Monday, June 30, 2008

NMSU rodeo team claims four national titles

The New Mexico State University rodeo team has four national champions after the completion of the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) June 15-21 in Casper, Wyo.

Many team members also placed in the top 20, and the women’s team placed second in the nation overall. The men’s team placed in the top 15.

“I can’t tell you how happy and proud I am of what these fine young rodeo athletes have accomplished. To have four students from NMSU win national titles in one year is a phenomenal experience. These and all of our student rodeo athletes at NMSU have worked very hard to get this far and they deserve every bit of their success,” said Jim Dewey Brown, NMSU rodeo coach.

Bailey Gow, of Roseburg, Ore., won first place in the barrel racing event. She also placed 20th in breakaway roping, giving her enough points to receive fourth place in the women’s all-around.

Megan Corey Albrecht, of Bremerton, Wash., won first in the goat tying.

Datil, N.M., native Johnny Salvo received first in the tie-down roping. Salvo also placed second in the men’s rookie standings.

Wyatt Althoff, of Gilbert, Ariz., won the all-around cowboy honor by placing in two events. He placed third in the tie-down roping event and fifth in the team roping, heeling for partner Matt Garza, of Mesquite, N.M.

Kelsi Elkins, of Aztec, N.M., received 12th place in the barrel racing.

In the goat tying event, Brittany Striegel, also of Aztec, N.M., placed sixth.

Tanner Robinson, of Mesilla Park, N.M. placed 14th in the steer wrestling.

Header Tony Steele, of Alamo, Nev., and heeler Aaron Moyers, of Moriarty, N.M., placed 14th in the team roping.

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Photo is available at
http://ucommphoto.nmsu.edu/newsphoto/rodeo_team_finals_cw.jpg

CUTLINE: Members of the New Mexico State University Rodeo Team who placed at the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) are, from left, Johnny Salvo, of Datil, N.M., Megan Corey Albrecht, of Bremerton, Wash., NMSU rodeo coach Jim Dewey Brown, Bailey Gow, of Roseburg, Ore., Kelsi Elkins, of Aztec, N.M., Brittany Striegel, of Aztec, N.M., and Wyatt Althoff, of Gilbert, Ariz. (Courtesy photo by Shawna Brown)

Margaret Kovar
June 27, 2008
Protect N.M. Land and Its Many Uses

LAS CRUCES — The Wilderness Act of 1964 provides the framework for the use and management of designated wilderness areas. Wilderness is the most restrictive land use designation available, and one of its most contested aspects is access. Motorized vehicles and even mountain bikes and motorized wheelchairs are prohibited.

The restricted access not only affects the public, but significantly impacts law enforcement, search and rescue and firefighting activities. Wilderness areas close to the border created havens for drug trafficking and other illegal activity; concerns for citizen safety resulted in closure of those areas to the public.

Wilderness also severely limits proactive conservation and stewardship measures for the land and its wildlife. Recreation, outdoor sports and hunting are impacted, and unrealistic burdens are placed on existing ranching operations.

Wilderness designation results in numerous impacts to every individual and organization that utilizes federal land. The designation is one way to “protect” wild areas, but not the only way, as New Mexico Wilderness Alliance would have the public believe.

Our group, People for Preserving Our Western Heritage, developed an alternative proposal to protect these areas that became the basis for HR 6300.

Our objective was to provide a meaningful balance among environmental protection, water resource management, law enforcement, national security, conservation, community development, recreation and respect for private property rights.

The result is the Doña Ana County Planned Growth, Open Space And Rangeland Preservation Act of 2008, introduced by U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M. The People's Proposal would protect 302,000 acres by creating two Special Preservation Areas and four Rangeland Preservation Areas.

These lands could never be sold or exchanged and will be permanently withdrawn from the mining and mineral leasing laws — protection legislatively identical to wilderness designation.

This proposal differs from wilderness designation in that each area would be managed to protect its unique resources. Open space would be preserved and established, and historic uses of the land such as ranching, recreation and hunting would be accommodated.

The lands would be managed in a manner that protects and enhances grazing, recreation, wildlife management and scenic values under multiple-use, while conserving open space and unique resources.

The use of motorized vehicles will be allowed only on designated roads and trails. There would be exceptions as needed for administrative purposes, homeland security, law enforcement, emergency response, construction and maintenance of authorized rainfall runoff management systems or authorized rangeland improvements.

The act incorporates provisions from legislation drafted in 2005 by U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici for a land exchange for NMSU, and for the disposal of federal land identified in the Bureau of Land Management's 1993 plan.

The “People's Proposal” quickly earned significant community support, with a coalition of more than 700 businesses and organizations along with numerous professional endorsements. The concept of tailoring legislation to meet each area's specific needs, addressing identified threats and preserving beneficial historic use has been viewed with great enthusiasm.

The proposal is receiving attention throughout the West, where the never-ending flow of wilderness proposals has created public outcry and legislative logjams. We can protect our land, our natural resources and our open space without federal wilderness designations. This proposal protects not only the land itself, but also the access to the land and the beneficial stewardship and use of the land.

For a copy of the act and more information, visit www.PeopleForWesternHeritage.com.

Tom Cooper is chairman, and Jodi Denning is communications director, of People For Preserving Our Western Heritage.
Supreme Court Declines to Hear Atlantic Yards Challenge In an unsurprising move, the U.S. Supreme Court today denied the petition to grant a hearing to 11 property owners and tenants opposed to the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. The plaintiffs had turned to the High Court after a lower federal court dismissed their challenge to the state's use of eminent domain for the mega development in Prospect Heights. Lacking avenues in the federal courts, Atlantic Yards opponents now plan to take their lawsuit to state court, where in a long-shot effort, they will argue that the use of eminent domain for the $4 billion project violates the law of New York because the state government is attempting to seize their private property not for the public good, but for the private benefit of the developer, Forest City Ratner Companies....
Pentagon Fights EPA On Pollution Cleanup The Defense Department, the nation's biggest polluter, is resisting orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort Meade and two other military bases where the EPA says dumped chemicals pose "imminent and substantial" dangers to public health and the environment. The Pentagon has also declined to sign agreements required by law that cover 12 other military sites on the Superfund list of the most polluted places in the country. The contracts would spell out a remediation plan, set schedules, and allow the EPA to oversee the work and assess penalties if milestones are missed. The actions are part of a standoff between the Pentagon and environmental regulators that has been building during the Bush administration, leaving the EPA in a legal limbo as it addresses growing concerns about contaminants on military bases that are seeping into drinking water aquifers and soil. Under executive branch policy, the EPA will not sue the Pentagon, as it would a private polluter. Although the law gives final say to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson in cleanup disputes with other federal agencies, the Pentagon refuses to recognize that provision. Military officials wrote to the Justice Department last month to challenge EPA's authority to issue the orders and asked the Office of Management and Budget to intervene. Experts in environmental law said the Pentagon's stand is unprecedented....Notice under their "policy", they will sue you or me but not their fellow feds. Another example we are not all equal before the law.
Western guvs discuss balancing energy, wildlife Governors from several Western states voted Sunday to form a council that will study ways to protect wildlife habitat in the face of ever-increasing demand for energy development in their region. The governors were attending the first day of the annual Western Governors' Association conference, held this year in the valley of Jackson Hole in Wyoming's northwestern corner. The task of the Western Wildlife Habitat Council will be to identify key wildlife corridors and habitats for animals such as pronghorn antelope, sage grouse and bear. It is also considering the potential impact of energy development — both in the form of oil and gas drilling and new construction of solar and wind generation plants — as well as the matter of infrastructure for the rising population in the region and the effects of climate change. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, chairman of the association's board of directors, has stressed the preservation of wildlife habitat, particularly to protect hunting, as his state enjoys the benefits of wealthy coal and natural gas reserves. Along with gathering a foundation of information on wildlife habitats, Western states and the federal government should cooperate to make sure energy developers follow through with mitigating habitat disruption, he said....
This summer may see first ice-free North Pole There's a 50-50 chance that the North Pole will be ice-free this summer, which would be a first in recorded history, a leading ice scientist says. The weather and ocean conditions in the next couple of weeks will determine how much of the sea ice will melt, and early signs are not good, said Mark Serreze. He's a senior researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo. The chances for a total meltdown at the pole are higher than ever because the layer of ice coating the sea is thinner than ever, he said. "A large area at the North Pole and surrounding the North Pole is first-year ice," Serreze said. "That's the stuff that tends to melt out in the summer because it's thin." Preliminary February and March data from a NASA satellite shows that the circle of ice surrounding the North Pole is "considerably thinner" than scientists have seen during the five years the satellite has been taking pictures, NASA ice scientist Jay Zwally said Friday. He thinks there is slightly less than a 50-50 chance the North Pole will be ice-free. Last year was a record year for ice melt all over the Arctic and the ice band surrounding the North Pole is even thinner now....
Animal rights group turns its fire on celebrity meat-eaters Animal rights protesters have launched a series of angry campaigns against A-list carnivores. They are shifting their focus from celebrities who wear fur to others who encourage the "exploitation" of animals by eating them. In its latest campaign, Peta – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which became infamous for dousing fur-wearers in red paint – has launched an attack on the singer Jessica Simpson. Ms Simpson was singled out for ridicule after she was spotted wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Real Girls Eat Meat", believed to be a light-hearted dig at her boyfriend Tony Romo's vegetarian ex-girlfriend, Carrie Underwood. Alistair Currie, a spokesman for Peta, said: "Jessica Simpson might have a right to wear what she wants, but she doesn't have a right to eat what she wants – eating meat is about suffering and death. Some people feel like they are standing up against a tide of political correctness when they make a statement like this – what she is really doing is standing up for the status quo." The animal rights group doctored a photo of Ms Simpson to read "Only Stupid Girls Eat Meat", and listed "five reasons only stupid girls eat meat"....
Cowboy Church Ministers To Western Culture
Worshippers - dressed in western boots, blue jeans, casual shirts and T's - perch on red and yellow metal folding chairs in a metal-clad building cooled by box fans and a slow breeze. An iron welcome sign behind the singers depicts a barbed wire fence, a horse and a rider who has apparently dismounted to kneel before a cross. A hay bale and a cross fashioned from horseshoes also grace the rustic tableau. The music, backed by guitars and a fiddle, features country stylings of familiar tunes - "Victory in Jesus," "Because He Lives," and "Turn Your Radio On." The special this Father's Day is a rendition of "My Front Porch Looking In." Welcome to Sunday night worship - cowboy style. Cross Brand Cowboy Church seeks to reach a wide range of people - from rodeo cowboys to people who simply have an affinity for western heritage, said Tim Wallace, the congregation's pastor. It's no stretch for Wallace, wearing a plaid shirt, jeans and a cowboy hat, to feel at home with those audiences....
How the Comanche won the west By the start of the 19th century, the Comanche tribe of Native Americans had come to dominate all the southern plains of the present-day United States. Comanche power stretched from the western frontier of French-controlled Louisiana to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and from the waters of the Arkansas River to the northern provinces of Spanish-controlled Mexico. The region today includes most of Texas and Oklahoma, and all of New Mexico and the trans-Rio Grande down to Durango. So vast was the territory and so complete the sway that Pekka Hamalainen, in this scholarly and eye-opening book, asserts that Comanche dominance deserves to be called an empire. Not an empire in the classic, Western meaning of the word, with a central metropolis and demarcated frontiers, but an empire in the sense of hegemony. The tribe developed a military, economic and cultural cohesion that rivalled the French and Spanish presence in North America and overwhelmed the many other Indian tribes in the region. Only in the third quarter of the century, when the post-Civil War United States began its real push into the plains, did Comanche pre-eminence fall apart. But for more than 100 years, the Comanche were the 800-pound gorilla of the American West. In the early 1700s, this small nomadic tribe migrated out of the mountainous Great Basin and into the southern plains. Rarely have a people and an ecology been so perfectly matched. The plains were a vast ocean of grasslands, especially shortgrass, with a long growing season and comparatively mild winters. The region was home to perhaps a million wild horses and it touched the northern frontier of Spanish New Mexico where wild and domesticated horses could be easily traded. In a few brief years, the Comanche emerged as prodigious equestrians, and the horse became both the reason and the vehicle for Comanche expansion....

Sunday, June 29, 2008

FLE

Justice Dept. to pay scientist $5.8 million in anthrax lawsuit The former Army scientist who for years was the prime suspect in the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings agreed Friday to take $5.8 million from the Justice Department to settle his claim that the government invaded his privacy and ruined his career. Steven Hatfill, 54, called a "person of interest" in the case by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2002, said that label and repeated leaks of investigative details to the media damaged his reputation. For months in the anxious atmosphere following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hatfill was subjected to 24-hour surveillance and identified as the leading suspect in the nation's first bioterrorism attack. However, he was never arrested or charged, and a federal judge presiding over his lawsuit said recently that there "is not a scintilla of evidence" linking him to the mailings. Former federal prosecutors knowledgeable about the investigation said the government's payout to Hatfill signifies that, in all likelihood, he will never be charged. The settlement calls for an immediate $2.82 million payment to Hatfill. Beginning in 2009, the government will pay Hatfill an annuity of $150,000 a year for 20 years, according to court papers. "Our government failed us, not only by failing to catch the anthrax mailers but by seeking to conceal that failure," Hatfill's lawyers said in a statement. The statement also blamed journalists for not questioning the motives of the government's statements or its tactics....
Fired Louisiana State Researcher Wins Settlement in Anthrax Terror Lawsuit At the height of the investigation, in 2002, Dr. Hatfill was fired from his position as associate director at Louisiana State University’s National Center for Biomedical Research and Training. The turmoil at the center surrounding Dr. Hatfill’s employment during the investigation, and a directive from the U.S. Department of Justice that Dr. Hatfill be barred from participating in any research paid for by the department, also led to the dismissal of Stephen L. Guillot, the center’s director. At that time, the Justice Department provided 97 percent of the center’s financing. Dr. Hatfill vigorously pursued his lawsuit against the federal government, winning a number of court orders compelling journalists to testify about where they had received information on the case. Though Dr. Hatfill was never officially deemed a suspect in the case, his public naming as a “person of interest” by the attorney general at the time, John Ashcroft, and high-profile searches and surveillance of his home placed the researcher firmly in the public spotlight....
Leaks, focus on single suspect undercut anthrax probe The federal investigation into the deadly anthrax mailings of late 2001 was undermined by leaks and a premature fixation on a single suspect, according to investigators and scientists involved in the case. More than six years after the mailings, no one has been charged, and the top suspect, former Army scientist Steven J. Hatfill was all but exonerated Friday when the U.S. Justice Department agreed to pay him $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit. The anthrax mailings killed five people, crippled mail delivery in some areas and closed a Senate office building for months, heightening anxiety on the heels of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Now, dozens of interviews by the Los Angeles Times and a review of newly available court documents reveal a flawed investigation marked by abnormal tactics and internal dissent. Behind the scenes, FBI agents chafed at their supervisors' obsession with Hatfill, who in 2002 was publicly identified by then-Atty. Gen. John D. Ashcroft as "a person of interest." The preoccupation with Hatfill persisted for years, long after investigators failed to turn up any evidence linking him to the mailings. Other potential suspects and leads were ignored or given insufficient attention, investigators said. One official who criticized Ashcroft for singling out Hatfill was rebuked by the FBI director's top aide. When Hatfill, now 54, landed a government-funded university job, the Department of Justice forced his dismissal. Ashcroft and FBI officials testified in the lawsuit that they knew of no precedent for such intervention. Investigators also questioned orders from their bosses to share confidential information with political leaders, a departure from normal procedure. The security of information within the probe was so lax that FBI agents found news helicopters racing them to the scenes of searches. One exasperated agent called the leaks to the media "ridiculous." When an official proposed using lie-detector tests to find the source of the leaks, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III dismissed the idea, saying it would be "bad for morale," according to testimony by one of the lead agents on the case. Previously undisclosed deposition testimony by agents and their supervisors was gathered as part of the lawsuit Hatfill filed in 2003, alleging that the government violated his privacy and damaged his reputation and prospects for employment. A federal judge who reviewed details of the investigation, including still-secret FBI summaries, declared earlier this year that there "is not a scintilla of evidence that would indicate that Dr. Hatfill had anything to do with this." FBI leaders remained fixated on Hatfill into late 2006, agents said....
The Anthrax Letters Hatfill’s attorneys had filed a case against the Federal Government for violation of privacy rights. Hatfill will receive $2.825 million up front and $150,000 a year for 20 years. "I don't think anyone would believe the Department of Justice would . . . pay that kind of money unless they felt there was significant exposure at trial," said Brian Sun, a defense lawyer who represented nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee in a leak case. (Boston Globe) Exposure? Yes, exactly what would be revealed if Hatfill’s case were to go on? In those days following 9-11 the American public was led to believe all sorts of things regarding the anthrax letters. One version was that the Middle Eastern terrorists who hijacked planes and directed them at the World Trade Center towers, were somehow implicated and may have even brought anthrax to the U.S. from a foreign land. But when our own scientists were employing DNA fingerprinting technology that was leading up to the doorsteps of military biological warfare laboratories in Utah and Maryland, the story had to change. Hatfill became the scapegoat. In a written statement, Hatfill's lawyers said, "We can only hope that the individuals and institutions involved are sufficiently chastened by this episode to deter similar destruction of private citizens in the future – and that we will all read anonymously sourced news reports with a great deal more skepticism." (International Herald Tribune) Chastised? The taxpayers paid the monetary price. The case is unsolved and agents involved in pursuit of the anthrax terrorists (FBI, postal inspectors) have not lost their jobs. The settlement with Hatfill stops further pursuit and revelations of government complicity in this case. Hatfill was never charged, just slandered. That is all that government need do, create public suspicion. Somehow, someone swiped anthrax from a military biological warfare laboratory and used it to kill 5 and infect 17. Someone who walks in and out of the doors at these military labs was involved. They are still at large, and probably still have access to the anthrax....
The Crucifixion of Steven Hatfill This link will take you to a five-part series done on the Hatfill case in 2002.
The bucket list
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Julie Carter

Everybody, everywhere has owned a bucket, used a bucket or needed a bucket. Buckets through the ages have played a part in the very fiber of our lives.

We have the water bucket, milk bucket, mop bucket, slop bucket, coal bucket, ash bucket, grease bucket, feed bucket, lunch bucket, paint bucket and the ever popular, old oaken bucket. And a bucket of sorts, the chamber pot.

The ancestral poor-boy stories always include the lard bucket that became the lunch bucket.

Lunch pail stories often include a long walk to school, uphill both ways and, in the winter, the sandwiches are frozen solid.

The bucket on the end of an old hemp rope strikes memories of a hand-dug well providing the only water on the place.

The littlest kid, because he fit the best, got the summer job of climbing down the ladder to clean the silt from the bottom of the well.

The mud would slop from the bucket on top of him as his grandfather pulled it up out of the well.

Now, the bucket is rusted and the rope rotten but the era of such a chore is held in the heart with warmth.

My recall is that it was important that your horse was "bucket" broke so that you could carry a bucket of something on him while in the saddle.

Naturally, the feed bucket was his favorite and he preferred it in front of him, full of oats. One horse was named "Smart Bucket," although I'm not really sure what that was about.

The milk bucket was the starting point of basic education for many youngsters. Every summer, based on the high nutritional value of milk, one lad was assigned to milk the cow to provide a never-ending supply of fresh milk while visiting his uncle's ranch.

The chore didn't have obvious "cowboy" value to the lessons he wanted to learn about riding, roping and punching cattle.

Yet his uncle convinced him it was necessary to drink all this milk to maintain his strength and stamina to do the other work like fencing, pushing brush and breaking colts.

At the end of the summer, his last assignment was to turn the milk cow out to pasture. It seems the uncle didn't require as much good nutrition during the winter.

Buckets are good for many things that don't have anything to do with their intended use.

Upside-down to sit or stand on is the most popular. Kin to the bucket for functional "sittin' on" is the milk can.

At a recent down-home team roping that holds appeal to the "usta-be" cowboy set, a couple of portly cowboys were at the back of the chutes waiting their turn in the arena.

Good friends, the pair have found different challenges in reaching the stage of their life where the spirit is willing but the knees are stiff.

One continues to ride a 16-hand rope horse because he always did, but now getting on him represents a mission impossible. In remedy, he totes a milk can wherever he goes to use as a step.

His aging buddy finds the frequent need to sit down on something, anything, whatever is near. The milk can provides nicely for that as well.

The roping announcer called a name, putting one of them into action.

"Rusty, get up. I need my can."

"I just got set down here. I can't get up that quick," Rusty replied.

Call two from the announcer.

"Rusty! Get up. I've got to go rope, they'll turn my steer out."

"I'm trying," Rusty said. "Give me a hand here. My knees aren't working too good. This can is pretty comfortable."

During an understanding pause from the announcer, who had been clued-in to the situation, the milk can was vacated and then used by its owner to climb aboard his horse.

As he backed in the box, they gave call three and Rusty ... well, Rusty had already settled back into his sittin' position on the milk can.

There comes a time in life when just about everything looks like it needs set on.

Julie can be reached at her "settin'" spot at www.julie-carter.com
FLE

U.S. helps ransom Reyes' kin U.S. law enforcement authorities helped facilitate a $32,000 ransom payment in Mexico for a relative of a U.S. congressman who was kidnapped last week by gunmen in Ciudad Juarez, a border city with rampant drug smuggling, gunfights and corruption. Erika Posselt, a Mexican national described only as "a relative of the wife" of Rep. Silvestre Reyes, Texas Democrat and powerful chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was abducted June 19 from an auto glass store she owns in Juarez. Held for three days, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents - at Mr. Reyes' request - helped arrange her safe return. Saying they would kill Mrs. Posselt if a $500,000 ransom wasn't paid, the kidnappers negotiated with Mrs. Posselt's brother in Juarez and agreed to release her for $32,000 - in U.S. and Mexican currency. According to a confidential ICE memo, Mrs. Posselt was heard yelling in the background on one phone call between her brother and her captors. The family raised the money, according to the memo. On June 21, two men on a motorcycle collected the ransom money at a Juarez street corner but sped off and eluded investigators who had staked out the drop site. U.S. policy prohibits federal agencies from negotiating with kidnappers in ransom demands for U.S. citizens. It is not clear how the policy pertains to the involvement of U.S. agencies in the kidnapping of noncitizens such as Mr. Reyes' relative. But some law enforcement authorities on Thursday said the Mexican case could have set a dangerous precedent....The real question is: would ICE have done this for you or me?
Drug cartel hit list found in Southern New Mexico Law enforcement officials in El Paso on Thursday said they have no knowledge of a drug cartel hit list in El Paso similar to one circulated in southern New Mexico. Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos confirmed the existence of the list Thursday, but he denied it was uncovered by his agency. Cobos said the list was included in an intelligence briefing from the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security that was shared with several law enforcement agencies that engage in periodic conference calls. The conference calls are in response to a recent spike in drug-related borderland violence. The report that referred to the list was received about a week ago, Cobos said. Cobos would not divulge the 15 to 20 names on the list, but said they included current or former residents of El Paso, Luna and Doña Ana counties, as well as Albuquerque, among other places. Some were referred to by family name, he said. Cobos said he was not sure whether the note made specific death threats against those listed....
National Guard Will Be Withdrawn From Unsecured Border Members of Congress are split on whether the National Guard should end its deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border in July, as planned. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff predicted the border would not be secured until 2011. At its peak, Operation Jump Start -- which began in June 2006 -- involved 6,000 members of the Guard on a two-year mission to provide military assistance and equipment to the Border Patrol in states bordering Mexico. Prior to Operation Jump Start, only a few hundred Guard troops were posted at the border. Since the operation began, the U.S. Border Patrol has boosted its own presence there. Randal Noller, a public affairs officer for the National Guard Bureau, told Cybercast News Service that as of June 4, the Guard had helped Customs and Border Protection apprehend 176,000 illegal aliens, seize 1,116 vehicles, intercept 315,744 pounds of marijuana and seize 5,225 pounds of cocaine. (The Guard does not make actual arrests of illegal border crossers, but only aids Border Patrol personnel.) The Guard also built 38.1 miles of new fencing, 18.5 miles of new roads, 94.5 miles of vehicle barriers and repaired 717 miles of road. The final withdrawal of Guard troops assigned to Operation Jump Start is planned for July 15....
Justices open US courts to detainees The US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that detainees at Guantanamo Bay have a right under the US Constitution to challenge their detention in US civilian courts, dealing perhaps the final blow to President Bush's policy of holding terrorism suspects indefinitely without charge. The 5-to-4 court ruling is expected to immediately trigger a flood of hearings in US federal court on behalf of the approximately 260 men who have been detained for years without trial or formal charges. Legal specialists said the government must now present evidence against the men in a US court or release them - a situation the Bush administration and its allies in Congress have fought bitterly to prevent in the name of national security. In a passionately written opinion by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the court's majority took aim at Bush's long-held assertion that, as US commander in chief during wartime, he has broad powers to detain terrorist suspects as he sees fit in order to protect the nation. Rejecting that theory, Kennedy wrote that the framers of the Constitution saw the need "to guard against the abuse of monarchical power" and, therefore, gave individuals the right to contest their detentions, even during "extraordinary" times. Siding with the majority were Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, and Kennedy. The dissenters were Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas. Traveling in Italy yesterday, Bush said he "will abide by the court's decision," but added, "That doesn't mean I have to agree with it." Bush sided with the four dissenting justices, who wrote that the ruling raises "serious concerns about US national security." He said his advisers are studying the ruling "to determine whether or not additional legislation might be appropriate." Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the ruling would not affect the Guantanamo trials against enemy combatants, the Associated Press reported. "I think it bears emphasis that the court's decision does not concern military commission trials, which will continue to proceed," Mukasey said in Tokyo today....
Habeas Ruling Lays Bare the Divide Among Justices The Supreme Court's decision that detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have a right to challenge their imprisonment before a judge revealed in vivid detail the justices' deep divide over the role of the judiciary in wartime. As a practical matter, the 5 to 4 decision returns to the spotlight Washington's federal district judges, who are now conferring to develop a framework for handling about 200 cases filed by those the government suspects of terrorism held at the island naval base. It is a role that practically consumed the court until Congress, at the behest of the Bush administration, stripped it of the responsibility. Indeed, the cases the Supreme Court decided Thursday, Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. U.S., arose from conflicting decisions by D.C. district judges. As both sides of the court acknowledged in Thursday's decision, the cases exposed fundamental differences in the court's vision of judicial power. The conservatives favor adherence to strict rules and regulations promulgated by the political branches. The liberals are content to let judges judge, working out the boundaries between constitutional rights and national security. The tie-breaker was Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the nomadic conservative who in this case espoused a strong role for independent judges....
House easily passes compromise surveillance law The House Friday easily approved a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government's terrorism-era warrantless eavesdropping on phone and computer lines in this country. The bill, which was passed on a 293-129 vote, does more than just protect the telecoms. The update to the 30-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is an attempt to balance privacy rights with the government's responsibility to protect the country against attack, taking into account changes in telecommunications technologies. The government eavesdropped on American phone and computer lines for almost six years after the Sept. 11 attacks without permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the special panel established for that purpose under the 1978 law. Some 40 lawsuits have been filed against the telecommunications companies by groups and individuals who think the Bush administration illegally monitored their phone calls or e-mails. The compromise bill directs a federal district court to review certifications from the attorney general saying the telecommunications companies received presidential orders telling them wiretaps were needed to detect or prevent a terrorist attack. If the paperwork were deemed in order, the judge would dismiss the lawsuit. It would also require the inspectors general of the Justice Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies to investigate the wiretapping program, with a report due in a year. Critics of the bill say dismissal is a foregone conclusion. "These provisions turn the judiciary into the administration's rubber stamp," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif....
The Bush administration now wants to watch you from the sky A Bush administration program to expand domestic use of Pentagon spy satellites has aroused new concerns in Congress about possible civil-liberties abuses. On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment denying money for the new domestic intelligence operation—cryptically named the "National Applications Office"—until the Homeland Security secretary certifies that any programs undertaken by the center will "comply with all existing laws, including all applicable privacy and civil liberties standards." Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat who chairs the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on intelligence, told Newsweek that majorities in both the House and Senate intend to block all funding for the domestic intelligence center at least until August, when the Government Accountability Office, an investigative agency that works for Congress, completes a report examining civil-liberties and privacy issues related to the domestic use of picture-taking spy satellites. Harman, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee when Republicans controlled Congress earlier in Bush's tenure, said she still felt burned by the president's secret expansion of domestic electronic spying after 9/11. At the time, she and other intel committee leaders were assured that the increased intelligence activity was legal, only to learn later that the basis for the new surveillance was a set of opinions by administration lawyers that are now widely considered to be legally questionable. Because of the administration's poor handling of the electronic spying program (mainly conducted by the super-secret National Security Agency, which operates a worldwide web of electronic eavesdropping systems), Harman says she and other members of Congress will be more cautious about accepting civil-liberties assurances from administration officials. "We have to make sure this is not a back door for spying on Americans," Harman told Newsweek....
U.S. and Europe Near Agreement on Private Data The United States and the European Union are nearing completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security agencies to obtain private information — like credit card transactions, travel histories and Internet browsing habits — about people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The potential agreement, as outlined in an internal report obtained by The New York Times, would represent a diplomatic breakthrough for American counterterrorism officials, who have clashed with the European Union over demands for personal data. Europe generally has more stringent laws restricting how governments and businesses can collect and transfer such information. Negotiators, who have been meeting since February 2007, have largely agreed on draft language for 12 major issues central to a “binding international agreement,” the report said. The pact would make clear that it is lawful for European governments and companies to transfer personal information to the United States, and vice versa. But the two sides are still at odds on several other matters, including whether European citizens should be able to sue the United States government over its handling of their personal data, the report said. The report, which lays out the progress of the talks and lists the completed draft language, was jointly written by the negotiators from the United States Homeland Security, Justice and State Departments, and by their European Union counterparts. The talks grew out of two conflicts over information-sharing after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The United States government demanded access to customer data held by airlines flying out of Europe and by a consortium, known as Swift, which tracks global bank transfers....
Lawsuits Follow Landmark Gun Ruling Following Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on gun rights, Second Amendment groups are preparing to challenge gun bans in cities other than Washington, D.C. The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) announced Thursday they already have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Chicago's long-standing handgun ban. The case is McDonald v. City of Chicago. The National Rifle Association has said it also plans to challenge gun bans in Chicago and San Francisco. "Chicago's handgun ban has failed to stop violent crime," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. In Chicago, it is illegal to possess a handgun within city limits, unless the gun was purchased before the 1982 ban took effect. (There are some exceptions for police officers and city leaders.) Other guns -- not handguns -- can be registerd, but the process is onerous, critics complain. Plaintiffs in McDonald v. City of Chicago include four city residents who want to keep handguns in their homes. (Otis McDonald is a retiree who has been working with police to rid his neighborhood of drug dealers and who wants a handgun for protection.)....
The Civil Liberties Myth Much of the federal government's growth over the years can be attributed to special circumstances or good intentions. Most government wars, laws, and programs were unwise, counter-productive and set bad precedents. They gouged taxpayers and diminished our freedoms. But usually there was at least a sensible health, economic, or security issue at stake. Indeed, many believed that Big Government actually enhanced individual rights and promoted human progress. But then in 1970 Congress took a giant leap backward, re-instituting a form a legal theft that had virtually disappeared in both the U.S. and U.K. by the 19th century. Called "civil asset forfeiture," its purpose was to seize not only contraband, but all the property suspected (not proved) of having been used in criminal activity. If the car transported marijuana without the owner's knowledge, this law allowed the government to confiscate the car and sell it at auction. If thousands of dollars were found on a young man in a ghetto, this fact by itself could be used as "probable cause" that the money was proceeds from a drug sale. The property could be taken even if its owner was never charged with a crime, and the burden of proof that the property in question was not involved in a crime lay with the owner, not the government....

Saturday, June 28, 2008

PEARCE INTRODUCES LAND PROTECTION MEASURE

Plan based on community input, would result in a balanced approach


For Immediate Release
June 27, 2008
Contact: Brian Phillips
202.225.4759, brian,phillips@mail.house.gov

Washington - Congressman Steve Pearce, on June 18, 2008 introduced legislation to create special designations for land that balance open space preservation with other needs of the surrounding community. The Dona Ana County Planned Growth, Open Space And Rangeland Preservation Act of 2008 (HR 6300) would create four Rangeland Preservation Areas and two Special Preservation Areas that permanently protect open space and ensure appropriate access for public safety and other purposes.

"The issues are complex, and we have worked diligently to find a middle ground that is acceptable on all sides of the issue," said Pearce, a former small businessman. Over 700 businesses and organizations have formed a Coalition supporting this proposal. We believe it offers a compromise that would greatly benefit southern New Mexico and has great potential across the western states struggling with these issues for providing appropriate protection without creating unnecessary hardships on surrounding communities."

The debate over public lands legislation has helped to raise local citizens awareness of the importance of preserving open space and providing protection for our natural resources. Congressman Pearce has closely followed the debate that has surfaced with the competing proposals.

While many question the qualification of the lands in Dona Ana County, New Mexico under the standards established by the Wilderness Act of 1964, it is clear the community stands in solid agreement that these areas are worthy of protection from encroaching development as well as from mining and mineral leasing. The community has expressed concerns about the impact of Wilderness access restrictions on law enforcement, search and rescue operations, fire fighting, and flood control projects, as well as access for sportsmen, hunters, horseback riders and other recreationalists. The development community raised concerns about impacts on community growth. The ranching community raised concerns about their economic viability when faced with impacts from management and administration practices typically imposed within Wilderness areas.

Concerns expressed by Border Patrol organizations about impacts to Homeland Security operations raise serious issues that impact every citizen. Richard Hayes, retired Chief of Air Operations for the Border Patrol, expressed his concerns by stating "The current effort to create Wilderness along the border in Dona Ana County and ultimately the expansion of such activities along the extended border is dangerous and ill conceived."

Specifically, the legislation will allow appropriate access for recreational use of the land, such as hunting, camping, and bicycling, as well as unrestricted access for law enforcement and public safety officials. It also will benefit the economies of surrounding communities by allowing a local advisory board to participate in and provide input into the existing land disposal process managed by the Bureau of Land Management. A portion of the proceeds from sale of federal lands would be directed back into the local community. It should be noted that the Act deals only with disposal lands already identified by BLM in its 1993 Mimbres Area Resource Management Plan. The Act does not identify additional lands for disposal, and sets no timetable for disposals. Disposals will be based on the needs of the community, with input from a seven-member advisory committee consisting of a representative from the BLM, Dona Ana County, City of Las Cruces, conservationists, Elephant Butte Irrigation District, ranching, and the business community.

The legislation will provide protection and preservation of the federal lands with a model which tailors the level of protection and access based on the specific requirements for the areas and the needs of the community. The existing temporary Wilderness Study Areas can be released because appropriate protection measures will be in place.

Congressman Pearces legislation is an innovative approach blending sensible and appropriate levels of protection for our natural resources, balanced with protection of property rights, appropriate levels of access for the public and law enforcement, and continued beneficial use of these areas.

-30-

Additional Reference material:

A 2004 US General Accounting Office (GAO) Report titled "Border Security - Agencies Need to Better Coordinate Their Strategies and Operations on Federal Lands", states: "Congress has designated areas within some federal lands as wilderness under the Wilderness Act of 1964 and subsequent legislation, while the Fish and Wildlife Service has designated certain areas as critical habitat for endangered and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Federal law enforcement officers told us that these designations can hinder their efforts. For example, motorized vehicles must generally remain on designated roads in wilderness areas, and the Wilderness Act generally prohibits construction of permanent structures such as communications towers in wilderness areas."

Friday, June 27, 2008

BLM seeks new pasture facilities for wild horses The Bureau of Land Management, charged with the responsibility of managing, protecting and controlling wild horses and burros, is seeking bids for new pasture facilities in the continental United States. The pastures must be able to maintain at least 500 wild horses and as many as 2,500 over a one-year period. There would be an option for an additional four one-year extensions. Officials say there are approximately 33,000 wild horses and burros roaming BLM lands in 10 Western states. The desired level is 27,300. Wild horses and burros not placed in private care through adoption or sale are cared for at the holding facilities....
House panel OKs Matheson land swap A House panel has approved a 40,000-acre land exchange between the Utah school trust land administration and the Bureau of Land Management. Wednesday, the House Natural Resources Committee approved the Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2007, introduced by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, that calls for the exchange near the Colorado River in Uintah and Grand counties to help reduce the "checkerboard pattern" of state trust lands and federal land. "This bill is the result of consensus among a broad, diverse group of stakeholders — public and private, urban and rural, industry, conservation, sportsmen and education," Matheson said in a statement. "The result is a proposal that is fair to the taxpayer, beneficial to Utah schoolchildren, mindful of hunting and other public access opportunities and a better configuration for land managers to protect habitat, watershed and recreational values." The bill still must pass the full House and Senate before going to the president for his signature. Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, both R-Utah, have the same bill in the Senate. The bill passed the House in the previous Congress, but the Senate did not vote on it....
Preserving Mount Taylor and a way of life For many Native people in the Southwest, New Mexico's Mount Taylor, within the Cibola National Forest west of Albuquerque, N.M., holds a great deal of sacred significance. One of these tribes who hold Mount Taylor sacred is the Pueblo of Acoma. Its people call this mountain K'aweshtima, which means ''being a place of snow'' in their Keres language. ''Acoma has maintained this connection to Mount Taylor for a number of years and for many different reasons,'' said Theresa Pasqual, director of the Pueblo of Acoma Historic Preservation Office. ''Through our stories, our songs, our prayers, the people have always referred to Acoma as being a sacred place. It's the home of several of our spiritual beings. It's a place that we go to regularly to gather traditional herbs and medicines. Historically, our people have hunted there. There are ancestral settlements in the area. It's a place where our people continue to make a pilgrimage to this very day.'' It only seemed fitting that it would be a place of prayer as part of the 2008 National Days of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places. In addition to being a sacred site, it is also a recreational area enjoyed by Native and non-Native alike, including athletes who travel to the area each winter to participate in a quadrathalon - an event that involves running, biking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Yet mining companies over the years have had quite a different interest when viewing Mount Taylor, eyeing it for its uranium underneath the surface....
Ousted Rural Families Fight for Heritage First, they lost their land. Now the people whose families were evicted in the 1960s to create a vast nature preserve in western Kentucky and Tennessee are wrangling with the U.S. Forest Service over how to present their history to visitors. Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is a peninsula of forests and ridges between two dammed river valleys whose serene backwoods atmosphere was created in part by tearing down small towns and burning farms. The U.S. Forest Service is currently preparing a heritage management plan for the area, which will determine how the history of the land and its people is presented. That has triggered complaints and a letter-writing campaign from displaced residents worried they will not have enough of a voice in deciding how their story is told for future generations. The Forest Service is pitching a plan to commemorate some sites and do archaeological digs in others. Land Between the Lakes program director Kathryn Harper says the former residents are as welcome as any other member of the public to comment and offer ideas. The former residents, however, want more say over what is presented as the history of the area, how it is presented and what the Forest Service will and won't allow visitors to do. "We've got a relationship with the place that nobody else will ever have," said David Nickell, whose family first came to the area nearly 250 years ago. "It's still our heritage. We're still using it."....
Biologists, ranchers hope cows will help lure back butterflies Bay checkerspot butterflies are picky eaters that prefer goldfield and purple owl's clover. Both native plants grow on Tulare Hill in South San Jose, but the fickle butterflies have stayed away - possibly turned off by the unsavory invasive grasses now blanketing the steep hill. So to lure back the butterflies, biologists sent in the cows. On Wednesday, a rancher herded 40 Angus cows to Tulare Hill's north side. Turns out the bovine beasts - often cast as environmental enemies for their methane emissions, among other problems - love to graze on non-native grasses like Italian rye and squirrel tail, species that now grow in abundance on Tulare Hill and crowd out the threatened butterflies' favorite snacks. "The cows eat the invasive grasses but leave the native plants alone," said Craige Edgerton of the Silicon Valley Land Conservancy. "In order for the butterfly to survive, it needs cows."....

Thursday, June 26, 2008

FLE

Divided Court Finds Individual Right to Own Guns
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, has struck down the District of Columbia's handgun ban. The ruling says Americans have the individual right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the Associated Press reported. It is the high court's first definitive Second Amendment ruling in U.S. history. The Supreme Court held that "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home." But the court also found limitations: "Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court's opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."....
Heller Discussion Board: Incorporation and the Need for Further Litigation It is not hyperbole to describe today’s decision in Heller as the most significant opinion of this century, and likely, of the last two generations. Two particular thoughts immediately come to mind. First, the extent to which today’s decision effectively opens the door for future litigation regarding the Second Amendment to further clarify the extent of the now confirmed, but long understood, individual right to keep and bear arms. Second, this is an election year. This decision, closely divided as it is, will likely provide a rallying cry for the millions of the Americans who recognize that their Second Amendment rights came down to a single vote. In reading Justice Scalia’s opinion, there is an overwhelming theme that to interpret the Second Amendment as not protecting an individual right would gut the amendment of meaning and defy logic. It is, after all, the Second Amendment, not the two hundredth. This is not an obscure line buried among thousands of pages of text. It is inconceivable that the framers would have given it the priority they did, placing it ahead of so many other critical rights, if they only meant it to apply to militias as the dissenting justices suggest. But as emphatic as Justice Scalia’s opinion is, however, it leaves open the question of whether the Second Amendment is selectively incorporated so as to apply to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. This is a particularly important question for my clients - 47 state rifle associations - on whose behalf I filed an amicus brief. But while the opinion itself is clear in confirming an individual right, it conspicuously leaves the question of selective incorporation dangling. To be sure, this is attributable to the fact that the question was not before the Court...It doesn’t take a mathematician to recognize the narrow margin in this case. Replace any one of the five justices in the majority with a more liberal appointment - many of whom will be waiting in line if Barack Obama wins the presidency - and the outcome would have flipped. Americans would have lost the individual right to keep and bear arms....

Update

The Federalist Society Online Debate Series The Supreme Court’s decision striking down the D.C. handgun ban is an important victory for the rights of American citizens who want to own guns for self defense. It is also an important declaration by the Court of its respect for the original meaning of the Constitution. Justice Scalia’s opinion conclusively refutes the mistaken theory that the Second Amendment protects only a right to have weapons for the purpose of serving in a military organization regulated by the government. The Court, moreover, has firmly rejected the theory that courts should uphold almost any regulation that they think might promote public safety. Many questions about the scope of the Second Amendment remain open, but the core right of Americans to keep arms for personal self defense has now been fixed in our constitutional law. One particularly interesting feature of Justice Scalia’s opinion is its insistence that questions about the scope of Second Amendment rights will be decided on the basis of an historical inquiry. This appears to mean that arguments about the costs and benefits of modern gun control regulations should be almost entirely irrelevant to the constitutional analysis. It is not entirely clear how this historical analysis will be conducted, but Scalia’s opinion suggests that modern gun control statutes will not be upheld unless they have some reasonably close analogue in regulations that were widely accepted in eighteenth century common law or statutory law, or perhaps in regulations that have been widely adopted and accepted in modern times. Among the most urgent questions left open by the Heller decision is whether the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment applicable to state and local governments. Justice Scalia’s opinion contains some language suggesting that the Second Amendment will be “incorporated” under the Fourteenth Amendment, but the question was left open. Scalia’s opinion also includes dicta indicating that some important forms of gun control will be upheld. Examples include bans on carrying concealed weapons; disarmament of convicted felons; gun free zones in “sensitive places” like schools and government buildings; restrictions on the commercial sale of firearms; and bans on “dangerous and unusual” weapons, apparently including short-barreled shotguns and machine guns. Some of the examples are problematic. Is it truly consistent with the original meaning of the Second Amendment to leave an American citizen defenseless for the rest of her life because she was convicted of a non-violent felony like tax evasion or insider trading? On what basis will courts decide whether particular places are sufficiently “sensitive” to justify disarming citizens who go there? Did New Orleans become a “sensitive” place after Hurricane Katrina, thus allowing the government to confiscate weapons from law abiding citizens whom the government did not and could not protect from roving bands of looters and criminals? Did short-barreled shotguns, which are very useful for self-defense and in many cases superior to handguns, become “dangerous and unusual” just because Congress decided to restrict them in 1934? These and many other questions remain to be addressed.

Update 2

So, what’s next on guns? First among the open questions, and perhaps one of the most important of them, is whether this ruling applies beyond the federal government and the District of Columbia government (assuming that it is settled that those two entities at least are now covered). It is absolutely clear that the Bill of Rights’ specific guarantees of individual rights do not apply to any level below the federal government – that is, to state, county and city governments — unless the Court has ruled explicitly that they are to apply at those levels by a process that is called “incorporation.” The Court has read into the Fourteenth Amendment — an amendment written to restrict state and local government powers — many of the rights in the first ten amendments. That process began in the late 19th Century, and continued up through the first three quarters of the 20th Century. But the process has not meant a total absorption of the Bill of Rights in the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment right to be charged by a grand jury has not been applied to the states; neither has the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in a civil case. And neither has the Second Amendment. But conservative jurists, like those who made the majority in the Heller case, usually are not fond of lifting parts of the Bill of Rights out for inclusion under the Fourteenth Amendment. Given the glowing rhetoric applied to the virtues of an individual right to have a gun, perhaps that reluctance might be overcome. If, as expected, the NRA or some other litigant goes after a state or local gun law, relying on the Second Amendment, the Court may well have to answer explicitly whether it applies at all to such laws. Some already are reading the Heller decision to signal a willingness say “yes” to that question; the evidence of that is of an uncertain nature, though. Second among the issue not resolved Thursday is the standard of review that the Court will apply to judge the constitutionality of any other law that differs, even in a small detail, from the District of Columbia handgun ban that was nullified. Justice Scalia’s opinion definitely rules out mere “rational basis” as the standard that a gun control law would have to satisfy. As most lawyers know, rational basis is enough to uphold a good many laws. The opinion also rules out a test for balancing the interest in having a gun against a government interest in regulating guns. But further than rejecting those two standards, the Scalia opinion does not go. The right, as he describes it, sounds as if it were fundamental in nature, deserving the highest constitutional protection. It does not say that explicitly, however. Third, there is uncertainy about just why some forms of gun regulation already appear to have passed whatever test the Court did apply, perhaps only temporarily, in Heller. Why does the Amendment not protect, for example, carrying a concealed weapon, as the opinion seems to say?....

Update 3

News Flash: The Constitution Means What It Says Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion in yesterday's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller is historic in its implications and exemplary in its reasoning. A federal ban on an entire class of guns in ordinary use for self-defense – such as the handgun ban adopted by the District of Columbia – is now off the table. Every gun controller's fondest desire has become a constitutional pipe dream. Two important practical issues remain. First, will this ruling also apply to states and municipalities? That will depend on whether the Supreme Court decides to "incorporate" the right to keep and bear arms into the 14th Amendment. But in the middle of his opinion Justice Scalia acknowledges that the 39th Congress that enacted the 14th Amendment did so, in part, to protect the individual right to arms of freedmen and Southern Republicans so they might defend themselves from violence. My prediction: This ruling will eventually be extended to the states. Second, how will the court deal with firearms regulations that fall short of a ban? The majority opinion strongly suggests that such regulations must now be subjected to meaningful judicial scrutiny. The exact nature of this scrutiny is not clear, but Justice Scalia explicitly rejects the extremely deferential "rationality" review advocated by Justice Stephen Breyer...Justice Scalia's opinion is exemplary for the way it was reasoned. It will be studied by law professors and students for years to come. It is the clearest, most careful interpretation of the meaning of the Constitution ever to be adopted by a majority of the Supreme Court. Justice Scalia begins with the text, and carefully parses the grammatical relationship of the "operative clause" identifying "the right to keep and bear arms" to the "prefatory clause" about the importance of a "well-regulated militia." Only then does he consider the extensive evidence of original meaning that has been uncovered by scholars over the past 20 years – evidence that was presented to the Court in numerous "friends of the court" briefs. Justice Scalia's opinion is the finest example of what is now called "original public meaning" jurisprudence ever adopted by the Supreme Court. This approach stands in sharp contrast to Justice John Paul Stevens's dissenting opinion that largely focused on "original intent" – the method that many historians employ to explain away the text of the Second Amendment by placing its words in what they call a "larger context." Although original-intent jurisprudence was discredited years ago among constitutional law professors, that has not stopped nonoriginalists from using "original intent" – or the original principles "underlying" the text – to negate its original public meaning....
Conservation Ease Mike Strugar has witnessed some sketchy land deals go down in the name of earth-friendliness—such as landowners donating acres of development rights to the state of Colorado at hyperinflated prices in return for generous tax credits. Laurie Lenfestey Strugar, a Boulder-based lawyer, is in Santa Fe this week to discuss changes to New Mexico’s law governing such conservation easements. Conservation easements allow landowners to donate the development rights of their property, preserving land from future subdivisions and the like. The changes to the state’s conservation easement law, sponsored by state Rep. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, increase the tax credits for such easements from $100,000 to $250,000. And, significantly, those tax credits are now transferable so that land owners can sell them for 80 cents on the dollar. “What’s really exciting,” Wirth says, “is that it really broadens the benefits that come along with this tool and offers it to folks who otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to take advantage of the easement.” The changes went into effect this month and already have prompted increased interest....
Rural West Going to the Dogs Jeff Villepique usually carries bear spray when he goes into the mountains. But the California Department of Fish and Game biologist isn't worried about bears as he walks to the edge of a steep, rocky wash near the Mount Baldy Ski Lifts resort in Southern California. o­n this bone-chilling, misty morning, he's worried about dogs. Villepique recalls the macabre scene he recently investigated here: the tracks of three or four dogs in the snow, tufts of hair marking where a bighorn ewe was dragged down the talus slope, and the carcass itself -- mangled and missing a leg and a horn. The prime suspects: a Labrador retriever mix Villepique found still gnawing o­n the evidence, and its partner in crime, a German shepherd mix that watched menacingly from the top of the wash. "It's a great loss," Villepique says. State and federal agencies in California have spent three decades and a lot of money trying to recover local bighorn populations. But encroaching development and its encroaching pets -- some abandoned and others simply allowed to run free -- are complicating efforts. Officials have captured hundreds of feral and free-roaming dogs in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains in recent years, especially around Mount Baldy and Lytle Creek. In addition to bighorn sheep, the dogs are hammering rabbits, quail, mule deer and other wildlife. The story is similar across much of the West, as swelling ranks of rogue canines increasingly harass wildlife, livestock, even people. But most federal efforts to protect big game and livestock are focused o­n killing wild predators. With limited funds for trapping dogs, local officials like Villepique can do little but try to educate the public....
Court gives feds 'road map' for future logging A federal appeals court has upheld the U.S. Forest Service's authority to decide whether a tree is likely to die soon after a forest fire. But it ordered the agency to take a closer look at whether they should log at all after fires in small roadless areas -- parts of forests that have never been logged. The ruling Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came in a challenge of salvage logging on the Malheur National Forest in Eastern Oregon following a 2005 fire. Forest Service spokesman Tom Knappenberger said the agency is glad to get a good road map from the court for analyzing future salvage logging. Doug Heiken of the conservation group Oregon Wild says the ruling was important for recognizing that even small roadless areas merit a higher level of protection....
Feds boot Boy Scouts for Rainbow Family About 1,000 members of the honor society for the Boy Scouts of America have been booted from a long-planned national service project in Wyoming by federal officials in favor of a gathering by the "Rainbow Family," an unorganized annual assembly of "free spirits" who commune with nature and each other. The action has left local leaders infuriated. "It's a matter of intimidation," Sublette, Wyo., County commissioner Joel Bousman told WND. "It appears the Rainbow group has managed to intimidate an entire federal agency." As WND has reported, the honor society for the Scouts, the Order of the Arrow, has been working for several years to put together this year's public service project called ArrowCorps5. The plans include about 5,000 top Boy Scouts from across the country donating an estimated 250,000 hours of time to restore, repair, rebuild, reclaim and refurbish miles of trails, acres and glens in the nation's forests. "ArrowCorps5 is the largest, most complex, most challenging conservation project ever conceived by the Order of the Arrow and Boy Scouts of America," said Brad Haddock, chairman of the National Order of the Arrow Committee. "This project provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for each participant to set an example of leadership in service to those who treasure our national forests." But the conflict arose with the Wyoming location and dates, because Rainbow Family participants announced they would meet in the same general location as the Scouting work was to take place. The Rainbow Family events are not organized, there is no official website, and the makeup of the assemblage varies. Their activities grow to a peak over the July 4th weekend and then taper off, but the cleanup from the estimated 25,000 people expected to invade Wyoming's Sublette County, population 6,000, is expected to take the time the Scouts otherwise would have been doing repairs. Bousman said it's fairly simple: The Scouts applied for permission for their project, filled out forms, went through red tape, and got permission. Then came the announcement from Rainbow members they've chosen the same location. Mark Rey, the federal undersecretary supervising the U.S. Forest Service, met with Rainbow Family members recently in Pinedale, and urged them to move their gathering, the Star-Tribune said. They refused. Rey told WND he thought the decision to move the Scouts to somewhere else and leave the Rainbow Family alone was the best under the circumstances. He said the government allows the Rainbow Family to bypass its regular permit requirements in favor of an "operating plan" but the bottom line was that the government didn't want to be arresting hundreds or thousands of people....I guess we should form the Mad Ranchers Liberation Front and go take over a forest each summer.
Rainbow Family should show respect for others Give the U.S. Forest Service credit for trying to work with the Rainbow Family on a site for the group's gathering in the Bridger-Teton National Forest next month. But the federal agency would probably have better luck herding cats than reaching a workable agreement with a group that has no official leaders. Every summer, the Rainbow Family of Living Light assembles on public lands somewhere in the United States, sometimes drawing as many as 25,000 participants. Members gather to promote peace, play music, dance and trade crafts, but varying degrees of nudity and drug use are also always part of the event. In an unprecedented move, the Forest Service this year tried to cooperate with this group, whose members are often described as "free spirits." The agency identified four possible sites in the Bridger-Teton for the gathering, but the Rainbow Family instead decided to gather at a different location near Big Sandy in Sublette County. That's unfortunate, because it creates a problem for the Boy Scouts, who were scheduled to begin a large service project in the area at the same time the Rainbow Family will be cleaning up. The Boy Scouts -- who did everything they could to work with the Forest Service -- may now have to alter their plans, as it appears the Rainbow Family won't give up the site. That's not fair. The situation could have easily been avoided if the group had cooperated with the feds....
Baby aspens help foil future fires High up a hillside near Vail’s Matternhorn neighborhood, Tom Talbot stood among baby aspen trees. He was quite excited to see them. “These are two seasons,” said Talbot, wildland fire coordinator for the Vail Fire Department. “You see how they’ve come up? Farther up the hill, a few of them have come up even taller. This is what we’re after, the regeneration. That was the goal. And it’s happened.” Two years ago, he and other firefighters were cutting down hundreds of aspen trees there. The goal was to allow some of the hillside’s aspen stand to regrow, preventing them from falling to the ground, where they could be fuel for wildfire. “Aspen, when it’s alive, is a wonderful ‘fuel break’ because it has so much water in it,” Talbot said. “When it’s dead, as well all know, in the fireplace, boy, does it burn hot. And fast.” Aspen stands can act as walls that stop lodgepole-pine fires from spreading. And more and more lodgepole pines here are dying....
Race called off because of air quality
Simon Mtuy came from Tanzania to compete in this weekend's Western States Endurance Run, an event he has finished six years in a row. This race was going to be special, with his wife and 5-month-old son on hand to watch him on the 100.2-mile journey from Squaw Valley to Auburn. But when Mtuy, 36, climbed the first four miles of the course to Emigrant Pass on Wednesday afternoon, he didn't like what he saw: smoke. "It looked like a big fog is coming up the other side of the mountain," Mtuy said. "It seemed a little hard for breathing." With fires keeping air quality at unhealthy levels and at least one blaze burning near the Western States Trail, race officials decided to cancel the run for the first time since the event began in 1974. Race director Greg Soderlund said he and other race officials consulted U.S. Forest Service and Placer County air quality personnel before reaching a decision. "The air quality is a thousand percent above what is considered unsafe for outdoor activity," Soderlund said. "It's just flat-out not safe to put this event on....
White House Tried to Silence EPA Proposal on Car Emissions White House officials last December sought to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from submitting a proposed rule that would limit greenhouse-gas emissions from new vehicles, agency sources said yesterday. And upon learning that EPA had hit the "send" button just minutes earlier, the White House called again to demand that the e-mail be recalled. The EPA official who forwarded the e-mail, Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett, refused, said the sources, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations. The proposed rule was EPA's response to an April 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the agency had violated the Clean Air Act by refusing to take up the issue of regulating automobile emissions that contribute to global warming. Burnett, who resigned from the agency this month, sent the e-mail to the White House Office of Management and Budget at 2:17 p.m. Dec. 5 and received the call warning him to hold off at 2:25 p.m., the sources said. The EPA is expected to release a watered-down version of its original proposal within a week, highlighting the extent to which Bush administration officials continue to resist mandatory federal limits on emissions linked to global warming....
Spanish parliament to extend rights to apes Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans. Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans. "This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project. Spain may be better known abroad for bull-fighting than animal rights but the new measures are the latest move turning once-conservative Spain into a liberal trailblazer....
Humane Society finds NM downer cattle abuse A video showing cattle being mistreated and tormented at a livestock auction in New Mexico was released on Wednesday by the Humane Society of the United States -- the latest evidence of what the organization claims is widespread abuse of livestock across the country. The video showed sick and injured cattle -- so-called downer animals -- at the Portales Livestock Auction being kicked and slapped and given shocks to get them to walk. In one instance, a cow with a hyper-extended leg is shown being dragged by a tractor. The footage was collected during visits in May. The HSUS said its investigator reported at least three of the downed cows were later sold. However, there is no evidence to show if the meat went into school lunch programs or any other part of the food supply. Randy Bouldin, owner of the Portales Livestock Auction, said he euthanizes downed animals and does not allow them to be sent to packing houses. The animals the HSUS alleges were sold could have become disabled or nonambulatory after the sale in which case the sale would have been reversed. "There were no downed cows that went into any packing house or into the food," said Bouldin. "I don't know where (HSUS) got their information. They are obviously misinformed."....

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Climate change threatens two-thirds of California's unique plants, study says Two-thirds of California's unique plants, some 2,300 species that grow nowhere else in the world, could be wiped out across much of their current geographic ranges by the end of the century because of rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, according to a new study. The species that cannot migrate fast enough to higher altitudes or cooler coastal areas could face extinction because of greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet, according to researchers. California's flora face a potential "collapse," said David Ackerly, an ecologist at UC Berkeley who was the senior author of the paper. "As the climate changes, many of these plants will have no place to go." Half of the plant species that are unique to the continental United States grow only in the Golden State, from towering redwoods to slender fire poppies. And under likely climate scenarios, many would have to shift 100 miles or more from their current range -- a difficult task given slow natural migration rates and obstacles presented by suburban sprawl. The study, published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed on-line journal PLoS One, is the first to analyze the effect of climate change on all of the plants unique to one of the world's most biologically diverse areas. Previous models have focused on fewer species in areas such as the eastern United States, Europe, South Africa and Australia....
EPA Report: Climate Change Manageable if Agencies Act Now Climate change will eventually force federal and state agencies to change their resource management strategies as ecosystems adapt to a warmer planet, warns a new Environmental Protection Agency report. In Utah and across the West, an uptick in wildfires blamed on global warming is significantly impacting how the Forest Service operates, says Dave Meyers, the Uintah-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Deputy Supervisor. "Nearly half of our budget now in the U.S. Forest Service goes to wild-land fire suppression," Meyers says. "That's a real large part, recognizing we're a multiple-use agency and we have many other parts to our agency managing other resources: recreation - incredible amounts of outdoor recreation - wildlife fisheries, range management." Both the frequency and severity of wildfires have increased, and climate scientists anticipate it will only get worse in the future. However, the new EPA report also has some good news for public resource managers. Strategies currently in place to mitigate the impact of other environmental stresses, such as invasive species, pollution and habitat loss, also help guard against the effects of climate change, says Joel Scheraga, director of the EPA's Global Change Research Project....
Florida Buying Big Sugar Tract for Everglades The dream of a restored Everglades, with water flowing from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, moved a giant step closer to reality on Tuesday when the nation’s largest sugarcane producer agreed to sell all of its assets to the state and go out of business. Under the proposed deal, Florida will pay $1.75 billion for United States Sugar, which would have six years to continue farming before turning over 187,000 acres north of Everglades National Park, along with two sugar refineries, 200 miles of railroad and other assets. It would be Florida’s biggest land acquisition ever, and the magnitude and location of the purchase left environmentalists and state officials giddy. Even before Gov. Charlie Crist arrived to make the announcement against a backdrop of water, grass and birds here, dozens of advocates gathered in small groups, gasping with awe, as if at a wedding for a couple they never thought would fall in love. After years of battling with United States Sugar over water and pollution, many of them said that the prospect of a partnership came as a shock. “It’s so exciting,” said Margaret McPherson, vice president of the Everglades Foundation. “I’m going to do cartwheels.” The details of the deal, which is scheduled to be completed over the next few months, and does not require legislative approval, may define how long the honeymoon lasts. Previous acquisitions took longer to integrate than initially expected and because United States Sugar’s fields are not all contiguous, complicated land swaps with other businesses may be required....
An Unlikely Way to Save a Species: Serve It for Dinner SOME people would just as soon ignore the culinary potential of the Carolina flying squirrel or the Waldoboro green neck rutabaga. To them, the creamy Hutterite soup bean is too obscure and the Tennessee fainting goat, which keels over when startled, sounds more like a sideshow act than the centerpiece of a barbecue. But not Gary Paul Nabhan. He has spent most of the past four years compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once fairly commonplace in American kitchens but are now threatened, endangered or essentially extinct in the marketplace. He has set out to save them, which often involves urging people to eat them. Mr. Nabhan’s list, 1,080 items and growing, forms the basis of his new book, an engaging journey through the nooks and crannies of American culinary history titled “Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods” (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35). The book tells the stories of 93 ingredients both obscure (Ny’pa, a type of salt grass) and beloved (the Black Sphinx date), along with recipes that range from the accessible (Centennial pecan pie) to the challenging (whole pit-roasted Plains pronghorn antelope). To make the list, an animal or plant — whether American eels, pre-Civil War peanuts or Seneca hominy flint corn — has to be more than simply edible. It must meet a set of criteria that define it as a part of American culture, too. Mr. Nabhan’s book is part of a larger effort to bring foods back from the brink by engaging nursery owners, farmers, breeders and chefs to grow and use them....
Tester wants Plum Creek investigation U.S. Sen. Jon Tester asked congressional investigators Tuesday to examine closed-door road negotiations between the U.S. Forest Service and Plum Creek Timber Co. The Montana Democrat also asked Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to postpone making any changes to Plum Creek's federal road easements until the investigation is complete. “My hope is just to find out what the heck is going on,” Tester said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. At issue are decades-old agreements Plum Creek has with the Forest Service that allow the timber company to drive across federal land to log its own property. Since 1999, however, Plum Creek has not been organized as a timber company, but as a real estate investment trust. Selling industrial timberlands for real estate development has since been an increasingly lucrative part of Plum Creek's business, and the company has said it intends to sell more. For the past two years, Tester said, the company has been negotiating behind closed doors with federal officials to expand the uses allowed under its road easements, which previously dealt only with logging. The proposed new easements would give Plum Creek the right to drive across public land for commercial, industrial or residential development, and according to Tester and several western Montana officials, would open up numerous tracts of land to real estate development....
Forest may examine cattle fence in detail Bridger-Teton National Forest officials say they will likely take a closer look at the environmental consequences of building fences and a corral proposed at a grazing allotment in the Gros Ventre River drainage. Jackson District Ranger Dale Deiter said Monday he will consider a more stringent analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act for proposal to construct a corral and two sections of fence in the pronghorn migration corridor in the Gros Ventre. Officials had previously recommended a “categorical exclusion,” a level of analysis reserved for activities that do not have a significant effect on the environment. Deiter said the fences and the corral would likely necessitate an “environmental assessment,” a more in-depth look at the possible environmental consequences. Deiter stopped short of committing to such a study. Deiter called grazing on the Upper Gros Ventre a “valid use.” The proposal comes after 550 cow-calf pairs cattle owned by ranchers Shane Christian, of Pavillion, and Jack and Amy Robinson of Jackson, repeatedly wandered off the Upper Gros Ventre allotment last summer and onto the 178,000-acre Bacon-Fish reserve. Conservation groups purchased the Bacon-Fish allotment in January 2007 to provide additional grazing opportunities for big game such as elk, and to provide options for managing large carnivores. Part of the 178,000 acres is a forage reserve where infrequent grazing could be allowed....
House Committee Invokes Rarely Used Powers to Block Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon
As Senate leaders drag their feet on reform of the nation's 136-year-old mining law, today a House committee may exercise rarely used emergency powers to protect the Grand Canyon from a surge in uranium mining claims near the canyon rim. The House Natural Resources Committee will take up a resolution by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) that would force Interior Sec. Dirk Kempthorne to ban new mining claims on approximately 1 million acres adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park. The resolution, which would have the force of law, would use the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to direct Kempthorne to withdraw the land from mining activity. Between January 2003 and January 2008, the number of claims within 5 miles of Grand Canyon National Park increased from 10 to more than 1,100, according to Bureau of Reclamation data compiled by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Google maps of the claims are available at http://www.ewg.org/reports/grandcanyon . Most, if not all, of the claims are for uranium, sparked by a surge in uranium prices linked to renewed interest in nuclear power. In December 2007, the Forest Service issued a permit to a British company to drill for uranium as close as 2 miles from the Park, citing the government's inability to prevent the action under the 1872 Mining Law. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Southern Nevada Water Authority have all written to Kempthorne with concerns about the surge of claims near the canyon and the effect uranium mining might have on Colorado River drinking water. The Colorado, which flows through the canyon, provides water for 25 million people including residents of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego....
With Rainbow Gathering conflict, Scouts pull plug Maybe it’s not as bad as the ill-conceived overlap of the Hells Angels’ disastrous presence during the Altamont Speedway Free Festival in 1969, but Boy Scouts of America organizers aren’t taking any chances. BSA officials said concerns over a scheduling conflict with the Rainbow Gathering, an annual meeting of free spirits and people living on the fringes of mainstream society, has forced them to cancel a major habitat restoration project. The BSA had intended to conduct the project on public lands in Sublette County, just weeks after the freewheeling event is expected to peak in the same vicinity. More than 1,000 Scouts were expected for the week-long project, part of the largest service mission undertaken by the Scouts in decades. The project was scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 2. The Rainbow Gathering, with no formal leadership or members, is happening this year in the Big Sandy region of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management lands. National Forest Service officials said late Monday as many as 1,100 people, known as the Rainbow Family, already had arrived for the gathering, which is expected to see its largest numbers around July 4 with tens of thousands of participants....
Tribes look ahead The five Indian Nations which nominated sections of Mount Taylor to be a temporary Traditional Cultural Property are now looking to the future. At a press conference at Sky City Hotel last Thursday, tribal leaders outlined their future efforts following a question from the Beacon. Zuni Governor Norman Cooeyate said, “We're setting up a working group to provide the additional information required by the Cultural Properties Review Committee. We also need to study the maps showing private property on the mountain because the maps shown at the Saturday meeting were provided by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and they differ from the tribes' maps.” The Zuni leader also stated that the five tribes are looking for other groups and individuals who support the Traditional Cultural Property designation. “This process is open to anyone who is a citizen of New Mexico and we welcome other groups to join us,” he said. Cooeyate added that each tribe will determine how much tribal information will be released during the process. “Sometimes we've been too open in the past and it has caused problems,” he said. Hopi Tribal Chairman Benjamin Nuvamsa noted that Katsina ceremonies were underway at his reservation and his people will give thanks for the decision from the Cultural Properties Review Committee during their summer solstice prayers....
Senator Domenici assails forest plans Restrictions on forest management have led to the loss of more national forest lands and personal property to wildfires. U.S. Senator Pete Domenici made the comments last week at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the preparedness of federal land management agencies-primarily the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management-for the 2008 fire season. In a statement to the Senate, Domenici asserted that almost 155 million acres of forest have burned since he entered the Senate in 1973, with 58 million of those acres burning in the past seven years. Nationally, more than 1.7 million acres have burned this year since Jan. 1, including about 20,000 acres in New Mexico. The Dripping Springs Fire in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces continue to burn as of Monday. “I note that the trend of acres burned versus the number of acres managed by the Forest Service through timber sales and pre-commercial thinning is troubling. As the number of acres that have been treated has decreased, the number of burned acres has increases,” Domenici said. “We are spending more, managing less, burning more and, as a result, having to cut funds to other important resource programs such as recreation, fisheries and wildlife to battle these wildfires. In addition, we're increasing the carbon dioxide and other pollutants that get pumped into the atmosphere by these fires,” he said....
Gov. Ritter on energy/wildlife hot seat The bully boys of oil and gas are drilling away at Colorado's fish and wildlife again. No surprise there. It's what an industry allowed to rumble unrestrained by the federal administration has come to view as its absolute right. Question is, will the administration of Gov. Bill Ritter roll over beneath this latest onslaught and allow the energy express to quash its own laws and regulations? At issue is a series of draft rules by the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission, a branch of the Department of Natural Resources, establishing protection for the state's streams and big game herds. As proposed by commission staff, the rule would prohibit drilling within 300 feet of streams. It also would establish sensitive periods and areas for certain species, such as fawning for mule deer or mating for sage grouse. Unaccustomed even to such seemingly reasonable requirements, the industry launched an all-out campaign of distortion that seems to be gnawing away at Ritter administration resolve. The attack includes newspaper and radio advertisements designed to create hysteria ranging from higher energy prices to layoffs of employees. Frightened energy workers packed an initial commission hearing in Grand Junction and again turned out in force at Monday's second and final hearing in Denver....
Feds: New drilling rules won't apply on our lands New drilling regulations being considered by a Colorado agency wouldn’t apply to federal land, the largest part of western Colorado lands, the Bureau of Land Management said in a letter it sent to the group. Sally Wisely, state director for the bureau, wrote to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, saying federal legislation preempts state law when state laws “stand as an obstacle” against the will of Congress. The state, however, isn’t backing down from its authority, said Deb Frazier, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Three draft regulations before the commission affect wildlife-timing restrictions, geographic-area plans and reclamation. Wildlife-timing restrictions were frequently criticized at a commission hearing earlier this month because they would set a moratorium on drilling for at least three months each year, potentially crippling western Colorado’s booming energy industry. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., also jumped into the fray Tuesday, writing to the departments of Interior and Agriculture to express his concern that the state “is overstepping its jurisdiction in attempting to regulate oil and gas activity” on federal and Southern Ute tribe lands....