Free Republic

ALBANY - Environmentalists are concerned that last Thursday's blackout will result in a rapid growth of new power plants that could push air quality issues to the back burner. Industry sources say the outage hasn't changed their message at all - that increased generation is needed and that new plants will be cleaner than existing ones. Early in his administration, President Bush called for an increased use of cleaner-burning coal as a way to offset dependence on foreign energy sources. "Coal is getting cleaner before it ever enters the power plants," according to The Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Energy...

Deseret News, Saturday, June 14, 2003Leavitt is considering 'roadless rule' detourStates can apply for exemption to banBy Donna Kemp SpanglerDeseret Morning NewsGov. Mike Leavitt has never been a fan of the Clinton administration's so-called roadless rule that bans road building in 4 million acres of national forests in Utah.But now the Bush administration is giving states a way out, and Leavitt isn't saying what he plans to do. At least not yet. But he expressed his dislike for the rule. "We will review the policy and respond," Leavitt told the Deseret Morning News this week. "I had a lot of...

Big Green Blues IN ITS 52 YEARS, the Nature Conservancy has been a force for good in protecting the global environment. With its "bucks and acres" program to buy land and thereby promote biodiversity, the Conservancy -- with $3 billion in assets the world's richest environmental group -- has acquired millions of acres, and it manages millions more. Those good works notwithstanding, a series last week by Post reporters David B. Ottaway and Joe Stephens revealed a number of disturbing aspects about the Arlington-based group's operations. One is the tricky position the organization has put itself in by taking contributions...

Insider trading infects Nature Conservancy Palm Beach Post Editorial Thursday, May 15, 2003 The Nature Conservancy, whose brand name is right up there with Good Housekeeping, has been running a scam worthy of Enron. As described last week in a Washington Post series titled "Big Green," the environmental charity bought pristine lands, then sold them at a discount to trustees for fabulous private-home sites. Nature Conservancy President and CEO Steven J. McCormick whined that the Post had "painted a distorted picture" and "misrepresented our motives and methods." Wrong response. The Nature Conservancy, with 1 million members and $3 billion in...

Conservationists have scored some impressive victories in their efforts to keep southwest Montana from becoming suburbia, largely by buying conservation easements on big ranches. But despite protecting thousands of acres, there are still many more rural properties at risk of development. To keep land from being further cut up and developed, a group of scientists, real estate agents and conservation groups have formed the Conservation Land Network, which encourages recreational buyers to protect the most important properties. "We can't buy them all," Network Director Katie Kelly said. "So it's a matchmaker arrangement where we're trying to match the properties...

<p>WASHINGTON -- The fight to exempt the military from various environmental laws moves into the House on Tuesday, and groups ranging from environmentalists to state water districts and the National League of Cities are suiting up for battle with the Pentagon.</p>

<p>A revving chainsaw kicked off a rally Monday outside the state Capitol that blamed environmentalists for Arizona's fire-prone forests.</p> <p>Although groups from the Audubon Society to the Center for Biological Diversity were the main targets, the crowd was also displeased with the U.S. Forest Service and wary of Gov. Janet Napolitano's plans for forest health.</p>

FLAGSTAFF – A familiar Washington, D.C., scene made its way to Flagstaff Friday: People carrying signs protesting Republican federal forest proposals while standing outside a congressional hearing. But alongside them was a more unusual sight: even more people carrying signs to show support for those proposals. Mark Rey, undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, makes a point. They were people from the mountains of Arizona who have seen firsthand the devastation of ponderosa pine forests from catastrophic wildfire – residents of the White Mountains, where the 467,000-acre Rodeo-Chediski Fire ran rampant this past...

(Fighting Irresponsible Radical Environmentalism In ARIZONA!!) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2/04/2003 CONTACT: Eric Buckner FIRE! (Fighting Irresponsible Radical Environmentalism) ericb@azfire.org http://www.azfire.org/preleases/arizona/AZprelease.html FIRE! Erects Billboard in Heber Arizona, Blames Environmentalists for Forest Disaster Heber, Arizona, 02/04/2003 - FIRE, a non-profit political action group, has erected a billboard near Heber Arizona, site of the Rodeo-Chedeski Fire. The purpose of the project is to express outrage at the disastrous wildfires largely due to the destructive demands of environmentalists. It reads: Thank You EnvironMENTALists for Making the 2002 Fire Season All It Could Be! FIRE! (Fighting Irresponsible Radical Environmentalism) P.O. Box 3360 Albany, OR...

COALITION OF AZ/NM COUNTIES ACTION ALERT PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS REQUEST TO SEND LETTERS TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WHICH IS DIFFERENT THAN THE PREVIOUS REQUEST THIS ACTION WILL TAKE YOU LESS THAN 5 MINUTES. PLEASE RESPOND!!!! Support the President's Healthy Forests Initiative by contacting your Congressional representatives. January 26, 2003 Advocates for President Bush' healthy forest reforms have indicated that additional support would be helpful from Congressional representatives. To assist in sending letters urging your own Congressional delegation to support these important initiatives, a simple click & send email letter is available at LandSense. All you need to do...

Environmentalists set agendaMike Sunnucks   The Business JournalA newly formed coalition of environmental and preservation groups has released its political agenda for 2003. The Arizona Conservation Alliance wants to protect state funding for environmental programs such as land preservation as well as air and water quality. The group also wants gasoline tax revenue to be used for transit systems, not just roads and highways; to preserve the Clean Elections public campaign financing; and for border and law enforcement agencies to be more sensitive of the environmental damage caused by off-road vehicles, road and wall construction and intense night lighting....

Reseeding operation launched By Maret Pajutee The legacy of this summer's wildfires continued last week, as an emergency fire rehabilitation crew labored to protect severely burned slopes of the Eyerly fire north of Sisters to reduce the threat of soil erosion. More than 900 bags of winter wheat and annual rye totaling 47,000 pounds were seeded by helicopter onto steep and remote drainages of Spring and Street Creek above Lake Billy Chinook. The plants are expected to persist for three to five years and then die out, acting as a "nurse crop" for native plants recolonizing the area. The project...

An update on the FIRE! BillBoard and the press release! The following three sites currently are running features on the BillBoard.... PRWeb distribution Service American Land Rights Association Payson.cc The PRWeb addy is a Press Release distribution site that Madfly pointed me to and is usefull in that anyone you want to know about the BB can be sent to the PRweb addy for a full copy of the PR (yes it included the now working url MF). A plea to freepers!!!! Please distribute the Press Release to any and all outlets you think that might be interested....if you...

Here it is folks! It's finally up. In the words of the Steve the BillBoard guy... "This is gonna cause a $hit Storm..." Enjoy EBUCK

Daschle's Green Lobby and WorldCom Executives Belong in the Same Jail CellBy J.J. Johnson - Sierra Times Editor & Chief Published 08. 1. 02 at 20:07 Sierra Time The Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society has felt the heat and decided to try a little spin control. They write: "Amid the current epidemic of forest fires burning across the West -- fires exacerbated by a combination of factors including severe drought and a century of aggressive fire suppression -- the Forest Service, some elected officials, and newspapers such as the Washington Times and Wall Street Journal have attempted to turn...

Udall calls for Hayman inquiry panel Probe sought to ensure blaze won't be used to 'overlog,' build roads in forests to cut fire risk By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, News Washington Bureau June 27, 2002 WASHINGTON -- Rep. Mark Udall has called for a special panel to investigate the Hayman Fire so the case is not used to justify widespread logging of the nation's public forests. In a letter to U.S. Forest Service chief Dale Bosworth, Udall said a panel including forestry experts, environmentalists and logging industry officials should use the 137,000-acre blaze six miles northwest Lake George as a case...

May 31, 2002 by: John Stewart An independent group recreation advocates has been investigating the California Wilderness Coalition (CWC) and their involvement with the California Wild Heritage Act of 2002 proposed by Senator Boxer, D-CA. Initially exposed was conflict of interest on the part of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employees and CWC that involves the misuse of the USGS logo and official titles of employees on a lobbying letter to California Governor Gray Davis. In that letter, dated 30 April 2001, a group of individuals claiming to be “scientists” signed a letter to Governor Davis advocating support for habitat...

Court Puts Tree Harvest on Hold .   BY GREG DARTSPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE    GUNNISON -- Sam Satterwhite may throw in the towel on being a logger.     A recent U.S. District Court ruling on a lawsuit in favor of two environmental groups to stop the sale of contracts to salvage Engelmann spruce trees killed during a beetle infestation in the Manti-La Sal National Forest in central Utah, means Satterwhite cannot harvest the logs necessary for his business of manufacturing components for log homes.     "We were really counting on those trees in the Manti-La Sal," says Satterwhite, whose...

Requirement mandates CPR for fishThursday, April 4, 2002, By ANDREW KRAMER, Associated Press Writer ASTORIA, Ore. -- Ab Ihander isn't thrilled about throwing back the 20-pound spring chinook salmon he's just pulled into his boat with his tangle net. But the law says he must; it's a wild salmon, not hatchery-bred. Before he can return the salmon to the Columbia River, however, he revives it with a sort of CPR for fish. He lowers the salmon into a tank with pipes inside. A small Honda pump starts up, and oxygen-rich river water is circulated over the salmon's gills and mouth....