NEWS ROUNDUP

Split-estate decision expected soon The chairwoman of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission said it likely will issue a decision on the state's first split estate case during its February meeting in Casper. Lynn Boomgaarden said she and other commissioners were disappointed by the evidence presented during a Tuesday hearing between Johnson County rancher Steve Adami and Gillette oil and gas producer Kennedy Oil. “The commission has made it clear we're taking this seriously and we expect both sides to be prepared,” Boomgaarden said. “I don't think we saw as refined a presentation as the commission had hoped.” Adami and Kennedy Oil came before the commission in a dispute over six off-channel water pits the producer wants built to collect water from drilling operations on Adami's 11,000-acre ranch east of Buffalo. The pits are already bonded for a total of $83,000. Adami wants that figure increased and has asked the commission to consider the adequacy of the bonds and take stock of potential environmental costs associated with the pits....
Study faults Wyoming for lack of coalbed rules Wyoming's failure to come up with comprehensive regulations controlling coalbed methane development may be to blame for friction between landowners and energy companies, a new study by University of Wyoming researchers suggests. That same regulatory failure also plays a role in Montana's move to enact coalbed methane water regulations that could curtail production in Wyoming, says the study by the University of Wyoming's Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources. "Strongly held disagreements and difficulties about CBM development generally, and water management specifically, have gotten to the point that, at the very least, continued growth in CBM production may be under some threat," the study states. Wyoming has so far only captured 5 percent of its estimated $140 billion in coalbed methane reserves, the study states. Production dropped by 5 percent from 2003 to 2004 "due to difficulties in managing and disposing of CBM water," according to the study. Coalbed methane production often involves pumping huge quantities of groundwater to relieve pressure that holds the gas in coal seams. Some ranchers and conservationists have complained about wasting water by pumping and about poor water quality....
Gas drilling means growth Those in western Wyoming enjoying small-town life, brace yourself. Development of the Jonah natural gas field may bring big changes. A new plan favored by federal land managers for development of the massive gas field calls for 76 years of development in the field, bringing nearly $2 billion to Sublette County over the life of the field. In all, nearly 8 trillion cubic feet of gas would be recovered from Jonah under the Bureau of Land Management's preferred plan, released Friday. That would be enough to heat all the homes in Wyoming for 500 years. "The increasing conversion of large tracts of land from rangeland to gas development is seen by some as industrialization and a diminishment of the characteristics they most enjoy in the region: its natural beauty and quiet, vast reaches of unpopulated and undeveloped open space, fresh air, and wildlife" the BLM said in its new, 400-page plan with additional 2,000-plus pages of supplements....
BLM weeds out oil-shale applications The Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday will narrow a field of applicants seeking leases for experimental oil-shale development in Colorado and Utah. BLM Director Kathleen Clarke will set aside eight of 20 applications for "further consideration" of their technical and financial qualifications for work on 160-acre parcels of land, the agency said Friday. The decisions already have been made but won't be announced until Clarke briefs reporters on a conference call Tuesday and the agency posts a list on its Web site. BLM officials did say they rejected as incomplete an application filed by Anadarko Petroleum in Wyoming, leaving a field of 16 contenders for parcels in Colorado and Utah. But BLM spokeswoman Heather Feeney said the bureau has launched an environmental study for larger-scale oil-shale operations that will cover known oil-shale deposits in Wyoming. That study is expected to be done by mid-2007. The bureau in the meantime plans to open 160-acre parcels in Utah and Colorado for experimental works, but only after operators pay for environmental assessments that could run $200,000 each, said James F. Kohler, chief of the BLM's solid minerals branch....
County may take stance on wolf delisting Gray wolves are a predator species in need of management and the federal government should move quickly to remove them from the endangered species list, according to a resolution coming before the Gallatin County Commission on Tuesday. The joint resolution is being sought by commissioners in seven counties near Yellowstone National Park. It carries no legal weight but is seen as a form of protest by those concerned about the species' reintroduction. "I don't think our joint resolution is going to change anything," Gallatin County Commissioner Joe Skinner acknowledged Friday. "(But) hopefully it will send a message that we are concerned for the agricultural problems wolves represent and for the sportsmen's problems."....
Groups lose bid to ban livestock from Pole Mountain A federal court has denied a petition from environmental groups that sought to keep livestock off of a portion of the Medicine Bow National Forest. The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Native Ecosystems and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, had challenged Forest Service decisions allowing livestock grazing in the Pole Mountain area. The groups claimed cattle were hurting water quality in area streams. Clint Kyhl, Laramie district ranger for the Forest Service, said his agency was pleased with the court's decision. "We always thought we were doing the right thing up there, and this just sort of confirms it," Kyhl said. "We feel that the Forest Service did a thorough job of responding to the state and federal laws and regulations required of us, and that measures were taken to protect water quality." Jeremy Nichols of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance expressed regret over the court's ruling....
Sagebrush and cowboys growing grouse Sage grouse habitat has declined throughout southern Idaho and other parts of the West. Sage grouse populations in Idaho have shown a statewide decline of 40 percent over the past three decades. Wildfire, agriculture expansion, herbicide treatments, adverse weather and rangeland seedings have contributed to the decline in Idaho's largest native game bird, according to information released by the Shoshone Basin Sage Grouse Local Working Group. The Working Group (the Shoshone Basin Sage Grouse Local Working Group) is composed of landowners , sportsmen, business and interested citizens working with local, state and federal representatives to develop sage grouse habitat conservation plans. These plans cover management of private, state and federal owned lands....
EnCana extends benefits to sage grouse The greater sage grouse has benefited from extra environmental mitigation practices undertaken by natural-gas giant EnCana Oil and Gas on its 44,000-acre North Parachute Ranch, according to initial wildlife study results. Environmental Coordinator Kim Kaal recently presented the findings for the company’s property outside Parachute and adjacent to the Roan Plateau. The land was formerly owned by Unocal and acquired by EnCana in 2004, along with water and mineral rights. EnCana is working with the Colorado Division of Wildlife on some of its studies, such as the greater sage grouse....
Fish/Game seeks guzzlers for Mojave Preserve A proposal first floated by the California Department of Fish and Game to restore artificial water sources in the Mojave National Preserve has finally reached the public comment stage. The state agency began meeting with the National Park Service in the summer of 2004 regarding the proposal to retrofit 12 former ranch wells in the Mojave National Preserve as wildlife guzzlers. Ranchers raised cattle for many decades in what became the preserve in 1994. They drilled wells to provide water for their cattle. One well was first developed in the 1860s and many of them date to the dominant period of the Rock Springs Land and Cattle Company between 1894 and 1927, according to the park service. Cattle ranchers turned their wells on and off to move cattle around, according to the park service, to keep them from overgrazing in a particular area....
Grizzlies May Lose Protection Federal officials have begun the process of removing grizzly bears around Yellowstone National Park from the Endangered Species List, ending 30 years of protection and shifting responsibility for their management to state officials who may allow hunting. Seen as a major conservation success story, the Yellowstone population of grizzlies has increased about fourfold, from 150 to nearly 600 since going on the endangered list in 1975, and it is continuing to grow at an annual rate of 4% to 6%, according to the U.S. Department of Interior. The federal delisting plan unveiled here last week calls for maintaining the existing level of protection for bears within a 9,200-square-mile area in and around Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. But special protections will be dropped outside that loose ring of federal land. Beyond it, where many grizzlies wander and 10% to 30% of them live, bear habitat will be open to road building, logging, recreation and development. Under the delisting plans, state officials in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho will take over management of the bears and may allow hunting outside the protected areas....
Project seeks to restore habitat for minnow Rolf Schmidt-Petersen pointed to the steep-sided, brushy bank of an island in the muddy Rio Grande north of Albuquerque's Alameda bridge. Over the drone of an idling airboat Monday morning, he said: "We need to slope those banks and terrace part of the island to try and slow the river down." Slowing the river is crucial to restoring habitat and calm pools for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow, said Schmidt-Petersen, Rio Grande bureau chief for the Interstate Stream Commission. State officials and members of Congress gathered Monday to celebrate the first workday of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar project designed to stabilize the minnow's population in a three-mile stretch of the river. The project grew in part out of a 2003 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mandate that agencies restore endangered species' habitat along the river....
Klamath County considering geothermal energy project Controversy is brewing over a plan to develop a $200 million geothermal energy project at the Medicine Lake Highlands, a collapsed large shield volcano. Since the 1980s, a series of developers have proposed drilling geothermal wells at Medicine Lake and transmitting energy over power transmission lines. Proponents tout geothermal energy as a clean alternative to other sources of electricity, such as fossil fuels, coal and nuclear energy. And the concept has caught on: the state of California, for example, is requiring energy providers to place a higher reliance on alternative power, such as geothermal and wind, to ease dependence on fossil fuels. The work includes pumping naturally heated water from underground sources, using the water to generate power and then pumping the water back into the ground to be reheated and reused. Some studies show that the Medicine Lake Highlands has the largest identified geothermal resource in the lower 48 states....
Judge halts seismic survey A federal administrative appeals judge has halted an oil and gas seismic survey project proposed for the Adobe Town area of southwest Wyoming's Red Desert. The challenge alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and said the BLM had failed to take a hard look at the impacts to fossils and sensitive wildlife species. The groups said the area is known worldwide for its fossils of ancient mammals from the Eocene period, covering dates between 57 million and 45 million years ago. The appeal also said the agency did not conduct a required study of cumulative impacts to wildlife that use lands affected by the project and ignored their responsibility to consider lower-impact alternatives instead of the use of thumper trucks....
West to have enough wildfire aircraft, feds say There will be sufficient air tankers, helicopters and other firefighting resources to battle what could be severe wildfire season in the West, federal officials say. Fewer single-engine air tankers will be reserved for full-time firefighting use, but more will be called up on an as-needed basis, a top Agriculture Department official said. Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, offered the explanation in response to a request from Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano for assurances concerning the air tanker fleet and other fire preparations given the likelihood of a severe fire season this year in the Southwest. "The governor is right to be concerned about the upcoming fire season's severity," Rey said. Climate models are predicting a worse-than-average fire season in the region. However, Rey said, "we have resources committed that will maintain our success rate at nearly 99 percent in initial attack." In a year-end letter, Napolitano urged Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Interior Secretary Gale Norton not to cut back on wildland firefighting and prevention resources in light of drought conditions in the Southwest....
Eminent domain battle shaping up at Padre Island Willacy County officials think good things could at long last happen for their remote corner of Texas - if only they could overcome the 9.5-mile bay that separates the mainland from their section of Padre Island. A few years ago they bought a so-called ferry - a 40-year-old amphibious vehicle that initially failed to pass government safety standards. Now they just need a place to land it. But the section of Padre Island the county wants is owned by the Nature Conservancy, and the environmental group says it's not for sale. So the county commissioners voted in November to use eminent domain to seize the land, angering conservancy members who fear an influx of beachgoers will threaten wildlife on the 1,500-acre section of island....
Alito May Quickly Affect Laws The reach of the environmental laws is to come before the court in late February. Property rights activists have urged the justices for years to protect landowners and developers from the effects of the Endangered Species and Clean Water acts, which include preserving wetlands. In 1972, Congress made it illegal to discharge pollutants into "navigable waters." Because water flows downhill, federal environmental protection officials have interpreted this provision to regulate tens of thousands of inland streams, hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands and even creek beds that have water only on occasion. After Roberts became chief justice in October, the court announced it would hear a property rights case from Michigan. John Rapanos, a landowner, was prosecuted and fined for having filled in wetlands on a farm field 20 miles from Lake Huron. The government said there was a "hydrological connection" between his field and the Great Lakes via several small streams. The Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights group in Sacramento representing Rapanos, argues that the court should rein in the environmental regulators. The group says the 1972 law covers only rivers, lakes and bays on which ships can travel. "Hopefully, the court has taken this case to end this abuse of federal power under the Clean Water Act," said Reed Hooper, a lawyer for Rapanos....
The Sago Mine disaster: Solace from Butte It is impossible to watch the events of Tallmansville, W. Va., without an overwhelming sense of impotence in the face of tragedy. What can anyone say or do that could possibly provide comfort to the families? Who but the victims of such tragedy can begin to comprehend the depth of their despair? History, perhaps, can offer solidarity from a context that is distant in time, but proximate in experience. The history of mining, sadly, provides a deep well of experience from which to draw. The worst hard-rock mining disaster in American history took place on June 8, 1917, when a fire in Butte, 2,000 feet below ground, left 415 miners to fight for their lives....
Quest for the Chisholm Trail They have a historical problem down in Donna, a small community between Harlingen and McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley. There is a marker in town that says the Chisholm Trail came through the area, but there is no documentation to back up the claim. No one knows where the marker came from, or who ordered it. The records were lost in a fire at the museum years ago. To find the answers, folks at the local museum in Donna contacted History Detectives, a public television show that delves into historical mysteries. Producers of the show were in the Fort Worth area this week, seeking information. They met at the hilltop home of Weatherford rancher Tom B. Saunders IV in southern Parker County. Saunders comes from a long line of Texas cattlemen. Aside from being a rancher, he is also a published author and historian. He has a definite opinion on the route of the Chisholm Trail and gladly shared that opinion with the television crew....
Western wear on way to classic status Fans of Western wear fall into a few categories, chief among them people who just live and love the Western lifestyle, whether they wear their jeans and snap shirt daily on the farm, ranch or rodeo circuit; or save them for stock show week, the dance floor of the Grizzly Rose or trips to the mountains. The truth is that there are many facets to Western wear. "It means a lot of different things to different people," says Daniel DeWeese, editor of Western Lifestyle Retailer magazine. A New Yorker might look at a Colorado cowboy, rancher or rodeo princess' attire as a costume, "but it's never a costume to the core market," he says. And the lines are blurring between the Western and mainstream markets as younger customers who make up the core market want their jeans to be just as fashionable as other denim sold at the mall, says Cathy Hagerty Soden, design director for Cinch, Cruel Girl and Rockies, brands made by Rocky Mountain Clothing Co. in Denver. function is always important but "customers are much more aware of how they want their jeans to look," she says. The Western market is getting a boost from such sources as Style.com, which dubs one of the top trends this season "New Frontier." And this month's Harper's Bazaar has a "Best Western" layout of items that promise to "kick-start your wardrobe." All proof, DeWeese says, "that Western wear is having a huge influence on mainstream fashion."....
Stetsons and Resistols are born in Garland Cowtown may be where the West begins, but cowboy-hat fans, who should be out in force at the Fort Worth Stock Show this weekend, may not realize that the West's headwear capital lies a few miles east. "The history here is just phenomenal," said Stan Redding, sales vice president for Hatco, a Garland-based manufacturer of Resistol and Stetson hats. "We're the only hat company in the United States that makes a hat start to finish." Housed in a low, sprawling building, Resistol has been making hats at the same Garland plant since the 1930s. Though Stetson began in Philadelphia in the 19th century, it moved to Texas about a year and a half ago, when the company's St. Joseph, Mo., plant was shuttered, according to Gary Rosenthal, Stetson's former owner. Much of the old machinery from St. Joseph rests in two Quonset huts beside the Garland facility. "It's not for sale," Redding said. "We wouldn't let any hat maker get his hands on it." That's because times and tastes have changed but hat-making materials and equipment haven't. "We're using the same machinery that we used 60, 70, 80 years ago" and have had to build a machine shop to make parts for the old gear, Rosenthal said. "We can't even buy the parts."....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Calf was within reach, if only she'd looked first It is the bad dream of the rancher's wife during calving season. Not as bad as a blizzard or machinery wreck, but worse than having to go to Kingfisher for parts. Hubby's been gone overnight so Shirla saddles up to go check the new calves in the calving lot. It's cold enough to freeze the muddy spots, but it's a sunny morning. She spots a heifer on her side, her abdomen is tight and she's straining. Dismounting, Shirla approaches the beast for a closer look. No feet sticking out. A call on her cell phone to father-in-law down the road proves fruitless, no one answers. So back to the house she rides to get her teenage daughter. "I'm gonna need yer help," Mom says....

Vocabulary of a horse trader

By Julie Carter

There is an entire dictionary's worth of phrases, sayings and quotes you can pin to the horse trading business.

The best advice for the buyer is to carefully discern the words they hear and look for what they may actually signify. Hidden meaning is a trademark of a seasoned horse trader.

For example, when the trader tells you, "This horse will let you do all the thinking," it really means he is big, dumb and heavy footed. If he says, "For this one you just need to start a little sooner or cut across," he means the horse has two speeds, slow and slower.

When the trader tells you "he'll watch a cow" he could mean that he'll actually have the instincts to keep his eye on the cattle and have some quick responsive action. But it could also mean he'll stand in the gate and watch them go by.

And a buyer should always look beyond the obvious. "This horse doesn't let much get past him," usually doesn't mean he is alert and attentive. It more likely means the horse will booger at a shadow or a bird flying overhead at a thousand feet. Riding uneventfully through rolling tumbleweeds and blowing dust will never be an option.

The horse described as having "a nice little cowboy lope" is one that is so rough to ride he will loosen your teeth fillings at a trot and if you can ever get him in a lope, he'll jar your hemorrhoids up to your tonsils.This type of horse can be described as having the ability to give a woodpecker a headache. I know because I own one of these.

The age of a horse is often disputed, especially if the horse has no registration papers for proof of age or origin. The ability to "mouth a horse" and read their age by the stage and condition of their teeth is a real benefit to the buyer. But the die hard trader will always justify a smooth-mouthed old horse with the line, "He's been in a sandy pasture and his teeth may look a little older from that sand grinding at his teeth."

Buyers beware when you hear things like "He doesn't buck very often." My suggestion would be that even if you don't mind an occasional bucker, if the trader can't tell you exactly when he does buck, keep shopping.

Other things to listen for are the brilliant statements like "When his nose quits running and his eyes clear up he'll be just fine," or "I usually don't have to hobble him to saddle him but he just looks better when I do." In a moment of trying to dump a real mess of a horse, they actually will say things that desperate, even to people who know better.

Horse traders come in all sizes, shapes and classes much like used car salesmen. Some you can't trust and others you shouldn't trust.

Having a horse for sale and being called a horse trader is much like be a writer and being labeled a journalist. It is just not all that flattering.

© Julie Carter 2006


Johnny Appleseed

by Larry Gabriel

John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) never made it as far west as Douglas County, South Dakota. That is a good thing. He might have needed a permit before planting a tree in that county.

According to recent news reports, the county claims Gordon Heber must have a permit to plant trees on his own land. They have denied him a permit, and he has taken them to court.

Attacks on the rights of property owners are not new in this country. Congress has been doing it for years.

This is different. This is an assault on property rights by the local government. What are we saying when the government says a man can't plant a tree on his own land?

How can planting a tree threaten public health? (It if carries a disease it might.) Is it a threat to public safety? (If it blocks the view at an intersection it might be.) Does it harm the general welfare? (If it is a noxious weed it might.)

Generally our government encourages tree planting on the theory that doing so promotes the general welfare.

Somewhere we have crossed the line between regulating to protect the basic rights of others, and regulating for the sake of regulation.

Do we really want a society without fundamental freedoms? Free speech, freedom of religion, family and protected private property in the hands of the average citizen are the building blocks of our nation.

An attack on these fundamental freedom and values is an attack on society itself. Are we ready to self destruct? Not if South Dakotans have anything to say about it.

Here is the problem, and it comes up more often than you think in local zoning issues: everyone gets lost in arguments over tangents. Somebody's feelings got hurt. Somebody got angry. Somebody was rude. Somebody doesn't like newcomers changing things.

None of those things have anything to do with the real question, which always should be, "What is the government's proper role here?"

This landowner wants to plant trees near a waterway. The waterway is either federal or state. There is no other kind. Both federal and state agencies have approved the project.

What is the proper role of a county in such matters? That is the question local voters and county commissioners need to debate among themselves. If we become lost in a web of tangents, a judge will decide after much delay and expense.

We waste much when we lose sight of the real issues. At such times, we need to remember people like Johnny Appleseed, whose father was one of the original Minutemen at Concord.

Preserve the fundamentals foremost, and all else that is worthy will be preserved.

Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture

OPINION/COMMENTARY

A Tragic Reminder

The coal mine explosion in Tallmansville, West Virginia, killing 12 miners, is a tragic reminder of the means by which America has been condemned to produce more than half its electrical energy. To be exact, 53 percent of the electricity generated in the United States comes from coal-fired plants. Studies at Ohio State University, conducted by Gordon J. Aubrecht, Department of Physics, determined that the amount of coal burned annually to produce electricity in America releases nearly 1,500 tons of cancer-causing uranium and over 3,500 tons of cancer-causing thorium, resulting in 50 fatalities, 120,000 cases of respiratory ailments, tens of millions of dollars in property damage, plus the emission of nitrous oxide equivalent to 40,000 cars per year. Coal unquestionably is the highest producer of pollutants and greenhouse gases of all fossil energy resources. The most powerful nation in the world kneels at the feet of a vociferous minority that has dominated its energy policies for the past 30-plus years. This vociferous minority uses the major media, print and broadcast, of the nation to promote its destructive agenda. In turn, the media, through its blackouts of important segments of the news, its distortions and in some cases outright prevarications, has misled and confused the American public to such an extent that actual science and truth are not recognized when presented. The use of atomic energy to produce America's electricity is a good example....

WOW, IT’S SUCCESSFUL!

For more than ten years now wolves have been forcibly increased and spread throughout the northern Rocky Mountain States, the desert southwest, and the Great Lakes States. The mongrel (wolf/coyote/dog) hybrids called red wolves have been introduced into North Carolina and some pups just had their picture taken in the caring arms of the ubiquitous young female uniformed government employee on Saint Vincent Island National Wildlife Refuge in the Florida panhandle where they are now being raised. Why a judge has even told the Federal government to get busy and force timber wolves into the New England States. One is forced to ask, “How is it going?” State fish and wildlife agencies (with one exception where they still work for the Governor) have lined up behind Federal mandates for wolf futures. What was always heretofore been a state matter was Federalized by the Endangered Species Act. Only a few disgruntled rural bumpkins are known to still reject the government-ordered Brave New World that wolves are helping to create. Most newspapers report immediately any warm and fuzzy or beneficial wolf-related tidbit while assiduously avoiding or ridiculing those who question or object to what is happening. The former Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service when it stole millions of dollars from the State fish and wildlife agencies and the hunters and fishermen now directs the Defenders of Wildlife. The Defenders of Wildlife (an anti-hunting/trapping organization) was given a primary “partnership” role in the wolf program during that Director’s tenure. It is the Defenders of Wildlife that allegedly “compensates” cattle and sheep owners for stock lost to wolves, but that is a lie that is never questioned when newspapers parrot US Fish and Wildlife Service/Defenders news releases. Elk and deer populations are decreasing steadily where the wolves are spreading. Guard dogs, hunting dogs, and pet dogs are dying at steep but unreported rates where wolves now occur. Centuries-old reports (churches, papers, archives, writings, etc.) of high rates of human life loss to wolves in Europe, Asia, and North America are ignored, demeaned, and rejected by bureaucrat biologists and all their “partners” in Universities and the media....

Media Jump On Study Showing Frogs Dying Off From Climate Change

It may be January, but it seems it’s never too cold for the media to re-heat hype on global warming. ABC and The Washington Post did just that in their reports on one study in the science journal Nature. Both stories, however, left out any criticism of the study. “Disease is the bullet killing frogs, but climate change is pulling the trigger,” the Post quoted study author J. Alan Pounds. But while there are climate experts who say that Pounds’s conclusions are half-baked, neither the Post’s Eilperin nor ABC’s Blakemore feature any dissenting experts. One such critic is Pat Michaels, of the University of Virginia, who pointed out some flaws in the study on his WorldClimateReport.com Web site. “The title of the manuscript, ‘Widespread Amphibian Extinctions from Epidemic Disease Driven by Global Warming,’” wrote Michaels, “implies that the authors have proven a pervasive link between a large number of toad and frog extinctions and warming climate. They have done nothing of the sort.” Michaels cast doubt on the connection by pointing to a 2003 Diversity and Distribution journal article. That article showed the disease afflicting the harlequin frog was caused by chytrid fungus, which “was most likely introduced by humans, possibly by ecotourists and/or field researchers.”....

Plants Bad for the Environment? Celebrities Causing Frogs to Croak?

Could it be that celebrities are planting the forests that are causing the global warming that is growing the bacteria that are wiping out the frogs? Global warming alarmists may be compelled to consider that chain of causation this week thanks to two new studies just published in the Jan. 12 issue of the journal Nature. In the first study, Max Planck Institute researchers reported their discovery that living plants emit into the atmosphere methane (natural gas), the third most important greenhouse gas behind water vapor and carbon dioxide. Until this discovery, scientists thought the methane in the atmosphere was largely produced by bacterial processes not involving oxygen. But the Max Planck researchers report that living plants -- two-thirds of which are in tropical rainforest regions -- produce 10 to 30 percent of annual global methane production. The implications of this study are stunning. Previously, it was thought that the net effect of growing plants was to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and, therefore, to reduce global warming. But in the words of New Zealand climate researcher David Lowe, “We now have the specter that new forests might increase greenhouse warming through methane emissions rather than decrease it by being sinks for carbon dioxide.” The discovery also implies that deforestation -- that is, cutting down trees -- slows methane accumulation in the atmosphere and, as a consequence, reduces global warming....

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science

Throw out your textbooks and forget everything you have learned about science. They didn’t teach you this stuff in college. The media generally follows the “if it bleeds, it leads” philosophy: Stories detailing devastation garner front-page status while stories lacking prophetic dramatic climax wind up on page B-17. As Tom Bethell writes in The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, this can be universally applied to science. Such an understanding has been grasped by high-powered special interest groups who use the media to further their causes by predicting the most ominous disasters that man will ever see. Many entities, from the media to politicians, are all too willing to help these special interests along in their causes—the media by promoting the panic, and the government by funding it. As a result, declarations of destruction caused by supposed man-made global warming dominate headlines while opposing viewpoints, though equal in number, are left without the megaphone of major newspapers, scientific journals, nightly newscasts, and congressional hearings....

Interview: Endangered species

Charley Dewberry, author of Saving Science: A Critique of Science and its Role in Salmon Recovery (2004), is the academic dean of Gutenberg College in Eugene, Ore. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon but ranges far beyond academic walls: He is one of the most experienced field workers in the Pacific Northwest and has for many years examined problems of salmon restoration. That may seem like a narrow topic, but Mr. Dewberry's analysis of salmon research shows why there's something fishy in much of science these days. He shows how scientists examining issues involving fish catches or endangered species typically look at statistics developed by other scientists but don't interview fishermen or use historical methods to get a better sense of change over time. He questions whether scientists who spend little time in the field really understand their subject. Mr. Dewberry praises physicists who know the specific physical laws necessary for riding a bicycle, and then asks: "What if a particular physicist who can articulate these laws cannot ride a bicycle? Does this physicist have a greater understanding of bicycle riding than the boy who, with personal knowledge, just rides the bike?" He's not impressed by scientists who venture into the field only to instruct technicians or to put on "dog-and-pony shows" for the benefit of journalists and financial backers....

FLE

USDA Using Satellites to Monitor Farmers

Satellites have monitored crop conditions around the world for decades, helping traders predict futures prices in commodities markets and governments anticipate crop shortages. But those satellite images are now increasingly turning up in courtrooms across the nation as the Agriculture Department's Risk Management Agency cracks down on farmers involved in crop insurance fraud. The Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency, which helps farmers get loans and payments from a number of its programs, also uses satellite imaging to monitor compliance. Across government and private industry alike, satellite imaging technology is being used in water rights litigation and in prosecution of environmental cases ranging from a hog confinement facility's violations of waste discharge regulations to injury damage lawsuits stemming from herbicide applications. The technology is also used to monitor the forestry and mining industries. "A lot of farmers would be shocked at the detail you can tell. What it does is keep honest folks honest," said G.A. "Art" Barnaby Jr., an agricultural economist at Kansas State University. Satellite technology, which takes images at roughly eight-day intervals, can be used to monitor when farmers plant their acreage, how they irrigate them and what crops they grow. If anomalies are found in a farm's insurance claim, investigators can search satellite photos dating back years to determine cropping practices on individual fields....

National uniform driver's license law is 'nightmare'

An anti-terrorism law creating a national standard for all driver's licenses by 2008 isn't upsetting just civil libertarians and immigration rights activists.
State motor vehicle officials nationwide who will have to carry out the Real ID Act say its authors grossly underestimated its logistical, technological and financial demands. In a comprehensive survey obtained by The Associated Press and in follow-up interviews, officials cast doubt on the states' ability to comply with the law on time and fretted that it will be a budget buster. "It is just flat out impossible and unrealistic to meet the prescriptive provisions of this law by 2008," Betty Serian, a deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said in an interview. Nebraska's motor vehicles director, responding to the survey by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, said that to comply with Real ID her state "may have to consider extreme measures and possibly a complete reorganization." And a record-sharing provision of Real ID was described by an Illinois official as "a nightmare for all states." The law also demands that states link their record-keeping systems to national databases so duplicate applications can be detected, illegal immigrants caught and driving histories shared. State licenses that fail to meet Real ID's standards will not be able to be used to board an airplane or enter a federal building. The law, which was attached to a funding measure for the Iraq war last May, has been criticized by civil libertarians who contend it will create a de facto national ID card and new centralized databases, inhibiting privacy....

Pentagon grilled over database on war critics

Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday asked for answers on an obscure Pentagon agency that included reports on student anti-war protests and other peaceful civilian demonstrations in a database meant to detect terrorist activities. “Under what circumstances can peaceful protests at universities or by anti-war groups be monitored?” Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. “What authorities, and under what regulations, do military counterintelligence units have to conduct investigations on U.S. persons?” she wrote. At issue is a classified database of information about suspicious people and activity inside the United States that’s maintained by a three-year-old Pentagon agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, whose size and budget also are classified. The database, which a Pentagon fact sheet says is meant to capture information “indicative of possible terrorist pre-attack activity,” came to light a month ago when NBC News obtained details on its contents. The Pentagon acknowledged including information on anti-war activities and other meetings that should have been removed....

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11

The National Security Agency advised President Bush in early 2001 that it had been eavesdropping on Americans during the course of its work monitoring suspected terrorists and foreigners believed to have ties to terrorist groups, according to a declassified document. The NSA's vast data-mining activities began shortly after Bush was sworn in as president and the document contradicts his assertion that the 9/11 attacks prompted him to take the unprecedented step of signing a secret executive order authorizing the NSA to monitor a select number of American citizens thought to have ties to terrorist groups. In its "Transition 2001" report, the NSA said that the ever-changing world of global communication means that "American communication and targeted adversary communication will coexist." "Make no mistake, NSA can and will perform its missions consistent with the Fourth Amendment and all applicable laws," the document says. However, it adds that "senior leadership must understand that the NSA's mission will demand a 'powerful, permanent presence' on global telecommunications networks that host both 'protected' communications of Americans and the communications of adversaries the agency wants to target." What had long been understood to be protocol in the event that the NSA spied on average Americans was that the agency would black out the identities of those individuals or immediately destroy the information. But according to people who worked at the NSA as encryption specialists during this time, that's not what happened. On orders from Defense Department officials and President Bush, the agency kept a running list of the names of Americans in its system and made it readily available to a number of senior officials in the Bush administration, these sources said, which in essence meant the NSA was conducting a covert domestic surveillance operation in violation of the law....

Guantanamo lawyers criticise tribunals

US military officers ordered to defend accused war criminals at Guantanamo base in Cuba have joined the outcry of activists assailing the court system for human rights violations. “It was horrific to sit there and watch this happen,” said Army Major Tom Fleener, who represented a Yemeni prisoner in pretrial hearings at Guantanamo this week. The nine Guantanamo prisoners charged so far are accused of conspiring with the Al Qaeda group to kill Americans in the September 11 attacks and on the battlefield. “We live in a country where we’ve spent a couple hundred years putting together a good system of justice where people have rights to counsel (of their choosing), people have rights to confront accusers, people have rights to evidence,” Fleener said. “None of that stuff is present in these hearings.” The five military defence lawyers appointed so far have challenged every aspect of the tribunals. Navy Lt Cmdr Charles Swift, who represents another Yemeni prisoner, has asked the Supreme Court to rule that US President George W Bush lacked authority to create the new court system rather than try the prisoners under existing civilian or military law....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Wyoming rancher asks court to force BLM to reconsider penalty A Wyoming rancher embroiled in a decade-long feud with federal land managers asked an appeals court Thursday to force the Bureau of Land Management to reconsider a decision that he said cost him his grazing permits and his business. An attorney for Harvey Frank Robbins Jr., of Thermopolis, said the BLM had in effect unfairly seized Robbins' property when it revoked a 2003 agreement not to punish him for 16 alleged grazing violations. Robbins' grazing permits were canceled after the agreement was revoked. The BLM said it revoked agreement because Robbins had violated the permits again. The hearing was the latest step in the feud between the BLM and Robbins, who owns the High Island, HD and Owl Creek ranches. Earlier this week, a different panel of the 10th Circuit ruled that Robbins may pursue a separate lawsuit against the BLM. Robbins claims the agency stripped him of various land-use privileges and permits because he refused to reinstate a road-access agreement the BLM had with the High Island Ranch's previous owner. The case argued Thursday stems from the 16 citations for grazing violations. In the January 2003 agreement, the BLM agreed not to pursue action against Robbins if there were no further violations for two years. The BLM revoked the agreement after Robbins' cattle were found grazing in unauthorized areas for the third time in 2003. The agency said it issued warnings after the first two incidents. Robbins sued in February 2004, arguing the BLM denied him his right to dispute the violations. U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson of Cheyenne, Wyo., upheld the BLM's decision last year, and Robbins appealed to the 10th Circuit....
More Yellowstone bison captured as some sent to slaughter Authorities captured another 105 bison at Yellowstone National Park Thursday as officials shipped to slaughter two dozen animals captured a day earlier, a park spokesman said. Al Nash said about 290 bison still are being held inside the park's northern border at the Stephen's Creek capture site and that they all would go to slaughter without being tested for the disease brucellosis. Twenty-four bison were shipped off Thursday, he said. Meanwhile, at least two bison died after crashing through an icy lake just outside the park's western boundary, activists said. State wildlife officials temporarily suspended bison hunting in that area late Wednesday to allow for the hazing of bison that ventured too far into Montana. The state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said it also planned to temporarily halt the hunt north of Yellowstone to allow for hazing. The agency said the move, set to take effect late Thursday, was needed to keep stray bison away from livestock. Officials hoped to reopen that area to hunting Saturday....
Bison hazing goes awry: 14 animals fall through ice Fourteen bison from Yellowstone National Park fell through the ice on Hebgen Lake after being hazed by government agents on snowmobiles Thursday morning. Two drowned in the icy water, 10 were pulled out and two walked out on their own. "It was horrible," said Dan Brister of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that advocates for bison and monitors hunting and hazing operations. "I saw 12 buffalo in that little hole swimming around, pawing at the edges, trying to pull themselves up, but the physics wouldn't allow it," he said. The activity at the lake was part of a busy and controversial day for Yellowstone's bison and those trying to control their movements outside the park's boundary....
State officials say salt water spill is significant A salt water leak from a pipe carrying oil field waste in northwestern North Dakota has killed fish and forced ranchers to move their livestock, state officials say. "It's a significant salt water spill that's having an adverse effect on the environment," said Dave Glatt, the state Health Department's environmental chief. "Our major issue is finding where it is, where it isn't, and finding ways to clean it up." Glatt and other officials from the Health Department and the state Oil and Gas Division said Thursday that they did not know exactly how much spilled from the Zenergy Inc. salt water transfer line, but an initial estimate indicating 4,500 barrels was too low. "We know it's more than that," said Mark Bohrer, an Oil and Gas Division engineer. One barrel is about 42 gallons. Zenergy officials could not be reached for comment....
Column: Paying Ranchers to Ban Public Hunting Wyoming has the wrong idea when it comes to elk feedlots, but a couple of Cowboy State legislators certainly have it right on free access to hunting. They have a thoroughly reasonable plan that’s long overdue, but nonetheless, it stands a slim chance of becoming reality. Most western states have been able to resist pressure from ranching organizations to require the wildlife department to compensate landowners for damage done by wildlife—tearing down fences, eating haystacks, trampling crops, etc. Wyoming, on the other hand, made an unusual and controversial move to compensate ranchers for wildlife damage to their crops or facilities. There’s no established fee schedule. Instead, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department assesses each claim on a case-by-case basis. In 2005, the WGFD paid out $182,000 to satisfy these wildlife damage claims. The statute that allows these payments includes a clause preventing ranchers who receive wildlife damage money from closing their land to hunting. In reality, on the financial scale of things, some hunters wouldn’t consider this too bad of a deal because the statute was intended to keep all this land open to public hunting. But there’s a catch. There always is, it seems....
Colorado looks to RFID to protect elk herds The state of Colorado is testing radio frequency identification (RFID) tags as one way to help protect elk herds from contagious disease. Working with three ranchers and a vendor of animal-tracking systems, the state last month wrapped up a pilot test that involved tracking animals using passive RFID tags. Now the state is looking to launch another test with active RFID tags, which will hopefully extend the tracking range, said Scott Leach, a field investigator for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Active RFID tags are battery powered and can send out a signal at predetermined intervals. Passive tags only transmit data when scanned and tend to have a smaller range. As part of his job, Leach tracks chronic wasting disease (CWD), a degenerative neurological illness endemic in Colorado and some other states. CWD is viewed as a very serious threat to both captive and wild cervids -- elk and deer -- and the state wants an automated system to track and isolate any CWD outbreaks to protect elk herds....
New Manager at Conservancy’s Red Canyon Ranch Bill Oakes keeps a framed picture on his desk that reminds him how deep his agricultural roots grow. The old black-and-white print shows his great-grandfather working the family’s north-central Washington ranch in the 1800s. Oakes carries on tradition as the new manager of The Nature Conservancy’s Red Canyon Ranch, a 35,000-acre slice of striking canyon walls and verdant hillsides outside Lander, Wyo. “With Wyoming’s high desert and mountain meadows, I feel right at home,” Oakes says of the similarities to the Okanogan County (Washington) ranchland his family has lived in for over five generations – since his great-great grandparents were homesteaders in the 1890’s. Oakes’ new position marks a return to the American West—he spent 14 years in Hawaii as a livestock and production manager for a large cattle and sheep ranch. With several different precipitation zones, the island ranch exposed Oakes to what he calls a “microcosm of the mainland U.S.”....
Collaborations Protect Wyoming Wildlife Habitat in 2005 The Wyoming Chapter of The Nature Conservancy announced the conservation of 6,864 acres in 2005, bringing the total amount of land protected by the Conservancy in Wyoming to more than 400,000 acres. Collaborations with private landowners wanting to maintain rich wildlife habitat on their properties steered this past year’s many projects. "One of the most important things we did in 2005 to conserve wildlife habitat was to help keep ranchers on the land," says Andrea Erickson, Wyoming State Director for The Nature Conservancy. “By working with willing landowners on voluntary land conservation agreements, biologically rich properties have been maintained for both agriculture and wildlife in a ‘win-win-win’ situation”, says Erickson....
Avalanche created: One side says skiers could have been caught; other says such danger was averted Some backcountry skiers and snowshoers have become alarmed in the wake of an avalanche last week in Big Cottonwood Canyon triggered when helicopter ski guides set off an explosive charge while testing for slope stability. Wasatch Powderbird Guides was testing along Cardiac Ridge on Jan. 5 when one of the charges set off a large slide that ran into Cardiff Fork. A group of cross-country skiers was making its way up toward another part of the ridge when the incident occurred. No one was injured, but some witnesses were shaken by the experience. Lisa Smith, executive director of Save Our Canyons, says the incident highlights what she calls a growing conflict between the heli-skiing company and backcountry users in the Cottonwood canyons. The environmental group has filed suit against the Forest Service, challenging the most recent operating permit the agency issued to Wasatch Powderbird Guides, which has been operating in the Wasatch Mountains for over three decades....
Review: Feds lost $9 million on Biscuit Fire logging The U.S. Forest Service lost more than $9 million logging trees burned by the massive 2002 Biscuit Fire in southwestern Oregon, a review coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund has found. The conclusion, derived from an analysis by a retired forest policy expert for the Congressional Research Service, comes on the heels of a study out of Oregon State University that found salvage logging on Biscuit killed most of the seedlings that had generated naturally and increased fire danger in the short term. “This is a lose-lose, economically and ecologically speaking,” said Dominick DellaSala, a forest ecologist for the World Wildlife Fund and lead author of the report, “The Facts and Myths of Post-Fire Management: A Case study of the Biscuit Fire, Southwest Oregon.” “If Congress continues to pursue salvage logging legislation we could see the Biscuit case played out in other places around the nation.”....
Public can comment on name changes The U.S. Forest Service is taking comments from the public on proposed name changes for Squaw Lake and Squaw Creek in the Powers Ranger District. The proposed name to replace the word “squaw” is “Sru” (pronounced shrew), which is the word for grandmother in local Indian language. The Coquille Indian Tribe proposed the name, since local tribes have deemed the word squaw as offensive. Any final proposal will go to the Oregon Board of Geographic Names, with a final decision to be made by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names....
Bush Administration refutes roadless charge The future of more than 4 million acres of Colorado roadless areas is still unknown after the Bush administration filed a brief this week denying allegations that it rescinded a rule protecting roadless areas without conducting necessary environmental studies. The administration lifted a nationwide rule for national forests, known as the “roadless rule,” last May. The rule, created in the final days of the Clinton administration in early 2001, banned development in 58 million acres of national forests. Attorneys general from California, New Mexico and Oregon, the governor of Oregon and 20 environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service last August, charging the rule was improperly repealed because the agencies didn’t ask for public comment and didn’t conduct environmental studies required by law....
Choice habitat transferred to BLM About 2,000 acres in the Elkhorn Mountains south of here have been transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of a plan to conserve wildlife habitat in an area of brisk development. The transfer was announced Wednesday by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which last year joined another environmental nonprofit, The Conservation Fund, in acquiring 5,548 acres in the Elkhorns. The organizations said they would hold the land until federal funds to place it under government control became available. The 2,000-acre transfer completed with $1 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund is the first installment toward placing all the land under the BLM’s supervision. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., led efforts to obtain the $1 million, the foundation said. ‘‘I am in favor of this project because it increases access to public lands and enhances elk habitat,’’ Burns said. ‘‘However, we always need to be careful when the federal government acquires more land to make sure that addition enhances the purposes of local users. I am happy to support cases like this one where the local sportsmen, landowners and county commissioners come together.’’....
Idaho seeks permission to kill 50 wolves to help elk Idaho wants to kill as many as 51 wolves in the north-central part of the state, according to a plan that state Department of Fish and Game managers say will help boost the region's elk herds. The killings would take place on the state's mountainous border with Montana, near State Highway 12. Biologists estimate there are between 43 and 69 wolves there, but too few elk for hunters. The plan is to initially kill 75 percent of the area's wolves. This would be one of the first actions taken by the state since assuming management control of about 600 federally protected wolves in Idaho last week. Since wolves are still under Endangered Species Act protections, the federal government has final say over whether they can be killed to help wildlife such as elk. State officials plan to give their proposal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by late February or early March, following public meetings in Boise and Lewiston. Federal officials say science, not politics, will govern whether it wins approval....
BLM called overeager to develop lands A national environmental group on Thursday accused the Bureau of Land Management of ignoring its own guidelines in a bid to expand oil and gas development on public lands. The Washington D.C.-based Wilderness Society surveyed 11 BLM land-use plans affecting more than 30 million acres in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Alaska, concluding they will more than triple the number of wells to be drilled. Two BLM land-use plans in Utah were part of the survey. The environmental group says that, based upon the current draft of its revised resource management plan, the Vernal office will expand drilling by 50 percent, to 8,787 wells. The office also will open 97 percent of its 1.9 million subsurface acres to energy development. The Price Field Office plan calls for 79 percent of its 2.8 million subsurface acres to be made available for oil and gas development, along with a 25 percent increase in the number of wells to 1,500. But Culver says those numbers do not include a recent proposal for 700 new wells on the West Tavaputs Plateau that is currently being studied....
BLM extends comment period on vegetation treatment proposal The Bureau of Land Management announced Monday that it is extending until Feb. 10, 2006, the public comment period on its proposed methods for treating and managing vegetation on BLM-managed public lands. The agency, which held public meetings on its vegetation treatment proposal from Nov. 28-Dec. 13, 2005, is extending the public comment period to ensure that all interested parties have an opportunity to express their views. The public comment period had originally been slated to close on Jan. 9, 2006. The public is invited to comment on the BLM's extensive environmental analysis of proposed vegetation treatments, which are aimed at controlling the spread of noxious and invasive plants on BLM-managed lands in the West....
Additional research needed on increased drilling, county says La Plata County wants scientists and industry experts to conduct more research to determine if increased drilling - through new 80-acre spacing orders - will aggravate potentially explosive methane seeps near the Fruitland Outcrop. On a trip to Denver on Monday, county commissioners Sheryl Ayers and Wally White jump-started talks with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to reconvene a task force that will further study the potential dangers of drilling along the outcrop. A task force several years ago linked methane gas seeps to increased drilling, although industry executives disputed that conclusion. The outcrop is a 50-mile arc of shallow coal that juts above the ground. Extending like the rim of a bowl, it starts south of Durango and extends north of Bayfield and east, into Archuleta County. Ayers said the oil and gas commission was receptive to the idea of assembling a panel. The team will be similar to the one arranged in 1998 as part of the 3M Project - otherwise known as the San Juan Basin Monitoring, Mapping and Modeling Proposal....
Real cowboys and movie stars bought outfits at Wallace's Boots and saddles and everything in between. Dean Wallace sold it all, to everyone from ranchers to Hollywood folk — among them a lass by the name of Raquel Welch. "He said he never met a woman with bigger feet. He sold her a pair of men's boots,"says Mary-Jean Wallace, Wallace's daughter-in-law.
Wallace, 84, who died on Christmas Day, was one of the last in town to sell Western goods as a family enterprise. It all began in 1954 when Dean and his wife, Gloria, bought Buck Jones Cowboy Outfitters on Scott Street Downtown, where Gloria had been working for a couple of years. In 1957, they changed the name to Wallace's Cowboy Outfitters, a name that would stick for the next 33 years....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Big Timber rancher shoots wolf A Big Timber area ranch manager shot and killed a 2-year old wolf on private property December 30. The wolf was reportedly chasing livestock. Federal rules in effect in most of southwestern Montana allow landowners or their employees to harass or kill a wolf that is seen actively attacking, chasing, or harassing livestock. “Clear guidance is provided by the rule which states that the wolf must be actively chasing or attacking livestock. This is the most effective way to target problem animals,” said Carolyn Sime, FWP's wolf program coordinator. By taking action during an actual depredation event, efforts are focused on the offending animal at the right time and the right place, she said. “Because gray wolves in Montana are still listed under the Endangered Species Act, interim federal regulations apply throughout Montana. In addition, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement officers lead all wolf mortality investigations,” Sime said. Under the 10j rule, which offers Montana more wolf management authority and flexibility, anyone who shoots or kills a wolf must report the incident within 24 hours. In addition, evidence of the actual wolf attack, or evidence that an attack was imminent, must be available for state and federal investigators to inspect....
Health officials investigating salt water spill Health officials are investigating a salt water spill from a pipeline leak in an oil drilling operation near here. One rancher worries that the spill threatens his pregnant cows. Mark Bohrer, a petroleum engineer for the state, said the leak occurred in a pipeline that delivered salt water, a waste product from oil drilling, to an injection well for disposal underground. The spill was southwest of Alexander near Charbonneau Creek, in McKenzie County. The salt water flowed over the ground to a dry drainage ditch and then into a dry stock dam, where it overflowed into a beaver dam, Bohrer said. The water eventually overflowed into Charbonneau Creek, which flows into the Yellowstone River. State and company officials are investigating how far downstream and to what degree the contamination exists. The drilling company, Zenergy, discovered the leak Jan 4, and immediately stopped the leak and began recovering the salt water, officials said....
Frog protection plan debated Since the 1920s, Michael Fischer's family has raised cattle on 240 acres near Valley Springs. Rarely, if ever, has it had to worry about frogs. Until now. Fischer and about 50 more Calaveras County residents and ranchers gathered yesterday at a forum in San Andreas to debate a plan that would mark up to 4,450 of acres in the Valley Springs area as critical habitat for the endangered California red-legged frog. The plan is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's statewide effort to designate more than 700,000 acres of land in 23 counties as frog habitat....
Environmentalists want alternatives for killing weeds A plan by the U.S. Forest Service to use herbicides and other methods to kill weeds in the Santa Fe and Carson national forests has drawn fire from a coalition of environmentalists. The agency's Invasive Plant Control Project would incorporate herbicides as well as nontoxic methods to target more than 7,300 acres of nonnative plant populations over the next decade. Environmentalists acknowledge the importance of controlling weeds that push out native plants, increase erosion and degrade wildlife habitat, but they say herbicides pose health risks. "We all agree that invasive species are not great for the ecosystem and may need to be treated," said Joanie Berde, volunteer coordinator for Carson Forest Watch. "But there's so many alternatives that don't involve herbicide use."....
Court clears the way for upgrades, snow making at Snowbowl A federal judge's ruling Wednesday cleared the way for facility upgrades at the Arizona Snowbowl ski area, including snowmaking equipment. The ruling upheld an earlier Coconino National Forest decision to authorize the upgrades and allow for the artificial snowmaking from reclaimed wastewater. The treated effluent would arrive via pipeline from Flagstaff. Snowbowl officials claim the snowmaking equipment is necessary to ensure the ski area's survival. U.S. Forest Service officials said they would review the ruling over the next few days to determine steps toward implementing the project. There was no immediate reaction from several American Indian tribes and conservation groups who sought to bar the start of construction on the expansion project....
Decision delayed for use of copters to track wolves The U.S. Forest Service has put off a decision on Idaho's request to land helicopters in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness to attach radio collars on wolves, a delay that could prompt state wildlife managers to try to capture the animals in traps. Idaho officials, who only last week took over management responsibilities of the packs reintroduced into the state in 1995 by the federal government, said the Forest Service deferral announced Tuesday likely triggers a lengthy environmental impact examination. And by the time the study is completed, it will be harder for state officials to know how many wolves are roaming the rugged 2.4 million acres of wilderness in the middle of the state. "It really is an unfortunate turn of events," said Jim Caswell, administrator of the state's Office of Species Conservation. "It doesn't take away our ability to manage wolves, but it does make counting noses, determining den sites and keeping up with trends in the wilderness area more complicated."....
Groups file suit against heli-skiing A coalition of conservation groups and two individuals this week filed suit to stop Bridger-Teton National Forest officials from allowing helicopter skiing tours in a wilderness study area. The groups filed the complaint after the U.S. Forest Service in June decided to allow High Mountain Heli-Skiing of Jackson to offer one helicopter tour per day in the Palisades wilderness study area. The area spans the Idaho-Wyoming border south of Jackson, and spans the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee national forests. The company's permit expands to other areas in the Snake River Range and allows 1,200 skier days (one skier on one day). The company often uses the Palisades area because of its exceptional terrain and easy access. A day of helicopter skiing may entail several runs. Jon Shick, owner of High Mountain Heli, said in a statement the groups are trying to shut down heli-skiing....
Lion seen in Incline Village Wildlife officials here expressed surprise there have been recent mountain lion sightings in the North Shore area. At least three Incline Village residents have reported mountain lion sightings since November. "I was getting ready to close the drapes on the bay window, just at twilight, and I realized that there was a large animal down below me," said Jan Dyer, who lives above the Championship Golf Course. "I realized, that is not a coyote." Dyer said she was able to watch the mountain lion in her yard for about three minutes from her second-story window. "It left paw prints all over my yard (which) lasted for several weeks at my house. When it trotted off it headed into the village," Dyer said. Barbara Frederic, Dyer's neighbor, said she has seen evidence of the lion in her yard three times since Dec. 1....
Park grizzly delisting could be complicated by forest rule changes Bush administration changes to U.S. Forest Service rules last year may complicate efforts to remove the Yellowstone grizzly bear from the endangered species list. Part of the larger process of delisting the grizzly bear has been amending forest management plans for national forests around Yellowstone National Park. Those changes are intended, among other things, to protect habitat in those forests as the grizzly population continues to move and expand. But in early 2005, some of the Forest Service’s overall planning regulations changed, cutting out ’’standards’’ - which could be binding and enforceable - and replacing them with softer terms such as ’’desired conditions,’’ ’’objectives’’ and ’’guidelines.’’ Some worry the change may leave too much wiggle room and not enough assurances that the grizzly bear protections will be put in place....
Sweeping change reshapes Arctic The hunter rose each day last summer from his bunk in a condemned wildlife lab, down the hall from where Inupiat villagers carve whale meat on a band saw. He slipped on hip waders and a furry white parka, slung a rifle over his shoulders and trudged onto the Arctic tundra. Through icy fog beneath a never-setting summer sun, Eric Seykora set out to earn the nickname given him by Barrow scientists: "The Fox Killer." Arctic foxes had been eating the eggs of rare ducks because their usual supper, tiny, mouselike lemmings, were dwindling from the drying tundra. So the government flew this former South Dakota hunting guide 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle and paid him to spend his summer shooting foxes. Ecological change is so scrambling Alaska's Arctic that the government has hired gunslingers to recapture some balance....
Interior to allow NPR-A drilling The Interior Department on Wednesday announced it will open hundreds of thousands of acres of wildlife-rich North Slope tundra to oil and gas drillers. The land is just north of giant Teshekpuk Lake in the northeast corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, an Indiana-sized tract set aside in 1923 for its oil potential. The lake region is noted for some of the world's largest congregations of migratory geese, as well as caribou and other wildlife. But it also might harbor huge deposits of oil and gas. Naturalists fought hard to head off Wednesday's decision, which they say dismantles a long policy of government protection for the land....
Surge seen in oil, gas drilling A Bush administration program to accelerate the rezoning of public lands for energy development is expected to lead to more than 50,000 new wells in the West, according to an environmental group's study set for release today. About 43,000 of the new wells would be in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, while fewer than 500 would be located on the Roan Plateau in Colorado, where earlier drilling proposals have faced strong opposition. There's no timetable for when the new wells might come online. The planning documents only make the new drilling sites possible, but the sites would be in addition to the nearly 70,000 wells already on federally owned lands. All the wells were accelerated under an initiative in which Bureau of Land Management administrators selected 21 resource-management plans already underway to be reclassified as "time-sensitive plans." Of those 21 plans, 11 involved oil and gas drilling. BLM administrators also ordered that environmental protections in those areas be applied in the "least restrictive" manner. About half of these plans are still in development, but once approved by the BLM, a resource-management plan cannot be appealed to another government agency, although they are sometimes challenged in court. Individual projects, however, are subject to environmental review. The 11 time-sensitive plans that include oil and gas development call for a total of 76,810 wells, which is more than three times the 24,145 wells that were expected to be drilled prior to the document revisions....
Off-road enthusiasts seek to reverse ban A coalition of Utah off-road enthusiasts seeking to reverse a Bureau of Land Management ban on motorized vehicles over hundreds of thousands of acres in Box Elder and Grand counties took their case before a federal appeals court Wednesday. The Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL) sued the BLM in 2001, claiming that the agency closed off 250,000 acres near Moab and 189,000 acres around the Grouse Creek Mountains to off-highway vehicle (OHV) use without conducting public hearings and a required environmental analysis. The group is asking the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a decision by U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins of Salt Lake City, who dismissed the group's lawsuit against the BLM in December 2004. In his decision, Jenkins ruled that the BLM had taken the mandated "hard look" at the environmental impacts before issuing the closures....
Road accord near; greens leery Utah and the Interior Department are close to finalizing an agreement that would provide counties increased flexibility - too much flexibility, critics say - to do maintenance and repairs on back roads that run across federal land, a state official said Tuesday. Under the proposed deal, counties would be allowed to perform "emergency" repairs to roads without permission from the Bureau of Land Management, and could proceed with road maintenance regardless of federal approval if the BLM fails to meet a strict deadline for responding to the counties' request. "This isn't about ownership of a road or changing a road. This is a working tool that will allow us to do necessary maintenance and repairs," Lynn Stevens, director of the state's Public Lands Coordination Office, said Tuesday. But environmental groups, which obtained several drafts of the agreement, say the maintenance pact could open federal lands to a new wave of road building that would devastate delicate natural resources and wilderness areas....
Warming Tied To Extinction Of Frog Species Rising temperatures are responsible for pushing dozens of frog species over the brink of extinction in the past three decades, according to findings being reported today by a team of Latin American and U.S. scientists. The study, published in the journal Nature, provides compelling evidence that climate change has already helped wipe out a slew of species and could spur more extinctions and the spread of diseases worldwide. It also helps solve the international mystery of why amphibians around the globe have been vanishing from their usual habitats over the past quarter-century -- as many as 112 species have disappeared since 1980. Scientists have speculated that rising temperatures and changing weather patterns could endanger the survival of many species, but the new study documents for the first time a direct correlation between global warming and the disappearance of around 65 amphibian species in Central and South America....
Drought resurges A year after storm-swollen rivers filled reservoirs and sent water gushing down the lower Salt and Gila rivers for the first time in decades, Arizona is drying up again. The state's mountains are virtually bare, with snowpack conditions worse than they were at the same time in 2002, a year that set records as one of the driest in five centuries. Warm weather is sucking moisture from forests and ranges, ratcheting up the risk of wildfire. Rural areas are bracing for water shortages by early summer if rains don't come. What the experts don't know yet is if winter is just late - very, very late - or if last year was a wet blip on a long-term drought entering its 11th year. But if winter is late, it will have a lot of catching up to do: January and February typically bring much of the snow needed to refill reservoirs and keep rivers and forests healthy. The culprit so far is a stubborn weather pattern that steers every storm north of Arizona. The Salt and Verde rivers' watersheds received just 0.14 of an inch of rain in November and December, and none has fallen in Phoenix since Oct. 18....
Ag Producers Struggling “Extremely tough.” Those are the words that Bill Botard, Gillespie County Agriculture Extension Agent, used yesterday to describe the drought conditions that continue to plague ag producers in the Fredericksburg area at the start of a new year. “Our hay stocks are dwindling; our stock tank water levels are dwindling,” he said, “and we’re not in very good shape with our small grains or our domestic livestock.” While rainfall amounts have varied around Gillespie County over the past five months, Fredericksburg’s situation is indicative of the overall situation. The city’s official rain gauge at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park has measured only 4.12 inches of moisture since the end of August -- falling 6.18 inches short of the 10.30 inches that are normally measured here during the September-mid-January period....
Texas Cattle Ranchers Hobbled by Drought, Fires Texas rancher Pete Bonds would like to add cattle to his 7,000-head herd but the lack of grazing and the lack of water prevent it. A drought in Texas and Oklahoma, one of the worst in nearly 100 years, has dried up creeks and ponds, depleted pastures, and fueled wildfires that have burned precious hay and grass. The conditions have ranchers selling off breeding stock at a time when they should be expanding herds. Current prices have been profitable for nearly every level of the cattle industry, and during profitable times producers normally expand. "We just don't have the grass to expand," said Bonds during a telephone interview this week....
Alaskan volcano erupts, sends ash plume skyward A volcano on an uninhabited Alaskan island erupted early Wednesday, spewing an ash plume about 5 miles into the sky. Meteorologists said the ash from Augustine Volcano was expected to steer clear of the state's most populous city, Anchorage, nearly 200 miles to the northeast. "Fortunately, it's not going to Anchorage this time," said Bob Hopkins, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Anchorage. Two early-morning explosions indicated an eruption at the volcano, said geologist Jennifer Adleman of the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Satellite images and radar later confirmed the eruption, Hopkins said....
More Cows Found Shot More dead cows have been found in Tooele County, and the reward is going up for information about whoever it was that shot them. A massacre of cows took place near the town of Vernon sometime shortly after Christmas. The offer of a reward has prompted numerous tips but, so far, no arrests. Seven dead ones, that was Dick Johnson's count a few days ago. His cows were shot just after Christmas by trespassers with a high-powered rifle. Last weekend, Johnson found two more. Dick Johnson, Rancher: "Must have been wounded enough that they just wandered off by themselves and died in the sagebrush." Then they found a tenth, with ghastly wounds, which they took to the vet. Dick Johnson: "This cow had suffered for a week and was still alive, and he had to put it down." The perpetrators shot the lock off a gate, probably at night. They apparently drove through the herd, shooting Black Anguses. All the shot cows were pregnant....
Denver parades its heritage It was high noon in the Mile High City when 5-year-old Anna Hawley had her first showdown with a real Texas longhorn. "They're coming. They're coming," the girl shouted as cowboys on horseback drove a couple of dozen longhorns down 17th Street through the heart of Denver's financial district Tuesday to kick off the 100th National Western Stock Show's parade. "Hi, cows. Hi, cows," chimed in 3-year-old Aliera Visconti, riding high on the shoulders of her father, Damon Visconti. "This is her first exposure to the West," the Denver dad said. "I wanted her to capture just a little bit of what it used to be like." The cavalcade of precision equestrian teams, collie-herded sheep and the parade grand marshal, former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, riding atop a red stagecoach, drew whoops and hollers from the crowd....
Enid has had its share of bad guys In the center of the west wall of the Marquis James room in the Public Library of Enid and Garfield County there is a large photo of a dying man. He is lying on his back, on a bed, looking at the camera. His hair is shaggy, he has a full beard and the bedclothes look disheveled. There is no cover on the pillow beneath his head. In the background can be seen what looks like the corner of a window that has bars on it. The man in the photo was Nelson Ellsworth Wyatt, also known as “Zip” Wyatt, also known as Dick Yeager. Wyatt, was an early-day Enid badman. He was described as being tall, with red hair and blue eyes. They said he rolled his own Bull Durham cigarettes in brown paper, and like many of the infamous bad guys of that time he was described as uneducated, and angry. One of the main occupations of the bad guys in the Cherokee Outlet, especially before the 1893 race for land, was rustling horses....
Saddle Bronc world champ enjoying the ride The people of South Dakota have a deep appreciation for their own who compete in pro rodeo and a number of local fans recently got to show their appreciation for newly crowned world saddle bronc champ Jeffery Willert. Willert, a Belvidere native, took the title at this year's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo held in Las Vegas. This marked the third straight year Willert had qualified for the finals, but the 23-year-old had no idea he'd be wearing the gold buckle signifying the championship so soon. He managed to beat out his idol, Billy Etbauer, for the prize. "It's really been unbelievable," said Willert, who talked to anybody who approached him at a recent ceremony in Rapid City. "There's been a lot of parties and I've shaken a lot of hands. I'm really loving it." Willert claimed his first world title while winning a record $278,169 for the year. Approximately $118,630 came from his showing at the National Finals Rodeo....

FLE

National Security Agency mounted massive spy op on Baltimore peace group, documents show

The National Security Agency has been spying on a Baltimore anti-war group, according to documents released during litigation, going so far as to document the inflating of protesters' balloons, and intended to deploy units trained to detect weapons of mass destruction. According to the documents, the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, a Quaker-linked peace group, has been monitored by the NSA working with the Baltimore Intelligence Unit of the Baltimore City Police Department. The documents came as a result of litigation in the August 2003 trial of Marilyn Carlisle and Cindy Farquhar. An NSA security official provided the defendants with a redacted Action Plan and a redacted copy of a Joint Terrorism Task Force email about the activities of the Pledge of Resistance activities. Documents turned over by the NSA indicate that the group was closely monitored. In one instance, the agency filed reports approximately every 15 minutes from 9:30 AM to 3:18 PM on the day of a demonstration at the National Vigilance Airplane Memorial on the NSA Campus in Maryland. According to an NSA email dated July 4, 2004, the agency collected license numbers and descriptions and the number of people in each car and filed a report about them gathering in a church parking lot for the demonstration. NSA agents also logged their travel to the demonstration, including stopping as a gas station along the way. A canine dog unit was used to search a minivan when it was stopped on the way to the demonstration - nothing was found. NSA officials even reported on the balloons being inflated for the demonstration and the content of their signs. An entry made at 1300 hours on July 4. reads, "The Soc. was advised the protestors were proceeding to the airplane memorial with three helium balloons attached to a banner that stated, 'Those Who Exchange Freedom for Security Deserve Neither, Will Ultimately Lose Both.'"....

Guantanamo war crimes tribunals resume

Exactly four years after the first prisoners arrived at the Guantanamo prison camp, a Yemeni accused of being a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden will face a U.S. military tribunal on Wednesday to demand the right to act as his own attorney on war crimes charges. A separate tribunal of U.S. military officers was scheduled to convene later on Wednesday in the murder case against Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr, 19. He is accused of killing an Army medic with a grenade during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan when he was just 15. The tribunals get under way amid criticism that they leave the defendants at a major disadvantage. The first tribunal will convene in a courtroom at the remote U.S. military base in Cuba to hear pretrial arguments in the case against Ali Hamza al Bahlul, who is accused of being a bin Laden bodyguard and al Qaeda videographer. The Pentagon is proceeding with the two cases even though U.S. courts have halted the trials of three other Guantanamo prisoners pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether Bush had authority to establish the tribunals. The high court will hear arguments in the case in March....

Probe Set In NSA Bugging

The National Security Agency's inspector general has opened an investigation into eavesdropping without warrants in the United States by the agency authorized by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a letter released late yesterday. The Pentagon's acting inspector general, Thomas F. Gimble, wrote that his counterpart at the NSA "is already actively reviewing aspects of that program" and has "considerable expertise in the oversight of electronic surveillance," according to the letter sent to House Democrats who have requested official investigations of the NSA program. Gimble's letter appears to confirm that an internal investigation into the NSA's domestic eavesdropping program, authorized by Bush in a secret order revealed in recent weeks, is underway. The Justice Department has opened a separate criminal investigation into the leak of the highly classified program's existence. Officials in NSA Inspector General Joel Brenner's office could not be reached for comment last night. A group of 39 House Democrats wrote Gimble and other officials last month requesting investigations into the legality of the NSA program. Gimble responded that his office would decline to launch its own investigation because of the ongoing NSA probe....

Detainee Case Hits on Limits of Presidency

When the Supreme Court agreed two months ago to hear an appeal from a Yemeni detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, named Salim Ahmed Hamdan, it was evident that an important test of the limits of presidential authority to conduct the war on terror was under way. Now that the final briefs have begun to arrive at the court, in advance of a late March argument, the dimensions of that test appear greater than ever. Several of the two dozen briefs filed on Mr. Hamdan's behalf late Friday address an issue that was not even part of the case when the justices granted review on Nov. 7: whether the court has jurisdiction to proceed or whether Congress, in a measure that President Bush supported and signed into law on Dec. 30, has succeeded in shutting the federal courthouse doors on Mr. Hamdan and 150 other Guantánamo detainees whose cases are pending at various levels of the federal court system. If that proved to be the case, the result would be "a nightmare scenario," a group of prominent law professors told the Supreme Court in one of the briefs. "The keys to the courthouse will be placed in the exclusive control of the executive," the brief says, creating "the legal equivalent of incommunicado detention of Japanese aliens in a relocation camp in Idaho." The professors were Burt Neuborne and Norman Dorsen of New York University, Judith Resnik of Yale, and Frank Michelman and David Shapiro of Harvard. Another brief, filed by the Center for National Security Studies, a civil liberties group, and the Constitution Project, a bipartisan study group, asserts flatly that if the new law, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, does in fact strip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction over the Hamdan case, then the law is unconstitutional. The Bush administration has not yet responded to such assertions; its brief is not due until early next month. But it appears both from the president's statement upon signing the measure, which originated as Section 1005 of a military spending bill, and from motions the administration has filed in the lower courts that government lawyers do take the view that the new law applies to pending cases and that the justices must dismiss the Hamdan appeal....

Expanding presidential powers

As Congress begins to look into the president's authorization of the NationalSecurity Agency's warrantless searches of e-mails and phone calls into -- and out of -- the United States, a question many Americans are asking was posed to the president at a Dec. 19 press conference by Peter Baker of The Washington Post: "If the global war on terrorism is to last for decades... does that mean we're going to see... a more or less permanent expansion of the unchecked power of the executive branch in American society?" The president had no direct answer, but he did say it was "shameful" of the New York Times to break this story. However, the more we know about the porous nature of the president's defense of his authorization of the NSA's bypassing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, it's becoming clearer that the New York Times should not have held the story for a year at the Bush administration's request. As the business publication Barron's Financial Weekly put it on its Dec. 26 front page: "The pursuit of terrorism does not authorize the president to make up new laws." And in the Dec. 21 Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, cut to the core of why disclosure has led to the resignation, in protest, of federal District Judge James Robertson, a member of the FISA court, and why others on that secret court are concerned about the president's action. "This is not a partisan issue between Democrats and Republicans," Mr. Schneier writes, "it's a president unilaterally overriding the Fourth Amendment, Congress and the Supreme Court. Unchecked presidential power has nothing to do with how much you either love or hate George W. Bush. You have to imagine this power in the hands of the person you most don't want to see as president, whether it be Dick Cheney or Hillary Rodham Clinton."....

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert

8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

You told Congress you didn't want the BATFE, FBI and other federal
agencies to go on fishing expeditions through your gun records. It
appears that Congress may actually be listening!

By a vote of 52-47, the Senate failed to shut down the
liberal/conservative filibuster of H.R. 3199 -- including a provision
which would allow BATFE to goosestep through your gun records
(4473's, etc.) WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF ANY COURT. Under the Senate
rules, 60 votes would have been needed to end the filibuster on this
PATRIOT Act reauthorization.

Instead, this so-called "terrorism" legislation -- some of which is
relatively non-controversial -- was extended until February 3 in
order to allow negotiations to continue.

You might remember that 16 provisions of the PATRIOT Act were set to
expire on New Year's Day. To prevent this, Congress extended the
deadline for five weeks, into early February. Even if these 16
provisions expire, the underlying PATRIOT Act will still remain in
force. GOA is second to none in its desire to protect this nation's
security and prevent terrorists from attacking American citizens.

But we believe the best way to do this is to abide by the
Constitution. Freedom works. The Second Amendment works. Guns in
the hands of airline pilots on 9-11 would have prevented the
terrorist hijackings that day. Restricting liberty only makes us
less safe... and letting the BATFE and other federal agencies to
conduct unlimited warrantless searches of firearms purchase records
is not going to make us safer.

Now, there've been some interesting developments over the last couple
of days.

At least one Senate office has suggested that negotiators may be
willing to "deal" in order to completely exempt 4473's and
other gun records from federal agents' warrantless search powers. Under this
deal -- which would be total victory for gun owners -- the provisions
of the pro-gun McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act would
govern what gun records BATFE can and can't see.

We will continue working to exempt gun records from the "snooping"
provisions of H.R. 3199. But we're asking you to strengthen our hand
by continuing to pressure Congress. Since Gun Owners of America is
fighting a lonely battle to exempt gun records from the clause of the
PATRIOT Act, your activism is crucial. While you might want to ask
the other groups what they're doing to fight these provisions, we
definitely need you to contact the Congress right now.

ACTION: Please write your senators. Urge them to insist that
pro-gun language be inserted into H.R. 3199 which ensures that BATFE
is prohibited from conducting unlimited warrantless searches of
firearms purchase records. The vote on this legislation will take
place in less than one month. Negotiations on this bill are
occurring right now. It's imperative that you contact your Senators
right away!

You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators a
pre-written e-mail message such as the one below.

Or, you can call your Senators toll-free at 877-762-8762.