• U.S. Imposes Bird Ban To Block Avian Flu
  
• Conservationists Have Cautious Praise for Army Corps Budget
  
• Citizen Groups Blast Abandoned Mine Lands Proposal
  
• BLM Sued For Expanding New Mexico Oil and Gas Development
  
• Court Asked to Order Endangered Dragonfly Habitat
  
• State Clean Air Officials Oppose EPA Air Proposals
  
• Alaska's Aerial Wolf Shoot Underway
  
• New Bumpy Jelly Found in Deep Sea
  

U.S. Imposes Bird Ban To Block Avian Flu

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the disease was spreading so quickly that no part of Asia was safe.

The ban, which is effective immediately, is designed to protect poultry and humans in the United States from the possible spread of avian influenza, said Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

The ban applies to birds and bird products from the following countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, and the People's Republic of China including Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

"These imports were already under tight restrictions because of the presence of exotic Newcastle disease in these countries," Secretary Veneman said. "However, the temporary ban puts additional safeguards in place."

These eight countries are not recognized as free of exotic Newcastle disease, Veneman explaines, so poultry, pet birds and avian products from these countries were already subject to permitting requirements. Live birds and hatching eggs were required to be quarantined for 30 days after entry into the United States and tested for avian influenza and exotic Newcastle disease.

The new ban excludes bird products processed to render them noninfectious, but processed avian products from these countries must have an import permit and government certification of treatment.

"Given the significant public health threat posed by avian flu, we feel this ban on bird imports is prudent," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. "There is no evidence any birds infected with avian flu have been imported to the United States, but we want to do everything possible to limit the potential threat to the American public."

The United States annually imports an estimated 20,000 birds arriving from countries with current avian influenza outbreaks.

Pet and performing birds of U.S. origin returning from Southeast Asia will be allowed to return to the United States with a permit and a 30 day quarantine in a U.S. Department of Agriculture facility. These birds were previously allowed to be quarantined at home.

Last week the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted U.S. doctors to be on the lookout for symptoms of the avaian influenza virus.

Most at risk are the workers who are killing the millions of birds in poultry flocks that are known or suspected to be infected with the H5N1 strain of avian flu virus.

Conservationists Have Cautious Praise for Army Corps Budget

Citizen Groups Blast Abandoned Mine Lands Proposal

"It is a political payoff that does not fix the problem," says Randall Moon, Citizens Coal Council board member representing Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. "Abandoned mine lands are the entire coal industry's legacy and they must be solved on a national basis - not driven by a narrow political agenda."

Created by Congress in 1977, the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund cleans up dangerous mines abandoned before 1977. The program has suffered from chronic underfunding and more than 7,000 mines abandoned before 1977 have not been cleaned up.

Without reauthorization, the program will expire later this year, but federal officials estimate more than $6 billion is still needed to make these sites safe.

The $53 million in the budget for reauthorization would pay off "certified states," such as Wyoming, Texas and Montana, that have already completed reclamation of their mines.

The Citizens Coal Council offered lukewarm praise for support for the reauthorization and for the focus on cleaning up abandoned mines in states with historical mining problems. In addition, Moon acknowledged that it gives high priority to water projects.

But the council criticized as "an outrageous giveaway" the Bush administration plan use money from the fund to buy reclamation bonds for coal companies that remine.

A coal company buying a reclamation bond is part of the cost of doing business and the public's insurance that the company will clean up the site, said Judy Bonds of the West Virginia based organization Coal River Mountain Watch.

"The reasons we have bonds in the first place is so we do not have any more abandoned mines," Bonds said.

The council also blasted the proposal to cut the amount paid by coal companies into the fund by 20 percent - a move that will cost the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund $700 million to $800 million over 14 years.

"Why are we cutting the revenue when the work is not done?" asks Ellen Pfister, the Citizens Coal Council representative from Northern Plains Resource Council in Montana.

U.S. Senator Arlen Spector, a Pennsylvania Republican, has introduced legislation to implement the administration's reauthorization plan.

The organization says the White House plan doles out millions to coal companies and favored states like Texas, Wyoming, and Montana, rather than using the funds to fix serious threats to public health and safety.

BLM Sued For Expanding New Mexico Oil and Gas Development

The coalition contends the agency's decision will negatively impact the ranching economy, the region's air quality, and thousands of Native American cultural sites and assets.

"This lawsuit is a last resort to stop unprecedented damage from 'time sensitive' energy projects," said Dan Randolph, organizer for San Juan Citizens Alliance. "We tried every step of the way to offer responsible compromise solutions to this planning process. But the Bureau of Land Management ignored the efforts of community groups, Navajo chapters, landowners and the public in its rush to fast track a national energy plan."

The BLM's decision authorized 9,942 new oil and gas wells, 12,200 new wellhead compressors, 1,000 miles of new roads, 75,000 tons of air contaminants and 44,300 acres of additional disturbance. The San Juan Basin includes some 17.6 million acres of federal land within southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

The plaintiffs in the legal challenge include three Chapters of the Navajo Nation, two local ranchers and the following nonprofit organizations - Diné CARE, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Oil & Gas Accountability Project, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The coalition says the BLM failed to consult with the Navajo Nation before making the decision and ignored internal agency analysis that shows that the additional oil and gas development will degrade the area's air quality.

In addition, they argue the BLM has also not demonstrated that it can handle the drilling that is already underway.

Some 18,000 oil and gas wells are already producing in the San Juan Basin.

Critics of the BLM say its local field office is already struggling with ongoing enforcement problems for current oil and gas operations, and air pollution that threatens to exceed federal safety limits.

"The BLM is approving massive new development, yet they are clearly not able to handle the soil, range, water, air and wildlife impacts that are overwhelming communities throughout the Basin from the existing development alone," said Tweeti Blancett, a rancher in the Basin and a member of the San Juan Citizens Alliance.

"Without intervention," she said, "this new development will take place on the backs of ranchers, landowners and residents of this Basin."

Court Asked to Order Endangered Dragonfly Habitat

The endangered species, dependent on wetlands habitat, is found in small areas of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri. It is believed to be already extinct in Ohio, Indiana and Alabama due to habitat loss.

"The Bush administration [has] ignored lawsuit notices for 11 months, so we must seek a court order for critical habitat to protect dragonfly habitat," said Daniel Patterson, a Michigan native and ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The Fish and Wildlife Service listed the species as "endangered" under federal law in 1995. The agency is required to designate critical habitat for the species, but has so far failed to do so.

The Bush administration has been vocal in its criticism of the Endangered Species Act, in particular the process of designating critical habitat.

Recovery of listed species, Bush officials say, will come through voluntary cooperative partnerships, not regulatory measures such as critical habitat.

But conservationists say critical habitat designation is a fundamental part of the law and is in particular important for Hine's emerald dragonfly because habitat loss is the species' primary threat.

Critical habitat designation provides protection against "adverse modification" of habitat, and map based guidelines for landowners and managers to allow species to survive and recover.

Contrary to claims by the Fish and Wildlife Service, designating critical habitat for the endangered dragonfly could be done quickly. The agency knows the primary threat to the species and has several biological opinions and a recovery plan that indicate the habitat needed to protect the insect. In addition, many private landowners are supportive of the designation.

"Our family is committed to protecting habitat for endangered species on our northern Michigan property as well as adjoining shoreline areas and public land," said Bob Preston, a private landowner near Misery Bay, Alpena County, Michigan. "We want the Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat so we can help ensure that the Hine's emerald dragonfly and other sensitive species can recover."

The plaintiffs add that protecting the dragonfly's habitats has big economic benefits for the region, and the destruction of these habitats is affecting human quality of life.

The human benefits of dragonfly habitat protection include waterfowl production, recreation, drinking water and Great Lakes water quality.

President George W. Bush's fiscal year 2005 budget request released this week cuts the overall budget for endangered species recovery by about 14 percent, a cut of some $10 million in Endangered Species Act programs.

State Clean Air Officials Oppose EPA Air Proposals

The Ozone Transport Commission (OTC), which consists of clean air officials from a dozen Northeast and MidAtlantic states, says the Bush administration's plans to cut emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and mercury do not adequately protect public health and will make it impossible for many states to meet federal air quality standards.

The Bush administration's cap and trade plans for these pollutants "make fewer emission reductions and occur too late to meet EPA's national health standards for air quality," according to the OTC, which adopted its formal position on emissions reductions from the electric generating sector this week.

The multi-state organization was created by Congress with the main focus of developing regional solutions to the ground level ozone problem in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region of the United States.

Its members include Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.

Under the Bush plan, annual emissions of NOx, the leading contributor to smog, would be cut from four million tons to 1.8 million tons by 2015.

The proposal would cut annual emissions of sulfur dioxide, a leading cause of acid rain and soot or particulate matter, from 10 million tons to 3.2 million tons by 2015.

The OTC position calls for NOx and SO2 emissions from these sources to be capped at 1.87 million and 3.0 million tons respectively by 2008, and 1.28 million and 2.0 million tons by 2012.

The organization is opposed to a cap and trade plan for mercury. It says initial mercury control levels should not exceed 15 tons per year, with an ultimate performance requirement that cuts mercury emissions from power plants to approximately five tons per year by 2015 - a 90 percent reduction from current emissions.

The Bush plan cuts mercury emissions to 15 tons per year by 2018.

The Ozone Transport Commission also stated its preference for Congress to act on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Bush administration has declined to regulate carbon dioxide, saying it is not classified as a pollutant.

Alaska's Aerial Wolf Shoot Underway

Twenty-eight pilots obtained permits on January 22 to kill wolves in this area, but official details have not been released to show the number of hunters that actually killed wolves.

Plans call for up to 140 wolves to be killed in this area by April 30.

Conservationists are outraged by the practice, which Alaskan state officials contend is needed to boost moose populations for hunters.

Alaska Republican Governor Frank Murkowski signed a bill last June overturning the most recent ban and the Alaska Board of Game approved the aerial wolf shoot last November.

The program allows the shooting of wolves either directly from airplanes or after chasing the animals to the point of exhaustion and then landing the aircraft to kill the them on foot.

The actions of the state government came despite the fact that Alaskans have voted twice, in 1996 and 2000, to ban the practice in statewide referenda.

Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, says Alaskan state officials have decided "wealthy sport hunters are more important than Alaska voters."

"Governor Murkowski is backing the extermination of wolves across an area the size of Texas, apparently with the goal of making it so easy to bag a moose that any thrillseeker from the Lower 48 can do it," Schlickeisen said. "It gives a black eye to hunting traditions and values, and creates and image of Alaska that is anything but welcoming to non-hunters."

Alaska is home to the largest remaining population of gray wolves in the United States - scientists estimate some 7,000 to 9,000 wolves roam the state.

But unlike wolves in the lower 48 states, wolves in Alaska are not afforded protection under the Endangered Species Act, and wolf hunting is allowed in 95 percent of the state.

The areas approved for aerial wolf hunting include some 2,000 square miles in interior Alaska and in an area just east of Anchorage.

New Bumpy Jelly Found in Deep Sea

The description of the species published by biologists with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in this month's issue of the "Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom."

"Although it is highly unusual for a jelly not to have tentacles, several deep sea species have evolved this way," said Kevin Raskoff, primary author of the paper and a professor at California State University. "They have also evolved unusual feeding strategies, which rely on other parts of their body, such as the bell and oral arms, to capture prey."

The MBARI researchers have seen the jelly, which they named "Stellamedusa ventana," only seven times during 13 years of diving.

Five of these observations were in Monterey Bay. The other two occurred during an MBARI expedition to the Gulf of California in spring 2003.

"This animal still represents a conundrum," said George Matsumoto, co-author of the paper. "At first we thought it might be just a very rare local species, here in Monterey Bay. Then we saw it twice in the Gulf of California, three thousand miles away. We still have no idea of its true range."

Its genus, Stellamedusa, refers to the jelly's translucent blue white color and trailing arms, which reminded the scientists of a slow moving meteor or shooting star.

The species name ventana refers to MBARI's remotely operated vehicle Ventana, a deep diving submarine robot that first recorded the jelly on video in 1990.

The researchers waited years to publish their discovery of this jelly because they wanted to be able to present information about its habits and distribution, as well as its appearance.

The species has been observed at depths between 150 and 550 meters (about 500 to 1,800 feet), just below the level that sunlight can penetrate, but above a layer of very low oxygen levels.

This region is known as the mesopelagic realm, and is the home of entire communities of gelatinous animals.

The researchers believe that this jelly may feed primarily on other jellies and said they are somewhat surprised that species has never been described previously or hauled up in nets.

"The coast of California is one of the more well-studied parts of the world's oceans, with two major oceanographic institutions dating from the late 1800s," Raskoff said. "It is heartwarming to know that there is still a lot of mystery in the deep ocean. There are still a lot of big things moving around out there that we do not know about."