NO Dammit … Just NO!

Posted on June 7, 2019 by jilldennison under animals, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

The press release from the U.S. Department of Interior dated 05 June 2019 reads, in part …

U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt today announced from Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge a proposal for new or expanded hunting and fishing opportunities at 74 national wildlife refuges and 15 national fish hatcheries managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) across more than 1.4 million acres.

According to Bernhardt …

“… Trump is committed to expanding public access on public lands, and this proposal is executing on that directive by opening and increasing more access to hunting and fishing by the Fish and Wildlife Service at more stations and across more acres than ever before. Hunting and fishing are more than just traditional pastimes as they are also vital to the conservation of our lands and waters, our outdoor recreation economy, and our American way of life. These refuges and hatcheries provide incredible opportunities for sportsmen and women and their families across the country to pass on a fishing and hunting heritage to future generations and connect with wildlife.”

BULLSHIT.

How the Sam Heck is the murder of animals “vital to the conservation of our lands and waters”??? And why must animals die for “our outdoor recreation economy”??? Did they ever hear of swimming, picnicking, playing ball, tossing a Frisbee, running, hiking, and all those other non-violent forms of outdoor recreation? Must we murder in order to have fun outdoors??? If that is what is considered the “American way of life”, count me out!

As one opponent of the move said …

“We looked up the word refuge: a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble. Now if you and your family need a refuge we assume you would not want to be the target of gunfire. The same holds for our fellow animals.”

Bernhardt’s predecessor, Ryan Zinke, ordered the department in 2017 to review ways to expand hunting and fishing access to public lands. His spokeswoman said the Obama administration “did not appreciate access to hunting and target shooting like this administration does” and developed overly restrictive policies.

Don Trump, Jr. (left) and Eric Trump with beautiful leopard they murdered in Zimbabwe in 2011

And as I was looking into this most recent abomination, guess what else I discovered? Here is what the Department of Interior has been doing to wildlife protections since Trump took office:

Opened nine million acres of Western land to oil and gas drilling by weakening habitat protections for the sage grouse.
Overturned a ban on the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on federal lands.
Overturned a ban on the hunting of predators in Alaskan wildlife refuges.
Ended an Obama-era rule barring hunters on some Alaska public lands from using bait to lure and kill grizzly bears.
Withdrew proposed limits on the number of endangered marine mammals and sea turtles that people who fish could unintentionally kill or injure with sword-fishing nets on the West Coast. In 2018, California issued a state rule prohibiting the use of the nets the rule was intending to regulate.
Amended fishing regulations for a number of species to allow for longer seasons and higher catch rates.
Rolled back a roughly 40-year-old interprentation of a policy aimed at protecting migratory birds, potentially running afoul of treaties with Canada and Mexico.
Overturned a ban on using parts of migratory birds in handicrafts made by Alaskan Natives.

And currently under consideration are even more heartbreaking rollbacks …

Proposed stripping the Endangered Species Act of key provisions.
Proposed relaxing environmental protections for salmon and smelt in California’s Central Valley in order to free up water for farmers.

A former friend informed me not too long ago that “God put everything on earth here for our enjoyment and convenience”. You may now understand why she is a former friend. Apparently, that is a belief shared by Donald Trump, Ryan Zinke and David Bernhardt, but I do not believe it is shared by the vast majority of people in the U.S.

I do not believe that any creature was put on this earth for men to get their jollies by shooting them with guns. Back in the day, when that was the only way people could eat, perhaps it was justified, but even then, people of conscience killed only what they needed to eat. When people kill just for bragging rights, I find myself hoping they end up face-to-face, mano-a-mano with the animal, be it bear or lion, and let the chips fall where they may.

That our government believes a man’s right to kill senselessly supersedes an animal’s right to life, then that government is not one I can or will ever support. Oh … and to all my hiker friends … better wear a bullet-proof vest from now on when you’re hiking, for the damned hunters don’t really look very closely … if it moves, they shoot.

The Trump boys with their trophies …

Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest

Posted on April 1, 2019 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

His name is David Bernhardt, and he is Trump’s latest pick to head the Department of the Interior, since Ryan Zinke resigned last year in the spotlight of several ethics probes. Zinke was bad enough … Bernhardt, if confirmed by the Senate, may well be worse. Bernhardt has been serving as Deputy Secretary of the Interior since August 2017, and thus has been acting secretary since Zinke’s departure.

Where to even start? This guy is, like so many of Trump’s other cabinet choices, the worst possible candidate for the job! First, he is a former oil lobbyist, which sets up potential conflicts of interest in itself. If confirmed, he will become one of two former fossil fuel lobbyists overseeing the nation’s top environmental agencies. The other is Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who heads the Environmental Protection Agency. Between them, these two are in a position to cause much destruction to our environment.

As a partner in the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Bernhardt lobbied for the oil companies Cobalt International Energy and Samson Resources. His legal clients included the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which represents dozens of oil companies, and Halliburton Energy Services, the oil and gas extraction firm that was led by Dick Cheney before he became vice president to George W. Bush.

Thus far, while overseeing the Department of Interior, Bernhardt has …

Put forth a plan that opens up more land to oil and gas drilling than any other single policy action by the Trump administration, while at the same time stripping away protections from about nine million acres of wild life habitat.
Put forth a plan that would allow the federal government to lease almost any part of the United States coastline to oil and gas companies for offshore drilling.
During last year’s 35-day government shutdown, Bernhardt managed to obtain approval for 15 new leases for drilling on public lands as well as 71 new permits for offshore drilling. More than 50 recipients of the offshore drilling permits were companies that sit on the board of directors of the National Ocean Industries Association, a former client of Mr. Bernhardt’s. (Note that while his department is also responsible for conservation, maintaining national parks and permitting renewable energy programs, none of those functions were operative during the shutdown)
Intervened to block the release of a scientific report revealing the threat presented by three widely used pesticides to hundreds of endangered species (See New York Times investigative report). Bernhardt claims the NYT article is “not even close to true”, however I would disagree, knowing full well the integrity with which the Times do their research.
Has worked to loosen key provisions of the Endangered Species Act and to weaken safety and environmental rules on oil and gas drilling equipment.
Proposed a budget that would cut funding for the National Park Service by nearly $500 million, cut the budget for the Fish and Wildlife Service by $267 million, as well as cuts to other services including wildfire management (remember last year’s wildfires in California?)

Bernhardt’s confirmation hearing was held in the Senate on Thursday. Predictably, he was praised by republican senators.

“David Bernhardt is an honest man who puts all his cards on the table and keeps his word. He is a champion of conservation. There is zero question that Mr. Bernhardt is qualified to do this job.” – Senator Cory Gardner, Colorado (An “honest” man??? HAH!!! Trump would never nominate an honest man!)

It should be noted that Senator Gardner has received $47,000 in campaign donations from Bernhardt’s former lobbying firm.

“I intend to move Mr. Bernhardt’s nomination as expeditiously as possible. He is ready for this job and has demonstrated he can handle everything it entails.” – Senator Lisa Murkowski, Alaska (How much money did you receive from Bernhardt’s former lobbying firm, Ms. Murkowski???)

However, the democrats in the senate were a bit more discriminating. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon mentioned Bernhardt’s blocking of the previously mentioned scientific report, saying …

“Mr. Bernhardt, you came to my office to tell me that you were the guy who stood up for ethics in the George W. Bush administration. You asked to come to my office to say your ethics are unimpeachable. But these documents make it look like you’re just another corrupt official. Why would you come to my office to lie to me about your ethics? Just like Julie MacDonald, you meddled in the science.”

Environmental groups are speaking out against Bernhardt’s confirmation as well.

“Bernhardt got this nomination as a reward for months of work cramming America’s natural heritage into a wood chipper. He’s already done more damage to our environment than anyone else in Interior Department history. Confirming him as Interior secretary would be a boon to polluters and a colossal disaster for our public lands and endangered species.” – Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity

“With nearly two dozen former clients that have business before the agency, David Bernhardt is a walking conflict of interest who is uniquely unfit to serve as Interior Secretary.” – Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities.

Three Greenpeace activists donned ‘swamp monster’ masks as they sat in the audience at the hearings …

Perhaps Washington state Governor Jay Inslee said it best …

“Let’s not put big oil in charge of the Interior Department. Today’s Senate confirmation hearing shows that oil lobbyist David Bernhardt is dangerous to America’s public lands and waters and can’t be trusted to be our Interior Secretary. Big oil is literally laughing about the access they have to this administration. His answers today demonstrated his deep conflict of interest and his unwillingness to come clean about his record of mothballing an analysis of dangerous toxic chemicals. The Senate should reject this deeply flawed nomination and prevent this ethics nightmare.”

In the end, none of his conflicts of interest will matter to the republican-dominated, boot-licking, ass-kissing senate who are nearly certain to confirm Bernhardt, but it should matter to We the People, for we are the ones who will suffer from the destruction of our home, planet Earth.

While We Were Watching The Circus …

Posted on January 31, 2019 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Free Press Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

While we keep watching the circus playing out before our eyes, the clown with the funny hair and weird makeup who keeps tweeting mindless inanities, things are happening in our government. Things that will have an effect on our health, our freedom of press, our very lives.

We may wake up some morning and find that any number of things have changed overnight. For instance, we might wake up and find that our national parks and wildlife refuges no longer exist as such, for they have been sold to ExxonMobile for drilling rights, or dispersed to various coal companies for mining rights. Or we might waken to the news that an entire Indian nation has been forced to leave their land for lack of water.Why, you ask? In late December, amid the government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Interior, currently under the direction of Acting Secretary David Bernhardt, proposed changes that would make it harder for the public and media to obtain records of agency dealings. According to The Guardian (you don’t find these things in U.S. news) …

“Among other wide-ranging revisions to its Foia [Freedom of Information Act] regulations, the interior department’s proposal would enable the agency to reject Foia requests that it considers “unreasonably burdensome” or too large, and it would allow the agency to impose limits on the amount of records it processes for individual requesters each month.

The department oversees hundreds of millions of acres of public land, including national parks, as well as the country’s endangered species programs. Under the Trump administration, the department has embarked on an aggressive agenda of opening these lands to oil and gas drilling and mining while rolling back a wide variety of environmental regulations.

Records uncovered using the Freedom of Information Act in recent months have revealed the department’s close ties with energy industry groups as well as several apparent ethics violations among top political officials.

Daniel Jorjani, one of interior’s top lawyers and a former employee of the Koch-brother-backed conservative group Freedom Partners, signed off on the proposed revisions, which are facing harsh criticism from civil society groups that rely on Foia to track the department’s actions.

The changes are part of a broader drive to limit public access to interior department records. In October, the Guardian reported on a leaked interior department guidance that directed US Fish and Wildlife Service employees around the country to take a less transparent approach when responding to Foia requests about the agency’s endangered species programs.”

Ryan Zinke

The proposal was made by Ryan Zinke before his contentious departure, and the announcement was made on Friday, December 28^th, in the midst of the chaos of the government shutdown and the circus acts that accompanied it. The public was invited to comment until January 28^th (three days ago) with no extension. Local, regional, and national organizations including the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), the Wilderness Society, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Sierra Club are among those who submitted comments, as well as organizations representing the media, including the Society for Environmental Journalists and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

As part of the change, requests would be transferred to Deputy Solicitor General Daniel Jorjani, a former advisor to the mega-donor conservative Koch brothers. Interior career staff previously oversaw the requests, while Jorjani is a political appointee.

FOIA requests would also need to be much more detailed according to the new rules, and among other caveats, Interior “will not honor a request that requires an unreasonably burdensome search.” And of course it is incumbent on the Department of Interior’s Jorjani to determine what constitutes an “unreasonably burdensome search”. The proposal comes amid a large uptick in FOIA requests as journalists, climate advocates, and others work to gain information about the Trump administration’s large-scale environmental rollbacks and efforts targeting public lands.

Last week, the Interior Department announced that it would extend the comment period by only one day, from January 28 to January 29, after more than 150 organizations requested an extension. The department said the 24-hour extension was to “ensure interested parties have the full 30 days to submit their responses.” Without a second extension, the comment period ended at midnight on Wednesday.

And in related news … The Wilderness Society reported yesterday that in Wyoming, 140 parcels, totaling 150,000 acres were posted for sale. Meanwhile, in Utah, 156 parcels, totaling 217, 475 acres were posted. These actions, also, had been announced during the shutdown, but the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had only a week to review comments from the public. The entire process brings into question, how much consideration the BLM gave to the comments submitted. That is our land, folks … public land.

Funny, but I remember some point during Trump’s campaign that he said he would “drain the swamp” and make government more ‘transparent’. Apparently the words ‘swamp’ and ‘transparency’ have been re-written under the alternative dictionary of Trump & Co.

What could possibly go wrong if this proposal is finalized, as I expect it will be? Let’s think about what the Interior Department does. It is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States.

With both actions and speech, Trump has shown time and again that any respect he has for the public lands, for the protection of wildlife, and for the Native American tribes takes a backseat to profit for the oil, gas and coal industries. His massive de-regulations on the fossil fuel industry, his promotion of pipelines such as the Keystone XL and Dakota Access, and his lack of concern over clean air & water, marine life, wildlife, and human health make it essential that we have transparency in the departments (Interior, EPA and Agriculture) that manage these functions. And now, that is being taken away. And we hardly noticed, for we were focused on the circus.

On Draining the ‘Swamp’ …

Posted on November 22, 2018 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Humour, Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

Remember back in 2015-2016, that long, ugly, disgusting, tiresome campaign Trump conducted? Yeah, who could forget, right, especially since he doesn’t seem to realize that the 2016 election has ended and the campaign is over, so he keeps holding more and more of his really crappy rallies where he still has his minions chanting “Lock her up!”, even though they have forgotten who it was he wanted locked up. One of the many things that he spent that year-and-a-half (have I mentioned that it was a very looooooong year-and-a-half?) shoving down people’s throats was how he was going to “drain the swamp”, a euphemism for getting rid of corruption in the federal government. Well, we now know, thanks to Kellyanne Conway, that Trump uses a different dictionary, a different vocabulary than we do, called ‘alternative facts’, and that by ‘drain the swamp’, what he really meant was he was planning to bring in much more lethal, corrupt, greedy, criminal gators ‘n crocs.

One of my favourite comedians, John Oliver, has applied his own special brand of humour to the notion of Trump ‘draining the swamp’, and it is worth a watch … both educational and humorous …

Thank you, John!

And Speaking of Climate Change …

Posted on October 13, 2018 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

The Dirtiest Game(s) in Town

Posted on August 21, 2018 by jilldennison under Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

Trump’s staff and cabinet are among the most corrupt people in the nation. Remember EPA head Scott Pruitt and his abominable misuse … downright theft, actually … of taxpayer money? Then there was Tom Price, Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) who wasted more than a quarter-million on charter flights to jet all over the country.Price & Pruitt are gone, but the corruption remains. Take, for example, Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Mulvaney has a friend, Michael O’Shaughnessy, back in his home district in South Carolina. O’Shaughnessy is the founder and president of Element Electronics, a television assembly plant in Winnsboro, South Carolina. O’Shaughnessy was also a financial contributor to Mulvaney’s 2016 Congressional campaign.

Element Electronics stands to be seriously hurt by Trump’s tariffs, and O’Shaughnessy has said the plant will close in October if they cannot be exempted from the tariffs. Mulvaney is doing everything in his power to see that an exemption is granted to Element. Now, it isn’t that I am unsympathetic to the situation Element finds itself in, but many, many other companies are in the same boat, and is Mulvaney trying to help them? No, because they are not owned by his friend. Trump’s tariffs are destructive and despite his claims, are going to cost jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. But we cannot single out only certain companies to help because they are friends of somebody on Trump’s staff or cabinet.And then there’s Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior who, at his confirmation hearing in January 2017, said, “I am absolutely against transfer or sale of public land.” And again, in March 2017 … “You can hear it from my lips. We will not sell or transfer public land.” Doesn’t that one remind you of that infamous Bush Sr. line: “Read my lips — No new taxes!”? And yet, last week watchdog environmental groups got wind that Zinke was negotiating to sell off some 1,610 acres of public lands that had been part of the Grand Staircase national monument until Trump radically shrunk the size of the monument last December. The planned sale included 880,000 acres carved out by Trump from Grand Staircase and the 200,000 acres remaining in Bears Ears from its original 1.35 million acres.

The planned sale was cancelled last Friday, after questioning by the environmental groups, and Interior Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt took the blame, saying it was an “oversight” …

“The failure to capture this inconsistency stops with me.”

Most, myself included, are not buying it, for Zinke surely cannot be so out of touch with the department he is tasked with overseeing that he was unaware of this. These are public lands, folks … OUR land! It does not belong to Mr. Zinke nor to Mr. Trump and it certainly is not their right to sell it. I’m still not convinced they had the right to shrink it.

But Zinke’s corruption doesn’t end here. Earlier this year, he and his wife entered into a business agreement with Halliburton, one of the world’s biggest oil field services firms and a company that, needless to say, does quite a bit of business with the U.S. government, including the Interior Department that Zinke oversees. You can find the details here.And then there’s Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce who not only failed to properly divest himself of certain investments upon taking his position but has continued to meet in an official capacity with the chief executives of the companies in which he owns millions of dollars’ worth of stock. There is no evidence that he discussed deals that could be considered conflict of interest, but there is the appearance of wrongdoing. If I meet with a hitman, and the FBI gets wind of it, given my supreme dislike and public criticisms of Trump, guess what the FBI will assume, and guess where I’ll be going? Appearances are important in the eyes of the public.

Ross has denied wrongdoing but admitted only to “inadvertent errors”. Last month, Ross came under fire by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) for failure to divest certain holdings that he had agreed to do upon taking office. One of those holdings was Invesco, where Ross once worked and still owns stock valued at up to $50 million. Ross recently met with a board member of the Qatar Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund that had given Invesco money to manage.

Ross has met with auto executives who are customers of the company he founded and still has a financial interest in. He has met with the chief executive of a rail car manufacturer whose board he once sat on and whose shares he still owns. Sorry, Wilbur, but there is too much smoke here for there not to be a fire somewhere.

Helaine Olen, an opinion writer for The Washington Post, recently began her column …

“At least once a week, a member of the Trump administration demonstrates in an entertaining way that public service can be a great way to make a buck.”

She hit that nail spot on the head, didn’t she? But then, when the ‘man’ who is over all these people is the most corrupt leader in the western world … what else can you expect?Isn’t it interesting that Trump’s administration contains some of the wealthiest people ever to hold government positions, and yet they are the most corrupt, bar none? It would seem to me that this is as good an indicator as any that wealth is addictive, always seeking more, willing to go to great lengths to obtain more, not caring a whit who they step on in the process. It rather reminds me of a drug addict who will do anything and everything, including murder, to get his next fix. What’s next? Stay tuned.

Conservation … A Strange Definition

Posted on March 17, 2018 by jilldennison under animals, Global Issues, Political commentary

At what point in the evolution of our vocabulary did the word ‘conserve’ come to mean ‘kill’? I did not get that memo. To me, the word conserve means protect, save. A January CNN Special Report carried the following headline:

Trophy hunting: ‘Killing animals to save them is not conservation’

I agree 100%.

Ryan Zinke

In December 2016, Trump named Ryan Zinke to lead the Department of the Interior (DOI). On his first full day in office, Zinke rescinded the policy that banned the use of lead bullets and lead fishing tackle in national wildlife refuges. On June 2017, Zinke recommended that Bears Ears National Monument boundaries be scaled back. In August, Zinke 2017 added the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument to the planned list of monuments to be shrunk as well. Last month, Trump, acting on Zinke’s advice, lifted the import ban on elephant and other big-game trophies from Zambia and Zimbabwe to the United States. Zinke, himself a passionate trophy hunter, justified himself against critics by saying that he had his best childhood memories of hunting with his father and that he was anxious to promote hunting for American families. What the heck ever happened to family picnics and games of Monopoly???

Don and Eric Trump … and dead leopard

Zinke recently established a new commission, the International Wildlife Conservation Council (IWCC). The purpose of the commission? In a nutshell, to make it easier to kill wild animals. According to Zinke, it is about removing barriers to importing trophy hunting animals and relaxing legal restrictions on hunting and importing endangered species. I repeat … its purpose is to make it easier to kill wild animals, even those on the endangered species list! And in case you are not already mad enough, this commission will cost the taxpayers of the U.S. $250,000 per year … that’s a quarter of a million dollars!

Allow me, please, to introduce to you the members of this group:

Paul Babaz, President of Safari Club International (SCI)
Bill Brewster, U.S. hunter actively engaged in int’l and/or domestic hunting conservation
Ivan Carter, Ivan Carter Wildlife Conservation Alliance
Stephen Chancellor, Chancellor Foundation for International Wildlife Conservation
Jennifer Chatfield, Wildlife and habitat conservation/management organizations
Cameron Hanes, Archery and/or hunting sports industry
Peter Horn, Tourism, outfitter, and/or guide industries related to international hunting
Chris Hudson, Wildlife and habitat conservation/management organizations
Mike Ingram, U.S. hunters actively engaged in int’l and/or domestic hunting conservation
John Jackson, President, Conservation Force
Gary Kania, Vice President, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation
Terry Maple, Tourism, outfitter, and/or guide industries related to international hunting
Keith Mark, Tourism, outfitter, and/or guide industries related to international hunting
Olivia Opre, U.S. hunters actively engaged in int’l and/or domestic hunting conservation
Erica Rhoad, Director of Hunting Policy, National Rifle Association
Denise Welker, U.S. hunters actively engaged in int’l and/or domestic hunting conservation

Information courtesy of FACA Database

Cecil the Lion and Dr. Walter Palmer, his murderer

Of the sixteen council members, at least ten are known to have ties to Safari Club International, an international organization composed of hunters dedicated to protecting the freedom to hunt. One ‘esteemed’ member of SCI is Dr. Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the lion in 2015 in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. Mike Ingram, the ninth on the list, set up an illegal non-profit in 2016 that was used solely to sell access to Donald Trump. Peter Horn, #7 on the list, is the vice-president of Beretta, a gun manufacturer. Ivan Carter, #3, is a television personality hosting such shows as Dallas Safari Club’s Tracks Across Africa, and his own Outdoor Channel show, Carter’s W.A.R. Denise Welker, #16, killed an elephant in Botswana on one of Carter’s safari hunts. She received an award last year from SCI underwritten by the NRA. Number 14, Olivia Opre, is a former Mrs. Nebraska who judges the televised Extreme Huntress competition for female trophy hunters. These are not nice people.

Despite the fact that polls show that between 80% – 90% of Americans are opposed to big game hunting, this committee has been established at our expense to make the killing of animals easier. Now, you all know I am an animal lover, but even so, just what gives humans the right to take the life of an animal for no good reason? Who deemed that lions and tigers and elephants were put on this earth so man could take some perverse joy in killing them? Frankly, the way I see it is that every creature on this earth has as much right to life as I do. If my house were on fire, I can guarantee you that I would not leave until I had gotten every last one of the Significant Seven to safety, for their lives are as valuable in the grand scheme of things as mine. Most of you probably wouldn’t go that far, and I understand that, but to viciously murder an animal just to hang its head over your fireplace and brag???

The United States is already the largest importer of hunting trophies by far, accounting for a staggering 71 percent of the import demand, or about 15 times more than the next highest nations on the list—Germany and Spain. What, I ask, is there to brag about? More often than not, it is not a fair contest, for the animals are actually enclosed, and safari guides lead the hunters (who have often paid upward of $250,000 for this ‘privilege’) directly to them. Sport? I don’t think so. The lion, tiger or bear stands zero chance against a man with a huge rifle. It would be rather like one football team beating another whose hands and feet were bound together with duct tape!

This International Wildlife Conservation Council has not one single member from the Sierra Club, from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), from International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), or any of the other organizations that actually DO work toward protecting and preserving the animal kingdom. Not one.

I began this post with a musing about the word ‘conserve’. I think I have it figured out now … it is to conserve/preserve the right of wealthy, arrogant Americans to kill the innocent. That must be the definition Trump’s and Ryan’s slogan “Make America Great Again”.

Once again, I hang my head in shame for what my country has become.

Bears Ears

Posted on March 8, 2018 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Political commentary

Bears Ears. You’ve all heard of it by now, right? The Bears Ears are a pair of mesas located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah. They are were protected as part of and the namesake of the Bears Ears National Monument, managed by the Bureau of Land Management and United States Forest Service.

On December 4^th, 2017, Donald Trump signed Proclamation 9558, an executive order to shrink the Bears Ears National Monument—home to ancient cliff dwellings, Native American cultural sites, and iconic wildlife—by 85 percent. And the proclamation does not stop with Bears Ears, but also includes a number of other national monuments including the Moki Steps, Native American ceremonial sites, tools and projectile points, remains of single-family dwellings, granaries, kivas, towers, large villages, rock shelters, caves, and a prehistoric road system, as well as petroglyphs, pictographs, and recent rock art left by the Ute, Navajo, and Paiute peoples. It also identifies other types of historic objects, such as remnants of Native American sheep-herding and farming operations and early engineering by pioneers and settlers, including smoothed sections of rock, dugways, historic cabins, corrals, trails, and inscriptions carved into rock, and the Hole-in-the-Rock and Outlaw Trails.

Why would he do that? Because he wants to open that land to destructive coal mining, as well as oil and gas drilling. It’s all about money, folks. Destroy the land to put greenbacks in the pockets of the fossil fuel industry barons.

The lands of southeastern Utah have been home to indigenous peoples for thousands of years. It’s a majestic region of sandstone canyons, desert mesas, forested highlands, and red rock formations. One area in particular, named for twin buttes that resemble the ears of a bear, contains ancient cliff dwellings, rock art, and more than 100,000 other archaeological, cultural, and spiritual sites. They attest to varied and diverse American civilizations that existed long before the first Europeans arrived.

The Antiquities Act of 1906 gives presidents the authority to designate national monuments. It does not empower them to slice up monuments designated by others. A lawsuit has been filed by a conservation group, Earthjustice. The suit claims that because the president’s authority to create national monuments is delegated by Congress under the Antiquities Act, monument proclamations carry the force of law and cannot be reversed by later presidents. Therefore, Trump lacks the authority to gut a national monument that belongs to all Americans. Earthjustice represents a coalition of conservation groups in the suit: The Wilderness Society, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Sierra Club, the Grand Canyon Trust, Defenders of Wildlife, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Now, you might expect that Utah lawmakers would be incensed over this assault on their state, yes? Well, think again. Mitt Romney applauds Trump’s decision and in an interview on Monday said that he thinks the Antiquities Act, the federal law that grants presidential authority to designate such monuments, needs significant revisions, voicing support of a new law to require any large monuments over a certain acreage to first be approved by state legislatures.

Mike Noel, Idiot Extraordinaire

But here is the one that galls me the most, and literally had me growling as I researched for this post. Mike Noel is a member of the Utah House of Representatives. Mr. Noel liked Trump’s proclamation so much that he has written a proposal to rename the 631-mile-long Utah National Parks Highway. And just what would Mr. Noel wish to name the highway? The “Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway”. Noel said Trump wasn’t getting enough credit for his efforts. Passing this proposal, Noel said, was a chance to give it to him. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Then he went on to say …

“I think he’s done a tremendous amount, and I think with seven more years we can turn this country around. I think it’s a small price to pay to name a highway after him when he does in fact protect public lands.”

If we have another seven years of Trump, I can guarantee that I will either be a) residing in another country, b) in prison for murder, or c) dead.

The aforementioned lawsuit by Earthjustice is not the only one; in fact there are currently five lawsuits on the dockets:

Hopi Tribe et al v. Trump et al• Filed: Federal district court in D.C.• Plaintiffs: Five American Indian tribes (Hopi, Navajo, Ute Indian, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni).• Defendants: President Donald Trump, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, acting Bureau of Land Management Director Brian Steed, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke.• Argument: Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, the president does not have the legal authority to revoke or modify a monument — only to designate one. Additionally, the tribes say the 1.35 million acres set aside by President Barack Obama holds spiritual significance and contains cultural artifacts that deserve protection at the threat of looting, grave-robbing, vandalism and development. • Seeking: Injunctive relief “requiring President Trump to rescind his proclamation, or prohibiting him from enforcing or implementing it in any way.”
Utah Dine Bikeyah et al v. Trump et al • Filed: Federal district court in D.C. • Plaintiffs: A broad coalition representing American Indian tribes, recreation interests and paleontologists (Utah Dine Bikeyah, Patagonia Works, Friends of Cedar Mesa, Archaeology Southwest, Conservation Lands Foundation, Access Fund, Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, National Trust for Historic Preservation). • Defendants: Trump, Zinke, Steed, Perdue, Tooke. • Argument: Reducing the 1.35 million-acre monument would threaten hundreds of historical rock art panels, artifacts, pueblos and kivas. For its part, Patagonia insists the cuts would hurt the company financially by taking away recreation areas that provide “some of the best rock climbing in North America” used by its customers. Development in the area, adds Friends of Cedar Mesa, would mean “direct and immediate harm” to the paleontological hot spots within the monument’s boundaries, and oil and gas drilling would “result in the destruction and degradation” of the ecosystem. • Seeking: An order requiring Trump to restore the original monument and bar his administration from acting on the reconfigured designations.
Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. et al v. Donald J. Trump et al • Filed: Federal district court in D.C. • Plaintiffs: 11 conservation groups (The Wilderness Society, National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust, Defenders of Wildlife, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance). • Defendants: Trump, Zinke, Steed, Perdue, Tooke. • Argument: Trimming the monument would threaten “irreplaceable” archaeological artifacts and damage paleontology sites. • Seeking: Injunctive relief to block mining and oil and gas drilling on the land.
The Wilderness Society et al v. Donald J. Trump et al • Filed: Federal district court in D.C. • Plaintiffs: 10 environmental groups (The Wilderness Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Grand Canyon Trust, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity). • Defendants: Trump, Zinke, Steed. • Argument: The lawsuit alleges Trump is stripping protection for land that would leave “remarkable fossil, cultural, scenic and geological treasures exposed to immediate and ongoing harm.” That includes the Kaiparowits Plateau, which holds abundant coal deposits and is a paleontological treasure trove. • Seeking: Injunctive relief to stop Trump’s proclamations from taking effect so that no permits are issued for oil and gas leasing or coal and mineral mining.
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners et al v. Trump et al • Filed: Federal district court in D.C. • Plaintiffs: Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Conservation Lands Foundation. • Defendants: Trump, Zinke. • Argument: Removing protection from nearly 900,000 acres in the monument would threaten “sensitive resources located there,” including plant and bee species, archaeological artifacts and geological formations. The president’s actions were illegal. • Seeking: An injunction to stop Trump and Zinke from “recognizing, enforcing or otherwise carrying out” the downsized designations.

Trump must be thrilled, for lawsuits have defined most of his adult life!

Note that not one of these lawsuits is asking for money, they are simply asking that Trump, Zinke, et al, leave our land alone.

The land, its beauty, once destroyed can never be replaced. Coal mining? The market for coal is ever-shrinking and will never again be a relevant factor, since renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are cleaner and more economical. Drilling for oil and gas? Sorry, but I cannot rationalize corporate profits over nature. It isn’t just a matter of the beauty of the land, nor even the cultural and archeological sites. But we do not know what wildlife may be affected and in what way. We do not know what damage may be caused to water tables by the destruction of these lands. In the grand scheme of things, when we take the time to consider the future of our planet, putting profit over nature is about the stupidest move we could make. There is more to life than money, as most of us know.

The Death March of Planet Earth

Posted on February 8, 2018 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Political commentary

Europe doesn’t want to play with us anymore, and I don’t blame them.

“The European Union will no longer make trade deals with the United States if President Trump follows through on withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, according to a French official whose comments were endorsed by the European Commission.” – ThinkProgress, 06 February 2017

The planet’s second-largest polluter and we are not only refusing to help clean up our own mess, but determinedly making an even bigger mess.

“One of our main demands is that any country who signs a trade agreement with EU should implement the Paris Agreement on the ground. No Paris Agreement, no trade agreement. The US knows what to expect.” – Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, French foreign affairs minister

No word yet of any response from Trump … he probably didn’t understand what they meant, and anyway, he has been too busy worrying about who did or didn’t clap for him at his State of the Union Address to actually consider such trivial things as whether our nation will lose one of our biggest trading allies.

And in other environmental news …

The state of Idaho has decided to remove all references to climate science from its science education standards. Way to go, Idaho … keep those kids in the dark and don’t let them know the dirty little secret that we are killing our planet.

Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, is still trying to drum up support for his 5-year offshore leasing program that would open up the entire eastern seaboard to offshore drilling. This despite the fact that the governors of 15 of the 16 coastal states are against the plan. According to Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, the plan “underscores how disorganized and uninterested this administration is in preserving our coastline or stewarding our public lands.” Yep, pretty much..

Nebraska State Senator Tom Brewer has proposed a new bill that would restrict wind power development in the state and end the designation of wind power as ‘renewable.’ “Wind energy is not Nebraska Nice. Wind energy is a scam that hurts people and animals, wastes billions in tax dollars, and isn’t ‘green’ energy by any definition of the term.” Oh for Pete’s sake! Wind energy is one of the least polluting sources of energy available.

Trump wants to eliminate the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, a federal agency with a strong record of improving public safety. The goal seems to be to give a boost to the nation’s petrochemical industry as part of its “energy dominance” agenda. The agency is charged with investigating major chemical fires, explosions, leaks, and other accidents. Nothing too important there, right folks?

Oil and gas companies are suing municipalities that pass ordinances banning drilling and other types of industrial activity. Say what? But it’s even worse. Federal judges are sanctioning the lawyers who represent the small towns trying to protect the environment, imposing financial penalties. (More about this one at some later date)

And that, my friends, is the latest in environmental news. You may wish to spend some time outdoors today, for I don’t know how much longer we will be able to breathe out there if this keeps up!

On the Killing of Elephants … Again 😢

Posted on November 16, 2017 by jilldennison under animals, Global Issues, Political commentary

Look at the picture above. Somebody please tell me why some men see those majestic animals and their first thought is to kill them? I will never understand it, but then I am a lover of nature and do not seek to destroy that which I love. This week, Trump & Co, in their determined effort to undo every single thing that Obama did, have overturned a ban on bringing the heads of slain elephants into the country from the nations of Zimbabwe and Zambia. Now, read this sentence and tell me if you see something wrong with the logic:

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said it has determined that hunting African elephants in Zimbabwe and Zambia “will enhance the survival of the species in the wild.”

“The decision, cheered by some hunting and gun rights groups, is a reversal of the policy under the Obama administration. The United States and international authorities say the African elephant is a threatened species, and the Obama administration argued that allowing trophy imports would harm the animals by encouraging killing them.” – Timothy Cama, The Hill, 15 November 2017

“In 2014, the Obama administration curtailed elephant trophy imports as part of an initiative to protect elephants, whose populations were alarmingly declining, targeted for wildlife trafficking and ivory. As a result, officials in Zimbabwe and Zambia bolstered efforts to combat poaching and enact stricter systems to keep track of permits and quotas.

The Safari Club and the National Rifle Association, which challenged the ban in court, are celebrating the reversal and praising the Trump administration for recognizing the importance of “sound scientific wildlife management.”

By lifting the import ban on elephant trophies in Zimbabwe and Zambia the Trump Administration underscored, once again, the importance of sound scientific wildlife management and regulated hunting to the survival and enhancement of game species in this country and worldwide,” Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement.” – Brianna Sacks, Buzzfeed, 15 November 2017

Savanna elephant populations declined by 30 percent across 18 countries in Africa from 2007 to 2014, according to the Great Elephant Census published last year. The elephant population declined 6 percent overall in Zimbabwe but dropped by 74 percent within one specific region. Elephants saw “substantial declines along the Zambezi River,” in Zambia while other areas of that country were stable, according to the census.

The announcement to overturn the 2014 ban is expected on Friday. Donald Trump promised his followers that he would reverse everything that President Obama ever did, and he has certainly been trying. Every one of his attempts thus far has been harmful to the nation and its people: reversing environmental protections, healthcare, labour standards, gun control, education and more. In most cases, the only reason for the changes are to spite Obama. Why? Well, we all know the answer to that.

What makes a man hunt wild game anyway? It is an expensive activity, what with travel, licensing and fees, so only the relatively wealthy can participate. It is not, though some would argue, a sport, for there is no sport in murdering an animal with a high powered rifle, when the only defense the animal had was to attack you, but you shot him before he could come near. The animal stands no chance against this …

I cannot, I suppose, call this a crime against humanity, but it is most assuredly a crime … a crime against nature, a crime against … life. Donald Trump and Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior, must be toasting their achievement tonight, and Donald’s sons even more so …