Tuesday, February 07, 2017

House Passes Repeal of BLM Planning 2.0 Rule

Today, the House passed H.J. Res. 44 (Rep. Liz Cheney, WY-at large), a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to overturn the BLM Planning 2.0 Rule. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) gave the following remarks during floor debate:

“Planning 2.0 dilutes local and state voices and centralizes power here in Washington DC. […] This puts special interest groups above local elected officials, which is not the way it was ever intended,” Chairman Bishop said. “Counties all across the West expect their BLM officials to be responsive to their needs and manage their land with the best interest of the community in mind. Their livelihoods depend on it.”

 “Over time, we’ve established a set of commonsense regulations that ensure local governments and local communities are prioritized in federal land use planning. The BLM’s proposed rule strips local governments of their ability to coordinate in local land use planning with the agency on behalf of the people. This ultimately weakens input from surrounding communities and local citizens who are directly impacted by the management of federal lands. The BLM Planning Rule clearly prioritizes special interests over the protections of citizens, which is why today, I voted to overturn the BLM regulation to preserve the important role that local governments play in federal land use decisions and protect the citizens of New Mexico," stated Rep. Steve Pearce.

Over 60 groups support overturning the BLM Planning 2.0 Rule, including the New Mexico Association of Counties (NMAC), the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association, the New Mexico Coalition of Conservative Districts, and the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau.

Southwest border is ‘gaping wound’ in homeland security, DHS chief says

The lack of a border wall is “a gaping wound” in the country’s defenses, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly said Tuesday, saying Border Patrol officials in the ground in Texas and Arizona can point to exact spots where fencing is needed right now. Mr. Kelly also promised a marked jump in morale at his department, saying tens of thousands of immigration agents had been despondent after having their hands tied by the Obama administration, and are now eager to get back to enforcing the law — the job they were hired to do. The retired Marine general, testifying to the House Homeland Security Committee, swatted aside complaints from lawmakers upset over the rhetoric of President Trump, saying he’s talked with agents on the ground who say there is a need for fencing. “The people that work the border will tell you that physical barriers, backed up by men and women, is what we need to secure the southwest border,” Mr. Kelly said. The new secretary also promised a new approach to quick deportations of criminals, and defended Mr. Trump’s new office designed to keep tabs on illegal immigrants held in local prisons and jails...more


So how much sense does it make to have a national monument along our border, which places restrictions and limitations on the Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies? Let's hope Trump listens to Steve Pearce and fixes this. 

Scientists Get Down And Dirty With DNA To Track Wild Pigs

These animals will eat anything, from rows of corn to sea turtle eggs, to baby deer and goats. "People don't realize that wild pigs are voracious predators," says Jack Mayer, a biologist with the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, S.C., who has studied wild pigs for 40 years. "They will run down and kill and eat lamb, sheep, goats, calves, domestic chickens." And more. "Pigs will eat humans," says Mayer. "It's been documented in combat, remote area homicide situations and plane crashes. Pigs will go in and feed on human carcasses." They are "opportunistic omnivores," Mayer says. "If they get can their mouth around it and it has a calorie in it, they will eat it."...But the pigs may have met their match. Kelly Williams, a biological science technician at the National Wildlife Research Center, is going high-tech on these hogs. She and her colleagues at the National Wildlife Research Center have recently developed a way to keep tabs on the animals without ever even laying eyes on them. All she needs is a scoop of water. "So, for example, right now in New Mexico the forest service is out collecting water for me," says Williams. "All they have to do is carry around a little Nalgene bottle, scoop up a water sample and ship it back to me." At the end, she gets an answer – "Yes, pigs were here," or "No, they weren't." She then passes the results along to people like Brian Archuleta, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in New Mexico. Archuleta has a goal for the new year: wild pig annihilation. "Total elimination by the last day of September of this year," he says of his goal. Archuleta is not joking...more

Bumblebees Are Dying Out Because They’re Too Fat to Mate

Before the 1990s, the rusty-patched bumblebee could be found in 28 states throughout the Midwest and the New England region. Then, it vanished mysteriously. Within a few decades, 90 percent of rusty-patched bumblebees were gone in an ecological poof . Even more troubling, several other closely related bumblebee species also died-off. Now it’s almost unheard of to see the rusty-patched bumblebee. Last month it became the first bee in the continental U.S. listed under the Endangered Species Act. Pesticides, climate change, habitat destruction, stress from competition, or a combination of these might all be to blame. Most recently, however, entomologist have been investigating a parasitic fungus found on the bumblebee called Nosema bombi, and the more they learn the more they’ve become concerned. Before the 1990s, the rusty-patched bumblebee could be found in 28 states throughout the Midwest and the New England region. Then, it vanished mysteriously. Within a few decades, 90 percent of rusty-patched bumblebees were gone in an ecological poof . Even more troubling, several other closely related bumblebee species also died-off. Now it’s almost unheard of to see the rusty-patched bumblebee. A queen bumblebee can birth males—called drones—on her own. But only after a male fertilizes her eggs can she produce female bees. This is crucial, because drones are essentially layabouts. It’s the women, the worker bees, that do all the foraging to sustain a colony. So inside a mating cage, Strange places a queen bumblebee, and on the other side a drone infected with Nosema bombi. Already this fungus has spreads down the bee’s throat, has rooted itself in the gut where the spores “proliferate like crazy,” according to Strange. There the fungus swells in the soft tissue between the bumblebee’s organs until the drone grows so plump it can’t bend its abdomen to mate with the queen. Without fertilization, the queen can only birth more males. Without females, future colonies starve...more

PLF takes first move in effort to delist the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse

Late last week, PLF gave notice to the pertinent Colorado and Wyoming wildlife agencies of our intent, on behalf of a broad coalition of property rights and sound science advocates, to petition the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse from the Endangered Species Act. The mouse’s tenure on the list of protected wildlife has been contentious, figuring prominently in the larger science and policy debate about taxonomy and wildlife regulation. Our petition will contend that the Preble’s mouse—which the Service listed as a threatened subspecies in 1998—is in fact no different from two other plentiful, non-endangered jumping mouse populations that dwell north of the Canadian border. The petition’s argument for delisting focuses on the faulty subspecies designation on which the mouse’s listing is based. It relies on a 2013 study of the Preble’s mouse, produced by biologists at the University of New Mexico and published in the journal Molecular Ecology. The study constitutes the most comprehensive analysis of North American jumping mouse populations in history. Its conclusion—that the Preble’s mouse is actually a relatively common animal...more

Outdoor Retailer show may leave Salt Lake City, seeks bids from other cities

Organizers of the Outdoor Retailer show are soliciting proposals for a possible new location for the massive, twice-yearly conventions held for two decades in Salt Lake City. The call for bids follows outcry from some industry leaders who say the show should leave Utah in protest of state public lands policies, particularly its vocal opposition to the newly anointed Bears Ears National Monument. The shows, which organizers say bring at least 45,000 visitors and $40 million annually to the state's economy, may still remain in Utah's capital, they said Monday. But multiple groups associated with the convention stressed the need for choosing a venue whose policies support the outdoor industry's "culture" and "values." "We've heard member discontent as well as comments from Utah's [political] delegations and efforts on public-land policy that are out of alignment with what our industry stands for," said Amy Roberts, executive director of the Outdoor Industry Association, which has close ties to the show and encouraged the show's owner, Emerald Expositions, to seek a range of potential host cities...more

170 Conservation Groups Urge Senate to Reject Zinke for Interior Secretary

One hundred seventy conservation groups today urged the U.S. Senate to reject Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) as the next interior secretary. Senators will vote in the coming weeks on whether to place Zinke in charge of the nation’s more than 1,500 endangered species, as well as more than 500 million acres of public lands and minerals leasing for oil, gas and coal across the country and in our oceans. Today’s letter notes that Zinke earned just a 3 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters during his two years in Congress. At his Jan. 17 nomination hearing, he offered no indication that he would manage the Department of the Interior differently from what his congressional voting record indicates: that he consistently put special interests ahead of the nation’s wildlife, natural heritage and climate. “Zinke’s voting record qualifies him to be an exterminator, not the chief protector of America’s endangered animals and beautiful public lands,” said KierĂ¡n Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, one group that signed the letter. “Anyone who cares about public lands, protecting wildlife and halting the climate crisis should understand that Zinke — and Trump’s corrupt brand of politics — will take us in exactly the wrong direction.”...press release

How world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data

The Mail on Sunday today reveals astonishing evidence that the organisation that is the world’s leading source of climate data rushed to publish a landmark paper that exaggerated global warming and was timed to influence the historic Paris Agreement on climate change. A high-level whistleblower has told this newspaper that America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) breached its own rules on scientific integrity when it published the sensational but flawed report, aimed at making the maximum possible impact on world leaders including Barack Obama and David Cameron at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015. The report claimed that the ‘pause’ or ‘slowdown’ in global warming in the period since 1998 – revealed by UN scientists in 2013 – never existed, and that world temperatures had been rising faster than scientists expected. Launched by NOAA with a public relations fanfare, it was splashed across the world’s media, and cited repeatedly by politicians and policy makers. But the whistleblower, Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has shown The Mail on Sunday irrefutable evidence that the paper was based on misleading, ‘unverified’ data. It was never subjected to NOAA’s rigorous internal evaluation process – which Dr Bates devised. His vehement objections to the publication of the faulty data were overridden by his NOAA superiors in what he describes as a ‘blatant attempt to intensify the impact’ of what became known as the Pausebuster paper...more

Reyes and Noel moving closer to taking posts with the Trump administration?

The worm is turning for two Utahns who could have important jobs in the Donald Trump Administration – Attorney General Sean Reyes and state Rep. Mike Noel. Last week Reyes flew off in a private plane to points unknown (Washington, D.C.?) and Noel went to Denver for a meeting of Mountain States Legal Foundation – who supports Noel’s appointment to director of the Bureau of Land Management. Noel recently told UtahPolicy that he believes he has a “good chance” of being appointed BLM director. If that happens, and as director Noel is given his reins by Trump and incoming Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke, there could be big changes in Utah, where the BLM controls thousands of acres of land. Noel is actually a retiree of the BLM, where he worked for 20 years; he knows the agency intimately and says one of his first actions would be to eliminate the bureau’s law enforcement personnel and armed officers. The Foundation, made up of public land users, like ranchers, miners and oil producers, takes on a variety of legal challengers – and back’s Noel’s appointment, he said. The group has produced some public lands leaders in the past, including one former head of the BLM and the Interior Department. “They asked me to come to speak to them, and I did,” said Noel. The BLM director’s appointment won’t be made until Zinke is officially approved by the Senate, which should happen this week, Noel added. Zinke could come to Utah within several weeks, as he has promised various Utah officials that the Beehive State will be one of his first visits...more

Three Malheur Refuge defendants plead guilty to trespassing

Three of the remaining seven defendants charged in the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge took plea deals Monday rather than go to trial next week. Sean and Sandra Anderson, a married couple from Riggins, Idaho, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing in exchange for other charges being dismissed. Dylan Anderson of Provo, Utah, took the same step, and all three were sentenced to a year on probation. A fourth defendant was scheduled to change his plea Monday, but the hearing was canceled...more

Jury selection goes smoothly in opening day of first Bundy conspiracy trial

Jury selection moved quickly Monday on the first day of three trials related to the armed Cliven Bundy Bunkerville ranch standoff in April 2014. Six "low-level" defendants face a variety of charges in a trial that may last from six to 10 weeks. The six are Richard Lovelien, Todd Engel, Gregory Burleson, Eric Parker, O. Scott Drexler and Steven Stewart. About 10 protesters showed up on the steps of the Lloyd George Federal Courthouse on Las Vegas Boulevard, but were vastly outnumbered by an estimated 100 local and federal law enforcement officers providing security over the entire block surrounding the courthouse. The first jury pool of 250 was trimmed to 56 who entered Courtroom 7C on Monday morning. By mid-afternoon, 25 potential jurors remained as prosecutors and the defendants' lawyers spent about four hours questioning potential jurors. Most of 32 potential jurors who were excused were released on hardship issues, but a handful were rejected because of their perceived viewpoints on social media, how much they already know about the case, their views on law enforcement, gun issues and viewpoints on where they receive their news and how biased it might be. As she adjourned the opening day, presiding Judge Gloria Navarro said that if Tuesday's second day of jury selection goes as smoothly as the first, that opening arguments might be moved up from a planned Thursday start to possibly Wednesday. A second jury pool will be interviewed starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday. The court hopes to find 42 jurors qualified to serve before it is trimmed by more detailed questioning before opening arguments...more

GOP chair says report vindicates probe into climate study

The chairman of the House Science Committee is hailing a new report in a British newspaper as vindication of his probe into a major federal climate study. In a weekend report from the Daily Mail, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researcher outlined concerns he has about the data underpinning a major 2015 federal study refuting a potential pause in the rate of warming around the globe. Dr. John Bates told the Daily Mail that the study — called the “Karl study,” after its lead author — was rushed out so as to have an impact on international climate negotiations. He also questioned thjustify the probe he has launched into the study. e quality of the data used to reach the conclusions in the report. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the House Science Committee chairman who was butted heads with NOAA and other federal scientists over climate issues, said Bates’s statements “Now that Dr. Bates has confirmed that there were heated disagreements within NOAA about the quality and transparency of the data before publication, we know why NOAA fought transparency and oversight at every turn,” he said in a statement...more

Crowd Cow: Beef from a local ranch to your doorstep

Of course you can buy beef at any grocery store. But if you want to buy excellent quality beef from local ranchers in small quantities, that’s not so easy to do. That’s where Seattle start-up Crowd Cow comes in. “Crowd Cow is a way to get beef from a small local ranch delivered straight to your door,” said Crowd Cow co-founder Ethan Lowry. “So you get all of the convenience of ordering online, but you get the quality of knowing exactly where your meat is coming from” “We work with western Washington ranches and source grass fed and grass finished beef and Wagyu,” he said. “Normally, the way you’d get that is you’d have to go to the ranch and you’d arrange to buy a side of beef, 250 pounds of beef. With Crowd Cow you can say, ‘Hey, I want to get a few steaks. I want some ground beef.'” Lowry is a start-up-starting junkie who also co-created the online restaurant guide Urbanspoon. The interesting thing about his latest venture is that you go in on a steer with a bunch of strangers. When a cow goes up online, people claim different cuts and only when every piece of meat is spoken for will you get your delivery. When the cow is claimed, an image of a cow will literally tip on the website. Lowry says it usually takes 2-3 days to tip a cow. “Not only do you get to have the quantity and the cuts you were looking for, but it also finds a home for the more exotic cuts,” Lowry said...more

Monday, February 06, 2017

BLM misconduct probe may derail Bundy Ranch standoff trial

An investigation accusing a federal agent of misconduct and ethics violations could derail one of the most high-profile land-use trials in modern Western history. Jury selection is scheduled to start in a Las Vegas federal courtroom Monday for a series of trials in which 17 cattle ranchers and self-styled militia members face charges for their roles in the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff against Bureau of Land Management officials. But a Jan. 30 report by the Department of Interior's Office of the Inspector General appears to raise serious questions about the BLM special agent in charge of operations during the standoff, who is expected to be a key witness for the government in the case...Lawyers representing Bundy Ranch defendants say the report offers enough details to positively identify the agent as Dan Love, the BLM special agent in charge of Utah and Nevada between 2012 and 2015. Already, they are filing motions to confirm it. A defense lawyer said Thursday they are asking a federal judge to force the government to reveal the name of the agent in the inspector general's report. If it is Love, they will ask for charges to be dismissed against the Bundy Ranch defendants before the trials begin. "I'm sure it is him," Las Vegas attorney Bret Whipple said Thursday. "If it is Dan Love, first of all we will file a motion to dismiss. ... He is the primary figure in the government's case. He put together the plan. He negotiated with (the Bundys)." Whipple represents ranch owner and Bundy family patriarch Cliven Bundy, 70, whose years-long feud with the federal government over cattle grazing rights on federal land culminated in the 2014 standoff. Whipple said the report paints a picture of an agent with a personal agenda and no regard for the rule of law. He said his client long has maintained that Love dangerously orchestrated events during the Bundy standoff to "enhance and enrich" his personal profile and "to make a name for himself."...more

See my comments from earlier today here.

The report says Love stated he "owns" the head of law enforcement. Just exactly what does that mean? Is it because he's the key witness? Or does he have some other info on the Bundy case or the Gold Butte National Monument the BLM doesn't want made public? 

How might this affect the Bundy case?

The inspector general's report could damage the credibility of the government's case if Love is identified as the agent, said Sara Gordon, associate professor of law at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "It’s in an ethics report. I think everything is up for grabs — misuse of the vehicles, using intimidation," Gordon said. "This stuff, it suggests that he’s willing to cheat and lie for his job." She said defense attorneys involved in the Bundy Ranch trials might not be able to show juries the inspector general's report but could question Love about specific incidents raised in it.  “Anytime a witness is on the stand, you can cross-examine them and ... try to impeach him," she said. "They can ask him about things that (could) show that he’s dishonest.” Gordon said any damage defense lawyers could inflict upon Love's credibility would not affect the credibility of other witnesses testifying for the prosecution.


Report - BLM agent in ethics probe threatened retaliation: 'Grenades will go off'

The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General investigated an unnamed Bureau of Land Management supervisory agent in Salt Lake City for more than a year on ethics complaints, with the independent panel concluding that breaches had occurred. The agent, which KSL has confirmed is Dan Love through a source familiar with the investigation, is accused of using his position to secure preferential treatment for his family during the 2015 Burning Man event in Nevada, including using federal law enforcement officers as personal escorts for their safety, using his BLM vehicle to transport his girlfriend and allowing her to share overnight BLM lodging with him. Although unnamed in the inspector general's report, Love — who was the top cop for Utah and Nevada before being promoted to a national position — was linked to many of the requests associated with the luxury compound, according to emails obtained in an investigative news story cited in the report...more 

He certainly wanted that girlfriend to be well fed and comfortable. As a refresher, I posted the following in May of last year:

 A new position requested by Love?  LOL!

You have to read down to the very end of the article to get a kernel of truth:

Sheriffs, county commissioners and Utah members of Congress said Love lacked the gravitas to handle the delicate politics of public land management in the rural West. Allies said Love deserves credit for helping deter illegal looting and trading of artifacts from public lands and for ensuring nobody was injured or killed during the Bunkerville, Nev., standoff with Bundy. "The biggest problem with Dan is nobody trusted him," said Garfield County, Utah, Sheriff Danny Perkins. "It sounds to me that they gave him a better job than he had." Perkins added, "I think BLM has a lot of fence mending whether Dan is there or not. It looks like the ball's in their court."

Remember the request for VIP facilities at Burning Man?  The request included "trailers, flush toilets, washers and dryers and vanity mirrors. Also included was a 24-hour, full-service kitchen with a menu of "10-ounce steaks, 18-ounce pork ribs, poultry, ham, fish, vegetables, potatoes, bread, salad bar with five toppings and three dressings and desserts." And those desserts?  Specifically they had to include "assorted ice cream flavors, Popsicles and ice cream sandwiches, as well as cakes, cookies, pies, cobblers, puddings and pastries." See here and here

That was Dan Love.

And the overreaching, bungled fiasco with Cliven Bundy?  That was also Dan Love.

This is from May 11

One former government official familiar with the issue said that Utah's congressional delegation wants Love relocated from his post and that BLM leadership appears amenable to making that happen. "It's unfortunate that Dan has become something of a political pawn," said the official, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation. "There are clearly elements in the agency who would prefer he simply fade away, in part to appease Hill critics." Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) in March introduced H.R. 4751, a bill to eliminate BLM and Forest Service law enforcement and transfer policing powers on federal lands to local sheriffs. Chaffetz said his constituents want to see a "little more Andy Griffith and a little less Rambo" from BLM law enforcement officers. He's not a fan of Love. "There's one common denominator where things have gone wrong: It's Dan Love," Chaffetz said in an interview. "The Department of Interior knows how to solve this problem; thus far, they've decided not to do that." A Chaffetz spokeswoman declined to elaborate on what that solution is. Sheriffs in Utah don't like Love, either. They see him as heavy-handed and dismissive of local authority.

He was an embarrassment to the BLM and the Congressional delegation wanted him out.  So what did the BLM do? They promoted him up and out.

This is another example proving one of the DuBois Laws of Government.

Whereas in the private sector - cream rises to the top,
In the government sector - shit floats to the top. 


And now we have this new report, which is available here

UPDATE 

  For more information and an important update go here.

4 Of 7 Refuge Occupiers Set To Appear In Second Trial Will Plead Guilty

Four of the seven defendants in the second Malheur Refuge trial are scheduled to plead guilty to federal charges. The defendants are scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 14. New federal court filings show Dylan Anderson, Sean Anderson, Sandy Anderson and Darryl Thorn indicate they plan to change their pleas at hearings in U.S. District Court next week. Prosecutors have charged the defendants with felonies, including conspiring to prevent federal employees from doing their job at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, as well as carrying a firearm in a federal facility. Those are the same felony charges leaders of the occupation faced, and were acquitted of, last year. In this second trial, prosecutors also added misdemeanor charges, such as trespassing and destruction of property. But a person familiar with the case tells OPB the four defendants are expected to plead guilty to trespassing, a misdemeanor charge. All other charges, including the felonies, will be dropped. If the four plead guilty that will leave just three defendants at this month trial: Jason Patrick, Duane Ehmer, and Jake Ryan...more

Push to turn over federal lands to the states may be losing steam

By Becky Kramer

A Utah congressman’s abrupt reversal on a proposal to sell 3.3 million acres of public land across the West is significant, and may be part of a shift in the Republican Party’s thinking on federal land ownership, conservation groups say. U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz tweeted Wednesday evening that he was withdrawing the legislation, following outcries from hunters, anglers and other public lands advocates. “…groups I support and care about fear it sends the wrong message,” Chaffetz wrote in the tweet, adding that he was a “proud gun-owner, hunter and love our public lands.” “This is the first time I can recall that anyone floated something out there and then backed down,” said Jonathan Oppenheimer, the Idaho Conservation League’s government relations director. “Maybe the message is getting through to some of these politicians that it’s a deeply unpopular idea. There’s simply not a groundswell of support for these lands being sold or turned over to states.” About 60 percent of Idaho is owned by the federal government. And for some rural residents, the idea of a state takeover of national forests and grazing lands has enduring appeal. Local governments often say states would be better land managers, more attuned to nearby residents’ concerns and more receptive to logging, grazing and other activities that could help increase the tax base in struggling rural communities. In 2013, the Idaho Legislature passed a resolution demanding that the federal government “immediately transfer title to all public lands” within Idaho to the state government. An interim committee was formed to identify a process for management and transfer of the lands. When state Attorney General Lawrence Wasden pointed out legal problems with the approach, committee members hired the chief legal counsel from the Bush administration’s Interior Department for a second opinion. But Idaho Gov. Butch Otter isn’t among the supporters. He often cites the 2015 fire season as an example of how difficult it would be for the state to pay for management of Idaho’s 33 million acres of federal land. Wildfires that year burned 740,000 acres in Idaho – a land mass larger than Rhode Island. Firefighting costs topped $300 million. The federal government picked up 70 percent of cost, with the state shouldering the rest..more


First, these are two separate issues. The Chaffetz bill referred to here would simply have BLM sell, to the highest bidder, lands already identified for disposal in existing BLM land use plans. A sale, to the highest bidder. The transfer of some of these lands to the states would require new legislation and no highest bidders. The lands would transfer from one public entity to another public entity. And second, the opposition to such a transfer by the President and the Sec. of Interior nominee has much more to do with any "lost steam" than does the withdrawal of the Chaffetz bill.

The Hidden Agendas of Sustainability


As President Trump downgrades the importance and relevance of Obama era climate change and anti-fossil fuel policies, many environmentalists are directing attention to “sustainable development.”

Like “dangerous manmade climate change,” sustainability reflects poor understanding of basic energy, economic, resource extraction and manufacturing principles – and a tendency to emphasize tautologies and theoretical models as an alternative to readily observable evidence in the Real World. It also involves well-intended but ill-informed people being led by ill-intended but well-informed activists who use the concept to gain greater government control over people’s lives, livelihoods and living standards.

The most common definition is that we may meet the needs of current generations only to the extent that doing so will not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainability thus reflects the assertion that we are rapidly depleting finite resources, and must reduce current needs and wants so as to save raw materials for future generations.

At first blush, it sounds logical and even ethical. But it requires impossible clairvoyance.

In 1887, when the Hearthstone House became the world’s first home lit via hydroelectric power, no one did or could foresee that electricity would dominate, enhance and safeguard our lives in the myriad ways it does today. Decades later, no one anticipated pure silica fiber optic cables replacing copper wires.

No one predicted tiny cellular phones with superb digital cameras and more computing power than a 1990 desktop computer or 3-D printing or thousands of wind turbines across our fruited plains – or cadmium, rare earth metals and other raw materials suddenly required to manufacture these technological wonders.

Mankind advanced at a snail’s pace for thousands of years. As the modern fossil-fuel industrial era found its footing, progress picked up at an increasingly breathtaking pace. Today, change is exponential. As we moved from flint to copper, to bronze, iron, steel and beyond, we didn’t do so because mankind had exhausted Earth’s supplies of flint, copper, tin and so on. We did it because we innovated – invented something better, more efficient or practical. Each advance required different raw materials.

Who today can foresee what technologies future generations will have 25, 50 or 200 years from now? What raw materials they will need? How we are supposed to ensure that those families meet their needs?

Why then would we even think of empowering government to regulate today’s activities today based on the wholly unpredictable technologies, lifestyles, needs, and resource demands of distant generations? Why would we ignore or compromise the needs of current generations, to meet those totally unpredictable future needs – including the needs of today’s most impoverished, energy-deprived, malnourished people, who desperately want to improve their lives?


OK, but what will we do when we exhaust our resources? Ain't gonna happen says Driessen: 



Moreover, we are not going to run out of resources anytime soon. A 1-kilometer fiber optic cable made from 45 pounds of silica (Earth’s most abundant element) carries thousands of times more information than an equally long RG-6 cable made from 3,600 pounds of copper, reducing demand for copper.

In 1947, the world’s proven oil reserves totaled 47 billion barrels. Over the next 70 years, we consumed hundreds of billions of barrels – and yet, says the Institute for Energy Research, in 2016 we still had at least 2,800 billion barrels of oil reserves, including oil sands and other unconventional deposits, like those made available through fracking. Constantly improving technologies now let us find and produce oil and natural gas from deposits that we could not even detect, much less tap into, just a couple decades ago.

 Do you think there might be a political agenda here? Definitely says Driessen:



That brings us to the political arena, where the terminology is circular, infinitely elastic and malleable, the perfect tool for activists. Whatever they support is sustainable; whatever they oppose is unsustainable; and whatever mantra or protective measure they propose gives them more power and control.




First of 3 Nevada Bundy trials to begin Monday

A federal jury in Nevada is about to be picked to decide whether a tense standoff pitting armed ranchers and rangers against federal agents over a herd of cattle in a dry river bed amounted to a peaceful expression of free speech and weapon rights, or an insurrection against the U.S. government. Trial begins Monday in Las Vegas for six men — the first of a trio of proceedings for 17 defendants that will later include Nevada cattleman Cliven Bundy, four of his adult sons and seven other men. Each is facing the equivalent of the rest of his life in prison for the confrontation nearly three years ago. The courtroom showdown is the latest battle over Western federal land policy dating to the Sagebrush Rebellion in Nevada more than 40 years ago. A jury in Oregon in October acquitted seven people, including two Bundy brothers, of federal conspiracy and weapon charges in an occupation of a federal wildlife refuge. “They’re not the Bundys,” said Todd Leventhal, attorney for defendant Orville Scott Drexler, one of the six whose case begins Monday. “But realistically, this is a Bundy case. The outcome of this trial affects the other two.” Although they’ve been characterized as the least culpable “followers and gunmen” among the 19 men arrested a year ago, stakes are high for Drexler, Todd Engel, Eric Parker and Steven Stewart, all of Idaho, Gregory Burleson of Phoenix and Richard Lovelein of Oklahoma. Two other defendants previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and are expected to be sentenced in coming months to up to six years in prison. They are not expected to testify. If convicted of all 10 charges, including conspiracy, firearm offenses and assault on a federal officer, each of the six could face up to 101 years in prison...more

Cattle Industry 'Very Concerned' by Trump Pledge on NAFTA

The largest U.S. cattle trade group said it’s “very concerned” about President Donald Trump’s pledge to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which calls into question whether the industry will continue to enjoy its current level of market access in Mexico and Canada. A shakeup of NAFTA now would come as U.S. beef output is forecast to rise to a six-year high. More supplies mean the industry must continue to export or face a chronic oversupply. "Americans are not going to eat more beef at the same price,” said Kent Bacus, director of international trade and market access at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “If there’s a surplus, we have to move that product to other countries, and to sustain the expansion, we need to expand export markets.” U.S. beef exports rose 78 percent by volume since 1993, the year before NAFTA was enacted, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. As of 2015, Mexico was the largest foreign buyer of American beef and Canada was No. 4, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. NAFTA “has been a very lucrative opportunity because of strong demand in Mexico and Canada,” Bacus said in an interview on Wednesday at the group’s conference in Nashville. Those kinds of hungry export markets are badly needed. U.S. cattle inventory expanded in 2016 for a third straight year, the longest stretch in a decade. Frozen-beef stockpiles stood at a record at the end of last year...more

Activists cry foul after USDA removes online database that included animal abuse

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) shut down an online database on Friday that included information about animals mistreated, injured and killed, reported CNN. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) cited privacy concerns in removing the documents, but one animal welfare activist said he believes the department is caving to pressure from groups that didn't like the information being so easily accessible. "APHIS, during the past year, has conducted a comprehensive review of the information it posts on its website for the general public to view," the announcement reads. "As a result of the comprehensive review, APHIS has implemented actions to remove certain personal information from documents it posts on APHIS' website involving the Horse Protection Act and the Animal Welfare Act." The move has resulted in widespread criticism, with organisations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) calling the "abrupt" removal of the information shameful...more

Sunday, February 05, 2017

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Don’t try this at home

 by Julie Carter

If you know a cowboy, you then know doing stupid things, dangerous stunts and “hold my beer, watch this” events are the norm, not the exception. An informal poll revealed a never-ending stream of stories ranging from “when I was a kid…” to “last night my buddy and I …”

These two cowboys live off the grid, caring for cattle on a remote ranch where world news reaches them almost never and current events in this volatile world have absolutely no effect on the day-to-day operations. It’s winter so in between feeding cows and breaking ice on drinkers and ponds, these two make a little extra jingle for their pockets by hunting varmints for their pelts.

It had been a slow night and they were headed back to the house about midnight and out in the middle of nowhere they saw a set of vehicle headlights they were sure had no business being there. The rational was that there should be no other hunters out there but they knew an occasional poacher could show up. There was always a little fun in chasing them down.

The pickup they were in had just had a “makeover” with a new flatbed on the back, so wasn’t recognizable by anyone that ordinarily could have. They drove up on the invader and realized it was the game warden, who promptly turned on his “cop” lights indicating he wanted them to stop. He thought he’d caught some poachers.

The story goes, one cowboy was just plain ornery and the other one denied egging him on, but the driver floored the fuel pedal and blew past the warden leaving him in a cloud of diesel smoke. The warden had to turn his truck around before he could pursue them and the chase was on. About a mile down the road the cowboys pulled over and turned on their lights so their pursuer wouldn’t run into them in the dark.

As the warden pulled up, one of the cowboys jumped out and threw his hands behind his head. He faced the flatbed, leaning over in the “I’m busted” position. As he did, he began loudly singing, “Bad boys, bad boys what you gonna do when they come for you.”

The warden knew he’d been had. Recognizing his prey as the cowboys that lived there, he gave them a cussword-filled greeting and suggested they needed to be working days and sleeping nights instead of messing with the law in the dark hours. His good sense of humor kept the boys from getting put in jail, or worse yet, shot as fugitives. It never occurred to those cowboys how badly this could have ended.

The cowboy electrician

The young ranch couple got a new-to-them used clothes dryer. Turned out the plug on the cord was not going to match the more modern receptacle in the wall. The cowboy had visions of his beer money going out the window to buy a new cord for the dryer.

Necessity is the mother of invention or sometimes the incentive for bad ideas. So, with a hacksaw and horseshoe rasp in hand he commenced to making that pesky L-shaped prong into a straight one. It took a couple beers and some smoothing out with the finish side of his rasp, but he proudly figured he’d one-upped the hardware man.

“It must not have been square when I plugged it in. Made a sound a lot like 7018 welding rod,” he said. A loud pop and the lights went out. He tuned on it a little more with his rasp, got the breaker reset and plugged it in again. This time it worked.

The electric stove in that same house had an oven that didn’t work. The ranch owner kept promising to get it fixed, but it hadn’t happened yet. Thanksgiving was looming and while drinking a little of the beer he bought with the money he saved by fixing the dryer, he experienced a repeat of beer-induced brilliance. Simultaneously his wife reminded him of the minor setbacks with the dryer and suggested he leave it alone instead of tempting fate and burning the house down. 

Typical of the species, telling him he can’t was a “watch me Alice” moment. Sure enough, he made all the necessary wiring, plugged it in and killed all the lights yet again. Repeated tries saw some more light flashing but ultimately the oven was working somewhat. “Sure did cook those biscuits quick, but we did have biscuits,” he declared.

He even had some thoughts that he might have missed his career calling and somewhere there was an opening for a cowboy electrician. It was mentioned that “opening” might possibly be a grave.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com

Our Earthly Walk

 I’ll Drop You Off in brief
Our Earthly Walk
Facing Death with Life
By Stephen L. Wilmeth

            It was day 36 in A 40 day devotional for Cowboys when I started this week’s visit with you.
            If you haven’t entered the 40 day walk with Kris Wilson, call Gary at Big Bend Saddlery in Alpine and ask him to send you a copy of the book. The title sets the stage for a Godly talk to rangeland sinners. The contents chronicle young Dr. Wilson’s battle with the dreaded C disease. Even from afar, many of us knew about his tragic death ending a courageous fight last September. His earthly visit didn’t end in story book fashion, but, rest assured, his commitment to our Savior did.
            He has touched me. He will touch you, too, if you take the 40 day walk with him. As the Working Ranch Cowboys Foundation eulogy noted, “Though Kris had many amazing accomplishments, the most important was the legacy he leaves behind for others.”
             I’ll Drop You Off
            Betty Blue and I talked about the issue at her grandson’s wedding about the same time as Kris’ death. It was the reality we experienced with our family growing up at Cliff. There were exceptions, but men were mostly absent from any displayed daily walk or devotion to our Lord. There were never prayers at meal time nor were there many examples making sure families was seated in pews at the churches scattered across the valley.
            There are more masculine influences today and that is good, but the drivers of spiritual governance of our lives then was largely women. If we were in church or Sunday school, they were the forces that made sure we were dressed and on time.
            For that, our lasting appreciation must be offered.
            The absence of men of the cow culture in those roles was a key point made by Kris. His message was simple. If you are ever going to be a real and complete cowboy, you can get there only by submitting your entire being to our all giving, living God. It is the singular task that only the most courageous seem to accomplish.
            In cowboy vernacular, let’s define “I’ll drop you off”.
            What comes immediately to mind was the day we were gathering the Double Bar V Brush Pasture and Ramon had pulled up to give instructions and “drop the first rider off” for his assigned corridor drive in the gather. Jose Luis was riding a mare that, being fresh, she was disrupting the circle of gathered horsemen with her dancing and pushing. Jose Luis finally remedied the matter by laying flying U’s across both sides of her with his rope and spurring her into an eruptive running departure that quickly left only the dust over the mesquites to mark his path.
            As we sat there, Ramon remarked in his normal, dry humor that “Maybe we wait juss’ a meenit, and, Jose Luis, he might juss feenish the pasture heesself.”
            In the instructions offered to the cowboys, though, a generalized plan is offered by the cow boss but not to the point of micromanaging the outcome. Respect is given to the cowboy to make decisions based upon what he discovers along the way. If the cowboy being given the instructions can’t glean his assignment in brief, he is looked upon with skepticism that lingers or grows if it repeats.
            The process becomes a relationship whereby “If you perform and stay out of my business, I’ll stay out of yours” and or “you figure it out and make it work”. It is a central theme of the business which becomes “I expect you to be independent, and, if you get no help, you still have to figure out how to make it work regardless of the circumstances”.
            Not very many businesses invoke that sort of constant reality nor are there many circumstances where such independence becomes a prerequisite rather than an anomaly. That is real cowboy life.
            I believe that also had bearing on so many of those old time cowboys that felt uncomfortable not just under a church roof, but in the presence of a group foreign to his surroundings and his gather corridor. He not only didn’t submit, he didn’t talk in idle excess, especially if he had no substantial spiritual influence or the conditions and presence of institutional religion. He had been taught that any mark of uncertainty was a weakness and weakness was avoided.
            “Just give me the assignment and I’ll figure it out.”
            In the daily walk in my ranch life the last two days, death was overshadowed only by the presence of our newest little cowboy, the Kane’s baby boy, when he was greeted while wrapped in his mother’s arms as we discussed the disposition of dogied calves in the headquarter corral. He slept through the entire process, but his presence was a ray of unexpected light.
            The shadows of the rest continued with the disposition of the dogies that so tug at my heartstrings. Most of them came off first calf heifers that didn’t get the monsoonal nourishment they desperately needed. In all cases, we endeavor to get them into better circumstances that give them a boost and a fighting chance.
            The gloom continued when BJ and I found a young cow that had just died after she had rolled or was pushed into an eroded cut onto her back where she couldn’t get up. The coyotes had been there doing their dirty work before she was even dead because rigor mortis had not even set in when we got to her. Dealing with that kind of thing leaves you more calloused, but never without an opinion of the other side of the coyote and wolf problem.
            You try it. You deal with that reality and discover where your allegiances begin to evolve.
            The last issue of the day was the discovery of a young cow with a full uterine prolapse. We have enough experience to know when reinsertion can be accomplished and when it can’t. This one was bad and there was no hope. The alternative, the right thing, was to deal with the suffering of the cow.
            You try that, too. You deal with that reality and discover what your traits begin to display.
             Facing Death with Life
            Let’s end today with Kris’ closing words to us on Day 40. I don’t know if was near his final day in this chaotic life we all know too well, but it is certainly appropriate. It is prefaced in scripture from Revelations.
 The Armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
            “That’s us, gentlemen,” Kris remarked … Cowboys, God is (our) drive leader. He sets the pace of (our) life and all men take their direction from Him. But, along the way, each of us has gotten lost. Each of us has made some mistakes, (but) each of us has a second chance”.
            Let us pray that none of us love this life enough to forget that.

            Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “God Bless the memory of Kris Wilson.”

Baxter Black - Small animal repair

This lady cornered me at a party a while back and asked me what it meant when her cat started tearing big chunks outa the carpet, sharpened his claws on the Lazy Boy and all the hair fell off his tail. I said, “Ma’am, it means it’s time to git a new cat!”

Small animal veterinary practice was always a mystery to me. When I escaped from vet school I never had any intention of curing anything that barked or played in a sandbox! But life is full of ironies. Through a series of set-backs I found myself out of work and starving. A local veterinarian proposed that I take over a small animal clinic for a week while he went to Yuma. Hunger will drive a proud man to do the most desperate things.

Doc left town Sunday afternoon. Sunday night I received my first emergency call:

“Is this the vet?” asked an authoritative voice. “This is Dr. Black,” I said nervously. “My name is Dr. I.M. Good, I’m an M.D. from San Francisco; internal medicine.”

“Gulp!” (What if he sues me for malpractice?)

“Something’s the matter with my wife’s dog.”

(I can always go back to riding pens)

“I expect you’ll be able to fix him right away.”

(I wonder if they let you keep a guitar in Leavenworth?)

It was one of the longest weeks of my life. Big dogs, little dogs and cats, fat cats, even a monkey with the scours! A woman called me about her sick parakeet. I couldn’t think of a single parakeet disease!

“Have you taken the bird’s temperature?” I asked stalling for time.

“With what?” she asked, dumbfounded.

“You could use the thermometer you put in the Thanksgiving Turkey,” I suggested helpfully.


Lee Pitts: Dying from complications

I’m sure you’ve read about the VFD. It’s kinda like BVD, bovine viral diarrhea, only VFD is a disease of the bureaucracy. 

In my opinion, it’s just another in a long line of regulations to fix something that wasn’t broke. VFD stands for Veterinary Feed Directive and it’s an attempt to turn your vet into a paper pushing pharmacist. To learn about VFD you’ve been urged to develop a closer relationship with your vet. Hah!

Every large animal vet I know is so busy meeting himself coming and going that he or she doesn’t have time for writing prescriptions, or for strengthening personal relationships. Most large animal vets I know aren’t what you’d call “touchy feely” kind of people anyway. Some are downright grouchy, probably because they’re already 45 minutes late for their next appointment. But ranchers and their animals should be extremely grateful for our vets and some day we’re going to look back and realize that ranchers and their stock never had it so good as right now. You call them up with a problem and they came out to your place and fix it. Or not.

There’s already a large animal veterinarian shortage and it’s only going to get worse because 80 percent of students in American vet schools are female, and most of them want to be equine or small animal vets. So overburdened cow docs are now going to be even more overworked writing prescriptions, pushing pills and giving consults. We’re gonna miss the days when your vet came out to the ranch for a difficult calving cow and even though he may have just held the calf in a little longer to make you think you were getting your money’s worth, at least you did everything you could and felt good about it. Even if all the vet did was give a sick cow a vitamin shot to make you think he was doing something, at least you felt better. Even though the cow may not have.

This is just the first of many regulations the government will use to turn your vet into a pill pusher and your sick cows into DOA’s. They’ll die from complications. It may come as a big shock to younger people reading this column to learn that medical doctors used to come to your house when you were sick to fix what was wrong. Or not! 

 The day is not too far off when vets will no longer make ranch calls. To treat a sick cow you’ll have to haul it into town where you’ll sit in a waiting room reading three year old cow magazines for 45 minutes. You’ll have to pay first and be asked to fill out a four page questionnaire every time you come in...


Ranch Radio Song of the Day #1775

Our gospel tune today is Knight Upon The Road by Blue Velvet Band and is on their 1969 album Sweet Moments. The tune is based upon the British ballad "Fause Knight Upon The Road", and concerns a riddling exchange between a child and a 'false knight', the devil in disguise. The child 'stands fast' which is what saves him. 

https://youtu.be/UrQXerplwg0

Saturday, February 04, 2017

Utah Legislature votes to shed Bears Ears monument designation

An indignant Utah Senate voted 22-6 Friday to urge the unraveling of the Bears Ears National Monument designation in San Juan County, bristling at the process used under the Antiquities Act and what they say was indifference to a majority of statewide sentiment. Sen. Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, the Senate sponsor of HCR11, said if a monument designation had been made for the Bears Ears region via congressional legislation subsequently signed by the U.S. president, he wouldn't be arguing against the new monument. "It's absolutely wrong," the Senate president said, asserting the legislative process was circumvented with one person's pen via presidential proclamation. The 1.35 million-acre monument was created in late December by former President Barack Obama in the waning days of his administration and was largely seen as a poke in Utah's eye...more


Remember, Obama said "Hi from Hawaii" on this one:


Obama was vacationing in Hawaii with his family over the holidays when the White House made the announcement on Dec. 28. "I find it insulting that President Obama couldn't even interrupt his golfing in Hawaii" for the monument designation, said Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross.


Did Obama score a hole-in-one with this designation, or was it a triple bogey? Triplicates - The Republican-controlled House, Senate and Presidency - hold the score card in their hands.

 

The End Of Lead? Federal Gov’t Order Bans Sinkers, Ammo

Outgoing Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe issued an order to ban lead bullets and fishing gear (like sinkers and jig heads) on all agency-managed lands. The ban requires the use of alternative metals on about 560 million acres of public lands in the United States. It takes effect in 2022, giving hunters, anglers, and the industry time to adapt. However, the order could be rescinded with a new appointment by the Trump administration. It’s unclear if this will happen, but the NRA has already called on Interior Secretary nominee Ryan Zinke to curb the ban. Signed Jan. 19, 2017, the order requires “the use of nontoxic ammunition and fishing tackle to the fullest extent practicable for all activities on Service lands, waters, and facilities by January 2022, except as needed for law enforcement or health and safety uses, as provided for in policy.” The ban will almost certainly be challenged. Nick Wiley, president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, said the it was a breach of trust made without input from state fish and wildlife agencies prior to issuance “This action flies squarely in the face of a long and constructive tradition of states working in partnership with the Service to effectively manage fish and wildlife resources,” he said...more

The hunting groups will rue the day they opposed transferring certain lands out of federal control. They will eventually have to pack up their hunting gear.  What then? Why then they can go golfing with Obama.

Report: Sanctuary Cities Received $27 Billion From Feds Each Year

Sanctuary cities receive over $27 billion each year from the federal government, giving President Donald Trump significant leverage over cities such as New York and San Francisco to enforce immigration law, according to a new report. OpenTheBooks.com identified 106 sanctuary cities in the United States in their oversight report, released Friday. In all, cities that ignore federal law by harboring illegal immigrants are receiving $27.741 billion in grants and direct payments in fiscal year 2016. Twenty-two percent of the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States live in just 12 American cities, according to the report. Those cities, which include New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, received $15.983 billion in federal funds. "On average, the cost of lost federal funding for a family of four residing in one of the 106 sanctuary cities is $1,810—or $454 per person," OpenTheBooks.com said. "A total population of 46.2 million residents live in the 106 sanctuary cities according to census data." The cities receiving the highest amount of federal funding per capita, which "have the most to lose by maintaining their sanctuary status," were Chicago and Washington, D.C., which received $5.3 billion and $2.09 billion, respectively...more

Friday, February 03, 2017

California Ranchers Fight Gray Wolf Protections

A week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order rolling back environmental protections, the California Farm Bureau and ranchers sued the state, challenging its listing of the gray wolf as endangered. The California Cattlemen’s Association and the California Farm Bureau Federation claim in Superior Court that the California Fish and Game Commission exceeded its authority by protecting the species. The administrative record shows that the gray wolf is not native to California, making it ineligible for listing, the groups say in their Tuesday lawsuit. They say the commission’s listing was based on inadequate analysis of the sporadic presence of only a few animals in California. They claim that giving the gray wolf substantial protections not easily contravened, the commission overturned a years-long, collaboratively developed wolf management plan that protects livestock from wolf predation, and threatened the safety and livelihoods of farmers and ranchers. Plaintiffs’ attorney Damien Schiff with the Pacific Legal Foundation insists that the lawsuit is not anti-wolf. “The commission’s wolf listing doesn’t materially improve the wolf’s protections in this state, but it does materially hamper the ability of private property owners to adequately protect themselves, their pets, and their livestock,” Schiff said in an email. “Thus, our lawsuit is about getting the commission back on the right track to employing a sound and balanced wolf management strategy.” In at least one aspect, the lawsuit is an extension of the long-running political fight between states’ rights groups and the federal government. The wolf seen in Northern California that set off this fight, known as OR-7, is believed to be a descendant of wolves the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced to Idaho. They spread into Oregon and kept spreading. At issue behind the complaint, but not directly addressed by it, is the question: If the federal government declares that a species is in danger of extinction and needs protection, to what extent, if any, do the states have the right to refuse?...more

At issue behind the complaint, but not directly addressed by it, is the question: If the federal government declares that a species is in danger of extinction and needs protection, to what extent, if any, do the states have the right to refuse? 

I would phrase it differently:  When is a state no longer a state? If the federal government can introduce a dangerous predator into a state, without the consent of the state, then it is no longer a state. It is simply a subunit or administrative arm of the feds. They would have reverted to being a Territory.

Death Threats Prompt Move To Withhold Personal Information From Wolf Management Documents

A bill in a committee of the Washington House of Representatives would exempt some personal information relating to the state’s wolf management efforts from public disclosure. Supporters say it will keep those who work directly with wolves safe. Opponents are concerned about the loss of transparency. Whether you like wolves or not, the folks who come in contact with them aren’t necessarily threatened by the top carnivore, but recently, they have stopped feeling safe. On one end of that are the people who work for the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. Shortly after they started shooting wolves from the Profanity Peak pack in Northeastern Washington last summer, Donny Martorello said he decided to put his family up in a hotel. “I’m a biologist, I’m a manager, a wolf manager,” Martorello said. “I don’t carry a gun, I’m not law enforcement, and I did sign up for the job but my family did not.” Martorello is in charge of Washington’s wolf policy. During a hearing, he told members of the Committee on State Government, Elections and Information Technology that he and colleagues received death threats, harassing phone calls and messages. And he said it doesn’t just happen to him and his colleagues. He said some ranchers—or “livestock producers” have reported having their photos taken and their homes stalked. “There are producers out there that I have spoken with personally that believe that they are having interactions where wolves are attacking their livestock and they are fearful of coming to the department for reasons that we just talked about,” Martorello said...more

Trump Cabinet picks offer hope for environmental progress



...Zinke, has been a strong advocate for American energy independence and has fought the Obama administration’s moves to limit coal, oil, and gas production on federal lands. Zinke comes from a region of the country in which the federal government owns much of the land and often imposes its will on state and local governments. He has seen firsthand how federal mismanagement of national forests, grasslands, and parks has led to environmental destruction, local economic decline, and wasted federal resources. 

Zinke readily acknowledges the reality of climate change, but argues the extent of human involvement in it is uncertain and the threat it poses has been overblown by President Barack Obama

Zinke has pushed for greater local, state, and tribal control over federal lands and resource decisions, such as timber management and fossil-fuel production, which is important because as interior secretary, Zinke will be in a prime position to reform federal land and wildlife policies in ways benefitting the environment and people. 

There are also some positions Zinke holds that are worthy of scrutiny. Zinke rejects the idea much of the land under federal ownership should be turned over to the states or the people therein, and he supports fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which the federal government uses to buy more land.

There is no constitutional justification for the federal government owning one-third of the land in the United States and more than half of the land in Western states, as it currently does, much less bringing more land and resources under federal ownership. Bad management decisions have been endemic to federal land and resource management agencies since their inception—which have occurred under both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations and under Democratic and Republican Congress. 

I hope with experience Zinke will come to recognize it is the institutional incentive structure stemming from federal ownership itself, not the personnel at the agencies, that is the source of the environmental and economic harm resulting from federal management. Devolution of federal land ownership is the only long-term solution to the environmental harm and economic malaise plaguing states in which the federal government controls a large percentage of the land.