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Njos and her husband, Larry, live on a farm encircled by pumpjacks about 20 miles north of Williston, North Dakota, the heart of the Bakken oil boom. Initially they suspected that the Army Corps of Engineers, which they'd heard was fiddling with an upstream dam, was responsible for the changes in the creek rather than the oilfield. Then, on Jan. 7, a man from Summit Midstream, a pipeline company, knocked on their door. He said workers had detected a major break in a gathering line, which carries wastewater away from oil wells. Nearly 3 million gallons of salty, oily wastewater had spilled into Blacktail Creek — as much as spilled in North Dakota throughout the previous year. The incident was eclipsed in the news by the pipeline that leaked oil into Montana's iconic Yellowstone River the same month, although this spill was as much as 100 times bigger.
Three weeks after the spill was detected, Njos walked Blacktail Creek, the sun glaring off melting snow. She pointed out a telephone pole, gnawed by beavers, and said that she and Larry used to bring logs to the creek, because they felt bad for beavers living on the treeless prairie. "I never even thought about the spills before," she said. "It never affected us."
Large pipeline spills are not uncommon in North Dakota. But watchdogs say it doesn't have to be that way. "I think everyone in the industry agrees the ultimate goal is zero incidents," said Carl Weimer, executive director of the nonprofit Pipeline Safety Trust. "But they're not doing everything they could to (get) to zero."
"Produced water" or "saltwater" is a waste product of oil production. In 2013, North Dakota's 10,000 or so oil wells produced more than 15 billion gallons of it. Some comes from the fracking process, but some is sucked up from briny aquifers with the oil.
What's in wastewater can vary with local geology. In North Dakota, the water is over 13 times saltier than ocean water and laced with fracking chemicals, oil and radioactive material. It gets separated from the oil and is either trucked or moved by pipeline to an injection well, where it's pumped back underground.
Most of the time, the process works like it's supposed to. But spills are becoming increasingly common. According to an analysis by the public media team Inside Energy, the spill rate per well was nearly twice as high in 2013 as it was in 2006, at the start of the boom. The rise seems to be a function of increased drilling and the ongoing rush to lay thousands of miles of new pipelines in a short construction season, which can result in sloppy installation practices.
The spills are also getting larger, which worries Derrick Braaten, a Bismarck-based lawyer who represented ranchers affected by the state's first million-gallon-plus wastewater spill, in 2006 in Charbonneau Creek, just east of the Montana border. That spill, like the recent one, was from a brand-new plastic pipeline that leaked for at least two weeks before being detected. It was caused by a failed welding job.
Afterward, it looked like someone had sprayed herbicide for miles along Charbonneau Creek, a tributary, as it happens, of the Yellowstone River. Bleached plants wilted on the bare ground. Fish died. "It was years before the cattle went back and started drinking from the creek," Braaten said. When salty wastewater leaks directly into the soil on agricultural land, another type of common spill in North Dakota, the results can be even more devastating, sterilizing the ground for decades.
Because federal regulators have no authority over rural wastewater gathering lines, it's up to states to require inspections or monitoring. North Dakota lawmakers declined to do so in 2013, when they overwhelmingly voted down a bill that would've mandated flow meters and switches to isolate leaking parts of gathering lines.
Such devices wouldn't detect the smallest leaks, they said. And while that's true, they could at least be installed on the highest-risk pipelines, said Richard Kuprewicz of Accufacts Inc, a consulting firm that investigates pipeline breaks. "The quandary here is everyone wants a sound bite answer to a complex problem," Kuprewicz said. "(And) some people will take advantage of that complexity to not do anything."
State regulators did enact new construction standards for gathering lines. Companies now must document where they are, what they carry, and certify that they were built correctly. But the state doesn't employ any pipeline inspectors. It's tried to hire some, for $43,000 a year, but anyone with the requisite skills can double their money in the industry. So the checklists are a new form of self-policing: pieces of paper a pipeline company fills out and the state signs off on without ground-truthing.
The latest spill, combined with the recent Yellowstone River incident — the second in less than four years — might represent a tipping point. "There's a lot of dissatisfaction in our department about the current spill rates," said Lynn Helms, director of the state's Department of Mineral Resources. Gov. Jack Dalrymple echoed that sentiment, saying the recent spills "raised the question of whether there should be a higher (construction) standard when we know there is a pipeline going under a significant body of water."
Dave Glatt, the head of the North Dakota Department of Health's Environmental Health Division, was even more frank: "I can see where the public would say, 'How come our state government isn't protecting us?'"
This story was originally titled "Built to spill" in the print edition.]]>
Apparently that would be too much to ask. ABC's Blood & Oil has about half of its first season under its belt and, well, it's not exactly The Sopranos. It looks a lot more like its 1980s-era, Colorado-based predecessor, Dynasty.
There are eerie parallels between the two shows, including the overarching theme of upward mobility via oil. In Dynasty, Krystle Jennings, a secretary at a refinery, is set to marry Blake Carrington, Denver oil tycoon (and owner of said refinery) at the outset of the 1980s oil boom. Meanwhile, Blood & Oil's Billy and Cody LeFever are headed to North Dakota to open up a laundromat in the oilfields and make it rich. After a pair of oil rigs run them and their washing machines off the road, the LeFevers team up with oil tycoon Hap Briggs. Both Jennings and the LeFevers are thus drawn into the dramas of the wealthy, imbued with sex, familial tension and violence (though, notably, no cocaine or meth).
In other words, both Blood & Oil and Dynasty are mere soap operas in a petroleum-soaked setting. Dynasty admirably taps into the Zeitgeist of the '80s, at least in the first episode. Carrington's company is booted out of an unnamed Middle Eastern country, and there are several exchanges about the need for energy independence. Even Ralph Nader earns a mention. Carrington could be seen as a proxy for Ronald Reagan, who had just been elected president, and Carrington's bright, sensitive son, Steven, as a stand-in for Jimmy Carter. "Why aren't you out building windmills and turning Corn Flakes into gasahol?" Carrington says to Steven, bitingly, after Steven accuses his father of unethical business practices.
Blood & Oil, on the other hand, veers away from politics, except for when Darla, Briggs' wife, manipulates the Mormon oil commissioner into handing over some secret U.S. Geological Survey report by promising him the governorship, and thus the power to approve an LDS temple right there in North Dakota.
We sat down and watched the first two episodes of each show, so you don't have to. Here's how they matched up.
|Blood & Oil
|Original Working Title
|Krystle Jennings (Linda Evans), climbs socioeconomic ladder by marrying Denver oil tycoon, Blake Carrington.
|For her bridal shower gifts, Krystle receives a riding crop (symbolizing her move to the upper classes) and The Joy of Sex.
|At the LeFevers' going away party we learn that their laundromat seed money comes from friends and family.
|Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) is an aristocrat, who spends his time in his Denver
|Hap Briggs, a.k.a. "The Mayor of the Bakken"
|Denver during the late-'70s/early-'80s oil boom, ignited by the Energy Crises of the '70s.
|The 2007-14 "shale revolution," ignited by high oil prices and new drilling and fracking techniques, in the fictional town of Rock Springs, North Dakota, in the Bakken oil patch.
|Geographical Faux Pas
|Dynasty's scene-setting shots are in Denver and the Colorado Front Range mountains. But most of the show is filmed in Southern California.
|The North Dakota of Blood & Oil is suspiciously mountainous; it was mostly filmed in Utah.
|The Good/Bad Wife
|Krystle is kind and intimidated by her newfound
|Darla (Amber Valletta) is scheming
|Oedipus Complex
|Carrington is disappointed in his son Steven because he's educated but jobless. Worse, Steven's gay, leading to this Carrington monologue: "I'm about as Freudian as you could hope for in a capitalist exploiter of the business class ... I understand about sublimation. I understand how you hid sexual dysfunction behind hostility toward a father…"
|Briggs is disappointed in his son, Wick, because Wick dropped out of college and is jobless. Briggs forces Wick to push mud on a rig. Wick
|Daughterly Rebellion
|Falen feels like Carrington, her father, treats her like a bargaining chip. So she sleeps with the chauffer.
|Lacey doesn't like her stepmother, Darla. So she sleeps with the driver.
|Geology Quote
|"I'm a geologist. I make holes in the ground. I'm not paid to set foreign policy ... But I'd say we'd damned well better start drilling for oil over here, a little deeper and a little faster." -- Matthew Blaisdale.
|Hap: "That plot's been drilled harder than a Tulsa whore."
Darla: "The old wells didn't go deep enough."
|The Lover
|Krystle pines for ruggedly handsome Blaisdale,
|Hap is sleeping with his son's love interest, Jules Jackman (India de Beaufort, who wasn't even born
|Shoulder pads and hair! Fur! Conservative suits, narrow ties and hair! Noticeable dearth of bolo ties and cowboy boots. But the hair!
|North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said it best in a tweet: "Anyone who's been to Williston knows there are a lot more steel-toed boots and a lot less cocktail attire." And then there are the trendy running shoes: Hap Briggs is spotted wearing a pair of Hoka One Ones in one scene.
|Architectural Faux Pas
|Carrington's sprawling estate is so obviously not in Colorado that it's painful. It's more likely that he would have lived in a house like the Briggs'.
|Briggs lives in a giant Park City-esque ski-lodge of a house. Jackman, meanwhile, lives in an exposed-brick, urban loft/warehouse style apartment. Really?
|Dynasty started its run in 1981, just as the U.S. oil boom was ramping up. But the boom busted catastrophically in 1986, and ratings plummeted along with the rig count. The show ended in 1989.
|Blood & Oil was first conceived of in 2011, during the height of the boom. By the time it hit the air this summer, the boom had decidedly busted, no less severely than in the mid-1980s. The script hasn't caught up with the changing economics.
|What It Gets Right
|The push for energy independence via drilling at home during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Steven tells his father: "You didn't develop this country's resources when you had a chance. You developed the Arabian fields because it was cheaper."
|The exorbitantly high housing costs in the North Dakota oil patch. "Around here you either have two jobs or two houses," says Jackman.
Jonathan Thompson is a senior editor of High Country News. Follow @jonnypeace]]>
What happened, instead, is that the Saudis thumbed their noses at the world's other oil producers and kept their wells pumping. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency lowered its global demand forecast for 2015. As a result, prices kept plummeting, first to $70 per barrel, then $60. As I write this, Brent crude — the international benchmark for petroleum — is just below $60, and West Texas Intermediate, our domestic benchmark, is a few dollars below that. Oil prices haven't been this low since 2009.
And, yes, there is now trouble in the oil patch. The shale oil revolution isn't dead, by any means. But it's sick. It's still too early to tell how deep the sickness will go, since the effects of price swings can take months to manifest on the ground. But it's been six months since the price slide began, and it's clear that the oil industry is taking a hit. Here are a few of the signs of the bust:
Rig counts are down: The number of rigs actively drilling for oil and gas in the United States hit 1,931 in September, plateaued through November, and then dropped during the first weeks of December, to 1,893. Texas, which has the bulk of the nation's rigs to start with, was the leading loser, with 24 rigs packing up and heading home. Western oil and gas states lost one to three rigs each. And while that could be chalked up to seasonal fluctuations rather than prices, those states have been seeing incremental losses since September. Drilling is the most labor- and capital-intensive stage of the production process, so when rig counts decrease, job losses ripple through oil patch economies. While most states still have more drill rigs operating now than they did a year ago, the recent decline is likely only the beginning: Earlier this month, Reuters reported that well permits plummeted from 7,700 in October, to just 4,500 in November, a pretty good indicator of where rig counts are headed. That's good news for the environment, of course -- the greens can thank the Saudis for that.
Jobs are getting cut, slowly but surely: Since the recession began in 2008, oil patch counties have been the brightest spot in the national employment picture. In parts of North Dakota, unemployment has crept close to zero; oil-producing counties in Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado have had similar good fortune. Median wages have skyrocketed by as much as 150 percent over the last decade in some North Dakota counties. That light may be dimming, slightly. In North Dakota, there are considerably fewer job openings in the construction and extraction sector than there were a year ago. That's not to say people are getting laid off — the state's data aren't current enough to determine that — but it does indicate that the oil industry is a little less desperate for workers. Over in Wyoming, meanwhile, the oil and gas sector shed about 200 of a total 18,000 jobs between September and October.
Oil state number crunchers are scrambling to rejigger budgets to account for major revenue dips: Whether or not the low prices actually cause a wholesale pullback on drilling, massive layoffs and a general collapse of the oil industry — a bust, that is — they have a huge impact on revenues for states and counties with a lot of oil production. That's because, in most cases, oil and gas are taxed, and royalties assessed, based on the gross value of the product, not its volume. If oil prices drop 10 percent below the budget forecast, then, a state can expect 10 percent less revenue from oil. A few months ago, most states were counting on $90-$100 per barrel prices for 2015. Now they'll be lucky to have a yearly average of $65. For a state like Alaska, which typically rakes in billions in oil severance taxes, that could result in serious budget deficits next year. In New Mexico, each dollar's drop in the price of oil translates to about $7.5 million less in revenue, meaning they're looking at losing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue, even if the drill rigs keep cranking at current rates. That's in a state where oil and gas taxes make up about one-third of the general fund. Wyoming and North Dakota face similar pain.
Domestic oil production is still going strong: Wait. What?! Yes, actual production continues to increase, or at least remain steady, which some might hold up as evidence that the price crash hasn't hurt the industry. But that's not how it works. Once a well is drilled, a company is unlikely to shut it down unless prices go really, really low, so it keeps producing. And even if prices plummet, a driller will go ahead with wells that it's already drilling or in the final stages of planning. There are still almost 1,900 rigs out there churning away at the earth, and when those wells are completed, many of them will have a big initial production rate for a few months, during which overall production will probably continue to increase. As rig counts continue to drop, though, and as production from existing wells continues to decline (and it will), overall production is likely to drop off.
It would be foolish to try to predict what's going to happen in the next year, or even few months, with oil prices. Most official forecasts anticipate prices staying fairly low for the next year or so. But forecasts are notoriously wrong. One group of folks seems to think that prices will stay low for the long-term: Buyers of ginormous gas-guzzlers. Low oil prices means lower gasoline prices, and that has apparently spurned a bit of a buying spree. If this sickness spreads, the outcome is fairly obvious. The gains we've made in fuel efficiency, and the decreases we've accomplished in fuel consumption, will be wiped out. Demand for oil will increase. Prices will go back up. And Craigslist will be flooded with ads trying to sell those ridiculous SUVs.
Jonathan Thompson is a senior editor at High Country News.
Follow @jonnypeace]]>
It's easy to see why the prairie is often overlooked. Stand here on the Hi-Line, and you may notice little but the monochrome sweep of grass and the whoosh of the wind. An occasional sparrow or insect may touch the edge of the silence, or a few pronghorn catch the eye, hinting that more is going on than you can see. It's true: Prairies are rich, subtle ecosystems.
There are more than a half-dozen major categories of prairie in this country, including the chest-high tallgrass of the Midwest and eastern Dakotas; the mixed-grass found in Montana, the western Dakotas and Nebraska; and the shortgrass of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. They all evolved amid massive ecological forces.
Enormous herds of bison and frequent wildfires periodically stripped the land of its foliage. In turn, many animals evolved to live here at different stages of the recovery process. Countless prairie dog towns aerated the soil and produced habitat for many other species (HCN, 8/16/99: Standing up for the underdog). This created diversity: At least 1,500 kinds of grasses and other plants live on the Northern Great Plains alone, according to the World Wildlife Fund, along with 350 kinds of birds, 95 mammals, 82 grasshoppers, and 92 dragonflies and damselflies.
The scene is equally complex belowground. Unlike forests, where 80 percent of the biomass is found aboveground, about 75 percent of the prairie's biomass resides in the roots. The roots evolved to store energy and nutrients during hard times, so plants are able to quickly regrow leafy material. Mycorrhizal fungi, which inhabit the root systems, pump soil nutrients into the roots. These fungi also protect plants from other, harmful fungi; they knit the soil together to prevent erosion; and they influence which plants will grow in a particular area.
All that began to change when the plows arrived. The first waves of sodbusting were the biggest and ultimately the most devastating. Following the Homestead Act of 1862 and then the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909, a tsunami of sodbusters crashed onto the plains, seeking free land. Nearly all the tallgrass prairies of the Midwest disappeared in the homestead era; today, only relatively tiny tallgrass preserves remain. Farther west, another big wave of sodbusting hit during World War I, when federal price guarantees encouraged farmers to increase the wheat planting from 45 million acres in 1917 to 74 million acres in 1919. But when the wind attacked the plowed ground, Dust Bowl conditions overtook the dry plains. In 1934, according to historian Donald Worster, the first big dust storm of the "Dirty Thirties" carried away 350 million tons of Montana and Wyoming soil, eventually scattering it all the way to the East Coast.
The government responded by paying farmers to plant shelterbelts and retire farmland. But sodbusting didn't stop. In the early 1970s, a crop failure in the Soviet Union caused wheat prices in the U.S. to double, and even triple. The high prices inspired farmers to plow millions more acres of prairie by the mid-1980s. The resulting surfeit of grain triggered what the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls "the farm sector's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression." The government stepped in again with a series of farm-aid bills, OK'd by Congress and by every president since 1985, that has kept farmers in business, even in marginal areas.
The farm subsidies — averaging more than $10 billion per year — include price supports, disaster relief, subsidized insurance and low-interest loans. Farmers also benefit from tariffs and other measures that protect American producers from international competition. Without federal subsidies, many farmers would lose money: Montana's farmers received $2.05 billion in subsidies between 1997 and 2001, for example, while total profits came to only $1.67 billion.
All the aid helps farmers survive droughts, late freezes and wind, but at the same time, it encourages even more sodbusting. As Brian Martin, Great Plains project manager for The Nature Conservancy in Montana, says, "The biggest threat to native prairie is federal farm policy."
During the last two decades, according to the National Resources Inventory, a survey of nonfederal lands, "rangeland" — the closest surrogate for native prairie — declined by more than 10 million acres. About two-thirds of the loss occurred in eight Plains states: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska and New Mexico. Most of it went to cropland.
Recent waves of sodbusting have hit the Dakotas, where genetically modified soybeans are being planted on land too dry for previous varieties. And here in north-central Montana, organic agriculture has caught on. The organic acreage planted in Montana is increasing by about 20 percent per year, according to one official estimate; organic grain topped 45,000 acres in 2001, among the highest total of any state.
The whole economic system —markets and subsidies — tilts the land toward crops. Around here, local farmers estimate that plowing an acre of prairie raises its value from around $100 to between $300 and $400. A farmer can cash in that increase by using the newly plowed land as collateral for a loan, or simply by selling the land.
Hi-Line rancher Henry Gordon says banks often encourage land-buyers to plow prairie to reap the subsidies and increase the land's value. "They say, 'We'll lend you the money, but you're going to have to tear up so many acres.' "
"The only way I could have got started," Miller, the young farmer, admits, "is by buying (inexpensive ranch) pastures and breaking them up. If (farmland) was for sale, we would have to go in debt so long it wouldn't work."
Ironically, what the USDA calls the nation's "largest conservation program" helps to drive the plows. It's the Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, which began in 1986 during the depression in the farm economy.
The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to replant their crop fields with perennial grasses for 10- or 15-year cycles, to prevent erosion, create habitat for some wildlife, and curb overproduction of grains. Many conservationists praise it because it benefits songbirds such as grasshopper sparrows. Hunters love it because it's good for ducks, pheasants (an exotic species), pronghorn and mule deer.
"When it comes to wildlife, it is the diamond," says Ron Helinski, a policy specialist at the Wildlife Management Institute, a pro-hunting conservation group based in Washington, D.C.
The USDA has 34.7 million acres currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, paying farmers about $1.66 billion per year — the third largest farm subsidy after corn and wheat. In the Northern Great Plains alone (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, the Dakotas, and Nebraska), about 12 million acres are idled under the program. Up to 25 percent of the farmland in any county can be enrolled, and many counties are maxed out.
But CRP land is not the same as native prairie. It might restore a particular habitat, but not an ecosystem. In fact, until recently, farmers could plant nonnative grasses on CRP land, and most of them did. "In lots of respects," says Craig Knowles, a wildlife biologist in Montana, "those CRP fields are just monocultures of crested wheatgrass," a species native to Europe and Asia.
Even if the replanted grass is native, it lacks the diversity of a prairie, which contains dozens of species of grasses, forbs and sedges in every acre. CRP habitat does nothing to help especially imperiled animals like the sage grouse, the black-tailed prairie dog, and the mountain plover, a bird that lives in dogtowns. CRP land also harbors fewer species of insects and spiders — the prey of grassland birds during nesting season. Conservation Reserve Program grass can also be mowed for hay and opened to cattle grazing during times of drought, as happened this summer and in 2002. This is timed to minimize impacts on birds nesting in the grass and other wildlife, but it only happens when the ecosystems are already stressed by lack of rain.
In the past, farmers could even plow prairie, plant crops for several years, then enroll the land in the Conservation Reserve Program just to draw the payments. According to the National Resources Inventory, about 728,000 acres classified as rangeland in 1982 were in CRP in 1997. The money is hard to resist, since it often runs two or three times higher than the prices farmers get for leasing their land for other purposes.
CRP's biggest impact on native prairie likely comes when farm families accept the payments for retiring some fields and then plow more prairie elsewhere.
On the Hi-Line, Steve Swank and Warren Lybeck formed a partnership to plow prairie and plant organic crops beginning in 1998, after their families' operations put conventional cropland into CRP. "We didn't quit farming," Swank says. "We just moved our farming south a little bit." By the end of this year, he says, the duo will have "torn up" about 10,000 acres of prairie.
Swank and Lybeck say that the CRP contracts are not related to their sodbusting; the farms enrolled in CRP are "run as totally different entities" than the organic farm, Swank says. But the CRP payments to their families are substantial. From 1998 to 2002, Lybeck's family's farm received about $310,000 in federal subsidies, including $176,000 through the CRP; from 1999 to 2002, Swank's family's farm received about $380,000 in subsidies, including $218,000 through CRP, according to a database compiled by the Environmental Working Group, a D.C.-based watchdog. Their organic partnership, called 3X Farms, got no CRP payments during that time, but received other subsidies totaling about $119,000, according to the watchdog group.
The two farmers say the prairie they've plowed was not in good shape: It was overgrown with mats of club moss, a native plant. "We tear up ground that isn't superproductive," Swank says. They leave some patches unplowed, so the land still has some diversity, and their organic farming is "real sustainable — the oldest form of farming," Lybeck says.
But their neighbor, Henry Gordon, gesturing at their newly plowed land, says, "A lot of this is submarginal ground. The only thing you're really farming is the government, because otherwise you can't make it pay."
Despite the continuing advance of the plow, the drier climes of the Plains, where many homesteads were ranches instead of farms, still have vast expanses of unplowed mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies, an estimated 175 million acres. Much of the unplowed prairie has been degraded by improperly managed cattle grazing. It's also been harmed by stream diversions and campaigns to eliminate bison and prairie dogs, and by oil and gas drilling, and incursions by nonnative grasses and weeds. But even degraded prairie is ecologically better than plowed ground.
"Ranching keeps the sod rightside-up," says Curt Freese, who runs a World Wildlife Fund regional office in Bozeman.
Still, conservationists have noticed effects of declining prairie that go well beyond the publicized loss of bison, prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets. Beginning about six years ago, for instance, the Audubon Society's annual Breeding Birds Survey found that some grassland birds were declining more sharply than any other bird species on the continent. Those birds include Baird's sparrow, Sprague's pipit and the chestnut-collared longspur. The mountain plover and the piping plover, cousins of killdeer, are in serious trouble, as are some species of butterflies.
Apparently, there is simply not enough protected prairie, even though the public land includes some sizable patches. The U.S. Forest Service's National Grasslands — land bought from destitute homesteaders in the 1930s — comprises about 4 million acres in 20 parcels, 17 of them scattered across the Great Plains. National wildlife refuges, monuments and parks also contain some prairie remnants. But the public parcels are few and far between on the hundreds of millions of acres of plains, as are the private preserves of prairie, run by groups such as The Nature Conservancy.
"In the 1990s, we began to realize that our efforts weren't going to be successful if we just saved 50,000 acres," says the Conservancy's Martin. He gives an example: If a butterfly population lives on a 1,000-acre island of prairie surrounded by land that's degraded, and that island is scorched by wildfire or drought, the butterflies won't be able to fly to the next patch of prairie. The population winks out. "Prairie species," he says, "evolved to take advantage of that massive continuum of habitat."
In response, the Conservancy and other groups have launched a major prairie conservation initiative. The World Wildlife Fund, for example, took the lead in a study called Ocean of Grass, which identifies 10 areas on the Northern Plains that have potential for large-scale restoration and conservation of grasslands species — roughly a million or more acres each. The Wildlife Fund also helped organize more than 20 groups into the Northern Plains Conservation Network, which shares science and coordinates local efforts.
The Wildlife Fund has begun restoration efforts in two areas, says Freese. One is Saskatchewan, near where the Canadian government is slowly buying up 220,000 acres of ranchland to create a Grasslands National Park. The other area is on the Montana Glaciated Plains, north of the Missouri River.
The American Prairie Foundation, a Bozeman-based land trust which began in 2001 and now has eight staffers, concentrates on the Montana Glaciated Plains. It pulled off its first conservation deal in January, buying nearly 5,000 acres from a rancher who wanted to move to town; the ranch came with 15,000 acres of public land, leased from the state and the Bureau of Land Management. More deals are in the works, says Sean Gerrity, the land trust's director.
The Prairie Foundation and the Wildlife Fund are laying the groundwork for restoring willows, cottonwoods and beaver to the ranch. They hope to reintroduce wild bison soon, by placing a small, disease-free herd on a fenced-in, 1,200-acre pasture. Future land purchases will attempt to link the ranch to other private and public conservation parcels in the area, Gerrity says. "We're the glue ... our goal is to put together a fully functioning prairie."
But the real goal — combining enough parcels to form huge preserves — remains a long way off. "Frankly, it's still a challenge to get private donor dollars for prairie," says the Conservancy's Martin. "It's not as quick of a sale as (conservation projects) in western Montana," where the scenery includes photogenic mountains and trout streams.
Enlisting local people is another challenge. Conservationists are sensitive to the economic distress on the Plains, where small towns are losing population and many farmers struggle to break even. They remember how New Jersey professors Frank and Deborah Popper got skewered by Plains residents for their "Buffalo Commons" idea. The Buffalo Commons is a plan for rebuilding the Plains economy around native grasslands — through tourism and prairie products like bison meat but when the Poppers first proposed it, many locals saw it as a takeover attempt (HCN, 1/15/01: Plains sense).
Organic farmer Harold Miller, for one, is wary of the prospect of turning private land into prairie preserves. "I just feel we're being pushed off," he says. "They (conservationists) want to move us into towns, and make this into a big recreation place, so they can go hiking and fishing. But they don't care about (the) people (who) are making a living off these places."
The conservationists emphasize that they're not forcing anyone to do anything. This becomes clear at The Nature Conservancy's 60,000-acre Matador Ranch. Since 2002, the Conservancy has managed the ranch as a "grass bank," leasing rangeland to a dozen nearby ranchers. Ranchers who agree to conservation practices on their home ranches — allowing prairie dogs, eliminating weeds, and of course, not plowing — pay less for grazing on the Matador. In all, the Matador project affects 295,000 acres, entirely through incentive-based conservation.
The conservationists also plan to buy easements and use other economic tools, such as long-term purchase options that allow farmers to stay on their land until they die. "We can only go as fast as people are willing to sell to us," says the Prairie Foundation's Gerrity. "We have to make friends, and show people there are benefits for everyone."
The land trust will pay local property taxes on land it buys, even though nonprofit groups are not required to, Gerrity says. The trust already employs two people around small-town Malta; it bought a $28,000 truck from a local dealer, and has spent about $15,000 so far in local motels, restaurants and shops. Moreover, Gerrity says, the trust has promised not to close off public access to its holdings; limited hunting will be allowed, as will hiking and birdwatching. "As we get traction," Gerrity says, tourism based on wildlife-viewing should increase.
The federal government has also increased its farm-related conservation spending, even as it tries to keep farmers on the land. The 2002 Farm Bill put in motion an 80 percent total increase for conservation, says Dave White, who heads the Montana office of the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Individual USDA conservation programs got much larger increases.
One program, called EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program), shot up from $200 million in 2002 to $1 billion this year, White says. It pays farmers to adopt conservation practices that improve water quality, wildlife, and irrigation efficiency. The Natural Resources Conservation Service also received $112 million this year (a 1,400 percent increase over 2002) to help local governments and other entities buy easements and development rights on agricultural land across the nation.
Many conservation groups pushed for the changes, says White, who worked on drafting the 2002 bill. Those groups included Environmental Defense, Defenders of Wildlife, and the American Farmland Trust. It was a bipartisan effort in Congress.
"The shift has occurred. Congress is serious about private-land conservation," White says. It's not imposing new, burdensome regulations, he adds, and one of its goals "is to preserve working farms."
But the government is not meeting all needs, either. The 2002 Farm Bill created the Grasslands Reserve Program expressly to fund easements to keep grasslands unplowed. But the Reserve Program's budget in 2003 was only about $50 million — less than 1 percent of the total subsidies that drive sodbusting.
In Montana, the Grassland Reserve Program will preserve roughly 10,000 acres approved in the 2003 sign-up, through several easements. Still, there's a huge unmet demand: More than 400 Montana landowners have offered up to 1 million acres for the program.
The 2002 Farm Bill closed some loopholes in the Conservation Reserve Program, but the CRP still allows its farmers to plow more prairie. Many conservationists believe that the only way to stop sodbusting altogether is through new laws that would strip all subsidies from sodbusters, much the way a federal "swampbuster" rule protects wetlands.
Farmers like Swank and Lybeck could probably stay in business without busting sod; like many farmers, they have diversified, running some cattle and doing a variety of farming enterprises. Their sodbusting is a response to the logic of markets and government programs. "We're businessmen up here," says Swank. "When you're trying to make a living on it, it changes your perspective. You need to get all the dollars off it you can per acre."
Rancher Gordon is involved in the conservation effort. He runs about 1,400 cows on 62,000 acres of private and public land. Last year, he put a conservation easement on about 15,000 private acres. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks paid him $945,000 for the easement, about a quarter of the profit he would make if he plowed every private acre he set aside. Gordon also applied for Grassland Reserve Program money, but didn't get it; he plans to apply again, with an improved grazing-management plan.
Gordon also gets federal subsidies for farming — about $270,000 from 1998 to 2002, including about $50,000 from CRP for retiring cropland he bought. But he doesn't like the idea of farmers "tearing up all that grass." The easement will prevent his land from ever being torn up, and it will provide habitat for swift fox, shorebirds, waterfowl and grassland birds.
"This is a way to keep a large piece of ground native, and it's producing what it can produce," he says — grass for his cows, and wildlife habitat. "For every acre of ground torn up, there's 54 varieties of birds that have to go somewhere else."
Josh Garrett-Davis is a native of South Dakota who now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Ray Ring, HCN's editor in the field, contributed to this story.
The following sidebar article accompanies this story:
- You can't plant a prairie
This story is funded by the generous donors to the "Who Will Take Over the Ranch" project, a series of stories on the plight of the West's private lands.
American Prairie Foundation in Bozeman, Montana, 406-585-4600, or e-mail to Dakota Meeks, email@example.com
World Wildlife Fund Bozeman office, 406-582-0235, and WWF's Northern Great Plains Web site, www.worldwildlife.org/wildplaces/negp/
Natural Resources Conservation Service www.nrcs.usda.gov/
Persistence, strong legs and a lot of luck paid off recently for a wolf called OR7. The wolf became famous in wildlife biology circles after leaving his pack in northeastern Oregon in September 2011 in search of a mate. OR7 roamed for thousands of miles, and now, thanks to a remote camera in southwest Oregon's Cascade Mountains, we know that he finally found what he was looking for – a bright-eyed, coal-black female. OR7's GPS collar places him in the same vicinity, and "it's likely the pair spawned pups," reports The Associated Press. OR7 is remarkable not only for the distance he traveled, but also for the incredible dangers he dodged, from getting shot or run over by a vehicle to simply starving to death.
The University of North Dakota was among the first colleges in the West to offer degrees in drones, more formally called unmanned aerial systems, and now Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, has added a drone class to its aviation program. Finding a textbook for the class, though, seemed almost impossible until recently, says aviation professor Scott Wilson, who's helping train pilots. The Federal Aviation Administration has also been slow to deal with the phenomenon, delaying drone regulations until 2015, reports the Billings Gazette. The rules so far remain basic: Don't fly drones above 400 feet, avoid conflicts with other aircraft, and stay at least five miles away from airports. Wilson says job opportunities for drone operators are numerous, ranging from crop dusting, search and rescue operations, police work and all kinds of photography. Within the next five years, Wilson predicts, "there will be 10,000 (drone) operators," with jobs paying as much as $100,000 a year. Drones, however, can be intrusive, as "wildlife paparazzi" in Zion National Park recently buzzed a group of bighorn sheep from on high, scattering lambs from their mothers and generally causing chaos, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. Zion Superintendent Jim Milestone says that drone operators may not intend to harm wildlife, but the little planes have become a form of harassment, with about four incidents occurring every week. At Zion these days, staffers especially worry about unmanned planes bothering a condor couple that appear to be caretaking an egg. If so, it's a big deal: Condors usually lay only one egg every two years. Drones are illegal within all national parks; if parks decide to crack down, which so far they seem loath to do, drone operators risk a fine of $5,000 and six months' imprisonment.
Welcome, Diesel, a baby boy born recently in a Walmart parking lot in Bismarck, North Dakota. It was the store's first birth, reports the Billings Gazette, and certainly unexpected: Mom Alesia Medeiros said Diesel arrived six weeks early, missing the presence of his dad, Chris Senff, who was working in the oilfield.
Tips and photos of Western oddities are appreciated and often shared in this column. Write firstname.lastname@example.com.]]>
Josh Garrett-Davis is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News, where he was most recently an intern for the paper.]]>
At least that's the conclusion outlined in a report by the Office of the Inspector General, released late last month, which found that the increase in horizontal drilling means it's easier than ever for oil and gas companies to operate – inadvertently or not - in areas for which they don't have permission to drill. The unauthorized drilling means the government is losing out on royalty payments, and poses environmental risks.
According to the findings, the Bureau of Land Management, which manages oil and gas reserves on 700 million acres of land, both public and private, has a "weak" policy for deterring lawbreakers and no reliable way of catching operators who drill illegally.
The trespassing problem has been on the BLM's radar since the Bakken boom began, says Rick Rymerson, BLM's Dickinson field manager. But the real problem, he argued, is the fragmented arrangement of land and mineral ownership in North Dakota and other Western states, where lands with private, state and federal ownership are laid out like a checkerboard.
Companies, he said, often trespass on federal land without realizing it. "Sometimes we're just a narrow strip so the well operators are saying 'what the heck, we didn't even know."
For example, picture a parcel of land that's six miles wide and six miles long divided into 36 sections, each a mile square. A well pad might operate from a section of private land, but since the horizontal portion of the rig can extend up to three miles in any direction below the surface of the earth, the rig could end up penetrating another parcel of land where the operator doesn't have drilling rights.
Violations can happen two ways: if an operator drills into oil and gas on federal land without a mineral lease or without permission from another entity that does have a lease, they are "in trespass." The second form of lawbreaking, called "drilling without approval", occurs when a company drills into land it leases from the BLM, but lacks a proper permit.
In the past several years, the report found, the BLM's North Dakota field office found about 10 cases of potential trespass and 70 cases of drilling without approval, resulting in $530,000 in lost royalties. The illegal activity also risks harming wildlife habitat and polluting underground water sources, since it means operators are skirting environmental reviews. The report pointed to an unpermitted well discovered in Wyoming that did not comply with the BLM's standards for casing the well, designed to protect aquifers.
But some in the industry question the significance of those findings. Considering the thousands of wells that were drilled in North Dakota and well over $500 million collected in royalty payments over the past several years, the impact of unauthorized drilling is "very small," said Kathleen Sgamma, the vice president of Government and Public Affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, a group that lobbies on behalf of the oil and gas industry.
Although the number of cases may not be large, that doesn't mean the issue isn't relevant, says Amy Mall, an expert on oil and gas development with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We're seeing these problems on many fronts," she says, adding that the weak penalties for rule-breaking and insufficient enforcement are indicative of larger issues associated with regulating the booming oil and gas industry.
The report found that the two BLM regulations addressing unauthorized drilling are "ineffective deterrents." One was written in the 1980s – before the energy boom got underway – and imposes a $5,000 fee for unpermitted drilling, which Rymerson acknowledged no longer suffices given that the estimated cost of completing a well in North Dakota today is $8 million to $12 million.
Also, earlier this year the Government Accountability Office released the results of an investigation that revealed that the BLM failed to inspect more than 40 percent of the 3,700 wells nationally it considers at high risk of contaminating groundwater or causing other environmental damage . What's more, the auditors cited numerous earlier reports that reached similar conclusions about the Bureau's lack of adequate oversight over drilling operations and their outdated rulebook governing the oil and gas industry.
The BLM, like other federal land management agencies, is suffering from staffing shortfalls and budget cutbacks, hindering its ability to properly regulate oil and gas activity. Rymerson says his office needs more assistance in processing the paperwork for things like permitting and inspection, but struggles to keep the positions filled – ironically, a problem he sees as a symptom of the oil boom itself: "We have such high turnover, partly because the cost of living is so high here."
For Mall, whether or not companies are willfully breaking the law misses the point.
The BLM manages land for multiple uses and approves development based on risk to things like wildlife habitat and water supply -- and an unauthorized well bypasses the rules designed to protect those other uses.
"It may not be willful negligence, but companies need to do their due diligence," says Mall. "If you don't know where your lease or permit ends, maybe you should have spent more time studying it first."]]>
New details of drones in the North emerged only recently, thanks to the California-based Electronic Frontier Foundation. Last summer, the organization obtained a cache of documents about drone flights in America in response to its public-interest lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. These documents reveal that the department, through its Customs and Border Protection Division, has deployed at least two Predator B drones to an operating base in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The drones make frequent surveillance flights along the U.S. border with Canada, using advanced radar and video systems to survey the expansive landscape.
The documents also outline the agency's efforts to grow its fleet. The Customs and Border Division, according to a 2010 report, plans to station seven drones along the northern border by the end of 2016. Moreover by 2025, the agency wants a permanent fleet of 10 drones to monitor the border "seven days/week 24 hours/day" from bases in North Dakota, Montana, Washington and elsewhere. The goal, in other words, is non-stop surveillance.
Predator B drones are the same machines our government has used in its bombing campaigns in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Operated by deskbound pilots protected in a bunker somewhere, the drones can fly for 27 hours without refueling and reach an altitude of 50,000 feet. With a wingspan of 66 feet, they can carry nearly 4,000 pounds of equipment, from infrared technology to missile systems. Though drones operated by Customs and Border Protection are not yet armed, the "Concept of Operations" report indicates that the agency has considered fitting them with "non-lethal weapons designed to immobilize" enemies.
This growing drone fleet is not used exclusively for border surveillance. Local, state and federal entities, from the Coast Guard to the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, can borrow these machines from border officials to conduct domestic policing. According to flight logs obtained in the lawsuit, the Customs and Border Division performed more than 700 surveillance flights in support of other law enforcement agencies between 2010 and 2012 alone. Where, how and why these drone flights occurred remains a mystery; the flight logs are heavily censored.
Along our Southern border, Predator B drones have been in use since 2004, when our Customs and Border Division first began its experiment with these machines. Today, the agency has stationed at least four drones in Arizona, and it regularly loans them to organizations such as the Arizona Department of Public Safety and numerous county sheriffs' departments across the Southwest. The likelihood of civil liberties violations seems not to concern federal officials.
Drone surveillance in this country started in the West, probably because government security officials view its vast open spaces, remote mountains and dense forests as a weak link in America's armored exterior. It takes invasive technologies to control such unruly terrain, and drones must seem like the perfect tools. These airborne security cameras are able to accomplish in rural America what the standard security camera achieves on the streets of Los Angeles or Chicago.
The problem is that federal security officials have introduced these drones under a fog of secrecy and with little public oversight. They have counted on our ignorance as drones became a tool for warrantless domestic surveillance along our borders. As they plan to expand their fleets, they count now on our apathy.
That doesn't sit well with most Westerners I know.
The people I know respect privacy and individuality. They trust their neighbors and they cherish open land. They maintain a live-and-let-live ethic, or at least that's what they strive for. The surveillance machines polluting our skies threaten these basic values. They further empower national security bureaucrats, while we are forced to foot the bill for this infringement of our own protected liberties.
That's why states like Montana and Oregon have placed stringent limitations on drone surveillance within their jurisdictions. They recognize a threat when they see one.
We should not have to live in a world where spying robots hover above us like hawks and buzzards. Those who value privacy -- from civil libertarians, tribal nations and wilderness advocates, to ranchers and Ron Paul Republicans -- have a major stake in stopping this surveillance from spreading before it becomes the norm.
Jimmy Tobias is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a column service of High Country News. He is a freelance journalist and former trail worker with the Forest Service in Idaho.]]>
In 1973, during North Dakota's second oil boom, then-Gov. Art Link declared, "When we are through with that and the landscape is quiet again … let those who follow and repopulate the land be able to say our grandparents did their job well. The land is as good and, in some cases, better than before."
Forty years later, another oil boom is underway in the Williston Basin, this time fueled by new drilling techniques. Oil companies are working at breakneck speed to drill thousands of new wells in North Dakota, my home state. They're pumping out more than a million barrels per day, an eightfold increase since 1981.
I've begun a photography project to document what remains of the previous booms and record the changes the region faces today. Experts predict that oil extraction here will continue for another few decades, but no one knows for sure when the industry will pull out, or what our lives here will be like once the landscape is quiet again.]]>
Schreiber and other landfill operators in North Dakota have been catching unscrupulous or uninformed oil producers and their subcontractors trying to unload hazardous radioactive waste into the municipal dump for years. Sick of issuing fines to haulers who claim they don't know the rules, this past winter he fired off emails to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, his county commissioners, the governor's office and the state attorney general. "Somebody has to take a stand," says Schreiber. "I'm not here to make friends with the oil companies, I'm here to do my job and protect the people of McKenzie County the best I can and make sure my legacy here in 20 years…isn't destruction of the environment and a Superfund project." Schreiber's comments reflect growing public concern in the state over safe disposal of oilfield waste, and now North Dakota is responding, with a batch of new rules, scientific studies and risk assessments aimed at low-level radioactive oilfield waste.
North Dakota regulators estimate as much as 70 tons of filter socks may be discarded in the state each day.
As Bakken development has boomed over the last half-dozen years, industrial waste volumes have ballooned along with crime, truck traffic, and out-of-state workers. In 2001 North Dakota's landfills took in nearly 10,000 tons of special waste from oilfields – like chemical-laden rock and soil, and oil-soaked dirt. In 2013 they took in nearly 1.8 million tons, according to the state health department. These numbers don't include North Dakota's radioactive oilfield waste, which hasn't been tracked, though it's likely expanded at a similar rate. Even industrial waste landfills cannot legally accept most oilfield rubbish containing low levels of radioactivity, which has led to some particularly egregious dumping incidents, including the one near Schreiber's landfill. An even larger pile was left in an old gas station in the tiny town of Noonan near the Canadian border earlier this year.
Those incidents made national news, and now the state is drafting rules to require oil producers to track low level radioactive waste from the time it's created to the moment it slides into a special waste landfill. The North Dakota Petroleum Council – an oil and gas industry group – supports the changes, saying that it will level the playing field since many of its member companies already document where they send their radioactive waste.
The bulk of the radioactive waste under scrutiny comes in the form of butterfly-net-shaped mesh tubes called filter socks. Drillers use the socks to strain out solid wastes and prevent wells from clogging with sediment while wastewater is injected deep underground for disposal. By the time the filters are discarded, they've usually accumulated radium, a uranium decay byproduct that's a natural part of oil-rich shale. Last year, 954 socks made it past Schreiber into the McKenzie County landfill, and landfills statewide reported rejecting 89 loads of them.
North Dakota regulators estimate as much as 70 tons of filter socks may be discarded in the state each day. But no one really knows for sure how much low-level radioactive waste oilfields create in the form of filter socks, sludge from tanks, or crud built up in pipes, in the Bakken or elsewhere across the West. Nor does anyone know exactly how such waste might affect workers exposed to it if it's handled improperly. Oil field waste emits low enough levels of radiation that is not hazardous to be near in the short term, unless it's inhaled or ingested. But effects from long-term exposure are unknown. So "it does need to be handled properly, there's no question about it," says Scott Radig, the North Dakota Department of Health's waste management director. North Dakota's Department of Health recently began requiring drillers to keep temporary leak-proof storage containers for filter socks at the drilling site.
North Dakota's particularly stringent requirements for disposing of any radioactive waste are catching part of the blame for encouraging illegal dumping of oilfield waste. Those rules were created before anyone could foresee that hydraulic fracturing would create a massive boom in western North Dakota that pumped out more than a million barrels of oil per day. The state allows radioactive waste containing 5 picocuries of radium per gram, one of the strictest standards in the country. To put that level into perspective, it's similar to the amount of radiation that occurs naturally in North Dakota soil.
Companies that do handle their waste legally must ship filter socks and other radioactive waste to special disposal facilities in other states. Much of it goes to Idaho, which has a site allowing up to 1,500 picocuries per gram, and Colorado (which allows up to 400 picocuries per gram), Texas, or Washington. And as of last year, an entrepreneurial farmer in Montana, where 30 picocuries per gram are allowed, opened a special waste landfill, which can now take some of it too.
Now, hoping to curb illegal dumping by making waste disposal more convenient, North Dakota officials are considering raising the level of radiation permitted in waste, a move supported by the North Dakota Petroleum Council. North Dakota doesn't anticipate its levels will go as high as Idaho or Colorado's. "That waste is generated here and we believe that it should be disposed of properly here," says Tessa Sandstrom, the council's communications manager. The state's health department is working with Argonne National Lab near Chicago, and the University of North Dakota, to study the risks of low-level naturally occurring radiation, including health risks to people working around it and transporting it, and possible harm to the public and the environment after landfill closure or from spills.
Other oil producing states are also grappling with low level radioactive debris. Pennsylvania is studying radiation in its Marcellus Shale with an eye toward changing its disposal rules for radioactive oilfield byproducts. In March, West Virginia passed a law requiring separate lined containers for hot drilling waste, while expanding how much landfills can accept.
Hoping to curb illegal dumping by making waste disposal more convenient, North Dakota officials are considering raising the level of radiation permitted in waste.
Some see raising North Dakota's proposal to increase allowed levels of radiation as more of a boon to oil companies that have to deal with high disposal and trucking expenses, than a means to protect public health and safety. Members of a recently formed citizen's watchdog group, the North Dakota Energy Industry Waste Coalition, say illegal waste dumping is evidence that the state is inadequately enforcing its current rules, not a reason to allow higher levels of radiation in North Dakota.
Schreiber is fine with the state raising the radiation limit – if the waste sites are heavily regulated and inspected often. But he's also skeptical that enforcement will actually get any better. It took 14 months for the state to follow up with one company he reported for bringing filter socks into his landfill. Plus, even if the radiation level increases, filter socks would still have to go to special waste landfills, not the ones for household waste like Schreiber's. He still wonders whether bad actors will avoid paying to use new special landfills in North Dakota if enforcement doesn't improve. (The health department says that they do immediate follow-up on most cases, but that the spike in illegal dumping means it can take longer to get to each one.)
"We're not talking about Chernobyl," he says of the waste. But he still wants to see less of it coming his way. "We don't know for a guy like me who is around this stuff every single day what the long term effects will be on me or my guys. These guys who say there is more radiation in a banana or your countertops – that's great, but I don't sit on my counter with a banana in my mouth all day long."
Sarah Jane Keller is a correspondent for High Country News and is based in Bozeman, Montana. She tweets @sjanekeller.]]>
The dust and traffic and lights aren't always easy to live with, and sometimes they create tension between local residents and industry. Rarely, however, do we stop to consider what all of this new infrastructure collectively costs us. How much vegetation is being lost to the boom nationwide, and how much does its loss matter? How fragmented is habitat becoming at a regional or continental scale?
Brady Allred, an assistant professor of rangeland ecology at the University of Montana, had the seeds of such questions planted in his mind while living in Oklahoma a few years ago, doing research on plants, fire and grazing. Oil and gas wasn't new to Oklahoma, by any means, but new wells were popping up all over the place. Allred was struck by how much infrastructure and activity came with them. "The pad sizes were bigger, the amount of transportation, the amount of people that were needed," he recalls. "That's because of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. It requires a lot of space and equipment to get that done. You'd drive by at night and it looked like a little village out there, all lit up." He moved to Montana and visited neighboring North Dakota's gushing oil fields, and noticed the same things. "I thought, 'I wonder what it would be like if we zoomed out and looked at the bigger picture?' "
He and a few colleagues did just that for the central U.S. — including the intermountain West — and Canada. Their results, published in the journal Science in late April, provide the clearest picture to date of the cumulative ecological impact of the drilling frenzy of the last decade-plus.
The researchers wanted to broadly gauge the ecosystem services lost to oil and gas development — things like the land's ability to produce food and support wildlife. So they decided to quantify changes in "net primary production," essentially a measurement of a landscape's plant growth. By combining a large dataset on new wells drilled throughout the study region between 2000 and 2012 with annual satellite measurements of plant growth, they concluded that some 7.5 million acres had been stripped of vegetation — the equivalent of three Yellowstone National Parks.
Much of the development took place on rangelands and croplands. The vegetation loss on rangeland represented enough forage to support 5 million cows for a month; the acreage of developed cropland was enough to grow 120.2 million bushels of wheat, or about 13 percent of the wheat exported in 2013.
Julia Haggerty, an assistant professor of geography at Montana State University, and a co-author on the paper, says the findings "reinforce for me that we do very little assessment of oil and gas impacts beyond the scale at which most permitting decisions are made."
Big as they seem, the numbers are actually pretty small when considered against the total landmass studied. But if current trends continue for another 10 or 15 years, the loss of vegetation could be much more consequential, significantly reducing the landscape's ability to store carbon, and possibly conflicting with food production, and other land uses. The losses thus far, the researchers note, may be long-term; reclamation typically isn't done until the end of the well's life, and even then, requirements and monitoring are spotty between states and on private land, where 90 percent of the drilling in the study took place.
The point Allred and his colleagues want to make is that these are trade-offs we're making unconsciously. It would be wise, they say, to continue quantifying them and consciously decide how much land and ecosystem services we're willing to cede to oil and gas production. "This is kind of a thief in the night — it's just crept up on us," Allred explains. "Everyone's excited about drilling because it's great for jobs and energy independence. All of those things are important. We just wanted to say, 'This is what we're losing because of it.' We've decided up until now we're OK losing three Yellowstones. At what number are we not OK?"
Remember the Dust Bowl, he cautions. It stemmed from technological advances — combustion engines and tractors — that allowed people to farm almost anything. And they did. "That removed a bunch of natural vegetation and reduced the resilience of the region to drought," Allred says. An accumulation of small disturbances resulted in a big disaster. To be clear, he's not saying that drilling activity has put us at the precipice of a similar catastrophe, just that we need to pay more attention to what the small things add up to. "We have the technology to make sure (the Dust Bowl) doesn't happen again. We have the ability to monitor acre-by-acre. We can look at these cumulative effects."
Cally Carswell is a High Country News contributing editor based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Follow @callycarswell
Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr user Bryan Jones.]]>
These days you can ride the light rail into lower downtown, an area that was half rail yard, half urban blight back when Dynasty was wrapping up, and look up at the bright blue sky reflected in the facades of brand new, steel and glass residential/office/retail buildings. A gleaming white arc-like structure stretches over the stop for the Amtrak trains, and beyond that, the century-old, but beautifully refurbished Union Station rises up, it's neon telling you to "Travel by Train." The vibe is futuristic hip, a far cry from that old quasi-Houston feel.
Or maybe not. See that new energy-efficient building adjacent to Union Station? It is the headquarters for Antero Resources, one of the top oil and gas companies drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in the East. Apollo Exploration employees look out at all the new buildings from a couple blocks away. Noble Energy and Encana Oil and Gas have offices on the other side of downtown; in between are Anadarko, Halcon Resources, EOG Resources, QEP Resources and plenty more. One estimate has 30 percent of Denver's downtown office space occupied by oil and gas industry workers.
Over the last couple of decades, Denver has transformed itself into a greener, transit-oriented city, and a trendy magnet for millennials. Fossil fuels have helped drive the metamorphosis. According to statistics recently released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Denver now has one of the healthiest gross domestic products in the nation. The metro area's GDP grew by 4 percent in 2013, about half of which is attributed to extractive industries. Close to 30,000 people are directly employed by the fossil fuel industry in northern Colorado, either in Denver offices or the oil fields of Weld County, which yielded some $4.5 billion worth of crude last year. Greeley, a cow-town north of Denver with a massive meatpacking plant, saw its GDP jump by a whopping 10 percent, and it has nothing to do with cattle.
The story's similar across the West: The shale oil boom has pulled old energy towns — thrown into a slump by the sudden and massive deflation of natural gas prices a few years ago — back into the black, as well as creating some new ones. Among the top performing metros are Casper, Wyoming, Fargo, North Dakota, and Bakersfield, California. Jimmy Carter's dream is finally coming to fruition: Domestic oil production has reached levels not seen since Blake Carrington and Alexis Colby were duking it out on Dynasty, and oil companies are raking in record profits — $1.8 billion for Anadarko last year, $2.6 billion for EOG Resources. Now if someone would just make another Western soap opera that includes wistful, moonlit dialogue scenes on drilling rigs.
Since all the big energy states tax the oil and gas that comes from the ground, those state governments should be flush, too. And in some cases they are. Alaska regularly pulls in around $4 billion per year from energy production taxes, and North Dakota's severance tax revenues totaled more than $2.5 billion in 2013, or more than $3,500 per resident. Colorado, meanwhile, only got about one-sixteenth what North Dakota did (and just $28 per resident). That's despite the fact that Colorado produces about one-fifth as much oil as North Dakota, and nearly ten times the natural gas.
Colorado, it turns out, has one of the lowest effective severance tax rates in energy country. A Headwaters Economics analysis found that Colorado would collect about $1.2 million in taxes from the same well from which Wyoming or North Dakota would collect $2.2 million. And a Colorado Legislative Council study earlier this year painted an even more disparate picture. When exemptions and tax credits are figured in, Colorado has an effective severance tax rate of just 1.5 percent, compared to North Dakota's 10.7 percent.
In theory, that would lure drillers to set up their rigs on the Colorado rather than the Wyoming side of the state line, thus giving Colorado the jobs, as well as state and local taxes and impact fees, those rigs bring. But a look at drilling activity in oil and gas fields that cross state lines show no such preference — geology and land ownership, and perhaps regulations, appear to be more influential. Similarly, despite the fact that Colorado has a 4.63 percent corporate income tax, and Wyoming has none, oil companies tend to set up shop in Denver, not Cheyenne. Regardless, another study, this one out of the University of Michigan, found that many states have actually been lowering their tax rates as production has increased.
Severance tax allocation varies from state to state — some goes to general funds, Wyoming sends kids to college, Alaska sends checks to everyone. Ideally some of the money's put away into a trust fund, or used in a way that makes the affected communities more able to weather the next bust. A repeat of the 80s crash is unlikely — the preceding boom was driven less by scarcity than by geopolitics, first, and then federal energy policy, including massive subsidies, which were discontinued by the Reagan administration. This boom is driven by drilling technology and the rising price of oil, which is fueled by burgeoning demand from China, India and developing countries. That's not likely to go away entirely, but every boom busts someday, and when it does, Colorado may regret throwing away all those would-be severance tax revenues.
But when that day comes, Denver will be far better prepared to deal with it. Despite energy's outsized role, the economy is far more diversified than in the early '80s — finance, high tech and so-called cleantech, which includes wind and solar companies, are also big sectors. Plus, public funds have been invested wisely in infrastructure, transportation and in making the city a desirable place for companies — including oil companies — to relocate, with or without high taxes.
And as long as the oil and money are flowing, those script writers may as well start working on a Dynasty for the millennial set.
Jonathan Thompson is a senior editor at High Country News.
Follow @jonnypeace]]>
The oil fields are pumping out more than a million barrels per day – up from 124,000 in 1981. The activity has brought a stream of revenue, people and jobs to this historically economically depressed region.
This photography examines what remains on the land from previous booms and how the region is changing again today. Experts anticipate that extraction will continue for the next few decades, but no one knows for sure when the industry will pull out or how drilling will impact the landscape in the long term, when the landscape is quiet again.]]>
The coroner who examined Sherman determined that he died of heart disease. But last month, the Centers for Disease Control released a report saying that toxic fumes from the oil tank likely killed Sherman, along with eight other oil and gas workers who died under similar circumstances in different parts of the country. As thousands continue to seek work in the oil fields of the Interior West, CDC has added hydrocarbon inhalation to the long list of ways the oil and gas industry can kill workers.
Oil and gas extraction work has a death rate about six to seven times higher than the average job, trumping the construction industry and other mining sectors. Its hazards include working with heavy equipment and toxic materials, outside and in all kinds of weather—and often alone. Western oil and gas workers have died in 90-foot falls, toxic gas inhalations, vehicle crashes, crushings and rendings by equipment, and explosions. Many are contract workers, who often lack training and familiarity with equipment.
Moreover, to save money, companies have been known to hang on to old and outdated equipment, or to take shortcuts on safety shields and railings. Industry critics say companies' rush to produce means often overlooking worker safety. In 2007, Kim Floyd, head of Wyoming AFL-CIO, told HCN, "(The oil and gas industry) treats employees like a commodity."
Lax regulations are also to blame, Rebecca Reindel, senior safety and health specialist for AFL-CIO, said. "I would agree (with Floyd's statement). But it's also because oil and gas is exempt from a lot of safety and health regulations that other industries have to follow." Take benzene: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) standards for benzene exposure in most industries is one part per million (ppm); for oil and gas, it's 10 ppm.
Journalists at Inside Energy found that 366 oil and gas workers died on the job between 2011 and 2013. Texas, rife with such jobs, had the highest number of deaths, at 156, but North Dakota had the highest fatality rate, at 75 deaths per 100,000 workers—about 3 times the national rate for the industry. (New Mexico and Oklahoma also had higher-than-industry-average death rates). North Dakota's oil and gas worker death rate has doubled since 2007, according to an AFL-CIO report. The industry's record in the state is so dismal that it has made North Dakota the most dangerous state for workers (followed by Wyoming), driving its overall workplace fatality rate up to 14.9 deaths per 100,000 workers.
Recently, the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) launched the Fatalities in Oil and Gas Extraction database (FOG) to track oil and gas deaths, with their first report expected soon. FOG may be an improvement on what we know about oil and gas deaths, but the database will be unable to track all relevant fatalities. NIOSH, like other organizations that track workplace deaths, relies on a combination of media coverage and reports by OSHA. And that agency does not track fatalities stemming from on-the-job vehicle crashes and work-triggered illnesses.
Besides, some deaths are unexplained. Last year, NIOSH began an investigation after seeing a handful of unexplained deaths that occurred while the deceased was working with fuel tanks. Officials suspected some of these might have been caused by hydrocarbon inhalation because, when the hatches of oil tanks are opened, the gases and vapors trapped inside at high pressures can be released in high concentrations. Hydrocarbon inhalation can cause asphyxiation, narcotic effects, arrhythmia, hypoxia, and respiratory depression.
NIOSH found nine fuel tank-related deaths that happened between 2010 and 2014, six of which occurred in 2014 (three occurred in Colorado, three in North Dakota, and one each in Montana, Texas, and Oklahoma).
All of the cases happened when the worker was alone or unobserved. In at least one case, the deceased had sought medical attention for symptoms during prior work with fuel tanks. In one case, a gas monitor worn by the deceased showed high levels of toxic gases and vapors (more than ten times the recommended exposure level), and low levels of oxygen around the time of the incident.
Investigators also found that many fuel tanks emitted concentrations of toxic gases and vapors up to four times the recommended exposure level, and that hydrocarbons near the open hatches of fuel tanks often exceeded safe levels.
NIOSH has issued new safety recommendations for the oil and gas industry, including implementing new systems to let workers monitor fuel tanks remotely, safety training for workers on the hazards of fuel tanks, the use of self-contained breathing apparatuses and gas monitors, and new emergency procedures.
Kenny Jordan, executive director of the Association of Energy Service Companies, said the industry is working hard to reduce the overall fatality rate. "Any fatality is a bad fatality, and we obviously want to make that zero. Everyone's cognizant of the issue, and the industry is trying to make improvements. We're moving in the right direction."
Kindra McQuillan is an editorial intern for High Country News.
Follow @KindraMcQuillan]]>
The Week magazine celebrated Elsie Eiler, 71, of Monowi, Neb., as the most powerful person in her town. She's also the only person in her town. When her husband died last year, the population halved. But Eiler said she's not leaving: "I like it here." Too bad many others don't appreciate freedom from traffic jams and small-town living, as Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and the Dakotas continue to search for ways to stop a steady population exodus. Free land seems to help. USA Today reports that Ellsworth, Kan., and at least five other towns in the state have been successful in luring families by giving them lots for homes and sometimes eliminating taxes.
A full-page ad for a Toyota SUV in Backpacker magazine features the big truck precariously parked on the down slope of what looks like a giant-bouldered sandstone cliff. How the vehicle got there — and how it was muscled back out again — are two unsolved mysteries; let's hope the brakes held for the photo shoot. The ad's headline is no help, though it is an unintentional hoot: "NO INTELLIGENT LIFE OUT HERE. JUST YOU." Well, we're not so sure about "you," either.
Does West Hollywood have a double standard for beauty? Movie actors can smooth out their wrinkles with Botox and liposuction away their flab, but they may no longer be allowed to "improve" the looks of their pets through ear cropping or tail docking. It's all for the good of the animals, says Mayor Paul Duran. West Hollywood has already declared that pets are the wards of their "guardians," and last year, the town began regulating the pet-grooming industry. The town's latest target is any surgical procedure that doesn't have a medical rationale. That would include declawing cats or silencing the barks of dogs, says the Los Angeles Times.
Denver police botched the capture of an alleged serial rapist, but when the suspect, Brent J. Brents, was said to be heading west on Interstate 70, Glenwood Springs cops took up the chase. You might assume that small-city police weren't up to snuff, says the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, especially since their most recent coup was nabbing two men accused of stealing knickknacks and sewing materials from downtown stores. But the local police did everything right: They staked out the highway, forced Brents onto unfamiliar roads through town, and then arrested him without incident once he was trapped on a dead-end street.
The little town of Hotchkiss, population 1,000, asked residents a big question recently: What would they like to see in this western Colorado town 10 years from now? Even though it's still a ranching area, we find one answer — as printed in The North Fork Merchant Herald — a little odd: "Need reasonable or low-cow, high-speed Internet access."
A conversation in Bozeman about President Bush ended with one man in the hospital and another accused of pistol whipping. The dispute began when Matthew Logan Doddy, 23, called President Bush "incompetent and stupid," reports the Bozeman Chronicle. The man he was talking to "apparently disagreed." But it was a third man who ended up with 11 stitches to his head. He made the mistake of trying to stop the discussion.
An unseasonable spring "set off the alarm clock a little early for hibernating bears in Montana," says the Missoulian. Melting snow leaking into high-altitude dens woke up some of the bears, and some must have emerged ill-tempered as well as hungry. One bear killed four goats in Kalispell; another, which had denned in a city park in Missoula, had to be killed in March after it started rooting around in garbage and approaching people. State wildlife biologists say food sources for bears exist now, but they're concerned about a dry summer.
Betsy Marston is editor of Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News in Paonia, Colorado. Tips of Western oddities are often shared in the column, Heard around the West.


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The room is big and clean, bed was very comfy, but TV offers only Chinese channels; free WiFi everywhere, and there's a big shopping mall just right behind it, so there's no problem finding restaurants, starbucks ...etc. Breakfast was barely acceptable. Basically it's more like a 4 star hotel with no gym and pool.
Top-rated Attractions Nearby

subset: commoncrawl


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Our staff, as climbers themselves, have a passion for climbing, the sport they instruct.
With a wide range of teaching experience they operate with vigorous safety procedures whilst ensuring every session is enjoyable and fulfilling for participants.
Our lead instructor holds an National Governing Body (NGB) qualification.
We're a friendly bunch, we love to climb and The Wall allows us to bring climbing directly to you!
Also see:


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Once again the Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Department of Revenue, US Department of Labor and Montana Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve in partnership with local Chamber of Commerce, Job Service Employee Committees (JSEC), and Montana State University are hosting the Assistance for Business Clinics statewide.
This hands-on clinic is specially designed to assist New & Established employers, accountants, bookkeepers, human resource professionals & lawyers by providing a broader understanding and/or steps to implement the latest changes to various law, rules and regulations. Attendees will also receive reference materials including but not limited to the following areas:
Download Registration Here
In addition to learning about subject wages and reporting requirements, this year Unemployment Insurance Contributions Bureau is introducing our brand new web services – email@example.com. Employers will learn how to e-file quarterly reports and payments, view benefit charges and other correspondence, and send and receive messages from the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Bureau.
Payroll preparers from accounting firms and bookkeeping services are also highly encouraged to attend as we will be explaining the new processes for enrolling clients, demonstrating how to file returns individually or by utilizing bulk services. We will also explain how to upload payroll exported to Excel, amend returns, and more. The Montana Unemployment Insurance program has also worked with Intuit to provide QuickBooks users a more efficient way to e-file UI reports and pay the tax due. There are many new and improved services available on our new UI eServices for Employers web portal and we are excited to introduce it to the public!
Provides an overview of the Unemployment Insurance Benefit Program. Participants will learn about the program from an employer perspective. Employers play an intricate part in the integrity of the UI program by providing complete, accurate and timely information when requested. This ensures proper benefit payments to claimants and proper charging of employer accounts. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the types of information needed by the Department to properly administer the program.
The Bureau also touches on the types of UI claims, their rights and requirements as of an employer when claims are filed, separations from employment (what steps to take when an individual quits or is discharged) and other issues that affect claimant eligibility for benefits. The Division's efforts to detect, prevent and reduce fraud in the Unemployment Insurance Program are also covered during the presentation.
In this presentation the presenter will review the basis of the Montana Workers' Compensation System. After this basic review, participants will be guided through a series of questions and answers that respond to common concerns employers bring to the Department of Labor and Industry. Also, the presenter will be available to answer participant's questions about the Department's activities to reduce costs within Montana's Workers' Compensation System.
The Department of Revenue will provide a broad overview of the taxes administered by the department. The focus of the presentation will center on E-File applications that will aid the business in their filing requirements.
Montana Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, and agency of the Department of Defense, presents an overview of the Uniformed Services Employment Reemployment Rights Act as it pertains to the employment of Guard and Reserve members. ESGR works to develop and promote a culture in which all American employers support and value the military service of their employees.
An overview of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Montana's wage & hour laws will be presented. Both the FLSA and Montana law mandates minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and recordkeeping requirements. The presentation will discuss coverage, employment relationship, exemptions, hours worked and Montana's Wage Payment Act. Compliance with child labor and recordkeeping requirements will also be discussed, along with how to obtain compliance assistance information.
Call: (406) 444-2840Fax: (406) 444-1419TTY: (406) 444-0532
P.O. Box 1728Helena, MT 59624-1728
Montana Department of Labor and Industry


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Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.
+1 212 318 2000
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Incyte Corp. said Monday it reached a deal with the Food and Drug Administration on a design for a late-stage study of a potential treatment for a blood cancer.
The company is developing INCB18424 as a treatment for polycythemia vera, a blood disorder in which the bone marrow overproduces red blood cells and makes the blood too thick.
The study is expected to enroll 300 patients, with enrollment beginning in the U.S. in October.
Shares of Incyte fell 9 cents to $13.97 in afternoon trading.
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I'm from the San Diego area, but live in San Jose. I currently work for a startup, but before moving to the Bay area I was living in Madrid, Spain. Prior to working in technology, I pursued playing professional soccer in Europe, but not before finishing my degree in SocioCultural Anthropology at UCSD. I consider myself a generalist at heart, and easy to talk to. Please call me anytime.


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For all of you into debating whether James Bond or Jason Bourne is the best, here's an article by Noah Sanders that goes through everything from fighting scenes to driving abilities… and the conclusion might be controversial… (personally I'd say Bourne, but I haven't seen the latest Bond yet…) [via Digg.]
By the way – the first exclusive international trailer for The Bourne Ultimatum can be found here.
Live Free or Die Hard – the trailer for the latest Bruce Willis flick is now available at Yahoo.
(Picture of Movieland, the only cinema in Bonaire, taken on February 14, 2007.)


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Thursday, September 12, 2013
5 Comments | Copyright: india-forums.com/tellybuzz
Adaalat on
Sony TV, has left a mark on the viewers with its interesting story line which
is very entertaining as it revolves around a defense lawyer (K.D Pathank
a.k.a Ronit Bose Roy), who fights his each case to set free the innocent victims.
the upcoming episode, Hiren who had been accused of the murder of
his parents is now released from the asylum. He goes back to his house where
the murder had taken place. The other members of the family are not happy with
Hiren around.
Hiren sees these dark shadows near the window pane and
starts screaming. Later we see bats hanging from the window pane which make him
scared. There are two more murders that take place and Hiren is running with
blood on his clothes which make people think he is the murderer.
KD on meeting him finds about his behavior weird .The situation becomes worse when another murder takes place in the court premises and it was Hiren who ran into that room and locked it. Later when cops went there he was sitting at a corner and scared looking at the body.
How will KD save Hiren now? Why does he get scared looking at the bats?
Tune in to watch Adaalat Saturday- Sunday 7.30pm, only on Sony Entertainment Television.
Popular Search Terms: adaalat eps bats
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SDI is a Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) headquartered in Huntsville, AL, with offices in Gainesville, FL; St. Louis, MO; Ft. Huachuca, AZ; Ft. Hood, TX; and Queensland, Australia. SDI is a high technology engineering services firm with a focus on aviation, missile, and UAV/UAS systems and operations. Through research, development, and business process analysis, SDI assists our customers in making smart advanced weapons systems program decisions.
SDI supports Team Redstone customers to include the Program Executive Office – Aviation, the Aviation and Missile Command, and the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center. The Army relies on SDI for its expertise and experience in aviation, UAV, and missile programs. SDI also leverages its aviation technical and engineering expertise to conduct Small Business Innovative Research projects in support of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
SDI has made valuable contributions to aviation and missile system programs for more than 30 years. Our experience in business planning and management, requirements analysis, design, development, testing, and fielding of some of the Armed Forces' major systems provides our customers the support necessary to successfully field the current and future systems our Soldiers need.
SDI Latest News
Monday, 30 March 2015 09:13
SDI donates $1,000 to the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) Scholarship Fund
SDI is proud to support the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) by donating $1000 to the AAAA.Scholarship Fund at…Read more...
Tuesday, 25 November 2014 13:10
SDI Awarded BPA Prime Contract
SDI is pleased to announce it has been awarded an AMCOM EXPRESS BPA prime contract. SDI was awarded a Blanket…Read more...


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kostby Jul 30, 2012 4:52 AM
in response to rockandstroll Helpful
Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
Sounds like the problem is with the battery itself, not the charger.
, About This Mac, More Info..., Hardware, Power, Battery Information will provide a snapshot of battery health:
(This screenshot is from OS X 10.6.8 'Snow Leopard' on a MacBook with an aftermarket battery.
The exact display on your OS X 10.5.8 'Leopard' screen will be somewhat different, but contain similar information.)
rockandstroll Jul 30, 2012 5:02 AM
in response to kostby
You're right it says exactly that, Condition: Check Battery, looks like I'll have to a get new one.
frederic1943 Jul 30, 2012 6:34 AM
in response to rockandstroll
If you have a MacBook with the removable battery you can get a new third party battery fairly cheap on eBay. Every MacBook from 2006 through Mid 2009 except the Late 2008 Aluminum Unibody use the same battery.
Black Batteries http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=macbook+black+battery&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_sop=12 &_dmpt=Laptop_Batteries&_odkw=macbook+white+battery&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0. m 270.l1313
White Batteries http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=macbook+white+battery&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_sop=12 &_dmpt=Laptop_Batteries&_odkw=macbook+black+battery&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0. m 270.l1313
Or for $129 from The Apple Store http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA566LL/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY


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Dear Environmental Forum Readers: Environmentalism can be ignited in many ways: through hands-on learning, direct experience with nature, processing scientific data, and more.
Today, I'm pleased to introduce you to Charlene Jung, Asian Segment Marketing Program manager here at Wells Fargo. Charlene believes that professional success begins with finding passion in what you do every day, supporting the communities where we work and mentoring as a key component of professional development. She has joined us to share some of the work she's doing and show us how art can be used to spark environmental passion. (—SR)
How we care for our environment affects everyone, everywhere. That's why Wells Fargo was so excited to help launch a new program with the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association of Houston (APAHA) to promote green awareness and conservation to Asian/Pacific American youth.
Wells Fargo served as legacy sponsor for this first-of-its-kind "Go Green" Art Contest and Expo that works with students to promote Asian American environmental stewardship. The program involves young people creating art to educate and engage the community on sustainability and conservation. Over 30 students from three Houston-area school districts entered in two categories: drawing/2D design and 3D design.
"Go Green" Art Contest and Expo, we hope to promote a healthier, more sustainable world, one community at a time!


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Jun 21 2013, 3:36pm CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr
Madonna has joked that her daughter Lourdes doesn't speak to her anymore.
While the 54-year-old singer has a close relationship with the 16 year old, even starting the fashion line, Material Girl, with her, Madonna joked Lourdes doesn't talk to her because she is so obsessed with her iPhone.
In an interview on 'Good Morning America' to promote her new documentary 'Madonna: The MDNA Tour', she said: "Ever since my daughter got an iPhone she stopped talking to me.
"Seeing my daughter at 16 - it's kind of uncomfortable. She's still my little girl and she's also a woman."
While Madonna is uncomfortable with Lourdes getting older, she also spoke of her 12-year-old son Rocco who is now "a foot taller" than he was during her 2012 'MDNA Tour', with "facial hair" and likes "looking at girls butts".
She added: "He's the showboat in the family."
Although they have a famous mother, Madonna tries to be strict with her children and gave Lourdes the "very unglamorous task dressing and undressing the male dancers" during the tour.
Madonna said: "It had its unglamorous moments. They're disgusting and they're sweaty and they're rude. She took her job very seriously."
The documentary will debut on EPIX on June 22.
Source: Bang Showbiz
Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding Chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at firstname.lastname@example.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.
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