The Supreme Court today decided that state laws barring class actions cannot trump federal court rules allowing them. The case, Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates v. Allstate Insurance Company, was argued by Public Citizen's Scott Nelson. Today's decision, written by Justice Antonin Scalia and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Stevens, Thomas and Sotomayor, accepted our argument that the federal rules, by their terms, authorize class actions in any case that meets the criteria set by the rules, and conflicting state laws cannot override the federal rules. As the majority opinion put it, federal procedural standards "create a categorical rule entitling a plaintiff whose suit meets the specified criteria to pursue his claim as a class action," and that rule "automatically applies" in all cases in federal court, even if a class action would not be allowed in a similar case brought in a state court.
The case ensures that class actions will be available as a means for redress for plaintiffs advancing claims based on both state and federal substantive law if there is a basis for federal court jurisdiction over the case. Because Congress expanded federal-court jurisdiction over class actions in the so-called "Class Action Fairness Act" (CAFA), state efforts to curtail class actions will not be effective for large numbers of cases over which CAFA provides federal jurisdiction.
This particular case, for example, involves a New York law that says that in New York courts, a class action cannot be maintained to seek "statutory penalties," The plaintiff class in this case sought to recover interest on late-paid insurance claims, as required by a New York statute. If such lawsuits had to be brought on an individual basis, the claims of any one individual would probably not be worth litigating, so New York's rule barring class actions, if it applied, would effectively be the death-knell for the case. But because the case was filed in federal court, where, under today's ruling, the New York class-action ban does not apply, the class may now have an effective remedy for the insurance company's practice of paying claims late without paying the required interest.
Delaware lawyer John Spadaro originally filed the case in federal district court and co-counsel in the Supreme Court.
Click on title above for article w/ working links
http://www.citizen.org/litigation/
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
From the desk of T. Boone Pickens
Army:
We’ve got their attention and things are starting to move.
President Obama made the announcement this morning that he is in favor of drilling for oil off the shores of parts of the Atlantic Coast from Virginia on south, the Gulf coast of Florida, and Alaska. Why? Because the Administration agrees with us that we have to do what we’ve been saying all along: Anything American to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
I want you to be among the first to see the official statement we put out today so you can be up-to-speed:
“President Obama’s plan to promote more offshore drilling for oil and natural gas is an important step in achieving true energy reform. We should be taking full advantage of every available American resource to help decrease our crippling dependency on foreign oil -- a dependency that is slowing our economic recovery and jeopardizing our homeland security.
“Even if the estimates of the reserves are correct, we are 10 years away from being able to use them. It’s imperative that we promote other immediately available domestic alternatives to solve the national security crisis created by foreign oil dependency.
“Transportation has to lead the way -- it accounts for two-thirds of our oil imports. No energy strategy can be effective unless it promotes the use of domestic natural gas as a transportation fuel alternative to foreign oil/diesel, and the focus has to be on America’s eight million heavy duty vehicles. The NAT GAS Act , a bipartisan bill proposed on both sides of Congress, would advance the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel.”
If you agree with me, please forward this to your friends and family. Let’s keep pushing forward.
-- Boone
_______________
I think Mr. T Bone is confused or mis-informed. The idea is not to break our dependance on foreign oil, ...but to break our dependence on oil PERIOD. Wish he would stick to his wind-farms, solar power, etc. or just about anything "green,," but NOT OIL
Click on title above to see article with clickable links;
http://media.pickensplan.com/email_archive/2010_0331_01_flat.html
We’ve got their attention and things are starting to move.
President Obama made the announcement this morning that he is in favor of drilling for oil off the shores of parts of the Atlantic Coast from Virginia on south, the Gulf coast of Florida, and Alaska. Why? Because the Administration agrees with us that we have to do what we’ve been saying all along: Anything American to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
I want you to be among the first to see the official statement we put out today so you can be up-to-speed:
“President Obama’s plan to promote more offshore drilling for oil and natural gas is an important step in achieving true energy reform. We should be taking full advantage of every available American resource to help decrease our crippling dependency on foreign oil -- a dependency that is slowing our economic recovery and jeopardizing our homeland security.
“Even if the estimates of the reserves are correct, we are 10 years away from being able to use them. It’s imperative that we promote other immediately available domestic alternatives to solve the national security crisis created by foreign oil dependency.
“Transportation has to lead the way -- it accounts for two-thirds of our oil imports. No energy strategy can be effective unless it promotes the use of domestic natural gas as a transportation fuel alternative to foreign oil/diesel, and the focus has to be on America’s eight million heavy duty vehicles. The NAT GAS Act , a bipartisan bill proposed on both sides of Congress, would advance the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel.”
If you agree with me, please forward this to your friends and family. Let’s keep pushing forward.
-- Boone
_______________
I think Mr. T Bone is confused or mis-informed. The idea is not to break our dependance on foreign oil, ...but to break our dependence on oil PERIOD. Wish he would stick to his wind-farms, solar power, etc. or just about anything "green,," but NOT OIL
Click on title above to see article with clickable links;
http://media.pickensplan.com/email_archive/2010_0331_01_flat.html
Ask CHANS 4 a Study!
Gov Gives Up Grant $$$ for New Studies in Human Effect on Natural Systems!
Why not contact them to ask (politely) for a study on the effects of humans grazing cattle on our public lands!
Coupled Human & Natural Systems;
http://www.chans-net.org/
Click on title above to go to their site;
Why not contact them to ask (politely) for a study on the effects of humans grazing cattle on our public lands!
Coupled Human & Natural Systems;
http://www.chans-net.org/
Click on title above to go to their site;
NSF to Award Study Grants re; Interactions of Human Activity on the Environment
Apparently, they are looking to study how human activity effects the environment and they have several specific focus points including; Pandas and People; Mississippi River Nutrients; Suburbanization Effects; Mediterranean Landscapes; Sea-level Rise and Storms. How about we contact them to ask them PLEASE to study the effects of humans grazing their cattle on our public lands....hummm. Do you think they wll go for that idea? If not, why not? Hummm again. Do I feel a new petition coming on? lol
-----------------
March 31, 2010
How do humans and their environment interact, and how can we use knowledge of these links to adapt to a planet undergoing radical climate and other environmental changes?
To answer these and related questions, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded more than 30 grants to scientists, engineers and educators across the country to study coupled natural and human systems (CNH).
To showcase recent CNH accomplishments and to discuss opportunities for this research in the future, a symposium will take place at NSF on the afternoon of Thursday, April 15, 2010.
Highlighted will be human effects on the Mississippi River; causes and consequences of suburbanization in Boston and other cities; sea-level rise and the changing frequency and severity of storms; landscape dynamics in the Mediterranean; and what pandas, people and policies have to tell us about the complexity of our planet.
The CNH program is supported by NSF's directorates for Geosciences; Biological Sciences; and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.
Research conducted with CNH funding is providing a better understanding of natural processes and cycles, and human behavior and decisions and how and where they intersect.
Understanding coupled natural and human systems lies at the heart of the quest for global sustainability, and generates crucial knowledge for solutions to environmental and socioeconomic challenges.
To promote collaborations among CNH projects and to mentor a new generation of interdisciplinary scientists, NSF also supports the International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS-Net), based at Michigan State University.
What:
Symposium on Frontiers in Research on Coupled Natural and Human Systems
Who:
Scientists conducting research on CNH topics
When:
Thursday, April 15, 2010, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Where:
National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 110, Arlington, VA 22230
Detailed Agenda:
2 p.m. - 2:10 p.m.
Welcome and Introductions
2:10 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Hypoxia and the Mississippi River Basin as a Model System: What are the Key Linkages Governing the Social-Ecological Interface?
Laurie Drinkwater, Cornell University
2:30 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.
Mapping and Modeling the Causes and Consequences of Suburbanization in Boston
Colin Polsky, Clark University
2:50 p.m. - 3:10 p.m.
With Sea-Level Rise and Changing Storms, Humans React To Shoreline Erosion-but Shorelines React Back
Brad Murray, Duke University
3:10 p.m. - 3:25 p.m.
Break
3:25 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Coupling the Past, Present and Future of Socio-Ecological Systems: The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics Project
Michael Barton, Arizona State University
3:45 p.m. - 4:05 p.m.
From Local to Global Coupled Human and Natural Systems: Pandas, People, Policies and Planet
Jianguo (Jack) Liu, Michigan State University
4:05 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Prospects and Opportunities
Open Discussion - All Participants
-NSF-
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov
Related Websites
2009 CNH News Release: NSF Awards Grants for Studies of Coupled Natural and Human Systems: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115757
2008 CNH News Release: NSF Awards 10 Grants for Studies of Coupled Natural and Human Systems: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112346
2007 CNH News Release: NSF Awards 12 Grants for Research on Coupled Natural and Human Systems: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=110437
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2010, its budget is about $6.9 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives over 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
Get News Updates by Email
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News: http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media: http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/
Change in land-cover patterns is the subject of CNH-funded research.
Credit and Larger Version
The aftereffects of Hurricane Isabel in 2003 on beachfront property in Rodanthe, N.C.
Credit and Larger Version
CNH researchers are studying landscapes in Spain and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
Credit and Larger Version
An Illinois river at flood stage, carrying high amounts of nitrate to the Gulf of Mexico.
Click on title above to go to original article w/ working links
-----------------
March 31, 2010
How do humans and their environment interact, and how can we use knowledge of these links to adapt to a planet undergoing radical climate and other environmental changes?
To answer these and related questions, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded more than 30 grants to scientists, engineers and educators across the country to study coupled natural and human systems (CNH).
To showcase recent CNH accomplishments and to discuss opportunities for this research in the future, a symposium will take place at NSF on the afternoon of Thursday, April 15, 2010.
Highlighted will be human effects on the Mississippi River; causes and consequences of suburbanization in Boston and other cities; sea-level rise and the changing frequency and severity of storms; landscape dynamics in the Mediterranean; and what pandas, people and policies have to tell us about the complexity of our planet.
The CNH program is supported by NSF's directorates for Geosciences; Biological Sciences; and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.
Research conducted with CNH funding is providing a better understanding of natural processes and cycles, and human behavior and decisions and how and where they intersect.
Understanding coupled natural and human systems lies at the heart of the quest for global sustainability, and generates crucial knowledge for solutions to environmental and socioeconomic challenges.
To promote collaborations among CNH projects and to mentor a new generation of interdisciplinary scientists, NSF also supports the International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS-Net), based at Michigan State University.
What:
Symposium on Frontiers in Research on Coupled Natural and Human Systems
Who:
Scientists conducting research on CNH topics
When:
Thursday, April 15, 2010, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Where:
National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 110, Arlington, VA 22230
Detailed Agenda:
2 p.m. - 2:10 p.m.
Welcome and Introductions
2:10 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Hypoxia and the Mississippi River Basin as a Model System: What are the Key Linkages Governing the Social-Ecological Interface?
Laurie Drinkwater, Cornell University
2:30 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.
Mapping and Modeling the Causes and Consequences of Suburbanization in Boston
Colin Polsky, Clark University
2:50 p.m. - 3:10 p.m.
With Sea-Level Rise and Changing Storms, Humans React To Shoreline Erosion-but Shorelines React Back
Brad Murray, Duke University
3:10 p.m. - 3:25 p.m.
Break
3:25 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Coupling the Past, Present and Future of Socio-Ecological Systems: The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics Project
Michael Barton, Arizona State University
3:45 p.m. - 4:05 p.m.
From Local to Global Coupled Human and Natural Systems: Pandas, People, Policies and Planet
Jianguo (Jack) Liu, Michigan State University
4:05 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Prospects and Opportunities
Open Discussion - All Participants
-NSF-
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov
Related Websites
2009 CNH News Release: NSF Awards Grants for Studies of Coupled Natural and Human Systems: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115757
2008 CNH News Release: NSF Awards 10 Grants for Studies of Coupled Natural and Human Systems: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112346
2007 CNH News Release: NSF Awards 12 Grants for Research on Coupled Natural and Human Systems: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=110437
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2010, its budget is about $6.9 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives over 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
Get News Updates by Email
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News: http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media: http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/
Change in land-cover patterns is the subject of CNH-funded research.
Credit and Larger Version
The aftereffects of Hurricane Isabel in 2003 on beachfront property in Rodanthe, N.C.
Credit and Larger Version
CNH researchers are studying landscapes in Spain and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
Credit and Larger Version
An Illinois river at flood stage, carrying high amounts of nitrate to the Gulf of Mexico.
Click on title above to go to original article w/ working links
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Utah Gov Seeks 2 Sue Feds 4 Public Land Under Eminent Domain
Lotsa luck.
Guv supports effort to take on feds over public lands
By Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News
Published: Monday, March 29, 2010 5:10 p.m. MDT
SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert has thrown his support behind an effort to take on the federal government over access to public lands.
On Saturday, Herbert signed two bills that passed the Utah Legislature this session. Earlier in the week, he gave his nod during a televised press conference to a possible court battle that critics have said has little chance of success.
The so-called eminent domain measures, promoted by two conservative Utah County lawmakers, direct the state to use the legal strategy to wrest control of lands from the federal government so they can be developed.
Although subject to review and approval each year, the measures provide up to $3 million over a three-year period to pursue the battle supporters hope will be mimicked by other Western states.
Herbert agreed with the legislative sponsors and other supporters that access to school trust lands has proven problematic in some instances because federal agencies won't relinquish control over roads that lead to those lands.
"We need to get a right of way, and so eminent domain, adverse possession would provide access into those trust lands, which could generate millions and millions of dollars for us," Herbert said.
Story continues below
While open to negotiation with federal agencies, Herbert conceded that strategy does not always work.
"When the donkey doesn't move sometimes you need to hit him across the head with a two by four just to get their attention. And sometimes the federal government needs to be brought to attention so we can negotiate and have some discussion."
Despite legal analysis by state attorneys that says the measure would not withstand court scrutiny, private attorney Mike Lee assured legislative committee members during the session that he believes it is a fight worth fighting. Lee is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate and has argued land-use issues in the courts.
"I cannot rule out the possibility of victory in this case nor can I assure it," Lee told members of a natural resources committee. "I believe we have a good-faith basis for an argument here, an argument the likes of which has yet to be addressed as far as I am able to discern. It is an argument that strikes at the heart of the sovereignty of the state."
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700020482/Guv-supports-effort-to-take-on-feds-over-public-lands.html
Guv supports effort to take on feds over public lands
By Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News
Published: Monday, March 29, 2010 5:10 p.m. MDT
SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert has thrown his support behind an effort to take on the federal government over access to public lands.
On Saturday, Herbert signed two bills that passed the Utah Legislature this session. Earlier in the week, he gave his nod during a televised press conference to a possible court battle that critics have said has little chance of success.
The so-called eminent domain measures, promoted by two conservative Utah County lawmakers, direct the state to use the legal strategy to wrest control of lands from the federal government so they can be developed.
Although subject to review and approval each year, the measures provide up to $3 million over a three-year period to pursue the battle supporters hope will be mimicked by other Western states.
Herbert agreed with the legislative sponsors and other supporters that access to school trust lands has proven problematic in some instances because federal agencies won't relinquish control over roads that lead to those lands.
"We need to get a right of way, and so eminent domain, adverse possession would provide access into those trust lands, which could generate millions and millions of dollars for us," Herbert said.
Story continues below
While open to negotiation with federal agencies, Herbert conceded that strategy does not always work.
"When the donkey doesn't move sometimes you need to hit him across the head with a two by four just to get their attention. And sometimes the federal government needs to be brought to attention so we can negotiate and have some discussion."
Despite legal analysis by state attorneys that says the measure would not withstand court scrutiny, private attorney Mike Lee assured legislative committee members during the session that he believes it is a fight worth fighting. Lee is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate and has argued land-use issues in the courts.
"I cannot rule out the possibility of victory in this case nor can I assure it," Lee told members of a natural resources committee. "I believe we have a good-faith basis for an argument here, an argument the likes of which has yet to be addressed as far as I am able to discern. It is an argument that strikes at the heart of the sovereignty of the state."
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700020482/Guv-supports-effort-to-take-on-feds-over-public-lands.html
Commentary on Wyomings Plans for Massive Round-Up
From the blog of Kathy Weigand, a photographer who knows these horses up close and personal, comments on the BLMs proposed round-up for 1000 or more wild horses, "to save them from starvation."
Click on title above to go there; http://kathyweigand.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/blm-wants-1000-more-wyoming-mustangs-rounded-up/
Click on title above to go there; http://kathyweigand.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/blm-wants-1000-more-wyoming-mustangs-rounded-up/
Wildlife Poacher Caught on Colorado BLM Lands
Frum the Grand Junction Sentinel's police blotter page;
By Staff
Monday, March 29, 2010
Well-armed man arrested
Mesa County sheriff’s deputies arrested a man staying on Bureau of Land Management land north of Grand Junction Sunday after finding him with a sawed-off shotgun and other weapons.
Deputies arrested Troy Clayton Goad, 36, 3202 W. Downey Circle, on suspicion of possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of a concealed weapon. Deputies said in an arrest affidavit they found the shotgun and a rifle in the back of Goad’s truck, two guns in holsters strapped to his side and seven knives on his body. The guns were all loaded and chambered, according to the affidavit. Officers also found bird talons, antlers and prescription drugs in Goad’s truck.
One gun, the holsters, knives and talons were booked into evidence.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/police_blotter_march_30_2010
By Staff
Monday, March 29, 2010
Well-armed man arrested
Mesa County sheriff’s deputies arrested a man staying on Bureau of Land Management land north of Grand Junction Sunday after finding him with a sawed-off shotgun and other weapons.
Deputies arrested Troy Clayton Goad, 36, 3202 W. Downey Circle, on suspicion of possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of a concealed weapon. Deputies said in an arrest affidavit they found the shotgun and a rifle in the back of Goad’s truck, two guns in holsters strapped to his side and seven knives on his body. The guns were all loaded and chambered, according to the affidavit. Officers also found bird talons, antlers and prescription drugs in Goad’s truck.
One gun, the holsters, knives and talons were booked into evidence.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/police_blotter_march_30_2010
BLM Spends Millions Fixin Up Camp-Grounds, Conservation Areas
I am sure the hunters and fishermen will appreciate (benefit frum) this more than anyone else.
---------------
DILLARD — After four hours of work Friday morning, truckers had hauled 550 tons of crushed rock out of Kent Creek Quarry.
“So that's a slow day,” said John Anderson, general manager of the Dillard quarry that's pumping out between 1,000 and 1,800 tons of rock a day right now.
During most winters, the quarry is not as busy and many of its employees are laid off.
However, Kent Creek Quarry got a chunk of the federal stimulus funds to fill up the local Bureau of Land Management's rock stockpiles around Douglas County.
Anderson said the contract, which amounts to almost $1 million for 100,000 tons of gravel, is a big boon for the local company. He said the BLM contract means jobs for about 20 people.
“Normally we wouldn't be moving things out the door till June, July,” he said. The quarry began work on the BLM contract in January this year and is halfway through the job.
Kent Creek is one of two local companies that snapped up the BLM rock projects, along with All Rock out of Canyonville. The work is part of a suite of four American Recovery and Reimbursement Act federal stimulus projects.
All four projects total $3.7 million, said Jake Winn, Roseburg BLM's restoration coordinator, who also is coordinating the ARRA projects.
“It's all going to improving infrastructure that's aging and deteriorating,” he said Monday. “They represent a backlog of work we have not been able to accomplish.”
In addition to the rock projects, the other ARRA projects through BLM include replacing a 35-year-old heating and air conditioning unit, replacing five outhouses at local campgrounds and day use areas and replacing five culverts outside Roseburg to restore habitat for coho salmon and other fish.
Those three jobs are expected to generate eight to 10 jobs, according to the Oregon and Washington BLM Web site that lists the region's 60 total projects, totaling $32.4 million.
In the Roseburg District, the rock and road project is the biggest at more than $2.2 million, with jobs for 20 to 30 people over the next year.
“So it's a good thing – this kept a lot of people employed this winter,” Bruce Sconce, BLM road maintenance supervisor, said.
BLM began looking into the ARRA projects last spring.
Sconce said the BLM staff sat down with the Douglas Forest Protective Association, timber companies and other partners to determine how to get the “most bang for the buck” on the district's 3,000 miles of mostly unpaved roads shared by many.
Sconce said the plan was to replenish 21 of 80 dwindling gravel stockpiles around the county with 153,400 tons of rock. The rock will be used on a third of the district's highest-use roads, for example around the Dead Man Creek and Rock Creek areas.
The stockpiles will be used to patch roadways as needed.
“We haven't put rock in those piles in the last few years,” he said. “It will probably take us three years to use, but it will be used.”
Cost to fill the stockpiles is more than $1.8 million.
Winn said during the winter months, many roads become so muddy and messy they begin to break down, which can prompt the BLM to close roads blocking access for private landowners, timber workers and recreational users.
“We have a large road system and we depend on that road system to access our lands, and our neighbors and private land owners and industrial timber companies depend on that, too,” he said.
Project specs called for high-quality rock, to maintain road structure and ensure water quality. Winn and Sconce said degrading roads that fall into waterways can be a big problem for fish.
The project also includes $400,000 to renovate roads at Kelly Creek, Gassey Creek and Big Tom Folley. Three companies, two from Douglas County and one from Medford, won the contracts for the road work.
For Kent Creek, the BLM contract represents about 60 percent of the quarry's business right now, compared with 15 to 20 percent in past years.
Bob Faubaush, a part owner at the Kent Creek operation, said the project has been a shot in the arm for the company and his employees.
“Yeah, it's been a good thing,” he said. “It's good that it got spread around with all the people working. Even the tire stores — those trucks gotta have tires.”
Expecting to use 80,000 gallons of fuel and require lots of vehicle and machinery maintenance, the dollars generated by their slice of the project will have an impact around the county Anderson and Faubaush said.
“The ripple effect is enormous,” Anderson said. “We feed a lot of people.”
• You can contact DD Bixby at 541-957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20100330/NEWS/100339980/1063/NEWS
---------------
DILLARD — After four hours of work Friday morning, truckers had hauled 550 tons of crushed rock out of Kent Creek Quarry.
“So that's a slow day,” said John Anderson, general manager of the Dillard quarry that's pumping out between 1,000 and 1,800 tons of rock a day right now.
During most winters, the quarry is not as busy and many of its employees are laid off.
However, Kent Creek Quarry got a chunk of the federal stimulus funds to fill up the local Bureau of Land Management's rock stockpiles around Douglas County.
Anderson said the contract, which amounts to almost $1 million for 100,000 tons of gravel, is a big boon for the local company. He said the BLM contract means jobs for about 20 people.
“Normally we wouldn't be moving things out the door till June, July,” he said. The quarry began work on the BLM contract in January this year and is halfway through the job.
Kent Creek is one of two local companies that snapped up the BLM rock projects, along with All Rock out of Canyonville. The work is part of a suite of four American Recovery and Reimbursement Act federal stimulus projects.
All four projects total $3.7 million, said Jake Winn, Roseburg BLM's restoration coordinator, who also is coordinating the ARRA projects.
“It's all going to improving infrastructure that's aging and deteriorating,” he said Monday. “They represent a backlog of work we have not been able to accomplish.”
In addition to the rock projects, the other ARRA projects through BLM include replacing a 35-year-old heating and air conditioning unit, replacing five outhouses at local campgrounds and day use areas and replacing five culverts outside Roseburg to restore habitat for coho salmon and other fish.
Those three jobs are expected to generate eight to 10 jobs, according to the Oregon and Washington BLM Web site that lists the region's 60 total projects, totaling $32.4 million.
In the Roseburg District, the rock and road project is the biggest at more than $2.2 million, with jobs for 20 to 30 people over the next year.
“So it's a good thing – this kept a lot of people employed this winter,” Bruce Sconce, BLM road maintenance supervisor, said.
BLM began looking into the ARRA projects last spring.
Sconce said the BLM staff sat down with the Douglas Forest Protective Association, timber companies and other partners to determine how to get the “most bang for the buck” on the district's 3,000 miles of mostly unpaved roads shared by many.
Sconce said the plan was to replenish 21 of 80 dwindling gravel stockpiles around the county with 153,400 tons of rock. The rock will be used on a third of the district's highest-use roads, for example around the Dead Man Creek and Rock Creek areas.
The stockpiles will be used to patch roadways as needed.
“We haven't put rock in those piles in the last few years,” he said. “It will probably take us three years to use, but it will be used.”
Cost to fill the stockpiles is more than $1.8 million.
Winn said during the winter months, many roads become so muddy and messy they begin to break down, which can prompt the BLM to close roads blocking access for private landowners, timber workers and recreational users.
“We have a large road system and we depend on that road system to access our lands, and our neighbors and private land owners and industrial timber companies depend on that, too,” he said.
Project specs called for high-quality rock, to maintain road structure and ensure water quality. Winn and Sconce said degrading roads that fall into waterways can be a big problem for fish.
The project also includes $400,000 to renovate roads at Kelly Creek, Gassey Creek and Big Tom Folley. Three companies, two from Douglas County and one from Medford, won the contracts for the road work.
For Kent Creek, the BLM contract represents about 60 percent of the quarry's business right now, compared with 15 to 20 percent in past years.
Bob Faubaush, a part owner at the Kent Creek operation, said the project has been a shot in the arm for the company and his employees.
“Yeah, it's been a good thing,” he said. “It's good that it got spread around with all the people working. Even the tire stores — those trucks gotta have tires.”
Expecting to use 80,000 gallons of fuel and require lots of vehicle and machinery maintenance, the dollars generated by their slice of the project will have an impact around the county Anderson and Faubaush said.
“The ripple effect is enormous,” Anderson said. “We feed a lot of people.”
• You can contact DD Bixby at 541-957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20100330/NEWS/100339980/1063/NEWS
Canada's "Finest" Horse Slaughter-plants: Where AQHAs' "Unwanted" Horses Go
click on title above to see latest undercover vid of a "day in the life" of a horse slaughter plant
WARNING: Graphic footage
WARNING: Graphic footage
Monday, March 29, 2010
Montana Oil & Gas Guy Angered Over Cancelled Leases
Blames "Eco-Terrorists" for Forcing BLM to Abide by the Laws;
Click on title above for article and place to comment;
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20103290304
Click on title above for article and place to comment;
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20103290304
Nominations open for UTAH BLM advisory council
Nominations open for UTAH BLM advisory council
By Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News
Published: Monday, March 29, 2010 3:19 p.m. MDT
Utah residents interested in the management and conservation of public lands have an opportunity to become directly involved through participation on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah Resource Advisory Council.
Council members provide advice and recommendations to the federal agency concerning the use and management of 22 million acres of public land in Utah.
Nominations, due May 10, are being accepted for six positions on the Utah council, five of which are three-year terms. One position — that of state agency representative — calls for a nominee to step in and serve the remainder of a term held by a previous council member that ends Sept. 11, 2011.
Two positions are open in category one/commodity, which includes holders of federal grazing permits, energy and mineral development, timber industry, transportation or rights-of-way, off-highway vehicle use and commercial recreation interests.
One position is open in category two/non-commodity, which includes nationally or regionally recognized environmental organizations, archaeological and historic interests, dispersed recreation and wild horse and burro groups.
Three positions are available in category three/local area interest which includes holders of state, county or local elected office, Native American tribes, employees of a state agency responsible for management of natural resources, educators involved in natural sciences and the public-at-large.
Nomination forms are available from BLM offices and from BLM's Web site at www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/res/resource_advisory.html. For more information, call (801) 539-4195.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700020433/Nominations-open-for-BLM-advisory-council.html
By Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News
Published: Monday, March 29, 2010 3:19 p.m. MDT
Utah residents interested in the management and conservation of public lands have an opportunity to become directly involved through participation on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah Resource Advisory Council.
Council members provide advice and recommendations to the federal agency concerning the use and management of 22 million acres of public land in Utah.
Nominations, due May 10, are being accepted for six positions on the Utah council, five of which are three-year terms. One position — that of state agency representative — calls for a nominee to step in and serve the remainder of a term held by a previous council member that ends Sept. 11, 2011.
Two positions are open in category one/commodity, which includes holders of federal grazing permits, energy and mineral development, timber industry, transportation or rights-of-way, off-highway vehicle use and commercial recreation interests.
One position is open in category two/non-commodity, which includes nationally or regionally recognized environmental organizations, archaeological and historic interests, dispersed recreation and wild horse and burro groups.
Three positions are available in category three/local area interest which includes holders of state, county or local elected office, Native American tribes, employees of a state agency responsible for management of natural resources, educators involved in natural sciences and the public-at-large.
Nomination forms are available from BLM offices and from BLM's Web site at www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/res/resource_advisory.html. For more information, call (801) 539-4195.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700020433/Nominations-open-for-BLM-advisory-council.html
Sunday, March 28, 2010
BLM Locks Public Out of Round-Up Operations - Breaks "Transparency" Promice to US
BLM Denies Public Access to Wild Horse Processing
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Robert A. WINKLER
The Desert Independent
March 28, 2010
FALLON, Nevada – Americans are wondering what BLM is hiding? What are they doing as they process nearly 1900 illegally caught wild horses in Nevada that they don’t want the public, the horses owners, to see?
The Bureau of Land Managements (BLM) has placed severe limitations on the viewing of the wild horses captured in the controversial Calico Wild Horse roundup. Despite the enormous cost to the American taxpayers and the controversial nature of the roundup, the BLM and the Department of Interior (DOI) are denying requests for independent humane observers during the processing of nearly 1900 mustangs over the next few months in preparation for their long term holding or adoption. During this dangerous time for the mustangs, the public is being denied an opportunity to view BLM running the animals through alleyways and into chutes where they will be freeze-branded, inoculated and neck-tagged.
“I’ve been watching the processing of mustangs on and off for 15 years. What is the big deal this time?” Asks Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation, “There’s something very wrong when it’s easier to crash a party at the White House than go view our wild horses being freeze-branded in Nevada. Makes you wonder if there’s something to hide out in Fallon?”
To date over a countless horses have died as the result of the roundup. This does not include the 30 plus mares that have aborted their late-term foals in the feedlot style corrals in Fallon, Nevada. The 4% death rate is over eight times the BLM expected level for a helicopter roundup. Foals are now being born in the pens and the public is not permitted to confirm young, sick and old animals are being humanely treated in a timely fashion.
The BLM claims that the shut down of the facility is a safety issue. However, due to the high level of public interest, we are sure they could find a way to make it safe for observers. It would seem that they just are not interested in having the public see the cruelty they are inflicting on a day-by-day basis.
Despite Wild Horse and Burro Chief Don Glenn’s promise that the public is welcome “anytime” to view the roundups, the BLM conducted the Calico roundup with limited access. Now BLM has repeatedly denied official requests from the Cloud Foundation and others to allow even two members of the public to be present during processing of horses which began February 15. Ed Roberson, Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning with the DOI told The Cloud Foundation in an email last week not to worry about the horses.”
Meanwhile the captured Calico wild horses, many still with swollen joints and injuries from being run over sharp volcanic rock by helicopters, stand in pens without windbreaks. “Topography credited by the BLM as a natural wind break is a joke. I’ve been to Fallon and I’ve seen the conditions these horses are exposed to, no cover, no windbreaks except for some of the ‘hospital’ pens”, explains Terri Farley.
According to Wild Horse and Burro Chief, Don Glenn, the facility is charging the government around $5.75 per day/per horse. That amounts to over $10,000 taxpayer dollars per day to house the mustangs. The cost of the Calico roundup alone was at least $1 million and holding of horses will cost taxpayers additional millions.
Horses vs. Cattle
While nearly 2,000 Calico mustangs languish and die in Fallon, thousands of privately-owned cattle still graze the Calico wild horse herd areas, bringing in revenues to the BLM of around $40,000 per year. The GAO reported that yearly revenues from the national public lands grazing program are $21 million per year, while the costs to administer the grazing program are $144 million per year, resulting in a yearly loss to the American taxpayer of $123 million. This taxpayer subsidized grazing program is often referred to as “welfare ranching” due to the small fees charged to livestock permittees. The rate is currently the lowest allowed by law, $1.35 per cow/calf pair per month.
There you have it. Get rid of the horses to make room for cattle. Run healthy horses into the ground, to death. Kill the young. Separate family groups of horses. Drive them with fear. All for the money that talks, the cattle and ranch industry. Robert Winkler, Publisher
For more information, see The Cloud Foundation; http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/
Click on title above for original article;
http://www.thedesertinde.com/BLM%20Denies%20Public%20Access_0328.html
Saturday, March 27, 2010
A Cruel Waste
By far the best expository vid on the subject of BLMs lies behind the cruel round ups.
This one should get some kind of independant film-maker award!
Click on title above to see exceptional TRUTH TELLING vid
This one should get some kind of independant film-maker award!
Click on title above to see exceptional TRUTH TELLING vid
InfoZine Covers DC Wild Horse Protest
Protesters Call for Government to Stop Removing Wild Horses
Saturday, March 27, 2010 :: Staff infoZine
By Sarah Lutz - Protesters who oppose the government’s policy for removing wild horses from grazing land marched in front of the White House this week. The government says there are too many horses in some areas, which is bad for the horses and the land.
Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - Activists gathered Thursday to protest government actions they say could lead to the extinction of wild horses in the West. The government says its policies are aimed at saving the horses and preserving the environment.
The Cloud Foundation organized the protest of wild horse roundups on public land, most recently the Calico Roundup earlier this week in Nevada, where the Bureau of Land Management removed 1,922 horses, leaving about 600.
The BLM controls the ranges where an estimated 37,000 wild horses live, BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said. But that is about 10,300 more than the land can support. He said the agency has been moving horses into short-term holding corrals and long-term pastures. About 36,000 horses and burros have been removed from ranges in recent years, he said.
"The horse herds grow at about 20 percent, and that means they can double in size every four years," Gorey said.
But activists insist that the roundups have to stop. Wildlife ecologist Craig Downer said horses are better for the environment than livestock, such as cattle, which eat the grass down to the root.
He said horses and burros distribute themselves over an area, which reduces overgrazing.
The animals' different digestive systems also have an impact on the range - seeds remaining in horse manure can germinate, but seeds in cow manure can't.
Gorey said that grazing has decreased 30 percent since Congress passed the Free-Roaming Wild Horses and Burro Act in 1971, which gave the BLM authority over wild horses and the land they roamed. He said when the BLM removes horses it's not to allow for more cattle, but to counter overpopulation.
"Our range conservationists and our wild horse and burros specialists and wildlife biologists look at the condition of the land and its sustainability," he said. "We can determine pretty well within a certain range whether the area is overpopulated, and that's the reason for removals."
Cloud Foundation member Lisa Friday said the government is removing horses because ranchers pay to graze cattle on public lands, but the government gets no money for wild horses on the same land. She said she has adopted one of the mustangs rounded up by the government.
"The Bureau of Land Management is trying to get rid of them all," she said. "We're very concerned about the fate of those rounded up as well as those that haven't been rounded up."
The BLM said wild horse adoptions have gone down from 5,700 in 2005 to 3,500 last year.
Kathy Luedtke, executive director of the Horse Coalition in Missoula, Montana, said the government is spending too much money to keep the horses in pens and rounding up more horses will only make it worse.
"We need financial accountability to the money that they're spending of our federal tax dollars," she said. She said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar needs to review the agency's plan and budget, which essentially creates a zoo of wild horses.
The proposed 2011 budget includes $75.7 million for the wild horse and burro program, a $12 million increase from this year. About half of that sum pays the upkeep for horses in holding corrals.
Another $42.5 million would go to land acquisition for wild horse preserves in the East or Midwest. Gorey said land acquisition would require legislative changes because the 1971 act allows horses only on land they were occupying at the time the law was enacted.
Click on title above for original article and vid;
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/40542/
Saturday, March 27, 2010 :: Staff infoZine
By Sarah Lutz - Protesters who oppose the government’s policy for removing wild horses from grazing land marched in front of the White House this week. The government says there are too many horses in some areas, which is bad for the horses and the land.
Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - Activists gathered Thursday to protest government actions they say could lead to the extinction of wild horses in the West. The government says its policies are aimed at saving the horses and preserving the environment.
The Cloud Foundation organized the protest of wild horse roundups on public land, most recently the Calico Roundup earlier this week in Nevada, where the Bureau of Land Management removed 1,922 horses, leaving about 600.
The BLM controls the ranges where an estimated 37,000 wild horses live, BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said. But that is about 10,300 more than the land can support. He said the agency has been moving horses into short-term holding corrals and long-term pastures. About 36,000 horses and burros have been removed from ranges in recent years, he said.
"The horse herds grow at about 20 percent, and that means they can double in size every four years," Gorey said.
But activists insist that the roundups have to stop. Wildlife ecologist Craig Downer said horses are better for the environment than livestock, such as cattle, which eat the grass down to the root.
He said horses and burros distribute themselves over an area, which reduces overgrazing.
The animals' different digestive systems also have an impact on the range - seeds remaining in horse manure can germinate, but seeds in cow manure can't.
Gorey said that grazing has decreased 30 percent since Congress passed the Free-Roaming Wild Horses and Burro Act in 1971, which gave the BLM authority over wild horses and the land they roamed. He said when the BLM removes horses it's not to allow for more cattle, but to counter overpopulation.
"Our range conservationists and our wild horse and burros specialists and wildlife biologists look at the condition of the land and its sustainability," he said. "We can determine pretty well within a certain range whether the area is overpopulated, and that's the reason for removals."
Cloud Foundation member Lisa Friday said the government is removing horses because ranchers pay to graze cattle on public lands, but the government gets no money for wild horses on the same land. She said she has adopted one of the mustangs rounded up by the government.
"The Bureau of Land Management is trying to get rid of them all," she said. "We're very concerned about the fate of those rounded up as well as those that haven't been rounded up."
The BLM said wild horse adoptions have gone down from 5,700 in 2005 to 3,500 last year.
Kathy Luedtke, executive director of the Horse Coalition in Missoula, Montana, said the government is spending too much money to keep the horses in pens and rounding up more horses will only make it worse.
"We need financial accountability to the money that they're spending of our federal tax dollars," she said. She said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar needs to review the agency's plan and budget, which essentially creates a zoo of wild horses.
The proposed 2011 budget includes $75.7 million for the wild horse and burro program, a $12 million increase from this year. About half of that sum pays the upkeep for horses in holding corrals.
Another $42.5 million would go to land acquisition for wild horse preserves in the East or Midwest. Gorey said land acquisition would require legislative changes because the 1971 act allows horses only on land they were occupying at the time the law was enacted.
Click on title above for original article and vid;
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/40542/
BLM Transfers Four More Pieces of Our Public Lands (277 Acres) to Private Interests, Local Jurisdictions
Mar 27, 2010 at 12:39 PM MDT
(St. George, UT) - The Bureau of Land Management transferred four pieces of land totaling 277 acres to local governments Friday. Its the first step in the implementation of the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act passed Congress over a year ago.
St. George, Hurricane and the Washington County School District received parcels of federal land, to be used for protection and improvements along the Temple Quarry trail in St. George, two parks in
Hurricane and room for a school and other facilities near Sand Hollow.
The land transfers begin an effort by the various government entities try to implement the federal law designed to designate which parts of the county need to be protected, and which parts can be developed.
The school district received 75 acres that could play a significant role providing land for schools in the Sand Hollow area.
Marshall Topham, assistant superintendent for secondary education at the school district said " “It’s a huge savings for taxpayers because the district doesn't have to purchase property for the appraised value of
the property when it received from the BLM in this manner." Topham said similar agreements helped the school district receive property for Snow Canyon and Desert Hills High Schools.
The federal conservation bill preserves natural and historical sites. Kent Perkins, director of the Leisure Services Department for St. George, said the city was required to do environmental studies along the Temple Quarry trail before acquiring the land. The city is required to protect sensitive plant and animal species while improvements are made, he said. New additions are planned for the Temple Quarry trail in then future including side trails, benches and other improvements, but the historical site will also be better preserved, Perkins said.
The Washington County Growth and Conservation Act was one of more than 170 actions contained in a massive omnibus public lands bill passed by Congress a year ago. The work of years of negotiation and public involvement, including the community Vision Dixie involvement. The bill designates 256,338 acres of county lands as wilderness with 5,000 acres for development.
The conservation act lays out the protection and development future for much of Washington County, including the creation of two new conservation areas, protection for parts of the Virgin River and its tributaries, the transfer of land into a trust for the Shivwits Band of Paiutes and the creation of a new trail for off-road vehicles.
Selma Sierra, state director of the BLM, said the legislation is used nationally as a model for other communities to reach similar positive outcomes. “It was a lengthy, difficult process that enabled a wide range of special interest groups to come together and agree on balanced land management solutions that for will benefit generations to come in these vibrant communities,” she said.
Source: BLM, WCSD, City of St. George and The Spectrum
http://www.kcsg.com/news/local/89328037.html
(St. George, UT) - The Bureau of Land Management transferred four pieces of land totaling 277 acres to local governments Friday. Its the first step in the implementation of the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act passed Congress over a year ago.
St. George, Hurricane and the Washington County School District received parcels of federal land, to be used for protection and improvements along the Temple Quarry trail in St. George, two parks in
Hurricane and room for a school and other facilities near Sand Hollow.
The land transfers begin an effort by the various government entities try to implement the federal law designed to designate which parts of the county need to be protected, and which parts can be developed.
The school district received 75 acres that could play a significant role providing land for schools in the Sand Hollow area.
Marshall Topham, assistant superintendent for secondary education at the school district said " “It’s a huge savings for taxpayers because the district doesn't have to purchase property for the appraised value of
the property when it received from the BLM in this manner." Topham said similar agreements helped the school district receive property for Snow Canyon and Desert Hills High Schools.
The federal conservation bill preserves natural and historical sites. Kent Perkins, director of the Leisure Services Department for St. George, said the city was required to do environmental studies along the Temple Quarry trail before acquiring the land. The city is required to protect sensitive plant and animal species while improvements are made, he said. New additions are planned for the Temple Quarry trail in then future including side trails, benches and other improvements, but the historical site will also be better preserved, Perkins said.
The Washington County Growth and Conservation Act was one of more than 170 actions contained in a massive omnibus public lands bill passed by Congress a year ago. The work of years of negotiation and public involvement, including the community Vision Dixie involvement. The bill designates 256,338 acres of county lands as wilderness with 5,000 acres for development.
The conservation act lays out the protection and development future for much of Washington County, including the creation of two new conservation areas, protection for parts of the Virgin River and its tributaries, the transfer of land into a trust for the Shivwits Band of Paiutes and the creation of a new trail for off-road vehicles.
Selma Sierra, state director of the BLM, said the legislation is used nationally as a model for other communities to reach similar positive outcomes. “It was a lengthy, difficult process that enabled a wide range of special interest groups to come together and agree on balanced land management solutions that for will benefit generations to come in these vibrant communities,” she said.
Source: BLM, WCSD, City of St. George and The Spectrum
http://www.kcsg.com/news/local/89328037.html
Recreation Fees Big Part of Public Land Privatization Plan
While every major environmental group ignores the issue of runaway recreation fees on the National Forests, the Forest Service keeps creating more ways for us to pay more and partners with corporate interests that would like nothing better than to privatize public lands.
By Bill Schneider, 3-04-10
For five years, I’ve been railing against the recreational fee frenzy going on within the Forest Service, and after reading hundreds of comments (online and offline), I’ve noticed a common theme that I should address. Why, many commenters ask, am I so concerned about these relatively small, pay-for-play fees when we’re facing colossal environmental issues such as climate change, roadless lands protection, mining law reform, and energy development?
My answer is, this is big, too. The trend toward more and larger recreation fees fits perfectly with the plans of those who would like nothing better than to privatize our public lands.
I know it only seems like a measly $5 here or $25 there, but it’s the old nibbled-to-death strategy--you hardly notice it happening until one day, you realize you can no longer find an affordable place to hike or hunt or camp. Interestingly, I believe every major green group opposes privatizing public lands, yet not one does or says anything about this obvious attempt to do it. Go figure.
The primary voice among the green community comes from a tiny nonprofit called Wild Wilderness. Here, executive director Scott Silver serves the role of that proverbial voice in the wilderness nobody seems to hear.
Not a believer? Consider this admission by Warren Meyer, a board member of the National Forest Recreation Association (NFRA), the main lobby for private concessionaires. On his personal blog, he stated: “As many of you know, I am in the business of privatizing public recreation.”
That revealing quote is just one little gem in a massive treasure chest of documentation Silver has amassed on how recreation fees foreshadow public land privatization. I wish I had space for more of it here, but you can see it all on his website.
The privatization agenda was the vision of President Ronald Reagan and was first implemented by former FS Chief Dale Robertson with major help from the main lobby for privatization, the American Recreation Coalition (ARC). For the past 30 years, with the ARC and NFRA leading the way, private concessionaires have exerted increasing pressure upon the FS to privatize public recreation, and it’s working.
A recent controversy over a proposed rule change cutting discounts and passes for seniors and the disabled is simply into another step toward ultimate goal of privatization of public recreation. It does so by lowering the bar for the creation of new recreation fee sites and allowing concessionaires to charge for, and retain, more fees at these new sites and current sites.
Concerning this current red alert over the Forest Service’s attempt to renege on “lifetime” promises given senior and disabled public land users and the Idaho congressional delegation’s opposition to it, Silver has a more sweeping viewpoint.
He applauds the Idaho delegation jumping in to oppose the proposed rule, but he would’ve preferred they be “more forceful” in pointing out the more “profound impacts,” such as the fact the proposed rule hurts everybody, not just the elderly and disabled, and that it’s all about “more privatization.”
“The proposed rule change is not merely a reprehensible denial of implied privilege,” he told NewWest.Net, in an email, “it is flagrantly illegal.”
In his official comments on the proposed rule, he provided detailed documentation as to why the proposed rule is not only a broken promise, but it also violates the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), the authority the FS uses--or more accurately, misuses--to charge more and higher fees.
Silver also contends that the proposed rule is the result of closed door meetings between the FS and special interest organizations such as the ARC and is a direct response to pressure from concessionaire “partners” who only want more profit off public lands. The FS, he insists, has a “greater allegiance” to private concessionaires than to the public the agency is supposed to serve.
Even worse, Silver believes the plan to ax senior discounts is meant to attract the public’s outrage and hide real goal--allowing concessionaires to charge more and higher fees for everybody. He predicts political pressure will prompt the FS to compromise and continue to give seniors and the disabled some reduced discounts to make it appear like a victory for the public. Meanwhile, the FS will get what it really wants--more latitude for concessionaires to charge fees and make more profit off managing public recreation.
And as noted frequently in my past columns, there’s also the issue of double taxation. We pay for the privilege to use our public lands every year on April 15, which has been the main impetus behind S. 868, a bill introduced by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) to repeal FLREA.
(Incidentally, just in case you’re wondering why we see fewer recreation fees in the National Forests of Idaho and Montana than everywhere else, I’m sure it has something to do with FS bosses trying to avoid controversy in the districts of these two powerful senators.)
So what’s the answer?
For starters, tacking S. 868 onto the next must-pass legislation as a rider would certainly do the trick, but we also need two more things to happen.
First, Congress needs to replace the fee income within the appropriations process to take pressure off FS employees to make more money on fees and concessions to save their jobs, and second, the Obama administration needs to put both feet on the administrative brakes to stop the reckless rush to hire private concessionaires to manage on our National Forests.
Exact figures are elusive, but roughly, the FS takes in $62 million per year in recreation fees and hardly any revenue from private concessionaires (another story for another time). I must ask, is this really a lot of money by federal budget standards? Let’s put $62 million in perspective.
Today, we can instantly find billions to fight endless wars (a trillion+ so far), bail out the too-big-to-fail banks (aka Wall Street Casinos), and provide unbudgeted federal aid for natural disasters. My pet evil, Goldman Sachs, makes a $41 million profit every day, even on weekends, and $62 million would just barely cover three years of Wells Fargo boss John Stumpf’s annual compensation. Getting out of the Middle East Wars one day early would save $42 million, so let’s leave two weeks earlier and replace FS recreation fee income for the next decade or more.
Come on, Congress. How hard is this? Just put it in the budget and do something for all of us. That’s only $116,000 per each of the 535 congressional and senatorial districts.
If you really need to raise my income taxes 0.001 percent to cover the cost, hey, go for it. This shouldn’t be necessary, but I’d willing to pay a little more as long as it’s on tax day instead of an extra five bucks at the next toll booth I see on a FS road.
But I’d prefer something like a 90 percent tax on any form of annual income over $500,000, all earmarked for managing public recreation on public lands by public employees. Or better yet, build five instead of the six nuclear submarines currently under construction, which would save enough to reimburse the FS for lost fee income for the rest of the 21st Century. Are nuclear subs really a good investment in the future compared to keeping public lands public?
As I write this, the Obama administration is hardly blinking at spending $200 million per year for several years to put just one terrorist on trial in New York City, with lots more terrorists waiting for their years in court. At least 20 states haven’t even accepted $5 billion each in federal stimulus funds because they have to match it, so that’s something like a $100 billion just sitting there for the taking. Meanwhile, we can’t find $62 million in a $2.65 trillion budget to stop the privatization of our public lands?
The point is, we can find this money. If our elected representatives don’t do it and our major green groups won’t even make it a priority issue, well, I guess we Americans can assume they favor privatizing our public lands.
http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/recreation_fees_big_part_of_public_land_privatization_plan/C41/L41/
By Bill Schneider, 3-04-10
For five years, I’ve been railing against the recreational fee frenzy going on within the Forest Service, and after reading hundreds of comments (online and offline), I’ve noticed a common theme that I should address. Why, many commenters ask, am I so concerned about these relatively small, pay-for-play fees when we’re facing colossal environmental issues such as climate change, roadless lands protection, mining law reform, and energy development?
My answer is, this is big, too. The trend toward more and larger recreation fees fits perfectly with the plans of those who would like nothing better than to privatize our public lands.
I know it only seems like a measly $5 here or $25 there, but it’s the old nibbled-to-death strategy--you hardly notice it happening until one day, you realize you can no longer find an affordable place to hike or hunt or camp. Interestingly, I believe every major green group opposes privatizing public lands, yet not one does or says anything about this obvious attempt to do it. Go figure.
The primary voice among the green community comes from a tiny nonprofit called Wild Wilderness. Here, executive director Scott Silver serves the role of that proverbial voice in the wilderness nobody seems to hear.
Not a believer? Consider this admission by Warren Meyer, a board member of the National Forest Recreation Association (NFRA), the main lobby for private concessionaires. On his personal blog, he stated: “As many of you know, I am in the business of privatizing public recreation.”
That revealing quote is just one little gem in a massive treasure chest of documentation Silver has amassed on how recreation fees foreshadow public land privatization. I wish I had space for more of it here, but you can see it all on his website.
The privatization agenda was the vision of President Ronald Reagan and was first implemented by former FS Chief Dale Robertson with major help from the main lobby for privatization, the American Recreation Coalition (ARC). For the past 30 years, with the ARC and NFRA leading the way, private concessionaires have exerted increasing pressure upon the FS to privatize public recreation, and it’s working.
A recent controversy over a proposed rule change cutting discounts and passes for seniors and the disabled is simply into another step toward ultimate goal of privatization of public recreation. It does so by lowering the bar for the creation of new recreation fee sites and allowing concessionaires to charge for, and retain, more fees at these new sites and current sites.
Concerning this current red alert over the Forest Service’s attempt to renege on “lifetime” promises given senior and disabled public land users and the Idaho congressional delegation’s opposition to it, Silver has a more sweeping viewpoint.
He applauds the Idaho delegation jumping in to oppose the proposed rule, but he would’ve preferred they be “more forceful” in pointing out the more “profound impacts,” such as the fact the proposed rule hurts everybody, not just the elderly and disabled, and that it’s all about “more privatization.”
“The proposed rule change is not merely a reprehensible denial of implied privilege,” he told NewWest.Net, in an email, “it is flagrantly illegal.”
In his official comments on the proposed rule, he provided detailed documentation as to why the proposed rule is not only a broken promise, but it also violates the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), the authority the FS uses--or more accurately, misuses--to charge more and higher fees.
Silver also contends that the proposed rule is the result of closed door meetings between the FS and special interest organizations such as the ARC and is a direct response to pressure from concessionaire “partners” who only want more profit off public lands. The FS, he insists, has a “greater allegiance” to private concessionaires than to the public the agency is supposed to serve.
Even worse, Silver believes the plan to ax senior discounts is meant to attract the public’s outrage and hide real goal--allowing concessionaires to charge more and higher fees for everybody. He predicts political pressure will prompt the FS to compromise and continue to give seniors and the disabled some reduced discounts to make it appear like a victory for the public. Meanwhile, the FS will get what it really wants--more latitude for concessionaires to charge fees and make more profit off managing public recreation.
And as noted frequently in my past columns, there’s also the issue of double taxation. We pay for the privilege to use our public lands every year on April 15, which has been the main impetus behind S. 868, a bill introduced by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) to repeal FLREA.
(Incidentally, just in case you’re wondering why we see fewer recreation fees in the National Forests of Idaho and Montana than everywhere else, I’m sure it has something to do with FS bosses trying to avoid controversy in the districts of these two powerful senators.)
So what’s the answer?
For starters, tacking S. 868 onto the next must-pass legislation as a rider would certainly do the trick, but we also need two more things to happen.
First, Congress needs to replace the fee income within the appropriations process to take pressure off FS employees to make more money on fees and concessions to save their jobs, and second, the Obama administration needs to put both feet on the administrative brakes to stop the reckless rush to hire private concessionaires to manage on our National Forests.
Exact figures are elusive, but roughly, the FS takes in $62 million per year in recreation fees and hardly any revenue from private concessionaires (another story for another time). I must ask, is this really a lot of money by federal budget standards? Let’s put $62 million in perspective.
Today, we can instantly find billions to fight endless wars (a trillion+ so far), bail out the too-big-to-fail banks (aka Wall Street Casinos), and provide unbudgeted federal aid for natural disasters. My pet evil, Goldman Sachs, makes a $41 million profit every day, even on weekends, and $62 million would just barely cover three years of Wells Fargo boss John Stumpf’s annual compensation. Getting out of the Middle East Wars one day early would save $42 million, so let’s leave two weeks earlier and replace FS recreation fee income for the next decade or more.
Come on, Congress. How hard is this? Just put it in the budget and do something for all of us. That’s only $116,000 per each of the 535 congressional and senatorial districts.
If you really need to raise my income taxes 0.001 percent to cover the cost, hey, go for it. This shouldn’t be necessary, but I’d willing to pay a little more as long as it’s on tax day instead of an extra five bucks at the next toll booth I see on a FS road.
But I’d prefer something like a 90 percent tax on any form of annual income over $500,000, all earmarked for managing public recreation on public lands by public employees. Or better yet, build five instead of the six nuclear submarines currently under construction, which would save enough to reimburse the FS for lost fee income for the rest of the 21st Century. Are nuclear subs really a good investment in the future compared to keeping public lands public?
As I write this, the Obama administration is hardly blinking at spending $200 million per year for several years to put just one terrorist on trial in New York City, with lots more terrorists waiting for their years in court. At least 20 states haven’t even accepted $5 billion each in federal stimulus funds because they have to match it, so that’s something like a $100 billion just sitting there for the taking. Meanwhile, we can’t find $62 million in a $2.65 trillion budget to stop the privatization of our public lands?
The point is, we can find this money. If our elected representatives don’t do it and our major green groups won’t even make it a priority issue, well, I guess we Americans can assume they favor privatizing our public lands.
http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/recreation_fees_big_part_of_public_land_privatization_plan/C41/L41/
Wild Horses (and Burros) Make a New Friend at CNN News
Jane Valez-MitchellClick on title above to see vid
Nominations open for COLORADO BLM advisory council
Release Date: 03/26/10
Contacts: Jim Sample, 303-239-3861
The Bureau of Land Management in Colorado announced today that it is seeking public nominations for 15 open positions on its three Resource Advisory Councils, which advise the BLM on public land issues. The BLM will consider the nominations for 45 days after today, when the agency is publishing its formal call for nominations in the Federal Register.
The BLM’s Resource Advisory Councils (RACs), composed of citizens chosen for their expertise in natural resource issues, help the Bureau carry out its stewardship of 253 million acres of public lands. The Bureau, which manages more land than any other Federal agency, has 24 RACs across the West, where most BLM-managed land is located. Each RAC consists of 12 to 15 members with an interest in public land management, including such individuals as conservationists, ranchers, outdoor recreationists, state and local government officials, Tribal officials, and academics. The diverse membership of each RAC is aimed at achieving a balanced outlook that the BLM needs for its mission, which is to manage the public lands for multiple uses.
“I value the advice given to the BLM by these citizen-based Resource Advisory Committees, and I know that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar shares my view of their importance,” said BLM Director Bob Abbey. “The people who live, work, and recreate near or on BLM-managed lands deserve a formal voice on public land issues, and their input will enhance our agency’s ability to manage the public lands for multiple uses while conserving resources for future generations.”Individuals may nominate themselves or others to serve on an advisory council. Nominees, who must be residents of the state or states where the RAC has jurisdiction, will be judged on the basis of their training, education, and knowledge of the council’s geographical area. Nominees should also demonstrate a commitment to consensus building and collaborative decisionmaking. All nominations must be accompanied by letters of reference from any represented interests or organizations; a completed background information nomination form; and any other information that speaks to the nominee's qualifications.
The 15 RAC positions open in Colorado are in the following categories:
Category One – Public land ranchers and representatives of organizations associated with energy and mineral development, the timber industry, transportation or rights-of-way, off-highway vehicle use, and commercial recreation.
Category Two – Representatives of nationally or regionally recognized environmental organizations, archaeological and historical organizations, dispersed recreation activities, and wild horse and burro organizations.
Category Three – Representatives of state, county, or local elected office; representatives and employees of a state agency responsible for the management of natural resources; representatives of Indian Tribes within or adjacent to the area for which the RAC is organized; representatives and employees of academic institutions who are involved in natural sciences; and the public-at-large.
Persons interested in making nominations or being nominated should check with the BLM contact nearest their place of residence for a detailed description of the vacant positions on that particular RAC. The nomination form is available at BLM RAC Nomination 2010.
Nominations should be sent by May 10, 2010 to:
Front Range RAC
BLM Front Range District Office
Cassandra Cairns, RAC Coordinator
3028 East Main Street
Cañon City, Colorado 81212
719-269-8500
FAX 719-269-8599
Northwest RAC
David Boyd, RAC Coordinator
BLM Colorado River Valley Office
2300 River Frontage Road
Silt, CO 81652
970-876-9000
FAX 970-876-9090
Southwest RAC
Erin Curtis, RAC Coordinator
BLM Grand Junction Office
2815 H Road
Grand Junction, Colorado 81506
970-244-3000
FAX 970-244-3083
.
http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Information/newsroom/2010/march/blm_colorado_opens.html
Contacts: Jim Sample, 303-239-3861
The Bureau of Land Management in Colorado announced today that it is seeking public nominations for 15 open positions on its three Resource Advisory Councils, which advise the BLM on public land issues. The BLM will consider the nominations for 45 days after today, when the agency is publishing its formal call for nominations in the Federal Register.
The BLM’s Resource Advisory Councils (RACs), composed of citizens chosen for their expertise in natural resource issues, help the Bureau carry out its stewardship of 253 million acres of public lands. The Bureau, which manages more land than any other Federal agency, has 24 RACs across the West, where most BLM-managed land is located. Each RAC consists of 12 to 15 members with an interest in public land management, including such individuals as conservationists, ranchers, outdoor recreationists, state and local government officials, Tribal officials, and academics. The diverse membership of each RAC is aimed at achieving a balanced outlook that the BLM needs for its mission, which is to manage the public lands for multiple uses.
“I value the advice given to the BLM by these citizen-based Resource Advisory Committees, and I know that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar shares my view of their importance,” said BLM Director Bob Abbey. “The people who live, work, and recreate near or on BLM-managed lands deserve a formal voice on public land issues, and their input will enhance our agency’s ability to manage the public lands for multiple uses while conserving resources for future generations.”Individuals may nominate themselves or others to serve on an advisory council. Nominees, who must be residents of the state or states where the RAC has jurisdiction, will be judged on the basis of their training, education, and knowledge of the council’s geographical area. Nominees should also demonstrate a commitment to consensus building and collaborative decisionmaking. All nominations must be accompanied by letters of reference from any represented interests or organizations; a completed background information nomination form; and any other information that speaks to the nominee's qualifications.
The 15 RAC positions open in Colorado are in the following categories:
Category One – Public land ranchers and representatives of organizations associated with energy and mineral development, the timber industry, transportation or rights-of-way, off-highway vehicle use, and commercial recreation.
Category Two – Representatives of nationally or regionally recognized environmental organizations, archaeological and historical organizations, dispersed recreation activities, and wild horse and burro organizations.
Category Three – Representatives of state, county, or local elected office; representatives and employees of a state agency responsible for the management of natural resources; representatives of Indian Tribes within or adjacent to the area for which the RAC is organized; representatives and employees of academic institutions who are involved in natural sciences; and the public-at-large.
Persons interested in making nominations or being nominated should check with the BLM contact nearest their place of residence for a detailed description of the vacant positions on that particular RAC. The nomination form is available at BLM RAC Nomination 2010.
Nominations should be sent by May 10, 2010 to:
Front Range RAC
BLM Front Range District Office
Cassandra Cairns, RAC Coordinator
3028 East Main Street
Cañon City, Colorado 81212
719-269-8500
FAX 719-269-8599
Northwest RAC
David Boyd, RAC Coordinator
BLM Colorado River Valley Office
2300 River Frontage Road
Silt, CO 81652
970-876-9000
FAX 970-876-9090
Southwest RAC
Erin Curtis, RAC Coordinator
BLM Grand Junction Office
2815 H Road
Grand Junction, Colorado 81506
970-244-3000
FAX 970-244-3083
.
http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Information/newsroom/2010/march/blm_colorado_opens.html
Activist fears solar plant influx
By MARK WAITE
PVT
Brian Brown, a founding member of the Amargosa Conservancy, expressed fears over the cumulative impact of numerous solar power plants that might turn the Mojave Desert into an industrial park.
During a talk at the Amargosa Valley Community Center Friday night, Brown questioned whether it's the best use of public lands.
"Solar energy has caused a lot of consternation within the environmental community because 10 years ago, probably every person who said they were an environmentalist would have said solar energy is great, we should have all the solar energy we need," Brown said.
"But now people who live in the desert, who say they are environmentalists, when these plants are going to be plunked around them in their community, say 'Whoa, wait a minute. That's not what I meant. I don't want to live next to a big, electrical, generating facility. It's ugly.'"
Brown spoke to a handful of people to brief them about questions to ask the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, before decisions are made that will determine how the desert looks in the next 100 years.
One of those who showed up was Don Reid, senior project development advisor for Solar Millenium, a company planning to build two, 232-megawatt solar plants in Amargosa Valley.
Brown suggested, "There are other uses public land could be used for. A lot of people think the desert is pretty nice as a desert -- why don't we leave it like this?"
He said there's a lot of unused farmland in the California desert available to renewable energy companies, much of it private property, where people attempted to raise crops but quit.
Brown also endorsed a concept called "distributive energy," or generating electricity where it's being used. He said the government, instead of subsidizing solar power plants, could look at making solar panels more affordable to the homeowner.
"If the load centers, where they need the electricity, are Las Vegas and Los Angeles and places where there is a big load, a big demand for it, why don't you build it there instead of coming out to remote areas or undisturbed public land, scraping it clean, then piping electricity or wiring it and shipping it for 70 or 80 miles?" Brown asked.
"Imagine every Walmart parking lot covered with shade," he said. "On top of it you just put solar panels, and every mall parking lot and every piece of asphalt and everybody's home, you could put that over it and you generate electricity."
The result could be "thousands of miles of photovoltaic panels. Everyone would get to look at them and share the view instead of just the folks in just a few desert communities," Brown said.
Brown said permitting for some of the solar projects on the fast track, like Solar Millenium, is being rushed through the process required under the National Environmental Policy Act. A groundbreaking in 2010 will allow companies to be eligible for loan guarantees under the stimulus package.
Reid, however, said companies have to go through a very rigorous, environmental review by the BLM.
Brown read a newspaper article saying the Department of Energy offered Bright Source Energy a $1.37 billion loan guarantee to construct the 392-megawatt Ivanpah solar generating electrical plant. Brown said that removes any financial risk by guaranteeing the lender will get their money back if the project goes to pieces.
"The reason this deadline is approaching so quick is because the government wants to create jobs and they want to get people working. A typical example: We're going to hire 1,300 construction workers for about four years," Reid said. "Manufacturing is going to follow. That's the whole idea."
In what he called "a worst-case scenario," Brown said the conservancy counted applications for renewable energy projects in Amargosa Valley on 118,000 acres of federal land.
But local resident John Bosta said some of the applications have been terminated because the solar companies haven't submitted a plan of development to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Reid said only 5 to 10 percent of the projects will actually get built. While he admitted the cost of solar power will be higher, Reid said the cost of solar power would be consistent, unlike natural gas which could rise in the future.
Utilities like NV Energy are also required to obtain 25 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2025.
Brown said renewable energy companies applied for over 1 million acres of public land from the California desert to the Mexican border.
"That's significant. If you remove 1 million acres of public land for anything, that's going to make an impact on the people and the plants and the animals," he said.
The BLM identified up to 106,000 acres of proposed, renewable energy projects in Amargosa Valley.
New transmission lines will be needed across the desert, Brown said, noting Pacific Solar will extend a power line 22 miles to a substation near the Nevada Test Site.
Brown pointed out the Pacific Solar project would only employ a few permanent workers.
"The final impact on the economy might not be as big as you might believe. A big concern for all of us here is the possible increase in water supplies depending on the technology used. Wet cooling we, the Amargosa Conservancy feel, just cannot support that," he said.
Reid said Solar Millenium will provide 180 permanent jobs.
Brown reminded the few Amargosa Valley residents in attendance that the leases being signed for these projects are for 50 years.
"As your valley grows, people will come in, there will be human needs. There will be the needs of industry and the dairy perhaps and the Ash Meadows refuge. So jockeying for who gets to use the limited amount of water for what is going to be a very, very important question, and it's something that's going to have to be looked at in the long term," Brown said.
Reid countered that Solar Millenium will only use 2 percent of the annual recharge in the Amargosa Desert hydrographic basin.
"When you look out, if you see new transmission lines or you see miles and acres of mirrors and panels, they change the 'view shed,'" said Brown. "Some people are offended by that, some people are not," he said.
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2010/Mar-26-Fri-2010/news/35009265
Friday, March 26, 2010
Ely FOIA Appeal / 4th Up-Date
Click on title above for latest update on the Jubic FOIA Appeal for the Ely District Gathers (Seaman, White River and Caliente)
DC "Terrorized" by Wild Horse Warriors
Photos by Terry Fitch
WASHINGTON - Protesters gathered in front of the White House as President Obama spoke in support of health care at a packed house at the University of Iowa today.
The protesters were met with armed guards when they reached the U.S. Department of Interior. One protester reported back to supporters of the end of federal Bureau of Land Management roundups.
"We congregated at Layfayette Park and there was a podium with microphone and speakers," said a wp,and wjp declined to be identified. "Ginger Kathrens, RT Fitch, Nancy Perry from the Humane Society of the United States, John Holland if the Equine Welfare Alliance, Elyse Gardner, James the film producer, Rob, a BLM volunteer who is very much on our side, and Craig Downer, spoke to the crowd.
"There were about 100 people at the rally," she reported. "After the speeches, we walked to the Department of Interior with our signs and we chanted slogans like 'tell the truth' wild and free let them be, no Salazoos."
But the peaceful protesters were met with force when they reached the office of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
"We were met by several armed police officers standing at the top of the steps with their guns in their holsters. More police on foot came to the DOI, a policeman on a motorcycle and then 4 mounted police officers stood in a line across the street where there is a park. I couldn't believe that they felt so threatened."
(BLOGGERS NOTE: Maybe they werent standing in a ......
)Anger and frustration were at American horse lovers being treate like foreign terrorists were voiced by those who marched.
"It was pretty amazing and shocking that Salazar and company called out essentially the National Guard," a protester told Horseback Online. "All they needed were RPGs and Armed Personnel Carriers to complete the military style posse."
A Washington area protester was nostalgic about the DC of old and the Department of Interior structure..
"This imposing building hides all of the secrets, deception and the selling out of our public land to special mining interest. The figures were standing by the large windows on the upper floors looking down on us and we crossed the street to the park so we could stand in front of the horses of the mounted police. Their silence was deafening despite gestures to start a conversation with them."
(BLOGGERS NOTE: Just like the Buckingham Palace Guards,...only THEY are not armed.)
Phosphate Mining Poisoning Our Public Lands
Actions raise hopes for change
With the new ushering in of the decade, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition has high hopes for change in Southeast Idaho's phosphate mining industry. Last June, facing the possibility of an seleninium-contaminated forage at the Simplot-owned Lanes Creek Mine, virtually at the headwaters of the Blackfoot River. These fatalities only added to the tally of hundreds of head of livestock already killed by selenium contamination.
At the end of the summer, Agrium, a Canadian-based mining adverse ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the J.R. Simplot Co. threatened to lay off 114 employees at the Smoky Canyon Mine on the Idaho-Wyoming border and Pocatello's Don fertilizer plant. At that time, they pointed the finger of blame at GYC and the conservation community.
Lost amid the sound bites about imperiled jobs in Pocatello and Afton, Wyo., was the grim story the phosphate mining industry doesn't want on the front page: Past decades have provided much evidence of phosphate mining poisoning the lands and waters of Southeast Idaho.
So, what has happened since then?
First, just as Simplot was threatening layoffs if the court decided the company had to clean up its Smoky Canyon pollution, new research on the effects of selenium released from that mine revealed that trout populations were being devastated in the Sage Creek watershed and downstream in Crow Creek. The report shows that selenium was causing declines of 20 percent and higher in trout populations. Just to be clear, Simplot's own consultants carried out the research and wrote this report.
Also, in June the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality reported the sad news that now the entire Blackfoot River and more than 90 miles of its tributaries --nearly 40 percent of the perennial stream miles in the Upper Blackfoot River watershed, along with their fish populations --are showing evidence of being poisoned by selenium.
And then last August at least 18 head of cattle died from eating selecompany responsible for at least five Superfund mine sites, filed a lawsuit in federal court asking that the U.S. Forest Service, and the American taxpayer, foot the bill for cleaning up two of its Superfund sites.
Finally, just before the holidays, Agrium laid off 118 mine workers at its Dry Valley Mine, but not because of any actions taken by the conservation community. The company claimed the layoffs were due to a surplus of ore, but doubtless the fact that the price for phosphate-based fertilizer is half what it was a year ago had something to do with the layoff decision.
But all is not doom and gloom for the lands, waters and wildlife that have been so severely harmed by phosphate mining. In August, the Bureau of Land Management released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Monsanto's proposed Blackfoot Bridge Mine on the banks of the Blackfoot River. Before considering Monsanto's mine permit application, the BLM required for the first time that a mining company must incorporate a geosynthetic liner in its mine plan to protect water resources, or the mine would not be permitted.
When the BLM asked for comments on the Blackfoot Bridge Mine proposal, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, while appreciative of the BLM's efforts to ensure that no additional selenium is released into the Blackfoot River from the mine, pointed out that there are still concerns about the proposal that must be fixed before any permit is issued. Likewise, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent the BLM detailed and compelling comments on the weaknesses of the mine proposal.
Responding to the comments, the Bureau of Land Management has delayed the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed mine. Initially the agency planned to release the final EIS for the proposed mine in early 2010. However, after reviewing the comments the BLM is taking a much-needed second look and reassessing what it will take before they can issue Monsanto a permit to mine in such an environmentally sensitive area.
Just as important, the EPA has rightfully reinserted itself in the cleanup of the 17 Superfund sites the phosphate mining industry has created over the past five decades in Southeast Idaho. We're hopeful this will soon lead to real on-the-ground cleanup actions that will reverse the trend of selenium poisoning in more and more of the area's streams.
Soon the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether to allow Simplot's Smoky Canyon Mine to continue to severely damage the streams near the mine. In our opinion those waterways are in fact being poisoned.
We are optimistic that the court will halt the mine expansion until cleanup is assured.
So, from GYC's perspective, we see hope for Southeast Idaho's lands, waters and wildlife in the new decade , and that will benefit everyone who lives and works in this special part of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
COMMENTARY MARV HOYT
http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/news_display/142923674.html
With the new ushering in of the decade, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition has high hopes for change in Southeast Idaho's phosphate mining industry. Last June, facing the possibility of an seleninium-contaminated forage at the Simplot-owned Lanes Creek Mine, virtually at the headwaters of the Blackfoot River. These fatalities only added to the tally of hundreds of head of livestock already killed by selenium contamination.
At the end of the summer, Agrium, a Canadian-based mining adverse ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the J.R. Simplot Co. threatened to lay off 114 employees at the Smoky Canyon Mine on the Idaho-Wyoming border and Pocatello's Don fertilizer plant. At that time, they pointed the finger of blame at GYC and the conservation community.
Lost amid the sound bites about imperiled jobs in Pocatello and Afton, Wyo., was the grim story the phosphate mining industry doesn't want on the front page: Past decades have provided much evidence of phosphate mining poisoning the lands and waters of Southeast Idaho.
So, what has happened since then?
First, just as Simplot was threatening layoffs if the court decided the company had to clean up its Smoky Canyon pollution, new research on the effects of selenium released from that mine revealed that trout populations were being devastated in the Sage Creek watershed and downstream in Crow Creek. The report shows that selenium was causing declines of 20 percent and higher in trout populations. Just to be clear, Simplot's own consultants carried out the research and wrote this report.
Also, in June the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality reported the sad news that now the entire Blackfoot River and more than 90 miles of its tributaries --nearly 40 percent of the perennial stream miles in the Upper Blackfoot River watershed, along with their fish populations --are showing evidence of being poisoned by selenium.
And then last August at least 18 head of cattle died from eating selecompany responsible for at least five Superfund mine sites, filed a lawsuit in federal court asking that the U.S. Forest Service, and the American taxpayer, foot the bill for cleaning up two of its Superfund sites.
Finally, just before the holidays, Agrium laid off 118 mine workers at its Dry Valley Mine, but not because of any actions taken by the conservation community. The company claimed the layoffs were due to a surplus of ore, but doubtless the fact that the price for phosphate-based fertilizer is half what it was a year ago had something to do with the layoff decision.
But all is not doom and gloom for the lands, waters and wildlife that have been so severely harmed by phosphate mining. In August, the Bureau of Land Management released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Monsanto's proposed Blackfoot Bridge Mine on the banks of the Blackfoot River. Before considering Monsanto's mine permit application, the BLM required for the first time that a mining company must incorporate a geosynthetic liner in its mine plan to protect water resources, or the mine would not be permitted.
When the BLM asked for comments on the Blackfoot Bridge Mine proposal, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, while appreciative of the BLM's efforts to ensure that no additional selenium is released into the Blackfoot River from the mine, pointed out that there are still concerns about the proposal that must be fixed before any permit is issued. Likewise, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent the BLM detailed and compelling comments on the weaknesses of the mine proposal.
Responding to the comments, the Bureau of Land Management has delayed the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed mine. Initially the agency planned to release the final EIS for the proposed mine in early 2010. However, after reviewing the comments the BLM is taking a much-needed second look and reassessing what it will take before they can issue Monsanto a permit to mine in such an environmentally sensitive area.
Just as important, the EPA has rightfully reinserted itself in the cleanup of the 17 Superfund sites the phosphate mining industry has created over the past five decades in Southeast Idaho. We're hopeful this will soon lead to real on-the-ground cleanup actions that will reverse the trend of selenium poisoning in more and more of the area's streams.
Soon the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether to allow Simplot's Smoky Canyon Mine to continue to severely damage the streams near the mine. In our opinion those waterways are in fact being poisoned.
We are optimistic that the court will halt the mine expansion until cleanup is assured.
So, from GYC's perspective, we see hope for Southeast Idaho's lands, waters and wildlife in the new decade , and that will benefit everyone who lives and works in this special part of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
COMMENTARY MARV HOYT
http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/news_display/142923674.html
Utah campground host assaulted (can of beer to hed) — BLM offers reward
Geeze, a full can at that! What a waste of good beer!
Seems "violence" is the buzzword of the day today, with congressmen getting their homes picketed, rocks thrown through Dem Hdqtrs, verbal assaults on the phone, etc. Do you think "we, the people" have had ENOUGH? Not quite......now hear this:
By Russ & Tiña De Maris | March 25, 2010 - 12:38 pm - Posted in crime
St. George, UT — The United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is offering a $1,500 reward to anyone who turns in a tip that leads to an arrest and conviction of a group that allegedly assaulted a BLM volunteer at the Red Cliffs Recreation Area just north of St. George last Saturday.
A little after 2:00 pm, an unidentified female campground host was working at the campground’s day use area when approached by a group of three men and two women, all described as “Caucasian.” One of the men began to shout obscenities at the volunteer, then hurled a full can of beer at the host. The woman was struck on the head and knocked down. Following the assault, the group fled.
As of Thursday afternoon, law enforcement officials told RV News Service that no leads have yet to turn up. They ask anyone who may have been in the area or has any information that might help solve the case contact the BLM law enforcement ranger in charge at (435) 632-9111.
http://rvnewsservice.com/?p=365
Seems "violence" is the buzzword of the day today, with congressmen getting their homes picketed, rocks thrown through Dem Hdqtrs, verbal assaults on the phone, etc. Do you think "we, the people" have had ENOUGH? Not quite......now hear this:
By Russ & Tiña De Maris | March 25, 2010 - 12:38 pm - Posted in crime
St. George, UT — The United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is offering a $1,500 reward to anyone who turns in a tip that leads to an arrest and conviction of a group that allegedly assaulted a BLM volunteer at the Red Cliffs Recreation Area just north of St. George last Saturday.
A little after 2:00 pm, an unidentified female campground host was working at the campground’s day use area when approached by a group of three men and two women, all described as “Caucasian.” One of the men began to shout obscenities at the volunteer, then hurled a full can of beer at the host. The woman was struck on the head and knocked down. Following the assault, the group fled.
As of Thursday afternoon, law enforcement officials told RV News Service that no leads have yet to turn up. They ask anyone who may have been in the area or has any information that might help solve the case contact the BLM law enforcement ranger in charge at (435) 632-9111.
http://rvnewsservice.com/?p=365
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Lawsuit Filed against Ted Turner Bison "Gift"
By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer
A coalition of wildlife advocates on Tuesday asked a Montana judge to overturn an agreement that allowed dozens of Yellowstone National Park bison to be transferred onto billionaire Ted Turner's private ranch.
Four wildlife groups that opposed last month's transfer filed a lawsuit in Gallatin County claiming the animals are a public resource that should be shielded from privatization.
Turner has agreed to take care of the animals for five years. In exchange, he gets 75 percent of their offspring, or an estimated 150 animals.
The suit's plaintiffs said the state should either move the animals onto public land or pay Turner to take care of them rather than give up their young as compensation.
"They need to remain in public hands," said plaintiff Glenn Hockett with the Gallatin Wildlife Association. "Paying him by bartering the public's wildlife is a violation of the public trust."
The case will be heard by District Judge Holly Brown.
The state of Montana and the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks were named as defendants. Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim said Tuesday the transfer of the bison was within the agency's authority.
In 2005 and 2006, the bison now held by Turner were spared from a government slaughter program meant to guard Montana's cattle industry against park bison infected with the disease brucellosis.
The original plan was to use the animals to repopulate public lands in the West with new bison herds. They spent most of the intervening years in a federal-state quarantine facility just outside the park.
Tens of millions of bison once roamed North America, but they were driven to near-extinction in the late 19th century. Yellowstone's 3,000 bison comprise one of the largest remaining populations in the world.
After Montana officials failed to find the quarantined animals a home, the state's Democratic governor, Brian Schweitzer, asked Turner to help.
In February, 87 bison were moved from the quarantine near the park to Turner's Flying D Ranch south of Bozeman. One of the animals, described by Turner representative Russ Miller as a sick, orphaned calf, died after the transfer.
The animals still could be moved onto public lands at some point in the future, although no proposals have been offered. They have repeatedly tested negative for brucellosis, which can cause cattle to abort.
Miller, general manager of Turner Enterprises Inc., was still reviewing the lawsuit and declined to say if Turner would intervene.
"We were in this from the beginning to help out," he said. "We'll rely on the agencies we're trying to help out to sort it out."
Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Western Watersheds Project, Buffalo Field Campaign and Yellowstone Buffalo Foundation.
http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewContent.act?clipid=472607042
International March for Mustangs Centres Around Washington Rally
Written by Press Release, on 24-03-2010 11:45
The US public will gather in Washington and three supporting cities on March 25th for what is becoming an international March for Mustangs. Award-winning Actress and advocate, Wendie Malick will headline the press conference at the D.C. protest press conference in Lafayette Park beginning at 1:30pm.
Country Music Artist, Clay Canfield, will debut his impassioned song “Wild Horses” at the close of the Rally. Advocates are coming from around the country and will conclude the rally by marching to the BLM Office at 1849 ‘C’ street with flags and banners. Malick and Canfield will be joined at the press conference by author Hope Ryden, “America’s Last Wild Horses”, Ginger Kathrens, Emmy-Award winning filmmaker and Cloud Foundation Director, Author RT Fitch and more.
"We are coming together to save America's wild horses, who are in grave danger of disappearing from our public lands” explains Wendie Malick. “We are calling for an immediate moratorium on all roundups, which have proven to be inhumane, expensive and unnecessary."
Building on over 25 protests in the U.S., singer/songwriter Maria Daines will lead the London protest organized by Cornwall’s Voice for Animals in front of the U.S. Embassy, calling for the protection and preservation of the world’s beloved American mustangs. In London voices will ring out with “Obama, hear our voices—protect America’s horses!” The London Rally will take place from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Sign-wearing advocates will walk the Las Vegas strip from 12:30 - 3:00 p.m. on March 25th, collecting signatures and educating the public about the cruel and expensive mismanagement of American mustangs and burros—over half of which are in Nevada.
Los Angeles will join the March for Mustangs and Actress/Advocate Mariana Tosca will appear at this most recently announced rally. The public will rally from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. in front of the U.S. Federal Building at 11000 Wilshire Blvd. in the Westwood Area.
“Advocates and members of the public worldwide are disgusted with the treatment of America’s wild horses and burros and are protesting Salazar's expensive plan for the removal and destruction of the last American wild mustang herds,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Director of The Cloud Foundation.
March for Mustangs comes to Washington just as Secretary Salazar attempts to persuade Congress to provide at least 42 million dollars to fund moving the first group of 26,600 western indigenous wild horses to the Midwest and East. The horses would be placed on private lands purchased at taxpayer expense. The Secretary proposes leaving only about 27,000 wild horses and burros on their remaining 30 million acres of public rangeland across ten Western states. Herds occupied at least 54 million acres at the passage of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act and the public wants captured wild horses returned to those or equivalent public lands. Highlighting the disconnect between the American public and the Department of Interior/BLM, the Salazar Plan would only further the fiscal train wreck that the Wild Horse and Burro program has become. The Secretary has so far ignored the fact that privately-owned livestock destructively graze public lands by the millions, outnumbering wild horses and burros at least 50 to 1 on BLM-managed lands alone.
As a result of the costly 40-day Calico Roundup, at least 79 mustangs have died and nearly 40 females have aborted their late term foals in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens—where the death toll rises daily as a result of the winter roundup. Neither humane observers nor the public are permitted to observe the branding and BLM “processing” now underway.
The March for Mustangs kicks off with a sneak preview of James Kleinert’s latest documentary film, Disappointment Valley ... A Modern Day Western. Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Daryl Hanna, Michael Blake, Ginger Kathrens and others are featured in the star-studded documentary that examines the politics behind the BLM’s controversial policies for public lands and mismanagement of America's wild horses and burros. The screening is Wednesday, March 24th, 6:00 p.m. at Busboys and Poets, 14th and V, in Washington, D.C. Following the screening a Q&A with Kleinert and Kathrens is scheduled. The sneak preview is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated, please contact bslagsvol@mac.com or makendra@thecloudfoundation.org, 719-351-8187.
Protests Planned for Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Los Angeles and London this Thursday.
Visit the Cloud Foundation for more info.
Got News? Send your news stories and press releases to the HorseYard News Desk.
http://www.horseyard.com.au/index.php?option=com_content
The US public will gather in Washington and three supporting cities on March 25th for what is becoming an international March for Mustangs. Award-winning Actress and advocate, Wendie Malick will headline the press conference at the D.C. protest press conference in Lafayette Park beginning at 1:30pm.
Country Music Artist, Clay Canfield, will debut his impassioned song “Wild Horses” at the close of the Rally. Advocates are coming from around the country and will conclude the rally by marching to the BLM Office at 1849 ‘C’ street with flags and banners. Malick and Canfield will be joined at the press conference by author Hope Ryden, “America’s Last Wild Horses”, Ginger Kathrens, Emmy-Award winning filmmaker and Cloud Foundation Director, Author RT Fitch and more.
"We are coming together to save America's wild horses, who are in grave danger of disappearing from our public lands” explains Wendie Malick. “We are calling for an immediate moratorium on all roundups, which have proven to be inhumane, expensive and unnecessary."
Building on over 25 protests in the U.S., singer/songwriter Maria Daines will lead the London protest organized by Cornwall’s Voice for Animals in front of the U.S. Embassy, calling for the protection and preservation of the world’s beloved American mustangs. In London voices will ring out with “Obama, hear our voices—protect America’s horses!” The London Rally will take place from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Sign-wearing advocates will walk the Las Vegas strip from 12:30 - 3:00 p.m. on March 25th, collecting signatures and educating the public about the cruel and expensive mismanagement of American mustangs and burros—over half of which are in Nevada.
Los Angeles will join the March for Mustangs and Actress/Advocate Mariana Tosca will appear at this most recently announced rally. The public will rally from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. in front of the U.S. Federal Building at 11000 Wilshire Blvd. in the Westwood Area.
“Advocates and members of the public worldwide are disgusted with the treatment of America’s wild horses and burros and are protesting Salazar's expensive plan for the removal and destruction of the last American wild mustang herds,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Director of The Cloud Foundation.
March for Mustangs comes to Washington just as Secretary Salazar attempts to persuade Congress to provide at least 42 million dollars to fund moving the first group of 26,600 western indigenous wild horses to the Midwest and East. The horses would be placed on private lands purchased at taxpayer expense. The Secretary proposes leaving only about 27,000 wild horses and burros on their remaining 30 million acres of public rangeland across ten Western states. Herds occupied at least 54 million acres at the passage of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act and the public wants captured wild horses returned to those or equivalent public lands. Highlighting the disconnect between the American public and the Department of Interior/BLM, the Salazar Plan would only further the fiscal train wreck that the Wild Horse and Burro program has become. The Secretary has so far ignored the fact that privately-owned livestock destructively graze public lands by the millions, outnumbering wild horses and burros at least 50 to 1 on BLM-managed lands alone.
As a result of the costly 40-day Calico Roundup, at least 79 mustangs have died and nearly 40 females have aborted their late term foals in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens—where the death toll rises daily as a result of the winter roundup. Neither humane observers nor the public are permitted to observe the branding and BLM “processing” now underway.
The March for Mustangs kicks off with a sneak preview of James Kleinert’s latest documentary film, Disappointment Valley ... A Modern Day Western. Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Daryl Hanna, Michael Blake, Ginger Kathrens and others are featured in the star-studded documentary that examines the politics behind the BLM’s controversial policies for public lands and mismanagement of America's wild horses and burros. The screening is Wednesday, March 24th, 6:00 p.m. at Busboys and Poets, 14th and V, in Washington, D.C. Following the screening a Q&A with Kleinert and Kathrens is scheduled. The sneak preview is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated, please contact bslagsvol@mac.com or makendra@thecloudfoundation.org, 719-351-8187.
Protests Planned for Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Los Angeles and London this Thursday.
Visit the Cloud Foundation for more info.
Got News? Send your news stories and press releases to the HorseYard News Desk.
http://www.horseyard.com.au/index.php?option=com_content
BLM Cancels Contract; Wild Horses Leaving Southern Illinois, Concerns Remain
FRANKLIN COUNTY -- Years of a Ewing man's hard work is going south. He says it will hurt local businesses, and the wild horses he's cared for.
"There will be less people adopting horses; there's going to be less horses adopted," Walter Gentry said. "You are putting horses at risk."
The horses began arriving at the farm in Franklin County six years ago. Less than two months from now, those horses will be living in Mississippi.
The big reason for the move is money. The Department of the Interior, which oversees the wild horse adoption program, says the move will save the federal government money. But it means hundreds of families won't be coming to southern Illinois to spend money and adopt a horse.
The wild horses are more of a passion for Walter Gentry, than a job. They roamed the west before arriving at his farm east of Ewing.
It is part of The Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse & Burro Adoption Program, a federal program to control the mustang population.
Gentry opened this facility six years ago. His is the only operation of it's kind east of the Mississippi.
"Normally, we like to have about 150 horses here," Gentry said. "Right now, we have somewhere around 230 to 250 horses."
In December, the Bureau of Land Management decided not to renew its contract with Gentry. Instead, they partnered with a facility in Mississippi, the Piney Woods School.
Gentry says the move means a two-day layover for horses heading to most of the northern states, and a much longer drive for Illinoisans wanting to adopt.
"I don't see how they can cut it away, take it to Mississippi, and justify cutting off a fourth of the eastern states," Gentry said.
"This last year, we adopted about 900 horses in the south, about 400 in the north, so we do about two-thirds of the adoptions in the south," said Michael Reiland, Assistant Deputy State Director of Natural Resources.
Reiland says the new location allows federal officials to visit the facility more often. They can also contract directly for services. The can't do either of those things in Ewing.
"A couple of those are veterinary services and hay contracts," Reiland said. "That lowers our costs simply by dealing directly with that."
Gentry says he works with the Southern Illinois businesses that surround these fields, who deliver the same services. When the horses leave, so will that economic activity.
Officials at the Bureau of Land Management say the horses will be out of Ewing by May 31, 2010. However, a couple concerns remain.
For one, they are heading to a boarding school for high school students. Federal law prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from working in the pens with the wild horses.
News 3 also looked into the possibility of any political maneuvering involved. Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Mississippi District 3, says, to his knowledge, no federal money has been set aside for the creation or expansion of the wild horse program in Mississippi.
By: Jeff Stensland
jstensland@wsiltv.com
Click on title above for original article w/ video;
http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details.php?newsID=9778
"There will be less people adopting horses; there's going to be less horses adopted," Walter Gentry said. "You are putting horses at risk."
The horses began arriving at the farm in Franklin County six years ago. Less than two months from now, those horses will be living in Mississippi.
The big reason for the move is money. The Department of the Interior, which oversees the wild horse adoption program, says the move will save the federal government money. But it means hundreds of families won't be coming to southern Illinois to spend money and adopt a horse.
The wild horses are more of a passion for Walter Gentry, than a job. They roamed the west before arriving at his farm east of Ewing.
It is part of The Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse & Burro Adoption Program, a federal program to control the mustang population.
Gentry opened this facility six years ago. His is the only operation of it's kind east of the Mississippi.
"Normally, we like to have about 150 horses here," Gentry said. "Right now, we have somewhere around 230 to 250 horses."
In December, the Bureau of Land Management decided not to renew its contract with Gentry. Instead, they partnered with a facility in Mississippi, the Piney Woods School.
Gentry says the move means a two-day layover for horses heading to most of the northern states, and a much longer drive for Illinoisans wanting to adopt.
"I don't see how they can cut it away, take it to Mississippi, and justify cutting off a fourth of the eastern states," Gentry said.
"This last year, we adopted about 900 horses in the south, about 400 in the north, so we do about two-thirds of the adoptions in the south," said Michael Reiland, Assistant Deputy State Director of Natural Resources.
Reiland says the new location allows federal officials to visit the facility more often. They can also contract directly for services. The can't do either of those things in Ewing.
"A couple of those are veterinary services and hay contracts," Reiland said. "That lowers our costs simply by dealing directly with that."
Gentry says he works with the Southern Illinois businesses that surround these fields, who deliver the same services. When the horses leave, so will that economic activity.
Officials at the Bureau of Land Management say the horses will be out of Ewing by May 31, 2010. However, a couple concerns remain.
For one, they are heading to a boarding school for high school students. Federal law prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from working in the pens with the wild horses.
News 3 also looked into the possibility of any political maneuvering involved. Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Mississippi District 3, says, to his knowledge, no federal money has been set aside for the creation or expansion of the wild horse program in Mississippi.
By: Jeff Stensland
jstensland@wsiltv.com
Click on title above for original article w/ video;
http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details.php?newsID=9778
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Wild Horse Beats Odds
Remember the wild horse rounded up from TR Nat'l Park last summer that jumped the auction house gate and landed on an elderly man? Click on title above to read all about his suprising happy ending (the horse, not the man, who was, by the way ok too)
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Action Alert: Call In before 3/25
Advocates – Please check out the IDA click & send link below to contact your Senators & Representatives to deny additional funding for the mismanaged Wild Horse & Burro Program, to deny additional funds for a preserve (Salazoo) in the East for FY11 as requested by Sec. Salazar & to demand reform of the Program. The more letters Congress receives before March for Mustangs in DC next Thursday, 3/25, the better for the advocates who will be there as delegates on behalf of our wild horses/burros & the public, of which I will be one.
Click on title to go to IDA's Advocacy Center;
https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1417
**Please forward to family & friends & your other advocate lists. Thank you.**
For the wild ones, Carla B
Volcano, CA
Click on title to go to IDA's Advocacy Center;
https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1417
**Please forward to family & friends & your other advocate lists. Thank you.**
For the wild ones, Carla B
Volcano, CA
Friday, March 19, 2010
Salazar Announces $305 Million Economic Stimulus Investment through the Bureau of Land Management
Salazar Announces $305 Million Economic Stimulus Investment through the Bureau of Land Management to Restore Landscapes, Develop Renewable Energy, and Create Jobs
by Alex Ferreras on March 19, 2010
Red Rock National Conservation Area, Nevada –Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced $305 million will fund more than 650 Bureau of Land Management projects across the country under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The investments will restore landscapes and habitat, spur renewable energy development on public lands, and create jobs.
Overall, the Department of the Interior will manage $3 billion in investments as part of the recovery plan signed by the President to jumpstart our economy, create or save jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century.
“The President has said that our nation has a ‘moral, environmental, economic, and security imperative to address our dependence on foreign oil and tackle climate change in a serious, sustainable manner,’” Secretary Salazar said. “Many of these BLM investments, including several here in Nevada, will lay the groundwork for our clean energy future by opening the new energy frontier and creating new, green jobs here in America.”
“Through these economic recovery investments, we are also making a down payment on restoring and protecting the stunning landscapes that BLM manages on behalf of the American people.” Salazar explained. “We will conserve habitat, restore watersheds, clean up abandoned mine sites and wells, and build a legacy of stewardship of which we can be proud.”
Investments in Nevada: BLM stimulus funding in Nevada will provide $26.4 million for more than 40 projects, including investments in renewable energy, habitat restoration, roads, bridges and trails, abandoned mines and capital improvements. About $1.2 million of that total will be used to install solar power systems at 16 BLM fire stations in the State, including one next to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The photovoltaic systems will be wired into the electric services at the stations, providing power with a savings in utility payments and reducing their carbon footprint.
Renewable Energy: BLM is investing $41 million through the ARRA to advance the nation’s development and transmission of renewable energy on public lands. These funds will be invested in reducing the backlog of pending applications for wind and solar projects on BLM-managed land. If approved in the permitting process, these large-scale renewable energy projects will create new jobs and increase renewable energy supplies. In addition, these funds will be invested in regional planning and siting of future development and transmission of wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy. Coordinating the development and transmission of renewable energy on a regional scale will accelerate the approval of projects and the creation of jobs associated with the projects.
Protecting Treasured Landscapes: The BLM is investing more than $100 million in projects that will create jobs while restoring and protecting the lands they manage on behalf of the American people. The investments include:
$37 million for habitat restoration. A typical project will create jobs in the restoration of watersheds, provide clean and increased volumes of water for recreational and agricultural uses, and help stabilize wildlife populations
$53.35 million to clean up abandoned mines on BLM lands through the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) program and legacy wells through the Alaska Legacy Well Remediation program. These projects are near public places and high-use areas such as trails, designated off-highway vehicle areas, and picnic areas.
$15 million to construct, maintain, repair and improve recreational trails. Funds will also be used to make safety improvements, provide trailhead facilities, such as parking, restrooms or staging areas, information and interpretation, and improve accessibility for people with disabilities. The projects include:
$800,000 will be used to repair and restore non-motorized trails within the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area located outside Henderson, Nev.;
$260,000 will be used to hire the Western Colorado Youth Corps to maintain 175 miles of trail and construct 10 miles of trail in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area outside of Grand Junction, Colo.; and
$400,000 to be used to construct safety shelters along the 2,300 mile Iditarod National Historic Trail in western Alaska.
Construction, Maintenance and Energy Efficiency Improvements at BLM Facilities: To better protect visitors and employees, address critical health and safety problems at its facilities, and reduce energy use, BLM is investing $143 million in construction, maintenance, roads bridges, and energy efficiency improvements. These funds will also be used to construct new facilities where needed due to increasing numbers of visitors at recreation sites. The BLM will replace aging, deficient communications towers on BLM public lands and make many of its facilities more energy efficient, thereby reducing energy related costs in the long-term. Specific examples of how these funds will be used include:
Campground construction in the Joe Skeen campground on National Conservation Area land in New Mexico;
a new field office in Fillmore, Utah, that replaces structures with serious health and safety issues with safe, state-of the-art energy efficient facilities; and
the replacement of Montana’s Judith Landing Boat Ramp, a critical health and safety project that will dramatically decrease the chance of serious injury to users.
The BLM projects were selected in a rigorous merit-based process based on longstanding priorities of the agency, as will all projects included in the Department’s Recovery Act funding.
Secretary Salazar has pledged unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability in the implementation of the Department of the Interior’s economic recovery projects.
The public will be able to follow the progress of each project on www.recovery.gov and on www.interior.gov/recovery. Secretary Salazar has appointed a Senior Advisor for Economic Recovery, Chris Henderson, and an Interior Economic Recovery Task Force. Henderson and the Task Force will work closely with the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General to ensure that the recovery program is meeting the high standards for accountability, responsibility, and transparency that President Obama has set.
The BLM manages more land – 256 million surface acres – than any other federal agency. It also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Because the BLM manages its lands for a variety of uses, it will play a crucial role in advancing the country’s ability to develop renewable energy, restore critical wildlife and plant habitat, and remediate abandoned mine sites.
More information on the American Recovery and reinvestment Act of 2009 and Interior stimulus funding is available at www.doi.gov/recovery.
Source: DOI
http://energyefficientnews.com/2010/03/salazar-announces-305-million-economic-stimulus-investment-through-the-bureau-of-land-management-to-restore-landscapes-develop-renewable-energy-and-create-jobs/
by Alex Ferreras on March 19, 2010
Red Rock National Conservation Area, Nevada –Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced $305 million will fund more than 650 Bureau of Land Management projects across the country under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The investments will restore landscapes and habitat, spur renewable energy development on public lands, and create jobs.
Overall, the Department of the Interior will manage $3 billion in investments as part of the recovery plan signed by the President to jumpstart our economy, create or save jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century.
“The President has said that our nation has a ‘moral, environmental, economic, and security imperative to address our dependence on foreign oil and tackle climate change in a serious, sustainable manner,’” Secretary Salazar said. “Many of these BLM investments, including several here in Nevada, will lay the groundwork for our clean energy future by opening the new energy frontier and creating new, green jobs here in America.”
“Through these economic recovery investments, we are also making a down payment on restoring and protecting the stunning landscapes that BLM manages on behalf of the American people.” Salazar explained. “We will conserve habitat, restore watersheds, clean up abandoned mine sites and wells, and build a legacy of stewardship of which we can be proud.”
Investments in Nevada: BLM stimulus funding in Nevada will provide $26.4 million for more than 40 projects, including investments in renewable energy, habitat restoration, roads, bridges and trails, abandoned mines and capital improvements. About $1.2 million of that total will be used to install solar power systems at 16 BLM fire stations in the State, including one next to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The photovoltaic systems will be wired into the electric services at the stations, providing power with a savings in utility payments and reducing their carbon footprint.
Renewable Energy: BLM is investing $41 million through the ARRA to advance the nation’s development and transmission of renewable energy on public lands. These funds will be invested in reducing the backlog of pending applications for wind and solar projects on BLM-managed land. If approved in the permitting process, these large-scale renewable energy projects will create new jobs and increase renewable energy supplies. In addition, these funds will be invested in regional planning and siting of future development and transmission of wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy. Coordinating the development and transmission of renewable energy on a regional scale will accelerate the approval of projects and the creation of jobs associated with the projects.
Protecting Treasured Landscapes: The BLM is investing more than $100 million in projects that will create jobs while restoring and protecting the lands they manage on behalf of the American people. The investments include:
$37 million for habitat restoration. A typical project will create jobs in the restoration of watersheds, provide clean and increased volumes of water for recreational and agricultural uses, and help stabilize wildlife populations
$53.35 million to clean up abandoned mines on BLM lands through the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) program and legacy wells through the Alaska Legacy Well Remediation program. These projects are near public places and high-use areas such as trails, designated off-highway vehicle areas, and picnic areas.
$15 million to construct, maintain, repair and improve recreational trails. Funds will also be used to make safety improvements, provide trailhead facilities, such as parking, restrooms or staging areas, information and interpretation, and improve accessibility for people with disabilities. The projects include:
$800,000 will be used to repair and restore non-motorized trails within the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area located outside Henderson, Nev.;
$260,000 will be used to hire the Western Colorado Youth Corps to maintain 175 miles of trail and construct 10 miles of trail in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area outside of Grand Junction, Colo.; and
$400,000 to be used to construct safety shelters along the 2,300 mile Iditarod National Historic Trail in western Alaska.
Construction, Maintenance and Energy Efficiency Improvements at BLM Facilities: To better protect visitors and employees, address critical health and safety problems at its facilities, and reduce energy use, BLM is investing $143 million in construction, maintenance, roads bridges, and energy efficiency improvements. These funds will also be used to construct new facilities where needed due to increasing numbers of visitors at recreation sites. The BLM will replace aging, deficient communications towers on BLM public lands and make many of its facilities more energy efficient, thereby reducing energy related costs in the long-term. Specific examples of how these funds will be used include:
Campground construction in the Joe Skeen campground on National Conservation Area land in New Mexico;
a new field office in Fillmore, Utah, that replaces structures with serious health and safety issues with safe, state-of the-art energy efficient facilities; and
the replacement of Montana’s Judith Landing Boat Ramp, a critical health and safety project that will dramatically decrease the chance of serious injury to users.
The BLM projects were selected in a rigorous merit-based process based on longstanding priorities of the agency, as will all projects included in the Department’s Recovery Act funding.
Secretary Salazar has pledged unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability in the implementation of the Department of the Interior’s economic recovery projects.
The public will be able to follow the progress of each project on www.recovery.gov and on www.interior.gov/recovery. Secretary Salazar has appointed a Senior Advisor for Economic Recovery, Chris Henderson, and an Interior Economic Recovery Task Force. Henderson and the Task Force will work closely with the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General to ensure that the recovery program is meeting the high standards for accountability, responsibility, and transparency that President Obama has set.
The BLM manages more land – 256 million surface acres – than any other federal agency. It also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Because the BLM manages its lands for a variety of uses, it will play a crucial role in advancing the country’s ability to develop renewable energy, restore critical wildlife and plant habitat, and remediate abandoned mine sites.
More information on the American Recovery and reinvestment Act of 2009 and Interior stimulus funding is available at www.doi.gov/recovery.
Source: DOI
http://energyefficientnews.com/2010/03/salazar-announces-305-million-economic-stimulus-investment-through-the-bureau-of-land-management-to-restore-landscapes-develop-renewable-energy-and-create-jobs/
Pronghorns to Replace Wild Horses
Pronghorns, the second-fastest land animal in the world, could be re-introduced in the East Mojave
By DAVID DANELSKI
The Press-Enterprise
The antelope-like pronghorns that once thrived in the California desert could make a comeback.
Federal and state officials are working on a plan to reintroduce the animals -- second only to Cheetahs for speed -- to a remote plateau in the East Mojave, near the California-Nevada border south of Interstate 15.
Pronghorns, once plentiful, were hunted out of the region and haven't been seen there in nearly 100 years.
California Wilderness Coalition
The area of the Castle Mountains Mine, a former goldmine that is being restored to a more natural state, may be sold to the U.S. government and included in the Mojave National Preserve. The plan includes returning pronghorns -- a fast-moving hoofed mammal -- to the area.
The reintroduction could get a boost if Sen. Dianne Feinstein's desert protection bill pending before Congress is adopted.
The legislation, among many provisions, would add the Castle Mountains and surrounding area -- nearly 30,000 acres that includes the former pronghorn range -- to the Mojave National Preserve. The land is overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
The proposal has drawn opposition from an Escondido-based energy company that hopes to invest $1.2 billion in a wind farm that would generate electricity for as many as 300,000 homes, a company official said. If the area becomes part of the preserve, energy development would not be allowed.
The National Park Service, which manages the 16-year-old preserve, is working with state Department of Fish and Game officials on contingency plans to re-introduce pronghorn to the grassy plateau, known as the Lanfair Valley.
Placing the area under park service jurisdiction would give the agency a chance to restore a missing species to the landscape, said Dennis Schramm, preserve superintendent.
"We identified this opportunity about 15 years ago," he said.
Click on title above for rest of story;
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_W_pronghorn19.4702905.html
By DAVID DANELSKI
The Press-Enterprise
The antelope-like pronghorns that once thrived in the California desert could make a comeback.
Federal and state officials are working on a plan to reintroduce the animals -- second only to Cheetahs for speed -- to a remote plateau in the East Mojave, near the California-Nevada border south of Interstate 15.
Pronghorns, once plentiful, were hunted out of the region and haven't been seen there in nearly 100 years.
California Wilderness Coalition
The area of the Castle Mountains Mine, a former goldmine that is being restored to a more natural state, may be sold to the U.S. government and included in the Mojave National Preserve. The plan includes returning pronghorns -- a fast-moving hoofed mammal -- to the area.
The reintroduction could get a boost if Sen. Dianne Feinstein's desert protection bill pending before Congress is adopted.
The legislation, among many provisions, would add the Castle Mountains and surrounding area -- nearly 30,000 acres that includes the former pronghorn range -- to the Mojave National Preserve. The land is overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
The proposal has drawn opposition from an Escondido-based energy company that hopes to invest $1.2 billion in a wind farm that would generate electricity for as many as 300,000 homes, a company official said. If the area becomes part of the preserve, energy development would not be allowed.
The National Park Service, which manages the 16-year-old preserve, is working with state Department of Fish and Game officials on contingency plans to re-introduce pronghorn to the grassy plateau, known as the Lanfair Valley.
Placing the area under park service jurisdiction would give the agency a chance to restore a missing species to the landscape, said Dennis Schramm, preserve superintendent.
"We identified this opportunity about 15 years ago," he said.
Click on title above for rest of story;
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_W_pronghorn19.4702905.html
BLM to Up-Fees 4 Hikers
BLM to discuss fee hikes at Little Sahara complex
APress - March 19, 2010 7:35 AM ET
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Bureau of Land Management wants to charge the public more to visit the Little Sahara Recreation Area.
The 60,000-acre sand dune complex in Juab County has long been a popular spot for off-highway vehicles.
The agency will consider a number of fee changes, including eliminating the daily pass and implementing a 2-day pass for $25 per vehicle and a 7-day pass for $40.
Revenue from the increases would cover costs ranging from law enforcement to pumping toilets.
The BLM's Resource Advisory-Recreation Council plans to discuss the proposed increase next week in St. George.
Aaron Curtis, the recreation leader for Utah's BLM office, says Little Sahara hasn't seen a fee increase since 2003.
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
APress - March 19, 2010 7:35 AM ET
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Bureau of Land Management wants to charge the public more to visit the Little Sahara Recreation Area.
The 60,000-acre sand dune complex in Juab County has long been a popular spot for off-highway vehicles.
The agency will consider a number of fee changes, including eliminating the daily pass and implementing a 2-day pass for $25 per vehicle and a 7-day pass for $40.
Revenue from the increases would cover costs ranging from law enforcement to pumping toilets.
The BLM's Resource Advisory-Recreation Council plans to discuss the proposed increase next week in St. George.
Aaron Curtis, the recreation leader for Utah's BLM office, says Little Sahara hasn't seen a fee increase since 2003.
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
Pneumonia outbreak hits wild bighorn sheep
More than 400 animals have died in four Western states
By MARTIN GRIFFITH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bighorn sheep, such as these seen near Hoover Dam in 2004, have died by the hundreds this winter in several Western states. Officials blame the deaths on a pneumonia outbreak..
RENO -- Pneumonia outbreaks that have killed hundreds of bighorn sheep this winter in several Western states have wildlife officials grappling with how to minimize the impact.
The disease shows up sporadically in wild herds, but it's unusual to have so many outbreaks in so many states, wildlife officials said Friday.
More than 400 ill bighorn sheep in Nevada, Montana, Utah and Washington state have died or have been killed by wildlife officials this winter, and the death toll is expected to rise in coming weeks. More than half were from four herds in western Montana alone.
"I'd lean toward saying this is unprecedented," said Vivaca Crowser, a spokeswoman for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
Wildlife officials said there's no effective treatment or vaccination for pneumonia, so they're left with few good options: let the disease run its course or start killing sick sheep to save the healthy ones.
"It's not a pleasant task but we know if we don't get ahead of the disease, we could lose everything," said Charlie Greenwood, a wildlife manager with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
It can be difficult to determine what causes a pneumonia outbreak, said Krysten Schuler with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. The causes can include factors that are bacterial, parasitic or viral, she said.
While domestic sheep carry pathogens that can infect bighorns, there's no evidence linking them to any of the pneumonia outbreaks, wildlife officials said.(yeah, right)
"We don't have evidence for what the source point is for the pneumonia," said Donny Martorello, wildlife manager at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
"It's such a complicated thing," said Joe Doucette, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife in Elko. "There's so many unknowns and they're trying to study everything."
In northeastern Nevada, 79 sheep have died in the adjoining East Humboldt and Ruby ranges, and wildlife officials think the outbreak could end up killing as much as 80 percent of the 340 bighorns there.
"There's a distinct possibility it could be catastrophic like 1995-96," when a similar outbreak killed 140 of 160 bighorns in the Rubies, Doucette said.
Signs of pneumonia began turning up in November across the West, and the outbreak has continued to spread since then.
Caleb McAdoo, a biologist with the Nevada wildlife agency, said the full extent of the outbreak won't be known until the spring when aerial surveys of sheep are performed. He expects the death count to significantly climb.
When pneumonia takes hold in sheep, it's nearly always fatal. The lungs fill up with fluid and they can die within days or a week. It also spreads fast because sheep are so social.
------------------
http://www.lvrj.com/news/pneumonia-outbreak-hits-wild-bighorn-sheep-8564
By MARTIN GRIFFITH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bighorn sheep, such as these seen near Hoover Dam in 2004, have died by the hundreds this winter in several Western states. Officials blame the deaths on a pneumonia outbreak..
RENO -- Pneumonia outbreaks that have killed hundreds of bighorn sheep this winter in several Western states have wildlife officials grappling with how to minimize the impact.
The disease shows up sporadically in wild herds, but it's unusual to have so many outbreaks in so many states, wildlife officials said Friday.
More than 400 ill bighorn sheep in Nevada, Montana, Utah and Washington state have died or have been killed by wildlife officials this winter, and the death toll is expected to rise in coming weeks. More than half were from four herds in western Montana alone.
"I'd lean toward saying this is unprecedented," said Vivaca Crowser, a spokeswoman for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
Wildlife officials said there's no effective treatment or vaccination for pneumonia, so they're left with few good options: let the disease run its course or start killing sick sheep to save the healthy ones.
"It's not a pleasant task but we know if we don't get ahead of the disease, we could lose everything," said Charlie Greenwood, a wildlife manager with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
It can be difficult to determine what causes a pneumonia outbreak, said Krysten Schuler with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. The causes can include factors that are bacterial, parasitic or viral, she said.
While domestic sheep carry pathogens that can infect bighorns, there's no evidence linking them to any of the pneumonia outbreaks, wildlife officials said.(yeah, right)
"We don't have evidence for what the source point is for the pneumonia," said Donny Martorello, wildlife manager at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
"It's such a complicated thing," said Joe Doucette, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife in Elko. "There's so many unknowns and they're trying to study everything."
In northeastern Nevada, 79 sheep have died in the adjoining East Humboldt and Ruby ranges, and wildlife officials think the outbreak could end up killing as much as 80 percent of the 340 bighorns there.
"There's a distinct possibility it could be catastrophic like 1995-96," when a similar outbreak killed 140 of 160 bighorns in the Rubies, Doucette said.
Signs of pneumonia began turning up in November across the West, and the outbreak has continued to spread since then.
Caleb McAdoo, a biologist with the Nevada wildlife agency, said the full extent of the outbreak won't be known until the spring when aerial surveys of sheep are performed. He expects the death count to significantly climb.
When pneumonia takes hold in sheep, it's nearly always fatal. The lungs fill up with fluid and they can die within days or a week. It also spreads fast because sheep are so social.
------------------
http://www.lvrj.com/news/pneumonia-outbreak-hits-wild-bighorn-sheep-8564
Monday, March 15, 2010
Crystal Rasmus, Australian Wild Horse Advocate
Click on title above to meet Crystal and hear her message to the world on behalf of Austrailias wild horses (called brumbys)
Ely FOIA Appeal - 4th Update / March 26, 2010
MARCH 26, 2010
Called today and left a message for Mr. Strayhorn, who Ms. Johnson tells me is the hed honcho of the govts' FOIA dept. I let him know that Mrs Johnson DID confirm reciept of my FOIA appeal (received last december) and that since there were "many many many" people interested in the outcome of this appeal......I would appreciate a call back with an update as to its status. I shall give them a few more days to respond before commencing a lawsuit to compel compliance.
I have also done as a commentator has suggested below, and also left the same message for:
Alexandra Mallus
Chief FOIA Information Officer
(202) 208 - 5342
-----------------------
March 15, 2010 (3rd Update)
Calling Mrs. Johnson again today to find out why I havent received a response to my FOIA appeal sent in last November. She has me on hold right now while she "looks up" the record. Mrs. Johnson is back now, and tells me that my appeal is still under review and also added (again) that I should be hearing something "in a few weeks" more. However, that is what she told me last Jan. 29 the last time I called her. I told her that basically all I am looking for at this time is some sort of "official" verification that my appeal was even received. Her reply to me was to inform me that such letters would not be issued until the appeal can be reviewed. She reminded me (again) that the dept was "backlogged" with such appeals and I said I imagine that you are, HOWEVER; I reminded her again that there was a statutoriy imposed statue of limitations on the time alloted for them to reply to FOIA appeals and asked her advice as to how long I should wait before suing them for failure to reply. She was quiet for a moment, thinking I suspect, on how to respond when finally she suggested that I direct my inquiry to her supervisor Darrell Strayhorn, the offical officer in charge of FOIA appeals. She offered to switch me over to Mr. Strayhorns voice-mail. Of course I said thank you and she did in fact switch me over to Mr Strayhorns voice mail where I left a message for him inquiring of the status of my FOIA appeal submitted last November. Stay tuned to this post for more updates as they develop.
JANUARY 29th, 2010 - 2nd Update
I just got off the phone with a Dorathy Johnson, FOIL "Special Appeals" Officer, who verified for me that my appeal was (indeed) recieved at their (DOI) Office on December 9, 2009.
I reminded her that it has been TWO MONTHS since I sent the appeal, and have not heard anything on it yet. She informed me that I should be recieving something in the mail soon. I asked her if she could give me an idea as to just how long it might be, reminding her that there is a statute of limitation on these things and I was just curious to know how long I should be expected to wait before I trouble them with a phone call again. She told me to "give it two more weeks."
If any one else wants to follow up on the "Jubic FOIA Appeal" you can call Ms. Johnson at (202) 2085339.
---------------------
Sent Nov. 25, 2009, and still no reply to my FOIA appeal. Do you think they could be ignoring me, hoping I wil just go away? NOT. Tomorrow I shall give them a call to remind them I am still waiting to know what became of the over 600 horses taken from the Seaman, White River (Golden Gate) and Caliente Districts last year;
Department of the Interior / FOIA Officer
1849 C St. N.W. MS-6556, MIB
Washington, DC 20240
Re: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION APPEAL
# OS-2010-00066
Ely District BLM # NV-NVL 0000-2010-001
To Whom It May Concern;
I am writing to appeal a denial of my request to be provided with information concerning the number and location of all the wild horses and burros rounded up in 2009 from the Golden Gate, Seaman, White River and Caliente Herds, which by the numbers estimated in the respective EAs was said to total over 600 head of horses.
As indicated in my original request (attached) ....”The information I am seeking to obtain includes the names and locations of all the long and short-term holding facilities where these particular herd-members are being kept, whether said facilities are owned by the BLM or leased under private contract. I would also like to be provided with all of the individual herd-members brand numbers along with individual discriptions or photographs or any other information that would identify the individual horses removed from the above listed rangelands."
In response to my request, Ditha Hutchinson, FOIA Coordinator for the Ely District Office of the BLM, informed me by letter that they “do not have the information” I requested,” and forwarded my request to Arthur A. DiGrazia, Jr. , Wild Horse and Burro Operations Manager, Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Corrals, 300 S. Richmond Rd, Ridgecrest, CA 93555 (See Ely District Letter dated Nov. 16, 2009, attached)
On or about November 16, 2009, I did receive a letter from Hector Villalobos, Field Manager at the Ridgecrest Short Term Holding Facility in Ridgecrest California, who informed me that “to his knowledge” all wild horses gathered in the BLM Ely District during the 2009 season were transported to the Ridgecrest Facility and “no other.” However, he did not provide me with any documents that would validate that any transfer of animals had occurred between the Ely District and the Ridgecrest facility, no trucking record or receipts or bills of ladel, etc. (See Villalobos Letter dated Nov. 16, 2009, attached)
Included in Mr. Villalobos response was two documents, both "generic" cut-out portions of something else (retracted), one is a generic partial post-gather report which is not even printed on offical letter-head of any kind nor does it have anything printed upon it that would substantiate its date, author or place of orgin. In this "report," it is indicated only that a total of 689 horses were gathered from these complexes. There is nothing in this report to indicate what became of them after gather. (See partial post-gather report attached)
Mr. Villalobos then goes on to admit that the Ridgecrest Facility has processed only 15 wild horses from Ely District, which he states were gathered from the White River Complex. As proof of the processing of these 15 horses, Mr Villalobos submits a second “generic” document with a series of 15 numbers on it indicating the freeze-mark and signalment numbers of 15 horses. As mentioned above regarding the post-gather report document, this document is also a "generic" cut and paste rendition of numbers printed upon plain paper with no official letter-head of any kind nor anything printed upon it that would substantiate its date, author or orgin, or the current whereabouts of the 15 horses. (See “Prepped” Sheet attached)
I am appealing the response of the Ely District as a blanket denial and the response of Mr. Villalobos as a partial denial of my request and do so on the following grounds;
1. I was seeking information on the identification and whereabouts of over 600 wild horses gathered from these complexes and received only generic information regarding 15 horses allegedly gathered from the White River Complex and processed at Ridgecrest. The documents, devoid of any verifiable information, are insuffient as proof of gather, transfer or receipt and current whereabouts as same is not even on official letterhead so as to be able to acertain in fact which office had generated them or when or by whom. The documents are also unsigned or un-verified by any signature of their author.
2. The response does not fulfill any portion of my request seeking information on the whereabouts of ALL the wild horses gathered from these various complexes, including the 15 alleged to have been processed at Ridgecrest. The reply from the Ely District stating that they have no records whatsoever in regards to the “disposition” of these horses is incredible, and Mr. Villalobos' off-hand, "un-official" statement that “to his knowledge” the horses were transfered to the Ridgecrest Facility is an insufficent reply to a request for documentary proof as to the whereabouts of these horses allegedly gathered from the Ely District and allegedly transferred to Ridgecrest Short-term Holding Facility. Moreover, the "processing" records of the 15 horses allegedly taken from the White River HMA and allegedly transferred to Ridgecrest do not state where these horses were actually taken from nor does it state that these horses are being held at Ridgecrest. What I received was a series of numbers printed on a plain piece of paper devoid of any "officiality" with only the words "processed" stamped across the top. NO OTHER information at all appears on this document, not even any sort of offical or departmental letter-head or identification of any kind. There are no dates or signatures. This document tells me nothing.
I am appealing in hopes that I will be provided OFFICAL dated and signed departmental documents as kept in the normal course of business regarding the whereabouts of the 689 horses allegedly gathered from the Ely District BLM in 2009 and un-accounted for thus far. The information and documents provided in reply to my FOIA request are woefully insufficient as proof of the "chain of custody" or whereabouts and /or fate of these horses, and it is sufficient proof of same that I am seeking to obtain.
Thanking you in advance for any consideration you may give this matter. I anxiously await your reply.
Yours, etc.,
__________________________
Christine A. Jubic
Called today and left a message for Mr. Strayhorn, who Ms. Johnson tells me is the hed honcho of the govts' FOIA dept. I let him know that Mrs Johnson DID confirm reciept of my FOIA appeal (received last december) and that since there were "many many many" people interested in the outcome of this appeal......I would appreciate a call back with an update as to its status. I shall give them a few more days to respond before commencing a lawsuit to compel compliance.
I have also done as a commentator has suggested below, and also left the same message for:
Alexandra Mallus
Chief FOIA Information Officer
(202) 208 - 5342
-----------------------
March 15, 2010 (3rd Update)
Calling Mrs. Johnson again today to find out why I havent received a response to my FOIA appeal sent in last November. She has me on hold right now while she "looks up" the record. Mrs. Johnson is back now, and tells me that my appeal is still under review and also added (again) that I should be hearing something "in a few weeks" more. However, that is what she told me last Jan. 29 the last time I called her. I told her that basically all I am looking for at this time is some sort of "official" verification that my appeal was even received. Her reply to me was to inform me that such letters would not be issued until the appeal can be reviewed. She reminded me (again) that the dept was "backlogged" with such appeals and I said I imagine that you are, HOWEVER; I reminded her again that there was a statutoriy imposed statue of limitations on the time alloted for them to reply to FOIA appeals and asked her advice as to how long I should wait before suing them for failure to reply. She was quiet for a moment, thinking I suspect, on how to respond when finally she suggested that I direct my inquiry to her supervisor Darrell Strayhorn, the offical officer in charge of FOIA appeals. She offered to switch me over to Mr. Strayhorns voice-mail. Of course I said thank you and she did in fact switch me over to Mr Strayhorns voice mail where I left a message for him inquiring of the status of my FOIA appeal submitted last November. Stay tuned to this post for more updates as they develop.
JANUARY 29th, 2010 - 2nd Update
I just got off the phone with a Dorathy Johnson, FOIL "Special Appeals" Officer, who verified for me that my appeal was (indeed) recieved at their (DOI) Office on December 9, 2009.
I reminded her that it has been TWO MONTHS since I sent the appeal, and have not heard anything on it yet. She informed me that I should be recieving something in the mail soon. I asked her if she could give me an idea as to just how long it might be, reminding her that there is a statute of limitation on these things and I was just curious to know how long I should be expected to wait before I trouble them with a phone call again. She told me to "give it two more weeks."
If any one else wants to follow up on the "Jubic FOIA Appeal" you can call Ms. Johnson at (202) 2085339.
---------------------
Sent Nov. 25, 2009, and still no reply to my FOIA appeal. Do you think they could be ignoring me, hoping I wil just go away? NOT. Tomorrow I shall give them a call to remind them I am still waiting to know what became of the over 600 horses taken from the Seaman, White River (Golden Gate) and Caliente Districts last year;
Department of the Interior / FOIA Officer
1849 C St. N.W. MS-6556, MIB
Washington, DC 20240
Re: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION APPEAL
# OS-2010-00066
Ely District BLM # NV-NVL 0000-2010-001
To Whom It May Concern;
I am writing to appeal a denial of my request to be provided with information concerning the number and location of all the wild horses and burros rounded up in 2009 from the Golden Gate, Seaman, White River and Caliente Herds, which by the numbers estimated in the respective EAs was said to total over 600 head of horses.
As indicated in my original request (attached) ....”The information I am seeking to obtain includes the names and locations of all the long and short-term holding facilities where these particular herd-members are being kept, whether said facilities are owned by the BLM or leased under private contract. I would also like to be provided with all of the individual herd-members brand numbers along with individual discriptions or photographs or any other information that would identify the individual horses removed from the above listed rangelands."
In response to my request, Ditha Hutchinson, FOIA Coordinator for the Ely District Office of the BLM, informed me by letter that they “do not have the information” I requested,” and forwarded my request to Arthur A. DiGrazia, Jr. , Wild Horse and Burro Operations Manager, Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Corrals, 300 S. Richmond Rd, Ridgecrest, CA 93555 (See Ely District Letter dated Nov. 16, 2009, attached)
On or about November 16, 2009, I did receive a letter from Hector Villalobos, Field Manager at the Ridgecrest Short Term Holding Facility in Ridgecrest California, who informed me that “to his knowledge” all wild horses gathered in the BLM Ely District during the 2009 season were transported to the Ridgecrest Facility and “no other.” However, he did not provide me with any documents that would validate that any transfer of animals had occurred between the Ely District and the Ridgecrest facility, no trucking record or receipts or bills of ladel, etc. (See Villalobos Letter dated Nov. 16, 2009, attached)
Included in Mr. Villalobos response was two documents, both "generic" cut-out portions of something else (retracted), one is a generic partial post-gather report which is not even printed on offical letter-head of any kind nor does it have anything printed upon it that would substantiate its date, author or place of orgin. In this "report," it is indicated only that a total of 689 horses were gathered from these complexes. There is nothing in this report to indicate what became of them after gather. (See partial post-gather report attached)
Mr. Villalobos then goes on to admit that the Ridgecrest Facility has processed only 15 wild horses from Ely District, which he states were gathered from the White River Complex. As proof of the processing of these 15 horses, Mr Villalobos submits a second “generic” document with a series of 15 numbers on it indicating the freeze-mark and signalment numbers of 15 horses. As mentioned above regarding the post-gather report document, this document is also a "generic" cut and paste rendition of numbers printed upon plain paper with no official letter-head of any kind nor anything printed upon it that would substantiate its date, author or orgin, or the current whereabouts of the 15 horses. (See “Prepped” Sheet attached)
I am appealing the response of the Ely District as a blanket denial and the response of Mr. Villalobos as a partial denial of my request and do so on the following grounds;
1. I was seeking information on the identification and whereabouts of over 600 wild horses gathered from these complexes and received only generic information regarding 15 horses allegedly gathered from the White River Complex and processed at Ridgecrest. The documents, devoid of any verifiable information, are insuffient as proof of gather, transfer or receipt and current whereabouts as same is not even on official letterhead so as to be able to acertain in fact which office had generated them or when or by whom. The documents are also unsigned or un-verified by any signature of their author.
2. The response does not fulfill any portion of my request seeking information on the whereabouts of ALL the wild horses gathered from these various complexes, including the 15 alleged to have been processed at Ridgecrest. The reply from the Ely District stating that they have no records whatsoever in regards to the “disposition” of these horses is incredible, and Mr. Villalobos' off-hand, "un-official" statement that “to his knowledge” the horses were transfered to the Ridgecrest Facility is an insufficent reply to a request for documentary proof as to the whereabouts of these horses allegedly gathered from the Ely District and allegedly transferred to Ridgecrest Short-term Holding Facility. Moreover, the "processing" records of the 15 horses allegedly taken from the White River HMA and allegedly transferred to Ridgecrest do not state where these horses were actually taken from nor does it state that these horses are being held at Ridgecrest. What I received was a series of numbers printed on a plain piece of paper devoid of any "officiality" with only the words "processed" stamped across the top. NO OTHER information at all appears on this document, not even any sort of offical or departmental letter-head or identification of any kind. There are no dates or signatures. This document tells me nothing.
I am appealing in hopes that I will be provided OFFICAL dated and signed departmental documents as kept in the normal course of business regarding the whereabouts of the 689 horses allegedly gathered from the Ely District BLM in 2009 and un-accounted for thus far. The information and documents provided in reply to my FOIA request are woefully insufficient as proof of the "chain of custody" or whereabouts and /or fate of these horses, and it is sufficient proof of same that I am seeking to obtain.
Thanking you in advance for any consideration you may give this matter. I anxiously await your reply.
Yours, etc.,
__________________________
Christine A. Jubic
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
