Obama Signs Major Land Conservation (Incineration?) Law
By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, March 31, 2009 [here]
President Obama signed a massive lands package into law today, protecting more than two million acres as wilderness and creating a new national system to conserve land held by the Bureau of Land Management.
The measure, a collection of 170 different bills that represents the most significant wilderness law in at least 15 years, would provide the highest level of federal protection to areas such as Oregon’s Mount Hood and part of Virginia’s Jefferson National Forest, along with other sites in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Utah and West Virginia. It also authorizes the first coordinated federal research program to investigate ocean acidification and additional funding to protect ecologically-valuable coastal areas and estuaries.
At the signing ceremony Obama said, “This legislation guarantees that we will not take our forests, rivers, oceans, national parks, monuments, and wilderness areas for granted, but rather we will set them aside and guard their sanctity for everyone to share. That’s something all Americans can support.” … [more]
Note: set aside for sanctity? More like earmark for catastrophic incineration.
A Cooling Trend Toward Global Warming
Written by Ed Hiserodt, The New American, 01 April 2009 [here]
Over the past several years, it appeared that our society was doomed to succumb to what Weather Channel founder John Coleman has described as “the greatest scam in history”: anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming (AGW). For two decades there has been an incessant drumbeat of propaganda attributing every weather-related event to an increase in carbon dioxide caused by the burning of fossil fuels. With the election of a president who is solidly in the global-warming-alarmist camp — and with many high-level appointees who are bona fide climate-change alarmists — coupled with a Democratic legislature anxious to please their environmentalist and media benefactors, the passage of legislation causing some form of economy-crippling energy taxation seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
But then came the unexpected: a recession brought on and exacerbated by the heavy hand of government, and a second consecutive severe winter. Indeed, we may look back and see that our current financial crisis and Mother Nature were the saviors of free-market capitalism. They may have slowed the statist steamroller long enough for the proponents of climate realism to make such socialistic schemes as “cap and trade” understood for what they are and what they are not. They are not about anything to do with global warming or climate change. They are instead a massive transfer of wealth from the productive to those who will not adopt free markets.
While the primary promoters of the warming hoax have not “broken and run” yet, there is much evidence that there is an increasing tide of defectors and that climate catastrophists have completely run out of dry powder. … [more]
House Democrats release draft energy, climate bill
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN AND BEN GEMAN, Greenwire, NY Times, March 31, 2009 [here]
Democratic leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee today unveiled a 648-page draft global warming and energy bill that is being praised by environmental groups but presents significant political challenges.
The bill by Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts would establish a cap-and-trade program curbing U.S. emissions 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, with a midcentury target of 83 percent reductions of the heat-trapping gases. It also creates a nationwide renewable electricity standard that reaches 25 percent by 2025, new energy efficiency programs and limits on the carbon content of motor fuels, and requires greenhouse gas standards for new heavy duty vehicles and engines.
Statements from the two congressmen now atop the powerful House panel included a seven-week schedule leading to a final committee vote on the measure before the Memorial Day recess. … [more]
Danish investors buy Adirondack land
Associated Press, Forbes.com, 03.30.09, [here]
The Nature Conservancy says it’s selling 92,000 acres of Adirondack forest land to a Danish pension fund committed to environmentally responsible forestry.
The land sold Monday to Danish pension fund ATP for $32.8 million is part of 161,000 acres the conservancy bought in 2007 from Finch Paper. RMK Timberland (nyse: TBL - news - people) Group of Atlanta will manage the land bought by ATP.
The Nature Conservancy says the land will continue to be used for forestry, recreational leasing, hunting, snowmobiling, hiking, fishing and other activities.
It’s protected by a strict conservation easement. The state’s purchase of development rights is pending.
Rise of sea levels is ‘the greatest lie ever told’
The uncompromising verdict of Dr Mörner is that all this talk about the sea rising is nothing but a colossal scare story
by Christopher Booker, London Telegraph, 28 Mar 2009 [here]
If one thing more than any other is used to justify proposals that the world must spend tens of trillions of dollars on combating global warming, it is the belief that we face a disastrous rise in sea levels. The Antarctic and Greenland ice caps will melt, we are told, warming oceans will expand, and the result will be catastrophe.
Although the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) only predicts a sea level rise of 59cm (17 inches) by 2100, Al Gore in his Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth went much further, talking of 20 feet, and showing computer graphics of cities such as Shanghai and San Francisco half under water. We all know the graphic showing central London in similar plight. As for tiny island nations such as the Maldives and Tuvalu, as Prince Charles likes to tell us and the Archbishop of Canterbury was again parroting last week, they are due to vanish.
But if there is one scientist who knows more about sea levels than anyone else in the world it is the Swedish geologist and physicist Nils-Axel Mörner, formerly chairman of the INQUA International Commission on Sea Level Change. And the uncompromising verdict of Dr Mörner, who for 35 years has been using every known scientific method to study sea levels all over the globe, is that all this talk about the sea rising is nothing but a colossal scare story.
Despite fluctuations down as well as up, “the sea is not rising,” he says. “It hasn’t risen in 50 years.” If there is any rise this century it will “not be more than 10cm (four inches), with an uncertainty of plus or minus 10cm”. And quite apart from examining the hard evidence, he says, the elementary laws of physics (latent heat needed to melt ice) tell us that the apocalypse conjured up by Al Gore and Co could not possibly come about. … [more]
House passes bill to pay for fighting wildfires
by Charles Pope, The Oregonian, March 26, 2009 [here]
WASHINGTON — With fire season approaching, the House Thursday passed legislation to protect funding for fighting fires so government officials won’t have to siphon money from other programs to handle the emergencies.
The Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement or FLAME Act moved easily through the House on a vote of 412-3. …
Wildland fire activities now account for approximately 48 percent of the Forest Service budget, up from just 13 percent in 1991. Last year, the Forest Service and Interior Department spent a combined $2.4 billion to fight fires.
Meanwhile, the annual funding for fires has not kept pace, forcing officials to raid other important accounts to deal with a crisis that must be immediately met. …
The legislation, which now goes to the Senate, attacks the chronic shortage of money by establishing a dedicated reserve fund for catastrophic, emergency wildland fire suppression activities, separate from money Congress approves each year for other fire activities. … [more]
Why Is the Red River of the North So Vulnerable to Flooding?
North Dakota State University, Red River Flood Homepage [here]
During recent years in Fargo, the Red River has passed into flood stage at least once per year. During most years, this flooding has been minor. However, since the beginning of a wet climatic cycle in 1993, several of these floods have been truly devastating.
Why does the Red River flood so frequently and with such extensive areal coverage throughout the “Valley”? Four factors, all associated with our unusual physiography, seem to be involved:
1. SYNCHRONY OF DISCHARGE WITH SPRING THAW:
The Red River flows northward. But, at the same time, spring thaw proceeds steadily northward along the Valley. Thus, along the Red River, runoff from the southern portion of the Valley progressively joins with fresh, meltoff waters from more northerly localities. If this synchrony is perfect, the consequences in the northern portion of the Valley can be truly disastrous.
2. ICE JAMS:
This factor is also related to a northward-flowing river system. Ice derived from the southern Valley progressively meets with freshly-broken ice in the central and northern Valley. Ice concentrations in this regime can only build, retarding or damming water flow.
3. GLACIAL LAKE PLAIN:
The Red River has incised a shallow, sinuous valley across one of the flattest expanses of land in the world: the floor of Glacial Lake Agassiz. Therefore, when the river floods onto this plain, areal coverage of the waters can become dramatic.
Related to this physiographic factor is the young age of the Red River. In its present form, the Red River is about 9,300 years old and far too young geologically to have carved a significant valley-floodplain system. Therefore, the lake plain becomes the “floodplain” to this river.
4. DECREASE IN GRADIENT DOWNSTREAM:
“Gradient” refers to the slope of a river. In the region of Fargo-Halstad, the gradient of the Red River averages 5 inches per mile of length. In the region of Drayton-Pembina, however, the gradient drops to 1.5 inches per mile. During floods, the Red River at Drayton tends to pool due to lack of slope - the region becoming essentially a massive, shallow lake.
Fargo gets good news with new flood forecast
Colder Temperatures Cause River to Retreat
By DAVE KOLPACK and JIM SUHR, Google News, March 28, 2009 [here]
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Fargo’s fears of a catastrophic flood eased Saturday with word that the Red River apparently crested at lower-than-expected levels, and weary residents turned their attention to ensuring their hastily built levees hold up against an onslaught of ice-laden water expected to stay high for at least a week.
National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Hudson said the Red River began receding Saturday morning, surprising residents who were bracing for a crest on Sunday. But the river can still fluctuate up to a foot and may remain at dangerous levels for a week, meaning people will still have to wait several days before they are completely safe.
“The best news we can take from this is the river has crested,” Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said. “But diligence is going to have to be required for at least eight more days and hopefully things will continue to drop.”
Forecasters say the river is retreating because cold temperatures have been freezing water that normally would be flowing into the river. By the time that water thaws, the biggest flooding threat should have passed, Hudson said. … [more]
Expanded Americorps has an authoritarian feel
By Examiner Editorial, Washington Examiner, 3/26/09 [here]
With almost no public attention, both chambers of Congress in the past week advanced an alarming expansion of the Americorps national service plan, with the number of federally funded community service job increasing from 75,000 to 250,000 at a cost of $5.7 billion. Lurking behind the feel-good rhetoric spouted by the measure’s advocates is a bill that on closer inspection reveals multiple provisions that together create a strong odor of creepy authoritarianism. The House passed the measure overwhelmingly, while only 14 senators had the sense and courage to vote against it on a key procedural motion. Every legislator who either voted for this bill or didn’t vote at all has some serious explaining to do.
Last summer, then-candidate Barack Obama threw civil liberties to the wind when he proposed “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the regular military. The expanded Americorps is not quite so disturbing, but a number of provisions in the bill raise serious concerns. … [more]
Idaho Fish and Game respond to alleged misconduct after public records audit
KHQ.com, Spokane and Coeur D’Alene, March 24, 2009 [here]
HAYDEN, Idaho. - The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is under scrutiny after a private investigator in North Idaho accused the organization of misusing state property. ‘Confidential Investigations’ was hired to look at IDFG public records for a civil case and ended up finding more than they expected.
Erin Jenkins, of Confidential Investigations,’ was hired to review IDFG records for an outside case and in the course of the investigation says he found misuse of state property and evidence that state officers were using state property for personal use.
Jenkins points to an internal IDFG e-mail to substantiate his allegations. In part, that email, sent from District Conservation Officer Mark Rhodes to Conservation Officer Mark Bowen, reads “I have absolutely no problem with our folks using department phones (or other things for that matter) for personal stuff as long as we make things right.”
IDFG explained that there are certain allowances and policies for using equipment in the field, but the allegations don’t stop there.
Dave Thompson, a North Idaho resident, says he witnessed his neighbor Josh Stanley, an IDFG officer, use his state owned pick-up for personal use and took photographs to document the event. The photographs show the officer allegedly hauling rock for landscaping in the state-owned pick-up. IDFG says they’re not sure the proof or the story are real.
IDFG Regional Supervisor Chip Corsi says, “the pictures are not terribly definitive of anything other than there’s a truck in the yard… I mean I have rock around and in my yard and there’s been time when my vehicle, fish and game vehicle’s been parked in my driveway and I don’t see anything here that demonstrates anything.”
Thompson says he was doing his job as a citizen.
Dead Tree Fishwrapper Taxpayer Bailout
U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers
By Thomas Ferraro, Mar 24, 2009 [here]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.
“This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat,” said Senator Benjamin Cardin.
A Cardin spokesman said the bill had yet to attract any co-sponsors, but had sparked plenty of interest within the media, which has seen plunging revenues and many journalist layoffs.
Cardin’s Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.
Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.
Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible. … [more]
EPA Finds CO2 a Public Health Hazard, Invokes CAA
By IAN TALLEY, Wall Street Journal Online, March 24, 2009 [here]
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has sent the White House a proposed finding that carbon dioxide is a danger to public health, a step that could trigger a clampdown on emissions of greenhouse gases across a wide swath of the economy.
If approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the endangerment finding could clear the way for the EPA to use the Clean Air Act to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases believed to contribute to climate change. In effect, the government would treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. The EPA submitted the proposed rule to the White House on Friday, according to federal records published Monday. … [more]
Portland timber firm at center of contested Idaho land swap
by The Associated Press, March 23, 2009, [here]
Seven former administrators of the Palouse Ranger District in Idaho are blasting a U.S. Forest Service plan to trade 28,000 acres of managed forest for about 39,000 acres of logged-over land controlled by Western Pacific Timber of Portland.
John Krebs, a retired Forest Service employee, said the plan is fundamentally flawed because much of the public land has been carefully managed for the public’s use.
“The whole Palouse is prime,” he said. “It’s got old growth in it, riparian protection. It is the prime example of management. And the Forest Service has never told the public this story.”
Western Pacific Timber is offering to trade land it owns in northern Idaho that includes portions of the Lewis and Clark and Nez Perce National Historic Trails.
The timber company is owned by lumberman and developer Tim Blixseth, who bought the land in 2005 from the Plum Creek Timber Co. and then announced he was interested in trading it for public land.
Krebs and the others have written letters to local and national officials detailing their concerns about the proposed Upper Lochsa Land Exchange.
Earlier this year, Krebs wrote a seven-page letter of protest to Tom Reilly, supervisor on the Clearwater National Forest. The other retired foresters co-signed the letter. … [more]
Woodchips With Everything
Here comes the latest utopian catastrophe: the plan to solve climate change with biochar
By George Monbiot, Monbiot.com, 24th March 2009 [here]
Whenever you hear the word miracle, you know there’s trouble just around the corner. But however many times they lead to disappointment or disaster, the newspapers never tire of promoting miracle cures, miracle crops, miracle fuels and miracle financial instruments. We have a bottomless ability to disregard the laws of economics, biology and thermodynamics when we encounter a simple solution to complex problems. So welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the new miracle. It’s a low-carbon regime for the planet which makes the Atkins Diet look healthy: woodchips with everything.
Biomass is suddenly the universal answer to our climate and energy problems. Its advocates claim that it will become the primary source of the world’s heating fuel, electricity, road transport fuel (cellulosic ethanol) and aviation fuel (bio-kerosene). Few people stop to wonder how the planet can accommodate these demands and still produce food and preserve wild places. Now an even crazier use of woodchips is being promoted everywhere (including in the Guardian(1)). The great green miracle works like this: we turn the planet’s surface into charcoal.
Sorry, not charcoal. We don’t call it that any more. Now we say biochar. …
As Almuth Ernsting and Rachel Smolker of Biofuelwatch point out, many of the claims made for biochar don’t stand up (17). In some cases charcoal in the soil improves plant growth; in others it suppresses it. Just burying carbon bears little relationship to the complex farming techniques of the Amazon Indians who created terras pretas. Nor is there any guarantee that most of the buried carbon will stay in the soil. In some cases charcoal stimulates bacterial growth, causing carbon emissions from soils to rise. As for reducing deforestation, a stove that burns only part of the fuel is likely to increase, not decrease, demand for wood. There are plenty of other ways of eliminating household smoke which don’t involve turning the world’s forests to cinders. … [more]
Bush Deficit vs. Obama Deficit in Pictures
The Heritage Foundation, March 24th, 2009 [here]
President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that his budget would cut the deficit by half by the end of his term. But as Heritage analyst Brian Riedl has pointed out, given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package, pledging to halve it by 2013 is hardly ambitious. The Washington Post has a great graphic which helps put President Obama’s budget deficits in context of President Bush’s. … [more]
