G-8 Approves Plan to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions The United States joined its allies Tuesday in committing for the first time to try to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, as the Group of Eight major industrialized nations approved a plan aimed at spurring a new worldwide treaty to limit global warming. In a statement, President Bush and the other G-8 leaders said they would work with other countries to "consider and adopt" the 50-percent reductions as part of a new United Nations treaty to be negotiated in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. The leaders made it clear in their statement that they expect such developing countries as China and India, whose economies are also major polluters, to play a role in reducing emissions. Meeting on the scenic Japanese island of Hokkaido, the leaders also promised to make more immediate cuts in emissions over the next two decades, though they did not offer a numerical target. They indicated that they intend to write into the new treaty language that would bind them to "implement ambitious economy-wide mid-term goals in order to achieve absolute emissions reductions." But it was the global warming language that appeared to attract the most attention here as a sign of how far Bush would go on the issue before he leaves office in seven months. The statement represents Bush's most serious commitment to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions found to be contributing to a dangerous warming of the Earth. Bush also pressed the G-8 to say developing countries must participate in the effort to make cuts -- although perhaps not to the same degree as fully developed countries. Still, the language drew deep disapproval from environmental groups, who said the targets were too weak or ambiguous and accused the G-8 leaders of papering over fundamental differences so as to render the summit language meaningless. Critics said real progress must await a new U.S. administration that they expect will be open to larger cuts in emissions than Bush will consider....
G-8, CO2 And The Garden Of Eden Even as the G-8 Summit announced plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, researchers at the Johann Heinrich von Theunen Institute in Germany find the rise in carbon dioxide levels may in fact be a boon to plant life on Earth. The Theunen Institute, which has been monitoring the phenomenon since 1999, trained CO2 jets on plants, raising CO2 concentrations in the air around them to 550 parts per million (ppm), significantly higher than today's levels. The researchers announced on Tuesday that such increased exposure to carbon dioxide appears to boost crop yields. "Output increased by about 10% for barley, beets and wheat" when the plants were exposed to the higher levels, according to the Institute's Hans-Joachim Weigel. That the Earth is getting greener due to higher CO2 levels was confirmed recently by satellite data analyzed by scientists Steven Running of the University of Montana and Ramakrishna Nemani of NASA. They found that over a period of almost two decades, the earth's vegetation increased by a whopping 6.2%. "Higher CO2 enables plants to grow faster and larger and to live in drier climates," explained Lawrence Solomon in a June 7 article on the Running/Nemani findings in Canada's Financial Post. "Plants provide food for animals, which are thereby also enhanced. The extent and diversity of plant and animal life have both increased substantially during the past half-century."....
Ex-EPA aide tells of White House censorship Democrats have long alleged that Vice President Dick Cheney played a key backstage role in thwarting U.S. efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but they have had little evidence. Until now. Jason Burnett, a senior official with the Environmental Protection Agency who resigned June 9, charges that Cheney's office urged him to delete or water down testimony to Congress by top administration officials on the impacts of global warming. Burnett also said the White House blocked an effort by the EPA to issue an endangerment finding, a conclusion that climate change is a threat to the public. Under a Supreme Court ruling last year, the finding would have forced the administration to cut emissions. California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who held a news conference with Burnett on Tuesday, said the revelations show that the White House conspired to muzzle its own scientists' findings on climate change to delay action on regulations....
Endangered Species Protections Sought for U.S. Wolverines The United States must protect endangered wildlife from global warming and other threats within its own borders and not rely on other countries, such as Canada, to do the job, according to a coalition of 10 conservation organizations that announced today its intention to file a legal challenge against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Service violated the Endangered Species Act, say the groups, when it refused to protect wolverines in the United States on the grounds that a healthy population persists in Canada. The Service’s decision is its latest justification for denying long-overdue protections to this imperiled animal — protections that were first petitioned for nearly a decade ago. Earlier this year, the agency conceded that if nothing is done, “the [lower 48 wolverine] population will be at risk of extinction." Yet it decided not to take steps to protect the species. According to the coalition, the fewer than 500 wolverines left in the lower 48 represent a distinct population that is only tenuously linked to the Canadian population of wolverines and in desperate need of habitat and other protections....
Agency wants to shut out Salt Lake, Utah counties Las Vegas water officials are trying to keep Salt Lake and Utah counties out of the loop during an upcoming hearing on the proposal to take 50,000 acre-feet of water annually from Snake Valley - despite the counties' concerns that the drawdown could provoke dust-bowl conditions on the Wasatch Front. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has filed an objection with Nevada State Engineer Tracy Taylor to requests for "interested party" status for the counties, three tribal bands, the Central Nevada Water Authority, conservation groups, businesses and residents. The move appears to be a new, aggressive tactic to push aside Utah concerns about what could happen to Snake Valley vegetation should the water table drop too low, and move quickly on a $3.5 billion, 285-mile pipeline project that would siphon water from an aquifer that lies under the two states for use in Las Vegas. "All this has happened rather rapidly," said Steve Erickson, a Utah spokesman for the Great Basin Water Network, one of the groups SNWA seeks to exclude. "They want to keep the public out of this process as much as possible."....
Ranchers get edict on Tomales Bay water quality West Marin ranchers in the Tomales Bay watershed must develop "ranch plans" by November 2009 informing state regulators how they intend to keep manure from washing into the bay. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the directive, which has caused concern among West Marin ranchers. There is pressure on ranchers because, during heavy rains, waste from cattle washes down creeks that feed Tomales Bay, impairing water quality, according to the state. A primary focus of the directive is for ranch owners to keep cattle and their waste away from creeks by building fences and other barriers. The order is believed to be the first in the state designed to regulate ranches to protect water quality, water officials said. The directive affects ranches that are 50 acres or larger, which represent about 90 percent of the grazing in the Tomales Bay watershed. Officials estimate 150 ranches will have to develop ranch plans, and that the plans will cost each ranch about $46,000 to implement, according to the University of California Agricultural Extension in West Marin....
Proposed Texas regulations for wild hogs draw opposition New regulations proposed for handling feral hogs are drawing opposition from West Kerr ranchers and trappers. The new rules have good intentions — the control of disease — but some are misguided, local opponents say. West Kerr Rancher Teri Hawkins said feral hogs reproduce rapidly and damage property, livestock and wildlife. She has a petition signed by almost 100 ranchers to date opposing new regulations that impose added costs on trappers. “If they impose these rules to where it’s not feasible for these trappers to trap them, they’re going to quit and then it’s just going to get really out of hand,” Hawkins said. The hogs are a boon for hunters, she said, but something needs to be done to reduce their numbers. The proposed regulations deal with holding, transporting and the disposition of live wild hogs that have been captured, to reduce the chances of spreading disease to domestic swine herds to cattle and other livestock....
It's All Trew: Vigilantes were the law in frontier towns The military post of Fort Griffin was established by the U.S. Army in July 1867 along the banks of the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. Named for General Charles Griffin, the site was deemed necessary to protect settlers from Indians and several outlaw bands operating in the area. Later, it also served as a supply depot for the southern expeditions sent to the Great Plains during the Red River wars. With the huge southern herd of buffalo ranging in the area, the new garrison gave protection to large numbers of hunters migrating down from Kansas where the Republican herd had been decimated. Proceeds from sales of hide and meat hunting, the garrison payroll of Fort Griffin and additional money spent by trail herds moving north to Kansas brought gamblers, criminals, shady ladies and bunko artists by the droves into the new town. This so-called civilization settled in a nearby ramshackle town called "The Flats" made up almost entirely of saloons and bordellos. Many occupants lived in tents and dugouts and every form of lawlessness known existed within its city limits. The military had no jurisdiction over civilians and there was simply no law available because the town was not organized enough to collect taxes for salaries for lawmen. Crime ran rampant, and citizens finally saw something had to be done....