Ballot proposals target oil, gas industry A bevy of environmental groups banded together Thursday to file four separate proposed ballot initiatives that would increase taxes on the oil and gas industry in one way or another. All of the measures would funnel the extra money — estimated by the groups in the range of $200 million to $300 million annually — into clean energy development, wildlife habitat preservation and mitigation efforts to communities hardest hit by booming growth in the industry. Joe Neuhof, West Slope field director for the Colorado Environmental Coalition, said the filing of multiple proposals was intended to give a menu of options for how to raise severance taxes and where to send that money. The initiatives present a variety of complex ways to effectively raise taxes — from eliminating a property-tax credit or an exemption for small wells to simply raising the tax rate. They also specify different proportions for where the extra money should go. Environmental groups have long argued that Colorado's rates for severance tax — money paid when companies remove, or "sever," natural resources from the ground — lag behind those of neighboring states. Gov. Bill Ritter and Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, both have said this year they are working on a proposal to raise the severance tax....
Colorado Town Fears Avalanche of Water More than 1 billion gallons of contaminated water - enough to fill 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools - is trapped in a tunnel in the mountains above the historic town of Leadville and threatening to blow. Lake County Commissioners have declared a local state of emergency for fear that this winter's above-average snowpack will melt and cause a catastrophic tidal wave. The water is backed up in abandoned mine shafts and a 2.1-mile drainage tunnel that is partially collapsed, creating the pooling of water contaminated with heavy metals. County officials have been nervously monitoring the rising water pressure inside the mine shafts for about two years. An explosion could inundate Leadville and contaminate the Arkansas River....
Witness surfaces in Boulder land grab A witness has surfaced in the Boulder, Colo., case in which a former judge and his wife used a little-known state law concerning "adverse possession" to gain ownership of a significant portion of their neighbor's valuable building lot in a pricy subdivision. It seems one of the neighbors now reports seeing a woman who looked like Edie Stevens, the judge's wife, "tromping, stomping and kicking the ground, causing vegetation and dirt to rise from the ground in the area where the dirt path … later appeared." That statement comes from neighbor Josephine Touchton, whose affidavit, along with other photographic and sworn evidence, was submitted to the court in Boulder by Don and Susie Kirlin. They had been ordered by a Boulder judge to give nearly one-third of their building lot in the Boulder residential development to a neighbor, former judge Richard McLean, and his wife. McLean and Stevens alleged they used the land belonging to the Kirlins' "adversely" for more than 18 years, during that course of time building a path to cross the land....
Biofuels Meltdown Last week two studies published in Science announced what anyone might have suspected all along. "Biofuels," rather than reducing carbon emissions, are adding to them -- possibly by a factor of nearly 100! The two studies may finally puncture the myth that anything is to be gained from burning crops for fuel. From the very beginning, there was never any indication that turning corn into ethanol was improving our energy independence. As that effort faltered, the myth arose that at least it was reducing carbon emissions. Now it has been shown to do neither. How did we ever get into this? The historical record makes it fairly clear. It was a combination of ill-thought-out ideas from "alternate energy" enthusiasts (most of them trying to find a way around nuclear power), plus politicians who think they can override the laws of nature by passing legislation. Meanwhile, thanks to a 51-cents-per-gallon tax break, 25 percent of the American corn crop is being turned into ethanol. Farmland prices are soaring and food prices are escalating all over the world. The whole fiasco can probably be traced to a single paragraph in Amory Lovins Soft Energy Paths, the 1976 book that inspired President Carter's embrace of "alternate energy" and convinced California Governor Jerry Brown that his state didn't need to build any more power plants....
Bill would require California's science curriculum to cover climate change Reading, writing and . . . global warming? A Silicon Valley lawmaker is gaining momentum with a bill that would require "climate change" to be among the science topics that all California public school students are taught. The measure, by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, also would mandate that future science textbooks approved for California public schools include climate change. "You can't have a science curriculum that is relevant and current if it doesn't deal with the science behind climate change," Simitian said. "This is a phenomenon of global importance and our kids ought to understand the science behind that phenomenon." The state Senate approved the bill, SB 908, Jan. 30 by a 26-13 vote. It heads now to the state Assembly. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken numerous actions to reduce global warming, but he has yet to weigh in on Simitian's bill. Other Republicans in the Capitol, however, are not happy about the proposal. Some say the science on global warming isn't clear, while others worry the bill would inject environmental propaganda into classrooms....
Huge beef recall issued The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the largest beef recall in its history Sunday, calling for the destruction of 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef produced by a Chino slaughterhouse that has been accused of inhumane practices. However, the USDA said the vast majority of the meat involved in the recall -- including 37 million pounds that went mostly to schools -- probably has been eaten already. Officials emphasized that danger to consumers was minimal. The recall applies to beef slaughtered at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. since Feb. 1, 2006. The company has produced no meat since Feb. 4 of this year, when operations were suspended....Hell, let's go into the sewers and outhouses and retrieve this stuff...and send it to the USDA.