There is a second storm forming south of Alaska that may reach California.

March 1, 2014
0230.19z
UNISYS Goes West Water Vapor Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

Ya think?

Los Angeles Bans Fracking (click here)

February 28, 2014 11:23 am  
by: Parimal Rohit

Los Angeles has become the largest city in the United States to actively take a stand against the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as the City Council unanimously approved Feb. 28 to take a moratorium on the unique practice to draw more oil out of the ground.
The 10 to 0 vote means steps will be taken to amend Los Angeles’ zoning code to prohibit fracking until the practice can be properly regulated at the local, state, and federal levels....

Major Reservoir Current Conditions (click here)

Dec 27th 2013 2:30PM
by Ben Deci

...Meanwhile, (click here) people are taking advantage of the rapidly growing shoreline by the lake. As the water goes down, the metal detectors come out.

In the late 1800′s, a mining village called Mormon Island was located at the foot of what would become Folsom Lake. By design, the new lake swallowed Mormon Island when the American River was dammed.

But now, the receding water line has spit the muddy rubble of the village back out.

For amateur archaeologists, it's a rare opportunity. Especially in a time when more traditional forms of winter fun just aren't the same.

"Usually we would be up the hill, skiing or snowboarding- enjoying the snow pack. But it's just not there this year," said one woman, walking the beach with a metal detector....

Russia should not be giving safe haven to riot police that will be held for trial.

If there are charges against these men Russia should not be harboring them. A former President of the Ukraine is a different issue, but, riot police?

22:34 28/02/2014

MOSCOW, February 28 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Foreign Ministry (click here) said Friday it has ordered its consulate in Crimea to speed up the issuance of passports and citizenship to members of Ukraine’s elite Berkut riot police.
“The Russian consulate in Simferopol has been instructed to take all necessary measures to start issuing Russian passports to officers of the Berkut unit,” the ministry said in its Facebook blog.

The new authorities in Kiev have disbanded the Berkut following last week’s deadly clashes between riot police and anti-government protestors that left 88 people dead and injured hundreds before Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital....

...Members of the disbanded Berkut received a hero’s welcome from some residents when they arrived in Crimea’s capital Simferopol at the weekend. Supporters claimed that they had been defending the country against alleged extremists in the opposition movement.

These riot police were wrong.  They fired indiscriminately into a crowd of primarily unarmed demonstrators. They were slaughtered for demonstrating. If they had reasons for their actions they can declare themselves innocent and prove the charges are wrong.

Interior Ministry members are on fire, caused by molotov cocktails hurled by anti-government protesters, as they stand guard during clashes in Kiev February 18, 2014. (Reuters / Andrew Kravchenko)

I know there were dead officers and even molotov cocktails thrown in retaliation, but, the demonstrators were all unarmed. They had no guns. Why would riot police open fire on unarmed people? They escalated things. They were only taking orders, I am sure. Those men were not robots without minds to know those people were unarmed.

These complaints about police and their brutality are common in the USA. We do complain about police when they are wrong in their actions. This level of violence was wrong. The demonstrators were not only unarmed, but, had no armor to protect them. 

The actions of these men completely shocked Europe. No one ever expected them to kill people. Never.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER and ANDREW HIGGINS

FEB. 20, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine — Security forces fired (click here) on masses of antigovernment demonstrators in Kiev on Thursday in a drastic escalation of the three-month-old crisis that left dozens dead and Ukraine reeling from the most lethal day of violence since Soviet times....

The tapes are important. The US Attorney is still doing his work. I think those in control of this were lucky the outcomes of the people weren't worse and I am sure that will enter into the decisions by the US Attorney. 

The tapes will have profound impacts on elections. No citizen of NJ wants to be that distraught or wants to hear a 911 operator upset over the lack of speed of their emergency responders. 

If there were lies stated and the lies were under oath, then they have will trouble. If the lies were not under oath, then it was politics and nothing more. Lies don't go over well with people at election time.

Governor Christi discharged the people in his administration that are involved and has apologized to the mayor and citizens of Fort Lee and accepted his responsibility as Governor which has resulted in an internal investigation.

Elections will be impacted by all this, but, the verdict is still out and the US Attorney has to do his work and get it right without overreach.

Friday, February 28, 2014    
Last updated: Friday February 28, 2014, 4:50 PM

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

The Record

Friday, February 28, 2014    Last updated: Friday February 28, 2014, 4:50 PM

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

The Record

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/fortlee/Fort_Lee_releases_911_tapes_from_GWB_lane_closures.html#sthash.im9ybVlU.dpuf

...The U.S. Attorney’s Office (click here) is also conducting a separate inquiry.

During the jams, first responders were delayed getting to emergencies and students were late for their first day of school. The borough's EMS coordinator also documented four medical emergencies where responders were tied up in traffic during the first two days of lane closures, including that of a 91-year-old woman who was unconscious in her home and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Her family said later that they do not believe her death was caused by the delays and that she had passed away before they made the 911 call....

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is also conducting a separate inquiry.
During the jams, first responders were delayed getting to emergencies and students were late for their first day of school. The borough's EMS coordinator also documented four medical emergencies where responders were tied up in traffic during the first two days of lane closures, including that of a 91-year-old woman who was unconscious in her home and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Her family said later that they do not believe her death was caused by the delays and that she had passed away before they made the 911 call.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/fortlee/Fort_Lee_releases_911_tapes_from_GWB_lane_closures.html#sthash.im9ybVlU.dpuf

Let's get something straight.

The situation with South Ossetia and Abkhazia is very different than that of the Ukraine. Georgia initiated the attack. There were Russian peacekeepers that observed the attacks by Georgia and deaths of innocent citizens. Now I suppose the idea of 'innocent citizen' is debated in Georgia, but, that is politics and sovereignty and NOT a matter of war.

By Charles King

October 11, 2009

Few people (click here) believed that the fact-finding investigation into the 2008 Russia-Georgia war by the European Union -- which released its final report on September 30 -- would reveal new facts. But the report does confirm that Georgia acted irresponsibly in attempting to reconquer the secessionist region of South Ossetia by force, and that Russia acted irresponsibly in militarily intervening to prevent Georgia from overrunning South Ossetian militias and Russian peacekeepers. Yet in declaring a plague on all the houses involved in the five-day war, the EU report misses an opportunity to outline how the long-running territorial disputes of the Caucasus might be best resolved.... 

The report criticizes Russia as well, but, something had to stop Georgia. There were 1000 people dead due to Georgia's attack alone.

No US Congressman should dismiss the fact Georgia acted first and this in no way can be measured against the events in the Ukraine. It is completely different. The Ukraine is holding early presidential elections in May and that was agreed to before the former president abandoned his country.

The Ukraine has to establish it's sovereignty without question in the reality that exists today and in anticipated elections in May. That wasn't what occurred in Georgia. 

No USA Congressman can make up their own facts. 

...the report concludes that the Georgian attack on Tskhinvali (especially the use of multiple rocket-launcher systems) had no legal justification, and that “there was no ongoing armed attack by Russia before the start of the Georgian operation.”...

...Russia, meanwhile, might have had some justification for protecting its peacekeepers in South Ossetia, but any military action beyond that was deemed unjustified and disproportionate....

...The EU mission’s most surprising conclusion is that the South Ossetian military, in responding to Georgian attacks, “did conform to international law in terms of legitimate self-defense.” This statement equates South Ossetia’s legal status with that of both Russia and Georgia, since it does not distinguish the South Ossetian irregulars’ use of force from that of the Russian and Georgian militaries. This will come as a surprise not only to Georgia but to any country -- including Russia -- facing an armed secessionist movement.... 

The fact South Ossetia had organized it's own military was a clear indication it believed Georgia was clearly a threat. The people of South Ossetia had a right to live. 

In the case of the Crimea and the Ukraine, there is no clear indication there was a separatist movement. Quite the contrary, the Ukraine and the Crimea were enjoying the fact they shared the same president. At this point, the Crimea is welcome to form a political party as there are elections in May. The deaths this time was carried out by Ukrainian police and in no location within the Crimea.

In the case of the Ukraine and the Crimea it would appear any interference with sovereignty is an overreach by Russia. I would think Russia would rather begin better relations with the Ukraine than inflame differences. There has been no threat to the people of the Crimea and/or any Russia leases to justify any actions, even in exercises. Currently, there is no treaty known to any other nation that exists between the Ukraine and Russia that would exonerate Russia from any invasion into the sovereignty of the Ukraine, be it the land, sea or air space. The Ukraine presents no threat to Russia's interests.

The international community has correctly treated many territorial disputes, from Kosovo to East Timor, as open-ended affairs, keeping independence, shared sovereignty, and other creative forms of governance fully on the table as potential outcomes. In the case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia before August 2008, however, Western governments unquestionably adopted Georgia’s position in these disputes, making little effort to see things in more nuanced, multifaceted ways; this approach helped push the Saakashvili government into believing that it could claw back South Ossetia in a quick war....

Basically, The West took an aggressive position that was unilateral and has based even current relationships with Georgia to their own interests rather than the truth. Here again, The West has no right to their own facts.

No one has to die to participate in a democracy.

There is nothing to prevent any group in the Crimea to organize a political party. As a matter of fact every minority needs representation in the legislature, otherwise they will never be understood by the rest of the country. How are they going to become a part of the country if they aren't heard from?

There is no reason for Russia to be penalized for their leases at a port at Sevastopol. It is an income for the Ukraine. It is also security. If Russia were a friend and not confused with a real enemy this would mean there is a major power within 'asking distance' if anything goes wrong.

For far too long there has been this 'black or white' loyalty issue. That is nonsense. There is absolutely nothing to say the Ukraine cannot have productive economic relations with Europe, the USA and Russia. Heck there is nothing saying the Ukraine cannot be a trading partner with China either. 

The Ukraine is not going to be punished by any nation for their ability to produce products others would like to import. A balance of trade is vital to every nation. The Ukraine, in conference with the IMF, needs to discuss the opportunity of 'trade relation trips' of the leadership.

You know, when the USA opened 'trust relationships' with Russia it was first based in CULTURE. 

At one time the Bolshoi would tour the USA, now there are USA students that study there. See below.

It takes an initiative to change the relationship between countries. The less a country knows about AND respects another nation the more they are likely to fear each other. After the cultural ventures things moved faster. The American people realized how at least one aspect of Russia was absolutely magnificent. What followed were scientists and university leaders talking to each other about academics. The relationship between the USA and Russia grew. What didn't happen was the stupid political rhetoric stopping.

There is a lot that has happened between Ukraine leaders and Russia. There is nothing to say it is going to be easy to bridge that divide. But, it can happen. Blame it on the fear and the fact neither party was trying very hard to stop the fear and hatred.

The constructs of peace are very important. Why? Because peace is perfect. Peace doesn't demand a competitive edge in economics or military might. Peace provides for benevolence. Call it a rebirth of peace in the Ukraine, but, perhaps it can show the world how peace is made and how it works best. The world needs a country to provide the insight and will to make peace a priority.

Pro-Russian Cossacks rally outside the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol, Ukraine, on Feb. 28, 2014. (Sean Gallup / AFP/Getty Images / February 28, 2014)

By Sergei L. Loiko and Carol J. Williams

February 28, 2014, 3:22 p.m.

KIEV, Ukraine – Authorities (click here) closed airspace over Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and at least five Russian transport planes landed at a military air strip near the regional capital late Friday, as the country’s acting president accused Moscow of trying to seize territory.

A duty officer at the Simferopol airport said that all commercial takeoffs and landings had been canceled from the Crimean regional capital’s airport for at least 24 hours. In Kiev, Oxana Ozhigova, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian capital’s Borispol airport, confirmed that flights to and from Simferopol had been suspended.

Ukrainian news media reported disruptions “by unknown persons” of telephone and Internet communications, and said that the Krym regional television station had been surrounded by gunmen.

The ominous military and security moves appeared intended to demonstrate the Kremlin’s determination to secure its leased port at Sevastopol, from which Russian naval might is projected to the world. Crimea hosts the Russian Black Sea fleet and has the largest population of Russian speakers in Ukraine....

Where does anyone get the idea a pipeline cutting through the heartland of the USA reduces CO2 emissions?

Ethanol can be produced from corn. If the crop lands are destroyed there is no corn. 

Questions?

To begin, the growth of any agricultural commodity for harvest happens annually and uses CO2 and sequesters it actually. That fact and those calculations were also conveniently missing from the assessment.

It is a question of national security.


Submitted by admin on February 19, 2014 – 12:14 pm
by Joanne Ivancic 
(Advanced Biofuels USA)

At the US Department of Agriculture (click here) headquarters building in Washington, DC, on January 30, representatives of the USDA and Navy provided an overview of the newly announced Farm-to-Fleet program which will provide a format for making biofuel blends part of regular, operational fuel purchase and use by the military.

The gathering was an effort to explain how requirements of existing military specifications, EPA and USDA regulatory processes for reviewing new fuel and feedstock pathways, ASTM standards and other complexities must be considered by renewable fuel producers....

Is Canada going to be the only nation in North America producing ethanol? Well, isn't that convenient. The USA gets all the Canadian Tar Sands garbage and then will be purchasing Canadian ethanol when the USA crop production falls with construction and spills from the garbage pipeline.

...Usage of biodiesel fuel in railway (click here) was first seen in British Train Operating Company Virgin Trains, which was transformed to run on 80% petrodiesel and only 20% biodiesel. Some successful applications of biodiesel fuel were seen in the Royal Train in 2007 completed on its first ever journey run on 100% biodiesel fuel, eEver since the Royal Train has successfully run on B100. Another example of biodiesel fuel usage was seen on a short-line railroad in Eastern Washington which ran a test of a 25% biodiesel / 75% petrodiesel in 2008. Disneyland too began operating its park trains on B98 biodiesel blends....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (click here)

I guess the petroleum industry wouldn't be interested in the reality of the world without oil. 

October 31, 2011

CHICAGO–Amtrak found the use of a renewable biodiesel fuel blend to power the daily Amtrak Heartland Flyer train resulted in no more wear on the locomotive than traditional diesel fuels and no reduction in performance or reliability....

 

IGPC Ethanol Inc. (click here) began producing fuel ethanol in October 2008. Located in the town of Aylmer, we are right in the middle of Ontario’s corn country. We produce 150 million liters of ethanol annually and our distillers grains are marketed and trucked out to area beef, dairy and pork operations.

IGPC Ethanol Inc. is wholly owned by Integrated Grain Processors Co-operative Inc., one of the largest agricultural co-operatives in Ontario. The co-operative was founded in 2002 by a group of farmers and agri business people looking to add value to Ontario’s agricultural production....

Volkswagen is not building a new plant in the USA.

Volkswagen has already decided their SUV can be produced in the USA Chattanooga facility. Is there a problem in understanding how a good facility can produce more product when requested. This has absolutely nothing to do with unionization. That is a fact.

...The $1 billion factory in Chattanooga (click here) started operating in 2011, building a cheaper, bigger version of Volkswagen’s mid-sized Passat sedan targeted at American customers. The plant has capacity to produce about 150,000 vehicles a year. The model’s U.S. sales last year fell 6.3 percent to 109,652 cars. The Chattanooga site could be ramped up to 250,000 vehicles annually should VW assign it to make the SUV, one of the people said.... 

If Volkswagen builds another facility somewhere else, it is because it serves the people they will be selling to. Transportation internationally has become very expensive. So, the company wisely builds automobiles where they sell if the numbers of sales justify it.

The employees in Chattanooga have no worries about the future. 

A $1 billion is a lot of infrastructure, people. VW is not walking away from this plant. I guarantee you, VW has not yet broken even on their investment yet, but, these buildings are depreciated as they age, so VW is fine.

This is a picture of the 2014 VW SUV. It is a good looking vehicle.

This is it's beginning story:

...With the VW Touareg, (click here) engineers were able to combine the features of a high-road vehicle with the comfort features of a luxury sedan and the dynamic attributes of a sports car - simply put : a noble SUV. Very quickly, the model Touareg placed among the top 5 of the cars registered in Germany....

The UAW has no history of violence.

Walter P. Reuther (click here)

"No Greater Calling"

The Life of Walter Reuther
By Thomas Featherstone
 
Walter Reuther is often remembered as the most accomplished leader in the history of the American labor movement. A man of character, resolve and boundless energy, he sought to level the playing field for American workers. Through his efforts, millions of working families continue to enjoy a more secure future....

The truth is the UAW has been the victim of violence.

Excerpts from Walter Reuther's Address to the 1970 UAW Convention (click here)

...We in the UAW have been in the forefront of every basic struggle in the country, and we have learned some very simple fundamental truths. That you cannot solve a human problem by pitting one human being against another human being. We have learned that the only way you can solve human problems is to get people to join hands and to find answers to those problems together. And it's for this reason that we reject the voices of extremism in America, whether they be white or black; for there are no separate answers. There are no white answers to the problems, there are no black answers; there are only common answers that we must find together in the solidarity of our common humanity. We also reject the irrational forces of violence. We in the UAW know something about violence. We have tasted its bitter fruits from our early beginning. Some of us have been shot at, we have been beaten up, we have had our offices blown up, we have had our homes threatened. And we know that violence solves no problems. It just intensifies old problems and creates new ones. Many of our friends, who stood here before platforms of past UAW conventions, are gone. They were struck down by the irrational and ugly forces of violence. We have lost too many friends, and America has lost too many noble sons. John Kennedy is gone. Martin Luther King is gone. Morris Adler, who was the Chairman of our Public Review Board, is gone. Bobby Kennedy is gone. All of them destroyed in a moment of madness and violence. And we have got to stop violence in America, before that destroys our society....

Current policies of the UAW concerning violence.

Domestic Violence and Violence Against Children (click here) 

The UAW is a union that bargains for families.  Any and all forms of domestic violence are a direct attack on our members and our most deeply held values....

Does anyone want to get into the crisis in the Cook Inlet fisheries?

Sis Myers of Orlando, Florida, center, casts into the Deshka River as dispatched king salmon cool near shore, 6/13/2006.
JIM LAVRAKAS — Anchorage Daily News

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/02/10/3317612/state-fish-board-limits-commercial.html#storylink=cpy

y ZAZ HOLLANDER

zhollander@adn.com

February 10, 2014 

The Alaska Board of Fisheries, (click here) in a key vote Monday, sided with Mat-Su guides and fish experts pleading for restrictions on Cook Inlet's commercial drift gillnet fleet to save flagging Valley runs....

...Several members described a sense of urgency given low numbers of Susitna River sockeye -- a priority because biologists deem them at-risk - but also weak runs of coho bound for once-popular fishing spots like the Little Susitna River and Jim Creek. 

Many Valley residents drive to the Kenai Peninsula to fill their freezers these days, said board chair Karl Johnstone, an Anchorage resident and retired Alaska Superior Court judge. 

"The population of this area has tried to make their voices heard at this meeting," Johnstone said. "We had an enormous amount of public comment."...

No?

Yeah sure, no one wants to discuss this fishery crisis in Cook Inlet?

I mean I up for the 'talk' as long as anyone wants to realize how much subsistence fishing goes on in Alaska.

Heck, if I had all the money these companies have I could have brought plenty of call girls, dope and booze to the US Bureau of Mining and Mineral Management, too. The country would have been better off for it.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/02/10/3317612/state-fish-board-limits-commercial.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/02/10/3317612/state-fish-board-limits-commercial.html#storylink=cpy

The world doesn't need more cooper, it needs more fish.

The world is not running out of cooper. Not even close. This company is an American owned cooper and gold mining interest. This is not the USA, it is Indonesia.

The Grasberg minerals district includes open pit and underground mines. (click here)

Grasberg is where the mine is located and the company is PT Freeport Indonesia and this is what they say about the future of their mining venture. This mine is considered the second most productive cooper mine in the world.
 

PT Freeport Indonesia commenced mining operations in 1972 and in 1988 discovered the Grasberg mine. Today, after significant production, the Grasberg mining district contains one of the world’s largest recoverable copper reserve and the largest gold reserve.

We have several projects in progress in the Grasberg minerals district, primarily related to the development of the large-scale, high-grade underground ore bodies located beneath and nearby the Grasberg open pit. In aggregate, these underground ore bodies are expected to ramp up over several years to approximately 240,000 metric tons of ore per day following the anticipated transition from the Grasberg open pit in 2017. Development of the Deep Mill Level Zone (DMLZ) is advancing.  The DMLZ is expected to commence production in 2015 and the Grasberg Block Cave mine is scheduled to commence production in 2017....

This is an aerial view of The Berkley Pit Mine in Butte, Montana. It has been closed since Earth Day 1982. When the water pumps were turned off the mine began to fill with water. Not just any water, groundwater from the surrounding aquifers. 

What did the mine contain that has now mixed with that water?

Copper, arsenic, cadmium, zinc, and sulfuric acid. That is what it contains. The water has a pH of about 2.5. It is about the acidic strength of lemon juice. It is a permanent Superfund site.

The Berkeley Pit (click here) is a former open pit copper mine in Butte, Montana. Approximately 320 million tons of ore and over 700 million tons of waste rock were mined from the Butte Hill. Put another way, the Berkeley Pit and Butte mines produced enough copper to pave a four-lane highway four inches thick from Butte to Salt Lake City and 30 miles beyond. Today, the Pit is filling with highly contaminated water, and managed as a federal Superfund environmental cleanup site. 

The companies that made their money have long gone. Today, it is a chronic concern and a permanent cost to the USA. Why go there in the first place?
We have plenty of pennies to melt down and don't really need it.

From the EPA assessment. So, the impacts the EPA dealt with are not comprehensive.

Cook Inlet Halibut Fishing (click here)

From Mid May to July,  Great Alaska Adventure Lodge targets Halibut on the West side of the Kenai Peninsula, in Cook Inlet (often combining trolling for King salmon with bottom fishing for the tasty Halibut).   We use our fuel-efficient 29 foot offshore Hardtop the "Stellar" for quick runs to the grounds and lots of fishing space....

This assessment (click here) considers many but not all potential impacts associated with future large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed. Although the mine scenarios assume development of a deep-water port on Cook Inlet to ship product concentrate elsewhere for smelting and refining, impacts of port development and operation are not assessed. The assessment does not evaluate impacts of the one or more large-capacity electricity - generating power plants that would be required to power the mine and the port. We recognize that large-scale mine development would induce the development of additional support services for mine employees and their families, vacation homes and other recreational facilities, and transportation infrastructure beyond the main corridor (i.e., airports, docks, and roads).

The harvest from sport fishing is a very sustainable economy.

It’s come to our attention (click here) that many people now believe that the limit for halibut has changed to 1 per person per day from the previous limit of 2 pp/pd. This is not true for where we fish, Cook Inlet. Unfortunately the limit has dropped to 1 in SouthEast AK. meaning Sitka, Juneau, etc. The resource is still strong in Cook Inlet and the limit for 2014 will be 2 fish per person, per day of which one can be over 29" and one 29" or less.

Our youngest are going to be healthier, too.

Posted: Friday, February 28, 2014 12:51 pm 
 
WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 28, 2014 – The U. S. Department of Agriculture (click here) today finalized changes to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) to further improve the nutrition and health of the nation’s low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants and young children. The changes – which increase access to fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy – are based on the latest nutrition science. Today’s announcement marks the completion of the first comprehensive revisions to the WIC food packages since 1980....

The EPA cannot siimply consider the 'immediate' effects on sensitive areas, they need to also assess the sustainability of any insult to these areas.

One of the most destructive forces in sensitive areas of nature are roads. 

They frequently start as logging roads. Frequently, the trucks that run along those logging roads carry invasive species with them. That is simply a truth that I have witnessed and worked to reverse. I know it for a fact. The industry probably doesn't have a clue either. They don't realize they are doing it. The plants and/or seeds travel from one place to another on the trucks themselves. Mean every word of it.

Then it becomes a way for trucks of all varieties to roll into a natural area justified as an appreciation of nature. Then it progresses from there. The EPA has to consider the roads necessary and the pollution they carry as well as the actual work at the mines. The runoff from the roads will be just as devastating to these areas as the mining itself.

Hiking trails and access is a far cry from any type of road. Hiking for the sake of an economy is far more sustainable and benign than any industry. That needs to be considered when assessing the damage mining and their roads will cause as long term damage to the watersheds and water movement in any area.

That's right, I am one of those pain in the ass 'detail people' in regard to conservation. Oh, by the way, I am proud of it. I have thought about starting a new club entitled, "Proud to be a pain in the ass environmentalist." Just imagine what the T-shirt will look like.

Where did anyone ever get the idea they could mine near Bristol Bay?

This is what bothers me about these professions that claim to have a right to do as they please, they either have no insight to their practices and the impact of the industry on lives or they simply don't care. I believe it is the later, because, when they are provided insight they disregard it.

The Pebble Mine is at the area of the star on this map. It is much larger than the star, but, it is where mining would begin. To the public these zealots simply say, "But, look how little land we are using." 

The Pebble Mine straddles two watersheds.

Below is a real picture of this beautiful region of the country. 

Can the USA please designate areas where fisheries are important to the economy of the USA as COMPLETELY off limits to exploitation by mining or drilling. Okay?

This area is highly sensitive to disruptions in the environment including land and air. Does anyone stop to realize where Bristol Bay actually is?

In the map below it is easy to note this area northeast of the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. It is also southwest of Denali National Park. But, there is also a greater problem than simply the immediate area that has to be considered.

These watersheds are upstream of the Alaskan Gyre. Any pollution entering those watersheds will be deposited in the Alaskan Coastal Current and enter the ocean currents. It is sort of like the BP Deep Horizon Oil Spill. It appears small in magnitude and contained along the USA coastline in respect to the global ocean sizes, but, it can become a monster to the world oceans very quickly.

There is just no way this "Pebble Anything" can be mined safely enough to justify WEALTH over HEALTH. 

How many fishery collapse can the USA "JUSTIFY" before it becomes obvious only the wealthy will have a safe food supply? 

See the folks that will become wealthy from the mining don't have to worry about their food supply and don't care about anyone else's. 

All these fisheries along the east and west coasts of North America fed the people of the USA and Canada. The interest the USA has in these fisheries is substantial.

March 13, 2008
By Felicity Barringer

Salmon collapse threatens fishing along U.S. West Coast (click here)

U.S. officials have indicated that they are most likely to close the Pacific salmon fishery from northern Oregon to the Mexican border because of the collapse of crucial stocks in California's major watershed.
That would be the most extensive closing on the West Coast since the federal government started regulating fisheries.
"By far the biggest," said Dave Bitts, a commercial fisherman from Eureka, California, who is at a weeklong meeting of the Pacific Coast Fisheries Management Council in Sacramento.
"The Central Valley fall Chinook salmon are in the worst condition since records began to be kept," Robert Lohn, regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Portland, Oregon, said Wednesday in an interview. "This is the largest collapse of salmon stocks in 40 years."
Although the Washington and Alaska fisheries are not affected, the California and Oregon ones produce "some of the most valuable fish, ones that are prized from West Coast seaports all the way to East Coast restaurants," Lohn said....

Uploaded on Tuesday 21 Feb 2012
by GRID-Arendal 

Collapse of Atlantic cod stocks off the East Coast of Newfoundland in 1992 (click here) 

Year: 2007

From collection: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Author: Philippe Rekacewicz, Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal Description:
From the late 1950s, offshore bottom trawlers began exploiting the deeper part of the stock, leading to a large catch increase and a strong decline in the underlying biomass. Internationally agreed quotas in the early 1970s and, following the declaration by Canada of an Exclusive Fishing Zone in 1977, national quota systems ultimately failed to arrest and reverse the decline 

Whether Wealth Merchants like it or not, they have to answer to a great good. These areas are 'the commons' where most every person has an interest whether they know it or not.

The Commons are why there are brain trusts in the country and why people are paid to monitor and assess them. The Commons puts food on the table of every American and they are important to our national security through health, food and water security. Just that simple. The Commons are off limits to exploitation that leads to their decline, pollution and/or collapse. And they certainly CANNOT contribute to a broader deterioration of our oceans. 

You know the MBTA was drafted to protect the birds with international flyways to insure their existence and safety. There needs to be international treaties that IDENTIFY 'The Global Commons.' The ocean gyres and currents are such realities that don't change to accommodate industry. There is no way the pollution of the USA should be visiting foreign shores and where it does, there needs to be substantial fines to clean it up and COMPENSATE for the damage at all. 

The USA has an interest in The Global Commons, ie: Tourism on the west coast of the USA, including Hawaii, since Fukushima. Whether the state governments want it admit it or not, there are tourists that won't travel there now.

Contributed by - New Westminster News Leader  
posted Feb 27, 2014 at 4:00 PM

Fraser River Salmon is a B.C. icon. (click here)
As important to B.C. residents, in fact, as the French language is to people in Quebec.

At least that’s what 70% of people said in a poll commissioned by the Watershed Watch Salmon Society and Skeena Wild Conservation Trust.
Indeed, salmon is ever present in our lives.

It is central to many aboriginal cultural traditions. Crucial to generations of commercial fishers. It’s delicious and nutritious, and a source of enjoyment for sports fishers. As well, it’s a symbol for the abundant and pristine environment we enjoy in this province.

But are we aware of the essential role salmon play in giving balance to our ecosystem?...

I can't wait to see what kind of concrete bullshit Halliburton is going to come up with like fracking to solve the problem. It will be amazing and more dangerous than anything imaginable.