AP Cites Discredited NOAA Bureaucrat to Push Global Warming Alarmism Report
Science Writer plays up climate threat, including questionable claim of warming-driven Mexican migration to U.S.
By Jeff Poor, Business & Media Institute, 7/30/2010 [here]
Who needs a public relations department when you have a willing accomplice like the Associated Press?
A July 28 story written by AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid took a very uncritical look at the recently released “State of the Climate” report. According to Schmid, this report, which has a fair share of critics, makes a definitive call about climate change.
“Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, the report said its analysis of 10 indicators that are ‘clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable,’” Schmid wrote. “Concern about rising temperatures has been growing in recent years as atmospheric scientists report rising temperatures associated with greenhouse gases released into the air by industrial and other human processes. At the same time, some skeptics have questioned the conclusions.”
Schmid continued on to cite Tom Karl, who was described as “the transitional director of the planned NOAA Climate Service.” But there’s one problem – a 2008 story by the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Chris Horner for National Review Online reported Karl had misidentified himself as “Dr.” Tom Karl, but in fact had not earned the credential:
“The evidence in this report would say unequivocally yes, there is no doubt,” that the Earth is warming, said Tom Karl, the transitional director of the planned NOAA Climate Service.
Schmid also cited the questionable claim from Michael Oppenheimer in a paper published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) that warming would force mass immigration to the United States from Mexico.
“And a study by Princeton University researchers released Monday suggested that continued warming could cause as many as 6.7 million more Mexicans to move to the United States because of drought affecting crops in their country,” Schmid wrote.
However in a story for the Examiner published on July 29, Thomas Fuller debunked this “scare” that Schmid accepted without evaluation. … [more]
Note: The complete and utter lies spread by “journolists” like Schmid regarding the Global Warming Hoax (the greatest scientific fraud in history) are doing an extreme disservice to this country, our political sovereignty, human rights, our economy, and to the entire world.
Jerry Brown calls state’s global warming law the key difference between him, Meg Whitman
By Ken McLaughlin and Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 07/29/2010 [here]
Calling the issue the defining difference between himself and Republican Meg Whitman in the governor’s race, Democrat Jerry Brown gave an impassioned defense Thursday of California’s landmark global warming law.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Mercury News editorial board, the attorney general called Assembly Bill 32 — now under attack by conservatives and some business interests as a job killer — “a path forward” for the Golden State. Brown said the new law would create hundreds of thousands of clean-energy jobs, reclaiming from China leadership of the cleantech economy.
“This is a powerful future,” Brown said. “I see this as the key” to job creation.
Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, has called for a one-year moratorium on implementation of the law, which is due to take effect in 2012. Her stance puts her on the opposite side of many Silicon Valley companies, including eBay. … [more]
Note to Californians: Global warming is a hoax!!!!!!!!
It’s not happening and even if it were, no law is going to make one scintilla of a difference in global temperatures. I guarantee you though that such a law will cut the throat of California’s already reeling economy, and you personally will be screwed out of your wealth, whatever of it is left.
Special note to Silicon Valley nerdaloids: Put down the Kool Aid and eat some carrots. It’s time to see things clearly.
The Death Of The Global Warming Movement
The Reid energy bill abandons cap-and-trade, dooming the cause.
Shikha Dalmia, Forbes, 07.28.10 [here]
Future historians will pinpoint Democratic Sen. Harry Reid’s energy legislation, released Tuesday, as the moment that the political movement of global warming entered an irreversible death spiral. It is kaput! Finito! Done!
This is not just my read of the situation; it is also that of Paul Krugman, the Nobel laureate-turned-Democratic-apparatchik. In his latest column for The New York Times, Krugman laments that “all hope for action to limit climate change died” in 2010. Democrats had a brief window of opportunity before the politics of global warming changed forever in November to ram something through Congress. But the Reid bill chose not to do so for the excellent reason that Democrats want to avoid an even bigger beating than the one they already face at the polls. … [more]
Monuments Could Be Blocked By Senate
Crapo, Risch, say restrictions needed on Presidential declarations
American Chronicles, July 29, 2010 [here]
Washington, D.C. – Presidential authority to declare new federal monuments on public land will be restricted under legislation introduced by Idaho Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch. The National Monument Designation Transparency and Accountability Act calls for Congressional approval within two years of any executive order by a President seeking a monument designation. If the two-year deadline passes without congressional approval, the land would return to its original status.
The legislation also requires that the President provide Congress with information about the actions 30 days prior to any Executive Order designation. It calls for public hearings and sets land restrictions for the monument designation. Crapo and Risch previously sent Interior Secretary Ken Salazar a letter warning against sweeping decisions about national monuments.
“This kind of top-down directive is anything but collaborative,” Crapo said. “For too long, Presidents have had the ability to sneak monument designations into law without any Congressional oversight, review or approval. The most recent example came up when the Interior Department engaged in discussions about acquiring 140,000 acres of private lands in the Pioneer Mountains. But this is not an issue with only this Administration. This legislation is critical so that the public and Congress can review and engage in any decisions involving private and public lands and designations for national monuments.” … [more]
Note: Looks to me like an election stunt that will never amount to anything.
Elk numbers dip; are wolves culprits?
By MICHAEL BABCOCK, Great Falls Tribune, July 29, 2010 [here]
Researchers at Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks have proposed a study of elk survival and recruitment in the Bitterroot Valley that could go a long way toward settling the debate over the impact that wolves have on elk.
“It sure has applicability toward that,” said Craig Jourdonnais, an FWP wildlife biologist in the Bitterroot, who proposed the study after two years of serious declines in the number of elk calves recruited into herds in the East and West Forks of the Bitterroot River.
“Elk cow/calf ratios have declined throughout the Bitterroot Valley since 2004,” Jourdonnais said. “MFWP recorded a valley-wide historic low in elk calf recruitment in 2009. Steady declines in the West Fork — Hunting District 250 — have left that population 63 percent below objective and recruitment rates of only 11 calves per 100 cows.”
Jourdonnais said two consecutive years of low calf recruitment — those calves that made it through their first winter and their early vulnerability to predators — prompted a grassroots call for the research.
Valley-wide, those late calves have numbered 12 to 15 calves per hundred cows. Ideally they would be at about 35 calves per hundred cows.
“It really came on fairly quickly and we have a lot of questions,” he said. “That is what this whole research is geared to. These things started coming together. We had support here. We ran the research proposal through the agency and competed statewide and came out among the top three. It has the blessing of the agency,” Jourdonnais said.
Whether or not wolves are to blame will be shown by the the study. Other predators such as black bears, grizzly bears and mountain lions, and factors such as habitat and cow elk health, will be part of the study as well.
“There are a lot of opinions about the relationship between elk and wolves and that is all they are,” Jourdonnais said. “We want to put some data behind it, but from gut level and our experience in the Gallatin and the Madison, it would not surprise me at all to see wolves are large part of what is going on.” …
While the study might not approach the eight-year study of ungulates and prey done by Ken Hamlin from 2000 to 2009 or the 10-year study of mountain lions conducted by Rick DeSimone in the Ovando-Clearwater area, the Bitterroot study would be significant. …
The Hamlin study [here] showed that grizzly bears took about half the elk calves lost to predation and researchers consider that significant.
“What caused the piano to fall was adding the wolf. The wolves kicked in on the calves that remained,” Jourdonnais said. “We found 80 percent of what they killed was elk and of those elk 85 percent were calves. It is a one-two punch… ” … [more]
Bear In Campground Attacks Euthanized
Three Cubs To Be Taken To Zoo
MFWP News Release, July 30, 2010 [here]
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials said today the female grizzly responsible for injuring two people and killing a Grand Rapids, Mich. man at a campground near Cooke City this week was euthanized, but the bear’s three yearling cubs will be sent to a zoo as soon as possible.
Bear hair, saliva and tissue samples collected by investigators and tested by a DNA identification lab in Laramie, Wyo., confirmed that the captured adult bear was responsible for the attack. Additional forensic evidence supported this conclusion.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials coordinated an investigation of the attacks at Soda Butte Campground in the Gallatin National Forest, on the northeastern border of Yellowstone National Park.
FWP Supervisor Pat Flowers in Bozeman said based on the circumstances of the three separate attacks on sleeping campers, and following discussions with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the adult bear was euthanized. … [more]
Grizzly captured at site of fatal attack
The bear was lured into a trap after an overnight rampage that left one camper dead and two injured.
AP, Portland Press Herald, July 30, 2010 [here]
COOKE CITY, Mont. — A mother grizzly and two of her three cubs have been captured after killing a Michigan man and injuring two other people during an overnight rampage through a campground near Yellowstone National Park.
The sow, estimated to weigh 300 to 400 pounds, was lured into a trap fashioned from culvert pipe covered by the dead victim’s tent Wednesday evening. The bear tore down the tent again and was caught in the trap, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim.
Thursday morning, two of the year-old bears had been caught and the third could be heard nearby, calling out to its mother.
Montana wildlife officials on Thursday identified the man killed in the mauling as Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, Mich. The bear pulled Kammer out of his tent and dragged him 25 feet, Aasheim said.
The other victims, Deb Freele of London, Ontario, and an unidentified male, have been hospitalized in Cody, Wyo.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Capt. Sam Sheppard said he was confident they had captured the killer bear because it came back to the site where the man was killed early Wednesday.
Sheppard described the rampage — in which campers in three different tents were mauled as they slept — as a highly unusual predatory attack.
“She basically targeted the three people and went after them,” Sheppard said. “It wasn’t like an archery hunter who gets between a sow and her cubs and she responds to protect them.”
Officials have said the sow will be killed after DNA evidence confirms it is the bear that attacked the three campers.
“Everything points to it being the offending bear, but we are not going to do anything until we have DNA samples,” Aasheim said.
State and federal wildlife officials will determine the fate of the cubs. Sheppard said they are unlikely to be returned to the wild because they could have been learning predatory behavior from their mother. … [more]
Ruby pipeline agreements address sage grouse impacts
The Casper Star-Tribune, July 22, 2010 [here]
Green River, Wyoming - An unprecedented partnership between the nation’s leading interstate natural gas pipeline company and two conservation organizations will lead to sage grouse habitat protections for a planned natural gas pipeline.
Two agreements will fund the sage grouse habitat work, which aims to address potential environmental impacts from the construction of the 680-mile Ruby Pipeline from Wyoming to Oregon, officials involved in the deal said.
El Paso Corp.’s Ruby Pipeline, LLC will donate more than $20 million during the next 10 years to set up two conservation funds to preserve lands and wildlife habitat near the pipeline, said Jon Marvel, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, a partner in the endeavor.
The two entities and the Oregon Natural Desert Association recently established the Sagebrush Habitat Conservation Fund.
The fund is designed to protect and restore sagebrush habitat for sage grouse through the purchase and retirement of federal grazing permits offered by willing sellers.
Marvel said the fund may also acquire private lands and conservation easements to protect sage grouse and habitat. … [more]
Note: None dare call it extortion. For more about the super-litigious Western Watersheds Project, see
Enviros milk the biggest cash cow: the U.S. taxpayer. By Henry Lamb, Range Magazine, Summer 2010 [here].
Rocky Mountain goats released at base of Mt Jefferson
First time since 1800s that goats reside in the Central Oregon Cascades
Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife News Release: July 28, 2010 [here]
Bend, Oregon - ODFW and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (CTWSRO) released Rocky Mountain goats on CTWSRO lands in Upper Whitewater River at the base of Mt Jefferson yesterday.
The release marks the first time Rocky Mountain goats have been on Mt. Jefferson and the Central Oregon Cascades since the 19th century, when they disappeared from the Cascades, probably due to severe weather, climactic fluctuations and unregulated harvest. It is part of an ongoing effort to restore the species to its native habitat in Oregon.
A total of 45 goats were captured from the Elkhorn Mountains in Baker County, where about half of the estimated 800 goats currently in Oregon reside. This year’s capture and relocation marks the 10th time the Elkhorns’ population has been used as the source population for transplanting goats to other parts of the state.
Rocky Mountain goats are attracted to salt during the spring and summer so the goats were trapped using a drop net baited with salt. ODFW veterinary staff were present to monitor the goats’ health, collect blood samples for disease screening and administer inoculations to the animals.
Historical literature states that Rocky Mountain goats occurred on Mt Jefferson. The CTWSRO lands in Upper Whitewater River were identified as a release site by ODFW’s Rocky Mountain Goat and Bighorn Sheep Management Plan back in 2004 [here].
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/management_plans/docs/sgplan_1203.pdf
The area is very similar to the Elkhorns and should provide excellent habitat for the goats.
CTWSRO will manage the Mt Jefferson Rocky Mountain goat population on their lands to provide cultural and ceremonial opportunities for tribal members. Once an adequate population has been sustained (50 or more goats for five years), tribal members could hunt the goats on their lands.
“It is exciting that the tribes are getting a native animal back to its home range and another opportunity to experience traditional hunting,” said Robert Brunoe, CTWSRO general manager of natural resources.
In future years, Rocky Mountain goats may be released at other sites in the Central Oregon Cascades including Three-fingered Jack and the Three Sisters. As the goats establish themselves in the Cascades on non-tribal lands, hunting and viewing opportunities will become available for Oregon residents and visitors.
Rocky Mountain goats were extirpated from Oregon prior to or during European settlement in the late 19th century. The rarest game animal hunted in the state today, only 11 tags are available for the 2010 season. … [more]
Note: Thanks for the news tip to Julie Kay Smithson, Property Rights Research [here, here]
Feds snatch counties’ share of money from geothermal leases
Without the funds, rural governments struggle to provide basic services
By Stephanie Tavares, Las Vegas Sun, July 21, 2010 [here]
Rural Nevada counties have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in income over the past year because of a federal money grab that has yet to be reversed.
Ten months ago, the U.S. Interior Department, in its annual budget request to Congress, commandeered counties’ share of revenue generated from geothermal energy rent and royalties. The move diverted to the department’s programs millions of dollars destined for rural county coffers across the West.
The change, which affected at least six states, was overlooked by the congressional delegations of every major geothermal energy state, including Nevada and California. In March, several politicians, including Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign as well as Rep. Dean Heller, introduced legislation that would return the revenue. But the legislation was attached to an unrelated bill, which failed to pass.
That was more than four months ago and 12 rural Nevada counties are still struggling to maintain roads and pay teachers. … [more]
California’s New Pot Patch
Los Angeles County Blossoms as a Rival to North’s Renowned ‘Emerald Triangle’
By TAMARA AUDI, Wall Street Journal, JULY 21, 2010 [here]
Northern California’s so-called Emerald Triangle, famous for marijuana farms that supply much of the U.S. with high-quality pot, is facing competition from hundreds of miles away—in Los Angeles County.
As this year’s marijuana-harvest season gets under way, law-enforcement officials are focused on the Southern California county, which by some measures has bloomed into the nation’s most productive pot garden.
Law-enforcement agents seized more than 734,000 pot plants in Los Angeles County last year—the highest number of seizures in the country for that year. The haul surpassed those even in California’s most-prolific northern counties, with the biggest 2009 seizure coming from Shasta County at 629,000 plants.
Northern California as a whole still grows most of the nation’s pot, according to law-enforcement officials. But the drastic spike in Los Angeles County pot-plant seizures has law-enforcement officials trying to figure out what is behind the increase, and whether it represents a real shift in the lucrative pot trade. …
Recent seizures in Los Angeles County have astonished even veterans of the state’s long drug war. On a single Friday in late June, law-enforcement agents destroyed 19,000 plants with a street value of $39 million, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said.
Most of the county’s marijuana plants are grown in the Angeles National Forest, a rugged wilderness stretching over 650,000 acres east of Los Angeles, according to U.S. Forest Service records. Forest Service and Sheriff’s Department officials recently warned hikers about the presence of pot farms in the forest—along with the armed guards and booby traps that come with them. …
Some in law enforcement believe that tightened security along the Mexican border has curtailed drug smuggling and forced growers to cultivate their pot closer to their U.S. market.
Another possible reason: Angeles National Forest has become attractive to Mexican drug cartels because it offers remote open space, a perfect growing climate, little competition and a base close to home. … [more]
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Five Federal Lands in Arizona Have Travel Warnings in Place
By Joshua Rhett Miller, FOXNews.com, June 18, 2010 [here]
Imagine the federal government closing a section of the Lincoln Memorial because it was under the control of Mexican drug lords and bands of illegal immigrants.
That scenario is playing out as reality in southern Arizona, where parts of five federal lands — including two designated national monuments — continue to post travel warnings or be outright closed to Americans who own the land because of the dangers of “human and drug trafficking” along the Mexican border.
Roughly 3,500 acres of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge — about 3 percent of the 118,000-acre park — have been closed since Oct. 6, 2006, when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials acknowledged a marked increase in violence along a tract of land that extends north from the border for roughly three-quarters of a mile. Federal officials say they have no plans to reopen the area.
Elsewhere, at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, which shares a 32-mile stretch of the border with Mexico, visitors are warned on a federally-run website that some areas are not accessible by anyone.
“Due to our proximity to the International Boundary with Mexico, some areas near the border are closed for construction and visitor safety concerns,” the website reads. …
Visitors are also warned to be mindful of illegal immigrants within Ironwood Forest National Monument, a 129,000-acre federal parkland in the Sonoran Desert.
“All suspected illegal activities should be reported to [the Bureau of Land Management] or local law enforcement authorities,” Ironwood Forest’s website reads. “Visitors should stay safe by avoiding contact with persons exhibiting suspicious behavior or engaged in dangerous activities. Drive with caution and look for fast-moving vehicles and pedestrians on back roads.” … [more]
More Tampering by Kenny
Judge, attorney hammer away at Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s decision to pull Utah oil leases
By Amy Joi O’Donoghue,Deseret News, July 21, 2010 [here]
SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge on Wednesday grilled an attorney defending Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s decision to pull 77 oil and gas leases that were successfully bid on at a Salt Lake City auction in 2008, asking repeatedly how the federal government can get around the language of the law that said the leases should have gone through.
“You are fast and loose with the terms ‘offer’ and ‘acceptance,’?” Judge Dee Benson said during the questioning of Department of Justice attorney Tyler Welti.
“You keep telling me your conclusions, but tell me why … tell me how you get around the plain language?” Benson asked.
The federal judge did not issue a decision in the hearing, but he indicated at its conclusion that he would rule quickly on the issue.
That “plain language” is the key component of the statute governing such sales and leases. It says that, once parcels are offered at auction, the government shall award the bid to the highest qualified bidder and shall issue the lease.
Welti had argued that Salazar continued to have discretion to pull the leases even though money had changed hands, because the leases had yet to be physically issued with an official signature.
In a suit brought by the impacted Utah counties of Uintah, Duchesne and Carbon and joined by three oil and gas companies, attorney Robert Thompson said there was nothing in the statute or corresponding regulations that support Salazar’s February 2009 decision.
Payette aims to cut sheep grazing by 70%
KIVI-TV, July 27, 2010 [here]
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The Payette National Forest aims to protect wild bighorn sheep by reducing rangeland suited for domestic sheep and goat grazing by 70% by 2013.
This plan, in the works for years, protects 94% of bighorn sheep summer habitat.
Scientists and forest officials have concluded bighorns can contract deadly lung diseases when they encounter domestic sheep; ranchers fear closures will put them out of business.
The Forest Service estimates the plan will result in 28 livestock jobs lost, while recreation could increase.
Stan Boyd, who heads the Idaho Wool Growers Association, said Tuesday, “The industry is in the biggest fight of its life, and it’s fighting its own government.”
But Payette Forest officials contend this move will balance uses, protect bighorns, honor tribal rights and live up to federal law.
The decision is [here]
Cool summer has vintners fretting about late harvest
By NATHAN HALVERSON, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, July 27, 2010 [here]
The Sonoma County grape harvest is at least two weeks behind schedule, worrying growers that October rains could lead to devastating mold and crop loss.
“It’s a major concern,” said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission. “The cold weather this week is certainly not helping any.”
The season got off to a late start in May, when unusually cold and wet weather interrupted the blooming of many vines.
“This year has been behind from the get go,” said Chris Bowen, vineyard manager of Hunter Farms south of Glen Ellen. … [more]