Friday, July 01, 2005
ESA REFORM
Property Rights Advocates Brace for Another Betrayal
Still reeling from the Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London, property rights advocates are bracing themselves for another betrayal of private property rights -- this time from the GOP-controlled Congress -- according to The National Center for Public Policy Research. Business interests may again benefit at the expense of small property owners through Endangered Species Act (ESA) reform, if leaked draft language obtained by The National Center from a journalist is any indication. One of the purported provisions calls for compensation when ESA regulations diminish the value of a person's property -- but only if it is devalued by at least 50 percent. "There are a lot of folks who have a problem with letting government take 49.9 percent of their property -- a civil right - - before anybody cares," said David Ridenour, Vice President of The National Center for Public Policy Research. "Those with large landholdings may be able to afford this, but the little guy just can't. If you're a small property owner, I don't know how you can look at this as anything but a betrayal." It is doubtful that even this modest level of compensation would end up in a final bill. Even if it does, compensation may still be out of reach for many property owners -- including those whose property diminishes in value by more than half -- because they simply can't afford the costs of all the bureaucratic hoops they must jump through in order to file a successful claim. Another purported provision would vastly expand the scope of the ESA to regulate so-called "invasive species." If true, this would represent a major assault on private property rights. Invasive species are species that have expanded beyond their normal distribution. Under this definition, almost anything could qualify for regulation. Tall fescue, for example, a grass commonly used by homeowners for their lawns, could qualify. Any regulation of invasive species - never before regulated under the Endangered Species Act - would be a step toward the government telling Americans what they can use for their lawns, what flowers they can have in their flowerbeds and what vegetables they can plant in their gardens....
Species law reform summary worries both left and right
For months, observers on both sides of the political fence have waited for Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and his colleagues on the House Resources Committee to offer legislation to change the Endangered Species Act. No bill is due until mid-July, but many have gotten their first glimpse from an outline passed around Washington, D.C. Activists on the right and the left have found plenty to dislike. Pombo’s Resources Committee staff, however, says the summary is an old document that environmentalists are using to create controversy. The four-page document bears the Heading “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005,” and refers to the proposed new law by that name. This is followed by 10 sections, each listing a problem with the 31-year-old act, along with a proposed solution. According to the document's description, the new act would give local governments a bigger say in habitat decisions, improve the science behind decisions and give incentives to landowners who have endangered species on their land. It also states that the legislation would eliminate the “outdated, expensive and irrelevant ESA Committee (God Squad)” and place enforcement under the U.S. Department of the Interior, an agency that has been criticized by environmentalists. Brian Kennedy, press secretary for Pombo at the Resources Committee, said the document circulated for months and had been sent to politicians in both parties. He characterized the document as “a set of concepts.” Property-rights advocate David Ridenour contacted the Tracy Press this week to say that he had seen the document and other material related to a proposed Endangered Species Act revision. While he and others have long sought changes — or in some cases, outright repeal — of the existing act, Ridenour said that the summary gave him pause. “He (Pombo) has spoken out very strongly for property rights over the years, but in terms of actually delivering, we haven’t seen much,” Ridenour said. “We’ve been hoping that this would be the year he delivered.” Ridenour went on to say that some changes mentioned in the summary would be “a huge step forward.”....
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Property Rights Advocates Brace for Another Betrayal
Still reeling from the Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London, property rights advocates are bracing themselves for another betrayal of private property rights -- this time from the GOP-controlled Congress -- according to The National Center for Public Policy Research. Business interests may again benefit at the expense of small property owners through Endangered Species Act (ESA) reform, if leaked draft language obtained by The National Center from a journalist is any indication. One of the purported provisions calls for compensation when ESA regulations diminish the value of a person's property -- but only if it is devalued by at least 50 percent. "There are a lot of folks who have a problem with letting government take 49.9 percent of their property -- a civil right - - before anybody cares," said David Ridenour, Vice President of The National Center for Public Policy Research. "Those with large landholdings may be able to afford this, but the little guy just can't. If you're a small property owner, I don't know how you can look at this as anything but a betrayal." It is doubtful that even this modest level of compensation would end up in a final bill. Even if it does, compensation may still be out of reach for many property owners -- including those whose property diminishes in value by more than half -- because they simply can't afford the costs of all the bureaucratic hoops they must jump through in order to file a successful claim. Another purported provision would vastly expand the scope of the ESA to regulate so-called "invasive species." If true, this would represent a major assault on private property rights. Invasive species are species that have expanded beyond their normal distribution. Under this definition, almost anything could qualify for regulation. Tall fescue, for example, a grass commonly used by homeowners for their lawns, could qualify. Any regulation of invasive species - never before regulated under the Endangered Species Act - would be a step toward the government telling Americans what they can use for their lawns, what flowers they can have in their flowerbeds and what vegetables they can plant in their gardens....
Species law reform summary worries both left and right
For months, observers on both sides of the political fence have waited for Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and his colleagues on the House Resources Committee to offer legislation to change the Endangered Species Act. No bill is due until mid-July, but many have gotten their first glimpse from an outline passed around Washington, D.C. Activists on the right and the left have found plenty to dislike. Pombo’s Resources Committee staff, however, says the summary is an old document that environmentalists are using to create controversy. The four-page document bears the Heading “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005,” and refers to the proposed new law by that name. This is followed by 10 sections, each listing a problem with the 31-year-old act, along with a proposed solution. According to the document's description, the new act would give local governments a bigger say in habitat decisions, improve the science behind decisions and give incentives to landowners who have endangered species on their land. It also states that the legislation would eliminate the “outdated, expensive and irrelevant ESA Committee (God Squad)” and place enforcement under the U.S. Department of the Interior, an agency that has been criticized by environmentalists. Brian Kennedy, press secretary for Pombo at the Resources Committee, said the document circulated for months and had been sent to politicians in both parties. He characterized the document as “a set of concepts.” Property-rights advocate David Ridenour contacted the Tracy Press this week to say that he had seen the document and other material related to a proposed Endangered Species Act revision. While he and others have long sought changes — or in some cases, outright repeal — of the existing act, Ridenour said that the summary gave him pause. “He (Pombo) has spoken out very strongly for property rights over the years, but in terms of actually delivering, we haven’t seen much,” Ridenour said. “We’ve been hoping that this would be the year he delivered.” Ridenour went on to say that some changes mentioned in the summary would be “a huge step forward.”....
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NEWS
Arizona weighs grazing lease renewal opposed by border activists The state Land Department is considering potential liability to the state as it decides whether to grant a grazing lease renewal requested by a Cochise County rancher who has gained notoriety for detaining illegal immigrants on land near the U.S.-Mexico border. A human-rights advocacy group, the Border Action Network, on Thursday protested the department's possible renewal of a grazing lease for nearly 14,000 acres of state trust land controlled by rancher Roger Barnett's REB Enterprises LLC. "Our argument is the state Land Department should revoke the lease not only for his vigilante activities" but for also confronting hunters at gunpoint, said Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network....
Forest Service watching trails after sex sting arrests Smith, in a meeting Thursday with Sheriff George H. Payne Jr., credited deputies with a sting in early June that resulted in six men's arrests on charges of indecent exposure. Deputies conducted the sting at the Forest Service's request after both agencies received complaints of men engaged in sexual activity along the public nature trail. "On Friday afternoons, our officers would see 20 to 30 men out there," said Payne. "This isn't just a Harrison County problem. National parks and public hiking trails are a known haven for this type of people."....
Not So Nice to See You A 14-year-old spotted something strange in the waste tank of a New Hampshire outhouse — a man's face staring back up at her. Police said Gary Moody, 45, of Gardiner, Maine, was standing in the ladies' room collection tank wearing hip waders, according to the Kennebec Journal of Augusta, Maine. "You can draw your own conclusions as to the conditions we encountered," Capt. John Hebert of the Carroll County Sheriff's Department told WMUR-TV of Manchester, N.H. The girl was about to use the facilities around noon on Sunday at a log-cabin rest stop near Albany on the Kancamagus Scenic Byway, which runs through the White Mountain National Forest....Looks like I may wind up with a XXX rated blog if I keep posting stories about the management of Federal lands....
Grasslands could be protected Two areas of primitive prairie on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland have been recommended by the U.S. Forest Service for protection as a federal wilderness area, and the Sierra Club wants to add two more areas to that recommendation. The four areas received recognition recently as South Dakota's "treasure" in a national Sierra Club publication titled America's Great Outdoors. A section, "52 Local Treasures Across America," profiles unique areas — one in each state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico — in need of protection or increased awareness. The Forest Service, which manages national grasslands, recommended Indian Creek and Red Shirt areas as federal wilderness areas as part of its 2002 management plan. The Sierra Club still hopes First Black Canyon and Cheyenne River would receive wilderness recommendation, too....
Wildfire will hurt ecosystems for years Flora and fauna across terrain scorched by the Cave Creek Complex fire will take years to recover, experts said. The 172,788-acre fire has moved from low- to highaltitude desert and is closing in on forested mountainous territory, threatening a biologically diverse range of ecosystems, said Dave Killebrew, a U.S. Forest Service fire information officer. Some wildlife habitat and plant life in the fire area is particularly sensitive to ecosystem disturbance and will suffer long-term setbacks, he said. In desert areas, the wildfire has charred entire hillsides of saguaros and other vegetation that is especially slow to recover from fire damage. "Some of those places won’t look the same for decades," Killebrew said. If the fire hits hard in high-country pine forests, "it can take 80 to 100 years to come back," he said....
Rare tortoises may have been hit hard by fires Now that an army of firefighters is gaining the upper hand on a slew of southwest Utah wildland blazes - homes remained out of harm's way Thursday - biologists are turning their attention to the damaged ecosystem, particularly for the Mojave Desert tortoise. "It's hard for me to see this fire," said Ann McLuckie, a biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "It's heart-wrenching to see the impacts on the fragile ecosystem and the tortoise population." Thursday, biologists and wildlife managers toured the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve just north of St. George in an effort to analyze the impact from this week's fires. It is estimated that wildfires fueled by cheat grass and fanned by erratic winds burned more than 10 percent of the 62,000-acre wildlife preserve. The Red Cliffs preserve is home to an estimated 1,700 tortoises. Officials fear than many may have perished in the blaze....
Karuk's lawsuit will stop mining U.S. Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong is scheduled to make a decision on a lawsuit filed for the Karuk Tribe of California against the Forest Service by July 1. In the lawsuit, the Karuk Tribe alleges that gold suction dredging is harmful to wildlife and endangers fish. Dredging season begins on July 1 and miners are anxious about the decision. If the Karuk’s win the lawsuit, then each suction dredger will need to obtain a California Environmental Quality Act permit, which brings in biologists to analyze the environmental impacts. Cost of all the studies by biologists starts at $30,000, which is an extreme price for most small-time recreationist miners to pay. The miners say the lawsuit is perplexing, because in the past they have met with representatives from the Karuk Tribe to discuss issues and had been able to find solutions. “We created our own regulations among ourselves,” said one of the miners. They reduced the number of dredges in the river and did not dredge near local swimming holes or pools where fish congregate. Ultimately, the suit claims that dredging causes “significant” disturbance. The suit states that the mining causes “permanent and or long-lasting impacts to wildlife, fisheries, water quality, recreation and visual resources” and adversely impacts the Tribe. It also alleges that suction dredging can kill or affect coho salmon; bald eagles and northern spotted owls....
Commission passes butterfly plan Private property owners in Otero County surrounding Cloudcroft must adhere to new restrictions when developing subdivisions. Otero County commissioners on Wednesday passed the “Sacramento Mountains Checkerspot Butterfly Conservation Plan,” amending the subdivision ordinance. Commission Vice Chair Doug Moore and Commissioner Michael Nivison voted for the measure. Chair Clarissa McGinn said nay. The plan is a cooperative effort with federal and state agencies to protect the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly and the insect’s habitat. In September 2001 the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the butterfly as endangered, under the Endangered Species Act. The agency published in the Federal Register that nearly every activity in Cloudcroft’s tourist-based economy is destructive and should be prohibited. The document stated mountain bikers, off-road vehicles, and camping and livestock damage eggs and plants. Cars hit the insect. Nivison said there wouldn’t even be skiing. “What’s at stake is every outdoor activity,” Moore said, stressing cattle grazing “would be gone.”....
York Creek Dam removal awaits federal funding Removal of the York Creek Dam could begin as early as 2007 if Congress approves the Army Corps of Engineers' appropriations this year. For the past five years the city has worked closely with the Corps to remove impediments to the endangered steelhead salmon that spawn in York Creek. The dam is the last remaining barrier between the salmon and the creek's headwaters. Before construction can begin, however, the Corps needs $350,000 to conduct a variety of preliminary studies, including an analysis of the region's soil. When steelhead were added to the endangered species list in 2000, the city "got serious" about removing the dam, Johansson said. Because the earth and concrete structure blocks the salmon from their natural spawning grounds, it could put the city in violation of the Endangered Species Act....
Creative plan aims to save chinook salmon What will it take to save Puget Sound's beloved chinook salmon? About $1.5 billion in the first 10 years, tinkering with various rivers and estuaries, retooling hatcheries and dams, and a lot of scientific research. And figuring out how to fit in more than a million additional residents without pushing the fish over the brink. At least, that's according to a plan sent to the federal government last night from a coalition of regional policy-makers and interest groups who have spent three years drawing up a way to rescue the region's chinook from extinction. It's described as an innovative approach that has built new political alliances needed for such an expensive and ambitious plan. But even the plan's authors acknowledge there are serious gaps, and that going from paper to reality will be a leap....
U.S. twists data on rare butterfly, scientist says A well-known scientist at the University of Florida on Thursday accused the Bush administration of misrepresenting his work in order to justify its decision not to put the Miami Blue butterfly on the endangered species list. In announcing its decision, the wildlife service claimed that scientists had failed in their attempts to reintroduce the butterfly to its former range. Since releasing Miami blues at Biscayne and Everglades national parks, researchers detected only "an inconsistent or sporadic presence of only a small number of individuals," stated the agency's written evaluation, published May 11 in The Federal Register. Thomas Emmel, professor of zoology and entomology at the University of Florida and director of the Miami blue reintroduction project, said this assessment was completely false. "That's just plain Bush administration manipulation of the data," he exclaimed, after hearing the service's evaluation of his team's work. "That's just another example of how politics drives biological observations." Emmel said his team has established 12 breeding colonies at Biscayne and Everglades national parks. These colonies have all successfully reproduced through several generations in the wild....
Foes in Congress unite in defense of property House and Senate Republican leaders, backed by Democratic African American liberals, moved rapidly Thursday on legislation to blunt last week's Supreme Court decision allowing local governments to seize private property for economic development projects. Rep. Maxine Waters, a liberal Democrat from South Central Los Angeles, and Rep. Richard Pombo, a rock-ribbed conservative Republican from rural San Joaquin County -- who rarely join forces on any issue -- were among a group that introduced a bill to cut off federal funds for cities that use eminent domain for such projects. "Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals are going to be organizing behind opposing the Supreme Court decision,'' Waters said. "It's like undermining motherhood and apple pie. I mean, people's homes and their land -- it's very important, and it should be protected by government, not taken for somebody else's private use." Pombo, a longtime property rights advocate, said anger at the court's 5-4 decision in a case from New London, Conn., had united rural landowners with suburbanites and city dwellers fearful that cities will eye their homes for hotels, malls or any commercial use they think will generate more tax revenue....
Prospective Supreme Court Vacancy Could Spell Environmental Disaster Speculation is still rampant that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist or another member of the Supreme Court will resign in the near future providing President Bush with his first opportunity to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court. Opponents of environmental safeguards are trying to use federal courts to attack the bedrock of environmental safeguards, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, according to Doug Kendall, executive director of the Community Rights Counsel (CRC). Given the narrow margins in environmental cases before the Supreme Court, a single new appointment to the Court could have a tremendous impact on environmental protection, which is why groups on the far-right recently announced a $18 million campaign to confirm whomever President Bush names to the Supreme Court. President Bush has called Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas his favorite justices. These justices have expressed views, often in dissent, that would dramatically undercut environmental protections....
Senate OKs trade pact with Central America The Senate approved a free trade agreement with Central America on Thursday, but the measure faces an uphill battle in the House, where lawmakers are increasingly balking at trade pacts they contend hurt U.S. industries and workers. Even in the Senate, which traditionally has been more supportive of free trade, the Central American Free Trade Agreement faced fierce opposition as lawmakers of both parties voiced worries that it would harm the domestic sugar industry and erode labor standards. A last-minute deal brokered by the Bush administration that would cap sugar imports through 2007 helped convert a few holdouts, leading to a 54-45 vote in favor of the pact. Also Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved the CAFTA legislation, which paves the way for the full House to consider the pact later this month....
'Poia:'The story about how Blackfeet learned the Sun Dance After three years of planning and two weeks of rehearsals, the curtain opens Sunday in Great Falls on "Poia," the colorful opera that tells how Blackfeet learned the Sun Dance. It's a grand story, with epic religious overtones about the Sun God and tragic romantic elements about winning redemption through love. Almost as dramatic is how the opera was written in the first place, why it was last performed nearly a century ago and how it was resurrected as part of the Great Falls area's Signature Event saluting the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. "It's been 95 years since this opera about a significant story in Blackfeet lore was last performed, and that was in Berlin, of all places," said stage director David Cody, a University of Montana music professor....
The Last Dollar Legacy Establishing a working cattle ranch from the ground up in modern times is a risky venture. Exorbitant land prices, environmental restrictions, drought-induced feed bills, fluctuating cattle markets, and insurance, tax and labor expenses loom like a blizzard during calving season, making it nearly impossible for most families to earn a sustainable income. Those who do stay financially afloat struggle to merely make ends meet. That harsh reality didn't deter Vince Kontny. After a lucrative engineering career, much of which he served as president and chief operating officer of a global construction and engineering firm, the native Colorado rancher returned to his roots. He put on his hat and boots, and rolled up his sleeves to help preserve the frontier legacy of two working ranches in southwestern Colorado. "Don't call it retirement, call it a career change," Kontny said during a 1994 interview with The Denver Post, announcing the conservation easement he placed on his most notable ranch: Last Dollar. The picturesque ranch, located on the Dallas Divide, west of Ridgway, Colorado, has been the breathtaking backdrop for numerous ads for Anheiser-Busch, Coors, Marlboro and others. But beneath the ranch's pristine surface harkens a deep history and a newfound future....
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Arizona weighs grazing lease renewal opposed by border activists The state Land Department is considering potential liability to the state as it decides whether to grant a grazing lease renewal requested by a Cochise County rancher who has gained notoriety for detaining illegal immigrants on land near the U.S.-Mexico border. A human-rights advocacy group, the Border Action Network, on Thursday protested the department's possible renewal of a grazing lease for nearly 14,000 acres of state trust land controlled by rancher Roger Barnett's REB Enterprises LLC. "Our argument is the state Land Department should revoke the lease not only for his vigilante activities" but for also confronting hunters at gunpoint, said Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network....
Forest Service watching trails after sex sting arrests Smith, in a meeting Thursday with Sheriff George H. Payne Jr., credited deputies with a sting in early June that resulted in six men's arrests on charges of indecent exposure. Deputies conducted the sting at the Forest Service's request after both agencies received complaints of men engaged in sexual activity along the public nature trail. "On Friday afternoons, our officers would see 20 to 30 men out there," said Payne. "This isn't just a Harrison County problem. National parks and public hiking trails are a known haven for this type of people."....
Not So Nice to See You A 14-year-old spotted something strange in the waste tank of a New Hampshire outhouse — a man's face staring back up at her. Police said Gary Moody, 45, of Gardiner, Maine, was standing in the ladies' room collection tank wearing hip waders, according to the Kennebec Journal of Augusta, Maine. "You can draw your own conclusions as to the conditions we encountered," Capt. John Hebert of the Carroll County Sheriff's Department told WMUR-TV of Manchester, N.H. The girl was about to use the facilities around noon on Sunday at a log-cabin rest stop near Albany on the Kancamagus Scenic Byway, which runs through the White Mountain National Forest....Looks like I may wind up with a XXX rated blog if I keep posting stories about the management of Federal lands....
Grasslands could be protected Two areas of primitive prairie on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland have been recommended by the U.S. Forest Service for protection as a federal wilderness area, and the Sierra Club wants to add two more areas to that recommendation. The four areas received recognition recently as South Dakota's "treasure" in a national Sierra Club publication titled America's Great Outdoors. A section, "52 Local Treasures Across America," profiles unique areas — one in each state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico — in need of protection or increased awareness. The Forest Service, which manages national grasslands, recommended Indian Creek and Red Shirt areas as federal wilderness areas as part of its 2002 management plan. The Sierra Club still hopes First Black Canyon and Cheyenne River would receive wilderness recommendation, too....
Wildfire will hurt ecosystems for years Flora and fauna across terrain scorched by the Cave Creek Complex fire will take years to recover, experts said. The 172,788-acre fire has moved from low- to highaltitude desert and is closing in on forested mountainous territory, threatening a biologically diverse range of ecosystems, said Dave Killebrew, a U.S. Forest Service fire information officer. Some wildlife habitat and plant life in the fire area is particularly sensitive to ecosystem disturbance and will suffer long-term setbacks, he said. In desert areas, the wildfire has charred entire hillsides of saguaros and other vegetation that is especially slow to recover from fire damage. "Some of those places won’t look the same for decades," Killebrew said. If the fire hits hard in high-country pine forests, "it can take 80 to 100 years to come back," he said....
Rare tortoises may have been hit hard by fires Now that an army of firefighters is gaining the upper hand on a slew of southwest Utah wildland blazes - homes remained out of harm's way Thursday - biologists are turning their attention to the damaged ecosystem, particularly for the Mojave Desert tortoise. "It's hard for me to see this fire," said Ann McLuckie, a biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "It's heart-wrenching to see the impacts on the fragile ecosystem and the tortoise population." Thursday, biologists and wildlife managers toured the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve just north of St. George in an effort to analyze the impact from this week's fires. It is estimated that wildfires fueled by cheat grass and fanned by erratic winds burned more than 10 percent of the 62,000-acre wildlife preserve. The Red Cliffs preserve is home to an estimated 1,700 tortoises. Officials fear than many may have perished in the blaze....
Karuk's lawsuit will stop mining U.S. Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong is scheduled to make a decision on a lawsuit filed for the Karuk Tribe of California against the Forest Service by July 1. In the lawsuit, the Karuk Tribe alleges that gold suction dredging is harmful to wildlife and endangers fish. Dredging season begins on July 1 and miners are anxious about the decision. If the Karuk’s win the lawsuit, then each suction dredger will need to obtain a California Environmental Quality Act permit, which brings in biologists to analyze the environmental impacts. Cost of all the studies by biologists starts at $30,000, which is an extreme price for most small-time recreationist miners to pay. The miners say the lawsuit is perplexing, because in the past they have met with representatives from the Karuk Tribe to discuss issues and had been able to find solutions. “We created our own regulations among ourselves,” said one of the miners. They reduced the number of dredges in the river and did not dredge near local swimming holes or pools where fish congregate. Ultimately, the suit claims that dredging causes “significant” disturbance. The suit states that the mining causes “permanent and or long-lasting impacts to wildlife, fisheries, water quality, recreation and visual resources” and adversely impacts the Tribe. It also alleges that suction dredging can kill or affect coho salmon; bald eagles and northern spotted owls....
Commission passes butterfly plan Private property owners in Otero County surrounding Cloudcroft must adhere to new restrictions when developing subdivisions. Otero County commissioners on Wednesday passed the “Sacramento Mountains Checkerspot Butterfly Conservation Plan,” amending the subdivision ordinance. Commission Vice Chair Doug Moore and Commissioner Michael Nivison voted for the measure. Chair Clarissa McGinn said nay. The plan is a cooperative effort with federal and state agencies to protect the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly and the insect’s habitat. In September 2001 the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the butterfly as endangered, under the Endangered Species Act. The agency published in the Federal Register that nearly every activity in Cloudcroft’s tourist-based economy is destructive and should be prohibited. The document stated mountain bikers, off-road vehicles, and camping and livestock damage eggs and plants. Cars hit the insect. Nivison said there wouldn’t even be skiing. “What’s at stake is every outdoor activity,” Moore said, stressing cattle grazing “would be gone.”....
York Creek Dam removal awaits federal funding Removal of the York Creek Dam could begin as early as 2007 if Congress approves the Army Corps of Engineers' appropriations this year. For the past five years the city has worked closely with the Corps to remove impediments to the endangered steelhead salmon that spawn in York Creek. The dam is the last remaining barrier between the salmon and the creek's headwaters. Before construction can begin, however, the Corps needs $350,000 to conduct a variety of preliminary studies, including an analysis of the region's soil. When steelhead were added to the endangered species list in 2000, the city "got serious" about removing the dam, Johansson said. Because the earth and concrete structure blocks the salmon from their natural spawning grounds, it could put the city in violation of the Endangered Species Act....
Creative plan aims to save chinook salmon What will it take to save Puget Sound's beloved chinook salmon? About $1.5 billion in the first 10 years, tinkering with various rivers and estuaries, retooling hatcheries and dams, and a lot of scientific research. And figuring out how to fit in more than a million additional residents without pushing the fish over the brink. At least, that's according to a plan sent to the federal government last night from a coalition of regional policy-makers and interest groups who have spent three years drawing up a way to rescue the region's chinook from extinction. It's described as an innovative approach that has built new political alliances needed for such an expensive and ambitious plan. But even the plan's authors acknowledge there are serious gaps, and that going from paper to reality will be a leap....
U.S. twists data on rare butterfly, scientist says A well-known scientist at the University of Florida on Thursday accused the Bush administration of misrepresenting his work in order to justify its decision not to put the Miami Blue butterfly on the endangered species list. In announcing its decision, the wildlife service claimed that scientists had failed in their attempts to reintroduce the butterfly to its former range. Since releasing Miami blues at Biscayne and Everglades national parks, researchers detected only "an inconsistent or sporadic presence of only a small number of individuals," stated the agency's written evaluation, published May 11 in The Federal Register. Thomas Emmel, professor of zoology and entomology at the University of Florida and director of the Miami blue reintroduction project, said this assessment was completely false. "That's just plain Bush administration manipulation of the data," he exclaimed, after hearing the service's evaluation of his team's work. "That's just another example of how politics drives biological observations." Emmel said his team has established 12 breeding colonies at Biscayne and Everglades national parks. These colonies have all successfully reproduced through several generations in the wild....
Foes in Congress unite in defense of property House and Senate Republican leaders, backed by Democratic African American liberals, moved rapidly Thursday on legislation to blunt last week's Supreme Court decision allowing local governments to seize private property for economic development projects. Rep. Maxine Waters, a liberal Democrat from South Central Los Angeles, and Rep. Richard Pombo, a rock-ribbed conservative Republican from rural San Joaquin County -- who rarely join forces on any issue -- were among a group that introduced a bill to cut off federal funds for cities that use eminent domain for such projects. "Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals are going to be organizing behind opposing the Supreme Court decision,'' Waters said. "It's like undermining motherhood and apple pie. I mean, people's homes and their land -- it's very important, and it should be protected by government, not taken for somebody else's private use." Pombo, a longtime property rights advocate, said anger at the court's 5-4 decision in a case from New London, Conn., had united rural landowners with suburbanites and city dwellers fearful that cities will eye their homes for hotels, malls or any commercial use they think will generate more tax revenue....
Prospective Supreme Court Vacancy Could Spell Environmental Disaster Speculation is still rampant that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist or another member of the Supreme Court will resign in the near future providing President Bush with his first opportunity to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court. Opponents of environmental safeguards are trying to use federal courts to attack the bedrock of environmental safeguards, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, according to Doug Kendall, executive director of the Community Rights Counsel (CRC). Given the narrow margins in environmental cases before the Supreme Court, a single new appointment to the Court could have a tremendous impact on environmental protection, which is why groups on the far-right recently announced a $18 million campaign to confirm whomever President Bush names to the Supreme Court. President Bush has called Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas his favorite justices. These justices have expressed views, often in dissent, that would dramatically undercut environmental protections....
Senate OKs trade pact with Central America The Senate approved a free trade agreement with Central America on Thursday, but the measure faces an uphill battle in the House, where lawmakers are increasingly balking at trade pacts they contend hurt U.S. industries and workers. Even in the Senate, which traditionally has been more supportive of free trade, the Central American Free Trade Agreement faced fierce opposition as lawmakers of both parties voiced worries that it would harm the domestic sugar industry and erode labor standards. A last-minute deal brokered by the Bush administration that would cap sugar imports through 2007 helped convert a few holdouts, leading to a 54-45 vote in favor of the pact. Also Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved the CAFTA legislation, which paves the way for the full House to consider the pact later this month....
'Poia:'The story about how Blackfeet learned the Sun Dance After three years of planning and two weeks of rehearsals, the curtain opens Sunday in Great Falls on "Poia," the colorful opera that tells how Blackfeet learned the Sun Dance. It's a grand story, with epic religious overtones about the Sun God and tragic romantic elements about winning redemption through love. Almost as dramatic is how the opera was written in the first place, why it was last performed nearly a century ago and how it was resurrected as part of the Great Falls area's Signature Event saluting the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. "It's been 95 years since this opera about a significant story in Blackfeet lore was last performed, and that was in Berlin, of all places," said stage director David Cody, a University of Montana music professor....
The Last Dollar Legacy Establishing a working cattle ranch from the ground up in modern times is a risky venture. Exorbitant land prices, environmental restrictions, drought-induced feed bills, fluctuating cattle markets, and insurance, tax and labor expenses loom like a blizzard during calving season, making it nearly impossible for most families to earn a sustainable income. Those who do stay financially afloat struggle to merely make ends meet. That harsh reality didn't deter Vince Kontny. After a lucrative engineering career, much of which he served as president and chief operating officer of a global construction and engineering firm, the native Colorado rancher returned to his roots. He put on his hat and boots, and rolled up his sleeves to help preserve the frontier legacy of two working ranches in southwestern Colorado. "Don't call it retirement, call it a career change," Kontny said during a 1994 interview with The Denver Post, announcing the conservation easement he placed on his most notable ranch: Last Dollar. The picturesque ranch, located on the Dallas Divide, west of Ridgway, Colorado, has been the breathtaking backdrop for numerous ads for Anheiser-Busch, Coors, Marlboro and others. But beneath the ranch's pristine surface harkens a deep history and a newfound future....
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Thursday, June 30, 2005
MORE ON KELO v. NEW LONDON
Betrayal at the Supreme Court
In the 1840s a debate raged about whether strikers may be punished as economic saboteurs because they disrupted commerce. Some argued that the police power of government authorized prohibiting strikes on the grounds that government is to keep commerce in motion and forbid work stoppages. This, indeed, is the theory of monarchical government in which the king or queen or tsar decided how people must live, what purposes they must pursue. At that early time of the American Republic, however, the courts ultimately affirmed the principle of freedom of association by invalidating the use of the police power whenever it involved the violation of individual rights. Strikers, the courts held, were exercising their right to withdraw from their employers—the right of free association—and this trumped any paternalistic police power that had been imported into American society from abroad where, of course, kings and other supreme rulers and not individuals were understood to possess sovereignty. This is one reason, still, why many people around the globe are considered, strictly speaking, to be subjects, not citizens—they lack sovereignty, or self rule. The U.S. Supreme Court has now reversed itself on the score of what counts for more in this country, individual rights or state power. In a 5-to-4 ruling issued on June 23rd, in Kelo v. City of New London, the Court held that the city of New London, Connecticut, had the legal authority to place its idea of economic development above the individual rights of citizens in New London, in this case their right to private property. They decided to expand the police power of government, in this case its eminent domain power, way beyond what the U.S. Constitution specified in the 5th Amendment....
Property Rights Died Yesterday
Freedom died yesterday. The freedom understood and fought for by the Founding Fathers collapsed in a heap, its throat slit by big-government liberals on the Supreme Court. It was the case of Kelo v. City of New London. It threw the notion of property ownership on the bonfire of history. And we and our children will live to mourn the day. It's a simple concept to explain: The government can take away your land and give it to someone else. Period. That's what it's about. The five liberal members of the Supreme Court have decided that you have no fundamental right to own property, you may only do so at the whim of the mayor. Or town board or village trustees or county executive. If at any time your local municipal leaders decide that they want your land to be used by someone else, you can kiss it good bye....
Confiscating property
The framers of our Constitution gave us the Fifth Amendment in order to protect us from government property confiscation. The Amendment reads in part: "[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Which one of those 12 words is difficult to understand? The framers recognized there might be a need for government to acquire private property to build a road, bridge, dam or fort. That is a clear public use that requires just compensation, but is taking one person's private property to make it available for another's private use a public purpose? Justice John Paul Stevens says yes, arguing, "Promoting economic development is a traditional and long-accepted function of government." Let's look at a few examples of how this might play out. You and your neighbor have two-acre lots. Your combined property tax is $10,000. A nursing home proprietor tells city officials that if they condemn your property and sell it to him to build a nursing home, the city would get $30,000 in property taxes. According to last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling, this plan would be construed as beneficial to the public, and you'd have no recourse. Similarly, an environmental group might descend on public officials to condemn your land and transfer it to the group for a wildlife preserve. Again, a contrived public benefit for which you'd have no recourse. The Court's decision helps explain the vicious attacks on any judicial nominees who might use framer-intent to interpret the U.S. Constitution. America's socialists want more control over our lives, property and our pocketbooks. They cannot always get their way in the legislature, and the courts represent their only chance. There is nothing complex about those 12 words the framers wrote to protect us from governmental property confiscation. You need a magician to reach the conclusion reached by the Court's majority....
Your house could be a parking lot
Think your house is your castle? Our country's Founders thought so. They put three provisions into the Bill of Rights to protect it. But last week, the Supreme Court said the government can take away your house just because it thinks someone else could make better use of your home or business than you can. The justification? The Constitution does recognize that there are public needs, such as building roads, so vital the government must be able to take your land. It says the government may take property, but only for a "public use" and with "just compensation." The phrase at the center of last week's case is "public use." It's an important phrase, because it's supposed to mean that the government can only use force to take your property in order to do its job. The government, which is supposed to stop criminals from driving you off your land, isn't supposed to get to force you off your land just because some official thinks someone else will put the land to "better" use....
Theft by government
As the nation was waiting to see where the Supreme Court would tolerate displaying the Ten Commandments, the court violated one. The Decalogue says, "You shall not steal." It is a timeless precept the Framers targeted at government's equally timeless propensity to covet what belongs to the citizens when they wrote in the Fifth Amendment, "... nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." In Kelo v. New London, the court shredded both commandment and amendment. The Ciavaglia family -- according to a brief filed by the Institute for Justice, which represented the homeowners -- moved from Italy to New London's Fort Trumbull neighborhood in the 1880s. In 1901, they purchased the house, where, in 1918, Wilhelmina Ciavaglia was born. In 1945, Wilhelmina married Charles Dery, and for 60 years the couple has lived in that home. Their son Matthew lives next-door with his wife, Sue, and son, Andrew. Their home was given to Matthew as a wedding present by his grandmother. "Before they were married, the younger Dery couple gutted the building and rebuilt it, hand-routing and sanding every piece of woodwork themselves," The Hartford Courant reported in February. Could the government commit a deeper offense against the right of private property than to seize these homes for a developer? This is theft by government. But it is also something worse: It is a frontal assault on the primacy in our culture of the privately owned family home, the universally sought-after symbol and stronghold of American liberty. In authorizing this larceny, the five justices in the court's majority -- J.P. Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Ginsburg and David Souter -- have revealed where true liberty ranks in the liberal judiciary's hierarchy of values....
High Court to homeowners: Stick 'em up!
It's like a bad dream, or a summer disaster movie. But this is real. We live under a regime that can and often does grab our homes and small businesses to create what politicians call "economic development." The process is simple: the government takes our property, pays us what it thinks the property's worth, and then hands our property — in finely crafted "sweetheart deals" — to developers and big corporations that will produce greater tax revenue. But what is the implication of the Kelo ruling? What message does it send to the financial wizards running local governments nationwide, slickers who have flocked to such schemes, sacrificing small businesses and the homes of poor and middle-class citizens for more tax revenue? Justice Sandra Day O'Connor makes it very clear in her dissent: "Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more." This is not an isolated case of politicians winning and the people losing in one small town in Connecticut. This is happening all across the nation. Local officials looking to boost their tax take through eminent domain like a vampire looks for fresh neck arteries....
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Betrayal at the Supreme Court
In the 1840s a debate raged about whether strikers may be punished as economic saboteurs because they disrupted commerce. Some argued that the police power of government authorized prohibiting strikes on the grounds that government is to keep commerce in motion and forbid work stoppages. This, indeed, is the theory of monarchical government in which the king or queen or tsar decided how people must live, what purposes they must pursue. At that early time of the American Republic, however, the courts ultimately affirmed the principle of freedom of association by invalidating the use of the police power whenever it involved the violation of individual rights. Strikers, the courts held, were exercising their right to withdraw from their employers—the right of free association—and this trumped any paternalistic police power that had been imported into American society from abroad where, of course, kings and other supreme rulers and not individuals were understood to possess sovereignty. This is one reason, still, why many people around the globe are considered, strictly speaking, to be subjects, not citizens—they lack sovereignty, or self rule. The U.S. Supreme Court has now reversed itself on the score of what counts for more in this country, individual rights or state power. In a 5-to-4 ruling issued on June 23rd, in Kelo v. City of New London, the Court held that the city of New London, Connecticut, had the legal authority to place its idea of economic development above the individual rights of citizens in New London, in this case their right to private property. They decided to expand the police power of government, in this case its eminent domain power, way beyond what the U.S. Constitution specified in the 5th Amendment....
Property Rights Died Yesterday
Freedom died yesterday. The freedom understood and fought for by the Founding Fathers collapsed in a heap, its throat slit by big-government liberals on the Supreme Court. It was the case of Kelo v. City of New London. It threw the notion of property ownership on the bonfire of history. And we and our children will live to mourn the day. It's a simple concept to explain: The government can take away your land and give it to someone else. Period. That's what it's about. The five liberal members of the Supreme Court have decided that you have no fundamental right to own property, you may only do so at the whim of the mayor. Or town board or village trustees or county executive. If at any time your local municipal leaders decide that they want your land to be used by someone else, you can kiss it good bye....
Confiscating property
The framers of our Constitution gave us the Fifth Amendment in order to protect us from government property confiscation. The Amendment reads in part: "[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Which one of those 12 words is difficult to understand? The framers recognized there might be a need for government to acquire private property to build a road, bridge, dam or fort. That is a clear public use that requires just compensation, but is taking one person's private property to make it available for another's private use a public purpose? Justice John Paul Stevens says yes, arguing, "Promoting economic development is a traditional and long-accepted function of government." Let's look at a few examples of how this might play out. You and your neighbor have two-acre lots. Your combined property tax is $10,000. A nursing home proprietor tells city officials that if they condemn your property and sell it to him to build a nursing home, the city would get $30,000 in property taxes. According to last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling, this plan would be construed as beneficial to the public, and you'd have no recourse. Similarly, an environmental group might descend on public officials to condemn your land and transfer it to the group for a wildlife preserve. Again, a contrived public benefit for which you'd have no recourse. The Court's decision helps explain the vicious attacks on any judicial nominees who might use framer-intent to interpret the U.S. Constitution. America's socialists want more control over our lives, property and our pocketbooks. They cannot always get their way in the legislature, and the courts represent their only chance. There is nothing complex about those 12 words the framers wrote to protect us from governmental property confiscation. You need a magician to reach the conclusion reached by the Court's majority....
Your house could be a parking lot
Think your house is your castle? Our country's Founders thought so. They put three provisions into the Bill of Rights to protect it. But last week, the Supreme Court said the government can take away your house just because it thinks someone else could make better use of your home or business than you can. The justification? The Constitution does recognize that there are public needs, such as building roads, so vital the government must be able to take your land. It says the government may take property, but only for a "public use" and with "just compensation." The phrase at the center of last week's case is "public use." It's an important phrase, because it's supposed to mean that the government can only use force to take your property in order to do its job. The government, which is supposed to stop criminals from driving you off your land, isn't supposed to get to force you off your land just because some official thinks someone else will put the land to "better" use....
Theft by government
As the nation was waiting to see where the Supreme Court would tolerate displaying the Ten Commandments, the court violated one. The Decalogue says, "You shall not steal." It is a timeless precept the Framers targeted at government's equally timeless propensity to covet what belongs to the citizens when they wrote in the Fifth Amendment, "... nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." In Kelo v. New London, the court shredded both commandment and amendment. The Ciavaglia family -- according to a brief filed by the Institute for Justice, which represented the homeowners -- moved from Italy to New London's Fort Trumbull neighborhood in the 1880s. In 1901, they purchased the house, where, in 1918, Wilhelmina Ciavaglia was born. In 1945, Wilhelmina married Charles Dery, and for 60 years the couple has lived in that home. Their son Matthew lives next-door with his wife, Sue, and son, Andrew. Their home was given to Matthew as a wedding present by his grandmother. "Before they were married, the younger Dery couple gutted the building and rebuilt it, hand-routing and sanding every piece of woodwork themselves," The Hartford Courant reported in February. Could the government commit a deeper offense against the right of private property than to seize these homes for a developer? This is theft by government. But it is also something worse: It is a frontal assault on the primacy in our culture of the privately owned family home, the universally sought-after symbol and stronghold of American liberty. In authorizing this larceny, the five justices in the court's majority -- J.P. Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Ginsburg and David Souter -- have revealed where true liberty ranks in the liberal judiciary's hierarchy of values....
High Court to homeowners: Stick 'em up!
It's like a bad dream, or a summer disaster movie. But this is real. We live under a regime that can and often does grab our homes and small businesses to create what politicians call "economic development." The process is simple: the government takes our property, pays us what it thinks the property's worth, and then hands our property — in finely crafted "sweetheart deals" — to developers and big corporations that will produce greater tax revenue. But what is the implication of the Kelo ruling? What message does it send to the financial wizards running local governments nationwide, slickers who have flocked to such schemes, sacrificing small businesses and the homes of poor and middle-class citizens for more tax revenue? Justice Sandra Day O'Connor makes it very clear in her dissent: "Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more." This is not an isolated case of politicians winning and the people losing in one small town in Connecticut. This is happening all across the nation. Local officials looking to boost their tax take through eminent domain like a vampire looks for fresh neck arteries....
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GAO REPORT
Groundwater Contamination: DOD Uses and Develops a Range of Remediation Technologies to Clean Up Military Sites. GAO-05-666, June 30.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-666
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05666high.pdf
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Groundwater Contamination: DOD Uses and Develops a Range of Remediation Technologies to Clean Up Military Sites. GAO-05-666, June 30.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-666
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05666high.pdf
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NEWS
Arizona wildfire now at 172,800 acres but but still far from towns A lightning-sparked brush fire had grown to 172,800 acres by Wednesday night as it continued to push into central Arizona. Fire crews were conducting burnout operations along east and west flanks trying to prevent flames from growing closer to three small communities north of here. The fire was burning about 20 miles southwest of the mountain communities of Pine and Strawberry and 12 miles from the point when evacuations may be necessary. It was as close as 6 miles to Black Canyon City, a community of about 4,500 just 45 miles north of Phoenix, but wasn't considered an imminent threat to structures there. About 1,600 people were fighting the fire, which was 40 percent contained on the south zone Wednesday night but zero percent contained on the north zone. Fire spokesman Dave Killebrew said the south zone of the fire was at 167,000 acres with the north zone at 5,800 acres. The National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday that 22 active large fires in the West were burning across more than 905,000 acres in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah....
Old law drives push to open roads In Moffat County, commissioners have claimed 240 miles of roads on federal lands as county rights of way. Some of those roads travel through the Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge and Dinosaur National Monument. In Utah, county commissioners have opened Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Study Areas to off-road vehicles in such popular recreation areas as Behind the Rocks, near Moab; and Arch Canyon, Grand Gulch and Cedar Mesa, southwest of Blanding. Counties across the country have laid claim to roadways on federal lands under a historic law passed after the Civil War to encourage settlement of the western frontier. They’ve also used it to foil private property owners’ attempts to block access to public lands. Revised Statute 2477 is a one-sentence provision of the Lode Mining Act of 1866, whose simple language has created a hornet’s nest of interpretation that is buzzing across the West....
Businesses sue California over salmon Timber, cattle and other business interests are suing California over the state's protections for coho salmon, a legal fight that could determine how river ecosystems are managed across much of northern California. The lawsuit alleges the California Fish and Game Commission did not have sufficient data on coho populations before enacting the protections and that the rules unnecessarily duplicate federal law. The commission added coho salmon from San Francisco to Punta Gorda in Humboldt County to the state's "endangered" list last August. Coho from Punta Gorda to the Oregon border were listed as "threatened."....
Owl study tips scale for court An unpublished "progress report" on northern spotted owls in an area burned by the Timbered Rock fire helped environmentalists land their first success in blocking old-growth salvage logging under the Healthy Forests Initiative. A federal judge Monday cited the 14-page memo on the threatened owls as one of two main reasons for blocking the 6.1 million-acre salvage sale within the 2004 Sims fire on the Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California. The memo from Oregon State University researchers to Bureau of Land Management biologists reveals that radio-telemetry tracking of five spotted owls in winter 2003-04 showed they frequented lands that were moderately and severely burned during the 2002 Timbered Rock fire....
Wyo goes it alone on wolf delisting Wyoming officials are preparing to petition the federal government to remove wolves from Endangered Species Act protection, the state Game and Fish Department said late Wednesday afternoon. The move continues the state's battle with federal officials over how wolves should be managed outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. In essence, it seeks to force the hand of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has rejected Wyoming's plan for managing the animals once they're removed from the threatened and endangered species list. The state's plan would classify wolves as trophy game in areas of northwest Wyoming the state considers suitable wolf habitat. Outside those areas they would be considered predators that could be shot on sight. "Removing (wolves) from the endangered species list will allow the state of Wyoming to assume management of wolves within its borders and keep populations at a level that makes sense for Wyoming while also maintaining a recovered population," Game and Fish Department Director Terry Cleveland said in a press release....
Biologist who fought for panthers reinstated For six years biologist Andy Eller reviewed development permits to make sure that subdivisions built in the western Everglades would not wipe out habitat for the endangered Florida panther. But Eller's bosses at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overruled him and developers went around him, even calling Florida's U.S. senators to get approval for projects. Last year, Eller blew the whistle. He filed a formal complaint charging that the Fish and Wildlife Service was using flawed science and that its failure to oppose developers was jeopardizing the panther. He got fired. Three months ago, the Fish and Wildlife Service conceded he was right after all, and its science was flawed. On Wednesday, the 46-year-old Eller was reinstated....
Pombo on verge of unveiling new species law According to Brian Kennedy, Pombo's Committee press secretary, the bill will include money or tax breaks for property owners who lose financially due to ESA enforcement, as well as a greater role for states and more rigorous demands on planners for species recovery. Pombo's name may or may not be on the bill, Kennedy said. Such legislation has long been expected. It comes in the wake of the defeat of two bills in the previous congressional session. Rep. Dennis Cardoza's, D-Merced, Critical Habitat Reform Act would have forced the Fish and Wildlife Service to give greater weight to economic factors when it designates critical habitat. Rep. Greg Walden's, R-Ore., Endangered Species Data Quality Act would have changed the standards for what types of scientific measurements can be used in designation habitat. "I can't tell you about the language, but the spirit of both will be included in the bigger package," Kennedy said....
Monument road dispute may lead to legal action against Kane County The Interior Department has asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to take legal action against Kane County for defiantly posting signs inside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and tearing down signs closing roads on federal land. The request puts the ball in the court of U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner. It has been pending with his office for several weeks, and a spokeswoman declined to say when action might be taken. The Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management have been under pressure from environmental groups and others to take action against Kane County. In a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton last month, Sen. Richard Durbin requested information on what action the department would take against Kane County, and warned he could block the Senate confirmation of the department's No. 2 official if the response was unsatisfactory....
Utah sues feds over Emery County road closures Add yet another installment to the ongoing battle between the state and the federal government over who controls Utah's back roads. The Utah Attorney General's Office on Wednesday filed suit against the Department of Interior over seven road closures imposed by the Bureau of Land Management in and around the San Rafael Swell in Emery County. Two of the roads were closed more than a decade ago because they were in a wilderness study area established by Congress in 1991. The other five were closed as part of the San Rafael Swell travel plan, a designated route system for off-highway vehicles (OHVs) that was finalized by the BLM in 2003. The state and the county are claiming the roads under the federal law known as Revised Statute 2477, which dates back to 1866 and granted public rights-of-way across federal land. The law was repealed in 1976, but existing roads were grandfathered in....
Advocates say legislation puts wild horses at risk Wild horse advocates, rallying Wednesday in Carson City for full federal protection of the animals, said recent legislation designed to help mustangs likely would do more harm than good. The protesters said legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and supported by three other members of the state’s congressional delegation, would put more animals at risk of winding up at slaughterhouses and on dinner plates in Europe and Canada. Reid’s legislation, introduced June 20, would lower the adoption fee for wild horses and burros from $125 to $25, eliminate the adoption limit of four horses per year and provide one year of federal protection to horses sold to private owners through the Bureau of Land Management....
Clarke cleared in land swap A nearly two-year investigation into Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke's role in the aborted San Rafael land exchange has cleared the Utah native of wrongdoing. Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney initiated the investigation in August 2003 after identifying 14 meetings or contacts with parties involved in the Utah land exchange. The discussions could have violated the recusal agreement that Clarke, who had been director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, entered into to prevent conflicts of interest....
Feds buying Trinity water for Klamath again The federal government is spending $618,000 to buy Trinity River water as an insurance policy against a fish kill on the Klamath River. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation expects to sign an agreement soon with a slate of contractors it identified as the Sacramento River Exchange Group. It would buy 20,000 acre feet -- 6.5 billion gallons -- for about $30 an acre foot. "We've isolated a hunk of water and we've got a handshake," said bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken. A subcommittee of the Trinity Management Council will meet this week to determine what would trigger the release this fall. The size of the salmon run, the flows in the lower river, and the incidence of disease will all be considered....
Editorial: A Parched River Should Southern Californians be bothered that long stretches of the San Joaquin River, hundreds of miles away, run dry every summer and fall as farmers take all the water to irrigate their crops? Absolutely, if they care about the water they drink. As it descends from the Sierra, the river effectively dies for much of the year when it backs up behind Friant Dam north of Fresno. The water is diverted north and south along the east side of the San Joaquin Valley via irrigation canals. About 60 miles of the river go dry. It does pick up some flow from tributaries to the north, but that water is overwhelmed by polluted irrigation runoff. Victims of this shallow, foul stew include the historic salmon run up the San Joaquin. Ultimately, it flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and out to San Francisco Bay. A U.S. district judge ruled last year that the federal Bureau of Reclamation had violated a state fish and game law by allowing the river to go dry. A 1937 law requires dam operators to release enough water downstream to maintain the existing fisheries. The case is set for full trial next spring. A major unanswered question is how to find replacement water for the farmers if some of their supply has to remain in the stream....
Court keeps ban on pesticide use near salmon streams A federal appeals court has upheld a ban on the use of pesticides near streams in Washington, Oregon and California until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determines the chemicals won't harm salmon. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle ruled in January 2004 that no-spray buffer zones be put in place near rivers where there are threatened and endangered salmon. The EPA, pesticide makers and farming groups appealed, arguing, among other things, that a coalition of environmental groups had not proved that dozens of pesticides in question would cause irreparable harm. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument. It also dismissed the EPA's contention that it shouldn't have to comply with the Endangered Species Act because it was already working to comply with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act....
Senate Approves Ban on Human Pesticide Testing The Senate voted to block the Environmental Protection Agency from using studies that expose people to pesticides when considering permits for new pest killers. By a 60-37 vote, the Senate approved a provision from Sen. Barbara Boxer (search), D-Calif., that would block the EPA from relying on such testing -- including 24 human pesticide experiments currently under review -- as it approves or denies pesticide applications. The Bush administration lifted a moratorium imposed in 1998 by the Clinton administration on using human testing for pesticide approvals. Under the change, political appointees are refereeing on a case-by-case basis any ethical disputes over human testing. Ordinarily, approval by both House and Senate would ensure the language is retained in the final version of the bill. But GOP floor manager Conrad Burns, R-Mont., opposed Boxer's amendment, and as lead Senate negotiator on the bill, is well-positioned to kill it in future talks with the House. Burns countered with an amendment, adopted 57-40, in favor of careful human testing. It instructs the EPA to try to make sure any human testing is conducted ethically and that the benefits outweigh the risks to volunteers....
Little britches produces local success When the Little Britches rodeo comes to Craig, there are quite a few "Back when I was in Little Britches" stories the annual event elicits. "Craig seems to always have a lot of World Champions," said Diane Brannan, coordinator of the Craig rodeo. "There are quite a few World Champions who are now parents and helping their children in the rodeos." Three sisters, Janice Vernon, Joyce Barnes and Pam Taylor, were all Little Britches cowgirls growing up. "You want it more for them than you did when you were little," said Joyce, whose son, Casey, won the Little Wrangler All-Around World Championship last year. She was a World Champion in pole bending and goat tying....
Whose Name Is on It? South Dakota's Casey Tibbs and Idaho's Deb Copenhaver won eight saddle-bronc-riding world championships from 1949 to 1959. Casey won six, and Deb won two. They were good friends and argued in fun, razzing each other almost constantly, although many thought they were serious. After retiring from bronc riding, Casey once commented, ³The only horse that I ever thought I couldn't ride was Miss Klamath." One of the finest saddle-bronc photos ever taken was of Deb, a wonderful bronc-rider, successfully riding that great horse, which was owned by Christianson Brothers, in 1952 at the Ellensburg, Washington, rodeo. In 1954, Deb had a huge lead for the championship title. The trophy-buckle maker that year used the aforementioned photo as a model for the scene on the yet-to-be-awarded championship buckle. That fall, Casey ³hit a lick" and got hot. He edged out Deb for the championship buckle by $19. After the championship awards ceremony in Denver, Colorado, that winter, Deb saw Casey and asked, ³Hey, do you know who's picture is on that buckle you're wearing?" Casey replied, ³No, and I don't care. But I do know whose name is on it!"....
Towering above the competition Tucked away behind the trees and homes on U.S. 82 sits KSEY-FM, a radio station that has been serving its hometown of Seymour since 1981. Cowboys on horseback are painted on the little white brick building, and the door stands open, welcoming in the hot air and four dogs that come and go as they please. Loretta Lynn's "One's on the Way" pours from the control room as station owner and manager Mark Aulabaugh sits behind his desk and smokes a cigarette. But this little hometown radio station is much more than it seems. KSEY 94.3 began streaming its programming on the Internet two months ago and was selected by the Academy of Western Artists as the 2004 "Radio Station of the Year." KSEY plays Western swing and honky tonk music. The station doesn't play anything from Nashville, Aulabaugh said, unless it "sounds old."....
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Arizona wildfire now at 172,800 acres but but still far from towns A lightning-sparked brush fire had grown to 172,800 acres by Wednesday night as it continued to push into central Arizona. Fire crews were conducting burnout operations along east and west flanks trying to prevent flames from growing closer to three small communities north of here. The fire was burning about 20 miles southwest of the mountain communities of Pine and Strawberry and 12 miles from the point when evacuations may be necessary. It was as close as 6 miles to Black Canyon City, a community of about 4,500 just 45 miles north of Phoenix, but wasn't considered an imminent threat to structures there. About 1,600 people were fighting the fire, which was 40 percent contained on the south zone Wednesday night but zero percent contained on the north zone. Fire spokesman Dave Killebrew said the south zone of the fire was at 167,000 acres with the north zone at 5,800 acres. The National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday that 22 active large fires in the West were burning across more than 905,000 acres in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah....
Old law drives push to open roads In Moffat County, commissioners have claimed 240 miles of roads on federal lands as county rights of way. Some of those roads travel through the Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge and Dinosaur National Monument. In Utah, county commissioners have opened Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Study Areas to off-road vehicles in such popular recreation areas as Behind the Rocks, near Moab; and Arch Canyon, Grand Gulch and Cedar Mesa, southwest of Blanding. Counties across the country have laid claim to roadways on federal lands under a historic law passed after the Civil War to encourage settlement of the western frontier. They’ve also used it to foil private property owners’ attempts to block access to public lands. Revised Statute 2477 is a one-sentence provision of the Lode Mining Act of 1866, whose simple language has created a hornet’s nest of interpretation that is buzzing across the West....
Businesses sue California over salmon Timber, cattle and other business interests are suing California over the state's protections for coho salmon, a legal fight that could determine how river ecosystems are managed across much of northern California. The lawsuit alleges the California Fish and Game Commission did not have sufficient data on coho populations before enacting the protections and that the rules unnecessarily duplicate federal law. The commission added coho salmon from San Francisco to Punta Gorda in Humboldt County to the state's "endangered" list last August. Coho from Punta Gorda to the Oregon border were listed as "threatened."....
Owl study tips scale for court An unpublished "progress report" on northern spotted owls in an area burned by the Timbered Rock fire helped environmentalists land their first success in blocking old-growth salvage logging under the Healthy Forests Initiative. A federal judge Monday cited the 14-page memo on the threatened owls as one of two main reasons for blocking the 6.1 million-acre salvage sale within the 2004 Sims fire on the Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California. The memo from Oregon State University researchers to Bureau of Land Management biologists reveals that radio-telemetry tracking of five spotted owls in winter 2003-04 showed they frequented lands that were moderately and severely burned during the 2002 Timbered Rock fire....
Wyo goes it alone on wolf delisting Wyoming officials are preparing to petition the federal government to remove wolves from Endangered Species Act protection, the state Game and Fish Department said late Wednesday afternoon. The move continues the state's battle with federal officials over how wolves should be managed outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. In essence, it seeks to force the hand of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has rejected Wyoming's plan for managing the animals once they're removed from the threatened and endangered species list. The state's plan would classify wolves as trophy game in areas of northwest Wyoming the state considers suitable wolf habitat. Outside those areas they would be considered predators that could be shot on sight. "Removing (wolves) from the endangered species list will allow the state of Wyoming to assume management of wolves within its borders and keep populations at a level that makes sense for Wyoming while also maintaining a recovered population," Game and Fish Department Director Terry Cleveland said in a press release....
Biologist who fought for panthers reinstated For six years biologist Andy Eller reviewed development permits to make sure that subdivisions built in the western Everglades would not wipe out habitat for the endangered Florida panther. But Eller's bosses at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overruled him and developers went around him, even calling Florida's U.S. senators to get approval for projects. Last year, Eller blew the whistle. He filed a formal complaint charging that the Fish and Wildlife Service was using flawed science and that its failure to oppose developers was jeopardizing the panther. He got fired. Three months ago, the Fish and Wildlife Service conceded he was right after all, and its science was flawed. On Wednesday, the 46-year-old Eller was reinstated....
Pombo on verge of unveiling new species law According to Brian Kennedy, Pombo's Committee press secretary, the bill will include money or tax breaks for property owners who lose financially due to ESA enforcement, as well as a greater role for states and more rigorous demands on planners for species recovery. Pombo's name may or may not be on the bill, Kennedy said. Such legislation has long been expected. It comes in the wake of the defeat of two bills in the previous congressional session. Rep. Dennis Cardoza's, D-Merced, Critical Habitat Reform Act would have forced the Fish and Wildlife Service to give greater weight to economic factors when it designates critical habitat. Rep. Greg Walden's, R-Ore., Endangered Species Data Quality Act would have changed the standards for what types of scientific measurements can be used in designation habitat. "I can't tell you about the language, but the spirit of both will be included in the bigger package," Kennedy said....
Monument road dispute may lead to legal action against Kane County The Interior Department has asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to take legal action against Kane County for defiantly posting signs inside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and tearing down signs closing roads on federal land. The request puts the ball in the court of U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner. It has been pending with his office for several weeks, and a spokeswoman declined to say when action might be taken. The Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management have been under pressure from environmental groups and others to take action against Kane County. In a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton last month, Sen. Richard Durbin requested information on what action the department would take against Kane County, and warned he could block the Senate confirmation of the department's No. 2 official if the response was unsatisfactory....
Utah sues feds over Emery County road closures Add yet another installment to the ongoing battle between the state and the federal government over who controls Utah's back roads. The Utah Attorney General's Office on Wednesday filed suit against the Department of Interior over seven road closures imposed by the Bureau of Land Management in and around the San Rafael Swell in Emery County. Two of the roads were closed more than a decade ago because they were in a wilderness study area established by Congress in 1991. The other five were closed as part of the San Rafael Swell travel plan, a designated route system for off-highway vehicles (OHVs) that was finalized by the BLM in 2003. The state and the county are claiming the roads under the federal law known as Revised Statute 2477, which dates back to 1866 and granted public rights-of-way across federal land. The law was repealed in 1976, but existing roads were grandfathered in....
Advocates say legislation puts wild horses at risk Wild horse advocates, rallying Wednesday in Carson City for full federal protection of the animals, said recent legislation designed to help mustangs likely would do more harm than good. The protesters said legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and supported by three other members of the state’s congressional delegation, would put more animals at risk of winding up at slaughterhouses and on dinner plates in Europe and Canada. Reid’s legislation, introduced June 20, would lower the adoption fee for wild horses and burros from $125 to $25, eliminate the adoption limit of four horses per year and provide one year of federal protection to horses sold to private owners through the Bureau of Land Management....
Clarke cleared in land swap A nearly two-year investigation into Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke's role in the aborted San Rafael land exchange has cleared the Utah native of wrongdoing. Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney initiated the investigation in August 2003 after identifying 14 meetings or contacts with parties involved in the Utah land exchange. The discussions could have violated the recusal agreement that Clarke, who had been director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, entered into to prevent conflicts of interest....
Feds buying Trinity water for Klamath again The federal government is spending $618,000 to buy Trinity River water as an insurance policy against a fish kill on the Klamath River. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation expects to sign an agreement soon with a slate of contractors it identified as the Sacramento River Exchange Group. It would buy 20,000 acre feet -- 6.5 billion gallons -- for about $30 an acre foot. "We've isolated a hunk of water and we've got a handshake," said bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken. A subcommittee of the Trinity Management Council will meet this week to determine what would trigger the release this fall. The size of the salmon run, the flows in the lower river, and the incidence of disease will all be considered....
Editorial: A Parched River Should Southern Californians be bothered that long stretches of the San Joaquin River, hundreds of miles away, run dry every summer and fall as farmers take all the water to irrigate their crops? Absolutely, if they care about the water they drink. As it descends from the Sierra, the river effectively dies for much of the year when it backs up behind Friant Dam north of Fresno. The water is diverted north and south along the east side of the San Joaquin Valley via irrigation canals. About 60 miles of the river go dry. It does pick up some flow from tributaries to the north, but that water is overwhelmed by polluted irrigation runoff. Victims of this shallow, foul stew include the historic salmon run up the San Joaquin. Ultimately, it flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and out to San Francisco Bay. A U.S. district judge ruled last year that the federal Bureau of Reclamation had violated a state fish and game law by allowing the river to go dry. A 1937 law requires dam operators to release enough water downstream to maintain the existing fisheries. The case is set for full trial next spring. A major unanswered question is how to find replacement water for the farmers if some of their supply has to remain in the stream....
Court keeps ban on pesticide use near salmon streams A federal appeals court has upheld a ban on the use of pesticides near streams in Washington, Oregon and California until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determines the chemicals won't harm salmon. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle ruled in January 2004 that no-spray buffer zones be put in place near rivers where there are threatened and endangered salmon. The EPA, pesticide makers and farming groups appealed, arguing, among other things, that a coalition of environmental groups had not proved that dozens of pesticides in question would cause irreparable harm. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument. It also dismissed the EPA's contention that it shouldn't have to comply with the Endangered Species Act because it was already working to comply with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act....
Senate Approves Ban on Human Pesticide Testing The Senate voted to block the Environmental Protection Agency from using studies that expose people to pesticides when considering permits for new pest killers. By a 60-37 vote, the Senate approved a provision from Sen. Barbara Boxer (search), D-Calif., that would block the EPA from relying on such testing -- including 24 human pesticide experiments currently under review -- as it approves or denies pesticide applications. The Bush administration lifted a moratorium imposed in 1998 by the Clinton administration on using human testing for pesticide approvals. Under the change, political appointees are refereeing on a case-by-case basis any ethical disputes over human testing. Ordinarily, approval by both House and Senate would ensure the language is retained in the final version of the bill. But GOP floor manager Conrad Burns, R-Mont., opposed Boxer's amendment, and as lead Senate negotiator on the bill, is well-positioned to kill it in future talks with the House. Burns countered with an amendment, adopted 57-40, in favor of careful human testing. It instructs the EPA to try to make sure any human testing is conducted ethically and that the benefits outweigh the risks to volunteers....
Little britches produces local success When the Little Britches rodeo comes to Craig, there are quite a few "Back when I was in Little Britches" stories the annual event elicits. "Craig seems to always have a lot of World Champions," said Diane Brannan, coordinator of the Craig rodeo. "There are quite a few World Champions who are now parents and helping their children in the rodeos." Three sisters, Janice Vernon, Joyce Barnes and Pam Taylor, were all Little Britches cowgirls growing up. "You want it more for them than you did when you were little," said Joyce, whose son, Casey, won the Little Wrangler All-Around World Championship last year. She was a World Champion in pole bending and goat tying....
Whose Name Is on It? South Dakota's Casey Tibbs and Idaho's Deb Copenhaver won eight saddle-bronc-riding world championships from 1949 to 1959. Casey won six, and Deb won two. They were good friends and argued in fun, razzing each other almost constantly, although many thought they were serious. After retiring from bronc riding, Casey once commented, ³The only horse that I ever thought I couldn't ride was Miss Klamath." One of the finest saddle-bronc photos ever taken was of Deb, a wonderful bronc-rider, successfully riding that great horse, which was owned by Christianson Brothers, in 1952 at the Ellensburg, Washington, rodeo. In 1954, Deb had a huge lead for the championship title. The trophy-buckle maker that year used the aforementioned photo as a model for the scene on the yet-to-be-awarded championship buckle. That fall, Casey ³hit a lick" and got hot. He edged out Deb for the championship buckle by $19. After the championship awards ceremony in Denver, Colorado, that winter, Deb saw Casey and asked, ³Hey, do you know who's picture is on that buckle you're wearing?" Casey replied, ³No, and I don't care. But I do know whose name is on it!"....
Towering above the competition Tucked away behind the trees and homes on U.S. 82 sits KSEY-FM, a radio station that has been serving its hometown of Seymour since 1981. Cowboys on horseback are painted on the little white brick building, and the door stands open, welcoming in the hot air and four dogs that come and go as they please. Loretta Lynn's "One's on the Way" pours from the control room as station owner and manager Mark Aulabaugh sits behind his desk and smokes a cigarette. But this little hometown radio station is much more than it seems. KSEY 94.3 began streaming its programming on the Internet two months ago and was selected by the Academy of Western Artists as the 2004 "Radio Station of the Year." KSEY plays Western swing and honky tonk music. The station doesn't play anything from Nashville, Aulabaugh said, unless it "sounds old."....
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Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Pols Seek to Tighten Eminent Domain Rules
Reaction continues to reverberate on Capitol Hill in response to the Supreme Court's ruling that local governments may take private property for private economic development that could benefit the community as a whole. Lawmakers are considering a new legislative effort to curb some of the effects of that decision. In the case decided last week, Kelo argued these business projects don't amount to "public use," but the high court in an opinion authored by Justice John Paul Stevens (search) disagreed, finding the goal of "economic development" can justify these seizures. "For people that believe in private property, this is a nightmare," said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. Four members of the U.S. Supreme Court said the ruling flies in the face of "basic limitations on government power," and the ruling outraged private landowners, prompting cries for legislation to protect them. On Monday, Sen. John Cornyn (search), R-Texas, obliged. "This power to seize homes, small businesses, and other private property should be reserved only for true public uses. Most importantly, the power of eminent domain should not be used simply to further private economic development," Cornyn said in introducing legislation. The high court did acknowledge that states are welcome to set tougher standards for government takings than the baseline in the Constitution, emphasizing that "nothing in our opinion precludes any state from placing further restrictions on its exercise of the takings power." Cornyn's bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (search), D-Fla., does attempt to encourage states to pass comparable laws if they haven't already done so. A similar bill was introduced in the House on Tuesday by Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont. But Turley and others question whether Cornyn's bill, purporting to change the federal law, will really do any good. "The vast majority of these cases involve local and state officials. They're not federal questions, and Congress cannot restrict the use of eminent domain on a local level," he said.
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Reaction continues to reverberate on Capitol Hill in response to the Supreme Court's ruling that local governments may take private property for private economic development that could benefit the community as a whole. Lawmakers are considering a new legislative effort to curb some of the effects of that decision. In the case decided last week, Kelo argued these business projects don't amount to "public use," but the high court in an opinion authored by Justice John Paul Stevens (search) disagreed, finding the goal of "economic development" can justify these seizures. "For people that believe in private property, this is a nightmare," said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. Four members of the U.S. Supreme Court said the ruling flies in the face of "basic limitations on government power," and the ruling outraged private landowners, prompting cries for legislation to protect them. On Monday, Sen. John Cornyn (search), R-Texas, obliged. "This power to seize homes, small businesses, and other private property should be reserved only for true public uses. Most importantly, the power of eminent domain should not be used simply to further private economic development," Cornyn said in introducing legislation. The high court did acknowledge that states are welcome to set tougher standards for government takings than the baseline in the Constitution, emphasizing that "nothing in our opinion precludes any state from placing further restrictions on its exercise of the takings power." Cornyn's bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (search), D-Fla., does attempt to encourage states to pass comparable laws if they haven't already done so. A similar bill was introduced in the House on Tuesday by Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont. But Turley and others question whether Cornyn's bill, purporting to change the federal law, will really do any good. "The vast majority of these cases involve local and state officials. They're not federal questions, and Congress cannot restrict the use of eminent domain on a local level," he said.
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MAD COW DISEASE
Second Case of Mad Cow Traced to Texas
The second U.S. case of mad cow disease was a cow from Texas killed last November, two government officials said Wednesday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Agriculture Department planned an announcement later, said USDA officials traced the infected cow to a rendering plant for animals unfit for human consumption. The cow, a "downer" that could not walk was more than 8 years old when it arrived at the plant, Agriculture Department officials have said, meaning it could have contracted the disease through animal feed that included cow parts. The United States banned using cattle parts in such feed since 1997 following an outbreak of mad cow disease in Britain. Eating the brain and other nervous tissue of an animal with the brain-wasting ailment is the only confirmed way the disease is transmitted. The Agriculture Department confirmed the case on Friday but had to wait for DNA analysis to confirm the cow's origin. Tracing the cow proved difficult the animal's breed was mislabeled and its tissues got mixed with parts from other cows. It was killed at a pet food plant....
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Second Case of Mad Cow Traced to Texas
The second U.S. case of mad cow disease was a cow from Texas killed last November, two government officials said Wednesday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Agriculture Department planned an announcement later, said USDA officials traced the infected cow to a rendering plant for animals unfit for human consumption. The cow, a "downer" that could not walk was more than 8 years old when it arrived at the plant, Agriculture Department officials have said, meaning it could have contracted the disease through animal feed that included cow parts. The United States banned using cattle parts in such feed since 1997 following an outbreak of mad cow disease in Britain. Eating the brain and other nervous tissue of an animal with the brain-wasting ailment is the only confirmed way the disease is transmitted. The Agriculture Department confirmed the case on Friday but had to wait for DNA analysis to confirm the cow's origin. Tracing the cow proved difficult the animal's breed was mislabeled and its tissues got mixed with parts from other cows. It was killed at a pet food plant....
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NEWS
Testimony: The Vital Importance of the Endangered Species Act For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has sounded the alarm whenever wildlife faces extinction. Today, we have wolves in Yellowstone, manatees in Florida, and sea otters in California, largely because of the Act. We can still see bald eagles in the lower 48 states and other magnificent creatures like the peregrine falcon, the American alligator, and California condors, largely because of the Act. Indeed, there can be no denying that, with the Endangered Species Act’s help, hundreds of species have been rescued from the catastrophic permanence of extinction. Many have seen their populations stabilized; some have actually seen their populations grow. Some have even benefited from comprehensive recovery and habitat conservation efforts to the point where they no longer need the protections of the Act. In so many ways, Congress was prescient in the original construction of the Endangered Species Act. First, it crafted an Act that spoke specifically to the value - tangible and intangible - of conserving species for future generations, a key point sometimes lost in today’s discussions....
Feds kill wolves in Wyoming Wildlife officials have killed a female wolf and four pups outside Farson, after the wolves killed 13 pregnant ewes over two nights. Mike Jimenez, Wyoming wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the wolves killed seven ewes the first night -- about June 7, according to sheep owner Jim Magagna. Officers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services were sent to trap and collar the wolves. But the next night, the wolves killed six more ewes, and Jimenez said a decision was made to kill whatever wolves were in the area. The area is about 35 miles northeast of Farson in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains. Wildlife Services officers caught the female, found her den and killed the mother and four pups last week. A male wolf -- also seen in the area in April -- was not found and did not come back to the den site, which Jimenez said was "not typical."....
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS OPPOSE GRAZING DECISION ON THE SANTA FE NATIONAL FOREST Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity today appealed a decision on the Santa Fe National Forest which would permit continued livestock grazing in fragile wetland areas and in areas with outstanding archeological resources. The Decision Notice for the San Diego Range Project failed to adequately protect areas within the forest that provide habitat for the bald eagle, the Mexican spotted owl, the northern goshawk, the western yellow-billed cuckoo, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, the Rio Grande chub, and a host of other migratory and resident wildlife species. “We urged the forest to consider closing riparian areas to cattle, offering them time to recover from historical abuse,” said Greta Anderson, Grazing Reform Program Coordinator at the Tucson–based Center for Biological Diversity. “The Forest knows that the cattle adversely impact wetland areas and the sensitive species that depend on them. This decision neglects the facts.” The allotment contains a large number of archeological resources, including ancestral Jemez Pueblo sites, but the Forest Service refused to protect all but a small portion of the known artifacts....
Column: Salmon find a judge who listens For more than 20 years, the fate of 13 threatened and endangered salmon stocks in the Pacific Northwest has been a contest between the status quo agenda of politicians and power producers and a legacy of the Nixon era, the Endangered Species Act. A few months ago, many of us in the press who have been following the salmon story predicted that the Bush administration's long awaited recovery plan would end up as confetti in a judicial paper shredder. And so it has. U.S. District Court Judge James Redden ruled three weeks ago that the Bush plan violates federal law on four counts and amounts to a "shameless assault on the Endangered Species Act." Judge Redden's mounting frustration was evident June 10 when he convened warring stakeholders to his courtroom in Portland, Ore. A no-nonsense man who seems keenly aware that the clock is ticking toward extinction for salmon, Redden characterized the new Bush plan as "an exercise in cynicism." Then he delivered the bombshell he'd held in reserve....
BP to talk about well expansion La Plata County will host two public forums this week to address community concerns about a BP proposal to double the number of wellheads on 65 square miles south of U.S. Highway 160 between Durango and Bayfield. Representatives from the multinational gas giant will deliver a presentation to property owners and community members on the planned coal-bed methane wells Tuesday evening in Bayfield and Wednesday evening in Durango. BP officials and county representatives also will field questions at five separate booths. Each booth will address what BP calls an "area of community interest," said Dan Larson, a company spokesman. Those topics are drilling techniques, well pads, major facilities, the environment and land, he said....
Senate Passes Bill That Strives to Balance Oil and Alternatives The Senate overwhelmingly passed broad energy legislation on Tuesday, with its authors hoping the bill strikes a balance between traditional and alternative sources of power that can break a four-year Congressional stalemate over energy policy. By a bipartisan vote of 85 to 12, the Senate approved a bill that includes $14 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas production as well as development of wind, solar and other emerging energy sources. It also rewards buyers of energy-efficient appliances and hybrid cars. The measure includes an additional $36 billion in energy-related projects, though many of them will require additional approval by Congress. The shape of the Senate measure sets up a clash with the House, which has already passed its own version emphasizing increased domestic oil and gas production. The House also included a controversial plan to grant product liability immunity to producers of the gasoline additive MTBE, which has polluted groundwater around the nation. The White House also objects to parts of the Senate bill, challenging its cost and its plan to require utilities to use more renewable fuels to generate electricity....
NOAA Scientists Say Reports Altered Many scientists at NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for balancing hydroelectric dams against endangered salmon, say they know of cases where scientific findings were altered at the request of commercial interests, according to a survey released Tuesday by two watchdog groups. The survey was conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The survey posed 34 questions and was sent to 460 NOAA Fisheries scientists across the country. Responses came back from 124, or 27 percent. "The conclusion is that political interference is a serious problem at NOAA Fisheries," Lexis Schulz, Washington representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said from Washington....
Salmon: Protect the evidence Sen. Larry Craig is illuminating the debate around saving fish. The Idaho Republican is making it clear that the opponents of salmon protection feel no need for the light of facts. Indeed, Craig is trying to eliminate scientific evidence of what is happening to fish in the Columbia River system. A Senate appropriations bill includes report language intended to kill an agency that has been collecting data on the survival of salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers. The effect of Craig's language would be to make it difficult or impossible for the Bonneville Power Administration to continue funding the vital work of the tiny, 11-person Fish Passage Center in Portland. Craig and others are angry about recent federal court rulings protecting endangered fish. The center's work has helped make clear the serious problems salmon still face....
Bear returned to wild after Tucson romp With a sharp poke to the posterior, a 350-pound black bear scampered into the scrub of central Arizona on Monday, chasing after a second chance at life in the wild. The bear, an adult male estimated to be 15 years old, was captured nearly three weeks ago in an east Tucson neighborhood after he had wandered down from the Santa Catalina Mountains, traipsed through some yards and ended up tumbling into a backyard swimming pool. Treated for a broken tooth suffered in the capture melee and tranquilized for the trip north, the bear was released far from his southern Arizona haunt in the hopes of preventing future incursions into urban areas....
Preserve for endangered fly dedicated Calling it the wave of the future for endangered species protections, federal wildlife officials on Monday helped dedicate a 150-acre field in Colton as a permanent preserve for an endangered fly. Some developers who have been stymied by protections for the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly will buy credits to help manage the preserve so their projects can go forward. It is the first conservation bank for the insect, although a few banks exist for other Inland species. "We hope and anticipate the new enterprise will be a big payoff to you," Mike Fris, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's regional program manger for endangered species, said to Colton officials at the ceremony....
Report reveals cost of critical habitat designation The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday that conservation for 15 vernal pool species will affect $992 million in economic activity over the next 20 years, with 97 percent of that relating to lost development opportunities. A press release from the Fish and Wildlife Service defines "critical habitat" as "geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations or protections." The critical habitat designation covers 740,000 acres in California and one county in Oregon. Originally, the area of land would have covered about 1.2 million acres....
Feds, some Rainbow members make deal Federal prosecutors cut deals with several members of the Rainbow Family on Tuesday, allowing them to pay $30 or perform eight hours of community service without pleading guilty to violating a land-use permit rule in the Monongahela National Forest. The offer prompted free assembly advocate Scott Addison of St. Louis to call Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Warner “uniquely humane.’’ “This is one of the good guys,’’ he said. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Kaull held court in a small meeting room at the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center near Hillsboro, ushering through the first of about 145 defendants in groups of nine or fewer. The proceedings were expected to last all day with trials Tuesday afternoon for those who rejected the offer....
Wires could bring land battles Jerry Dilts is no stranger to energy development. When he flies over his cattle and sheep ranch in southern Campbell County he can spot a railroad in the vicinity, several power lines and even some oil and gas wells. In most cases, when an oil and gas company or power company wants to cross his land, Dilts can negotiate an agreeable route. So when Basin Electric Power Cooperative asked to cross the ranch with its "Carr Draw" 230,000-kilovolt line to accommodate the coal-bed methane industry, he insisted that it remain within an existing easement. But Basin insisted on another route, Dilts said. He and several neighbors suspected the company preferred crossing private land than navigate the public process of crossing federal lands in the area. So they took up a legal fight that is still under consideration by the Wyoming Supreme Court....
Editorial: Wolf return one step closer The long, slow effort to rebuild wolf populations in Montana took another step toward a successful conclusion last week when the federal government turned over control to the state. The Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks will begin handling day-to-day management duties formerly conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — still under the watchful eyes of the feds, but finally in charge. Montana is the furthest along in the region, which includes Idaho and Wyoming. Wyoming, holding out for much more relaxed rules for shooting wolves as predators, has been acting as a brake on the whole process for several years. Wyoming, of course, is the least urban of states in the region, and it remains steeped in the rural agricultural mindset that sees wolves as a rancher's most implacable enemy....
Mountain lions have arrived, biologists say Biologists and Game and Fish Department officials believe North Dakota may have acquired a population of mountain lions over the past few years, though they are not sure of the numbers. Mike Oehler, a Theodore Roosevelt National Park biologist, said he is "convinced we have resident lions." Both men say the animals' nocturnal nature, and the fact that home to a lion often covers hundreds of square miles, make them difficult to count. Ranchers and hunters report animals in the Badlands area that were likely lion kills. Oehler said park rangers have come across "periodic kills and tracks occasionally," but he has no idea of the actual number of lions in the area. Game and Fish Department biologist Doro-thy Fecske said earlier that there were 67 cougar sightings in North Dakota last year, but only seven were confirmed. Last week, two mountain bikers said a lion shadowed them along the Maah Daah Hey trail in southwestern North Dakota. They escaped injury after throwing rocks and sticks and screaming at the cougar, and using their bicycles as shields....
Solutions to water concerns a hard sell to rural residents Visit almost any rural Arizona community and you'll see evidence of how much people there think about water. Lawns and lush landscaping are rare. A permanent sign outside Pine communicates the status of water alerts. Cards in Payson restaurants explain why customers must ask for water and warn restroom patrons not to waste it. Rain gutters on homes and businesses in Chino Valley and Tusayan empty into collecting tanks that supply outdoor use. Rural Arizonans get it: There won't be enough water to go around if it's wasted, and there may not be enough anyway if the number of rural Arizonans keeps climbing. Not as clear is how to solve that problem, which isn't really a single problem but a wide range of them, each as distinct as the geography itself....
Hunters fight for desert 'guzzlers' A simmering battle over desert water tanks once used by range cattle is pitting hunting and wildlife groups against environmentalists. Hunters of big and small game in the Mojave National Preserve claim it is vital to retain artificial watering sites in a 600,000-acre area in Lanfair Valley, near Needles, but two environmental groups say the water holes actually will harm wildlife. Scores of hunters, wildlife advocates and conservationists gathered here Monday to include their views in an environmental assessment being prepared by the National Park Service....
Protesters target utility’s water-usage applications for planned power plant In an opening salvo in the fight over Sempra Energy’s proposed large coal-fired power plant near Gerlach, the state water engineer’s office has been flooded with protests over the first batch of water-use approvals sought for the plant. As of Monday’s deadline, the office has received 11 protests over Sempra’s first six applications to convert part of 25,000 acre-feet of water from agricultural to industrial use for the 1,450-megawatt power plant planned on the Smoke Creek Desert west of Gerlach, about 100 miles north of Reno. Of the water rights, 16,000 acre-feet would evaporate every year in cooling processes for the $2 billion power plant. Excess water rights are required because agricultural uses put some water back into the aquifer....
Appeals court keeps beef checkoff case alive A federal appeals court has kept alive a Montana challenge to the beef checkoff marketing fee, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that the government has the right to force beef producers to pay the fee. In a three-page order, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Shepherd-area ranchers Steve and Jeanne Charter can argue before a federal judge that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has wrongly tried to pass off the advertising as expressing the views of individual cattle producers. The nation's high court acknowledged in its May 23 decision that such an argument still could be made, the circuit court said....
New Case of Mad Cow Spurs Talk of Tracking The latest case of mad cow disease has brought new talk of a national livestock tracking system, something the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee says the beef industry can create more quickly than the government. The government is still trying to pinpoint the herd of the infected cow, a "downer" that could not walk and was at least 8 years old. The Agriculture Department, which confirmed the new case on Friday, is using DNA analysis because the cow's breed was mislabeled and its tissues got mixed with parts from other cows. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said a system to track the movements of the nation's 96 million cattle needs to be running "as soon as possible." The government's goal is to make a system mandatory by January 2009, but Goodlatte said the industry can create a tracking system more swiftly....
Book celebrates cooking over an open fire Forest rangers reigned as the camp cooking masters, says Beth King, editor of Camp Cooking: 100 Years (Gibbs Smith, $9.95), a new cookbook that celebrates the centennial this year of the Forest Service. When the agency was founded in 1905, rangers were asked to furnish their own supplies for the job, says King, a technical information specialist with the U.S. Forest Service office in Ogden. "The pay was about $60 a month and part of the job was furnishing two horses, one to ride, one to pack gear, a gun, a saddle and enough food for a few weeks." A ranger's food supplies were limited to flour, sugar, cured meats, dried beans, rice and a few canned items, according to the manuscript of noted ranger Sterling Righteous Justice, who started his career in 1908. Rangers slept in small teepees, which were light and could withstand any storm. And they carried small Dutch ovens for baking and cooking. Pay was $2.50 a day....
Rodeo's wild ride As we celebrate 229 years of independence July 4, bull riders, ropers and steer wrestlers across the country will observe an annual tradition of their own: "Cowboy Christmas," one of the rodeo circuit's richest weekends of the year. With 35 rodeos set to take place, competitors will vie for $1.4 million in prize money awarded in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sponsored events. Each year, about 24 million people go to rodeos; the sport ranks seventh in attendance, ahead of pro golf and tennis. Some 60 million more watch televised rodeo events. USA WEEKEND Magazine asked W.K. "Kipp" Stratton, 49, the author of the recent book "Chasing the Rodeo" (Harcourt, $25), to tell us why he loves the sport. "In the 1800s, you could create a destiny in the West, start a new life," he says. "The rodeo still holds that promise for people today. It's the only sport that grew out of our national myth of the West." Here's why Stratton says rodeos are worth a look....
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Testimony: The Vital Importance of the Endangered Species Act For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has sounded the alarm whenever wildlife faces extinction. Today, we have wolves in Yellowstone, manatees in Florida, and sea otters in California, largely because of the Act. We can still see bald eagles in the lower 48 states and other magnificent creatures like the peregrine falcon, the American alligator, and California condors, largely because of the Act. Indeed, there can be no denying that, with the Endangered Species Act’s help, hundreds of species have been rescued from the catastrophic permanence of extinction. Many have seen their populations stabilized; some have actually seen their populations grow. Some have even benefited from comprehensive recovery and habitat conservation efforts to the point where they no longer need the protections of the Act. In so many ways, Congress was prescient in the original construction of the Endangered Species Act. First, it crafted an Act that spoke specifically to the value - tangible and intangible - of conserving species for future generations, a key point sometimes lost in today’s discussions....
Feds kill wolves in Wyoming Wildlife officials have killed a female wolf and four pups outside Farson, after the wolves killed 13 pregnant ewes over two nights. Mike Jimenez, Wyoming wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the wolves killed seven ewes the first night -- about June 7, according to sheep owner Jim Magagna. Officers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services were sent to trap and collar the wolves. But the next night, the wolves killed six more ewes, and Jimenez said a decision was made to kill whatever wolves were in the area. The area is about 35 miles northeast of Farson in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains. Wildlife Services officers caught the female, found her den and killed the mother and four pups last week. A male wolf -- also seen in the area in April -- was not found and did not come back to the den site, which Jimenez said was "not typical."....
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS OPPOSE GRAZING DECISION ON THE SANTA FE NATIONAL FOREST Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity today appealed a decision on the Santa Fe National Forest which would permit continued livestock grazing in fragile wetland areas and in areas with outstanding archeological resources. The Decision Notice for the San Diego Range Project failed to adequately protect areas within the forest that provide habitat for the bald eagle, the Mexican spotted owl, the northern goshawk, the western yellow-billed cuckoo, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, the Rio Grande chub, and a host of other migratory and resident wildlife species. “We urged the forest to consider closing riparian areas to cattle, offering them time to recover from historical abuse,” said Greta Anderson, Grazing Reform Program Coordinator at the Tucson–based Center for Biological Diversity. “The Forest knows that the cattle adversely impact wetland areas and the sensitive species that depend on them. This decision neglects the facts.” The allotment contains a large number of archeological resources, including ancestral Jemez Pueblo sites, but the Forest Service refused to protect all but a small portion of the known artifacts....
Column: Salmon find a judge who listens For more than 20 years, the fate of 13 threatened and endangered salmon stocks in the Pacific Northwest has been a contest between the status quo agenda of politicians and power producers and a legacy of the Nixon era, the Endangered Species Act. A few months ago, many of us in the press who have been following the salmon story predicted that the Bush administration's long awaited recovery plan would end up as confetti in a judicial paper shredder. And so it has. U.S. District Court Judge James Redden ruled three weeks ago that the Bush plan violates federal law on four counts and amounts to a "shameless assault on the Endangered Species Act." Judge Redden's mounting frustration was evident June 10 when he convened warring stakeholders to his courtroom in Portland, Ore. A no-nonsense man who seems keenly aware that the clock is ticking toward extinction for salmon, Redden characterized the new Bush plan as "an exercise in cynicism." Then he delivered the bombshell he'd held in reserve....
BP to talk about well expansion La Plata County will host two public forums this week to address community concerns about a BP proposal to double the number of wellheads on 65 square miles south of U.S. Highway 160 between Durango and Bayfield. Representatives from the multinational gas giant will deliver a presentation to property owners and community members on the planned coal-bed methane wells Tuesday evening in Bayfield and Wednesday evening in Durango. BP officials and county representatives also will field questions at five separate booths. Each booth will address what BP calls an "area of community interest," said Dan Larson, a company spokesman. Those topics are drilling techniques, well pads, major facilities, the environment and land, he said....
Senate Passes Bill That Strives to Balance Oil and Alternatives The Senate overwhelmingly passed broad energy legislation on Tuesday, with its authors hoping the bill strikes a balance between traditional and alternative sources of power that can break a four-year Congressional stalemate over energy policy. By a bipartisan vote of 85 to 12, the Senate approved a bill that includes $14 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas production as well as development of wind, solar and other emerging energy sources. It also rewards buyers of energy-efficient appliances and hybrid cars. The measure includes an additional $36 billion in energy-related projects, though many of them will require additional approval by Congress. The shape of the Senate measure sets up a clash with the House, which has already passed its own version emphasizing increased domestic oil and gas production. The House also included a controversial plan to grant product liability immunity to producers of the gasoline additive MTBE, which has polluted groundwater around the nation. The White House also objects to parts of the Senate bill, challenging its cost and its plan to require utilities to use more renewable fuels to generate electricity....
NOAA Scientists Say Reports Altered Many scientists at NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for balancing hydroelectric dams against endangered salmon, say they know of cases where scientific findings were altered at the request of commercial interests, according to a survey released Tuesday by two watchdog groups. The survey was conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The survey posed 34 questions and was sent to 460 NOAA Fisheries scientists across the country. Responses came back from 124, or 27 percent. "The conclusion is that political interference is a serious problem at NOAA Fisheries," Lexis Schulz, Washington representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said from Washington....
Salmon: Protect the evidence Sen. Larry Craig is illuminating the debate around saving fish. The Idaho Republican is making it clear that the opponents of salmon protection feel no need for the light of facts. Indeed, Craig is trying to eliminate scientific evidence of what is happening to fish in the Columbia River system. A Senate appropriations bill includes report language intended to kill an agency that has been collecting data on the survival of salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers. The effect of Craig's language would be to make it difficult or impossible for the Bonneville Power Administration to continue funding the vital work of the tiny, 11-person Fish Passage Center in Portland. Craig and others are angry about recent federal court rulings protecting endangered fish. The center's work has helped make clear the serious problems salmon still face....
Bear returned to wild after Tucson romp With a sharp poke to the posterior, a 350-pound black bear scampered into the scrub of central Arizona on Monday, chasing after a second chance at life in the wild. The bear, an adult male estimated to be 15 years old, was captured nearly three weeks ago in an east Tucson neighborhood after he had wandered down from the Santa Catalina Mountains, traipsed through some yards and ended up tumbling into a backyard swimming pool. Treated for a broken tooth suffered in the capture melee and tranquilized for the trip north, the bear was released far from his southern Arizona haunt in the hopes of preventing future incursions into urban areas....
Preserve for endangered fly dedicated Calling it the wave of the future for endangered species protections, federal wildlife officials on Monday helped dedicate a 150-acre field in Colton as a permanent preserve for an endangered fly. Some developers who have been stymied by protections for the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly will buy credits to help manage the preserve so their projects can go forward. It is the first conservation bank for the insect, although a few banks exist for other Inland species. "We hope and anticipate the new enterprise will be a big payoff to you," Mike Fris, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's regional program manger for endangered species, said to Colton officials at the ceremony....
Report reveals cost of critical habitat designation The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday that conservation for 15 vernal pool species will affect $992 million in economic activity over the next 20 years, with 97 percent of that relating to lost development opportunities. A press release from the Fish and Wildlife Service defines "critical habitat" as "geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations or protections." The critical habitat designation covers 740,000 acres in California and one county in Oregon. Originally, the area of land would have covered about 1.2 million acres....
Feds, some Rainbow members make deal Federal prosecutors cut deals with several members of the Rainbow Family on Tuesday, allowing them to pay $30 or perform eight hours of community service without pleading guilty to violating a land-use permit rule in the Monongahela National Forest. The offer prompted free assembly advocate Scott Addison of St. Louis to call Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Warner “uniquely humane.’’ “This is one of the good guys,’’ he said. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Kaull held court in a small meeting room at the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center near Hillsboro, ushering through the first of about 145 defendants in groups of nine or fewer. The proceedings were expected to last all day with trials Tuesday afternoon for those who rejected the offer....
Wires could bring land battles Jerry Dilts is no stranger to energy development. When he flies over his cattle and sheep ranch in southern Campbell County he can spot a railroad in the vicinity, several power lines and even some oil and gas wells. In most cases, when an oil and gas company or power company wants to cross his land, Dilts can negotiate an agreeable route. So when Basin Electric Power Cooperative asked to cross the ranch with its "Carr Draw" 230,000-kilovolt line to accommodate the coal-bed methane industry, he insisted that it remain within an existing easement. But Basin insisted on another route, Dilts said. He and several neighbors suspected the company preferred crossing private land than navigate the public process of crossing federal lands in the area. So they took up a legal fight that is still under consideration by the Wyoming Supreme Court....
Editorial: Wolf return one step closer The long, slow effort to rebuild wolf populations in Montana took another step toward a successful conclusion last week when the federal government turned over control to the state. The Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks will begin handling day-to-day management duties formerly conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — still under the watchful eyes of the feds, but finally in charge. Montana is the furthest along in the region, which includes Idaho and Wyoming. Wyoming, holding out for much more relaxed rules for shooting wolves as predators, has been acting as a brake on the whole process for several years. Wyoming, of course, is the least urban of states in the region, and it remains steeped in the rural agricultural mindset that sees wolves as a rancher's most implacable enemy....
Mountain lions have arrived, biologists say Biologists and Game and Fish Department officials believe North Dakota may have acquired a population of mountain lions over the past few years, though they are not sure of the numbers. Mike Oehler, a Theodore Roosevelt National Park biologist, said he is "convinced we have resident lions." Both men say the animals' nocturnal nature, and the fact that home to a lion often covers hundreds of square miles, make them difficult to count. Ranchers and hunters report animals in the Badlands area that were likely lion kills. Oehler said park rangers have come across "periodic kills and tracks occasionally," but he has no idea of the actual number of lions in the area. Game and Fish Department biologist Doro-thy Fecske said earlier that there were 67 cougar sightings in North Dakota last year, but only seven were confirmed. Last week, two mountain bikers said a lion shadowed them along the Maah Daah Hey trail in southwestern North Dakota. They escaped injury after throwing rocks and sticks and screaming at the cougar, and using their bicycles as shields....
Solutions to water concerns a hard sell to rural residents Visit almost any rural Arizona community and you'll see evidence of how much people there think about water. Lawns and lush landscaping are rare. A permanent sign outside Pine communicates the status of water alerts. Cards in Payson restaurants explain why customers must ask for water and warn restroom patrons not to waste it. Rain gutters on homes and businesses in Chino Valley and Tusayan empty into collecting tanks that supply outdoor use. Rural Arizonans get it: There won't be enough water to go around if it's wasted, and there may not be enough anyway if the number of rural Arizonans keeps climbing. Not as clear is how to solve that problem, which isn't really a single problem but a wide range of them, each as distinct as the geography itself....
Hunters fight for desert 'guzzlers' A simmering battle over desert water tanks once used by range cattle is pitting hunting and wildlife groups against environmentalists. Hunters of big and small game in the Mojave National Preserve claim it is vital to retain artificial watering sites in a 600,000-acre area in Lanfair Valley, near Needles, but two environmental groups say the water holes actually will harm wildlife. Scores of hunters, wildlife advocates and conservationists gathered here Monday to include their views in an environmental assessment being prepared by the National Park Service....
Protesters target utility’s water-usage applications for planned power plant In an opening salvo in the fight over Sempra Energy’s proposed large coal-fired power plant near Gerlach, the state water engineer’s office has been flooded with protests over the first batch of water-use approvals sought for the plant. As of Monday’s deadline, the office has received 11 protests over Sempra’s first six applications to convert part of 25,000 acre-feet of water from agricultural to industrial use for the 1,450-megawatt power plant planned on the Smoke Creek Desert west of Gerlach, about 100 miles north of Reno. Of the water rights, 16,000 acre-feet would evaporate every year in cooling processes for the $2 billion power plant. Excess water rights are required because agricultural uses put some water back into the aquifer....
Appeals court keeps beef checkoff case alive A federal appeals court has kept alive a Montana challenge to the beef checkoff marketing fee, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that the government has the right to force beef producers to pay the fee. In a three-page order, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Shepherd-area ranchers Steve and Jeanne Charter can argue before a federal judge that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has wrongly tried to pass off the advertising as expressing the views of individual cattle producers. The nation's high court acknowledged in its May 23 decision that such an argument still could be made, the circuit court said....
New Case of Mad Cow Spurs Talk of Tracking The latest case of mad cow disease has brought new talk of a national livestock tracking system, something the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee says the beef industry can create more quickly than the government. The government is still trying to pinpoint the herd of the infected cow, a "downer" that could not walk and was at least 8 years old. The Agriculture Department, which confirmed the new case on Friday, is using DNA analysis because the cow's breed was mislabeled and its tissues got mixed with parts from other cows. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said a system to track the movements of the nation's 96 million cattle needs to be running "as soon as possible." The government's goal is to make a system mandatory by January 2009, but Goodlatte said the industry can create a tracking system more swiftly....
Book celebrates cooking over an open fire Forest rangers reigned as the camp cooking masters, says Beth King, editor of Camp Cooking: 100 Years (Gibbs Smith, $9.95), a new cookbook that celebrates the centennial this year of the Forest Service. When the agency was founded in 1905, rangers were asked to furnish their own supplies for the job, says King, a technical information specialist with the U.S. Forest Service office in Ogden. "The pay was about $60 a month and part of the job was furnishing two horses, one to ride, one to pack gear, a gun, a saddle and enough food for a few weeks." A ranger's food supplies were limited to flour, sugar, cured meats, dried beans, rice and a few canned items, according to the manuscript of noted ranger Sterling Righteous Justice, who started his career in 1908. Rangers slept in small teepees, which were light and could withstand any storm. And they carried small Dutch ovens for baking and cooking. Pay was $2.50 a day....
Rodeo's wild ride As we celebrate 229 years of independence July 4, bull riders, ropers and steer wrestlers across the country will observe an annual tradition of their own: "Cowboy Christmas," one of the rodeo circuit's richest weekends of the year. With 35 rodeos set to take place, competitors will vie for $1.4 million in prize money awarded in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sponsored events. Each year, about 24 million people go to rodeos; the sport ranks seventh in attendance, ahead of pro golf and tennis. Some 60 million more watch televised rodeo events. USA WEEKEND Magazine asked W.K. "Kipp" Stratton, 49, the author of the recent book "Chasing the Rodeo" (Harcourt, $25), to tell us why he loves the sport. "In the 1800s, you could create a destiny in the West, start a new life," he says. "The rodeo still holds that promise for people today. It's the only sport that grew out of our national myth of the West." Here's why Stratton says rodeos are worth a look....
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Tuesday, June 28, 2005
GAO REPORT
Clean Air Act: EPA Has Completed Most of the Actions Required by the 1990 Amendments, but Many Were Completed Late. GAO-05-613, May 27.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-613
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05613high.pdf
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Clean Air Act: EPA Has Completed Most of the Actions Required by the 1990 Amendments, but Many Were Completed Late. GAO-05-613, May 27.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-613
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05613high.pdf
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NEWS
Endangered Species Act under fire from two directions Nobody's very happy with the federal Endangered Species Act - arguably the most powerful of all environmental protection laws. Scientists and activists say it fails to protect hundreds of "candidate" species headed for extinction because agencies haven't been able to get to them yet for lack of resources or political support. Property rights advocates say the law unfairly harms farmers, ranchers, and developers who have on their land what some deride as an inconsequential bug or weed. Western governors of both parties say they should have more influence over how the law is defined and enforced. And congressional critics say endangered species protection is really run by judges who make draconian decisions without considering their economic or social impact. Lawmakers are poised to take action....
State Trust Land State land commissioner Mark Winkleman is out to turn the state Land Department into a money machine. He seems to be succeeding. Under his direction, the agency has been selling state trust land in the path of developers for record amounts. It’s all for a good cause, he says. The money goes into a fund that largely benefits public schools. That fund now tops a billion dollars. And it’s growing rapidly. In 2004, the department sold $337 million in real estate and is on pace to shatter that record that in 2005. Mr. Winkleman attributes the big numbers, in part, to changes in the way the department does business — changes he engineered....
Trust Land Issue May Be Headed Toward Ballot Conservation and education advocates are making a new attempt to put a trust land package before Arizona voters, this time probably skipping the Legislature and instead trying to reach the ballot through an initiative campaign. Efforts this year and last to reach the voters through a legislative referendum failed as lawmakers focused on other issues considered either more pressing or easier to digest. The trust land issue was difficult for lawmakers partly because it is complex and features potentially competing interests - producing more money for education from the 9.3 million acres of trust land versus setting aside large parcels for conservation as open space....
First wolf to be released is recaptured A Mexican gray wolf that was released into the wild seven years ago has been captured for killing cattle. Brunhilda was the first wolf to step into the wild in 1998 as part of a federal government reintroduction program. She was captured in a trap in the Gila National Forest on Thursday. The alpha female of the cattle-killing Francisco Pack will spend the rest of her life in captivity. Brunhilda has been reunited with her pack at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Socorro County....
BLM plans August oil and gas lease sale The Bureau of Land Management said Monday that it will auction off oil and gas leases on about 84,000 acres in Colorado in August, including about 17,500 acres withdrawn from a May sale after complaints that landowners hadn't been notified. The auction will not include 653 acres near Dinosaur National Park that were pulled from the earlier sale, BLM spokeswoman Theresa Sauer said. "We are still looking at some of the information that we had received last time addressing some concerns and trying to do what we can to make sure we're preserving the characteristics of the land," she said. Some of the land pulled from the May auction was the subject of an outcry from landowners, environmentalists and U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., who said the government needs a better system to alert landowners when minerals under their property are included in a lease auction....
Judge keeps methane suits separate Challenges to the air-quality analysis in the Wyoming Bureau of Land Management's coal-bed methane study should be heard in Wyoming, while those same challenges to the Montana BLM's study should be heard in Montana, a federal judge ruled. U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson Friday ordered air-quality challenges to the Wyoming environmental impact statement for coal-bed methane development be transferred to the federal court in Wyoming. The Montana challenges will remain before Anderson. Environmental Defense, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Montana Environmental Information Center sued Interior Secretary Gale Norton in May 2004 alleging the department failed to reduce air pollution expected from coal-bed methane development in Montana and Wyoming....
New data challenges road titles The state has failed to prove its ownership of four roads in rural Utah, according to several environmental groups, which uncovered aerial photographs, maps and records disputing the state's claims. The state has asked the federal Bureau of Land Management to grant the state ownership of two roads in Daggett County, one in Beaver County and another that starts in Beaver and runs into Iron County. But the coalition of environmental groups, which previously unearthed public records prompting withdrawal of the state's claim to the Weiss Highway, say they have again found information that calls into question the validity of the state's claims. "They haven't done even a cursory review of their own records," said Kristen Brengel of The Wilderness Society. "What we dug up wasn't rocket science. It really was a very, very humble review of the county and state documents and it raises enough questions that the BLM shouldn't consider moving forward on it."....
Residents Flee Utah Town As Fire Menaces Suddenly shifting winds pushed a menacing wildfire toward this small town in southwestern Utah on Monday, forcing more than 1,000 people to evacuate their homes. Don and Emily Jones said they saw a wall of fire heading toward the subdivision where they have lived since 1993. They managed to rescue their three dogs but could not find their two cats. "When we looked out the back, we thought if our home is still there, it will be a miracle," Emily Jones said. It's not just property, "it's your dreams," she said. By late Monday, the winds had diminished and it was believed no homes were any longer in immediate danger, said Bureau of Land Management information officer David Boyd....
Secretary Norton Says State and Local Governments to Get More under Federal PILT Program Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton today announced that more than $226.4 million is being distributed in 2005 to approximately 1,850 local governments whose jurisdictions contain tax- exempt federal lands. The funds, which are channeled to localities under the federal Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) Program, add up to $2.1 million more than the $224.3 million paid in 2004. In 2005, the Interior Department will collect revenues of approximately $12.9 billion from commercial and recreational activities on federal lands. Commercial activities include, for example, oil and gas leasing, livestock grazing and timber harvesting. A significant portion of these revenues is shared with States and local governments. The balance is deposited in the general fund of the U.S. Treasury, which in turn pays for a broad array of federal activities, including payments to counties. The 2005 PILT payments will be disbursed by the Interior Department on or about June 24, 2005....
Forests sell buildings for cash Several national forests in Wyoming are part of a national trend, as individual U.S. Forest Service offices are selling buildings to help make up for budget cuts. Under a Bush administration plan, ranger stations, warehouses, residences and remote work centers could be sold under the program, which must be approved by Congress. Forest Service officials say that nationwide the sales will help them chip away at a $1.2 billion building maintenance backlog by disposing of run-down property and generating cash for new projects. They want to get rid of facilities that are surplus, in bad shape or in the wrong place. But, they stress, forest land itself is not going on the market....
'Freedom Eagle' is grounded A sculptor who is carving a massive eagle underneath a flank of Mount Sopris says the project's wings have been clipped by the U.S. Forest Service. Jeremy Russell has been told that he cannot work on the memorial to U.S. military veterans or give guided tours to the site. He has been working on the eagle for three years in an alabaster mine up Avalanche Creek, about five miles north of Redstone. He's carving the bird onto the side of Robert Congdon's mine about 100 feet in from where the shaft burrows into the earth. Russell and his supporters have started a petition drive to collect signatures to try to convince the Forest Service to let him go back to work on the "Cost of Freedom Eagle."....
Court again halts timber sale The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily halted a timber sale in the Gallatin National Forest that environmentalists claim would damage wildlife habitat near Yellowstone National Park. The injunction, issued last week, is the third time a court order has put the Darroch-Eagle sale on hold. It prevents the Gallatin National Forest from allowing any on-the-ground activities, including logging and road building, related to the sale while a lawsuit over the project is pending before the court. A similar order by the federal appeals court last October was lifted briefly after a federal judge in April rejected the claims made by three environmental groups challenging the sale....
Editorial: Logging LimitsAS EARLY AS today, the Senate will have the opportunity to rectify a mistake made by the House this spring, and to pass an amendment limiting taxpayer subsidies for logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Although a similar amendment passed the House last year, it was dropped from the final version of the annual Interior Department spending legislation. This year, opponents managed to use procedural tricks to prevent a vote from taking place in the House at all. Now the Senate is to vote on a similar amendment, co-sponsored by Sens. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.). It is no accident that this amendment enjoys bipartisan support, because it makes sense on both environmental and economic grounds. Logging is not only destructive in the Tongass, an extraordinarily pristine temperate rain forest, but it is highly unprofitable. Last year, the U.S. Forest Service spent $49 million on subsidizing logging in the Tongass, and received about $800,000 in profit. This is a business that exists only because of the political clout of Alaskan members of Congress, and it provides little benefit to anyone other than some 300 Alaskans who live off the government's largess....
Environmentalist Fights U.S. Extradition A radical environmentalist who is one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives told an extradition hearing Monday he was being unfairly targeted by the U.S. government and should be allowed to remain in Canada. Tre Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, is accused of taking part in the 2001 firebombings of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI also claims he is associated with the Earth Liberation Front, a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years. "I am being targeted by the U.S. government and the FBI, not because I am guilty but because I have chosen to challenge the status quo," Arrow, and a Green Party candidate for Congress in 2000, said at his extradition hearing. In order for an extradition to be ordered, the judge must find there is sufficient evidence to convict the accused on the same charges in Canada....
Column: Forest Reforms in the Crossfire President Bush’s 2002 Healthy Forests Initiative (search), a blueprint for protecting national forests from catastrophic fire, and the 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act (search) were supposed to close a chapter on devastating fires. The new reforms promised to change the old, outdated laws that have restricted logging (search), causing a build up of dense fuel loads over the years and creating lethal fire conditions. They were to limit activist groups’ endless appeals and frivolous lawsuits that have halted critical, time-sensitive thinning projects. They also were to fast-track treatment of forests by eliminating the time-consuming environmental review process for those thinning projects that do not threaten the environment. But by all accounts, we’re not out of the woods yet. Attempts at reform to shift priority to fire prevention are being challenged by a small yet fanatical group of eco-activist groups who argue thinning projects kill habitat and species. Today, more acres of forests blanket this nation than in past decades (we grow more than we cut), supporting vast amounts of wildlife habitat and species once threatened by extinction. But the steady increase in forestland over the years also places them at enormous risk for fire. Over the past five years, wildfires have become more severe and widespread, harming human life, homes, air and water quality, and of course, wildlife....
Closing the gates: Stockyard shuts down The stockyards are quiet now at Bozeman Livestock and Sales Co. Most Mondays for nearly 70 years the auction yards have been crammed with cattle and horses, sheep and hogs; the machine-gun rhythm of an auctioneer calling out bids, and the cheers from the audience when a good animal goes to a good owner. The auction is moving to Three Forks now, a better facility all-around, but old timers say leaving the "barn" is the end of an era. "For Bozeman it definitely is," said Hup Davis, 89. Davis has been a fixture at the auction for more than 30 years as a brand inspector, someone who checks all the animals before they are taken away by buyers. "Everyone in Gallatin County is going to miss it, it's a gathering place." Ranchers and farmers have been coming to the yards for decades to buy livestock, talk shop, or just visit. The barn is as much a gathering spot as it is a place to do business. "I'll miss this old place," said Marvin Donahue, 79. "It's kind of sad."....
Life And Death Along “THE BREAKS” But dispersed throughout these features are the breaks. The breaks are erosional features that break up the more monotonous flat plains geomorphology. These might be described in other locals as wide gullies or ditches. But on the plains of the Texas Panhandle they are simply, the breaks. They do differ from these other geomorphologic features in that they are normally wider, in some places more than a mile, and have a relatively flat floor with a small streambed meandering through. The breaks are both a boon and a liability on the plains. They are sometimes life-saving features that attract wildlife and sustain livestock and provide shelter to both. At other times they are death traps for the same critters – as well as people. Dad told many stories about the breaks. It was an integral part of ranch life on the Texas Panhandle plains where he was foreman to several very large ranches over a period of more than 20 years. These ranches were located near Hereford and Dalhart, Texas. He often spoke of the peril of crossing a portion of a break on horseback or, even worse, on foot, especially during the spring and summer....
It's All Trew: Different go-devils needed for different jobs Early-day California oil field history says when drillers reached the approximate depth of an oil or gas formation, they cleared the hole of tools and cables. Next, they lowered a package of nitroglycerin to the bottom on a twine. Last, they dropped a heavy object down the hole and ran for cover. This impact set off the explosives, hopefully fracturing the formation and allowing the product to seep into the hole for recovery. The heavy object was called a go-devil. In Texas oil field history, the same heavy object was called a torpedo. The only other go-devils I have seen are home made crop cultivators resembling a sled with heavy wooden runners. I found one manufactured go-devil made by P&O Plow Company called a No. 18 Lister Cultivator. Old-time farmers tell me local blacksmiths often made the complex parts and the builder furnished the rest, building the device himself....
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Endangered Species Act under fire from two directions Nobody's very happy with the federal Endangered Species Act - arguably the most powerful of all environmental protection laws. Scientists and activists say it fails to protect hundreds of "candidate" species headed for extinction because agencies haven't been able to get to them yet for lack of resources or political support. Property rights advocates say the law unfairly harms farmers, ranchers, and developers who have on their land what some deride as an inconsequential bug or weed. Western governors of both parties say they should have more influence over how the law is defined and enforced. And congressional critics say endangered species protection is really run by judges who make draconian decisions without considering their economic or social impact. Lawmakers are poised to take action....
State Trust Land State land commissioner Mark Winkleman is out to turn the state Land Department into a money machine. He seems to be succeeding. Under his direction, the agency has been selling state trust land in the path of developers for record amounts. It’s all for a good cause, he says. The money goes into a fund that largely benefits public schools. That fund now tops a billion dollars. And it’s growing rapidly. In 2004, the department sold $337 million in real estate and is on pace to shatter that record that in 2005. Mr. Winkleman attributes the big numbers, in part, to changes in the way the department does business — changes he engineered....
Trust Land Issue May Be Headed Toward Ballot Conservation and education advocates are making a new attempt to put a trust land package before Arizona voters, this time probably skipping the Legislature and instead trying to reach the ballot through an initiative campaign. Efforts this year and last to reach the voters through a legislative referendum failed as lawmakers focused on other issues considered either more pressing or easier to digest. The trust land issue was difficult for lawmakers partly because it is complex and features potentially competing interests - producing more money for education from the 9.3 million acres of trust land versus setting aside large parcels for conservation as open space....
First wolf to be released is recaptured A Mexican gray wolf that was released into the wild seven years ago has been captured for killing cattle. Brunhilda was the first wolf to step into the wild in 1998 as part of a federal government reintroduction program. She was captured in a trap in the Gila National Forest on Thursday. The alpha female of the cattle-killing Francisco Pack will spend the rest of her life in captivity. Brunhilda has been reunited with her pack at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Socorro County....
BLM plans August oil and gas lease sale The Bureau of Land Management said Monday that it will auction off oil and gas leases on about 84,000 acres in Colorado in August, including about 17,500 acres withdrawn from a May sale after complaints that landowners hadn't been notified. The auction will not include 653 acres near Dinosaur National Park that were pulled from the earlier sale, BLM spokeswoman Theresa Sauer said. "We are still looking at some of the information that we had received last time addressing some concerns and trying to do what we can to make sure we're preserving the characteristics of the land," she said. Some of the land pulled from the May auction was the subject of an outcry from landowners, environmentalists and U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., who said the government needs a better system to alert landowners when minerals under their property are included in a lease auction....
Judge keeps methane suits separate Challenges to the air-quality analysis in the Wyoming Bureau of Land Management's coal-bed methane study should be heard in Wyoming, while those same challenges to the Montana BLM's study should be heard in Montana, a federal judge ruled. U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson Friday ordered air-quality challenges to the Wyoming environmental impact statement for coal-bed methane development be transferred to the federal court in Wyoming. The Montana challenges will remain before Anderson. Environmental Defense, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Montana Environmental Information Center sued Interior Secretary Gale Norton in May 2004 alleging the department failed to reduce air pollution expected from coal-bed methane development in Montana and Wyoming....
New data challenges road titles The state has failed to prove its ownership of four roads in rural Utah, according to several environmental groups, which uncovered aerial photographs, maps and records disputing the state's claims. The state has asked the federal Bureau of Land Management to grant the state ownership of two roads in Daggett County, one in Beaver County and another that starts in Beaver and runs into Iron County. But the coalition of environmental groups, which previously unearthed public records prompting withdrawal of the state's claim to the Weiss Highway, say they have again found information that calls into question the validity of the state's claims. "They haven't done even a cursory review of their own records," said Kristen Brengel of The Wilderness Society. "What we dug up wasn't rocket science. It really was a very, very humble review of the county and state documents and it raises enough questions that the BLM shouldn't consider moving forward on it."....
Residents Flee Utah Town As Fire Menaces Suddenly shifting winds pushed a menacing wildfire toward this small town in southwestern Utah on Monday, forcing more than 1,000 people to evacuate their homes. Don and Emily Jones said they saw a wall of fire heading toward the subdivision where they have lived since 1993. They managed to rescue their three dogs but could not find their two cats. "When we looked out the back, we thought if our home is still there, it will be a miracle," Emily Jones said. It's not just property, "it's your dreams," she said. By late Monday, the winds had diminished and it was believed no homes were any longer in immediate danger, said Bureau of Land Management information officer David Boyd....
Secretary Norton Says State and Local Governments to Get More under Federal PILT Program Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton today announced that more than $226.4 million is being distributed in 2005 to approximately 1,850 local governments whose jurisdictions contain tax- exempt federal lands. The funds, which are channeled to localities under the federal Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) Program, add up to $2.1 million more than the $224.3 million paid in 2004. In 2005, the Interior Department will collect revenues of approximately $12.9 billion from commercial and recreational activities on federal lands. Commercial activities include, for example, oil and gas leasing, livestock grazing and timber harvesting. A significant portion of these revenues is shared with States and local governments. The balance is deposited in the general fund of the U.S. Treasury, which in turn pays for a broad array of federal activities, including payments to counties. The 2005 PILT payments will be disbursed by the Interior Department on or about June 24, 2005....
Forests sell buildings for cash Several national forests in Wyoming are part of a national trend, as individual U.S. Forest Service offices are selling buildings to help make up for budget cuts. Under a Bush administration plan, ranger stations, warehouses, residences and remote work centers could be sold under the program, which must be approved by Congress. Forest Service officials say that nationwide the sales will help them chip away at a $1.2 billion building maintenance backlog by disposing of run-down property and generating cash for new projects. They want to get rid of facilities that are surplus, in bad shape or in the wrong place. But, they stress, forest land itself is not going on the market....
'Freedom Eagle' is grounded A sculptor who is carving a massive eagle underneath a flank of Mount Sopris says the project's wings have been clipped by the U.S. Forest Service. Jeremy Russell has been told that he cannot work on the memorial to U.S. military veterans or give guided tours to the site. He has been working on the eagle for three years in an alabaster mine up Avalanche Creek, about five miles north of Redstone. He's carving the bird onto the side of Robert Congdon's mine about 100 feet in from where the shaft burrows into the earth. Russell and his supporters have started a petition drive to collect signatures to try to convince the Forest Service to let him go back to work on the "Cost of Freedom Eagle."....
Court again halts timber sale The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily halted a timber sale in the Gallatin National Forest that environmentalists claim would damage wildlife habitat near Yellowstone National Park. The injunction, issued last week, is the third time a court order has put the Darroch-Eagle sale on hold. It prevents the Gallatin National Forest from allowing any on-the-ground activities, including logging and road building, related to the sale while a lawsuit over the project is pending before the court. A similar order by the federal appeals court last October was lifted briefly after a federal judge in April rejected the claims made by three environmental groups challenging the sale....
Editorial: Logging LimitsAS EARLY AS today, the Senate will have the opportunity to rectify a mistake made by the House this spring, and to pass an amendment limiting taxpayer subsidies for logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Although a similar amendment passed the House last year, it was dropped from the final version of the annual Interior Department spending legislation. This year, opponents managed to use procedural tricks to prevent a vote from taking place in the House at all. Now the Senate is to vote on a similar amendment, co-sponsored by Sens. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.). It is no accident that this amendment enjoys bipartisan support, because it makes sense on both environmental and economic grounds. Logging is not only destructive in the Tongass, an extraordinarily pristine temperate rain forest, but it is highly unprofitable. Last year, the U.S. Forest Service spent $49 million on subsidizing logging in the Tongass, and received about $800,000 in profit. This is a business that exists only because of the political clout of Alaskan members of Congress, and it provides little benefit to anyone other than some 300 Alaskans who live off the government's largess....
Environmentalist Fights U.S. Extradition A radical environmentalist who is one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives told an extradition hearing Monday he was being unfairly targeted by the U.S. government and should be allowed to remain in Canada. Tre Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, is accused of taking part in the 2001 firebombings of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI also claims he is associated with the Earth Liberation Front, a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years. "I am being targeted by the U.S. government and the FBI, not because I am guilty but because I have chosen to challenge the status quo," Arrow, and a Green Party candidate for Congress in 2000, said at his extradition hearing. In order for an extradition to be ordered, the judge must find there is sufficient evidence to convict the accused on the same charges in Canada....
Column: Forest Reforms in the Crossfire President Bush’s 2002 Healthy Forests Initiative (search), a blueprint for protecting national forests from catastrophic fire, and the 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act (search) were supposed to close a chapter on devastating fires. The new reforms promised to change the old, outdated laws that have restricted logging (search), causing a build up of dense fuel loads over the years and creating lethal fire conditions. They were to limit activist groups’ endless appeals and frivolous lawsuits that have halted critical, time-sensitive thinning projects. They also were to fast-track treatment of forests by eliminating the time-consuming environmental review process for those thinning projects that do not threaten the environment. But by all accounts, we’re not out of the woods yet. Attempts at reform to shift priority to fire prevention are being challenged by a small yet fanatical group of eco-activist groups who argue thinning projects kill habitat and species. Today, more acres of forests blanket this nation than in past decades (we grow more than we cut), supporting vast amounts of wildlife habitat and species once threatened by extinction. But the steady increase in forestland over the years also places them at enormous risk for fire. Over the past five years, wildfires have become more severe and widespread, harming human life, homes, air and water quality, and of course, wildlife....
Closing the gates: Stockyard shuts down The stockyards are quiet now at Bozeman Livestock and Sales Co. Most Mondays for nearly 70 years the auction yards have been crammed with cattle and horses, sheep and hogs; the machine-gun rhythm of an auctioneer calling out bids, and the cheers from the audience when a good animal goes to a good owner. The auction is moving to Three Forks now, a better facility all-around, but old timers say leaving the "barn" is the end of an era. "For Bozeman it definitely is," said Hup Davis, 89. Davis has been a fixture at the auction for more than 30 years as a brand inspector, someone who checks all the animals before they are taken away by buyers. "Everyone in Gallatin County is going to miss it, it's a gathering place." Ranchers and farmers have been coming to the yards for decades to buy livestock, talk shop, or just visit. The barn is as much a gathering spot as it is a place to do business. "I'll miss this old place," said Marvin Donahue, 79. "It's kind of sad."....
Life And Death Along “THE BREAKS” But dispersed throughout these features are the breaks. The breaks are erosional features that break up the more monotonous flat plains geomorphology. These might be described in other locals as wide gullies or ditches. But on the plains of the Texas Panhandle they are simply, the breaks. They do differ from these other geomorphologic features in that they are normally wider, in some places more than a mile, and have a relatively flat floor with a small streambed meandering through. The breaks are both a boon and a liability on the plains. They are sometimes life-saving features that attract wildlife and sustain livestock and provide shelter to both. At other times they are death traps for the same critters – as well as people. Dad told many stories about the breaks. It was an integral part of ranch life on the Texas Panhandle plains where he was foreman to several very large ranches over a period of more than 20 years. These ranches were located near Hereford and Dalhart, Texas. He often spoke of the peril of crossing a portion of a break on horseback or, even worse, on foot, especially during the spring and summer....
It's All Trew: Different go-devils needed for different jobs Early-day California oil field history says when drillers reached the approximate depth of an oil or gas formation, they cleared the hole of tools and cables. Next, they lowered a package of nitroglycerin to the bottom on a twine. Last, they dropped a heavy object down the hole and ran for cover. This impact set off the explosives, hopefully fracturing the formation and allowing the product to seep into the hole for recovery. The heavy object was called a go-devil. In Texas oil field history, the same heavy object was called a torpedo. The only other go-devils I have seen are home made crop cultivators resembling a sled with heavy wooden runners. I found one manufactured go-devil made by P&O Plow Company called a No. 18 Lister Cultivator. Old-time farmers tell me local blacksmiths often made the complex parts and the builder furnished the rest, building the device himself....
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Monday, June 27, 2005
NEWS
Ranchers worried about oil company's water use Some ranchers near here are worried about an oil company's use of water, saying there may not be enough left for people or livestock. The North Dakota Water Commission said it will monitor two McKenzie County aquifers in response to ranchers' fears. Alan Wanek, a hydrologist with the commission, said the agency installed two monitoring wells in the Sentinel Butte and Tongue River aquifers last week. Zinke & Trumbo, an oil company that has been working in the Foreman Butte field, has installed nine water wells under temporary permits and wants to make them permanent. The permits allow the company to use up to 5 million gallons of water a year....
Forest Service sued over Wolf Creek Pass An environmental group battling the U.S. Forest Service over a proposal to build a resort village on Wolf Creek Pass has sued the agency for allegedly withholding public records and granting developers access across federal land without a permit. Colorado Wild and Monte Vista rancher Greg Gosar filed the two lawsuits Friday in U.S. District Court in Denver. Jeff Berman of Colorado Wild said the group sued the agency under the Freedom of Information Act because Rio Grande National Forest officials would not identify, as required by law, the nature of about 80 documents it refused to release. Under the act, agencies can withhold documents for various reasons but must identify them and the reasons for withholding them in a "privilege log."....
Editorial: Don't cry wolf The Mexican wolf recovery program corrects mistakes made when wolves were systematically exterminated for the sake of cattle ranching. You can help prevent mistakes in the way that program is carried out by getting involved in a public comment process that includes a meeting Tuesday night in Phoenix. One proposal by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service would prohibit the relocation of wolves from Arizona to New Mexico. This is a mistake. Such relocations are currently the only way wolves can be released into New Mexico, which contains 75 percent of the recovery area and includes top-notch wolf habitat. Rather than impose this new restriction, a revised plan should rescind the prohibition on releasing wolves from the captive population directly into New Mexico....
Hopi plan action against Forest Service ''I am disappointed but not at all surprised at this latest decision of the Forest Service to uphold the desecration of Nuvatukyaovi [San Francisco Peaks],'' Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor said. Southwestern Regional Forester Harv Forsgren affirmed the decision by Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure, which approved expansion and snow production from recycled water at the Arizona Snowbowl on San Francisco Peaks. Taylor said the Hopi Tribe is ''deeply disappointed at the insensitive snub'' by the Forest Service's regional office's affirmation of the earlier decision. The Hopi plan to proceed with action in federal court to halt the desecration. ''It became evident early on in the process that federal authorities were ignoring the deeply felt concerns of the Hopi Tribe and all Native nations. It is our duty and obligation to protect and preserve the spiritual integrity of Nuvatukyaovi and we will never give up in our efforts to do so.''....
Rare alliance favors thinning of forests High in the canopy of centuries-old yellow-sided pines near Black Butte are branches thick as utility poles. Beneath the imposing ponderosas, Tim Lillebo, dressed in dirty jeans and wearing hiking boots, pushes through a dense thicket of spiny saplings. As a 30-year veteran of Oregon's timber wars, Lillebo has spent much of his life opposing logging on public lands such as this area. But he'd like to see some chain saws back in the federal forest. "What we need to do," he said, "is remove a hell of a lot of small-diameter trees." That puts Lillebo, a field representative for the Oregon Natural Resources Council, on the side of federal land managers and timber companies, a rare alliance. He and his group support a plan that would have the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management provide a steady amount of woody brush from thinning operations to companies that invest in new technologies to use the material....
Oregon backs off plan to restore goats to gorge Faced with a lawsuit from conservationists, the state of Oregon on Friday backed off plans to release mountain goats in the Columbia Gorge in time for this year's anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Instead, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will take more time to work with conservationists, making it impossible to go through with the release of some 20 goats originally planned for mid-July, said agency spokesman Brad Wurfel. The Friends of the Columbia Gorge and In Defense of Animals had filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland asking a judge to order an examination of the release plans, said Friends of the Columbia Gorge attorney Nathan Baker....
Shovel Brigade appeals Jarbidge decision The Jarbidge Shovel Brigade is appealing Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Supervisor Bob Vaught's decision on South Canyon Road at Jarbidge. Attorney Grant Gerber said the big question in the appeal is "why is a Forest Service employee proceeding to close about one-third of the road we're fighting over?" Vaught's decision on the controversial road was to keep it primitive, with some repairs up to Urdahl Campground while closing the remaining four-tenths of a mile to vehicles from there to Snowslide Gulch. Gerber argues that the Forest Service can't close any part of the road....
Still accessible by the determined, Jarbidge hopes for strong summer A broken bridge stands between Fred Thatcher and the meadows south of Jarbidge where he gathers huge mushrooms to fry in butter and garlic. Between Rey Nystrom and the waist-high seas of wildflowers he'd like to photograph next month on the south summits. Between Jarbidge's visitors and many of the campsites normally available for their tents and RVs. Between the town's fledgling arts council and the high country where it planned to lead a geology tour in July. Between Jarbidge's volunteer emergency workers and potential troubles on the remote south end of the Jarbidge River canyon....
Idaho governor plans to use roadless authority Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said Thursday he'll wait until early next year to ask the Bush administration to consider opening for development millions of acres of federal forest land in Idaho that have never been roaded, logged or mined. Kempthorne vowed to take advantage of the new authority over national forest-land planning recently given to governors. In May, the U.S. Forest Service overturned a rule that former President Clinton had used to protect the nation's 58.5 million acres of pristine woodlands from commercial uses. "I'm going to petition," Kempthorne told county commissioners, environmentalists, timber industry officials, sportsmen and reporters gathered for the announcement in his state Capitol office. But he said he'll wait to hear from people living near the state's 10 national forests before deciding exactly where new roads should be allowed in the 9.3 million roadless acres -- an area almost twice the size of Massachusetts and second only to Alaska's 14 million roadless acres....
Grizzly plan draws fire The newly revised Wyoming grizzly bear occupancy management plan hasn't satisfied critics to the left or the right. Not the Wyoming Outdoor Council, nor the chairman of the Fremont County Commission, which has declared the bear to be "socially unacceptable" in the county. "Managing a wildlife species for its minimum population on reduced habitat with increased mortality following delisting is a recipe for relisting," said Meredith Taylor, a Wyoming Outdoor Council staffer. Fremont County Commissioner Doug Thompson complained that the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is not listening to citizens. "They're being more responsive to the feds than the people of Wyoming. That's unfortunate, because they're trying to please people who'll never suffer the consequences we will," Thompson said, citing public fear of grizzlies, maulings, deaths, property damage and livestock losses....
Pumping endangers state rivers and wildlife From a clearing in the ash trees and willows here, the Verde River whispers as it flows by. Along these banks, only a dozen miles or so below the Verde's headwaters and far above most of the tributaries that add to the river, you can hear birds, the buzz of insects, a twig breaking underfoot. But for all its serenity, this stretch of the Verde is producing an increasingly vocal debate about how rural Arizona can continue to grow freely and still protect its natural resources. "It would be a shame if one of our last living rivers were reduced to an artificially created flow," said Michelle Harrington, who works on Verde issues for the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based conservation group. "I really hope we can be more forward-thinking than that."....
Time runs out for federal dollars on Klamath A 20-year program to restore Klamath River fisheries is running out of time, and more specifically, money. But when the Klamath River Fisheries Task Force met here last week, it got no guidance on the future from either state or federal governments. “I don’t think anybody out there knows where we are going,” said John Engbring, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service executive from Sacramento who is chairman of the task force, a federal advisory committee. Along with the 20-year-old authorization aimed at managing anadromous fisheries on the main-stem Klamath, the law assigned $1 million a year through 2006. That created a comprehensive restoration plan, and supplements state and federal data collection on the Klamath and its tributaries....
Johnsgard's book examines crumbling prairie dog empire In 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ignited a firestorm on the Great Plains when it made the prairie dog a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Farmers and ranchers decried the announcement, saying the burrowing rodents deserve protection about as much as mosquitoes. Wildlife advocates countered that black-tailed prairie dogs are an important grasslands species that occupy only about 1 percent of their historic range. Four years later, the service removed prairie dogs from the candidate list to the delight of agricultural interests and the dismay of environmentalists. As the controversy faded, so did the prairie dog in the public's consciousness. In "Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie," Lincoln author Paul Johnsgard doesn't attempt to reignite the controversy, but he clearly wants the reader to understand the object of such passion. His book, the 49th of his writing career, is much more than a profile of the creature French fur traders named petit chien, or little dog. For starters, Johnsgard shows that the biological value of prairie dogs can't be refuted by those who would wipe them from the landscape. Drawing upon reams of published research, Johnsgard provides brief natural histories of the black-footed ferret, the swift fox and the burrowing owl, all of which rely on prairie dogs for prey or their colonies for habitat....
R-CALF leader stepping aside When Leo McDonnell's father died 12 years ago, he made his son promise to get more involved with national cattle organizations. McDonnell took that involvement to a new level. After disagreeing with how the National Cattlemen's Beef Association represented ranchers, he helped create an organization that has since inserted itself into trade policy issues and legal matters at the highest level _ even stopping the federal Agriculture Department from reopening the Canadian border to live cattle after mad cow incidents. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America has seen a steady growth in size and prominence in its short history. In 2000, the group had an annual budget of $350,000. This year's budget will run about $2.3 million. Five years ago, R-CALF had 3,500 members. Today it has 16,700, along with 60 affiliated groups. In a few months, McDonnell, a 53-year-old Columbus, Mont., man who ranches in four states including North Dakota, will step aside as president of R-CALF....
Black Jack's gang terrorized two territories The Black Jack Ketchum gang has nearly been forgotten in modern-day Arizona and New Mexico, but it terrorized people in both territories near the close of the 19th century. Tom Ketchum was the outlaw called Black Jack, but his brother Sam was another gang member who was as notorious. Other band members were Sam's brother-in-law Dan Johnson, Sam Marr and Tom Thomas. Arizona Territory first became interested in the gang after the robbery of the International Bank at Nogales in 1896. Until then, they had been a problem for New Mexico Territory. How they were identified as the Black Jack gang isn't clear from news reports, but when Arizona's Sheriff Fly and his posse were ambushed trailing the robbers in Skeleton Canyon in August, they were clearly identified as Black Jack and his gang. A member of Fly's posse, Frank Robson, was killed by the outlaws who managed to elude their pursuers after the fight....
Cowboy author's memoir depicts rough-and-tumble life Author Dayton Hyde still likes to climb into the saddle, although some people might question his sanity for doing so. "You bet I still ride," the rancher and former rodeo cowboy said Thursday. "I'm only 80, so why not? Every now and then, I'll watch a rodeo and see a saddle bronc and think I could ride it. But then I remember, 'By God, that was 60 years ago.' " Hyde, of Hot Springs, S.D., ran away from home at age 13 and discovered the cowboy lifestyle in eastern Oregon. His newest book, "The Pastures of Beyond," is a memoir filled with recollections from a disappearing way of life, with rough-cut ranch hands with names like Yellowstone and BK Heavy, bedrolls under the stars and the scent of freshly bruised sage. As a professional rodeo cowboy, Hyde rubbed elbows with some of the big stars of his era: Slim Pickens, Casey Tibbs, Bill Linderman and members of the famous Greenough rodeo family. Many people don't know that Pickens was an accomplished rodeo cowboy and rodeo clown before his long Hollywood career took off. The book includes a photo that Hyde took for Life magazine in 1948, showing Pickens decked out in a bandanna and a straw sombrero at a Billings rodeo. "He was as good a friend as I've ever had," Hyde said....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Wild turkey menace rears its ugly head Normally, the only time turkeys make the paper is in November, but this spring, photos of wild turkeys appeared in both the Long Island, N.Y., and Spokane, Wash., newspapers. Both stories involved potential overpopulation and "infestation," "inbreeding," or "attacks." In each instance it was the result of well-intentioned humans manipulating the turkey population. Washington hunters all over the state have had a bonanza spring turkey season. The State Department of Fish & Wildlife says, "Emphasis is swinging from spreading birds across the state..." to "...helping landowners cope with flocks big enough to raise havoc..." In New York, wild turkeys have escaped from the Boys Ranch into the community....
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Ranchers worried about oil company's water use Some ranchers near here are worried about an oil company's use of water, saying there may not be enough left for people or livestock. The North Dakota Water Commission said it will monitor two McKenzie County aquifers in response to ranchers' fears. Alan Wanek, a hydrologist with the commission, said the agency installed two monitoring wells in the Sentinel Butte and Tongue River aquifers last week. Zinke & Trumbo, an oil company that has been working in the Foreman Butte field, has installed nine water wells under temporary permits and wants to make them permanent. The permits allow the company to use up to 5 million gallons of water a year....
Forest Service sued over Wolf Creek Pass An environmental group battling the U.S. Forest Service over a proposal to build a resort village on Wolf Creek Pass has sued the agency for allegedly withholding public records and granting developers access across federal land without a permit. Colorado Wild and Monte Vista rancher Greg Gosar filed the two lawsuits Friday in U.S. District Court in Denver. Jeff Berman of Colorado Wild said the group sued the agency under the Freedom of Information Act because Rio Grande National Forest officials would not identify, as required by law, the nature of about 80 documents it refused to release. Under the act, agencies can withhold documents for various reasons but must identify them and the reasons for withholding them in a "privilege log."....
Editorial: Don't cry wolf The Mexican wolf recovery program corrects mistakes made when wolves were systematically exterminated for the sake of cattle ranching. You can help prevent mistakes in the way that program is carried out by getting involved in a public comment process that includes a meeting Tuesday night in Phoenix. One proposal by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service would prohibit the relocation of wolves from Arizona to New Mexico. This is a mistake. Such relocations are currently the only way wolves can be released into New Mexico, which contains 75 percent of the recovery area and includes top-notch wolf habitat. Rather than impose this new restriction, a revised plan should rescind the prohibition on releasing wolves from the captive population directly into New Mexico....
Hopi plan action against Forest Service ''I am disappointed but not at all surprised at this latest decision of the Forest Service to uphold the desecration of Nuvatukyaovi [San Francisco Peaks],'' Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor said. Southwestern Regional Forester Harv Forsgren affirmed the decision by Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure, which approved expansion and snow production from recycled water at the Arizona Snowbowl on San Francisco Peaks. Taylor said the Hopi Tribe is ''deeply disappointed at the insensitive snub'' by the Forest Service's regional office's affirmation of the earlier decision. The Hopi plan to proceed with action in federal court to halt the desecration. ''It became evident early on in the process that federal authorities were ignoring the deeply felt concerns of the Hopi Tribe and all Native nations. It is our duty and obligation to protect and preserve the spiritual integrity of Nuvatukyaovi and we will never give up in our efforts to do so.''....
Rare alliance favors thinning of forests High in the canopy of centuries-old yellow-sided pines near Black Butte are branches thick as utility poles. Beneath the imposing ponderosas, Tim Lillebo, dressed in dirty jeans and wearing hiking boots, pushes through a dense thicket of spiny saplings. As a 30-year veteran of Oregon's timber wars, Lillebo has spent much of his life opposing logging on public lands such as this area. But he'd like to see some chain saws back in the federal forest. "What we need to do," he said, "is remove a hell of a lot of small-diameter trees." That puts Lillebo, a field representative for the Oregon Natural Resources Council, on the side of federal land managers and timber companies, a rare alliance. He and his group support a plan that would have the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management provide a steady amount of woody brush from thinning operations to companies that invest in new technologies to use the material....
Oregon backs off plan to restore goats to gorge Faced with a lawsuit from conservationists, the state of Oregon on Friday backed off plans to release mountain goats in the Columbia Gorge in time for this year's anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Instead, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will take more time to work with conservationists, making it impossible to go through with the release of some 20 goats originally planned for mid-July, said agency spokesman Brad Wurfel. The Friends of the Columbia Gorge and In Defense of Animals had filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland asking a judge to order an examination of the release plans, said Friends of the Columbia Gorge attorney Nathan Baker....
Shovel Brigade appeals Jarbidge decision The Jarbidge Shovel Brigade is appealing Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Supervisor Bob Vaught's decision on South Canyon Road at Jarbidge. Attorney Grant Gerber said the big question in the appeal is "why is a Forest Service employee proceeding to close about one-third of the road we're fighting over?" Vaught's decision on the controversial road was to keep it primitive, with some repairs up to Urdahl Campground while closing the remaining four-tenths of a mile to vehicles from there to Snowslide Gulch. Gerber argues that the Forest Service can't close any part of the road....
Still accessible by the determined, Jarbidge hopes for strong summer A broken bridge stands between Fred Thatcher and the meadows south of Jarbidge where he gathers huge mushrooms to fry in butter and garlic. Between Rey Nystrom and the waist-high seas of wildflowers he'd like to photograph next month on the south summits. Between Jarbidge's visitors and many of the campsites normally available for their tents and RVs. Between the town's fledgling arts council and the high country where it planned to lead a geology tour in July. Between Jarbidge's volunteer emergency workers and potential troubles on the remote south end of the Jarbidge River canyon....
Idaho governor plans to use roadless authority Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said Thursday he'll wait until early next year to ask the Bush administration to consider opening for development millions of acres of federal forest land in Idaho that have never been roaded, logged or mined. Kempthorne vowed to take advantage of the new authority over national forest-land planning recently given to governors. In May, the U.S. Forest Service overturned a rule that former President Clinton had used to protect the nation's 58.5 million acres of pristine woodlands from commercial uses. "I'm going to petition," Kempthorne told county commissioners, environmentalists, timber industry officials, sportsmen and reporters gathered for the announcement in his state Capitol office. But he said he'll wait to hear from people living near the state's 10 national forests before deciding exactly where new roads should be allowed in the 9.3 million roadless acres -- an area almost twice the size of Massachusetts and second only to Alaska's 14 million roadless acres....
Grizzly plan draws fire The newly revised Wyoming grizzly bear occupancy management plan hasn't satisfied critics to the left or the right. Not the Wyoming Outdoor Council, nor the chairman of the Fremont County Commission, which has declared the bear to be "socially unacceptable" in the county. "Managing a wildlife species for its minimum population on reduced habitat with increased mortality following delisting is a recipe for relisting," said Meredith Taylor, a Wyoming Outdoor Council staffer. Fremont County Commissioner Doug Thompson complained that the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is not listening to citizens. "They're being more responsive to the feds than the people of Wyoming. That's unfortunate, because they're trying to please people who'll never suffer the consequences we will," Thompson said, citing public fear of grizzlies, maulings, deaths, property damage and livestock losses....
Pumping endangers state rivers and wildlife From a clearing in the ash trees and willows here, the Verde River whispers as it flows by. Along these banks, only a dozen miles or so below the Verde's headwaters and far above most of the tributaries that add to the river, you can hear birds, the buzz of insects, a twig breaking underfoot. But for all its serenity, this stretch of the Verde is producing an increasingly vocal debate about how rural Arizona can continue to grow freely and still protect its natural resources. "It would be a shame if one of our last living rivers were reduced to an artificially created flow," said Michelle Harrington, who works on Verde issues for the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based conservation group. "I really hope we can be more forward-thinking than that."....
Time runs out for federal dollars on Klamath A 20-year program to restore Klamath River fisheries is running out of time, and more specifically, money. But when the Klamath River Fisheries Task Force met here last week, it got no guidance on the future from either state or federal governments. “I don’t think anybody out there knows where we are going,” said John Engbring, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service executive from Sacramento who is chairman of the task force, a federal advisory committee. Along with the 20-year-old authorization aimed at managing anadromous fisheries on the main-stem Klamath, the law assigned $1 million a year through 2006. That created a comprehensive restoration plan, and supplements state and federal data collection on the Klamath and its tributaries....
Johnsgard's book examines crumbling prairie dog empire In 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ignited a firestorm on the Great Plains when it made the prairie dog a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Farmers and ranchers decried the announcement, saying the burrowing rodents deserve protection about as much as mosquitoes. Wildlife advocates countered that black-tailed prairie dogs are an important grasslands species that occupy only about 1 percent of their historic range. Four years later, the service removed prairie dogs from the candidate list to the delight of agricultural interests and the dismay of environmentalists. As the controversy faded, so did the prairie dog in the public's consciousness. In "Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie," Lincoln author Paul Johnsgard doesn't attempt to reignite the controversy, but he clearly wants the reader to understand the object of such passion. His book, the 49th of his writing career, is much more than a profile of the creature French fur traders named petit chien, or little dog. For starters, Johnsgard shows that the biological value of prairie dogs can't be refuted by those who would wipe them from the landscape. Drawing upon reams of published research, Johnsgard provides brief natural histories of the black-footed ferret, the swift fox and the burrowing owl, all of which rely on prairie dogs for prey or their colonies for habitat....
R-CALF leader stepping aside When Leo McDonnell's father died 12 years ago, he made his son promise to get more involved with national cattle organizations. McDonnell took that involvement to a new level. After disagreeing with how the National Cattlemen's Beef Association represented ranchers, he helped create an organization that has since inserted itself into trade policy issues and legal matters at the highest level _ even stopping the federal Agriculture Department from reopening the Canadian border to live cattle after mad cow incidents. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America has seen a steady growth in size and prominence in its short history. In 2000, the group had an annual budget of $350,000. This year's budget will run about $2.3 million. Five years ago, R-CALF had 3,500 members. Today it has 16,700, along with 60 affiliated groups. In a few months, McDonnell, a 53-year-old Columbus, Mont., man who ranches in four states including North Dakota, will step aside as president of R-CALF....
Black Jack's gang terrorized two territories The Black Jack Ketchum gang has nearly been forgotten in modern-day Arizona and New Mexico, but it terrorized people in both territories near the close of the 19th century. Tom Ketchum was the outlaw called Black Jack, but his brother Sam was another gang member who was as notorious. Other band members were Sam's brother-in-law Dan Johnson, Sam Marr and Tom Thomas. Arizona Territory first became interested in the gang after the robbery of the International Bank at Nogales in 1896. Until then, they had been a problem for New Mexico Territory. How they were identified as the Black Jack gang isn't clear from news reports, but when Arizona's Sheriff Fly and his posse were ambushed trailing the robbers in Skeleton Canyon in August, they were clearly identified as Black Jack and his gang. A member of Fly's posse, Frank Robson, was killed by the outlaws who managed to elude their pursuers after the fight....
Cowboy author's memoir depicts rough-and-tumble life Author Dayton Hyde still likes to climb into the saddle, although some people might question his sanity for doing so. "You bet I still ride," the rancher and former rodeo cowboy said Thursday. "I'm only 80, so why not? Every now and then, I'll watch a rodeo and see a saddle bronc and think I could ride it. But then I remember, 'By God, that was 60 years ago.' " Hyde, of Hot Springs, S.D., ran away from home at age 13 and discovered the cowboy lifestyle in eastern Oregon. His newest book, "The Pastures of Beyond," is a memoir filled with recollections from a disappearing way of life, with rough-cut ranch hands with names like Yellowstone and BK Heavy, bedrolls under the stars and the scent of freshly bruised sage. As a professional rodeo cowboy, Hyde rubbed elbows with some of the big stars of his era: Slim Pickens, Casey Tibbs, Bill Linderman and members of the famous Greenough rodeo family. Many people don't know that Pickens was an accomplished rodeo cowboy and rodeo clown before his long Hollywood career took off. The book includes a photo that Hyde took for Life magazine in 1948, showing Pickens decked out in a bandanna and a straw sombrero at a Billings rodeo. "He was as good a friend as I've ever had," Hyde said....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Wild turkey menace rears its ugly head Normally, the only time turkeys make the paper is in November, but this spring, photos of wild turkeys appeared in both the Long Island, N.Y., and Spokane, Wash., newspapers. Both stories involved potential overpopulation and "infestation," "inbreeding," or "attacks." In each instance it was the result of well-intentioned humans manipulating the turkey population. Washington hunters all over the state have had a bonanza spring turkey season. The State Department of Fish & Wildlife says, "Emphasis is swinging from spreading birds across the state..." to "...helping landowners cope with flocks big enough to raise havoc..." In New York, wild turkeys have escaped from the Boys Ranch into the community....
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Sunday, June 26, 2005
MAD COW DISEASE
For Months, Agriculture Department Delayed Announcing Result of Mad Cow Test Although the Agriculture Department confirmed Friday that a cow that died last year was infected with mad cow disease, a test the agency conducted seven months ago indicated that the animal had the disease. The result was never publicly disclosed. The delay in confirming the United States' second case of mad cow disease seems to underscore what critics of the agency have said for a long time: that there are serious and systemic problems in the way the Agriculture Department tests animals for mad cow. Indeed, the lengthy delay occurred despite the intense national interest in the disease and the fact that many countries have banned shipments of beef from the United States because of what they consider to be lax testing policies. Until Friday, it was not public knowledge that an "experimental" test had been performed last November by an Agriculture Department laboratory on the brain of a cow suspected of having mad cow disease, and that the test had come up positive. For seven months, all that was known was that a test on the same cow done at the same laboratory at roughly the same time had come up negative. The negative result was obtained using a test that the Agriculture Department refers to as its "gold standard." The explanation that the department gave late Friday, when the positive test result came to light, was that there was no bad intention or cover-up, and that the test in question was only experimental....
Months-Long Delay in Mad Cow Announcement Stirs Debate Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are facing harsh criticism over a seven-month delay in announcing test results indicating that a suspect animal was infected with mad cow disease, the second such case yet documented in the country. The test in question, described by USDA officials as "experimental," was ordered after two previous faster "Elisa" tests had come up negative for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the formal name for mad cow disease. The animal also tested negative on a slower immunohistochemistry test, considered the agency's "gold standard" at the time. Those tests were all conducted by USDA last November. Then, just two weeks ago, and for reasons that remain unclear, agency inspector general Phyllis K. Fong ordered that tissue samples from the cow be sent to a well-respected lab in England for further testing using the Western blot method. Several tests were run, all of which came up positive for BSE. When asked why news of the first positive result from the "experimental" test last November had not been publicized, Agriculture Department spokesman Ed Loyd blamed the delay on a breakdown in internal agency communications. "The laboratory folks just never mentioned it to anyone higher up," he said. "They didn't know if it was valid or not, so they didn't report it."....
U.S. Refused Extra Mad-Cow Test A third and more sophisticated test on the beef cow suspected of having mad cow disease would have helped resolve conflicting results from two initial screenings, but the U.S. refused to perform it in November. That additional test, ordered up by the Agriculture Department's internal watchdog, ended up detecting mad cow — a finding that was confirmed on Friday by the world's pre-eminent lab, in England. Only 18 months ago, the department had used the Western blot test to help uncover the first American case of the brain-wasting illness in cows. The department is pledging that, from now on, it will conduct such testing on suspicious animals. U.S. officials in November had declared the cow free of the disease even though one of two tests — an initial screening known as a rapid test — indicated the presence of the disease. A more sophisticated follow-up — immunohistochemistry, or IHC — came back negative. "They had two diametrically opposed results which begged to be resolved," said Paul W. Brown, a former scientist at the National Institutes of Health who spent his career working on mad cow-related issues....
Beef scare tests US on cow-feed policies The new case of mad cow disease in the United States points to the US Department of Agriculture's two basic and - critics say - potentially conflicting mandates. The agency is charged with ensuring the safety of US agricultural products. But it's also meant to promote those products domestically and abroad. Bad news in the first area can harm the second. Seeking to lessen any concern beef-eaters may have about the recently discovered cow infected with the disease, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns speaks of "interlocking safeguards" and "the firewalls we have in place." He points to the vastly increased number of cows that now are screened for the deadly infection - more than 388,000 in the past 18 months. Before the first US case of mad cow disease was discovered in December 2003, just a few thousand cows were tested annually. But the388,000 are still less than 2 percent of the approximately 35 million cattle slaughtered in the US each year, far lower than the percentage tested in Europe or Japan. And the most recent episode also shows how that system of checking - even with its improvements - is not foolproof. The latest episode "underscores the need for federal regulations on BSE to be tightened immediately," says Wenonah Hauter, who heads Public Citizen's food program. Ms. Hauter says federal agencies "must eliminate loopholes in the current feed ban which still allow the use of cattle blood, waste from the floors of poultry houses, and processed restaurant and food waste to be fed to cattle." "The use of rendered cattle remains is allowed in feed for hogs and poultry, and in turn, hog and poultry remains can be put back into cattle feed," she says. "All of these loopholes provide pathways for cattle to eat potentially infective tissue from other cattle and create the potential for the disease to spread."....
DNA testing may help lead to source of new case of mad cow The government hopes DNA analysis can pinpoint the herd of the cow that tested positive for mad cow disease and lead investigators to the source of the animal's brain-wasting illness, the Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian said Saturday. Genetic testing is needed because of mistakes in how the beef cow was labeled and how its tissues were stored, John Clifford told The Associated Press in an interview. The cow, a "downer" that could not walk, was delivered last November to a plant where animals unfit for human consumption are killed. The department has not identified the owner or the plant. The cow's type of breed was mislabeled, possibly because the animal had been soiled heavily with manure, and its tissues were mixed with tissues from other cows, Clifford said. "When we went back to this particular owner, the breed we identified, he indicated he did not sell that breed. He sold another breed," Clifford said. "In addition to that, we found that after the tissues were processed, there was some mixing."....
Beef industry circles wagons Colorado, the nation's fourth-largest beef producer and home to three of the industry's largest trade groups, has been hit especially hard by the import ban and likely will endure another round of significant losses, said Steve Gabel, chairman of the Colorado Beef Council and owner of Magnum Feed Yard in Wiggins. Gabel said his company has watched the value of each of its head of cattle drop by $50 - amounting to losses of about $43,000 a week - since June 10. That was when it was announced that British researchers would retest the recently found infected cow. Given that the nation slaughters about 96,000 head of "feed cattle" a day - typically high-quality beef sold to consumers - Gabel estimates that the industry has lost about $4.8 million a day since mid-June. "And that's just a glimpse at the financial pressure our industry feels way before any confirmation is complete," he said....
Canadian border to remain open to U.S. beef Canada, which two years ago was prohibited from exporting its cattle to the United States after a mad cow scare, has no intention of closing its borders to U.S. beef after Washington announced that a cow tested positive there, Canada's agriculture minister said. The comments from Canadian Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell came as Taiwan reimposed the ban on U.S. beef that it lifted just two months ago. Also, a Japanese government food safety panel expressed concern Saturday about the second confirmed American case, raising speculation that Tokyo may delay a planned resumption of U.S. beef imports. The U.S. ban on Canadian cattle was imposed in May 2003 when an Albertan-born cow was found ill with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE....
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For Months, Agriculture Department Delayed Announcing Result of Mad Cow Test Although the Agriculture Department confirmed Friday that a cow that died last year was infected with mad cow disease, a test the agency conducted seven months ago indicated that the animal had the disease. The result was never publicly disclosed. The delay in confirming the United States' second case of mad cow disease seems to underscore what critics of the agency have said for a long time: that there are serious and systemic problems in the way the Agriculture Department tests animals for mad cow. Indeed, the lengthy delay occurred despite the intense national interest in the disease and the fact that many countries have banned shipments of beef from the United States because of what they consider to be lax testing policies. Until Friday, it was not public knowledge that an "experimental" test had been performed last November by an Agriculture Department laboratory on the brain of a cow suspected of having mad cow disease, and that the test had come up positive. For seven months, all that was known was that a test on the same cow done at the same laboratory at roughly the same time had come up negative. The negative result was obtained using a test that the Agriculture Department refers to as its "gold standard." The explanation that the department gave late Friday, when the positive test result came to light, was that there was no bad intention or cover-up, and that the test in question was only experimental....
Months-Long Delay in Mad Cow Announcement Stirs Debate Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are facing harsh criticism over a seven-month delay in announcing test results indicating that a suspect animal was infected with mad cow disease, the second such case yet documented in the country. The test in question, described by USDA officials as "experimental," was ordered after two previous faster "Elisa" tests had come up negative for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the formal name for mad cow disease. The animal also tested negative on a slower immunohistochemistry test, considered the agency's "gold standard" at the time. Those tests were all conducted by USDA last November. Then, just two weeks ago, and for reasons that remain unclear, agency inspector general Phyllis K. Fong ordered that tissue samples from the cow be sent to a well-respected lab in England for further testing using the Western blot method. Several tests were run, all of which came up positive for BSE. When asked why news of the first positive result from the "experimental" test last November had not been publicized, Agriculture Department spokesman Ed Loyd blamed the delay on a breakdown in internal agency communications. "The laboratory folks just never mentioned it to anyone higher up," he said. "They didn't know if it was valid or not, so they didn't report it."....
U.S. Refused Extra Mad-Cow Test A third and more sophisticated test on the beef cow suspected of having mad cow disease would have helped resolve conflicting results from two initial screenings, but the U.S. refused to perform it in November. That additional test, ordered up by the Agriculture Department's internal watchdog, ended up detecting mad cow — a finding that was confirmed on Friday by the world's pre-eminent lab, in England. Only 18 months ago, the department had used the Western blot test to help uncover the first American case of the brain-wasting illness in cows. The department is pledging that, from now on, it will conduct such testing on suspicious animals. U.S. officials in November had declared the cow free of the disease even though one of two tests — an initial screening known as a rapid test — indicated the presence of the disease. A more sophisticated follow-up — immunohistochemistry, or IHC — came back negative. "They had two diametrically opposed results which begged to be resolved," said Paul W. Brown, a former scientist at the National Institutes of Health who spent his career working on mad cow-related issues....
Beef scare tests US on cow-feed policies The new case of mad cow disease in the United States points to the US Department of Agriculture's two basic and - critics say - potentially conflicting mandates. The agency is charged with ensuring the safety of US agricultural products. But it's also meant to promote those products domestically and abroad. Bad news in the first area can harm the second. Seeking to lessen any concern beef-eaters may have about the recently discovered cow infected with the disease, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns speaks of "interlocking safeguards" and "the firewalls we have in place." He points to the vastly increased number of cows that now are screened for the deadly infection - more than 388,000 in the past 18 months. Before the first US case of mad cow disease was discovered in December 2003, just a few thousand cows were tested annually. But the388,000 are still less than 2 percent of the approximately 35 million cattle slaughtered in the US each year, far lower than the percentage tested in Europe or Japan. And the most recent episode also shows how that system of checking - even with its improvements - is not foolproof. The latest episode "underscores the need for federal regulations on BSE to be tightened immediately," says Wenonah Hauter, who heads Public Citizen's food program. Ms. Hauter says federal agencies "must eliminate loopholes in the current feed ban which still allow the use of cattle blood, waste from the floors of poultry houses, and processed restaurant and food waste to be fed to cattle." "The use of rendered cattle remains is allowed in feed for hogs and poultry, and in turn, hog and poultry remains can be put back into cattle feed," she says. "All of these loopholes provide pathways for cattle to eat potentially infective tissue from other cattle and create the potential for the disease to spread."....
DNA testing may help lead to source of new case of mad cow The government hopes DNA analysis can pinpoint the herd of the cow that tested positive for mad cow disease and lead investigators to the source of the animal's brain-wasting illness, the Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian said Saturday. Genetic testing is needed because of mistakes in how the beef cow was labeled and how its tissues were stored, John Clifford told The Associated Press in an interview. The cow, a "downer" that could not walk, was delivered last November to a plant where animals unfit for human consumption are killed. The department has not identified the owner or the plant. The cow's type of breed was mislabeled, possibly because the animal had been soiled heavily with manure, and its tissues were mixed with tissues from other cows, Clifford said. "When we went back to this particular owner, the breed we identified, he indicated he did not sell that breed. He sold another breed," Clifford said. "In addition to that, we found that after the tissues were processed, there was some mixing."....
Beef industry circles wagons Colorado, the nation's fourth-largest beef producer and home to three of the industry's largest trade groups, has been hit especially hard by the import ban and likely will endure another round of significant losses, said Steve Gabel, chairman of the Colorado Beef Council and owner of Magnum Feed Yard in Wiggins. Gabel said his company has watched the value of each of its head of cattle drop by $50 - amounting to losses of about $43,000 a week - since June 10. That was when it was announced that British researchers would retest the recently found infected cow. Given that the nation slaughters about 96,000 head of "feed cattle" a day - typically high-quality beef sold to consumers - Gabel estimates that the industry has lost about $4.8 million a day since mid-June. "And that's just a glimpse at the financial pressure our industry feels way before any confirmation is complete," he said....
Canadian border to remain open to U.S. beef Canada, which two years ago was prohibited from exporting its cattle to the United States after a mad cow scare, has no intention of closing its borders to U.S. beef after Washington announced that a cow tested positive there, Canada's agriculture minister said. The comments from Canadian Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell came as Taiwan reimposed the ban on U.S. beef that it lifted just two months ago. Also, a Japanese government food safety panel expressed concern Saturday about the second confirmed American case, raising speculation that Tokyo may delay a planned resumption of U.S. beef imports. The U.S. ban on Canadian cattle was imposed in May 2003 when an Albertan-born cow was found ill with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE....
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NOTE TO READERS
Saturday Night At The Westerner will not appear tonight. Due to some work being done on my computer I couldn't access documents sent by Julie Carter and others. This feature will return next week.
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Saturday Night At The Westerner will not appear tonight. Due to some work being done on my computer I couldn't access documents sent by Julie Carter and others. This feature will return next week.
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Opinion/Commentary on Kelo vs. New London
Cato Scholars Condemn Property Rights Decision
In the landmark Takings Clause case, Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court ruled today, 5-4, that the government has the right to condemn private property and transfer titles to others simply to encourage economic development and a larger tax base. "With today's decision, no one's property is safe," said Roger Pilon, director of Cato's Center for Constitutional Studies, "since any time a government official thinks someone else can make better use of your property than you're doing, he can order it condemned and transferred. Today's decision, the third loss for property owners this term, together with other recent decisions from this Court, marks this as 'The Government's Court,'" Pilon added. This decision comes as a blow to homeowners and small business people who have been robbed of their property by usually large and powerful interests in league with government officials....
I Own It... No You Don't
I own a 2-bedroom, 1,500 sq-ft house.
No you don't. Because someone wants to put a 5-bedroom, 4,000 sq-ft house on your lot. It will bring in more property taxes.
I own a 5-bedroom, 4,000 sq-ft house.
No you don't. Because a local BBQ-purveyor wants to turn your lot into a restaurant, which will turn a profit and produce more taxes than your home.
I own a successful BBQ restaurant.
No you don't. Because a huge chain restaurant wants to turn your BBQ pit into a burger joint that turns more profit than your little spit can.
I own a busy chain restaurant franchise.
No you don't. Because a developer wants to build a hotel there with more profit, higher property taxes, and more employees....
Meet the people who owned the property
Susette Kelo dreamed of owning a home that looked out over the water. She purchased and lovingly restored her little pink house where the Thames River meets the Long Island Sound in 1997, and has enjoyed the great view from its windows ever since. The Dery family, down the street from Susette, has lived in Fort Trumbull since 1895; Matt Dery and his family live next door to his mother and father, whose parents purchased their house when William McKinley was president. The richness and vibrancy of this neighborhood reflects the American ideal of community and the dream of homeownership. Tragically, the City of New London is turning that dream into a nightmare. In 1998, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer built a plant next to Fort Trumbull and the City determined that someone else could make better use of the land than the Fort Trumbull residents. The City handed over its power of eminent domain—the ability to take private property for public use—to the New London Development Corporation (NLDC), a private body, to take the entire neighborhood for private development. As the Fort Trumbull neighbors found out, when private entities wield government’s awesome power of eminent domain and can justify taking property with the nebulous claim of “economic development,” all homeowners are in trouble....
Property Rights Devastated by Supreme Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court today dealt a blow to property rights in a split decision that will hurt homeowners and small business owners across the country. “The Supreme Court has said that local governments can seize private land if government and business interests think they know best how the land should be used,” said Hans Bader, legal counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “The Court’s decision contradicts the language and intent of the Fifth Amendment,” said Bader. “The Constitution says you can’t take private property except for ‘public use.’ But when government seizes land and hands it over to business interests to jack up tax revenue, the public isn’t ‘using’ the land. “Government can always claim a ‘public purpose,’ but that’s not the same as ‘public use,’” said Bader....
On June 24, 2005, the Supreme Court put a big UP FOR GRABS sign on your home.
The Court said it’s perfectly OK, under the U.S. Constitution, to take your home or business and give it to a politically connected private developer because that developer might be able to produce more taxes and more jobs off of your land. In the face of this disgraceful decision upholding takings for private development, it might seem like the fight is over. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been overwhelmed by emails and phone calls from citizens who are shocked and outraged by what the Supreme Court has done. We have learned that individual citizens CAN make a difference. We have seen dozens of proposals for eminent domain go down in flames because of popular opposition. We’ve seen cities and states change their laws in response to the outrage of their citizens. Right now, there is a tremendous momentum against this abuse of power, and we ask each of you to begin organizing to change the law in your city or county or state. The Castle Coalition will help you write the language, but now is the time to start organizing your friends and neighbors. Your local government will tell you there’s nothing to worry about, that it would never use eminent domain, or that it's only as a “last resort.” Don’t believe a word of it....
The Supreme Court's reverse Robin Hoods
The Supreme Court's "liberal" wing has a reputation in some circles as a guardian of the little guy and a protector of civil liberties. That deserves reconsideration in light of yesterday's decision in Kelo v. City of New London. The Court's four liberals (Justices Stevens, Breyer, Souter and Ginsburg) combined with the protean Anthony Kennedy to rule that local governments have more or less unlimited authority to seize homes and businesses. No one disputes that this power of "eminent domain" makes sense in limited circumstances; the Constitution's Fifth Amendment explicitly provides for it. But the plain reading of that Amendment's "takings clause" also appears to require that eminent domain be invoked only when land is required for genuine "public use" such as roads. It further requires that the government pay owners "just compensation" in such cases. The founding fathers added this clause to the Fifth Amendment--which also guarantees "due process" and protects against double jeopardy and self-incrimination--because they understood that there could be no meaningful liberty in a country where the fruits of one's labor are subject to arbitrary government seizure. That protection was immensely diminished by yesterday's 5-4 decision, which effectively erased the requirement that eminent domain be invoked for "public use."....
Damaging ‘deference’
The question answered yesterday was: Can government profit by seizing the property of people of modest means and giving it to wealthy people who can pay more taxes than can be extracted from the original owners? The court answered yes. The Fifth Amendment says, among other things, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation" (emphasis added). All state constitutions echo the Constitution's Framers by stipulating that takings must be for "public use." The Framers, who weighed their words, clearly intended the adjective "public" to circumscribe government's power: Government should take private property only to create things — roads, bridges, parks, public buildings — directly owned or primarily used by the general public. Fighting eviction from homes one of them had lived in all her life, the New London owners appealed to Connecticut's Supreme Court, which ruled 4 to 3 against them. Yesterday they lost again. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5 to 4 ruling that drains the phrase "public use" of its clearly intended function of denying to government an untrammeled power to dispossess individuals of their most precious property: their homes and businesses. During oral arguments in February, Justice Antonin Scalia distilled the essence of New London's brazen claim: "You can take from A and give to B if B pays more taxes?" Yesterday the court said that the modifier "public" in the phrase "public use" does not modify government power at all. That is the logic of the opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens and joined by justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer....
Supreme Court Ruling on Seizure of Private Property Highly Disturbing
Today, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) voiced their disappointment with the Supreme Court’s decision in the Kelo v. New London, which ruled against a group of homeowners in Connecticut. In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled against the property owners of a town in Connecticut, affirming the local government’s ability to seize private property for private development. “The Supreme Court has misrepresented the importance of the Fifth Amendment, which entitles just compensation to take land for clear public use, such as roads or schools,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. “The Fifth Amendment is not intended as the means for increased tax revenue from private enterprises at the expense of an individual’s property rights.” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote the dissenting opinion for the court, arguing against the unconstrained authority of government to displace families and small businesses in order to accommodate developers. “The specter of condemnation hangs over all property,” stated the Justice in her opinion. She was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Thomas....
They Can't Take That Away From Me... Unless They Can
The government's takings power is a necessary evil that, if used broadly, can destroy the entire concept of private property rights. As Russell Kirk pointed out, doing so will have devastating affects on society: "[F]reedom and property are closely linked. Separate property from private possession, and Leviathan becomes master of all. Upon the foundation of private property, great civilizations are built. The more widespread is the possession of private property, the more stable and productive is a commonwealth." (Link) The Kelo case is a particularly egregious example of how the takings power can be abused. The Supreme Court has held that private property can be seized via eminent domain as part of an urban renewal project when the property is blighted, a loophole that local authorities have greatly abused to seize private property. Yet, in this case, the government didn't even bother trying to hide behind that fig leaf. They baldly asserted the power to seize private homes because they think some other user can put them to a higher tax generating use...This is no minor technical dispute. Kirk's dicta is confirmed by the brilliant work Richard Epstein did in his classic book Takings, which makes a compelling case that the power to take private property is the critical and central power of government that must be constrained if liberty is to have any substance....
DC Mayor To Bulldoze Ruth Bader Ginsberg's House For Homeless Shelter
In an immediate municipal action based upon the just-released ruling by the United States Supreme Court, DC Mayor Anthony Williams has announced that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg "needs to start packing" as the city's plans for a suburban homeless shelter have finally been vetted. Ginsberg was one of five justices who ruled that city governments may seize private property in the name of furthering beneficial municipal programs. "We are allowing time for Ms. Ginsberg to dismantle her Bill Clinton altar, as well as her mannequal tributes to Ruth Buzzi," said Williams. Ginsberg said she will "respect her own ruling" despite the fact that "I do not agree with it anymore."....
And finally, from National Review Online's The Corner: The quickest way to reverse Kelo is to find some conservative town in Utah somewhere to shut down an abortion clinic in order to make room for a Wal-Mart.
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Cato Scholars Condemn Property Rights Decision
In the landmark Takings Clause case, Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court ruled today, 5-4, that the government has the right to condemn private property and transfer titles to others simply to encourage economic development and a larger tax base. "With today's decision, no one's property is safe," said Roger Pilon, director of Cato's Center for Constitutional Studies, "since any time a government official thinks someone else can make better use of your property than you're doing, he can order it condemned and transferred. Today's decision, the third loss for property owners this term, together with other recent decisions from this Court, marks this as 'The Government's Court,'" Pilon added. This decision comes as a blow to homeowners and small business people who have been robbed of their property by usually large and powerful interests in league with government officials....
I Own It... No You Don't
I own a 2-bedroom, 1,500 sq-ft house.
No you don't. Because someone wants to put a 5-bedroom, 4,000 sq-ft house on your lot. It will bring in more property taxes.
I own a 5-bedroom, 4,000 sq-ft house.
No you don't. Because a local BBQ-purveyor wants to turn your lot into a restaurant, which will turn a profit and produce more taxes than your home.
I own a successful BBQ restaurant.
No you don't. Because a huge chain restaurant wants to turn your BBQ pit into a burger joint that turns more profit than your little spit can.
I own a busy chain restaurant franchise.
No you don't. Because a developer wants to build a hotel there with more profit, higher property taxes, and more employees....
Meet the people who owned the property
Susette Kelo dreamed of owning a home that looked out over the water. She purchased and lovingly restored her little pink house where the Thames River meets the Long Island Sound in 1997, and has enjoyed the great view from its windows ever since. The Dery family, down the street from Susette, has lived in Fort Trumbull since 1895; Matt Dery and his family live next door to his mother and father, whose parents purchased their house when William McKinley was president. The richness and vibrancy of this neighborhood reflects the American ideal of community and the dream of homeownership. Tragically, the City of New London is turning that dream into a nightmare. In 1998, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer built a plant next to Fort Trumbull and the City determined that someone else could make better use of the land than the Fort Trumbull residents. The City handed over its power of eminent domain—the ability to take private property for public use—to the New London Development Corporation (NLDC), a private body, to take the entire neighborhood for private development. As the Fort Trumbull neighbors found out, when private entities wield government’s awesome power of eminent domain and can justify taking property with the nebulous claim of “economic development,” all homeowners are in trouble....
Property Rights Devastated by Supreme Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court today dealt a blow to property rights in a split decision that will hurt homeowners and small business owners across the country. “The Supreme Court has said that local governments can seize private land if government and business interests think they know best how the land should be used,” said Hans Bader, legal counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “The Court’s decision contradicts the language and intent of the Fifth Amendment,” said Bader. “The Constitution says you can’t take private property except for ‘public use.’ But when government seizes land and hands it over to business interests to jack up tax revenue, the public isn’t ‘using’ the land. “Government can always claim a ‘public purpose,’ but that’s not the same as ‘public use,’” said Bader....
On June 24, 2005, the Supreme Court put a big UP FOR GRABS sign on your home.
The Court said it’s perfectly OK, under the U.S. Constitution, to take your home or business and give it to a politically connected private developer because that developer might be able to produce more taxes and more jobs off of your land. In the face of this disgraceful decision upholding takings for private development, it might seem like the fight is over. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been overwhelmed by emails and phone calls from citizens who are shocked and outraged by what the Supreme Court has done. We have learned that individual citizens CAN make a difference. We have seen dozens of proposals for eminent domain go down in flames because of popular opposition. We’ve seen cities and states change their laws in response to the outrage of their citizens. Right now, there is a tremendous momentum against this abuse of power, and we ask each of you to begin organizing to change the law in your city or county or state. The Castle Coalition will help you write the language, but now is the time to start organizing your friends and neighbors. Your local government will tell you there’s nothing to worry about, that it would never use eminent domain, or that it's only as a “last resort.” Don’t believe a word of it....
The Supreme Court's reverse Robin Hoods
The Supreme Court's "liberal" wing has a reputation in some circles as a guardian of the little guy and a protector of civil liberties. That deserves reconsideration in light of yesterday's decision in Kelo v. City of New London. The Court's four liberals (Justices Stevens, Breyer, Souter and Ginsburg) combined with the protean Anthony Kennedy to rule that local governments have more or less unlimited authority to seize homes and businesses. No one disputes that this power of "eminent domain" makes sense in limited circumstances; the Constitution's Fifth Amendment explicitly provides for it. But the plain reading of that Amendment's "takings clause" also appears to require that eminent domain be invoked only when land is required for genuine "public use" such as roads. It further requires that the government pay owners "just compensation" in such cases. The founding fathers added this clause to the Fifth Amendment--which also guarantees "due process" and protects against double jeopardy and self-incrimination--because they understood that there could be no meaningful liberty in a country where the fruits of one's labor are subject to arbitrary government seizure. That protection was immensely diminished by yesterday's 5-4 decision, which effectively erased the requirement that eminent domain be invoked for "public use."....
Damaging ‘deference’
The question answered yesterday was: Can government profit by seizing the property of people of modest means and giving it to wealthy people who can pay more taxes than can be extracted from the original owners? The court answered yes. The Fifth Amendment says, among other things, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation" (emphasis added). All state constitutions echo the Constitution's Framers by stipulating that takings must be for "public use." The Framers, who weighed their words, clearly intended the adjective "public" to circumscribe government's power: Government should take private property only to create things — roads, bridges, parks, public buildings — directly owned or primarily used by the general public. Fighting eviction from homes one of them had lived in all her life, the New London owners appealed to Connecticut's Supreme Court, which ruled 4 to 3 against them. Yesterday they lost again. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5 to 4 ruling that drains the phrase "public use" of its clearly intended function of denying to government an untrammeled power to dispossess individuals of their most precious property: their homes and businesses. During oral arguments in February, Justice Antonin Scalia distilled the essence of New London's brazen claim: "You can take from A and give to B if B pays more taxes?" Yesterday the court said that the modifier "public" in the phrase "public use" does not modify government power at all. That is the logic of the opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens and joined by justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer....
Supreme Court Ruling on Seizure of Private Property Highly Disturbing
Today, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) voiced their disappointment with the Supreme Court’s decision in the Kelo v. New London, which ruled against a group of homeowners in Connecticut. In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled against the property owners of a town in Connecticut, affirming the local government’s ability to seize private property for private development. “The Supreme Court has misrepresented the importance of the Fifth Amendment, which entitles just compensation to take land for clear public use, such as roads or schools,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. “The Fifth Amendment is not intended as the means for increased tax revenue from private enterprises at the expense of an individual’s property rights.” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote the dissenting opinion for the court, arguing against the unconstrained authority of government to displace families and small businesses in order to accommodate developers. “The specter of condemnation hangs over all property,” stated the Justice in her opinion. She was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Thomas....
They Can't Take That Away From Me... Unless They Can
The government's takings power is a necessary evil that, if used broadly, can destroy the entire concept of private property rights. As Russell Kirk pointed out, doing so will have devastating affects on society: "[F]reedom and property are closely linked. Separate property from private possession, and Leviathan becomes master of all. Upon the foundation of private property, great civilizations are built. The more widespread is the possession of private property, the more stable and productive is a commonwealth." (Link) The Kelo case is a particularly egregious example of how the takings power can be abused. The Supreme Court has held that private property can be seized via eminent domain as part of an urban renewal project when the property is blighted, a loophole that local authorities have greatly abused to seize private property. Yet, in this case, the government didn't even bother trying to hide behind that fig leaf. They baldly asserted the power to seize private homes because they think some other user can put them to a higher tax generating use...This is no minor technical dispute. Kirk's dicta is confirmed by the brilliant work Richard Epstein did in his classic book Takings, which makes a compelling case that the power to take private property is the critical and central power of government that must be constrained if liberty is to have any substance....
DC Mayor To Bulldoze Ruth Bader Ginsberg's House For Homeless Shelter
In an immediate municipal action based upon the just-released ruling by the United States Supreme Court, DC Mayor Anthony Williams has announced that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg "needs to start packing" as the city's plans for a suburban homeless shelter have finally been vetted. Ginsberg was one of five justices who ruled that city governments may seize private property in the name of furthering beneficial municipal programs. "We are allowing time for Ms. Ginsberg to dismantle her Bill Clinton altar, as well as her mannequal tributes to Ruth Buzzi," said Williams. Ginsberg said she will "respect her own ruling" despite the fact that "I do not agree with it anymore."....
And finally, from National Review Online's The Corner: The quickest way to reverse Kelo is to find some conservative town in Utah somewhere to shut down an abortion clinic in order to make room for a Wal-Mart.
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