ill man at Miami International Airport in December shot him numerous times, according to an autopsy report released a day after state prosecutors declared the shooting "legally justified" and said no criminal charges would be filed. The autopsy, by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department, found that the man, Rigoberto Alpizar of Maitland, Fla., had been wounded 11 times — in the chest, abdomen, shoulder, hand, wrist and forearm. It was the first case of an air marshal opening fire since marshals became a common presence on flights after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Mr. Alpizar, 44, frantically ran off his American Airlines flight before it was to depart for Orlando on Dec. 7, his backpack strapped to his chest. Law enforcement officials said at the time that the marshals fired on Mr. Alpizar because he claimed to have a bomb, but refused to provide details. In a report released Tuesday, the state attorney's office said both air marshals heard Mr. Alpizar yell that he had a bomb as he ran onto the jetway....
Voice Encryption May Draw U.S. Scrutiny Philip R. Zimmermann wants to protect online privacy. Who could object to that? He has found out once already. Trained as a computer scientist, he developed a program in 1991 called Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, for scrambling and unscrambling e-mail messages. It won a following among privacy rights advocates and human rights groups working overseas — and a three-year federal criminal investigation into whether he had violated export restrictions on cryptographic software. The case was dropped in 1996, and Mr. Zimmermann, who lives in Menlo Park, Calif., started PGP Inc. to sell his software commercially. Now he is again inviting government scrutiny. On Sunday, he released a free Windows software program, Zfone, that encrypts a computer-to-computer voice conversation so both parties can be confident that no one is listening in. It became available earlier this year to Macintosh and Linux users of the system known as voice-over-Internet protocol, or VoIP. What sets Zfone apart from comparable systems is that it does not require a web of computers to hold the keys, or long numbers, used in most encryption schemes. Instead, it performs the key exchange inside the digital voice channel while the call is being set up, so no third party has the keys. Zfone's introduction comes as reports continue to emerge about the government's electronic surveillance efforts. A lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights group, contends that AT&T has given the National Security Agency real-time access to Internet communications. In the wake of 9/11, there were calls for the government to institute new barriers to cryptography, to avoid its use in communications by enemies of the United States. Easily accessible cryptography for Internet calling may intensify that debate....
Air Marshal Says He Faced Retaliation for Bringing Up Security Issues The head of a group of Federal Air Marshals says the service is badly broken. "Right now we cannot protect the public," says Frank Terreri, an active duty air marshal who represents a group of 1,500 air marshals. "And not because we're not proficient, not that we're not capable, it's because federal air marshal management, along with the Department of Homeland Security, won't let us do our jobs." Terreri says air marshals are not able to work undercover because check-in and boarding procedures at airports make it impossible for air marshals to maintain their anonymity: "We're supposed to be undercover. But basically when everybody knows who you are, you're just the guys on the plane with the gun. Either they're gonna avoid you or overcome you, you're at a severe disadvantage." Terreri has spent three years trying to get the air marshals management to address these issues with no response. Instead he says they've retaliated against him, with four separate investigations, including one for misuse of his business card. "The items that he was being accused of were so surreal that they were obviously intending to terrorize the other air marshals into silence," says Tom Devine, an attorney with the Government Accountability Project. The project has petitioned the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to open an investigation into Terreri's allegations....
FBI Agents Rebel Over Mandatory Transfers The FBI's storied workforce is being dismantled and reassembled as Director Robert S. Mueller III tries to overhaul the hidebound agency. The result is a culture war between old and new, and older agents are rebelling. Among the disaffected are hundreds of agents in field offices around the country who are suddenly facing forced transfers to FBI headquarters. Many, including Michael Clark, are leaving. For 23 years, Clark was a loyal FBI man, rising to supervise a squad of agents in Connecticut working corporate fraud and public corruption cases. He helped send a former governor to prison. But then the FBI told him he had to move to Washington, and he found out his loyalty ran only so deep. Now a casualty of an agency that has become a construction zone, Clark is working for Otis Elevator Co. The agents argue that the upheaval is counterproductive. They say they have spent years cultivating contacts and relationships with state and local officials, which are not easily replaced. Middle managers, such as squad leaders and desk supervisors, often form the institutional memory of the bureau's 56 field offices. "Nobody is happy about it," said Clark, who recently left the bureau for the top security and investigative job at Otis. "You are going to lose a ton of experience." FBI agents long have fled for greener pastures, propelled by a pension system that allows them to retire with full benefits at 50 and offers little incentive to stay longer. High corporate demand for their skills since the Sept. 11 attacks has further swelled the ranks of retirees....
Arrest of illegals falls off Clinton pace The U.S. Border Patrol increased at a faster rate and apprehended more illegal aliens per year under President Clinton than under President Bush, according to statistics from a new, unpublished congressional research briefing report. Mr. Bush trails his predecessor on a series of measures of border security, says the briefing from the Congressional Research Service to the House Judiciary Committee, which was based on Department of Homeland Security data. Mr. Clinton increased the number of Border Patrol agents and pilots by 126 percent over his eight-year term, or an average of 642 per year, while Mr. Bush has averaged 411 new agents per year through 2005, for a total increase of 22.3 percent over his tenure. Although Mr. Bush last week said his administration has caught and returned 6 million illegal aliens, that's actually a drop from any five-year period during Mr. Clinton's administration, the briefing says. Meanwhile, the number of alien absconders has grown by more than 200,000 during Mr. Bush's term, reaching 536,644 in fiscal 2005; the number of completed fraud cases has dropped; and, until recently, detention beds hovered at or below the level Mr. Bush inherited from Mr. Clinton in 2001. "The sense of urgency that comes with deploying the National Guard is belied by the administration's consistent opposition to providing the necessary resources that our border security agencies need to do their jobs," said Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee....
Lack of prosecutions demoralizing Border Patrol The vast majority of people caught smuggling immigrants across the border near San Diego are never prosecuted for the offense, demoralizing the Border Patrol agents making the arrests, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press. “It is very difficult to keep agents' morale up when the laws they were told to uphold are being watered-down or not prosecuted,” the report says. The report offers a stark assessment of the situation at a Border Patrol station responsible for guarding 13 miles of mountainous border east of the city. Federal officials say it reflects a reality along the entire 2,000-mile border: Judges and federal attorneys are so swamped that only the most egregious smuggling cases are prosecuted. Only 6 percent of 289 suspected immigrant smugglers were prosecuted by the federal government for that offense in the year ending in September 2004, according to the report. Some were instead prosecuted for another crime. Other cases were declined by federal prosecutors, or the suspect was released by the Border Patrol. The report raises doubts about the value of tightening security along the Mexican border. President Bush wants to hire 6,000 more Border Patrol agents and dispatch up to 6,000 National Guardsmen. He did not mention overburdened courts in his Oval Office address Monday on immigration. The report was provided to the AP by the office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has accused the chief federal prosecutor in San Diego of being lax on smuggling cases. Issa's office said it was an internal Border Patrol report written last August. It was unclear who wrote it. The lack of prosecutions is “demoralizing the agents and making a joke out of our system of justice,” said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents agents. “It is certainly a weak link in our immigration-enforcement chain.”....
Virtual Wall Rises in U.S. Desert In the wee hours on April 25, a Predator B drone crashed into the desert floor near Tucson, Arizona, temporarily grounding one of the most expensive high-tech programs yet deployed in a burgeoning "virtual wall" that's taking shape on the U.S.-Mexico border. Since its launch in September 2005, the unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, had helped the U.S. Border Patrol capture 1,700 illegal immigrants attempting a crossing in the area, according to the agency, which is eager to replace the $14 million aircraft. It won't have long to wait. On Monday, President Bush vowed to bolster efforts to stem illegal immigration, including calling up some 6,000 National Guardsmen to assist the Border Patrol along the Mexico border. In addition, he signaled increased spending on technological measures aimed at monitoring high-traffic crossings like the one in Tucson. The U.S. Border Patrol already employs a host of devices to spot, track and apprehend potential migrants, human traffickers, drug smugglers and terrorists. They include drones like the one that crashed last month, video-surveillance cameras, motion sensors and X-ray and gamma-imaging equipment. The division utilizes the majority of its resources along the southern border with Mexico, particularly within the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. It covers the desolate stretch of Arizona desert that has become the passage of choice for illegal crossers since the mid-1990s. Proponents of the virtual wall proposal, including Department of Homeland Security, say more investment is needed in all of the above technologies, with the possible addition of military technologies like satellite imaging....
Marine's shooting of youth still haunts border The family of a youth killed nine years ago today as he shepherded goats and a member of the Marine patrol that shot him aren't ready to meet, but agree their lives were forever joined and marred by the volatility that comes with deploying soldiers to help protect the nation's border with Mexico. As the Bush administration prepares to deploy 6,000 National Guardsmen to fight undocumented immigration, a cross on the edge of this rugged West Texas village stands as a reminder of how terribly wrong things can go. Federal officials have been imprecise in saying how the Guardsmen will be used, other than to say they will act in an array of support capacities. However, there's shared concern by those involved in the 1997 incident that if they aren't kept behind desks, lives may be at risk. "It is one shot, one kill," said former Marine Ronald Wieler, who was a member of the four-man surveillance mission. "It was instinct; if you are in the military and you are shot at, you are going to return fire," he said from his home in Michigan. Margarito Hernández tends the grave of his brother Esequiel Hernández Jr. A headstone marks the grave of Esequiel Hernández Jr., who was shot to death on the border near Redford by a U.S. Marine nine years ago. Wieler, 30, said he would prefer the government wait and send in new Border Patrol agents rather than soldiers trained for war. "It is not right," Wieler said of crossing combat training with American communities. "You have to follow civilian regulations, it is a whole new ball game." A white, angle iron cross marks the spot in the Big Bend country where on May 20, 1997, Esequiel Hernández Jr. 18, was killed. "You can't forget, you never forget," said his brother Margarito Hernández, who's now a police officer and has a son he named for Esequiel....