Al Gore Calls Myanmar Cyclone a 'Consequence' of Global Warming Using tragedy to advance an agenda has been a strategy for many global warming activists, and it was just a matter of time before someone found a way to tie the recent Myanmar cyclone to global warming. Former Vice President Al Gore in an interview on NPR’s May 6 “Fresh Air” broadcast did just that. He was interviewed by “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross about the release of his book, “The Assault on Reason,” in paperback. “And as we’re talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to way on up there to much higher numbers now being speculated,” Gore said. “And last year a catastrophic storm from last fall hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China – and we’re seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming.” Gore claimed global warming is forcing ocean temperatures to rise, which is causing storms, including cyclones and hurricanes, to intensify....
Subsea storage may fix our CO2 problem Researchers are looking beneath the world's deep, cold waters for places to put the greenhouse gases that may be warming its atmosphere. A growing body of research predicts deep subsea rock formations may be ideal for carbon sequestration — the process of storing carbon dioxide emissions underground to keep them from entering the Earth's atmosphere and contributing to climate change. A number of researchers already are conducting projects to inject CO2 in onshore formations to see if large amounts of the greenhouse gas can be stored underground indefinitely. Daniel Schrag, a professor at Harvard University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, says the high pressures and low temperatures found below the sea floor — 10,000 feet or more underwater — provide a nearly foolproof way to keep CO2 stored. In those conditions CO2 becomes a liquid more dense than water that will not rise up to the ocean floor....
Reservoir larger than Manhattan planned to help Everglades Around South Florida's vast sugar cane fields, where turtles grow to the size of basketballs and alligators own the marsh, the silence of the swamp is broken by the sound of rumbling trucks and explosions. The earth-moving equipment and high explosives are laying the foundation for a mammoth construction project: a reservoir bigger than Manhattan designed to revive the ecosystem of the once-famed River of Grass. More than a century after the first homes and farms took shape in the Everglades, decades of flood-control projects have left the region parched and near ecological collapse. Now crews are building what will be the world's largest aboveground manmade reservoir to restore some natural water flow to the wetlands. The reservoir, estimated to cost up to $800 million, is the largest and most expensive part of a sweeping state and federal restoration effort. Most man-made reservoirs are built in canyons or valleys and use a natural water source such as a river to fill in behind a dam. This one will stand on its own, contained within earth-and-concrete walls much like an aboveground swimming pool larger than many cities. Planners hope to eventually double its size....
BLM: Ranch likely to be drilled A local rancher’s bid to protect most of his largely undeveloped land south of Collbran from natural gas drilling likely has failed, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Protests filed with the federal agency have failed to persuade the BLM to remove a 2,060-acre subsurface parcel from an upcoming lease sale, according to agency spokesman Jim Sample. “Yes, it’s still in the sale,” Sample said Monday. “It wasn’t deferred.” The parcel, underneath the Parker Basin Ranch, south of Collbran along 58 Road, is one of 49 federal tracts, totaling 31,430 acres, up for auction Thursday at the BLM’s Lakewood office. Sample said there is a slight chance the parcel could be removed from the sale at the last minute. Robert Lapsley, owner of the Parker Basin Ranch, said he was disappointed to hear the BLM plans to open up part of his more than 3,300-acre ranch to natural gas development. “The areas that they are talking about drilling is a calving area for the local elk herd,” Lapsley said. “Personally I just think they could find something better (to develop).” Lapsley, a California-based developer who has been visiting the area his entire life, said he purchased the ranch in June and placed nearly all of the land in a conservation easement....
3 states head to court to keep control over wolves Three states are defending their ability to sustain a gray wolf population in the Northern Rockies, asking to be heard in a federal lawsuit that seeks to return the wolves to the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to remove the gray wolf from the list in March, saying the species had recovered from near-extermination in the region. That transferred wolf management to Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, which are planning what would be the first public hunts in decades. The lawsuit filed last week by 12 environmental and animal rights groups seeks to block the hunts, but the three states that filed paperwork with the court Monday and Tuesday hope to fend off the litigation so the hunts can proceed. Officials from the states said Tuesday that they can be trusted to sustain wolves without federal oversight. The hunts, they said, are needed in part to control wolf packs that have been killing an increasing number of livestock....
Predator control looks a lot different on the ground The extremists who are on a mission to eliminate the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services would do well to spend time with ranchers who live and work on our Western landscape. There, they might gain an on-the-ground perspective other than their narrowly defined agenda. As the old Greek shepherds -- echoing the ancient Greek philosophers -- say, “Everything in moderation.” Yet the campaign to end Wildlife Services is anything but moderate; it’s fraught with melodrama and spin-doctoring. Since biblical times, domestic livestock and crops have needed protection from predators and scavengers. Domestic livestock and agriculture have enabled mankind to explore and establish settlements, and have played a major role in providing the comforts we expect today. These days, though, most Americans are several generations removed from production agriculture, and most don’t realize what’s required to put a meal on their table. Wildlife Services fulfills a critical role in protecting American agriculture, yet it is portrayed by extremists as “slaughtering and persecuting” wildlife. It’s true that Wildlife Services kills over a million animals a year, but the vast majority are birds that cause crop and feedlot damage. Is this an unpleasant thought? Of course, but is it necessary? Yes. Does Wildlife Services kill native carnivores? Yes, but is it necessary? Yes. Does it harm the viability of the overall wildlife population? Biologists will tell you it absolutely does not. Do you want your home occupied by mice, or it is all right to kill them?....
New state law rewards water right holders who conserve New legislation now offers Colorado water- right holders added protection if they lease or donate water rights to the Colorado Water Conservation Board for nonconsumptive purposes. House Bill 1280, sponsored by Fort Collins Democrat Rep. Randy Fischer, made its way downstream and onto Gov. Bill Ritter's desk last month where it was signed into law. Conservationists are trumpeting the bill as a good fix to existing state law that allowed water rights to be donated or leased for conservation purposes but didn't protect the rights during the lease time. In Colorado, a water right is partially defined by historic uses, which change and can be considered "abandoned" if the water holder doesn't use it for long periods of time. "For too long, ranchers and farmers could lose their water rights if they didn't use all the water they were given annually," Fischer said. "We live in a large, dry Western state that's susceptible to drought, and it's time we reward - not punish - those who conserve. This legislation gives landowners an important incentive to turn off the tap."....
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … tree? With the ski season over, it's now time for someone else to get air on Bald Mountain. If all goes to plan, Sun Valley Co. will begin flying cut trees off Baldy's slopes on Monday, May 12, according to Joe Miczulski, winter sports specialist for the U.S. Forest Service's Ketchum Ranger District. The trees will be flown whole, with limbs still attached, and dropped off at the River Run parking lot. The project, which will clear the trees already cut to create the line for the new Roundhouse Gondola, is expected to take between two and three days to complete. To ensure public safety, Sun Valley Co. is working with local law enforcement to detour traffic and trail users around portions of roads and the Wood River Trail that will be under the helicopter's flight path....
Chasing sheds Snow falls on a string of 115 pickup trucks parked at the north end of the National Elk Refuge early Thursday morning. The men who slept in the trucks the night before cook eggs on camp stoves and sip coffee from tin cups like cowboys. They reminisce about the raucous night with newfound friends who have lived in the trucks in front of and behind them for the last night or two or three. In less than an hour, the caravan will lurch forward and snake through the refuge to the Bridger-Teton National Forest, where the men will hunt for antlers discarded by elk who wintered on the refuge or nearby. Lucky hunters will find dead elk near the creek and carry whole heads, complete with ivory canine teeth and full racks, back to their trucks. Three guys from Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, swear they were the first in town Monday night. They’ve been sleeping in their trucks since then. You have to come early to get a good spot in line, said Keith Jackson, 24. And a position at the front can make all the difference. If you’re in the rear, the other guys will scoop up all the antlers before you get there. Elk refuge officials allow antler hunters to start lining up on the refuge at 8 a.m. the day before the hunt....
Feds OK land use for 500-mile endurance race Federal land managers have given the go-ahead for Primal Quest Montana, a 500-mile adventure-endurance race beginning in late June. Competitors will traverse southwestern Montana mountain peaks, rivers and backcountry by foot, mountain bike and boat. The event runs day and night and could include as many as 90 four-person teams. The race will start June 23rd at Big Sky Resort, and conclude back in Big Sky on July 2nd. In between, the teams will cross the Tobacco Root, Madison, Gallatin, Bridger, Bangtail and Crazy mountains and will race on the Yellowstone and Gallatin rivers. The race ran into a few complications early in the planning stages when the federal land agencies outlined the race route, which would have spoiled the need for on-the-spot navigation skills during the race. But the route has since been amended and the integrity of that aspect of the race preserved, Primal Quest director Don Mann told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in a story Monday....
It's All Trew: Early settlers threw mega-wedding There was a time in Texas history when our grand state still belonged to Mexico, where the law required all Colonists to adopt the Catholic faith to become Mexican citizens. Plus, you had to be a bonafide Mexican citizen to own land and, of course, all Colonists wanted to own land. Complicating the problem, only marriages performed by a Catholic priest were recognized. The remoteness of the frontier left few if any priests available. Not to be constrained by technicalities, a process was adopted whereby couples could be bonded. They merely signed an agreement to be married by a priest at the first opportunity and meanwhile could live as legally wedded couples. Passion triumphed again. As time passed there were a lot of children born, many bonded "pregnant" wives, a few couples who decided to "unbond" by splitting the sheet and tearing up the agreement and going on about their way in the singular. Finally a priest arrived in the area to rescue the bonded colonists from "heresy and infidelity" and to baptize the children. Now, if you haven't attended a Catholic wedding recently, it takes awhile. Also, entertainment and fun was hard to come by on the frontier. This opportunity was too good to pass up. The priest was overwhelmed by the number of couples needing his services and decided to marry them in groups of six. Not only were the number of waiting couples astonishing, there were swarms of unbaptized children running wild up and down the creeks....
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Biofuel Laws Not Sole Reason for Food Shortages, Say Panelists Congress is pitting U.S. energy needs against world hunger, said members of a bipartisan panel convened to discuss the unintentional effects that bio-energy may have on the world's food supply. The event was hosted by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) at the Library of Congress on Monday. Other experts on the panel, however, argued that government regulations requiring the dilution of gasoline with corn-based ethanol is not solely to blame for hunger around the world, and that the rising demand for corn can be met by the market with time and increased technology. "Congress needs to revisit these food-for-fuel policies. We really shouldn't be pitting our fuel needs against hunger and the environment," said Scott Faber, vice president of foreign affairs for the Grocery Manufacturers Association. "I don't think any member of Congress would have voted for this legislation if they had known that the prices of corn would jump like this." As demand rises for corn, from which ethanol is derived, the number of acres used to grow wheat in the U.S. has contracted, The Washington Post reported recently, contributing to a shortage of wheat on the world market and an overall increase in world grain prices. But Jon Doggett, vice president of foreign policy at the National Corn Grower's Association, claimed that because of high demand and developments in technology, the market soon will correct itself and there will be plenty of corn to go around. "You have to remember that ethanol is becoming a larger slice of a growing pie," said Doggett. "For example, the state of Iowa today produces more corn in a single year than what the entire country could produce in a year during the 1930s." Dr. Bob Young, chief economist for the American Farm Bureau, agreed that before Congress reacts to rising food prices, farmers should be given a chance to try to meet the demand. But Faber argued that regardless of increased capability to produce grains, both corn and land that would have been dedicated to food are now being used for fuel and that this is driving prices up -- the prices of not just corn-based products, but also of dairy, meat and eggs....
Food and Federal Fuel Follies Worse, at least one prominent scientist worries that ethanol production could hurt the environment it's supposed to protect. "Biofuel from corn doesn't seem very beneficial when you consider its full environmental costs," according to Dr. William Laurance, a scientist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The $11 billion a year American taxpayers spend to subsidize corn producers "is having some surprising global consequences," he says. That includes Amazon forests being clear cut so farmers can plant soybeans. Unfortunately the cornfield isn't the only place where federal policy is causing troubles. Our country is also experiencing a shortage of wheat -- partly because many wheat farmers have switched to corn, and partly because Washington pays them whether they grow wheat or not. In 1996 lawmakers passed "legislation allowing wheat growers for the first time to switch to other crops and still collect government subsidies. The result is that farmers received federal wheat payments last year on 15 million acres more than were planted," The Washington Post recently reported. Corn is the answer to our food problems, not our fuel problems. The World Bank estimates that the amount of corn needed to fill the gas tank of an SUV is enough to feed one person for an entire year. That's a tradeoff the world can no longer afford....
GOP senators seek hold on ethanol mandate Senate Republicans have asked environmental regulators to use their power to halt the country's plans to expand ethanol production amid rising food prices. Twenty-four Republican senators, including presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, sent a letter Friday to the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting that it waive, or restructure, rules that require a fivefold increase in ethanol production over the next 15 years. Congress passed a law last year mandating an increase to 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol by 2015 and 36 billion by 2022. But McCain and other Republicans said those rules should be suspended to put more corn back into the food supply for animal feed and to encourage farmers to plant other crops. "This subsidized [ethanol] program - paid for by taxpayer dollars - has contributed to pain at the cash register, at the dining room table, and a devastating food crisis throughout the world," McCain said in a statement. A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency said regulators will consider the economic impact of renewable-fuel requirements when deciding whether to suspend the rules. The agency has the power to waive or restructure federal requirements if they cause harm....Vote for a law, and then ask the federal agency to not implement the law. Way to go.
Food and Federal Fuel Follies Worse, at least one prominent scientist worries that ethanol production could hurt the environment it's supposed to protect. "Biofuel from corn doesn't seem very beneficial when you consider its full environmental costs," according to Dr. William Laurance, a scientist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The $11 billion a year American taxpayers spend to subsidize corn producers "is having some surprising global consequences," he says. That includes Amazon forests being clear cut so farmers can plant soybeans. Unfortunately the cornfield isn't the only place where federal policy is causing troubles. Our country is also experiencing a shortage of wheat -- partly because many wheat farmers have switched to corn, and partly because Washington pays them whether they grow wheat or not. In 1996 lawmakers passed "legislation allowing wheat growers for the first time to switch to other crops and still collect government subsidies. The result is that farmers received federal wheat payments last year on 15 million acres more than were planted," The Washington Post recently reported. Corn is the answer to our food problems, not our fuel problems. The World Bank estimates that the amount of corn needed to fill the gas tank of an SUV is enough to feed one person for an entire year. That's a tradeoff the world can no longer afford....
GOP senators seek hold on ethanol mandate Senate Republicans have asked environmental regulators to use their power to halt the country's plans to expand ethanol production amid rising food prices. Twenty-four Republican senators, including presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, sent a letter Friday to the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting that it waive, or restructure, rules that require a fivefold increase in ethanol production over the next 15 years. Congress passed a law last year mandating an increase to 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol by 2015 and 36 billion by 2022. But McCain and other Republicans said those rules should be suspended to put more corn back into the food supply for animal feed and to encourage farmers to plant other crops. "This subsidized [ethanol] program - paid for by taxpayer dollars - has contributed to pain at the cash register, at the dining room table, and a devastating food crisis throughout the world," McCain said in a statement. A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency said regulators will consider the economic impact of renewable-fuel requirements when deciding whether to suspend the rules. The agency has the power to waive or restructure federal requirements if they cause harm....Vote for a law, and then ask the federal agency to not implement the law. Way to go.
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 - Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: alra@pacifier.com
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003
Corps And WA Ports Threaten Colf Family Farm With Eminent Domain
The Corps of Engineers is in the middle of a shipping channel dredging project of 106 miles of the Columbia River from its mouth to the cities of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver Washington.
As part of the project, the Corps must mitigate damage to wetlands caused by the project. They have chosen to take 70% of what they need from one family, the Colf Family of Woodland, Washington.
The Colf farming family is actively led by 91-year-old Margaret Colf.
Nancy Colf, Margaret's daughter, is head of the Family farming operation.
The Colf Family has been farming the area since 1870. They don't want to sell. They are farmers. They want to keep the land in agriculture. The Colf family is not now and never has been a willing seller. They are now and have continued to talk to the Corps of Engineers to discuss various options and solutions because the Corps has placed a gun at their head by threatening eminent domain.
The Colf Family has been through nine years of hell dealing with the Corps of Engineers. The Corps is now threatening eminent domain using the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to carry out their eminent domain threat on behalf of the Ports of Vancouver, Woodland, Longview and Kalama along the Columbia River. The Ports would eventually end up with ownership of the Colf Farm land.
The Corps has identified eight other sites along the Columbia that are appropriate for this wetlands mitigation. There are lots of willing sellers of land that can be used for wetlands mitigation along the 106 mile affected area of the Columbia River. That does not seem to matter to the Corps. They have targeted the Colf Family and plan to take their land and destroy an active and historic family farm.
The Colf Family has repeatedly offered compromise and alternate solutions. Often they have not been able to get the Corp or port officials to even talk to them.
It is ironic that the Ports have lots of land that could be used for mitigation purposes. Those lands don't seem to count. They would rather destroy farmers.
Agriculture is important to America. Small farms are disappearing every year. It is easy to see that the Corps of Engineers is part of the reason for this loss. They have been heavy handed and threatening in the process.
It is important that every farmer and agriculture advocate stand up and fight for proud farm families like the Colf. It is only by farmers standing together and working in unison to protect farming and family agriculture operations is there a chance to save and protect productive family farms.
Action Items -- What You Can Do:
-----1. Please tape a copy of this e-mail to the front of your refrigerator door so you can make at least three or four calls a day, and send three e-mails or faxes a day.
This is your refrigerator to do list.
-----2. Call your Congressman and both Senators and urge them to reduce the budget of the Corps of Engineers. They'll have a hard time using eminent domain if they don't have the money. You may call any Congressman at (202) 225-3121. Call any Senator at (202) 224-3121.
-----3. Call, fax and e-mail the local Congressman, Brian Baird (D-WA). Phone: (202) 225-3536. Fax: (202) 225-3478. E-mail: Andrew Dohrmann - andrew.dohrmann@mail.house.gov and Hilary Cain - hilary.cain@mail.house.gov. Vancouver Office: Phone: (360) 695-6292. Fax: (360) 695-6197. E-mail: kelly.love@mail.house.gov.
Your message to Rep. Baird and Senators Murray and Cantwell below is that Congress should deny the Corps and local ports any funds to use eminent domain against the Colf Family Farm. All Federal funding for any of the Ports should be shut off. The entire Corps budget should be examined closely for other abuses like this one that is taking place against the Colfs.
ALRA is informed by knowledgeable people that the Corps is doing the same thing to many other families that they are doing to the Colf Family. It is time the Corps and its officials got the credit they deserve. The Corps of Engineers needs to become good neighbors or get their funding cut or eliminated as much as possible.
-----American Land Rights is interested in hearing back from anyone who knows of other examples of abuses and threats by the Corps against other farmers and landowners. ALRA wants to hear about any eminent domain actions by the Corps. We just need a name and location of the victims. A phone, fax and e-mail would also help. The more we publicize these horror stories, the more difficult it will be for the Corps to get money from Congress....
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 - Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: alra@pacifier.com
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003
Corps And WA Ports Threaten Colf Family Farm With Eminent Domain
The Corps of Engineers is in the middle of a shipping channel dredging project of 106 miles of the Columbia River from its mouth to the cities of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver Washington.
As part of the project, the Corps must mitigate damage to wetlands caused by the project. They have chosen to take 70% of what they need from one family, the Colf Family of Woodland, Washington.
The Colf farming family is actively led by 91-year-old Margaret Colf.
Nancy Colf, Margaret's daughter, is head of the Family farming operation.
The Colf Family has been farming the area since 1870. They don't want to sell. They are farmers. They want to keep the land in agriculture. The Colf family is not now and never has been a willing seller. They are now and have continued to talk to the Corps of Engineers to discuss various options and solutions because the Corps has placed a gun at their head by threatening eminent domain.
The Colf Family has been through nine years of hell dealing with the Corps of Engineers. The Corps is now threatening eminent domain using the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to carry out their eminent domain threat on behalf of the Ports of Vancouver, Woodland, Longview and Kalama along the Columbia River. The Ports would eventually end up with ownership of the Colf Farm land.
The Corps has identified eight other sites along the Columbia that are appropriate for this wetlands mitigation. There are lots of willing sellers of land that can be used for wetlands mitigation along the 106 mile affected area of the Columbia River. That does not seem to matter to the Corps. They have targeted the Colf Family and plan to take their land and destroy an active and historic family farm.
The Colf Family has repeatedly offered compromise and alternate solutions. Often they have not been able to get the Corp or port officials to even talk to them.
It is ironic that the Ports have lots of land that could be used for mitigation purposes. Those lands don't seem to count. They would rather destroy farmers.
Agriculture is important to America. Small farms are disappearing every year. It is easy to see that the Corps of Engineers is part of the reason for this loss. They have been heavy handed and threatening in the process.
It is important that every farmer and agriculture advocate stand up and fight for proud farm families like the Colf. It is only by farmers standing together and working in unison to protect farming and family agriculture operations is there a chance to save and protect productive family farms.
Action Items -- What You Can Do:
-----1. Please tape a copy of this e-mail to the front of your refrigerator door so you can make at least three or four calls a day, and send three e-mails or faxes a day.
This is your refrigerator to do list.
-----2. Call your Congressman and both Senators and urge them to reduce the budget of the Corps of Engineers. They'll have a hard time using eminent domain if they don't have the money. You may call any Congressman at (202) 225-3121. Call any Senator at (202) 224-3121.
-----3. Call, fax and e-mail the local Congressman, Brian Baird (D-WA). Phone: (202) 225-3536. Fax: (202) 225-3478. E-mail: Andrew Dohrmann - andrew.dohrmann@mail.house.gov and Hilary Cain - hilary.cain@mail.house.gov. Vancouver Office: Phone: (360) 695-6292. Fax: (360) 695-6197. E-mail: kelly.love@mail.house.gov.
Your message to Rep. Baird and Senators Murray and Cantwell below is that Congress should deny the Corps and local ports any funds to use eminent domain against the Colf Family Farm. All Federal funding for any of the Ports should be shut off. The entire Corps budget should be examined closely for other abuses like this one that is taking place against the Colfs.
ALRA is informed by knowledgeable people that the Corps is doing the same thing to many other families that they are doing to the Colf Family. It is time the Corps and its officials got the credit they deserve. The Corps of Engineers needs to become good neighbors or get their funding cut or eliminated as much as possible.
-----American Land Rights is interested in hearing back from anyone who knows of other examples of abuses and threats by the Corps against other farmers and landowners. ALRA wants to hear about any eminent domain actions by the Corps. We just need a name and location of the victims. A phone, fax and e-mail would also help. The more we publicize these horror stories, the more difficult it will be for the Corps to get money from Congress....
Monday, May 05, 2008
Nanny Rips Baby Girl From Jaws of Coyote in California Sandbox A nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote when the animal attacked the toddler and tried to carry her away in its mouth, officials said. The girl was playing Friday in a sandbox at Alterra Park in Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. Around 10:30 a.m., the caretaker heard screaming and saw a coyote trying to carry the child off in its mouth, officials said. The babysitter grabbed the child and pulled her from the coyote's grasp, the sheriff's department said in a statement. The coyote then ran off into nearby brush. The child suffered wounds to her buttocks and was taken to Chino Valley Medical Center and was later released, director of nursing Anne Marie Robertson said. She was later transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center to receive the rabies vaccine. San Bernardino County Animal Control and the State Department of Fish and Game were searching for the animal, Wiltshire said. Miller said there was another attack in the area in October when a coyote bit a 3-year-old girl playing in a cul-de-sac. The girl needed treatment for puncture wounds to the head and thigh, Miller said.
Does 'climate change' mean 'changing data'? Methodology used by NASA to estimate rates of climate change are resulting in dramatic shifts in previously published historical temperature data, causing figures for estimated global surface temperature prior to 1970 to now be lower and figures since 1970 to now be higher – and appearing to provide evidence for those who say the Earth is warming. John Goetz, writing last month in the science blog Climate Audit, analyzed the way NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies calculates estimated global surface temperatures and showed that the addition of new, contemporary data could "have a ripple effect all the way back to the beginning of a [weather] station's history." Goetz found 32 different versions of published global annual averages going back to Sept. 24, 2005, that showed the published figures – figures used as a baseline to demonstrate change through time – changing hundreds of times. "On average 20% of the historical record was modified 16 times in the last 2 1/2 years," he wrote. "The largest single jump was 0.27 °C. This occurred between the Oct. 13, 2006 and Jan. 15, 2007 records when Aug 2006 changed from an anomoly of +0.43 °C to +0.70 °C, a change of nearly 68 percent." Temperature anomalies – differences between the average measured global air temperature and some long-term mean – are primary data for studies of climate change. The magnitude of the changes in the reworked historical data observed by Goetz – 0.27 °C – is more that a third of the total average increase in global air temperature near the Earth's surface – 0.74 ± 0.18 °C – that has occurred over the last century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change....
Enviro rules prevent man from going green A man was just trying to go green with his new house construction project in Denver, until he was told by the city he would be penalized $9,000 for doing so. The report comes from William Porter, a writer for the Denver Post, who outlined the situation confronting Kent Oakes. "Oakes and his wife want to build a home on South Birch Street in University Hills. They plan to scrape the existing frame house and replace it with the one in which they'll spend their retirement years," the newspaper reported. "We want to build it as green as possible, and that includes solar panels on the roof," Oakes reported. But when workers from the solar system company arrived, they brought with them some bad news: a large honeylocust tree that towers over the southwest corner would block the sunlight to the system. "It is a good tree and I'd like to keep it, but it just won't let the solar work," Oakes told the newspaper. In getting approval from the city for his plans, he noted that the tree would have to go. All right, responded Douglas Schoch, of the city's forestry division. But that will be a penalty of $9,000, because that's what the city has decided the tree is worth. And there's no appeal process....
Florida Trucks Avoid Castration provision in a highway safety bill that would have banned drivers from attaching replica bull testicles to their rear bumpers was snipped from the legislation. The bill will now go to Governor Crist's desk. Republican Senator Carey Baker had sponsored the amendment that would have allowed police to give drivers a 60 dollar ticket for displaying the dangling decorations. The House did not have the amendment in its version of the bill. Senators had engaged in a somewhat heated debate over the issue two weeks ago.
Does 'climate change' mean 'changing data'? Methodology used by NASA to estimate rates of climate change are resulting in dramatic shifts in previously published historical temperature data, causing figures for estimated global surface temperature prior to 1970 to now be lower and figures since 1970 to now be higher – and appearing to provide evidence for those who say the Earth is warming. John Goetz, writing last month in the science blog Climate Audit, analyzed the way NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies calculates estimated global surface temperatures and showed that the addition of new, contemporary data could "have a ripple effect all the way back to the beginning of a [weather] station's history." Goetz found 32 different versions of published global annual averages going back to Sept. 24, 2005, that showed the published figures – figures used as a baseline to demonstrate change through time – changing hundreds of times. "On average 20% of the historical record was modified 16 times in the last 2 1/2 years," he wrote. "The largest single jump was 0.27 °C. This occurred between the Oct. 13, 2006 and Jan. 15, 2007 records when Aug 2006 changed from an anomoly of +0.43 °C to +0.70 °C, a change of nearly 68 percent." Temperature anomalies – differences between the average measured global air temperature and some long-term mean – are primary data for studies of climate change. The magnitude of the changes in the reworked historical data observed by Goetz – 0.27 °C – is more that a third of the total average increase in global air temperature near the Earth's surface – 0.74 ± 0.18 °C – that has occurred over the last century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change....
Enviro rules prevent man from going green A man was just trying to go green with his new house construction project in Denver, until he was told by the city he would be penalized $9,000 for doing so. The report comes from William Porter, a writer for the Denver Post, who outlined the situation confronting Kent Oakes. "Oakes and his wife want to build a home on South Birch Street in University Hills. They plan to scrape the existing frame house and replace it with the one in which they'll spend their retirement years," the newspaper reported. "We want to build it as green as possible, and that includes solar panels on the roof," Oakes reported. But when workers from the solar system company arrived, they brought with them some bad news: a large honeylocust tree that towers over the southwest corner would block the sunlight to the system. "It is a good tree and I'd like to keep it, but it just won't let the solar work," Oakes told the newspaper. In getting approval from the city for his plans, he noted that the tree would have to go. All right, responded Douglas Schoch, of the city's forestry division. But that will be a penalty of $9,000, because that's what the city has decided the tree is worth. And there's no appeal process....
Florida Trucks Avoid Castration provision in a highway safety bill that would have banned drivers from attaching replica bull testicles to their rear bumpers was snipped from the legislation. The bill will now go to Governor Crist's desk. Republican Senator Carey Baker had sponsored the amendment that would have allowed police to give drivers a 60 dollar ticket for displaying the dangling decorations. The House did not have the amendment in its version of the bill. Senators had engaged in a somewhat heated debate over the issue two weeks ago.
FLE
National DNA database gets kickstart from feds With virtually no fanfare, President Bush signed into law a plan ordering the government to take no more than six months to set up a "national contingency plan" to screen newborns' DNA in case of a "public health emergency." The new law requires that the results of the program – including "information … research, and data on newborn screening" – shall be assembled by a "central clearinghouse" and made available on the Internet. According to congressional records, S.1858, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., was approved in the Senate Dec. 13, in the House April 8 and signed by Bush April 24. "Soon, under this bill, the DNA of all citizens will be housed in government genomic biobanks and considered governmental property for government research," said Twila Brase, president of the Citizens' Council on Health Care. "The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research." Brase has objected extensively to plans in Minnesota to provide state government the same option now handed to the federal government by Congress. The bill, she said, strips "citizens of genetic privacy rights and DNA property rights. It bill also violates research ethics and the Nuremberg Code. "The public is clueless. S. 1858 imposes a federal agenda of DNA databanking and population-wide genetic research," Brase continued. "It does not require consent and there are no requirements to fully inform parents about the warehousing of their child's DNA for the purpose of genetic research....
Your personal data just got permanently cached at the US border Now that US customs agents have unfettered access to laptops and other electronic devices at borders, a coalition of travel groups, civil liberties advocates and technologists is calling on Congress to rein in the Department of Homeland Security's search and seizure practices. They're also providing practical advice on how to prevent trade secrets and other sensitive data from being breached. In a letter dated Thursday, the group, which includes the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union and the Business Travel Coalition, called on the House Committee on Homeland Security to ensure searches aren't arbitrary or overly invasive. They also urged the passage of legislation outlawing abusive searches. The letter comes 10 days after a US appeals court ruled Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have the right to rummage through electronic devices even if they have no reason to suspect the hardware holds illegal contents. Not only are they free to view the files during passage; they are also permitted to copy the entire contents of a device. There are no stated policies about what can and can't be done with the data. Over the past few months, several news reports have raised eyebrows after detailing border searches that involved electronic devices. The best known of them is this story from The Washington Post, which recounted the experiences of individuals who were forced to reveal data on cell phones and laptop devices when passing through US borders. One individual even reported some of the call history on her cell phone had been deleted....
Border runners turn to Pacific Surf's up, but Aaron Dorsey fears what he may find paddling out to sea. A body? An abandoned boat or its wreckage? Or smugglers, possibly armed? Already, five boats belonging to smugglers of drugs or illegal immigrants have been found beached or wrecked by reefs in the past six months—a sign that smuggling by sea is the latest route to avoid the new border fence and toughened frontier. While waterborne journeys have been common on the Atlantic with Cuban or Haitian migrants, the Pacific passage is unusual because it's occurring year-round now, not just confined to the warm months when smugglers' bigger boats hide in plain sight amid U.S. marine traffic, federal officials say. Equally troublesome is how smugglers are now using disposable, sometimes barely seaworthy boats, such as a 26-foot watercraft called a panga that held 17 people and was intercepted last week by a federal patrol. The voyages sometimes end as far as 30 miles north of the border, on the shores of upscale Del Mar, known for its horse-racing track. Distant from the base of federal sea and air patrols in San Diego, the illicit crews can land and escape, close to the interstate highway leading to Los Angeles, a hub for illegal immigrants heading to Chicago and elsewhere in the country, federal officials say....
National DNA database gets kickstart from feds With virtually no fanfare, President Bush signed into law a plan ordering the government to take no more than six months to set up a "national contingency plan" to screen newborns' DNA in case of a "public health emergency." The new law requires that the results of the program – including "information … research, and data on newborn screening" – shall be assembled by a "central clearinghouse" and made available on the Internet. According to congressional records, S.1858, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., was approved in the Senate Dec. 13, in the House April 8 and signed by Bush April 24. "Soon, under this bill, the DNA of all citizens will be housed in government genomic biobanks and considered governmental property for government research," said Twila Brase, president of the Citizens' Council on Health Care. "The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research." Brase has objected extensively to plans in Minnesota to provide state government the same option now handed to the federal government by Congress. The bill, she said, strips "citizens of genetic privacy rights and DNA property rights. It bill also violates research ethics and the Nuremberg Code. "The public is clueless. S. 1858 imposes a federal agenda of DNA databanking and population-wide genetic research," Brase continued. "It does not require consent and there are no requirements to fully inform parents about the warehousing of their child's DNA for the purpose of genetic research....
Your personal data just got permanently cached at the US border Now that US customs agents have unfettered access to laptops and other electronic devices at borders, a coalition of travel groups, civil liberties advocates and technologists is calling on Congress to rein in the Department of Homeland Security's search and seizure practices. They're also providing practical advice on how to prevent trade secrets and other sensitive data from being breached. In a letter dated Thursday, the group, which includes the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union and the Business Travel Coalition, called on the House Committee on Homeland Security to ensure searches aren't arbitrary or overly invasive. They also urged the passage of legislation outlawing abusive searches. The letter comes 10 days after a US appeals court ruled Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have the right to rummage through electronic devices even if they have no reason to suspect the hardware holds illegal contents. Not only are they free to view the files during passage; they are also permitted to copy the entire contents of a device. There are no stated policies about what can and can't be done with the data. Over the past few months, several news reports have raised eyebrows after detailing border searches that involved electronic devices. The best known of them is this story from The Washington Post, which recounted the experiences of individuals who were forced to reveal data on cell phones and laptop devices when passing through US borders. One individual even reported some of the call history on her cell phone had been deleted....
Border runners turn to Pacific Surf's up, but Aaron Dorsey fears what he may find paddling out to sea. A body? An abandoned boat or its wreckage? Or smugglers, possibly armed? Already, five boats belonging to smugglers of drugs or illegal immigrants have been found beached or wrecked by reefs in the past six months—a sign that smuggling by sea is the latest route to avoid the new border fence and toughened frontier. While waterborne journeys have been common on the Atlantic with Cuban or Haitian migrants, the Pacific passage is unusual because it's occurring year-round now, not just confined to the warm months when smugglers' bigger boats hide in plain sight amid U.S. marine traffic, federal officials say. Equally troublesome is how smugglers are now using disposable, sometimes barely seaworthy boats, such as a 26-foot watercraft called a panga that held 17 people and was intercepted last week by a federal patrol. The voyages sometimes end as far as 30 miles north of the border, on the shores of upscale Del Mar, known for its horse-racing track. Distant from the base of federal sea and air patrols in San Diego, the illicit crews can land and escape, close to the interstate highway leading to Los Angeles, a hub for illegal immigrants heading to Chicago and elsewhere in the country, federal officials say....
Feds launch 'Gestapo raid' over raw milk A rally has been set for tomorrow in front of the magistrate's office in Mt. Holly, Pa., in support of a Mennonite farmer who has brought the wrath of the government on himself for selling raw milk and other products – an act government prosecutors say violates a number of regulations. That's when the next court hearing is scheduled for Mark Nolt, a Pennsylvania farmer who turned in his state permit to sell raw milk because it didn't allow for the sale of the other products he offered. "They swooped in ... like a bunch of Vikings, handcuffed me and stole $30,000 worth of my milk, cheese and butter," he told the New York Daily News. Jonas Stoltzfus, a fellow farmer and member of the Church of the Brethren, was asked to be a spokesman for Nolt, and confirmed, "Six state troopers and Bill Chirdon of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture trespassed onto his property, and stole $20,000-$250,000 of his product and equipment." A blogger who operates under the name The Complete Patient reported the government, in the form of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, had descended on Nolt's 100-acre farm already in 2007. "Nolt contends that the regulations have not been approved by the legislature and shouldn't apply to him because he is selling directly to consumers, via private contracts that are outside the purview of the state, making a privilege out of a right he believes he has – the right to private contracts," the blogger wrote....
Confusion and Sorrow for Trainer of Filly Larry Jones has watched the replay dozens of times. He has examined photographs of Eight Belles, and he still cannot fathom how the filly he trained was at one moment crossing the finish line in second place in the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby, and then in the next, she was gone. Jones was proud of Eight Belles as she stormed down the stretch, chasing the winner, Big Brown, a powerful colt. He is now heartbroken after she shattered her front ankles as she galloped out around the far turn and had to be euthanized on the racetrack. Mostly, however, he is mystified. “We have some photographers that we really got to know last year,” said Jones, who finished second here last year with Hard Spun. “They were on the first turn taking pictures as everybody was galloping out. “We’ve got a lot of great pictures, they say, of her, and she’s got her ears up and was not in any kind of distress galloping out around the turn. I don’t know what happened and when. Just all of the sudden, it just went.” Two years ago, Barbaro’s breakdown in the Preakness and his death later helped usher in an era of synthetic racing surfaces. The composition of these racetracks was designed to provide more cushion. The surface was installed at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.; Arlington Park in Chicago; and at racetracks in California. But Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Arlington Park, has not embraced the move to a synthetic surface here at its flagship racetrack and home of America’s most famous horse race. “We like the racetrack we have right now,” said John Asher, a spokesman for Churchill Downs. “We’re studying the synthetic surfaces, but we want to see data for four or five years because the technology is evolving all the time. We want to know exactly what we’re getting.” Early results from studies of the safety of synthetic tracks versus dirt ones are promising but inconclusive. Dr. Mary Scollay, a veterinarian at Calder Race Course, organized an equine injury reporting system for more than 30 tracks and has found that fatality rates have been lower on synthetic surfaces: 1.47 fatalities per 1,000 starts for synthetic surfaces against 2.03 per 1,000 for dirt tracks....
Air Pollution Impedes Bees' Ability to Find Flowers Air pollution interferes with the ability of bees and other insects to follow the scent of flowers to their source, undermining the essential process of pollination, a study by three University of Virginia researchers suggests. Their findings may help unlock part of the mystery surrounding the current pollination crisis that is affecting a wide variety of crops. Scientists are seeking to determine why honeybees and bumblebees are dying off in the United States and in other countries, and the new study indicates that emissions from power plants and automobiles may play a part in the insects' demise. Scientists already knew that scent-bearing hydrocarbon molecules released by flowers can be destroyed when they come into contact with ozone and other pollutants. Environmental sciences professor Jose D. Fuentes at the University of Virginia -- working with graduate students Quinn S. McFrederick and James C. Kathilankal -- used a mathematical model to determine how flowers' scents travel with the wind and how quickly they come into contact with pollutants that can destroy them. They described their results in the March issue of the journal Atmospheric Environment. In the prevailing conditions before the 1800s, the researchers calculated that a flower's scent could travel between 3,280 feet and 4,000 feet, Fuentes said in an interview, but today, that scent might travel 650 feet to 1,000 feet in highly polluted areas such as the District of Columbia, Los Angeles or Houston. "That's where we basically have all the problems," Fuentes said, adding that ozone levels are particularly high during summer. "The impacts of pollution on pollinator activity are pronounced during the summer months."....
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Fighting Global Warming Block by Block King County Executive Ron Sims has a simple test for every new public works project, building plan or government land purchase: Will it increase the region's total greenhouse-gas emissions, or reduce them? Officials in King County and other places are rethinking the way their communities grow and operate, all with an eye toward reducing their overall carbon footprint. After decades of policies that encouraged people to move out to the suburbs in pursuit of larger homes and bigger back yards, some policymakers are now pushing aggressively to increase urban density and discourage the use of private cars. In Massachusetts, the state demands that developers calculate and disclose the climate impact of their projects. In California, Attorney General Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. has sued communities and power companies for failing to offset the greenhouse gases generated by their expansion plans. And Washington, D.C., officials are installing a new trolley line and bike rental kiosks in an effort to cut back on car trips within the city. Even though national politicians are beginning to eye a federal carbon cap more seriously, the flurry of activity in state and local jurisdictions highlights a little-noticed reality: Most of the measures to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions will be enacted outside the nation's capital....
Slaughter of bison roils ranch town his is not a place where buffalo are welcome to roam. When 32 bison lumbered across a fence that separated their owners' vast, wind-swept expanse of land from a neighboring ranch in March, they ended up dead. Some fell where they were shot. Others scattered, galloping for miles before they succumbed in the snow. They were victims, contend the bison's owners, of a murder plot hatched by the neighbor, a Texan frustrated by what he called the repeated trespassing of the herd onto his land. Law enforcement officials are closemouthed, saying only that they are investigating. At issue, said Park County Undersheriff Monte Gore, is whether the culprit violated Colorado's century-old open-range law, which says livestock may go pretty much where they please. Throughout the West, many states still adhere to the open-range principle, a throwback to the 1800s that says it is not a rancher's responsibility to keep livestock fenced in -- it's everyone else's job to keep them out. If you don't want someone else's cow on your land, the law goes, build a fence. If the cow crosses your fence, you can lock it up until its owner retrieves it, and you can sue the owner for damages. But you can't kill it, said Rick Wahlert, Colorado brand commissioner....
Shell makes run on water In its quest to melt oil out of western Colorado's shale, Royal Dutch Shell has been buying up land and water rights in anticipation of what is likely to be a thirsty new industry. Some officials, however, worry that the demands of the oil-shale industry could drain every drop of the region's remaining water. "On the upper end, we're looking at potentially several hundred thousand acre-feet of water — more than people think is commonly available to develop in the Colorado River," said Dan Birch, deputy general manager for the Colorado River Water Conservation District. Shell and other energy companies have amassed tens of thousands of acres of cropland, ranches and open space — including a state wildlife area — to gain water that would be needed to power the oil-shale process. "We've been acquiring land and associated water rights for a long time," Shell spokesman Tracy Boyd said. "We're just situating ourselves so that when the time comes, we'll have the resources we need."....
BLM: Plan will protect prairie chicken, lizard habitat in NM Two rare species found in southeastern New Mexico's oil and gas country will have added protections under a conservation plan approved by the Bureau of Land Management. About 465 square miles of habitat for the lesser prairie chicken and the sand dune lizard will be protected, and the agency has expanded restrictions on drilling activity during the prairie chicken's mating season in an effort to boost the bird's numbers. For Linda Rundell, state director for the BLM in New Mexico, the additional protections for the prairie chicken have been a long time coming. As a biologist more than 25 years ago, she spent time surveying the prairie chickens and their habitat. Under the BLM's plan, an area of critical environmental concern has been set aside for the prairie chicken. The agency said no oil and gas leasing will be allowed in this area. Areas of occupied habitat for the prairie chicken and the lizard also will be off limits to new oil and gas activity, said Tony Herrell, BLM's deputy director for minerals in New Mexico. In areas of existing operation, Herrell said drilling activity is restricted during the prairie chicken's mating season—March through June—and noise is limited so the birds can hear each other's calls....
Lease-sale of lynx habitat put on hold In a big victory for environmental protectionists, Colorado's Bureau of Land Management has deferred offering oil and gas leases for 84 parcels of U.S. Forest Service land encompassing 144,000 acres in the San Luis Valley at the BLM's May 8 lease sale. "Based on information we received from the public, local governments and our own internal review, we will defer offering these Forest Service parcels until additional analysis can be completed," said BLM Colorado State Director Sally Wisely. The parcels to be deferred are located in the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado's San Luis Valley, where Colorado began reintroducing the endangered Canadian lynx in 2000. There are an estimated 250-300 of the species in the area today....
Uranium claims spring up along Grand Canyon rim Thanks to renewed interest in nuclear power, the United States is on the verge of a uranium mining boom, and nowhere is the hurry to stake claims more pronounced than in the districts flanking the Grand Canyon's storied sandstone cliffs. On public lands within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park, there are now more than 1,100 uranium claims, compared with just 10 in January 2003, according to data from the Department of the Interior. In recent months, the uranium rush has spawned a clash as epic as the canyon's 18-mile chasm, with both sides claiming to be working for the good of the planet. Environmental organizations have appealed to federal courts and Congress to halt any drilling on the grounds that mining so close to such a rare piece of the nation's patrimony could prove ruinous for the canyon's visitors and wildlife alike. Mining companies say the raw material they seek is important to the environment, too: The uranium would feed nuclear reactors that could -- unlike coal and natural gas -- produce electricity without contributing to global warming....
Plea further extends Thirtymile tragedy In a New Year's Eve editorial on the last day of 2006, we were willing to concede at the time that "four manslaughter charges brought against a U.S. Forest Service crew boss nearly 51/2 years after the deadly Thirtymile Fire in Okanogan County could finally be proof that justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied." That hope has been dashed now that a plea-bargaining deal has led to fire crew chief Ellreese Daniels pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Spokane Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges of making false statements to investigators. The magnitude of the reduction in charges is staggering: In exchange, the government dropped four felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven felony counts of making false statements. Four people died and the only person charged in the incident gets a plea-bargaining slap on the wrist and won't have to face trial -- during which a more complete story of what happened up to and during that fateful day could unfold during testimony. Frankly, we've been less than impressed from the start with the federal government's handling, at all levels, of the Thirtymile incident. We remain convinced that Daniels must answer in part for the tragedy because he was directly responsible for the safety of his crew. But we also maintain that the blame for the Thirtymile debacle involves much more than just what happened on the fire line that day. Blame must also extend further up the chain of command and include a culture of stonewalling and cover-up so prevalent in the U.S. Forest Service at the time....
2 national forests combined The Wasatch-Cache National Forest just got more complicated. Now it's the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The mouthful of a name is worth $2 million a year in administrative savings for U.S. Forest Service's Intermountain Region. Budgets are the biggest thing driving the consolidation. Funding has languished while demands for firefighting and recreation are rising. Some ranger districts are losing a recreation planner in the consolidation. A similar consolidation took place in 1973 when the Wasatch and Cache forests were combined.
Republicans senators push for oil shale development Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard has joined other Republican members of Congress in pushing for more domestic energy production by removing barriers to oil shale leasing in Colorado and other parts of the region. A bill introduced Thursday by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., would repeal a one-year moratorium on approval of final regulations for commercial oil shale leases on federal land. It would also allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Colorado's other senator, Democrat Ken Salazar, pushed the one-year ban that prevents the U.S. Bureau of Land Management from using federal funds to draft final regulations for commercial leases. "U.S. oil shale resources alone exceed 2 trillion barrels of potential supply," Allard said in a written statement. "We in Congress should not be preventing this kind of progress."....
Western groups want BLM to consider climate change decisions Conservationists are shifting the debate over oil and gas development across the West from the preservation of a single species here or there to the potential impacts that development could have on entire landscapes due to climate change. At the center of the debate are oil and gas lease sales held each quarter by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The agency offered about 100 parcels covering some 112,000 acres in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma two weeks ago and has more than 175,000 acres up for lease in Colorado next week. "The Rocky Mountain region is experiencing an unprecedented oil and gas boom right now so it's crucial that we get ahead of the curve here and not let this get away from us before it's too late to do anything," Jeremy Nichols, director of Denver-based Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, said Thursday. Nichols' group is just one of several organizations that have protested recent oil and gas lease sales across the region due to climate change concerns _ rather than the usual arguments of how oil and gas might affect a particular endangered species or a pristine plot of land. The group targeted all of the parcels, saying they should not have been offered since the agency's management plans don't address climate change as a potential result of greenhouse gas emissions from more oil and gas development. The protest also claims the agency skirted federal environmental laws by not considering new information about climate change from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the New Mexico Climate Change Advisory Group or other federal scientists....Grazing permits will be next.
Protected sea lions found shot dead on Columbia River The deaths of six sea lions are under investigation after the bodies of the federally protected animals were found in open traps on the Columbia River and appeared to have been shot. The carcasses of four California sea lions and two Steller sea lions were found Sunday about noon. The discovery came one day after three elephant seals were found shot to death at a breeding ground in central California. All three species are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. But Steller sea lions are also protected under the Endangered Species Act, authorities said....
FWP to intervene in wolf lawsuit Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks announced Thursday that it will intervene in a lawsuit filed this week challenging the federal government's delisting of gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains. The agency also plans to oppose a request from 12 conservation groups seeking a preliminary injunction from the federal District Court in Missoula. The injunction, if approved, would reinstate federal Endangered Species Act protection for gray wolves while the court considers the lawsuit. "FWP supports wolf delisting and we'll join the legal proceedings to help ensure that wolves in Montana remain under state jurisdiction and continue to be managed under a plan that has won nationwide praise and support," said Jeff Hagener, director of FWP in Helena....
Turner 'almost done' buying up ranchland The "Mouth of the South" might be mellowing, at least in terms of his appetite for ranchland in Nebraska. CNN founder Ted Turner, the largest private landowner in Nebraska and the United States and the nation's largest bison rancher, said Wednesday that he is about done buying new ranches. He said he would like to reach 2 million acres nationwide before he dies — about 40,000 acres more than he currently owns. "I'm almost done. I've got enough," said Turner, who was visiting Omaha for the reopening and renaming of one of his 54 bison restaurants, now called Ted's Nebraska Grill. The 69-year-old billionaire, philanthropist and conservationist said he isn't interested in free-standing ranches anymore, only "reasonably priced" parcels adjacent to his current operations, which include five ranches in Nebraska near Gordon, Oshkosh and Mullen. The ranches cover 425,221 acres, an area larger than Douglas and Sarpy Counties combined. "You know what 2 million acres is?" Turner asked over a plate of bison miniburgers and transfat-free onion rings. "If my land was all connected, in one long straight line, a mile deep, it would stretch from New York to San Francisco." Then he joked: "I've been thinking about doing some swaps. I'd be able to cut the United States in half and charge people from going from the north to the south."....
Senators kill packer ban Senate and House farm bill conferees killed a final attempt to include a ban on packer ownership of livestock during a late night conference session last night. An amendment by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa was defeated by Senate Ag committee conferees on a voice vote. The Senators then quickly adopted language from the House version of the farm bill, which did not include a packer ban. A statement from Grassley said recent plans by JBS to purchase National Beef Packing Co., Smithfield Beef Group and Five Rivers Ranch show why the packer ban is "needed more than ever" to ensure farmers can get a fair market price for cattle and hogs. "We might not have won tonight, but we'll keep fighting. I just hope it's not too late for the family farmer when people finally realize that we have serious problems with competition in agriculture."
Loss Of Packer Ban Won’t Slow Efforts Western ranchers plan to keep pushing for livestock market reforms despite the failure of the Farm Bill Conference Committee to ban meatpacker ownership of live cattle prior to slaughter. Late last night Senate conferees killed the ban on a voice vote. "The packer ban would have helped return competition to the livestock markets and fairness to livestock contracts by stopping the biggest packers from controlling market access and lowering market prices," said Mabel Dobbs, a rancher from Weiser, Idaho, representing the Western Organization of Resource Councils. "Congress has left us to the wolves." Dobbs said concern about consolidating markets is high because of JBS Swift’s plan to buy two of the country’s largest meatpackers, Smithfield Beef and National Beef. The acquisition would make JBS Swift the largest packer in the world. If the merger succeeds, the three largest meatpacking companies in the U.S. would process nearly 9 out of 10 of the livestock slaughtered....
Ky. Derby Horse Owners Must Love The Farm Bill McConnell, along with a handful of other senators, has successfully spared a measure that would allow accelerated depreciation for race horses. The measure would essentially allow race horse owners _ who pay millions for Triple Crown contenders, write down their investment over three years. The provision appears to have survived the conference committee negotiations on the $300 billion farm bill. The Joint Committee on Taxation has yet to release an official estimate for the horse race provision, which is part of a larger $1.4 billion tax package. Defenders of the measure say the tax break simply allows race horse owners to depreciate their thoroughbred assets on the same schedule that farmers depreciate other equipment on their tax returns. Under current law, race horses are depreciated over seven years; the new provision would allow full depreciation over three years. Critics, like House Agriculture Chairman Colin Peterson (D-Minn.), have said they're worried about the provision helping wealthy Saudi princes who buy Triple Crown horses. McConnell spokesman Don Stewart defended the provision, saying "horses and cows are the only capital not depreciated over three years."...
McCain tells Iowans he would veto farm bill over subsidies Some things never change: Republican John McCain dislikes farm subsidies. "I have to give you a little straight talk about the farm bill that is wending its way through Congress," McCain said Thursday at the Polk County Convention Center. "I do not support it. I would veto it," he said. "I would do that because I believe that the subsidies are unnecessary." McCain was in the heart of farm country, a place where subsidies for corn and ethanol fuel are wildly popular. His long-held position against subsidies has cost him in Iowa, the state that traditionally begins the presidential nominating process and is a potential swing state in the fall. Yet the Arizona senator didn't hesitate to bring up the issue....
Farm bill upends normal political order It is the rarest of moments: President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are on a collision course over a giant farm bill, but it is Bush who is broadly aligned with liberal Bay Area activists pushing for reform, while the San Francisco Democrat is protecting billions of dollars in subsidies to the richest farmers. A conference committee approved on Thursday most of a nearly $300 billion farm bill that will lock in the nation's food policy and environmental stewardship on millions of acres of private land for the next five years. Hoping to survive a veto, lawmakers doled out money to everyone from thoroughbred racehorse owners to food-stamp recipients. The package melds last year's House and Senate farm bills for votes in both chambers before going to the White House. Several controversies remain to be worked out this week. The administration threatened a veto, with Bush deriding a "massive, bloated" effort. Lawmakers are betting that Bush will not dare kill a $10.3 billion increase in nutrition spending such as food stamps, which make up the bulk of the bill, or anger farm-state Republicans in an election year. If he does, they plan to override him....
PETA wants Eight Belles jockey suspended after filly's death People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking the suspension of Eight Belles' jockey after the filly had to be euthanized following her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Gabriel Saez was riding Eight Belles when she broke both front ankles while galloping out a quarter of a mile past the wire. She was euthanized on the track. PETA faxed a letter Sunday to Kentucky's racing authority claiming the filly was "doubtlessly injured before the finish" and asked that Saez be suspended while Eight Belles' death is investigated. "What we really want to know, did he feel anything along the way?" PETA spokeswoman Kathy Guillermo said. "If he didn't then we can probably blame the fact that they're allowed to whip the horses mercilessly." Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones said the filly was clearly happy when she crossed the finish line. "I don't know how in the heck they can even come close to saying that," Jones told The Associated Press on Sunday. "She has her ears up, clearly galloping out."....
‘Sea Monster’ discovery on Glacier Island the buzz of old Cordova One of the strangest chapters in Cordova’s history began on Nov. 10, 1930, when Jerry O’Leary and Charles Gibson discovered the carcass of sea creature floating in Eagle Bay on Glacier Island. O’Leary, a fox farmer, and Gibson, his employee, were making their rounds to feed their foxes and spotted the carcass floating on its back amid the icebergs from Columbia Glacier, six miles to the north. The head and tail sections were devoid of flesh. However, the midsection was mostly intact. O’Leary and Gibson towed the carcass to shore and chopped off the meat and hung it in the smoke house, intending to use it as feed for the foxes. Gibson described the meat as "looking and smelling like horse meat." They saved the skeleton, which was described to be anywhere from 27 to 42 feet long, with a long tail and peculiarly shaped flat triangular-shaped head. They ventured to guess that it had been entombed in the Columbia Glacier before breaking off and floating in the sea ice. Word of its existence reached Valdez and Cordova and sparked the interest of Charles Flory of the U.S. Forest Service and W.J. McDonald, the district forest supervisor of the Chugach National Forest. McDonald, Lee C. Pratt, Captain E.N. Jacobson, John V. Lydick, Howard W. Stewart and A.C. Faith launched an expedition to document the creatures’ remains....
Slaughter of bison roils ranch town his is not a place where buffalo are welcome to roam. When 32 bison lumbered across a fence that separated their owners' vast, wind-swept expanse of land from a neighboring ranch in March, they ended up dead. Some fell where they were shot. Others scattered, galloping for miles before they succumbed in the snow. They were victims, contend the bison's owners, of a murder plot hatched by the neighbor, a Texan frustrated by what he called the repeated trespassing of the herd onto his land. Law enforcement officials are closemouthed, saying only that they are investigating. At issue, said Park County Undersheriff Monte Gore, is whether the culprit violated Colorado's century-old open-range law, which says livestock may go pretty much where they please. Throughout the West, many states still adhere to the open-range principle, a throwback to the 1800s that says it is not a rancher's responsibility to keep livestock fenced in -- it's everyone else's job to keep them out. If you don't want someone else's cow on your land, the law goes, build a fence. If the cow crosses your fence, you can lock it up until its owner retrieves it, and you can sue the owner for damages. But you can't kill it, said Rick Wahlert, Colorado brand commissioner....
Shell makes run on water In its quest to melt oil out of western Colorado's shale, Royal Dutch Shell has been buying up land and water rights in anticipation of what is likely to be a thirsty new industry. Some officials, however, worry that the demands of the oil-shale industry could drain every drop of the region's remaining water. "On the upper end, we're looking at potentially several hundred thousand acre-feet of water — more than people think is commonly available to develop in the Colorado River," said Dan Birch, deputy general manager for the Colorado River Water Conservation District. Shell and other energy companies have amassed tens of thousands of acres of cropland, ranches and open space — including a state wildlife area — to gain water that would be needed to power the oil-shale process. "We've been acquiring land and associated water rights for a long time," Shell spokesman Tracy Boyd said. "We're just situating ourselves so that when the time comes, we'll have the resources we need."....
BLM: Plan will protect prairie chicken, lizard habitat in NM Two rare species found in southeastern New Mexico's oil and gas country will have added protections under a conservation plan approved by the Bureau of Land Management. About 465 square miles of habitat for the lesser prairie chicken and the sand dune lizard will be protected, and the agency has expanded restrictions on drilling activity during the prairie chicken's mating season in an effort to boost the bird's numbers. For Linda Rundell, state director for the BLM in New Mexico, the additional protections for the prairie chicken have been a long time coming. As a biologist more than 25 years ago, she spent time surveying the prairie chickens and their habitat. Under the BLM's plan, an area of critical environmental concern has been set aside for the prairie chicken. The agency said no oil and gas leasing will be allowed in this area. Areas of occupied habitat for the prairie chicken and the lizard also will be off limits to new oil and gas activity, said Tony Herrell, BLM's deputy director for minerals in New Mexico. In areas of existing operation, Herrell said drilling activity is restricted during the prairie chicken's mating season—March through June—and noise is limited so the birds can hear each other's calls....
Lease-sale of lynx habitat put on hold In a big victory for environmental protectionists, Colorado's Bureau of Land Management has deferred offering oil and gas leases for 84 parcels of U.S. Forest Service land encompassing 144,000 acres in the San Luis Valley at the BLM's May 8 lease sale. "Based on information we received from the public, local governments and our own internal review, we will defer offering these Forest Service parcels until additional analysis can be completed," said BLM Colorado State Director Sally Wisely. The parcels to be deferred are located in the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado's San Luis Valley, where Colorado began reintroducing the endangered Canadian lynx in 2000. There are an estimated 250-300 of the species in the area today....
Uranium claims spring up along Grand Canyon rim Thanks to renewed interest in nuclear power, the United States is on the verge of a uranium mining boom, and nowhere is the hurry to stake claims more pronounced than in the districts flanking the Grand Canyon's storied sandstone cliffs. On public lands within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park, there are now more than 1,100 uranium claims, compared with just 10 in January 2003, according to data from the Department of the Interior. In recent months, the uranium rush has spawned a clash as epic as the canyon's 18-mile chasm, with both sides claiming to be working for the good of the planet. Environmental organizations have appealed to federal courts and Congress to halt any drilling on the grounds that mining so close to such a rare piece of the nation's patrimony could prove ruinous for the canyon's visitors and wildlife alike. Mining companies say the raw material they seek is important to the environment, too: The uranium would feed nuclear reactors that could -- unlike coal and natural gas -- produce electricity without contributing to global warming....
Plea further extends Thirtymile tragedy In a New Year's Eve editorial on the last day of 2006, we were willing to concede at the time that "four manslaughter charges brought against a U.S. Forest Service crew boss nearly 51/2 years after the deadly Thirtymile Fire in Okanogan County could finally be proof that justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied." That hope has been dashed now that a plea-bargaining deal has led to fire crew chief Ellreese Daniels pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Spokane Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges of making false statements to investigators. The magnitude of the reduction in charges is staggering: In exchange, the government dropped four felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven felony counts of making false statements. Four people died and the only person charged in the incident gets a plea-bargaining slap on the wrist and won't have to face trial -- during which a more complete story of what happened up to and during that fateful day could unfold during testimony. Frankly, we've been less than impressed from the start with the federal government's handling, at all levels, of the Thirtymile incident. We remain convinced that Daniels must answer in part for the tragedy because he was directly responsible for the safety of his crew. But we also maintain that the blame for the Thirtymile debacle involves much more than just what happened on the fire line that day. Blame must also extend further up the chain of command and include a culture of stonewalling and cover-up so prevalent in the U.S. Forest Service at the time....
2 national forests combined The Wasatch-Cache National Forest just got more complicated. Now it's the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The mouthful of a name is worth $2 million a year in administrative savings for U.S. Forest Service's Intermountain Region. Budgets are the biggest thing driving the consolidation. Funding has languished while demands for firefighting and recreation are rising. Some ranger districts are losing a recreation planner in the consolidation. A similar consolidation took place in 1973 when the Wasatch and Cache forests were combined.
Republicans senators push for oil shale development Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard has joined other Republican members of Congress in pushing for more domestic energy production by removing barriers to oil shale leasing in Colorado and other parts of the region. A bill introduced Thursday by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., would repeal a one-year moratorium on approval of final regulations for commercial oil shale leases on federal land. It would also allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Colorado's other senator, Democrat Ken Salazar, pushed the one-year ban that prevents the U.S. Bureau of Land Management from using federal funds to draft final regulations for commercial leases. "U.S. oil shale resources alone exceed 2 trillion barrels of potential supply," Allard said in a written statement. "We in Congress should not be preventing this kind of progress."....
Western groups want BLM to consider climate change decisions Conservationists are shifting the debate over oil and gas development across the West from the preservation of a single species here or there to the potential impacts that development could have on entire landscapes due to climate change. At the center of the debate are oil and gas lease sales held each quarter by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The agency offered about 100 parcels covering some 112,000 acres in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma two weeks ago and has more than 175,000 acres up for lease in Colorado next week. "The Rocky Mountain region is experiencing an unprecedented oil and gas boom right now so it's crucial that we get ahead of the curve here and not let this get away from us before it's too late to do anything," Jeremy Nichols, director of Denver-based Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, said Thursday. Nichols' group is just one of several organizations that have protested recent oil and gas lease sales across the region due to climate change concerns _ rather than the usual arguments of how oil and gas might affect a particular endangered species or a pristine plot of land. The group targeted all of the parcels, saying they should not have been offered since the agency's management plans don't address climate change as a potential result of greenhouse gas emissions from more oil and gas development. The protest also claims the agency skirted federal environmental laws by not considering new information about climate change from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the New Mexico Climate Change Advisory Group or other federal scientists....Grazing permits will be next.
Protected sea lions found shot dead on Columbia River The deaths of six sea lions are under investigation after the bodies of the federally protected animals were found in open traps on the Columbia River and appeared to have been shot. The carcasses of four California sea lions and two Steller sea lions were found Sunday about noon. The discovery came one day after three elephant seals were found shot to death at a breeding ground in central California. All three species are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. But Steller sea lions are also protected under the Endangered Species Act, authorities said....
FWP to intervene in wolf lawsuit Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks announced Thursday that it will intervene in a lawsuit filed this week challenging the federal government's delisting of gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains. The agency also plans to oppose a request from 12 conservation groups seeking a preliminary injunction from the federal District Court in Missoula. The injunction, if approved, would reinstate federal Endangered Species Act protection for gray wolves while the court considers the lawsuit. "FWP supports wolf delisting and we'll join the legal proceedings to help ensure that wolves in Montana remain under state jurisdiction and continue to be managed under a plan that has won nationwide praise and support," said Jeff Hagener, director of FWP in Helena....
Turner 'almost done' buying up ranchland The "Mouth of the South" might be mellowing, at least in terms of his appetite for ranchland in Nebraska. CNN founder Ted Turner, the largest private landowner in Nebraska and the United States and the nation's largest bison rancher, said Wednesday that he is about done buying new ranches. He said he would like to reach 2 million acres nationwide before he dies — about 40,000 acres more than he currently owns. "I'm almost done. I've got enough," said Turner, who was visiting Omaha for the reopening and renaming of one of his 54 bison restaurants, now called Ted's Nebraska Grill. The 69-year-old billionaire, philanthropist and conservationist said he isn't interested in free-standing ranches anymore, only "reasonably priced" parcels adjacent to his current operations, which include five ranches in Nebraska near Gordon, Oshkosh and Mullen. The ranches cover 425,221 acres, an area larger than Douglas and Sarpy Counties combined. "You know what 2 million acres is?" Turner asked over a plate of bison miniburgers and transfat-free onion rings. "If my land was all connected, in one long straight line, a mile deep, it would stretch from New York to San Francisco." Then he joked: "I've been thinking about doing some swaps. I'd be able to cut the United States in half and charge people from going from the north to the south."....
Senators kill packer ban Senate and House farm bill conferees killed a final attempt to include a ban on packer ownership of livestock during a late night conference session last night. An amendment by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa was defeated by Senate Ag committee conferees on a voice vote. The Senators then quickly adopted language from the House version of the farm bill, which did not include a packer ban. A statement from Grassley said recent plans by JBS to purchase National Beef Packing Co., Smithfield Beef Group and Five Rivers Ranch show why the packer ban is "needed more than ever" to ensure farmers can get a fair market price for cattle and hogs. "We might not have won tonight, but we'll keep fighting. I just hope it's not too late for the family farmer when people finally realize that we have serious problems with competition in agriculture."
Loss Of Packer Ban Won’t Slow Efforts Western ranchers plan to keep pushing for livestock market reforms despite the failure of the Farm Bill Conference Committee to ban meatpacker ownership of live cattle prior to slaughter. Late last night Senate conferees killed the ban on a voice vote. "The packer ban would have helped return competition to the livestock markets and fairness to livestock contracts by stopping the biggest packers from controlling market access and lowering market prices," said Mabel Dobbs, a rancher from Weiser, Idaho, representing the Western Organization of Resource Councils. "Congress has left us to the wolves." Dobbs said concern about consolidating markets is high because of JBS Swift’s plan to buy two of the country’s largest meatpackers, Smithfield Beef and National Beef. The acquisition would make JBS Swift the largest packer in the world. If the merger succeeds, the three largest meatpacking companies in the U.S. would process nearly 9 out of 10 of the livestock slaughtered....
Ky. Derby Horse Owners Must Love The Farm Bill McConnell, along with a handful of other senators, has successfully spared a measure that would allow accelerated depreciation for race horses. The measure would essentially allow race horse owners _ who pay millions for Triple Crown contenders, write down their investment over three years. The provision appears to have survived the conference committee negotiations on the $300 billion farm bill. The Joint Committee on Taxation has yet to release an official estimate for the horse race provision, which is part of a larger $1.4 billion tax package. Defenders of the measure say the tax break simply allows race horse owners to depreciate their thoroughbred assets on the same schedule that farmers depreciate other equipment on their tax returns. Under current law, race horses are depreciated over seven years; the new provision would allow full depreciation over three years. Critics, like House Agriculture Chairman Colin Peterson (D-Minn.), have said they're worried about the provision helping wealthy Saudi princes who buy Triple Crown horses. McConnell spokesman Don Stewart defended the provision, saying "horses and cows are the only capital not depreciated over three years."...
McCain tells Iowans he would veto farm bill over subsidies Some things never change: Republican John McCain dislikes farm subsidies. "I have to give you a little straight talk about the farm bill that is wending its way through Congress," McCain said Thursday at the Polk County Convention Center. "I do not support it. I would veto it," he said. "I would do that because I believe that the subsidies are unnecessary." McCain was in the heart of farm country, a place where subsidies for corn and ethanol fuel are wildly popular. His long-held position against subsidies has cost him in Iowa, the state that traditionally begins the presidential nominating process and is a potential swing state in the fall. Yet the Arizona senator didn't hesitate to bring up the issue....
Farm bill upends normal political order It is the rarest of moments: President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are on a collision course over a giant farm bill, but it is Bush who is broadly aligned with liberal Bay Area activists pushing for reform, while the San Francisco Democrat is protecting billions of dollars in subsidies to the richest farmers. A conference committee approved on Thursday most of a nearly $300 billion farm bill that will lock in the nation's food policy and environmental stewardship on millions of acres of private land for the next five years. Hoping to survive a veto, lawmakers doled out money to everyone from thoroughbred racehorse owners to food-stamp recipients. The package melds last year's House and Senate farm bills for votes in both chambers before going to the White House. Several controversies remain to be worked out this week. The administration threatened a veto, with Bush deriding a "massive, bloated" effort. Lawmakers are betting that Bush will not dare kill a $10.3 billion increase in nutrition spending such as food stamps, which make up the bulk of the bill, or anger farm-state Republicans in an election year. If he does, they plan to override him....
PETA wants Eight Belles jockey suspended after filly's death People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking the suspension of Eight Belles' jockey after the filly had to be euthanized following her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Gabriel Saez was riding Eight Belles when she broke both front ankles while galloping out a quarter of a mile past the wire. She was euthanized on the track. PETA faxed a letter Sunday to Kentucky's racing authority claiming the filly was "doubtlessly injured before the finish" and asked that Saez be suspended while Eight Belles' death is investigated. "What we really want to know, did he feel anything along the way?" PETA spokeswoman Kathy Guillermo said. "If he didn't then we can probably blame the fact that they're allowed to whip the horses mercilessly." Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones said the filly was clearly happy when she crossed the finish line. "I don't know how in the heck they can even come close to saying that," Jones told The Associated Press on Sunday. "She has her ears up, clearly galloping out."....
‘Sea Monster’ discovery on Glacier Island the buzz of old Cordova One of the strangest chapters in Cordova’s history began on Nov. 10, 1930, when Jerry O’Leary and Charles Gibson discovered the carcass of sea creature floating in Eagle Bay on Glacier Island. O’Leary, a fox farmer, and Gibson, his employee, were making their rounds to feed their foxes and spotted the carcass floating on its back amid the icebergs from Columbia Glacier, six miles to the north. The head and tail sections were devoid of flesh. However, the midsection was mostly intact. O’Leary and Gibson towed the carcass to shore and chopped off the meat and hung it in the smoke house, intending to use it as feed for the foxes. Gibson described the meat as "looking and smelling like horse meat." They saved the skeleton, which was described to be anywhere from 27 to 42 feet long, with a long tail and peculiarly shaped flat triangular-shaped head. They ventured to guess that it had been entombed in the Columbia Glacier before breaking off and floating in the sea ice. Word of its existence reached Valdez and Cordova and sparked the interest of Charles Flory of the U.S. Forest Service and W.J. McDonald, the district forest supervisor of the Chugach National Forest. McDonald, Lee C. Pratt, Captain E.N. Jacobson, John V. Lydick, Howard W. Stewart and A.C. Faith launched an expedition to document the creatures’ remains....
Aristocrats of the range
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
Julie Carter
Cowboys are the aristocrats of the agricultural wage earners. As such, there are two or three things which are absolutely essential for their well being: well-trained, prestigious-looking horses, a good rope and a nice hat.
Dan had the horse department covered with Slats. And he was following Tex's advice about roping.
Since the last problem he had was roping his heel horse's front feet occasionally, Dan went to see what Tex had to say.
Tex advised getting a rope his horse could see and then he wouldn't step in the loop. So Dan went down to the feed store, looked over all the brightly colored twines and came out with one of the new Roper Vision ropes - a glow-in-the-dark lime green.
This iridescent wonder came with a pair of matching sunglasses, the theory being that the roper would better focus on his rope when wearing them.
Dan didn't follow this logic as he wasn't the one having trouble seeing a regular colored rope, but most definitely, Slats wasn't going to get the sunglasses.
He decided that a little pasture roping might help Slats out with his difficulty of stepping into a heel loop. Tim came to help him out. The project would not be a wasted effort. They needed to doctor a few yearlings who had picked up something at the sale barn.
In the pasture, they rode through all the new cattle slowly and doctored each one who needed a shot. With the job well tended to, they decided to practice a little to break in Dan's new rope.
The owner of the cattle had driven up to the pasture fence and was watching the entire operation; the cowboys were unaware of their audience.
After watching the flurry of activity through the initial doctoring, the cow boss walked out to the ropers and asked, "What you boys doing now?"
"Why, we're roping and doctoring the sick cattle."
The owner allowed he had seen quite a bit of roping going on but in the most recent timeframe, he hadn't seen any shots given.
Dan, quick with his wit, answered sincerely, "Last night I soaked my rope in a bucket of penicillin and there's no need to give a shot. And, besides that, we been looking at these cattle and thought we might need to check and see if some of them had a bone in their leg."
Good help is hard to find, so, begrudgingly, the cow boss decided to tend to some of his other business.
While he was putting his paycheck in circulation with the new green rope purchase, Dan also selected a brand new straw hat. He really hated to part with the extra money, but lately he'd noticed there were some quite pretty girls at the team ropings.
He also knew that one of the secrets to good looks is a good hat. Sometimes a new hat needs some breaking-in, so he was wearing it a little to get the sweatband broke-in before next Saturday's team roping.
This morning's job was to do some pasture shredding with the tractor in the horse trap. Dan got the shredder hooked up, was moving right along with the blades cutting down the old grass neatly when a little puff of wind hit and lifted that new straw right off his head.
The next thing he heard was "brrrrrrtt" as the new straw went through the shredder. A few choice words later, Dan shrugged and thought to himself, "Those pretty girls are just going to have to be impressed with Slats and the new lime green rope."
Two out of three is not bad for an aristocrat.
Julie's rope of choice is powder blue. Visit her website at www.julie-carter.com
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
Julie Carter
Cowboys are the aristocrats of the agricultural wage earners. As such, there are two or three things which are absolutely essential for their well being: well-trained, prestigious-looking horses, a good rope and a nice hat.
Dan had the horse department covered with Slats. And he was following Tex's advice about roping.
Since the last problem he had was roping his heel horse's front feet occasionally, Dan went to see what Tex had to say.
Tex advised getting a rope his horse could see and then he wouldn't step in the loop. So Dan went down to the feed store, looked over all the brightly colored twines and came out with one of the new Roper Vision ropes - a glow-in-the-dark lime green.
This iridescent wonder came with a pair of matching sunglasses, the theory being that the roper would better focus on his rope when wearing them.
Dan didn't follow this logic as he wasn't the one having trouble seeing a regular colored rope, but most definitely, Slats wasn't going to get the sunglasses.
He decided that a little pasture roping might help Slats out with his difficulty of stepping into a heel loop. Tim came to help him out. The project would not be a wasted effort. They needed to doctor a few yearlings who had picked up something at the sale barn.
In the pasture, they rode through all the new cattle slowly and doctored each one who needed a shot. With the job well tended to, they decided to practice a little to break in Dan's new rope.
The owner of the cattle had driven up to the pasture fence and was watching the entire operation; the cowboys were unaware of their audience.
After watching the flurry of activity through the initial doctoring, the cow boss walked out to the ropers and asked, "What you boys doing now?"
"Why, we're roping and doctoring the sick cattle."
The owner allowed he had seen quite a bit of roping going on but in the most recent timeframe, he hadn't seen any shots given.
Dan, quick with his wit, answered sincerely, "Last night I soaked my rope in a bucket of penicillin and there's no need to give a shot. And, besides that, we been looking at these cattle and thought we might need to check and see if some of them had a bone in their leg."
Good help is hard to find, so, begrudgingly, the cow boss decided to tend to some of his other business.
While he was putting his paycheck in circulation with the new green rope purchase, Dan also selected a brand new straw hat. He really hated to part with the extra money, but lately he'd noticed there were some quite pretty girls at the team ropings.
He also knew that one of the secrets to good looks is a good hat. Sometimes a new hat needs some breaking-in, so he was wearing it a little to get the sweatband broke-in before next Saturday's team roping.
This morning's job was to do some pasture shredding with the tractor in the horse trap. Dan got the shredder hooked up, was moving right along with the blades cutting down the old grass neatly when a little puff of wind hit and lifted that new straw right off his head.
The next thing he heard was "brrrrrrtt" as the new straw went through the shredder. A few choice words later, Dan shrugged and thought to himself, "Those pretty girls are just going to have to be impressed with Slats and the new lime green rope."
Two out of three is not bad for an aristocrat.
Julie's rope of choice is powder blue. Visit her website at www.julie-carter.com
FLE
Fabricated 'Bioterrorism' Case Collapses After a four-year legal battle, a US federal judge has dismissed all charges against an avant-garde artist who public officials condemned as a bio-terrorist in a case critics are calling "a persecution, not a prosecution." The artist is Dr. Steven Kurtz, a professor of Visual Studies at the University of Buffalo, and a founding member of the award-winning collective Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). The case started in May of 2004. While Kurtz was preparing for an exhibition of an art installation at MASS MoCA, a museum in North Adams, Massachusetts, his wife of 20 years died in her sleep. When police responded to his 911 call, they noticed a small food-testing lab and petri dishes containing bacteria cultures. The lab was part of the scheduled installation, which would have allowed museum visitors to see if their store bought food contained genetically modified (GM) organisms. The cultures were part of a multimedia project commissioned by the British-based art-science initiative, The Arts Catalyst, and produced in consultation with scientists from the Harvard-Sussex Program. The project used the harmless bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Serratia marcescens in an installation, performance, and film dedicated to demystifying issues surrounding germ warfare programs and their cost to global public health. Some of CAE's work is designed to protest the potential risks of genetically modified (GM) food. Local police called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While politicians and federal prosecutors rushed to trumpet the thwarting of a major threat, Kurtz was detained under the PATRIOT Act on suspicion of bioterrorism. The street where Kurtz's home was located was cordoned off, his house searched, and his property seized. Federal agents confiscated Kurtz's art projects, computers, and all copies of a book manuscript Kurtz was working on, as well as his reference books and notes. The book, Marching Plague: Germ Warfare and Global Public Health, had to be entirely reconstructed and was finally published in 2006. The then governor of New York, George Pataki, lauded the work of the FBI for disrupting a major bioterrorism threat. And the then US attorney in Buffalo, Michael A. Battle – the lawyer who was later to become the Department of Justice employee who notified eight US attorneys that they were being fired – praised the work of the Buffalo Joint Terrorism Task Force. But after a several-month-long investigation, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) failed to provide any evidence of "bioterrorism." On the contrary, FBI tests revealed within a few days of the incident that there were no harmful biological agents in Kurtz's house and that his wife had died of heart failure. Forced to drop its charges of weapons manufacture, the government instead accused Kurtz and Ferrell of mail and wire fraud. The government claimed that when Dr. Ferrell gave the cultures to Dr. Kurtz, this violated a contract between the University of Pittsburgh and the supplier, American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). Neither the university nor ATCC had brought any complaint, and observers pointed out that scientists routinely share non-hazardous cultures. The Department of Justice further claimed that this alleged contract discrepancy constituted federal mail and wire fraud. Because the charges against the two academics were brought under the PATRIOT Act, the maximum penalty was increased from five years to 20. Earlier, Dr. Ferrell pled guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge rather than facing a prolonged trial for the mail and wire fraud felonies. During the legal wrangling, he had two minor strokes and a major stroke that required months of rehabilitation. He was indicted as he was preparing to undergo a stem cell transplant, his second in seven years. But Kurtz rejected any plea deal, instead demanding a public trial. Most of the art world has rallied behind him. His colleagues in the Critical Art Ensemble set up a website and a legal defense fund, and Kurtz continued to teach at the University of Buffalo. When the case finally arrived in a courtroom this month, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara ruled to dismiss the indictment. It is unclear whether the government will appeal the dismissal....Looks like another CYA operation by the FBI and DOJ.
Audit: Up to 400 State Department laptops missing The State Department has lost track of as many as 400 laptop computers, an internal audit ordered by the Inspector General has found. "The importance of safeguarding official laptops and office equipment containing sensitive information is not a new concern," said State Department overseer Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) through a spokesperson to CQ Politics. "I intend to review the facts about this situation." The computers belong to the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, run by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which protects diplomats during stateside visits and trains and equips foreign police, intelligence and security forces. Anonymous sources say that officials are "urgently" scouring offices in the Washington, D.C. area to account for the equipment. The State Department is not keeping good records of its inventory, official John Streufert told a panel at a February 6 meeting on the security of "personal identification information," citing a "significant deficiency." Mark Duda, the Inspector General's representative, also warned of scandal like the one that erupted in May of 2006, after the home of a Veterans Administration employee was burglarized and a laptop he was using for a work project, containing names, Social Security numbers and birthdates of more than 26 million people, was taken....Don't worry, we can still trust them to protect all the data they are collecting on us. Right?
Fabricated 'Bioterrorism' Case Collapses After a four-year legal battle, a US federal judge has dismissed all charges against an avant-garde artist who public officials condemned as a bio-terrorist in a case critics are calling "a persecution, not a prosecution." The artist is Dr. Steven Kurtz, a professor of Visual Studies at the University of Buffalo, and a founding member of the award-winning collective Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). The case started in May of 2004. While Kurtz was preparing for an exhibition of an art installation at MASS MoCA, a museum in North Adams, Massachusetts, his wife of 20 years died in her sleep. When police responded to his 911 call, they noticed a small food-testing lab and petri dishes containing bacteria cultures. The lab was part of the scheduled installation, which would have allowed museum visitors to see if their store bought food contained genetically modified (GM) organisms. The cultures were part of a multimedia project commissioned by the British-based art-science initiative, The Arts Catalyst, and produced in consultation with scientists from the Harvard-Sussex Program. The project used the harmless bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Serratia marcescens in an installation, performance, and film dedicated to demystifying issues surrounding germ warfare programs and their cost to global public health. Some of CAE's work is designed to protest the potential risks of genetically modified (GM) food. Local police called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While politicians and federal prosecutors rushed to trumpet the thwarting of a major threat, Kurtz was detained under the PATRIOT Act on suspicion of bioterrorism. The street where Kurtz's home was located was cordoned off, his house searched, and his property seized. Federal agents confiscated Kurtz's art projects, computers, and all copies of a book manuscript Kurtz was working on, as well as his reference books and notes. The book, Marching Plague: Germ Warfare and Global Public Health, had to be entirely reconstructed and was finally published in 2006. The then governor of New York, George Pataki, lauded the work of the FBI for disrupting a major bioterrorism threat. And the then US attorney in Buffalo, Michael A. Battle – the lawyer who was later to become the Department of Justice employee who notified eight US attorneys that they were being fired – praised the work of the Buffalo Joint Terrorism Task Force. But after a several-month-long investigation, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) failed to provide any evidence of "bioterrorism." On the contrary, FBI tests revealed within a few days of the incident that there were no harmful biological agents in Kurtz's house and that his wife had died of heart failure. Forced to drop its charges of weapons manufacture, the government instead accused Kurtz and Ferrell of mail and wire fraud. The government claimed that when Dr. Ferrell gave the cultures to Dr. Kurtz, this violated a contract between the University of Pittsburgh and the supplier, American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). Neither the university nor ATCC had brought any complaint, and observers pointed out that scientists routinely share non-hazardous cultures. The Department of Justice further claimed that this alleged contract discrepancy constituted federal mail and wire fraud. Because the charges against the two academics were brought under the PATRIOT Act, the maximum penalty was increased from five years to 20. Earlier, Dr. Ferrell pled guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge rather than facing a prolonged trial for the mail and wire fraud felonies. During the legal wrangling, he had two minor strokes and a major stroke that required months of rehabilitation. He was indicted as he was preparing to undergo a stem cell transplant, his second in seven years. But Kurtz rejected any plea deal, instead demanding a public trial. Most of the art world has rallied behind him. His colleagues in the Critical Art Ensemble set up a website and a legal defense fund, and Kurtz continued to teach at the University of Buffalo. When the case finally arrived in a courtroom this month, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara ruled to dismiss the indictment. It is unclear whether the government will appeal the dismissal....Looks like another CYA operation by the FBI and DOJ.
Audit: Up to 400 State Department laptops missing The State Department has lost track of as many as 400 laptop computers, an internal audit ordered by the Inspector General has found. "The importance of safeguarding official laptops and office equipment containing sensitive information is not a new concern," said State Department overseer Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) through a spokesperson to CQ Politics. "I intend to review the facts about this situation." The computers belong to the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, run by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which protects diplomats during stateside visits and trains and equips foreign police, intelligence and security forces. Anonymous sources say that officials are "urgently" scouring offices in the Washington, D.C. area to account for the equipment. The State Department is not keeping good records of its inventory, official John Streufert told a panel at a February 6 meeting on the security of "personal identification information," citing a "significant deficiency." Mark Duda, the Inspector General's representative, also warned of scandal like the one that erupted in May of 2006, after the home of a Veterans Administration employee was burglarized and a laptop he was using for a work project, containing names, Social Security numbers and birthdates of more than 26 million people, was taken....Don't worry, we can still trust them to protect all the data they are collecting on us. Right?
Friday, May 02, 2008
Congress' ethanol affair is cooling Members of Congress say they overreached by pushing ethanol on consumers and will move to roll back federal supports for it — the latest sure signal that Congress' appetite for corn-based ethanol has collapsed as food and gas prices have shot up. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Democrats will use the pending farm bill to reduce the subsidy, while Republicans are looking to go further, rolling back government rules passed just four months ago that require blending ethanol into gasoline. "The view was to look to alternatives and try to become more dependent on the Midwest than the Middle East. I mean, that was the theory. Obviously, sometimes there are unforeseen or unintended consequences of actions," Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, told reporters yesterday....
Doubts grow over ethanol Sharply rising food prices may force Congress to reconsider the fivefold increase in ethanol production it mandated just four months ago, some lawmakers say. Few members appear willing to call for the outright repeal of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), which requires that 36 billion gallons of ethanol be produced by 2022. Of that, 15 billon gallons would come from corn. But the new concerns represent a significant turn for a policy issue that was embraced by both congressional Democrats and President Bush as a way to boost rural economies and domestic energy security. “We certainly did not anticipate what’s happened, if that was the cause,” said Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “We don’t know how much of the food crisis was caused by it, but nobody expected it to cause much.” Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) added: “I think it’s something we need to look at.”....
Don't rush to blame ethanol, WH says The White House this morning cautioned against rushing to judge ethanol as a root cause of escalating global food prices. "There's been a lot reported, maybe too much attention, to biofuels and maybe not enough to all of the other factors that affect food prices, especially in this country, where it is a tiny slice of increased food prices," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. On Tuesday, President Bush said that "85 percent of the world's food prices are caused by weather, increased demand and energy prices — just the cost of growing product — and that 15 percent has been caused by ethanol, the arrival of ethanol."....
Texas Gov Mulls Seeking Waiver From US Renewable Fuel Rule The Texas governor's office is considering seeking an exemption to a national standard that requires renewable fuels use. Because corn-based ethanol is the most widely available renewable fuel, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office says it fears that use of the fuel is driving up food prices. The Renewable Fuels Standard requires companies that blend ethanol and other additives into gasoline to sell a certain volume of renewable fuels each year until 2022. "Ultimately, food prices are reaching high levels, so we're looking at this as an option for reducing that burden," said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Perry. Texas is the leading producer of beef, she said, so elevated prices of corn for cattle feed place a burden on the state's economy. Ethanol producers have countered that their fuel doesn't drive up beef prices because byproducts of ethanol distillation can be used as cattle feed. But simply exempting Texas from the mandate may not be an easy move. The legal grounds upon which such an appeal would be made are unclear. The mandate is a federal obligation without specific benchmarks for each state, so if Texas seceded from the mandate, the overall quantity of ethanol required might remain unchanged....
Saving 'God's creation' unites scientist, evangelical leader A Nobel laureate scientist and a leader of the evangelical Christian movement walk into a restaurant. It sounds like the setup for a joke, a scenario that is screaming for a punch line that plays off the seemingly endless disagreements between faith and science. But this is a true story, and Dr. Eric Chivian and the Rev. Richard Cizik have come up with a zinger no one could expect. They went to lunch together to agree on something - the need to curb negative human impact on the Earth. And the partnership they formed that afternoon in 2005 has led this odd couple of the environmental movement to be named, today, to Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. "I must admit I approached that meeting with some anxiety," said Chivian (pronounced chih-vee-an), director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, "I'm involved in evolutionary biology. I support stem cell research. I have gay friends who are married. I felt I had positions that would be at odds with his." Cizik (pronounced sigh-zik), vice president for governmental affairs for the 45,000-church National Association of Evangelicals in Washington, D.C,, had similar reservations. But, as they point out, they were not there to discuss their differences. What brought them together is what Chivian calls "a deep, fundamental commitment to life on earth."....
EPA official ousted while fighting Dow The battle over dioxin contamination in this economically stressed region had been raging for years when a top Bush administration official turned up the pressure on Dow Chemical to clean it up. On Thursday, following months of internal bickering over Mary Gade's interactions with Dow, the administration forced her to quit as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Midwest office, based in Chicago. Gade told the Tribune she resigned after two aides to national EPA administrator Stephen Johnson took away her powers as regional administrator and told her to quit or be fired by June 1. The call came as the Tribune was preparing to publish a story about the dioxin issue and Gade's crusade....
Study: Warmer ocean water means less oxygen Low-oxygen zones where sea life is threatened or cannot survive are growing as the oceans are heated by global warming, researchers warn. Oxygen-depleted zones in the central and eastern equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans appear to have expanded over the last 50 years, researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science. Low-oxygen zones in the Gulf of Mexico and other areas also have been studied in recent years, raising concerns about the threat to sea life. Continued expansion of these zones could have dramatic consequences for both sea life and coastal economies, said the team led by Lothar Stramma of the University of Kiel in Germany. The finding was not surprising, Stramma said, because computer climate models had predicted a decline in dissolved oxygen in the oceans under warmer conditions. Warmer water simply cannot absorb as much oxygen as colder water, explained co-author Gregory C. Johnson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle....
Wildlife commission votes 9-0 to allow continued shooting of animals A citizen’s petition to ban the recreational shooting of prairie dogs came to a quick death Thursday at the hands of the Colorado Wildlife Commission. Testimony on the controversial issue raised concerns on one side about cruelty to animals and hunting ethics and equally fervent concerns on the other side about protecting private property rights, game-damage control and introducing youths to hunting. It took more than an hour and was dominated by opponents to the petition. “Shooting is the only way to control” prairie dogs, said Hotchkiss farmer Dave Whittlesey, who said he shoots “20 to 30 a day” on his property with little apparent effect on the prairie dog population. His argument was repeated several times, with some farmers saying they shoot thousands of prairie dogs each year in attempts to alleviate damage to hay fields and other crops. “Shooting is the only species-specific control,” said David Koontz of Hotchkiss. “We kill several thousand a year, and if I had to stop, I’d be out of business in five years.” Veterinarian Dick Steele of Delta said he has euthanized “crippled horses after (they stumbled) into prairie dog holes.” He called prairie dog control a useful, entry-level activity for young hunters....
Court says feds don't have to reveal names The federal government doesn't have to reveal the names of employees involved in a bungled operation to a private watchdog group that doesn't trust official investigations of the incident, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The employees' right to be free of harassment from the news media and the public outweighs any benefit in re-examining an incident that officials have already gone over, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The head of a news media organization criticized the ruling, saying the court took too narrow a view of the government's disclosure obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. "The court assumes the government can do no wrong and paternalistically assumes the government would know how to fix whatever went wrong," said Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, which was not involved in the case. "The public is entitled to information from records to hold the government accountable, particularly in its role as an employer." The case involved a fire in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho that killed two U.S. Forest Service firefighters, Shane Heath and Jeff Allen, in July 2003....
Bush Administration Takes Aim at National Parks Gun Ban The Bush administration on Wednesday announced its intent to shoot down federal rules that prohibit individuals from carrying loaded firearms in U.S. national parks and wildlife refuges. The proposal would permit individuals to carry loaded and concealed weapons if permitted by state laws in the state where the park or refuge is located, a change many current and retired park rangers contend is unnecessary and potentially dangerous. U.S. Interior Department officials said the proposed change would clarify conflicting state and federal restrictions. The 61 units of the National Park Service where hunting is permitted, as well as the public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, follow state laws on firearms. Firearms were first banned in national parks in the 1930s in a bid to curb poaching. "Much has changed in how states administer their firearm laws in that time," U.S. Interior Department Assistant Secretary Lyle Laverty. Forty-eight U.S. states now have laws allowing for legal possession of concealed weapons. The administration believes that management of national parks and wildlife refuges "should defer to those state laws," Laverty said. ....The Bushies are just like the Dems, they pick and choose when to defer to state law. Why don't they defer to state law when they are confiscating livestock?
Tahoe woman to pay $100,000 for felling tree An Incline Village woman who hired a company to chop down trees on national forest land to enhance her view of Lake Tahoe agreed Thursday to pay $100,000 restitution and do 80 hours of community service in a plea deal with federal prosecutors that likely will keep her out of prison. Patricia Marie Vincent, 57, was indicted in January by a federal grand jury in Reno on felony charges of theft of government property and willingly damaging government property. She faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of those original counts if convicted. But in exchange for her guilty plea on Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Rachow agreed to drop the felony charges and charge her with one misdemeanor count of unlawfully cutting trees on U.S. land. That crime carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison, a $100,00 fine and possible restitution. But Rachow said under the plea agreement, she would face a year of probation, 80 hours of community service and pay $100,000 in restitution -- with $35,000 going to the U.S. Forest Service and $65,000 going to the National Forest Foundation....There they go again, diverting money to a private nonprofit. What is with these US Attorneys? They are clearly operating to bypass the Congressional appropriation process. Congress should deduct a like amount from this US Attorney's budget.
Treehuggers Against Trees With wildfires burning, it is useful to turn to the wisdom of the ancients. When the pioneers first entered the great forests of America, they found that the Native Americans had managed the forests for centuries. Their woodlands contained very few big trees—maybe fifty such trees per acre. Apparently the Indians had set regular, low intensity fires which burned away accumulations of undergrowth, deadwood, dying trees and particularly small trees growing between the big trees. The larger trees were unharmed, because of their thick fire-resistant bark. These fires kept the forest healthy by providing a barrier to disease. The pioneers, however, used much more wood in their civilization than the Native Americans. They needed it for housing, for boats and river ships, for railroad sleepers, for carriages, and for town infrastructure. To them, fire was an enemy. Quick growth of new trees was important. Policies were put in place that suppressed all fire. This culminated in the creation of Smokey Bear in 1945. Three years later, his catchphrase was born: "Remember — only you can prevent forest fires." The price was a degradation of the health of American forests. Private logging firms continued to keep forests healthy where they operated, by clearing out the underbrush and deadwood and harvesting trees to clear spaces between other trees. Where loggers did not operate, undergrowth and deadwood began to accumulate. These are dangerous, because small trees, for example, provide ladders for the fire to climb to reach the crown of mature trees, where the fires can take hold instead of being shrugged off by the thick bark below. Meanwhile, more and more land came to be controlled by the federal government....
People abandoning domestic horses in wild herd, BLM says Horse lover Marty Felix can’t imagine anyone delivering a death sentence to a domestic horse by abandoning it in the wild. But that’s what she witnessed recently in the Little Book Cliffs area, northeast of Grand Junction. Felix, a volunteer with the Bureau of Land Management who helps care for the local wild horse herd, said she identified a brown Appaloosa gelding April 11 that didn’t belong to the wild herd. She and other volunteers working in the Main Canyon of Little Book Cliffs caught a glimpse of the man who set the horse free, but the man wasn’t caught. She said while some people may have romantic notions of letting a horse free in the wild to live out the end of its life, it is inhumane and against the law. According to BLM spokeswoman Mel Lloyd, the mid-April incident was not the first time officials were apprised of domestic horses being set free in the Little Book Cliffs area. Last year a domestic horse and a mule were found. Felix said a similar incident occurred in 2003. Lloyd said people caught abandoning horses are subject to state and federal penalties. Domestic horses can be shunned or injured by wild horse herds, resulting in a slow and painful death. Domestic horses cannot adapt to the high-desert climate and can spread disease to wild herds, potentially inducing a catastrophic die-off of wild herds, Lloyd said....
Rare giant worm may wriggle far from home on Palouse The giant Palouse earthworm is still among the Northwest's rarest inhabitants, but two new discoveries suggest the native wigglers might be a bit more abundant than previously thought. A pair of pinkish-white worms from opposite margins of the Columbia River basin appear to be members of the species, reputed to grow up to 3 feet long. In March, researchers digging in a remnant of native prairie near Moscow, Idaho, accidentally minced one of the creatures and collected the bits. The rolling grasslands of the region, called the Palouse, are believed to be the species' historic habitat. But the second worm came from a more surprising location: a forested slope above the Chelan County town of Leavenworth. "If it is the correct species, it's pretty exciting to find it in an area where it hasn't been described before," said University of Idaho soil scientist Jodi Johnson-Maynard, who has been stalking the giant earthworm for years. "Maybe it's not just tied to the prairie."....
New EPA Standards Would Cut Amount Of Lead in the Air The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday proposed tightening the federal limits for lead in the air, but the proposal fell short of what its own scientists said is required to protect public health. Lead, which is emitted by smelters, mining, aviation fuel and waste incinerators, can enter the bloodstream and affect young children's development and IQ, as well as cause cardiovascular, blood pressure and kidney problems in adults. The United States has not changed its atmospheric lead standards in 30 years, but the Bush administration is under a court order to issue new rules by September. U.S. emissions of lead have dropped from 74,000 tons a year three decades ago to 1,300 tons a year now, largely because leaded gasoline was taken off the market. Since 1990, however, more than 6,000 studies have examined the impact of lead on public health and the environment and have revealed that it has harmful effects at lower concentrations than previously thought. In a conference call with reporters yesterday, EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus C. Peacock announced that the agency is proposing to cut the current standard of 1.5 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air to a range of between 0.10 and 0.30 micrograms per cubic meter....
Wolf advocates barrage gov's office Wyoming is receiving a great deal of scorn from wolf advocates throughout the United States, and even overseas, but state officials said Wednesday that most of the non-local critics don't have their facts straight about the state's wolf management plan. And even though some people in places as far afield as California and Vermont are encouraging travelers and consumers to boycott the Cowboy State -- because they disagree with its "shoot-on-sight" zone for wolves -- it appears that interest in traveling to Wyoming is actually on the rise, one official with the Wyoming tourism office said Wednesday. Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office received more than 800 phone calls Tuesday and Wednesday from members and supporters of Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation organization. The group urged people via mailings and through its Web site to call and ask the governor to get rid of "the shoot-on-sight policy that is now in effect for nearly 90 percent of the state." What Defenders of Wildlife calls "talking points," the governor's office calls a "script." And those answering the phones in the State Capitol heard the wording repeated about 85 times an hour Tuesday, and 25 times an hour Wednesday, according to Cara Eastwood, the governor's press secretary....
Bear Spray, Your Best Defense - Alaska Sportsman The angry bellowing of several coastal brown bears erupted behind a patch of ryegrass that separated me from the salmon stream. Bears gathered there were undoubtedly disputing fishing rights. As I angled across a mudflat to avoid the scuffle, a medium-sized bear emerged from the grass. His whimpering and bawling indicated he’d been a loser in the standoff, his head low as he ambled along. Catching sight of me, he launched into a gallop, growling as the 100 yards separating us rapidly dwindled. I had to restrain myself from running: There was nowhere to go and the bear easily could have run me down. So I squared off with his hurtling hulk, planted my feet and frantically groped for my can of bear spray. To my utter shock, the can was not on my hip. In a split second I realized I’d foolishly put it in my pack to get it out of the way as I hiked through dense brush. The thought had no sooner cleared my mind when a spray of sand shot up. The bear halted, mere feet away, staring at me, head down and growling. This was not going well. Intense bear encounters like this happen many times a year in Alaska: person meets bear, person has no deterrent, bear makes choices for both of them. Fortunately, bears often choose to walk away from such encounters—as did the bear in this case—but not always. Alaska has averaged 4.5 bear attacks a year since 1985, including 24 fatalities and 45 serious injuries. Few of the people involved in these horrific incidents probably imagined they were going to run into a bear, much less be mauled by one. But each did, and in each case things went bad, fast. With two colleagues, Stephen Herrero and Terry DeBruyn, I have been researching bears for most of my career....
Farm Bill Follies First, what do the farmers get? Answer: A lot. Last year, net farm income reached a record level of nearly $89 billion due to high crop prices. Farm household income averaged $84,000 in 2007, according to the Environmental Working Group (the 2006 average for all U.S. households was $66,000). Despite such good times, the federal government showered $5 billion in direct payments on 1.4 million farmers. These direct payments have nothing to do with crop productivity or a safety net in case of low prices—they are basically gifts to farmers just because they are farmers. In fact, farmers with gross incomes up to $2.5 million have been eligible for these payments. President Bush wants to cap that at $200,000 in income, but the House is considering a cap of $500,000, and the Senate voted to cap the payments at $750,000 per year in income. Overall, Congress shaved just 2 percent off of the direct payments of $5 billion per year over the next four years. While this is a barely discernible improvement, one would think record high farm incomes combined with a world food crisis would make this a good time for Congress to scrap farming subsidies altogether. It is true that about two-thirds of farm-bill spending funds nutrition programs such as school lunches and food stamps. Lawmakers added $10 billion to the food stamp program to help lower-income Americans address higher food prices. But why are food prices higher in the first place? Part of the reason is the federal government's subsidies and its mandate to turn food into fuel—which brings us to the legislation's energy policy madness. The new farm bill contains a small gesture in the direction of sanity by reducing bioethanol subsidies from 51 cents per gallon to 45 cents per gallon. This should reduce the price of a bushel of corn by about 3 cents, according to the Des Moines Register. On the other hand, Congress is trying get around the unintended consequences of its biofuels policy by offering $1.01 per gallon subsidy for so-called cellulosic ethanol. Large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol has yet to take off, so the farm bill also disperses $400 million in tax credits in the hope of jumpstarting such production. In addition, the bill extends the tariff on imported ethanol until 2012....
California's farm belt adopts measures to cut air pollution Environmentalists say a new plan to clean up the soot-laden air in California's farm belt would fail to adequately regulate agricultural sources of pollution. Critics of the plan unfurled white prayer flags Wednesday outside the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's meeting in Fresno to illustrate the premature deaths they say are associated with the valley's polluted air. California's farm belt has some of the highest levels of airborne dust, smoke and soot in the country. The district's governing board voted 8-3 in favor of a plan that could keep families from using their fireplaces for up to 35 days each winter and require local employers to make a portion of their workers car pool. The plan is meant to comply with standards set in 1997 under the federal Clean Air Act. More rigorous standards were adopted in 2006. Air quality advocates said the plan should have done more to regulate dairies, wineries and diesel pumps on farms, which are among the many sources of air pollution....
$10,000 bounty put out on cattle killer’s head A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the shooting of nine cows and a week-old calf last week in Skull Valley near Lone Rock was upped to $10,000 Thursday — a sum pledged by the Humane Society of Utah, state and local farm bureaus, the Utah Cattlemen’s Association, and the Tooele County Commission. “The county is serious about finding the shooters,” Tooele County Commissioner Jerry Hurst said. “We are very upset and want to do what we can to bring them to justice. When ranchers lose one cow it’s devastating, but when you lose 10 it’s unthinkable. Those people who are doing this obviously have no regard for animals.” The cows were grazing on Bureau of Land Management property leased by cattle owner Martin Anderson, who said six cows and a calf were found dead at the site. Anderson had to put down the other three cows because they were severely wounded. The animals had bullet wounds in their heads, torsos, shoulders and hips, and many were shot multiple times. Of the nine adult cows that were killed, seven had new calves, which now require bottle feeding....
School Lunch Suppliers Complying After Humane Handling Audit U.S. beef processors implicated in a USDA audit of slaughterhouses in the wake of the Hallmark/Westland recall have remedied the problems that prompted the agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service to issue reprimands, an agency spokeswoman told Meatingplace.com. FSIS spokeswoman Amanda Eamich emphasized this point following an Associated Press article published Wednesday citing information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request for details of a humane-handling audit of 18 processors that supply beef to the National School Lunch Program. Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-Wis.) had requested the special audit after abuses at Chino, Calif.-based Hallmark/Westland made national headlines. Hallmark/Westland was a school lunch program supplier. "We reported back to [Kohl] more than three weeks ago," Eamich said. "Really, this isn't any new development."....
Trent Loos, Rancher-Activist-Advocate For Farmers & Producers If you want to get Trent Loos to sit still for an interview, you’d better be prepared to work around his schedule, which includes hosting radio shows, launching promotional campaigns, creating a regular e-newsletter and speaking at dozens of agricultural meetings and conferences every year. And try not to schedule a conversation during a raging blizzard sweeping over the Loup, Nebraska, area where he farms and ranches – especially not when his goats are delivering kids and a mountain lion roaming the area has already picked off two of his herd. But when he’s not tracking cougars or caring for livestock, Loos puts his passion into a cause that ought to be a priority with all farmers and ranchers, no matter what they’re raising: Communicating to consumers the benefits of our food production system and the safe, abundant, affordable sustenance we all too often take for granted. His radio programming, which encompasses an audience of more than four million on 100-plus stations across the country, includes daily Loos Tales and Rural Route programming, various “Trails & Tales” and a Truth Be Told show. His Loos Tales TV programming, which examines the people, places and policies affecting rural America, airs weeknights at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Central on Dish Network 9411....
Doubts grow over ethanol Sharply rising food prices may force Congress to reconsider the fivefold increase in ethanol production it mandated just four months ago, some lawmakers say. Few members appear willing to call for the outright repeal of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), which requires that 36 billion gallons of ethanol be produced by 2022. Of that, 15 billon gallons would come from corn. But the new concerns represent a significant turn for a policy issue that was embraced by both congressional Democrats and President Bush as a way to boost rural economies and domestic energy security. “We certainly did not anticipate what’s happened, if that was the cause,” said Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “We don’t know how much of the food crisis was caused by it, but nobody expected it to cause much.” Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) added: “I think it’s something we need to look at.”....
Don't rush to blame ethanol, WH says The White House this morning cautioned against rushing to judge ethanol as a root cause of escalating global food prices. "There's been a lot reported, maybe too much attention, to biofuels and maybe not enough to all of the other factors that affect food prices, especially in this country, where it is a tiny slice of increased food prices," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. On Tuesday, President Bush said that "85 percent of the world's food prices are caused by weather, increased demand and energy prices — just the cost of growing product — and that 15 percent has been caused by ethanol, the arrival of ethanol."....
Texas Gov Mulls Seeking Waiver From US Renewable Fuel Rule The Texas governor's office is considering seeking an exemption to a national standard that requires renewable fuels use. Because corn-based ethanol is the most widely available renewable fuel, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office says it fears that use of the fuel is driving up food prices. The Renewable Fuels Standard requires companies that blend ethanol and other additives into gasoline to sell a certain volume of renewable fuels each year until 2022. "Ultimately, food prices are reaching high levels, so we're looking at this as an option for reducing that burden," said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Perry. Texas is the leading producer of beef, she said, so elevated prices of corn for cattle feed place a burden on the state's economy. Ethanol producers have countered that their fuel doesn't drive up beef prices because byproducts of ethanol distillation can be used as cattle feed. But simply exempting Texas from the mandate may not be an easy move. The legal grounds upon which such an appeal would be made are unclear. The mandate is a federal obligation without specific benchmarks for each state, so if Texas seceded from the mandate, the overall quantity of ethanol required might remain unchanged....
Saving 'God's creation' unites scientist, evangelical leader A Nobel laureate scientist and a leader of the evangelical Christian movement walk into a restaurant. It sounds like the setup for a joke, a scenario that is screaming for a punch line that plays off the seemingly endless disagreements between faith and science. But this is a true story, and Dr. Eric Chivian and the Rev. Richard Cizik have come up with a zinger no one could expect. They went to lunch together to agree on something - the need to curb negative human impact on the Earth. And the partnership they formed that afternoon in 2005 has led this odd couple of the environmental movement to be named, today, to Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. "I must admit I approached that meeting with some anxiety," said Chivian (pronounced chih-vee-an), director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, "I'm involved in evolutionary biology. I support stem cell research. I have gay friends who are married. I felt I had positions that would be at odds with his." Cizik (pronounced sigh-zik), vice president for governmental affairs for the 45,000-church National Association of Evangelicals in Washington, D.C,, had similar reservations. But, as they point out, they were not there to discuss their differences. What brought them together is what Chivian calls "a deep, fundamental commitment to life on earth."....
EPA official ousted while fighting Dow The battle over dioxin contamination in this economically stressed region had been raging for years when a top Bush administration official turned up the pressure on Dow Chemical to clean it up. On Thursday, following months of internal bickering over Mary Gade's interactions with Dow, the administration forced her to quit as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Midwest office, based in Chicago. Gade told the Tribune she resigned after two aides to national EPA administrator Stephen Johnson took away her powers as regional administrator and told her to quit or be fired by June 1. The call came as the Tribune was preparing to publish a story about the dioxin issue and Gade's crusade....
Study: Warmer ocean water means less oxygen Low-oxygen zones where sea life is threatened or cannot survive are growing as the oceans are heated by global warming, researchers warn. Oxygen-depleted zones in the central and eastern equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans appear to have expanded over the last 50 years, researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science. Low-oxygen zones in the Gulf of Mexico and other areas also have been studied in recent years, raising concerns about the threat to sea life. Continued expansion of these zones could have dramatic consequences for both sea life and coastal economies, said the team led by Lothar Stramma of the University of Kiel in Germany. The finding was not surprising, Stramma said, because computer climate models had predicted a decline in dissolved oxygen in the oceans under warmer conditions. Warmer water simply cannot absorb as much oxygen as colder water, explained co-author Gregory C. Johnson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle....
Wildlife commission votes 9-0 to allow continued shooting of animals A citizen’s petition to ban the recreational shooting of prairie dogs came to a quick death Thursday at the hands of the Colorado Wildlife Commission. Testimony on the controversial issue raised concerns on one side about cruelty to animals and hunting ethics and equally fervent concerns on the other side about protecting private property rights, game-damage control and introducing youths to hunting. It took more than an hour and was dominated by opponents to the petition. “Shooting is the only way to control” prairie dogs, said Hotchkiss farmer Dave Whittlesey, who said he shoots “20 to 30 a day” on his property with little apparent effect on the prairie dog population. His argument was repeated several times, with some farmers saying they shoot thousands of prairie dogs each year in attempts to alleviate damage to hay fields and other crops. “Shooting is the only species-specific control,” said David Koontz of Hotchkiss. “We kill several thousand a year, and if I had to stop, I’d be out of business in five years.” Veterinarian Dick Steele of Delta said he has euthanized “crippled horses after (they stumbled) into prairie dog holes.” He called prairie dog control a useful, entry-level activity for young hunters....
Court says feds don't have to reveal names The federal government doesn't have to reveal the names of employees involved in a bungled operation to a private watchdog group that doesn't trust official investigations of the incident, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The employees' right to be free of harassment from the news media and the public outweighs any benefit in re-examining an incident that officials have already gone over, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The head of a news media organization criticized the ruling, saying the court took too narrow a view of the government's disclosure obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. "The court assumes the government can do no wrong and paternalistically assumes the government would know how to fix whatever went wrong," said Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, which was not involved in the case. "The public is entitled to information from records to hold the government accountable, particularly in its role as an employer." The case involved a fire in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho that killed two U.S. Forest Service firefighters, Shane Heath and Jeff Allen, in July 2003....
Bush Administration Takes Aim at National Parks Gun Ban The Bush administration on Wednesday announced its intent to shoot down federal rules that prohibit individuals from carrying loaded firearms in U.S. national parks and wildlife refuges. The proposal would permit individuals to carry loaded and concealed weapons if permitted by state laws in the state where the park or refuge is located, a change many current and retired park rangers contend is unnecessary and potentially dangerous. U.S. Interior Department officials said the proposed change would clarify conflicting state and federal restrictions. The 61 units of the National Park Service where hunting is permitted, as well as the public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, follow state laws on firearms. Firearms were first banned in national parks in the 1930s in a bid to curb poaching. "Much has changed in how states administer their firearm laws in that time," U.S. Interior Department Assistant Secretary Lyle Laverty. Forty-eight U.S. states now have laws allowing for legal possession of concealed weapons. The administration believes that management of national parks and wildlife refuges "should defer to those state laws," Laverty said. ....The Bushies are just like the Dems, they pick and choose when to defer to state law. Why don't they defer to state law when they are confiscating livestock?
Tahoe woman to pay $100,000 for felling tree An Incline Village woman who hired a company to chop down trees on national forest land to enhance her view of Lake Tahoe agreed Thursday to pay $100,000 restitution and do 80 hours of community service in a plea deal with federal prosecutors that likely will keep her out of prison. Patricia Marie Vincent, 57, was indicted in January by a federal grand jury in Reno on felony charges of theft of government property and willingly damaging government property. She faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of those original counts if convicted. But in exchange for her guilty plea on Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Rachow agreed to drop the felony charges and charge her with one misdemeanor count of unlawfully cutting trees on U.S. land. That crime carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison, a $100,00 fine and possible restitution. But Rachow said under the plea agreement, she would face a year of probation, 80 hours of community service and pay $100,000 in restitution -- with $35,000 going to the U.S. Forest Service and $65,000 going to the National Forest Foundation....There they go again, diverting money to a private nonprofit. What is with these US Attorneys? They are clearly operating to bypass the Congressional appropriation process. Congress should deduct a like amount from this US Attorney's budget.
Treehuggers Against Trees With wildfires burning, it is useful to turn to the wisdom of the ancients. When the pioneers first entered the great forests of America, they found that the Native Americans had managed the forests for centuries. Their woodlands contained very few big trees—maybe fifty such trees per acre. Apparently the Indians had set regular, low intensity fires which burned away accumulations of undergrowth, deadwood, dying trees and particularly small trees growing between the big trees. The larger trees were unharmed, because of their thick fire-resistant bark. These fires kept the forest healthy by providing a barrier to disease. The pioneers, however, used much more wood in their civilization than the Native Americans. They needed it for housing, for boats and river ships, for railroad sleepers, for carriages, and for town infrastructure. To them, fire was an enemy. Quick growth of new trees was important. Policies were put in place that suppressed all fire. This culminated in the creation of Smokey Bear in 1945. Three years later, his catchphrase was born: "Remember — only you can prevent forest fires." The price was a degradation of the health of American forests. Private logging firms continued to keep forests healthy where they operated, by clearing out the underbrush and deadwood and harvesting trees to clear spaces between other trees. Where loggers did not operate, undergrowth and deadwood began to accumulate. These are dangerous, because small trees, for example, provide ladders for the fire to climb to reach the crown of mature trees, where the fires can take hold instead of being shrugged off by the thick bark below. Meanwhile, more and more land came to be controlled by the federal government....
People abandoning domestic horses in wild herd, BLM says Horse lover Marty Felix can’t imagine anyone delivering a death sentence to a domestic horse by abandoning it in the wild. But that’s what she witnessed recently in the Little Book Cliffs area, northeast of Grand Junction. Felix, a volunteer with the Bureau of Land Management who helps care for the local wild horse herd, said she identified a brown Appaloosa gelding April 11 that didn’t belong to the wild herd. She and other volunteers working in the Main Canyon of Little Book Cliffs caught a glimpse of the man who set the horse free, but the man wasn’t caught. She said while some people may have romantic notions of letting a horse free in the wild to live out the end of its life, it is inhumane and against the law. According to BLM spokeswoman Mel Lloyd, the mid-April incident was not the first time officials were apprised of domestic horses being set free in the Little Book Cliffs area. Last year a domestic horse and a mule were found. Felix said a similar incident occurred in 2003. Lloyd said people caught abandoning horses are subject to state and federal penalties. Domestic horses can be shunned or injured by wild horse herds, resulting in a slow and painful death. Domestic horses cannot adapt to the high-desert climate and can spread disease to wild herds, potentially inducing a catastrophic die-off of wild herds, Lloyd said....
Rare giant worm may wriggle far from home on Palouse The giant Palouse earthworm is still among the Northwest's rarest inhabitants, but two new discoveries suggest the native wigglers might be a bit more abundant than previously thought. A pair of pinkish-white worms from opposite margins of the Columbia River basin appear to be members of the species, reputed to grow up to 3 feet long. In March, researchers digging in a remnant of native prairie near Moscow, Idaho, accidentally minced one of the creatures and collected the bits. The rolling grasslands of the region, called the Palouse, are believed to be the species' historic habitat. But the second worm came from a more surprising location: a forested slope above the Chelan County town of Leavenworth. "If it is the correct species, it's pretty exciting to find it in an area where it hasn't been described before," said University of Idaho soil scientist Jodi Johnson-Maynard, who has been stalking the giant earthworm for years. "Maybe it's not just tied to the prairie."....
New EPA Standards Would Cut Amount Of Lead in the Air The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday proposed tightening the federal limits for lead in the air, but the proposal fell short of what its own scientists said is required to protect public health. Lead, which is emitted by smelters, mining, aviation fuel and waste incinerators, can enter the bloodstream and affect young children's development and IQ, as well as cause cardiovascular, blood pressure and kidney problems in adults. The United States has not changed its atmospheric lead standards in 30 years, but the Bush administration is under a court order to issue new rules by September. U.S. emissions of lead have dropped from 74,000 tons a year three decades ago to 1,300 tons a year now, largely because leaded gasoline was taken off the market. Since 1990, however, more than 6,000 studies have examined the impact of lead on public health and the environment and have revealed that it has harmful effects at lower concentrations than previously thought. In a conference call with reporters yesterday, EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus C. Peacock announced that the agency is proposing to cut the current standard of 1.5 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air to a range of between 0.10 and 0.30 micrograms per cubic meter....
Wolf advocates barrage gov's office Wyoming is receiving a great deal of scorn from wolf advocates throughout the United States, and even overseas, but state officials said Wednesday that most of the non-local critics don't have their facts straight about the state's wolf management plan. And even though some people in places as far afield as California and Vermont are encouraging travelers and consumers to boycott the Cowboy State -- because they disagree with its "shoot-on-sight" zone for wolves -- it appears that interest in traveling to Wyoming is actually on the rise, one official with the Wyoming tourism office said Wednesday. Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office received more than 800 phone calls Tuesday and Wednesday from members and supporters of Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation organization. The group urged people via mailings and through its Web site to call and ask the governor to get rid of "the shoot-on-sight policy that is now in effect for nearly 90 percent of the state." What Defenders of Wildlife calls "talking points," the governor's office calls a "script." And those answering the phones in the State Capitol heard the wording repeated about 85 times an hour Tuesday, and 25 times an hour Wednesday, according to Cara Eastwood, the governor's press secretary....
Bear Spray, Your Best Defense - Alaska Sportsman The angry bellowing of several coastal brown bears erupted behind a patch of ryegrass that separated me from the salmon stream. Bears gathered there were undoubtedly disputing fishing rights. As I angled across a mudflat to avoid the scuffle, a medium-sized bear emerged from the grass. His whimpering and bawling indicated he’d been a loser in the standoff, his head low as he ambled along. Catching sight of me, he launched into a gallop, growling as the 100 yards separating us rapidly dwindled. I had to restrain myself from running: There was nowhere to go and the bear easily could have run me down. So I squared off with his hurtling hulk, planted my feet and frantically groped for my can of bear spray. To my utter shock, the can was not on my hip. In a split second I realized I’d foolishly put it in my pack to get it out of the way as I hiked through dense brush. The thought had no sooner cleared my mind when a spray of sand shot up. The bear halted, mere feet away, staring at me, head down and growling. This was not going well. Intense bear encounters like this happen many times a year in Alaska: person meets bear, person has no deterrent, bear makes choices for both of them. Fortunately, bears often choose to walk away from such encounters—as did the bear in this case—but not always. Alaska has averaged 4.5 bear attacks a year since 1985, including 24 fatalities and 45 serious injuries. Few of the people involved in these horrific incidents probably imagined they were going to run into a bear, much less be mauled by one. But each did, and in each case things went bad, fast. With two colleagues, Stephen Herrero and Terry DeBruyn, I have been researching bears for most of my career....
Farm Bill Follies First, what do the farmers get? Answer: A lot. Last year, net farm income reached a record level of nearly $89 billion due to high crop prices. Farm household income averaged $84,000 in 2007, according to the Environmental Working Group (the 2006 average for all U.S. households was $66,000). Despite such good times, the federal government showered $5 billion in direct payments on 1.4 million farmers. These direct payments have nothing to do with crop productivity or a safety net in case of low prices—they are basically gifts to farmers just because they are farmers. In fact, farmers with gross incomes up to $2.5 million have been eligible for these payments. President Bush wants to cap that at $200,000 in income, but the House is considering a cap of $500,000, and the Senate voted to cap the payments at $750,000 per year in income. Overall, Congress shaved just 2 percent off of the direct payments of $5 billion per year over the next four years. While this is a barely discernible improvement, one would think record high farm incomes combined with a world food crisis would make this a good time for Congress to scrap farming subsidies altogether. It is true that about two-thirds of farm-bill spending funds nutrition programs such as school lunches and food stamps. Lawmakers added $10 billion to the food stamp program to help lower-income Americans address higher food prices. But why are food prices higher in the first place? Part of the reason is the federal government's subsidies and its mandate to turn food into fuel—which brings us to the legislation's energy policy madness. The new farm bill contains a small gesture in the direction of sanity by reducing bioethanol subsidies from 51 cents per gallon to 45 cents per gallon. This should reduce the price of a bushel of corn by about 3 cents, according to the Des Moines Register. On the other hand, Congress is trying get around the unintended consequences of its biofuels policy by offering $1.01 per gallon subsidy for so-called cellulosic ethanol. Large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol has yet to take off, so the farm bill also disperses $400 million in tax credits in the hope of jumpstarting such production. In addition, the bill extends the tariff on imported ethanol until 2012....
California's farm belt adopts measures to cut air pollution Environmentalists say a new plan to clean up the soot-laden air in California's farm belt would fail to adequately regulate agricultural sources of pollution. Critics of the plan unfurled white prayer flags Wednesday outside the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's meeting in Fresno to illustrate the premature deaths they say are associated with the valley's polluted air. California's farm belt has some of the highest levels of airborne dust, smoke and soot in the country. The district's governing board voted 8-3 in favor of a plan that could keep families from using their fireplaces for up to 35 days each winter and require local employers to make a portion of their workers car pool. The plan is meant to comply with standards set in 1997 under the federal Clean Air Act. More rigorous standards were adopted in 2006. Air quality advocates said the plan should have done more to regulate dairies, wineries and diesel pumps on farms, which are among the many sources of air pollution....
$10,000 bounty put out on cattle killer’s head A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the shooting of nine cows and a week-old calf last week in Skull Valley near Lone Rock was upped to $10,000 Thursday — a sum pledged by the Humane Society of Utah, state and local farm bureaus, the Utah Cattlemen’s Association, and the Tooele County Commission. “The county is serious about finding the shooters,” Tooele County Commissioner Jerry Hurst said. “We are very upset and want to do what we can to bring them to justice. When ranchers lose one cow it’s devastating, but when you lose 10 it’s unthinkable. Those people who are doing this obviously have no regard for animals.” The cows were grazing on Bureau of Land Management property leased by cattle owner Martin Anderson, who said six cows and a calf were found dead at the site. Anderson had to put down the other three cows because they were severely wounded. The animals had bullet wounds in their heads, torsos, shoulders and hips, and many were shot multiple times. Of the nine adult cows that were killed, seven had new calves, which now require bottle feeding....
School Lunch Suppliers Complying After Humane Handling Audit U.S. beef processors implicated in a USDA audit of slaughterhouses in the wake of the Hallmark/Westland recall have remedied the problems that prompted the agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service to issue reprimands, an agency spokeswoman told Meatingplace.com. FSIS spokeswoman Amanda Eamich emphasized this point following an Associated Press article published Wednesday citing information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request for details of a humane-handling audit of 18 processors that supply beef to the National School Lunch Program. Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-Wis.) had requested the special audit after abuses at Chino, Calif.-based Hallmark/Westland made national headlines. Hallmark/Westland was a school lunch program supplier. "We reported back to [Kohl] more than three weeks ago," Eamich said. "Really, this isn't any new development."....
Trent Loos, Rancher-Activist-Advocate For Farmers & Producers If you want to get Trent Loos to sit still for an interview, you’d better be prepared to work around his schedule, which includes hosting radio shows, launching promotional campaigns, creating a regular e-newsletter and speaking at dozens of agricultural meetings and conferences every year. And try not to schedule a conversation during a raging blizzard sweeping over the Loup, Nebraska, area where he farms and ranches – especially not when his goats are delivering kids and a mountain lion roaming the area has already picked off two of his herd. But when he’s not tracking cougars or caring for livestock, Loos puts his passion into a cause that ought to be a priority with all farmers and ranchers, no matter what they’re raising: Communicating to consumers the benefits of our food production system and the safe, abundant, affordable sustenance we all too often take for granted. His radio programming, which encompasses an audience of more than four million on 100-plus stations across the country, includes daily Loos Tales and Rural Route programming, various “Trails & Tales” and a Truth Be Told show. His Loos Tales TV programming, which examines the people, places and policies affecting rural America, airs weeknights at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Central on Dish Network 9411....
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