SEC tells companies to disclose climate risks

There's been a lot of talk about climate change and the impact various legislative proposals might have on companies. Now the Securities and Exchange Commission wants companies to tell investors about it too. The SEC commissioners on Wednesday voted 3-2 to approve new interpretive guidance that clarifies what publicly traded companies need to disclose to investors about climate-related 'material' effects on business operations, whether from pending legislation, the physical impacts of changing weather or business opportunities associated with substitutes for fossil fuels. It's an important step in raising investor awareness about climate change issues, and in focusing businesses on the potential costs, said environmentalists and other disclosure groups. But given the highly uncertain nature of climate change and the political winds buffetting proposed cap-and-trade legislation, some lawyers say it may be hard for companies to judge just what to say...read more

The companies should also disclose the risks of being governed by the SEC.

Cold, bitter winter is “proof” of global warming

“Winter offered as proof of warming” declares a headline in the print edition of the Washington Post, although perhaps the irony of that later struck the editors and they softened it a bit in the online edition to “Harsh winter a sign of disruptive climate change, report says.” Nothing especially outrageous here. The enviros have been doing this for years; indeed, it’s why they adopted the term “global climate change” so that any change in climate or even just weather - which obviously this is - can be portrayed as a result of man’s nefarious activities in putting greenhouse gases into the air. The report, incidentally, is from the National Wildlife Federation that makes money by promoting global warming in the same way that GM makes money selling trucks...read more

AmazonGate

Climategate, Himalayagate, Pachaurigate, and now NOAAgate — it’s hard to keep up with all the relevations and allegations buzzing around some of the biggest names in climate science. Earlier this week in the Telegraph, the intrepid James Delingpole debuted “Amazongate.” Like Himalayagate, this is a case in which the IPCC relied on a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report, rather than a peer-reviewed scientific study, to make a scary claim about global warming. Apparently, the IPCC recycled two claims in the IUCN/WWF report that the report’s supposed source – Nepsted et al. (1999) — did not make: namely, 40% of the rain forest is risk, and this is due to global climate change...read more

The Hole In The EPA's Ozone Claim

To the EPA, "safe" is a constantly moving target—and that's the way it likes it. Always something new to regulate, always a new hobgoblin from which to save us. Take the agency's proposal to yet again lower allowable ozone levels. It's another one of those win-win regulations for which the EPA is famous, supposedly saving both lives and money. But its assertions collapse when you examine the science on which they're allegedly based. U.S. ground-level ozone concentrations have fallen by 25% since 1980 and 14% just since 1990. Yet in 1997 the EPA tightened the screws with what it called a "safe" standard at 80 parts per billion (ppb). Then in 2008 "safe" became 75 ppb. Now the agency insists "safe" is a maximum of between 60 ppb and 70 ppb. No doubt the agency is already laying the groundwork to drop the "safe" level yet again. Along with the 60 ppb to 70 ppb standard the EPA has proposed a secondary one, measured differently and meant to help not humans but vegetation. For some areas, according to Roger McClellan, former chairman of the EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), this could be even more onerous than a 60 ppb eight-hour standard. Depending on where the standard is set, the EPA estimates that by 2020 the proposal will cost $19 billion to $90 billion to implement. That's partly because 300 U.S. communities don't even comply with the current standard, while no urban area in California meets the 1997 one...read more

Glaciergate: Hitler's Last Straw Video

Ruling could sink Snake Valley water deal

A top water official moved too slowly on a 1989 Las Vegas request for certain water rights, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Thursday -- a finding that could delay or even kill a $3.5 billion proposal to pipe water 300 miles from Snake Valley to Sin City. The ruling prompted Utah officials to stand down on a pending Snake Valley water-sharing agreement with neighboring Nevada. A recent Salt Lake Tribune poll of Utah voters shows across-the-board opposition to that plan. "Based on the additional requirements imposed by the Nevada Supreme Court," said Gov. Gary Herbert, "an agreement, at this time, is premature." The unanimous Supreme Court decision said Nevada's state Engineer Tracy Taylor "violated his statutory duty" when he failed to make a decision by 1991 on 34 applications made by the Southern Nevada Water Authority for rights to water in aquifers under three Nevada valleys. Government scientists and other geology experts say those aquifers are connected with Snake Valley...read more

Environmentalism is the latest niche in children's books

Giggles the Green Bean has a problem. He's a happy little seed, planted in some good ground, but he sprouts into a world where the air stinks, the sky is gray and the trees are gasping. What the ...? he says, or something like it, except age-appropriate. And so begins the newly published adventure, told by Portland author Lauren Davis, of "Giggles the Green Bean Turns Stinkytown Into Greentown." Guided by his bean grandmother and by a Wise Old Cabbage, Giggles learns five environmentally friendly lessons and spreads the word to others. Thus the town transforms from Stinky to Green. It's another turn at instilling environmental sensibilities in youngsters who may not know climate change from diaper change. But that's OK, isn't it? Or should we be concerned about heavy-handed green-washing? After all, some of today's environmentalists were no doubt hauled around in their parents' big cars, ate fast food and wasted electricity. They heard fairy tales in which wolves got slaughtered just for being wolves, trees and treasure were there for the taking and the bigger the machine, the better...read more

Now it will be Hank The Sustainabledog instead of Hank The Cowdog.

Forest officials modify plan for bighorn sheep

The Payette National Forest has released a set of proposed updates to its plan to keep domestic sheep from intermingling with wild bighorns, a species susceptible to pneumonia that can be passed along by their domestic cousins. Forest officials are taking public comment on the 184-page document that spells out five new alternatives to keep the herds segregated. It also includes the latest scientific analysis on the health risks wild bighorns face in sharing habitat with domestics. One alternative in the draft plan calls for reducing domestic grazing by about 60 percent in Hells Canyon and allotments in the Salmon River Canyon. The draft's alternatives also include extremes for grazing, from an all-out ban on domestic grazing to no reductions. Jon Marvel, executive director of the Hailey-based Western Watershed Projects, said the decision made on the Payette forest could have far-reaching implications for management of domestic sheep across the West. "And that will be, I think, a very good thing because there are so many places where we have this kind of conflict," he said...read more

Wyden, Merkley propose 16,000 acres of eastern Oregon wilderness

Oregon's two senators today proposed adding about 16,000 acres to the system of federally protected wilderness areas. A land swap between private landholders and the federal Bureau of Land Management would create two new wilderness areas near the John Day River, Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley said. One of the landowners involved in the potential swap is the Christian youth organization Young Life, whose Washington Family Ranch camp near the town of Antelope occupies the former home of the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. "Oregonians have a deep connection to their land," Wyden said. "This legislation will strengthen that relationship by creating two wilderness areas that will preserve these natural treasures for generations to come and will serve as a hopeful postscript to the saga of the Rajneeshee colony." Under the proposal, which is subject to an appraisal, the BLM would receive approximately 8,821 acres in exchange for 12,323 acres going to Young Life and two other land owners to create the Horse Heaven and Cathedral Rock wilderness areas. The deal would also put a five-mile stretch of the river into public ownership. Conservationists praised the proposal...read more

Senator Wyden, wilderness by law is an area:

...where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.

You are severing, not strengthening their relationship to the land.

America's First Spaceport Grows in the NM Desert

New Mexico's Spaceport America is no longer the stuff of fancy graphics. The scene is now one of bulldozers and other heavy equipment. Loads of asphalt and concrete are being spread. The initial phase of building the rambling complex within remote desert scenery is quickening. One could easily call it "hard hat heaven" for those that have pushed for Spaceport America's development over many years. Spaceport America, billed as the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport, is taking shape some 30 miles east of Truth or Consequences and 45 miles north of Las Cruces, New Mexico. A critical centerpiece of Spaceport America is putting in place a runway to space. Measuring 10,000 feet long by 200 feet wide that stretch of tarmac is designed to handle horizontal launch space and air operations at the spaceport...read more

Recession Slams Cattle Industry as Herds Shrink to 50-Year Low

The beef and dairy industries continued their herd contraction in 2009 as the US cattle herd shrunk to its lowest level since 1958. Between the high price of feed corn and low beef prices, beef producers have decided to cull their herds to stem losses. Those losses on breeding cows were as high as $34 per head, which was almost double the $18-per-head loss the ranchers faced in 2008. Although the herd may be smaller, the actual amount of beef produced is much higher than in 1958 because cows weigh twice as much now as they did 50 years ago...read more

King Ranch was the origin of an outbreak of deadly horse disease

King Ranch is the epicenter of a monthslong outbreak of a deadly horse disease rarely seen in the United States that kills as many as 20 percent that it infects. As of Jan. 20, 364 cases of equine piroplasmosis had been confirmed. Of those, 289 are on King Ranch. The rest are scattered across Texas, Alabama, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin, according to the World Animal Health Information System. A South Texas ranch, identified by the Texas Animal Health Commission as the outbreak’s source, has sold horses with equine piroplasmosis in 15 states since 2004. Jack Hunt, the CEO of King Ranch, confirmed the outbreak started on the ranch. Horses, donkeys, mules and zebras are susceptible to the disease, which is caused by two parasitic organisms. More severely affected animals can have fever, anemia, jaundiced mucous membranes, swollen abdomens and labored breathing. “It will kill a horse,” said Mike Vickers, a Brooks County veterinarian and commissioner on the Texas Animal Health Commission. “It’s very, very serious.”...read more

At Fort Worth Stock Show, managing the ribbons is a job of a different color

Before any child, chicken or cow walks away with a prize, expert eyes have checked each of the thousands of awards handed out at the Stock Show. Stefan Marchman, livestock show manager, and David Gibbs, consulting manager, typically spend about 80 man-hours organizing the more than 23,000 rosettes, ribbons and banners awarded during the show’s 24-day run. They look for typos and make sure ribbons aren’t missing when they arrive in bulk from a company in Ohio. This behind-the-scenes work is critical to the show’s success because no one wants to deliver the wrong ribbon to a participant, they said. "You got to get this right," stressed Gibbs, who has organized ribbons for 46 shows. Last year’s grand total was 23,164, Marchman said. The pair expect to surpass that this year because there are more events...read more

For cowboy poet, Stock Show event is part of a lifelong love

For B.J. Giles, the poems he recites aren’t simply tall tales; some are spun from his own life. A poem about an old ranch house, for example, is about his grandfather’s home in Johnson County. He was raised by his grandfather and grandmother in that house, where he was taught that "your word is your bond." Those old-school values were a staple of Wednesday’s Campfire Stories, which included plenty of cowboy songs and poetry and a healthy dose of Western swing. It’s the 13th year for the event, with all the performers working for free, and it’s a continuation of a lifetime tradition for Giles. When Giles was a child, his grandfather brought him to the Stock Show when it was still held in the Fort Worth Stockyards. As an adult, he showed horses for years and recalled getting a "cold chill" every time he entered Will Rogers Coliseum. And 12 years ago he started performing the cowboy poetry that has become a fundamental part of Campfire Stories at each Stock Show. At his ranch in Godley, Giles tried to pass down what his grandfather instilled in him to his foster children. He and his wife, Chris, helped raise 61 children over 27 years...read more

Song Of The Day #229

Ranch Radio will help you get through the weekend with a four pack. Sticking with the 60's here is Faron Young That's The Way It's Gotta Be (1960), Ernest Ashworth - I Love To Dance With Annie (1964), Leroy Van Dyke - Walk On By (1962) and Carl Smith - Tall Tall Gentleman (1965).

Lawns may contribute to global warming

It's the sort of headline that would grab the attention of any city dweller: Urban 'Green' Spaces May Contribute to Global Warming. As it turns out, "green spaces" doesn't mean pocket parks or wooded areas. It refers to grass. Grass in parks and grass covering athletic fields. And, although the study – from the University of California Irvine – looked at grass in parks, the conclusions may give pause to lawn-proud homeowners, too: Dispelling the notion that urban “green” spaces help counteract greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found – in Southern California at least – that total emissions would be lower if lawns did not exist. Why? It's not so much the grass -- which does remove CO2 from the air and store carbon in the soil -- but the care that the lawn needs: applying fertilizer, mowing, irrigation, leaf blowing, etc., all of which produce emissions (four times greater than the amount of carbon stored)...read more

Calling all urban dwellers. It's time you do your part in fighting global warming. Kindly destroy all those lawns, golf courses and soccer fields!

EPA regional administrator vows "revolutionary" changes

The happy days are over for polluters and those who would exploit resources in downtrodden inner-city communities, Indian reservations and San Francisco Bay, the new regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency declared Tuesday. Jared Blumenfeld, who took over the federal post this month, vowed during a news conference to make "revolutionary" changes that will end EPA invisibility and reconnect the agency to the citizens, whose health and livelihoods are at stake...read more

Their "health and livelihoods" are at stake? Thank goodness we have the EPA to save us. Welcome to Obamaland.

He'll reconnect alright and I'm sure they will love it when the green police show up to rip out their lawns.

Target drops all farmed salmon from stores

Target Corp. said Tuesday that it had eliminated all farmed salmon from its fresh, frozen and smoked seafood sections at stores nationwide. This decision includes national brands and Target's own Archer Farms and Market Pantry labels. All salmon sold under Target-owned brands will now be wild-caught Alaskan salmon; the company also said sushi made with farm-raised salmon will be made with wild-caught salmon by the end of the year. The discount giant said it wanted to ensure that its salmon was "sourced in a sustainable way that helps to preserve abundance, species health and doesn't harm local habitats." The company said salmon farms can hurt the environment through pollution, chemicals and parasites...read more

And all farm-raised Americans and their city cousins should stay the hell out of Target Stores.

More States Require 'Green' Cleaning Products

More states are requiring schools and government buildings to use environmentally friendly cleaning products, raising debate about their costs and benefits. After a burst of legislation last year, 10 states including Connecticut, Illinois and New York require or encourage "green" floor waxes, window cleaners and other products in schools, according to Green Seal Inc., a nonprofit that certifies the products. Similar bills are expected to be debated this year in at least five states. Critics say that while the measures are laudable, states should not mandate which products schools and agencies must buy, especially if they increase costs for governments that are struggling financially. Mason's plan, like those in other states, would require public buildings in Wisconsin to use cleaning and paper products certified as environmentally sensitive by the federal government or several private groups. But it also would encourage agencies to apply the products in ways that reduce water use and the amount of chemicals released into the air...read more

How Green Are Your Nukes?

Environmentalists fiercely disagree about the role nuclear power might play in addressing global warming. Two new books by big names in the green movement stake out the boundaries of that debate. On the pro-nuclear side stands Stewart Brand with Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto. In the other corner you’ll find Al Gore with Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. Both men have impeccable environmentalist credentials. A self-described Green, Brand edited the landmark hippie handbook, the Whole Earth Catalog, back in 1968. Gore, who served as vice president under Bill Clinton, wrote in his 1992 book Earth in the Balance that we “must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization.” Once an opponent of nuclear power, Brand is now a big backer. Where others argue that reactor generation of power is an unsafe, expensive process that produces hazardous waste and could contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Brand writes, “I’ve learned to disbelieve much of what I’ve been told by my fellow environmentalists.”...read more