OPINION/COMMENTARY
New Source Review Revue
If some Democrats have their way, the environment will emerge as an important political issue in 2004. Democratic partisans and environmental activists seek to brand the Bush administration "anti-environmental" and exploit the Republican party's traditional political weakness on environmental matters. Their reports and press releases make exaggerated claims about the Bush environmental record. The administration has launched an "endless assault" on the nation's basic environmental protections, according to Bradley Campbell, a former Clinton-administration official now heading up New Jersey's environmental agency. For the past two-and-one-half years, most such attacks went largely unanswered by the administration, but there are signs this is starting to change.
A primary target of environmental activist ire is the Bush administration's reform of New Source Review (NSR) regulations under the Clean Air Act. Under NSR, new power plants and industrial facilities must meet stringent pollution-control requirements. Plants built prior to NSR's adoption in 1977, however, are "grandfathered," and only required to install such controls when they are expanded or substantially upgraded. Plants may undertake routine repair and maintenance without triggering NSR's requirements.
For years independent environmental analysts counseled that NSR was in need of reform. As Robert Stavins of Harvard University and Howard Gruenspecht of Resources for the Future noted in January 2002, NSR "retards environmental progress and wastes resources." By requiring facilities that enhance or upgrade facilities to undertake a lengthy permitting process and install costly additional pollution controls, NSR discourages companies from making cost-effective plant modifications that can improve efficiency and thereby reduce air pollution from energy production. According to Stavins and Gruenspecht, "Not only does the New Source Review deter investment in newer, cleaner technologies, it also discourages companies from keeping power plants maintained." This is bad for the environment, not to mention worker safety and plant reliability...
Melting Matters
The largest ice shelf in the Arctic is breaking up and most of Europe just experienced a very warm summer. As expected, those professors, lobbyists and green protestors who make their living promoting the coming apocalypse due to global warming made a fuss about it. Canadian polar scientists are blaming accelerated regional warming for the ice shelf collapse and their European counterparts continue to make the most of the now dwindling European heat to further their agenda to promote the notion that climate change is dangerously sending us towards oblivion.
The latest concern is that melting glaciers and collapsing ice shelves will lead to a massive water crisis. The left-wing British newspaper The Guardian claims that 'climate change is causing increasingly rapid melting of the ice' and that this will damage 'communities that rely on meltwater for irrigation, hydroelectric schemes and drinking'. The loss of ice will 'increase sea levels worldwide'. Even where glaciers are expanding in Scandinavia (and Alaska) this is apparently due to increased snowfall 'also caused by climate change'. So whether it is an expanding or a receding glacier, human-induced climate change is to blame...
Earth First! Revealed
An in-depth profile of the militant environmental group Earth First! (EF!) has just been added to our award-winning and ever-growing ActivistCash website. EF! is largely responsible for introducing illegal acts of sabotage to the environmental lunatic fringe. The PETA-supported Earth Liberation Front, infamous today for burning SUVs and torching construction sites, originally sprung from Earth First! in 1992. Here are a few selections from our new profile:
--Before he quit in the late 1980s, the driving force behind EF! was a man named Dave Foreman. His book Ecodefense: A Field Guide To Monkeywrenching is a how-to for environmental saboteurs. It includes nine chapters of instructions on subjects ranging from tree spiking to destroying roads, from disabling equipment to making smoke bombs. Rodney Coronado, an Earth First! zealot who was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison following a string of arsons, calls the book "our bible."
--"We thought it would have been useful to have a group to take a tougher position than the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society," Foreman remembers. "It could be sort of secretly controlled by the mainstream and trotted out at hearings to make the Sierra Club or Wilderness Society look moderate."
--In 2002, the Earth First! Journal published a two-page spread called "Most-Wanted Eco-terrorists: the Biotechnology Industry." Claiming that "everyone at Monsanto is an eco-terrorist," it opened with a line that has become emblematic of green radicals everywhere: "The Earth is not dying, it is being killed by corporations such as the biotechnology industries, and the people who are killing it have names and addresses." The article then went on to list names and addresses.
--Theodore "the Unabomber" Kaczynski is the radical environmental movement's biggest black eye. Conventional wisdom dictates that Kaczynski was merely an intellectual serial-killer, but his connection to Earth First! and the broader eco-terror movement is undeniable ... Ted Kaczynski did little more than follow what Earth First! openly advocates. The September 1989 Journal included an article instructing:
While Eco defenders are quick to point out that life is sacred and is not a target of Eco-Defense, many doubt that multinational takeover artists who liquidate old growth forests to pay off junk bonds qualify as Life-forms. Such Robotoids, they aver, should be classed with damns, dozers and drillers. A "Hit List" is available upon discreet inquiry.
For Earth First!, this kind of advice is (sadly) not a one-time thing. A cartoon in the 20th Anniversary issue of the Journal noted: "Trees are for hanging. Kill a developer." And the Unabomber could easily have read Dave Foreman's words: "The blood of timber executives is my natural drink, and the wail of dying forest supervisors is music to my ears."
Setting the Record Straight: The White House, 9/11, and Air Quality
Those seeking a rational, fact-based treatment of the EPA response to the World Trade Center collapse surely won't get it by reading Susan Moeller's op-ed in the September 25 edition of Newsday. Moeller, who teaches media and international affairs at the University of Maryland, writes of a "scandal" and "deliberate manipulation" on the part of the White House.
Nonsense. A reasonable examination of the available evidence wholly undermines Moeller's assertions. Moreover, contrast Moeller's views with, of all sources, the New York Times editorial page, which dismissed the entire issue as "retrospective nitpicking." The Times, no friend of the Bush Administration, also agrees with the most recent scientific findings about air quality since September 11: "The broader public faced little or no risk from breathing the outdoor air once the initial cloud settled."...
No Backroom Deals on CO2
...Part of the bargain for passing the Senate version of the energy bill was to allow Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) to introduce a stand-alone bill to establish caps for global warming emissions. Global warming remains an issue of scientific examination, with a number of uncertainties and controversies over the contribution of man-made greenhouse gas emissions to worldwide climate change. To put things in perspective, man-made emissions have been rising, mainly due to the use of fossil fuels, which generates carbon dioxide. However, this is only one of many contributors to the greenhouse effect, with water vapor being the most dominant and least understood greenhouse gas - responsible for 95 percent of the greenhouse effect. Examining carbon dioxide alone, man-made emissions account for less than 3 percent of total emissions... In essence, efforts to cap greenhouse gas emissions are an attempt to comply with the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to cap emissions in the industrialized world. Economists have identified the significant costs of this treaty, with estimates ranging from $128 billion to $300 billion a year. As a reference point, President Bush's recent tax cut was only a total of $350 billion with only a $109 billion reduction in 2003, meaning that higher energy costs would virtually offset any boost to economic growth provided by a tax cut. Scientists continue to debate the uncertainties surrounding global climate change and it appears Congress wisely refrained from addressing the issue in the energy bill currently in conference. Until the debate is resolved, the Senate should continue to show restraint, rejecting any legislation that attempts to cap emissions of greenhouse gases.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Pistol-packin' citizens patrol Western parks The gray Jeep Cherokee with the large gold star on the door is just about ready to roll. Two men check the gear stowed in the back: tools, medical equipment, radios, GPS device, rappelling ropes, camera, gas mask, body armor, canisters of CS gas and pepper spray, thermos of coffee, and sandwiches. They're both wearing badges, and they both have semiautomatic pistols in black leather holsters tucked into their waistbands. A 12-gauge shotgun stands upright, clamped to the dashboard. But Paul Ehrhardt and Eric (who asks that his last name not be used) are not law-enforcement officers. They're members of the "Oregon Rangers Association," a group of civilians who've taken it upon themselves to patrol the national forests where they respond to emergencies, look for illegal activity, and make citizens' arrests if necessary...Column: Recreation fees are working A trial program allowing four federal agencies to charge for the use of certain public lands remains controversial. The program is working, though, and unless critics can come up with a better idea, there is no reason to abandon it. Supporters say the program is generating money to better maintain popular recreation areas. Critics say the program is unfair to the taxpaying public that already owns the lands and facilities affected... Groups sue Forest Service over Big Hole fire proposal The Forest Service and two environmental groups evidently don't see eye to eye on a proposal to work on portions of the Mussigbrod and Middle Fork fires that burned in 2000. And now it's going to be up to a federal judge to sort it out... Burns tries to restart timber sales A rider quietly attached to the Interior Appropriations Bill passed by the U.S. Senate last week would allow logging to resume on five timber sales stopped by an environmentalist lawsuit against the Kootenai National Forest. And salvage logging proposed by the Flathead National Forest in the wake of this summer's Robert and Wedge Canyon fires would not be subject to the normal environmental reviews under the rider shepherded by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont... St. Joe River Lands Protected under Easement Agreement for Potlatch Timberlands Potlatch Corporation (NYSE:PCH) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) today announced completion of the first phase of a conservation easement agreement that will forever secure public access, wildlife habitat and sustainable forest management on 2,710 acres of northern Idaho's scenic St. Joe River Valley. The agreement finalized this week permanently transfers Potlatch's development rights to the land and assigns access opportunities to the public. The combined value of rights transferred to the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) is about $600,000. Potlatch will continue to own and manage the land for timber, using third-party certified sustainable practices that meet the nation's highest stewardship standards... Senators hammer out deal on wildfire legislation Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on Wednesday announced the details of a balanced, bipartisan compromise on healthy forests legislation that he said would streamline "restorative forestry" in at-risk and unhealthy forests, yet preserve public input, protect old growth and "rein in" provisions of a bill approved earlier by the House. "This agreement provides for the first-ever statutory protection of old growth, preserves the public's right to participate, and streamlines the appeals process to eliminate some of its worst abuses," Wyden said... Burn zone trespassers risk fines, jail People cannot enter the burned areas "whether by foot, horseback or vehicle" without violating the law. Roland Giller, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said many individuals are simply violating the order, risking a $5,000 fine, six months in jail, or both. All roads and trails leading into closed areas are posted and law enforcement officers are on patrol... Editorial: New ATV rules necessary Humans can affect wildlife habitat and ecosystems just by traveling through them. Usually, though, the damage done by hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers is minimal, or at least repairable. The good news is that most of the 214 million people who visit our national forests every year are proper stewards of their public lands, leaving behind footprints that disappear and taking with them only memories that last a lifetime. That's not always the case with motorized vehicles, though. The problem is especially pernicious with all-terrain vehicles...Streamlining natural gas drilling A congressional task force Tuesday recommended the creation of a single federal agency to process the permits for natural gas drilling on federal lands. The recommendation will be incorporated in the conference draft of an energy bill that sailed through both houses of Congress earlier this year... Oregon Chosen As Setting for Wolf Lawsuit Environmental groups filed suit Wednesday challenging the federal government's decision to downgrade protection for the gray wolf, a predator being restored in parts of the United States. The federal lawsuit claims the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act in April, when it changed the gray wolf from an endangered to a threatened species, loosening restrictions on killing the animal to protect livestock. Environmentalists said they sued in Oregon in part because wolves introduced in Idaho have migrated into that state, though there have been no confirmed sightings since 2001...(I'm sure it had nothing to do with the judges there, ha!!) ...Sierra shrub not unique after all; removed from danger list A small shrub once thought to be so rare it only grew on a 280-yard stretch of flood plain along the Truckee River isn't unique after all, the government said Wednesday in removing it from the federal endangered species list...Ruling could force changes in grazing practices on Gila A federal judge's ruling on Tuesday could force changes in grazing practices on some Gila National Forest allotments. Delbert Griego, a staff officer for the Gila National Forest, said "a bunch" of allotments could be affected by the ruling. "What it's going to do is force us to reconsult with the Fish and Widlife Service on grazing allotments," said forest staffer Debby Hyde-Sato. "It could cause us to graze differently on those allotments; maybe move the cows out." Allotments affected by the ruling are "either occupied (flycatcher) habitat or areas suitable for habitat if they are restored," she explained...Fish is latest in long line of species spats Getting tired, really tired, of all the debate and legal wrangling swirling around the Rio Grande silvery minnow? You're not alone. The minnow is just the latest of dozens of endangered species throughout America that have frustrated major construction projects, anti-erosion programs for private beachfront property, huge lumbering operations and, in Albuquerque's case, unimpeded access to water during a drought...Irrigators sue over salmon recovery Two irrigators associations sued the federal government as expected Tuesday over its already legally flawed salmon recovery plan. "The simple message here is 'Judge, the hydro system is not broken. ... and try not to trip over all the fish when you're crossing the river,' " said Darryll Olsen, a consultant for both irrigator associations...Cedar River's chinook get big breakthrough For the first time in more than a century, chinook salmon are getting access to prime spawning areas on the Cedar River. Since construction of Landsburg Dam, designed to divert municipal drinking water, chinook have been barred from 17 miles of the river and its tributaries southeast of Seattle...Bears bite at musk oxen population Musk ox kills by grizzly bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have dramatically increased over the past decade, according to studies by federal and state biologists. A number of individual Arctic grizzlies have learned how to stalk and take down the shaggy animals, said ANWR ecologist Patricia Reynolds, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...Bill aims to keep public trails open to pack animals Jennifer Roeser was far from her Sierra Nevada pack operation Tuesday, instead venturing onto Capitol Hill to lobby against what she considers to be unnecessary regulatory hassles. Roeser, 40, and her husband run McGee Creek Pack Station in Mammoth Lakes, one of about two dozen pack operations serving the Sierra Nevada range. Unhappy with some restrictive federal planning, the pack operators helped craft legislation introduced by Mariposa Republican George Radanovich that would make it harder to restrict the pack operations...Go here to view Radanovich's press release on this hearing and his Right To Ride bill (H.R. 2966). FWP euthanizes grizzly for killing area livestock Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks recently euthanized a grizzly bear that killed 17 sheep in the Lincoln area. The 522-pound male had a history of livestock conflicts... Conservation easement largest in state history Conservationists, Plum Creek Timber Co. and state fish and wildlife officials on Tuesday announced completion of a $34 million, seven-year effort to protect from development 142,000 acres in the Thompson and Fisher river valleys of northwestern Montana. The set-aside is the largest conservation easement in Montana history. Brokered by the Trust for Public Lands, the easement protects a wide swath of Plum Creek's commercial timberland from subdivision, but allows continued timber management and logging...Tribe acquires Mustang Ranch water rights Water rights once controlled by Nevada's notorious brothel boss Joe Conforte will go to help threatened fish, a parched river and a shrinking lake. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe has acquired 461 acre-feet of water rights that were once owned by the kingpin of the Mustang Ranch bordello and will use the water to increase flows in the lower Truckee River and to Pyramid Lake, officials said Wednesday... Critics say Bush plan puts 600,000 Colorado acres at risk Critics of a new Bush administration policy say it will put 600,000 acres of Colorado wilderness at risk of damage from energy development, grazing and all-terrain vehicles. Earlier this week, the administration ordered the Bureau of Land Management to give equal consideration to the commercial value of land before setting it aside as wilderness...Off-roaders get reprieve from fees Fees scheduled to take effect today for off-roaders on 300,000 acres of public land have been put on hold indefinitely while the Bureau of Land Management weighs the need and impacts of fee-for-use programs. The more than 430,000 visitors each year to Dumont Dunes, Johnson Valley, Stoddard Valley, El Mirage and Rasor Off Highway Vehicle areas could pay as much as $20 weekly, or $60 for an annual pass... Interior Department's top lawyer resigning The Interior Department's top lawyer is resigning next month, after having been nominated to serve as a federal appeals judge and initiating an agency investigation into his own conduct over cattle grazing dealings. Williams Myers III, who as solicitor for the department provides legal opinions for Interior Secretary Gale Norton, plans to step down in mid-October to return to his home in Boise, Idaho, where his wife and children are living, department officials said... Settlement reached in Campbell County rancher lawsuit A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by a Campbell County rancher who charged the state illegally allowed coal-bed methane water to damage his private property. "I certainly hope that other ranchers will have gained because of what has gone on in my particular case," rancher Edward Swarth said Wednesday...Ranchers look to set their land aside FROM HIS SHEEP PASTURE, Terry Rooney looks down on the growing city below and muses about the time his family might have sold its 40-acre ranch for development along the swathe of land that is now Livermore's greenbelt. With local zoning laws preventing much building in North Livermore these days, though, and a City Council bent on protecting open space, he decided to take what he could get this summer, and apply for a new federal offer that would pay him to keep grazing his land. But he was turned down. So were 25 other Alameda County ranchers. Their applications alone offered to sell 12,000 acres into easements held by the federal Department of Agriculture. That equates to more than 13 times the $1.8 million the department set aside this year to protect land in the first year of the Grassland Reserve Program...Minnow dispute simmers as Congress eyes spending The fight over Rio Grande water rights and the endangered silvery minnow will come to a head next week as House and Senate negotiators resolve differences in a spending bill for federal energy and water projects. Both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill expect Sen. Pete Domenici will succeed in his bid to insert language into one of the annual federal appropriation bills mandating that legal requirements to protect the minnow "have been met" and that water deals made by the City of Albuquerque and other governments are exempt federal court action to protect the fish's habitat...Decades-Old Water Dispute Nears Settlement An end to a decades-old water dispute among pueblos and other Pojoaque Valley water users may be in sight. Attorneys for both sides have told a federal magistrate that a final rewrite of a settlement will be done January First. The case dates all the way back to 1966. The state Engineer Office sued to determine water rights of users in the Rio Pojoaque, Rio Tesuque and Rio Nambe watersheds...Vegetarian cowboy risks Canada mad cow showdown The vegetarian cowboy, best known for spurring Oprah Winfrey to spurn burgers, rode into Canadian cattle country Wednesday to warn about the dangers of meat, despite fears of a hostile reception from cattle farmers hard hit by the mad cow scare...5 selected for Cowgirls honors The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame has selected its newest members for the Hall of Fame. The four will be inducted during the 28th annual Induction Luncheon Nov. 14 at the Round Up Inn at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. Inducted this year will be Glenna Goodacre, award-winning sculptor; Ann Secrest Hanson, all-around cowgirl and one of the first female rodeo pick-up riders; Sheila Varian, premiere Arabian horse breeder; and Velda Tindall Smith (deceased), rodeo competitor and one of the founders of the Texas Barrel Racing Association...
Pistol-packin' citizens patrol Western parks The gray Jeep Cherokee with the large gold star on the door is just about ready to roll. Two men check the gear stowed in the back: tools, medical equipment, radios, GPS device, rappelling ropes, camera, gas mask, body armor, canisters of CS gas and pepper spray, thermos of coffee, and sandwiches. They're both wearing badges, and they both have semiautomatic pistols in black leather holsters tucked into their waistbands. A 12-gauge shotgun stands upright, clamped to the dashboard. But Paul Ehrhardt and Eric (who asks that his last name not be used) are not law-enforcement officers. They're members of the "Oregon Rangers Association," a group of civilians who've taken it upon themselves to patrol the national forests where they respond to emergencies, look for illegal activity, and make citizens' arrests if necessary...Column: Recreation fees are working A trial program allowing four federal agencies to charge for the use of certain public lands remains controversial. The program is working, though, and unless critics can come up with a better idea, there is no reason to abandon it. Supporters say the program is generating money to better maintain popular recreation areas. Critics say the program is unfair to the taxpaying public that already owns the lands and facilities affected... Groups sue Forest Service over Big Hole fire proposal The Forest Service and two environmental groups evidently don't see eye to eye on a proposal to work on portions of the Mussigbrod and Middle Fork fires that burned in 2000. And now it's going to be up to a federal judge to sort it out... Burns tries to restart timber sales A rider quietly attached to the Interior Appropriations Bill passed by the U.S. Senate last week would allow logging to resume on five timber sales stopped by an environmentalist lawsuit against the Kootenai National Forest. And salvage logging proposed by the Flathead National Forest in the wake of this summer's Robert and Wedge Canyon fires would not be subject to the normal environmental reviews under the rider shepherded by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont... St. Joe River Lands Protected under Easement Agreement for Potlatch Timberlands Potlatch Corporation (NYSE:PCH) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) today announced completion of the first phase of a conservation easement agreement that will forever secure public access, wildlife habitat and sustainable forest management on 2,710 acres of northern Idaho's scenic St. Joe River Valley. The agreement finalized this week permanently transfers Potlatch's development rights to the land and assigns access opportunities to the public. The combined value of rights transferred to the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) is about $600,000. Potlatch will continue to own and manage the land for timber, using third-party certified sustainable practices that meet the nation's highest stewardship standards... Senators hammer out deal on wildfire legislation Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on Wednesday announced the details of a balanced, bipartisan compromise on healthy forests legislation that he said would streamline "restorative forestry" in at-risk and unhealthy forests, yet preserve public input, protect old growth and "rein in" provisions of a bill approved earlier by the House. "This agreement provides for the first-ever statutory protection of old growth, preserves the public's right to participate, and streamlines the appeals process to eliminate some of its worst abuses," Wyden said... Burn zone trespassers risk fines, jail People cannot enter the burned areas "whether by foot, horseback or vehicle" without violating the law. Roland Giller, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said many individuals are simply violating the order, risking a $5,000 fine, six months in jail, or both. All roads and trails leading into closed areas are posted and law enforcement officers are on patrol... Editorial: New ATV rules necessary Humans can affect wildlife habitat and ecosystems just by traveling through them. Usually, though, the damage done by hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers is minimal, or at least repairable. The good news is that most of the 214 million people who visit our national forests every year are proper stewards of their public lands, leaving behind footprints that disappear and taking with them only memories that last a lifetime. That's not always the case with motorized vehicles, though. The problem is especially pernicious with all-terrain vehicles...Streamlining natural gas drilling A congressional task force Tuesday recommended the creation of a single federal agency to process the permits for natural gas drilling on federal lands. The recommendation will be incorporated in the conference draft of an energy bill that sailed through both houses of Congress earlier this year... Oregon Chosen As Setting for Wolf Lawsuit Environmental groups filed suit Wednesday challenging the federal government's decision to downgrade protection for the gray wolf, a predator being restored in parts of the United States. The federal lawsuit claims the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act in April, when it changed the gray wolf from an endangered to a threatened species, loosening restrictions on killing the animal to protect livestock. Environmentalists said they sued in Oregon in part because wolves introduced in Idaho have migrated into that state, though there have been no confirmed sightings since 2001...(I'm sure it had nothing to do with the judges there, ha!!) ...Sierra shrub not unique after all; removed from danger list A small shrub once thought to be so rare it only grew on a 280-yard stretch of flood plain along the Truckee River isn't unique after all, the government said Wednesday in removing it from the federal endangered species list...Ruling could force changes in grazing practices on Gila A federal judge's ruling on Tuesday could force changes in grazing practices on some Gila National Forest allotments. Delbert Griego, a staff officer for the Gila National Forest, said "a bunch" of allotments could be affected by the ruling. "What it's going to do is force us to reconsult with the Fish and Widlife Service on grazing allotments," said forest staffer Debby Hyde-Sato. "It could cause us to graze differently on those allotments; maybe move the cows out." Allotments affected by the ruling are "either occupied (flycatcher) habitat or areas suitable for habitat if they are restored," she explained...Fish is latest in long line of species spats Getting tired, really tired, of all the debate and legal wrangling swirling around the Rio Grande silvery minnow? You're not alone. The minnow is just the latest of dozens of endangered species throughout America that have frustrated major construction projects, anti-erosion programs for private beachfront property, huge lumbering operations and, in Albuquerque's case, unimpeded access to water during a drought...Irrigators sue over salmon recovery Two irrigators associations sued the federal government as expected Tuesday over its already legally flawed salmon recovery plan. "The simple message here is 'Judge, the hydro system is not broken. ... and try not to trip over all the fish when you're crossing the river,' " said Darryll Olsen, a consultant for both irrigator associations...Cedar River's chinook get big breakthrough For the first time in more than a century, chinook salmon are getting access to prime spawning areas on the Cedar River. Since construction of Landsburg Dam, designed to divert municipal drinking water, chinook have been barred from 17 miles of the river and its tributaries southeast of Seattle...Bears bite at musk oxen population Musk ox kills by grizzly bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have dramatically increased over the past decade, according to studies by federal and state biologists. A number of individual Arctic grizzlies have learned how to stalk and take down the shaggy animals, said ANWR ecologist Patricia Reynolds, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...Bill aims to keep public trails open to pack animals Jennifer Roeser was far from her Sierra Nevada pack operation Tuesday, instead venturing onto Capitol Hill to lobby against what she considers to be unnecessary regulatory hassles. Roeser, 40, and her husband run McGee Creek Pack Station in Mammoth Lakes, one of about two dozen pack operations serving the Sierra Nevada range. Unhappy with some restrictive federal planning, the pack operators helped craft legislation introduced by Mariposa Republican George Radanovich that would make it harder to restrict the pack operations...Go here to view Radanovich's press release on this hearing and his Right To Ride bill (H.R. 2966). FWP euthanizes grizzly for killing area livestock Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks recently euthanized a grizzly bear that killed 17 sheep in the Lincoln area. The 522-pound male had a history of livestock conflicts... Conservation easement largest in state history Conservationists, Plum Creek Timber Co. and state fish and wildlife officials on Tuesday announced completion of a $34 million, seven-year effort to protect from development 142,000 acres in the Thompson and Fisher river valleys of northwestern Montana. The set-aside is the largest conservation easement in Montana history. Brokered by the Trust for Public Lands, the easement protects a wide swath of Plum Creek's commercial timberland from subdivision, but allows continued timber management and logging...Tribe acquires Mustang Ranch water rights Water rights once controlled by Nevada's notorious brothel boss Joe Conforte will go to help threatened fish, a parched river and a shrinking lake. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe has acquired 461 acre-feet of water rights that were once owned by the kingpin of the Mustang Ranch bordello and will use the water to increase flows in the lower Truckee River and to Pyramid Lake, officials said Wednesday... Critics say Bush plan puts 600,000 Colorado acres at risk Critics of a new Bush administration policy say it will put 600,000 acres of Colorado wilderness at risk of damage from energy development, grazing and all-terrain vehicles. Earlier this week, the administration ordered the Bureau of Land Management to give equal consideration to the commercial value of land before setting it aside as wilderness...Off-roaders get reprieve from fees Fees scheduled to take effect today for off-roaders on 300,000 acres of public land have been put on hold indefinitely while the Bureau of Land Management weighs the need and impacts of fee-for-use programs. The more than 430,000 visitors each year to Dumont Dunes, Johnson Valley, Stoddard Valley, El Mirage and Rasor Off Highway Vehicle areas could pay as much as $20 weekly, or $60 for an annual pass... Interior Department's top lawyer resigning The Interior Department's top lawyer is resigning next month, after having been nominated to serve as a federal appeals judge and initiating an agency investigation into his own conduct over cattle grazing dealings. Williams Myers III, who as solicitor for the department provides legal opinions for Interior Secretary Gale Norton, plans to step down in mid-October to return to his home in Boise, Idaho, where his wife and children are living, department officials said... Settlement reached in Campbell County rancher lawsuit A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by a Campbell County rancher who charged the state illegally allowed coal-bed methane water to damage his private property. "I certainly hope that other ranchers will have gained because of what has gone on in my particular case," rancher Edward Swarth said Wednesday...Ranchers look to set their land aside FROM HIS SHEEP PASTURE, Terry Rooney looks down on the growing city below and muses about the time his family might have sold its 40-acre ranch for development along the swathe of land that is now Livermore's greenbelt. With local zoning laws preventing much building in North Livermore these days, though, and a City Council bent on protecting open space, he decided to take what he could get this summer, and apply for a new federal offer that would pay him to keep grazing his land. But he was turned down. So were 25 other Alameda County ranchers. Their applications alone offered to sell 12,000 acres into easements held by the federal Department of Agriculture. That equates to more than 13 times the $1.8 million the department set aside this year to protect land in the first year of the Grassland Reserve Program...Minnow dispute simmers as Congress eyes spending The fight over Rio Grande water rights and the endangered silvery minnow will come to a head next week as House and Senate negotiators resolve differences in a spending bill for federal energy and water projects. Both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill expect Sen. Pete Domenici will succeed in his bid to insert language into one of the annual federal appropriation bills mandating that legal requirements to protect the minnow "have been met" and that water deals made by the City of Albuquerque and other governments are exempt federal court action to protect the fish's habitat...Decades-Old Water Dispute Nears Settlement An end to a decades-old water dispute among pueblos and other Pojoaque Valley water users may be in sight. Attorneys for both sides have told a federal magistrate that a final rewrite of a settlement will be done January First. The case dates all the way back to 1966. The state Engineer Office sued to determine water rights of users in the Rio Pojoaque, Rio Tesuque and Rio Nambe watersheds...Vegetarian cowboy risks Canada mad cow showdown The vegetarian cowboy, best known for spurring Oprah Winfrey to spurn burgers, rode into Canadian cattle country Wednesday to warn about the dangers of meat, despite fears of a hostile reception from cattle farmers hard hit by the mad cow scare...5 selected for Cowgirls honors The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame has selected its newest members for the Hall of Fame. The four will be inducted during the 28th annual Induction Luncheon Nov. 14 at the Round Up Inn at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. Inducted this year will be Glenna Goodacre, award-winning sculptor; Ann Secrest Hanson, all-around cowgirl and one of the first female rodeo pick-up riders; Sheila Varian, premiere Arabian horse breeder; and Velda Tindall Smith (deceased), rodeo competitor and one of the founders of the Texas Barrel Racing Association...
Environmentalist Attacks Hit Suburbs
A sabotage campaign by the nation's most radical environmental group has moved from the countryside to the doorstep of the nation's biggest cities.
The Earth Liberation Front, a movement that originated in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, has claimed responsibility for a string of arsons in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Detroit, San Diego and Philadelphia in the past 12 months. No one has been charged in any of the attacks.
The attacks, which included the costliest act of environmental sabotage in U.S. history, have targeted luxury homes and SUVs, the suburban status symbols that some environmentalists regard as despoilers of the Earth.
"Their actions used to be aimed at `out in the country' industries," said Ron Arnold of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (news - web sites), who has written several books criticizing the environmental movement's radical wing. "Now they're are moving from a save-the-wilderness focus to an anti-capitalist focus." ...
A sabotage campaign by the nation's most radical environmental group has moved from the countryside to the doorstep of the nation's biggest cities.
The Earth Liberation Front, a movement that originated in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, has claimed responsibility for a string of arsons in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Detroit, San Diego and Philadelphia in the past 12 months. No one has been charged in any of the attacks.
The attacks, which included the costliest act of environmental sabotage in U.S. history, have targeted luxury homes and SUVs, the suburban status symbols that some environmentalists regard as despoilers of the Earth.
"Their actions used to be aimed at `out in the country' industries," said Ron Arnold of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (news - web sites), who has written several books criticizing the environmental movement's radical wing. "Now they're are moving from a save-the-wilderness focus to an anti-capitalist focus." ...
Is it the Hamburger or your House?
In a sustained effort to undermine America’s preference for suburban living and promote land use regulations that force families into higher density housing, anti-suburban activists have attempted to link the suburbs with whatever social or health concerns are in the news.
Several years ago writer Neal Peirce blamed the Columbine murders on sprawl, while others have attempted to link sprawl to the rising incidence of asthma, teen alienation, serial killers, air pollution, high taxes, and, more recently, obesity.
Unlike the other unsupportable allegations, the obesity link has sustained a longer shelf life than the others, and recent reports have received widespread media attention. On October 2, 2003, several of these anti-sprawl advocates will attempt to make their case to Congress in a panel discussion in the Dirksen Senate Office Building...
In a sustained effort to undermine America’s preference for suburban living and promote land use regulations that force families into higher density housing, anti-suburban activists have attempted to link the suburbs with whatever social or health concerns are in the news.
Several years ago writer Neal Peirce blamed the Columbine murders on sprawl, while others have attempted to link sprawl to the rising incidence of asthma, teen alienation, serial killers, air pollution, high taxes, and, more recently, obesity.
Unlike the other unsupportable allegations, the obesity link has sustained a longer shelf life than the others, and recent reports have received widespread media attention. On October 2, 2003, several of these anti-sprawl advocates will attempt to make their case to Congress in a panel discussion in the Dirksen Senate Office Building...
McCain-Lieberman Will Be Costly, Energy Department Warns
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released an analysis of the Climate Stewardship Act of 2003, sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut).
According to the EIA, the proposed legislation to curtail greenhouse gas emissions would have far-reaching negative effects on the American economy.
By 2025, the average American family can expect to pay $444 more per year for energy as a result of McCain-Lieberman, according to the EIA analysis. The average American will have paid nearly $2,500 to comply with the law, and the nation as a whole will have lost more than $500 billion in gross domestic product, measured in 1996 dollars...
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released an analysis of the Climate Stewardship Act of 2003, sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut).
According to the EIA, the proposed legislation to curtail greenhouse gas emissions would have far-reaching negative effects on the American economy.
By 2025, the average American family can expect to pay $444 more per year for energy as a result of McCain-Lieberman, according to the EIA analysis. The average American will have paid nearly $2,500 to comply with the law, and the nation as a whole will have lost more than $500 billion in gross domestic product, measured in 1996 dollars...
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Editorial: Hope for healthy forests While wildfires have been consuming large swaths of the West, a bipartisan group of senators have been consumed with finding a way to reduce the risk of such fires through an agreement on the president's Healthy Forests Initiative. The deal has not been set because a few details still need to be settled. However, the senators appear to have done so, following a long series of negotiations that began after the Senate Agriculture Committee passed the bill in July...The basic agreement is apparently based on trading greater protection for some forest acres in return for expediting the thinning of others. It provides the first-ever statutory protection for old growth trees, rather than the protections they have had by regulatory interpretation and presidential directive... Studies favor keeping Forest Service jobs in-house A first round of "competitive sourcing" studies has concluded that several types of maintenance jobs in the Forest Service should continue to be done by federal employees, the agency announced Tuesday...Column: Burn the Forest for the Trees The war in the woods has become the fight over the fire line. Before, timber interests, federal officials, and environmental advocates fought over which trees to cut. Now they fight over which fires to suppress, which forests to try to make "fire safe," and - it all comes around - which trees to cut, ostensibly to make sure they don't burn. That fight has become the latest flashpoint environmental issue as the Bush administration strives, under the rubric of "healthy forest" preservation, to undo a Clinton forest plan that drastically reduced cutting on federal land, where most of the remaining old growth is, and to undo three decades of environmental rules...Acting district ranger no stranger to Glenwood Jacque Buchanan is the current acting Glenwood District Ranger, replacing Larry Raley, who recently transferred to the Santa Catalina ranger district in Arizona. Buchanan is in her first days of a 120-day detail that started Sept. 21, but she is not new to the Glenwood Ranger District... Environmentalists sue over logging near Northern California wilderness An environmental group sued the U.S. Forest Service Tuesday over logging plans in a remote area of the Mendocino National Forest, saying the planned timber cut illustrates problems with the Bush administration's Healthy Forests initiative...Agreements give protection to rare frog in Nevada State, federal and local governments joined conservation groups on Tuesday in pledging to work together to save a rare, spotted frog from extinction in Nevada. The unlikely coalition agreed to a 10-year plan to monitor the Great Basin and Toiyabe subpopulations of the Columbia spotted frog and develop plans to ensure its survival...Group looking to protect springs in Burro Mountains Protection of springs and wetlands in the Burro Mountains, and limits on off-road-vehicle use, are the goals of a project sponsored by the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance...Quicksand found in recreation spot Forest officials put out about a dozen signs at Sabino Canyon warning visitors about quicksand accumulating on the side of the bridges along a creek. The quicksand can be traced to this summer's Aspen fire, which charred 85,000 acres on Mount Lemmon and destroyed more than 300 homes, cabins, and businesses...Group: Old-growth forest neglected An environmental group here says the U.S. Forest Service is intentionally neglecting old-growth forests and the wildlife that lives in those areas. The Ecology Center, which has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the federal agency over logging in northwestern Montana, said it has compiled a report on forest management in Montana and northern Idaho... Environmentalists call for protection of Black Hills snail A species of snail in the Black Hills National Forest of southwest South Dakota and northeast Wyoming should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, environmental groups said...Forest service leads Agenda 2020 western forestry research A partnership among industry, government, and the forest products industry is working to help the United States reduce its dependency on fossil fuels, increase carbon sequestration, and help promote sustainable development of global economic competitiveness in rural communities. In 1994, forest products industry leaders created a vision of the industry in 2020 and called it Agenda 2020. A collaborative research partnership also was formed by the Department of Energy and the American Forest and Paper Association to make the vision a reality. The Forest Service joined the partnership in 1999...Mother Nature messing with spawning ritual It's probably the warm temperatures keeping the kokanee salmon from making their yearly exodus from Lake Tahoe to Taylor Creek to spawn. Or it could be a bum year in the salmon cycle, said Jeff Reiner, an aquatic biologist at the U.S. Forest Service. But the 14th Annual Kokanee Salmon Festival will happen this weekend whether or not fish show up...Wasatch officials slam Forest Service When Forest Service officials attempted to calm Heber Valley residents last week by apologizing for the "inconvenience" of an intentional burn that exploded into a wildfire, some citizens felt it was exactly the wrong tack. The Cascade II fire that spread from a planned 600 acres to 8,000 acres before it was fully contained Monday night blanketed three counties in smoke and resurrected Heber Valley residents' memories of a 1990 conflagration when a Wasatch Mountain wildfire overran two volunteer firemen and destroyed homes... BLM standoff divides Kanab This town's fight over management of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is creating tension between those who say the issue has made Kanab a laughingstock and those who say the federal government is meddling. Kane and Garfield counties and monument officials have been at odds over grazing and road issues in the nearly 2 million-acre southern Utah monument since it was created by former President Clinton in 1996...Editorial: Forest invasion A silent but deadly invasion is underway, creating one of the gravest threats our national forests and other public lands have ever faced. Humans have introduced, deliberately or accidentally, new species against which natural ecosystems have no defense. Invaders include noxious weeds, foreign insects, contagious tree diseases, predators from other countries and even domestic animals gone wild...Endangered Species Act anniversary brings focus to conference In recognition of its 30th anniversary, the Endangered Species Act will take center stage at this year's Public Land and Resources Law Conference. Presentations Thursday and Friday at the University of Montana will examine the ecological, economic, legal, political and social consequences of the act over three decades of implementation in the West...Hunter mistakenly kills griz in Flathead A bowhunter shot a grizzly bear south of Kalispell last week, mistaking the animal for a black bear...Judge rejects dismissal of environmentalists' lawsuit A federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday to propose critical habitat for the endangered willow flycatcher within a year. U.S. District Judge C. LeRoy Hansen rejected the government's motion to dismiss the case, filed by the Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity in March 2002...Hillary Clinton Says Bush Is Reversing Essential Regulations Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) accused the Bush administration of attempting to "undo the 20th century" by rolling back federal environmental regulations that she believes are essential for a healthy planet. Speaking at the League of Conservation Voters dinner in Washington, D.C., on Monday night, Sen. Clinton told a crowd of about 550 environmental activists that the Bush administration is determined to reverse more than just environmental regulations...Report finds strengths, weaknesses in Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered species program Congressional investigators generally approve of the way the Fish and Wildlife Service is putting science into its endangered species program but say improvement is needed in decisions to protect habitats needed for species to recover...Some areas losing wilderness status New guidelines issued Monday by the Bush administration could allow oil and gas companies and off-road vehicles on federal lands that had been off-limits to protect their natural qualities. The policy directives implement an agreement Interior Secretary Gale Norton struck with Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt in April to resolve a lawsuit the state filed against the department...New natural gas reports urge more access Environmentalists Tuesday challenged the validity of new reports urging greater access for the energy industry to public lands in the Rocky Mountains. The Wilderness Society and other green organizations told reporters they had objections to the methodology used to come up with the amount of natural gas the National Petroleum Council and other "industry representative" groups say is locked up by environmental restrictions...Rehberg pursues Breaks bill Montana Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg on Tuesday renewed his effort to pass legislation removing private property from the Missouri River Breaks National Monument. "The federal government's decision to include more than 80,000 acres of private land in the Monument's boundary sends one clear and unmistakable message to the families involved: Washington wants your land,'' Rehberg said...Ranchers forced to shoot hundreds of cattle Some Canadian ranchers are finding it cheaper to shoot their animals, or send them to slaughter at cut rates, than having to feed them during the winter while hoping for a rebound on prices ravaged by mad-cow disease...Disease destroys elk ranch Judith Harrington is giving up on her dream of raising elk in Colorado and moving back East. The reason is chronic wasting disease. She can't sell her animals because several states ban elk from Colorado. She is looking for people to shoot the animals for meat: $500 for a cow and $1,000 and up for a bull...
Editorial: Hope for healthy forests While wildfires have been consuming large swaths of the West, a bipartisan group of senators have been consumed with finding a way to reduce the risk of such fires through an agreement on the president's Healthy Forests Initiative. The deal has not been set because a few details still need to be settled. However, the senators appear to have done so, following a long series of negotiations that began after the Senate Agriculture Committee passed the bill in July...The basic agreement is apparently based on trading greater protection for some forest acres in return for expediting the thinning of others. It provides the first-ever statutory protection for old growth trees, rather than the protections they have had by regulatory interpretation and presidential directive... Studies favor keeping Forest Service jobs in-house A first round of "competitive sourcing" studies has concluded that several types of maintenance jobs in the Forest Service should continue to be done by federal employees, the agency announced Tuesday...Column: Burn the Forest for the Trees The war in the woods has become the fight over the fire line. Before, timber interests, federal officials, and environmental advocates fought over which trees to cut. Now they fight over which fires to suppress, which forests to try to make "fire safe," and - it all comes around - which trees to cut, ostensibly to make sure they don't burn. That fight has become the latest flashpoint environmental issue as the Bush administration strives, under the rubric of "healthy forest" preservation, to undo a Clinton forest plan that drastically reduced cutting on federal land, where most of the remaining old growth is, and to undo three decades of environmental rules...Acting district ranger no stranger to Glenwood Jacque Buchanan is the current acting Glenwood District Ranger, replacing Larry Raley, who recently transferred to the Santa Catalina ranger district in Arizona. Buchanan is in her first days of a 120-day detail that started Sept. 21, but she is not new to the Glenwood Ranger District... Environmentalists sue over logging near Northern California wilderness An environmental group sued the U.S. Forest Service Tuesday over logging plans in a remote area of the Mendocino National Forest, saying the planned timber cut illustrates problems with the Bush administration's Healthy Forests initiative...Agreements give protection to rare frog in Nevada State, federal and local governments joined conservation groups on Tuesday in pledging to work together to save a rare, spotted frog from extinction in Nevada. The unlikely coalition agreed to a 10-year plan to monitor the Great Basin and Toiyabe subpopulations of the Columbia spotted frog and develop plans to ensure its survival...Group looking to protect springs in Burro Mountains Protection of springs and wetlands in the Burro Mountains, and limits on off-road-vehicle use, are the goals of a project sponsored by the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance...Quicksand found in recreation spot Forest officials put out about a dozen signs at Sabino Canyon warning visitors about quicksand accumulating on the side of the bridges along a creek. The quicksand can be traced to this summer's Aspen fire, which charred 85,000 acres on Mount Lemmon and destroyed more than 300 homes, cabins, and businesses...Group: Old-growth forest neglected An environmental group here says the U.S. Forest Service is intentionally neglecting old-growth forests and the wildlife that lives in those areas. The Ecology Center, which has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the federal agency over logging in northwestern Montana, said it has compiled a report on forest management in Montana and northern Idaho... Environmentalists call for protection of Black Hills snail A species of snail in the Black Hills National Forest of southwest South Dakota and northeast Wyoming should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, environmental groups said...Forest service leads Agenda 2020 western forestry research A partnership among industry, government, and the forest products industry is working to help the United States reduce its dependency on fossil fuels, increase carbon sequestration, and help promote sustainable development of global economic competitiveness in rural communities. In 1994, forest products industry leaders created a vision of the industry in 2020 and called it Agenda 2020. A collaborative research partnership also was formed by the Department of Energy and the American Forest and Paper Association to make the vision a reality. The Forest Service joined the partnership in 1999...Mother Nature messing with spawning ritual It's probably the warm temperatures keeping the kokanee salmon from making their yearly exodus from Lake Tahoe to Taylor Creek to spawn. Or it could be a bum year in the salmon cycle, said Jeff Reiner, an aquatic biologist at the U.S. Forest Service. But the 14th Annual Kokanee Salmon Festival will happen this weekend whether or not fish show up...Wasatch officials slam Forest Service When Forest Service officials attempted to calm Heber Valley residents last week by apologizing for the "inconvenience" of an intentional burn that exploded into a wildfire, some citizens felt it was exactly the wrong tack. The Cascade II fire that spread from a planned 600 acres to 8,000 acres before it was fully contained Monday night blanketed three counties in smoke and resurrected Heber Valley residents' memories of a 1990 conflagration when a Wasatch Mountain wildfire overran two volunteer firemen and destroyed homes... BLM standoff divides Kanab This town's fight over management of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is creating tension between those who say the issue has made Kanab a laughingstock and those who say the federal government is meddling. Kane and Garfield counties and monument officials have been at odds over grazing and road issues in the nearly 2 million-acre southern Utah monument since it was created by former President Clinton in 1996...Editorial: Forest invasion A silent but deadly invasion is underway, creating one of the gravest threats our national forests and other public lands have ever faced. Humans have introduced, deliberately or accidentally, new species against which natural ecosystems have no defense. Invaders include noxious weeds, foreign insects, contagious tree diseases, predators from other countries and even domestic animals gone wild...Endangered Species Act anniversary brings focus to conference In recognition of its 30th anniversary, the Endangered Species Act will take center stage at this year's Public Land and Resources Law Conference. Presentations Thursday and Friday at the University of Montana will examine the ecological, economic, legal, political and social consequences of the act over three decades of implementation in the West...Hunter mistakenly kills griz in Flathead A bowhunter shot a grizzly bear south of Kalispell last week, mistaking the animal for a black bear...Judge rejects dismissal of environmentalists' lawsuit A federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday to propose critical habitat for the endangered willow flycatcher within a year. U.S. District Judge C. LeRoy Hansen rejected the government's motion to dismiss the case, filed by the Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity in March 2002...Hillary Clinton Says Bush Is Reversing Essential Regulations Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) accused the Bush administration of attempting to "undo the 20th century" by rolling back federal environmental regulations that she believes are essential for a healthy planet. Speaking at the League of Conservation Voters dinner in Washington, D.C., on Monday night, Sen. Clinton told a crowd of about 550 environmental activists that the Bush administration is determined to reverse more than just environmental regulations...Report finds strengths, weaknesses in Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered species program Congressional investigators generally approve of the way the Fish and Wildlife Service is putting science into its endangered species program but say improvement is needed in decisions to protect habitats needed for species to recover...Some areas losing wilderness status New guidelines issued Monday by the Bush administration could allow oil and gas companies and off-road vehicles on federal lands that had been off-limits to protect their natural qualities. The policy directives implement an agreement Interior Secretary Gale Norton struck with Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt in April to resolve a lawsuit the state filed against the department...New natural gas reports urge more access Environmentalists Tuesday challenged the validity of new reports urging greater access for the energy industry to public lands in the Rocky Mountains. The Wilderness Society and other green organizations told reporters they had objections to the methodology used to come up with the amount of natural gas the National Petroleum Council and other "industry representative" groups say is locked up by environmental restrictions...Rehberg pursues Breaks bill Montana Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg on Tuesday renewed his effort to pass legislation removing private property from the Missouri River Breaks National Monument. "The federal government's decision to include more than 80,000 acres of private land in the Monument's boundary sends one clear and unmistakable message to the families involved: Washington wants your land,'' Rehberg said...Ranchers forced to shoot hundreds of cattle Some Canadian ranchers are finding it cheaper to shoot their animals, or send them to slaughter at cut rates, than having to feed them during the winter while hoping for a rebound on prices ravaged by mad-cow disease...Disease destroys elk ranch Judith Harrington is giving up on her dream of raising elk in Colorado and moving back East. The reason is chronic wasting disease. She can't sell her animals because several states ban elk from Colorado. She is looking for people to shoot the animals for meat: $500 for a cow and $1,000 and up for a bull...
Accusations of Collusion with White House over Junk Science Lawsuit Absurd
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today rejected charges of collusion with the White House Council on Environmental Quality in a legal challenge to a Bush administration global warming report.
“This started as a suit against a Clinton administration global warming report,” said CEI President Fred L. Smith, Jr. “The accusations of collusion are absurd and just an attempt to divert attention from the real issue—that junk science is being used as the basis for climate change reports, which could lead to policies that cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars with little, if any, benefit.”...
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today rejected charges of collusion with the White House Council on Environmental Quality in a legal challenge to a Bush administration global warming report.
“This started as a suit against a Clinton administration global warming report,” said CEI President Fred L. Smith, Jr. “The accusations of collusion are absurd and just an attempt to divert attention from the real issue—that junk science is being used as the basis for climate change reports, which could lead to policies that cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars with little, if any, benefit.”...
Endangered Species Act
Colorado Governor Bill Owens, just installed as chairman of the National Governors Association announced that he plans to use that platform to seek changes to the ESA consistent with ESA policy adopted by the Western Governor’s Association this month. The WGA was remarkably active in September, adopting several policy positions on ESA. The ESA Delisting Policy pushes for quantitative goals established at the time of listing, that when met result in delisting. The ESA Reauthorization and Amendment Policy is more ambitious and comprehensive. While recognizing that bipartisan support is the only way legislation will pass, the agenda the policy sets is huge. The three areas it focuses on are: increasing the role of the states; to streamline the act; and to provide technical support and certainty for (private and public) landowners and water users. (Water is specifically mentioned.) The policy then goes on to a long list of specific recommendations for change.
It calls for a fundamental shift in the relationship between the feds and the states, with a delegated authority program to allow states to regulate endangered species.
This is from the September 29th edition of The Western Waterfront
Colorado Governor Bill Owens, just installed as chairman of the National Governors Association announced that he plans to use that platform to seek changes to the ESA consistent with ESA policy adopted by the Western Governor’s Association this month. The WGA was remarkably active in September, adopting several policy positions on ESA. The ESA Delisting Policy pushes for quantitative goals established at the time of listing, that when met result in delisting. The ESA Reauthorization and Amendment Policy is more ambitious and comprehensive. While recognizing that bipartisan support is the only way legislation will pass, the agenda the policy sets is huge. The three areas it focuses on are: increasing the role of the states; to streamline the act; and to provide technical support and certainty for (private and public) landowners and water users. (Water is specifically mentioned.) The policy then goes on to a long list of specific recommendations for change.
It calls for a fundamental shift in the relationship between the feds and the states, with a delegated authority program to allow states to regulate endangered species.
This is from the September 29th edition of The Western Waterfront
BLM sued over Robbins deal
Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit last Thursday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia against top officials of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) -- objecting to a unique settlement in favor of a Thermopolis-area rancher. Western Watersheds Project of Hailey, Idaho and American Lands Alliance of Washington, D.C., filed suit last week alleging unlawful actions and failures of action by the top leadership of the BLM, "who have overridden the scientific and professional judgment of BLM staff in order to favor a wealthy and politically powerful rancher, Harvey Frank Robbins, granting him grazing privileges and preferences in violation of the nation's laws and regulations governing public lands grazing."
The lawsuit is not aimed at Robbins, only his settlement with the BLM and the BLM officials who authorized the settlement: allegedly Kathleen Clarke, director of the bureau and Francis Cherry, her deputy director. The settlement, achieved after years of lawsuits and counter lawsuits between Robbins and the BLM, stayed all regulatory action against Robbins, even though grazing violations have allegedly continued...
Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit last Thursday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia against top officials of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) -- objecting to a unique settlement in favor of a Thermopolis-area rancher. Western Watersheds Project of Hailey, Idaho and American Lands Alliance of Washington, D.C., filed suit last week alleging unlawful actions and failures of action by the top leadership of the BLM, "who have overridden the scientific and professional judgment of BLM staff in order to favor a wealthy and politically powerful rancher, Harvey Frank Robbins, granting him grazing privileges and preferences in violation of the nation's laws and regulations governing public lands grazing."
The lawsuit is not aimed at Robbins, only his settlement with the BLM and the BLM officials who authorized the settlement: allegedly Kathleen Clarke, director of the bureau and Francis Cherry, her deputy director. The settlement, achieved after years of lawsuits and counter lawsuits between Robbins and the BLM, stayed all regulatory action against Robbins, even though grazing violations have allegedly continued...
Groups Appeal Salvage Project
Three Santa Fe environmental groups filed an appeal this week in an attempt to halt a salvage-logging project in Santa Fe National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service proposal would allow loggers to cut down blackened trees where the Lakes and BMG fires burned in the Jemez Mountains two summers ago.
"It's like mugging a burn victim for spare change," said Sam Hitt, director of Wild Watershed. "It's the last thing our forests need. Salvage logging has zero ecological benefits."
Wild Watershed, Forest Guardians and Santa Fe Forest Watch say such salvage-logging projects prolong the forest's recovery from fires by creating more erosion in streams, compacting soils with heavy machinery and removing large burned trees that are used by wildlife.
The Forest Service proposal would allow loggers to take up to 4 million board-feet of blackened timber on 890 acres. The Lakes Fire burned 4,600 acres near Seven Springs and Fenton Lake in June 2002. The BMG Fire burned about 500 acres north of Cuba the same month. No new roads would be built, and cutting live trees would not be allowed at either logging site.
Hitt said the groups plan to appeal a similar timber salvage proposed for the burned area of the Borrego Fire, which scorched 13,000 acres of federal and private land near Truchas in 2002...
Three Santa Fe environmental groups filed an appeal this week in an attempt to halt a salvage-logging project in Santa Fe National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service proposal would allow loggers to cut down blackened trees where the Lakes and BMG fires burned in the Jemez Mountains two summers ago.
"It's like mugging a burn victim for spare change," said Sam Hitt, director of Wild Watershed. "It's the last thing our forests need. Salvage logging has zero ecological benefits."
Wild Watershed, Forest Guardians and Santa Fe Forest Watch say such salvage-logging projects prolong the forest's recovery from fires by creating more erosion in streams, compacting soils with heavy machinery and removing large burned trees that are used by wildlife.
The Forest Service proposal would allow loggers to take up to 4 million board-feet of blackened timber on 890 acres. The Lakes Fire burned 4,600 acres near Seven Springs and Fenton Lake in June 2002. The BMG Fire burned about 500 acres north of Cuba the same month. No new roads would be built, and cutting live trees would not be allowed at either logging site.
Hitt said the groups plan to appeal a similar timber salvage proposed for the burned area of the Borrego Fire, which scorched 13,000 acres of federal and private land near Truchas in 2002...
Monday, September 29, 2003
Sunday, September 28, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Editorial: Forest compromise sounds good It's been clear to most Montanans since the fires of 2000 that better forest management is overdue, particularly where civilization meets the woods. No program will have the resources to thin out more than a tiny fraction of overgrown western forests, but continued political paralysis is no longer acceptable. We hope Congress fine tunes this tentative compromise and quickly passes it... Climbers appeal Forest Service climbing ban at Tahoe A new US Forest Service ban on rock climbing at a popular Lake Tahoe site has been appealed by a group of climbers... Spotted owls in trouble Despite a 15-year recovery effort that reshaped how forests are managed and eliminated thousands of timber industry jobs, the northern spotted owl population is in free fall in this state. After the owl was listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1990, millions of acres of federal forestland -- including 2.4 million acres of old-growth forest in Washington state -- were spared the ax under the Clinton administration's Northwest Forest Plan... Mysterious marbled murrelet status under review In many respects, the marbled murrelet lives in the shadow of the northern spotted owl. The tiny, tenacious seabird nests in the same old-growth forest habitat that is home to the more notorious owl... Tamarisky business When wildlife lovers look along the Colorado River near Silt, they see towering cottonwood trees housing nests from which herons survey their domain. It's a threatened domain, however, under attack by an invader that is drawing increasing attention from local to federal governments. The tamarisk, a water-loving plant imported from Eurasia, has been gradually taking over riverbanks since its introduction to the Colorado Plateau early in the 20th Century. Recognized for years as a scourge of river ecosystems, the thirsty tamarisk is now a prime target for eradication due to the recent drought...Editorial: Forests face fresh threats Our national forests are under attack, but not from the threats the public usually hears about. The public debate must focus on today's fights, not yesterday's feuds... Hearing set on Breaks bill Montana's Rep. Denny Rehberg is again working to redraw the boundary of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, at the request of people whose land is within the boundary. Rehberg sponsored a bill on April 3 that would change the boundary to exclude nearly 81,000 acres of private land now reserved to become part of the monument if the government eventually acquires it. The House subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands is holding a hearing on the bill Tuesday...Some say BLM land valued low for latest auction The Bureau of Land Management has appraised more than 2,700 acres of undeveloped desert land to be sold at its November land auction for $361.2 million -- far less than what some developers had expected...Lawsuit over water on hold? The lawsuit is over fish, and how much water they need to migrate. A closed-door meeting was held among water users and environmentalists at the Statehouse in hopes of finding common ground on the issue. Up for discussion, ways to provide adequate river flows for migrating fish without leaving Idaho irrigators dried up... Road Leads to Alaska-Size Standoff Pilgrim's passage on the Caterpillar D4 has resulted in an edgy standoff between his well-armed family and the federal government. The National Park Service has shut down the bulldozed road to his property, dispatched armed rangers to assess park damage and is pursuing criminal and civil cases against him and members of his family. The brouhaha over the bulldozer -- a drama still unfolding inside the largest U.S. park -- has made the Pilgrims actors in a national dispute over private access to federal land. National environmental groups are demanding that the Park Service prosecute the Pilgrims to the fullest extent of the law, while land-rights activists have embraced them as heroic victims of overzealous federal bureaucrats... When nice words hide a bad environmental record There were few surprises at Tuesday's Senate hearing on Gov. Michael Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The governor stuck closely to the White House playbook, using code words like "collaboration," "balance," and "sound science," and talking up voluntary compliance and industry's need for "clearer" regulations when answering the softball questions he got from most senators. These are exactly the words that Republican pollsters advise their clients to use when hiding bad environmental records, as President Bush did when he visited one of the country's dirtiest power plants recently to talk up "Clear Skies."... 2,000 sheep run through Bayfield on fall trek home BAYFIELD Visitors and residents lined the Buck Highway here on Saturday to witness the ovine equivalent of runners in the homestretch of a long race. Two thousand Rambouillet sheep that Houston Lasater was bringing home from summer range in Crazy Woman Gulch above Electra Lake kept him and several herders at a trot... Old kinenos' culture rides into the sunset It's not quite daybreak as cowboys gather at the Laureles division of King Ranch. Men climb from their trucks and buckle on chaps as they call out morning greetings. It's time to wean calves from their mothers, and recent rains will make the job a muddy one... Three more gray wolves found dead in the West Three Mexican gray wolves that were part of a federal reintroduction program have been found dead in New Mexico and Arizona. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service would not say how the wolves died, but the carcasses are being tested, said acting program coordinator Colleen Buchanan. "All of them are under investigation," she said. "It's definitely a blow to be losing all these animals."...
Editorial: Forest compromise sounds good It's been clear to most Montanans since the fires of 2000 that better forest management is overdue, particularly where civilization meets the woods. No program will have the resources to thin out more than a tiny fraction of overgrown western forests, but continued political paralysis is no longer acceptable. We hope Congress fine tunes this tentative compromise and quickly passes it... Climbers appeal Forest Service climbing ban at Tahoe A new US Forest Service ban on rock climbing at a popular Lake Tahoe site has been appealed by a group of climbers... Spotted owls in trouble Despite a 15-year recovery effort that reshaped how forests are managed and eliminated thousands of timber industry jobs, the northern spotted owl population is in free fall in this state. After the owl was listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1990, millions of acres of federal forestland -- including 2.4 million acres of old-growth forest in Washington state -- were spared the ax under the Clinton administration's Northwest Forest Plan... Mysterious marbled murrelet status under review In many respects, the marbled murrelet lives in the shadow of the northern spotted owl. The tiny, tenacious seabird nests in the same old-growth forest habitat that is home to the more notorious owl... Tamarisky business When wildlife lovers look along the Colorado River near Silt, they see towering cottonwood trees housing nests from which herons survey their domain. It's a threatened domain, however, under attack by an invader that is drawing increasing attention from local to federal governments. The tamarisk, a water-loving plant imported from Eurasia, has been gradually taking over riverbanks since its introduction to the Colorado Plateau early in the 20th Century. Recognized for years as a scourge of river ecosystems, the thirsty tamarisk is now a prime target for eradication due to the recent drought...Editorial: Forests face fresh threats Our national forests are under attack, but not from the threats the public usually hears about. The public debate must focus on today's fights, not yesterday's feuds... Hearing set on Breaks bill Montana's Rep. Denny Rehberg is again working to redraw the boundary of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, at the request of people whose land is within the boundary. Rehberg sponsored a bill on April 3 that would change the boundary to exclude nearly 81,000 acres of private land now reserved to become part of the monument if the government eventually acquires it. The House subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands is holding a hearing on the bill Tuesday...Some say BLM land valued low for latest auction The Bureau of Land Management has appraised more than 2,700 acres of undeveloped desert land to be sold at its November land auction for $361.2 million -- far less than what some developers had expected...Lawsuit over water on hold? The lawsuit is over fish, and how much water they need to migrate. A closed-door meeting was held among water users and environmentalists at the Statehouse in hopes of finding common ground on the issue. Up for discussion, ways to provide adequate river flows for migrating fish without leaving Idaho irrigators dried up... Road Leads to Alaska-Size Standoff Pilgrim's passage on the Caterpillar D4 has resulted in an edgy standoff between his well-armed family and the federal government. The National Park Service has shut down the bulldozed road to his property, dispatched armed rangers to assess park damage and is pursuing criminal and civil cases against him and members of his family. The brouhaha over the bulldozer -- a drama still unfolding inside the largest U.S. park -- has made the Pilgrims actors in a national dispute over private access to federal land. National environmental groups are demanding that the Park Service prosecute the Pilgrims to the fullest extent of the law, while land-rights activists have embraced them as heroic victims of overzealous federal bureaucrats... When nice words hide a bad environmental record There were few surprises at Tuesday's Senate hearing on Gov. Michael Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The governor stuck closely to the White House playbook, using code words like "collaboration," "balance," and "sound science," and talking up voluntary compliance and industry's need for "clearer" regulations when answering the softball questions he got from most senators. These are exactly the words that Republican pollsters advise their clients to use when hiding bad environmental records, as President Bush did when he visited one of the country's dirtiest power plants recently to talk up "Clear Skies."... 2,000 sheep run through Bayfield on fall trek home BAYFIELD Visitors and residents lined the Buck Highway here on Saturday to witness the ovine equivalent of runners in the homestretch of a long race. Two thousand Rambouillet sheep that Houston Lasater was bringing home from summer range in Crazy Woman Gulch above Electra Lake kept him and several herders at a trot... Old kinenos' culture rides into the sunset It's not quite daybreak as cowboys gather at the Laureles division of King Ranch. Men climb from their trucks and buckle on chaps as they call out morning greetings. It's time to wean calves from their mothers, and recent rains will make the job a muddy one... Three more gray wolves found dead in the West Three Mexican gray wolves that were part of a federal reintroduction program have been found dead in New Mexico and Arizona. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service would not say how the wolves died, but the carcasses are being tested, said acting program coordinator Colleen Buchanan. "All of them are under investigation," she said. "It's definitely a blow to be losing all these animals."...
Friday, September 26, 2003
NEWS & COMMENTARY
ALMA LIBRARY USING PETA’S CHICKEN COMIC TO GET KIDS INTERESTED IN LEARNING
There’s nothing that kids would rather read than comics, especially ones that feature lots of colorful illustrations and heartwarming stories with happy endings. That’s why People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is sending copies of its newly released comic book "A Chicken’s Life"—free of charge—to the Alma Public Library, which intends to hand out a copy of the comic book to each child visiting the library.
"A Chicken’s Life" demonstrates the basic concepts of compassion and respect for others, which are the pillars of character education. It focuses on the lives of three chickens who were rescued from the misery of modern factory farms—like the ones that dot Arkansas’ landscape—and a group of inquisitive and kind children who learn how they can help stop the suffering...
And the consumers respond in Billings, Montana
"Can I, like, go out there and eat my chicken in front of them?" asked Ryan Combs, a teen who eats at KFC a couple of times a week. He scoffed at the protest.
"It's just food. They're just chickens," he said...
Counterintuitive Energy Truths Election-time reality check
Like the deafening din of the cicadas every 17 years, each election season brings "energy-policy" proposals---wealth-redistribution schemes — to the front pages. We now have a congressional conference committee attempting to concoct a House/Senate compromise on yet another energy bill, justified as always on the basis of substantial analytic error and misguided conventional wisdom. That the same old nostrums every election cycle are promoted with other peoples' money should give pause, as public officials offer erroneous arguments, perhaps sincerely, while citizens are left to scratch their heads amid attempts to separate wrongheaded assertion from fact. Herewith, a few counterintuitive truths...
DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER
September 25, 2003
End All Grazing on Public Lands? - "Voluntary" Buyouts Are
First Step by Radical Environmental Groups Supporting Effort
Dear Colleague:
Recently, you received a Dear Colleague from Rep. Shays (Connecticut) and Rep. Grijalva (Arizona) asking you to consider signing on a bill to allow the voluntary retirement of grazing permits in Arizona. I urge you to very closely consider and do not cosponsor such a measure, for several reasons.
First, look at the groups backing this proposal. While I do not doubt that my Colleagues introducing this measure have forthright goals, you should be aware of the goals of some of the groups pushing these "voluntary" retirements. According to Greenwire and statements in other press sources, the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign (NPLGC) overall goal is to eliminate all cattle grazing on public lands. (Brian Stembeck, "Grazing: Enviros trying to end public lands grazing, ranchers say range improving." Greenwire, Feb. 8, 2002).
Second, these groups backing the legislation also have vigorous and well-funded legal teams that bankrupt ranchers while delaying and obstructing extensions of their grazing permits. So, if a rancher doesn't accept a "voluntary" buyout, they may become the unfortunate victim of lawsuits by well-funded groups targeting their grazing permits subject to renewal - potentially cutting off their ability to use these permits for years while the courts address the lawsuit against the BLM or Forest Service, to which they are only a bystander.
Third, many communities in the West are heavily dependent on ranches and public lands grazing, so eliminating grazing on public lands or similar steps toward that goal disproportionately impact the West. With all respect to my Colleagues, a bill that is the first step toward eliminating grazing on public lands championed by a member from the Northeast is a lot like me introducing a bill eliminating fishing in public waters off the New England coast.
Fourth, this proposal turns grazing policy on its head. The grazing permit is not a property right, and cannot be separately sold. Currently, if a rancher chooses not to seek to renew the permit, that permit is then offered to other interested ranchers for grazing, subject of course to NEPA and other requirements. Allowing a single rancher who may have suffered an unfortunate string of bad years and drought to dictate the future use of public lands forever is a radical change in our public lands policy - and an abdication of Congress' and agencies' responsibility to make public lands use decisions.
Like fresh water, blue skies and big mountains, cattle ranching is an unmistakably important part of our heritage throughout the West. But like so many other important pieces of our western heritage, this way of life has come under withering assault by narrow-minded interest groups devoted to nothing less than building a wall between the American people and their federal lands. Ignoring over 150-years of evidence, these well-funded interest groups argue, wrongly, that grazing has no place on our public lands because of the damage they claim it does to our natural environment. I ask you to reject their radical view, and beware the first step along the path toward their ultimate goal of forcing cattle grazing -- and therefore American cattle ranchers -- off of the public lands.
If you have any questions, please contact me or my Public Lands staffer, Melissa Simpson (#5-4761). I hope you will consider these points closely before making any decision to support legislation soon to be introduced by Reps. Shays (Connecticut) and Grijalva (Arizona).
Sincerely,
Scott McInnis
Member of Congress
P.S. - To offer some perspective about regional sensitivities, perhaps you should ask Representative Shays what his reaction would be to a Westerner introducing a bill with the ultimate goal of ending fishing in public waters off New England.
ALMA LIBRARY USING PETA’S CHICKEN COMIC TO GET KIDS INTERESTED IN LEARNING
There’s nothing that kids would rather read than comics, especially ones that feature lots of colorful illustrations and heartwarming stories with happy endings. That’s why People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is sending copies of its newly released comic book "A Chicken’s Life"—free of charge—to the Alma Public Library, which intends to hand out a copy of the comic book to each child visiting the library.
"A Chicken’s Life" demonstrates the basic concepts of compassion and respect for others, which are the pillars of character education. It focuses on the lives of three chickens who were rescued from the misery of modern factory farms—like the ones that dot Arkansas’ landscape—and a group of inquisitive and kind children who learn how they can help stop the suffering...
And the consumers respond in Billings, Montana
"Can I, like, go out there and eat my chicken in front of them?" asked Ryan Combs, a teen who eats at KFC a couple of times a week. He scoffed at the protest.
"It's just food. They're just chickens," he said...
Counterintuitive Energy Truths Election-time reality check
Like the deafening din of the cicadas every 17 years, each election season brings "energy-policy" proposals---wealth-redistribution schemes — to the front pages. We now have a congressional conference committee attempting to concoct a House/Senate compromise on yet another energy bill, justified as always on the basis of substantial analytic error and misguided conventional wisdom. That the same old nostrums every election cycle are promoted with other peoples' money should give pause, as public officials offer erroneous arguments, perhaps sincerely, while citizens are left to scratch their heads amid attempts to separate wrongheaded assertion from fact. Herewith, a few counterintuitive truths...
DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER
September 25, 2003
End All Grazing on Public Lands? - "Voluntary" Buyouts Are
First Step by Radical Environmental Groups Supporting Effort
Dear Colleague:
Recently, you received a Dear Colleague from Rep. Shays (Connecticut) and Rep. Grijalva (Arizona) asking you to consider signing on a bill to allow the voluntary retirement of grazing permits in Arizona. I urge you to very closely consider and do not cosponsor such a measure, for several reasons.
First, look at the groups backing this proposal. While I do not doubt that my Colleagues introducing this measure have forthright goals, you should be aware of the goals of some of the groups pushing these "voluntary" retirements. According to Greenwire and statements in other press sources, the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign (NPLGC) overall goal is to eliminate all cattle grazing on public lands. (Brian Stembeck, "Grazing: Enviros trying to end public lands grazing, ranchers say range improving." Greenwire, Feb. 8, 2002).
Second, these groups backing the legislation also have vigorous and well-funded legal teams that bankrupt ranchers while delaying and obstructing extensions of their grazing permits. So, if a rancher doesn't accept a "voluntary" buyout, they may become the unfortunate victim of lawsuits by well-funded groups targeting their grazing permits subject to renewal - potentially cutting off their ability to use these permits for years while the courts address the lawsuit against the BLM or Forest Service, to which they are only a bystander.
Third, many communities in the West are heavily dependent on ranches and public lands grazing, so eliminating grazing on public lands or similar steps toward that goal disproportionately impact the West. With all respect to my Colleagues, a bill that is the first step toward eliminating grazing on public lands championed by a member from the Northeast is a lot like me introducing a bill eliminating fishing in public waters off the New England coast.
Fourth, this proposal turns grazing policy on its head. The grazing permit is not a property right, and cannot be separately sold. Currently, if a rancher chooses not to seek to renew the permit, that permit is then offered to other interested ranchers for grazing, subject of course to NEPA and other requirements. Allowing a single rancher who may have suffered an unfortunate string of bad years and drought to dictate the future use of public lands forever is a radical change in our public lands policy - and an abdication of Congress' and agencies' responsibility to make public lands use decisions.
Like fresh water, blue skies and big mountains, cattle ranching is an unmistakably important part of our heritage throughout the West. But like so many other important pieces of our western heritage, this way of life has come under withering assault by narrow-minded interest groups devoted to nothing less than building a wall between the American people and their federal lands. Ignoring over 150-years of evidence, these well-funded interest groups argue, wrongly, that grazing has no place on our public lands because of the damage they claim it does to our natural environment. I ask you to reject their radical view, and beware the first step along the path toward their ultimate goal of forcing cattle grazing -- and therefore American cattle ranchers -- off of the public lands.
If you have any questions, please contact me or my Public Lands staffer, Melissa Simpson (#5-4761). I hope you will consider these points closely before making any decision to support legislation soon to be introduced by Reps. Shays (Connecticut) and Grijalva (Arizona).
Sincerely,
Scott McInnis
Member of Congress
P.S. - To offer some perspective about regional sensitivities, perhaps you should ask Representative Shays what his reaction would be to a Westerner introducing a bill with the ultimate goal of ending fishing in public waters off New England.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Environmentalists want to stop Catron County ranchers A coalition of environmental groups wants to stop Catron County ranchers Kit and Sherry Laney from grazing their livestock on national forest land without a permit. The groups filed for an injunction in federal court Wednesday in Albuquerque, seeking a halt to what they call illegal grazing that has been ongoing for at least six months...Senate Allows Harmful Grazing Practices to Continue Indefinitely Harmful public lands grazing could continue for four more years without any environmental review under provisions adopted Tuesday by the U.S. Senate. By unanimous consent, the Senate voted to accept measures that attempt to exempt federal agencies until 2008 from conducting environmental analysis of grazing permits under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)... Internal Review Panel Plans to Investigate Fire Did the U.S. Forest Service misjudge the danger that a prescribed burn in the Cascade Springs area might get out of control? An internal review panel plans to take a look at that question--and what could have been done early on to contain the blaze...Study puts cost of Colorado's worst-ever wildfire at $238 million The cost of the largest wildfire in Colorado history, which destroyed 132 homes and blackened 138,000 acres in 2002, is approaching $240 million, the U.S. Forest Service said in a study released Thursday...GAO weighs in on firefighting GIS Agencies that fight wildfires on public lands suffer from many common incompatibilities among data and systems that could hamper firefighting efforts, according to a new report from the General Accounting Office... From Conquest to Conservation Charles Wilkinson of the University of Colorado makes this salient point in the forward of From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Lands Legacy, leading him to ponder a key question: "Why has the Forest Service never embraced Aldo Leopold as its guiding light?" The answer to that question -- as well as a set of principles that would bring the Forest Service closer in line with Leopold's vision -- are found within the pages of this eminently readable history of America's relationship to its public lands. Indeed, Leopold's presence permeates From Conquest to Conservation, which chronicles the history of the nation's 463 million acres that lie under the auspices of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management...Nationwide Outdoors Pass: A one fee covers all proposal for public lands The Interior Department is proposing creation of a nationwide outdoors pass to standardize fees in national parks, forests and recreation areas and at dams and other federally owned public lands. Department officials envision something like an expanded National Park Service Golden Eagle pass, which costs $65...Real-time 'movies' will predict wildfire behavior for one hour Someday fire fighters will be able to manage wildfires by computer. Rochester Institute of Technology recently won a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to translate remote-sensing data about wildfires into real-time "mini-movies" that fire managers can download on laptop computers at the scene of a blaze. The model and visualization will predict the fire's behavior for the following hour... The path to healthier forests The Senate agreement with the White House on a landmark bill to protect the nation's public forests from fire and disease is as welcome as a good rain falling on a dry Oregon forest. Finally, here is a reasonably balanced, carefully written plan to counter the fires that have swept across millions of acres of thick, sick and dying forests in Oregon and across the country... The battle over Cave Rock The Highway 50 tunnels are a perfect metaphor for the way most people experience Cave Rock. As Tahoe visitors zoom through those roadway shafts, they can zip right through the heart of Cave Rock without seeing it well, or touching it at all. So, this striking monolith on Lake Tahoe's east shore has grown quite familiar while remaining almost entirely unknown...Pickers plunder plants The harvest of wildflowers for their medicinal properties is becoming so widespread that some forest rangers are starting to worry about overzealous pickers...Prescribed burns aim to prevent disaster Firefighters have known for more than a century that once a forest fire gets big, human efforts are powerless to stop it. That was illustrated in 1988 in Yellowstone National Park. As a result, the U.S. Forest Service has aggressively put out forest fires before they get big -- 98 percent of all fires are put out early, said Uinta National Forest Supervisor Pete Karp...Wildlife 'linkages' targeted Looking down from a single-engine plane, it all seems very clear. Spruce and fir trees, powdered by a late September dusting, sparkle in the brilliant sunshine. Sinewy fingers of forested land stretch north and south as far as the eye can see. But directly below, the forest is cut off abruptly by a shimmering asphalt snake: Interstate 70, where it climbs across Vail Pass, in the very heart of the Southern Rockies...Simpson's wilderness deal hits a snag The road to wilderness designation is no easy path, but recently another curve has come up and Congressman Mike Simpson is taking a "wait and see" attitude. The Custer County Farm Bureau chapter has withdrawn any support for a wilderness deal until environmental groups permanently withdraw from legal action on upper Snake River dam releases...NWF Pursues Legal Action to Ensure Wolf Recovery in the Northeast Charging that the Bush administration's decision to abandon wolf recovery efforts in the Northeast violates the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) announced today that it intends to take legal action. In its 60-day notice of intent to sue, NWF explains that the final Wolf Reclassification Rule that was issued in April effectively terminates federal wolf recovery efforts in the Northeast, where PLF may sue over plover designation suitable wolf habitat exists and wolves are apparently beginning to return... PLF may sue over plover designation The Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights legal group, has filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government to force it to review a request to remove the threatened designation of the Western snowy plover. The PLF, which represented Coos County earlier this year in its effort to compel the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to overturn critical habitat designations for the plover, filed the notice on behalf of the Surf Ocean Beach Commission... Dry year? No, it's not; yes, it is; no, it's not The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has again switched the water-year type classification for Upper Klamath Lake - it's "below average" again. An early September rainstorm brought more water into the lake, and that caused the Bureau to redefine the year, said Dave Sabo, Klamath Reclamation Project manager. As a result, the Bureau is sending more water downstream...Build it ... but will they come? Drainage around Tucson inconveniences drivers in rainy weather and we all complain about rush-hour traffic in a city that could certainly use better planning. But for some species, such as our little hopping friend the toad, the rains and roads mean even more dangerous travel... Driving 350 Miles, Traveling 400 Years America's internal compass has historically pointed westward. But out in New Mexico, where thunderstorms can be seen for miles and eternity feels like a next-door neighbor, history has traveled on a northward road. It is El Camino Real, the Royal Road, once the footpath of Indians and officially blazed in the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors - a hellish 1,800-mile trail extending from civilization in Mexico City to the wild, remote reaches of the "tierra nueva" north of Santa Fe. Twenty-two years before the Mayflower, the road carried European colonists to what is now the United States. Led by Juan de Onate, the aristocratic son of a Spanish silver baron, the settlers brought along Christianity, the wheel, horses, sheep, written language and gunpowder for subduing the Indians..BLM says up to 500 wells could be drilled on Colorado plateau The Bureau of Land Management says up to 500 natural gas wells could be drilled on western Colorado's Roan Plateau over the next 20 years, though it doesn't plan to allow such dense development. The scenario was outlined in an internal bureau document, but a BLM official downplayed the possibility Wednesday...Drilling the Wild Rod and gun in hand, and backing the Second Amendment right to own firearms, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have won the hearts of America's sportsmen. Yet the two men have failed to protect outdoor sports on the nation's public lands. With deep ties to the oil and gas industry, Bush and Cheney have unleashed a national energy plan that has begun to destroy hunting and fishing on millions of federal acres throughout the West, setting back effective wildlife management for decades to come...BLM mediates gas and coal agreement The Bureau of Land Management has mediated an agreement between two companies to allow underground coal development to continue near Farmington. San Juan Coal Company and Dugan Production Company reached an agreement that will protect the coal mine while allowing Dugan to develop as much gas as possible...Directional drilling called "infeasible" A state recommendation to use directional drilling on the top of the Roan Plateau is probably not practical, according to a U.S. Bureau of Land Management document...Town's former residents recall losing fight "The Bureau of Reclamation bulldozed everything below the water line," said Milestone. "They took out all the trees. They scraped it clean. There's not much left." People were devastated. The headline in True West magazine said it all: "Uncle Sam sobers Whiskeytown."...Backwoods bard: Ferguson's book chronicles remote season Gary Ferguson knows wilderness. And he knows what it does to people, how it brings out both their worst behavior and best attributes. And although he is one of the nation's top chroniclers of the wild, he admits the struggle it takes to put wilderness -- and our messy relationship with it -- into words...Advisers recommend expansion of drilling U.S. consumers could save $300 billion in lower natural gas costs over 20 years if more federal lands and offshore waters are opened to drilling, said a report to U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham today. The report, written by the National Petroleum Council, composed mostly of energy executives and Energy Department officials, forecast U.S. demand for natural gas will increase 50 percent in the next two decades as more natural gas-burning power plants are built... Grazing-for-wildlife project under way After a decade of butting heads, ranchers, resource agencies and researchers are coming together to ask a question suited to this area: Can grazing cows on a plot of land help wildlife?...Bighorn rancher booted off allotment A long-established Wyoming ranching family has been evicted from a Bighorn National Forest grazing allotment after a series of grazing violations...Cowboy's blue jeans no longer made in Texas Levi Strauss, the maker of denim jeans, is closing its remaining factories in the US and Canada. The Levi plant at San Antonio, Texas, is set to shut down before the end of the year and others will close by March next year... Is it High Noon for the western? The western movie is 100, but it is in truly appalling health. Hollywood released no cowboy films in 2002, so will audiences flock to the spate of big-budget westerns due out soon? The end came not with the swoosh and crack of a six-shooter being drawn and fired, but with the rumble of bulldozers. This summer, Laramie Street - the dusty film set of saloons, sheriffs' offices and shacks featured in countless Hollywood westerns - was levelled to make way for more useful movie backdrops at Warner Brothers studios...
Environmentalists want to stop Catron County ranchers A coalition of environmental groups wants to stop Catron County ranchers Kit and Sherry Laney from grazing their livestock on national forest land without a permit. The groups filed for an injunction in federal court Wednesday in Albuquerque, seeking a halt to what they call illegal grazing that has been ongoing for at least six months...Senate Allows Harmful Grazing Practices to Continue Indefinitely Harmful public lands grazing could continue for four more years without any environmental review under provisions adopted Tuesday by the U.S. Senate. By unanimous consent, the Senate voted to accept measures that attempt to exempt federal agencies until 2008 from conducting environmental analysis of grazing permits under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)... Internal Review Panel Plans to Investigate Fire Did the U.S. Forest Service misjudge the danger that a prescribed burn in the Cascade Springs area might get out of control? An internal review panel plans to take a look at that question--and what could have been done early on to contain the blaze...Study puts cost of Colorado's worst-ever wildfire at $238 million The cost of the largest wildfire in Colorado history, which destroyed 132 homes and blackened 138,000 acres in 2002, is approaching $240 million, the U.S. Forest Service said in a study released Thursday...GAO weighs in on firefighting GIS Agencies that fight wildfires on public lands suffer from many common incompatibilities among data and systems that could hamper firefighting efforts, according to a new report from the General Accounting Office... From Conquest to Conservation Charles Wilkinson of the University of Colorado makes this salient point in the forward of From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Lands Legacy, leading him to ponder a key question: "Why has the Forest Service never embraced Aldo Leopold as its guiding light?" The answer to that question -- as well as a set of principles that would bring the Forest Service closer in line with Leopold's vision -- are found within the pages of this eminently readable history of America's relationship to its public lands. Indeed, Leopold's presence permeates From Conquest to Conservation, which chronicles the history of the nation's 463 million acres that lie under the auspices of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management...Nationwide Outdoors Pass: A one fee covers all proposal for public lands The Interior Department is proposing creation of a nationwide outdoors pass to standardize fees in national parks, forests and recreation areas and at dams and other federally owned public lands. Department officials envision something like an expanded National Park Service Golden Eagle pass, which costs $65...Real-time 'movies' will predict wildfire behavior for one hour Someday fire fighters will be able to manage wildfires by computer. Rochester Institute of Technology recently won a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to translate remote-sensing data about wildfires into real-time "mini-movies" that fire managers can download on laptop computers at the scene of a blaze. The model and visualization will predict the fire's behavior for the following hour... The path to healthier forests The Senate agreement with the White House on a landmark bill to protect the nation's public forests from fire and disease is as welcome as a good rain falling on a dry Oregon forest. Finally, here is a reasonably balanced, carefully written plan to counter the fires that have swept across millions of acres of thick, sick and dying forests in Oregon and across the country... The battle over Cave Rock The Highway 50 tunnels are a perfect metaphor for the way most people experience Cave Rock. As Tahoe visitors zoom through those roadway shafts, they can zip right through the heart of Cave Rock without seeing it well, or touching it at all. So, this striking monolith on Lake Tahoe's east shore has grown quite familiar while remaining almost entirely unknown...Pickers plunder plants The harvest of wildflowers for their medicinal properties is becoming so widespread that some forest rangers are starting to worry about overzealous pickers...Prescribed burns aim to prevent disaster Firefighters have known for more than a century that once a forest fire gets big, human efforts are powerless to stop it. That was illustrated in 1988 in Yellowstone National Park. As a result, the U.S. Forest Service has aggressively put out forest fires before they get big -- 98 percent of all fires are put out early, said Uinta National Forest Supervisor Pete Karp...Wildlife 'linkages' targeted Looking down from a single-engine plane, it all seems very clear. Spruce and fir trees, powdered by a late September dusting, sparkle in the brilliant sunshine. Sinewy fingers of forested land stretch north and south as far as the eye can see. But directly below, the forest is cut off abruptly by a shimmering asphalt snake: Interstate 70, where it climbs across Vail Pass, in the very heart of the Southern Rockies...Simpson's wilderness deal hits a snag The road to wilderness designation is no easy path, but recently another curve has come up and Congressman Mike Simpson is taking a "wait and see" attitude. The Custer County Farm Bureau chapter has withdrawn any support for a wilderness deal until environmental groups permanently withdraw from legal action on upper Snake River dam releases...NWF Pursues Legal Action to Ensure Wolf Recovery in the Northeast Charging that the Bush administration's decision to abandon wolf recovery efforts in the Northeast violates the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) announced today that it intends to take legal action. In its 60-day notice of intent to sue, NWF explains that the final Wolf Reclassification Rule that was issued in April effectively terminates federal wolf recovery efforts in the Northeast, where PLF may sue over plover designation suitable wolf habitat exists and wolves are apparently beginning to return... PLF may sue over plover designation The Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights legal group, has filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government to force it to review a request to remove the threatened designation of the Western snowy plover. The PLF, which represented Coos County earlier this year in its effort to compel the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to overturn critical habitat designations for the plover, filed the notice on behalf of the Surf Ocean Beach Commission... Dry year? No, it's not; yes, it is; no, it's not The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has again switched the water-year type classification for Upper Klamath Lake - it's "below average" again. An early September rainstorm brought more water into the lake, and that caused the Bureau to redefine the year, said Dave Sabo, Klamath Reclamation Project manager. As a result, the Bureau is sending more water downstream...Build it ... but will they come? Drainage around Tucson inconveniences drivers in rainy weather and we all complain about rush-hour traffic in a city that could certainly use better planning. But for some species, such as our little hopping friend the toad, the rains and roads mean even more dangerous travel... Driving 350 Miles, Traveling 400 Years America's internal compass has historically pointed westward. But out in New Mexico, where thunderstorms can be seen for miles and eternity feels like a next-door neighbor, history has traveled on a northward road. It is El Camino Real, the Royal Road, once the footpath of Indians and officially blazed in the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors - a hellish 1,800-mile trail extending from civilization in Mexico City to the wild, remote reaches of the "tierra nueva" north of Santa Fe. Twenty-two years before the Mayflower, the road carried European colonists to what is now the United States. Led by Juan de Onate, the aristocratic son of a Spanish silver baron, the settlers brought along Christianity, the wheel, horses, sheep, written language and gunpowder for subduing the Indians..BLM says up to 500 wells could be drilled on Colorado plateau The Bureau of Land Management says up to 500 natural gas wells could be drilled on western Colorado's Roan Plateau over the next 20 years, though it doesn't plan to allow such dense development. The scenario was outlined in an internal bureau document, but a BLM official downplayed the possibility Wednesday...Drilling the Wild Rod and gun in hand, and backing the Second Amendment right to own firearms, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have won the hearts of America's sportsmen. Yet the two men have failed to protect outdoor sports on the nation's public lands. With deep ties to the oil and gas industry, Bush and Cheney have unleashed a national energy plan that has begun to destroy hunting and fishing on millions of federal acres throughout the West, setting back effective wildlife management for decades to come...BLM mediates gas and coal agreement The Bureau of Land Management has mediated an agreement between two companies to allow underground coal development to continue near Farmington. San Juan Coal Company and Dugan Production Company reached an agreement that will protect the coal mine while allowing Dugan to develop as much gas as possible...Directional drilling called "infeasible" A state recommendation to use directional drilling on the top of the Roan Plateau is probably not practical, according to a U.S. Bureau of Land Management document...Town's former residents recall losing fight "The Bureau of Reclamation bulldozed everything below the water line," said Milestone. "They took out all the trees. They scraped it clean. There's not much left." People were devastated. The headline in True West magazine said it all: "Uncle Sam sobers Whiskeytown."...Backwoods bard: Ferguson's book chronicles remote season Gary Ferguson knows wilderness. And he knows what it does to people, how it brings out both their worst behavior and best attributes. And although he is one of the nation's top chroniclers of the wild, he admits the struggle it takes to put wilderness -- and our messy relationship with it -- into words...Advisers recommend expansion of drilling U.S. consumers could save $300 billion in lower natural gas costs over 20 years if more federal lands and offshore waters are opened to drilling, said a report to U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham today. The report, written by the National Petroleum Council, composed mostly of energy executives and Energy Department officials, forecast U.S. demand for natural gas will increase 50 percent in the next two decades as more natural gas-burning power plants are built... Grazing-for-wildlife project under way After a decade of butting heads, ranchers, resource agencies and researchers are coming together to ask a question suited to this area: Can grazing cows on a plot of land help wildlife?...Bighorn rancher booted off allotment A long-established Wyoming ranching family has been evicted from a Bighorn National Forest grazing allotment after a series of grazing violations...Cowboy's blue jeans no longer made in Texas Levi Strauss, the maker of denim jeans, is closing its remaining factories in the US and Canada. The Levi plant at San Antonio, Texas, is set to shut down before the end of the year and others will close by March next year... Is it High Noon for the western? The western movie is 100, but it is in truly appalling health. Hollywood released no cowboy films in 2002, so will audiences flock to the spate of big-budget westerns due out soon? The end came not with the swoosh and crack of a six-shooter being drawn and fired, but with the rumble of bulldozers. This summer, Laramie Street - the dusty film set of saloons, sheriffs' offices and shacks featured in countless Hollywood westerns - was levelled to make way for more useful movie backdrops at Warner Brothers studios...
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Leavitt Versus the Leviathan
Mike Leavitt deserves to be confirmed as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, not so much because he's a famous consensus-builder but because, in trying to be one as governor of Utah, he learned that environmental organizations can never, ever be satisfied.
Knowing this, as incoming EPA administrator, Leavitt is relieved of two burdens: first, of spending too much time trying to satisfy a constituency - the largely left-wing environmentalist movement - that can never be pleased, and, second, of the expectation that he'll ever get credit from environmentalists for doing any good, even if he does a top-notch job.
As Ronald Reagan used to say, there's no limit to the good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit. Or, as is inevitable in this case, the blame...
The Mounting Threat of Eco-Terrorism
As we combat Islamic terrorism abroad, we must recognize the deadly threat posed by a homegrown source--one that since 1997 has been responsible for over 600 attacks and has inflicted more than $100 million in property damage. The attacks have become bolder, fiercer: in August a 206-unit apartment complex near San Diego was firebombed, resulting in $50 million in damage. And just days ago, also in San Diego, four upscale homes under construction were torched.
This growing danger is: environmental terrorism. It is time that we reflect on the scale of the danger we face--and the ideology behind that menace.
From Alabama to Michigan, from Pennsylvania to California, underground cells of eco-terrorists have been waging a campaign of tree-spiking, industrial sabotage, arson and bombing. Last year the most prominent eco-terrorist group, the Earth Liberation Front, proudly claimed responsibility for more than 130 attacks. What is their goal? According to the ELF, our Westernized way of life "comes at the expense of . . . the natural environment." By seeking a safer, longer, happier life--by seeking more than a bare, primitive subsistence--mankind, they say, is guilty of crimes against nature. Accordingly, they wish "to inflict economic damage on those profiting from the destruction and exploitation of the natural environment"--hoping eventually "to speed up the collapse of industry."...
American terrorism, environment-style
Terrorists are loose in America. Eco-terrorists. In August radical environmentalists apparently burned down an apartment complex under construction in San Diego.
A couple of weeks later eco-terrorists attacked four SUV dealerships in West Covina, a Los Angeles suburb. Federal agents have arrested for the crime a 25-year-old member of an organization supposedly dedicated to peace and environmentalism.
These attacks were likely perpetrated by the Environmental Liberation Front, which has boasted of committing arson and bombings. Early last year ELF issued "an open call for direct action." It later took responsibility for torching a Forest Service lab in Pennsylvania...
Leavitt Versus the Leviathan
Mike Leavitt deserves to be confirmed as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, not so much because he's a famous consensus-builder but because, in trying to be one as governor of Utah, he learned that environmental organizations can never, ever be satisfied.
Knowing this, as incoming EPA administrator, Leavitt is relieved of two burdens: first, of spending too much time trying to satisfy a constituency - the largely left-wing environmentalist movement - that can never be pleased, and, second, of the expectation that he'll ever get credit from environmentalists for doing any good, even if he does a top-notch job.
As Ronald Reagan used to say, there's no limit to the good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit. Or, as is inevitable in this case, the blame...
The Mounting Threat of Eco-Terrorism
As we combat Islamic terrorism abroad, we must recognize the deadly threat posed by a homegrown source--one that since 1997 has been responsible for over 600 attacks and has inflicted more than $100 million in property damage. The attacks have become bolder, fiercer: in August a 206-unit apartment complex near San Diego was firebombed, resulting in $50 million in damage. And just days ago, also in San Diego, four upscale homes under construction were torched.
This growing danger is: environmental terrorism. It is time that we reflect on the scale of the danger we face--and the ideology behind that menace.
From Alabama to Michigan, from Pennsylvania to California, underground cells of eco-terrorists have been waging a campaign of tree-spiking, industrial sabotage, arson and bombing. Last year the most prominent eco-terrorist group, the Earth Liberation Front, proudly claimed responsibility for more than 130 attacks. What is their goal? According to the ELF, our Westernized way of life "comes at the expense of . . . the natural environment." By seeking a safer, longer, happier life--by seeking more than a bare, primitive subsistence--mankind, they say, is guilty of crimes against nature. Accordingly, they wish "to inflict economic damage on those profiting from the destruction and exploitation of the natural environment"--hoping eventually "to speed up the collapse of industry."...
American terrorism, environment-style
Terrorists are loose in America. Eco-terrorists. In August radical environmentalists apparently burned down an apartment complex under construction in San Diego.
A couple of weeks later eco-terrorists attacked four SUV dealerships in West Covina, a Los Angeles suburb. Federal agents have arrested for the crime a 25-year-old member of an organization supposedly dedicated to peace and environmentalism.
These attacks were likely perpetrated by the Environmental Liberation Front, which has boasted of committing arson and bombings. Early last year ELF issued "an open call for direct action." It later took responsibility for torching a Forest Service lab in Pennsylvania...
NEWS ROUNDUP
West's governors gather, vow to fix global warming The governors of California, Washington and Oregon, accusing the Bush administration of "foot-dragging" in the fight against global warming, announced Monday they plan to develop a joint strategy to reduce pollution. California Gov. Gray Davis and Washington Gov. Gary Locke, joined by environmental activists, unveiled the pact at a state park offering smog-shrouded views of Los Angeles. Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who was unable to attend, endorsed the plan in a statement...Senators strike forest accord Under the proposal, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management would be authorized to limit environmental analysis required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act. It also would require lawsuits to be filed at the beginning of the process and require courts to re-evaluate preliminary injunctions every 45 days. Preliminary injunctions stop action on a project until the litigation is completed, which due to appeals can often be months or years. The expedited process could be used on up to 20 million acres of federal lands. Environmentalists, who opposed the House bill, were upset to learn that the Senate was likely to follow in the other body's footsteps...Panel urges environmental fast track IN A 90-PAGE REPORT, the group calls on several federal agencies to create categories of projects, using broad criteria, that would be deemed to have no environmental impact. If a project fit into one of those broad categories, no further environmental assessments would be required, officials said. Other recommendations include drafting new federal regulations for managing fisheries, forests and other resources and creating a citizen's guide to help people better understand the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act...NOTE: you can see a copy of the NEPA report here. Wildfire Continues to Burn; 3000 Acres So Far A fire set on purpose in Utah's Wasatch County, has become a nagging headache for the Forest Service. The controlled burn jumped the fire line and raged out of control last night. And today,smoke from that fire poured out of the canyons, and left a smelly blanket over the Salt Lake Valley...Memorandum signed to improve access The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has joined the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation and 17 other public and private partners in signing a Memorandum of Understanding dedicated to improving and maintaining access to public lands for hunters and anglers. "This is an important effort for our nation's sportsmen and women," said Service Director Steve Williams. "There are some locations in the United States where the Federal government is the single largest land owner. Public access is critical to allow hunters and anglers to fulfill their vital role in responsible management of our fish and wildlife resources."...Bingaman measure would keep forest thinning, fire-fighting funds separate To reduce such threats, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced an amendment, on Monday, to the 2004 Interior Appropriations Bill. The amendment gives the U.S. Department of Agriculture Department up to $250 million annually in additional forest fire fighting funds. (The U.S. Forest Service is under the USDA' auspices.) "(This) is intended to put an end to the Forest Service's practice of borrowing funding from key forest thinning programs” and failing to restore those funds"in particularly harsh fire seasons," Bingaman's release stated...Federal agencies sued over mountain water A group of property owners in the Sacramento Mountain Watershed Restoration Corporation filed suit Friday in federal district court against the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies over authorizations for municipal water projects on forest lands. The group of property owners filed the lawsuit so it would require federal agencies to consider the effects of municipal water diversions on the Sacramento Mountain community, Rick Warnock of SMWRC said. Joe Garcia of the U.S. Forest Service had not been notified of the lawsuit yet and had no comment...Proposed Tongass sales limit survives vote U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has scotched efforts to kill his proposal to put time limits on lawsuits against certain Tongass National Forest timber sales. An attempt by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to remove a Tongass timber sale amendment in a budget bill failed Tuesday by a vote of 52-44... Wildfire leaves hidden hazards Falling trees and hidden holes are just some of the dangers on the thousands of acres that remain closed in the mostly contained B and B Complex fire area. And it's not clear when the land will be cleaned up and fully available again to public access. "This fire is so huge, it's hard for us to make an impact," said Kris Martinson, community relations team leader for the Sisters Ranger District... Park County commission plans more action on wolves Park County commissioners are planning to send a letter to the federal government supporting Wyoming's controversial wolf management plan under review. The three-member board also vowed Tuesday to approve its third resolution stating its concerns about the future of wolf management in northwest Wyoming...Regulators focus on monitoring plan U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials in Wyoming and Montana are preparing to roll out a massive monitoring program for coalbed methane gas development in the Powder River Basin...Earthjustice Makes Citizens' Case for Wilderness Protection at Supreme Court Earthjustice filed papers with the US Supreme Court today opposing Bush administration efforts to strip citizens rights to protect wild public lands. The conservation group asked the court to let stand a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling finding that average American citizens have the right to enforce laws that protect public lands... Klamath River salmon run a smooth one A year after 33,000 salmon died in the Lower Klamath River, things seem to be flowing along smoothly for this year's return of chinook salmon spawners - a run that appears to be slightly above average...Feds to review A-LP cost overruns The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has undertaken a detailed internal review to determine why the Animas-La Plata Project is now expected to cost nearly 50 percent more than the bureau once projected. U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis raised the possibility that the cost increase might involve lawbreaking. While the entire increase might be legal and justified, McInnis said in an interview, the U.S. Justice Department should become involved if the bureau's review reveals any criminal behavior... Mad cow scare traps U.S. calves in Canada One month ago, Asmussen effectively lost an entire herd of healthy prime yearlings, $1 million worth, to a disease that terrifies an industry even as it sounds like a Saturday morning children's cartoon: mad cow. And he did so without a single infected animal. His situation has governments, ranchers and politicians in two countries offering sympathy but little else... Schneeberger finishes first, second to earn $10,549 Jerome Schneeberger pocketed a record $10,549 in Tuesday's Open Division competition to highlight the opening day of the $500,000 United States Calf Roping Association National Finals at Lone Star Arena. Schneeberger, currently ranked fourth in the PRCA tie-down standings with year to date earnings of $84,448, won first and second in the Showdown Finals to earn the big paycheck. The Ponca City, Okla., professional had a four head time of 37.65 seconds to capture first, and 38.94 seconds to finish runner-up...
West's governors gather, vow to fix global warming The governors of California, Washington and Oregon, accusing the Bush administration of "foot-dragging" in the fight against global warming, announced Monday they plan to develop a joint strategy to reduce pollution. California Gov. Gray Davis and Washington Gov. Gary Locke, joined by environmental activists, unveiled the pact at a state park offering smog-shrouded views of Los Angeles. Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who was unable to attend, endorsed the plan in a statement...Senators strike forest accord Under the proposal, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management would be authorized to limit environmental analysis required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act. It also would require lawsuits to be filed at the beginning of the process and require courts to re-evaluate preliminary injunctions every 45 days. Preliminary injunctions stop action on a project until the litigation is completed, which due to appeals can often be months or years. The expedited process could be used on up to 20 million acres of federal lands. Environmentalists, who opposed the House bill, were upset to learn that the Senate was likely to follow in the other body's footsteps...Panel urges environmental fast track IN A 90-PAGE REPORT, the group calls on several federal agencies to create categories of projects, using broad criteria, that would be deemed to have no environmental impact. If a project fit into one of those broad categories, no further environmental assessments would be required, officials said. Other recommendations include drafting new federal regulations for managing fisheries, forests and other resources and creating a citizen's guide to help people better understand the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act...NOTE: you can see a copy of the NEPA report here. Wildfire Continues to Burn; 3000 Acres So Far A fire set on purpose in Utah's Wasatch County, has become a nagging headache for the Forest Service. The controlled burn jumped the fire line and raged out of control last night. And today,smoke from that fire poured out of the canyons, and left a smelly blanket over the Salt Lake Valley...Memorandum signed to improve access The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has joined the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation and 17 other public and private partners in signing a Memorandum of Understanding dedicated to improving and maintaining access to public lands for hunters and anglers. "This is an important effort for our nation's sportsmen and women," said Service Director Steve Williams. "There are some locations in the United States where the Federal government is the single largest land owner. Public access is critical to allow hunters and anglers to fulfill their vital role in responsible management of our fish and wildlife resources."...Bingaman measure would keep forest thinning, fire-fighting funds separate To reduce such threats, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced an amendment, on Monday, to the 2004 Interior Appropriations Bill. The amendment gives the U.S. Department of Agriculture Department up to $250 million annually in additional forest fire fighting funds. (The U.S. Forest Service is under the USDA' auspices.) "(This) is intended to put an end to the Forest Service's practice of borrowing funding from key forest thinning programs” and failing to restore those funds"in particularly harsh fire seasons," Bingaman's release stated...Federal agencies sued over mountain water A group of property owners in the Sacramento Mountain Watershed Restoration Corporation filed suit Friday in federal district court against the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies over authorizations for municipal water projects on forest lands. The group of property owners filed the lawsuit so it would require federal agencies to consider the effects of municipal water diversions on the Sacramento Mountain community, Rick Warnock of SMWRC said. Joe Garcia of the U.S. Forest Service had not been notified of the lawsuit yet and had no comment...Proposed Tongass sales limit survives vote U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has scotched efforts to kill his proposal to put time limits on lawsuits against certain Tongass National Forest timber sales. An attempt by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to remove a Tongass timber sale amendment in a budget bill failed Tuesday by a vote of 52-44... Wildfire leaves hidden hazards Falling trees and hidden holes are just some of the dangers on the thousands of acres that remain closed in the mostly contained B and B Complex fire area. And it's not clear when the land will be cleaned up and fully available again to public access. "This fire is so huge, it's hard for us to make an impact," said Kris Martinson, community relations team leader for the Sisters Ranger District... Park County commission plans more action on wolves Park County commissioners are planning to send a letter to the federal government supporting Wyoming's controversial wolf management plan under review. The three-member board also vowed Tuesday to approve its third resolution stating its concerns about the future of wolf management in northwest Wyoming...Regulators focus on monitoring plan U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials in Wyoming and Montana are preparing to roll out a massive monitoring program for coalbed methane gas development in the Powder River Basin...Earthjustice Makes Citizens' Case for Wilderness Protection at Supreme Court Earthjustice filed papers with the US Supreme Court today opposing Bush administration efforts to strip citizens rights to protect wild public lands. The conservation group asked the court to let stand a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling finding that average American citizens have the right to enforce laws that protect public lands... Klamath River salmon run a smooth one A year after 33,000 salmon died in the Lower Klamath River, things seem to be flowing along smoothly for this year's return of chinook salmon spawners - a run that appears to be slightly above average...Feds to review A-LP cost overruns The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has undertaken a detailed internal review to determine why the Animas-La Plata Project is now expected to cost nearly 50 percent more than the bureau once projected. U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis raised the possibility that the cost increase might involve lawbreaking. While the entire increase might be legal and justified, McInnis said in an interview, the U.S. Justice Department should become involved if the bureau's review reveals any criminal behavior... Mad cow scare traps U.S. calves in Canada One month ago, Asmussen effectively lost an entire herd of healthy prime yearlings, $1 million worth, to a disease that terrifies an industry even as it sounds like a Saturday morning children's cartoon: mad cow. And he did so without a single infected animal. His situation has governments, ranchers and politicians in two countries offering sympathy but little else... Schneeberger finishes first, second to earn $10,549 Jerome Schneeberger pocketed a record $10,549 in Tuesday's Open Division competition to highlight the opening day of the $500,000 United States Calf Roping Association National Finals at Lone Star Arena. Schneeberger, currently ranked fourth in the PRCA tie-down standings with year to date earnings of $84,448, won first and second in the Showdown Finals to earn the big paycheck. The Ponca City, Okla., professional had a four head time of 37.65 seconds to capture first, and 38.94 seconds to finish runner-up...
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Wolf Friendly Beef
Since the reintroduction of wolves to the Southwest, many ranchers in that area are up in arms about the government program that brings predators onto the same land where ranchers keep their cattle. "Why in the world would I welcome a predator that could wipe me out of business?" asks Daisy Mae Cannon, President of the Greenlee County Cattle Grower's Association. "It just makes no sense," she says. Cannon says every rancher she knows agrees with her. She says ranchers are losing cattle right and left to wolves that eat them. And, she says, ranchers on public lands can't do anything about it; the government imposes a steep fine and jail time for anyone who gets caught shooting a wolf...
But not all ranchers see wolves as a problem. Will and Jan Holder are infamous among their colleagues of ranchers in Greenlee County, Arizona. Will's family has been in ranching for generations, in fact, his grandfather shot the last known wild wolf in the area. But Jan is a self-described "city girl" and when the couple started their own ranch, they set out to do things differently. The Holders run Ervin's Natural Beef, one of a handful of ranches working with environmental group, Defenders of Wildlife in the "Wolf Country Beef" Program. In order to be allowed to use the Wolf Country Beef label on their products, ranchers must sign an agreement with Defenders of Wildlife. They agree to eliminate the use of lethal and non-selective methods of controlling predators (like leg-hold traps and aerial gunning). They also agree to allow wolf re-colonization on their private lands and agree to cooperate with wolf project personnel...
Since the reintroduction of wolves to the Southwest, many ranchers in that area are up in arms about the government program that brings predators onto the same land where ranchers keep their cattle. "Why in the world would I welcome a predator that could wipe me out of business?" asks Daisy Mae Cannon, President of the Greenlee County Cattle Grower's Association. "It just makes no sense," she says. Cannon says every rancher she knows agrees with her. She says ranchers are losing cattle right and left to wolves that eat them. And, she says, ranchers on public lands can't do anything about it; the government imposes a steep fine and jail time for anyone who gets caught shooting a wolf...
But not all ranchers see wolves as a problem. Will and Jan Holder are infamous among their colleagues of ranchers in Greenlee County, Arizona. Will's family has been in ranching for generations, in fact, his grandfather shot the last known wild wolf in the area. But Jan is a self-described "city girl" and when the couple started their own ranch, they set out to do things differently. The Holders run Ervin's Natural Beef, one of a handful of ranches working with environmental group, Defenders of Wildlife in the "Wolf Country Beef" Program. In order to be allowed to use the Wolf Country Beef label on their products, ranchers must sign an agreement with Defenders of Wildlife. They agree to eliminate the use of lethal and non-selective methods of controlling predators (like leg-hold traps and aerial gunning). They also agree to allow wolf re-colonization on their private lands and agree to cooperate with wolf project personnel...
OPINION/COMMENTARY
GREENPEACE ACCUSED OF MONEY LAUNDERING DONATIONS
A non-profit watchdog group today filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against Greenpeace, accusing the organization of illegally soliciting and transferring millions of dollars in tax-deductible contributions.
In a report titled "Green Peace, Dirty Money: Tax Violations in the World of Non-Profits," Public Interest Watch (PIW) accused Greenpeace - one of the world's most recognizable and visible non-profits - of knowingly and systematically violating United States tax laws.
"At the heart of the matter is the way in which Greenpeace's complex corporate structure masks its misuse of tax-exempt contributions," claimed Mike Hardiman, Executive Director of PIW.
"The IRS very clearly differentiates between taxable and tax-exempt contributions, and the ways in which they can be used," Hardiman said. "Greenpeace has devised a system for diverting tax-exempt funds into non-exempt organizations within its empire and using the money for improper and illegal purposes. It is plainly a case of money laundering."
The report details how during a three year span, one Greenpeace entity diverted over $24 million in tax-exempt contributions. Such contributions are supposed to be used for charitable, educational or scientific programs, but instead financed advocacy campaigns...
Senator Refutes Global Warming Hypothesis: Part 1 in a Series
The Science of Climate Change
Senate Floor Statement by
U.S. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Oklahoma)
Chairman, Committee on Environment and Public Works
...But in fact the issue is far from settled, and indeed is seriously disputed. I would submit, furthermore, that not only is there a debate, but the debate is shifting away from those who subscribe to global warming alarmism. After studying the issue over the last several years, I believe that the balance of the evidence offers strong proof that natural variability is the overwhelming factor influencing climate...
Energy Realism Overtaking Energy Alarmism
In the 1970s and 1980s, energy policy debates in the U.S. were mostly over the regulation of oil and natural gas prices and allocation. Energy shortages and price spikes led many to adopt an “energy-is-bad, energy conservation is good” position.
In the early 1990s, the energy policy debate shifted to energy “sustainability.” Depletion, pollution, reliability (security), and anthropogenic (man-made) climate change are the four sustainability issues. The last, climate change, is by far the most important of the four for the future of carbon-based energies.
Where does the energy sustainability debate stand as of mid-2003? The intellectual momentum has shifted to the optimists who see environmental progress as the norm and who believe that the market’s improvement process will effectively solve new problems along the way.
What has changed to mute energy alarmism? Six trends have been especially important...
Sound Policy for the Energy Bill
In the aftermath of the worst power outage in the nation's history, Congress is rushing to get a comprehensive energy bill to the President's desk for his signature. To assure consumers that another massive blackout will never happen again, Members may feel compelled to pass an energy bill--any bill--just to demonstrate their concern...
The EIA predicts that total energy consumption will outpace domestic energy production through 2025. It is clear that now, more than ever, Congress must adopt policies that correct this imbalance. To do so, Congress must enhance the nation's domestic resources, and remove regulatory barriers to responsible production, upgrade the antiquated electric grid, and let the marketplace--not political interference--determine fuel winners and losers...
Gluttonous Lawyers Suing Over Fat
In Seattle, there is a popular restaurant called the 5 Spot. Its signature dish is a huge, calorie-laden dessert called The Bulge. Access to it, however, is restricted to those patrons willing to sign a waiver agreeing not to sue the restaurant for making them fat. Although obviously a marketing gimmick, the underlying issue is no joke. Greedy lawyers (pardon the redundancy) have been working steadily on a campaign to make restaurants and food manufacturers legally liable for the spread of obesity. Sadly, they are making progress...
'Lay Values'?
The European Commission is introducing new precautionary procedures for all chemicals produced in volumes greater than one ton per year. The new regulations are known as REACH, which stands for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals. They propose a schedule lasting until 2012 to complete tests on all existing, unregistered substances...
But a focus on narrowly political or economic motives misses the broader cultural trend that drives these matters and that will make the debate over chemicals more, rather than less, central in the coming years. That trend is the growing aversion to risk that is now manifest across society as a whole...
Environmental Litigation Threatens Endangered Species
You know environmental lawsuits have spun out of control when barge activity on the Missouri River must come to a halt to preserve habitat for the nesting piping plover.
A federal district court decision ordering the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce water levels from the Missouri River dams so piping plovers, least terns and pallid sturgeons can breed on sandbars threatens to decimate the river's shipping industry, endanger water quality and reduce water supplies and power for communities in downstream states...
Sadly, nonsensical litigation such as this is not rare. Rather, it is an epidemic that not only compromises human needs but, ironically, compromises the protection of endangered species...
Thanks to Robert Bidinotto at ecoNOT.com for the link to the above story.
The hypocritical environmentalism of celebrities
Supporting and funding alternative means of energy in an effort to eliminate America's dependency on foreign oil and reduce pollution has long been one of the stated causes of progressive politicians, activists and celebrities. But it seems that many of them, so skilled at furthering the case for unconventional energy resources, are unprepared to utilize them in their own backyards...
Is the administration more forward thinking when it comes to energy than a cadre of celebrities tucked away in the exclusive environs of Cape Cod, Massachusetts? Former newsman Walter Cronkite, a part-time resident of Martha's Vineyard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a well-known inhabitant, are leading a campaign to shut down a proposed $700 million wind farm in the Nantucket Sound that would provide electricity to thousands of homes in the area, contending that the giant turbines would ruin the landscape of one of the nation's most cherished areas...
GREENPEACE ACCUSED OF MONEY LAUNDERING DONATIONS
A non-profit watchdog group today filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against Greenpeace, accusing the organization of illegally soliciting and transferring millions of dollars in tax-deductible contributions.
In a report titled "Green Peace, Dirty Money: Tax Violations in the World of Non-Profits," Public Interest Watch (PIW) accused Greenpeace - one of the world's most recognizable and visible non-profits - of knowingly and systematically violating United States tax laws.
"At the heart of the matter is the way in which Greenpeace's complex corporate structure masks its misuse of tax-exempt contributions," claimed Mike Hardiman, Executive Director of PIW.
"The IRS very clearly differentiates between taxable and tax-exempt contributions, and the ways in which they can be used," Hardiman said. "Greenpeace has devised a system for diverting tax-exempt funds into non-exempt organizations within its empire and using the money for improper and illegal purposes. It is plainly a case of money laundering."
The report details how during a three year span, one Greenpeace entity diverted over $24 million in tax-exempt contributions. Such contributions are supposed to be used for charitable, educational or scientific programs, but instead financed advocacy campaigns...
Senator Refutes Global Warming Hypothesis: Part 1 in a Series
The Science of Climate Change
Senate Floor Statement by
U.S. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Oklahoma)
Chairman, Committee on Environment and Public Works
...But in fact the issue is far from settled, and indeed is seriously disputed. I would submit, furthermore, that not only is there a debate, but the debate is shifting away from those who subscribe to global warming alarmism. After studying the issue over the last several years, I believe that the balance of the evidence offers strong proof that natural variability is the overwhelming factor influencing climate...
Energy Realism Overtaking Energy Alarmism
In the 1970s and 1980s, energy policy debates in the U.S. were mostly over the regulation of oil and natural gas prices and allocation. Energy shortages and price spikes led many to adopt an “energy-is-bad, energy conservation is good” position.
In the early 1990s, the energy policy debate shifted to energy “sustainability.” Depletion, pollution, reliability (security), and anthropogenic (man-made) climate change are the four sustainability issues. The last, climate change, is by far the most important of the four for the future of carbon-based energies.
Where does the energy sustainability debate stand as of mid-2003? The intellectual momentum has shifted to the optimists who see environmental progress as the norm and who believe that the market’s improvement process will effectively solve new problems along the way.
What has changed to mute energy alarmism? Six trends have been especially important...
Sound Policy for the Energy Bill
In the aftermath of the worst power outage in the nation's history, Congress is rushing to get a comprehensive energy bill to the President's desk for his signature. To assure consumers that another massive blackout will never happen again, Members may feel compelled to pass an energy bill--any bill--just to demonstrate their concern...
The EIA predicts that total energy consumption will outpace domestic energy production through 2025. It is clear that now, more than ever, Congress must adopt policies that correct this imbalance. To do so, Congress must enhance the nation's domestic resources, and remove regulatory barriers to responsible production, upgrade the antiquated electric grid, and let the marketplace--not political interference--determine fuel winners and losers...
Gluttonous Lawyers Suing Over Fat
In Seattle, there is a popular restaurant called the 5 Spot. Its signature dish is a huge, calorie-laden dessert called The Bulge. Access to it, however, is restricted to those patrons willing to sign a waiver agreeing not to sue the restaurant for making them fat. Although obviously a marketing gimmick, the underlying issue is no joke. Greedy lawyers (pardon the redundancy) have been working steadily on a campaign to make restaurants and food manufacturers legally liable for the spread of obesity. Sadly, they are making progress...
'Lay Values'?
The European Commission is introducing new precautionary procedures for all chemicals produced in volumes greater than one ton per year. The new regulations are known as REACH, which stands for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals. They propose a schedule lasting until 2012 to complete tests on all existing, unregistered substances...
But a focus on narrowly political or economic motives misses the broader cultural trend that drives these matters and that will make the debate over chemicals more, rather than less, central in the coming years. That trend is the growing aversion to risk that is now manifest across society as a whole...
Environmental Litigation Threatens Endangered Species
You know environmental lawsuits have spun out of control when barge activity on the Missouri River must come to a halt to preserve habitat for the nesting piping plover.
A federal district court decision ordering the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce water levels from the Missouri River dams so piping plovers, least terns and pallid sturgeons can breed on sandbars threatens to decimate the river's shipping industry, endanger water quality and reduce water supplies and power for communities in downstream states...
Sadly, nonsensical litigation such as this is not rare. Rather, it is an epidemic that not only compromises human needs but, ironically, compromises the protection of endangered species...
Thanks to Robert Bidinotto at ecoNOT.com for the link to the above story.
The hypocritical environmentalism of celebrities
Supporting and funding alternative means of energy in an effort to eliminate America's dependency on foreign oil and reduce pollution has long been one of the stated causes of progressive politicians, activists and celebrities. But it seems that many of them, so skilled at furthering the case for unconventional energy resources, are unprepared to utilize them in their own backyards...
Is the administration more forward thinking when it comes to energy than a cadre of celebrities tucked away in the exclusive environs of Cape Cod, Massachusetts? Former newsman Walter Cronkite, a part-time resident of Martha's Vineyard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a well-known inhabitant, are leading a campaign to shut down a proposed $700 million wind farm in the Nantucket Sound that would provide electricity to thousands of homes in the area, contending that the giant turbines would ruin the landscape of one of the nation's most cherished areas...
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Senate allows new job competitions at Interior, Forest Service Language added Tuesday to the Senate version of the Interior appropriations bill would allow the department to put more jobs up for bids, but also enables lawmakers to monitor the results of public-private job competitions at Interior. Senators approved the language, offered by Sens. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, by a vote of 53 to 43. The amendment requires the secretary of Interior to provide Congress with an annual report including statistics on numbers of competitions conducted, the results of those competitions, money spent on competitive sourcing and estimated and actual savings generated by these competitions...Senators Reach Tentative Forest Bill Deal Senators from both parties said late Tuesday they have reached tentative agreement on a bill to ease environmental restrictions on logging and speed thinning projects in national forests to reduce the danger of wildfire. A final agreement was put off because some participants wanted the Bush administration to agree to support the proposal in a conference committee with the House, which already approved a similar bill...Senate opts not to free up funds for Pacific Crest Trail For the first time in six years, there is no money in the U.S. Senate public-land acquisition budget for the Pacific Crest Trail. The Senate opted not to tap the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund as it has in past years, and trail supporters worry that the House, also in a budget-tightening mode, will follow suit...Senate Increases Funds to Fight Wildfires The Senate increased funds for fighting wildfires by $400 million Tuesday, nearly doubling fire suppression money in a $20 billion Interior Department spending bill...White House to release study on environmental reviews An inter-agency task force tapped by the Bush administration will release a report Wednesday recommending ways to streamline federal environmental reviews, according to an environmental group which circulated portions of the report on Tuesday. But the report falls short of defending some exemptions sought by the administration from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, which requires federal agencies to prepare environmental impact statements before changing regulations, the National Environmental Trust said...Using GPR to estimate tree root biomass USDA Forest Service (FS) researchers are improving the use of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to study tree roots nondestructively. They are refining GPR's processing capabilities by comparing results with those of more invasive methods...Schilling previews Wyoming Forum The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service will conduct 12 resource management plans in the next seven years that will shape Wyoming's future, Wyoming Business Alliance President Bill Schilling said Monday...Wildlife crossing urged for Tijeras The Wildlands Project, a national conservation group, has a wild cross-traffic proposal for I-40 in Tijeras Canyon. The group wants to establish a corridor along the spine of the continent - from the Yukon into Mexico - for safe wildlife migration and shorter trips by bears, deer, mountain lions and other animals. In a news conference in Santa Fe today, Wildlands Project representatives will announce it has identified five "endangered linkages" in that corridor - including Tijeras Canyon...Project aims to reduce wildfire fuel Clearing dead branches and cutting branches from trees in the space where residential areas and wildland meet will not make an area fireproof, according to local officials, but it will make future fires more manageable. Seasonal workers began work this month on the Portneuf-Westbench Fuels Project, one of 10 pilot projects listed in President Bush's Healthy Forests Initiative...Flag site previously owned by the county After the American flag-burning incident atop Peak 1 this month, a Summit County resident recently e-mailed the Board of County Commissioners to suggest the county acquire the mountaintop for a permanent Sept. 11 memorial. That way, the county could have more control instead of people having to obtain permits through the U.S. Forest Service...Wolf population growth slows as recovery chief says boom is over While more gray wolves are prowling the Northern Rockies, the population's overall rate of growth this year is the slowest it has been since reintroduction efforts were launched eight years ago, a federal wolf expert said Tuesday...Species vs. Species Because loggerhead shrikes on San Clemente Island are critically endangered, the foxes that prey on their nestlings should be controlled. Right? Wrong. The problem is that the foxes are also at-risk. A new analysis shows that instead of pitting the shrike against the fox, both species could have been protected with an ecosystem-wide conservation plan... Environmental safeguards on drilling in wildlife refuges is spotty, GAO report says Amid a new push to open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil companies, a congressional report said Tuesday the government's track record in protecting refuges where oil and gas are already being pumped is spotty and needs to be strengthened... Home builders organization ads to fill 'void' on pygmy-owl issue The Southern Arizona Home Builders Association is waging an air campaign against what it considers biased media coverage. A radio ad began airing earlier this month that SAHBA hopes will fill an information "void" about a recent federal appeals court ruling about the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl... Amish man uses old fashioned "horse" power to clear forest The modern ways aren't always the best ways. Outside Canon City an Amish man from the San Luis Valley is using his horse to clear dead brush from land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management...Over 7,900 Acres on Ute Mt. Protected (NM) The Trust for Public Land (TPL), the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Taos Land Trust (TLT) announced today the successful first phase of a multi-year effort to preserve the breathtaking 14,344-acre Ute Mountain property on the New Mexico-Colorado border. TPL, a national non-profit land conservation organization, conveyed to the BLM 7,924 acres of the Ute Mountain property, bringing one of New Mexico's most notable landscapes into permanent protection... Metropolitan Water District board approves Colorado River water-sharing deal The board of the Metropolitan Water District, the largest water broker in Southern California, approved a deal Tuesday to divide the state's share of Colorado River water and officials said they were optimistic they'd win needed support from three other agencies. Metropolitan was the first of the four agencies to vote on the long-awaited pact, which is needed to secure the water future for thirsty and fast-growing Southern California...Commissioners oppose Referendum A Following the lead of dozens of state legislators, La Plata County commissioners approved a resolution Monday opposing Referendum A. Opponents, who also include U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., and Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, believe Western Slope farmers and ranchers would lose their long-held water rights to supply water to Front Range cities as a result of the referendum...Inspector sees gas drilling behind well problems The problems that ranchers Roland and Beverly Landry have experienced with a home well going dry is an example of coalbed methane companies operating unscrupulously, the Powder River Basin Resource Council claims...Pistol John Wayne used in movie is stolen A pistol that John Wayne used in a movie has been reported stolen from his family's collection on display at the John Wayne Marina building in this Olympic Peninsula town. "They lifted the glass out somehow," assistant harbormaster Tyler Kish said Sunday. "They didn't even take the holster to the gun."...
Senate allows new job competitions at Interior, Forest Service Language added Tuesday to the Senate version of the Interior appropriations bill would allow the department to put more jobs up for bids, but also enables lawmakers to monitor the results of public-private job competitions at Interior. Senators approved the language, offered by Sens. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, by a vote of 53 to 43. The amendment requires the secretary of Interior to provide Congress with an annual report including statistics on numbers of competitions conducted, the results of those competitions, money spent on competitive sourcing and estimated and actual savings generated by these competitions...Senators Reach Tentative Forest Bill Deal Senators from both parties said late Tuesday they have reached tentative agreement on a bill to ease environmental restrictions on logging and speed thinning projects in national forests to reduce the danger of wildfire. A final agreement was put off because some participants wanted the Bush administration to agree to support the proposal in a conference committee with the House, which already approved a similar bill...Senate opts not to free up funds for Pacific Crest Trail For the first time in six years, there is no money in the U.S. Senate public-land acquisition budget for the Pacific Crest Trail. The Senate opted not to tap the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund as it has in past years, and trail supporters worry that the House, also in a budget-tightening mode, will follow suit...Senate Increases Funds to Fight Wildfires The Senate increased funds for fighting wildfires by $400 million Tuesday, nearly doubling fire suppression money in a $20 billion Interior Department spending bill...White House to release study on environmental reviews An inter-agency task force tapped by the Bush administration will release a report Wednesday recommending ways to streamline federal environmental reviews, according to an environmental group which circulated portions of the report on Tuesday. But the report falls short of defending some exemptions sought by the administration from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, which requires federal agencies to prepare environmental impact statements before changing regulations, the National Environmental Trust said...Using GPR to estimate tree root biomass USDA Forest Service (FS) researchers are improving the use of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to study tree roots nondestructively. They are refining GPR's processing capabilities by comparing results with those of more invasive methods...Schilling previews Wyoming Forum The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service will conduct 12 resource management plans in the next seven years that will shape Wyoming's future, Wyoming Business Alliance President Bill Schilling said Monday...Wildlife crossing urged for Tijeras The Wildlands Project, a national conservation group, has a wild cross-traffic proposal for I-40 in Tijeras Canyon. The group wants to establish a corridor along the spine of the continent - from the Yukon into Mexico - for safe wildlife migration and shorter trips by bears, deer, mountain lions and other animals. In a news conference in Santa Fe today, Wildlands Project representatives will announce it has identified five "endangered linkages" in that corridor - including Tijeras Canyon...Project aims to reduce wildfire fuel Clearing dead branches and cutting branches from trees in the space where residential areas and wildland meet will not make an area fireproof, according to local officials, but it will make future fires more manageable. Seasonal workers began work this month on the Portneuf-Westbench Fuels Project, one of 10 pilot projects listed in President Bush's Healthy Forests Initiative...Flag site previously owned by the county After the American flag-burning incident atop Peak 1 this month, a Summit County resident recently e-mailed the Board of County Commissioners to suggest the county acquire the mountaintop for a permanent Sept. 11 memorial. That way, the county could have more control instead of people having to obtain permits through the U.S. Forest Service...Wolf population growth slows as recovery chief says boom is over While more gray wolves are prowling the Northern Rockies, the population's overall rate of growth this year is the slowest it has been since reintroduction efforts were launched eight years ago, a federal wolf expert said Tuesday...Species vs. Species Because loggerhead shrikes on San Clemente Island are critically endangered, the foxes that prey on their nestlings should be controlled. Right? Wrong. The problem is that the foxes are also at-risk. A new analysis shows that instead of pitting the shrike against the fox, both species could have been protected with an ecosystem-wide conservation plan... Environmental safeguards on drilling in wildlife refuges is spotty, GAO report says Amid a new push to open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil companies, a congressional report said Tuesday the government's track record in protecting refuges where oil and gas are already being pumped is spotty and needs to be strengthened... Home builders organization ads to fill 'void' on pygmy-owl issue The Southern Arizona Home Builders Association is waging an air campaign against what it considers biased media coverage. A radio ad began airing earlier this month that SAHBA hopes will fill an information "void" about a recent federal appeals court ruling about the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl... Amish man uses old fashioned "horse" power to clear forest The modern ways aren't always the best ways. Outside Canon City an Amish man from the San Luis Valley is using his horse to clear dead brush from land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management...Over 7,900 Acres on Ute Mt. Protected (NM) The Trust for Public Land (TPL), the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Taos Land Trust (TLT) announced today the successful first phase of a multi-year effort to preserve the breathtaking 14,344-acre Ute Mountain property on the New Mexico-Colorado border. TPL, a national non-profit land conservation organization, conveyed to the BLM 7,924 acres of the Ute Mountain property, bringing one of New Mexico's most notable landscapes into permanent protection... Metropolitan Water District board approves Colorado River water-sharing deal The board of the Metropolitan Water District, the largest water broker in Southern California, approved a deal Tuesday to divide the state's share of Colorado River water and officials said they were optimistic they'd win needed support from three other agencies. Metropolitan was the first of the four agencies to vote on the long-awaited pact, which is needed to secure the water future for thirsty and fast-growing Southern California...Commissioners oppose Referendum A Following the lead of dozens of state legislators, La Plata County commissioners approved a resolution Monday opposing Referendum A. Opponents, who also include U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., and Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, believe Western Slope farmers and ranchers would lose their long-held water rights to supply water to Front Range cities as a result of the referendum...Inspector sees gas drilling behind well problems The problems that ranchers Roland and Beverly Landry have experienced with a home well going dry is an example of coalbed methane companies operating unscrupulously, the Powder River Basin Resource Council claims...Pistol John Wayne used in movie is stolen A pistol that John Wayne used in a movie has been reported stolen from his family's collection on display at the John Wayne Marina building in this Olympic Peninsula town. "They lifted the glass out somehow," assistant harbormaster Tyler Kish said Sunday. "They didn't even take the holster to the gun."...
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