Our World and Everything in It

I wrote this as a diary on other blogsites and found people weren’t as down on our car companies as thought. Since this blog does involve the environment I thought I would post it here also. Replies I’ve received from the west coast that buy foreign were a little surprised. One wanted to know about the new Ford Fusion hybrid. And many people including a congressman that I read about also find it curious that all three automakers ignored foreign competition. Here’s the blog:

We all had a hand in the recent demise of the American auto industry. Consumers ate up big gas guzzling SUV’s, trucks, and 300 hp engines in cars like my 9 year old Cadillac. Like most consumers, I figured if the Big 3 produces them, they are all right to buy; after all, the car companies have the inside track, and an eye up on the competition. We trusted their judgment and we were willing to buy.

American automakers sold us big gas guzzling cars, yet at the end of the Clinton administration, the Big 3 produced prototypes of energy efficient and hybrid vehicles for the future. When Bush/Cheney was elected all was abandoned. The Big Three were obviously assured by an overtly oil connected administration that the crude would keep flowing. The Big 3 trusted Bush/Cheney.

It is the trickle down of trust. Even though the source of this trust lies in an administration that is Wall St. friendly, (obviously), and anti-union, (prefers dictatorial management), even though the rest of the industrialized free nations are highly unionized and benefit from national health care systems. Hmm? Meanwhile, the Big 3 blindly and stupidly followed the lead of this anti-environmental administration, and totally ignored the competition that continued making hybrids. Odd. The assurances must have been great enough to go against basic business sense.

And what about the environment? The Bush administration appointed Michael Leavitt as EPA administrator in 2000. As new reports about global warming began to surface, they were either squelched or altered by the EPA. ENS reported: “The White House reversed course and rejected actions to control global warming pollution.” It is one of the worst deceptions the Bush/Cheney regime perpetrated on the American public, to cause doubt about global warming for the sake of the billionaire oil industry relishing the use of gas eating American cars by a trusting America and its auto industry.

As for Michael Leavitt, he left the EPA to head up Health and Human Services. Health and Human Services under his rule turned around and issued an e-mail to some 67,000 govt. employees urging them to buy hybrid cars, when U.S. automakers had none to offer. Of course the e-mail was a mistake, so sorry. What? As in a trial, the jury heard the stricken comment. Buy hybrid, buy foreign.
Within a span of a few years Michael Leavitt at the Bush/Cheney bidding was both anti-environmental, then suddenly green conscious. Bush/Cheney was purchasing more and more foreign oil. The beginning of 2007, before the economy took a dive, the Big 3 raced to Washington when oil prices rose to record highs. The Big 3 recognized the trouble ahead. They were snubbed by the same administration that obviously assured them early on. The oil was flowing but at outrageous prices, and now Bush/Cheney washed their hands of the auto industry. Not their problem. The Big 3 knew they had been duped. The environment was skillfully used as a means to an end.

The Big 3 scrambled back to Detroit to produce environmentally friendly cars. Ford is unveiling a hybrid Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan that goes up to 47 mph on electric power before switching to gas. The Prius tops out at 30-35 mph. Quite an achievement for Ford in a short time. GM is in the middle of producing a plug-in car. And Chrysler helped produce hydrogen-powered buses for Iceland in 2003. So they have the know how.

But there are new problems out of the auto industry’s control. The beloved Wall St. darlings of the Bush/Cheney era fumbled badly. Instead of just breaking unions, at least two of the Big 3 are on the precipice of extinction now. The final sword is bailing out Wall St. with $700 billion, and corps. like AIG twice, but stalling on the car companies for $25 billion citing that it will just be a cup of water on the fire.

If GM sold all 8 of its jets @ $35 million each, the total $280 million would by the same rationale be a thimble on the fire. If 20 execs conceded $5 million each in any perks or salary increases the resulting $100 million would be half a thimble on the fire. But there is no real fire. The auto industries have advanced greatly toward producing hybrid cars of the future in a very short time after realizing it was sheer stupidity trusting an administration that lead us into a war with Iraq. We’ve been mislead by the Bush/Cheney administration many times over and the one source that has profited greatly is Big Oil.

I believe Big Oil should return the favor to the Big 3 and float them the money to stay on the final stretch of track toward cars that won’t need oil in the future. If Obama can appoint his adversaries, then the oil industry can boost the car companies to a greener future without them. The auto companies deserve a bailout. The oil industry can easily afford it. They were bedfellows before. It’s time for some alimony.

Over four hundred blogs and all of the research, I’ve learned that all things lead back to politics through policy, legislation, and regulation. The past 8 years saw the demise of many things we’ve only just begun to notice. To blame unions and U.S. autoworkers for any of the problems the auto industry is currently experiencing continues to play into the hands of the Bush/Cheney mindset that would like to render our entire country an “at will” entity where no U.S. citizen will have the job security most of our major competitors in the free world enjoy. Understand that unions are the last powerful voice any average citizen has against the likes of a Wall St., that will most certainly make sure nothing, absolutely nothing trickles down. In light of what has happened, we’d be fools to think otherwise.

Japanese unions: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D8163EF933A15754C0A964958260.
Germany’s unions: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3755519,00.html
Britain’s unions: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/apr2000/rov-a
06.shtml

When we think of Oregon, we think of lush forests and the shores of the Pacific; forests that have been in tact long enough to call ancient. These ancient forests of cedar and fir trees are along the western side of Oregon. After all the devastating fires we’ve had out west, it’s good to know that this ecosystem still stands. Its trees, wetlands and miles of rivers are a respite for the environment, an oasis compared to the scorched California terrain.

Oregon’s ancient forests are also home to black bear, and deer, as well as endangered species like the spotted owl. But that may change quickly. Bush is planning on handing out last minute offerings to his industry buddies, like two million acres to big lumber who will mow through the middle of Oregon’s ancient forests. The Wilderness Society said: “It would fragment this old growth ecosystem with the desolation of stumps and logging roads.” Two million acres would indeed look like desolation from the air.

Nice real nice. But it’s not a done deal. Conservation groups have backed the president down and now he’s accepting public comments. So let him know that in view of all the fires, and what might be a lack of water out west, to waste 2 million acres of Oregon’s forests is just plain sinful. What I want to know is where is all the lumber going? No one is building right now because of the economy. This really does look like nothing more than a wasteful hand out with no foresight as to how it will affect the environment, animals, their habitat, and all of us in the future.

Take action against this last minute logging: http://action.wilderness.org:80/campaign/ognw/xwnke5kr1ent8k5?.

There is a wilderness bill before congress that will protect more than a million acres of new wilderness areas in 8 states. It’s a good counterbalance to the acres of national forests that went up for auction over the past 8 years. Michigan is one of the states that would gain protected wilderness area through this bill.

A current Wilderness Society newsletter stated, “the bill [] would prevent new oil and gas leasing along the Wyoming Range and make permanent the National Landscape Conservation System, made up of 26 million acres of unspoiled public lands in the West.”

The only drawback to the bill is the authorization of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, which groups like the Wilderness Society strongly oppose. They will work to get this one provision removed. The bill may pass by the end of the year. If not it will be presented again during the new administration.

This wilderness bill is actually a composite of 150 public land bills, and according to the same article would “designate wilderness in Michigan for the first time in 21 years. The Beaver Basin Wilderness at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore would protect a popular hiking, boating, and camping spot on Lake Superior.”

Aside from this, I recall reading WXYZ’s news ticker a couple of weeks ago that stated Sleeping Bear Dunes Park would be adding 35 miles of hiking trails and expanding the wilderness area of the park by 45%.

Encourage our state reps to pass this wilderness bill, as it will protect many areas of many states from roads, structures, and off-road vehicles forever. It’s the least we can do after the Bush Administration’s onslaught against our national parks, public lands, and wildlife, and get back on track for protecting some of our beautiful national heritage.

With a new administration on the way, the U.S. is about to get much more environmentally friendly. As a matter of fact the environment is a priority on a very crammed transition agenda. As an article in the Washington Post reported: “While Obama said at a news conference last week that his top priority would be to stimulate the economy and create jobs, his advisers say that focus will not delay key shifts in social and regulatory policies, including some — such as the embrace of new environmental safeguards — that Obama has said will have long-term, beneficial impacts on the economy.” Yeah, a lot of new jobs.

Some things to be looking for right off the bat:

Declaring carbon dioxide emissions endanger human welfare.

Rescinding the Bush administration’s decision last December to deny California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles, (17 states are lined up right beyond California to do the same).

Creating a National Energy Council

Improving Food and Drug Regulations

Not a bad start. Anything has to be better than an administration that consistently pushed science aside in lieu of ideological beliefs or for politically motivated reasons. Hopefully, we are about to see many brand new industries emerge that will provide new construction, new jobs, new investments, and new futures for many people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/08/AR2008110801856.html?hpid=topnews

While many are busy trying to make change in this country through our upcoming elections, the Bush administration is feverishly trying to deregulate more. And some of this deregulation would not only have horrible consequences for the environment, but also public safety.

Think that it’s no problem because either Obama or maverick McCain will undo the Bush damage? Think again. The Clinton administration tried to put through regulatory laws a little too late at the end of his administration. When Bush took office he scrapped over 250 of Clinton’s regulations for the environment, public safety, etc., quite easily. So this time around the Bush administration is making sure there are no loose ends to their lobbyist loving deregulation push. It will take a heck of a lot of time, trouble, and interest to undo what Bush puts in place now. It affects farms, animals, our food, imports, fishing, environment, clean air, water, global warming, and public safety.

We’ve seen what deregulation has done with tainted food, toys, the sell off of our national parks, a spike in killing wolves, buffalo, and wild mustang horses, and many -other things that affect global warming like over fishing, which allows the growth of rotting plants that results in increasing methane explosions into the atmosphere. We’ve slowly learned that every little thing affects something else in a big way—a process that the Bush administration has never grasped. Their concern is for corporate gain at the expense of many things that directly and adversely affect us.  

Please read the entire article and contact your congressional reps to stop this last minute deregulation that could prove to be the last blow to the environment and our own safety!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103004749.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

The NRDC and other organizations like Greenpeace and Center for Biological Diversity have filed a suit against the Bush Administration again on behalf of the polar bear according to the NRDC. The polar bear is on the endangered list, but it seems its habitat is not. Soooo there is a lot of leeway (loopholes) in that plan for Big Oil.

The White House has been flooded with petitions to protect the polar bear and its habitat, but the NRDC and others have had to file suit even as Bush’s time in office is limited. Likewise, the Center for Biodiversity has a lawsuit against the Dept. of Interior, lead by good ole Dirk Kempthorne, for attempting to expand oil and gas development in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas or the “Polar Bear Seas.” It’s called the “Five Year Plan.” Real nice. In five years we should be on our way to oil independence.

It’s more tail chase logic. Allow oil companies to invade polar bear country with the industry that produces the fuel that emits CO2 fueling global warming that is melting the polar bear’s habitat in the first place. It’s another pretty package with little inside from the Bush administration. Apparently, we are to assume the package itself is a big portion of the actual present. And so goes this administration’s polar-bear-is-an-endangered-species offering that sounds right and just but turns right around and gives oil companies the upper hand in the Arctic.

An Arctic that is diminished with one million square miles, six times the size of California, melted away in the past 30 years. For those that want to argue this all happened before, well it wasn’t the Medieval Warming Period from somewhere in the 900’s-1300’s era. We’re a heck of a lot warmer now. According to New Scientist Environment website we might have to go back 6000 to 125,000 years to get as warm as we’re getting and it’s only going to get worse. This is not just natural phenomenon happening here. Anyway the difference between thousands of years ago and now is almost 7 billion people.

Look at the more dense population areas of the world. They are along the water. Take a pitcher of water with ice cubes in it and watch as they melt. No water level change, but add ice and that pitcher overflows. Imagine the scenario if all the ice that covers the land in our coldest regions slips into the surrounding water. That’s adding some mighty big ice cubes to our albeit mighty big oceans/seas but the pitcher will still overflow.

Big Oil’s intrusion in the Polar Bear Seas is adding insult to injury or in this case certain death to the polar bear. And it’s unnecessary. There are some 63 million acres of land leased for oil exploration that hasn’t been touched. The intruder polluters also endanger birds, fish, and other mammals with potential oil spills.

Organizations like the NRDC, Earthjustice, Greenpeace, Center for Biodiversity, and others are making progress. Shell put off drilling in the Beaufort Sea off the Arctic Refuge coast for another year. Now if they can just hold the Bush Administration and Dirk Kempthorne at bay for oh, a couple of months, maybe a new administration will have a little more empathy for the polar bear and our environment. 

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn11644

http://www.nrdc.org/naturesvoice/feature1.asp

http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/081006.asp

I was watching a news program and that little ticker of news across the bottom said that an agreement was hatched between the largest private landowner in the country to use forest service roads for possible development in our forests. Plum Creek Timber Co. is the landowner. Plum Creek became an REIT in 1999. 

An REIT is a Real Estate Investment Trust that allows investors to buy equity in large tracks of land. A REIT is also a pass through entity distributing 90%, although many distribute 100%, of their total net income to its equity holders. The equity holders are then taxed on that income, not the REIT. For a pretty good explanation about REIT’s read: http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/real-estate/reit.htm.

Plum Creek is first and foremost a lumber company, the heir to the timberland originally granted by the federal government to the Northern Pacific Railway in the 1860s according to Wikipedia. Plum Creek’s website states that they replant some 85 million seedlings per year, work closely with conservation groups to preserve wildlife habitat and protect clean water sources. A good thing environmentally since they own, or rather their shareholders own, close to 8 million acres of wooded forest land.

But Senators Jon Tester D-Montana, and Jeff Bingaman D-NM want an investigation into the new ruling that allows Plum Creek to use forest service drives because the closed door negotiations didn’t allow the public to weigh in. And I’m beginning to see why. Here’s the bad thing.

Some of the places developed by Plum Creek already are high-end lodge and golf facilities right in the middle of our national forests. Who does that cater to in these economic times? You and I aren’t going to stay and golf there.  And what about developing subdivisions in these forests? An article in the International Herald Tribune stated, “Montana county officials say the proposal would make it easier for Plum Creek to sell timberland for houses or other development.” This may be the result of all the public/forest land the Bush Administration has auctioned off over the past 8 years.

Development??? There are empty houses standing all over the country so what the heck are we doing? Huge landowners like Plum Creek are no longer just harvesting wood and replanting, they are developing the land for high-end resorts so their shareholders make more money. These are some of our most pristine wild forestlands. It’s about as bad as Governor Crist of Florida filling in and developing the everglades when people are moving out of Florida because they can’t afford the homeowner’s premiums anymore.

So for as much as Plum Creek attempts to do for the environment, they equally hurt it with unnecessary development. It’s becoming a little clearer why there was such an onslaught against wolves especially around our national parks. We just got a stay of relief for the wolves that were scheduled for massive annihilation in the Yellowstone area. Plum Creek has a resort called “The Yellowstone Club,” and others like Moonlight Basin. These are high-end resorts and housing right in the heart of the very lands where these animals roam. Recently, buffalo have been slaughtered as well as wild mustang horses too. Ever wonder why? The excuses that were given for this massive kill were never very clear, but it’s becoming a lot more clear now.

I read about Bush’s plan to allow lumbering throughout our more dense forest areas like Idaho and surmised that development would soon follow. It just so happens that Plum Creek has its hand in natural resource business opportunities also that are relative to mineral extraction, natural gas production, and communication and transportation rights of way. That says a lot more. Mineral extraction and natural gas production is a whole other form of real estate development for big energy and another big motive for the animal removal and the easy, quiet deal to allow the use of forest service roads to facilitate Plum Creek.

The two Senators are worried that allowing Plum Creek to use forest service roads for development will set a precedent for other developers to do likewise. It looks to me like that was the plan all along. Clear out many of the animals that are under protection, make deals on the sly, and the next thing we’re asking is, “When did we lose our forests to homes and country clubs we don’t need?”

We certainly know what happens when humans attempt to habitate areas that are home to wild animals. It becomes a struggle for the critters who ultimately are eliminated as pests.

It doesn’t appear there are many sacred untouched tracts of land in our country anymore that are protected from development and the almighty dollar.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/11/america/Forest-Road-Deal.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Creek_Timber

http://www.plumcreek.com/AboutPlumCreek/tabid/54/Default.aspx

The Great Lakes are getting attention again with the Great Lakes Compact and the latest addition of $54 million per year for two years to the Great Lakes Legacy Act. There are 42 Areas of Concern that are toxic hotspots relative to the Great Lakes Legacy Act, and another 93 that are on the Superfund list as a national priority. That’s a lot of toxic spots.

I thought it would be interesting to find the 42 hotspots and found a Google map of at least 31 of them. I clicked on quite a few for more information.  There is an awful lot of work to be done. I don’t think the $54 million will make a dent and well, it’s going to take quite a long time. I know when they were cleaning up the Black Lagoon in the Trenton Channel it took most of the summer. Then there is the problem of where to dump the toxic stuff. Of course the Black Lagoon stuff ended up near my house. http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/?p=21.

I wasn’t too happy about it.

Check out the Google Map of hotspots: http://www.healthylakes.org/areas_of_concern/2008/06/24/unearthing-the-great-lakes-areas-of-concern.

According to an article on ENS, “The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing today to review the Bush administration’s record on public health and environmental matters, but it was conducted in the absence of Ranking Member Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a Republican and former chair of the committee.”

It figures. Remember Inhofe, the senator waiving his own list of scientists that don’t agree with global warming, many of which belong to the “The Friends of Science Society,” a Canadian group I’ve blogged about before that seem to have ulterior motives:

So Inhofe boycotted this meeting, urged two witnesses not to appear, and the rest of the Republicans on the committee didn’t show either. It’s only a matter of time hopefully that we find out just how much environmental damage the Bush administration did. It affects our health and the future of our children. This is why I cannot understand people’s grasping at straws to avoid admitting and dealing with a rapidly growing global warming problem.

According to the article, the GAO or Govt. Accountability Office has already uncovered the following:

·         EPA political officials worked with the White House and the Pentagon to undermine the process for evaluating toxic chemical risks.

·         EPA has severely weakened its Office of Children’s Health Protection and largely ignored its Children’s Health Advisory Committee.

·         Despite the president’s campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, the White House reversed course and rejected actions to control global warming pollution.

·         In one of its first official acts, the Bush EPA announced that it was suspending the newly strengthened standard for arsenic in tap water.

·         The EPA story is the same for soot, smog, and lead standards - all weaker than its own scientists recommended.

·         Over the last seven years, the pace of Superfund cleanups has dropped by about 50 percent compared to the last seven years of the prior administration, from about 80 cleanups per year to 40 or less.

·         EPA has decided that it will not set a health standard for the toxic rocket fuel perchlorate in our drinking water, even though EPA data show that up to 16.6 million people are exposed to unsafe levels.

I don’t know about anyone else, but with or without Inhofe and the Republicans presence on the latest committee, there is enough evidence above to show that more than likely we’ve been lied to about plenty relative to the environment. And the animals that have taken a hit because of Bush’s tampering with the Endangered Species List goes beyond polar bears.

I still have a qualm that when the Bush administration is over we’re going to hear these words regarding the state of our world and everything it it, “It’s much, much worse than we thought.”

Read the article: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2008/2008-09-24-02.asp.

“The Bush Administration announced it intends to withdraw its plan to strip gray wolves of their endangered species protection in the Northern Rockies,” according to an e-mail from NRDC. The wolves will once again be under federal protection.

It seems the Bush Administration erroneously declared the wolf populations fully recovered, nor could it be proven that the wolves were threatening deer and elk populations. Yet when the feds handed off control of wolves to the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming 110 wolves were dead in no time.

The NRDC also stated: “That means Wyoming, Montana and Idaho will NOT be allowed to begin the extermination of hundreds of wolves this fall as part of a massive public hunt — the first in more than three decades. Instead, those wolves will continue to roam the Rockies — wild and free — as nature and the law intended!”

A big nose thumb to Butch Otter, Gov. of Idaho for wanting to be the first one to shoot a wolf. Congratulations to the thousands of people who worked to stop this illegal hunting. The NRDC, Earthjustice, and eleven other conservation groups took it to the courts and won.

This by no means is a sign to let our guard down. If things don’t change drastically in the future there will be another angle to sport hunt these animals down the road, especially if the state’s ever get that power in their hands again.

Sadly, this victory will not bring back Limpy, the crippled wolf icon of Yellowstone that was shot dead the moment it limped out of the park.