To Sean Parnell – Beluga Whales? Told You So.
WC’s readers will recall that back in June 2011, WC was critical – well, vitriolic, really – of Governor Parnell’s decision to litigate the endangered species classification of the Cook Inlet Beluga Whales. Because Parnell’s other bad decisions had removed Alaskan officials from the group that develops the recovery plan, Alaska had no seat at the table that would affect use of Cook Inlet for decades. All the eggs were in the litigation basket, and the basket was ridiculously flimsy.
Today the State’s basket collapsed and its eggs all broke: Chief U.S. District Judge Lambreth threw out the State’s case. It wasn’t even close. No, WC will go further: there was never any doubt. The law under the Endangered Species Act is extremely well-developed and settled. Let WC translate that for non-lawyers: the issues the State is trying to raise have been raised dozens of times before and each and every time the party challenging the endangered species classification has lost.
Predictably, the Comments on the Anchorage Daily News article on the subject blow a lot of smoke but precious little light. They attack the scientists, blames environmentalists and the rail against the federal government. Curiously, no one blames Anchorage’s untreated sewage, the incredible amounts of oil and drilling sludge from oil and gas wells in the Inlet or Anchorage port expansion and dredging. It’s always easier to blame someone else, but perhaps not very honest.
Neither the Governor nor the Attorney General have found time yet to respond to the court’s slap-down of their lame lawsuit. WC hopes that the State won’t waste still more money by appealing to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Frankly, the money would be better spent burning it on a street corner, where it might provide a little warmth on a cold winter night, and provide a little illumination into the Governor’s strategic thinking.
Because now the State’s options are pretty pathetic and narrowed to one choice. Withdraw the silly gag order, making State biologists eligible for the Recovery Team so the State’s voice could be heard going forward. Of course, that would involve the Governor’s very publicly swallowing a massive amount of Common Raven. Crow just wouldn’t do. His pride and dignity would suffer. But it’s orders of magnitude more likely to be helpful than continuing the silly, stupid lawsuit.
In the meantime, perhaps the Governor can tell us how much money has been squandered in legal fees so far?
This suit was never about the law, it was about politics. Parnell comes from the Palin school of politics – a mix of tea party buzz words and victimhood. So go ahead and sue the Feds. I’m sure the state lawyers told Parnell he’d lose but why not take the shot? If you beat the odds and win, you’ve defied the evil Federal environmental socialists. If you lose, you are a victim of same. Of course, this analysis only makes sense if you are viewing from the point of view of what’s best for Sean Parnell. If you were even remotely concerned about the state of Alaska?
Belugas, 1
Parnell, 0
These pictures were taken from color slides found at the Library of Congress. They are dated between 1939-1943.
The pictures are so clear and the color is so vibrant, it looks as though they were taken just yesterday.
http://extras.denverpost.com/archive/captured.asp
But Alaskans will vote for him because….
“But Alaskans will vote for him because…” He keeps the $1,174 oil revenue checks coming in?
off subject, but there’s a really hilarious piece about Congressman Yon Dung in TPM today. It’s in Josh Marshall’s column about the congressman and a professor in a mud slinging match except the Congressman was slinging most of the mud. After the Congressman made a belittling remark to the professor, the professor said he understands that the Congressman went to Yuba Community College but never graduated. It went downhill from there. Too funny!
and Wonkette had even more fun with this. You have been warned.
Oh thanks to you..Big Pete..for that link to the video! I watched it..and enjoyed the music, the motions..and the ‘communal-reading’..going on..between species. We can have..joy and wisdom and billions of years of..elegant communication systems..happening..BETWEEN SPECIES..and..we have in america..the political ulgyness..that is ..party a party..mano a mano. Ten..twenty years from now..when the effects of the tea party..are fully known..and..analysed..the corosive nature of what it did..along with other situations..will be known. Fully known. Blessing upon the men who shared their talents..and upon the whale..who shared a .. hopeful love.
It’s (not) only rock’n’roll.
Andale!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS_6-IwMPjM
Wouldn’t the amount of money wasted on this lawsuit be public information? I don’t know how to find it, but I’ll bet there are people who regularly read this blog who do. Would be very interesting, and might be helpful in the next election. There are still people in this state who look at facts before deciding their vote.
Why is it that Parnell never comes out of hiding and speaks face to face with Alaskans? He only appears at staged settings where he makes various speeches and then leaves. (Sound familiar?)
He has never spoken/taken questions about the belugas in Cook Inlet, nor has he ever talked with people in the regions where the proposed Chuitna coal mine and Pebble mine are being planned.
How do his decisions on these matters ‘benefit all Alaskans’?? They benefit the corporate fat cats, his cronies.
“How do his decisions on these matters ‘benefit all Alaskans’?? They benefit the corporate fat cats, his cronies.”
You mean his puppet masters, right? He’s clearly sold his soul to them. Or at least his heart is a rent-to-own option.
Parnell never comes out of hiding because engaging the public is not necessary between elections in Alaska. In our times policitians are able to recreate themselves as a media image, a wraith, which panders to just the right mix of supervoters and corporate donors. The image of the poligeist is not real. You cannot touch it. It has no surface. It has no real existence. If you ask it a question, it will predictably respond by categorizing you, then marginalize the category, and then dismiss you. Its answers are useless, except to render you without credibility of the moment, which is, after all, the whole point. The wraith does nothing which does not have the purpose of ensuring re-election. Nothing. Somewhere there is a living entity named Sean Parnell, but it is not anywhere near its poligeist when it speaks. These media holograms cost money to maintain. Parnell has found the money formula to feed his hologram. Until we pull access to this kind of money out of our democratic process, our real needs in America will go ignored.
“Predictably, the Comments on the Anchorage Daily News article on the subject blow a lot of smoke but precious little light. They attack the scientists, blames environmentalists and the rail against the federal government.”
See, unless these Limbaugh-listeners get a clue – which they won’t, ever – corporate tools like Parnell will continue to hold office. And they’re the majority of voters in this state, apparently. So I guess the rest of us have to wait until they all die, because they’ll never, ever change their minds.
Too bad he didn’t decide to spend the dollars on a new sewage treatment plant…
You would think they could just look to the example of DC, the Potomac and Chesapeake when it comes to sewage.
The Chesapeake no longer produces anywhere near the wealth of fish and shell fish that is has, even in the recent past and PART of that is due to sewage getting there via the Potomac River. They have a system that is still hundreds of years old in place but are making efforts to reduce the over spill of raw sewage that hits the river/bay each time they get a bad storm. (Yes, there are issues within the entire watershed but DC adds its share)
This was a river/bay system that had herring (no longer …sound familiar?) and a whole range of life. Now they are pushing to just keep the few oysters and soft shell crab that are natural to the area.
Wise up Parnell and while at it, Anchorage…with that do nothing mayor!
S*pulls out soapbox*
The Anacostia is in even worse shape than the Potomac. Other problems with our watershed is that while the most press and responsibility goes to Maryland and Virginia, it should be extended to Pennsylvania and New York, too. Those states are also part of the Chesapeake watershed.
Build UP high and invest in ways to prevent so much run-off to begin with, rather than trying to increase the capacity to hold run-off would help. Trees. Rain barrels. More grass, fewer hard surfaces (there’s also different types of asphalt that would absorb rather than shed the water).
We all live downstream and I fail to understand why ‘conservation’ is regarded as something not akin to ‘conservative’. You would think that even Republicans could see the wisdom in conserving resources and/or MONEY.
*steps off of soapbox*
Last fall, there was a freak tornado in NYC which caused the sewer system to overflow. Like many older cities, the sewer system in NY is very old and can’t handle the volume of waste water passing through it. Apparently it happens fairly frequently when rainwater overwhelms the sewage treatment plants and they have to release the storm water and raw sewage directly into NYC waterways.
This eye-opening video shows a wave of raw sewage flowing down the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. It’s Brooklyn’s very own tidal bore, but definitely NOT the kind you want to be up close and personal to!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzWOOqPAEgs
Totally agree…the issue is much bigger than DC but was not sure how much readers here knew.
My rough point was you can take a healthy ecosystem, with much diversity, and kill it and do it so that there seems to be no coming back.
I am not totally up on all the things being done in the last few years but do keep a general idea of efforts to ‘fix’ things but it seems that it will take more than my lifetime and as you mentioned a wider net of responsibility.
Several years ago, our sewage system (South Metro) expanded, updating and enlarging the old plant- to handle increased sewage and treat new, different chemicals and pollutants. Lots of letters to the editors of both paper, screaming about increased taxes… now, everybody’s happy, and the South Platte is busy with floaters and kayakers and wildlife watchers.
Next: addition to the plant to treat/reuse gray water. And Adams City/Commerce City is building a new one up north. Not all metro areas are do-nothings…
WC: Wow !! Our governor is so willing to spend money (owner state=our money) in a ridiculous suit against beluga whales. Many bitch about Federal Income Tax. Those infinitesimal dollars we give to our government, in this case, the Feds, is still wasted. And this pre-madonna Parnell acts likes the wealth of Alaska can be squandered at his whim.
nem
republicans scream about the about the amount of debt we are leaving our children and grandchildren with, but they never seem to care about the environment.
Why worry about the debt if they can’t breathe the air or drink the water they need to survive??
They also don’t seem to make a connection to how much money they are wasting while being obstuctionists.
I think that the problem is not the quantity of money involved but rather the money’s 1) source and 2) final destination. They have no problem wasting taxpayers’ money to fight their shameful court cases because, if they win, the corporations that will be free to pollute or develop will reward them handsomely.
Taxpayer money out…
If they lose – too bad, so sad, no money out of their pockets.
If they WIN, however –
Campaign contribution in…
Either way, it’s all potential win and no possible loss for the politicians. And the taxpayer loses BOTH ways.
WC. It is so hard to know where to start. This administration has wasted so many of our tax dollars that i wonder why anyone would want to support this BS. WE can get oil and gas without polluting. We can process our waste from Anchorage in a much better way. Our children know that the prevailing dickhead mentality is the death to us all. The powers that be are all for grab the money now and damn the rest.. And anyone wonder why people are upset. Occupy Alaska.
“This administration has wasted so many of our tax dollars” all while calling themselves “conservatives” and failing to see the irony and hypocrisy in doing so.
Sorry Sean. Another one in the loss column.