Our Thorny Oil Patch Valero will probably sell three of its 17 refineries this year and maybe two more later to focus on its core operations amid what CEO Bill Klesse acknowledged on Tuesday is a weak economy. But maybe that's because the environment for the energy business in the U.S. has turned downright hostile. Upstream, oil drilling is off-limits, crimping supply and driving prices ever higher. Downstream, refiners are hit by not only high energy prices, but also bureaucratic regulations, environmental lobbies and special interests that make moving to Asia, where economic growth is still valued, more attractive. The sorry fact that no new refinery has been built in America since 1983 has been cited so many times that we would have thought someone in Washington would have done something about it by now. But no — it just keeps getting worse. In 1982, the U.S. economy was served by 301 refineries. By 2007, the number had dwindled to 149. Productivity has kept output steady over the years at 17 million barrels a day. But the U.S. economy has grown by 125%....
Commission hears novel conservation idea Gallatin County Commissioners heard a presentation at their regular meeting Wednesday on how ranchers and farmers can create small homesteads incorporating conservation easements as a way of maximizing the value of their properties. Lane Coulston, owner of Missoula-based American Conservation Real Estate, told commissioners that ranchers with large parcels can use the homestead idea to plan for their futures while preserving their land and avoiding selling it to developers by following four simple steps, he said. First, a conservation easement is placed on the property, which limits development to one or more reserved parcels of land that can be used for secluded home sites, Coulston said. Then a buyer or buyers purchase the reserved home sites, along with a parcel of deeded land and recreation rights to the entire property, he said. The rancher retains the right to farm or ranch most of the buyer’s parcels, maintaining the land in agricultural use. Plus, the rancher can use the money earned from the transactions to plan for the future, pay bills or whatever else they wish, Coulston said. Coulston said the idea can help struggling ranchers make ends meet and help them get even more value out of their land, while preserving valuable agricultural land in perpetuity....
Wolf population grows by a third Montana’s wolf population increased 34 percent over the past year, to an estimated 422 wolves in 73 packs, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks reported Thursday. The wolves are nearly equally distributed between northern and southern Montana, according to the agency’s annual wolf report, although the bulk of the population growth was in northwestern and far western Montana, where it increased by about 92 wolves, to 213. In the Greater Yellowstone area, the population increased by 14 wolves, to 209. Some of the growth can be chalked up to the birth of at least 163 wolf pups last year, the FWP report noted. But there were other reasons, too. “Our monitoring is getting better and we have hunters, landowners and many others taking the time to tell us where and when they see wolves or wolf sign,” Carolyn Sime, the FWP’s wolf management coordinator in Helena, said in a written statement....
Mineral County residents reject wilderness, Commissioners adopt resolution saying so In a 2 ½-hour meeting similar to the one in Smith Valley last week, nearly 200 Mineral County residents told three representatives to Nevada's congressional delegation to "Leave us alone!" when it comes to any wilderness designations in a Lyon-Mineral Lands Bill. Many of those residents meeting in the convention center in Hawthorne also heard for the first time a resolution adopted the previous day unanimously by the Mineral County Commissioners rejecting wilderness; and an appeal from that same commission to have Lyon and Esmeralda counties join them in such action. In response to requests from representatives Matt Tuma of Senator Reid's office, Kevin Kirkeby from Senator Ensign's office and Verita Prothro from Congressman Heller's office for public input, MC commissioner and liason to the delegation Jerrie Tipton introduced and read the county's resolution which drew a round of applause from the audience. The general session was then opened to comments and questions with a lengthy list of Mineral County residents -- and six from Lyon County -- voicing concerns and opposition to the Nevada Wilderness Project's proposals....
Expanded wilderness proposal could be hurting local effort The expanded version by the Nevada Wilderness Project isn't necessarily supported by local wilderness proponents and may actually be hurting chances that the original Wovoka Wilderness proposal will ever come to be. Mason Valley residents Steve Pellegrini and Art Shipley previewed (written by others) the original and much smaller wilderness proposal seeking 87,240 acres in the Wovoka Wilderness and about 10,715 in East Sister. That proposal came before the Lyon County Commissioners in September, 2005, and was rejected on a 5-0 vote. Pellegrini said he learned of the latest, expanded wilderness proposal from a wilderness group several days before it came out. "After that original proposal was turned down by the commissioners, it didn't really die, at least in our minds," said Pellegrini Monday. "We always thought maybe we could come back and talk reason and see if we could get it." Since that time the Nevada Wilderness Project looked at other areas and examined them for their wilderness potential, creating the latest proposal. "Right now, the expanded version is hurting our effort....
Packed house unanimous in opposition to wilderness proposal But the source of the sizeable crowd gathered at the school that night was a planned presentation, held as part of the Smith Valley Advisory Council meeting, on the proposed wilderness area designation for southern Lyon County and parts of Mineral and Esmeralda counties. And the comments expressed during the more than two-hour session attended by an estimated 500 people, were unanimously opposed to that wilderness designation, including several elected officials who attended the meeting as well. The presentation was organized by the newly-formed 'Coalition for Public Access' and drew a packed house to the SVHS gym. And those attending were not limited to Smith Valley residents, as the crowd drew folks from Mason Valley, Mineral and Douglas Counties, and other areas and organizations beyond. Representatives of Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign were in attendance, as was another representing Congressman Dean Heller, and each said the wilderness designation was not proposed by the Congressmen, but by the wilderness groups advocating the inclusion of land in the Lyon County/Mineral County lands bill....
Federal panel told off-highway riders taxing BLM A four-fold increase in off-highway vehicle use in the past decade has stressed federal land-management agencies' ability to respond, a congressional committee was told Thursday. Explosive growth in the West and aggressive marketing of off-highway vehicles (OHVs) "have generated increased social conflicts and resource impacts on the public lands," said Henri Bisson, deputy director of the Bureau of Land Management, which manages 258 million acres of federal land nationwide. Bisson said that as the BLM weighs the appropriate use of public lands, it is taking a careful look at off-highway vehicle access. The issue has been of particular interest in Utah, where the booming popularity of the recreation vehicles has increased traffic and tension in scenic areas of the state. Bisson said travel restrictions the BLM imposed on Utah's Factory Butte were a step toward protecting resources. An agency order in September 2006 limited motorized travel to designated trails over about 142,000 acres in order to protect threatened and endangered species, he added. Those restrictions will be in effect until the broader management plan for the Richfield area is released later this year....
Experts: Off-road vehicles threat to public lands The conflict and landscape damage caused by skyrocketing off-road vehicle use in national forests and public lands in recent years require new regulations and increased federal law enforcement efforts, officials said Thursday. “Unmanaged use of off-road vehicles is a crisis that federal land management agencies are failing to address,” said Chairman Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., at a hearing of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on parks, forests and public lands. Riders who ride off trails damage cultural sites, create safety risks and disturb wildlife habitat, Grijalva said. A recent poll of federal land enforcement agents reveals they see off-road vehicles as one of the biggest threats facing public lands, he added. Henri Bisson, deputy director of the BLM, cited a conservative estimate by the Motorcycle Industry Council that there are four times more off-highway vehicles in the West now than a decade ago. Management of off-road vehicles and balancing all public uses is a growing challenge, Bisson said. “The combined effect of population increase in the West, unauthorized user-created roads, explosive growth in the use of OHVs, advances in motorized technology, and intense industry marketing have generated increased social conflicts and resource impacts on the public land,” he said....
Off-Highway Vehicle Exec Tells Congress Active Trail Management is Working The top executive at one of the nation's leading off-highway vehicle recreation organizations told a Congressional panel today that active management of OHV use on federal lands is working and that the closure of public lands to the millions of Americans who enjoy motorized recreation would be "a step backward." Russ Ehnes, Executive Director of the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC), made his remarks during a hearing on the impact of off-road vehicles on federal lands. The hearing was called by the Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Ehnes cited numerous examples where OHV management has been successful, including the Hatfield-McCoy Trail System in West Virginia, the Paiute ATV Trail in Utah and the San Bernardino National Forest in California. "Simply stated, trail systems can be successful by applying education, engineering, enforcement and evaluation," Mr. Ehnes said. "The results are high quality, environmentally sustainable trail systems that meet the needs and desires of the public."....
New Report Details Rollbacks for Idaho Backcountry The Center for Biological Diversity, WildWest Institute and more than 50 other local and national conservation organizations released a report today detailing the Bush administration's plan to open the door to development in Idaho's roadless backcountry forests - wildlands currently protected under the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Idaho's 9.3 million acres of roadless backcountry make up the core of the last intact forest ecosystem in the lower 48 states - the last place where all of the native plants, fish and wildlife - from the smallest plant to the largest predator - can still be found. "Some of the largest and most spectacular roadless areas in Idaho are right over the border. Many western Montanans visit these spectacular areas to hike, camp, backpack, fish, hunt, ski and spend quality, quiet time with family and friends," explained Shannon Kindle with the WildWest Institute. "It's unfortunate that the Bush Administration, Forest Service and state of Idaho are considering significantly weakening protections for nearly 6 million acres of these backcountry, roadless forests." "We can either leave our last pristine forests as they are, or open the door to mining, logging and other corporate special interests," said Paul Spitler of the Center for Biological Diversity. "The Bush administration has chosen the latter." The report, titled "Wild At Heart: Saving the Last of America’s Roadless Backcountry," highlights key differences between the two plans: current management under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (RACR), and the Bush administration's proposed Idaho rule-part of the administrations new plan to undo roadless area protections on a state-by-state basis....
Protection sought for snails, slugs in Northwest forests Conservation groups want the federal government to protect 32 species of snails and slugs under the Endangered Species Act. Tierra Curry, a biologist for the Center for Biological Diversity, says that since the Bush administration took steps to allow more logging in old-growth Pacific Northwest forests, the snails and slugs are in danger of going extinct. The petition says they perform a critical role in the food web, consuming forest litter and in turn being eaten by wildlife. While all 32 species are rare, seven are known to inhabit only one or two locations, making them particularly susceptible to extinction.
State takes over wolf management in two weeks The state of Wyoming took another step Thursday in preparation for managing gray wolves, once their removal from federal endangered species protection goes into effect. Wolves will officially lose protection under the federal Endangered Species Act March 28, and Wyoming will take over management of the canine that day, barring a legal injunction against the decision. The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission adopted the Game and Fish Department’s proposed wolf management regulations at a meeting here Thursday, with one minor alteration. The commission cleaned up language in the rule to make it explicit that people in the designated trophy game area can use lethal force to protect their pet dogs from wolves, in the same way they can protect livestock and other domesticated animals. In order to fulfill statutes established in House Bill 213, in the 2007 state legislative session, the rule designates gray wolves in the northwest part of the state as trophy game animals, where the department will use "aggressive" methods for managing the population. As of March 28, wolves living outside of the designated northwest region will be considered predators, and managed similarly to the way coyotes and mountain lions are. The new rules also establish a program for compensating landowners and livestock owners for damage caused by wolves, including predation....
Slowing with the flow He stops and studies the water level in his canal. It's rising but still below a stain on the canal's concrete wall, a measuring point that Romo trusts implicitly through experience. In a few minutes, the water reaches the stain, meaning there is sufficient pressure for Romo to crank a rusty metal jack that opens a wooden gate. "Can lose a finger if you're not careful," he said. With a loud swooosh, a wall of water moves down his canal. For the next several hours, Romo will repeat this ritual again and again, harnessing gravity to shepherd the day's water through his corner of the valley. Romo is a zanjero -- pronounced sahn-her-o -- Spanish for overseer of the mother ditch. His job is to deliver prescribed amounts of Colorado River water to farmers served by the Imperial Irrigation District in southeastern California. It's a job rich in tradition, one that mirrors the settlement of the West and its complicated relationship with water. The zanjero was once the most powerful man in any community, entrusted with overseeing its most valuable resource. In early Los Angeles, he was paid more than the mayor. Long before he engineered the city's future, William Mulholland learned the nuances of water working as a zanjero. "He is the yea and nay of the arid land, the arbiter of fate, the dispenser of good and evil, to be blessed by turns and cursed by turns, and to receive both with the utter unconcern of a small god," said the Century Magazine in New York, describing the job in 1902. Today, the zanjero is an endangered species, his craft too imprecise, his tools too crude to look after water in a region ravaged by drought....
US west coast braced for ban on salmon fishing as stocks collapse America's west coast looks set to lose almost all of its wild salmon harvest this year, depriving fish retailers and restaurants around the world of one of their key sources of high-quality fish, and raising troubling questions about the viability of commercial fishing in an age of climate change and increased competition over water use. United States government regulators have already closed down the early fishing season along swathes of the west coast and are expected to issue a season-long ban in California and Oregon, in response to an unprecedented collapse in the region's salmon population. The unexpected shutdown will have a devastating effect on the 1,000 or so commercial salmon fishermen who ply their trade between California's Central Coast and the Oregon-Washington state line. It will kill the recreational salmon fishing industry, which attracts millions of anglers each year and generates about $4bn (£2bn) in benefits to the coastal economy. And it will drastically change the menu at restaurants and private houses on the west coast and far beyond....
The Controversy Behind NAIS Our lack of trust is warranted based on the USDA’s current tactics. While describing NAIS as voluntary at the federal level, the USDA has shifted its efforts to promoting implementation at the state level. This allows the USDA to proclaim its innocence without altering its original intent of forcing everyone who owns even one livestock animal into NAIS. Let me describe what is happening: USDA is funding states that have implemented mandatory portions of NAIS, such as Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan. USDA is also offering funding to other states provided they show progress in premises registration, which is the first prong of NAIS. The annual Cooperative Agreements between the states and the federal government define the number of farms that must be registered in the premises registration database by each state in order to receive the federal funding. In 2008, the USDA intensified their requirements and, for the first time, will require states to achieve mid-year performance targets to receive continued funding even for that year. Many states’ programs have budget constraints, so access to federal funding is important to them. What’s disturbing is how states are meeting these performance targets. A number of states involuntarily enrolled farmers who participate in other animal health programs, such as scrapie or Coggins testing, by taking the data they provided for the health program and placing it into the NAIS database without the farmers’ permission. These states then reported these “registrations” as “voluntary.” The USDA specifically stated that it would fund these kinds of data mined registrations. Other tactics have been directed at our children. Examples include offering to pay $10 to each 4-Her who gets his or her parents to register their farm, or making premises registration a requirement to participate in 4-H programs or in livestock shows at the County or State Fair. Some states have required registration for critical agricultural assistance. When hay became scarce during the recent severe drought in North Carolina, the state purchased and trucked in hay to be sold at cost to farmers. But to take advantage of this hay, farmers first had to register their farms in the NAIS database. Although described as “voluntary,” in truth these underhanded tactics coerce desperate people to go along with something in order to save their animals....
Super sheep outran police German police are trying to trace the owner of a sheep which outran police patrol cars and beat up a police dog. Police in the northern German village of Guester say the sheep ran through the streets of the town at more than 30mph. It reportedly leapt over the bonnets of police cars used as a road block to cut off its escape and even chased off pursuing police dogs with a few well aimed head butts. Officers eventually caught up with it after it jumped into a field and started tucking into the grass. A police spokesman said: "It was not an easy pursuit. The animal had quite a turn of speed on it. We have appealed for its owner to come forward."