Our World and Everything in It

I’ve blogged about our federal courts being very environmental lately against the EPA, against mercury, against incinerators, and now the U.S. Forest Service. A long time ago, I blogged about an energy company that was poised to drill for oil on a tract of land along the Au Sable River. Drilling would inevitably ruin the area. It’s a haven for trout fishing and canoeing.

The Mason Tract, if I recall correctly, was donated by the Mason family as a place for people to get away from it all. I believe it was Earthjustice (Sierra Club) that got an injunction to stop the drilling. I want to say that was over 2 years ago. The Mason Tract is on the southern end of the Au Sable River. 

The fight between Earthjustice and Savoy Energy must have made the rounds in court because the U.S. Forest Service got involved and ended up approving the drilling, but a Federal Court judge overturned the decision saying Savoy Energy acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” when they made the decision.

Yessss! Imagine leaving a particular piece of land to the state for the public to enjoy as a peaceful woodland escape, and after 50 years it means nothing.  All of a sudden it’s OK to drill for oil there. And the U.S. Forest Service that is supposed to be the champion of our forests felt it was OK to allow it.

This fight is done for now but probably not over. I’m really glad to see that so far our federal courts are hanging strong for the environment. The Au Sable area is a great spot.  I did an overnight canoe trip there in March way, way back when. Many people have canoed down this river and hopefully helped fight the fight to keep the area the way it is.

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I don’t know if any other people interested in moving forward with all types of alternative energy have noticed the purposeful placement of the word “foreign” in many of the presidential contenders, Bush/Cheney, and legislator’s speeches. When a politician says they will make sure to fund research for new technologies to get us away from “foreign” oil dependence, they are probably talking money for a new type of oil drilling process. Technically, they won’t be lying, just misleading, if you tend to disregard that tricky little word “foreign.”

Granted, it’s been said that we do not have alternative technology available yet to take up the brunt of our oil demand, but it seems we keep looking to only one, and not a combination of alternative sources. What about a combination of alternative energy sources? I hear this idea floating around, but no gelling. The Sierra Club of Michigan has a very good presentation that shows a combination of energy sources, wind, solar, geothermal, etc., plus conservation programs like reclaiming wastewater, and recycling may meet all of our energy demands in Michigan. But we’re not advancing toward a future that will no longer be reliant on one big massive conglomerate like the oil cartel is to us right now. It seems we work toward monopolies in this country. Then we’re upset when we’re stuck with them without a choice. We should be looking to all venues to move forward for our energy future, not reinforcing the idea of fossil fuel again, like it’s all right because it belongs to us. 

I see the big push to get away from “foreign” oil as the big ruse to drill in the Arctic circle, the polar bear habitat, Utah, even Livonia, MI for Pete’s sake, and anywhere a slant oil drill can legitimately be utilized to “not’ enter our protected National Parks. They do so anyway at an angle right under protected habitat, while doing a great deal of damage with all the accompanying paraphernalia like roads, pipeline, trucks, heavy equipment, and trash. Ditto for coal mining. Using coal is getting away from “foreign” oil, all oil, but is still perpetuating the use of filthy fossil fuel that will eventually run out. Sure it might be thousands of years before it does, but at what price, gutting the countryside, ruining the earth trying?

So beware of that tricky little “foreign” word that comes before oil. It’s not a detail that should go unnoticed, because it doesn’t make any difference. It does, or they wouldn’t be slipping it in there.  It makes all the difference in our lives, our environment, and our world whether our future continues to poke around the earth and the oceans below for oil or coal that is “OURS.” Our oil and coal burn just as filthy as the “foreign” stuff.

‘Most people thought he was crazy. His research and story take an intricate look at packs of wolves. What is proven is that wolves interact with humans no differently than our pet dogs.’ This was an excerpt from Good Morning America, ABC news this morning about Shaun Ellis, a researcher living among wolves.. He has discovered a way for ranchers and wolves to live together peacefully.

I’ve been involved with Defenders of Wildlife so long that this is an important message for me to write. Wolves have been misunderstood for so long that it is almost impossible to reverse the notion that they are savage killers who will grow beyond control and be at our back door. Bush and Cheney used this analogy of fear to help get re-elected the last time around with their wolf commercials as metaphors for terrorists. Just another in their bag of rhetorical tricks to help themselves and harm the innocent.

I’ve lately heard that the wolf population in Michigan is growing rapidly and I smell the hunt already. Are allowing wolves to grow such a bad thing considering the same groups of hunters and DNR people claim we have to have hunting season for deer and everything else because they will grow beyond proportion?  Why then would we kill their natural predators, the wolves? Aren’t wolves and other animals a natural way to control overpopulation?  Money, money, money. Man is upsetting a natural balance once again for money.  Face it; man has upset natural balances all over the earth through pollution, misuse and overuse of natural resources for the purpose of making a buck.

Hunting makes sense to hunters. They honestly believe they are doing some greater good because we would be over run by nature otherwise. Yeah right. We’re polluting water, air, and land at such an alarming rate we’re hurting ourselves and we don’t think nature suffers too? There are so many birds and other marshy wildlife with rising levels of mercury in their systems it’s ridiculous. We really shouldn’t be eating that stuff. Global warming may eventually bring new types of ticks and diseases that weren’t present in Michigan before that will take out many populations of wildlife. Will we ban hunting this wildlife? Probably not. My biggest beef is that hunting laws are not flexible enough and seldom change regardless of species being hunted down. When species begin to dwindle laws that allow hunting them do not change quickly enough. The disappearing critters pretty much have to be on an endangered list and we know how that’s being threatened.

Hunting predators, then hunting to keep populations down is for the almighty dollar. Don’t let anyone fool you. After the ban on dove hunting passed so overwhelmingly, the hunting industry in Michigan shuddered to think oh no, next it will be steel leg hold traps. Hunting is a big industry in Michigan that has a dwindling industry problem. Our state will grasp at anything to stay afloat. Yet if the average voter is asked whether they want things hunted with steel leg hold traps or any other device that inflicts pain on an innocent animal we will more than likely vote it down. People with pets, I believe, tend to pass on that same kindness to other animals when they finally understand the truth. But the truth is something that is very hard to come by these days.

That is why I am urging everyone who loves animals, especially their dogs, to watch 20/20 tonight, on channel 7, 10:00 pm to watch a remarkable documentary about the wolf. I want people to witness the absolutely tender interaction between a human and a pack of wolves and the loyalty of wolves in general. 

Researcher Shaun Ellis has worked with wolves for 15 years and took a 2-year hiatus to live in the wild among wolves. He lost his wife, family, and job in the process. This is quite a sacrifice to get a message across. I think the least we can do is watch. It’s titled “A Man Among Wolves.” If you miss it tonight it will also air on The National Geographic Channel on April 16^th. Please watch it.

I have been contributing to and active with stopping the aerial killing of wolves in Alaska for years, which should fall under federal law that prohibits this sort of hunting, but has ceased to stop during the Bush/Cheney administration and through two governors now. Alaska just got another new governor who continues to totally ignore thousands of petitions by both Alaskan citizens and citizens all over the country to stop the heinous practice of shooting wolves from helicopters as they run for their lives. In Alaska and its wide-open range what is the purpose? This needs to stop. Our misunderstanding wildlife needs to stop. We’ve received very lopsided opinions and summations on wildlife for years. Pretty soon we may experience what they’ve been plagued with for their lifetimes. Man’s greed has grown so out of proportion that man has actually become a foe to himself. 

Watch 20/20, channel 7 at 10:00 pm tonight and get educated.  We’ve been fed so much crap. Watch and see reality for a change. 

Eminent Domain is a well-known issue in Monroe County. Signs “No Eminent Domain” sprouted across lawns in Erie against the railroad. Michigan is one of nine states with ballot issues in the recent election that resulted in restricting eminent domain. We know the problem well. Eminent domain is a landowner’s worst nightmare next to Mother Nature. It strips a citizen of property rights in a blink much like a tornado that is seen and gone.

Frank Eathorne, a 3^rd generation rancher in Wyoming voted for Bush-Cheney and didn’t mind the big oil and gas boom that brought jobs and

royalties to the state. He figured it couldn’t be all that bad, until it hit home. Frank thought he owned 32,000 acres. Turns out he only owns the grass on top. The federal government owns most of what is beneath. Washington has no ethics where oil is concerned. Frank built a new home in a far corner of his property to get away from the noise of 40 oil wells, 80 miles of pipeline, and 3 railroad tracks.

Why should we care? Frank voted for the environmental grinches. The federal government is doing this everywhere though. In a year-end push, the Republican Congress is going to hit the floor in support of anything big energy. Our national parks and forests are up for grabs. “The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service have been selling long term leases of wild, pristine public lands to oil and gas companies determined to lock them up for development for decades,” Earthjustice Newsletter Dec. 2006. The federal government wants to poke around our public lands without review of consequences for the environment. Some examples:

• The BLM tried to lease the remaining 389,000 acres of previously protected land in Alaska. The entire Arctic coast in Alaska outside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would belong to oil and gas developers.

• Clinton’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule was tossed. It protected 50 million acres of wild national forests and grasslands from building roads, logging, and development. It was a powerful tool against developers. A federal court judge has only recently reinstated it.
• The Bush Administration has habitually tried to permit drilling in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming
• The BLM is trying to open 90% of New Mexico’s Chihuahua Desert to drilling. It is a biologically diverse desert ecosystem and an energy developer’s land grab.
• In 2005, the Forest Service opened up 52,075 acres to new drilling in forests.

Closer to home, the AuSable River’s South Branch area is being threatened by Savoy Energy. Michigan’s Dept. of Environmental Quality approved a permit to drill near the secluded spot. The state owned 5,300 acres of wilderness surrounds miles of the AuSable’s South Branch. It is the Mason Tract and one of the greatest trout fishing areas in the lower 48. George W. Mason, an auto industrialist donated the land to preserve the experience of the river and the wild. The state owns the top land. The federal government own the subsurface mineral rights. This area is in trouble. A road was started, destroying the old forest area of the south branch. Earthjustice has halted the progress for now.

How do the feds get around drilling in areas that are protected? It’s called slant drilling. If they can’t legitimately let big energy drill somewhere, they lease the surrounding land to set up slant drills. They drill at an angle into the ground beneath the protected land. Los Padres National Forest has 20 such drills around one end of its perimeter. Some of the drills are positioned near sensitive habitats. One is near Lake Piru already listed as impaired by the EPA. It’s not just about a couple of drills.  As Frank found, there are also deep wells and miles of pipeline. Expanded oil drilling in Los Padres will also emit 12,179 more pounds of air pollutants per day.

This is an awful lot of activity on behalf of fossil fuels by the federal government. Aren’t we  repositioning ourselves for new sources of renewable energy? It looks like we’re hearing the old “fork tongue” again.  We need to voice our concerns to congress and push for alternatives. We need incentives for companies that think green. We need to stop the demand for fossil fuels that gives the wrong people power.  Our land has been high-jacked. The song says “This land is your land, this land is my land.” And I want it back!

 
 
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