Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Guns in parks make for a messy, sometimes violent mix

Written by Land Letter
Friday, 29 May 2009
Congress' approval last week of legislation allowing loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges raises difficult new challenges for the Interior Department, which must try to strike a balance between lawful, responsible gun use and what many believe will be an uptick in vandalism, poaching and even gun violence involving park visitors. Lessons from other federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, suggest that permitting gun use by visitors offers a mixed bag of law enforcement, public safety and resource protection issues. With limited resources to hire more seasoned law enforcement officers, critics say, many sites could see increased problems associated with guns, ranging from petty vandalism to hostile encounters involving park visitors. But proponents of the new law say park visitors are entitled under the Second Amendment to carry weapons onto public lands, and that the admission of loaded guns on national park and wildlife refuge sites will enhance public safety and provide new recreational opportunities for lawful gun owners. States, energy industry mobilize to maintain exemption for fracturing Spurred by growing concern that a drilling technique used to extract trapped oil and gas reserves can damage water supplies, Democratic leaders in Congress are circulating legislation that would repeal an industry exemption for the practice and require companies to disclose the chemicals used in their operations. But before a bill targeting hydraulic fracturing -- also called fracing or hydrofracturing -- has even been introduced, energy industry officials and some state officials are mobilizing to keep the practice exempt from federal law. Hydraulic fracturing involves injecting millions of gallons of water and sand mixed with chemicals -- some of which are known carcinogens or endocrine disruptors -- into the ground, where as much as 30 percent of them may remain. According to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, 90 percent of oil and gas wells in the United States undergo fracturing. In recent weeks, the energy industry has launched a broad campaign against the pending bill, saying it would hurt both energy companies and consumers. Moreover, they say state laws are doing an adequate job of regulating drilling. Controversial Ariz. land exchange bill resurfaces in Congress A contested land exchange bill that led to corruption charges against a former Arizona senator resurfaced in Congress last week, this time with new provisions aimed at allaying critics' concerns that the bill would allow a mining company to sidestep federal law. The bill, introduced by Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) on May 20, directs the secretary of the Interior Department to accept a reasonable offer from Resolution Copper Mining, a subsidiary of international mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP-Billiton, for 4,189 acres of federal lands in Tonto National Forest, near the town of Superior. In exchange, the federal government would acquire 1,377 acres in five counties that are currently owned by Resolution Copper, including ranchland that would become part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. According to the bill, known as the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, the land exchange is needed to "facilitate efficient extraction of mineral resources." It would allow exploration beneath the 760-acre Oak Flat recreation area, which was placed off-limits to mining via executive order by President Eisenhower 50 years ago. FWS must reconsider dam's effects on Grand Canyon chub In a major victory for environmental groups, a federal court ruled this week that the Fish and Wildlife Service must rewrite a plan evaluating the effects of Glen Canyon Dam operations on the endangered humpback chub. The ruling, issued by District Court Judge David Campbell in Phoenix, said FWS's conclusion in a 2008 biological opinion that dam operations are not violating the Endangered Species Act is contradicted by scientific evidence and ordered the agency to revise the document. The Bureau of Reclamation has operated Glen Canyon Dam, which lies just upstream from Grand Canyon National Park, under the "modified low fluctuating flows" regime since 1996. A 2005 report by the U.S. Geological Survey found that such flows were harming the humpback chub, a native fish, and threatening beaches, archaeological sites and other Grand Canyon resources. "The evidence produced to date strongly suggests that [modified low fluctuating flow] dam operations destroy and adversely modify critical chub habitat," Campbell wrote, adding that the effect on chub breeding and sheltering is "less clear." Bat mortalities drop as turbines slow during off-peak production times -- study As wind power operations expand nationwide, researchers have identified a strategy to significantly reduce the tens of thousands of bat mortalities caused each year by turbine strikes. By reducing the speed of the turbine blades at night -- a time when wind speeds and energy demand are at their lowest -- bat mortalities dropped by an average of 73 percent, according to research led by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the American Wind Energy Association. "We're very optimistic that this particular mitigation strategy can be applied broadly," said Ed Arnett, a conservation scientist at Bat Conservation International and the lead author of the study -- the first in the United States to consider reducing turbine speeds during off-peak hours. The study involved adjusting turbine speeds at Iberdrola Renewables' 23-turbine Casselman Wind Project in southwest Pennsylvania from July 26 through Oct. 10. Twelve of the turbines were slowed during low-wind periods, and the rest were left to operate as normal. The researchers found that reducing the turbine speed during the periods of low wind cut bat mortalities dramatically. The research also found that adjusting turbine speeds could be done with minimal cost to the wind-power industry. Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
Last Updated ( Friday, 29 May 2009 )

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