Systematic Corruption in the Department of Interior

Can we trust the BLM, the National Park Service, the BIA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the USGS? Well... they take orders from the Department of the Interior. And the Department of the Interior (DOI) is having a very serious image problem:

• The DOI was responsible for the water diversion from the Klamath River, which led to the largest fish kill the West has ever seen.

• A judge in Idaho blocked new BLM rules loosening restrictions on Federal land that would have violated the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and The Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

• DOI Assistant Secretary, Mark Limbaugh, who headed a conduct board, has hired on with a Washington-based water policy lobbying firm.

• DOI officials have received free golf outings, dinners, hunting trips, and box seats at sporting events from companies they have monitored.

• Independent investigator Earl Devaney has testified “Throughout the department, the appearance of preferential treatment in awarding contracts and procurements has come to our attention far too frequently.”

• Officials from the Department of Interior have regularly hired on with the very companies they used to regulate. Recently, Jason Peltier went from Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water through the revolving door to hire on with Westland Water District in California. And Susan Ramos, a former Assistant Regional Director at the US Bureau of Reclamation has recently joined him. It may not be a coincidence that politically connected farmers may get a million acre feet of water grants in California.

• Julie MacDonald, who was Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, had to quit in disgrace for her callus disregard for numerous species eligible for the Endangered Species Act. However, her case was just one of many.

• Since Dirk Kempthorne has become Secretary of the Interior, not one species has been added to the Endangered Species list – although the US Fish and Wildlife Service has classified 279 species as candidates – and two species have already gone extinct without ever making it to the list.

• The highly publicized Jack Abramoff lobbyist scandal had involved buying influence from the Department of Interior.

• A audit has found that the National Park Service has for decades allowed members-only beach, yacht, and sports clubs to monopolize public lands.

• A jury found Kerr-McGee had underpaid $7.5 million in royalties in a case the Department of Interior claimed had no merit. And the Department of Defense was overcharged tens of millions of dollars in procurement operations involving the DOI.

• The DOI has somehow omitted charging royalty payments on oil and gas contracts that have amounted to tens of billions dollars.

• And after over a hundred years, close to a hundred billion dollars in royalties managed by the Department of Interior have still not been paid out to Native Americans.

When it comes to the water grab and the coal-fired power plants, can we trust the USGS BARCAS study and BLM oversight?

We can trust these Government Agencies to do what they're told.

Can we trust the Department of Interior?

We can trust them to do what they can get away with.

It was the Department of the Interior that ordered the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to stand down on protests to the Southern Nevada Water Authority water applications for Spring Valley water – on the day before the water hearings started. There has still been no reasonable explanation given for this act. All that the DOI has basically told us is that they have made other arrangements.

No. We can't trust the Department of Interior.

We should trust our common sense.

And exporting water from the desert just doesn't make sense.

Instant Hurricane

Launce Rake, from PLAN (Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada), has informed me that; Hurricane Humberto (now tropical storm) shocked the meteorological community with its extremely rapid development, from a minor low-pressure system on the gulf to a hurricane in less than 48 hours. Verbatim from the Federal NOAA discussion today: “To put this development in perspective... no tropical cyclone in the historical record has ever reached this intensity at a faster rate near landfall. It would be nice to know... someday... why this happened.”

Launce has an exceptional blog worth checking out - rakesgreenvegas

This Much Carbon Dioxide

There may be those of you who are wondering where I got a couple of numbers I've been using. There also may be many of you who trust me and don't really care to check my math. For those of you who are math averse, you may want to read a different entry.

For those of you who wouldn't mind helping me by checking my math, read on.

Given:

LS Power has informed us that they intend to burn 7 million tons of coal a year in the White Pine Energy Associates plant.

Sierra Pacific has informed that they intend to burn 8 million tons of coal a year in the Ely Energy Center plant.

Then:

7,000,000 tons/year + 8,000,000 tons/year = 15,000,000 tons/year

The plants are expected to operate between 40 and 60 years (although they could operate up to 75 years). I will assume a conservative 50 years.

15,000,000 tons/year x 50 years = 750,000,000 tons of coal burned

Conclusion A:

In the next 50 years, these two coal plants will burn 750 MILLION TONS of coal.

Given:

carbon atomic weight is 12

oxygen atomic weight is 16

Then:

CO2 molecular weight = 12 + 16 + 16 = 44

the ratio atomic weights of carbon and CO2 = 44/12 = 3.66

since coal is primarily carbon, but not purely carbon, I will round down the ratio to: 3 to 3.5

750,000,000 tons of C x 3 tons CO2/tons of C = 2,000,000,000 tons of CO2

750,000,000 tons of C x 3.5 tons of CO2/tons of C = 2,600,000,000 tons of CO2

Conclusion B:

In the next 50 years, these two coal-burners will emit over TWO BILLION TONS of Carbon Dioxide.

Given:

The density of carbon dioxide is 1.977 grams/liter

and conversion factors:

there are 454 grams/pound

there are 0.0353 cubic feet/liter

Then:

the volume of CO2 is 1/1.977 grams/liter = 0.506 liters/gram

0.506 liters/gram x 454 grams/pound = 229.7 liters/pound

229.7 liters/lb x 0.0353 cubic feet/liter = 8.109 cubic feet/pound

8.109 cubic feet/pound x 2000 pounds/ton = 16,218 cubic feet/ton

16,218 cubic feet/ton x 2,000,000,000 tons =

3.244 x 10¹³ cubic feet

the cube root of 3.244 x 10¹³ cubic feet is 31,891 feet

31,891 feet / 5280 feet/mile = 6 miles

Conclusion C:

If the total Carbon Dioxide emissions from the two coal-fired power plants planned for White Pine County, Nevada were evenly distributed at one atmospheric pressure, it would fill a square box 6 miles a side!

(And if a higher proportion of carbon in the coal is estimated – along with a 75 year operating life; the box would be over 11 miles a side.)

The REAL Harry Reid

I had the pleasure of meeting Senate Majority Leader – Senator Harry Reid at a meeting in Ely a few days ago. It was in inspiration to witness for myself that there really are members of Congress with a conscience.

I've met a few politicians in my life. Most of them have very similar personality traits. Most of them seem outgoing, a little too friendly, and well... you never know for sure whether to believe them or not. When I met Governor Jim Gibbons a month ago, I wasn't surprised. Call it instinct, but I knew he was a politician.

Not that Senator Harry Reid isn't a politician, just not the kind I expected. He seems a bit shy. He never seemed “used car salesman” friendly. And he didn't mince words when he disagreed with you.

As an example; one of the people at the meeting wasn't happy about Reid's stance on the coal-fired power plants. As the man was elaborating on how much cleaner coal is than back in the days of the Kennecott plant (his numbers were incorrect, by the way), well... Harry interrupted him with the comment; “If they're telling you that, they're lying to you.” I couldn't have been more impressed. That's exactly what I would have told him.

What impressed me most was how Senator Harry Reid explained himself. It truly sounded like this man believed in what he was doing. Plus, he was smart as a tack – smart enough to make the best decisions and have the arguments to back them up.

Before this meeting, I suspected that Mr. Reid might have “conspired” with his sons on the SNWA water grab. I don't think that anymore. Senator Reid is a very busy man. With having to deal with the “war,” our teetering economy, and dirty Republican political tactics every day – Nevada issues likely have often taken a back seat. Consequently, he may have trusted his sons to give him information about the water grab. Of course, one son is on the Board of SNWA, and I believe another son is an attorney for Vidler (Water). It may very well be that they haven't given him the best information. If so, it is up to us to help him understand our side of the story.

Senator Harry Reid will legislate with his conscience. We've seen it happen with the coal-fired carpetbaggers. If he understands that there are better options than turning our homeland into a giant dust-bowl, don't be surprised if he supports a rational solution – and there is a rational solution. A combination of conservation, offshore desalination, and the development and use of crops that use less water (in California) could go a long way before Southern Nevada actually needs Great Basin water.

What Conspiracy Theories?

I wrote this letter to the Ely Times as a reply to the Editor's comments that bordered on accusing me of being a paranoid follower of conspiracy theories. Of course, that's to be expected from the mainstream press. When you can't beat the message, attack the messenger. That's OK though. He prints my letters, and I help him sell newspapers. I've added links (that were not in the newspaper article) for you to further study my insights. The Letter:

I apologize. I was out of line to imply that The Ely Times “As We See It” column was written by ghost writers from out of town. You may recall, however, I only asked if that were the case. Plainly, one wouldn't have to be too paranoid to suspect something – when these editorials haven't been signed. Thank you for reassuring us that the WE in these editorials are you. You're good writers. Be proud of your work. Sign it.

And yes, it may seem that I “believe” quite a few conspiracy theories. Actually, I'd like to think of it as I've come to logical conclusions based upon a preponderance of evidence – and I believe there is a better way. So, here are a few “conspiracy theories” I feel warrant attention:

1. Big corporate retailers, like Wal Mart, have been conspiring to run mom-and-pop businesses out of existence all across America. The only reason Ely has been spared so far is because we're such a small, remote town.

2. Credit companies have conspired to keep us in debt for life. In 2006, the five biggest credit card companies made $8.5 million in congressional campaign contributions.

3. The coal industry has been conspiring to force liquefied coal on us – at taxpayers expense. There is already a “factory” in Missouri that can turn almost anything with carbon in it into fuel oil. Thats right, we already have the technology to turn household waste, plastic, even sewage into fuel oil. Why bother with mining and shipping coal, when we can utilize our dumps?

4. The fossil fuel industry has been conspiring to suppress alternative energy ever since Bush senior became vice president in 1980. At times, counter-intuitively, subsidies for fossil fuels have been hundreds of times those for wind and solar energy.

5. The power companies, auto industry, and fossil fuel industry have conspired to play down global warming in the mass media. Advertising millions have a lot of influence. Legitimate science journals are unanimously concerned about global warming pollution. And a man just swam at the North Pole! That's unheard of!

6. The handful of corporations who own most of mass media have conspired to promote only those reporters who recite corporate propaganda. To my surprise, when I compared Internet news stories from around the world, I've noticed that sometimes more objective reporting comes out of China and Russia! I couldn't believe it! Check for yourself.

7. SNWA is conspiring to ignore desalination, even though it will likely be cheaper very soon. The motive is simple; the more scarce water is, the more they can charge for it.

8. Although not a conspiracy; I think there is a trend that the rest of America is pushing to turn Rural Nevada into the nation's toxic dump.

9. There is a “vast right wing conspiracy.” I prefer to call it the “Coal-ition of the Greedy.”

10. We too, conspire. We crave quick cash. We fear change. We look the other way. Systematic destruction of the Environment is the elephant in the room we've been ignoring – at out own peril. In a way, we are all complicit in the most dangerous “conspiracy” of our civilization.

Thanks for printing my letters. You're very brave. Maybe it's my conspiratorial nature, but I suspect the people who've insisted you exile me to my blog are somewhat influential.

End of Letter to the Editor.

The last statement was in reference to Kent Harper's comment in the first article; “And I've received quite a few complaints.” In his second commentary, Kent says; “There are no “influential people” trying to silence or exile you.” I guess only un-influential people are complaining.

What's the Worst that Could be Happening?

It is possible that we have already reached our environmental tipping point? It is possible that extreme climate change is inevitable? Are we already screwed?

I've read that it would take 100,000 years for global warming gases to return to their pre-industrial levels, if we completely stopped producing them - now. As you all know, we've been waiting to see just how bad things get before we get serious about global warming pollutants. That, of course, will be too late.

Is it already too late for us to avoid the worst (that we can imagine so far) of the global warming damage - the melting of the polar ice caps? Maybe not. There is hope. If we continue at our present rate, however, the ice caps will be gone soon. The Arctic Ice cap is the smallest it has ever been in recorded history. This video shows Arctic Ice cap melting; to today, and the likely progression to 2050.



This projection was made by UCAR, who also point out that extensive wildfires are contributing massive amounts of pollutants into the air. Of course, some of these pollutants are global warming gases - which means we've incited nature to even further warm the planet. This is happening. The only real question is whether we have pushed this beyond the point of no return. Yet, our bureaucrats are still ignoring the obvious. Check to see if you find Global warming induced wildfires in the Draft Environmental Impact Statements of any coal-fired power plants.

While you're checking. Why don't you check to see if any of these Environmental Impact Statements mention hurricanes. Hurricane Dean was the third most powerful Atlantic Hurricane in recorded history. How many times do these things have to happen before we admit that they're more than just coincidences?

We are already seeing the first signs of Global warming - and they are so frightening that we don't want to believe this could be happening. Call it denial. We don't want to believe that this could be it. The worst thing that could be happening is that we may have already started in motion the extinction of humanity... And don't expect to be in heaven, safely watching from afar. If we screw things up here, it isn't very likely we'll be welcome any place else.

You'd think that would motivate us.

Where's That 250 Year Supply?

Unf∞ckingbelievable!!! The coal industry promises us hundreds of years of coal, and it looks like they're already running low. It's easy to tell they've lied to us. The costs, the risks, and the environmental damage are all rising. Here are two examples:

1. The Bush administration intends to weaken environmental laws and give the coal industry the go ahead to destroy even more of the Appalachian mountains. Mountain top removal is the most destructive form of coal mining. And now they're going to make it even worse. The Federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, OSM, is proposing to exempt coal mining wastes from the 1983 regulation known as the Stream Buffer Zone Rule. This is a sign... This is a sign that the easy sites have been mined already, and the coal industry now wants to change the rules so that they can get to the riskier sites. At risk, what remains of the Appalachian mountains. Unbelievable!

2. The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that coal in Utah is getting harder to mine. The article reports of “difficult geologic conditions” that the Utah mines are having to deal with now. Since the coal in Utah mines is running low, this would mean that coal availability to coal-fired power plants in Nevada could be reduced to mines in Wyoming. The potential for monopoly like control of Nevada's coal supply is possible. At risk, our pocketbooks. At risk, the coal miners, nine of whom recently died trying to get coal from these riskier sites.

Allow me to remind you once again that there will always be plenty of sunlight and wind, and the price will always be free. Moreover, no one will die in sunlight or wind mines.

We have to fix our systems – now. How could our “brightest” minds be making such stupid decisions? Anyone paying any attention can tell that our “leaders” don't care about doing the right things. Hey, this administration has made torture legal, so why not indiscriminate environmental damage? Can you say “sociopaths?”

From 1992 to 2002, 1200 miles of Appalachian streams were buried under mining waste. If you find it utterly repulsive that they want to allow mountain top removal coal mining to get even more environmentally destructive – and you feel that what pathetic laws that do limit mountain top removal should remain intact, please write a comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Sorry I can't just provide you with a link. They're trying to make this difficult for us. The notice in the Federal Register can be found at www.regulations.gov From there, you have to use their search engine. Scroll down to “Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.” Then press “Submit.” Both the notice and the proposed rules titles start with “Excess Spoil ...” If you click on the pdf icon for the notice, and then scroll down most of one page, you will then find the title “Excess Spoil Minimization – Stream Buffer Zones Draft Environmental Impact Statement.” From there, you can find out where to send your comments.

Good luck, and don't give up. I know this sounds complicated, but once you know how to do this, you can check up on all the new BS regulations. Maybe next time you'll be informing me what they're up to.