Friday, July 14, 2006
NEWS ROUNDUP
Court Rules for Coastal Landowner in Development Dispute Someday, Dennis Schneider might be able to enjoy a drop-dead view from his yet-to-be-built dream home on a Central Coast cliff-top perched above the ocean. At the same time, kayakers, surfers and all the ships at sea will have a drop-dead view of Schneider's 10,000-square-foot mansion — whether they want it or not. Less-than-pleasing views for passing sailors are no grounds for the California Coastal Commission this week to restrict seaside development, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday. "We believe that it is unreasonable to assume that the Legislature has ever sought to protect the occasional boater's views of the coastline at the expense of a coastal landowner," the 2nd District Court of Appeal wrote in a unanimous opinion. The ruling could affect stretches of California shoreline that are still relatively undeveloped, particularly along the Central Coast and in Northern California. An attorney for Schneider, a San Luis Obispo engineer, cast the decision Thursday as a victory for property owners seeking to exercise their rights and a defeat for Coastal Commission officials trying to arbitrarily clamp down on development. "The commission was attempting an outrageous power grab that would have put projects up and down the coast in jeopardy based on nothing more than the arbitrary aesthetic whims of commission staffers and members," said J. David Breemer, an attorney with the property-rights oriented Pacific Legal Foundation....
Editorial: Coastal craziness In a 1997 speech at a conference in Monterey, a radical environmentalist named Peter Douglas called for the U.S. Constitution to be amended to make courts the “arbiters” in what he called the “debate” over property owners' rights. It was just another day at the green pulpit for Douglas, who thinks government powers should be used to coerce individuals to “care with mind and heart for Gaia and all life she sustains.” Unfortunately, Douglas is in a position to use coercive powers in pursuit of his extremism. He is the longtime executive director of the California Coastal Commission, an institution whose hostility toward property rights makes the typical eminent domain-abusing redevelopment agency seem like pikers. Consider the case of San Luis Obispo engineer Dennis Schneider, who hoped to build his dream home on a cliff above the ocean in a remote area north of Cayucos. Incredibly by normal cognitive standards, typically by Coastal Commission standards, the agency blocked his plans on the grounds that the home would be such an aesthetic affront to passing kayakers, boaters and surfers that it would violate their rights. We are not making this up. Thankfully, on June 28, the 2nd District Court of Appeal said this was nonsense in a brisk 12-page decision that seemed perplexed at where the Coastal Commission comes up with stuff like this. The answer, of course: from the untethered imagination of its executive director....
U.S.: No critical habitat in Southwest for jaguar The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that it will not designate critical habitat for the endangered jaguar in the Southwest. U.S. habitat for the animal makes up less than 1 percent of the species' range and is not critical to conserve it, the agency said. Thus, it doesn't meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act for designating critical habitat. Jaguars are occasionally seen in southwestern New Mexico and Southeastern Arizona, but Fish and Wildlife officials believe those jaguars come from a population 130 miles south of the border in Mexico. "The service has determined there are no physical and biological features in the United States that meet the definition of critical habitat," said Benjamin Tuggle, acting director of the agency's Southwest region. The recovery of the species depends almost entirely on efforts in Mexico and Central and South America, the agency said. The jaguars were listed as endangered in the United States in 1997, but Fish and Wildlife determined that a critical-habitat designation was not prudent at the time. In 2003, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife filed a complaint contending that finding violated the Endangered Species Act. The federal agency agreed to look at the issue again, which led to Wednesday's determination....
Development in South Dakota Prompts Unlikely Coalition: Christians, Indians, Ranchers(Subscription Required) Jay Allen expects to spend $3 million on his new development near this town of 6,400. The three-story, 22,500-square-foot barn will house six bars, a restaurant, stores and a stage. But his ambitions now rest on a hotly disputed beer license for which he paid just $250. Mr. Allen hopes his development, the Sturgis County Line, will attract many of the half-million bikers who come here each August for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. For now, though, it has attracted the opposition of an unlikely coalition: American Indians, white ranchers and Christian activists. The main problem, as they see it, is that the Sturgis County Line and another complex are being built about two miles from Bear Butte, which rises about 1,100 feet from the prairie surrounding it. For thousands of years, Bear Butte -- or Mato Paha in the language of the Lakota American Indian tribe -- is considered sacred ground by dozens of tribes who pray there and view it as "the womb of mother Earth." When Anne White Hat read about Mr. Allen's plans in a local newspaper, she was speechless. "We just couldn't believe someone would actually be so naïve to think they could do this, with total lack of respect and knowledge about native people," says Ms. White Hat, a Lakota. Christians see an opportunity to limit the spread of rowdy biker bars and strip clubs. Ranchers complain their cattle have contracted pneumonia after breathing copper-colored dust stirred up by bikers thundering across gravel roads....
A quest for cooler heads in Indian suit against US The lawsuit's name is innocuous enough. But Cobell v. Kempthorne carries 119 years of historical baggage, and its outcome could affect hundreds of thousands of people at a cost of billions of dollars. It's also thorny as a prickly pear, so contentious that a panel of federal jurists this week ruled that the case needs a different judge to oversee it. The dispute involves royalties due native Americans dating back to 1887. That's when Uncle Sam took control of some 11 million acres of tribal lands in the West as part of the federal policy of forced assimilation. The US was supposed to be paying into Indian trust accounts what now amounts to billions of dollars in revenues from oil, gas, timber, minerals, and grazing on those acres, then disbursing payments to native account holders. But the whole thing has been mismanaged, federal courts have declared several times since the case began in 1996, and the last three Interior secretaries have failed to fix it. Idahoan Dirk Kempthorne, who recently became Interior secretary, follows both Bruce Babbitt and Gale Norton as lead defendant. On the other side is Elouise Cobell of Browning, Mont., a member of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe, a rancher and banker, and a recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant for her work in economic development. She's the lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit that bears her name. "The government has abused trust beneficiaries and has failed to fulfill the most basic trust responsibilities owed to us," she said this week....
Oil company notified of violation in salt water spill State officials say they have notified an oil company of possible fines for a ruptured pipeline that spilled nearly 1 million gallons of saltwater into Charbonneau Creek in northwestern North Dakota. The state Health Department and the Industrial Commission have given notices to Zenergy, Inc., of Tulsa, Okla. The company has until July 23 to reply, officials said. The salt water spill, discovered in early January, killed fish in the McKenzie County creek near Alexander, and forced ranchers to move their cattle. The director of the state Industrial Commission, Karlene Fine, said Zenergy faces up to $90,000 in fines. The commission regulates oil and gas production. The state Health Department's environmental chief, David Glatt, said the company also faces penalties for violating environmental laws. He said Zenergy and the department will negotiate fines and a settlement to ensure the state recovers its costs in the cleanup.The state costs total around $35,000 so far, Glatt said. Salt water is an oil production waste product that can kill plants and hurt animals. Oil companies pipe it underground to dispose of it....
Ranch sells for $47 million A 949-acre ranch south of Carbondale has sold for $47 million, one of the largest and most expensive land deals in Pitkin County history. The deal took roughly eight years to complete and includes hundreds of acres of open space, according to local real estate agent Joshua Saslove, who represented the sellers, Richard and Debbie Jelinek. The Crystal Island Ranch is bordered by the Crystal River, Prince Creek and Thomas Creek, Saslove said, and sits near the base of Mount Sopris. The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management administer much of the land nearby. "The property abuts very large tracts of BLM land, and the only modern development on the property is a house and barn, a guest house and caretaker's quarters," said Saslove, a regional affiliate for Christie's auction house. "One of the messages we want people to hear is that the former owners are really thankful to everyone who participated in this unique land-use plan." The complex deal involved the Pitkin County Open Space and Trails program, the Conservation Fund, the Jelineks and the Aspen Valley Land Trust. The ranch once encompassed roughly 1,700 acres, but the land has been divided several ways, with some pieces sold to conservation organizations and others preserved with conservation easements. Overall, some 1,400 contiguous acres have been protected. The name of the buyer was not available Thursday afternoon, and Saslove would not reveal any names, saying the buyer wished to remain anonymous....
Easement will protect trout habitat A conservation easement may be placed along the Madison River on the Sun Ranch as part of an agreement that will protect 16 square miles of prime native trout habitat. On Thursday, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission authorized the department to start working on the project, and set aside $4.5 million from the state’s Habitat Montana program to help pay for the proposed easement purchase. Funded with hunter license fees, the Habitat Montana program seeks to preserve and restore important habitat for fish and wildlife and to make prime fishing and hunting areas accessible to the sporting public. FWP’s Wildlife Division Administrator Don Childress was excited by the news. He thanked both the non-profit conservation group Trust for Public Land and Sun Ranch owner Roger Lang of Bozeman for working on the deal....
Editorial: Agencies should prevent drilling to protect Strawberry The Strawberry Reservoir basin is a showcase for wetlands restoration and a trout fisherman's paradise. But, having survived decades of neglect and damage prior to its resurrection in the mid-'80s, the Strawberry Valley now could face an even greater threat from oil and gas drilling. Before-and-after photos of the Strawberry River Habitat Enhancement Project graphically show how an investment of $34 million in federal money and thousands of donated hours of labor have transformed the once-overgrazed basin of Strawberry River tributaries into one of the country's premier recreational fisheries. But sediment from new roads and the traffic that energy exploration would bring could contaminate the 10 streams flowing into the reservoir and seriously damage its fish population and the $20 million angling business they support. The 57,000 acres of blue-ribbon recreation land and watershed surrounding the reservoir should be protected from the wholesale exploration and drilling that federal land-management agencies seem bent on encouraging all over the West, including in roadless areas and prime hunting and fishing locations....
Sentencing Delayed In Hayman Fire Case A resentencing of a former U.S. Forest Service employee who admitted setting the largest wildfire in Colorado history has been delayed indefinitely, her public defender said Thursday. Terry Lynn Barton, 42, was sentenced on state charges to 12 years in prison in 2003, twice the typical term. But the Colorado Court of Appeals ordered a new sentencing, saying the judge in the case may have been biased because smoke from the 138,000-acre Hayman wildfire forced him to evacuate. The fire destroyed 133 homes. Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas Kennedy ruled this year a jury could consider whether enough aggravating circumstances existed to justify the sentence. A hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday. Barton's public defender, Mark Walta said the Colorado Supreme Court agreed in May to review a similar sentencing situation from Montezuma County, and Barton's case has been put on hold pending the outcome of the Montezuma case....
Senate committee fires back in feud over Forest Service policy Certain logging projects and other smaller-scale U.S. Forest Service activities would be exempt from a long-held public comment and appeals process under a provision inserted into a spending bill and approved recently by a key Senate committee. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., added the amendment to a multi-agency budget measure that sailed through the Senate Appropriations Committee last month. No date has been set for a full vote in the Senate; spending bills before the House of Representatives do not contain the rider. The move to steer the new forest policy through Congress is the latest in a back-and-forth between environmentalists who demand public comment on timber, mining and other Forest Service projects — no matter the size — and defenders of the Bush administration's push to fast-track certain priorities, namely forest-thinning to combat wildfires. The Burns amendment would overturn a 2005 ruling by a U.S. district judge in California that thwarted Forest Service regulations written in 2003. That rule change would have repealed public comment on so-called "categorical exemptions" — smaller scale projects the Forest Service says do not require lengthy environmental analysis. For instance, the measure would allow bypassing public comment on proposed burn projects up to 4,500 acres and fuel-reduction logging projects up to 1,000 acres. The comment and appeals process lasts up to 90 days, and in some cases more. Environmentalists hailed the California ruling as a rebuke of the president's Healthy Forest Initiative, but are now grousing that Bush allies are again seeking to bypass the National Environmental Policy Act....
Scenic beachfront land to go public Eight years ago, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation led the effort to buy five miles of stunning beaches and rugged coastline along Santa Cruz County's north coast, saving it from development in the hope of establishing a new state park. Today, after years of studies and nagging budget problems that prevented California from accepting the gift, the beaches at Coast Dairies Ranch, a sprawling expanse of redwood forests, artichoke fields and rolling hills, finally transfer to public ownership. The deal ranks as the most significant addition of beaches to Northern California state parks in 31 years. The scenic ranch -- home to peregrine falcons, steelhead trout and mountain lions -- is believed to be the largest piece of private beachfront property along the California coast between Hearst Ranch at San Simeon and the Oregon border. ``It's a major milestone. It's the first step toward fulfilling the dream that Coast Dairies will be owned by the public and open to everyone,'' said Reed Holderman, executive director of the Trust for Public Land-California, a San Francisco conservation group that owns Coast Dairies....
Arizona cattlemen suing over spotted-owl habitat A California-based legal firm and Arizona cattlemen have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's designation of critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl in four Western states. The Pacific Legal Foundation, acting on behalf of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, contends that the Fish and Wildlife Service did not follow laws governing the Endangered Species Act in setting aside more than 8 million acres for the owl in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. "Some of the areas that have been set aside by the regulators clearly don't have physical and biological features that are essential for the owl's conservation," said foundation attorney Damien Schiff. "Other areas are described in such vague terms that it's anyone's guess whether it's necessary to take them out of public use. "And in general, the regulators ignored their legal duty to consider and factor in the economic impact of the designation." Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown said the agency was unable to comment on a pending lawsuit. But an attorney with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity questioned the need for a lawsuit. Eric Ryberg said his group's successful 2001 challenge of the critical-habitat listing forced the agency to redraw boundaries. He wonders why the legal foundation and ranchers waited so long to respond to it....
Judge Protects Gila Chub on Agua Fria National Monument The Center for Biological Diversity applauded a decision today that protects the endangered Gila chub from the impacts of livestock grazing on the Agua Fria National Monument. The decision states that the Bureau of Land Management failed to consider the potential for harm to the Gila chub and its habitat when it issued a ten-year grazing permit, and that it also improperly proceeded with an outdated analysis from the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Agua Fria National Monument is approximately 71,000 acres and was established in 2000 by a presidential proclamation to protect the unique biological and cultural areas of this area, which is located 40 miles north of Phoenix. The diverse vegetative communities of the Monument provide habitat for numerous rare wildlife species, including the lowland leopard frog, Mexican garter snake, common black hawk, pronghorn, yellow-billed cuckoo and desert tortoise. The valuable riparian forests of the Monument were specifically highlighted in the presidential proclamation and their protection was given statutory priority. The order was issued by Administrative Law Judge James H. Heffernan, for the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Hearings and Appeals, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The order was granted in response to the Center for Biological Diversity’s appeal of the BLM’s November 2005 decision to approve a new livestock grazing permit without properly considering impacts to the natural and cultural resources in the area....
San Pedro River Railroad Purchase Offer Withdrawn The San Pedro River will not have hazardous materials transported along its banks, as the pending purchase offer for the adjacent railroad was withdrawn today. “This is truly a victory for the San Pedro River and the citizens of the county. Instead of being turned into a toxic corridor, the river banks can move forward as a rails-to-trails project,” said Michelle Harrington, Rivers Program Director for the Center for Biological Diversity. There has been little or no service on the railroad line for several years. The current owner, San Pedro Railroad Operating Company, LLC, planned to retire the 76.2 miles of rail between the border and Benson in Cochise County. Before the retirement was finalized, Sonora-Arizona International, LLC, offered to purchase the railroad and restart the line with plans to significantly expand operations within Arizona and into Mexico to the Port of Guaymas. The railroad runs along the banks of the San Pedro River through the Riparian National Conservation Area....
Drought forces more cattle sales More than 1,800 cattle were packed into the Kist Livestock sales barn on one day this week. "Some guys were bringing cows in by semi loads," rancher Bob Gangl said Wednesday. "The grass is gone everywhere. There's nothing for them to eat. It hasn't been this bad since the late '80s, and even then it wasn't as bad as it is now." Last year at the same time, 456 cattle were brought to Kist to be sold. The state has been under drought emergency since June, with moisture in the Bismarck area running more than 4 inches below normal. Most of the animals sold Wednesday would normally be held until fall when they weigh more, said Les Fleck, who runs the online auctions for Kist. Smaller calves were selling for $1.30 to $1.45 a pound, and yearlings - both heifers and steers - up to $1.20 a pound, said Diane Givan, a bookkeeper with Kist Livestock. But selling early was like giving away a paycheck, Fleck said. Ranchers can buy hay, but prices are high. Donald Janecek, a veterinarian from Linton who attended Wednesday's auction, said he paid $1,400 for hay that would have cost him $600 last year....
Chances fade for Barbaro's survival Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro has developed a serious hoof disease, and the veterinarian treating the 3-year-old colt yesterday called his chances of survival a "long shot." "His prognosis for his life and his comfort has significantly diminished," said Dean Richardson, the chief surgeon who has been treating Barbaro. "I'd be lying if I said it was anything but poor." Doctors operated on Barbaro Wednesday at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., leaving him with casts on both rear legs. They said Barbaro could be euthanized if he does not respond quickly to medication. "It could happen within 24 hours," Dr. Richardson said. "It's a long shot. I'm not going to sugarcoat this. As long as the horse is not suffering, we're going to continue to try and treat him. If we can keep him comfortable, it's worth the effort." Barbaro suffered major fractures to his right hind leg in the May 20 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. His recovery went smoothly until early this week, when he developed a severe case of laminitis in his left hind leg....
Permalink 0 comments
Court Rules for Coastal Landowner in Development Dispute Someday, Dennis Schneider might be able to enjoy a drop-dead view from his yet-to-be-built dream home on a Central Coast cliff-top perched above the ocean. At the same time, kayakers, surfers and all the ships at sea will have a drop-dead view of Schneider's 10,000-square-foot mansion — whether they want it or not. Less-than-pleasing views for passing sailors are no grounds for the California Coastal Commission this week to restrict seaside development, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday. "We believe that it is unreasonable to assume that the Legislature has ever sought to protect the occasional boater's views of the coastline at the expense of a coastal landowner," the 2nd District Court of Appeal wrote in a unanimous opinion. The ruling could affect stretches of California shoreline that are still relatively undeveloped, particularly along the Central Coast and in Northern California. An attorney for Schneider, a San Luis Obispo engineer, cast the decision Thursday as a victory for property owners seeking to exercise their rights and a defeat for Coastal Commission officials trying to arbitrarily clamp down on development. "The commission was attempting an outrageous power grab that would have put projects up and down the coast in jeopardy based on nothing more than the arbitrary aesthetic whims of commission staffers and members," said J. David Breemer, an attorney with the property-rights oriented Pacific Legal Foundation....
Editorial: Coastal craziness In a 1997 speech at a conference in Monterey, a radical environmentalist named Peter Douglas called for the U.S. Constitution to be amended to make courts the “arbiters” in what he called the “debate” over property owners' rights. It was just another day at the green pulpit for Douglas, who thinks government powers should be used to coerce individuals to “care with mind and heart for Gaia and all life she sustains.” Unfortunately, Douglas is in a position to use coercive powers in pursuit of his extremism. He is the longtime executive director of the California Coastal Commission, an institution whose hostility toward property rights makes the typical eminent domain-abusing redevelopment agency seem like pikers. Consider the case of San Luis Obispo engineer Dennis Schneider, who hoped to build his dream home on a cliff above the ocean in a remote area north of Cayucos. Incredibly by normal cognitive standards, typically by Coastal Commission standards, the agency blocked his plans on the grounds that the home would be such an aesthetic affront to passing kayakers, boaters and surfers that it would violate their rights. We are not making this up. Thankfully, on June 28, the 2nd District Court of Appeal said this was nonsense in a brisk 12-page decision that seemed perplexed at where the Coastal Commission comes up with stuff like this. The answer, of course: from the untethered imagination of its executive director....
U.S.: No critical habitat in Southwest for jaguar The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that it will not designate critical habitat for the endangered jaguar in the Southwest. U.S. habitat for the animal makes up less than 1 percent of the species' range and is not critical to conserve it, the agency said. Thus, it doesn't meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act for designating critical habitat. Jaguars are occasionally seen in southwestern New Mexico and Southeastern Arizona, but Fish and Wildlife officials believe those jaguars come from a population 130 miles south of the border in Mexico. "The service has determined there are no physical and biological features in the United States that meet the definition of critical habitat," said Benjamin Tuggle, acting director of the agency's Southwest region. The recovery of the species depends almost entirely on efforts in Mexico and Central and South America, the agency said. The jaguars were listed as endangered in the United States in 1997, but Fish and Wildlife determined that a critical-habitat designation was not prudent at the time. In 2003, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife filed a complaint contending that finding violated the Endangered Species Act. The federal agency agreed to look at the issue again, which led to Wednesday's determination....
Development in South Dakota Prompts Unlikely Coalition: Christians, Indians, Ranchers(Subscription Required) Jay Allen expects to spend $3 million on his new development near this town of 6,400. The three-story, 22,500-square-foot barn will house six bars, a restaurant, stores and a stage. But his ambitions now rest on a hotly disputed beer license for which he paid just $250. Mr. Allen hopes his development, the Sturgis County Line, will attract many of the half-million bikers who come here each August for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. For now, though, it has attracted the opposition of an unlikely coalition: American Indians, white ranchers and Christian activists. The main problem, as they see it, is that the Sturgis County Line and another complex are being built about two miles from Bear Butte, which rises about 1,100 feet from the prairie surrounding it. For thousands of years, Bear Butte -- or Mato Paha in the language of the Lakota American Indian tribe -- is considered sacred ground by dozens of tribes who pray there and view it as "the womb of mother Earth." When Anne White Hat read about Mr. Allen's plans in a local newspaper, she was speechless. "We just couldn't believe someone would actually be so naïve to think they could do this, with total lack of respect and knowledge about native people," says Ms. White Hat, a Lakota. Christians see an opportunity to limit the spread of rowdy biker bars and strip clubs. Ranchers complain their cattle have contracted pneumonia after breathing copper-colored dust stirred up by bikers thundering across gravel roads....
A quest for cooler heads in Indian suit against US The lawsuit's name is innocuous enough. But Cobell v. Kempthorne carries 119 years of historical baggage, and its outcome could affect hundreds of thousands of people at a cost of billions of dollars. It's also thorny as a prickly pear, so contentious that a panel of federal jurists this week ruled that the case needs a different judge to oversee it. The dispute involves royalties due native Americans dating back to 1887. That's when Uncle Sam took control of some 11 million acres of tribal lands in the West as part of the federal policy of forced assimilation. The US was supposed to be paying into Indian trust accounts what now amounts to billions of dollars in revenues from oil, gas, timber, minerals, and grazing on those acres, then disbursing payments to native account holders. But the whole thing has been mismanaged, federal courts have declared several times since the case began in 1996, and the last three Interior secretaries have failed to fix it. Idahoan Dirk Kempthorne, who recently became Interior secretary, follows both Bruce Babbitt and Gale Norton as lead defendant. On the other side is Elouise Cobell of Browning, Mont., a member of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe, a rancher and banker, and a recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant for her work in economic development. She's the lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit that bears her name. "The government has abused trust beneficiaries and has failed to fulfill the most basic trust responsibilities owed to us," she said this week....
Oil company notified of violation in salt water spill State officials say they have notified an oil company of possible fines for a ruptured pipeline that spilled nearly 1 million gallons of saltwater into Charbonneau Creek in northwestern North Dakota. The state Health Department and the Industrial Commission have given notices to Zenergy, Inc., of Tulsa, Okla. The company has until July 23 to reply, officials said. The salt water spill, discovered in early January, killed fish in the McKenzie County creek near Alexander, and forced ranchers to move their cattle. The director of the state Industrial Commission, Karlene Fine, said Zenergy faces up to $90,000 in fines. The commission regulates oil and gas production. The state Health Department's environmental chief, David Glatt, said the company also faces penalties for violating environmental laws. He said Zenergy and the department will negotiate fines and a settlement to ensure the state recovers its costs in the cleanup.The state costs total around $35,000 so far, Glatt said. Salt water is an oil production waste product that can kill plants and hurt animals. Oil companies pipe it underground to dispose of it....
Ranch sells for $47 million A 949-acre ranch south of Carbondale has sold for $47 million, one of the largest and most expensive land deals in Pitkin County history. The deal took roughly eight years to complete and includes hundreds of acres of open space, according to local real estate agent Joshua Saslove, who represented the sellers, Richard and Debbie Jelinek. The Crystal Island Ranch is bordered by the Crystal River, Prince Creek and Thomas Creek, Saslove said, and sits near the base of Mount Sopris. The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management administer much of the land nearby. "The property abuts very large tracts of BLM land, and the only modern development on the property is a house and barn, a guest house and caretaker's quarters," said Saslove, a regional affiliate for Christie's auction house. "One of the messages we want people to hear is that the former owners are really thankful to everyone who participated in this unique land-use plan." The complex deal involved the Pitkin County Open Space and Trails program, the Conservation Fund, the Jelineks and the Aspen Valley Land Trust. The ranch once encompassed roughly 1,700 acres, but the land has been divided several ways, with some pieces sold to conservation organizations and others preserved with conservation easements. Overall, some 1,400 contiguous acres have been protected. The name of the buyer was not available Thursday afternoon, and Saslove would not reveal any names, saying the buyer wished to remain anonymous....
Easement will protect trout habitat A conservation easement may be placed along the Madison River on the Sun Ranch as part of an agreement that will protect 16 square miles of prime native trout habitat. On Thursday, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission authorized the department to start working on the project, and set aside $4.5 million from the state’s Habitat Montana program to help pay for the proposed easement purchase. Funded with hunter license fees, the Habitat Montana program seeks to preserve and restore important habitat for fish and wildlife and to make prime fishing and hunting areas accessible to the sporting public. FWP’s Wildlife Division Administrator Don Childress was excited by the news. He thanked both the non-profit conservation group Trust for Public Land and Sun Ranch owner Roger Lang of Bozeman for working on the deal....
Editorial: Agencies should prevent drilling to protect Strawberry The Strawberry Reservoir basin is a showcase for wetlands restoration and a trout fisherman's paradise. But, having survived decades of neglect and damage prior to its resurrection in the mid-'80s, the Strawberry Valley now could face an even greater threat from oil and gas drilling. Before-and-after photos of the Strawberry River Habitat Enhancement Project graphically show how an investment of $34 million in federal money and thousands of donated hours of labor have transformed the once-overgrazed basin of Strawberry River tributaries into one of the country's premier recreational fisheries. But sediment from new roads and the traffic that energy exploration would bring could contaminate the 10 streams flowing into the reservoir and seriously damage its fish population and the $20 million angling business they support. The 57,000 acres of blue-ribbon recreation land and watershed surrounding the reservoir should be protected from the wholesale exploration and drilling that federal land-management agencies seem bent on encouraging all over the West, including in roadless areas and prime hunting and fishing locations....
Sentencing Delayed In Hayman Fire Case A resentencing of a former U.S. Forest Service employee who admitted setting the largest wildfire in Colorado history has been delayed indefinitely, her public defender said Thursday. Terry Lynn Barton, 42, was sentenced on state charges to 12 years in prison in 2003, twice the typical term. But the Colorado Court of Appeals ordered a new sentencing, saying the judge in the case may have been biased because smoke from the 138,000-acre Hayman wildfire forced him to evacuate. The fire destroyed 133 homes. Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas Kennedy ruled this year a jury could consider whether enough aggravating circumstances existed to justify the sentence. A hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday. Barton's public defender, Mark Walta said the Colorado Supreme Court agreed in May to review a similar sentencing situation from Montezuma County, and Barton's case has been put on hold pending the outcome of the Montezuma case....
Senate committee fires back in feud over Forest Service policy Certain logging projects and other smaller-scale U.S. Forest Service activities would be exempt from a long-held public comment and appeals process under a provision inserted into a spending bill and approved recently by a key Senate committee. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., added the amendment to a multi-agency budget measure that sailed through the Senate Appropriations Committee last month. No date has been set for a full vote in the Senate; spending bills before the House of Representatives do not contain the rider. The move to steer the new forest policy through Congress is the latest in a back-and-forth between environmentalists who demand public comment on timber, mining and other Forest Service projects — no matter the size — and defenders of the Bush administration's push to fast-track certain priorities, namely forest-thinning to combat wildfires. The Burns amendment would overturn a 2005 ruling by a U.S. district judge in California that thwarted Forest Service regulations written in 2003. That rule change would have repealed public comment on so-called "categorical exemptions" — smaller scale projects the Forest Service says do not require lengthy environmental analysis. For instance, the measure would allow bypassing public comment on proposed burn projects up to 4,500 acres and fuel-reduction logging projects up to 1,000 acres. The comment and appeals process lasts up to 90 days, and in some cases more. Environmentalists hailed the California ruling as a rebuke of the president's Healthy Forest Initiative, but are now grousing that Bush allies are again seeking to bypass the National Environmental Policy Act....
Scenic beachfront land to go public Eight years ago, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation led the effort to buy five miles of stunning beaches and rugged coastline along Santa Cruz County's north coast, saving it from development in the hope of establishing a new state park. Today, after years of studies and nagging budget problems that prevented California from accepting the gift, the beaches at Coast Dairies Ranch, a sprawling expanse of redwood forests, artichoke fields and rolling hills, finally transfer to public ownership. The deal ranks as the most significant addition of beaches to Northern California state parks in 31 years. The scenic ranch -- home to peregrine falcons, steelhead trout and mountain lions -- is believed to be the largest piece of private beachfront property along the California coast between Hearst Ranch at San Simeon and the Oregon border. ``It's a major milestone. It's the first step toward fulfilling the dream that Coast Dairies will be owned by the public and open to everyone,'' said Reed Holderman, executive director of the Trust for Public Land-California, a San Francisco conservation group that owns Coast Dairies....
Arizona cattlemen suing over spotted-owl habitat A California-based legal firm and Arizona cattlemen have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's designation of critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl in four Western states. The Pacific Legal Foundation, acting on behalf of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, contends that the Fish and Wildlife Service did not follow laws governing the Endangered Species Act in setting aside more than 8 million acres for the owl in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. "Some of the areas that have been set aside by the regulators clearly don't have physical and biological features that are essential for the owl's conservation," said foundation attorney Damien Schiff. "Other areas are described in such vague terms that it's anyone's guess whether it's necessary to take them out of public use. "And in general, the regulators ignored their legal duty to consider and factor in the economic impact of the designation." Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown said the agency was unable to comment on a pending lawsuit. But an attorney with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity questioned the need for a lawsuit. Eric Ryberg said his group's successful 2001 challenge of the critical-habitat listing forced the agency to redraw boundaries. He wonders why the legal foundation and ranchers waited so long to respond to it....
Judge Protects Gila Chub on Agua Fria National Monument The Center for Biological Diversity applauded a decision today that protects the endangered Gila chub from the impacts of livestock grazing on the Agua Fria National Monument. The decision states that the Bureau of Land Management failed to consider the potential for harm to the Gila chub and its habitat when it issued a ten-year grazing permit, and that it also improperly proceeded with an outdated analysis from the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Agua Fria National Monument is approximately 71,000 acres and was established in 2000 by a presidential proclamation to protect the unique biological and cultural areas of this area, which is located 40 miles north of Phoenix. The diverse vegetative communities of the Monument provide habitat for numerous rare wildlife species, including the lowland leopard frog, Mexican garter snake, common black hawk, pronghorn, yellow-billed cuckoo and desert tortoise. The valuable riparian forests of the Monument were specifically highlighted in the presidential proclamation and their protection was given statutory priority. The order was issued by Administrative Law Judge James H. Heffernan, for the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Hearings and Appeals, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The order was granted in response to the Center for Biological Diversity’s appeal of the BLM’s November 2005 decision to approve a new livestock grazing permit without properly considering impacts to the natural and cultural resources in the area....
San Pedro River Railroad Purchase Offer Withdrawn The San Pedro River will not have hazardous materials transported along its banks, as the pending purchase offer for the adjacent railroad was withdrawn today. “This is truly a victory for the San Pedro River and the citizens of the county. Instead of being turned into a toxic corridor, the river banks can move forward as a rails-to-trails project,” said Michelle Harrington, Rivers Program Director for the Center for Biological Diversity. There has been little or no service on the railroad line for several years. The current owner, San Pedro Railroad Operating Company, LLC, planned to retire the 76.2 miles of rail between the border and Benson in Cochise County. Before the retirement was finalized, Sonora-Arizona International, LLC, offered to purchase the railroad and restart the line with plans to significantly expand operations within Arizona and into Mexico to the Port of Guaymas. The railroad runs along the banks of the San Pedro River through the Riparian National Conservation Area....
Drought forces more cattle sales More than 1,800 cattle were packed into the Kist Livestock sales barn on one day this week. "Some guys were bringing cows in by semi loads," rancher Bob Gangl said Wednesday. "The grass is gone everywhere. There's nothing for them to eat. It hasn't been this bad since the late '80s, and even then it wasn't as bad as it is now." Last year at the same time, 456 cattle were brought to Kist to be sold. The state has been under drought emergency since June, with moisture in the Bismarck area running more than 4 inches below normal. Most of the animals sold Wednesday would normally be held until fall when they weigh more, said Les Fleck, who runs the online auctions for Kist. Smaller calves were selling for $1.30 to $1.45 a pound, and yearlings - both heifers and steers - up to $1.20 a pound, said Diane Givan, a bookkeeper with Kist Livestock. But selling early was like giving away a paycheck, Fleck said. Ranchers can buy hay, but prices are high. Donald Janecek, a veterinarian from Linton who attended Wednesday's auction, said he paid $1,400 for hay that would have cost him $600 last year....
Chances fade for Barbaro's survival Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro has developed a serious hoof disease, and the veterinarian treating the 3-year-old colt yesterday called his chances of survival a "long shot." "His prognosis for his life and his comfort has significantly diminished," said Dean Richardson, the chief surgeon who has been treating Barbaro. "I'd be lying if I said it was anything but poor." Doctors operated on Barbaro Wednesday at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., leaving him with casts on both rear legs. They said Barbaro could be euthanized if he does not respond quickly to medication. "It could happen within 24 hours," Dr. Richardson said. "It's a long shot. I'm not going to sugarcoat this. As long as the horse is not suffering, we're going to continue to try and treat him. If we can keep him comfortable, it's worth the effort." Barbaro suffered major fractures to his right hind leg in the May 20 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. His recovery went smoothly until early this week, when he developed a severe case of laminitis in his left hind leg....
Permalink 0 comments
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Canada Reports New Case of Mad Cow Disease
Canada on Thursday confirmed its second case of mad cow disease in as many weeks _ and seventh since 2003. Shipments of cattle to the United States were halted in 2003 after the first reported cases of mad cow in Canada. Trade in cows younger than 30 months resumed last July. The latest case was of a 50-month-old dairy cow from a farm in western Alberta, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would send an inspector to aid in the investigation into the death. Last week, Canadian officials another Albertan cow died of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, an extremely rare disease that can be fatal in humans. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said the deaths "raise questions that must be answered." "We need a thorough understanding of all the circumstances involved in this case to assure our consumes that Canada's regulatory system is effectively providing the utmost protections to consumers and livestock," Johanns said, adding he was dispatching a USDA expert to help with the investigation. The cow, part of a herd of 300 head of cattle on an Edmonton-area farm, was among 170 other cows that will now be tested for the disease. Those animals were born within a year of the diseased cow and are either on the same farm or have been sold to other farms. Canada implemented a feed ban in 1997 that prohibited the use of cattle parts in certain animal feeds. Last month, that ban was extended to include all types of animal feed, pet food and fertilizers, in an effort to help eliminate BSE from Canada's herd in the next decade. The latest case discovered means the four-year-old cow came into contact with BSE after the 1997 feed ban. Government officials said this is typical and that sporadic cases will continue to be found....
US Cattle Industry Group Wants USDA To Ban Canada Cattle, Beef
R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America Thursday called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to rescind its rule allowing Canadian cattle and beef to be imported into the U.S. The call came in the wake of an announcement by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirming bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, in a 50-month-old dairy cow. The latest case was the fourth BSE case for Canada this year and was the youngest Canadian animal yet. The cow was born well after 1997 when Canada implemented its ban on feeding ruminant-derived meat and bone meal back to ruminants. The cow also came from Alberta, where a large percentage of the cattle and beef products imported into the U.S. originate, a release from R-CALF USA said. "USDA must now acknowledge that the principal assumptions used to support its Final Rule (allowing those imports) are no longer valid and that much more needs to be done to mitigate the heightened BSE risks presented by Canadian beef and cattle," said R-CALF USA President Chuck Kiker. The reaction from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association was more muted. "Our position would be that we share the CFIA's desire to get a full accounting about how this cow might have been exposed to BSE, and we will be following the results of that investigation closely," said Joe Schuele, director of trade media for the NCBA. "We were pleased to see that they invited U.S. officials to participate in their investigation," Schuele said. Asked about news reports that the USDA is working on a rule that would allow beef product imports from cattle older than 30 months from countries regardless of the number of cases of BSE, Schuele said current NCBA policy only supports the current range of products. This policy approves cattle and products from cattle 30 months old and younger.
Permalink 0 comments
Canada on Thursday confirmed its second case of mad cow disease in as many weeks _ and seventh since 2003. Shipments of cattle to the United States were halted in 2003 after the first reported cases of mad cow in Canada. Trade in cows younger than 30 months resumed last July. The latest case was of a 50-month-old dairy cow from a farm in western Alberta, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would send an inspector to aid in the investigation into the death. Last week, Canadian officials another Albertan cow died of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, an extremely rare disease that can be fatal in humans. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said the deaths "raise questions that must be answered." "We need a thorough understanding of all the circumstances involved in this case to assure our consumes that Canada's regulatory system is effectively providing the utmost protections to consumers and livestock," Johanns said, adding he was dispatching a USDA expert to help with the investigation. The cow, part of a herd of 300 head of cattle on an Edmonton-area farm, was among 170 other cows that will now be tested for the disease. Those animals were born within a year of the diseased cow and are either on the same farm or have been sold to other farms. Canada implemented a feed ban in 1997 that prohibited the use of cattle parts in certain animal feeds. Last month, that ban was extended to include all types of animal feed, pet food and fertilizers, in an effort to help eliminate BSE from Canada's herd in the next decade. The latest case discovered means the four-year-old cow came into contact with BSE after the 1997 feed ban. Government officials said this is typical and that sporadic cases will continue to be found....
US Cattle Industry Group Wants USDA To Ban Canada Cattle, Beef
R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America Thursday called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to rescind its rule allowing Canadian cattle and beef to be imported into the U.S. The call came in the wake of an announcement by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirming bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, in a 50-month-old dairy cow. The latest case was the fourth BSE case for Canada this year and was the youngest Canadian animal yet. The cow was born well after 1997 when Canada implemented its ban on feeding ruminant-derived meat and bone meal back to ruminants. The cow also came from Alberta, where a large percentage of the cattle and beef products imported into the U.S. originate, a release from R-CALF USA said. "USDA must now acknowledge that the principal assumptions used to support its Final Rule (allowing those imports) are no longer valid and that much more needs to be done to mitigate the heightened BSE risks presented by Canadian beef and cattle," said R-CALF USA President Chuck Kiker. The reaction from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association was more muted. "Our position would be that we share the CFIA's desire to get a full accounting about how this cow might have been exposed to BSE, and we will be following the results of that investigation closely," said Joe Schuele, director of trade media for the NCBA. "We were pleased to see that they invited U.S. officials to participate in their investigation," Schuele said. Asked about news reports that the USDA is working on a rule that would allow beef product imports from cattle older than 30 months from countries regardless of the number of cases of BSE, Schuele said current NCBA policy only supports the current range of products. This policy approves cattle and products from cattle 30 months old and younger.
Permalink 0 comments
EVA Outbreak Reported in New Mexico
On June 26 the Office International des Epizooties (O.I.E.) Reference Laboratory for Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture's Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, confirmed an outbreak of equine arteritis virus infection involving fetal losses among mares on a Quarter Horse breeding farm in New Mexico. This was based on the widespread prevalence of high antibody levels to the virus in both mares and stallions, plus virus isolation from the semen of two stallions. On the same day, the outbreak was reported to the New Mexico Livestock Board in Albuquerque, N.M., which is now investigating the potential for spread of the infection to other premises. The EVA Reference Laboratory is interested in receiving samples from suspected clinical cases of EVA or from animals very recently exposed to semen from either of the virus-shedding stallions. Veterinarians are requested to contact the Gluck Center at (859) 257-4757 before submitting samples....
Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) The New Mexico Livestock Board is investigating an outbreak of EVA in the State of New Mexico that was reported on June 28, 2006. One Equine Breeding Farm has been placed under quarantine, other exposed farms are voluntarily limiting movement off their farms. Action has been taken to limit the spread of the disease. The New Mexico State Veterinarian, Dr. Steven England is working with the Gluck Equine Center in Kentucky and the equine industry in order to formulate plans to minimize the impact of this disease on producers in the State of New Mexico. Meetings and consultations are taking place with the New Mexico Racing Commission, State 4-H leaders, farm owners, sale barns and Equine Veterinarians. Daniel M. Manzanares, Executive Director of the New Mexico Livestock Board, Cliff Mascarenas Deputy Director and the Livestock Inspectors through out the state are ensuring that movement of horses both in state and out of state follow established procedures to minimize spread of this disease. Affected farms are working closely with the New Mexico Livestock Board to limit the spread of this disease....
Livestock Board quarantines Socorro County farm
The state Livestock Board has quarantined a Socorro County horse breeding farm after an outbreak of an equine virus. A state veterinarian, Dr. Dave Fly, says that action and voluntary quarantines by other farms appear to have contained the outbreak. He says there have been no reported cases of equine viral arteritis, or EVA, beyond the first exposed farms. EVA is an acute, contagious viral disease that affects horses. It can’t be spread to other domestic animals or humans. EVA is primarily an infection of the equine respiratory tract and causes abortions in pregnant mares. Fly says a number of mares have lost foals in the outbreak, while other horses have respiratory disease. No horses have died.
Permalink 0 comments
NEWS ROUNDUP
Landmark Stream Access Case Headed to the Montana Supreme Court What many thought would be inevitable has now come to fruition – the Mitchell Slough case is headed to the Montana Supreme Court. In a Wednesday press release, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Bitterroot River Protection Association announced plans to appeal the decision handed down by District Court Judge Ted Mizner in May that the Mitchell Slough was a ditch and not subject to public access. While the Mitchell Slough is a comparatively obscure waterway, the case has become an emotional and politically charged test case of the reach of Montana's Stream Access Law, which is coveted by sportsmen as one of the strongest such laws in the country but is seen by some landowners as an infringement of property rights. “The issue is way bigger than the Mitchell Slough and the Bitterroot,” Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer said Wednesday in explaining why he authorized the appeal. “The problem is that this opened a can of worms across Montana and we need to get this resolved.” The FWP appeal will be limited to the public access portion of the Mitchell Slough case. But the BRPA, which also sued over the 2003 decision by the Bitterroot Conservation District that the Mitchell was ditch, will file an appeal. The appeal will extend years of debate over the waterway, which has been deemed a ditch twice – once by Mizner and once by the Bitterroot Conservation District....
Feds May Let Salty Farmland Go Fallow Dry, brittle grass is all that pokes through earth that once grew tons of tomatoes, garlic and lettuce. Poor drainage has left land on the San Joaquin Valley's west side salty and worthless, a nightmare for farmers and the federal government, which provides irrigation water here. Over the years, numerous efforts to drain the poisoned land and salvage it for agriculture have failed. Now, the government is considering spending hundreds of millions of dollars to pay off farmers and get out of its obligation to irrigate the land _ effectively letting the 300,000-acre swath go fallow. That's the preferred alternative among the latest set of proposals from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Another calls for pumping the water out to sea, an idea opposed by officials in coastal cities. "It's a very complex issue. We've been trying to figure this out for a long time," said Jerry Robbins, a project manager with the reclamation bureau. Drainage problems on the land stretching along a 90-mile stretch from Los Banos to Kettleman City are caused by a natural layer of clay beneath the surface that keeps water from draining through. The small amounts of salt in the water builds up over time, leaving the fields unsuitable for crops....
Environmentalists and ranchers debate new grazing regulations Depending on whom you ask, federal grazing regulations announced Wednesday are either a roadblock to good management or a rollback from bad rules. The rules apply to 160 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in the West, including Utah, and impact 15,000 livestock operators. According to Jim Catlin, director of the environmentalist Utah Wild Project, the Bureau of Land Management's new rules will prevent users of the public land from "applying these proven solutions to restoring rangelands," he said. But Brent Tanner, executive president of the Utah Cattlemen's Association, says the rules will "roll back some of the bad regulations" established by the administration of former President Bill Clinton. John Carter of the Western Watersheds Project, Utah office — a conservationist who is based in Mendon, Cache County — accused the BLM of abandoning any consideration of science in its grazing regulations. The agency has thrown out the 1995 rangeland reform rules, he said. Those Clinton-era rules contained important provisions "to protect ecological values, such as water quality and wildlife habitat," he said. But Tanner believes the regulations mean "good things for the state and for the land." Although some of their language could be improved, he said, "they will be a more workable set of regulations than we've been working under since the Clinton administration." The regulations create a more stable environment for the Utah agriculture industry, he added....
Land-use initiative on November ballot Santa Clara County voters this November will be asked to consider an open space land-use initiative that measure proponents say will support protection of 400,000 acres of rural county lands. If enacted, the measure will purportedly stave future rural land development including hill area lands bounding the city of Milpitas. Opponents of the measure say it violates basic private property rights with concern to farms, ranches and privately owned lands. The county's approval came after initiative supporters turned in 58,633 signatures to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. The campaign needed 36,040 signatures from county voters to qualify the initiative for the ballot. However, the land-use conservation initiative has drawn opposition from a coalition of realtor groups, ranching associations and property owners. The coalition, known as the Alliance for Housing and the Environment, includes the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, Hillside Homeowners Association and the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. "We are going to fight the plan," said Edwin Resuello, president of Santa Clara County Association of Realtors....
ICA Explains the Benefits of Grazing to the Idaho Land Board Idaho Cattle Association (ICA) President Mike Webster spoke before the Idaho Land Board today to explain the benefits of the Idaho Department of Land's grazing program to the state endowment, the economy, and the environment. ICA requested an audience with the Land Board after learning that Jon Marvel, a known anti-grazing extremist, was scheduled to speak at the meeting. Webster, a 4th generation rancher from Roberts, Idaho, has been directly involved with state grazing leases and has experienced first-hand the day to day management of these leases and their associated challenges and opportunities. Reflecting upon his experiences, Webster stated, "I have witnessed the system change from conducting business on a handshake to a meticulous, paperwork-heavy management system. As the process of managing grazing leases with the Department of Lands has evolved, one thing remains constant: ranchers are the most dependable and efficient caretakers for the millions of acres that the State of Idaho manages. Because of this, a continued, strong grazing program offers the greatest long-term stability to the endowment." Marvel's claims that, by administering grazing leases, the Land Board is ignoring its fiduciary responsibility to the endowment were soundly refuted by the Land Board members present. As Webster pointed out, "Livestock grazing leases provide a consistent source of revenue to the state. These leases are based on a renewable resource that replenishes itself annually." In his latest attempts to rid the land of cattle, Marvel has generated headlines recently stating that the state's grazing program is costing more than it earns. In response to this inaccurate and short-sighted claim, Webster stated that, "Even if all grazing leases were cancelled, the administrative costs would not decrease dollar for dollar. Excluding grazing would only increase the workload for the Department. Without ranchers to assist in cooperatively managing the state lands, the Department would be wholly accountable for controlling noxious weeds, maintaining fences and water developments, and would have to greatly increase their fire prevention efforts on 1.78 million acres."....
Forest killings are still rare, but crime is rising he Puget Sound region is blessed with an abundance of destinations where people can get close to nature and escape the urban environment. But even these places aren't immune from crime. Steve Costie, executive director of The Mountaineers, said car break-ins at trailheads are common, and he has feared inadvertently encountering a clandestine methamphetamine lab while hiking in the woods. The discovery this week of two women killed along a hiking trail off the Mountain Loop Highway in Snohomish County prompted Costie on Wednesday to advise people to consider hiking in groups. "There has never been a crime issue like this," Costie, who has been an avid hiker for nearly 30 years, said of the slayings. U.S. Forest Service Officer Mike Gardiner, who patrols the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest where the bodies were found, says he's never heard of another slaying in the sprawling forest. "This is a freak occurrence," Gardiner said. "The forest is a safe place."....
Editorial: A Clueless Policy on Roadless Areas TWO THINGS ABOUT Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's push against new roads in untouched areas of California's national forests: It was an environmentally sound decision for a state that reveres its wilderness areas. And it was a decision the governor shouldn't have had to make in the first place. The Bush administration, after initially vowing to barely tweak a Clinton-era ban on road building in almost 60 million acres of forest, instead ended up delegating too much authority to individual states. Roadless areas were potentially stripped of all protection, unless governors of individual states petitioned for protection of specific areas. Schwarzenegger was essentially forced into asking for preservation of the 4.4 million acres of roadless areas in California. A few other governors have done the same, though some are expected to call for opening vast new stretches of old-growth forest to timber, gas and other industries. What's important to keep in mind is that these are national — not state — forests. The U.S. Forest Service should be managing its lands, not outsourcing the job to state governors. Of course, federal officials should take local sensibilities into account in drawing up forest plans, but they're the ones who should be drawing up the plans, based on a consistent policy of managing the land for the national good....
Republican Conservationists Praise Schwarzenegger Roadless Petition Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), a national grassroots organization of citizens and elected officials, today praised Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for seeking protection of 4.4 million roadless national forest acres in California. "Governor Schwarzenegger has taken a critically important step for protecting wild forests that provide numerous benefits, including clean water, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities for California's growing population," REP President Martha Marks said. "If finalized, Governor Schwarzenegger's action will protect nearly 8 percent of all roadless national forest acreage nationwide." "The governor's petition to the federal government, if accepted, will be a significant conservation milestone that will benefit millions of Americans, in and outside of California," said Buddy Burke, acting president of REP's California chapter. "Roadless areas in California contain many natural treasures, including old-growth forests, salmon-spawning streams, waterfalls, oak woodlands, and grasslands. Protecting such important places is critical for maintaining California's high quality of life." Schwarzenegger is the fifth state governor, and the second Republican governor, to seek protection of roadless national forest lands. Protecting roadless lands makes both environmental and economic sense....
Energy corridor data a secret? The Moab and Monticello field offices of the Bureau of Land Management withheld from the public maps showing the specific location of potential alternative energy corridors throughout southeastern Utah, an environmental group has charged. That means members of the public who expressed written or verbal opinions on the proposed corridors laid out on a statewide map weren't fully informed by the end of the comment period, which was Tuesday, said Steve Bloch, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Worse, Bloch said, representatives from the energy industry were treated to a private preview of the detailed Moab map on May 18, more than seven weeks before the comment deadline. "It's not quite clear why industry gets [access] while the public doesn't have the opportunity," he said. "How many other such meetings are being held in the 11 Western states?" The BLM strongly denies any intent at secrecy....
Seismic testing starts along the Beartooth Front Drilling has begun along the Beartooth Front, in northwestern Wyoming, as part of a seismic testing program to determine the presence of oil and gas beneath the ground. Quantum Geophysical Inc., plans to drill between 2,500 to 2,600 holes, each 30 feet deep, at a cost of up to $5 million. The company plans to start setting off small explosives in the holes next month to measure the movement of sound waves through the ground. The testing is being performed for Windsor Wyoming LLC, an Oklahoma company that hopes to drill on both public and private land in the area. Monte Barker, compliance inspector with the U.S. Forest Service in Cody, said the seismic mapping can increase the chances of finding oil or gas by 70 percent. Barker said drilling started in the area July 1. He said blasting and recording is set to start Aug. 15 and will be completed by Oct. 10, before the start of hunting season. Don Ogaard, project manager with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said the seismic testing will cover 47 square miles near the town of Clark. Although environmental review has been completed for the testing program, he said more review would be required before wells and roads could be installed as a result of the test findings....
Forest Service reopens trail after apparent grizzly attack The U.S. Forest Service is reopening an eastern Idaho hiking trail, saying it's safe again after an apparent July 3rd grizzly attack. A 53-year-old man was bitten on his hip and shoulder, but wasn't hospitalized after the attack on the Targhee Creek Trail near the western border of Yellowstone National Park. Wildlife officials think the bear was a grizzly, but aren't 100 percent certain. Officials are cautioning hikers in the region to be on their guard. This is the second straight year of increased grizzly and black bear sightings that have accompanied more people in the region. Gregg Losinski says there are conflicts between people and deer and elk, too -- "but the ones that have claws and teeth are the ones people really key in on."
Renewable energy producers complain to Senate committee Federal officials vowed Tuesday to boost renewable energy production on federal lands in the West, but wind and geothermal industry officials criticized the administration for a lack of openness and support leading to delays in some of their projects. The Interior Department has a major role to play in the projected growth of domestic renewable energy consumption, Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett testified. Consumption of renewable fuels will grow about 60 percent by 2025 and renewable energy will account for more than 10 percent of domestic energy production and 7 percent of consumption, she said at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Interior is working to increase wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy production, she said. But at the hearing industry and environmental groups criticized a backlog of energy lease applications and lack of input on new regulations....
Weeds suspected in cattle death There is a strong suspicion that eight head of cattle died recently in the Steele area because they had eaten toxic plants they don't normally eat but resorted to in their drought-stricken pasture, according to a local veterinarian and a Kidder County extension agent. Troy Dutton, a veterinarian at the Steele Veterinarian Clinic, said their focus is on tansy ragwort, a toxic plant that's present in the pastures. Gwen Payne, a Kidder County extension agent, said material from the cattle has been sent to a lab for testing and the vet clinic is waiting for results. Dutton said they should get the results back in a week to 10 days, and he expected the extension service would issue a press release at that point. Dutton said he didn't want to release much information now to protect the confidentiality of the cattle owner. He said it's amazing to him that cattle are still producing and raising calves on what's out there, or rather, not out there....
City Slickers Learn Ranching Skills at 40th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival Dylan Biggs is no Hollywood cowboy. He says the movie version of ranchers on horseback roping frenzied cattle is not his style. “I am able to get the cattle to do what I want them to do without the use of force and fear, just by virtue of my position, my movement and my motion. It is a matter of being in the right place, at the right time in the right manner. And ultimately you have to take all that direction from the cattle.” Biggs practices what he calls low-stress livestock handling. He says it is simply good stockmanship. “Instead of having to run around chasing cattle, I can very calmly ask the cattle to get up, start walking exactly where I want them to go and they actually get there. So, it takes a lot less effort on my part.” Biggs demonstrates with a few gentle cows trucked in from a farm in nearby rural Maryland. The cows seem unfazed by the tourists in the bleachers or by Biggs who walks determinedly among them. “I want to teach them to start, speed up, slow down, turn left, turn right and stop, just by virtue of my movement and my position.” No need to prod or whip. Biggs says cows are not stupid animals. “Cattle learn very quickly. In anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, you can have a herd of 150 cattle …softened up and (you can) put them where you want them without any fuss.” ...
Permalink 0 comments
Landmark Stream Access Case Headed to the Montana Supreme Court What many thought would be inevitable has now come to fruition – the Mitchell Slough case is headed to the Montana Supreme Court. In a Wednesday press release, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Bitterroot River Protection Association announced plans to appeal the decision handed down by District Court Judge Ted Mizner in May that the Mitchell Slough was a ditch and not subject to public access. While the Mitchell Slough is a comparatively obscure waterway, the case has become an emotional and politically charged test case of the reach of Montana's Stream Access Law, which is coveted by sportsmen as one of the strongest such laws in the country but is seen by some landowners as an infringement of property rights. “The issue is way bigger than the Mitchell Slough and the Bitterroot,” Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer said Wednesday in explaining why he authorized the appeal. “The problem is that this opened a can of worms across Montana and we need to get this resolved.” The FWP appeal will be limited to the public access portion of the Mitchell Slough case. But the BRPA, which also sued over the 2003 decision by the Bitterroot Conservation District that the Mitchell was ditch, will file an appeal. The appeal will extend years of debate over the waterway, which has been deemed a ditch twice – once by Mizner and once by the Bitterroot Conservation District....
Feds May Let Salty Farmland Go Fallow Dry, brittle grass is all that pokes through earth that once grew tons of tomatoes, garlic and lettuce. Poor drainage has left land on the San Joaquin Valley's west side salty and worthless, a nightmare for farmers and the federal government, which provides irrigation water here. Over the years, numerous efforts to drain the poisoned land and salvage it for agriculture have failed. Now, the government is considering spending hundreds of millions of dollars to pay off farmers and get out of its obligation to irrigate the land _ effectively letting the 300,000-acre swath go fallow. That's the preferred alternative among the latest set of proposals from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Another calls for pumping the water out to sea, an idea opposed by officials in coastal cities. "It's a very complex issue. We've been trying to figure this out for a long time," said Jerry Robbins, a project manager with the reclamation bureau. Drainage problems on the land stretching along a 90-mile stretch from Los Banos to Kettleman City are caused by a natural layer of clay beneath the surface that keeps water from draining through. The small amounts of salt in the water builds up over time, leaving the fields unsuitable for crops....
Environmentalists and ranchers debate new grazing regulations Depending on whom you ask, federal grazing regulations announced Wednesday are either a roadblock to good management or a rollback from bad rules. The rules apply to 160 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in the West, including Utah, and impact 15,000 livestock operators. According to Jim Catlin, director of the environmentalist Utah Wild Project, the Bureau of Land Management's new rules will prevent users of the public land from "applying these proven solutions to restoring rangelands," he said. But Brent Tanner, executive president of the Utah Cattlemen's Association, says the rules will "roll back some of the bad regulations" established by the administration of former President Bill Clinton. John Carter of the Western Watersheds Project, Utah office — a conservationist who is based in Mendon, Cache County — accused the BLM of abandoning any consideration of science in its grazing regulations. The agency has thrown out the 1995 rangeland reform rules, he said. Those Clinton-era rules contained important provisions "to protect ecological values, such as water quality and wildlife habitat," he said. But Tanner believes the regulations mean "good things for the state and for the land." Although some of their language could be improved, he said, "they will be a more workable set of regulations than we've been working under since the Clinton administration." The regulations create a more stable environment for the Utah agriculture industry, he added....
Land-use initiative on November ballot Santa Clara County voters this November will be asked to consider an open space land-use initiative that measure proponents say will support protection of 400,000 acres of rural county lands. If enacted, the measure will purportedly stave future rural land development including hill area lands bounding the city of Milpitas. Opponents of the measure say it violates basic private property rights with concern to farms, ranches and privately owned lands. The county's approval came after initiative supporters turned in 58,633 signatures to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. The campaign needed 36,040 signatures from county voters to qualify the initiative for the ballot. However, the land-use conservation initiative has drawn opposition from a coalition of realtor groups, ranching associations and property owners. The coalition, known as the Alliance for Housing and the Environment, includes the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, Hillside Homeowners Association and the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. "We are going to fight the plan," said Edwin Resuello, president of Santa Clara County Association of Realtors....
ICA Explains the Benefits of Grazing to the Idaho Land Board Idaho Cattle Association (ICA) President Mike Webster spoke before the Idaho Land Board today to explain the benefits of the Idaho Department of Land's grazing program to the state endowment, the economy, and the environment. ICA requested an audience with the Land Board after learning that Jon Marvel, a known anti-grazing extremist, was scheduled to speak at the meeting. Webster, a 4th generation rancher from Roberts, Idaho, has been directly involved with state grazing leases and has experienced first-hand the day to day management of these leases and their associated challenges and opportunities. Reflecting upon his experiences, Webster stated, "I have witnessed the system change from conducting business on a handshake to a meticulous, paperwork-heavy management system. As the process of managing grazing leases with the Department of Lands has evolved, one thing remains constant: ranchers are the most dependable and efficient caretakers for the millions of acres that the State of Idaho manages. Because of this, a continued, strong grazing program offers the greatest long-term stability to the endowment." Marvel's claims that, by administering grazing leases, the Land Board is ignoring its fiduciary responsibility to the endowment were soundly refuted by the Land Board members present. As Webster pointed out, "Livestock grazing leases provide a consistent source of revenue to the state. These leases are based on a renewable resource that replenishes itself annually." In his latest attempts to rid the land of cattle, Marvel has generated headlines recently stating that the state's grazing program is costing more than it earns. In response to this inaccurate and short-sighted claim, Webster stated that, "Even if all grazing leases were cancelled, the administrative costs would not decrease dollar for dollar. Excluding grazing would only increase the workload for the Department. Without ranchers to assist in cooperatively managing the state lands, the Department would be wholly accountable for controlling noxious weeds, maintaining fences and water developments, and would have to greatly increase their fire prevention efforts on 1.78 million acres."....
Forest killings are still rare, but crime is rising he Puget Sound region is blessed with an abundance of destinations where people can get close to nature and escape the urban environment. But even these places aren't immune from crime. Steve Costie, executive director of The Mountaineers, said car break-ins at trailheads are common, and he has feared inadvertently encountering a clandestine methamphetamine lab while hiking in the woods. The discovery this week of two women killed along a hiking trail off the Mountain Loop Highway in Snohomish County prompted Costie on Wednesday to advise people to consider hiking in groups. "There has never been a crime issue like this," Costie, who has been an avid hiker for nearly 30 years, said of the slayings. U.S. Forest Service Officer Mike Gardiner, who patrols the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest where the bodies were found, says he's never heard of another slaying in the sprawling forest. "This is a freak occurrence," Gardiner said. "The forest is a safe place."....
Editorial: A Clueless Policy on Roadless Areas TWO THINGS ABOUT Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's push against new roads in untouched areas of California's national forests: It was an environmentally sound decision for a state that reveres its wilderness areas. And it was a decision the governor shouldn't have had to make in the first place. The Bush administration, after initially vowing to barely tweak a Clinton-era ban on road building in almost 60 million acres of forest, instead ended up delegating too much authority to individual states. Roadless areas were potentially stripped of all protection, unless governors of individual states petitioned for protection of specific areas. Schwarzenegger was essentially forced into asking for preservation of the 4.4 million acres of roadless areas in California. A few other governors have done the same, though some are expected to call for opening vast new stretches of old-growth forest to timber, gas and other industries. What's important to keep in mind is that these are national — not state — forests. The U.S. Forest Service should be managing its lands, not outsourcing the job to state governors. Of course, federal officials should take local sensibilities into account in drawing up forest plans, but they're the ones who should be drawing up the plans, based on a consistent policy of managing the land for the national good....
Republican Conservationists Praise Schwarzenegger Roadless Petition Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), a national grassroots organization of citizens and elected officials, today praised Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for seeking protection of 4.4 million roadless national forest acres in California. "Governor Schwarzenegger has taken a critically important step for protecting wild forests that provide numerous benefits, including clean water, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities for California's growing population," REP President Martha Marks said. "If finalized, Governor Schwarzenegger's action will protect nearly 8 percent of all roadless national forest acreage nationwide." "The governor's petition to the federal government, if accepted, will be a significant conservation milestone that will benefit millions of Americans, in and outside of California," said Buddy Burke, acting president of REP's California chapter. "Roadless areas in California contain many natural treasures, including old-growth forests, salmon-spawning streams, waterfalls, oak woodlands, and grasslands. Protecting such important places is critical for maintaining California's high quality of life." Schwarzenegger is the fifth state governor, and the second Republican governor, to seek protection of roadless national forest lands. Protecting roadless lands makes both environmental and economic sense....
Energy corridor data a secret? The Moab and Monticello field offices of the Bureau of Land Management withheld from the public maps showing the specific location of potential alternative energy corridors throughout southeastern Utah, an environmental group has charged. That means members of the public who expressed written or verbal opinions on the proposed corridors laid out on a statewide map weren't fully informed by the end of the comment period, which was Tuesday, said Steve Bloch, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Worse, Bloch said, representatives from the energy industry were treated to a private preview of the detailed Moab map on May 18, more than seven weeks before the comment deadline. "It's not quite clear why industry gets [access] while the public doesn't have the opportunity," he said. "How many other such meetings are being held in the 11 Western states?" The BLM strongly denies any intent at secrecy....
Seismic testing starts along the Beartooth Front Drilling has begun along the Beartooth Front, in northwestern Wyoming, as part of a seismic testing program to determine the presence of oil and gas beneath the ground. Quantum Geophysical Inc., plans to drill between 2,500 to 2,600 holes, each 30 feet deep, at a cost of up to $5 million. The company plans to start setting off small explosives in the holes next month to measure the movement of sound waves through the ground. The testing is being performed for Windsor Wyoming LLC, an Oklahoma company that hopes to drill on both public and private land in the area. Monte Barker, compliance inspector with the U.S. Forest Service in Cody, said the seismic mapping can increase the chances of finding oil or gas by 70 percent. Barker said drilling started in the area July 1. He said blasting and recording is set to start Aug. 15 and will be completed by Oct. 10, before the start of hunting season. Don Ogaard, project manager with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said the seismic testing will cover 47 square miles near the town of Clark. Although environmental review has been completed for the testing program, he said more review would be required before wells and roads could be installed as a result of the test findings....
Forest Service reopens trail after apparent grizzly attack The U.S. Forest Service is reopening an eastern Idaho hiking trail, saying it's safe again after an apparent July 3rd grizzly attack. A 53-year-old man was bitten on his hip and shoulder, but wasn't hospitalized after the attack on the Targhee Creek Trail near the western border of Yellowstone National Park. Wildlife officials think the bear was a grizzly, but aren't 100 percent certain. Officials are cautioning hikers in the region to be on their guard. This is the second straight year of increased grizzly and black bear sightings that have accompanied more people in the region. Gregg Losinski says there are conflicts between people and deer and elk, too -- "but the ones that have claws and teeth are the ones people really key in on."
Renewable energy producers complain to Senate committee Federal officials vowed Tuesday to boost renewable energy production on federal lands in the West, but wind and geothermal industry officials criticized the administration for a lack of openness and support leading to delays in some of their projects. The Interior Department has a major role to play in the projected growth of domestic renewable energy consumption, Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett testified. Consumption of renewable fuels will grow about 60 percent by 2025 and renewable energy will account for more than 10 percent of domestic energy production and 7 percent of consumption, she said at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Interior is working to increase wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy production, she said. But at the hearing industry and environmental groups criticized a backlog of energy lease applications and lack of input on new regulations....
Weeds suspected in cattle death There is a strong suspicion that eight head of cattle died recently in the Steele area because they had eaten toxic plants they don't normally eat but resorted to in their drought-stricken pasture, according to a local veterinarian and a Kidder County extension agent. Troy Dutton, a veterinarian at the Steele Veterinarian Clinic, said their focus is on tansy ragwort, a toxic plant that's present in the pastures. Gwen Payne, a Kidder County extension agent, said material from the cattle has been sent to a lab for testing and the vet clinic is waiting for results. Dutton said they should get the results back in a week to 10 days, and he expected the extension service would issue a press release at that point. Dutton said he didn't want to release much information now to protect the confidentiality of the cattle owner. He said it's amazing to him that cattle are still producing and raising calves on what's out there, or rather, not out there....
City Slickers Learn Ranching Skills at 40th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival Dylan Biggs is no Hollywood cowboy. He says the movie version of ranchers on horseback roping frenzied cattle is not his style. “I am able to get the cattle to do what I want them to do without the use of force and fear, just by virtue of my position, my movement and my motion. It is a matter of being in the right place, at the right time in the right manner. And ultimately you have to take all that direction from the cattle.” Biggs practices what he calls low-stress livestock handling. He says it is simply good stockmanship. “Instead of having to run around chasing cattle, I can very calmly ask the cattle to get up, start walking exactly where I want them to go and they actually get there. So, it takes a lot less effort on my part.” Biggs demonstrates with a few gentle cows trucked in from a farm in nearby rural Maryland. The cows seem unfazed by the tourists in the bleachers or by Biggs who walks determinedly among them. “I want to teach them to start, speed up, slow down, turn left, turn right and stop, just by virtue of my movement and my position.” No need to prod or whip. Biggs says cows are not stupid animals. “Cattle learn very quickly. In anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, you can have a herd of 150 cattle …softened up and (you can) put them where you want them without any fuss.” ...
Permalink 0 comments
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
BLM Publishes New Grazing Regulations
The Bureau of Land Management today published in final form a new set of grazing regulations that will improve the agency’s management of public lands grazing. The final regulations, developed with extensive public input and supported by a detailed environmental analysis, recognize the economic and social benefits of public lands grazing, as well as its role in preserving open space and wildlife habitat in the rapidly growing West.
In announcing today’s action, BLM Director Kathleen Clarke said: “These new regulations are aimed at promoting more effective and efficient management of public lands grazing, which is a vital part of the history, economy, and social identity of Western rural communities.” The set of new regulations, collectively known as a final “rule,” appears in today’s Federal Register and will take effect in 30 days. Overall, the new rule seeks to improve the BLM’s working relationships with its grazing permit and lease holders; advance the BLM’s efforts in assessing and protecting rangelands; and enhance administrative efficiency.
The BLM proposed grazing regulation changes in the form of a proposed rule in December 2003. The agency followed up with a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and received more than 18,000 comments on the proposed rule and draft EIS during a public comment period that expired on March 2, 2004. The Bureau published its final EIS in June 2005, after which the agency announced that it would prepare an additional document (known as an addendum) to respond to comments that came in after the public comment deadline. The addendum was published on March 31, 2006.
Among other things, the final rule published today:
* authorizes the BLM and a grazing permittee or lessee (or other cooperating party) to share title to future range improvements;
* phases in grazing-use decreases (as well as increases) of more than 10 percent over a five-year period, consistent with existing law and in full recognition of the BLM’s authority to respond as necessary to drought, fire, and other resource conditions;
* promotes a consistent approach by BLM managers in considering and documenting the social, cultural, and economic effects of decisions that determine levels of authorized grazing use;
* removes a restriction that has limited temporary non-use of a grazing permit to three consecutive years;
* requires the use of existing or new monitoring data in cases where the BLM has found, based on its initial assessment, that a grazing allotment is failing to meet rangeland health standards;
* and allows up to 24 months – instead of prior to the start of the next grazing season – for the BLM to analyze and formulate an appropriate course of action in cases where grazing practices are at issue.
For more details on the provisions in the new grazing rule, see the accompanying Factsheet (36KB PDF) and Questions and Answers (45KB PDF).
The BLM manages more land – 261 million surface acres – than any other Federal agency. About 160 million acres of this land are authorized for grazing by more than 15,000 livestock operators. With a budget of about $1.8 billion, the BLM carries out a multiple-use mission, one that is aimed at sustaining the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
Go here to read the new grazing regulations.
Group Sues to Prevent New Grazing Rules
A conservationist group is asking a federal court to block new grazing regulations that it contends would give ranchers more water rights and control over public lands. The Bureau of Land Management announced the final rules Wednesday, and they are to go into effect next month. First proposed in December 2003, the regulations would increase collaboration between the agency and ranchers whose livestock graze on 160 million acres of the nation's public lands. The rules would allow livestock owners to share costs and ownership of range improvements, for example, and would give some ranchers additional water rights. The rules would also lessen some public input on decisions affecting public rangelands to make the permitting process more efficient. "Under the new regulations, BLM is allowing ranchers to dictate terms of grazing while excluding the public," said Laird Lucas, lead attorney for the Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project, the group filing the lawsuit in Boise's U.S. District Court. "The result will be widespread harm to fish and wildlife due to overgrazing." Bobby McEnaney, a legislative advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said his group and other organizations are planning to file an additional lawsuit to stop the rules from going into effect. Bureau of Land Management officials said the rules will improve the agency's working relationships with public-land ranchers and encourage more range improvements. "These new regulations are aimed at promoting more effective and efficient management of public-lands grazing, which is a vital part of the history, economy and social identity of Western rural communities," said BLM director Kathleen Clarke....
Permalink 0 comments
The Bureau of Land Management today published in final form a new set of grazing regulations that will improve the agency’s management of public lands grazing. The final regulations, developed with extensive public input and supported by a detailed environmental analysis, recognize the economic and social benefits of public lands grazing, as well as its role in preserving open space and wildlife habitat in the rapidly growing West.
In announcing today’s action, BLM Director Kathleen Clarke said: “These new regulations are aimed at promoting more effective and efficient management of public lands grazing, which is a vital part of the history, economy, and social identity of Western rural communities.” The set of new regulations, collectively known as a final “rule,” appears in today’s Federal Register and will take effect in 30 days. Overall, the new rule seeks to improve the BLM’s working relationships with its grazing permit and lease holders; advance the BLM’s efforts in assessing and protecting rangelands; and enhance administrative efficiency.
The BLM proposed grazing regulation changes in the form of a proposed rule in December 2003. The agency followed up with a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and received more than 18,000 comments on the proposed rule and draft EIS during a public comment period that expired on March 2, 2004. The Bureau published its final EIS in June 2005, after which the agency announced that it would prepare an additional document (known as an addendum) to respond to comments that came in after the public comment deadline. The addendum was published on March 31, 2006.
Among other things, the final rule published today:
* authorizes the BLM and a grazing permittee or lessee (or other cooperating party) to share title to future range improvements;
* phases in grazing-use decreases (as well as increases) of more than 10 percent over a five-year period, consistent with existing law and in full recognition of the BLM’s authority to respond as necessary to drought, fire, and other resource conditions;
* promotes a consistent approach by BLM managers in considering and documenting the social, cultural, and economic effects of decisions that determine levels of authorized grazing use;
* removes a restriction that has limited temporary non-use of a grazing permit to three consecutive years;
* requires the use of existing or new monitoring data in cases where the BLM has found, based on its initial assessment, that a grazing allotment is failing to meet rangeland health standards;
* and allows up to 24 months – instead of prior to the start of the next grazing season – for the BLM to analyze and formulate an appropriate course of action in cases where grazing practices are at issue.
For more details on the provisions in the new grazing rule, see the accompanying Factsheet (36KB PDF) and Questions and Answers (45KB PDF).
The BLM manages more land – 261 million surface acres – than any other Federal agency. About 160 million acres of this land are authorized for grazing by more than 15,000 livestock operators. With a budget of about $1.8 billion, the BLM carries out a multiple-use mission, one that is aimed at sustaining the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
Go here to read the new grazing regulations.
Group Sues to Prevent New Grazing Rules
A conservationist group is asking a federal court to block new grazing regulations that it contends would give ranchers more water rights and control over public lands. The Bureau of Land Management announced the final rules Wednesday, and they are to go into effect next month. First proposed in December 2003, the regulations would increase collaboration between the agency and ranchers whose livestock graze on 160 million acres of the nation's public lands. The rules would allow livestock owners to share costs and ownership of range improvements, for example, and would give some ranchers additional water rights. The rules would also lessen some public input on decisions affecting public rangelands to make the permitting process more efficient. "Under the new regulations, BLM is allowing ranchers to dictate terms of grazing while excluding the public," said Laird Lucas, lead attorney for the Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project, the group filing the lawsuit in Boise's U.S. District Court. "The result will be widespread harm to fish and wildlife due to overgrazing." Bobby McEnaney, a legislative advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said his group and other organizations are planning to file an additional lawsuit to stop the rules from going into effect. Bureau of Land Management officials said the rules will improve the agency's working relationships with public-land ranchers and encourage more range improvements. "These new regulations are aimed at promoting more effective and efficient management of public-lands grazing, which is a vital part of the history, economy and social identity of Western rural communities," said BLM director Kathleen Clarke....
Permalink 0 comments
NEWS ROUNDUP
Schwarzenegger Acts to Guard State Wilderness Ending one of his remaining fights with environmentalists, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will ask the federal government today to protect 4.4 million acres of national forests from any new roads for timber, oil or gas exploration or other development. If approved, the Schwarzenegger plan would allay environmentalists' fears that national forest land in California would be opened to development, endangering fish and wildlife. The governor's request was in response to a controversial Bush administration rule that opened millions of "roadless" areas nationwide. "Having a Republican governor of a western state, with a large amount of roadless areas, stand up to protect all the areas sends an important signal to the rest of the country," said Sara Barth, California regional director of the Wilderness Society. Schwarzenegger is scheduled to unveil his plan today at a Capitol news conference. He is effectively embracing a Clinton administration ban on new roads and timber harvesting on national forest land that includes the increasingly crowded Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland forests in Southern California....
Bird count may take toll Just as rules ease for construction near America's symbol, the bald eagle, they soon could get tougher for those who build near Mexico's national bird. Brevard County commissioners decided Tuesday to move ahead with a $30,583 census of the crested caracara, which the federal government lists as "threatened." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested the survey and would cover the cost, but commissioners had to give the go ahead. The bird feasts on road kill, and sometimes itself becomes the casualty of cars. So federal biologists want a better handle on just how many of them live and die in Brevard and elsewhere. The survey could determine where developers can and can't build along the county's next development frontier: the vast cattle pastures surrounding the St. Johns River. And that's got builders a bit nervous this falcon-like bird could one day have scrub-jay-like consequences for construction....
Get The Lead Out A coalition of conservation and health organizations announced today they will sue the California Fish and Game Commission for continuing to allow the use of toxic lead ammunition that experts say is poisoning rare California condors. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and Wishtoyo Foundation, along with representatives from the hunting community, served a 60-day notice of intent to sue the commission under the federal Endangered Species Act. “Lead poisoning from ammunition is the single greatest obstacle to the recovery of wild California condors,” said Jeff Miller with CBD. “California put the condor on the state quarter as a symbol of our natural heritage, but if we want condors to survive, we must stop poisoning their food supply.” The California condor is one of the most imperiled animals in the world. They were so close to extinction that in 1982, the last 22 wild birds were rounded up as part of a captive-breeding program. Of the 67 condors released back into Southern California between 1992 and 2002, 32 – nearly half – died or disappeared and are presumed dead. Scientists say poisoning from lead ammunition is likely responsible for many of the deaths....
Disney's conservation group gives $1.4M The Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund has awarded $1.4 million to nonprofit environmental groups and universities studying endangered species. The fund was created by The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) for the study and protection of the world's wildlife, The latest donations bring the group's total to more than $10 million in worldwide conservation projects among 450 projects in more than 68 countries. Eighty-two programs in 27 countries will benefit from the latest round of funding, which will address a variety of needs, including tracking collars for tigers and wolves, four-wheel-drive vehicles for reaching remote African areas and new wings for an ultralight aircraft used to lead migrating whooping cranes across the United States. Recipients were chosen from more than 240 applications, ranging from large national groups to small community efforts. Disney says each request for project funding is evaluated on specific criteria....
Canines have a nose for conservation Chilko gets the order, whispered in her ear. "Go find the turtle." She puts her nose to the ground and trots into the long grass. She stops, jerks to the side and lifts her nose above the Willamette Valley's purple and pink wildflowers, catching a whiff of something undetectable to even the most sensitive human. Then, she gallops in a circle and takes off across a grassy road, stops suddenly and sits. Next to the turtle. In a mere two minutes, this Belgian sheepdog tracked down the turtle, a football-sized red-eared slider that had traveled more than 145 feet in 10 minutes. It would have taken Chilko's owner, Dave Vesely, at least four times as long to find the camouflaged reptile. If he found it at all. It's the reason Chilko and other dogs nationwide are moving beyond their roles as man's best friend and officers' criminal-catching sidekick to biologists' new research partners. By harnessing the power of the canine nose, scientists are using dogs to find mammal scat, reptiles and plants -- a strategy that has proved to be many times more effective and efficient than humans working alone....
Bennett pushes Southern Utah land bill Sen. Bob Bennett introduced legislation in the Senate on Tuesday that would make sweeping changes in public lands in Utah's Washington County. Bennett, R-Utah, is co-sponsoring the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006 with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who plans to introduce the legislation in the House of Representatives later this week. The bill calls for selling about 25,000 acres of "non-environmentally sensitive public land," which represents about 1.5 percent of lands in Washington County, Bennett said. The public lands designated for sale would be identified through a growth-planning process that is locally driven, according to the bill. The measure would also establish water, transportation and utility corridors, including a route for the Lake Powell Pipeline. The bill designates 165.5 miles of the Virgin River in and adjacent to Zion National Park under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the first such designation in Utah history. The legislation also would add 219,725 acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System, including 123,743 acres of National Park Service land within Zion National Park; 93,340 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land; and 2,642 acres of Forest Service land. This would increase the percentage of wilderness acreage in the county from 3.4 percent to 17.5 percent. The bill also would create the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area to provide long-term protection for the desert tortoise and recreational opportunities, according to Bennett....
Funds included in Senate bill for Badlands ranch An appropriations bill awaiting congressional action includes funding for the U.S. Forest Service to purchase a historic Badlands ranch western North Dakota, Sen. Byron Dorgan says. The ranch's owners say an appraisal has not yet been done and an asking price has not been set. Dorgan, D-N.D., said a total of $5 million could be available for the 5,298-acre ranch next to Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch site, where the former president ranched more than a century ago. The Blacktail Creek Ranch is owned by brothers Kenneth, Allan and Dennis Eberts and their families. The property is more commonly referred to as the Eberts Ranch. The family has been trying to sell the picturesque property for years to the state or the federal government for public use and preservation. Kenneth and Norma Eberts, who live at the ranch, said the family was not aware of the bill Dorgan announced Tuesday. They said it was premature to discuss a deal....
Ex-Firefighter Sentenced To Prison For Arson A former firefighter was sentenced to four months imprisonment and four months home confinement for setting fires that destroyed about 800 acres in the Los Padres National Forest, authorities said Tuesday. Craig Matthew Underwood, 32, who lives near Greenfield, was ordered Monday to pay $2.4 million to the government for the cost of extinguishing the blazes. He pleaded guilty to arson Feb. 13 in U.S. District Court. Underwood, a U.S. Forest Service firefighter, set three fires during the peak of California's 2004 fire season -- the Memorial Fire on July 28, the Slide Fire on Aug. 15 and Fred's Fire on Sept. 22, authorities said. The fires burned in the Arroyo Seco area of the national forest west of Greenfield, about 135 miles south of San Francisco in the Salinas Valley. No injuries were reported. Underwood was also barred from becoming a firefighter again.
Advocate: Give landowners seat In their haste to draw maps and broker power deals that would link Wyoming to electrical markets throughout the West, state energy officials so far have failed to bring private landowners to the table, according to a private property advocate. On Tuesday, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority released maps of strategic electrical transmission corridors in Wyoming. Laurie Goodman of the Landowners Association of Wyoming, a political action committee, noted that the maps do not depict private lands. She said the mapping was done without asking for input from the private landowners who will likely host the facilities. "We own 47 percent of the land in this state. Our land is an integral part of how many of your projects will go forward, and we're not even treated as being a part of that," Goodman said. Goodman said she wants landowners, power developers and state officials to coordinate their efforts so that ambitions to increase Wyoming's electrical exports can be mutually beneficial....
Legislators rally to protect relics Troubled by vandalism and looting of archaeological sites on Western public land, some members of Congress are banding together to seek more resources to protect them. They're pointing to the recent vandalism of an ancient Indian rock-art site at McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area near Grand Junction and the looting of a large ancestral Puebloan settlement in southwestern Colorado's Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in January as examples of why more protection is needed. Both sites are administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management. "These are beautiful, special, magnificent places we cannot afford to lose," said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz. "Congress has asked for more money for BLM, (but) we have not received the support from the administration." Grijalva is co-chairman of a congressional caucus formed recently to call attention to archaeological sites managed by the BLM as part of the National Landscape Conservation System, or NLCS. The bipartisan caucus has 15 members, including Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo....
Ruling cheers foes of Wyoming Range drilling The Interior Board of Land Appeals has issued a stay on oil and gas leasing on national forest land near the Wyoming Range, granting at least a temporary victory to environmentalists, Gov. Dave Freudenthal and others opposed to drilling in that area. Environmentalists were hopeful that Monday's decision covering 1,280 acres about 30 miles west of Pinedale would set a precedent and block oil and gas development on a much larger portion of Bridger-Teton National Forest. "But it's too early to tell," said Lisa McGee, an attorney with the Wyoming Outdoor Council. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees federal minerals leases on public land, in December auctioned off the right to develop the 1,280 acres, or two square miles. The Wyoming Outdoor Council, The Wilderness Society and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition protested the lease. The groups said the BLM didn't adequately consider how drilling could affect air quality and the rare Canada lynx. The Wyoming BLM rejected that protest, prompting the groups' appeal to the IBLA in Arlington, Va. The stay remains in effect while the appeal is considered. How long that might take is an open question. "In the past it has taken some years to decide an appeal," McGee said....
Rancher remains dedicated to the land Whether she is in a boardroom, serving as a legislative liaison in Santa Fe, sitting in her tractor cutting hay, working with cattle on her ranch or dealing with federal agencies on agriculture issues, Alisa Ogden exudes confidence. Ogden says that next to God and her family, a love of the land that has been in her family for more than 100 years is what she cherishes most, and she has worked hard to protect for future generations. Ogden recognizes that in her areas of interest both at the capitol and on the farm, she is known to push the envelope when she is passionate about an issue. She doesn't mind demonstrating that women in agriculture can hold their own when it comes to hot issues such as the endangered species act, the environment, and oil and gas drilling on agriculture lands. She said being a woman rancher and farmer is a natural progression for her. She comes from a long line of pioneering women in her family that includes Eddy County pioneering names of Ussery and Forehand. There have been many firsts in her life, and the latest being named president elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and the first women to hold the position in the association's long history. She will take office in December 2007....
Hsssss! Heat brings out rattlers Wanted dead or alive: the rattlesnake that sank its fangs into a Tulia man on June 25. Cody Favor, 28, was visiting his parents in Childress when he saw a 4-foot-long rattler slithering across the yard. Favor stepped off his parents' front porch to dispatch the snake by decapitation. "He pretty much stood back up and bit me on the left hand," Favor said. One fang pierced the webbing between his thumb and forefinger. Another fang scratched, but didn't pierce the skin. "It was kinda like somebody slapping you on the hand. It wasn't like a bee sting, but like pressure without anything going into you. It was like pressure and that was it. It was so fast. They hit and let go," Favor said. "I looked at my hand and seen that he bit me, and I told my wife, 'Well, we gotta go to the hospital.'" They loaded up the pickup and headed for the hospital in Childress where he was treated with antivenin and brought to Amarillo for further treatment. By then his arm was "about the size of my leg. It was enlarged about two times," Favor said....
Veterans say piece de resistance isn't what it used to be Success, which spoils things, has most surely changed the time-honored menu of the great Testicle Festival. "It's not the same anymore,'' moped Bob Zeier, a 75-year-old retired cattle rancher, sitting in the Ryegate Bar and Cafe and dragging on a Camel filter. "Not the same at all. A bull testicle is just not the same as a calf testicle.'' For 22 years, the town has hosted the Ryegate Testicle Festival each June to celebrate the fabled Rocky Mountain oyster, considered either a delicacy in these parts or something to sell to disbelieving tourists at $4.50 a plate. It's what's left over after a bull or a calf has gone in for life-altering surgery. In the 1980s, the festival was a homey affair. Everyone in town brought a potluck dish to the cafe and the nearby park to share, and the testicles were those freshly removed from young calves on nearby cattle ranches. "A fresh calf testicle tastes like lobster,'' said Zeier. "You never had anything like it.'' Word of the annual celebration and free meal got around. Pretty soon, folks started showing up from out of town. "You'd get freeloaders from Billings, just coming in for the meal and a laugh and going home without buying anything,'' said bartender and cook Phil Fisher. "We had to do something about it.'' Thane Russell, who took over ownership of the bar in the 1990s, decided the thing to do would be to start charging $7 for the meal, like they do at the five other testicle festivals in Montana -- testicle festivals being something of a going concern on the high range. But if you charge for the meal, you have to serve federally inspected beef, and fresh local calf testicles don't qualify....A familiar story - the Fed's have got'em by the balls.
Permalink 0 comments
Schwarzenegger Acts to Guard State Wilderness Ending one of his remaining fights with environmentalists, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will ask the federal government today to protect 4.4 million acres of national forests from any new roads for timber, oil or gas exploration or other development. If approved, the Schwarzenegger plan would allay environmentalists' fears that national forest land in California would be opened to development, endangering fish and wildlife. The governor's request was in response to a controversial Bush administration rule that opened millions of "roadless" areas nationwide. "Having a Republican governor of a western state, with a large amount of roadless areas, stand up to protect all the areas sends an important signal to the rest of the country," said Sara Barth, California regional director of the Wilderness Society. Schwarzenegger is scheduled to unveil his plan today at a Capitol news conference. He is effectively embracing a Clinton administration ban on new roads and timber harvesting on national forest land that includes the increasingly crowded Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland forests in Southern California....
Bird count may take toll Just as rules ease for construction near America's symbol, the bald eagle, they soon could get tougher for those who build near Mexico's national bird. Brevard County commissioners decided Tuesday to move ahead with a $30,583 census of the crested caracara, which the federal government lists as "threatened." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested the survey and would cover the cost, but commissioners had to give the go ahead. The bird feasts on road kill, and sometimes itself becomes the casualty of cars. So federal biologists want a better handle on just how many of them live and die in Brevard and elsewhere. The survey could determine where developers can and can't build along the county's next development frontier: the vast cattle pastures surrounding the St. Johns River. And that's got builders a bit nervous this falcon-like bird could one day have scrub-jay-like consequences for construction....
Get The Lead Out A coalition of conservation and health organizations announced today they will sue the California Fish and Game Commission for continuing to allow the use of toxic lead ammunition that experts say is poisoning rare California condors. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and Wishtoyo Foundation, along with representatives from the hunting community, served a 60-day notice of intent to sue the commission under the federal Endangered Species Act. “Lead poisoning from ammunition is the single greatest obstacle to the recovery of wild California condors,” said Jeff Miller with CBD. “California put the condor on the state quarter as a symbol of our natural heritage, but if we want condors to survive, we must stop poisoning their food supply.” The California condor is one of the most imperiled animals in the world. They were so close to extinction that in 1982, the last 22 wild birds were rounded up as part of a captive-breeding program. Of the 67 condors released back into Southern California between 1992 and 2002, 32 – nearly half – died or disappeared and are presumed dead. Scientists say poisoning from lead ammunition is likely responsible for many of the deaths....
Disney's conservation group gives $1.4M The Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund has awarded $1.4 million to nonprofit environmental groups and universities studying endangered species. The fund was created by The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) for the study and protection of the world's wildlife, The latest donations bring the group's total to more than $10 million in worldwide conservation projects among 450 projects in more than 68 countries. Eighty-two programs in 27 countries will benefit from the latest round of funding, which will address a variety of needs, including tracking collars for tigers and wolves, four-wheel-drive vehicles for reaching remote African areas and new wings for an ultralight aircraft used to lead migrating whooping cranes across the United States. Recipients were chosen from more than 240 applications, ranging from large national groups to small community efforts. Disney says each request for project funding is evaluated on specific criteria....
Canines have a nose for conservation Chilko gets the order, whispered in her ear. "Go find the turtle." She puts her nose to the ground and trots into the long grass. She stops, jerks to the side and lifts her nose above the Willamette Valley's purple and pink wildflowers, catching a whiff of something undetectable to even the most sensitive human. Then, she gallops in a circle and takes off across a grassy road, stops suddenly and sits. Next to the turtle. In a mere two minutes, this Belgian sheepdog tracked down the turtle, a football-sized red-eared slider that had traveled more than 145 feet in 10 minutes. It would have taken Chilko's owner, Dave Vesely, at least four times as long to find the camouflaged reptile. If he found it at all. It's the reason Chilko and other dogs nationwide are moving beyond their roles as man's best friend and officers' criminal-catching sidekick to biologists' new research partners. By harnessing the power of the canine nose, scientists are using dogs to find mammal scat, reptiles and plants -- a strategy that has proved to be many times more effective and efficient than humans working alone....
Bennett pushes Southern Utah land bill Sen. Bob Bennett introduced legislation in the Senate on Tuesday that would make sweeping changes in public lands in Utah's Washington County. Bennett, R-Utah, is co-sponsoring the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006 with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who plans to introduce the legislation in the House of Representatives later this week. The bill calls for selling about 25,000 acres of "non-environmentally sensitive public land," which represents about 1.5 percent of lands in Washington County, Bennett said. The public lands designated for sale would be identified through a growth-planning process that is locally driven, according to the bill. The measure would also establish water, transportation and utility corridors, including a route for the Lake Powell Pipeline. The bill designates 165.5 miles of the Virgin River in and adjacent to Zion National Park under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the first such designation in Utah history. The legislation also would add 219,725 acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System, including 123,743 acres of National Park Service land within Zion National Park; 93,340 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land; and 2,642 acres of Forest Service land. This would increase the percentage of wilderness acreage in the county from 3.4 percent to 17.5 percent. The bill also would create the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area to provide long-term protection for the desert tortoise and recreational opportunities, according to Bennett....
Funds included in Senate bill for Badlands ranch An appropriations bill awaiting congressional action includes funding for the U.S. Forest Service to purchase a historic Badlands ranch western North Dakota, Sen. Byron Dorgan says. The ranch's owners say an appraisal has not yet been done and an asking price has not been set. Dorgan, D-N.D., said a total of $5 million could be available for the 5,298-acre ranch next to Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch site, where the former president ranched more than a century ago. The Blacktail Creek Ranch is owned by brothers Kenneth, Allan and Dennis Eberts and their families. The property is more commonly referred to as the Eberts Ranch. The family has been trying to sell the picturesque property for years to the state or the federal government for public use and preservation. Kenneth and Norma Eberts, who live at the ranch, said the family was not aware of the bill Dorgan announced Tuesday. They said it was premature to discuss a deal....
Ex-Firefighter Sentenced To Prison For Arson A former firefighter was sentenced to four months imprisonment and four months home confinement for setting fires that destroyed about 800 acres in the Los Padres National Forest, authorities said Tuesday. Craig Matthew Underwood, 32, who lives near Greenfield, was ordered Monday to pay $2.4 million to the government for the cost of extinguishing the blazes. He pleaded guilty to arson Feb. 13 in U.S. District Court. Underwood, a U.S. Forest Service firefighter, set three fires during the peak of California's 2004 fire season -- the Memorial Fire on July 28, the Slide Fire on Aug. 15 and Fred's Fire on Sept. 22, authorities said. The fires burned in the Arroyo Seco area of the national forest west of Greenfield, about 135 miles south of San Francisco in the Salinas Valley. No injuries were reported. Underwood was also barred from becoming a firefighter again.
Advocate: Give landowners seat In their haste to draw maps and broker power deals that would link Wyoming to electrical markets throughout the West, state energy officials so far have failed to bring private landowners to the table, according to a private property advocate. On Tuesday, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority released maps of strategic electrical transmission corridors in Wyoming. Laurie Goodman of the Landowners Association of Wyoming, a political action committee, noted that the maps do not depict private lands. She said the mapping was done without asking for input from the private landowners who will likely host the facilities. "We own 47 percent of the land in this state. Our land is an integral part of how many of your projects will go forward, and we're not even treated as being a part of that," Goodman said. Goodman said she wants landowners, power developers and state officials to coordinate their efforts so that ambitions to increase Wyoming's electrical exports can be mutually beneficial....
Legislators rally to protect relics Troubled by vandalism and looting of archaeological sites on Western public land, some members of Congress are banding together to seek more resources to protect them. They're pointing to the recent vandalism of an ancient Indian rock-art site at McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area near Grand Junction and the looting of a large ancestral Puebloan settlement in southwestern Colorado's Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in January as examples of why more protection is needed. Both sites are administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management. "These are beautiful, special, magnificent places we cannot afford to lose," said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz. "Congress has asked for more money for BLM, (but) we have not received the support from the administration." Grijalva is co-chairman of a congressional caucus formed recently to call attention to archaeological sites managed by the BLM as part of the National Landscape Conservation System, or NLCS. The bipartisan caucus has 15 members, including Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo....
Ruling cheers foes of Wyoming Range drilling The Interior Board of Land Appeals has issued a stay on oil and gas leasing on national forest land near the Wyoming Range, granting at least a temporary victory to environmentalists, Gov. Dave Freudenthal and others opposed to drilling in that area. Environmentalists were hopeful that Monday's decision covering 1,280 acres about 30 miles west of Pinedale would set a precedent and block oil and gas development on a much larger portion of Bridger-Teton National Forest. "But it's too early to tell," said Lisa McGee, an attorney with the Wyoming Outdoor Council. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees federal minerals leases on public land, in December auctioned off the right to develop the 1,280 acres, or two square miles. The Wyoming Outdoor Council, The Wilderness Society and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition protested the lease. The groups said the BLM didn't adequately consider how drilling could affect air quality and the rare Canada lynx. The Wyoming BLM rejected that protest, prompting the groups' appeal to the IBLA in Arlington, Va. The stay remains in effect while the appeal is considered. How long that might take is an open question. "In the past it has taken some years to decide an appeal," McGee said....
Rancher remains dedicated to the land Whether she is in a boardroom, serving as a legislative liaison in Santa Fe, sitting in her tractor cutting hay, working with cattle on her ranch or dealing with federal agencies on agriculture issues, Alisa Ogden exudes confidence. Ogden says that next to God and her family, a love of the land that has been in her family for more than 100 years is what she cherishes most, and she has worked hard to protect for future generations. Ogden recognizes that in her areas of interest both at the capitol and on the farm, she is known to push the envelope when she is passionate about an issue. She doesn't mind demonstrating that women in agriculture can hold their own when it comes to hot issues such as the endangered species act, the environment, and oil and gas drilling on agriculture lands. She said being a woman rancher and farmer is a natural progression for her. She comes from a long line of pioneering women in her family that includes Eddy County pioneering names of Ussery and Forehand. There have been many firsts in her life, and the latest being named president elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and the first women to hold the position in the association's long history. She will take office in December 2007....
Hsssss! Heat brings out rattlers Wanted dead or alive: the rattlesnake that sank its fangs into a Tulia man on June 25. Cody Favor, 28, was visiting his parents in Childress when he saw a 4-foot-long rattler slithering across the yard. Favor stepped off his parents' front porch to dispatch the snake by decapitation. "He pretty much stood back up and bit me on the left hand," Favor said. One fang pierced the webbing between his thumb and forefinger. Another fang scratched, but didn't pierce the skin. "It was kinda like somebody slapping you on the hand. It wasn't like a bee sting, but like pressure without anything going into you. It was like pressure and that was it. It was so fast. They hit and let go," Favor said. "I looked at my hand and seen that he bit me, and I told my wife, 'Well, we gotta go to the hospital.'" They loaded up the pickup and headed for the hospital in Childress where he was treated with antivenin and brought to Amarillo for further treatment. By then his arm was "about the size of my leg. It was enlarged about two times," Favor said....
Veterans say piece de resistance isn't what it used to be Success, which spoils things, has most surely changed the time-honored menu of the great Testicle Festival. "It's not the same anymore,'' moped Bob Zeier, a 75-year-old retired cattle rancher, sitting in the Ryegate Bar and Cafe and dragging on a Camel filter. "Not the same at all. A bull testicle is just not the same as a calf testicle.'' For 22 years, the town has hosted the Ryegate Testicle Festival each June to celebrate the fabled Rocky Mountain oyster, considered either a delicacy in these parts or something to sell to disbelieving tourists at $4.50 a plate. It's what's left over after a bull or a calf has gone in for life-altering surgery. In the 1980s, the festival was a homey affair. Everyone in town brought a potluck dish to the cafe and the nearby park to share, and the testicles were those freshly removed from young calves on nearby cattle ranches. "A fresh calf testicle tastes like lobster,'' said Zeier. "You never had anything like it.'' Word of the annual celebration and free meal got around. Pretty soon, folks started showing up from out of town. "You'd get freeloaders from Billings, just coming in for the meal and a laugh and going home without buying anything,'' said bartender and cook Phil Fisher. "We had to do something about it.'' Thane Russell, who took over ownership of the bar in the 1990s, decided the thing to do would be to start charging $7 for the meal, like they do at the five other testicle festivals in Montana -- testicle festivals being something of a going concern on the high range. But if you charge for the meal, you have to serve federally inspected beef, and fresh local calf testicles don't qualify....A familiar story - the Fed's have got'em by the balls.
Permalink 0 comments
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400, Battle Ground, WA 98604
(360)687-3087 - Fax: (360)687-2973
Email: alra@governance.net
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003
(202)329-3574 - Fax: (202)543-7126
Email: landrightsnet@yahoo.com
Will John Tomke Take Your Land?
!!!!! ALERT — Liberal Republican John Tomke plans to seize or regulate millions of acres of private property using your tax dollars — !!!!!
*****Action Items Below
WARNING — Tomke is under consideration for nomination to a top level position in the Interior Department, which oversees the Endangered Species Act and Land Acquisition Funding. Tomke is presently Chairman of a very profitable “non-profit” outfit called Ducks Unlimited.
Once upon a time, Ducks Unlimited (DU) was a group of good old boy duck hunters who cooperated with landowners and government agencies to protect land over which ducks migrated.
However, under John Tomke’s rule as Chairman, DU has become radicalized, while still appearing to be “just a bunch of good ol’ boys” at first glance. DU has become extreme in its positions, attacking property rights and making demands for more land under federal government ownership and regulations.
PROBLEM. The largest source of income for DU has become re-selling, also known as “flipping,” land to government agencies. Not membership dues, not special fundraising events done by supporters, not magazine subscriptions or selling advertising, DU’s number one source of income is taking property out of private hands and profitably flipping it to government agencies. This earned DU $62 million dollars in 2005 alone. It is their biggest source of income, 32% of their total, according to the “National Fact Sheet” on their website. DU has become as much as anything a real estate agency working on behalf of the federal government.
RESULT. All the good work done by our allies in Congress and in the Administration for the past five years may be rolled back if Tomke is nominated for this position, called Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
For example, there is no question that Tomke will increase demands on Congress for land acquisition funding. This is a prime source of money for Ducks Unlimited, and John Tomke wants to stick his hand in the cookie jar and hand over cash to DU for profitable land deals.
Appropriations Committee member Congressman Charles Taylor has been a champion for property rights in Congress. Every year, Taylor has led efforts to cut back sharply on money appropriated to grab more land for federal agencies. This is tough work, because the pressure in Congress is always to spend, spend, spend.
Tomke will lead the charge in the opposite direction, and continue financing the cozy and very profitable relationship between environmental groups and many federal agencies.
Our budget deficit is big enough already without John Tomke busting the budget even further!!! And for what — to take private lands OUT of private hands!!!
*****ACTION ITEMS:
Let Congress and the Administration know that Liberal Republican John Tomke will roll back five years of progress on property rights. Tomke will reverse course and increase endangered species listings, increase funding for land acquisition, and attack court rulings that help property rights!
Also, if you know of a good person who is qualified for the position of Assistant Secretary for Fish Wildlife and Parks, recommend his or her name to us. If good people can be recommended to Interior Secretary Kempthorne, then maybe he will drop consideration of Liberal Republican John Tomke.
Help Kempthorne nominate a good property rights supporter instead, and continue in the tradition of former Assistant Secretary Craig Manson. Manson did an excellent job from 2001 to 2005 in promoting changes to the Endangered Species Act and cutting back on funding for land grabs. To reverse course now and roll back progress would be a terrible mistake.
-----1. Call or e-mail Brian Waidmann, who is Secretary Kempthorne’s Chief of Staff: Direct phone line: 202-208-5043. E-mail: brian_waidmann@ios.doi.gov
-----2. Call or e-mail Douglas Domenech,. He is Secretary Kempthorne’s White House Liaison (202) 208-5647. E-mail: doug_domenech@ios.doi.gov
-----3. Call Gary Smith. He is Secretary Kempthorne’s External and Intergovernmental Affairs Director at (202) 208-1923. E-mail: gary_smith@ios.doi.gov
-----4. Call, fax and e-mail the White House at (202) 456-1111, Fax: (202) 456-2461 or e-mail: comments@whitehouse.gov
-----5. Call, fax and e-mail Vice President Richard Cheney’ office at (202) 456-1111, Fax: (202) 456-2461 or e-mail: vice_president@whitehouse.gov
-----6. Call both your Senators to urge them to oppose John Tomke’s nomination.
Any Senator may be called at (202) 224-3121. This is especially important if your Senator is on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Here are the Members:
Republicans:
Pete Domenici (R-NM)
Larry Craig (R-ID)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
James Talent (R-MO)
Conrad Burns (R-MT)
George Allen (R-VA)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Democrats:
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Please circulate this message as widely as possible.
Permalink 0 comments
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400, Battle Ground, WA 98604
(360)687-3087 - Fax: (360)687-2973
Email: alra@governance.net
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003
(202)329-3574 - Fax: (202)543-7126
Email: landrightsnet@yahoo.com
Will John Tomke Take Your Land?
!!!!! ALERT — Liberal Republican John Tomke plans to seize or regulate millions of acres of private property using your tax dollars — !!!!!
*****Action Items Below
WARNING — Tomke is under consideration for nomination to a top level position in the Interior Department, which oversees the Endangered Species Act and Land Acquisition Funding. Tomke is presently Chairman of a very profitable “non-profit” outfit called Ducks Unlimited.
Once upon a time, Ducks Unlimited (DU) was a group of good old boy duck hunters who cooperated with landowners and government agencies to protect land over which ducks migrated.
However, under John Tomke’s rule as Chairman, DU has become radicalized, while still appearing to be “just a bunch of good ol’ boys” at first glance. DU has become extreme in its positions, attacking property rights and making demands for more land under federal government ownership and regulations.
PROBLEM. The largest source of income for DU has become re-selling, also known as “flipping,” land to government agencies. Not membership dues, not special fundraising events done by supporters, not magazine subscriptions or selling advertising, DU’s number one source of income is taking property out of private hands and profitably flipping it to government agencies. This earned DU $62 million dollars in 2005 alone. It is their biggest source of income, 32% of their total, according to the “National Fact Sheet” on their website. DU has become as much as anything a real estate agency working on behalf of the federal government.
RESULT. All the good work done by our allies in Congress and in the Administration for the past five years may be rolled back if Tomke is nominated for this position, called Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
For example, there is no question that Tomke will increase demands on Congress for land acquisition funding. This is a prime source of money for Ducks Unlimited, and John Tomke wants to stick his hand in the cookie jar and hand over cash to DU for profitable land deals.
Appropriations Committee member Congressman Charles Taylor has been a champion for property rights in Congress. Every year, Taylor has led efforts to cut back sharply on money appropriated to grab more land for federal agencies. This is tough work, because the pressure in Congress is always to spend, spend, spend.
Tomke will lead the charge in the opposite direction, and continue financing the cozy and very profitable relationship between environmental groups and many federal agencies.
Our budget deficit is big enough already without John Tomke busting the budget even further!!! And for what — to take private lands OUT of private hands!!!
*****ACTION ITEMS:
Let Congress and the Administration know that Liberal Republican John Tomke will roll back five years of progress on property rights. Tomke will reverse course and increase endangered species listings, increase funding for land acquisition, and attack court rulings that help property rights!
Also, if you know of a good person who is qualified for the position of Assistant Secretary for Fish Wildlife and Parks, recommend his or her name to us. If good people can be recommended to Interior Secretary Kempthorne, then maybe he will drop consideration of Liberal Republican John Tomke.
Help Kempthorne nominate a good property rights supporter instead, and continue in the tradition of former Assistant Secretary Craig Manson. Manson did an excellent job from 2001 to 2005 in promoting changes to the Endangered Species Act and cutting back on funding for land grabs. To reverse course now and roll back progress would be a terrible mistake.
-----1. Call or e-mail Brian Waidmann, who is Secretary Kempthorne’s Chief of Staff: Direct phone line: 202-208-5043. E-mail: brian_waidmann@ios.doi.gov
-----2. Call or e-mail Douglas Domenech,. He is Secretary Kempthorne’s White House Liaison (202) 208-5647. E-mail: doug_domenech@ios.doi.gov
-----3. Call Gary Smith. He is Secretary Kempthorne’s External and Intergovernmental Affairs Director at (202) 208-1923. E-mail: gary_smith@ios.doi.gov
-----4. Call, fax and e-mail the White House at (202) 456-1111, Fax: (202) 456-2461 or e-mail: comments@whitehouse.gov
-----5. Call, fax and e-mail Vice President Richard Cheney’ office at (202) 456-1111, Fax: (202) 456-2461 or e-mail: vice_president@whitehouse.gov
-----6. Call both your Senators to urge them to oppose John Tomke’s nomination.
Any Senator may be called at (202) 224-3121. This is especially important if your Senator is on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Here are the Members:
Republicans:
Pete Domenici (R-NM)
Larry Craig (R-ID)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
James Talent (R-MO)
Conrad Burns (R-MT)
George Allen (R-VA)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Democrats:
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Please circulate this message as widely as possible.
Permalink 0 comments
FLE
Terrorist Loophole: Senate Bill Disarms Law Enforcement In the wake of the attacks, the Department of Justice announced the conclusion of a new Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion: state and local police officers do have the legal authority to arrest any deportable illegal alien. This announcement did not create any new authority—the police had possessed it all along. Rather, the announcement reminded local law enforcement agencies of the crucial role that they could, and should, play in the war against terrorism by making immigration arrests. The OLC opinion affirmed the conclusion of numerous U.S. Courts of Appeals that states have the inherent authority to assist the federal government by making immigration arrests. Moreover, Congress has never acted to displace, or “preempt,” this inherent authority. As the Tenth Circuit concluded in United States v. Santana-Garcia (2001), federal law “evinces a clear invitation from Congress for state and local agencies to participate in the process of enforcing federal immigration laws.” Police departments across the country responded to the lessons of 9/11 and the OLC opinion by exercising their inherent arrest authority with renewed determination. The number of calls to LESC by local police officers who had arrested illegal aliens nearly doubled, reaching 504,678 in FY 2005—or 1,383 calls per day, on average. Local police have become a crucial participant in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The Senate’s immigration reform proposal would change all of that. Section 240D would restrict local police to arresting aliens for criminal violations of immigration law only, not civil violations. The results would be disastrous. All of the hijackers who committed immigration violations committed civil violations. Under the bill, police officers would have no power to arrest such terrorists. Moreover, as a practical matter, CIRA would discourage police departments from playing any role in immigration enforcement....
National Guard slow to fill president's order at border The Bush administration said yesterday that 2,834 National Guard troops are on assignment to the U.S.-Mexico border, though most of them are still in transit or training and not actively helping support the U.S. Border Patrol. About 300 are part of the Joint Task Force headquarters, and another 912 are "forward deployed," meaning they are active in supporting the U.S. Border Patrol, the Guard said. The more than 1,600 remaining troops are still in training or transit. Although only one-third of the forces are forward-deployed, the administration said, that ratio will build gradually as other troops complete training. President Bush in May called for 6,000 National Guard troops to work on the border in a support role, conducting surveillance and helping build infrastructure such as vehicle barriers. The administration promised 2,500 troops by the end of June and 6,000 by August, to be stationed until more Border Patrol agents can be hired....
Corrupting Instead Of Protecting Our Borders The umbrella agency created by the Department of Homeland Security to protect the nation against terrorism has been plagued by serious corruption that includes numerous agents accepting bribes to smuggle drugs and illegal aliens into the country. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was established as the unified border agency by combining the inspectional and border forces of U.S. Customs, U.S. Immigration, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services and the U.S. Border Patrol. The idea was to create a powerful force that would protect America’s borders. Instead the agency has had a spate of corruption cases involving Border Protection agents and customs inspectors. In the latest incident, two former Border Patrol agents actually pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting bribes for helping smugglers transport illegal immigrants into the U.S. The veteran agents—Mario Alvarez and Samuel McLaren—worked at the El Centro station in California, just across the border from Mexicali. They admitted taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle Mexicans into the country, leaving federal prosecutors to say that “it doesn’t get much worse than that.” Ironically, the agents were assigned to a special program, created between the governments of Mexico and the U.S., in which smugglers are deported to Mexico and prosecuted. Instead, the U.S. agents busted the smugglers, often drove them in government vehicles to a store parking lot and demanded bribes in exchange for freeing them. Last month four other agents—two from the Border Patrol and two customs inspectors—were caught committing similar fraudulent acts. The two longtime customs inspectors were arrested and charged with bribery, conspiracy and other crimes for smuggling undocumented immigrants into the U.S....
Trashing the border Every time I go down to the Mexican border, I'm struck by a down and dirty realization: This beautiful land looks like a dump. Recently I was at a waist-high border vehicle barrier in a valley northeast of Tecate, Baja California. As far as the eye could see, strewn past barbed wire or collecting knee-deep in culverts, were water bottles, food wrappers, used paper products such as toilet paper and maxi pads, even felt shoe covers designed to obscure tracks. From California to Texas, illegal immigrants and drug runners leave such calling cards on their trek north. "This was a beautiful refuge 10 years ago," Mitch Ellis, manager of Arizona's Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, says. "Just stunning." Now, he says, it looks like a "war zone." The refuge shares just 5½ miles with the Mexican border but is a staging point near the Sasabe border crossing and is crisscrossed by highways that serve as pick-up routes. The sheer amount of foot and vehicle traffic — at least 200,000 to 300,000 crossers a year on the 118,000-acre refuge — makes endangered species conservation a losing battle. As National Guard troops have been dispatched to the border and lawmakers grapple with the specifics of immigration reform, a proposed southern wall has ignited contentious debate. But while the primary intention of a fence would be homeland security and immigration control, a welcome byproduct of such a wall might be softening the blow on the environment. Last year, 500 tons of trash was strewn across the Buenos Aires refuge, as well as human waste and about 100 abandoned vehicles. Wild animals are choking on plastic or getting tangled in trash, and crossers' campfires have sparked wildfires. Aerial photos, Ellis says, reveal a shocking web of 1,300 miles of illegal trails cut through the refuge....
Funding, agents urged for border With the Rio Grande as a backdrop, members of Congress heard disturbing testimony Friday about the dangers that federal and local law enforcement agencies face trying to control a seemingly endless flow of illegal immigrants and contraband across the river into the United States. The area's top U.S. Border Patrol agent and others testified they're still outmanned and outgunned by sophisticated smugglers, but increased personnel, advances in surveillance technology and stepped-up removal proceedings are leveling the battlefield. Still, officials pleaded for more federal funds to provide additional agents and equipment along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico, 1,200 miles of which are in Texas. In the meantime, they acknowledged terrorists could cross the river laden with weapons, and a federal auditor testified he's proven how porous the northern and southern borders are by using bogus documents to import nuclear bomb-making materials. "The Customs and Border Protection inspectors never questioned the authenticity of the investigator's counterfeit bill of lading or the counterfeit NRC document authorizing them to receive, acquire, possess and transfer radioactive sources," the audit report said....
Restoring some order at border From Tommy Vick's back yard, the Rio Grande is a picture postcard of serenity as it cuts through steep limestone bluffs, sunlight catching on dark water. Until recently, it was more a battleground. For more years than anyone remembers, thieves regularly crossed from neighboring Mexico at will, ransacking Mr. Vick's Vega Verde Estates neighborhood, stealing whatever couldn't be tied down and darting back across the river before police could respond. Last November, thieves even made off with Mr. Vick's lawn tractor. "They tied it to a homemade raft and floated it across on inner tubes," he said. "A tractor! That was nearly the last straw." But officials say such crime in Texas' border counties is down dramatically this year because of initiatives that increased police presence fivefold in some areas. The lesson, they say, is simple. "It shows we can take back control of the border if we can saturate the area with law enforcement officers and create high visibility," said Val Verde County Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan. "But for it to work, it's going to have to be permanent. We have to take on the whole border." Since December, when Gov. Rick Perry provided $10 million in state and federal grants to the 16 border sheriffs for a border security effort called Operation Linebacker, Sheriff Jernigan was able to increase patrols through overtime pay and newly hired deputies. Crime in the Vega Verde area began to tumble....
Judge Upholds F.B.I. Search of Lawmaker's Office While acknowledging the unprecedented nature of the F.B.I. search of Representative William J. Jefferson’s legislative offices, a federal judge ruled Monday that the seizure of records there was legal and did not violate the constitutional separation of powers between Congress and the executive branch. The search, the first of a Congressional office, touched off a firestorm on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers joined in bipartisan protests to the Bush administration over the Justice Department’s decision to seek evidence of bribery on legislative ground. President Bush personally intervened and ordered the seized documents temporarily sealed. The constitutional battle will not end with the decision Monday by Judge Thomas F. Hogan of Federal District Court. Mr. Jefferson’s lawyer, Robert F. Trout, quickly announced that he would appeal. And while Judge Hogan said the documents seized in an overnight raid May 20 and 21, including computer hard drives and boxes of records, could now be turned over to investigators, the defense is likely to seek a stay of that release. In a statement announcing the appeal, Mr. Trout said: “A bipartisan group of House leaders joined us in court to argue that these procedures were in direct violation of the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, which the framers specifically designed to protect legislators from intimidation” by other branches of government. The Justice Department and the House leadership have been negotiating over new procedures in case other search warrants for Congressional offices are sought by investigators. Mr. Jefferson is a Democrat, but wide-ranging corruption investigations have ensnared aides to several Republican congressmen this year. Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the discussions “about harmonizing policies and procedures for possible future searches” would continue....
Permalink 0 comments
Terrorist Loophole: Senate Bill Disarms Law Enforcement In the wake of the attacks, the Department of Justice announced the conclusion of a new Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion: state and local police officers do have the legal authority to arrest any deportable illegal alien. This announcement did not create any new authority—the police had possessed it all along. Rather, the announcement reminded local law enforcement agencies of the crucial role that they could, and should, play in the war against terrorism by making immigration arrests. The OLC opinion affirmed the conclusion of numerous U.S. Courts of Appeals that states have the inherent authority to assist the federal government by making immigration arrests. Moreover, Congress has never acted to displace, or “preempt,” this inherent authority. As the Tenth Circuit concluded in United States v. Santana-Garcia (2001), federal law “evinces a clear invitation from Congress for state and local agencies to participate in the process of enforcing federal immigration laws.” Police departments across the country responded to the lessons of 9/11 and the OLC opinion by exercising their inherent arrest authority with renewed determination. The number of calls to LESC by local police officers who had arrested illegal aliens nearly doubled, reaching 504,678 in FY 2005—or 1,383 calls per day, on average. Local police have become a crucial participant in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The Senate’s immigration reform proposal would change all of that. Section 240D would restrict local police to arresting aliens for criminal violations of immigration law only, not civil violations. The results would be disastrous. All of the hijackers who committed immigration violations committed civil violations. Under the bill, police officers would have no power to arrest such terrorists. Moreover, as a practical matter, CIRA would discourage police departments from playing any role in immigration enforcement....
National Guard slow to fill president's order at border The Bush administration said yesterday that 2,834 National Guard troops are on assignment to the U.S.-Mexico border, though most of them are still in transit or training and not actively helping support the U.S. Border Patrol. About 300 are part of the Joint Task Force headquarters, and another 912 are "forward deployed," meaning they are active in supporting the U.S. Border Patrol, the Guard said. The more than 1,600 remaining troops are still in training or transit. Although only one-third of the forces are forward-deployed, the administration said, that ratio will build gradually as other troops complete training. President Bush in May called for 6,000 National Guard troops to work on the border in a support role, conducting surveillance and helping build infrastructure such as vehicle barriers. The administration promised 2,500 troops by the end of June and 6,000 by August, to be stationed until more Border Patrol agents can be hired....
Corrupting Instead Of Protecting Our Borders The umbrella agency created by the Department of Homeland Security to protect the nation against terrorism has been plagued by serious corruption that includes numerous agents accepting bribes to smuggle drugs and illegal aliens into the country. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was established as the unified border agency by combining the inspectional and border forces of U.S. Customs, U.S. Immigration, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services and the U.S. Border Patrol. The idea was to create a powerful force that would protect America’s borders. Instead the agency has had a spate of corruption cases involving Border Protection agents and customs inspectors. In the latest incident, two former Border Patrol agents actually pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting bribes for helping smugglers transport illegal immigrants into the U.S. The veteran agents—Mario Alvarez and Samuel McLaren—worked at the El Centro station in California, just across the border from Mexicali. They admitted taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle Mexicans into the country, leaving federal prosecutors to say that “it doesn’t get much worse than that.” Ironically, the agents were assigned to a special program, created between the governments of Mexico and the U.S., in which smugglers are deported to Mexico and prosecuted. Instead, the U.S. agents busted the smugglers, often drove them in government vehicles to a store parking lot and demanded bribes in exchange for freeing them. Last month four other agents—two from the Border Patrol and two customs inspectors—were caught committing similar fraudulent acts. The two longtime customs inspectors were arrested and charged with bribery, conspiracy and other crimes for smuggling undocumented immigrants into the U.S....
Trashing the border Every time I go down to the Mexican border, I'm struck by a down and dirty realization: This beautiful land looks like a dump. Recently I was at a waist-high border vehicle barrier in a valley northeast of Tecate, Baja California. As far as the eye could see, strewn past barbed wire or collecting knee-deep in culverts, were water bottles, food wrappers, used paper products such as toilet paper and maxi pads, even felt shoe covers designed to obscure tracks. From California to Texas, illegal immigrants and drug runners leave such calling cards on their trek north. "This was a beautiful refuge 10 years ago," Mitch Ellis, manager of Arizona's Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, says. "Just stunning." Now, he says, it looks like a "war zone." The refuge shares just 5½ miles with the Mexican border but is a staging point near the Sasabe border crossing and is crisscrossed by highways that serve as pick-up routes. The sheer amount of foot and vehicle traffic — at least 200,000 to 300,000 crossers a year on the 118,000-acre refuge — makes endangered species conservation a losing battle. As National Guard troops have been dispatched to the border and lawmakers grapple with the specifics of immigration reform, a proposed southern wall has ignited contentious debate. But while the primary intention of a fence would be homeland security and immigration control, a welcome byproduct of such a wall might be softening the blow on the environment. Last year, 500 tons of trash was strewn across the Buenos Aires refuge, as well as human waste and about 100 abandoned vehicles. Wild animals are choking on plastic or getting tangled in trash, and crossers' campfires have sparked wildfires. Aerial photos, Ellis says, reveal a shocking web of 1,300 miles of illegal trails cut through the refuge....
Funding, agents urged for border With the Rio Grande as a backdrop, members of Congress heard disturbing testimony Friday about the dangers that federal and local law enforcement agencies face trying to control a seemingly endless flow of illegal immigrants and contraband across the river into the United States. The area's top U.S. Border Patrol agent and others testified they're still outmanned and outgunned by sophisticated smugglers, but increased personnel, advances in surveillance technology and stepped-up removal proceedings are leveling the battlefield. Still, officials pleaded for more federal funds to provide additional agents and equipment along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico, 1,200 miles of which are in Texas. In the meantime, they acknowledged terrorists could cross the river laden with weapons, and a federal auditor testified he's proven how porous the northern and southern borders are by using bogus documents to import nuclear bomb-making materials. "The Customs and Border Protection inspectors never questioned the authenticity of the investigator's counterfeit bill of lading or the counterfeit NRC document authorizing them to receive, acquire, possess and transfer radioactive sources," the audit report said....
Restoring some order at border From Tommy Vick's back yard, the Rio Grande is a picture postcard of serenity as it cuts through steep limestone bluffs, sunlight catching on dark water. Until recently, it was more a battleground. For more years than anyone remembers, thieves regularly crossed from neighboring Mexico at will, ransacking Mr. Vick's Vega Verde Estates neighborhood, stealing whatever couldn't be tied down and darting back across the river before police could respond. Last November, thieves even made off with Mr. Vick's lawn tractor. "They tied it to a homemade raft and floated it across on inner tubes," he said. "A tractor! That was nearly the last straw." But officials say such crime in Texas' border counties is down dramatically this year because of initiatives that increased police presence fivefold in some areas. The lesson, they say, is simple. "It shows we can take back control of the border if we can saturate the area with law enforcement officers and create high visibility," said Val Verde County Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan. "But for it to work, it's going to have to be permanent. We have to take on the whole border." Since December, when Gov. Rick Perry provided $10 million in state and federal grants to the 16 border sheriffs for a border security effort called Operation Linebacker, Sheriff Jernigan was able to increase patrols through overtime pay and newly hired deputies. Crime in the Vega Verde area began to tumble....
Judge Upholds F.B.I. Search of Lawmaker's Office While acknowledging the unprecedented nature of the F.B.I. search of Representative William J. Jefferson’s legislative offices, a federal judge ruled Monday that the seizure of records there was legal and did not violate the constitutional separation of powers between Congress and the executive branch. The search, the first of a Congressional office, touched off a firestorm on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers joined in bipartisan protests to the Bush administration over the Justice Department’s decision to seek evidence of bribery on legislative ground. President Bush personally intervened and ordered the seized documents temporarily sealed. The constitutional battle will not end with the decision Monday by Judge Thomas F. Hogan of Federal District Court. Mr. Jefferson’s lawyer, Robert F. Trout, quickly announced that he would appeal. And while Judge Hogan said the documents seized in an overnight raid May 20 and 21, including computer hard drives and boxes of records, could now be turned over to investigators, the defense is likely to seek a stay of that release. In a statement announcing the appeal, Mr. Trout said: “A bipartisan group of House leaders joined us in court to argue that these procedures were in direct violation of the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, which the framers specifically designed to protect legislators from intimidation” by other branches of government. The Justice Department and the House leadership have been negotiating over new procedures in case other search warrants for Congressional offices are sought by investigators. Mr. Jefferson is a Democrat, but wide-ranging corruption investigations have ensnared aides to several Republican congressmen this year. Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the discussions “about harmonizing policies and procedures for possible future searches” would continue....
Permalink 0 comments
NEWS ROUNDUP
Property owners can sue state, court rules A New Mexico family can sue the state for "taking" their property without just compensation, the state Supreme Court has ruled. In a 3-2 ruling last month, the justices said the family of late Catron County rancher Richard Manning can pursue a $65 million claim that state agencies effectively took their property by enforcing mining decisions. Other states and the U.S. Attorney General's Office have been monitoring the case because it could set a precedent. Last month's ruling is the first detailed decision on the issue, the Albuquerque Journal reported Monday in a copyright story. The case is based on the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which bars the government from taking private property, either directly or through regulation, without justly compensating the owner. "The court's decision clearly goes against the federal trend of protecting states' sovereign immunity," Walz said. "It creates a new cause of constitutional action which we did not have before." The Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento, Calif., group, filed a brief supporting the Mannings. J. David Breener, an attorney for the foundation, said other states likely will hesitate to make the argument that "we're the state and we're immune to the Constitution." Manning, a leader of a local control movement, had owned a mine and gold and silver ore processing mill on Gila National Forest land outside of Mogollon....Just wish Dick was still here to see the culminaiton of his efforts. He withstood many hardships to make this case possible. He spoke to many groups about the importance of this case, but I'm afraid not too many were really listening. Now we will all benefit from his courageous effort.
Game and Fish Department says mountain lion killed in Badlands A rancher killed a female mountain lion on his Badlands ranch after he found it fighting with his dogs, the state Game and Fish Department said Monday. Randy Kreil, chief of the Game and Fish wildlife division, said Kelly Hanna shot the mountain lion on Sunday. He said the cougar appeared to be a young female weighing about 80 pounds. Game warden Brent Schwan said in a statement that the rancher heard a commotion involving his dogs early Sunday, and found the lion in a tree about 50 yards from his house east of Watford City. The rancher went to get a rifle and came back to find the cougar on the ground in a fight with his dogs, and he then shot the lion, Schwan said. "State law specifically allows the killing of mountain lions to protect individuals or their property. The law also requires the Game and Fish Department must be notified, which the rancher did," the department's statement said....
Roadless debate a great divide It takes a four-hour horseback ride to get to Jeff Mead's favorite hunting grounds below Mamm Peak near Rifle, so the outfitter was understandably dismayed when a gas-exploration company built a road last year right through the remote part of the White River National Forest. "I've lost a lot of clients," Mead said. "Nobody wants to hunt where they're building roads and putting in gas rigs." When EnCana built the road - one that the company subsequently decided not to use, at least for the time being - Mead unwittingly found himself in the middle of a 30-year-old national debate over what kind of protections should be afforded to U.S. Forest Service roadless areas. In Colorado, which claims about 4.4 million acres of roadless areas in national forests, a statewide task force has wrapped up eight months of public hearings and will begin crafting a recommendation to Gov. Bill Owens and the federal government about how to manage land prized for both its natural state and its resource and recreation potential. Allied on one side - arguing to protect as much roadless terrain as possible - are environmental groups, hunters and anglers, backcountry hikers and campers, numerous governments and even a group of Aspen real estate agents. Aligned on the other - seeking no special protection for roadless areas or at least giving the Forest Service the ability to make local decisions based on demand - are users of all-terrain vehicles, utilities, timber interests and the oil-and-gas industry....
Where the Cattle Herds Roam, Ideally in Harmony With Their Neighbors Dale Veseth slowly drives a pickup over dirt tracks studded with small boulders, across a prairie that the word expansive does not begin to describe. The blanket of spring-green grass stretches 40 or 50 miles in every direction, and there is not a tree in sight. Birds are abundant, though. “That’s a long-billed curlew,” Mr. Veseth said, pointing to a large brown bird running along the ground with a long curled beak, “and look, a Western kingbird.” Mr. Veseth raises cattle. But in a sense, he and his neighbors also raise curlews, sage grouse, prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets and other species. They are part of a program run by the Nature Conservancy to create what are called grass banks, which give ranchers rights to graze land beyond their own, in return for commitments to conserve species like the ferrets and curlews on land they already own. Mr. Veseth hopes that by being part of the program he is doing well by doing good, conserving wildlife and assuring the future of his ranch out here on the mixed grass prairie of the Northern Plains. The grass bank is one of several ideas to change the way beef is raised on the Western range. This historic way of life is in trouble. Across the West ranchers are raising buffalo, selling specialty beef and challenging the power of the packinghouses in an effort to make ranching more profitable. The grass bank is an effort to save ranching and the prairie....
Predator proposal draws fire A Forest Service proposal to allow the use of helicopters, four-wheel vehicles and poisoned bait against predators in wilderness areas - a tweaking of existing policy, according to the agency in Washington - is an affront to the meaning of wilderness and the beginning of systematic slaughter of wildlife, say environmental and carnivore-protection groups. "It's a horrible, horrible idea," Wendy Keefover-Ring with Sinapu, a Boulder-based wildlife-advocacy group, said by telephone. "Wilderness is supposed to remain in a pristine state. These proposals take away the authority of the Forest Service to manage it." Cattlemen aren't overly concerned about coyotes and mountain lions, said Wayne Buck, president of the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen's Association. What they fear, Buck said, are wolves, which could find their way to Colorado from Wyoming and New Mexico. Peter Orwick, executive director of the American Sheep Industry Association, said the proposed Forest Service revisions would make predator control in wilderness more consistent with how it's carried out elsewhere. "Predator control is key to grazing," Orwick said. "If we don't do it, the losses would be very much higher." Don Fisher, the Forest Service's national wilderness program leader, said by telephone from Washington that the revisions are an effort to reconcile agency policy with a memorandum of understanding with the wildlife-services division of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The Forest Service and the APHIS are Department of Agriculture agencies. The inter-agency agreement was written in 1993 and renewed in 1998 and 2004. The revisions currently proposed would eliminate a provision requiring case-by-case approval of the regional forester for predator elimination and allow the use of aircraft and motorized vehicles in killing coyotes, mountain lions and bears. The use of pesticides would allow the introduction of poisoned bait in wilderness areas, environmentalists fear....
Northern jaguar migration may require binational cooperation The jaguar is a symbol of Mexican identity, venerated widely from the Maya civilization of the southeastern seaboard to the Huichol culture of the west central mountains. Now, in the past several years, northward migration of the endangered species into the United States has made it a potential emblem of binational conservation. Spottings of the big spotted cat in the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora and in their contiguous U.S. states of New Mexico and Arizona have focused attention on the scarcely two-year-old Northern Jaguar Project, its partner Naturalia, and their Los Pavos Jaguar Reserve, the first private conservation preserve in Sonora. This spring, New Mexico Game and Fish authorities announced a report of a jaguar sighted in the state’s southwestern county of Hidalgo. It was only the second time in this century that such an event has been noted, so scientists are seeing if it has anything to do with protection being provided at the refuge located across the international border. They fear recently stepped-up U.S. Border Patrol activities are disturbing the migration. About a month ago, government scientists proposed putting a tracking collar on at least one of the jaguars that appeared in the United States. But environmental groups argue the stress of capture would put the feline’s life at risk. Two out of three captures of jaguars for radio collar study in Sonora resulted in death, in 2002 and 2003....
Jack Ward Thomas: Sustaining forests A new age of forestry is needed in the United States. Recent dramatic declines in forest management have brought some undesirable consequences for forest health and wildlife. Public concerns over retention of biodiversity (such as compliance with the intent of the Endangered Species Act) have thrust concerns for wildlife front and center in forest management debates. Where those debates lead remains to be seen. A total preservationist approach to management — standing back and letting nature take its course — has become increasingly prevalent. While appealing on the surface, this is not tenable in the long-term because it will not protect forests, retain biodiversity and provide some wood products over time. A return to a totally economic-driven forestry is also not viable. Public reaction to past forest management practices, e.g. the visual impacts of clear-cutting, precludes harvesting at "economic maturity" from being the dominant factor in forest management decisions....
New study praised by backers of Rock Creek mine A new study finds cave-ins at the copper and silver mine here are no indication that collapses might occur at a disputed mining project proposed beneath the Cabinet Mountains wilderness. The report released last week is "great news for the environment and for advocates of responsible mining in Montana," said William Orchow, chief executive officer for Revett Minerals Inc., based in Spokane, Wash. The company operates the Troy mine and wants to develop the controversial Rock Creek copper and silver project beneath the Cabinet wilderness. Orchow said the study bolsters protective measures Revett intends to take in developing the Rock Creek mine. Kootenai National Forest officials had concluded Troy provided "an excellent analogy for the proposed Rock Creek mining method and risks of "subsidence," or cave-ins. When one was observed at Troy in May 2005, critics saw it as possible evidence of future problems at Rock Creek. When another cave-in occurred at Troy last March, critics suggested wilderness lakes could end up draining if the Rock Creek mine slumped....
Video game designer creates virtual forests Think of it as a video game for forestry buffs. Tim Holt, a senior research assistant at Oregon State's College of Forestry who also moonlights as a video game designer, is developing a "serious game" allowing scientists to "virtually" explore forests instead of having to travel to the actual locations. Serious games combine video game technology with real-life applications, such as training surgical nurses in simulated operating rooms or allowing firefighters to simulate disaster scenarios in safety. Holt is using data from the Landscape Ecology, Modeling, Mapping and Analysis project (LEMMA). It is a two-year project and is funded by 254,000 dollars in grant money from the Joint Fire Science Program of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management....
Prescribed fires help protect environment Summer thunder and lightning storms are bringing more than just rain and light shows to the sky. The increase in weather activity has started six wildfires in Utah since the first of the month. At least 500 lightning strikes have touched the ground since July 1, resulting in the Jacob, Baboon, Birthday, Ford, Cricket and Springs Fires last week. Hand crews, helicopters, engines and personnel successfully extinguished the fires. However, not all fires in Utah will be put out so quickly. Prescribed and "Wildland Fire Use" fires will be allowed to burn through some areas in the forest. Prescribed fires are planned for certain areas and started by fire crews. A Wildland Fire Use fire is started by lightning, but is allowed to play its natural role in the environment and burn. For example, the Engineer Canyon Wildland Fire Use fire was started June 29, 2006 by lightning and as of Friday, was burning under control in the Huntington Canyon area. Uinta National Forest officials recognize benefits that come from prescribed fires....
Most lodgepole pines likely to die Between 50 and 90 percent of Summit County’s lodgepole pines will probably succumb to the mountain pine beetle epidemic in the next few years, before the bugs eat themselves out of house and home, White River National Forest deputy supervisor Don Carroll said Thursday. The massive scope of the insect infestation was one of the key points repeated frequently during the regular Thursday meeting of the local pine beetle task force. Carroll and others suggested the general public still likely isn’t prepared for the imminent landscape-level changes in the region. The mortality rate cited by Carroll applies not just to Summit County, but to the entire 2.5 million-acre White River National Forest. Those predictions, of course, could be tempered by unpredictable factors, including weather....
Families demand changes for firefighters Karen FitzPatrick's favorite Bible verses still compete for space on her bedroom wall with inspirational quotations and photographs - posing with her prom date, goofy snapshots with family and friends. But a neatly folded flag and a firefighters' boots and helmet serve as a reminder of the fire that raged through a remote canyon in Okanogan National Forest five years ago Monday, killing the 18-year-old and three other trapped firefighters. In the years since the so-called Thirtymile fire, family members of the victims have repeatedly demanded policy changes at the U.S. Forest Service, from increasing training to removing the shroud of secrecy over disciplinary actions. An investigation found that fire bosses had broken all 10 of the agency's standard safety rules and ignored numerous signs of danger on the fire line that day, July 10, 2001. It wasn't the first time such rules had been broken and it wasn't the last - two more firefighters died in similar circumstances in the Cramer fire in remote Idaho in 2003. "The Forest Service is the Wild West. They are not accountable for anything," said Kathie FitzPatrick, Karen's mother, as she stood in the bedroom where the calendar hasn't moved from July 2001. "They can do anything they want. They have immunity."....
U.S. House OKs Park City land transfer A bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday would transfer more than 100 acres of federal land to Park City for more open space in the resort town. The bill, introduced by Congressman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, would switch ownership rights on two pieces of land, known as Gambel Oak and White Acre, from the Bureau of Land Management to Park City. Bishop estimates the measure will go before the Senate sometime in September, after Congress returns from its August recess. U.S. Senator Bob Bennett, R-Utah, will be the sponsor. "This bill does three good things," Bishop said. "It helps settle long-term concerns over the future of these lands, it preserves some important open space, and it gives control and access for these lands to those closest to it, the leaders and citizens of the city." Park City previously leased the property from the BLM for recreational purposes, such as hiking and biking. But city officials have been working on obtaining the land for over 20 years. Old mining claims on the property had created confusion, and some people had questioned whether the BLM should oversee land in an urban area....
Deputies break up rave party on BLM land in eastern Nevada Elko County sheriff's deputies say they were outnumbered over the weekend by a rave party on public land near the Utah line. There were 10 of them and 2,500-3,00 of the partygoers. It started with a traffic stop by Utah authorities that turned up a supply of the drug ecstasy and a map to the party zone 10 miles north of West Wendover. Elko County Sheriff Neil Harris said he had one deputy in the area and even with sending additional officers, all that could be done was to break up the party early Sunday. Officers said they passed 150-200 vehicles leaving the area and found another 300 when they arrived, along with a stage and a band....
Cannons both hailed and blasted CENTER - Boom. Followed in four seconds by . . . here it comes now . . . boom. Followed in another four seconds by the whistle and thud of another . . . three thousand, four thousand . . . boom. The concussions signal the start of hail season in the San Luis Valley. The reverberations follow blasts from hail cannons deployed around vegetable fields. The theory is that the vibrations from shock waves aimed into approaching storms will disrupt the formation of hailstones that could devastate the crops. The commercial vegetable grower stirred up bitter feelings this year with its application to renew its state permit to continue operating eight hail cannons. Noise pollution across the vast emptiness of the southern Colorado valley is only one part of the complaint about the hail cannons. More seriously, in a season of worsening drought, ranchers downwind from Southern Colorado Farms believe that the grower's use of sonic cannons to zap potential hail clouds is depriving them of desperately needed rain....
Cowboys finding bulls 'a little weak' Wanted: a bull as big, bad and ornery as the infamous Outlaw. At the 2006 Calgary Stampede, there's talk among cowboys that some bucking beasts they've come up against so far aren't "rank" enough for their liking. In short, none of the bulls at this year's rodeo has stepped up to replace the likes of Outlaw -- a steely-eyed, 816-kilogram brute who died in 2004. "We have the best cowboys in the world and we should have the best bulls in the world," said Scott Schiffner, a Strathmore-based professional bull rider. "I see a lot of bulls (in the rodeo circuit) that aren't here that could be." Indeed, it seems like faint praise when bull rider Greg Potter calls the animals here "good" and "decent." The Texas-based rider says he hasn't seen a rank bull so far, noting many of the riders on Saturday were able to hang on until the whistle. "The bulls were a little weak yesterday," he said of Saturday's roster. "Nothing's been outstanding yet." He added the best bulls may come out in the finals....
Trew: Wind chargers more than just a power source Ralph Bynum of Dumas wrote recalling his family's wind charger that sat on the roof of their home. If they could hear it hum, radio entertainment would be available that night provided by well-charged six-volt car batteries. If no hum, ho hum, go to bed early. While I was living at Perryton, a neighbor's wind charger blade was damaged, became unbalanced and jumped off the roof. Our wind charger stood on a wooden tower about 30 feet high with cross-braces just high enough that little boys couldn't climb this delightful challenge. Grandpa Trew's Wizard Wind Charger stood atop a 20-foot-high tower among some locust trees. The limbs had to be trimmed to allow the breeze to turn the propeller. He kept two six-volt car batteries in a wooden box at the base of the tower for power storage. Like Ralph in Dumas, if the wind blew, we had lights and radio. If not, we lit kerosene lamps, read a book and went to bed early. On Saturdays, we almost prayed for wind in order to hear the "Grand Old Opry" that night. The demise of wind chargers began in 1935 when President Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration to oversee building power lines to rural localities. Funding came in 1936 with small co-ops borrowing cheap interest, long-term money for power-line construction. By the start of World War II in 1941, most rural communities had electrical power available....
Permalink 0 comments
Property owners can sue state, court rules A New Mexico family can sue the state for "taking" their property without just compensation, the state Supreme Court has ruled. In a 3-2 ruling last month, the justices said the family of late Catron County rancher Richard Manning can pursue a $65 million claim that state agencies effectively took their property by enforcing mining decisions. Other states and the U.S. Attorney General's Office have been monitoring the case because it could set a precedent. Last month's ruling is the first detailed decision on the issue, the Albuquerque Journal reported Monday in a copyright story. The case is based on the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which bars the government from taking private property, either directly or through regulation, without justly compensating the owner. "The court's decision clearly goes against the federal trend of protecting states' sovereign immunity," Walz said. "It creates a new cause of constitutional action which we did not have before." The Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento, Calif., group, filed a brief supporting the Mannings. J. David Breener, an attorney for the foundation, said other states likely will hesitate to make the argument that "we're the state and we're immune to the Constitution." Manning, a leader of a local control movement, had owned a mine and gold and silver ore processing mill on Gila National Forest land outside of Mogollon....Just wish Dick was still here to see the culminaiton of his efforts. He withstood many hardships to make this case possible. He spoke to many groups about the importance of this case, but I'm afraid not too many were really listening. Now we will all benefit from his courageous effort.
Game and Fish Department says mountain lion killed in Badlands A rancher killed a female mountain lion on his Badlands ranch after he found it fighting with his dogs, the state Game and Fish Department said Monday. Randy Kreil, chief of the Game and Fish wildlife division, said Kelly Hanna shot the mountain lion on Sunday. He said the cougar appeared to be a young female weighing about 80 pounds. Game warden Brent Schwan said in a statement that the rancher heard a commotion involving his dogs early Sunday, and found the lion in a tree about 50 yards from his house east of Watford City. The rancher went to get a rifle and came back to find the cougar on the ground in a fight with his dogs, and he then shot the lion, Schwan said. "State law specifically allows the killing of mountain lions to protect individuals or their property. The law also requires the Game and Fish Department must be notified, which the rancher did," the department's statement said....
Roadless debate a great divide It takes a four-hour horseback ride to get to Jeff Mead's favorite hunting grounds below Mamm Peak near Rifle, so the outfitter was understandably dismayed when a gas-exploration company built a road last year right through the remote part of the White River National Forest. "I've lost a lot of clients," Mead said. "Nobody wants to hunt where they're building roads and putting in gas rigs." When EnCana built the road - one that the company subsequently decided not to use, at least for the time being - Mead unwittingly found himself in the middle of a 30-year-old national debate over what kind of protections should be afforded to U.S. Forest Service roadless areas. In Colorado, which claims about 4.4 million acres of roadless areas in national forests, a statewide task force has wrapped up eight months of public hearings and will begin crafting a recommendation to Gov. Bill Owens and the federal government about how to manage land prized for both its natural state and its resource and recreation potential. Allied on one side - arguing to protect as much roadless terrain as possible - are environmental groups, hunters and anglers, backcountry hikers and campers, numerous governments and even a group of Aspen real estate agents. Aligned on the other - seeking no special protection for roadless areas or at least giving the Forest Service the ability to make local decisions based on demand - are users of all-terrain vehicles, utilities, timber interests and the oil-and-gas industry....
Where the Cattle Herds Roam, Ideally in Harmony With Their Neighbors Dale Veseth slowly drives a pickup over dirt tracks studded with small boulders, across a prairie that the word expansive does not begin to describe. The blanket of spring-green grass stretches 40 or 50 miles in every direction, and there is not a tree in sight. Birds are abundant, though. “That’s a long-billed curlew,” Mr. Veseth said, pointing to a large brown bird running along the ground with a long curled beak, “and look, a Western kingbird.” Mr. Veseth raises cattle. But in a sense, he and his neighbors also raise curlews, sage grouse, prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets and other species. They are part of a program run by the Nature Conservancy to create what are called grass banks, which give ranchers rights to graze land beyond their own, in return for commitments to conserve species like the ferrets and curlews on land they already own. Mr. Veseth hopes that by being part of the program he is doing well by doing good, conserving wildlife and assuring the future of his ranch out here on the mixed grass prairie of the Northern Plains. The grass bank is one of several ideas to change the way beef is raised on the Western range. This historic way of life is in trouble. Across the West ranchers are raising buffalo, selling specialty beef and challenging the power of the packinghouses in an effort to make ranching more profitable. The grass bank is an effort to save ranching and the prairie....
Predator proposal draws fire A Forest Service proposal to allow the use of helicopters, four-wheel vehicles and poisoned bait against predators in wilderness areas - a tweaking of existing policy, according to the agency in Washington - is an affront to the meaning of wilderness and the beginning of systematic slaughter of wildlife, say environmental and carnivore-protection groups. "It's a horrible, horrible idea," Wendy Keefover-Ring with Sinapu, a Boulder-based wildlife-advocacy group, said by telephone. "Wilderness is supposed to remain in a pristine state. These proposals take away the authority of the Forest Service to manage it." Cattlemen aren't overly concerned about coyotes and mountain lions, said Wayne Buck, president of the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen's Association. What they fear, Buck said, are wolves, which could find their way to Colorado from Wyoming and New Mexico. Peter Orwick, executive director of the American Sheep Industry Association, said the proposed Forest Service revisions would make predator control in wilderness more consistent with how it's carried out elsewhere. "Predator control is key to grazing," Orwick said. "If we don't do it, the losses would be very much higher." Don Fisher, the Forest Service's national wilderness program leader, said by telephone from Washington that the revisions are an effort to reconcile agency policy with a memorandum of understanding with the wildlife-services division of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The Forest Service and the APHIS are Department of Agriculture agencies. The inter-agency agreement was written in 1993 and renewed in 1998 and 2004. The revisions currently proposed would eliminate a provision requiring case-by-case approval of the regional forester for predator elimination and allow the use of aircraft and motorized vehicles in killing coyotes, mountain lions and bears. The use of pesticides would allow the introduction of poisoned bait in wilderness areas, environmentalists fear....
Northern jaguar migration may require binational cooperation The jaguar is a symbol of Mexican identity, venerated widely from the Maya civilization of the southeastern seaboard to the Huichol culture of the west central mountains. Now, in the past several years, northward migration of the endangered species into the United States has made it a potential emblem of binational conservation. Spottings of the big spotted cat in the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora and in their contiguous U.S. states of New Mexico and Arizona have focused attention on the scarcely two-year-old Northern Jaguar Project, its partner Naturalia, and their Los Pavos Jaguar Reserve, the first private conservation preserve in Sonora. This spring, New Mexico Game and Fish authorities announced a report of a jaguar sighted in the state’s southwestern county of Hidalgo. It was only the second time in this century that such an event has been noted, so scientists are seeing if it has anything to do with protection being provided at the refuge located across the international border. They fear recently stepped-up U.S. Border Patrol activities are disturbing the migration. About a month ago, government scientists proposed putting a tracking collar on at least one of the jaguars that appeared in the United States. But environmental groups argue the stress of capture would put the feline’s life at risk. Two out of three captures of jaguars for radio collar study in Sonora resulted in death, in 2002 and 2003....
Jack Ward Thomas: Sustaining forests A new age of forestry is needed in the United States. Recent dramatic declines in forest management have brought some undesirable consequences for forest health and wildlife. Public concerns over retention of biodiversity (such as compliance with the intent of the Endangered Species Act) have thrust concerns for wildlife front and center in forest management debates. Where those debates lead remains to be seen. A total preservationist approach to management — standing back and letting nature take its course — has become increasingly prevalent. While appealing on the surface, this is not tenable in the long-term because it will not protect forests, retain biodiversity and provide some wood products over time. A return to a totally economic-driven forestry is also not viable. Public reaction to past forest management practices, e.g. the visual impacts of clear-cutting, precludes harvesting at "economic maturity" from being the dominant factor in forest management decisions....
New study praised by backers of Rock Creek mine A new study finds cave-ins at the copper and silver mine here are no indication that collapses might occur at a disputed mining project proposed beneath the Cabinet Mountains wilderness. The report released last week is "great news for the environment and for advocates of responsible mining in Montana," said William Orchow, chief executive officer for Revett Minerals Inc., based in Spokane, Wash. The company operates the Troy mine and wants to develop the controversial Rock Creek copper and silver project beneath the Cabinet wilderness. Orchow said the study bolsters protective measures Revett intends to take in developing the Rock Creek mine. Kootenai National Forest officials had concluded Troy provided "an excellent analogy for the proposed Rock Creek mining method and risks of "subsidence," or cave-ins. When one was observed at Troy in May 2005, critics saw it as possible evidence of future problems at Rock Creek. When another cave-in occurred at Troy last March, critics suggested wilderness lakes could end up draining if the Rock Creek mine slumped....
Video game designer creates virtual forests Think of it as a video game for forestry buffs. Tim Holt, a senior research assistant at Oregon State's College of Forestry who also moonlights as a video game designer, is developing a "serious game" allowing scientists to "virtually" explore forests instead of having to travel to the actual locations. Serious games combine video game technology with real-life applications, such as training surgical nurses in simulated operating rooms or allowing firefighters to simulate disaster scenarios in safety. Holt is using data from the Landscape Ecology, Modeling, Mapping and Analysis project (LEMMA). It is a two-year project and is funded by 254,000 dollars in grant money from the Joint Fire Science Program of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management....
Prescribed fires help protect environment Summer thunder and lightning storms are bringing more than just rain and light shows to the sky. The increase in weather activity has started six wildfires in Utah since the first of the month. At least 500 lightning strikes have touched the ground since July 1, resulting in the Jacob, Baboon, Birthday, Ford, Cricket and Springs Fires last week. Hand crews, helicopters, engines and personnel successfully extinguished the fires. However, not all fires in Utah will be put out so quickly. Prescribed and "Wildland Fire Use" fires will be allowed to burn through some areas in the forest. Prescribed fires are planned for certain areas and started by fire crews. A Wildland Fire Use fire is started by lightning, but is allowed to play its natural role in the environment and burn. For example, the Engineer Canyon Wildland Fire Use fire was started June 29, 2006 by lightning and as of Friday, was burning under control in the Huntington Canyon area. Uinta National Forest officials recognize benefits that come from prescribed fires....
Most lodgepole pines likely to die Between 50 and 90 percent of Summit County’s lodgepole pines will probably succumb to the mountain pine beetle epidemic in the next few years, before the bugs eat themselves out of house and home, White River National Forest deputy supervisor Don Carroll said Thursday. The massive scope of the insect infestation was one of the key points repeated frequently during the regular Thursday meeting of the local pine beetle task force. Carroll and others suggested the general public still likely isn’t prepared for the imminent landscape-level changes in the region. The mortality rate cited by Carroll applies not just to Summit County, but to the entire 2.5 million-acre White River National Forest. Those predictions, of course, could be tempered by unpredictable factors, including weather....
Families demand changes for firefighters Karen FitzPatrick's favorite Bible verses still compete for space on her bedroom wall with inspirational quotations and photographs - posing with her prom date, goofy snapshots with family and friends. But a neatly folded flag and a firefighters' boots and helmet serve as a reminder of the fire that raged through a remote canyon in Okanogan National Forest five years ago Monday, killing the 18-year-old and three other trapped firefighters. In the years since the so-called Thirtymile fire, family members of the victims have repeatedly demanded policy changes at the U.S. Forest Service, from increasing training to removing the shroud of secrecy over disciplinary actions. An investigation found that fire bosses had broken all 10 of the agency's standard safety rules and ignored numerous signs of danger on the fire line that day, July 10, 2001. It wasn't the first time such rules had been broken and it wasn't the last - two more firefighters died in similar circumstances in the Cramer fire in remote Idaho in 2003. "The Forest Service is the Wild West. They are not accountable for anything," said Kathie FitzPatrick, Karen's mother, as she stood in the bedroom where the calendar hasn't moved from July 2001. "They can do anything they want. They have immunity."....
U.S. House OKs Park City land transfer A bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday would transfer more than 100 acres of federal land to Park City for more open space in the resort town. The bill, introduced by Congressman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, would switch ownership rights on two pieces of land, known as Gambel Oak and White Acre, from the Bureau of Land Management to Park City. Bishop estimates the measure will go before the Senate sometime in September, after Congress returns from its August recess. U.S. Senator Bob Bennett, R-Utah, will be the sponsor. "This bill does three good things," Bishop said. "It helps settle long-term concerns over the future of these lands, it preserves some important open space, and it gives control and access for these lands to those closest to it, the leaders and citizens of the city." Park City previously leased the property from the BLM for recreational purposes, such as hiking and biking. But city officials have been working on obtaining the land for over 20 years. Old mining claims on the property had created confusion, and some people had questioned whether the BLM should oversee land in an urban area....
Deputies break up rave party on BLM land in eastern Nevada Elko County sheriff's deputies say they were outnumbered over the weekend by a rave party on public land near the Utah line. There were 10 of them and 2,500-3,00 of the partygoers. It started with a traffic stop by Utah authorities that turned up a supply of the drug ecstasy and a map to the party zone 10 miles north of West Wendover. Elko County Sheriff Neil Harris said he had one deputy in the area and even with sending additional officers, all that could be done was to break up the party early Sunday. Officers said they passed 150-200 vehicles leaving the area and found another 300 when they arrived, along with a stage and a band....
Cannons both hailed and blasted CENTER - Boom. Followed in four seconds by . . . here it comes now . . . boom. Followed in another four seconds by the whistle and thud of another . . . three thousand, four thousand . . . boom. The concussions signal the start of hail season in the San Luis Valley. The reverberations follow blasts from hail cannons deployed around vegetable fields. The theory is that the vibrations from shock waves aimed into approaching storms will disrupt the formation of hailstones that could devastate the crops. The commercial vegetable grower stirred up bitter feelings this year with its application to renew its state permit to continue operating eight hail cannons. Noise pollution across the vast emptiness of the southern Colorado valley is only one part of the complaint about the hail cannons. More seriously, in a season of worsening drought, ranchers downwind from Southern Colorado Farms believe that the grower's use of sonic cannons to zap potential hail clouds is depriving them of desperately needed rain....
Cowboys finding bulls 'a little weak' Wanted: a bull as big, bad and ornery as the infamous Outlaw. At the 2006 Calgary Stampede, there's talk among cowboys that some bucking beasts they've come up against so far aren't "rank" enough for their liking. In short, none of the bulls at this year's rodeo has stepped up to replace the likes of Outlaw -- a steely-eyed, 816-kilogram brute who died in 2004. "We have the best cowboys in the world and we should have the best bulls in the world," said Scott Schiffner, a Strathmore-based professional bull rider. "I see a lot of bulls (in the rodeo circuit) that aren't here that could be." Indeed, it seems like faint praise when bull rider Greg Potter calls the animals here "good" and "decent." The Texas-based rider says he hasn't seen a rank bull so far, noting many of the riders on Saturday were able to hang on until the whistle. "The bulls were a little weak yesterday," he said of Saturday's roster. "Nothing's been outstanding yet." He added the best bulls may come out in the finals....
Trew: Wind chargers more than just a power source Ralph Bynum of Dumas wrote recalling his family's wind charger that sat on the roof of their home. If they could hear it hum, radio entertainment would be available that night provided by well-charged six-volt car batteries. If no hum, ho hum, go to bed early. While I was living at Perryton, a neighbor's wind charger blade was damaged, became unbalanced and jumped off the roof. Our wind charger stood on a wooden tower about 30 feet high with cross-braces just high enough that little boys couldn't climb this delightful challenge. Grandpa Trew's Wizard Wind Charger stood atop a 20-foot-high tower among some locust trees. The limbs had to be trimmed to allow the breeze to turn the propeller. He kept two six-volt car batteries in a wooden box at the base of the tower for power storage. Like Ralph in Dumas, if the wind blew, we had lights and radio. If not, we lit kerosene lamps, read a book and went to bed early. On Saturdays, we almost prayed for wind in order to hear the "Grand Old Opry" that night. The demise of wind chargers began in 1935 when President Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration to oversee building power lines to rural localities. Funding came in 1936 with small co-ops borrowing cheap interest, long-term money for power-line construction. By the start of World War II in 1941, most rural communities had electrical power available....
Permalink 0 comments
Monday, July 10, 2006
FARM SUBSIDY ISSUES
Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don't Farm
Even though Donald R. Matthews put his sprawling new residence in the heart of rice country, he is no farmer. He is a 67-year-old asphalt contractor who wanted to build a dream house for his wife of 40 years. Yet under a federal agriculture program approved by Congress, his 18-acre suburban lot receives about $1,300 in annual "direct payments," because years ago the land was used to grow rice. Matthews is not alone. Nationwide, the federal government has paid at least $1.3 billion in subsidies for rice and other crops since 2000 to individuals who do no farming at all, according to an analysis of government records by The Washington Post. Some of them collect hundreds of thousands of dollars without planting a seed. Mary Anna Hudson, 87, from the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston, has received $191,000 over the past decade. For Houston surgeon Jimmy Frank Howell, the total was $490,709...The checks to Matthews and other landowners were intended 10 years ago as a first step toward eventually eliminating costly, decades-old farm subsidies. Instead, the payments have grown into an even larger subsidy that benefits millionaire landowners, foreign speculators and absentee landlords, as well as farmers. Most of the money goes to real farmers who grow crops on their land, but they are under no obligation to grow the crop being subsidized. They can switch to a different crop or raise cattle or even grow a stand of timber -- and still get the government payments. The cash comes with so few restrictions that subdivision developers who buy farmland advertise that homeowners can collect farm subsidies on their new back yards. The payments now account for nearly half of the nation's expanding agricultural subsidy system, a complex web that has little basis in fairness or efficiency. What began in the 1930s as a limited safety net for working farmers has swollen into a far-flung infrastructure of entitlements that has cost $172 billion over the past decade. In 2005 alone, when pretax farm profits were at a near-record $72 billion, the federal government handed out more than $25 billion in aid, almost 50 percent more than the amount it pays to families receiving welfare....
Cultivating Waste
HEART SURGEON Jimmy Frank Howell owns a piece of land that hasn't produced crops in years. The federal government has paid him $490,709 in rice subsidies since 1996. Michael T. Sullivan's family, corn farmers, sold most of their crop last year above a government-set minimum price. He got $292,054 in federal agricultural payments anyway. We've known for a long time that America's bloated food subsidy programs rile foreign governments, complicate trade talks, distort agricultural prices and disproportionately benefit large agribusinesses. As if that weren't enough, the results of a nine-month Post investigation published last week vividly detail the scandalous waste of America's vast farm subsidy system. Many American farmers have learned to speculate on foodstuff markets, successfully timing the sale of their crops to coincide with high prices. Yet under the misleadingly named loan deficiency payment (LDP) scheme the Michael Sullivans of the world can claim federal money as long as the market price dips below a government-set minimum price after they harvest their crop. Intended to benefit farmers hitting hard times, the LDP program handed out $3.8 billion more last year than it needed to guarantee its minimum price. Other federal agricultural subsidies go to individuals who don't even farm. Under a program Congress designed to phase out government subsidies by untying payments from the cultivation of particular crops, Mr. Howell reaps federal dollars from his land as long as he doesn't grow the crops. These "direct payments" to landowners who don't grow any crop have cost the federal government $1.3 billion since 2000. Another thick layer of irony in all of this is that these programs aren't poorly managed. They operate just as Congress passed them....
Cook vs. Combest Debates?
Environmental Working Group (EWG) President Ken Cook today challenged one the nation's most ardent and articulate defenders of status quo farm subsidy programs to a nationwide series of policy debates about the programs, former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX). Cook is the originator of EWG's heavily visited Farm Subsidy Database, which has been searched over 54 million times since November 2004. The Web site has drawn the ire of program defenders and bolstered reform efforts. EWG has used the database to make the case for shifting taxpayer money away from status quo programs, which primarily reward cotton and grain farmers. Cook instead favors shifting taxpayer resources to conservation programs that are open to all farmers and ranchers, regardless of size, in return for their help avoiding pollution of waterways, preserving wildlife habitat and for keeping land out of the hands of developers. Farm Journal Editor and past National Press Club President Sonja Hillgren has agreed to moderate the first debate in Washington, DC this fall. Cook suggested further debates be held across the nation before farm and ranch audiences, including Combest's home state of Texas. The debates would be moderated by distinguished agricultural journalists and policy experts. Read the letter to Combest here.
Permalink 0 comments
Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don't Farm
Even though Donald R. Matthews put his sprawling new residence in the heart of rice country, he is no farmer. He is a 67-year-old asphalt contractor who wanted to build a dream house for his wife of 40 years. Yet under a federal agriculture program approved by Congress, his 18-acre suburban lot receives about $1,300 in annual "direct payments," because years ago the land was used to grow rice. Matthews is not alone. Nationwide, the federal government has paid at least $1.3 billion in subsidies for rice and other crops since 2000 to individuals who do no farming at all, according to an analysis of government records by The Washington Post. Some of them collect hundreds of thousands of dollars without planting a seed. Mary Anna Hudson, 87, from the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston, has received $191,000 over the past decade. For Houston surgeon Jimmy Frank Howell, the total was $490,709...The checks to Matthews and other landowners were intended 10 years ago as a first step toward eventually eliminating costly, decades-old farm subsidies. Instead, the payments have grown into an even larger subsidy that benefits millionaire landowners, foreign speculators and absentee landlords, as well as farmers. Most of the money goes to real farmers who grow crops on their land, but they are under no obligation to grow the crop being subsidized. They can switch to a different crop or raise cattle or even grow a stand of timber -- and still get the government payments. The cash comes with so few restrictions that subdivision developers who buy farmland advertise that homeowners can collect farm subsidies on their new back yards. The payments now account for nearly half of the nation's expanding agricultural subsidy system, a complex web that has little basis in fairness or efficiency. What began in the 1930s as a limited safety net for working farmers has swollen into a far-flung infrastructure of entitlements that has cost $172 billion over the past decade. In 2005 alone, when pretax farm profits were at a near-record $72 billion, the federal government handed out more than $25 billion in aid, almost 50 percent more than the amount it pays to families receiving welfare....
Cultivating Waste
HEART SURGEON Jimmy Frank Howell owns a piece of land that hasn't produced crops in years. The federal government has paid him $490,709 in rice subsidies since 1996. Michael T. Sullivan's family, corn farmers, sold most of their crop last year above a government-set minimum price. He got $292,054 in federal agricultural payments anyway. We've known for a long time that America's bloated food subsidy programs rile foreign governments, complicate trade talks, distort agricultural prices and disproportionately benefit large agribusinesses. As if that weren't enough, the results of a nine-month Post investigation published last week vividly detail the scandalous waste of America's vast farm subsidy system. Many American farmers have learned to speculate on foodstuff markets, successfully timing the sale of their crops to coincide with high prices. Yet under the misleadingly named loan deficiency payment (LDP) scheme the Michael Sullivans of the world can claim federal money as long as the market price dips below a government-set minimum price after they harvest their crop. Intended to benefit farmers hitting hard times, the LDP program handed out $3.8 billion more last year than it needed to guarantee its minimum price. Other federal agricultural subsidies go to individuals who don't even farm. Under a program Congress designed to phase out government subsidies by untying payments from the cultivation of particular crops, Mr. Howell reaps federal dollars from his land as long as he doesn't grow the crops. These "direct payments" to landowners who don't grow any crop have cost the federal government $1.3 billion since 2000. Another thick layer of irony in all of this is that these programs aren't poorly managed. They operate just as Congress passed them....
Cook vs. Combest Debates?
Environmental Working Group (EWG) President Ken Cook today challenged one the nation's most ardent and articulate defenders of status quo farm subsidy programs to a nationwide series of policy debates about the programs, former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX). Cook is the originator of EWG's heavily visited Farm Subsidy Database, which has been searched over 54 million times since November 2004. The Web site has drawn the ire of program defenders and bolstered reform efforts. EWG has used the database to make the case for shifting taxpayer money away from status quo programs, which primarily reward cotton and grain farmers. Cook instead favors shifting taxpayer resources to conservation programs that are open to all farmers and ranchers, regardless of size, in return for their help avoiding pollution of waterways, preserving wildlife habitat and for keeping land out of the hands of developers. Farm Journal Editor and past National Press Club President Sonja Hillgren has agreed to moderate the first debate in Washington, DC this fall. Cook suggested further debates be held across the nation before farm and ranch audiences, including Combest's home state of Texas. The debates would be moderated by distinguished agricultural journalists and policy experts. Read the letter to Combest here.
Permalink 0 comments
NEWS ROUNDUP
Rainbow Gathering in Colorado lacks one color: green When we tell folks that we have become the unwitting hosts for the Rainbow Family's annual gathering, the first response is "the who?" As it turns out, some 20,000 Rainbows have gathered in Big Red Park, north of Steamboat Springs, Colo., in the Routt National Forest. Their Web site, welcomehome.org, styles them "the largest non-organization of non-members in the world." My husband and I, local ranchers, are hosts because this year's get-together has taken over our sheep-grazing permit. Rainbow spokesman Bodhi, from New York City, said he chose the area because, "We need a fresh water source, one main meadow that is 100 acres or larger and about 5-to-10 square miles of hippie land." Bodhi added, "We need another large meadow to accommodate thousands of vehicles." Now, for years, we have been told that our sheep and cows are not to "lounge" in the riparian areas when they water. How can it be, we asked the Forest Service, that many thousands of people can come in, camp on a riparian area for weeks and weeks, and not worry about resource damage? That is but one of the rubs....
Costs, impact tallied at end of Rainbows As the exodus of neo-hippies has begun from the Rainbow Family gathering in the woods north of Steamboat Springs, local officials are beginning to see the impacts of 15,000 renegade campers. At the encampment, a spider web of new trails wanders everywhere through the sagebrush, trees have been stripped of their lower branches, fire pits dot the terrain and barren earth marks high-traffic areas and campsites. And in town, officials are tallying the financial costs of providing services and stepped-up law enforcement. The Yampa Valley Medical Center will have provided more than $100,000 in medical care that probably won't be repaid. The Routt County Humane Society scrambled to vaccinate dozens of dogs after an outbreak of the deadly parvovirus, and officials fear there could be as many as 200 pets abandoned. And the Forest Service, which spent nearly $800,000 just for its incident-management team, will be left with the task of rehabilitating the land....
Rainbows leave paths of damage in forest Now that the Rainbow Family is wrapping up its annual return to nature, the U.S. Forest Service is examining what it will take to return their campsite to its natural state. Forest Service spokeswoman Denise Ottaviano said aerial photography of the countercultural campers' 4-square-mile settlement in the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District of Routt National Forest revealed "40 to 50 miles" of newly improvised trails requiring restoration in the visitors' wake. "It's shocking," Ottaviano said. "Now there's just this enormous trail system" in a previously pristine area. At its peak, the Rainbow gathering, which officially ran July 1 through Friday, drew an estimated 15,000 free spirits from across the country. The attendance figure, released by the Forest Service, is based in part on the estimated 3,100 cars, plus numerous vans and buses parked at the campers' settlement....
Federal Government Kills Another Endangered Mexican Gray Wolf Government agents killed the female of the Nantac Pack of Mexican gray wolves yesterday, several weeks after shooting her mate. The two wolves were survivors of past predator control actions and had been re-released into the Gila National Forest in New Mexico in late April 2006. In early May, this pair scavenged on a bull that perished from disease, and the wolves subsequently killed four cows. The male wolf, which was born in the wild, was shot June 18, and the female was shot yesterday. She was a particularly valuable wolf genetically, one of the few wolves in the wild with DNA from all three of the Mexican wolf lineages that stem from just a few founding animals. “This was an unnecessary killing,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity in Pinos Altos, New Mexico. “If the Fish and Wildlife Service had followed scientists’ recommendations to keep wolves from scavenging on carcasses of cows and horses that they did not kill, the Nantac Pack would still be roaming the hills of the Gila together today.”....
Wilderness bill built on consensus An unusual alliance of off-road vehicle enthusiasts, environmentalists and local officials in the Eastern Sierra has crafted a deal to set aside more than 40,000 acres of wilderness near Yosemite National Park, which lawmakers are calling a model of how to build consensus to protect public lands. The plan would permanently protect an area of the High Sierra one-third larger than San Francisco that is popular with hikers, equestrians and anglers for its jagged 11,000-foot peaks, alpine lakes, lush meadows and conifer forests. The area covers 11 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, the 2,650-mile scenic path stretching from Canada to Mexico. In return for giving up access to the new wilderness, snowmobile riders would get an 11,000-acre winter-use snowmobile recreation area centered on Leavitt Bowl near the Sonora Pass. The deal is in a bill by Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, a Republican from Santa Clarita (Los Angeles County), which is expected to get its first House hearing this month. The sponsors, including California's two Democratic senators, believe it could be approved by Congress later this year.... Researchers wonder what's killing bighorn Something is killing Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in Hells Canyon, and for the first time biologists in the three Northwest states that border the rugged chasm have started capturing sick lambs to figure out the cause. Researchers at Washington State University are examining tissue taken from the lambs. Their findings could have ramifications for wild sheep throughout North America. "That would be a huge step forward," said Frances Cassirer, a wildlife research biologist with Idaho Fish and Game. "At least then we'd be dealing with a known enemy. It's a problem for bighorn sheep almost everywhere they occur." Biologists say about 2 million bighorns once inhabited the West, but they disappeared over most of their range in the 1800s and early 1900s due to disease and unregulated hunting. Reintroductions and added protection in the last 50 years have boosted bighorn numbers to about 50,000. But sweeping epidemics of a mystery illness wipe out thousands of Rocky Mountain bighorns, California bighorns, Sierra Nevada bighorns, and desert bighorns, thwarting attempts by wildlife biologists to fill empty habitat....
Drilling debate hinges on how water, wildlife affected Citing seven points of contention discussed in detail over 47 pages, Gov. Bill Richardson's consistency review questioned the wisdom and worth of the Bureau of Land Management's resource management plan for the Otero Mesa area. "I have found numerous inconsistencies with state laws, rules, policies, programs, and plans," he wrote, "particularly those that relate to protecting the Chihuahuan Desert and New Mexico's ground water." Richardson charged the plan with a "cavalier attitude" about ground water issues because the agency admits it hasn't found or studied all aquifers in the planning area and some aquifers may be vulnerable to contamination. He also claimed the plan violates the New Mexico Wildlife Conservation Act and the New Mexico Game Management Plans by inadequately protecting habitat for the northern aplomado falcon, pronghorn antelope, desert bighorn sheep, and the black-tailed prairie dog most of which are rare and some of which are endangered. Richardson called for designating Otero Mesa a national conservation area, and offered an alternative plan that would close 310,554 acres of the planning area to any drilling and prohibit surface occupancy on another 333,200 acres....
Sportsmen want range protected A group of hunters and anglers is proposing to form a coalition of outdoors enthusiasts to work with landowners, government officials and the oil and gas industry to hold up drilling in the Wyoming Range. "We can have both world-class wildlife and an economically viable mineral industry," Bob Wharff, executive director of Wyoming Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, said in a release. But Wharff said leasing and any drilling on Forest Service land in the Wyoming Range should be halted until there is assurance there will be no further decline in big-game numbers. He said the coalition would "identify, monitor, and address factors which affect wildlife and ... seek effective means of mitigation or best management practices which minimize the impacts to Wyoming's wildlife."....
Pressure builds to hire — and keep — oil rig inspectors in the field Beset with unfilled positions for much of the past year, the Bureau of Land Management is working to catch up on drill-rig inspections across Colorado. Environmental organizations, however, say they fear the agency can’t keep pace with the fast-growing ranks of drill rigs in the region, even though it is now nearly at full staff. The pressure on the agency would increase even more if Congress requires the BLM to process drill-permit applications within 10 days, industry critics said. To be sure, statewide inspections are behind schedule, said Jaime Gardner, a spokeswoman for the BLM state office in Lakewood. “But taking into account that we had five open positions, most of which have been filled, we’re hoping to definitely meet and possibly exceed our inspection target,” she said. To date, more than half of at least 1,000 targeted inspections have been completed, Gardner said. The agency is required to inspect its high-priority wells once a year and all other active wells once every three years....
Suit filed over grizzly habitat Helicopters hauling logs out of North Idaho's grizzly bear country threaten the bears almost as much as using logging trucks, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court by environmentalists seeking to block a large logging project north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. The Boundary Creek timber sale was scheduled to begin later this month in a remote canyon near the Canadian border. The area is considered some of the best remaining habitat in the Selkirk Mountains for one of the nation's most imperiled populations of grizzlies. The U.S. Forest Service had hoped to minimize impacts to the bears by using helicopters rather than trucks to haul logs off most of the 1,242-acre project. Most of the timber sale is slated to take place in federally designated core grizzly bear habitat, according to the lawsuit. Motorized use is restricted in these areas in an attempt to protect bears, said Liz Sedler, a Sandpoint resident and member of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington. If helicopters are allowed to buzz bear habitat for the next three years, the bears will likely flee to other parts of the forest, including places with roads or homes....
Issue of fire crew liability is raised Firefighter Kenneth Jordan's ambition once was to lead one of the nation's elite teams of specialized wildfire and disaster incident managers. The challenge and responsibility seemed appealing. Not anymore. Not since a wildfire in Idaho three years ago left two firefighters dead -- and their fire commander facing potential federal charges for their deaths. These days, Jordan is thinking more about retirement. "For an incident commander to have to look after everybody on a fire is ridiculous. It's a ridiculous theory," he said. Jordan, like many firefighters, does not lack confidence in his abilities. Still, he worries about being held criminally liable if a member of the California Hotshot crew he supervises is killed. The Cramer fire in Idaho made that fear very real. And firefighter advocates warn that concerns about civil or criminal liability could keep firefighters from seeking or accepting promotions at a time when the federal government is struggling to fill fire crews. The issue of liability also has raised concerns among firefighters about whether the state and federal agencies they work for would stand behind them if people die or houses burn on their watch....
Forest Service to reopen Mount St. Helens to climbers Climbing to the summit of Mount St. Helens will resume on July 21 -- about 22 months after seismic and volcanic activity closed the peak. Climbers will be asked to stick hard hats and ash masks in their packs for protection in case the peak erupts. Climbing to the crater rim was closed in September of 2004 when earthquake activity perked up and the mountain began a dome-building eruption the next month that continues today. By now, seismic activity has decreased to the point where U.S. Forest Service officials think climbing is safe....
U.S. plans roundup of horses near Las Vegas All but a few dozen wild horses roaming public lands surrounding Las Vegas will be rounded up in January under a federal plan horse advocates are calling a proposal to "zero out" wild horse herds in the area. The Bureau of Land Management's latest proposed roundup would remove 250 wild horses and 570 burros from the Spring Mountains, plus 60 animals from areas west of Lake Mead about 30 miles from Las Vegas. "It's very disheartening when you look at the numbers they want to take off," Laurie Howard, vice president of Wild Horses 4 Ever, said Friday. "It really comes down to does America in general, and especially Nevada, want those horses and burros or not?" BLM officials say the roundup is necessary to preserve other wildlife in the mountainous desert landscape....
Nonprofit Buys Local Ranch An international organization that strives to protect open space and coastal waters recently purchased a significant plot of land teaming with roaming elk. The Nature Conservancy bought the 2,899-acre San Antonio Valley ranch on the north end of Henry Coe State Park at a price of $5.2 million. The nonprofit organization, which has headquarters in San Francisco and Monterey, stepped in after discovering that the ranch's owner had unsuccessfully attempted to sell his land to the California Department of Fish and Game. The state department wasn't able to purchase the land immediately so the Nature Conservancy, which as a nonprofit reserves the power to overstep many legal barriers, bought the ranch with cash from a grant provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and a grant and loan from the Conserving California Landscapes Initiative. "We're a nonprofit so we work as a (intermediary) and it gives us an opportunity to lock the property up and help them on their time frame," said Lloyd Wagstaff, Mount Hamilton project director for the Nature Conservancy....
Dude ranches fade off into the sunset Amid decades of change in Arch Wagner's life, Montana's Boulder River Ranch was the constant. Thirty years ago, Wagner, then a radiologist in Virginia, spotted the ranch's ad in the back of a fishing magazine. He visited for a week, then returned nearly every summer, teaching his children to fish on the river that runs through the ranch, sprinkling his late wife's ashes there and riding horses with his grandchildren through its 600 acres. Last summer, he didn't go back. Thanks to rising land prices, the family that owned the ranch since 1918 sold to a group of investors that included news-caster Tom Brokaw, and the property stopped taking guests. "Three generations of us went there," said Wagner. For a century of summers, American travelers have headed to Western ranches, saddled up their horses and galloped away from the tedium of modern life. Now, the future of dude ranching is being threatened by rising land prices and the reach of development. Some ranches are being sold off to a new generation of wealthy investors seeking private retreats, while others are attracting neighbors with names like McDonald's and Starbucks. At the same time, dude ranches that stay in business are racing to catch up with travelers' changing tastes, which increasingly tend toward massages and shopping. At the heart of this is a fact: Many dude ranches rest on land that is now far more valuable than the business on top....
For dry cowpunchers, a standing eight count Jim Goodrich is, in a word, desperate. He's a rancher. He's used to being, well, concerned. Or worried. Or just dispatching a hard stare into an unforgiving sky. But being desperate is another thing. There's not a drop of cowboy romance in it. It's a late June day here at Winter Livestock Auction, and Goodrich is selling off some of his cattle. You don't sell in the early summer. If you sell your cattle this time of year, you are, by definition, desperate. You can read it in Goodrich's lined face, in the worried look from his wife, Doris, in the long silences from their teenage boys. "The worry factor?" he asks, standing with his family in the auction lobby. "On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say it's about a 9.5." It's not just cattle he's selling. Selling his cattle, Goodrich explains, is like selling the factory. And in selling the factory, he just may be selling away his future and the only thing he knows....
Cow 54, where are you? Mark Kittrell leaned against the pipe railing of a walkway overlooking the sale ring in the George County Sale Barn. Kittrell, 38, was watching the weekly cattle sale. The cattle business is one that the Stateline resident knows well. It is changing and he hopes to be able to change with it. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns recently announced a United States Department of Agriculture plan outlining timetables and benchmarks for establishing a national animal identification system. The plan includes integrating private and state animal tracking data bases, allowing USDA to track the nation's nine billion cows, hogs, sheep, goats and chickens from the farm to the grocery store. It is this change that worries Kittrell. "I am concerned about the older farmers and ranchers. I have heard a number of them say that when they are forced to do this, they will sell out. That means I will lose part of my market."....
Comstock Annual Youth Rodeo continues a 43-year tradition The Comstock Rodeo Club’s 43rd Annual Youth Rodeo, Saturday, drew an appreciative crowd of family, friends and supporters of arena skills, including horsemanship and stock handling, all in an atmosphere of tradition and ranch living camaraderie. No money prizes, just buckles for event and category winners, and “high fives,” shouts of “Good job!” and ribbons for all participants. Under high clouds, the Comstock arena was ringed Saturday morning by trailers, improvised shade shelters, and pickup trucks, augmented for safety by Val Verde Regional Medical Center Emergency Medical Service Chief Jack Howley, and a fire suppression crew from Val Verde County Volunteer Fire Department. In the 4-H barn, the club members offered a feast of brisket, beans, potato salad, hominy, chocolate cake and iced tea, as participants and spectators drifted in and out as action continued in the arena....
Holdups and shootouts On or about July 1, 1896, a couple of cowboys rode into Quemado looking for the town marshal. After finding him, and anyone else who would listen, the two excited men told their story. As they were riding along the cattle trail through the Datil Mountains, they heard some gun shots near Mangas Mountain. In the distance, they saw some men in a shootout with a lone rider. When the smoke cleared, one of the men and his horse were dead on the ground. They thought the ambushed man looked like local rancher Frank Williams. Such shootings were not uncommon. Several cattle rustling rings were operating in the area, along with notorious outlaws, making desolate Western Socorro County a dangerous and deadly place to be during the late 1800s. The brutal killing of Fred Williams was quickly reported in the Socorro Chieftain and other area newspapers. Riding south out of Quemado to investigate the murder, the marshal, whose name is unknown, found the scene described by the two cowboys. The dead horse was riddled with bullets and the blood-soaked saddle was definitely that of Frank Williams. However, there was no body. Apparently, Williams had survived the shootout and was wandering through the mountains looking for help....
Permalink 0 comments
Rainbow Gathering in Colorado lacks one color: green When we tell folks that we have become the unwitting hosts for the Rainbow Family's annual gathering, the first response is "the who?" As it turns out, some 20,000 Rainbows have gathered in Big Red Park, north of Steamboat Springs, Colo., in the Routt National Forest. Their Web site, welcomehome.org, styles them "the largest non-organization of non-members in the world." My husband and I, local ranchers, are hosts because this year's get-together has taken over our sheep-grazing permit. Rainbow spokesman Bodhi, from New York City, said he chose the area because, "We need a fresh water source, one main meadow that is 100 acres or larger and about 5-to-10 square miles of hippie land." Bodhi added, "We need another large meadow to accommodate thousands of vehicles." Now, for years, we have been told that our sheep and cows are not to "lounge" in the riparian areas when they water. How can it be, we asked the Forest Service, that many thousands of people can come in, camp on a riparian area for weeks and weeks, and not worry about resource damage? That is but one of the rubs....
Costs, impact tallied at end of Rainbows As the exodus of neo-hippies has begun from the Rainbow Family gathering in the woods north of Steamboat Springs, local officials are beginning to see the impacts of 15,000 renegade campers. At the encampment, a spider web of new trails wanders everywhere through the sagebrush, trees have been stripped of their lower branches, fire pits dot the terrain and barren earth marks high-traffic areas and campsites. And in town, officials are tallying the financial costs of providing services and stepped-up law enforcement. The Yampa Valley Medical Center will have provided more than $100,000 in medical care that probably won't be repaid. The Routt County Humane Society scrambled to vaccinate dozens of dogs after an outbreak of the deadly parvovirus, and officials fear there could be as many as 200 pets abandoned. And the Forest Service, which spent nearly $800,000 just for its incident-management team, will be left with the task of rehabilitating the land....
Rainbows leave paths of damage in forest Now that the Rainbow Family is wrapping up its annual return to nature, the U.S. Forest Service is examining what it will take to return their campsite to its natural state. Forest Service spokeswoman Denise Ottaviano said aerial photography of the countercultural campers' 4-square-mile settlement in the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District of Routt National Forest revealed "40 to 50 miles" of newly improvised trails requiring restoration in the visitors' wake. "It's shocking," Ottaviano said. "Now there's just this enormous trail system" in a previously pristine area. At its peak, the Rainbow gathering, which officially ran July 1 through Friday, drew an estimated 15,000 free spirits from across the country. The attendance figure, released by the Forest Service, is based in part on the estimated 3,100 cars, plus numerous vans and buses parked at the campers' settlement....
Federal Government Kills Another Endangered Mexican Gray Wolf Government agents killed the female of the Nantac Pack of Mexican gray wolves yesterday, several weeks after shooting her mate. The two wolves were survivors of past predator control actions and had been re-released into the Gila National Forest in New Mexico in late April 2006. In early May, this pair scavenged on a bull that perished from disease, and the wolves subsequently killed four cows. The male wolf, which was born in the wild, was shot June 18, and the female was shot yesterday. She was a particularly valuable wolf genetically, one of the few wolves in the wild with DNA from all three of the Mexican wolf lineages that stem from just a few founding animals. “This was an unnecessary killing,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity in Pinos Altos, New Mexico. “If the Fish and Wildlife Service had followed scientists’ recommendations to keep wolves from scavenging on carcasses of cows and horses that they did not kill, the Nantac Pack would still be roaming the hills of the Gila together today.”....
Wilderness bill built on consensus An unusual alliance of off-road vehicle enthusiasts, environmentalists and local officials in the Eastern Sierra has crafted a deal to set aside more than 40,000 acres of wilderness near Yosemite National Park, which lawmakers are calling a model of how to build consensus to protect public lands. The plan would permanently protect an area of the High Sierra one-third larger than San Francisco that is popular with hikers, equestrians and anglers for its jagged 11,000-foot peaks, alpine lakes, lush meadows and conifer forests. The area covers 11 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, the 2,650-mile scenic path stretching from Canada to Mexico. In return for giving up access to the new wilderness, snowmobile riders would get an 11,000-acre winter-use snowmobile recreation area centered on Leavitt Bowl near the Sonora Pass. The deal is in a bill by Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, a Republican from Santa Clarita (Los Angeles County), which is expected to get its first House hearing this month. The sponsors, including California's two Democratic senators, believe it could be approved by Congress later this year.... Researchers wonder what's killing bighorn Something is killing Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in Hells Canyon, and for the first time biologists in the three Northwest states that border the rugged chasm have started capturing sick lambs to figure out the cause. Researchers at Washington State University are examining tissue taken from the lambs. Their findings could have ramifications for wild sheep throughout North America. "That would be a huge step forward," said Frances Cassirer, a wildlife research biologist with Idaho Fish and Game. "At least then we'd be dealing with a known enemy. It's a problem for bighorn sheep almost everywhere they occur." Biologists say about 2 million bighorns once inhabited the West, but they disappeared over most of their range in the 1800s and early 1900s due to disease and unregulated hunting. Reintroductions and added protection in the last 50 years have boosted bighorn numbers to about 50,000. But sweeping epidemics of a mystery illness wipe out thousands of Rocky Mountain bighorns, California bighorns, Sierra Nevada bighorns, and desert bighorns, thwarting attempts by wildlife biologists to fill empty habitat....
Drilling debate hinges on how water, wildlife affected Citing seven points of contention discussed in detail over 47 pages, Gov. Bill Richardson's consistency review questioned the wisdom and worth of the Bureau of Land Management's resource management plan for the Otero Mesa area. "I have found numerous inconsistencies with state laws, rules, policies, programs, and plans," he wrote, "particularly those that relate to protecting the Chihuahuan Desert and New Mexico's ground water." Richardson charged the plan with a "cavalier attitude" about ground water issues because the agency admits it hasn't found or studied all aquifers in the planning area and some aquifers may be vulnerable to contamination. He also claimed the plan violates the New Mexico Wildlife Conservation Act and the New Mexico Game Management Plans by inadequately protecting habitat for the northern aplomado falcon, pronghorn antelope, desert bighorn sheep, and the black-tailed prairie dog most of which are rare and some of which are endangered. Richardson called for designating Otero Mesa a national conservation area, and offered an alternative plan that would close 310,554 acres of the planning area to any drilling and prohibit surface occupancy on another 333,200 acres....
Sportsmen want range protected A group of hunters and anglers is proposing to form a coalition of outdoors enthusiasts to work with landowners, government officials and the oil and gas industry to hold up drilling in the Wyoming Range. "We can have both world-class wildlife and an economically viable mineral industry," Bob Wharff, executive director of Wyoming Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, said in a release. But Wharff said leasing and any drilling on Forest Service land in the Wyoming Range should be halted until there is assurance there will be no further decline in big-game numbers. He said the coalition would "identify, monitor, and address factors which affect wildlife and ... seek effective means of mitigation or best management practices which minimize the impacts to Wyoming's wildlife."....
Pressure builds to hire — and keep — oil rig inspectors in the field Beset with unfilled positions for much of the past year, the Bureau of Land Management is working to catch up on drill-rig inspections across Colorado. Environmental organizations, however, say they fear the agency can’t keep pace with the fast-growing ranks of drill rigs in the region, even though it is now nearly at full staff. The pressure on the agency would increase even more if Congress requires the BLM to process drill-permit applications within 10 days, industry critics said. To be sure, statewide inspections are behind schedule, said Jaime Gardner, a spokeswoman for the BLM state office in Lakewood. “But taking into account that we had five open positions, most of which have been filled, we’re hoping to definitely meet and possibly exceed our inspection target,” she said. To date, more than half of at least 1,000 targeted inspections have been completed, Gardner said. The agency is required to inspect its high-priority wells once a year and all other active wells once every three years....
Suit filed over grizzly habitat Helicopters hauling logs out of North Idaho's grizzly bear country threaten the bears almost as much as using logging trucks, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court by environmentalists seeking to block a large logging project north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. The Boundary Creek timber sale was scheduled to begin later this month in a remote canyon near the Canadian border. The area is considered some of the best remaining habitat in the Selkirk Mountains for one of the nation's most imperiled populations of grizzlies. The U.S. Forest Service had hoped to minimize impacts to the bears by using helicopters rather than trucks to haul logs off most of the 1,242-acre project. Most of the timber sale is slated to take place in federally designated core grizzly bear habitat, according to the lawsuit. Motorized use is restricted in these areas in an attempt to protect bears, said Liz Sedler, a Sandpoint resident and member of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington. If helicopters are allowed to buzz bear habitat for the next three years, the bears will likely flee to other parts of the forest, including places with roads or homes....
Issue of fire crew liability is raised Firefighter Kenneth Jordan's ambition once was to lead one of the nation's elite teams of specialized wildfire and disaster incident managers. The challenge and responsibility seemed appealing. Not anymore. Not since a wildfire in Idaho three years ago left two firefighters dead -- and their fire commander facing potential federal charges for their deaths. These days, Jordan is thinking more about retirement. "For an incident commander to have to look after everybody on a fire is ridiculous. It's a ridiculous theory," he said. Jordan, like many firefighters, does not lack confidence in his abilities. Still, he worries about being held criminally liable if a member of the California Hotshot crew he supervises is killed. The Cramer fire in Idaho made that fear very real. And firefighter advocates warn that concerns about civil or criminal liability could keep firefighters from seeking or accepting promotions at a time when the federal government is struggling to fill fire crews. The issue of liability also has raised concerns among firefighters about whether the state and federal agencies they work for would stand behind them if people die or houses burn on their watch....
Forest Service to reopen Mount St. Helens to climbers Climbing to the summit of Mount St. Helens will resume on July 21 -- about 22 months after seismic and volcanic activity closed the peak. Climbers will be asked to stick hard hats and ash masks in their packs for protection in case the peak erupts. Climbing to the crater rim was closed in September of 2004 when earthquake activity perked up and the mountain began a dome-building eruption the next month that continues today. By now, seismic activity has decreased to the point where U.S. Forest Service officials think climbing is safe....
U.S. plans roundup of horses near Las Vegas All but a few dozen wild horses roaming public lands surrounding Las Vegas will be rounded up in January under a federal plan horse advocates are calling a proposal to "zero out" wild horse herds in the area. The Bureau of Land Management's latest proposed roundup would remove 250 wild horses and 570 burros from the Spring Mountains, plus 60 animals from areas west of Lake Mead about 30 miles from Las Vegas. "It's very disheartening when you look at the numbers they want to take off," Laurie Howard, vice president of Wild Horses 4 Ever, said Friday. "It really comes down to does America in general, and especially Nevada, want those horses and burros or not?" BLM officials say the roundup is necessary to preserve other wildlife in the mountainous desert landscape....
Nonprofit Buys Local Ranch An international organization that strives to protect open space and coastal waters recently purchased a significant plot of land teaming with roaming elk. The Nature Conservancy bought the 2,899-acre San Antonio Valley ranch on the north end of Henry Coe State Park at a price of $5.2 million. The nonprofit organization, which has headquarters in San Francisco and Monterey, stepped in after discovering that the ranch's owner had unsuccessfully attempted to sell his land to the California Department of Fish and Game. The state department wasn't able to purchase the land immediately so the Nature Conservancy, which as a nonprofit reserves the power to overstep many legal barriers, bought the ranch with cash from a grant provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and a grant and loan from the Conserving California Landscapes Initiative. "We're a nonprofit so we work as a (intermediary) and it gives us an opportunity to lock the property up and help them on their time frame," said Lloyd Wagstaff, Mount Hamilton project director for the Nature Conservancy....
Dude ranches fade off into the sunset Amid decades of change in Arch Wagner's life, Montana's Boulder River Ranch was the constant. Thirty years ago, Wagner, then a radiologist in Virginia, spotted the ranch's ad in the back of a fishing magazine. He visited for a week, then returned nearly every summer, teaching his children to fish on the river that runs through the ranch, sprinkling his late wife's ashes there and riding horses with his grandchildren through its 600 acres. Last summer, he didn't go back. Thanks to rising land prices, the family that owned the ranch since 1918 sold to a group of investors that included news-caster Tom Brokaw, and the property stopped taking guests. "Three generations of us went there," said Wagner. For a century of summers, American travelers have headed to Western ranches, saddled up their horses and galloped away from the tedium of modern life. Now, the future of dude ranching is being threatened by rising land prices and the reach of development. Some ranches are being sold off to a new generation of wealthy investors seeking private retreats, while others are attracting neighbors with names like McDonald's and Starbucks. At the same time, dude ranches that stay in business are racing to catch up with travelers' changing tastes, which increasingly tend toward massages and shopping. At the heart of this is a fact: Many dude ranches rest on land that is now far more valuable than the business on top....
For dry cowpunchers, a standing eight count Jim Goodrich is, in a word, desperate. He's a rancher. He's used to being, well, concerned. Or worried. Or just dispatching a hard stare into an unforgiving sky. But being desperate is another thing. There's not a drop of cowboy romance in it. It's a late June day here at Winter Livestock Auction, and Goodrich is selling off some of his cattle. You don't sell in the early summer. If you sell your cattle this time of year, you are, by definition, desperate. You can read it in Goodrich's lined face, in the worried look from his wife, Doris, in the long silences from their teenage boys. "The worry factor?" he asks, standing with his family in the auction lobby. "On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say it's about a 9.5." It's not just cattle he's selling. Selling his cattle, Goodrich explains, is like selling the factory. And in selling the factory, he just may be selling away his future and the only thing he knows....
Cow 54, where are you? Mark Kittrell leaned against the pipe railing of a walkway overlooking the sale ring in the George County Sale Barn. Kittrell, 38, was watching the weekly cattle sale. The cattle business is one that the Stateline resident knows well. It is changing and he hopes to be able to change with it. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns recently announced a United States Department of Agriculture plan outlining timetables and benchmarks for establishing a national animal identification system. The plan includes integrating private and state animal tracking data bases, allowing USDA to track the nation's nine billion cows, hogs, sheep, goats and chickens from the farm to the grocery store. It is this change that worries Kittrell. "I am concerned about the older farmers and ranchers. I have heard a number of them say that when they are forced to do this, they will sell out. That means I will lose part of my market."....
Comstock Annual Youth Rodeo continues a 43-year tradition The Comstock Rodeo Club’s 43rd Annual Youth Rodeo, Saturday, drew an appreciative crowd of family, friends and supporters of arena skills, including horsemanship and stock handling, all in an atmosphere of tradition and ranch living camaraderie. No money prizes, just buckles for event and category winners, and “high fives,” shouts of “Good job!” and ribbons for all participants. Under high clouds, the Comstock arena was ringed Saturday morning by trailers, improvised shade shelters, and pickup trucks, augmented for safety by Val Verde Regional Medical Center Emergency Medical Service Chief Jack Howley, and a fire suppression crew from Val Verde County Volunteer Fire Department. In the 4-H barn, the club members offered a feast of brisket, beans, potato salad, hominy, chocolate cake and iced tea, as participants and spectators drifted in and out as action continued in the arena....
Holdups and shootouts On or about July 1, 1896, a couple of cowboys rode into Quemado looking for the town marshal. After finding him, and anyone else who would listen, the two excited men told their story. As they were riding along the cattle trail through the Datil Mountains, they heard some gun shots near Mangas Mountain. In the distance, they saw some men in a shootout with a lone rider. When the smoke cleared, one of the men and his horse were dead on the ground. They thought the ambushed man looked like local rancher Frank Williams. Such shootings were not uncommon. Several cattle rustling rings were operating in the area, along with notorious outlaws, making desolate Western Socorro County a dangerous and deadly place to be during the late 1800s. The brutal killing of Fred Williams was quickly reported in the Socorro Chieftain and other area newspapers. Riding south out of Quemado to investigate the murder, the marshal, whose name is unknown, found the scene described by the two cowboys. The dead horse was riddled with bullets and the blood-soaked saddle was definitely that of Frank Williams. However, there was no body. Apparently, Williams had survived the shootout and was wandering through the mountains looking for help....
Permalink 0 comments
Sunday, July 09, 2006
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
EPA sues the feds
by Larry Gabriel
In an abrupt change of policy, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that from now on it will enforce pollution laws against federal agencies first.
"It is only fair that the federal government get its own house in order before it imposes expensive mitigation measures on the rest of America," a spokesperson said.
As its first order of business under the new policy, EPA will require the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service to stop dumping an estimated nine billion tons of pollutants into the air and water of America by burning several million acres of federal lands each year.
"The Forest Service is not fooling anyone. Their own environmental analysis shows they utilize only about 10 percent (nature removes another 10 percent) of the wood produced each year on federal lands in a climate that has only about 18 inches of annual rainfall. We know the other 80 percent of annual growth is planned for discharge into the air and water by combustion. It has to burn and everyone knows it, but they refuse to get a permit for those discharges," an unidentified source in the EPA explained.
Forest Service officials admitted that for many years they have flown through the smoke of wildfires in America in a large aircraft with sophisticated electronic equipment measuring emissions of things like carbon monoxide, mercury and other toxic pollutants. However, they insist that such things are not really "pollutants" under the law unless the Forest Service lights the fire.
"If lightning, a careless camper or an arsonist starts the fire, the release is not a discharge of a pollutant even if at times it is the largest single source of summertime air pollution in North America," a spokesperson said.
A Forest Service spokesperson added, "Well, we can only do what Congress says to do with these lands in laws they write. It is not our fault."
Congressional sources claimed the Forest Service simply has field management problems and for that reason cannot get its work done. "It is really unfair of the Forest Service to blame Congress for their mess," the source said.
The same source hinted that EPA might be due for a change in leadership because "it appears the agency is getting out of hand."
EPA officials did not appreciate the thinly veiled threat from Congressional sources. "Congress is responsible for all federal lands and how they are managed. If they can't figure out how to properly manage the land, they should give it to the States," a source said.
A public opinion survey revealed that 75% of Americans support the federal government's control of 30% of the land in America and think Congress is doing a "better" job of managing it.
The truth is, I made this story up (at least most of it), but maybe someone had such thoughts without saying them.
Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
Don’t get too friendly with your local EMT’s
By Julie Carter
America’s finest – our local law enforcement and emergency respondents. And the best thing for anyone is to never ever need any of them.
Every now and then we all find ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s not hard to do and it isn’t until it is too late that we realize that is just what happened.
Such was my Saturday before the 4th of July. I was, as I usually am at that time of year, in the rodeo arena taking photos of some cowboy event. This one happened to be the Youth Ranch Rodeo – kids on fast running horses.
In the midst of one of the events I proceeded to get myself run into by a very fast running horse. It wasn’t a pretty sight – me flying, camera flying, and sunglasses airborne. It is amazing the thoughts that can go through your mind during the split seconds of wreck like that.
Beyond the “he is going to hit me” and the “this is going to hurt” is the “oh no, my camera!” Although my camera, a baby at only 6 months old, is better insured than I am, it also is a critical part of my job and certainly vital on this holiday weekend.
Before the dust had settled, I rolled over from the sprawled side-back position I had landed and somewhat un-spryly scrambled to my feet.
Every effort was made to appear perfectly healthy to the emergency medical technicians hanging on the fence like vultures waiting for their first piece of meat or someone to stop breathing. Hey, it is their job.
Here is the danger. I know these fine, highly qualified heroes. They are my friends as well as my heroes. But there isn’t a one of them I want giving me mouth to mouth while I’m awake and know about it. And when they wanted to check my leg? Well, I just told them they would have to shoot me with a gun first to get me to take my britches off.
The moral of this story is – don’t make friends with the people who can save your life because you might not let them do it when it really is necessary.
Reaching for any parts that might be in the dirt before they were trampled by concerned bystanders, I hobbled to the fence, bruised and “contused,” but headed for better days –in about a week.
The best part came the next day. Back in the arena with the kids on running horses, a fair board member presented me with a 10-foot piece of crime scene tape – the yellow plastic ribbon that has in bold print “Do Not Cross This Line” repeated the length of it.
It was tied around my neck like a necktie and became part of my wardrobe for the day. It seemed to work. I didn’t get run over again and not because there weren’t a few attempts.
To my heroes in the big box truck with the flashing lights: Thank you for being who you are and doing what you do. You honor me with your friendship.
With God’s help, may I always remain the embedded reporter on the scene, not the “in bed” reporter from the scene.
© Julie Carter 2006
Permalink 0 comments
EPA sues the feds
by Larry Gabriel
In an abrupt change of policy, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that from now on it will enforce pollution laws against federal agencies first.
"It is only fair that the federal government get its own house in order before it imposes expensive mitigation measures on the rest of America," a spokesperson said.
As its first order of business under the new policy, EPA will require the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service to stop dumping an estimated nine billion tons of pollutants into the air and water of America by burning several million acres of federal lands each year.
"The Forest Service is not fooling anyone. Their own environmental analysis shows they utilize only about 10 percent (nature removes another 10 percent) of the wood produced each year on federal lands in a climate that has only about 18 inches of annual rainfall. We know the other 80 percent of annual growth is planned for discharge into the air and water by combustion. It has to burn and everyone knows it, but they refuse to get a permit for those discharges," an unidentified source in the EPA explained.
Forest Service officials admitted that for many years they have flown through the smoke of wildfires in America in a large aircraft with sophisticated electronic equipment measuring emissions of things like carbon monoxide, mercury and other toxic pollutants. However, they insist that such things are not really "pollutants" under the law unless the Forest Service lights the fire.
"If lightning, a careless camper or an arsonist starts the fire, the release is not a discharge of a pollutant even if at times it is the largest single source of summertime air pollution in North America," a spokesperson said.
A Forest Service spokesperson added, "Well, we can only do what Congress says to do with these lands in laws they write. It is not our fault."
Congressional sources claimed the Forest Service simply has field management problems and for that reason cannot get its work done. "It is really unfair of the Forest Service to blame Congress for their mess," the source said.
The same source hinted that EPA might be due for a change in leadership because "it appears the agency is getting out of hand."
EPA officials did not appreciate the thinly veiled threat from Congressional sources. "Congress is responsible for all federal lands and how they are managed. If they can't figure out how to properly manage the land, they should give it to the States," a source said.
A public opinion survey revealed that 75% of Americans support the federal government's control of 30% of the land in America and think Congress is doing a "better" job of managing it.
The truth is, I made this story up (at least most of it), but maybe someone had such thoughts without saying them.
Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
Don’t get too friendly with your local EMT’s
By Julie Carter
America’s finest – our local law enforcement and emergency respondents. And the best thing for anyone is to never ever need any of them.
Every now and then we all find ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s not hard to do and it isn’t until it is too late that we realize that is just what happened.
Such was my Saturday before the 4th of July. I was, as I usually am at that time of year, in the rodeo arena taking photos of some cowboy event. This one happened to be the Youth Ranch Rodeo – kids on fast running horses.
In the midst of one of the events I proceeded to get myself run into by a very fast running horse. It wasn’t a pretty sight – me flying, camera flying, and sunglasses airborne. It is amazing the thoughts that can go through your mind during the split seconds of wreck like that.
Beyond the “he is going to hit me” and the “this is going to hurt” is the “oh no, my camera!” Although my camera, a baby at only 6 months old, is better insured than I am, it also is a critical part of my job and certainly vital on this holiday weekend.
Before the dust had settled, I rolled over from the sprawled side-back position I had landed and somewhat un-spryly scrambled to my feet.
Every effort was made to appear perfectly healthy to the emergency medical technicians hanging on the fence like vultures waiting for their first piece of meat or someone to stop breathing. Hey, it is their job.
Here is the danger. I know these fine, highly qualified heroes. They are my friends as well as my heroes. But there isn’t a one of them I want giving me mouth to mouth while I’m awake and know about it. And when they wanted to check my leg? Well, I just told them they would have to shoot me with a gun first to get me to take my britches off.
The moral of this story is – don’t make friends with the people who can save your life because you might not let them do it when it really is necessary.
Reaching for any parts that might be in the dirt before they were trampled by concerned bystanders, I hobbled to the fence, bruised and “contused,” but headed for better days –in about a week.
The best part came the next day. Back in the arena with the kids on running horses, a fair board member presented me with a 10-foot piece of crime scene tape – the yellow plastic ribbon that has in bold print “Do Not Cross This Line” repeated the length of it.
It was tied around my neck like a necktie and became part of my wardrobe for the day. It seemed to work. I didn’t get run over again and not because there weren’t a few attempts.
To my heroes in the big box truck with the flashing lights: Thank you for being who you are and doing what you do. You honor me with your friendship.
With God’s help, may I always remain the embedded reporter on the scene, not the “in bed” reporter from the scene.
© Julie Carter 2006
Permalink 0 comments
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Taking a Molecule to Court
The Supreme Court, by agreeing to hear a case on whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must take steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, will finally judge on the alleged threat of global warming. The stakes are huge. Should the Court find in favor of the plaintiffs, it would put the EPA in control of the U.S. economy for the foreseeable future. The modern global economy is powered by hydrocarbons—oil, natural gas and coal. Burning these fuels releases the energy we need to light our homes, heat and cool our offices, and get us from place to place. But the process also releases a byproduct called carbon dioxide (CO2). We have known for well over a century that, all other things being equal, more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will warm the atmosphere as it absorbs energy up to a certain point. In recent years, with the atmosphere warming since the 1970s, scientists have connected the warming trend to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is the phenomenon of global warming. The case arose when a group of activist state attorneys general (AGs) petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to make rules to control emissions of carbon dioxide. When the agency determined that it had no power to do so, the AGs and several environmental pressure groups sued, claiming, "The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to take certain actions when it determines that a pollutant may 'cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.'" The Supreme Court's agreeing to hear the case underscores its importance to the American economy. Regulation would directly affect 70 percent of the electricity sector and 98 percent of the transportation sector—with repercussions throughout the entire economy as those sectors are forced to raise costs to comply with new regulations. Had the Court not agreed to hear the case, the plaintiffs would surely seek out other judicial avenues to force the EPA to regulate. By agreeing to hear the case, the Supreme Court has at least signaled that there will be an end to the uncertainty soon. Businesses around the U.S. will be grateful for that....
Courting Regulatory Disaster - or Clarity
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case being brought by a dozen states, several major cities, and environmental groups who want carbon dioxide, widely believed to be contributing to the current global warming trend, to be designated as a pollutant. The plaintiffs are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's decision in 2003 that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant that would come under the regulatory portions of the Clean Air Act. That decision has been upheld by two lower court rulings. Central to the argument that CO2 be regarded as a pollutant subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act is that it "may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." This will be difficult to prove scientifically, since we have no way of proving that current global warmth is due to carbon dioxide emissions. While some theoretical modeling research that has suggested that all of the current global warmth could be explained by the extra CO2 we have produced, there is an element of circularity inherent in this type of science. The computer models built to predict climate fluctuations were based upon knowledge of what the answer was to begin with. Natural climate fluctuations (such as a small change in cloudiness) can also cause temperature changes, but since we don't understand what causes them, we can't model them. But even if the 1 deg. F warming in the last 100 years can be convincingly demonstrated to be due to humans, it will be just as difficult to prove harm to human health and welfare. This is why the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the plaintiffs last year. Proving harm from global warming is confounded by natural climate fluctuations that are so large that the global warming signal becomes lost in the noise. Note that the 1 degree of warming in the last century is much less than what humans routinely endure as part of normal weather variations and the progression of the seasons. And throughout human history, warm has always, on balance, been better than cold....
Fishermen’s Attorney Comments on Ninth Circuit Ruling in Chinook Salmon Case
Today a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld federal regulations that drastically curtailed salmon fishing off the Pacific Coast because of low projected returns of salmon that will spawn naturally in the Klamath River. The court rejected a challenge brought by coastal fishermen and fishing business owners who argued that the National Marine Fisheries Service was wrong not to count all hatchery salmon in determining the salmon population. Russ Brooks, managing attorney for Pacific Legal Foundation’s Northwest Center, represents the fishermen who brought the challenge. In response to today’s ruling, he had this comment: “The Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act requires federal regulators to manage all members of a species the same. Hatchery chinook are not only biologically identical to those that will spawn naturally, but many hatchery chinook do return to spawn naturally. So the Fisheries Service is wrong when it doesn’t count all hatchery chinook as part of the returning chinook population. The Service is deliberately lowballing the number of chinook that will return to the Klamath River. If all hatchery chinook were counted as part of the population, the Service would realize there is no need to drastically reduce salmon fishing. “Because the three-judge panel did not recognize the legal requirement that regulators must count all chinook, this decision is ripe for appeal—first to the full Ninth Circuit for rehearing, and, possibly, to the United States Supreme Court.” The case is Oregon Trollers v. Gutierrez. For a copy of the decision click here....
The Extremism Behind The Soundbite
Claiming a shift in consumer demand, Whole Foods Market decided last week to sell only pre-killed lobster meat, around the same time that The Miami Herald ran a story covering developments in "free-range" veal farming. These stories are significant because both developments were met with applause from some national animal-rights groups. What kind of "animal liberation" groups praise business decisions that still result in people eating meat, you ask? Ones that are only telling you half the story. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had this to say about the lobster decision: "PETA applauds Whole Foods for joining Safeway in making the kind decision to spare lobsters -- complex animals who feel pain and can live to be 100 years old -- from living in filthy, cramped tanks." (Of course, PETA's claims about lobsters and pain are dubious.) Meanwhile, Farm Sanctuary praised a free-range veal farmer as innovating on the cutting edge of "a mini revolution in farming in general to raise animals more humanely." (Likewise with the "humane" claim here, which veterinary scientists dispute.) The fact of the matter is that every "reform" demanded by animal-rights activists is aimed at the goal of taking meat off our plates forever, no matter how nicely they praise each baby step. When the Center for Consumer Freedom debated Farm Sanctuary president Gene Bauston on the BBC in 2004, he had literally nothing to say when asked to describe what "humane" livestock agriculture would look like. PETA's president, Ingrid Newkirk, was much less bashful at the "Animal Rights 2002" convention: "There is no hidden agenda. If anybody wonders about -- what's this with all these reforms -- you can hear us clearly. Our goal is total animal liberation."....
Al Gore and the global warming scare
People are naturally prone to worry about dangers that are invisible: radioactivity, for one spectacular example. The media know this, and are forever trumpeting the discovery of new perils to scare us with. Hardly a week passes without someone announcing that some familiar food or other useful substance has just been discovered to cause cancer (though usually only when administered in huge doses to mice). Dangers associated with weather are special favorites because they are usually so difficult to cope with. In recent decades, we have been treated to alarmist reports about impending disasters to be caused by nuclear winter, acid rain and the ozone hole. But the Big Daddy of all such scare stories is "global warming." Al Gore, who had a dangerous brush with the presidency in 2000, has long been associated with this particular fright syndrome, and I have no doubt that he is perfectly sincere in believing that global warming is a real danger. But recently he has stepped forth with a brand new campaign to sell the American people on the peril. It is spearheaded by a documentary film entitled "An Inconvenient Truth," in which Gore himself presents what he chooses to regard as overwhelming evidence of the reality of the danger. Given his political history, it is perfectly fair to wonder if this maneuver isn't simply, or primarily, a device to promote his own candidacy for the presidency in 2008. But, whether it is or not, it is also a powerful blast in the propaganda war over the issue of global warming -- and must be treated as such. Gore begins by insisting that the scientific argument over the truth of the matter is over; climate scientists, he asserts, are virtually unanimous in endorsing it. Among the thousands of predictions on the subject, moreover, he invariably opts for the worst-case scenarios. The increase in the quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is caused, to an important extent, by human "pollution," and this is the cause of a dangerous increase in the planet's surface temperature. That, in turn, is causing glaciers, and the great ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica, to melt. This will inevitably result in the disastrous flooding of coastal areas all over the globe, and all sorts of ecological upsets (e.g. the extinction of the polar bear). The trouble is that all of the statements in the last paragraph above are subject to challenge, and in several cases, are almost certainly false. Among the many systematic attacks being waged against the spurious case for global warming, one of the deadliest and most effective is a weekly report available on the Internet, called "The Week That Was" (TWTW). The author is the formidable S. Fred Singer, professor emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia and former director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service. Each week, Singer summarizes or reprints the most recent studies debunking global warming, with generous references to still more information. In TWTW for June 17, he demolishes Gore's contentions, one by one....
A rationalist crusader does the math on global warming
Bjorn Lomborg is a political scientist by training, but the charismatic, golden-haired Dane is offering me a history lesson. Two hundred years ago, he explains, sitting forward in his chair in this newspaper's Manhattan offices, the left was an "incredibly rational movement." It believed in "encyclopedias," in hard facts, and in the idea that mastery of these basics would help "make a better society." Since then, the world's do-gooders have succumbed to "romanticism; they've become more dreamy." This is a problem in his view, and so this "self-avowed slight lefty" is determined to nudge the whole world back toward "rationalism." Bjorn Lomborg busted--and that is the only word for it--onto the world scene in 2001 with the publication of his book "The Skeptical Environmentalist." A one-time Greenpeace enthusiast, he'd originally planned to disprove those who said the environment was getting better. He failed. And to his credit, his book said so, supplying a damning critique of today's environmental pessimism. Carefully researched, it offered endless statistics--from official sources such as the U.N.--showing that from biodiversity to global warming, there simply were no apocalypses in the offing. "Our history shows that we solve more problems than we create," he tells me. For his efforts, Mr. Lomborg was labeled a heretic by environmental groups--whose fundraising depends on scaring the jeepers out of the public--and became more hated by these alarmists than even (if possible) President Bush. Yet the experience left Mr. Lomborg with a taste for challenging conventional wisdom. In 2004, he invited eight of the world's top economists--including four Nobel Laureates--to Copenhagen, where they were asked to evaluate the world's problems, think of the costs and efficiencies attached to solving each, and then produce a prioritized list of those most deserving of money. The well-publicized results (and let it be said here that Mr. Lomborg is no slouch when it comes to promoting himself and his work) were stunning. While the economists were from varying political stripes, they largely agreed. The numbers were just so compelling: $1 spent preventing HIV/AIDS would result in about $40 of social benefits, so the economists put it at the top of the list (followed by malnutrition, free trade and malaria). In contrast, $1 spent to abate global warming would result in only about two cents to 25 cents worth of good; so that project dropped to the bottom....
Mr. Green Genes
Long time anti-biotech activist Jeremy Rifkin has come out in favor of a biotechnology technique. Should beleaguered biotechnologists break out the champagne and start celebrating? Not hardly. Earlier this week, Rifkin wrote an op/ed in the Washington Post in which he declared his support for marker assisted selection (MAS) for use in plant breeding. So far, so good. MAS is a molecular technique in which researchers identify sections of DNA in a plant or animal located near a gene or genes that confer specific valuable traits. In plants, such traits might increase their resistance to drought or disease, or they might boost their productivity. Once a trait has been identified, researchers can trace it as they crossbreed the plants containing it with commercial varieties. Thus MAS makes it far easier for plant breeders to identify which of the crossbred plants carry the trait. That means that breeders don't have to plant the seedlings and then wait for them to grow up in the field before identifying which ones carry the sought-after new trait. MAS can cut the time to develop new commercial crop varieties in half. Rifkin points to all of these advantages, but then declares that MAS has "made gene splicing and transgenic crops obsolete and a serious impediment to scientific progress." Whoa. Could that be true? Plant geneticists and breeders don't agree. According to Alan McHughen, a plant biotechnologist at the University of California, Riverside, "The problem for Rifkin: MAS is not, as he suggests, an alternative to gene splicing (recombinant DNA or rDNA), but an adjunct. Both are powerful and useful tools that can be used together." McHughen offers a real life example of how MAS and gene-splicing have been used to introduce disease resistance in rice....
Kelo on Kelo: I'll keep my illusions
A YEAR AGO last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that my home can be taken by the government and handed over to another private party for its private use. The only requirements are that the city must have some plan in place that says another owner can create more jobs and pay more taxes than I do. There went my property rights -- and yours, too. Hardly a day goes by as I work in my garden or have a cup of coffee in my kitchen, both of which overlook the Thames River and Long Island Sound, that I don't ask myself, "If I had to do it all over again, would I?" Even on my worst days, and there are many, my answer is the same: "Absolutely yes." It was in February 1998 that I first heard that Pfizer Inc. was coming to New London. I remember thinking that this was going to be trouble for us in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, right next door to where the company was coming. Little did I know just how prophetic that thought was. I immediately phoned Lloyd Beachy, the mayor then, who said he shared my concern and would take the side of the homeowners. He suggested that I call a local activist to see what I could do to defend my home. Since that day, Lloyd and thousands of other people have become my sounding boards, my comrades in arms, and my best friends. Over 500 came to New London from as far away as Kentucky and Texas for a rally last July 5 to protest the notorious Supreme Court decision that carries my name. Without their support and that of the Institute for Justice, my fight would have been over years ago. Where do I stand at this point? I think what I have thought from the very beginning: This is my home, and no one has the right to take it from me, especially for the vague concept of "economic development." I tell you honestly, and from my heart, that nothing will cause me to change my goals or my values. Mark Twain wrote, "Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live." My illusion has been, and will continue to be, that my home is mine....
Lobsters v. Whole Foods
SOON the Supreme Court may be forced to consider a thorny question it has hidden from for too long: Does the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment protect shellfish? Okay, perhaps not "soon." The issue hasn't gone to appeal. And, it's not--yet--technically the subject of any state or federal litigation. But last month the Bobo supermarket chain Whole Foods announced that it would no longer be selling live lobsters or soft shell crabs from in-store tanks. They concluded that the practice was inhumane. The company's press release was quick to point out that it would still be retailing frozen lobster and crab products (products--as in flesh.) Whole Foods based its decision partly on the dubious conclusion of a 2005 European Union report that found lobsters feel pain and learn. The rest of the equation was their finding (noticing, really) that when sold live, lobsters--natural loners among decapod crustaceans--can be transported and stored one on top of another in cramped tanks for up to six months before final purchase. Earlier this year Whole Foods' Northeast and Atlanta stores briefly installed "condos" in their lobster tanks: short sections of PVC pipe that the lobsters could snuggle up inside of in privacy. But it wasn't a comprehensively humane solution. Dropping live sales, the company switched to a vendor that dispatches the creatures right off the boat, in just seconds, with a pressurized metal tube. Amy Schaefer, a Whole Foods spokesperson, summed up the corporate thinking: "Lobsters are going to be caught and going to be eaten . . . [what we're] trying to do is create a supply chain that treats the animals with respect and minimizes unnecessary pain." This is essentially the same reasoning the Supreme Court has used in interpreting the Eighth Amendment: Capital punishment is not by itself cruel and unusual (and, presuming the synonym, inhumane), but you can do it in certain ways that make it so, and those ways are verboten. Whole Foods, by reasoning that implicitly says lobsters have a right (just like U.S. citizens!) to be treated humanely in this particular way, is extending a parallel, abstract protection against the cruel and unusual to maritime invertebrates....
Permalink 0 comments
Taking a Molecule to Court
The Supreme Court, by agreeing to hear a case on whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must take steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, will finally judge on the alleged threat of global warming. The stakes are huge. Should the Court find in favor of the plaintiffs, it would put the EPA in control of the U.S. economy for the foreseeable future. The modern global economy is powered by hydrocarbons—oil, natural gas and coal. Burning these fuels releases the energy we need to light our homes, heat and cool our offices, and get us from place to place. But the process also releases a byproduct called carbon dioxide (CO2). We have known for well over a century that, all other things being equal, more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will warm the atmosphere as it absorbs energy up to a certain point. In recent years, with the atmosphere warming since the 1970s, scientists have connected the warming trend to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is the phenomenon of global warming. The case arose when a group of activist state attorneys general (AGs) petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to make rules to control emissions of carbon dioxide. When the agency determined that it had no power to do so, the AGs and several environmental pressure groups sued, claiming, "The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to take certain actions when it determines that a pollutant may 'cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.'" The Supreme Court's agreeing to hear the case underscores its importance to the American economy. Regulation would directly affect 70 percent of the electricity sector and 98 percent of the transportation sector—with repercussions throughout the entire economy as those sectors are forced to raise costs to comply with new regulations. Had the Court not agreed to hear the case, the plaintiffs would surely seek out other judicial avenues to force the EPA to regulate. By agreeing to hear the case, the Supreme Court has at least signaled that there will be an end to the uncertainty soon. Businesses around the U.S. will be grateful for that....
Courting Regulatory Disaster - or Clarity
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case being brought by a dozen states, several major cities, and environmental groups who want carbon dioxide, widely believed to be contributing to the current global warming trend, to be designated as a pollutant. The plaintiffs are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's decision in 2003 that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant that would come under the regulatory portions of the Clean Air Act. That decision has been upheld by two lower court rulings. Central to the argument that CO2 be regarded as a pollutant subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act is that it "may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." This will be difficult to prove scientifically, since we have no way of proving that current global warmth is due to carbon dioxide emissions. While some theoretical modeling research that has suggested that all of the current global warmth could be explained by the extra CO2 we have produced, there is an element of circularity inherent in this type of science. The computer models built to predict climate fluctuations were based upon knowledge of what the answer was to begin with. Natural climate fluctuations (such as a small change in cloudiness) can also cause temperature changes, but since we don't understand what causes them, we can't model them. But even if the 1 deg. F warming in the last 100 years can be convincingly demonstrated to be due to humans, it will be just as difficult to prove harm to human health and welfare. This is why the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the plaintiffs last year. Proving harm from global warming is confounded by natural climate fluctuations that are so large that the global warming signal becomes lost in the noise. Note that the 1 degree of warming in the last century is much less than what humans routinely endure as part of normal weather variations and the progression of the seasons. And throughout human history, warm has always, on balance, been better than cold....
Fishermen’s Attorney Comments on Ninth Circuit Ruling in Chinook Salmon Case
Today a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld federal regulations that drastically curtailed salmon fishing off the Pacific Coast because of low projected returns of salmon that will spawn naturally in the Klamath River. The court rejected a challenge brought by coastal fishermen and fishing business owners who argued that the National Marine Fisheries Service was wrong not to count all hatchery salmon in determining the salmon population. Russ Brooks, managing attorney for Pacific Legal Foundation’s Northwest Center, represents the fishermen who brought the challenge. In response to today’s ruling, he had this comment: “The Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act requires federal regulators to manage all members of a species the same. Hatchery chinook are not only biologically identical to those that will spawn naturally, but many hatchery chinook do return to spawn naturally. So the Fisheries Service is wrong when it doesn’t count all hatchery chinook as part of the returning chinook population. The Service is deliberately lowballing the number of chinook that will return to the Klamath River. If all hatchery chinook were counted as part of the population, the Service would realize there is no need to drastically reduce salmon fishing. “Because the three-judge panel did not recognize the legal requirement that regulators must count all chinook, this decision is ripe for appeal—first to the full Ninth Circuit for rehearing, and, possibly, to the United States Supreme Court.” The case is Oregon Trollers v. Gutierrez. For a copy of the decision click here....
The Extremism Behind The Soundbite
Claiming a shift in consumer demand, Whole Foods Market decided last week to sell only pre-killed lobster meat, around the same time that The Miami Herald ran a story covering developments in "free-range" veal farming. These stories are significant because both developments were met with applause from some national animal-rights groups. What kind of "animal liberation" groups praise business decisions that still result in people eating meat, you ask? Ones that are only telling you half the story. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had this to say about the lobster decision: "PETA applauds Whole Foods for joining Safeway in making the kind decision to spare lobsters -- complex animals who feel pain and can live to be 100 years old -- from living in filthy, cramped tanks." (Of course, PETA's claims about lobsters and pain are dubious.) Meanwhile, Farm Sanctuary praised a free-range veal farmer as innovating on the cutting edge of "a mini revolution in farming in general to raise animals more humanely." (Likewise with the "humane" claim here, which veterinary scientists dispute.) The fact of the matter is that every "reform" demanded by animal-rights activists is aimed at the goal of taking meat off our plates forever, no matter how nicely they praise each baby step. When the Center for Consumer Freedom debated Farm Sanctuary president Gene Bauston on the BBC in 2004, he had literally nothing to say when asked to describe what "humane" livestock agriculture would look like. PETA's president, Ingrid Newkirk, was much less bashful at the "Animal Rights 2002" convention: "There is no hidden agenda. If anybody wonders about -- what's this with all these reforms -- you can hear us clearly. Our goal is total animal liberation."....
Al Gore and the global warming scare
People are naturally prone to worry about dangers that are invisible: radioactivity, for one spectacular example. The media know this, and are forever trumpeting the discovery of new perils to scare us with. Hardly a week passes without someone announcing that some familiar food or other useful substance has just been discovered to cause cancer (though usually only when administered in huge doses to mice). Dangers associated with weather are special favorites because they are usually so difficult to cope with. In recent decades, we have been treated to alarmist reports about impending disasters to be caused by nuclear winter, acid rain and the ozone hole. But the Big Daddy of all such scare stories is "global warming." Al Gore, who had a dangerous brush with the presidency in 2000, has long been associated with this particular fright syndrome, and I have no doubt that he is perfectly sincere in believing that global warming is a real danger. But recently he has stepped forth with a brand new campaign to sell the American people on the peril. It is spearheaded by a documentary film entitled "An Inconvenient Truth," in which Gore himself presents what he chooses to regard as overwhelming evidence of the reality of the danger. Given his political history, it is perfectly fair to wonder if this maneuver isn't simply, or primarily, a device to promote his own candidacy for the presidency in 2008. But, whether it is or not, it is also a powerful blast in the propaganda war over the issue of global warming -- and must be treated as such. Gore begins by insisting that the scientific argument over the truth of the matter is over; climate scientists, he asserts, are virtually unanimous in endorsing it. Among the thousands of predictions on the subject, moreover, he invariably opts for the worst-case scenarios. The increase in the quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is caused, to an important extent, by human "pollution," and this is the cause of a dangerous increase in the planet's surface temperature. That, in turn, is causing glaciers, and the great ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica, to melt. This will inevitably result in the disastrous flooding of coastal areas all over the globe, and all sorts of ecological upsets (e.g. the extinction of the polar bear). The trouble is that all of the statements in the last paragraph above are subject to challenge, and in several cases, are almost certainly false. Among the many systematic attacks being waged against the spurious case for global warming, one of the deadliest and most effective is a weekly report available on the Internet, called "The Week That Was" (TWTW). The author is the formidable S. Fred Singer, professor emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia and former director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service. Each week, Singer summarizes or reprints the most recent studies debunking global warming, with generous references to still more information. In TWTW for June 17, he demolishes Gore's contentions, one by one....
A rationalist crusader does the math on global warming
Bjorn Lomborg is a political scientist by training, but the charismatic, golden-haired Dane is offering me a history lesson. Two hundred years ago, he explains, sitting forward in his chair in this newspaper's Manhattan offices, the left was an "incredibly rational movement." It believed in "encyclopedias," in hard facts, and in the idea that mastery of these basics would help "make a better society." Since then, the world's do-gooders have succumbed to "romanticism; they've become more dreamy." This is a problem in his view, and so this "self-avowed slight lefty" is determined to nudge the whole world back toward "rationalism." Bjorn Lomborg busted--and that is the only word for it--onto the world scene in 2001 with the publication of his book "The Skeptical Environmentalist." A one-time Greenpeace enthusiast, he'd originally planned to disprove those who said the environment was getting better. He failed. And to his credit, his book said so, supplying a damning critique of today's environmental pessimism. Carefully researched, it offered endless statistics--from official sources such as the U.N.--showing that from biodiversity to global warming, there simply were no apocalypses in the offing. "Our history shows that we solve more problems than we create," he tells me. For his efforts, Mr. Lomborg was labeled a heretic by environmental groups--whose fundraising depends on scaring the jeepers out of the public--and became more hated by these alarmists than even (if possible) President Bush. Yet the experience left Mr. Lomborg with a taste for challenging conventional wisdom. In 2004, he invited eight of the world's top economists--including four Nobel Laureates--to Copenhagen, where they were asked to evaluate the world's problems, think of the costs and efficiencies attached to solving each, and then produce a prioritized list of those most deserving of money. The well-publicized results (and let it be said here that Mr. Lomborg is no slouch when it comes to promoting himself and his work) were stunning. While the economists were from varying political stripes, they largely agreed. The numbers were just so compelling: $1 spent preventing HIV/AIDS would result in about $40 of social benefits, so the economists put it at the top of the list (followed by malnutrition, free trade and malaria). In contrast, $1 spent to abate global warming would result in only about two cents to 25 cents worth of good; so that project dropped to the bottom....
Mr. Green Genes
Long time anti-biotech activist Jeremy Rifkin has come out in favor of a biotechnology technique. Should beleaguered biotechnologists break out the champagne and start celebrating? Not hardly. Earlier this week, Rifkin wrote an op/ed in the Washington Post in which he declared his support for marker assisted selection (MAS) for use in plant breeding. So far, so good. MAS is a molecular technique in which researchers identify sections of DNA in a plant or animal located near a gene or genes that confer specific valuable traits. In plants, such traits might increase their resistance to drought or disease, or they might boost their productivity. Once a trait has been identified, researchers can trace it as they crossbreed the plants containing it with commercial varieties. Thus MAS makes it far easier for plant breeders to identify which of the crossbred plants carry the trait. That means that breeders don't have to plant the seedlings and then wait for them to grow up in the field before identifying which ones carry the sought-after new trait. MAS can cut the time to develop new commercial crop varieties in half. Rifkin points to all of these advantages, but then declares that MAS has "made gene splicing and transgenic crops obsolete and a serious impediment to scientific progress." Whoa. Could that be true? Plant geneticists and breeders don't agree. According to Alan McHughen, a plant biotechnologist at the University of California, Riverside, "The problem for Rifkin: MAS is not, as he suggests, an alternative to gene splicing (recombinant DNA or rDNA), but an adjunct. Both are powerful and useful tools that can be used together." McHughen offers a real life example of how MAS and gene-splicing have been used to introduce disease resistance in rice....
Kelo on Kelo: I'll keep my illusions
A YEAR AGO last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that my home can be taken by the government and handed over to another private party for its private use. The only requirements are that the city must have some plan in place that says another owner can create more jobs and pay more taxes than I do. There went my property rights -- and yours, too. Hardly a day goes by as I work in my garden or have a cup of coffee in my kitchen, both of which overlook the Thames River and Long Island Sound, that I don't ask myself, "If I had to do it all over again, would I?" Even on my worst days, and there are many, my answer is the same: "Absolutely yes." It was in February 1998 that I first heard that Pfizer Inc. was coming to New London. I remember thinking that this was going to be trouble for us in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, right next door to where the company was coming. Little did I know just how prophetic that thought was. I immediately phoned Lloyd Beachy, the mayor then, who said he shared my concern and would take the side of the homeowners. He suggested that I call a local activist to see what I could do to defend my home. Since that day, Lloyd and thousands of other people have become my sounding boards, my comrades in arms, and my best friends. Over 500 came to New London from as far away as Kentucky and Texas for a rally last July 5 to protest the notorious Supreme Court decision that carries my name. Without their support and that of the Institute for Justice, my fight would have been over years ago. Where do I stand at this point? I think what I have thought from the very beginning: This is my home, and no one has the right to take it from me, especially for the vague concept of "economic development." I tell you honestly, and from my heart, that nothing will cause me to change my goals or my values. Mark Twain wrote, "Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live." My illusion has been, and will continue to be, that my home is mine....
Lobsters v. Whole Foods
SOON the Supreme Court may be forced to consider a thorny question it has hidden from for too long: Does the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment protect shellfish? Okay, perhaps not "soon." The issue hasn't gone to appeal. And, it's not--yet--technically the subject of any state or federal litigation. But last month the Bobo supermarket chain Whole Foods announced that it would no longer be selling live lobsters or soft shell crabs from in-store tanks. They concluded that the practice was inhumane. The company's press release was quick to point out that it would still be retailing frozen lobster and crab products (products--as in flesh.) Whole Foods based its decision partly on the dubious conclusion of a 2005 European Union report that found lobsters feel pain and learn. The rest of the equation was their finding (noticing, really) that when sold live, lobsters--natural loners among decapod crustaceans--can be transported and stored one on top of another in cramped tanks for up to six months before final purchase. Earlier this year Whole Foods' Northeast and Atlanta stores briefly installed "condos" in their lobster tanks: short sections of PVC pipe that the lobsters could snuggle up inside of in privacy. But it wasn't a comprehensively humane solution. Dropping live sales, the company switched to a vendor that dispatches the creatures right off the boat, in just seconds, with a pressurized metal tube. Amy Schaefer, a Whole Foods spokesperson, summed up the corporate thinking: "Lobsters are going to be caught and going to be eaten . . . [what we're] trying to do is create a supply chain that treats the animals with respect and minimizes unnecessary pain." This is essentially the same reasoning the Supreme Court has used in interpreting the Eighth Amendment: Capital punishment is not by itself cruel and unusual (and, presuming the synonym, inhumane), but you can do it in certain ways that make it so, and those ways are verboten. Whole Foods, by reasoning that implicitly says lobsters have a right (just like U.S. citizens!) to be treated humanely in this particular way, is extending a parallel, abstract protection against the cruel and unusual to maritime invertebrates....
Permalink 0 comments
FLE
FBI Disrupts New York City Tunnel Plot Authorities have disrupted planning by foreign terrorists for an attack on New York City tunnels, two law enforcement officials said Friday. FBI agents monitoring Internet chat rooms used by extremists learned in recent months of the plot to strike a blow at the city's economy by destroying vital transportation networks, one official said. Lebanese authorities, acting on a U.S. request, have arrested one of the alleged plotters, identified as Amir Andalousli, the other official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said, "This is one instance where intelligence was on top of its game and discovered the plot when it was just in the talking phase." The planning for the tunnel attacks was first reported by the New York Daily News in its Friday editions, the first anniversary of the attacks on the London transportation system that killed 52 people. The planning was not far along, one U.S. official said, but authorities "take aspirations of that sort seriously." "At this time we have no indication of any imminent threat to the New York transportation system, or anywhere else in the U.S.," Richard Kolko, Washington-based FBI special agent, said in a statement to Associated Press Radio....
FBI plans new Net-tapping push The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build in backdoors for eavesdropping, CNET News.com has learned. FBI Agent Barry Smith distributed the proposal at a private meeting last Friday with industry representatives and indicated it would be introduced by Sen. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. The draft bill would place the FBI's Net-surveillance push on solid legal footing. At the moment, it's ensnared in a legal challenge from universities and some technology companies that claim the Federal Communications Commission's broadband surveillance directives exceed what Congress has authorized. The FBI claims that expanding the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is necessary to thwart criminals and terrorists who have turned to technologies like voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. "The complexity and variety of communications technologies have dramatically increased in recent years, and the lawful intercept capabilities of the federal, state and local law enforcement community have been under continual stress, and in many cases have decreased or become impossible," according to a summary accompanying the draft bill. Complicating the political outlook for the legislation is an ongoing debate over allegedly illegal surveillance by the National Security Administration--punctuated by several lawsuits challenging it on constitutional grounds and an unrelated proposal to force Internet service providers to record what Americans are doing online. One source, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of last Friday's meeting, said the FBI viewed its CALEA expansion as a top congressional priority for 2007....
Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court. The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages. ``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.'' The lawsuit is related to an alleged NSA program to record and store data on calls placed by subscribers. More than 30 suits have been filed over claims that the carriers, the three biggest U.S. telephone companies, violated the privacy rights of their customers by cooperating with the NSA in an effort to track alleged terrorists. ``The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither confirm nor deny AT&T's participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause `exceptionally grave harm to national security' and would violate both civil and criminal statutes,'' AT&T spokesman Dave Pacholczyk said in an e-mail. U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller and NSA spokesman Don Weber declined to comment....
With only a letter, FBI can gather private data When the FBI office in New Haven, Conn., received an e-mail in February 2005 that looked like a terrorist threat, agents followed a familiar routine. They asked the service provider, a group of Connecticut public libraries, for the real name, street address and Internet logs of the sender. They had no search warrant, grand jury subpoena or court order. Instead, a local FBI official hand-delivered a National Security Letter — one of more than 9,000 sent to finance, telephone and Internet companies last year — that described the records needed. Under a federal law expanded by the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act of 2001, the written request was all the authority the FBI needed. The Patriot Act also barred the librarians from disclosing the request to anyone. The librarians refused to hand over the information. Instead, they filed a federal lawsuit challenging the secret letters as an unconstitutional infringement on free speech. The e-mailed threat proved to be a hoax. Yet the lawsuit it sparked, only the second legal challenge to National Security Letters in their 20-year history, provides a rare public glimpse of the vast amount of banking, credit, telephone and Internet records that anti-terrorism or counterintelligence investigators can have simply by asking. National Security Letters are the key to the trove of personal data. When the law authorizing them was passed by Congress in 1986, the letters could be authorized only by a high-ranking FBI official in pursuit of an "agent of a foreign power." The Patriot Act, passed six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, expanded the letters' reach. Now they can be issued if a local FBI official merely certifies that the information sought is "relevant" to an international terrorism or foreign intelligence investigation. "People have no idea how much of what they probably consider their private information is readily available to government," says Susan Brenner, a University of Dayton law professor who advises the U.S. Secret Service on technology and privacy. The letters, she says, raise the question: "How do we balance law enforcement's needs with what's left of privacy in an age where technology permeates everything?" According to Michael Woods, chief of the FBI's national security law unit from 1999 to 2002, National Security Letters can be used to retrieve: •Internet and telephone data, including names, addresses, log-on times, toll records, e-mail addresses and service providers. •Financial records, including bank accounts and money transfers, provided the FBI says they are needed to "protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities." •Credit information, such as an individual's banks, loan companies, mortgage holders or other financial institutions. •Consumer, financial and foreign travel records held by "any commercial entity," if the investigation's target is an executive branch employee with a security clearance. Only FBI agents can obtain phone, computer and financial records. Other federal agencies that gather intelligence on international terrorism can get consumer credit reports and credit agency data. They include the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and Transportation Security Administration....
Consultant Breached FBI's Computers A government consultant, using computer programs easily found on the Internet, managed to crack the FBI's classified computer system and gain the passwords of 38,000 employees, including that of FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III. The break-ins, which occurred four times in 2004, gave the consultant access to records in the Witness Protection Program and details on counterespionage activity, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. As a direct result, the bureau said it was forced to temporarily shut down its network and commit thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars to ensure no sensitive information was lost or misused. The government does not allege that the consultant, Joseph Thomas Colon, intended to harm national security. But prosecutors said Colon's "curiosity hacks" nonetheless exposed sensitive information. Colon, 28, an employee of BAE Systems who was assigned to the FBI field office in Springfield, Ill., said in court filings that he used the passwords and other information to bypass bureaucratic obstacles and better help the FBI install its new computer system. And he said agents in the Springfield office approved his actions. The incident is only the latest in a long string of foul-ups, delays and embarrassments that have plagued the FBI as it tries to update its computer systems to better share tips and information. Its computer technology is frequently identified as one of the key obstacles to the bureau's attempt to sharpen its focus on intelligence and terrorism....
Senators want NSA to share its secrets A U.S. Senate panel wants the National Security Agency to distribute its data more widely. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is pushing the super-secret NSA to further open its databases of raw signals intelligence to a wider audience within the intelligence community. But the effort comes at a time when Congress, courts and the privacy community are closely scrutinizing the legality of the agency's surveillance activities, National Journal's Technology Daily reported Thursday. The committee ordered the NSA and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency to arrive at an agreement by the end of August to extend access to NSA's databases to more DIA analysts. "If the (memorandum of agreement) is not finished by this deadline, the committee will seek stronger measures in conference with the House on the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2007 to ensure timely completion," according to comments filed in a report with the committee's late May approval of the fiscal 2007 intelligence authorization bill. Panel Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said in the report that the committee was concerned that the intelligence community was not sharing enough raw information throughout its branches. The agreement on terms of access to the NSA databases should serve as a model for the terms of access to NSA and DIA databases for the wider intelligence community, said the committee report....
Bush Is Pressed on Reporting Domestic Surveillance In a sharply worded letter, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee has told President Bush that the administration is angering lawmakers, and possibly violating the law, by giving Congress too little information about domestic surveillance programs. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.) has been a staunch defender of the administration's anti-terrorism tactics. But seven weeks ago, he wrote to Bush to report that he had heard of "alleged Intelligence Community activities" not outlined to committee members in classified briefings. "If these allegations are true," he wrote, "they may represent a breach of responsibility by the Administration, a violation of law and . . . a direct affront to me and the Members of this committee." Hoekstra's four-page letter of May 18 was posted yesterday on the New York Times' Web site. His staff confirmed the letter's authenticity but said it was meant to remain private. Spokesman Jamal D. Ware said Hoekstra "has raised these concerns, and they are being addressed. He will continue to push for full disclosure so the committee can conduct vigorous oversight." The letter is significant because few congressional Republicans have complained publicly about Bush's surveillance programs, which include warrantless wiretaps of some Americans' international phone calls and e-mails as well as the massive collection of telephone records involving U.S. homes and businesses. Heretofore, the sharpest GOP concerns have been raised by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (Pa.). On May 26, Specter voted against Michael V. Hayden's confirmation as CIA director to protest what he called "the administration's policy of not informing the Congress . . . in a way which enables the Congress and the Judiciary Committee to do our constitutional job on oversight." In his letter, Hoekstra complained of unspecified alleged surveillance operations that had not become public at the time and that, perhaps, remain undisclosed. It was written five weeks before newspapers divulged that the administration has been secretly tapping into a vast global database of confidential financial transactions for nearly five years. It was unclear yesterday whether Hoekstra and other top-ranking lawmakers had been briefed on that program by the date of the letter....
Tax dollars to fund study on restricting public data The federal government will pay a Texas law school $1 million to do research aimed at rolling back the amount of sensitive data available to the press and public through freedom-of-information requests. Beginning this month, St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio will analyze recent state laws that place previously available information, such as site plans of power plants, beyond the reach of public inquiries. Jeffrey Addicott, a professor at the law school, said he will use that research to produce a national "model statute" that state legislatures and Congress could adopt to ensure that potentially dangerous information "stays out of the hands of the bad guys." "There's the public's right to know, but how much?" said Addicott, a former legal adviser in the Army's Special Forces. "There's a strong feeling that the law needs to balance that with the need to protect the well-being of the nation. ... There's too much stuff that's easy to get that shouldn't be," he said. The federal Freedom of Information Act, which became law 40 years ago this week, has long been a source of tension between the government and the public and news media. Critics say the research plan overstates the need for secrecy and is likely to give state and federal governments too much discretion to withhold material. "Restricting information (for) security and efficiency and comfort level, that's the good story," says Paul McMasters, a specialist in public information law at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va. "The bad story is that it can also be a great instrument of control. ... To automatically believe that the less known the better is really not rational." Congress added the grant to this year's Defense Department budget....
ACLU sues Secret Service and police over 2004 anti-Bush protest The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging the U.S. Secret Service and state and local police protecting President Bush during a 2004 campaign appearance discriminated against anti-Bush protesters when they moved to clear the streets outside an inn where the president was eating dinner. The class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court contends that police acting on orders from the Secret Service used unreasonable force to move some 200 people peacefully protesting against the war in Iraq in the historic Gold Rush town of Jacksonville while allowing pro-Bush demonstrators to remain standing on sidewalks. "Our primary motive is to prevent this kind of activity from happening again in the future," said David Fidanque, executive director of the Oregon ACLU. "Discrimination is taking place across the country that is part of the Secret Service keeping away protesters from the president and vice president. It has escalated dramatically in the past five years." Fidanque and attorney Ralph Temple said they knew of 16 similar instances in 12 other states and at least three other lawsuits have been filed....
Big Government Brings Big Brother to California Big Brother came to the rally in Walnut Creek, Calif., where Congressman George Miller spoke against the war in Iraq. Big Brother was also at the seal demonstration outside the Canadian consulate in San Francisco, and at a women’s demonstration in Santa Barbara, according to reports obtained by the Los Angeles Times, and statements from the State Attorney General, who condemned the practice. The reports were prepared for California's State Office of Homeland Security, which is a 53-person office in the California Governor’s Office created since 9/11 and funded mostly with federal money to protect us against terrorism. What the office did was hire a private firm to provide daily information. The reports were then shared with the whole Homeland Security Partnership, which includes the Highway Patrol and the Attorney General. Remember when Republicans stood for small government? Big government needs something to do. If it doesn’t have anything else to do, it will go to George Miller rallies. The danger posed by big government in this area is not simply excess spending but excess intervention of the worst sort -- intervention on the life and liberty of people, of those who are swept up by the terrorism hysteria in overbroad prosecutions, of which there have been a number, and the chilling and outright abuse of civil liberties, of which this is an obvious case. Of course, most of us don’t go to seal rallies, or even George Miller rallies, so why should we care? The mistakes that are being made in overbroad prosecutions and undue surveillance don’t happen to us. So why should you worry? First, because it defines what kind of country we are, whether we are indeed a free country, for ourselves, and in the eyes of the world. Second, because tomorrow they may come for you; because today it may be seals and George Miller, but if you don’t stop what is wrong, it may be too late when it does reach you. Third, because it’s wasting resources that should be spent elsewhere, as on disaster preparedness, here in a state that regularly faces earthquakes, fires, mudslides, etc....
Report Finds Gun Crime Dropping As Sales Climb Gun crimes, suicides and firearms-related accidents declined last year at the same time that firearm and ammunition sales climbed, according to data from the US Treasury Department released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). While this revelation tends to debunk long-standing claims by gun control proponents that more guns in circulation leads to more crime, gun rights organizations contend that this bolsters their contention that armed citizens deter criminals. NSSF Public Relations Director Steve Wagner told Gun Week that approximately 4.7 million new firearms were sold in America last year, including those manufactured domestically and imported. The greatest increase was in retail handgun sales, which were up 3%. Long gun sales were up 1.8%. Ammunition sales were up 3.5%. Wagner specified that these figures represent dollars generated, not actual volume of firearms and ammunition sold. However, the bottom line is that there are millions more firearms in circulation, which some gun control advocates have been arguing for years would result in more death and crime. Said Wagner: “The point of that release was just to help the media understand that the guys at the Violence Policy Center and Brady Center are selling a lie when they continue to tell people that more guns equals more bad news.”....
On big beat, rangers carry semiautomatic rifles Lisa Schutzberger pulled one on a wanted felon holed up at a campsite in Oregon. She slung another over her shoulder before confronting a mob of unruly paint-ballers in Idaho. Now, as one of only two rangers in charge of maintaining law and order on the 4.3 million acres in the Bureau of Land Management's Twin Falls district, Schutzberger said she is glad the BLM issues her a weapon – a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle. The agency began outfitting rangers with the semiautomatic rifles a few years ago. Rangers, the agency said, are no different than police officers; they just patrol a much larger beat. At her last job along Oregon's Rogue River, Schutzberger drew a BLM-issued handgun on a felon with an outstanding warrant. "I got him to the ground, handcuffed him and took him into custody," she told the Twin Falls Times-News. In several encounters with paint-ballers in the sprawling southern Idaho desert, Schutzberger wears the rifle. "I sling it over my shoulder," she said. "It's just like suiting up. It's saying, 'don't shoot me with your paintball.' " Some in southern Idaho, however, have begun questioning why bureau rangers need the AR-15 rifles after Schutzberger's gun went missing in May. James Larsen, 22, was accused by Twin Falls police of slipping into a ranger station with two friends and taking Schutzberger's weapon from a parked vehicle....
Permalink 0 comments
FBI Disrupts New York City Tunnel Plot Authorities have disrupted planning by foreign terrorists for an attack on New York City tunnels, two law enforcement officials said Friday. FBI agents monitoring Internet chat rooms used by extremists learned in recent months of the plot to strike a blow at the city's economy by destroying vital transportation networks, one official said. Lebanese authorities, acting on a U.S. request, have arrested one of the alleged plotters, identified as Amir Andalousli, the other official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said, "This is one instance where intelligence was on top of its game and discovered the plot when it was just in the talking phase." The planning for the tunnel attacks was first reported by the New York Daily News in its Friday editions, the first anniversary of the attacks on the London transportation system that killed 52 people. The planning was not far along, one U.S. official said, but authorities "take aspirations of that sort seriously." "At this time we have no indication of any imminent threat to the New York transportation system, or anywhere else in the U.S.," Richard Kolko, Washington-based FBI special agent, said in a statement to Associated Press Radio....
FBI plans new Net-tapping push The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build in backdoors for eavesdropping, CNET News.com has learned. FBI Agent Barry Smith distributed the proposal at a private meeting last Friday with industry representatives and indicated it would be introduced by Sen. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. The draft bill would place the FBI's Net-surveillance push on solid legal footing. At the moment, it's ensnared in a legal challenge from universities and some technology companies that claim the Federal Communications Commission's broadband surveillance directives exceed what Congress has authorized. The FBI claims that expanding the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is necessary to thwart criminals and terrorists who have turned to technologies like voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. "The complexity and variety of communications technologies have dramatically increased in recent years, and the lawful intercept capabilities of the federal, state and local law enforcement community have been under continual stress, and in many cases have decreased or become impossible," according to a summary accompanying the draft bill. Complicating the political outlook for the legislation is an ongoing debate over allegedly illegal surveillance by the National Security Administration--punctuated by several lawsuits challenging it on constitutional grounds and an unrelated proposal to force Internet service providers to record what Americans are doing online. One source, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of last Friday's meeting, said the FBI viewed its CALEA expansion as a top congressional priority for 2007....
Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court. The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages. ``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.'' The lawsuit is related to an alleged NSA program to record and store data on calls placed by subscribers. More than 30 suits have been filed over claims that the carriers, the three biggest U.S. telephone companies, violated the privacy rights of their customers by cooperating with the NSA in an effort to track alleged terrorists. ``The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither confirm nor deny AT&T's participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause `exceptionally grave harm to national security' and would violate both civil and criminal statutes,'' AT&T spokesman Dave Pacholczyk said in an e-mail. U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller and NSA spokesman Don Weber declined to comment....
With only a letter, FBI can gather private data When the FBI office in New Haven, Conn., received an e-mail in February 2005 that looked like a terrorist threat, agents followed a familiar routine. They asked the service provider, a group of Connecticut public libraries, for the real name, street address and Internet logs of the sender. They had no search warrant, grand jury subpoena or court order. Instead, a local FBI official hand-delivered a National Security Letter — one of more than 9,000 sent to finance, telephone and Internet companies last year — that described the records needed. Under a federal law expanded by the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act of 2001, the written request was all the authority the FBI needed. The Patriot Act also barred the librarians from disclosing the request to anyone. The librarians refused to hand over the information. Instead, they filed a federal lawsuit challenging the secret letters as an unconstitutional infringement on free speech. The e-mailed threat proved to be a hoax. Yet the lawsuit it sparked, only the second legal challenge to National Security Letters in their 20-year history, provides a rare public glimpse of the vast amount of banking, credit, telephone and Internet records that anti-terrorism or counterintelligence investigators can have simply by asking. National Security Letters are the key to the trove of personal data. When the law authorizing them was passed by Congress in 1986, the letters could be authorized only by a high-ranking FBI official in pursuit of an "agent of a foreign power." The Patriot Act, passed six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, expanded the letters' reach. Now they can be issued if a local FBI official merely certifies that the information sought is "relevant" to an international terrorism or foreign intelligence investigation. "People have no idea how much of what they probably consider their private information is readily available to government," says Susan Brenner, a University of Dayton law professor who advises the U.S. Secret Service on technology and privacy. The letters, she says, raise the question: "How do we balance law enforcement's needs with what's left of privacy in an age where technology permeates everything?" According to Michael Woods, chief of the FBI's national security law unit from 1999 to 2002, National Security Letters can be used to retrieve: •Internet and telephone data, including names, addresses, log-on times, toll records, e-mail addresses and service providers. •Financial records, including bank accounts and money transfers, provided the FBI says they are needed to "protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities." •Credit information, such as an individual's banks, loan companies, mortgage holders or other financial institutions. •Consumer, financial and foreign travel records held by "any commercial entity," if the investigation's target is an executive branch employee with a security clearance. Only FBI agents can obtain phone, computer and financial records. Other federal agencies that gather intelligence on international terrorism can get consumer credit reports and credit agency data. They include the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and Transportation Security Administration....
Consultant Breached FBI's Computers A government consultant, using computer programs easily found on the Internet, managed to crack the FBI's classified computer system and gain the passwords of 38,000 employees, including that of FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III. The break-ins, which occurred four times in 2004, gave the consultant access to records in the Witness Protection Program and details on counterespionage activity, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. As a direct result, the bureau said it was forced to temporarily shut down its network and commit thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars to ensure no sensitive information was lost or misused. The government does not allege that the consultant, Joseph Thomas Colon, intended to harm national security. But prosecutors said Colon's "curiosity hacks" nonetheless exposed sensitive information. Colon, 28, an employee of BAE Systems who was assigned to the FBI field office in Springfield, Ill., said in court filings that he used the passwords and other information to bypass bureaucratic obstacles and better help the FBI install its new computer system. And he said agents in the Springfield office approved his actions. The incident is only the latest in a long string of foul-ups, delays and embarrassments that have plagued the FBI as it tries to update its computer systems to better share tips and information. Its computer technology is frequently identified as one of the key obstacles to the bureau's attempt to sharpen its focus on intelligence and terrorism....
Senators want NSA to share its secrets A U.S. Senate panel wants the National Security Agency to distribute its data more widely. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is pushing the super-secret NSA to further open its databases of raw signals intelligence to a wider audience within the intelligence community. But the effort comes at a time when Congress, courts and the privacy community are closely scrutinizing the legality of the agency's surveillance activities, National Journal's Technology Daily reported Thursday. The committee ordered the NSA and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency to arrive at an agreement by the end of August to extend access to NSA's databases to more DIA analysts. "If the (memorandum of agreement) is not finished by this deadline, the committee will seek stronger measures in conference with the House on the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2007 to ensure timely completion," according to comments filed in a report with the committee's late May approval of the fiscal 2007 intelligence authorization bill. Panel Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said in the report that the committee was concerned that the intelligence community was not sharing enough raw information throughout its branches. The agreement on terms of access to the NSA databases should serve as a model for the terms of access to NSA and DIA databases for the wider intelligence community, said the committee report....
Bush Is Pressed on Reporting Domestic Surveillance In a sharply worded letter, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee has told President Bush that the administration is angering lawmakers, and possibly violating the law, by giving Congress too little information about domestic surveillance programs. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.) has been a staunch defender of the administration's anti-terrorism tactics. But seven weeks ago, he wrote to Bush to report that he had heard of "alleged Intelligence Community activities" not outlined to committee members in classified briefings. "If these allegations are true," he wrote, "they may represent a breach of responsibility by the Administration, a violation of law and . . . a direct affront to me and the Members of this committee." Hoekstra's four-page letter of May 18 was posted yesterday on the New York Times' Web site. His staff confirmed the letter's authenticity but said it was meant to remain private. Spokesman Jamal D. Ware said Hoekstra "has raised these concerns, and they are being addressed. He will continue to push for full disclosure so the committee can conduct vigorous oversight." The letter is significant because few congressional Republicans have complained publicly about Bush's surveillance programs, which include warrantless wiretaps of some Americans' international phone calls and e-mails as well as the massive collection of telephone records involving U.S. homes and businesses. Heretofore, the sharpest GOP concerns have been raised by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (Pa.). On May 26, Specter voted against Michael V. Hayden's confirmation as CIA director to protest what he called "the administration's policy of not informing the Congress . . . in a way which enables the Congress and the Judiciary Committee to do our constitutional job on oversight." In his letter, Hoekstra complained of unspecified alleged surveillance operations that had not become public at the time and that, perhaps, remain undisclosed. It was written five weeks before newspapers divulged that the administration has been secretly tapping into a vast global database of confidential financial transactions for nearly five years. It was unclear yesterday whether Hoekstra and other top-ranking lawmakers had been briefed on that program by the date of the letter....
Tax dollars to fund study on restricting public data The federal government will pay a Texas law school $1 million to do research aimed at rolling back the amount of sensitive data available to the press and public through freedom-of-information requests. Beginning this month, St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio will analyze recent state laws that place previously available information, such as site plans of power plants, beyond the reach of public inquiries. Jeffrey Addicott, a professor at the law school, said he will use that research to produce a national "model statute" that state legislatures and Congress could adopt to ensure that potentially dangerous information "stays out of the hands of the bad guys." "There's the public's right to know, but how much?" said Addicott, a former legal adviser in the Army's Special Forces. "There's a strong feeling that the law needs to balance that with the need to protect the well-being of the nation. ... There's too much stuff that's easy to get that shouldn't be," he said. The federal Freedom of Information Act, which became law 40 years ago this week, has long been a source of tension between the government and the public and news media. Critics say the research plan overstates the need for secrecy and is likely to give state and federal governments too much discretion to withhold material. "Restricting information (for) security and efficiency and comfort level, that's the good story," says Paul McMasters, a specialist in public information law at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va. "The bad story is that it can also be a great instrument of control. ... To automatically believe that the less known the better is really not rational." Congress added the grant to this year's Defense Department budget....
ACLU sues Secret Service and police over 2004 anti-Bush protest The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging the U.S. Secret Service and state and local police protecting President Bush during a 2004 campaign appearance discriminated against anti-Bush protesters when they moved to clear the streets outside an inn where the president was eating dinner. The class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court contends that police acting on orders from the Secret Service used unreasonable force to move some 200 people peacefully protesting against the war in Iraq in the historic Gold Rush town of Jacksonville while allowing pro-Bush demonstrators to remain standing on sidewalks. "Our primary motive is to prevent this kind of activity from happening again in the future," said David Fidanque, executive director of the Oregon ACLU. "Discrimination is taking place across the country that is part of the Secret Service keeping away protesters from the president and vice president. It has escalated dramatically in the past five years." Fidanque and attorney Ralph Temple said they knew of 16 similar instances in 12 other states and at least three other lawsuits have been filed....
Big Government Brings Big Brother to California Big Brother came to the rally in Walnut Creek, Calif., where Congressman George Miller spoke against the war in Iraq. Big Brother was also at the seal demonstration outside the Canadian consulate in San Francisco, and at a women’s demonstration in Santa Barbara, according to reports obtained by the Los Angeles Times, and statements from the State Attorney General, who condemned the practice. The reports were prepared for California's State Office of Homeland Security, which is a 53-person office in the California Governor’s Office created since 9/11 and funded mostly with federal money to protect us against terrorism. What the office did was hire a private firm to provide daily information. The reports were then shared with the whole Homeland Security Partnership, which includes the Highway Patrol and the Attorney General. Remember when Republicans stood for small government? Big government needs something to do. If it doesn’t have anything else to do, it will go to George Miller rallies. The danger posed by big government in this area is not simply excess spending but excess intervention of the worst sort -- intervention on the life and liberty of people, of those who are swept up by the terrorism hysteria in overbroad prosecutions, of which there have been a number, and the chilling and outright abuse of civil liberties, of which this is an obvious case. Of course, most of us don’t go to seal rallies, or even George Miller rallies, so why should we care? The mistakes that are being made in overbroad prosecutions and undue surveillance don’t happen to us. So why should you worry? First, because it defines what kind of country we are, whether we are indeed a free country, for ourselves, and in the eyes of the world. Second, because tomorrow they may come for you; because today it may be seals and George Miller, but if you don’t stop what is wrong, it may be too late when it does reach you. Third, because it’s wasting resources that should be spent elsewhere, as on disaster preparedness, here in a state that regularly faces earthquakes, fires, mudslides, etc....
Report Finds Gun Crime Dropping As Sales Climb Gun crimes, suicides and firearms-related accidents declined last year at the same time that firearm and ammunition sales climbed, according to data from the US Treasury Department released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). While this revelation tends to debunk long-standing claims by gun control proponents that more guns in circulation leads to more crime, gun rights organizations contend that this bolsters their contention that armed citizens deter criminals. NSSF Public Relations Director Steve Wagner told Gun Week that approximately 4.7 million new firearms were sold in America last year, including those manufactured domestically and imported. The greatest increase was in retail handgun sales, which were up 3%. Long gun sales were up 1.8%. Ammunition sales were up 3.5%. Wagner specified that these figures represent dollars generated, not actual volume of firearms and ammunition sold. However, the bottom line is that there are millions more firearms in circulation, which some gun control advocates have been arguing for years would result in more death and crime. Said Wagner: “The point of that release was just to help the media understand that the guys at the Violence Policy Center and Brady Center are selling a lie when they continue to tell people that more guns equals more bad news.”....
On big beat, rangers carry semiautomatic rifles Lisa Schutzberger pulled one on a wanted felon holed up at a campsite in Oregon. She slung another over her shoulder before confronting a mob of unruly paint-ballers in Idaho. Now, as one of only two rangers in charge of maintaining law and order on the 4.3 million acres in the Bureau of Land Management's Twin Falls district, Schutzberger said she is glad the BLM issues her a weapon – a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle. The agency began outfitting rangers with the semiautomatic rifles a few years ago. Rangers, the agency said, are no different than police officers; they just patrol a much larger beat. At her last job along Oregon's Rogue River, Schutzberger drew a BLM-issued handgun on a felon with an outstanding warrant. "I got him to the ground, handcuffed him and took him into custody," she told the Twin Falls Times-News. In several encounters with paint-ballers in the sprawling southern Idaho desert, Schutzberger wears the rifle. "I sling it over my shoulder," she said. "It's just like suiting up. It's saying, 'don't shoot me with your paintball.' " Some in southern Idaho, however, have begun questioning why bureau rangers need the AR-15 rifles after Schutzberger's gun went missing in May. James Larsen, 22, was accused by Twin Falls police of slipping into a ranger station with two friends and taking Schutzberger's weapon from a parked vehicle....
Permalink 0 comments
