67 times around - and once there was a world's fair

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/10/AR2006021001766.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

"Censorship Is Alleged at NOAA
Scientists Afraid to Speak Out, NASA Climate Expert Reports

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 11, 2006; Page A07

NEW YORK, Feb. 10 -- James E. Hansen, the NASA climate scientist who sparked an uproar last month by accusing the Bush administration of keeping scientific information from reaching the public, said Friday that officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are also muzzling researchers who study global warming.

Hansen, speaking in a panel discussion about science and the environment before a packed audience at the New School university, said that while he hopes his own agency will soon adopt a more open policy, NOAA insists on having "a minder" monitor its scientists when they discuss their findings with journalists.

James E. Hansen, NASA's leading climate scientist, told a New York audience that NOAA scientists are being censored on global warming. (Melanie Patterson - AP)

"It seems more like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union than the United States," said Hansen, prompting a round of applause from the audience. He added that while NOAA officials said they maintain the policy for their scientists' protection, "if you buy that one please see me at the break, because there's a bridge down the street I'd like to sell you." "

sumac, agreed. The media finally printed something important regarding censorship and the tactics used by the administration. Thanks for sending and posting the articles!




Large Sale of Forest Planned
The White House wants to help pay for rural roads and schools by auctioning 300,000 acres of what it considers non-vital parcels.

The Bush administration Friday laid out plans to sell off more than $1 billion in public lands over the next decade, including 85,000 acres of national forest land in California.

Most of the proceeds would help pay for rural schools and roads, making up for a federal subsidy that has been eliminated from President Bush's 2007 budget.

Congress must approve the plans, which several experts said would amount to the largest land sale of its kind since President Theodore Roosevelt established the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 and created the modern national forest system.

"This is a fire sale of public lands. It is utterly unprecedented," said Char Miller, professor of environmental history at Trinity University in Houston, who has written extensively about the Forest Service. "It signals that the lands and the agency that manages them are in deep trouble. For the American public, it is an awful way to understand that it no longer controls its public land."

The Forest Service has earmarked more than 300,000 acres for sale in 32 states, including tracts in California national forests, ranging in size from 90 acres in Angeles National Forest to 32,921 acres in the Klamath National Forest. Most of the California land slated for the auction block would be scattered across six national forests in the Sierra Nevada.

In a companion proposal inserted into this week's massive 2007 budget, White House officials directed the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to sell off at least $350 million worth of public land, with the money to go directly to the general treasury.

High-ranking officials in the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, said Friday the forest lands selected for sale are "isolated, expensive to manage and no longer meeting Forest Service system needs," and do not include wilderness areas or habitat vital to wildlife.

"Is selling off Bitterroot National Forest or the Sierra National Forest or Yellowstone National Park a good idea? No, not in general," said Mark Rey, undersecretary of Agriculture. "But I challenge these people who are engaging in this flowery rhetoric … to take a hard look at these specific parcels and tell me they belong in national forest ownership."

While acknowledging the proposed sale is the largest of its kind in decades, and possibly ever, Rey said the national forest system has swelled to 193 million acres, and that the amount sold would amount to less than one-tenth of 1%. He also said that all of the acreage could be regained in new land acquisitions, although he acknowledged reduced funding for such programs.

Rey added: "Education of rural schoolchildren, that's an investment in the nation's future as important as any other investment we could make. That purpose justifies the approach we're proposing."

Rey said the sales were necessary because it was impossible to find enough funds elsewhere in a declining Forest Service budget to make up for the loss of the school and road subsidies. He said the properties would be subject to fair market appraisals.

The Forest Service's proposed budget for 2007 is $4.1 billion, down about $160 million from 2006.

The public will have 30 days to comment after maps of the lands proposed for sale are published, which the agency expects to do by the end of the month. Some parcels might be removed if they are deemed too valuable to lose.

Several members of Congress criticized the proposed sales, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who called them "a terrible idea based on a misguided sense of priorities. First, the administration is proposing to sell off public lands to help finance the president's budget. And secondly, the administration plans to ratchet down and then terminate an important program that has been the lifeblood for rural schools in California and many other states. I will do everything I can to defeat this effort."

Feinstein said that though funding of rural schools and roads should continue, it shouldn't be through the sale of public lands. Noting that California's rural counties received $69 million from the program, Feinstein said, "a stable funding source must be provided, but not at the expense of our wilderness."

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said continued funding for rural roads and schools should come from the general fund, not public land sales.

"The administration found billions to fund subsidies for energy company boondoggles, so I have trouble believing they couldn't find the money in this budget environment to maintain support for rural Oregon counties," he said in a statement.

But Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who heads the subcommittee that will take up the matter, was more guarded. In a statement, he said that though he was "very pleased" that the president included funding for rural counties, "I do have preliminary concerns…. Public lands are an asset that need to be managed and conserved."

Congress mandated payments to the counties from the federal treasury in 2000 after the timber industry declined and revenue for local schools and roads dried up. That appropriation expires at the end of 2006, and there is a bipartisan effort in the Senate to extend the payments another five years.

Officials of two rural California counties said they needed the revenue that the land sales would generate. <officials? pompo and doolittle>

pages 2, 3, & 4 continued
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-forests11feb11,0,1552161.story?track=tothtml

Unfortunately, this amounts to confirmation of something I just heard on TV today.

But I would like to understand just why, and what the logic is, of funding public schools and public roads out of this program. If the money is no longer there, then take the money out of the Defense Department's huge proposed budgetary appropriations. I am sure that someone could justify it with some logic.

This paragraph baffles me:

"Congress mandated payments to the counties from the federal treasury in 2000 after the timber industry declined and revenue for local schools and roads dried up. That appropriation expires at the end of 2006, and there is a bipartisan effort in the Senate to extend the payments another five years"

Thanks goodness the press, or someone, found this item as an addendum in that huge tome. It might have gone relatively unnoticed. And note that the public has only 30 days in which to respond.

Four national forests affected here in North Carolina.

The following two paragraphs later in the article hold key points:

"Congress mandated payments to the counties from the federal treasury in 2000 after the timber industry declined and revenue for local schools and roads dried up. That appropriation expires at the end of 2006, and there is a bipartisan effort in the Senate to extend the payments another five years.........

Rey said the Forest Service might give extra time to nonprofits seeking to raise money to preserve open space, but would also seek private investors. He said private stakeholders such as timber companies or oil and gas groups had not been consulted directly on which parcels should be sold, but that some of the plots might have been selected based on such "conversations in recent months and years." "

It is getting to the scary point with Bush's actions. It will probably take decades to stop the damage this administration has done. And, apparently it's all about the money going to his rich friends. We've all heard about the Halliburton corruption in Iraq but does anyone know about the Carlyle Group?? That group has long connections with the Bush family and is raking in over twice the billions in Irag than Halliburton. It is sad what is happening to our tax dollars and apparently no one cares. This I just read =

Ex-C.I.A. Official Says Iraq Data Was Distorted
By SCOTT SHANE
Paul R. Pillar said the Bush administration had distorted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify decisions officials had already made.

That distortion was plain to me from the beginning. It was obvious to me that Bush was stretching the truth to get what he wanted.

clicked

Yeah, Danon, I know of the Carlyle group, and Bush Sr.'s relationship with important people in Saudi Arabia. That history goes back quite a while.

When Bush Jr. initially came on the scene and then became president, some of us commented that we hoped the country would survive for four years without him causing a disaster.

Three more.

US Geological Survey reported three earthquakes in the recent two days:

3.8 in Glenwood (what state?) as written up also in Aspen Daily News

5.2 in the Gulf of Mexico just south of New Orleans

4.9 in central Chile.

That organization has also placed a web cam near Mt. Saint Augustine but I have yet to find a link.

sumac, reasoning? The busco administration?


Without any justification or explanation for changing the way
our parks are managed, the new proposal would ultimately
weaken key protections and dilute the Park Service's core
mission of conservation.

For generations Americans have been confident that despite
shifts in political climate, our National Parks will remain
protected and pristine. We cannot let this administration be the
first to abandon the spirit of conservation that has been the
cornerstone of the park service mission.

We still have a chance to prevent this dangerous surgery on our
national parks, but only if you take action quickly. The
deadline to submit comments on this proposal is February 18,
2005, so please don't wait - click here to submit your comments
now!
http://action.wilderness.org/campaign/nationalparks?source=200602_adv_nptaf

<or go directly to the the gov page...if anyones home>

Stradee,

Deadline February 18, 2005?


More bad news about avian flu and migratory birds:

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/feb1006h5n1.html

"Report depicts China as launching pad for avian flu

Feb 10, 2006 (CIDRAP News) - An analysis of influenza viruses collected from thousands of wild and domestic birds in China and Hong Kong suggests that H5N1 viruses have been circulating in southern China for nearly a decade and have spread repeatedly from there to spark outbreaks across Asia.

The study by 27 researchers from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the United States provides strong evidence that migratory birds can spread the virus for long distances, a contention that has been controversial in recent months. The report was published online today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "

All the energy companies have to do is call the white house hot line to override states geological and enviornmental studies.


Charleston, West Virginia-- As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to break the law and allow streams, valleys, historic places, and communities across West Virginia to be destroyed by mountaintop removal coal mining and valley fills, West Virginia citizen groups have been forced to go back to court to halt environmentally devastating activities at three strip mines in Logan, Kanawha and Boone Counties that will permanently destroy seven and a half miles of central Appalachian headwater streams.

Today, the groups asked the US district court hearing the case to require the Corps to rescind illegal permits for these three mines and enjoin the agency from allowing any further activities at these sites that violate the law and cause irreparable damage to vital water resources, and to the health and welfare of many West Virginians living downstream.

"Trying to get the Corps of Engineers to follow the law is like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall: it is awfully hard to make it stick," said Vivian Stockman, project coordinator for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. "The Corps gives coal companies permits that are little more than a wink and a nod, and the coal companies waste little time before ripping out trees, choking off streams, and filling in valleys with mining waste."

According to the Bush administration's own estimates, mountaintop removal mining in the region has already destroyed over 1,200 miles of Appalachian streams. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that at least 2,400 miles of streams will be permanently wiped out by 2013 if additional environmental restrictions are not enforced.

"The blame for this environmental destruction really rests upon the Corps of Engineers for its failure to follow the law," said Cindy Rank with the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. "The Corps is dodging its responsibility to scrutinize these permits that blatantly violate the Clean Water Act."

Today's move by the citizen groups is a significant step in the most recent of the legal battles over mountaintop removal and the Clean Water Act. The case began last fall when the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy (WVHC) and Coal River Mountain Watch, represented by the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment and Earthjustice, filed litigation challenging permits for two huge mines: the Camp Branch surface mine in Logan County, and the Black Castle contour mine in Boone County. The groups also are challenging a third mine, Republic No. 2, in Kanawha County. The Corps acknowledged that the valley fills from these mines will permanently annihilate streams yet the agency still approved both permits, claiming that the resulting environmental impact will be insignificant. Today's legal action seeks to protect streams and valleys from further destruction until the court can determine whether the permits comply with the law.

"Time and again the Army Corps of Engineers has danced around the law when they approved these permits," said Janice Nease with Coal River Mountain Watch. "If we don't stop this soon, the Corps will continue to abuse the process and there will be nothing left of West Virginia to enjoy."

Dr. Margaret Palmer, Director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland and an expert on stream restoration and aquatic ecosystems, wrote in a declaration for the court that, "The mining activities and valley fills will fundamentally and permanently alter the hydrological and sediment regimes which are master variables controlling ecological functioning in impacted streams…Further, since watersheds act as a unit and a considerable amount of land in the watershed is to be cleared, the impacts are expected to extend far beyond the buried headwater streams."

sumac, dan and all ~ the alert stated Feb. 18th either because the date was stated incorrectly by the media, or advocacy groups asking all comments be sent earlier than the the due date. Not certain, but knowing how buscho agencies work - i'd send letters today!

I've been sending letters regarding our state parks since i began receiving warnings the bushco administration <pompo> attempted gutting the Endangered Spcies Act. If successful, there will be no protections for large predatory animals - thus opening all our National and protected forests to loggers and developers - which is exactly the administration plans. Selling off lands at current market value, the only ones that can afford the ticket are energy companies and developers - selling out Americas wildlands and destroying wildlife habitat.

The media should be ashamed of themselves.

The Wilderness Society - alert page and prepared statement to the parks dept. You can add your own paragraphs <or 10!> and the letter with cc: to your Senators will be sent via the Wilderness Society.

http://action.wilderness.org/campaign/nationalparks/?
source=200602_adv_nphome

Dan, bush not only stretches the truth, the lies and distortion from his entire administration are impeachable offences. Where's Congress? Has busco become so powerful that Americans can't stop him? I'm not scared, Dan - I'm p*****! and so should every American be!

Analysis of "Time Sensitive" Plans Shows BLM Shifted Policies to Facilitate Dramatically Expanded Drilling in New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah

January 12, 2006 (Washington, DC) - An analysis of 11 pending and completed oil and gas plans for key Western areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management shows that BLM has increasingly overridden its own policies to facilitate dramatically expanded drilling on public lands. The analysis of 11 BLM priority plans, which affect more than 30 million acres in Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah, shows that the plans will lead to more than triple the amount of wells allowed to be drilled, as compared to current conditions.

"In its rush to open more and more Western land to oil and gas development, the Interior Department has essentially abandoned its mandate to manage these lands for a variety of uses, including recreation and conservation," said The Wilderness Society's Nada Culver, who analyzed the plans. "Instead, the agency is auctioning off public lands to the semi-private profitable domain of oil and gas companies. The amount of land dedicated for planned oil and gas development will exclude other uses and will inevitably permanently damage these places. The lack of balance in these plans is shocking and has grave implications for Westerners and wildlife that depend on these lands."

Resource management plans have significant ramifications for the West because they guide how natural resources and activities will be managed during the next 15 to 20 years. These plans, which take several years to develop, spell out such details as which lands will be open to oil and gas development and off-road vehicle use, or for other non-consumptive uses like protection of wildlife habitat, wilderness values, and non-motorized recreation. The Wilderness Society analysis is notable because it presents the first comprehensive overview of the 11 plans prioritized as "time sensitive" by BLM in 2001 explicitly to address oil and gas development.

"Funding for this planning initiative was originally sought by the Department of Interior in order to ensure that BLM could properly manage the public lands in light of the heightened conservation mandate tied to the establishment of new national monuments, conservation areas and other special places," said Culver, "but this Administration basically hijacked the funding to focus on changing plans to open more lands to oil and gas drilling."

BLM's fast-tracking efforts were slowed by public opposition to the oil and gas bias, public advocacy for the protection of other uses, such as recreation, and the application of existing laws regarding planning and multiple-use management. The BLM has made radical changes in policy, such as the elimination of a policy that required that oil and gas leasing and development projects be denied if they could interfere with alternatives that could be considered in the planning process, such as protection of wilderness quality lands. In February, 2004, BLM issued formal guidance stating that oil and gas development could and should be permitted regardless of ongoing planning processes. The guidance then went further, requiring field offices that wanted to delay leasing to get approval from the state director and submit substantial amounts of documentation.

A case in point: The Draft Plan for the Price, Utah Field Office would approve 99% of legally available lands for oil and gas development in an area containing close to 1 million acres of wilderness quality lands (as acknowledged by the BLM), stretches of three rivers nominated for Wild and Scenic River designation, and priceless cultural resources in Nine Mile Canyon, a place about which the BLM said, "Nine Mile Canyon contains a regionally significant concentration of cultural resource sites within a steepwalled canyon. The rugged canyon contains numerous petroglyphs and other cultural resource sites visible from the county road that follows the canyon bottom" (Draft RMP, p. 3-23). The Price plan is currently more than two years behind schedule - not surprising given the incredible natural values at stake. In the meantime, following its newly-minted policy to lease regardless of the plan, the BLM has continued to issue new leases and is currently working on approval of a project for 750 new wells on at least 500 separate locations - even though the new plan has not yet been completed.

"Over the past five years, the BLM has shown a dogged determination to open nearly every last unprotected acre to oil and gas drilling, often at the expense of wildlife or water protection," said Culver. "When faced with public opposition or by the agency's own long-standing internal barriers to making oil and gas development the only use of public lands, BLM's response has been simply to revise policies and plow forward."

For More Information

Table showing dramatic expansion in drilling
How our analysis was conducted

http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20060112.cfm

Responsibility is at the top....not the parks department or BLM.

The culture of rape, pillage, financial rewards to business cronies. It could not be clearer.

Montaintop removal? Wow. That is the first I have heard of this.

Great article finds...but infuriating and heartbreaking. Thanks Stradee. I learned quite a bit that I didn't know before.

sumac - have you changed your e-ddress since mid-January? There isn't one in your profile, and one of the ones I used last night is the one I had from a January 16th email from you.

sumac, what i posted just the tip of the iceberg. The BLM was jacked by Norton so her energy buddies could begin drilling without Congressional approval. When advocacy groups exposes the DOI for what it is - a bunch of industry lobbyists and lawyers - and sue them in Federal Court - rulings for the envirornment are unheeded.

Concerning the aerial wolf slaughter happening in Alaska now - the courts said were illegal - the gov sent the ruling to his Department of Game - they cited stupid bushco science - and the kills continue. We're taking them back to court again - but by then, the wolves will have been destroyed.

We arn't dealing with human beings that care - we're dealing with the administrations money/grabbing robots. Oiled machines.