Big cut in emission credits to farmers and landowners could hinder climate bill

Plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions have been sold to farm groups as a potential cash cow for growers, but new government estimates suggest farmers would make a lot less money than previously believed. Citing changes in farm practices and energy policy, analysts at the Environmental Protection Agency have sharply lowered their estimates of the potential carbon credits for which farmers and landowners would likely qualify. That could make it more difficult than it already is for Democrats and the Obama administration to sell a climate bill to farm-state members of the House and Senate. The bill Democrats are pushing through the House would allow farmers, landowners and others to get payments for up to a billion tons worth of annual reductions of carbon emissions through measures such as planting trees, leaving crop residue in the soil or using manure gas to generate electricity. The credits would be sold to utilities, refiners and others that would be required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. However, in an analysis of the bill's impact, the Environmental Protection Agency said the billion-ton cap won't be reached, and that there will be very few emission credits at all for agricultural practices...DesMoinesRegister

Save a Tree Hug a Capitalist

I don’t think there is anything that pisses off eco-socialists more than a free market answer to their problem of climate change. They simply don’t know how to respond. Since capitalism is their true antichrist it certainly can’t be the answer to their ostensible reason for whining. Take for example CEI adjunct scholar Dan Sutter’s proposed plan of action which is both free market and would achieve some of the environmentalists’ stated goals. In his recently released paper, Sutter argues that allowing insurance companies to charge actuarially adequate rates (meaning people pay more for riskier decisions such as living on a beach) will encourage people to make safer choices and discourage development of environmentally sensitive areas like wetlands, riversides, and beachfronts. It would simply cost too much money for people to build there. This would reverse the decades long policy of government “helping” people who choose to live in these areas by subsidizing them and forcing insurers to keep rates low for those people (which ironically means that insurers have to charge everyone else more in order make sure they can pay claims when the time comes). These subsidies and low rates encouraged people to keep putting their homes and families directly in harms way and keep damaging the areas environmentalists claim should remain undeveloped...Open Market

Forest Service cuts grazing

Cattle grazing on Lower Hermosa Creek will have fewer days to fatten up under new rules adopted by the San Juan Public Lands Center. The new adaptive management strategies that restrict cattle grazing - announced May 28 - were not made lightly, said Rowdy Wood, range land management specialist for the Columbine Ranger district. The 122,000-acre area north of Durango includes the Dutch Creek, Elbert Creek and Upper Hermosa grazing allotments. About 900 cattle are permitted to graze on the three allotments annually, Wood said. According to the report, it found the effect of cattle grazing on the landscape hurt the natural resources of the area and was affecting the Canadian lynx habitat and other wildlife. The ranchers who use the land plan to appeal the final decision, said Phil Craig, whose cattle graze in the Dutch Creek area. He said the 25-day cut won't make a difference about how it affects the land, but even a 10-day cut at the beginning of the season hurts the summer hay production. "The reason the permits are there is so we can raise the hay in the summertime," he said. The earlier you start growing, the more production of hay you get for the winter, he said. "If you graze those fields off for a week to 10 days, you really won't get the quantity of hay you need for the winter," Craig said...DurangoHeraldNews

Idaho Court Grazing Decision Adds To Economic Woes, Fails To See Whole Picture

In an ongoing effort to eliminate grazing and other uses of public lands, Western Watersheds Project (WWP) challenged 18 Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) prepared by 18 separate Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offices in six different Western states. The BLM and stakeholders immediately filed a motion to dismiss parts of the complaint and asked that the case be handled separately in U.S. Courts in each of the affected states, rather than as one large lawsuit. In early May, Judge B. Lynn Winmill, Chief U.S. District Judge, ordered that the motion be granted in part and denied in part in a decision that ultimately unfairly favors the original complaint. “The judge looked at this as a decision simply about sage grouse and failed to see the whole picture, that this is a range resource and habitat issue,” said Dan Gralian, President of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association. “As ranchers, we work with agencies like the BLM to manage our public lands responsibly. Sweeping attacks and generalizations like this case misuse stakeholders’ time, take our agency folks away from their real jobs of managing the land and wastes taxpayers’ money.” “You simply can’t paint 25 million acres of the Western United States with the same broad brush as Judge Winmill has in this case,” said John O’Keeffe, Chair of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association Public Lands Committee. Making the BLM waste federal resources on paperwork, legal fees and defending their efforts to protect threatened species ultimately does not protect the environment, sage grouse or rangelands.”...cattlenetwork

U.S. wildfire effort faulted for leaving communities unprotected

While more than 1,000 homes across the West burn each year in forest and brush fires, only a fraction of federal efforts to reduce fire danger in the region has been concentrated in the communities at greatest risk, a group of scientists found. The scientists analyzed a database containing the locations of all 44,613 fuel-reduction projects undertaken in Western states by various federal agencies under the National Fire Plan from its start in 2000 through 2008. They found that only 3 percent of those projects were within what is known as the wildland-urban interface -- areas where suburban and rural homes meet forests and rangelands. The National Fire Plan is a program that is intended to reduce the risk of wildfire to communities. The scientists found that 11 percent of those fuel-reduction projects were within an area that includes the wildland-urban interface plus a 1.5-mile buffer strip around it. That is far short of the 50 percent goal set by the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003, which was supposed to help control the $1 billion regularly spent each year fighting wildfires. Wildfires burned 5.3 million acres in the U.S. in 2008...AP

Energy Department Fails its Own Energy Audit

Promoting energy efficiency is atop the Department of Energy’s charge for spending $38.7 billion of stimulus funds. Too bad the department has had trouble promoting energy efficiency within its own walls. The department’s inspector general recently released the results of an audit showing that the DOE has failed to run its own computer systems in an environmentally responsible manner. Apparently, some of the folks at the national labs dreaming up new ways to save energy in the future are really bad at turning off their computer monitors in the present...All told, the auditors estimated that DOE could save more than $1.5 million annually on energy bills if the staff just implemented the government’s own power-saving guidelines. And that’s just at the seven facilities surveyed, the report noted. Department-wide the savings could be greater...WSJ

FAA Official Charged $3,700 Eye Surgery to His Government Credit Card

An employee of the Federal Aviation Administration charged a $3,700 eye surgery on his government credit card, according to a report on government credit card usage completed last month by the Congressional Research Service. This FAA official may have been outdone, however, by a Defense Department official who sought and received reimbursement for thirteen airline tickets worth almost $10,000 that he never purchased, or the State Department official who bought an unauthorized first-class ticket to Hawaii on his government charge card. State Department officials, in fact, have become accustomed to travelling in relative luxury on tickets charged on government credit cards. According to the Congressional Research Service report, almost half of the airline tickets purchased by the State Department, an audit discovered, were for first-class or business-class seats. Government protocol, however, strictly limits when such seats can be legitimately purchased by department personnel...CNSNews

Greening the Herds: A New Diet to Cap Gas

Chewing her cud on a recent sunny morning, Libby, a 1,400-pound Holstein, paused to do her part in the battle against global warming, emitting a fragrant burp. Libby, age 6, and the 74 other dairy cows on Guy Choiniere’s farm here are at the heart of an experiment to determine whether a change in diet will help them belch less methane, a potent heat-trapping gas that has been linked to climate change. Since January, cows at 15 farms across Vermont have had their grain feed adjusted to include more plants like alfalfa and flaxseed — substances that, unlike corn or soy, mimic the spring grasses that the animals evolved long ago to eat. As of the last reading in mid-May, the methane output of Mr. Choiniere’s herd had dropped 18 percent. Meanwhile, milk production has held its own. Sweetening cow breath is a matter of some urgency, climate scientists say. Cows have digestive bacteria in their stomachs that cause them to belch methane, the second-most-significant heat-trapping emission associated with global warming after carbon dioxide. Although it is far less common in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, it has 20 times the heat-trapping ability. Frank Mitloehner, a University of California, Davis, professor who places cows in air-tight tent enclosures and measures what he calls their “eruptions,” says the average cow expels — through burps mostly, but some flatulence — 200 to 400 pounds of methane a year. More broadly, with worldwide production of milk and beef expected to double in the next 30 years, the United Nations has called livestock one of the most serious near-term threats to the global climate...NYTimes

Denver Post: Put off plan to track U.S. meat

The Obama administration wants to create a federally mandated system of tracking the nation's meat supply, but producers say such a requirement would swell food costs and cut profits. It's an important debate, but we question its timing. The middle of a recession seems a poor time to implement a system that could raise food prices for shoppers and cuts profits and salaries for American ranchers and their employees. Presently, cattle ranchers, sheepherders and hog farmers voluntarily tag their animals and keep track of the animals' immunizations through a unique identification number. The ID number is recorded at the feedlots, slaughterhouses and within the batch numbers of the boxes of steaks, shanks and slabs of bacon sent to market. We think market-savvy ranchers ought to start implementing computer tracking on their own. Growers say the cost of the registration and tracking gear would add $10 to $20 to each head of cattle, according to The Post's Michael Booth. That's huge compared to the $40 to $50 per-cow profit margin growers hope to reap...DenverPost

Pew takes on farm antibiotics with D.C. ads

The twenty- and thirty-somethings who run the legislative branch of government - men and women otherwise known as congressional aides - are being greeted this month with ads attacking the livestock industry’s use of antibiotics. The ads, which are placed in the two Metro stations nearest the U.S. Capitol include messages such as “Who’s hogging our antibiotics?” and “Drug dependent” superimposed over photos of hogs. The ads also will be in Metro subway cars this month. The ads are the work of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, and they’re designed to win support for legislation that would phase out the non-therapeutic use in livestock of antibiotics that are important to human health. The campaign reflects concerns in the medical and scientific community that overusing antibiotics both on farms and in human use is leading to bacterial resistance to the drugs. I saw Pew interns handing out flyers to commuters outside the Capitol South Metro station this morning...DesMoinesRegister

New book highlights Ghost Ranch

Editor's Note: Hamilton's book explores the lives of several farmers across the U.S. who are bucking the industrial ag trend. Below is a look at the contributions of one rancher in Abiquiu, N.M. It's the first Saturday in November, and Ghost Ranch is waking up from its summer sleep. That is, the rangeland at Ghost Ranch. The visitor center's busy season is June through August, but the tens of thousands of acres of open land have been vacant since May. Today, the cattle return. In 1967, Ghost Ranch started a program that allowed local stockmen to graze their cattle on the llano for the winter at subsidized rates. The program was a boon for small producers in the region. Nearly everyone grazes their cows on Forest Service land during summer, but those who don't own irrigated land had always had to search for a place for their cattle between October and May. Ghost Ranch quickly became an integral part of their survival as cattlemen. The program has had up to 55 ranchers at a time, but there are fewer people in the business now, especially since the drought. This winter there will be about 40 stockmen in the program, mostly with fewer than 15 animals. For the season, all of their cattle live as one herd of 600...AlterNet

Kansas Horse Positive for Rabies

A horse in Kansas has tested positive for rabies, according to an article from the Clay Center Dispatch that was circulated via Pro-MED, a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. The equine case is the second report of rabies in Clay County so far this year. The horse's owners and other people with potential exposure are undergoing rabies vaccination as a precaution. No further information was available. The American Association of Equine Practitioners includes rabies as a core vaccine in its vaccination guidelines. Vaccination of domestic animals, including horses and other livestock, is an important part of preventing human exposure to the virus...TheHorse

Song Of The Day #056

No time to write much this morning. Most should know Patsy Montana who's big hit was I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart. Today we will feature her singing Cowboy Rhythm, which is available on her 27-songs CD The Original Cowboy's Sweetheart.

Senator Udalls Surface Owners Amendment To Be Voted On Tomorrow in Senator Bingaman's Committee

From: Caren [mailto:nmcga@nmagriculture.org]
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 4:19 PM
Subject: Call Senator Bingaman to support amendment to protect surface owners!!! Vote is tomrorrow JUNE 9!

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by New Mexico’s Senior Senator Jeff Bingaman, is scheduled to vote tomorrow, Tuesday, June 9, on an amendment (that)would help protect private landowners who face serious damage to their land when the federal oil and gas beneath their property is leased and drilled by oil and gas companies.

Senator Mark Udall's surface owner protection amendment would:

• Ensure that landowners are notified before the minerals beneath their land are leased.
• Require oil and gas operators to negotiate surface use agreements that minimize damages to the surface, reclaim the site, and compensate landowners for damages - or post bonds to ensure the same.

The Committee is closely divided on this issue, which means that the amendment could pass or fail by a single vote.

Please take just a moment and call or email Senator Bingaman to voice your support for this IMPORTANT amendment.

Senator Jeff Bingaman / http://www.bingaman.senate.gov/contact/types/email-issue.cfm
202.224.5521

If you know folks in other states who have senators on the Committee, please ask them to their senators too!

Here are the Committee Members
________________________________________


Chairman Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Byron L. Dorgan (ND)
Ron Wyden (OR)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mary L. Landrieu (LA)
Maria Cantwell (WA)
Robert Menendez (NJ)
Blanche Lincoln (AR)
Bernard Sanders (VT)
Evan Bayh (IN)
Debbie Stabenow (MI)
Mark Udall (CO)
Jeanne Shaheen (NH)

Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Richard Burr (NC)
John Barrasso (WY)
Sam Brownback (KS)
James E. Risch (ID)
John McCain (AZ)
Robert Bennett (UT)
Jim Bunning (KY)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Bob Corker (TN)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is an important issue that Bill Humphries and others have been working on for years. It deserves everyone's support.

Below is the text of the amendment:

AMENDMENT NO.llll Calendar No.lll
Purpose: To require an operator to compensate a surface
owner for damages resulting from the oil and gas operations
of the operator on land affected by the operations.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—111th Cong., 1st Sess.
(no.) lllllll
(title) llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Referred to the Committee on llllllllll and
ordered to be printed
Ordered to lie on the table and to be printed
AMENDMENT intended to be proposed by Mr. UDALL of
Colorado
Viz:
1 At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ll2 . SPLIT ESTATE.
3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing
4 Act (30 U.S.C. 226) is amended by adding at the end the
5 following:
6 ‘‘(q) SPLIT ESTATES.—
7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection:
8 ‘‘(A) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘covered
9 land’ means land with respect to which—
2
O:\END\END09A57.xml S.L.C.
1 ‘‘(i) title to oil and gas resources is
2 held by the United States; but
3 ‘‘(ii) title to the surface estate is not
4 held by the United States.
5 ‘‘(B) LEASE.—The term ‘lease’ means a
6 lease issued by the Secretary under this Act
7 that provides for the development of oil and gas
8 resources (including coalbed methane) on cov9
ered land.
10 ‘‘(C) LESSEE.—The term ‘lessee’ means
11 the holder of a lease for the development of oil
12 and gas resources on covered land.
13 ‘‘(D) OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS.—The
14 term ‘oil and gas operations’ means all activi15
ties affecting the interest of a surface owner in
16 covered land that are associated with explo17
ration, drilling, or production of oil and gas,
18 through final reclamation of the affected sur19
face.
20 ‘‘(E) OPERATOR.—The term ‘operator’
21 means a person with the legal right to conduct
22 oil and gas operations on covered land.
23 ‘‘(F) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’
24 means the Secretary of the Interior.
3
O:\END\END09A57.xml S.L.C.
1 ‘‘(G) SURFACE OWNER.—The term ‘sur2
face owner’ means a person who holds legal or
3 equitable title, as demonstrated in the records
4 of the applicable county clerk or other local gov5
ernment official, to the surface of the covered
6 land on which the operator has the right to con7
duct oil and gas operations.
8 ‘‘(2) COMPENSATION AND RECLAMATION.—
9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An operator shall
10 compensate the surface owner for damages re11
sulting from the oil and gas operations of the
12 operator on land affected by the operations
13 from—
14 ‘‘(i) loss of agricultural production
15 and income;
16 ‘‘(ii) lost land value;
17 ‘‘(iii) lost use of and lost access to the
18 land of the surface owner; and
19 ‘‘(iv) the lost value of improvements.
20 ‘‘(B) RECLAMATION.—An operator shall
21 reclaim the surface affected by the oil and gas
22 operations of the operator.
23 ‘‘(3) NOTICE OF OPERATIONS.—
24 ‘‘(A) PRIOR TO INITIAL ENTRY.—Prior to
25 initial entry for activities that do not disturb
4
O:\END\END09A57.xml S.L.C.
1 the surface, the operator shall make good faith
2 efforts to provide notice to the surface owner.
3 ‘‘(B) OPERATIONS.—Prior to commencing
4 oil and gas operations, the operator shall make
5 good faith efforts to provide not less than 30
6 days notice to the surface owner with sufficient
7 disclosure of the planned operations to enable
8 the surface owner to evaluate the effect of the
9 operations.
10 ‘‘(4) SURFACE USE AGREEMENT.—
11 ‘‘(A) SURFACE USE AGREEMENT.—At the
12 time of providing notice of operations under
13 paragraph (3)(B), the operator shall provide to
14 the surface owner a proposed surface use agree15
ment that—
16 ‘‘(i) to the extent known, specifies—
17 ‘‘(I) facilities, terms of ingress
18 and egress, and proposed reclamation;
19 and
20 ‘‘(II) actions to minimize surface
21 damages to the land; and
22 ‘‘(ii) includes an offer of compensation
23 for damages to the surface affected by oil
24 and gas operations.
25 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURE.—
5
O:\END\END09A57.xml S.L.C.
1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30
2 days after the date of receipt of the pro3
posed surface use agreement, the surface
4 owner may accept or reject the agreement.
5 ‘‘(ii) FAILURE TO ACCEPT.—Failure
6 to accept the agreement during the 30 day7
period described in clause (i) shall be con8
sidered a rejection of the agreement.
9 ‘‘(C) NEGOTIATIONS.—The surface owner
10 and operator may enter into negotiations re11
garding the surface use agreement.
12 ‘‘(D) AGREEMENT.—The operator and the
13 surface owner may enter into a mutually ac14
ceptable agreement that specifies the rights and
15 obligations of the parties with respect to the
16 surface activities conducted by the operator.
17 ‘‘(5) ENTRY WITHOUT AGREEMENT; BOND.—
18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If no surface use
19 agreement has been executed within 30 days
20 after the date on which the surface owner re21
ceives the proposed agreement under paragraph
22 (4)(A), the operator may enter the property of
23 the surface owner and conduct oil and gas oper24
ations as provided in this section.
6
O:\END\END09A57.xml S.L.C.
1 ‘‘(B) FINANCIAL ASSURANCE.—The oper2
ator shall provide an appropriate financial as3
surance, as determined by the Secretary, prior
4 to commencing operations under this para5
graph.
6 ‘‘(C) RELEASE OF FINANCIAL ASSUR7
ANCE.—The Secretary shall provide for the ap8
propriate release of the financial assurance on
9 a determination that—
10 ‘‘(i) the reclamation is complete; and
11 ‘‘(ii) the surface owner has been com12
pensated for any damages.
13 ‘‘(6) NOTICE OF SECRETARIAL ACTION WITH
14 RESPECT TO FEDERAL LEASES.—The Secretary
15 shall make reasonable efforts to provide to each sur16
face owner of affected covered land, and to each per17
mittee or right-of-way holder with the right to use
18 the surface of affected Federal land, written notice
19 of—
20 ‘‘(A) any lease sale for an oil or gas lease
21 under this Act by not later than 30 days before
22 the date of the lease sale; and
23 ‘‘(B) the issuance of a drilling permit by
24 not later than 5 days before the date of
25 issuance.
7
O:\END\END09A57.xml S.L.C.
1 ‘‘(7) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW.—Nothing
2 in this subsection preempts any applicable State
3 law.’’.
4 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after
5 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the
6 Interior shall promulgate such regulations as are nec7
essary to carry out the amendment made by subsection
8 (a).

Colo. land prices luring Amish

A new road sign cautions drivers to watch for Amish horse-drawn carriages in the valley beneath Colorado's Sangre de Cristo mountains. Highway pull-offs and dedicated horse-and-buggy paths are in the works. Amid the serenity and isolation of southern Colorado, hamlets like Westcliffe, La Jara and Monte Vista are welcoming Amish families who are moving West to escape high land prices and community overcrowding back East in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. "The reason we moved out West is the farm land is a little bit cheaper and it's not as heavily populated, a little more open space and a little more opportunity for young people to get started with their own farms," said Ben Coblentz, a 47-year-old alfalfa farmer from Indiana. "The general public seems to have a little slower pace of life than what it was back East. Everybody here respects us." Of an estimated 231,000 Amish nationwide, more than 60 percent still live in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. But from 2002 to 2008, Colorado's Amish population went from zero to more than 400, according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Pennsylvania's Elizabethtown College...Denver Post

NM land grant activists turn to Obama for help

New Mexico land grant activists have sent a letter to President Barack Obama, asking for his help in returning millions of acres of land in the Southwest that Hispanic settlers lost when the United States took over the territory. The letter, sent to the president Wednesday, was signed by Rosita Tijerina, daughter of Reies Lopez Tijerina, who led a 1967 raid on the courthouse in Tierra Amarilla in a land grant dispute, and Andres Valdez, director of the community activist organization, Vecinos United. Their letter said much of the land was taken by the federal government and is now managed by U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Other land, they said, was stolen by "rich white ranchers" from ancestors who could not read or write. AP

Pennsylvania landowners have one week to sell property for 9/11 memorial

The federal government on Friday set a deadline for Pennsylvania landowners who have refused to give up their property so that a memorial to United Airlines Flight 93 can be built. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told landowners that they have one week to reach sale agreements with the National Park Service before the agency exercises eminent domain to acquire the 500 remaining acres for the memorial, at the site where the hijacked plane crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. On Friday, a delegation that included Salazar and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) met with the property owners near Shanksville, a tiny rural town about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The park service, an agency of the Interior Department, has reached agreements to purchase nearly 1,000 acres from other landowners in the area, but it has failed to persuade the six families that own the rest of the land to sell...LATimes

Those Flight 93 passengers died to protect our freedoms, and as a result of their heroic act their fellow citizens will have their property condemned by the federal government.

What a great way to honor the passengers' bravery. The Politically Superior Ones are wonderful aren't they.

Man Convicted of Littering had Placed Water Jugs On Federal Land for Illegal Immigrants

A Tucson man convicted of littering on federal land said he will continue to leave out water for illegal immigrants walking through the desert, even if that means risking further citations. "We're committed to our humanitarian efforts," said Walt Staton, 27, who was found guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court of knowingly littering on a national wildlife refuge. Staton, a Web designer and volunteer with the humanitarian group No More Deaths, faces up to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine when he is sentenced Aug. 11 by U.S. District Magistrate Judge Jennifer Guerin. He was cited Dec. 4 for littering when U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted him placing unopened gallon containers of water in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge southwest of Tucson...ArizonaStar

Whether or not you agree with what Mr. Staton and his group were doing, this case raises some important issues.

First, does the Border Patrol have the authority to cite someone for littering on federal land? Or did they detain Staton until Interior officials arrived? If the Border Patrol has such authority, what other non-immigration federal land law enforcement authority do they have? Can they cite OHVs in the wrong place? Campers? Tressspassing cattle?

Second, what on earth are the priorities of the U.S. Attorney for Arizona? The article says Staton is the second person charged with this infraction and also quotes Staton's attorney as estimating the two-day trial cost the government $50,000 or more. Is this the wisest use of federal dollars and the federal court system?

Are All You Surburbanites Blue?

You may not have noticed, but Hollywood has: you’re miserable. No, really. According to Census Bureau numbers, roughly 75 percent of Americans live in suburbs. And, according to one of last year’s Golden Globe nominees for best picture, that’s eating away at us. “Our whole existence here [in the ’burbs] is based on this great premise that we’re special. That we’re superior to the whole thing,” declares the female lead in the movie “Revolutionary Road.” “But we’re not. We’re just like everyone else. We bought into the same, ridiculous delusion.” That “delusion,” as depicted in the film, is that a couple can be happily married, own a home with some land and raise children together in the suburbs. Indeed, it’s difficult to conceive of such a crazy notion. But never fear, suburbanites. The government will ride to your rescue (if it doesn’t get stuck in heavy traffic on the way). The Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have teamed up on a new interagency partnership to create what they call “affordable, sustainable communities.” Hint: the communities won’t look like your current cul-de-sac...CNSNews

Rahall eyes oil and gas addition to climate bill but leadership uncertain

House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) hopes to add a major oil and gas title to the Democratic energy and climate bill, but it remains unclear whether he will get the chance as House leaders aim to speed the bill's progress. "I'd prefer to have it attached to the climate bill, because when we're talking about energy, it should be in a comprehensive piece of legislation," Rahall told E&E yesterday. "Now is the time to do it, in a nonpolitical season without the emotions attached there to and at a time when the price of the pump is relatively low compared to where it was when we heard 'drill baby drill'" he added. But the path forward for the proposal is uncertain. The bill has not yet been formally introduced, and Rahall said it is being prepared so that "if asked to include it as part of climate change, we'll be ready rather than go through a crammed session to get it ready." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday said she wants committees to act by June 19, and floor debate could begin by the end of this month...NYTimes

Buried Code

THE RUNNING joke in Washington is that nobody has read the 900-plus-page energy bill sponsored by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), which the House will consider in coming weeks. What you hear from its backers is that its cap-and-trade provisions would create a market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- which should mean that a simple, systemwide incentive encourages polluters to make the easiest reductions in greenhouse gases first, keeping the costs of fighting global warming to a minimum. In fact, the bill also contains regulations on everything from light bulb standards to the specs on hot tubs, and it will reshape America's economy in dozens of ways that many don't realize. Here is just one: The bill would give the federal government power over local building codes. It requires that by 2012 codes must require that new buildings be 30 percent more efficient than they would have been under current regulations. By 2016, that figure rises to 50 percent, with increases scheduled for years after that. With those targets in mind, the bill expects organizations that develop model codes for states and localities to fill in the details, creating a national code. If they don't, the bill commands the Energy Department to draft a national code itself. States, meanwhile, would have to adopt the national code or one that achieves the same efficiency targets. Those that refuse will see their codes overwritten automatically, and they will be docked federal funds and carbon "allowances" -- valuable securities created elsewhere in the bill that give the holder the right to pollute and can be sold. The Energy Department also could enforce its code itself. Among other things, the policy would demonstrate the new leverage of allocation of allowances as a sort of carbon currency -- leverage this bill would be giving to Congress to direct state behavior...WPost

Levy on international air travel could fund climate change fight

Britain and other rich countries will be asked to accept a compulsory levy on international flight tickets and shipping fuel to raise billions of dollars to help the world's poorest countries adapt to combat climate change. The suggestions come at the start of the second week in the latest round of UN climate talks in Bonn, where 192 countries are starting to negotiate a global agreement to limit and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The issue of funding for adaptation is critical to success but the hardest to agree. The aviation levy, which is expected to increase the price of long-haul fares by less than 1%, would raise $10bn (£6.25bn) a year, it is said. It has been proposed by the world's 50 least developed countries. It could be matched by a compulsory surcharge on all international shipping fuel, said Connie Hedegaard, the Danish environment and energy minister who will host the final UN climate summit in December...Guardian

Think twice about 'green' transport, say scientists

You worry a lot about the environment and do everything you can to reduce your carbon footprint -- the emissions of greenhouse gases that drive dangerous climate change. So you always prefer to take the train or the bus rather than a plane, and avoid using a car whenever you can, faithful to the belief that this inflicts less harm to the planet. Well, there could be a nasty surprise in store for you, for taking public transport may not be as green as you automatically think, says a new US study. Its authors point out an array of factors that are often unknown to the public. These are hidden or displaced emissions that ramp up the simple "tailpipe" tally, which is based on how much carbon is spewed out by the fossil fuels used to make a trip. Environmental engineers Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath at the University of California at Davis say that when these costs are included, a more complex and challenging picture emerges. In some circumstances, for instance, it could be more eco-friendly to drive into a city -- even in an SUV, the bete noire of green groups -- rather than take a suburban train. It depends on seat occupancy and the underlying carbon cost of the mode of transport...AFP

Northwest's biofuel boom goes bust

In two short years, the Northwest has gone from biofuels boom to biofuels bust. The boom began in August 2007, when Imperium Renewables opened a 100 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant near Grays Harbor, Wash. A month later, Pacific Ethanol opened a 40 million-gallon corn ethanol plant in Boardman. In June 2008, Cascade Grain opened a 113 million-gallon corn ethanol plant in Clatskanie. Encouraged by tax breaks and Oregon and Washington standards designed to require biofuels' use, the companies promised environmental benefits on an industrial scale, a quantum leap from smaller-scale producers making fuel from cooking grease and Northwest crops. Nearly 30 more projects were under discussion. Then came this year. In January, Cascade Grain filed for bankruptcy six months after it opened, idling its plant and putting a $20 million loan from the state of Oregon in jeopardy. Imperium, whose grand opening was attended by both Washington senators, idled its Grays Harbor plant indefinitely, laying off 24 workers in March. And Pacific Ethanol, which received $14.6 million in Oregon tax credits for its plant, filed for bankruptcy for five of its subsidiaries last month, including the subsidiary that owns its Boardman plant. It warned that it has enough money to continue operations only through June...Oregonian

University of Idaho had evidence of bighorn disease link, group says

Environmentalists aiming to close the West's public lands to grazing contend a University of Idaho research center had evidence for more than a decade that bighorn sheep can contract deadly diseases from domestic sheep on the open range, despite its coordinator's insistence to the contrary. The UI Caine Veterinary Teaching and Research Center's Marie Bulgin, a ranching advocate who has long denied evidence of open-range transmission, said she didn't know about the studies, though they were conducted by her own scientists starting in 1994. This is a sore subject in Idaho, with U.S. Forest Service managers now considering closing grazing allotments near Hell's Canyon to protect bighorns. Jon Marvel, of Western Watersheds Project, says Bulgin should have known about the evidence, even as she was testifying in federal court and at the Idaho Legislature that no open-range transmission had been documented. AP

Hundreds of farmers face BLM in lawsuit over herbicide, lost crops

When his beets came in patchy, pushing through the soil with misshapen and discolored leaves, Perry Van Tassell did what most farmers would do. He watered more. And more. And more. "They looked like they were thirsty," Van Tassell said. "They looked like they were in a frozen state." It was 2001, and Van Tassell, like most farmers, had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in his crops. His corn fields stood shorter than his toddler son when they should have been stretching 12 feet high. He came to believe his land had been tainted with Oust, a potent herbicide that kills plants by attacking their roots and leaves. The herbicide had been spread across more than 100,000 acres of nearby public land at the direction of the Bureau of Land Management, which was hoping to prevent the spread of invasive weeds on land that had been scorched by wildfire. But no rains came to melt the herbicide into the soil. The wind picked up. And Van Tassell and more than 130 other farmers claim the powdery herbicide blew across their crops, leaving them with warped plants, barren soil and millions of dollars of debt...AP

23-Year-Old SD Rancher Claims $232.1 Powerball Win

A 23-year-old rancher whose family has fallen behind in their taxes and recently had a mobile home repossessed has claimed a $232.1 million Powerball jackpot. Neal Wanless, who lives on his family's 320-acre ranch near Mission, S.D., bought the winning ticket in the nearby town of Winner late last month during a trip to buy livestock feed. He will take home $88.5 million in a lump sum payment after taxes are deducted. Wanless says his family has been helped by their community and that he "intends to repay that help many times over." He said in a statement issued Friday that he plans to continue ranching, albeit on a larger ranch. He says he recently told his horse, Eleanor, that "It'd be nice if we go for a longer ride than usual on a bigger ranch of our own." AP

Cow-Pooling: Buying Beef in Mega-Bulk

If you prefer to keep the image of meat — say, a juicy hamburger — safely separated from the image of an actual animal — say, a 1,200-lb. castrated bull — then cow-pooling is not for you. Jean Edwards is clearly not squeamish about knowing precisely where her steaks come from. In 2007, she and her husband James, a corrections officer in Vermont, went in with another family to buy a side of grass-fed beef directly from a farmer. The Edwardses wanted naturally raised meat but couldn't afford natural-food-store prices. Not only did cow-pooling prove to be cost-effective but also the meat from Mike Bowen's 900-acre North Hollow Farms, in central Vermont, was so tasty — compared with beef raised on corn in an industrial feedlot — that in the years since, Edwards has purchased an entire side just for her family. On a recent evening, the 43-year-old mother of five loaded her minivan with 250 lb. of beef, butchered and vacuum-packed to her specifications. "Not only am I buying a freezerful of meat, which gives me a kind of secure feeling," she says, "I'm dealing directly with the farmer, which is almost inspirational." At a time when many family incomes are falling, the pressure is on to give up expensive foods like organic produce and grass-fed beef. But thanks to the Internet, cow-pooling is an increasingly popular way to get high-quality non-factory-farm meat without paying about $16 per lb. for a strip steak — the usual price at the Whole Foods Markets of the world...Time

I know a bunch of you are grinnin'. A side of beef is mega-bulk?

500-plus Yellowstone bison hazed, none killed

Roughly 500 to 600 bison that migrated out of Yellowstone National Park last winter are back on their summer feeding grounds, after being hazed into the park by state and federal personnel. Only one migrating bison was killed this winter, by a Montana hunter. The prior winter 1,601 bison were killed, most of them captured and slaughtered to prevent the spread of the disease brucellosis to cattle. The disease causes pregnant cattle, elk and bison to miscarry. About half of Yellowstone bison carry the disease, but there have been no recorded bison to cattle transmissions in the wild. With Yellowstone’s bison population down sharply - about 3,000 now versus 4,700 two years ago - this winter’s migration in search of food at lower elevations was smaller than in recent years. Christian Mackay, the head of the Montana Department of Livestock, said the hazing program lasted about 10 days and pushed the bison into an area about 15 miles inside the park in northeastern Wyoming...AP

You can call it buffalo-pooling, or better yet, mega-hazing...

India clones second buffalo in three months

Indian scientists on Saturday said they have cloned the world's second buffalo just three months after the first one died of pneumonia within a week of its birth. The buffalo calf, named Garima, was born at 11 am at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, and weighs about 43 kg, the institute's Director A K Srivastava told PTI. "Garima is absolutely healthy and we are fully optimistic about her survival. A two-member veterinary doctors' team has arrived from the Haryana Agricultural University. Them apart, our own veterinary doctors, led by KPS Tomar, are also looking after her and we are taking all precautions to avoid any mishap," Mr. Srivastava said. The scientists adopted a more advanced technique than that used in producing Dolly -- the sheep that became the first mammal to be cloned. The 'hand-guided cloning technique', perfected by the NDRI scientists, would allow production of calves of a desired sex...HinduNews

It's all Trew: Parade honoring mothers-in-law drew thousands

After more than 500 weekly columns my faithful readers are aware that some articles are true and others may have a Trew twist and a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor. So help me, the following is true, taken from the book, "Amarillo - The Story Of A Western Town." I credit Paul H. Carlson with the story and all is based on published facts. The story begins in the hard, dry, financially troubled year of 1934 when Gene Howe, editor and publisher of the Amarillo Globe-News Corporation and his "Tactless Texan" newspaper column somehow offended his mother-in-law Nellie Donald. She and other mothers-in-law rebelled in retaliation causing such a ruckus that Howe, in humble retreat, announced that on March 5, 1934, Mother-In-Law Day would be celebrated along with the Amarillo Fat Stock Show celebration. First intended as a small local event to placate the offended, the celebration drew national attention when Will Rogers mentioned the upcoming celebration on his national radio show. Hollywood paid attention and sent camera crews down to record the unusual festivities. Mothers-in-law from across the nation including first lady Eleanor Roosevelt sent greetings of varied nature. On the appointed days the celebration filled the hotels as mothers-in-law arrived in droves. A parade down Polk Street drew an estimated 6,000 viewers...Amarillo Globe-News

Song Of The Day #055

This will be western week on our Ranch Radio, and we'll start with Gene Autry. Many may know that during Autry's first years of recording he was a total copy of Jimmie Rodgers, adopting Rodgers blue yodel style of singing. Those recordings are available on the 9 CD Box set That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine. In today's selection Autry has moved over to western or cowboy music, albeit with a Rodgers-type yodel. Enjoy Autry singing I'll Go Riding Down That Old Texas Trail, available on his Columbia Historic Edition.

Also, for you late-comers, or for those who just want to play these songs again, the entire collection is available on The Westerner. Just stroll down the right column till you see Labels, and there you will find the songs in numerical order.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Grandma's kitchen

Julie Carter

It had been more than 35 years since I first saw it and yet when I looked through the doorway, I could see that nothing of consequence had changed.

The kitchen, lit by a single window over the old single basin sink, stood exactly as it had when I took my first baby girl to spend the day with her grandma.

The same as when, a couple of decades later, that baby girl took her baby to spend the day with his great-grandma.

Look around your life and see what, if anything, has not changed in appearance in 35 years and you can honestly say, "It looks exactly the same."

I absolutely cannot look in the mirror and say that. Sure can't point to the pickup and say that. I have owned about, oh, six or seven since then.

The house - I can't even begin there because I've moved at least a dozen times. Good horses and dogs have come and gone. So have the bad ones.

Fresh paint, a new curtain and new floor tile. That was all that was different in her kitchen. Except, in the interim, they invented microwaves so there was one of those and the old wall rotary dial phone was gone.

The table sat where it always was and the center of it, as before, was filled with napkins, condiments, a silverware holder and an assortment of other things deemed important enough to just stay there.

The old bright white wood cabinets filled the east wall broken only by the sink in the middle. The sink with it's signature Rubbermaid dishpan inside and no cabinet below it, so a curtain covered up those things you put under a sink.

The cabinets went up the wall all the way to meet the 10-foot ceiling and the top row of cupboards could be accessed only by standing on a stool. The very limited counter space was always full of canisters, a bread box, dish drainer, percolator coffee pot and assorted packages of cookies and crackers.

Knick knacks, a corkboard full of keys, a big calendar and grandma-kind of decorations filled the walls.

In any kitchen except Grandma's, it would have been clutter. In her's, it was personality, warmth and comfort.

It was her favorite room and she liked it the very best when it was filled full with family members of all ages and generations laughing, talking and telling stories. Stories like the one about how the refrigerator got a bullet hole in it.

As each generation of grandmas passes on, the matriarchal crown moves a little closer to home.

My mom is a wonderful grandma who has many special things she has shared with her grandchildren. They will each have a little different piece of her in their hearts forever.

When the rolling pin passes, it makes us all put on life's brakes, look around and reflect.

We take just a moment to ponder what legacy we are leaving for those coming behind in our tracks.

Aprons, cookies, hugs and plenty of sympathy. Good smells from the stovetop, bushels of apples to be made into jam, jars of canned fruits and vegetables.

Perhaps mine, or yours, may not look and smell the same as the generations before us.

However, there is something about grandmas that makes each one special to those who love them.

Thank God for grandmas. They keep us grounded in what really counts. Pass the cookies, please.

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

New Zealand may go bust over Global Warming

Dennis Avery

No country in the world would risk as much for “global warming” as New Zealand if it goes ahead with the cap-and-trade energy taxation installed by Helen Clarke’s now-departed Labour Government.

New Zealand’s economy is almost completely dependent on its farm exports: lamb, dairy products, beef and high-end white wines. Half of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from cattle and sheep. If New Zealand taxes its cows and sheep hundreds of dollars per animal for methane emissions and manure handling fees, Argentina would almost immediately displace New Zealand’s farm exports. Argentina has more grass, more cattle, the potential for more lambs, a surging wine industry—and no Kyoto obligations.

Based on U.S. and Australian “discussions,” a 500-cow dairy might have to pay $250,000 per year for cattle emissions and manure handling permits, plus a hefty increase in its costs for low-carbon electricity and diesel. An Argentine dairy would pay none of these increased costs—and every dollar of cost differential would be a further incentive for Argentine dairymen to expand their exports at the expense of New Zealand.

That would leave Kiwi cities like Auckland and Christchurch without visible means of support.

I said this recently to several New Zealand government ministers and business leaders at a private dinner in Wellington. My message was not welcomed. John Key’s new government seems to understand that New Zealand’s economy would be at terrible risk from carbon taxes—but its voters apparently don’t realize it.

The Clark government told New Zealand voters that the cost of “leading the world” with a carbon tax would be about $150 per year. That figure is laughably low. The British government now admits its new carbon tax law could cost as much as $27,000 per UK family.

The Key government has temporarily suspended the cap-and-trade, but has not dared repeal it. Meanwhile, Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is installing his own cap-and-trade, and playing footsie with President Obama on “solidarity” with a U.S. carbon tax. If Australia and the U.S. agreed on some benchmark carbon tax, most New Zealanders would expect their country to join in.

Never mind that the earth’s global warming stopped after 1998 because the sun has gone into a startling quiet period. That’s why New Zealand’s many glaciers have been growing recently instead of receding. Never mind that even full member compliance with Kyoto would “avoid” only about 0.05 degree C of warming over the next 50 years—by the alarmists’ own math.

The urbanites in New Zealand don’t really appreciate the sophisticated management that juggles pastures and feed crops that produce milk, cheese and Merino wool. They love the wine, but don’t understand the massive per-acre investments needed to turn their grapes into award-winning vintages.

Meanwhile, Obama’s U.S. government has just punished New Zealand with trade-distorting dairy export subsidies--because our corn ethanol program has pushed our cost of dairy feed too high. World corn prices have doubled in real terms, and may go higher as our ethanol mandates keep rising. That jacks up the U.S. cost of “alternative fuels” even further--while New Zealand will have to file a well-justified case against America under the World Trade Organization rules.

Ah, what a tangled web we’re weaving, rather than admit the Emperor of Global Warming has no clothes.

Canadian Free Press

Century-old St. Vrain post office closes

The 102-year-old St. Vrain Post Office has closed. Bonnie Robinson of Melrose, who ran the post office for the past seven months, said her last day of sales was Tuesday. Customers began receiving their mail in a cluster box across St. Vrain’s Main Street on Monday. “We’re all sad that it’s closing,” Robinson said. “That’s a long time, 102 years.” Even so, Robinson said thus far, using the cluster box has worked well. “The Post Office has been going through tough financial times lately, just like everyone else,” she said. Robinson said St. Vrain is one of a number of small post offices with low revenues that has been closed, and the community’s postmaster retired last year, leaving more of an opportunity for closure. The building, which the post office was leasing, will revert back to the control of the owner, and the rest area it is in will remain open, she said. A few times during her short tenure, Robinson said, people dropped by specifically for a postmark from St. Vrain. Tuesday, a man from Colorado came in for stamps and decided to mail postcards from the office when he learned it was closing...PortalesNews-Tribune

Song Of The Day #054

Today's gospel song is Singing An Old Hymn by the Buchanan Brothers, released in 1946. It's availabe on the Bronco Buster 9018 CD titled Atomic Power.

NM Dairies, Environment Dept. Disagree

The New Mexico Environment Department and dairy producers disagree on how dangerous dairies are to groundwater and what should be done to prevent pollution. In this year’s legislative session, a bill passed requiring the state to enact statutes specifying what dairies must do to protect the environment. Now, the Environment Department requires various practices to prevent pollution. But there is no set common standard. “What the dairies are looking for is sound science,” said Alva Carter Jr., whose family owns a dairy south of Portales and one near Muleshoe. “We are not asking to be deregulated.” Carter, a member of Dairy Industry for a Cleaner Environment, said his industry believes dairies cause 2 percent or less of all water contamination in New Mexico. “And that’s not a number we’re proud of either, but it’s a far cry from saying we have a big problem,” he said. NMED Ground Water Quality Bureau Chief William C. Olson said 65 percent of New Mexico dairies have caused groundwater contamination. Olson said the main pollutant dairies may put out is nitrate from manure and organic waste. In infants, nitrate can reduce the ability of blood to carry oxygen, and the resulting oxygen starvation can kill the child, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site...Clovis News-Journal

NMSU rodeo team finishes season on top

The New Mexico State University men’s and women’s rodeo teams are National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Grand Canyon regional champions after an exciting year of competition.

Wyatt Althoff, of Gilbert, Ariz., finished the season as reserve men’s all-around champion. Johnny Salvo, of Horse Springs, N.M., placed third in the men’s all-around.

Aztec, N.M., native Kelsi Elkins was the women’s all-around champion. Jordan Bassett, of Dewey, Ariz., was reserve champion and Brittany Striegel, also of Aztec, N.M., received third.

In the saddle bronc riding event, Dean Daly, of Belen, N.M., finished third, with teammate Daniel Orris, of Durango, Colo., receiving fourth.

Clay Geronimo, of Mescalero, N.M., placed second in the bareback riding.

In the bull riding, Ryan Gibson, of Casa Grande, Ariz., received fourth.
Salvo was the tie down roping regional champion. Rylan Edgmon, of Black Canyon City, Ariz., received second. Althoff and Bryce Runyan, of Silver City, N.M., received third and fourth, respectively.

Team roping header Rodee Walraven, of Datil, N.M., placed second, with Althoff placing third. Salvo also placed third as heeler.

Elkins placed second in the barrel racing event. Bassett placed fourth.

Megan Wilkerson, of Sonoita, Ariz., was the regional breakaway roping champion.

In the goat tying, Bassett, Striegel and Elkins placed second, third and fourth, respectively.

Althoff and former rodeo team member Bailey Gow, of Roseburg, Ore., were honored after the April NMSU NIRA rodeo for their achievements throughout the 2007-08 season. Althoff received the DuBois award for All-Around Cowboy, and Gow was given the DuBois award for All-Around Cowgirl. Each received an original Curtis Fort bronze sculpture.

The DuBois award is given to the NMSU rodeo athletes who have scored the most NIRA points in more than one event during the season. The awards are presented by Frank DuBois, former secretary/director of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.

NMSU will send 11 of its top rodeo athletes to compete in the College National Finals Rodeo, June 14-20 in Casper, Wyo.

NMSU

NMSU rodeo team wins final rodeo of the season

The New Mexico State University rodeo team swept the competition during the final rodeo of the year, the NMSU National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) rodeo, held April 24-25 in Las Cruces, N.M.

“We had a great rodeo to end a great season! The student athletes really shined this weekend at their home rodeo, winning six of the events plus both all-arounds and both teams,” said Jim Dewey Brown, NMSU coach. “I am especially pleased with the community and campus support we received from the grandstands.”

For the women’s team, Megan Wilkerson, of Sonoita, Ariz., won first in the breakaway roping event.

Aztec, N.M., native Brittany Striegel won first in the goat tying, with teammate Jessica Silva, of Tularosa, N.M., placing second.

Kelsi Elkins, of Aztec, N.M., and Striegel placed second and third, respectively, in the barrel racing.

Clay Geronimo, of Mescalero, N.M., won first in the bareback riding event.

In the saddlebronc event, Daniel Orris, of Durango, Colo., won first. Dean Daly, of Belen, N.M., received third.

Ryan Gibson, of Casa Grande, Ariz., placed first in the bull riding.

Rylan Edgmon, of Black Canyon City, Ariz., won first in the tie-down roping. Johnny Salvo, of Horse Springs, N.M., placed second, and Wyatt Althoff, of Gilbert, Ariz., placed third.

Althoff received second in the steer wrestling.

The team of Clinton Hiett, of El Paso, Texas, and Logan Milliorn, of Santa Fe, N.M., won second in the team roping. Header Justin Mascarenas, from New Mexico Highlands University, and heeler Jared Gonzales, of Las Vegas, N.M., placed third.

Althoff received the men’s all-around for the weekend, and Striegel received the women’s all-around.

NMSU

Former and current NMSU rodeo team members hold their own at Frank DuBois Saddle Bronc and Calf Roping event

New Mexico State University students and members of the rodeo team competed at the Frank DuBois Bronc Riding and Calf Roping April 4 at the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds in Las Cruces, N.M.

Olan Borg, of Camp Verde, Ariz., a former NMSU student and rodeo team member, was the overall winner of the saddle bronc riding event. Borg won both the first round and the short-go with a score of 77. He earned more than $1,500 for his first-place rides. A current team member, Dean Daly, of Belen, N.M., tied for fourth place in the saddle bronc, with a score of 73.

Wacey Walraven, of Datil, N.M., was the overall winner for the tie-down roping, winning the showdown round and $1,500 with a time of 9.8 seconds. Walraven is an NMSU student and a former rodeo team member.

Current rodeo team member JoDan Mirabal, of Grants, N.M., won the second round of the tie-down roping with a time of 10.1 seconds.

Former rodeo team member John Pete Etcheverry, of Carlsbad, N.M., won the first round of the calf roping with a time of 10 seconds. Casey Wilson, from Arizona, won rounds three and five with times of 8.6 and 9.1 seconds, respectively. Beau Marshall, of Truth or Consequences, N.M., won round four with a time of 8.5 seconds.

There were 15 calf ropers who competed. Of those, four were current members of the NMSU rodeo team and five were former members. Nineteen riders competed in the saddle bronc event, with three current members, one former member and a future member participating.

The saddle bronc riders competed in one round, with the top five riders going on to compete in a short-go round. The total pay-out was $2,900. The tie-down roping had five elimination rounds and a showdown, with each round paying $150 and the final round paying $1,500 to the winner.

Competitors came from as far away as Nebraska and Montana to participate in the event.
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Plan would aid salmon, reduce water for people

Federal regulators prescribed sweeping changes Thursday to the dams, reservoirs and pumps that supply water to two-thirds of California in an effort to restore a salmon population whose steep decline has sounded an environmental alarm and led to the cancellation of two consecutive commercial fishing seasons. While the measures could save the chinook salmon and other species from extinction, critics argue the plans reduce the water supply to people and farms at a time when the water system is strained by earlier environmental rules, drought, population growth and crumbling infrastructure. On Thursday, an 800-page biological opinion released by the National Marine Fisheries Service found that operations of the state and federal water systems had jeopardized the state's spring-run chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and Southern Resident killer whales. Moving water from one area of the delta to another and exporting increased supplies to cities and farms slashed flows for fish and boosted water temperatures, the report found. State officials, however, issued a stinging rebuke of the opinion. "This federal biological opinion puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world's eighth-largest economy," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "The piling on of one federal court decision after another in a species-by-species approach is killing our economy and undermining the integrity of the Endangered Species Act."...SFChronicle

No Climate Change Fix Without New Land Use, Farming Policies

The world cannot effectively address climate change without altering our relationship with soil, the world’s third largest carbon pool, according to a new report. Changing the way we manage land and produce food can offset 25 percent of worldwide fossil fuel emissions, putting agriculture and land use near the center of the climate change fight, a report from Worldwatch Institute and Ecoagriculture Partners concluded. “Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use” estimates the two sectors are responsible for about a third of greenhouse gas emissions, yet the international science and policy communities have lagged in embracing efforts in these areas. That’s despite the fact that existing practices and innovations can sequester greenhouse gases now present in the atmosphere, while other remedies, such as energy efficiency and renewable energy, may only reduce future emissions. "While these initiatives are integral in the transition to a low-carbon economy, any strategy that seeks to mitigate global climate change without reducing emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land uses is doomed to fail," Co-author Sara Scherr of Ecoagriculture Partners, said in a statement...GreenBiz

Listen to me again: Global Warming = Land Use Controls.

They've been trying to get federal land use planning every since Henry "Scoop" Jackson introduced The National Land Use Policy Act in 1970. That bill passed the Senate twice, but never passed the House. Jackson was also the author of NEPA, and they were meant to work together. The public lands section of the 1970 legislation eventually became FLPMA.

The ESA, CWA and the CAA have been used to impose land use restrictions, but now they hope the global warming scare will give them the rationale and political boost to go all the way.

If the economic "crisis" results in the feds owning 70 percent of General Motors, what makes you think a global warming "crisis" won't result in a government "plan" for your farm or ranch?

And don't forget to send in your Premises Registration...

Here's the summary of the livestock section of their report:


Climate-friendly livestock production. Rapid growth in demand for livestock products has triggered a huge rise in the number of animals, the concentration of wastes in feedlots and dairies, and the clearing of natural grasslands and forests for grazing. Livestock-related emissions of carbon and methane now account for 14.5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions—more than the transport sector. A reduction in livestock numbers may be needed but production innovations can help, including rotational grazing systems, manure management, methane capture for biogas production, and improved feeds and feed additives.

New suit filed in delta smelt dispute

A conservative legal organization waded into the delta smelt controversy Thursday, claiming in a lawsuit that the federal government has no constitutional authority to oversee the endangered fish. The lawsuit -- filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of three San Joaquin Valley farming operations -- claims that the smelt has no commercial value and is not involved in interstate commerce. Because of that, managing the smelt and placing it under the protection of the Endangered Species Act violates the U.S. Constitution, which limits federal domestic authority to things involved in interstate commerce. The Sacramento-based foundation's suit also argues that a smelt management plan issued in December -- which has resulted in a reduction of water deliveries to west side farmers and urban users in the Bay Area and Southern California -- fails to show how the pumping reductions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would benefit the smelt, and did not take into account the economic effects of the ruling...FresnoBee

Rare Bird Threatened by San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge Population Control Proposal

Today the Center for Biological Diversity filed a scientific petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the western gull-billed tern as an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act. The western gull-billed tern has only two breeding sites in the United States. At one of them, San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, it is immediately threatened by a Fish and Wildlife Service plan to reduce its population by destroying eggs. The control effort is intended to protect two other endangered seabirds: the western snowy plover and the California least tern. “The Center strongly supports the conservation of all three of these endangered birds,” said Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The western gull-billed tern is endangered and needs the same protections afforded the plover and least tern.”...CBD

Build it and they...will take it

You may remember City Utilities announced it's considering using eminent domain to build a new bus terminal where the Arbor Inn used to be in downtown Springfield. The owner of that land is fighting back. On Wednesday, CU announced it's willing to renew discussions with Becky Spence. Her dream is to build a luxury hotel that would be the tallest building in Springfield. Spence says when CU made it known it wanted to take her land, she tried to compromise. She says she met with CU managers, offering a portion of the land for the bus terminal. The rest would be for her hotel. Spence says City Utilities rejected the offer. She says she was surprised when CU brought up eminent domain because a study commissioned by CU to find an ideal piece of land ranked her property pretty low on the list. That's because the land sits 22 feet below street level. The bus station is required to be on street level. Spence says she declared bankruptcy as a last resort, knowing that eminent domain cannot touch a land protected by bankruptcy...KOLR-TV

It's a sad situation when a person has to declare bankruptcy to protect their property.

Hat Tip: OpenMarket

Clotheslines Stage a Comeback - "Right To Dry"

According to Alexander Lee of Project Laundry List, a group that supports hang-drying laundry over using an energy-intensive machine, a law went into effect last week in Vermont that prevents groups like homeowners associations from banning clotheslines. Colorado also approved “right-to-dry” provisions last year, said Mr. Lee, and Maine is currently voting on similar legislation. In Hawaii, a bill that would allow homeowners to hang their laundry on clotheslines — albeit with some limitations — is awaiting action by Gov. Linda Lingle — although she vetoed a similar bill last year. Florida has the oldest right-to-dry law in the country, according to Mr. Lee. “A clothesline is not a solar panel or a Prius — it’s something that everyone can afford,” Mr. Lee — who hauls his own wet clothes back from the laundromat in order to dry them on a line — told my colleague Elisabeth Rosenthal last year, when she reported on Ontario’s right-to-dry debate...NYTimes

I sure hope I they don't bring back those damned old metal jean stretchers. I hated those things.

Tre Arrow says Oregon halfway house next stop

One of the last environmental activists convicted of arson as a protest tactic across the West says he is being released from federal prison to a halfway house in Oregon. Tre Arrow says on his Web site that he is due to be released Monday from a federal prison in California to serve the remaining six months of his term at a halfway house in Portland. The 35-year-old environmental activist was sentenced last year to 78 months in prison after pleading guilty to setting fire to cement and logging trucks in the Portland area in 2001. But Arrow was given credit for about four years of time served in jails awaiting extradition from Canada to Oregon after his arrest in British Columbia in 2004. The Federal Bureau of Prisons lists his release date as Dec. 4 from the Herlong medium security prison near Susanville, Calif...AP

Animal Rights Terrorism on the Rise in U.S

In what law enforcement officials are calling a wave of militancy, groups like the Animal Liberation Front and another called The Justice Department are going after scientists personally, both at work and at home, and threatening the safety of their families. "There is an upswing," said Laura Eimiller, a FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles. "What's really concerning is the tactics that are being used. Previously it was non-violent, mostly harassment or vandalism. Now we're seeing the increased use of incendiary devices to target individuals." Over the past 18 months, there have been at least 39 criminal actions undertaken in the name of animal rights, according to data compiled by the Foundation for Biomedical Research, an advocacy group for researchers. That represents a significant rise from 2006 and 2007, when there were only 25 incidents. Much of the recent activity has been focused in California, which has seen labs destroyed, scientists' cars firebombed, public officials' cars vandalized and animals kidnapped and then released into the wild. Activists have claimed to have sabotaged the cars of UCLA football players, and six masked activists burst into the home of a researcher at the University of California-Santa Cruz. "A lot of activists are frustrated. They've exhausted the legal means, and they've decided to take it to the next level," said Jason Miller, a press officer with the North American Animal Liberation Front, which acts as a mouthpiece for the militant animal liberation movement but claims no direct affiliation with the groups themselves...Fox News

Restaurant Now Serving Animal Welfare Approved Texas Longhorn Burgers

Hut’s Hamburgers, an Austin tradition since 1939, has added that iconic symbol of Texas-the Longhorn-to its menu. Animal Welfare Approved Bandera Grassland of Tarpley, Texas is supplying the restaurant with pure Texas Longhorn beef from cattle that are direct descendants of the Iberian cattle brought by the Spaniards in the 1500s. The Animal Welfare Approved seal is an assurance to consumers that cattle from Bandera Grassland have been treated according to the highest welfare standards. “We were interested in the beef because of its unique history and strong identification with Texas, but what sold us on the burger was the spectacular taste,” said Michael Hutchinson, the owner of Hut’s, which is regularly voted as having the best burgers in Austin and is known nationwide for its innovative menu. “Our customers love it. It tastes like the beef you used to be able to get 150 years ago-like the beef you might have eaten on cattle drives. It’s got big, authentic Texas flavor. Having the beef come from an Animal Welfare Approved ranch is an added bonus, because Austin is a town that cares about sustainable agriculture and animal welfare.”...Animal Welfare Approved
Hat Tip Blogriculture

New Mexico boy dies of plague, sister recovering

An 8-year-old New Mexico boy has died and his 10-year-old sister was hospitalized after both contracted bubonic plague, the first recorded human plague cases in the nation so far this year. New Mexico health officials did not immediately say Thursday how the brother and sister contracted the infectious disease, but they are conducting an investigation at the family's residence to determine if there is any risk to other people. Plague is generally transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas, but also can be transmitted by direct contact with infected animals, including rodents, rabbits and pets. The Health Department, citing privacy concerns, would not release the name of the siblings or give a location for their home, other than saying it was in Santa Fe County. Fleas collected from the area are being sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. Health workers also canvassed the neighborhood to tell other residents that plague had been confirmed in the area...AP

Song Of The Day #053

Let's have Jim Reeves get you started for a wild weekend. Here's a link to his available CDs.

Yes, this should get you ready, Jim Reeves singing Drinking Tequila.

Judge halts suits over NSA wiretapping

A federal judge in San Francisco has tossed out a slew of lawsuits filed against AT&T and other telecommunications companies alleged to have illegally opened their networks to the National Security Agency. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker on Wednesday ruled that, thanks to a 2008 federal law retroactively immunizing those companies, approximately 46 lawsuits brought by civil liberties groups and class action lawyers will be dismissed. Congress has created a "'focused immunity' for private entities who assisted the government with activities that allegedly violated plaintiffs' constitutional rights," Walker wrote in a 46-page opinion. That has not, he said, "affected plaintiffs' underlying constitutional rights." Wednesday's ruling is a bitter defeat to groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, which are coordinating the lawsuits over warrantless wiretapping. They had hoped to convince the judge that the law improperly infringed upon the separation of powers described in the U.S. Constitution and handed too much power to the executive branch. The 2008 law, called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, was approved by a Democratic-controlled Congress last summer. As a senator, President Obama voted for the measure even though he had previously pledged to oppose it. It says that no "civil action" may take place in state or federal court "against any person for providing assistance to an element of the intelligence community"--and will be automatically dismissed as long as the attorney general claims the surveillance was authorized. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey sent the court a letter saying the surveillance was authorized, but without offering any further information. The Justice Department under President Obama has not changed its position...cnetnews

Colo. governor blocks Army expansion on ranchland

The Army's plan to expand a southeast Colorado training site is facing another obstacle now that Gov. Bill Ritter has signed a measure barring the use of state land for the project that is opposed by ranchers. Ritter approved legislation Tuesday that prevents the state from selling or leasing land to the Army to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver site. About 20 percent of the land the Army wants for the site is state-owned. The Army first announced its plans more than three years ago, saying it needed to expand the 370-square-mile site to about 525 square miles to accommodate new weapons, tactics and soldiers. But neighboring ranchers united to fight the effort, picking up support from state lawmakers and members of Congress. They also filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Army of not carefully considering the environmental impact of the expansion on the arid, short-grass prairie landscape. Judge Richard Matsch is scheduled to hear arguments in that case in Denver on Wednesday. Ritter said the bill was not anti-military, as Colorado's two Republican congressmen suggested. He said it doesn't resolve the issue but will provide farmers and ranchers with a safety net while negotiations continue with the Army...AP

Lawsuit Filed to Stop Logging Near Rio Grande Headwaters

Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging a logging project on national forest lands in southwestern Colorado that they claim would impact the headwaters of the Rio Grande river. Colorado Wild and WildEarth Guardians filed suit challenging the Handkerchief Mesa timber sale on the Rio Grande National Forest, represented by the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. The U.S. Forest Service proposes to manage timber and road resources in the Handkerchief Mesa Landscape, with various treatments including harvesting of 10 to 13 million board feet of timber, prescribed burning, and road management. The plaintiffs say that soils in the Handkerchief Mesa area are prone to erosion and landslide, and, as a result, area streams continue to be impacted by excess sediment from past logging and road construction. The Handkerchief Mesa timber sale threatens the soil health and hydrology of this already fragile area, they say...ENS