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ACORN and BIG OIL v.s. RFK.jr. in New Mexico on KSFR
RFK,jr. arrives just in time in the Land of Enchantment.! As the Republicans make ACORN the scapegoat -trying to steal the election again, and Big Oil tries to wield its muscle in the Galisteo Basin, Robert Kennedy fights innuendo with fact. Kennedy gave an interview to Debrianna of "twodee" in the KSFR public radio newsroom. Bill Dupuy interviews Rick Davis. RFK,jr. arrives just in time in the Land of Enchantment.! As the Republicans make ACORN the scapegoat -trying to steal the election ag... more
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ABC Refused to Air We Campaign Ad.
[This is a letter I recently received from the We Campaign]
Did you notice the ads after last night's presidential debate?
ABC had Chevron. CBS had Exxon. CNN had the coal lobby. But you know what happened last week? ABC refused to run our Repower America ad -- the ad that takes on this same oil and coal lobby.
I sent a letter asking ABC to reconsider their decision and put our ad on the air, but still we haven't heard back more than a week later. I think they need to hear from all of us. Can you help? Please send a message to ABC and tell them to air the Repower America ad this Friday on 20/20. Just click here:
http://www.wecansolveit.org/ABC
We're working to get 100,000 public comments to ABC before 20/20's next airing.
Our Repower America ad has a clear and simple message -- that massive spending by oil and coal companies on advertising is a key reason our nation hasn't switched to clean and renewable sources for our energy.
Here's the script of the ad:
The solution to our climate crisis seems simple.
Repower America with wind and solar.
End our dependence on foreign oil. A stronger economy.
So why are we still stuck with dirty and expensive energy?
Because big oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy.
Lobbyists, ads, even scandals.
All to increase their profits, while America suffers.
Breaking big oil's lock on our government ...
Now that's change.
We're the American people and we approve this message.
You can view the ad on the ABC petition page, here.
As our country faces deep economic problems, we need to be able to have an honest debate about the root causes of our problems. As Al Gore has said, "We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization. And every bit of that has to change."
As oil and coal backed groups outspend even major party committees in this political year, it's outrageous that ABC would deny our ad. Let ABC know what you think. Just click here.
Thank you,
Cathy Zoi
CEO
www.wecansolveit.org [This is a letter I recently received from the We Campaign] Did you notice the ads after last night's presidential debate? ... more -
Smoke and CO2 - How to Spin Global Warming
ANP: On the Organized Effort to Cast Doubt on Climate Change.
Recently, it was reported that the rate of carbon dioxide emission during the last seven years exceeded even the IPCC's worst-case scenario. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have offered their support to global warming legislation in the past, but climate legislation continues to stall, as it has for more than a decade. Why? In large part, because of an expensive, prolonged propaganda campaign waged by producers of big oil. And what did they look to for inspiration? Big tobacco.
This story is aired in conjunction with the publication of the Center for Public Integrity's report, Global Warming: Heated Denials, The Organized Effort to Cast Doubt on Climate Change.
( http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/731/ ) ANP: On the Organized Effort to Cast Doubt on Climate Change. ... more -
Wildlife Group Expands Reach of Anti-Palin Wolf Ad
The program began under her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, and continues with her support. Private citizens are permitted to shoot wolves from the air or conduct land-and-shoot hunting of wolves in five rural areas of the state. More than 700 wolves have been killed since the program began almost five years ago, state officials say.
Last year, Palin's office announced the state would offer cash to kill wolves. Incentives included offering volunteer pilots and aerial gunner teams $150 for turning in the forelegs of freshly killed wolves.
The state said the legs could help biologists determine a wolf's age, while the money helped hunters and aerial teams pay for gas and expenses. A Superior Court judge later blocked the payments after conservation groups argued the money amounted to an illegal bounty.
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, which has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president, is a nonprofit 501(c)4 corporation that can operate outside the strict limits governing political action committees. It can raise money in unlimited amounts from individual donors and can run ads that refer to political candidates as long as they don't specifically advocate their election or defeat.
The ad has received widespread notice on the Internet and has been an effective fundraising tool for Defenders of Wildlife. The group says it raised $600,000 in the six hours after it was released in mid-September and says it now has raised $1 million.
The group is aiming the ad at suburban women and moderate independent voters.
The ad follows closely on the heels of a McCain commercial that depicted Obama researchers and investigators combing through Palin's background as a pack of wolves.
Hunter or hunted, it all depends on the ad.
On the Net:
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund: http://www.defendersactionfund.org/ The program began under her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, and continues with her support. Private citizens are permitted to shoot... more -
Polar bears at risk increasing with offshore oil
PLEASE TAKE ACTION!
GreenpeaceOffshore Oil = Increased Risk for Polar Bears
Polar bears are hanging on for dear life. They are faced with a rapidly shrinking arctic environment due to global warming. And now the Senate is poised to drive another nail in polar bears' coffins by voting for more drilling off of America's shores.
More oil drilling will do nothing to lower gas prices. It will, however, increase global warming pollution and put the polar bear on an even faster track towards extinction. To solve our dead-end dependence on fossil fuels we need legislation that immediately ends the massive tax breaks for Big Oil; doubles the average fuel efficiency of existing cars to at least 50 miles per gallon; substantially invests in public transportation so people have more and better choices; and provides robust incentives for renewable energy investments to transition us to a clean energy future.
Tell your Senator today! A vote to protect our coastal waters from more drilling is a vote the polar bears desperately need right now.
Please follow the link below to sign a pre-written letter or you can personlize & edit the letter.
http://members.greenpeace.org/action/start.php?action_i... PLEASE TAKE ACTION! GreenpeaceOffshore Oil = Increased Risk for Polar Bears ... more -
Calls rise among Republicans for Sarah Palin to step down from GOP ticket
As the economy worsens, so does Palin in the eyes of fellow Republicans...
Sarah Palin faces the biggest test of her month-old candidacy with this Thursday's vice presidential debate, but many Republicans are already convinced the Alaska governor is not ready for prime time - and may never be.
"It was fun while it lasted," conservative National Review columnist Kathleen Parker regretfully concluded last week. "But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick."
Those "circumstances," Parker and others are now saying, include not just the Wall Street meltdown - a crisis that seems to cry out for seasoned leadership - but also Palin's choppy, tenuous, even unintelligible answers to the few questions she has fielded on her own.
Palin's interview last week with CBS' Katie Couric is Exhibit A - a frightening glimpse, say fans and critics alike, into what happens when Palin is allowed to speak without a script.
"It's very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia," she told Couric in explaining why being able to see Russia from Alaska should count as foreign policy experience on her résumé. "It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right next to, they are right next to our state." As the economy worsens, so does Palin in the eyes of fellow Republicans... ... more -
Alaska Wildlife Alliance - Zoos not contacted before wolf pup kills
JUNEAU - Two of Alaska's leading animal facilities say state wildlife officials did not try to place orphaned wolf pups with them before killing the pups.
The revelation is causing a stir ahead of Tuesday's primary election, during which Alaska voters will decide whether to curtail the state's predator control program.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists were given the OK from the state's Board of Game to kill wolves if necessary on the southern Alaska Peninsula to protect a caribou herd considered to be in trouble.
Biologists shot 14 wolves from a helicopter in June. On the ground, they discovered and killed 14 pups orphaned by the shooting.
The state's orphaned wildlife policy is first to leave an animal alone if it can survive on its own. If not, the department is supposed to look for a home. If no home is available, biologists are directed to kill the animals quickly instead of leaving them to die slowly.
Officials at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage and the Haines Animal Center, the likely candidates to care for such animals, said they were never contacted.
The Alaska Zoo would have taken in and sought permanent homes for orphaned wolf pups, one official said.
"The first thing I'd do would be talk to the curator, figure out how many (pups) for how long, figure out a place where they could be appropriately placed," Alaska Zoo Director Pat Lampi said. "We would certainly be willing to make some phone calls."
Both Lampi and Steve Kroeschel of the Haines Animal Center, an educational facility, said the state did not call to ask about wolf pup placements.
For more of this story: http://www.akwildlife.org/content/view/127/61/ JUNEAU - Two of Alaska's leading animal facilities say state wildlife officials did not try to place orphaned wolf pups with them... more -
Biggest Rally in Alaska's History - Opposing Palin - iReport.com
" ASK YOUR TV STATIONS WHY WE DIDN'T GET TO SEE THE BIGGEST RALLY IN ALASKA?
Alaskan Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Homemade signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaskan women, or men.. I had no idea what to expect...
The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee...
Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage.
The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.
Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly
surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.
So, if you've been doing the math… Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things to say.
**Story not written by myself** " " ASK YOUR TV STATIONS WHY WE DIDN'T GET TO SEE THE BIGGEST RALLY IN ALASKA? ... more -
Sarah Palin: Ice queen of the Arctic | Environment | The Guardian
Sarah Palin, the Republican party's vice-president nominee, governs an oil-rich area that has seen some of the most dramatic effects of climate change. So what's her record on environmental concerns?
Earlier this year, while writing a documentary on Kivalina, one of several Alaskan barrier-reef islands slipping into the sea, and among the world's worst ecological disasters, I stumbled on the state's 44-year-old governor Sarah Palin. Even then, as she posed in the snow-covered wilderness beside her seaplane and fresh animal kills, rumours swirled around her that she might be a vice-presidential contender. In an extraordinary twist of fate, this sharp-shooter and former small-town beauty queen, who until two years ago was mayor of her tiny hometown, Wasilla, Alaska, has become the American right's golden girl.
Ever since the Palin family soap drama hit prime time, the mainstream media has focused on digging up the dirt, but there have been few mentions about her environmental history. Palin is governor of a state that has seen the most dramatic effects of a warming world, yet until last week she remained unconvinced that climate change is in any way man-made. "The jury's still out on that one," she said, just days after the recent hurricanes and tropical storms were making their way across the Atlantic, offering a glimpse of the climate chaos that may be left for future generations.
Palin, in a recent interview with Newsmax.com, accepted that warming would affect Alaska "more than any other state, because of our location". But she added: "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being manmade." Such a position would put her to the right even of President Bush and some of the oil companies - and it is now scaring the international community.
Last Friday, she finally conceded that the problem might be man-made. In an interview with ABC television, she said: "I'm attributing some of man's activities to potentially causing some of the changes in the climate right now."
Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science, says: "The irony of a climate change denier being based in Alaska is breathtaking. The state is warming faster than practically anywhere else, with winter temperatures up by 6F since 1950. Visitors to Alaska can see the evidence all around, from drunken forests of semi-fallen trees and sunken roads, all unseated by the melting of the permafrost, to unprecedented forest fires."
For conservation and animal protection groups, Palin has long been considered an enemy. According to Greenpeace, "Palin has the most anti-environment records of any governor in the US. She has supported oil drilling in some of the most ecologically sensitive areas in Alaska, even when it meant sacrificing polar bears and beluga whales."
Only this month, Palin told the Republican party convention: "We Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska, we've got lots of both."
*Link to the rest of story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/17/poles... Sarah Palin, the Republican party's vice-president nominee, governs an oil-rich area that has seen some of the most dramatic effe... more -
Palin receives Rubber Dodo award from Centre for Biological Diversity |
Sarah Palin may have seen the light - sort of - on climate change but that did not spare her from being singled out yesterday as America's environmental enemy of the year.
The Centre for Biological Diversity awarded Palin its Rubber Dodo award for her insistence - despite evidence to the contrary - that the polar bear population was rising across the Arctic. The Arizona thinktank condemned the Alaska governor as a "global warming denier".
"Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear," Kieran Suckling, the centre's director, said. "Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee."
The slap comes less than a week after Palin belatedly admitted the possibility of a human factor in climate change, in her first television interview since she was chosen as John McCain's running mate.
The conversion was followed by further revelations of Palin's tenuous relationship with scientific fact. News reports yesterday said that Palin bought a tanning bed and moved it into the governor's mansion soon after her election. A few months later, in May 2007, she issued a proclamation during skin cancer awareness month urging Alaskans to take preventive measures. "Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by overexposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds," she said in a press release.
McCain had skin cancers removed in 1993 and 2000, and is religious about using sun screen and wearing a hat outdoors. Sarah Palin may have seen the light - sort of - on climate change but that did not spare her from being singled out yesterday as Ameri... more -
Polar Bears Against Palin
Don’t miss the hilarious point/counterpoint debate between Palin and a suprisingly articulate and snarky polar bear.
Read the rest of this entry » Don’t miss the hilarious point/counterpoint debate between Palin and a suprisingly articulate and snarky polar bear. ... more -
Breaking news: House energy bill passes 236-189
The House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday lifting a longstanding congressional moratorium on offshore drilling.
The extensive energy package introduced by Democrats would give states the option to allow drilling between 50 and 100 miles off their shores. Areas more than 100 miles from the coast would be completely open to oil exploration and drilling.
In addition to drilling, the bill requires the government to sell 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It also provides tax credits for renewable energy and energy efficiency that would be funded by repealing some tax breaks for the oil industry.
http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/16/breaking-news-hou... The House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday lifting a longstanding congressional moratorium on offshore drilling. ... more -
Polar bears 'could become extinct' because of melting ice
Polar bears and other rare species are in danger of dying out, scientists fear, as latest figures show the Artic sea ice is at record lows.
Scientists from the World Wildlife Fund, who are recording the ice cover over the North Pole, said less ice is predicted in the Arctic this year than in any other.
Experts say this not only means a loss of habitat to species like polar bears and loss of livelihood for indigenous peoples but could speed up global warming as water absorbs heat rather than reflecting the sun's rays back into space.
Dr Martin Sommerkorn, senior climate change advisor at WWF International's Arctic Programme, said: "We are expecting confirmation of 2008 being either the lowest or the second-lowest year in terms of summer ice coverage.
READ FULL ARTICLE:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/... Polar bears and other rare species are in danger of dying out, scientists fear, as latest figures show the Artic sea ice is at record ... more -
Palin Dumps 2 billion Gallons of Toxic Waste into Cook Inlet
What do we know about Palin? Not much according to the Media. We do know Governor Palin is the Public Member for the Alaska Oil and Natural Gas Conservation Commission. What you should know is that the mission of Alaska Oil and Natural Gas Conservation Commission is to work hand in hand with the oil industry to help maximize production, improve resource recovery and to reduce the rights of land owners through its correlative rights mandate. They are task with overseeing the disposal of all toxic waste produced by companies such as Alaska Oil, Chevron, Exxon and BP Alaska.
According to the “ Inlet Keeper” these companies are “legally” pumping 2 Billion Gallons of toxic waste into the fisheries of Cook Inlet annually. Governor Pain is one of three controlling members of this group comprised of One Geologist, One Petroleum Engineer and one public member, ie Palin.
Three people with absolute power and the full authority over our own Environmental Protection Agency control the pumping of over 2 billion gallons annually of toxic waste being pumped into the ice and into the “rich” fisheries known as Cook Inlet , Alaska. What do we know about Palin? Not much according to the Media. We do know Governor Palin is the Public Member for the Alaska Oil and N... more -
Oil Spill Into Gulf of Mexico
--CNN's Ali Velshi falsely claimed "no oil shed into the Gulf of Mexico" from Hurricane Katrina during discussion of Hurricane Gustav.
Summary: On CNN Newsroom, Ali Velshi falsely claimed, "In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than 40 of these [offshore drilling] platforms, but still no oil shed into the Gulf of Mexico because of that." In fact, a 2007 report prepared for the federal government by an international consulting firm identified damage from Katrina to 27 platforms and rigs that resulted in the spilling of petroleum products into the Gulf of Mexico.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200808310004?lid=563752&a...
During the August 31 edition of CNN Newsroom, while discussing Hurricane Gustav, senior business correspondent Ali Velshi falsely claimed, "In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than 40 of these [offshore drilling] platforms, but still no oil shed into the Gulf of Mexico because of that." In fact, a 2007 report prepared for the U.S. Minerals Management Service by the international consulting firm Det Norske Veritas identified damage from Katrina to 27 platforms and rigs that resulted in the spilling of approximately 2,843 barrels of petroleum products into the Gulf of Mexico. The report further found that when also considering damage done to oil pipelines, a total of approximately 5,552 barrels of petroleum products spilled into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of Hurricane Katrina. --CNN's Ali Velshi falsely claimed "no oil shed into the Gulf of Mexico" from Hurricane Katrina during discussion of Hu... more -
Independents at Last : Alaska Chinook
How do Alaskans feel about Palin? This blog gives you a good idea...
This BLOG Sponsored by: ~ Writings From Alaska ~
The TRUTH about the most Corrupt State of the Union ~Alaska Chinook~
Join Us @ http://chinookjournal.blogspot.com
http://chinookjournal.blogspot.com/2008/09/independents... How do Alaskans feel about Palin? This blog gives you a good idea... This BLOG Sponsored by: ~ Writings From Alaska ~ ... more -
Palin's barbaric record on killing America's 'protected' wildl...
We’re getting the word out to voters about Governor Sarah Palin’s barbaric record on killing America’s wildlife, especially her active promotion of the brutal aerial hunting of wolves and bears.
As governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has proposed paying a $150 bounty for the foreleg of each dead wolf. The aerial hunting program she champions has already killed nearly 800 wolves. She’s opposed efforts to save America’s polar bears from extinction. She’s fought against efforts to save some of the world’s most endangered beluga whales.
At nearly every opportunity, Governor Palin has sided with Big Oil, mining companies, wealthy trophy hunters and other entrenched special interests in support of policies that would greatly harm the wild animals we treasure.
Warning: This television ad -- like the governor’s support for this brutal practice -- is disturbing. We’re getting the word out to voters about Governor Sarah Palin’s barbaric record on killing America’s wildlife, especially her active... more -
Defenders of Wildlife Endorses Obama-Biden: Release of 1st TV Ad on Palin's E...
For TV ad Defenders Action Fund's 2008 endorsement: www.defendersactionfund.org
McCain-Palin campaign studiously avoids most environmental issues and offers energy proposals based largely on Big Oil's wish list, the Obama-Biden campaign is offering solid positions in nearly every environmental area, including forward-looking energy solutions.
Defenders Action Fund underscored its endorsement by launching a new TV ad about Palin's environmental record, focusing on her support for the aerial hunting of wolves, a cruel practice she actively champions in Alaska. The program licenses private citizens to fly airplanes and shoot wolves from the air or chase them to exhaustion before landing and shooting them point blank. The gunners then sell the pelts of the animals they kill for profit. The program also targets grizzly and black bears, which are chased by air and then shot on the ground. The ad, which will air in presidential swing states, shows a new and extreme side to the Governor, which has yet to be fully explored in the media.
"Sarah Palin not only condones the aerial hunting of wolves and bears, she actively promotes it," continued Schlickeisen. "She has even gone so far as to propose a bounty of $150 for every severed left foreleg of a wolf the hunters can produce. Her promotion of this ghastly and unscientific program - which she pursues while simultaneously suing the federal government to eliminate protections for the imperiled polar bear - offers voters a glimpse of her values and character that is quite different from the picture carefully crafted by the McCain-Palin campaign's professional speechwriters. It should also provide voters with a good idea of what a McCain-Palin administration's approach to stewardship of our nation's natural resources would be like. Americans deserve to know about this real side of Sarah Palin before they make up their minds about her.
"Put simply, if voters care at all about the environment, about protecting our air, land, water and wildlife for future generations, then they should look past the misleading rhetoric of the McCain-Palin campaign and support Obama-Biden," concluded Schlickeisen. For TV ad Defenders Action Fund's 2008 endorsement: www.defendersactionfund.org ... more -
Whose Side Are You on? The American Consumer and the Taxpayer, or Big Oil?
Speaker Nancy Pelosi | Pelosi on Energy Bill:
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic leaders held a news conference today to discuss the comprehensive energy bill to be introduced this week. Below are her remarks:
“I apologize for keeping you waiting, especially in these cramped quarters. But I come from our Caucus meeting very energized by what our Members had to say, pun intended. As we have discussed this month, Democrats will continue efforts to take America in a New Direction.
For our economy and our energy policy, we are organized, we are unified, we’re focused, we’re disciplined, and we’re ready to go. Two of the issues that are at center stage are the energy policy legislation that we have put forth and a possible stimulus package. These are related, in fact, because they address the economic insecurity of America’s working families, and they also address the problems challenging Americans who are out of work.
Today more than 9 million Americans are out of work, the unemployment rate is a five-year high. We must take immediate action to strengthen our economy. We’ve been saying that for a while, the Administration has resisted, hopefully the statistics will speak eloquently to the White House that a stimulus package is needed. It will be a stimulus package to create jobs.
We will vote on a comprehensive energy policy – and what I told you about the stimulus package was not all inclusive, there are other items, I was giving you a sample of what could be in such a bill.
This week, the House will vote on comprehensive energy legislation that is a result of a reasonable compromise.
I am very proud of our Caucus and how we are coming together on this. It will put us on the path toward energy independence by expanding domestic supply. It will protect consumers and taxpayers with strong action to lower the price of the pump and end taxpayer giveaways to Big Oil. It will ensure a clean green future through energy efficiency and conservation, and it will commit America to renewable energy and help create millions of good paying green jobs...
This comprehensive energy legislation is the result of serious compromising among Democrats to bring down gas prices now and invest in a renewable future. Republicans must set aside their ‘drill only’ policy; even their own supporters have said we cannot drill ourselves out of this emergency situation.
It will come down to this when it comes to energy. Whose side are you on? The side of the American consumer and the taxpayer, or Big Oil?
If they want to drill offshore we say, ‘Okay, if you want to drill on the outer continental shelf, let’s have a discussion and a change of the relationship between our oil, which is owned by the American people, the desire of Big Oil for us to subsidize their drilling, and us not to, the American people not getting the benefit of the profits.’ So more drilling, no subsidies, and we want our royalties, in order to pay for investments in renewable energy resources, make a strong commitment to LIHEAP and the land and conservation fund, something like that.
And if you oppose that, what are you saying? ‘I’m for drilling and for subsidized Big Oil and I want all of the profits to go to Big Oil, and I don’t want to visit this relationship of getting the funds that we are owed from the royalties of holidays in the late 90s.’
It’s pretty exciting because we’re at a crucial place in our energy future and this decision will be an important one, and we want the American people to see the distinction between the Democrats and the Republicans on this. Do you want to drill now on the continental shelf? We want our royalties. No more subsidies for you. We want those subsidies and those royalties for LIHEAP, for renewable energy resources, for a better energy future for our country.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi | Pelosi on Energy Bill: ... more -
Our Polar Bears, Ourselves...OUR FUTURE
It wasn't much noticed at the time, but three weeks before she was chosen as John McCain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin played a key supporting role in the latest episode of the Bush Administration's eight-year war on the Endangered Species Act, one of the cornerstones of American environmental law. On August 4 Alaska sued the government for listing the polar bear as a "threatened" species, an action, the lawsuit asserted, that would harm "oil and gas...development" in the state. In an accompanying statement, Palin complained that the listing "was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available" and should be rescinded.
The Bush Administration had not wanted to designate the polar bear as threatened in the first place; now Palin's lawsuit provided cover to backtrack on the decision. The Interior Department had issued the listing only after environmental groups filed two lawsuits, and the courts ordered compliance. While the polar bear population was currently stable, the plaintiffs argued, greenhouse gas emissions were melting the Arctic ice that polar bears rely on to hunt seals, their main food source. A study by the US Geological Survey supported this argument, concluding that two-thirds of all polar bears could be gone by 2050 if Arctic ice continues to melt as scientists project. The listing was the first time global warming had been cited as the sole premise in an Endangered Species Act case, and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne clearly wanted it to be the last. When Kempthorne announced the polar bear listing on May 14, he emphasized that it would not affect federal policy on global warming or block development of "our natural resources in the Arctic."
A week after Palin's lawsuit, Kempthorne delivered on that pledge. On August 11 he proposed new rules that could allow federal agencies to decide for themselves whether their actions will imperil a threatened or endangered species. The rule reverses precedent: since passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, scientists from the Fish and Wildlife Service have made such determinations independent of the agency involved. Under the new rule, if the Army Corps of Engineers is building a dam, the corps can decide whether it is putting species at risk. To make sure no one missed the point, Kempthorne told reporters that the new rule, which he termed "a narrow regulatory change," would keep the Endangered Species Act from becoming "a back door" to making climate change policy.
Kempthorne's proposal nevertheless seems likely to go forward. An obligatory thirty-day period for public comment expires September 15, after which Interior can begin to implement the rule. Congress could block funding, but few expect that to happen. Lawsuits are certain to follow, but critics say the quickest solution would be for the next administration to withdraw the rule. Barack Obama seems likely to do that; he immediately condemned Kempthorne's proposal. John McCain was silent. But his choice of Palin--who does not believe global warming is caused by humans but does think it's acceptable for humans to gun down wolves from airplanes--suggests that Arctic creatures have much to fear from a McCain administration.
FOR THE REST OF THIS REPORT, PLEASE VISIT: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080929/hertsgaard It wasn't much noticed at the time, but three weeks before she was chosen as John McCain's vice presidential running mate, A... more
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