Your Government At Work

For some reason I found myself thinking about different news items I’ve come across recently.

Tim DeChristopher is a Utah environmentalist and former wilderness guide. In 2008, the government was auctioning off some oil and gas leases near two national parks. DeChristopher signed up and drove up the bids, winning several of the leases. The problem was he didn’t have any money.

That really upset the applecart. His prank earned him two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Compare this with the BP oil spill last year that killed 11 workers, destroyed the gulf coast economy, and ravaged the environment. BP’s chairman of the board was invited to lunch at the White House, and Republicans apologized to CEO Tony Hayworth for inconveniencing him when he was asked to testify before a Senate committee. The Justice Department is still considering criminal charges. BP is back to drilling in the Gulf.

The Vermont Yankee power plant has been leaking tritium for over a year now, and some of it has just been found in the Connecticut River. Strontium, much more dangerous than tritium, has also been found in the soil at the plant, and in fish in the river. A few years ago, one wall of a cooling tower collapsed – not because of an earthquake, tornado, or hurricane, but because it was badly built. That was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s conclusion.

Given all the problems it has had, Vermont wants the plant shut down when its license expires in March. The owners are suing the state government, saying it has no right to shut them down, and the NRC is helping them prepare their case.

A year or so ago, fully armed federal agents working for the Dept. of Agriculture raided a gourmet cheese shop and yanked cheeses off the shelf. Why? Because some of the specialty cheeses were allegedly made with raw milk. Agents also raided a family farm and confiscated a young girl’s computer because the farm reportedly allowed people to buy raw milk.

Remember last year’s salmonella outbreak caused by eggs from huge factory farms where millions of chickens are kept in unsanitary conditions? Several hundred people got sick, and possibly some died. The outbreak was first detected in May, but the Center for Disease Control didn’t issue a recall until August. And even though the offending farms were known and identified, no action was taken against the company that owns them. They’re still cranking out eggs the same way they always have.

Shell Reports Another Oil Spill in the North Sea

Shell Oil Co. is reporting an oil leak at one of its drilling rigs in the North Sea. The company will not disclose the amount of the spill, but says it is now under control. This is not the first time.

Documents that were made public recently showed the company experienced nearly one oil spill a week during  a two-year period in 2009-2010.

This most recent spill couldn’t come a worse time.

The company has been touting improved safety measures and awaiting EPA approval of those measures so that it can go ahead with its plan for drilling in the Arctic. Oil interests have been pressuring the Obama administration to speed things along, on their assurances that nothing can go wrong.

It is puzzling why the administration has made an about-face on its offshore oil-drilling policy. After promising that no new drilling would take place until it could be done safely, the president has taken a full speed ahead approach just a year after the BP Gulf oil spill.

It should be noted that all these rigs were built with the same sort of assurances of safety that they’re giving now. Why should anyone believe them?

Entergy tries to pull another fast one in Vt. Yankee flap

The owners of the troubled Vermont Yankee nuclear plant are trying to pull another fast one – this time to avoid paying the cost of closing down the plant – much to the embarrassment of their good friends at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Brattleboro Reformer today reported that Entergy Corp., owners of the 40-year-old plant in Vernon, Vt., have sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission saying that now that the commission has extended the plant’s license for another 20 years, there’s no need to keep the millions of dollars in a decommissioning account as required by the NRC.

The company has notified that it’ll take the money out, and begin re-building the fund over the next 20 years.

The company is acting as though it’s a done deal.

But wait. The state of Vermont has not approved the license, and it is increasingly unlikely that it will. The whole matter comes before a federal judge beginning next month.

The NRC’s response is that it is by no means certain that the plant will be able to operate after it’s current expiration date of March 2012. In addition to the lawsuit, the NRC cites several other reviews that are being conducted, any of which could have an impact on the plant’s future.

Whether or not the company has the funds to cover the cost of closing the plant has been the source of some controversy. Over the past year, the plant has been put up for sale, attempted to enter into a merger, and tried to form  new company bringing together three nucear plants that it operates in the northeast,

None of these succeeded, and in particular the plan to form a new subsidiary to operate the northeast nuclear plants was shot down by a New York regulatory agency because they were not convinced the new subsidiary would be able to cover the cost of decommissioning the plants. They saw it as a ploy for Entergy to get out from under the obligation.

Conn. Environmental Commissioner Defends Haddam Sweetheart De

The man supposedly in charge of protecting the Connecticut’s environment has finally broken his silence on a land swap in which a significant parcel of conservation land was given to a group of developers.

Commissioner Daniel Esty spoke to a group of disgruntled Haddam residents demanding to know why he approved the controversial land swap deal. Esty had remained silent throughout the discussion about the deal, and decided to answer questions only after it was a done deal.

At issue was a 17-acre parcel along the Connecticut River which was purchased by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection for $1.3 million in 2003 with funds meant to preserve important parcels of conservation land. A group of developers who own a banquet facility next door decided it would boost businesss if they could build a small inn or some other attractive business there.

They offered to swap a piece of land they owned elsewhere in town for the land next door. This was 87 acres of land that these business bozos had bought two years ago for $400,000 for a housing development that went bust. No one was willing to buy it.

Esty claims it’s a good deal - 87 acres for 17 acres – but look at the relative values.

Esty told the group there was no legal restriction to selling it (giving it away would be more accurate) to a private developer. He also defended the swap on the basis of the amount of land the state would acquire.

“The prospect of getting five times as much land was attractive,” Esty is reported to have told the group. Not a word about the importance of preserving important habitat along the river. No consideration for the ecological or environmental value of the land. Only the acreage matters, and the business interests of a few developers.

In Connecticut the fox is in charge of the henhouse.            

Is BOEMRE positioning itself to harass offshore wind farms?

At first glance it seems like a good idea – regulating worker safety on offshore renewable energy projects.

“We are committed to ensuring that offshore renewable energy development is conducted safely,” said Bureau of Ocean Energy and Management, Regulation and Enforcement director Michael Bronwich, according to a story by UPI.http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/08/02/BOEMRE-reviews-safety-of-offshore-energy/UPI-74091312283414/?spt=hs&or=er He was announcing a study on the issue that will be ready a year from now. No sense rushing into things.

It sounds good. It also sounds like something OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) should be doing. It also adresses only “renewable energy” projects, leaving out things like oil rigs.

A month before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded last year, the agency heard complaints about safety issues on the rig. When they asked BP about it, they were assured everything was fine, and so they left it at that. A month later 11 workers were dead and the biggest oil spill in history was under way.

The agency went on to help BP minimize the extent of the spill and the extent of the environmental damage. At that time they were know as the Mining and Minerals Service, but when their cozy relationship with the oil industry was exposed, they decided it was time for a name change.

To go back to this new initiative.

 Agencies and regulations already exist for worker safety. The oil industry has made it abundantly clear that they view alternative energies as their mortal enemy. Pardon me for being cynical, but it sure feels like they’re prodding BOEMRE to make trouble for these emerging sources of energy.

Oil Companies Bind & Gag U.S. Scientist over Arctic Oil Drilling

Figuratively speaking, of course.

But the fact is that for the past several months the U.S. Interior Department’s Inspector General has been investigating wildlife biologist Charles Monnett for reasons they have yet to reveal. Then last month, he was abruptly suspended and ordered not to speak to the press or his colleagues.

Could he be connected to some terrorist cell, bent on destruction?

It doesn’t seem likely. For one thing the government is always happy to parade suspected terrorists out to the news media.

So what could be so serious that he’s been suspended and no one can talk about why. Lucky for us, his co-workers and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) aren’t afraid to talk. They say Monnett’s being harassed by the government because he’s making life difficult for the oil companies that want to drill in the Arctic.

Remember all those pictures of distressed polar bears swimming around looking for ice floes to rest on? It generated enough public pressure to get the polar bear declared a threatened species. It Monnett who first noticed several drowned polar bears while he was working on a research project about wales. He and a colleague wrote a short paper speculating that the melting polar ice cap and resulting open water was making it more difficult for polar bears.

PEER says that the oil industry has been lobbying hard to get the permitting process expedited.

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich is clearly on their Christmas gift list. In April, flanked by several oil company executives, he announced that he was filing a bill to create a permitting “coordinator” to do away with pesky oversight by agencies like the Interior Department that gave the oil industry “heartburn.”

Monnett’s story has been reported in papers like the UK’s Guardian, but is almost completely absent from the American media.

I've provided links if you want to read more.