Domestic Drilling OK, Just 'Not in My State,' Senators Say The United States should increase its domestic oil supply by opening up more drilling sites, several members of the Senate told Cybercast News Service Thursday, when surveyed on the issue at the U.S. Capitol. But some senators also said they are wary of allowing increased drilling in many locations - especially in their own states. "There may be places that make sense, I am not saying, 'Let's not drill anywhere,' " Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in response to the question. "But do I want to drill off the California coast? No. Do I want to drill in the Arctic in endangered areas? No." Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), strongly endorsed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) -- but not in his home state of Florida. "I just don't think we should do it in areas like the Florida Keys, which are environmentally very sensitive," Martinez told Cybercast News Service. "But I am very supportive of what we did a couple of years ago which opened eight million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for exploration," he added, referring to the Domenici-Landrieu Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. The bill, which was signed into law by President Bush on Dec. 20, 2006, opened up a part of the Gulf of Mexico to oil-drilling leases. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who joined Feinstein in limited support, echoed her exact words, saying, "We can't drill our way out of this crisis." "I can't say categorically we shouldn't open any drilling," Levin said. "I mean, I oppose drilling obviously in the Great Lakes if that's what you're referring to. I would not endanger any fresh water and surely not the Great Lakes. In terms of drilling in the ocean it depends on where and how much protection there is of the shoreline."....
Caterers find eco-standards tough to chew Fried shrimp on a bed of jasmine rice and a side of mango salad, all served on a styrofoam plate. Bottled water to wash it all down. These trendy catering treats are unlikely to appear on the menu at parties sponsored by the Denver 2008 Host Committee during the Democratic National Convention this summer. Fried foods are forbidden at the committee's 22 or so events, as is liquid served in individual plastic containers. Plates must be reusable, like china, recyclable or compostable. The food should be local, organic or both. And caterers must provide foods in "at least three of the following five colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white," garnishes not included, according to a Request for Proposals, or RFP, distributed last week. The shrimp-and-mango ensemble? All it's got is white, brown and orange, so it may not have the nutritional balance that generally comes from a multihued menu. Caterers praise the committee and the city for their green ambitions, but some say they're baffled by parts of the RFP. "I think it's a great idea for our community and our environment. The question is, how practical is it?" asks Nick Agro, the owner of Whirled Peas Catering in Commerce City. "We all want to source locally, but we're in Colorado. The growing season is short. It's dry here. And I question the feasibility of that." Agro's biggest worry is price. Using organic and local products hikes the costs....
A Texas Timeout on Biofuels The state of Texas is now in official opposition to the federal ethanol mandate. Governor Rick Perry has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency for a one-year reprieve, and the reason is simple and increasingly familiar: Washington's ethanol obsession is hurting the state. We all know that corn farmers everywhere love ethanol. Don't tell that to Texas cattle ranchers. Because of the mandate to add this biofuel to gasoline, ranchers are being forced into bidding wars with ethanol plants for the grains they feed their cattle. They don't appreciate being hammered on price because of a subsidy to corn growers. Thus, Governor Perry's petition. The Governor's goal is to win a ruling from the EPA that suspends half the federal requirement that nine billion gallons of this product be added this year to the nation's fuel supply. Last week the EPA opened a 30-day public comment period on the Texas waiver request, the first step in what could lead to granting his request. The most interesting thing revealed by this effort is that EPA holds the power to stand down from the ethanol fiasco. Congress gave EPA the authority to grant such waivers in the event the ethanol mandate had unforeseen consequences. Governor Perry argues that the mess in Texas qualifies. By his calculation, if the mandate helps to push the price of corn to $8 a bushel (it's at nearly $6 now, up from $2 in 2004), it will cost the Texas economy nearly $3.6 billion this year. He says the dramatic spike in food prices may be due to a complex set of reasons, but the ethanol mandate is something that public officials can alter. The EPA has until late July to make a decision on the Texas petition. Meanwhile, Congress merely throws more corn onto the ethanol bonfire. Under its 2005 mandates, Americans would be required to use 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol in 2012. But in December that was increased by 1.5 billion gallons and advanced to this year. Congress's target for 2022 is 36 billion gallons. They'll be growing corn on the Washington mall....
Water users fight Pathfinder plan For Saratoga resident Joe Glode, opposing a request to change the use of 54,493 acre feet of water in Pathfinder Reservoir is a simple matter. "I like this area the way it is," he said. "I like the open space, the clean, the green, watching bald eagles swoop through the valley. I like all of that." Simply, he says, "nothing is more important than your water." Glode has rallied the support of members of two Upper North Platte Valley organizations which are leading the charge to oppose the change of use requested by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. In January, the Bureau of Reclamation filed a petition with the state Board of Control seeking a change in use for 53,493 acre feet of Pathfinder's water and asking that water be assigned a 1904 water right. The petition seeks a dedication of 33,493 acre feet for fish and wildlife purposes in Nebraska and asks that the other 20,000 acre feet be changed to municipal uses that would be made available to the state of Wyoming and leased to Wyoming cities and towns. BuRec officials say the change is needed to comply with an agreement involving Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado to provide water for endangered species in Nebraska. Wyoming has agreed to contribute $6 million for an extension of the Pathfinder Dam, an effort to compensate for storage capacity lost to sediment buildup. The program calls for some reservoir water to be sent downstream to preserve endangered species....
Public comment sought on changes to wolf removal policy State and federal officials are considering changes to a controversial rule that requires a Mexican gray wolf to be removed from the wild if it preys on livestock three times in a one-year period. Gov. Bill Richardson has called for the suspension of the rule, known as Standard Operation Procedure 13, to halt the removal of wolves, which numbered about 52 at the end of 2007. Removal can be either by capturing or killing the wolf. The proposed policy change attempts to address a scenario in which a rancher might intentionally lure a wolf to attack cattle and force its removal, said Terry Johnson, endangered species coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Johnson said he had "zero information" that such a scenario has occurred, but it's a possibility the program's policies have not addressed. The wolf recovery program's Adaptive Management Oversight Committee, which consists of six federal, state and tribal agencies, is seeking written comment on the proposed policy change until June 25. A decision on whether to adopt the change is expected at a July 31 meeting of agency directors. Under the proposal, a wolf would not be penalized for a livestock kill if federal investigators conclude that that "intentional attraction or repeated knowing attraction of wolves contributed or likely contributed to causing" the depredation....To find out about the alleged "wolf baiting" incident, see this post with pictures at Wolf Crossing.
Allard still uncertain on conservation area support Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., is withholding support of a bill to establish the Dominguez- Escalante National Conservation Area until some concerns about agriculture are allayed, his office said Friday. One issue still outstanding, said a rancher with lands inside the proposed conservation area, is whether the wilderness area inside it will stretch down to the Gunnison River. “One of the recommendations was to move the wilderness boundary on the rims” overlooking the river as it cuts along the base of the Uncompahgre Plateau, said Dick Miller of the Escalante Canyon Ranch. “And that didn’t happen.” Letting the wilderness reach down to the river could leave the ranch vulnerable to trespassing, Miller said. “There was a last-minute flurry to try to resolve some issues,” Miller said. “I don’t think it got done.” Miller said he was told the measure needed to be introduced before the Memorial Day holiday to have any chance of passage this year. “I hope there is still some flexibility to where issues can be resolved,” he said. U.S. Rep. John Salazar and Sen. Ken Salazar, both Democrats, on Thursday introduced a bill to establish the Dominguez-Escalante Canyons National Conservation Area and the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area within it. Allard is “90 percent of the way there” to supporting the measure, his office said. Still outstanding are some local agriculture-related concerns, Allard’s office said, noting his Grand Junction office still is collecting comment on the proposal....
Ranchers' stamp left on valley "Neighbor" is a verb in ranch country. And for generations in the Wet Mountain Valley, it has meant mending fences and digging one another out of snow drifting down from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. But neighboring here now involves something new: complex land deals in which a pioneering mix of cowpunchers and environmentalists agree to forfeit development rights and share hits in property values as a way to fend off sprawl and preserve a long tradition of ranching in this valley. "Time was, if somebody said conservationist, I would have thought tree huggers that I'd never want to know," said rancher Randy Rusk, 58. "But now that we've preserved all the land from the highway to the mountains to the north horizon, well, that says something about us as neighbors." The valley has changed since Rusk grew up in an era when everyone here worked in ranching. Most families sold out to developers, who in turn built mini- ranches for city folks hankering to spend their weekends like J.R. Ewing. Soon came subdivisions of retirement estates and the galleries and cafes that inexorably followed. "We've got all these newcomers who are appalled by our dirt and smell," griped rancher Bill Donley, whose family started working cows in Wetmore in 1918. Custer County has 4,000 residents but only a dozen families still living off the land. A blow came in April when the city of Fountain bought the aptly named H20 Ranch for its water rights. Like many ranchers, Rusk first scoffed at the notion of a conservation easement, fearing interference from Big Brother....
Climate report adds more gloom A landscape plagued with dust storms and drought, rangeland that won't support cattle, streams too hot for trout, forests felled by beetles and fire - it's all part of the scenario painted in a new report on climate change by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The projections are not exactly new. Many of them have been reported by scientists and the media in the past five years. But they do offer a clearer picture of how the impacts of global climate change are not limited to Arctic ice and tropical islands and that climate change will have profound impacts on the mountains, streams and range familiar to Utahns and others in the West. "The trends are in place," said Fee Busby, a rangeland ecologist at Utah State University who has seen parts of the USDA's draft report. "The trends are going to continue." Attempts late last week to reach the USDA's Washington office were unsuccessful. But, in advisories about the report, the agency points out that its conclusions will be used to help set priorities for "research, observation and decision support needs." Part of a broader federal review of climate change, the 200-plus-page report focuses on the next 25 to 50 years. It had 38 authors, was reviewed by 14 scientists and uses more than 1,000 references, the agency said....
Bear killed after feeding on livestock near Reno Wildlife officials shot and killed a 540-pound black bear last week that had been killing livestock in Washoe Valley about 25 miles south of Reno. It was the first nuisance bear euthanized in the area this year. The 9-year-old bear, which had been feeding on sheep and goats, is one of the largest recorded in the area for its age, said Chris Healy, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. They typically weigh closer to 300 pounds. "That is a really big bear," Healy said Friday. Bears that wander into neighborhoods or campgrounds routinely are shot with dart guns, trapped and relocated. "We do all we can to try to keep them alive. But once they start killing livestock or breaking into homes, that is not an option," Healy said. "When they are killing livestock, that is one of the zero-tolerance things. If you move it, all you are doing is moving a problem to another area," he said. Ranchers in the south end of Washoe Valley and west of U.S. Highway 395 near Bellvue Road first started reporting attacks on livestock about two weeks ago. "It had killed some goats and today it killed three sheep," Healy said Friday....
Millican ranch owners fight to put house on their land When Janet and Keith Nash bought Evans Wells Ranch in the wide-open bowl of the Millican Valley 12 years ago, the cattle ranchers figured they were in it for the long haul. “I thought I’d stay here forever,” Janet Nash said Thursday, in the dining room of her home on the 2,200-acre ranch. Evans Wells Ranch lies about 25 miles southeast of Bend, in the sparsely populated area where buildings are few and far between. But the Nashes’ plans changed, they say, as increased off-road vehicle use, hunting and tighter rules for grazing on federal land make it harder to earn a living from their 250 cattle. They tried for two years to sell the ranch, without success. Now, the couple want to build a house on a 160-acre parcel, in hopes that a home on a smaller piece of land will attract a buyer. The Nashes are only asking for one house, but it is a request that, according to a county staff analysis, could open up historic farmland to hundreds of homes in the vast eastern end of Deschutes County. The change would also run contrary to policy established by a past County Commission in the 1990s, of minimizing new-home building on farmland in the remote Millican Valley....
Small Utah Town Takes On Federal Government Over Wetland Project Ranchers and residents from the small town of Myton, Utah are declaring a legal battle against the federal government in opposition to an environmental wetland project. The government wants to recreate wetlands in Duchense County that were destroyed by the Central Utah Water Project. The wetlands supply much needed water to the Wasatch Front. But residents say that the wetlands have mosquitoes, infected with the West Nile virus. They say the bugs have gone on to infect birds and horse. They believe that more marshes would only attract more mosquitoes. Friday, Myton residents drove to the Salt Lake City Federal Building to tell officials that they are not doing anything without a fight. “It’s not done until we finish suing them. If we have to,” said Myton Mayor, Kathleen Cooper. Cooper’s town is home to only 589 residents. But for most, the talk of the new project has brought many emotions. “It’s going to be taken. I cry when I leave my ranch. It’s terrible,” said Floyd Cox with tears in his eyes. Commission Executive Director, Michael Weland says he listened to the concerns but says he still supports the wetlands project. He says that fair market value will be given to anyone that loses land and that the project will actually reduce the risk of West Nile....
Corn Costs Signal Biggest Beef Surge Since 2003 as Herds Shrink Enjoy your next steak, because prices from Shanghai to San Francisco are only going up. The highest corn prices since at least the Civil War, based on Chicago Board of Trade data, mean U.S. feedlots are losing money on every animal they sell, discouraging production as rising global incomes increase meat consumption and a declining dollar spurs exports. Cattle may rise 13 percent by the end of the year on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Brazil's Bolsa de Mercadorias e Futuros, futures contracts show. Not since 1996, when corn reached what was then a record $5 a bushel, have cattle been this cheap relative to their primary source of feed. Cattle prices haven't kept pace with the grain used to feed the animals. Corn surged to a record $6.39 a bushel on May 9 from $3.6625 a year earlier. Feedlots lost money on animals sold for slaughter the past 11 months, including $139.56 a head in April, compared with a profit of $46.79 a year earlier, said Erica Rosa, an economist at the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Lakewood, Colorado. Losses were a record $169.80 per animal in March, and feedlots may not be profitable until after October, she said. As of May 1, feedlots held 11.1 million head, down 1.4 percent from a year earlier, the government said. Ranchers last year cut the number of young females they held by 3.5 percent to 5.67 million on Jan. 1, the second straight annual decline....
J.R. Simplot Dies at 99 Billionaire J.R. Simplot is dead at the age of 99. He passed away just before 11:00 a.m. at his home at the Grove Hotel in downtown Boise. According to the coroner's report he died of natural causes. J.R. Simplot himself, described how he'd like to be remembered during this 1992 interview filmed at his company. "Oh , hell I don't care what they say. I'm not a publicity hound. I think we made enough marks around here, there'll be somebody who says that guy was pretty smart , hung on and made a few things work," said Simplot. The business that supply's McDonald's with half it's french fries, even put together this tribute to their founders life. Simplot had simple roots as a farmer and rancher, who began his career at 14. He started out raising hogs and then eventually went into the potato business. By World War II, he accumulated dozens of warehouses and become the largest shipper of fresh potatoes in the country, even selling to the military. But the real turning point, came in the 1950's when Simplot took advantage of new technology to create frozen french fries, and went into business with McDonald's founder, Ray Crock over a simple handshake. After that, the savy business moves just kept coming....
Cowboy church ropes'em in “You have to earn the right to speak about Jesus,” said 70-year-old Dave Taff. One look at his lumpy and beaten hands, and it’s obvious to a cowboy that he’s earned some rights by his choice of trade. “I’m just a horseshoer and rancher. But horseshoing is how I paid for my ranch,” he said. But it wasn’t horseshoing that brought Taff to Dayton Days on Sunday. (Though he did bring his equipment and managed to fix the roping chute early that morning.) And it wasn’t team roping; he hasn’t entered a rodeo for 20 years — but he still ropes his own cattle. What brought him to these parts was the opportunity to give a sermon at the first Dayton Days cowboy church. “It all started with a lot of people asking us about having a cowboy church,” said Dayton Days committee member Phoebe Pettichord. So the committee called Taff to ask if he would lead the service, which he did for free on Sunday morning to 50 people in the grandstands. “I used to sit down with the New Testament with five or six guys and we would just share the Gospel,” Taff said, remembering almost 50 years ago when he first started holding Bible studies on Sunday before team-roping events. In the background the cows bellowed as the jockeys warmed up on prancing thoroughbreds. And behind them Dayton’s green hills were overshadowed with majestic colors of gray, white and blue from overcast skies....
Reunion draws Farrell family back to beginnings From far and near, members of the Farrell family are gathering to celebrate a pioneer legacy dating back to 1898 on the Grapevine Springs Ranch in the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains. "The Farrell family is very dear to my heart. They left a mark on this land and all of us with a rich heritage," said Nancy Beard, third-generation Farrell. Beard's grandparents, Joel Fletcher Farrell and Addie Bodenhammer Farrell, came to the area in search of a high and dry climate. Joel came in 1898 to homestead and Addie and the four oldest children joined him around 1901. Together they established the Grapevine Springs Ranch, a 128-section spread located halfway between Guadalupe Peak and the Carlsbad Caverns. The ranch house was on eight sections located in New Mexico, while the remaining120 sections were in Texas. The Ussery's XT Ranch bordered Grapevine to the northwest, Tom Gray's ranch to the west and 9K Ranch to the southeast. The Witherspoon Ranch and the old Pecos Highway were to the east. The D Ranch bordered the ranch to the southwest and the Butterfield Stagecoach route crossed through the ranch's south pasture. Beard said her earliest memories are of the majestic ranch setting: the green fields, the orchard trees around the ranch house and the spring-fed creek running through the property. Beard remembers hearing stories of men rodeoing, smoking and spitting and the women washing, cooking and canning fruit. The abundant fruit in late spring brought welcome neighbors from far and near to share in the bounty and the women made a day of picking and canning fruit....
Little buckaroo Everywhere Darron Provost goes, they know him simply as “Cowboy.” It’s not as if his wardrobe leaves room for any other nicknames: wide-brimmed rancher hats for blocking out the merciless Wyoming sun, black and red boots with worn-out toes for navigating rugged terrain, and tan leather chaps for wiping off leftover pieces of Nutty Bar. Each morning, he suits up for a long day of bucking and roping, with just a bit of help from his mother. Darron, age 3, wants to ride bulls. “We wonder at the wisdom of encouraging him, but he loves it so much, and rodeo is such a family sport,” says his mother, Jamie Provost. Every member of the Provost clan rides or rodeos, but Darron has taken the family pastime to a new level of obsession. Besides the authentic cowboy getup (which includes a miniature pair of jingling spurs), Darron spends his mornings romping on stuffed rocking animals, roping any object his lariat can fit around, and belting out twangy rodeo anthems. He proudly takes his act on the road for public outings. In his wild imagination, the whole of Gillette has been enclosed in a giant bullring, making everything fair game for his cowboy hijinks. “This is so cute right now,” Jamie says. “Then when he hits high school, it will be terrifying.”....
On Butch Cassidy's Trail On the Parker homestead in the Sevier River Valley 200 miles south of Salt Lake City, Butch learned to be a cowboy first and, later, how to brand on other peoples' livestock. Apparently, he pulled only one big job in Utah, the 1897 Pleasant Valley Coal Co. payroll robbery at Castle Gate. Between heists, he and his Wild Bunch gang often hid on Utah's Colorado Plateau. St. George is the capital of Utah's Dixie, so named because Mormon church leaders dispatched pioneers such as Butch's father, Maximillian Parker, to settle and grow cotton around the time of the Civil War. Panguitch is where Butch's youngest sister, Lula Parker Betenson, spent her last years after writing "Butch Cassidy, My Brother," published in 1975. The book confounded Western scholars with its assertion that Butch arrived at the Parker home in nearby Circleville in 1925 driving a new black Ford, unscathed by the bullets of Federales, who supposedly had killed him and Sundance. Lula was a toddler when her big brother left home, but in the 1930s she believed claims that William T. Phillips of Spokane, Wash., was Butch. Later, she changed her mind, saying she knew where the real Butch was buried but planned to take the secret to her grave. She died in 1980....
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Know when to hold 'em, know when to run
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
Julie Carter
Kenny Rogers was wise with years when he sang " You gotta know when to hold 'em ... a song that finished with "know when to run."
Every cowboy with any amount of experience has been in that place in time when he knows it is just better to bail out, or off, to save his life.
Johnny had a new job and a new wife. His first assignment on the new ranch was to gather a fence-jumping bull out of a set of heifers where he didn't belong.
When he asked the cow boss which horse would be good enough to take on this mission, he was directed to a big, rawboned, feather-legged dun.
Johnny saddled the big horse, loaded him and his new wife, and off they went to the pasture. So far, so good.
Instructions for the new wife included watching him rope the wandering Romeo, after which she was then to bounce across the cactus, sagebrush and rocks with the pickup and trailer so Johnny could load the bull.
Johnny cut the bull out of the herd of heifers, roped him handily and waved to his wife.
Simultaneously, the bull decided to get on the fight. He made a run at Johnny and the dun and, in the process, he somehow got the rope caught under the rubber wrap on the saddle horn.
The horse remembered what the cow boss had forgotten to tell Johnny - that he would buck at the first opportunity he sensed the cowboy's attention was not fully on riding.
Johnny couldn't get his dally off, couldn't get the horse to quit bucking, couldn't find a soft spot to land, or at least, one without cactus. And worse, he couldn't hurry his wife up. At any rate, he was in big trouble.
Finally, he decided that it might be a good time to let the horse and the bull have it and he bailed off. The horse stopped bucking, the rope came off the horn and the bull came on the fight. "Know when to run."
The only thing that saved Johnny's life was that he was jumping over the sagebrush and the bull was going around them.
Eventually, the wife pulled the truck and trailer in between Johnny and the bull and he bailed in, but not without words of gratitude. Although a few years later, in divorce court, the wife mentioned she wished she had let that bull run over his sorry hide.
Dan had a big outlaw horse in his string named Cobra, named such because no tie-down in the world would keep his head from that "cobra" position. Dan had nightmares about Cobra coming out of a basket, swaying that head at him.
About that time, Robert Redford arrived on the big screen with the Horse Whisperer and Dan decided that laying Cobra down and sitting on his head might be the treatment of choice.
Redford looked pretty good doing that, he thought, and little children could ride the horse afterward, so it must work. Tim came to help, and beer was involved.
They roped Cobra, saddled him, laid him over and Dan was sitting on his side. Cobra objected and was fighting the weight planted on his side. The big horse somehow caught a hole in Dan's britches on the saddle horn and he could find no good way to get loose.
Dan was aware of the theory that you should always wear clean drawers in case you're in a wreck, but he didn't have on any drawers at all that day. He would have been happy to let old Cobra up but he really didn't want to be shucked out of his britches right then.
That's where the "know when to hold 'em" wisdom came in handy.
Julie, also wise with years, can be reached through her website at www.julie-carter.com.
It’s The Pitts: A Fate Worse Than Debt
Recently I gained some insight as to how farcical our credit problems are in this country when Aussie Pitts received a letter in our mailbox offering her a $100,000 home equity line of credit. First of all, Aussie Pitts is my dog and I doubt that her dog house is worth anywhere near $100,000 after the recent real estate collapse. Then there is the fact that Aussie has been dead several years now.
Besides dogs being offered credit cards in the mail there are other signs of an economic ill wind all around us. It’s bad enough that 28% of Americans have their total retirement savings tied up in lottery tickets but even more distressing is the fact that a Bangladesh bank has opened what it hopes will be the first of many branches in the U.S. When the only way people can get their hands on lunch money is to borrow from a third world bank you know we are in trouble.
I’m already hearing the blame being laid at the muddy feet of “greedy” farmers and ranchers for the impending recession. Before we all get too carried away let’s put things in proper perspective. It’s true, food prices are up 7% over the last year, but compare that with an increase in gas prices of 27% and banking fees that are up 25%. The Post Office is charging me 50% more per year to mail one of my books this year than they did last year and they are getting ready to raise their rates yet again. The water company is talking about tripling our water rates, trash collection charges are up 10% and electricity 11%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics health insurance premiums for the average American have risen 78% since 2002 and it now costs more to send your son and daughter to an Ivy league college than the median income in this country. Just one textbook for one college class can now cost more than I paid in 1972 for a full year’s tuition. And yet people are mad they are paying 7% more for food!
Even that figure distorts how much farmers and ranchers are really receiving. My wife works in a grocery store and hears the complaints every day from people wailing that a head of lettuce costs $1.99. What they don’t know is that the farmer who cared for the crop for three months received just 36 cents of that. Top sirloin steak may be $7.99 per pound but I don’t think the 89 cents of that the rancher received is too much to ask for a year’s worth of work. It’s true, food prices have gone up 7% this past year but when you consider that the producer gets just 20% of the food dollar it means that the producer received an increase of 1.4% this year.
When I was in college I recall that the average American paid 16% of their disposable income for food. Know what it is now? Less than 10% and that includes all food, even eating out. That’s the lowest rate in the world, by the way.
The Farm Bureau has an eye-opening way of putting all this is proper perspective. Farm Checkout Day was February 6 of this year. This means that your average American earned enough money in 37 days to pay for their family’s food for an entire year. By comparison, it takes 60 days to pay for housing, 50 days for health and medical care and 50 days for recreation and clothes. And get this. Tax Freedom Day, the date when your average American earned enough to pay his family’s taxes for the year, occurred on April 23, the 114th day of the year!
I hope that the city folks who read this column won’t be so quick to blame the farmer and rancher the next time they go to church just to get something cheap to eat at communion. What they should be doing is getting down on their knees and thanking God that our farms and ranchers are not being run by the DC fat cats who are taking three times more of your money than what it costs to feed your family for a year! Even the Wall Street speculators who got us into this mess could tell which of the two is the better investment.
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
Julie Carter
Kenny Rogers was wise with years when he sang " You gotta know when to hold 'em ... a song that finished with "know when to run."
Every cowboy with any amount of experience has been in that place in time when he knows it is just better to bail out, or off, to save his life.
Johnny had a new job and a new wife. His first assignment on the new ranch was to gather a fence-jumping bull out of a set of heifers where he didn't belong.
When he asked the cow boss which horse would be good enough to take on this mission, he was directed to a big, rawboned, feather-legged dun.
Johnny saddled the big horse, loaded him and his new wife, and off they went to the pasture. So far, so good.
Instructions for the new wife included watching him rope the wandering Romeo, after which she was then to bounce across the cactus, sagebrush and rocks with the pickup and trailer so Johnny could load the bull.
Johnny cut the bull out of the herd of heifers, roped him handily and waved to his wife.
Simultaneously, the bull decided to get on the fight. He made a run at Johnny and the dun and, in the process, he somehow got the rope caught under the rubber wrap on the saddle horn.
The horse remembered what the cow boss had forgotten to tell Johnny - that he would buck at the first opportunity he sensed the cowboy's attention was not fully on riding.
Johnny couldn't get his dally off, couldn't get the horse to quit bucking, couldn't find a soft spot to land, or at least, one without cactus. And worse, he couldn't hurry his wife up. At any rate, he was in big trouble.
Finally, he decided that it might be a good time to let the horse and the bull have it and he bailed off. The horse stopped bucking, the rope came off the horn and the bull came on the fight. "Know when to run."
The only thing that saved Johnny's life was that he was jumping over the sagebrush and the bull was going around them.
Eventually, the wife pulled the truck and trailer in between Johnny and the bull and he bailed in, but not without words of gratitude. Although a few years later, in divorce court, the wife mentioned she wished she had let that bull run over his sorry hide.
Dan had a big outlaw horse in his string named Cobra, named such because no tie-down in the world would keep his head from that "cobra" position. Dan had nightmares about Cobra coming out of a basket, swaying that head at him.
About that time, Robert Redford arrived on the big screen with the Horse Whisperer and Dan decided that laying Cobra down and sitting on his head might be the treatment of choice.
Redford looked pretty good doing that, he thought, and little children could ride the horse afterward, so it must work. Tim came to help, and beer was involved.
They roped Cobra, saddled him, laid him over and Dan was sitting on his side. Cobra objected and was fighting the weight planted on his side. The big horse somehow caught a hole in Dan's britches on the saddle horn and he could find no good way to get loose.
Dan was aware of the theory that you should always wear clean drawers in case you're in a wreck, but he didn't have on any drawers at all that day. He would have been happy to let old Cobra up but he really didn't want to be shucked out of his britches right then.
That's where the "know when to hold 'em" wisdom came in handy.
Julie, also wise with years, can be reached through her website at www.julie-carter.com.
It’s The Pitts: A Fate Worse Than Debt
Recently I gained some insight as to how farcical our credit problems are in this country when Aussie Pitts received a letter in our mailbox offering her a $100,000 home equity line of credit. First of all, Aussie Pitts is my dog and I doubt that her dog house is worth anywhere near $100,000 after the recent real estate collapse. Then there is the fact that Aussie has been dead several years now.
Besides dogs being offered credit cards in the mail there are other signs of an economic ill wind all around us. It’s bad enough that 28% of Americans have their total retirement savings tied up in lottery tickets but even more distressing is the fact that a Bangladesh bank has opened what it hopes will be the first of many branches in the U.S. When the only way people can get their hands on lunch money is to borrow from a third world bank you know we are in trouble.
I’m already hearing the blame being laid at the muddy feet of “greedy” farmers and ranchers for the impending recession. Before we all get too carried away let’s put things in proper perspective. It’s true, food prices are up 7% over the last year, but compare that with an increase in gas prices of 27% and banking fees that are up 25%. The Post Office is charging me 50% more per year to mail one of my books this year than they did last year and they are getting ready to raise their rates yet again. The water company is talking about tripling our water rates, trash collection charges are up 10% and electricity 11%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics health insurance premiums for the average American have risen 78% since 2002 and it now costs more to send your son and daughter to an Ivy league college than the median income in this country. Just one textbook for one college class can now cost more than I paid in 1972 for a full year’s tuition. And yet people are mad they are paying 7% more for food!
Even that figure distorts how much farmers and ranchers are really receiving. My wife works in a grocery store and hears the complaints every day from people wailing that a head of lettuce costs $1.99. What they don’t know is that the farmer who cared for the crop for three months received just 36 cents of that. Top sirloin steak may be $7.99 per pound but I don’t think the 89 cents of that the rancher received is too much to ask for a year’s worth of work. It’s true, food prices have gone up 7% this past year but when you consider that the producer gets just 20% of the food dollar it means that the producer received an increase of 1.4% this year.
When I was in college I recall that the average American paid 16% of their disposable income for food. Know what it is now? Less than 10% and that includes all food, even eating out. That’s the lowest rate in the world, by the way.
The Farm Bureau has an eye-opening way of putting all this is proper perspective. Farm Checkout Day was February 6 of this year. This means that your average American earned enough money in 37 days to pay for their family’s food for an entire year. By comparison, it takes 60 days to pay for housing, 50 days for health and medical care and 50 days for recreation and clothes. And get this. Tax Freedom Day, the date when your average American earned enough to pay his family’s taxes for the year, occurred on April 23, the 114th day of the year!
I hope that the city folks who read this column won’t be so quick to blame the farmer and rancher the next time they go to church just to get something cheap to eat at communion. What they should be doing is getting down on their knees and thanking God that our farms and ranchers are not being run by the DC fat cats who are taking three times more of your money than what it costs to feed your family for a year! Even the Wall Street speculators who got us into this mess could tell which of the two is the better investment.
FLE
Lock-'em-up border policy gains favor Many enforcement hawks in Congress are counting on border walls to discourage illegal immigration and drug smuggling. In Del Rio, authorities are using prison walls instead. The ever-expanding Val Verde County Jail is filled with illegal immigrants ranging from would-be yard workers and maids to hardened gang members. They've been caught in a law enforcement dragnet known as Operation Streamline, a zero-tolerance program that began here and has spread east and west along the border. The lock-'em-up approach has its share of critics. They question the skyrocketing costs, complain of poor conditions in the detention facilities and predict that it ultimately won't stop immigrants and drugs from making their way north. But supporters here say the long arm of the law is reducing crime and pushing the numbers of illegal immigrants caught in the Border Patrol's Del Rio sector down to their lowest levels since the early 1970s....
A storm over Border Patrol policy Think back for a moment to images from September 2005 when long lines of cars, trucks and buses lined Interstate 45 north out of Houston as Hurricane Rita veered down on the Texas coast. Imagine now that a Category 4 or 5 hurricane is bearing down on the Rio Grande Valley, and there is little time to get out. But now, because of a new Border Patrol policy, tens of thousands of poor people will have to go through Border Patrol processing at three central sites before they can board buses to evacuate. Immigration officials are concerned that illegal immigrants, drug traffickers and others -- perhaps terrorists -- would take advantage of a storm to head deeper into the U.S. by boarding those buses. The announcement by Border Patrol officials in the Valley that they plan to screen all evacuees for citizenship status has stoked all kinds of dark scenarios in which thousands of people, including U.S. citizens, would rather ride out the storm than evacuate because someone in their family doesn't have or can't find the necessary documents. Although hurricane season begins June 1, most of the tropical depressions and hurricanes that have threatened the Valley usually have come late in the season. So the Border Patrol's argument could be that citizens and legal residents have time to find passports, birth certificates or other documents to prove that they are in the country legally. Even so, the Border Patrol's policy has many local officials dismayed and concerned about the safe movement of more than 200,000 from the area. Valley leaders worry that they won't be able to fully protect residents who choose to remain....
Illegal Alien's Defense Attorney Works for Mexican Government An illegal alien is facing the death penalty after being convicted May 8 of capital murder in the 2006 death of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson. The attorney who tried and failed to have him found not guilty by reason of insanity was paid by the Mexican government, according to newspaper and television reports. The Mexican government retained Danalynn Recer to defend Juan Leonardo Quintero through its Mexican Capital Legal Assistance program, which pays for the defense of Mexican citizens whose conviction in U.S. courts could result in a death sentence -- even those, like Quintero, who confess to the crime. Quintero's confession was videotaped, and days before his trial started in April, Recer said her client would plead guilty if he could be sentenced to life in prison, a plea bargain prosecutors rejected, according to The Houston Chronicle. On Oct. 13, 2006, Houston television station KTRK, Channel 13, reported that an argument took place in pre-trial hearings about who would defend Quintero and who would pay for his defense. "Quintero, a Mexican national in this country illegally, says he's too poor to pay for his defense," KTRK Channel 13 reported. "So now the Mexican government has stepped in. Danalynn Recer, hired by the Mexican Consulate, wants to be lead attorney. But Jim Leitner, appointed by the courts, does as well." State District Court Judge Joan Campbell said both attorneys could conduct Quintero's defense, a decision prosecuting District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal took issue with, the station reported. "Harris County should not have to pay for something that the Mexican government already plans to pay for," the station quoted Rosenthal as saying. On Nov. 29, 2006, The Houston Chronicle reported that Judge Campbell had reversed her earlier ruling and dismissed the appointed attorneys defending Quintero. "She ruled instead that the man's choice of attorneys, a Houston capital murder specialist hired by the Mexican Consulate, would be his attorney," the paper reported....
Mexico Town's Police Force Quits in Fear A southern Mexican town's 15-member police force has quit for fear of being assassinated in retaliation for a shootout with gunmen, a security official said Thursday. Zirandaro was the second town in less than two weeks to be left without its police force as Mexico's drug cartels wage increasingly bold attacks against security forces. On Monday, the military took over a town near Texas after all 20 of its police officers were either killed, run out of town or quit. Eight members of Zirandaro's police never returned to work after a May 13 shootout with gunmen that left a 32-year-old man dead, said Juan Heriberto Salinas Altes, the public safety secretary of the southern state of Guerrero. The other seven officers -- including the police chief -- quit days later. "The Zirandaro police quit the service because they feared the criminals would return to seek revenge," Salinas Altas told a news conference. The identities of the gunmen were not known, but Salinas Altas said cells of both the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels were operating in the area. President Felipe Calderon has said the attacks against Mexican police show that cartels feel threatened by his crackdown against drug trafficking. Since taking office in 2006, he has sent more than 25,000 troops to drug hotspots. But the disintegration of two municipal forces shows how vulnerable police feel in a country where, despite efforts to fight corruption, they can't be sure their colleagues are not on the cartels' payrolls....
11 more bodies found in Juárez Juárez recorded at least 11 more homicides linked to organized crime Friday, leading U.S. law enforcement officials to urge El Pasoans to use caution when traveling across the border. The deaths included the discovery of five bodies wrapped in blankets in an empty lot in an upscale east Juárez neighborhood about a mile from the border, near Prolongación Vicente Guerrero and Antonio J. Bermúdez streets. The grizzly find came less than a day after an anonymous e-mail warning predicted this would be the "bloodiest and deadliest" weekend in the city's history. Two of the bodies were decapitated and wrapped in white plastic. Attached to them was a note calling them "traitors" who were associated with a reputed leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. The note was signed "La Linea," or The Line, a name given to corrupt police officers who allegedly protect drug traffickers, according to police documents. Also Friday, municipal police found three unidentified male bodies in the Santa Teresa colonia in a gold 1994 Oldsmobile, where police found a note in blue ink that read "X marranos traicioneros," or "treasonous pigs."....
270 Illegal Immigrants Sent to Prison in Federal Push In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 270 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpacking plant with false documents. The prosecutions, which ended Friday, signal a sharp escalation in the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal workers, with prosecutors bringing tough federal criminal charges against most of the immigrants arrested in a May 12 raid. Until now, unauthorized workers have generally been detained by immigration officials for civil violations and rapidly deported. The convicted immigrants were among 389 workers detained at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in nearby Postville in a raid that federal officials called the largest criminal enforcement operation ever carried out by immigration authorities at a workplace. Matt M. Dummermuth, the United States attorney for northern Iowa, who oversaw the prosecutions, called the operation an “astonishing success.” The illegal immigrants, most from Guatemala, filed into the courtrooms in groups of 10, their hands and feet shackled. One by one, they entered guilty pleas through a Spanish interpreter, admitting they had taken jobs using fraudulent Social Security cards or immigration documents. Moments later, they moved to another courtroom for sentencing. The pleas were part of a deal worked out with prosecutors to avoid even more serious charges. Most immigrants agreed to immediate deportation after they serve five months in prison....
Immigration Officials Arrest 905 in California Sweep Federal immigration agents have arrested 905 people in California in the past three weeks after a statewide search for those who had violated orders to leave the country. The operation was the latest in a series of national sweeps by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The arrests were the result of collaboration among teams in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco that began on May 5. “The focal point of this operation were people who had exhausted all of their due process in the courts,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. “They have a final order of removal issued by a U.S. immigration judge, and they’ve failed to depart.” In the process of seeking each person on the list, Ms. Mack said, agents often encountered friends, family members and others who had violated immigration laws. “Agents may come to a house looking for a target, and someone answers the door, or there are other people in the house who have also violated immigration laws,” she said. Brian DeMore, acting director of the federal Office of Detention and Removal Operations in Los Angeles, said agents took into custody any person they encountered during an arrest who had violated immigration laws. Agents set out with a target list of just over 1,500 “fugitive aliens,” Mr. DeMore said, referring to people who have ignored orders to leave the country....
Fake border crossing hits home Gunshots ring out and sirens shriek, mixing with the ragged breath of muddy, panting humans. Suddenly, the full moon sweeping the ground like a searchlight reveals a disturbing scene: a group of illegal immigrants being handcuffed and led away by U.S. Border Patrol agents. But the U.S. border is 700 miles from this rugged municipal park in Hidalgo state, a three-hour drive north of Mexico City. The spectacle unfolding here isn't an actual border crossing attempt but a live simulation-adventure that attempts to give participants a taste of what it's like for the thousands of Mexican and other Latin American undocumented migrants trying to enter the promised land of "el norte." Dubbed the "Caminata Nocturna" (Night Hike), the three-hour simulation is a combination obstacle course, sociology lesson and PG-rated family outing. Founded in 2004, it's run by members of a local village of Hnahnu Indians, an indigenous people of south-central Mexico, whose population of about 2,500 has been decimated by migration to the United States. Every Saturday night, dozens of the remaining several hundred villagers take part in the Caminata. Many work as costumed performers impersonating Border Patrol agents, fellow migrants and masked "coyotes" and "polleros," the Mexican guides who escort migrants for a fee. The 7 1/2-mile hike, which involves quite a bit of running, costs about $10 per person....
FBI too badly organized to stop attacks: agent The FBI's counterterrorism section is too badly organized and too understaffed to be able to protect the United States effectively against attack, an FBI agent told lawmakers. "The FBI's counterterrorism division is ill-equipped to handle the terrorist threat that we're facing," Bassem Youssef, a top agent within the FBI's communications analysis unit, told a congressional hearing on Wednesday. "FBI's counterterrorism program cannot properly protect the United States from another catastrophic and direct attack from Middle Eastern terrorists," he added. Egyptian-born Youssef, who has been an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 1988, said only 62 percent of posts were filled in the counterterrorism unit. This chronic staff shortage was forcing the FBI to recruit staff with no relevant experience, specifically with Middle Eastern counterterrorism, possibly lacking pertinent language skills and cultural understanding. "The counterterrorism division is unable to keep agents, supervisors and analysts within the division, and 62 percent is an alarmingly low figure," he told a House subcommittee hearing on FBI whistleblowers....
Unmarked chopper patrols NY city from high above On a cloudless spring day, the NYPD helicopter soars over the city, its sights set on the Statue of Liberty. A dramatic close-up of Lady Liberty's frozen gaze fills one of three flat-screen computer monitors mounted on a console. Hundreds of sightseers below are oblivious to the fact that a helicopter is peering down on them from a mile and a half away. "They don't even know we're here," said crew chief John Diaz, speaking into a headset over the din of the aircraft's engine. The helicopter's unmarked paint job belies what's inside: an arsenal of sophisticated surveillance and tracking equipment powerful enough to read license plates—or scan pedestrians' faces—from high above the nation's largest metropolis. The NYPD also plans to spend tens of millions of dollars strengthening security in the lower Manhattan business district with a network of closed-circuit television cameras and license-plate readers posted at bridges, tunnels and other entry points. Police have also deployed hundreds of radiation monitors—some worn on belts like pagers, others mounted on cars and in helicopters—to detect dirty bombs. The helicopter's powers of observation come from a high-powered robotic camera mounted on a turret projecting from its nose like a periscope. The camera has infrared night-vision capabilities and a satellite navigation system that allows police to automatically zoom in on a location by typing in the address on a computer keyboard. The surveillance system can beam live footage to police command centers or even to wireless hand-held devices....
Fingerprint Registry in Housing Bill Fingerprints are considered to be among the most personal of information, and fingerprint databases created and proposed in the name of national security have generated much debate. Recently, “Server in the Sky” — a proposed international database of the fingerprints of suspected criminals and terrorists to be shared among the U.S., U.K. and Canada — has ignited a firestorm of controversy. As have cavalier comments by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that fingerprints aren’t “personal data.” Yet earlier this week, a measure creating a federal fingerprint registry totally unrelated to national security passed a U.S. Senate committee almost without notice. The legislation would require thousands of individuals working even tangentially in the mortgage and real estate industries — and not suspected of anything — to send their prints to the feds. The database and fingerprint mandates were tucked into housing and foreclosure assistance bills that on Tuesday passed the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 19-2. The measure the committee passed states that “an indvidual may not engage in the business of a loan originator without first … obtaining a unique identifier.” To obtain this “identifier,” an individual is requiredto “furnish” to the newly created Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry “information concerning the applicant’s identity, including fingerprints for submission” to the FBI and other government agencies. And the database would cover a broad swath of individuals involved with mortgage lending. The amendment defines “loan originator” as anyone who “takes a residential loan application; and offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensation or gain.” It states that even real estate brokers would be covered if they receive any compensation from lenders or mortgage brokers....
US residents in military brigs? Govt says it's war If his cell were at Guantanamo Bay, the prisoner would be just one of hundreds of suspected terrorists detained offshore, where the U.S. says the Constitution does not apply. But Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is a U.S. resident being held in a South Carolina military brig; he is the only enemy combatant held on U.S. soil. That makes his case very different. Al-Marri's capture six years ago might be the Bush administration's biggest domestic counterterrorism success story. Authorities say he was an al-Qaida sleeper agent living in middle America, researching poisonous gasses and plotting a cyberattack. To justify holding him, the government claimed a broad interpretation of the president's wartime powers, one that goes beyond warrantless wiretapping or monitoring banking transactions. Government lawyers told federal judges that the president can send the military into any U.S. neighborhood, capture a citizen and hold him in prison without charge, indefinitely. There is little middle ground between the two sides in al-Marri's case, which is before a federal appeals court in Virginia. The government says the president needs this power to keep the nation safe. Al-Marri's lawyers say that as long as the president can detain anyone he wants, nobody is safe....
EPA tests plans to protect water from terrorists Water utilities would get earlier warning of viruses, bacteria or chemicals that could be introduced into drinking water systems by terrorists under a test monitoring program set for expansion beyond Cincinnati. The pilot program ordered by the Department of Homeland Security in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks uses continuous monitoring of public water for contaminants that could sicken or kill millions of people. Some utilities only do spot checks now for such germs, pesticides or radioactive materials. Some utilities might find that they need additional video cameras and alarms to warn of intruders at water tanks or other sites. Once the pilot program is complete, the Environmental Protection Agency hopes to have a national water security model that utilities could adopt at their own expense. "Water supplies are very, very accessible targets for biological or chemical weapons," said Donna Schlagheck, a Wright State University political scientist who specializes in American foreign policy and international terrorism. "There are so many potential targets — whether you are taking water from the ground or a river or a lake — and the vulnerability there is enormous."....
Gamblers' shuttle gets terrorism funds Colorado Springs-based Ramblin Express, which shuttles gamblers to mountain-town casinos, including Cripple Creek, has received $382,000 in anti-terrorism grants. The most recent grant, for $184,415, was announced this month as part of the Department of Homeland Security's $844 million Infrastructure Protection Activities program. Ramblin Express' grant is among the $11.2 million allocated to the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program, which is intended to assess risks and prevent attacks on that part of the nation's transportation system. It's not clear what threats Ramblin Express is addressing or what the grant money has gone for because the company's owner, Todd Holland, couldn't be reached for comment. A Federal Emergency Management Agency official said in written responses to questions the Ramblin Express' money is for vehicle security and GPS systems. FEMA also said spending is monitored. Homeland security expert James Carafano derided the program as a "ridiculous" expense. "This is checkbooks gone wild," said Carafano, a senior research fellow at conservative Washington, D.C., think tank The Heritage Foundation. "This is so stupid."....
Lock-'em-up border policy gains favor Many enforcement hawks in Congress are counting on border walls to discourage illegal immigration and drug smuggling. In Del Rio, authorities are using prison walls instead. The ever-expanding Val Verde County Jail is filled with illegal immigrants ranging from would-be yard workers and maids to hardened gang members. They've been caught in a law enforcement dragnet known as Operation Streamline, a zero-tolerance program that began here and has spread east and west along the border. The lock-'em-up approach has its share of critics. They question the skyrocketing costs, complain of poor conditions in the detention facilities and predict that it ultimately won't stop immigrants and drugs from making their way north. But supporters here say the long arm of the law is reducing crime and pushing the numbers of illegal immigrants caught in the Border Patrol's Del Rio sector down to their lowest levels since the early 1970s....
A storm over Border Patrol policy Think back for a moment to images from September 2005 when long lines of cars, trucks and buses lined Interstate 45 north out of Houston as Hurricane Rita veered down on the Texas coast. Imagine now that a Category 4 or 5 hurricane is bearing down on the Rio Grande Valley, and there is little time to get out. But now, because of a new Border Patrol policy, tens of thousands of poor people will have to go through Border Patrol processing at three central sites before they can board buses to evacuate. Immigration officials are concerned that illegal immigrants, drug traffickers and others -- perhaps terrorists -- would take advantage of a storm to head deeper into the U.S. by boarding those buses. The announcement by Border Patrol officials in the Valley that they plan to screen all evacuees for citizenship status has stoked all kinds of dark scenarios in which thousands of people, including U.S. citizens, would rather ride out the storm than evacuate because someone in their family doesn't have or can't find the necessary documents. Although hurricane season begins June 1, most of the tropical depressions and hurricanes that have threatened the Valley usually have come late in the season. So the Border Patrol's argument could be that citizens and legal residents have time to find passports, birth certificates or other documents to prove that they are in the country legally. Even so, the Border Patrol's policy has many local officials dismayed and concerned about the safe movement of more than 200,000 from the area. Valley leaders worry that they won't be able to fully protect residents who choose to remain....
Illegal Alien's Defense Attorney Works for Mexican Government An illegal alien is facing the death penalty after being convicted May 8 of capital murder in the 2006 death of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson. The attorney who tried and failed to have him found not guilty by reason of insanity was paid by the Mexican government, according to newspaper and television reports. The Mexican government retained Danalynn Recer to defend Juan Leonardo Quintero through its Mexican Capital Legal Assistance program, which pays for the defense of Mexican citizens whose conviction in U.S. courts could result in a death sentence -- even those, like Quintero, who confess to the crime. Quintero's confession was videotaped, and days before his trial started in April, Recer said her client would plead guilty if he could be sentenced to life in prison, a plea bargain prosecutors rejected, according to The Houston Chronicle. On Oct. 13, 2006, Houston television station KTRK, Channel 13, reported that an argument took place in pre-trial hearings about who would defend Quintero and who would pay for his defense. "Quintero, a Mexican national in this country illegally, says he's too poor to pay for his defense," KTRK Channel 13 reported. "So now the Mexican government has stepped in. Danalynn Recer, hired by the Mexican Consulate, wants to be lead attorney. But Jim Leitner, appointed by the courts, does as well." State District Court Judge Joan Campbell said both attorneys could conduct Quintero's defense, a decision prosecuting District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal took issue with, the station reported. "Harris County should not have to pay for something that the Mexican government already plans to pay for," the station quoted Rosenthal as saying. On Nov. 29, 2006, The Houston Chronicle reported that Judge Campbell had reversed her earlier ruling and dismissed the appointed attorneys defending Quintero. "She ruled instead that the man's choice of attorneys, a Houston capital murder specialist hired by the Mexican Consulate, would be his attorney," the paper reported....
Mexico Town's Police Force Quits in Fear A southern Mexican town's 15-member police force has quit for fear of being assassinated in retaliation for a shootout with gunmen, a security official said Thursday. Zirandaro was the second town in less than two weeks to be left without its police force as Mexico's drug cartels wage increasingly bold attacks against security forces. On Monday, the military took over a town near Texas after all 20 of its police officers were either killed, run out of town or quit. Eight members of Zirandaro's police never returned to work after a May 13 shootout with gunmen that left a 32-year-old man dead, said Juan Heriberto Salinas Altes, the public safety secretary of the southern state of Guerrero. The other seven officers -- including the police chief -- quit days later. "The Zirandaro police quit the service because they feared the criminals would return to seek revenge," Salinas Altas told a news conference. The identities of the gunmen were not known, but Salinas Altas said cells of both the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels were operating in the area. President Felipe Calderon has said the attacks against Mexican police show that cartels feel threatened by his crackdown against drug trafficking. Since taking office in 2006, he has sent more than 25,000 troops to drug hotspots. But the disintegration of two municipal forces shows how vulnerable police feel in a country where, despite efforts to fight corruption, they can't be sure their colleagues are not on the cartels' payrolls....
11 more bodies found in Juárez Juárez recorded at least 11 more homicides linked to organized crime Friday, leading U.S. law enforcement officials to urge El Pasoans to use caution when traveling across the border. The deaths included the discovery of five bodies wrapped in blankets in an empty lot in an upscale east Juárez neighborhood about a mile from the border, near Prolongación Vicente Guerrero and Antonio J. Bermúdez streets. The grizzly find came less than a day after an anonymous e-mail warning predicted this would be the "bloodiest and deadliest" weekend in the city's history. Two of the bodies were decapitated and wrapped in white plastic. Attached to them was a note calling them "traitors" who were associated with a reputed leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. The note was signed "La Linea," or The Line, a name given to corrupt police officers who allegedly protect drug traffickers, according to police documents. Also Friday, municipal police found three unidentified male bodies in the Santa Teresa colonia in a gold 1994 Oldsmobile, where police found a note in blue ink that read "X marranos traicioneros," or "treasonous pigs."....
270 Illegal Immigrants Sent to Prison in Federal Push In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 270 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpacking plant with false documents. The prosecutions, which ended Friday, signal a sharp escalation in the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal workers, with prosecutors bringing tough federal criminal charges against most of the immigrants arrested in a May 12 raid. Until now, unauthorized workers have generally been detained by immigration officials for civil violations and rapidly deported. The convicted immigrants were among 389 workers detained at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in nearby Postville in a raid that federal officials called the largest criminal enforcement operation ever carried out by immigration authorities at a workplace. Matt M. Dummermuth, the United States attorney for northern Iowa, who oversaw the prosecutions, called the operation an “astonishing success.” The illegal immigrants, most from Guatemala, filed into the courtrooms in groups of 10, their hands and feet shackled. One by one, they entered guilty pleas through a Spanish interpreter, admitting they had taken jobs using fraudulent Social Security cards or immigration documents. Moments later, they moved to another courtroom for sentencing. The pleas were part of a deal worked out with prosecutors to avoid even more serious charges. Most immigrants agreed to immediate deportation after they serve five months in prison....
Immigration Officials Arrest 905 in California Sweep Federal immigration agents have arrested 905 people in California in the past three weeks after a statewide search for those who had violated orders to leave the country. The operation was the latest in a series of national sweeps by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The arrests were the result of collaboration among teams in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco that began on May 5. “The focal point of this operation were people who had exhausted all of their due process in the courts,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. “They have a final order of removal issued by a U.S. immigration judge, and they’ve failed to depart.” In the process of seeking each person on the list, Ms. Mack said, agents often encountered friends, family members and others who had violated immigration laws. “Agents may come to a house looking for a target, and someone answers the door, or there are other people in the house who have also violated immigration laws,” she said. Brian DeMore, acting director of the federal Office of Detention and Removal Operations in Los Angeles, said agents took into custody any person they encountered during an arrest who had violated immigration laws. Agents set out with a target list of just over 1,500 “fugitive aliens,” Mr. DeMore said, referring to people who have ignored orders to leave the country....
Fake border crossing hits home Gunshots ring out and sirens shriek, mixing with the ragged breath of muddy, panting humans. Suddenly, the full moon sweeping the ground like a searchlight reveals a disturbing scene: a group of illegal immigrants being handcuffed and led away by U.S. Border Patrol agents. But the U.S. border is 700 miles from this rugged municipal park in Hidalgo state, a three-hour drive north of Mexico City. The spectacle unfolding here isn't an actual border crossing attempt but a live simulation-adventure that attempts to give participants a taste of what it's like for the thousands of Mexican and other Latin American undocumented migrants trying to enter the promised land of "el norte." Dubbed the "Caminata Nocturna" (Night Hike), the three-hour simulation is a combination obstacle course, sociology lesson and PG-rated family outing. Founded in 2004, it's run by members of a local village of Hnahnu Indians, an indigenous people of south-central Mexico, whose population of about 2,500 has been decimated by migration to the United States. Every Saturday night, dozens of the remaining several hundred villagers take part in the Caminata. Many work as costumed performers impersonating Border Patrol agents, fellow migrants and masked "coyotes" and "polleros," the Mexican guides who escort migrants for a fee. The 7 1/2-mile hike, which involves quite a bit of running, costs about $10 per person....
FBI too badly organized to stop attacks: agent The FBI's counterterrorism section is too badly organized and too understaffed to be able to protect the United States effectively against attack, an FBI agent told lawmakers. "The FBI's counterterrorism division is ill-equipped to handle the terrorist threat that we're facing," Bassem Youssef, a top agent within the FBI's communications analysis unit, told a congressional hearing on Wednesday. "FBI's counterterrorism program cannot properly protect the United States from another catastrophic and direct attack from Middle Eastern terrorists," he added. Egyptian-born Youssef, who has been an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 1988, said only 62 percent of posts were filled in the counterterrorism unit. This chronic staff shortage was forcing the FBI to recruit staff with no relevant experience, specifically with Middle Eastern counterterrorism, possibly lacking pertinent language skills and cultural understanding. "The counterterrorism division is unable to keep agents, supervisors and analysts within the division, and 62 percent is an alarmingly low figure," he told a House subcommittee hearing on FBI whistleblowers....
Unmarked chopper patrols NY city from high above On a cloudless spring day, the NYPD helicopter soars over the city, its sights set on the Statue of Liberty. A dramatic close-up of Lady Liberty's frozen gaze fills one of three flat-screen computer monitors mounted on a console. Hundreds of sightseers below are oblivious to the fact that a helicopter is peering down on them from a mile and a half away. "They don't even know we're here," said crew chief John Diaz, speaking into a headset over the din of the aircraft's engine. The helicopter's unmarked paint job belies what's inside: an arsenal of sophisticated surveillance and tracking equipment powerful enough to read license plates—or scan pedestrians' faces—from high above the nation's largest metropolis. The NYPD also plans to spend tens of millions of dollars strengthening security in the lower Manhattan business district with a network of closed-circuit television cameras and license-plate readers posted at bridges, tunnels and other entry points. Police have also deployed hundreds of radiation monitors—some worn on belts like pagers, others mounted on cars and in helicopters—to detect dirty bombs. The helicopter's powers of observation come from a high-powered robotic camera mounted on a turret projecting from its nose like a periscope. The camera has infrared night-vision capabilities and a satellite navigation system that allows police to automatically zoom in on a location by typing in the address on a computer keyboard. The surveillance system can beam live footage to police command centers or even to wireless hand-held devices....
Fingerprint Registry in Housing Bill Fingerprints are considered to be among the most personal of information, and fingerprint databases created and proposed in the name of national security have generated much debate. Recently, “Server in the Sky” — a proposed international database of the fingerprints of suspected criminals and terrorists to be shared among the U.S., U.K. and Canada — has ignited a firestorm of controversy. As have cavalier comments by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that fingerprints aren’t “personal data.” Yet earlier this week, a measure creating a federal fingerprint registry totally unrelated to national security passed a U.S. Senate committee almost without notice. The legislation would require thousands of individuals working even tangentially in the mortgage and real estate industries — and not suspected of anything — to send their prints to the feds. The database and fingerprint mandates were tucked into housing and foreclosure assistance bills that on Tuesday passed the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 19-2. The measure the committee passed states that “an indvidual may not engage in the business of a loan originator without first … obtaining a unique identifier.” To obtain this “identifier,” an individual is requiredto “furnish” to the newly created Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry “information concerning the applicant’s identity, including fingerprints for submission” to the FBI and other government agencies. And the database would cover a broad swath of individuals involved with mortgage lending. The amendment defines “loan originator” as anyone who “takes a residential loan application; and offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensation or gain.” It states that even real estate brokers would be covered if they receive any compensation from lenders or mortgage brokers....
US residents in military brigs? Govt says it's war If his cell were at Guantanamo Bay, the prisoner would be just one of hundreds of suspected terrorists detained offshore, where the U.S. says the Constitution does not apply. But Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is a U.S. resident being held in a South Carolina military brig; he is the only enemy combatant held on U.S. soil. That makes his case very different. Al-Marri's capture six years ago might be the Bush administration's biggest domestic counterterrorism success story. Authorities say he was an al-Qaida sleeper agent living in middle America, researching poisonous gasses and plotting a cyberattack. To justify holding him, the government claimed a broad interpretation of the president's wartime powers, one that goes beyond warrantless wiretapping or monitoring banking transactions. Government lawyers told federal judges that the president can send the military into any U.S. neighborhood, capture a citizen and hold him in prison without charge, indefinitely. There is little middle ground between the two sides in al-Marri's case, which is before a federal appeals court in Virginia. The government says the president needs this power to keep the nation safe. Al-Marri's lawyers say that as long as the president can detain anyone he wants, nobody is safe....
EPA tests plans to protect water from terrorists Water utilities would get earlier warning of viruses, bacteria or chemicals that could be introduced into drinking water systems by terrorists under a test monitoring program set for expansion beyond Cincinnati. The pilot program ordered by the Department of Homeland Security in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks uses continuous monitoring of public water for contaminants that could sicken or kill millions of people. Some utilities only do spot checks now for such germs, pesticides or radioactive materials. Some utilities might find that they need additional video cameras and alarms to warn of intruders at water tanks or other sites. Once the pilot program is complete, the Environmental Protection Agency hopes to have a national water security model that utilities could adopt at their own expense. "Water supplies are very, very accessible targets for biological or chemical weapons," said Donna Schlagheck, a Wright State University political scientist who specializes in American foreign policy and international terrorism. "There are so many potential targets — whether you are taking water from the ground or a river or a lake — and the vulnerability there is enormous."....
Gamblers' shuttle gets terrorism funds Colorado Springs-based Ramblin Express, which shuttles gamblers to mountain-town casinos, including Cripple Creek, has received $382,000 in anti-terrorism grants. The most recent grant, for $184,415, was announced this month as part of the Department of Homeland Security's $844 million Infrastructure Protection Activities program. Ramblin Express' grant is among the $11.2 million allocated to the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program, which is intended to assess risks and prevent attacks on that part of the nation's transportation system. It's not clear what threats Ramblin Express is addressing or what the grant money has gone for because the company's owner, Todd Holland, couldn't be reached for comment. A Federal Emergency Management Agency official said in written responses to questions the Ramblin Express' money is for vehicle security and GPS systems. FEMA also said spending is monitored. Homeland security expert James Carafano derided the program as a "ridiculous" expense. "This is checkbooks gone wild," said Carafano, a senior research fellow at conservative Washington, D.C., think tank The Heritage Foundation. "This is so stupid."....
Friday, May 23, 2008
Endangered Specious Alaska says it will sue to challenge the listing of polar bears as a threatened species. The designation could block vital oil and gas development. But that was the whole point in the first place. The state's challenge was announced Wednesday by Gov. Sarah Palin. She argues there isn't enough evidence to support such a listing. And there isn't. She also maintains that polar bears are well-managed, noting that their population has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. She's right on that as well. Fact is, the world polar population is at a modern-day high and growing. Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist with Canada's Federal Provincial Polar Bear Technical Committee, puts the current population at about 24,000, up 40% since 1974. In winning the listing, environmentalists essentially argued that even if the number of bears isn't declining, their environment is being degraded as global warming melts the Arctic ice they live on. It's the environmentalists, however, who are on thin ice. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made the ruling last week based on three findings: "First, sea ice is vital to polar bear survival. Second, the polar bear's sea-ice habitat has dramatically melted in recent decades. Third, computer models suggest sea ice is likely to further recede in the future." Fourth, he's wrong. On April 24 the World Wildlife Fund published a study, based on last September's data, showing Arctic ice has shrunk from 13 million square kilometers to just 3 million. What the WWF omitted was that by March the Arctic ice had recovered to 14 million square kilometers and that ice-cover around the Bering Strait and Alaska was at the highest level ever recorded. We dare to ask how the ice-loving polar bear survived much warmer pre-SUV periods than we are now experiencing, the most recent period being about 6,000 years ago, before Al Gore was born. The species has survived warming and cooling for millennia....
Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf? Idaho plan cuts population by half The Idaho wolf population could be cut in half this fall. Thursday, Idaho Fish and Game gave the green light for the state's first wolf hunting season, to begin on September 15. Fish and Game wants to maintain a population of 518 wolves, and they estimate Idaho has about 1,000. Brad Little, a rancher in Emmett, says wolves are bad for business. “Last year they were really working on one of my neighbors and they killed 5 or 6 of his big cattle,” Little said. Little doesn't hate wolves. He seems to hold them in respectful esteem. He just doesn't want them near his cattle. With Fish and Game's plan to cut the state's wolf population, Little may breathe a little easier. But not everyone is in favor of the hunt. Jesse Timberlake, from the Idaho Conservation League, says the state seems to be in a rush to start killing wolves, and going from 1,000 to 518 wolves is a gigantic drop. “Any harvest plan has to be based on science and it's based on having a viable population of animals, of which the surplus of that is then harvested, but this plan seems more like an eradication plan,” Timberlake said....
Bison range to celebrate 100 years of wildlife preservation President Teddy Roosevelt's wrist pushed pen across paper, and on May 23, 1908, the National Bison Range was born. It was a historic moment in the American conservation movement. Although not the first unit in today's National Wildlife Refuge System - that distinction belongs to the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida - it marked the first time in U.S. history Congress appropriated money to buy land expressly to provide shelter and space for wildlife. It came not a moment too soon. It is almost unfathomable what happened to the animal in the century leading up to the creation of the bison range. The largest mammal native to the North American continent, an estimated 40 million of them roamed in massive herds of thousands between Mexico and central Canada when our nation was founded. Yet by 1889, it was possible for one man to count every bison, wild and captive, left in America. William Hornaday did, and put the bison population at 1,091. To put it in perspective, it would be like reducing the human population of the entire state of California to a community about the size of Ennis. By 1900, there were fewer than 100 bison left in the wild. Hunted to near-extinction by the white man settling the plains, bison were both prized by commercial hunters for their hides, and seen as either a threat or a nuisance by others. Cattlemen wanted them gone from the ranges they were taking over. Railroads wanted them gone because when the huge herds congregated on and around tracks they could delay trains for several days, and damage locomotives that couldn't stop in time. And many believe the U.S. government wanted them gone to eliminate the primary food source for American Indians, forcing those people onto reservations....
Eagle deaths bring fine, changes A federal magistrate has fined a Texas-based energy company $10,000 and ordered it to pay another $10,000 in restitution in the deaths of two golden eagles electrocuted in 2006 by power lines leading to energy production sites near Gillette. Dominic Domenici, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Wyoming and Montana, said Wednesday that XTO Energy Inc., based in Fort Worth, pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor violation of the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Federal Magistrate R. Michael Shickich in Casper sentenced the company last Thursday. Domenici said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Tim Eicher of Cody found the dead eagles during a survey. Domenici said the birds were electrocuted after they touched improperly constructed power lines. In addition to the court fine and restitution, Domenici said, the company spent $988,000 on an avian protection plan that involved retrofitting miles of power line to make it safe for birds....
Feds oppose Wyo request to dismiss water suit A top federal government lawyer recommends that the U.S. Supreme Court deny Wyoming's request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Montana that claims it's not getting enough water from two rivers that flow north across the state line. U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement filed a "friend of the court" brief with the Supreme Court last week. He recommended the court deny Wyoming's request to dismiss Montana's lawsuit over water flows in the Tongue and Powder rivers. A 1950 compact agreement among Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota spells out how water from the rivers is supposed to be divided. Montana claims that increased use of groundwater and construction of reservoirs in Wyoming since the agreement was signed has prevented Montana from receiving its fair share of water. Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg last month asked the Supreme Court to dismiss Montana's lawsuit, calling it "fundamentally flawed." Wyoming argues that the compact only applies to surface water, while Montana contends that the compact covers water pumped from underground aquifers for irrigation or during coal-bed methane drilling....
Ninth Circuit Sierra ruling works against saving habitat from catastrophic fire After eight years of a planning exercise called the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment (SNFPA) - one that involved thousands of people, hundreds of meetings, and tens of thousands of documents, studies, reviews, rehashes, monitoring, and re-monitoring - a Federal judge last week enjoined fire-preventative thinnings created under SNFPA guidance with the judgment that the planning was not "rigorous" enough to satisfy. That suit was brought by the Wilderness Society, and in effect destroyed eight years of effort by USFS employees and an engaged public to comply with the law. The Wilderness Society had every opportunity to participate in the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan planning exercise. There was an open process with public hearings and public involvement every step of the way. Indeed, the Wilderness Society was invited and even begged to participate, to become part of the process, to meet with local residents, and to resolve differences in an amicable and collaborative fashion. Instead the Wilderness Society chose to shun that process and to sue to kill it, in concert with the Sierra Club, the Center For Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign....
Wilderness road upgrade has to wait Environmentalists have won a round in their seven-year battle to limit reconstruction and traffic on a road into the pristine wilderness area of Jarbidge in Elko County. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Wilderness Society and the Great Old Broads for Wilderness should have had a say in negotiations between the U.S. Forest Service and Elko County over constructing the old mining road. The court voided an agreement between the federal agency and the county that would have allowed Elko County to proceed with the improvements. The Forest Service initially became concerned in 1999 when a group of citizens called the Shovel Brigade started to repair the old mining road. The federal agency worried the work would affect the bull trout in the river adjacent to the road and the environment. After a suit was filed, the two sides worked out an agreement in 2001 that the county could continue to build the road as long as it adhered to federal environmental regulations. But the environmental groups were not included, despite an order from the Circuit Court of Appeals. So the wilderness organizations filed suit again to overturn the agreement. Because of the environmental groups’ exclusion, the “settlement must be vacated,” the Circuit Court said in sending the case back to the federal District Court in Nevada. The construction, however, has started and cars are traveling into the wilderness area. The environmental groups have filed a third suit to stop the construction and close the area to vehicles.
Oil Industry, Lawmakers Aim To Lift Bans on Drilling Mounting concerns about global energy supply are fueling a drive by the oil industry and some U.S. lawmakers to end longstanding bans on domestic drilling put in place to protect environmentally sensitive areas. Increasing U.S. oil production would require overturning decades-old moratoriums that limit offshore drilling and accelerating leasing of federal lands, moves that would trigger a swift and vigorous political backlash. Still, as gasoline prices continue to climb and squeeze household budgets, the momentum appears to be gaining to open up new areas. Oil prices have soared 36% this year, though the price of a barrel of crude for July delivery settled at $130.81 on the Nymex on Thursday, down 1.8% from its record close Wednesday. "These prices are making voters realize we need to produce [more] energy" domestically, said Rep. John Peterson, a Republican from Pennsylvania who is pushing legislation to open up new offshore areas for energy exploration. The U.S. imports two-thirds of its oil, though less than one-sixth of its natural gas, according to federal data. The rest is produced domestically. A century and a half after oil production began, there is ample evidence that a lot of oil -- and natural gas -- remains to be found in the U.S. and its territorial waters. Those offshore areas are closed to exploration and drilling under congressional moratoriums and presidential executive orders that command broad support among elected officials in the politically powerful states of California and Florida. Opening these areas up could prove nettlesome....
Salazars introduce Dominguez-Escalanate NCA Colorado citizen groups herald introduction of legislation in both the U.S. House and Senate to create Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area and a surrounding national conservation area. The legislation introduced today in Washington D.C is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar in the Senate and his brother, Rep. John Salazar in the House. The conservation area will preserve the land’s current variety of uses and will include the approximately 75,000-acre Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area. The wilderness area is formally recommended by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for protection and is part of Colorado’s Canyon Country Wilderness Proposal, a statewide collection of areas endorsed by the Colorado Wilderness Network, local governments, businesses, and civic organizations. The national conservation area – Colorado’s third – will protect the natural features and recreation opportunities in Escalante Canyon, Cactus Park, and nearby mesas, surrounding the new wilderness, protected forever along Big Dominguez and Little Dominguez creeks. Grazing will be permitted throughout the proposed conservation area, while off-road vehicles will be able to use trails open to them outside the wilderness. A new BLM management plan for the conservation area will ultimately determine which trails will remain open to specific uses, under the proposal....
U.S., Canada reach salmon agreement The U.S. and Canada have reached a new 10-year agreement aimed at preventing overfishing of salmon off the western coast of Canada and southeast Alaska. The plan announced Thursday by the Pacific Salmon Commission could most affect chinook salmon, which migrate from Washington to the waters of British Columbia and Alaska, where they are often caught by sport and commercial fisheries. Under the proposed change to the existing Pacific Salmon Treaty, the U.S. would give Canada $30 million for its effort to reduce commercial salmon fishing; Alaska would receive about $7 million. Washington would receive about $7 million to improve chinook habitat. Alaska will reduce its catch of wild salmon 15% over the next 10 years; Canada will make a 30% reduction. In addition to management of chinook, the plan addresses coho, chum, and pink and sockeye salmon. Officials believe it could allow about 1 million more chinook to return to hatcheries or spawning areas in Puget Sound....
Groups fight owl's removal from feds' list Environmental groups say they plan to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if it does not respond to their petition to return a tiny desert owl to the endangered-species list. The long-running dispute focuses on the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, which commonly nests in saguaro cactuses. The bird was listed as endangered in 1997 but removed from the list in 2006. The organizations - the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility - petitioned to have the bird returned to endangered-species status in March 2007. The dispute over whether the bird should be protected goes back to 2001 when the National Association of Home Builders and the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association challenged the listing. Courts then ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to show that Arizona pygmy owls were of sufficient biological and ecological significance to the entire population to qualify for listing as a distinct-population segment. Service officials said they were unable to do that largely because sufficient numbers of the owls are believed to exist in Mexico. But in the groups' 2007 petition to have the pygmy owl re-listed, conservationists said the Fish and Wildlife Service ignored scientific evidence provided by its own biologists. They added that the agency refused to consider that the quickly disappearing Arizona population constitutes the last U.S. population of the owl's Western subspecies....
Polar bear listing threatens economic development As we feared, the government has decided that polar bears are at risk because of melting arctic ice. Radical environmentalists are elated because they insist ice is melting from global warming. What’s certain to follow is a flurry of lawsuits to stop everything from oil exploration to building projects anywhere in the country because they emit greenhouse gases, which environmental alarmists claim heat the planet. “The industries most likely to be pummeled by the polar bear are energy production, aggregates extraction, transportation and commercial building because each can be shown quite easily to result in increased emissions of greenhouse gases, and each routinely requires federal permits to go about some aspect of their business,” wrote Hugh Hewitt, a California law professor specializing in natural resource law. “The coal industry may be target No. 1, followed by oil drilling in the lower 48” states. Marlo Lewis, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, paints an equally bleak picture: “CEI can easily imagine a scenario in which environmental litigants sue to enjoin builders, developers, utilities, manufacturers, banks, etc. from going about their otherwise lawful pursuits on the grounds that the associated emissions endanger polar bear habitat.”....
Polar bear decision rife with flaws After months of delay, last week the Bush administration finally acknowledged that melting sea ice is pushing polar bears to the brink of extinction. The listing of polar bears under the Endangered Species Act marks a turning point. We no longer can deny the impact climate change is having on wildlife and our world. But placing the polar bear on the endangered species list is just the tip of the iceberg. Upon close examination, the administration's decision is riddled with loopholes and caveats that leave the polar bear in the same precarious situation as before. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne says that the listing will not be used "to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, power plants, and other sources" -- despite that fact that those are the very forces that have placed the animal in jeopardy. The Bush administration has dragged its feet at every step in the listing process, conveniently paving the way for destructive oil drilling in key polar bear habitat off the coast of Alaska. Now, Kempthorne is bending over backward to reassure the oil industry that the listing will not prevent drilling in prime polar bear habitat. The administration says it will continue to develop these resources in "an environmentally sound way."....
Bear label increases Inuit mistrust It's easy to romanticize the majestic polar bear when you don't have to worry about the enormous animals marauding down the streets of your community in August and September, as Lootie Toomasie from Qikiqtarjuaq often does. For Toomasie, bears are no symbol of climate change. They're a threat to his family. He and other hunters chase the bears off, using ATVs and boats. Still, "there's too many bears for us," he says. "We're no longer safe." One benefit the bears bring is business, in the form of wealthy U.S. hunters who are willing to pay as much as $30,000 to bag one of the beasts. But that business may now be crippled, many worry, following the U.S. decision May 14 to list polar bears as "threatened" under its Endangered Species Act. Most sport hunters who visit Nunavut hail from the United States. But now U.S. hunters aren't allowed to bring their polar bear trophies home, as one consequence of the "threatened" designation. The polar bear sport hunt draws about $2.9 million into Nunavut each year, the department of the environment estimates....
Eagles delay paving job A pair of bald eagles has thrown a temporary roadblock in front of pavers intent on laying asphalt on Highway 20 south of Oak Harbor. Crews have postponed paving Highway 20 south of Oak Harbor until July 15 due to the presence of a pair of bald eagles nesting nearby, said Dave Chesson, DOT spokesman, on Thursday. "Federal and state laws say the protected bird needs a wide berth when nesting and raising young," Chesson said. For drivers, this means a two-month wait for the final layer of asphalt to go down and for the bumps in the roadway to disappear. Bald eagles are protected by both state and federal law. In July 2007, the bald eagle was removed from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. However, two other federal laws still provide protection for the bald eagle: the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. These laws primarily address nest tree protection and protection from harassment....
Lawsuit Notice Filed to Protect Fossil Creek The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity today filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service for Endangered Species Act violations at Fossil Creek. The notice states that the Forest Service has failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the repatriation of native fish while management strategies continue to adversely impact the fish and their habitat. The loach minnow and spikedace — two Arizona native fish species that are federally listed as “threatened” — were returned to Fossil Creek last November. “The Forest Service has exhibited an incredible lack of ability or desire to take the management actions necessary to preserve this wonderful place or the spikedace and loach minnow,” said Michelle Harrington, rivers conservation manager for the Center for Biological Diversity. “We have repeatedly asked for an emergency closure to overnight camping to reduce the amount of traffic and waste in and along the stream, but the agency continues to drag its feet and offers no solutions or commitments.” The Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to ensure their activities do not adversely impact listed species. In this case, the Forest Service has continued its status quo management operations at Fossil Creek in central Arizona despite very changed circumstances. In light of this, and the impending deluge of visitors expected over the holiday weekend and summer camping season, the Center filed notice. The loach minnow and spikedace, along with razorback sucker and Gila topminnow, also federally listed, have been repatriated to Fossil Creek following the decommissioning of Arizona Public Service hydropower plants and the restoration of water to the creek....
State high court rejects environmental challenge to Sierra logging plans The California Supreme Court in San Francisco rejected environmental challenges to a timber company's plans to harvest trees on about 1,400 acres of private land in Tuolumne County. Two conservation groups contended that timber harvest plans developed by Sierra Pacific Industries didn't adequately consider the broad impact on two wildlife species, the California spotted owl and a small mammal called the Pacific fisher. The California spotted owl is not listed as an endangered species, but is a cousin of the northern spotted owl, which is federally listed as a threatened species. The Pacific fisher is classified as a species of concern. Sierra Pacific Industries plans to harvest pine, fir and black oak trees on the land by clear-cutting most of the trees on the land and then replanting the forests. The procedure of logging most trees in an area at the same time is known as "even-aged" management. The high court unanimously ruled that the plans did adequately consider the impact on the Sierra Nevada region before concluding the two species wouldn't be harmed....
Humans to be put on the Endangered Species List The US Department of Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced today that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has petitioned to have Humans put on the endangered Species List (ESL). A PETA spokesman said "people are really animals!" PETA is concerned that the recent spate of hurricanes in the United States, typhoons in Burma and earthquakes in China require that this listing of Humans' time has come. Additionally, wars, famines, disease, automobile accidents and murders are decimating the human population of six billion people, which may only rise by another one Billion people in a few years. (This is the same logic that got the Polar Bear on the ESL.) However, there will be one class of Humans exempted from protection, namely elected politicians. The Sierra Club is expected to sue PETA and FWS, arguing that politicians are already a state and federally protected species. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is expected to sue PETA and FWS for discrimination. The Solicitor General of the United States has indicated the US government will join the lawsuits, but not on whose side. Al Gore cannot be reached for comment. Nine loud groans were heard emanating from the Supreme Court building in Washington DC. The American Bar Association (ABA) asked law schools to graduate more lawyers. Putting Humans on the ESL begs the question; what is the penalty if a Polar Bear eats a Human? (Satire)
Catron Residents Talk About Drilling Proposal An aquifer that is the source of water for parts of Socorro and Catron counties remains a subject of contention between local residents and a New York-based firm owned by an Italian millionaire, Bruno Modena. The firm, San Augustin Ranch LLC, is asking the state engineer to approve its plan to drill 37 wells with 20-inch casings north and south of Highway 60 at the county line. According to its application, the firm’s objective is to pump all the water it can get out of the San Agustin basin to a depth of 2,000 feet and sell it to the state to meet its obligations mandated by the Rio Grande Compact, leaving ranchers, residents and communities with the task of drilling deeper wells. Current wells in the area are between 200 and 300 feet deep on average. About 250 people packed the Datil Elementary gymnasium Saturday night to hear Bruce Frederick of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center explain water laws in New Mexico and the state engineer’s hearing process. Frederick said he will represent a group of local residents who have filed protests. He said the protesters are in a good position. “The sheer numbers of protesters and the diversity of the protesters warrant the position that it’s being detrimental to public welfare,” Frederick said. Among the protesters are state and federal agencies, Indian tribes and private companies, including Phelps Dodge, he said....
Dangers of mainland disease lab debated at hearing One of the nation's oldest farm groups said Thursday a proposed foot-and-mouth disease research laboratory on the U.S. mainland, near livestock, could be an inviting target for terrorists. Commercial livestock representatives and the Bush administration insisted it would be safe to move an island lab to sites near animals. Testimony at a House hearing showed deep divisions between farmers and ranchers over where to conduct research on the most infectious animal-only disease in the world. Such work now is confined to the 840-acre Plum Island, N.Y., off the northeastern tip of Long Island. The administration has spent time and money to announce five finalist sites on the mainland for a new lab. A new facility on Plum Island to replace the current, outmoded lab remains a possibility. All sides agreed that the wrong decision would bring an economic catastrophe if a new lab failed to contain the virus within the facility. An epidemic could ruin farmers and ranchers as well as related industries in feed, transportation, exports and retail....
U.S. farm bill, in part and in full, wins passage In following the legislative trail of the $307 billion farm bill, it is good to remember that the American system of checks and balances is not really designed for speed. With most House Democrats and quite a few Republicans supporting it, the bill was approved on Thursday by 306 to 110. The Senate quickly followed suit, 82 to 13. The votes in both chambers were far more than enough to defeat the veto that President George W. Bush cast on Wednesday. But wait. Hadn't the House already voted, by 316 to 108 later Wednesday, to override the veto? Well, yes. Sort of. Lawmakers discovered on Wednesday evening that a 34-page section of the 673-page bill was missing from the package that was sent last week to President George W. Bush, who executed his veto after calling the measure bloated and wasteful. The version that the House voted for in its override on Wednesday was also missing that section, which pertains to trade programs and foreign food aid. Thursday's vote in the House was on all 673 pages, which also embrace subsidies for farmers, food stamps, land conservation and various other items too attractive for most lawmakers to shun. The glitch "shows that they can even screw up spending the taxpayers' money unwisely," the president's spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said on Thursday....
Fact Sheet: An Opportunity to Reconsider a Wasteful Farm Bill For a year and a half, the Administration has consistently asked that the Congress pass a good farm bill that is fiscally responsible and better targets support programs. The Congress is now preparing to reconsider at least a portion of the farm bill and should take this opportunity to address the objections that have been raised repeatedly and the most recently raised concerns related to the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program. * The current agreement increases spending by more than $20 billion and fails to include much-needed farm program reforms proposed by President Bush. Congress is now continuing its gimmicks by delaying the budget resolution until after it again passes at least part of the farm bill in order to hide $3 billion in farm bill spending that Congress hasn't counted. This bill also adds a number of unrelated provisions and others never considered by the full Congress, such as numerous trade-related provisions. This bill is inconsistent with our objectives in international trade negotiations, which include increasing market access for American farmers and ranchers. Congress should reconsider this extraneous spending increase. * This legislation is also filled with earmarks and other ill-considered provisions. Most notably, the current agreement includes: $175 million to address water issues for desert lakes; $250 million for a 400,000-acre land purchase from a private owner; funding and authority for the noncompetitive sale of National Forest land to a ski resort; and $382 million earmarked for a specific watershed. Rural and urban Americans alike are frustrated with excessive government spending and the funneling of taxpayer funds for pet projects. Congress should seize the opportunity to eliminate wasteful spending....
Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf? Idaho plan cuts population by half The Idaho wolf population could be cut in half this fall. Thursday, Idaho Fish and Game gave the green light for the state's first wolf hunting season, to begin on September 15. Fish and Game wants to maintain a population of 518 wolves, and they estimate Idaho has about 1,000. Brad Little, a rancher in Emmett, says wolves are bad for business. “Last year they were really working on one of my neighbors and they killed 5 or 6 of his big cattle,” Little said. Little doesn't hate wolves. He seems to hold them in respectful esteem. He just doesn't want them near his cattle. With Fish and Game's plan to cut the state's wolf population, Little may breathe a little easier. But not everyone is in favor of the hunt. Jesse Timberlake, from the Idaho Conservation League, says the state seems to be in a rush to start killing wolves, and going from 1,000 to 518 wolves is a gigantic drop. “Any harvest plan has to be based on science and it's based on having a viable population of animals, of which the surplus of that is then harvested, but this plan seems more like an eradication plan,” Timberlake said....
Bison range to celebrate 100 years of wildlife preservation President Teddy Roosevelt's wrist pushed pen across paper, and on May 23, 1908, the National Bison Range was born. It was a historic moment in the American conservation movement. Although not the first unit in today's National Wildlife Refuge System - that distinction belongs to the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida - it marked the first time in U.S. history Congress appropriated money to buy land expressly to provide shelter and space for wildlife. It came not a moment too soon. It is almost unfathomable what happened to the animal in the century leading up to the creation of the bison range. The largest mammal native to the North American continent, an estimated 40 million of them roamed in massive herds of thousands between Mexico and central Canada when our nation was founded. Yet by 1889, it was possible for one man to count every bison, wild and captive, left in America. William Hornaday did, and put the bison population at 1,091. To put it in perspective, it would be like reducing the human population of the entire state of California to a community about the size of Ennis. By 1900, there were fewer than 100 bison left in the wild. Hunted to near-extinction by the white man settling the plains, bison were both prized by commercial hunters for their hides, and seen as either a threat or a nuisance by others. Cattlemen wanted them gone from the ranges they were taking over. Railroads wanted them gone because when the huge herds congregated on and around tracks they could delay trains for several days, and damage locomotives that couldn't stop in time. And many believe the U.S. government wanted them gone to eliminate the primary food source for American Indians, forcing those people onto reservations....
Eagle deaths bring fine, changes A federal magistrate has fined a Texas-based energy company $10,000 and ordered it to pay another $10,000 in restitution in the deaths of two golden eagles electrocuted in 2006 by power lines leading to energy production sites near Gillette. Dominic Domenici, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Wyoming and Montana, said Wednesday that XTO Energy Inc., based in Fort Worth, pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor violation of the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Federal Magistrate R. Michael Shickich in Casper sentenced the company last Thursday. Domenici said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Tim Eicher of Cody found the dead eagles during a survey. Domenici said the birds were electrocuted after they touched improperly constructed power lines. In addition to the court fine and restitution, Domenici said, the company spent $988,000 on an avian protection plan that involved retrofitting miles of power line to make it safe for birds....
Feds oppose Wyo request to dismiss water suit A top federal government lawyer recommends that the U.S. Supreme Court deny Wyoming's request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Montana that claims it's not getting enough water from two rivers that flow north across the state line. U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement filed a "friend of the court" brief with the Supreme Court last week. He recommended the court deny Wyoming's request to dismiss Montana's lawsuit over water flows in the Tongue and Powder rivers. A 1950 compact agreement among Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota spells out how water from the rivers is supposed to be divided. Montana claims that increased use of groundwater and construction of reservoirs in Wyoming since the agreement was signed has prevented Montana from receiving its fair share of water. Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg last month asked the Supreme Court to dismiss Montana's lawsuit, calling it "fundamentally flawed." Wyoming argues that the compact only applies to surface water, while Montana contends that the compact covers water pumped from underground aquifers for irrigation or during coal-bed methane drilling....
Ninth Circuit Sierra ruling works against saving habitat from catastrophic fire After eight years of a planning exercise called the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment (SNFPA) - one that involved thousands of people, hundreds of meetings, and tens of thousands of documents, studies, reviews, rehashes, monitoring, and re-monitoring - a Federal judge last week enjoined fire-preventative thinnings created under SNFPA guidance with the judgment that the planning was not "rigorous" enough to satisfy. That suit was brought by the Wilderness Society, and in effect destroyed eight years of effort by USFS employees and an engaged public to comply with the law. The Wilderness Society had every opportunity to participate in the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan planning exercise. There was an open process with public hearings and public involvement every step of the way. Indeed, the Wilderness Society was invited and even begged to participate, to become part of the process, to meet with local residents, and to resolve differences in an amicable and collaborative fashion. Instead the Wilderness Society chose to shun that process and to sue to kill it, in concert with the Sierra Club, the Center For Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign....
Wilderness road upgrade has to wait Environmentalists have won a round in their seven-year battle to limit reconstruction and traffic on a road into the pristine wilderness area of Jarbidge in Elko County. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Wilderness Society and the Great Old Broads for Wilderness should have had a say in negotiations between the U.S. Forest Service and Elko County over constructing the old mining road. The court voided an agreement between the federal agency and the county that would have allowed Elko County to proceed with the improvements. The Forest Service initially became concerned in 1999 when a group of citizens called the Shovel Brigade started to repair the old mining road. The federal agency worried the work would affect the bull trout in the river adjacent to the road and the environment. After a suit was filed, the two sides worked out an agreement in 2001 that the county could continue to build the road as long as it adhered to federal environmental regulations. But the environmental groups were not included, despite an order from the Circuit Court of Appeals. So the wilderness organizations filed suit again to overturn the agreement. Because of the environmental groups’ exclusion, the “settlement must be vacated,” the Circuit Court said in sending the case back to the federal District Court in Nevada. The construction, however, has started and cars are traveling into the wilderness area. The environmental groups have filed a third suit to stop the construction and close the area to vehicles.
Oil Industry, Lawmakers Aim To Lift Bans on Drilling Mounting concerns about global energy supply are fueling a drive by the oil industry and some U.S. lawmakers to end longstanding bans on domestic drilling put in place to protect environmentally sensitive areas. Increasing U.S. oil production would require overturning decades-old moratoriums that limit offshore drilling and accelerating leasing of federal lands, moves that would trigger a swift and vigorous political backlash. Still, as gasoline prices continue to climb and squeeze household budgets, the momentum appears to be gaining to open up new areas. Oil prices have soared 36% this year, though the price of a barrel of crude for July delivery settled at $130.81 on the Nymex on Thursday, down 1.8% from its record close Wednesday. "These prices are making voters realize we need to produce [more] energy" domestically, said Rep. John Peterson, a Republican from Pennsylvania who is pushing legislation to open up new offshore areas for energy exploration. The U.S. imports two-thirds of its oil, though less than one-sixth of its natural gas, according to federal data. The rest is produced domestically. A century and a half after oil production began, there is ample evidence that a lot of oil -- and natural gas -- remains to be found in the U.S. and its territorial waters. Those offshore areas are closed to exploration and drilling under congressional moratoriums and presidential executive orders that command broad support among elected officials in the politically powerful states of California and Florida. Opening these areas up could prove nettlesome....
Salazars introduce Dominguez-Escalanate NCA Colorado citizen groups herald introduction of legislation in both the U.S. House and Senate to create Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area and a surrounding national conservation area. The legislation introduced today in Washington D.C is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar in the Senate and his brother, Rep. John Salazar in the House. The conservation area will preserve the land’s current variety of uses and will include the approximately 75,000-acre Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area. The wilderness area is formally recommended by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for protection and is part of Colorado’s Canyon Country Wilderness Proposal, a statewide collection of areas endorsed by the Colorado Wilderness Network, local governments, businesses, and civic organizations. The national conservation area – Colorado’s third – will protect the natural features and recreation opportunities in Escalante Canyon, Cactus Park, and nearby mesas, surrounding the new wilderness, protected forever along Big Dominguez and Little Dominguez creeks. Grazing will be permitted throughout the proposed conservation area, while off-road vehicles will be able to use trails open to them outside the wilderness. A new BLM management plan for the conservation area will ultimately determine which trails will remain open to specific uses, under the proposal....
U.S., Canada reach salmon agreement The U.S. and Canada have reached a new 10-year agreement aimed at preventing overfishing of salmon off the western coast of Canada and southeast Alaska. The plan announced Thursday by the Pacific Salmon Commission could most affect chinook salmon, which migrate from Washington to the waters of British Columbia and Alaska, where they are often caught by sport and commercial fisheries. Under the proposed change to the existing Pacific Salmon Treaty, the U.S. would give Canada $30 million for its effort to reduce commercial salmon fishing; Alaska would receive about $7 million. Washington would receive about $7 million to improve chinook habitat. Alaska will reduce its catch of wild salmon 15% over the next 10 years; Canada will make a 30% reduction. In addition to management of chinook, the plan addresses coho, chum, and pink and sockeye salmon. Officials believe it could allow about 1 million more chinook to return to hatcheries or spawning areas in Puget Sound....
Groups fight owl's removal from feds' list Environmental groups say they plan to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if it does not respond to their petition to return a tiny desert owl to the endangered-species list. The long-running dispute focuses on the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, which commonly nests in saguaro cactuses. The bird was listed as endangered in 1997 but removed from the list in 2006. The organizations - the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility - petitioned to have the bird returned to endangered-species status in March 2007. The dispute over whether the bird should be protected goes back to 2001 when the National Association of Home Builders and the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association challenged the listing. Courts then ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to show that Arizona pygmy owls were of sufficient biological and ecological significance to the entire population to qualify for listing as a distinct-population segment. Service officials said they were unable to do that largely because sufficient numbers of the owls are believed to exist in Mexico. But in the groups' 2007 petition to have the pygmy owl re-listed, conservationists said the Fish and Wildlife Service ignored scientific evidence provided by its own biologists. They added that the agency refused to consider that the quickly disappearing Arizona population constitutes the last U.S. population of the owl's Western subspecies....
Polar bear listing threatens economic development As we feared, the government has decided that polar bears are at risk because of melting arctic ice. Radical environmentalists are elated because they insist ice is melting from global warming. What’s certain to follow is a flurry of lawsuits to stop everything from oil exploration to building projects anywhere in the country because they emit greenhouse gases, which environmental alarmists claim heat the planet. “The industries most likely to be pummeled by the polar bear are energy production, aggregates extraction, transportation and commercial building because each can be shown quite easily to result in increased emissions of greenhouse gases, and each routinely requires federal permits to go about some aspect of their business,” wrote Hugh Hewitt, a California law professor specializing in natural resource law. “The coal industry may be target No. 1, followed by oil drilling in the lower 48” states. Marlo Lewis, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, paints an equally bleak picture: “CEI can easily imagine a scenario in which environmental litigants sue to enjoin builders, developers, utilities, manufacturers, banks, etc. from going about their otherwise lawful pursuits on the grounds that the associated emissions endanger polar bear habitat.”....
Polar bear decision rife with flaws After months of delay, last week the Bush administration finally acknowledged that melting sea ice is pushing polar bears to the brink of extinction. The listing of polar bears under the Endangered Species Act marks a turning point. We no longer can deny the impact climate change is having on wildlife and our world. But placing the polar bear on the endangered species list is just the tip of the iceberg. Upon close examination, the administration's decision is riddled with loopholes and caveats that leave the polar bear in the same precarious situation as before. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne says that the listing will not be used "to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, power plants, and other sources" -- despite that fact that those are the very forces that have placed the animal in jeopardy. The Bush administration has dragged its feet at every step in the listing process, conveniently paving the way for destructive oil drilling in key polar bear habitat off the coast of Alaska. Now, Kempthorne is bending over backward to reassure the oil industry that the listing will not prevent drilling in prime polar bear habitat. The administration says it will continue to develop these resources in "an environmentally sound way."....
Bear label increases Inuit mistrust It's easy to romanticize the majestic polar bear when you don't have to worry about the enormous animals marauding down the streets of your community in August and September, as Lootie Toomasie from Qikiqtarjuaq often does. For Toomasie, bears are no symbol of climate change. They're a threat to his family. He and other hunters chase the bears off, using ATVs and boats. Still, "there's too many bears for us," he says. "We're no longer safe." One benefit the bears bring is business, in the form of wealthy U.S. hunters who are willing to pay as much as $30,000 to bag one of the beasts. But that business may now be crippled, many worry, following the U.S. decision May 14 to list polar bears as "threatened" under its Endangered Species Act. Most sport hunters who visit Nunavut hail from the United States. But now U.S. hunters aren't allowed to bring their polar bear trophies home, as one consequence of the "threatened" designation. The polar bear sport hunt draws about $2.9 million into Nunavut each year, the department of the environment estimates....
Eagles delay paving job A pair of bald eagles has thrown a temporary roadblock in front of pavers intent on laying asphalt on Highway 20 south of Oak Harbor. Crews have postponed paving Highway 20 south of Oak Harbor until July 15 due to the presence of a pair of bald eagles nesting nearby, said Dave Chesson, DOT spokesman, on Thursday. "Federal and state laws say the protected bird needs a wide berth when nesting and raising young," Chesson said. For drivers, this means a two-month wait for the final layer of asphalt to go down and for the bumps in the roadway to disappear. Bald eagles are protected by both state and federal law. In July 2007, the bald eagle was removed from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. However, two other federal laws still provide protection for the bald eagle: the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. These laws primarily address nest tree protection and protection from harassment....
Lawsuit Notice Filed to Protect Fossil Creek The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity today filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service for Endangered Species Act violations at Fossil Creek. The notice states that the Forest Service has failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the repatriation of native fish while management strategies continue to adversely impact the fish and their habitat. The loach minnow and spikedace — two Arizona native fish species that are federally listed as “threatened” — were returned to Fossil Creek last November. “The Forest Service has exhibited an incredible lack of ability or desire to take the management actions necessary to preserve this wonderful place or the spikedace and loach minnow,” said Michelle Harrington, rivers conservation manager for the Center for Biological Diversity. “We have repeatedly asked for an emergency closure to overnight camping to reduce the amount of traffic and waste in and along the stream, but the agency continues to drag its feet and offers no solutions or commitments.” The Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to ensure their activities do not adversely impact listed species. In this case, the Forest Service has continued its status quo management operations at Fossil Creek in central Arizona despite very changed circumstances. In light of this, and the impending deluge of visitors expected over the holiday weekend and summer camping season, the Center filed notice. The loach minnow and spikedace, along with razorback sucker and Gila topminnow, also federally listed, have been repatriated to Fossil Creek following the decommissioning of Arizona Public Service hydropower plants and the restoration of water to the creek....
State high court rejects environmental challenge to Sierra logging plans The California Supreme Court in San Francisco rejected environmental challenges to a timber company's plans to harvest trees on about 1,400 acres of private land in Tuolumne County. Two conservation groups contended that timber harvest plans developed by Sierra Pacific Industries didn't adequately consider the broad impact on two wildlife species, the California spotted owl and a small mammal called the Pacific fisher. The California spotted owl is not listed as an endangered species, but is a cousin of the northern spotted owl, which is federally listed as a threatened species. The Pacific fisher is classified as a species of concern. Sierra Pacific Industries plans to harvest pine, fir and black oak trees on the land by clear-cutting most of the trees on the land and then replanting the forests. The procedure of logging most trees in an area at the same time is known as "even-aged" management. The high court unanimously ruled that the plans did adequately consider the impact on the Sierra Nevada region before concluding the two species wouldn't be harmed....
Humans to be put on the Endangered Species List The US Department of Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced today that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has petitioned to have Humans put on the endangered Species List (ESL). A PETA spokesman said "people are really animals!" PETA is concerned that the recent spate of hurricanes in the United States, typhoons in Burma and earthquakes in China require that this listing of Humans' time has come. Additionally, wars, famines, disease, automobile accidents and murders are decimating the human population of six billion people, which may only rise by another one Billion people in a few years. (This is the same logic that got the Polar Bear on the ESL.) However, there will be one class of Humans exempted from protection, namely elected politicians. The Sierra Club is expected to sue PETA and FWS, arguing that politicians are already a state and federally protected species. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is expected to sue PETA and FWS for discrimination. The Solicitor General of the United States has indicated the US government will join the lawsuits, but not on whose side. Al Gore cannot be reached for comment. Nine loud groans were heard emanating from the Supreme Court building in Washington DC. The American Bar Association (ABA) asked law schools to graduate more lawyers. Putting Humans on the ESL begs the question; what is the penalty if a Polar Bear eats a Human? (Satire)
Catron Residents Talk About Drilling Proposal An aquifer that is the source of water for parts of Socorro and Catron counties remains a subject of contention between local residents and a New York-based firm owned by an Italian millionaire, Bruno Modena. The firm, San Augustin Ranch LLC, is asking the state engineer to approve its plan to drill 37 wells with 20-inch casings north and south of Highway 60 at the county line. According to its application, the firm’s objective is to pump all the water it can get out of the San Agustin basin to a depth of 2,000 feet and sell it to the state to meet its obligations mandated by the Rio Grande Compact, leaving ranchers, residents and communities with the task of drilling deeper wells. Current wells in the area are between 200 and 300 feet deep on average. About 250 people packed the Datil Elementary gymnasium Saturday night to hear Bruce Frederick of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center explain water laws in New Mexico and the state engineer’s hearing process. Frederick said he will represent a group of local residents who have filed protests. He said the protesters are in a good position. “The sheer numbers of protesters and the diversity of the protesters warrant the position that it’s being detrimental to public welfare,” Frederick said. Among the protesters are state and federal agencies, Indian tribes and private companies, including Phelps Dodge, he said....
Dangers of mainland disease lab debated at hearing One of the nation's oldest farm groups said Thursday a proposed foot-and-mouth disease research laboratory on the U.S. mainland, near livestock, could be an inviting target for terrorists. Commercial livestock representatives and the Bush administration insisted it would be safe to move an island lab to sites near animals. Testimony at a House hearing showed deep divisions between farmers and ranchers over where to conduct research on the most infectious animal-only disease in the world. Such work now is confined to the 840-acre Plum Island, N.Y., off the northeastern tip of Long Island. The administration has spent time and money to announce five finalist sites on the mainland for a new lab. A new facility on Plum Island to replace the current, outmoded lab remains a possibility. All sides agreed that the wrong decision would bring an economic catastrophe if a new lab failed to contain the virus within the facility. An epidemic could ruin farmers and ranchers as well as related industries in feed, transportation, exports and retail....
U.S. farm bill, in part and in full, wins passage In following the legislative trail of the $307 billion farm bill, it is good to remember that the American system of checks and balances is not really designed for speed. With most House Democrats and quite a few Republicans supporting it, the bill was approved on Thursday by 306 to 110. The Senate quickly followed suit, 82 to 13. The votes in both chambers were far more than enough to defeat the veto that President George W. Bush cast on Wednesday. But wait. Hadn't the House already voted, by 316 to 108 later Wednesday, to override the veto? Well, yes. Sort of. Lawmakers discovered on Wednesday evening that a 34-page section of the 673-page bill was missing from the package that was sent last week to President George W. Bush, who executed his veto after calling the measure bloated and wasteful. The version that the House voted for in its override on Wednesday was also missing that section, which pertains to trade programs and foreign food aid. Thursday's vote in the House was on all 673 pages, which also embrace subsidies for farmers, food stamps, land conservation and various other items too attractive for most lawmakers to shun. The glitch "shows that they can even screw up spending the taxpayers' money unwisely," the president's spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said on Thursday....
Fact Sheet: An Opportunity to Reconsider a Wasteful Farm Bill For a year and a half, the Administration has consistently asked that the Congress pass a good farm bill that is fiscally responsible and better targets support programs. The Congress is now preparing to reconsider at least a portion of the farm bill and should take this opportunity to address the objections that have been raised repeatedly and the most recently raised concerns related to the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program. * The current agreement increases spending by more than $20 billion and fails to include much-needed farm program reforms proposed by President Bush. Congress is now continuing its gimmicks by delaying the budget resolution until after it again passes at least part of the farm bill in order to hide $3 billion in farm bill spending that Congress hasn't counted. This bill also adds a number of unrelated provisions and others never considered by the full Congress, such as numerous trade-related provisions. This bill is inconsistent with our objectives in international trade negotiations, which include increasing market access for American farmers and ranchers. Congress should reconsider this extraneous spending increase. * This legislation is also filled with earmarks and other ill-considered provisions. Most notably, the current agreement includes: $175 million to address water issues for desert lakes; $250 million for a 400,000-acre land purchase from a private owner; funding and authority for the noncompetitive sale of National Forest land to a ski resort; and $382 million earmarked for a specific watershed. Rural and urban Americans alike are frustrated with excessive government spending and the funneling of taxpayer funds for pet projects. Congress should seize the opportunity to eliminate wasteful spending....
Bush's polar bear legal disaster
As expected, the U. S. Department of the Interior added the polar bear to the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act last week. Even with the Bush administration's attempt to render the ruling toothless, this action will almost surely go down in history as the turning point in the global-warming debate.
The department concluded that the past and projected melting of sea ice in the Arctic poses an immediate threat to the polar bear's habitat. It pointed to greenhouse-gas-induced climate change as a primary cause for the recession of the sea ice, and emphasized that oil and gas development in the Arctic isn't the reason the polar bear is threatened.
Make no mistake, within a year or two, we can expect the polar bear to begin influencing everyday U. S. economic life.
The polar bear's listing wasn't intended as a back door for environmental groups to bring lawsuits against greenhouse-gas emitters, according to the ruling.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said listing the polar bear as threatened can reduce avoidable losses of the animal. Yet, he said, it doesn't mean the law should be used "to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from automobiles, power plants and other sources. That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the Endangered Species Act. ESA is not the right tool to set U. S. climate policy."
Georgetown University law professor Lisa Heinzerling summarized the Bush administration's actions aptly: "The Department of the Interior has, in short, worked very hard to make sure that its listing of the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act does not trigger the usual protections that act provides."
Such an action is logically and ethically indefensible. For the administration to determine that the polar bear is threatened, it had to conclude that global warming will melt the ice that polar bears need to survive. Having reached that conclusion, the Endangered Species Act requires them to take action to slow global warming. They can't decide not to do their job and enforce the law.
One can imagine that there is some not-so-clever polar bear skeptic in the White House who thought this was a brilliant manoeuvre. The fact is, if they believed that inaction was the right policy, then they should have refused to list the bear as threatened. It's ludicrous to try to have it both ways. Historians will doubtless use this cynical decision as a canonical example of what was wrong with this administration.
In the near term then, the polar bears aren't going to be saved by this government. But don't fret. If George Bush won't save the polar bear, Perry Mason will.
Environmental groups are already preparing legal challenges. Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity told USA Today last week that the Endangered Species Act requires agencies now to address greenhouse gases, and warned that "we can and will go to court to enforce the law."
When Siegel and her colleagues take that action, they will win. The U. S. government has no chance of having a court uphold its twisted logic. That is especially true because environmentalists will be able to bring lawsuits in jurisdictions of judges who are predisposed to interpret the Endangered Species Act sympathetically.
Make no mistake, within a year or two, we can expect the polar bear to begin influencing everyday U. S. economic life. Oil exploration in the Arctic will be affected, though that's not the half of it.
Lawyer and columnist Hugh Hewitt described what that new world will look like: "Environmental activists will argue that all emissions of greenhouse gases that flow as a consequence of the grant of a federal permit of any sort are now subject to review under the ESA and, crucially, that those permits cannot be issued unless and until the United States Fish & Wildlife Service reviews and approves of the requested permit."
The fact is, just about everything requires some kind of permit, so just about anything that emits greenhouse gases could be subject to a challenge. The process will rapidly spread the reach of this ruling throughout the energy industry and U. S. manufacturing.
An activist armed with a lawyer can now halt anything he wants. He might even be able to stop you from driving to work or taking a hot shower.
As expected, the U. S. Department of the Interior added the polar bear to the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act last week. Even with the Bush administration's attempt to render the ruling toothless, this action will almost surely go down in history as the turning point in the global-warming debate.
The department concluded that the past and projected melting of sea ice in the Arctic poses an immediate threat to the polar bear's habitat. It pointed to greenhouse-gas-induced climate change as a primary cause for the recession of the sea ice, and emphasized that oil and gas development in the Arctic isn't the reason the polar bear is threatened.
Make no mistake, within a year or two, we can expect the polar bear to begin influencing everyday U. S. economic life.
The polar bear's listing wasn't intended as a back door for environmental groups to bring lawsuits against greenhouse-gas emitters, according to the ruling.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said listing the polar bear as threatened can reduce avoidable losses of the animal. Yet, he said, it doesn't mean the law should be used "to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from automobiles, power plants and other sources. That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the Endangered Species Act. ESA is not the right tool to set U. S. climate policy."
Georgetown University law professor Lisa Heinzerling summarized the Bush administration's actions aptly: "The Department of the Interior has, in short, worked very hard to make sure that its listing of the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act does not trigger the usual protections that act provides."
Such an action is logically and ethically indefensible. For the administration to determine that the polar bear is threatened, it had to conclude that global warming will melt the ice that polar bears need to survive. Having reached that conclusion, the Endangered Species Act requires them to take action to slow global warming. They can't decide not to do their job and enforce the law.
One can imagine that there is some not-so-clever polar bear skeptic in the White House who thought this was a brilliant manoeuvre. The fact is, if they believed that inaction was the right policy, then they should have refused to list the bear as threatened. It's ludicrous to try to have it both ways. Historians will doubtless use this cynical decision as a canonical example of what was wrong with this administration.
In the near term then, the polar bears aren't going to be saved by this government. But don't fret. If George Bush won't save the polar bear, Perry Mason will.
Environmental groups are already preparing legal challenges. Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity told USA Today last week that the Endangered Species Act requires agencies now to address greenhouse gases, and warned that "we can and will go to court to enforce the law."
When Siegel and her colleagues take that action, they will win. The U. S. government has no chance of having a court uphold its twisted logic. That is especially true because environmentalists will be able to bring lawsuits in jurisdictions of judges who are predisposed to interpret the Endangered Species Act sympathetically.
Make no mistake, within a year or two, we can expect the polar bear to begin influencing everyday U. S. economic life. Oil exploration in the Arctic will be affected, though that's not the half of it.
Lawyer and columnist Hugh Hewitt described what that new world will look like: "Environmental activists will argue that all emissions of greenhouse gases that flow as a consequence of the grant of a federal permit of any sort are now subject to review under the ESA and, crucially, that those permits cannot be issued unless and until the United States Fish & Wildlife Service reviews and approves of the requested permit."
The fact is, just about everything requires some kind of permit, so just about anything that emits greenhouse gases could be subject to a challenge. The process will rapidly spread the reach of this ruling throughout the energy industry and U. S. manufacturing.
An activist armed with a lawyer can now halt anything he wants. He might even be able to stop you from driving to work or taking a hot shower.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
GAO
Chemical Assessments: EPA's New Assessment Process Will Further Limit the Productivity and Credibility of Its Integrated Risk Information System, by John B. Stephenson, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, House Committee on Science and Technology. GAO-08-810T, May 21. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-810T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08810thigh.pdf
High-Containment Biosafety Laboratories: DHS Lacks Evidence to Conclude That Foot-and-Mouth Disease Research Can Be Done Safely on the U.S. Mainland, by Nancy R. Kingsbury, managing director, applied research and methods, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Energy and Commerce. GAO-08-821T, May 22. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-821T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08821thigh.pdf
Chemical Assessments: EPA's New Assessment Process Will Further Limit the Productivity and Credibility of Its Integrated Risk Information System, by John B. Stephenson, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, House Committee on Science and Technology. GAO-08-810T, May 21. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-810T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08810thigh.pdf
High-Containment Biosafety Laboratories: DHS Lacks Evidence to Conclude That Foot-and-Mouth Disease Research Can Be Done Safely on the U.S. Mainland, by Nancy R. Kingsbury, managing director, applied research and methods, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Energy and Commerce. GAO-08-821T, May 22. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-821T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08821thigh.pdf
31,000 scientists reject 'global warming' agenda More than 31,000 scientists across the U.S. – including more than 9,000 Ph.D.s in fields such as atmospheric science, climatology, Earth science, environment and dozens of other specialties – have signed a petition rejecting "global warming," the assumption that the human production of greenhouse gases is damaging Earth's climate. "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate," the petition states. "Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth." The Petition Project actually was launched nearly 10 years ago, when the first few thousand signatures were assembled. Then, between 1999 and 2007, the list of signatures grew gradually without any special effort or campaign. But now, a new effort has been conducted because of an "escalation of the claims of 'consensus,' release of the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' by Mr. Al Gore, and related events," according to officials with the project....
The great organic myths: Why organic foods are an indulgence the world can't afford Myth one: Organic farming is good for the environment The study of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for the UK, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, should concern anyone who buys organic. It shows that milk and dairy production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). A litre of organic milk requires 80 per cent more land than conventional milk to produce, has 20 per cent greater global warming potential, releases 60 per cent more nutrients to water sources, and contributes 70 per cent more to acid rain. Also, organically reared cows burp twice as much methane as conventionally reared cattle – and methane is 20 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. Myth two: Organic farming is more sustainable Organic potatoes use less energy in terms of fertiliser production, but need more fossil fuel for ploughing. A hectare of conventionally farmed land produces 2.5 times more potatoes than an organic one. Heated greenhouse tomatoes in Britain use up to 100 times more energy than those grown in fields in Africa. Organic yield is 75 per cent of conventional tomato crops but takes twice the energy – so the climate consequences of home-grown organic tomatoes exceed those of Kenyan imports. Defra estimates organic tomato production in the UK releases almost three times the nutrient pollution and uses 25 per cent more water per kg of fruit than normal production....
Alaska to challenge polar bear listing The state of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin announced Wednesday. She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts. Palin argued that there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said. Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, said Palin, a Republican. The announcement drew a strong response from the primary author of the listing petition. "She's either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading, and both are unbecoming," said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Alaska deserves better." Siegel said it was unconscionable for Palin to ignore overwhelming evidence of global warming's threat to sea ice, the polar bear's habitat....
Proposed change to water law riles landowners A proposal backed by environmentalists to change one word in the Clean Water Act and subject tens of millions more acres of land to new federal oversight has ranchers and farmers fuming. "It's a huge grab for more federal intervention in our lives, and we don't need that," says Montana cattle rancher Randy Smith says. The Clean Water Act of 1972 makes it illegal to pollute "navigable" waters. Over the decades, disputes arose over the government's expanding definition of "navigable," and some landowners complained that the word was being interpreted too broadly. Two Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 came down on the side of landowners, ruling that ponds at the bottom of a gravel pit and a marsh miles from any lake or river were not navigable and thus not subject to the act. The rulings removed important waterways from federal protection, say Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota. The two Democrats have sponsored the Clean Water Restoration Act, which would change the wording of the Clean Water Act from covering "navigable" waters to covering "waters of the United States." The new definition would place under federal oversight all water subject to the ocean tides as well as "lakes, rivers, streams, mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds and all impoundments," also known as man-made reservoirs....
President Boxer When Senate Democrats tie one of President Bush's nominees to the whipping post, they usually bother to invent some substantive objection. Apparently the new standard for rejection is merely that a White House nominee dares to support White House policy. In March, the White House nominated David Hill as general counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency. He ought to have zipped through the Senate. Over two decades in Washington, Mr. Hill has accumulated no partisan ballast; when he was nominated as the Energy Department's general counsel three years ago, he was confirmed unanimously. He is roundly liked for his role in developing the Administration's loan programs for clean tech. But yesterday, Mr. Hill was rejected for the EPA post by the Senate Environment Committee during a routine business meeting, a highly unusual maneuver. The 10-9 vote had no relation at all to Mr. Hill's qualifications to serve and everything to do with preventing any policy supervision at the EPA. The committee is chaired by California's Barbara Boxer, who is livid that the EPA has so far declined to rewrite existing environmental laws to regulate greenhouse gasses. At a confirmation hearing, Ms. Boxer told Mr. Hill that he was incapable of "independent thought" because he didn't pay obeisance to her political agenda. Instead, Mr. Hill said he would only sign off on decisions that were "legally defensible."....
State refutes suits’ claims The state of Wyoming has joined up with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) as a defendant in the wolf-delisting lawsuit filed April 28 by conservation groups and on Friday, challenged the groups’ claims gray wolves are still endangered. The dozen groups, represented by Earthjustice, seek the wolves’ immediate relisting under the FWS Endangered Species Act with a hearing for a preliminary injunction set for May 29 before U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula, Mont. The state argued Friday that Wyoming’s and the Northern Rockies’ wolf population is not at risk from “a moderate amount of human-caused mortality in any given year,” citing FWS lethal control actions in 2007 resulted in 63 wolves killed for livestock depredation but the state population still grew from 311 to 359 wolves that year. The state also argued wolves are not in “peril” because over the last 14 years, the Northern Rockies’ population has grown an average of 24 percent each year even with 23 percent of that total population dying each year. The conservation groups claim FWS needs to resume control of the wolves because Wyoming, Idaho and Montana state plans do not “ensure a sustainable wolf population in the region.”....
Should wolves have a sanctuary? A barely perceptible gasp swept through the crowd of onlookers standing next to state Highway 75 just after sunrise Saturday a few miles downstream of Stanley. Less than an hour after the sun hit the jagged peaks of the nearby Sawtooth Mountains, the attention of the 20 to 25 warmly dressed people was drawn to an open, sun-splashed slope above the Salmon River on the northwest side of the highway. Picking its way through dense stands of chest-high sagebrush, a lone gray wolf gave the crowd the spectacular display they'd come to find. Saturday's sighting of the single wolf—a member of central Idaho's Basin Butte wolf pack—took place in the heart of a large wolf-occupied area that ICL members hope state wildlife managers will designate as a Central Idaho Wolf Viewing Area. The conservationists' aim is to have the Idaho Department of Fish and Game designate lands on both sides of several highways in the region as an area where wild wolves can go about their lives free from the threat of hunting. Portions of the viewing area would fall inside the 756,000-acre Sawtooth National Recreation Area, a popular destination for travelers arriving from around the nation to recreate in its many mountains, rivers and abundant wildlife areas....
Report criticizes Interior over delisting decisions Several top officials may have played politics with Endangered Species Act cases and the Interior Department could have found more such decisions had it better investigated the problem, a new report says. And of the eight species delisted in recent years, including the Yellowstone National Park grizzly bear population, only two had met all their recovery criteria, the report said. The department already revised seven decisions because of political interference by Julie MacDonald, a former Interior deputy assistant secretary. They include those for two species in Montana - the Canada lynx and the Preble's meadow jumping mouse. But that number could have been higher had the department not limited its investigation, a Government Accountability Office report says. Robin Nazzaro of the GAO testified Wednesday to the House Natural Resources Committee that at least four other Bush appointees might have played questionable roles in the ESA decisions approved by MacDonald. They include a former assistant secretary, a deputy assistant secretary and the secretary's chief of staff, she said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service excluded numerous cases from its investigation of decisions that may have been improperly influenced by simply leaving out all decisions made by Interior officials other than MacDonald. It also excluded policy decisions that limited the application of science and those that were changed but not significantly or to the point of negative effects on the species....
Scenic alpine lake above Tahoe being sold to Forest Service A scenic alpine lake and private enclave overlooking Lake Tahoe that once served as a playground for the rich and famous should be in the public's hands this summer under a compromise announced Wednesday. The Incline Lake Corp. will receive a deposit of at least $46 million for 777 acres, including Incline Lake, atop a forested ridge of the Sierra between Lake Tahoe and Reno, the current landowners said. A trial will be held in federal court to determine whether additional compensation is justified under what was described as a "friendly condemnation" proceeding, the Reno Gazette-Journal first reported on it's Web site Wednesday afternoon. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., suggested the compromise. It was arranged after the landowners and U.S. Forest Service failed to agree on value of the property. The Incline Lake Corp. originally asked for $75 million but federal appraisals put the value as "tens of millions" less than that, said Glen Williams of Terra Firma Associates, representing the owners. The scenic property should transfer to the U.S. Forest Service sometime in June, although the exact value of the land won't be determined for perhaps a year, Williams said. The lake will remain closed to the public until next year while all improvements, including buildings, foundations, water tanks and utilities, are removed, landowners said....
Groups Blame Forest Service Policy for Mega-Fires Current forest management policies are causing annual catastrophic fire, and resulting in negative economic, environmental and health effects for Montana residents, according to several former government agency employees and two area citizen groups. At a public symposium last Sunday at the Flathead County Fairgrounds, about 60 people gathered to hear five presenters – three of them current or former employees of the U.S. Forest Service – speak on topics ranging from the history and policy decisions of the Forest Service to adverse health effects and increased fire intensities. The Flathead Business and Industry Association and the Big Sky Coalition, a group that bills itself as “Environmentalists with Common Sense” and advocates thinning practices on national forest lands to reduce fuels, hosted the presentation. “Simply continuing to fight these unnatural high intensity fires while ignoring the things that have caused or led up to them is not the way to go,” Sonny LaSalle, executive director of the coalition and a Forest Service retiree, said. “It’s more cost effective to maintain a forest than to continually fight these mega-fires.” Jack Ward Thomas, a retired Forest Service chief, began the symposium with a detailed history of the Forest Service, describing how political and social changes in the country have led to a muddied purpose for the agency and large decreases in logging. Changing climate, drought conditions, a lack of thinning and maintenance in the forests and decreased road access for firefighters have all combined to make it harder to contain wildfires and have led to a fire season that’s 78 days longer on average, two fire management officers said. “It used to be that 10,000 acres was a really, really big fire and you could work your whole career without ever seeing one top 20,000,” Dave Bunnell, a retired Forest Service fire management officer, said. “Now, 10,000 acres is just a spot fire off something like Chippy Creek that nobody even cares about.”....
Politics of energy development changing Nearly two decades ago, Republicans won the West by linking Democrats to environmentalists, who supposedly cared more for the spotted owl and other favored species than they did for the jobs of loggers or miners. But now, as a boom in natural-gas drilling reshapes the region, Western Democrats have found success recasting environmentalism as a defense of threatened water supplies, fishing spots and hunting grounds. As a result, the party may hold the advantage this fall in the region's key congressional races. The simultaneous rise of Western energy production and the Western Democrat is no coincidence. The Rocky Mountain drilling boom has been aided by the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which was once considered a partisan political masterstroke. In providing incentives for energy development, Republicans delivered a profitable gift to an industry that directs most of its campaign contributions to GOP candidates. That gift was sweetened by the Bureau of Land Management, which, under President Bush has expanded the amount of federal land open to energy development and increased the number of drilling permits. But the acceleration of energy exploration has split the national Republican Party from local Republicans upset by the downsides of the energy boom. "Republicans created a monster for themselves," said Rick Ridder, a Colorado-based Democratic consultant. "They put public policy in direct conflict with their base voters." In Wyoming's Upper North Platte Valley, Jeb Steward, a Republican state representative, helped lead the successful 2007 opposition to the BLM's proposed sale of 13 oil and gas parcels. "We have customs and cultures that have developed over a hundred years based on the utilization of multiple renewable resources - agriculture, tourism, wildlife, fisheries," Steward said. "When BLM proposed issuing the leases, residents were asking, 'What does this mean to the lifestyles that we've all grown accustomed to?'"....
Tap federal lands for oil, BLM urges The answer to rising fuel prices may lie under millions of acres of federal land, mostly in the West, that for a variety of reasons are off limits to oil and natural-gas development, according to the Bureau of Land Management. A BLM inventory of public lands released Wednesday shows 279 million acres of untapped resources throughout the United States. Those areas contain an estimated 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. "If we want to lower the cost of energy, we must be willing to use our own energy resources as part of a balanced and rational energy policy," Stephen Allred, assistant secretary of the interior, said in a conference call with reporters. The report found 60 percent of federal lands that have potential for oil and natural gas are closed to leasing, mostly as a result of congressional or administrative mandates. The report does not include state or private lands, which generally have had fewer restrictions on drilling. It also does not address the estimated trillion barrels of oil in shale in Utah and throughout the Intermountain West. All federal land believed to have energy potential was included in the study, the third in a series of scientific reports required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000. The United States consumed about 7.5 billion barrels of oil in 2006, 60 percent of which was imported, the study says. Federal lands produced about 5 percent of the 2006 consumption. Allred called the report a starting to point for discussion that could lead Congress to loosen drilling restrictions on public lands....
Jurassic track unearthed in Cactus Park The rocky outcrops of Cactus Park were a real Jurassic Park some 140 million years ago, home to a wide variety of dinosaurs. One of them left a footprint that survived the eons to be discovered this spring by Kent Hups, a science teacher at Manual High School in Denver. Hups unveiled the print on Wednesday in Denver, where he’s showing his students how to make casts of prints such as the one he found. His ankylosaur print is the first such print of the species from the Jurassic Period and the largest print of any ankylosaur from the Age of the Dinosaurs. “This is a first in the Jurassic,” said Dr. Martin Lockley, a track expert from the Dinosaur Tracks Museum and the University of Colorado in Denver. “This is not just any old footprint. This is the first and only ankylosaur footprint ever found in the Jurassic — anywhere in the world. It is another tracking first for Colorado.”....
Conservancy district sues NM Game and Fish over rodents The New Mexico Game and Fish Department and the State Game Commission is being sued by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District over the agency's proposed recovery plan for the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse and the Arizona montane vole. The conservancy district said Wednesday it is seeking a court order to keep the Game Commission from taking action on the plan during its meeting next week so that residents of the Middle Rio Grande Valley can have an opportunity to weigh in on the plan. The district, in a lawsuit filed last week in state district court in Socorro, claims the plan could have a "devastating impact" on agriculture in the valley and that Game and Fish failed to get input from the residents. Chuck DuMars, an attorney for the district, claims the plan would result in the diversion of water from agriculture to help rodents and that beaver dams would be encouraged to restore riparian habitats. However, the district usually removes beaver dams to keep its drainages operating properly. "We're saying that before they adopt such a plan that could include diversions of water from farming and grazing operations, which are directly tied to the MRGCD's function, that we should be given proper notice and be allowed input. That didn't happen," DuMars said....
High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules High gas prices have driven a Warren County farmer and his sons to hitch a tractor rake to a pair of mules to gather hay from their fields. T.R. Raymond bought Dolly and Molly at the Dixon mule sale last year. Son Danny Raymond trained them and also modified the tractor rake so the mules could pull it. T.R. Raymond says the mules are slower than a petroleum-powered tractor, but there are benefits. "This fuel's so high, you can't afford it," he said. "We can feed these mules cheaper than we can buy fuel. That's the truth." And Danny Raymond says he just likes using the mules around the farm. "We've been using them quite a bit," he said. Brother Robert Raymond added, "It's the way of the future.
House overrides Bush veto on farm bill The House has overridden President Bush's veto of a $290 billion farm bill and senators soon may follow suit. It was only hours before the House's 316-108 vote Wednesday that Bush had vetoed the five-year measure. He said it was too expensive and gave too much money to wealthy farmers when farm incomes are high. The legislation includes election-year subsidies for farmers and food stamps for the poor — spending that lawmakers could promote when they are back in their districts over the Memorial Day weekend. The Senate is expected to begin consideration of the bill Thursday. There are expected to be enough votes to reject the veto. The veto was the 10th of Bush's presidency. Congress has overridden him once, on a water projects bill....
New Mexico lawmakers object to bovine TB testing The New Mexico congressional delegation Wednesday urged U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer not to take any action related to bovine tuberculosis testing that would harm the entire state’s livestock industry. In a letter to Schafer, Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici, along with Reps. Heather Wilson, Tom Udall and Steve Pearce, objected to a possible plan by the Department of Agriculture to force all New Mexico ranchers and dairies to test their cattle for bovine TB. In 2003, bovine TB was discovered in cattle in Curry and Roosevelt counties. Since that time a zone within the two counties has been the only place in the state where cattle needed to be tested before being shipped out of state. The discovery of a single new animal with bovine TB from a feedlot in Curry County has prompted USDA to consider amending New Mexico’s bovine TB status to one that requires statewide testing, according to a press release. In the letter, the New Mexico lawmakers said that statewide testing would be a costly and unnecessary step. “As we understand it, USDA is considering amending the bovine TB regulations to add New Mexico to the list of modified accredited advanced states as a result of the discovery of an infected animal earlier this year. This change would have dramatic consequences on the livestock industry in our state. Because we believe this change is not in accord with the USDA’s existing regulations, we are requesting your prompt review of the decision,” the letter states....
Fried: We eat cow balls so you don't have to So when New Times needed someone to file weekly reports on fried food around the Valley, I was an enthusiastic volunteer. Hey, I eat the stuff anyway; I might as well have a good excuse for ordering it. And while I didn't plan to try anything exotic for my first Fried post, somehow I ended up at The Stockyards Restaurant, putting in order for calf fries. For the unitiated, those are cow testicles. Breaded and fried cow testicles, that is, with a side of marinara. Did I also mention I'm an adventurous eater? I was dining with my friend Jim, who initially pretended to be a good sport. (My other companion, Amy, didn't even feign a willingness to play along. "No balls!" she said, in the tone I might use to discipline my 11-week-old puppy.) "Sure, I'll try one," Jim said, after our waitress delivered an appetizer-sized bowl of balls. After all, they look like fried mushrooms -- nothing scary there. But then we sliced one open, and were treated to a view of the pink fleshy innards. (See above.) "They look surprisingly like what you would think they would look like," Jim said, "and that's not good."....Got to laugh at Jim, but someone please tell the New Time's cuisine cuty that cows don't have balls.
The great organic myths: Why organic foods are an indulgence the world can't afford Myth one: Organic farming is good for the environment The study of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for the UK, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, should concern anyone who buys organic. It shows that milk and dairy production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). A litre of organic milk requires 80 per cent more land than conventional milk to produce, has 20 per cent greater global warming potential, releases 60 per cent more nutrients to water sources, and contributes 70 per cent more to acid rain. Also, organically reared cows burp twice as much methane as conventionally reared cattle – and methane is 20 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. Myth two: Organic farming is more sustainable Organic potatoes use less energy in terms of fertiliser production, but need more fossil fuel for ploughing. A hectare of conventionally farmed land produces 2.5 times more potatoes than an organic one. Heated greenhouse tomatoes in Britain use up to 100 times more energy than those grown in fields in Africa. Organic yield is 75 per cent of conventional tomato crops but takes twice the energy – so the climate consequences of home-grown organic tomatoes exceed those of Kenyan imports. Defra estimates organic tomato production in the UK releases almost three times the nutrient pollution and uses 25 per cent more water per kg of fruit than normal production....
Alaska to challenge polar bear listing The state of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin announced Wednesday. She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts. Palin argued that there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said. Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, said Palin, a Republican. The announcement drew a strong response from the primary author of the listing petition. "She's either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading, and both are unbecoming," said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Alaska deserves better." Siegel said it was unconscionable for Palin to ignore overwhelming evidence of global warming's threat to sea ice, the polar bear's habitat....
Proposed change to water law riles landowners A proposal backed by environmentalists to change one word in the Clean Water Act and subject tens of millions more acres of land to new federal oversight has ranchers and farmers fuming. "It's a huge grab for more federal intervention in our lives, and we don't need that," says Montana cattle rancher Randy Smith says. The Clean Water Act of 1972 makes it illegal to pollute "navigable" waters. Over the decades, disputes arose over the government's expanding definition of "navigable," and some landowners complained that the word was being interpreted too broadly. Two Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 came down on the side of landowners, ruling that ponds at the bottom of a gravel pit and a marsh miles from any lake or river were not navigable and thus not subject to the act. The rulings removed important waterways from federal protection, say Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota. The two Democrats have sponsored the Clean Water Restoration Act, which would change the wording of the Clean Water Act from covering "navigable" waters to covering "waters of the United States." The new definition would place under federal oversight all water subject to the ocean tides as well as "lakes, rivers, streams, mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds and all impoundments," also known as man-made reservoirs....
President Boxer When Senate Democrats tie one of President Bush's nominees to the whipping post, they usually bother to invent some substantive objection. Apparently the new standard for rejection is merely that a White House nominee dares to support White House policy. In March, the White House nominated David Hill as general counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency. He ought to have zipped through the Senate. Over two decades in Washington, Mr. Hill has accumulated no partisan ballast; when he was nominated as the Energy Department's general counsel three years ago, he was confirmed unanimously. He is roundly liked for his role in developing the Administration's loan programs for clean tech. But yesterday, Mr. Hill was rejected for the EPA post by the Senate Environment Committee during a routine business meeting, a highly unusual maneuver. The 10-9 vote had no relation at all to Mr. Hill's qualifications to serve and everything to do with preventing any policy supervision at the EPA. The committee is chaired by California's Barbara Boxer, who is livid that the EPA has so far declined to rewrite existing environmental laws to regulate greenhouse gasses. At a confirmation hearing, Ms. Boxer told Mr. Hill that he was incapable of "independent thought" because he didn't pay obeisance to her political agenda. Instead, Mr. Hill said he would only sign off on decisions that were "legally defensible."....
State refutes suits’ claims The state of Wyoming has joined up with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) as a defendant in the wolf-delisting lawsuit filed April 28 by conservation groups and on Friday, challenged the groups’ claims gray wolves are still endangered. The dozen groups, represented by Earthjustice, seek the wolves’ immediate relisting under the FWS Endangered Species Act with a hearing for a preliminary injunction set for May 29 before U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula, Mont. The state argued Friday that Wyoming’s and the Northern Rockies’ wolf population is not at risk from “a moderate amount of human-caused mortality in any given year,” citing FWS lethal control actions in 2007 resulted in 63 wolves killed for livestock depredation but the state population still grew from 311 to 359 wolves that year. The state also argued wolves are not in “peril” because over the last 14 years, the Northern Rockies’ population has grown an average of 24 percent each year even with 23 percent of that total population dying each year. The conservation groups claim FWS needs to resume control of the wolves because Wyoming, Idaho and Montana state plans do not “ensure a sustainable wolf population in the region.”....
Should wolves have a sanctuary? A barely perceptible gasp swept through the crowd of onlookers standing next to state Highway 75 just after sunrise Saturday a few miles downstream of Stanley. Less than an hour after the sun hit the jagged peaks of the nearby Sawtooth Mountains, the attention of the 20 to 25 warmly dressed people was drawn to an open, sun-splashed slope above the Salmon River on the northwest side of the highway. Picking its way through dense stands of chest-high sagebrush, a lone gray wolf gave the crowd the spectacular display they'd come to find. Saturday's sighting of the single wolf—a member of central Idaho's Basin Butte wolf pack—took place in the heart of a large wolf-occupied area that ICL members hope state wildlife managers will designate as a Central Idaho Wolf Viewing Area. The conservationists' aim is to have the Idaho Department of Fish and Game designate lands on both sides of several highways in the region as an area where wild wolves can go about their lives free from the threat of hunting. Portions of the viewing area would fall inside the 756,000-acre Sawtooth National Recreation Area, a popular destination for travelers arriving from around the nation to recreate in its many mountains, rivers and abundant wildlife areas....
Report criticizes Interior over delisting decisions Several top officials may have played politics with Endangered Species Act cases and the Interior Department could have found more such decisions had it better investigated the problem, a new report says. And of the eight species delisted in recent years, including the Yellowstone National Park grizzly bear population, only two had met all their recovery criteria, the report said. The department already revised seven decisions because of political interference by Julie MacDonald, a former Interior deputy assistant secretary. They include those for two species in Montana - the Canada lynx and the Preble's meadow jumping mouse. But that number could have been higher had the department not limited its investigation, a Government Accountability Office report says. Robin Nazzaro of the GAO testified Wednesday to the House Natural Resources Committee that at least four other Bush appointees might have played questionable roles in the ESA decisions approved by MacDonald. They include a former assistant secretary, a deputy assistant secretary and the secretary's chief of staff, she said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service excluded numerous cases from its investigation of decisions that may have been improperly influenced by simply leaving out all decisions made by Interior officials other than MacDonald. It also excluded policy decisions that limited the application of science and those that were changed but not significantly or to the point of negative effects on the species....
Scenic alpine lake above Tahoe being sold to Forest Service A scenic alpine lake and private enclave overlooking Lake Tahoe that once served as a playground for the rich and famous should be in the public's hands this summer under a compromise announced Wednesday. The Incline Lake Corp. will receive a deposit of at least $46 million for 777 acres, including Incline Lake, atop a forested ridge of the Sierra between Lake Tahoe and Reno, the current landowners said. A trial will be held in federal court to determine whether additional compensation is justified under what was described as a "friendly condemnation" proceeding, the Reno Gazette-Journal first reported on it's Web site Wednesday afternoon. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., suggested the compromise. It was arranged after the landowners and U.S. Forest Service failed to agree on value of the property. The Incline Lake Corp. originally asked for $75 million but federal appraisals put the value as "tens of millions" less than that, said Glen Williams of Terra Firma Associates, representing the owners. The scenic property should transfer to the U.S. Forest Service sometime in June, although the exact value of the land won't be determined for perhaps a year, Williams said. The lake will remain closed to the public until next year while all improvements, including buildings, foundations, water tanks and utilities, are removed, landowners said....
Groups Blame Forest Service Policy for Mega-Fires Current forest management policies are causing annual catastrophic fire, and resulting in negative economic, environmental and health effects for Montana residents, according to several former government agency employees and two area citizen groups. At a public symposium last Sunday at the Flathead County Fairgrounds, about 60 people gathered to hear five presenters – three of them current or former employees of the U.S. Forest Service – speak on topics ranging from the history and policy decisions of the Forest Service to adverse health effects and increased fire intensities. The Flathead Business and Industry Association and the Big Sky Coalition, a group that bills itself as “Environmentalists with Common Sense” and advocates thinning practices on national forest lands to reduce fuels, hosted the presentation. “Simply continuing to fight these unnatural high intensity fires while ignoring the things that have caused or led up to them is not the way to go,” Sonny LaSalle, executive director of the coalition and a Forest Service retiree, said. “It’s more cost effective to maintain a forest than to continually fight these mega-fires.” Jack Ward Thomas, a retired Forest Service chief, began the symposium with a detailed history of the Forest Service, describing how political and social changes in the country have led to a muddied purpose for the agency and large decreases in logging. Changing climate, drought conditions, a lack of thinning and maintenance in the forests and decreased road access for firefighters have all combined to make it harder to contain wildfires and have led to a fire season that’s 78 days longer on average, two fire management officers said. “It used to be that 10,000 acres was a really, really big fire and you could work your whole career without ever seeing one top 20,000,” Dave Bunnell, a retired Forest Service fire management officer, said. “Now, 10,000 acres is just a spot fire off something like Chippy Creek that nobody even cares about.”....
Politics of energy development changing Nearly two decades ago, Republicans won the West by linking Democrats to environmentalists, who supposedly cared more for the spotted owl and other favored species than they did for the jobs of loggers or miners. But now, as a boom in natural-gas drilling reshapes the region, Western Democrats have found success recasting environmentalism as a defense of threatened water supplies, fishing spots and hunting grounds. As a result, the party may hold the advantage this fall in the region's key congressional races. The simultaneous rise of Western energy production and the Western Democrat is no coincidence. The Rocky Mountain drilling boom has been aided by the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which was once considered a partisan political masterstroke. In providing incentives for energy development, Republicans delivered a profitable gift to an industry that directs most of its campaign contributions to GOP candidates. That gift was sweetened by the Bureau of Land Management, which, under President Bush has expanded the amount of federal land open to energy development and increased the number of drilling permits. But the acceleration of energy exploration has split the national Republican Party from local Republicans upset by the downsides of the energy boom. "Republicans created a monster for themselves," said Rick Ridder, a Colorado-based Democratic consultant. "They put public policy in direct conflict with their base voters." In Wyoming's Upper North Platte Valley, Jeb Steward, a Republican state representative, helped lead the successful 2007 opposition to the BLM's proposed sale of 13 oil and gas parcels. "We have customs and cultures that have developed over a hundred years based on the utilization of multiple renewable resources - agriculture, tourism, wildlife, fisheries," Steward said. "When BLM proposed issuing the leases, residents were asking, 'What does this mean to the lifestyles that we've all grown accustomed to?'"....
Tap federal lands for oil, BLM urges The answer to rising fuel prices may lie under millions of acres of federal land, mostly in the West, that for a variety of reasons are off limits to oil and natural-gas development, according to the Bureau of Land Management. A BLM inventory of public lands released Wednesday shows 279 million acres of untapped resources throughout the United States. Those areas contain an estimated 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. "If we want to lower the cost of energy, we must be willing to use our own energy resources as part of a balanced and rational energy policy," Stephen Allred, assistant secretary of the interior, said in a conference call with reporters. The report found 60 percent of federal lands that have potential for oil and natural gas are closed to leasing, mostly as a result of congressional or administrative mandates. The report does not include state or private lands, which generally have had fewer restrictions on drilling. It also does not address the estimated trillion barrels of oil in shale in Utah and throughout the Intermountain West. All federal land believed to have energy potential was included in the study, the third in a series of scientific reports required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000. The United States consumed about 7.5 billion barrels of oil in 2006, 60 percent of which was imported, the study says. Federal lands produced about 5 percent of the 2006 consumption. Allred called the report a starting to point for discussion that could lead Congress to loosen drilling restrictions on public lands....
Jurassic track unearthed in Cactus Park The rocky outcrops of Cactus Park were a real Jurassic Park some 140 million years ago, home to a wide variety of dinosaurs. One of them left a footprint that survived the eons to be discovered this spring by Kent Hups, a science teacher at Manual High School in Denver. Hups unveiled the print on Wednesday in Denver, where he’s showing his students how to make casts of prints such as the one he found. His ankylosaur print is the first such print of the species from the Jurassic Period and the largest print of any ankylosaur from the Age of the Dinosaurs. “This is a first in the Jurassic,” said Dr. Martin Lockley, a track expert from the Dinosaur Tracks Museum and the University of Colorado in Denver. “This is not just any old footprint. This is the first and only ankylosaur footprint ever found in the Jurassic — anywhere in the world. It is another tracking first for Colorado.”....
Conservancy district sues NM Game and Fish over rodents The New Mexico Game and Fish Department and the State Game Commission is being sued by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District over the agency's proposed recovery plan for the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse and the Arizona montane vole. The conservancy district said Wednesday it is seeking a court order to keep the Game Commission from taking action on the plan during its meeting next week so that residents of the Middle Rio Grande Valley can have an opportunity to weigh in on the plan. The district, in a lawsuit filed last week in state district court in Socorro, claims the plan could have a "devastating impact" on agriculture in the valley and that Game and Fish failed to get input from the residents. Chuck DuMars, an attorney for the district, claims the plan would result in the diversion of water from agriculture to help rodents and that beaver dams would be encouraged to restore riparian habitats. However, the district usually removes beaver dams to keep its drainages operating properly. "We're saying that before they adopt such a plan that could include diversions of water from farming and grazing operations, which are directly tied to the MRGCD's function, that we should be given proper notice and be allowed input. That didn't happen," DuMars said....
High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules High gas prices have driven a Warren County farmer and his sons to hitch a tractor rake to a pair of mules to gather hay from their fields. T.R. Raymond bought Dolly and Molly at the Dixon mule sale last year. Son Danny Raymond trained them and also modified the tractor rake so the mules could pull it. T.R. Raymond says the mules are slower than a petroleum-powered tractor, but there are benefits. "This fuel's so high, you can't afford it," he said. "We can feed these mules cheaper than we can buy fuel. That's the truth." And Danny Raymond says he just likes using the mules around the farm. "We've been using them quite a bit," he said. Brother Robert Raymond added, "It's the way of the future.
House overrides Bush veto on farm bill The House has overridden President Bush's veto of a $290 billion farm bill and senators soon may follow suit. It was only hours before the House's 316-108 vote Wednesday that Bush had vetoed the five-year measure. He said it was too expensive and gave too much money to wealthy farmers when farm incomes are high. The legislation includes election-year subsidies for farmers and food stamps for the poor — spending that lawmakers could promote when they are back in their districts over the Memorial Day weekend. The Senate is expected to begin consideration of the bill Thursday. There are expected to be enough votes to reject the veto. The veto was the 10th of Bush's presidency. Congress has overridden him once, on a water projects bill....
New Mexico lawmakers object to bovine TB testing The New Mexico congressional delegation Wednesday urged U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer not to take any action related to bovine tuberculosis testing that would harm the entire state’s livestock industry. In a letter to Schafer, Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici, along with Reps. Heather Wilson, Tom Udall and Steve Pearce, objected to a possible plan by the Department of Agriculture to force all New Mexico ranchers and dairies to test their cattle for bovine TB. In 2003, bovine TB was discovered in cattle in Curry and Roosevelt counties. Since that time a zone within the two counties has been the only place in the state where cattle needed to be tested before being shipped out of state. The discovery of a single new animal with bovine TB from a feedlot in Curry County has prompted USDA to consider amending New Mexico’s bovine TB status to one that requires statewide testing, according to a press release. In the letter, the New Mexico lawmakers said that statewide testing would be a costly and unnecessary step. “As we understand it, USDA is considering amending the bovine TB regulations to add New Mexico to the list of modified accredited advanced states as a result of the discovery of an infected animal earlier this year. This change would have dramatic consequences on the livestock industry in our state. Because we believe this change is not in accord with the USDA’s existing regulations, we are requesting your prompt review of the decision,” the letter states....
Fried: We eat cow balls so you don't have to So when New Times needed someone to file weekly reports on fried food around the Valley, I was an enthusiastic volunteer. Hey, I eat the stuff anyway; I might as well have a good excuse for ordering it. And while I didn't plan to try anything exotic for my first Fried post, somehow I ended up at The Stockyards Restaurant, putting in order for calf fries. For the unitiated, those are cow testicles. Breaded and fried cow testicles, that is, with a side of marinara. Did I also mention I'm an adventurous eater? I was dining with my friend Jim, who initially pretended to be a good sport. (My other companion, Amy, didn't even feign a willingness to play along. "No balls!" she said, in the tone I might use to discipline my 11-week-old puppy.) "Sure, I'll try one," Jim said, after our waitress delivered an appetizer-sized bowl of balls. After all, they look like fried mushrooms -- nothing scary there. But then we sliced one open, and were treated to a view of the pink fleshy innards. (See above.) "They look surprisingly like what you would think they would look like," Jim said, "and that's not good."....Got to laugh at Jim, but someone please tell the New Time's cuisine cuty that cows don't have balls.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
GAO
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Endangered Species Act Decision Making, by Robin M. Nazzaro, director, natural resources and environment, before the House Committee on Natural Resources. GAO-08-688T, May 21. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-688T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08688thigh.pdf
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Endangered Species Act Decision Making, by Robin M. Nazzaro, director, natural resources and environment, before the House Committee on Natural Resources. GAO-08-688T, May 21. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-688T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08688thigh.pdf
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