Gallup Poll: Economy Takes Precedence Over Environment

For the first time in Gallup's 25-year history of asking Americans about the trade-off between environmental protection and economic growth, a majority of Americans say economic growth should be given the priority, even if the environment suffers to some extent. Gallup first asked Americans about this trade-off in 1984, at which time over 60% chose the environmental option. Support for the environment was particularly high in 1990-1991, and in the late 1990s and 2000, when the dot-com boom perhaps made economic growth more of a foregone conclusion. The percentage of Americans choosing the environment slipped below 50% in 2003 and 2004, but was still higher than the percentage choosing the economy. Sentiments have moved up and down over the last several years, but this year, the percentage of Americans choosing the environment fell all the way to 42%, while the percentage choosing the economy jumped to 51%. The findings reflect many recent Gallup results showing how primary the economy is in Americans' minds, and help document the fact of life that in times of economic stress, the public can be persuaded to put off or ignore environmental concerns if need be in order to rejuvenate the economy...Gallup

Gore vs. the Greens in the Golden State?

In a move that could only come straight out of Hollywood, environmental groups are trying to block the construction of solar farms in California’s Mojave Desert. Almost straight from Mel Brooks’ classic comedy “Blazing Saddles,” the projects are supported by Repower America, the clean energy advocate connected to — wait for it!!! — Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection. Despite Gore’s best intentions, at least three environmental groups are trying to nix these projects. Further complicating matters for green power enthusiasts is the opposition by a powerful California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She has announced her intention to block solar power from desert lands in the Mojave and have the acreage in question declared a national monument. Yet, the really delicious irony is that, according to the Desert Protection Council’s Larry Hogue, such projects actually run counter to Gore’s mission. Hogue said scraping deserts for solar farms could actually contribute to global warming...Fox News

EPA review of mining permits signals policy shift

Breaking with the policies of the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharpening its oversight of mountaintop coal mining to ensure projects do not harm streams and wetlands. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson on Tuesday directed the agency staff to review 150 to 200 applications for new or expanded surface coal mines, many mountaintop removal operations, pending before the federal government. The agency also recommended that two permits slated for approval by the Army Corps of Engineers be denied because the companies had not done enough to avoid and minimize damage to water quality and stream channels. The permits authorize mining companies that blast away mountaintops to access coal to dump the waste into streams and wetlands...AP

Shell official confirms thirsty nature of oil shale, denies push to ‘corner water market’

A Shell Oil official confirmed Friday that the “in-situ” oil shale production the company is researching at its Mahogany facility near Rangely currently consumes about three barrels of water for every barrel of oil produced. But, he said, contrary to recent media reports on an environmental study of energy company water rights on Colorado’s Western Slope, Shell is not trying to “corner the market on water” in the Colorado and White River basins. “We’ve been working for quite a number of years to acquire a pretty broad diversity of water rights in different areas that will allow us to have the flexibility so that we can source water from different locations so that the impacts to the agriculture and the other historical and traditional users will be minimized,” said James Thurman, a government affairs manager for Shell. A report released Wednesday by Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates (WRA) cataloged more than 200 water rights held by six different energy companies with the potential to divert 7.2 million acre-feet and store up to 2 million acre-feet of Western Slope water. By contrast, the entire Denver metro area annually consumes less than 300,000 acre-feet of water...Colorado Independent

Tracking the ‘Water Footprint’

Last week, delegates from over 100 countries converged in Istanbul for the Fifth World Water Forum. Among the many topics of discussion at the weeklong conference, which ended Sunday (World Water Day), was one that has been gaining steam for the last couple of years: “water neutrality.” The idea — conceptually analagous to minding one’s carbon footprint — is that companies ought to be tracking their water footprints as well. “Water neutrality is a relatively new idea put forward by a small number of corporations to try to address their use of water,” said Peter H. Gleick, a co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute, which is working with the United Nations to develop more robust corporate reporting of water use. There is little agreement over how water footprints should be measured...NY Times

Udall aims to shift money for land damage

Sen. Mark Udall is taking a second shot at a bill that would redirect fines for illegally damaging public lands to the federal agencies responsible for restoring that damage. Under the legislation, when violators pay fines for illegally harming public lands -- such as starting a wildfire -- the money collected could be used to help fix the damage. Now, fines are collected by the U.S. Treasury. Udall's bill, similar to legislation that failed in 2007, would allow the funds to instead go to the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior...Colorado Daily

PETA founder makes bizarre online will for animal rights

The founder of the world's largest animal rights organization wants to give Canada's parliamentarians an earful, in a bizarre online will. Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said that upon her death, she wants one of her ears "removed, mounted" and sent to Ottawa to help the government "in hearing, for the first time perhaps, the screams of the seals, bears, raccoons, foxes, and minks bludgeoned, trapped, and sometimes skinned alive for their pelts." Newkirk said that she wants her body parts to be used to draw "attention to needless animal suffering and exploitation" after her death. She asked that her other ear be displayed outside an India slaughterhouse "to remind all who do business there that the screams of the cattle who are slaughtered within its walls are heard around the world."...Calgary Herald

Estate taxes would increase under proposal before Congress

The window of opportunity may be closing on the use of family limited partnerships and similar entities in succession planning. House Resolution No. 436 was introduced on Jan. 9 by U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D. The legislation, known as The Certain Estate Tax Relief Act of 2009, would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, but its name may be a misnomer. As currently worded, H.R. 436 would hardly provide relief for U.S. taxpayers. Instead, its provisions would likely result in substantially increased estate and gift tax payments. The legislation does have some good news for taxpayers. H.R. 436 proposes to freeze the unified credit exclusion amount at $3.5 million beginning next Jan. 1, which shelters the first $3.5 million of a decedent's estate ($7 million for couples) from taxation. It would also freeze the maximum estate tax rate at 45 percent. However, it would eliminate valuation discounts on transfers and estates that hold interests in entities that are not actively traded, or are controlled by other family members. These consequences are devastating for owners of closely held family businesses, partnerships and farming entities...California Farm Bureau

Cattle Rustling Plagues Ranchers

Crashing through a gate in the dead of night, thieves using trucks and trailers recently robbed a farmer here of 53 Brahman crossbreed cows valued at some $50,000. “Those were full-grown cows,” Sheriff Joey Kyle of Christian County said. “Around 1,100 pounds apiece. That’s 53,000 pounds of beef on the hoof. Your normal stock trailer will handle a dozen to 15 cows, so do the math.” It was the first cattle theft in the county in more than two years and the largest state officials could recall. It came amid a surge of such thefts here in southwestern Missouri. In January, rustlers hauled away 41 cows in nearby Lawrence County. Investigators in Barry County report 30 head stolen in the last six months. In Greene County, Sheriff Jim Arnott said rustlers had struck 10 times since October, stealing a total of 93 cows. “It’s a big spike,” Sheriff Arnott said. “Usually we’ll go a year or two with no thefts, but it’s really picked up. In these economic times people are taking desperate measures, whether it’s stealing, or whether they’re trying to come up with money through insurance fraud.” Earlier this month, rustlers in Watertown, S.D., used tractor-trailers to steal nearly 200 cows from an auction market. State officials in Wyoming report that thieves stole 225 head of cattle in 2008, up from 90 in 2006. In Montana, where 60 cattle were recently reported missing in a series of thefts, officials described an increase in rustling since the summer, and the International Livestock Identification Association reported swelling numbers of missing-animal claims this year among its 20 member states. Equally alarming, investigators say, is a spike in cattle-related fraud. Out-of-state buyers build a relationship with an auction market, only to disappear with livestock they used in-house credit to buy but never paid for. Investigators also say that people are now falsely claiming ownership of cattle as collateral for loans. “It’s across the board,” Lee Romsa, state brand commissioner for the Wyoming Livestock Board, said. “We’re not just seeing more thefts, we’re seeing more large thefts.”...NY Times

CEM Investigation Includes More Than 700 Horses

The ongoing investigation into contagious equine metritis (CEM) now includes more than 700 exposed or positive horses, according to the USDA. The investigation began in mid-December 2008, when a Quarter Horse stallion on a Kentucky farm tested positive during routine testing for international semen shipment. According to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), as of March 24 the positive horses included 13 stallions and three mares. In addition to these horses, they had confirmed the locations of 695 horses exposed to Taylorella equigenitalis. The 711 horses were located in 46 states. There were 112 exposed or positive stallions in 19 states and 599 exposed or positive mares in 44 states. Authorities were still actively tracking six exposed mares and four exposed stallions. An exposed horse is one that was bred to a positive horse, either naturally or via artificial insemination, or one that is otherwise epidemiologically linked to a positive horse, as determined by animal health officials...The Horse

Song Of The Day #002

Born in Oklahoma but raised in the Bakersfield, Ca. area, Jean Shepard has one of purest voices of any female country singer. While playing with the Melody Ranch Girls, an all-female country band which formed in 1948, she was discovered by Hank Thompson, who helped her get a record deal with Capitol. Her first recording session was in 1953.

The selection today is her 1955 recording of Beautiful Lies, available on the 5cd collection The Melody Ranch Girl. It's also available on the 24 track Honky Tonk Heroine.





Email recipients go here to play the song.

New FOIA Memo

On March 19, the Obama administration issued a new set of guidelines to federal agencies on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), replacing Bush-era rules that many thought promoted a culture of secrecy in government. Written by Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum outlines a spirit of transparency that reflects President Obama’s Jan. 21 assertion, "In the face of doubt, openness prevails." Among other things, Holder's memo promises to defend agency decisions to withhold information only if the agency demonstrates a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to an interest protected by FOIA exemptions or statutory law. Further, the memo focuses on timeliness, declaring that "long delays should not be viewed as an inevitable and insurmountable consequence of high demand." The Holder memo also expands on the earlier discretionary disclosure language. Holder encourages agencies to not just make discretionary disclosures, but to do in so in anticipation of the public interest. This language aims to prevent agencies from being able to allege compliance with the guidance but to do so by releasing irrelevant material. He also encourages the use of technology and publication on the Internet in making this type of disclosure...OMB Watch

Go here to view the Holder memo.

U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms

The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document. The government at present has the authority to seize only banks. Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president's Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document. The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury's role, are still in flux...Washington Post

EPA Presses Obama To Regulate Warming Under Clean Air Act

The Environmental Protection Agency's new leadership, in a step toward confronting global warming, submitted a finding that will force the White House to decide whether to limit greenhouse gas emissions under the nearly 40-year-old Clean Air Act. Under that law, EPA's conclusion -- that such emissions are pollutants that endanger the public's health and welfare -- could trigger a broad regulatory process affecting much of the U.S. economy as well as the nation's future environmental trajectory. The agency's finding, which was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget without fanfare on Friday, also reversed one of the Bush administration's landmark decisions on climate change, and it indicated anew that President Obama's appointees will push to address the issue of warming despite the potential political costs. "This is historic news," said Frank O'Donnell, who heads the environmental watchdog group Clean Air Watch. "It will set the stage for the first-ever national limits on global-warming pollution. And it is likely to help light a fire under Congress to get moving." But even those who support cutting greenhouse gases warn that doing so under the Clean Air Act could be complicated. "This would be a regulatory maze far exceeding anything we've seen before," said David Schoenbrod, a professor of environmental law at the New York Law School. While the EPA's finding is not final, experts steeped in the Clean Air Act began debating yesterday what it would mean for utilities, vehicles, manufacturing plants and consumers. Kovacs predicted it could halt many of the projects funded under the just-passed economic recovery package. "This will mean that all infrastructure projects, including those under the president's stimulus initiative, will be subject to environmental review for greenhouse gases," he said...Washington Post

We all knew this was coming. The CAA & the ESA will become powerful tools for the Obama Administration, the courts and the environmental groups.

The Fight Plan for Clean Air

The Environmental Protection Agency, about to declare heat-trapping gases to be dangerous pollutants, has embarked on one of the most ambitious regulatory challenges in history. The move is likely to have a profound effect across the economic spectrum, affecting transportation, power plants, oil refineries, cement plants and other manufacturers. It sets the agency on a collision course with carmakers, coal plants and other businesses that rely on fossil fuels, which fear that the finding will impose complex and costly rules. But it may also help the Obama administration’s efforts to push through a federal law to curb carbon dioxide emissions by drawing industry support for legislation, which many companies see as less restrictive and more flexible than being monitored by a regulatory agency. And it will lay a basis for the United States in the negotiations leading up to a global climate treaty to be signed in Copenhagen in December. Once made final, the agency’s finding will pave the way for federal regulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. Earlier this month, the agency proposed creating a greenhouse-gas emissions registry, which would require industries — including oil refineries and cement makers, as well as utilities and pulp and paper manufacturers — to report how much pollution they were emitting. The endangerment proposal is another step...NY Times

UK Green Advisor: Population Must Be Cut 50%

JONATHON PORRITT, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society. Porritt’s call will come at this week’s annual conference of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), of which he is patron. The trust will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m if the country wants to feed itself sustainably. Porritt is winning scientific backing. Professor Chris Rapley, director of the Science Museum, will use the OPT conference, to be held at the Royal Statistical Society, to warn that population growth could help derail attempts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Rapley, who formerly ran the British Antarctic Survey, said humanity was emitting the equivalent of 50 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. “We have to cut this by 80%, and population growth is going to make that much harder,” he said. This is part of the thinking behind the OPT’s call for Britain to cut population to 30m — roughly what it was in late Victorian times. Britain’s population is expected to grow from 61m now to 71m by 2031. Some politicians support a reduction. Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, said: “You can’t have sustainability with an increase in population.”...London Times

Global Warming = Population Control.

Who is going to exercise this control? You can bet it will be the Politically Superior Ones.

Lands bill lassoes longtime foes

Like a long, slow-moving wagon train, an omnibus lands bill is poised to finally clear Congress this week, with Republican senators and Western outfitters riding alongside the environmental lobby they have so often fought in the past. The giant package is nearly 170 bills in one, a uniquely American mosaic covering millions of acres of wilderness, water settlements and land exchanges that have been years in the making. In this time of self-doubt and economic stress, it’s also a primer on the nation’s rich heritage: Revolutionary War battlefields, historic inventors and explorers, and the natural wonders of Mount Hood and the Copper Salmon Wilderness in Oregon. Each wagon carries its own story, but the most consistent theme is a greater emphasis on home-grown, bottoms-up settlements in the West, where lands policy has so long been dominated by swings to the right and left at the top in Washington. “This bill was never the brainchild of any national organization,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told POLITICO. “It’s more a grass-roots aggregation of bills that represent a lot of years of work in individual states. Many of the most pro-environment provisions are sponsored by Republicans.” “Balance” is the new watchword. And more than in the past, sportsman groups such as Trout Unlimited have stepped forward and brought their brand of “hook and bullet” organizing that can bring in more Republican, often small-business support. “It’s more a sportsman bill than a Sierra Club bill,” one Democratic aide said, looking back...POLITICO

Environmentalists in a Clash of Goals

As David Myers scans the rocky slopes of this desert canyon, looking vainly past clumps of brittlebush for bighorn sheep, he imagines an enemy advancing across the crags. That specter is of an army of mirrors, generators and transmission towers transforming Mojave Desert vistas like this one. While Whitewater Canyon is privately owned and protected, others that Mr. Myers, as head of the Wildlands Conservancy, has fought to preserve are not. To his chagrin, some of Mr. Myers’s fellow environmentalists are helping power companies pinpoint the best sites for solar-power technology. The goal of his former allies is to combat climate change by harnessing the desert’s solar-rich terrain, reducing the region’s reliance on carbon-emitting fuels. Mr. Myers is indignant. “How can you say you’re going to blade off hundreds of thousands of acres of earth to preserve the Earth?” he said. As the Obama administration puts development of geothermal, wind and solar power on a fast track, the environmental movement finds itself torn between fighting climate change and a passion for saving special places...NY Times

Nestle plan sets off water war

A plan to suck, truck and bottle Arkansas Valley spring water has residents here crusading against the world's largest food and beverage company. "Nestle is seeking to drain the blood of Chaffee County," said Salida local Daniel Zettler during a fiery public hearing last week. Nestle — with 12 U.S. brands of bottled water and almost $4.3 billion in North American sales in 2007 — came calling for Arkansas Valley spring water about two years ago. The company wants to draw 65 million gallons a year from an aquifer feeding two freshwater springs near Nathrop, pipe it 5 miles to a truck stop and ship it 100 miles to a Denver bottling facility. It would be sold under the company's Arrowhead brand...Denver Post

Portland timber firm at center of contested Idaho land swap

Seven former administrators of the Palouse Ranger District in Idaho are blasting a U.S. Forest Service plan to trade 28,000 acres of managed forest for about 39,000 acres of logged-over land controlled by Western Pacific Timber of Portland. John Krebs, a retired Forest Service employee, said the plan is fundamentally flawed because much of the public land has been carefully managed for the public's use. "The whole Palouse is prime," he said. "It's got old growth in it, riparian protection. It is the prime example of management. And the Forest Service has never told the public this story." Western Pacific Timber is offering to trade land it owns in northern Idaho that includes portions of the Lewis and Clark and Nez Perce National Historic Trails. Reilly has said the trade will eliminate some of the checkerboard pattern of public land in the region that makes it hard to manage. The Nez Perce Tribe and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation have supported the trade because of the historic significance and good habitat that is contained in the Upper Lochsa River Basin...AP