State
Staff: Miss. Power offering ideas to settle Kemper
AP
The man in charge of negotiating a settlement to wind down Mississippi Power Co.’s coal-fueled power plant project says the company has already made proposals.
NOAA defends dolphin stranding response
WLOX
Yellowstone National Park, which covers parts of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, lies on top of a supervolcano that could effectively wipe out the United States if it were to explode. The last time it did, 640,000 years ago, it expelled 240 cubic miles (think about that) of rocky debris into the sky.
http://www.newsweek.com/montana-earthquake-yellowstone-supervolcano-632736 Weather Channel video: Here's a look at how major storms, hurricanes get their names The Advocate
After the recent White House decision to leave the Paris Agreement, I expected somber moods as I attended a National Conference of the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) and a Lobby Day in D.C. I was joined at the conference by 1,300 volunteers from across the country and we were in for a big surprise - the Hill sees climate change very differently than the White House.
https://www.northsidesun.com/single-post/2017/07/06/Climate-change-momentum-building The Corps versus Mother Nature
Kelley Williams
Northside Sun
My son George said: "I hate to tell you, Dad, but we have a failure to communicate." (As the warden said to Cool Hand Luke.) A friend told him at a recent fund-raiser: "I see your Dad is still trying to change Mother Nature." No, I'm not. I know better. But I am still writing about flooding on the lower Mississippi River.
https://www.northsidesun.com/single-post/2017/07/06/The-Corps-versus-Mother-Nature Transparency Act not so transparent Wyatt Emmerich
Northside Sun
It’s officially summer, and USGS maps can help you to get outside and explore. Updated
US Topo maps and other mapping products now make the planning, plotting and navigation of that next outing easier. Recent partnerships with other Federal, State and non-governmental and commercial organizations have allowed the USGS digital topographic maps to feature additional trails and major recreation points of interest.
Collecting Trail Data From Partners The USGS has become an aggregator of national level trails and recreational features. The mapping division of the USGS, the
National Geospatial Program (NGP) has been seeking and leveraging partnerships with other agencies and organizations by making their data available through USGS mapping products and services. These contributions and collaborative efforts have resulted in the addition of more than 127,455 miles of diverse governmental maintained trails to the Nation’s topographic base maps. The Federal and State input includes:
- 77,548 miles of trails nationally from the U.S. Forest Service
- 14, 923 miles of trails nationally from the National Park Service
- 9,027 miles of trails in the upper and lower parts of Michigan from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
- 4,567 miles of trails throughout the U.S. from the Fish and Wildlife Service
- 2,491 trails in West Virginia from the West Virginia Geographic Information System (GIS) Technical Center
- 716 miles of trails in Alaska from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources
- 621 miles of trails for the State of Colorado from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources
- 479 miles of trails, mostly in the Rocky Mountain states, from the Bureau of Land Management
As the collection, formatting and distribution of this data continues, more cooperation with Federal, state and local agencies is expected to increase – and greatly add to a national database.
National Scenic Trails There are 11 major trail systems that have been designated as a National Scenic Trail. However, there is no national-level coordination of these trails or their map data. The USGS NGP has formed partnerships with many diverse governmental and non-governmental agencies to obtain all relevant data and portray those labeled trail segments on state maps as they are revised.
National Scenic Trails that have been added to USGS map products:
Updated 2016 US Topo map section within Great Smoky Mountains National Park showing Park boundary and enhanced water data compared to the same 2013 US Topo map. (1:24,000 scale). Click to enlarge. (Public domain.)
The total of these trail segments placed on US Topo quadrangles is more than 13,100 miles. The remaining NST awaiting productions is the
Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. The US Topo mapping program is working hard to obtain that data as well as update other trails as new information is provided.
Non-Governmental Trail Collaboration The USGS has been working with the
International Mountain Bike Association(IMBA) and
Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) for approximately three years. The supplied trail data is nationally consistent and is reviewed by supporting agencies and checked with local authorities. Through this partnership, the USGS has collected more than 15,000 miles of trails, and don’t display trails that overlap other trails partnerships. For example, the new maps don’t show IMBA/ REI trails over National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service or Fish and Wildlife Service maps to avoid any confusion.
Recreational Points of Interest: From the various partnerships, the USGS has recently been able to begin to add other recreational points of interest. Starting with a pilot project with the National Park Service, the revised maps for North Carolina included major recreational structures and area in the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Currently, these recreational points of interest are mainly campgrounds, trailheads, visitor centers, and shelters. The initial mix is scattered throughout the Nation and new information is being loaded to maps in revision on a daily basis. At this time, there are more than 9,000 various recreational points of interest in the mapping database.
New US Topo quadrangle within Great Smoky Mountains National Park showing hiking trail and camping data compared to the same 2013 US Topo quad. (1:24,000 scale) Click to enlarge. (Public domain.)
More Than Dirt Trails The National Geospatial Program has incorporated new technologies and processes that will allow the updated maps to feature not just terra trails but also major recognized water and snow routes. This new data will be supplied by the NPS and USF
How to View and Download the Trail and Recreational Information: There are two primary services to view, download and in some cases, manipulate the trail and recreational points of interest information, as well as other base map layers:
US Topo maps: These maps are modeled on the familiar 7.5-minute quadrangle maps of the period 1947-1992, but are mass-produced from national geographic information databases on a repeating cycle. The maps are provided as a digital download from the
USGS Store and presented in traditional map form; this benefits non-specialist map users, as well as applications that need traditional maps. The US Topo map improvement program has entered its
third, three-year cycle of revising and updating digital US Topo quadrangles.
The National Map Viewer and Download Platform: allows visualization and
download of our most current topographic base map data and products. Users can access data from all eight primary data themes of The National Map, and associated products, such as US Topo maps, Historical Topographic Maps, and Map Indices. This viewer is largely meant for experienced GIS users.
If you would like to compare historic maps to current topographic maps, you can download scans of legacy USGS topo maps, some dating back to the late 1800s. These can be downloaded from the USGS
Historical Topographic Map Collection or
topoView.
All USGS mapping services and products are available as a free download.
https://www.usgs.gov/news/finding-yourself-outdoors Zinke Signs Secretarial Order To Streamline Process For Federal Onshore Oil And Gas Leasing Permits OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
7/6/2017
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke today signed a secretarial order to tackle permitting backlogs and delays, identify solutions to improve the permitting process on federal lands, and to identify solutions to improve access to additional parcels of federal land that are appropriate for mineral development. As of January 31, 2017, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had 2,802 Applications for Permit to Drill (APD) pending.
Despite the fact that statute requires that the Department and the BLM process APD review within 30 days, the average time to process an APD in FY16 was 257 days. The directive will improve the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program and the Federal Solid Mineral Leasing Program, which is a major source of income for the federal government and a critical component of American Energy Dominance.
“Oil and gas production on federal lands is an important source of revenue and job growth in rural America but it is hard to envision increased investment on federal lands when a federal permit can take the better part of a year or more in some cases. This is why I'm directing the BLM to conduct quarterly lease sales and address these permitting issues. We are also looking at opportunities to bring support to our front line offices who are facing the brunt of this workload.”
said Secretary Zinke. “This is just good government and will further support the President's goal of American energy dominance.”
As of January 31, 2017, the BLM had 2,802 APDs pending. The five BLM field offices with the highest number of pending APDs are listed below which account for 2,060 or approximately 74 percent of the total pending APDs.
- Casper, Wyoming: APDs pending: 526
- Vernal, Utah: APDs pending: 506
- Dickinson, North Dakota: APDs pending: 488
- Carlsbad/Hobbs, New Mexico: APDs pending: 388
- Farmington, New Mexico: APDs pending: 152
Last year the Department canceled or postponed eleven lease sales. By contrast, the Trump Administration has already held more lease sales in the first six months than in the previous year, offered more acreage in those sales, and raised more revenue than in the same time period last year.
“The Department of the Interior will be a better neighbor in the new Trump Administration,”
Zinke added. “As is outlined in this order, we will look at ways to improve the process and make sure regulations serve their intended purpose rather than create a mountain of useless paperwork. By streamlining approvals of responsible energy development on federal land, and actually holding lease sales, we will generate revenue for local communities and the Treasury to fund the things we all value like National Parks, infrastructure and education.”
Secretarial Order 3354 directs the BLM to make both federal oil and gas resources and solid mineral resources on the public lands available for the benefit of the citizens of the United States. The Order is in compliance with the Mineral Leasing ACT (30 U.S.C. § 226), which requires oil and gas lease sales “be held for each State where eligible lands are available at least quarterly and more frequently if the Secretary of the Interior determines such sales are necessary.”
[Click here for the text version.] The order also directs the BLM to address permitting backlogs and identify areas where improvements can be made in the permitting process to ensure the safe and timely exploration and development of our nation's federal energy resources.
Currently, an applicant pays a non-refundable $9,610 processing fee to the BLM per APD filed. Approved APDs are valid for two years from the date of approval as long as the lease does not expire during that time. For FY18, the President's budget proposal includes a $16 million increase in the Oil and Gas Management program to support permitting and rights-of-way processing.
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