NEWS ROUNDUP

Eminent-domain hearing in limbo The status of a Dec. 22 hearing over the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's request to use eminent domain for an expansion project was uncertain Monday after DM&E asked for a different hearing examiner. The South Dakota Transportation Commission had scheduled the hearing in Pierre to determine whether the rail line can use the legal procedure to gain the right to cross private land for its proposed $6 billion expansion to haul coal from Wyoming. Bill Nevin, the attorney for the state Department of Transportation, said the attorney for DM&E recused the hearing examiner who was assigned to conduct the hearing. He said DM&E did not have to give a reason for its request. "As a result of that, a new hearing examiner will need to be appointed. I expect that will probably happen by tomorrow," Nevin said late Monday afternoon. Bill Janklow, the lawyer for some landowners, sent motions to the Transportation Commission asking that his clients be allowed to intervene and that the hearing be postponed. "The motion for continuance is pending," Nevin said. "I assume the hearing examiner will take that up in the near future." DM&E wants to rebuild 600 miles of track across South Dakota and Minnesota and add 260 miles of new track to Wyoming in order to haul low-sulfur coal eastward to power plants....
Ranching interests push for eminent domain law reform After working with the oil and gas industry on a compromise bill to reform Wyoming's eminent domain law, the Wyoming Stock Growers and Wool Growers associations say now they'll lobby for more sweeping reforms. "Eminent domain is just an incredibly personal issue to ranchers because it can be life or death," said Ogden Driskill, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association's regional vice president for northeast Wyoming. Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said among other things, the two groups would push for a "public benefit" test to determine whether eminent domain actions for private uses would truly benefit the public, "which should not include minimizing corporate cost or streamlining permitting," according to the joint resolution. The move comes after some members of the ranching groups complained about the compromise bill, which was drafted with input from the Stock Growers and Wool Growers, along with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, the Wyoming Farm Bureau and others....
New Mexico's Big Bucks ohn Crist, a cattle rancher from the rolling plains near Yeso, N.M., is a rabid mule deer hunter, as the trophies on his wall can attest. While he and his brother, Cary, have spent some time chasing big mulies in the Land of Enchantment's high country, most of his success with antlered quarry has been in country that seems more conducive to antelope and jackrabbits -- at least at first glance. Take the giant buck that Crist tagged in fall 2002 while hunting with his friend and neighbor, Coy Wilson. After watching -- through several hit-and-miss sightings scattered over a couple years -- a ghostly buck grow from being a good mulie into a great one, Crist and Wilson were hunting one afternoon when they found themselves looking at the trophy buck of several lifetimes. After failing to connect on the first shot opportunity -- Hey, I'd miss too if I were shooting at a massive 6x6 buck with a 36-inch spread! -- Crist was able to get into position to touch off a lethal shot that anchored the mule deer for good as it attempted to elude the hunters in an isolated ravine....
A Radical Change: The Satya Interview with Rod Coronado On March 24, 2004, long-time earth and animal liberation activist Rod Coronado was arrested for his involvement in an Earth First! campaign against the killing and removal of mountain lions in the Sabino Canyon recreation area outside Tuscan, AZ, an area usually closed to hunting. In December 2005 he was found guilty of “conspiring to impede or injure an officer of the U.S.,” a felony, “interference with a U.S. Forest Service Officer,” and “aiding and abetting the depredation of government property,” both misdemeanors. On August 7, 2006 Rod was sentenced to eight months in federal prison and three years of supervised release (probation) in which he is forbidden to write, publish or speak about the animal and earth liberation fronts, Earth First!, or encourage illegal activities practiced by those groups. While serving his federal sentence, Rod Coronado shared with Sangamithra Iyerhis thoughts on recent animal enterprise terrorism legislation, his changing perspectives on direct action, and the magic of Harry Potter. Can you talk a bit about the Sabino Canyon case? The depredation of government property stems from the alleged destruction of a mountain lion snare set in the canyon by a federal lion hunter. The trap was never damaged, only sprung, but that never came out in court. Our efforts were very public, and I served as spokesperson for the people who represented the lions. When all legal measures to stop the hunt were exhausted, AZ Earth First! was contacted by the Center for Biological Diversity to help intervene as we were the only group opposing these trophy hunts authorized by Arizona Fish and Game. I was arrested in Sabino Canyon along with a reporter from Esquire magazine after being chased by a helicopter and cornered by federal and state officers. We had succeeded in stopping that hunt, but learned in our trial that after media attention died down, hunters returned to the area killing four lions and capturing more....
Roundup opposed Ken and Jennifer Foster of Hesperia are battling to save a herd of wild burros that roam freely on the lower slopes of Clark Mountain in the eastern Mojave Desert. They are among a group of animal-rights advocates opposing a plan by a federal agency to capture as many as 150 burros in a proposed helicopter-assisted roundup Jan. 19. The plan is to put the burros up for adoption as pets. Three federal agencies are involved in the decision to remove the burros from land controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management: the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and the BLM. Neither the Park Service nor Fish and Wildlife want the burros. They are banned from the national parks because they are not native and compete with native creatures for survival. Fish and Wildlife says they compete with the endangered desert tortoise....
Wilderness groups fight White River drilling plan Environmentalists and outfitters are asking the Bureau of Land Management to shelve a proposed gas drilling project near the White River in eastern Utah. A Denver-based firm, Enduring Resources, has proposed drilling more than 50 natural gas wells on federal and state land just south of the river, an area that the BLM identified in 1999 as having wilderness characteristics. Foes of the project claim that such intensive activity so close to the river would spoil what is now a largely pristine area. And they point to more than 30,000 public comments objecting to the company's proposal as evidence of broad-based opposition. "It's a bad project," said Steve Bloch, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "And it's bad because it's in such a sensitive location and because the BLM's own literature touts how quiet this place is and how it offers unique opportunities for river recreation and hiking. Quite frankly, you don't find places like this anymore in southeastern Utah." SUWA and the Outdoor Industry Association - which represents outfitters and retailers - have asked the BLM, which is currently in the midst of an environmental assessment of the project, to do a full-blown environmental impact study (EIS)....
BLM to offer 32,125 acres in February energy lease sale Many of the parcels on the block in a February sale of federal energy leases in Colorado involve private landowners, according to a list released Monday by the Bureau of Land Management. Thirty-three of the 49 parcels covering a total of 32,125 acres are on split estate, which means the surface land is private and the oil and gas underneath are owned by the federal government. The Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management will offer the oil and gas leases Feb. 8. Companies that buy or lease the minerals from the federal government or private landowners have the right to extract the minerals despite who owns the surface....
New proposal would let GMUG manage lightning-caused fires Earlier this month the Grand Mesa, Gunnison and Uncompahgre National Forest released a proposal that would allow it to use wildland fire as a resource management tool. The proposal would change the Forest Service’s current policy of automatically suppressing all wildland fires and allow the agency to consider letting lightning-ignited fires burn for management purposes. It would allow its use under certain conditions and designate 1.9 million acres, or two-thirds of the GMUG, as suitable. The use of wildland fire in certain instances “will help to improve forest health and ecosystem function, and will enhance wildlife habitat, species diversity and range and watershed condition,” according to the proposal. The assessment declares the forest near urban areas, sensitive watersheds, important wildlife habitat or areas designated for timber harvest as generally not suitable for the practice....
Study questions the 'biodiversity hotspot' approach to wildlife conservation n recent years, major international conservation groups have focused their limited resources on protecting a small number of "biodiversity hotspots"-threatened habitats that are home to many of the world's rarest plants and animals. But a handful of protected areas will not be sufficient to save the countless species of plants and animals facing extinction worldwide, according to a new study by scientists from Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Writing in the Dec. 15 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers say that it's time for ecologists to reconsider the hotspot approach to conservation. "Hotspots, which have played a central role in the selection of sites for reserves, require careful re-thinking," wrote Gerardo Ceballos, professor of ecology at UNAM, and Paul R. Ehrlich, the Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford, co-authors of the PNAS study. "Assigning global conservation priorities based on hotspots is at best a limited strategy." The idea of funneling resources into biodiversity hotspots was proposed in 1988 and quickly adopted by Conservation International and other leading environmental groups. "Few topics in conservation biology have received as much attention as hotspots of species diversity," Ceballos and Ehrlich wrote. "Hotspots have been widely used to determine priority areas for conservation at different geographic scales and in recommending concentrating resources in those regions to maximize the number of protected species."....
Law ensures snowmobile use in YNP this season A new law will ensure snowmobile use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks this winter season. The language was inserted by Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., into a bill that keeps the government running until Feb. 15 and was signed by President Bush Saturday. It puts into law the current National Park Service plan, which allows 720 snowmobiles per day to enter Yellowstone and 140 snowmobiles a day to enter Grand Teton and the road connecting the two parks. The law will expire Feb. 15. ‘‘With the winter-use season upon us, it was imperative that we give some certainty for visitors and concessionaires about winter activities in our parks,’’ Thomas said. Conservationists have criticized snowmobile use in the parks for the noise and air pollution they cause. The Park Service is currently working on a final plan for snowmobile use; in November, the agency proposed a draft final plan maintaining the temporary limits, which have been in place for the last two winters....
Huge Crowd for 2nd Grand Canyon Permit Lottery Grand Canyon National Park has just completed a noncommercial Followup Permit Lottery for the 2007 calendar year to raft the Colorado River in the park. The Followup Lottery ran from November 27 through December 4, 2006. The Followup Lottery had 45 available launch dates, thirty-one of which were in the January and February or the November and December time periods of 2007. The dates offered were still open from the first lottery held on October 23, 2006, and were a mix of trip dates that were not taken, forfeited or otherwise not filled in the first lottery. According to the National Park Service, there were 1038 applicants for the 45 Followup dates, resulting in a 1 in 23 chance of winning. The initial 2007 lottery had 2,534 applications in the lottery for 197 dates, or a 1 in 13 chance of winning. The astonishing rise in the proportion of applicants to number of dates may be an indicator of river runners learning about the lottery scheme too late for the initial one. As with October’s lottery, the Followup was fraught with computer errors. Baffled losers from the initial lottery who signed up online for the Followup were greeted with the erroneous message "you are already on a trip this year" when they attempted to enter....
Houseboats stay afloat in Big Thicket His back warmed by the midday sun reflecting off the Neches River, Kenneth Byrum, 66, adjusts the rim of his white cowboy hat and leans against the wooden handrail on the deck of his houseboat. Shrimp stuffed in jalapeno peppers and wrapped in bacon smoke next to him on a grill he welded from a 14-inch-steel pipe. Byrum shares his bend in the river three miles north of U.S. 96 in the Jack Gore Baygall Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve with four other houseboats. On summer nights, the neighbors drift from house to house, enjoying barbecue and each others' company. It is a scene that has played out along the banks of the Neches for more than a century. Since the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve in 1974, houseboats have straddled the law. They are in violation of a score of laws regarding structures and campsites within a national preserve or park, but no federal agent has enforced the laws prohibiting the floating homes. "The park service is scared of those people, and they are going to be afraid of anything that is going to make them mad," she said of the houseboat owners, mostly locals with multi-generation family histories rooted in the Big Thicket. "And (the locals) have their way of getting back at things they don't like."....
Eagles' new nest tree puts new twist on debate Biologists have predicted for years that a dead and decaying pine tree near Wiggins Pass is on its last legs as a suitable host for nesting bald eagles. Now it seems the eagles have finally agreed, building a new nest in a new tree — and flying into a new face-off with Signature Communities, which wants to build five high-rise condominium towers northwest of Wiggins Pass Road and Vanderbilt Drive. In 2005, Collier County commissioners refused to follow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's lead and loosen bald eagle protection rules around the old nest tree. Landowner Lodge Abbott Associates LLC sued the county in circuit court and filed a $285 million property rights claim against the county. Commissioners are set today to vote on a proposed settlement of the claim under the state's Bert J. Harris Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act. As if on cue, the eagles have put a new twist on the vote by abandoning the old nest tree and instead building a new nest in a tall live pine tree some 1,000 feet northwest of the old nest tree, according to county monitors....
Waiting For the Fight to Finish Mining is nothing new in Soledad Canyon. It's been going on for decades upon decades. It's still going on in some spots. That hasn't stopped city officials from unequivocally opposing for years a sand and gravel mine planned on the Santa Clarita's outskirts, at a site home to mining operations since the mid-20th century. Millions in taxpayer dollars have been shelled out for legal fees, community meetings have been held, a national coalition has been formed, billboards have been posted in Canyon Country - all with the express purpose of keeping Cemex Inc. from setting up shop in 2008. The city owns the roughly 900 acres near the intersection of Highway 14 and Soledad Canyon Road that includes the 434-acre Cemex site. It was purchased two years ago for more than $2 million. Cemex, however, has federally-granted mining permits for the underlying minerals. The third largest cement company in the world, they've planned on producing 56 million tons of aggregate over 20 years at the quarry....
Agency ends tribes' bison role Federal wildlife managers abruptly canceled an interim plan that has allowed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes a role in managing the National Bison Range in northwestern Montana, a tribal official said Monday. Tribal spokesman Rob McDonald said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the Salish-Kootenai it was revoking the agreement immediately, citing concerns over tribal ability to do the work. The agency also told the tribes it would not move forward with negotiations for a permanent management agreement. "Apparently it means the tribes are out," McDonald said. The Fish and Wildlife Service said it is terminating the joint management plan "effective immediately." "The performance of the tribes under the annual funding agreement, their execution of the work for which we are paying them, is insufficient," agency spokesman Matt Kales said....
Farm Organizations Resolve to Continue Fight Against Misuse of Superfund Farmers for Clean Air & Water, a broad coalition of the nation's leading farm organizations, today expressed disappointment that a bipartisan bill to protect the nation's farmers and ranchers against inappropriate, damaging lawsuits was not included in legislation cleared in the final days of the 109th Congress. The bill would have clarified that the severe liability provisions of the 1980 Superfund law designed to clean up abandoned industrial waste sites like Love Canal should not be used to penalize the nation's farmers for the animal manure on their farms. "Though the effort fell short in the final days before adjournment, the coalition's member organizations appreciate the strong support of 192 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 36 in the Senate for this rapidly building effort to protect farmers and ranchers from attempts to misapply CERCLA and EPCRA (see NOTE-1) to manure," the coalition said in a statement. Animal manure is already regulated under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and other federal and state laws. "Unless this is clarified, America's farmers could be faced with penalties of millions of dollars just for having farm animals on their land," according to the coalition....
Brazil's cattle ranchers are embracing change Brazil's herd, conservatively estimated at 170 million head (the nation's beef export association figures 204 million), is the world's largest - there are about 97 million U.S. beef cattle - and there is every indication that Brazilians like De Muzio will make it an even bigger ranching country. In 2004, Brazil became the world's largest beef exporter by volume, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Disease, sanitary issues at slaughter plants, and the sale of lower-priced cuts account for why it still trails Australia in export value. Incidences of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease in some parts of Brazil prevent exports of fresh, chilled and frozen beef to some key markets, including the U.S. and Japan. But with exports to 150 other countries, "losing a few hasn't had a discernible impact on the numbers," says Steve Kay of Cattle Buyers Weekly, based in Petaluma, Calif. Russia and 55 other countries stopped imports from Brazilian states affected by foot-and-mouth disease last December but removed the ban on major producing states like Mato Grosso deemed clear of the infection in August. Nonetheless, Brazil's exports from January through September 2006 rose 17.6 percent in cash value and 3.8 percent in volume compared with a year earlier, according to the Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association....
Despite current woes, Brazil seen as U.S. farm rival Collectively, Cerrado producers aim to make Brazil the farming counterpart to what China is to manufactured consumer goods. Burgeoning Chinese demand for soybeans and cotton helped Brazil achieve the biggest agro-food trade surplus in the world last year, $27.5 billion. And despite an economic downturn that has hit many farmers in the past 18 months, there's no denying the lasting progress. The United States, although still the largest soybean producer, lost its place as the top exporter for the first time when it was surpassed by Brazil, the U.S. Agriculture Department estimated in February. With 170 million, Brazil has the world's largest beef cattle herd and became the No. 1 beef exporter in 2004. It's also the leading international supplier of coffee, orange juice, sugar, ethanol, tobacco and chicken. Pork might not be too far down the road, officials say. Brazil ranks fourth in cotton exports. Overall, the value of the country's agricultural exports has grown 20 percent a year since 2000, according to the USDA. "Should Brazil Give You Heartburn?" asks a sobering PowerPoint presentation by the Iowa Farm Bureau, detailing the country's runaway expansion. To many American producers, the answer could be a yes....