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BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif., Nov. 29 (UPI) — A major snowfall has allowed some California ski resorts to open for Thanksgiving weekend for the first time in four years, meteorologists say.

The storm came out of the north and hit Southern California mountains early Saturday morning, depositing 3 to 6 inches of snow in mountainous areas north of Los Angeles along Interstate 5, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Among the resorts to open were Big Bear Mountain, which includes the Bear Mountain and Snow Summit resorts. Director of Marketing Chris Riddle told the newspaper that 4 to 6 inches had fallen at the resorts, located about 100 miles east of the city.

“I expected a minor dusting at best,” Riddle told the newspaper. “But lo and behold, when I woke up this morning, it was snowing real hard.”

He said it was the first time in four years his resort had been able to operate on Thanksgiving weekend.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

LA VETA, Colo., Nov. 29 (UPI) — Residents of a small Colorado artists’ colony have galvanized resistance against three proposed wind farms, authorities say.

The 880 writers and artists comprising La Veta live two miles from the proposed 7,000-acre Silver Mountain Wind Farm.

The town council voted down the 150-megawatt facility and wants a moratorium on new wind projects until the county updates its land use regulations and master plan, The Denver Post reported Sunday.

There are two more proposed wind farms, challenging county planning officials,

“When voters and legislators adopted renewable-energy goals, I don’t know if they were thinking of turning rural Colorado into an industrial zone,” said La Veta councilwoman Dawn Blanken.

La Veta itself appears to be the problem. “We selected the site because of the wind,” said Carey Kling, lead developer for Silver Mountain, the Post reported.

“This pristine land. It is what makes this a tourist destination and a real-estate draw — and those are two big parts of our economy,” said craftsman Ricky Tims.

Huerfano County commissioners will rule on Silver Mountain’s preliminary permit Dec. 9.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

FLORIDA CITY, Fla., Nov. 29 (UPI) — Outboard motors may be banned from use in a portion of Florida Bay as part of an effort to protect seagrass in Everglades National Park, officials said.

Matthew Schwartz, Everglades chairman of the Broward Group of the Sierra Club, said the proposed no-motor zone would allow seagrass areas in the Florida park to recover from damage done by boat propellers, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Saturday.

“This is really a historic step for the National Park Service,” Schwartz said. “It would actually be the first time in their history they took a piece of the marine environment and made it off-limits to motorized recreation.”

Boaters traveling through the proposed no-motor zone would be required to move their vessels using push poles and paddles instead of motors.

The popularity of Florida Bay as a fishing destination has resulted in significant damage to the bay bottom, fishing guide Richard Grathwohl told the Sun-Sentinel.

“It’s got a whole bunch of motor scars,” Grathwohl said. “Every effort we put into this is going to help up in the long run.”

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Nov. 30 (UPI) — Canada said it plans to stick to “modest” targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the climate-change talks in Copenhagen.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected U.N. calls for his government to aim for deeper and faster cuts in emissions, The (Toronto) Globe and Mail reported. Harper said Canada’s target — a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 — closely resembles that of the United States.

Harper’s comments came as leaders of British Commonwealth nations representing nearly 2 billion people agreed in Trinidad Sunday to strike a deal in Copenhagen on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Canada Friday to aim for greater reductions and said “many countries, developed and developing countries, have come out with ambitious targets.”

But Harper said he would not seek greater reductions.

“It’s important that whatever targets we set be realistic, achievable and are actually achieved,” Harper told reporters. “We have been through the exercise in the past decade or so of setting targets that are idealistic or blue sky — or set targets that look great on paper but didn’t actually require any effort.

“More modest, achievable targets in the short term will get the planet on the right track.”

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

GLEN INNES, Australia, Nov. 29 (UPI) — Australian scientists say they’re confident sheep can be selectively bred to burp less methane — a greenhouse gas emission.

Farming in Australia produces about 16 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, with two-thirds of that produced by cattle, sheep, goats and horses, said John Goopy of the New South Wales Department of Industry.

It’s a myth that most methane produced by sheep comes from flatulence, Goopy told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in a story published Sunday.

“Ninety percent of the methane that sheep and cattle and goats produce comes from the rumen, and that’s burped out,” he said. “Not much goes behind; that’s horses,” he said.

Scientists in Glen Innes are testing 200 sheep from 20 varying sires to see which breed produced the least amount of methane, said Roger Hegarty of the Sheep Cooperative Research Council.

Each sheep is fed, then shepherded into a booth so researchers can get an exact reading of their burp output, Hegarty said.

“We’re looking for natural variations so we’ll steer the population that way, he said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (UPI) — Money and politics remain big obstacles to setting firm emission targets for a legally binding treaty to replace the Kyoto agreement, U.S. authorities said.

Emission targets proposed by China and the United States — the world’s two biggest greenhouse-gas emitters — have boosted prospects for a deal at the summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month, negotiators said.

Wealthier countries, however, remain likely to balk at giving money to poorer countries to help curb climate change, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Some members of the U.S. Congress also have said they cannot endorse an international treaty unless there are ways to assess the emission commitments of China and other countries who plan efficiency targets rather than absolute cuts, the Post reported.

Even under a best-cast scenario, the summit in Copenhagen is not going to solve the problem of climate change, said Keya Chatterjee of the World Wildlife Fund.

“But it is a deal that’s going to create a foundation and an international architecture for resolving this issue over time,” Chatterjee said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

MANAUS, Brazil, Nov. 28 (UPI) — Nine South American countries that share the Amazon basin said Saturday rich nations must provide aid to help poorer ones preserve the rain forest.

The meeting in Manaus was hosted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the BBC reported. Delegates were present from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela and Surinam, with one European leader, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for French Guiana.

A statement of broad principles from the group is to be presented to the international climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month.

“The poor need to be supported without any country giving up its sovereignty,” Lula said. “Let no gringo ask us to let an Amazonian starve to death under a tree ”

At the meeting of Commonwealth of Nations countries in Trinidad and Tobago, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed a fund to provide incentives for poor countries to stop cutting tropical forests.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 28 (UPI) — A new solar panel manufacturing facility will be built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, officials say.

Peter Longstreth, president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., which owns and manages the Navy Yard on behalf of the city, said the Greek firm Heliotechniki S.A. will open a manufacturing plant employing 400 to 500 workers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Saturday.

The official announcement is expected to be made Monday by Gov. Ed Rendell, who will tout it as an important step in positioning Philadelphia as a key player in the emerging clean-energy economy, the newspaper said.

Longstreth reportedly said jobs at the 400,000-square-foot Heliotechniki plant would be “advanced manufacturing” involving “a significant amount of technology,” adding it would represent an investment of “several hundred million” dollars in the city.

The Inquirer said the Navy Yard currently has 5.5 million square feet of new and redeveloped buildings, now employing 7,000 and with plans envisioning up to 30,000 workers. A “clean-energy campus initiative” are reportedly part of the effort.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

MOORHEAD, Minn., Nov. 28 (UPI) — Leaders of Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., are moving to support a $962 million flood control plan for the Red River, observers say.

Support is coalescing around an option to essentially build a new emergency river channel for the flood-prone, north-flowing river that would stretch 25 miles around Moorhead, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported Saturday.

Under the plans, the new channel — which would be opened during times of extreme flood danger — would be 30 feet deep and wide enough to carry more than twice as much water than the Mississippi River carries through downtown Minneapolis on a typical day, the newspaper said.

Residents of Fargo and Moorhead staged massive sandbagging efforts this spring to save their cities from extensive flooding, 11 years after catastrophically high river levels inundated the cities.

The Star Tribune said the plan is actually the smallest of several flood control options that North Dakota and Minnesota officials are considering presenting to the Army Corps of Engineers for possible funding, with a final decision expected in January.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Nov. 28 (UPI) — A new world climate change treaty is within reach and participants should do what they can to make it happen, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says.

Speaking Friday at a meeting of the British Commonwealth nations in Trinidad and Tobago, Ban urged the world’s nations to “seal the deal” on a climate change treaty next month in Copenhagen, the BBC reported.

“Our common goal is to achieve a firm foundation for a legally binding climate treaty as early as possible in 2010,” Ban said, while Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen added that he hoped to see “money on the table” at the Dec. 7-18 Copenhagen global warming summit.

Ban’s speech was unorthodox because it marked one of first times a speaker from outside the 53-member Commonwealth was scheduled to address the conference on its first day, the British broadcaster said.

Ban, Rasmussen and French President Nicolas Sarkozy all took advantage of the opportunity to speak about climate change at what was one of the last major political gatherings ahead of the Copenhagen summit.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International