Navajo Code Talkers Launch Final Mission

Lloyd Oliver perfected his sniper skills shooting prairie dogs as a boy on the reservation. But it was his native tongue as a Navajo that made him a war hero. Now 87, and long deaf from years of exposure to enemy fire, Oliver helped develop the secret, encrypted language that was used by the Navajo code talkers, an elite unit of the U.S. Marines who helped defeat the Japanese in World War II. Only about 50 of the 400 men are still alive today, mostly living on the Navajo Nation reservation that straddles Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Their average age is 84. In red Garrison caps and gold-colored uniform shirts dotted with medals and bolo ties of indigenous turquoise, 13 of them reunited this week on what may be their last mission: to raise $50 million for a museum dedicated to preserving their language and their legacy...read more

EPA C02 endangerment finding to White House

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sent its final proposal on whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to human health and welfare to the White House for review, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Reuters on Monday. The EPA's final finding, if it follows the agency's earlier assessment and is approved by the Office of Management and Budget, would allow the EPA to issue rules later to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, even if Congress fails to pass legislation to cut U.S. emissions of the heat-trapping gases that contribute to global warming. "We sent the final proposal over to OMB on Friday," Jackson said in an interview at her EPA headquarters' office. She said the OMB has up to 90 days to review the proposal, but the EPA would like a quicker timetable...read more

EPA Warns 2 Staff Lawyers Over Video Criticizing Climate Policy

The Environmental Protection Agency has directed two of its lawyers to makes changes to a YouTube video they posted that is critical of the Obama administration’s climate change policy. The agency, citing federal policies, told the two lawyers, Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel, who are married and based in San Francisco, that they could mention their E.P.A. affiliation only once; must remove language specifying Mr. Zabel’s expertise and their years of employment with the agency; and must remove an image of the agency’s office in San Francisco. They have been told that if they do not edit the video to comply with the policy, they could face disciplinary action. The video, titled “The Huge Mistake,” was produced and posted in September. But the agency did not issue its warning until The Washington Post published a widely cited opinion article by the couple on Oct. 31 that raised concerns, echoing those in the video, about cap-and-trade legislation that the Obama administration supports. Ms. Williams and Mr. Zabel say cap and trade, in which the government sets a limit on gases that contribute to global warming and then lets companies trade permits to meet it, can be easily gamed by industry and fail to reduce the emissions linked to global warming...read more

Brazil Lists US Goods Eyed In WTO Cotton Ruling

Brazil's government Monday published a list of 222 U.S. products that may be subject to tariff increases as a result of a World Trade Organization ruling earlier this year condemning U.S. subsidies to its cotton industry. The government said the list would be made available for public consultation until Nov. 30 before it begins a final decision-making process on retaliations. According to the government announcement published in its federal register, items on the list could be subject to tariff increases of up to 100 percentage points. In addition to cotton and other agricultural and textile products, the list includes other goods such as motor vehicle products, electronics, cosmetics, medical equipment and pharmaceutical products. Speaking at the announcement of foreign trade results Monday, Brazil's Foreign Trade Secretary Lytha Spindola said the list represented about 11% of Brazilian imports from the U.S. "If the subsidies aren't removed, we will exercise our right to retaliation," said Spindola...read more

Army appeals Pinon Canyon court ruling

he Army is appealing a federal district court ruling in September that rejected its environmental study of the impact of training more soldiers at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. The appeal was filed Monday with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. In September, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch ruled a 2007 environmental study the Army did as a prerequisite to building more infrastructure at the 238,000-acre training range was insufficient. As a result, Matsch vacated the Army's formal decision to increase the training schedule at Pinon Canyon. The lawsuit was brought by the Not 1 More Acre! group of ranchers, which is opposed to the Army's planned expansion of Pinon Canyon. Matsch sided with the ranchers' argument that the Army's owns records showed past training exercises had done extensive environmental damage to the training range. Matsch ruled the Army's claim that it could increase the training schedule and numbers of soldiers training at Pinon Canyon without doing more harm was "irreconcilable" with its own records...read more

US, Mexico, Canada To Cooperate on Wilderness Conservation

The United States, Mexico and Canada for the first time formally agreed to cooperate on wilderness conservation measures across the continent. Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation for Wilderness Conservation at the opening ceremony of the 9th World Wilderness Congress in Merida, Mexico on Friday. "This Agreement will facilitate the sharing of successful experiences, monitoring, and training of human resources, as well as the financing of projects that will protect and recover wild areas," Calderon said. The MOU provisions address ecosystems, migratory wildlife, and natural resources that cross geographical boundaries. The MOU also encourages cooperative efforts to conduct and share scientific research. The agreement also recognizes the importance of wilderness conservation in climate change adaptation and mitigation and monitoring for climate change effects...read more

Senators look past Barbara Boxer's climate bill

While Sen. Barbara Boxer was celebrating her committee’s passage of a sweeping climate change bill Thursday, other Democrats and Republicans were already looking for a Plan B. Rank-and-file members from both parties dismissed the Boxer bill, coal-state senators were unhappy and many said Boxer’s move to approve the bill without any Republicans even in the committee room had poisoned the process. “It dooms that particular legislation. The question is what comes next,” said Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. “We will see what Plan B is.” Moderates are looking to Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to come up with that Plan B, which may include more incentives for nuclear power, renewable fuels and maybe even domestic drilling to draw support of moderate Democrats and some Republicans. Key Democrats said the Boxer legislation was moving too fast for some coal and manufacturing states...read more

Cap-and-trade mirage

What guarantees failure of the proposed climate bills, however, are their provisions for carbon offsets, a concept not used in the acid rain program. Both bills allow all required greenhouse-gas reductions for almost 20 years to be met with carbon offsets rather than actual reductions in use of the capped sources. Offsets -- considered indispensable to keeping cap-and-trade affordable -- are supposed to be "additional" reductions beyond what is legally required. But experience with offsets in Europe and California has shown that ensuring real "additionality" is not an achievable goal. Suppose, for example, that a landowner is paid not to cut his forest so that it can continue capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Purchasing this offset allows owners of a coal-fired power plant to burn extra coal, above the cap. But if the landowner wasn't planning to cut his forest, he just received a bonus for doing what he would have done anyway. Even if he was planning to cut his forest and doesn't, demand for wood isn't reduced. A different forest will be cut. Either way, there is no net reduction in production of greenhouse gases. The result of this carbon "offset" is not a decrease but an increase -- coal burning above the cap at the power plant. Or consider the refrigerant HCFC-22, the manufacture of which creates an extremely powerful greenhouse gas as a byproduct. This byproduct is relatively easy and cheap to destroy, and governments could require refrigerant manufacturers to do just that. But offset investors have persuaded regulators to approve destruction of the byproduct as a carbon offset, making it twice as profitable to sell byproduct destruction as it was to sell the refrigerant. Some have even fought to keep release of this byproduct legal because, otherwise, destruction of the byproduct would no longer produce offsets as it would no longer be "additional." The situation also creates incentive for some to make unneeded refrigerant to profit from byproduct offsets...read more

Algae as a fuel could skew corn's role

The corncob could be losing its special place in the nation's energy future. The 2007 energy bill required that refiners start using biofuels made from cobs, wheat straw, grasses and other sources of plant cellulose by 2010, with the mandate growing annually to reach 16 billion gallons by 2022. But now there is an effort in Congress to expand that mandate to include fuels made from algae and microorganisms. A climate bill the Senate is considering would replace the requirement for use of cellulosic biofuels with a broader mandate for "advanced green biofuels." The change could encourage investors to put more money into developing algae fuels. Until now, companies focused on turning cellulose into ethanol have had the mandate, and the powerful investment incentive it represents, all to themselves. Kevin Book, an analyst with ClearView Energy Partners, said the new definition could hurt cellulosic developers while aiding the algae sector. The fact that the Senate bill includes the expanded definition shows there is growing support for expanding the 2007 mandate beyond cellulosic fuels, he said...read more

What Big Government giveth Big Government can taketh away.

Judge affirms plan to restore Kaibab National Forest

A federal judge this week struck down a lawsuit contending the U.S. Forest Service unlawfully approved a plan to reduce forest fuels and plant trees on a northern Arizona forest. The Warm Fire Recovery Project called for harvesting fire-killed trees on 9,000 acres of the Kaibab National Forest and replanting conifer trees on about 10,000 acres. A 60,000-acre natural fire that grew out of control swept through the area where recovery efforts are planned in 2006. The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians sued over the plan, claiming it violated several environmental laws...read more

Federal judge asked to end Yellowstone bison kills

A coalition of environmental and American Indian groups sued two federal agencies today to stop the mass slaughter of bison that migrate outside Yellowstone National Park in search of food. During the last decade, federal agencies working with the state of Montana have captured and shipped to slaughter more than 3,300 bison to prevent the spread of an animal disease to cattle. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, asks for the National Park Service and Forest Service to be barred from participating in the slaughter program. The plaintiffs contend the two federal agencies are ignoring their responsibility to preserve the animals. It also says claims the threat of the disease, brucellosis, has been overstated...read more

Top agencies to work for in the federal government

Writing in the Washingtonian Magazine, James Michael Causey notes "don't look now, but working for the federal government is cool again." As the eldest son of FederalNewsRadio's Senior Correspondent Mike Causey, he brings a unique perspective to the magazine's "Fifty Great Places to Work". Five of the top 50 are federal entities. "I think if you could distill it down to one element," Causey told FederalNewsRadio, "it's the fact that if the individual employee feels like they're making a difference, everything trickles down from that." The Washingtonian and FederalNewsRadio conducted a survey of more than 13,000 federal employees this past August. After pouring over the results, Causey said he feels the reason the Internal Revenue Service made the grade was not the pay and benefits. Causey told the Federal Drive about another example, cut from the article for space, about the Offices of the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives. The remaining three federal agencies on the list (in no particular order) are the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission...read more

Amphibians role as indicator species disputed by new study

Amphibians such as frogs, long considered a leading indicator of environmental health, are not so susceptible to pollution, according to an analysis to be published in an influential academic journal. Researchers from Washington State University, the University of South Dakota and Yale University reviewed more than 28,000 toxicological tests in studying whether amphibians are as vulnerable as most people think. "The very simple message is that for most of the classes of chemical compounds we looked at, frogs range from being moderately susceptible to being bullet-proof," said David Skelly, professor of ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and a member of the research team. "There are lots of other kinds of environmental threats that have led to their decline, including habitat conversion, harvesting for food and the global spread of the Chytrid fungus, which is mowing down these species in its path."...read more

Bloomfield Refinery to close; 100 workers laid off

At least 100 employees at the Bloomfield refinery will be laid off by mid-December after Western Refining, Inc. announced plans Monday to cut costs by transferring all Bloomfield operations to its Gallup facility. The El Paso, Texas-based company said the consolidation of its Four Corners refineries will save Western Refining at least $25 million each year. "The decision to idle the Bloomfield refinery does not come easily. Actions that negatively impact employees are always difficult," Western Refining CEO Paul Foster said. "Western appreciates the dedication of our employees and is committed to treating them fairly and with respect as we work through this transition." More than 120 people are employed at the Bloomfield refinery. Due to a shortage in affordable crude supplies in the region, Western Refining had cut collective production at the Bloomfield and Gallup refineries from 40,000 barrels daily to 25,000 barrels, according to the company. Transferring the Bloomfield refining operations to Gallup allows Western Refining to continue producing an average 25,000 barrels of oil per day while only paying operation costs at one refinery, the CEO said...read more

Sheep attacked by mountain lion in Fremont's Morrison Canyon

Bob Garcia is no stranger to mountain lion sightings or attacks. Living in Morrison Canyon for more than three decades, the 56-year-old retired teacher has lost a fair share of his livestock to the wild animals. But late Friday night or early Saturday, he lost yet another sheep — his third in a week — to what he thinks was a mountain lion. Now that Garcia has "shut off the (mountain lion's) food supply" by moving his three dozen remaining sheep indoors, he fears that the animal may be heading to residential areas and thinks that residents should be warned. "People need to know about this," he said. Fremont police have investigated the matter and have posted signs in the Morrison Canyon area alerting those walking, hiking or biking in the hills that animals such as mountain lions roam there, said Sgt John Dauzat, who heads the Tri-City Animal Shelter...read more

Transatlantic partners agree to antibiotic resistance task force

U.S. and European leaders meeting in Washington on Nov. 3 for a TransAtlantic summit on key issues agreed to include a new initiative to study antibiotic resistance. In a joint declaration issued by White House and the EU, summit leaders agreed to "establish a transatlantic task force on urgent antimicrobial resistance issues focused on appropriate therapeutic use of antimicrobial drugs in the medical and veterinary communities, prevention of both healthcare- and community-associated drug-resistant infections, and strategies for improving the pipeline of new antimicrobial drugs, which could be better addressed by intensified cooperation between us." The antibiotic resistance issue was among several other major topics addressed at the summit including climate change, nuclear proliferation, Middle East peace and development aid to address global hunger...read more

Livestock care initiative passis in Ohio

Issue 2 -- the Ohio ballot initiative that called for the establishment of a board on livestock care standards -- was adopted by voters in the state yesterday, with almost two-thirds of voters approving the concept late last night. The measure establishes a 13-member Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board that will set standards for the care, treatment and welfare of livestock and poultry raised in Ohio based on ethics and science. The measure takes the form of an amendment to the Ohio State Constitution. Ohio has several similar regulatory boards established by the state's constitution. The board is intended to head off efforts by activist groups outside the state to impose their agendas on the state's livestock and poultry production, such as did the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in California last year when it successfully carried to the ballot an initiative that dictates housing standards for laying hens, swine and veal calves. Nevertheless, HSUS chief executive officer and president Wayne Pacelle clearly implied last night that the group may seek to counter the board with its own ballot initiative in Ohio elections next year in the form of a constitutional amendment that would contain Prop 2-like language. (A second constitutional amendment on the same matter would have precedent over the board.) "We haven't made a final decision," he said, "but it's very likely."...read more

It's All Trew: Exactly how narrow does a niche have to be?

Down through the years, I have known or heard of several people who found their niche in life even though it was narrow and limited in scope. I once interviewed an old man, a grandfather of a friend, who told of his niche when he was growing up in Arkansas. It seems the community held a barn dance once a month in a large barn with a rough plank floor. As most of the crowd were young folks who danced barefooted occasionally, they picked up a splinter or two. The young boy kept a sharp-pointed knife and homemade tweezers ready for use. When the need arose, he sat with tools in hand, removed the splinter and applied a disinfectant containing mostly moonshine. For this service, he charged a penny. His services as a "splinter-picker" earned him free admission to the monthly barn dances. A man named Mr. Street arrived on main street in early McLean, Texas, each Saturday morning. Both pants and coat pockets were filled with refurbished, repaired and sharpened used pocketknives. He tried to trade knives with every man he met that day, always insisting on a nickel or a dime "to boot." It was a needed service and earned him a bit of spending money during the hard times of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. His personal niche was the fact he was a well-known "wart rubber." Mothers brought their children plagued with warts to Mr. Street for the "cure." He rubbed the warts, and within a few days the warts went away. For this service, he did not charge, but I imagine it sold a lot of knives...read more

Song Of The Day #177

Ranch Radio will stick with old time country music for the rest of the week. Today's offering is Shout Lula recorded in 1927 by Grayson & Whitter.

G.B. Grayson, fiddler/singer was from North Carolina and Henry Whitter, guitarist/singer was from Virginia. They were only together for 3 years but recorded 40 songs. Their Handsome Molly sold 50,000 copies and became a standard. Other songs of theirs which becames standards were Tom Dooley, Cluck Old Hen and Lee Highway Blues. Grayson was killed in 1930 in a car accident while hitchhiking.

Today's tune is available on their 22 track CD Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Vol. 1: 1927-1928.

Gore: 'Civil disobedience has a role to play'

Gore's new book, Our Choice: A Plan To Solve The Climate Crisis, gives global warming deniers short shrift, and shows little concern for displays of political bipartisanship: he likens the doubters to the "birthers" intent on proving that Obama is a Kenyan – not just mavericks, but fantasists who inhabit a different version of reality. "The golden thread of reason that used to be stretched taut to mark the boundary between the known and the unknown is now routinely disrespected," he writes, in a typically Goreish sentence, immediately prior to quoting Theodor Adorno, King Solomon and Aesop. Primarily, though, Our Choice is a sumptuously illustrated coffee-table book of potential solutions, explaining both Gore's favourites (geothermal energy, biochar, "smart" electrical grids) and those about which he's deeply sceptical (nuclear power, carbon capture and pumping sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere, a plan he describes as "insane"). Importantly, it seeks to enlist readers as political advocates for the cause, rather than just urging them to turn down the heating. "It's important to change lightbulbs," he says, in a well-burnished soundbite, "but more important to change policies and laws." Or perhaps to break laws instead: peaceful occupations of the kind witnessed recently in the UK, he predicts, are only going to become more widespread. "Civil disobedience has an honourable history, and when the urgency and moral clarity cross a certain threshold, then I think that civil disobedience is quite understandable, and it has a role to play. And I expect that it will increase, no question about it."...read more