Obama Energy Chief Discusses Climate

While the Obama administration outlined its sweeping energy plans in recent months, Carol Browner, the energy and climate “czarina,” was a discreet figure, making few public appearances. That discretion may have helped to fuel doubts that the administration was really committed to seeking new climate legislation this year. But on Monday, Ms. Browner offered a glimpse of the administration’s strategy at an energy forum held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. By her account, the administration is determined to move forward on climate change even in the face a crippling recession and global economic crisis. As opposition to a climate bill mounts, particularly from Congressional Republicans, Ms. Browner said such legislation would significantly strengthen the administration’s position in Copenhagen, where nations will negotiate a new climate treaty at the end of the year. “Copenhagen and the position we can take there will be driven by what we can do domestically,” she said. “The bill is absolutely essential to our position and what we hope to achieve.” “The president has been very clear that he wants to re-establish the U.S. as a leader on the issue of climate change and global warming,” Ms. Browner said...NY Times

Poll: Northwest voters oppose Snake River dam removal

A poll suggests a majority of voters in the Pacific Northwest think removing four lower Snake River dams is an "extreme solution" for recovering salmon. The poll was commissioned by Northwest RiverPartners, a coalition of upstream farmers, ports and others who want to see the dams left in place. It was conducted by Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts of Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall Inc. "Dam removal would be economically devastating to the Northwest's energy picture and use of the rivers as an economic highway," said Terry Flores, executive director of Northwest RiverPartners...The Oregonian

Spammers scourge to inbox and environment

There are plenty of reasons to hate spammers. Add this to the list: They're environmentally unfriendly. A report being released Wednesday by security company McAfee Inc. finds that spammers are a scourge to your inbox and the environment, generating an astounding 62 trillion junk e-mails in 2008 that wasted enough electricity to power 2.4 million U.S. homes for a year. The "Carbon Footprint of E-mail Spam Report" estimated the computational power needed to process spam — from criminals tapping their armies of infected PCs to send it, Internet providers transmitting it, and end users viewing and deleting it...AP

Border Security Task Force mulls livestock border fences

Proposals directed at improving livestock fencing along the New Mexico-Mexico border were heard Friday by an ad hoc subcommittee of the Border Security Task Force. The subcommittee met at Mimbres Valley Learning Center, drawing area ranchers and representatives from a cross-section of city, county, state and federal agencies. The chief concern is danger to livestock if an animal or person carrying a disease crosses the border. As they did at a BSTF meeting in March, Keeler and the New Mexico Livestock Board's Joe Delk presented slides showing the variety of fencing. There are newly constructed 19-foot high pedestrian fences, vehicle barriers, Normandy barriers - some with a livestock component further restricting access - and older post-and-rail barriers and barbed-wire fences. "There wasn't a focus," Keeler said of fencing history. "Foot and mouth disease is endemic in South America," said Jeff Witte, of the Office of Agricultural Biosecurity. It has a life of days to weeks on clothing and hay, for example. One infected animal can desolate a whole country, the subcommittee was told, also affecting others whose jobs depend on transporting ag products and grocers. If you eat, you are involved in agriculture. Witte would like to see education on agricultural issues spreading knowledge to a wider population than ranchers and livestock officials...Las Cruces Sun-News

Feds pay farmers to till arid land

As drought forces families in the West to shorten their showers and let their lawns turn brown, two Depression-era government programs have been paying some of the nation's biggest farms hundreds of millions of dollars to grow water-thirsty crops in what was once desert. Records obtained by The Associated Press show that the federal government handed out more than $687 million in subsidies over the past two years to hundreds of farmers in California and Arizona, the most seriously drought-stricken states in the West. One program pays farmers for planting water-needy crops such as cotton and rice, which are largely grown by flooding the fields. The other provides cut-rate water for irrigation...AP

Dairy industry sees less-gassy future for cows

The U.S. dairy industry wants to engineer the "cow of the future" to pass less gas, a project aimed at cutting the industry's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020. The cow project aims to reduce intestinal methane, the single largest component of the dairy industry's carbon footprint, said Thomas P. Gallagher, chief executive officer of the U.S. Dairy and Dairy Management Inc.'s Innovation Center in Rosemont, Ill. One area to be explored is modifying the dairy cows' feed so they produce less methane, said Rick Naczi, the leader of the initiative. "Right now there is some work being done on fish-oil additives and some other things," he said. "The cow is responsible for the majority of the greenhouse gas on the farm itself. We know there are ways that we can find to cut or reduce that production." Another possible solution is targeting the microbes in the cow's gut, Naczi said. "You can change the mix of the bacteria in the cow's rumen and change the methane production that way." He expects the research to develop some solutions within a year...AP

US fears horse harvest ban a step to veganism

At the core of the current horse harvesting debate in the United States is animal agriculture's concern that the criminalisation of one animal-based protein source - horse meat - could be a stepping stone toward making all meat consumption illegal. At the recent National Institute for Animal Agriculture meeting, Essie Rogers, director of education for the Kentucky Horse Council, said the issue of horse harvesting has become so divisive that the council itself and its board are split 50/50 over whether horses should be harvested for human consumption. Republican Sue Wallis, of Wyoming, agrees and has just completed an information paper addressing the issue of horse harvesting and the fundamentals of animal agriculture. According to Wallis, efforts to criminalise horse meat have become such a significant threat that the rights of Americans are close to being abruptly curtailed. Well-financed animal rights organisations, and even well-intentioned but uninformed horse lovers, are behind the push, she said. Noting that animal agriculture is a business, Wallis said prohibiting horse owners from a salvage market is the same as prohibiting a rental car company from selling their cars once they have so many miles on them. The legislation also would transform horses from valuable assets to expensive liabilities. Economic incentives to keep, breed and improve the species will be massively affected, and ranchers, breeders, trainers and all related equine service industries will see their livelihoods greatly diminished...Stock & Land

Wild boar attacks woman in Gothenburg cemetery

The woman was out walking her dog in the woods at Västra Kykogården cemetery at 7am this morning when she came face to face with a large wild boar, according to local newspaper Göteborgs-Posten. "I have never run as fast in all my life," the woman told the newspaper. A hunter employed by the Church of Sweden was later able to confirm that in fact two wild boars had been out in the graveyard...The Local

Song Of The Day #018

Most everyone should be familiar with Johnny Horton, of I'm A One Woman Man, The Battle of New Orleans, North To Alaska, etc. fame. He was born in 1925 to a family of migrant fruit pickers and got most of his raising in East Texas. He got his start by winning a talent contest hosted by the then radio announcer Jim Reeves. He was killed in a car wreck in 1960.

I picked this song for today's selection because my dad got such a big kick out of it. He even liked it after he found out what a pirogue really was.

So here's Johnny Horton's 1956 recording of I Got A Hole In My Pirogue. It's available here as an mp3 download, and is available on several collections, including his 16 Biggest Hits.

Please enjoy while I sit back and remember dad's reaction to this song.

Immigration Raid at Customs Officer’s Home Leads to Suit

James and Sheila Slaughter said that when they answered the door of their home in San Luis, Ariz., on a July afternoon last year, they were surprised to find five armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers strapped into bulky bulletproof vests accusing them of harboring an illegal immigrant. “Is this ‘Candid Camera’?” Mrs. Slaughter recalled asking. That irritated the lead officer, her husband said Tuesday. “He said: ‘No, it isn’t “Candid Camera.” You need to step back into the middle of the room.’ ” The couple said they complied, and the officers prepared to search their home. Mr. Slaughter, a six-foot, 285-pound former Marine, said he then told them, “Look fellas, do you guys realize that I’m a U.S. Customs K-9 officer at the San Luis land port?” “The lead officer’s eyes got about as big and round as silver dollars, and the three guys who were standing just inside the door went straight outside,” said Mr. Slaughter, 51, who with a Labrador retriever, Whitey, searches cars at the Mexican border for narcotics. “They left without saying a word. They knew they messed up.” The Slaughters recently filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Phoenix accusing the Department of Homeland Security of violating their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. They are seeking $500,000 from each of the five officers...NY Times

Obama Taps 5th RIAA Lawyer to Justice Dept.

President Barack Obama is tapping another RIAA attorney into the Justice Department. Monday's naming of Ian Gershengorn, to become the department's deputy assistant attorney of the Civil Division, comes more than a week after nearly two-dozen public interest groups, trade pacts and library coalitions urged the new president to quit filling his administration with lawyers plucked from the Recording Industry Association of America. The move makes it five RIAA lawyers Obama has appointed to the Justice Department. Gershengorn, left, a partner with RIAA-firm Jenner & Block, represented the labels against Grokster (.pdf) and will be in charge of the DOJ Federal Programs Branch. That's the unit that just told a federal judge the Obama administration supports monetary damages as high as $150,000 per purloined music track on a peer-to-peer file sharing program...Wired

Albq & El Paso in top twenty for auto thefts

This city along the Rio Grande is on the verge of becoming the stolen-car capital of the U.S., according to data set for release Monday that underscore how drug cartels are helping make the U.S.-Mexico border region a hot spot for vehicle thieves. The National Insurance Crime Bureau, a nonprofit body that collects law-enforcement reports, said 1,960 vehicles were reported stolen in the Laredo metropolitan area last year, an increase of more than 47% since 2005, when Laredo ranked 32nd nationally. That comes to 827 thefts per 100,000 people, putting Laredo just behind No. 1 Modesto, Calif. Of the 20 U.S. metropolitan regions with the highest theft rates, according to the crime bureau, seven are near the Mexico border: Laredo; San Diego; Albuquerque, N.M.; Tucson, Ariz.; El Centro, Calif.; El Paso, Texas; and Phoenix. El Paso in particular has jumped up the charts; it ranked 17th in 2008, compared with No. 81 in 2005. While Mexican drug cartels aren't behind every stolen car along the border, police say their money drives the professional side of the trade...WSJ

Suit says grazing, drilling rules threaten bird

Conservationists say federal rules that allow livestock grazing and oil and gas development across 25 million acres of public land in the West are illegal because they fail to acknowledge the harm being done to sage grouse. A lawsuit recently filed in federal court accuses the Bureau of Land Management of violating two major environmental laws and its own regulations by allowing commercial activities to continue on those lands in California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. But in a switch in strategy, the environmentalists aren't asking a judge to immediately halt those operations. They want to talk, and they think they may have a willing listener in the new Obama administration. "What we are after is finding a way to do things differently than in the past and better manage these public lands into the future," said Laird Lucas, a lawyer for the Western Watersheds Project, which filed the suit. Since taking office, President Obama has distanced himself from several Bush administration policies on the environment and suspended some administrative orders Bush signed in the waning days of his term that could lead to the easing of protections for threatened wildlife on federal land. The change in administrations prompted the new approach from the Idaho-based environmental group that has spent much of the past eight years in court battling land-use rules adopted by the BLM and Forest Service...AP

City official says power line flak is BLM's fault

The Bureau of Land Management is forcing Idaho Power to route its Gateway West Transmission Line Project through the city limits, Kuna City Planner Steven Hasson said after a two-hour meeting Wednesday between city officials, BLM and Idaho Power. He said the agency ignored an Idaho Power study that showed the utility's preferred route for its proposed 500,000 volt Gateway project was through the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area south of Kuna that is already "crisscrossed" with similar high-voltage electrical towers. "Last year the BLM just told them there was no way those lines were going to run on public land," Hasson said. "It soon became apparent who was the 800-pound gorilla in the room. It was a matter of might makes right." The Gateway project calls for running 1,150 miles of transmission line from a substation near Casper, Wyo., to the Hemingway substation outside of Melba. Unable to locate the transmission lines on public land, Idaho Power submitted a proposal to the BLM that would route the project on land that Kuna has since annexed. If the project goes that route, it would endanger construction of the Osprey Ridge development, a 1,500-acre, 4,500-home and mixed-used planned community, according to Jedd K. Jones, an attorney for Osprey Ridge Partners LLLP...Idaho Statesman

It's no problem having a National Conservation Area near your community. Just plan on having your property condemned for rights of ways that otherwise would have been on federal land, and don't plan on economic development that would bring jobs.

Remember city officials: BLM, Congress and the enviro's told you an NCA would be good for business. Do you still believe them?

Forest Service fees rising for electric utilities

Electric utilities throughout California are getting hit with steep cost increases to continue using federal land for their hydropower projects. Conservationists say it's about time. The Placer County Water Agency's annual land use fee for its Middle Fork American River hydropower dams is jumping from $286,000 to $880,000 annually. The charge to Sacramento Municipal Utility District's Upper American River Project is rising from $343,000 to $635,000. Both are expected to increase again next year. The two utilities use U.S. Forest Service land in the Sierra Nevada to store and move water to generate electricity. The higher bills were mailed in late March by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has not adjusted the fees since 1987. Payment is due in early May. The agency estimates the fees are increasing, on average, 113 percent for hydropower utilities nationwide this year...Sacramento Bee

BLM floats fee to ride river rapids

Floating down the Colorado River is a local tradition. But if a Bureau of Land Management idea holds water, users of the Colorado River in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area could be paying fees by 2011. The fee could be $3 to $7, based on the fee river users already pay in the Kremmling area ($3) and in the Ruby Canyon area ($7). “This is in the very preliminary stages, looking at whether a fee to float in that area of the river would be appropriate,” said David Boyd, spokesman for the BLM. Implementation of the fee would not be immediate, if it is imposed at all. First, the citizen advisory council for the McInnis Canyons area would have to hear the proposal and give its OK for it to be explored. The BLM would then poll river users this summer. Public meetings would be hosted, and there would be a formal comment period. If all went smoothly, the fee would take effect in 2011...GJ Sentinel

Owners of cabins on Forest Service land face much higher fees

Al and Kay Alsing bought a cabin in Southern Oregon in 1966, paying the U.S. Forest Service $35 a year in fees for the privilege of using national forest land for recreational housing. But they say their tenure may end because the fees, which had risen to $1,000 recently, now are scheduled to rise sixfold, to about $6,250 a year. "It looks like we can't make it," Al Alsing said. A federal law requires the Forest Service to have new appraisals of cabin properties across the nation. It sets permit fees at 5 percent of the raw land value as decided by local market information. In some cases, the rises will be dramatic because appraisals can be decades old. The new appraisals will affect 14,000 recreation residences on national forest land. The fees will begin in 2011 and be phased in over three years. Twenty-five percent of the revenue will be given to the county and 75 percent will go to the federal treasury...AP

Long Time Valley Resident Won't Leave Historic Cabin

One of the oldest cabins in the Santa Barbara back country could be coming down soon, but the last resident to live there says it's too historic to lose. The Forest Service lease on Paradise Road ended last November. Tom Merkel who lives on the property, has a collections of odds and ends, covered with dust and cobwebs in a structures that is irregular in every way. Merkel says the structure which was built in 1918, should be given historical considerations before it's leveled. The Forest Service says it's studied the site, and does not believe it has the historical significance that Merkel claims. They want to use the site to increase public access in the area. Merkel says that 26 other cabins nearby, have already been vacated...KEYT3

More background is in The Last Man in Paradise.

Simplot mine expansion, seen as Yellowstone threat, blocked by court

A federal appeals court has temporarily halted the expansion of a phosphate mine in southeastern Idaho that opponents say would damage roadless areas near Yellowstone National Park. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that U.S. District Judge Mikel Williams failed to consider whether logging and topsoil removal during expansion of the J.R. Simplot Co.-owned Smoky Canyon phosphate mine would cause irreparable harm to the site. The mine has supplied about 1.5 million tons of phosphate ore a year to the company's Don plant in Pocatello, where it is converted into fertilizer. But company officials have said the current site will likely be played out by 2010. Last June the Bush administration approved a plan to allow the mine to expand into roadless areas of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, about 100 miles south of Yellowstone. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition sued last fall, contending the mine has historically sent large amounts of naturally occurring selenium into local waters, which has poisoned or caused birth defects in wildlife and livestock. The environmental groups say expanding the mine would create a major environmental disturbance and that the decision has not had adequate scientific review...AP

They are protecting roadless areas at all cost, so they can eventually be declared wilderness.

Montana to Washington: 'Hands off our water'

It's called the Clean Water Restoration Act. Sounds innocuous enough. After all, who could oppose clean water? But the bill introduced earlier this month by Sen. Russ Feingold and 23 co-sponsors, ostensibly to protect Americas wetlands, lakes and streams, was running into opposition even before hearings begin. The Montana Senate overwhelmingly voted to oppose the legislation because it removes control of all of the state's waterways, including temporary ones like seasonal ponds and swamps, from local officials to those in Washington. The 29-19 bipartisan vote of the Montana Senate was meant to send a clear signal to Washington – "get your hands off our water." The new legislation would bring federal oversight to all waters in the U.S., going further than the original Clean Water Act, which was limited to navigable waters. Montana legislators say the bill would potentially run roughshod over the rights of property owners. "It's why I call it the goodbye clause, or the goodbye private property clause," Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, said about the new legislation. Two Supreme Court decisions ruled the federal government had exceeded its mandate in attempting to control isolated wetlands through the law. Opponents of the new law say it pushes the limits of federal power further than perhaps any other law in U.S. history – a grab for power heretofore left to the states. The Competitive Enterprise Institute says the bill would put the Army Corps of Engineers in charge of a nationwide land permitting process – removing authority from the people and properties actually affected by decisions it would make...WorldNetDaily

Utah counties lose again in road & water monument fight

Kane and Garfield have lost another round in their years-long court fight for more road and water access in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld an earlier ruling that the Kane County Water Conservancy District, which is seeking to drill a culinary well within the monument, doesn't yet have a case. In their 32-page ruling, the judges said that because the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which crafted the management plan for the monument's 1.9 million acres, hasn't completed an environmental analysis on Kane's request to drill the well in Johnson Canyon, the county cannot show it has been harmed. Kane County, the Kane County Water Conservancy District and Garfield County sued the Interior Department and the BLM to challenge the monument plan on both road and water-right access. Mike Noel, executive director of the water district and Kane's representative to the Utah House, said the monument plan allows water rights of way only under certain circumstances that make it difficult for his water district to tap its water right, whose headwaters are within the monument boundaries. The proposed well site is on land proposed for wilderness study, which the BLM already has identified as having wilderness-quality resources...Salt Lake Tribune

Population Alarmists

Today's world population is about 6.8 billion, give or take a hundred million or so. By 2050, most estimates show the population will be about 9 billion — roughly a 35% or so increase. That's the equivalent, population-wise, of adding seven new countries the size of the U.S. to the world population. When you say it that way, it does sound dramatic and, as Attenborough put it, "frightening." The problem is, numbers lie. Past estimates of population growth have virtually always overestimated world fertility rates, and underestimated social trends that led to fewer babies. This time will be no different. If fertility rates decline just a little more than predicted (and the decline in fertility rates over the past four decades has been faster than almost any estimate out there), the population actually begins to shrink in 2040. By 2050, at the low end of fertility expectations, U.N. forecasts show just 7.96 billion people in 2050. And by the end of the century, the population will actually drop below its current levels. Worrying about population is an old preoccupation. Ever since the Rev. Thomas Malthus warned in the early 19th century that population growth would surely outstrip our ability to feed people, gloomy population prognosticators have been consistently wrong...IBD

Snowkiters flying above Forest Service wilderness rules for now

Three years ago, Chris Sabo first saw the colorful kites twisting above the snowy contours of Ball Butte. The Deschutes National Forest trails specialist was patrolling the boundary of the Three Sisters Wilderness west of Bend on a snowmobile when he came across a group of snowkiters, who harness the wind to pull them across the snow on skis or snowboards. "I do remember the big question was, 'Is this legal technically?'" recalled Sabo. That question could soon lead to one of the first changes to the U.S. Forest Service's wilderness regulations in more than two decades. "It has rapidly made its way up to the Washington office" of the Forest Service, said Shane Jeffries, Bend-Fort Rock District Ranger in Bend and Sabo's supervisor. The small sport of snowkiting is about a decade old in Oregon, but it's growing. Congressionally designated wilderness areas have been around since the 1960s. The recent intersection of the two demonstrates how government agencies react as the way we play on public lands continues to change. "Periodically new things pop up on us that we just can't envision," said Sabo. It happened with hang gliding and, more recently, Geocaching -- a GPS-driven treasure hunt popular on public lands. Now it seems it's snowkiting's turn to bow to the bureaucracy...The Oregonian

"bow to the beaucracy" - when it comes to wilderness, that's a pretty accurate phrase.

Can you fly a kite in a wilderness area? Wonder what Benjamin Franklin would say.

Faced with global warming, can wilderness remain natural?

For those who think of nature as a wild, unspoiled Eden that preserves the natural flora and fauna free from human interference, global warming has a nasty surprise in store, according to University of California, Berkeley, biologist Anthony Barnosky. In his new book, "Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming" (Island Press, 2009), Barnosky says that because of climate change, wilderness left to its own will no longer look like the natural areas we see today. Our conservation strategies must be rethought, he adds, because business-as-usual will not preserve all the aspects of nature we have come to know, love and respect. Setting aside preserves, for example, puts animals and plants in a bind: As global warming makes their current habitats unsuitable, surrounding human development prevents them from moving to more hospitable places. The alternative, assisted migration, smacks of creating wild zoos - quasi-natural areas like the dinosaur wonderland portrayed in the book and movie "Jurassic Park." "The new twist in preserving nature is that we might have to come up with a separate but equal system, where we actively set aside some tracts of land as wildlands where people can experience this feeling of 'wilderness,' but recognize that the species that live in those places and the landscape are not going to be the species and landscape we are used to," he says. "Our kids are going to see very different things in those kinds of places than we do." Barnosky describes in his book how global warming is already causing shifts in the ranges of animals and plants, disrupting migrations and spawning, and stressing animals confined to parks and reserves...EurekAlert

Recession Erodes Resistance to Arizona Copper Mine

Two years ago, Marles Jimenez demonstrated against the proposed development of Resolution Copper mine by Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton here. The mining site, more than a mile above the largest known copper reserve in North America, is also adjacent to Apache Leap, a majestic jutting cliff of rocks. But recently that worry has been eclipsed by the region's economic troubles. Mr. Jimenez, out of work as a mechanic since October, has had to sell his 1999 Ford pickup to pay the rent on his trailer. "The Leap is beautiful, but we need jobs," he says. Seeing an opening, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are now touting their joint-venture mine as a local stimulus package. "Except ours won't cost taxpayers any money," says David Salisbury, president of the joint venture, Resolution Copper Mining. The copper reserve could employ at least 1,132 people at its peak, add $800 million to Arizona's economy and eventually supply 20% of North America's copper needs, Mr. Salisbury says...WSJ

Power, Prestige, and Politics - The Sixteen Surveyors General of New Mexico

The U.S. Land Office was an intensely political one, and the office of surveyor general was so important, that when President Cleveland in May 1885 gave George W. Julian the choice between it and that of governor of New Mexico Territory, Julian chose the former as the more desirable of the two. Following are short biographies of the sixteen men who held the office of ‘Surveyor General of New Mexico’ from its inception in 1854 until it was abolished in 1925. All of them had interesting careers as surveyors, engineers, lawyers, military officers, a medical doctor, and above all as politicians. Thirteen of them stemmed from east of the Mississippi River and only the last one, Manuel Sanchez, was a native New Mexican (Llewellyn was brought to New Mexico as an infant); but eight are still here, a part of our soil forever...American Surveyor

State agency investigates pollution and 13 years later discovers it was them

Thirteen years after Washington state's environmental agency found a creek severely polluted, the contamination has been traced back to the agency's regional office. City workers discovered this week that a sewer line from the building housing the regional offices of the state Department of Ecology and Department of Fish and Game, and a small U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contingent, was mistakenly connected to a storm water runoff system, rather than a municipal sewer main. As a result, sewage from the building has been entering Burnt Bridge Creek and eventually Vancouver Lake for an unknown number of years. Workers in the leased offices were stunned when they got the word Wednesday, The Columbian newspaper reported...AP

Song Of The Day #017

I gotta quit pickin' these songs at the end of my postings. I completely ran out of time yesterday, and don't have the time tell you about Johnny Bond today. He was a country music star on records, radio and the movies, and I will tell you more about him in a future posting.

Today's selection is Johnny Bond's Oklahoma Waltz, available on the cd I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size.

Note to readers

My computer is still down, hope to find out later today if it has to be shipped back to Dell or can be fixed at home.

Using the wife's laptop, so there may be fewer posts, fewer comments and all my blog images are on the other computer.

Obama, Who Vowed Rapid Action on Climate Change, Turns More Cautious

President Obama came to office promising swift and comprehensive action to combat global climate change, and the topic remains a surefire applause line in his speeches here and abroad. Yet the administration has taken a cautious and rather passive role on the issue, proclaiming broad goals while remaining aloof from details of climate legislation now in Congress. The president’s budget initially included roughly $650 billion in revenue over 10 years from a cap-and-trade emissions plan that he wants adopted. But the administration, while insisting that its health care initiative be protected, did not fight to keep cap-and-trade in the budget resolutions that Congress passed last week, and it wound up in neither the House’s version nor the Senate’s. Overseas, American officials are telling their counterparts that they need time to gauge the American public’s appetite for an ambitious carbon reduction scheme before leading any international effort...NY Times

Climate bill could trigger lawsuit landslide

Self-proclaimed victims of global warming or those who "expect to suffer" from it - from beachfront property owners to asthmatics - for the first time would be able to sue the federal government or private businesses over greenhouse gas emissions under a little-noticed provision slipped into the House climate bill. Environmentalists say the measure was narrowly crafted to give citizens the unusual standing to sue the U.S. government as a way to force action on curbing emissions. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sees a new cottage industry for lawyers. "You could be spawning lawsuits at almost any place [climate-change modeling] computers place at harm's risk," said Bill Kovacs, energy lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Under the House bill, if a judge rules against the government, new rules would have to be drafted to alleviate the problems associated with climate change. If a judge rules against a company, the company would have to purchase additional "carbon emission allowances" through a cap-and-trade program that is to be created by Congress. The measure sets grounds for anyone "who has suffered, or reasonably expects to suffer, a harm attributable, in whole or in part," to government inaction to file a "citizen suit." The term "harm" is broadly defined as "any effect of air pollution (including climate change), currently occurring or at risk of occurring."...Washington Times

Green Stimulus Money Costs More Jobs Than It Creates, Study Shows

Every “green job” created with government money in Spain over the last eight years came at the cost of 2.2 regular jobs, and only one in 10 of the newly created green jobs became a permanent job, says a new study released this month. The study draws parallels with the green jobs programs of the Obama administration. President Obama, in fact, has used Spain’s green initiative as a blueprint for how the United States should use federal funds to stimulate the economy. Obama's economic stimulus package,which Congress passed in February, allocates billions of dollars to the green jobs industry. But the author of the study, Dr. Gabriel Calzada, an economics professor at Juan Carlos University in Madrid, said the United States should expect results similar to those in Spain...CNS News

The Truth About "Green Jobs"

The Green Jobs Act mandates that in order to receive federal funding for "green jobs", organizations must partner with an organized labor union, saying: (ii) ELIGIBILITY- To be eligible to receive a grant under clause (i), an entity shall be a non-profit partnership that-- (I) includes the equal participation of industry, including public or private employers, and labor organizations, including joint labor-management training programs, and may include workforce investment boards, community-based organizations, educational institutions, small businesses, cooperatives, State and local veterans agencies, and veterans service organizations; and... To receive federal funding, this Act forces organizations to partner with labor unions. The problem: organized labor only makes up 7.8 percent of the private sector workforce. If the Green Jobs Act is not fixed, over 90 percent of the private sector workforce will not be able to compete in one of the largest growing fields of construction...ATR

Water Shortage?

There is plenty of water to go around and human beings are not using all that much. Every year, thousands of cubic kilometres (km3) of fresh water fall as rain or snow or come from melting ice. According to a study in 2007, most nations outside the Gulf were using a fifth or less of the water they receive—at least in 2000, the only year for which figures are available. The global average withdrawal of fresh water was 9% of the amount that flowed through the world’s hydrologic cycle. Both Latin America and Africa used less than 6% (see table). On this evidence, it would seem that all water problems are local. The trouble with this conclusion is that no one knows how much water people can safely use. It is certainly not 100% (the amount taken in Gulf states) because the rest of creation also has to live off the water. In many places the maximum may well be less than one fifth, the average for Asia as a whole. It depends on how water is returned to the system, how much is taken from underground aquifers, and so on. But there is some admittedly patchy evidence that, given current patterns of use and abuse, the amount now being withdrawn is moving dangerously close to the limit of safety—and in some places beyond it. An alarming number of the world’s great rivers no longer reach the sea. They include the Indus, Rio Grande, Colorado, Murray-Darling and Yellow rivers. These are the arteries of the world’s main grain-growing areas...It is not the absolute number of people that makes the biggest difference to water use but changing habits and diet. Diet matters more than any single factor because agriculture is the modern Agasthya, the mythical Indian giant who drank the seas dry. Farmers use about three-quarters of the world’s water; industry uses less than a fifth and domestic or municipal use accounts for a mere tenth. Different foods require radically different amounts of water. To grow a kilogram of wheat requires around 1,000 litres. But it takes as much as 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilo of beef. The meaty diet of Americans and Europeans requires around 5,000 litres of water a day to produce. The vegetarian diets of Africa and Asia use about 2,000 litres a day (for comparison, Westerners use just 100-250 litres a day in drinking and washing)...The Economist

Science, Mythology, Hatred, and the Fate of the Gray Wolf

For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to find a way to accept the decision by Ken Salazar, the new secretary of the interior, to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana. It was a relief to have a sensible conversation with newly appointed interior officials after eight years of hearing almost nothing but distortion and duplicity from the top figures in the department. It was also a relief to hear them say, in describing the way they reached this decision, that they were simply following the guidance of career scientists. And yet I still can’t accept it. The reintroduction of wolves in the Rocky Mountain West has been an overwhelming success. It began with 65 wolves in 1995 and 1996, and the population has now reached approximately 1,600 across the region, with about a hundred breeding pairs. The numerical standards of the original recovery plan have been more than met, and there is new evidence, according to Interior Department scientists, that enough intermingling is taking place among separate populations to ensure a healthy genetic diversity. Unfortunately, very little has been done to change the behavior of humans — who drove wolves to the brink of extinction. The way the wolf has been delisted, this time, is a reminder that what we are really doing when we protect endangered and threatened species is managing our own species...NY Times

Interior deputy secretary in Bush admin now consulting for EDF

Lynn Scarlett, who held the Interior Department's No. 2 post during the Bush administration, is now working for an advocacy group that was frequently at odds with her department during her time there. The former Interior deputy secretary is consulting for the Environmental Defense Fund, working on three white papers on climate change, ecosystem services and landscape-scale conservation. Said Scarlett, "I love it. It's great." Scarlett was second in command at Interior from 2005 to 2009, a period some environmentalists call the worst years ever for the department. At issue for the groups were rampant political corruption and much-reviled efforts to shrink endangered-species protection and promote oil and gas development on public lands. But environmental lobbyists say they do not blame Scarlett for Interior's problems. They say Scarlett -- a birder who took a particular interest in wildlife refuges and bird conservation -- was willing to listen to environmentalists and took a reasonable approach to formulating policy...NY Times

Environmentalists seek ban on owner-operated diesel trucks at N.J. port

The independent trucker is an American icon, glorified 30 years ago in B-movies like "Smokey and the Bandit" as the modern cowboy making a living on his own wits and diesel-powered rig. But it's time for them to hit the highway -- permanently -- charged a coalition of environmental groups and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today, blaming the bulk of diesel engine pollution in New Jersey and New York ports on owner-operated trucks handling most of the port-hauling business. Members of the Coalition for Healthy Ports and the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force stood at the Tullo Truck Stop in Kearny, calling for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to implement Los Angeles' controversial ban on independent rigs -- a prohibition lambasted last month by a federal appeals court...NJ.com

Nice to see the Teamsters Union so concerned about clean air.

I'm sure their involvement has nothing to do with the fact that 73% of the 7,000 truck drivers at the two ports are independent operators and not members of the union.

Report: Ethanol Raises Cost of Nutrition Programs

Food stamps and child nutrition programs are expected to cost up to $900 million more this year because of increased ethanol use. Higher use of the corn-based fuel additive accounted for about 10 percent to 15 percent of the rise in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That could mean the government will have to spend more on food programs for the needy during the current budget year, which ends Sept. 30. It estimated the additional cost at up to $900 million. Roughly one-quarter of corn grown in the United States is now used to produce ethanol and overall consumption of ethanol in the country hit a record high last year, exceeding 9 billion gallons, according to the CBO. It took nearly 3 billion bushels of corn to produce ethanol in the United States last year -- an increase of almost a billion bushels over 2007...AP

But the greenies lobbied for it and the first Presidential primary is in Iowa.

Global warming endangers U.S. corn production, study says

Global warming could rob the U.S. economy of $1.4 billion a year in lost corn production alone, a national environmental group estimated in a report released Thursday. The Environment America study, based on government and university data, projects that warming temperatures will reduce yields of the nation's biggest crop by 3% in the Midwest and the South compared with projected yields without further global warming. Iowa would be hit hardest, losing $259 million a year in corn revenues, followed by Illinois at $243 million. California, which leads the country in agriculture but doesn't grow much corn, would take an estimated $4.7-million hit. The study doesn't directly address other crops, but one of its main sources, a 2008 government report on the effects of warming on agriculture and natural resources, suggests that California's signature fruit and vegetable harvests could suffer even more than corn if temperatures rise...LA Times

The study is here.

Cattlemen respond to food safety legislation

Kansas cattlemen support safety measures that provide enhancement and promotion of food safety in the United States. However, there are new concerns that proposed legislation aimed to promote food safety would only hinder U.S. production. HR 875, The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, will establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services. This legislation would provide the Food and Drug Administration with the authority to visit and inspect U.S. farms and ranches. The FDA would be responsible for setting practice standards for production agriculture and be responsible for monitoring and conducting surveillance of animals and the environment. If enacted, this legislation would require the establishment of a national traceability system that enables the FDA to retrieve the history, use, and location of an article of food through all stages of its production and require producers to keep and maintain records for traceability. Producers would be required to provide the Administrator with access to and the ability to copy all records (paper or electronic) not only to determine whether the food is contaminated, adulterated, or otherwise not in compliance with the food safety law, but also to track the food in commerce. This essentially creates a mandatory animal Identification system...High Plains Journal

Prediction: The Politically Superior Ones will threaten the cattle industry with H.R. 875, but will agree to leave the program at USDA in return for the industry's support of a mandatory program.

Oklahoma Legislature Passes Horse Cloning Bill

The Oklahoma legislature on April 7 approved a bill that prohibits cloned horses or the offspring of cloned horses from participating in races at tracks in Oklahoma. The bill provides that neither clones nor the offspring of clones would be permitted to race even if they are registered by a national breed registry. Sponsored by State Sen. Joe Sweeden and State Rep. Don Armes, the bill is supported by the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association. The final step for the legislation to take effect is the signature by Gov. Brad Henry...The Horse

Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is considered by many “the first cultured President” of the United States. He was born into a privileged family in Albemarle County, Va., on April 13, 1743. His father, Peter, was a plantation owner, and his mother Jane was a daughter in the aristocratic Randolph clan. In 1774, Jefferson authored his “Summary View of the Rights of British America,” a precursor to his legendary declaration. Though the delegates of the First Continental Congress chose a separate essay to represent their claims, his writing gave him authority and influence in the political sphere. Jefferson served as President George Washington’s minister to France, and then as vice president under John Adams, in spite of their conflicting views on states’ rights. In 1800 he was elected president of the United States over Aaron Burr. A tie vote by the electoral committee forced the decision upon the House of Representative, and Alexander Hamilton, who supported neither candidate but disliked Burr more, persuaded the House to choose Jefferson...[link]

Happy Birthday, Butch Cassidy

Butch Cassidy was born Robert Leroy Parker on April 13, 1866, in Beaver, Utah. The first of 13 children born to Maximillian Parker and Ann Gillies, two Mormon immigrants from Britain, Roy grew up working on his family’s ranch. He had his first brush with the law as a teenager when he broke into a closed clothing store, took a pair of jeans, and left an IOU note; he was arrested, but served no prison time. When his father lost his land, Roy began working for rancher Mike Cassidy, who taught Roy to rustle cattle and use guns. In 1884, the 18-year-old Roy Parker, who had already begun rustling cattle, left Utah for Telluride, Colo., where he would begin his life as an outlaw...[link]

Giving God the reins: Cowboy churches get back to basics

Here, Easter bonnets will give way to Stetson hats, and any baptizing will be done not at a font or in a baptismal pool, but in a galvanized steel trough usually used for watering horses. Easter is a big deal in these churches, but as for the Easter theme of redemption – well, that's what it's about all year 'round. These, pardner, would be your cowboy churches, a fast-growing part of the crowded religious landscape of Texas. They celebrate Western culture while trying to reach both cowboys and tenderfoots with an unpretentious, nonjudgmental approach. Long a novelty, cowboy churches have in recent years become a bona fide, Texas-based movement, showing strong growth in congregations, attendance and baptisms even as much of denominational Christianity in the United States is losing ground. Cowboy churches offer simple, Bible-based sermons and live country music – with "Happy Trails" as a standard sendoff. Pastors further set the tone by wearing cowboy hats, doffed only for prayer. Extracurricular activities typically include trail rides, bull riding and roping contests. Cowboy churches have been around at least since the 1980s, and can be found now in small numbers across the country and in Canada, within both the Pentecostal and more mainstream Protestant traditions. But their systemic growth dates to 2000. That's when the Dallas-based Baptist General Convention of Texas, the state's largest Baptist group, began to help start and sustain cowboy churches, offering staff support and financing. The BGCT-backed Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches now includes 136 churches scattered across the state, and a new one is opening nearly every other week...Dallas Morning News

Rancher taking 4K sheep on 220-mile trek

There was a time when a spring sheep drive up into the cool mountains for breeding season wasn't such an uncommon sight in Arizona, but these days, only three or four ranches in the state continue the tradition. One of them is the Sheep Springs Sheep Co. in Chandler, whose owner, Dwayne Dobson, is preparing for the 220-mile, 55-day trek northeast up to the north side of the White Mountains, about 40 miles from the New Mexico border. Around 6:30 a.m. April 21 and 22, about 2,000 head of sheep each day will be fording a designated sheep crossing on the Salt River, at the Blue Point Bridge on the Old Bush Highway north of Apache Junction where sightseers are welcome. Transporting sheep by trailer is a choice more and more sheep ranchers have made over the years. While Dobson has some trailers, he said he doesn't have the capacity to haul 4,000 sheep at once. He would have to either buy new trucks or hire someone to haul them, he said. After the sheep - driven by men with dogs and donkeys - cross the Salt River, the flock turns northeast and heads along a sheep corridor through the Tonto National Forest to Forest Lakes. Dobson said such corridors were created by a presidential executive order and pre-date Arizona statehood...East Valley Tribune

It's All Trew: Nothing beats experience of Western movie

In January 2009 the Trew Ranch contracted to provide the location for a Western movie to be filmed on the premises. It was a new experience for this old man. In 1980 we began improving a site in a deep canyon here on the ranch for use in hosting an annual family reunion on Labor Day each year. These reunions on the Trew side of the family date back to Depression and Dust Bowl days in the dirty thirties. First came a road down into the canyon, a long tin shade for cooking and meal service. Of course toilets had to be included along with tables and fireplace. A two-story cabin was built later when we acquired the telephone poles from a pipeline right-of-way that changed over to satellite controls for their switching valves. As our sons also shared our respect for history, we built along the lines of an old Western town in the period 1870-1900. Not only was the work fun, the result was satisfying and unusual in appearance but rustic as in "the old West." Amazingly, the thought of using the site as a movie location was never discussed. The years passed, things were added and the improvements aged. When we were approached in December 2008 to use the site for a movie location, the place was weathered and ready...Amarillo Globe

Cowgirl Sass and Savvy

Even cowgirls get the Facebook blues

Julie Carter

Are you Facebooking yet? You might be missing out on a momentary "howdy" in the morning or a late-night laugh at a one-liner you would never have heard from someone you never see in person.

And my favorite part? The photos. Hundreds of photos posted in my friends' albums that give me a chance to share their lives without leaving my desk chair.

The wildly popular social network called Facebook, this week, hit milestone membership of 200 million. Some of us here in the small town and rural American West are part of that rage. And yes, even in New Mexico we are Facebooking, along with 30-some countries in as many languages.

I don't know what your excuse is, but my kids drug me into this. Oh, I tried the MySpace thing (same idea, different format) to track my own child's activities as he participated in the teenage rage of MySpace socializing. It's a mom's job.

And, every time one of those pages blinded me with psychedelic moving backgrounds, flashing blingy letters, rotating photos and music that blew me off my office chair, I lost another piece of my desire to visit.

A quieter, gentler opportunity arrived on the scene in the form of Facebook, with white pages and a standardized font.

The beginning for Facebook was February 2004, and it was limited to students of Harvard University, where founder Mark Zuckerberg was attending. It soon expanded in phases to include anyone, anywhere, older than 13, and is now the most popular social networking site in the world.

Apparently, the social networks aren't just for kids anymore. The Facebook people say the 35-and-over group is the fastest growing portion of the recent surge in membership, (a half -million since November 2008).

With this socializing by computer comes the need for discipline. It is so much more enjoyable to "visit," comment, look and read than it is to, oh say, cook, clean and do laundry. It also can be hazardous to your health.

In a world where we already sit in front of small screens, TV or computers, for too many hours, Facebook woos us to sit a little longer, move a little less. My warning for you is, the rewards are easily countered by the time-waster it can be.

And without a lot of detail, I will recommend you don't put something on the stove to cook while you are Facebooking. I gave a complete new meaning to "hard" boiled eggs.

"What's that smell?"

If there is no one to talk to, there are always the goofy quizzes that decide the gemstone you are most like, the country song that most describes you, the type of super hero you'ld be and what level of sarcasm you measure in at.

Or there are the virtual gifts you can send covering any kind of interest including Rodeo Bling and Cowgirl Retro. Or a Bible quote, a cross and something for the appropriate holiday. Easter eggs have been plastering up the pages since St. Patrick's was over.

Honest confession aside, I love saying good morning to people I may see only rarely, if at all.

My mother just took the Facebook plunge and is now in contact with her grandchildren, who like many of us, finally got too busy to email, just after we got too busy write or call. At least now she can see photos of them and know that they indeed, made it past age 16 and right on to their 30s.

Not all my friends are on Facebook yet, so I'm resigned to that old-fashioned email stuff. I do have some yellowing note cards I could use up, but I can never remember how much postage is now. I have a drawer full of one- and two-cent stamps to go with my sheets of Christmas stamps that I never used.

Gotta go. I just got a new friend request on Facebook and myFarm crops (don't ask) need harvesting.

Julie can be reached for comment at www.facebook.com or www.julie-carter.com

Empty Saddle: William H. "Billy" Mundy 1917-2009

William H. Mundy, Jr., 91, died peacefully at the Arbors of Del Rey, a Vista Living Community, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on April 6, 2009.

“Billy” Mundy was born in Dona Ana, NM on October 3, 1917 to William H. Mundy and Elizabeth Mundy. Bill attended New Mexico Military Institute in 1937-38 where he was an alternate on the polo team and New Mexico State University. In 1938 -1939 he guided tourists on mules in the Grand Canyon for the Fred Harvey Company. Bill also worked for the infamous Las Cruces Rancher, Emmitt Isaacks, where he met his future bride, Ethel Isaacks. Bill and Ethel were married in Hill, NM in 1941.

Bill and Ethel moved to Chama, New Mexico in 1949 to settle his dream. Bill and Ethel endured the violence shown against them in the early days of their ranch settlement and continued to persevere through six decades of Rio Arriba County unrest. Bill’s enemies were fierce and his friends the “best a man could have.” Bill was called “Mano de Águila” (Eagle Hand) a name bestowed to him when he lost his pinkie and part of the use of his hand in a hunting accident. Bill and Ethel survived a near-fatal car crash on our country’s Bi-Centennial in 1976. He was an active member of the Los Rancheros Vistadores- Bustardos Camp and rode with Ronald Reagan in 1989. The Mundy Ranch is also home to the “Mundy Buck” (pictured) the #1 World Record Mule Deer in the Burkett Scoring System and the widest Buck entered in Boone & Crocket.

Bill Mundy was a hard worker, a hard hitter, a horseman, a hunter, a mountain man, a fence and road builder, a rodeo clown, a rancher, a cowboy, a cowman, a tier of knots, a nail ‘straightener’ and baling wire fanatic, a rock-hound, a land baron, a poet and an artist, a nature conservationist, a comedian, an organizer, a collector of everything, a dad, grandpa and great-grandpa, an uncle, a father-in-law and a part time husband, a full time ladies man and most of all he had a great line of B.S. He never lacked for a first-rate story!

Bill is predeceased by his wife, Ethel and his sister, Florence (Betina). He is survived by his two sons, Emitt W. Mundy and James W. Mundy, grandsons, Print, Cache, Robert and Mark Mundy, and four great-grandchildren, Tyler, Annalee, Aria and Trew Mundy, and his nephew’s, Joe Morrow and William (Bill) Morrow.

A Memorial Party is planned for June 20, 2009 at the Mundy Ranch in Chama, New Mexico. Please contact Susan Jane Mundy (Bill@mundyranch.com) or call 575-756-2196 for more information.

The Family requests all donations be made to The Chama Valley Rotary Club on behalf of the Ethel I. Mundy Scholarship Fund. The Ethel I. Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance, motivation and internship opportunities for Escalante and Dulce High School Students pursuing post-secondary degrees. You may send donations in care of: Susan Jane Mundy, Mundy Ranch, Inc., PO Box 1087, Chama, NM 87520.

Song Of The Day #16

The gospel song this Easter Sunday will be by a modern bluegrass group who does it the traditional way.

Today's selection is Praising The Risen Lamb by Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. The song is on their cd Treasures Money Can't Buy.

Professor Picked for Indian Affairs

A Native American who served as the attorney general of Idaho was nominated yesterday to become the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. President Obama nominated Larry EchoHawk, a law professor at Brigham Young University in Utah and a member of the Pawnee tribe, to the post. As well as being a former attorney general, EchoHawk ran for Idaho governor in 1994, losing to Republican Phil Batt by fewer than 35,000 votes. Had he been elected, he would have been the nation's first Native American governor. He became the first American Indian elected to a constitutional statewide office when he assumed the post of attorney general in the early 1990s, the White House said...AP

Note to readers

This will be a shortened version of The Westerner.

My computer keeps shutting down. My son thought he had fixed it earlier this evening but it's doing it again.

I'm typing this on my wife's laptop, which is not very user-friendly for a person with ms.

Hope to be back soon.

Science Chief Discusses Climate Strategy

The Obama administration might agree to auction only a portion of the emissions allowances granted at first under a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas pollution, White House science adviser John P. Holdren said yesterday, a move that would please electric utilities and manufacturers but could anger environmentalists. For weeks the president's assistant on energy and climate change, Carol M. Browner, has convened regular meetings with roughly a dozen key administration officials to develop national energy and climate policy. They include Holdren; the secretaries of agriculture, commerce, energy, housing and urban development, interior, and transportation; and the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House's Council on Environmental Quality, National Economic Council, Council of Economic Advisers and Office of Management and Budget. The group, whose deputies meet at least once a week, has explored questions such as how to pursue offshore wind energy, agricultural practices and a new national greenhouse gas emissions standard for vehicles...Washington Post

Save the Climate, Share the Wealth

For several years, Peter Barnes has been peddling a Big Idea about how to design climate change legislation so that it might actually be popular. Now he might finally get his day in the sun. The idea is simple: Make companies pay for greenhouse gas emissions by auctioning off allowances -- then send Americans equal checks for their share of the amount collected. He calls it "cap and dividend," and it resembles the plan Alaska uses for sharing oil royalties with residents by sending them annual checks. An indication that Barnes's idea could become popular came last Wednesday: A version of it was introduced as legislation by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), co-chairman of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus. His plan would force the first sellers of fossil fuels -- about a thousand companies such as coal mining firms or oil companies -- to pay for carbon emissions. Those capturing and safely storing carbon dioxide emissions, something coal plants are looking at, would get credits. Not everyone would come out whole. "Those who burn more carbon will pay more than those who burn less," Barnes wrote. "If you drive a sports-utility vehicle, you'll use more sky than if you ride a bus; hence you'll pay more scarcity rent. Since your dividend is the same no matter what, you'll come out ahead if you conserve [energy] and lose money if you don't." With Obama and leading Democrats pushing for climate change this year, Barnes's ideas have suddenly moved from written theory to political reality...Wash. Post

Climate Change Legislation: Suing Citizens

Over the next few days, EPW PolicyBeat will focus on the Waxman-Markey draft climate change legislation and several of the most interesting provisions therein. In our view, Section 336 is far and away the most interesting in the 648-page bill. Here the authors amend the citizen suit provision in Section 304 of the Clean Air Act. The Waxman-Markey bill authorizes a “person” to “commence an action” who has “suffered, or reasonably expects to suffer, a harm attributable, in whole or in part, to a violation or failure to act referred to in subsection (a).” Sounds innocuous enough…until one reads on. For then one discovers how “harm” is defined: “For purposes of this section, the term ‘harm’ includes any effect of air pollution (including climate change), currently occurring or at risk of occurring, and the incremental exacerbation of any such effect or risk that is associated with a small incremental emission of any air pollutant (including any greenhouse gas defined in Title VII), whether or not the risk is widely shared.” In other words, should the unfortunate happen and Waxman-Markey become law, courts could conceivably be flooded with lawsuits filed by environmental groups who perceive some risk—and they undoubtedly will perceive it—that is “associated with a small incremental emission” of a greenhouse gas—whether from a coal-fired power plant, a manufacturing facility, or some other entity covered by the bill. This provision will further empower the eco-trial bar to fight the ravages of climate change and the businesses it dislikes, with no effect on the former and disastrous consequences for the latter...Matt Dempsey

Conservation group asks Salazar to lift rules to protect endangered species

Conservationists have asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to lift two rules they say weaken the Endangered Species Act, including one that affects protected polar bears. The Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday delivered 50,000 petitions to Salazar, requesting he rescind rules put in place by the Bush administration. On March 10, Congress gave Salazar the power to rescind the rules during the following 60 days or until May 9. More than 40 congressional members on Monday urged Salazar and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to rescind the rules. Under the Bush rules, federal agencies determine for themselves whether their actions might harm endangered species rather than seek independent review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Services. Federal projects also are exempt from considering the impact of their greenhouse gas emissions on threatened or endangered species like the polar bear...The Oregonian

Wildlife managers study big rise in grizzly deaths

A significant rise in the number of grizzly bear deaths last year will be a principal topic as bear managers from around the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem gather next week in Bozeman. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team reported 48 known and probable grizzly deaths, 37 of which could be attributed to human causes. Twenty of those human-caused deaths, or 54 percent, were due to hunter conflicts. The number is up slightly from an ecosystem count last fall, when wildlife managers reported 44 deaths. The numbers exceeded both male and female mortality management limits. If female deaths exceed the 15 percent threshold for one more year, wildlife managers could decide to return the grizzly to federal Endangered Species Act protection. Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem were delisted two years ago...AP

Ethanol policies fuel food-price rise

Federal ethanol-fuel policies forced consumers to pay an extra 0.5 percent to 0.8 percent in increased food prices in 2008, and the government itself could end up paying nearly $1 billion more this year for food stamps because of ethanol use, according to a new government report. The report by the Congressional Budget Office helps answer questions raised by Congress last year as food prices shot up, and some lawmakers questioned the effects of government policies, such as the ethanol mandate. “Producing ethanol for use in motor fuels increases the demand for corn, which ultimately raises the prices that consumers pay for a wide variety of foods at the grocery store, ranging from corn-syrup sweeteners found in soft drinks to meat, dairy and poultry products,” the CBO said. Also, government-sponsored subsidies and mandates for ethanol to be mixed with gasoline are supposed to help foster U.S. energy independence and to cut down on greenhouse-gas emissions, but only have reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by less than one-third of 1 percent...Washington Times

Trojan Horse “Food Safety” Law

A misguided bill, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, may shut down farmer’s markets and “drive out of business local farmers and artisanal, small-scale producers of berries, herbs, cheese, and countless other wares, even when there is in fact nothing unsafe in their methods of production,” warns Walter Olson at Overlawyered. Ignorance about the law’s broad reach (and how it will be construed by the courts) has thwarted opposition to the bill, which will likely pass Congress. For example, a newspaper claims the bill “doesn’t regulate home gardens.” The newspaper probably assumed that was true because the bill, like most federal laws, only purports to reach activities that affect “interstate commerce.” To an uninformed layperson or journalist, that “sounds as if it might not reach local and mom-and-pop operators at all.” (The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, has sought to forestall opposition to her bill by falsely claiming that that “the Constitution’s commerce clause prevents the federal government from regulating commerce that doesn’t cross state lines.”) But lawyers familiar with our capricious legal system know better. The Supreme Court ruled in Wickard v. Filburn (1942) that even home gardens (in that case, a farmer’s growing wheat for his own consumption) are subject to federal laws that regulate interstate commerce. Economists and scholars have criticized this decision, but it continues to be cited and followed in Supreme Court rulings, such as those applying federal anti-drug laws to consumption of even home-grown medical marijuana. Indeed, many court decisions allow Congress to define as “interstate commerce” even non-commercial conduct that doesn’t cross state lines — something directly at odds with Rep. DeLauro’s claims...Open Market

Environmentalists win battle over pesticide spraying near water

Conservationists applauded the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to move ahead with implementing the Clean Water Act after a court battle over a Bush administration rule that exempted pesticide spraying around waterways. In January, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an EPA decision that spraying pesticides near waterways shouldn't be regulated by the Clean Water Act. The court ruled that pesticides constituted pollutants under federal law and had to be regulated to protect human health and the environment...The Oregonian

Montana House Rejects Slaughter Bill Amendments

The Montana House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected gubernatorial amendments to a bill that would facilitate the establishment of privately owned horse processing plants in that state. In its original form, HB 418 prohibited state courts from granting injunctions to stop or delay construction of horse slaughter or processing facilities based on permit or licensing challenges or on environmental grounds. The measure also required anyone challenging permits to submit a surety bond representing 20% of the facility's estimated building cost. The bill awarded attorney and court fees to plaintiffs in cases District Courts deem harassing or without merit. The bill passed both houses of Montana's legislature and was presented to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who on April 3 vetoed the measure, removed provisions concerning licensing and court challenges, and sent his amended version back to the House for review. Lawmakers rejected the governor's amendments 59-41 and returned the bill to its original form. HB 418 sponsor Rep. Ed Butcher said the proposed amendments gutted the legislation. "No company is going to invest $5 or $6 million in a plant unless there is something here to protect it against licensing and court challenges," he said. The bill now returns to the state's senate for review...The Horse

Judge Orders Probe of Attorneys in Stevens Case

A federal judge focused scrutiny yesterday on a small Justice Department unit assigned to root out corruption when he dismissed the conviction of former senator Ted Stevens and appointed an outside lawyer to investigate allegations of misconduct by prosecutors. The rare move to turn the investigation on the prosecutors themselves puts six federal lawyers, accused of mishandling evidence and witnesses, in the awkward position of becoming potential defendants in a criminal trial. It also creates a challenge for the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who must put a tainted prosecution behind him as he tries to remake the reputation of his department, which has been troubled in recent years. The Justice Department would usually examine such accusations internally. But U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said yesterday that he has no faith in such an investigation after seeing so much "shocking and disturbing" behavior by the government. "In 25 years on the bench, I have never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I have seen in this case," he said...Washington Post

Obama's Sheriff

As top officials in the Obama administration settle into their new offices, they are just now beginning to uncover some of the worst abuses committed by their predecessors. And of all the corruption that characterized the Bush years, none is more shocking — and more responsible for lasting damage — than the pervasive scandals and cronyism at the federal agency charged with managing one-fifth of America's land. But unlike some Democrats in Washington who insist that it's time to "turn the page" on past misdeeds, newly appointed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is already showing a determination to hold the Bush administration accountable for its wrongdoing. Sporting his signature Stetson, the secretary casts himself as the man in the white hat — a new sheriff in town, come to restore law and order. In his first two months in office, Salazar has done more than simply reverse many of the Bush administration's worst moves, including the authorization of gas drilling within sight of Utah's national parks. He and his top deputy, Tom Strickland — both of whom served as attorney general of Colorado — have also initiated a top-to-bottom investigation of what Salazar calls the "blatant and criminal conflicts of interest and self-dealing" that took place in Interior. "We've got to make sure this mess gets cleaned up," Salazar tells Rolling Stone, revealing that he has already referred evidence of wrongdoing to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. According to the secretary, he's looking at "criminal behavior that extended to the very highest levels. The 'anything goes' era is over."...Rolling Stone

U.S. exploring all options on climate

The president's new science adviser said yesterday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth's air. In his first interview since being confirmed last month, John Holdren said officials have talked about the idea of geoengineering the climate. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort. "We don't have the luxury of taking any approach off the table," Holdren said. At talks in Bonn, Germany, meantime, the U.N.'s climate chief said industrial countries are falling short on pledging to slash their carbon emissions over the next decade while the chief U.S. delegate urged negotiators to adopt a more long-term strategy. The contrasting visions of the fight against global warming emerged in the first appearance of the U.S. delegation sent by President Obama, which nonetheless was warmly welcomed at a two-week negotiating session attended by 175 nations. Ending his first round of talks as chief U.S. delegate, Jonathan Pershing said he found a "wide divergence" of positions, and "implausible" demands of some developing countries on wealthier nations...AP

In Areas Fueled by Coal, Climate Bill Sends Chill

From the wheat fields of the north-central region to Kansas City’s necklace of industrial parks to the brick street fronts of St. Louis, Missouri’s reliance on cheap electricity is deeply ingrained. But few pay attention to the origin of their little-noticed savings: 21 coal-fired power plants that emit more than 75 million tons of carbon dioxide annually and generate 80 percent of Missouri’s electricity. Even residents who endorse wind and solar energy have grown accustomed to the benefits of state policies that favor coal by putting a premium on low-cost electricity. So the idea of federal climate legislation that could increase electricity bills by putting a price on emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide is unsettling. For Missourians, said Robert Clayton, chairman of the state’s Public Service Commission, “the consequence of using more power hasn’t been great.” Missouri is hardly alone. Nebraska, Indiana and Iowa are also states where coal turns on most of the lights. That is why, even before Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, proposed legislation that would put a price on carbon-dioxide emissions, Senate and House Democrats from coal-using states began to push back...NY Times

Fire And Ice

The Wilkins Ice Shelf, a 25-mile bridge that once covered about 6,000 square miles, has split off from the Antarctic coast. Floating untethered, the Connecticut-size ledge — a mere 0.39% of all Antarctic ice — could eventually melt as it drifts northward toward warmer waters. Naturally, activists both in and out of the scientific community, the media and political figures on the left blame human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide for warming the Earth, particularly the Antarctic peninsula, where temperatures have increased 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 50 years. Before we panic, there are a few things we should remember that will help us to put this less-than-catastrophic event in perspective. First, the melting of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, or any other ice shelf, will not raise ocean levels. Antarctica has lost seven shelves in the last two decades and there have been no disastrous effects. Ice displaces more volume than water because water expands when it freezes. There is no net gain in water when an ice shelf or iceberg melts, or, in other words, contracts. Second, much of Antarctica, particularly near the South Pole, has been through a recent cooling trend...Third, there's an active volcano beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. A little more than a year ago, the British Antarctic Survey noted, "Heat from the volcano creates melt-water that lubricates the base of the ice sheet and increases the flow toward the sea."...IBD

Bill to fund healthier forests

U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo) has introduced an amendment in the Senate to fully fund the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA). The amendment will authorize an additional $200 million in funding for Hazardous Fuel Reduction on Federal land, in order to fully fund the HFRA, which would also provide jobs thinning overstocked forests in rural communities and reduce the threat of wildfires. “Rural communities will finally get the resources they have been promised. The HRFA funds will help communities prevent wildfires and help create forest based jobs,” Barrasso said. Barrasso was joined by his Western Caucus senate colleagues, Mike Enzi (R-Wyo), Crapo (R – ID), Bob Bennett (R – UT), John Kyl (R-NC), Orin Hatch (R-UT), Ron Wyden (D.Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). Funding for the Hazardous Fuel Reduction Program has historically been provided at less than half the authorized amount of $760 million...Little Chicago Review

Here's what we need to do: Put some big banks, some insurance companies and some automakers on federal land next to these rural communities. That will ensure adequate funding for these thinning projects. Finally some of that "bail out" money would be wisely spent.

Helicopter operators lobby against using Nat'l Guard to fight forest fires

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1404, the Federal Land Assistance, Management, and Enhancement Act, "Flame Fund," on Thursday, March 26 by a vote of 412-3. A dangerous amendment see page two highlighted in yellow) was added to this bill to require that the wildland fire management strategy include a plan, developed in coordination with the National Guard Bureau, to maximize the use of National Guard resources to fight wildfires. The amendment was originally to be offered by Congressman Jim Matheson (D-Utah), however, at the eleventh hour, the Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Congressman Nick J. Rahall (D-West Virginia) offered the National Guard amendment instead. Passage of the Flame Fund legislation (H.R. 1404) has been a priority for Chairman Rahall, especially since the House passed similar legislation last year and the bill never came up in the U.S. Senate. This is a critical firefighting issue that affects all helicopter operators, especially those under contract to the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. Should the National Guard language be added to the Senate bill and the final legislation signed by President Obama direct the maximum use of National Guard resources to fight wildfires, firefighting operators will be significantly affected by this action which could limit the use of commercial firefighting resources...HAI

Wolf controversy spurs a House bill that makes introducing non-native species a felony

The Idaho House voted 46-24 on Tuesday for House Bill 138, which applies to species threatening the safety of people, livestock, pets or property. The measure also allows civil lawsuits should such an animal injure or kill a person. The bill now goes to the Senate. It was prompted by hostility to the federal government's reintroduction of wolves in Idaho. An estimated 850 wolves are now in the state, though the state has had no reports of attacks on humans. President Barack Obama proposes removing Idaho wolves from the Endangered Species List, clearing the way for state management and hunting. GOP Rep. Lynn Luker, a Boise lawyer, said the bill would have no impact on the federal government or its agents because of sovereign immunity. "This causes more problems than it solves," Luker said. But the bill's author, Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, said it would discourage introduction of dangerous animals. "This causes more problems than it solves," Luker said. But the bill's author, Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, said it would discourage introduction of dangerous animals. "This is an attempt by the state to try to, if not prosecute somebody - maybe put them on warning," Hart said. Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, acknowledged the bill is flawed but said it is a worthwhile effort to protest the damage wolves have done to wildlife and livestock. "The wolf is a decimating, destroying machine," she said. Idaho Statesman

Report: NM Now #1 in Oil and Gas, but Challenges Persist

New Mexico is number one in the Intermountain West when it comes to oil and gas production, according to a new report, and being on top comes with certain challenges. Report author Ben Alexander of Headwaters Economics says the state has surpassed Wyoming in production, and is doing a pretty good job of capturing that energy revenue. However, he says, Santa Fe seems to be relying too much on those oil and gas dollars, contributing to the state's current big budget deficit. He says one other finding that came as a surprise was that New Mexico is at the bottom of the heap in the Rockies when it comes to returning some of that energy revenue to the local governments where energy development is actually taking place. "That can mean that local jurisdictions can have a very difficult time handling the impacts on basic government services, and also providing the infrastructure and sustaining the infrastructure, particularly roads and bridges." The study goes on to say that policy makers should look for ways to lessen the state's dependence on volatile oil and gas revenue to fund essential public services...Public News Service

The study also looks at Otero Mesa. Go here for the study.

New Climate Change Web Site Promises to be ‘Eco-News on Steroids’

An environmental news Web site that creators say will be “the most comprehensive information center for climate and energy news and information,” launched Wednesday.
“ClimateDepot.com,” which is owned by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), is intended to an information clearinghouse featuring investigative reports alongside policy briefs aimed at lawmakers, teachers, parents, and the general public, according to its managing editor, Marc Morano. “The purpose is to provide the American people and, frankly, the international community with an alternative to the mainstream media and the environmental pablum they serve up to their viewers and readers every single day,” Morano told CNSNews.com. Morano said that the Web site wouldn’t be “just another home” for climate change skeptics – it would expose readers to the entire spectrum of climate change debate.” The Web site will feature links to former Vice President Al Gore’s global warming blog, as well as to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- the world’s premier proponent of “anthropogenic” (man-made) global warming. “What we’re trying to do is offer people a counter (weight),” he said. “The site will also offer research and environmental news that questions the theory of man-made “global warming.”...CNS News

So far there's not much there, but it may be worth bookmarking.

Ocean panel urges federal action to protect coasts, marine resources

A blue-ribbon panel is urging Congress and the Obama administration today to toughen federal coastal protections in the face of rising climate threats and increased pressure from offshore energy producers. The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative outlined a short-term agenda calling for a new White House-level ocean policy coordinator and the long-stalled ratification of the Law of the Sea treaty. Commissioners presented their 44-page report to lawmakers and the Obama administration. The report says a "lack of a rational management strategy" and weakened ocean science have resulted in sharp declines in the goods and services that the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes have provided. Declining coastal resources are creating a "sense of urgency" because of the impact on communities, the economy and quality of life, the report says...NY Times