| |
|
Sunday, September 2, 2007
|
|
From the Center for Biological Diversity, "The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a formal notice of intent to sue the Department of the Interior for political interference with 55 endangered species in 28 states. The notice initiates the largest substantive legal action in the 34-year history of the Endangered Species Act. At stake in the suit is the illegal removal of one animal from the endangered species list, the refusal to place three animals on the list, proposals to remove or downgrade protection for seven animals, and the stripping of protection from 8.7 million acres of critical habitat for a long list of species from Washington State to Minnesota and Texas."
Thanks to Science Blogs for the link.
"2008 pres"
8:53:29 AM 
|
|
Here's a short article about YouTube's effects on politics, from The Denver Post. From the article:
With a few mouse clicks, voters can access one of the first ads in the race for the open U.S. Senate seat in Colorado, a biting piece that describes U.S. Rep. Mark Udall as a "Boulder Liberal" who voted for higher taxes. More clicks lead to videos promoting or targeting Republican U.S. Reps. Marilyn Musgrave of Fort Morgan; Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs; and Tom Tancredo of Littleton, who is running for president. Internet video-sharing site YouTube.com shifted presidential politics earlier this year. The technology now is reshaping local politics as well. The increasingly popular site contains video clips attacking or highlighting every member of Colorado's congressional delegation. The videos address issues ranging from global warming and immigration to drilling on the Roan Plateau and the Army's plan to expand its Piñon Canyon training site. As they look ahead to the 2008 election, the campaigns are strategizing ways to adapt to the increasingly popular technology...
What's less clear is what effect, if any, the videos can have. In some cases the videos are viewed less than a few hundred times, compared with the 3.6 million hits on "Obama girl," the video featuring a woman saying she has a crush on presidential candidate Barack Obama. For those running for office, there is no option other than to get videos online, on the chance people are watching...
Each congressional campaign is likely to have an Internet strategy as a core part of its approach for the 2008 election, said John Palfrey, executive director of the Beckman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Campaigns will have to plan not only how to get their own footage online, experts said, but how to respond quickly to videos posted by their opponents and anyone else with a camera.
"2008 pres"
8:25:21 AM
|
|
Here's a look at the proposed new rules for regulating oil and gas operations in Garfield County from The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article:
A proposed new zoning code would address oil and natural-gas development in Garfield County, but a local citizen's group doesn't believe it goes far enough to protect county residents. The county planning and zoning commission, after four years of meetings, recently put the finishing touches on a draft zoning code to replace the current code, which dates back to 1978. The commission included most of the suggestions from an energy industry group called the Garfield County Regulatory Working Group. The draft code identifies what types of activities -- industrial, commercial or residential development -- have to be reviewed only by planning staff, by the planning commission and by the planning commission and county commissioners. It also designates which areas of the county are suitable for each use, planning commission chairman Phil Vaughn said...
The Grand Valley Citizens Alliance said it wants the county to begin a stakeholder's process to develop a separate oil and gas regulation article to "better consider interests of county residents." The industry-proposed regulations ignore local residents' issues, the citizens alliance said, and primarily would speed up gas production...
Brenda Linster, a land and regulatory advisor for EnCana Oil and Gas, helped the industry group draft its recommendations. The group requested a separate article in the code for oil and gas as well, but she said they could accept the current draft code. It scatters oil and gas throughout its 400-plus pages, along with other industrial uses. "Our main concern was to have specific definitions, clear zoning boundaries and application standards and reviews spelled out," Linster said. "They are in the draft as it stands now; they're just not all in one place." It also establishes best management practices and standards to protect the safety, public health, welfare and environment of the county, Linster said...
The citizens alliance wants a code that requires greater separation between wells, open waste pits and homes than the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's 150 feet. The county also could establish a buffer between oil and gas operations and water bodies and set tougher standards on emergency preparedness and response, noise control and visual impacts, the group said. The alliance urged the county to follow Gunnison County's lead and create a water quality protection scheme that requires baseline water quality data and follow-up monitoring as long as the industry operates in the county.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"2008 pres"
8:15:37 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:23:00 PM.
|
|
|
