Crossposted from UNBOSSED

Last summer, I attended a meeting of Forest Serice personel, anglers, local elected officials and residents concerned about the destructive impacts of Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs).  A local woman, particularly upset with ORVs in her neck of the woods, explained, accurately, that ORVs rip off vegetation that holds the soil in place, they hardend the soil thereby increasing the speed at which water ran out of the forest further increasing erosion.  The streams near ORV areas were being filled with sediment and local fish populations were being impacted.  Some local homes were even in danger of flooding from the ORV use!  She had much to add.  It was clear that she had spent alot of time out on the land observing the very destructive erosive impacts of ORVs.

It was then that a member of the county commission make a shocking statement: "But...ORVs don't cause erosion.  Water does!"

So, I found myself equally shocked the other day when I heard a man on the radio say that the destruction of the native midwestern ecosystem had nothing to do with the flooding.  

'It's the water!!'

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

Don’t be fooled, amigos.  All this talk about offshore oil drilling and the price of gas and the pump is a bunch of BS.  In fact, the Republican Party is colluding with the oil and gas industry to drive up the price of energy.

This is criminal.

The oil and gas industry, buoyed by their Right-Wing minions are on a coordinated and well-thought out mission to end the twenty-six year old moratorium on off-shore oil and gas drilling.  The goal?  To at once embarrass Barack Obama, take down the Congressional Democrats, increase corporate profit and further drive up the price of energy.

Crossposted (and expanded) from UNBOSSED

Any day nowJames Cuno, Director and President of the Art Institute of Chicago will publish  "Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage".  

In it, he proposes are return to "partage".  Partage is the idea that most archaeological resources excavated in Third World countries should end up in the land of the "experts".  That would be Europe or America.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

I meant to post this a few weeks ago.

Oil Companies Settle MTBE Pollution Suit    May 7, 2008

A dozen oil companies agreed to pay $423 million in cash plus clean-up costs to settle litigation over groundwater contamination from the gasoline additive, MTBE, lawyers representing public water utilities and public agencies in 17 states, said Wednesday.

I hope this is the future of fracking fluids.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

The head of Utah-based EnergySolutions ripped open a tiny salt packet and poured it into a 2-foot-tall vase half filled with red sand.
   The salt, CEO Steve Creamer said, symbolizes the amount of Italian radioactive waste the company wants to store in Utah, and the leftover foot of space represents the amount of storage space remaining.
   "Just a pinch," Creamer said Tuesday of the salt.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

From our friends at the Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP).

Colorado is in the midst of an onslaught by the oil and gas industry. Drill rigs, pipelines, tanks and pits dot more and more of my birth state's landscape from Fort Collins to Durango and Trinidad to Craig. Its all over the place and its causing a hell of alot of problems.

This summer the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) will update the state rules protecting public health, landowners, and the environment against irresponsible oil & gas drillers. A draft rule is now out for public comment.

The new rule is a step in the right direction but it is lacking in many areas.

Crossposted from: UNBOSSED

For seven years, I worked as a contract archaeologist for the oil and gas industry in the Southwest.  Essentially, my job was to go out and find archaeological resources on public lands that were threatened with oil and gas development.  We recorded the archaeological sites, marked them both on maps and in the field for the industry folks to avoid and, in some cases, excavated them prior to development.

That's why I found this interesting:

The Bureau of Land Management announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division and the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation that will give oil and gas developers an option of funding excavation work and other studies rather than paying for archaeological surveys when they propose new development.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

Governor Bill Richardson is seeking Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRW) protection under the federal Clean Water Act for a little more than 5,300 miles of New Mexico's rivers and streams.

Another precedent-setting move from New Mexico.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

As I noted yesterday, Six New Mexico conservation groups have filed a protest with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over the April 16, 2008 sale of eighty-three oil and gas leases in New Mexico totaling nearly 103,000 acres.

The Protest is based on BLM’s failure of the BLM to address climate change before it sells oil and gas drilling leases. An innovative approach.  These leases are a big deal because they convey legal rights to oil and gas companies to drill.  BLM and the oil and gas industry like to claim that they’ll do analysis right before they drill but, at this point, the deed has been done and the pre-drill analysis is little more than a sham.  

Crossposted from
UNBOSSED

Last week, six New Mexico conservation groups and the Western Environmental Law Center filed a protest with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over the April 16, 2008 sale of eighty-three oil and gas leases in New Mexico totaling nearly 103,000 acres.

Why is this a big deal?

This protest is groundbreaking.  As far as I know, a protest of oil and gas leases based on the effects of climate change has never before been attempted.

This is a big deal.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute have released "Pulling Apart", a study on the national income disparity.

Low- and middle-income families have reaped few gains since the late 1990s, despite the recent years of economic prosperity.  Average incomes actually fell by 2.5% for those in the bottom fifth of the income scale and rose by just 1.3% for those in the middle fifth.  Meanwhile, incomes climbed 9% for those in the top fifth.

The report wasnt good for New Mexico.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

I have to admit that I dont quite remember the first time I visited Nine Mile Canyon.  I must have been about eight years old because I have a picture of my mom and I holding hands next to a petroglyph.  In the picture, she was wearing a head scarf.  I was wearing a Chewbacca Tshirt. It must have been about 1977-78.  Anyway, I do remember the last time, It was nearly ten years ago.  I was with my Uncle Joe and we were in Utah to raft Desolation Canyon.  

Crosposted from UNBOSSED

Well, this is good news:

A federal judge has blocked a British mining company from exploring for uranium near the Grand Canyon, agreeing with environmental groups which sued the U.S. Forest Service for approving the plan without full environmental reviews.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

I’ve been told that the National Landscape Conservation Act is finally going to get a vote.  Next Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Its about time.

Crossposted from UNBOSSED

My family noticed it about a year ago.  Maybe a little more.  Suddenly, our grocery bill seemed to rise.  I didn’t give it much thought a first and didn’t track it too closely but at the end of 2007 when I added up our expenses it was like a hammer in the head!  Our food bill had gone up 10-15%!!

Ouch.  

Whether we speak of it as a material surrounding or as a symbolic landscape, wilderness links us to the natural world.  It serves as wildlife habitat, a facility for clean water production and other natural processes, a bank of biodiversity and a focus for recreation, inspiration, and personal and spiritual restoration.

I want to start an on-and-off series of posts on why I think Democrat Martin Heinrich is THE Democrat we want to win NM-01 in 2008 and why I think his name should be added to the Blue Majority list and why he needs to be picked up and supported by Dkos.

Yes...this is a ENDORSE MY F*&$ING CANDIDATE, KOS!!! diary.  Jump in.

Chaco Canyon National Historical Park is one of New Mexico’s greatest treasures.  It is also one of our greatest national treasures and a World Heritage Site.

Photos here

Chaco Canyon was a major center of Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. The Chacoan sites are part of the homeland of Pueblo Indian peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi Indians of Arizona, and the Navajo Indians of the Southwest.  The absence of roads on the periphery of the Park and as well as within the Park has been key to the protection of Chacoan archaeological resources for nearly 100 years.

That may soon end.  San Juan County seeks to pave the main access road to Chaco Canyon.  Such an action could prove very detrimental to the future of the Park.

Here's why.