NEWS ROUNDUP

Conservative group prepared to challenge new rules on bald eagles A California legal group said Tuesday it may challenge new rules the federal government has adopted to protect the bald eagle once it is taken off the endangered species list, if those rules stop landowners from developing their property. The Pacific Legal Foundation sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of a Minnesota landowner to speed the delisting of the bald eagle, a move that has been in the offing for years as eagle populations have rebounded. But before they could delist the eagle, federal officials said they needed to better define a 1940 law that makes it illegal to disturb the bald and golden eagles. To use the 1940 law, federal officials said they needed to clarify what it meant to disturb the birds. The definition they settled on includes anything likely to cause injury to the birds or interfere with their ability to breed. It's not yet clear whether that will stop the Minnesota landowner, Edmund Contoski, from developing the land he owns on Lake Sullivan....
Bald eagle recovery falls short In coming weeks, politicians and environmental activists will pat each other on the back to celebrate the recovery of the bald eagle and its removal from the Endangered Species List. But those people at the same time are pulling a sleight of hand on American citizens — and essentially declaring the Endangered Species Act irrelevant in the process. The bald eagle deserves to be delisted. Forty years ago, there were fewer than 500 nesting pairs in the Lower 48 states. Today, there are an estimated 9,750 nesting pairs. President Clinton trumpeted the bald eagle's recovery on July Fourth 1999 and said it would come off the Endangered Species List. Then the waiting — and excuses — began. Finally, after a lawsuit by a retired Minnesota man and nearly eight years, the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to delist the bald eagle. But the eagle will not fly free. The Fish and Wildlife Service, under pressure from environmental groups, is bowing to their demands by extending ESA-like protections to the bald eagle. To accomplish this sleight of hand, Fish and Wildlife had to dust off a 1940 law that prohibited the killing or injury of eagles. In June, Fish and Wildlife adopted regulations on the 1940 law to extend new protections. This could be a record — 67 years to adopt regulations for a law and a stunning 10 pages to come up with a convoluted definition of the word "disturb." For 67 years, Fish and Wildlife was content to not have a definition of disturb. But now, with the prospect that property owners might be able to use their land, the Service became creative....
Bald eagle removed from imperiled list The American bald eagle, revered and reviled over more than two centuries, today will be officially declared safe from extinction in the lower 48 states. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which led a four-decade effort to resuscitate the national bird, is taking it off the Endangered Species list. The majestic raptor had declined from half a million nesting pairs at the time of European settlement to 417 in 1963. By last year, it had rebounded to 9,789 pairs, and an estimated 11,040 today. In California, where bald eagles have been reintroduced to the Channel Islands and elsewhere, more than 200 pairs are breeding. "It is an astounding recovery," said Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based advocacy group. "It attests to a dramatic change in the American environmental ethic." The comeback began with a 1972 ban on DDT and stringent protections under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. Since then, tens of millions of dollars have been spent on eagle recovery efforts by federal, state, and nonprofit groups. In 1995, the bald eagle was reclassified from "endangered" to the less-severe "threatened" status. Alaska's bald eagles, which number 25,000, are not endangered. Hawaii has none....
East Antarctic Ice Sheet Stable An ice sheet in Antarctica that is the world's largest — with enough water to raise global sea levels by 200 feet — is relatively stable and poses no immediate threat, according to new research. While studies of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets show they are both at risk from global warming, the East Antarctic ice sheet will "need quite a bit of warming" to be affected, Andrew Mackintosh, a senior lecturer at Victoria University, said Wednesday. The air over the East Antarctic ice sheet, an ice mass more than 1,875 miles across and up to 2.5 miles thick centered on the South Pole, will remain cold enough to prevent significant melting in the near future, the New Zealand-led research shows. "The East Antarctic ice sheet is the largest and the coldest and is going to be the last to respond in any great way" to global warming, he said. "Our research suggests changes in sea levels due to global warming will not be caused by changes in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet yet."....
USGS develops ‘budgets’ for NV aquifer Scientists from the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Desert Research Institute (DRI) have developed “budgets” — groundwater movement and storage assessments — in a new study of 13 groundwater basins in White Pine County, NV, and adjacent areas in east-central Nevada and western Utah. The study is designed to provide hydrogeology, recharge and discharge, groundwater flow, and geochemistry information on the Basin and Range carbonate-rock aquifer system (BARCAS) in White Pine County and adjacent areas in Nevada and Utah, according to a USGS press release. The study, on which scientists from Utah’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) also collaborated, was mandated by federal legislation in December 2004 after municipal, land management and regulatory agencies expressed concern about potential impacts from increased groundwater pumping on local and regional water quantity and quality. Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), the utility that serves Las Vegas, was awarded in April the rights to pump 40,000 acre-feet of groundwater per year from rural White Pine County’s Spring Valley to Las Vegas for 10 years. As WaterTech Online™ reported, the water utility had sought permission to pump more than 91,000 acre-feet of water from Spring Valley. The recently issued order said that if the first 10 years of pumping shows no adverse impacts, the SNWA may then begin pumping an additional 20,000 acre-feet of water from the valley....
After the boom, a new gold mine For generations, the Robin Redbreast Lode has kept its secrets. Gold miners explored the site since the 1890s, and in 1938, a prospector and fruit-farmer named Elmer Eipper staked out his claim. But he never extracted its hidden worth. Storms and avalanches flooded the mining tunnels, buried them under boulders. And recently, bureaucratic tangles and lawsuits have sealed the claim better than any fallen rock. Eipper has been dead for 30 years, and some $20 million in gold still sits buried on his 10-acre claim, high in the San Juan mountains east of Ouray. But now, Eipper’s elderly daughter and her husband are poised to reopen the mine and find a fortune that has lain untouched for six decades. “I didn’t know whether either one of us would last this long,” said Bob Miller, who holds the claim with his wife, Marjorie. “But we have. Patience is a virtue.” If the Millers finally secure state and federal permissions, they’ll open up that rarest of things — a new gold mine nestled in the heart of Rocky Mountain wilderness. They would start mining next year. Mule trains will thread the narrow singletrack to haul out ore, and helicopters will transport the heavier rocks and machinery. Six miners will spend the summers digging for gold veins. They’ll sort the ore by hand, sleep in an old cabin and drink from the crystalline Porphyry Creek that runs through the land....
White Pass expansion plan gets OK from Forest Service A long-awaited and much-discussed expansion of the White Pass Ski Area has taken another step forward. The U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday issued a formal decision allowing the ski area to nearly double in size and add lifts and other amenities at the expense of roadless areas long defended by conservationists. If the government's selected alternative is ultimately adopted after an appeal period that should begin next week, the popular Highway 12 ski area west of Yakima would expand into the Hogback Basin, a pristine roadless area favored by backcountry skiers and snowshoe enthusiasts. Only those who commented earlier in the process are eligible to file an appeal....
House votes to raise environment funding The House approved a bill yesterday to increase spending for the environment, national parks and global warming research. The measure, approved 272-155, would allocate $27.6 billion for the Interior Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Forest Service and other agencies, a 4.3 percent increase over current spending. The president's budget office and some GOP lawmakers criticized the bill as overly generous, but Democrats said spending for national parks and other environmental priorities has been shortchanged for years. "I do not know of one increase in this package which can't be fully justified based on need or on the ability to spend the money wisely," said Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington Democrat who led floor debate on the measure. Between 2001 and 2007, funding for the Interior Department fell by 16 percent, for the EPA by 29 percent and for the Forest Service non-fire budget by 35 percent, when adjusted for inflation, Dicks said. The White House threatened a veto if the measure clears the Senate and reaches President Bush's desk....
Worker admits stealing $642,000 from U.S. Forest Service A U.S. Forest Service employee who wrote government checks to her boyfriend under the guise of firefighting payments pleaded guilty today to stealing more than $642,000. Debra Kay Durfey, 49, of Echo began working for the Forest Service in eastern Oregon in 1986, overseeing payments with federal charge cards and government checks. She wrote checks to her boyfriend, Donald Hollinger, who occasionally contracts with the Forest Service, and deposited them in the couple's joint bank account. She used the money to gamble and pay for her car, mortgage and other expenses. Durfey also pleaded guilty to tax fraud. She agreed to pay restitution of $642,000....
Elk don’t make good neighbors Thousands of visitors drive deep into the Buffalo River National Park every year to catch a glimpse of immense Rocky Mountain elk feeding on rich bottomland pasture. They thrill at the sight. Native Ozark farmers cringe. For almost two decades, some complain, elk have broken into their fields and ravaged their crops. The state Game and Fish Commission, which introduced the herd, is wearing out its welcome. The Rocky Mountain elk is not native to Arkansas. But the Eastern elk is — or was up until 1840 when it was hunted into extinction. A hundred years later, the U.S. Forest Service sought to bring elk back to Arkansas. They released 11 Rocky Mountain elk along the Black Mountain Ridge of Franklin County. Poachers took them out, too. In the early 1980s, Game and Fish, working with private citizens, released 112 elk onto public land in Newton County. Nearly a third died, but slowly the herd gained a footing. Rangers in a helicopter flyover last winter counted 321 in the 315,000-acre Buffalo River watershed. The elk now range over 315,000 acres, only 27 percent of which is publicly owned. Magness’ family, Ozark farmers since the 1800s, owns another 500 acres and together they run a hundred head of cattle. Chances are their ancestors hunted plenty of Eastern elk off their homesteads. But this generation can only stand by as the Rocky Mountain elk range from their protected habitat to plunder their private property....
Tree-cutting rules led to fire's spread, basin residents say The hungry Lake Tahoe fire that has destroyed 178 homes has fanned some residents' long-smoldering anger with the agency that regulates development -- and tree removal -- throughout the Tahoe basin. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has long been criticized as too restrictive when it comes to deciding what residents can do on their property, whether it's building a new deck or chopping trees that might imperil their homes. Created in 1969, the agency is charged with balancing development and protecting Tahoe's natural beauty. As a result, the 15-member body -- made up of voters and politicians from California and Nevada -- has created strict environmental rules that govern construction and habitat preservation. That includes a process, called cumbersome by some residents, that property owners must follow to remove trees. Many residents also complain that the U.S. Forest Service has allowed about 165,000 acres of its land to become overgrown, further endangering adjacent homes -- and fueling the property loss caused by the Angora Fire. "The house survived because we broke the law," said Brent Abrams, 20. He and his mother cut down trees on Forest Service land near their house and replaced them with a grassy lawn, something the authorities likely would have never allowed. Many of their neighbors' homes were destroyed, and only chimneys remain. "The federal government and TRPA didn't create the fire, but it was because of their actions it was so extensive," he said....
House passes amendment to restrict federal oil shale A measure intended to force the government to move slowly on efforts toward commercial production of oil shale on federal land won approval Wednesday in the U.S. House. The proposal by Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., to amend the 2008 Interior Department's appropriations bill, would prohibit the use of federal funds to prepare final regulations for a commercial leasing program or to conduct commercial lease sales. The Interior bill, passed by the House, now goes to the Senate. A proposal by Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, designed to exempt Utah and Wyoming from the funding restrictions failed. Udall and Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., withdrew a separate amendment to prevent new oil and gas leases on top of the Roan Plateau in western Colorado after the Congressional Budget Office said it would have cost the government money and needed to be offset....
Federal land claims amendment a no-go Environmentalists said they were pleased Wednesday with an agreement by congressional appropriators for more oversight of rights-of-way claims on federal lands. The deal came after Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., withdrew an amendment that would prohibit the Bureau of Land Management from using taxpayer money to decide if counties or states had rights to backcountry pathways. Previously, courts made such determinations but a rule change last year allowed the agency to do it unilaterally. Under the agreement, hammered out on the House floor between Udall and House Appropriations Interior subcommittee chairman Norman Dicks, R-Wash., the Interior Department will submit quarterly reports to the committee and there will be more congressional oversight of administrative decisions regarding R.S. 2477 claims. "It's not business as usual anymore," said Heidi McIntosh, conservation director for Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "The R.S. 2477 abuses are going to be curtailed, we believe." Utah GOP Reps. Chris Cannon and Rob Bishop fought against the amendment, with Cannon calling it a "serious threat" to Western counties. "The net effect of the Udall amendment is a federally mandated power grab from rural Western counties," Cannon said. "This amendment will result in restricted access to public lands, restricted energy development and restricted states rights."....
U.S. has big thirst for geothermal The federal government has embarked on an ambitious plan to tap a massive source of energy lying deep beneath public land in the West, including Colorado. And it's not oil and gas. This time it's geothermal energy, the heat under the surface. The energy in the form of hot water or steam can be used in geothermal power plants to produce round-the-clock electricity. The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service are looking at areas in 11 Western states and Alaska best suited for geothermal energy development, and the likely social and environmental impact. Their final report will be completed in September 2008, and commercial leasing of areas will begin soon after. "The BLM is sitting on the largest supply of geothermal energy in this country, and it is time to launch an aggressive program to develop those resources," said BLM acting Director Jim Hughes. "This proceeding will help us determine which areas to concentrate our geothermal leasing efforts on." The potential of geothermal energy worldwide is estimated at 50,000 times the world's oil and natural gas reserves, according to the Department of Energy....
GOP plan pumps Roan lease funds into higher ed Statehouse Republicans called for using lease payments for drilling on the Roan Plateau in western Colorado as a way to raise millions for public colleges and universities. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said Wednesday the proposal - offered with Rep. Al White of Winter Park - would provide substantial funding for higher education without raising taxes. They want to set aside half of the revenue the state would collect from mineral leases on the Roan. The money - the exact amount is unknown - would be put in a trust fund for higher education. The estimates range from $500 million to $1 billion. Hank Brown, president of the University of Colorado system, endorsed the idea. "It's not dramatically different from what our neighbor to the north, Wyoming, did, where they put together a trust fund from mineral revenues," he said. Higher-education officials cite a study that says Colorado needs $832 million more each year to meet the average funding of national peers....
Army range wants more Arizona desert A plan to expand an Army artillery range could annex as much as 500,000 acres of federally managed desert in southwestern Arizona that is home to a variety of wildlife, including desert bighorn sheep, Sonoran desert tortoise and endangered lesser long-nosed bats. The plan being considered by the Army's Yuma Proving Ground, near the border with California, would expand the facility beyond its 840,000 acres to accommodate the increasing distance that artillery shells can be fired. Chuck Wullenjohn, public affairs officer for the proving ground, said that the 50-mile-long artillery range would soon be too short and that the facility was "looking into the future to maintain viability." Though it may take several years to approve, environmental groups and government officials have already expressed concern. The proving ground is used by the United States and other countries to test ammunition, Wullenjohn said. The testing must be done on a large piece of open land because shells must be retrieved and rounds can potentially go off course. Wullenjohn said the expansion could take land now administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management in Yuma, La Paz and Maricopa counties between Interstate 8 and Interstate 10....
N.M.: St. Cloud to Clean Up Old Mines A Truth or Consequences company has been awarded a $662,263 contract to improve safety around 56 abandoned mine openings in Sierra County. St. Cloud Mining Co. was awarded the competitive bid contract by the Mining and Minerals Division for the project in the Lake Valley area, about 17 miles south of Hillsboro. A silver mining boom hit Lake Valley during the 1880s and 1890s, then a second period of mining, this time of flux materials and manganese, began about 1900 and lasted through 1955. Since then, the mines have been unused except by bats. The safety project will include 14 structures that will allow the bats to continue to use the underground mines and be protected from human disturbance. St. Cloud Mining Co. also will plug some large mine openings using old tires from earth-moving equipment....
Federal Farm Subsidy Programs: How to Discourage Congressional Conflicts of Interest Sometime during 2007, Congress will attempt to reauthorize the nation's farm legislation and will likely continue to bestow substantial financial benefits upon a relatively small number of the largest and wealthiest farmers. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data reveal that this group of direct financial beneficiaries includes many Members of Congress who receive USDA subsidies and who will be voting on the farm bill reauthorization. Under current law, many Mem­bers and their families who engage in farming receive direct cash payments from the U.S. Treasury courtesy of the taxpayer, whose standard of living has been reduced by the higher taxes needed to fund the farm program and by the higher food prices caused by agri­culture subsidies, restrictions, and regulations. While the best solution to these conflicts of interest would be to abolish the farm subsidy program, a backup plan would be to apply strict conflict-of-inter­est principles to the program by requiring that Mem­bers of Congress who benefit from it financially either recuse themselves from voting on any farm legislation or forgo any farm subsidies for which they and their families and relatives would be eligible. Of the three branches of the federal government, Congress has the fewest prohibitions on conflicts of interest and acts of self-dealing. Officials in the execu­tive branch and judiciary are required to divest them­selves of any investment in or ownership of for-profit entities that may be within the purview of their agency or court. They are also under strict limits on the extent to which members of their immediate fami­lies may benefit directly from their position....
How Farm Odors Contribute to Global Warming You can definitely smell it, but you can't see it. The United States Department of Agriculture has released reports stating that when you smell cow manure, you're also smelling greenhouse gas emissions. That will be the focus of new research happening right here in the Southern Tier. Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Mark Rey, was in Corning Wednesday morning at the Big Flats Plant Materials Center to annouce the award of nearly $20 million in Conservation Innovation Grants to fund 51 research projects across the country designed to refine new technologies helping dairy and other agricultural producers cut back on their greenhouse emissions and cash in on governmental incentives for the research....
Historical landmark on market Three Rivers Trading Post, a landmark built in 1939 on U.S. Highway 54 when it was still a dirt road between Carrizozo and Tularosa, is up for sale. Along with it will be sold the old schoolhouse, built around 1885 for the Three Rivers community. Some 1,200 tourists each month turn here to view Three Rivers Petroglyph Park, one of the largest petroglyph sites in the Southwest, according to Manny Herrera of the Bureau of Land Management. Some go on to camp at the base of Sierra Blanca, the highest mountain in southern New Mexico. For the last 10 years, tourists stopped at the Indigo Lizard to pick up soft drinks and snacks while browsing through the collection of books, mugs, dried soups, photography and Native American art work. The outside entrance was a garden of native flowers and petroglyphs painted on the walls and petroglyph sculptures by prominent sculptor Lay Powell. Now invasive Russian tumbleweed flourishes and dried weeds from last year's abundant monsoons crowd the door, and the landscaped cottonwoods are dry and brown. Photographers stop to record what they can find around the Route 66-style, quasi-pueblo revival building. These include the building's wild days as a motorcycle bar and huge cottonwood tree well-fitted inside the old red school house. "Yep, I have been in there. I hear that back in the '40s, Thomas Fortune Ryan (who owned the entire Three Rivers region at the time) and a bunch of cowboys got drunk and took one wall out and put that tree in there. Why? Because he could," drawls Bohannon....
Tongie ‘fainting goats' go down at the drop of a hat Wayne and Kathy Gillett have to be careful around their kids, they never know when one might faint. The one-month old "fainting goats" the Mclouth couple keep on part of their 20 acres are especially prone to the muscle seizures this rare breed is known for. The least likely of actions could startle Blake, Andy and Anabella, an umbrella opening, fear of heights or footsteps from behind. And then there are the obvious triggers, like when Wayne, retired plumber, drove his tractor near their fence. In a matter of seconds, it's as if a drunken stupor sets in. First, they flee. Then one will stumble and drop over on its side, with legs and head erect, fully conscious. The other will freeze mid sprint when it's hind and front legs have met under her stomach and be stuck in this position for 10 to 15 seconds. The origin of the goats is unknown and there is speculation whether they carry a recessive gene that causes myotonia congenita, a condition that causes muscle stiffness. Despite the mystery, it seems to be the novelty of the trait itself that has kept this breed popular worldwide in recent decades, which reversed their threat of extinction in the early 1900s. In the United States, thousands of fainting goats are kept as pets, to breed or for meat....