NEWS ROUNDUP
Ranchers, outfitters crying wolf People claiming wolves have the upper hand in Montana, attacking livestock and wildlife, accused the state wildlife agency Friday of not doing enough to get wolves removed from the list of federally protected species so that Montana will have more control over them. ‘‘We already have more wolves than we need,’’ Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel, said at a meeting of the Montana Environmental Quality Council, on which he serves. McGee joined outfitters and ranchers in contending that the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks should be working harder to advance wolves’ removal from the list of animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. Outfitter Bill Hoppe of Gardiner, a Yellowstone gateway, said that area of Montana used to be rich with wildlife but has become ‘‘a predator pit.’’ Robert Fanning said his Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd has tried to advance the so-called delisting of wolves. Fanning said he finds ‘‘a greater chance that (Playboy Playmate) Anna Nicole Smith will join a convent,’’ than that Fish, Wildlife and Parks will work vigorously on the wolves’ status....
Ranch troubles highlight feedground debate As a ranch owner outside Jackson is forced to test his cattle for brucellosis after elk and cattle commingled, both sides of the elk feedground debate are pointing to the episode as reason to support their cases. Conservationists said this week the uproar strengthens the call for phasing out feedgrounds; ranchers say the incident shows exactly why feedgrounds are needed. Up the Gros Ventre drainage outside Jackson -- where three elk feedgrounds have existed for decades -- elk came down the valley onto a cattle ranch this winter, forcing the rancher to test his cattle for brucellosis. Those three feedgrounds have been targeted by some conservationists as ones that would possibly be phased out so elk can disburse and forage on native winter range. Albert Sommers, a Pinedale rancher and member of the Upper Green River Cattlemen's Association, said the situation up the Gros Ventre reinforces the need for feedgrounds. "If there were no feedgrounds, what happened to (the rancher) would be a common occurrence," Sommers said....
Schweitzer: Look at buying out leases Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Friday it's time to consider buying out the leases of ranchers who graze cattle near Yellowstone National Park before the state loses its brucellosis free status. Schweitzer made his comments at a meeting of the state Environmental Quality Council. Schweitzer said about 740 cattle graze in what he calls "mixing zones," areas where bison leave the park in winter and cattle later graze. He wants to explore a deal that would pay cattlemen not to graze their animals in those places and suggested federal funding might be available. Schweitzer said the present federal and state management plan, that allows for hazing bison back into the park and slaughtering bison with brucellosis, does not do enough to protect the state livestock industry's brucellosis-free status. Rep. Debby Barrett, R-Dillon, an EQC member, said Schweitzer's proposal matches that of environmental groups, including Ted Turner's Endangered Species Foundation....
Editorial: Reject the 'spoiler' aimed at trust reforms Spoiler. The Legislature's proposed constitutional amendment on state trust land is full of complex legal wording. But it all boils down to one word. This is a spoiler, meant to confuse voters. It aims to shoot down an initiative, Conserving Arizona's Future, that would reform our antiquated system of managing state trust land. Arizona received the trust land from the federal government at statehood as a way to raise money for public services, mostly education. The rules for managing these 9.2 million acres date back almost a century, and they make as much sense for today's Arizona as driving a Wells Fargo stagecoach on Interstate 10. Conserving Arizona's Future is the fast, finely tuned, efficient vehicle we need. A citizen's initiative that is in the process of qualifying for the November ballot, it promotes education, conservation and development. The Arizona Cattlemen's Association, a reluctant partner last year, has been seeking changes that essentially give ranchers a permanent hold on any trust land they lease. The cattlemen are attacking the initiative's conservation components as a giveaway - ignoring the immense value of open space, both for adjoining land and the entire region. Opposition from the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona is more puzzling....
Reclaiming relationships in CBM Using satellite imagery from 400 miles up, artist John Amos noted the distinct changes that coal-bed methane gas activity made in certain areas of the Powder River Basin from 1999 to 2003. A network of fine white lines, or roads, appeared connecting numerous bare patches (well sites) and little blue spots (water ponds) popped up everywhere. "We need to protect the resources and livelihoods, not just the ones we have today, but in the future, too," Amos said. "We have an opportunity to get it right and that's important to the entire nation." Using an illustration a little closer to the ground, Tony Line shared the biggest lesson he'd learned in his experience with coal-bed methane developers on the Padlock Ranch, where he manages operations....
Column: Gale Norton's legacy The resignation of Gale Norton as secretary of the Department of the Interior brought a flood of assessments of her job performance. True to our customs, the critics of departing secretaries of the Interior seldom remember the historical context and political constraints in which these individuals serve and instead often hold them accountable for problems and policies not of their making. Gale Norton and other officials - and her nominated successor, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne - deserve to be evaluated with a better understanding of what lies within - and what lies beyond - their actual control. Westerners have never been slow to step forward with complaints about the federal government and its oversight of the West's public lands and resources. The Department of Interior in particular, with its supervision of 58 national parks and 262 million acres of Bureau of Land Management lands, has taken a lot of heat in recent decades. (The national forests, because of a quirk of history, fall under the Department of Agriculture, but are hardly spared them from contention over federal land management.) A calm, historical appraisal of Interior's intermittent bouts of unpopularity would see their origins not in the actions of any one official but rather in basic contradictions built into the purposes and uses that the United States has assigned to its public lands....
Save a little water for tomorrow One hundred years ago, William Mulholland introduced the citizens of California to a new concept in state politics: the water grab. Charged with securing water supplies for a small, thirsty town in a desert, the baron of the Los Angeles Department of Water hit on an imaginative response. He quietly bought up water rights in the Owens Valley, 230 miles to the north, built an aquifer across the blistering Mojave Desert, and took the water to downtown Los Angeles. When local ranchers protested by dynamiting his aquifer, Mulholland declared war, responding with a massive show of armed force. Nowadays southern Californians fight over water in courts of law. Angelenos have some of America's greenest lawns and biggest swimming pools, not to mention a desert that blooms with cotton and fruit. Keeping it that way means piping in water from hundreds of miles away and draining a Colorado River so depleted that it barely reaches the sea. And it means disputing every drop of the Colorado with Arizona....
Forest Service will track fewer species If you're wondering about the health of our national forests, ask an elk. The U.S. Forest Service and some environmentalists agree on that much, but differ over the agency's decision to cut back on what animals and plants it monitors to track the health of the White River National Forest, which stretches from Summit County and Vail to Aspen and west of Glenwood Springs. Forest Supervisor Maribeth Gustafson has decided to more than halve the number of species the Forest Service tracks to measure how well the forest is being managed. There are now seven so-called "management indicator species" on the forest's list. "That's not good, and we'll have to consider challenging that," said Rocky Smith, forest watch coordinator for the environmental group Colorado Wild....
Tribal hatchery raises sturgeon Each year, endangered white sturgeon lay millions of fertilized eggs on the silty bed of the Kootenai River where it curls across the top of Idaho. Yet experts estimate perhaps only 10 of the baby sturgeon hatched from those millions of eggs survive. The white sturgeon, the largest freshwater fish in North America, has not successfully reproduced in the Kootenai since Libby Dam was completed in Montana in 1974, reducing the river velocity and trapping critical nutrients upstream. Downstream, however, pools at a hatchery run by the Kootenai Indian Tribe teem with thousands of year-old sturgeon, inch-long miniature replicas of the two armor-plated wild adults in another tank, each measuring six-to-seven feet long. Another tank holds the medium-sized fish raised at the hatchery since birth, including a striking all-white sturgeon, a ghost of a prehistoric past. Bred from captured wild sturgeon, the young sturgeon may represent the last hope biologists have of preventing the extinction of the species....
How many bears are there? No one, not federal biologists or conservation activists, knows how many grizzly bears there are in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. That could be a problem, because federal and state officials have seized upon the number of 588 grizzly bears in the drive to remove the animal's protection under the Endangered Species Act. The number used to justify delisting the grizzly was generated in 2004, based on the sightings of 49 bear sows with cubs, then processed through a much-tweaked formula to come up with 588 -- a widely mentioned number that some say “proves” the species is recovered in the Yellowstone area. Yet in 2005, there were only 31 sow/cub sightings -- a 40 percent decline -- the lowest number of female-with-cubs-of-the-year sightings since 1997. If that sightings number is processed exactly as it had been the year before, it would produce a population number of roughly 350 bears. While U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Interior Department officials have repeatedly trumpeted the 588 figure, there has been no public discussion of the 350-bear figure....
For Interior, a collaborative conservative Dirk Kempthorne, President Bush's nominee to the head the Interior Department, has both the experience and the record of collaboration that could help smooth the way in the often-contentious position. As governor of Idaho, a former US senator, and mayor of Boise before that, Mr. Kempthorne is known to work in concert with those who don't agree with him. He believes that the level of government closest to a problem is the best place to find a solution. And though his environmental record - according to those who score such things - is a pale shade of green, he is not a fire-breathing ideologue likely to dismiss endangered species in the name of corporate ranching or a new highway. "I've been dealing with this guy for years," says Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League. "He's not overtly anti-environment. He is overtly states' rights." The West, for all its wide-open spaces where most of Interior's 500 million acres of responsibility lie, in fact is becoming the most urban region of the country. Cities like Boise, growing rapidly, are more conservation-minded than in the past, says Mr. Johnson. As a result, many newcomers to the West value environmental quality - something reflected in some of Kempthorne's policies....
Editorial: Interior designs President Bush's nominee to be secretary of Interior, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, brings a Northwest sensibility to the job. Or at least that is our wishfully determinedly optimistic view. The president had lots of Gale Norton clones to choose among for her replacement, but he picked a Western governor and former senator who knows the region and has worked cooperatively with his elected colleagues in Oregon, Washington and Montana. Kempthorne's sound-bite résumé is full of dismaying quotes and politically opportune moments, such as the time he was "on the verge of inviting the EPA to leave Idaho" over cleanup plans for a toxic Superfund site. He successfully fought plans to reintroduce grizzlies into the Bitterroot Range. He has grumbled about the Endangered Species Act and opposed expanded roadless protection in the national forests. Yet Kempthorne cannot be boss of federal lands, national parks and resource extraction without the legacy of his own state in the back of his mind. Mining trashed parts of Idaho and put more than the environment in harm's way. There are consequences to fire-sale practices at Interior....
Pick for Interior Said to Show More Charm Than Substance He rides motorcycles, battles a bad back, does a killer impersonation of fellow Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and sometimes forgets to balance his checkbook. Even those who don't like his politics call him "Dirk," the way he prefers to be addressed. And they speak of him like he's the guy next door who just happens to be governor. But the ready smile and neighborly style of Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne don't always get the job done, some supporters and critics say. They contend that the man President Bush has picked to succeed Gale A. Norton as secretary of the Interior often exhibits more charm than substance. Fellow Republicans and business leaders say Kempthorne, 54, knows how to create consensus but is too politically cautious. Local Democrats and environmentalists say that he is gifted at making people feel heard but that, at the end of the day, his loyalties lie squarely with development and corporate interests. If confirmed, what kind of Interior secretary will Kempthorne be?....
Editorial: America the bulldozed GALE NORTON resigned earlier this month as secretary of the Interior Department amid charges of uncollected royalties from oil drillers and questions about her connections with Jack Abramoff and his lobbying on behalf of Indian tribes. But she was supported by the industries -- including mining, timber, and energy -- that enjoyed the carte blanche she gave them to exploit the nation's public lands. Dirk Kempthorne, the Idaho governor nominated by President Bush to succeed Norton, is clear-cut from the same cloth. His one term of service in the Senate and his sympathy for the antienvironmental views of its Republican majority should guarantee him an easy confirmation. But senators should use the hearing process to grill him closely on the missing royalties, lobbyist influence in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and proposed new policies for the National Park Service that would encourage use of the parks by off-road-vehicle riders. So far, he has taken no position on a Bush administration plan to sell thousands of acres from the Bureau of Land Management, which Interior controls, and the Forest Service. Senators should get his view on this and also try to extract a commitment from him to fight for funding to defray the national parks' maintenance backlog, which the Congressional Research Service recently pegged as high as $9.7 billion. Also, has this month's biggest-ever oil spill on Alaska's North Slope weakened his support for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, as it should?....
Editorial: The West and the next Interior chief If Dirk Kempthorne becomes the next U.S. Interior secretary, he's expected to continue the Bush administration's pro-development policies on the West's public lands. Even so, we hope the Idaho governor and former U.S. senator also brings to the job a sense of the modern West, a region that cherishes its wildlife and pristine lands. The key quality for a good interior secretary is a keen understanding of the need to balance development with environmental protection. Kempthorne is expected to be confirmed, but senators still should use his hearings to quiz him about that balance. For example, Kempthorne has harshly criticized the Endangered Species Act, yet as interior secretary he would oversee the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the law. He should explain how he plans to administer the law....
Rare pair of falcons find a home at San Jose building The upper floors of San Jose's 18-story City Hall tower are abuzz over a couple of visitors who might be involved in a romance. And there may be a family come spring. A pair of peregrine falcons have found a perch outside the glass offices at City Hall, generating excitement and creating a new crop of bird-watchers. "It just makes everyone's day when they see them," said Nancy Price, who has a clear view of the raptors from her San Jose Redevelopment Agency office on the 14th floor. Mayor Ron Gonzales and then-City Manager Del Borgsdorf discovered the falcons a few months ago while they were in a meeting in the mayor's 18th floor office. All at once they saw feathers floating down outside the large window: One of the falcons apparently was shredding a pigeon on the roof. There are only about two dozen pairs of falcons in the greater Bay Area, said Glenn Stewart of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, and 200 to 300 pairs in California, where the birds are on the endangered species list....
Plan to protect Florida panthers creates identity complex But now a new plan for saving the vaunted predator is reopening awkward questions for the animal's admirers: What, exactly, is a Florida panther? Scientists believe there are only about 80 left in Florida. And given the shortage of habitat in the cat's rapidly developing namesake state, the draft recovery plan for the Florida panther, issued recently by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, proposes to export some of the predators out of state -- and names potential sites in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. The Florida panther roamed those states long ago, wildlife biologists said, and reintroducing it in those areas could enable it to establish populations large enough to ward off extinction. But the proposal to expand the range of the predator, which is being met warily from officials in other states -- where farmers fear attacks on livestock -- is also restarting debates about whether the Florida panther, officially considered an endangered subspecies, is for all practical purposes identical to the cougar, a far more common animal that lives in much of western North America. ''I'm not even sure at this point that a Florida panther, as a subspecies, exists," said David Goad, deputy director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, who opposes bringing the animal to Arkansas. Crossbreeding between Texas cougars and Florida panthers, combined with modern genetic testing showing fewer distinctions between the two than previously believed, has led many to question the unique identity of Florida's fearsome mascot....
Habitat of Newly Discovered Salamander Slated for Logging The Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild), and Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed suit today against the California Departments of Forestry and Fish and Game for approving logging of crucial habitat for the newly discovered Scott Bar salamander. The species was first described in May of 2005 and has one of the smallest ranges of any salamander. “In Arkansas, hundreds of volunteers and scientists are combing the woods trying to confirm the location of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which was driven to near extinction by careless logging of its habitat,” states Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Meanwhile, in California, the Departments of Forestry and Fish and Game are putting the newly discovered Scott Bar salamander on the road to extinction by approving logging of its habitat.” The Scott Bar salamander was previously considered the same species as the Siskiyou Mountains salamander, but was recently discovered to be a separate species by researchers who published their findings last May in the journal Herpetologica. The Siskiyou Mountains salamander is listed as “threatened” under California’s Endangered Species Act, giving it a measure of protection from logging....
Marsh rules would ban bridges, halt development along SC coast Homebuilder Ted Mamunes wants to build a bridge to span nearly 300 feet of marsh onto his unnamed Beaufort County island, but proposed state rules on bridges to these tiny parcels are one of a couple obstacles preventing him from getting the go-ahead. His struggle is part of an ongoing dispute between developers along the coast and conservationists who want to protect South Carolina's pristine salt-water marshes and habitats. Mamunes' island is one of roughly 3,400 small marsh islands along the South Carolina coast. He says the rules meant to prevent major development are keeping him from building a single-family home. "It's useless to me if I can't get to it," Mamunes said. Mamunes, 63, agrees that the coast is overcrowded, but he wants only to build, and eventually sell, one home on this 9-acre island, which has distant views of thick salt marsh, oyster beds and shrimp boats....
Court rules government must keep counting fish A federal appeals court ordered the government late Friday to continue funding an agency that counts young salmon crossing dams in the West. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not rule on the merits of two challenges environmentalists brought against a move to discontinue funding the Portland, Ore.-based Fish Passage Center, whose $1.3 million budget was to expire Sunday. Instead, the court said funding for the center's 11 employees should be continued until the litigation is resolved. The lawsuits, by the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, challenged a legislative move by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, directing the Bonneville Power Administration to eliminate the center's budget. Craig's move came after U.S. District Judge James Redden of Oregon took control of dam operations along the Columbia and Snake rivers after concluding the Bush administration offered an inadequate plan for protecting salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act....
Fence fight And then, a wire fence stretches bank-to-bank. Choked with debris and limbs, with no way through, the fence requires a portage around it for a kayaker to continue downstream. For decades, cattlemen and other large landowners have treated the 31-mile-long Peace Creek -- referred to in some sections as the Peace Creek Canal -- as if they owned it, stringing barbed-wire fences across the water's flow and hanging "No Trespassing" signs wherever they pleased. In fact, some contend they do own the creek. And the state says they may own parts of it. No matter, it's theoretically illegal to obstruct the water in a canal like the Peace Creek Canal under state law. Accusations of favoritism and sweetheart deals allowing people to ignore the law have been tossed around, and formal complaints against the local state attorney have been filed with the Florida attorney general. It seems this little tributary of the Peace River has sparked more than its share of strife....
Lack of ID registry thwarts mad cow data hunt Investigators may never figure out where the Alabama cow with mad cow disease was born and raised, in part because the United States lacks a livestock tracking system that the Bush administration had promised two years ago. After the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in December 2003, the government pledged to get a nationwide program into place quickly so officials could track cows, pigs and chickens from their birth to the dinner table. Today, however, the system is a long way off. Alabama officials saw the need firsthand last week as they tried to determine where the infected cow came from. The animal had no ear tags, tattoos or brands, and spent less than a year on the farm where she died. The trail seems to have gone cold at an auction where she was sold last year....
Column: Government's idea of 'tracking' animals Reaction to the National Animal Identification System is shining a light on a growing problem that independent producers believe is threatening the entire livestock industry. Vertical marketing practices in the meat processing industry, combined with the industry's access to and influence on the Department of Agriculture and Congress, has the small producer against the ropes. The NAIS may be the final blow that puts independent ranchers and small farmers down for the count. The goal of the NAIS is to create a national system that would enable the federal government to trace, within 48 hours, the origin of any animal in the food chain found to be infected, either by disease or by terrorists. To achieve this objective, a massive database has been proposed that would contain the location of all premises where animals are kept, identification of every individual animal, as well as a method of tracking any movement from the premises' location. Some people fear that a system capable of tracking the movement of every animal in America is a very small step away from applying a similar system to track the movement of every American....
Navajo film to hold casting calls Actors are needed to audition this week for a film slated for production on the Navajo Nation by a local family. Ray Baldwin Louis, aka "Razor Saltboy," is teaming up with his sons' production company, Saltboy Films, to produce a film based on his published play "Butterfly of Hope." Hondo Baldwin Louis is producing the project, while brother Kumen is working as the project's casting director. Ray Baldwin Louis is known throughout Native American communities as a singer and songwriter who has released three albums. He also has extensive experience as an actor and playwright. According to a statement released by Hondo Baldwin Louis, the play is set in the 1860s when Native American tribes were being displaced from their homelands onto reservations....
History in its adobe walls Walking up to the Felipe Chavez Hacienda on Lala Street in Belen, it's hard to imagine what life was like in the mid-1800s when the home was built. But as you step through the front door and into this grand home, a rush of history and culture sweeps through your mind. The three-foot-wide adobe walls and the original wooden floors take you back in time to the days when Belen was a pivotal stop along the Camino Real. The Felipe Chavez house, which is was placed on the State and National Historical Registers in 1980, was built in 1860 by a pioneer merchant, trader and rancher. Felipe Chavez made his fortune with business interests ranging from the New York Stock Exchange to mining in Mexico. Although there were several haciendas in the area, the Chavez estate was the largest. It included cornfields, extensive pasture, cottonwood groves, a mercantile and, eventually, a school for girls. Chavez was, for a time, a judge in Belen and even built a small adobe jailhouse in the courtyard behind his home. As the legend goes, he would sentence cattle rustlers and other criminals to death and walk them a few steps from the jail to a large cottonwood tree where they were hanged for their crimes. Both the jail and the tree remain on the property....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Careful who you camp with on hunting trip Hunting with a companion who enjoys it as much as you do is one of life's greatest gifts. It's like two horse people or two pilots finding each other in a crowded room. You finally have someone who will actually listen to your stories! Doug went by Phil's house right after lunch to pick him up. They had a trip planned to go chukker hunting near Gerlach. Unfortunately, Doug walked in on the middle of a family spat; doors were slamming, plates were flying, tension was twanging and the air was blue. Phil grabbed his shotgun and shooting vest, ducked a gravy boat and scrambled out the door. That night on the high desert the boys cooked over an open fire and taste-tested a six-pack of Night Train Express, a subtle wine (mixed fruit, 17 percent alcohol and bottled in Modesto). Since Phil had no coat, bedroll, blanket, long johns or earmuffs, they scrounged him up some bedding. It consisted of rubber floor mats, Doug's canvas fender cover, a seat cushion and a blue plastic tarp....
Monday, March 20, 2006
Sunday, March 19, 2006
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
Ag Week
by Larry Gabriel
Agriculture is the most important industry in South Dakota. This is the week we celebrate that fact. March 19 through 25 is National Ag Week.
South Dakota produces about $6 billion worth of crops and livestock each year, but the total economic impact of agriculture on the state's economy is almost $17 billion, according to an SDSU study in 2002.
These dollar amounts are significant. They impact every person living in this state. But they don't tell the whole story.
Not so long ago, some doubted that our industry would be able to feed the world. They reasoned that there is only so much arable land and fresh water, and since most of that is already in use, production will not be able to keep up with population growth.
Those people who doubted were mistaken. During the last 40 years, food production has grown faster than world population. There is no reason to believe it won't continue.
According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, world food production must double by 2025 to feed the world. We can do that. We have done it before.
Our farmers and ranchers are extremely productive when we allow them to be. Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food. No country in the world can match that.
United States taxpayers work three times longer to pay annual taxes than they work to pay for all the food they buy each year. Even then, about 27 percent (96 billion pounds) of that food is thrown away or wasted.
In addition to food, agriculture provides us with many other products, such as: alternative fuels, pharmaceuticals, surgical sutures, ointments, latex gloves, x-ray film, gelatin for capsules, heart valves, lumber, paints, brushes, tar paper, dry wall, tool handles, lubricants, antifreeze, tires, upholstery, adhesives, solvents, detergents, paper, ink, film, shampoo, cosmetics, lotions, fingernail polish, toothpaste, crayons, textbooks, chalk, desks, pencils, clothing, baseball bats, leather equipment, and shoes.
In addition to providing food security, cheap food, and thousands of other products, our farmers and ranchers contribute to the society in many other ways. They are the best stewards of the land. They provide food and habitat for 75 percent of the nation's wildlife. Ninety percent are still "family" farms and ranches that are producing the next generation of rural Americans.
Today's farmers and ranchers are better educated and more sophisticated than some traditional "business people". Today's ag is expanding into new products, developing specialty crops, and improving methods of producing and using traditional crops. Can they feed the future world? Absolutely! A farmer can harvest enough wheat for 70 loaves of bread in 9 seconds.
All that we need is for the international politicians to get out of the way, and let our farmers and ranchers do what they do better than anyone in the world.
Mr. Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
If we have tomorrow
By Julie Carter
Most often in the lines of this column I laugh with you, laugh at myself or just tell you a story.
Today I'm not writing funny stories because I find a burden in my heart for so many. Sometimes it takes another's misfortune for us to recognize our own good fortune.
Never has it seemed more evident to me than in the past year of hurricanes and fires, that we live in a world where nothing is certain. Not for even for a moment.
As I watched in horror the photos and videos of hundreds of thousands of acres of charred Texas land, burned cattle and lost homes, I knew that there "but for the grace of God" go most of us.
By us, I mean just about everyone who is reading this that doesn't live on a boat or isn't slushing through mud and snow to do morning chores.
This part of the West is a tinderbox and we are only one fool away from the very the same flames that are devouring the Panhandle. One dropped cigarette, one careless "oh look we are camping" fire, or one illegal fire cracker will put us on the national news by nightfall.
Then there are the uncalculated dangers of downed sparking power lines, an errant strike of fire from a passing train, or a car pulled off the road onto a grassy shoulder -- its own heat sparking a fire before it even occurs to the driver it could happen.
How do we even grasp what it is like for those farmers and ranchers who are finding their livestock either burned alive or long gone through fences that burned to the ground?
If their homes are still intact, are they standing on the porch viewing blackened pastures and farm ground wondering where and how to deal with tomorrow?
Do they find within themselves the ability to say, "it could have been worse" and know that if they have their lives they have the only thing that is really important? Could I do that?
We live in a world long past understanding what is foundationally important in life. Gone are the days when people worked back-breaking hard to just survive and didn't have time to fuss over things that had no value in the survival scheme. They went to bed tired and woke in the morning thinking they were blessed.
We live in a world where we expect much and offer little. Disasters have a way of leveling the playing field. When the fires rolled over the Texas plains it didn't have an address list for the big shots so it could miss them.
This country and its people are being tested, one test at a time. We are being put in a place to choose between fluff and value with the ability to do that buried somewhere deep within us.
We are two generations away from any learned survival skills for the really tough stuff. Our hardest decisions usually revolve around satellite or cable, butter or margarine, and finding the gas station with the cheapest fuel.
God bless those people who got the test first. May we learn from them and seek our own response to disaster before we need it.
And let us not forget that tomorrow is never promised
© Julie Carter 2006
Ag Week
by Larry Gabriel
Agriculture is the most important industry in South Dakota. This is the week we celebrate that fact. March 19 through 25 is National Ag Week.
South Dakota produces about $6 billion worth of crops and livestock each year, but the total economic impact of agriculture on the state's economy is almost $17 billion, according to an SDSU study in 2002.
These dollar amounts are significant. They impact every person living in this state. But they don't tell the whole story.
Not so long ago, some doubted that our industry would be able to feed the world. They reasoned that there is only so much arable land and fresh water, and since most of that is already in use, production will not be able to keep up with population growth.
Those people who doubted were mistaken. During the last 40 years, food production has grown faster than world population. There is no reason to believe it won't continue.
According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, world food production must double by 2025 to feed the world. We can do that. We have done it before.
Our farmers and ranchers are extremely productive when we allow them to be. Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food. No country in the world can match that.
United States taxpayers work three times longer to pay annual taxes than they work to pay for all the food they buy each year. Even then, about 27 percent (96 billion pounds) of that food is thrown away or wasted.
In addition to food, agriculture provides us with many other products, such as: alternative fuels, pharmaceuticals, surgical sutures, ointments, latex gloves, x-ray film, gelatin for capsules, heart valves, lumber, paints, brushes, tar paper, dry wall, tool handles, lubricants, antifreeze, tires, upholstery, adhesives, solvents, detergents, paper, ink, film, shampoo, cosmetics, lotions, fingernail polish, toothpaste, crayons, textbooks, chalk, desks, pencils, clothing, baseball bats, leather equipment, and shoes.
In addition to providing food security, cheap food, and thousands of other products, our farmers and ranchers contribute to the society in many other ways. They are the best stewards of the land. They provide food and habitat for 75 percent of the nation's wildlife. Ninety percent are still "family" farms and ranches that are producing the next generation of rural Americans.
Today's farmers and ranchers are better educated and more sophisticated than some traditional "business people". Today's ag is expanding into new products, developing specialty crops, and improving methods of producing and using traditional crops. Can they feed the future world? Absolutely! A farmer can harvest enough wheat for 70 loaves of bread in 9 seconds.
All that we need is for the international politicians to get out of the way, and let our farmers and ranchers do what they do better than anyone in the world.
Mr. Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
If we have tomorrow
By Julie Carter
Most often in the lines of this column I laugh with you, laugh at myself or just tell you a story.
Today I'm not writing funny stories because I find a burden in my heart for so many. Sometimes it takes another's misfortune for us to recognize our own good fortune.
Never has it seemed more evident to me than in the past year of hurricanes and fires, that we live in a world where nothing is certain. Not for even for a moment.
As I watched in horror the photos and videos of hundreds of thousands of acres of charred Texas land, burned cattle and lost homes, I knew that there "but for the grace of God" go most of us.
By us, I mean just about everyone who is reading this that doesn't live on a boat or isn't slushing through mud and snow to do morning chores.
This part of the West is a tinderbox and we are only one fool away from the very the same flames that are devouring the Panhandle. One dropped cigarette, one careless "oh look we are camping" fire, or one illegal fire cracker will put us on the national news by nightfall.
Then there are the uncalculated dangers of downed sparking power lines, an errant strike of fire from a passing train, or a car pulled off the road onto a grassy shoulder -- its own heat sparking a fire before it even occurs to the driver it could happen.
How do we even grasp what it is like for those farmers and ranchers who are finding their livestock either burned alive or long gone through fences that burned to the ground?
If their homes are still intact, are they standing on the porch viewing blackened pastures and farm ground wondering where and how to deal with tomorrow?
Do they find within themselves the ability to say, "it could have been worse" and know that if they have their lives they have the only thing that is really important? Could I do that?
We live in a world long past understanding what is foundationally important in life. Gone are the days when people worked back-breaking hard to just survive and didn't have time to fuss over things that had no value in the survival scheme. They went to bed tired and woke in the morning thinking they were blessed.
We live in a world where we expect much and offer little. Disasters have a way of leveling the playing field. When the fires rolled over the Texas plains it didn't have an address list for the big shots so it could miss them.
This country and its people are being tested, one test at a time. We are being put in a place to choose between fluff and value with the ability to do that buried somewhere deep within us.
We are two generations away from any learned survival skills for the really tough stuff. Our hardest decisions usually revolve around satellite or cable, butter or margarine, and finding the gas station with the cheapest fuel.
God bless those people who got the test first. May we learn from them and seek our own response to disaster before we need it.
And let us not forget that tomorrow is never promised
© Julie Carter 2006
OPINIONL/COMMENTARY
LIABILITY – From Indonesian Troops to Saskatchewan Wolves
Wolves are killing all manner of dogs wherever they encounter them. Wolves are killing all manner of livestock regularly. Wolves are reducing big game herds and steadily eliminating annual surpluses of such wildlife and thereby hunting seasons and hunting license revenue. Wolves are causing increasingly restricted and stressful rural living for the elderly, parents leaving children at winter bus stops, and visiting grandchildren; thereby reducing rural residency and rural economies. Other effects go unmentioned such as when fewer dogs are use for hunting, fewer hunting licenses are sold and less money is spent in rural economies and for sporting goods. All of the above represent losses of property both private (dogs, stock, rural land values, etc.) and public (huntable wildlife populations, “user-pays” fish and wildlife agencies). Rural economies are hobbled as “Critical Habitats” (for other “Endangered Species”), Wilderness, Road Closures, and elimination of natural resource management programs couple with wolf epidemiology to take their toll. Additionally, the loss of “domestic tranquility” (a primary Constitutional charge to the US Federal government) and the mental stress caused throughout rural areas inhabited by wolves are also losses caused by wolves. But it is not these catastrophic effects of wolves that is the subject of this piece, it is rather the liability for homicide and endangering the life of another. Specifically, I am referring to the liability for the death of a Mr. Carnegie recently in Saskatchewan and the attack on Mr.Desjariasis a resident of Saskatchewan. Both men were attacked by wolves. Mr. Desjariasis was, very fortunately, able to fend off the wolves due to his strength and determination. Mr. Carnegie was not so fortunate, he disappeared but the evidence at the scene of his disappearance left no doubt that wolves had killed him. Mr. Desjariasis’ account is irrefutable. Wolves attacked with the intent to kill him and probably eat him. End of story. So it not unexpectedly receives little press coverage outside the local area. Mr. Carnegie’s legacy (since the only witness is gone) is subject to and the victim of government, University, and environmental organization cover-up, distortion and lies....
Running Out of Oil? History, Technology and Abundance
Almost since the first discoveries of oil in the U.S. in 1859, people have been saying we're running out. In 1874, the state geologist of the nation's leading oil producer, Pennsylvania, warned the U.S. had enough oil to last just four years. In 1914, the federal government said we had a ten-year supply. The government announced in 1940 that reserves would be depleted within a decade and a half. The Club of Rome made similar claims in the 1970s. President Carter famously predicted in 1977 that unless we made drastic cuts in our oil consumption, "Within ten years we would not be able to import enough oil — from any country, at any acceptable price." And so it goes today, where a slew of books and Web sites make fantastic claims about dwindling supplies of crude. The chief problem with those who say the world is running out is that they have always looked at the issue the wrong way. Questions about energy supply shouldn't be thought of in terms of how much is available, but in terms of how good mankind is at finding and extracting it. In the years after Col. Drake discovered oil at Titusville, Pennsylvania, on the eve of the Civil War, wildcatters could only drill down several hundred feet. If we were confined to relying solely upon the technology available in the 19th century — or, for that matter, the tools available just three decades ago — then yes, quite possibly we could be looking at the end of oil....
Ethanol is good, except when it's not
Ethanol is a fuel made from corn or other plants. Basically, it is moonshine: corn is ground up and soaked until it ferments (becomes alcoholic), and then distilled so that it becomes even stronger. At this point you could drink it (and get drunk very easily), or you could put in your gas tank. If you want to sell it for human consumption, the federal government would probably hit you with the liquor tax. If you want to sell it for automotive consumption, the federal government and state governments will subsidize you until you start blushing. The Bush administration, like the Clinton administration and the first Bush administration, say that we subsidize ethanol because it's good for the planet. They explain that when ethanol is burnt in a car engine, it gives off much less pollution and CO2 than does petroleum. On that very specific claim, they are correct. However, some scientists argue that ethanol, on the whole, is worse for the planet: it leads farmers to plant only corn, thus degrading the soil; the fuel needed to grow, distill, and ship the ethanol is more than the end product yields; and it evaporates more easily, leading to more hydrocarbons in the air. But the federal government doesn't give these claims or studies much weight....
Burning Forests for Energy
Environmental causes are endlessly fashionable in Europe and America. You know a movie star or successful entrepreneur has arrived when he or she announces they have become an environmentalist. What’s usually overlooked is how these fashionable causes play out in the rest of the world, particularly underdeveloped countries. There’ve been more than a few bad examples. The banning of DDT has led to a huge resurgence of malaria in the tropics. Boycotting genetically engineered foods in Europe has played havoc with African farming. Now it’s emerging that “biofuels”—the latest environmental craze— is leading to the decimation of forests in South America and Asia. The result may be the end of a few more endangered species plus a big new boost in global warming. Turning our attention to another pet cause of fashionable environmentalists, now comes the news that biofuels are accelerating the decimation of tropical forests. American and European environmentalists have long urged that we should replace oil imports with “solar energy” by burning corn-based ethanol in our gas tanks. President Jimmy Carter gave it a federal gas tax exemption, of which Archer-Daniels, the agribusiness giant, has become the chief beneficiary, producing more than half our output. Seven percent of the U.S. corn crop now goes into “gasohol,” a 90/10 blend of gasoline and ethyl alcohol that replaces 2 percent of our oil. Still, environmentalists aren’t satisfied. They point to Brazil, where one quarter of the cars are built to burn any amount of alcohol from sugar cane. Why can’t we be like them? What they don’t recognize is that Brazil is cutting down huge tracts of Amazon forest in order to make way for this crop. In spite of this destruction in the name of (ostensibly) sound environmental policy, Southeast Asia is joining the parade. Tropical forests are being cleared for palm oil plantations, where the entire crop will be sold to Europe and America as “biodiesel.”....
No Policy Is a Good Policy
An attempt to create a national energy policy is about as likely to succeed as an attempt to set a national dinner menu. The energy sources pushed in these policies fail in the market and will only be made with heavy government support. An article in the April Discover magazine tells the story of a plant in Carthage, Missouri that turns turkey guts and pig fat into high quality oil. The article goes on at great length about the technical marvel they have achieved, which they have. But the kicker is that the people running the project originally estimated that their production costs for a 42-gallon barrel would total $15, and that the plant would be profitable from day one. In fact, production costs are around $80 per barrel. Only when the government granted a subsidy of a dollar a gallon was the plant able to begin turning a slim profit of $4 per barrel. Each barrel produced by the plant now costs taxpayers $42. A recent Indianapolis Star commentary piece by Peter Grossman, a professor of Economics at Butler University, pointed out that replacing 85% of our oil use with corn-based ethanol would require quadrupling the acreage planted in corn, with all of the output going for ethanol production. That, according to Professor Grossman, would result in dramatically higher prices for most foods and the ethanol, which is already economically uncompetitive. It would probably also result in environmental degradation, since more grasslands and wooded areas would have to be put to the plow. This is already happening in Brazil and Southeast Asia, as William Tucker noted in his TAE Online Right Idea column. The basic problem with setting a national energy policy is that it presupposes the ability of a few wise heads to outperform the countless number of decisions made by consumers and businesses that represent the collective wisdom of markets....
U.S. regulations big part of high gas prices
It isn't an anniversary to celebrate, but Chicago passed the one-year mark of gasoline above $2 per gallon. And, thanks in part to our federal government, another year at this level is a real possibility. Of course, the main culprit is the high price of oil. After staying comfortably below $20 per barrel throughout most the 1990s, the cost of crude ballooned to $56 in 2005, and currently sits at $62.17. Each dollar-per-barrel rise translates into roughly 2.5 cents more per gallon. Strong global demand is the primary cause of the increase. But oil prices aren't the only reason. Federal regulations also have played a big part. This includes complicated fuel requirements that have led to a variety of costly, specialized gasoline blends, dubbed "boutique fuels." In addition, the EPA has created a maze of red tape that makes it difficult for refiners to expand capacity to meet growing demand. These regulations have disproportionately hurt the Chicago market, which has both tough fuel requirements and tight refining capacity....
PETA's Three-Ring Hypocrisy
This week a Virginia jury tossed a lawsuit brought by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) against the owner of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. The animal rights group claimed (and ultimately failed to prove) that he engaged in a "massive conspiracy" to harm PETA -- including infiltrating the group, monitoring its activities, and acquiring secret documents from inside PETA. In other words, PETA accused the circus of playing by PETA's rules. If infiltrating and spying on adversaries is the stuff lawsuits are made of, PETA had better hire a fleet of new defense attorneys. On one of its websites, PETA urges activists to "apply for a full-time position as an undercover investigator." In one infamous 1997 case, Michelle Rokke (then a PETA employee) kick-started the violent campaign against a New Jersey medical research company by stealing 8,000 pages of documents and making 50 hours of secret video recordings during her "undercover" work. PETA's ring of spies has secretly surveilled other business that run afoul of the group's "total animal liberation" ethic -- including an animal shelter, a kosher slaughterhouse, a pet food company, and even circuses. And PETA's vendetta against the Greatest Show on Earth includes targeting children who would otherwise actually enjoy themselves at the circus....
LIABILITY – From Indonesian Troops to Saskatchewan Wolves
Wolves are killing all manner of dogs wherever they encounter them. Wolves are killing all manner of livestock regularly. Wolves are reducing big game herds and steadily eliminating annual surpluses of such wildlife and thereby hunting seasons and hunting license revenue. Wolves are causing increasingly restricted and stressful rural living for the elderly, parents leaving children at winter bus stops, and visiting grandchildren; thereby reducing rural residency and rural economies. Other effects go unmentioned such as when fewer dogs are use for hunting, fewer hunting licenses are sold and less money is spent in rural economies and for sporting goods. All of the above represent losses of property both private (dogs, stock, rural land values, etc.) and public (huntable wildlife populations, “user-pays” fish and wildlife agencies). Rural economies are hobbled as “Critical Habitats” (for other “Endangered Species”), Wilderness, Road Closures, and elimination of natural resource management programs couple with wolf epidemiology to take their toll. Additionally, the loss of “domestic tranquility” (a primary Constitutional charge to the US Federal government) and the mental stress caused throughout rural areas inhabited by wolves are also losses caused by wolves. But it is not these catastrophic effects of wolves that is the subject of this piece, it is rather the liability for homicide and endangering the life of another. Specifically, I am referring to the liability for the death of a Mr. Carnegie recently in Saskatchewan and the attack on Mr.Desjariasis a resident of Saskatchewan. Both men were attacked by wolves. Mr. Desjariasis was, very fortunately, able to fend off the wolves due to his strength and determination. Mr. Carnegie was not so fortunate, he disappeared but the evidence at the scene of his disappearance left no doubt that wolves had killed him. Mr. Desjariasis’ account is irrefutable. Wolves attacked with the intent to kill him and probably eat him. End of story. So it not unexpectedly receives little press coverage outside the local area. Mr. Carnegie’s legacy (since the only witness is gone) is subject to and the victim of government, University, and environmental organization cover-up, distortion and lies....
Running Out of Oil? History, Technology and Abundance
Almost since the first discoveries of oil in the U.S. in 1859, people have been saying we're running out. In 1874, the state geologist of the nation's leading oil producer, Pennsylvania, warned the U.S. had enough oil to last just four years. In 1914, the federal government said we had a ten-year supply. The government announced in 1940 that reserves would be depleted within a decade and a half. The Club of Rome made similar claims in the 1970s. President Carter famously predicted in 1977 that unless we made drastic cuts in our oil consumption, "Within ten years we would not be able to import enough oil — from any country, at any acceptable price." And so it goes today, where a slew of books and Web sites make fantastic claims about dwindling supplies of crude. The chief problem with those who say the world is running out is that they have always looked at the issue the wrong way. Questions about energy supply shouldn't be thought of in terms of how much is available, but in terms of how good mankind is at finding and extracting it. In the years after Col. Drake discovered oil at Titusville, Pennsylvania, on the eve of the Civil War, wildcatters could only drill down several hundred feet. If we were confined to relying solely upon the technology available in the 19th century — or, for that matter, the tools available just three decades ago — then yes, quite possibly we could be looking at the end of oil....
Ethanol is good, except when it's not
Ethanol is a fuel made from corn or other plants. Basically, it is moonshine: corn is ground up and soaked until it ferments (becomes alcoholic), and then distilled so that it becomes even stronger. At this point you could drink it (and get drunk very easily), or you could put in your gas tank. If you want to sell it for human consumption, the federal government would probably hit you with the liquor tax. If you want to sell it for automotive consumption, the federal government and state governments will subsidize you until you start blushing. The Bush administration, like the Clinton administration and the first Bush administration, say that we subsidize ethanol because it's good for the planet. They explain that when ethanol is burnt in a car engine, it gives off much less pollution and CO2 than does petroleum. On that very specific claim, they are correct. However, some scientists argue that ethanol, on the whole, is worse for the planet: it leads farmers to plant only corn, thus degrading the soil; the fuel needed to grow, distill, and ship the ethanol is more than the end product yields; and it evaporates more easily, leading to more hydrocarbons in the air. But the federal government doesn't give these claims or studies much weight....
Burning Forests for Energy
Environmental causes are endlessly fashionable in Europe and America. You know a movie star or successful entrepreneur has arrived when he or she announces they have become an environmentalist. What’s usually overlooked is how these fashionable causes play out in the rest of the world, particularly underdeveloped countries. There’ve been more than a few bad examples. The banning of DDT has led to a huge resurgence of malaria in the tropics. Boycotting genetically engineered foods in Europe has played havoc with African farming. Now it’s emerging that “biofuels”—the latest environmental craze— is leading to the decimation of forests in South America and Asia. The result may be the end of a few more endangered species plus a big new boost in global warming. Turning our attention to another pet cause of fashionable environmentalists, now comes the news that biofuels are accelerating the decimation of tropical forests. American and European environmentalists have long urged that we should replace oil imports with “solar energy” by burning corn-based ethanol in our gas tanks. President Jimmy Carter gave it a federal gas tax exemption, of which Archer-Daniels, the agribusiness giant, has become the chief beneficiary, producing more than half our output. Seven percent of the U.S. corn crop now goes into “gasohol,” a 90/10 blend of gasoline and ethyl alcohol that replaces 2 percent of our oil. Still, environmentalists aren’t satisfied. They point to Brazil, where one quarter of the cars are built to burn any amount of alcohol from sugar cane. Why can’t we be like them? What they don’t recognize is that Brazil is cutting down huge tracts of Amazon forest in order to make way for this crop. In spite of this destruction in the name of (ostensibly) sound environmental policy, Southeast Asia is joining the parade. Tropical forests are being cleared for palm oil plantations, where the entire crop will be sold to Europe and America as “biodiesel.”....
No Policy Is a Good Policy
An attempt to create a national energy policy is about as likely to succeed as an attempt to set a national dinner menu. The energy sources pushed in these policies fail in the market and will only be made with heavy government support. An article in the April Discover magazine tells the story of a plant in Carthage, Missouri that turns turkey guts and pig fat into high quality oil. The article goes on at great length about the technical marvel they have achieved, which they have. But the kicker is that the people running the project originally estimated that their production costs for a 42-gallon barrel would total $15, and that the plant would be profitable from day one. In fact, production costs are around $80 per barrel. Only when the government granted a subsidy of a dollar a gallon was the plant able to begin turning a slim profit of $4 per barrel. Each barrel produced by the plant now costs taxpayers $42. A recent Indianapolis Star commentary piece by Peter Grossman, a professor of Economics at Butler University, pointed out that replacing 85% of our oil use with corn-based ethanol would require quadrupling the acreage planted in corn, with all of the output going for ethanol production. That, according to Professor Grossman, would result in dramatically higher prices for most foods and the ethanol, which is already economically uncompetitive. It would probably also result in environmental degradation, since more grasslands and wooded areas would have to be put to the plow. This is already happening in Brazil and Southeast Asia, as William Tucker noted in his TAE Online Right Idea column. The basic problem with setting a national energy policy is that it presupposes the ability of a few wise heads to outperform the countless number of decisions made by consumers and businesses that represent the collective wisdom of markets....
U.S. regulations big part of high gas prices
It isn't an anniversary to celebrate, but Chicago passed the one-year mark of gasoline above $2 per gallon. And, thanks in part to our federal government, another year at this level is a real possibility. Of course, the main culprit is the high price of oil. After staying comfortably below $20 per barrel throughout most the 1990s, the cost of crude ballooned to $56 in 2005, and currently sits at $62.17. Each dollar-per-barrel rise translates into roughly 2.5 cents more per gallon. Strong global demand is the primary cause of the increase. But oil prices aren't the only reason. Federal regulations also have played a big part. This includes complicated fuel requirements that have led to a variety of costly, specialized gasoline blends, dubbed "boutique fuels." In addition, the EPA has created a maze of red tape that makes it difficult for refiners to expand capacity to meet growing demand. These regulations have disproportionately hurt the Chicago market, which has both tough fuel requirements and tight refining capacity....
PETA's Three-Ring Hypocrisy
This week a Virginia jury tossed a lawsuit brought by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) against the owner of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. The animal rights group claimed (and ultimately failed to prove) that he engaged in a "massive conspiracy" to harm PETA -- including infiltrating the group, monitoring its activities, and acquiring secret documents from inside PETA. In other words, PETA accused the circus of playing by PETA's rules. If infiltrating and spying on adversaries is the stuff lawsuits are made of, PETA had better hire a fleet of new defense attorneys. On one of its websites, PETA urges activists to "apply for a full-time position as an undercover investigator." In one infamous 1997 case, Michelle Rokke (then a PETA employee) kick-started the violent campaign against a New Jersey medical research company by stealing 8,000 pages of documents and making 50 hours of secret video recordings during her "undercover" work. PETA's ring of spies has secretly surveilled other business that run afoul of the group's "total animal liberation" ethic -- including an animal shelter, a kosher slaughterhouse, a pet food company, and even circuses. And PETA's vendetta against the Greatest Show on Earth includes targeting children who would otherwise actually enjoy themselves at the circus....
Friday, March 17, 2006
Eminent Domain
Woman vs. eminent domain
Eighty-year-old Emma Dimasi has told friends and neighbors she wants to live the rest of her years on the corner of Clifton and Dixmyth avenues, in the small brick house she's owned since 1959. The city has given her until Saturday to get out. In a case that could have statewide implications, a Hamilton County magistrate will decide Monday whether the city of Cincinnati has the right to take Dimasi's house for a $4 million relocation of Dixmyth Avenue. The taking of Dimasi's house is a routine and long-accepted use of eminent domain for a city like Cincinnati, which has filed 21 such court actions for road projects since 2003. But Dimasi argues that private economic development - not public transportation - is driving the road project. That's because Good Samaritan Hospital is contributing $1.28 million toward the project, which would give the hospital more room to grow as it continues a $122 million expansion. Under its agreement with the city, the hospital also stands to get whatever land is left over after road construction for $1. The case is the first to test an Ohio law banning for one year the use of eminent domain for economic development if the property will ultimately end up in the hands of another private owner. And it's a prime example of what critics say is a legal system that stacks the deck against property owners....
Plans to condemn Southern Baptist church proceed after 6-0 vote for eminent domain
Another step was taken toward the destruction of the Filipino Baptist Fellowship building March 13 when the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency Board voted 6-0 to condemn the church in order to build condominiums, despite testimonies from community members regarding the public good that flows from the religious institution. “I had no illusions that we were going to stop the vote, but what was most discouraging yesterday was the utter lack of any evidence on why this was necessary to cure some blighted areas blocks away,” John Eastman, director of The Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence who is defending the church, told Baptist Press. “They didn’t bother to answer that. That was their legal obligation, and they went ahead and condemned a church anyway.” During the hearing, the redevelopment agency voted to authorize the city attorney to begin condemnation proceedings, Eastman explained. The next step will be for the city attorney to file a complaint to condemn the property, which includes demonstrating that it meets the statutory requirements for condemnation....
Groups File Lawsuit In Fight Over Golf Club
Lawsuits were filed Tuesday aimed at stopping an affluent suburban village from using the legal concept of eminent domain to take over a privately owned golf course. "This proposed condemnation may be the most extreme abuse of eminent domain in the country," said John Wilson, a Deepdale Golf Club member named as a plaintiff. The village's mayor said the federal and state lawsuit were a "pre-emptive strike" and no decision has been made on whether to proceed with a takeover of Deepdale, considered one of the finest golf courses in the country. But in North Hills -- a 2.8 square mile community of 1,800 residents on Long Island's "gold coast," where housing prices begin in the millions -- members of the Deepdale Club are rallying to save their 175-acre facility from being taken by village officials. The federal suit questions the village's right to seize the property through eminent domain; the state case challenges the village's alleged abuse of zoning law to cut secret deals with private developers. Wilson said in a statement that the takeover "has nothing to do with a master plan that promotes the public good or eliminating blight, issues usually behind eminent domain. Rather, it is a naked grab for private property in an apparent effort to satisfy the private desires of a few elected officials."....
Eminent domain fears aired
Gopal Panday says after he built Rainbow Liquors on Broadway in Long Branch into a million-dollar-a-year business, it turned worthless overnight in the eyes of New Jersey's much-maligned eminent-domain law. "Under eminent domain laws, it doesn't provide you with anything for your business," Panday said Monday after testifying before the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee. "Just the land," he said. Flood victim Linda Brnicevic of Bound Brook described how she says eminent domain there is being used to uproot minorities. Residents of Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood asked why eminent domain has them being moved out of a stable and tidy area. Eminent domain, the process whereby government exercises legal steps to take private property for what it envisions as the good of the community, is under fire in New Jersey for instances in which it is being used to promote economic redevelopment....
Stockbridge couple have ally in mayor
The couple fighting the city of Stockbridge's efforts to use eminent domain laws to forcibly buy their business might get to keep the property after all. At a raucous City Council meeting Monday evening, Stockbridge Mayor R.G. "Rudy" Kelley said he would ask his fellow council members to vote on whether Mark and Regina Meeks may keep their florist shop. The vote is contingent on getting written notification from the couple that they want to keep the shop. "I will send them a letter tomorrow," said a smiling Mark Meeks. The Meekses' battle shined a spotlight on eminent domain — laws allowing governments to force property owners to sell their land. State lawmakers are considering legislation changing how it's used in Georgia. Last March, the Stockbridge City Council approved plans to redevelop its struggling downtown with a new City Hall, homes, shops and offices on about 22 acres. The Meekses have vigorously resisted the city's efforts — saying Stockbridge negotiated in bad faith. City officials deny such claims....
Eminent domain debated
State legislatures and city councils around the country are debating what limits should be put on the power of local governments to take property by eminent domain. In November, Ohio voters might also get a say. Some lawmakers say nothing short of amending the state constitution - requiring a vote on a statewide ballot - will curb perceived abuses of eminent domain by cities. That's because Ohio's 1912 constitution gives cities and villages the power of home rule - allowing them to set their own standards for the taking of private property. "No bill that we pass will impact every local government unless we amend the constitution," said state Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls, the author of one such amendment. His proposal, outlined for a special legislative task force Thursday, wouldn't change the way eminent domain is used in Ohio - he'd leave that up to state lawmakers. His amendment would require only that all municipalities follow state law when they take property....
Voters Block Taking Of Souter’s Property By Eminent Domain
There won’t be any “taking” of Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s farmhouse to make way for the Lost Liberty hotel. By a 3-1 margin, voters in Souter’s hometown voted down a proposal Tuesday 1,167 too 493 that would have allowed the town to seize his 200-year-old farmhouse under eminent domain. Angered by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision last year in the property rights case of Kelo v. New London, activists sought to take Souter’s property as a payback. Voters instead asked the town Board of Selectman to urge the state to adopt a law that would forbid seizures of property by eminent domain. Souter, a long-time resident of Weare, home to about 9,500, was in the majority for the 5-4 eminent domain case of Kelo v. City of New London , Conn., last June in which the Supreme Court ruled that government entities can take private property if the land is for public use. In Kelo, the Court said New London could take private property through eminent domain for the development of a hotel and convention center. A group of activists, led by California resident Logan Darrow Clements, wanted Souter's 200-year-old farmhouse and eight acres seized for the purpose of building an inn to be known as the Lost Liberty Hotel....
New Mexico governor’s property ripe for eminent domain?
After the infamous 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision, Logan Darrow Clements started an eminent domain campaign against US Supreme Court Justice Souter’s New Hampshire home. The point: Build Lost Liberty Hotel in its place, which would provide greater economic benefits to the community. Clements was justified: The Court’s slim 5-4 decision cited economic development as justification for essentially taking one’s property and delivering it to another private party. Darrow should go after any property New Mexico Gov. Richardson owns in “The Land of Enchantment”. Why? On March 8, Richardson became the first governor since Kelo to veto legislation that would have helped protect property owners against condemnation. The Rio Grande Foundation (RGF), a New Mexico think tank, distributed a media release deriding Richardson’s property rights snub....
***********************************************************************************
In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo decision regarding eminent domain, we are delighted to inform you that our recent Independent Policy Forum, "Eminent Domain: Abuse of Government Power?", will air on C-SPAN2 on Sunday, March 19th.
http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=114
Here is the exact airing time:
Sunday, March 19th, 1:15 p.m. ET (10:15 a.m. PT) C-SPAN2
http://www.booktv.org/General/index.asp?segID=6696&schedID=408
The program features presentations by:
STEVEN GREENHUT, Senior Editorial Writer, Orange County Register, and author of Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain.
TIMOTHY SANDEFUR, Staff Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation.
Woman vs. eminent domain
Eighty-year-old Emma Dimasi has told friends and neighbors she wants to live the rest of her years on the corner of Clifton and Dixmyth avenues, in the small brick house she's owned since 1959. The city has given her until Saturday to get out. In a case that could have statewide implications, a Hamilton County magistrate will decide Monday whether the city of Cincinnati has the right to take Dimasi's house for a $4 million relocation of Dixmyth Avenue. The taking of Dimasi's house is a routine and long-accepted use of eminent domain for a city like Cincinnati, which has filed 21 such court actions for road projects since 2003. But Dimasi argues that private economic development - not public transportation - is driving the road project. That's because Good Samaritan Hospital is contributing $1.28 million toward the project, which would give the hospital more room to grow as it continues a $122 million expansion. Under its agreement with the city, the hospital also stands to get whatever land is left over after road construction for $1. The case is the first to test an Ohio law banning for one year the use of eminent domain for economic development if the property will ultimately end up in the hands of another private owner. And it's a prime example of what critics say is a legal system that stacks the deck against property owners....
Plans to condemn Southern Baptist church proceed after 6-0 vote for eminent domain
Another step was taken toward the destruction of the Filipino Baptist Fellowship building March 13 when the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency Board voted 6-0 to condemn the church in order to build condominiums, despite testimonies from community members regarding the public good that flows from the religious institution. “I had no illusions that we were going to stop the vote, but what was most discouraging yesterday was the utter lack of any evidence on why this was necessary to cure some blighted areas blocks away,” John Eastman, director of The Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence who is defending the church, told Baptist Press. “They didn’t bother to answer that. That was their legal obligation, and they went ahead and condemned a church anyway.” During the hearing, the redevelopment agency voted to authorize the city attorney to begin condemnation proceedings, Eastman explained. The next step will be for the city attorney to file a complaint to condemn the property, which includes demonstrating that it meets the statutory requirements for condemnation....
Groups File Lawsuit In Fight Over Golf Club
Lawsuits were filed Tuesday aimed at stopping an affluent suburban village from using the legal concept of eminent domain to take over a privately owned golf course. "This proposed condemnation may be the most extreme abuse of eminent domain in the country," said John Wilson, a Deepdale Golf Club member named as a plaintiff. The village's mayor said the federal and state lawsuit were a "pre-emptive strike" and no decision has been made on whether to proceed with a takeover of Deepdale, considered one of the finest golf courses in the country. But in North Hills -- a 2.8 square mile community of 1,800 residents on Long Island's "gold coast," where housing prices begin in the millions -- members of the Deepdale Club are rallying to save their 175-acre facility from being taken by village officials. The federal suit questions the village's right to seize the property through eminent domain; the state case challenges the village's alleged abuse of zoning law to cut secret deals with private developers. Wilson said in a statement that the takeover "has nothing to do with a master plan that promotes the public good or eliminating blight, issues usually behind eminent domain. Rather, it is a naked grab for private property in an apparent effort to satisfy the private desires of a few elected officials."....
Eminent domain fears aired
Gopal Panday says after he built Rainbow Liquors on Broadway in Long Branch into a million-dollar-a-year business, it turned worthless overnight in the eyes of New Jersey's much-maligned eminent-domain law. "Under eminent domain laws, it doesn't provide you with anything for your business," Panday said Monday after testifying before the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee. "Just the land," he said. Flood victim Linda Brnicevic of Bound Brook described how she says eminent domain there is being used to uproot minorities. Residents of Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood asked why eminent domain has them being moved out of a stable and tidy area. Eminent domain, the process whereby government exercises legal steps to take private property for what it envisions as the good of the community, is under fire in New Jersey for instances in which it is being used to promote economic redevelopment....
Stockbridge couple have ally in mayor
The couple fighting the city of Stockbridge's efforts to use eminent domain laws to forcibly buy their business might get to keep the property after all. At a raucous City Council meeting Monday evening, Stockbridge Mayor R.G. "Rudy" Kelley said he would ask his fellow council members to vote on whether Mark and Regina Meeks may keep their florist shop. The vote is contingent on getting written notification from the couple that they want to keep the shop. "I will send them a letter tomorrow," said a smiling Mark Meeks. The Meekses' battle shined a spotlight on eminent domain — laws allowing governments to force property owners to sell their land. State lawmakers are considering legislation changing how it's used in Georgia. Last March, the Stockbridge City Council approved plans to redevelop its struggling downtown with a new City Hall, homes, shops and offices on about 22 acres. The Meekses have vigorously resisted the city's efforts — saying Stockbridge negotiated in bad faith. City officials deny such claims....
Eminent domain debated
State legislatures and city councils around the country are debating what limits should be put on the power of local governments to take property by eminent domain. In November, Ohio voters might also get a say. Some lawmakers say nothing short of amending the state constitution - requiring a vote on a statewide ballot - will curb perceived abuses of eminent domain by cities. That's because Ohio's 1912 constitution gives cities and villages the power of home rule - allowing them to set their own standards for the taking of private property. "No bill that we pass will impact every local government unless we amend the constitution," said state Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls, the author of one such amendment. His proposal, outlined for a special legislative task force Thursday, wouldn't change the way eminent domain is used in Ohio - he'd leave that up to state lawmakers. His amendment would require only that all municipalities follow state law when they take property....
Voters Block Taking Of Souter’s Property By Eminent Domain
There won’t be any “taking” of Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s farmhouse to make way for the Lost Liberty hotel. By a 3-1 margin, voters in Souter’s hometown voted down a proposal Tuesday 1,167 too 493 that would have allowed the town to seize his 200-year-old farmhouse under eminent domain. Angered by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision last year in the property rights case of Kelo v. New London, activists sought to take Souter’s property as a payback. Voters instead asked the town Board of Selectman to urge the state to adopt a law that would forbid seizures of property by eminent domain. Souter, a long-time resident of Weare, home to about 9,500, was in the majority for the 5-4 eminent domain case of Kelo v. City of New London , Conn., last June in which the Supreme Court ruled that government entities can take private property if the land is for public use. In Kelo, the Court said New London could take private property through eminent domain for the development of a hotel and convention center. A group of activists, led by California resident Logan Darrow Clements, wanted Souter's 200-year-old farmhouse and eight acres seized for the purpose of building an inn to be known as the Lost Liberty Hotel....
New Mexico governor’s property ripe for eminent domain?
After the infamous 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision, Logan Darrow Clements started an eminent domain campaign against US Supreme Court Justice Souter’s New Hampshire home. The point: Build Lost Liberty Hotel in its place, which would provide greater economic benefits to the community. Clements was justified: The Court’s slim 5-4 decision cited economic development as justification for essentially taking one’s property and delivering it to another private party. Darrow should go after any property New Mexico Gov. Richardson owns in “The Land of Enchantment”. Why? On March 8, Richardson became the first governor since Kelo to veto legislation that would have helped protect property owners against condemnation. The Rio Grande Foundation (RGF), a New Mexico think tank, distributed a media release deriding Richardson’s property rights snub....
***********************************************************************************
In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo decision regarding eminent domain, we are delighted to inform you that our recent Independent Policy Forum, "Eminent Domain: Abuse of Government Power?", will air on C-SPAN2 on Sunday, March 19th.
http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=114
Here is the exact airing time:
Sunday, March 19th, 1:15 p.m. ET (10:15 a.m. PT) C-SPAN2
http://www.booktv.org/General/index.asp?segID=6696&schedID=408
The program features presentations by:
STEVEN GREENHUT, Senior Editorial Writer, Orange County Register, and author of Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain.
TIMOTHY SANDEFUR, Staff Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation.
Senate backs drilling But outcome in House remains 'hard to tell'
By the barest of margins, the Senate approved legislation late today that would allow energy companies to hunt for crude in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But whether drilling supporters now can rustle up the votes they were lacking in the House just three months ago remains unclear. "It's kind of hard to tell yet," said Lee Fuller, vice president of government relations for the Independent Petroleum Association of America. In what has become a running battle in the halls of Congress, the Senate voted 51-49 Thursday to approve a budget bill that would end a 26-year moratorium and clear the way for oil and gas companies to explore in the northern Alaska refuge....
By the barest of margins, the Senate approved legislation late today that would allow energy companies to hunt for crude in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But whether drilling supporters now can rustle up the votes they were lacking in the House just three months ago remains unclear. "It's kind of hard to tell yet," said Lee Fuller, vice president of government relations for the Independent Petroleum Association of America. In what has become a running battle in the halls of Congress, the Senate voted 51-49 Thursday to approve a budget bill that would end a 26-year moratorium and clear the way for oil and gas companies to explore in the northern Alaska refuge....
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Into a Belfast pub comes Paddy Murphy, looking like he'd just been run over by a train. His arm is in a sling, his nose is broken, his face is cut and bruised and he's walking with a limp.
"What happened to you?" asks Sean, the bartender.
"Jamie O'Conner and me had a fight," says Paddy.
"That little shit, O'Conner," says Sean, "He couldn't do that to you, he must have had something in his hand."
"That he did," says Paddy, "a shovel is what he had, and a terrible lickin' he gave me with it."
"Well," says Sean, "you should have defended yourself, didn't you have something in your hand?"
That I did," said Paddy. "Mrs. O'Conner's breast, and a thing of beauty it was, but useless in a fight."
*************************************************************************
An Irishman who had a little too much to drink is driving home from the city one night and, of course, his car is weaving violently all over the road.
A cop pulls him over.
"So," says the cop to the driver, where have ya been?"
"Why, I've been to the pub of course," slurs the drunk.
"Well," says the cop, "it looks like you've had quite a few to drink this evening."
"I did all right," the drunk says with a smile.
"Did you know," says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms across his chest, "that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"
"Oh, thank heavens," sighs the drunk. "For a minute there, I thought I'd gone deaf."
*************************************************************************
Brenda O'Malley is home making dinner, as usual, when Tim Finnegan arrives at her door.
"Brenda, may I come in?" he asks. "I've somethin' to tell ya".
"Of course you can come in, you're always welcome, Tim. But where's my husband?"
"That's what I'm here to be telling ya, Brenda." There was an accident down at the Guinness brewery..."
"Oh, God no!" cries Brenda. "Please don't tell me."
"I must, Brenda. Your husband Shamus is dead and gone. I'm sorry.
Finally, she looked up at Tim. "How did it happen, Tim?"
"It was terrible, Brenda. He fell into a vat of Guinness Stout and drowned."
"Oh my dear Jesus! But you must tell me true, Tim. Did he at least go quickly?"
"Well, Brenda... no. In fact, he got out three times to pee."
*************************************************************************
Mary Clancy goes up to Father O'Grady after his Sunday morning service, and she's in tears.
He says, "So what's bothering you, Mary my dear?"
She says, "Oh, Father, I've got terrible news. My husband passed away last night."
The priest says, "Oh, Mary, that's terrible. Tell me, Mary, did he have any last requests?"
She says, "That he did, Father." The priest says, "What did he ask, Mary?"
She says, He said, 'Please Mary, put down that damn gun...'
*************************************************************************
A drunk staggers into a Catholic Church, enters a confessional booth, sits down but says nothing.
The Priest coughs a few times to get his attention but the drunk continues to sit there.
Finally, the Priest pounds three times on the wall.
The drunk mumbles, "ain't no use knockin, there's no paper on this side
either."
Into a Belfast pub comes Paddy Murphy, looking like he'd just been run over by a train. His arm is in a sling, his nose is broken, his face is cut and bruised and he's walking with a limp.
"What happened to you?" asks Sean, the bartender.
"Jamie O'Conner and me had a fight," says Paddy.
"That little shit, O'Conner," says Sean, "He couldn't do that to you, he must have had something in his hand."
"That he did," says Paddy, "a shovel is what he had, and a terrible lickin' he gave me with it."
"Well," says Sean, "you should have defended yourself, didn't you have something in your hand?"
That I did," said Paddy. "Mrs. O'Conner's breast, and a thing of beauty it was, but useless in a fight."
*************************************************************************
An Irishman who had a little too much to drink is driving home from the city one night and, of course, his car is weaving violently all over the road.
A cop pulls him over.
"So," says the cop to the driver, where have ya been?"
"Why, I've been to the pub of course," slurs the drunk.
"Well," says the cop, "it looks like you've had quite a few to drink this evening."
"I did all right," the drunk says with a smile.
"Did you know," says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms across his chest, "that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"
"Oh, thank heavens," sighs the drunk. "For a minute there, I thought I'd gone deaf."
*************************************************************************
Brenda O'Malley is home making dinner, as usual, when Tim Finnegan arrives at her door.
"Brenda, may I come in?" he asks. "I've somethin' to tell ya".
"Of course you can come in, you're always welcome, Tim. But where's my husband?"
"That's what I'm here to be telling ya, Brenda." There was an accident down at the Guinness brewery..."
"Oh, God no!" cries Brenda. "Please don't tell me."
"I must, Brenda. Your husband Shamus is dead and gone. I'm sorry.
Finally, she looked up at Tim. "How did it happen, Tim?"
"It was terrible, Brenda. He fell into a vat of Guinness Stout and drowned."
"Oh my dear Jesus! But you must tell me true, Tim. Did he at least go quickly?"
"Well, Brenda... no. In fact, he got out three times to pee."
*************************************************************************
Mary Clancy goes up to Father O'Grady after his Sunday morning service, and she's in tears.
He says, "So what's bothering you, Mary my dear?"
She says, "Oh, Father, I've got terrible news. My husband passed away last night."
The priest says, "Oh, Mary, that's terrible. Tell me, Mary, did he have any last requests?"
She says, "That he did, Father." The priest says, "What did he ask, Mary?"
She says, He said, 'Please Mary, put down that damn gun...'
*************************************************************************
A drunk staggers into a Catholic Church, enters a confessional booth, sits down but says nothing.
The Priest coughs a few times to get his attention but the drunk continues to sit there.
Finally, the Priest pounds three times on the wall.
The drunk mumbles, "ain't no use knockin, there's no paper on this side
either."
NEWS ROUNDUP
Top Birder Challenges Reports of Long-Lost Woodpecker The ivory billed woodpecker? That is the bird that went extinct and was rediscovered, and then there was some argument. But it is all settled now, and the great creature lives, elusively, in an Arkansas swamp, with a chunk of federal money to keep it comfortable. Right? Maybe not. The nation's best known birder, David A. Sibley, whose book "The Sibley Guide to Birds" is a bible for field identification, has decided that the happy ending is too good to be true. Mr. Sibley, a soft-spoken, attention-avoiding writer and illustrator of many other bird books, says in an article being published today in Science that a blurry videotape that was the strongest evidence of the woodpecker's continued existence does not show an ivory bill at all. He and three colleagues write that the bird on the tape was almost certainly a common pileated woodpecker and that there is simply no conclusive evidence that the ivory bill has escaped extinction. The videotape, which has been called an ornithological Zapruder film, was made on April 25, 2004, by M. David Luneau Jr., an engineering professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. Professor Luneau had joined a search led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to gather more evidence after two serious birders reported seeing the ivory bill fly in front of their canoe. Along with sightings, the tape was the centerpiece of a spring 2005 paper, also in Science, that caused jubilation among conservationists and birders and prompted the federal government to commit $10 million for ivory bill conservation....
With Energy-Tax Bonanza, Wyoming Schools Enjoy Windfall Forget the bucking bronco. A clattering cash register has become the more apt symbol of Wyoming in the energy rush. Over the past four years, as natural gas prices have spiked and drillers have descended here on the nation's least-populous state, Wyoming has collected about $65 million a month more in energy taxes than the government can spend. The numbers, in their cumulative power and duration, are starting to change the state's vision of what it could be and how to get there. Money has been poured into wildlife protection, historical preservation and the support of families of National Guard troops in Iraq. A $100 million tax cut this year eliminated the sales tax on groceries. (There is no personal or corporate income tax to cut.) But that still left hundreds of millions to be set aside in an all-purpose savings account that some state officials fantasize could one day grow large enough to subsidize the state budget itself — Wyoming as trust-fund kid, or cowboy emirate....
Cattle may use creek again after salt water spill Ranchers who relied on a McKenzie County creek to water their cattle may use it again, because a hazard posed by a salt water spill has passed, a state Health Department official says. The company responsible for the pollution, Zenergy Inc. of Tulsa, Okla., is cleaning up the salt-contaminated soil. Charbonneau Creek was polluted in early January when a salt water disposal pipeline ruptured, spilling briny water into a stock pond, a beaver dam and the creek itself. Salt water is a waste product of oil production. The creek, which is fed by spring water and is flowing, empties into the Yellowstone River. Dave Glatt, chief of the Health Department's environmental section, said it does not appear the Yellowstone was harmed by the accident. Recent melting snow has caused salt levels in the creek to recede, Glatt said. The creek will be monitored to make sure salt from the creek bed does not leach again into the water, he said....
Additional Proposed Changes to Federal Oil and Gas Regulations In a move that will help the nation meet its energy needs, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service are jointly proposing further revisions of regulations governing oil and gas activity on the public lands. These further proposed revisions supplement an earlier proposal – published by the two agencies in July 2005 – that would revise an existing set of regulations known as Onshore Oil and Gas Order Number 1. The Order’s regulations establish the requirements that companies must meet to obtain approval for oil and gas exploration and development on all Federal and Indian lands (except those of the Osage Tribe). The BLM’s and Forest Service’s latest proposed regulatory revisions, published in today’s Federal Register, would implement portions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 by making Order Number 1’s drilling permit provisions consistent with those in the Act. The new energy law contains a timeline for processing drilling permit applications – known as Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs) – that differs slightly from the one contained in the regulatory proposal of July 2005. Besides making the timeline in Order Number 1 consistent with that in the Energy Policy Act, today’s further proposed revision specifies what constitutes a “complete” APD package. This latest proposal also makes clear that the BLM and Forest Service intend to continue requiring an on-site inspection before determining that an APD package is complete. In addition, the proposal published today would require additional bonding in split-estate situations where a lessee cannot reach agreement with an Indian surface owner. The Federal Register notice published today opens up a 30-day comment period during which the public may submit written comments on the further proposed revisions to Onshore Oil and Gas Order Number 1. (The notice also re-opens for 30 days the comment period on the July 2005 regulatory proposal.)....
States Calculate Global Warming Pricetag In a new sign of growing concern about the impact of global warming on the health of the U.S. economy, the insurance commissioners of the 50 U.S. states last week voted unanimously to establish a task force on the possible impact of climate change on the insurance industry and its consumers. The decision, taken by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, came during the same week that the world's biggest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan, briefed its corporate clients, which include roughly 75 percent of the "Fortune 500" biggest companies, on the potential impact of global warming on their businesses. Marsh's clients heard from, among others, Carol Browner, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when former President Bill Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and Robert Watson, the chief climate scientist at the World Bank and former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)....
More indictments in NW ecoterrorism probe Two more people were indicted Thursday on charges they were part of a group calling itself "The Family" that was responsible for a series of firebombings around the Northwest from 1996 to 2001 claimed by the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. The indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Eugene brings to 13 the number of people who will go on trial Oct. 31 on 65 counts, including conspiracy, arson, and use of a destructive device in a crime of violence. The targets included U.S. Forest Service ranger stations in Oregon, government and university research labs in Washington, a horse slaughterhouse in Oregon, a tree farm in Oregon, a power transmission tower in Oregon, a Colorado ski resort, lumber mills in Oregon, and federal wild horse corrals in Oregon, Wyoming and California. The fires caused more than $100 million in damages....
Forest Land Sale Plan Goes Forward The Bush administration formalized its plan to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest to help pay for rural schools in 41 states, submitting legislation to Congress on Thursday to funnel $800 million to the schools over the next five years. The schools would get $320 million next year, but the figure would drop sharply after that, to $40 million in its final year, officials said. That would be a 90% decrease from current spending — a figure Western lawmakers called unacceptable. The legislation came as four former Forest Service chiefs criticized the land sale plan as contrary to more than a century of agency practice. "Selling off public lands to fund other programs, no matter how worthwhile those programs, is a slippery slope," the retired chiefs said, calling the land sale "an unwise precedent." The letter was signed by Max Peterson, Dale Robertson, Jack Ward Thomas and Michael Dombeck. The men led the agency under four presidents from both parties....
Report: Losses from decay heavy from Biscuit Fire Losses from unsalvaged timber from the 2002 Biscuit fire in southwest Oregon stand to approach $140 million if nothing is done to harvest it, according to a report from the U.S. Forest Service. Some Biscuit sales were logged in 2004 and 2005. The report said data "shows clearly that 42 percent of the volume per acre has been lost since late 2002," largely from decay. However, the thought of logging the area is anathema to many scientists and environmentalists who say the best way to help the area recover is to leave it alone. The report, released by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., placed the value of the timber that could be legally and profitably cut immediately after the fire at about $171.8 million. It said about $32.3 million of that has been recovered to date....
A Century of Debate Just how exciting can a book about the Antiquities Act of 1906 be? Probably more so than you would think--certainly it was for me. It's not the history of an obscure, 100-year-old law; this is the story of fundamental questions of importance to all Americans. It is the story of visionaries trying to preserve a heritage that, even then, was vanishing. It is the story of bruising political battles that continue even to today. It is the story of how public archaeology came into being in the United States. Ultimately, it is the story of how we decided to treasure our nation's cultural--and natural--heritage. The Antiquities Act is brief, and only the second and third of its four sections are important today. The second deals with the creation of National Monuments: lofty ideals, vague wording, and a sweeping presidential prerogative. The third provides access to the sites and artifacts found on the Monuments for scholars, museums, and universities, but this access comes with certain responsibilities. All this in some 269 words. It is an extraordinary document. The book about all of this, The Antiquities Act: A Century of American Archaeology, Historic Preservation, and Nature Conservation (University of Arizona Press, 2006; cloth $45.00, paper $19.95), is edited by David Harmon (conservationist, George Wright Society), Francis P. McManamon (archaeologist, National Park Service), and Dwight T. Pitcaithley (historian, New Mexico State University). The editors contributed an introduction and concluding chapter, but the main portion of the book is a collection of 15 chapters authored by various specialists and grouped according to four themes....
US hails calm world reaction to new mad cow case The low-key world reaction to discovery of the third U.S. case of mad cow disease is a sign that trading partners recognize American beef is safe, an Agriculture Department spokesman said on Tuesday. The new case was an elderly Santa Gertrudis beef cow from a small herd in Alabama and the first found since November 2004. The cow was buried on the farm. "It was not an animal that got in the (human) food supply. It did not get in the animal feed supply. Our firewalls worked," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told reporters in Berlin, his third stop on a trip to Europe. "I think overall there has been a very measured reaction to the announcement," USDA spokesman Ed Loyd wrote in responses to e-mail questions. Loyd cited "an increasing understanding worldwide of (the) safety of U.S. beef" and acceptance of international guidelines that say beef can be traded when nations take steps to prevent the spread of mad cow, formally named bovine spongiform encephalopathy....
Horse Owners Are Bridling at Changes It used to be a place where a middle-class family could own a small house on a large parcel with a horse corral out back and a few chickens and roosters running around the yard. But these days in Sylmar, the human population is going up while the number of horses is dropping. And this has some longtime residents concerned that a way of life in this foothill community on the northeastern edge of the San Fernando Valley is disappearing. Even its name sounds pastoral, derived from a combination of the word "sylvan" and the Spanish word mar, roughly translating into "sea of trees." In Sylmar, olive trees once grew thick on land tilled by farmers and ranchers, who turned the arid countryside into a hub for olive growing and related agricultural enterprises. After World War II, the land was subdivided into generous lots, giving it the feel of the country, even though it was only about 26 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. But developers looking for places to build in today's hot real estate market have discovered Sylmar. They are razing the ranch-style houses and replacing them with tracts of single-family homes, condominiums and town houses....
Rancher Carlton goes to the grave in her pickup A gun-toting wisp of a woman who favored jeans and John Wayne went out the way she lived. At Fleta Carlton's funeral Wednesday, ranch hands loaded her casket into the bed of Old Blue, the gas-belching pick-up she drove all over the 1,400-acre Carlton Triangle Ranch. Friend Ed Bledsoe steered the beat-up Dodge to the Old Miakka Cemetery, where folks in boots and Wranglers, suits and ties sang "Amazing Grace." Carlton was buried in a plaid cowboy shirt and jeans. "A dress? She would have been angry at us for that," said niece Stacey Carlton. In her pocket, her little brother Tony put something familiar: her Old Timer pocketknife, which she only put down at night. And a sharpening stone, just in case the thing gets dull....
Top Birder Challenges Reports of Long-Lost Woodpecker The ivory billed woodpecker? That is the bird that went extinct and was rediscovered, and then there was some argument. But it is all settled now, and the great creature lives, elusively, in an Arkansas swamp, with a chunk of federal money to keep it comfortable. Right? Maybe not. The nation's best known birder, David A. Sibley, whose book "The Sibley Guide to Birds" is a bible for field identification, has decided that the happy ending is too good to be true. Mr. Sibley, a soft-spoken, attention-avoiding writer and illustrator of many other bird books, says in an article being published today in Science that a blurry videotape that was the strongest evidence of the woodpecker's continued existence does not show an ivory bill at all. He and three colleagues write that the bird on the tape was almost certainly a common pileated woodpecker and that there is simply no conclusive evidence that the ivory bill has escaped extinction. The videotape, which has been called an ornithological Zapruder film, was made on April 25, 2004, by M. David Luneau Jr., an engineering professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. Professor Luneau had joined a search led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to gather more evidence after two serious birders reported seeing the ivory bill fly in front of their canoe. Along with sightings, the tape was the centerpiece of a spring 2005 paper, also in Science, that caused jubilation among conservationists and birders and prompted the federal government to commit $10 million for ivory bill conservation....
With Energy-Tax Bonanza, Wyoming Schools Enjoy Windfall Forget the bucking bronco. A clattering cash register has become the more apt symbol of Wyoming in the energy rush. Over the past four years, as natural gas prices have spiked and drillers have descended here on the nation's least-populous state, Wyoming has collected about $65 million a month more in energy taxes than the government can spend. The numbers, in their cumulative power and duration, are starting to change the state's vision of what it could be and how to get there. Money has been poured into wildlife protection, historical preservation and the support of families of National Guard troops in Iraq. A $100 million tax cut this year eliminated the sales tax on groceries. (There is no personal or corporate income tax to cut.) But that still left hundreds of millions to be set aside in an all-purpose savings account that some state officials fantasize could one day grow large enough to subsidize the state budget itself — Wyoming as trust-fund kid, or cowboy emirate....
Cattle may use creek again after salt water spill Ranchers who relied on a McKenzie County creek to water their cattle may use it again, because a hazard posed by a salt water spill has passed, a state Health Department official says. The company responsible for the pollution, Zenergy Inc. of Tulsa, Okla., is cleaning up the salt-contaminated soil. Charbonneau Creek was polluted in early January when a salt water disposal pipeline ruptured, spilling briny water into a stock pond, a beaver dam and the creek itself. Salt water is a waste product of oil production. The creek, which is fed by spring water and is flowing, empties into the Yellowstone River. Dave Glatt, chief of the Health Department's environmental section, said it does not appear the Yellowstone was harmed by the accident. Recent melting snow has caused salt levels in the creek to recede, Glatt said. The creek will be monitored to make sure salt from the creek bed does not leach again into the water, he said....
Additional Proposed Changes to Federal Oil and Gas Regulations In a move that will help the nation meet its energy needs, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service are jointly proposing further revisions of regulations governing oil and gas activity on the public lands. These further proposed revisions supplement an earlier proposal – published by the two agencies in July 2005 – that would revise an existing set of regulations known as Onshore Oil and Gas Order Number 1. The Order’s regulations establish the requirements that companies must meet to obtain approval for oil and gas exploration and development on all Federal and Indian lands (except those of the Osage Tribe). The BLM’s and Forest Service’s latest proposed regulatory revisions, published in today’s Federal Register, would implement portions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 by making Order Number 1’s drilling permit provisions consistent with those in the Act. The new energy law contains a timeline for processing drilling permit applications – known as Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs) – that differs slightly from the one contained in the regulatory proposal of July 2005. Besides making the timeline in Order Number 1 consistent with that in the Energy Policy Act, today’s further proposed revision specifies what constitutes a “complete” APD package. This latest proposal also makes clear that the BLM and Forest Service intend to continue requiring an on-site inspection before determining that an APD package is complete. In addition, the proposal published today would require additional bonding in split-estate situations where a lessee cannot reach agreement with an Indian surface owner. The Federal Register notice published today opens up a 30-day comment period during which the public may submit written comments on the further proposed revisions to Onshore Oil and Gas Order Number 1. (The notice also re-opens for 30 days the comment period on the July 2005 regulatory proposal.)....
States Calculate Global Warming Pricetag In a new sign of growing concern about the impact of global warming on the health of the U.S. economy, the insurance commissioners of the 50 U.S. states last week voted unanimously to establish a task force on the possible impact of climate change on the insurance industry and its consumers. The decision, taken by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, came during the same week that the world's biggest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan, briefed its corporate clients, which include roughly 75 percent of the "Fortune 500" biggest companies, on the potential impact of global warming on their businesses. Marsh's clients heard from, among others, Carol Browner, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when former President Bill Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and Robert Watson, the chief climate scientist at the World Bank and former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)....
More indictments in NW ecoterrorism probe Two more people were indicted Thursday on charges they were part of a group calling itself "The Family" that was responsible for a series of firebombings around the Northwest from 1996 to 2001 claimed by the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. The indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Eugene brings to 13 the number of people who will go on trial Oct. 31 on 65 counts, including conspiracy, arson, and use of a destructive device in a crime of violence. The targets included U.S. Forest Service ranger stations in Oregon, government and university research labs in Washington, a horse slaughterhouse in Oregon, a tree farm in Oregon, a power transmission tower in Oregon, a Colorado ski resort, lumber mills in Oregon, and federal wild horse corrals in Oregon, Wyoming and California. The fires caused more than $100 million in damages....
Forest Land Sale Plan Goes Forward The Bush administration formalized its plan to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest to help pay for rural schools in 41 states, submitting legislation to Congress on Thursday to funnel $800 million to the schools over the next five years. The schools would get $320 million next year, but the figure would drop sharply after that, to $40 million in its final year, officials said. That would be a 90% decrease from current spending — a figure Western lawmakers called unacceptable. The legislation came as four former Forest Service chiefs criticized the land sale plan as contrary to more than a century of agency practice. "Selling off public lands to fund other programs, no matter how worthwhile those programs, is a slippery slope," the retired chiefs said, calling the land sale "an unwise precedent." The letter was signed by Max Peterson, Dale Robertson, Jack Ward Thomas and Michael Dombeck. The men led the agency under four presidents from both parties....
Report: Losses from decay heavy from Biscuit Fire Losses from unsalvaged timber from the 2002 Biscuit fire in southwest Oregon stand to approach $140 million if nothing is done to harvest it, according to a report from the U.S. Forest Service. Some Biscuit sales were logged in 2004 and 2005. The report said data "shows clearly that 42 percent of the volume per acre has been lost since late 2002," largely from decay. However, the thought of logging the area is anathema to many scientists and environmentalists who say the best way to help the area recover is to leave it alone. The report, released by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., placed the value of the timber that could be legally and profitably cut immediately after the fire at about $171.8 million. It said about $32.3 million of that has been recovered to date....
A Century of Debate Just how exciting can a book about the Antiquities Act of 1906 be? Probably more so than you would think--certainly it was for me. It's not the history of an obscure, 100-year-old law; this is the story of fundamental questions of importance to all Americans. It is the story of visionaries trying to preserve a heritage that, even then, was vanishing. It is the story of bruising political battles that continue even to today. It is the story of how public archaeology came into being in the United States. Ultimately, it is the story of how we decided to treasure our nation's cultural--and natural--heritage. The Antiquities Act is brief, and only the second and third of its four sections are important today. The second deals with the creation of National Monuments: lofty ideals, vague wording, and a sweeping presidential prerogative. The third provides access to the sites and artifacts found on the Monuments for scholars, museums, and universities, but this access comes with certain responsibilities. All this in some 269 words. It is an extraordinary document. The book about all of this, The Antiquities Act: A Century of American Archaeology, Historic Preservation, and Nature Conservation (University of Arizona Press, 2006; cloth $45.00, paper $19.95), is edited by David Harmon (conservationist, George Wright Society), Francis P. McManamon (archaeologist, National Park Service), and Dwight T. Pitcaithley (historian, New Mexico State University). The editors contributed an introduction and concluding chapter, but the main portion of the book is a collection of 15 chapters authored by various specialists and grouped according to four themes....
US hails calm world reaction to new mad cow case The low-key world reaction to discovery of the third U.S. case of mad cow disease is a sign that trading partners recognize American beef is safe, an Agriculture Department spokesman said on Tuesday. The new case was an elderly Santa Gertrudis beef cow from a small herd in Alabama and the first found since November 2004. The cow was buried on the farm. "It was not an animal that got in the (human) food supply. It did not get in the animal feed supply. Our firewalls worked," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told reporters in Berlin, his third stop on a trip to Europe. "I think overall there has been a very measured reaction to the announcement," USDA spokesman Ed Loyd wrote in responses to e-mail questions. Loyd cited "an increasing understanding worldwide of (the) safety of U.S. beef" and acceptance of international guidelines that say beef can be traded when nations take steps to prevent the spread of mad cow, formally named bovine spongiform encephalopathy....
Horse Owners Are Bridling at Changes It used to be a place where a middle-class family could own a small house on a large parcel with a horse corral out back and a few chickens and roosters running around the yard. But these days in Sylmar, the human population is going up while the number of horses is dropping. And this has some longtime residents concerned that a way of life in this foothill community on the northeastern edge of the San Fernando Valley is disappearing. Even its name sounds pastoral, derived from a combination of the word "sylvan" and the Spanish word mar, roughly translating into "sea of trees." In Sylmar, olive trees once grew thick on land tilled by farmers and ranchers, who turned the arid countryside into a hub for olive growing and related agricultural enterprises. After World War II, the land was subdivided into generous lots, giving it the feel of the country, even though it was only about 26 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. But developers looking for places to build in today's hot real estate market have discovered Sylmar. They are razing the ranch-style houses and replacing them with tracts of single-family homes, condominiums and town houses....
Rancher Carlton goes to the grave in her pickup A gun-toting wisp of a woman who favored jeans and John Wayne went out the way she lived. At Fleta Carlton's funeral Wednesday, ranch hands loaded her casket into the bed of Old Blue, the gas-belching pick-up she drove all over the 1,400-acre Carlton Triangle Ranch. Friend Ed Bledsoe steered the beat-up Dodge to the Old Miakka Cemetery, where folks in boots and Wranglers, suits and ties sang "Amazing Grace." Carlton was buried in a plaid cowboy shirt and jeans. "A dress? She would have been angry at us for that," said niece Stacey Carlton. In her pocket, her little brother Tony put something familiar: her Old Timer pocketknife, which she only put down at night. And a sharpening stone, just in case the thing gets dull....
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Rabies Confirmed in Lea County Horse
Department of Health Reminds Public To Vaccinate Animals
The New Mexico Department of Health and the New Mexico Livestock Board reported that a horse from Lea County tested positive for rabies, and three people who were potentially exposed to the infected horse are receiving rabies vaccine to prevent them from developing the deadly viral disease. Rabies is a fatal disease if it is not treated before symptoms develop. The Department of Health and Livestock Board would like to remind people that it is important to vaccinate their animals to protect them from rabies. “This should serve as a wakeup call to people who keep horses and other livestock, that there are wild animals in the area infected with rabies, most likely skunks,” said Dr. Dave Fly, deputy state veterinarian with the New Mexico Livestock Board. “Owners of valuable livestock should consult with their veterinarian about protecting these animals by giving them rabies vaccine.” The horse began behaving abnormally last week and then became very aggressive before it died. Tissue samples sent in by a local veterinarian tested positive for rabies at the Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory Division. Other livestock on the ranch that were exposed to the horse will be given rabies vaccine and quarantined for six months. According to residents in the area, wild skunks have been attacking livestock for several weeks. “Since pet dogs and cats that roam and hunt can come into contact with rabid animals and potentially transmit it to people, it is also very important to make sure all dogs and cats have current rabies vaccinations,” said Dr. Paul Ettestad, state public health veterinarian at the Department of Health....
Department of Health Reminds Public To Vaccinate Animals
The New Mexico Department of Health and the New Mexico Livestock Board reported that a horse from Lea County tested positive for rabies, and three people who were potentially exposed to the infected horse are receiving rabies vaccine to prevent them from developing the deadly viral disease. Rabies is a fatal disease if it is not treated before symptoms develop. The Department of Health and Livestock Board would like to remind people that it is important to vaccinate their animals to protect them from rabies. “This should serve as a wakeup call to people who keep horses and other livestock, that there are wild animals in the area infected with rabies, most likely skunks,” said Dr. Dave Fly, deputy state veterinarian with the New Mexico Livestock Board. “Owners of valuable livestock should consult with their veterinarian about protecting these animals by giving them rabies vaccine.” The horse began behaving abnormally last week and then became very aggressive before it died. Tissue samples sent in by a local veterinarian tested positive for rabies at the Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory Division. Other livestock on the ranch that were exposed to the horse will be given rabies vaccine and quarantined for six months. According to residents in the area, wild skunks have been attacking livestock for several weeks. “Since pet dogs and cats that roam and hunt can come into contact with rabid animals and potentially transmit it to people, it is also very important to make sure all dogs and cats have current rabies vaccinations,” said Dr. Paul Ettestad, state public health veterinarian at the Department of Health....
Kempthorne biography
Governor Dirk Kempthorne was reelected as Idaho’s governor in November of 2002. He was first elected as Idaho’s 30th chief executive in 1998, following a six-year term in the United States Senate. Kempthorne began his commitment to public service as the highly successful mayor of Boise. During his seven years in office, he helped direct a renaissance in the state's capital city that resulted in record growth, economic development and numerous national honors and recognitions for quality of life, business climate and family issues. Kempthorne established a statewide voluntary immunization registry to help ensure that more Idaho children from birth to 18 months receive the full complement of vaccinations recommended by pediatricians. He also worked with the Legislature to enact an Idaho reading initiative, designed to have every Idaho child reading at grade level by the third grade. Following the devastating wildfires of 2000, he worked with fellow western governors and federal officials to fundamentally change the approach to forest health and wildfire management. Under his leadership, Idaho has developed wolf and grizzly bear management plans aimed at delisting the endangered species and protecting state's rights by giving the state management responsibilities. Idaho has instituted the first-ever tax credit for companies that expand high-speed voice and data broadband communications lines, and the state has provided funding for regional economic development experts in 12 regions of the state. These professionals work with local communities to attract and retain businesses. In his years of service as governor of Idaho, Kempthorne has signed into law more than 50 bills which have provided either significant tax relief or tax credits for Idahoans. Governor Kempthorne has been recognized by his peers as a national leader. His colleagues elected him as the chairman of the National Governor's Association in August of 2003. In this role, he has launched an initiative to bring a national focus on the looming crisis of long-term care. He has served as president of the Council of State Governments and chairman of the Western Governors Association. He serves on the executive committees of the National Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association. U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige appointed Governor Kempthorne to the national assessment governing board and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge appointed him to the homeland security task force. Governor Kempthorne and his wife Patricia are both University of Idaho graduates and have two grown children, Heather and Jeff.
Governor Dirk Kempthorne was reelected as Idaho’s governor in November of 2002. He was first elected as Idaho’s 30th chief executive in 1998, following a six-year term in the United States Senate. Kempthorne began his commitment to public service as the highly successful mayor of Boise. During his seven years in office, he helped direct a renaissance in the state's capital city that resulted in record growth, economic development and numerous national honors and recognitions for quality of life, business climate and family issues. Kempthorne established a statewide voluntary immunization registry to help ensure that more Idaho children from birth to 18 months receive the full complement of vaccinations recommended by pediatricians. He also worked with the Legislature to enact an Idaho reading initiative, designed to have every Idaho child reading at grade level by the third grade. Following the devastating wildfires of 2000, he worked with fellow western governors and federal officials to fundamentally change the approach to forest health and wildfire management. Under his leadership, Idaho has developed wolf and grizzly bear management plans aimed at delisting the endangered species and protecting state's rights by giving the state management responsibilities. Idaho has instituted the first-ever tax credit for companies that expand high-speed voice and data broadband communications lines, and the state has provided funding for regional economic development experts in 12 regions of the state. These professionals work with local communities to attract and retain businesses. In his years of service as governor of Idaho, Kempthorne has signed into law more than 50 bills which have provided either significant tax relief or tax credits for Idahoans. Governor Kempthorne has been recognized by his peers as a national leader. His colleagues elected him as the chairman of the National Governor's Association in August of 2003. In this role, he has launched an initiative to bring a national focus on the looming crisis of long-term care. He has served as president of the Council of State Governments and chairman of the Western Governors Association. He serves on the executive committees of the National Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association. U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige appointed Governor Kempthorne to the national assessment governing board and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge appointed him to the homeland security task force. Governor Kempthorne and his wife Patricia are both University of Idaho graduates and have two grown children, Heather and Jeff.
Bush Nominates Idaho Governor Kempthorne as Interior Secretary
President George W. Bush nominated Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne as his new secretary of the Interior, the federal department that oversees one out of every five acres of land in the nation. Kempthorne, 54, a Republican and former U.S. senator, was named to replace Gale Norton, who announced last week she is leaving at the end of the month. The nomination is subject to approval of the U.S. Senate. Kempthorne has ``been a responsible steward'' of Idaho's public lands and is ``the right man'' to continue the work started by Norton in managing U.S.-owned land, Bush said today in making the announcement in the Oval Office. Kempthorne is approaching the end of his second term as Idaho's governor and can't run again. He previously served one term as U.S. senator from the state and as mayor of Boise, Idaho's capital....
President George W. Bush nominated Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne as his new secretary of the Interior, the federal department that oversees one out of every five acres of land in the nation. Kempthorne, 54, a Republican and former U.S. senator, was named to replace Gale Norton, who announced last week she is leaving at the end of the month. The nomination is subject to approval of the U.S. Senate. Kempthorne has ``been a responsible steward'' of Idaho's public lands and is ``the right man'' to continue the work started by Norton in managing U.S.-owned land, Bush said today in making the announcement in the Oval Office. Kempthorne is approaching the end of his second term as Idaho's governor and can't run again. He previously served one term as U.S. senator from the state and as mayor of Boise, Idaho's capital....
Bush picks Idaho's Kempthorne for Interior
President George W. Bush on Thursday chose Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as his choice to replace Gale Norton as Interior secretary, a Republican official said. Bush was expected to make a formal announcement at 5:30 p.m. EST on Thursday. Kempthorne, who was first elected governor in 1998, is also a former senator. The Interior secretary job, which oversees federal lands, requires Senate confirmation....
President George W. Bush on Thursday chose Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as his choice to replace Gale Norton as Interior secretary, a Republican official said. Bush was expected to make a formal announcement at 5:30 p.m. EST on Thursday. Kempthorne, who was first elected governor in 1998, is also a former senator. The Interior secretary job, which oversees federal lands, requires Senate confirmation....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Deer breeders sue state A group of deer breeders has sued the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, asking a Travis County district judge to determine who owns the white-tailed deer and mule deer held in breeding pens in Texas. The current state statute under which breeders operate allows them to buy, sell, breed, medicate and even shoot released deer for sport but retains ownership of the deer for the State of Texas. Licensed breeders, though, claim ownership of the deer they breed and want the courts to decide whether the state could be taking away their property rights. "I just firmly believe they ought to be our deer," said Quinlan rancher James Anderton, one of the eight plaintiffs listed in the suit filed Friday in Austin. "I want to know if they're my deer or if the state can shut me down and say they own the deer." Texas has about 800 breeding facilities, comprising more than 40,000 animals with an estimated worth of more than $100 million. Individual breeding bucks have sold for as much as $450,000 in Texas....
Wildfires might claim 10,000 head of cattle Panhandle ranchers scrambled to move livestock to safe ground Wednesday as wildfires, revived in places by 30-mph winds, were claiming up to an estimated 10,000 head of cattle over 840,000 blackened acres. “It burned every inch of our ranch,” said Glenda Adcock of the Lazy 11 near Miami, her voice breaking. “And we’re still fighting it. We probably lost more than 100 cattle, and we’re not completely through. They found 30 baby calves and lot of mama cows.” Ted McCollum, a livestock specialist with the Texas Cooperative Extension service, said few cattle producers carry insurance against fire loss. He said that aside from the cost of replacing livestock and miles of fencing at $5,500 to $10,000 a mile, there might also be a psychological toll. “There are ranches completely consumed,” McCollum said. “All that’s left is the house. One can only imagine what they are dealing with emotionally in terms of the losses and trying to determine how to go from here.”....
Yellowstone bison sent to slaughter without testing Roughly 30 bison captured near the western border of Yellowstone National Park were shipped to slaughter without being tested for the disease brucellosis, a state livestock official said Wednesday. Marc Bridges, executive director of the state Department of Livestock, said authorities had to set up a portable trap and plow through deep snow to get to the bison Tuesday. He said officials had tried to haze the animals but deemed them ``unhazable.'' Hazing and capture of bison are allowed under a state-federal management plan that's aimed at reducing the potential spread of brucellosis from bison to cattle in Montana. Brucellosis is found in the Yellowstone bison herd, and the disease can cause cows to abort. If it were to show up in cattle, it could cost the state its prized brucellosis-free status — a real worry to ranchers. But activists have countered that there's no proof of bison spreading brucellosis to cattle in the wild....
Killing of Carnivores Won't Protect Sheep Industry Decades of U.S. government-subsidized predator control has failed to prevent a long-term decline in the sheep industry, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which says that market forces – not predators – are responsible for the drop-off in sheep numbers. The study, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Conservation Biology, says that more than 80 years of federally subsidized predator control with a total investment of more than 1.6 billion dollars have not been able to stave off an 85 percent decline in the sheep industry since its peak of 56.2 million animals in 1942. According to the study, predation by coyotes is often cited as the primary cause of the decline. However, 80 years of historical data reveal that a variety of market trends ranging from fluctuating hay prices and rising wages for livestock workers, to the drop in wholesale prices of lamb and wool, are the real culprits behind the industry’s drop-off. As evidence, the study points to a 141-percent increase in wages, 23 percent decrease in lamb prices, and 82 percent decrease in wool prices during the period in which sheep numbers were reduced by 85 percent....
One man’s journey to the end of the Colorado River Now, however, the U.S. is crushing the hopes of Gonzalez and his neighbors for a little more water and the better future it could bring. The U.S. is beginning projects that will further cut the already diminished flow of fresh water to Mexico from the Colorado River. With minimal international consultation, the U.S. — along with the Metropolitan Water District and other water agencies — is turning down the spigot to Mexico to divert more water for new housing developments in Los Angeles and cities across Southern California. In so doing, water managers not only will starve Mexico for water, but likely will set up Los Angeles and urban Southern California for water shortages by enabling more growth than the river ultimately can support. Each new development approved by local city councils flush with builder cash in Southern California — from Playa Vista in Los Angeles to teeming subdivisions in the Inland Empire and San Diego County — represents death by a thousand cuts for the many cultures, economies and nature itself along the 1,450-mile-long Colorado River, which slakes the thirst and waters the crops of 30 million people in seven Western states and Mexico. It’s a case of history be damned to the people on both sides of the border and all along the river who have staked their lives on farming, fishing, ranching and recreation....
Klamath water crisis may lead to salmon season cancellation The Klamath River and the dependence of fishermen and irrigators for its water has once again reached the crisis point as federal salmon fishing season decision makers are proposing to limit or completely eliminate the salmon catch so stocks can replenish. No final decision has been made by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the proposals will go out to public hearings before being sent to U.S. Commerce Department for final adoption. The three possible options are to completely ban salmon fishing along the California coast from Monterey to the Oregon border, set catch numbers at last year's levels that reduced the catch by 60 percent or further reduce the catch below last year's levels. What has caused the reduced numbers of fish has been debated for years. Fishermen say the causes are low water levels, dams and contaminants because of diversions to farmers. Irrigators claim other factors, including warm water, disease and overcrowding have reduced salmon runs....
Feds have wolf delisting plan U.S. Interior Secretary Gail Norton is expected to announce a plan today to hand over management of wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan to natural resource agencies in those states. The plan, in the works for a decade, will give the states leeway to trap and shoot wolves in areas where livestock or pets have been killed. It could lead to limited state trapping and hunting seasons if wolves remain prolific. Under the proposal, wolves will lose their federal Endangered Species Act threatened status in Minnesota and endangered status in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The plan is a scaled-down version of one proposed by Norton in 2004 that was struck down by two federal courts, in Oregon and Vermont, in 2005....
Agreement ends sheep grazing in area rife with wolves, bears Domestic sheep don't mix well with grizzly bears and wolves. Now they won't mix at all on more than 70,000 acres in the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness. A 74,000-acre sheep grazing allotment south of Big Timber in the Gallatin National Forest has been permanently closed, and the ranchers who used it for generations have been paid to move their sheep elsewhere, according to a deal expected to be announced today. The agreement is the eighth -- and second-largest -- in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem in recent years that has led to the retirement of about 300,000 acres from grazing. "Ultimately, this is going to be one of the most effective solutions we have to deal with chronic conflicts between wildlife and livestock," said Hank Fischer of the National Wildlife Federation, one of the groups that helped organize the deals....
Farmers' vote could keep state out of court Farmers who irrigate from the Harlan County Reservoir at Alma agreed Wednesday to sell $2.5 million in water to the state to satisfy the terms of a Republican River compact and fend off a Kansas lawsuit. Mike Delka, manager of the Bostwick Irrigation District, said those attending a meeting at district headquarters in Red Cloud voted 172-14 to advance the unprecedented agreement. The outcome also addresses a multi-year drought, depleted rivers and streams, heavy groundwater pumping in the area and the likelihood Bostwick irrigators will get no water from the reservoir this year. Gov. Dave Heineman praised the landowners who voted and others involved in the agreement....
Gunnison's prairie dog not on endangered list The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reviewed a petition to list the Gunnison's prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act and has concluded the petition does not contain substantial scientific information that the petitioned action is warranted. The finding was published in the Federal Register. The FWS made the determination in response to a petition received on Feb. 23, 2004, from Forest Guardians and 73 other organizations and individuals. The petition requested that the Gunnison's prairie dog found in the Four Corners region of northern Arizona, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico and southeastern Utah be listed as threatened or endangered. Under the ESA, the FWS is required to review the petition to decide whether it contained substantial scientific information that warrants a more thorough review. "The service remains interested in the population status, trends and ongoing management actions important to the conservation of the Gunnison's prairie dog," said Mitch King, the FWS director of the Mountain-Prairie Region, "and we encourage interested parties to continue to gather data that will assist in these conservation efforts. More research is needed to better determine the distribution and abundance of the species throughout its range."....
Editorial: Resigning U.S. secretary of the Interior lauded by industry but despised by environmentalists THE first female head of the Interior Department, departing Secretary Gale Norton, remained true to the pro-industry, antiregulation philosophy she learned as a protege of James Watt, the controversial interior secretary in the Reagan administration. During her five years in office, Norton accomplished many of the goals that Watt's careless rhetoric placed beyond his reach. At President Bush's direction, Norton put wilderness and wildlife preservation second behind opening federal lands to expanded logging, mining and drilling activities. Coal and natural gas production on public lands rose during her tenure. As federal lands provide the United States with 30 percent of its energy, and as the nation is increasingly dependent on imported oil and gas, efficient use of domestic resources must be looked on as a plus. Unfortunately, Norton needlessly outraged environmental protection organizations by rolling back Clinton-era restrictions on wilderness development and supporting congressional efforts to dismember the landmark Endangered Species Act....
Norton mum on plans after resigning as interior secretary In her first visit home since announcing her resignation, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Wednesday another Westerner should replace her as chief manager of the nation's public lands and resources. "I think it's important to have somebody who really understands what a significant role the Interior Department can play in people's lives here in the West," she said. Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, plans to step down at the end of the month after five years heading the department that oversees the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and other agencies that manage millions of acres of public land. Norton said she wanted to leave as early as possible in President Bush's second term to allow her successor time to take over and continue programs. She said she might have left earlier if not for such tasks as restoring offshore energy production after the hurricanes that racked the Gulf Coast....
Beyond the Gale The rumor mill is churning fast as Interior Secretary Gale Norton prepares to bid adieu to the Bush administration, and two names on the short list of possible replacements are leading the pack: for an outside-the-Beltway pick, Dirk Kempthorne, Republican governor of Idaho; for an inside-the-agency pick, Lynn Scarlett, currently Norton's No. 2, who will likely run the department anyway until a permanent replacement is secured. "This administration has done things two ways when it comes to nominations," observes Frank Maisano, a lobbyist for the energy industry. "They find a high-profile person outside Washington who can be easily confirmed, carry his own water, and lift the profile of the agency" -- think Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor who served as Bush's first EPA administrator -- "or the under-the-radar administrative person who can make the trains run on time, is an effective manager, and has the respect of agency staffers" -- think current EPA administrator Stephen Johnson. Whichever course the Bush administration chooses in this case, it's a safe bet that the outcome will be business as usual....
Key Environmental Law Ever-Tangled in Litigation The American Bar Association's environmental law conference at Keystone, Colorado, drew several hundred attorneys, and it may take all of them – and then some – to deal with the ever-growing mountain of legal battles surrounding the Endangered Species Act (ESA). "It's death by a 1,000 cuts," said Eileen Sobeck, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney who handles many endangered species cases for the Department of the Interior. "The Department of Justice and the Department of Interior can't handle the volume. There are 30 challenges to critical habitat pending (in court) in California alone," Sobeck said last weekend during a panel discussion on the big daddy of environmental laws. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, charged with managing rare and threatened plants and critters, can't seem to win for losing. Some critical habitat cases are in their third or fourth round of litigation, said panelist Michael Senatore, with the Washington, D.C.-based Defenders of Wildlife. Sometimes, as was recently the case with Canada lynx, the agency is challenged when it doesn't designate habitat quickly enough. When it does come out with a critical habitat delineation, challenges frequently come from both sides....
Column: We Can't Afford This Public Land Sale Selling federal forest land to subsidize rural schools and road projects is a bad idea for many reasons. But a proposal to do just that, incorporated into the Bush administration's 2007 budget, has one powerful virtue: It has focused welcome public attention on a century-old welfare program that has yet to achieve its goals. Bush and his Department of Agriculture, which runs the U.S. Forest Service, have proposed extending a law that gives money to logging-dependent counties to compensate them for revenue losses caused by declining timber harvests. That law was signed by President Clinton in 2000 after protections for the northern spotted owl and other endangered species reduced logging in the Pacific Northwest, causing rural revenues to tumble. But thanks to such fiscal irritants as the war in Iraq, tax cuts and a reluctance to veto even the most outlandish congressional spending proposals, the administration can't afford to keep the rural subsidy afloat. Rather than find offsetting savings elsewhere, or let the program expire as lawmakers apparently intended six years ago, the president and Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey want to prolong it another five years and sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest land to pay the $800 million bill....
Red-legged frogs hamper efforts to clear storm drains After more than two decades, Bob Loya of Cordelia's A.R. Loya Electrical Construction, Inc., said the well-being of a frog could put his business at risk. Loya's is among several firms in the Cordelia Industrial Owner's Association's industrial condo business park at Lopes Road and Fulton Avenue that were flooded in the New Year's Eve storms. Loya said a subsequent investigation found that a clogged drainage system caused part of the flooding. Attempts to get that cleared out, however, are blocked by rules designed to protect an endangered species of frog, he said....
County trades land to protect rare cactus The county approved a land swap yesterday that it says will help protect the endangered Pima pineapple cactus. The county gave up 640 acres off South Swan Road and will receive 529 acres near Elephant Head in the Santa Rita foothills, about 30 miles south of Tucson. Developer Donald Diamond's South Wilmot LLC plans a major development in the Swan Road area, and cactuses on the parcel next to it are mysteriously dying off. Only three of the 28 plants put on the preserve survived and officials are not sure why. The Elephant Head habitat is expected to be more hospitable. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which regulates endangered species, has approved the land swap, said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry....
Leader Urges Argentinians to Eat Less Beef Argentines rank among the world's biggest meat-eaters. But President Nestor Kirchner has told his carnivorous compatriots it's time to consume less if beef prices continue to rise and threaten his campaign against inflation. But isn't that like shunning the tango or telling a soccer-mad nation to skip the World Cup? Just ask Argentines, who made Kirchner's stridently public threats of a near-boycott on beef the talk of the town Wednesday at barbecue pits and steakhouses across this vast cattle-raising country. What's the Argentine president's beef with beef? Kirchner on Tuesday urged consumers to "buy less beef if they don't lower the price," speaking of industry prices he is trying to control. "Let's make them feel the power of the consumer so they don't sell at whatever prices they want," he said....
Back At Home On The Range Long ago in Texas’ more sordid past, fed-up ranchers would host “neck-tie parties” to exact their own brand of justice against cattle thieves. But, while mob rule is no longer an acceptable approach, make no mistake about it -- the very crime of “rustling” continues to this day in Gillespie County. Modern advancements in crime lab forensics have refined investigations to a science, and yet many unsavory sorts are still blinded by high cattle prices and see the risk of thievery worth taking. Nowadays, cattle rustlers use a “blending in” method, a clever study of schedules and modern transport to pull off their crimes....
Deer breeders sue state A group of deer breeders has sued the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, asking a Travis County district judge to determine who owns the white-tailed deer and mule deer held in breeding pens in Texas. The current state statute under which breeders operate allows them to buy, sell, breed, medicate and even shoot released deer for sport but retains ownership of the deer for the State of Texas. Licensed breeders, though, claim ownership of the deer they breed and want the courts to decide whether the state could be taking away their property rights. "I just firmly believe they ought to be our deer," said Quinlan rancher James Anderton, one of the eight plaintiffs listed in the suit filed Friday in Austin. "I want to know if they're my deer or if the state can shut me down and say they own the deer." Texas has about 800 breeding facilities, comprising more than 40,000 animals with an estimated worth of more than $100 million. Individual breeding bucks have sold for as much as $450,000 in Texas....
Wildfires might claim 10,000 head of cattle Panhandle ranchers scrambled to move livestock to safe ground Wednesday as wildfires, revived in places by 30-mph winds, were claiming up to an estimated 10,000 head of cattle over 840,000 blackened acres. “It burned every inch of our ranch,” said Glenda Adcock of the Lazy 11 near Miami, her voice breaking. “And we’re still fighting it. We probably lost more than 100 cattle, and we’re not completely through. They found 30 baby calves and lot of mama cows.” Ted McCollum, a livestock specialist with the Texas Cooperative Extension service, said few cattle producers carry insurance against fire loss. He said that aside from the cost of replacing livestock and miles of fencing at $5,500 to $10,000 a mile, there might also be a psychological toll. “There are ranches completely consumed,” McCollum said. “All that’s left is the house. One can only imagine what they are dealing with emotionally in terms of the losses and trying to determine how to go from here.”....
Yellowstone bison sent to slaughter without testing Roughly 30 bison captured near the western border of Yellowstone National Park were shipped to slaughter without being tested for the disease brucellosis, a state livestock official said Wednesday. Marc Bridges, executive director of the state Department of Livestock, said authorities had to set up a portable trap and plow through deep snow to get to the bison Tuesday. He said officials had tried to haze the animals but deemed them ``unhazable.'' Hazing and capture of bison are allowed under a state-federal management plan that's aimed at reducing the potential spread of brucellosis from bison to cattle in Montana. Brucellosis is found in the Yellowstone bison herd, and the disease can cause cows to abort. If it were to show up in cattle, it could cost the state its prized brucellosis-free status — a real worry to ranchers. But activists have countered that there's no proof of bison spreading brucellosis to cattle in the wild....
Killing of Carnivores Won't Protect Sheep Industry Decades of U.S. government-subsidized predator control has failed to prevent a long-term decline in the sheep industry, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which says that market forces – not predators – are responsible for the drop-off in sheep numbers. The study, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Conservation Biology, says that more than 80 years of federally subsidized predator control with a total investment of more than 1.6 billion dollars have not been able to stave off an 85 percent decline in the sheep industry since its peak of 56.2 million animals in 1942. According to the study, predation by coyotes is often cited as the primary cause of the decline. However, 80 years of historical data reveal that a variety of market trends ranging from fluctuating hay prices and rising wages for livestock workers, to the drop in wholesale prices of lamb and wool, are the real culprits behind the industry’s drop-off. As evidence, the study points to a 141-percent increase in wages, 23 percent decrease in lamb prices, and 82 percent decrease in wool prices during the period in which sheep numbers were reduced by 85 percent....
One man’s journey to the end of the Colorado River Now, however, the U.S. is crushing the hopes of Gonzalez and his neighbors for a little more water and the better future it could bring. The U.S. is beginning projects that will further cut the already diminished flow of fresh water to Mexico from the Colorado River. With minimal international consultation, the U.S. — along with the Metropolitan Water District and other water agencies — is turning down the spigot to Mexico to divert more water for new housing developments in Los Angeles and cities across Southern California. In so doing, water managers not only will starve Mexico for water, but likely will set up Los Angeles and urban Southern California for water shortages by enabling more growth than the river ultimately can support. Each new development approved by local city councils flush with builder cash in Southern California — from Playa Vista in Los Angeles to teeming subdivisions in the Inland Empire and San Diego County — represents death by a thousand cuts for the many cultures, economies and nature itself along the 1,450-mile-long Colorado River, which slakes the thirst and waters the crops of 30 million people in seven Western states and Mexico. It’s a case of history be damned to the people on both sides of the border and all along the river who have staked their lives on farming, fishing, ranching and recreation....
Klamath water crisis may lead to salmon season cancellation The Klamath River and the dependence of fishermen and irrigators for its water has once again reached the crisis point as federal salmon fishing season decision makers are proposing to limit or completely eliminate the salmon catch so stocks can replenish. No final decision has been made by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the proposals will go out to public hearings before being sent to U.S. Commerce Department for final adoption. The three possible options are to completely ban salmon fishing along the California coast from Monterey to the Oregon border, set catch numbers at last year's levels that reduced the catch by 60 percent or further reduce the catch below last year's levels. What has caused the reduced numbers of fish has been debated for years. Fishermen say the causes are low water levels, dams and contaminants because of diversions to farmers. Irrigators claim other factors, including warm water, disease and overcrowding have reduced salmon runs....
Feds have wolf delisting plan U.S. Interior Secretary Gail Norton is expected to announce a plan today to hand over management of wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan to natural resource agencies in those states. The plan, in the works for a decade, will give the states leeway to trap and shoot wolves in areas where livestock or pets have been killed. It could lead to limited state trapping and hunting seasons if wolves remain prolific. Under the proposal, wolves will lose their federal Endangered Species Act threatened status in Minnesota and endangered status in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The plan is a scaled-down version of one proposed by Norton in 2004 that was struck down by two federal courts, in Oregon and Vermont, in 2005....
Agreement ends sheep grazing in area rife with wolves, bears Domestic sheep don't mix well with grizzly bears and wolves. Now they won't mix at all on more than 70,000 acres in the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness. A 74,000-acre sheep grazing allotment south of Big Timber in the Gallatin National Forest has been permanently closed, and the ranchers who used it for generations have been paid to move their sheep elsewhere, according to a deal expected to be announced today. The agreement is the eighth -- and second-largest -- in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem in recent years that has led to the retirement of about 300,000 acres from grazing. "Ultimately, this is going to be one of the most effective solutions we have to deal with chronic conflicts between wildlife and livestock," said Hank Fischer of the National Wildlife Federation, one of the groups that helped organize the deals....
Farmers' vote could keep state out of court Farmers who irrigate from the Harlan County Reservoir at Alma agreed Wednesday to sell $2.5 million in water to the state to satisfy the terms of a Republican River compact and fend off a Kansas lawsuit. Mike Delka, manager of the Bostwick Irrigation District, said those attending a meeting at district headquarters in Red Cloud voted 172-14 to advance the unprecedented agreement. The outcome also addresses a multi-year drought, depleted rivers and streams, heavy groundwater pumping in the area and the likelihood Bostwick irrigators will get no water from the reservoir this year. Gov. Dave Heineman praised the landowners who voted and others involved in the agreement....
Gunnison's prairie dog not on endangered list The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reviewed a petition to list the Gunnison's prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act and has concluded the petition does not contain substantial scientific information that the petitioned action is warranted. The finding was published in the Federal Register. The FWS made the determination in response to a petition received on Feb. 23, 2004, from Forest Guardians and 73 other organizations and individuals. The petition requested that the Gunnison's prairie dog found in the Four Corners region of northern Arizona, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico and southeastern Utah be listed as threatened or endangered. Under the ESA, the FWS is required to review the petition to decide whether it contained substantial scientific information that warrants a more thorough review. "The service remains interested in the population status, trends and ongoing management actions important to the conservation of the Gunnison's prairie dog," said Mitch King, the FWS director of the Mountain-Prairie Region, "and we encourage interested parties to continue to gather data that will assist in these conservation efforts. More research is needed to better determine the distribution and abundance of the species throughout its range."....
Editorial: Resigning U.S. secretary of the Interior lauded by industry but despised by environmentalists THE first female head of the Interior Department, departing Secretary Gale Norton, remained true to the pro-industry, antiregulation philosophy she learned as a protege of James Watt, the controversial interior secretary in the Reagan administration. During her five years in office, Norton accomplished many of the goals that Watt's careless rhetoric placed beyond his reach. At President Bush's direction, Norton put wilderness and wildlife preservation second behind opening federal lands to expanded logging, mining and drilling activities. Coal and natural gas production on public lands rose during her tenure. As federal lands provide the United States with 30 percent of its energy, and as the nation is increasingly dependent on imported oil and gas, efficient use of domestic resources must be looked on as a plus. Unfortunately, Norton needlessly outraged environmental protection organizations by rolling back Clinton-era restrictions on wilderness development and supporting congressional efforts to dismember the landmark Endangered Species Act....
Norton mum on plans after resigning as interior secretary In her first visit home since announcing her resignation, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Wednesday another Westerner should replace her as chief manager of the nation's public lands and resources. "I think it's important to have somebody who really understands what a significant role the Interior Department can play in people's lives here in the West," she said. Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, plans to step down at the end of the month after five years heading the department that oversees the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and other agencies that manage millions of acres of public land. Norton said she wanted to leave as early as possible in President Bush's second term to allow her successor time to take over and continue programs. She said she might have left earlier if not for such tasks as restoring offshore energy production after the hurricanes that racked the Gulf Coast....
Beyond the Gale The rumor mill is churning fast as Interior Secretary Gale Norton prepares to bid adieu to the Bush administration, and two names on the short list of possible replacements are leading the pack: for an outside-the-Beltway pick, Dirk Kempthorne, Republican governor of Idaho; for an inside-the-agency pick, Lynn Scarlett, currently Norton's No. 2, who will likely run the department anyway until a permanent replacement is secured. "This administration has done things two ways when it comes to nominations," observes Frank Maisano, a lobbyist for the energy industry. "They find a high-profile person outside Washington who can be easily confirmed, carry his own water, and lift the profile of the agency" -- think Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor who served as Bush's first EPA administrator -- "or the under-the-radar administrative person who can make the trains run on time, is an effective manager, and has the respect of agency staffers" -- think current EPA administrator Stephen Johnson. Whichever course the Bush administration chooses in this case, it's a safe bet that the outcome will be business as usual....
Key Environmental Law Ever-Tangled in Litigation The American Bar Association's environmental law conference at Keystone, Colorado, drew several hundred attorneys, and it may take all of them – and then some – to deal with the ever-growing mountain of legal battles surrounding the Endangered Species Act (ESA). "It's death by a 1,000 cuts," said Eileen Sobeck, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney who handles many endangered species cases for the Department of the Interior. "The Department of Justice and the Department of Interior can't handle the volume. There are 30 challenges to critical habitat pending (in court) in California alone," Sobeck said last weekend during a panel discussion on the big daddy of environmental laws. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, charged with managing rare and threatened plants and critters, can't seem to win for losing. Some critical habitat cases are in their third or fourth round of litigation, said panelist Michael Senatore, with the Washington, D.C.-based Defenders of Wildlife. Sometimes, as was recently the case with Canada lynx, the agency is challenged when it doesn't designate habitat quickly enough. When it does come out with a critical habitat delineation, challenges frequently come from both sides....
Column: We Can't Afford This Public Land Sale Selling federal forest land to subsidize rural schools and road projects is a bad idea for many reasons. But a proposal to do just that, incorporated into the Bush administration's 2007 budget, has one powerful virtue: It has focused welcome public attention on a century-old welfare program that has yet to achieve its goals. Bush and his Department of Agriculture, which runs the U.S. Forest Service, have proposed extending a law that gives money to logging-dependent counties to compensate them for revenue losses caused by declining timber harvests. That law was signed by President Clinton in 2000 after protections for the northern spotted owl and other endangered species reduced logging in the Pacific Northwest, causing rural revenues to tumble. But thanks to such fiscal irritants as the war in Iraq, tax cuts and a reluctance to veto even the most outlandish congressional spending proposals, the administration can't afford to keep the rural subsidy afloat. Rather than find offsetting savings elsewhere, or let the program expire as lawmakers apparently intended six years ago, the president and Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey want to prolong it another five years and sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest land to pay the $800 million bill....
Red-legged frogs hamper efforts to clear storm drains After more than two decades, Bob Loya of Cordelia's A.R. Loya Electrical Construction, Inc., said the well-being of a frog could put his business at risk. Loya's is among several firms in the Cordelia Industrial Owner's Association's industrial condo business park at Lopes Road and Fulton Avenue that were flooded in the New Year's Eve storms. Loya said a subsequent investigation found that a clogged drainage system caused part of the flooding. Attempts to get that cleared out, however, are blocked by rules designed to protect an endangered species of frog, he said....
County trades land to protect rare cactus The county approved a land swap yesterday that it says will help protect the endangered Pima pineapple cactus. The county gave up 640 acres off South Swan Road and will receive 529 acres near Elephant Head in the Santa Rita foothills, about 30 miles south of Tucson. Developer Donald Diamond's South Wilmot LLC plans a major development in the Swan Road area, and cactuses on the parcel next to it are mysteriously dying off. Only three of the 28 plants put on the preserve survived and officials are not sure why. The Elephant Head habitat is expected to be more hospitable. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which regulates endangered species, has approved the land swap, said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry....
Leader Urges Argentinians to Eat Less Beef Argentines rank among the world's biggest meat-eaters. But President Nestor Kirchner has told his carnivorous compatriots it's time to consume less if beef prices continue to rise and threaten his campaign against inflation. But isn't that like shunning the tango or telling a soccer-mad nation to skip the World Cup? Just ask Argentines, who made Kirchner's stridently public threats of a near-boycott on beef the talk of the town Wednesday at barbecue pits and steakhouses across this vast cattle-raising country. What's the Argentine president's beef with beef? Kirchner on Tuesday urged consumers to "buy less beef if they don't lower the price," speaking of industry prices he is trying to control. "Let's make them feel the power of the consumer so they don't sell at whatever prices they want," he said....
Back At Home On The Range Long ago in Texas’ more sordid past, fed-up ranchers would host “neck-tie parties” to exact their own brand of justice against cattle thieves. But, while mob rule is no longer an acceptable approach, make no mistake about it -- the very crime of “rustling” continues to this day in Gillespie County. Modern advancements in crime lab forensics have refined investigations to a science, and yet many unsavory sorts are still blinded by high cattle prices and see the risk of thievery worth taking. Nowadays, cattle rustlers use a “blending in” method, a clever study of schedules and modern transport to pull off their crimes....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)