NEWS ROUNDUP
Forest Service kills environmental analysis of forest plans Long-term management plans for national forests will no longer go through a formal environmental impact statement, the U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday. The Forest Service said writing the 15-year plans has no effect on the environment, making the impact statements unnecessary. That conclusion was based on changes to forest planning rules made last year and a past U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says a plan is a statement of intent and does not cause anything to happen. Individual projects, such as logging, were cut out of forest management plans in last year's rule changes. Those projects will still have to go through a formal analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA, said Fred Norbury, associate deputy chief for the national forest system. Norbury said cutting the environmental impact statement process out of the management plans should shorten the time to produce them to about three years, he said. Plans now take five to seven years to write, at a cost of $5 million to $7 million. Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., the incoming House Resources Committee chairman, said the new rules are part of a continuing effort by the Bush administration to reduce wildlife and watershed protections and make it harder for the public to challenge illegal logging....
Grizzly reparations fluctuate Compensation paid for cows, sheep and other livestock killed by grizzly bears fell in Montana this year but increased in Wyoming. Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group that pays ranchers for livestock losses to grizzlies and wolves in Montana, cut checks totaling $9,194 this year, down from about than $19,000 in 2005. "We hope to see an even more dramatic drop next year," said Minette Johnson, the group's representative in the Northern Rockies. In Wyoming, a record amount was paid in claims for grizzly bear losses by a similar program run by the state. The decline in Montana is partly because grizzlies in the northwest part of the state had plenty of food this summer and early fall, so they didn't wander into low-lying areas where they're more likely to go after livestock and get into trouble. Earlier this year, a 74,000-acre sheep grazing allotment on U.S. Forest Service land that had been plagued with conflicts between predators and livestock was retired - one of eight such moves outside Yellowstone National Park in recent years. "Nearly all the livestock conflicts in the ecosystem are in Wyoming," said Chuck Schwartz, head of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. The state paid more than $110,000 during the 2006 fiscal year to ranchers who lost livestock to grizzlies, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Losses included 131 calves and 23 sheep....
Editorial - Preserving Montana's Rocky Mountain Front Legislation to permanently ban gas, oil and mineral exploration in the Rocky Mountain Front is on President Bush's desk as part of a larger tax relief bill. Bush's signature may become the last act in decades of debate about protecting that 100-mile stretch of wild land. A land of incomparable beauty teeming with wildlife and outdoor recreational value, the Front has inspired its friends to protect it. Sen. Max Baucus, a longtime proponent of conserving the Front, added the protection language to the tax legislation last week. Sen. Conrad Burns had already included protection language in the Interior appropriations bill. However, the lame-duck Congress failed to pass the budget bill, leaving it for the new Congress that convenes next month. Rep. Denny Rehberg remains a staunch opponent of the drilling moratorium. But a diverse group of Montanans and Americans has come to the conclusion that this is one special place where the cost of development would exceed the cost of foregoing development. Even the Bush administration had issued a temporary moratorium....
Craig casts aside opposition to Idaho wilderness bill Sen. Larry Craig told congressional leaders he would not stand in the way of a bill to designate new wilderness in Idaho's Boulder-White Cloud mountains, though the measure died in last-minute negotiations before the Senate adjourned. Craig's spokesman, Dan Whiting, said Monday that the Republican senator - who had placed seemingly deal-breaking demands on the bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho - made the pledge to supporters who nearly brokered a compromise that would have attached the wilderness measure to a tax bill in the final hours of the GOP-led session. Simpson had convinced House and Senate negotiators to include the wilderness bill as a rider to the bipartisan tax bill. Despite support from incoming House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, top Republicans removed the wilderness rider hours before the tax package cleared Congress early Saturday morning, according to lobbyists and congressional staffers who followed the negotiations. Before the frantic midnight negotiations, Craig decided not to block the wilderness measure - a promise Whiting said will extend into next year, when Simpson has said he will try to revive the legislation....
Governor pushes for more water storage Speaking from his office and surrounded by California-grown farm products, Gov. Schwarzenegger thanked family farmers and ranchers for their continuing support and outlined plans for the future. As he prepares for his second term, the governor said projects to store and move water must be a priority in the state's next set of public-works bonds. Schwarzenegger hailed voters' passage last month of $42 billion in bonds to rebuild roads, schools and other public facilities. He told the Farm Bureau gathering that he will insist that water facilities be a priority in future bond measures. "Even though I want more infrastructure and to have more bonds approved, it would never happen unless above-the-ground water storage is part of this package and unless we also have conveyance," Schwarzenegger said.
Rancher offers haven for crows A rancher has offered his property as an alternative roosting site for thousands of crows that spend each winter in town. Up to 15,000 crows could move over to Ed Fowler's ranch - if they follow the light. So far, the city hasn't succeeded in several efforts to drive the crows out. Mayor John Vincent had police shoot more than 5,000 of the birds last year. He said their droppings were a health hazard. The survivors came back. This year, the city has been chemically treating and installing electronic deterrent devices in trees. The city spent at least $8,000 on a falconer. The latest proposal involves setting up an attractive, well-lit spot for crows on the Fowler ranch. Lights provided by the Fremont County Emergency Management Agency will illuminate a group of trees at night. The idea came from City Councilman Lars Baker. "Crows will go to the brightest spot," he said at a recent council meeting....
Trails plan wins tentative OK, with strict conditions Rejecting arguments that trails near agricultural land will erode property rights and lead to food contamination and agro-terrorism, the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday tentatively approved a plan that allows such trails but sets strict constraints when they can be built. Supervisors acted after a four-hour hearing attended by about 150 people. Some 70 spoke, divided for and against the county’s trails plan. It was the second such hearing in a month. The emotional discussion once again placed the supervisors in a vise between property rights fervently defended by ranchers and farmers in San Luis Obispo County and the recreation opportunities and open space that are part of the county’s appeal. Many landowners told the board they already had to endure vandals, trespassers, attacks on their livestock and the danger of fires. But the most impassioned argument of those opposing the trails plan was a defense of their property rights. "You’re stealing our land. It’s theft. That’s what’s going on," one property owner told the board....
Ravens, crows and magpies: more than meets the eye The mere presence of these birds gives rise to fear, loathing, respect and admiration. Across the American West in places like the Wood River Valley, they can be seen occupying a wide range of habitats including the highest peaks, mixed forest and meadow areas, riparian corridors and vast sagebrush seas. Likewise, they also can be seen in the contemporary world's downtown city streets and suburban neighborhoods. They have even found their way into the shared lore of numerous native societies and onto the pages of many famous works of literature. They're our mysterious and highly intelligent neighbors: the common raven, American crow and black-billed magpie—masters of adaptability and cunning....
Wild Pigs Menace U.S., Whet Appetites in Europe There is an omnivorous menace spreading across the American farmland and now reaching into suburbia. It is smart, fast and dangerous, and is multiplying at an almost unstoppable pace. It is the feral pig, and its population has been exploding. It is now found in nearly 40 states. Farmers and ranchers have been reporting more and more damage from wild pigs. In Texas alone, the crop damage last year was estimated at $50 million. Part of the problem is that the pigs have few predators that are up to the challenge of killing them. Barefoot Bob Richardson has been a hunter for most of his life. He also hunts quail and deer, but wild pigs present the most dangerous prey. He has been gored a number of times by their sharp tusks, lost hunting dogs to wild pigs and been on hand when others have been charged by the strong, quick animals. After so many years hunting the beasts, Barefoot Bob has come to respect them. "They're the smartest animal we hunt," he said. "They're smarter than a dog. They're really prolific, and a lot of people think of them as stupid because so many young ones are out there that haven't learned the ropes. "You know, they learn to avoid traps," he added. "They learn not to go to deer feeders during deer season." But now, with the exploding population and a well-established appetite for their meat in Europe, catching and trapping wild pigs has become a business, too....
Ranchers hope to block auto racing complex When he's not busy branding his cattle or herding them across a lazy country road to pasture, Martin Machado gazes forlornly at the vast swath of farmland cater-corner to his spread. He sees a future he dreads. That 1,200-acre expanse of almond trees and row crops is poised to become one of the West's premier motor-sports facilities, eight racetracks for everything from motocross to top-fuel dragsters and, perhaps eventually, a bona fide NASCAR event. Backed by the chamber of commerce and other local boosters, the $250-million project is slated for a Merced County Board of Supervisors vote this evening. Foes like Machado fear they're about to be run down. "This is the place I want to get old on," Machado, 41, said of his cattle ranch with its antique red barn and cozy farmhouse. "Now there's going to be a stoplight right at the corner of my place, and some days 50,000 people will be coming through here." The battle over Riverside Motorsports Park has riven this agrarian county in the heart of the Central Valley. On the back roads, folks are eager to hold onto the region's agrarian past. Closer to town, foes say the proposed raceway represents a hairpin turn from the clean industry and highbrow housing that the new UC Merced campus should help attract as it matures. "We need to be patient and encourage the growth of industries that are cleaner and high-tech," said Tom Grave, a retired educator who helped form Citizens Against the Racetrack....
Motorized users to appeal Gallatin plan Motorized-vehicle users of the Gallatin National Forest will appeal the travel plan. "It's got to happen," said Kirk Hewitt, a Bozeman motorcyclist and snowmobiler. "The gloves aren't off yet, but I'm taping up." The final travel plan was released Friday after four years of work and a lengthy public comment period that was extended 72 days last spring. The plan will be published Monday in the Federal Register, which starts the clock on a 45-day appeal period. Under the plan, motorized use on the Gallatin's 1.8 million acres was widely restricted: Snowmobilers lost access to about 50 percent of the terrain they used to ride, motorcyclists lost 40 percent of trails open to them, and ATV riders lost 50 percent of their previously accessible trail miles, users said. The plan included additional acreage and trails from what was originally proposed last spring in forest officials' preferred alternative....
Forest Service, Cache County at odds Cache County and Forest Service officials are traveling in opposite directions regarding ownership of public roads in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The Cache County Council voted 7-0 Tuesday night to accept all of the public roads identified in the county's Wasatch-Cache National Forest Service Logan Ranger District Travel Plan. County attorneys George Daines and Don Linton agree that this single step gives the county jurisdiction over the roads within Cache County. Forest Service disagrees. After consulting with the attorney for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest Service, Robert Cruz, Logan Ranger District manager, told the council he welcomes road maintenance assistance promised by the county, while disagreeing with its assertion of ownership of the roads. "We're supportive of working together with the county to provide good roads for the public that we both serve . . . I can't agree that they are county roads," Cruz said, adding that the court process required for claiming roads is time-consuming and costly. The two groups are at an impasse over who originally owned the roads. In a prepared statement, Daines said the county is not "now acquiring roadways, but simply preserving the rights that already exist." Council Chairman Cory Yeates said county road ownership records date back to 1878 - prior to the establishment of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest....
Snowbird tunnel draws user raves The tunnel and its people-mover conveyor had been open only an hour or so Tuesday when skier Bernd Schlickeiser slid out its back side into cloud-enshrouded Mineral Basin. "That is something new in my life," he yelled back to his trailing partner, Yves Harel. And that is saying something. Schlickeiser is 61, hails from Germany and has skied most of his life, often in Europe, where the concept of moving from one side of a ski mountain to another through a tunnel is not commonplace, though not unheard of. But this tunnel is in North America. At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort became the continent's first resort to incorporate a tunnel into its system for transporting skiers and snowboarders. And to Snowbird mountain operations director Jim Baker, who oversaw the excavation and development of the 600-foot, $1.4 million tunnel, bringing that system online is creating the kind of buzz about Snowbird that Schlickeiser's comment epitomized. Snowbird President Bob Bonar praised the designers, miners, construction workers and planners from Salt Lake County and the U.S. Forest Service who aided in construction of the project, and the legislators who supported it....
Peak’s south side focus of policy, access debate Outdoor groups are crying foul over Colorado Springs Utilities’ proposed rules for access to the city’s 28 reservoirs, complaining there won’t be any access to the South Slope of Pikes Peak. Last week the city-owned utility unveiled a draft watershed access policy designed to protect the city’s water supply. The plan divides watersheds into three zones: zones closed to the public, zones open to the public and trail corridors through closed zones. City officials fear a fire on the South Slope could cause massive pollution to small reservoirs — pollution that would take years to reverse, because there would be no way to
quickly flush out the little lakes....
Citizen groups eyeing wilderness plans And for the most part, local wilderness areas are relatively uncrowded, at least compared to some of the most heavily visited wilderness areas in the state, like the Indian Peaks, near Boulder, or the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, near Vail and Minturn. Other areas of concern are some of the popular 14,000-foot peaks in wilderness areas, like Mt. Bierstadt. On some busy summer days, more than 300 people visit Bierstadt's summit. It's that intense visitation, combined with projected population growth in Colorado, that has the U.S. Forest Service taking a long-term look at future management of the congressionally designated sanctuaries, where the humans are supposed to tread lightly and leave the land untrammeled. But in some wilderness areas, recreation use exceeds Forest Service standards and guidelines for visitation, resulting in resource damage. So for the past several months, a volunteer group of citizens has been meeting to compile a set of recommendations as to how the state's wilderness areas can best be managed in the future....
Wildlife crosswalk unveiled When Arizona Game and Fish research biologist Norris Dodd unveiled the nation's first technologically advanced wildlife crosswalk Monday, he said the system should accomplish one goal: Behavior modification. "Hopefully, we'll get people to slow down and change animal behavior," Dodd said. The roadway animal detection section (RADS) -- just east of Star Valley -- will improve driver notification and wildlife monitoring to reduce the number of vehicle-wildlife collisions on a three-mile stretch of Highway 260. Speed and traffic, combined with more than 2,500 large-animal crossings in four years, has increased the rate of wildlife collisions. In 2005, AZGFD recorded 15 deer and elk accidents in Preacher Canyon alone. RADS is based on a system of fencing and surveillance, which works with existing infrastructure such as bridges and underpasses, to discourage highway crossings. "We know this fencing is critical," Dodd said. An electrically-charged, barbed-wire fence sits 60 feet off the highway. Animals that encounter the barrier are met with a minor jolt of electricity -- 4 milliamps. The zap is enough to guide the animals along the fence, encouraging a pathway to the crosswalk. "The fence serves as a block and funnel," Dodd said. "This is one of the most aggressive projects in the world." The crosswalk system incorporates a network of military-grade infrared cameras, Linux-based tracking software, speed gauges, global positioning system and other surveillance equipment. As the cameras detect wildlife, a radio signal is sent to a large, flashing warning sign on the side of the highway, alerting drivers to the presence of animals. Simultaneously, AZGFD monitors the movement of animals. A separate system, contracted by ElectroBraid Fence in Halifax, Novia Scotia, records and archives the images and data....
Santa Maria horses avoid trap The second band of wild horses to take up residence in the Santa Maria Ranch subdivision east of Dayton is getting harder to fool. Mike Holmes, program manger for the Nevada Department of Agriculture, set up a trap Tuesday morning to remove the band of seven or so horses, but not many entered it, so he'll have to go back today. Though Holmes had planned to remove the horses to the hills south of Highway 50, they are the responsibility of the Bureau of Land Management. Don Hicks, field manager for the Carson City BLM office said they will be taken to a holding pen at Palomino Valley. Hicks said the BLM assumes jurisdiction over wild horses south of Highway 50 and the state is responsible for the animals north of the highway. He said this band came down out of the hills south of the Carson River and then crossed the river at Santa Maria. He added that the previous 22 horses that were rounded up from Santa Maria in August were believed to have crossed Highway 50, making them the state's responsibility. Holmes said that although the state of Nevada has a fence-out law, meaning it is the responsibility of the property owner to fence horses, cattle or other animals out if they don't want them around, it is left to the counties to enforce the law. "In this instance here, because of the destruction the horses are doing right now, you can't sit around waiting for someone to put a fence up," he said. "But the long-term answer is fencing."....
Archaeology finding a boom of its own in oil country The oil and gas boom of the West has also opened vast lands to discoveries by an unlikely group: archaeologists such as Kevin O'Dell. With crews spaced 100 feet apart, O'Dell and other archaeologists are walking thousands of acres of sagebrush highlands, valleys and hills, and they're achieving a remarkable increase in identification of prehistoric and historic sites - from those of ancient American Indians to the homesteaders of the last century. Because the Bush administration is pushing for more energy extraction on federal property, and because laws require cultural resource surveys before any such drilling, private archaeologists are enjoying a boom of their own. At one site, old postholes, charred seeds and burned bones of small mammals were deemed remnants of American Indian dwellings during autumn gatherings from about 6260 B.C. to 2640 B.C. Bone fragments from a 7,290-year-old burial structure nearby are believed to belong to an old woman with severe arthritis who was laid to rest with a funerary offering of cactus. Since 2000, the archaeologists have been discovering so many sites - several thousand a year - that Wyoming has become the top state for new sites that are deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, said Tim Nowak of the Bureau of Land Management's Wyoming office....
Mule deer losses abate, report shows Mule deer numbers in the Pinedale Anticline area of the Upper Green River Basin appear to have stabilized after several years of dramatic losses, according to a report on how natural gas development affects deer. The annual report by Western EcoSystems Technology Inc. is funded mainly by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Questar, the main gas drilling company on the Pinedale Anticline. According to the report, mule deer numbers in the area have fallen by as much as 46 percent, probably because energy development has made it more difficult for deer to survive. Also, slightly less than half of those areas frequented by deer before development still had large numbers of deer after development. "Direct and indirect habitat losses reduce the size of the winter range available to mule deer and may reduce the carrying capacity of that range," the report said. But the report also said efforts to reduce truck traffic and other habitat disturbance seem to have helped deer. The report suggested reducing the numbers and size of well pads and helping ensure that migration routes remain intact....
Kane backs off OHV stand Bowing to legal pressure, Kane County commissioners have rescinded a controversial ordinance that permitted off-highway vehicle use in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and other federally owned lands, including hundreds of miles that had been previously closed. Under the action taken by the commission on Monday, the county will remove OHV decals from signs it had placed on roads inside and outside the monument, effectively reinstating closures and restrictions that were put in place by the federal Bureau of Land Management. Kane County Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw acknowledged Tuesday that "legal issues" - a lawsuit filed last year by environmental groups challenging the ordinance - forced the county's hand. But he called the retreat only a temporary setback in the county's larger battle to assert its right of way claims on federally managed lands. "It's essentially too big a bite of the apple to defend our property rights and the management of OHVs at the same time," Habbeshaw said. "We're trying to secure our rights-of-way under RS2477, and that is being overshadowed by the issue of OHV damage on federal lands, whether it's a real problem or not."vised Statute 2477 is an old mining law that granted rights of way across public lands. Congress repealed the statute in 1976, but existing routes were grandfathered in, leading to numerous road ownership disputes in Utah....
Interior's Energy Inventory: Abundant Domestic Supplies Off-Limits The more we look for oil and natural gas in the United States, the more we find. A new Department of the Interior (DOI) report concluded that there are substantial onshore deposits of energy on federal lands. A companion study of offshore energy reserves released earlier this year reached the same conclusion. But in both reports, DOI found that much of this energy is either explicitly off-limits or hampered by regulatory constraints that effectively make it so. At least part of the solution to high oil and natural gas prices lies right under our feet, but Congress has thus far failed to change the laws and regulations that keep this domestic energy locked up. The 2005 energy bill required DOI to update its inventory of oil and natural gas deposits on federal lands. Federal lands are critical to the energy policy debate because most of America's onshore energy is located in the West and in Alaska, where more than half the land is under federal control. DOI was also required to consider the legal and regulatory impediments to leasing these lands to oil and gas companies and quantify how much energy is off-limits due to these restrictions....
Montana wilderness bill still elusive despite Democratic takeover It's been 18 years since Congress tried to protect Montana wilderness from development and, despite Democratic control again, it's not likely to try again any time soon. At least that's what observers of past Montana wilderness battles are saying. Some of them have continued to work quietly behind the scenes, trying to find other ways — short of an act of Congress — to protect special federal wildlands and to open up other federal lands, which are now off limits, to development. Since 1988, when Congress passed a bill that would have protected 1.4 million acres of wilderness areas, the issue has been too controversial even for the Democrats to take up, lawmakers and environmentalists say. Democrats tend to favor federally protected wilderness areas more than Republicans do. In 1988, at the request of Montana's newly elected senator, Republican Conrad Burns, President Ronald Reagan vetoed that bill, saying it was too ambitious and was a threat to timber and mining interests. Last month, Burns lost his bid for a fourth term to Democrat Jon Tester. "It's one of the most emotional issues in Montana," said Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont. "It affects virtually everyone, from hunting and fishing to the environmental community, to mining, to ranching, to the elderly who want to access their public properties." Montana has 3.4 million acres of federally designated wilderness areas....
Cow, car collide at site of fatal 2004 accident Another car crash involving loose livestock has occurred near the spot where a Washington woman was killed in 2004, leading to a manslaughter charge against a local rancher. A Garland woman crashed into a black breeding bull belonging to Jeff Kunzler early Sunday morning while driving on State Road 30, sending her to the hospital for treatment of a laceration on her head. The crash could impact the recently-settled criminal case involving Jeff Kunzler’s father, Darrell, if prosecutors determine that Darrell Kunzler has any ownership interests relating to his son’s bull. It could impact whether Kunzler will still be charged with manslaughter, a third degree felony, stemming from a November 2004 incident in which a Washington woman was killed after crashing her vehicle into one of his black Angus cows. Earlier this month, Darrell Kunzler entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors that would have resulted in the dismissal of a manslaughter charge if authorities had no further problems with cows owned by Kunzler or his related business entities....
Carrizozo Heritage Museum ready for the holidays Thanks to a generous donation of luminarias from Isabel Hernandez, the Carrizozo Heritage Museum is decked out in traditional southwest holiday cheer. Santa and his favorite elf, Perrywinkle, are loaded up in the sleigh ready to greet visitors throughout the month. Museum volunteers remind the community that the museum is a great place for holiday shopping with a fine collection of books to offer for that special someone. Joe Hobbs is the newest member of the museum board of directors. Born and raised in Carrizozo, Hobbs' barbwire collection has been on loan to the museum and is a major attraction to visitors. The museum will celebrate the 2007 National Day of the Cowboy July 28. A committee of local business people, ranchers, horse people, cowboys and museum staff are working to develop activities to create a big event....
Custer's mark on mountain predated mark on history But Inyan Kara Mountain just north of this tiny town really catches your eye. It caught someone else's eye, too. For at its top, on a flat granite shelf , a man chiseled his name. The first letter, a C, is cut deep into the stone. There's a T and an R, too. It was Custer. That Custer. As in Gen. George Armstrong "Oh, relax, how many of them could there be?" Custer. The general chiseled his name - as did many of the men who were traveling with him - into the mountain in 1874. Two years later, he was killed in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In hindsight, of course, he and his troops should've lingered in Four Corners. Ruth is 92. She was born in Missouri in 1914 and has lived here since 1924. OK, she missed Custer by 50 years. Her daughter, Hazel Johnson, 71, was a teenager when her father bought the land. "My dad bought 320 acres of land out here, and then bought another 320 acres a year later," she said. "He paid 25 cents an acre. The guy who sold it laughed. He said the only thing this land was good for was rattlesnakes." Hazel's dad and Ruth's husband, Charlie Borgialli, had come from Italy. He settled first in South America, where he worked for several years. He'd been was a baker in Italy. In America he became a miner and a rancher....
1888: Pig in theft case tries to steal away Dec. 12, 1888: Rancher A.C. Dominguez accused fellow rancher P. Sepulveda of kidnapping a "nasty, malodorous little black pig, with four white legs and a white snout," The Times reported, noting that both sides "showed up a fine assortment of the best brand of A1 perjury." The prosecution introduced half a dozen witnesses on Dominguez's behalf and the defense produced its own witnesses who claimed the animal belonged to the son-in-law of the defendant. The judge ordered that all witnesses and counsel for both sides take a good look at the porker. But when let out of its cage, the pig dashed between the legs of the "dignified prosecuting attorney, nearly upsetting that gentleman." With court personnel and spectators chasing the pig with cries of "Stop him! Stop him!" the pig ran out the door and down the stairs but was caught by a constable, who "threw him upstairs." The court adjourned until the next day, when the judge dismissed the case.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
NEWS ROUNDUP
Eminent-domain hearing in limbo The status of a Dec. 22 hearing over the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's request to use eminent domain for an expansion project was uncertain Monday after DM&E asked for a different hearing examiner. The South Dakota Transportation Commission had scheduled the hearing in Pierre to determine whether the rail line can use the legal procedure to gain the right to cross private land for its proposed $6 billion expansion to haul coal from Wyoming. Bill Nevin, the attorney for the state Department of Transportation, said the attorney for DM&E recused the hearing examiner who was assigned to conduct the hearing. He said DM&E did not have to give a reason for its request. "As a result of that, a new hearing examiner will need to be appointed. I expect that will probably happen by tomorrow," Nevin said late Monday afternoon. Bill Janklow, the lawyer for some landowners, sent motions to the Transportation Commission asking that his clients be allowed to intervene and that the hearing be postponed. "The motion for continuance is pending," Nevin said. "I assume the hearing examiner will take that up in the near future." DM&E wants to rebuild 600 miles of track across South Dakota and Minnesota and add 260 miles of new track to Wyoming in order to haul low-sulfur coal eastward to power plants....
Ranching interests push for eminent domain law reform After working with the oil and gas industry on a compromise bill to reform Wyoming's eminent domain law, the Wyoming Stock Growers and Wool Growers associations say now they'll lobby for more sweeping reforms. "Eminent domain is just an incredibly personal issue to ranchers because it can be life or death," said Ogden Driskill, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association's regional vice president for northeast Wyoming. Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said among other things, the two groups would push for a "public benefit" test to determine whether eminent domain actions for private uses would truly benefit the public, "which should not include minimizing corporate cost or streamlining permitting," according to the joint resolution. The move comes after some members of the ranching groups complained about the compromise bill, which was drafted with input from the Stock Growers and Wool Growers, along with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, the Wyoming Farm Bureau and others....
New Mexico's Big Bucks ohn Crist, a cattle rancher from the rolling plains near Yeso, N.M., is a rabid mule deer hunter, as the trophies on his wall can attest. While he and his brother, Cary, have spent some time chasing big mulies in the Land of Enchantment's high country, most of his success with antlered quarry has been in country that seems more conducive to antelope and jackrabbits -- at least at first glance. Take the giant buck that Crist tagged in fall 2002 while hunting with his friend and neighbor, Coy Wilson. After watching -- through several hit-and-miss sightings scattered over a couple years -- a ghostly buck grow from being a good mulie into a great one, Crist and Wilson were hunting one afternoon when they found themselves looking at the trophy buck of several lifetimes. After failing to connect on the first shot opportunity -- Hey, I'd miss too if I were shooting at a massive 6x6 buck with a 36-inch spread! -- Crist was able to get into position to touch off a lethal shot that anchored the mule deer for good as it attempted to elude the hunters in an isolated ravine....
A Radical Change: The Satya Interview with Rod Coronado On March 24, 2004, long-time earth and animal liberation activist Rod Coronado was arrested for his involvement in an Earth First! campaign against the killing and removal of mountain lions in the Sabino Canyon recreation area outside Tuscan, AZ, an area usually closed to hunting. In December 2005 he was found guilty of “conspiring to impede or injure an officer of the U.S.,” a felony, “interference with a U.S. Forest Service Officer,” and “aiding and abetting the depredation of government property,” both misdemeanors. On August 7, 2006 Rod was sentenced to eight months in federal prison and three years of supervised release (probation) in which he is forbidden to write, publish or speak about the animal and earth liberation fronts, Earth First!, or encourage illegal activities practiced by those groups. While serving his federal sentence, Rod Coronado shared with Sangamithra Iyerhis thoughts on recent animal enterprise terrorism legislation, his changing perspectives on direct action, and the magic of Harry Potter. Can you talk a bit about the Sabino Canyon case? The depredation of government property stems from the alleged destruction of a mountain lion snare set in the canyon by a federal lion hunter. The trap was never damaged, only sprung, but that never came out in court. Our efforts were very public, and I served as spokesperson for the people who represented the lions. When all legal measures to stop the hunt were exhausted, AZ Earth First! was contacted by the Center for Biological Diversity to help intervene as we were the only group opposing these trophy hunts authorized by Arizona Fish and Game. I was arrested in Sabino Canyon along with a reporter from Esquire magazine after being chased by a helicopter and cornered by federal and state officers. We had succeeded in stopping that hunt, but learned in our trial that after media attention died down, hunters returned to the area killing four lions and capturing more....
Roundup opposed Ken and Jennifer Foster of Hesperia are battling to save a herd of wild burros that roam freely on the lower slopes of Clark Mountain in the eastern Mojave Desert. They are among a group of animal-rights advocates opposing a plan by a federal agency to capture as many as 150 burros in a proposed helicopter-assisted roundup Jan. 19. The plan is to put the burros up for adoption as pets. Three federal agencies are involved in the decision to remove the burros from land controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management: the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and the BLM. Neither the Park Service nor Fish and Wildlife want the burros. They are banned from the national parks because they are not native and compete with native creatures for survival. Fish and Wildlife says they compete with the endangered desert tortoise....
Wilderness groups fight White River drilling plan Environmentalists and outfitters are asking the Bureau of Land Management to shelve a proposed gas drilling project near the White River in eastern Utah. A Denver-based firm, Enduring Resources, has proposed drilling more than 50 natural gas wells on federal and state land just south of the river, an area that the BLM identified in 1999 as having wilderness characteristics. Foes of the project claim that such intensive activity so close to the river would spoil what is now a largely pristine area. And they point to more than 30,000 public comments objecting to the company's proposal as evidence of broad-based opposition. "It's a bad project," said Steve Bloch, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "And it's bad because it's in such a sensitive location and because the BLM's own literature touts how quiet this place is and how it offers unique opportunities for river recreation and hiking. Quite frankly, you don't find places like this anymore in southeastern Utah." SUWA and the Outdoor Industry Association - which represents outfitters and retailers - have asked the BLM, which is currently in the midst of an environmental assessment of the project, to do a full-blown environmental impact study (EIS)....
BLM to offer 32,125 acres in February energy lease sale Many of the parcels on the block in a February sale of federal energy leases in Colorado involve private landowners, according to a list released Monday by the Bureau of Land Management. Thirty-three of the 49 parcels covering a total of 32,125 acres are on split estate, which means the surface land is private and the oil and gas underneath are owned by the federal government. The Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management will offer the oil and gas leases Feb. 8. Companies that buy or lease the minerals from the federal government or private landowners have the right to extract the minerals despite who owns the surface....
New proposal would let GMUG manage lightning-caused fires Earlier this month the Grand Mesa, Gunnison and Uncompahgre National Forest released a proposal that would allow it to use wildland fire as a resource management tool. The proposal would change the Forest Service’s current policy of automatically suppressing all wildland fires and allow the agency to consider letting lightning-ignited fires burn for management purposes. It would allow its use under certain conditions and designate 1.9 million acres, or two-thirds of the GMUG, as suitable. The use of wildland fire in certain instances “will help to improve forest health and ecosystem function, and will enhance wildlife habitat, species diversity and range and watershed condition,” according to the proposal. The assessment declares the forest near urban areas, sensitive watersheds, important wildlife habitat or areas designated for timber harvest as generally not suitable for the practice....
Study questions the 'biodiversity hotspot' approach to wildlife conservation n recent years, major international conservation groups have focused their limited resources on protecting a small number of "biodiversity hotspots"-threatened habitats that are home to many of the world's rarest plants and animals. But a handful of protected areas will not be sufficient to save the countless species of plants and animals facing extinction worldwide, according to a new study by scientists from Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Writing in the Dec. 15 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers say that it's time for ecologists to reconsider the hotspot approach to conservation. "Hotspots, which have played a central role in the selection of sites for reserves, require careful re-thinking," wrote Gerardo Ceballos, professor of ecology at UNAM, and Paul R. Ehrlich, the Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford, co-authors of the PNAS study. "Assigning global conservation priorities based on hotspots is at best a limited strategy." The idea of funneling resources into biodiversity hotspots was proposed in 1988 and quickly adopted by Conservation International and other leading environmental groups. "Few topics in conservation biology have received as much attention as hotspots of species diversity," Ceballos and Ehrlich wrote. "Hotspots have been widely used to determine priority areas for conservation at different geographic scales and in recommending concentrating resources in those regions to maximize the number of protected species."....
Law ensures snowmobile use in YNP this season A new law will ensure snowmobile use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks this winter season. The language was inserted by Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., into a bill that keeps the government running until Feb. 15 and was signed by President Bush Saturday. It puts into law the current National Park Service plan, which allows 720 snowmobiles per day to enter Yellowstone and 140 snowmobiles a day to enter Grand Teton and the road connecting the two parks. The law will expire Feb. 15. ‘‘With the winter-use season upon us, it was imperative that we give some certainty for visitors and concessionaires about winter activities in our parks,’’ Thomas said. Conservationists have criticized snowmobile use in the parks for the noise and air pollution they cause. The Park Service is currently working on a final plan for snowmobile use; in November, the agency proposed a draft final plan maintaining the temporary limits, which have been in place for the last two winters....
Huge Crowd for 2nd Grand Canyon Permit Lottery Grand Canyon National Park has just completed a noncommercial Followup Permit Lottery for the 2007 calendar year to raft the Colorado River in the park. The Followup Lottery ran from November 27 through December 4, 2006. The Followup Lottery had 45 available launch dates, thirty-one of which were in the January and February or the November and December time periods of 2007. The dates offered were still open from the first lottery held on October 23, 2006, and were a mix of trip dates that were not taken, forfeited or otherwise not filled in the first lottery. According to the National Park Service, there were 1038 applicants for the 45 Followup dates, resulting in a 1 in 23 chance of winning. The initial 2007 lottery had 2,534 applications in the lottery for 197 dates, or a 1 in 13 chance of winning. The astonishing rise in the proportion of applicants to number of dates may be an indicator of river runners learning about the lottery scheme too late for the initial one. As with October’s lottery, the Followup was fraught with computer errors. Baffled losers from the initial lottery who signed up online for the Followup were greeted with the erroneous message "you are already on a trip this year" when they attempted to enter....
Houseboats stay afloat in Big Thicket His back warmed by the midday sun reflecting off the Neches River, Kenneth Byrum, 66, adjusts the rim of his white cowboy hat and leans against the wooden handrail on the deck of his houseboat. Shrimp stuffed in jalapeno peppers and wrapped in bacon smoke next to him on a grill he welded from a 14-inch-steel pipe. Byrum shares his bend in the river three miles north of U.S. 96 in the Jack Gore Baygall Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve with four other houseboats. On summer nights, the neighbors drift from house to house, enjoying barbecue and each others' company. It is a scene that has played out along the banks of the Neches for more than a century. Since the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve in 1974, houseboats have straddled the law. They are in violation of a score of laws regarding structures and campsites within a national preserve or park, but no federal agent has enforced the laws prohibiting the floating homes. "The park service is scared of those people, and they are going to be afraid of anything that is going to make them mad," she said of the houseboat owners, mostly locals with multi-generation family histories rooted in the Big Thicket. "And (the locals) have their way of getting back at things they don't like."....
Eagles' new nest tree puts new twist on debate Biologists have predicted for years that a dead and decaying pine tree near Wiggins Pass is on its last legs as a suitable host for nesting bald eagles. Now it seems the eagles have finally agreed, building a new nest in a new tree — and flying into a new face-off with Signature Communities, which wants to build five high-rise condominium towers northwest of Wiggins Pass Road and Vanderbilt Drive. In 2005, Collier County commissioners refused to follow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's lead and loosen bald eagle protection rules around the old nest tree. Landowner Lodge Abbott Associates LLC sued the county in circuit court and filed a $285 million property rights claim against the county. Commissioners are set today to vote on a proposed settlement of the claim under the state's Bert J. Harris Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act. As if on cue, the eagles have put a new twist on the vote by abandoning the old nest tree and instead building a new nest in a tall live pine tree some 1,000 feet northwest of the old nest tree, according to county monitors....
Waiting For the Fight to Finish Mining is nothing new in Soledad Canyon. It's been going on for decades upon decades. It's still going on in some spots. That hasn't stopped city officials from unequivocally opposing for years a sand and gravel mine planned on the Santa Clarita's outskirts, at a site home to mining operations since the mid-20th century. Millions in taxpayer dollars have been shelled out for legal fees, community meetings have been held, a national coalition has been formed, billboards have been posted in Canyon Country - all with the express purpose of keeping Cemex Inc. from setting up shop in 2008. The city owns the roughly 900 acres near the intersection of Highway 14 and Soledad Canyon Road that includes the 434-acre Cemex site. It was purchased two years ago for more than $2 million. Cemex, however, has federally-granted mining permits for the underlying minerals. The third largest cement company in the world, they've planned on producing 56 million tons of aggregate over 20 years at the quarry....
Agency ends tribes' bison role Federal wildlife managers abruptly canceled an interim plan that has allowed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes a role in managing the National Bison Range in northwestern Montana, a tribal official said Monday. Tribal spokesman Rob McDonald said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the Salish-Kootenai it was revoking the agreement immediately, citing concerns over tribal ability to do the work. The agency also told the tribes it would not move forward with negotiations for a permanent management agreement. "Apparently it means the tribes are out," McDonald said. The Fish and Wildlife Service said it is terminating the joint management plan "effective immediately." "The performance of the tribes under the annual funding agreement, their execution of the work for which we are paying them, is insufficient," agency spokesman Matt Kales said....
Farm Organizations Resolve to Continue Fight Against Misuse of Superfund Farmers for Clean Air & Water, a broad coalition of the nation's leading farm organizations, today expressed disappointment that a bipartisan bill to protect the nation's farmers and ranchers against inappropriate, damaging lawsuits was not included in legislation cleared in the final days of the 109th Congress. The bill would have clarified that the severe liability provisions of the 1980 Superfund law designed to clean up abandoned industrial waste sites like Love Canal should not be used to penalize the nation's farmers for the animal manure on their farms. "Though the effort fell short in the final days before adjournment, the coalition's member organizations appreciate the strong support of 192 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 36 in the Senate for this rapidly building effort to protect farmers and ranchers from attempts to misapply CERCLA and EPCRA (see NOTE-1) to manure," the coalition said in a statement. Animal manure is already regulated under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and other federal and state laws. "Unless this is clarified, America's farmers could be faced with penalties of millions of dollars just for having farm animals on their land," according to the coalition....
Brazil's cattle ranchers are embracing change Brazil's herd, conservatively estimated at 170 million head (the nation's beef export association figures 204 million), is the world's largest - there are about 97 million U.S. beef cattle - and there is every indication that Brazilians like De Muzio will make it an even bigger ranching country. In 2004, Brazil became the world's largest beef exporter by volume, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Disease, sanitary issues at slaughter plants, and the sale of lower-priced cuts account for why it still trails Australia in export value. Incidences of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease in some parts of Brazil prevent exports of fresh, chilled and frozen beef to some key markets, including the U.S. and Japan. But with exports to 150 other countries, "losing a few hasn't had a discernible impact on the numbers," says Steve Kay of Cattle Buyers Weekly, based in Petaluma, Calif. Russia and 55 other countries stopped imports from Brazilian states affected by foot-and-mouth disease last December but removed the ban on major producing states like Mato Grosso deemed clear of the infection in August. Nonetheless, Brazil's exports from January through September 2006 rose 17.6 percent in cash value and 3.8 percent in volume compared with a year earlier, according to the Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association....
Despite current woes, Brazil seen as U.S. farm rival Collectively, Cerrado producers aim to make Brazil the farming counterpart to what China is to manufactured consumer goods. Burgeoning Chinese demand for soybeans and cotton helped Brazil achieve the biggest agro-food trade surplus in the world last year, $27.5 billion. And despite an economic downturn that has hit many farmers in the past 18 months, there's no denying the lasting progress. The United States, although still the largest soybean producer, lost its place as the top exporter for the first time when it was surpassed by Brazil, the U.S. Agriculture Department estimated in February. With 170 million, Brazil has the world's largest beef cattle herd and became the No. 1 beef exporter in 2004. It's also the leading international supplier of coffee, orange juice, sugar, ethanol, tobacco and chicken. Pork might not be too far down the road, officials say. Brazil ranks fourth in cotton exports. Overall, the value of the country's agricultural exports has grown 20 percent a year since 2000, according to the USDA. "Should Brazil Give You Heartburn?" asks a sobering PowerPoint presentation by the Iowa Farm Bureau, detailing the country's runaway expansion. To many American producers, the answer could be a yes....
Eminent-domain hearing in limbo The status of a Dec. 22 hearing over the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's request to use eminent domain for an expansion project was uncertain Monday after DM&E asked for a different hearing examiner. The South Dakota Transportation Commission had scheduled the hearing in Pierre to determine whether the rail line can use the legal procedure to gain the right to cross private land for its proposed $6 billion expansion to haul coal from Wyoming. Bill Nevin, the attorney for the state Department of Transportation, said the attorney for DM&E recused the hearing examiner who was assigned to conduct the hearing. He said DM&E did not have to give a reason for its request. "As a result of that, a new hearing examiner will need to be appointed. I expect that will probably happen by tomorrow," Nevin said late Monday afternoon. Bill Janklow, the lawyer for some landowners, sent motions to the Transportation Commission asking that his clients be allowed to intervene and that the hearing be postponed. "The motion for continuance is pending," Nevin said. "I assume the hearing examiner will take that up in the near future." DM&E wants to rebuild 600 miles of track across South Dakota and Minnesota and add 260 miles of new track to Wyoming in order to haul low-sulfur coal eastward to power plants....
Ranching interests push for eminent domain law reform After working with the oil and gas industry on a compromise bill to reform Wyoming's eminent domain law, the Wyoming Stock Growers and Wool Growers associations say now they'll lobby for more sweeping reforms. "Eminent domain is just an incredibly personal issue to ranchers because it can be life or death," said Ogden Driskill, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association's regional vice president for northeast Wyoming. Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said among other things, the two groups would push for a "public benefit" test to determine whether eminent domain actions for private uses would truly benefit the public, "which should not include minimizing corporate cost or streamlining permitting," according to the joint resolution. The move comes after some members of the ranching groups complained about the compromise bill, which was drafted with input from the Stock Growers and Wool Growers, along with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, the Wyoming Farm Bureau and others....
New Mexico's Big Bucks ohn Crist, a cattle rancher from the rolling plains near Yeso, N.M., is a rabid mule deer hunter, as the trophies on his wall can attest. While he and his brother, Cary, have spent some time chasing big mulies in the Land of Enchantment's high country, most of his success with antlered quarry has been in country that seems more conducive to antelope and jackrabbits -- at least at first glance. Take the giant buck that Crist tagged in fall 2002 while hunting with his friend and neighbor, Coy Wilson. After watching -- through several hit-and-miss sightings scattered over a couple years -- a ghostly buck grow from being a good mulie into a great one, Crist and Wilson were hunting one afternoon when they found themselves looking at the trophy buck of several lifetimes. After failing to connect on the first shot opportunity -- Hey, I'd miss too if I were shooting at a massive 6x6 buck with a 36-inch spread! -- Crist was able to get into position to touch off a lethal shot that anchored the mule deer for good as it attempted to elude the hunters in an isolated ravine....
A Radical Change: The Satya Interview with Rod Coronado On March 24, 2004, long-time earth and animal liberation activist Rod Coronado was arrested for his involvement in an Earth First! campaign against the killing and removal of mountain lions in the Sabino Canyon recreation area outside Tuscan, AZ, an area usually closed to hunting. In December 2005 he was found guilty of “conspiring to impede or injure an officer of the U.S.,” a felony, “interference with a U.S. Forest Service Officer,” and “aiding and abetting the depredation of government property,” both misdemeanors. On August 7, 2006 Rod was sentenced to eight months in federal prison and three years of supervised release (probation) in which he is forbidden to write, publish or speak about the animal and earth liberation fronts, Earth First!, or encourage illegal activities practiced by those groups. While serving his federal sentence, Rod Coronado shared with Sangamithra Iyerhis thoughts on recent animal enterprise terrorism legislation, his changing perspectives on direct action, and the magic of Harry Potter. Can you talk a bit about the Sabino Canyon case? The depredation of government property stems from the alleged destruction of a mountain lion snare set in the canyon by a federal lion hunter. The trap was never damaged, only sprung, but that never came out in court. Our efforts were very public, and I served as spokesperson for the people who represented the lions. When all legal measures to stop the hunt were exhausted, AZ Earth First! was contacted by the Center for Biological Diversity to help intervene as we were the only group opposing these trophy hunts authorized by Arizona Fish and Game. I was arrested in Sabino Canyon along with a reporter from Esquire magazine after being chased by a helicopter and cornered by federal and state officers. We had succeeded in stopping that hunt, but learned in our trial that after media attention died down, hunters returned to the area killing four lions and capturing more....
Roundup opposed Ken and Jennifer Foster of Hesperia are battling to save a herd of wild burros that roam freely on the lower slopes of Clark Mountain in the eastern Mojave Desert. They are among a group of animal-rights advocates opposing a plan by a federal agency to capture as many as 150 burros in a proposed helicopter-assisted roundup Jan. 19. The plan is to put the burros up for adoption as pets. Three federal agencies are involved in the decision to remove the burros from land controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management: the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and the BLM. Neither the Park Service nor Fish and Wildlife want the burros. They are banned from the national parks because they are not native and compete with native creatures for survival. Fish and Wildlife says they compete with the endangered desert tortoise....
Wilderness groups fight White River drilling plan Environmentalists and outfitters are asking the Bureau of Land Management to shelve a proposed gas drilling project near the White River in eastern Utah. A Denver-based firm, Enduring Resources, has proposed drilling more than 50 natural gas wells on federal and state land just south of the river, an area that the BLM identified in 1999 as having wilderness characteristics. Foes of the project claim that such intensive activity so close to the river would spoil what is now a largely pristine area. And they point to more than 30,000 public comments objecting to the company's proposal as evidence of broad-based opposition. "It's a bad project," said Steve Bloch, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "And it's bad because it's in such a sensitive location and because the BLM's own literature touts how quiet this place is and how it offers unique opportunities for river recreation and hiking. Quite frankly, you don't find places like this anymore in southeastern Utah." SUWA and the Outdoor Industry Association - which represents outfitters and retailers - have asked the BLM, which is currently in the midst of an environmental assessment of the project, to do a full-blown environmental impact study (EIS)....
BLM to offer 32,125 acres in February energy lease sale Many of the parcels on the block in a February sale of federal energy leases in Colorado involve private landowners, according to a list released Monday by the Bureau of Land Management. Thirty-three of the 49 parcels covering a total of 32,125 acres are on split estate, which means the surface land is private and the oil and gas underneath are owned by the federal government. The Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management will offer the oil and gas leases Feb. 8. Companies that buy or lease the minerals from the federal government or private landowners have the right to extract the minerals despite who owns the surface....
New proposal would let GMUG manage lightning-caused fires Earlier this month the Grand Mesa, Gunnison and Uncompahgre National Forest released a proposal that would allow it to use wildland fire as a resource management tool. The proposal would change the Forest Service’s current policy of automatically suppressing all wildland fires and allow the agency to consider letting lightning-ignited fires burn for management purposes. It would allow its use under certain conditions and designate 1.9 million acres, or two-thirds of the GMUG, as suitable. The use of wildland fire in certain instances “will help to improve forest health and ecosystem function, and will enhance wildlife habitat, species diversity and range and watershed condition,” according to the proposal. The assessment declares the forest near urban areas, sensitive watersheds, important wildlife habitat or areas designated for timber harvest as generally not suitable for the practice....
Study questions the 'biodiversity hotspot' approach to wildlife conservation n recent years, major international conservation groups have focused their limited resources on protecting a small number of "biodiversity hotspots"-threatened habitats that are home to many of the world's rarest plants and animals. But a handful of protected areas will not be sufficient to save the countless species of plants and animals facing extinction worldwide, according to a new study by scientists from Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Writing in the Dec. 15 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers say that it's time for ecologists to reconsider the hotspot approach to conservation. "Hotspots, which have played a central role in the selection of sites for reserves, require careful re-thinking," wrote Gerardo Ceballos, professor of ecology at UNAM, and Paul R. Ehrlich, the Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford, co-authors of the PNAS study. "Assigning global conservation priorities based on hotspots is at best a limited strategy." The idea of funneling resources into biodiversity hotspots was proposed in 1988 and quickly adopted by Conservation International and other leading environmental groups. "Few topics in conservation biology have received as much attention as hotspots of species diversity," Ceballos and Ehrlich wrote. "Hotspots have been widely used to determine priority areas for conservation at different geographic scales and in recommending concentrating resources in those regions to maximize the number of protected species."....
Law ensures snowmobile use in YNP this season A new law will ensure snowmobile use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks this winter season. The language was inserted by Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., into a bill that keeps the government running until Feb. 15 and was signed by President Bush Saturday. It puts into law the current National Park Service plan, which allows 720 snowmobiles per day to enter Yellowstone and 140 snowmobiles a day to enter Grand Teton and the road connecting the two parks. The law will expire Feb. 15. ‘‘With the winter-use season upon us, it was imperative that we give some certainty for visitors and concessionaires about winter activities in our parks,’’ Thomas said. Conservationists have criticized snowmobile use in the parks for the noise and air pollution they cause. The Park Service is currently working on a final plan for snowmobile use; in November, the agency proposed a draft final plan maintaining the temporary limits, which have been in place for the last two winters....
Huge Crowd for 2nd Grand Canyon Permit Lottery Grand Canyon National Park has just completed a noncommercial Followup Permit Lottery for the 2007 calendar year to raft the Colorado River in the park. The Followup Lottery ran from November 27 through December 4, 2006. The Followup Lottery had 45 available launch dates, thirty-one of which were in the January and February or the November and December time periods of 2007. The dates offered were still open from the first lottery held on October 23, 2006, and were a mix of trip dates that were not taken, forfeited or otherwise not filled in the first lottery. According to the National Park Service, there were 1038 applicants for the 45 Followup dates, resulting in a 1 in 23 chance of winning. The initial 2007 lottery had 2,534 applications in the lottery for 197 dates, or a 1 in 13 chance of winning. The astonishing rise in the proportion of applicants to number of dates may be an indicator of river runners learning about the lottery scheme too late for the initial one. As with October’s lottery, the Followup was fraught with computer errors. Baffled losers from the initial lottery who signed up online for the Followup were greeted with the erroneous message "you are already on a trip this year" when they attempted to enter....
Houseboats stay afloat in Big Thicket His back warmed by the midday sun reflecting off the Neches River, Kenneth Byrum, 66, adjusts the rim of his white cowboy hat and leans against the wooden handrail on the deck of his houseboat. Shrimp stuffed in jalapeno peppers and wrapped in bacon smoke next to him on a grill he welded from a 14-inch-steel pipe. Byrum shares his bend in the river three miles north of U.S. 96 in the Jack Gore Baygall Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve with four other houseboats. On summer nights, the neighbors drift from house to house, enjoying barbecue and each others' company. It is a scene that has played out along the banks of the Neches for more than a century. Since the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve in 1974, houseboats have straddled the law. They are in violation of a score of laws regarding structures and campsites within a national preserve or park, but no federal agent has enforced the laws prohibiting the floating homes. "The park service is scared of those people, and they are going to be afraid of anything that is going to make them mad," she said of the houseboat owners, mostly locals with multi-generation family histories rooted in the Big Thicket. "And (the locals) have their way of getting back at things they don't like."....
Eagles' new nest tree puts new twist on debate Biologists have predicted for years that a dead and decaying pine tree near Wiggins Pass is on its last legs as a suitable host for nesting bald eagles. Now it seems the eagles have finally agreed, building a new nest in a new tree — and flying into a new face-off with Signature Communities, which wants to build five high-rise condominium towers northwest of Wiggins Pass Road and Vanderbilt Drive. In 2005, Collier County commissioners refused to follow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's lead and loosen bald eagle protection rules around the old nest tree. Landowner Lodge Abbott Associates LLC sued the county in circuit court and filed a $285 million property rights claim against the county. Commissioners are set today to vote on a proposed settlement of the claim under the state's Bert J. Harris Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act. As if on cue, the eagles have put a new twist on the vote by abandoning the old nest tree and instead building a new nest in a tall live pine tree some 1,000 feet northwest of the old nest tree, according to county monitors....
Waiting For the Fight to Finish Mining is nothing new in Soledad Canyon. It's been going on for decades upon decades. It's still going on in some spots. That hasn't stopped city officials from unequivocally opposing for years a sand and gravel mine planned on the Santa Clarita's outskirts, at a site home to mining operations since the mid-20th century. Millions in taxpayer dollars have been shelled out for legal fees, community meetings have been held, a national coalition has been formed, billboards have been posted in Canyon Country - all with the express purpose of keeping Cemex Inc. from setting up shop in 2008. The city owns the roughly 900 acres near the intersection of Highway 14 and Soledad Canyon Road that includes the 434-acre Cemex site. It was purchased two years ago for more than $2 million. Cemex, however, has federally-granted mining permits for the underlying minerals. The third largest cement company in the world, they've planned on producing 56 million tons of aggregate over 20 years at the quarry....
Agency ends tribes' bison role Federal wildlife managers abruptly canceled an interim plan that has allowed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes a role in managing the National Bison Range in northwestern Montana, a tribal official said Monday. Tribal spokesman Rob McDonald said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the Salish-Kootenai it was revoking the agreement immediately, citing concerns over tribal ability to do the work. The agency also told the tribes it would not move forward with negotiations for a permanent management agreement. "Apparently it means the tribes are out," McDonald said. The Fish and Wildlife Service said it is terminating the joint management plan "effective immediately." "The performance of the tribes under the annual funding agreement, their execution of the work for which we are paying them, is insufficient," agency spokesman Matt Kales said....
Farm Organizations Resolve to Continue Fight Against Misuse of Superfund Farmers for Clean Air & Water, a broad coalition of the nation's leading farm organizations, today expressed disappointment that a bipartisan bill to protect the nation's farmers and ranchers against inappropriate, damaging lawsuits was not included in legislation cleared in the final days of the 109th Congress. The bill would have clarified that the severe liability provisions of the 1980 Superfund law designed to clean up abandoned industrial waste sites like Love Canal should not be used to penalize the nation's farmers for the animal manure on their farms. "Though the effort fell short in the final days before adjournment, the coalition's member organizations appreciate the strong support of 192 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 36 in the Senate for this rapidly building effort to protect farmers and ranchers from attempts to misapply CERCLA and EPCRA (see NOTE-1) to manure," the coalition said in a statement. Animal manure is already regulated under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and other federal and state laws. "Unless this is clarified, America's farmers could be faced with penalties of millions of dollars just for having farm animals on their land," according to the coalition....
Brazil's cattle ranchers are embracing change Brazil's herd, conservatively estimated at 170 million head (the nation's beef export association figures 204 million), is the world's largest - there are about 97 million U.S. beef cattle - and there is every indication that Brazilians like De Muzio will make it an even bigger ranching country. In 2004, Brazil became the world's largest beef exporter by volume, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Disease, sanitary issues at slaughter plants, and the sale of lower-priced cuts account for why it still trails Australia in export value. Incidences of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease in some parts of Brazil prevent exports of fresh, chilled and frozen beef to some key markets, including the U.S. and Japan. But with exports to 150 other countries, "losing a few hasn't had a discernible impact on the numbers," says Steve Kay of Cattle Buyers Weekly, based in Petaluma, Calif. Russia and 55 other countries stopped imports from Brazilian states affected by foot-and-mouth disease last December but removed the ban on major producing states like Mato Grosso deemed clear of the infection in August. Nonetheless, Brazil's exports from January through September 2006 rose 17.6 percent in cash value and 3.8 percent in volume compared with a year earlier, according to the Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association....
Despite current woes, Brazil seen as U.S. farm rival Collectively, Cerrado producers aim to make Brazil the farming counterpart to what China is to manufactured consumer goods. Burgeoning Chinese demand for soybeans and cotton helped Brazil achieve the biggest agro-food trade surplus in the world last year, $27.5 billion. And despite an economic downturn that has hit many farmers in the past 18 months, there's no denying the lasting progress. The United States, although still the largest soybean producer, lost its place as the top exporter for the first time when it was surpassed by Brazil, the U.S. Agriculture Department estimated in February. With 170 million, Brazil has the world's largest beef cattle herd and became the No. 1 beef exporter in 2004. It's also the leading international supplier of coffee, orange juice, sugar, ethanol, tobacco and chicken. Pork might not be too far down the road, officials say. Brazil ranks fourth in cotton exports. Overall, the value of the country's agricultural exports has grown 20 percent a year since 2000, according to the USDA. "Should Brazil Give You Heartburn?" asks a sobering PowerPoint presentation by the Iowa Farm Bureau, detailing the country's runaway expansion. To many American producers, the answer could be a yes....
Monday, December 11, 2006
RADIOACTIVE HOMELAND
The Santa Fe New Mexican has published a series of articles originally appearing in the LA Times dealing with the impact of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.
Radioactive homeland
Navajos’ desert cleanup is a mirage
Desert oases contain 'witch's brew'
The Santa Fe New Mexican has published a series of articles originally appearing in the LA Times dealing with the impact of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.
Radioactive homeland
Navajos’ desert cleanup is a mirage
Desert oases contain 'witch's brew'
Sunday, December 10, 2006
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
Pretty is as pretty does -- just who is the amateur?
By Julie Carter
The pickup looked a little "ranchy" and had been re-painted several times. The last time it got a fresh coat, its appearance suggested a whiskbroom had been used to apply the faded blue paint.
The wobbly single-horse trailer had never been painted and was complete with wood-slatted sides and the metal bows over the top - no top of any kind, not even a tarp. The gate was crooked and needed to be wired shut and one could only imagine if the floor was solid enough to hold anything heavier than a small dog.
The oversized-palomino roping horse looked better suited to pull a plow, but the poor boy from down on the river managed to use him to compete quite handily in the calf roping.
"Snoopy" he called him. The only explanation he would give was: "Every time someone tells me I need to get a new truck and trailer, I tell them there is nuthin' wrong with the one I got. But, I do worry about my horse a little so I'm in the hunt for some big Snoopy goggles and a Red Baron scarf for him."
Knowing the true path to the pay window, this cowboy didn't waste much on frills but more than paid his way with skills. Pretty is as pretty does.
The other side to that story is another story.
It's not uncommon for cowboys going down the rodeo road to pencil their travel plans around a stop at a buddy's place.
There, they will run his cattle for practice, eat at his table, and sleep in his bunkhouse - all in the name of a last minute tune-up before the "big one," - rodeo or roping.
It was Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR) time in Las Vegas and behind every rodeo hand that qualified, there were legions who wished they could.
Some marketing genius decided to offer the "wish I could" ropers a place to compete, close to Las Vegas so the fun and atmosphere was a perk, but the roping was open to anyone with a pulse and checkbook.
David and his partner, whose name I never did catch, stopped off to tune-up for this big "also ran" roping. They arrived in separate $50,000 pickups, pulling $50,000 aluminum trailers and if rig shopping was a contest, they had it won.
The first session went badly. Missed heads, missed heels, missed dallies, missed everything, half heads, bad handle ... you get the idea.
After a day, the unnamed header loaded up and headed for the city of lights but David stayed a little longer to perfect his uncountable imperfections.
The first two steers that were headed for him, David completely missed the heels.
No one is quite sure what happened next, but the resident header nodded, roped, turned off and when everyone looked David's way, he was lying in the dirt and so was his horse. The horse got up but David continued to lay there like a dead tuna.
This was not his shoulder's first encounter with the arena floor and David was in bad shape.
A bag of ice, some high voltage Motrin and a shot of Tennessee whiskey later, David was absolutely positive he'd never been better.
Assured that his horse was fine, his friends unsaddled him, lifting the gear into the trailer for him because David couldn't lift his arm to poke his own eye.
Asking "how do I get to Vegas from here, " David waved good bye with his good arm which did not happen to be the arm he needed for roping.
A little detail like a wrecked roping arm that didn't work very well even without injury wasn't about to keep him from his dreams of winning the world. Or at least seeing Las Vegas when it teemed with cowboy hats, pretty girls and lots of possibilities.
You gotta love'm.
© Julie Carter 2006
The failed farms
by Larry Gabriel
During prolonged drought, some farms and ranches fail, meaning their owners are forced to sell something they otherwise would keep in the family.
It is sad thing to hear about, and still more sad when the farm's owner resorts to suicide. That happens as often as four times a week in Australia, where a record breaking drought is drying up much of the countryside, according to recent news reports.
"There is a sense of failure that his father, grandfather and those before him managed to cope, so why can't he?", the one farmer reportedly said of the drought victims who lost hope in the future.
I know people who were unable to keep their family farm or ranch in South Dakota. Some have a similar feeling of failing their ancestors.
There are many good reasons why a farm or ranch supported previous generations but may fail to support the current one.
Being forced out of business by prolonged drought is certainly not a personal failure. Entire civilizations have "failed" (been forced to relocate) due to prolonged drought. There is no defense against no water.
Also, many things have changed. In grandpa's day, agriculture was labor intensive. Today it is capital intensive. Grandpa did not face monthly bills for ordinary expenses like food (they grew and canned their own), water (it flowed from an artesian well or was pumped by a windmill), clothing (grandma made much of it), electricity, heating fuel and other modern necessities.
Like it or not, both rural lifestyle and agriculture require significant cash flow just to keep the wolves from the door. There were no wolves at grandpa's door, but he had a loaded rifle sitting by it just in case one showed up.
There is another difference. An acre of ground was once valued by what it could yield. An acre of ground that produced $80 worth of corn could be bought for $60. The same acre may now produce $300 worth of corn but it takes more than $1,000 to buy it.
Artificially inflated land prices are hurting many farmers and ranchers, especially the young ones. Inflated prices increase the risk of a financial crisis when a disaster hurts cash flow. That's one reason some of us favor the idea of a government sponsored income insurance program for farmers instead of a crop subsidy system.
People facing the difficult decision to sell a family's farm or ranch may not feel better after hearing the reasons why one generation could survive and another can't, but I hope they do.
If you know someone facing this problem, help them preserve their hope. The immediate future may look dim, but no one knows what tomorrow will bring.
A failed farm does not always mean the farmer failed. What we all need during hard times is faith in the future. Save that, and everything else will save itself.
Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
Pretty is as pretty does -- just who is the amateur?
By Julie Carter
The pickup looked a little "ranchy" and had been re-painted several times. The last time it got a fresh coat, its appearance suggested a whiskbroom had been used to apply the faded blue paint.
The wobbly single-horse trailer had never been painted and was complete with wood-slatted sides and the metal bows over the top - no top of any kind, not even a tarp. The gate was crooked and needed to be wired shut and one could only imagine if the floor was solid enough to hold anything heavier than a small dog.
The oversized-palomino roping horse looked better suited to pull a plow, but the poor boy from down on the river managed to use him to compete quite handily in the calf roping.
"Snoopy" he called him. The only explanation he would give was: "Every time someone tells me I need to get a new truck and trailer, I tell them there is nuthin' wrong with the one I got. But, I do worry about my horse a little so I'm in the hunt for some big Snoopy goggles and a Red Baron scarf for him."
Knowing the true path to the pay window, this cowboy didn't waste much on frills but more than paid his way with skills. Pretty is as pretty does.
The other side to that story is another story.
It's not uncommon for cowboys going down the rodeo road to pencil their travel plans around a stop at a buddy's place.
There, they will run his cattle for practice, eat at his table, and sleep in his bunkhouse - all in the name of a last minute tune-up before the "big one," - rodeo or roping.
It was Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR) time in Las Vegas and behind every rodeo hand that qualified, there were legions who wished they could.
Some marketing genius decided to offer the "wish I could" ropers a place to compete, close to Las Vegas so the fun and atmosphere was a perk, but the roping was open to anyone with a pulse and checkbook.
David and his partner, whose name I never did catch, stopped off to tune-up for this big "also ran" roping. They arrived in separate $50,000 pickups, pulling $50,000 aluminum trailers and if rig shopping was a contest, they had it won.
The first session went badly. Missed heads, missed heels, missed dallies, missed everything, half heads, bad handle ... you get the idea.
After a day, the unnamed header loaded up and headed for the city of lights but David stayed a little longer to perfect his uncountable imperfections.
The first two steers that were headed for him, David completely missed the heels.
No one is quite sure what happened next, but the resident header nodded, roped, turned off and when everyone looked David's way, he was lying in the dirt and so was his horse. The horse got up but David continued to lay there like a dead tuna.
This was not his shoulder's first encounter with the arena floor and David was in bad shape.
A bag of ice, some high voltage Motrin and a shot of Tennessee whiskey later, David was absolutely positive he'd never been better.
Assured that his horse was fine, his friends unsaddled him, lifting the gear into the trailer for him because David couldn't lift his arm to poke his own eye.
Asking "how do I get to Vegas from here, " David waved good bye with his good arm which did not happen to be the arm he needed for roping.
A little detail like a wrecked roping arm that didn't work very well even without injury wasn't about to keep him from his dreams of winning the world. Or at least seeing Las Vegas when it teemed with cowboy hats, pretty girls and lots of possibilities.
You gotta love'm.
© Julie Carter 2006
The failed farms
by Larry Gabriel
During prolonged drought, some farms and ranches fail, meaning their owners are forced to sell something they otherwise would keep in the family.
It is sad thing to hear about, and still more sad when the farm's owner resorts to suicide. That happens as often as four times a week in Australia, where a record breaking drought is drying up much of the countryside, according to recent news reports.
"There is a sense of failure that his father, grandfather and those before him managed to cope, so why can't he?", the one farmer reportedly said of the drought victims who lost hope in the future.
I know people who were unable to keep their family farm or ranch in South Dakota. Some have a similar feeling of failing their ancestors.
There are many good reasons why a farm or ranch supported previous generations but may fail to support the current one.
Being forced out of business by prolonged drought is certainly not a personal failure. Entire civilizations have "failed" (been forced to relocate) due to prolonged drought. There is no defense against no water.
Also, many things have changed. In grandpa's day, agriculture was labor intensive. Today it is capital intensive. Grandpa did not face monthly bills for ordinary expenses like food (they grew and canned their own), water (it flowed from an artesian well or was pumped by a windmill), clothing (grandma made much of it), electricity, heating fuel and other modern necessities.
Like it or not, both rural lifestyle and agriculture require significant cash flow just to keep the wolves from the door. There were no wolves at grandpa's door, but he had a loaded rifle sitting by it just in case one showed up.
There is another difference. An acre of ground was once valued by what it could yield. An acre of ground that produced $80 worth of corn could be bought for $60. The same acre may now produce $300 worth of corn but it takes more than $1,000 to buy it.
Artificially inflated land prices are hurting many farmers and ranchers, especially the young ones. Inflated prices increase the risk of a financial crisis when a disaster hurts cash flow. That's one reason some of us favor the idea of a government sponsored income insurance program for farmers instead of a crop subsidy system.
People facing the difficult decision to sell a family's farm or ranch may not feel better after hearing the reasons why one generation could survive and another can't, but I hope they do.
If you know someone facing this problem, help them preserve their hope. The immediate future may look dim, but no one knows what tomorrow will bring.
A failed farm does not always mean the farmer failed. What we all need during hard times is faith in the future. Save that, and everything else will save itself.
Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture
OPINION/COMMENTARY
The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006: One Small Step for Energy Supply Prior to the elections, the House passed a strong offshore drilling bill, and the Senate passed a much more limited companion version. Both bills would open access to reserves of oil and natural gas. The House bill would do more to expand available energy resources than Senate version, which is only a little better than the status quo. Still, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (S. 3711) is a small, but worthwhile, step that deserves consideration by the House. Despite rising energy prices and increasing imports in recent years, the U.S. remains the only country on earth that has placed a significant percentage of its domestic energy potential off-limits. Oil and natural gas production is not allowed in 85 percent of America's territorial waters--essentially everywhere except the central and western Gulf of Mexico. A recent Department of the Interior study estimated that 19 billion barrels of oil and 84 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be found in these off-limits areas, and these initial energy inventories often prove to be low. To give a sense of perspective, 19 billion barrels equals about 30 years of current imports from Saudi Arabia, and 84 trillion cubic feet is enough natural gas to serve America's households for 15 years....
ANWR Oil worth $111,000,000,000 in Taxes and Royalties
Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) of the House Resources Committee released figures on ANWR oil revenues to the Federal Government this week stating that a Congressional Research Report analyzing tax and royalty revenues from oil and gas production in the 10-02 Area of ANWR would raise $111 billion over 30 years for the Federal Government. That’s over $10 million injected into federal coffers everyday for over 30 years with zero cost the public. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) based its figures on the median prediction of 10.3 billion barrels of oil the USGS stated in its 1998 study of potential 10-02 Area reserves. Over $76 billion in income taxes would be levied on oil companies and $35 billion raised in royalties and bonus bids. At $60 per barrel (the current and predicted average price for oil this year) the CRS estimates $89 billion could be raised in income taxes. $111 billion dollars would be most probably the largest tax windfall the US Government would receive from a single source in its history. The CRS report went further in predicting revenues if the oil from the 10-02 Area of ANWR reached 16 billion barrels as the USGS report possibly states it could. At this amount the US Government could raise $118 billion in corporate income taxe and $55 billion in royalties. Oil from the 10-02 Area of ANWR is expected to reach a peak of 1 million barrels per day and keep the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in operation (which has a capacity of 2.1 million bpd) for over 30 years....
Carbon Dioxide’s Day in Court
Debates over global warming tend to create more heat than light, and that pattern is about to accelerate as lawyers for the environmental lobby go before the Supreme Court to argue that carbon-dioxide (CO-2) is the most pernicious “greenhouse gas.” Lawyers representing assorted cities, states and environmental organizations are asking the court to reject the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2003 decision that carbon dioxide (CO-2) is not a pollutant to be regulated under the Clean Air Act. That is because the problem with their position is twofold. First, CO-2 is a naturally occurring gas that supports life on this planet. We emit CO-2 every time we exhale, after all. Making a case against CO-2 without making a case against nature is like making an omelet without breaking the proverbial egg. It is impossible. Second, while our current sources of energy also emit CO-2, the scientific evidence that such CO-2 causes catastrophic global warming, and that this global warming is a threat to the earth, is tenuous at best. Global warming certainly deserves more study, but we should not undertake draconian policies based on the myth that this is an emergency that demands a drastic cutback in CO-2 emissions. Doing that would create a decidedly non-mythical humanitarian emergency by imposing unnecessary costs on the people who can least afford to pay them. Greenhouse gas limitations would spike the cost of energy, bad news for any consumer who has to fill a gas tank or heat a home, particularly for lower income families. On a global scale, forced cutbacks in CO-2 emissions would create an unconscionable setback for developing countries where economic development is just beginning to pull people out of poverty....
Global Warming Gag Order
Washington has no shortage of bullies, but even we can't quite believe an October 27 letter that Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe sent to Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson. Its message: Start toeing the Senators' line on climate change, or else. We reprint chunks of the letter below and the full text on OpinionJournal.com, so readers can see for themselves. But its essential point is that the two Senators believe global warming is a fact, and therefore all debate about the issue must stop and Exxon Mobil should "end its dangerous support of the [global warming] 'deniers'." Not only that, the company "should repudiate its climate change denial campaign and make public its funding history." And in extra penance for being "one of the world's largest carbon emitters," Exxon should spend that money on "global remediation efforts." The Senators aren't dumb enough to risk an ethics inquiry by threatening specific consequences if Mr. Tillerson declines this offer he can't refuse. But in case the CEO doesn't understand his company's jeopardy, they add that "Exxon Mobil and its partners in denial have manufactured controversy, sown doubt, and impeded progress with strategies all-too reminiscent of those used by the tobacco industry for so many years." (Our emphasis.) The Senators also graciously copied the Exxon board on their missive. This is amazing stuff. On the one hand, the Senators say that everyone agrees on the facts and consequences of climate change. But at the same time they are so afraid of debate that they want Exxon to stop financing a doughty band of dissenters who can barely get their name in the paper. We respect the folks at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, but we didn't know until reading the Rockefeller-Snowe letter that they ran U.S. climate policy and led the mainstream media around by the nose, too. Congratulations....
Conservation vs. Development in the Western United States
Land trusts are now protecting more land than gets developed across the western United States each year, according to a new census by the Land Trust Alliance, which represents 1,667 local, state and national land trusts. When this data is compared with the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on new land developed in the United States, it now appears that conservation efforts have protected around 2.6 million acres annually nationwide, compared to approximately 2.2 million acres converted each year to developed land.1 This trend is even more dramatic in the West, where approximately 450,000 acres have been conserved annually in recent years, and 330,000 acres have been developed. These new trends are surprising. But even more surprising is the variation among western states. While annually conservation still trails development in most of the West, in Montana and Colorado conservation efforts now outpace development each year by more than five to one. This comparison of these two datasets demonstrates that conservation now rivals development as a force shaping the land and communities in much of the western United States. In both cases, development and conservation, these changes are envisioned to be relatively permanent, since conservation by acquisition or easement is usually defined to be in perpetuity. But these trends also raise intriguing and important questions about priorities, efficiency, rationality, equity, permanence and change in conservation and development in the West. At the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West, we continue to follow and examine these trends and invite you to send any insights and comments and questions on this to jonchristensen@stanford.edu. Jon Christensen is a research fellow at the Center for Environmental Science and Policy and a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at Stanford University....
Animal Rights High Priest Undermines His Acolytes
An unprecedented admission from its intellectual godfather is sending shock waves through the animal rights movement this week. In a documentary broadcast Monday night on British television, Princeton Professor Peter Singer acknowledged that some medical testing involving animals -- traditionally pegged as an animal rights no-no -- is in fact morally acceptable. Coming from virtually anyone else, such a statement wouldn't be much of a story. (Most people understand that some research on living creatures is and has always been essential to scientific advancement.) But Singer is the author of Animal Liberation -- the 1975 philosophical treatise that inspired generations of animal rights zealots, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) founder Ingrid Newkirk. Singer's admission came when Dr. Tipu Aziz -- whose research using primates has led to treatments for people suffering from Parkinson's disease -- told him on camera that "to date 40,000 people have been made better with [the procedure Dr. Aziz has developed], and ... I would guess only 100 monkeys were used at a few laboratories." Singer replied: Well, I think if you put a case like that, clearly I would have to agree that was a justifiable experiment ... It is clear at least some animal research does have benefits. I would certainly not say that no animal research could be justified and the case you have given sounds like one that is justified.
The Bloomberg Diet
ou might think that officials in New York City, which has more people than all but 11 states, had enough to do providing basic city services. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes that what New Yorkers really need is a better diet, and he's just the man to order it. A politician's work is never done. At the mayor's urging this week, New York's Board of Health voted to ban restaurant use of artificial trans fats, those liquid oils made solid through hydrogenation and found in all manner of fried, baked and processed foods. Many of these products aren't particularly healthy, but then neither are many products people enjoy that contain sugar and caffeine, substances that New York hasn't outlawed. At least not yet. "We're just trying to make food safer," said Mayor Bloomberg, who nixed smoking in bars a few years back. The city's concern for the health of residents is understandable, but trans fats are not E. coli (or even secondhand smoke), and the federal Food and Drug Administration still considers these chemically modified food ingredients perfectly safe for consumption. Could it be that Mayor Mike has been taken in by activist Gotham health czars and national Naderite "watchdog" outfits like Michael Jacobson's Center for Science in the Public Interest, among others pushing a larger agenda? You wouldn't know it from the media coverage, but the science on the dangers of trans fats is still being debated, which helps explain FDA approval of the ingredient. It also explains why the American Heart Association, while no fan of trans fats, was critical of the New York proposal and fears it may backfire if food outlets revert to even less healthy alternatives....
The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006: One Small Step for Energy Supply Prior to the elections, the House passed a strong offshore drilling bill, and the Senate passed a much more limited companion version. Both bills would open access to reserves of oil and natural gas. The House bill would do more to expand available energy resources than Senate version, which is only a little better than the status quo. Still, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (S. 3711) is a small, but worthwhile, step that deserves consideration by the House. Despite rising energy prices and increasing imports in recent years, the U.S. remains the only country on earth that has placed a significant percentage of its domestic energy potential off-limits. Oil and natural gas production is not allowed in 85 percent of America's territorial waters--essentially everywhere except the central and western Gulf of Mexico. A recent Department of the Interior study estimated that 19 billion barrels of oil and 84 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be found in these off-limits areas, and these initial energy inventories often prove to be low. To give a sense of perspective, 19 billion barrels equals about 30 years of current imports from Saudi Arabia, and 84 trillion cubic feet is enough natural gas to serve America's households for 15 years....
ANWR Oil worth $111,000,000,000 in Taxes and Royalties
Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) of the House Resources Committee released figures on ANWR oil revenues to the Federal Government this week stating that a Congressional Research Report analyzing tax and royalty revenues from oil and gas production in the 10-02 Area of ANWR would raise $111 billion over 30 years for the Federal Government. That’s over $10 million injected into federal coffers everyday for over 30 years with zero cost the public. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) based its figures on the median prediction of 10.3 billion barrels of oil the USGS stated in its 1998 study of potential 10-02 Area reserves. Over $76 billion in income taxes would be levied on oil companies and $35 billion raised in royalties and bonus bids. At $60 per barrel (the current and predicted average price for oil this year) the CRS estimates $89 billion could be raised in income taxes. $111 billion dollars would be most probably the largest tax windfall the US Government would receive from a single source in its history. The CRS report went further in predicting revenues if the oil from the 10-02 Area of ANWR reached 16 billion barrels as the USGS report possibly states it could. At this amount the US Government could raise $118 billion in corporate income taxe and $55 billion in royalties. Oil from the 10-02 Area of ANWR is expected to reach a peak of 1 million barrels per day and keep the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in operation (which has a capacity of 2.1 million bpd) for over 30 years....
Carbon Dioxide’s Day in Court
Debates over global warming tend to create more heat than light, and that pattern is about to accelerate as lawyers for the environmental lobby go before the Supreme Court to argue that carbon-dioxide (CO-2) is the most pernicious “greenhouse gas.” Lawyers representing assorted cities, states and environmental organizations are asking the court to reject the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2003 decision that carbon dioxide (CO-2) is not a pollutant to be regulated under the Clean Air Act. That is because the problem with their position is twofold. First, CO-2 is a naturally occurring gas that supports life on this planet. We emit CO-2 every time we exhale, after all. Making a case against CO-2 without making a case against nature is like making an omelet without breaking the proverbial egg. It is impossible. Second, while our current sources of energy also emit CO-2, the scientific evidence that such CO-2 causes catastrophic global warming, and that this global warming is a threat to the earth, is tenuous at best. Global warming certainly deserves more study, but we should not undertake draconian policies based on the myth that this is an emergency that demands a drastic cutback in CO-2 emissions. Doing that would create a decidedly non-mythical humanitarian emergency by imposing unnecessary costs on the people who can least afford to pay them. Greenhouse gas limitations would spike the cost of energy, bad news for any consumer who has to fill a gas tank or heat a home, particularly for lower income families. On a global scale, forced cutbacks in CO-2 emissions would create an unconscionable setback for developing countries where economic development is just beginning to pull people out of poverty....
Global Warming Gag Order
Washington has no shortage of bullies, but even we can't quite believe an October 27 letter that Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe sent to Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson. Its message: Start toeing the Senators' line on climate change, or else. We reprint chunks of the letter below and the full text on OpinionJournal.com, so readers can see for themselves. But its essential point is that the two Senators believe global warming is a fact, and therefore all debate about the issue must stop and Exxon Mobil should "end its dangerous support of the [global warming] 'deniers'." Not only that, the company "should repudiate its climate change denial campaign and make public its funding history." And in extra penance for being "one of the world's largest carbon emitters," Exxon should spend that money on "global remediation efforts." The Senators aren't dumb enough to risk an ethics inquiry by threatening specific consequences if Mr. Tillerson declines this offer he can't refuse. But in case the CEO doesn't understand his company's jeopardy, they add that "Exxon Mobil and its partners in denial have manufactured controversy, sown doubt, and impeded progress with strategies all-too reminiscent of those used by the tobacco industry for so many years." (Our emphasis.) The Senators also graciously copied the Exxon board on their missive. This is amazing stuff. On the one hand, the Senators say that everyone agrees on the facts and consequences of climate change. But at the same time they are so afraid of debate that they want Exxon to stop financing a doughty band of dissenters who can barely get their name in the paper. We respect the folks at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, but we didn't know until reading the Rockefeller-Snowe letter that they ran U.S. climate policy and led the mainstream media around by the nose, too. Congratulations....
Conservation vs. Development in the Western United States
Land trusts are now protecting more land than gets developed across the western United States each year, according to a new census by the Land Trust Alliance, which represents 1,667 local, state and national land trusts. When this data is compared with the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on new land developed in the United States, it now appears that conservation efforts have protected around 2.6 million acres annually nationwide, compared to approximately 2.2 million acres converted each year to developed land.1 This trend is even more dramatic in the West, where approximately 450,000 acres have been conserved annually in recent years, and 330,000 acres have been developed. These new trends are surprising. But even more surprising is the variation among western states. While annually conservation still trails development in most of the West, in Montana and Colorado conservation efforts now outpace development each year by more than five to one. This comparison of these two datasets demonstrates that conservation now rivals development as a force shaping the land and communities in much of the western United States. In both cases, development and conservation, these changes are envisioned to be relatively permanent, since conservation by acquisition or easement is usually defined to be in perpetuity. But these trends also raise intriguing and important questions about priorities, efficiency, rationality, equity, permanence and change in conservation and development in the West. At the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West, we continue to follow and examine these trends and invite you to send any insights and comments and questions on this to jonchristensen@stanford.edu. Jon Christensen is a research fellow at the Center for Environmental Science and Policy and a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at Stanford University....
Animal Rights High Priest Undermines His Acolytes
An unprecedented admission from its intellectual godfather is sending shock waves through the animal rights movement this week. In a documentary broadcast Monday night on British television, Princeton Professor Peter Singer acknowledged that some medical testing involving animals -- traditionally pegged as an animal rights no-no -- is in fact morally acceptable. Coming from virtually anyone else, such a statement wouldn't be much of a story. (Most people understand that some research on living creatures is and has always been essential to scientific advancement.) But Singer is the author of Animal Liberation -- the 1975 philosophical treatise that inspired generations of animal rights zealots, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) founder Ingrid Newkirk. Singer's admission came when Dr. Tipu Aziz -- whose research using primates has led to treatments for people suffering from Parkinson's disease -- told him on camera that "to date 40,000 people have been made better with [the procedure Dr. Aziz has developed], and ... I would guess only 100 monkeys were used at a few laboratories." Singer replied: Well, I think if you put a case like that, clearly I would have to agree that was a justifiable experiment ... It is clear at least some animal research does have benefits. I would certainly not say that no animal research could be justified and the case you have given sounds like one that is justified.
The Bloomberg Diet
ou might think that officials in New York City, which has more people than all but 11 states, had enough to do providing basic city services. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes that what New Yorkers really need is a better diet, and he's just the man to order it. A politician's work is never done. At the mayor's urging this week, New York's Board of Health voted to ban restaurant use of artificial trans fats, those liquid oils made solid through hydrogenation and found in all manner of fried, baked and processed foods. Many of these products aren't particularly healthy, but then neither are many products people enjoy that contain sugar and caffeine, substances that New York hasn't outlawed. At least not yet. "We're just trying to make food safer," said Mayor Bloomberg, who nixed smoking in bars a few years back. The city's concern for the health of residents is understandable, but trans fats are not E. coli (or even secondhand smoke), and the federal Food and Drug Administration still considers these chemically modified food ingredients perfectly safe for consumption. Could it be that Mayor Mike has been taken in by activist Gotham health czars and national Naderite "watchdog" outfits like Michael Jacobson's Center for Science in the Public Interest, among others pushing a larger agenda? You wouldn't know it from the media coverage, but the science on the dangers of trans fats is still being debated, which helps explain FDA approval of the ingredient. It also explains why the American Heart Association, while no fan of trans fats, was critical of the New York proposal and fears it may backfire if food outlets revert to even less healthy alternatives....
Desert Dreams
Although five cowboys had already clinched world titles heading into Saturday's 10th and final round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, there was no shortage of drama as contestants in three events sweated it out until the very end. A record crowd of 18,224 watched contestants win world titles in team roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing in the Thomas & Mack Center, the home of the Wrangler NFR since 1985. Team ropers Matt Sherwood (Queen Creek, Ariz.) and Allen Bach (Weatherford, Texas) claimed titles in heading and heeling, respectively, becoming the first non-partners to claim world titles since the event was split into two categories in 1995...Earlier, steer wrestler Dean Gorsuch (Gering, Neb.) clinched his first world title by throwing his final-round steer in 3.6 seconds, giving him the average title and enough money to rally past 2004 World Champion Luke Branquinho on the final night. Gorsuch ended the year with $194,268, about $14,000 more than Branquinho...Barrel racer Mary Burger (Pauls Valley, Okla.) placed second on Saturday with a run of 13.75 seconds and held off regular-season standings leader Brittany Pozzi (Victoria, Texas) by some $2,500. For Burger, the 58-year old earned her first world title. Pozzi finished sixth in Round 10 with a time of 14.14 to win the Wrangler NFR average title, but a fourth-place finish — just .09 seconds away — would have given her the world title...Tie-down roper Cody Ohl (Hico, Texas) won his fifth event gold buckle and sixth overall on Saturday. His 2006 season will go down in history as the best ever in his event as he earned $298,112, including a Wrangler NFR-best $132,652 among tie-down ropers....
Although five cowboys had already clinched world titles heading into Saturday's 10th and final round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, there was no shortage of drama as contestants in three events sweated it out until the very end. A record crowd of 18,224 watched contestants win world titles in team roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing in the Thomas & Mack Center, the home of the Wrangler NFR since 1985. Team ropers Matt Sherwood (Queen Creek, Ariz.) and Allen Bach (Weatherford, Texas) claimed titles in heading and heeling, respectively, becoming the first non-partners to claim world titles since the event was split into two categories in 1995...Earlier, steer wrestler Dean Gorsuch (Gering, Neb.) clinched his first world title by throwing his final-round steer in 3.6 seconds, giving him the average title and enough money to rally past 2004 World Champion Luke Branquinho on the final night. Gorsuch ended the year with $194,268, about $14,000 more than Branquinho...Barrel racer Mary Burger (Pauls Valley, Okla.) placed second on Saturday with a run of 13.75 seconds and held off regular-season standings leader Brittany Pozzi (Victoria, Texas) by some $2,500. For Burger, the 58-year old earned her first world title. Pozzi finished sixth in Round 10 with a time of 14.14 to win the Wrangler NFR average title, but a fourth-place finish — just .09 seconds away — would have given her the world title...Tie-down roper Cody Ohl (Hico, Texas) won his fifth event gold buckle and sixth overall on Saturday. His 2006 season will go down in history as the best ever in his event as he earned $298,112, including a Wrangler NFR-best $132,652 among tie-down ropers....
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