Archive for the 'Nature Destroyed' Category
Sea Lions Blamed For Humanity’s Mistake
40 miles east of Portland, Oregon, Bonneville Dam blocks the Columbia River. Bonneville Dam is maintained by The US Army Corp of Engineers and serves the Bonneville Power Adminstration (located in Portland). The dam has had a devastating effect on Columbia River’s salmon population, only a minority of which is able to make it up the fish-ladders to spawn. California sea lions have discovered the gathering of endangered fish at the base of the dam and have begun to eat them, naturally enough. But rather than remove the dam and restore the Columbia River to its natural balance, the government has decided to kill the protected (but not “endangered”) california sea lions, at the same time that fishing quotas are expected to go up 33%, proving that the government respects human, but not non-human, fishing.
Oregon Deputizes Hunters To Kill Cougars
The food-chain is critical to bio-diversity. Big predators keep the populations of smaller predators in line, helping keep small animals alive. Big predators keep populations of large herbivores in line, helping keep grasslands and forests intact. But here in Cascadia, the powers-that-ought-not-be are reinstituting a massive cougar hunting campaign, citing an increased number of human-cougar interactions (despite the remarkably few number of fatal attacks). According to numerous sources, there has never been a fatal cougar attack in Oregon.
Biofuels a Grave Environmental Threat
While the progressives of the world are jumping on the corn-oil fueled bandwagon, many of the horrendous pitfalls of biofuel manufacture are coming to light. A recent study published by the University of Minnesota reports that “..converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a ‘biofuel carbon debt’ by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions these biofuels provide by displacing fossil fuels.”
Dept. of Homeland Security Gets To Ignore Environmental Law
In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed, doing much to destroy the economy of Mexico. When US companies were given the green light to extract resources from Mexico, people began to follow, and illegal immigration into the USA began to spike.
Now, the US Government is building a fence to keep people out. But fearing the impediment of due process of law, Congress has given the Department of Homeland Security permission to waive the standard paperwork procedures that allow the public to participate in environmental decisions made by the government. On April 2nd, 2008, the DHS announced another two uses of their waiver, for almost 500 miles of fence.
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