Thursday, May 07, 2009

Appeals court rules against ranchers

A federal appeals court in Denver has ruled that a group of Wyoming ranchers had no right to formal hearings before the U.S. Bureau of Land Management reduced their livestock grazing under federal permits. Ranchers with the Smithsfork Grazing Association had sued the BLM and various government officials. The lawsuit challenged the federal agency's 2005 order to reduce grazing on the 91,000-acre Smithsfork Allotment located north and east of Cokeville, in southwestern Wyoming. A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Tuesday upheld a Wyoming judge's earlier decision that ruled against the ranchers. Karen Budd-Falen, a Cheyenne lawyer, represented the grazing association. The New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association and New Mexico Federal Lands Council entered an appearance in the lawsuit and filed "friend of the court" briefs supporting the Smithsfork Grazing Association's position. Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association, said Tuesday that her group is deeply concerned with the appeals court decision and needs to review it further. "We got involved because it had to do with the ability to administratively appeal decisions for grazing allotment owners," Cowan said. "That's a universal issue, whether you're in Wyoming, New Mexico or what state you're in. "Allotment owners need to have the ability to appeal decisions, and feel like they have fairness as they're working with the agency," Cowan said...AP

Feds to reconsider critical habitat for 2 NM fish

A federal judge has ruled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can reconsider the critical habitat designation of two threatened fish species in New Mexico and Arizona after a probe found political interference likely affected scientists' findings. Senior U.S. District Judge John Conway ruled Tuesday that the agency's original habitat designation for the spikedace and loach minnow would remain in place while federal biologists determine whether the fish need more habitat. Conway said that it would be "least disruptive" to allow the existing designation to remain in effect pending a review. A coalition of counties in the two states and the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association had sued over the original designation, saying the Fish and Wildlife Service overstepped its bounds and failed to adhere to requirements of the Endangered Species Act in setting aside the critical habitat. They argued that the original designation should be vacated while the agency reconsiders the matter. In his ruling, Conway said the original designation was likely "not expansive enough."...AP

Feds say Pika warrants listing, blames global warming

A tiny mammal that can't handle warm weather could become the first animal in the lower 48 states to get Endangered Species Act protection primarily because of climate change. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that listing the American pika may be warranted because of climate change. Federal officials will now launch an in-depth review of the species and submit findings by Feb. 1, 2010. The pika - a furry, big-eared relative of the rabbit - dwells mostly in high, rocky mountain slopes in 10 Western states. Even brief exposure to temperatures of 78 degrees or warmer can be deadly to the animal. As the West warms, scientists say some pikas have tried to move upslope to find cooler refuges but have run out of room. AP

Obama names nominee to oversee national forests

The Obama administration's pick to be the new agriculture undersecretary in charge of the U.S. Forest Service breaks a long-standing tradition of someone with a forest policy background. Homer Lee Wilkes, the Mississippi state conservationist, was named late Tuesday as the nominee for undersecretary of Agriculture for natural resources and environment. He is the first black nominee for the post. Wilkes is a 28-year veteran of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, which focuses on farmland conservation. The undersecretary also oversees the conservation service. Wilkes earned his bachelor's, master's of business administration and doctorate in urban conservation planning degrees from Jackson State University and lives in Madison, Miss., with his wife and three sons. "As far back as anyone cares to recall, the undersecretary position was held by a Forest Service expert," said Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. Stahl said choosing Wilkes was "an indication of the relatively low priority the Obama administration places on the national forests." The front-runner for the job had been a more traditional candidate, Chris Wood, a former senior policy adviser to Clinton administration Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck. But Wood was dropped after vetters learned he had been registered as a lobbyist by Trout Unlimited, the conservation group for which he works as chief operating officer...AP

'We're working out the issues,' House Dems say after Obama climate meeting

President Obama urged House Democrats today to reach consensus on global warming and energy legislation during a closed-door White House meeting. After the meeting, Democrats stressed that Obama stayed away from details and urged lawmakers guarding regional interests to work together. Waxman declined to comment when asked if the markup would start this week, saying only that he remains committed to moving the bill by Memorial Day. The Democrats also confirmed a published report that the White House was interested in linking support for a climate change bill with a separate plan to expand domestic energy production...NYTimes

Quiet Sun May Trigger Global Cooling

Could reduced sunspots be tied to temperatures on Earth? That's what has astrophysicists and meteorologists wondering as the sun enters a prolonged "quiet period," a deviation from the usual 11-year sunspot cycle in which the dark blobs on our star's surface ebb and flow, reports National Geographic News. And there may be a link to global warming — or, in this case, cooling. Current theories link an earlier solar quiet time to the "Little Ice Age," a cold snap that lasted from about 1300 to 1800 in Europe and North America. During such "solar minimums," as they're called, the sun dims a bit, magnetic activity is reduced and solar storms are fewer. No one knows how long each will last until it's over...Fox News

Snowmobile groups go to court over lynx designation

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to follow federal rules when it designated thousands of square miles in the West as critical habitat for the Canada lynx, according to a lawsuit filed this week by two snowmobiling groups. The Wyoming State Snowmobile Association and the Washington State Snowmobile Association filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne. The 24-page suit asks the court to withdraw the critical habitat designation, and also to force the federal agency to complete an extensive study of impacts the designation could have on recreation, wildfire management and other areas. "The designation will impair the ability of the (Wyoming State Snowmobile Association) to maintain existing snowmobile trails and will make creation of new trails largely impossible," the lawsuit says. ..Casper Star-Tribune

Rules to Limit Emissions in the Making of Ethanol

The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed rules to limit emissions of climate-changing gases from the manufacture of ethanol, a step that would probably curtail the expansion of corn ethanol production. But the Environmental Protection Agency also issued a draft rule Tuesday on a “renewable fuels standard,” including provisions on how much carbon dioxide can be released in the production of ethanol and other biofuels. The rule is intended to force the industry to help meet targets set by Congress in 2007 for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from ethanol, even as legislators encourage its production as an alternative to gasoline. The proposed rules for calculating the emissions of biofuel producers do not apply to plants that were under construction by December 2007...NYTimes

Eco-sailors rescued by oil tanker

“An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth [England] on a 5,000-mile carbon-emission free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker,” BBC News reports. The crew’s solar and wind powered vessel capsized three times in stormy weather (68 mph winds). So far, at least, nobody has blamed global warming for the bad weather. The irony of an oil tanker rescuing anti-fossil fuel crusaders was of course not lost on the BBC. The moral of the story should be obvious. Environmentalism is a luxury made possible by the comparative wealth and safety of a civilization powered predominantly by coal, oil, and natural gas...Open Market

Giant Spiders Invade Australian Outback Town

Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy-crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland. Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as "bird-eating spiders" and can grow larger than the palm of a man's hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane. Earlier this week locals spotted an Australian tarantula wandering towards a public garden in the center of town where people often sit for lunch...Fox News

Song Of The Day #036

I had mucho problems with FileFactory this morning, so will have to tell you about Moon Mullican at a later date. I think some of those giant spiders got in my computer. Here's his "I'll Take Your Hat Right Off My Rack."

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

High-Speed Rail Is No Solution

The facts do not bear out several aspects of President Barack Obama's desire to push high-speed rail projects with federal resources ($8 billion in the economic stimulus package, another $5 billion in his 2010 budget) — chiefly, that the rail projects are more efficient and more environmentally friendly than modes of travel now widely in use. Saving energy and reducing pollution are worthy goals, and if high-speed trains could achieve these goals, the president's plan might be a good one. But since they cannot, it isn't. Obama's proposal should really be called "moderate-speed rail." His $13 billion won't fund 200-mile-per-hour bullet trains. Instead, it is mostly about running Amtrak trains a little faster on existing freight lines. Outside of the Boston-Washington corridor, the fastest Amtrak trains have top speeds of about 80 to 90 miles per hour and average speeds of 40 to 50 miles per hour. Obama proposes to boost top speeds to 110 miles per hour in some places, which means average speeds no greater than 70 to 75 miles per hour. This is not an innovation. The Milwaukee Road, Santa Fe and other railroads routinely ran trains at those speeds 70 years ago — and still couldn't compete against cars and airlines. Moderate-speed trains will be diesel powered. They will consume oil and emit toxic and greenhouse gases, just like cars and planes...CATO

Flex-fuel mandates: throwing bad regulation after bad

Rent-seeking–the whoring after market-rigging rules and subsidies–is a true addiction, an appetite that grows with feeding. For the ethanol lobby, it’s not enough that government props up their product with Soviet-style production quota, protective tariffs, a 45-cent-per-gallon blenders tax credit, R&D handouts, and other support. Like the Johnny Rocco character portrayed by Edward G. Robinson in the Bogart and Becall classic Key Largo, the ethanol lobby always wants “more.” And there are always well-meaning politicians happy to oblige. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) have introduced bipartisan legislation (HR 1476, S. 835) requiring each automaker to ensure that at least 50% of the vehicles it manufactures or sells are flex-fuel by 2012 and at least 80% by 2015. A flex-fuel vehicle is one that can run on either regular gasoline or E-85 (a blend containing 85% ethanol), or anything in between. Supporters acknowledge that flex-fuel technology will add about $100 to the purchase price of a new car. But, they claim, this expense will be more than offset by the reduction in fuel costs. That’s an interesting theory. However, according to www.fueleconomy.gov, a Web site jointly administered by DOE and EPA, it costs hundreds of dollars more annually to fill up a flex-fuel vehicle with E-85 than with regular gasoline. No wonder so few people buy flex fuel vehicles!...OpenMarket

Henry Waxman may fast track climate bill

Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman may fast-track his controversial climate change bill, bypassing the political hurdles of the subcommittee. ”I’m still holding firm on my deadline to get a bill out of committee by the end of May and I believe that will probably require us to go right to the full committee and bypass the subcommittee,” Waxman told reporters. Waxman cautioned that "no final decisions" had been made, but he stressed that skipping the subcommittee might be the only way to keep to his deadline. Waxman’s comments came just hours after the Democrats on the committee met with President Barack Obama in the White House. The president urged the committee to find a compromise on climate and energy legislation that’s been stuck in the subcommittee for weeks. Democrats on the committee said the expedited timeline was necessary to pass a bill out of committee by the Memorial Day recess – a deadline set by Waxman and encouraged by the administration, which wants the committee to be ready to move on to health care reform this summer...Politico

Global Warming On The Rocks

Last week Al Gore said the world must act quickly to slow the melting of the world's polar ice packs and glaciers before it reaches a critical rate for global warming. "We have to act and we have to act quickly because we don't want to cross this tipping point," the Nobel peace laureate and former U.S. vice president told a meeting of foreign ministers, experts and scientists from the most affected countries. But it turns out the world acted very quickly indeed, as Germany's Radio Bremen reports: The research aircraft "Polar 5" concluded its Arctic expedition in Canada. During the flight, researchers measured the current ice thickness at the North Pole and in areas that have never before been surveyed. The sea-ice in the surveyed areas is apparently thicker than scientists had suspected. According to a spokesperson for Bremerhaven's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research: Normally, newly formed ice measures some two meters in thickness after two years. In the surveyed area, scientists measured ice thickness up to four meters. At present, this result contradicts the warming of the sea water, according to the scientists. Is it possible that global warming is neither a catastrophe waiting to happen nor a fraud but merely the result of confusion induced by the metric system, asks the Wall Street Journal?...NCPA

Experts mull global ban on commercial chemicals

Experts and officials from some 150 countries started talks on Monday on banning production of nine chemicals considered potentially dangerous but still used in farming and for other commercial purposes. If agreement is reached at the week-long meeting, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the nine will join a list of 12 other so-called persistent organic pollutants, or POPS, long targeted for elimination. "The risks posed by such chemicals are profound, and these toxic substances leave chemical footprints around the globe," said UNEP executive director Achim Steiner, who will be watching over the Geneva gathering. The newly-targeted chemicals include products -- known normally under their scientific names -- that are widely used for pesticides and are also used in the manufacture of flame retardants and similar items...Reuters

What Green Means

An agenda that eviscerates property rights, enlarges the regulatory state, increases taxes and forces egalitarianism isn't an easy sell in a nation with a legacy of liberty and free markets. But some time ago, eco-activists and their allies in Congress understood that they could march the country to the left by small degrees if they disguised socialism as environmentalism. And thus the environmental movement was hijacked. Now, frustrated with their inability to have forced a deeper leftward shift, the environmental activists feel the need to recast the language of the debate. Using polling and focus groups, ecoAmerica, an environmental group that develops marketing and messaging strategies, has forged a list of recommendations. It was obtained by the New York Times, which says it's one of "a number of news organizations" that was accidently e-mailed a "summary of the group's latest findings and recommendations." Rather than talk about "global warming," which is already being replaced by the less-specific "climate change," ecoAmerica suggests that alarmists should discuss "our deteriorating atmosphere." And instead of picking on carbon dioxide per se, it proposes we simply abandon "the dirty fuels of the past." What's clear is eco-activists and their allies will do anything to avoid talking about their real goals, which have less to do with cleaning up the environment than with pulling down capitalism. Every solution they offer to the problems they exaggerate erodes economic freedom, increases regulation or both. Blurring the real meaning of words can't change that...IBD

Klamath Agreement: Part I

J.C. Boyle Dam is one of four hydropower dams along the Klamath River. Starting in Upper Klamath Lake, the river flows over 250 miles through Southern Oregon and Northern California. It is a source of recreation and business for fishermen, water for farmers, and a vital part of the culture for Klamath tribe members. Casey Spinks is a member of the Karuk Tribe, and has lived all 67 years of his life along the Klamath. "About late 70s, early 80s, the fish started to get less and less. I mean, there was still a good number of them. You could go out and catch a lot, but not like the old days, where people go out and catch all the fish they ever wanted, catch them all day long," says Spinks. The Karuk, along with the Hoopa and Yurok Tribes, are working to remove J.C Boyle, Copco 1, Copco 2, and Iron Gate dams from the river to restore the fisheries and help salmon swim upstream to spawn. "The Klamath has several impacts on the fisheries on the river. It blocks over 350 miles of spawning habitat the fish once used," says Karuk Tribe Spokesperson Craig Tucker. The Klamath Tribes have been fishing on the Klamath River for thousands of years. Salmon is the cornerstone of their diet. They also gather plants and wildlife along the banks of the river...KRDV-TV

Klamath Agreement: Part 2

The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement has brought many groups to the table; tribes, farmers and fishermen, who have battled for years over water. However, not everyone that has a stake in the outcome of the KBRA is involved in its development. Some feel that removing the dams will actually do more harm than good. Copco Dams 1 and 2 were the first of four hydropower dams built along the Klamath River. Copco 1 forms Copco Lake in Northern California. Many homeowners living on the lake do not want the dams out. German Diaz and his wife Jeannie built their dream home on Copco Lake. Now the Diaz's are worried about their property value. "We're concerned that there's going to be a decrease in value. Honestly, with the cost of government, I don't see us getting any benefit of tax reduction," says German Diaz. Copco Lake Resident Herman Spannaus' great grandfather settled here in 1856. His family owned land now under Copco Lake. "When people see where we live, they think we've got the best kept secret in the world," says Spannaus. "There's no economy here. It's just going to destroy what little is left of people's ability to make a living," says Siskiyou County Supervisor Marcia Armstrong...KDRV-TV

Klamath Agreement: Part 3

The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, aimed at settling decades of water dispute on Oregon and California's Klamath River, is likely entering its final stages. A final draft resolution is set to be reached among parties involved in the KBRA. That document will be made public by June 30th. A large part of the KBRA hinges on what is being called the hydro-agreement, essentially, the 'dam removal' part of the KBRA. PacifiCorp has signed off on an Agreement In Principle, or AIP, which outlines the framework for dam decommissioning. "We understand the passion that is associated with those down in the Klamath Basin. We have a lot of customers, who, this is all they've ever known, are these dams, and especially in the Klamath, where water distribution is so tricky," says PacifiCorp Spokesman Art Sasse. PacifiCorp owns all four hydropower dams on the Klamath River. While tribal members, farmers and fishermen have been working together on the KBRA, they've also committed to supporting the hydro-agreement, outlined as Part Two of the eight-part KBRA. The hydro-agreement calls for "the removal of the lower four Klamath River dams under conditions that protect and advance the public interest"...KDRV-TV

Salmon Salvation

Can the Pacific Northwest -- indeed the nation -- fulfill Van Bergen's dream of wild salmon recovery? For the first time in decades, the answer may be yes. Many biologists have long been clear about the best way to achieve it: Remove four dams on the Lower Snake River so the fish can reach millions of acres of pristine habitat in central Idaho and northeast Oregon. For nearly 20 years, however, the powerful federal agencies now appearing before Redden -- including the Bonneville Power Administration, which markets the region's hydropower, and the Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers, which run some of the region's 200 major dams -- have strenuously avoided dam removal. They've spent $8 billion on almost every conceivable alternative with little consequent improvement in the fortunes of wild fish. And they've cultivated allies among inland ports, utilities, the barging industry, the vanishing aluminum industry and politicians, including Washington state's senior senator, Democrat Patty Murray. Some of those formidable obstacles to dam removal remain, but there are signs that the balance is tipping. President Barack Obama appears dedicated to science and transparency; a well-respected fisheries scientist is now in charge of a key federal agency; and new Northwestern politicians have signaled their willingness to help solve the salmon crisis. Some eastern Washington farmers and other dam beneficiaries appear willing to contemplate a future without the four Snake dams, and renewables in the region already produce as much electricity as these dams provide. A ban on commercial salmon fishing along the Oregon and California coasts for the second consecutive year will cost fishing communities hundreds of millions of dollars, adding urgency to salmon restoration. Most of all, Judge Redden is determined to make government agencies finally follow the Endangered Species Act...High Country News

Protecting grizzlies could close campgrounds, hunting areas

Protecting grizzly bears across a 4,560-square-mile swath of the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains will require closing hundreds of miles of backcountry roads used by hunters and huckleberry pickers, the Forest Service says. Grizzlies need secure areas to avoid contact with people, according to a new agency report. Despite two-inch claws and a fierce reputation – grizzlies’ Latin name is Ursus actos horribilis, or “bear horrible” – bears are typically the losers during encounters with humans. Since 1982, people have killed 87 grizzlies in two grizzly bear recovery zones in the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak mountains of northeastern Washington, Idaho and Western Montana. Seventy percent of the human-caused deaths occurred near roads. Poaching, or mistaking a grizzly for a black bear, were two frequent reasons grizzlies were shot and killed on Forest Service lands. Self-defense by hunters was also a factor, particularly during elk season. Over the past decade, environmental groups brought a series of lawsuits against the Forest Service, arguing that the agency needed to do more to keep people and bears apart by restricting motorized access to prime habitat areas. The litigation triggered forest plan revisions on the Idaho Panhandle, Kootenai and Lolo national forests...Spokesman Review

Police shoot bobcat that attacked 13-year-old girl and her mother

Prescott Valley police and a state wildlife officer were able to track and kill a potentially rabid bobcat Monday after it attacked two people in Prescott Valley. Officials hope it was the same bobcat that attacked a dog about an hour earlier, especially since it had blood on it before the second attack. It was the latest in a string of odd rabid wild mammal attacks against people in northern Arizona in recent months. "People should really keep their eyes open and be careful if they're hiking outdoors and take precautions to protect themselves, especially if they see a wild animal," Arizona Game and Fish Department Wildlife Manager Scott Poppenberger said. State lab officials said they will test the bobcat Tuesday for rabies, related Zen Mocarski of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. sisters at a rope swing along Lynx Creek near Stoneridge Drive when the bobcat lunged at her, scratching and biting her lower right leg. Her mother Lisa grabbed the full-grown, 40-pound male bobcat by the neck as it rolled over and bit her on both arms. "I started screaming and I threw rocks at its face," said Christina's sister Talisa, who called 911 as the bobcat ran off. Poppenberger and PV police found the bobcat within 10 minutes, and it continued to be abnormally aggressive...Daily Courier

Fox attacks two hikers

Craig Leicht and Paul Janowski were enjoying their regular stroll along the three-mile loop of Prescott National Forest Trails 347 and 341 when a fox took a deadly interest in them. At 6:45 p.m. Thursday, the Prescott neighbors were ending an otherwise routine hike on a trail near Granite Mountain, a mile west of Prescott's municipal boundary and little more than a mile away from their homes, when the male animal attacked them. Thanks to a quick response, Leicht, who moved here from Texas in February, and Janowski fended off and killed what they think was a rabid fox close to the trails' far junction toward the bottom of a ravine. Neither of the men suffered bites or injuries. "I looked ahead and saw something crouching on the trail, and I thought it was a bobcat in a hunched-down, crouching position," Leicht said Friday about the fox encounter. "It was probably about 100 feet ahead or maybe more, so I bent down and picked up a rock just to scare it. By the time I stood up, this thing was about five feet away from me."...Daily Courier

New, Fast-Evolving Rabies Virus Found -- And Spreading

Evolving faster than any other new rabies virus on record, a northern-Arizona rabies strain has mutated to become contagious among skunks and now foxes, experts believe. The strain looks to be spreading fast, commanding attention from disease researchers across the United States (U.S. map). It's not so unusual for rabid animals to attack people on hiking trails and in driveways, or even in a bar—as happened March 27, when an addled bobcat chased pool players around the billiards table at the Chaparral in Cottonwood. Nor is it odd that rabid skunks and foxes are testing positive for a contagious rabies strain commonly associated with big brown bats. What is unusual is that the strain appears to have mutated so that foxes and skunks are now able to pass the virus on to their kin—not just through biting and scratching but through simple socializing, as humans might spread a flu. Usually the secondary species—in this case, a skunk or fox bitten by a bat—is a dead-end host. The infected animal may become disoriented and even die but is usually unable to spread the virus, except through violent attacks...National Geographic

White House Steps Up Support for Biofuels

The White House made its first major statement on ethanol on Tuesday, mustering three Cabinet members to outline a plan to shield corn ethanol producers from the credit crisis, work with them to cut their use of natural gas and coal in ethanol production, and nudge the auto industry toward production of vehicles that can use ethanol at concentrations of up to 85 percent. In pursuing these goals, the Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy, Tom Vilsack and Steven Chu, along with the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, announced during a press conference the formation of a “Biofuels Interagency Working Group,’’ comprised of the three agencies. Through the working group, the federal government announced several goals, including helping to refinance existing ethanol and biodiesel factories whose owners were having trouble obtaining credit, guaranteeing loans for the construction of new biorefineries, and expediting funding to help producers of cellulosic crops...NYTimes

Flu fears prompt 20 countries to ban meat imports

Twenty countries worldwide have banned imports of pork and other meat in response to a flu virus that has infected both people and swine, according to documents from the World Health Organisation. While the new H1N1 strain is not food-borne, fears that it may spread through animal products have prompted restrictions on live pigs, pork, cattle, poultry, livestock, feed and animal semen from countries with reported infections, according to the documents obtained by Reuters on Monday. Most affect products from Mexico and the United States and some block imports from Canada, New Zealand, Spain, France, Israel, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic...Reuters

Editorial from Sec. Vilsack on NAIS

The United States has an incredibly prosperous agricultural industry. Our livestock and poultry are among the healthiest in the world. However, even with all the preventative measures the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) already has in place, animal disease can still strike. A disease event can have far-reaching consequences, impacting more than just farmers with sick animals. A disease event also affects other farmers and the livestock industry through movement and international trade restrictions. Not only do the farmers' communities feel the economic pinch, but so does the entire country. In these times of economic uncertainty, we must do everything in our power to help ensure that any animal disease events that do happen are contained effectively so things can go back to business as usual--as quickly as possible. The best way to do this is through animal disease traceability. While there are costs associated with a traceability system, these costs are far less than the costs of dealing with a major disease outbreak like foot-and-mouth disease without the tools animal health officials need. The U.S. already has a program for animal disease traceability, the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). As the program stands now, around 35 percent of the country's farmers are participating. Much work has been done over the past five years to engage farmers in developing a national system they could support. However, many of the original concerns that were raised-- such as cost, impact on small farmers, privacy/confidentiality and liability--continue to cause debate. In order to provide the level of animal disease traceability we need in the U.S., changes must be made that will increase the level of participation in NAIS. Today, I am asking farmers and stakeholders to engage with USDA in a more productive dialogue about NAIS...

Foreclosure Trouble Spreads to Those Who Bet the Farm

The home-foreclosure crisis, which began in cities and suburbs, has spread to rural America. When the mortgage mess erupted, some economists believed that rural America wouldn't be heavily affected. Farms were prospering. The housing boom largely bypassed small rural towns. And exotic, new mortgages at first were seen as an urban and suburban phenomenon. But rural homeowners, it turns out, were just as susceptible to subprime loans and easy lending as the rest of the country, often refinancing existing mortgages to take out cash or pay off debts. Foreclosure rates remain higher in cities and suburbs than in rural areas, and the change in home values from boom to bust hasn't been as severe. Since the peak, values have dropped 13% in rural areas and 23% in urban areas, according to Moody's Economy.com, while from 2000-2006, home values appreciated 45% in rural areas compared with 84% in urban areas. Still, defaults in rural counties are rising rapidly and setting off concerns that the population in these already sparsely populated towns will decline further...WSJ

Postal Service to Unveil Seabiscuit Stamped Envelope

Walter Mondale, former vice president of the United States and U.S. Ambassador to Japan, and his wife Joan, member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, will lead a special first day of sale ceremony at noon May 11, for the new commemorative U.S. Postal Service (USPS) stamped envelope of legendary racehorse, Seabiscuit. The Mondales will be joined by Winifred Groux, USPS San Francisco District Manager, and a San Francisco Bay Area woman who met and petted Seabiscuit in the winner's circle. Hosted by the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation in cooperation with the USPS, the by-invitation-only ceremony will take place at the horse's historic home and final resting place at Ridgewood Ranch in Willits, Calif. Champs Lil'Biscuit, a Seabiscuit descendant, will be on hand to apply her personal "stamp of approval," and the Mondales will mail a stamped envelope to Pimlico, Md. for it to be showcased at the racetrack's annual Alibi breakfast for Preakness Stakes jockeys, trainers, owners, and media May 14. The stamped envelope commemorates Seabiscuit's memorable win at Pimlico in 1938 against Triple Crown winner War Admiral, whom the stamp also features. The race drew 40,000 spectators and was broadcast by radio to President Franklin Roosevelt and 40 million other listeners across the country...The Horse

Man ticketed for drunken riding

Police in Colorado said a cowboy who was having trouble staying on his horse was ticketed for riding an animal while under the influence of alcohol. Brian Drone of Arvada was cited for the Class B traffic violation, which carries a $25 fine, after the rider and his horse were pulled over in a strip mall parking lot, KUSA-TV, Denver, reported Monday. Arvada Police Sgt. Jeff Monzingo said it was his first case of drunken riding in 15 years on the job. "This is kind of a tricky call," Monzingo said. "Unlike in a DUI where you can tow a car, we had to do something with the horse." Monzingo said a local stable owner who knows Drone offered to take the rider and his horse home. Drone said he and his horse, Cricket, were out for a "joyride" when they were pulled over. UPI

Tyranny is upon us!

Mad Cow

A woman trampled by an angry cow during a nature walk is entitled to sympathy -- but not compensation -- ruled a San Francisco District Court judge. In October of 2007, hiker Jo Dee Schmidt was mauled by a cow or bull -- she really doesn't know which -- owned by rancher John Hoover while she was hiking in the Acalanes Ridge Recreation Area. The bovine assault put Schmidt in the hospital for 11 days and left her with a case of post-traumatic stress disorder. The hiker filed suit against the City of Walnut Creek and Hoover on Dec. 31, 2008 claiming the rancher knew he had dangerous animals grazing on the public right-of-way, and the city ought to have as well. Last month, however, Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton took the bull by the horns and dismissed Schmidt's case...SF Weekly

I suffered from cow-caused PTSD many times. I didn't seek compensation, I sought to keep my Dad or Uncle from finding out what happened.

Song Of The Day #035

Milton Brown (1903-1936) was born in Stephenville, Texas. A tobacco salesman and singer, he joined with Bob Wills and Herman Arnspiger to form a group to become known as The Light Crust Doughboys and whose radio show was sponsored by Burris Mills, the makers of Light Crust Flour. Needing money to take care of his parents, Brown left the group, moved to Fort Worth and formed The Musical Brownies. Many consider this group to be the first western swing band. Brown was also the first to introduce the electric steel guitar to this music. He recorded over 100 sides for Victor and Decca during the period 1934-1936. He died shortly after being in a car wreck in April of 1936. For more about Brown see Cary Ginell's excellent book Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing. The best collection of his music is Complete Recordings of the Father of Western Swing, a 5 CD box set from Texas Rose Records.

The song I've picked today isn't illustrative of his western swing style, but Little Betty Brown is one I damn sure like. It was recorded in 1935. That's followed by a video/photo presentation of his If You Can't Get Five Take Two.



Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Obama Not Seeking Quick Climate Action Under Ozone Treaty

After a brief but lively internal debate, the Obama administration has decided not to seek an immediate phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC’s), a potent group of climate-warming gases, under a treaty aimed at protecting the ozone layer. A number of lawmakers, foreign governments and environmental advocates had urged the administration to offer an amendment to the Montreal Protocol, the international treaty on ozone-depleting substances, calling for the rapid elimination of HFC’s. Some officials at the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency had pushed for such a course, but the White House decided on a more moderate approach to give it negotiating room in upcoming rounds of climate and environmental talks. HFC’s are used as refrigerants in air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers, as well as in some fire-fighting foams. They are sometimes referred to as “super-greenhouse gases” because they are hundreds or even thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide, molecule for molecule, in heating the atmosphere...NYTimes

Lobbyists help Dems draft climate change bill

Democratic lawmakers who spent much of the Bush administration blasting officials for letting energy lobbyists write national policy have turned to a coalition of business and environmental groups to help draft their own sweeping climate bill. And one little-noticed provision of the draft bill would give one of the coalition's co-founders a lucrative exemption on a coal-fired project it is building. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, both of California, were among the Democrats -- then in the minority -- who slammed Vice President Dick Cheney for holding closed-door meetings to draft energy policy early in the Bush administration. But the sweeping climate bill Mr. Waxman and Rep. Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the panel's key environmental subcommittee, introduced at the end of March includes a provision that benefits Duke Energy Corp., a founding member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), whose climate plan released in January the lawmakers have frequently called a "blueprint" for their climate legislation. The exemption would save Duke Energy -- along with other firms now building new coal power plants -- from having to spend millions of dollars outfitting its Cliffside, N.C., power plant currently under construction with "clean coal" technology...Washington Times

Nothing really changes, the model for congressional action is the same. The only difference between the two parties is who gets invited to the drafting table. The outcome is always the same - disastrous

Democrats duel over climate bill

President Barack Obama’s ambitious first-year agenda has some House Democrats fearing a repeat of 1994, when the priorities of a new president collided headfirst with the prerogatives of senior leaders on Capitol Hill and the party lost control of both the House and the Senate. While few leaders would predict a similar collapse at this early stage in his presidency, those fears provided the backdrop for a leadership meeting Thursday in the speaker's Capitol conference room, people present said. In the run-up to the meeting, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) argued in several newspaper interviews that the House should move cautiously on a cap-and-trade bill if it doesn’t look like the Senate will approve it. Van Hollen doesn’t want vulnerable House Democrats — especially the freshmen under his care — to be forced to take difficult votes on the measure if it’s not going to pass anyway. But Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a 34-year veteran of the House who knocked off his longtime predecessor last fall to push an ambitious climate change bill, took umbrage with Van Hollen’s public stance during Thursday’s leadership meeting, people present said...

Ethanol test for Obama on climate change, science

President Barack Obama's commitment to take on climate change and put science over politics is about to be tested as his administration faces a politically sensitive question about the widespread use of ethanol: Does it help or hurt the fight against global warming? The Environmental Protection Agency is close to proposing ethanol standards. But two years ago, when Congress ordered a huge increase in ethanol use, lawmakers also told the agency to show that ethanol would produce less pollution linked to global warming than would gasoline. So how will the EPA define greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol production and use? Given the political clout of farm interests, will the science conflict with the politics? Environmentalists, citing various studies and scientific papers, say the agency must factor in more than just the direct, heat-trapping pollution from ethanol and its production. They also point to "indirect" impacts on global warming from worldwide changes in land use, including climate-threatening deforestation, as land is cleared to plant corn or other ethanol crops. Ethanol manufacturers and agriculture interests contend the fallout from potential land use changes in the future, especially those outside the United States, have not been adequately proven or even quantified, and should not count when the EPA calculates ethanol's climate impact...WPost

Dueling Ads: Gore Group v. Conservatives on Clean-Energy

The battleground for America’s clean-energy future has a face. More importantly, he has a weather-beaten face, a hat, a plaid workshirt, worn jeans, and drinks his coffee in a diner, not some frapuccino bar. Repower America, the clean-energy advocacy group launched to promote Al Gore’s plan to power the U.S. with renewable energy, is aiming its advertising salvoes mainly at the heartland. The new national ad, “Bellyaching,” comes a week after conservative groups started running radio ads in swing states away from the coasts, arguing that looming energy and climate legislation in Washington will be a back-breaker for many families. Especially in the Midwest, which stands to suffer disproportionately from any cap-and-trade plan that raises the cost of coal-fired electricity and gasoline...WSJ

Preventing a 2-degree C temperature rise = almost no fossil fuel use

As nations look ahead to the December global climate meet in Copenhagen, many have been considering goals to slow global warming/climate change. Now, their deliberations may take on more of a sense of urgency: “Less than a quarter of the proven fossil fuel reserves can be burnt and emitted between now and 2050, if global warming is to be limited to 2 degrees C [3.6 degrees F.],” says a study published in the journal Nature yesterday, which was conducted by researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. Also published in Nature was another study by scientists at England’s Oxford University. Most of the climate goals currently being considered by various countries include slowing carbon dioxide emissions by a certain amount during the next five or six years and a larger amount by 2050. But that isn’t good enough, warns Oxford scientists, who say: “Emitting carbon dioxide slower will not prevent dangerous climate change unless it involves phasing out carbon dioxide emissions altogether. …” “To avoid dangerous climate change, we will have to limit the total amount of carbon we inject into the atmosphere, not just the emission rate in any given year,” explains Dr. Myles Allen of the Oxford physics department. “Climate policy needs an exit strategy: as well as reducing carbon emissions now, we need a plan for phasing out net emissions entirely.”...Christian Science Monitor

'Green' lightbulbs poison workers

WHEN British consumers are compelled to buy energy-efficient lightbulbs from 2012, they will save up to 5m tons of carbon dioxide a year from being pumped into the atmosphere. In China, however, a heavy environmental price is being paid for the production of “green” lightbulbs in cost-cutting factories. Large numbers of Chinese workers have been poisoned by mercury, which forms part of the compact fluorescent lightbulbs. A surge in foreign demand, set off by a European Union directive making these bulbs compulsory within three years, has also led to the reopening of mercury mines that have ruined the environment. Doctors, regulators, lawyers and courts in China - which supplies two thirds of the compact fluorescent bulbs sold in Britain - are increasingly alert to the potential impacts on public health of an industry that promotes itself as a friend of the earth but depends on highly toxic mercury. Making the bulbs requires workers to handle mercury in either solid or liquid form because a small amount of the metal is put into each bulb to start the chemical reaction that creates light...London Times

All we do now to save salmon could mean nothing

The Pacific Northwest has spent two decades retooling dams, rebuilding damaged watersheds and restoring stream flows to keep salmon from disappearing. The United States has invested billions in the effort - $350 million in 2004 alone - by far the most money spent on any endangered species. But a new threat is more devastating than the gill nets that sent dozens of salmon runs into extinction. It is more deadly than the hydroelectric turbines that still kill millions of migrating smolts. In fact, it raises doubts about whether salmon will survive in the Northern Pacific at all. Climate change already has made rivers warmer and spring runoff earlier, disrupting the life cycle of the fish that are an icon of the region. No matter what actions the world takes to reduce greenhouse gases, river temperatures in more than half of the lower-elevation watersheds may exceed 70 degrees by 2040 - too hot for salmon...Idaho Statesman

Finding Space for All in Our Crowded Seas

The ocean is getting crowded: Fishermen are competing with offshore wind projects, oil rigs along with sand miners, recreational boaters, liquefied gas tankers and fish farmers. So a growing number of groups -- including policymakers, academics, activists and industry officials -- now say it's time to divvy up space in the sea. "We've got competition for space in the ocean, just like we have competition for space on land," said Andrew Rosenberg, a natural resources and environment professor at the University of New Hampshire who has advised Massachusetts on the issue. "How are you going to manage it? Is it the people with the most power win? Is it whoever got there first? Is it a free-for-all?" To resolve these conflicts, a handful of states -- including Massachusetts, California and Rhode Island -- have begun essentially zoning the ocean, drawing up rules and procedures to determine which activities can take place and where. The federal government is considering adopting a similar approach, though any coherent effort would involve sorting out the role of 20 agencies that administer roughly 140 ocean-related laws...WPost

Justices Limit Liability Over Toxic Spill Cases

The Supreme Court made it harder on Monday for the government to recover the often enormous costs of environmental cleanups from companies with only minor or limited responsibility for toxic spills. The decision tightened the reach of the Superfund law, known formally as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, by limiting both the kinds of companies subject to liability and the situations in which partly culpable companies can be made to bear the entire cost of cleanups. The case arose from environmental contamination from a chemical distribution business in Arvin, Calif. The federal government had sought to hold the Shell Oil Company responsible for selling pesticides to the business, where the chemicals routinely leaked and spilled. The distribution business, Brown & Bryant, later became insolvent and ceased operations...NYTimes

Wolves no longer protected in northern Rockies

Wolves in parts of the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list on Monday, opening them to public hunts in some states for the first time in decades. Federal officials say the population of gray wolves in those areas has recovered and is large enough to survive on its own. The animals were listed as endangered in 1974, after they had been wiped out across the lower 48 states by hunting and government-sponsored poisoning. "We've exceeded our recovery goals for nine consecutive years, and we fully expect those trends will continue," said Seth Willey, regional recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver. With the delisting, state wildlife agencies will have full control over the animals. States such as Idaho and Montana plan to resume hunting the animals this fall, but no hunting has been proposed in the Great Lakes region. Ranchers and livestock groups, particularly in the Rockies, have pushed to strip the endangered status in hopes that hunting will keep the population in check. About 300 wolves in Wyoming will remain on the list because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected the state's plan for a "predator zone" where wolves could be shot on sight. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal and a coalition of livestock and hunting groups have announced a lawsuit against the federal government over the decision. Freudenthal, a Democrat, claimed "political expediency" was behind the rejection of his state's wolf plan...AP

Wolf blamed for livestock attack radio-collared

A young wolf blamed for the first documented attack on livestock since the predators started moving back into Eastern Oregon has been trapped and released with a radio collar, so that wildlife officials can keep track of it. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife trapped the wolf Sunday in the Keating Valley area of Baker County, a few miles from a ranch where a motion-detector camera captured a photo of two wolves with dead lambs at their feet last month. When biologists drove up to the trapped wolf, a second smaller wolf ran off. Department spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said Monday in these early stages of wolves moving back into Oregon, the department will not be killing those that attack livestock, though that option remains if attacks persist. Besides allowing biologists to warn ranchers when the wolf gets near livestock, the radio collar will trigger special alarms that can be set up around herds to scare off the wolf, she said. Though two other wolves with radio collars have crossed into Oregon from Idaho, this is the first time a wolf has been trapped in Oregon and fitted with the tracking device...The Olympian

Song Of The Day #034

In my post starting this series I mentioned that in addition to country and bluegrass, I also liked dixieland jazz, which is the type of music for today's selection. To try to ease some of you die-hard country fans into this music, my first dixieland jazz piece will be San Antonio Rose by The Firehouse Five Plus 2. It's available on their 3 CD Story, or you can download the single here.


Monday, May 04, 2009

Swine flu, the lessons of 1918 and your civil liberties

In 1918, when the Spanish flu raged across the word, frightened officials in many communities responded with tough restrictions on public assembly and even personal interactions. Newspapers were censored, whole towns quarantined and beloved pets slaughtered in a pointless effort to stop the spread of illness. As the words "swine flu" begin to dominate headlines, it's worth remembering that nothing fuels restrictions on liberty like fear, and few things are scarier than mass outbreaks of deadly disease. But restrictions went well beyond censorship. In my state of Arizona, the city of Prescott early on closed theaters, saloons and pool halls, with all public gatherings soon forbidden. Nearby Jerome, a mining town which was especially badly hit, was quarantined by armed guards placed along all the roads leading into town. And in Phoenix, police shot dogs and arrested people who ventured outside without wearing gauze masks. Both measures were ineffective (dogs didn't carry the disease and viruses pass right through gauze), rendering the results unjust for the unmasked and tragic for the city's canine population...Examiner

Conservation Refugees: No natives allowed

LAFAYETTE BUNNELL, AMERICAN explorer and wilderness romantic, first rode into the bucolic stillness of Yosemite on March 21, 1851. He was on a voyage of discovery. Once in the valley he thought he had arrived, if not in heaven, in Eden. "I have seen the power and glory of a supreme being," he wrote in his journal, and "the majesty of his handiwork." Bunnell's attitude toward the people who actually lived in the valley was decidedly more ambiguous. At times he romanticized the lifeways of the Miwoks who had settled there some 4,000 years earlier. But he also said there was no room for them in the West, calling them "yelling demons" and "overgrown vicious children." The whole territory, he wrote, should be "swept of any scattered bands that might infest it." Accompanying him that day was one of the most ferocious militias in western American history, the Mariposa Battalion, commanded by James Savage. A veteran of Indian wars, Savage was there with one blunt aim: to rid Yosemite of its natives. Bunnell, who is remembered today largely for his lyrical prose about nature, stood by and watched while Savage and his men burned acorn caches to starve the Miwok out of the valley. Seventy were physically removed. Twenty-three were later slaughtered at the foot of El Capitan, the towering granite obelisk that has become a totem of California wilderness. Although it took some years to complete the task of creating a fictional wilderness in Yosemite, all the valley's residents were eventually evicted, and in 1914 their land became a national park - no natives welcome. This tactic became known as "the Yosemite model" and was replicated around the country, and eventually around the world. At most of the major parks created in America - Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Mount Rainier, Zion, Glacier, Everglades, and Olympic - thousands of tribal people were expelled from their homes and hunting grounds so the new parks could remain in an undisturbed "state of nature."...Boston Globe

Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus

The problem with global warming, some environmentalists believe, is “global warming.” The term turns people off, fostering images of shaggy-haired liberals, economic sacrifice and complex scientific disputes, according to extensive polling and focus group sessions conducted by ecoAmerica, a nonprofit environmental marketing and messaging firm in Washington. Instead of grim warnings about global warming, the firm advises, talk about “our deteriorating atmosphere.” Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up “moving away from the dirty fuels of the past.” Don’t confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like “cap and cash back” or “pollution reduction refund.” EcoAmerica has been conducting research for the last several years to find new ways to frame environmental issues and so build public support for climate change legislation and other initiatives. A summary of the group’s latest findings and recommendations was accidentally sent by e-mail to a number of news organizations by someone who sat in this week on a briefing intended for government officials and environmental leaders. The answer, Mr. Perkowitz said in his presentation at the briefing, is to reframe the issue using different language. “Energy efficiency” makes people think of shivering in the dark. Instead, it is more effective to speak of “saving money for a more prosperous future.” In fact, the group’s surveys and focus groups found, it is time to drop the term “the environment” and talk about “the air we breathe, the water our children drink.” “Another key finding: remember to speak in TALKING POINTS aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology,” said the e-mail account of the group’s study. Mr. Perkowitz and allies in the environmental movement have been briefing officials in Congress and the administration in the hope of using the findings to change the terms of the debate now under way in Washington...NYTimes

US firms offshore 22,000 green jobs to India

Barack Obama and his green guru, Van Jones, have a green-collar job plan that they believe will solve the two biggest crises of our time: 5 million new green-collar jobs will directly stimulate the economy and will contribute to a more sustainable future in the face of coming climate change. But the 2009 Green Outsourcing Report, an annual industry study conducted by Brown-Wilson Group, found that green technology jobs are being created faster in India than in the US since Obama took office. The report, which was released two weeks ago, surveyed 4,000 businesses around the world, including Xerox, Accenture, IBM Global, CSC, Capgemini, Oracle, HP/ ED S, Aramark, SITEL and Perot. Doug Brown, co-author of the Green Outsourcing Report, told The New Indian Express, “We see the (green job offshoring) trend increasing. There are few suppliers who match credentials and outcomes of Indian firms.” Soaring energy costs and regulatory pressure have put pressure on firms in the US and Europe to embrace green technologies. 84% of companies outsourcing green jobs are doing so because of skyrocketing energy costs, compared to 12% and 18% in the past few years, respectively. Most corporations seeking to outsource a service or product require impeccable green credentials in their suppliers before handing over work, the report says...Raw Story

Black Carbon: Al Gore’s New Crusade

When climate evangelist Al Gore, climate skeptic James Inhofe, and even the National Review agree on something, you know something’s afoot. What’s afoot is soot, also known as “black carbon,” familiar to anybody that owned a diesel-powered car in the 1980s or has ever cleaned a fireplace. Black carbon has suddenly become the new, unaddressed cause behind global warming, melting ice caps, and sundry other ills. The former vice president, fresh off his testimony in Congress last week urging quicker action to limit emissions of carbon dioxide, this week railed against pernicious soot. It’s the reason the air in the Himalayas resembles Los Angeles, he said. For once, Mr. Gore is (slightly) behind the curve. The unlikeliest of bedfellows, Okalahoma Sen. Inhofe and Massachussets Sen. John Kerry, just introduced a bill to prod the Environmental Protection Agency into figuring out what to do about soot. Another bill in the House goes further, calling for “immediate” action to reduce soot emissions...WSJ

Conservationists find eager sellers in new real estate market

Two years ago the 27 acres in Southeast Portland were platted for 65 homes: the Waterleaf subdivision. The patch of cedars might be Southeast Aston Street by now had the housing market not collapsed and the developer decided to sell his still unbuilt parcel to the Trust for Public Land, which conveyed it to the city for a park. It's what Owen Wozniak, who managed the Clatsop Butte project for the trust, calls a "green lining" -- bad times for builders mean more opportunities for conservation. On the fast-growing fringe of Portland and across the nation, property that conservationists have eyed for years is now cheaper, there's less competition from developers and time is plentiful, even if cash is not. "In central California, we're working with an industrial (timber) landowner who wouldn't even talk to us five years ago," said Phillip Wallin, president of Portland-based Western Rivers Conservancy, another group that buys land for conservation. There's precedent for this: During the Great Depression, John D. Rockefeller bought up ranches in Jackson Hole, Wyo., which he later donated to the National Park Service...Oregonian

Ain't this wonderful: Government policy causes a housing/real estate downturn from which the government benefits by being able to acquire more property at cheaper prices.

They put a rattlesnake in your pocket and then ask for a match.

Nevadan vetted as possible BLM nominee

Bob Abbey, a former state director for the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada, is in line to be nominated to head the BLM nationally, Sen. Harry Reid said Thursday. Reid, D-Nev., said he put Abbey's name forward, and he expected the Nevadan to be selected. Other sources confirmed Abbey, who lives in Reno, was being vetted by the Obama administration. A spokeswoman for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said a couple of months could pass before the Obama administration announces a BLM nominee. "At this point no decisions have been made. Secretary Salazar has cast a wide net," Kendra Barkoff said. Abbey was Nevada state director of the BLM from 1997 until he retired from the government in 2005. He had a 25-year career with the federal land agency...Review-Journal

Strickland confirmed for Interior job

Former two-time U.S. Senate candidate Tom Strickland was confirmed Thursday as the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, a job he'll add to his current title as the department's chief of staff. The confirmation represents a breakthrough of sorts for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has had confirmation of his key lieutenants delayed by Senate Republicans. A hold on Strickland's nomination by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., was removed Wednesday, and he was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, 89-2...Denver Post

Jay Jensen named as USDA official over Forest Service

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the appointment of Jay Jensen as USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment (NRE). In this position, Jensen will have responsibility for the U.S. Forest Service (FS), which manages 193 million acres of National Forest System lands and provides assistance to the more than 10 million family-forest landowners in this country. Jay Jensen succeeds Melissa Simpson in the position. The NRE mission area includes the FS and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). NRCS is the federal agency with primary responsibility for working with private landowners in conserving, maintaining and improving their natural resources. Since May 2005, Jensen has been Executive Director of the Council of Western State Foresters/Western Forestry Leadership Coalition. The Coalition is a federal-state governmental partnership. Jensen had served earlier as the Coalition's Government Affairs Director. He has also served as Senior Forestry Advisor for the Western Governors Association, where he was responsible for the biomass energy program. Before that, as lead forestry advisor for the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, Jensen helped develop programs under the 2002 Farm Bill. He has also served as lead policy analyst for the National Association of State Foresters...Chronicle

Bennett set to block another Obama nominee - Hillary Tompkins

Utah Sen. Bob Bennett vowed to block a second high-profile nominee to the Interior Department on Thursday, ratcheting up pressure on the Obama administration to negotiate on oil and gas drilling in the West. The move comes as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visits Utah on Friday to highlight projects paid for by the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. But Bennett, a Republican, said Salazar's actions have caused more economic hardship than help. He is infuriated that Salazar pulled back 77 oil and gas leases in Utah, saying the secretary's actions have some oil executives talking about abandoning rural Utah for less controversial drilling locations. "This is a big, big deal with hundreds of millions of dollars for the state at risk," said Bennett, a member of the Senate energy committee. Under Senate rules, Bennett has the right to "put a hold" on the nomination of Hilary Chandler Tompkins, who is President Barack Obama's pick to be the Interior solicitor or chief legal adviser...Salt Lake Tribune

The wolf and the polar bear

Next week brings two milestones in wildlife protection that serve as a lesson in contrasts—examples of what the environmental movement has been and what it’s becoming. On Monday, gray wolves in Montana, Idaho, and parts of other northern states leave the endangered species list, designated as an officially “recovered” species. Once driven nearly to extinction, the wolves will fall under the watch of state management—which includes hunting—following the Obama Interior Department’s decision in March to sign off on a delisting process put in motion on George W. Bush’s watch. Later in the week, the legal status of polar bears will become clearer when the Obama administration must decide whether to overturn a last-minute Bush move that denied the arctic mammals key protections under the Endangered Species Act. Acknowledging that the polar bear is threatened by a melting habitat, Bush officials still ruled that endangered species protections cannot apply to causes originating outside of their habitat (in other words, the greenhouse gas emissions heating up the polar regions). Obama has until May 9 to overturn the decision; otherwise, it stands...Grist

ESA List Limbo

Being in the top 40 isn't always a good thing. Just outside the list of endangered and threatened species is a roster of potential candidates just shy of making the endangered and threatened lists, which grant federal protection. This week, the conservation group WildEarth Guardians will issue a critical report on the top 40 candidates, arguing that the government must act quickly if these puttering life forms are to have any chance of survival. Environmental activists believe the Obama administration will be more receptive to their requests than the Bush White House, which moved in its waning days to allow Interior Department employees to ignore the evaluations of field scientists when deciding whether to add a species to the list. The previous administration said the rule was a way to cut through bureaucracy, but critics said it cut science out of the picture. Obama's interior secretary, Ken Salazar, killed the change on Tuesday. There are currently 1,009 endangered plants and animals in the United States, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which maintains the lists. There are another 308 species on the threatened list, which means they are likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. And on the less lucky list are 252 candidates for protective classification. Most of the mammals, birds, insects and plants on the current candidate list have sat there for years, without protection, as their numbers dwindle toward extinction...Newsweek

The report is here.

Feds review Wyo. sage grouse plan

The overall sage grouse population is actually on the rise here in Wyoming as part of the bird's cyclical trends, according to local wildlife officials. And the state's "core areas" conservation plan for the bird is hailed by many as a more practical, effective alternative to a listing under the Endangered Species Act. Yet the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees a bulk of sage grouse habitat in the state, has not come forward with its own comprehensive sage grouse conservation plan -- nor is it strictly adhering to the state's conservation plan for the bird. Despite the bird's stronghold here, hot spots of oil and gas development have proven detrimental to some local sage grouse populations. All of these factors fall on the "list" side of the ESA calculation, according to Brian Rutledge, executive director and vice president of Audubon Wyoming...Casper Star-Tribune

Gov. Palin on Energy Money: No, Thanks

Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has decided to accept all federal stimulus money her state is eligible for, with one exception: the nearly $29 million for the state energy office. Ms. Palin has rejected the state energy office funds out of concern that it would obligate Alaska to enact more stringent building codes. “Alaska’s vast expanse and differing conditions are not conducive to a federally mandated, universal energy code,” she said in a statement. “Mandating universal energy building codes throughout our state is not in Alaskans’ common or individual interests,” she added. The stimulus funds for states’ energy offices come with other efficiency-oriented stipulations. To be eligible for the money, governors must offer assurances that their state will not only strengthen its building code, but also that they will make energy efficiency and renewable energy a priority when spending the funds...NYTimes

New Ariz. parks chief once vandalized park property

The woman chosen to be the next director of Arizona's state parks once carved her name into a historic park property in southeastern Arizona. She also helped recover thousands of acres of burned parkland in San Diego County and launched an innovative system for making campground reservations online. The Arizona State Parks Board's unanimous selection of Renée Bahl to take over the parks system next month has polarized state leaders. Bahl, a former assistant state parks director, oversaw historic preservation at the San Rafael Ranch. San Rafael, which is not open to the public, is a 3,500-acre preserve purchased by the parks board in 1999. It sits at the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River and is home to a variety of wildlife and endangered plants. In 2001, another employee caught her etching her first name and the year into the wall of a historic adobe barn. Bahl was disciplined but remained in her job until 2002, when she left to become director of parks and recreation for San Diego County, Calif. State Rep. Daniel Patterson, D-Tucson, criticized the selection. "She was in a position overseeing the state's historic preservation office," said Patterson, the southwest director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, who wrote about the issue on his blog. "It's hard for me to understand that someone in that position could be so clueless that they would think it would be OK to vandalize a state historic property."...AZCENTRAL

Sawmill layoffs topple a way of life

...That simple workplace pleasure has come to an abrupt end for Tidwell and 149 other men and women, who lost their jobs at the Sierra Pacific Industries sawmill in Quincy. Monday's official closure of the small-log mill in Quincy, 146 miles northeast of Sacramento, is part of a wave of mill closures, layoffs and shift reductions in California announced by the timber giant since Jan. 1. While the Anderson-based company will completely shutter its mills in Camino and Sonora this summer – costing another 310 jobs – the sawmill in the remote mountain town of Quincy will only partially close. Effective Monday, the section of the mill that cuts small-diameter logs will cease operations. Who and what is to blame for the cascading job losses is a contentious debate involving the timber industry, environmentalists, the federal government and the people of Plumas County. This much is undisputed: The loss of 150 jobs from the county's largest private employer is hitting an isolated mountain region that already has one of the state's highest unemployment rates, at 20.1 percent. Suddenly, the work force of about 320 – now cut nearly in half – must face the harsh realities of an economic downturn and a seniority system that decides who will stay, and who will go. "If you wanted a good job, you worked in the mill. Everybody who was anybody worked there," said Tidwell, who grew up in Loyalton, 59 miles from Quincy in Sierra County...Sacramento Bee

Study: Grazing threatens wildlife habitat in West

Conservationists say livestock grazing poses a threat to a wide variety of fish and other wildlife across more than three-fourths of their dwindling habitats on federal land in the West. Using satellite mapping and federal records, WildEarth Guardians began a study last year matching wildlife habitat and U.S. grazing allotments across more than 260 million acres of federal land in the West. It includes practically all of the remaining habitat of the Greater sage grouse, a hen-sized game bird the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering adding to the list of threatened or endangered species in 11 Western states from California to Wyoming. The environmental group wants the bird protected. "The results confirm - in graphic form - previous research finding that incessant, ubiquitous public lands grazing has contributed to the decline of native wildlife," concludes the report entitled "Western Wildlife Under Hoof." The report is scheduled to be released Friday...AP

Santa Fe conservationists bid for right to graze on Valles Caldera

An environmental group has placed a $50,000 bid for the right to graze three to five cows on the 89,000-acre Valles Caldera National Preserve this summer. But WildEarth Guardians is not getting into the ranching business. The group is trying to preserve the area's ecosystem. The amount of the bid is thousands of dollars more per cow than the normal fees ranchers pay to graze on public lands. Bryan Bird, who manages conservation programs for WildEarth Guardians, says running only three to five cows on the preserve would guarantee little damage to its ecosystem. Bird declined to say where the money came from for the bid. WildEarth Guardians receives private grants and donations and government grants for specific projects. AP

State: Cougar killings come down to liability

The debate over what should happen when cougars encounter humans is heating up again. After a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish warden darted a female cougar in the backyard of an Eldorado home April 20 and later euthanized it, angry callers and letter writers lambasted the agency for "trigger happy" tactics. Albuquerque resident Charlotte Salazar thinks just the opposite. Her 5-year-old son was attacked by a cougar last May during a family hike on a popular Sandia Mountain trail. Salazar believes wildlife officers aren't doing enough to control the cougar population. The debate over what should happen when cougars encounter humans has changed little in 30 years, said Marty Frentzel, public information officer with the state Department of Game and Fish. For the state, the decision over euthanizing a captured cougar comes down to one word: liability. Game and Fish Department officials worry about getting sued if someone is attacked by a cougar that was captured and released elsewhere. That fear isn't unwarranted. In a 1996 incident in Arizona, a black bear that had been captured, tagged and released into a mountain range near Tucson badly mauled a teenage girl in her tent. The girl's family sued the Arizona Game and Fish Department, claiming the agency shouldn't have released a bear when it knew the animal had previously shown no fear of humans. The state settled the case out of court for $2.5 million...Santa Fe New Mexican

Farm groups seek stake in House climate bill

As House Democrats work behind closed doors to shore up support on a major energy and climate bill, agriculture groups are pleading for major changes to make it more palatable in farm states. Representatives from two major farm groups told the House Small Business Committee yesterday that the bill should include a bigger role for the Agriculture Department and more offsets for farmers. A system to cap carbon emissions presents both an opportunity and potential pitfall for farmers. Fred Yoder of the National Corn Growers Association said carbon caps would likely cause increased input costs for farmers. Fertilizer prices -- which track the cost of oil and natural gas and have seen major increases over the past year -- could go up even more under a climate bill, he said. "Our costs are going to go up even if agriculture remains an uncapped entity -- we will be profoundly impacted by everyone else's carbon," Yoder said. "Really what we are looking for is an offset to bring back some of those extra costs." The potential boon for farmers in climate legislation would be if they could get payments for their conservation efforts to trap greenhouse gas emissions. Farm groups are calling on Congress to give agriculture a significant portion of offsets in the bill...NYTimes

Montana Bill to Encourage Investment in Horse Processing Becomes Law

Legislation to allow investor-owned horse slaughterhouses in Montana and limit opportunities for legal action against them became law on Friday, after Gov. Brian Schweitzer neither signed nor vetoed the measure.Friday was the deadline for Schweitzer to act and, with no action by him, House Bill 418 automatically became law. The bill includes some protection against court injunctions that would stop or delay slaughterhouse construction. The measure sponsored by Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, aims to limit the kind of legal challenges that forced the last U.S. slaughterhouses, which were in Illinois and Texas, to close in 2007. During the 2009 legislative session, which ended Tuesday, Schweitzer rejected the limit on legal action. He said it would strip people of appeal rights important in environmental protection. The Legislature then rejected the changes Schweitzer wanted. Butcher said during the session that the governor's amendments would make the bill "an empty shell because nobody's going to invest five to six million in a business in Montana if they're going to be harassed."...AP

Thoroughbreds May Be as Fast as They'll Ever Be

Given the large sums of money spent on breeding champion racehorses and the potential health side effects, is it worth it? Are the race times getting faster thanks to these selective genetic performance filters? The answer is no, according to Mark Denny, professor of biology at Stanford University. In a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Denny analyzed the race time records for the three U.S. Triple Crown races; the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. The plateau for similar times for the Kentucky Derby began in 1949, while the Preakness and the Belmont set their plateaus in 1971 and 1973, respectively, Denny found. "Evidence from the Triple Crown races suggests that the process of selective breeding of thoroughbreds (as practiced in the U.S.) is incapable of producing a substantially faster horse," Denny writes. "Despite the efforts of the breeders, speeds are not increasing, and current attempts to breed faster horses may instead be producing horses that are more fragile."...Fox News

Song Of The Day #033

Marvin Karlton Percy was born in 1925 in Wichita, Kansas. He was 25% Cherokee and took Rainwater as his stage name - it was his mother's maiden name. His big break came with an appearance on The Arthur Godfrey Show, which led to regular appearances on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee and a recording contract with MGM. His 1957 recording of Gonna Find Me A Bluebird , which he co-wrote, was his first gold record. He added three more gold records in 1959. The best collection of his music is The Bear Family 4 CD Marvin Rainwater - Classic Recordings. There are other, more economical but less complete albums available.

Today's selection is his 1955 recording of I Gotta Go Get My Baby.


Sunday, May 03, 2009

BLM Website Statement regarding Grazing Regulations

Following an adverse decision in Western Watersheds Project v. Kraayenbrink, the Bureau of Land Management is presently applying its livestock grazing regulations that were in effect immediately prior to July 12, 2006, with certain exceptions noted below. The grazing regulations in effect immediately prior to July 12, 2006, are found at 43 CFR Part 4100 (2005). Applying these regulations will not have any practical effect on the Bureau’s current management of livestock grazing on BLM-managed public lands.

On February 28, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho issued a Judgment in the Kraayenbrink decision, enjoining in all respects the BLM grazing regulations published at 71 FR 39402 (July 12, 2006). On June 15, 2007, the BLM issued an instruction memorandum (IM 2007-137) to its field offices advising them to not implement any changes of the grazing regulations promulgated on July 12, 2006. A revised instruction memorandum was published on April 20, 2009 (IM 2009-109).

The BLM has elected to apply the grazing regulations found in the 2005 edition of the Code of Federal Regulations at 43 CFR part 4100 (2005 grazing regulations) to grazing matters administered by the BLM on lands outside of Alaska, with the exception of regulations addressing conservation use, which have not been in use since they were held to be invalid in Public Lands Council v. Babbitt. Any future changes to the 2005 grazing regulations will be pursued in a new rulemaking proceeding. A copy of the regulations at 43 CFR part 4100 (2005) may be viewed on the Internet at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_05/43cfr4100_05.html.
For further information, contact Robert Bolton, (202) 452-7792.

National Animal Identification System; Public Meetings

May 1, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 83)]
[Notices]
[Page 20277-20278]


National Animal Identification System; Public Meetings

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

SUMMARY: This is a notice to inform the public of seven upcoming meetings to discuss stakeholder concerns related to the implementation of the National Animal Identification System. The meetings are being organized by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

DATES: The meetings will be held on May 14, 18, 20, 21, 22, and 27, and June 1, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be held in
Harrisburg, PA (May 14),
Pasco, WA (May 18),
Austin, TX (May 20),
Birmingham, AL (May 21),
Louisville, KY (May 22),
Storrs, CT (May 27),
and Greeley, CO (June 1).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Adam Grow, Director, Surveillance and Identification Programs, National Center for Animal Health Programs, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 200, Riverdale, MD 20737; 301-734-3752.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

As part of its ongoing efforts to safeguard animal health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiated implementation of a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in 2004. The NAIS is a cooperative State-Federal-industry program administered by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The purpose of the NAIS is to provide a streamlined information system that will help producers and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events in the United States.
The ultimate long-term goal of the NAIS is to provide State and Federal officials with the capability to identify all animals and premises that have had direct contact with a disease of concern within 48 hours after discovery. Meeting that goal requires a comprehensive animal-disease traceability infrastructure. An NAIS User Guide and a Business Plan, both available on our Web site at http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/animal_id/index.shtml, provide detailed information about our plans for implementing the system.
Despite concerted efforts, APHIS has not been able to fully implement the NAIS. Many of the same issues that producers originally had with the system, such as the cost and impact on small farmers, privacy and confidentiality, and liability, continue to cause concern. In order to provide individuals and organizations an opportunity to discuss their concerns regarding the NAIS and offer potential solutions, we plan to hold several public meetings and to solicit comments via our Web site. Our goal is to gather feedback and input from a wide range of stakeholders to assist us in making an informed decision regarding both the future of the NAIS and the objectives and direction for animal identification and traceability. We would particularly welcome feedback on the following topics:
Cost. What are your concerns about the cost of the NAIS? What steps would you suggest APHIS use to address cost?
Impact on small farmers. What are your concerns about the effect of the NAIS on small farmers? What approaches would you suggest APHIS take to address the potential impact on small farmers? Privacy and confidentiality. What are your concerns
regarding how the NAIS will affect your operation's privacy and/or the confidentiality of your operation? What steps or tactics would you suggest APHIS use to address privacy and confidentiality issues?
Liability. What are your concerns about your operation's liability under the NAIS? What would you suggest APHIS consider to address liability concerns?
Premises registration. Do you have any suggestions on how to make premises registration, or the identification of farm or ranch locations, easier for stakeholders? How should we address your concerns regarding premises registration?
Animal identification. Do you have any suggestions on how to make animal identification practical and useful to stakeholders while simultaneously meeting the needs of animal health officials who must conduct disease tracebacks?
Animal tracing. Do you have any suggestions on how to make the animal tracing component practical, in particular the reporting of animal movements to other premises, while meeting the needs of animal health officials who must conduct disease tracebacks?
The meeting schedule is tentative as of the date of this publication. Please check our Web site at http://www.usda.gov/nais/feedback for the most up-to-date meeting information. The list of discussion topics is also available on the Web site. On-site registration will begin at 8 a.m. on the day of each meeting. All persons attending must register prior to the meetings. Although preregistration is not required, participants are asked to preregister by sending APHIS an e-mail at NAISSessions@aphis.usda.gov or calling 301-734-0799.
In the subject line of the e-mail, indicate your name (or organization name) and the location of the meeting you plan to attend. If you wish to present public comments during one of the meetings, please include your name (or organization name) and address in the body of the message. Members of the public who are not able to attend may also submit and view comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2009-0027. Additional information regarding the meetings may be obtained from the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Done in Washington, DC, this 27th day of April 2009. Kevin Shea, Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. [FR Doc. E9-10037 Filed 4-30-09; 8:45 am]

Cowgirl Sass and Savvy

Spending the day with Murphy

Julie Carter

Sometimes the day just starts out in such a way, you know it's going to be uphill all the way.

Doesn't matter if you are a cowboy or a white collar worker in a high rise, there are days when you face a challenge at every turn of the clock.

Jess was always ready for a rodeo. However, when it was time for the fine details of leaving the ranch, he began doubling up on a few things so he could take the day off.

Up early and excited at the prospect of some fun, he was first greeted by a flat tire on the horse trailer. That fixed, he went to feed the roping horses.

The skunk that sometimes visited the barn had apparently had a run in with his cowdog and the encounter provided some exotic atmosphere in the tack room. Determined, he decided a saddle that had a little smell to it wouldn't stop him from catching his calf at the rodeo with the fastest time.

Of the "take pride in your ride" philosophy, Jess brushed his trusty rope horse Flint, braided the part of his mane that could get caught in the rope and deemed him ready for the public.

Horse loaded, Jess headed out through the pasture, down the 11 miles of dirt that would take him to the highway leading to town.

When he got to the first pasture, the cattle that seemed to live in the middle of the road full time were, as expected, in their usual places.

He looked them over as they slowly gave way to the truck and trailer and let him pass.

Then he spotted the cow with the tight bag. Her calf was standing as close as she would let him with his nose full of porcupine quills.

That was a Murphy thing, and while not life threatening yet, had to be taken care of pronto.

Flint had long since become too important for pasture work. In his mind, and usually in Jess', he was the fast-time rodeo-roping star. He was noticeably quite offended when he was unloaded and the cinches pulled up. After all, he was washed, polished, full of high-octane feed and had a rodeo to tend to.

Nevertheless, they gave chase, caught the calf, pulled the porcupine quills with the needle-nose pliers, and were rewarded with a generous dose of the calf's bodily fluids for their trouble.

Even though Jess was wearing his lucky fast-time shirt, there was always the emergency shirt. His contestant number would cover that faded spot from hanging in the truck. Changed, ready to roll again, off they went.

Once at the rodeo grounds, Jess was greeted by friends who obviously had suspicious motives.

They told stories of how he used to ride broncs instead of just roping. After a while, he was inspired and found himself on a saddle bronc.

The next thing he knew he was dusting off his britches and heard the announcer telling the crowd: "Put your hands together and give this cowboy a good round of applause. That's all he's going to take home today."

Since his original intent was to rope, in spite of his minor difficulties throughout the day, he was still determined to do so.

He and Flint backed in the box, drew the fastest-running calf in rodeo history but were able to make a credible run. Jess chalked it up to the mental stress of Murphy's presence throughout the morning.

Those same "friends" that encouraged the bronc ride were feeling slightly responsible for previous transgressions, so they invited Jess to go to the rodeo dance with them.

With thoughts of pretty girls and buckle-polishing music, Jess pondered the possibilities. Maybe even Murphy would find a pretty girl and leave him the heck alone.

Julie can be reached for comment at www.julie-carter.com