It’s always interesting when someone vehemently and convincingly claims innocence of a crime for years then abruptly admits they indeed committed the offense and want to get the punishment over with as quickly as possible. That’s what’s happened in the case of a West Valley City mining operation that finally ‘fessed up that they dumped deadly selenium into some of Utah’s signature waterways including Great Salt Lake.
There are a number of environmental criminals still running around free and claiming innocence: chief among them Crandall Canyon mine owner Robert Murray. But as independent media coverage, resulting public outrage and political pressure grow, hopefully more of these liars, thieves and environmental murderers will meet justice.
Now let the investigation of the Bush Regime into its protracted efforts to destroy America’s natural places begin. And so too- the claims of innocence.
Thanks to the incompetence, arrogance and lack of caring by the Bush Regime and then Republican-led Congress, Gustav rides into New Orleans looking more like John Wayne then the black-hatted villain. I’m sure the Republicans don’t feel that way. They thought all along THEY were the good guys. Now that Bush, Cheney and other top right-wing knuckleheads have conceded defeat at the hands of Nature, perhaps the inappropriately, self-titled “conservative” element of American society understands better that the environment is an ISSUE and not just something they can kiss off, hand over to the oil, mining and real estate industries and expect everything to turn out okey-dokey.
But given their track record and moral learning curve involved, my guess is they understand- not. Don’t let W’s standby mode in Texas fool you. This is about APPEARANCES NOT ACTUAL ACTION. WAY-HAYYYYYY TO LATE (apologies to Dr. Perry Cox), Bush doesn’t want to appear again like an incompetent, arrogant loser and Cheney- well, Cheney DOESN’T WANT TO APPEAR AT ALL. BTW: anyone see Cheney lately?
The good news is that even if Gustav isn’t as destructive as feared, he’s still done his job on America’s Radical Right. Bush and his ilk may not “get it”- but they’re getting it anyway.
Every time I see one of these stories I wonder “Why isn’t Utah getting any of this?” Google is dropping $10.25 million on a “breakthrough” geothermal technology which will be spent in Texas, California and other places that don’t have nearly the abundance of geothermal activity that Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada do.
It’s clear that AS LONG AS THE SAME PEOPLE RUN UTAH, WE WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE BILLIONS TO COMPETITORS INVESTING IN AND DEVELOPING RENEWABLE ENERGY while we dish our money to the same old, wealthy fossil fuel companies who are going NOWHERE.
What do we have? Pie-in-the-sky oil shale, unproven gasification and a bunch of other maybe technologies that won’t do anything to bring the price of energy down or fight environmental degradation. What are our so-called leaders thinking- assuming thinking is, indeed, going on?
The editorial board of the Provo Daily Herald suffers from the same psychopathy that the Bush Regime has: constantly searching for ways to attack their opponents instead of reading the facts and doing what’s right. In their latest campaign to stop renewable energy in Utah, they’ve written a volume of steaming excrement saying “wind power will be an environmental disaster.” They strangely cite West Virginia’s “much-lauded mountain skyline” as being potentially ruined by the sight of windmills. Apparently, they haven’t seen the pictures of the tops of that state’s gorgeous mountains already ruined by being blown off to dig coal.
Why does a newspaper that ostensibly serves the public spend so much time defending the wealthy fossil fuel industries that gouge not only their customers but our precious natural landscapes as well? Why do they ignore Utah’s abundant renewable resources- solar, wind, geothermal, biomass- and advocate more drilling, mining and other destruction of Utah’s public lands so the rich can get richer?
To their credit, they did run the story by AP about how the oil sands project in Canada is ruining the environment while producing little oil and doing nothing to lower prices. But the question is: IS THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE PROVO HERALD ACTUALLY READING WHAT’S IN THEIR OWN NEWSPAPER? Or is there something bigger going on here. My reporter instincts tell me- follow the money.
There was a character on Saturday Night Live back in the 1970s played brilliantly by Dan Aykroyd named Irwin Mainway. Mainway was a sleazy salesman who pitched dangerous and outrageously diabolical products such as “Bag O’ Glass” and “Teddy Chainsaw Bear” as being harmless and fun. But nothing is funnier than reality and Shell Oil has done Irwin Mainway one better (apparently hiring him to not only develop the product but write the script as well). Shell came out with a print ad in the United Kingdom claiming that their development of oil sands would “secure a profitable and SUSTAINABLE future.” I guess they either believe that nonsense or they thought no one would catch it.
The World Wildlife Federation did catch it and filed a complaint with the British organization overseeing advertising in the UK. They ruled that the ad is misleading and does not back up its environmental claims. In their defense, Shell quotes a 20-year-old report by some obscure ”World Commission of Something” that defines something as sustainable if it is ”development which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Shell’s not allowed to run the ad anymore but claims it was only going to run it a short time anyway- in the UK. If they start running it in Utah or elsewhere in America, you’ve been warned. Just remember Irwin Mainway and it will seem a lot funnier instead of pathetic- which it is.
The controversy over how- or even whether- to save Great Salt Lake from mercury and other toxic substance pollution, is heating up again after the discovery of even greater levels of killer chemicals. What the announced or written controversy is really doesn’t matter. Kennecott and other mining, energy and big polluters to blame for the problem continue to dodge their responsibility for keeping their work areas clean.
The root of the problem is that for years, these companies have been allowed to operate with comparative impunity in the name of commerce. Now that the environment is eclipsing commerce in the minds of many Utahns, and even a handful of our political and religious leaders, our big polluters are struggling with the concept of stewardship, even while the LDS Church- who runs the place- embraces stewardship more and more each day. I even expect to see President Monson out at the Downtown Farmers Market tomorrow.
I get a charge out of so-called “conservative” media’s ravings that are about as conservative as Bush’s accountants. But this one hits the trifecta of wacko radical right-wing paranoia, blind-deaf-dumb parroting of the fossil fuel lobby’s boilerplate script, and the dismally poor and irresponsible “reporting” ruining newspapers across the country- not this one, unfortunately. This editorial by the Provo newspaper is a LOL for lovers of irony, a self-delivered black eye to the fossil fool industry, as well as even more proof that defenders of America’s enslavement to oil, coal and the usual suspects will not go quietly.
If it wasn’t for inept Republican leadership, out-of-control OPEC oil barons, colluding with our own corrupt fascist government ideologues, and America’s addiction to oil (Bush’s words, not mine)- ALL THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS POLICIES THAT GOT US INTO OUR CURRENT ENERGY CRISIS- maybe the Provo Herald’s editorial board wouldn’t have written such an outdated, anti-public health, anti-American waste of words.
But such is the imagination of a newspaper that clearly doesn’t understand the concepts behind freedom enough to write about them. Then again, REMEMBER WHO THE OPERATORS OF THE PROVO HERALD ARE REALLY SERVING. It’s not you, me, their readers or average citizens of the state of Utah. It’s the already-wealthy corporations licking their chops waiting for the chance to waste billions more of our dollars on squeezing a few drops of oil out of Utah’s irreplaceable public lands. And attacking environmentalists? Come on, guys- you can be more creative than that. Attack the real culprit here- THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF JUSTICE THAT ALLOWS ORDINARY CITIZENS TO CHALLENGE THE SINGLE-MINDED GREED AND INCOMPETENCE OF THE EXPLOITERS OF OUR COUNTRY’S ESSENCE FOR INCREASED PERSONAL ENRICHMENT. Your true masters.
Like the Bush Regime, the Provo Herald’s editorial board loves to see our justice system circumvented on environmental matters- like in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay- to keep the proven inept and self-serving federal and energy industry leaders in power and keep those nasty green goons handcuffed in their treehouses. Conservation? Conservative? Any resemblance here is purely accidental.
“I have a notion in the next few years you will see some surprises,” he said, advising people to stop and look around, and talk to their bishops and others about ways to save energy and help the environment. He believes creativity is the key to solving environmental issues. “With a small effort, we may save ourselves,” he said.
Important to note is the state motto of Utah is one word: Industry. It appears Mormon leadership wants us to believe the conspicuous absence of any environmental policy or commitment by the LDS is due only its monolithic lethargy, not its aversion to the concept of stewardship at the expense of holy, transcendent commerce. Also note that it will only take “a small effort (to) save ourselves” according to Thomas.
The talk is encouraging. But talk is hot air that won’t help power the Tabernacle’s sound system. Where are the solar panels on the churches? “You see the rumblings already started,” Thomas said. I just hope that’s not just another “earthquake” caused by one of “BS Bob” Murray’s coal mines collapsing on more of Utah’s hard-working, church-going worker bees.
Utah’s making international environmental news over alarmingly high levels of toxic mercury in Great Salt Lake. It’s no secret that concrete makers, coal-burning power plants, refineries, mining and fossil fuels pump most of the mercury found in ground water into the air and it eventually falls to Earth. We know that eating fish or water birds from mercury-laden water is hazardous, so much so that Utah’s and other health departments across the country have issued warningx to not eat too much from our poison ponds.
Contentions that mercury is appearing naturally seem to be swimming upstream from the obvious truth that Great Salt Lake is a popular spot for a long list of migratory birds who have either adapted to the toxic levels- or have not yet dropped dead. But could this be a case of “no harm, no fowl?”
With the exception of one vote in December by Orrin Hatch, Utah’s Republican U.S. senators Hatch and Bob Bennett voted along party lines in blocking any help for our state’s potentially lucrative renewable energy industry and consumers needing a tax break to install home systems. This despite every poll showing overwhelming support for developing renewables here in Utah. Jobs, income, environmental improvement- all gone because of the short-sightedness and favoritism to Big Energy displayed in embarassing repetition by these doormats.
WHO ARE HATCH AND BENNETT WORKING FOR? IT OBVIOUSLY IT ISN’T YOU AND ME.
