Vox Populi Nebraska


	SEC. B page 1


	Etc., etc., etc. …...


	Coming in future issues…..


	Progress Report on Fontenelle Trees


	Nebraska Byways: Stories about Nebraskans

WESTERN ARCTIC
GETS REPRIEVE

NRDC and our partners have scored a major courtroom victory for Arctic wildlife. In late September, a federal judge blocked the Bush administration from proceeding with oil and gas development in more than 1 million acres in the Western Arctic Reserve, including a pristine nesting area for migratory birds and the calving grounds for the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd.

The court ruled that the Interior Department failed to consider the cumulative environmental impacts of oil and gas drilling on this sensitive ecosystem. In tandem with our courtroom campaign, BioGems Defenders have sent more than 100,000 messages urging the Bush administration and Congress to uphold protections for important habitat areas within the reserve.

COURT UPHOLDS STRICT LIMITS ON DEADLY SONAR

A federal appeals court has rejected the Bush administration's attempt to turn back a landmark NRDC courtroom win that limits the peacetime deployment of a powerful low-frequency active sonar system. According to the Navy's own studies, the LFA sonar system generates noise so intense that dangerous levels of sound travel more than 300 miles -- posing a deadly threat to whole populations of whales and other marine mammals that depend on their hearing to survive.

Three years ago, a lower federal court sided with NRDC and our partners and ruled that the Navy's plan to deploy this powerful new sonar system across 75 percent of the world's oceans violated a host of federal laws. In the wake of the appeal court's decision, the Navy must continue to adhere to an agreement with NRDC, which limits LFA testing and training to an area in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.


	More WPA stories about Nebraska by Nebraskans


	Sources have told Vox Populi Nebraska United States Senator Chuck Hagel will resign his Nebraska seat, probably in January, in order to run for the White House. By doing so he takes most observers by surprise, figuring he was savvy enough to see he had little if any chance to succeed in that endeavor. However, other sources indicate he is not popular with many in his home state party because he has criticized Bush on many fronts, especially the Iraq quagmire. If our sources are correct and Hagel does resign, former Omaha mayor and congressman Hal Daub who is lusting after the replacement appointment will not be the recipient of Gov. Heineman's kingmaking ability. Stay tuned to see if our source was right.….Update: Other sources, some local and some national, are now saying Hagel will not run for the White House and will not seek re-election in 2008…. With an eye on the presidency, New York Governor George Pataki offered clemency to no one during the holiday season, a first for the Republican, who has been in office for 12 years. Pataki has given 32 clemencies or pardons during his tenure….. Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain's recent drop in polls may be a backlash against his call for greater numbers of American troops in Iraq….An ice shelf in Canada's Arctic region the size of 11,000 football fields has broken off and is adrift. At some point in the future it may drift into shipping lanes as well as areas of significant oil production, causing havoc worldwide….The rumor mill is churning with reports that MO Sen. Kit Bond will resign to head the University of Missouri. Gov. Roy Blunt is rumored to prefer appointing himself to the open seat and make his Lt. Governor the new MO governor. Governors who appoint themselves to Senate seats seldom get elected to the Senate on their own when it comes time to account to the voters for the vain act. Stay tuned…..Former Bush Interior


	Secretary Gale Norton has taken a job overseeing oil development in western states from Shell, (supply your own punchline)….For the first time, more troops disapprove of the president's handling of the war than approve of it. Barely one-third of service members approve of the way the president is handling the war, ac cording to the 2006 Military Times Poll…Chief Justice John Roberts sent a blistering 8 page letter to congress complaining of inadequate salaries for judges. Currently he makes $212,000 while a lowly Dist. Court judge makes $165,200 …...Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) said Bush should have congressional support before he announces any plan for escalation in Iraq. " I think this time Congress has to be taken seriously." …..Oil prices settled above $61 a barrel Friday to finish 2006 roughly where they began, marking another tough year for energy consumers and another stellar one for the petroleum industry…..Lobbyists in Nebraska must be straining to stifle their glee as term limitations have kicked in and 22 of the 49 state senators will be confused freshmen….


	U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson: Phone: (202) 224-6551 Fax: (202) 228-001240, Suite 5 Dirksen Basement (Temp) Washington, DC 20510 senator@bennelson.senate.gov U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel: Phone: (202) 224-4224 Fax: (202) 224-5213 346 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 chuck_hagel@hagel.senate.gov Rep. Jeff Fortenberry: Phone: (202) 225-4806, Fax (202) 225-5686 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg. Washington,DC 20515 Rep. Lee Terry:Phone: (202) 225-4155 Fax: (202) 226-5452 1513 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 talk2lee@mail.house.gov Rep. Tom Osborne:Phone: (202) 225-6435 Fax: (202) 236-1385 507 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515


	SEC. B, p2 Senate Moments


	SEC. B, p3 HISTORY SCRAMBLE