NEWS ROUNDUP

10 years to save the planet A NEW worldwide movement backed by celebrities, musicians, politicians and business leaders is aiming to reverse the effects of global warming over the next decade. Global Cool launched in London and LA today and is calling on one billion people to reduce their carbon emissions by just one tonne a year, for the next 10 years. Boffins have found the climatic tipping point - when the climate becomes irreversibly damaged - can be turned back if global CO2 emissions are reduced by one billion tonnes a year. Campaigners then hope cleaner, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, water and hydrogen would have been developed. Big names including Leonardo Di Caprio, Orlando Bloom, KT Tunstall, Pink, The Killers, Razorlight and Josh Hartnett have thrown their weight behind the worldwide effort to beat climate change....
Waxman Seeks Climate Inquiry Evidence The Democratic chairman of a House panel examining the government's response to climate change said Tuesday there is evidence that senior Bush administration officials sought repeatedly "to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming." Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said he and the top Republican on his oversight committee, Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, have sought documents from the administration on climate policy, but repeatedly been rebuffed. "The committee isn't trying to obtain state secrets or documents that could affect our immediate national security," said Waxman, opening the hearing. "We are simply seeking answers to whether the White House's political staff is inappropriately censoring impartial government scientists." "We know that the White House possesses documents that contain evidence of an attempt by senior administration officials to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming and minimize the potential danger," Waxman said....
U.N. agency pressures Ban on climate crisis summit The U.N. environment agency pressured Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday to call an emergency climate summit amid dire reports about the risks from global warming. A summit, tentatively planned for September, would focus on the hunt for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gases widely blamed for forecasts of more heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising sea levels. U.N. environment agencies are lobbying Ban to play a leading role in helping governments battle climate change after Kyoto expires in 2012. But he stopped short on Tuesday of endorsing his officials' proposal for a summit of some 20 key leaders. On Friday, the broadest scientific study of the human effect on the climate is set to conclude there is at least a 90 percent chance that human activities, mainly burning fossil fuels, are to blame for most of the warming in the last 50 years....
Survey shows 13 pct of Americans never heard of global warming Thirteen percent of Americans have never heard of global warming even though their country is the world's top source of greenhouse gases, a 46-country survey showed on Monday. The report, by ACNielsen of more than 25,000 Internet users, showed that 57 percent of people around the world considered global warming a "very serious problem" and a further 34 percent rated it a "serious problem." "It has taken extreme and life-threatening weather patterns to finally drive the message home that global warming is happening and is here to stay unless a concerted, global effort is made to reverse it," said Patrick Dodd, the President of ACNielsen Europe. People in Latin America were most worried while U.S. citizens were least concerned with just 42 percent rating global warming "very serious." The United States emits about a quarter of all greenhouse gases, the biggest emitter ahead of China, Russia and India. Thirteen percent of U.S. citizens said they had never heard or read anything about global warming, the survey said....
Two New Books Confirm Global Warming Is Natural, Moderate Two powerful new books say today's global warming is due not to human activity but primarily to a long, moderate solar-linked cycle. "Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years," by physicist Fred Singer and economist Dennis Avery was released just before Christmas. "The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change," by Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark and former BBC science writer Nigel Calder (Icon Books), is due out in March. Singer and Avery note that most of the earth's recent warming occurred before 1940, and thus before much human-emitted CO2. Moreover, physical evidence shows 600 moderate warmings in the earth's last million years. The evidence ranges from ancient Nile flood records, Chinese court documents and Roman wine grapes to modern spectral analysis of polar ice cores, deep seabed sediments and layered cave stalagmites. "Unstoppable Global Warming" shows the earth's temperatures following variations in solar intensity through centuries of sunspot records, and finds cycles of sun-linked isotopes in ice and tree rings. The book cites the work of Svensmark, who says cosmic rays vary the earth's temperatures by creating more or fewer of the low, wet clouds that cool the earth. It notes that global climate models can't accurately register cloud effects....
California may ban conventional lightbulbs by 2012 A California lawmaker wants to make his state the first to ban incandescent lightbulbs as part of California's groundbreaking initiatives to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" would ban incandescent lightbulbs by 2012 in favor of energy-saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs. "Incandescent lightbulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago, and since that time they have undergone no major modifications," California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine said on Tuesday. "Meanwhile, they remain incredibly inefficient, converting only about 5 percent of the energy they receive into light." Levine is expected to introduce the legislation this week, his office said....
Eiffel Tower to switch off lights as scientists finish major report on global warming Even the Eiffel Tower is out to save the planet. On Thursday evening, as scientists and officials put finishing touches on a long-awaited report about global warming, the Paris landmark will switch off its 20,000 flashing light bulbs that run up and down the tower and illuminate the French capital's skyline. The Eiffel Tower's lights account for about 9 percent of the monument's total energy consumption of 7,000 megawatt-hours per year. The five-minute blackout comes at the urging of environmental activists seeking to call attention to energy waste _ and just hours before world scientists on Friday unveil a major report Friday warning that the planet will keep getting warmer and presenting new evidence of humans' role in climate change. Environmental groups are seeking to take advantage of the worldwide attention on the meetings in Paris this week of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel will release a report laying out policy proposals for governments based on the latest research on global warming....
The Humane Society Becomes a Political Animal Many people may consider the Humane Society of the United States a pussycat. But with 10 million donors and a $120 million budget, it is becoming a tiger among Washington's interest groups. Just ask Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.). Actually, make that former governor and then-representative. The Humane Society targeted both in last year's elections after Ehrlich supported bear hunting and Pombo supported commercial whaling and trapping in wildlife refuges. The society also spent lavishly to help pass an initiative in Arizona, fought by agribusiness, that bans inhumane factory farming. And it bested the National Rifle Association on a measure that prohibits the shooting of mourning doves for sport in Michigan. "They are a worthy opponent," said Andrew Arulanandam of the NRA. "They certainly have a lot of backers with deep pockets." "They keep us on our toes," agreed Kelli Ludlum of the American Farm Bureau Federation. "We need all of our members to counter their growing effectiveness."....
Huntsman tables roadless forest petition Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on Monday told a group of outdoor recreation executives that he was at least temporarily shelving the state's roadless forest petition because of legal uncertainties regarding the issue. Since last year, the governor's office has been crafting a petition that would establish new management guidelines for Utah's nearly 4 million acres of inventoried roadless forest. The petition process was created by the Bush administration in 2005 to replace the Clinton-era roadless rule, which called for the protection of the nation's 50 million acres of roadless forest. Huntsman's petition was controversial, because, unlike California or New Mexico - which requested that all of their roadless areas remain protected - his petition called for the abolition of the roadless designations in Utah and more input into forest management decisions by the state. However, with a recent federal court ruling in California that rejected the Bush administration rule for failing to follow national environmental law - restoring the Clinton rule in the process - the Utah governor has opted to sit the battle out. For now, the Clinton rule remains in effect. "If a [petition] submission is made, we look forward to engaging all appropriate stakeholders, including the outdoor industry," Huntsman said in a statement....
Army wouldn't make good neighbors, rancher says Critics of the Army's plan to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site are not reassured by suggestions the Pentagon could lease land or make other cooperative agreements with ranchers rather than purchase or condemn land. "There's no way you could let the Army conduct live fire maneuvers on one area of land while you're trying to keep cattle on another section," rancher Lon Robertson said Tuesday. "It just doesn't sound feasible. It also avoids the fundamental question of why the Army thinks they need this land in the first place." Robertson, who lives near Kim and is a founder of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, said the Army's claim that it needs to expand the 238,000-acre training area by an additional 418,000 acres doesn't make sense to ranchers and rural communities around the maneuver site, which is southwest of La Junta. "What is it about the Pinon Canyon area that the Army can't find on the 2.5 million acres the Pentagon already owns?" Robertson asked....
Court rejects water rights fees after 4-year fight Family farmers who were wrongfully required to pay a state water rights fee could get some of their money back. After a four-year legal battle, the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento decided in favor of farmers and ranchers who protested imposition of a new and unconstitutional state fee that resulted in a total collection of more than $20 million. Water rights fees were levied on about 7,000 water rights holders beginning in 2004. The court agreed with the California Farm Bureau Federation that those fees were invalid and unconstitutional. Refund checks, however, aren't in the mail to those wrongfully charged, said Carl Borden, CFBF associate counsel. It's likely the state will appeal the opinion to the California Supreme Court. Legal experts are advising patience as this issue is played out in court....
S.D. House Panel Nixes Game Warden Restrictions A bill that would have restricted game wardens' ability to enter private lands to check for hunting violations was rejected Tuesday by a South Dakota House committee. The Agriculture Committee voted 7-6 to kill the bill after some lawmakers said the state Game, Fish and Parks Department has made a good effort to improve relations with landowners in the two years since a similar bill was rejected by the Legislature. The bill's main sponsor, Rep. Betty Olson, R-Prairie City, said western South Dakota ranchers want to protect their property rights. Game wardens should have to ask permission to enter private land or have a specific reason for doing so, she said. "We'd just like a little appreciation and a little protection from Game, Fish and Parks," Olson said. Olson said about 4 million acres of land in northwestern South Dakota have been closed to hunting because of the issue. Until game wardens' ability to enter private land is restricted, ranchers will not open their land to hunting, except for people who pay for the privilege, she said....
Trial date set for charges in deadly WA wildfire A March 26 trial date has been set for a former U.S. Forest Service crew boss charged with involuntary manslaughter and lying to federal investigators in the 2001 deaths of four firefighters. Ellreese Daniels welcomes the trial to clear his name, Tina Hunt, a federal public defender, said after not guilty pleas were entered Tuesday on behalf of her client. A federal grand jury indicted Daniels, 46, of Leavenworth, on four counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven counts of making material false statements stemming from his role as a fire crew boss in the Thirtymile Fire in Okanogan County in July 2001. Four firefighters died when flames trapped the crew and two civilians in the Chewuch River Canyon....
Four states involved in project to deal with drilling permit backlog Driven by accelerating oil and gas development on federal lands, in 2005 Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That legislation mandated formation of interagency offices in four western states to deal with a backlog of applications for permits to drill (APD). "The bureau was ... unable to keep up with applications and demand for APDs," said Alan Kesterke, pilot project manager who oversees the seven offices from a BLM office in Cheyenne, Wyo. "Concern on all sides was that we didn't have the capability (to meet those demands)." The move to bring BLM together with the Forest Service and other federal and state agencies was unique. The Energy Policy Act, in addition to mandating the offices, also approved funding and required the agencies to sign an agreement within 90 days of passage of the act that would set the stage for the offices. "That's phenomenal" in the workings of federal bureaucracies, Kesterke said. In all, 125 new jobs were approved for the seven offices in Rawlins and Buffalo, Wyo.; Glenwood Springs; Carlsbad and Farmington, N.M.; and Miles City, Mont....
Glenwood's pilot energy office is still working out the kinks In Glenwood Springs last year, a pilot office was created to deal with the explosive growth of natural gas development in western Colorado. That office is still trying to find its feet. Opened on May 17, the Glenwood Energy Office combines specialists from the Bureau of Land Management Field Office and the White River National Forest (WRNF) that focus exclusively in permitting natural gas well drilling. Also included in the office is a specialist from the Fish and Wildlife Service. Staff from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency are on call to assist the office. For the Glenwood Springs office, the challenge has been to combine two agencies, BLM and Forest Service, which have their own sets of procedures and issues. "We've always had a good working relationship with BLM," said WRNF Rifle District Ranger Mike Herth. "Now we're trying to meld the specialists into an interagency team." Each agency brings its own perspective to the office. "The challenge is to work together effectively and to work across agency boundaries seamlessly," he said. "It takes time."....
Agencies' fire performance gets criticized The skyrocketing federal cost of preventing and fighting wildfires won't drop until state and local governments and the insurance industry work to stem the number of new homes built near wild lands, lawmakers and officials said Tuesday at a Senate hearing. Federal agencies responsible for fire suppression also came under criticism at the Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing for failing to make needed changes over the past seven years to improve management of wildfires. In response, the agencies outlined new cost-containment steps they will take this fire season, including putting fire crews and helicopters under more federal control. The federal government spent $1.9 billion on fire suppression in 2006, the worst wildfire year on record, officials said. Nearly 10 million acres burned. Another factor in the increasing wildfire threat is the over-accumulation of dead vegetation that can fuel fires. The increase in such hazardous fuels stems from extended drought, widespread disease and insect infestations and the past aversion to the natural use of wildland fire, Fong said. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., asked whether the Healthy Forests Initiative had worked to reduce such fuels. The number of acres needing treatment is actually growing three times faster than the acres treated, responded Robin Nazzaro of the Government Accountability Office....
Oregon senator threatens filibuster An Oregon senator is threatening to filibuster a must-pass spending bill if Congress does not extend payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging. "The federal government has an obligation to rural Oregon, and it's time to meet that obligation," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. "We are talking about people's jobs, children's schools and general public safety in 700 timber counties in 39 states." Congress is considering a $463.5 billion spending bill that would pay for 13 Cabinet agencies this year. Democratic leaders hope to move the bill through the House as early as Wednesday, with the Senate likely taking it up after that. Smith said he would try to block the bill if it does not include funding for the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, a seven-year-old law that has pumped more than $2 billion into Oregon and other states hurt by federal policies that restricted logging in the 1990s. The policies were aimed at protecting the spotted owl and other threatened species....
Editorial - Gear head: check-off Registration box should be more evenhanded Under House Bill 97, a check-off box on vehicle registration forms would help off-highway vehicle enthusiasts fund lawsuits for more access to public land. A good deal for OHV users, to be sure, but hardly fair to hikers and others who share the land and want to protect it. Hundreds of miles of roads and trails and millions of acres are already open to OHVs. Scofflaws now can go wherever their OHVs can take them almost with impunity. To be fair, the Legislature should provide another check-off box for the public to contribute to the costs of keeping OHV users on designated trails. The state should also collect OHV user fees to pay for enforcing rules. In establishing a fund only to expand the wide access OHV users already enjoy, the state would be weighing in far too heavily on one side of a controversial issue. HB 97 is sponsored by Republican Rep. Mike Noel of Kanab in Kane County, where the battle against OHV restrictions is particularly heated. It would create a fund to be disbursed by the state Board of Parks and Recreation. To be eligible, organizations must act to "protect access to public lands by motor vehicle and off-highway vehicle operators and educate the public about appropriate off-highway vehicle use."But who would decide what is appropriate?....
Historian to discuss the nature of wilderness Dr. Jay Turner, an environmental historian from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, will discuss his perspectives on wilderness and environmentalism at Evergreen Fire Rescue's administration building on Feb. 9 from 6 to 9 p.m. Turner will be in Evergreen to participate in the U.S. Forest Service's Wilderness Manager's Winter Meeting, which begins Feb. 6 and ends on the 9th. The managers, as well as district rangers, resource specialists, volunteers and non-profit partners, are using Evergreen Fire Rescue's facilities for their meetings and largely staying at the local Quality Suites on Highway 40. As an environmental historian, Turner studies human interactions with their non-human surroundings through time. Because economics, culture, religion and politics all weigh into those relationships, environmental history has become popular in recent years as students search for more holistic interpretations of the past and present. Turner's lecture, "Wilderness and the Myths of Environmentalism," will consider the role of wilderness in modern American environmental politics. Turner's presentation is sponsored by Friends of Mount Evans & Lost Creek Wilderness and the Mount Evans Group of the Sierra Club....I'd bet this would cause protests and national headlines if the talk was sponsored by Chevron or some national OHV group.
Opponents lose lawsuit against wild horse round-up near Las Vegas A federal judge gave after-the-fact approval Tuesday for the government to gather wild horses and burros around Las Vegas. U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson in Las Vegas rejected efforts by Nevada-based America's Wild Horse Advocates and Wild Horses 4 Ever to stop the process and have the animals returned to the range. The same judge earlier this month refused to stop the Bureau of Land Management from conducting the round-up. Advocate Billie Young says she's disappointed that the horses were already rounded up and offered for adoption before opponents had their day in court. BLM field office chief Juan Palma in Las Vegas says the round-up was the best way to balance the number of animals on the range with the food and water resources available to support them. A BLM official says wranglers left 127 horses and up to 198 burros on the range.
Fish ladders required for Klamath dams PacifiCorp must build new fish ladders and make other modifications so salmon can swim freely past four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River if it wants a new license to produce electricity, federal fisheries agencies said Tuesday. The ladders, turbine screens and fish bypasses are estimated to cost about $300 million and will be requirements of any new operating license issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, boosting pressure on the utility to remove the dams as a cheaper alternative. Removing the dams would open access to 350 miles of spawning habitat blocked for nearly a century in what was once the West Coast’s third most productive salmon river basin, but whose mounting struggles triggered a near shutdown last summer of commercial salmon fishing off Oregon and California. Bolstered by an administrative law judge’s findings that the science was sound behind a proposal last spring to require ladders and screens, fisheries agencies of the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Interior filed documents with the commission that flatly rejected PacifiCorp’s cheaper proposal to truck fish around the dams. The final mandates make minor changes to last year’s proposal....
Seoul Leaves Open FTA Package Deal South Korea on Wednesday hinted at a package deal to complete a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States currently under extended talks. During a radio interview, Lee Hye-min, the No. 2 in the Korean negotiating team said, ``The two sides should make a give-and-take deal after the seventh and final round is completed.’’ The seventh round of talks is scheduled for Washington, D.C. from Feb. 11-14. Lee quickly added that the upcoming talks will be focused on narrowing their differences in individual sectors. The package deal Lee talked about is likely to address the issue of U.S. beef. Korea has refused to allow in U.S. beef shipments because they were found to have bone fragments. Chief U.S. FTA negotiator Wendy Cutler and U.S. lawmakers demanded Korea soften its import standards, saying that there would be no FTA with Korea, unless the beef issue is resolved to the satisfaction of U.S. ranchers and meat processors....
U.S. Congress eyes trade agreement U.S. lawmakers say they want a new global trade agreement, but it's unlikely they will support any deal they believe sells farmers short, especially as a new U.S. farm bill hangs in the balance, trade analysts said on Monday. Free-trade advocates this weekend hailed a decision by trade ministers to press ahead with the Doha round of trade talks, which ground to an acrimonious halt in July. Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization, has yet to formally relaunch the round, but Europe's top negotiator, Peter Mandelson, said he's "more confident" that a stubborn impasse over agricultural subsidies and tariffs may soon be broken. Dave Salmonsen, who follows trade for the American Farm Bureau Federation lobbying group, said a Doha deal would be judged on whether it provided U.S. farmers with meaningful access to new markets. "We know there's going to be lower spending limits on the domestic support programs ... but we need to have the balance as far as looking for how producers will be affected," he said. Other farm groups were less confident a deal could help their members. "The free trade agenda has not been beneficial to U.S. farmers and ranchers," said Tom Buis, president of the National Farmers Union....
Students revive century-old Cowboy tradition The Old Central bell is ringing again — 113 years after its first installation. “I think the Oklahoma A&M students would really be happy,” said Linda Smith, director of the Oklahoma Museum of Higher Education/Historic Old Central. “I think they’d be really proud that OSU students are bringing back the bell tradition and the heritage of Old Central.” A tradition that lay dormant for decades has returned in full force, thanks to efforts from the athletic department, the alumni association, alumni and one dedicated student. It really started in 1894 when the College Building at Oklahoma A&M College first opened, Smith said. Students would ring the bell after every football victory — home and away — to let farmers and ranchers around Stillwater know the team had won....