-
SEP HCP Overview
Stopping a Regional Habitat Conservation Plan By Dan Byfield Whether you’ve witnessed our federal government creating a “federal” plan in your community or not, this story typifies what is going on nationwide. We were called upon to help one community in South-Central Texas fight a federal plan and won. Take this as an example of what you can do in your own community and start taking your hom...
Read more... -
Coordination Shoves Lizard off the ESA List
Permian Basin:Coordination Shoves Lizard off the ESA List Coordination Works | By Dan Byfield | July 2, 2012 On June 14, 2012, American Stewards of Liberty had a remarkable victory. After a year of working with the oil and gas industry, eight counties in Texas and New Mexico and one soil and water conservation district, we prevented the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) from listing a th...
Read more... -
A Rail to Nowhere
Kings County:A Rail to Nowhere Coordination Works | Margaret Byfield | December 19, 2011 Fueled by President Obama’s vision to build High Speed Rail systems in America, California has been working quickly to pass the necessary environmental clearances and start phase one of their statewide project. The proposed California High Speed Rail system would carry passengers from the San Francisco Bay ...
Read more... -
Slaying A Giant
Coordination Works | Dan Byfield | December 13, 2011 For the past seven months, American Stewards of Liberty has been fighting a real life giant. A giant that has the ability to destroy an entire region which currently provides 20 percent of all the oil produced in America. It’s not a foreign army or a terrorist group, but a three-inch lizard known as the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard (DSL) supposed...
Read more... -
Sand Dunes Lizard in Texas and New Mexico
News and Updates | August 10, 2011 | Margaret Byfield -- Scattered across the Permian Basin of West Texas that crosses the Texas border into New Mexico is a little lizard that has been identified as a sub-species because notably, it carries a few more tiny scales on one leg. While its “sub-species” status is still in question, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined the reptile warrant...
Read more... -
High Speed Rail in California
News and Updates | August 10, 2011 | Margaret Byfield -- With the promise of Obama Stimulus money, the California High Speed Rail Authority (Authority) has been working quickly to finalize plans for a Bullet train that would eventually connect San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. Their expedited plans bring the new corridor right through the heart of California’s Central Valley,...
Read more... -
Prairie Dogs in Wyoming
News and Updates | August 10, 2011 | Margaret Byfield -- Two years ago, the U.S. Forest Service made the decision to expand the “no-shoot” zone for prairie dogs from approximately 17,000 acres in the Thunder Basin National Grasslands, to 86,000 acres. Their stated purpose for the expansion was to create the necessary habitat that will eventually support a potential introduction of the endangered...
Read more... -
"Coordinating Agency Status" Does Not Exist
Coordination Works | April 13, 2011 | Margaret Byfield -- In some cases where local governments have insisted the federal agencies coordinate their plans and management activities as required by law, the agencies have initially refused. What is revealing in these instances are the arguments used to avoid complying with the very clear mandate set forth by Congress. One of the most recent argu...
Read more... -
Arizona Ranchers Saved from Tortoise Listing
Coordination Works | March 3, 2011 | Margaret Byfield -- A year and a half ago, the environmental organization Wild Earth Guardians sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to list the Sonoran Desert Tortoise as an endangered species. They were met by an unexpected adversary in Arizona: The Winkelman Natural Resource Conservation District (District). Last year, we reported on the stea...
Read more... -
Coordination Stops Transmission Line Deep in the Heart of Texas
Coordination Works | February 2, 2011 | Dan Byfield --It took 16 months, but the coordination process was a key component in stopping a major electric transmission line from being constructed through a small, rural county deep in the Heart of Texas.When we received the call, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) had just postponed making their decision to run a 345 kV transmission line through an ad...
Read more... -
Two Court Cases Decided for Coordination
Coordination Works | January 6, 2011 -- We begin the New Year fresh with two positive decisions from two California courts that reinforce the agency’s obligation to coordinate with local governments. Sonoma County Water Coalition v. Sonoma County Water Agency In the first case, Sonoma County Water Coalition v. Sonoma County Water Agency, a California Court has again recognized the obligation o...
Read more... -
Three Reasons to Like NEPA
Coordination Works | December 10, 2010 | Margaret Byfield -- In a recent Coordination Class in Casper, Wyoming, I asked an audience of landowners and local government officials if they liked dealing with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Their response was a resounding “no,” which is the reaction landowners and private property advocates normally have when you mention the federal law...
Read more...