Packing heat in a naional park?

From Ted Williams comes this brief note about Dubya’s move making it esier to pack heat in a National Park System unit:
I too worry that Dubya’s toadying to the NRA will make the parks more dangerous. But I’m a lot less concerned about people than wildlife. What happens when a Denny Crane type sees a grizzly stand up and sniff the air or imagines that a wolf is looking at him hungrily? Anyone scared enough to pack heat in a park should stay home.

http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=94140536

Bush, the drill-happy guy

From Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility comes this timely action alert. We have visted both of these park units.

DRILLING AND MINING IN STORE FOR TWO ICONIC SOUTHWEST PARKS
Falling Commodity Prices Brings Brief Reprieve for Petrified Forest and Aztec Ruins

Washington, DC -  Drilling and mining may soon be affecting Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona and Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico, according to an internal Interior Department document released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  Only plummeting commodity prices caused by the current recession have delayed groundbreaking for new natural gas wells and potash mining in or adjacent to the parks.

The Interior briefing for Assistant Secretary Lyle Laverty dated October 5, 2008 outlines pending plans for subsurface extraction on or adjacent to the two parks:

• Aztec Ruins National Monument (NM) “Manana Inc., an energy company, has provided documentation of its legal right to conduct operations in the monument and its intent to drill a Fruitland Coal natural gas well within the monument boundary.  It is proposing a location adjacent to the North Ruins, the third largest archeological site in the monument.  The monument is conducting internal scoping and considering other possible locations that might be recommended as alternatives.  The monument is also processing requests from ConocoPhillips in their interest to develop two new wells, and from XTO Energy, Inc, to extend a gas gathering line to tie in with an existing line already within the monument.”

• Petrified Forest National Park (AZ) “A new study by the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) identifies the size and distribution of a world-class potash deposit in the Holbrook Basin of east-central Arizona, including the southern portion of Petrified Forest National Park and much of the lands Congress authorized for park expansion in 2004.  Public release of the study awaits impending approval from the governor’s office.  Potash is an essential ingredient in fertilizers.  This deposit underlies 600 square miles east of Holbrook, AZ, and was first identified in the 1950s, but not developed because it was not viewed as economically competitive.  In the last three years, there has been a ten-fold increase in potash prices with additional rises in the last few months pushing the price up another 50-100%.  Calculated tonnage for the entire deposit is 682 million to 2.27 billion metric tons.  Approximately 20% of the deposit lies below Petrified Forest National Park and is closed to mining.  An additional 30% underlies lands covered by the Petrified Forest Expansion Act of 2004.  This discovery will obviously have an impact on land values within the Expansion Act boundaries…”

“Protection of these national parks is now in the hands of the market.  The basic problem is that the Bush administration has siphoned away funds for park acquisitions, leaving vital in-holdings and subsurface rights in the hands of private interests,” stated PEER Board Member Frank Buono, a long-time former National Park Service manager, noting that NPS today has only a small fraction of funding it had before Bush for land acquisition.  “Using stimulus funds to buy out these interests now will both raise local land values and leave a gift for future generations.”

‘Clean coal’ bait and switch

Big Coal, with a compliant mainstream media’s help, is trying to pull the wool over our collective eyes. From Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting comes this little enlightening item:

David Roberts, an environmental writer for Grist.com, has written a great critique of the coal industry’s “clean coal” campaign, pointing out that “it’s an obvious scam — easily exposed, easily debunked. Just because it’s obvious, though, doesn’t mean the media won’t fall for it. Indeed, the entire ‘clean coal’ propaganda push is premised on the media’s gullibility.”

Roberts notes, as have others, including a recent report by the Center for American Progress (CAP), that “the companies funding ‘clean coal’ PR aren’t spending much on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) research.” They have therefore made no progress in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that make coal a potent cause of global warming. The concept of “clean coal” was invented to answer concerns about global warming, and its advocates play a rhetorical game of bait-and-switch on precisely this topic. When pressed about how coal can be clean, Roberts observes, “they revert to the other definition of ‘clean’ — the notion that coal plants have reduced their emissions of traditional air pollutants like particulates and mercury (as opposed to greenhouse gases).”

Coal-ash spill three times bigger than first estimated

Well, well, well. The spill in Kentucky of coal-ash, the product of burning coal for power generation, was much, much worse than fist estimated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The New York Times, in this article, has the loatest. I have seen up close and personal, for years now, the damage from coal-mining activities and burning

coal to generate electricity. Stream after stream after stream in the middle anthracite region of eastern Pennsylvania is dead from acid mine drainage. And stream after stream in southwestern Pennsylvania is dead from longwall underground mining. So, what is the Bush wrecking crew’s answer? Drill more, dig more and burn more. Not conservation.

So much for ‘clean coal’

There was never such a thing anyway. But for those who

still believe the greenwashing ads now airing on tee vee,

here’s the proof:

The Tennessee Valley Authority, better known as TVA, has a coal-burning power plant located near Harriman, Tennessee, along Interstate 40 between Knoxville and Nashville. The stuff that is left over after TVA burns their coal is called coal ash.

Coal ash contains mercury and dangerous heavy metals like lead and arsenic – materials found naturally in coal are concentrated in the ash.

TVA has a huge mountain of this coal waste material stored in a gigantic pile next to their Harriman (Kingston) power plant, alongside a tributary of the Tennessee River.

On Monday morning Dec. 22 around 1:00 am, the earthen retaining wall around this mountain of coal ash failed and approximately 500 million gallons of nasty black coal ash flowed into tributaries of the Tennessee River – the water supply for Chattanooga TN and millions of people living downstream in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.

This Tennessee TVA spill is over 40 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, if local news accounts are correct.

*** This is a huge environmental disaster of epic proportions.

To see an amazing aerial video of the spill – the big hunks and chunks in the river are mounds of coal ash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGmVCABMRRQ

USFWS to establish new refuge in Pa.

Just downloaded this news release from Kempthorne’s Interiort Department. It’s good news for a change. I visited Cherry Valley a bunch of years ago. One of the key critters the new refuge will protect is the federally listed Bog Turtle, although a wide swath of species’ habitat in southeast Pa. has been destroyed or degraded over th yerss by the heavy hand of development.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Establish National Wildlife Refuge in Pennsylvania

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today approved the establishment of Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Pennsylvania.

The Service has established a boundary for the refuge, encompassing 20,466 acres in Monroe and Northampton counties, within which it may begin acquiring nationally significant habitat for wildlife as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

“It is a great honor, as Secretary of the Interior, to be able to

recognize the establishment of this new National Wildlife Refuge,”

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said. “The Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are committed to the protection and conservation of the environmental diversity of this country. This new refuge will allow us to further our mission as we work to ensure that generations of Americans long into the future still will benefit from the abundance of our nation’s natural beauty.”

Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge encompasses rare ecosystems, several plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act, and numerous species of concern within the conservation community. Cherry Creek, in the bottom of the valley, ultimately flows into the Delaware River. Following the creek’s path, Kittatinny Ridge is a major avenue for

migrating birds and bats.

“The partnership approach to the planning for the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a model for future planning efforts,” said Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall. “The collaboration of officials from local, state, and federal offices, as well as non-governmental organizations made sure the process was efficient and comprehensive. The strong, grassroots support for the project shows that this habitat is nationally significant and Cherry Valley is the right place for a new national wildlife refuge.”

Hall said the agency accomplishes much of its fish and wildlife

conservation mission by strategically acquiring and managing lands as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. At Cherry Valley, the Service’s next step is to work with partners and landowners within the refuge boundary to identify opportunities to acquire lands through easements and fee title. A number of organizations, including the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, The Nature Conservancy, National Park Service and other entities already protect a significant amount of conservation land within

and near the new refuge boundary.

The Service will work to provide opportunities for wildlife-related

recreation–such as hunting, fishing and bird watching–and ensure these activities are compatible with the management goals and mission of the refuge. The announcement culminates a movement begun in 2005 when U.S. Representatives Paul E. Kanjorski (Penn.-D-11th) and Charles W. Dent (Penn.-R-15th) co-sponsored a bill on behalf of their constituents to consider a prospective national wildlife refuge within Cherry Valley. The legislation was in response to a petition advocating refuge establishment endorsed by community leaders and local elected officials in Monroe County. The 109th U.S. Congress approved the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge Study Act in 2006. The study and an environmental

assessment required under the National Environmental Policy Act were completed earlier this month, and the Service’s Northeast Region recommended establishment of the refuge boundary.

The completed study, which includes the final environmental assessment, finding of no significant impact (FONSI) and other establishing documents, as well as answers to frequently asked questions regarding establishing national wildlife refuges, can be found online at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/

The Service completed the Cherry Valley study in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and many other organizations, including the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Pennsylvania Game Commission, National Park Service, Monroe County Planning Commission, Monroe County Conservation District, Northampton Community College, East Stroudsburg University and the Pocono Avian Research Center. The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

How to save bighorns: Get domestic sheep off the land

In all my years of hiking in Idaho, especially in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, I never had the good fortune to see a bighorn sheep. But, as an American citizen and taxpayer, I still am a part-owner of the federal public land that encompasses bighorn range in Idaho. How to get domestic sheep off the same range? Tell grazing permittees to remove their woolies and do it now.

Domestic sheep are to blame for the death of wild bighorns.

Read a nice personal view on all this from the Idaho Statesman’s Pete Zimowsky.

Investigation Reveals Huge Gaps in Clean Water Act Enforcement

I found this item from the National Wildlife Federation over at ted Wiliams’ blog. This has everything to do with certain Republicans doing all they can to please their corporate buddies.

More coal-fired power plants?

Is this a new year’s joke or what? Come on you Bushies!

In the Rockies today, a new directive from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may ease the way for more coal-fired power plants.Stephen L. Johnson, the administration of the federal agency, issued a memorandum on Thursday that said carbon dioxide is not a pollutant that must be addressed in the permitting process for such plants.

Johnson issued the order to clear up the confusion over exactly what should be considered a pollutant to be regulated.

Opponents of coal-fired power said they anticipated the new rule would allow several coal-fired plants in late stages of the permitting process to win approval more quickly, including one in Utah’s Davis County.

Redford slams Dubya’s drilling ploy

A very nice job done here by Natural Resources Defense Council trustee Robert Redford. And he’s right, of course. We are talking here about our land, not the petroleum industry’s turf.