Environment: Hypocrisy run amok -- Where are the activists and their lawsuits?
There is little or no doubt in my mind that the environmental movement has been infiltrated by radical socialists and communists who seek to use the environmental movement to fund their political agenda. Not only to fund their political escapades, but to use our own laws against us as they seek to dismantle our capitalist system.
Therefore, why should I not be surprised that the environmentalists are not hopping mad and filing lawsuits to stop the further development of wind power using bird-killing turbines ...
For decades, research has shown that wind turbines in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) kill many birds, including raptors, which are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and/or state and federal Endangered Species Acts. Each violation of these acts can result in fines and/or criminal convictions. <Source: Developing Methods to Reduce Bird Mortality in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area.>
Six birds found dead recently in Southern California’s Tehachapi Mountains were majestic golden eagles. But some bird watchers say that in an area where dozens of wind turbines slice the air they were also sitting ducks. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating to determine what killed the big raptors, and declined to divulge the conditions of the remains. But the likely cause of death is no mystery to wildlife biologists who say they were probably clipped by the blades of some of the 80 wind turbines at the three-year-old Pine Tree Wind Farm Project, operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. <Source>
And, one must question why the hyper-partisan progressive United States Fish and Wildlife Service was not enraged about the deaths of thousands of birds by wind-turbines, but would go to great lengths to pursue an oil company for the deaths of a dozen or so birds …
A Denver-based oil company has been fined $22,500 for the deaths of migratory birds at a subsidiary's fluid pits in Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. SM Energy Co. pleaded guilty Wednesday to one misdemeanor count of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in each state. U.S. Magistrate Carolyn Ostby also placed the company on probation for a year, fined it $7,500 on each count and ordered it to make a $7,500 payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
"These charges arose after a multi-year pattern of bird deaths at company sites, notification by the Fish and Wildlife Service, and failure of the defendant company's subsidiary to take reasonable measures to make the hazardous sites bird-safe," said Michael Cotter, U.S. attorney for Montana. The case dates back to 2005, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service documented deaths of a dozen migratory birds at open fluid pits at a Nance Petroleum site in Wyoming. Billings-based Nance, which later became a subsidiary of SM Energy, paid a $3,025 fine. <Source>
Putting it all in perspective …
Cats that live in the wild or indoor pets allowed to roam outdoors kill from 1.4 billion to as many as 3.7 billion birds in the continental U.S. each year, says a new study that escalates a decades-old debate over the feline threat to native animals. The estimates are much higher than the hundreds of millions of annual bird deaths previously attributed to cats. The study also says that from 6.9 billion to as many as 20.7 billion mammals — mainly mice, shrews, rabbits and voles — are killed by cats annually in the contiguous 48 states. The report is scheduled to be published Tuesday in Nature Communications. <Source>
Bottom line …
When the end justifies the means, any means – fair or foul – are acceptable to those who pursue their own agenda. So it should come as no surprise that in the scheme of things, with apologies to George Orwell, that some causes are more equal than others. In this case, the disingenuous environmentalists have decided that the deaths of certain birds are not as important to the cause as the deaths of other species – such as the small Delta Smelt in California – culminating in environmental lawsuits resulting in the disruption of an entire region’s water, agriculture employment and income.
Thanks to environmental regulations designed to protect the likes of the three-inch long delta smelt, one of America's premier agricultural regions is suffering in a drought made worse by federal regulations. The state's water emergency is unfolding thanks to the latest mishandling of the Endangered Species Act. Last December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued what is known as a "biological opinion" imposing water reductions on the San Joaquin Valley and environs to safeguard the federally protected hypomesus transpacificus, a.k.a., the delta smelt. As a result, tens of billions of gallons of water from mountains east and north of Sacramento have been channeled away from farmers and into the ocean, leaving hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land fallow or scorched.
For this, Californians can thank the usual environmental suspects, er, lawyers. Last year's government ruling was the result of a 2006 lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other outfits objecting to increased water pumping in the smelt vicinity. In June, things got even dustier when the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that local salmon and steelhead also needed to be defended from the valley's water pumps.
The result has already been devastating for the state's farm economy. In the inland areas affected by the court-ordered water restrictions, the jobless rate has hit 14.3%, with some farming towns like Mendota seeing unemployment numbers near 40%. Statewide, the rate reached 11.6% in July, higher than it has been in 30 years. <Source>
Like I said … some species are more important than others. Like the California Condor being used to justify backdoor gun control by regulating the sale and use of ammunition. Again, an alleged environmental impact that unnecessarily affects millions of citizens.
In the final analysis, while progressives believe that an enlightened elite must govern the nation to preserve scarce natural resources for succeeding generations and save the planet, the truth is that the planet takes care of itself – using self-regulating feedback loops to cover all contingencies. Including the one that specifies that man is just another contingency in the vast ecosystem of nature.
Without a doubt it is time to deal with both corrupt politicians who are using junk or irrelevant science to pursue a toxic socialist agenda. Returning to concepts of freedom and liberty and a planet that can take care of itself without faux political or scientific interventions.
-- steve
“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw
“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”
“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius “A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar “Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS