TRUMP’S PARTING QUID PRO QUO

 

The Republican Senate in November of 2017 approved the $1.5 Trillion Tax Relief Bill skewed to assist the wealthy and major corporations but not without an offer to repay some major part of the cost of debt.

 

That payment would involve a deal: the reassignment of public lands as well as Native American lands as leasable to private oil, gas, and energy companies just before the end of Trump’s first term in office. 

 

Those lands, the “Coastal Plain” of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge represent nearly 8 percent of the 19 million acres of publicly owned land that is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).  In addition, the Trump Tax Relief Bill also provided subsidies for oil and gas industries, cuts in federal investments for clean energy development, and the lessening of plans to control climate change.  But there’s more: Trump’s administration has added to the $8 Billion gas and oil companies already receive in tax benefits as well as reducing royalty rates to be paid to the U.S government for use of lands, etc. 

 

The “coastal plain” is nearly 1.5 million acres, but it is also the environmental and biological heart of the ANWR, supplying life to the migrations of thousands of caribou, providing safe denning for hundreds of polar bears, protecting endangered avian species, and maintaining large salmon resources.  And the home of indigenous peoples who depend on those resources for their culture and survival.  

 

Trump started the process for selling oil rights in the coastal plains just after his election loss on November 17^th.  The procedure included a 30 day window for oil companies to confidentially tell the government which pieces of land they would like to include in a possible lease.  

 

Like a car, it’s a lease that ends with an option to buy and own.  Or, the companies can turn it back over to the Native Americans after they've “developed it (aka mutilated) beyond recognition.  But, if profitable, the companies can purchase it and carry on.

 

Although distasteful, this is not really very new.  Land reform deals where Roman patricians gained financially over plebes through swindles of acreage and the emperor over those same patricians reach back to 500 BC, but oil companies have been salivating over this opportunity in the coastal plain of ANWR for decades.

 

Patterns of seismic blasting the '84 and '85.

Between 1984 and 1985, more than 20 oil companies found means and method to survey the lands under the coastal plains, leaving scars and pockmarks that lasted many years.  Findings were unclear, but in 1986, Chevron and BP got the opportunity to spend $40 million and drill down 3 miles to find the answer, an answer no one is allowed to know. The well was called KIC-1.  

 

We’ll never know if there was oil or not – unless BP or Chevron (now Standard Oil) give away their position when bidding on a lease. Through the work of their hordes of lawyers and subsequent court filings, the two companies were able to muzzle the Alaskan Department of Natural Resources from releasing any of the two companies’ data.   

 

As for Alaska?  A Republican state without income or sales taxes and dependent upon its 50% of all revenue from mandated lease sales, despite its effects upon its indigenous people?  They can easily look the other way as the political process continues.

 

If you were wondering what another four years of Trump might look like, this is just one small sample of what he would do and is doing to burn it down before leaving an office in shambles for the next President.  President Biden may find his hands somewhat tied if Trump and his gang can get the leases finalized before he is forced to leave office on the 20^th of January, but Biden does control the permitting process afterward and the future costs enough to make even BP or Chevron take pause.    

Let's hope he does.

 

Resources: Center for American Progress and NRDC

 

 

 

Trump's EPA announces that Roundup is Safe!!!!!!!!!!

First: The Real News and Fake Science.  

From CBS on May 1, 2019: “EPA Says Roundup Weed Killer is Safe, in a win for Bayer”

·      The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave Bayer a boost when it decided that its Roundup weed (sic) killer didn't cause cancer.

·      Two recent court cases found just the opposite, ruling against Bayer and Roundup.

·      Environmental advocates, including the National Resources Defense Council, denounced the EPA's decision.

“After two recent defeats in court, Bayer has won a round — this one delivered by regulators — as it contends with more than 10,000 lawsuits claiming a chemical in its widely used Roundup weed killer causes cancer. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday said it "continues to find that there are no risks to public health when glyphosate is used in accordance with its current label and that glyphosate is not a carcinogen." 

“The agency said its findings were consistent with those of "many other countries and other federal agencies." But environmental advocates, including the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) denounced the decision. 

"’Health agencies and credible non-industry experts who've reviewed this question have all found a link between glyphosate and cancer," Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at NRDC said in a statement. The World Health Organization in 2015 termed glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans.’"

What follows is a post from August 2018 that is so very much in line with today’s special interest takeover of our current government and, given this week’s EPA announcement, the long-lasting effects upon our world and we the people.  And your children’s children.  

Good Morning from Monsanto and Bayer.  Snacks for All the Kiddies!

I know it is cold and wet. Have you been wandering along the aisles in Menards or Lowes, or Home Depot in anticipation like me and noticing the white plastic bottles of Roundup layered on pallets like rows of shark teeth waiting to be purchased at reduced “spring sale” prices.  

My last post warned about the continuing poisoning of ourselves and especially our children with the chemical, glyphosate, in Roundup. Here’s another look in specifics at what levels your feeding to you children, friends, or selves:

From the Holistic Health Journal:

“In the United States, glyphosate was deemed safe for public use in 1974 and since then has been applied on crops by farmers. The most popular product that contains glyphosate as a main ingredient is Roundup, a product made by Monsanto. It is marketed not only towards farmers, but also heavily promoted towards people who have gardens at home. However, glyphosate, may not be as safe as the marketing claims suggest. Different studies have actually linked this herbicide to cancer and other health problems. ^[1]

“According to a 2013 study published by Thongprakaisang, et. al., glyphosate caused the growth of breast cancer cells in humans. Glyphosate was found to be an “endocrine-disruptor”, meaning it has detrimental effects on the body’s hormones, specifically on estrogen. High levels of estrogen is known to cause hormone-dependent breast cancer, where in breast cancer cells multiply and spread in the presence of estrogen. ^[2]

“According to an FDA- registered laboratory, popular American food contained worryingly high levels of glyphosate. Recent evidence suggests that glyphosate can pose a threat to human health at very low levels of 0.1 parts per billion (ppb). The laboratory found that popular snacks sold in most supermarkets had glyphosate levels between 289.47 and 1,125.3 ppb. ^[3]

“Other countries all over the world, specifically the European Union, are more strict regarding glyphosate exposure – with the “safe” limit placed at 0.3 mg per kilogram of body weight per day compared to the US 1.75 mg/kg/bw/day. Here are the values of glyphosate content reported by the laboratory:

Call your Representative and Senator.  Inform that you are concerned at the personal level as well when your neighbor is spraying Roundup around the yard and garden without any self-protection or comprehension of the breeze’s spread to your yard and children

Or?  Call your favorite snack company?  Kids love Goldfish!  We are off Triscuits…. You should be too.

Monarch Populations Increase in Mexica, But Not in Western USA

Monarch Populations Increase Dramatically in Mexico…in CA, Another Story 

We are at that point in environmental efforts where we take what we can get.  Any good news should be used to justify the hard work and efforts of those of us who fight the industries hellbent on eradicating the natural environment and those smaller groups of homesteaders who are struggling to breed Monarch (and others) over the summer months in hopes of adding to the populations facing the dangers of a long migration back from the Midwest to Mexico and elsewhere. 

According to several reports and one from The Guardian, “The population of monarch butterflies wintering in central Mexico is up 144% over last year, according to new research.

The data was cheered but scientists quickly warned that it does not mean the butterflies that migrate from Canada and the United States are out of danger.

This winter, researchers found the butterflies occupying 14.95 acres (6.05 hectares) of pine and fir forests in the mountains of Michoacán and Mexico states – an increase from 6.12 acres a year ago.

This year’s is the biggest measurement since the 2006-2007 period, said Andrew Rhodes, Mexico’s national commissioner for protected natural areas.”

Monarch breeders and migration observers were worried about the storms and   cold weather along the routes through Texas into Mexico, but the population’s increase was cautiously welcomed by many.  

Andrew Rhodes, Mexico’s national commissioner for protected natural areas regarded the increase in area of hectares as a positive possibility: “Once in Mexican territory, the butterflies occupied an area that gives us a lot of hope for the future.”

Ryan Norris, an ecology professor from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, said it would be dangerous to think the improved coverage in their wintering grounds meant the butterflies were out of the woods.

“It buys us time, but that’s the best it does,” said Norris.

Norris saw little connection between this year’s increase and the concerted conservation efforts along the butterflies’ migration route, especially in Mexico where the government, with the help of local communities, has nearly eliminated illegal logging inside the butterflies’ protected area west of Mexico City.

“It was a Goldilocks year this year,” he said. “Not too hot, not too cold, it was perfect.”

Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch and an ecology professor at the University of Kansas, echoed that caution.

“It’s not going to be replicated next year, not even close,” Taylor said.

Above average temperatures in Texas next year will cause problems for the monarch production, Taylor said. Last spring, cold temperatures north of Texas kept the butterflies there to lay their eggs, but when it’s warmer they wander farther north too soon and the population does not grow as well, he said.

Sadly, numbers in overwintering areas in California have dropped significantly – likely due to drought or even the late fires in southern California.  While scientists and trackers struggle to make sense of the causal factors, the numbers are disheartening.  There is an 86% drop in population in the years between 2018 and 2017. 

According to an article in The Mercury News, “Typically Monterey County sites support large monarch populations. In 2017, four sites, including Andrew Molera State Park and Pacific Grove, had at least 1,000 butterflies. A private property in Big Sur had almost 20,000, but this number is down to just 800.

“The big trees had fallen with the winds or otherwise. So the butterflies had probably moved to other places,” said Connie Masotti, a docent at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, who has been counting monarchs since 2013.

“It’s a very complicated habitat that they are looking for and it doesn’t take much for it to go wrong,” Masotti said.

In the 1980s, nearly 4.5 million monarchs migrated to coastal California to escape cold winters. “We are now down to less than one percent of this historic population,” Pelton said.

What is more worrying is the drop in butterfly numbers below the 30,000 mark. Scientists studying monarch butterflies have predicted that populations below this threshold may not be able to bounce back and continue to migrate.”

“It is a concerning level to have gone down to in a single year,” said Emma Pelton, a monarch conservation expert with the Xerces Society, a non-profit organization in Portland, Oregon that works on the conservation of invertebrates.

There is a general understanding that expansion of agriculture, use of pesticides, loss of native milkweed, and climate change – affecting both wintering and breeding habitat, have contributed to the decline of Western Monarch populations.

But last year was particularly bad weather for monarchs. Unusual winter storms in March made their return journey to breeding sites, west of the Rocky Mountains, more complicated. “They were probably vulnerable after they had left the protection of trees,” Pelton said.

She also speculates loss of large trees to previous or ongoing droughts as a reason for declining monarch numbers. The butterflies use branches of tall trees to roost and for protection against wind.

Monarchs like evergreen trees; the fine leaves give them wind-protection, but also some dappled sunlight. The temperatures must be just right for them – not too cold, otherwise their muscles don’t activate, and if it’s too hot, their stored fat burns too quickly. And they need nectar plants to feed on.

Meanwhile, eastern populations of Monarchs have also demonstrated a significant increase in populations in their overwintering areas in Florida, etc.  According to Monarch Butterfly Garden, blogger Tony records more than 200 million Monarchs in the lower east populations.

There’s much to be hopeful for, but there’s still much more to do.  

For example, Illinois could follow the lead of Minnesota, which passed legislation to prevent Monsanto and others from using GMO and pesticides which destroy milkweed and other plants beneficial to Monarch.  By the way, this does not include the overspray of herbicides and pesticides that are cancer agents for humans.  

This article for the Star Tribune in 2017 indicates just how far ahead of Illinois Minnesota was, and how Monsanto and others are likely never to stop creating poisons. “Minnesota is clamping down on a troublesome pesticide developed by Monsanto that brought a cascade of complaints and damaged an estimated 265,000 acres of soybeans in the state this year. Monsanto is pushing back, questioning how the state came up with the tougher standards and warning that they could be counterproductive.

At stake are millions of dollars in potential sales for the new product, both in Minnesota and nationally. Minnesota ranks third in the nation for soybean production after Illinois and Iowa, and the state's crop was valued at $3.6 billion in 2016.

Monsanto developed a new formulation of an old pesticide, called dicamba, to solve a vexing problem: Many weeds have become resistant to Roundup and other popular weed killers, and growers and crop protection businesses are eager to have a replacement.

Call Governor Pritzker’s Office at 217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831.

Tell the new Governor that you respectfully want him to consider making changes like Minnesota and other states to protect not only the unique lives of Monarch butterflies but also the lives of all of us and or progeny.

“Hello, and thank you for taking this call.  I am a constituent of Governor Pritzker and reside in this (zip code).  I am pleased Governor Pritzker is now leading us toward a more fiscal, economical, and environmentally safe state in our union.  I would ask our Governor to strongly consider the efforts of states like Minnesota to ban the use of dangerous pesticides, GMO herbicides, and chemicals that pose an endangerment to all of us as well as the creatures in our environment.  Please help us to make this state a place to raise a family with a healthy and environmentally safe future.”  

Monsanto Eradicates Weeds and Us

Good Morning from Monsanto.  Snacks for All!

HT: NS

Have you been wandering along the aisles in Menards or Lowes, or Home Depot and seen the white plastic bottles of Roundup layered on pallets like rows of shark teeth waiting to be purchased at reduced prices?  

My last post warned about the continuing poisoning of ourselves and especially our children with the chemical, glyphosate, in Roundup.  Here’s another look in specifics at what levels we're feeding to our children, friends, or ourselves:

From the Holistic Health Journal:

“In the United States, glyphosate was deemed safe for public use in 1974 and since then has been applied on crops by farmers. The most popular product that contains glyphosate as a main ingredient is Roundup, a product made by Monsanto. It is marketed not only towards farmers, but also heavily promoted towards people who have gardens at home. However, glyphosate, may not be as safe as the marketing claims suggest. Different studies have actually linked this herbicide to cancer and other health problems. ^[1]

“According to a 2013 study published by Thongprakaisang, et. al., glyphosate caused the growth of breast cancer cells in humans. Glyphosate was found to be an “endocrine-disruptor”, meaning it has detrimental effects on the body’s hormones, specifically on estrogen. High levels of estrogen is known to cause hormone-dependent breast cancer, where in breast cancer cells multiply and spread in the presence of estrogen. ^[2]

“According to an FDA- registered laboratory, popular American food contained worryingly high levels of glyphosate. Recent evidence suggests that glyphosate can pose a threat to human health at very low levels of 0.1 parts per billion (ppb). The laboratory found that popular snacks sold in most supermarkets had glyphosate levels between 289.47 and 1,125.3 ppb.

“Other countries all over the world, specifically the European Union, are more strict regarding glyphosate exposure – with the “safe” limit placed at 0.3 mg per kilogram of body weight per day compared to the US 1.75 mg/kg/bw/day. Here are the values of glyphosate content reported by the laboratory:

Call your Representative and Senator.  Inform that person you are concerned at the personal level as well when your neighbor is spraying Roundup around the yard and garden without any self-protection or comprehension of the breeze’s spread to your yard and children.

 Or?  Call your favorite snack company?  We are off Triscuits…and Nabisco.

Sure, I'm Being Poisoned, But My Grass Looks Great!

HT: Nick

OR A CHILD, FOR THAT MATTER?

How Long Does …

Kurt Vonnegut once opined before his death that humankind would, like yeast, die in “our own  shit.”  Kurt took a longer view of the likelihood; but that was well before the advent of GMO’s, Monsanto’s stranglehold on the world’s thoughtless backyard gardeners and collective farmers, and the dangers of a Trump EPA.  

Back in March of 2017, I posted a piece about the insidious and pervasive accumulation of the cancerous causing ingredients in Monsanto’s Roundup, namely glyphosate.  As of today, we have a report indicating that the eventually lethal and destructive element has entered the food chain of especially vulnerable children sitting at the morning breakfast table and having a “good” breakfast before going off to school.  Old guys like me are no longer developing.  My myelin sheaths are as hard and callous as armor on an sinful Arthurian knight.  But a child? Porous membranes and sweetly awaiting whatever you’d like to introduce to its nervous system.  

Alexis Temkin, a Ph.D. toxicologist with the Environmental Working Group, has written today, “Popular oat cereals, oatmeal, granola and snack bars come with a hefty dose of the weed-killing poison in Roundup, according to independent laboratory tests commissioned by EWG.

"You kids can play in a few minutes."

“Glyphosate, an herbicide linked to cancer by California state scientists and the World Health Organization, was found in all but two of 45 samples of products made with conventionally grown oats. Almost three-fourths of those samples had glyphosate levels higher than what EWG scientists consider protective of children’s health with an adequate margin of safety. About one-third of 16 samples made with organically grown oats also had glyphosate, all at levels well below EWG’s health benchmark.

“Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the Monsanto weed killer that is the most heavily used pesticide in the U.S. Last week, a California jury ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million in damages to a man dying of cancer, which he says was caused by his repeated exposure to large quantities of Roundup and other glyphosate-based weed killers while working as a school groundskeeper.”

Like the many suits that followed the first win against the smoking industries that tried to parry all thrusts by sickened people with the argument that no conclusive evidence was ever found in scientific research, of which they had furnished and paid for – there will be more suits coming against Monsanto and its German parent company Bayer.  

The finding indicated greater numbers of the chemical found in oat-based foods, from energy bars to our old Quaker familiar and friendly face. 

18.9 billion pounds used in the world since 1974

“Each year, more than 250 million pounds of glyphosate are sprayed on American crops, primarily on “Roundup-ready” corn and soybeans genetically engineered to withstand the herbicide. But when it comes to the food we eat, the highest glyphosate levels are not found in products made with GMO corn.

“Increasingly, glyphosate is also sprayed just before harvest on wheat, barley, oats and beans that are not genetically engineered. Glyphosate kills the crop, drying it out so that it can be harvested sooner than if the plant were allowed to die naturally.”

Letting little ones play with Cheerios may not be the best idea anymore.

Meanwhile, like those emboldened by so many broken rules and regulations given the White House and its new swamp of characters: “There were good people on both sides.”  The companies who are under scrutiny with this new revelation of glyphosate in our foods and especially our children’s are simply reminding us that they have done nothing wrong; in fact, they are under the levels of recommended by the current EPA.  

“The Environmental Working Group is disappointed that General Mills and the Quaker Oats Company have brushed aside consumer health concerns raised by new research that found the cancer-causing weed killer glyphosate in Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, Quaker Dinosaur Egg Instant Oatmeal and Cheerios.  

“The companies claim that the levels of glyphosate remain within the regulatory levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Below is a statement from EWG President Ken Cook:

“We are deeply disappointed by the tone-deaf response of General Mills and the Quaker Oats Company to the news that EWG research has found a toxic weed killer in their products at levels of concern to human health—especially the health of kids.

“Simply stated, there is far too much glyphosate in their products for parents to feel comfortable feeding them to their kids.

“It is especially disappointing because these two multi-billion dollar companies can take the simple step of telling their oat farmers to stop using glyphosate as a harvest-time desiccant on their crops. That simple step will reduce or eliminate the contamination and ensure the safety of American families that consume their products. The oat products we tested from a number of other companies had glyphosate levels well below our children’s health-protective benchmark, so it is possible to produce and sell foods that do not contain unsafe levels of glyphosate.

“General Mills and Quaker Oats are relying on outdated safety standards used by a government agency that is notorious for neglecting new science on chemicals.  Our view is that the government standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency pose real health risks to Americans – particularly children, who are more sensitive to the effects of toxic chemicals than adults.”

I’ve just written my exhausted Senators and Representative who are currently knee deep in Supreme Court, the wall, the separation of children, the Russian intervention, etc.  I begin with Kurt’s observation in less profane concepts, but one urging immediate investigation.

You should too.