OCR Text |
Show STATE®ION DAILY HERALD Saturday, April 29, 2006 BP employees invade Juneau over oil-tax bill . Matt Volz THE ASSOCIATED PRESS QUNEAU,Alaska — Alaska legislators are calling it the BP invasion. a recent floor session oft House, the sues ies were filled with of BP Exploration (Alaska)Inc Inc. And these weren't the buttontives who testify legislative committees. y were the rank-and-file Anchorageadministrators h ioe roughnecks. Following tradition, lawmakers introduced the spectators from their district, and worker after worker stood to be acknow! es the profits of oilcoreaniet Alaskaoperations. The tax is to be rolled into a contract between Gov. Frankenna! and BP, Exxon Mobil Corp. on ahey factor in building pipel — the tax and oarees to changes to Alaska’soil-tax system. Atstakeis billions of dollars and possibly the future of a $25 billion natural gas pipeline. The change would create a production tax that is based recover the 35 trillion cubic feet of North Slope natural gas. Murkowski and the three oil companies agreed on rates and incentives. But when it got to the Legislature, lawmakers in sae) the House and Senate the deal, raising the tax oe iad Feds: Only4 to 7 cowsinfected with mad cow nationwide Libby Quaid THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SHINGTON — There are probably a few undetected cases of mad cow disease in the United States, but the total — estimated at four to seven — is “extraordinarily low,” Agriculture Secretary Mike Jo- hanns says. The calculation comes from new testing data released Friday.Testing is likely to be scaled back after a panel of independentscientists reviews the figures, Johanns said. prompting the United States to increase its testing for mad cow disease, whichis medically knownas bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.So far, the U.S. has found three cows infected with the disease. But the first case, a Canadian cow found in Washingtonstate, is not included in the testing analysis. Including that animal would have revised the estimate of infected cows upwardtofive to 11 nationwide. The scientific peer review lence of BSEin the United should be finished by the end of May, Johanns said. Johanns said thereis little justification for keeping up the States is extraordinarily low,” highertesting levels, which rose “The data shows the preva- Johanns told reporters on a conference call. “In other words, wehavean extremely healthy herdofcattle in our country.” The brain-wasting disorder infected more than 180,000 cowsand was blamed for more than 150 human deaths during a European outbreak that peaked in 1993. The first American animal case appeared a decade later, to about 1,000 samples from about 55 after mad cow turned wile U,S. The currentlevelis around 1 percent of the 35 million cattle slaughtered last year in the United States. Johanns pointed out the test- ing is not supposed to protect jo from mad cow disease; testing is supposed to show how poe the disease is. It is the rules for how cattle are slaugh- tered that keeps mad cow disease from entering the food supply for people or animals, he said. Cattle parts believed most likely to carry the disease are removed from cattle at slaughter. The list of parts that must be removed grows with the animal's age, because scientists believe infection levels are higherin older animals. Officials have not decided what the new levelof testing will be but said international guidelinescall for about 110 tests per day. A Senatecritic of the testing said the data arelimited. Some regions of the country had fewer tests because samples were not collected in scientifically random manner. “These shortfalls limit the conclusions we can draw from USDA's expanded testing program,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, Dlowa. The department’s inspector general raised similar concerns in a report earlier this year. trimming the incentive The industry cried foul. The tax rates being proposed are too high and would stifle investmentin the North Slope, ny representatives said. Higher taxes than those agreed to by the governor and the producers Moriarty, spokeswoman for the AlaskaOil and GasAssociation. declining i The (tax)is very important to our future.” The BP employees carried the same message,but took higher taxes will lead to a better Alaska economy. “Some of the Sent usually feel more strongly about have kind of taken a back seatthis year because feel thatthis is an importantone,” said Beam, who is director of BP’s community affairs. “All of the other legislators. One worker, Carla issues become immaterial if you Beam, said she tends to be left- don't havea healthy economy.” Wenzelof ConocoPhillips. . Andrew Van Chau,a BP of center jin her politics and gen“The key thing that we're try- erally supports Democrats. For spokesman who also flew to ing to get across to the public the oil-tax bill, though, she said Juneauto lobby, said the workis that we'rein a critical stage she's aligned with the company ers who come to Juneau are of Alaska’s history,” said Kara volunteers. because she doesn't believe could cause the parties involved in gas-line negotiations to reevaluate the project, said Brian it eyeball-to-eyeball with their Colorado ranch hand recovers after bear attack DanElliot spokesman MichaelSeraphin THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DENVER — Harold Cerda hadjust left an outhouse on a southern Colorado ranch whena bear swatted him to the ground and chased him to his car, where he discovered the animal hadalso eaten his lunch. “Hesent me a good 10 or 15 feet,” Cerda told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. “I'm used to hardfalls because I used to said wildlife officers believe the bear happened along,noticed the lunchin the car and crawled through an open window to help itself. Seraphin said the bear was apparently walking toward the outhouse as Cerda emerged. “I think what happened was I surprised him, so he hit me,” Cerda said. He said the blow District wildlife manager Bob Holdersaid a trap had beenset for the bear, which will be destroyed if captured because it had attacked a human. Cerda said he hopesthat doesn't happen because he doesn't think the bear would haveattacked atall if it hadn't been startled. “If he wanted to attack, he knocked him 10to 15 feet. would havekilled meright After a few seconds,he spot- there,”he said. ted the bear a short distance awayandstarted walking to ride bulls a lot. It’s pretty much his car. So did the bear. the hardest I've beenhit.” Heguessed the cinnamon- colored black bear was anywherefrom 150 to 500 pounds andnearly 6 1/2 feet tall when standing. Cerda,29, was treated and released at a Pueblo hospital for bruises and possible nerve damageto his neck and shoulder. Hesaid he can't movehis right arm. Cerda, a ranch handon the Harteis International ranch about175 miles south of Denver near the New Mexico line, was attacked Wednesday afternoon.Division of Wildlife “Hestarted picking up his pace, and so did I,” Cerda said. Once inside, he started the engineto get the electric windowsup and noticed the remnantsofhis lunch. As the bear sniffed around the windows and chewed on the tires, Cerda snapped photos with his cell phone for a few minutes and drove away. Local Businesses ame) PN elgastoy Maps Wildlife officials found bear prints on top ofthe car. Cerda, who is married with a son, said he was neverreally scared. _ “I grew upin the mountains,” he said. “I know not to panic.” www.heraldextra.com/ fe eae stent SsUVasinereyNlo gang (All inyOne}Plac IID} o Aes POOel yellowpages |