Gov't Forcing Wildlife Group to Identify Who Leaked Controversial Draft Rules

The inspector general for the Commerce Department is trying to force a prominent environmental group to reveal who leaked the Bush administration's plans to weaken the Endangered Species Act just weeks before President Barack Obama took office. The investigation was triggered by Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, senior Republican on the Committee on Environment and Public Works. The case suggests that, under at least certain circumstances, the government will continue to pursue and identify federal employees who disclose sensitive documents about controversial U.S. policies -- a common practice under the Bush administration. The Obama administration last week put the disputed environmental plans on hold, and Obama said previously he opposed the move, which limits scientific reviews of projects that might harm endangered wildlife and plants. But that hasn't stopped the Commerce Department's inspector general, Todd Zinser, who in a highly unusual move sent an administrative subpoena to the National Wildlife Federation. The subpoena demanded documents that would identify who leaked the draft environmental rules, which were not marked sensitive, secret or otherwise confidential or classified...CNS News

PROPERTY RIGHTS LINKED TO ECONOMIC SECURITY?

Countries that protect the physical and intellectual property of their people enjoy nearly nine times higher gross domestic product per capita than countries ranking lowest in property rights protections, according to the "2009 International Property Rights Index (IPRI). The study compared the protections of physical and intellectual property to economic stability in 115 countries representing 96 per cent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP).

The 2009 IPRI is a composite ranking of three comprehensive areas of property rights: Legal and Political Environment, Physical Property Rights, and Intellectual Property Rights:

* Of the 115 countries included, the top quartile averaged $39,991 in GDP per capita while the average in the bottom twenty per cent was only $4,341 per capita.
* The second, third and fourth quartiles averaged $23,982, $11,748, and $4,891 respectively.
* The nearly linear data trend shows that countries placing a high priority on property rights see increased economic security.

"With regard to private property rights, PRA continues to champion the idea that physical and intellectual property are equally important in nature, and must be protected" states Kelsey Zahourek, PRA executive director. "Property rights contribute to increased levels of stability and provide people with the knowledge and comfort that their property will remain theirs."

Hernando De Soto said this year's results "continue to point out the relationship between a strong property rights system and a country's economic well-being, revealing that much still needs to be done to extend property rights to more people, especially the poor."

Source: Anne Chandima Dedigama et al., "International Property Rights Index: 2009 Report," Property Rights Alliance, February 24, 2009.

For text:

http://internationalpropertyrights.org/atr_Final1.pdf

NCPA

Pelosi's Carbon Footprint With Military Aircraft

Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is the Jennifer Lopez of congressional travel—fickle, demanding and notoriously insensitive to the time, costs and energy needed to accommodate her endless demands. On Tuesday, the indispensable government watchdog Judicial Watch released a trove of public records through the Freedom of Information Act on Pelosi’s travel arrangements with the U.S. military. As speaker of the House, Pelosi is entitled to a reasonable level of military protection and transport. But it’s the size of the planes, the frequency of requests and last-minute cancellations, and the political nature of many of her trips that scream out for accountability. And, of course, it’s the double-barreled hypocrisy. There’s the eco-hypocrisy of the Democratic leader who wags her finger at the rest of us for our too-big carbon footprints, and crusades for massive taxes and regulation to reduce global warming. Another official pointed out the “hidden costs” associated with the speaker’s last-minute changes and cancellations. “We have … folks prepping the jets and crews driving in (not a short drive for some), cooking meals and preflighting the jets etc.” Upset that a specific type of aircraft was not available to her boss, a Pelosi staffer carped to the DoD coordinators: “This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset speaker.”...Michelle Malkin

The Politically Superior Ones don't worry about their carbon footprint, they are just gonna force you to lessen yours.

I do hope someone will tote hers up.

U.S. House of Representatives Quietly Scraps Plan to Become ‘Carbon Neutral’

It was a bold promise: the House would "lead by example" to fight global warming, becoming the first legislative body in the world to zero out its carbon impact on the planet. But the promise may have been too bold. The House quietly shelved the idea late last month, the word delivered in an e-mail to a couple of reporters. It turned out that the House's goal to become carbon neutral -- by removing as much carbon dioxide from the air as it releases -- could not be guaranteed. The House already had spent $89,000 to cancel out 24,000 tons of emissions that it couldn't erase by turning out lights, buying better light bulbs and making the Capitol's power plant burn more natural gas. The money bought "offsets," which fund projects that reduce greenhouse gases, such as capturing methane from farm manure ponds, that supposedly wouldn't have happened without the investment. It also bought bragging rights for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other congressional leaders. "The House must lead by example and it is time for Congress to act on its own carbon footprint," Pelosi said in April 2007, when she announced the "Green the Capitol" initiative. "Today, we announce our intention to operate the House in a carbon-neutral manner at the earliest possible date, with a deadline of the end of this Congress" in December 2008...CNS News

The Politically Superior Ones say, "Do as we say, not as we do."

Hunters lose dogs to wolves

Darby lion hunters Paul Converse and Luke Bush thought they had done everything right when they let Suzy and Jody free on the mountain lion track early Sunday afternoon. The two men spent most of the morning looking for wolf signs around Bertie Lord Creek in the East Fork of the Bitterroot. They hadn’t seen a single track. “If I see a wolf track, I don’t turn out my dogs,” Bush said. “We don’t turn out on old tracks either. We do what we can to make sure the dogs don’t run far. We’ve made adjustments to help protect our dogs.” Both men had lost dogs to wolves before. At about noon, the men released their Walker hounds on a fresh mountain lion track at Jennings Camp. They knew the lion was close and the chase would be short. An hour later, both dogs were dead. The dogs were wearing radio transmitter collars that allowed the men to track them. A mercury switch in the transmitter also let the men know when the dogs turned their heads upward toward a treed lion. “I know they treed the lion,” Converse said. “And then I beeped both dogs again and they weren’t moving. I knew right then what had happened. I knew it was over.” Using headlamps to light the way, Converse and his son found his dog dead close to midnight. “She was chomped top to bottom,” Converse said. “There were wolf tracks everywhere.” About a third of a mile away, they found Bush’s dog dead...Ravalli Republic (Montana)

MIT Researchers Identify Potent New Greenhouse Gas

The unintended law of consequences strikes again. The 20-year old campaign to save the ozone layer has led to the widespread industrial use of a greenhouse gas 4,800 times more potent than carbon dioxide. How did we get here? The 1987 Montreal Protocol was established to limit emissions of chlorofluorocarbons and other gases that deplete the ozone layer, the big worry in the 1980s. One of the targeted compounds was methyl bromide, which was widely used in fumigation to kill weevils and mice and other pests that threaten food supplies. Methyl bromide was phased out in 2005. Dow Chemical’s AgroSciences unit came to the rescue, dusting off research on an old compound called sulfuryl fluoride, which has now become the standard fumigant. Just one problem, say researchers at MIT: Sulfuryl fluoride lasts a lot longer in the atmosphere than expected and is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide...WSJ

AT&T will spend $565 million on alternative-fuel vehicles

AT&T is making the largest ever commitment by an American company to purchase alternative-fuel vehicles, CEO Randall Stephenson told the Economic Club of Washington on Wednesday. "My No. 1 job is long-term growth," he said. "I only know of one way to do that and that's by investing in areas that drive sustainable growth." The company plans to make two investments amounting to $565 million to increase the number of alternative-fuel vehicles it uses from 100 to 15,000 by 2020. Over the next five years, AT&T will spend $350 million to purchase 8,000 vehicles that run on compressed natural gas. The new vehicles AT&T will buy will be built by the U.S. auto industry and should produce 25 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional vehicles, Stephenson said. AT&T will also spend $215 million to replace nearly all of its 7,100 passenger vehicles over the next 10 years with alternative-fuel vehicles, starting with electric hybrids. With these two investments, AT&T expects to reduce its gasoline consumption over the next 10 years by 49 million gallons...CNET News

Rain or Shine, Environmentalists Want to Control Us

...It’s not the planet that’s running out of time — it’s the environmentalists. The warming of the earth has flatlined like Tom Daschle’s political career. In fact, now the theme –- even from the global warming camp is … (drum roll, please) we could have up to three decades of cooling. Michael Reilly, of Discovery News, summed it up well: “Earth’s climate continues to confound scientists.” He quoted a new study by Kyle Swanson of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, saying “global warming may have hit a speed bump and could go into hiding for decades.” Just as the global warming reality is cooling, the opposition is heating up. This week marked the second annual “International Conference on Climate Change” in New York, sponsored by The Heartland Institute. It brought together hundreds of climate skeptics from around the world and was headlined by European Union President Vaclav Klaus. Klaus got to the heart of the matter during his opening night address. The climate debate isn’t just about temperature, he told the gathering of scientists and public policy experts. He said “environmentalists want to change us and our behavior” because “their mission is control.”...Fox News

Cattle grazing allowed to continue, but criticized for endangered species impacts, by federal court in Idaho

Western Watersheds Project v. Dyer

SUMMARY: Western Watersheds Project, an environmental group, brought this lawsuit to ban livestock grazing in certain areas of the Jarbidge Field Office, 1.4 million acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Western Watersheds Project (WWP) alleges that continued grazing destroys what little habitat remains for imperiled species like the sage grouse, pygmy rabbit, and slickspot peppergrass...

RULING: The Court held ten days of evidentiary hearings, listening to testimony and examining thousands of pages of documents. In these Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the Court finds (1) that three sensitive species in the JFO--the sage grouse, pygmy rabbit, and slickspot peppergrass--are in serious decline; (2) that livestock grazing is an important factor in that decline; (3) that the current management plan (known as a Resource Management Plan or RMP) governing the JFO is currently being revised by the BLM through the preparation of a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) designed to describe the ecological status of the JFO and identify the environmental impacts of activities, including grazing; (4) that the BLM has committed to preparing new grazing permits across the JFO when the new RMP is completed; (5) that in its 2008 grazing authorizations, the BLM misinterpreted the existing RMP, especially by viewing the RMP's requirements for protection of sensitive species as mere suggestions; (6) that the existing RMP is more protective of sensitive species than it has previously been interpreted by the BLM; (7) that the BLM is directed to correct its interpretation as it considers authorizing grazing for the 2009 grazing season and beyond; (8) that a ban on grazing is not required by law at this point as the Court is confident in the BLM's ability to modify the grazing to be authorized in the 2009 grazing season to accord with the Court's interpretation of the existing RMP; (9) that environmental studies in addition to the ongoing EIS are not required by law at this time; and (10) that the BLM's fencing and closure criteria decisions were consistent with legal requirements.

From the ESA Blawg

Time proves ranchers and ecologists can agree on the Vina Plains

The conservancy obtained a conservation easement on the Vina Plains in 1982 and began managing it with the intent to protect it from the ravages of cattle ranching. Soon, visitors arriving to the land about 12 miles north of Chico, mistakenly headed for the private cattle ranch on the preserve's north boundary. From beyond the fence they could see thriving wildflowers. Problem was, they were already standing on the preserve that had been "protected" from grazing. Up until about 10 years ago, Reiner explained, ecologists thought grazed land was damaged land, that wildflowers got trampled and pristine vernal pools got spoiled. In the past decade, that thinking has changed — and with good evidence to back it up. Reiner, who holds a doctorate in range management, said ecologists have found that wildflowers do best when growing in spots with low grasses, those native to the Northern California plains. High grasses brought in by pioneers through planting and animal feed tend to grow too high to allow for wildflowers — among them Goldfields, Shooting Star, Meadow Foam — to get enough sun. Grazing cattle go for the high grasses. "Livestock performs the service of weed control," Reiner said...Chico Enterprise-Record

Oklahoma Equine Dentist Faces Felony Charges

Professional rodeo rider Bobby Griswold is facing felony charges in Oklahoma for practicing equine dentistry without a veterinary medical license. Griswold is not a veterinarian, but he graduated from an equine dental school. He was arrested March 4 in Oklahoma City by an Oklahoma Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners investigator and Oklahoma City Police. The charge carries penalties of between $1,000 and $10,000 in fines, one to four years' imprisonment, or both. He is free on bond, and no court date has been set. Griswold is the first person charged under a 2008 law that amended Oklahoma's Veterinary Practice Act to allow felony charges against equine dentists who do not hold a veterinary license. "AAEP's position is that equine dentistry is the practice of equine medicine, and it should be performed by a veterinarian," said AAEP Director of Industry Relations Keith Kleine. But not all veterinarians agree that equine dentistry should be left solely to graduates of veterinary school. Tom Allen, DVM, who's also certified through the International Association of Equine Dentistry, argues that nonveterinarians who complete equine dental school programs master specific skills some veterinary school graduates never acquire."Graduates of equine dentistry schools put in hundreds of hours studying dental technique," he said. "Veterinarians are not required to demonstrate any proficiency in equine dentistry in order to be licensed."...The Horse

Rounding up rattlesnakes - 123 tons so far

Long before Sweetwater made its name as the “Wind Energy Capital,” there was the Jaycee’s World’s Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up. It’s a safe bet that both the wind and rattlesnakes will be around long enough for Sweetwater to keep a firm grip on both titles. The 51st annual rattlesnake roundup gets under way today with a parade at 4:30 p.m., followed by the 50th annual Miss Snake Charmer Pageant. Special guest will be the winner of the first-ever Miss Snake Charmer title, Nelda Smith Hedges of North Carolina. She also will serve as grand marshal of the parade. Even if cool, rainy weather cuts down on the haul of Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes, area hotels and restaurants are sure to profit from the annual event that draws up to 30,000 visitors from all 50 states and several foreign countries. "It almost triples the size of Sweetwater on that weekend," said Riley Sawyers, publicity chairman. Hunters get paid for their catch, Sawyers said, but in order to control the number of snakes caught, the per-pound payment drops incrementally from $5 for the first 2,000 pounds of snakes down to $1.50. Hunters are conservationists, Sawyers said, and don't want to deplete the snake population by over-hunting. Apparently the strategy works because the average total poundage has remained about the same year after year. Since 1958, about 123 tons of snakes have been caught...Abilene Reporter-News

President may send Guard to Mexican border

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he is considering new border security measures, including the possibility of National Guard deployments, to combat the spillover of violence by Mexican drug cartels. While saying that he wanted to avoid "militarizing'' the nation's long southern border, Mr. Obama said: "We're going to examine whether, and if, National Guard deployments would make sense and in what circumstances they would make sense as part of this overall review of our border situation. "I haven't drawn any conclusions yet. I don't have a particular tipping point in mind," he added."I think it's unacceptable if you've got drug gangs crossing our borders and killing our citizens."...Post-Gazette

'Virtual fence' gets second chance on border

The Homeland Security Department is accelerating plans to build a costly and long-troubled "virtual fence" of sensors and cameras along the U.S.-Mexican border, aided by $100 million from the economic stimulus package. The government already has spent $600 million and built a failed prototype of the high-tech network that would be used by border agents to try to catch illegal immigrants and drug runners. A 28-mile test patch built in Arizona over the past two years had so many problems that it was scrapped. The department is now embarking on what its officials and members of Congress are calling a "do-over" on the same land near Tucson and another along 30 miles in Ajo, Ariz. Some question whether Boeing, the government contractor for the job, should be allowed to continue with the multiyear, $6.7 billion project after botching the first effort. Its pole cameras and radar and communications systems didn't work well and couldn't be used effectively by border agents...USA Today

Terrorist watch list hits 1 million, up 32%

The government's terrorist watch list has hit 1 million entries, up 32% since 2007. Federal data show the rise comes despite the removal of 33,000 entries last year by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center in an effort to purge the list of outdated information and remove people cleared in investigations. It's unclear how many individuals those 33,000 records represent — the center often uses multiple entries, or "identities," for a person to reflect variances in name spellings or other identifying information. The remaining million entries represent about 400,000 individuals, according to the center. People put on the watch list by intelligence and law enforcement agencies can be blocked from flying, stopped at borders or subjected to other scrutiny. About 95% of the people on the list are foreigners, the FBI says, but it's a source of frequent complaints from U.S. travelers. In the past two years, 51,000 people have filed "redress" requests claiming they were wrongly included on the watch list, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In the vast majority of cases reviewed so far, it has turned out that the petitioners were not actually on the list, with most having been misidentified at airports because their names resembled others on it...USA Today

Drug Smugglers Using Ultralights to Cross Border

Smugglers facing strengthened border defenses have turned to an old and risky tactic -- using single-seat ultralight aircraft to fly marijuana loads into the country. Officials know of at least three such attempts in recent months -- all of which ended badly for the smugglers -- but they don't know how many others have been made or whether any have been successful. The incidents are worrisome to federal officials. They believe more such attempts are happening or will be, though there's no agreement on whether use of the small aluminum tubing aircraft represents a trend or a novelty. "If the cartels feel they're successful, they'll go with it," said Rick Crocker, deputy special agent in charge with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Tucson. "If we can shut it down, they'll go with other means." The recent flights all came late at night at different points along the Arizona-Mexico border, the busiest region for smugglers...AP

‘Undeclared War’ on Mexican Border Greater Challenge than Afghanistan, Congressmen Say

The violence along the U.S.-Mexico border is the biggest threat to the nation’s security, members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security said at back-to-back hearings on Tuesday. The two back-to-back hearings on border security and the drug cartel-induced violence along the U.S. Mexico border, which lasted four hours, revealed details about the ongoing violence in Mexico as the drug cartels battle the police and military for access to smuggling routes that bring drugs into the United States and money and guns into Mexico. Witnesses said drug dealers use gliders and a massive network of tunnels to surpass border security, including the 610 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing that’s been constructed along the border. The hearing included discussion on a wide range of issues, including the progress and funding of the 2005 Secure Border Initiative and the treatment of women and children who are detained for illegally entering the country. But Culberson said the answer to the border question has already been found in the Del Rio section of Texas where a “zero tolerance” operation, dubbed Operation Streamline, has resulted in approximately 80 percent of people who cross into the country illegally being arrested. “It’s a great success story,” Culberson said. “This is, Mr. Chairman, the win-win situation we are looking for.”...CNS News

Public Lands Bill Defeated in House

For now, the mega-public lands bill that would have greatly expanded public wilderness areas, parks and miles and miles of public trails, is stalled. House Republicans managed to maintain enough opposition to the omnibus measure to defeat the measure earlier today in a vote requiring two-thirds of the House members, by 282-144. House Democratic leaders had brought the bill to the floor under suspension of the rules, as a way to keep the opposition from altering the legislation through amendments. But getting two-thirds remained dicey. Democrats tried to persuade Republicans (and conservative Democrats) that the bills were gun-friendly by the insertion of an amendment that would have prohibited any effort to close lands in the omnibus to hunting and fishing, but many Republicans still believed the legislation did not include enough gun rights protections (see below). Three Democrats voted no; 34 Republicans voted with Democrats; and six did not vote. It fell two votes short of passage. Beyond guns, the House Republican leadership had complained all along that the total size of the bill was extraordinary, and would cost billions of dollars. It also opposed the legislation on the grounds that many pieces of the omnibus, totaling more than 150 bills that would have created new national parks, expanded the boundaries of existing one, created monuments or “heritage areas” and nationalized trails, had never been thoroughly examined in the House. A senior Democratic aide in the House said the best option under consideration would be to have the Senate shoehorn it onto another bill and ship it back. House Democratic leaders have not definitively ruled out a floor vote using a simpler rule, needing only a majority for passage, but that move would leave the measure wide open for amendments. As for the ever-present gun lobby, an amendment by Democrat Jason Altmire, Democrat of Pennsylvania, was meant to assuage those concerned about hunting and fishing rights. And Democrats’ pointed to the N.R.A.’s satisfaction with that amendment. But Gun Owners of America sent out a letter this week objecting to the overall omnibus on many grounds, and urged House members to vote against it...NY Times

Lawmakers, ranchers warn Army on Pinon Canyon lease

News that Army officials were preparing to announce a lease agreement to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site rankled key Colorado lawmakers Tuesday as well as surrounding landowners. They say the Pentagon still has not justified the proposed expansion and is defying Congress in pursuing any acquisition in the face of a federal budget moratorium on the expansion. Rep. John Salazar, whose 3rd Congressional District includes Pinon Canyon, said he will oppose the Army acquiring additional land around the 238,000-acre training site - through purchase or lease - until Army officials guarantee that eminent domain will not be used against any landowner, a step Army officials have said they cannot legally offer. Salazar said he repeated his opposition to Keith Eastin, the Army's assistant secretary for installations, a week ago when Eastin asked him to support a lease agreement with Denver businessman Craig Walker, which would give the Army access to Walker's 70,000 acres south of the training area. "Those of us in Congress cannot limit what Craig Walker wants to do with his property, but we can decide how the Defense Department spends its money," said Salazar, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee...Pueblo Chieftain

I don't understand why the Army "cannot legally offer" to forgo eminent domain. Is it against the law to NOT use eminent domain? Show me that statute. If there is no such law, then the Army can "legally offer" to only deal with willing sellers. They may not want to limit their authority, but they can certainly "legally" do so.

I don't believe the Army needs this land, which I addressed in this previous post:


"The Base Structure Report(pdf) for FY 2008 contains the land profile for the Department of Defense. The introduction to the report states, "The Depart of Defense remains one of the world's largest 'landlords' with a physical plant consisting of more than 545,700 facilities (buildings, structures and linear structures) located on more than 5400 sites, on approximately 30 million acres."

The land profile further refines that to 29.8 million acres owned or controlled by DOD. More than 98% of the land is in the US, with the Army managing 52% and the Air Force 33%.

29.8 million acres equals 46,562.5 square miles. How do you put that in perspective? Let's try this: Of the Thirteen Original Colonies, six of them (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire & Massachusetts) would fit into the land mass controlled by DOD, with 8359 square miles or 5.3 million acres left over. In other words, you could add another New Jersey.

29.8 million acres and they don't have enough land to practice? They may have a turf problem or a setting of priorities problem, but they don't have a lack of land problem."

EPA Wants Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reports

The Environmental Protection Agency wants to require companies for the first time to disclose how much greenhouse gases they're releasing. "Our efforts to confront climate change must be guided by the best possible information," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said Tuesday. "This is a critical step toward helping us better protect our health and environment –- all without placing an onerous burden on our nation’s small businesses.” EPA is proposing mandatory reporting of the gases blamed for global warming at approximately 13,000 facilities nationwide which account for about 85-90 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. The facilities include refineries, automobile manufacturers, power plants, coal mines and large manure ponds at farms. The information EPA gathers will be needed if it decides to control greenhouse gases or if Congress passes a law limiting the pollution. EPA said the expected costs to the private sector to comply with the reporting requirements be $160 million for the first year and about $127 million annually in subsequent years...Internet Broadcasting Systems