Category Archives: Other

EPA proposes stricter rules for ship ballast water

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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.?— The Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter requirements Wednesday for cleaning ballast water that keeps ships upright in rolling seas but enables invasive species to reach U.S. waters, where they have ravaged ecosystems and caused billions of dollars in economic losses.

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The new standards would require commercial vessels to install technology strong enough to kill at least some of the fish, mussels and even microorganisms such as viruses that lurk in ballast water before it’s dumped into harbors after ships arrive in port. Environmentalists whose lawsuits forced the EPA to implement rules in the first place said the new proposal is largely inadequate.

More than 180 exotic species have invaded the Great Lakes, about two-thirds of which are believed to have been carried in ballast water. Among them are zebra and quagga mussels, which have spread across most of the lakes and turned up as far away as California. Ballast water also has brought invaders to ocean coasts, including Asian clams in San Francisco Bay and Japanese shore crabs on the Atlantic seaboard.

Ballast water regulation has been debated in Congress for years but no legislation has passed because of disagreements over how strict the cleanliness standards should be.

The EPA refused for years to set rules for ballast water under the Clean Water Act, but the agency was ordered to do so by federal courts after environmental groups sued. The agency issued an industry-wide permit in 2008 requiring shippers to exchange ballast water at sea or, if the tanks were empty, rinse them with salt water before entering U.S. territory. Environmentalists sued again, saying the requirement was too weak.

The EPA’s new draft permit lays out live-organism limits similar to those recommended by the International Maritime Organization in 2004, which shipping industry groups have said are achievable. The agency said its standard “is expected to substantially reduce the risk of introduction and establishment” of invasive species.

But environmental groups and some states contend those standards aren’t strong enough. By making those standards the basis of the proposed federal policy, “EPA is shrinking from its duty to make sure U.S. waters are fully protected,” said Thom Cmar, attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This draft permit is a half-step forward. EPA had an opportunity to solve this problem once and for all but this proposal doesn’t do that.”

The EPA permit would leave in place a patchwork of state policies that the shipping industry says is confusing and unworkable.

In New York, rules scheduled to take effect in 2013 would require limits 100 times stronger than the international ones, while California is phasing in standards 1,000 times tougher. Shippers and officials in those states disagree over whether existing technology could meet those demands.

The industry contends that if New York proceeds with its rule, it would slam the door on the Great Lakes’ international shipping because vessels from overseas must go through New York waters to reach the lakes.

The EPA’s rule would apply to commercial ships that are more than 79 feet long, exempting recreational and military craft.

The federal agency will take public comment for 75 days and issue a final permit in November 2012.

The Coast Guard also is developing ballast regulations, which are under review by the Office of Management and Budget and are expected to be released next year. A draft version also called for adopting the international standards but eventually setting tougher requirements.

The Republican-led U.S. House voted this month to impose the international standards and make it harder for either EPA or the Coast Guard to go further.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Experts: Thawing permafrost ‘speeding’ up warming

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WASHINGTON?— Massive amounts of greenhouse gases trapped below thawing permafrost will likely seep into the air over the next several decades, accelerating and amplifying global warming, scientists warn.

Those heat-trapping gases under the frozen Arctic ground may be a bigger factor in global warming than the cutting down of forests, and a scenario that climate scientists hadn’t quite accounted for, according to a group of permafrost experts. The gases won’t contribute as much as pollution from power plants, cars, trucks and planes, though.

The permafrost scientists predict that over the next three decades a total of about 45 billion metric tons of carbon from methane and carbon dioxide will seep into the atmosphere when permafrost thaws during summers. That’s about the same amount of heat-trapping gas the world spews during five years of burning coal, gas and other fossil fuels.

And the picture is even more alarming for the end of the century. The scientists calculate that about than 300 billion metric tons of carbon will belch from the thawing Earth from now until 2100.

Adding in that gas means that warming would happen “20 to 30 percent faster than from fossil fuel emissions alone,” said Edward Schuur of the University of Florida. “You are significantly speeding things up by releasing this carbon.”

Usually the first few to several inches of permafrost thaw in the summer, but scientists are now looking at up to 10 feet of soft unfrozen ground because of warmer temperatures, he said. The gases come from decaying plants that have been stuck below frozen ground for millennia.

Schuur and 40 other scientists in the Permafrost Carbon Research Network met this summer and jointly wrote up their findings, which were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

“The survey provides an important warning that global climate warming is likely to be worse than expected,” said Jay Zwally, a NASA polar scientist who was not part of the study. “Arctic permafrost has been like a wild card.”

When the Nobel Prize-winning panel of climate scientists issued its last full report in 2007, it did not even factor in trapped methane and carbon dioxide from beneath the permafrost. Diplomats are meeting this week in South Africa to find ways of curbing human-made climate change.

Schuur and others said increasing amounts of greenhouse gas are seeping out of permafrost each year. Some is methane, which is 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide in trapping heat.

In a recent video, University of Alaska Fairbanks professor Katey Walter Anthony, a study co-author, is shown setting leaking methane gas on fire with flames shooting far above her head.

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“Places like that are all around,” Anthony said in a phone interview. “We’re tapping into old carbon that has been locked up in the ground for 30,000 to 40,000 years.”

That triggers what Anthony and other scientists call a feedback cycle. The world warms, mostly because of human-made greenhouse gases. That thaws permafrost, releasing more natural greenhouse gas, augmenting the warming.

There are lots of unknowns and a large margin of error because this is a relatively new issue with limited data available, the scientists acknowledge.

“It’s very much a seat-of-the-pants expert assessment,” said Stanford University’s Chris Field, who wasn’t involved in the new report.

The World Meteorological Organization this week said the worst of the warming in 2011 was in the northern areas — where there is permafrost — and especially Russia. Since 1970, the Arctic has warmed at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the globe.

The thawing permafrost also causes trees to lean — scientists call them “drunken trees” — and roads to buckle. Study co-author F. Stuart Chapin III said when he first moved to Fairbanks the road from his house to the University of Alaska had to be resurfaced once a decade.

“Now it gets resurfaced every year due to thawing permafrost,” Chapin said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Ringling circus paying big fine over animal case

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David T. Foster III / Charlotte Observer via AP

Ringling Bros. elephants are escorted through Charlotte, N.C., on Jan. 25 as a promotion for the circus coming to town.

The parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus said Monday that?it had agreed to settle U.S. government claims that its handlers had mistreated animals.

Feld Entertainment, which for years has been criticized by animal activists for?its treatment of elephants,?is not admitting any wrong doing but will pay a $270,000 civil?penalty, the largest ever slapped?against an exhibitor?under the federal?Animal Welfare Act.

“This settlement sends a direct message to the public and to those who exhibit animals that USDA will take all necessary steps to protect animals regulated under the Animal Welfare Act,” Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “The civil penalty and other stipulations in the settlement agreement will promote a better understanding of the rights and responsibilities of all exhibitors in maintaining and caring for animals under their care.”

Feld also “agreed to develop and implement annual AWA compliance training for all employees who work with and handle animals, including trainers, handlers, attendants and veterinarians,” the USDA statement said.

The settlement follows federal inspections over several years that found what inspectors said were violations of the law, especially when it came to how?Ringling’s 54 elephants were treated.

The Associated Press noted that?one?inspection report said a 35-year-old Asian elephant was forced to perform despite a diagnosis of sand colic and?apparent abdominal discomfort. Circus officials told the inspectors that separating?her from the other?performing elephants would have been even more distressing to her.?

Other inspection reports cited:

Splintered floors and rusted cages used to contain big cats such as tigers; Handlers using the same wheelbarrows to feed meat to tigers and haul away their waste;A 2008 incident?where two zebras briefly got loose from their enclosure at a Baltimore arena; A 2010 incident where?another zebra escaped its enclosure in Atlanta and had to be captured by area law enforcement.

Feld stated it stands behind its staff and that it “decided it was more important to focus on the future of its business by continuing to provide the best animal care possible instead of engaging in costly and protracted litigation.”

The circus has seen more inspections not only by the USDA but also by state and local regulators, noted Feld spokesman Steve Payne.?From June to September, one of the circus’ traveling units was inspected 82 times by 18 different agencies, he said.

“We’re highly regulated. We accept that regulation. We embrace it,” Payne said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, one of the groups that has battled Ringling, took some credit for the settlement.

“PETA’s complaints against Ringling Bros. with regard to crippled elephants, the death of a baby elephant, the beating of other elephants, and the killing of a lion, going back several years, have resulted in the biggest fine in circus history,” spokeswoman Colleen O’Brien told msnbc.com.

Payne countered that PETA was never involved in the settlement talks or other legal action. “It’s a shameless attempt to grab publicity for itself,” he told msnbc.com.

PETA added that?the Obama administration should crack down even harder. “The government has taken a first step,”?O’Brien said, “and now it must confiscate the elephants.”

The USDA made no indication that it planned to do so.

In October, a federal appeals court backed Feld against animal rights groups that had sued over Ringling’s treatment of elephants. The allegations included that circus staff use hooks and shock treatment to get?baby elephants to learn tricks.

Feld is now countersuing, Payne said, alleging that?the plaintiffs and their lawyers?were in a “conspiracy to pay a witness for his testimony.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.?

Wandering wolf now too famous to be shot?

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Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP, file

This June 19, 2010 trail camera image provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows a wolf from the Imnaha pack in northestern Oregon. A young male from this pack fitted with a collar transmitting GPS locations has become a celebrity while traveling some 730 miles across the state searching for a mate.

A?young wolf from Oregon has become a media celebrity while looking for love, tracing a zigzag path that has carried him hundreds of miles nearly to California,?while his alpha male sire and a sibling that stayed home near the Idaho border are under a death warrant for killing cattle.

Backcountry lodge owner Liz Parrish thinks she locked eyes with the wolf called OR-7 on the edge of the meadow in front of her Crystalwood Lodge, on the western shore of Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon, and hopes someday she will hear his howls coming out of the tall timber.

“I was stunned — it was such a huge animal,” said Parrish, who has seen her share of wolves while racing dog sleds in Alaska and Minnesota. “He just stopped and stared. I stopped and stared. We had a stare-down that seemed like a long time, but was probably just a few seconds.

“He just evaporated into the trees. I stayed there awhile, hoping he might come back. He didn’t.”

Cattle rancher Nathan Jackson has not seen or heard the wolf, and hopes he never does.

“In this country, we worked really hard to exterminate wolves 50 years ago or so, and there was a reason,” said Jackson, who ranches on the other side of Upper Klamath Lake from Parrish’s lodge.

“A lot of people who don’t have a direct tie to the agricultural community tend to view wolves as majestic, beautiful creatures. They don’t seem so majestic and beautiful when they are ripping apart calves and colts.”

Last February, OR-7 was in a snowy canyon in northeastern Oregon, when a state biologist shot him with a tranquilizer dart from a helicopter, then fitted him with a tracking collar and blue ear tags. State biologists have been able to chart his journey from GPS positions transmitted from the collar. They show he has traveled 730 miles on his meandering route, getting as far as 320 miles from home. And each time he crosses a county line, OR-7 makes it into the newspapers and on TV news.

The conservation group Oregon Wild has begun a contest to give OR-7 a different name, hoping to make him too famous to be shot, either by a poacher, rancher or government hunter. One entry came from as far away as Finland. The first came from a little girl in OR-7′s home territory of Wallowa County, who suggested “Whoseafraida.”

Death warrant
OR-7 set out on his trek on Sept. 10, just before state wildlife officials issued a death warrant for members of his Imnaha pack for killing cattle. The kill order specifically mentions OR-7′s father, the alpha male, and one younger wolf with no collar. Since OR-7 and two siblings took off, that would leave his mother and one pup.

The department reports a government hunter had a shot but missed, and did not get another before conservation groups won a stay of the kill order while their legal challenge is settled by the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Wolves started moving into Oregon from Idaho in the late 1990s, from packs introduced into the Northern Rockies as part of a federal endangered species restoration program. From trail cameras, radio tracking collar data, and sightings, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife figures the state has at least 23 wolves. All four packs are in the northeastern corner of the state. Two produced pups this year.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP

This map image provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows the journey of a young wolf known as OR-7, which has become a celebrity by trekking 730 miles on a zigzag course across the state. Meanwhile, back at home, his father and a sibling are under a death warrant for killing cattle.

Federal protection for wolves was lifted in Eastern Oregon, but they remain under state protection. West of Interstate 97 they are back under federal protection.

When wolves reach about 2 years old, they typically strike out on their own, looking for a mate and an empty territory they can call their own. And that’s what OR-7 has done.

He’s trekked across mountains, deserts and major highways from his pack’s turf.

Once in the Cascade Range, OR-7 meandered through the Rogue-Umpqua Divide, where Oregon’s last known wolf was shot by a bounty hunter in 1946. He skirted Crater Lake National Park, and dropped down to the flatlands near Upper Klamath Lake, climbed back up in the Cascades, and crossed over the crest south of Mount McLaughlin, a snow-capped volcano visible from Interstate 5.

So far there have been no reports of cattle killing along his path.

Embraced by the public
Russ Morgan, the wolf coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, has been surprised by the way the public has embraced the wandering wolf. Much of Morgan’s time is spent on a more difficult task, trying to build acceptance among ranchers.

“With all that’s going on right now with management of wolves in Oregon, this is kind of a different side that people across the state have taken a shine to,” Morgan said.

OR-7′s travels are not unusual, said Ed Bangs, the retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf coordinator for the Northern Rockies. A female from Montana headed south through Wyoming, crossed southeastern Idaho, dropped down to Utah, crossed northern Colorado, and headed back up to Wyoming, where she ate poison and died.

“If you connect all the dots, she walked something like 3,000 miles,” said Bangs. “Wolves are amazing travelers.’”

And patient. One male hung out four years in Idaho, howling and leaving scent markers, before a female found him, Bangs said. They established a pack, and the male lived to the near-record age of 13 before lying down and dying next to a dead elk.

Bangs said most of the wanderers become biological dead ends, but even if OR-7 dies alone, the trail of scent posts he has left will be followed by others.

And OR-7 already may have company. Tracks and sightings from last winter indicated other wolves made it to the Cascades. Parrish spotted a track last May in a muddy area of her meadow.

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Climate talks open over dying Kyoto Protocol

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DURBAN, South Africa?— Countries will make a last-ditch effort to save a dying Kyoto Protocol at global climate talks starting on Monday aimed at cutting the greenhouse gas emissions blamed by scientists for rising sea levels, intense storms and crop failures.

Kyoto, which was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005, commits most developed states to binding emissions targets. The talks are the last chance to set another round of targets before the first commitment period ends in 2012.

Major parties have been at loggerheads for years, warnings of climate disaster are becoming more dire and diplomats worry whether host South Africa is up to the challenge of brokering the tough discussions among nearly 200 countries that run from Monday to December 9 in the coastal city of Durban.

There is hope for a deal to help developing countries most hurt by global warming and a stop-gap measure to save the protocol. There is also a chance advanced economies responsible for most emissions will pledge deeper cuts at the talks known as the Conference of the Parties, or COP 17.

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But the debt crisis hitting the euro zone and the United States makes it unlikely those areas will provide more aid or impose new measures that could hurt their growth prospects.

Video: Extreme weather events becoming more frequent (on this page)

“The South Africans are desperate to ensure that the COP does not fail, but they will not be able to deliver much,” said Ian Fry, lead negotiator for the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, which could be erased by rising sea levels.

Fry blamed the United States, which has not ratified Kyoto, for blocking progress and said: “The EU seems to be going weak at the knees and will opt for a soft continuation of the Kyoto Protocol with a possible review process in 2015 to think about new legal options.”

‘Revolution’
Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N. climate secretariat, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the stakes for the negotiations are high, underscored by new scientific studies.

Under discussion was “nothing short of the most compelling energy, industrial, behavioral revolution that humanity has ever seen,” she said.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu led a rally at a soccer stadium late Sunday urging negotiators to be more ambitious during what were expected to be difficult talks. Unseasonably cold, windy weather kept the crowd to a few hundred spectators.

Envoys said there may be a political deal struck with a new set of binding targets, but only the European Union, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Switzerland are likely to sign up at best. Any accord depends on China and the United States, the world’s top emitters, agreeing binding action under a wider deal by 2015, something both have resisted for years.

Story: In climate talks West would redefine rich and poor

China is unwilling to make any commitments until Washington does while Russia, Japan and Canada say they will not sign up to a second commitment period unless the biggest emitters do too.

Emerging countries insist Kyoto must be extended and that rich nations, which have historically emitted most greenhouse gas pollution, should take on tougher targets to ensure they do their fair share in the fight against climate change.

Robin Hood tax?
Developing nations say carbon caps could hurt their growth and programs to lift millions out of poverty.

Ideas on the table include a carbon surcharge on international shipping and on air tickets, and a levy on international financial transactions — sometimes called a Robin Hood tax.

A committee of 40 countries worked for the past year on drawing up a plan to administer the Green Climate Fund, but agreement on the final paper was blocked by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and the final contentious issues will have to be thrashed out in Durban.

Todd Stern, the chief U.S. delegate, said the negotiations had been too rushed.

“I am pretty confident that we’re going to be able to work these things out,” he told reporters last week, without naming the problematic issues.

Video: Researcher: Steep global warming over past 50 years (on this page)

But Figueres said the future of the Kyoto accord, which calls on 37 wealthy nations to reduce carbon emissions 5 percent below 1990 levels by the end of next year, is the most difficult political issue that nations face.

“If it were easy we would have done it years ago,” she said.

The stakes are high, with many experts urging immediate action. This month, two separate U.N. reports said greenhouse gases had reached record levels in the atmosphere while a warming climate is expected to lead to heavier rainfall, more floods, stronger cyclones and more intense droughts.

Despite individual emissions-cut pledges from countries and the terms of the Kyoto pact, the United Nations, International Energy Agency and others say this is not enough to prevent the planet heating up beyond 2 degrees Celsius.

Global average temperatures could rise by 3-6 degrees by the end of the century if governments fail to contain greenhouse gas emissions, bringing unprecedented destruction as glaciers melt and sea levels rise, the OECD said last week.

Story: After new leak, climatologist takes case to public

The warning from the OECD, whose main paymasters are the United States and other developed economies, underscored fears that the commitment to curb climate-heating gases could falter at a time when much of the world is deep in debt.

“The COP is being held on the African continent which bears the greatest social injustices due to the impacts of climate change,” environmental group Greenpeace said.

South Africa has said it wants to advance an African agenda at the conference but is seen by many diplomats as not having the diplomatic muscle or prestige to broker complex talks.

As the world’s poorest continent, Africa is also the most vulnerable to the extreme weather conditions and rising sea levels brought by climate change. In the Horn of Africa, some 13 million people are going hungry due to prolonged drought. In Somalia, the crisis is compounded by conflict.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Time running out for deal at climate talks

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JOHANNESBURG?— Time is quickly running out to strike a deal at global climate talks to save a Kyoto Protocol in its death throes and make major cuts in the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for rising temperatures, wilder weather and crop failures.

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Major parties have been at loggerheads for years, warnings of climate disaster are becoming more dire and diplomats worry whether host South Africa is up to the challenge of brokering the tough discussions among nearly 200 countries that run from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9 in the coastal city of Durban.

There are glimmers of hope a deal can be reached on a fund to finance projects for developing countries hardest hit by climate change, and that advanced economies responsible for most global emissions will take it on their own to make deeper cuts at the talks known as the Conference of the Parties, or COP 17.

There is also a chance of a political deal to keep Kyoto alive with a new set of binding targets, but only the European Union, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Switzerland are likely to sign up at best. Any accord depends on China and the United States, the world’s top emitters, agreeing binding action under a wider deal by 2015, something both have resisted for years.

“Expectations are already at rock bottom regarding an international climate change architecture at the summit, and there is no reason to expect any upside,” said Divya Reddy of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005, commits most developed states to binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions. The talks in the South African city of Durban offer delegates their last chance to set another round of fixed targets before the first period commitment ends in 2012.

The major players are at each other’s throats on extending Kyoto. The United States still has not ratified the accord, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases China is unwilling to make any commitments until Washington does, and Russia, Japan and Canada say they will not sign up for a second commitment period unless the biggest emitters do too.

Emerging countries insist Kyoto must be extended and that rich nations, which have historically emitted most greenhouse gas pollution, should take on tougher targets to ensure they do their fair share in the fight against climate change.

Developing nations say carbon caps could hurt their growth and programmes to lift millions out of poverty.

On top of the acrimony, the global financial crisis, with mounting debt woes in the euro zone and the United States, makes it even more difficult to find financing and for states to take on emissions cuts that could hurt their growth prospects.

PLANET UNDER THREAT

The stakes are growing increasingly high, with many experts calling for immediate action.

This month, two separate U.N. reports said greenhouse gases have reached record levels in the atmosphere while a warming climate is expected to lead to heavier rainfall, more floods, stronger cyclones and more intense droughts.

Despite individual emissions-cut pledges from countries and the terms of the Kyoto pact, the United Nations, International Energy Agency and others say this is not enough to prevent the planet heating up beyond 2 degrees Celsius.

Global average temperatures could rise by 3-6 degrees by the end of the century if governments fail to contain greenhouse gas emissions, bringing unprecedented destruction as glaciers melt and sea levels rise, the OECD said on Thursday.

The warning from the OECD, whose main paymasters are the United States and other developed economies, underscored fears that the commitment to curb climate-heating gases could falter at a time when much of the world is deep in debt.

RINGING HOLLOW

“It is inevitable that a lot of the key players are both distracted and cautious about taking actions they would see as costly,” said Jennifer Haverkamp, director of the international climate programme of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Support for the fund could ring hollow because the United Nations says it remains an empty shell awaiting new pledges from cash-strapped governments. Rich nations have committed to a goal of providing $100 billion a year in climate cash by 2020, which the Green Climate Fund will help manage. But the United States and Saudi Arabia have objected to some aspect of its design.

South Africa has said it wants to advance an African agenda at the conference but is seen by many diplomats as not having the diplomatic muscle or prestige to broker complex talks.

As the world’s poorest continent, Africa is also the most vulnerable to the extreme weather conditions and rising sea levels brought by climate change. In the Horn of Africa, some 13 million people are going hungry due to prolonged drought. In Somalia, the crisis is compounded by conflict.

“Agriculture is the most threatened of all sectors. It’s likely that yields in Africa will fall between 20 and 30 percent absent very large adaptation investments,” said World Bank Climate envoy Andrew Steer.

Todd Stern, the U.S. envoy for climate change, said in a teleconference with journalists this week that Washington was committed to funding climate initiatives but it saw aspect of the U.N. plans as “problematic”.

Stern also said despite the differences heading into Durban, deliberations and deadlines were powerful forces, which should help bring about a positive outcome.

But Ian Fry, negotiator for the tiny island state of Tuvalu that is threatened with being wiped out by rising sea levels, said he felt COP would deliver little, with major powers to blame.

“For small island states this is a total disaster and will have serious implications. They are playing Russian roulette with us with all the chambers loaded with bullets,” Fry said. (Additional reporting by David Fogarty in Singapore, Nina Chestney in London and Brian Love in Paris; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

World-traveling sea turtle comes home

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When Johnny Vasco de Gama showed up in the Netherlands three years ago, he was a nameless, frigid sea turtle with little chance of surviving much longer in the icy waters of the North Sea. But now, this accidental world traveler is back in the United States and will soon be released into the warm waters his species calls home.

The turtle, dubbed “Johnny” by rescuers in the Netherlands, had “Vasco de Gama” appended to his name in Portugal, where marine biologists at the ocean theme park Zoomarine nursed him back to health. The turtle is a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, a critically endangered species and the rarest of all sea turtles. For that reason, an international team of conservationists has worked hard to bring Johnny back to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

On Tuesday, Johnny arrived at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., where staff checked him out and placed him in a holding tank in preparation to release him into the Gulf.

No one knows exactly how Johnny made it all the way to the Netherlands, thousands of miles from his home territory in the Gulf of Mexico and along the eastern coast of the U.S. According to Mote Marine Lab, the turtle likely got caught in cold currents and became “cold-stunned,” a condition that can shut down turtles’ organs and even kill the animals. In that state, Johnny may have drifted hundreds or thousands of miles before being found in November 2008.

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Once rescued, Johnny was stabilized by Rotterdam Zoo employees and then sent to the aquarium Oceanário de Lisboa in Portugal the following summer. The aquarium, in turn, sent the turtle to Zoomarine for rehabilitation.

After an international process of permit-getting and transport-organizing, Johnny the turtle made it back to the U.S. side of the pond in considerably greater style than his outbound journey: He flew in a specially adapted plane donated by the Portuguese airline TAP.

At Mote Marine Lab, Johnny underwent a veterinary exam on Tuesday and is now on medical hold to be sure that he’s ready for release back into the wild. As soon as he’s cleared, Johnny will be set free in southwest Florida waters.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

? 2011 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Drought kills thousands of Christmas trees

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Pat Sullivan / AP

David Barfield checks one of his saplings at his Christmas tree farm in New Caney, Texas, on Nov. 8. Only a handful of the 500 saplings planted have survived the drought this year.

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press

NEW CANEY, Texas — Dry, brown grass crunches underfoot as David Barfield walks through his 45-acre Christmas tree farm pointing at evergreens covered with brittle, rust-colored needles.

“Dead tree, dead tree, dead tree,” he says, shaking his head at dry timber he hoped would be chopped down by parents with excited children.

Instead, Mother Nature delivered the Grinch in the form of a historic drought that has killed thousands of trees across Texas and Oklahoma. Some died of thirst. Others were destroyed by wildfires, whose breadth and intensity were magnified when wind swept the flames across parched landscape.

Most farmers plan to import trees from North Carolina to supplement any they have left, said Marshall Cathey, president of the Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association.

They say they aren’t planning to raise prices because consumers are reluctant to pay more than $40 or $50 for a Christmas tree, especially in the poor economy.

‘Depressing’
But families hoping for a homegrown tree to cut down will have a harder time finding one, and dozens of farmers are struggling. Possibly most painful for these growers are the deaths of the youngest saplings, which guarantee the drought’s effect will be felt for years to come.

“It’s depressing, it really is,” said Barfield, 53. “This was going to be our retirement.”

He and his wife, Karen, 49, bought the farm about six years ago with dreams of retiring from Texas’ oil fields and spending their final years peddling the Christmas spirit with fresh-cut trees, marshmallow roasts and hayrides in a red-and-white sleigh. They planted 20 acres of evergreen trees.

Now, barely two years after Karen Barfield retired to work the farm, she has returned full-time to her job selling explosion-proof enclosures to the oil industry. David Barfield has increased his hours doing part-time electronic work. Instead of selling some 400 homegrown trees as they do in a good year, they will be lucky to sell 100 — nearly all Frasier firs brought in from North Carolina.

Climatologist warns Texas drought could last decades. KPRC’s Ryan Korsgard reports.

And they’re not certain that will be enough to cover their property taxes. Barfield says he can only charge $50 for a North Carolina fir — just $10 more than he pays for them.

“Eight (trees) died within the last week,” Barfield said, continuing his walk through his farm in New Caney. “These were all green a week ago. The drought has been hurting us real bad.”

But at least he and his wife have other income. Others have not fared as well.

“We lost probably 90 percent of our trees,” said Jean Raisey, 79, who’s run a 10-acre Christmas tree farm in Purcell, Okla., with her husband since 1985. The other 10 percent are dying now, she said.

“We’ve had to hire a contractor and pull all the dead and all the live trees,” she said. “And we’re out of business.”

Cathey, who owns the 50-acre Elves Farm in Denison, Texas, a town about 75 miles north of Dallas, said he has spoken to many of Texas’ 120 Christmas tree farmers in recent months. Long stretches of triple-degree heat, he said, harmed the trees as much as the lack of rain.

11 inches of rain this year
And the drought has been bad. In Texas, less than 11 inches of rain fell this year compared to an annual average of almost 24 inches. In Oklahoma, there has been about 18.7 inches of rain this year compared to a long-term average of 30 inches. All trees have been hard-hit by the lack of rain.

“There’s hundreds of thousands of trees dying,” said Travis Miller, a drought expert at Texas A&M University.

“We’re looking at a … one-in-a-500-year kind of drought, and so it’s weeding out the ones that can’t survive this kind of extreme conditions,” he added.

For evergreens, which usually prefer wetter, more temperate climates, the struggle may be greater than for drought-resistant plants, such as the juniper brush, although it too is dying in Texas this year.

Farmers who planted evergreens native to Afghanistan — and accustomed to a desert climate — have had greater success than those who planted trees from the northeast United States.

Those who irrigated also are having more modest success, although that costs — about $1,200 a month on a midsized farm.

Jan Webb, owner of the Double Shovel Christmas Tree Farm in West Texas, one of the driest areas of the state, said her Afghans have done well. Of the 400 she planted last year, only about 50 died. On the other hand, none of the 400 Leyland Cypress she planted survived.

It takes three to five years to grow an evergreen to a marketable size. Webb planted her first tree about three years ago and was hoping to open for the first time next Christmas, but with the drought, it will be at least two years before she has a homegrown tree to sell.

“We can’t sell what’s from our farm right now because they’re too small,” she said.

Yet the farmers are determined children will be able to see trees cut for Christmas — even if they’re North Carolina firs liberally placed in Texas soil. There will be hayrides and picnics. Christmas carols will ring out and colorful lights will cover the bare branches.

Bah humbug to the drought, they say.

Feds bag idea of limiting target practice on public lands

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AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The Obama administration on Wednesday backed off a draft policy to restrict target shooting on federal land near residential areas.

In a memo, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he would direct his agency to “take no further action to develop or implement” the draft. U.S. News & World Report posted a copy of the memo on its website.

Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., last Friday sent Salazar a letter asking that the draft policy be canned, saying he worried it would be taken advantage of by anti-gun rights groups. “Any draft proposal regarding recreation on public lands must continue to guarantee hunting opportunities,” he wrote.

In a statement issued along with a copy of the letter, Rehberg said the Obama administration “is uncomfortable with gun rights, and eager to restrict the Second Amendment at every opportunity.”

“In a state like Montana, where the federal government is by far the largest land holder, preserving Second Amendment rights on public land isn’t just a question of good policy,” he said. “It’s a question of protecting our way of life from big-city meddlers.”

The rationale cited in the draft included public safety on areas maintained by the Bureau of Land Management.

“As the West has become more populated, recreational shooters now often find themselves in conflict with other public lands users, and the BLM is frequently called on to mediate these conflicts,” the draft?stated.

“Closing areas where risks are high may reduce shooting related conflicts, and may also reduce legal claims against the BLM for shooting-related injuries or damages,” the draft concluded.

Rehberg and others opposed to the draft were particularly concerned with criteria they felt would allow land managers to unfairly limit target practices. The draft would have stated that “the specific shooting activity must not:”

“Cause a public disturbance or create risk to other persons on public lands. “Deface, remove or destroy natural features, native plants, cultural resources, historic structures or government and/or private property.”Facilitate and create a condition of littering, refuse accumulation and abandoned personal property. “Violate existing use restriction, a closure and restriction order, or supplementary rules notice.”

A?committee that advises the federal government on hunting issues had earlier also voiced concern about the draft.

“The Council concludes that its implementation will have the practical effect of moving recreational shooting off public lands, thereby diminishing public access to public lands,” the group stated earlier this month?in comments to the BLM.

The group, known as the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council, drafted?recommendations such as building berms to enhance safety. Its members include hunting associations as well as The Nature Conservancy and the National Wildlife Federation.