Wolves vs. Humans: Which Do the Feds Value More?

For Immediate Release
Thursday, July 23, 2009
For further Information, contact:
Paul Gessing 505-264-6090 or Jim Scarantino 505-256-2523

(Albuquerque)— The federal government’s wolf reintroduction plan is the very definition of big government in some rural areas in New Mexico. While the Rio Grande Foundation has not taken a position one way or the other on whether wolves should be reintroduced, its Investigative Journalist Jim Scarantino, has uncovered what appears to be a rather shocking example of misplaced priorities.

In his new report, “Does the Federal Government Value Wolves More Than Humans? The Money Says It All,” Scarantino takes a closer look at the wolf reintroduction program. Since the Mexican wolf reintroduction program was launched more than a decade ago, millions of dollars have been spent by the United States, Arizona and New Mexico governments. The goal was to reestablish a target population of 100 wolves in the mountainous areas of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona

• According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the New Mexico and Arizona game departments, by the end of 2009, these agencies estimate that their total expenditures will be approximately $20.5 million;

• According to the USFWS’ 2008 year-end survey, only 52 wolves were roaming the Arizona-New Mexico reintroduction area. This means that each living wolf cost taxpayers nearly $400,000;

• In response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Congress passed the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Act. This law set the intrinsic value of a human life at $250,000. Higher sums were paid to compensate families for the lost incomes of a love one killed in the attacks. But the value of a human life itself, without regard to that person’s ability to earn money, was set at $250,000.

“At $400,000 a wolf and rising,” Scarantino asks, “government is valuing the intrinsic value of each wolf more than its values the intrinsic value of human life. Residents in the affected areas have frequently complained that the government seems to care more about “El Lobo” than the human residents who must live with these powerful predators. With these figures, they can now point to government’s excessive and endless spending on wolves to prove their point.”

The full report is available here: http://www.riograndefoundation.org/new/articles/?EC=ReadArticle&ArticleID=305

A good example of what the Politically Superior Ones think of us.

Democrats raise concerns about Barbara Boxer

A big chunk of the House climate change bill is in the hands of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer — and some of its supporters are worried that she’s not up to the task. In private conversations, Senate staffers say that Boxer’s abrasive personal style helped tank the climate bill that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) sponsored last year. And several recent embarrassing episodes involving the California Democrat have them worried about a repeat performance. During a committee hearing in June, Boxer upbraided a brigadier general for calling her “Ma’am” rather than “Senator.” During another hearing this month, Boxer found herself in a testy exchange with the CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, who accused her of “condescending” to him. For some Democratic staffers, the incidents underscored the danger of having an outspoken partisan liberal in charge of making the kinds of compromises needed to get cap and trade through the Senate...Politico

Another New Study Challenges Climate Change ‘Orthodoxy’

Virtually all changes in global atmospheric temperatures in the late 20th century were the result of nature rather than human activity, according to a new peer-reviewed study, one of whose authors predicted Friday was “sure to cause a stir.” “It goes against the orthodoxy,” said climate scientist Chris de Freitas of New Zealand’s Auckland University. The new findings called into question the politically-correct, politically-motivated assumptions driving the climate change debate, he said. De Freitas and Australian scientists John McLean and Bob Carter reported that at least 80 percent of climate variability tracked over the past half a century could be attributed to internal climate-system factors including the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Pacific warming phenomenon and its cooling twin, La Nina. This left little room for human-caused factors like emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other so-called greenhouse gases. Intermittent volcanic activity, producing significant cooling, was found to have been a factor. The paper was published Thursday, following a six-month peer review process, in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research...CNSNews

Obama Administration proposes new cap on snowmobiles in Yellowstone

The number of snowmobiles allowed in Yellowstone National Park would be cut by more than half under an Obama administration proposal announced Thursday that marked yet another policy swing for an issue that's been unresolved for more than a decade. The proposal would allow 318 snowmobiles and 78 multi-passenger snowcoaches daily for the next two winters, Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said. That's down from 720 snowmobiles per day allowed last winter. That cap was never reached: an average of 205 snowmobiles daily entered the park in 2008-09 and the busiest day of the season saw only 426 of the machines. The question of how many snowmobiles are appropriate for the nation's first national park has sparked political and legal skirmishing since the Clinton administration, when an outright ban was proposed...AP

Local food no green panacea: professor

There are lots of reasons somebody might want to buy local food — freshness, distinct flavour, or even a desire to keep their dollars in their own community. "But if you're doing it to save the planet," University of Toronto professor Pierre Desrochers says, "you're being misguided." The concept of "food miles" — the distance food has travelled from production to consumption — has been adopted as the best way of gauging a food's environmental impact. "People who've never been involved in agricultural production tend to minimize the requirements," he says. Only about 10 per cent of the energy consumed in food production is related to transportation. "So to argue that the closer you are to your food, the better, is a real over-simplification." He uses the example of strawberries. Highly efficient farms in California produce roughly 17 times as many strawberries as a typical Ontario producer using the same amount of land and resources. "When you're that efficient you can invest in better handling and storage," he says. "The environmental impact of transportation isn't very significant." Moving that food to consumers via highly efficient rail, ocean freight or even comparatively costly air is a better move, environmentally, than trying to re-create the ideal growing conditions for the fruit in Canada, he says. His paper is full of similar examples. European studies found that British farmers emit 2,394 kilograms of carbon dioxide for every tonne of tomatoes they produce. But Spanish farmers produce only 630 kilograms of carbon dioxide for the same amount. The real enemies of environmentally conscious food consumers, he says, are food subsidies that encourage agricultural production in certain areas for the wrong reasons. An Environmental Assessment Institute report put the total value of environmental subsidies at $376 billion worldwide in 2006. Barriers like that, Desrochers's paper says, "end up being harmful to both the environment and the economy."...CBCNews

Five Months After Stimulus, Interior Department Has Paid Out 0.4% of Stimulus Funds

Tomorrow, Friday, July 24th, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will provide a progress report to the House Budget Committee on how stimulus funds are being spent by the Department of the Interior. Hopefully, the Secretary will explain why out of the $3 billion allocated to the Department, only $310 million (10%) has been obligated to specific projects and only $12 million (0.4%) has actually been paid out. If the Department has a “huge backlog of shovel-ready construction projects,” why - over five-months later - has it only dispersed less than 0.4% of their available stimulus dollars?...PressRelease

Have we actually found an Obama appointee who can't spend money?

The Republicans are criticizing him, but I say put Salazar in charge of all the bailout/jobs/wasteful programs.

Song Of The Day #090

Hank Penny gives us some female advice on his tune Get Yourself A Redhead.

The song is availabe on his 26 track Hollywood Western Swing 1944-1947.

The Radio Ranch is gonna dedicate this song to my sister Fara, who just happens to be...a redhead.

California’s Budget Plan Includes New Offshore Oil

The deal to close California's $26 billion budget deficit included a plan to drill for offshore oil, drawing allegations that the fiscal crisis was used for a backroom deal following rejection of the idea by state regulators earlier this year. Democrats agreed to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to expand drilling from an existing platform off Santa Barbara to generate a one-time $100 million advance royalty payment this fiscal year and an estimated $1.8 billion in royalties over 14 years. It would be the first new offshore oil drilling on state lands in four decades since a blowout on a platform off Santa Barbara coated miles of ocean and shoreline and galvanized opposition...AP

Arnie, who lobbied nationally against offshore drilling, is now a proponent and the Dems are going along?

Funny what politicians will do when their lifeblood (tax revenue) is on the wane.

Energy independence wouldn't do it, sky-high gas prices wouldn't do it, but threatening their ability to control and spend will do it.

These Politically Superior Ones would not take positive action to protect the average citizen, but they certainly will to protect their powerbase - the government.

Hell, they are even starting to allow beer tastings.

Court rebuffs enviros, allows motorized rafts at Grand Canyon

An appeals court on Tuesday rejected a challenge by environmentalists to federal rules allowing the use of motorized rafts at the Grand Canyon. Several environmental groups sued the National Park Service in 2006 over its Colorado River Management Plan, which permits the use of motorized rafts in the canyon. The groups argued that the park service ignored its own rules and policies that say canyon uses shouldn't impair the wilderness character of the area. In rejecting that argument, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a lower court's decision that said the plaintiffs failed to show the park service acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it adopted its river management plan...AP

CU study warns of scarce water

A new study projects that all reservoirs along the Colorado River — which provide water for 27 million people in seven states — could dry up by 2057 because of climate change and overuse. If warming led to a 10 percent reduction in the river's flow, it would create a 25 percent chance of depletion, according to the University of Colorado research released this week. Warming resulting in a 20 percent reduction would raise the chance of depletion to 50 percent, the study found. "In the short term, the risk is relatively low," said Balaji Rajagopalan, associate professor of civil environmental and architectural engineering at CU and lead author on the study, which was accepted for publication by the American Geophysical Union. "But after that, the risk escalates enormously. If you do nothing, and you have no policies in place, even drastic measures such as cutting people off will not help from staving off catastrophe." Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Bureau of Reclamation participated in the study. Rajagopalan said the study was done in response to a 2008 University of California study that found a one-in-two chance that overuse and warming could deplete reservoirs much sooner — by 2021...DenverPost

Wanted for Wetlands Pollution, EPA Fugitive Caught in Mexico

Robert Wainwright, 65, a fugitive wanted in Indiana for allegedly polluting wetlands, was arrested July 14 in Mexico by U.S. marshals and agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, working with Mexican police. Wainwright, who had a prior federal firearms conviction, was extradited back to the United States and arrived in Indianapolis on Saturday, July 18. Before he fled to Mexico, officials say Wainwright was manager of Sterling Material Services in Lake County, Indiana. The company, which separated metal from slag and brick waste from steel mills, allegedly disposed of waste in an adjacent wetland without a permit...ENS

Alaska wildfires have burned 1 million acres

Firefighters on Monday were conducting burnout operations on a large wildfire of more than 200,000 acres near Nenana in hopes of removing fuels and keeping the blaze from moving closer to cabins along the Teklanika River. Water-scooping aircraft also were being used on the Railbelt Complex fire. The Railbelt fire was begun by lightning nearly a month ago and has grown to nearly 219,000 acres. It is one of several large wildfires burning in Alaska, where so far this year more than 400 fires have burned more than 1 million acres in the state. State officials say the Railbelt Complex fire is affecting air quality, especially north of Denali National Park where the smoke-filled air has been deemed unhealthy and even hazardous at times...AnchorageDailyNews

State employees say green urinals stink

The Department of Environmental Conservation's effort to maintain eco-friendly bathrooms at its downtown headquarters has made quite a splash but not in the way the state intended. DEC has been getting complaints by state workers that waterless urinals at their building have created a fetid mess complete with "splash back," "puddles (of urine) on the floor," and "unpleasant odor." Those using the restrooms at DEC's 625 Broadway headquarters grew so disgusted that in April they filed a union grievance alleging a health hazard and a violation of work rules protecting employees from "elements, such as filth or pathogens," according to records obtained by the Times Union...AlbanyTimesUnion

Chemicals That Eased One Environmental Woe Worsen Another

Scientists say the chemicals that helped solve the last global environmental crisis -- the hole in the ozone layer -- are making the current one worse. The chemicals, called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), were introduced widely in the 1990s to replace ozone-depleting gases used in air conditioners, refrigerators and insulating foam. They worked: The earth's protective shield seems to be recovering. But researchers say what's good for ozone is bad for climate change. In the atmosphere, these replacement chemicals act like "super" greenhouse gases, with a heat-trapping power that can be 4,470 times that of carbon dioxide. Now, scientists say, the world must find replacements for the replacements -- or these super-emissions could cancel out other efforts to stop global warming...WPost

E. coli Happens

I just love that headline.

Read all about it at OpenMarket.

Climate Change Will Be Senate’s Next Battle Royal

Climate change is the ticking political time bomb on the Senate’s agenda this fall, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has the timer set to go off in late September. With the debate on health care sucking up so much oxygen in the Senate these days, few are paying attention to the cavernous gulf among Democrats over how to tackle global warming and the lack — so far — of a way to bring Members together while also appealing to Republicans. “It will blow up,” one senior Democrat said. With Democrats from the South, Midwest, Plains and Mountain West deeply skeptical of creating a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions, Senate Democrats could be even more split than they are on health care reform once the chamber actually begins to seriously focus on the issue. “There’s a lot of opposition to climate change in the Senate,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide. “You’re going to have to turn a lot of Democrats to get a bill.” Still, Senate Democratic leaders are trying to give climate change legislation a real chance this year by holding weekly meetings with the chairmen of the six committees of jurisdiction as well as sessions with industry and activist groups on a weekly basis...RollCall

China Knows Climate Deals Are Ruinous

With more Americans out of work than we've seen in decades, and with families losing their homes, is now the time — if ever — to increase energy costs across the board? The Sierra Club thinks so. Its six-year assault on new, affordable electricity generation has successfully destroyed 100 planned or proposed coal-fired power plants in the U.S. and the thousands of good-paying jobs and billions of dollars worth of economic development they would have created. In total, the club has stopped 61 gigawatts of new, affordable electric capacity from reaching American consumers. This obstruction persists even as our electricity demand has outstripped our growth in generating capacity by 3-to-1, according to a North American Electricity Reliability Council report from last October. To keep electricity supply meeting increasing demand and continue to boost its economy and improve the quality of life of its citizens, China has been building coal-fired power plants aggressively. It's completing almost three new plants per month. By 2020, China will generate roughly the same amount of electricity from coal as the U.S. does from all sources — coal, natural gas, nuclear and hydro. At the same time, according to the International Energy Agency, China has "become the major world market for advanced coal-fired power plants with high-specification emission control systems."...IBD

Dem congressman calls cap-and-trade 'worst' bill he's ever seen

The cap-and-trade climate bill before Congress is the "worst piece of legislation" in recent years, one centrist Democratic lawmaker said Monday. "The cap and trade bill is really the worst piece of legislation I've seen since I've been there," Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.) told the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce. "It raises energy prices on businesses, raises electric bills on families, and it even raises gasoline prices in the middle of a recession. And, it makes America less competitive in the global economy." Boren was one of 44 House Democrats to vote against the American Clean Energy and Security Act, crafted by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), in a razor-thin vote last month...TheHill

Obama Regulatory Czar's Confirmation Held Up Over Animal Rights

President Obama's nominee for "regulatory czar" has hit a new snag in his Senate confirmation process -- a "hold" by Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who's says he's not convinced that Harvard professor Cass Sunstein won't push a radical animal rights agenda, including new restrictions on agriculture and even hunting. Senators are permitted "holds" to prevent a vote on a nominee from coming to the floor. They are often secretive and for very specific reasons. "Sen. Cornyn finds numerous aspects of Mr. Sunstein's record troubling, specifically the fact that he wants to establish legal 'rights' for livestock, wildlife and pets, which would enable animals to file lawsuits in American courts," the Republican's spokesman, Kevin McLaughlin, said in a statement to FOXNews.com. Cornyn's hold on Sunstein comes just as Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., last week lifted his own hold on the nominee, whom Obama tapped in April to become the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Budget and Management. Chambliss said he was dropping his hold because Sunstein had convinced him that he "would not take any steps to promote litigation on behalf of animals," and that he believes the "Second Amendment creates an individual right to possess guns for purposes of both hunting and self defense."...FoxNews

Aspen - 87 Bear Break-Ins In Last Month

A surprise guest caused a stink at GrassRoots Community Television in Aspen on Monday night. When employees arrived to work the next morning, they discovered that a black bear had pooped and peed in the front office, scarfed down some Doritos, had its way with the refrigerator and tossed a file cabinet. Just another day in what is turning out to be a busy bear season in Aspen. From July 1 through July 21, the Aspen Police Department had fielded 87 bear calls — up from the eight calls during the same period last year...AspenTimes