Westerners grouse over more proposed land restrictions

Congressional Western Caucus members are squawking about Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s proposal to further restrict public use of federal lands by listing the Greater Sage Grouse as an endangered species. “The only good place for a sage grouse to be listed is on the menu of a French bistro,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT, whose 3rd District would be adversely affected by the listing. An estimated 500,000 of the birds can be found in 11 Western states. In a March 4 letter to Salazar, 36 caucus members said that listing the grouse as endangered would not only have a “severe impact on all of our states,” it could also “potentially destroy opportunities for the renewable energy development the [Obama] administration has ardently supported” – all for a bird that’s already being successfully protected by wildlife officials at the state level. But the Obama administration is under great political pressure to list the sage grouse as endangered. Even before the president was inaugurated, environmentalists were calling the bird “a poster child for the threats to wildlife posed by oil and gas drilling, “ and the endangered designation “a litmus test for the Obama administration.” The economic impact of an endangered listing would fall most heavily on ranchers and energy producers, who feel doubly threatened by another administration proposal to designate millions of acres of federal land in nine states as national monuments, which would put them off-limits for drilling, mining, grazing, lumbering and any other commercial activity...read more

Senator Demint: White House land grab

You'd think the Obama administration is busy enough controlling the banks, insurance companies and automakers, but thanks to whistleblowers at the Department of the Interior, we now learn they're planning to increase their control over energy-rich land in the West. A secret administration memo has surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New Mexico, halting job- creating activities like ranching, forestry, mining and energy development. Worse, this land grab would dry up tax revenue that's essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers. President Obama could enact the plans in this memo with just the stroke of a pen, without any input from the communities affected by it. At a time when our national unemployment rate is 9.7 percent, it is unbelievable anyone would be looking to stop job-creating energy enterprises, yet that's exactly what's happening...read more

Eco-philanthropists to the rescue of wildlife?

This power couple leads a movement of like-minded monied conservationists – eco-barons who, instead of waiting for the world to grow an environmental consciousness, are purchasing land with their own money and protecting it themselves. This band of former executives and entrepreneurs generally donates tracts as new national parks or preserves. The Tompkinses have purchased 2 million acres in Argentina and Chile and already created two national parks. Largely American, and often entrepreneurs from Wall Street or the West Coast, they have recast the mold of the philanthropists of the 20th century who helped assemble the jewels in the crown of the US National Park Service. Among others, for example, there is Roxanne Quimby, the former owner of Burt's Bees products who has been buying up land in Maine's Great North Woods to create a national park. And Gordon Moore, the founder of Intel, who has poured in millions to save the Amazon. Heiress Katharine Ordway has given more than $64 million to create preserves including the 8,100-acre Konza Prairie Research Natural Area in Kansas. And real estate investor M.C. Davis sealed off 48,000 acres in the Florida Panhandle...read more

Does Climategate Undermine the Scientific Integrity of EPA’s Endangerment Finding?

Instead of exercising its “judgment,” as required by Sec. 202 of the Clean Air Act, to determine whether greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions endanger public health and welfare, EPA largely deferred to the judgment of an external agency not subject to U.S. data quality and freedom of information laws — the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC developed three lines of evidence for its conclusion that GHG emissions are causing dangerous global warming. The first is based on the IPCC’s understanding of the physics of the climate system. The second is the claim that recent decades are unusually warm compared to previous centuries during the current interglacial period known as the Holocene. The third line of evidence is the asserted agreement between observations and computer model simulations. Peabody Energy’s 240-page petition for reconsideration assesses these lines of evidence in light of new information not in EPA’s possession when it published the endangerment finding. Much of this new information is contained in the thousands of emails and other files that produced the Climategate scandal. The files and emails provide an insider’s look at the professional (or unprofessional) behavior of leading climate scientists at the UK’s Climate Research Unit and their colleagues in the United States. This scandal has led to the resignation (allegedly temporary) of Dr. Phil Jones as director of the CRU and an official determination that the CRU violated the UK’s freedom of information act. Peabody concludes that the Climategate files undermines each of the IPCC’s principal lines of evidence, and confirm what many climate “skeptics” had long suspected...read more

Scientists Taking Steps to Defend Work on Climate

For months, climate scientists have taken a vicious beating in the media and on the Internet, accused of hiding data, covering up errors and suppressing alternate views. Their response until now has been largely to assert the legitimacy of the vast body of climate science and to mock their critics as cranks and know-nothings. But the volume of criticism and the depth of doubt have only grown, and many scientists now realize they are facing a crisis of public confidence and have to fight back. Tentatively and grudgingly, they are beginning to engage their critics, admit mistakes, open up their data and reshape the way they conduct their work. The unauthorized release last fall of hundreds of e-mail messages from a major climate research center in England, and more recent revelations of a handful of errors in a supposedly authoritative United Nations report on climate change, have created what a number of top scientists say is a major breach of faith in their research. They say the uproar threatens to undermine decades of work and has badly damaged public trust in the scientific enterprise...read more

Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.

Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators. Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years. The court rulings causing these problems focused on language in the Clean Water Act that limited it to “the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters” of the United States. For decades, “navigable waters” was broadly interpreted by regulators to include many large wetlands and streams that connected to major rivers. But the two decisions suggested that waterways that are entirely within one state, creeks that sometimes go dry, and lakes unconnected to larger water systems may not be “navigable waters” and are therefore not covered by the act — even though pollution from such waterways can make its way into sources of drinking water...read more

COMMENT: While masquerading as a new story, the NY Times is clearly lobbying for a bill pending in Congress which would drop the term "navigable" from the statute.

Understanding Why Yellowstone’s Supervolcano Is So Dangerous

The geological history of Yellowstone National Park worries many observers about a “supervolcanic” eruption that could destroy much of the United States. When Yellowstone National Park experienced its largest eruption 2.1 million years ago, massive volcanic depressions formed, known as “calderas.” The explosion also spewed volcanic ash over half of the United States, reaching areas of as far away as Texas, Louisiana and southern California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Yellowstone’s many attractions include geysers, such as Old Faithful, and hot springs. These are believed to be a result of the giant pool of magma that Yellowstone sits on. Some call the enormous underground caldera, which measures approximately 28 by 47 miles, a “supervolcano.” The UnMuseum explains that supervolcano isn’t exactly a technical scientific term, but says it differs from a traditional volcano “in that there is often no mountain peak associated with it.” The lack of a peak or potential outlet for gas, heat and pressure building underground increasess the likelihood that “the entire surface above the underground chamber, which can be many miles wide, is blown away by a titanic explosion that can be thousands of times more powerful than that of a regular volcano.”...read more

A new vehicle powered by a single horse

Good thing Portland kept all of those old-timey horse rings on city sidewalks. Iranian inventor Abdolhadi Mirhejazi has unveiled his Naturmobil -- "the ultimate environmentally friendly vehicle" powered by ... wait for it ... a single horse on a treadmill. Mirhejazi says his high-breed creation travels on paved roads at a top speed of about 50 mph, with the treadmill charging batteries for when Flicka needs a break...read more

State Slaughter Bills Pending

Legislators in several states are again considering bills that address the slaughter of horses for human consumption. In Florida, lawmakers are reviewing a pair of bills that would make it felony to slaughter horses and sell their meat for human consumption in that state. SB 1708 and HB 765 both prohibit the mutilation or killing of any horse and forbids the transport, distribution, sale, and purchase of horsemeat for human consumption. If enacted, violators could face mandatory minimum penalties of $3,500 in fines and one year in prison. Both bills are under committee review. The proposed bills are in direct response to a series of horse poaching incidents in South Florida during the past year, said HB 765 sponsor Rep. Luis Garcia. The butchered remains of at least 21 horses have been found in Miami-Dade and Broward counties since last January (read more). Meanwhile, Illinois Rep. Jim Sacia has introduced a measure designed to reestablish horse processing in that state. HB 4812 amends the Illinois Horse Meat Act to repeal a provision that prohibits the slaughter of horses for human consumption. It also expands the state's Animals Intended for Food Act to include horses, and requires horse processors to collect a $25 fee per horse to fund equine rescue assistance grants to qualified equine rescue groups...read more

Bobcat captured in downtown Houston garage

The preferred habitat for bobcats are wooded areas, swamplands or rocky outcrops but one member of the species Lynx rufus on Tuesday opted for a downtown Houston parking garage. The bobcat was spotted about 10:45 a.m. inside the garage at 511 Rusk near the Bob Casey Federal Building. It was captured about 90 minutes later, checked and released into the wild. At first, reports of a wild animal roaming about the garage did not raise much concern for city animal control officials. They've heard that story before. “We thought it was going to be a house cat,” said Chris Glaser, a supervisor with Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care. The cat was trying to hide under cars when animal control officials arrived. “It may have been asleep there overnight and woken up,” Glaser said. BARC officials would use two tranquilizer darts to subdue the animal...read more

Mad emu attacks deputies along El Paso freeway

A mad emu gave deputies a Texas-sized hard time. El Paso authorities say the big bird was running loose Tuesday, snarling rush-hour traffic near Interstate 10 and attacking deputies trying to restrain it. Deputies with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office tried to prevent the tall, flightless bird from running into traffic. But when deputies neared the emu, it became aggressive and slashed one deputy's pant leg. The deputy was not seriously injured. The emu died as it was being transported to an animal control shelter. The cause of death was not immediately known. AP

8th Annual Dutch Oven CookOff March 27 in Glenwood, NM

Contact: Gale Moore
Silver City, NM
gale@cybermesa.com



Event: Southwest New Mexico 8th Annual Dutch Oven Cook-Off
Date: Saturday, March 27, 2010
Place: Glenwood, New Mexico Community Park
Time: 9:00 am until mid-afternoon


Calling All Dutch Oven Cooks (and those who’d like to try their hand at “black pot” cookin’) ~

Come to cook --- see how Dutch Oven cooking is done --- come to eat --- listen to music --- or just visit with the happy crowd at the Southwest New Mexico 8th Annual Dutch Oven Cook-Off on Saturday, March 27 in Glenwood, New Mexico!

Each year, this event just gets better, and 2010 promises to be the most fun yet!

The Cook-Off will be held again at the Glenwood Community Park on CatWalk Road in Glenwood, New Mexico (just an hour north of Silver City).

Both experienced and amateur Dutch Oven cooks are invited to participate this year! In previous years, we had cooks from Glenwood, Cliff, Gila, Reserve, Albuquerque, Cuba, Las Cruces, Silver City (New Mexico) and communities in Arizona.

Categories this year will be “Fancy Fixer,” “Camp Cookie,” and “Tenderfoot,” with submitted recipes and level of experience considered.

Everyone is welcome to enter, no matter where you call home! (If you need overnight lodging, there are several unique motels in Glenwood.)

Those interested in entering as a Dutch Oven Cook this year, please contact: Event Organizers:

Leah Jones (Glenwood) (575) 539-2800 Email ~ gilaleahjones@gmail.com

Mickey Lemon (Silver City) (575) 388-2840 Email ~ mlemon@signalpeak.net

Linda Locklar (Silver City) (575) 388-1503 Email ~ lindamanyponies@hotmail.com

These ladies can give you all the details, but here are the basics:

Cooking categories are single pot or three pots (Main Dish, Bread, Dessert). Cooks can enter on their own, or as a team. Entry fee ~ $ 15 for Single Pot, $ 30 for Three Pots.

Cooks can set up their camp and start their fires at 7:30 am. Some entrants bring cowboy-camp setups, teepees and tents, and one entry even drives a mule-drawn chuckwagon to camp! (The Glenwood Park features shady trees and open spaces for camp set-ups)

Dutch Oven food will be available in the Park before the Tasting. Craft vendors are welcome ($25 per space).

There will be a Cooks’ Meeting at 8:30 AM. Cooking time is from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm., during which time spectators always enjoy going from camp to camp, seeing “what’s cookin’” and getting to know the cooks.

After the Judges have tasted all the dishes and are tabulating their results, here comes the best part of the day ---- about 2:00 pm, Dutch Oven cooks bring their pots to the Pavilion, multitudes of folks show up to purchase Taster Plates ($5.00 for adults, $3.00 for children under 12), and the “Tasters’ Delight” eatin’ begins! Each Dutch Oven cook will put a spoonful of their dish on each plate, and there are usually about 30-40 different dishes (sometimes more!) on the buffet line.

Tables and benches are provided for the diners, and after everyone is served, awards and prizes are presented to the winning cooks. (Proceeds from this event each year benefit the Glenwood Community Park.)

Glenwood’s Dutch Oven Cook-Off was first started in 2003 by Wendy Peralta, owner of the Glenwood Trading Post. Each year since, the event has grown --- in size, number of cooks, and fun! This event is reminiscent of the old days when members of small communities would gather for shared food and “visiting.” This is the eighth annual year for the Dutch Oven, and it promises to be another memorable occasion, one you won’t want to miss!

It's all for a great cause, the Glenwood Community Park, and of course, photos of all the fun will be published in the April Glenwood Gazette.

Song Of The Day #253

Ranch Radio continues with child stars with big hits. Today we feature Tanya Tucker, who had her first top ten hit at age 13. It was her 1972 recording of Delta Dawn, followed the next year by her first #1 hit What's Your Mama's Name.

However, it's my damn radio show and I'm not bound by any Billboard rankings. So here are two of my favorites from her 70's recordings: San Antonio Stroll and It's A Cowboy Lovin' Night.

All four of the tunes mentioned here are available on her 20 track CD Definitive Collection.

$7 a gallon gas to reach Obama targets, Harvard researchers say

To meet the Obama administration’s targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to experience a sobering reality: gas at $7 a gallon. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector 14 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, the cost of driving must simply increase, according to a forthcoming report by researchers at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. The 14 percent target was set in the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget for fiscal 2010. In their study, the researchers devised several combinations of steps that United States policymakers might take in trying to address the heat-trapping emissions by the nation’s transportation sector, which consume 70 percent of the oil used in the United States...read more

Western Lawmakers Introduce “Open EAJA Act of 2010”

Today, Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis (WY-At large) and Western Caucus Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01) teamed up to introduce the “Open EAJA Act of 2010.” The legislation [H.R. 4717] seeks to provide increased transparency within the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) by tracking millions of federal taxpayer dollars used to fund costly environmental litigation. EAJA was established in 1980 with the intent to help individuals and groups with limited means seek judicial redress from the federal government. A citizen, small business or special interest group that prevails in litigation brought against the federal government may recover fees and expenses. For nearly 15 years, the lack of accountability and transparency has made way for rampant abuse of EAJA, reaching far beyond its original intent. Research conducted by a Wyoming law firm revealed that over the past 15 years, 14 environmental groups have brought over 1,500 federal cases in 17 states and the District of Columbia, and have collected over $37 million in taxpayer dollars through EAJA or other similar laws. Specifically, H.R. 4717 would reinstate and consolidate tracking and reporting requirements of EAJA payments under the Department of Justice (DoJ), and:

· Require the DoJ to issue an annual, online report to Congress regarding the amount of fees and other expenses awarded during the preceding fiscal year

· Ensure that the report provided to Congress be made available to the public online and include:

§ the name of the party seeking the award of fees

§ the agency to which the application for the award is made

§ the name of the administrative judges involved in the case

§ the hourly fees of all attorneys and expert witnesses

· Request that the Comptroller General commence an audit of past actions taken under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Once complete, the audit must be reported to Congress...Press Release

Complaints heat up over possible new monuments for Utah

On the same day a Utah legislative committee unanimously approved a resolution voicing opposition to the creation of any more national monuments, members of the U.S. Senate Western Caucus also took their fight to the mat. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and other members of the Senate Western Caucus sent a letter Tuesday to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, expressing concern about the possible designation of national monuments in Utah and other states absent public input or consent. "Americans enjoy a variety of benefits from our public lands, but many westerners rely on public lands for their very livelihoods. For that reason, Congress has ensured that public land management decisions are made in a process that is both public and transparent … Americans should never live in fear that the stroke of a pen in Washington could forever change their lives," the senators wrote. HCR 17, a resolution on the issue being run by Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, unanimously passed a legislative committee Tuesday afternoon that featured an appearance by former Congressman James Hansen. Former Salt Lake Mayor Ted Wilson, who also served as the head of the Utah Rivers Council, said he supports the resolution despite being a self-professed environmentalist. "(But) I also know the tremendous setback with the Grand Staircase. It angered county commissioners all over this state, it angered a lot of Democrats," he said...read more

Source in artifacts case dead

A troubled man whose fear of reprisal for his undercover role in an artifact-trafficking probe prompted him to sleep with a gun, and whose heavy drinking landed him in the hospital this winter, apparently shot himself to death this week at his Salt Lake County home. Ted Gardiner, the civilian operative at the center of a 2 1/2-year federal crackdown that spanned the Four Corners region, had turned 52 just a week earlier. Police said Gardiner told his roommates about 6 p.m. Monday that he was suicidal. A short time later, a gunshot rang out from his bedroom in the home near 1700 East and 5000 South. "At this point, we're strongly leaning toward the fact that his death was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Unified Police Department Lt. Don Hutson said Tuesday. Gardiner's is the third suicide after a June 10 raid in southern Utah netted two-dozen suspects, most of them from San Juan County, on multiple felony charges of grave robbing and stealing from prehistoric American Indian ruins on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land. Two defendants in the artifact sweep -- James Redd, of Blanding, and Steven Shrader, of Santa Fe, N.M. -- committed suicide after being indicted...read more

COMMENT: With so many things going on, including illegal aliens from terrorist-harboring countries crossing our southern border, is this where we should be dedicating our law enforcent resources?

Utah Legislature: Federal police powers are targeted in House bill

A bill that aims to "rein in" the police powers of Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service on federally managed lands sailed through a legislative committee with no debate and now advances to the full House for consideration. The measure by Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, comes after years of frustration expressed by several local sheriffs about the "unchecked" police powers of the agencies, which they contend are supposed to contractually enter into cooperative agreements with local police entities. "There's no accountability, no line authority," former Millard County Sheriff Ed Phillips told members of the House Natural Resources Committee on Monday. With its passage of the Federal Lands Management Policy Act in 1976, Congress intended for the federal government to contract with local law enforcement to carry out policing responsibilities wherever possible, Phillips said. Instead, the advent of the '90s brought a prolific swell in the number of rangers who have become their own crime-fighting kingdom, Phillips said. HB146 says that Utah does not "recognize" federal law enforcement authority of those agencies beyond what is "necessary" to manage, use and protect federally managed lands. Phillips, joined by the current sheriffs of San Juan and Kane counties, said the issue has been one of such concern that it has been taken up by the 13-member Western States Sheriffs' Association but federal agencies have not been willing to budge. Kane County Sheriff Lamont Smith said the federal encroachment has been so broad that federal rangers have taken to writing tickets for everything from expired registrations to broken tail lights to violators stopped on U.S. 89 near Lake Powell. As an example of what they say is "encroachment," Noel and the sheriffs pointed to events like last spring's federal raid that led to more than two dozen arrests of people accused of stealing or possessing Native American artifacts and a May showdown between BLM agents and off-road enthusiasts at the Paria River corridor...Deseret News

Utah House supports limits on federal officers

The House passed 65-4 a bill attempting to limit the authority of federal officers, specifically from the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. HB146, now on its way to the Senate, would prohibit such officers from doing anything not explicitly authorized by federal law, and prohibits them from enforcing Utah laws. "I believe that what this bill does is really put the agencies on notice that they need to be in line with their own bylaws," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, said. Noel reiterated that local sheriffs need to be the ones enforcing Utah laws. "We should hand accountability back to an elected person," he said. Noel's son, Cameron, is the sheriff of Beaver County. Noel acknowledged that the bill was inspired, at least in part, by the federal arrest of 16 Utahns suspected of stealing American Indian artifacts last June. Noel believes local law enforcement should have handled that issue. "While I totally object to going out and digging up graves and desecrating artifacts, I believe strongly that our own law enforcement can deal with those issues," Noel said. "It seemed to be very much an overkill." San Juan County Sheriff Mike Lacy, whose brother was arrested in the raid, in testifying for the bill in committee on Monday called the crackdown a "fiasco," saying federal agents "inappropriately" conducted the arrests at gunpoint...read more

Idaho Republicans push anti-Washington D.C. bills

Idaho Republicans lobbed more legislative spitballs at Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, with measures calling to sue the federal government over gun rights and control of federal land and to replace standard American currency with gold and silver. The bills join several other anti-federal government measures introduced in the Legislature, including a measure to preempt federal identification legislation that could affect state driver's licenses and a resolution demanding leaders in Washington, D.C. eliminate the country's deficit in 55 years. And last month, the House rejected any federal health care law that would require people to buy insurance. St. Maries Republican Dick Harwood told the House State Affairs Committee on Tuesday that Idaho should approve a bill making guns manufactured and sold in-state exempt from national regulations - including background checks on people who buy the guns. Similar bills have cleared the Montana and Tennessee legislatures, and Harwood says passing one would show that Idaho is willing to stand up for its rights, too. Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, wants Idaho to consider legal action against leaders in Washington, D.C. The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage about 61 percent of Idaho territory, and Anderson wants a state council to determine if Idaho can sue the federal government. "If the federal government is negligent, there may be a possibility we could take over the operations of the land," Anderson said...read more