SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
When the cowboy was sent to China
By Julie Carter
Everybody in the world knows that cowboys settled, civilized, and developed the west as we know it today.
Right after the dust settled in Dodge City, they went about their business of planning out vast cattle ranches, the petroleum industry, the space headquarters, top ten ranking U.S. cities that are still called “cowtowns,” invented rodeo and of course, were the draw to gather the prettiest girls in the world.
They gave clever names to every inhabited spot on the trail never knowing how handy that name might be to future generations.
Our cowboy in this story was young and single and while having a reputation of sharing his talents with various girls in the area had fallen into a routine with one particularly pretty one. He worked by day for a big diversified cattle outfit whose operation ranged from buying, back grounding and trucking to pasture cattle and feedlots.
The cowboy and the little pretty would go together to dances, calf fries, and an assortment of ropings. He was fine with the arrangement and his job left him limited time to shop around anyway. He didn’t give it much thought other than from time to time he would notice a dangerous gleam in her eye.
Ignoring the warning signs, he rocked along until one day he came home to find she had actually cleaned his house. His saddle no longer resided on the living room floor. Gone were his extra headstalls, bits, boots, leggings and spurs. She actually had them hidden in a closet!
The clincher to the deal was all the candles and little dishes of potpourri she scattered around here and there. No self respecting cowboy could allow such things. The next day he took the boss aside and explained the situation. The boss, being male and having been single at one time understood the immediate need and supplied the solution.
Being basically a gentleman and blessing his ancestors for their foresight in giving names to towns like Palestine, Iran, Germany etc., the cowboy told the girl that his job was going to require him to be sent to China for an undetermined length of time.
This poor geographically challenged girl was not aware that the China currently referred to was located on the Louisiana border of Texas. Nor was she aware that the undetermined length of time was between three and five days. She evaluated the situation from her perspective and decided not to wait for him to get back.
The cowboy denies that the girl was the reason he was sent to China but he did go thinking it was a big company promotion. He had visions of rolling into town in one of the big company cars, carrying a big company checkbook, giving the hired help directions while sitting down to write the check and then coming on home.
What really happened was his boss told him to get his backside in one of the cattle trucks headed that way. He utilized the sleeper in the truck for most the trip and they rolled into China just before daylight.
The man in charge of the cattle operation in China met the cowboy at the truck and said, “You see that gray horse over there?”
“Yes sir,” said the sleepy cowboy.
“See that saddle in the tree?” said the cowman.
“Yes sir,” parroted the cowboy.
“Well get them together and get your butt on them.”
The cowboy was the only help for a four-day gather and pairing-up deal as well loading them on the trucks to ship out of there. At night the man along with his three pretty daughters would sit around playing IQ games. The cowboy lost out on both counts.
I’m sure there is a moral to this story but it would do no good to figure it out. They’ll always be another pretty potpourri toting girl and therefore another cowboy looking for a job in China.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
© Julie Carter 2005
I welcome submissions for this feature of The Westerner.
===
Sunday, September 18, 2005
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Why The New York Times ♥s Eminent Domain
On September 24, 2001, as New York firefighters were still picking their comrades’ body parts out of the World Trade Center wreckage, New York Times Co. Vice Chairman and Senior Vice President Michael Golden announced that the Gray Lady was ready to do its part in the healing. “We believe there could not be a greater contribution,” Golden told a clutch of city officials and journalists, “than to have the opportunity to start construction of the first major icon building in New York City after the tragic events of Sept. 11.” Bruce Ratner, president of the real estate development company working with the Times on its proposed new Eighth Avenue headquarters, called the project a “very important testament to our values, culture and democratic ideals.” Those “values” and “democratic ideals” included using eminent domain to forcibly evict 55 businesses—including a trade school, a student housing unit, a Donna Karan outlet, and several mom-and-pop stores—against their will, under the legal cover of erasing “blight,” in order to clear ground for a 52-story skyscraper. The Times and Ratner, who never bothered making an offer to the property owners, bought the Port Authority–adjacent property at a steep discount ($85 million) from a state agency that seized the 11 buildings on it; should legal settlements with the original tenants exceed that amount, taxpayers will have to make up the difference. On top of that gift, the city and state offered the Times $26 million in tax breaks for the project, and Ratner even lobbied to receive $400 million worth of U.S. Treasury–backed Liberty Bonds—instruments created by Congress to help rebuild Lower Manhattan. Which is four miles away. If you think the Times’ editorial division would be outraged to see the business side trampling the Little Guy, you probably haven’t been following the political evolution of the nation’s leading newspapers. For decades now, the country’s elite dailies and those papers that emulate them have deliberately eschewed individual stories in favor of broader “trend” pieces (especially when it comes to crime); routinely endorsed government action to cure society’s ills; and mocked the “tabloid” populism of the more right-leaning media organizations that dwell on single cases of outrage. Like the activist who loves The People but despises every actual person he meets, the Times’ editorial page takes liberal stands when the issue is safely abstract—but when it comes to the paper’s profits and political battles, the Little Guy can get bent....
Green Multiple Personality Disorder?
Has the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) finally acquired the mainstream respectability it craves? It has produced a new report "The Green Buck -- using economic tools to deliver conservation goals -- a WWF field guide;" which is posted on a new website: www.biodiversityeconomics.org. This all looks very mainstream. But, unfortunately, that is all it is. Just a new look. From the beginning, WWF has tried to position itself as mainstream. Its founding President was Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. The Duke of Edinburgh is Emeritus President. The Queen of Jordan is a Trustee. There is crossover among its senior personnel with Board memberships of well known international companies. WWF even has a "partnership" with the World Bank and WWF staff like to refer to themselves as the "suits" (as opposed to the board short and dreadlock fraternity) of the environmental movement. It relishes shots by radical environmental groups that it has sold out and is a global corporation just like IBM and BP. WWF's dirty little secret is that it has done more than any other organization to demonize the World Trade Organization (WTO). Since the WTO was formed in 1994, WWF has promoted, more effectively than any other group, the idea that the WTO threatens sustainable development and prevents protection of the environment. This is now gospel for anti-globalization NGOs. WWF fosters networks to promote this (for example the Centres for International Environmental Law), and provides the intellectual ammunition to other groups -- Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and numerous other environmental bodies -- so they might also fold an anti-free trade ideology into their polemics about the environment....
THE GREEN WAVE
According to a May 28 story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, an environmental group successfully sued to stop a project that the Army Corps of Engineers proposed to hold back the surge that spilled into the city on Sept. 5. The corps' plan was to use floodgates to keep water from the Gulf of Mexico from pouring into Lake Pontchartrain on the city's north side.
Save Our Wetlands, the environmental group that successfully sued in 1977, claimed the series of floodgates proposed by the corps would spoil wetlands. So the corps gave up and went on to other projects. But last year it decided to look again at building structures that would keep the Gulf from gushing into the lake, this time with an eye on more environmentally sensitive construction.
When will the next storm with the fury of Katrina crash into the Big Easy? Maybe 100 years from now. Maybe next month. According to Investor's Business Daily (IBD), this much is certain:
* Structures that will protect New Orleans from a category 5 storm need to be planned and built as soon as possible.
* They also need to be protected from environmental zealots who cannot be allowed to derail -- or even delay -- another project.
* Perhaps the best way to block them is for Congress to exempt such a project from environmental regulations and shield it from lawsuits.
* While Washington gets the project moving, Louisiana lawmakers should do the same at the state level.
Wetlands and fragile ecosystems are important. But in circumstances like the one in which the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama find themselves, protecting them is a luxury. On the other hand, protecting human lives and their critical habitats - them cities - is a necessity, says IBD.
Source: Editorial, "The Green Wave," Investor's Business Daily, September 13, 2005.
For text (subscription required): http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=1&issue=20050912
Federal Judge Dismisses Greenhouse Gas Lawsuit
A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit brought by several states and environmental groups aimed at forcing major utility companies to reduce their emissions of greenhouses gases. “Judge Loreta A. Preska deserves a medal for clearly explaining why legal restrictions on CO2 emissions are ‘transcendently legislative’ and thus could not be imposed by a court without violating separation of powers and the judicial doctrine that prohibits courts from reviewing ‘non-justiciable political questions,’” said Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis, Jr. The suit would have required Judge Preska to craft an elaborate set of legislative responses, including determination of proper levels of greenhouse gas emissions, necessary reduction levels for each company and appropriate impacts on U.S. national security and international treaty negotiations, among others. “The CO2 litigation game has always been about bypassing the political branches,” continued Lewis. “By refusing to legislate from the bench, Judge Preska has squashed the latest attempt by the state attorneys general to substitute their will for that of the people's elected representatives.”....
Hillary's Hurricane Rule: Gulf Storms Require Gas-Pump Populism
Sen. Hillary Clinton sometimes talks as if she wants oil and gas to be cheap and abundant, but she never stops working to make them expensive and scarce. So, what has Mrs. Clinton done as a U.S. senator to decrease dependence on foreign oil and advance an “energetic” energy policy? She has opposed drilling in any part of the massive Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. She has opposed new drilling off our coasts. She has even opposed drilling for natural gas in New York’s Finger Lakes National Forest, co-sponsoring a bill that would permanently ban such drilling. Except when hurricanes cause sudden spikes in oil prices, Mrs. Clinton finds it politically expedient to tailor both her rhetoric and actions to the elitist aims of her environmentalist friends. “I have voted against opening [ANWR] to drilling at every opportunity during my time in the Senate,” she boasts on her website. In 2003, Oceana, an environmentalist group associated with actor Ted Danson, gave her an award at a star-studded Hollywood dinner. “Clinton,” said a release about the award, “joined California Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to strike provisions in the Energy Bill that would have undermined current protections against new offshore drilling along California and other coastal states.” Between last year’s and this year’s hurricane seasons, Mrs. Clinton again voted against drilling in ANWR and against the energy bill--even though it did not open ANWR or any new offshore areas to drilling. She also declared her opposition to a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound that would help New Yorkers import the fuel they need to heat their homes that Mrs. Clinton opposes letting them drill in Finger Lakes National Forest....
Hollywood Animal-Rights Vandals Join “PETA Kills Animals” Debate With Center for Consumer Freedom
A billboard-sized dose of the truth from the Center for Consumer Freedom has struck a nerve with Hollywood animal rights activists. Last night a “www.PetaKillsAnimals.com” billboard located near Paramount Studios and erected by the Center in “dishonor” of PETA’s 25th anniversary was defaced with black spray-paint. The vandalism may well have been retaliation for the unwanted birthday present the Center for Consumer Freedom gave PETA Saturday night at Paramount Studios. Using the same protest tactics that made PETA famous, Center for Consumer Freedom representatives took to the stage at PETA’s star-studded gala with banners reading “www.PetaKillsAnimals.com” when Pamela Anderson and Fred Willard were introduced as the event’s emcees. Outside Paramount, a dozen Center for Consumer Freedom supporters held signs and shouted “PETA Kills Animals” in a protest aimed at arriving celebrities. “It’s sad that PETA supporters can’t handle the truth about this hypocritical group,” said Center for Consumer Freedom research director David Martosko. “Instead of finding loving homes for the homeless animals it receives, the self-righteous and holier-than-thou PETA kills 80 percent of them. PETA has a lot of explaining to do, especially to the celebrities who opened their wallets on Saturday.”....
Animal Rights Group's Offensive Methods Insult Religion
David Martosko, director of research at the Center for Consumer Freedom, says People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is using tactics that offend and show contempt for many religions, especially Judaism and Christianity. Martosko says PETA historically has demonstrated that it apparently has had no problem with giving offense. However, he says the group seems in recent years to be going out of its way to offend people of faith -- particularly mainstream Christians. For example, CCF's research director notes, in the last year the animal rights group has "held mock crucifixions, where they would supposedly crucify fellow PETA activists who were wearing pig masks, and that sort of thing." Also, he notes, the organization has "erected billboards in parts of the United States that showed pictures of a small piglet along with the message that 'He died for your sins.'" In addition, Martosko says one long-running PETA campaign claims Jesus was a vegetarian -- an assertion that the researcher feels is a deliberate distortion of scripture. He contends that PETA activists are using religious icons and ideas to wage what he calls a "vegan holy war," and they are not above twisting God's Word to do it....
School Tells PETA's Propaganda Machine To Move On
"Please accept our congratulations for your bold stand this week in denying People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) access to the children at Williams Middle School." So begins a letter we sent today to a South Carolina school principal and the district superintendent, who wisely blocked PETA's attempt to brainwash children with anti-chicken animal rights propaganda. As the Florence, South Carolina Morning News reported, PETA's attempt to scare students about the meat they eat "quickly fizzled after police and school officials confronted organization representatives and escorted them off school property." When police told PETA activists to take their anti-chicken act to the other side of the road, a spokesman feigned shock, saying (presumably with a straight face): Usually the administrators are happy that we're there. The parents are happy because they know that we're bringing a good message of compassion and health to the kids. Ahhhhh, yes, that compassionate message, which tells children their moms are murderers. And that health message, which warns kids away from important foods such as chicken and fish....
Why The New York Times ♥s Eminent Domain
On September 24, 2001, as New York firefighters were still picking their comrades’ body parts out of the World Trade Center wreckage, New York Times Co. Vice Chairman and Senior Vice President Michael Golden announced that the Gray Lady was ready to do its part in the healing. “We believe there could not be a greater contribution,” Golden told a clutch of city officials and journalists, “than to have the opportunity to start construction of the first major icon building in New York City after the tragic events of Sept. 11.” Bruce Ratner, president of the real estate development company working with the Times on its proposed new Eighth Avenue headquarters, called the project a “very important testament to our values, culture and democratic ideals.” Those “values” and “democratic ideals” included using eminent domain to forcibly evict 55 businesses—including a trade school, a student housing unit, a Donna Karan outlet, and several mom-and-pop stores—against their will, under the legal cover of erasing “blight,” in order to clear ground for a 52-story skyscraper. The Times and Ratner, who never bothered making an offer to the property owners, bought the Port Authority–adjacent property at a steep discount ($85 million) from a state agency that seized the 11 buildings on it; should legal settlements with the original tenants exceed that amount, taxpayers will have to make up the difference. On top of that gift, the city and state offered the Times $26 million in tax breaks for the project, and Ratner even lobbied to receive $400 million worth of U.S. Treasury–backed Liberty Bonds—instruments created by Congress to help rebuild Lower Manhattan. Which is four miles away. If you think the Times’ editorial division would be outraged to see the business side trampling the Little Guy, you probably haven’t been following the political evolution of the nation’s leading newspapers. For decades now, the country’s elite dailies and those papers that emulate them have deliberately eschewed individual stories in favor of broader “trend” pieces (especially when it comes to crime); routinely endorsed government action to cure society’s ills; and mocked the “tabloid” populism of the more right-leaning media organizations that dwell on single cases of outrage. Like the activist who loves The People but despises every actual person he meets, the Times’ editorial page takes liberal stands when the issue is safely abstract—but when it comes to the paper’s profits and political battles, the Little Guy can get bent....
Green Multiple Personality Disorder?
Has the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) finally acquired the mainstream respectability it craves? It has produced a new report "The Green Buck -- using economic tools to deliver conservation goals -- a WWF field guide;" which is posted on a new website: www.biodiversityeconomics.org. This all looks very mainstream. But, unfortunately, that is all it is. Just a new look. From the beginning, WWF has tried to position itself as mainstream. Its founding President was Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. The Duke of Edinburgh is Emeritus President. The Queen of Jordan is a Trustee. There is crossover among its senior personnel with Board memberships of well known international companies. WWF even has a "partnership" with the World Bank and WWF staff like to refer to themselves as the "suits" (as opposed to the board short and dreadlock fraternity) of the environmental movement. It relishes shots by radical environmental groups that it has sold out and is a global corporation just like IBM and BP. WWF's dirty little secret is that it has done more than any other organization to demonize the World Trade Organization (WTO). Since the WTO was formed in 1994, WWF has promoted, more effectively than any other group, the idea that the WTO threatens sustainable development and prevents protection of the environment. This is now gospel for anti-globalization NGOs. WWF fosters networks to promote this (for example the Centres for International Environmental Law), and provides the intellectual ammunition to other groups -- Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and numerous other environmental bodies -- so they might also fold an anti-free trade ideology into their polemics about the environment....
THE GREEN WAVE
According to a May 28 story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, an environmental group successfully sued to stop a project that the Army Corps of Engineers proposed to hold back the surge that spilled into the city on Sept. 5. The corps' plan was to use floodgates to keep water from the Gulf of Mexico from pouring into Lake Pontchartrain on the city's north side.
Save Our Wetlands, the environmental group that successfully sued in 1977, claimed the series of floodgates proposed by the corps would spoil wetlands. So the corps gave up and went on to other projects. But last year it decided to look again at building structures that would keep the Gulf from gushing into the lake, this time with an eye on more environmentally sensitive construction.
When will the next storm with the fury of Katrina crash into the Big Easy? Maybe 100 years from now. Maybe next month. According to Investor's Business Daily (IBD), this much is certain:
* Structures that will protect New Orleans from a category 5 storm need to be planned and built as soon as possible.
* They also need to be protected from environmental zealots who cannot be allowed to derail -- or even delay -- another project.
* Perhaps the best way to block them is for Congress to exempt such a project from environmental regulations and shield it from lawsuits.
* While Washington gets the project moving, Louisiana lawmakers should do the same at the state level.
Wetlands and fragile ecosystems are important. But in circumstances like the one in which the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama find themselves, protecting them is a luxury. On the other hand, protecting human lives and their critical habitats - them cities - is a necessity, says IBD.
Source: Editorial, "The Green Wave," Investor's Business Daily, September 13, 2005.
For text (subscription required): http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=1&issue=20050912
Federal Judge Dismisses Greenhouse Gas Lawsuit
A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit brought by several states and environmental groups aimed at forcing major utility companies to reduce their emissions of greenhouses gases. “Judge Loreta A. Preska deserves a medal for clearly explaining why legal restrictions on CO2 emissions are ‘transcendently legislative’ and thus could not be imposed by a court without violating separation of powers and the judicial doctrine that prohibits courts from reviewing ‘non-justiciable political questions,’” said Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis, Jr. The suit would have required Judge Preska to craft an elaborate set of legislative responses, including determination of proper levels of greenhouse gas emissions, necessary reduction levels for each company and appropriate impacts on U.S. national security and international treaty negotiations, among others. “The CO2 litigation game has always been about bypassing the political branches,” continued Lewis. “By refusing to legislate from the bench, Judge Preska has squashed the latest attempt by the state attorneys general to substitute their will for that of the people's elected representatives.”....
Hillary's Hurricane Rule: Gulf Storms Require Gas-Pump Populism
Sen. Hillary Clinton sometimes talks as if she wants oil and gas to be cheap and abundant, but she never stops working to make them expensive and scarce. So, what has Mrs. Clinton done as a U.S. senator to decrease dependence on foreign oil and advance an “energetic” energy policy? She has opposed drilling in any part of the massive Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. She has opposed new drilling off our coasts. She has even opposed drilling for natural gas in New York’s Finger Lakes National Forest, co-sponsoring a bill that would permanently ban such drilling. Except when hurricanes cause sudden spikes in oil prices, Mrs. Clinton finds it politically expedient to tailor both her rhetoric and actions to the elitist aims of her environmentalist friends. “I have voted against opening [ANWR] to drilling at every opportunity during my time in the Senate,” she boasts on her website. In 2003, Oceana, an environmentalist group associated with actor Ted Danson, gave her an award at a star-studded Hollywood dinner. “Clinton,” said a release about the award, “joined California Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to strike provisions in the Energy Bill that would have undermined current protections against new offshore drilling along California and other coastal states.” Between last year’s and this year’s hurricane seasons, Mrs. Clinton again voted against drilling in ANWR and against the energy bill--even though it did not open ANWR or any new offshore areas to drilling. She also declared her opposition to a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound that would help New Yorkers import the fuel they need to heat their homes that Mrs. Clinton opposes letting them drill in Finger Lakes National Forest....
Hollywood Animal-Rights Vandals Join “PETA Kills Animals” Debate With Center for Consumer Freedom
A billboard-sized dose of the truth from the Center for Consumer Freedom has struck a nerve with Hollywood animal rights activists. Last night a “www.PetaKillsAnimals.com” billboard located near Paramount Studios and erected by the Center in “dishonor” of PETA’s 25th anniversary was defaced with black spray-paint. The vandalism may well have been retaliation for the unwanted birthday present the Center for Consumer Freedom gave PETA Saturday night at Paramount Studios. Using the same protest tactics that made PETA famous, Center for Consumer Freedom representatives took to the stage at PETA’s star-studded gala with banners reading “www.PetaKillsAnimals.com” when Pamela Anderson and Fred Willard were introduced as the event’s emcees. Outside Paramount, a dozen Center for Consumer Freedom supporters held signs and shouted “PETA Kills Animals” in a protest aimed at arriving celebrities. “It’s sad that PETA supporters can’t handle the truth about this hypocritical group,” said Center for Consumer Freedom research director David Martosko. “Instead of finding loving homes for the homeless animals it receives, the self-righteous and holier-than-thou PETA kills 80 percent of them. PETA has a lot of explaining to do, especially to the celebrities who opened their wallets on Saturday.”....
Animal Rights Group's Offensive Methods Insult Religion
David Martosko, director of research at the Center for Consumer Freedom, says People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is using tactics that offend and show contempt for many religions, especially Judaism and Christianity. Martosko says PETA historically has demonstrated that it apparently has had no problem with giving offense. However, he says the group seems in recent years to be going out of its way to offend people of faith -- particularly mainstream Christians. For example, CCF's research director notes, in the last year the animal rights group has "held mock crucifixions, where they would supposedly crucify fellow PETA activists who were wearing pig masks, and that sort of thing." Also, he notes, the organization has "erected billboards in parts of the United States that showed pictures of a small piglet along with the message that 'He died for your sins.'" In addition, Martosko says one long-running PETA campaign claims Jesus was a vegetarian -- an assertion that the researcher feels is a deliberate distortion of scripture. He contends that PETA activists are using religious icons and ideas to wage what he calls a "vegan holy war," and they are not above twisting God's Word to do it....
School Tells PETA's Propaganda Machine To Move On
"Please accept our congratulations for your bold stand this week in denying People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) access to the children at Williams Middle School." So begins a letter we sent today to a South Carolina school principal and the district superintendent, who wisely blocked PETA's attempt to brainwash children with anti-chicken animal rights propaganda. As the Florence, South Carolina Morning News reported, PETA's attempt to scare students about the meat they eat "quickly fizzled after police and school officials confronted organization representatives and escorted them off school property." When police told PETA activists to take their anti-chicken act to the other side of the road, a spokesman feigned shock, saying (presumably with a straight face): Usually the administrators are happy that we're there. The parents are happy because they know that we're bringing a good message of compassion and health to the kids. Ahhhhh, yes, that compassionate message, which tells children their moms are murderers. And that health message, which warns kids away from important foods such as chicken and fish....
KELO
Rell Forces Withdrawal Of Eviction Notices
Gov. M. Jodi Rell forced the New London Development Corp. on Friday to rescind eviction notices served on residents whose homes were taken by eminent domain. The city's development arm buckled under pressure by Rell, who could conceivably hold back state money necessary for the city's Fort Trumbull economic development project. But the dispute re-energized calls for a statutory moratorium on land-takings until the General Assembly can agree on how to permanently limit the use of eminent domain - suddenly a potent political issue for the 2006 gubernatorial and legislative races. House Republicans launched a petition drive Friday to force a special session on eminent domain, a possibility since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Fort Trumbull takings in June. Special sessions are typically called by either the governor or the legislature's top leaders, but legislators also can petition themselves into session by gathering signatures from a majority of both chambers. Rell has refused to call a special session without a consensus on how to curb eminent domain, but she supports the petition drive....
Agency to take back New London eviction notices
Some homeowners in New London will stay in their homes while the state debates eminent domain laws. The New London Development Corporation is backing off on eviction notices it sent to homeowners in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. Because of those notices, there's been another call for a mandatory, state-wide, moratorium on eminent domain and a call for the dismissal of the New London Redevelopment Corporation. Without stepping foot in New London, Gov. Rell sent a very clear message to the New London Development Corporation. It was delivered by her state development commissioner, James Abromaitis. "Certainly the Governor is more than displeased with what's been going on and certainly the letter that they sent, unbeknownst to everybody, was pretty near the straw that broke the camel's back," Abromaitis said....
===
Rell Forces Withdrawal Of Eviction Notices
Gov. M. Jodi Rell forced the New London Development Corp. on Friday to rescind eviction notices served on residents whose homes were taken by eminent domain. The city's development arm buckled under pressure by Rell, who could conceivably hold back state money necessary for the city's Fort Trumbull economic development project. But the dispute re-energized calls for a statutory moratorium on land-takings until the General Assembly can agree on how to permanently limit the use of eminent domain - suddenly a potent political issue for the 2006 gubernatorial and legislative races. House Republicans launched a petition drive Friday to force a special session on eminent domain, a possibility since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Fort Trumbull takings in June. Special sessions are typically called by either the governor or the legislature's top leaders, but legislators also can petition themselves into session by gathering signatures from a majority of both chambers. Rell has refused to call a special session without a consensus on how to curb eminent domain, but she supports the petition drive....
Agency to take back New London eviction notices
Some homeowners in New London will stay in their homes while the state debates eminent domain laws. The New London Development Corporation is backing off on eviction notices it sent to homeowners in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. Because of those notices, there's been another call for a mandatory, state-wide, moratorium on eminent domain and a call for the dismissal of the New London Redevelopment Corporation. Without stepping foot in New London, Gov. Rell sent a very clear message to the New London Development Corporation. It was delivered by her state development commissioner, James Abromaitis. "Certainly the Governor is more than displeased with what's been going on and certainly the letter that they sent, unbeknownst to everybody, was pretty near the straw that broke the camel's back," Abromaitis said....
===
Friday, September 16, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
U.S. needs domestic production, by responsible means Midland native Doug Burger began his presentation to the Permian Basin Petroleum Association Thursday by holding up a supermarket tabloid with a headline blaring "No More Oil! World to run out in six months!" As district manager for the Pecos district, Bureau of Land Management, Burger told his laughing audience, "I see a different picture." He reeled off several statistics: His district encompasses four counties in southeastern New Mexico: Chaves, Eddy, Lea and Roosevelt; these four counties produce 61 million barrels of crude annually, of which 45 percent is from federal leases and 568 billion cubic feet of gas, of which 48 percent is on federal lands; of the royalties the federal government collects, half is given to the state of New Mexico and Burger estimated that the federal government has recently given the state $1 million a day in royalties; approximately 95 percent of the state's entire production is from that four-county district, which holds 6,000 federal leases, 3 million leased acres total and 30,000 producing wells, of which 41 percent or 12,181 are on federal lands. The point of those statistics, Burger said, is that "We need domestic production." The key to developing that production, especially on federal lands, is to develop it under a multiple-use format and in an environmentally responsible way. Multiple-use means not only developing oil and natural gas production but allowing that land to be used by farmers, ranchers and for recreation, he said. And the key to maintaining multiple-use access to those federal lands is successful reclamation of those lands by producing companies....
Congressman, attorney general seek to block drilling on part of national forest in New Mexico A Democratic congressman and the state's attorney general are trying to block oil and natural gas drilling on 100,000 acres of federal land in northern New Mexico. Rep. Tom Udall of New Mexico introduced legislation Thursday to prohibit oil and gas development on the Valle Vidal unit of the Carson National Forest. Attorney General Patricia Madrid, in a separate move, warned the Forest Service that she would fight any attempts by the agency to allow oil and gas exploration and production on the Valle Vidal. The potential for natural gas drilling on the public land looms as a major political and environmental fight in New Mexico. Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, who's running for re-election next year and is considered a potential candidate for president in 2008, opposes oil and gas leasing on the Valle Vidal. New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the senior Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Thursday that he's developing legislation to protect the Valle Vidal. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., has declared her opposition to drilling in the Valle Vidal — the first Republican in the state's congressional delegation to do so....
Conservation Groups File Appeal to Halt Oil Drilling Expansion in Los Padres National Forest Three conservation groups today filed an administrative appeal challenging a recent decision by the U.S. Forest Service to expand oil drilling in California’s Los Padres National Forest. The California Attorney General’s Office filed a separate appeal of the decision on Tuesday. In late July, the Forest Service approved a plan to allow oil drilling on an additional 52,075 acres of land in the Los Padres National Forest. The decision threatens popular recreation areas, wild lands, clean air and water, and habitat for several endangered species, including the California condor. “The Los Padres National Forest is already contributing its fair share of oil development to the nation. In fact, the Los Padres has the highest rate of oil drilling in California. Our communities should not have to sacrifice even more of our clean water, scenic vistas, and recreation opportunities for less than a day’s supply of oil,” said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch....
Column: Readers vent over suicide I hope the federal Bureau of Land Management, the agency that oversees hundreds of millions of acres of public land – the vast majority of it in the West and Alaska – is listening. I hope that members of Congress are paying attention, and the Western governors with BLM holdings inside their states, and the assortment of varying stakeholders, and citizens who own those lands as part of their birthright. A few weeks ago, I penned a column about the suicide of Marlene Braun, the late manager of Carrizo Plain National Monument, a quarter-million-acre protected area administered by the BLM in California. Last May, Ms. Braun took her own life with a firearm in the wake of an ongoing dispute with her BLM boss. The incident has ignited a growing debate inside civil service ranks about the state of morale among public servants working for U.S. land management agencies. Could the BLM have prevented Braun’s death? Is the agency guilty of quashing dissent within its ranks? Was Braun punished for her overt support of a plan to reduce livestock grazing in order to protect native wildlife? Rarely have I witnessed a greater and more emotional response....
Forest ranger station and land sells for $1.3 million If all holds true, the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and several parcels of surrounding land will have sold for about $1.3 million, according to Linda Perry of the Forest Service. The Forest Service put the surplus land up for sale via an online auction in June. At first, the land appeared to be going at bargain basement prices. For example, the initial bid for the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and surrounding five acre tract was a paltry $4,500 back in June. That all changed, however, as the auction attracted some press and also came under what's known as a soft close status. A soft close happens when there are no bids on parcels for a 24 hour period. That's when the bidding actually heated up, Perry noted, with parcel prices jumping as much as $74,000 over a weekend. The sale includes not only the ranger station and surrounding land, but also about 92 acres of land in the townsite, most of which would make good housing lots. The bid price right now is about $14,100 an acre....
Column: The Ages-Old Beat Between Man and Beasts Goes On Katrina stories about pets have endeared and dismayed. But the story of man's relationship with the animal world has lately changed - principally because of (a) the reintroduction of certain species into areas where their ranks were running thin, and (b) suburbia becoming superb wildlife habitat. Perhaps the most widely perceived animal issue is posed by the white-tailed deer. Even with regular hunting seasons, many states in the East (such as Virginia) boast about as many as estimated at the Founding. We have removed many of their natural predators and feed them with our crops and milady's ornamentals. Some of our toniest neighborhoods have hired archers and sharpshooters to keep them out of back yards. Various programs direct the venison to, among others, the homeless. Urban parks wrestle with the deer question, too. Last year, motorists killed at least 39 whitetails in the 1,755-acre Rock Creek Park bordering pricey parcels in the nation's capitol - not counting the grazes, near-misses and unreported encounters. The National Park Service is wrestling with what to do. Coyotes across the landscape prey on livestock. Ditto gray wolves (a.k.a. timber wolves) reintroduced in places such as Wyoming, Montana and Idaho - and causing friction between ranchers in states that allow wolf culling and those in states that do not....
Better Endangered Species Incentives Needed Testifying today on behalf of AFBF, Bob Peterson, an Ohio grain and livestock farmer told a House subcommittee that farmers working cooperatively with government agencies would help make species recovery a positive benefit for all parties. “Farmers and ranchers enjoy the benefit of having wildlife on their land,” Peterson said. “Most farmers and ranchers are already taking measures on their own to protect listed species and habitat. They need the tools to be able to do it better.” Peterson explained that several programs are available to help animal species before they are listed as endangered, but once a species is listed, most of those opportunities disappear. “Farm Bureau has long supported the use of cooperative conservation as a way to implement the Endangered Species Act,” Peterson said. “We are convinced that cooperative conservation is the way to make the Endangered Species Act work for both landowners and for species, producing a win-win situation for both.”....
Drawing a bead on bison If the infamous hunts of the late 1980s and early 1990s are any indication as to how Montana’s latest experiment with a bison-hunting season will go, the state might want to get out the makeup and prepare for a whopper of a black eye. On Sept. 8 the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission approved a plan to allow 50 hunters to kill bison as they leave Yellow-stone National Park, clearing the way for the first hunt of its kind in Montana in nearly 15 years to start Nov. 15. The state put an end to bison hunting in the early 1990s after graphic images of the hunts sparked international criticism and protests, including tourist boycotts. During those hunts, wardens led hunters into the field where some animals were shot at close range while grazing. Wildlife officials promise this year’s hunt won’t be anything like previous incarnations. Gov. Brian Schweitzer called off a 30-day bison hunt scheduled for Jan. 15 after commissioners said they wanted to ensure a fair-chase hunt and a longer season with broader hunting opportunities. The revised hunt plan includes more than 460,000 acres of wildlife habitat near the Yellowstone border. However, opponents say the hunt is anything but “fair chase.”....
Horses in Arizona forest: wild or domestic strays? The future of several hundred horses roaming across portions of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest could hinge on their history and DNA. And their fate also depends on whether a federal judge finds that officials have taken all the steps required to protect the animals. U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone in Phoenix will decide at a hearing Sept. 23 whether to issue a preliminary injunction to keep the U.S. Forest Service from rounding up some 300 to 400 horses for slaughter. Last week, Martone granted a temporary restraining order to keep the service from awarding a contract for rounding up the animals. The government contends that most of the horses now on the forest strayed onto it during or after the Rodeo-Chediski forest fire in 2002. The fire, Arizona's largest-ever blaze, burned 469,000 acres, including miles of fencing separating the Apache-Sitgreaves and the White Mountain Apache Reservation....
Assault on pike is urged Eight years and more than $15 million after dumping chemicals into Lake Davis to eradicate northern pike, state Department of Fish and Game officials are proposing to do it again. Plans to be announced today by department Director Ryan Broddrick propose treating the Plumas County reservoir with liquid rotenone, the same chemical used in 1997 to kill the pike discovered in 1994. The 4,000-acre reservoir now harbors more than a million pike, a voracious Midwestern native species that feeds on trout and other fish. Armed with spines lining their mouths, pike have the potential to cause irreversible damage to the Feather River below Lake Davis and Sacramento River system farther downstream, Broddrick said. "It's time to evaluate treating the lake in a way that will eliminate northern pike for the long-term benefit of the ecosystem and the community," he said....
Man Who Shot Hunters Says He Feared For His Life A Hmong man accused of killing six hunters and wounding two others said Thursday that he feared for his life as he was confronted for trespassing. Chai Soua Vang, who came to the United States from Laos more than 20 years ago, said he began shooting after he thought one of the hunters had shot at him and the others were going for more guns. As he stood on the witness stand, Vang pretended he had a rifle in his arms and detailed the order in which he shot at them. He said he reloaded his gun twice. Two survivors of the shooting testified that no shots were fired at Vang before he started shooting. The truck driver from St. Paul, Minn., is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. If convicted, he could face mandatory life in prison. On Thursday, Vang, 36, said he was lost in the isolated Sawyer County woods on Nov. 21, found a tree stand he thought was on public property and climbed into it to get the lay of the land. He said Terry Willers approached him and told him he was on private property and should climb down....
Conservation study places GarCo on endangered list Garfield County has been identified as one of 12 places where threat of development and inability to preserve open space are greatest in Colorado. A study by the nonprofit Colorado Conservation Trust said Garfield County's soaring population will gobble about 18,660 of its 1.8 million acres between 2000 and 2030. While other counties, mostly in the Front Range, will see more growth, they also have more groups with more financial resources working on preservation of open space. When development threat is combined with funds available to buy and protect open space, Garfield County ranked as one of Colorado's 12 endangered counties. The study estimated $8.5 million is needed to buy and preserve about 10,000 of the most endangered acres in Garfield County....
Editorial: Time for Skico to make a bold statement The time has come for the Aspen Skiing Co. to make the ultimate environmental statement - it must abandon its plan to expand further onto Burnt Mountain. The Skico has deservedly earned a reputation over the last decade as an environmental leader in the ski industry. We believe the efforts headed by Director of Environmental Affairs Auden Schendler and guided by Chief Executive Officer Pat O'Donnell are sincere and enlightened. Corporations of any and all types would do well to follow the Skico's example. But to reach full credibility, the company must end an expansion plan that raises legitimate and grave concerns in its own back yard. The Skico wants to add about 500 acres of terrain in the trees of Burnt Mountain. It currently has one trail there called Long Shot. Skiers and riders must hike to the trail; it isn't served by a chairlift. Like Long Shot, the other proposed trails would guide skiers and riders through glades on ungroomed terrain....
Campers have fewer places to pitch tents Your tax dollars are only partially at work at U.S. Forest Service campgrounds near Aspen this fall. Three major campgrounds east of Aspen closed right after Labor Day weekend even though September is one of the most scenic times of the year. Lost Man, Lincoln Gulch and Weller campgrounds, which provide 26 sites easily accessible off Highway 82, are locked up for the season. Difficult Campground, the largest and closest to town, remains open until Sept. 25. It offers 47 sites. A concessionaire, One Thousand Trails, operates all four of those sites. The White River National Forest hired the national company five years ago to administer several of its campgrounds. The company collects the $15 camping fees, gives the Forest Service its cut, plows a certain amount of revenues back into improvements and maintenance, and keeps the remainder as profit. Its key to turning a profit is reducing costs, so One Thousands Trails is reluctant to stay open when cooler weather eliminates all but the heartiest campers with good sleeping bags....
Bill Would Let E.P.A. Relax Rules for Cleanup The Environmental Protection Agency could suspend any law governing air, water or land in responding to Hurricane Katrina under a measure introduced Thursday by the chairman of the Senate environment committee. The legislation, which drew immediate criticism from environmental groups, would create a 120-day period in which the agency's administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, could waive or modify laws if it became "necessary to respond in a timely and effective manner" to a situation created by the storm. The proposal would allow changes in law at the discretion of the Bush administrator in consultation with the governor of "any affected state." "This legislation is purely about providing E.P.A. the clarity and certainty it will need down the road to ensure a timely and effective response," said Bill Holbrook, a spokesman for the chairman, Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma. Mr. Holbrook added, "As Administrator Johnson indicated yesterday, there are a number of uncertainties remaining, and we, as well as the administration, do not want those uncertainties to delay actions that affect people's health."....
Provision blocks Interior from moving on waste site Utah officials and the Bureau of Land Management say a key piece of a plan to build a nuclear waste storage facility on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation is blocked -- at least for now. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week approved a license for Private Fuel Storage to build and operate the facility, which would temporarily store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The commission's OK was a major move forward for the company. Private Fuel Storage, a group of utilities, now wants permission to build a rail spur to the Union Pacific Railroad main line so it can haul the enormous waste containers to their resting spot on the Goshute Reservation. But the Bureau of Land Management says it can't consider a right of way for the spur because five years ago, then Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, inserted language into a defense bill that prohibits it. Hansen's language prevents the BLM from amending any land-use plans until the Pentagon studies how wilderness areas on the Utah Test and Training Range would affect training readiness....
8 companies apply for BLM oil shale leases The Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management has received 10 applications from eight companies for its new oil shale leasing program. The small-scale leasing program will allow groups to test oil-shale extraction technology in the public lands of Colorado. The lease program allows companies to explore the resource, which could produce as much as 2.6 trillion barrels of oil, by granting 160-acre tracts of land and 10 years time to worthy applicants. “There are some bigger companies like Shell that have applied, and some of the companies are really small,” said Karen Zurek, acting head of the BLM’s solid minerals division....
Warning Of Spread Of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever An infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins who has spent nearly three decades studying the life-threatening, tick-borne infection known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever warns that the first widespread outbreak of the bacterial disease in Arizona is a growing and dangerous sign of how humans can inadvertently help spread infectious organisms beyond traditional state boundaries. In an article to be published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the Hopkins pathologist and microbiologist J. Stephen Dumler, M.D., a professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, highlights the importance of the recent outbreak in Arizona as the first confirmed cases that could be traced back to ticks carried into to the state on feral dogs, an animal group whose population has markedly increased. And, as the number of dogs has increased, so have the number of ticks. A detailed study of this latest outbreak by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is featured in the same edition of the NEJM online Aug. 11. According to Dumler, the disease, most often marked by a telltale spotty rash that appears five to 10 days after the first signs of infection, has been largely confined to the South Central and Southeastern United States, although sporadic cases have been reported in all 48 continental states, mostly North Carolina. (Hopkins’ home state of Maryland is among the top 10 states for the disease, with at least 79 cases reported in 2004, up from 19 in 2000.) The scientist also reports that the number of people infected with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is fatal in up to 10 percent of those who contract it, has peaked for the third known time this century, with more than 1,800 cases reported nationally in 2003 and 2004. However, scientists believe the number of unreported cases is much greater....
Anthrax kills 37 cattle on montana ranch Anthrax has killed 37 cattle on a ranch in northeast Montana, and additional cases wouldn't be surprising, the state veterinarian said Thursday. The ranch, northwest of Culbertson, is under quarantine and has been since Monday, when the state Department of Livestock first learned that anthrax was suspected, Tom Linfield said. It has since been confirmed. Hundreds of remaining cattle were moved to a different pasture, and animals deemed susceptible or possibly exposed were given antibiotics and vaccinations, he said. A second round of vaccinations is due in about a week, and the property will be under quarantine for about 40 days, the department said. Ranchers in the area have been notified, and vigilance is being encouraged. Linfield said it's reasonable to expect more local cases following an outbreak. Anthrax was last confirmed in the state in 1999, the department said. Hundreds of cases have been reported this year in North Dakota and South Dakota....
Early price tag: $1 billion in agriculture damage The early price tag for Hurricane Katrina's damage to Louisiana agriculture is $1 billion — but the eventual total will be much higher, a state expert said Monday. Figures compiled so far by the Louisiana State University AgCenter cover only lost revenue and increased production costs. They do not include damage to fences, equipment and buildings, trashed pasture land and other infrastructure losses, said AgCenter economist Kirk Guidry. "The numbers are getting bigger every day as we get more information," Guidry said. Although the vast majority of farmers were not affected by Katrina, the storm still had a devastating effect on southeastern Louisiana, an area better known for its cities than its agriculture. For example, 10,000 to 11,000 head of cattle south of Lake Pontchartrain are dead or missing, particularly in the flooded-out parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines, Guidry said. "The ones that are alive, the problem is getting them feed and water," Guidry said. "We could see these number grow."....
USDA plan would close 665 local offices More than one-fourth of the nation's Farm Service Agency offices would close under a plan being pushed by the Agriculture Department, according to an agency document obtained by The Associated Press. As outlined in the document, the department would shutter an estimated 665 of the 2,353 offices nationwide. J.B. Penn, undersecretary for the Agriculture Department's Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, said that he had not seen the document obtained by the AP but that the numbers cited were inaccurate. Penn discussed the plan to modernize FSA offices in briefings this week with chairmen of the Senate Agriculture Committee and House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. More congressional briefings were planned. State FSA directors are coming to Washington next week for a briefing on the plan....
Canadian mad cow recovery plan aims for 800,000 tonnes of annual exports by 2015 Canada's beef industry is working on an ambitious mad cow recovery plan that would ramp up exports sharply over the next decade while reducing reliance on the U.S. market. Ted Haney of the Canada Beef Export Federation says his members want exports of processed beef increased to 800,000 tonnes by 2015. The key is reducing trade dependency on the United States from what's currently about 90 per cent down to 50 per cent in a defined period, said Haney. How to reach those targets will be the focus of an industry strategy session on Saturday that will include input from producers, processors, exporters and governments....
Legacy Reaches for Restoration In 1859 five families settled along the Virgin River, about one mile downstream from modern-day Grafton. They built homes and a school as the town slowly began to grow. Friendly Paiute Indians even helped the settlers become established. The homes of those early settlers were washed away in a raging flood in 1862. Distraught but not defeated, the settlers moved their town one mile upstream to form Grafton. However, due to common flooding of the Virgin River, the settlers were destined to endure flood after flood, filling irrigation ditches with sand and requiring constant attention. Despite the problems in settling the town, residents remained optimistic and hopeful. The crops and fruit trees grew and produced food for the town. By 1886 the town had grown to 28 families, and a two-story schoolhouse was constructed, which attracted people from settlements all up and down the Virgin River for dances and plays....
102-year-old Mildred Wolters reflects on the people and places she's encountered over the last century On September 9, 1903, during President Theodore Roosevelt's first term in office, Mildred Pintler was born in a small wood-frame house near Providence, R.I. Last Friday, exactly 102 years later, Mildred Pintler Wolters celebrated her birthday with family and friends at Discovery Care Centre, where she's lived for the past two years. Sitting with 105 years of family history in the scrapbook next to her bed, Wolters recounted a few of the twists and turns on the long and sometimes dusty trail that brought her from the country's smallest state to the wide open frontier of Montana. The oldest of five children born to George and Hilda Pintler, Mildred moved several times with her family before arriving in Montana in 1917....
North Dakota rodeo star Dean Armstrong, 75, dies Dean Armstrong, one of the first rodeo cowboys to be inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, has died at his ranch near here. He was 75. “I think his heart just gave out,” said Fran Armstrong, his wife of 14 years. Armstrong, who died Tuesday, was a member of a group called the North Dakota “six-pack.” The Fort Berthold-area rodeo team was known for riding tough bucking horses during the 1950s. Armstrong also competed professionally in steer wrestling and calf roping and won 11 state titles from 1954 to 1962. His rodeo career ended in 1963, after a horse fell backward and dragged and kicked him, leaving him unconscious for weeks. Armstrong then trained and raced horses in Canada and Arizona for about 30 years, his wife said. Fran, a retired Beulah teacher, wrote several books of poetry about her husband and other cowboys and ranchers....
===
U.S. needs domestic production, by responsible means Midland native Doug Burger began his presentation to the Permian Basin Petroleum Association Thursday by holding up a supermarket tabloid with a headline blaring "No More Oil! World to run out in six months!" As district manager for the Pecos district, Bureau of Land Management, Burger told his laughing audience, "I see a different picture." He reeled off several statistics: His district encompasses four counties in southeastern New Mexico: Chaves, Eddy, Lea and Roosevelt; these four counties produce 61 million barrels of crude annually, of which 45 percent is from federal leases and 568 billion cubic feet of gas, of which 48 percent is on federal lands; of the royalties the federal government collects, half is given to the state of New Mexico and Burger estimated that the federal government has recently given the state $1 million a day in royalties; approximately 95 percent of the state's entire production is from that four-county district, which holds 6,000 federal leases, 3 million leased acres total and 30,000 producing wells, of which 41 percent or 12,181 are on federal lands. The point of those statistics, Burger said, is that "We need domestic production." The key to developing that production, especially on federal lands, is to develop it under a multiple-use format and in an environmentally responsible way. Multiple-use means not only developing oil and natural gas production but allowing that land to be used by farmers, ranchers and for recreation, he said. And the key to maintaining multiple-use access to those federal lands is successful reclamation of those lands by producing companies....
Congressman, attorney general seek to block drilling on part of national forest in New Mexico A Democratic congressman and the state's attorney general are trying to block oil and natural gas drilling on 100,000 acres of federal land in northern New Mexico. Rep. Tom Udall of New Mexico introduced legislation Thursday to prohibit oil and gas development on the Valle Vidal unit of the Carson National Forest. Attorney General Patricia Madrid, in a separate move, warned the Forest Service that she would fight any attempts by the agency to allow oil and gas exploration and production on the Valle Vidal. The potential for natural gas drilling on the public land looms as a major political and environmental fight in New Mexico. Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, who's running for re-election next year and is considered a potential candidate for president in 2008, opposes oil and gas leasing on the Valle Vidal. New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the senior Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Thursday that he's developing legislation to protect the Valle Vidal. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., has declared her opposition to drilling in the Valle Vidal — the first Republican in the state's congressional delegation to do so....
Conservation Groups File Appeal to Halt Oil Drilling Expansion in Los Padres National Forest Three conservation groups today filed an administrative appeal challenging a recent decision by the U.S. Forest Service to expand oil drilling in California’s Los Padres National Forest. The California Attorney General’s Office filed a separate appeal of the decision on Tuesday. In late July, the Forest Service approved a plan to allow oil drilling on an additional 52,075 acres of land in the Los Padres National Forest. The decision threatens popular recreation areas, wild lands, clean air and water, and habitat for several endangered species, including the California condor. “The Los Padres National Forest is already contributing its fair share of oil development to the nation. In fact, the Los Padres has the highest rate of oil drilling in California. Our communities should not have to sacrifice even more of our clean water, scenic vistas, and recreation opportunities for less than a day’s supply of oil,” said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch....
Column: Readers vent over suicide I hope the federal Bureau of Land Management, the agency that oversees hundreds of millions of acres of public land – the vast majority of it in the West and Alaska – is listening. I hope that members of Congress are paying attention, and the Western governors with BLM holdings inside their states, and the assortment of varying stakeholders, and citizens who own those lands as part of their birthright. A few weeks ago, I penned a column about the suicide of Marlene Braun, the late manager of Carrizo Plain National Monument, a quarter-million-acre protected area administered by the BLM in California. Last May, Ms. Braun took her own life with a firearm in the wake of an ongoing dispute with her BLM boss. The incident has ignited a growing debate inside civil service ranks about the state of morale among public servants working for U.S. land management agencies. Could the BLM have prevented Braun’s death? Is the agency guilty of quashing dissent within its ranks? Was Braun punished for her overt support of a plan to reduce livestock grazing in order to protect native wildlife? Rarely have I witnessed a greater and more emotional response....
Forest ranger station and land sells for $1.3 million If all holds true, the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and several parcels of surrounding land will have sold for about $1.3 million, according to Linda Perry of the Forest Service. The Forest Service put the surplus land up for sale via an online auction in June. At first, the land appeared to be going at bargain basement prices. For example, the initial bid for the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and surrounding five acre tract was a paltry $4,500 back in June. That all changed, however, as the auction attracted some press and also came under what's known as a soft close status. A soft close happens when there are no bids on parcels for a 24 hour period. That's when the bidding actually heated up, Perry noted, with parcel prices jumping as much as $74,000 over a weekend. The sale includes not only the ranger station and surrounding land, but also about 92 acres of land in the townsite, most of which would make good housing lots. The bid price right now is about $14,100 an acre....
Column: The Ages-Old Beat Between Man and Beasts Goes On Katrina stories about pets have endeared and dismayed. But the story of man's relationship with the animal world has lately changed - principally because of (a) the reintroduction of certain species into areas where their ranks were running thin, and (b) suburbia becoming superb wildlife habitat. Perhaps the most widely perceived animal issue is posed by the white-tailed deer. Even with regular hunting seasons, many states in the East (such as Virginia) boast about as many as estimated at the Founding. We have removed many of their natural predators and feed them with our crops and milady's ornamentals. Some of our toniest neighborhoods have hired archers and sharpshooters to keep them out of back yards. Various programs direct the venison to, among others, the homeless. Urban parks wrestle with the deer question, too. Last year, motorists killed at least 39 whitetails in the 1,755-acre Rock Creek Park bordering pricey parcels in the nation's capitol - not counting the grazes, near-misses and unreported encounters. The National Park Service is wrestling with what to do. Coyotes across the landscape prey on livestock. Ditto gray wolves (a.k.a. timber wolves) reintroduced in places such as Wyoming, Montana and Idaho - and causing friction between ranchers in states that allow wolf culling and those in states that do not....
Better Endangered Species Incentives Needed Testifying today on behalf of AFBF, Bob Peterson, an Ohio grain and livestock farmer told a House subcommittee that farmers working cooperatively with government agencies would help make species recovery a positive benefit for all parties. “Farmers and ranchers enjoy the benefit of having wildlife on their land,” Peterson said. “Most farmers and ranchers are already taking measures on their own to protect listed species and habitat. They need the tools to be able to do it better.” Peterson explained that several programs are available to help animal species before they are listed as endangered, but once a species is listed, most of those opportunities disappear. “Farm Bureau has long supported the use of cooperative conservation as a way to implement the Endangered Species Act,” Peterson said. “We are convinced that cooperative conservation is the way to make the Endangered Species Act work for both landowners and for species, producing a win-win situation for both.”....
Drawing a bead on bison If the infamous hunts of the late 1980s and early 1990s are any indication as to how Montana’s latest experiment with a bison-hunting season will go, the state might want to get out the makeup and prepare for a whopper of a black eye. On Sept. 8 the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission approved a plan to allow 50 hunters to kill bison as they leave Yellow-stone National Park, clearing the way for the first hunt of its kind in Montana in nearly 15 years to start Nov. 15. The state put an end to bison hunting in the early 1990s after graphic images of the hunts sparked international criticism and protests, including tourist boycotts. During those hunts, wardens led hunters into the field where some animals were shot at close range while grazing. Wildlife officials promise this year’s hunt won’t be anything like previous incarnations. Gov. Brian Schweitzer called off a 30-day bison hunt scheduled for Jan. 15 after commissioners said they wanted to ensure a fair-chase hunt and a longer season with broader hunting opportunities. The revised hunt plan includes more than 460,000 acres of wildlife habitat near the Yellowstone border. However, opponents say the hunt is anything but “fair chase.”....
Horses in Arizona forest: wild or domestic strays? The future of several hundred horses roaming across portions of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest could hinge on their history and DNA. And their fate also depends on whether a federal judge finds that officials have taken all the steps required to protect the animals. U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone in Phoenix will decide at a hearing Sept. 23 whether to issue a preliminary injunction to keep the U.S. Forest Service from rounding up some 300 to 400 horses for slaughter. Last week, Martone granted a temporary restraining order to keep the service from awarding a contract for rounding up the animals. The government contends that most of the horses now on the forest strayed onto it during or after the Rodeo-Chediski forest fire in 2002. The fire, Arizona's largest-ever blaze, burned 469,000 acres, including miles of fencing separating the Apache-Sitgreaves and the White Mountain Apache Reservation....
Assault on pike is urged Eight years and more than $15 million after dumping chemicals into Lake Davis to eradicate northern pike, state Department of Fish and Game officials are proposing to do it again. Plans to be announced today by department Director Ryan Broddrick propose treating the Plumas County reservoir with liquid rotenone, the same chemical used in 1997 to kill the pike discovered in 1994. The 4,000-acre reservoir now harbors more than a million pike, a voracious Midwestern native species that feeds on trout and other fish. Armed with spines lining their mouths, pike have the potential to cause irreversible damage to the Feather River below Lake Davis and Sacramento River system farther downstream, Broddrick said. "It's time to evaluate treating the lake in a way that will eliminate northern pike for the long-term benefit of the ecosystem and the community," he said....
Man Who Shot Hunters Says He Feared For His Life A Hmong man accused of killing six hunters and wounding two others said Thursday that he feared for his life as he was confronted for trespassing. Chai Soua Vang, who came to the United States from Laos more than 20 years ago, said he began shooting after he thought one of the hunters had shot at him and the others were going for more guns. As he stood on the witness stand, Vang pretended he had a rifle in his arms and detailed the order in which he shot at them. He said he reloaded his gun twice. Two survivors of the shooting testified that no shots were fired at Vang before he started shooting. The truck driver from St. Paul, Minn., is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. If convicted, he could face mandatory life in prison. On Thursday, Vang, 36, said he was lost in the isolated Sawyer County woods on Nov. 21, found a tree stand he thought was on public property and climbed into it to get the lay of the land. He said Terry Willers approached him and told him he was on private property and should climb down....
Conservation study places GarCo on endangered list Garfield County has been identified as one of 12 places where threat of development and inability to preserve open space are greatest in Colorado. A study by the nonprofit Colorado Conservation Trust said Garfield County's soaring population will gobble about 18,660 of its 1.8 million acres between 2000 and 2030. While other counties, mostly in the Front Range, will see more growth, they also have more groups with more financial resources working on preservation of open space. When development threat is combined with funds available to buy and protect open space, Garfield County ranked as one of Colorado's 12 endangered counties. The study estimated $8.5 million is needed to buy and preserve about 10,000 of the most endangered acres in Garfield County....
Editorial: Time for Skico to make a bold statement The time has come for the Aspen Skiing Co. to make the ultimate environmental statement - it must abandon its plan to expand further onto Burnt Mountain. The Skico has deservedly earned a reputation over the last decade as an environmental leader in the ski industry. We believe the efforts headed by Director of Environmental Affairs Auden Schendler and guided by Chief Executive Officer Pat O'Donnell are sincere and enlightened. Corporations of any and all types would do well to follow the Skico's example. But to reach full credibility, the company must end an expansion plan that raises legitimate and grave concerns in its own back yard. The Skico wants to add about 500 acres of terrain in the trees of Burnt Mountain. It currently has one trail there called Long Shot. Skiers and riders must hike to the trail; it isn't served by a chairlift. Like Long Shot, the other proposed trails would guide skiers and riders through glades on ungroomed terrain....
Campers have fewer places to pitch tents Your tax dollars are only partially at work at U.S. Forest Service campgrounds near Aspen this fall. Three major campgrounds east of Aspen closed right after Labor Day weekend even though September is one of the most scenic times of the year. Lost Man, Lincoln Gulch and Weller campgrounds, which provide 26 sites easily accessible off Highway 82, are locked up for the season. Difficult Campground, the largest and closest to town, remains open until Sept. 25. It offers 47 sites. A concessionaire, One Thousand Trails, operates all four of those sites. The White River National Forest hired the national company five years ago to administer several of its campgrounds. The company collects the $15 camping fees, gives the Forest Service its cut, plows a certain amount of revenues back into improvements and maintenance, and keeps the remainder as profit. Its key to turning a profit is reducing costs, so One Thousands Trails is reluctant to stay open when cooler weather eliminates all but the heartiest campers with good sleeping bags....
Bill Would Let E.P.A. Relax Rules for Cleanup The Environmental Protection Agency could suspend any law governing air, water or land in responding to Hurricane Katrina under a measure introduced Thursday by the chairman of the Senate environment committee. The legislation, which drew immediate criticism from environmental groups, would create a 120-day period in which the agency's administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, could waive or modify laws if it became "necessary to respond in a timely and effective manner" to a situation created by the storm. The proposal would allow changes in law at the discretion of the Bush administrator in consultation with the governor of "any affected state." "This legislation is purely about providing E.P.A. the clarity and certainty it will need down the road to ensure a timely and effective response," said Bill Holbrook, a spokesman for the chairman, Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma. Mr. Holbrook added, "As Administrator Johnson indicated yesterday, there are a number of uncertainties remaining, and we, as well as the administration, do not want those uncertainties to delay actions that affect people's health."....
Provision blocks Interior from moving on waste site Utah officials and the Bureau of Land Management say a key piece of a plan to build a nuclear waste storage facility on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation is blocked -- at least for now. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week approved a license for Private Fuel Storage to build and operate the facility, which would temporarily store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The commission's OK was a major move forward for the company. Private Fuel Storage, a group of utilities, now wants permission to build a rail spur to the Union Pacific Railroad main line so it can haul the enormous waste containers to their resting spot on the Goshute Reservation. But the Bureau of Land Management says it can't consider a right of way for the spur because five years ago, then Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, inserted language into a defense bill that prohibits it. Hansen's language prevents the BLM from amending any land-use plans until the Pentagon studies how wilderness areas on the Utah Test and Training Range would affect training readiness....
8 companies apply for BLM oil shale leases The Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management has received 10 applications from eight companies for its new oil shale leasing program. The small-scale leasing program will allow groups to test oil-shale extraction technology in the public lands of Colorado. The lease program allows companies to explore the resource, which could produce as much as 2.6 trillion barrels of oil, by granting 160-acre tracts of land and 10 years time to worthy applicants. “There are some bigger companies like Shell that have applied, and some of the companies are really small,” said Karen Zurek, acting head of the BLM’s solid minerals division....
Warning Of Spread Of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever An infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins who has spent nearly three decades studying the life-threatening, tick-borne infection known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever warns that the first widespread outbreak of the bacterial disease in Arizona is a growing and dangerous sign of how humans can inadvertently help spread infectious organisms beyond traditional state boundaries. In an article to be published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the Hopkins pathologist and microbiologist J. Stephen Dumler, M.D., a professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, highlights the importance of the recent outbreak in Arizona as the first confirmed cases that could be traced back to ticks carried into to the state on feral dogs, an animal group whose population has markedly increased. And, as the number of dogs has increased, so have the number of ticks. A detailed study of this latest outbreak by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is featured in the same edition of the NEJM online Aug. 11. According to Dumler, the disease, most often marked by a telltale spotty rash that appears five to 10 days after the first signs of infection, has been largely confined to the South Central and Southeastern United States, although sporadic cases have been reported in all 48 continental states, mostly North Carolina. (Hopkins’ home state of Maryland is among the top 10 states for the disease, with at least 79 cases reported in 2004, up from 19 in 2000.) The scientist also reports that the number of people infected with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is fatal in up to 10 percent of those who contract it, has peaked for the third known time this century, with more than 1,800 cases reported nationally in 2003 and 2004. However, scientists believe the number of unreported cases is much greater....
Anthrax kills 37 cattle on montana ranch Anthrax has killed 37 cattle on a ranch in northeast Montana, and additional cases wouldn't be surprising, the state veterinarian said Thursday. The ranch, northwest of Culbertson, is under quarantine and has been since Monday, when the state Department of Livestock first learned that anthrax was suspected, Tom Linfield said. It has since been confirmed. Hundreds of remaining cattle were moved to a different pasture, and animals deemed susceptible or possibly exposed were given antibiotics and vaccinations, he said. A second round of vaccinations is due in about a week, and the property will be under quarantine for about 40 days, the department said. Ranchers in the area have been notified, and vigilance is being encouraged. Linfield said it's reasonable to expect more local cases following an outbreak. Anthrax was last confirmed in the state in 1999, the department said. Hundreds of cases have been reported this year in North Dakota and South Dakota....
Early price tag: $1 billion in agriculture damage The early price tag for Hurricane Katrina's damage to Louisiana agriculture is $1 billion — but the eventual total will be much higher, a state expert said Monday. Figures compiled so far by the Louisiana State University AgCenter cover only lost revenue and increased production costs. They do not include damage to fences, equipment and buildings, trashed pasture land and other infrastructure losses, said AgCenter economist Kirk Guidry. "The numbers are getting bigger every day as we get more information," Guidry said. Although the vast majority of farmers were not affected by Katrina, the storm still had a devastating effect on southeastern Louisiana, an area better known for its cities than its agriculture. For example, 10,000 to 11,000 head of cattle south of Lake Pontchartrain are dead or missing, particularly in the flooded-out parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines, Guidry said. "The ones that are alive, the problem is getting them feed and water," Guidry said. "We could see these number grow."....
USDA plan would close 665 local offices More than one-fourth of the nation's Farm Service Agency offices would close under a plan being pushed by the Agriculture Department, according to an agency document obtained by The Associated Press. As outlined in the document, the department would shutter an estimated 665 of the 2,353 offices nationwide. J.B. Penn, undersecretary for the Agriculture Department's Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, said that he had not seen the document obtained by the AP but that the numbers cited were inaccurate. Penn discussed the plan to modernize FSA offices in briefings this week with chairmen of the Senate Agriculture Committee and House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. More congressional briefings were planned. State FSA directors are coming to Washington next week for a briefing on the plan....
Canadian mad cow recovery plan aims for 800,000 tonnes of annual exports by 2015 Canada's beef industry is working on an ambitious mad cow recovery plan that would ramp up exports sharply over the next decade while reducing reliance on the U.S. market. Ted Haney of the Canada Beef Export Federation says his members want exports of processed beef increased to 800,000 tonnes by 2015. The key is reducing trade dependency on the United States from what's currently about 90 per cent down to 50 per cent in a defined period, said Haney. How to reach those targets will be the focus of an industry strategy session on Saturday that will include input from producers, processors, exporters and governments....
Legacy Reaches for Restoration In 1859 five families settled along the Virgin River, about one mile downstream from modern-day Grafton. They built homes and a school as the town slowly began to grow. Friendly Paiute Indians even helped the settlers become established. The homes of those early settlers were washed away in a raging flood in 1862. Distraught but not defeated, the settlers moved their town one mile upstream to form Grafton. However, due to common flooding of the Virgin River, the settlers were destined to endure flood after flood, filling irrigation ditches with sand and requiring constant attention. Despite the problems in settling the town, residents remained optimistic and hopeful. The crops and fruit trees grew and produced food for the town. By 1886 the town had grown to 28 families, and a two-story schoolhouse was constructed, which attracted people from settlements all up and down the Virgin River for dances and plays....
102-year-old Mildred Wolters reflects on the people and places she's encountered over the last century On September 9, 1903, during President Theodore Roosevelt's first term in office, Mildred Pintler was born in a small wood-frame house near Providence, R.I. Last Friday, exactly 102 years later, Mildred Pintler Wolters celebrated her birthday with family and friends at Discovery Care Centre, where she's lived for the past two years. Sitting with 105 years of family history in the scrapbook next to her bed, Wolters recounted a few of the twists and turns on the long and sometimes dusty trail that brought her from the country's smallest state to the wide open frontier of Montana. The oldest of five children born to George and Hilda Pintler, Mildred moved several times with her family before arriving in Montana in 1917....
North Dakota rodeo star Dean Armstrong, 75, dies Dean Armstrong, one of the first rodeo cowboys to be inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, has died at his ranch near here. He was 75. “I think his heart just gave out,” said Fran Armstrong, his wife of 14 years. Armstrong, who died Tuesday, was a member of a group called the North Dakota “six-pack.” The Fort Berthold-area rodeo team was known for riding tough bucking horses during the 1950s. Armstrong also competed professionally in steer wrestling and calf roping and won 11 state titles from 1954 to 1962. His rodeo career ended in 1963, after a horse fell backward and dragged and kicked him, leaving him unconscious for weeks. Armstrong then trained and raced horses in Canada and Arizona for about 30 years, his wife said. Fran, a retired Beulah teacher, wrote several books of poetry about her husband and other cowboys and ranchers....
===
Thursday, September 15, 2005
FLE
Point Reyes pepper-spray incident ends in settlement
Two West Marin teens who sued the federal government after a pepper spray incident involving two park rangers have settled the case for $50,000, their attorney said. Chris Miller of Inverness Park, who was pepper-sprayed along with his sister, Jessica, have accepted a settlement of $25,000 each in the civil-rights suit, said their attorney, Gordon Kaupp of San Francisco. Kaupp said that under federal guidelines, $25,000 was the most the government's lawyers could pay each plaintiff without getting special approval from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. If the attorney general rejected the request, the Millers would have had to go through the ordeal of a trial. "I would've really liked to press a jury for punitive damages, (but) the family's been through a lot," Kaupp said. "The decision was to resolve this and move on." Owen Martikan, one of the government's attorneys, declined to comment. The incident occurred in July 2004 after Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio, two rangers at the Point Reyes National Seashore, were dropping off a pair of 18-year-old residents they had detained and cited in a prior incident. As Mayo and Gregorio were preparing to release the residents, Chris Miller, then 18 years old, and Jessica Miller, then 17, pulled up in another car and approached to find out why the suspects, who are friends of theirs, were being arrested. The Millers were then pepper-sprayed as a crowd of witnesses began to gather. The Millers were treated at the scene by county firefighters....
High Desert man who threatened park rangers with gun sentenced to federal prison
A Newberry Springs(sic)who admitted pointing a loaded .30-caliber M-1 carbine at federal law enforcement officers who were investigating possibly unlawful digging on national parkland was sentenced this afternoon to eight months in federal prison. Leo H. Spatziani, 62, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner in federal court in Los Angeles. Spatziani previously pleaded guilty to one felony count of assaulting, resisting, intimidating and impeding federal law enforcement officers during an incident on February 12. In sentencing Spatziani and rejecting the defendant's plea for probation, Judge Klausner said the high desert was "not the wild west" and all citizens have a responsibility to respect the law. Judge Klausner, who also imposed a $2,000 fine, ordered Spatziani to begin serving his prison term within 30 days. Spatziani is the friend of another man who owns a small parcel of private property within the Mojave National Preserve. The friend had recently constructed a small cabin on Park Service land near a desert spring, which was outside of his private property line. In early February, the friend was observed operating a trenching machine at the spring. In addition to being on federal land, the area around the cabin is documented as containing archeological and cultural resources. On February 12, two uniformed National Park Service Rangers contacted Spatziani and his friend regarding the trenching activity. While one of the Rangers was photographing the trenching activity, Spatziani removed the M-1 carbine from a vehicle. He placed a magazine in the weapon and chambered a round. He then pointed the weapon at the Ranger who was taking pictures and began advancing on him. Despite repeated commands to drop the weapon, Spatziani continued to advance with his weapon in the ready firing position. The threatened officer was forced to take defensive cover behind one corner of the cabin and draw his service weapon....
The morning after the night before
It was literally the morning after the night when Hurricane Katrina had made a totally unpredicted sweep past The Everglades Institute's site in the Everglades. A 25-foot red bay tree was being cleared from where it had fallen across Dill Road in front of the Institute. As we worked, a National Park Service full size SUV pulled up, rolled down the window, then the window went up, and the parkperson drove off, without a word. Not one word to ask if my neighbor was OK, no question about whether anyone was in need of any help, nothing. Dill Road is a limerock single-lane road, more a rutted, pot-hole-filled pair of ruts than a road. It is what you would expect of a Park Service owned and maintained access road to private property: all ruts, no maintenence. And, at the end of that road is where my neighbor lives. He is retired, and has Parkinson's disease. But, the parkperson didn't ask about him, nor did he offer to help clear the road. Let's just call him Ranger Randy. Ranger Randy wasn't about to get out of the air conditioned cab, and do any work clearing the trees he had to know were blocking the only road to my neighbor's simple home. Ranger Randy is a law enforcement officer. Law enforcement types have more important things to do, like look for criminals stalking the parks and preserves. Never mind that the Everglades, and the rest of America's parks and preserves, are super-low crime rate areas. And, just forget about the fact that most of the "crimes" the Ranger Randys of America write tickets for, or arrest people for, are violations of Park Service's multitude of "regulations to protect the environment." As I worked, I couldn't help wondering why I was doing the job of Ranger Randy and his ilk. What has happened to America? Why have we gradually seen the replacement of the helpful man in a uniform of the past with the cold, pseudo-military uber-cops so common today? Or, was it done so subltly that we just didn't notice?....
Federal DNA database of anyone detained by police advances in Senate
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a mark-up of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization today. The bill, which expires on September 30, passed out of committee, but an amendment was added that could prevent or delay its passage by the full Senate. The amendment, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), on behalf of Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), would create a national registry of DNA taken from any person who has been detained by the police, even if the person is not arrested or convicted. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) tried to include a secondary amendment to link the DNA index only to violent felonies, but it was defeated on a straight party-line vote. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), the primary sponsor of VAWA in the Senate, said that he feared the DNA amendment could cause a firestorm on the Senate floor that would delay passage of VAWA. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that he feared it was a poison pill. Senator Leahy said that he is worried that whole classes of people, such as Latinos or Muslims, will be rounded up and their DNA will be recorded in the registry. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), chair of the Judiciary Committee, and
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) pledged to try to work out a compromise on the amendment before the bill reaches the floor, which is expected before the end of the month....
Cell phone tracking rejected
What: In the first case of its kind, a federal judge chastises the U.S. Department of Justice for trying to constantly track a cell phone user's location without providing any proof of criminal behavior. When: Decided Aug. 25 by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in Central Islip, N.Y. Outcome: Justice Department's Patriot Act surveillance request was denied. What happened: Burton T. Ryan Jr., an assistant U.S. attorney, sought a court order that would permit federal agents to track a suspect though his cell phone--but he couldn't offer any evidence of actual criminal activity. Ryan asked Orenstein to sign an order requiring the unnamed cellular provider to divulge the information, which would reveal the suspect's location whenever his cell phone was in use. (Cell phones must provide this information because of potential 911 emergencies, the Federal Communications Commission has ruled.) Such location-tracking was permitted under the 2001 Patriot Act, which amended the definition of a "pen register," Ryan argued. A pen register records phone numbers that are dialed. Orenstein disagreed. Location information amounts to a wiretap, he said, and therefore requires prosecutors to show "probable cause"--that is, at least some evidence of criminal behavior. Such an order "would effectively allow the installation of a tracking device without the showing of probable cause normally required for a warrant." Citing congressional testimony by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, Orenstein rejected the request and told the Justice Department to appeal if it wanted further clarification. Freeh had assured Congress that "the authority for pen registers and trap and trace devices cannot be used to obtain tracking or location information."....
===
Point Reyes pepper-spray incident ends in settlement
Two West Marin teens who sued the federal government after a pepper spray incident involving two park rangers have settled the case for $50,000, their attorney said. Chris Miller of Inverness Park, who was pepper-sprayed along with his sister, Jessica, have accepted a settlement of $25,000 each in the civil-rights suit, said their attorney, Gordon Kaupp of San Francisco. Kaupp said that under federal guidelines, $25,000 was the most the government's lawyers could pay each plaintiff without getting special approval from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. If the attorney general rejected the request, the Millers would have had to go through the ordeal of a trial. "I would've really liked to press a jury for punitive damages, (but) the family's been through a lot," Kaupp said. "The decision was to resolve this and move on." Owen Martikan, one of the government's attorneys, declined to comment. The incident occurred in July 2004 after Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio, two rangers at the Point Reyes National Seashore, were dropping off a pair of 18-year-old residents they had detained and cited in a prior incident. As Mayo and Gregorio were preparing to release the residents, Chris Miller, then 18 years old, and Jessica Miller, then 17, pulled up in another car and approached to find out why the suspects, who are friends of theirs, were being arrested. The Millers were then pepper-sprayed as a crowd of witnesses began to gather. The Millers were treated at the scene by county firefighters....
High Desert man who threatened park rangers with gun sentenced to federal prison
A Newberry Springs(sic)who admitted pointing a loaded .30-caliber M-1 carbine at federal law enforcement officers who were investigating possibly unlawful digging on national parkland was sentenced this afternoon to eight months in federal prison. Leo H. Spatziani, 62, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner in federal court in Los Angeles. Spatziani previously pleaded guilty to one felony count of assaulting, resisting, intimidating and impeding federal law enforcement officers during an incident on February 12. In sentencing Spatziani and rejecting the defendant's plea for probation, Judge Klausner said the high desert was "not the wild west" and all citizens have a responsibility to respect the law. Judge Klausner, who also imposed a $2,000 fine, ordered Spatziani to begin serving his prison term within 30 days. Spatziani is the friend of another man who owns a small parcel of private property within the Mojave National Preserve. The friend had recently constructed a small cabin on Park Service land near a desert spring, which was outside of his private property line. In early February, the friend was observed operating a trenching machine at the spring. In addition to being on federal land, the area around the cabin is documented as containing archeological and cultural resources. On February 12, two uniformed National Park Service Rangers contacted Spatziani and his friend regarding the trenching activity. While one of the Rangers was photographing the trenching activity, Spatziani removed the M-1 carbine from a vehicle. He placed a magazine in the weapon and chambered a round. He then pointed the weapon at the Ranger who was taking pictures and began advancing on him. Despite repeated commands to drop the weapon, Spatziani continued to advance with his weapon in the ready firing position. The threatened officer was forced to take defensive cover behind one corner of the cabin and draw his service weapon....
The morning after the night before
It was literally the morning after the night when Hurricane Katrina had made a totally unpredicted sweep past The Everglades Institute's site in the Everglades. A 25-foot red bay tree was being cleared from where it had fallen across Dill Road in front of the Institute. As we worked, a National Park Service full size SUV pulled up, rolled down the window, then the window went up, and the parkperson drove off, without a word. Not one word to ask if my neighbor was OK, no question about whether anyone was in need of any help, nothing. Dill Road is a limerock single-lane road, more a rutted, pot-hole-filled pair of ruts than a road. It is what you would expect of a Park Service owned and maintained access road to private property: all ruts, no maintenence. And, at the end of that road is where my neighbor lives. He is retired, and has Parkinson's disease. But, the parkperson didn't ask about him, nor did he offer to help clear the road. Let's just call him Ranger Randy. Ranger Randy wasn't about to get out of the air conditioned cab, and do any work clearing the trees he had to know were blocking the only road to my neighbor's simple home. Ranger Randy is a law enforcement officer. Law enforcement types have more important things to do, like look for criminals stalking the parks and preserves. Never mind that the Everglades, and the rest of America's parks and preserves, are super-low crime rate areas. And, just forget about the fact that most of the "crimes" the Ranger Randys of America write tickets for, or arrest people for, are violations of Park Service's multitude of "regulations to protect the environment." As I worked, I couldn't help wondering why I was doing the job of Ranger Randy and his ilk. What has happened to America? Why have we gradually seen the replacement of the helpful man in a uniform of the past with the cold, pseudo-military uber-cops so common today? Or, was it done so subltly that we just didn't notice?....
Federal DNA database of anyone detained by police advances in Senate
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a mark-up of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization today. The bill, which expires on September 30, passed out of committee, but an amendment was added that could prevent or delay its passage by the full Senate. The amendment, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), on behalf of Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), would create a national registry of DNA taken from any person who has been detained by the police, even if the person is not arrested or convicted. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) tried to include a secondary amendment to link the DNA index only to violent felonies, but it was defeated on a straight party-line vote. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), the primary sponsor of VAWA in the Senate, said that he feared the DNA amendment could cause a firestorm on the Senate floor that would delay passage of VAWA. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that he feared it was a poison pill. Senator Leahy said that he is worried that whole classes of people, such as Latinos or Muslims, will be rounded up and their DNA will be recorded in the registry. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), chair of the Judiciary Committee, and
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) pledged to try to work out a compromise on the amendment before the bill reaches the floor, which is expected before the end of the month....
Cell phone tracking rejected
What: In the first case of its kind, a federal judge chastises the U.S. Department of Justice for trying to constantly track a cell phone user's location without providing any proof of criminal behavior. When: Decided Aug. 25 by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in Central Islip, N.Y. Outcome: Justice Department's Patriot Act surveillance request was denied. What happened: Burton T. Ryan Jr., an assistant U.S. attorney, sought a court order that would permit federal agents to track a suspect though his cell phone--but he couldn't offer any evidence of actual criminal activity. Ryan asked Orenstein to sign an order requiring the unnamed cellular provider to divulge the information, which would reveal the suspect's location whenever his cell phone was in use. (Cell phones must provide this information because of potential 911 emergencies, the Federal Communications Commission has ruled.) Such location-tracking was permitted under the 2001 Patriot Act, which amended the definition of a "pen register," Ryan argued. A pen register records phone numbers that are dialed. Orenstein disagreed. Location information amounts to a wiretap, he said, and therefore requires prosecutors to show "probable cause"--that is, at least some evidence of criminal behavior. Such an order "would effectively allow the installation of a tracking device without the showing of probable cause normally required for a warrant." Citing congressional testimony by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, Orenstein rejected the request and told the Justice Department to appeal if it wanted further clarification. Freeh had assured Congress that "the authority for pen registers and trap and trace devices cannot be used to obtain tracking or location information."....
===
ESA REFORM
According to the Center For Biological Diversity this summary was prepared by Pombo's staff and was leaked today.
POMBO'S OWN SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
H.R. ___
SECTION 1- Short Title
This bill is to be cited as the “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005.”
SECTION 2- Amendment References
In this bill, whenever an amendment or repeal is expressed, it refers to a provision of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
SECTION 3- Definitions
“Best Available Scientific Data” is added to the list of definitions as “scientific data, regardless of source, that are available to the Secretary at the time of a decision or action in implementation of this act. Within one year of the enactment of the Act, the Secretary is to issue regulations to establish necessary criteria which determine the best available scientific data. In addition, the Secretary will undertake all necessary measures to comply with such criteria and guidance.
“Jeopardize the Continued Existence” means, “with respect to action, that the action reasonably would be expected to significantly impede, directly or indirectly, the conservation in the long-term of the species in the wild.”
SECTION 4- Determinations of Endangered Species and Threatened Species
The Secretary determines whether a species is an endangered species or threatened based on a series of factors. These include: destruction of habitat due to human activities or catastrophic natural causes; overutilization of the species for commercial, recreational, scientific or educational purposes. Also included: disease or predation; unable to maintain life with existing way or other natural or manmade factors which affect its existence.
Language clarifies that the determination of any distinct population of a species as endangered or threatened is only to be done sparingly.
In order to determine a species as threatened or endangered, the Secretary must use the “best available scientific data”.
The Secretary shall conduct a review of all species in the list every 5 years. The Secretary will consider whether a species should be removed from the list, be changed in status from and endangered to a threatened species or vice-versa.
SECTION 5- Repeal of Critical Habitat Requirements
This is a provision which repeals the critical habitat requirements currently under law.
SECTION 6- Petitions and Procedures for Determinations and Revisions
In order for a petitioned action to be warranted, the petitioner must provide a copy of all information cited in the petition, presenting substantial scientific or commercial information. The Secretary must make publicly accessible, on the internet, all information it has concerning species determination or revisions. This maintains emergency authority of the Secretary and includes the Governor in addition to the agency of the affected state in the consultation process.
SECTION 7- Reviews of Listings and Determinations
If no recovery plan is established or if none exists for the species, the factors for determination are set forth in previous subsections. A determination that the species is no longer an endangered species or in danger of extinction is based on an analysis of factors that are used to determine threatened or endangered status.
SECTION 8- Protective Regulations
When the Secretary lists a species as threatened, the Secretary may publish a rule outlining prohibited regulations with respect to that listing of a species. A regulation must be accompanied by a statement by the Secretary of the reason for applying any prohibition on a species. A regulation issued under this subsection may apply to more than one threatened species only if the specific threats to, and specific biological conditions and needs of, the species are identical, or sufficiently similar, to warrant the application of identical prohibitions.
SECTION 10- Secretarial Guidelines; State Comments
Amendments to this section add the Governor of a State to the provisions of the Act. This is an addition to state agencies included in current law.
SECTION 12- Recovery Plans
* Note: include species recovery agreements* (see in last paragraph)
The Secretary shall develop and implement a plan for the recovery of species determined to be an endangered species or threatened species, unless the Secretary dins that such a plan will not promote the conservation and survival of the species.
The Secretary must give priority to those endangered or threatened species, without regard to taxonomic classification, that are most likely to benefit from such plans. In particular, this includes species that are in conflict with construction or other development projects or other forms of economic activity.
Any species determined to be endangered or threatened after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish a final recovery plan for a species within 2 years after the date the species is listed. In regard to the species currently listed as endangered or threatened, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register a priority ranking system for preparing or revising recovery plans within one year on the date of enactment of this Act. This must take the scientifically-based needs of the species.
A recovery plan is based on the best available scientific data and shall include “objective, measurable criteria that, when met, would result in determination, that the species to which the recovery plan applies be removed from the list published to be reclassified from endangered species to threatened species.” Also, should include a description of such site-specific or other measures that would achieve criteria established under the clause; and, estimates of the time required and the costs to carry out those measures. The recovery plan will also provide an identification of those specific areas that are of special value to the conservation of the species.
If a recovery plan does not contain the criteria and measures, the criteria team should review the plan at intervals of no greater than 5 years and determine if the plan can be revised to contain the criteria and measures required. A recovery plan must then be implemented within 2 years after the date of determination.
This section establishes species recovery agreements. The amendments provide for species conservation by creating a species recovery agreement. The Secretary and private landowners can make agreements that would protect and restore habitat for a species, contribute to the recovery for a species or implement a management plan for a species.
SECTION 13- Cooperation with States
Provides that the Secretary enters into a cooperation agreement with the States. Following a consultation of the agreement, “any incidental take statement issued on the agreement shall apply to any such species, and to the State and any landowners enrolled in ay program under the agreement, without further consultation if the species is subsequently determined to be an endangered or threatened species and the program remains adequate and active for the conservation of the said species.” Any cooperation agreement also may provide for monitoring or assistance in monitoring the status of the candidate species or recovered species. This also reaffirms that the cooperation agreement is voluntary of private land owners. Furthermore, the Secretary has the authority to suspend any cooperative agreement after consulting with the Governor of the affected State, if the Secretary finds that agreement no longer provides adequate conservation for endangered species and threatened species affected. The Secretary may then terminate any cooperative agreement.
SECTION 14- Interagency Cooperation and Consultation
Provides for a consultation requirement in which the Secretary may identify specific agency action or categories of agency actions that may be determined to meet the standards by alternative procedures other than procedures set forth in previous subsections. Procedures to implement this section will be promulgated by regulation.
The “Secretary shall consider any comment from the Federal agency and the permit or license applicant, if any, prior to the issuance of the final written statement of the Secretary’s opinion.” If jeopardy is found, the Secretary shall suggest reasonable and prudent alternatives in a final written statement that would not violate the Act in order to implement the agency action. The Secretary shall cooperate with the Federal agency and any permit or license applicant in the preparation of any suggested reasonable and prudent alternatives.
Biological Assessments are to be based on the “best available scientific data” to determine a species to be an endangered or a threatened species. Amendment terminates the Endangered Species Committee Process, aka “godsquad.”
SECTION 15- Exceptions to Prohibitions
Provides that Incidental Take Permits to be “objective, measurable biological goals to be achieved for species covered by the plan and specific measures for achieving such goals; measures the applicant will take to monitor impacts of the plan on covered species and the effectiveness of the plan’s measures in achieving the plan’s biological goals; and, adaptive management provisions necessary to respond to all reasonably foreseeable changes in circumstances that could appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of any species covered by the plan.” The term of the permit is reasonable, taking into consideration the period in which the applicant can be expected to diligently complete the principal actions covered by the plan, the extent to which the plan will enhance the conservation of covered species, the adequacy of information underlying the plan, the length of time necessary to implement the plan and the scope of the plan’s adaptive management strategy. Any terms and conditions offered by the Secretary are roughly proportional to the impact of the incidental taking specified in the conservation plan and are capable of successful implementation. If the holder of a permit issued under this subsection for other than scientific purposes is in compliance with the terms and conditions of the permit and any conservation plan or agreement incorporated by reference, the Secretary may not require the holder to adopt any new minimization, mitigation or other measure.
For any changed circumstance identified in the permit or incorporated document, the Secretary may require only such additional minimization, mitigation, or other measures, in the absence of consent of the permit holder.
For any changed circumstance not identified in the permit or incorporated document, the Secretary may, in the absence of the permit holder, require only such additional minimization, mitigation, or other measures to address such changed circumstance that do not involve the commitment of any additional land, water or financial compensation not other committed, or the imposition of additional restrictions on the use.
The Secretary shall have the burden of proof in demonstrating and documenting, with the “best available scientific data”, the occurrence of any changed circumstances.
Any permit issued before the date of enactment of this Act that contains provisions that do not materially differ in effect from the terms of this paragraph shall be governed by this paragraph. Any regulations promulgated prior to such date that do not materially differ in effect from the terms of this paragraph shall remain in effect unless and until they are amended. The Secretary shall revoke a permit issued if the Secretary finds that the permittee is not complying with the terms and conditions of the permit. Any permit may be revoked due to changed circumstances only if the Secretary determines that continuation of the activities to which the permit applies would be inconsistent, Secretary provides 60 days notice of revocation to the permittee and the Secretary is unable to remedy the condition causing such inconsistency. The Secretary is not required to identify of analyze the impacts and potential minimization and mitigation measures related to any alternative other than the alternative presented by the permit applicant in the conservation plan or other permit application document and the no-action alternative.
Public review is extended from 30 to 45 days.
Experimental population provides language amending using “scientific data” instead of “information.”
Written determination of compliance allows for a property to request a written determination by the Secretary that a proposed use on the owner’s property will comply with Section 9(a) prohibition against taking a species by submitting a written description of the proposed action to the Secretary. The written description is sufficient if the descriptions includes the “nature, the specific location, and the anticipated schedule and duration of the proposed action,” and any incidental take of a species that is included on the list that the requestor reasonably expects to occur as a result of the proposed action.
Within 90 days, the Secretary must provide to the requestor a written determination of whether the proposed action would comply. If the Secretary fails to provide a written determination by 90 days, the proposed use will be deemed to comply. Any action the property owner takes in reasonable reliance on a determination that the proposed use complies shall not be treated as a violation of Section 9(a).
SECTION 16- Private Property Conservation
Establishes conservation aid to reduce conservation burdens imposed on landowners and conservation grants to promote conservation of endangered and threatened species. Aid is to be provided to property owners who forgo use of their property following a written determination by the Secretary that a proposed use would not comply with Section 9’s take prohibition. The amount of the Aid is to be no less than the fair market value of the forgone use of the affected portion of the property. The property owner is to establish the fair market value and ambiguities regarding fair market value are to be resolved in favor of the property owner.
In cases where the fair market value is agreed upon, aid is to be provided with 180 days of the request. If an agreed upon fair market value cannot be arrived at within this timeframe, the Secretary has must within in 90 days make a best and final offer.
Grants to promote the voluntary conservation efforts to benefit endangered and threatened species by owners of private property that are supported by the property owner on whose lands the activities will occur, are designed to increase the distribution or numbers of the species and may not be used for the purchase of private property or leases or easements of more than 50 years.
Conservation grants are to be paid on the last day of the fiscal year after conservation aid has been awarded.
SECTION 17- Public Accessibility and Accountability
Requires that the Secretary maintain a publicly accessible website that includes endangered and threatened species lists, all final and proposed endangered and threatened species regulations, draft and final recovery plans, the results of five year reviews conducted pursuant to Section 4, the Report to Congress required under what would be Section 5 and the Annual Cost Analysis under Section 18. Requires the Secretary to provide the information in a format that it may be searched by the variables contained within the Report to Congress and Annual Cost Analysis reports.
Currently much of the information that would be required by this language to be included on a publicly accessible website is provided by the USFWS on its Threatened and Endangered Species System database, TESS. This language would codify the requirement to provide this information and require that selected information, much of which is already collected in database format, be presented in such a manner that it may be searched as a database rather than be provided only as a lengthy file. The requirement would substantially increase the value of the data the USFWS already collects and reports. For example, users would be easily able to determine expenditures made for a species, the agencies that reported expenditures on the species and what the current status of the species is increasing transparency and public knowledge about the program.
SECTION 18- Annual Cost Analyses
Requires the Secretary to produce an annual report detailing the expenditures made by Federal agencies and the States primary for the conservation of endangered and threatened species and those expenditures voluntarily reported by local government and requires the Secretary to provide a means whereby local governments may electronically submit such data. Requires that to be eligible for receipt of funds under Section 6 states submit endangered and threatened species expenditure data.
Current law requires the Secretary to produce an annual expenditure report on expenditures for the conservation of endangered species by Federal agencies and states that reports those funds that may be attributed to a specific endangered or threatened species. As a matter of practice, many expenditures by federal and states agencies for the purpose of conserving endangered and threatened species are directed to more than one species and therefore are difficult to attribute to kind of endangered or threatened species. As a result, the USFWS has included in its most recent reports expenditures that cannot be attributed to a particular species as “other” endangered species expenditures. To ensure consistent and comprehensive reporting from year to year the language will require that both expenditures attributable on a species by species basis and those that are not attributable to a specific species be reported.
Expenditures for the conservation of endangered and threatened species are also made by local governments by not trapped by existing expenditure reports. The language would require the Secretary to provide a mean whereby local governments could, electronically, voluntarily submit and attest to the accuracy of expenditures on endangered and threatened species. The language provides the means for more comprehensive reporting without burdening local governments with mandated reporting.
The language also requires that to be eligible to receive funds under Section 6, Cooperation with States, States must submit their reported expenditures on endangered and threatened species.
SECTION 19- Authorization of Appropriations
Authorizes sums as necessary for Fiscal Year 2006 to 2010 for Secretary of Interior. Authorizes sums as necessary for Fiscal Year 2006 and 2010 for Secretary of Agriculture to carry out functions and responsibility of the Department of Interior with respect to the enforcement of this Act and the convention which pertain the importation of plants.
SECTION 21- Clerical Amendment to Table of Contents
Establishes titles to Sections of the Act.
SECTION 22- Miscellaneous Technical Corrections
International Cooperation
Management Authority and Scientific Authority
Prohibited Acts
Hardship Exemptions
Permit and Exemption Policy
Pre-Act Parts and Scrimshaw
Burden of Proof of Seeking Exemption or Permit
Antique Articles
Penalties and Enforcements
Substitution of Gender-Neutral References
If you are interested in CBD's analysis, go here.
===
According to the Center For Biological Diversity this summary was prepared by Pombo's staff and was leaked today.
POMBO'S OWN SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
H.R. ___
SECTION 1- Short Title
This bill is to be cited as the “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005.”
SECTION 2- Amendment References
In this bill, whenever an amendment or repeal is expressed, it refers to a provision of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
SECTION 3- Definitions
“Best Available Scientific Data” is added to the list of definitions as “scientific data, regardless of source, that are available to the Secretary at the time of a decision or action in implementation of this act. Within one year of the enactment of the Act, the Secretary is to issue regulations to establish necessary criteria which determine the best available scientific data. In addition, the Secretary will undertake all necessary measures to comply with such criteria and guidance.
“Jeopardize the Continued Existence” means, “with respect to action, that the action reasonably would be expected to significantly impede, directly or indirectly, the conservation in the long-term of the species in the wild.”
SECTION 4- Determinations of Endangered Species and Threatened Species
The Secretary determines whether a species is an endangered species or threatened based on a series of factors. These include: destruction of habitat due to human activities or catastrophic natural causes; overutilization of the species for commercial, recreational, scientific or educational purposes. Also included: disease or predation; unable to maintain life with existing way or other natural or manmade factors which affect its existence.
Language clarifies that the determination of any distinct population of a species as endangered or threatened is only to be done sparingly.
In order to determine a species as threatened or endangered, the Secretary must use the “best available scientific data”.
The Secretary shall conduct a review of all species in the list every 5 years. The Secretary will consider whether a species should be removed from the list, be changed in status from and endangered to a threatened species or vice-versa.
SECTION 5- Repeal of Critical Habitat Requirements
This is a provision which repeals the critical habitat requirements currently under law.
SECTION 6- Petitions and Procedures for Determinations and Revisions
In order for a petitioned action to be warranted, the petitioner must provide a copy of all information cited in the petition, presenting substantial scientific or commercial information. The Secretary must make publicly accessible, on the internet, all information it has concerning species determination or revisions. This maintains emergency authority of the Secretary and includes the Governor in addition to the agency of the affected state in the consultation process.
SECTION 7- Reviews of Listings and Determinations
If no recovery plan is established or if none exists for the species, the factors for determination are set forth in previous subsections. A determination that the species is no longer an endangered species or in danger of extinction is based on an analysis of factors that are used to determine threatened or endangered status.
SECTION 8- Protective Regulations
When the Secretary lists a species as threatened, the Secretary may publish a rule outlining prohibited regulations with respect to that listing of a species. A regulation must be accompanied by a statement by the Secretary of the reason for applying any prohibition on a species. A regulation issued under this subsection may apply to more than one threatened species only if the specific threats to, and specific biological conditions and needs of, the species are identical, or sufficiently similar, to warrant the application of identical prohibitions.
SECTION 10- Secretarial Guidelines; State Comments
Amendments to this section add the Governor of a State to the provisions of the Act. This is an addition to state agencies included in current law.
SECTION 12- Recovery Plans
* Note: include species recovery agreements* (see in last paragraph)
The Secretary shall develop and implement a plan for the recovery of species determined to be an endangered species or threatened species, unless the Secretary dins that such a plan will not promote the conservation and survival of the species.
The Secretary must give priority to those endangered or threatened species, without regard to taxonomic classification, that are most likely to benefit from such plans. In particular, this includes species that are in conflict with construction or other development projects or other forms of economic activity.
Any species determined to be endangered or threatened after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish a final recovery plan for a species within 2 years after the date the species is listed. In regard to the species currently listed as endangered or threatened, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register a priority ranking system for preparing or revising recovery plans within one year on the date of enactment of this Act. This must take the scientifically-based needs of the species.
A recovery plan is based on the best available scientific data and shall include “objective, measurable criteria that, when met, would result in determination, that the species to which the recovery plan applies be removed from the list published to be reclassified from endangered species to threatened species.” Also, should include a description of such site-specific or other measures that would achieve criteria established under the clause; and, estimates of the time required and the costs to carry out those measures. The recovery plan will also provide an identification of those specific areas that are of special value to the conservation of the species.
If a recovery plan does not contain the criteria and measures, the criteria team should review the plan at intervals of no greater than 5 years and determine if the plan can be revised to contain the criteria and measures required. A recovery plan must then be implemented within 2 years after the date of determination.
This section establishes species recovery agreements. The amendments provide for species conservation by creating a species recovery agreement. The Secretary and private landowners can make agreements that would protect and restore habitat for a species, contribute to the recovery for a species or implement a management plan for a species.
SECTION 13- Cooperation with States
Provides that the Secretary enters into a cooperation agreement with the States. Following a consultation of the agreement, “any incidental take statement issued on the agreement shall apply to any such species, and to the State and any landowners enrolled in ay program under the agreement, without further consultation if the species is subsequently determined to be an endangered or threatened species and the program remains adequate and active for the conservation of the said species.” Any cooperation agreement also may provide for monitoring or assistance in monitoring the status of the candidate species or recovered species. This also reaffirms that the cooperation agreement is voluntary of private land owners. Furthermore, the Secretary has the authority to suspend any cooperative agreement after consulting with the Governor of the affected State, if the Secretary finds that agreement no longer provides adequate conservation for endangered species and threatened species affected. The Secretary may then terminate any cooperative agreement.
SECTION 14- Interagency Cooperation and Consultation
Provides for a consultation requirement in which the Secretary may identify specific agency action or categories of agency actions that may be determined to meet the standards by alternative procedures other than procedures set forth in previous subsections. Procedures to implement this section will be promulgated by regulation.
The “Secretary shall consider any comment from the Federal agency and the permit or license applicant, if any, prior to the issuance of the final written statement of the Secretary’s opinion.” If jeopardy is found, the Secretary shall suggest reasonable and prudent alternatives in a final written statement that would not violate the Act in order to implement the agency action. The Secretary shall cooperate with the Federal agency and any permit or license applicant in the preparation of any suggested reasonable and prudent alternatives.
Biological Assessments are to be based on the “best available scientific data” to determine a species to be an endangered or a threatened species. Amendment terminates the Endangered Species Committee Process, aka “godsquad.”
SECTION 15- Exceptions to Prohibitions
Provides that Incidental Take Permits to be “objective, measurable biological goals to be achieved for species covered by the plan and specific measures for achieving such goals; measures the applicant will take to monitor impacts of the plan on covered species and the effectiveness of the plan’s measures in achieving the plan’s biological goals; and, adaptive management provisions necessary to respond to all reasonably foreseeable changes in circumstances that could appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of any species covered by the plan.” The term of the permit is reasonable, taking into consideration the period in which the applicant can be expected to diligently complete the principal actions covered by the plan, the extent to which the plan will enhance the conservation of covered species, the adequacy of information underlying the plan, the length of time necessary to implement the plan and the scope of the plan’s adaptive management strategy. Any terms and conditions offered by the Secretary are roughly proportional to the impact of the incidental taking specified in the conservation plan and are capable of successful implementation. If the holder of a permit issued under this subsection for other than scientific purposes is in compliance with the terms and conditions of the permit and any conservation plan or agreement incorporated by reference, the Secretary may not require the holder to adopt any new minimization, mitigation or other measure.
For any changed circumstance identified in the permit or incorporated document, the Secretary may require only such additional minimization, mitigation, or other measures, in the absence of consent of the permit holder.
For any changed circumstance not identified in the permit or incorporated document, the Secretary may, in the absence of the permit holder, require only such additional minimization, mitigation, or other measures to address such changed circumstance that do not involve the commitment of any additional land, water or financial compensation not other committed, or the imposition of additional restrictions on the use.
The Secretary shall have the burden of proof in demonstrating and documenting, with the “best available scientific data”, the occurrence of any changed circumstances.
Any permit issued before the date of enactment of this Act that contains provisions that do not materially differ in effect from the terms of this paragraph shall be governed by this paragraph. Any regulations promulgated prior to such date that do not materially differ in effect from the terms of this paragraph shall remain in effect unless and until they are amended. The Secretary shall revoke a permit issued if the Secretary finds that the permittee is not complying with the terms and conditions of the permit. Any permit may be revoked due to changed circumstances only if the Secretary determines that continuation of the activities to which the permit applies would be inconsistent, Secretary provides 60 days notice of revocation to the permittee and the Secretary is unable to remedy the condition causing such inconsistency. The Secretary is not required to identify of analyze the impacts and potential minimization and mitigation measures related to any alternative other than the alternative presented by the permit applicant in the conservation plan or other permit application document and the no-action alternative.
Public review is extended from 30 to 45 days.
Experimental population provides language amending using “scientific data” instead of “information.”
Written determination of compliance allows for a property to request a written determination by the Secretary that a proposed use on the owner’s property will comply with Section 9(a) prohibition against taking a species by submitting a written description of the proposed action to the Secretary. The written description is sufficient if the descriptions includes the “nature, the specific location, and the anticipated schedule and duration of the proposed action,” and any incidental take of a species that is included on the list that the requestor reasonably expects to occur as a result of the proposed action.
Within 90 days, the Secretary must provide to the requestor a written determination of whether the proposed action would comply. If the Secretary fails to provide a written determination by 90 days, the proposed use will be deemed to comply. Any action the property owner takes in reasonable reliance on a determination that the proposed use complies shall not be treated as a violation of Section 9(a).
SECTION 16- Private Property Conservation
Establishes conservation aid to reduce conservation burdens imposed on landowners and conservation grants to promote conservation of endangered and threatened species. Aid is to be provided to property owners who forgo use of their property following a written determination by the Secretary that a proposed use would not comply with Section 9’s take prohibition. The amount of the Aid is to be no less than the fair market value of the forgone use of the affected portion of the property. The property owner is to establish the fair market value and ambiguities regarding fair market value are to be resolved in favor of the property owner.
In cases where the fair market value is agreed upon, aid is to be provided with 180 days of the request. If an agreed upon fair market value cannot be arrived at within this timeframe, the Secretary has must within in 90 days make a best and final offer.
Grants to promote the voluntary conservation efforts to benefit endangered and threatened species by owners of private property that are supported by the property owner on whose lands the activities will occur, are designed to increase the distribution or numbers of the species and may not be used for the purchase of private property or leases or easements of more than 50 years.
Conservation grants are to be paid on the last day of the fiscal year after conservation aid has been awarded.
SECTION 17- Public Accessibility and Accountability
Requires that the Secretary maintain a publicly accessible website that includes endangered and threatened species lists, all final and proposed endangered and threatened species regulations, draft and final recovery plans, the results of five year reviews conducted pursuant to Section 4, the Report to Congress required under what would be Section 5 and the Annual Cost Analysis under Section 18. Requires the Secretary to provide the information in a format that it may be searched by the variables contained within the Report to Congress and Annual Cost Analysis reports.
Currently much of the information that would be required by this language to be included on a publicly accessible website is provided by the USFWS on its Threatened and Endangered Species System database, TESS. This language would codify the requirement to provide this information and require that selected information, much of which is already collected in database format, be presented in such a manner that it may be searched as a database rather than be provided only as a lengthy file. The requirement would substantially increase the value of the data the USFWS already collects and reports. For example, users would be easily able to determine expenditures made for a species, the agencies that reported expenditures on the species and what the current status of the species is increasing transparency and public knowledge about the program.
SECTION 18- Annual Cost Analyses
Requires the Secretary to produce an annual report detailing the expenditures made by Federal agencies and the States primary for the conservation of endangered and threatened species and those expenditures voluntarily reported by local government and requires the Secretary to provide a means whereby local governments may electronically submit such data. Requires that to be eligible for receipt of funds under Section 6 states submit endangered and threatened species expenditure data.
Current law requires the Secretary to produce an annual expenditure report on expenditures for the conservation of endangered species by Federal agencies and states that reports those funds that may be attributed to a specific endangered or threatened species. As a matter of practice, many expenditures by federal and states agencies for the purpose of conserving endangered and threatened species are directed to more than one species and therefore are difficult to attribute to kind of endangered or threatened species. As a result, the USFWS has included in its most recent reports expenditures that cannot be attributed to a particular species as “other” endangered species expenditures. To ensure consistent and comprehensive reporting from year to year the language will require that both expenditures attributable on a species by species basis and those that are not attributable to a specific species be reported.
Expenditures for the conservation of endangered and threatened species are also made by local governments by not trapped by existing expenditure reports. The language would require the Secretary to provide a mean whereby local governments could, electronically, voluntarily submit and attest to the accuracy of expenditures on endangered and threatened species. The language provides the means for more comprehensive reporting without burdening local governments with mandated reporting.
The language also requires that to be eligible to receive funds under Section 6, Cooperation with States, States must submit their reported expenditures on endangered and threatened species.
SECTION 19- Authorization of Appropriations
Authorizes sums as necessary for Fiscal Year 2006 to 2010 for Secretary of Interior. Authorizes sums as necessary for Fiscal Year 2006 and 2010 for Secretary of Agriculture to carry out functions and responsibility of the Department of Interior with respect to the enforcement of this Act and the convention which pertain the importation of plants.
SECTION 21- Clerical Amendment to Table of Contents
Establishes titles to Sections of the Act.
SECTION 22- Miscellaneous Technical Corrections
International Cooperation
Management Authority and Scientific Authority
Prohibited Acts
Hardship Exemptions
Permit and Exemption Policy
Pre-Act Parts and Scrimshaw
Burden of Proof of Seeking Exemption or Permit
Antique Articles
Penalties and Enforcements
Substitution of Gender-Neutral References
If you are interested in CBD's analysis, go here.
===
NEWS ROUNDUP
Coal companies ad campaign refuted by enviros, Forest Service North Fork Valley coal companies have banded together to launch a public relations campaign against recent changes to plans for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests. The campaign, which began Wednesday with a full-page ad in The Daily Sentinel, is an attempt to raise awareness about changes to the plan that coal companies say “restrict activities on public lands,” according to Kathy Welt, spokeswoman for Gunnison Energy Corporation, a member of the Oxbow Group. “If the U.S. Forest Service continues to be influenced only by environmental special interest groups, our future could be more like this picture,” the ad reads below a photograph of a lone man in a cowboy hat, walking a deserted street lined with desolate store fronts. Oxbow’s ad claims the Forest Service “didn’t hear from you,” adding the service only heard from environmental special interest groups....
Feds: Pilot error led to Glacier crash The pilot of an airplane that crashed while ferrying four Forest Service workers into a Montana wilderness last year lacked experience in backcountry flying and flew up the wrong drainage, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a report released Wednesday. The NTSB's findings of the Sept. 20 crash are similar to those of a separate, preliminary investigation by the U.S. Forest Service that was released earlier this year. That report also concluded that pilot Jim Long apparently had become confused about his location, possibly because of weather. Long, along with two of the four Forest Service workers, died in the crash near Glacier National Park, in northwest Montana. Two other employees, initially thought to have also been killed, survived and emerged from the wilderness two days later....
Marina Point suit nearing end of line The trial phase of the case against the Marina Point Development Association has ended in a Los Angeles courtroom. All that's left is opposing counsel's written briefs, possible oral arguments and the judge's decision. Construction was halted at the Marina Point project January 2004 when two environmental groups-Friends of Fawnskin and the Center for Biological Diversity- sought an injunction, accusing developers of violating the Endangered Species Protection Act. At issue is the threat construction may have on nearby bald eagle habitat. A temporary injunction was granted delaying construction at the site for more than a year. The case was heard Aug. 23 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, lasting five days, including four days of testimony by the plaintiffs and one day by defendants. Judge Manuel L. Real was on the bench, asking lawyers for both sides to submit written briefs as closing arguments....
Hammond trespass issue simmers Conflict simmers between Hammond Ranch property owners and county residents who say they have accessed US Forest Service lands beyond the development for years along roads now designated as "private." Residents along one of the main roads in the subdivision, Dale Creek Road, have posted "No Trespassing" signs. Property owners further along and just beyond the development have posted signs, hung chains and erected gates across the road and, most recently, mounted video surveillance cameras to keep people from trespassing along what they say is a private road. Siskiyou County sheriff Rick Riggins said his department's research showed that neither the USFS nor the county takes responsibility for Dale Creek Road. "As of now that's a private road and we have to go by law. Until county counsel or a judge says differently, we have to treat it as a private and privately maintained road," he said....
Big Sur ranch events opposed Federal plans for Allen Funt's old Big Sur ranch have become a source of contention pitting neighbors and the county against the U.S. Forest Service. The issue will come to a head today in Eureka, where the state Coastal Commission will be asked to determine whether Forest Service plans for the 1,255-acre ranch meet policies that regulate coastline development in California. The property is just south of Bixby Creek Bridge, off Highway 1, and has been used as a cattle and horse ranch since the mid-1800s. Funt, of Candid Camera fame, bought the ranch almost 30 years ago but his estate sold it after his death in 1999. The new owners offered the rustic buildings for social gatherings and business meetings. The Forest Service acquired the ranch two years ago for $17.6 million and is also offering it as a gathering spot for special events for up to 400 people....
Column: Stockgrowers wrong with sage grouse plan. Hunting, grazing help birds What were the Montana Stockgrowers thinking? Were they just muscle-flexing? Perhaps throwing a little gasoline on some flames? Or were they just showing their ignorance regarding sage grouse? Whatever the thought process, the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) made a big splash last week in calling for a cutback in what they termed Montana's "liberal" hunting season on sage grouse. The MSGA should have done its homework. It should have looked at the numbers. And it should have learned a little about sage grouse management - what actually helps this bird and what hurts it - before running its mouth. The truth is that wildlife biologists and researchers have found hunting at Montana's level - two birds per day in a Sept. 1 through Nov. 1 season - has little or no effect on sage grouse populations....
Rare tortiose puzzles animal shelter staff A rare tortoise found "running" lose near hear last week is posing more than one puzzling question for workers at the Ogden Animal Shelter. They don't know what to feed it, nor if its even legal to house it in the shelter. The rare gopher tortoise is an endangered species normally found in Florida and along the Gulf Coast -- but no one thinks it got blown to Utah by Hurricane Katrina. Shelter director Bob Geier says his staff has been trying to figure out what to do with the dinner-plate sized reptile....
Federal judge halts killing of wolves in Wisconsin, Michigan A federal judge has blocked Michigan and Wisconsin, at least temporarily, from killing wolves that attack livestock or pets. The Humane Society of the United States and 18 other environmental groups filed a lawsuit last month. It accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of issuing lethal-control permits to the two states without giving the public an opportunity to comment, as required by the Endangered Species Act. The permits authorized state officials to kill 20 wolves in Michigan and 34 in Wisconsin this year. The suit demanded the agency withdraw the permits and go through the correct procedure for considering them. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle voided the permits Tuesday during a hearing in Washington, D.C....
U.S. Acts to Finish Divisive Border Fence In a rebuff to California officials and environmentalists, the Bush administration cleared the way Wednesday for completion of a 14-mile-long border fence that will run through coastal wetlands to the Pacific Ocean near San Diego. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived environmental laws for the first time since Congress gave him that authority in May. Finishing the last 3.5 miles of fence is expected to cost about $32 million. Combined with older existing fencing along the Mexican border, Chertoff said, the newly completed fence will form a security corridor — including two new roads, additional fencing, stadium-style lighting and surveillance cameras — for U.S. Border Patrol agents. In a statement issued by his office, Chertoff promised to "act in an environmentally responsible manner consistent with the security needs of the nation." Environmentalists doubt that promise, citing government plans to use soil from a nearby mesa to fill in a canyon, dubbed Smuggler Gulch. "This will cause a tremendous amount of damage to the Tijuana Estuary, particularly downstream," said Jim Peugh, chairman of the conservation committee for the San Diego Audubon Society. "The waiver means they don't have to respect water quality or endangered species or labor or child safety laws. It's a very chilling precedent."....
Oregon State Univ, EPA Researchers Say Current Salmon Policies Don't Work Current efforts to save wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest and California almost certainly will fail. This appears to be the grim conclusion of 30 salmon scientists, policy analysts and wild salmon advocates participating in a year-long initiative to create policy options that would sustain wild runs of salmon in the West. While agreeing that a new approach is needed, participants differ widely on what it will take to save wild salmon. Many of the suggested remedies - from reducing the population of the Northwest to removing major dams from rivers to advocating significant lifestyle changes - would likely be politically or culturally unpalatable. Yet their proponents say success would require that level of commitment. Many of the prescriptions for sustaining wild salmon runs will get an opportunity to be presented and defended at a special symposium Sept. 15 in Anchorage, Alaska, on the final day of the annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society. About 2,000 fisheries scientists, managers, and other professionals are expected to attend the meeting....
Water board blasts U.S. on refuge care Water managers accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday of fumbling efforts to keep exotic plants from overwhelming an Everglades wildlife preserve. And they reminded the agency, manager of the 147,000-acre Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in western Palm Beach County, that they could take back that wilderness if the problem remained out of control. Dishing out sharp criticism, the South Florida Water Management District said the wildlife service has made mistakes and little progress in recent years eradicating spreading invasive exotic plants. If the problem grows too far out of hand "then we need to take this refuge back," said board Chairwoman Irela Bagué....
Feds move to blacklist black carp but face a backlash If there were a social fish ladder, the slimy carp, which thrive in pollution-filled waters, would surely occupy the bottom rung. But when federal officials moved to put one variety on the list of invasive species, they opened a can of worms. The effort had the potential to restrict sales of the carp. The Asian black carp has been used on fish farms for more than two decades — not because it tastes good but because it has a taste for snails, which carry parasites that can kill or otherwise hurt their crop like a boll weevil damages cotton. Without another option to control the snail population in their ponds, fish farmers feared the worst for their industry, which is one of the few economic success stories in the otherwise poor Mississippi Delta....
Drawing Our Own Environmental Conclusions Where Mountains Are Nameless: Passion and Politics in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Jonathan Waterman W. W. Norton, 2005 280 pages, $24.95 People do strange things in the Arctic wilderness. Jonathan Waterman, for example, has chased a herd of caribou like a wolf, accidentally discharged bear spray onto sensitive parts of his anatomy, and poked through "wondrous" piles of scat. But, as he can attest, the far north also inspires powerful emotions, whether it's a sense of awe or a hunger for profit. Waterman made 18 trips to the Arctic between 1983 and 2002, trekking through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and kayaking down rivers, along the coastline, and past Prudhoe Bay. In his latest book, Where Mountains Are Nameless, Waterman draws on these experiences to add his voice to the clamor surrounding the fate of ANWR. The topic may be familiar, but Waterman does succeed, at least in part, in making an original contribution to the discussion. In the first half of each chapter, Waterman recounts his excursions to the Arctic, describing in detail the landscape and wildlife. In the second, he tells the story of Olaus and Mardy Murie. The Muries may not be household names, but they did perhaps more than anyone else to create the refuge. By reviewing their struggle and eventual success, Waterman hopes to find lessons to apply to today's environmental battles....
Park's bison numbers swell The Yellowstone National Park bison population has reached an estimated 4,900 animals -- hundreds more than last winter and the highest level documented, a park spokeswoman said Wednesday. The population growth is renewing concerns about how federal and state officials manage the bison, some of which carry the disease brucellosis. Jake Cummins, executive vice president of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, said Wednesday the population is three times greater than the park's carrying capacity -- what the landscape can successfully sustain -- and that it poses a serious risk to a livestock industry fearful that wandering bison will transmit brucellosis to cattle in Montana....
Rock Climbers Chafe at Park Service Restraints Christopher Paik has been climbing the steep rock face of Mather Gorge at Great Falls Park for 10 years. Like many other rock climbers, he believed injury was just about the only thing that could keep him from the sport. But that was before the National Park Service announced a plan that could restrict climbing in the park to preserve the landscape and restore such rare plant species as the Nantucket shadbush and flattened spikerush. Now Paik and other climbers say the use of the popular cliffs and ledges that attract hundreds of rock climbers to the Virginia side of the river each week is in jeopardy....
E.P.A. Struggles to Determine Extent of Hazards in Sludge The magnitude and geographic sweep of the pollution left by Hurricane Katrina is so enormous that the Environmental Protection Agency is struggling to determine what the worst hazards are, where they are and what can be done about them, the agency's administrator said Wednesday. The difficulties could cast doubt on plans of the New Orleans mayor and other city officials to reopen drier neighborhoods within days. At a Congressional briefing and at a separate news conference, the E.P.A. administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, described for the first time the wide variety of problems the agency was confronting, including the difficulty of determining the extent and toxicity of the sludge left by the floodwaters. Mr. Johnson said the agency was using aircraft to test for air pollution and taking daily samples of floodwaters and the sludge. The sampling is concentrated in residential areas. The agency has not completed or released details about specific strategies and the scientific protocols it is using as it tries to analyze the hazards posed by what Mr. Johnson called "the largest national disaster that we at E.P.A., or we believe, that the nation has faced."....
Floods' Pollutants Within the Norm Early tests on the floodwater that covered most of this city do not suggest it will leave a permanent toxic residue or render residential areas uninhabitable for more than a short time, officials of both state and federal environmental agencies said yesterday. The pollution consists primarily of fecal matter and slightly elevated concentrations of metals such as lead and chromium that were in the city's soil before Hurricane Katrina. There are also trace amounts of many petroleum-based chemicals and some pesticides. Despite descriptions of the floodwater as a "toxic soup" and a "witch's brew" of contaminants, the preliminary tests reveal it contains little that is different from what has been seen after past floods in other cities and here....this is from the Washington Post article, the one above is from the NY Times....
Indian woman leads multibillion fight against U.S When Elouise Cobell became treasurer of the Blackfeet Tribe in 1976, she began to investigate U.S. government payments to Native Americans for the rights to mine, farm and graze on Indian land. Three decades later the banker is in her ninth year of a $27.5 billion lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging that officials have cheated Indians for more than a century. The complex dispute dates back to 1887, when the United States allotted lands to Indians but held them in trust for them. Under the arrangement, the government collects fees from ranchers, timber and oil companies or others using the land and distributes the money back tax free to individual Indians. "This is our money; they collected the money from 1887 forward. We know they used the money for other purposes," said Cobell, 59, who is the executive director of the Native American Community Development Bank in Browning, Montana....
Case of stuffed owl fetching trafficking charges oddly reminiscent of Monty Python A British man who put a stuffed snowy owl he found in the attic up for sale on the Internet was accused of trafficking in an endangered species. Steven Harper, 44, from Merseyside, northern England, had hoped to raise money to buy a holiday home in France. Instead he found himself in court, charged with trying to sell the long-dead bird without a certificate. A Merseyside Police wildlife officer said the legislation offered protection "whether an animal is alive or dead." Michael Brahams, Mr. Harper's lawyer, described the case as bureaucracy gone mad. "Rather like John Cleese's parrot, the owl was dead, deceased, moribund and in fact, it no longer existed. It had expired," he told the BBC.
Artist, writer best of the West The annual National Cowboy Symposium is finished in Lubbock. Hundreds of poets, chuck-wagon cooks, Western artists and working cowboys gathered last weekend to display their wares, recite their works and honor one another for promoting the Western way of life. Two of those honorees are familiar names in North Texas. Artist Chuck DeHaan of Graford, near Possum Kingdom Lake, received an American Cowboy Culture Award in the Western art category. Author Phil Livingston of Weatherford garnered a special award for his ongoing work chronicling some of the country's finest horses and their riders and trainers....
===
Coal companies ad campaign refuted by enviros, Forest Service North Fork Valley coal companies have banded together to launch a public relations campaign against recent changes to plans for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests. The campaign, which began Wednesday with a full-page ad in The Daily Sentinel, is an attempt to raise awareness about changes to the plan that coal companies say “restrict activities on public lands,” according to Kathy Welt, spokeswoman for Gunnison Energy Corporation, a member of the Oxbow Group. “If the U.S. Forest Service continues to be influenced only by environmental special interest groups, our future could be more like this picture,” the ad reads below a photograph of a lone man in a cowboy hat, walking a deserted street lined with desolate store fronts. Oxbow’s ad claims the Forest Service “didn’t hear from you,” adding the service only heard from environmental special interest groups....
Feds: Pilot error led to Glacier crash The pilot of an airplane that crashed while ferrying four Forest Service workers into a Montana wilderness last year lacked experience in backcountry flying and flew up the wrong drainage, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a report released Wednesday. The NTSB's findings of the Sept. 20 crash are similar to those of a separate, preliminary investigation by the U.S. Forest Service that was released earlier this year. That report also concluded that pilot Jim Long apparently had become confused about his location, possibly because of weather. Long, along with two of the four Forest Service workers, died in the crash near Glacier National Park, in northwest Montana. Two other employees, initially thought to have also been killed, survived and emerged from the wilderness two days later....
Marina Point suit nearing end of line The trial phase of the case against the Marina Point Development Association has ended in a Los Angeles courtroom. All that's left is opposing counsel's written briefs, possible oral arguments and the judge's decision. Construction was halted at the Marina Point project January 2004 when two environmental groups-Friends of Fawnskin and the Center for Biological Diversity- sought an injunction, accusing developers of violating the Endangered Species Protection Act. At issue is the threat construction may have on nearby bald eagle habitat. A temporary injunction was granted delaying construction at the site for more than a year. The case was heard Aug. 23 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, lasting five days, including four days of testimony by the plaintiffs and one day by defendants. Judge Manuel L. Real was on the bench, asking lawyers for both sides to submit written briefs as closing arguments....
Hammond trespass issue simmers Conflict simmers between Hammond Ranch property owners and county residents who say they have accessed US Forest Service lands beyond the development for years along roads now designated as "private." Residents along one of the main roads in the subdivision, Dale Creek Road, have posted "No Trespassing" signs. Property owners further along and just beyond the development have posted signs, hung chains and erected gates across the road and, most recently, mounted video surveillance cameras to keep people from trespassing along what they say is a private road. Siskiyou County sheriff Rick Riggins said his department's research showed that neither the USFS nor the county takes responsibility for Dale Creek Road. "As of now that's a private road and we have to go by law. Until county counsel or a judge says differently, we have to treat it as a private and privately maintained road," he said....
Big Sur ranch events opposed Federal plans for Allen Funt's old Big Sur ranch have become a source of contention pitting neighbors and the county against the U.S. Forest Service. The issue will come to a head today in Eureka, where the state Coastal Commission will be asked to determine whether Forest Service plans for the 1,255-acre ranch meet policies that regulate coastline development in California. The property is just south of Bixby Creek Bridge, off Highway 1, and has been used as a cattle and horse ranch since the mid-1800s. Funt, of Candid Camera fame, bought the ranch almost 30 years ago but his estate sold it after his death in 1999. The new owners offered the rustic buildings for social gatherings and business meetings. The Forest Service acquired the ranch two years ago for $17.6 million and is also offering it as a gathering spot for special events for up to 400 people....
Column: Stockgrowers wrong with sage grouse plan. Hunting, grazing help birds What were the Montana Stockgrowers thinking? Were they just muscle-flexing? Perhaps throwing a little gasoline on some flames? Or were they just showing their ignorance regarding sage grouse? Whatever the thought process, the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) made a big splash last week in calling for a cutback in what they termed Montana's "liberal" hunting season on sage grouse. The MSGA should have done its homework. It should have looked at the numbers. And it should have learned a little about sage grouse management - what actually helps this bird and what hurts it - before running its mouth. The truth is that wildlife biologists and researchers have found hunting at Montana's level - two birds per day in a Sept. 1 through Nov. 1 season - has little or no effect on sage grouse populations....
Rare tortiose puzzles animal shelter staff A rare tortoise found "running" lose near hear last week is posing more than one puzzling question for workers at the Ogden Animal Shelter. They don't know what to feed it, nor if its even legal to house it in the shelter. The rare gopher tortoise is an endangered species normally found in Florida and along the Gulf Coast -- but no one thinks it got blown to Utah by Hurricane Katrina. Shelter director Bob Geier says his staff has been trying to figure out what to do with the dinner-plate sized reptile....
Federal judge halts killing of wolves in Wisconsin, Michigan A federal judge has blocked Michigan and Wisconsin, at least temporarily, from killing wolves that attack livestock or pets. The Humane Society of the United States and 18 other environmental groups filed a lawsuit last month. It accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of issuing lethal-control permits to the two states without giving the public an opportunity to comment, as required by the Endangered Species Act. The permits authorized state officials to kill 20 wolves in Michigan and 34 in Wisconsin this year. The suit demanded the agency withdraw the permits and go through the correct procedure for considering them. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle voided the permits Tuesday during a hearing in Washington, D.C....
U.S. Acts to Finish Divisive Border Fence In a rebuff to California officials and environmentalists, the Bush administration cleared the way Wednesday for completion of a 14-mile-long border fence that will run through coastal wetlands to the Pacific Ocean near San Diego. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived environmental laws for the first time since Congress gave him that authority in May. Finishing the last 3.5 miles of fence is expected to cost about $32 million. Combined with older existing fencing along the Mexican border, Chertoff said, the newly completed fence will form a security corridor — including two new roads, additional fencing, stadium-style lighting and surveillance cameras — for U.S. Border Patrol agents. In a statement issued by his office, Chertoff promised to "act in an environmentally responsible manner consistent with the security needs of the nation." Environmentalists doubt that promise, citing government plans to use soil from a nearby mesa to fill in a canyon, dubbed Smuggler Gulch. "This will cause a tremendous amount of damage to the Tijuana Estuary, particularly downstream," said Jim Peugh, chairman of the conservation committee for the San Diego Audubon Society. "The waiver means they don't have to respect water quality or endangered species or labor or child safety laws. It's a very chilling precedent."....
Oregon State Univ, EPA Researchers Say Current Salmon Policies Don't Work Current efforts to save wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest and California almost certainly will fail. This appears to be the grim conclusion of 30 salmon scientists, policy analysts and wild salmon advocates participating in a year-long initiative to create policy options that would sustain wild runs of salmon in the West. While agreeing that a new approach is needed, participants differ widely on what it will take to save wild salmon. Many of the suggested remedies - from reducing the population of the Northwest to removing major dams from rivers to advocating significant lifestyle changes - would likely be politically or culturally unpalatable. Yet their proponents say success would require that level of commitment. Many of the prescriptions for sustaining wild salmon runs will get an opportunity to be presented and defended at a special symposium Sept. 15 in Anchorage, Alaska, on the final day of the annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society. About 2,000 fisheries scientists, managers, and other professionals are expected to attend the meeting....
Water board blasts U.S. on refuge care Water managers accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday of fumbling efforts to keep exotic plants from overwhelming an Everglades wildlife preserve. And they reminded the agency, manager of the 147,000-acre Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in western Palm Beach County, that they could take back that wilderness if the problem remained out of control. Dishing out sharp criticism, the South Florida Water Management District said the wildlife service has made mistakes and little progress in recent years eradicating spreading invasive exotic plants. If the problem grows too far out of hand "then we need to take this refuge back," said board Chairwoman Irela Bagué....
Feds move to blacklist black carp but face a backlash If there were a social fish ladder, the slimy carp, which thrive in pollution-filled waters, would surely occupy the bottom rung. But when federal officials moved to put one variety on the list of invasive species, they opened a can of worms. The effort had the potential to restrict sales of the carp. The Asian black carp has been used on fish farms for more than two decades — not because it tastes good but because it has a taste for snails, which carry parasites that can kill or otherwise hurt their crop like a boll weevil damages cotton. Without another option to control the snail population in their ponds, fish farmers feared the worst for their industry, which is one of the few economic success stories in the otherwise poor Mississippi Delta....
Drawing Our Own Environmental Conclusions Where Mountains Are Nameless: Passion and Politics in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Jonathan Waterman W. W. Norton, 2005 280 pages, $24.95 People do strange things in the Arctic wilderness. Jonathan Waterman, for example, has chased a herd of caribou like a wolf, accidentally discharged bear spray onto sensitive parts of his anatomy, and poked through "wondrous" piles of scat. But, as he can attest, the far north also inspires powerful emotions, whether it's a sense of awe or a hunger for profit. Waterman made 18 trips to the Arctic between 1983 and 2002, trekking through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and kayaking down rivers, along the coastline, and past Prudhoe Bay. In his latest book, Where Mountains Are Nameless, Waterman draws on these experiences to add his voice to the clamor surrounding the fate of ANWR. The topic may be familiar, but Waterman does succeed, at least in part, in making an original contribution to the discussion. In the first half of each chapter, Waterman recounts his excursions to the Arctic, describing in detail the landscape and wildlife. In the second, he tells the story of Olaus and Mardy Murie. The Muries may not be household names, but they did perhaps more than anyone else to create the refuge. By reviewing their struggle and eventual success, Waterman hopes to find lessons to apply to today's environmental battles....
Park's bison numbers swell The Yellowstone National Park bison population has reached an estimated 4,900 animals -- hundreds more than last winter and the highest level documented, a park spokeswoman said Wednesday. The population growth is renewing concerns about how federal and state officials manage the bison, some of which carry the disease brucellosis. Jake Cummins, executive vice president of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, said Wednesday the population is three times greater than the park's carrying capacity -- what the landscape can successfully sustain -- and that it poses a serious risk to a livestock industry fearful that wandering bison will transmit brucellosis to cattle in Montana....
Rock Climbers Chafe at Park Service Restraints Christopher Paik has been climbing the steep rock face of Mather Gorge at Great Falls Park for 10 years. Like many other rock climbers, he believed injury was just about the only thing that could keep him from the sport. But that was before the National Park Service announced a plan that could restrict climbing in the park to preserve the landscape and restore such rare plant species as the Nantucket shadbush and flattened spikerush. Now Paik and other climbers say the use of the popular cliffs and ledges that attract hundreds of rock climbers to the Virginia side of the river each week is in jeopardy....
E.P.A. Struggles to Determine Extent of Hazards in Sludge The magnitude and geographic sweep of the pollution left by Hurricane Katrina is so enormous that the Environmental Protection Agency is struggling to determine what the worst hazards are, where they are and what can be done about them, the agency's administrator said Wednesday. The difficulties could cast doubt on plans of the New Orleans mayor and other city officials to reopen drier neighborhoods within days. At a Congressional briefing and at a separate news conference, the E.P.A. administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, described for the first time the wide variety of problems the agency was confronting, including the difficulty of determining the extent and toxicity of the sludge left by the floodwaters. Mr. Johnson said the agency was using aircraft to test for air pollution and taking daily samples of floodwaters and the sludge. The sampling is concentrated in residential areas. The agency has not completed or released details about specific strategies and the scientific protocols it is using as it tries to analyze the hazards posed by what Mr. Johnson called "the largest national disaster that we at E.P.A., or we believe, that the nation has faced."....
Floods' Pollutants Within the Norm Early tests on the floodwater that covered most of this city do not suggest it will leave a permanent toxic residue or render residential areas uninhabitable for more than a short time, officials of both state and federal environmental agencies said yesterday. The pollution consists primarily of fecal matter and slightly elevated concentrations of metals such as lead and chromium that were in the city's soil before Hurricane Katrina. There are also trace amounts of many petroleum-based chemicals and some pesticides. Despite descriptions of the floodwater as a "toxic soup" and a "witch's brew" of contaminants, the preliminary tests reveal it contains little that is different from what has been seen after past floods in other cities and here....this is from the Washington Post article, the one above is from the NY Times....
Indian woman leads multibillion fight against U.S When Elouise Cobell became treasurer of the Blackfeet Tribe in 1976, she began to investigate U.S. government payments to Native Americans for the rights to mine, farm and graze on Indian land. Three decades later the banker is in her ninth year of a $27.5 billion lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging that officials have cheated Indians for more than a century. The complex dispute dates back to 1887, when the United States allotted lands to Indians but held them in trust for them. Under the arrangement, the government collects fees from ranchers, timber and oil companies or others using the land and distributes the money back tax free to individual Indians. "This is our money; they collected the money from 1887 forward. We know they used the money for other purposes," said Cobell, 59, who is the executive director of the Native American Community Development Bank in Browning, Montana....
Case of stuffed owl fetching trafficking charges oddly reminiscent of Monty Python A British man who put a stuffed snowy owl he found in the attic up for sale on the Internet was accused of trafficking in an endangered species. Steven Harper, 44, from Merseyside, northern England, had hoped to raise money to buy a holiday home in France. Instead he found himself in court, charged with trying to sell the long-dead bird without a certificate. A Merseyside Police wildlife officer said the legislation offered protection "whether an animal is alive or dead." Michael Brahams, Mr. Harper's lawyer, described the case as bureaucracy gone mad. "Rather like John Cleese's parrot, the owl was dead, deceased, moribund and in fact, it no longer existed. It had expired," he told the BBC.
Artist, writer best of the West The annual National Cowboy Symposium is finished in Lubbock. Hundreds of poets, chuck-wagon cooks, Western artists and working cowboys gathered last weekend to display their wares, recite their works and honor one another for promoting the Western way of life. Two of those honorees are familiar names in North Texas. Artist Chuck DeHaan of Graford, near Possum Kingdom Lake, received an American Cowboy Culture Award in the Western art category. Author Phil Livingston of Weatherford garnered a special award for his ongoing work chronicling some of the country's finest horses and their riders and trainers....
===
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)