Ken Salazar says U.S. keeping options open on Roan Plateau

The Rocky Mountain News reports:

The Obama administration might reopen the debate over energy development on Colorado's Roan Plateau, and it's not going to "rush headlong" into oil shale development in the state, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters Thursday. Salazar's statements came in the wake of his first big decision as a member of President Barack Obama's Cabinet: Wednesday's announcement that he would void dozens of oil and gas leases on sensitive federal lands in southeastern Utah. The Utah decision provoked a swift backlash from Republican lawmakers and outside groups, who accused him of doing the bidding of Hollywood environmentalists and ignoring the nation's energy needs. But rather than backing down Thursday, Salazar offered some of his most forceful statements yet about the change the new administration will begin bringing to public lands policy. "The position I take is the same position I took while I was a U.S. senator," Salazar said. "There are places that are very special and should be protected. There are places which ought to be explored and developed." He said the Interior Department was in the process of examining 12 to 15 decisions made at the tail end of the Bush administration and decide, perhaps within the next month, whether to reverse them or let them stand...

Salazar going Hollywood?

The Denver Daily News reports:

Colorado’s Ken Salazar is facing his first major backlash as Secretary of the Interior. A national civil rights group says Salazar is “going Hollywood on us” and caving into actor Robert Redford’s demands that American oil and gas leases in Utah be cancelled. He is also being accused of going counter to the spirit of economic stimulus by cancelling the leases. Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) says higher energy prices will result from the decision to scrap the leases of 77 parcels of land for oil and gas drilling in Utah’s Redrock country. The group believes low-income families feel the effects of higher energy prices more so than any other income class. “The losers are working parents, single mothers and elderly folks all over America, who count on abundant and affordable natural gas from states like Utah to remain employed, keep warm and stay alive,” said CORE spokesman Niger Innis. Redford passionately criticized a lease auction held last December in which 77 parcels, totaling 130,000 acres, were put up for auction. The sales were worth $6 million to the government. But Salazar on Wednesday ordered the Bureau of Land Management to not cash checks from winning bidders. But Salazar is even being assailed by some in his own party over the decision. Wyoming Sen. Bill Vasey, chairman of Americans for American Energy, said the decision comes at a poor time, as Western states — like the rest of the nation — are facing severe budget shortfalls. “As a state legislator who is right now looking at having to make hard choices at the state level in tough economic times, I know that natural resource developments is one of the few bright spots we have in the West,” said Vasey. He added that Utah is already considering cutting back the length of its school year, and that cancelling oil and gas leases may exacerbate that situation...

Rural Utah lawmaker angered over block on drilling

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

One lawmaker says that it's time for Utah to fight back over the sale of 77 oil and gas leases disrupted last month by University of Utah student Tim DeChristopher and since shelved by the Obama administration. Rep. Mike Noel said he initiated a bill Thursday to make DeChristopher's actions a felony. "To me, it's environmental terrorism," said the Kanab rancher. "I'm really upset that he participated in taking millions [of dollars] away from the school system that he benefited from and he sits out there laughing at us." Noel told his GOP colleagues in the House that the state could miss out on $30 million in royalties over the next 15 years because those leases are now off-limits. "Utah is in the gun sights of the environmental community," Noel said, blasting the Obama administration for -- in one month -- reversing the opening of public lands, including near national parks, to drilling...

Lawsuit on federal gas and oil leases is left in limbo

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision to cancel 77 disputed federal oil and gas leases in Utah has left a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Interior Department in a holding pattern. On Thursday, Interior asked U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina for an indefinite timeout on the suit, which the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and 10 other conservation and historic-preservation organizations filed in December to stop a federal lease auction in Salt Lake City. The request came a day after Salazar nullified the sale of the 77 parcels listed in the suit. The parcels cover 103,000 acres of public land near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Dinosaur National Monument, Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile Canyon. Salazar's move negated any need to argue against Urbina's Jan. 17 temporary restraining order that halted further BLM action on its Dec. 19 sale. SUWA isn't fighting Interior's request for more time, but isn't backing off either. "We're very eager to move ahead with the rest of the case," said staff attorney Steve Bloch...

Non-navigable River Blues

An interesting article from High Country News:

...In the meantime, Wylie's troubles drew activist, media and even congressional attention to the murky consequences of a 2006 Supreme Court ruling and its subsequent interpretation and enforcement. The Rapanos v. United States case was supposed to clarify the scope of the Clean Water Act. Property rights activists initially hailed the court's split ruling as a victory. "Our constitutional way of life got a boost last year from the U.S. Supreme Court when the court rejected the idea that federal officials have unlimited control over every pond, puddle and ditch in our country," said the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights organization. Today, however, almost no one is happy with the ruling. Environmental-ists say that Rapanos leaves thousands of once-protected streams, arroyos and wetlands without federal oversight. About 350 miles of streams were removed from federal control in a single six-month period, for instance, and enforcement of many anti-pollution cases was stopped in its tracks. Developers, meanwhile, have found the new guidelines to be even more cumbersome and time-consuming than the old ones were. In other words, it's a mess. Though Congress is poised to intervene in an attempt to clean things up, that will likely only provoke a bigger battle over the Clean Water Act and its enforcement, especially when it comes to the ephemeral waters of the arid West...

California farms, vineyards in peril from warming, U.S. energy secretary warns

From the LA Times:

California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said Tuesday. In his first interview since taking office last month, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist offered some of the starkest comments yet on how seriously President Obama's cabinet views the threat of climate change, along with a detailed assessment of the administration's plans to combat it. Chu warned of water shortages plaguing the West and Upper Midwest and particularly dire consequences for California, his home state, the nation's leading agricultural producer. In a worst case, Chu said, up to 90% of the Sierra snowpack could disappear, all but eliminating a natural storage system for water vital to agriculture. In the course of a half-hour interview, Chu made clear that he sees public education as a key part of the administration's strategy to fight global warming -- along with billions of dollars for alternative energy research and infrastructure, a national standard for electricity from renewable sources and cap-and-trade legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions. He said the threat of warming is keeping policymakers focused on alternatives to fossil fuel, even though gasoline prices have fallen over the last six months from historic highs.

Environmental concerns roadblock to renewable energy

Stephanie Tavares writes in the Las Vegas Sun:

...That’s because for all their “green” credentials no renewable energy project is without its environmental drawbacks and community effects. Hydropower and the dams that come with them interrupt the natural flow of rivers and the migration and breeding of native fish; geothermal plants require water and their exploratory drilling sometimes damages the land; modern wind farms kill migratory birds and bats and kick up dust during construction; utility-scale solar photovoltaic arrays are made from sometimes toxic or unsustainably mined materials and require vast expanses of land formerly open to native animals; and solar thermal plants face the same land use issues as solar PV but also can’t operate without a good deal of water. On top of that, some wildlife biologists and environmentalists say the new transmission lines that would bring the electricity from planned electric plants to big cities such as Las Vegas often crisscross major migration routes for endangered species, destroying vegetation and affecting grazing and mating routes. “People are beginning to realize there are some problems associated with all these renewable energy sources and maybe we haven’t really thought them through like we should have,” said Mark Stermitz, an environmental lawyer...

National Landscape Conservation System

Yesterday I posted a map of the NLCS.

If you go here there is a map of the NLCS, and you can click on your state and get a breakdown of how the legislation will impact your locality.

The NLCS is just one section of The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which some press is reporting will be voted on next week by the House. The bill, S.22, has already passed the Senate.

House committee recommends wolf bill

The Casper Star-Tribune reports:

A legislative committee moved forward a bill Wednesday that would retain tight state control over gray wolves in Wyoming if the federal government removes the animals from the endangered species list. On Wednesday, the state House Committee on Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources recommended House Bill 32 and killed four other wolf bills. The defeated proposals included addressing most federal concerns about the state's wolf management plan and revoking the state's earlier concessions to federal concerns. House Bill 32 would emphasize protecting livestock and wild ungulates from wolves and would continue to classify wolves as predators in most of the state. The bill also authorizes the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to work in cooperation with Idaho and Montana to move wolves as necessary to assure genetic interchange among the states' wolf populations. The bill would bind Wyoming to maintaining at least seven breeding pairs of wolves outside of National Park Service lands in northwestern Wyoming, where the previously extirpated species was reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1994. Or, if Wyoming entered into a management agreement with the Park Service, the bill would call for maintaining 15 breeding pairs on Park Service and state lands within Wyoming...

Fish and Game plans to kill wolves to help elk

From the Idaho Statesman:

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is making plans for managing wolves, including a hunting season when they are removed from the endangered species list. In March, Fish and Game will recommend a wolf hunting season length and estimated mortality limits. Itexpects to recommend harvest quotas by July or August. Should wolves remain listed, Fish and Game is planning to use all options to control wolves available under the Endangered Species Act, which allows the agency to kill some wolves to benefit elk herds. Fish and Game biologists are particularly concerned about elk numbers in the Lolo elk management zone in north-central Idaho. Hunter opportunities have been reduced by 90 percent. Wolf predation is the primary cause of poor calf survival and a 13 percent average annual decline in the number of adult female elk, which is key to population stability. The tentative minimum estimate of Idaho's wolf population at the end of 2008 was 824 wolves in 88 packs and 38 breeding pairs.

Pending GAO Study on Off-Highway Vehicles Fatally Flawed

The Earth Times reports:

Nine national off-highway vehicle (OHV) groups today sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noting that an ongoing GAO study on OHV use is flawed in such a way that any findings will be skewed against OHV use on federal lands. The letter noted that GAO’s survey questions ignore ongoing federal management activities and are ambiguous, subjective and lack context. Both the BLM and the USFS are currently engaged in multi-year efforts to improve OHV management by designating which trails are open for motorized use on each Unit and Forest. The survey ignores these efforts, despite the fact the USFS process is scheduled for completion in December 2009. In addition, most of the survey questions are vague and only provide limited responses that will overstate problems and downplay successes in OHV management...

Photographers detail wildlife at Arizona border

From the Tucson Citizen:

Several photographers were capturing images of wildlife and landscapes at the San Pedro River earlier this week as part of an effort that will highlight the ecological implications of the border wall. They are part of a team of about 12 photographers associated with the International League of Conservation Photographers who are participating in a three-week expedition along the U.S.-Mexico border that started in San Diego last week and is heading for Texas. The team features international award-winning photographers such as Pulitzer Prize winner Jack Dykinga, Kevin Schafer, Wendy Shattil and Roy Toft. Krista Schlyer, a photographer and writer, came up with the idea for this Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition while she was working on a story in New Mexico about a transboundary bison herd that spends time in both Mexico and the United States. Schlyer, 37, who lives in Mt. Rainier, Md., said besides the photographers, the group also includes a three-member film crew from Cornell University, as well as two biologists — one from the U.S. and one from Mexico...

Sheriff says he'll sign bison neglect complaint

The Sioux County sheriff says he'll sign a neglect complaint against the ranch along the North Dakota-South Dakota border where hundreds of bison broke loose. Landeis said about 1,000 starving bison have been ranging more than a dozen miles from Wilder Ranch feedlots. Fences where the animals broke out still must be fixed, he said. Dan Bauer, a Selfridge rancher, estimates the bison caused $10,000 damage to his property in hay eaten and fences wrecked. Landeis and Sioux County State's Attorney John Gosbee have told ranchers to submit damage claims. Gosbee has estimated they easily could reach $100,000...From the Dickinson Press.

Dead horses found dumped with brands cut off

KTVB.COM Idaho reports:

Someone is leaving domestic horses on public land, without a way for the animals to eat or survive. The latest case involved 15 dead horses dumped on Bureau of Land Management property in Gem County in the past few weeks. BLM officials say the animals were found dead about six miles southwest of Emmett near County Line Road. The animals were found with the brand cut off the carcasses so their owner could not be identified. Overall, the BLM says 32 horses have been left dead or let loose on public land across southwestern Idaho recently. A BLM law enforcement ranger speculated that increasing hay prices and decreased demand for horses have left owners unable to pay to feed the horses, and unable to sell them - so instead they are illegally releasing them on public land.

They were told this would happen, but banned the humane slaughter of horses anyway. It will only get worse, as the next step is to ban the shipment of horses for slaughter. The ignorance and cruelty of it astounds me.

Beef groups differ on checkoff funds

From Capital Press (sub):

Conflicts between U.S., Canadian and Mexican cattle producers over the new U.S. mandatory country-of-origin meat labeling law intensified at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and Beef Board annual meetings here last weekend. The NCBA voted to support use of checkoff dollars to promote U.S. beef and the Beef Board voted to open itself up to pro-labeling groups. Canadian and Mexican beef officials say trade battles over labeling are likely to continue...NCBA remains opposed to labeling, but at the meeting Saturday, Jan. 31, the membership voted to use beef checkoff money to promote U.S. beef in addition to promoting beef consumption regardless of the country of origin...The Beef Board, which would have to move to use some of the money to promote U.S. beef, did not take action on the issue. But the Beef Board voted to seek congressional approval to double the checkoff fee to $2 per head and to allow R-CALF USA and the U.S. Cattlemen's Association to be contractors for spending the checkoff money. NCBA did not go along with those ideas. It passed a resolution that the checkoff program should be "fair, cost-efficient and coordinated in order to achieve long-range goals."...

Legendary Pete Kitchen comes alive

The name Pete Kitchen meant nothing to me when I first came across it in my great-grandfather Sanford’s Southern Arizona letters and diaries. However, I soon learned that Kitchen had been a legend of sorts, renowned as an Indian fighter whose ranch was used as a stronghold against attacking Apaches. Historian Anne Merriman Peck described him as “probably the first American rancher in Arizona” and author Rufous K. Wyllys called him “a crack shot feared by both Indians and bandits.” Born in Kentucky in 1822, Kitchen joined the U.S. Army and went west, honing his fighting skills and arriving in Southern Arizona at the age of 31. He built his Potrero Ranch five miles above what is now the Mexican border and hired 30 Opata Indians from Sonora to help protect it. He raised cattle and hogs and was known for his excellent hams and bacon. (Based on Sanford’s above statement, for his mescal as well.) According to historian Jay J. Wagoner, Kitchen described the road to his ranch back then as “Tucson, Tubac, and to Hell.” He married a Mexican woman and is said to have worn a Mexican sombrero and serape, which may be the reason my great-grandfather often called him “Pedro.”...From the Nogales Bulletin.

Salazar Cancels Utah Oil and Gas Leases; Robert Redford Happy

Bloomberg reports:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he is nullifying oil and natural gas drilling leases on about 130,000 acres in Utah because they are near national parks and questions have been raised about environmental reviews. “Those are American iconic treasures we need to make sure are being protected,” Salazar said on a conference call with reporters today. He also said the environmental review process “was not complete.” The government will forgo $6 million of $7.5 million in bids on the leases from a Dec. 19 auction, Salazar said. The directive today, affecting 77 of the 116 leases sold, are for areas near Dinosaur National Monument and Arches and Canyonlands national parks. “I see this announcement as a sign that after eight long years of rapacious greed and backdoor dealings, our government is returning a sense of balance to the way it manages our lands,” actor and director Robert Redford, a trustee for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement...

Retooled suit targets Utah land-use plans

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Barely two weeks after pushing the federal government into a corner over a chaotic oil- and gas-lease sale, conservation organizations threw more punches Tuesday, hoping to overturn a Bush administration quest to maximize drilling in Utah's redrock country. Eleven conservation and historic-preservation groups amended a lawsuit that already has resulted in a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which on Dec. 19 auctioned 77 oil and gas parcels that were under formal protest. The groups had argued that the leases were faulty because the BLM didn't properly study air quality or potential damage to ancient rock art. The amended lawsuit seeks to nullify long-term BLM management plans for the Vernal, Moab and Price regions, claiming the agency didn't properly consider wild and scenic-river designations, wilderness, climate change and the effects of off-highway vehicle recreation on arid public lands...

BlueRibbon Coalition Responds To Omnibus Land Bill

From Cycle News:

The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), a national trail-based recreation group, today voiced concern that the U.S. House of Representatives will "grease through" over 160 public lands bills, thereby avoiding the public review these bills deserve. In addition, BRC cautioned that recreational access tenets in some of the bills may have been intentionally removed in closed-door proceedings. The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 was fast-tracked through the U.S. Senate and could see a vote in the House as early as next week. The bill (S 22) is over 1,200 pages long with over 160 different bills, designates 2.2 million acres of Wilderness, identifies three new national parks, 10 national heritage areas, and designates over 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers. BRC expressed concern that access protection provisions were apparently stripped from several of the bills involved. For example, new sections were added in the Washington County (Utah) Growth and Conservation Act regarding closure of roads and trails and limiting how Bureau of Land Management funds generated by the Act can be used. "This bill collectively reduces recreational opportunity, feeds millions of earmarked dollars into pet projects, will cost billions to implement, and provides very little of the protection it is touted to deliver," added Greg Mumm, the Coalition's Executive Director...

National Landscape Conservation System

For those who haven't seen this, here is a map of the NLCS. This program was created administratively by Babbit and Clinton, and was supported legislatively by Bush. It is now part of the Omnibus Federal Lands bill.