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"It really at a fundamental level provides some stability for the grazing industry by assuring that our permits will be renewed in a timely fashion," said Jim Magagna, executive director of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.The legislation allows agencies to approve permits in the face of environmental lawsuits against permit renewals. U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials reported a permitting backlog of more than 5,600 permits nationwide in September. At the time, Congress was required to renew these permits annually.  "The agencies didn't have the resources to meet that requirement, (which) basically put people in a position where they couldn't get their permits renewed in a timely manner," Magagna said. "In some cases, they couldn't graze their livestock for extended periods of time." Under current law, permitting is subject to environmental analysis prior to renewal of a permit. The new legislation allows federal agencies to approve permits without requiring environmental analysis. Agency range managers will still conduct environmental reviews at their discretion. Magagna said the new law focuses range management on the health of allotments. "Environmental analysis has been tied to permit renewal, and really that analysis isn't about the permit. It's about the actual range condition," he said. Sen. John Barrasso, the author of the bill, said it will provide added protections for Wyoming ranchers seeking consistency in their operations. "For too long, our ranching families have been the target of anti-grazing litigation that puts their grazing permits in jeopardy,” Barrasso said. The legislation passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. Source: Billings Gazette, by Trevor Graff Wyoming public lands grazers could see shorter permitting times after Congress passed a bill seeking to streamline grazing permit renewals. The Grazing Improvement Act, approved last week, allows the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to speed the renewal of the agency's 10-year grazing permits.
The ban on spending taxpayer dollars to inspect Horse Slaughter will remain the law through the end of the fiscal year; September 30, 2015. With President Obama signing the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, the United States will continue to forbid the domestic slaughter of horses for human consumption.  The language specifically bans the use of federal funding for inspections at such facilities, maintaining the de facto ban on domestic horse slaughter and saving taxpayer dollars, and thwarts efforts in at least three states to start killing horses on U.S. soil for export to foreign nations.
Earlier this month, the European Commission decided to suspend horsemeat imports from Mexico due to food safety concerns. U.S. horses account for 87 percent of the horses slaughtered in Mexico for export to the EU and are regularly administered drugs and other substances over the course of their lives that are potentially toxic to humans. A recent audit conducted by the EU also noted issues with inhumane treatment of American horses in holding pens on U.S. soil and during transport to slaughter. The omnibus spending bill included strong fund levels for enforcement of animal welfare and anti-wildlife trafficking programs, as well as helpful provisions to encourage more humane management of wild horses on public lands, development of alternatives to animal testing, and updated regulations on treatment of captive marine mammals. However, it also contained adverse provisions to benefit the gun lobby (restrictions on regulating the lead content of ammunition) and the farm lobby (restrictions on regulating greenhouse gas emissions from CAFOs and overseeing the beef check-off program). On Nov 18, 2004 the U.S. Senate passed by unanimous consent to officially designate December 13th as National Day of the Horse. The founding intent was to encourage people to be mindful of the contribution of horses to the economy, history, and character of the United States.
Text of The National Day of the Horse: U.S. Senate Resolution 452
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