FLE
Border Agent Prosecutor Under Fire Over Drug Informer Case Critics of the federal prosecutor who brought the case against two U.S. Border Patrol agents for shooting a Mexican suspected drug smuggler are accusing him of hypocrisy. They point to his involvement in an earlier anti-narcotics operation in which a paid informer allegedly committed murder but was allowed to continue his undercover role. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton has said that law enforcement officials must be held to the same legal standards as everyone else. At issue is a case that has been dubbed the House of Death, after a house in the Mexican border town of Juarez where the bodies of 13 people allegedly tortured and killed by members of a drug cartel were found. An undercover informant for U.S. law enforcement agencies, Guillermo Ramirez Peyro, infiltrated the cartel and allegedly participated in at least one of the killings. Federal officials knew about his role in the first one, in August 2003, yet Sutton and others allowed him to continue as an informant for nearly six months, during which more murders took place. Ramirez's lawyer said he witnessed two murders and had knowledge of all of them. Federal officials say they did not know of the murders that occurred after the first one....
Cover-Up Alleged After Botched Cross-Border Operation A paid Mexican informer for the U.S. government who worked in an undercover operation targeting a major narcotics cartel allegedly went off the rails and was involved in more than a dozen murders. Amid allegations of a bungled investigation and an accompanying cover-up, at least one member of Congress is calling for hearings into the matter. Guillermo Ramirez Peyro is now fighting an attempt by the U.S. government to deport him and said he fears for his life at the hands of the cartel should he be sent back to Mexico. Statements from key players and documents before court shed light on a drama involving an out-of-control operative, dangerous druglords, crooked Mexican police, and a serious dispute between U.S. government agencies. Relatives of five people allegedly killed by the cartel in the Mexican town of Juarez - directly across the border from El Paso, Texas - have brought a wrongful death suit against the U.S. federal government. Should his appeal against deportation fail, Ramirez's removal from the country would rob the lawsuit's plaintiffs of a key witness. In the view of a retired top Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, that's exactly what is intended by those who are pushing for the former informer's deportation. "He would be the key witness," ex-agent Sandalio Gonzalez told Cybercast News Service. "What else could it be [but a cover-up]? They have protected him all the way. Now they want to get him killed."....
Records prompt call for new Ramos-Compean trial Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., plans to reveal today Drug Enforcement Agency investigative reports that confirm a previous WND story presenting evidence the drug smuggler given immunity to testify against border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean was involved in a second smuggling incident. The DEA documents and Department of Homeland Security investigative reports already presented by WND contradict the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who repeatedly has insisted to the public that smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila was not a suspect under investigation in a second drug incident. Sutton gave Aldrete-Davila immunity to testify as the prosecution's chief witness regarding the Feb. 17, 2005, shooting incident on the Texas border that led to prison sentences for Ramos and Compean of 11 and 12 years respectively. In a statement released by his office, Rohrabacher said, "Upon review of these new documents, it is obvious that U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton knowingly presented a false picture of the drug smuggler in order to justify his ruthless prosecution of Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean." ....
ICE to train Maricopa deputies to enforce immigration law Federal immigration officials and the Maricopa County Sheriff's office signed an agreement Monday to allow trained deputies to enforce immigration laws. Under the agreement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will begin training 160 Maricopa County deputies Tuesday to be authorized to detain and arrest suspected illegal immigrants both in the county jail and on the streets. Deputies will go through a four-week course to learn about nationality and immigration laws in depth. The trained officers will have authority to determine whether someone is an illegal immigrant and will be able to designate that immigration removal proceedings begin. The action is permitted under federal immigration law. "It's the largest agreement of its kind," said ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack. The agreement that Sheriff Joe Arpaio signed makes Maricopa County's participation the largest one-time addition in the effort....
Investigators say suspected drug smuggler shot first A suspected drug smuggler who was shot and killed by a male Border Patrol agent Tuesday night south of Tubac fired at the agent first, investigators said Wednesday. At about 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Rock Corral Canyon south of the Aliso Springs area, five Border Patrol agents working in a Special Response Team spotted a group of five drug smugglers while doing surveillance in the area, said Lt. Raul Rodriguez, of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. One of the drug smugglers spotted a Border Patrol agent and fired at him with a revolver, Rodriguez said. The male agent, whose name is being withheld, fired back, hitting the Mexican drug smuggler multiple times and killing him, he said. No one else, including the agents or smugglers, were injured. The identification and age of the victim hasn't been released. The Mexican Consulate has been notified, Rodriguez said....
Experts at Odds Over FISA Role In Terrorist Surveillance National security experts disagreed Friday over the role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in monitoring possible terrorist activities. "Since time immemorial it is not just the power but the obligation of the commander in chief ... to gather any and all military intelligence about the enemy," Todd Gaziano, director of the conservative foundation's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies said during a discussion at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Gaziano argued that the National Security Agency's secret terrorist surveillance program, which was leaked to the New York Times in December 2005, is a vital information-gathering apparatus and falls within the powers granted to the president by the Constitution and by congressional authorization for use of force in the war on terrorism. The Bush administration in January announced that it was working with the FISA court to bring the program under its jurisdiction - a position the administration had previously opposed, citing its belief that the program was legal without the court's oversight. Mary DeRosa, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said during the discussion that while the 1978 FISA law is outdated, it is important for protecting civil liberties and promoting transparency. She said President Bush's agreement to bring the program under FISA supervision now illustrates that it is possible for the government to conduct its surveillance within the law. "It was at best an inconvenience," DeRosa said of the FISA requirement that the government obtain warrants before wiretapping phones under the program, "but it was not impossible, because if it's possible now it was possible earlier on."....
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Supreme Court Gives Gore's Oscar to Bush
Just days after former Vice President Al Gore received an Academy Award for his global- warming documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” the Supreme Court handed Gore a stunning reversal, stripping him of his Oscar and awarding it to President George W. Bush instead. For Gore, who basked in the adulation of his Hollywood audience Sunday night, the high court’s decision to give his Oscar to President Bush was a cruel twist of fate, to say the least. But in a 5-4 decision handed down Tuesday morning, the justices made it clear that they had taken the unprecedented step of stripping Gore of his Oscar because President Bush deserved it more. “It is true that Al Gore has done a lot of talking about global warming,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority. “But President Bush has actually helped create global warming.” In another setback for the former vice president, a group of scientists meeting in Oslo, Norway, today said that Gore was growing at an unsustainable rate. “The polar ice caps may be shrinking, but Al Gore is clearly expanding,” said Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke of the University of Tokyo. The scientists concluded that if Gore continues to expand at his current rate, he could cause the earth to spin off its axis by 2010, sending it hurtling into the sun. “Here’s an inconvenient truth,” Dr. Kyosuke added. “Al’s got to stay away from those carbs.”Elsewhere, after foreigners received a record number of Academy Award nominations, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs proposed building a 12-foot-high fence around the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.
Just days after former Vice President Al Gore received an Academy Award for his global- warming documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” the Supreme Court handed Gore a stunning reversal, stripping him of his Oscar and awarding it to President George W. Bush instead. For Gore, who basked in the adulation of his Hollywood audience Sunday night, the high court’s decision to give his Oscar to President Bush was a cruel twist of fate, to say the least. But in a 5-4 decision handed down Tuesday morning, the justices made it clear that they had taken the unprecedented step of stripping Gore of his Oscar because President Bush deserved it more. “It is true that Al Gore has done a lot of talking about global warming,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority. “But President Bush has actually helped create global warming.” In another setback for the former vice president, a group of scientists meeting in Oslo, Norway, today said that Gore was growing at an unsustainable rate. “The polar ice caps may be shrinking, but Al Gore is clearly expanding,” said Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke of the University of Tokyo. The scientists concluded that if Gore continues to expand at his current rate, he could cause the earth to spin off its axis by 2010, sending it hurtling into the sun. “Here’s an inconvenient truth,” Dr. Kyosuke added. “Al’s got to stay away from those carbs.”Elsewhere, after foreigners received a record number of Academy Award nominations, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs proposed building a 12-foot-high fence around the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.
NEWS ROUNDUP
Couric handwringing over green backlash In her CBS blog, the day after the Oscars, anchorwoman Katie Couric frets that Hollywood's overwhelming embrace of Al Gore and the politics of global warming might prove to be a political setback with the hicks in the sticks. "But as the throngs of celebrities greeted Al Gore as a secular saint, I wondered if this might usher in a backlash against environmentalists," she speculated. "It wasn't too long ago, afterall, (sic) that environmentalists were decried as tree-huggers, and former President Bush rallied against them – trying to say it was the spotted owl against logging interests and jobs in the West." Couric also wonders out loud if the Academy Awards Best Documentary Oscar presentation to Gore for his "An Inconvenient Truth" might start the public thinking global warming is a "liberal" cause. "The Oscars may give Gore's critics ammunition to reject a school of thought that's been validated by countless scientists worldwide," she mused....
Gore's Oscars could spur action on climate The double Oscar win for "An Inconvenient Truth," former Vice President Al Gore's expanded slide-show on global warming, could spur grassroots support for the fight against climate change, environmental advocates said on Monday. That's because a movie, especially one that many Americans have seen on home video, takes the issue beyond the realm of distant policymakers and puts it on a more personal footing, according to Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "The funny thing about the Oscars is, they're very intimate -- people watch them in their living rooms," Pope said in a telephone interview. "Global warming has seemed abstract, distant, something 'for people who know more than I do.' "I think what (the Oscar victory) really does is it puts this issue into people's living rooms," he said. "While the climatology is really complicated, they're going to see that the solutions are pretty common-sense, and people will talk about them and get excited."....
Gray wolf's endangered listing gets fresh look The Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday started a series of hearings on whether to remove the Canadian gray wolf from the endangered species list, a proposal embraced by ranchers and decried by wildlife groups. The agency proposed the delisting last month after announcing that a wolf-recovery plan had surpassed all expectations. Reintroduced to the Northern Rockies in 1995, the wolves now number more than 1,200 in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The proposal was a relief to ranching and farming communities, where wolves have proved bad for business by preying on sheep, calves and other livestock. Wolf packs have attacked hunting and ranching dogs, prompting calls to loosen restrictions on shooting the predators. The wolf population has gotten so numerous that they're starting to spend time on private land, and they're killing more livestock," said John Thompson, spokesman for the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation. The recovery program has been especially successful in Idaho, home to more than 700 of the reintroduced wolves. Under the proposed delisting, the wolves would lose their protected status, and federal wildlife agencies would turn over control of their management to the states....
Colo. Lawmakers delay roadless resolution, groups lobby governor Lawmakers are giving Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and his administration some time to decide how 4.1 million acres of roadless forest land in Colorado should be managed while several groups are lobbying officials on a plan endorsed by the former administration. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, said they'll delay introducing a resolution asking Ritter to adopt the plan to give him and new state natural resources chief Harris Sherman time to talk to the groups. But the legislators want Ritter to leave intact the plan written by a task force and approved by Owens before he left office in January. Owens, a Republican who couldn't run again because of term limits, sent the petition seeking protection for most of the 4.1 million acres of forest land to federal officials. In 2005, Owens criticized a Clinton-era road-building ban on 58.5 million acres of forests nationwide as creating wilderness outside the congressional process....
Mark Rey, Public Lands Enemy No. 1? In October, recently retired Forest Service planner Richard Artley made a few headlines when he blew the whistle on his former employer’s secretive plan to close thousands of recreational facilities. Now, he’s blowing the whistle on the man behind it, his former boss, Mark Rey, who currently holds the position most people don’t know even exists. Officially, Mark Rey is called the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources & Environment. Unofficially, he is often called much less complimentary names, but I won’t go into that here. Suffice to say, he is considered the enemy of those trying to protect our public lands from commercialization and privatization. Rey is President Bush’s handpicked controller of the Forest Service, and he has done and excellent job for his boss. In his position, he sets policy for our national forests, and is the person behind recent controversies such as....Go here to view Artley's open letter.
Hayman Firestarter May Get New Trial A woman who admitted starting the worst wildfire in Colorado's recorded history has appealed a judge's ruling that said prosecutors could withdraw from her plea agreement, possibly leading to a new trial -- and a longer prison term. Colorado's Supreme Court has ordered prosecutors to explain why they believe the ruling should stand. The appeal by the attorney for Terry Lynn Barton, filed last week, prompted Teller County District Judge Thomas Kennedy to reschedule a Monday hearing set to discuss the possibility of a new trial. Kennedy ruled Feb. 5 that Barton violated terms of her plea agreement when she appealed her 12-year prison sentence, opening the way for prosecutors to withdraw the agreement. Prosecutors have been deciding whether to ask for a new trial or a new sentencing hearing for Barton, who is serving a 6-year federal prison term for setting the June 2002 Hayman fire....
Gov calls for tighter wildlife protection The federal government is jeopardizing wildlife in the West by not assuring adequate reviews of some energy development, Gov. Dave Freudenthal told members of the Western Governors Association this week. On Tuesday in Washington, D.C., fellow Western governors agreed with Freudenthal and approved a resolution calling for an amendment to the federal Energy Policy Act. That amendment would strengthen environmental requirements to assure energy development is not harming big game habitat and migration corridors. The resolution was sponsored by Freudenthal, who argued a portion of the 2005 federal law allows certain lands to be excluded from environmental reviews, including some lands considered crucial to big game. According to the Bureau of Land Management, 1,361 permits to drill were approved under categorical exclusions in an eight-month period ending in September 2006, Freudenthal's office reported in a press release. Wyoming had the most with 596, followed by New Mexico with 538; Utah, 111; Colorado, 59; California, 37; Arizona, 18; and Eastern states, two....
Utah Developer Wants To Build Among Indian Ruins For more than 1,200 years the ancient Anasazi made their home here along the Utah-Arizona border. Now, a developer wants to set a modern-day subdivision among the ruins sites, clustering homes so they capitalize on rather than harm what remains of the ancient dwellings. St. George developer Milo McCowan wants to build 700 to 800 houses and town homes on 270 acres west of Kanab Creek. The area is in the process of being annexed into city of Kanab. But most important, McCowan said, is preserving and even encouraging more study of the area’s archaeological resources. “We are dedicating 20 acres in the project for long-term archaeological excavation and study, hopefully in partnership with a university,” McCowan said. “Amateur archaeologists could move here and live and assist with a significant dig in their own neighborhood.” The subdivision – named Chaco Canyon after the famous Anasazi ruins in New Mexico – would also include open spaces, trails, an amphitheater for the performing arts and a museum featuring the area’s artifacts, he said. The entrance road will wind between two ruin sites....
Matheson introduces land swap bill Congressman Jim Matheson introduced a bipartisan bill today proposing a land exchange between the Utah school trust land administration and the Bureau of Land Management. The Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2007 authorizes the exchange of more than 40,000 acres of school trust lands for roughly the same number of acres of BLM land. The parcels of state trust land are scattered-in checkerboard fashion-amid the federal land, complicating each agency's management objectives. "This legislation received input from a broad and diverse group of stakeholders-public and private, urban and rural, industry, conservation, sportsmen and education," said Matheson. "The result is a proposal that is fair to the taxpayer, beneficial to Utah school children, mindful of hunting and other public access opportunities, and a better configuration for land managers to protect habitat, watershed and recreational values." Sen. Bob Bennett has introduced the companion Senate bill....
Study: Pygmy Owl Numbers Down in Mexico A university study shows the population of a tiny endangered owl in northern Mexico has declined by an estimated 26 percent over the last seven years, a finding that environmentalists said bolsters their arguments for greater protection for the bird in Arizona. Annual surveys by a scientist show the birds are continuing to decline in numbers, although there have been some years with rebounds, according to the University of Arizona study. "There's been some variation in there," Aaron Flesch, a senior research specialist in the university's School of Natural Resources, said Tuesday. The tiny bird's numbers increased in 2005 and were similar in 2006 in northern Sonora, but "overall the trend is negative." "Should this apparent decline continue, recovery strategies that rely on pygmy owls from northern Sonora and persistence of pygmy owls in the Sonoran Desert could be jeopardized," the report said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put the owl on the endangered species list in 1997 because of population declines in Arizona. But the agency withdrew it from the list last year after determining it was not a distinct subspecies and thus not worthy of protection....
Wolf supporters show up in force Opponents of removing wolves from the federal endangered species protection in Wyoming far outnumbered supporters of delisting wolves at a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service public hearing on wolf management Tuesday. "The Endangered Species Act has been hugely successful in restoring the gray wolf and we want it to stay that way," Sierra Club regional spokesman Adam Rissien said at the hearing. Wolf advocate Emily Swift read an essay she wrote about family vacations in Yellowstone Park before urging the panel to rethink delisting wolves. "I believe this country should be thinking about future generations and I would like my children to be able to appreciate the wolves as I have," Swift said. The state and federal governments have been litigating over the issue of wolf management since the rejection of the state's first wolf management plan in 2004. The situation has so far prevented removing wolves from federal protections in Wyoming and also in Montana and Idaho. Recently the federal government has begun steps to turn over management to the other states and says it's prepared to continue to manage the animals in Wyoming alone if necessary....
Wyo. Senate: Let gov negotiate on wolves The Wyoming Senate on Tuesday approved a wolf management plan that calls for giving the governor's office authority to negotiate with the federal government over the boundaries of a permanent wolf area in the northwest corner of the state. If the House agrees today with the Senate position, at least the boundary provisions of the state's wolf management plan could meet with federal approval. On Monday, the Senate had voted to exclude most private land from a permanent management area in which wolves would be managed as trophy game animals. Outside that area, they would be managed as predators that could be shot on sight. Mitch King, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, on Monday had said that any reduction of the management area his agency had proposed last fall would be unacceptable. He said a reduction would lead to his agency rejecting a state wolf management plan. After the Senate vote Tuesday, King said it was critical for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office to have the latitude to negotiate a management plan that the federal agency can approve. He said he hadn't read the bill the Senate had approved, but said that based on his understanding of it, it would satisfy his agency's concerns over the boundary issue. "I think we're well on our way," King said. He said the ultimate result depended on whether the House votes to agree with the Senate proposal....
Russell Brooks, dead at 41: Property rights lawyer passionate about his work With a hearty laugh and a Southern lilt that made his oral arguments sing, Seattle-area lawyer Russell Brooks spearheaded the fight for property rights in the Northwest. After turning to law as a second career, Brooks became best known for winning a ruling that forced federal fisheries officials to reconsider virtually all Endangered Species Act protections for West Coast salmon. He also argued against a racial tiebreaking provision used by Seattle schools in a case currently being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. He died of a heart attack Sunday at the age of 41. After working as a computer programmer in Texas for about 10 years, Brooks, a Mississippi native, went to law school in California. There he interned at the Sacramento-based, Libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation, which later hired him and sent him north to revive its office in Bellevue....
Sage grouse not affected by recreation activity, group says A hunting season for Greater Sage Grouse in part of the Piceance Creek basin and a portion of the Roan Plateau was opposed by a working group developing a conservation strategy for the potentially endangered bird. At a Tuesday night meeting in Rifle, the group of local government, landowners and other interest groups decided they do not want to see hunting reinstated for the Greater Sage Grouse, which has been petitioned for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. The group also thought recreational activities over the several-hundred thousand acre area do not have many adverse impacts during key reproduction and brood-rearing seasons. The Colorado Division of Wildlife leads the effort to develop a conservation plan for the grouse in various regions, as well as a statewide plan, area Wildlife Conservation Biologist John Toolen. The effort is designed to help the current population of grouse in the region, estimated at between 1,200 to 1,500, reach healthier levels while dealing with impacts such as recreation and rampant energy development....
Interior Report Finds 'Wall' Between Field Staff, Leaders Communication. Trust. Leadership. A report by the Interior Department inspector general, released this month, provides a glimpse of how these issues can arise in agencies that have to manage a workforce spread across the country. The report, by Earl E. Devaney, Interior's inspector general, focused on the law enforcement office at the Fish and Wildlife Service. Devaney praised the office for "significant progress" in overhauling its operations since 2002, when the secretary of the interior called for improvements. But Devaney also found some problems in the law enforcement office, such as a "general mistrust of senior management" and a lack of communication between the headquarters and the field, "which has created a perception that there is a 'wall' between management and field personnel." For the review, Devaney's staff conducted more than 110 interviews, traveled to field offices and hired a consultant to survey the law enforcement staff. Of 369 employees asked to participate in the survey, 88 percent responded -- an indication, the report said, that the employees are highly committed to the Fish and Wildlife Service....
Committee tackles the ‘evolving West’ with few Westerners When the House Natural Resources Committee assembles today to discuss “The Evolving West,” there won’t be many Democratic members from the fast-evolving Rocky Mountain West there to hear it. Only two serve on the committee. Under Democratic leadership, the committee that sets policy for the public lands and energy of the West has changed from a bastion of pro-industry, conservative Westerners to a committee dominated by Pacific Coast lawmakers and Easterners. The transformation comes as Democratic political leaders look at Rocky Mountain states as the most fertile territory to pick up seats and electoral votes in 2008. That’s why they’ve scheduled an early primary in Nevada and are holding their convention in Denver. Republicans warn that Democrats could lose their momentum in the West if they don’t heed rural, Western concerns about the difficulties imposed by environmental restrictions. A Republican leadership aide took a harder line about the committee’s Democratic lineup, predicting that Democratic policies on resource issues will alienate voters. “These were strategic decisions made to facilitate a liberal agenda and insulate some Democrats from taking difficult votes on the issues,” the aide said....
Groups form fund to pilot agricultural water leasing program A new fund has been created by a coalition of conservation groups and municipal entities that will allow water to be leased from farmers and kept in the Rio Grande rather than being diverted for irrigation. The $250,000 Living River Fund was created by the city of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and six conservation groups. It will be used to establish a pilot agricultural water-leasing program -- the first of its kind on the Rio Grande -- in an effort to provide sustained flows in the river and for the endangered species that depend on it. The fund organizers seek to identify farmers who would voluntarily participate in the water-leasing initiative and have contacted the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, which oversees water management on the Rio Grande from Cochiti Reservoir to Elephant Butte, to get that information out more widely. The Water Authority contributed $225,000 to the fund as part of a February 2005 agreement with conservation groups. The agreement settled a portion of an ongoing lawsuit between cities, farmers and conservation groups over the river and endangered species....
Allegations fly over Utah prairie dog decision Nicole Rosmarino, conservation director for Forest Guardians, believes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the wrong decision by denying the group's petition to upgrade the status of the Utah prairie dog. "There's no question that biologically the prairie dog is endangered," she said, "It warrants this upgraded status." Rosmarino said population numbers and threats warrant upgrading the threatened species to endangered, but she believes USFWS officials denied the petition to keep their management options open under the lesser status and caved to political pressure. Larry Crist, USFWS Utah Ecological Services field supervisor, said the decision was based on the best information available and the information provided in the petition....
Hoeven asks to let hunters kill elk North Dakota's governor took the position that qualified volunteers instead of paid sharpshooters should be allowed to kill elk in Theodore Roosevelt National Park to the highest level of the National Park Service on Monday. The state wants the park to let sportsmen and women participate in killing as many as 1,000 elk when the park begins an elk population reduction program starting in 2008. The park has said it can't allow any form of public hunting without congressional action, and Gov. John Hoeven asked Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorn to intervene. Hoeven said he got an assurance from the Interior secretary that he will look into the matter. Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor said she's already asked park officials to clarify whether qualified volunteers fit the definition of a sharpshooter....
Officials urge controlled hunt in parks Key Democratic lawmakers are pushing legislation to allow hunting to cull elk herds and control a deadly animal disease inside national parks visited by millions of tourists a year. Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado introduced the legislation in the House last week to allow hunting in the Rocky Mountain National Park in his state, and Sen. Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota will put forth a bill this week to allow hunting in his state's Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The lawmakers' plans are opposed by some who say hunting should be allowed on some federal lands but not in public parks. "Three million park visitors don't want to be ducking bullets," said one National Park Service official who asked to remain anonymous. "Hunting should be allowed in forests and wildlife refuges, not in parks populated by millions of visitors." The National Park Service says it can no longer rely on relocating herds to other states to control the population because it could spread chronic wasting disease -- a transmissible neurological condition afflicting deer and elk that is similar to mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep....
Elusive lynx leaves tracks in snow, but not much else In the parking lot of the Blackrock Ranger Station, photographer Andrew Weller grins and pulls a plastic bottle of bobcat urine from the back of his pickup truck. With any luck, a square of carpet drenched in the stuff will catch the attention of a Canada lynx, which will step through an infrared beam, triggering a remote camera up on Togwotee Pass. Weller and I are tagging along with a crew from Endeavor Wildlife Research to look for lynx tracks about a mile west of Togwotee Mountain Lodge. Earlier that day, one of the company’s co-founders, Jenny Burgharat, spotted some fresh tracks about 20 feet from the road. With skis and snowshoes, six of us will follow the tracks through dense lodgepole pine and Douglas fir, wherever they lead. Canada Lynx, it turns out, are curious cats. Foreign smells, sights, and sounds can elicit brash and even ridiculous behavior. According to Weller, wildlife photographers and biologists will sometimes hang old compact discs from tree limbs, where a lynx will bat at the flashing plastic-encased metal, just as a domestic kitten would assault a piece of string....
Climate Panel Recommends Global Temperature Ceiling, Carbon Tax A panel of scientists has presented the United Nations a detailed plan for combating climate change. VOA's correspondent at the U.N. Peter Heinlein reports the strategy involves reaching a global agreement on a temperature ceiling. A group of 18 scientists from 11 countries is calling on the international community to act quickly to prevent catastrophic climate change. In a report requested by the United Nations and partially paid for by the privately funded U.N. Foundation, the panel warns that any delay could lead to a dangerous rise in sea levels, increasingly turbulent weather, droughts and disease. The report was issued three weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that global warming is real and caused in large part by human activity. But unlike the IPCC report, this latest document makes policy recommendations. Panel member John Holdren of Harvard University says the world must be mobilized immediately to avoid catastrophe....
RFK Jr. rips President Bush for environmental policy The crowd that nearly filled Virginia Tech's 3,000-seat Burruss Hall Auditorium to hear environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak probably had an idea about what he thought of the Bush administration before he took the podium. Some of Kennedy's books were on sale in the auditorium lobby, including his most recent -- "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy." But early on in a rambling speech Monday night that lasted more than an hour, the son of a 1960s Democratic icon made it clear that he wasn't critical of Bush because of his political affiliation. He was critical of him, he said, because Bush has implemented policies and circumvented the law in order to enrich his donors at the expense of thousands of lives and America's environmental future. "You can't talk honestly about the environment today ... without being critical of the president," he said....
Pro rodeo should listen to cowboys Imagine if he fought hard against proper representation on the board from what seem to be the only honest people in the sport, the athletes who drive their trucks from city to city, giving up their bodies, hoping to cash checks, but guaranteed nothing. Imagine if even his supporters on the board described him as ruthless and heavy-handed, prone to unleashing strings of profanities at anyone who questioned his tactics. Imagine if he called federal investigators "unadulterated punks" and oversaw an organization that admittedly was experiencing the most unrest from its rank and file in history. Imagine if Stern, with the feds closing in, finally pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, perjury and criminal contempt, crimes that could bring up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ellerman did all of that. Yet the nine-member PRCA board refused to fire him. And when Ellerman finally resigned last week, instead of condemning Ellerman's rule, the board decided to send him away with a full year's salary of more than $200,000. The decision to pay Ellerman a year's salary ultimately was reversed after the decision created an uproar among rodeo cowboys, but clearly the PRCA has come to Houston and reached a crossroads. The board needs a total makeover. And it needs to listen to some good, old country logic. That is, give the cowboys more voices on the board....
PRCA leadership still solid The bad news at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association: Commissioner Troy Ellerman resigned last week after pleading guilty to obstructing justice by leaking secret grand jury documents to two reporters who were covering the government's probe into steroids in sports. It's the famous BALCO case, and, sadly Ellerman was involved while working as a California lawyer before taking the PRCA's top job. The good news: The PRCA has an interim commissioner named Keith Martin who understands the direction that Ellerman and the board was going. The leadership improved formats and prize money for the sport's stars. They continually tweaked the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour, a series of designated sizable rodeos in cities such as San Antonio and Cheyenne, Wyo., shows that helped competitors qualify for the invitational Texas Stampede in Dallas in November. The lucrative Stampede is a mini-National Finals Rodeo. Martin, who also is executive director of the San Antonio Stock Show Rodeo, understands the importance of offering a higher-paying rodeo that features stars....
Positive Influence Forever Cowboys has found a way, it thinks, to mentor youths, be a positive influence in the community and help rodeo committees draw more fans and sell more hot dogs and soft drinks. The concept is "Youth Night," and it's been held at the SandHills Stock Show & Rodeo in Odessa, Texas, for more than 10 years. Forever Cowboys, a Christian service organization, hopes to take what has successfully been done in Odessa and duplicate it at six or more rodeos this year. "I think once this thing gets going, once rodeo committees and communities see what is happening and how it is affecting their youth in a positive way, I think there is going to be more and more who want to do something like this," said Kory Koontz, a 13-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier and member of Forever Cowboys. Youth Night at the Odessa rodeo started 14 years ago when a group of cowboys and their families decided to reach out to kids in a positive way through rodeo....
Bach in the saddle again The daily grind to stay at the top of any physically active sport can take its toll. At age 49, most professional athletes have long hung up their gloves, hats, helmets or ropes. Millsap resident Allen Bach – who in December won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association 2006 world championship for team roping-heeling – defies age and many other laws of physics and competition. “I’m busier now than ever in my life,” Bach said. He mentors youth through the organization Forever Cowboys, and is involved in management of Cactus Ropes (manufacturer of ropes and saddles) and Heel-o-matic, a company that makes dummy calves that allow ropers to practice “heeling” without having to use live cattle. Bach attributes his success in and out of the arena to, “God [putting] good people in my life.”....
Horse Prefers Painting to Racing Many people make money with the talent of their horses, some on the race track, others in the show arena, or the jumping fields, even the rodeo grounds, but this horse is different. This horse, Cholla, is an artist. A gorgeous copper colored Buckskin, Mustang/Quarter Horse with black mane and tail, standing 15.2 hands and weighing in at 1300 lbs. He has a dorsal stripe down his back complete with zebra like markings on his legs. He creates his art standing at his easel while holding a true artist' brush with his teeth, he mindfully directs his brush with fine and deliberate strokes creating the artistic essence that only a horse named Cholla can reveal. Only Cholla applies the paints to his art and no one moves the easel, or rotates the paper....
Couric handwringing over green backlash In her CBS blog, the day after the Oscars, anchorwoman Katie Couric frets that Hollywood's overwhelming embrace of Al Gore and the politics of global warming might prove to be a political setback with the hicks in the sticks. "But as the throngs of celebrities greeted Al Gore as a secular saint, I wondered if this might usher in a backlash against environmentalists," she speculated. "It wasn't too long ago, afterall, (sic) that environmentalists were decried as tree-huggers, and former President Bush rallied against them – trying to say it was the spotted owl against logging interests and jobs in the West." Couric also wonders out loud if the Academy Awards Best Documentary Oscar presentation to Gore for his "An Inconvenient Truth" might start the public thinking global warming is a "liberal" cause. "The Oscars may give Gore's critics ammunition to reject a school of thought that's been validated by countless scientists worldwide," she mused....
Gore's Oscars could spur action on climate The double Oscar win for "An Inconvenient Truth," former Vice President Al Gore's expanded slide-show on global warming, could spur grassroots support for the fight against climate change, environmental advocates said on Monday. That's because a movie, especially one that many Americans have seen on home video, takes the issue beyond the realm of distant policymakers and puts it on a more personal footing, according to Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "The funny thing about the Oscars is, they're very intimate -- people watch them in their living rooms," Pope said in a telephone interview. "Global warming has seemed abstract, distant, something 'for people who know more than I do.' "I think what (the Oscar victory) really does is it puts this issue into people's living rooms," he said. "While the climatology is really complicated, they're going to see that the solutions are pretty common-sense, and people will talk about them and get excited."....
Gray wolf's endangered listing gets fresh look The Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday started a series of hearings on whether to remove the Canadian gray wolf from the endangered species list, a proposal embraced by ranchers and decried by wildlife groups. The agency proposed the delisting last month after announcing that a wolf-recovery plan had surpassed all expectations. Reintroduced to the Northern Rockies in 1995, the wolves now number more than 1,200 in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The proposal was a relief to ranching and farming communities, where wolves have proved bad for business by preying on sheep, calves and other livestock. Wolf packs have attacked hunting and ranching dogs, prompting calls to loosen restrictions on shooting the predators. The wolf population has gotten so numerous that they're starting to spend time on private land, and they're killing more livestock," said John Thompson, spokesman for the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation. The recovery program has been especially successful in Idaho, home to more than 700 of the reintroduced wolves. Under the proposed delisting, the wolves would lose their protected status, and federal wildlife agencies would turn over control of their management to the states....
Colo. Lawmakers delay roadless resolution, groups lobby governor Lawmakers are giving Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and his administration some time to decide how 4.1 million acres of roadless forest land in Colorado should be managed while several groups are lobbying officials on a plan endorsed by the former administration. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, said they'll delay introducing a resolution asking Ritter to adopt the plan to give him and new state natural resources chief Harris Sherman time to talk to the groups. But the legislators want Ritter to leave intact the plan written by a task force and approved by Owens before he left office in January. Owens, a Republican who couldn't run again because of term limits, sent the petition seeking protection for most of the 4.1 million acres of forest land to federal officials. In 2005, Owens criticized a Clinton-era road-building ban on 58.5 million acres of forests nationwide as creating wilderness outside the congressional process....
Mark Rey, Public Lands Enemy No. 1? In October, recently retired Forest Service planner Richard Artley made a few headlines when he blew the whistle on his former employer’s secretive plan to close thousands of recreational facilities. Now, he’s blowing the whistle on the man behind it, his former boss, Mark Rey, who currently holds the position most people don’t know even exists. Officially, Mark Rey is called the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources & Environment. Unofficially, he is often called much less complimentary names, but I won’t go into that here. Suffice to say, he is considered the enemy of those trying to protect our public lands from commercialization and privatization. Rey is President Bush’s handpicked controller of the Forest Service, and he has done and excellent job for his boss. In his position, he sets policy for our national forests, and is the person behind recent controversies such as....Go here to view Artley's open letter.
Hayman Firestarter May Get New Trial A woman who admitted starting the worst wildfire in Colorado's recorded history has appealed a judge's ruling that said prosecutors could withdraw from her plea agreement, possibly leading to a new trial -- and a longer prison term. Colorado's Supreme Court has ordered prosecutors to explain why they believe the ruling should stand. The appeal by the attorney for Terry Lynn Barton, filed last week, prompted Teller County District Judge Thomas Kennedy to reschedule a Monday hearing set to discuss the possibility of a new trial. Kennedy ruled Feb. 5 that Barton violated terms of her plea agreement when she appealed her 12-year prison sentence, opening the way for prosecutors to withdraw the agreement. Prosecutors have been deciding whether to ask for a new trial or a new sentencing hearing for Barton, who is serving a 6-year federal prison term for setting the June 2002 Hayman fire....
Gov calls for tighter wildlife protection The federal government is jeopardizing wildlife in the West by not assuring adequate reviews of some energy development, Gov. Dave Freudenthal told members of the Western Governors Association this week. On Tuesday in Washington, D.C., fellow Western governors agreed with Freudenthal and approved a resolution calling for an amendment to the federal Energy Policy Act. That amendment would strengthen environmental requirements to assure energy development is not harming big game habitat and migration corridors. The resolution was sponsored by Freudenthal, who argued a portion of the 2005 federal law allows certain lands to be excluded from environmental reviews, including some lands considered crucial to big game. According to the Bureau of Land Management, 1,361 permits to drill were approved under categorical exclusions in an eight-month period ending in September 2006, Freudenthal's office reported in a press release. Wyoming had the most with 596, followed by New Mexico with 538; Utah, 111; Colorado, 59; California, 37; Arizona, 18; and Eastern states, two....
Utah Developer Wants To Build Among Indian Ruins For more than 1,200 years the ancient Anasazi made their home here along the Utah-Arizona border. Now, a developer wants to set a modern-day subdivision among the ruins sites, clustering homes so they capitalize on rather than harm what remains of the ancient dwellings. St. George developer Milo McCowan wants to build 700 to 800 houses and town homes on 270 acres west of Kanab Creek. The area is in the process of being annexed into city of Kanab. But most important, McCowan said, is preserving and even encouraging more study of the area’s archaeological resources. “We are dedicating 20 acres in the project for long-term archaeological excavation and study, hopefully in partnership with a university,” McCowan said. “Amateur archaeologists could move here and live and assist with a significant dig in their own neighborhood.” The subdivision – named Chaco Canyon after the famous Anasazi ruins in New Mexico – would also include open spaces, trails, an amphitheater for the performing arts and a museum featuring the area’s artifacts, he said. The entrance road will wind between two ruin sites....
Matheson introduces land swap bill Congressman Jim Matheson introduced a bipartisan bill today proposing a land exchange between the Utah school trust land administration and the Bureau of Land Management. The Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2007 authorizes the exchange of more than 40,000 acres of school trust lands for roughly the same number of acres of BLM land. The parcels of state trust land are scattered-in checkerboard fashion-amid the federal land, complicating each agency's management objectives. "This legislation received input from a broad and diverse group of stakeholders-public and private, urban and rural, industry, conservation, sportsmen and education," said Matheson. "The result is a proposal that is fair to the taxpayer, beneficial to Utah school children, mindful of hunting and other public access opportunities, and a better configuration for land managers to protect habitat, watershed and recreational values." Sen. Bob Bennett has introduced the companion Senate bill....
Study: Pygmy Owl Numbers Down in Mexico A university study shows the population of a tiny endangered owl in northern Mexico has declined by an estimated 26 percent over the last seven years, a finding that environmentalists said bolsters their arguments for greater protection for the bird in Arizona. Annual surveys by a scientist show the birds are continuing to decline in numbers, although there have been some years with rebounds, according to the University of Arizona study. "There's been some variation in there," Aaron Flesch, a senior research specialist in the university's School of Natural Resources, said Tuesday. The tiny bird's numbers increased in 2005 and were similar in 2006 in northern Sonora, but "overall the trend is negative." "Should this apparent decline continue, recovery strategies that rely on pygmy owls from northern Sonora and persistence of pygmy owls in the Sonoran Desert could be jeopardized," the report said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put the owl on the endangered species list in 1997 because of population declines in Arizona. But the agency withdrew it from the list last year after determining it was not a distinct subspecies and thus not worthy of protection....
Wolf supporters show up in force Opponents of removing wolves from the federal endangered species protection in Wyoming far outnumbered supporters of delisting wolves at a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service public hearing on wolf management Tuesday. "The Endangered Species Act has been hugely successful in restoring the gray wolf and we want it to stay that way," Sierra Club regional spokesman Adam Rissien said at the hearing. Wolf advocate Emily Swift read an essay she wrote about family vacations in Yellowstone Park before urging the panel to rethink delisting wolves. "I believe this country should be thinking about future generations and I would like my children to be able to appreciate the wolves as I have," Swift said. The state and federal governments have been litigating over the issue of wolf management since the rejection of the state's first wolf management plan in 2004. The situation has so far prevented removing wolves from federal protections in Wyoming and also in Montana and Idaho. Recently the federal government has begun steps to turn over management to the other states and says it's prepared to continue to manage the animals in Wyoming alone if necessary....
Wyo. Senate: Let gov negotiate on wolves The Wyoming Senate on Tuesday approved a wolf management plan that calls for giving the governor's office authority to negotiate with the federal government over the boundaries of a permanent wolf area in the northwest corner of the state. If the House agrees today with the Senate position, at least the boundary provisions of the state's wolf management plan could meet with federal approval. On Monday, the Senate had voted to exclude most private land from a permanent management area in which wolves would be managed as trophy game animals. Outside that area, they would be managed as predators that could be shot on sight. Mitch King, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, on Monday had said that any reduction of the management area his agency had proposed last fall would be unacceptable. He said a reduction would lead to his agency rejecting a state wolf management plan. After the Senate vote Tuesday, King said it was critical for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office to have the latitude to negotiate a management plan that the federal agency can approve. He said he hadn't read the bill the Senate had approved, but said that based on his understanding of it, it would satisfy his agency's concerns over the boundary issue. "I think we're well on our way," King said. He said the ultimate result depended on whether the House votes to agree with the Senate proposal....
Russell Brooks, dead at 41: Property rights lawyer passionate about his work With a hearty laugh and a Southern lilt that made his oral arguments sing, Seattle-area lawyer Russell Brooks spearheaded the fight for property rights in the Northwest. After turning to law as a second career, Brooks became best known for winning a ruling that forced federal fisheries officials to reconsider virtually all Endangered Species Act protections for West Coast salmon. He also argued against a racial tiebreaking provision used by Seattle schools in a case currently being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. He died of a heart attack Sunday at the age of 41. After working as a computer programmer in Texas for about 10 years, Brooks, a Mississippi native, went to law school in California. There he interned at the Sacramento-based, Libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation, which later hired him and sent him north to revive its office in Bellevue....
Sage grouse not affected by recreation activity, group says A hunting season for Greater Sage Grouse in part of the Piceance Creek basin and a portion of the Roan Plateau was opposed by a working group developing a conservation strategy for the potentially endangered bird. At a Tuesday night meeting in Rifle, the group of local government, landowners and other interest groups decided they do not want to see hunting reinstated for the Greater Sage Grouse, which has been petitioned for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. The group also thought recreational activities over the several-hundred thousand acre area do not have many adverse impacts during key reproduction and brood-rearing seasons. The Colorado Division of Wildlife leads the effort to develop a conservation plan for the grouse in various regions, as well as a statewide plan, area Wildlife Conservation Biologist John Toolen. The effort is designed to help the current population of grouse in the region, estimated at between 1,200 to 1,500, reach healthier levels while dealing with impacts such as recreation and rampant energy development....
Interior Report Finds 'Wall' Between Field Staff, Leaders Communication. Trust. Leadership. A report by the Interior Department inspector general, released this month, provides a glimpse of how these issues can arise in agencies that have to manage a workforce spread across the country. The report, by Earl E. Devaney, Interior's inspector general, focused on the law enforcement office at the Fish and Wildlife Service. Devaney praised the office for "significant progress" in overhauling its operations since 2002, when the secretary of the interior called for improvements. But Devaney also found some problems in the law enforcement office, such as a "general mistrust of senior management" and a lack of communication between the headquarters and the field, "which has created a perception that there is a 'wall' between management and field personnel." For the review, Devaney's staff conducted more than 110 interviews, traveled to field offices and hired a consultant to survey the law enforcement staff. Of 369 employees asked to participate in the survey, 88 percent responded -- an indication, the report said, that the employees are highly committed to the Fish and Wildlife Service....
Committee tackles the ‘evolving West’ with few Westerners When the House Natural Resources Committee assembles today to discuss “The Evolving West,” there won’t be many Democratic members from the fast-evolving Rocky Mountain West there to hear it. Only two serve on the committee. Under Democratic leadership, the committee that sets policy for the public lands and energy of the West has changed from a bastion of pro-industry, conservative Westerners to a committee dominated by Pacific Coast lawmakers and Easterners. The transformation comes as Democratic political leaders look at Rocky Mountain states as the most fertile territory to pick up seats and electoral votes in 2008. That’s why they’ve scheduled an early primary in Nevada and are holding their convention in Denver. Republicans warn that Democrats could lose their momentum in the West if they don’t heed rural, Western concerns about the difficulties imposed by environmental restrictions. A Republican leadership aide took a harder line about the committee’s Democratic lineup, predicting that Democratic policies on resource issues will alienate voters. “These were strategic decisions made to facilitate a liberal agenda and insulate some Democrats from taking difficult votes on the issues,” the aide said....
Groups form fund to pilot agricultural water leasing program A new fund has been created by a coalition of conservation groups and municipal entities that will allow water to be leased from farmers and kept in the Rio Grande rather than being diverted for irrigation. The $250,000 Living River Fund was created by the city of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and six conservation groups. It will be used to establish a pilot agricultural water-leasing program -- the first of its kind on the Rio Grande -- in an effort to provide sustained flows in the river and for the endangered species that depend on it. The fund organizers seek to identify farmers who would voluntarily participate in the water-leasing initiative and have contacted the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, which oversees water management on the Rio Grande from Cochiti Reservoir to Elephant Butte, to get that information out more widely. The Water Authority contributed $225,000 to the fund as part of a February 2005 agreement with conservation groups. The agreement settled a portion of an ongoing lawsuit between cities, farmers and conservation groups over the river and endangered species....
Allegations fly over Utah prairie dog decision Nicole Rosmarino, conservation director for Forest Guardians, believes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the wrong decision by denying the group's petition to upgrade the status of the Utah prairie dog. "There's no question that biologically the prairie dog is endangered," she said, "It warrants this upgraded status." Rosmarino said population numbers and threats warrant upgrading the threatened species to endangered, but she believes USFWS officials denied the petition to keep their management options open under the lesser status and caved to political pressure. Larry Crist, USFWS Utah Ecological Services field supervisor, said the decision was based on the best information available and the information provided in the petition....
Hoeven asks to let hunters kill elk North Dakota's governor took the position that qualified volunteers instead of paid sharpshooters should be allowed to kill elk in Theodore Roosevelt National Park to the highest level of the National Park Service on Monday. The state wants the park to let sportsmen and women participate in killing as many as 1,000 elk when the park begins an elk population reduction program starting in 2008. The park has said it can't allow any form of public hunting without congressional action, and Gov. John Hoeven asked Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorn to intervene. Hoeven said he got an assurance from the Interior secretary that he will look into the matter. Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor said she's already asked park officials to clarify whether qualified volunteers fit the definition of a sharpshooter....
Officials urge controlled hunt in parks Key Democratic lawmakers are pushing legislation to allow hunting to cull elk herds and control a deadly animal disease inside national parks visited by millions of tourists a year. Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado introduced the legislation in the House last week to allow hunting in the Rocky Mountain National Park in his state, and Sen. Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota will put forth a bill this week to allow hunting in his state's Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The lawmakers' plans are opposed by some who say hunting should be allowed on some federal lands but not in public parks. "Three million park visitors don't want to be ducking bullets," said one National Park Service official who asked to remain anonymous. "Hunting should be allowed in forests and wildlife refuges, not in parks populated by millions of visitors." The National Park Service says it can no longer rely on relocating herds to other states to control the population because it could spread chronic wasting disease -- a transmissible neurological condition afflicting deer and elk that is similar to mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep....
Elusive lynx leaves tracks in snow, but not much else In the parking lot of the Blackrock Ranger Station, photographer Andrew Weller grins and pulls a plastic bottle of bobcat urine from the back of his pickup truck. With any luck, a square of carpet drenched in the stuff will catch the attention of a Canada lynx, which will step through an infrared beam, triggering a remote camera up on Togwotee Pass. Weller and I are tagging along with a crew from Endeavor Wildlife Research to look for lynx tracks about a mile west of Togwotee Mountain Lodge. Earlier that day, one of the company’s co-founders, Jenny Burgharat, spotted some fresh tracks about 20 feet from the road. With skis and snowshoes, six of us will follow the tracks through dense lodgepole pine and Douglas fir, wherever they lead. Canada Lynx, it turns out, are curious cats. Foreign smells, sights, and sounds can elicit brash and even ridiculous behavior. According to Weller, wildlife photographers and biologists will sometimes hang old compact discs from tree limbs, where a lynx will bat at the flashing plastic-encased metal, just as a domestic kitten would assault a piece of string....
Climate Panel Recommends Global Temperature Ceiling, Carbon Tax A panel of scientists has presented the United Nations a detailed plan for combating climate change. VOA's correspondent at the U.N. Peter Heinlein reports the strategy involves reaching a global agreement on a temperature ceiling. A group of 18 scientists from 11 countries is calling on the international community to act quickly to prevent catastrophic climate change. In a report requested by the United Nations and partially paid for by the privately funded U.N. Foundation, the panel warns that any delay could lead to a dangerous rise in sea levels, increasingly turbulent weather, droughts and disease. The report was issued three weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that global warming is real and caused in large part by human activity. But unlike the IPCC report, this latest document makes policy recommendations. Panel member John Holdren of Harvard University says the world must be mobilized immediately to avoid catastrophe....
RFK Jr. rips President Bush for environmental policy The crowd that nearly filled Virginia Tech's 3,000-seat Burruss Hall Auditorium to hear environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak probably had an idea about what he thought of the Bush administration before he took the podium. Some of Kennedy's books were on sale in the auditorium lobby, including his most recent -- "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy." But early on in a rambling speech Monday night that lasted more than an hour, the son of a 1960s Democratic icon made it clear that he wasn't critical of Bush because of his political affiliation. He was critical of him, he said, because Bush has implemented policies and circumvented the law in order to enrich his donors at the expense of thousands of lives and America's environmental future. "You can't talk honestly about the environment today ... without being critical of the president," he said....
Pro rodeo should listen to cowboys Imagine if he fought hard against proper representation on the board from what seem to be the only honest people in the sport, the athletes who drive their trucks from city to city, giving up their bodies, hoping to cash checks, but guaranteed nothing. Imagine if even his supporters on the board described him as ruthless and heavy-handed, prone to unleashing strings of profanities at anyone who questioned his tactics. Imagine if he called federal investigators "unadulterated punks" and oversaw an organization that admittedly was experiencing the most unrest from its rank and file in history. Imagine if Stern, with the feds closing in, finally pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, perjury and criminal contempt, crimes that could bring up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ellerman did all of that. Yet the nine-member PRCA board refused to fire him. And when Ellerman finally resigned last week, instead of condemning Ellerman's rule, the board decided to send him away with a full year's salary of more than $200,000. The decision to pay Ellerman a year's salary ultimately was reversed after the decision created an uproar among rodeo cowboys, but clearly the PRCA has come to Houston and reached a crossroads. The board needs a total makeover. And it needs to listen to some good, old country logic. That is, give the cowboys more voices on the board....
PRCA leadership still solid The bad news at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association: Commissioner Troy Ellerman resigned last week after pleading guilty to obstructing justice by leaking secret grand jury documents to two reporters who were covering the government's probe into steroids in sports. It's the famous BALCO case, and, sadly Ellerman was involved while working as a California lawyer before taking the PRCA's top job. The good news: The PRCA has an interim commissioner named Keith Martin who understands the direction that Ellerman and the board was going. The leadership improved formats and prize money for the sport's stars. They continually tweaked the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour, a series of designated sizable rodeos in cities such as San Antonio and Cheyenne, Wyo., shows that helped competitors qualify for the invitational Texas Stampede in Dallas in November. The lucrative Stampede is a mini-National Finals Rodeo. Martin, who also is executive director of the San Antonio Stock Show Rodeo, understands the importance of offering a higher-paying rodeo that features stars....
Positive Influence Forever Cowboys has found a way, it thinks, to mentor youths, be a positive influence in the community and help rodeo committees draw more fans and sell more hot dogs and soft drinks. The concept is "Youth Night," and it's been held at the SandHills Stock Show & Rodeo in Odessa, Texas, for more than 10 years. Forever Cowboys, a Christian service organization, hopes to take what has successfully been done in Odessa and duplicate it at six or more rodeos this year. "I think once this thing gets going, once rodeo committees and communities see what is happening and how it is affecting their youth in a positive way, I think there is going to be more and more who want to do something like this," said Kory Koontz, a 13-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier and member of Forever Cowboys. Youth Night at the Odessa rodeo started 14 years ago when a group of cowboys and their families decided to reach out to kids in a positive way through rodeo....
Bach in the saddle again The daily grind to stay at the top of any physically active sport can take its toll. At age 49, most professional athletes have long hung up their gloves, hats, helmets or ropes. Millsap resident Allen Bach – who in December won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association 2006 world championship for team roping-heeling – defies age and many other laws of physics and competition. “I’m busier now than ever in my life,” Bach said. He mentors youth through the organization Forever Cowboys, and is involved in management of Cactus Ropes (manufacturer of ropes and saddles) and Heel-o-matic, a company that makes dummy calves that allow ropers to practice “heeling” without having to use live cattle. Bach attributes his success in and out of the arena to, “God [putting] good people in my life.”....
Horse Prefers Painting to Racing Many people make money with the talent of their horses, some on the race track, others in the show arena, or the jumping fields, even the rodeo grounds, but this horse is different. This horse, Cholla, is an artist. A gorgeous copper colored Buckskin, Mustang/Quarter Horse with black mane and tail, standing 15.2 hands and weighing in at 1300 lbs. He has a dorsal stripe down his back complete with zebra like markings on his legs. He creates his art standing at his easel while holding a true artist' brush with his teeth, he mindfully directs his brush with fine and deliberate strokes creating the artistic essence that only a horse named Cholla can reveal. Only Cholla applies the paints to his art and no one moves the easel, or rotates the paper....
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Western states united to bypass Bush on climate Five Western U.S. states have formed the latest regional pact to bypass the Bush administration to cut emissions linked to global warming through market mechanisms. The Western Regional Climate Action Initiative requires Oregon, California, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona to develop a regional target in six months for reducing greenhouse emissions according to statements from the states' governors. During the next 18 months, the states will devise a market-based plan, such as a load-based cap-and-trade program, to reach the target. They also have agreed to participate in a multi-state registry to track and manage greenhouse gas emissions in their region. The regional agreement "shows the power of the states to lead our nation" and "sets the stage for a regional cap-and-trade program, which will provide a powerful framework for developing a national cap and trade program," Schwarzenegger said in a statement....
Environmentalists hail takeover plan for Texas utility The board of Texas' largest electric utility last night tentatively approved a record $45 billion takeover bid by two private equity firms in a deal hailed by environmentalists as a major turning point in the battle against global warming. The prospective owners of the TXU Corp. have told environmental groups that they would cancel eight of 11 coal plants proposed by the company and also back national legislation for mandatory reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to climate change. TXU was expected today to formally announce the buyout, according to people familiar with the deal. The sale, which needs shareholder approval, would be the largest leveraged buyout in US corporate history....
Blizzard's scars cut across Plains In the mud on the side of Baca County Road WW, in one of the few bare spots in an otherwise snow-smothered prairie, lies the carcass of Steve McEndree's wife's favorite cow. Jamie McEndree playfully named the auburn Hereford "Bad Horn Day," for the curious way one of its horns curled up and one down. Steve wanted to sell the old cow a year ago, but Jamie asked him not to. Last week, nearly two months after a blizzard dropped 4 feet of snow on the McEndree's ranch, Bad Horn Day lay down in that spot along Road WW and died, worn out from fighting the snow, fighting the cold and fighting the hunger. "It's part of life," says Steve McEndree, a third-generation rancher in Baca County. "But you don't like it." Another dead cow. One of at least 46 cows and calves that McEndree has lost since the December blizzard. One of an estimated 10,000 that have died in southeastern Colorado as a result of the storm. Their carcasses are reminders that the blizzard's wrath didn't end when the storms faded months ago and likely won't end even when the snow that still lies on the ground a foot deep finally melts away....
Wyo. Senate trims wolf management area The state Senate voted Monday to reject the federal government's proposed boundary for a permanent wolf management area in the northwest corner of Wyoming. By a vote of 16-13, the Senate amended a wolf management bill to exclude most private land from a permanent management area in which wolves would be managed as trophy game animals. Outside that area, they would be managed as predators that could be shot on sight. Mitch King, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, said Monday that his agency has explained repeatedly to state officials that the original management area must be included in any state wolf management plan or his agency will reject it....
Prairie dogs' dark side comes to light in political fight The world's expert on lust, violence and cannibalism among prairie dogs uses a slide in his lectures that sums up a lifetime of research. Several of the squirrel-size creatures are shown perched on their hind legs: cute, cute, cute, cute, cute. But then, next to each fuzzy head, John Hoogland has written something darker he has seen happen in a prairie dog "town." "Promiscuity, kidnapping, pedophilia, murder, infanticide," it says. Not so cute. "Studying prairie dogs is like watching little people," he says. "Whatever we do, they do as well, and usually more often." Hoogland, 58, a professor at the University of Maryland, has spent 34 years unraveling the daily routines of the burrowing rodent. It has always been interesting work: These towns can make Melrose Place look like Sesame Street....
Bounty on coyotes aims to ease predation Wolves seem to get all the attention in Wyoming. But while the debate about wolf management is ongoing, another predator sails under the radar. Coyotes roam the countryside in the shadow of their larger cousins. The Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and Cody Country Outfitters and Guides groups saw a problem and took steps to address it. “Coyotes are a big problem that goes unnoticed,” SFW spokesman Lou Cicco said. “They kill small animals and pets and we wanted to help stop that.” Four years ago the two groups began a bounty program for hunters who shoot coyotes. We began working together and created a fund to pay for freshly killed coyotes,” Cicco said. “We pay the bounties until we run out of money for the year.” This year the program started Feb. 1 and already more than 100 coyotes have been brought in....
Is Bigfoot Living In The Forest Above Marysville? The couple recorded their discovery with photographs and returned to take more pictures. Joining the Padigos now was Scot Woodland, a Nevada County search and rescue team member and a certified expert tracker. Scot says he's got an open mind but when he first saw the tracks he figured here's another hoax. "The closer I got and looked at the prints, the more I could see the detail and the movement in the foot. As a tracker you see how things move the weight and all that stuff. The complexity of the footprint made me go whoa!” he says. What really impressed Scot was the force of the Bigfoot print which rippled the ground around it. Scot's footprint next to it hardly moved the earth. “If it's a hoax, somebody really did a good job, if it's not, then there's a big creature that lives among us," says Woodland. All the prints appear to be from one animal walking slowly but with a stride twice that of a human. “We measured from heel of the left foot to heel of left foot, 56 inches," says Scott. The footprint was gigantic. It was seven-and-a-half inches wide. The tape measure shows the impression is nearly double the length of an adult human foot....
Man donates historic ranch to Nature Conservancy Groundwater in Aravaipa Creek will be protected from pumping because of the donation of the historic Cobra Ranch to The Nature Conservancy in Arizona. Dan Bates, a Tucson artist and owner of the El Corral and Pinnacle Peak restaurants, donated the ranch in honor of his mother, Mary Bates, who co-owned the ranch with her son for 25 years. Cobra Ranch includes 1,250 private acres and 10,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service grazing leases adjacent to Aravaipa Canyon Preserve. With the Bates donation of private acreage and public land grazing leases, the preserve will protect 53,000 acres of land. Preserve Manager Mark Haberstich said everyone at the preserve was pleased with the donation. “It has been a property that’s been important to us,” Haberstich said. “It sits over the aquifer that supplies water to Aravaipa Creek, and if it had been subdivided and wells were allowed to be drilled, it would have dried up the creek.”....
Permit sought for carbon dioxide pipeline Devon Gas Services LP is proposing to revitalize an aging oil field in central Wyoming by using carbon dioxide to recover more oil, federal officials said. As part of the project, Devon is seeking Bureau of Land Management permission to construct a 47-mile-long pipeline to move carbon dioxide gas from southwest Wyoming to the Beaver Creek field in Fremont County, according to BLM officials. The carbon dioxide gas would come from the ExxonMobil Shute Creek-LaBarge gas processing plant and Bairoil metering facility. Carbon dioxide is a form of enhanced oil recovery that improves the flow of oil from a reservoir that has already reached peak production by conventional means. Carbon dioxide, in liquid form, mixes with unrecovered oil and pushes it to production wells. The carbon dioxide can then be separated from the oil and reused, or stored in the oil reservoir so that it is not released into the atmosphere....
Delta environmental water crisis looms An environmental crisis could disrupt water supplies throughout California for the first time since the early 1990s, threatening to end the long cease-fire in the state's water wars. A dry winter, devastated fish populations and recent scientific research together could force state water officials to cut Delta water deliveries to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities. Already this year, water managers and environmental regulators are forecasting the possibility that much more water than is available will be needed to protect fish and prevent pushing Delta smelt closer to extinction. "We'll consider just about everything in terms of how we get through this," said Jerry Johns, deputy director of the state Department of Water Resources. "Making water available in an uncompensated manner, these things are controversial." Not since a drought in the early 1990s — a period when some of the Delta's salmon and smelt populations were added to the lists of threatened and endangered species — have water supplies been so threatened because of the needs of Delta fish....
Thinning study leads to first cougar kills The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has begun killing cougars in Jackson County as part of its study into whether curbing cougar numbers can improve public safety and reduce livestock loss. An ODFW technician Tuesday killed the first two of the 24 cougars that will be removed here as part of this study, which is outlined in the state's new cougar plan that has been widely criticized by animal-rights activists. Dan Jenkins, from the ODFW's Roseburg office, trapped the cougars on a Lake Creek area ranch and shot them, said Mark Vargas, the ODFW's Rogue District wildlife biologist in Central Point. They were young "sub-adults," a male and a female, which were taken to the department's Roseburg office late Tuesday, Vargas said....
Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing. In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable. “I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.” The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country. Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction. Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. And nobody knows why. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold....
Cow gives birth to triplets Farmer/rancher Bryan Wagner suspected something was unusual when a 5-year-old cow in his herd of about 200 went into labor. It seemed to be having trouble, so Wagner decided to assist. He delivered one calf and discovered there was another in the womb. That's not unusual. Of the 50 or so cows that have calved so far on the Wagner farm, five have given birth to twins. After delivering the second calf, Wagner realized a third one was ready to face the world, too. That's unusual. Veterinarians say the chance of a cow having triplets is anywhere from one in 75,000 to one in 105,000, according to an Internet search on the topic of triplet calves. And the chance of all three thriving is even less likely, these sources reported. Wagner delivered the third calf, too, after turning it around so it came normally - head and front feet first. It was positioned backward in the womb, he said. This is the second time one of Wagner's cows has delivered triplets; the first set came in 1998....
CNFR releases 2007 dates The 58th annual College National Finals Rodeo will be June 10-16 in Casper, Wyo. National titles in saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping and goat tying will be up for grabs. The top three students in each event, and the top two men's and women's teams from the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association's 11 regions will qualify for the CNFR. Students will compete for more than $200,000 in scholarships from the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company. Ticket prices range from $6-$16, and season passes are also available....
Two for Trevor Four-time all-around world champion Trevor Brazile is a big fan of the Tucson Rodeo and rightfully so. Brazile (Decatur, Texas) captured his second consecutive tie-down roping average title at the 82nd annual La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in front of a packed house of 11,000 on Sunday afternoon. Brazile, 30, entered the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Round with over a half a second lead in the average on two and knew a good solid run would be enough to defend his title in Tucson. "The calf I had today, they were 14.7 on yesterday and that wasn't what I wanted to hear when I showed up today," Brazile said. "I knew I had a pretty good cushion so I just went out and made as good of a run as I could." Brazile turned in an 11.1-second run today, which didn't win the round but was enough to secure the title over Doug Pharr (Victoria, Texas). Brazile's final time was 30.6 seconds on three head, while Pharr finished with a total time of 31.3....
San Angel-Ohl Five-time and reigning world champion tie-down roper Cody Ohl entered the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Round at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo knowing if he made a businessman's run, he would win the average title an overall prize totaling more than $6,000. Ohl (Hico, Texas) stopped the clock in 9.3 seconds to finish with a four-head total of 34.1 seconds, capturing the average title. His closest competitors were Scott Kormos, who finished second in 35.2 seconds, and Jerome Schneeberger was third with a 35.3. Schneeberger (Ponca City, Okla.) won the Tour Round, stopping the clock in 8.0 seconds. Ohl left the Concho Valley with $10,041 in earnings, while Kormos added $8,644 to his season total and Schneeberger cashed in for $8,740. The San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo marked the fifth stop on the 2007 Wrangler ProRodeo Tour. This year's Wrangler ProRodeo Tour consists of 21 rodeos from January to August. Contestants will choose 15 out of the 21 rodeos to count toward their official Tour Rodeo count and will compete for money this year versus points as in years past....
Floyd Lee was an old-school rancher Traveling our state's byways and back country over the past 50 years, I've been fortunate to meet a number of memorable New Mexicans who maintained a strong link to the past. One of those was Floyd W. Lee of San Mateo, rancher and for 12 years a New Mexico state senator. Albuquerque-born in 1895, Floyd was an engineering student at The University of New Mexico when the U.S. entered World War I. Joining up, he saw service in Europe with the New Mexico Field Artillery. Returning home after peace was won, Lee went to work for the Fernandez Co.'s vast ranch located near the village of San Mateo, northwest of Grants. This sprawling sheep and cattle operation got its start as a Spanish land grant ceded to Bartolomé Fernandez in 1767. It was acquired from his heirs in the late 1860s by Indian campaigner Col. Manuel Antonio Chaves. Lee worked his way up from cowhand and bronc-buster to become general manager of the ranch, and then through stock acquisitions, he became the owner in 1938. The property had more than 500 miles of boundary and cross fences....
A Wild and Woolly Affair Boy, are we a country with too much free time on our hands. Or should I say, what do a retired tennis pro, PETA, two research scientists and a herd of gay sheep have to do with each other? Plenty, according to the Toronto Star. The paper reports that two researchers - Charles Roselli of Oregon Health and Science University and Fred Stormshak of Oregon State University - have been studying why eight percent of rams prefer to court other rams rather than ewes (not that there's anything wrong with that). The study had been proceeding quietly until fate intervened. You see, two university football players (you're getting ahead of me here) were pulled over for speeding. They'd been drinking. They had, in the bed of their truck, something they'd swiped from the research center - a gay ram. Once a story like that hit the wires, containing it was impossible. Pretty soon, people were asking questions about the research. Then animal rights activists, gay-rights advocates and left-leaning bloggers raised a great hue and cry ("ewe" and cry?) Former tennis star Martina Navratilova kicked off the frenzy. She wrote a letter to both universities demanding they pull the study's funding. She said the research was "homophobic and cruel." She said the money would be better spent promoting acceptance of all sexual preferences. PETA had urged her to write the letter. PETA urged 14,000 other people to voice their complaints, too, and some of them protested and called the researchers Nazis....
Western states united to bypass Bush on climate Five Western U.S. states have formed the latest regional pact to bypass the Bush administration to cut emissions linked to global warming through market mechanisms. The Western Regional Climate Action Initiative requires Oregon, California, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona to develop a regional target in six months for reducing greenhouse emissions according to statements from the states' governors. During the next 18 months, the states will devise a market-based plan, such as a load-based cap-and-trade program, to reach the target. They also have agreed to participate in a multi-state registry to track and manage greenhouse gas emissions in their region. The regional agreement "shows the power of the states to lead our nation" and "sets the stage for a regional cap-and-trade program, which will provide a powerful framework for developing a national cap and trade program," Schwarzenegger said in a statement....
Environmentalists hail takeover plan for Texas utility The board of Texas' largest electric utility last night tentatively approved a record $45 billion takeover bid by two private equity firms in a deal hailed by environmentalists as a major turning point in the battle against global warming. The prospective owners of the TXU Corp. have told environmental groups that they would cancel eight of 11 coal plants proposed by the company and also back national legislation for mandatory reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to climate change. TXU was expected today to formally announce the buyout, according to people familiar with the deal. The sale, which needs shareholder approval, would be the largest leveraged buyout in US corporate history....
Blizzard's scars cut across Plains In the mud on the side of Baca County Road WW, in one of the few bare spots in an otherwise snow-smothered prairie, lies the carcass of Steve McEndree's wife's favorite cow. Jamie McEndree playfully named the auburn Hereford "Bad Horn Day," for the curious way one of its horns curled up and one down. Steve wanted to sell the old cow a year ago, but Jamie asked him not to. Last week, nearly two months after a blizzard dropped 4 feet of snow on the McEndree's ranch, Bad Horn Day lay down in that spot along Road WW and died, worn out from fighting the snow, fighting the cold and fighting the hunger. "It's part of life," says Steve McEndree, a third-generation rancher in Baca County. "But you don't like it." Another dead cow. One of at least 46 cows and calves that McEndree has lost since the December blizzard. One of an estimated 10,000 that have died in southeastern Colorado as a result of the storm. Their carcasses are reminders that the blizzard's wrath didn't end when the storms faded months ago and likely won't end even when the snow that still lies on the ground a foot deep finally melts away....
Wyo. Senate trims wolf management area The state Senate voted Monday to reject the federal government's proposed boundary for a permanent wolf management area in the northwest corner of Wyoming. By a vote of 16-13, the Senate amended a wolf management bill to exclude most private land from a permanent management area in which wolves would be managed as trophy game animals. Outside that area, they would be managed as predators that could be shot on sight. Mitch King, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, said Monday that his agency has explained repeatedly to state officials that the original management area must be included in any state wolf management plan or his agency will reject it....
Prairie dogs' dark side comes to light in political fight The world's expert on lust, violence and cannibalism among prairie dogs uses a slide in his lectures that sums up a lifetime of research. Several of the squirrel-size creatures are shown perched on their hind legs: cute, cute, cute, cute, cute. But then, next to each fuzzy head, John Hoogland has written something darker he has seen happen in a prairie dog "town." "Promiscuity, kidnapping, pedophilia, murder, infanticide," it says. Not so cute. "Studying prairie dogs is like watching little people," he says. "Whatever we do, they do as well, and usually more often." Hoogland, 58, a professor at the University of Maryland, has spent 34 years unraveling the daily routines of the burrowing rodent. It has always been interesting work: These towns can make Melrose Place look like Sesame Street....
Bounty on coyotes aims to ease predation Wolves seem to get all the attention in Wyoming. But while the debate about wolf management is ongoing, another predator sails under the radar. Coyotes roam the countryside in the shadow of their larger cousins. The Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and Cody Country Outfitters and Guides groups saw a problem and took steps to address it. “Coyotes are a big problem that goes unnoticed,” SFW spokesman Lou Cicco said. “They kill small animals and pets and we wanted to help stop that.” Four years ago the two groups began a bounty program for hunters who shoot coyotes. We began working together and created a fund to pay for freshly killed coyotes,” Cicco said. “We pay the bounties until we run out of money for the year.” This year the program started Feb. 1 and already more than 100 coyotes have been brought in....
Is Bigfoot Living In The Forest Above Marysville? The couple recorded their discovery with photographs and returned to take more pictures. Joining the Padigos now was Scot Woodland, a Nevada County search and rescue team member and a certified expert tracker. Scot says he's got an open mind but when he first saw the tracks he figured here's another hoax. "The closer I got and looked at the prints, the more I could see the detail and the movement in the foot. As a tracker you see how things move the weight and all that stuff. The complexity of the footprint made me go whoa!” he says. What really impressed Scot was the force of the Bigfoot print which rippled the ground around it. Scot's footprint next to it hardly moved the earth. “If it's a hoax, somebody really did a good job, if it's not, then there's a big creature that lives among us," says Woodland. All the prints appear to be from one animal walking slowly but with a stride twice that of a human. “We measured from heel of the left foot to heel of left foot, 56 inches," says Scott. The footprint was gigantic. It was seven-and-a-half inches wide. The tape measure shows the impression is nearly double the length of an adult human foot....
Man donates historic ranch to Nature Conservancy Groundwater in Aravaipa Creek will be protected from pumping because of the donation of the historic Cobra Ranch to The Nature Conservancy in Arizona. Dan Bates, a Tucson artist and owner of the El Corral and Pinnacle Peak restaurants, donated the ranch in honor of his mother, Mary Bates, who co-owned the ranch with her son for 25 years. Cobra Ranch includes 1,250 private acres and 10,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service grazing leases adjacent to Aravaipa Canyon Preserve. With the Bates donation of private acreage and public land grazing leases, the preserve will protect 53,000 acres of land. Preserve Manager Mark Haberstich said everyone at the preserve was pleased with the donation. “It has been a property that’s been important to us,” Haberstich said. “It sits over the aquifer that supplies water to Aravaipa Creek, and if it had been subdivided and wells were allowed to be drilled, it would have dried up the creek.”....
Permit sought for carbon dioxide pipeline Devon Gas Services LP is proposing to revitalize an aging oil field in central Wyoming by using carbon dioxide to recover more oil, federal officials said. As part of the project, Devon is seeking Bureau of Land Management permission to construct a 47-mile-long pipeline to move carbon dioxide gas from southwest Wyoming to the Beaver Creek field in Fremont County, according to BLM officials. The carbon dioxide gas would come from the ExxonMobil Shute Creek-LaBarge gas processing plant and Bairoil metering facility. Carbon dioxide is a form of enhanced oil recovery that improves the flow of oil from a reservoir that has already reached peak production by conventional means. Carbon dioxide, in liquid form, mixes with unrecovered oil and pushes it to production wells. The carbon dioxide can then be separated from the oil and reused, or stored in the oil reservoir so that it is not released into the atmosphere....
Delta environmental water crisis looms An environmental crisis could disrupt water supplies throughout California for the first time since the early 1990s, threatening to end the long cease-fire in the state's water wars. A dry winter, devastated fish populations and recent scientific research together could force state water officials to cut Delta water deliveries to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities. Already this year, water managers and environmental regulators are forecasting the possibility that much more water than is available will be needed to protect fish and prevent pushing Delta smelt closer to extinction. "We'll consider just about everything in terms of how we get through this," said Jerry Johns, deputy director of the state Department of Water Resources. "Making water available in an uncompensated manner, these things are controversial." Not since a drought in the early 1990s — a period when some of the Delta's salmon and smelt populations were added to the lists of threatened and endangered species — have water supplies been so threatened because of the needs of Delta fish....
Thinning study leads to first cougar kills The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has begun killing cougars in Jackson County as part of its study into whether curbing cougar numbers can improve public safety and reduce livestock loss. An ODFW technician Tuesday killed the first two of the 24 cougars that will be removed here as part of this study, which is outlined in the state's new cougar plan that has been widely criticized by animal-rights activists. Dan Jenkins, from the ODFW's Roseburg office, trapped the cougars on a Lake Creek area ranch and shot them, said Mark Vargas, the ODFW's Rogue District wildlife biologist in Central Point. They were young "sub-adults," a male and a female, which were taken to the department's Roseburg office late Tuesday, Vargas said....
Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing. In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable. “I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.” The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country. Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction. Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. And nobody knows why. Researchers say the bees are presumably dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling victim to the cold....
Cow gives birth to triplets Farmer/rancher Bryan Wagner suspected something was unusual when a 5-year-old cow in his herd of about 200 went into labor. It seemed to be having trouble, so Wagner decided to assist. He delivered one calf and discovered there was another in the womb. That's not unusual. Of the 50 or so cows that have calved so far on the Wagner farm, five have given birth to twins. After delivering the second calf, Wagner realized a third one was ready to face the world, too. That's unusual. Veterinarians say the chance of a cow having triplets is anywhere from one in 75,000 to one in 105,000, according to an Internet search on the topic of triplet calves. And the chance of all three thriving is even less likely, these sources reported. Wagner delivered the third calf, too, after turning it around so it came normally - head and front feet first. It was positioned backward in the womb, he said. This is the second time one of Wagner's cows has delivered triplets; the first set came in 1998....
CNFR releases 2007 dates The 58th annual College National Finals Rodeo will be June 10-16 in Casper, Wyo. National titles in saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping and goat tying will be up for grabs. The top three students in each event, and the top two men's and women's teams from the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association's 11 regions will qualify for the CNFR. Students will compete for more than $200,000 in scholarships from the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company. Ticket prices range from $6-$16, and season passes are also available....
Two for Trevor Four-time all-around world champion Trevor Brazile is a big fan of the Tucson Rodeo and rightfully so. Brazile (Decatur, Texas) captured his second consecutive tie-down roping average title at the 82nd annual La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in front of a packed house of 11,000 on Sunday afternoon. Brazile, 30, entered the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Round with over a half a second lead in the average on two and knew a good solid run would be enough to defend his title in Tucson. "The calf I had today, they were 14.7 on yesterday and that wasn't what I wanted to hear when I showed up today," Brazile said. "I knew I had a pretty good cushion so I just went out and made as good of a run as I could." Brazile turned in an 11.1-second run today, which didn't win the round but was enough to secure the title over Doug Pharr (Victoria, Texas). Brazile's final time was 30.6 seconds on three head, while Pharr finished with a total time of 31.3....
San Angel-Ohl Five-time and reigning world champion tie-down roper Cody Ohl entered the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Round at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo knowing if he made a businessman's run, he would win the average title an overall prize totaling more than $6,000. Ohl (Hico, Texas) stopped the clock in 9.3 seconds to finish with a four-head total of 34.1 seconds, capturing the average title. His closest competitors were Scott Kormos, who finished second in 35.2 seconds, and Jerome Schneeberger was third with a 35.3. Schneeberger (Ponca City, Okla.) won the Tour Round, stopping the clock in 8.0 seconds. Ohl left the Concho Valley with $10,041 in earnings, while Kormos added $8,644 to his season total and Schneeberger cashed in for $8,740. The San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo marked the fifth stop on the 2007 Wrangler ProRodeo Tour. This year's Wrangler ProRodeo Tour consists of 21 rodeos from January to August. Contestants will choose 15 out of the 21 rodeos to count toward their official Tour Rodeo count and will compete for money this year versus points as in years past....
Floyd Lee was an old-school rancher Traveling our state's byways and back country over the past 50 years, I've been fortunate to meet a number of memorable New Mexicans who maintained a strong link to the past. One of those was Floyd W. Lee of San Mateo, rancher and for 12 years a New Mexico state senator. Albuquerque-born in 1895, Floyd was an engineering student at The University of New Mexico when the U.S. entered World War I. Joining up, he saw service in Europe with the New Mexico Field Artillery. Returning home after peace was won, Lee went to work for the Fernandez Co.'s vast ranch located near the village of San Mateo, northwest of Grants. This sprawling sheep and cattle operation got its start as a Spanish land grant ceded to Bartolomé Fernandez in 1767. It was acquired from his heirs in the late 1860s by Indian campaigner Col. Manuel Antonio Chaves. Lee worked his way up from cowhand and bronc-buster to become general manager of the ranch, and then through stock acquisitions, he became the owner in 1938. The property had more than 500 miles of boundary and cross fences....
A Wild and Woolly Affair Boy, are we a country with too much free time on our hands. Or should I say, what do a retired tennis pro, PETA, two research scientists and a herd of gay sheep have to do with each other? Plenty, according to the Toronto Star. The paper reports that two researchers - Charles Roselli of Oregon Health and Science University and Fred Stormshak of Oregon State University - have been studying why eight percent of rams prefer to court other rams rather than ewes (not that there's anything wrong with that). The study had been proceeding quietly until fate intervened. You see, two university football players (you're getting ahead of me here) were pulled over for speeding. They'd been drinking. They had, in the bed of their truck, something they'd swiped from the research center - a gay ram. Once a story like that hit the wires, containing it was impossible. Pretty soon, people were asking questions about the research. Then animal rights activists, gay-rights advocates and left-leaning bloggers raised a great hue and cry ("ewe" and cry?) Former tennis star Martina Navratilova kicked off the frenzy. She wrote a letter to both universities demanding they pull the study's funding. She said the research was "homophobic and cruel." She said the money would be better spent promoting acceptance of all sexual preferences. PETA had urged her to write the letter. PETA urged 14,000 other people to voice their complaints, too, and some of them protested and called the researchers Nazis....
Monday, February 26, 2007
New Mexico Surface Owner Bill Headed To House Floor!
From: NMCGA [mailto:nmcga@nmagriculture.org]
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 4:04 PM
Subject: Surface Owner Bill Headed To House Floor!
After literally years of work New Mexico's Surface Owner Protection Act, HB 827, is headed to House Floor. It could be on the floor as early as Wednesday, February 28, 2007.
The measure passed out of House Energy & Natural Resources Committee this morning with no objection after over an hour of discussion and debate.
The original bill is attached as well as the amendments that have been negotiated, agreed upon and adopted as the measure went through its' two (2) House committees. Because 827 is the result of negotiation, it clearly is not the bill that was initiated over two years ago. However, just as clearly it is the strongest surface owner protection law in the country.
There have been two issues, in particular, that have drawn a great deal of concern. Please rest assured that there have been no less than a half dozen lawyers participating in the negotiations every step of the way. We have also sought the advice of other attorneys. We are told that these areas are clearly and carefully addressed.
The first is potential erosion of the Sims vs.. Amoco case which prevents an oil and gas operator from jumping across private property from lease to lease. That private property right is protected in the second set of amendments [2} attached with the following language:
1. On page 2, lines 11 and 12, strike "oil and gas operations are to take place" and insert in lieu thereof "the operator has the legal right to conduct oil and gas operations".
The second area of concern is that this bill will impact the McNeill vs.. Burlington case, which was remanded back to district court by the New Mexico Court of Appeals last fall and has apparently recently been accepted by the New Mexico Supreme Court. The McNeill case, at least thus far, provides the ability for consideration of diminished land value. That issue is addressed by language in the amendment [2] which says:
On page 2, line 23, after "for" strike the remainder of the line and strike line 24 and insert in lieu thereof the following: "damages sustained by the surface owner, as applicable, for loss of agricultural production and income, lost land value, lost use of and lost access to the surface owner's land and lost value of improvements caused by oil and gas operations. The payments contemplated by this section only cover land affected by oil and gas operations.".
We are told that there will be an attempt at floor amendments initiated by a representative employed by the oil and gas industry that will attempt to weaken the Surface Owners Protection Act.
To get this bill passed and moved on to the Senate, we need calls to every member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Every member can be reached by calling 505.986.4600 and asking for the individual representative by name. You can locate a list of all the representatives and their direct phone numbers at: http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/ Go to the "find you legislator" on the upper left side of the page, then to 2007 Office Assignments & Numbers.
You might also want to call and thank Representative Andy Nunez for his support and perseverance in introducing this bill and staying in behind it for three years!
If you have comments or questions, please let us know.
Caren Cowan
Executive Director
New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association
505.247.0584 phone
505.842.1766 fax
www.nmagriculture.org website
nmcga@nmagriculture.org email
From: NMCGA [mailto:nmcga@nmagriculture.org]
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 4:04 PM
Subject: Surface Owner Bill Headed To House Floor!
After literally years of work New Mexico's Surface Owner Protection Act, HB 827, is headed to House Floor. It could be on the floor as early as Wednesday, February 28, 2007.
The measure passed out of House Energy & Natural Resources Committee this morning with no objection after over an hour of discussion and debate.
The original bill is attached as well as the amendments that have been negotiated, agreed upon and adopted as the measure went through its' two (2) House committees. Because 827 is the result of negotiation, it clearly is not the bill that was initiated over two years ago. However, just as clearly it is the strongest surface owner protection law in the country.
There have been two issues, in particular, that have drawn a great deal of concern. Please rest assured that there have been no less than a half dozen lawyers participating in the negotiations every step of the way. We have also sought the advice of other attorneys. We are told that these areas are clearly and carefully addressed.
The first is potential erosion of the Sims vs.. Amoco case which prevents an oil and gas operator from jumping across private property from lease to lease. That private property right is protected in the second set of amendments [2} attached with the following language:
1. On page 2, lines 11 and 12, strike "oil and gas operations are to take place" and insert in lieu thereof "the operator has the legal right to conduct oil and gas operations".
The second area of concern is that this bill will impact the McNeill vs.. Burlington case, which was remanded back to district court by the New Mexico Court of Appeals last fall and has apparently recently been accepted by the New Mexico Supreme Court. The McNeill case, at least thus far, provides the ability for consideration of diminished land value. That issue is addressed by language in the amendment [2] which says:
On page 2, line 23, after "for" strike the remainder of the line and strike line 24 and insert in lieu thereof the following: "damages sustained by the surface owner, as applicable, for loss of agricultural production and income, lost land value, lost use of and lost access to the surface owner's land and lost value of improvements caused by oil and gas operations. The payments contemplated by this section only cover land affected by oil and gas operations.".
We are told that there will be an attempt at floor amendments initiated by a representative employed by the oil and gas industry that will attempt to weaken the Surface Owners Protection Act.
To get this bill passed and moved on to the Senate, we need calls to every member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Every member can be reached by calling 505.986.4600 and asking for the individual representative by name. You can locate a list of all the representatives and their direct phone numbers at: http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/ Go to the "find you legislator" on the upper left side of the page, then to 2007 Office Assignments & Numbers.
You might also want to call and thank Representative Andy Nunez for his support and perseverance in introducing this bill and staying in behind it for three years!
If you have comments or questions, please let us know.
Caren Cowan
Executive Director
New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association
505.247.0584 phone
505.842.1766 fax
www.nmagriculture.org website
nmcga@nmagriculture.org email
Al Gore’s Personal Energy Use Is His Own “Inconvenient Truth”
Gore’s home uses more than 20 times the national average
Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.
Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).
In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.
Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.
Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.
Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.
“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.
In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.
###
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through free market policy solutions.
Gore’s home uses more than 20 times the national average
Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.
Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).
In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.
Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.
Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.
Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.
“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.
In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.
###
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through free market policy solutions.
NEWS ROUNDUP
Gore Wins Hollywood in a Landslide For those of you tuning in the to Academy Awards tonight to see if Al Gore would, 1) win an Oscar for his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and 2) use the platform of the awards ceremony to announce he was running for president -– well yes, the documentary won an Oscar. And no, of course Mr. Gore did not use this platform to announce his candidacy for the White House. Which is not to say his Hollywood audience wouldn’t have been delighted if he had. Mr. Gore received a tumultuous ovation both times he walked onto the stage, once with Leonardo DiCaprio to talk about global warming and later with the producers of the film to accept the award. “You are a true champion of the cause, Mr. Gore,” said Mr. DiCaprio. After Jerry Seinfeld opened the envelope and announced that “An Inconvenient Truth” had won, the director, Davis Guggenheim, handed the statue to Mr. Gore and said: ““All of us were inspired by his fight for 30 years to tell this truth for all of us.”....
Lawmakers Want To Stop Pinon Canyon Expansion Two state lawmakers want to try to stop the Army's proposed expansion of its Pinon Canyon training site by changing the state's eminent domain law. Sen. Ken Kester on Friday said the move is also an attempt to increase pressure on Colorado's U.S. senators to oppose the expansion while in Washington. Colorado law gives the federal government the right to condemn land for certain purposes, like building post offices or court houses. Sponsor Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, said their proposal (House Bill 1069) would bar federal authorities from taking land for use by the military. He said the Army could still buy land but wouldn't be able to use the power of eminent domain to buy from unwilling sellers. "It would just about force them to make an honest deal," said McKinley, a rancher. Kester acknowledged the Army may not have to follow a state law, and said he hopes Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar "turn up the heat" on the Army now that it's moving ahead with a study of the expansion. "It will impress on them how the people of that area feel," said Kester, who represents the five counties included in the possible expansion area....
House endorses livestock compensation board Montana moved one step closer Saturday to establishing a long-awaited board to compensate ranchers who lose livestock to wolves. In a 79-21 vote, the House gave preliminary approval to a bill that would create such a board, although its funding was slashed from $1 million to $50,000 by the House Appropriations Committee last week. "We'll take what we got, and we'll see what we can do with it," said bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Malcolm, R-Emigrant. Montana is required to establish a livestock compensation board under its wolf management plan, which was approved in 2004 by the federal government. Under the state program, ranchers would file claims with the seven-member Livestock Loss Reduction and Mitigation Board, appointed by the governor. Board members would decide whether to pay them the value of animals lost to confirmed or probable wolf kills, and ranchers could appeal board decisions....
American Trails Offers 10 Steps to Help Save Our Outdoors Have you ever thought about the future of trails and greenways in America? 10 steps have been compiled that envision a better quality of life, more livable cities, healthier and fitter adults and children and better stewardship of our land and resources. These 10 Steps to Help Save our Outdoors were brought forth at the opening plenary session of over 550 trail and greenway professionals and advocates at American Trails' 18th National Trails Symposium in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois, October 20, 2006. The leading national Presidential hopefuls were also sent letters prior to the event and were asked to submit their ideas and several of them did. After a long and very eventful discussion, these 10 steps were compiled and have been forwarded to the Members of the 110th Congress, the White House, key agency heads and leaders of the trails community, and the national news media. American Trails is the only national nonprofit association of trail and greenway advocates and professionals who work on behalf of all trail interests. For over two decades, American Trails has served as a forum and a catalyst to improve the quality of life for all Americans by pursuing a national infrastructure of trails and greenways and in this effort has compiled the following 10 Steps to Help Save Our Outdoors....
Ex-Forest Service chief backs most of Clinton-era `roadless rule' Former U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth says he largely supports the amount of acreage targeted by a Clinton-era ban on road construction in national forests. Bosworth, who retired Feb. 2 after a six-year stint as the agency's head, said he thinks about 50 million acres should remain roadless. The 2001 "roadless rule" prohibits logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of wilderness in 38 states and Puerto Rico. "I do believe most roadless areas should remain roadless," Bosworth told The Associated Press before being recognized Saturday night at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's annual convention in Reno. "I believe that most wildlife would benefit from leaving most of those roadless areas roadless." In September, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte reinstated the 2001 rule, and sided with 20 environmental groups and four states - California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington - that had sued the Forest Service. Bosworth said he favored the approach of the Bush administration because it addressed the concerns of many rural residents who thought they were ignored before the 2001 rule was imposed....
Book Chronicles the Federal Government’s GIS Success Stories Standards for Success: GIS for Federal Progress and Accountability recounts how geographic information system (GIS) technology helps United States federal agencies streamline work and save money while tackling diverse projects such as monitoring volcanoes and managing forests. This latest book from ESRI Press presents more than a dozen case studies showing how GIS sped up the analysis process, made sharing information easier, and presented a clearer picture of problems and options to solve them. Standards for Success details how agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) successfully use GIS in aspects of their work that require geospatial analysis. For example, the Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program adopted GIS, in part, to produce maps that show and analyze potentially dangerous volcanoes and hazardous areas such as Mount St. Helen's in Washington. The Forest Service employs GIS to help manage forests on private land. The EPA uses a Web-based GIS tool to map contaminant risks in water supplies. ESRI Government Solutions manager Christopher Thomas edited the book, which is filled with examples of how government organizations turn to GIS for creative solutions to often pressing concerns....
Deaths happened in off-limits area The three snowmobilers caught in an avalanche in the Helena National Forest over the weekend were sledding in an area that is off-limits to motorized travel, forest officials said. Saturday's avalanche killed Brett Toney, 27 and Kris Rains, 26, both of Townsend, and injured Jason Crawford, 27, of Helena. Forest spokeswoman Amy Teegarden said the men were snowmobiling in Birch Creek Basin northwest of Townsend, an area with steep slopes that is closed to motorized travel. The men were driving across a slope and triggered the slab avalanche that roared down on top of them about 12:45 p.m. Saturday. "It's a proposed wilderness area, which is why it's nonmotorized," Teegarden said. She said she was unsure if there would be any citations issued....
Lease sales could exceed 4 billion tons The Bureau of Land Management expects to sell almost 4.4 billion tons of coal under more than 35,000 acres in northeast Wyoming to mining companies over the next five years, an agency official said. In order to meet that level of transactions in the time period, the agency plans to bundle the new land tracts into groups to be analyzed for their environmental impacts on surrounding areas. Mike Karbs, of the BLM's Casper Field Office, said he hopes combining clusters of coal leases into "South Gillette" and "Wright Area" study groups will expedite the process. He was unsure when the environmental studies would be finished but expected preliminary work to be under way by the fall....
Initiative aims to protect wildlife and heritage of energy areas All too often, project proposals to enhance wildlife habitat are slow to fruition because of bureaucratic red-tape and other paper impediments. A new, ambitious initiative to restore and protect wildlife habitat in southwest Wyoming aims to get those projects on the ground a lot faster. The recently-unveiled Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative will rely on the expertise of a host of participating state and federal agencies to ensure the most-needed habitat conservation and enhancement projects achieve tangible, on-the-ground results, officials involved in the effort said. The initiative partners envision those projects could include riparian work, prescribed fire treatments, wildlife friendly fencing, weed control, mechanical treatments such as chaining, raptor nest construction, and the purchase of conservation easements, among others. Wyoming is the main focus of the Bush administration's proposed $22 million Healthy Lands Initiative which aims to conserve wildlife resources and to facilitate responsible energy development across eight Western states....
Bureau proposes phased plan for coal-bed methane Coal-bed methane development on federal holdings in Montana would proceed with closer scrutiny of environmental effects and stepped-up monitoring under a proposal by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The proposal calls for a phased approach to development but does not set hard limits on the number of wells that could be drilled over an estimated 23 years. The BLM has scheduled a series of public hearings on the proposal during the last week of March. The deadline for submitting comments is May 2. The report is a draft supplement to the 2003 Montana statewide oil and gas environmental impact statement prepared jointly by the BLM and the state of Montana. Matt Janowiak, the BLM’s assistant field manager for minerals in the Miles City Field Office, said the supplement updates the 2003 study and includes new material on phased development. A federal magistrate ordered the BLM in April 2005 to study phased development, after finding the statewide study was invalid because it failed to include such an alternative. Drilling on federal minerals has been on hold while the BLM complies with the court order. The preferred alternative, Janowiak said, “makes some very extensive commitments” for monitoring and observing development effects in the region. “We’re going to be watching every step of the way and make adjustments,” he said....
BLM may hear Utah, Wyo.’s views on oil shale regulations A Bureau of Land Management document and regulations that will govern the commercial production of oil shale and tar sands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are nearing completion, but the draft regulations may not be released without Utah and Wyoming officials first having a say about what they think the new regulations should cover. Following the mandate of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the BLM is in the midst of creating an environmental impact statement on its oil shale and tar sands leasing program and writing regulations for how the program will be administered. The environmental impact statement will evaluate the impacts of the BLM’s fledgling tar sands and oil shale program throughout the three states and amend the BLM’s management plans for each area to allow for commercial oil shale and tar sands leasing. The agency’s proposed regulations, which will likely be released in draft form sometime after the draft environmental impact statement later this year, will address a variety of issues, including mineral royalties, said BLM Colorado Solid Minerals Chief Jim Edwards....
Feds deny increased protection for embattled Utah prairie dog The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week ruled that the embattled Utah prairie dog does not currently qualify for maximum protection under the Endangered Species Act. The federal agency on Wednesday published a negative finding on a petition to upgrade the species from "threatened" to "endangered" under the ESA. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the Utah prairie dog's numbers remain stable and "within range of historic fluctuations," and that factors identified by the petitioners amounted to "small, localized impacts" on specific Utah prairie dog populations. “Since the Utah prairie dog is currently listed as a threatened species, it is protected under the Endangered Species Act and benefits from conservation measures and recovery actions afforded by federal protection,” said Mitch King, the Service's Acting Director of the Mountain-Prairie Region. “The Service will continue to monitor the population status, trends and management actions important to the conservation of the Utah prairie dog and we encourage interested parties to continue to gather data that will assist in these conservation efforts,” he added....
Interior secretary views area projects Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the accomplishments by the Bureau of Land Management's Field office in Carlsbad will be held up as a role model for other agencies within his department and communities around the country. Kempthorne arrived in Carlsbad Wednesday night and on Friday visited sites south of Carlsbad to view the local BLM office's restoration and reclamation projects. He said although his department is rolling out the Health Lands Initiative that will allow the BLM in New Mexico to increase the acreage and accelerate the pace of restoration and conservation projects, BLM in Carlsbad is ahead of the game, not only in terms of its landscape level approach, but also in fostering partnerships with the oil and gas industry and agriculture industry, which once were bitter enemies of the BLM....
Melting snow lairs put seal pups in peril Polar bears get fat eating ringed seals, and to avoid that fate, Alaska's smallest pinnipeds dig out snow caves on the sea ice, where they surface to breathe and give birth. Global warming is making that more difficult. Snow is melting sooner on Arctic sea ice, moving up the time when snow lairs dug by ringed seals collapse. For nursing mothers, that means their helpless pups can be left vulnerable to polar bears and foxes, their usual enemies. A collapsed lair leaves pups susceptible to freezing. It even makes them vulnerable to avian predators such as ravens and gulls, which kill by pecking out the pups' eyes and brains. "We're seeing snow melts happening when many of the pups are still dependent on those caves," said Brendan Kelly, a seal and walrus researcher for more than 30 years....
U.S.-Canada ‘salmon war’ treaty to expire Not since the Pig War of 1859 had tensions run as high along the U.S.-Canada border. In 1994, the Canadian government announced a $1,500 fee on U.S. fishing boats headed to Alaska through British Columbia’s “inside passage.” In the United States, there was talk of assessing an oil pollution levy on Canadian tankers transiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Three years later, some 200 Canadian fishing vessels blockaded the Alaskan ferry Malaspina as it tried to leave the harbor at Prince Rupert. Some Canadians were also threatening to cancel the U.S. Navy’s lease of a torpedo test range off Vancouver Island. The fight a decade ago was over fish – Pacific salmon – and in the end a treaty was negotiated that defused the hostilities and ended talk of a salmon war. But that treaty expires at the end of next year. The situation is not as volatile as it was in the 1990s – or in 1859, when the United States and Canada almost came to blows over who owned the San Juan Islands and the only casualty was a pig. But a new treaty could be key to the effort to revive endangered wild salmon stocks on both sides of the border, particularly Puget Sound and Columbia River chinook runs....
Wolf management bill clears committee Attorney General Pat Crank says the latest incarnation of a wolf management bill would send a message to the federal government: "Put up or shut up." Unlike a similar bill that died in a House committee on Wednesday, House Bill 213 cleared the Senate on its first reading on Friday, opening a way for the plan to be considered on the Senate floor in detail on Monday. The bill would provide a way for Wyoming to kill more wolves before they are removed from endangered species protection. But first, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would have to accept the state's terms....
Costly storms THIS WINTER’S twin blizzards are visiting serious economic damages on Southeastern Colorado’s cattle industry. Cattle sales are dwindling because ranchers are having difficulty getting to area sale barns and the cattle are stressed by the snow and subfreezing temperatures. The storms, which made the region a disaster area, hit over the Christmas and New Year’s weekends. John Campbell, an auctioneer at La Junta’s Winter Livestock, paints a bleak picture for cattlemen. “Last year we sold about 24,000 cattle, and this year in January we have sold only 9,000,” he said. Some ranchers haven’t even been able to get to market. “At first,” Mr. Campbell said, “ranchers just couldn’t get out of deep snow, and now that it’s melting they are having trouble getting out of the mud. It has really prohibited people from marketing cattle on a timely basis.” He added, “The cattle are still out there but it has just been a rough go through the normal channels as far as marketing goes.” In addition to the travel woes facing area ranchers, there are fewer head of cattle to sell. While the bovine death toll may take months to total, officials are estimating the loss of about 10,000....
Chapter officials hopeful for local sheep processing plant Cecelia Whitetail Eagle remembers when the Ramah Navajo used to raise over 5,000 head of sheep a year. But after years of drought, the Navajo Nation's forced herd reductions, and a market for lamb that's driven prices as low as 75 cents a pound, the local sheep population has fallen dramatically. When local ranchers take their sheep to auction this October, Eagle, the Ramah Chapter's executive director, figures they'll have fewer than 200 head to sell off. "The numbers have just fallen tremendously," she said. But with some help from the City of Gallup, the State of New Mexico, and a meat processing company out of Moriarty, the chapter hopes to bring the herds of yore back. Western Way Custom Meats wants to open a second plant in Gallup. City officials say it could be up and running within six months....
Ranchers hoping to preserve purity of Texas longhorns Hondo rancher Debbie Davis has no beef with those who want to see their Texas longhorns, well, beefier. Her passion, though, lies with preserving the traditional longhorn breed that survived on little grass and water as it roamed Texas and other parts of the West in the mid-19th century. Davis is president of the Cattlemen's Texas Longhorn Registry. In her view, "a true Texas longhorn is endangered right now." So she's striving to keep the bloodline of the traditional longhorn as pure as possible. The longhorn isn't on any endangered lists. But visit any livestock show and all the competition is between longhorns that have far more heft and girth than the traditional gaunt, rangy animal....
Ostriches give riders unpredictable ride at Date Fest The audience would be hard pressed to find an ostriches with their heads in the sand at the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival. What they do see are a flock of long, strong-legged lovelies with their beaks held high, strutting, no, preening as they shake their plumes before heading to the stage. Actually, it's a mud track in the grandstand arena at the fairgrounds. When a distinguished looking rancher in a vest and white hat, serving as the emcee, announced their names over the loudspeaker, the tall, stately birds came forward with their handlers to rousing applause. These big birds aren't just for show, however. They're here to compete in a decades-old Riverside County Fair tradition - ostrich racing. After their intros, the ostriches took their positions at the starting gate, where awaiting jockeys in striped shirts, jeans and red berets, hauled themselves aboard for a wild ride....
On The Edge of Common Sense - Jack and his dog bed As Phoenix rose from the ashes, so Jack, the bull terrier, was the symbol of hope that rose from the cook shack conflagration. Jack was past his prime, though hard of hearing and losing his sight, he still continued to make the winter trip to Walker's camp in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In spite of the cold he slept outside near the cooking fire in his own dog bed. The night the camp caught on fire it was harrowing. Most of the supplies were lost, plus rifles, saddles, tack and years worth of personal treasures. The next morning the fire had burned itself out. In the deep ashes lay the metal skeletons of tools, utensils, firearms and hardware. Jack had survived. Walker spent most of the morning gathering salvageables and sifting memories. He loaded the horses in the trailer, Jack in the bed of the pickup and slid and slipped down the muddy track to Highway 50. He got out to check his load and saw that Jack had abandoned ship!....
Gore Wins Hollywood in a Landslide For those of you tuning in the to Academy Awards tonight to see if Al Gore would, 1) win an Oscar for his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and 2) use the platform of the awards ceremony to announce he was running for president -– well yes, the documentary won an Oscar. And no, of course Mr. Gore did not use this platform to announce his candidacy for the White House. Which is not to say his Hollywood audience wouldn’t have been delighted if he had. Mr. Gore received a tumultuous ovation both times he walked onto the stage, once with Leonardo DiCaprio to talk about global warming and later with the producers of the film to accept the award. “You are a true champion of the cause, Mr. Gore,” said Mr. DiCaprio. After Jerry Seinfeld opened the envelope and announced that “An Inconvenient Truth” had won, the director, Davis Guggenheim, handed the statue to Mr. Gore and said: ““All of us were inspired by his fight for 30 years to tell this truth for all of us.”....
Lawmakers Want To Stop Pinon Canyon Expansion Two state lawmakers want to try to stop the Army's proposed expansion of its Pinon Canyon training site by changing the state's eminent domain law. Sen. Ken Kester on Friday said the move is also an attempt to increase pressure on Colorado's U.S. senators to oppose the expansion while in Washington. Colorado law gives the federal government the right to condemn land for certain purposes, like building post offices or court houses. Sponsor Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, said their proposal (House Bill 1069) would bar federal authorities from taking land for use by the military. He said the Army could still buy land but wouldn't be able to use the power of eminent domain to buy from unwilling sellers. "It would just about force them to make an honest deal," said McKinley, a rancher. Kester acknowledged the Army may not have to follow a state law, and said he hopes Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar "turn up the heat" on the Army now that it's moving ahead with a study of the expansion. "It will impress on them how the people of that area feel," said Kester, who represents the five counties included in the possible expansion area....
House endorses livestock compensation board Montana moved one step closer Saturday to establishing a long-awaited board to compensate ranchers who lose livestock to wolves. In a 79-21 vote, the House gave preliminary approval to a bill that would create such a board, although its funding was slashed from $1 million to $50,000 by the House Appropriations Committee last week. "We'll take what we got, and we'll see what we can do with it," said bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Malcolm, R-Emigrant. Montana is required to establish a livestock compensation board under its wolf management plan, which was approved in 2004 by the federal government. Under the state program, ranchers would file claims with the seven-member Livestock Loss Reduction and Mitigation Board, appointed by the governor. Board members would decide whether to pay them the value of animals lost to confirmed or probable wolf kills, and ranchers could appeal board decisions....
American Trails Offers 10 Steps to Help Save Our Outdoors Have you ever thought about the future of trails and greenways in America? 10 steps have been compiled that envision a better quality of life, more livable cities, healthier and fitter adults and children and better stewardship of our land and resources. These 10 Steps to Help Save our Outdoors were brought forth at the opening plenary session of over 550 trail and greenway professionals and advocates at American Trails' 18th National Trails Symposium in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois, October 20, 2006. The leading national Presidential hopefuls were also sent letters prior to the event and were asked to submit their ideas and several of them did. After a long and very eventful discussion, these 10 steps were compiled and have been forwarded to the Members of the 110th Congress, the White House, key agency heads and leaders of the trails community, and the national news media. American Trails is the only national nonprofit association of trail and greenway advocates and professionals who work on behalf of all trail interests. For over two decades, American Trails has served as a forum and a catalyst to improve the quality of life for all Americans by pursuing a national infrastructure of trails and greenways and in this effort has compiled the following 10 Steps to Help Save Our Outdoors....
Ex-Forest Service chief backs most of Clinton-era `roadless rule' Former U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth says he largely supports the amount of acreage targeted by a Clinton-era ban on road construction in national forests. Bosworth, who retired Feb. 2 after a six-year stint as the agency's head, said he thinks about 50 million acres should remain roadless. The 2001 "roadless rule" prohibits logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of wilderness in 38 states and Puerto Rico. "I do believe most roadless areas should remain roadless," Bosworth told The Associated Press before being recognized Saturday night at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's annual convention in Reno. "I believe that most wildlife would benefit from leaving most of those roadless areas roadless." In September, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte reinstated the 2001 rule, and sided with 20 environmental groups and four states - California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington - that had sued the Forest Service. Bosworth said he favored the approach of the Bush administration because it addressed the concerns of many rural residents who thought they were ignored before the 2001 rule was imposed....
Book Chronicles the Federal Government’s GIS Success Stories Standards for Success: GIS for Federal Progress and Accountability recounts how geographic information system (GIS) technology helps United States federal agencies streamline work and save money while tackling diverse projects such as monitoring volcanoes and managing forests. This latest book from ESRI Press presents more than a dozen case studies showing how GIS sped up the analysis process, made sharing information easier, and presented a clearer picture of problems and options to solve them. Standards for Success details how agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) successfully use GIS in aspects of their work that require geospatial analysis. For example, the Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program adopted GIS, in part, to produce maps that show and analyze potentially dangerous volcanoes and hazardous areas such as Mount St. Helen's in Washington. The Forest Service employs GIS to help manage forests on private land. The EPA uses a Web-based GIS tool to map contaminant risks in water supplies. ESRI Government Solutions manager Christopher Thomas edited the book, which is filled with examples of how government organizations turn to GIS for creative solutions to often pressing concerns....
Deaths happened in off-limits area The three snowmobilers caught in an avalanche in the Helena National Forest over the weekend were sledding in an area that is off-limits to motorized travel, forest officials said. Saturday's avalanche killed Brett Toney, 27 and Kris Rains, 26, both of Townsend, and injured Jason Crawford, 27, of Helena. Forest spokeswoman Amy Teegarden said the men were snowmobiling in Birch Creek Basin northwest of Townsend, an area with steep slopes that is closed to motorized travel. The men were driving across a slope and triggered the slab avalanche that roared down on top of them about 12:45 p.m. Saturday. "It's a proposed wilderness area, which is why it's nonmotorized," Teegarden said. She said she was unsure if there would be any citations issued....
Lease sales could exceed 4 billion tons The Bureau of Land Management expects to sell almost 4.4 billion tons of coal under more than 35,000 acres in northeast Wyoming to mining companies over the next five years, an agency official said. In order to meet that level of transactions in the time period, the agency plans to bundle the new land tracts into groups to be analyzed for their environmental impacts on surrounding areas. Mike Karbs, of the BLM's Casper Field Office, said he hopes combining clusters of coal leases into "South Gillette" and "Wright Area" study groups will expedite the process. He was unsure when the environmental studies would be finished but expected preliminary work to be under way by the fall....
Initiative aims to protect wildlife and heritage of energy areas All too often, project proposals to enhance wildlife habitat are slow to fruition because of bureaucratic red-tape and other paper impediments. A new, ambitious initiative to restore and protect wildlife habitat in southwest Wyoming aims to get those projects on the ground a lot faster. The recently-unveiled Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative will rely on the expertise of a host of participating state and federal agencies to ensure the most-needed habitat conservation and enhancement projects achieve tangible, on-the-ground results, officials involved in the effort said. The initiative partners envision those projects could include riparian work, prescribed fire treatments, wildlife friendly fencing, weed control, mechanical treatments such as chaining, raptor nest construction, and the purchase of conservation easements, among others. Wyoming is the main focus of the Bush administration's proposed $22 million Healthy Lands Initiative which aims to conserve wildlife resources and to facilitate responsible energy development across eight Western states....
Bureau proposes phased plan for coal-bed methane Coal-bed methane development on federal holdings in Montana would proceed with closer scrutiny of environmental effects and stepped-up monitoring under a proposal by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The proposal calls for a phased approach to development but does not set hard limits on the number of wells that could be drilled over an estimated 23 years. The BLM has scheduled a series of public hearings on the proposal during the last week of March. The deadline for submitting comments is May 2. The report is a draft supplement to the 2003 Montana statewide oil and gas environmental impact statement prepared jointly by the BLM and the state of Montana. Matt Janowiak, the BLM’s assistant field manager for minerals in the Miles City Field Office, said the supplement updates the 2003 study and includes new material on phased development. A federal magistrate ordered the BLM in April 2005 to study phased development, after finding the statewide study was invalid because it failed to include such an alternative. Drilling on federal minerals has been on hold while the BLM complies with the court order. The preferred alternative, Janowiak said, “makes some very extensive commitments” for monitoring and observing development effects in the region. “We’re going to be watching every step of the way and make adjustments,” he said....
BLM may hear Utah, Wyo.’s views on oil shale regulations A Bureau of Land Management document and regulations that will govern the commercial production of oil shale and tar sands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are nearing completion, but the draft regulations may not be released without Utah and Wyoming officials first having a say about what they think the new regulations should cover. Following the mandate of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the BLM is in the midst of creating an environmental impact statement on its oil shale and tar sands leasing program and writing regulations for how the program will be administered. The environmental impact statement will evaluate the impacts of the BLM’s fledgling tar sands and oil shale program throughout the three states and amend the BLM’s management plans for each area to allow for commercial oil shale and tar sands leasing. The agency’s proposed regulations, which will likely be released in draft form sometime after the draft environmental impact statement later this year, will address a variety of issues, including mineral royalties, said BLM Colorado Solid Minerals Chief Jim Edwards....
Feds deny increased protection for embattled Utah prairie dog The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week ruled that the embattled Utah prairie dog does not currently qualify for maximum protection under the Endangered Species Act. The federal agency on Wednesday published a negative finding on a petition to upgrade the species from "threatened" to "endangered" under the ESA. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the Utah prairie dog's numbers remain stable and "within range of historic fluctuations," and that factors identified by the petitioners amounted to "small, localized impacts" on specific Utah prairie dog populations. “Since the Utah prairie dog is currently listed as a threatened species, it is protected under the Endangered Species Act and benefits from conservation measures and recovery actions afforded by federal protection,” said Mitch King, the Service's Acting Director of the Mountain-Prairie Region. “The Service will continue to monitor the population status, trends and management actions important to the conservation of the Utah prairie dog and we encourage interested parties to continue to gather data that will assist in these conservation efforts,” he added....
Interior secretary views area projects Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the accomplishments by the Bureau of Land Management's Field office in Carlsbad will be held up as a role model for other agencies within his department and communities around the country. Kempthorne arrived in Carlsbad Wednesday night and on Friday visited sites south of Carlsbad to view the local BLM office's restoration and reclamation projects. He said although his department is rolling out the Health Lands Initiative that will allow the BLM in New Mexico to increase the acreage and accelerate the pace of restoration and conservation projects, BLM in Carlsbad is ahead of the game, not only in terms of its landscape level approach, but also in fostering partnerships with the oil and gas industry and agriculture industry, which once were bitter enemies of the BLM....
Melting snow lairs put seal pups in peril Polar bears get fat eating ringed seals, and to avoid that fate, Alaska's smallest pinnipeds dig out snow caves on the sea ice, where they surface to breathe and give birth. Global warming is making that more difficult. Snow is melting sooner on Arctic sea ice, moving up the time when snow lairs dug by ringed seals collapse. For nursing mothers, that means their helpless pups can be left vulnerable to polar bears and foxes, their usual enemies. A collapsed lair leaves pups susceptible to freezing. It even makes them vulnerable to avian predators such as ravens and gulls, which kill by pecking out the pups' eyes and brains. "We're seeing snow melts happening when many of the pups are still dependent on those caves," said Brendan Kelly, a seal and walrus researcher for more than 30 years....
U.S.-Canada ‘salmon war’ treaty to expire Not since the Pig War of 1859 had tensions run as high along the U.S.-Canada border. In 1994, the Canadian government announced a $1,500 fee on U.S. fishing boats headed to Alaska through British Columbia’s “inside passage.” In the United States, there was talk of assessing an oil pollution levy on Canadian tankers transiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Three years later, some 200 Canadian fishing vessels blockaded the Alaskan ferry Malaspina as it tried to leave the harbor at Prince Rupert. Some Canadians were also threatening to cancel the U.S. Navy’s lease of a torpedo test range off Vancouver Island. The fight a decade ago was over fish – Pacific salmon – and in the end a treaty was negotiated that defused the hostilities and ended talk of a salmon war. But that treaty expires at the end of next year. The situation is not as volatile as it was in the 1990s – or in 1859, when the United States and Canada almost came to blows over who owned the San Juan Islands and the only casualty was a pig. But a new treaty could be key to the effort to revive endangered wild salmon stocks on both sides of the border, particularly Puget Sound and Columbia River chinook runs....
Wolf management bill clears committee Attorney General Pat Crank says the latest incarnation of a wolf management bill would send a message to the federal government: "Put up or shut up." Unlike a similar bill that died in a House committee on Wednesday, House Bill 213 cleared the Senate on its first reading on Friday, opening a way for the plan to be considered on the Senate floor in detail on Monday. The bill would provide a way for Wyoming to kill more wolves before they are removed from endangered species protection. But first, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would have to accept the state's terms....
Costly storms THIS WINTER’S twin blizzards are visiting serious economic damages on Southeastern Colorado’s cattle industry. Cattle sales are dwindling because ranchers are having difficulty getting to area sale barns and the cattle are stressed by the snow and subfreezing temperatures. The storms, which made the region a disaster area, hit over the Christmas and New Year’s weekends. John Campbell, an auctioneer at La Junta’s Winter Livestock, paints a bleak picture for cattlemen. “Last year we sold about 24,000 cattle, and this year in January we have sold only 9,000,” he said. Some ranchers haven’t even been able to get to market. “At first,” Mr. Campbell said, “ranchers just couldn’t get out of deep snow, and now that it’s melting they are having trouble getting out of the mud. It has really prohibited people from marketing cattle on a timely basis.” He added, “The cattle are still out there but it has just been a rough go through the normal channels as far as marketing goes.” In addition to the travel woes facing area ranchers, there are fewer head of cattle to sell. While the bovine death toll may take months to total, officials are estimating the loss of about 10,000....
Chapter officials hopeful for local sheep processing plant Cecelia Whitetail Eagle remembers when the Ramah Navajo used to raise over 5,000 head of sheep a year. But after years of drought, the Navajo Nation's forced herd reductions, and a market for lamb that's driven prices as low as 75 cents a pound, the local sheep population has fallen dramatically. When local ranchers take their sheep to auction this October, Eagle, the Ramah Chapter's executive director, figures they'll have fewer than 200 head to sell off. "The numbers have just fallen tremendously," she said. But with some help from the City of Gallup, the State of New Mexico, and a meat processing company out of Moriarty, the chapter hopes to bring the herds of yore back. Western Way Custom Meats wants to open a second plant in Gallup. City officials say it could be up and running within six months....
Ranchers hoping to preserve purity of Texas longhorns Hondo rancher Debbie Davis has no beef with those who want to see their Texas longhorns, well, beefier. Her passion, though, lies with preserving the traditional longhorn breed that survived on little grass and water as it roamed Texas and other parts of the West in the mid-19th century. Davis is president of the Cattlemen's Texas Longhorn Registry. In her view, "a true Texas longhorn is endangered right now." So she's striving to keep the bloodline of the traditional longhorn as pure as possible. The longhorn isn't on any endangered lists. But visit any livestock show and all the competition is between longhorns that have far more heft and girth than the traditional gaunt, rangy animal....
Ostriches give riders unpredictable ride at Date Fest The audience would be hard pressed to find an ostriches with their heads in the sand at the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival. What they do see are a flock of long, strong-legged lovelies with their beaks held high, strutting, no, preening as they shake their plumes before heading to the stage. Actually, it's a mud track in the grandstand arena at the fairgrounds. When a distinguished looking rancher in a vest and white hat, serving as the emcee, announced their names over the loudspeaker, the tall, stately birds came forward with their handlers to rousing applause. These big birds aren't just for show, however. They're here to compete in a decades-old Riverside County Fair tradition - ostrich racing. After their intros, the ostriches took their positions at the starting gate, where awaiting jockeys in striped shirts, jeans and red berets, hauled themselves aboard for a wild ride....
On The Edge of Common Sense - Jack and his dog bed As Phoenix rose from the ashes, so Jack, the bull terrier, was the symbol of hope that rose from the cook shack conflagration. Jack was past his prime, though hard of hearing and losing his sight, he still continued to make the winter trip to Walker's camp in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In spite of the cold he slept outside near the cooking fire in his own dog bed. The night the camp caught on fire it was harrowing. Most of the supplies were lost, plus rifles, saddles, tack and years worth of personal treasures. The next morning the fire had burned itself out. In the deep ashes lay the metal skeletons of tools, utensils, firearms and hardware. Jack had survived. Walker spent most of the morning gathering salvageables and sifting memories. He loaded the horses in the trailer, Jack in the bed of the pickup and slid and slipped down the muddy track to Highway 50. He got out to check his load and saw that Jack had abandoned ship!....
Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Wall Street cowboy
By Julie Carter
Cowboys are philosophers. Even Gus and Woodrow of Lonesome Dove fame were known to "talk a little philosophy" from time to time.
Maybe it's the solitary work days and time they have to think things over. The more serious ones are planners. NASA can get a space shuttle launched with less planning than many ranchers put forth before a big spring branding.
When Rocky's dad called him home from the feedlot, the news was bad and good. The bad news floored Rocky. Dad had sold the ranch. The good news had the same effect - Rocky now had a pile of money.
Rocky understood almost all aspects of the cattle business, but that association didn't often leave him with many dollars to tend. He decided to talk with his good friend, Tex, who was also sometimes his roping partner, a top hand, good cattle manager, good money manager and an ace horse trader.
Tex took a deep seat on the porch and prepared to share his philosophy on money.
"You want to know what an asset manager is?" Tex began. "Remember when we were rodeoing and Wes always held our entry fees and gas money so we didn't spend it foolishly? Wes was our asset manager."
"What's a mutual fund?" continued Tex. "You remember when you, Wes, and I partnered on that bunch of colts? We each had a set to break then we were going to sell them all together. We knew that if one colt turned out to be an outlaw and we lost money on him, likely one of the others would be a little extra special and would sell for more than average and it would balance out the loss. That's a mutual fund."
Tex recalled that Wes again handled the money - dealing with the bank and brokering the sale of the colts. "That made him the fund manager," he said. "He got a little extra off the top for handling the paperwork."
"And a bond," explained Tex, "ain't nothing more than a loan. I could loan you some money, you would give me an I.O.U. that said you would pay me back at some certain time, plus interest. You would pay me a little bit along the way so I could keep up with my bills and then pay it all at the end of our deal."
Tex gave Rocky a run down of annuities, equities and a number of other financial terms and related it all back to horse trading. He and Rocky decided that Wall Street people must have, at some point, been horse traders, too, and just fancied up their vocabulary for the city folks.
After Rocky felt a little more comfortable about handling his newfound wealth, he and Tex settled back to ponder thoughts about why his dad had sold the ranch.
Although the ranch has always supplied a steady income, some years better than others, it more dependably supplied a steady supply of work.
With his newfound money-planning knowledge, Rocky could already see that the profit margins on some investments were going to far out-distance his former ranch income.
That realization somewhat soothed the sadness for the ever-changing landscape in the world of family ranching.
Besides, Rocky was pretty sure Wall Street could always use another horse trader - one with a direct look and the firm handshake of a cowboy.
© Julie Carter 2007
Is Environmentalism Hazardous To Your Health?
By Frank DuBois
Yes says John Berlau in his new book Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazardous To Your Health.
I’m pleased Mr. Berlau’s publisher sent me this book to review. I thought I was pretty well up on the environmental issues we face, but Mr. Berlau has shown me there were many gaps in my self-proclaimed knowledge.
Take DDT for instance. I had no idea this stuff had been around since the 1870’s. Nor was I aware of the important role it had played in protecting our American troops in WWII from malaria and typhus.
In 1943 our troops had a established a beachhead at Salerno in Mussolini’s Italy, but our generals were warned of an outbreak of typhus in Naples. As Mr. Berlau writes:
The lowly typhus-spreading louse had stopped or delayed military advances in previous wars. And the generals know that a typhus epidemic had never been stopped in the dead of winter. Medical professionals had to wait until March or April for the lice to die out.
But the siege of Italy couldn’t wait, so Brig. Gen. Leon Fox set up an ambitious program to put to work America’s new secret agent of life: DDT. As the soldiers entered Naples, the army also brought gallons and gallons of DDT powder. They spray-dusted the streets, buildings, and even the people. Over one million citizens of Naples were dusted in January of 1944. In places like train stations, US troops sprayed DDT on the people of Naples from their shirt collars down to their shoes. Troops would also spray DDT on themselves in Naples and many other places. By mid-February the typhus epidemic was completely licked, saving not only our troops, but millions of Italian citizens as well. Gladwell writes that the Naples dusting ‘sav[ed] countless lives,’…
Mr. Berlau goes on to show how DDT rescued many holocaust survivors, saved habitat for the northern spotted owl and on balance increased the population of many birds.
Similar myth-busting facts and studies are presented in chapters on asbestos, the automobile, forest management, hurricane Katrina and our future under environmentalism.
Mr. Berlau has been a media fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and in 2002 was awarded the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism by the National Press Club. This book is well-written and well-documented and should be read by all interested in environmental issues.
Now we just need someone with Mr. Berlau’s talent to educate the public on livestock grazing, wilderness, endangered species and clean air and water.
By Julie Carter
Cowboys are philosophers. Even Gus and Woodrow of Lonesome Dove fame were known to "talk a little philosophy" from time to time.
Maybe it's the solitary work days and time they have to think things over. The more serious ones are planners. NASA can get a space shuttle launched with less planning than many ranchers put forth before a big spring branding.
When Rocky's dad called him home from the feedlot, the news was bad and good. The bad news floored Rocky. Dad had sold the ranch. The good news had the same effect - Rocky now had a pile of money.
Rocky understood almost all aspects of the cattle business, but that association didn't often leave him with many dollars to tend. He decided to talk with his good friend, Tex, who was also sometimes his roping partner, a top hand, good cattle manager, good money manager and an ace horse trader.
Tex took a deep seat on the porch and prepared to share his philosophy on money.
"You want to know what an asset manager is?" Tex began. "Remember when we were rodeoing and Wes always held our entry fees and gas money so we didn't spend it foolishly? Wes was our asset manager."
"What's a mutual fund?" continued Tex. "You remember when you, Wes, and I partnered on that bunch of colts? We each had a set to break then we were going to sell them all together. We knew that if one colt turned out to be an outlaw and we lost money on him, likely one of the others would be a little extra special and would sell for more than average and it would balance out the loss. That's a mutual fund."
Tex recalled that Wes again handled the money - dealing with the bank and brokering the sale of the colts. "That made him the fund manager," he said. "He got a little extra off the top for handling the paperwork."
"And a bond," explained Tex, "ain't nothing more than a loan. I could loan you some money, you would give me an I.O.U. that said you would pay me back at some certain time, plus interest. You would pay me a little bit along the way so I could keep up with my bills and then pay it all at the end of our deal."
Tex gave Rocky a run down of annuities, equities and a number of other financial terms and related it all back to horse trading. He and Rocky decided that Wall Street people must have, at some point, been horse traders, too, and just fancied up their vocabulary for the city folks.
After Rocky felt a little more comfortable about handling his newfound wealth, he and Tex settled back to ponder thoughts about why his dad had sold the ranch.
Although the ranch has always supplied a steady income, some years better than others, it more dependably supplied a steady supply of work.
With his newfound money-planning knowledge, Rocky could already see that the profit margins on some investments were going to far out-distance his former ranch income.
That realization somewhat soothed the sadness for the ever-changing landscape in the world of family ranching.
Besides, Rocky was pretty sure Wall Street could always use another horse trader - one with a direct look and the firm handshake of a cowboy.
© Julie Carter 2007
Is Environmentalism Hazardous To Your Health?
By Frank DuBois
Yes says John Berlau in his new book Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazardous To Your Health.
I’m pleased Mr. Berlau’s publisher sent me this book to review. I thought I was pretty well up on the environmental issues we face, but Mr. Berlau has shown me there were many gaps in my self-proclaimed knowledge.
Take DDT for instance. I had no idea this stuff had been around since the 1870’s. Nor was I aware of the important role it had played in protecting our American troops in WWII from malaria and typhus.
In 1943 our troops had a established a beachhead at Salerno in Mussolini’s Italy, but our generals were warned of an outbreak of typhus in Naples. As Mr. Berlau writes:
The lowly typhus-spreading louse had stopped or delayed military advances in previous wars. And the generals know that a typhus epidemic had never been stopped in the dead of winter. Medical professionals had to wait until March or April for the lice to die out.
But the siege of Italy couldn’t wait, so Brig. Gen. Leon Fox set up an ambitious program to put to work America’s new secret agent of life: DDT. As the soldiers entered Naples, the army also brought gallons and gallons of DDT powder. They spray-dusted the streets, buildings, and even the people. Over one million citizens of Naples were dusted in January of 1944. In places like train stations, US troops sprayed DDT on the people of Naples from their shirt collars down to their shoes. Troops would also spray DDT on themselves in Naples and many other places. By mid-February the typhus epidemic was completely licked, saving not only our troops, but millions of Italian citizens as well. Gladwell writes that the Naples dusting ‘sav[ed] countless lives,’…
Mr. Berlau goes on to show how DDT rescued many holocaust survivors, saved habitat for the northern spotted owl and on balance increased the population of many birds.
Similar myth-busting facts and studies are presented in chapters on asbestos, the automobile, forest management, hurricane Katrina and our future under environmentalism.
Mr. Berlau has been a media fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and in 2002 was awarded the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism by the National Press Club. This book is well-written and well-documented and should be read by all interested in environmental issues.
Now we just need someone with Mr. Berlau’s talent to educate the public on livestock grazing, wilderness, endangered species and clean air and water.
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Private Property Rights Under Fire in Missouri
It's hard to top the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. New London, which enabled government officials to seize homes and businesses and transfer the land to private developers who stood to profit by them. But Missouri has managed to make things worse. A state law allows nonprofit organizations to take private land for their own private uses — without paying the owners a dime. And on Feb. 7 the Missouri Court of Appeals refused even to consider whether the law is constitutional. Passed in the 1990s, the little-known statute allows nonprofit organizations to ask judges to condemn property if it has been unoccupied for six months, if the taxes are delinquent and if the property is a "nuisance" that the nonprofit organization intends to "rehabilitate." The law also defines "nuisance" as including property that is "blighted" — a term so vague that Missouri officials can take aim at virtually any property they want. When Charles Lasby of Kansas City died in 2002, he owed back taxes on his home. Two years later, the House Rescue Corp., a nonprofit group that claims to fix up abandoned houses, petitioned the government to take the land. Since House Rescue didn't notify Lasby's heirs, they sold the property in May 2005. But that was five months after a court had allowed House Rescue to take the property — for free. When the mix-up was discovered, the court ordered Karl Thomas, who had bought the home and paid the back taxes, to stop fixing it. Thomas argued that the law allowing nonprofits to take land violated the state and federal constitutions, but the court ruled against him. He filed an appeal, but only 48 hours later the Court of Appeals rejected his plea without explanation....
Here Come the Mandatory Carbon Limits!
Living in a carbon constrained world looks inevitable. Congress will be voting on a number of proposals to set limits on the emission of greenhouse gases later this year. So industrialists see the policy handwriting on the wall and are now rushing to help shape the emerging greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions regulatory scheme. In January the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, consisting of 10 big companies including DuPont, Alcoa, General Electric and Duke Energy, issued a "blueprint for a mandatory economy-wide, market-driven approach to climate protection." Also in January, the Electric Power Supply Association, the lobby group that represents the competitive power suppliers that account for 40 percent of the generating capacity of the U.S., acknowledged that "regulatory and legislative processes are moving forward seriously and with speed." The EPSA declared it "supports enactment of comprehensive, mandatory federal legislation to require steps to minimize the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment." And last week, the broader electricity lobby group, the Edison Electric Institute, came out in favor of "federal action or legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that ...involves all sectors of the economy, and all sources of GHG." Even the environmental lobbyists' favorite climate change whipping boy, Exxon Mobil, seems to be coming around to the idea that the Feds should act to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Industry wants the Feds to establish a nation-wide and industry-wide cap-and-trade market in greenhouse gas emissions, especially a market for carbon dioxide emissions. The proposals all also call for substantial federal subsidies for research and development of new low- and no-carbon energy technologies. All acknowledge that there are no currently available "silver bullet" energy technologies to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Any reductions in GHG emissions will have to be accomplished with a mix of increased energy efficiency in buildings and appliances, expanded nuclear power generation, a switch to hybrid vehicles, more energy from renewable sources, and, here's the big one, some kind of cost-effective technology to bury carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels....
US Doing Better Than its Kyoto Critics on CO2, Expert Says
Contrary to the widely held view, the United States is not "going it alone" in resisting the Kyoto Protocol's "energy rationing scheme," according to an expert on global warming treaties. Washington's reticence is shared by policymakers in 150 other nations, representing a majority of the world's population, Christopher Horner, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) said Thursday. Moreover, the same European critics who accuse the U.S. of unilateralism have failed to meet their own Kyoto targets, Horner told a meeting at the Heritage Foundation. The 1997 Kyoto treaty requires signatory nations to set limits on the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other "greenhouse gases" blamed for climate change, by an average of five percent by 2012. The 15 European nations participating at the time - the so-called E.U.-15 - made a commitment to collectively reduce their emissions to the point where they would be eight percent lower than 1990 levels. Since the treaty went into effect, however, Europe's CO2 emissions have increased quite substantially - and at a rate three times faster than America's - Horner said. At the same time, Kyoto-related regulations have led to higher energy costs for E.U.-15 citizens....
Tilting at Wind Energy
Whenever anybody starts talking about how we can solve our energy problems and end oil imports, they always end up talking about windmills. Wind is indeed the fastest growing form of energy generation in the U.S., expanding at a brisk 25 percent a year. Installed capacity now stands at 11,500 megawatts (MW) -- the equivalent of ten or twelve standard nuclear or coal plants. Huge projects are popping up everywhere -- driven by tax incentives and state demands for "renewable energy portfolio." What's interesting is that these projects are now beginning to run into their own environmental opposition. It's not hard to see why. The standard 1.5 MW structure is now 40 stories, taller than the statue of liberty. The 3 MW towers waiting in the wings are as tall as New York's Citicorp Center, the third tallest building in Manhattan. In the Midwest these giant structures are being located on farms, where landowners can collect a few thousand dollars rent a year. On the East and West Coasts, however, the best place is on mountaintops since -- according to Bernoulli's Principle -- the wind always accelerates as it as it is funneled through a narrower space. That means mountaintops all along the Alleghenies, in upper New York State, and in Washington and Oregon are being decorated with little distant pinwheels that make the landscape look like a carnival...But the real question about windmills is whether they are producing any useful electricity at all. A modern electrical grid is a very delicately balanced high-wire act. Supply and demand must be kept in balance at all times. The National Electrical Reliability Council estimates that voltage levels can vary about 5 percent before trouble begins. Computer geeks talk about the "high 9's," meaning current must remain consistent within a range of 99.9999 percent to avoid erasing data. In Digital Power, Peter Huber and Mark Mills report, "Some years ago, a Stanford computer center found its power fatally polluted by an arc furnace over one hundred miles away." As the Industry Standard once put it: "Blips as brief as 1/60th of a second can zap computers and other electronic gear, and blackouts can be catastrophic." The problem with wind energy is that it is always fluctuating. The physics of windmills make it worse because output varies with the cube of the velocity. A 20 percent increase in wind speed will double output in a few minutes. Under these circumstances, large numbers of windmills are viewed by grid operators more as a liability than an asset....
Global Warming? Journalism? Don't Make Me Laugh!
At the heart of what is wrong with journalism today is that legions of journalists will stand shoulder to shoulder for the sole purpose of deriding any "global warming skeptic" rather than wonder for a second how the "news" of a coming Ice Age in the 1970s became the "news" of Global Warming in the 1980s. I am reminded of this daily as I read newspapers and news magazines in which various reporters blithely and deliberately inform the reader that all questions regarding the existence of global warming have been answered, that the science is beyond doubt, and that the cause is the production of greenhouse gases, largely from industry, transportation, and other human activities. This is not merely an error. It is a complete deception the journalists have joined. They have ceased to be skeptical. They want you to stop being skeptical despite all evidence to the contrary. "Global Warming, as we think we know it, doesn't exist," says Dr. Timothy Ball. He has Ph.D. in climatology, having earned his degree from the University of London, England, and taught for many years at the University of Winnipeg. A Google search of his name turns up a plethora of posts attacking him, always a sure sign that the Greens feel threatened by an outspoken scientist. The quote below explains why: "Believe it or not, Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). This in fact is the greatest deception in the history of science." Dr. Ball is hardly alone in his views. Dr. Richard Lindzen, an atmospheric physicist and a professor of meteorology at MIT, as well as a member of the National Academy of Science, has said of Global Warming that, "the consensus was reached before the research had even begun."....
The REAL ID Act: Ill-Considered
When Congress passed the REAL ID Act, it had not had a hearing on that bill in either the House or the Senate. Bad process leads to bad results, and that is what you see in the REAL ID Act. In May 2005, Congress passed REAL ID by stripping out and replacing identification provisions in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act that had been passed just the December before, in response to the report of the 9/11 Commission. The law that the REAL ID Act replaced had established a negotiated rulemaking committee in which state motor vehicle administrators, privacy experts, and federal representatives were to negotiate about how to do drivers license security. The ill-considered REAL ID Act has created many problems:
* According to the National Conference of State Legislators, states across the country will have to spend 11 billion dollars in the first five years if they implement REAL ID. The costs to Utah alone apparently reach into the hundreds of millions.
* It may be very difficult, if not impossible, for many of your residents to get these federally standardized driver's licenses Utah complies with REAL ID. Everyone will have to return to the DMV and wait in long lines, perhaps to learn that they don't qualify for the new license.
* Then there are the costs to your citizens' privacy. Compliance with the REAL ID Act would require Utah to capture digital images of drivers and keep digital copies of documents like their birth certificates. It would require you to put our drivers' information in a database that is accessible nationwide. A corrupt official anywhere in the country might be able to access this personal information about Utah drivers and residents. This threatens your citizens with identity fraud because it will contain all the information criminals need to open bank accounts and credit card accounts in their names, and maybe worse.
This national ID system will not provide the protections against terrorism that the law's backers claim. Identity systems are subject to both physical and logical avoidance. Wrongdoers can either avoid controlled borders and checkpoints, or they can enter the country or obtain documents legally, as the 9/11 attackers, for the most part, did. Of course, terrorists do not only come from foreign countries, as we know well from the Oklahoma City bombing ten years ago. This national ID system might make it harder for illegal immigrants to access our society, but it will also drive many of them deeper into criminality. Identity fraud would increase as people in this country illegally obtained more extensive documentation in order to work. I don't think you solve the illegal immigration problem by putting a national ID in the hands of the law abiding, native-born citizen. Congress needs to fix immigration law, not compound the problem by turning its enforcement efforts toward surveillance of the law-abiding citizen worker....
Private Property Rights Under Fire in Missouri
It's hard to top the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. New London, which enabled government officials to seize homes and businesses and transfer the land to private developers who stood to profit by them. But Missouri has managed to make things worse. A state law allows nonprofit organizations to take private land for their own private uses — without paying the owners a dime. And on Feb. 7 the Missouri Court of Appeals refused even to consider whether the law is constitutional. Passed in the 1990s, the little-known statute allows nonprofit organizations to ask judges to condemn property if it has been unoccupied for six months, if the taxes are delinquent and if the property is a "nuisance" that the nonprofit organization intends to "rehabilitate." The law also defines "nuisance" as including property that is "blighted" — a term so vague that Missouri officials can take aim at virtually any property they want. When Charles Lasby of Kansas City died in 2002, he owed back taxes on his home. Two years later, the House Rescue Corp., a nonprofit group that claims to fix up abandoned houses, petitioned the government to take the land. Since House Rescue didn't notify Lasby's heirs, they sold the property in May 2005. But that was five months after a court had allowed House Rescue to take the property — for free. When the mix-up was discovered, the court ordered Karl Thomas, who had bought the home and paid the back taxes, to stop fixing it. Thomas argued that the law allowing nonprofits to take land violated the state and federal constitutions, but the court ruled against him. He filed an appeal, but only 48 hours later the Court of Appeals rejected his plea without explanation....
Here Come the Mandatory Carbon Limits!
Living in a carbon constrained world looks inevitable. Congress will be voting on a number of proposals to set limits on the emission of greenhouse gases later this year. So industrialists see the policy handwriting on the wall and are now rushing to help shape the emerging greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions regulatory scheme. In January the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, consisting of 10 big companies including DuPont, Alcoa, General Electric and Duke Energy, issued a "blueprint for a mandatory economy-wide, market-driven approach to climate protection." Also in January, the Electric Power Supply Association, the lobby group that represents the competitive power suppliers that account for 40 percent of the generating capacity of the U.S., acknowledged that "regulatory and legislative processes are moving forward seriously and with speed." The EPSA declared it "supports enactment of comprehensive, mandatory federal legislation to require steps to minimize the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment." And last week, the broader electricity lobby group, the Edison Electric Institute, came out in favor of "federal action or legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that ...involves all sectors of the economy, and all sources of GHG." Even the environmental lobbyists' favorite climate change whipping boy, Exxon Mobil, seems to be coming around to the idea that the Feds should act to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Industry wants the Feds to establish a nation-wide and industry-wide cap-and-trade market in greenhouse gas emissions, especially a market for carbon dioxide emissions. The proposals all also call for substantial federal subsidies for research and development of new low- and no-carbon energy technologies. All acknowledge that there are no currently available "silver bullet" energy technologies to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Any reductions in GHG emissions will have to be accomplished with a mix of increased energy efficiency in buildings and appliances, expanded nuclear power generation, a switch to hybrid vehicles, more energy from renewable sources, and, here's the big one, some kind of cost-effective technology to bury carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels....
US Doing Better Than its Kyoto Critics on CO2, Expert Says
Contrary to the widely held view, the United States is not "going it alone" in resisting the Kyoto Protocol's "energy rationing scheme," according to an expert on global warming treaties. Washington's reticence is shared by policymakers in 150 other nations, representing a majority of the world's population, Christopher Horner, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) said Thursday. Moreover, the same European critics who accuse the U.S. of unilateralism have failed to meet their own Kyoto targets, Horner told a meeting at the Heritage Foundation. The 1997 Kyoto treaty requires signatory nations to set limits on the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other "greenhouse gases" blamed for climate change, by an average of five percent by 2012. The 15 European nations participating at the time - the so-called E.U.-15 - made a commitment to collectively reduce their emissions to the point where they would be eight percent lower than 1990 levels. Since the treaty went into effect, however, Europe's CO2 emissions have increased quite substantially - and at a rate three times faster than America's - Horner said. At the same time, Kyoto-related regulations have led to higher energy costs for E.U.-15 citizens....
Tilting at Wind Energy
Whenever anybody starts talking about how we can solve our energy problems and end oil imports, they always end up talking about windmills. Wind is indeed the fastest growing form of energy generation in the U.S., expanding at a brisk 25 percent a year. Installed capacity now stands at 11,500 megawatts (MW) -- the equivalent of ten or twelve standard nuclear or coal plants. Huge projects are popping up everywhere -- driven by tax incentives and state demands for "renewable energy portfolio." What's interesting is that these projects are now beginning to run into their own environmental opposition. It's not hard to see why. The standard 1.5 MW structure is now 40 stories, taller than the statue of liberty. The 3 MW towers waiting in the wings are as tall as New York's Citicorp Center, the third tallest building in Manhattan. In the Midwest these giant structures are being located on farms, where landowners can collect a few thousand dollars rent a year. On the East and West Coasts, however, the best place is on mountaintops since -- according to Bernoulli's Principle -- the wind always accelerates as it as it is funneled through a narrower space. That means mountaintops all along the Alleghenies, in upper New York State, and in Washington and Oregon are being decorated with little distant pinwheels that make the landscape look like a carnival...But the real question about windmills is whether they are producing any useful electricity at all. A modern electrical grid is a very delicately balanced high-wire act. Supply and demand must be kept in balance at all times. The National Electrical Reliability Council estimates that voltage levels can vary about 5 percent before trouble begins. Computer geeks talk about the "high 9's," meaning current must remain consistent within a range of 99.9999 percent to avoid erasing data. In Digital Power, Peter Huber and Mark Mills report, "Some years ago, a Stanford computer center found its power fatally polluted by an arc furnace over one hundred miles away." As the Industry Standard once put it: "Blips as brief as 1/60th of a second can zap computers and other electronic gear, and blackouts can be catastrophic." The problem with wind energy is that it is always fluctuating. The physics of windmills make it worse because output varies with the cube of the velocity. A 20 percent increase in wind speed will double output in a few minutes. Under these circumstances, large numbers of windmills are viewed by grid operators more as a liability than an asset....
Global Warming? Journalism? Don't Make Me Laugh!
At the heart of what is wrong with journalism today is that legions of journalists will stand shoulder to shoulder for the sole purpose of deriding any "global warming skeptic" rather than wonder for a second how the "news" of a coming Ice Age in the 1970s became the "news" of Global Warming in the 1980s. I am reminded of this daily as I read newspapers and news magazines in which various reporters blithely and deliberately inform the reader that all questions regarding the existence of global warming have been answered, that the science is beyond doubt, and that the cause is the production of greenhouse gases, largely from industry, transportation, and other human activities. This is not merely an error. It is a complete deception the journalists have joined. They have ceased to be skeptical. They want you to stop being skeptical despite all evidence to the contrary. "Global Warming, as we think we know it, doesn't exist," says Dr. Timothy Ball. He has Ph.D. in climatology, having earned his degree from the University of London, England, and taught for many years at the University of Winnipeg. A Google search of his name turns up a plethora of posts attacking him, always a sure sign that the Greens feel threatened by an outspoken scientist. The quote below explains why: "Believe it or not, Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). This in fact is the greatest deception in the history of science." Dr. Ball is hardly alone in his views. Dr. Richard Lindzen, an atmospheric physicist and a professor of meteorology at MIT, as well as a member of the National Academy of Science, has said of Global Warming that, "the consensus was reached before the research had even begun."....
The REAL ID Act: Ill-Considered
When Congress passed the REAL ID Act, it had not had a hearing on that bill in either the House or the Senate. Bad process leads to bad results, and that is what you see in the REAL ID Act. In May 2005, Congress passed REAL ID by stripping out and replacing identification provisions in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act that had been passed just the December before, in response to the report of the 9/11 Commission. The law that the REAL ID Act replaced had established a negotiated rulemaking committee in which state motor vehicle administrators, privacy experts, and federal representatives were to negotiate about how to do drivers license security. The ill-considered REAL ID Act has created many problems:
* According to the National Conference of State Legislators, states across the country will have to spend 11 billion dollars in the first five years if they implement REAL ID. The costs to Utah alone apparently reach into the hundreds of millions.
* It may be very difficult, if not impossible, for many of your residents to get these federally standardized driver's licenses Utah complies with REAL ID. Everyone will have to return to the DMV and wait in long lines, perhaps to learn that they don't qualify for the new license.
* Then there are the costs to your citizens' privacy. Compliance with the REAL ID Act would require Utah to capture digital images of drivers and keep digital copies of documents like their birth certificates. It would require you to put our drivers' information in a database that is accessible nationwide. A corrupt official anywhere in the country might be able to access this personal information about Utah drivers and residents. This threatens your citizens with identity fraud because it will contain all the information criminals need to open bank accounts and credit card accounts in their names, and maybe worse.
This national ID system will not provide the protections against terrorism that the law's backers claim. Identity systems are subject to both physical and logical avoidance. Wrongdoers can either avoid controlled borders and checkpoints, or they can enter the country or obtain documents legally, as the 9/11 attackers, for the most part, did. Of course, terrorists do not only come from foreign countries, as we know well from the Oklahoma City bombing ten years ago. This national ID system might make it harder for illegal immigrants to access our society, but it will also drive many of them deeper into criminality. Identity fraud would increase as people in this country illegally obtained more extensive documentation in order to work. I don't think you solve the illegal immigration problem by putting a national ID in the hands of the law abiding, native-born citizen. Congress needs to fix immigration law, not compound the problem by turning its enforcement efforts toward surveillance of the law-abiding citizen worker....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)