“Advanced” biofuels lag behind mandate

EISA mandates the sale of 100 million gallons of advanced biofuel in 2009 and 200 million gallons in 2010 (see p. 6 of this presentation). For years, biofuel lobbyists have been telling us that advanced biofuels are “just around the corner.” But, Matt Carr of the Biotechnology Industry Organization estimated last month that in 2010 volumes will, optimistically, reach only 12 million gallons, Leber reports. In a sop to the corn lobby, the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill would suspend for five years the EISA requirement for life-cycle analysis to determine whether biofuels qualify as “advanced” or even as “renewable.” Several life-cycle analyses indicate that corn ethanol produces more greenhouse gases than the gasoline it replaces, once emissions from land use changes are taken into account. The Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade bill does not contain the five-year hold on life-cycle analysis, and the uncertainty as to which biofuels will qualify under future EPA implementing rules ”chills the investment community,” Carr complains. I’d put the point differently: Strong evidence that corn ethanol is not “climate friendly” jeopardizes the political rents that corn growers and ethanol distillers hoped to extract from climate hysteria. Leber also notes that, “the industry is also concerned about ambiguous language in both the Senate and House versions of the bill that does not clearly exempt the biofuels component of blended petroleum fuels, such as E10 and E85, from an economy-wide carbon cap.” Did you get that? The corn-ethanol lobby invoked climate doom to sell biofuel mandates to Congress and the public. But now they say the centerpiece of regulatory climate policy — the cap in “cap and trade” — should not apply to biofuels, even though biofuels emit CO2, and even though several life-cycle analyses indicate that corn-ethanol is more carbon-intensive than gasoline. One law for me, another for thee!...read more

Ethanol May Not Need Its U.S. Tax Credit, GAO Finds

Congress should consider revising or ending the 45 cent-a-gallon tax credit for blending corn ethanol with gasoline, the Government Accountability Office said. The credit “may no longer be needed to stimulate conventional corn ethanol production because the domestic industry has matured,” GAO said in an Aug. 25 report posted on the investigative agency’s Web site today. Ethanol production “is well understood, and its capacity is already near” a 15 billion gallon-a-year congressional requirement for conventional ethanol, the report found. GAO estimated the tax credit supporting conventional corn ethanol production could cost the U.S. $6.75 billion in lost revenue by 2015, up from $4 billion last year...read more

Senate Democrats Push N.M., Ore. Wilderness Bills

The Senate Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee plans will meet Thursday to review bills that would put land in New Mexico and Oregon off-limits to energy developers and timber companies. S. 1689 (pdf), would designate approximately 250,000 acres in the Organ Mountains of New Mexico as federally protected wilderness and incorporate an additional 100,000 acres as national conservation areas. "The Organ Mountains are the backdrop for one of the most breathtaking scenic views in our state. Doña Ana County residents have been working for years to develop plans that would ensure these views are protected," said Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), the bill's sponsor. "I'm very glad that we now have a bill that will do just that, even while ensuring the public continues to have access to this extraordinary space." Not everyone is sure the public would continue to have enough access. Wilderness designations prohibit almost all motorized equipment and transportation on public lands, with some exceptions made to allow ranchers to use motorized vehicles to maintain grazing facilities. But some ranchers are concerned those exceptions are too narrow to get the job done, and instead want to create a new land-management designation that preserves the area from energy development but maintains their access. "Not all lands need to be completely locked up like under the Wilderness Act," said Jerry Schickedanz, chairman of People for Preserving Our Western Heritage, who is scheduled to testify at the hearing. The group is also concerned that restrictions on law enforcement within a wilderness designation would complicate the U.S. Border Patrol's efforts to battle drug cartels. Under the bill, lands necessary for effective law enforcement would be exempted from the designation, according to a fact sheet on Bingaman's Web site...read more

Ag groups unhappy with Senate climate bill

The Senate climate bill is receiving critical reviews from agriculture groups who have powerful friends on Capitol Hill. Groups like The American Farm Bureau and the National Corn Growers Association say one of their biggest problems with the bill is how it addresses carbon offsets, which could be a boon to farmers that switch to farm methods that lower carbon emissions. The ag lobbies say, however, that the Senate bill does not guarantee farm practices would qualify. Rick Krause, a lobbyist at the Farm Bureau, said the Senate bill only encourages that agricultural practices be considered as offsets, whereas the House bill authored by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) guarantees they do. The Senate bill “is a step backward from the House bill,” said Krause, whose group also opposed the House measure. Another area of concern is what federal agency should define an offset – the Environmental Protection Agency or the United States Department of Agriculture. The issue held up the House climate bill too. Eventually Waxman and Markey yielded to farm state concerns expressed by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and gave the authority to the USDA. The Senate bill, though, tries to split the difference, giving the president the power to decide which agency will have ultimate authority...read more

The ag groups should be ashamed of themselves. They should oppose this bill on scientific, economic and constitutional grounds, not some bureacratic nitpicking.

Downstream from dam, valley residents and businesses prepare for worst

The Green River snakes out of the Cascades into southwest King County, where wary residents watch it like a fuse. Since a January storm damaged the Howard Hanson Dam, the valley has been readying for the possibility that this thin, lazy stream might swell into that area's worst flood in nearly half a century. Apartment renters have broken leases and paid penalties to move away, while some homeowners have designed scaffolding to hoist possessions to keep them dry. Businesses have trucked in dirt and pallets of sandbags, and stacked 4,300-pound concrete blocks around their doorways. The dramatic and sometimes expensive precautions come amid a recession that already has many businesses and individuals teetering toward financial ruin. And some fear the safeguards won't even work...read more

Raccoons attack woman

A 74-year-old woman is recovering from injuries she received after being attacked by five raccoons at her front door Saturday evening, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. Gretchen Whitted of Lakeland was seriously injured in the attack that happened about 5:30 p.m. at her home at 1210 Waterford Drive, the sheriff's office said. "She was gashed open around her legs," said Sheriff Grady Judd. "We're not talking about a lot of little bites here. "She was filleted," he said. Whitted heard a noise outside her house and saw five raccoons in her back yard. They then migrated to her front yard. She opened the front door of her home to wave the critters away, but when she did, they attacked her, biting and scratching her legs. Whitted fell and the animals continued to attack her...read more

HT: Outdoor Pressroom

FTC to Regulate Blogging

The Federal Trade Commission will try to regulate blogging for the first time, requiring writers on the Web to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The FTC said Monday its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final Web guidelines, which had been expected. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could bring fines up to $11,000 per violation. Bloggers or advertisers also could face injunctions and be ordered to reimburse consumers for financial losses stemming from inappropriate product reviews. The commission stopped short of specifying how bloggers must disclose conflicts of interest. Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC's advertising practices division, said the disclosure must be "clear and conspicuous," no matter what form it will take...read more

Ag. secretary: Dairy industry must restructure

The struggling U.S. dairy industry must be restructured to avoid cycles of boom and bust, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday, less than a week after Congress announced a $350 million dairy bailout. Dairy farmers benefited in recent years from higher milk prices and growing demand in countries such as China. But demand fell off with the economic downturn, and wholesale milk prices began plummeting last fall. At the same time, feed and other costs remained high. Many farmers now say they can't sell their milk for what it costs to produce. "I think really what will be next in line is a longer term discussion about whether or not we need to make structural changes in the way the dairy industry is currently operated so we no longer have these rather stark contrasts between boom and bust," Vilsack said during a visit to South Dakota. Vilsack said he would like to get federal aid into farmers' hands as soon as possible...read more

If anything needs to be restructured, its USDA.

Vilsack, give me a holler and I will share with you my restructure plan.

Here's a hint: you'll be able to return to Iowa.

Animal Guardianship and Horses

Imagine that overnight a new state law goes into effect declaring that from now on you do not own your animals but rather you are their "guardian." Does this sound farfetched? Some local communities have already made this change The first legal step on this road has been the addition of "owner-guardian" language to local ordinances, then changing the wording to "guardian" only. One state now has "owner-guardian" as a part of its law, and various federal agencies are using the word “guardian” in conjunction with "owner" whenever the latter appears in their regulations. Animal guardianship advocates suggest that referring to the human-animal relationship as one of guardianship rather than ownership will lead to better animal care. There is little basis for this assertion; an abusive animal owner would likely be an abusive animal "guardian." While local ordinances to date have generally applied only to dogs, cats, and other companion animals, a next step would be to expand such laws to include all domestic animals. With the groundwork in place, guardianship advocates could then move to the state level. "Ownership" and "guardianship" are two distinct legal terms. The first is an expression and protection of the property owner’s legal rights, while the second imposes numerous legal duties and obligations on the guardian. Today as an animal owner, you can decide the animals' care and future as long as you are not abusive, cruel, or neglectful: what to feed or where to house them; which animals to breed them with; what veterinary care to provide; whether to sell them, put them down, or include them in your Will. If the law changes and you no longer own your horses but instead become their "guardian," you will always have to act in the horses’ best interest. As you can well imagine, there will be many times when your horses’ best interests are not yours: euthanizing a horse to avoid a substantial veterinary bill could be prohibited, as could using horses in endeavors like racing and showing. A guardian would be unable to sell horses, as they are no longer property. If you no longer own your horses, property insurance policies might not cover the loss of your horses or injury to them. Expenses, write-offs, and other deductions under federal and state tax laws, which are predicated upon horses being property and assets belonging to their owners, might no longer be available. A successor-guardian could be appointed to sue you on behalf of your horses for not having taken care of them properly, for their injuries, and even for their deaths. The list of legal repercussions that could befall horse owners should the law be changed from ownership to "guardianship" is extensive, and it behooves the horse industry to remain vigilant about pending legislation. The Horse

Study: Horse Whinnies Packed with Information

Through their whinnies, horses convey specific information about their identities, including sex, height, and weight, according to French researchers. Acoustic analyses of whinnies and the reactions of horses to various recorded whinnies also suggest that the vocal calls play an important social role and appear to be unique to each horse. This is the first study of its kind in horses, which are historically considered to be dependent on sight as opposed to hearing for their social communication, the researchers reported...read more

Cowgirl Museum to honor five

Former first lady Laura Bush will receive the Gloria Lupton Tennison Pioneer Award, which recognizes the development of new avenues of community service. Hall of Fame inductee and Idaho native Deborah Copenhaver Fellows barrel-raced professionally before sculpting became her passion, inspired by strong, pioneering women and the challenging life of ranchers. Kay Whittaker Young is also a barrel-racing diva, a five-time National Finals Rodeo finalist and mentor to many women. Today, she trains more than 75 horses annually at her Oklahoma ranch. Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie, fourth-generation owner of the JA Ranch, maintains the 130-year history of the ranch begun by her great-grandfather JohnAdair and the legendary trailblazer Charles Goodnight. A rarity in her day, Mary Jane Colter (1869-1958) was a female architect whose structures were noted for their harmony with nature, a style now known as National Park Service Rustic. With five buildings listed as national historic landmarks, Colter completed over 20 projects for FredHarvey, famous for his Harvey Hotels...read more

Exploring 'Gettysburg of the West'

The plan was to march up the Rio Grande, capture the city of Santa Fe and seize the thousands of rifles, dozens of cannons and other supplies at Fort Union for a campaign that would expand the Confederacy's borders all the way to the California Coast. But Union soldiers stood their ground at a pinch along the Santa Fe Trail known as Glorieta Pass, resulting in a battle that historians often refer to as "the Gettysburg of the West." Until recently, public access to the Civil War battlefield was limited. But earlier this year, the National Park Service opened a new trail that allows visitors to explore the area. The Glorieta Battlefield Trail — more than 2 miles through the wooded and rocky hills southeast of Santa Fe — has been in the planning stages for several years. It's aimed at educating people about the decisive 1862 battle...read more

Calf is branded with 'murder' in 1890s

One of the most intriguing stories to come out of the Texas mountain country is one that took place more than 100 years ago near Marathon. I visited with Carl Williams in Midland the other day and he has done some research on the story. Carl is a former sheriff of Brewster County where the incident occurred and is writing a book about some of the lawmen, crimes and criminals of the Big Bend. In the 1890s the Indians had pretty much left the Big Bend and ranchers had moved in, along with an occasional outlaw or two. There were few lawmen in this vast country and many times disputes were settled with gunfire. Sometimes the shooting incidents went unreported. The range was open then -- no fences. Ranchers helped each other round up cattle. Once the herds were separated, the calves were identified and branded before they were sold. This story took place in the Glass Mountains of northeastern Brewster County during January 1890. A rancher named Henry Harrison Powe owned a small herd and joined other ranchers in rounding up calves that were missed in the fall roundup. During these roundups, owners of large ranches sent representatives to make sure their calves didn't end up with someone else's brand. Powe's young son, R.M. Powe, is the one who has given the most accurate account of what happened that day. He was helping with the roundup of several thousand cattle. His father selected a calf he thought was his and got it ready to brand. But a representative of one of the larger ranches, Finus Gillilland, thought it belonged to his employers, Dubois and Wentworth Ranches. The calf was moved back and forth while each man claimed ownership. Anger turned to rage and finally Powe went to a nearby horse and removed a gun from the saddlebag. He fired a shot at Gilliland, but missed. Gilliland fired back and shot Powe to death. He mounted his horse and fled the scene...Read more

It's All Trew: For goodness sakes: Seems I'm done being rattled

The Trew Ranch has always been a bit "snaky." We have miles of caprock ledges and canyons that provide many homes for snakes. From 1949 to about 1960, we had three resident prairie dog towns located on the ranch. Between the dog towns and the canyons, we would harvest a quart jar full of rattlesnake rattles each summer. No person was ever snakebit that I remember, but cattle, horses and dogs became victims each year. Snake sightings dropped drastically after the demise of the dog towns. The Rana Ranch in New Mexico continued to produce more than its share of rattlers, even though no dog towns were present. A day's ride in summertime always harvested a rattling souvenir or two, some more than 2 inches long as displayed in a memory box in our home. We can tell stories for hours about snakes and snaky experiences. In 2003, I killed two large, almost black diamondback coon-tail rattlers in our backyard at Alanreed. It had been years since we had seen this type of snake, especially in our yards. In 2004, I killed three more, the same size, color and type. I began to suspect they were littermates from a nearby den. We began looking for snake holes each time we left the yards. In 2005, I found three more of the same type and markings, but maybe a little larger and longer than the others...read more

Song Of The Day #149

Today Ranch Radio brings you a western swing tune, Make Up You Mind, by the Saddle Tramps. You'll find it on the multiple artist, 27 track CD Swinging West, Vol. 2

Navajos, Hopi stand in opposition to environmental groups

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., said Wednesday that he strongly supports the Hopi Tribe’s resolution to declare local and national environmental groups unwelcome on Hopi land. “I stand with the Hopi Nation,” President Shirley said. “Unlike ever before, environmental activists and organizations are among the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty, tribal self-determination, and our quest for independence.” “By their actions, environmentalists would have tribes remain dependent on the federal government, and that is not our choice. I want the leaders of all Native American nations to know this is our position, and I would ask for their support of our solidarity with the Hopi Nation in the protection of their sovereignty and self-determination, as well as ours.” On Monday, the Hopi Tribal Council unanimously approved a resolution that stated environmentalists have worked to deprive the tribe of markets for its coal resources and the revenue it brings to sustain governmental services, provide jobs for Hopis, and secure the survival of Hopi culture and tradition. As a result, the Hopi Council stated that the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the Grand Canyon Trust and organizations affiliated with them are no longer welcome on Hopi land...read more

The Biggest Flaw in Cap-And-Trade? Follow the Power Lines.

The problem goes well beyond energy recycling. Right now, Congress is crafting legislation to curb U.S. greenhouse gases in order to avert a climate catastrophe. The centerpiece of that bill is a cap-and-trade system that would place an economy-wide limit on carbon-dioxide emissions and let companies trade permits among themselves--in essence, letting the free market decide how best to make cuts. But the electricity sector, which is responsible for roughly 40 percent of the country’s emissions, is anything but free or flexible. Instead, it’s governed by a bewildering patchwork of regulations that depress innovation, thwart efficiency improvements, and hinder the adoption of cleaner forms of energy. That means our best efforts to solve the climate crisis could fall short, unless we revamp the rules that shape the way we get electricity. If health care reform seems nightmarish, just wait for the fight over the grid. To grasp why we have the system we do, you have to travel back to the 1920s. At the time, the U.S. electric industry was dominated by just 16 large "power trusts" that controlled 85 percent of the nation’s electricity. The trusts were infamous for charging bloated rates and providing uneven service. Consumer protections were unheard of. "Nothing like this gigantic monopoly has ever appeared in the history of the world," fumed Gifford Pinchot, who railed against the oligarchs as governor of Pennsylvania in the 1920s and ’30s...read more

Court orders government to pay for water losses

The federal government must compensate two regional water authorities for water diverted to preserve the environment, a federal appeals court ruled this week in a landmark decision that could open the floodgates for agencies who contend the government is taking water from them for fish. After a 16-year legal battle, the 2-1 decision came down as California is coping with a drought and new environmental rules that are cutting into the water supplies of farmers and cities across the state. The ruling appears to create an opening for San Joaquin Valley farm districts that are lashing out at environmental regulations to seek payment for water lost to environmental needs. Whether the districts are entitled to recover damages from the government will depend on language in their water contracts, why specifically water was not delivered and issues beyond the scope of the decision handed down this week, lawyers said. The ruling, by the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Federal Circuit, appears to be the first in which an appeals court has concluded the government has breached a water contract when water is diverted from contractors to environmental needs...read more

Aquacalypse Now: The End of Fish

Our oceans have been the victims of a giant Ponzi scheme, waged with Bernie Madoff–like callousness by the world’s fisheries. Beginning in the 1950s, as their operations became increasingly industrialized--with onboard refrigeration, acoustic fish-finders, and, later, GPS--they first depleted stocks of cod, hake, flounder, sole, and halibut in the Northern Hemisphere. As those stocks disappeared, the fleets moved southward, to the coasts of developing nations and, ultimately, all the way to the shores of Antarctica, searching for icefishes and rockcods, and, more recently, for small, shrimplike krill. The scheme was carried out by nothing less than a fishing-industrial complex--an alliance of corporate fishing fleets, lobbyists, parliamentary representatives, and fisheries economists. By hiding behind the romantic image of the small-scale, independent fisherman, they secured political influence and government subsidies far in excess of what would be expected, given their minuscule contribution to the GDP of advanced economies...Beginning in the early 1980s, the United States, which had not traditionally been much of a fishing country, began heavily subsidizing U.S. fleets, producing its own fishing-industrial complex, dominated by large processors and retail chains. Today, governments provide nearly $30 billion in subsidies each year--about one-third of the value of the global catch--that keep fisheries going, even when they have overexploited their resource base. As a result, there are between two and four times as many boats as the annual catch requires, and yet, the funds to “build capacity” keep coming...read more

In Search of Wildlife-friendly Biofuels: Could Native Prairie Plants Be the Answer

When society jumps on a bandwagon, even for a good cause, there may be unintended consequences. The unintended consequence of crop-based biofuels may be the loss of wildlife habitat, particularly that of the birds who call this country’s grasslands home, say researchers from Michigan Technological University and The Nature Conservancy. In a paper published in the latest issue of the journal BioScience, David Flaspohler, Joseph Fargione and colleagues analyze the impacts on wildlife of the burgeoning conversion of grasslands to corn for ethanol production is posing a very real threat to the wildlife whose habitat is being transformed. One potential solution: Use diverse native prairie plants to produce bioenergy instead of a single agricultural crop like corn. The rapidly growing demand for corn ethanol, fueled by a government mandate to produce 136 billion liters of biofuel by 2022—more than 740 percent more than was produced in 2006—and federal subsidies to farmers to grow corn, is causing a land-use change on a scale not seen since virgin prairies were plowed and enormous swaths of the country’s forests were first cut down to grow food crops, the researchers say. “Bioenergy is the most land-intensive way to produce energy, so we need to consider the land use implications of our energy policies,” said Fargione, lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy’s North America Region...read more