Here's the weekly news digest from Greg Giuisti:
Jewell halts 'Blueways' program, E&E Daily, July 18, 2013
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell this morning said she has stopped a controversial program designed to recognize conservation of valuable watersheds, a move aimed at appeasing Republican critics ahead of a House hearing on the program this afternoon (E&E Daily, July 15). Jewell this morning told the Natural Resources Committee she has ordered a "pause" on the National Blueways program while she briefs herself on the issues. No new blueway designation will occur "until we figure out the future of the program," Jewell said......
Groups file FOIA request over Six Rivers National Forest Service maps, Catherine Wong, Eureak Times-Standard, 07/18/2013
Six Rivers National Forest Service officials said Wednesday that the Humboldt Coalition for Property Rights and multiple recreation groups have filed a Freedom of Information Act request for map data. Forest Service spokeswomen Peggi Lawrence said the office received the request by email on Tuesday from HumCPR, the Blue Ribbon Coalition, Disabled Adventure Outfitters and the Northern California Horsemen's Association. ”We're currently looking for the requested material,” she said......
Climate change forces US Forest Service to shift its strategy on larger fires,
Molly Peterson, 89.3 KPCC, July 17th, 2013
Climate change is forcing the US Forest Service to rethink how it fights large wildfires. Global warming has increased the intensity of fires, forcing the USFS to spend more and more of its money fighting them. Now the agency has decided that it should be less aggressive in attacking big blazes, so long as they are not threatening property. In 1991, the US Forest Service’s spent 13 percent.....
Huge central Oregon timber stand could become carbon offset, Portland auctioneer says, Richard Cockle, The Oregonian, July 16, 2013
PRINEVILLE – Portland real estate agent John Rosenthal leans against the wooden railing of a fire lookout, gazing east toward the lonesome Mill Creek and Bridge Creek wilderness areas. Below the 80-foot structure spreads a rugged, 32,475-acre tapestry of a pine-fir-larch forest that Rosenthal plans to auction July 25 in an unusual timberland sale. Rosenthal believes buyers will be as interested in carbon sequestration and recreational uses as they are in the timber volume of the huge stand belonging to Ochoco Lumber Co......
California Coastal Commission: Bill could give commission teeth to fine violators, Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News, 07/15/2013
Facebook billionaire Sean Parker's extravagant wedding last month made international headlines when he agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle violations of California's coastal laws for building rock walls, a stone bridge, a cottage, dance floor and other structures in a sensitive Big Sur forest without permits. But it turns out the case is the exception rather than the rule......
New round of fire fee bills coming, Michael Gardner, San Diego Union Tribune, July 13, 2013
SACRAMENTO — A controversial fire prevention fee charged to Californians who live in rural regions defended by CalFire enters its second year with a new round of bills going out Friday. The fee brought in a little less than $77 million the first year, according to a new state accounting of receipts that go through June 28......
ARB fines nine companies under greenhouse gas law, Capitol Weekly, July 12, 2013
State officials have fined nine companies for violating California's greenhouse gas law, which requires facilities to annually report their emissions. The fines totaled $285,000, with the largest single penalty, $120,000, levied against ExxonMobil, the Air Resources Board announced......
DC Circuit ruling leaves door wide open for EPA to quickly amend greenhouse gas regulations, National Alliance of Forest Owners, July 12, 2013
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) in Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday vacated EPA’s three-year deferral of the agency’s greenhouse gas regulations (Tailoring Rule) for biomass on strictly technical grounds. Although the Court found that EPA did not adequately justify its deferral decision in the administrative record, the Court left wide open the prospect that EPA can proceed with its amendments to the Tailoring Rule to appropriately account for the carbon benefits of biomass energy. .....
Court rejects EPA rule that deferred carbon standards for biomass industry, Greenwire, July 12, 2013
A three-judge panel scrapped a U.S. EPA rule today that had given biomass-burning facilities a pass on compliance with federal greenhouse gas emission standards. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit panel found EPA failed to justify its 2011 decision that provided a three-year exemption to its greenhouse gas rules for facilities that burn materials ranging from wood and algae to scrap tires......
Firefighter risks grow as development sprawls into woodlands, Greenwire, July 11, 2013
"Be firewise. Create defensible space." About 50 signs carrying that message are found all over the city of Prescott, Ariz., and in surrounding communities, reminding residents that they live in one of the most fire-prone areas of the West. The signs have been in place for about a decade. Yet many homes in the Prescott area still have trees brushing against rooftops, shrubs hugging walls and firewood stacked by the back door -- all of which can help a wildfire jump from forest to house or vice versa......
Home prices rise in May by most in 7 years, Christopher S. Rugaber, USA Today, July 2, 2013
Housing prices experienced their biggest jump in 7 years in the month of May, a sign that the housing recovery is gaining speed. Story Highlights
• Home prices in May were up 12.2% from a year ago
• Prices rose in every state except Delaware and Alabama
• Prices rose 2.6% from April to May.....