Monthly Archives: December 2011

Parks Chief Blocked Plan for Grand Canyon Bottle Ban

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Photo courtesy of Marvelous Marv

Weary of plastic litter, Grand Canyon National Park officials were in the final stages of imposing a ban on the sale of disposable water bottles in the Grand Canyon late last year when the nation’s parks chief abruptly blocked the plan after conversations with Coca-Cola, a major donor to the National Park Foundation.

Stephen P. Martin, the architect of the plan and the top parks official at the Grand Canyon, said his superiors told him two weeks before its Jan. 1 start date that Coca-Cola, which distributes water under the Dasani brand and has donated more than $13 million to the parks, had registered its concerns about the bottle ban through the foundation, and that the project was being tabled. His account was confirmed by park, foundation and company officials.

A spokesman for the National Park Service, David Barna, said it was Jon Jarvis, the top federal parks official, who made the “decision to put it on hold until we can get more information.” He added that “reducing and eliminating disposable plastic bottles is one element of our green plan. This is a process, and we are at the beginning of it.”

Read more at New York Times

Hazardous Weather Outlook for Northern Arizona

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Chances of snow and cooler temperatures are the outlook starting Monday and running through the day Wednesday. The forecast predicts 90% chance of snow Tuesday with a high of 36 falling to 22 in the eventing.

A hazardous weather outlook was issued for the northern Arizona area which follows:

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL ARIZONA…NORTH CENTRAL ARIZONA…NORTHEAST ARIZONA AND WEST CENTRAL ARIZONA.

.DAY ONE…THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

NO WEATHER HAZARDS ARE EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL AFFECT NORTHERN ARIZONA EARLY NEXT WEEK. LIGHT SNOW MAY START AS EARLY AS MONDAY MORNING…WITH HEAVIER SNOW LIKELY TO ARRIVE MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY…CREATING HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS ARE LIKELY ABOVE 6000 FEET…WITH LIGHT AMOUNTS AS LOW AS 5000 FEET. THE HEAVIEST SNOW IS EXPECTED FROM THE MOGOLLON RIM AND WHITE MOUNTAINS SOUTHWARD INTO THE YAVAPAI COUNTY MOUNTAINS. PEOPLE WITH TRAVEL OR OTHER OUTDOOR PLANS SHOULD STAY TUNED FOR THE LATEST UPDATES OVER THE COMING DAYS.

Mohave County moves forward with lawsuit against Arizona

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MOHAVE COUNTY—The Mohave County Board of Supervisors voted today to proceed with hiring legal counsel to move forward with litigation regarding the illegal taking of $1.4 million from Mohave County taxpayers. Also to be included in the lawsuit is the failure of the State to have a balanced budget. The State’s budget has not been balanced since 2006.

A recently released analysis has tagged Arizona as having one of the lowest credit ratings in the country. That would seem to be the result of a variety of poor fiscal policies, not the least of which would be the state not adhering to the constitutional (Article 9, Sections 4 and 5) requirement for a balanced budget.

Mohave County believes that the State has no authority to require mandatory contributions of our taxpayers’ property taxes. The State has shifted millions of dollars from the cities and counties to try to cover their inability to pay their bills. They have used roll-overs, the rainy-day fund and the mortgaging of their assets and still can’t balance the books. They have incurred long term debt, which eats up a good portion of their revenues. They owe our schools over a billion dollars.

Their taking from counties and cities is pushing the limits of local governments to furnish basic necessities.

Supervisor Matt Ryan Testifies Before Washington, D.C. Subcommittee To End Land Boundary Dispute

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Hoping to gain federal support to allow several Coconino County residents to retain property they’ve lived on for years, County Supervisor Matt Ryan testified before the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on Friday morning.

Supervisor Ryan urged members of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands to approve H.R. 1038. The resolution, introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar on March 11, 2011, would allow the U.S. Forest Service to transfer up to 3 acres of federal land inside the Mountainaire Subdivision that was erroneously labeled and settled as private property.

In November 2007, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management completed a land survey in the Mountainaire Subdivision in the Coconino National Forest south of Flagstaff. During the 2007 survey, the BLM determined that an erroneous privately contracted survey of Mountainaire Unit I, which was completed between 1960 and 1961, misidentified several acres of U.S. Forest Service land as private property.

“On some of the developed parcels, the revised boundary goes through portions of the landowner’s residence,” Supervisor Ryan told the Subcommittee. “Furthermore, several of these residents have maintained these parcels and developed them as their own for years, and in some cases decades.”

The legislation authorizes the transfer of the property from the U.S. Forest Service, avoiding a long and costly administrative process. The boundary discrepancy impacts approximately 26 lots and 27 property owners in the subdivision, many of whom have been unable to sell their properties because they are unable to prove land ownership, Supervisor Ryan testified.

Rep. Gosar and U.S. Forest Service Acting Deputy Chief Gregory Smith testified in support of H.R. 1038.

“We believe this is a small price to pay to grant these homeowners the peace of mind of knowing the property they live on is their own,” Supervisor Ryan said. “H.R. 1038 will provide much-needed relief to homeowners of the Mountainaire Subdivision.”