Reid an "Absolute Convert" to T. Boone Pickins Plan, Promices Tax Breaks, Incentives & More.....

Natural gas gets attention where renewables ruled

On eve of clean energy summit, Reid voices support for fuel some see as bridge to future

By Alexandra Berzon, Las Vegas Sun

Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.




Sen. Harry Reid wants tax incentives for new Pal BigPig Oilman T. Boone Pickins, for conversion of natural gas to vehicle fuel.

In remarks to the media setting the stage for today’s National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Sen. Harry Reid spent a good deal of time voicing support for tax incentives to convert natural gas to fuel.

The idea came from natural gas entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens, and Reid described himself as “an absolute convert” to the idea.

It was an unexpected introduction to Reid’s second annual star-studded gathering of people interested in promoting clean energy, which runs today and Tuesday at Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus. The Senate majority leader has been a champion of renewable energy — and natural gas is not a renewable resource. Neither is natural gas extraction a big industry in Nevada.

But natural gas is considered cleaner than coal and oil. And advocates of clean energy say that although wind, solar and geothermal are still the ultimate goal, natural gas can serve as a bridge resource that can reduce carbon emissions while the nation develops those renewable resources.

Last year, the two top needs identified by those at the summit were a long-term extension of tax incentives for renewable energy production and more transmission lines for renewable energy.

Congress approved the tax incentives a few months later as part of the bailout of financial institutions. Transforming the grid and other key suggestions were addressed in the economic stimulus bill, and others are included in the climate and energy bill, which was passed by the House in June but is held up in the Senate.

But the movement toward renewables was slowed over the year by a powerful counter-force: the crash of credit markets. That crash, combined with logistical challenges, has led to slower development of renewable energy than anticipated last year, conference participants said in interviews last week.

As development of renewables sputtered, natural gas gained some momentum as prices dropped 70 percent. Prices are expected to stay low as producers have discovered vast new supplies through new technology that allowed them to drill through dense rock.

Pickens, who built his fortune on natural gas, is an example of the changing energy landscape. Last year he introduced a plan to have cars run on natural gas converted to fuel, and to build wind farms and other renewable energy plants. But last month, he announced he was postponing plans for the largest U.S. wind farms because of difficulty accessing credit and connecting to transmission lines.

With Pickens’ involvement, Reid introduced legislation last month separate from the energy bill to create tax breaks for buying natural-gas-fueled vehicles.

-------------
Bloggers Note:

Reid to T. Boone; "You know, as I told (ex)Congressman Burns waaay back in 04',...Nevada has a problem with all them dern "wild" hosses on the public lands. They are the only things standing in the way of our development plans...."

T. Boone to Harry Reid; "You gimmie my tax breaks and I'll git dem hosses offin' yer lands fur ya's."

Reid to T Boone; "Let me talk to my pal Big Sal and see if we cant come up with a plan."

Thus was born the "Salazoo Plan" to remove our wild horses (and burros) off of their historic rangelands and into privately run "Salazoos" and "Pickins Preserves.".

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/aug/10/natural-gas-gets-attention-where-renewables-ruled/

A Reids Prospective on Reid / No Bias There

Back home, Harry Reid more concerned about catching mice than polls
By Jean Reid Norman

To explain Harry Reid, Searchlight resident Richard Hill tells the mouse story.

Hill’s wife, Judy, keeps an eye on the Senate majority leader’s local house while he is in Washington, and recently she was dealing with a rogue mouse.

Hill helped her set traps three times with cheese, but to no effect.

When Reid and his wife, Landra, came home, “Senator Reid told me I’m 0 for 3 when it comes to trapping mice,” Hill said.

Having been on the receiving end of Reid’s dry humor, Hill is pretty sure that the senator was not serious when he made a now infamous remark to the Review-Journal advertising director that he hoped the newspaper, which has been critical of him, goes out of business.

“That’s just Harry,” Hill said.

A Reid spokesman also said the senator was not being serious.

On Friday, during a stop at the Searchlight Nugget with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey and an entourage of staff members and media in tow, Reid had the home field advantage. Polls that show him trailing little-known Republicans were irrelevant at the Nugget, where Reid visited with old friends took the corner booth for two eggs over easy and whole wheat toast.

At the next table, Hill questioned the polls that show Reid behind.

“That’s crazy,” he said. “Where did they take that poll?”

Reid also took the opportunity, after an announcement of $135 million in federal money coming to Nevada through the Southern Nevada Public Management Act, to fire back at polls by the Review-Journal and the blog Daily Kos that showed Reid trailing Republicans Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian. Both polls had biases, Reid said.

“My polling numbers are fine,” he said. “Every person who’s been mentioned so far, all my polls show me ahead.

“There’s a year to go. Come next June, when they’ve had a primary and have a candidate, we will be happy to engage them.”

At the Nugget, Reid seemed to relish the opportunity to introduce Salazar, a former Senate colleague and a Colorado rancher, to his neighbors: Nugget owner Verlie Doing, Native American Arthur Fraijo, Searchlight Town Advisory Board Chairman and general store owner Stan Colton.

After breakfast, Reid thanked the kitchen staff, and he and Salazar, sporting a cowboy hat, got into an SUV to lead a convoy of staff and media to Cottonwood Cove for the announcement.

On the way, they turned onto a dirt road to the Searchlight Cemetery, where staff and media waited at the metal gate while the senator and secretary visited Reid’s family plot, where his parents, grandparents and brother are buried.

Salazar said he had read Reid’s history of Searchlight and had seen photos, “but I had no clue how far and remote it was.”

In front of the audience at Cottonwood Cove, Reid recounted the tour, calling it a “memorable day.”

Salazar returned the favor, recalling Reid’s hard-scrabble youth working with his father in the mines while his mother took in laundry.

“Sometimes in political life, you find a lot of people who are back-slapping, smiling people who don’t come from the heart,” he said. “That’s not the case with Harry Reid. What you see is what you get.”

http://www.nvdems.com/go/in-the-media/back-home,-harry-reid-more-concerned-about-catching-mice-than-polls/

The Reid-Pickins Plan

The Pickens Profile You Haven’t Read

T. Boone has re-invented himself as a green wildcatter. Can he finish what Al Gore started?

7/10/08: NEWSWEEK business and technology editors met with Texas oil magnate T. Boone Pickens to discuss his plan for fighting America's dependency on foreign oil.

By Karen Breslau | NEWSWEEK
Published Aug 9, 2008
Aug. 18-25, 2008 issue


T. Boone Pickens can't read his lines. Squinting at his teleprompter, he is posing in front of a mile-long ribbon of wind turbines, churning against an endless Texas sky. Pickens is in Sweetwater, a town of 12,000 that bills itself as the nation's wind-energy capital, to shoot a commercial urging Americans to put themselves on a new energy diet: cutting out imported oil—which costs $700 billion a year—in favor of domestically produced sources such as wind and natural gas. "Our dependence on foreign oil means that we are buying from our enemies," he drawls into the camera, veering from the script. At this, the director walks onto the set, frowning his disapproval. "Don't want me to say 'enemies', huh?" Pickens deadpans as he drops his head in mock shame and scuffs his cowboy boot in the dirt. "How 'bout 'Some friends and a few a––holes?' That better?"

With that kind of blunt talk—and an estimated $3 billion fortune to back it up with action—Pickens, who last made headlines for funding the Swift Boat attack ads against John Kerry in 2004, has put himself back in the spotlight in time for the 2008 presidential election. It's an audacious act of rebranding: the flamboyant 80-year-old oilman and onetime corporate raider reborn as green wildcatter and the Web's first senior blog star. Since it was launched a month ago, www.pickensplan.com has cracked the top-1,000 list of most heavily trafficked sites worldwide, according to the Internet marketing firm Quantcast.

If you haven't yet heard of the Pickens Plan, then you've no doubt been on vacation: he has flooded TV and radio with thousands of ads urging viewers to log on to his Web site and demand that Washington overhaul the country's energy infrastructure. "The American people know something is wrong as far as energy is concerned," he tells NEWSWEEK. "They don't think they are being told the truth."

Just don't mistake Pickens for a tree-hugger. While he says he'd probably "pass a cheek-swab test" for his environmental credentials, and he believes climate change is real, Pickens favors drilling offshore and in Alaska, and more nuclear power if it will mean importing less oil. "I'm pro-everything," he says. To sell his plan, Pickens has enlisted an unlikely supporting cast of environmental leaders and top Democrats who for years loathed everything he stands for. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who once said he considered Pickens his "mortal enemy," will host him this month at a clean-energy summit in Las Vegas, along with Bill Clinton. Even Al Gore, who has his own proposal to wean the U.S. power grid from fossil fuels within a decade, pronounced the Pickens Plan "respectable" last month.

Can Pickens finish the job that Gore started? With Americans desperate for relief from $4-a-gallon gasoline, the irreverent capitalist seems to have captured public attention with an ease and flair that eluded the earnest, Nobel Prize-winning environmentalist. Forget about drowning polar bears and compact fluorescent light bulbs; Pickens is peddling pure old star-spangled self-interest. His ads feature grainy images of burning oilfields and U.S. soldiers standing watch in the desert, with an ominous soundtrack worthy of a horror film. The roiling clouds part and majestic wind turbines pop against a heartland sky. "We can take back our energy future," says the oilman. Environmentalists seem grateful for the cross-cultural messenger. "I hope he grabs that part of Middle America that we failed to reach," says Sierra Club president Carl Pope, whose endorsement is posted on Pickens's Web site.

What's in it for Pickens? He is investing $10 billion to build the world's largest wind farm in the Texas panhandle. Through another venture, Clean Energy Fuels Corp., he is the country's largest private owner of natural-gas fueling stations. If demand for these sources soars, as his plan envisions, he is positioned to win big. Pickens, who claims he's worth $4 billion (Fortune says $3 billion), scoffs at the notion that he's driven by profit. "I don't need to make any more money," he says, laughing. In fact, Pickens says he doesn't even plan to erect turbines on his own 120,000-acre ranch in the panhandle, because he thinks they are "ugly." Converts to Pickens's cause don't mind if he cashes in. "I want him to make more money in wind than he did in oil," says the Sierra Club's Pope. "It has a huge impact on the conversation."

Having a huge impact is a recurring theme in Pickens's life. As a paperboy in tiny Holdenville, Okla., a plucky young Boone persuaded his boss to let him invade the routes of other boys by selling more papers. "It was my first experience in the takeover field: expansion by acquisition," he writes in his forthcoming memoir, "The First Billion Is the Hardest," to be published early next month. In it, T. (for Thomas) Boone traces his rise from boy capitalist, trained by his father, an oil-company land man, his rectitudinous mother and his stern grandmother Nellie (who once talked him into a bad lawn-mowing deal in order to teach him a lesson). Despite his success, the striving paperboy remains at his core. Over the past several years, Pickens donated $165 million to the athletics department at Oklahoma State University, his alma mater, in large part because he was tired of seeing his beloved Cowboys lose. During halftime at a game at Boone Pickens stadium, OSU athletic director Mike Holder was stunned to find the benefactor cleaning up the restroom. "People had splashed water all over the counters, thrown paper towels on the floor and Boone Pickens couldn't stand to see his investment in disarray. So without a word, he started picking up the paper towels and wiping down the counters himself," Holder told NEWSWEEK. "I think the rest of us were so embarrassed, we started to clean up quietly around him."

As the millions turned into billions, Pickens also confronted failure and loss, all in one annus horribilis in 1996. He got a divorce, lost his best friends in a car crash, and received a taste of his own medicine when he was forced out as CEO of Mesa Petroleum, the oil company he built into one of the world's largest independents. That year, he fell into clinical depression: "My dauber was down, as the saying goes." The ruthless raider writes about the heartache of having to share custody of his beloved Papillon spaniel with his ex-wife. "When I first went to pick him up, old Winston started growling at me in the front seat," he writes. "I decided it wasn't fair to Winston … so for his benefit, I just stopped." (Pickens, who today cuts a jaunty, vigorous figure, remarried in 2005—and has a new Papillon.)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/151727

Big Sal, Buddy Bob The Slob, "Do Breakfast" in Nevada w/ Hairless Harry; Leave State A Very Large Tip

Bloggers Note: I wonder if this is the same meeting where Dirty Harry told Big Sal about "Nevadas Wild Horse Problem," ...(just like he complained to (ex) Congressman Burns, as he asked him to slip in "the rider" to the WFH&B Act making it OK to kill some, because Hairless Harry Reid dosent have enough hair on his BALLS to "man-up" and do his own dirty work) It was probably in this way at this meeting in Harrys Hometown of Searchlight Nv., that Hairless told Big Sal about his "brilliant" ROAM Act idea, setting forth a "new plan" for wild horse management (to eventually get them off of their historic rangelands and into the private sector, and to BOMBARD them with birth controls) That is probably when Big Sal got the idea to support Hairlesses' idea and backed it by coming out publicly with his "Salazoo Plan,"...which is nothing but the carrying out and/or fulfillment of the ROAM Act. The timing is right anyways. The "Breakfast Club" Meeting of Reid, Salazar and Abby was about one month ago, and that is the approximate age of the public announcement of Big Sals Salazoo Plan....ha ha..Big Sal is presenting it as if the idea was all his own when it seems now the ROAM Act was Hairlesss'idea! He had to get his co-defendant Congressman Byrd to present it, cause he knew if he presented it himself, no one would buy that it would benefit the equines, and it dosent! Reid probably was inspired to write the ROAM Act from the idea(s) set out earlier in the "Pickinses'Plan(s),"... BOTH of them, taken together,....Mr.(his) and (Mrs.)hers!

Madeleine's Plan; To Save the Wild Horses
http://www.madeleinesmustangs.org/

T. Boones Plan; To Remove Them from Certain Lands
http://wildhorsewarriors.blogspot.com/2009/11/other-pickins-plan.html

The pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fit together now - it is all starting to make sense, when you look at the larger picture,...but all in all, it should come as no suprize, its just "politics as usual" on the hill, - and to hell with the earth, the animals, and the will of the people too.

IT IS all about the BIGGEST BANG for the Buck and the relevant LAW says it shouldnt be this way!

Reid, Salazar, and Abbey give Nevada $135 million after breakfast SpecialBy Jay David Murphy.

Published Sep 4, 2009

Senator Reid, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and BLM Director Bob Abbey had breakfast in Searchlight and then approved $135 for public land management in Nevada.

Nevada Senator and Majority Senate Leader Harry Reid and the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar along with Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey met for breakfast at the Searchlight Nugget in Senator Reid’s tiny home town south of Las Vegas. They got together to announce Round 10 funding from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act.

The announcement gave the approval of more than $135 million for a wide variety of restoration and improvement projects throughout Nevada and Lake Tahoe which is authorized throughout the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998 (as amended). The Act allows revenue to be generated from the sale of public lands identified for disposal in the Las Vegas valley.

After the breakfast in Searchlight the trio made the announcements to the press.
Digital Journal spoke with Justine Barasky from the office of Senator Reid about the details and he forwarded these quotes from the press conference and the details of the $135 million approved today.

Salazar had this to say, “I am pleased to commit more than $135 million for federal improvement projects throughout Nevada at Lake Tahoe. The Department of the Interior remains committed to working closely with our local, state and federal partners to protect and enhance these specials areas for the benefit of all who live in and visit Nevada.”

Senator Reid had this comment, “I thank Secretary Salazar and BLM director Abbey for coming to Searchlight to announce the approval of 135 million dollars for vital projects all around Nevada. Today’s announcement is a great example of our efforts to strengthen and diversify Nevada's economy.”

Abbey added, "Thanks to these funds, NV's lands and special areas will continue to be accessible to the public and be healthier for years to come." .

This latest funding announcement from Senator Reid is another part in a series of monies he has been a part of and over the past two weeks while in Nevada, has been attending events bringing good news that should help put some Nevadans back to work and help advance economic recovery in the state.

Senator Reid also released the following statement to the press and Digital Journal on the eve of Labor Day weekend.

“This weekend, we honor American workers. They are the backbone of our country and help make America the economic superpower that it is today. But now, they need a boost more than ever. Whether it’s extending unemployment benefits for those searching for work or reforming health insurance to ensure quality coverage for all Americans, workers and their families deserve support from their elected leaders to relieve some of the tremendous burden they feel on a daily basis. “While there are tremendous efforts already underway to create new jobs and stabilize the economy, there is still much work to be done and more challenges ahead of us. I hope we all take time this weekend to reflect on the contributions of the millions of working families across Nevada and the rest of the country.”

Here is a breakdown of more than $79.9 million of the appropriated dollars for restoration and improvement projects in Nevada.
Parks, trails, and natural areas- $10,239,022
Capitol Improvements- $8,246,129
Conservation Initiatives- $7,655,107
Environmentally sensitive land acquisitions- $13,066,000
Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Wildfire Prevention- $10,963,140
Eastern Nevada Landscape Restoration Project- $1,931,721
Lake Tahoe Restoration Projects- $27,891,285

The package also includes a $30 million set-aside for future Lake Tahoe projects, $10 million in a special account reserve for emergency or unexpected project expenditures, and more than $15.8 million for the previously approved Wetlands Park project in Clark County.

Click on title above to go to original article;
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/278758

-----------------------

Bloggers Note: Nothing for the equines, but PLEASE ALSO NOTE: $10 M "in reserve" for emergency or unexpected PROJECT expenditures....can we think of any BLM Project that you would like to see this 10M put towards?

The Trouble with Harry / Reid Between the Lines

Click on title above to read what the "Coalition for Anybody But Harry" has to say about him -

Reid Behind the ROAM Act !!!

NO DOUBT in my mind!

Reid Introduces ROAM Act on Behalf of Byrd
Click on title above to go to Bill where Reid Introduces ROAM Act on Behalf of Congressman Byrd;

Second Line of text;
http://www.aowha.org/documents/s1579.pdf

Then cut & paste the link below into your web browser to read how the Byrd-Reid "Tag Team" collaborated together to keep a Congresswomans seeing eye guide dog out of the Senate Hearing Room!!

http://www.libertylinks.com/harried/pages/dope0427.htm

Byrd Long Time Reid Mentor!
The Byrd-Reid "tag team" collaborate on many "Acts"

Moratorium on Gathers Sought

Staff member has confirmed to Animal Law Coalition that the House Natural Resources Committee is calling on BLM to stop all gathers or removals of wild horses and burros until Congress takes action on the controversial issues surrounding the wild horses and burros.

A Congressional staff member told Animal Law Coalition, "It is my understanding that BLM has 11 more roundups planned for 2009 and is expecting to remove more than 6,000 horses. This is unacceptable especially in light of the fact that these roundups are not based on science."

Support the House Natural Resources Committee's call for a moratorium! Write or call your U.S. representative and senators and urge them to support a moratorium pending decisions by Congress on the role of the BLM and the course of the wild horses and burros program. Copy the Committee on any fax or letter to your representative and senators so they can see your support for a moratorium!

For more information, read Animal Law Coalition's call for a Congressional investigation and moratorium on gathers!

Original report: It's time for a public Congressional hearing and investigation of BLM's management of America's wild horses and burros including the new plan recently announced by DOI and BLM.


In the meantime and pending decisions about the course of the wild horse and burro program, there should be a moratorium on gathers.

On October 7, 2009 Dept. of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey announced a new 3 part plan for managing America's wild horses and burros in the future. But, other than a press release and a letter to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), the specifics of the plan have not been made public. As Mr. Abbey said in the press conference held on Oct. 7, 2009, there are "thousands" of wild horse and burro enthusiasts who care about the fate of these animals. There are also innumerable experts and citizens concerned about BLM's management of these American icons.

There should be a public hearing and investigation held by Congress regarding BLM's management of America's wild horses and burros particularly before yet another plan essentially approved only by BLM and DOI is put in place. There should be a moratorium on all gathers until Congress has completed public hearings and an investigation and reached a decision about the appropriate management of these animals consistent with the laws that protect them. These are after all America's wild horses and burros.

The Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WFRHBA) directs BLM to manage America's wild horses and burros to "maintain free roaming behavior". All management activities by law are to be at the "minimal feasible level". Under WFRHBA America's wild horses and burros are entitled to humane treatment and to remain free from "capture, ...harassment, or death".

But, instead, the BLM largely manages these animals by running them down with helicopters and gathering or removing them from public lands to holding facilities, separating families, injuring and even killing horses in the process. A terrifying ordeal that leaves wild horses and burros in holding pens where few are adopted, many are sold for slaughter and still more languish, their spirits and bodies broken. The operation of holding facilities will consume about 70% of the total 2009 budget for these animals.

Surely, that is contrary, to say the least, to the directive of the WFRHBA. Indeed, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer found in her August 5, 2009 opinion: "It would be anomalous to infer that by authorizing the custodian of the wild-free roaming horses and burros to manage them, Congress intended to permit the animals' custodian to subvert the primary policy of the statute by capturing and removing from the wild the very animals that congress sought to protect from being removed from the wild." Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition, Inc. v. Salazar, No. 06-1609 (D.D.C 2009)

Mr. Salazar insists that "arid western lands and watersheds" can't support the few wild horses that remain "without significant damage to the environment" and "degrading public lands". These are reasons typically stated by BLM in its environmental assessments and environmental impact statements to support removals of wild horses and burros from herd areas. And, just as typically, there are no specifics to support these claims. For more examples....

Indeed, Mr. Salazar and BLM do not mention the thousands of cattle grazing and drinking and fouling water on these lands, BLM's land sales, development, increasing recreational use, and mining as well diversion of water from herd areas. Wildlife ecologists say if public lands are "degraded", something that is disputed, these factors are far more to blame. In fact, citizens living in the areas where there are wild horses and burros, including small ranchers, contradict BLM's assessments the range is "degraded" or lacks sufficient water for these few remaining animals.

Note that in 1990 BLM claimed the range was the best it had been in the last century. Yet, since then, there has been an increase in the numbers of wild horses and burros removed from the range. There is also no question BLM has routinely renewed grazing permits, finding the range satisfactory for grazing cattle and at the same time, issue environmental assessments that claim the very same range cannot support the few wild horses and burros that remain. BLM has also relied on outdated or what can only be called completely false assessments in its apparent zeal to justify removal of wild horses and burros.

Shouldn't Congress at least have a hearing or investigate whether BLM's claims are true? Shouldn't Congress consider whether BLM should even continue as the manager of the wild horses and burros program? An agency that has turned the WFRHBA on its head and instead of managing to maintain free roaming behavior, does so by removing and penning wild horses and burros.

It is also questionable whether BLM really has the authority, as it claims, to manage America's wild horses and burros in all respects pursuant to a multiple use concept. Though WFRHBA mentions "multiple-use relationship" in connection with specified ranges, it is very clear that the directive is to manage these animals otherwise only to "maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on the public lands" and "protect the natural ecological balance of all wildlife species which inhabit such lands, particularly endangered wildlife species".

In effect, WFRHBA authorizes only limited interference with wild horses and burros in herd areas where they were living in 1971. Nothing about removing wild horses and burros from herd areas where they lived in 1971 to allow multiple use such as cattle grazing, recreation for off road vehicles, mining or development. Also, protecting the ecological balance of all wildlife has never meant rounding up and removing whole species. Especially when there is a law that explicitly protects their right to exist in historic herd areas.

Even designated ranges managed under a multiple use concept are to be "devoted principally" to wild horses and burros. The wild horses and burros on these lands are not to be eliminated for cattle or mining or recreation or even secondary to these other uses.

Despite the limited authority to interfere with wild horses and burros under WFRHBA, the BLM has decided, however, the multiple public use concept applies to all herd areas as well as ranges. BLM even issued a regulation that effectively rewrites WFRHBA to say the "objectives of these regulations are management of wild horses and burros as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands under the principle of multiple use". 43 CFR § 4700.0-2 Yet, the WFRHBA says only that wild horses and burros "are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands". 16 U.S.C. §1331.

The BLM has also authorized itself to divide herd areas into "herd management areas", something not authorized by WFRHBA. 43 CFR 4710.3-1. In this way, with no statutory authority at all, BLM has limited wild horses and burros' access to thousands of acres that were historically their herd areas. This is done without thought about the horses' seasonal migration patterns or available resources. The BLM then removes wild horses and burros from the artificially created "herd management areas" on the basis there is insufficient forage, water or habitat! BLM also targets them for removal if they cross the artificial boundaries into their original herd areas.

While BLM has authorized itself to create divide herd areas into Herd Management Areas, its own regulations provide that "management of wild horses and burros shall be undertaken with the objective of limiting the animals' distribution to herd areas, 43 C.F.R. § 4710.4."Herd area" is defined by regulation as "the geographic area identified as having been used by a herd as its habitat in 1971," 43 C.F.R. §4710.4.

Another example of BLM's erosion of the WFRHBA protections is the rewording of the WFRHBA mandate "[a]ll management activities shall be at the minimal feasible level". BLM's regulation says "[m]anagement shall be at the minimum level necessary to attain the objectives identified in approved land use plans and herd management area plans." 43 CFR 4710.4, 16 U.S.C. §1333. Two very different laws. So if a land use plan authorizes a land giveaway or increased recreation or mining, "management...at a minimum level" can mean round up and removal, according to the BLM.

The Federal Land Policy Management Act requires management of public lands under concepts of multiple use and sustained yield. 43 U.S.C. §§ 1701, et seq. But the multiple use concept does not trump the WFRHBA protections for wild horses. In fact, the statute makes clear that the protections under WFRHBA take precedence. FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. § 1732 (a) Yet, despite this, BLM has issued a regulation that provides "[w]ild horses and burros shall be considered comparably with other resource values in the formulation of land use plans." 43 C.F.R. §4700.0-6(b).

The BLM's land use plans make clear that contrary to WFRHBA, it does not decide to remove wild horses and burros only to maintain a "thriving natural ecological balance to the range, and protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation". Nor are the protected wild horse ranges "devoted principally" to the use of wild horses and burros. Instead, the BLM clearly embraces the multiple use concept for all lands designated for wild horses and burros. Indeed, the plan seems to be to eliminate or zero out the wild horses and burros in favor of increased development and recreational use, mining, and cattle.

Surely, BLM's fast and loose interpretation of the WFRHBA is more than sufficient for Congress to take a look, hold a public hearing and investigate before America's icon is lost forever.

It should be noted that BLM has also virtually ignored the directive in the WFRHBA to "maintain a current inventory of wild free-roaming horses and burros on given areas of the public lands". 16 U.S.C. §1333(b). According to WFRHBA, the inventory is critical in determining appropriate management levels or AML and whether there is indeed an overpopulation or excess horses and burros. Yet, BLM has gathered and removed thousands of horses without the important information necessary to determine if the removal is legal. It's time to take a look, an independent census and standardize AML determinations.

It is important for Congress to open up for public review the work of an agency that has operated largely in secret, offering the public generally pre-determined courses of action, making a joke out of the public comment process. It is also time BLM or whatever agency that is put in charge of the wild horses and burros took seriously the WFRHBA mandate requiring consultation not with special interests but also a range of independent experts recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, the states and those with "scientific expertise and special knowledge of wild horse and burro protection...[and] wildlife management". 16 U.S.C. §1333(b).


Congress should hold public hearings and investigate Secretary Salazar's plan in particular. There are innumerable experts outside of the BLM who should have an opportunity to weigh in on how BLM continues to manage America's wild horses and burros.

Secretary Salazar delivered the following 3 part proposal to Sen. Reid: 1. BLM will work with non-profits and the "thousands" of wild horse enthusiasts to create sanctuaries and preserves in the Midwest or east. In fact, BLM appears to have already decided on sever preserves. It is not known who is involved in these transactions or how BLM decided on these preserves. Surely, the public is entitled to know how this happened. Mr. Salazar says tourism would be encouraged and could provide a source of revenue. But the mandate of the WFRHBA is to avoid such zoo-like settings for these American icons. The idea, the law, in fact, is that these animals are to remain free to roam on the public lands where they were living in 1971 when the Act went into effect.

2. Mr. Salazar will designate more ranges for wild horses. He cited the Pryor Mountain herd, recently rounded up and decimated, as an example of a range under BLM protection.

3. This is one of the most troubling aspects of Mr. Salazar and Mr. Abbey's plan. They say BLM will work to restore the "sustainability" of herds and public lands. BLM will continue to round up and remove horses but step up "fertility control", monitor sex ratios, and introduce non-reproducing herds. More like BLM will work toward the extinction of herds. The obvious concern is how a herd that is non-reproducing or sterilized can remain self-sustaining, genetically viable, as mandated by law. There are serious questions here about BLM's determination of sex ratios. These proposals will have a very negative effect on herds and herd behavior. This plan euphemistically referred to as "restoring sustainability" during the press conference, is, in fact, the opposite, a plan to exterminate the wild horses and burros and in doing so, create great chaos and suffering in the herds. In effect, this plan raises real concerns about compliance with WFRHBA's mandate that BLM should manage these animals to maintain "free-roaming behavior" and a "thriving natural ecological balance" in herd areas.

There are also growing concerns about the effectiveness and use of the contraceptive, PZP, particularly in view of its effect on herd behavior and dangerous side effects such as out of season foals.

These plans likely stem from BLM's secret discussions that began in July, 2008 about ways to eliminate wild horses through unlimited slaughter, killing, manipulation of sex ratios, sterilization of mares, creation of gelding herds and the like. It is telling that here there is no promise in this plan to stop the slaughter of these wild animals or killing of healthy animals. There is no promise to stop the round ups, the decimation of herds, the brutal treatment of America's wild horses and burros in holding facilities.

During its discussions in the past year BLM considered ways to keep the public away from round ups and the killing of healthy horses and burros and planned to brand protests as "eco-terrorism". This was all to be done in secret. If Congress does not hold a hearing, investigate this plan and this agency, BLM will have succeeded.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The wild horses and burros can be saved. There has to be a better way to manage these animals other than by hiring criminals to run them down with helicopters and penning some for life and sending others to slaughter. The WFRHBA requires them to be protected in their herd areas where they were living in 1971. And that is what the BLM should do.

Find and contact your U.S. senators here and urge them to hold a hearing or investigate BLM's management of America's wild horses and burros and tell the BLM to stop rounding up and killing or removing our wild horses and burros or selling them for slaughter and return them to the lands where they were living in 1971.

Go here to write your U.S. representative and urge him or her to do the same!




http://www.animallawcoalition.com/horse-slaughter/article/1081

A Congressional Hearing On Horses

Jan 08 Congressional Inquiry into the treatment and welfare of race horses. Imagine that same can be done for an inquiry in the treatment and welfare (and mis-management) of our Nations Wild Horse and Burro Herds;

Click on title above to see and hear what one looks and sounds like;

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/206060-1

"Energetic" Pals Meet & Greet at Las Vegas Energy Summit

Old but Very Relevant News; NOT to be Forgotten

Tweeting Las Vegas
— By Osha Gray Davidson | Tue August 11, 2009 2:09 PM PST

(Pic Omitted) —L-to-R: T. Boone Pickens, Sen. Harry Reid, John Podesta at NCES. Photo by Osha Gray Davidson

Tweeting coverage from the National Clean Energy Summit, August 10, Las Vegas, NV, in chronological order.

To learn more about the individuals named below check out the official agenda, here.

9:18 Out of work union members presser: Clean energy is key to jobs in NV.

9:59 Energy Summit about to start. I hope they turn down the loud techno music.


10:05 Out of work plumber local 525 says "no jobs anywhere." Her preteen son adds: "there are in China." No laughs.

10:23 Harry Reid's up at bat. "We're known for producing great athletes, now we're going to be known for producing great scientists."

10:25 Schwarzenegger won't be here -- mother in law ill. [Eunice Kennedy Shriver passes away at 2 am the next morning]

10:32 Al Gore joshing about Harry Reid creating energy jobs...in Nevada.

10:35 Gore: #ACES [climate bill] is important step. Now Senate is going to take it up. Sec. Chu, Tim Worth, John Podesta, Sec. Solis all working for this.

10:38 Gore: National program to repower America is just what the doctor ordered...for financial crisis.

10:39 Gore: Gore: Who R we 2 ignore the warnings of scientists on global warming. Kids will ask us "what wr U all doing, watching Am. Idol?"

10:41 Reid intros Tim Wirth, early supporter of fight against global warming.

10:41 Tim Wirth is head of UN Foundation.

10:43 Wirth: Energy and jobs can be looked at separately, but they go hand-in-hand.

10:46 Keith Schwer, UNLV business school using LV as example. 1900, LV pop was 17. 2000 pop. 2 million. (I didn't know that!)

10:52 Sec Chu on getting renewable energy to scale. "US has an incredible opp. We need to have a second industrial revolution."

10:54 Sec Chu: China understands no more biz as usual. They plan on being the leader. But we can be, unless we miss the opp.

10:55 Chu: Energy efficiency is going to be the "lowest hanging fruit" for the next couple of decades.

10:57 Chu: Supports biofuels -- "It doesn't have to be food or fuel." He ends and gets a large round of applause.

10:59 50 minutes in and no women speakers so far.

11:02 Hey, Amory Lovins gets a shout out for making Americans aware of energy efficiency.

11:04 Marc Porat, CEO of Serious Materials: Making cement puts out as much CO2 as all automobiles together.

11:05 Porat: "We're so blessed" to have the Obama administration who "gets it" on jobs-energy-CO2.

11:10 One hour, a woman at last: Rose McKinney James - Energy Foundation Boards.

11:12 James: Talks about the importance of state utility boards. More info needs to get to states.

11:15 John Woolard, Bright Source Energy. We have to build 2000 GW between now and 2050. That's 50GW a year. "We're losing ground."

11:18 "Pin-up stimulus" -- plans that are ready, but delayed by permitting. Basic, boring, but key. John Woolard.

11:21 Stephanie Burns, CEO Dow Corning, maker of PV cells. Wants more support 4 job training programs, more financing 4 US manufacturers.

11:24 Lucien Bronicki, a pioneer of geothermal energy. This industry has jobs that can't be off-shored.

11:28 NYT has good editorial on climate bill today. Wonder if the people around the table read it?

11:30 Gen. Wes Clark making the case for biofuels. If we invested in biofuels it would take Hugo Chavez out of the picture. Hmmm.

11:30 Denise Bode, American Wind Energy Assoc.: Wind is up to scale, ready to rock and roll right now.

11:35 Bode: US led the world in new wind power last year. China will prob. take that over this year. We need long term commitment in US.

11:36 Bode, as others, talks about the importance of smart grid.

11:38 A tweet by Sen. Reid just appeared. He was looking down for a while. Hi, Senator!

11:40 T. Boone Pickens: "I'm kinda an oddball in this group." Quite laughter before he explains he means he's a Repub.

11:42 Pickens: Energy security is number one for me. But I do believe global warming is happening.

11:45 Pickens: Says diesel 18-wheelers should be forced to switch to natural gas.

11:47 Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA): Energy is a $6 trillion industry; the "mother of all markets."

11:51 FYI, this is the most mainstream, ardent capitalistic pro-new energy discussion I've ever heard!

11:52 Another FYI, Gore looks more fit than I've seen him in some time. New energy diet?

11:54 Gore is most impressive in his command of the full range of new technologies.

11:56 Gore: We invent all these new technologies, but then manufacturing goes overseas.

11:57 Gore goes through the history of "obsolete" energy system. "It's ridiculous!"

Noon Gore: The old way of thinking about [energy transmission] needs to change. Talks re cogeneration. 65% of coal energy lost as heat.

12:03 Gore's frustration with "old thinking" is palpable. He's slugging away. Impressive.

12:05 Gore is taking this country by the lapels and shaking us.

12:10 Van Jones - White House Council on Environmental Quality: We should be able to come together as a country on this one.

12:12 Jones: His theme is common ground. New energy "is fiscally conservative." Talks about health, too.

12:13 Jones "We're asking questions that liberals like, and offering answers that conservatives like."

12:15 Jones is impassioned, too. And it's infectious. Biggest applause from the room so far.

12:17 LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: We met Kyoto standard by Oct. 2008. "We are moving fast and hard."

12:22 Gore appears to be chewing gum. If it were Obama, I'd guess Nicorette. I bet he's calculated how much energy is used per chew.

12:30 Gore asks utility owner wht cn B done 2 lower inefficiencies from coal-fired power plants. The guy dances a bit. Gore bulldogs him.

12:32 Gore continues after utility owner. Is it regs? No, he sez. Basically: I don't know.

12:35 Sec of Labor Hilda Solis: Everybody needs to participate in recovery. Too many areas, rural, poor, have been traditionally left out.

12:41 Danny Thompson, NV, AFL-CIO: Works here have been suffering. "Manufacturing represents 75% of new energy jobs; we need them here."

12:44 NV State Sen. Steven Horsford: "NV is at the center of renewable energy." OK, I know we're in NV, but, AZ is the center. Just sayin'

12:46 Terry O’Sullivan, Laborers’ International Union of NA: 1.6 million construction workers out of work.

12:49 O’Sullivan: 100 million houses in the US that need to be weatherized.

12:50 O’Sullivan: Green jobs need to be careers, not fly-by-night operations. (aka: temporary and low paying.)

12:52 Tim Wirth is wrapping up morning session. I'll be posting pix later at the Mother Jones blog site.

LUNCH BREAK [Time of tweets not recorded, but still in chronological order.

And we're back...Harry Reid is introducing President Clinton.

Clinton: Thanks to Al Gore for his long struggle...even when he was referred to as "Ozone Man." [By GHWB]

Clinton: I asked Al Gore are we going to get something about deforestation in Copenhagen? He says yes.

Clinton talking about the loss of almost 7 million jobs. The least sexy topics are where the solutions are.

Clinton: If we close 22% of old dirty coal plants, we could cut emissions in half. (citing Robert Kennedy, Jr.)

Clinton: We are still piddling with this. (Green economy)

Clinton points out that the cities that are doing the most in terms of greening economy are already the greenest.

Clinton talks about retrofitting Empire State Building. Great, but its a drop in the bucket.

Clinton: The best solution is that utilities finance retrofitting homes.

Clinton calls for an energy equivalent to the Small Business Administration. $900 billion in banks not committed. Use it.

Clinton: You've got to get the banks involved in this if you want to stop piddling around.

Clinton: Suggests $10K from gov. to buyers of EVs! [Sign me up!]


Clinton still has his ability to connect with people, even in a large room. Amazing.

Clinton: Let's take what NV is doing and put it on steroids. There are millions dying to go to work.

Clinton finishes by urging people to make the energy bill even stronger. Now, setting up final panel. Town hall meeting.

email questions to panel: questions@cleanenergysummit.org

Panel in place: Podesta, Gore, Reid, Pickens and Cathy Zoi.

Opening talk is about Gore's forthcoming book on climate solutions, coming out Nov 3: "Our Choice."

Gore: We are at a moment of choosing. Quotes several holy texts: You can choose life, or death; blessings or curses.

Gore about birthers: they're putting a bit of poison into American politics.

Gore: the key challenge is to get a bill passed in the Senate. Political will is a renewable resource.

Gore warns against thinking of China and India as being the same when it comes to climate change.

Cathy Zoi: There's no "land problem" with having giant solar facilities. [Lots of us would take issue with that one]

Harry Reid: The potential for solar in the southwest for CSP is unlimited. [Uh-oh]

Boone Pickens: When natural gas is cheap, wind is too expensive. [Only because the market leaves out true cost of things]

Gore: Lots of Fortune 500 companies are now backing this change. They see it's a low carbon future.

Gore: In order to address the climate crisis, we're going to have to address the democracy crisis in this country.

Q from audience re leaky air ducts.

Cathy Zoi agrees it's important to make sure air ducts don't leak. This is great; getting down to nitty gritty.

Gore points out that CA hasn't increased energy usage in years. See: Negawatts.

Reid gets back to energy transmission. I won't be satisfied with nrg bill, without strong transmission component.

Reid: FERC should be able to condemn land for transmission lines.

Van Jones We're going to make sure that veterans aren't left out of the new green jobs. (in response to question from Iraq war vet.)

Interesting: Lots of support in audience on veterans & jobs. [But, will it happen this time?]

Obviously this is a self selected crowd, but still, remarkably little despair. Lots of optimism, lots of desire to DO something.

Pickens: China has done $100 billion of deals on energy to (lists countries). Where's the US in this?

Gore: People are afraid these changes will mean higher energy prices. The best way to push prices up is to do nothing.

Pickens says we reached peak oil in 2006. Gore says, if not, it'll be soon. Need to power shift.

Pickens 2 Gore: Do heads of state complain to you about US having small share of world pop. but using too much oil. G: Well, yeah!

This is wrapping up. I'll be tweeting the presser afterward.

Gore: John Podesta is a national resource.

Huh, Gore says Cathy Zoi created the Energy Star program at EPA years ago. Didn't know that, but aren't the reviews mixed?

This has been a long day, but even as it ends, few people are leaving. Lots of energy here, apparently.

Gore: We have an obligation to steer by the stars and not by the lights of each passing ship. (quoting of Omar Bradley)

Gore's quote meant: Take the long view, for once, America!

Reid: There are people out there who will do everything they can to stop leg. on energy, even if it means lying.

Reid takes a populist stand against special interests.

Reid: Speak out against the evil-mongers who want to take our country away from us.

END OF TOWN HALL MEETING

Presser should begin in a minute or two. Standing by.....

Al Gore not here. But Reid, Pickens and Podesta are for wrap-up presser.

Reid: We'll never be a secure nation without being independent of foreign oil.

Reid: NV is the poster child of public lands.

Podesta: We need stronger policies and leadership. The discussions here today were about going further on the road map.

Pickens speaks for natural gas as a short term way to get off foreign oil while we put solar and wind into place.

Reid calls biofuels "extremely important."

I ask Podesta : Did they mean to suggest that desert lands can be exploited 4 solar pw w/no enviro considerations? A: c next tweet

Podesta: We cn do CSP in the desert in a thoughtful, environmental way. We did desert land pres. in the Clinton WH. We'll do it here.

And that does it, folks. Thanks for following. Check back at MJ and Phoenix Sun for more later.

From Mother Jones;
http://bx.businessweek.com/t-boone-pickens-foundation/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Fc.moreover.com%2Fclick%2Fhere.pl%3Fr2138496057%26f%3D9791

BP Takeover of Oil Field in Iraq Sparks Citizen Protests

Outcry against 'colonial' takeover by BP of Rumaila oilfield in Iraq

Recommend?

The British oil giant BP will today take control of Iraq’s biggest oilfield in the first important energy deal since the 2003 invasion. The move has created uproar among local politicians invoking resentful memories of their nation’s colonial past.

The agreement to develop the Rumaila field, near the southern city of Basra, will potentially put Iraq on the path to rivalling the riches of Saudi Arabia within a decade — if the Government can fend off corrupt officials, continuing terrorist attacks on pipelines and political uncertainty.

Many Iraqi MPs say that the deal is illegal, and that the constitution should give them, not the Oil Minister, the final say over the country’s vast resources.

BP will develop the field, believed to hold about 17 billion barrels of oil, with CNPC, a Chinese oil producer and supplier. Along with other agreements to be signed this year, BP’s presence is forecast to increase Iraqi production from 2.5 million barrels a day to 7 million in about six years.

Related Links
BP wins Iraq oilfield contract after fee row
BP agrees cut-price Iraq oilfield deal
New hope for Iraqi oil as major companies return
Ownership of the field will remain in Iraqi hands — as the Government has been at pains to point out — with the contract giving the companies $2 for every barrel extracted. Industry critics have branded the return derisory, but say that BP is eager to get a foothold in Iraq.

After years of stagnation, Iraq appears determined to exploit natural resources to fund infrastructure improvements. It is the world’s 11th-biggest oil producer, with the potential to climb to third place or higher. “With an extension of the pipeline network they could reach the [output level of] the Saudis,” said Ben Lando, of the website Iraq Oil Report.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s second-largest producer at nine million barrels a day, behind Russia at ten million barrels.

After years of misrule under Saddam Hussein, coupled with the effects of UN sanctions, and the post-2003 violence, Iraq has been left as the poorest Arab country after Yemen. Poverty has fed impatience with the Government of Nouri al-Maliki, and driven people into the arms of insurgents. There are fears that instead of transforming infrastructure, Iraq’s energy wealth could be creamed off by a corrupt elite, as in other Arab countries. Indeed, some observers wonder whether the incessant political fighting over control of oil makes it more of a curse for the country.

BP has not been criticised directly, but its involvement will revive memories of past exploitation by the British. It is believed widely that Britain created and controlled the country for the benefit of British exporters.

This week several MPs wrote a letter of protest to Christopher Prentice, the British Ambassador in Baghdad, saying that BP’s move was undermining democracy by circumventing parliamentary approval of the Rumaila deal. “BP’s willingness to sign the contract encourages the Oil Ministry to violate the constitution,” said Jabir Khalifa Jabir, secretary of the oil and gas committee in parliament.

Behind the protest is the desire among many politicians to get a slice of the revenue through lucrative commissions to approve deals. The row over Rumailah has the potential to turn into a fully fledged battle over control of the vast revenues.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6900112.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084