Compelled by a pair of recent legal settlements, the effort in part targets species that have been mired in bureaucratic limbo even as they inch toward potential extinction.
With a Friday deadline to act on more than 700 pending cases, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service already has issued decisions advancing more than 500 species toward potential new protections under the Endangered Species Act.
Also among species that advanced for further consideration are 35 snails from Nevada's Great Basin, 82 crawfish from the Southeast, 99 Hawaiian plants and a motley cast of butterflies, birds, fish, beetles, frogs, lizards, mussels and more from every corner of the country.
But it also comes amid a backlash in Congress against the 37-year-old endangered species program. Earlier this year, citing restrictions against development and other activities, Republicans unsuccessfully sought to strip the federal budget of money to list new species as threatened or endangered. http://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-plants-animals-protections-070324826.html
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The Weekly Standard writes: Despite the growing Solyndra scandal, the Department of Energy approved $1 billion in new loans to green energy companies -- including a $737 million loan guarantee to a company known as SolarReserve:SolarReserve LLC, a closely held renewable energy developer, received a $737 million U.S. Energy Department loan guarantee to build a solar-thermal project in Nevada.On SolarReserve's website is a list of "investment partners," including the "PCG Clean Energy & Technology Fund (East) LLC." As blogger American Glob quickly discovered, PCG's number two is none other than "Ronald Pelosi, a San Francisco political insider and financial industry polymath who happens to be the brother-in-law of Nancy Pelosi, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives."
The 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes project, near Tonopah, Nevada, will use the sun’s heat to create steam that drives a turbine, the agency said today in a e-mailed statement. SolarReserve is based in Santa Monica, California.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/crony-capitalism-737-million-green-jobs-loan-given-nancy-pelosis-brother-law_594593.html
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The Ausin Statesman reports: Texas could be in the midst of a drought the history books have never seen, meaning water planners need to prepare for worse than what they've seen, state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said Thursday.
The current drought could last until 2020, because the region's climate is in the middle of a 20- to 40-year dry phase, Nielsen-Gammon said.
Water planners, including state agencies and river authorities, have long since made water plans based on the drought of record, a nearly 10-year dry spell in the 1940s and 1950s.
"Sooner or later there will be a drought that's worse" (than the drought of record), Nielsen-Gammon said. [Since man's pollution was not nearly so complete sixty years ago, just what caused this drought back then?] http://www.statesman.com/news/local/current-drought-could-become-worst-ever-state-climatologist-1887398.html
Washington Examiner writes: Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to build one of the nation's first offshore wind farms off the coast of Ocean City was wisely put on hold last year by state legislators, who said they needed more time to study the proposal. Key questions about the centerpiece of O'Malley's environmental policy have finally been answered, and they don't help the cause.
Although the governor vowed in June 2010 that offshore wind energy would "create jobs for our workers and help stabilize utility costs for our families while increasing grid stability," it's clear he won't be able to deliver on any of those promises.
Like the solar panels manufactured by now bankrupt Solyndra, wind turbines depend on the vagaries of nature and thus are not reliable producers of electricity when it is needed. Which is why General Electric announced earlier this month that after pocketing $125 million in federal stimulus grants and contracts, it was retreating from the faltering offshore wind market due to lack of demand. GE, one of the world's leading manufacturers of direct-drive wind turbines, is laying off 40 employees at its ScanWind plant in Norway. O'Malley's claim that this heavily subsidized but still failing industry will create "green" jobs in Maryland is nothing but wishful thinking.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/local/2011/09/examiner-local-editorial-omalleys-wind-energy-plan-worse-hot-air#ixzz1Z9dGfB3j
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The NY Times reports: A Georgia company says it has overcome a major roadblock in turning agricultural waste into vehicle fuel and other useful chemicals by experimenting with a technology that treats the waste with compressed water heated to very high temperatures.
The NY Times reports: A Georgia company says it has overcome a major roadblock in turning agricultural waste into vehicle fuel and other useful chemicals by experimenting with a technology that treats the waste with compressed water heated to very high temperatures.
If it works, the technology could reduce the nation’s reliance on oil imports for gasoline in favor of a cleaner-burning and less expensive source of energy. A company with a workable technology would have a guaranteed market, given that Congress has set quotas for the consumption of cellulosic fuel but so far, hardly any is being produced.
What is more, the supply of cellulosic biomass is far larger than the amount of corn available for making ethanol, and it does not involve diverting many resources from food production. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/business/energy-environment/using-water-to-turn-wood-chips-into-motor-fuel.html?_r=1&hp
What is more, the supply of cellulosic biomass is far larger than the amount of corn available for making ethanol, and it does not involve diverting many resources from food production. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/business/energy-environment/using-water-to-turn-wood-chips-into-motor-fuel.html?_r=1&hp
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The Washington TImes reports: The State Department’s support of a controversial oil-pipeline project is putting pressure on the White House to move forward after three years, despite objections from environmentalists.
A series of public hearings concludes Friday on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Canada’s oil sands in Alberta down through America’s midsection to the Texas Gulf Coast.
So far, the State Department has published reports in favor of the project, which is projected to create 20,000 jobs and reduce the nation’s dependence on overseas oil.
Still, it isn’t an easy decision for the Obama administration because it doesn’t want to disappoint its environmental supporters, who are opposed to the project. The president is expected to make a decision by the end of the year. http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/6/white-house-feels-pressure-on-oil-pipeline/
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The UK Daily Mail reports: Rather overshadowed by events at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last week was a line in George Osborne's speech which could mark the start of a long overdue political transformation in Britain.
The Chancellor acknowledged that a decade of environmental laws had been piling unnecessary costs on households and companies, adding that Britain was not going to save the planet by putting ourselves out of business.
He was referring in particular to the Climate Change Act, famously passed by the House of Commons in October 2008 by 463 votes to three, even as the snow was falling outside.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2046961/RICHARD-NORTH-How-climate-change-zealots-wrecking-industry-country-possesses.html#ixzz1aHvQZypH
The Washington TImes reports: The State Department’s support of a controversial oil-pipeline project is putting pressure on the White House to move forward after three years, despite objections from environmentalists.
A series of public hearings concludes Friday on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Canada’s oil sands in Alberta down through America’s midsection to the Texas Gulf Coast.
So far, the State Department has published reports in favor of the project, which is projected to create 20,000 jobs and reduce the nation’s dependence on overseas oil.
Still, it isn’t an easy decision for the Obama administration because it doesn’t want to disappoint its environmental supporters, who are opposed to the project. The president is expected to make a decision by the end of the year. http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/6/white-house-feels-pressure-on-oil-pipeline/
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The UK Daily Mail reports: Rather overshadowed by events at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last week was a line in George Osborne's speech which could mark the start of a long overdue political transformation in Britain.
The Chancellor acknowledged that a decade of environmental laws had been piling unnecessary costs on households and companies, adding that Britain was not going to save the planet by putting ourselves out of business.
He was referring in particular to the Climate Change Act, famously passed by the House of Commons in October 2008 by 463 votes to three, even as the snow was falling outside.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2046961/RICHARD-NORTH-How-climate-change-zealots-wrecking-industry-country-possesses.html#ixzz1aHvQZypH
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The UK Express writes: BRITAIN is set to suffer a mini ice age that could last for decades and bring with it a series of bitterly cold winters.
And it could all begin within weeks as experts said last night that the mercury may soon plunge below the record -20C endured last year.
Scientists say the anticipated cold blast will be due to the return of a disruptive weather pattern called La Nina. Latest evidence shows La Nina, linked to extreme winter weather in America and with a knock-on effect on Britain, is in force and will gradually strengthen as the year ends. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/276516
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The UK Daily Mail reports: But while Europe is taking a relaxed view of climate change, Britain seems to have excelled in devising more and more bizarre ways of bankrupting the nation.Tens of thousands have been pushed into fuel poverty. Firms that could not pass on their costs moved abroad. Huge tranches of the aluminium industry have disappeared, one major firm having moved to the Emirates in October 2009 – taking 300 workers from Anglesey who had to follow to keep their jobs.
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Natural News reports: -Dear NaturalNews readers,
Court documents released late last week reveal that the LA County DA's office went to outrageous lengths to try to target Rawesome Foods and it distribution of fresh cow's milk and unpasteurized eggs.
NaturalNews has just learned that LA County spent millions of dollars hiring infiltration agents, running covert (hidden) cameras and stationing at least one surveillance camera where it could view and record members coming and going from Rawesome Foods. This investigation went on for at least two years, requiring an enormous expenditure of law enforcement resources in LA County for the sole purpose of indicting raw milk advocates who help deliver farm-fresh milk to Los Angeles citizens.
This is an extraordinary story of government abuse of power, and it demonstrates the new air of arrogance carried by government operatives who many people are now calling "terrorists" themselves!
Read more in my full report:
http://www.naturalnews.com/033822_Kelly_Sakir_Rawesome_Foods.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/033822_Kelly_Sakir_Rawesome_Foods.html
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(NaturalNews) The nation of Finland has now openly admitted that the swine flu vaccine "conclusively" causes narcolepsy, a chronic nervous system disorder that makes people uncontrollably fall asleep. The Finnish government, in acknowledging this link, says it will pay for "lifetime medical care" for 79 children who have been irreparably damaged by the swine flu vaccine. (http://news.yahoo.com/finland-vows-...)
Narcolepsy isn't the only side effect now admitted to be caused by swine flu vaccines: 76 of the 79 children also suffered hallucinations and "paralyzing physical collapses," say Finnish researchers.
Remarkably, even though the link between swine flu vaccines and permanent neurological damage in children is now openly admitted by the Finnish government, there is absolutely no talk about halting the utterly unscientific ritual of injecting children with flu vaccines in the first place. Not only are flu vaccines harmful to children (as is now admitted), but flu vaccines don't even work! A simple daily dose of vitamin D would do far more to halt influenza than any vaccine (http://www.naturalnews.com/029760_v...).
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033816_swine_flu_vaccines_neurological_disorders.html#ixzz1aOHgpKbj
Narcolepsy isn't the only side effect now admitted to be caused by swine flu vaccines: 76 of the 79 children also suffered hallucinations and "paralyzing physical collapses," say Finnish researchers.
Remarkably, even though the link between swine flu vaccines and permanent neurological damage in children is now openly admitted by the Finnish government, there is absolutely no talk about halting the utterly unscientific ritual of injecting children with flu vaccines in the first place. Not only are flu vaccines harmful to children (as is now admitted), but flu vaccines don't even work! A simple daily dose of vitamin D would do far more to halt influenza than any vaccine (http://www.naturalnews.com/029760_v...).
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033816_swine_flu_vaccines_neurological_disorders.html#ixzz1aOHgpKbj
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Conservative Action Alerts writes: Word has emerged that President Obama is finally taking steps to protect the melodic golden-winged warbler. It appears that he was the one that we’d been waiting for after all.
With his finger firmly on the pulse of what is most concerning to Americans, the president has announced that he will soon be extending endangered species status (and the requisite mountain of rules and regulations that accompany the designation) to a list of over 500 plant and animal species. And besides being great news for the soon-to-be-protected slow-moving Gopher tortoise, this move will undoubtedly benefit a national economy already stunted by oppressive bureaucratic micromanagement.
One can fairly imagine how much easier life is about to get for the people of Hawaii, for instance, when they receive new federal guides on how to identify the 99 new native plants they must avoid trampling or trimming.
And though Americans will be initially alarmed to know that the giant Palouse earthworm of Idaho and the Utah Gila monster did not make the cut, the Obama administration is assuring us that all rejections are subject to court challenge. Thank heavens! It’s about time our underworked court system had something of substance to engage.
http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com/2011/10/obama-ethics-safer-to-be-a-golden-winged-warbler-than-a-baby-human/
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Redstate reports: Energy productivity isn’t the only thing that is hampered by laws governing so-called endangered species. For decades, the Departments of Interior and Agriculture have encumbered border security operations with layers of environmental restrictions and regulations. Additionally, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been forced to pay millions in taxpayer dollars, known as mitigation funds, to offset the “environmental effects” of their roads, fences, and surveillance towers in or near national parks and other federally owned lands. Now, Rep. Rob Bishop is seeking to exempt the border patrol agents from these laws, so they can focus on their real job – protecting the border.
Bishop’s bill (H.R. 1505) prohibits the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior from impeding border security operations that are currently stymied by three dozen environmental regulations, including the Wilderness Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and the 1965 law known as the Solid Waste Disposal Act. This bill allows CPB to construct roads and fences, use patrol vehicles, and set up monitoring equipment within on all federal lands within 100 miles of both the northern and southern borders. http://www.redstate.com/dhorowitz3/2011/10/11/green-border-security-is-as-effective-as-green-energy/
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Conservative Action Alerts writes: Word has emerged that President Obama is finally taking steps to protect the melodic golden-winged warbler. It appears that he was the one that we’d been waiting for after all.
With his finger firmly on the pulse of what is most concerning to Americans, the president has announced that he will soon be extending endangered species status (and the requisite mountain of rules and regulations that accompany the designation) to a list of over 500 plant and animal species. And besides being great news for the soon-to-be-protected slow-moving Gopher tortoise, this move will undoubtedly benefit a national economy already stunted by oppressive bureaucratic micromanagement.
One can fairly imagine how much easier life is about to get for the people of Hawaii, for instance, when they receive new federal guides on how to identify the 99 new native plants they must avoid trampling or trimming.
And though Americans will be initially alarmed to know that the giant Palouse earthworm of Idaho and the Utah Gila monster did not make the cut, the Obama administration is assuring us that all rejections are subject to court challenge. Thank heavens! It’s about time our underworked court system had something of substance to engage.
http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com/2011/10/obama-ethics-safer-to-be-a-golden-winged-warbler-than-a-baby-human/
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Redstate reports: Energy productivity isn’t the only thing that is hampered by laws governing so-called endangered species. For decades, the Departments of Interior and Agriculture have encumbered border security operations with layers of environmental restrictions and regulations. Additionally, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been forced to pay millions in taxpayer dollars, known as mitigation funds, to offset the “environmental effects” of their roads, fences, and surveillance towers in or near national parks and other federally owned lands. Now, Rep. Rob Bishop is seeking to exempt the border patrol agents from these laws, so they can focus on their real job – protecting the border.
Bishop’s bill (H.R. 1505) prohibits the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior from impeding border security operations that are currently stymied by three dozen environmental regulations, including the Wilderness Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and the 1965 law known as the Solid Waste Disposal Act. This bill allows CPB to construct roads and fences, use patrol vehicles, and set up monitoring equipment within on all federal lands within 100 miles of both the northern and southern borders. http://www.redstate.com/dhorowitz3/2011/10/11/green-border-security-is-as-effective-as-green-energy/
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