Meet Julia Trigg Crawford, a Texas farmer.

She doesn't want the Keystone XL pipeline to cross her property and imperil her water supply.

TransCanada, the pipeline company, pretty much tells Crawford to go to hell. They want her land, they'll take it. Maybe it would go down easier if pipeline publicist U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin would take his pro-pipeline propaganda down to Texas. He could tell Ms. Crawford what an un-American whiner she is for seeking to protect her birthright against Canadian tar sands en route to refineries for eventual shipment to foreign countries.

Thanks to a tip from Sen. Jason Rapert, I got an early jump on the independent review by Stronger Inc. of gas exploration regulation in Arkansas in the age of fracking.

The study was done by group including industry and environmental representatives. The recommendations were indicative of the makeup. Some good things were said about Arkansas regulation, though they included some cosmetic things like a good website for a state agency. The negatives were more systemic — lack of regulatory muscle at the primary agencies in charge of regulation — Environmental Quality and the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission.

The pro-fracking contingent has naturally heralded the good side of the report. Now comes a different view from those more concerned about the environment. Here's the statement from the United for Responsible Gas Extraction (URGE). It's a group of Arkansas landowners and others from the Fayetteville Shale region who support natural grass drilling "through the use of industry best management practices and strong agency oversight and enforcement."

It faults the Stronger report's failure to call for improvement in best management practices. It said, too, that the report mostly ignored ADEQ responsibilities for clean air and water. It lists a number of specific concerns not adequately addressed, including bonding rules, notice to landowners about fracking, disposal wells and adequate surveys of seismic faults.

An amendment in the U.S. Senate to fast-track the Keystone pipeline failed today. Needing 60 votes, it got 56. Sen. Mark Pryor was among the Democrats who voted with Republicans for the pipeline.

I don't know if there's been a vote yet on Democrat Ron Wyden's proposal to require that all fuels refined from the pipeline when it is built — a southern leg is going forward already and a new route is being planned for a northern leg — be used domestically and not be exported. Republicans oppose this, which tells you a little something about the argument that this pipeline is all about the U.S. fuel supply.

• TULIPTREE: Proved too much for my small yard

It's a promotion with the Arbor Day Foundation to provide up to three free trees (2 to 4 feet), suitable to your home. Trees create shade, you know. That can cut electricity usage in the summer. Trees also have other environmental benefits.

Entergy will help you with advice on what type of tree to plant. I could have used that advice before the tulip poplar I planted on the south side of my house (too big and too close to the house, but a massive lightning strike took care of that) and an ornamental cherry tree (don't know what killed it).

Rewards come sooner than you might think. I got a bundle of 10 twigs in a business envelope for $1 from the Arbor Day Foundation in 1987. The silver maple, planted on my daughter's 7th birthday and nourished by her granddaddy, is now a monumental thing meaningful to us for more than its shade. (They still do that tree deal, by the way.)

The details on Entergy's tree deal:

Another strange bedfellows coalition:

Environmentalists and Tea Party activists with an intense dislike for abuse of eminent domain by corporate interests have joined hands to oppose the Keystone pipeline that is intended to bear problematic tar sands from Canada to Gulf-area refineries.

TransCanada, you'll read, isn't too impressed by landowners' desire to be left alone. Irony: U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin doesn't like mandates that insure all Americans get health insurance. Mandates that make sure a Canada company can risk pollution to get its product to the world from gulf ports and bully American landowners to get out of the way? He's down with that.

PLEASE NOTE: The push for eminent domain is because TransCanada is pushing ahead with pipeline construction on the route in the lower U.S., where State Department approval isn't needed. So could somebody please tell U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin to stop talking about the 60 part-time jobs in Little Rock that weren't ever really permanently lost anyway. They'll have pipe to ship.

• LAKE MAUMELLE: Watershed rules evolve.

Graham Rich, CEO of Central Arkansas Water, confirms that a series of private meetings have been held in recent weeks to come up with compromise land use rules for the Lake Maumelle watershed, a proposal tabled by the Pulaski County Quorum Court at the end of the year.

CAW has participated at the invitation of County Judge Buddy Villines. So has Kent Walker, an attorney for some smaller landowners in the watershed. So has Chuck Nestrud, attorney for Deltic Timber, the owner of the majority of acreage, mostly undeveloped timberland, in the sprawling basin for Central Arkansas's chief water supply. So have representatives of the real estate lobby, anxious to be protected in hopes of developing the land some day.

...... No, the many well-informed advocates and activists for watershed protection were NOT invited to attend. "Good question," said Rich, when I asked why. He referred me to Villines. I have a call in. Rich commented later that the process could have benefitted from "a broader collection of ideas." Yes.

Meanwhile, Rich will be sending along shortly the latest draft proposal, though it is not necessarily final. Rich has promised to develop a summary of key changes as well. "I wouldn't call them substantive changes," he said. That is, they don't alter rules on density of development. He said they are mainly aimed at "mitigating the impact on people who live out there now," which he said was always a goal of Central Arkansas Water. But the many voices in the meetings have raised a number of issues about "definitions" and explanations about zoning districts.

UPDATE: Here's a recent draft of the evolving ordinance, though I'm told still more changes are coming from the most recent meeting.

When I commented that the process had begun to a resemble a “death by a thousand cuts” to meaningful watershed protection, Rich acknowledged the lengthy process had “morphed into issues I never thought would be brought up.”

He noted that groups ranging from Occupy Little Rock to the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity had gotten involved. “It has taken on a face that I think goes beyond protecting the water for 400,000 people. It has taken on ideologies and philosophical issues that I don’t think serves the greater good of this great community.”

Yesterday, by the way, was the last day at work for the retiring Martin Maner, who's been the watershed manager, including in the days when former CEO Jim Harvey drew a line in the sand against developers seeking to prevent meaningful watershed regulation. Rich said the utility is advertising for a new manager. In in the interim, Robert Hart, newly arrived from the state Health Department, and Jonathan Long will oversee watershed issues.

UPDATE: Villines insists the meetings have primarily been about correcting "misinformation" for current property owners and to address some concerns that a cumbersome permitting process might hamper legitimate minor changes in use of property by current landowners. He said when changes in the subdivision and zoning ordinances are examined and discussed, "People will see there has not been any substantive changes to protection of watershed itself."

The proposals have been tabled by the Quorum Court until the U.S. Geological Survey completes a report on potential impact of various sorts of development on the lake. Villines acknowledges that the USGS report is irrelevant to consideration of the "science" of the issues of watershed protection, but said the delay is mandated by the motion to table the ordinances until that study is completed. He said clean water groups hadn't been included because the meetings were primarily to address concerns about small landowners, though he conceded some others, such as Deltic, had joined in. But he insisted no changes were made on account of Deltic's participation.

Sad. Peter Gleick, a climate analyst who's fought the science deniers for two decades, admits he used deception to obtain documents from the corporate-funded Heartland Institute, a leading figure in the climate change denial industry. He's ruined his reputation and set back his cause, even though the documents he obtained from the Institute were genuine.

Rich stuff. The Heartland Institute is another of those Koch/oil/assorted billionaire-funded "think tanks" that have popped up like mushrooms in a cow patty to push the corporate agenda. It has been stung.

Leaked documents suggest Heartland has been paying for disinformation to counter climate change findings by reputable scientists.

Heartland has gone bonkers. It says it's a victim of theft! Misinformation! Inconvenient unplanned release of facts! It is talking prosecution! Civil lawsuits! Defamation!

While claiming a document on its purported climate change-denial strategy is a fraud, Heartland concedes the general accuracy of others. It does complain they were stolen and might have been "altered."

Heartland has planted some of its propaganda in local publications. You can imagine how hard they'd be working to stifle circulation of similar documents if they'd come from the global warming side of the debate. Not.

Central Arkansas Water has produced some reports on potential threats to the Lake Maumelle water supply from activities in the watershed. They are useful reminders that land use controls are vital in the drainage basin.

The picture above, distributed by Kathy Wells of the Coalition of Little Rock Neighborhoods, shows what sediment did to the lake after a heavy rain in 2009. The sediment sank to the bottom before reaching the intake valve, but a heavy wash of tree foliage required additional treatment.

Here's a more in-depth report on problems related to runoff from timber harvest from big chunks of acreage near creeks that drain into the lake.

Here's a broader report on the watershed, including an assessment of maintenance of a major pipeline crossing (some problems exist, not that such a thing could happen if it was, say, a Transcanada Keystone pipeline); a drainage ditch built for a once hotly contested residential development, and other issues.

It is past time for the Quorum Court to approve pending rules for the watershed — watered down though they are.

House Republicans had the maker of a film about the dangers of fracking for gas arrested in Washington yesterday for attempting to film a public session of a congressional subcommittee hearing.

Josh Fox ("Gasland") was handcuffed for attempting to further shed light on the meeting. This revealed plenty about gas producers' apologists in the Republican Party. They could have easily waived a rule requiring so-called proper credentials to exercise First Amendment rights in Congress, but took a break to round up votes to be SURE they could shut down Fox.

What do you bet that the gang of gas industry shills that paraded around Arkansas yesterday to oppose a reasonable severance tax on gas taken from Arkansas yukked it up over Fox's arrest?

Perhaps Sen. Jason Rapert, the frackers' champion, will decry the suppression of a free press by his Republican colleagues in Washington.

The Republican talking point factory has constructed a new message machine around the Keystone pipeline. Here's an outline of the next congressional thrust to put President Obama in a corner on the issue. U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin — who doesn't care who it pollutes and who, including Nebraska Republicans, oppose it — is already making social media mileage of the GOP plan.

Careful study isn't necessary for those bent on political messaging, I know. Still, you might find this report on the issue enlightening. The vaunted western route to ship to China is no certainty in Canada. People there care about their environment, believe it or not. Even if an alternate route is approved it would still require pipe. It's worth remembering when Tiny Tim begins his barrage of talking points about the temporary layoff of 60 part-time workers (in a workforce of hundreds) at the Welspun plant in Little Rock.

I point you again to the Cornell study that has debunked the exaggerated job claims on this project, including claims of domestic jobs for steel and pipe production. For example:

It therefore seems likely that the rest of the pipe needed for KXL will probably be manufactured in Welspun’s Indian plants and then shipped to the U.S for final processing (double jointing and coating) or manufactured in Welspun’s Arkansas plant, which imports raw coiled steel and other production inputs (notably from India and South Korea.)

These arrangements allow TransCanada to state that “approximately 75% of the pipe for the US portion of the proposed project would be purchased from North American pipe manufacturing facilities.” This claim is misleading
on two levels. Firstly, it is possible to purchase from a North American facility, but this does not necessarily mean that the steel was produced in those facilities. Secondly, the jobs created in Canada-while important to the Canadian economy—should not then be pitched as “American jobs” to the media and the American public.

Dr. No Boozman is on the case, with a news release that includes the erroneous statement that the steel for the pipeline was produced in Arkansas.

I talked with Dave Delie, president of the Welspun plant in Little Rock, and he confirmed for me that they're producing no steel and primarily using steel from foreign sources. He said about 500 people remain at work in Little Rock. They are completing the order for the Keystone pipeline and working on another TransCanada project. All the Keystone pipe has been made, but it still must be coated, he said. Some 60 part-time workers remain laid off, but will be called back to work when it's time to ship the pipe. That time will come sooner or later, Delie said, because TransCanada has bought the pipe regardless of the outcome of the route debate in the U.S. It would take 60 people about a year's worth of work to ship the 500 miles of pipe already made. They are not permanent employees, but hired as needed. The problem for Welspun is that the end of the U.S. route, even with an alternate Canadian route, will reduce the amount of pipe TransCanada needs, Delie said. So the excess pipe will either reduce TransCanada's needs on other projects or force it to sell the surplus on the open market and create a low-cost competitor for Welspun. Should that happen, Delie said, he wouldn't call the 60 back to work but would use production workers in the shipping process. By the way: An alternate route in the U.S. to avoid a sensitive aquifer in Nebraska would add 40 miles to the project and, thus, more work for Little Rock.

The U.S. Forest Service announced today it approved a $4 million grant to Central Arkansas Water for the Maumelle Water Excellence Project. The dollars are for land acquisition and will pay back a portion of the $12 million CAW spent to purchase the 915-acre Winrock Grass Farms, once held by Jay DeHaven. The state of Arkansas also kicked in $4 million toward the purchase.

CAW purchased the land, which includes four miles along the Big Maumelle, to protect the water quality in the feeder to the city's water supply, Lake Maumelle.

CAW can't protect our drinking water with this acquisition only. The Quorum Court needs to quit pussyfooting around and pass land use rules for the lake, rules that protect the water and not the financial interests of a few looking to develop the land.