Natural Resources Today

Montana wolf death toll: 225

2013-03-05T23:26:00.002-07:00

The rate at which gray wolves are dying in Montana took a big jump during the state's second hunting season since a rider to federal budget law cost the species Endangered Species Act protection.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced Monday that 225 gray wolves were killed in the state during the recently-closed hunting season, a 36 percent increase over the 2011-2012 seasonal total.

"We're generally pleased with these results," Jeff Hagener, MFWP's director, said in a statement. "The overall harvest of 225 wolves this season is higher than last year and reflects the more liberal harvest opportunities that were added for 2012. The effectiveness of hunters and now trappers together continues to grow."

Hunters accounted for 128 deaths, the agency said, while trappers killed 97 more.

The toll does not indicate a high likelihood of success for individual hunters. According to data released by MFWP, 18,642 permits to hunt wolves were issued during the 2012-2013 hunting season.

Next year's total might be even higher. The Montana legislature recently enacted, and the state's governor signed into law, a bill that increases the number of wolf hunting licenses that any individual can hold and lowers the price of an out-of-state resident's license to shoot a wolf from $350 to $50.

That said, the number of living wolves within the state likely exceeds this year's death toll. At the end of 2011 there were more than 600 wolves in the state, according to MFWP.

Colorado city becomes second in state to ban fracking

2013-03-05T23:04:00.000-07:00

The Colorado city of Fort Collins has become the second municipality in the Centennial State to ban hydraulic fracturing.

The community's governing council gave final approval Tuesday evening to an ordinance that also forecloses any oil and gas exploration within the city limits.

Colorado's Democratic governor, John Hickenlooper, has publicly threatened to sue any city or town in the state that bans fracking.

Fort Collins officials were not swayed by the threat.

Denver 9News quoted criticism of Hickenlooper by the city's mayor pro tempore, Kelly Ohlson.

"He seems at times to be more concerned about the gas industry, rather than the health and safety of the citizens he represents," Ohlson said.

Loveland, a community in Boulder county, has also prohibited fracking.

California legislator proposes bill to ban bobcat trapping

2013-03-05T15:02:00.002-07:00

California legislators are considering a proposal to prohibit the commercial trapping of bobcats.

The bill was introduced by a Los Angeles-area state assemblyman in response to protests against traps set near Joshua Tree National Park.

The Los Angeles Times has the story.

Obama nominates secretary of energy, EPA administrator today

2013-03-04T10:09:00.001-07:00

President Obama has nominated a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist and a long-time pollution regulator to lead the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency.

Ernest J. Moniz, who was an undersecretary at the energy department during the Clinton administration, got the nod to lead the administration's efforts to encourage renewable energy infrastructure development, while Gina McCarthy, the current EPA assistant administrator for air and radiation, was asked to take the lead on air and water pollution regulation.

The EPA appointment is the one that is more likely to provoke Republican opposition in the U.S. Senate. McCarthy would be tasked with implementing the administration's climate change regulatory agenda. Among other priorities is likely to be an effort to impose carbon dioxide emission limits on existing power plants, a fix to the cross-state air pollution rule recently rejected by a federal court, and development of ozone national ambient air quality standards.

Moniz is seen as being at least somewhat friendly to natural gas extraction while also being an advocate for the administration's efforts to encourage more renewable energy production.

If confirmed, Moniz would replace Steven Chu at the Department of Energy, while McCarthy would, if confirmed by the Senate, replace Lisa P. Jackson.

Juliet Eilperin's article in Monday's Washington Post includes a profile of McCarthy.

NYT: Russia, US cooperating on polar bear CITES protection effort

2013-03-04T09:45:00.003-07:00

A report in today's New York Times indicates that Russia and the United States are cooperating in an attempt to convince fellow signatories of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to ban international commerce in polar bear body parts.

The two nations will attempt to convince Canada, Denmark, or Norway to go along with the idea at this week's CITES conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

Those five nations are the most important participants in the debate over how to handle trade in polar bear skin and fur because polar bears have habitat within their borders.

A previous effort to afford polar bears the protection sought by the U.S. and Russia failed in at a prior CITES meeting in 2010.

DC Circuit upholds polar bear listing under ESA

2013-03-04T09:35:00.002-07:00

A federal appeals court ruled last week that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service properly listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

The court rejected a challenge by the state of Alaska and extractive industry interests to a 2008 decision by the George W. Bush administration.

Environmental conservation advocates welcomed the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

"Climate change, habitat degradation and pollution already have polar bears on thin ice. Trophy hunting only exacerbates an already dire situation," Jeff Flocken, a spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said in a statement. "Today’s decision to keep the status of the polar bear as threatened is an important step in the fight to safeguard the species against trophy hunting."

Federal administrative law gives judges little room to second-guess scientific determinations by agencies.

The scientific basis for listing the polar bear as a threatened species is that the species requires Arctic Ocean sea ice for habitat, that the quantity of that ice during the summer months is being reduced as the planet's atmosphere and oceans warm, and that the loss of seasonal sea ice could result a risk that the polar bear will go extinct.

The litigants did not argue that these scientific predicates for the listing decision are incorrect. Instead, the legal arguments essentially amounted to claims that FWS did not correctly conclude that the undisputed scientific facts should lead to a listing decision, or a listing of all polar bear populations; that FWS did not give enough weight to other programs to conserve the species; and that, in any case, the agency did not provide a sufficient explanation for its actions.

The polar bear was added to the federal list of threatened and endangered species after more than three years of evaluation prompted by a Feb. 2005 listing petition.

The District of Columbia Circuit's resolution of the legal fight over whether the polar bear was properly listed as a threatened species does not end all ESA litigation relating to the species. A federal district court recently held that FWS erred in its designation of critical habitat for the polar bear.

Report: Murkowski might block Jewell's confirmation

2013-02-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, might use her prerogative to block consideration of President Obama's nomination of Sally Jewell to lead the Department of Interior.

According to a report in the Anchorage Daily News, Murkowski is considering the move as a way to force the administration to agree a land exchange permitting construction of a road between Cold Bay and King Cove.

The contemplated road would cross the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska, which provides habitat for a variety of species including grizzly bears, moose, caribou, and five species of Pacific salmon.

Of the 315,000 acres in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, 300,000 are included in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

In exchange for the land needed to build the single-lane, gravel road across 206 acres of the refuge, the state of Alaska and native American tribes would trade about 56,000 acres of land to be added to the refuge.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected the proposed land exchange on Feb. 5.

Current interior secretary Ken Salazar will visit residents in the region that would benefit from the road during a trip to Alaska scheduled for next week.

Montana governor signs bill banning hunting buffer zones for wolves around national parks

2013-02-20T20:38:00.001-07:00

There will be no buffer zone around Yellowstone National Park in which wolves cannot be hunted, at least not if Montana has anything to say about it.

A bill that forbids Montana's wildlife management agency from establishing such zones for the Rocky Mountain gray wolf was signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Steve Bullock.

The legislation takes away a tool that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks considered using to limit the killing of wolves that were collared as part of a federal study. At least nine individual collared wolves that either lived in Yellowstone or recently migrated out of the park were killed in 2012.

The director of Yellowstone National Park had sought the buffer zone to assure the stability of packs that reside primarily in the federal preserve.

A state court judge had refused to allow the Montana Wildlife Commission to impose a wolf hunting buffer zone, enjoining such a step in an order issued last month.

Wolf populations inside Yellowstone have declined by about 25 percent since hunting of the iconic animal resumed in the northern Rockies several years ago.

HB 73 will continue to allow MFWP to close areas to wolf hunting if a quota has been met.

The bill also lowers the cost of a wolf hunting permit from $350 to $50 and allows hunters to obtain more than one wolf permit. It also opens the door to the use of simulated wolf calls as a way to lure the animals closer to a shooter.

HB 73 goes into effect immediately, which means it will likely have a quick impact on the number of Rocky Mountain gray wolves killed in Montana. The wolf hunting season in the Treasure State is underway now.

Hunting of the wolf in Montana became legal in 2011 after President Barack Obama signed legislation that included a provision removing the individuals of the species in Montana, Idaho, and portions of Oregon, Utah, and Washington from the Endangered Species List.

According to the environmental protection advocacy group Predator Defense, at least 1,000 individual wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have been killed since that decision.

Of that number, 582 wolves have been killed in Idaho, 346 have been killed in Montana, and at least 74 have died at hunters' hands in Wyoming.

The Obama administration acted on its own to remove ESA protection from Wyoming gray wolves last year.

That total does not include several hundred more wolves killed in the northern Rockies, along with Wisconsin and Minnesota, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services branch and other government predator killing programs.

Transocean becomes second Gulf oil spill perpetrator to take guilty plea

2013-02-20T14:17:00.004-07:00

Transocean Deepwater, Inc., which owned and operated the deepwater drilling rig that leaked nearly five million barrels of water into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, has been convicted of a criminal violation of the Clean Water Act.

The company entered an agreement to plead guilty in January to one misdemeanor violation of the CWA. On Feb. 14, a federal judge approved the deal and sentenced the company to pay $400 million in fines and penalties.

That punishment is the second-most severe sentence ever imposed on a corporation for an environmental crime committed in the United States.

BP holds the record for the most severe criminal punishment in those circumstances, having earlier been sentenced to pay about $4 billion in fines and penalties after entering its own guilty plea arising from the Gulf oil spill.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release, $150 million of the penalty assessed against Transocean will be paid to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation during the next three years for use to purchase, restore, and preserve areas along the Gulf coast that were adversely affected by the spill and to restore barrier islands and coastal wetlands in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Another $150 million will fund oil spill prevention and response programs in the region. That money will be paid to the National Academy of Sciences over a five-year period.

About $100 million of the money paid by Transocean will go to the U.S. treasury.

Transocean also agreed to a five-year term of probation.

A separate agreement between Transocean and the federal government to resolve Washington's civil Clean Water Act claims against the firm would require Transocean to pay a $1 billion civil penalty under the CWA - a record amount - and to implement measures aimed at preventing another spill.

That agreement was approved Tuesday by U.S. district judge Carl J. Barbier of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Xinhua: China will implement carbon tax

2013-02-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

China, the nation that emits more carbon dioxide from industrial and other sources than any other in the world, will soon implement policies that would create a financial disincentive to add greenhouse gas pollution to the air.

Xinhua reported Tuesday that the world's most populous country will impose an "environmental protection" tax policy that will include assessments on carbon dioxide emissions.

The story did not indicate when the emissions tax would be put into effect.

Obama nominates REI head Jewell to replace Salazar at Interior Department

2013-02-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama has broken recent tradition when it comes to picking a secretary of the interior.

Obama has nominated Sally Jewell, the president and chief executive officer of outdoor gear giant Recreational Equipment, Inc., for the post.

Donald P. Hodel, who served during the second Reagan administration in the 1980s, was the last person without experience as a statewide elected official or member of Congress to be appointed secretary of the interior.

"So even as Sally has spent the majority of her career outside of Washington, where, I might add, the majority of our interior is located,” Obama said during an announcement at the White House Wednesday, “she is an expert on the energy and climate issues that are going to shape our future. She knows the link between conservation and good jobs. She knows that there’s no contradiction between being good stewards of the land and our economic progress; that in fact, those two things need to go hand in hand.”

Jewell has a background as a commercial banking executive and as an engineer. She joined the board of directors at REI in 1996 and became the retailer's CEO in 2000.

REI was founded in 1938 and has 127 stores around the world. The company generated revenues of about $1.8 billion in 2011 and employs about 11,000 people.

Those numbers are a mere fraction of similar measurements of the department of the interior's fiscal situation.

The nation's primary land management agency spent about $21.5 billion in fiscal year 2011 and employs more than 70,000 people.

The prospect of Jewell's nomination was lauded by leaders of several national environmental organizations.

Francis Beinecke, the president of Natural Resources Defense Council, said that Jewell has "the heart of an environmentalist and the know-how of a businesswoman" and applauded her "unique experience and "love of the outdoors." The Sierra Club's executive director, Michael Brune, complimented Jewell for her "demonstrated commitment to preserving the higher purposes public lands hold for all Americans," while Defenders of Wildlife president Jamie Rappaport Clark said that her organization is optimistic that Jewell will be a "strong conservation leader who will protect our natural heritage, promote a positive vision for our public lands and wildlife and stand with us to help renew America's commitment to conservation."

The chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon, also welcomed the expected nomination. He said, in a statement posted on the committee's website, that she is an "inspired choice" who will "bring a new vision to the Interior Department."

"Her record shows that she understands the importance of preserving our public lands for future generations, as well as the critical links between public lands, natural resources and economic growth," Wyden continued.

The committee's ranking Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, took a much more cautious stand on the nomination.

"The livelihoods of Americans living and working in the West rely on maintaining a real balance between conservation and economic opportunity," Murkowski said. "I look forward to hearing about the qualifications Ms. Jewell has that make her a suitable candidate to run such an important agency, and how she plans to restore balance to the Interior Department.”

A representative of the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas industry trade association, issued a more positive statement, albeit one that included a pitch for a greater emphasis on public lands oil and gas extraction.

"Her experience as a petroleum engineer and business leader will bring a unique perspective to an office that is key to our nation's energy portfolio," Tim Wigley, the organization's president, said. "We hope to see a better balance of productive development on non-park, non-wilderness public lands that enhances the wealth of America and creates jobs while protecting the environment."

Most interior secretaries in the post-World War II era have been western politicians. For example, incumbent Ken Salazar is a former U.S. senator from Colorado and state attorney general.

His predecessors in the George W. Bush administration, Gale A. Norton and Dirk Kempthorne, were, respectively, a former Colorado attorney general and ex-U.S. senator from Idaho. Clinton administration interior secretary Bruce Babbitt was a former Arizona governor and attorney general, while Manuel Lujan, Jr., who held the job between 1989-1993, was a former congressman from New Mexico.

If confirmed, Jewell would be the nation's 51st secretary of the interior, but only the second woman to hold the job.

A native of England, Jewell has lived in the United States since early childhood and is an American citizen.

EPA administrator: Obama "clear" about need to confront climate change

2013-02-05T09:22:00.003-07:00

Outgoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in an interview published Monday that she is convinced President Obama is serious about addressing climate change.

"I don't think you need clues," Jackson told Reuters. "The president has been really clear. I'm not sure how much clearer he could be."

The interview is here.

Wolverine to get Endangered Species Act protection

2013-02-01T22:17:00.001-07:00

The Obama administration announced Friday that it wants to add the wolverine, a rare and solitary denizen of the Rocky Mountain region's highest and most remote mountains, to the list of threatened and endangered species.

The species is considered vulnerable to climate change-caused loss of its snowy habitat. Gulo gulo luscus depends on late spring snow cover for dens in which to raise young.

"Scientific evidence suggests that a warming climate will greatly reduce the wolverine’s snow-pack habitat," Noreen Walsh, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Mountain-Prairie Region director, said in a statement.

FWS proposed a listing as a threatened species. It did not suggest designation of any critical habitat for the wolverine. The agency will also prepare an Endangered Species Act regulation that would permit most extractive activities now occurring in wolverine range to continue.

"[FWS] does not consider most activities occurring within the high elevation habitat of the
wolverine, including snowmobiling and backcountry skiing, and land management activities like
timber harvesting and infrastructure development, to constitute significant threats to the wolverine," an agency press release said. "As a result, the Service is proposing a special rule under Section 4(d) of the ESA that, should the species be listed, would allow these types of activities to continue."

The 4(d) rule would allow the killing of protected wolverines as a result of activities other than hunting and trapping.

FWS also wants to re-establish a population of wolverines in Colorado. The agency's proposal to do that under the authority of section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act would be implemented by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

In the mainland United States wolverines are known to occur in Washington's North Cascades, portions of the Rocky Mountains in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and in Oregon's Wallowa Range. During recent years single wolverines have been detected in the Colorado Rockies and in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

FWS indicated in 2010 that the wolverine was eligible for ESA protection but said then that other priorities precluded listing the species.

The agency will accept comments on the proposed listing for 60 days.

Energy secretary Chu resigns

2013-02-01T21:54:00.001-07:00

The Obama administration has lost another one of its energy and environment regulators.

Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who oversaw a doubling of the nation's renewable energy generating capacity during his four-year tenure, was put in charge of spending huge amounts of money in the aftermath of the 2009 stimulus legislation.

The Energy Department was appropriated billions of dollars to kick-start renewable energy research and, by and large, succeeded in achieving that goal.

"The stimulus investments produced some notable successes, including weatherizing more than [one] million homes for low-income families, saving nearly half a billion dollars in heating and cooling costs every year; doubling the domestic supply of parts for the wind industry; and supporting nearly 200,000 renewable energy jobs," Natural Resources Defense Council executive director Peter Lehner wrote in a blog entry.

The most noteworthy accomplishment has been the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy program. Under that initiative the Energy Department is working toward development of technology that would have a significant impact on the efficiency of the nation's energy consumption.

Chu also presided over increases in energy consumption standards for a range of products, including appliances. The household appliance program is expected to save consumers about $10 billion during the next two decades and reduce electricity use by about 14 percent.

Republicans attacked Chu for the failure of one solar energy technology company's bankruptcy after that entity, Solyndra, received a federally-guaranteed loan worth more than $500 million.

The other recipients of federally-backed loans to encourage renewable energy research - about 39 additional entities - did not experience financial failure. The money lent Solyndra amounted to 2.9 percent of the funds allocated to the program.

Obama thanked Chu for his service in a White House statement.

"As a Nobel Prize winning scientist, Steve brought to the Energy Department a unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy. And during his time as Secretary, Steve helped my Administration move America towards real energy independence," Obama said.

Other environment regulators that have announced their departures from the administration are EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, NOAA director Jane Lubchenco, and secretary of the interior Ken Salazar.

Chu is the first research scientists, let alone Nobel Prize winner. to serve at the head of the Energy Department. He will return to academic life in California, where he headed the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory before joining Obama's cabinet.

Salazar to leave Interior post

2013-01-16T14:48:00.001-07:00

Interior secretary Ken Salazar will soon go home to Colorado.

The former U.S. senator, 57, who has served at the helm of the nation's natural resources watchdog since the Obama administration began, said Wednesday that he would leave his job at the end of March.

“I have had the privilege of reforming the Department of the Interior to help lead the United States in securing a new energy frontier, ushering in a conservation agenda for the 21st century, and honoring our word to the nation’s first Americans,” Salazar said in a statement.

Among his accomplishments are the authorization of the first renewable energy projects on public land. During Salazar's tenure the Department of Interior has given the go-ahead to 34 geothermal, solar, and wind generation facilities to be built on government real estate.

Salazar also revamped the department's organizational structure for managing offshore oil and gas leasing by separating its royalty-collection function from its regulatory function. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are now autonomous units within the department, having replaced the Minerals Management Service.

Salazar also settled a multi-billion dollar lawsuit from native American tribes that alleged mis-management of trust fund and oversaw the establishment of seven national parks and 10 national wildlife refuges.

Critics attacked Salazar during and after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, arguing that the secretary's advocacy of a drilling moratorium and strong rhetoric aimed at BP and other entities involved in the operation of the Deepwater Horizon rig indicated a hostility to oil extraction.

In 2012 domestic oil production reached its highest level since 2003, and although overall fossil fuel extraction from federal public lands has been on a recent declining trend, Salazar has overseen a significant increase relative to a similar period during the George W. Bush administration.

Other noteworthy achievements during Salazar's tenure include an overhaul of the government's system for leasing native American lands and an agreement with Mexico on dividing up Colorado River flows.

Environmental groups generally lauded Salazar in the aftermath of his announcement. The Sierra Club, for example, praised him.

"Thanks to Secretary Salazar, more national parks and wildlife refuges are open, more of America's pristine Arctic is off-limits to dangerous drilling, and more public lands are in public hands," executive director Michael Brune said. "He also led the overhaul of safety standards for drilling in the wake of the BP oil disaster and stood up to defend American wilderness by protecting Drakes Estero national seashore."

Francis Beinecke, the president of Natural Resources Defense Council, was more cautious in her acclaim.

"He's laid a sound foundation for solar power on federal lands, while protecting special areas where development doesn't make sense," she said. "He moved quickly to improve public oversight of offshore drilling in the wake of the BP oil disaster. And he’s worked to end the global bazaar in polar bears, where his continued leadership will be vital in the waning months of his tenure."

But, Beinecke added, Salazar's successor "must clear out the unconscionable backlog that keeps endangered wildlife from getting the protection they need" and "do more to protect our waters, ranches, communities and farms from the ravages of gas and oil production."

"[T]hey must learn from Shell's disastrous performance in recent months that we cannot expose Arctic waters to the perils of offshore drilling,” Beinecke added.

Beinecke was referring to the recent incident involving a run-away oil rig that ran aground in Alaska.

Before becoming the nation's 50th secretary of the interior Salazar served four years in the Senate and six years as Colorado's attorney general.

Interior secretary Ken Salazar has told the White House he will leave the president's cabinet in March.

Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Interior.

Alaska federal court throws out polar bear critical habitat rule

2013-01-12T22:19:00.002-07:00

A federal judge in Alaska has rejected a regulation that designated critical habitat for the polar bear.

According to a Jan. 11 article by Associated Press reporter Becky Bohrer:

U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline, in a written order dated Thursday, said the designation was too extensive and presented "a disconnect between the twin goals of protecting a cherished resource and allowing for growth and much needed economic development." He sent the matter back to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to correct "substantive and procedural deficiencies."

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/01/11/2749604/judge-vacates-polar-bear-habitat.html#storylink=omni_popular#wgt=pop#storylink=cpy

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service set aside critical habitat for the polar bear in December 2010. The amount of critical habitat - about 187,000 square miles - is larger than California. However, that is only a small portion of Alaska, which encompasses more than 586,000 square miles.

Critical habitat is designated pursuant to section 4 of the Endangered Species Act. It is limited to areas that are occupied by a species when it is designated as threatened or endangered and that contains "physical or biological features essential to conservation" of the species which require special protection or areas outside the area occupied by the species at the time of listing that are "essential for conservation."

A critical habitat designation has no impact on purely private economic activities. Instead, it is relevant only when an activity that might affect a listed species or its habitat occurs on federal property or involves in some way the expenditure of funds from the U.S. treasury.

Ursus maritimus was added to the list of threatened and endangered species in May 2008. Polar bears are threatened because their seasonal ice floe habitat is disappearing as Earth's climate warms.

Photo of polar bear courtesy U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, photo by Terry Debruhn.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/01/11/2749604/judge-vacates-polar-bear-habitat.html#storylink=omni_popular#wgt=pop#storylink=cpy

Enviros to Obama: Kill Keystone XL pipeline

2013-01-08T23:56:00.002-07:00

Dozens of environmental organizations urged President Barack Obama Monday to permanently terminate any prospect of the Keystone XL pipeline being built, warning that the project would deepen the nation's climate-changing commitment to fossil fuels.

The request came in a short letter signed by representatives of 70 organizations.

"Reject dirty fuels," the groups argued. "We should not pursue dirty fuels like tar sands when climate science tells us that 80 percent of existing fossil fuel reserves need to be kept in the ground. More specifically, the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in our national interest because it would unlock vast amounts of additional carbon that we can’t afford to burn, extend our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels, endanger health and safety, and put critical water resources at risk."

The U.S. Department of State is expected to decide soon whether to grant the authorization necessary for construction of the pipeline's northern section, which crosses the U.S.-Canada border, to begin.

The pipeline would allow transport of synthetic crude oil extracted from oil sands in Alberta to refineries in the midwest and along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Obama previously rejected the pipeline in Jan. 2012 on grounds that it might have an adverse impact on the ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region of Nebraska. However, the state's Department of Environmental Quality issued a report last week that is skeptical of arguments that significant adverse environmental impact would occur if the pipeline is built.

The report acknowledges that the pipeline's route would traverse the Ogallala aquifer, but asserts that any harm to the groundwater contained in the aquifer would be of limited geographic reach.

The developer of the pipeline now proposes to avoid the Sand Hills region altogether.

The report will not be finalized until it is reviewed by the state's Republican governor, Dave Heineman.

Oil removed from the the Bakken formation in eastern Montana and western North Dakota could also be carried by the Keystone XL pipeline.

NOTE: This story also appears at Examiner.com.

Montana judge ends wolverine trapping

2013-01-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

A judge entered an order Monday that effectively ended any possibility of wolverine trapping occurring in Montana this year.

Broadwater and Lewis & Clark County district judge Jeffrey Sherlock extended a temporary restraining order entered last month after the parties asked that a Jan. 10 hearing to decide whether to grant a preliminary injunction be rescheduled.

He set the expiration of the temporary restraining order after the end of the proposed trapping season on Feb. 15.

"Basically, the injunction is in effect and we're going to report back to the judge on March 1 whether we still need it," Matt Bishop, an attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center, said.

By then, the fate of next year's trapping season may be known. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is scheduled to decide by Jan. 18 whether to add the wolverine to the list of endangered and threatened species.

"We're going to have to wait to see what the feds do," Bishop explained. "If they decide to list the wolverine, trapping won't be allowed in Montana."

According to a Dec. 19, 2012 report in Greenwire, the Obama administration is expected to propose Endangered Species Act protection for Gulo gulo luscus before the mid-January deadline.

The animal was designated a candidate for inclusion on the list of threatened and endangered species in 2010.

Montana is the only one of the lower 48 states to allow trapping of wolverines. The state had proposed to allow five of the rare and elusive animals to be killed that way during a season that it planned to start last Dec. 1.

The environmental group plaintiffs in the Montana anti-trapping case include Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Wild Swan, Montana Ecosystem Defense Council, Native Ecosystems Council, Swan View Coalition, WildEarth Guardians, and Footloose Montana.

Photo of wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) courtesy U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, photo by Steve Kroschel.

NOAA: 2012 was hottest year in U.S. history

2013-01-08T14:40:00.002-07:00

The last year was a hot one.

The hottest on record, in fact, according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, and that's not all. The year 2012 was also characterized by weather significantly more extreme than usual.

In a report published today, NOAA said that the average temperature across the nation was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, a full degree higher than the previous record year of 1998 and 3.2 degrees above the 20th century average.

Spring was the biggest driver of the year's heat, with temperatures during that season setting a record. The summer was the second-hottest on record, the winter was fourth-warmest in known history, and the fall was warmer than average.

It was so hot in the United States last year that every state in the contiguous part of the nation set a temperature record. Moreover, 19 states had a year that set a warmth record.

All that heat took a toll on snow, too. The nation experienced its third-smallest snowpack ever, while the central and southern Rocky Mountain region received less than half of its historic average snowfall.

As for total precipitation, there was less than usual. The year was the 15th driest on record for the United States as the country received, on average, 26.57 inches through the course of 2012. It was the driest year since 1988.

The weather was crazy in 2012, too. NOAA also announced that there were 19 named tropical storms in the north Atlantic during the year, which included ten hurricanes. That made 2012 the third-most active year for tropical storms in history.

Landlubbers fared little better. By July, fully 61 percent of the nation was in drought condition and more than 9 million acres burned.

Tornadoes, however, were less frequent than average during the past year, with the number the lowest since 2002.

The report is here.

Graphic of selected climate extremes courtesy NOAA.

Graphic of significant U.S. weather and climate events courtesy NOAA.

First environmental bill of new Congress would re-authorize elephant, tiger conservation laws

2013-01-05T01:22:00.001-07:00

The first environmental law-related bill of the 113th Congress would re-authorize three laws that aim to conserve iconic wildlife native to other continents.

H.R. 39, which was introduced Thursday by veteran U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, would renew the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1989, the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994, and the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997.

Young said that he is asking for re-authorization of the three laws because they provide benefits beyond conservation of the iconic species that are their subjects.

"In addition to preserving the local species, by working with local communities, the conservation programs improve people's livelihoods, contribute to local and regional stability, and support U.S. security interests in impoverished regions," Young explained in a statement provided by Michael Anderson, his press secretary.

The African Elephant Conservation Act aims to shut down international trade in ivory. To that end, AfECA gave the President authority to block imports of ivory from nations that do not establish and maintain a program to preserve African elephants (Loxodonta africana). President George H.W. Bush, by executive order, blocked imports of ivory from African elephants in June 1989.

AfECA also permits Washington to help finance elephant conservation programs in Africa. In 2011, Congress appropriated $1,774,465 for this purpose. That money was matched by more than $3.6 million in additional contributions from other donors and was put to work in 14 countries.

AfECA is aimed at maintaining a slow but steady rate of growth in African elephant populations that seems to have occurred between the 1930s and about 2006.

The law must, however, contend with varying rates of elephant losses throughout its range. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the animal's numbers are on the decline in central and west Africa.

One recent scientific paper estimated that the number of African elephants in that region of the continent has declined by 50 percent during the last four decades.

A leading cause of that trend is the drive to exploit elephant tusks to finance military operations in some African nations. The money comes mostly from China, which maintains a persistent demand for ivory.

The situation in Asia is the result of much different factors. Asian elephants compete with humans for space and must contend, in many areas of their range, with deforestation.

Asian elephants are also killed with some frequency by humans with whom they come in contact. The killings are related to the frequently unfortunate consequences to humans of being proximate to Asian elephants.

One recent report calculated that more than 400 people are killed by elephants each year, while another estimated that the animals cause economic losses, mostly due to crop destruction, on the order of $2 to 3 million per year.

The Asian Elephant Conservation Act established a fund through which nations that have ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species cooperatively finance habitat protection efforts for Elephas maximus.

Congress appropriated more than $1.5 million to the Asian Elephant Conservation Fund in 2011, which was matched by about $2.4 million from other sources.

The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act works in essentially the same manner. The law aims to shut down commerce in rhinoceros horns and tiger body parts. A 1998 amendment to RTCA forbids any sale, import, or export of any product that contains any part of a rhinoceros or tiger, or which is labeled or advertised as including such body parts, if the product is intended for any type of human consumption.

RTCA applies to all five rhinoceros species and all five remaining tiger subspecies.

Both animals are in rapid decline.

According to a website maintained by the Wildlife Conservation Society, tigers occupy only about six percent of the available habitat on their native continent of Asia.

Meanwhile, the world's population of rhinos has dropped by 90 percent since 1970.

As with AfECA and AECA, RTCA established a fund through which Washington has supported international efforts to preserve increasingly scarce rhinoceroses and tigers. In 2011 Congress appropriated more than $2.6 million to the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund, an amount matched by more than $4 million in other contributions.

"All together, these three funds have financed 1,202 conservation projects to assist two species of elephants, five species of rhinoceros and six species of tigers over the past twenty-three years," Young said. "These funds have been the only continuous source of money for international conservation efforts, and conservationists across the globe believe that without these projects the African elephant, rhinoceros, tigers and the Asian elephant would disappear forever."

The bill must first be considered by the House Natural Resources Committee before any floor debate on it is possible.

Congress previously enacted, and President George W. Bush signed, legislation re-authorizing AfECA and RTCA in 2007. That re-authorization expired at the end of September.

AECA was last re-authorized in 2002. The period of that re-authorization expired in 2007.

Young's bill to secure re-authorization of all three laws during the 112th Congress did not get out of committee.

"I am committed to working with my colleagues on the House Natural Resources Committee to ensure that these bills are reauthorized,” Young said.

Photo of African elephants courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, photo by Andrea Turkalo.

Photo of Asian elephants courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, photo by Jennifer Pastorini.

Photo of rhinoceros courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, photo by Karl Stromayer.

Photo of Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) courtesy Wikimedia.

Three new Republicans on Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee

2013-01-05T00:31:00.001-07:00

The Senate's GOP minority has replaced three of its representatives on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee and two of the new members are freshman.

Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Tim Scott of South Carolina, along with veteran lawmaker Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, replace Sens. Dan Coats, R-Ind., Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Schatz replaces Hirono on Energy & Natural Resources Committee

2013-01-05T00:25:00.001-07:00

The Hawaii lawmaker on the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee has been switched.

Sen. Brian Schatz, who was appointed to fill the seat left vacant when long-serving Sen. Daniel Inouye died last month, will replace fellow senator Mazie Hirono.

Hirono was sworn in as a member of the Senate Thursday.

Targets of climate scientist Mann's libel case seek dismissal

2012-12-20T22:07:00.002-07:00

The legal arguments have begun in a court fight that pits renowned climatologist Michael Mann, whose work has been instrumental in establishing a historic basis for the scientific consensus that humanity is altering Earth's climate, against two conservative institutions.

Some of the defendants sued for libel by Mann in October have asked a District of Columbia local court to dismiss his lawsuit.

In papers filed Dec. 14, lawyers for the Competitive Enterprise Institute and one of its writers, Rand Simberg, argued that Mann cannot prove his claims.

They also asked the District of Columbia Superior Court to throw out Mann's case on the basis of a local ordinance that forbids the use of litigation as a tool to discourage political attacks.

Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at The Pennsylvania State University, alleges that CEI and Simberg libeled him by publishing a blog post that compared Mann to convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky. The blog post was later edited.

Libel is the doctrine of law that allows individuals to obtain financial compensation from the publisher of false statements that damage the individual's reputation. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution places limits on the circumstances under which such lawsuits can proceed and the conditions that have to be proven for the plaintiff to prevail.

Mann also sued National Review, a conservative magazine that re-published Simberg's blog post and added some additional commentary of its own. National Review columnist Mark Steyn wrote that Mann's work on the so-called "hockey stick" graph is a deceptive and accused his employer, The Pennsylvania State University, of hiding that behavior.

Mann's research leading to a conclusion that Earth's average atmospheric temperatures have risen dramatically over the past 50 or so years has been determined by at least eight separate investigations to be scientifically valid.

Despite the acknowledged scientific credibility of his work studying the history of Earth's climate, Robert Nagel, a law professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, believes Mann will have a hard time winning his libel case.

"The way the [U.S. Supreme] Court has divided up constitutional protections for defamatory statements, that means the plaintiff would probably have to prove knowing or reckless disregard for the truth," Nagel said. "That’s very hard to do. Even if he convinces the court that he is private figure, that he didn’t interject himself into the debate, he would have to show negligence. Those are difficult burdens to meet. Some of what he’s claiming about may be viewed by a court as either not statements of fact or not literal statements, something akin to a parody or an exaggeration."

The lawyers for CEI and Simberg argued that very point in the motions filed last week.

Nagel, who has written for National Review in the past, said that he is sympathetic to concerns that attacks like those published on OpenMarket.org and The Corner might have the effect of undermining public understanding of scientific knowledge.

"I doubt that those concerns are overblown," he said. "In fact, I think that scientists complaints in that regard are not a whole lot different from wider concerns that exist in terms of, say, political dialogue."

However, Nagel explained, that outcome may not be avoidable given a high bar to libel lawsuits constructed by the U.S. Supreme Court nearly 50 years ago in a case called New York Times v. Sullivan.

"The concern that we’re getting more false information out there, more sloppy reporting, just sort of worse information, I think it’s probably true that the modern changes in defamation law has had that effect in lots of areas," he said.

Nagel pointed out that he was not, in making that observation, referring specifically to the truth or falsity of the specific comments published by CEI and National Review.

Mann will have an opportunity to respond to the defendants' motion for an order dismissing the climatologist's lawsuit before the court rules.

His lawyer declined a request for an interview.

This graph, which resembles a hockey stick, shows a dramatic rise in Earth's average temperature since the middle of the 20th century. Courtesy Wikimedia.

NOTE: A slightly different version of this story appears on the Examiner.com website.

112th Congress might be first since 1966 to shun wilderness bills

2012-12-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

The 112th Congress could become the first since 1966 to designate no acres anywhere in the United States for protection under the Wilderness Act.

There are currently 27 pending bills that would designate wilderness in 13 states, including five measures that would protect public land in California as wilderness, four that would designate additional wilderness in Colorado, four that would protect additional wilderness in New Mexico, and three that would add more acres in Oregon to the National Wilderness Preservation System.

“Some of the bills that are being held up are wilderness-only bills," David Moulton, the senior director for legislative affairs at the Wilderness Society, said. "Most of them are bills that combine wilderness with the protection of other uses."

Moulton explained that bills designating new wilderness are bottled up in the House Natural Resources Committee.

"Right now, the sitting chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington, is so ideologically opposed to adding any wilderness to the preservation system that he refuses to allow bills through his committee," Moulton said. "So bills that have been proposed to protect wild areas in states represented by Republicans, where there’s broad support and [the bill is] introduced by a Republican, are going to the House Natural Resources Committee and dying there."

Hastings, 71, issued a statement in Nov. 2011 that indicated skepticism about additional wilderness legislation, arguing that enough has already been set aside.

"The federal government already owns more lands than it can afford to properly manage," Hastings said. "We must make thoughtful and careful land-use decisions that reflect our country’s current economic situation, keep our lands healthy, and exemplify the importance of ensuring public access to public lands for multi-use purposes.”

The prospects for wilderness designations by means of a large bill that wraps many smaller proposals into one probably aren't any greater than they are for the individual wilderness bills, at least if Hastings' views carry the day in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

In Jan. 2011 Hastings told the Seattle Times that the House Republican majority would not pass so-called omnibus land conservation bills.

Even if there were a reasonable chance for an omnibus bill to move through the House of Representatives before adjournment near the end of December, the Senate may find it difficult to find the time to take up such expansive legislation.

The chamber, like the House of Representatives, is intensely engaged in efforts to resolve the federal government's fiscal crisis.

"All I can say is that the Senate is an infinitely flexible place, so anything can happen," Bill Wicker, a spokesperson for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said. "But, at the same time, lame duck is a very challenging environment for all legislation."

Wicker was using the phrase commonly applied to the period in which the members of the Senate and House of Representatives meet that occurs between an election and the start of the next Congress.

The outlook is not uniformly bad for public lands legislation. A measure that would re-designate Pinnacles National Monument in California as a national park passed the House unanimously.

The House version of the bill does not designate any new wilderness. Instead, it would re-name the existing Pinnacles wilderness to honor a pioneer family from the area.

"Since all the land is already under the control of the National Park Service, it doesn’t add any costs," Adam Russell, a spokesperson for the bill's sponsor, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., said.

A companion bill introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that remains pending in the Senate would add an additional 3,000 acres of wilderness within the new national park.

Photo of Pinnacles National Monument courtesy Wikimedia.

Note: A version of this story also appears at Examiner.com.

House Natural Resources Committee GOP membership set for 113th Congress

2012-12-14T12:30:00.003-07:00

Four new faces, and an old one, will join the Republican majority on the House Natural Resources Committee when the 113th Congress opens next month.

Newly-elected U.S. Representatives Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Steve Daines of Montana, Doug LaMalfa of California, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, and Chris Stewart of Utah will join the panel.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., will also re-join the committee after an absence during the current Congress.

It is not likely that any of the new members of the committee will change its existing orientation toward support of more lenient regulation of energy extraction activities. A look at the websites of all five of the newly-chosen GOP members indicates at least some degree of sympathy to that viewpoint.

The panel's chairman will continue to be Rep. Richard N. "Doc" Hastings, R-Wash.

The Democratic minority on the Natural Resources Committee in the new Congress may also include some new faces. However, a spokesman for the committee's Democratic members said the question of who will represent the party on the committee when it convenes in January is not yet determined.

It is not likely, however, that current ranking minority member Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., will be displaced from that slot.

The Natural Resources Committee will include 26 Republicans and 21 Democrats when the new Congress convenes next month.