NEWS ROUNDUP

Lawmakers Propose Cap on Emissions The nation can begin to address the risks of climate change while avoiding harm to the economy, senators said Wednesday in unveiling anti-pollution legislation. The bill would establish a mandatory cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, refineries and industrial plants but allow companies to trade emission credits and avoid making emissions cuts if the costs become too high. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., one of the bill's chief sponsors, called it a "strong and balanced approach ... while protecting the American economy." It also includes incentives aimed at spurring other nations such as China to address climate change. The bill is one of five that are being considered in the Senate to tackle global warming. It is expected to be the one most closely embraced by industry, including companies that would be most affected. Joining Bingaman at a news conference Wednesday to announce the legislation were executives of some of the country's biggest coal-burning utilities and unions representing autoworkers and coal miners....
Political Liquor's Economic Hangover Just Beginning From pre-school to planning funerals, green is in. Very in. But green policies and decisions need to be based on more than a vague desire to save the planet. The principles of the natural sciences and economics must play an essential role -- a part of policy-making that often eludes politicians. The latest examples are the federal government's efforts to reduce the United States's dependence on imported oil (now more than 60 percent) by shifting a big share of the nation's largest crop, corn, to the production of ethanol for fueling automobiles. Good goal, bad policy. In fact, in the short- and medium-term, ethanol can do little to reduce the vast amount of oil that is imported, and the ethanol policy will have widespread and profound ripple effects on other commodity markets. Corn farmers and ethanol refiners are ecstatic about the ethanol boom, of course, and are enjoying the windfall of artificially enhanced demand. But it is already proving to be an expensive and dangerous experiment for the rest of us. The U.S. Senate is debating new legislation that would further expand corn ethanol production. A 2005 law already mandates production of 7.5 billion gallons by 2012, about 5 percent of the projected gasoline use at that time. These biofuel goals are propped up by a generous federal subsidy -- via tax credits -- of 51 cents a gallon for blending ethanol into gasoline, and a tariff of 54 cents a gallon on most imported ethanol, to keep out cheap imports from Brazil. This latest bill is a prime example of the government's throwing good money after a bad idea, of ignoring science and economics in favor of politics, and of disdain for free markets....
Clearing the Air Of former Bush officials, Christine Todd Whitman would seem to be the most difficult to cast as a White House puppet. During her tenure as Environmental Protection Agency director from 2001 to 2003, Whitman looked askance at the Bush line on global warming. It became clear early on, says one ex-administration official, that there were "Whitman people" at EPA who repeatedly sparred with "Bush people" elsewhere in the administration. Yet the former New Jersey governor, a famously moderate-to-liberal Republican, faced a rabid grilling the week before last by House Democrats, who believe the government lied about post-9/11 air quality in Lower Manhattan in order to expedite the reopening of Wall Street. Growing visibly angry at times, and sighing resignedly at others, Whitman denied the allegations, which gained currency among Democrats after an August 2003 report by the EPA inspector general on the agency's response to the World Trade Center collapse....
Fla. Gov Champions Environmentalism Republican Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday opened a two-day summit on preventing climate change, launching him into a leadership role on an issue that Democrats have so far championed more vocally. Crist opened his "Serve to Preserve" event with a promise that Florida will lower carbon dioxide emissions and make use of alternative energy sources. Crist said the flat peninsular state has much to lose should ocean levels rise and a lot to gain if it takes a lead in developing renewable energy technologies. Crist will be joined Friday by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, another Republican who has pushed environmental causes. Crist will also sign executive orders that will require utilities to lower carbon dioxide emissions and force state agencies to conserve energy and use biofuels when possible....
Why the Army and its local boosters are losing the Pinon Canyon battle For all its infighting, backbiting and rancor, the U.S. House of Representatives last month experienced a surprising moment of overwhelming unity. Unfortunately for Colorado Springs military boosters, Rep. Doug Lamborn wasn't in on the bipartisan backslapping. Rather, the freshman Republican was on the losing end as southeast Colorado ranchers claimed yet another victory in their effort to kill Fort Carson's expansion plans at Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, east of Walsenburg and about 100 miles south of Colorado Springs. Lamborn, whose 5th Congressional District includes Fort Carson, watched in vain as 383 of his colleagues voted to prevent the upcoming year's military construction budget from being used for "any action that is related to or promotes the expansion" of the post's 235,000-acre training ground. Specifically cut was funding for environmental and economic analysis — a key step to the Army's ambition of expanding by some 418,000 acres into cattle country rife with environmental, historical and scientific wonders. It's not a killer. The Senate still has to agree with House appropriators in a coming committee vote. Even if the Senate is on board, there's always next year....
Editorial - The senators' chance In the next few weeks, the Army's plans to nearly triple the size of its training facility at Piñon Canyon in southeastern Colorado will face a key legislative test. And we hope that by then, Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar will reject the proposal. The test will come in the form of a military construction bill that will be before the Senate. In the House version, an amendment was added by 3rd District Rep. John Salazar and 4th District Rep. Marilyn Musgrave that would deny the Army any funding to proceed on the project in the next fiscal year. That includes money to conduct scheduled environmental reviews on the targeted area. If the final version of the construction bill does not include the Salazar- Musgrave amendment, the Army will be able to move forward. Yet so far, neither Colorado senator has shown any interest in championing the House amendment. To this point, Allard and Ken Salazar have not come out for or against the plan. They've mainly said that they a) oppose the use of eminent domain to acquire land for the 414,000-acre addition and b) insist that the expansion be a "winner" for the region's economy. If the senators mean what they say about eminent domain, for example, it's difficult to imagine how the Army could comply. How could it occupy an area more than four times the size of the city of Denver without condemning private property, when many farmers and ranchers in the affected region have already vowed they'll never willingly sell? Gov. Bill Ritter has signed a bill stating that Colorado opposes any such project that seizes private land. The senators should follow his lead, and the wishes of the local constituents, by formally announcing their opposition to the expansion....
BLM nominee finds wide support at Senate committee hearing James Caswell, nominated to head the Bureau of Land Management, won praise from senators of both parties Thursday as he pledged to maintain an even-handed balance between development and conservation of public lands. Western senators raised numerous energy and public lands issues with Caswell and other nominees to key energy and mining positions, all of whom had a joint hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "I passionately believe in multiple-use management and conservation of our public resources with a commitment to balance, cooperation, collaboration and sharing," Caswell testified. "In my view, achievement of this commitment requires scientific information, and listening to, learning about, and collaborating with the owners of our public lands, the American people." Caswell, a Vietnam veteran, has 40 years' experience as a resource manager, beginning with the BLM and ending with the Forest Service, including heading the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho and Montana. He spent the past six years in the Idaho governor's office as administrator for Office of Species Conservation. He worked on the wolf and Yellowstone grizzly bear management plans in the state. "Both of those issues were politically and emotionally charged," he said....
No violations by BLM officer found An investigation found no violations of agency policy and procedures last year when a handcuffed man in the custody of a Bureau of Land Management law enforcement officer shot himself while in the officer's patrol vehicle. Keith Allers, the BLM deputy director of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., described the June 7, 2006, incident at a BLM shooting range north of Billings as an "extremely unfortunate incident," but he said an internal investigation showed the officer was not in the wrong. Nathan Kelley had been arrested on a probation violation after the officer found him and another man drinking beer and shooting handguns. Kelley was in the back seat of the patrol car with his hands cuffed behind his back when he was able to get control of one of the guns and shoot himself in the head. Kelley, 25, survived the wound and later pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced Wednesday to 34 months in federal prison. BLM officials have not changed their arrest policies or procedures as a result of the incident, Allers said. Instead, the agency has warned its officers to be "ultrasensitive" in similar situations, he said. "We're very confident that our procedures are sound," Allers said.... This doesn't make sense to me. How does a person with his hands handcuffed behind his back shoot himself in the head? If a handcuffed person in Federal custody can obtain a weapon and shoot himself, and the BLM claims their procedures are sound, then the officer must be at fault. Conversely, if the officer is not at fault, then the procedures cannot be adequate.
Study: Wolves barely affect elk, aspens A University of Wyoming professor has concluded that wolves don't cause elk to vary their behavior enough to allow aspen stands to recover, contradicting in some ways earlier studies indicating an "ecology of fear" had taken root in the big-game animals. Matt Kauffman, a professor of zoology and physiology, undertook a three-year study that concluded this year. He, along with Yellowstone National Park biologist Doug Smith and researchers from the University of Montana and Alberta, analyzed 700 elk kill sites over 10 years in the northern range of Yellowstone. His research showed that the predation risk is driven more strongly by habitat features than distribution of wolf packs. Elk are more likely to be killed in open meadows than in forested areas with slopes. The research also concluded that elk do not adjust their willingness to forage based on areas that are riskier for predation. Instead, elk will forage where food is available, particularly in later months in the winter when there is less food....
Denver Water is still paying for blazes long since quenched Denver Water is still paying a hefty price for the Hayman Fire of 2002 and the Buffalo Creek Fire of 1996. The problem is sediment. When there isn't enough ground cover, soil erodes, and the shedding brown has created a budgetary black hole for Denver Water. Traps designed to stop the soil from pouring through Goose and Turkey creeks into Cheesman Reservoir are catching more soil this year than ever. The annual $300,000 budgeted to clean the traps won't cover the job this year, Kevin Keefe, who supervises reservoir operations for the utility, said this spring. In the fall of 2005, the utility cleaned 28,000 cubic yards from the trap at Turkey Creek. Last fall, the amount rose to 60,000, and it took Denver Water more than 1,100 truckloads to haul all the sediment away....
Elkhorn Mountains ranch in public hands The entire 5,548-acre Iron Mask Ranch in the Elkhorn Mountains near Townsend is now in public ownership. On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced the transfer of the final 2,472 acres from The Conservation Fund to the federal agency. It’s the end of a five-year effort to keep what the BLM and others call “critical winter range” for elk and bighorn sheep out of the hands of developers. “Thanks to our partners in this effort — The Conservation Fund, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Montana’s congressional delegation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation — this important acquisition is now a reality,” said Rick Hotaling, BLM field manager in Butte. “BLM is pleased to have played a role in facilitating this acquisition for the public.” The Conservation Fund had partnered with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation almost five years ago to purchase the property with the intent of selling it to the BLM....
Bear bites Cruces camper A man camping near the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in southwestern New Mexico was bitten by a bear Thursday morning, marking the second run-in between a camper and a bear in the state this week. The New Mexico Game and Fish Department said the camper in the latest incident, Bill Thorp of Las Cruces, was treated at a hospital here for a bite to his buttocks. Thorp was camping in the Grapevine Campground about 40 miles north of Silver City when he heard something outside his tent. He got up and shut the tent's flap and was lying down inside when the bear bit him through the tent. By the time he got out of the tent, the animal was gone. He then drove to Silver City, where he was treated at about 4 a.m....
State's TB-free cattle status at risk New Mexico has 60 days to prove a tuberculosis outbreak in a Curry County dairy is isolated and won’t spread, or the federal government will yank the rest of the state's TB-free cattle status. Such a move would be a big hardship for beef and dairy cow operations across the state, according to the state veterinarian and Northern New Mexico cattlemen, costing an estimated $4 million to $6 million just for testing. "This is the first time in two years new TB cases were found, which creates some serious issues for the state," said Dr. Dave Fly, the state veterinarian. "Losing the TB-free status would be a huge, huge hit for the livestock industry." Fly said TB is an industrywide problem. "We have two serious investigations under way in two other states with possible cases of TB in beef cattle that trace back to (New Mexico)," Fly said. "This is not just a dairy issue."....
Ranchers accept deal for lost herd Livestock officials next week will destroy almost 600 cows and calves from a herd infected with brucellosis after the owners of the animals reluctantly agreed Thursday to accept $475,000 in compensation. The deal with the U.S. Department of Agriculture came less than eight hours before a deadline set by the Montana Department of Livestock. The agency planned to forcibly condemn and slaughter the herd in Bridger beginning Friday morning if a deal had not been reached. The destruction of the animals is required by the USDA to preserve the state's brucellosis-free status. Jim and Sandy Morgan, who own most of the Bridger herd, turned down two previous USDA offers as insufficient. The Morgans said the latest offer, while about $15,000 more than one earlier proposal, still came up $100,000 short of their true losses. The USDA does not compensate for lost potential - namely the difference between what the calves in the herd are worth now, versus what they would be worth if they were fattened up and sold in the fall as the Morgans once planned. Also left uncompensated is the incalculable loss of a livestock line carefully tended by the family for three generations. "Sandy's grandpa started this line of cows in the 1920s," Jim Morgan said. Scheduled for slaughter are 284 calves, 289 cows, 16 bulls and one steer the Morgans raised for beef for the family....
Ted Turner snags up more Nebraska land The 100-year tenure of the McMurtrey Family at a pioneer ranch in Cherry County ended June 26 with a public referee auction at Valentine. R.E. "Ted" Turner purchased the property by offering the highest bid. Turner bought the 26,332 deeded acres for nearly $10 million. The exact amount was $9,584,848, or $364 dollars per acre. The opening bid was $290 per acre. It was the largest ranch land auction ever held in Cherry County, according to Eric Scott, Cherry county attorney. The auction was ordered by the Cherry County District Court. Erba "Hub" McMurtrey built his ranch starting with Kinkaid homesteads with three McMurtrey Brothers in 1908. Ranch acreage increased with multiple buys from settlers and neighboring ranchers. "My father was a pioneer of the country," said Mary Alice McMurtrey Williams, during a visit at her town home just after the auction. Some of the big hills on the north range were bought for “$2 per acre." The ranch headquarters was moved to the present site along the meadows of Boardman Creek in 1925, when McMurtrey Williams was three years old....
Parade marshal shares wealth of rodeo memories Brown has many memories from his years on the Stampede board — and one of the most vivid ones involved Western cowboy singing star Gene Autry. Here’s how it goes: Autry was the first star when the new arena was built in 1950 and came back to perform in 1952. He was in the area during Stampede time in 1954 and stopped by the rodeo to visit. Jimmy Wakely was the singing star that year. Autry was back behind the chutes drinking whiskey and visiting with the cowboys when Wakely said, “Our good friend Gene Autry is here tonight behind the chutes and, in a little while, I’m going to ask him to come out and get on a horse and take an introduction.” Someone told Brown to take Autry aside and get some black coffee in him and Brown complied. Autry said to Brown, “Wakely knows better than that. You don’t introduce anyone without letting him know ahead of time.” “When Gene went out into the arena to get on a horse, he made a skip to do a jump mount into the stirrup, missed and fell flat on his face,” Brown recalled. “He got back up, got on and made a quick circle around the arena and rode out. I don’t think he even waved. He was embarrassed and as mad as a hornet.”....