FARM BUREAU HAS NO SHAME: The Farm Bureau is fighting efforts to legally expose how federal tax dollars are used for predator control activities to benefit ranchers and businesses, according to New West Research (NWR). NWR used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the names and addresses of those who use Animal Damage Control "for the purpose of poisoning, trapping, shooting, aerial gunning, denning, or otherwise killing or controlling wildlife." The names are at http://www.new-west-research.org/ in a "Hall of Shame." The Farm Bureau says it will do all it can to hide the identity of those who procure ADC services.

DOLPHIN DEADLY RIDER LOOMS: GREEN sources indicate that yet another rider is in the works, this one trying to head off a lawsuit challenging the use of the "dolphin safe" label for tuna caught by the dolphin encirclement method. This rider, attached to a revised Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations bill at the behest of the Mexican tuna lobby, would give the Secretary of Commerce the legal authority to declare tuna "dolphin safe" even if it was caught by harassing, chasing and netting depleted stocks of dolphins.

EARTH FIRST! WE'LL LOG THE OTHER PLANETS LATER: November 4th is an "international day of education and action" against the World Trade Organization and the proposed "global free logging agreement." The WTO hopes to hammer out a new treaty during its upcoming November meeting. In the name of free-trade the agreement would weaken or eliminate national forest protection laws and promote further liquidation of the world's forests. On Thursday, environmental groups and activists worldwide will be participating in actions to draw attention to the agreement.

"YELLOWSTONE'S SNOWMOBILE POLICY ILL-CONCEIVED": AP reports 11/2 Park managers were ill equipped to deal with competing interests and the full "ramifications" of snowmobile use when they promoted their use in the 1960s through 1980s. Now, the park is struggling with severe congestion, noise and pollution problems, unlike Glacier National Park which banned them in 1975, "a decision that stands today."

SNOWMOBILE POLLUTION REDUX: The Bluewater Network, a group of 60 groups advocating banning snow machines from the national park system, reports 10/28 the NPS "grossly underestimated" the pollution the machines generate. The Network charges that "emissions projections" in a recent NPS air quality report were off by a factor of ten, that is, snowmobiles emit 3,000 times more hydrocarbons and nearly 600 times more carbon monoxide than cars.

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