NEWS ROUNDUP
Supreme Court - ESA does not trump the CWA On June 25, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 split decision in National Association of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife, 2007 WL 1801745, that is expected to have far-reaching implications. The decision addressed the intersection of two independent statutes--the Clean Water Act (the "CWA") and the Endangered Species Act (the "ESA")--and answered the twin questions of whether the ESA constitutes a "super statute" that effectively overrides or repeals other statutes, and whether the ESA consultation requirement can be read to impose additional substantive obligations on an agency to protect listed species when such obligations are otherwise absent under the agency’s organic authority. The case arose as a result of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (the "EPA") decision to transfer the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program under CWA section 402(b) to the state of Arizona. That section of the CWA provides "that the EPA ‘shall approve’ a transfer application unless it determines that a state lacks adequate authority to perform the nine functions specified in the section." 33 U.S.C. § 1362(b). The Supreme Court’s decision confirms that the list under CWA section 402(b) is both exclusive and mandatory and is not to be enlarged by the ESA. The Court emphasized that because Arizona’s application satisfied all nine criteria, the EPA lacked the discretion to make any decision other than to approve the transfer to Arizona, and the consultation requirement under ESA section 7(a)(2) was simply not triggered in this case. As reasoned by the Court, any other interpretation would have resulted in a partial repeal of the CWA, with the ESA imposing a 10 criterion on the transfer of permitting authority a result that the Court went to great lengths to reject. According to the Court, "nothing in the text of section 402(b) authorizes the EPA to consider the protection of threatened or endangered species as an end in itself when evaluating a transfer application." The majority’s opinion has the effect of scaling back the breadth with which the Ninth Circuit had previously inflated the consultation provision. ESA section 7(a)(2) requires each federal agency to ensure that any action authorized, funded or carried out by such agency is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species. 16 U.S.C. §1536 (a)(2). In reversing the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in this case, the majority opinion deferred to the ESA’s implementing regulations and held that the consultation requirement does not override other statutory authorities and is only triggered when a federal agency undertakes a discretionary agency action, as stated in 50 C.F.R. § 402.03. Conversely, an agency is not obligated to engage in the consultation process when it undertakes an action that is mandated by statute. The Court explained that when an agency is required to do something by statute, it simply lacks the power to ensure that such action will not jeopardize endangered species, and thus, in those situations, is not obligated to conduct a consultation under ESA section 7(a)(2)....
Backfire jumps line, forcing evacuations Firefighters suffered a setback while trying to tame a raging wildfire near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday after flames from a backfire they set to keep the blaze from reaching more houses jumped a fireline, trapping two firefighters and prompting a fresh round of evacuations. The two firefighters were part of a group working to protect the Tallac Village development in South Lake Tahoe when the wind picked up and sent the backfire swooping down on them, said Chuck Dickson, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman. The blaze descended so quickly the pair were forced to deploy the emergency shelters firefighters carry to protect themselves during burnovers as a last resort, Dickson said. They were uninjured and managed to walk out of the new burn area, he said. As a fresh plume of black smoke billowed over Lake Tahoe, the new arm of the wildfire prompted the mandatory evacuation of the entire Tallac subdivision. It was unclear how many homes were subject to the order....
Editorial: A legacy of catastrophic fires As if the devastation caused by the Angora fire at Lake Tahoe isn't sickening enough, the political grandstanding that is now taking place on Capitol Hill in its wake is sure to turn your stomach. With the fires that have already caused upwards of $100 million in property damage and left scores of people homeless still raging, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid on Tuesday issued a press release heralding legislation that he and Sen. John Ensign introduced last week to help ranchers prevent rangeland wildfires ... as if the people living around Lake Tahoe are supposed to find some comfort in that revelation. For some equally irrelevant reason, Reid also pointed out that last year - last year - he and Ensign passed legislation providing more than $200 million for hazardous fuels reduction in the Tahoe basin to prevent catastrophic fires like the Angora fire. What does that have to do with the tragedy unfolding at Lake Tahoe this year, except to make some kind of perverted, self-serving claim to foresight and vision on this issue at a time when nobody really cares about Harry Reid's illusions of grandeur, foresight or vision? It gets worse. Reid's propaganda machine also wants you to understand that the Bush administration has been a total failure on fire suppression and prevention, as demonstrated by its opposition to additional funding in the U.S. Forest Service's already bloated fire fighting budget. Anybody who has investigated the Forest Service fire fighting organization understands that thousands of bureaucrats have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo of not cutting trees ... and reducing forest fuel loads. It's called big budgets, big egos, adrenaline, double time and hazard pay. Too bad Reid forgot to mention how his colleagues in the Democratic Party have blocked every reasonable attempt to restore some sense of multiple-use management of National Forest lands, i.e., commercial logging. Working in concert with their friends from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and other environmental extremists, the Democrats have, through the Endangered Species Act, wilderness areas, roadless areas, and their corollaries, prescribed forest conditions that guarantee more of what is destroying Lake Tahoe this week....
NBC Features Woman Blaming Wildfires on Environmental Regulations On Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, while reporting from Lake Tahoe, correspondent George Lewis relayed one homeowner's complaint that environmental regulations had contributed to the danger of wildfires in the area. She further contended that the only reason her home survived was because she had cleared away brush near her home in violation of the law. Lewis: "She blames environmentalists and bureaucrats for creating rules that, in her opinion, increased the fire hazard. Says she had to break the law to clear brush off adjacent federal land." Below is a complete transcript of the report by George Lewis from the Tuesday June 26 NBC Nightly News: GEORGE LEWIS: As the fire has jumped those lines, additional evacuations of people who live here are under way. This, as people who live in the previously burned areas were trying to get back home. This morning, after she pleaded, argued and reasoned with the authorities, Sue Abrams was granted permission to return to her home, still standing in one of the burned out areas. SUE ABRAMS: The fence is gone, most of my landscaping is gone, but we have our home. My neighbor Jason's over there right now. He doesn't have a home. It's gone. LEWIS: She blames environmentalists and bureaucrats for creating rules that, in her opinion, increased the fire hazard. Says she had to break the law to clear brush off adjacent federal land. ABRAMS: I took the chance and said, "Okay, come arrest me."....
CO2 seen as key to increasing oil production Wyoming oil producers desperately want to divert streams of greenhouse gas currently being vented into the atmosphere and pump them into aging oil fields for permanent storage. The producers' main goal may not be rooted in concerns over climate change. Nonetheless, the capture and storage of carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas contributing to climate change - is key to reviving oil production for the next 30 years and beyond in Wyoming. The Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute estimates that some 20 trillion cubic feet of CO2 could be sequestered in Wyoming's oil basins. The institute held a forum in Casper Tuesday, bringing together those who produce CO2 and those who want CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. "CO2 is deathly expensive here," said John Dobitz, senior vice president of Rancher Energy Corp. In many oil fields, as much as 60 percent of the original oil reserve remains unproduced after conventional low-pressure recovery methods. In enhanced oil recovery, alternate flows of water and CO2 are pumped into an oil reservoir, sweeping additional volumes of oil to production wells. After several years of "CO2 flooding" at the Salt Creek field in central Wyoming, Anadarko Petroleum helped stop Wyoming's annual 5 percent decline in oil production in 2006. But there are hundreds of old oil fields that don't yet have access to CO2....
Ospreys, swans struggling to keep numbers up in yellowstone Fish-eating ospreys are becoming rarer on Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park, mostly because of a drastic decline in native cutthroat trout. Terry McEneaney, Yellow-stone's ornithologist, said only nine nesting pairs of ospreys were observed on the lake last year and that the population in that area appears to be declining "at a staggering rate." "I go out there and I see very few osprey anymore," McEneaney said. "I used to see 20 or 30 in a day, and now I'm lucky to see a couple." Trumpeter swans, one of Yellowstone's signature birds, also continue to decline, reaching some of their lowest numbers since the 1930s, according to a 2006 report on the park's birds. The number of swans in Yellowstone has dropped steadily since 1961 and now stands at 14, McEneaney said. Although the bird is surviving elsewhere in North America, Yellowstone's small, long-running population continues its struggle....
BLM examining climate change If the West becomes warmer and drier, the Bureau of Land Management hopes to be in a position to respond, Acting Director Jim Hughes said Tuesday in a visit to the agency's office in Billings. "The department has put together a Global Climate Change Task Force to answer some of the questions," he said. "We want to know where we can make a difference and where we can't." Task force members will try to find the best available science, determine what effects global warming will have and what should be done about it, Hughes said in the final day of a swing through Montana that started in Great Falls and included the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument. He will travel to Casper, Wyo., today. BLM will be looking for answers to a myriad of questions. What, for instance, should be done about species that expand their range in response to climate change? Should BLM attempt to clear the invading plants and animals, or accept the change and try to manage it?....
GAO report criticizes federal agencies on firefighting The Government Accountability Office on Tuesday released a report highly critical of federal agencies' efforts to rein in the costs of managing wildfires, while some senators pushed the agencies to more actively manage forests to prevent fires. Federal officials disputed the charges in the GAO report, which was released at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The report was pointedly titled "Lack of Clear Goals or a Strategy Hinders Federal Agencies' Efforts to Contain the Costs of Fighting Fires." Robin Nazzaro of the GAO testified that the Forest Service and Interior Department have begun steps to address problem areas found by previous studies. But the effects of the actions are unknown because many steps have not been completed, she said. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the top Republican on the committee, said he was in Montana last summer while the Derby fire raged. He displayed a picture of it and said much of the carbon captured by the trees and soil in the forest was released into the atmosphere when they burned. Domenici said many areas of national forests are "embarrassing" because they are so infested with insects and rotten trees. "Nothing is done, or by the time you get around to it, the trees are no good," he said....
Our View The defeat for Harvey Robbins, a Wyoming rancher who became a target for BLM harassment after he refused to grant a right of way across his land, might further embolden petty tyrants in federal land agencies, who now know they can abuse their positions, and citizens, with impunity. Robbins fought for the right of average citizens to hold individuals in government accountable for abuses of power. But only two justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens, sided with the individual over the state. “The record is replete with accounts of trespasses to Robbins’ property, vindictive cancelations of his rights to access federal land and unjustified or selective enforcement actions,” Ginsburg wrote in a dissent. This “seven-year campaign of harassment” had “a devastating impact on Robbins’ business.” The majority sympathized with government, however. Such suits “would invite claims in every sphere of legitimate governmental action affecting property interests, from negotiating tax claim settlements to enforcing Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations,” worried Justice David Souter. But what’s wrong with that, if government officials, in the course are all the good deed doing, are found to be trampling the rights of citizens?
Rancher's tactics didn't fly The legal battle between the Bureau of Land Management and Hot Springs County rancher was much more a fight over tort damages than a battle over grazing on public lands, said an attorney for a conservation group. Rather than continue sparring with the BLM over grazing violations, Robbins and his attorney, Karen Budd-Falen, took a new approach: a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act claim and a similarly grounded claim that BLM employees had violated Robbins’ Fifth Amendment rights. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that the federal employees did not have immunity from the Fifth Amendment claim or the allegations under the racketeering law. But the nation's high court found otherwise Monday, rejecting the Fifth Amendment claim on a 7-2 vote and the racketeering case 9-0. Lucas said the lawsuit was a creative legal tactic used by Robbins’ legal team to picture the rancher as “a little guy versus the big, bad government.” It didn’t work, Lucas said, because the majority of the court wasn’t willing to create a new arena of claims against the federal government, based on this case. Budd-Falen said Monday she was disappointed by the Supreme Court ruling. “It looks like the government can use any means to coerce individuals to give up easements,” she said, referring to the large number of harassing tactics allegedly used by the BLM. William Perry Pendley, president and chief legal officer of the conservative law firm Mountain States Legal Foundation, also expressed disappointed in the ruling. “It is consistent with this court’s rollback of remedies available to citizens, in the face of government abuse,” he said. “Yet this case should not have reached the Supreme Court; instead, these bureaucrats should have been reined in. Shame on the BLM; shame on the Department of the Interior; and shame on the Bush administration for turning a blind eye to this abuse.”....You wouldn't know it from these excerpts, but if you are looking for an example of extremely biased news reporting, click on the link above to this article.
Grouse and gas An awkward industrial dance is playing out on the sage flats of the West, a lopsided coupling of billion-dollar energy companies and a skittish ground bird prone to flee at first sight of a drilling rig. If the bird, the greater sage grouse, lands on the endangered species list as some propose, that could put the brakes on the oil and gas activity surging through Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Montana. So during spring breeding, companies working some of the nation's richest gas fields let rigs go idle for months at a time rather than risk interrupting sage grouse mating rituals. Roads to oil and gas wells are rerouted to skirt the bird's territory. Power lines are buried to deny hunting perches to grouse-eating raptors. If those measures don't work, some companies are pledging tens of millions of dollars to recreate sage grouse habitat. But as another breeding season ends this month and rigs again roll through the sage, a chorus of federal and university biologists and state officials says the companies' grouse conservation efforts are failing. With decades of drilling still planned, they say the industry must either redouble conservation or risk pushing sage grouse off the landscape....
Team begins grouse study An independent research group is jumping in to the sage grouse fray, trying to determine the impact of predators, humans and Mother Nature on the birds. Craighead Beringia South, a research and educational institute based in Kelly, has received about $62,000 from the state to begin a three-year project looking at sage grouse in the Jackson area, and in two areas of the Upper Green River Valley. The institute will be the first to put GPS transmitters on sage grouse and ravens to watch the interplay between certain predators and prey. The research comes as the state is developing sage grouse conservation plans. Sage grouse have been declining in the West, and work is ongoing to protect habitat and prevent the bird from being federally protected. Quigley said the research on grouse "should have been started five years ago," but Beringia is working to study lek breeding -- sites that include the Ryegrass area in Pinedale, and the Pinedale Anticline. The Anticline represents an area with sage grouse that is intensely developed; the Ryegrass and Jackson areas are places with little or no development....
Cheney left mark on environment Sue Ellen Wooldridge, the 19th-ranking Interior Department official, arrived at her desk in Room 6140 a few months after Inauguration Day 2001. A phone message awaited her. "This is Dick Cheney," said the man on her voice mail, Wooldridge recalled in an interview. "I understand you are the person handling this Klamath situation. Please call me at — hmm, I guess I don't know my own number. I'm over at the White House." Wooldridge wrote off the message as a prank. It was not. Cheney had reached far down the chain of command, on so unexpected a point of vice presidential concern, because he had spotted a political threat arriving on Wooldridge's desk. In Oregon, a battleground state that the Bush-Cheney ticket had lost by less than half of 1 percent, drought-stricken farmers and ranchers were about to be cut off from the irrigation water that kept their cropland and pastures green. Federal biologists said the Endangered Species Act left the government no choice: The survival of two imperiled species of fish was at stake. Law and science seemed to be on the side of the fish. Then the vice president stepped in....
City officials hoping for hotel property's sale to developer City officials have been working quietly for more than a year on behalf of the developer of the DoubleTree Hotel to encourage the land's current owners to sell it to Harry Wu, the developer and lease holder of the hotel. The city's work assisting Wu began after talks between Wu and the owners about a possible sale broke down, the owners said. The city sent a letter to the owners threatening the use of eminent domain a year ago and have since had several meetings with the owners. The City Council is meeting in closed session tonight to discuss the issue. The city is hoping the owners sell because Wu's lease to operate the hotel expires in about 14 years. Wu completed a $10 million overhaul of the hotel last year, and he wants to ensure that the expense was not wasted, city officials said. Rolland Towne, co-owner of the property, said he believes that before Wu purchased the hotel in 2005, Wu was given assurances by the city that a deal would be worked out for him to gain ownership of the land, with the city invoking its powers of eminent domain if necessary. "(Wu) knew what was going to happen before he went to us," Towne said. "He wouldn't have bought the hotel" unless he had assurances from the city....
Biofuels to blame as beer prices soar 40 per cent in Germany Biofuels may be good for the environment, but they are bad news for German beer drinkers. Prices in the country's pubs look set to rise by 40 per cent this year, because Germany's farmers are growing less barley for beer production and more crops for biodiesel and bioethanol. The head of the German brewers' association, Richard Weber, has caused outrage among friends of the annual Oktoberfest beer jamboree by predicting the hefty price rise. He pointed out that the German barley crop has been halved this year and that prices have soared by 50 per cent within 12 months. Poor-quality harvests, caused by unusually hot weather, have not helped either. As a result, Germany's brewers, which insist on the purity of their beer and offer organic brands to emphasise their green-tinged credentials, have turned over a new leaf. They are now demanding an end to the use of crops to make fuel....
Web site offers a dating service for farmers Bullboy is 24 and looking for company between rodeos. Strawman is a "down-to-earth cowpoke in search of a like-minded individual." "Critters and horse mom" insists you must be an animal lover "to get near my barn." Members of FarmersOnly.com say they want more than the proverbial roll in the hay. They want that special someone who won't be jealous of a field of cattle or expect vacations during harvest. If Harley drivers, Jewish singles, Democrats, Republicans and born-again Christians can have their own online dating services, why not farmers? Founder Jerry Miller, an Ohio ad representative, pondered that question after hearing the same song from his rural clients. Miller, 54, interviewed farmers, ranchers and rural residents across the country before launching the site 18 months ago. Whether they worked with crops, cattle, organic farms, horses or at the town store, the answers were the same. "They already know everybody, so the dating pool is very small. So what do you do?" he said. "Hang out in the next town at the feed store hoping your mate walks through the door?" Despite the site's credo that "City folks just don't get it," FarmersOnly has pulled in a number of urban types, and they aren't stuffy women from the city bars. The city slickers practically apologize and claim a burning desire to ditch the rat race....
Clean Water for Cows They say you can lead a horse to water, but you can`t make it drink. It might be a little happier to drink water that`s clean and fresh. And if your horse is a cow, and you`re a rancher, that clean water could have a big payoff. Dugouts and stock ponds are a fixture in every rancher`s pasture. Usually those water holes get pretty muddy. You might say it`s in the water. But in this case, it`s what`s not in the water. Cows. "Usually when the cows go to water the whole herd goes all at once. The first cow gets fresh water, and the rest get muddy water. By the time the calves get there it`s pretty polluted up," says Jim Hopfauf, a rancher near St. Anthony. But not anymore. This portable pump moves water from these ponds to this tank, where cows can drink at their leisure. "If they drink fresh water, the cows and calves will gain more weight and have better health," Jim says. The surrounding area also has some better health. There are environmental benefits to the pumping system. Two years ago this pond was surrounded by mud. Now it`s surrounded by lush green grass....
Japanese cow herd coddled for 12 years to make Kobe beef Even by the standards of Texas -- where beef is no trivial matter -- rancher Jose Antonio Elias Calles (KAH'-yehs) has coddled his cattle. The livestock imported from Japan are guarded by off-duty Texas Rangers and kept away from American bulls that might contaminate their coveted gene pool. They're meticulously reared for 12 years before a single hamburger could be sold. Japanese cattle -- which come in red and black varieties -- are a closely guarded national treasure. Their beef is often called "Kobe (KOH'-beh) beef" by American restaurants, where it commands staggering prices. But it's cherished by chefs and foodies for its thorough marbling of fat that gives the meat tenderness and rich flavor. On a 0 to 12 quality scale used to rate beef in Japan, where heavy fat marbling is preferred, Kobe rates a minimum nine points and Angus beef 4.5. Calles' beef rate around 7.5 to 8.5....
AJ ghost town celebrates the cowboy way If you sport a clean-shaven chin and have an enormous mustache to boot, organizers of The National Day of the American Cowboy celebration in Apache Junction want you to keep it that way - at least until July 28. That's the day that the country will celebrate the day of the cowboy and the cowgirl. The National Day of the American Cowboy - this year July 28 as proclaimed by the U.S. Senate - recognizes the contributions of cowboys and cowgirls and the Western culture that includes rodeo athletes, musicians, poets, artists and ranchers. On that day, Goldfield Ghost Town will have cowboys parading through the streets, a fast draw contest, a Texas hold 'em poker tournament, skits and gunfights by the Goldfield Gunfighters and performing cowboy poets among many other Wild West themed festivities. Included, too, is the Earp-Holliday Mustache Contest,which seeks to select the West's best-dressed upper lip....
Stories of the ‘Duke’ enliven meeting Three southern Arizona men who knew film superstar John Wayne talked Tuesday about their memories of him, including a cavalry charge that went awry in a Civil War epic. They were Bob Shelton, founder of the Old Tucson movie studio, local TV personality Don Collier who acted in some of Wayne’s westerns and Teddy Wingfield whose family owned a ranch where the movie star often visited. Collier was one of the actors in a scene where rebel cavalry prepared to overrun Union forces, headed by Wayne. After much discussion between the movie makers and Wayne about a dozen rebel riders were placed between each of 15 canons. “We were probably going to lose this battle,” Collier recalled. But when the canons fired, pandemonium reigned. “The horses were bucking and falling down” and running wild said Collier. He added: “Yeah, we won that one.” Wingfield recalled that his father, rancher Ralph Wingfield, was a fast friend of Wayne’s, often coming here to spend time away from Hollywood....
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
FLE
Bush domestic spying program flawed, former FISA court chief says The former chief judge of a secret national security court took a swipe Saturday at the administration’s recently halted domestic spying program and said he insisted from the outset that the information gleaned must not be co-mingled with intelligence gathered under court warrants. Because of that precaution, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said, he never had to rule on whether President Bush had the power to launch the separate, warrantless spying program in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Lamberth's seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ended in May 2002. In a rare public appearance, at the American Library Association’s annual conference and a brief chat afterward with reporters, Lamberth also said that the FBI could have avoided a huge flap over its mishandling of thousands of letter demands for phone, email, bank and other private records with a more centralized procedure. If FBI Director Robert Mueller had required that a supervisor at bureau headquarters approve each of those National Security Letters, he said, uniform standards could have been applied and mistakes eliminated. He also assured librarians that members of the secret court are sensitive to civil liberties. "The judges understand that the war has to be fought, but not at all costs," he said. Lamberth declined to say whether he believes the National Security Agency’s wiretap program was illegal. But he said he has "never seen a better way" to conduct domestic spying than under the national security court created by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The court secretly approves warrants for wiretaps and searches in counterterrorism and espionage investigations. "I’ve seen a proposal for a worse way," Lamberth said. "That’s what the president did with the NSA program."....
'It is time to put right the wrongs' EVIDENCE against the Lockerbie bomber was fabricated and manipulated on both sides of the Atlantic, according to leaked defence documents which appear to undermine the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. Investigators for Megrahi claim to have compelling new evidence of widespread tampering with evidence, missing or overlooked statements, and a concerted attempt to lead investigators away from the original Iranian-backed suspects and towards Libya. Hundreds of new documents and photographs examined by Scotland on Sunday appear to show many aspects of the Lockerbie prosecution were at best incompetent and at worst amounted to an attempt to pervert the course of justice. Last night, legal experts and families of the victims reacted with astonishment and outrage to the revelations. Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the disaster, said: "Scottish justice obviously played a leading part in one of the most disgraceful miscarriages of justice in history. The Americans played their role in the investigation and influenced the prosecution."....
Border fence delayed Technical problems have delayed the launch of a high-tech virtual fence designed to secure a 28-mile stretch of Arizona's border with Mexico. The cutting-edge fence has been touted as the model for controlling 6,000 miles of frontier with Mexico and Canada. The delay comes a week before the U.S. Senate is due to renew the supercharged debate over a proposed immigration-reform bill supported by both Arizona's senators. The bill will live or die on how well the government can guarantee its ability to secure the border. Until the border is secured, key provisions dealing with visas and guest workers would not be enacted. Boeing has installed all nine portable 98-foot towers, cameras, radar and ground sensors. It has fitted 50 patrol vehicles with computer links. Mobile and central command bases have also been linked to the network. The idea is to give front-line agents and commanders up-to-the-second pictures of all the activity in their areas. But the cameras and sensors convey inconsistent information. Software glitches and integrating all the information have proved challenging....
On the Rio Grande, Anger Swells Over Plans for Fence Since 1767, some 150 acres of wooded riverfront along the Rio Grande has belonged to the family of Cecilia Ramirez Benavides, land granted to her ancestors by Spanish settlers who colonized Mexico, or New Spain, as it was then known. Generations later, much of the Ramirez tract, with its mile of riverbank, remains undisturbed, overrun by huge mesquite and ebony trees, thick clusters of prickly pear cactus and chaparral. It is inhabited by the endangered ocelot -- only 100 are believed to remain in the United States -- the bright-orange Altamira oriole with its distinctive whistle and huge, pouchlike woven nests, and the green jay, with its bright-blue nape. Already, the modern world has intruded on this privately owned mini-nature preserve. Cecilia Benavides and her husband, Noel Benavides Sr., have given the Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Guard permanent access to their land to apprehend illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. But the Department of Homeland Security's latest entreaty is where the couple have decided they must draw the line. Their tranquil piece of riverfront -- owned by the Ramirez clan long before northern Mexico became Texas -- lies directly in the path of the federal government's plan to build 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border....
Your doctor could put you on no-gun list The House of Representatives has fast-tracked new legislation to "improve" the National Instant Criminal Background Check System by allowing doctors to now decide who can own firearms. The proposal, H.R. 2640, was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., in the wake of the April tragedy at Virginia Tech, when a gunman shot and killed more than 30 people, then killed himself. The plan is the first congressional effort to curtail gun ownership rights in a decade, but by being put on the fast track was exempted from the ordinary committee hearings and public scrutiny most proposals are sent through. If the Act passes in the Senate, it would provide grants so states can add the names of criminals to the NICS system, which would label them as unable to own firearms, but it also flags those with medical or psychological issues as unfit to possess a gun. The plan allows names to be entered into the NICS system based solely on a physician's diagnosis or prescription of a medication: adults who have taken Ritalin and soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder would be classified as mentally ill and given the same opportunity to own firearms as convicted felons: None....
CIA to Air Decades of Its Dirty Laundry The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of long-secret records detailing some of the intelligence agency's worst illegal abuses -- the so-called "family jewels" documenting a quarter-century of overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying, kidnapping and infiltration of leftist groups from the 1950s to the 1970s, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said yesterday. The documents, to be publicly released next week, also include accounts of break-ins and theft, the agency's opening of private mail to and from China and the Soviet Union, wiretaps and surveillance of journalists, and a series of "unwitting" tests on U.S. civilians, including the use of drugs. "Most of it is unflattering, but it is CIA's history," Hayden said in a speech to a conference of foreign policy historians. The documents have been sought for decades by historians, journalists and conspiracy theorists and have been the subject of many fruitless Freedom of Information Act requests. A New York Times article by reporter Seymour Hersh about the CIA's infiltration of antiwar groups, published in December 1974, was "just the tip of the iceberg," then-Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger warned Ford, according to a Jan. 3 memorandum of their conversation. Kissinger warned that if other operations were divulged, "blood will flow," saying, "For example, Robert Kennedy personally managed the operation on the assassination of [Cuban President Fidel] Castro." Kennedy was the attorney general from 1961 to 1964....
CIA reveals its tarnished past After fighting to keep them secret for more than three decades, the CIA released hundreds of documents Tuesday that catalog some of the most egregious intelligence abuses of the Cold War, including assassination plots against foreign leaders and illegal efforts to spy on Americans. The records are part of a trove of jealously guarded documents long known within the agency as "the family jewels." Assembled in the early 1970s as part of an internal inquiry of potentially embarrassing or illegal activities, the records were subsequently turned over to Congress, prompting investigations and sweeping intelligence reforms. Indeed, many of the episodes detailed in the 693 pages of newly declassified text read like relics from another time, including elaborate attempts to enlist Mafia operatives to poison Cuban President Fidel Castro. But other documents seem remarkably relevant today, as the nation grapples anew with questions of how much latitude U.S. intelligence agencies should be given, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The documents describe secret CIA holding cells and the possibly illegal detention of a suspected Soviet spy who was held without trial for years at a CIA lockup facility in Maryland before it was determined he was a legitimate defector. They also detail plans to eavesdrop on international phone calls of U.S. residents, and aggressive efforts to root out leaks of classified information to reporters....
FBI Terror Watch List 'Out of Control' A terrorist watch list compiled by the FBI has apparently swelled to include more than half a million names. Privacy and civil liberties advocates say the list is growing uncontrollably, threatening its usefulness in the war on terror. The bureau says the number of names on its terrorist watch list is classified. A portion of the FBI's unclassified 2008 budget request posted to the Department of Justice Web site, however, refers to "the entire watch list of 509,000 names," which is utilized by its Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force. A spokesman for the interagency National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which maintains the government's list of all suspected terrorists with links to international organizations, said they had 465,000 names covering 350,000 individuals. Many names are different versions of the same identity -- "Usama bin Laden" and "Osama bin Laden" for the al Qaeda chief, for example. In addition to the NCTC list, the FBI keeps a list of U.S. persons who are believed to be domestic terrorists -- abortion clinic bombers, for example, or firebombing environmental extremists, who have no known tie to an international terrorist group. Combined, the NCTC and FBI compendia comprise the watch list used by federal security screening personnel on the lookout for terrorists....
GAO: Lack of coordination may have 'compromised' US anti-terror efforts abroad A government oversight report has found a lack of coordination among US law enforcement agencies that in at least one case may have "compromised" efforts abroad to fight international terrorism. The report found more money is being spent fighting the war on drugs than the war on terror. The Government Accountability Office found that agencies tasked with combating terrorism had largely failed to implement formal policies that would guide and measure their progress against terror groups abroad. The GAO found that America's law enforcement community shifted its focus to fighting terrorism in the wake of domestic terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, but little has emerged to guide and measure that shift in focus. "While the national strategies have articulated this change in direction and emphasis," the report says, " they have not provided specific roles, objectives, resources or mechanisms for determining success." GAO investigators visited four US embassies abroad, although the countries visited were not disclosed for national security reasons. Embassy personnel told the GAO that "despite counterterrorism being the embassy's highest priority, they received little to no guidance" on how to pursue those goals. "For example," the report notes, "in one country we visited, the lack of clear roles and responsibilities between two U.S. LEAs [law enforcement agencies] may have compromised several joint operations intended to identify and disrupt potential terrorist activities, according to U.S. and foreign nation LEAs involved in these efforts." In the countries GAO visited, the US government was dedicating more money to "combat illegal drugs and criminals than to combat terrorism," according to the report. Between 2002 and 2006, the report found the State Department spent more than $220 million on anti-drug efforts while spending less than $35 million on anti-terrorism assistance in one country visited....
Librarians Describe Life Under An FBI Gag Order Life in an FBI muzzle is no fun. Two Connecticut librarians on Sunday described what it was like to be slapped with an FBI national security letter and accompanying gag order. It sounded like a spy movie or, gulp, something that happens under a repressive foreign government. Peter Chase and Barbara Bailey, librarians in Plainville, Connecticut, received an NSL to turn over computer records in their library on July 13, 2005. Unlike a suspected thousands of other people around the country, Chase, Bailey and two of their colleagues stood up to the Man and refused to comply, convinced that the feds had no right to intrude on anyone's privacy without a court order (NSLs don't require a judge's approval). That's when things turned ugly. The four librarians under the gag order weren't allowed to talk to each other by phone. So they e-mailed. Later, they weren't allowed to e-mail. After the ACLU took on the case and it went to court in Bridgeport, the librarians were not allowed to attend their own hearing. Instead, they had to watch it on closed circuit TV from a locked courtroom in Hartford, 60 miles away. "Our presence in the courtroom was declared a threat to national security," Chase said. Forced to make information public as the case moved forward, the government resorted to one of its favorite tactics: releasing heavily redacted versions of documents while outing anyone who didn't roll over for Uncle Sam. In this case, they named Chase, despite the fact that he was legally compelled to keep his own identity secret. Then the phone started ringing. Pesky reporters wanted info. One day, the AP called Chase's house and got his son, Sam, on the phone. When Chase got home, he took one look at his son's face. "I could tell something was very wrong," he said. Sam told him the AP had called saying that Chase was being investigated by the FBI. "What's going on?" Sam asked his father. Chase couldn't tell him. For months, he worried about what his son must have been thinking....
Bush domestic spying program flawed, former FISA court chief says The former chief judge of a secret national security court took a swipe Saturday at the administration’s recently halted domestic spying program and said he insisted from the outset that the information gleaned must not be co-mingled with intelligence gathered under court warrants. Because of that precaution, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said, he never had to rule on whether President Bush had the power to launch the separate, warrantless spying program in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Lamberth's seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ended in May 2002. In a rare public appearance, at the American Library Association’s annual conference and a brief chat afterward with reporters, Lamberth also said that the FBI could have avoided a huge flap over its mishandling of thousands of letter demands for phone, email, bank and other private records with a more centralized procedure. If FBI Director Robert Mueller had required that a supervisor at bureau headquarters approve each of those National Security Letters, he said, uniform standards could have been applied and mistakes eliminated. He also assured librarians that members of the secret court are sensitive to civil liberties. "The judges understand that the war has to be fought, but not at all costs," he said. Lamberth declined to say whether he believes the National Security Agency’s wiretap program was illegal. But he said he has "never seen a better way" to conduct domestic spying than under the national security court created by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The court secretly approves warrants for wiretaps and searches in counterterrorism and espionage investigations. "I’ve seen a proposal for a worse way," Lamberth said. "That’s what the president did with the NSA program."....
'It is time to put right the wrongs' EVIDENCE against the Lockerbie bomber was fabricated and manipulated on both sides of the Atlantic, according to leaked defence documents which appear to undermine the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. Investigators for Megrahi claim to have compelling new evidence of widespread tampering with evidence, missing or overlooked statements, and a concerted attempt to lead investigators away from the original Iranian-backed suspects and towards Libya. Hundreds of new documents and photographs examined by Scotland on Sunday appear to show many aspects of the Lockerbie prosecution were at best incompetent and at worst amounted to an attempt to pervert the course of justice. Last night, legal experts and families of the victims reacted with astonishment and outrage to the revelations. Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the disaster, said: "Scottish justice obviously played a leading part in one of the most disgraceful miscarriages of justice in history. The Americans played their role in the investigation and influenced the prosecution."....
Border fence delayed Technical problems have delayed the launch of a high-tech virtual fence designed to secure a 28-mile stretch of Arizona's border with Mexico. The cutting-edge fence has been touted as the model for controlling 6,000 miles of frontier with Mexico and Canada. The delay comes a week before the U.S. Senate is due to renew the supercharged debate over a proposed immigration-reform bill supported by both Arizona's senators. The bill will live or die on how well the government can guarantee its ability to secure the border. Until the border is secured, key provisions dealing with visas and guest workers would not be enacted. Boeing has installed all nine portable 98-foot towers, cameras, radar and ground sensors. It has fitted 50 patrol vehicles with computer links. Mobile and central command bases have also been linked to the network. The idea is to give front-line agents and commanders up-to-the-second pictures of all the activity in their areas. But the cameras and sensors convey inconsistent information. Software glitches and integrating all the information have proved challenging....
On the Rio Grande, Anger Swells Over Plans for Fence Since 1767, some 150 acres of wooded riverfront along the Rio Grande has belonged to the family of Cecilia Ramirez Benavides, land granted to her ancestors by Spanish settlers who colonized Mexico, or New Spain, as it was then known. Generations later, much of the Ramirez tract, with its mile of riverbank, remains undisturbed, overrun by huge mesquite and ebony trees, thick clusters of prickly pear cactus and chaparral. It is inhabited by the endangered ocelot -- only 100 are believed to remain in the United States -- the bright-orange Altamira oriole with its distinctive whistle and huge, pouchlike woven nests, and the green jay, with its bright-blue nape. Already, the modern world has intruded on this privately owned mini-nature preserve. Cecilia Benavides and her husband, Noel Benavides Sr., have given the Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Guard permanent access to their land to apprehend illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. But the Department of Homeland Security's latest entreaty is where the couple have decided they must draw the line. Their tranquil piece of riverfront -- owned by the Ramirez clan long before northern Mexico became Texas -- lies directly in the path of the federal government's plan to build 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border....
Your doctor could put you on no-gun list The House of Representatives has fast-tracked new legislation to "improve" the National Instant Criminal Background Check System by allowing doctors to now decide who can own firearms. The proposal, H.R. 2640, was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., in the wake of the April tragedy at Virginia Tech, when a gunman shot and killed more than 30 people, then killed himself. The plan is the first congressional effort to curtail gun ownership rights in a decade, but by being put on the fast track was exempted from the ordinary committee hearings and public scrutiny most proposals are sent through. If the Act passes in the Senate, it would provide grants so states can add the names of criminals to the NICS system, which would label them as unable to own firearms, but it also flags those with medical or psychological issues as unfit to possess a gun. The plan allows names to be entered into the NICS system based solely on a physician's diagnosis or prescription of a medication: adults who have taken Ritalin and soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder would be classified as mentally ill and given the same opportunity to own firearms as convicted felons: None....
CIA to Air Decades of Its Dirty Laundry The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of long-secret records detailing some of the intelligence agency's worst illegal abuses -- the so-called "family jewels" documenting a quarter-century of overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying, kidnapping and infiltration of leftist groups from the 1950s to the 1970s, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said yesterday. The documents, to be publicly released next week, also include accounts of break-ins and theft, the agency's opening of private mail to and from China and the Soviet Union, wiretaps and surveillance of journalists, and a series of "unwitting" tests on U.S. civilians, including the use of drugs. "Most of it is unflattering, but it is CIA's history," Hayden said in a speech to a conference of foreign policy historians. The documents have been sought for decades by historians, journalists and conspiracy theorists and have been the subject of many fruitless Freedom of Information Act requests. A New York Times article by reporter Seymour Hersh about the CIA's infiltration of antiwar groups, published in December 1974, was "just the tip of the iceberg," then-Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger warned Ford, according to a Jan. 3 memorandum of their conversation. Kissinger warned that if other operations were divulged, "blood will flow," saying, "For example, Robert Kennedy personally managed the operation on the assassination of [Cuban President Fidel] Castro." Kennedy was the attorney general from 1961 to 1964....
CIA reveals its tarnished past After fighting to keep them secret for more than three decades, the CIA released hundreds of documents Tuesday that catalog some of the most egregious intelligence abuses of the Cold War, including assassination plots against foreign leaders and illegal efforts to spy on Americans. The records are part of a trove of jealously guarded documents long known within the agency as "the family jewels." Assembled in the early 1970s as part of an internal inquiry of potentially embarrassing or illegal activities, the records were subsequently turned over to Congress, prompting investigations and sweeping intelligence reforms. Indeed, many of the episodes detailed in the 693 pages of newly declassified text read like relics from another time, including elaborate attempts to enlist Mafia operatives to poison Cuban President Fidel Castro. But other documents seem remarkably relevant today, as the nation grapples anew with questions of how much latitude U.S. intelligence agencies should be given, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The documents describe secret CIA holding cells and the possibly illegal detention of a suspected Soviet spy who was held without trial for years at a CIA lockup facility in Maryland before it was determined he was a legitimate defector. They also detail plans to eavesdrop on international phone calls of U.S. residents, and aggressive efforts to root out leaks of classified information to reporters....
FBI Terror Watch List 'Out of Control' A terrorist watch list compiled by the FBI has apparently swelled to include more than half a million names. Privacy and civil liberties advocates say the list is growing uncontrollably, threatening its usefulness in the war on terror. The bureau says the number of names on its terrorist watch list is classified. A portion of the FBI's unclassified 2008 budget request posted to the Department of Justice Web site, however, refers to "the entire watch list of 509,000 names," which is utilized by its Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force. A spokesman for the interagency National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which maintains the government's list of all suspected terrorists with links to international organizations, said they had 465,000 names covering 350,000 individuals. Many names are different versions of the same identity -- "Usama bin Laden" and "Osama bin Laden" for the al Qaeda chief, for example. In addition to the NCTC list, the FBI keeps a list of U.S. persons who are believed to be domestic terrorists -- abortion clinic bombers, for example, or firebombing environmental extremists, who have no known tie to an international terrorist group. Combined, the NCTC and FBI compendia comprise the watch list used by federal security screening personnel on the lookout for terrorists....
GAO: Lack of coordination may have 'compromised' US anti-terror efforts abroad A government oversight report has found a lack of coordination among US law enforcement agencies that in at least one case may have "compromised" efforts abroad to fight international terrorism. The report found more money is being spent fighting the war on drugs than the war on terror. The Government Accountability Office found that agencies tasked with combating terrorism had largely failed to implement formal policies that would guide and measure their progress against terror groups abroad. The GAO found that America's law enforcement community shifted its focus to fighting terrorism in the wake of domestic terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, but little has emerged to guide and measure that shift in focus. "While the national strategies have articulated this change in direction and emphasis," the report says, " they have not provided specific roles, objectives, resources or mechanisms for determining success." GAO investigators visited four US embassies abroad, although the countries visited were not disclosed for national security reasons. Embassy personnel told the GAO that "despite counterterrorism being the embassy's highest priority, they received little to no guidance" on how to pursue those goals. "For example," the report notes, "in one country we visited, the lack of clear roles and responsibilities between two U.S. LEAs [law enforcement agencies] may have compromised several joint operations intended to identify and disrupt potential terrorist activities, according to U.S. and foreign nation LEAs involved in these efforts." In the countries GAO visited, the US government was dedicating more money to "combat illegal drugs and criminals than to combat terrorism," according to the report. Between 2002 and 2006, the report found the State Department spent more than $220 million on anti-drug efforts while spending less than $35 million on anti-terrorism assistance in one country visited....
Librarians Describe Life Under An FBI Gag Order Life in an FBI muzzle is no fun. Two Connecticut librarians on Sunday described what it was like to be slapped with an FBI national security letter and accompanying gag order. It sounded like a spy movie or, gulp, something that happens under a repressive foreign government. Peter Chase and Barbara Bailey, librarians in Plainville, Connecticut, received an NSL to turn over computer records in their library on July 13, 2005. Unlike a suspected thousands of other people around the country, Chase, Bailey and two of their colleagues stood up to the Man and refused to comply, convinced that the feds had no right to intrude on anyone's privacy without a court order (NSLs don't require a judge's approval). That's when things turned ugly. The four librarians under the gag order weren't allowed to talk to each other by phone. So they e-mailed. Later, they weren't allowed to e-mail. After the ACLU took on the case and it went to court in Bridgeport, the librarians were not allowed to attend their own hearing. Instead, they had to watch it on closed circuit TV from a locked courtroom in Hartford, 60 miles away. "Our presence in the courtroom was declared a threat to national security," Chase said. Forced to make information public as the case moved forward, the government resorted to one of its favorite tactics: releasing heavily redacted versions of documents while outing anyone who didn't roll over for Uncle Sam. In this case, they named Chase, despite the fact that he was legally compelled to keep his own identity secret. Then the phone started ringing. Pesky reporters wanted info. One day, the AP called Chase's house and got his son, Sam, on the phone. When Chase got home, he took one look at his son's face. "I could tell something was very wrong," he said. Sam told him the AP had called saying that Chase was being investigated by the FBI. "What's going on?" Sam asked his father. Chase couldn't tell him. For months, he worried about what his son must have been thinking....
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
GAO
Wildland Fire Management: Lack of Clear Goals or a Strategy Hinders Federal Agencies' Efforts to Contain the Costs of Fighting Fires. GAO-07-655, June 1.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-655
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07655high.pdf
Wildland Fire Management: Lack of Clear Goals or a Strategy Hinders Federal Agencies' Efforts to Contain the Costs of Fighting Fires. GAO-07-655, June 1.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-655
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07655high.pdf
NEWS ROUNDUP
New Mexico county wants to remove wolf from ranch Catron County has put the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on notice that it intends to trap and remove a Mexican gray wolf it says has been stalking a southwestern New Mexico ranch. The wolf _ designated AF924 for alpha female 924 _ was released in the county April 25. The next day, county officials demanded it be removed as an "imminent danger." Fish and Wildlife rejected the demand. Catron County officials said Monday that the wolf has been seen around Mike and Debbie Miller's ranch since her release and that they twice asked Fish and Wildlife to remove the animal. On Thursday, the county issued a "24-hour notice of intent" to trap the wolf and turn her over to Fish and Wildlife. "We'd like to trap her and give her back," County Manager Bill Aymar said by telephone from his office in Reserve. Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Charna Lefton said the agency received the county's notice Friday. But, she said, it has no reason to remove the wolf under the rules of the 1998 program to reintroduce endangered Mexican gray wolves into the Southwest. The rules call for Fish and Wildlife to remove any wolf linked to three livestock killings within a year. AF924 killed two cows before being released in Catron County. Aymar said the county wants her moved before she kills a third _ subjecting her to the program's own three strikes rule. Debbie Miller said wolves show up near the ranch house and barn as well as a calving area five miles away. Two hung around the barn for four hours Sunday, she said....
Sage grouse summit seeks elusive nature, energy balance In calling for this week's Sage Grouse Summit in Casper, Governor Dave Freudenthal said the consequences of ignoring sage grouse issues would be “dire for both the bird and all interested parties,” including the agriculture and oil and gas industries. "We have a narrow window of opportunity to protect the grouse and prevent it from being listed as an endangered species,” Freudenthal said. Yet the only conservation organization invited to participate in the summit is one that resists an Endangered Species Act listing for the embattled bird - the National Wildlife Federation. In addition to state and federal officials, the summit features three representatives of the energy industry, one rancher, a former wildlife agency executive and members of the state’s eight sage grouse working groups. The summit coincides with ongoing efforts in federal court in Idaho to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to extend Endangered Species Act protection to the grouse, an action that could cripple energy development in Wyoming and the West. Sage grouse occupy about 44 percent of their native habitat in the 11-state region of the West where they were originally found....
Open Season on Open Space Though it took 300 million years to create, the wilderness around Dead Horse Point could change in short order. A Denver-based company called Intrepid Oil and Gas has filed plans to drill two wells on park grounds, including one right next to the visitors center. Another firm, Aviara Energy, has permits for three wells on 23,000 acres of high desert between the park and nearby Canyonlands. Other oil companies have received leases in the neighboring Lockhart Basin and the sprawling Dome Plateau near Arches, both of which have been proposed as national wilderness areas. "Pretty much wherever people hike, they're going to see oil wells," says Dranginis. Even before the Senate blocked proposals to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in April, the Bush administration was moving to accelerate energy production across the West -- often targeting highly sensitive areas that have remained largely closed to exploration and drilling. In Utah, the proposed drilling would do more than spoil scenic views -- it also threatens crucial habitat for desert bighorn sheep and cougars, as well as eagles and other raptors. Last September, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which controls mineral rights on much of the public land in the region, allowed 52,000-pound "thumper" trucks to pound the ground near Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands, searching for oil with seismic measuring equipment. The trucks crushed ancient stands of juniper, left fragile desert soil vulnerable to erosion, and cut 176 miles of new roads. In February, a federal review board halted similar exploration in the Dome Plateau, saying the BLM had failed to conduct environmental reviews mandated by federal law....
Lake Tahoe Fire, Worst in a Century, Forces 1,000 to Evacuate The worst wildfire in a century in California's Lake Tahoe region continued to burn overnight after destroying more than 180 buildings and forcing about 1,000 people to evacuate. ``We have really not seen a fire of this magnitude, with this structure loss, in at least 100 years,'' Ken Pimlott, a state fire safety official, told reporters yesterday. The fire has scorched more than 2,500 acres (10.1 square kilometers), Jackie Faike, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said in a telephone interview last night. As many as 220 buildings were destroyed, and 500 more are threatened. The fire, 40 percent contained, should be extinguished by July 1, Faike said. The blaze started two days earlier near the town of Meyers, about 4 miles (6.6 kilometers) south of the lake. California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, filling in for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is traveling, declared a state of emergency as officials tried to determine the cause. Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in the U.S., stretches along the California-Nevada state line, spanning 20 miles long and 12 miles wide. The lake draws about 2.2 million visitors a year, according to the Tahoe Center for a Sustainable Future....
In the treetops, the flames do not stall Some fires race across grasslands and others burn miles of brush. But for firefighters, the most difficult are those that leap from treetop to treetop. The blaze that has destroyed so much so quickly near Lake Tahoe is the latter, the kind known as a "crown fire" to the frustrated professionals who struggle to fight them, let alone understand them. Crown fires can burn as hot as 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit — so hot that water dropped on the flames from aerial tankers can evaporate before it does much good. Ravaging the forest canopy, crown fires produce cascading volumes of thick, choking smoke. In many cases, they roar along so intensely that firefighters are left with no choice but to watch. "We could not see the sky for hours," said Capt. Tim Allison of the Tahoe-Douglas Fire District. "It sounded like a freight train, the fire pulling in all the air." In the Tahoe area, conditions were ripe for a crown fire: hot days, high winds and plentiful underbrush. Some trees were tinder-dry, weakened by drought or dying from insect infestations. The plentiful ponderosa pines and Douglas firs in the region are sometimes so pitch-saturated that they "literally explode," Zunino said....
Tahoe, black and blue Fire has long been a part of California's forests, but the blaze that ripped through hundreds of Tahoe homes Sunday night was anything but natural. This is a fire whose origins can be traced to the 19th century Comstock mining boom, when the Lake Tahoe basin was heavily logged, allowing unnaturally dense stands of white fir trees to dominate the watershed. This is a fire that became a near-certainty as Tahoe evolved as a vacation mecca and after a 1990s drought killed about 30 percent of the basin's trees, allowing beetles and other pests to spread through fragmented forests. Over the last decade, certain Tahoe communities and the U.S. Forest Service have spent tens of millions of dollars -- much of it courtesy of federal taxpayers -- to protect the public lands and private dwellings that ring the lake. Thinning and prescribed burns have helped reduce the risk of catastrophe in some areas. But as Sunday's blaze demonstrated, strong winds can turn a single spark or tossed cigarette into a Tahoe inferno....
Crowd aims fury at regional panel The mood of the crowd jammed into the meeting room was angry. Many had lost their homes to the forest fire that swept through the Sierra Nevada just south of Lake Tahoe. They said they were angry at bureaucrats and environmentalists who made cutting of trees and clearing of land difficult. There was always too much red tape, they said, and now it was too late. In all, a crowd of nearly 2,000 people descended on the South Tahoe Middle School auditorium Monday night, wanting to be heard in the face of their losses. And if there was an object of scorn in the crowd, it was the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a powerful bi-state environmental land use agency charged with managing the resources of the basin. When a speaker mentioned the agency, the crowd responded with a chorus of boos. "What a joke!" yelled one man. The wrangling began in earnest over the assignment of blame, including arguments over whether federal and state forest managers had made their tree clearing rules too strict in the face of pressure by environmentalists. A common sentiment Monday was expressed by Jerry Martin, a bartender at the Horizon Casino Resort, whose house was still standing, although eight others around it had burned to the ground. He said U.S. Forest Service rules regulating the harvesting of dead trees were too stringent for those living next to government land. "I hate to get political, but environmentalists wouldn't let us cut down the dead trees," he said....
Owl's 'critical habitat' may be reduced For the first time since coming under federal protection 15 years ago, the northern spotted owls' forest haven may be in jeopardy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to decrease the owls' "critical habitat" by 1.5 million acres, or 22%. The birds were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1990, with the habitat designation coming two years later. In 1994, the government adopted the Northwest Forest Plan to help protect the owls and the marbled murrelet, a tiny seabird that nests in large trees, as well as to safeguard old-growth forests and watersheds. Designed to allow some logging, the forest plan has been bitterly contested for years by the timber industry and industry-dependent rural communities. Most of the critical habitat proposed to be reduced is in Oregon. Some is in Washington, and 97,000 acres of it is in Northern California — primarily in Del Norte, Shasta, Siskiyou and Trinity counties. The Northwest Forest Plan covers 24.5 million acres in the three states. Logging companies say the reduction would allow them access to trees they are entitled to under the forest plan, which some experts say has not worked out as was intended....
Oil shale power needs stir alarm Commercial production of oil shale in western Colorado will require new power plants that will greatly increase pollution, according to an analysis released Monday by a coalition of conservation groups. The same groups that two weeks ago publicized the vast water needs for commercial oil shale production attacked the power needs for oil shale production as envisioned by the federal government. One million barrels per day will require an estimated 12,000 megawatts of capacity annually, the groups said. That is three times all the electricity produced in Colorado in 2005. A spokeswoman for Shell, the company doing the most extensive in-the-field oil shale research, said the company is working on lowering its power needs from the current estimate. "We have acknowledged in the past that our method is power-intensive," said Jill Davis. "We are working on ways to reduce that." The environmental coalition that has been highlighting the potential impacts of commercial oil shale development is arguing that decisions about commercial leasing of federal lands for oil shale should be slowed down....
One-year ban on Roan leases now in works A proposal from two Western Slope congressmen to halt leasing on the Roan Plateau for a year will face its first up or down vote on the House floor either today or Wednesday. Heather Fox, spokeswoman for Congressman Mark Udall, D-Colo., said Monday that Udall and Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo., plan to introduce their amendment today. Fox said because amendments are introduced at the end of a bill’s floor consideration, the final vote could come as late as Wednesday. According to a copy of the amendment, the proposal would bar the U.S. Interior Department, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management, from using any funds to lease lands on the Roan Plateau not already open to drilling. The amendment would bar funding for the 2008 fiscal year. Lawmakers could revisit the issue during the 2009 budget cycle. “After thousands of phone calls from my Western Slope constituents, plus requests from sportsmen’s groups across the state, Rep. Udall and I are doing the people’s work by requesting a one-year delay to additional drilling atop the Roan Plateau,” Salazar said in a statement....
Conservationists File Suit Over Illegal Sheep Grazing in Yellowstone Area Two conservation groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture today over the illegal grazing of domestic sheep on more than 100,000 acres of public lands in and near the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Idaho and Montana. The presence of these domestic sheep, and management actions taken on their behalf, hurts sensitive and endangered native wildlife such as Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, lynx, gray wolves and grizzly bears. The Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project filed suit against the Sheep Experiment Station, Agricultural Research Service and Forest Service, all agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Sheep Experiment Station itself manages about 48,000 acres, where it is grazing sheep without any environmental analysis or consideration of impacts to endangered species. The Sheep Station also grazes sheep on over 54,000 acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management allotments, where its permits have expired, management plans date back to the 1960s, and little to no analysis has been completed. “The Sheep Experiment Station is a relic of the past,” said Jon Marvel of Western Watersheds Project. “It is time to protect our wonderful native wildlife on these public lands lest we risk losing them.”....
Nebraska AG Applauds U.S. Supreme Court's Ruling on Key Environmental Laws Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning today applauded a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that balances key state responsibilities under the Clean Water Act with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act. In February, Bruning led a coalition of twelve states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as amici curiae (or friends of the court) in arguing in favor of the balanced approach adopted by the Supreme Court today. The Court’s opinion limits the reach of the Endangered Species Act and insures that states retain authority to regulate water quality within their borders without additional restrictions. “The Clean Water Act establishes a cooperative program between the states and the federal government that allows states to regulate and protect their water quality,” Bruning said. “The lower court decision allowed the Endangered Species Act to override Congress’ desire for local control. We could not accept that threat to state rights.”....
Wyoming, feds settle suit over mouse Wyoming's effort to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide whether the Preble's meadow jumping mouse deserves federal protection has been settled out of court. The state sued the federal agency in January after it failed to act on a 2003 request to eliminate the mouse's threatened status under the Endangered Species Act. The settlement, accepted Friday in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, gives the Fish and Wildlife Service until Oct. 31 to decide whether the tiny mouse deserves the privileges of a threatened species. At that time, the agency must make two determinations: whether the Preble's mouse is a distinct subspecies of the jumping mouse, and whether the 1998 listing was based on complete science. The dispute began when Wyoming and a group of Colorado landowners and businesses petitioned in 2003 to have the mouse's federal protection lifted. The mouse, which has been protected since 1998, inhabits prime real estate in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming....
Bald eagle to fly from endangered species list The bald eagle, which has been the US national symbol for 225 years but edged close to extinction more than four decades ago, is expected to be taken off the federal Endangered Species List later this week, reflecting its dramatic rebound after the banning of the pesticide DDT and an aggressive restoration program. "It will cap a 40-year conservation effort for the bald eagle," said Michael Bean, chairman of the wildlife program at Environmental Defense, an advocacy group. "It's a clear signal that it is possible to bring a species back from the brink of extinction." The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which first proposed taking the eagle off the list in 1999, faces a court-ordered deadline Friday on whether to dislist the eagle. Several environmental groups said they expect the Bush administration to take the eagle off the list, and a spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Services did nothing to discourage that belief today. Nicholas Throckmorton, the spokesman, said the administration would not reveal its position until later in the week, but he pointed out that the eagle's recovery has been well-documented for years....
Rustler Of Nolan Ryan's Cattle Gets 5 Years A 28-year-old Angleton man charged with stealing cattle from Baseball Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan and 12 other ranchers pleaded guilty to cattle theft charges in Fort Bend County on Monday and was sentenced to five years in prison. Jerome Heath Novak, who confessed to rustling 289 head of cattle in eight Texas counties over a nine-month span, was arrested about a year ago in Brazoria County for stealing 17 cows and 30 calves from Ryan’s China Grove Ranch in Rosharon. Novak has not yet gone to court on the Brazoria County charges, but went before Fort Bend County 268th District Court Judge Brady Elliott on Monday, pled guilty to cattle theft charges, paid $10,000 in restitution and was sentenced to five years in prison....
Ticked off As cattle are herded off trailers and into the pens at R.Y. Livestock Sales, state and federal inspectors pat the animals down, rubbing their backs, legs and stomachs, feeling carefully for the tiny arachnids menacing ranchers in Starr County and north. Inspectors are searching carefully for a tiny livestock assassin — the fever tick. The disease-carrying bug is on the rise in South Texas, spurred by an increase in brushland and subsequently more carriers — which range from deer and cattle to illegal immigrants, ranchers and agriculture officials say. So far, the problem has hit Zapata County the hardest, sidelining more than two dozen ranches in that area and extending its reach down into Starr County. “It is a growing problem and we’re worried about it,” said Jim McAllen, an Hidalgo County rancher and chairman of the fever tick committee for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. “They’ve been working on this program for 100 years and they haven’t been able to get rid of them.” A half dozen ranches in Starr County have been quarantined because ticks have been found on cattle on the property as of the end of May, according to Texas Animal Health Commission....
Head 'em up, and cook 'em off Moss, Lisa Cunningham's seven-year-old border collie, knows how to make sheep mind without losing his. Cunningham brought Moss -- adept at keeping sheep and cattle in line -- from the Meike Ranch near Kaycee to compete in the sheepdog trials at the annual Powder River Sheepherders Fair on Saturday and Sunday. But for Moss, business is still business. "He's a ranch dog first and a trial dog second," Cunningham said. For a long time, sheep ranchers would use cross breeds of border collies and healers or Aussies, she said. But for the past 25 years, ranchers came to view purebred border collies as more efficient, Cunningham said. "Most of the dogs working sheep are border collies," she said. "They're quieter, easier to hand, and want to please." While the breed is friendly and polite, the dogs don't become pals with the sheep, either, she said. They command respect without turning mean, Cunningham said....
Old Ephraim was worthy adversary You've probably never heard of Frank Clark, and yet he's part of Utah folklore, the less-famous half of a great duo. Clark is the man who brought down Old Ephraim, a bear so great that he inspired books, poems, songs and a monument, and part of his skull wound up at the Smithsonian Institution. Clark was the protagonist in a decade-long hunt. From 1913 to 1923, the sheep rancher pursued the gigantic, wily bear. It was fitting that the bear was extraordinary — 9 feet 11 inches tall standing on its hind legs — because Old Ephraim is reputed to be the last grizzly bear in Utah. The grizzlies' departure was sad, but probably best, especially given recent events. "In 1914," Clark wrote, " ... I set a trap in his wallow; he removed the trap without setting it off time and again. ... From 1913 on to the day he was caught, August 21st, 1923, was an everlasting battle every summer, but he was just too smart." Clark's persistence was finally rewarded after he was awakened in the night by a roar. Dressed in only his underwear and shoes, he grabbed his gun and hiked in the dark. By the time he realized it was Ephraim in the willows of the creek bottom, the bear was between him and his camp, and there wasn't another person within three miles. "I listened and could hear the chain rattle and so did my teeth," wrote Clark. He waited hours for daylight and then he moved in close enough to graze the bear with a shot. Ephraim rose up with a 14-foot log chain wrapped around one front leg and a 23-pound trap clamped to his foot....
It's All Trew: Buffalo slaughter had benefits The whys and wherefores of the near-extinction of the buffalo will be debated from now on with no clear conclusions accepted by all. Most writings of the time dwell on the waste and carnage and many western films show the prairies covered with the carcasses of slain animals. There was waste and carnage beyond doubt but a close study shows not all was wasted. Many a carnivore and hungry predator made a good living following the hunters. Buffalo beef built railroads, mined gold and silver, fed tribes, armies, explorers, wagon trains and early settlers. Buffalo hides made robes and commercial belting to drive the machines of manufacturing in the east. Buffalo horns and hooves produced glue, and the hair of the beasts stuffed the furniture of the time. Before, during and for a short time after the Big Hunt Period, everyone living on or traveling the Great Plains burned buffalo chips for both heat and cooking. Settler women and children dragged wash tubs across the surrounding prairie gathering buffalo chips for this crude but economical fuel....
New Mexico county wants to remove wolf from ranch Catron County has put the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on notice that it intends to trap and remove a Mexican gray wolf it says has been stalking a southwestern New Mexico ranch. The wolf _ designated AF924 for alpha female 924 _ was released in the county April 25. The next day, county officials demanded it be removed as an "imminent danger." Fish and Wildlife rejected the demand. Catron County officials said Monday that the wolf has been seen around Mike and Debbie Miller's ranch since her release and that they twice asked Fish and Wildlife to remove the animal. On Thursday, the county issued a "24-hour notice of intent" to trap the wolf and turn her over to Fish and Wildlife. "We'd like to trap her and give her back," County Manager Bill Aymar said by telephone from his office in Reserve. Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Charna Lefton said the agency received the county's notice Friday. But, she said, it has no reason to remove the wolf under the rules of the 1998 program to reintroduce endangered Mexican gray wolves into the Southwest. The rules call for Fish and Wildlife to remove any wolf linked to three livestock killings within a year. AF924 killed two cows before being released in Catron County. Aymar said the county wants her moved before she kills a third _ subjecting her to the program's own three strikes rule. Debbie Miller said wolves show up near the ranch house and barn as well as a calving area five miles away. Two hung around the barn for four hours Sunday, she said....
Sage grouse summit seeks elusive nature, energy balance In calling for this week's Sage Grouse Summit in Casper, Governor Dave Freudenthal said the consequences of ignoring sage grouse issues would be “dire for both the bird and all interested parties,” including the agriculture and oil and gas industries. "We have a narrow window of opportunity to protect the grouse and prevent it from being listed as an endangered species,” Freudenthal said. Yet the only conservation organization invited to participate in the summit is one that resists an Endangered Species Act listing for the embattled bird - the National Wildlife Federation. In addition to state and federal officials, the summit features three representatives of the energy industry, one rancher, a former wildlife agency executive and members of the state’s eight sage grouse working groups. The summit coincides with ongoing efforts in federal court in Idaho to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to extend Endangered Species Act protection to the grouse, an action that could cripple energy development in Wyoming and the West. Sage grouse occupy about 44 percent of their native habitat in the 11-state region of the West where they were originally found....
Open Season on Open Space Though it took 300 million years to create, the wilderness around Dead Horse Point could change in short order. A Denver-based company called Intrepid Oil and Gas has filed plans to drill two wells on park grounds, including one right next to the visitors center. Another firm, Aviara Energy, has permits for three wells on 23,000 acres of high desert between the park and nearby Canyonlands. Other oil companies have received leases in the neighboring Lockhart Basin and the sprawling Dome Plateau near Arches, both of which have been proposed as national wilderness areas. "Pretty much wherever people hike, they're going to see oil wells," says Dranginis. Even before the Senate blocked proposals to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in April, the Bush administration was moving to accelerate energy production across the West -- often targeting highly sensitive areas that have remained largely closed to exploration and drilling. In Utah, the proposed drilling would do more than spoil scenic views -- it also threatens crucial habitat for desert bighorn sheep and cougars, as well as eagles and other raptors. Last September, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which controls mineral rights on much of the public land in the region, allowed 52,000-pound "thumper" trucks to pound the ground near Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands, searching for oil with seismic measuring equipment. The trucks crushed ancient stands of juniper, left fragile desert soil vulnerable to erosion, and cut 176 miles of new roads. In February, a federal review board halted similar exploration in the Dome Plateau, saying the BLM had failed to conduct environmental reviews mandated by federal law....
Lake Tahoe Fire, Worst in a Century, Forces 1,000 to Evacuate The worst wildfire in a century in California's Lake Tahoe region continued to burn overnight after destroying more than 180 buildings and forcing about 1,000 people to evacuate. ``We have really not seen a fire of this magnitude, with this structure loss, in at least 100 years,'' Ken Pimlott, a state fire safety official, told reporters yesterday. The fire has scorched more than 2,500 acres (10.1 square kilometers), Jackie Faike, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said in a telephone interview last night. As many as 220 buildings were destroyed, and 500 more are threatened. The fire, 40 percent contained, should be extinguished by July 1, Faike said. The blaze started two days earlier near the town of Meyers, about 4 miles (6.6 kilometers) south of the lake. California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, filling in for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is traveling, declared a state of emergency as officials tried to determine the cause. Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in the U.S., stretches along the California-Nevada state line, spanning 20 miles long and 12 miles wide. The lake draws about 2.2 million visitors a year, according to the Tahoe Center for a Sustainable Future....
In the treetops, the flames do not stall Some fires race across grasslands and others burn miles of brush. But for firefighters, the most difficult are those that leap from treetop to treetop. The blaze that has destroyed so much so quickly near Lake Tahoe is the latter, the kind known as a "crown fire" to the frustrated professionals who struggle to fight them, let alone understand them. Crown fires can burn as hot as 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit — so hot that water dropped on the flames from aerial tankers can evaporate before it does much good. Ravaging the forest canopy, crown fires produce cascading volumes of thick, choking smoke. In many cases, they roar along so intensely that firefighters are left with no choice but to watch. "We could not see the sky for hours," said Capt. Tim Allison of the Tahoe-Douglas Fire District. "It sounded like a freight train, the fire pulling in all the air." In the Tahoe area, conditions were ripe for a crown fire: hot days, high winds and plentiful underbrush. Some trees were tinder-dry, weakened by drought or dying from insect infestations. The plentiful ponderosa pines and Douglas firs in the region are sometimes so pitch-saturated that they "literally explode," Zunino said....
Tahoe, black and blue Fire has long been a part of California's forests, but the blaze that ripped through hundreds of Tahoe homes Sunday night was anything but natural. This is a fire whose origins can be traced to the 19th century Comstock mining boom, when the Lake Tahoe basin was heavily logged, allowing unnaturally dense stands of white fir trees to dominate the watershed. This is a fire that became a near-certainty as Tahoe evolved as a vacation mecca and after a 1990s drought killed about 30 percent of the basin's trees, allowing beetles and other pests to spread through fragmented forests. Over the last decade, certain Tahoe communities and the U.S. Forest Service have spent tens of millions of dollars -- much of it courtesy of federal taxpayers -- to protect the public lands and private dwellings that ring the lake. Thinning and prescribed burns have helped reduce the risk of catastrophe in some areas. But as Sunday's blaze demonstrated, strong winds can turn a single spark or tossed cigarette into a Tahoe inferno....
Crowd aims fury at regional panel The mood of the crowd jammed into the meeting room was angry. Many had lost their homes to the forest fire that swept through the Sierra Nevada just south of Lake Tahoe. They said they were angry at bureaucrats and environmentalists who made cutting of trees and clearing of land difficult. There was always too much red tape, they said, and now it was too late. In all, a crowd of nearly 2,000 people descended on the South Tahoe Middle School auditorium Monday night, wanting to be heard in the face of their losses. And if there was an object of scorn in the crowd, it was the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a powerful bi-state environmental land use agency charged with managing the resources of the basin. When a speaker mentioned the agency, the crowd responded with a chorus of boos. "What a joke!" yelled one man. The wrangling began in earnest over the assignment of blame, including arguments over whether federal and state forest managers had made their tree clearing rules too strict in the face of pressure by environmentalists. A common sentiment Monday was expressed by Jerry Martin, a bartender at the Horizon Casino Resort, whose house was still standing, although eight others around it had burned to the ground. He said U.S. Forest Service rules regulating the harvesting of dead trees were too stringent for those living next to government land. "I hate to get political, but environmentalists wouldn't let us cut down the dead trees," he said....
Owl's 'critical habitat' may be reduced For the first time since coming under federal protection 15 years ago, the northern spotted owls' forest haven may be in jeopardy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to decrease the owls' "critical habitat" by 1.5 million acres, or 22%. The birds were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1990, with the habitat designation coming two years later. In 1994, the government adopted the Northwest Forest Plan to help protect the owls and the marbled murrelet, a tiny seabird that nests in large trees, as well as to safeguard old-growth forests and watersheds. Designed to allow some logging, the forest plan has been bitterly contested for years by the timber industry and industry-dependent rural communities. Most of the critical habitat proposed to be reduced is in Oregon. Some is in Washington, and 97,000 acres of it is in Northern California — primarily in Del Norte, Shasta, Siskiyou and Trinity counties. The Northwest Forest Plan covers 24.5 million acres in the three states. Logging companies say the reduction would allow them access to trees they are entitled to under the forest plan, which some experts say has not worked out as was intended....
Oil shale power needs stir alarm Commercial production of oil shale in western Colorado will require new power plants that will greatly increase pollution, according to an analysis released Monday by a coalition of conservation groups. The same groups that two weeks ago publicized the vast water needs for commercial oil shale production attacked the power needs for oil shale production as envisioned by the federal government. One million barrels per day will require an estimated 12,000 megawatts of capacity annually, the groups said. That is three times all the electricity produced in Colorado in 2005. A spokeswoman for Shell, the company doing the most extensive in-the-field oil shale research, said the company is working on lowering its power needs from the current estimate. "We have acknowledged in the past that our method is power-intensive," said Jill Davis. "We are working on ways to reduce that." The environmental coalition that has been highlighting the potential impacts of commercial oil shale development is arguing that decisions about commercial leasing of federal lands for oil shale should be slowed down....
One-year ban on Roan leases now in works A proposal from two Western Slope congressmen to halt leasing on the Roan Plateau for a year will face its first up or down vote on the House floor either today or Wednesday. Heather Fox, spokeswoman for Congressman Mark Udall, D-Colo., said Monday that Udall and Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo., plan to introduce their amendment today. Fox said because amendments are introduced at the end of a bill’s floor consideration, the final vote could come as late as Wednesday. According to a copy of the amendment, the proposal would bar the U.S. Interior Department, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management, from using any funds to lease lands on the Roan Plateau not already open to drilling. The amendment would bar funding for the 2008 fiscal year. Lawmakers could revisit the issue during the 2009 budget cycle. “After thousands of phone calls from my Western Slope constituents, plus requests from sportsmen’s groups across the state, Rep. Udall and I are doing the people’s work by requesting a one-year delay to additional drilling atop the Roan Plateau,” Salazar said in a statement....
Conservationists File Suit Over Illegal Sheep Grazing in Yellowstone Area Two conservation groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture today over the illegal grazing of domestic sheep on more than 100,000 acres of public lands in and near the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Idaho and Montana. The presence of these domestic sheep, and management actions taken on their behalf, hurts sensitive and endangered native wildlife such as Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, lynx, gray wolves and grizzly bears. The Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project filed suit against the Sheep Experiment Station, Agricultural Research Service and Forest Service, all agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Sheep Experiment Station itself manages about 48,000 acres, where it is grazing sheep without any environmental analysis or consideration of impacts to endangered species. The Sheep Station also grazes sheep on over 54,000 acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management allotments, where its permits have expired, management plans date back to the 1960s, and little to no analysis has been completed. “The Sheep Experiment Station is a relic of the past,” said Jon Marvel of Western Watersheds Project. “It is time to protect our wonderful native wildlife on these public lands lest we risk losing them.”....
Nebraska AG Applauds U.S. Supreme Court's Ruling on Key Environmental Laws Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning today applauded a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that balances key state responsibilities under the Clean Water Act with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act. In February, Bruning led a coalition of twelve states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as amici curiae (or friends of the court) in arguing in favor of the balanced approach adopted by the Supreme Court today. The Court’s opinion limits the reach of the Endangered Species Act and insures that states retain authority to regulate water quality within their borders without additional restrictions. “The Clean Water Act establishes a cooperative program between the states and the federal government that allows states to regulate and protect their water quality,” Bruning said. “The lower court decision allowed the Endangered Species Act to override Congress’ desire for local control. We could not accept that threat to state rights.”....
Wyoming, feds settle suit over mouse Wyoming's effort to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide whether the Preble's meadow jumping mouse deserves federal protection has been settled out of court. The state sued the federal agency in January after it failed to act on a 2003 request to eliminate the mouse's threatened status under the Endangered Species Act. The settlement, accepted Friday in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, gives the Fish and Wildlife Service until Oct. 31 to decide whether the tiny mouse deserves the privileges of a threatened species. At that time, the agency must make two determinations: whether the Preble's mouse is a distinct subspecies of the jumping mouse, and whether the 1998 listing was based on complete science. The dispute began when Wyoming and a group of Colorado landowners and businesses petitioned in 2003 to have the mouse's federal protection lifted. The mouse, which has been protected since 1998, inhabits prime real estate in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming....
Bald eagle to fly from endangered species list The bald eagle, which has been the US national symbol for 225 years but edged close to extinction more than four decades ago, is expected to be taken off the federal Endangered Species List later this week, reflecting its dramatic rebound after the banning of the pesticide DDT and an aggressive restoration program. "It will cap a 40-year conservation effort for the bald eagle," said Michael Bean, chairman of the wildlife program at Environmental Defense, an advocacy group. "It's a clear signal that it is possible to bring a species back from the brink of extinction." The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which first proposed taking the eagle off the list in 1999, faces a court-ordered deadline Friday on whether to dislist the eagle. Several environmental groups said they expect the Bush administration to take the eagle off the list, and a spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Services did nothing to discourage that belief today. Nicholas Throckmorton, the spokesman, said the administration would not reveal its position until later in the week, but he pointed out that the eagle's recovery has been well-documented for years....
Rustler Of Nolan Ryan's Cattle Gets 5 Years A 28-year-old Angleton man charged with stealing cattle from Baseball Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan and 12 other ranchers pleaded guilty to cattle theft charges in Fort Bend County on Monday and was sentenced to five years in prison. Jerome Heath Novak, who confessed to rustling 289 head of cattle in eight Texas counties over a nine-month span, was arrested about a year ago in Brazoria County for stealing 17 cows and 30 calves from Ryan’s China Grove Ranch in Rosharon. Novak has not yet gone to court on the Brazoria County charges, but went before Fort Bend County 268th District Court Judge Brady Elliott on Monday, pled guilty to cattle theft charges, paid $10,000 in restitution and was sentenced to five years in prison....
Ticked off As cattle are herded off trailers and into the pens at R.Y. Livestock Sales, state and federal inspectors pat the animals down, rubbing their backs, legs and stomachs, feeling carefully for the tiny arachnids menacing ranchers in Starr County and north. Inspectors are searching carefully for a tiny livestock assassin — the fever tick. The disease-carrying bug is on the rise in South Texas, spurred by an increase in brushland and subsequently more carriers — which range from deer and cattle to illegal immigrants, ranchers and agriculture officials say. So far, the problem has hit Zapata County the hardest, sidelining more than two dozen ranches in that area and extending its reach down into Starr County. “It is a growing problem and we’re worried about it,” said Jim McAllen, an Hidalgo County rancher and chairman of the fever tick committee for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. “They’ve been working on this program for 100 years and they haven’t been able to get rid of them.” A half dozen ranches in Starr County have been quarantined because ticks have been found on cattle on the property as of the end of May, according to Texas Animal Health Commission....
Head 'em up, and cook 'em off Moss, Lisa Cunningham's seven-year-old border collie, knows how to make sheep mind without losing his. Cunningham brought Moss -- adept at keeping sheep and cattle in line -- from the Meike Ranch near Kaycee to compete in the sheepdog trials at the annual Powder River Sheepherders Fair on Saturday and Sunday. But for Moss, business is still business. "He's a ranch dog first and a trial dog second," Cunningham said. For a long time, sheep ranchers would use cross breeds of border collies and healers or Aussies, she said. But for the past 25 years, ranchers came to view purebred border collies as more efficient, Cunningham said. "Most of the dogs working sheep are border collies," she said. "They're quieter, easier to hand, and want to please." While the breed is friendly and polite, the dogs don't become pals with the sheep, either, she said. They command respect without turning mean, Cunningham said....
Old Ephraim was worthy adversary You've probably never heard of Frank Clark, and yet he's part of Utah folklore, the less-famous half of a great duo. Clark is the man who brought down Old Ephraim, a bear so great that he inspired books, poems, songs and a monument, and part of his skull wound up at the Smithsonian Institution. Clark was the protagonist in a decade-long hunt. From 1913 to 1923, the sheep rancher pursued the gigantic, wily bear. It was fitting that the bear was extraordinary — 9 feet 11 inches tall standing on its hind legs — because Old Ephraim is reputed to be the last grizzly bear in Utah. The grizzlies' departure was sad, but probably best, especially given recent events. "In 1914," Clark wrote, " ... I set a trap in his wallow; he removed the trap without setting it off time and again. ... From 1913 on to the day he was caught, August 21st, 1923, was an everlasting battle every summer, but he was just too smart." Clark's persistence was finally rewarded after he was awakened in the night by a roar. Dressed in only his underwear and shoes, he grabbed his gun and hiked in the dark. By the time he realized it was Ephraim in the willows of the creek bottom, the bear was between him and his camp, and there wasn't another person within three miles. "I listened and could hear the chain rattle and so did my teeth," wrote Clark. He waited hours for daylight and then he moved in close enough to graze the bear with a shot. Ephraim rose up with a 14-foot log chain wrapped around one front leg and a 23-pound trap clamped to his foot....
It's All Trew: Buffalo slaughter had benefits The whys and wherefores of the near-extinction of the buffalo will be debated from now on with no clear conclusions accepted by all. Most writings of the time dwell on the waste and carnage and many western films show the prairies covered with the carcasses of slain animals. There was waste and carnage beyond doubt but a close study shows not all was wasted. Many a carnivore and hungry predator made a good living following the hunters. Buffalo beef built railroads, mined gold and silver, fed tribes, armies, explorers, wagon trains and early settlers. Buffalo hides made robes and commercial belting to drive the machines of manufacturing in the east. Buffalo horns and hooves produced glue, and the hair of the beasts stuffed the furniture of the time. Before, during and for a short time after the Big Hunt Period, everyone living on or traveling the Great Plains burned buffalo chips for both heat and cooking. Settler women and children dragged wash tubs across the surrounding prairie gathering buffalo chips for this crude but economical fuel....
Monday, June 25, 2007
Republican Free-Fall With Rural Voters
It was a poll of rural voters conducted by the Democratic firm Greenberg, Quinlan Rosner in consultation with the Republican media firm Greener and Hook for the Center for Rural Strategies. The results were dramatic and they weren’t good for the Republican Party entering the 2008 elections. Rural communities have been the bedrock of Republican victories nationwide in recent years. In 2004, President Bush carried rural America by a 19-point margin. Republicans won the congressional vote in rural areas in 2004 by a 10-point margin. In 2006 rural America moved away from the Republicans, splitting the votes almost evenly in congressional races (51 percent for Republican candidates and 48 percent for Democratic candidates. The new poll shows that trend away from Republicans continuing. According to recent polling data, rural voters favor a generic Democratic candidate for president by a margin of 46 percent to 43 percent. Further, rural voters favor Democratic candidates for Congress by 46 percent to 44 percent in named trial heats (the incumbent of whichever party is pitted against a generic foe of the other party). Even more discouraging for Republicans was that President Bush’s 2004 approval rating of 54-43 percent fell to 44-52 percent even though rural voters still identify themselves as “conservative” when asked about their political philosophy. In other words, Republicans are in free-fall in areas they must win in order to have a chance in 2008 presidential and congressional races. Democrats win inner city areas, some of the suburbs are competitive and Republicans must hold the rural parts of the country by a significant margin to be in the ballgame....
It was a poll of rural voters conducted by the Democratic firm Greenberg, Quinlan Rosner in consultation with the Republican media firm Greener and Hook for the Center for Rural Strategies. The results were dramatic and they weren’t good for the Republican Party entering the 2008 elections. Rural communities have been the bedrock of Republican victories nationwide in recent years. In 2004, President Bush carried rural America by a 19-point margin. Republicans won the congressional vote in rural areas in 2004 by a 10-point margin. In 2006 rural America moved away from the Republicans, splitting the votes almost evenly in congressional races (51 percent for Republican candidates and 48 percent for Democratic candidates. The new poll shows that trend away from Republicans continuing. According to recent polling data, rural voters favor a generic Democratic candidate for president by a margin of 46 percent to 43 percent. Further, rural voters favor Democratic candidates for Congress by 46 percent to 44 percent in named trial heats (the incumbent of whichever party is pitted against a generic foe of the other party). Even more discouraging for Republicans was that President Bush’s 2004 approval rating of 54-43 percent fell to 44-52 percent even though rural voters still identify themselves as “conservative” when asked about their political philosophy. In other words, Republicans are in free-fall in areas they must win in order to have a chance in 2008 presidential and congressional races. Democrats win inner city areas, some of the suburbs are competitive and Republicans must hold the rural parts of the country by a significant margin to be in the ballgame....
MEXICAN WOLF RECOVERY - PEARCE AMENDMENTS
THIS WEEK, the House of Representatives will be debating and voting on H.R. 2643, the Fiscal Year 2008 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill. NCBA and the Public Lands Council (PLC) are supporting two amendments, and we NEED YOUR HELP.
Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM) is prepared to offer two amendments to the FY2008 Interior and Environment Appropriations (H.R. 2643) that would call attention to problems with the Mexican wolf reintroduction program in Arizona and New Mexico.
The first amendment -- Amendment Pearce 48 -- Is an outright limitation on funds for the operation of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. The failed Mexican Wolf Recovery program currently has twice the depredation rate of the Grey Wolf Recovery program. In addition, the program has had numerous other livestock and pet kills.
The second amendment -- Amendment Pearce 61 -- Is a limitation on the ability of the FWS to expand the range of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program or add additional wolves to the wild. The FWS should not be expanding a failed program.
NCBA and PLC support these amendments because the Mexican wolf reintroduction program is not working for ranchers in Arizona and New Mexico. The program places significant burdens on ranchers without offering the management tools and compensation necessary.
We ask that you call or e-mail your Representative IMMEDIATELY to ask for their YES VOTE on the PEARCE MEXICAN WOLF amendments.
Background
In 1998, The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reintroduced captive-reared Mexican wolves into the Apache and Gila national forests in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. A review published by FWS in 2004, estimates that damages suffered by ranchers due to wolf predation of livestock total a possible $206,290. FWS has had difficulty managing the reintroduced Mexican wolf populations over the past nine years and problems with the program continue. In the view of local ranching communities, FWS is not responsive enough to problem wolves, and ranchers are not compensated by any government entity for losses.
Conclusion
Due to the significant management problems in the Mexican wolf program, problem wolves should not be allowed to continue preying on livestock. The FWS should not expand the program to the detriment of ranchers’ and landowners’ animals. As members of the livestock industry, we face enough hurdles to operating successful businesses. The federal government’s re-introduction of predators into the landscape without proper management systems is beyond the scope of what a business man should have to contend with.
It is the policy of NCBA and PLC to respect wildlife recovery goals while maintaining ranchers’ ability to operate economically profitable businesses. The Mexican wolf reintroduction program is not meeting this standard. Management of these predators is not adequate, and ranch families are paying the bill for a national wildlife ideal.
Please call your Representative today and ask him or her to VOTE YES on the Pearce Mexican wolf amendments.
THIS WEEK, the House of Representatives will be debating and voting on H.R. 2643, the Fiscal Year 2008 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill. NCBA and the Public Lands Council (PLC) are supporting two amendments, and we NEED YOUR HELP.
Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM) is prepared to offer two amendments to the FY2008 Interior and Environment Appropriations (H.R. 2643) that would call attention to problems with the Mexican wolf reintroduction program in Arizona and New Mexico.
The first amendment -- Amendment Pearce 48 -- Is an outright limitation on funds for the operation of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. The failed Mexican Wolf Recovery program currently has twice the depredation rate of the Grey Wolf Recovery program. In addition, the program has had numerous other livestock and pet kills.
The second amendment -- Amendment Pearce 61 -- Is a limitation on the ability of the FWS to expand the range of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program or add additional wolves to the wild. The FWS should not be expanding a failed program.
NCBA and PLC support these amendments because the Mexican wolf reintroduction program is not working for ranchers in Arizona and New Mexico. The program places significant burdens on ranchers without offering the management tools and compensation necessary.
We ask that you call or e-mail your Representative IMMEDIATELY to ask for their YES VOTE on the PEARCE MEXICAN WOLF amendments.
Background
In 1998, The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reintroduced captive-reared Mexican wolves into the Apache and Gila national forests in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. A review published by FWS in 2004, estimates that damages suffered by ranchers due to wolf predation of livestock total a possible $206,290. FWS has had difficulty managing the reintroduced Mexican wolf populations over the past nine years and problems with the program continue. In the view of local ranching communities, FWS is not responsive enough to problem wolves, and ranchers are not compensated by any government entity for losses.
Conclusion
Due to the significant management problems in the Mexican wolf program, problem wolves should not be allowed to continue preying on livestock. The FWS should not expand the program to the detriment of ranchers’ and landowners’ animals. As members of the livestock industry, we face enough hurdles to operating successful businesses. The federal government’s re-introduction of predators into the landscape without proper management systems is beyond the scope of what a business man should have to contend with.
It is the policy of NCBA and PLC to respect wildlife recovery goals while maintaining ranchers’ ability to operate economically profitable businesses. The Mexican wolf reintroduction program is not meeting this standard. Management of these predators is not adequate, and ranch families are paying the bill for a national wildlife ideal.
Please call your Representative today and ask him or her to VOTE YES on the Pearce Mexican wolf amendments.
Justices say rancher cannot bring action against federal workers
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a Wyoming rancher who sued government employees in a dispute over federal access to a road on his land. Harvey Robbins of Hot Springs County, Wyo., accused half a dozen employees in the Bureau of Land Management of trying to coerce him into granting an easement on a road leading to the Shoshone National Forest. In a 7-2 ruling, the court said that Robbins could not sue under the Fifth Amendment. The case is important to the government because it could have exposed individual federal workers to personal liability. The suit is significant in the West, where huge tracts are intermingled among government and private owners, requiring frequent negotiations for reciprocal access. Robbins alleged the federal employees violated a Fifth Amendment right to exclude others from his property. Robbins relied on a 1971 Supreme Court decision allowing damage remedies for constitutional violations by federal agents. Robbins said there should be a constitutional avenue for private citizens to sue government employees for continued harassment, instead of having to sue for individual retaliatory actions. The Fifth Amendment requires just compensation when the government takes property. The Robbins case dealt with what rights an owner has when the government stops short of actually taking property. Bringing such an action "would invite claims in every sphere of legitimate governmental action affecting property interests, from negotiating tax claim settlements to enforcing Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations," wrote Justice David Souter. Two justices said Robbins should have been allowed to proceed with his lawsuit. "The record is replete with accounts of trespasses to Robbins' property, vindictive cancelations of his rights to access federal land and unjustified or selective enforcement actions," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in dissent. The agency for which the federal employees worked conducted a "seven-year campaign of harassment" that "had a devastating impact on Robbins' business." Justice John Paul Stevens joined Ginsburg's dissent....
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a Wyoming rancher who sued government employees in a dispute over federal access to a road on his land. Harvey Robbins of Hot Springs County, Wyo., accused half a dozen employees in the Bureau of Land Management of trying to coerce him into granting an easement on a road leading to the Shoshone National Forest. In a 7-2 ruling, the court said that Robbins could not sue under the Fifth Amendment. The case is important to the government because it could have exposed individual federal workers to personal liability. The suit is significant in the West, where huge tracts are intermingled among government and private owners, requiring frequent negotiations for reciprocal access. Robbins alleged the federal employees violated a Fifth Amendment right to exclude others from his property. Robbins relied on a 1971 Supreme Court decision allowing damage remedies for constitutional violations by federal agents. Robbins said there should be a constitutional avenue for private citizens to sue government employees for continued harassment, instead of having to sue for individual retaliatory actions. The Fifth Amendment requires just compensation when the government takes property. The Robbins case dealt with what rights an owner has when the government stops short of actually taking property. Bringing such an action "would invite claims in every sphere of legitimate governmental action affecting property interests, from negotiating tax claim settlements to enforcing Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations," wrote Justice David Souter. Two justices said Robbins should have been allowed to proceed with his lawsuit. "The record is replete with accounts of trespasses to Robbins' property, vindictive cancelations of his rights to access federal land and unjustified or selective enforcement actions," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in dissent. The agency for which the federal employees worked conducted a "seven-year campaign of harassment" that "had a devastating impact on Robbins' business." Justice John Paul Stevens joined Ginsburg's dissent....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Endangered wolf program remains a complex, volatile issue On a file cabinet outside Catron County Manager Bill Aymar's office sits a stuffed animal: a sheep in wolf's clothing, armed with a machine gun. Aymar calls it his "answer to the wolf problem." The problem, in the view of southwestern New Mexico ranchers, is a program that began in 1998 to reintroduce endangered Mexican gray wolves into their historic range in Arizona and New Mexico, where they'd been exterminated at the behest of the livestock industry decades ago. Environmentalists contend the problem isn't the wolves _ but the ranchers who refuse to accept the reintroduction program. Almost from the program's start, wolves killed cattle. Rancher and Catron County Commissioner Hugh B. McKeen says it's been too much for a way of life already stressed by other predators and increasing rules on federal lands. "It's a disaster," says McKeen, who runs 108 head on 11 square miles of largely public land near the village of Alma. He's lost one cow to wolves, but says neighbors have lost many more. "It's not just the cattle they eat. But it's the cattle they scatter and run through fences."....
Surge in Wild Animal Attacks on Suburban Children Bears are no longer just going through the trash, they are breaking and entering. And coyotes are no longer contained to the wily domain of Saturday morning cartoons, they are trotting through suburban neighborhoods in increasing numbers. A recent spate of black bear home invasions and attacks by coyotes and foxes on adults and children in the state of New Jersey sheds light on the growing nationwide problem of human and wildlife encounters. As humans continue to encroach and build homes and businesses in suburban and rural areas once solely inhabited by wildlife, experts warn that the problem may worsen. In New Jersey, a coyote bit a 22-month-old boy in his grandparents' backyard in April. In May, a coyote attacked a 5-year-old boy playing in a yard near his Middletown home. And last week, Putnam County officials say a Patterson woman was attacked by a fox in her backyard. Meanwhile, the state's black bear population has skyrocketed after years of dwindling numbers. Last week, police in North Jersey shot and killed a bear in a tree that had broken into a house earlier in the day....hat tip to Wolves Gone Wild
Dems Plan to 'Green' the Capitol The U.S. House of Representatives complex generated more "greenhouse gas" last year than 17,000 cars, Democratic leaders said Thursday, declaring that Congress must be more environmentally friendly before members can expect Americans in general to back "sweeping" measures contained in new energy bills. Unveiling what party leaders are calling a "Green the Capitol" initiative, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told a press conference on the steps of the building: "The Capitol will not only be a shining example of democracy, but of our commitment to the future. Our work today is to green the Capitol on behalf of the future. "We believed that we had to get our own house in order before we launched a sweeping global warming and energy independence agenda for the rest of the nation," she said. Among the initiative's goals is to operate the House of Representatives in a "carbon-neutral manner" by January 2009. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the greenhouse gas often blamed for global warming. To reduce the amount of greenhouse gas produced, the Capitol will purchase electricity generated from renewable sources such as solar power, switch from using coal, oil and natural gas at the Capitol Power Plant to solely using natural gas, and purchase carbon "offsets" for the remaining emissions. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added that Congress would purchase more flexible-fuel vehicles and build a biofuel station at the Capitol....Is this the same Nancy Pelosi who demanded a huge military aircraft to ferry her and her family back and forth from D.C. to California?
Smothering land rights with an energy bill? Now, global warming is being used as an excuse to further expand government's power to control the use of land. A part of the energy bill now under consideration includes H.R. 2337, which may be cited as the "Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act." What kind of arrogance does it take to think Congress can write a law that will make any difference at all to any global warming that may take place or to the survival of wildlife? Now, despite all this indisputable history, Congress thinks it can write legislation that will affect global warming (or cooling, as the case may be) and help wildlife survive. The legislation now proposed will do neither. What it will do is give the various agencies of government still another excuse to control the use of land. Under the Endangered Species Act, government at least has to pretend that some bug or weed is endangered before restricting the use of land. Under the Clean Water Act, the government at least has to pretend the land may, at some point, have been a mud puddle. Under the pending legislation, a government agency need only suggest that restricting land use will help wildlife survive the impact of global warming. Who can prove them wrong – or right? This absurdity is being discussed in the context of America's energy policy. What should be discussed is how to produce more energy from the known domestic petroleum reserves; how to remove some of the obstacles that prevent building new refineries; how to speed up the licensing process for nuclear energy plants; how to improve the clean coal technology to take advantage of our massive coal reserves....
Mayors make environmental moves Cities in 36 states are going "green," mainly by running cars on alternative fuel and installing energy-efficient streetlights and traffic signals, says a survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors out today. Less than half, though, have taken tougher steps to require energy-efficient homes and businesses. The survey, compiling the responses of 134 cities, is the first snapshot of how cities are trying to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to offset global warming. The survey found: •Three-quarters of the cities are replacing vehicles with hybrids or using biofuels such as ethanol. San Francisco runs 40% of its fleet on biodiesel and in September will recycle waste oils from restaurants into biodiesel for city vehicles. •Six in 10 require that new city government buildings be energy efficient, and four in 10 require developers to build green. Santa Cruz, Calif., mandates that new construction be energy efficient. •64% use renewable energy such as solar, wind or gases released in landfills to meet some of their energy needs. Albuquerque captures methane from decomposing garbage to power machines that clean water under a landfill....
N.M. court rules in AZ ranchers' dispute over grazing permit Water rights in New Mexico provide ranchers with no legal entitlement for cattle to forage on adjacent lands, the state Supreme Court ruled in a setback to ranchers seeking compensation for the loss of a federal grazing permit. The unanimous decision by state's highest court came in a long-simmering legal dispute in southwestern New Mexico where ranchers claimed a property right on a grazing allotment in the Gila National Forest. Similar disputes over public lands and private property rights have surfaced throughout the West. The justices, in a ruling issued Thursday, concluded that "the case law and statutes of this state, as well as customary practice, do not support holding that a right to forage is within the scope of a water right or right of way for enjoyment of a water right." According to the court, "the Walkers assert their vested water right, historically used to water cattle, entitled their predecessors in interest and now entitles them, to the implicit use of the surrounding land as forage for that livestock." However, the justices rejected the Walkers' claim. "The self-evident fact that grazing will occur in areas adjacent to stock water facilities does not translate into a legally enforceable right to graze by virtue of a stock watering right," the court said in an opinion written by Justice Richard Bosson. The court also concluded that "the laws of New Mexico do not support the Walkers' claims to a forage right on federal lands implicit in their right of way for the maintenance and enjoyment of a vested water right."....
Mesquite eradication restores native grassland On a ranch east of Carlsbad where a year ago mesquite bushes choked the landscape, natural grasses wave gently in the breeze. A desert turtle pokes his head out of his shell and wonders why the humans invading his space are speaking with excitement in their voices. For city-slickers, getting excited over rangeland grasses may seem a little over the top. But for the handful of range conservationist and wildlife biologists from the Bureau of Land Management Carlsbad Field Office, it is a big deal — they are accomplishing their mission under the Healthy Land Initiative and funding from the federal Environmental Quality Improvement Program. Although the BLM is the lead agency, it actually takes a small army to successfully wage war against the mesquite bush that is densely spread across state, federal and private lands in Eddy County....
Retirees find new roles with BLM
Five former Bureau of Land Management employees consider themselves in retiree heaven and loving every minute of it. When the BLM came knocking on their door to see if they would be interested in providing their expertise and a helping hand with the agency's mesquite eradication program, the retirees happily stepped up to the plate. Although they are paid for their services through the USDA's Environmental Quality Improvement program, truth be told, most of them would have volunteered with or without pay. Collectively, Howard Gebel, Mack Wilemon, Gerald Orr, Roy Stovall and Larry La Plant have 130 years of experience in fields ranging from wildlife biology to range improvement, and their experience has been welcomed by the younger generation of BLM professionals who are building on what the retirees started....
State officials update Montana ranchers on wolf delisting, management Ranchers south of Interstate 90 can legally protect their livestock from the wolf's wrath, while ranchers north of the interstate cannot, according to the 10J rule on wolf management. “The wolves north of the river are fully endangered and ranchers cannot shoot them if they are killing livestock,” explained Kraig Glazier of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspec-tion Service during the Montana Cattlemen's Association mid-year meeting on the Sakalkho Ranch near Hamilton, Mont. “South of the river, they can shoot the wolves if they are harassing the livestock because they are considered an experimental population, whereas, those north of the river are considered an existing population.” It's a matter of legal descriptions, which is necessary to take wolves off the endangered species list, he added, and “biologically, wolves are fully recovered.” The wolf population is more than recovered - it is growing, according to Glazier, who works on behalf of the Montana Department of Livestock to supervise the western region of wolf management....
Lake Tahoe fire destroys at least 165 buildings A wind-whipped wildfire destroyed at least 165 homes and other structures and scorched close to 2,000 acres just southwest of Lake Tahoe on Sunday, fire officials said. El Dorado County Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin House said the fire is less than 5 percent contained, but no injuries or deaths have been reported. The cause of the fire is still unknown. “This thing is raging out of control, and there’s no estimate as to when that may change,” House said. House said there are 500 more homes in the fire’s path, and the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has issued a declaration of emergency. Also, firefighters are protecting South Tahoe High School, which is threatened because it is located downhill from the site of the fire....
Logging town to loggers: Not in our backyard In the shadow of towering Douglas firs, two deer stop and stare at a small group of humans wandering toward them. Ninety years ago, deer like these had no place to hide. All of Heybrook Ridge was bare, and the town in the valley below was thriving. Few complained back then about the denuded hillside. Logging and the carving of granite blocks out of nearby mountains put Index on the map. The straight, fine-grained timber was the best on the market. The granite was also choice -- used to build the steps of the state Capitol. But last year, when the logging company WB Foresters proposed another clearcut on the ridge, town folk rallied against the idea. "I was stunned," said Debbie Buse, who helps her father run the company. "Obviously, the demographics of the town have changed significantly. I figured there would still be old-timers." Faced with petitions, Buse and her father decided to work with the town and gave the objectors one year -- a deadline of June 8, 2008 -- to raise $1.3 million. That's what it'll cost to buy the 95 acres that serve as a deep-green backdrop to this Snohomish County town of 150 people....
Rainbow Family to Gather in Ark. Members of the Rainbow Family, whose annual gathering of thousands of people has worried the Forest Service in the past, are setting up camp in the Ozark National Forest this year. The mix of eccentrics, young people and hippie types from around the country has been meeting for decades each year in a national forest somewhere in the U.S. to pray for peace and to celebrate love. Such a large group can harm forests, so the Forest Service has developed a team to "manage the impacts of Rainbow Family national gatherings." Rainbow Family members say they always leave some members behind after the gathering to reseed damaged areas, cover all fire pits and remove bridges created over streams....
Insect song bothers some Been sleeping in earplugs recently? Or been sleeping at all, for that matter? Some in Central Texas have been bleary-eyed in recent days and might not get a full night’s sleep for a few weeks, predicted a Texas Parks & Wildlife entomologist tracking this summer’s exploding population of the Central Texas Leaf Katydid. Spawned by abundant spring rains, the insects also known as “longhorn grasshoppers” have appeared in great numbers in counties south of Hays; however, TPWD Invertebrate Biologist Mike Quinn said Wimberley has also experienced the outbreak. “People tell me they can’t sleep at night, or they’re having to wear earplugs,” Quinn said. “They ask me ‘what’s going on?’” Though katydids are present each year, Quinn said this season’s outbreak is atypical. “I don’t think it’s cyclical” in the sense that some locusts are. He described the phenomenon as more infrequent or periodic. “I don’t foresee it happening in the same location anytime in the near future.” Most summer nights hereabouts are punctuated with the katydid’s song — short and buzzy and, Quinn says, repeated every five to six seconds. However, “when katydid populations reach levels with multiple individuals in every tree branch, they sing day and night in an unbelievably raucous chorus that forms a continuous pulsating whine.”....
New Mexico tops in U.S. pecan production New Mexico's pecan farmers have reason to go nuts: For the first time, the state ranks as the No. 1 producer of pecans in the country, beating out Georgia and Texas, who typically rank at the top but had to battle erratic weather last year. New Mexico produced about 46 million pounds of pecans in 2006. Georgia came in at 40 million pounds followed by Texas with 36 million pounds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. About 70 percent of all pecans produced in the state are grown in the Mesilla Valley along the Rio Grande corridor in the southern part of the state, where the river provides essential irrigation water, said Richard Heerema, extension pecan specialist with New Mexico State University. Pecan farming in New Mexico began in the early 1930s when the Stahmann family started a commercial-scale orchard in the Mesilla Valley desert. The industry flourished, and the Stahmann family now lays claim to the largest pecan orchard in the world and led the way for future pecan farmers in the West, Arnold said. New Mexico trees produce more pecans per acre than other trees and acreage in the Mesilla Valley has grown more than 500 percent since the 1970s, Heerema said....
Aversion therapy steers sheep away from vines Wanted: Hungry sheep, a year old, with limited dining experience, otherwise healthy. Work in the state's most breathtaking countryside. Here in the rolling pastures of Mendocino County, several dozen sheep are eating their way into agriculture acclaim. An experiment among vineyards on a university ranch has pretty much proved that sheep can be trained as four-footed professional eaters, who bypass the tender shoots of grapevines overhead for the pesky weeds sprouting underneath. "Sheep are really good at what they do, and what they do is eat," said Morgan Doran, a farm adviser with the University of California. These trained animal lawn mowers could reduce labor costs, provide an alternative to pesticides and work diligently even in driving spring rains, Doran said....
Brand Identity It was a scene that could have happened 150 years ago in the Old West. Cowboys on horses roped the hind legs of running calves for the annual spring ritual of branding. But the scene happened last week in a corral northwest of Cortez as Zane Odell branded his reverse Z bar O on calves in preparation for taking them to summer pasture in the mountains near Rico. The calves also were dehorned, immunized and castrated. Hernando Cortez introduced branding from Spain to the New World in 1541, when he used his brand of three crosses, and the custom spread as the cattle industry grew in the West. In Colorado, brands have been registered with the Brand Inspection Division of the State Board of Livestock Inspection since about 1865, and no duplicates are allowed. There are a few of the very old brands that are duplicated, because they were already in existence in different parts of the state before registration was required, local brand inspector Joel Stevenson said. More than 37,000 brands are registered in Colorado for cattle, horses, mules, burros, sheep, elk and fallow deer. Colorado allows brands in any one of six common locations — either right or left side, and on the shoulder, rib or hip. Since hides have a value once the animal is butchered, many ranchers use shoulder and hip brands to cause less hide damage than rib brands....
Real Cowboys Lane Oles, 8, skewered some freshly extracted calf fries and roasted them over the fire that heated the brand used to mark the calf they came from. The pre-lunch delicacy was his reward for helping the adults round up calves on Bill Weems' ranch, brand and medicate them and castrate the bulls. "Those calf fries are good," he said after taking a bite. "I helped with the calf fries and then I ate some." Lane and his 10-year-old brother, Dee, are following in their father's footsteps, prints made by a pair of cowboy boots with the clink of spurs. The sons of Jim Oles, dressed in brown vests, boots, spurs and straw cowboy hats, are more than wannabe cowboys. They're the real deal, the next generation of modern-day cowboys, keeping alive the Old West traditions that made the Texas Panhandle what it is today. The tools have changed, but the methods of raising cattle have remained consistent since the early days of ranching and cattle drives of the mid- to late-1800s. The whole process is a family affair with neighbors helping neighbors. "There's less stress on us and the cattle when there's plenty of help and people know what to do. We all help each other," Oles said....
Endangered wolf program remains a complex, volatile issue On a file cabinet outside Catron County Manager Bill Aymar's office sits a stuffed animal: a sheep in wolf's clothing, armed with a machine gun. Aymar calls it his "answer to the wolf problem." The problem, in the view of southwestern New Mexico ranchers, is a program that began in 1998 to reintroduce endangered Mexican gray wolves into their historic range in Arizona and New Mexico, where they'd been exterminated at the behest of the livestock industry decades ago. Environmentalists contend the problem isn't the wolves _ but the ranchers who refuse to accept the reintroduction program. Almost from the program's start, wolves killed cattle. Rancher and Catron County Commissioner Hugh B. McKeen says it's been too much for a way of life already stressed by other predators and increasing rules on federal lands. "It's a disaster," says McKeen, who runs 108 head on 11 square miles of largely public land near the village of Alma. He's lost one cow to wolves, but says neighbors have lost many more. "It's not just the cattle they eat. But it's the cattle they scatter and run through fences."....
Surge in Wild Animal Attacks on Suburban Children Bears are no longer just going through the trash, they are breaking and entering. And coyotes are no longer contained to the wily domain of Saturday morning cartoons, they are trotting through suburban neighborhoods in increasing numbers. A recent spate of black bear home invasions and attacks by coyotes and foxes on adults and children in the state of New Jersey sheds light on the growing nationwide problem of human and wildlife encounters. As humans continue to encroach and build homes and businesses in suburban and rural areas once solely inhabited by wildlife, experts warn that the problem may worsen. In New Jersey, a coyote bit a 22-month-old boy in his grandparents' backyard in April. In May, a coyote attacked a 5-year-old boy playing in a yard near his Middletown home. And last week, Putnam County officials say a Patterson woman was attacked by a fox in her backyard. Meanwhile, the state's black bear population has skyrocketed after years of dwindling numbers. Last week, police in North Jersey shot and killed a bear in a tree that had broken into a house earlier in the day....hat tip to Wolves Gone Wild
Dems Plan to 'Green' the Capitol The U.S. House of Representatives complex generated more "greenhouse gas" last year than 17,000 cars, Democratic leaders said Thursday, declaring that Congress must be more environmentally friendly before members can expect Americans in general to back "sweeping" measures contained in new energy bills. Unveiling what party leaders are calling a "Green the Capitol" initiative, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told a press conference on the steps of the building: "The Capitol will not only be a shining example of democracy, but of our commitment to the future. Our work today is to green the Capitol on behalf of the future. "We believed that we had to get our own house in order before we launched a sweeping global warming and energy independence agenda for the rest of the nation," she said. Among the initiative's goals is to operate the House of Representatives in a "carbon-neutral manner" by January 2009. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the greenhouse gas often blamed for global warming. To reduce the amount of greenhouse gas produced, the Capitol will purchase electricity generated from renewable sources such as solar power, switch from using coal, oil and natural gas at the Capitol Power Plant to solely using natural gas, and purchase carbon "offsets" for the remaining emissions. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added that Congress would purchase more flexible-fuel vehicles and build a biofuel station at the Capitol....Is this the same Nancy Pelosi who demanded a huge military aircraft to ferry her and her family back and forth from D.C. to California?
Smothering land rights with an energy bill? Now, global warming is being used as an excuse to further expand government's power to control the use of land. A part of the energy bill now under consideration includes H.R. 2337, which may be cited as the "Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act." What kind of arrogance does it take to think Congress can write a law that will make any difference at all to any global warming that may take place or to the survival of wildlife? Now, despite all this indisputable history, Congress thinks it can write legislation that will affect global warming (or cooling, as the case may be) and help wildlife survive. The legislation now proposed will do neither. What it will do is give the various agencies of government still another excuse to control the use of land. Under the Endangered Species Act, government at least has to pretend that some bug or weed is endangered before restricting the use of land. Under the Clean Water Act, the government at least has to pretend the land may, at some point, have been a mud puddle. Under the pending legislation, a government agency need only suggest that restricting land use will help wildlife survive the impact of global warming. Who can prove them wrong – or right? This absurdity is being discussed in the context of America's energy policy. What should be discussed is how to produce more energy from the known domestic petroleum reserves; how to remove some of the obstacles that prevent building new refineries; how to speed up the licensing process for nuclear energy plants; how to improve the clean coal technology to take advantage of our massive coal reserves....
Mayors make environmental moves Cities in 36 states are going "green," mainly by running cars on alternative fuel and installing energy-efficient streetlights and traffic signals, says a survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors out today. Less than half, though, have taken tougher steps to require energy-efficient homes and businesses. The survey, compiling the responses of 134 cities, is the first snapshot of how cities are trying to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to offset global warming. The survey found: •Three-quarters of the cities are replacing vehicles with hybrids or using biofuels such as ethanol. San Francisco runs 40% of its fleet on biodiesel and in September will recycle waste oils from restaurants into biodiesel for city vehicles. •Six in 10 require that new city government buildings be energy efficient, and four in 10 require developers to build green. Santa Cruz, Calif., mandates that new construction be energy efficient. •64% use renewable energy such as solar, wind or gases released in landfills to meet some of their energy needs. Albuquerque captures methane from decomposing garbage to power machines that clean water under a landfill....
N.M. court rules in AZ ranchers' dispute over grazing permit Water rights in New Mexico provide ranchers with no legal entitlement for cattle to forage on adjacent lands, the state Supreme Court ruled in a setback to ranchers seeking compensation for the loss of a federal grazing permit. The unanimous decision by state's highest court came in a long-simmering legal dispute in southwestern New Mexico where ranchers claimed a property right on a grazing allotment in the Gila National Forest. Similar disputes over public lands and private property rights have surfaced throughout the West. The justices, in a ruling issued Thursday, concluded that "the case law and statutes of this state, as well as customary practice, do not support holding that a right to forage is within the scope of a water right or right of way for enjoyment of a water right." According to the court, "the Walkers assert their vested water right, historically used to water cattle, entitled their predecessors in interest and now entitles them, to the implicit use of the surrounding land as forage for that livestock." However, the justices rejected the Walkers' claim. "The self-evident fact that grazing will occur in areas adjacent to stock water facilities does not translate into a legally enforceable right to graze by virtue of a stock watering right," the court said in an opinion written by Justice Richard Bosson. The court also concluded that "the laws of New Mexico do not support the Walkers' claims to a forage right on federal lands implicit in their right of way for the maintenance and enjoyment of a vested water right."....
Mesquite eradication restores native grassland On a ranch east of Carlsbad where a year ago mesquite bushes choked the landscape, natural grasses wave gently in the breeze. A desert turtle pokes his head out of his shell and wonders why the humans invading his space are speaking with excitement in their voices. For city-slickers, getting excited over rangeland grasses may seem a little over the top. But for the handful of range conservationist and wildlife biologists from the Bureau of Land Management Carlsbad Field Office, it is a big deal — they are accomplishing their mission under the Healthy Land Initiative and funding from the federal Environmental Quality Improvement Program. Although the BLM is the lead agency, it actually takes a small army to successfully wage war against the mesquite bush that is densely spread across state, federal and private lands in Eddy County....
Retirees find new roles with BLM
Five former Bureau of Land Management employees consider themselves in retiree heaven and loving every minute of it. When the BLM came knocking on their door to see if they would be interested in providing their expertise and a helping hand with the agency's mesquite eradication program, the retirees happily stepped up to the plate. Although they are paid for their services through the USDA's Environmental Quality Improvement program, truth be told, most of them would have volunteered with or without pay. Collectively, Howard Gebel, Mack Wilemon, Gerald Orr, Roy Stovall and Larry La Plant have 130 years of experience in fields ranging from wildlife biology to range improvement, and their experience has been welcomed by the younger generation of BLM professionals who are building on what the retirees started....
State officials update Montana ranchers on wolf delisting, management Ranchers south of Interstate 90 can legally protect their livestock from the wolf's wrath, while ranchers north of the interstate cannot, according to the 10J rule on wolf management. “The wolves north of the river are fully endangered and ranchers cannot shoot them if they are killing livestock,” explained Kraig Glazier of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspec-tion Service during the Montana Cattlemen's Association mid-year meeting on the Sakalkho Ranch near Hamilton, Mont. “South of the river, they can shoot the wolves if they are harassing the livestock because they are considered an experimental population, whereas, those north of the river are considered an existing population.” It's a matter of legal descriptions, which is necessary to take wolves off the endangered species list, he added, and “biologically, wolves are fully recovered.” The wolf population is more than recovered - it is growing, according to Glazier, who works on behalf of the Montana Department of Livestock to supervise the western region of wolf management....
Lake Tahoe fire destroys at least 165 buildings A wind-whipped wildfire destroyed at least 165 homes and other structures and scorched close to 2,000 acres just southwest of Lake Tahoe on Sunday, fire officials said. El Dorado County Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin House said the fire is less than 5 percent contained, but no injuries or deaths have been reported. The cause of the fire is still unknown. “This thing is raging out of control, and there’s no estimate as to when that may change,” House said. House said there are 500 more homes in the fire’s path, and the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has issued a declaration of emergency. Also, firefighters are protecting South Tahoe High School, which is threatened because it is located downhill from the site of the fire....
Logging town to loggers: Not in our backyard In the shadow of towering Douglas firs, two deer stop and stare at a small group of humans wandering toward them. Ninety years ago, deer like these had no place to hide. All of Heybrook Ridge was bare, and the town in the valley below was thriving. Few complained back then about the denuded hillside. Logging and the carving of granite blocks out of nearby mountains put Index on the map. The straight, fine-grained timber was the best on the market. The granite was also choice -- used to build the steps of the state Capitol. But last year, when the logging company WB Foresters proposed another clearcut on the ridge, town folk rallied against the idea. "I was stunned," said Debbie Buse, who helps her father run the company. "Obviously, the demographics of the town have changed significantly. I figured there would still be old-timers." Faced with petitions, Buse and her father decided to work with the town and gave the objectors one year -- a deadline of June 8, 2008 -- to raise $1.3 million. That's what it'll cost to buy the 95 acres that serve as a deep-green backdrop to this Snohomish County town of 150 people....
Rainbow Family to Gather in Ark. Members of the Rainbow Family, whose annual gathering of thousands of people has worried the Forest Service in the past, are setting up camp in the Ozark National Forest this year. The mix of eccentrics, young people and hippie types from around the country has been meeting for decades each year in a national forest somewhere in the U.S. to pray for peace and to celebrate love. Such a large group can harm forests, so the Forest Service has developed a team to "manage the impacts of Rainbow Family national gatherings." Rainbow Family members say they always leave some members behind after the gathering to reseed damaged areas, cover all fire pits and remove bridges created over streams....
Insect song bothers some Been sleeping in earplugs recently? Or been sleeping at all, for that matter? Some in Central Texas have been bleary-eyed in recent days and might not get a full night’s sleep for a few weeks, predicted a Texas Parks & Wildlife entomologist tracking this summer’s exploding population of the Central Texas Leaf Katydid. Spawned by abundant spring rains, the insects also known as “longhorn grasshoppers” have appeared in great numbers in counties south of Hays; however, TPWD Invertebrate Biologist Mike Quinn said Wimberley has also experienced the outbreak. “People tell me they can’t sleep at night, or they’re having to wear earplugs,” Quinn said. “They ask me ‘what’s going on?’” Though katydids are present each year, Quinn said this season’s outbreak is atypical. “I don’t think it’s cyclical” in the sense that some locusts are. He described the phenomenon as more infrequent or periodic. “I don’t foresee it happening in the same location anytime in the near future.” Most summer nights hereabouts are punctuated with the katydid’s song — short and buzzy and, Quinn says, repeated every five to six seconds. However, “when katydid populations reach levels with multiple individuals in every tree branch, they sing day and night in an unbelievably raucous chorus that forms a continuous pulsating whine.”....
New Mexico tops in U.S. pecan production New Mexico's pecan farmers have reason to go nuts: For the first time, the state ranks as the No. 1 producer of pecans in the country, beating out Georgia and Texas, who typically rank at the top but had to battle erratic weather last year. New Mexico produced about 46 million pounds of pecans in 2006. Georgia came in at 40 million pounds followed by Texas with 36 million pounds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. About 70 percent of all pecans produced in the state are grown in the Mesilla Valley along the Rio Grande corridor in the southern part of the state, where the river provides essential irrigation water, said Richard Heerema, extension pecan specialist with New Mexico State University. Pecan farming in New Mexico began in the early 1930s when the Stahmann family started a commercial-scale orchard in the Mesilla Valley desert. The industry flourished, and the Stahmann family now lays claim to the largest pecan orchard in the world and led the way for future pecan farmers in the West, Arnold said. New Mexico trees produce more pecans per acre than other trees and acreage in the Mesilla Valley has grown more than 500 percent since the 1970s, Heerema said....
Aversion therapy steers sheep away from vines Wanted: Hungry sheep, a year old, with limited dining experience, otherwise healthy. Work in the state's most breathtaking countryside. Here in the rolling pastures of Mendocino County, several dozen sheep are eating their way into agriculture acclaim. An experiment among vineyards on a university ranch has pretty much proved that sheep can be trained as four-footed professional eaters, who bypass the tender shoots of grapevines overhead for the pesky weeds sprouting underneath. "Sheep are really good at what they do, and what they do is eat," said Morgan Doran, a farm adviser with the University of California. These trained animal lawn mowers could reduce labor costs, provide an alternative to pesticides and work diligently even in driving spring rains, Doran said....
Brand Identity It was a scene that could have happened 150 years ago in the Old West. Cowboys on horses roped the hind legs of running calves for the annual spring ritual of branding. But the scene happened last week in a corral northwest of Cortez as Zane Odell branded his reverse Z bar O on calves in preparation for taking them to summer pasture in the mountains near Rico. The calves also were dehorned, immunized and castrated. Hernando Cortez introduced branding from Spain to the New World in 1541, when he used his brand of three crosses, and the custom spread as the cattle industry grew in the West. In Colorado, brands have been registered with the Brand Inspection Division of the State Board of Livestock Inspection since about 1865, and no duplicates are allowed. There are a few of the very old brands that are duplicated, because they were already in existence in different parts of the state before registration was required, local brand inspector Joel Stevenson said. More than 37,000 brands are registered in Colorado for cattle, horses, mules, burros, sheep, elk and fallow deer. Colorado allows brands in any one of six common locations — either right or left side, and on the shoulder, rib or hip. Since hides have a value once the animal is butchered, many ranchers use shoulder and hip brands to cause less hide damage than rib brands....
Real Cowboys Lane Oles, 8, skewered some freshly extracted calf fries and roasted them over the fire that heated the brand used to mark the calf they came from. The pre-lunch delicacy was his reward for helping the adults round up calves on Bill Weems' ranch, brand and medicate them and castrate the bulls. "Those calf fries are good," he said after taking a bite. "I helped with the calf fries and then I ate some." Lane and his 10-year-old brother, Dee, are following in their father's footsteps, prints made by a pair of cowboy boots with the clink of spurs. The sons of Jim Oles, dressed in brown vests, boots, spurs and straw cowboy hats, are more than wannabe cowboys. They're the real deal, the next generation of modern-day cowboys, keeping alive the Old West traditions that made the Texas Panhandle what it is today. The tools have changed, but the methods of raising cattle have remained consistent since the early days of ranching and cattle drives of the mid- to late-1800s. The whole process is a family affair with neighbors helping neighbors. "There's less stress on us and the cattle when there's plenty of help and people know what to do. We all help each other," Oles said....
CATRON COUNTY COMMISSION
PO BOX 507
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chairman
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CATRON COUNTY SERVES 24 HOUR NOTICE TO US FWS
Demands for protection for County residents continue to be ignored
RESERVE, N.M. After repeated letters from Catron County government and a family living on a ranch in the Gila National Forest to remove a female Mexican gray wolf (AF924) which has been stalking the family’s residence since its release into the wild in late April, on Thursday the Catron County Commission issued a “24 Hour Notice of Intent to Remove Mexican wolf Durango AF924” to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
“This family and the County have tried to get FWS to remove that wolf for two months,” said Ed Wehrheim, Chairman of the Catron County Commission. The County has issued two letters of demand for removal of the wolf. The first cited the wolf’s past history of depredation and a report that the wolf had bitten a human. The second letter cited six incidents involving problem wolf behavior which were reported to, investigated and confirmed by FWS as having involved the wolf in question in a six week time period.
A psychiatrist specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry has diagnosed a thirteen-year-old member of the family with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by the wolf and her mate. The psychiatrist pointed out in the evaluation that therapy would be valueless unless the causative factors (the wolves) were removed immediately. The Mexican wolf recovery program SOP 13, Control of Mexican Wolves, and Final Rule Section 17.84 (k)(ix) both provide guidelines for the removal of nuisance or problem Mexican wolves when hazing and other methods prove inadequate. In the County’s 24 Hour Notice, it was pointed out that no action has been taken by FWS or any other agency to “respond to the demand for removal, nor has any adequate action been taken by your agency or any other agency to reduce the risk to humans from AF924”.
When the family and the ranch owner each finally appealed in writing to the Catron County Commission to provide the protection they needed from the wolves, the County Commission sent the 24 Hour Notice to FWS and all the agencies involved in the wolf program. The only response of FWS was to send law enforcement officers to observe the County’s Wolf Interaction Investigator, who is attempting to protect the family from any more incidents with this problem wolf. The investigator has set up camp outside the family’s house and intends to trap for the wolf and turn it over to FWS. Sources say that the law enforcement officers are waiting for a court injunction for the County and the County’s investigator to cease and desist the trapping. FWS continues to not provide any protection for the family, however.
Pictures will be posted today at Wolf Crossing
PO BOX 507
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chairman
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CATRON COUNTY SERVES 24 HOUR NOTICE TO US FWS
Demands for protection for County residents continue to be ignored
RESERVE, N.M. After repeated letters from Catron County government and a family living on a ranch in the Gila National Forest to remove a female Mexican gray wolf (AF924) which has been stalking the family’s residence since its release into the wild in late April, on Thursday the Catron County Commission issued a “24 Hour Notice of Intent to Remove Mexican wolf Durango AF924” to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
“This family and the County have tried to get FWS to remove that wolf for two months,” said Ed Wehrheim, Chairman of the Catron County Commission. The County has issued two letters of demand for removal of the wolf. The first cited the wolf’s past history of depredation and a report that the wolf had bitten a human. The second letter cited six incidents involving problem wolf behavior which were reported to, investigated and confirmed by FWS as having involved the wolf in question in a six week time period.
A psychiatrist specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry has diagnosed a thirteen-year-old member of the family with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by the wolf and her mate. The psychiatrist pointed out in the evaluation that therapy would be valueless unless the causative factors (the wolves) were removed immediately. The Mexican wolf recovery program SOP 13, Control of Mexican Wolves, and Final Rule Section 17.84 (k)(ix) both provide guidelines for the removal of nuisance or problem Mexican wolves when hazing and other methods prove inadequate. In the County’s 24 Hour Notice, it was pointed out that no action has been taken by FWS or any other agency to “respond to the demand for removal, nor has any adequate action been taken by your agency or any other agency to reduce the risk to humans from AF924”.
When the family and the ranch owner each finally appealed in writing to the Catron County Commission to provide the protection they needed from the wolves, the County Commission sent the 24 Hour Notice to FWS and all the agencies involved in the wolf program. The only response of FWS was to send law enforcement officers to observe the County’s Wolf Interaction Investigator, who is attempting to protect the family from any more incidents with this problem wolf. The investigator has set up camp outside the family’s house and intends to trap for the wolf and turn it over to FWS. Sources say that the law enforcement officers are waiting for a court injunction for the County and the County’s investigator to cease and desist the trapping. FWS continues to not provide any protection for the family, however.
Pictures will be posted today at Wolf Crossing
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Cowboys and ATVs - an unnatural mix
Cowgirl Sass and Savvy
by Julie Carter
For 150 years, cowboys have ridden horses. It didn't always turn out well, but generally it has been the perfect combination for the job.
Then along came the motorized "horse" in various versions of wheel count - two, three and four.
Dirt bikes, the rugged slower model of motorcycle, made a stab at offering an easy "saddle up" for the cowboy along with the promise of covering lots of country in a short amount of time.
Hunkered over his iron steed, hat pulled down tight, the cowboy did indeed find he could take the outside circle, bring the cattle at a high trot from the farthest corners and never have to let his "horse" have a breather.
If he could still walk at sundown, he might make mention how that bike like to have beat him to death on the rough terrain.
But as is his way, he would cowboy-up and do it again the next day.
Like with great bronc stories, this screaming machine created many a tale.
"Man, you shoulda seen it. I was watching ole Roy headed down the top of the ridge when all of a sudden he just disappeared! He flat just dropped out of sight."
The storyteller, who happened to be proudly mounted on a real horse, would then tell about loping over to find Roy and his iron mount at the bottom of a sink hole. Roy and "Trigger" were in need of some serious help that would come only with a rope and a pull from a real horse.
Then along came the three-wheeled ATV followed by the somewhat more stable four-wheeler.
There are cowboys in cowboy country that will tell you, "Give a cowboy an ATV and in a year, you have a dead cowboy." It sounds harsh, but the phrase was born from a sad truth.
For every comical tale about the new generation of motorized cow herders, there are twice as many proving the danger of the machines.
While accidents happen and accidents are accidents, there is something menacing about mixing the wild-side nature of the cowboy with something mechanical.
They truly cannot resist pushing the limits, testing the parameters and making every effort to prove something that never needed proven.
If fast is good, faster is better. If gradual is safe, straight up or down and all out is better. "Hey Maw, watch me rope that sick yearling, dally to the tool box and turn off hard enough to bring him to Jesus."
Convenient, step-saver, fuel-saver, time-saver and man's best tool when conditions warrant it, the ATV has unequivocally become standard equipment for ranches and farms.
There isn't anything better for the job when you need it. Handy as a pocket on a shirt and likely to be around just as long. But still very dangerous.
I have a teen cowboy in the house now sporting a neon-orange leg cast. His recipe for a wreck that could have been oh-so-much worse was a rope and four-wheeler.
He was headed out to rope something - the rope coils thrown over his shoulder while he moseyed the four-wheeler to the corral. The tail of the rope got hung up in the rear axle and in a flash, the rope cinched down tight around the lad's shoulder and arm. He was jerked off the seat, slammed to the ground and drug a short way until the machine came to a stop.
There was a lot that could have happened but thanks only to God, it didn't. He will be uncomfortable, inconvenienced and no doubt a little bored for the next few weeks. But I'm very glad he's able to experience it all. Maybe he'll come out the other end a little wiser.
Can 13-year-olds be wiser?
Julie’s book, Cowgirl Sass and Savvy is available from her Web site at www.julie-carter.com
Cowgirl Sass and Savvy
by Julie Carter
For 150 years, cowboys have ridden horses. It didn't always turn out well, but generally it has been the perfect combination for the job.
Then along came the motorized "horse" in various versions of wheel count - two, three and four.
Dirt bikes, the rugged slower model of motorcycle, made a stab at offering an easy "saddle up" for the cowboy along with the promise of covering lots of country in a short amount of time.
Hunkered over his iron steed, hat pulled down tight, the cowboy did indeed find he could take the outside circle, bring the cattle at a high trot from the farthest corners and never have to let his "horse" have a breather.
If he could still walk at sundown, he might make mention how that bike like to have beat him to death on the rough terrain.
But as is his way, he would cowboy-up and do it again the next day.
Like with great bronc stories, this screaming machine created many a tale.
"Man, you shoulda seen it. I was watching ole Roy headed down the top of the ridge when all of a sudden he just disappeared! He flat just dropped out of sight."
The storyteller, who happened to be proudly mounted on a real horse, would then tell about loping over to find Roy and his iron mount at the bottom of a sink hole. Roy and "Trigger" were in need of some serious help that would come only with a rope and a pull from a real horse.
Then along came the three-wheeled ATV followed by the somewhat more stable four-wheeler.
There are cowboys in cowboy country that will tell you, "Give a cowboy an ATV and in a year, you have a dead cowboy." It sounds harsh, but the phrase was born from a sad truth.
For every comical tale about the new generation of motorized cow herders, there are twice as many proving the danger of the machines.
While accidents happen and accidents are accidents, there is something menacing about mixing the wild-side nature of the cowboy with something mechanical.
They truly cannot resist pushing the limits, testing the parameters and making every effort to prove something that never needed proven.
If fast is good, faster is better. If gradual is safe, straight up or down and all out is better. "Hey Maw, watch me rope that sick yearling, dally to the tool box and turn off hard enough to bring him to Jesus."
Convenient, step-saver, fuel-saver, time-saver and man's best tool when conditions warrant it, the ATV has unequivocally become standard equipment for ranches and farms.
There isn't anything better for the job when you need it. Handy as a pocket on a shirt and likely to be around just as long. But still very dangerous.
I have a teen cowboy in the house now sporting a neon-orange leg cast. His recipe for a wreck that could have been oh-so-much worse was a rope and four-wheeler.
He was headed out to rope something - the rope coils thrown over his shoulder while he moseyed the four-wheeler to the corral. The tail of the rope got hung up in the rear axle and in a flash, the rope cinched down tight around the lad's shoulder and arm. He was jerked off the seat, slammed to the ground and drug a short way until the machine came to a stop.
There was a lot that could have happened but thanks only to God, it didn't. He will be uncomfortable, inconvenienced and no doubt a little bored for the next few weeks. But I'm very glad he's able to experience it all. Maybe he'll come out the other end a little wiser.
Can 13-year-olds be wiser?
Julie’s book, Cowgirl Sass and Savvy is available from her Web site at www.julie-carter.com
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Senate Energy Bill Tax Title Hikes Taxes and Promises Higher Prices for Consumers Taxing successful energy sources and subsidizing unsuccessful ones—that is the essence of Washington’s energy policy during the 1970s and early 1980s, and it would be repeated by the Senate’s version of the House’s energy bill (H.R. 6). The bill would raise taxes by an estimated $28 billion over 10 years, mostly from the oil and natural gas sector, and spend much of this money on tax breaks for alternative energy sources like ethanol and wind power. If history is any guide, this approach is likely to backfire, raising prices and reducing energy security. The tax title of the energy bill proposes a number of tax code changes, the combined effect of which would be to raise taxes paid by companies working to expand oil and natural gas supplies. This includes measures eliminating or reducing some existing deductions against income from energy production, most notably the manufacturer's deduction created by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. This deduction, which applies to domestic industries, would be modified to exclude major oil companies. The change would raise taxes on new oil and gas production by $9.433 billion over 10 years. The bill would also impose new taxes, such as a 13 percent excise tax on oil and gas from the Gulf of Mexico that is estimated to raise $10.644 billion over the next 10 years. Consumer anger over high gasoline prices sparked Congress's current drive to pass energy legislation, but these measures will not offer any relief at the pump....
Senate Energy Bill Would Increase Gas Prices The Senate is currently debating energy policy legislation that could result in significantly higher prices for gasoline consumers. A review of S. 1419, including the just-completed section on tax changes, reveals that the bill could increase the price of regular unleaded gasoline from $3.14 per gallon (the early May national average) to $6.40 in 2016--a 104 percent increase. The Senate bill aims to slow and ultimately reverse the growth of carbon emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles, mainly through provisions requiring higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and more biofuel content in retail gasoline. The bill does not, however, contain significant funding or organizational plans for increasing the country's supply of petroleum. In addition, the bill contains a section directed at "price gouging." The bill proposes paying for the new mandates and programs with a series of tax increases, most of which would be paid by producers of gasoline. The combined effects of these policy changes would cause retail gasoline prices to increase. The Senate bill contains a number of tax law changes that would also contribute to gasoline prices. Among the most prominent are: * a tax on finished gasoline as it leaves the production facility; * a tax on gasoline produced in the United States and sold abroad; * a decrease in the tax credit offered to producers of ethanol; and * major changes in the tax credits and deductions afforded to gasoline producers under current tax law....
Going Green: The Media Reveal a Major Color Scheme Go green young man. A twist on Horace Greeley’s famous advice is growing from a suggestion into a media mandate. Everywhere, they tell us, America and the world are “going green.” It’s more than just a buzzword term for the eco-elite. The mainstream media are saying people are going green as a reminder that we, too, must join them or risk being behind the times. Or worse, conservative. Just this year, the three broadcast TV networks have cited the term more than 90 times. It defines everything from organic wine to former steel towns. Even the Vatican is “going green.” In print media, there are more than 2,800 uses of the expression since April Fool’s Day, appropriately enough. Sometime Republican/sometime Democrat Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a plan to convert New York’s taxi fleet to hybrid vehicles early in June. According to the June 4 U.S. News & World Report, the mandate for big green taxis is “going green.” NBC’s Brian Williams told viewers that even “a piece of the rust belt that has seen better days may now be getting a new life by going green.” That June 11 piece was about the one-time Bethlehem Steel location of Lackawanna, N.Y., which is embracing windmill power. Journalists aren’t so much discovering a movement as creating one. Every bit of eco-insanity is now written about, talked about and celebrated – all under the journalism-approved color scheme....
Too Busy Admiring Greens to Notice What They're Really About Environmentalism is hip, green celebrities are “very sexy” and saving the planet is “simple,” according to the media. The deluge of celebrity books, films and even rock concerts is making green look good – because journalists leave out the cost to individuals, businesses and the economy. A June 19 Reuters story said Al Gore’s Live Earth concerts will be “as green as possible,” but left out the point that not putting on seven concerts on different continents would be a whole lot “greener.” “Going green” is all the rage – from Live Earth to “green” weddings and interior decorating. The problem is, media reports imply that people won’t have to make enormous sacrifices to do what is right for the environment. That downplays the reality of environmentalism, which is anti-business and anti-economic growth; even, at times, anti-human rights. Many environmentalists support extreme measures that will cost ordinary citizens tax dollars, create inconvenience and limit technological and industrial advancement. In one recent case, environmentalists have even limited people’s right to travel in their own country....
Senate Energy Bill Tax Title Hikes Taxes and Promises Higher Prices for Consumers Taxing successful energy sources and subsidizing unsuccessful ones—that is the essence of Washington’s energy policy during the 1970s and early 1980s, and it would be repeated by the Senate’s version of the House’s energy bill (H.R. 6). The bill would raise taxes by an estimated $28 billion over 10 years, mostly from the oil and natural gas sector, and spend much of this money on tax breaks for alternative energy sources like ethanol and wind power. If history is any guide, this approach is likely to backfire, raising prices and reducing energy security. The tax title of the energy bill proposes a number of tax code changes, the combined effect of which would be to raise taxes paid by companies working to expand oil and natural gas supplies. This includes measures eliminating or reducing some existing deductions against income from energy production, most notably the manufacturer's deduction created by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. This deduction, which applies to domestic industries, would be modified to exclude major oil companies. The change would raise taxes on new oil and gas production by $9.433 billion over 10 years. The bill would also impose new taxes, such as a 13 percent excise tax on oil and gas from the Gulf of Mexico that is estimated to raise $10.644 billion over the next 10 years. Consumer anger over high gasoline prices sparked Congress's current drive to pass energy legislation, but these measures will not offer any relief at the pump....
Senate Energy Bill Would Increase Gas Prices The Senate is currently debating energy policy legislation that could result in significantly higher prices for gasoline consumers. A review of S. 1419, including the just-completed section on tax changes, reveals that the bill could increase the price of regular unleaded gasoline from $3.14 per gallon (the early May national average) to $6.40 in 2016--a 104 percent increase. The Senate bill aims to slow and ultimately reverse the growth of carbon emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles, mainly through provisions requiring higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and more biofuel content in retail gasoline. The bill does not, however, contain significant funding or organizational plans for increasing the country's supply of petroleum. In addition, the bill contains a section directed at "price gouging." The bill proposes paying for the new mandates and programs with a series of tax increases, most of which would be paid by producers of gasoline. The combined effects of these policy changes would cause retail gasoline prices to increase. The Senate bill contains a number of tax law changes that would also contribute to gasoline prices. Among the most prominent are: * a tax on finished gasoline as it leaves the production facility; * a tax on gasoline produced in the United States and sold abroad; * a decrease in the tax credit offered to producers of ethanol; and * major changes in the tax credits and deductions afforded to gasoline producers under current tax law....
Going Green: The Media Reveal a Major Color Scheme Go green young man. A twist on Horace Greeley’s famous advice is growing from a suggestion into a media mandate. Everywhere, they tell us, America and the world are “going green.” It’s more than just a buzzword term for the eco-elite. The mainstream media are saying people are going green as a reminder that we, too, must join them or risk being behind the times. Or worse, conservative. Just this year, the three broadcast TV networks have cited the term more than 90 times. It defines everything from organic wine to former steel towns. Even the Vatican is “going green.” In print media, there are more than 2,800 uses of the expression since April Fool’s Day, appropriately enough. Sometime Republican/sometime Democrat Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a plan to convert New York’s taxi fleet to hybrid vehicles early in June. According to the June 4 U.S. News & World Report, the mandate for big green taxis is “going green.” NBC’s Brian Williams told viewers that even “a piece of the rust belt that has seen better days may now be getting a new life by going green.” That June 11 piece was about the one-time Bethlehem Steel location of Lackawanna, N.Y., which is embracing windmill power. Journalists aren’t so much discovering a movement as creating one. Every bit of eco-insanity is now written about, talked about and celebrated – all under the journalism-approved color scheme....
Too Busy Admiring Greens to Notice What They're Really About Environmentalism is hip, green celebrities are “very sexy” and saving the planet is “simple,” according to the media. The deluge of celebrity books, films and even rock concerts is making green look good – because journalists leave out the cost to individuals, businesses and the economy. A June 19 Reuters story said Al Gore’s Live Earth concerts will be “as green as possible,” but left out the point that not putting on seven concerts on different continents would be a whole lot “greener.” “Going green” is all the rage – from Live Earth to “green” weddings and interior decorating. The problem is, media reports imply that people won’t have to make enormous sacrifices to do what is right for the environment. That downplays the reality of environmentalism, which is anti-business and anti-economic growth; even, at times, anti-human rights. Many environmentalists support extreme measures that will cost ordinary citizens tax dollars, create inconvenience and limit technological and industrial advancement. In one recent case, environmentalists have even limited people’s right to travel in their own country....
KELO - EMINENT DOMAIN
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a column and an editorial on the issue of "blight" and eminent domain. Below is an excerpt from the column, and then an excerpt from the editorial. Subscription required to see the entire article.
The 'Blight' Excuse
In Brandon, Ore. there lives a one-armed man named Scott Cook who owns income-producing timberland. The state revoked his license to drive a truck on account of his having only one arm. Then the government decided it wasn't quite through with him: Now his land is being taken by the town by eminent domain, so his neighbor's golf resort can be expanded. The town likes the resort because it supplies jobs. Mr. Cook feels certain he will never get what his land is worth. He is outraged that his town would take land from one man to give to another. This is called an "economic development" taking, and two years ago -- June 23, 2005 -- the nation was up in arms over this sort of thing. On that day the Supreme Court decided Kelo v. New London, and said that it is constitutional for the government to take your property and give it to someone else if doing so will rake in greater taxes for your town. Americans were instantly united in bipartisan fury. The U.S. Congress swiftly passed a resolution condemning Kelo, and the House and Senate introduced a slew of bills, to curb what so many perceived as the power of eminent domain run amok. More than a hundred bills were introduced in state legislatures to accomplish the same end, and two states passed moratoriums on economic development takings. Pundits spilled ink declaring that the Founding Fathers were spinning in their graves. Spittle flew as politicians grabbed the nearest mike, rushing to condemn Kelo as the unquestioned death knell of American property rights. But how is it we still have someone like the soon-to-be-timberless Mr. Cook? Well, a year went by and the moratoriums were lifted. Congress never did pass any of the bills. Reform was left to the states. Some states, such as Oregon (hence Mr. Cook's bad luck), California, New York and New Jersey passed no meaningful reforms. The latter three are among the most active in these kinds of takings. Some 28 states have passed substantive eminent domain reform since Kelo. Many enacted laws that prohibited private-to-private transfers for purposes of economic development. Sounds grand, right? But there's a loophole: blight....
Kelo's Consequences
Today marks the second anniversary of Kelo v. New London, the Supreme Court ruling that gave governments the authority to seize property on behalf of private developers. Since the 5-4 ruling, many state governments have taken some sort of action to limit these "takings." But in areas that legislators have failed to protect -- which usually turn out to be where low-income minorities reside -- citizens are still exposed to eminent domain abuse. A recent study by the Institute for Justice compared the demographic characteristics of 184 areas targeted by eminent domain to the surrounding communities. The report shows that eminent domain disproportionately affects poor, ethnic minorities with lower levels of education. Minorities comprised 58% of the population in areas targeted by eminent domain, compared to 45% in the surrounding communities. The median income of residents targeted by eminent domain is less than $19,000 per year, compared to more than $23,000 elsewhere. And 25% live at or below the poverty line, versus only 16% elsewhere. New Jersey resident Jim Keelen doesn't need statistics to define eminent-domain abuse. His home and business, located one block away from the Atlantic Ocean, have been slated for seizure by local government officials. His business, J&M Keelen Transportation Co., runs special-education transportation for public schools in two local counties. If the government is successful in seizing his property, Mr. Keelen and his 85 employees -- most of them low-income minorities -- will be forced to vacate their office, a restored historical building, so that private developers can tear it down and put up condominiums in its place. His home, located next door, would be torn down as well....
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a column and an editorial on the issue of "blight" and eminent domain. Below is an excerpt from the column, and then an excerpt from the editorial. Subscription required to see the entire article.
The 'Blight' Excuse
In Brandon, Ore. there lives a one-armed man named Scott Cook who owns income-producing timberland. The state revoked his license to drive a truck on account of his having only one arm. Then the government decided it wasn't quite through with him: Now his land is being taken by the town by eminent domain, so his neighbor's golf resort can be expanded. The town likes the resort because it supplies jobs. Mr. Cook feels certain he will never get what his land is worth. He is outraged that his town would take land from one man to give to another. This is called an "economic development" taking, and two years ago -- June 23, 2005 -- the nation was up in arms over this sort of thing. On that day the Supreme Court decided Kelo v. New London, and said that it is constitutional for the government to take your property and give it to someone else if doing so will rake in greater taxes for your town. Americans were instantly united in bipartisan fury. The U.S. Congress swiftly passed a resolution condemning Kelo, and the House and Senate introduced a slew of bills, to curb what so many perceived as the power of eminent domain run amok. More than a hundred bills were introduced in state legislatures to accomplish the same end, and two states passed moratoriums on economic development takings. Pundits spilled ink declaring that the Founding Fathers were spinning in their graves. Spittle flew as politicians grabbed the nearest mike, rushing to condemn Kelo as the unquestioned death knell of American property rights. But how is it we still have someone like the soon-to-be-timberless Mr. Cook? Well, a year went by and the moratoriums were lifted. Congress never did pass any of the bills. Reform was left to the states. Some states, such as Oregon (hence Mr. Cook's bad luck), California, New York and New Jersey passed no meaningful reforms. The latter three are among the most active in these kinds of takings. Some 28 states have passed substantive eminent domain reform since Kelo. Many enacted laws that prohibited private-to-private transfers for purposes of economic development. Sounds grand, right? But there's a loophole: blight....
Kelo's Consequences
Today marks the second anniversary of Kelo v. New London, the Supreme Court ruling that gave governments the authority to seize property on behalf of private developers. Since the 5-4 ruling, many state governments have taken some sort of action to limit these "takings." But in areas that legislators have failed to protect -- which usually turn out to be where low-income minorities reside -- citizens are still exposed to eminent domain abuse. A recent study by the Institute for Justice compared the demographic characteristics of 184 areas targeted by eminent domain to the surrounding communities. The report shows that eminent domain disproportionately affects poor, ethnic minorities with lower levels of education. Minorities comprised 58% of the population in areas targeted by eminent domain, compared to 45% in the surrounding communities. The median income of residents targeted by eminent domain is less than $19,000 per year, compared to more than $23,000 elsewhere. And 25% live at or below the poverty line, versus only 16% elsewhere. New Jersey resident Jim Keelen doesn't need statistics to define eminent-domain abuse. His home and business, located one block away from the Atlantic Ocean, have been slated for seizure by local government officials. His business, J&M Keelen Transportation Co., runs special-education transportation for public schools in two local counties. If the government is successful in seizing his property, Mr. Keelen and his 85 employees -- most of them low-income minorities -- will be forced to vacate their office, a restored historical building, so that private developers can tear it down and put up condominiums in its place. His home, located next door, would be torn down as well....
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