Senate proceeds to placeholder bill for omnibus public lands legislation

The Senate yesterday approved the first step of a Democratic plan designed to get the omnibus public lands, water and natural resources bill to the White House. By a 73-21 vote, the Senate approved a cloture motion allowing it to proceed to a placeholder bill for S. 22 (pdf), the collection of more than 160 lands and water bills it first passed in January. Senate leaders now plan to strip the contents of H.R. 146 (pdf), a proposal to protect Revolutionary War battlefields, and replace it with the omnibus lands bill in an attempt to make it palatable to the House. A cloture motion to cut off debate is likely before moving to final passage later this week. The plan demonstrates the lengths lawmakers are going to in order to avoid another lengthy delay in the Senate or a potentially difficult vote on GOP amendments in the House. Because H.R. 146 has already passed the House, the House Rules Committee could approve a closed rule that would block a motion to recommit, the House parliamentarian said last week. That would eliminate the GOP's best procedural chance to stymie the bill. House Democrats could also choose to bring up the bill under suspension again, if they believe they can reach the two-thirds threshold...NY Times

Obama Tries to Draw Up an Inclusive Energy Plan

After gasoline prices rose above $4 a gallon last summer, Republican cries of “drill, baby, drill” forced candidate Barack Obama into a rare retreat. Under pressure, he said he would support some expansion of offshore oil drilling, while still emphasizing conservation and renewable energy. Now, as the Obama administration outlines its energy plans, it is caught between oil companies, who are reminding the president of his campaign pledge, and environmental groups, who are demanding a reinstatement of the drilling ban that Congress lifted in September. The renewed fight over offshore drilling comes amid efforts by the White House to map out an ambitious new energy policy for the country. For the first time since the Carter administration, an American president is putting energy at the center of his domestic agenda. Mr. Obama must decide what strategies are most likely to achieve his goals of diversifying the nation’s fuel supplies, developing alternative energy sources, reducing oil consumption, and curbing carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. Part of that equation is what role the administration sees for domestic supplies...NY Times

Alaska begins shooting wolves from helicopters

The state has started shooting wolves from helicopters in Alaska's eastern interior hoping to turn around an unsuccessful aerial predator control program there. The project has raised concerns among officials at nearby Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, where predator control is prohibited. Department of Fish and Game workers shot and killed about 30 wolves from a helicopter Saturday in the Fortymile area east of Tok. The focus area is the Fortymile Caribou Herd's calving grounds adjacent to the national preserve. Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms said the goal is to kill another 70 wolves before breakup. That number doesn't count wolves killed by permitted private pilot-gunner teams in fixed-wing aircraft or wolves taken by trappers and hunters. The total goal for the area is 200 wolves, which would leave about 100 wolves. The state estimates between 290 and 328 wolves live in the region. Preserve superintendent Greg Dudgeon said the National Park Service was notified only on Thursday about the weekend shooting. The park service asked for a no-kill buffer zone around the preserve. Dudgeon said the state refused on the grounds that the Fortymile Caribou Herd's calving grounds rim the preserve boundary. He also requested that the state review the park service's wolf population estimates, which are lower than the state's. The state refused, saying its population estimate is based on state surveys as recent as last fall...Juneau Empire

It's nice to see a state ignoring the feds, instead of the other way around.

Go Sarah!

WMD: Weapon of Mosquito Destruction.

A quarter-century ago, American rocket scientists proposed the "Star Wars" defense system to knock Soviet missiles from the skies with laser beams. Some of the same scientists are now aiming their lasers at another airborne threat: the mosquito. In a lab in this Seattle suburb, researchers in long white coats recently stood watching a small glass box of bugs. Every few seconds, a contraption 100 feet away shot a beam that hit the buzzing mosquitoes, one by one, with a spot of red light. The insects survived this particular test, which used a non-lethal laser. But if these researchers have their way, the Cold War missile-defense strategy will be reborn as a WMD: Weapon of Mosquito Destruction. "We'd be delighted if we destabilize the human-mosquito balance of power," says Jordin Kare, an astrophysicist who once worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the birthplace of some of the deadliest weapons known to man. More recently he worked on the mosquito laser, built from parts bought on eBay. The scientists' actual target is malaria, which is caused by a parasite transmitted when certain mosquitoes bite people. Ended in the U.S. decades ago, malaria remains a major global public-health threat, killing about 1 million people annually...Fox News

I wonder what you could do if you took one of these up in a helicopter.

Jurors Recommend Death Penalty for Oyler

Raymond Lee Oyler, who was convicted of killing five firefighters who died battling the massive Esperanza wildfire that he ignited, will be put to death if a judge accepts the jury's recommendation. Jurors deliberated about a day before returning their recommendation, which is expected to be formalized by a judge at a future hearing. Oyler, 38, was convicted March 6 of five counts of first-degree murder for setting the Oct. 26, 2006, Esperanza wildfire, which swept over a U.S. Forest Service firefighting team as it tried to defend a home on a remote hilltop...MSNBC

Proposed lead ban in parks causes stir

The American Sportfishing Association, an Alexandria-based trade group, isn't happy with an arbitrary decision by the National Park Service that would ban the use of lead components in fishing tackle in all national parks by 2010. The ban also would include lead component ammunition used by hunters. An official with the trade group said it was surprised and dismayed by the announcement. "Their intention to eliminate the use of lead in fishing tackle in national parks was made without prior consultation of the sportfishing industry or the millions of recreational anglers who fish within the national park system," ASA vice president Gordon Robertson said. Robertson is particularly upset with the move because in a Jan. 21 executive memo by President Barack Obama to federal agency and department heads, the president made it clear that he wants the federal government to be "transparent, participatory and collaborative" and that "executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information." Naturally, all 60 million American sport anglers would appreciate it if government employees were to heed the president's order. For example, a lead ban would include fishermen's slip sinkers, heads of spinnerbaits and jigs, lead-based eyes on certain fly fishing poppers and streamers, any lead sinkers used by bait dunkers and tackle items. What bothers the sportfishing group and various shooting organizations is the quiet way the park service went about the lead ban...Washington Times

Ship the Mississipi to Colorado?

Before you say it, Gary Hausler already knows you think he's crazy. He's been laughed at, brushed off, shut out and talked to as if he had just busted loose from the looney bin by more people than he can remember over his idea for solving Colorado's looming water supply shortage. His plan: Build a two-story-tall, 1,200-mile-long pipeline from the Mississippi River to Colorado's Front Range to slake the state's thirst. Call it the Really, Really, Really Big Straw. "It's completely different than anyone's ever talked about before," Hausler, a rancher and former mining engineer from Gunnison, said. "It's traditional in Colorado when you need water on the eastern slope, you go to the Western Slope." Hausler is pushing this pipeline idea on his own, traveling to water roundtables, river districts and other members of the state's water establishment to make presentations on his idea. He gave a presentation to a state legislative committee and to staffers at Denver Water on Wednesday...Denver Post

Oil shale water rights acquisitions could threaten agriculture

A study by an environmental group says energy companies have acquired hundreds of water rights for oil shale development and that exercising those water rights could transform western Colorado by drying up agricultural lands. Western Resource Advocates, based in Boulder, said in the report it released Wednesday that companies own water rights allowing for more than 1.8 million acre feet of storage and more than 11,000 cubic feet per second of diversions in the Colorado and White river basins. Karin P. Sheldon, the group’s executive director, said energy companies essentially have cornered the market on Western Slope water rights. Exercising these rights for large-scale commercial oil shale development would jeopardize many agricultural uses involving junior water rights and water now leased from energy companies, and harm the ability of Western Slope and Front Range communities to meet future water needs, the group said. It found that ExxonMobil owns the most rights, with 49 conditional claims and ownership in 48 irrigation ditches. Shell holds 31 conditional rights, has ownership in five irrigation ditches and is in the process of securing rights on the Yampa River. Several other companies have water rights holdings. Among them, Chevron has 28 conditional rights and ownership in 24 irrigation ditches, and its Unocal subsidiary possesses absolute rights to another 48 wells and springs and owns 13 ditches...Grand Junction Sentinel

Valero Energy, the Oil Refiner, Wins an Auction for 7 Ethanol Plants

Valero Energy, the country’s largest independent refiner, said on Wednesday that it would buy seven ethanol plants from VeraSun Energy for $477 million, giving the biofuel industry a lift at a time when it is suffering from excess production capacity and falling gasoline consumption. VeraSun, the nation’s second-largest ethanol producer after Archer Daniels Midland, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last fall. Valero’s purchase signals important new support for a flagging industry from an unexpected quarter. In recent years, refiners have opposed Congressional mandates for refineries to blend increasing amounts of ethanol in gasoline, arguing that it made neither economic nor environmental sense. The Valero purchase of an ethanol plant is the first by a traditional refiner, pumping cash into the industry at a time of tight credit and removing a potent political opponent, at least in part. Bill Day, a spokesman for Valero, said the purchase “represents a cost savings and a recognition on Valero’s part that ethanol is going to be part of the fuel mix going forward.”...NY Times

Bat Hitches Ride to Space on Shuttle Discovery

A small bat that was spotted blasting off with the space shuttle Sunday and clinging to the back side of Discovery's external fuel tank apparently held on throughout the launch. NASA hoped the bat would fly away before the spacecraft's Sunday evening liftoff, but photos from the launch now show the bat holding on for dear life throughout the fiery ride...Fox News

I guess he took off like a bat out a hell.

NASA went on to say his prospects were "dim."

They better be glad he wasn't endangered. I mean, talk about harassment!

Congress hears ag groups argue NAIS implementation

Dissent and disagreement within the agricultural community about the future of the national animal identification program came through loud and clear during Congressional hearings last week. Animal identification, lauded by some farm groups as absolutely necessary to protect the food supply and criticized by others as a flawed program that will threaten farmers’ livelihoods, was debated before a House agriculture subcommittee March 11. The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry heard testimony that battled both sides of the issue. Subcommittee chair David Scott of Georgia told those in attendance that his personal belief was that the National Animal Identification System was “necessary” and “carries with it many benefits for producers, processors, and consumers,” including measures to keep livestock protected from disease outbreaks. Scott also said the system could save the government money while maintaining food supply safety. Livestock commodity groups, including the National Pork Producers Council and IDairy, a coalition of six U.S. dairy organizations, said a national identification system would help keep American farms viable and urged Congress to support and fund the initiative. Of specific interest to both groups were federal and state disease surveillance abilities, which they admitted would work only if and when all animals and herds are identified in a central, national database...Farm & Dairy

ATR Launches Obama Energy Tax Hike Series

Today, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) released a series of one-page documents analyzing the massive portion of the President’s budget specifically dedicated to taxing energy producers and increasing the cost for all consumers. Contained in the massive four trillion dollar budget are hundreds of billions of dollars in negative energy provisions that hurt the economy, cost American jobs, and will ultimately lead to a rise in the cost of energy. Some issue areas explored include: Cap and Trade: This $646 billion tax over 10 years will crush American competitiveness by penalizing all companies that emit carbon as a byproduct of manufacturing. Every family in America will pay this, on average, $100 billion tax every year in higher energy prices. Gulf of Mexico Taxation: Obama uses the budget to tax 25 percent of total U.S. production of oil and 15 percent of total U.S. production of natural gas from the Gulf. Prepare to pay more at the pump as the market absorbs this massive tax increase that will cost jobs in Gulf States. LIFO: Taxing LIFO reserves is a clear attempt to slap an unfair tax on energy manufacturers merely to exact a political price. The economic price will be borne by the American people, who will end up paying this “inventory tax” in the form of higher energy prices. Passive Loss: The Obama budget repeals the passive loss exception for working interests in oil and gas properties starting in 2011. This has a ten-year cost of $49 billion, and when fully phased in will increase taxes annually by $6 billion...ATR

Go here for their analysis of Gulf of Mexico Taxation.

Carbon Tax Hits All Americans

Amongst the several revenue-raising proposals in President Obama’s $3.9-trillion budget proposal is a carbon tax that will impact all American families. His budget aims to raise $646 billion through a cap-and-trade tax on energy. Last year, Peter Orszag, who was then Director of the Congressional Budget Office and is now President Obama’s Director for the Office of Management and Budget, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on a similar proposal. Speaking about a cap-and-trade proposal to cut carbon emissions by 15%, he said it would cost the average household about $1,300 a year through higher energy costs. He also noted that working class families would be hardest hit. President Obama’s current proposal aims to cut carbon emissions by more than 3 times that of last year’s proposal – 83%. John Feehery, writing in The Hill's Pundits Blog last week, noted that using Director Orszag’s analysis, this would mean that the average family will pay close to $4,000 a year, or $333 a month. The White House seems to acknowledge that the costs of this tax will impact low-income families hardest and suggests a $500-a-year subsidy. But, that doesn’t even cover two-months cost for the average family...Townhall

Bennett: I'll block deputy Interior nominee

Sen. Bob Bennett plans to block President Barack Obama's choice for deputy Interior secretary over the administration's retreat on oil and gas leases in Utah. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee expects to vote today on the nomination of David Hayes, a former energy lobbyist. But Bennett's move, under Senate rules, means Hayes will need more than a majority of votes when his nomination hits the floor. The Utah Republican said he received "inadequate responses" from Hayes to questions about why the administration shelved a lease sale of 103,000 acres of public land in Utah, some near national parks or monuments. "I am incredibly disappointed in what appears to be political posturing by the Department of the Interior," Bennett said in a statement late Tuesday. "The department has not only failed to address my concerns, but also included information in their response that is simply not true." Though it takes only a majority of senators to pass legislation or approve nominees, under Senate rules, any senator can object, forcing the body's leaders to need 60 votes for approval. Bennett specifically balked at Hayes' answer that the Bureau of Land Management had not coordinated with the National Park Service on the lease sale. "There are just too many inconsistencies in the department's story about these leases," he said, "and this nominee should not move forward until these concerns are addressed."...Salt Lake Tribune

Environmentalists, ski industry clash over summer recreation

Congress is stepping into a dispute between environmentalists and the ski industry over whether ski areas should be able to expand their summertime recreation, a move critics say could allow them to build amusement parks. Environmentalists complain that a bill introduced Monday by Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado, could lead ski areas to build water parks and roller coasters, which they say would clash with the typical uses allowed on U.S. Forest Service land. Udall's bill would allow ski areas to offer year-round recreation on land they lease from the Forest Service. Mountain biking, alpine slides and zip-lines that whiz people above forests and valleys are among the more common summertime activities pursued by ski resorts. Some 125 ski areas nationwide operate in part on federal land under a 1986 law that expressly permits skiing and ski-related recreation. "We would like recreation on national forest lands to be dependent on a natural setting and dependent upon an outdoor recreation experience," said Ryan Demmy Bidwell, executive director of Colorado Wild, an environmental group in Durango, Colo. "Urban-type recreation that could be provided in any context is not appropriate on public lands."...AP

It has nothing to do with "urban-type recreation."

It has everything to do with:

1. They can't stand for anyone to make a profit off of federal land,

2. They view human visitation as a threat to federal land, and will oppose anything which brings more people, and

3. They want federal lands limited to dispersed recreation only, creating a free playground for them and their buddies. All others keep out.

Hybrid car sales go from 60 to 0 at breakneck speed

The Ford and Honda hybrids due out this month are among dozens planned for the coming years as automakers try to meet new fuel-efficiency standards and please politicians overseeing the industry's multibillion-dollar bailout. Unfortunately for the automakers, hybrids are a tough sell these days. Americans have cut back on buying vehicles of all types as the economy continues its slide. But the slowdown has been particularly brutal for hybrids, which use electricity and gasoline as power sources. They were the industry's darling just last summer, but sales have collapsed as consumers refuse to pay a premium for a fuel-efficient vehicle now that the average price of a gallon of gasoline nationally has slipped below $2...LA Times

Sales of natural gas vehicles evaporate

Last summer, with gasoline prices in the ionosphere, interest in cars that ran on compressed natural gas (instead of the liquid stuff) surged. When oil prices collapsed ... not so much. Honda Civic GX Among the victims of the short-lived natural gas hype are car sales professionals like Alex Tissot, who, as general manager of Colonial Honda in Glendale, ordered up a mess of natural gas-powered Honda Civic GX sedans last summer, only to find them impossible to sell as the price of fuel dropped below the $2.50 mark. He and others are victims of a sales problem described in today's paper: Crashing demand for alternative powertrain vehicles as gas prices decline...LA Times

Green Jobs: Myth or Reality?

The debate over the impact of "green" jobs on the economy continues. The latest salvo came Monday from a group of university researchers seeking to shoot down studies showing that spending billions of dollars on stimulus for renewable energy, energy efficiency and "smart grid" will help employ millions of people. Not so fast, the researchers said – many of those jobs will simply be shifted from existing "fossil fuel-based sectors," and others shouldn't be classified as "green" at all. Instead of spending government money on backing those industries, the authors of the "Seven Myths about Green Jobs" report want the free market to guide where job growth happens...greentechmedia

This is from the abstract of the research paper:

A rapidly growing literature promises that a massive program of government mandates, subsidies, and forced technological interventions will reward the nation with an economy brimming with green jobs. Not only will these jobs improve the environment, but they will be high paying, interesting, and provide collective rights. This literature is built on mythologies about economics, forecasting, and technology.

Myth: Everyone understands what a green job is.

Reality: No standard definition of a green job exists.

Myth: Creating green jobs will boost productive employment.

Reality: Green jobs estimates include huge numbers of clerical, bureaucratic, and administrative positions that do not produce goods and services for consumption.

Myth: Green jobs forecasts are reliable.

Reality: The green jobs studies made estimates using poor economic models based on dubious assumptions.

Myth: Green jobs promote employment growth.

Reality: By promoting more jobs instead of more productivity, the green jobs described in the literature encourage low-paying jobs in less desirable conditions. Economic growth cannot be ordered by Congress or by the United Nations. Government interference - such as restricting successful technologies in favor of speculative technologies favored by special interests - will generate stagnation...

Myth: Imposing technological progress by regulation is desirable.

Reality: Some technologies preferred by the green jobs studies are not capable of efficiently reaching the scale necessary to meet today's demands and could be counterproductive to environmental quality.

In this Article, we survey the green jobs literature, analyze its assumptions, and show how the special interest groups promoting the idea of green jobs have embedded dubious assumptions and techniques within their analyses. Before undertaking efforts to restructure and possibly impoverish our society, careful analysis and informed public debate about these assumptions and prescriptions are necessary.

Drunk On Subsidies - Green Beer

You have probably heard of green buildings, green cars and, perhaps, even green phones. But were you aware that green beer is flowing from the taps of some U.S. breweries, and not the kind for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow? Among the leaders of the movement is Lucky Labrador Brewing Company in Portland, Ore., which for the past year has been saving big bucks by using solar energy to heat water used in the brewing process. Lucky Labrador's first green beer, "Solar Flare Ale," was an instant sensation when it was introduced in February 2008, according to brewery co-owner Gary Geist. Sales spiked in the month following the beer's debut, Geist says. But, he notes that going solar is more about long-term benefits than about temporary sales spurts. He says the entire system, which includes 16 solar panels on the brewery roof, cost about $70,000 up front but that it ended up costing only about $6,000, thanks to a $21,000 (30 percent) federal tax credit, a $35,000 (50 percent) state tax credit, and an $8,000 incentive from the Energy Trust of Oregon (a nonprofit that assists businesses taking steps to reduce their gas and electrical energy consumption)...Scientific American

Why can't green products compete on a level playing field? I mean, if beer can't compete, what the hell can?

Numbers of wolves increase again

Federal officials say a record 1,645 gray wolves counted in the Northern Rockies this winter shows the predators' population remains strong but is no longer expanding as rapidly as in past years. Since their reintroduction to the region in the mid-1990s, wolf numbers had previously grown on average by 24 percent annually in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. This year's figure is up only 8 percent, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Ed Bangs. Bangs said the slowdown - combined with increasing numbers of livestock killed by the animals - signals that wolves have filled most prime habitat in the three states. "The population is getting to about as many as you're going to have," he said. "There's a big, healthy population in the Northern Rocky Mountains," he said. "At some point, the suitable habitat will be filled with wolves and the population just won't grow any more." The government's annual winter wolf count found 497 of the predators in Montana, 302 in Wyoming and 846 in Idaho. Livestock kills by wolves spiked more than 40 percent, with 601 cattle, sheep, llamas, dogs and other domestic animals killed. In response government wildlife agents and ranchers killed 264 wolves last year, or about one of every six wolves in the entire population. That included 21 entire packs...Billings Gazette