Jodi Peterson

Associate Editor

Oregon schools received more than 170,000 pounds of beef this year from a vendor who was just kicked out of the school lunch program — for supplying meat from cows that were too sick to walk. The Oregonian has the sickening story:

An investigator for the Humane Society of the United States went undercover as a worker at the Hallmark plant for six weeks in fall 2007. The group targeted Hallmark because it specializes in slaughtering dairy cows that no longer produce enough milk, rather than cows raised for meat, and because it sells so much beef to the school lunch program, said society President Wayne Pacelle.

“This place became a dumping ground for spent dairy cows,” Pacelle said. “I think it’s troubling that’s the class of animals being funneled into the school lunch program — the poorest quality, most compromised product.”

The employee filmed plant employees shocking downed cows with stun guns, hoisting them with a forklift, poking them in the eyes and spraying water forcefully up their noses to try to get them to their feet. Downed cows have been banned from the food supply since 2004 because they are more likely to be contaminated with E. coli from the ground and are at risk of carrying mad cow disease or other diseases that could sicken consumers.

Between horrifying problems like this, other revelations about this country’s beef supply (see our opinion column “Have another pig-brain/beef-blood/chicken-spine hamburger“), and new information about the environmental impacts of livestock, it’s time to seriously consider switching to PBJs and tofu-burgers.

Marty Durlin

Online Editor

Former U.S. Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck on January 22 celebrated ten years of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protects nearly 60 million acres of wilderness but still faces a variety of legal challenges.

Dombeck, architect of the roadless policy, is now a professor of global conservation at the University of Wisconsin. He said the rule has played a key role in protecting wildlife habitat, preserving clean drinking water, providing recreational opportunities and providing a defense against global warming. He said the policy has kept nearly all the land from energy development, mining, logging and roadbuilding.

In 1998, Dombeck proposed a temporary moratorium on road construction in inventoried roadless areas across the National Forest System. The Forest Service adopted an 18-month moratorium in February of the next year, during which 1.7 million public comments were filed, most favoring protection of roadless areas. The Rule was officially issued by the U.S.F.S. in January of 2001. The Bush Adminsitration repealed the Rule in 2005, but a federal district court ordered its reinstatement in September 2006 in response to a suit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of 20 conservation groups.

Environmentalists are now calling on Congress to enact the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2007, to codify the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Bills have been introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA).

Dombeck was part of a panel that met to assess the effect of the Rule. An audio recording of the panel (a teleconference) is available from The Wilderness Society, along with more information.

For background on the Roadless Rule, see this article and others in HCN’s archives.

Jonathan Thompson

Editor in Chief

It can be a gut-sinking experience as an editor: You send the magazine, including a fresh and maybe even groundbreaking cover story, to the printer, excited that HCN will be the first to do the story in this way. During the lag time as the paper is printed and put in the mail, the New York Times does your story. Scooped!

That happened today. A few hours before the edition of HCN that includes a pretty cool thought piece by M. Martin Smith reached our office, the Times Web site had a story on a similar topic. They call their story the “Preservation Predicament” and we call ours “Unnatural Preservation.” Both are about how preservation may change in the face of climate change. Read the Times piece today; and get a more in-depth look this Friday, when Smith’s piece is posted at HCN.

Jodi Peterson

Associate Editor

Two years ago after the Environmental Protection Agency abruptly began to dismantle its network of technical and scientific libraries, Congress finally has taken action to stop the agency’s self-inflicted lobotomy. It’s now handed EPA $1 million to restore libraries that were recently closed or consolidated.

In the meantime, both agency and outside scientists have lost access to vast research collections. And for a lot of that material, the move to save it may come too late. As Jeff Ruch reports in a recent HCN story, “More than a third of its libraries have already downsized through what EPA calls ‘de-accessioning,’ which is defined as ‘the removal of library materials from the physical collection.’ “

Environmental Science and Technology also notes the difficulty of undoing the damage:

“While the intervention of Congress is most welcome, it comes after several closures and much disruption, leaving the remaining EPA librarians with the task of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again,” said PEER Associate Director Carol Goldberg.

The Government Accountability Office is due to submit a critique of EPA’s library closure and digitization scheme by the end of February. Meanwhile, the 2008 budget statement directs EPA to submit a report within 90 days to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, describing how it plans to restore the libraries.

Jodi Peterson

Associate Editor

Utah’s Copper King Mining Corporation is now touting its “environmentally friendly” techniques for digging and processing ore. The press release says it all:

The decision to go green reflects conscionable concerns new management has from their many years of experience. As a result of these concerns and the desire of management to have the world know of its efforts in this regard, management is pleased to announce that the company has entered into a contract with Clear Vision International based in Los Angeles, California, to represent the company in several areas of public relations.

Always the first and most critical step in greening a corporation — pay a PR flack to make sure “the world knows” about your new eco-cred.

The copper industry is in serious need of putting a shine on its record — see HCN stories about mining pollution here, here and here, and this list of stories about copper mine pollution from the New York Times.

Francisco Tharp

Depending on who you ask, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has either begun a “wholesale slaughter” of Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves, or taken a step to “ensure the health of wild populations.”

Drama and politicking aside, the agency revised regulations in the Endangered Species Act today to allow states and tribes with “approved wolf management plans” more flexibility in wolf control. The revisions are the latest increment in the transfer of wolf management to states and tribes (see our story “Feds to hand wolves to states“).

Fish and Wildlife’s revisions redefine what constitutes wolves’ “unacceptable impact” on ungulate populations, so that tribes and states can more freely “take” wolves to manage such species as deer, elk and bighorn sheep (”taking” being the preferred euphemism for trapping, poisoning, shooting, or otherwise killing wolves). Revisions also allow wolves to be killed in immediate defense of pets and livestock. The new rules only apply to Montana and Idaho as Wyoming does not yet have an approved wolf management plan.

(Read on …)

Jonathan Thompson

Editor in Chief

Today’s number one headline, spread across the Grand Junction Sentinel’s front page, is quite dramatic. It reads, “Energy Industry: Maybe we’ll leave.” The article came out of a meeting between Colorado Oil and Gas Association President Meg Collins and the Sentinel’s editorial board in which Collins told the Sentinel that new rules could force the industry right out of the state. Hmmm… let’s see here. The industry is drilling at record pace, making record profits, and has stated just recently that it plans to keep going full bore next year. And now they’re saying a few new regulations might force them to pull up stakes and head out?

Give me a break. Enough said.

Francisco Tharp

The elk of Rocky Mountain National Park have a lot on their minds these days. Silenced sniper rifles, birth control syringes, crowds of tailgaters, and a dwindling food supply all threaten the nonchalant elk’s life of leisure. And now, on top of the rest, two park biologists have found a track that convinces them a gray wolf or wolf-dog hybrid has been in the area.

“The only dog breeds out there that could have left a print that large are a massive malamute or a Great Dane,” Denver Zoo Biologist Dave Augeri told the Associated Press. It’s definitely unlikely a Great Dane was in the field.”

Many say a wolf population in the park would help the ecological balance and reduce elk numbers (see HCN’s story here).

(Read on …)

Ray Ring

Senior Editor

Here’s an exciting accouncement from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE):

DOE … is offering $30 million over the next three years for companies to design and build plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) and then test them in fleets located in geographically diverse areas.

The PHEVs must be able to travel at least 10 miles using only their electric drives, although DOE would prefer vehicles that come closer to achieving the goal of a 40-mile electric range.

The vehicles must be comparable to current production vehicles in terms of emissions, safety, comfort, and performance, and the projects must either involve a high-volume vehicle manufacturer or a company with the capability of producing vehicles in high volumes.

The selected projects are intended to address many of the critical barriers to achieving DOE’s goal of making PHEVs cost-competitive by 2014 and ready for commercialization by 2016.

PHEVs with a 40-mile electric range would satisfy about 70% of all the average daily travel in the United States.

(Read on …)

Jodi Peterson

Associate Editor

Over the past twenty years, two poisons meant for livestock predators have killed thousands of unintended victims — dogs, bears, bobcats, raccoons and more (see our story here about one family’s experience).

The federal Wildlife Services Agency (an Orwellian agency name if there ever was one) places thousands of M-44 traps, which spew sodium cyanide when tugged on, on public land each year, and provides Compound 1080-laced collars for sheep and goats (see our story here about predator killing by Animal Damage Control, the agency’s former incarnation).

In 2006 alone, reports the Associated Press, these poisons killed more than 14,000 animals, including wolves, foxes and coyotes. M-44s have also harmed several unlucky humans, including Utah resident Dennis Slaugh, who back in 2003 tugged on what he thought was a survey stake and still suffers from the poison’s lingering effects.

(Read on …)

Ray Ring

Senior Editor

The new issue of the authoritative science mag says:

The U.S. needs a bold plan to free itself from fossil fuels. Our analysis convinces us that a massive switch to solar power is the logical answer.

Solar energy’s potential is off the chart. The energy in sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year. The U.S. is lucky to be endowed with a vast resource; at least 250,000 square miles of land in the Southwest alone are suitable for constructing solar power plants, and that land receives more than 4,500 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of solar radiation a year. Converting only 2.5 percent of that radiation into electricity would match the nation’s total energy consumption in 2006.

To convert the country to solar power, huge tracts of land would have to be covered with photovoltaic panels and solar heating troughs. A direct-current (DC) transmission backbone would also have to be erected to send that energy efficiently across the nation.

The technology is ready.

The Scientific American package, here, reinforces the cover story in the new High Country News — a campaign speech we’d like to hear from presidential candidates and the next president.

(Read on …)

Francisco Tharp

It looks like the Colorado Division of Wildlife, along with a little help from friends, is going to continue wining and dining winter weary deer, elk and antelope to the tune of $1.75 million dollars.

The Joint Budget Committee of Colorado’s General Assembly approved the money around 11:30 this morning. Funding will come from the state’s Wildlife Cash Fund which is supported by hunting and fishing license fees.

About $150,000 is headed to the Gunnison Basin, where animals face the most severe conditions. The remainder is slated for Northwestern Colorado, where the funds will be used only if more harsh weather necessitates it. The month-long feeding program already has $250,000 available, putting the total cost at around $2 million.

(Read on …)

Marty Durlin

Online Editor

Cancer, infertility, birth defects…just some of the health problems attributed to endocrine disruptors, chemicals found in pharmaceuticals, soaps, plastics, fabrics, cosmetics, soft drinks, dental fillings, egg cartons and pesticides, just to name a few.

Endocrine disruptors are synthetic chemicals and natural plant compounds that may affect the endocrine system (the communication system of glands, hormones and cellular receptors that control the body’s internal functions). Many of these substances have been associated with developmental, reproductive and other health problems in wildlife and laboratory animals.

(Read on …)