It seems that the current administration's energy policies are in conflict with some of the promises that Barry made on the campaign trail:
"Absolutely, he has been a disappointment," said Frank O'Donnell, president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch. "When Obama was elected, I think public health and environmental advocates thought a number of unresolved problems would be dealt in short order. And we learned that environmental protection did not prove to be a first-tier activity for the White House."
Barry's most recent tactics, suddenly approving energy projects like a portion of the Keystone pipeline and fracking, makes me wonder if Bubba is coaching Barry or if Barry is just imitating what worked for Slick Willy two terms in a row.
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
The southern leg of that pipeline did not - does not need to have Obama's approval in the first place. It's the northern part that requires approval.
Obama simply steps into Oklahoma- where that section of the pipeline was going to be built- with or without his "blessing" - in order to take credit for it. Maybe this is what is pissing off the greenies- he didn't need to say anything about it and now he appears to be supporting it.
Me either, but it might just be enough for them to stay home so that they don't have to violate their conscience by voting for him - which would just about accomplish the same thing as voting against him.
So what really are the environmental impacts of alternative and renewable forms of energy? It seems some environmentalists and many, many desert tortoises have a different take on the goodness of large scale solar projects in California's Mojave Desert. Sierra Club wants the local environmental people to "shut up and color". This story suggests an interesting money trail too.
Environmentalists feeling burned by rush to build solar projects
AMARGOSA VALLEY, Calif. — April Sall gazed out at the Mojave Desert flashing past the car window and unreeled a story of frustration and backroom dealings.
Her small California group, the Wildlands Conservancy, wanted to preserve 600,000 acres of the Mojave. The group raised $45 million, bought the land and deeded it to the federal government.
The conservancy intended that the land be protected forever. Instead, 12 years after accepting the largest land gift in American history, the federal government is on the verge of opening 50,000 acres of that bequest to solar development.
Local activists accuse the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, the Wilderness Society and other venerable environmental groups of acquiescing to the industrialization of the desert because they believe large-scale solar power is essential to slowing climate change.
Grass-roots groups say that strategy has failed to protect the desert. What's worse, they say, is that the imprimatur of such groups as the Sierra Club has provided a '"green halo" to energy companies and the government — making it easy for them to ignore local environmental concerns.
After construction began, large numbers of desert tortoises were discovered. According to federal biologists, BrightSource is now responsible for relocating and caring for 95% of all the tortoises expected to be found on all solar project sites in the Mojave.
I love the term "Green Halo". It appears the tortoises don't get a vote in their relocation decision. Maybe it's a good thing those same tortoises can't vote in the upcoming presidential election.
I really do understand an environmentalist's desire to rush headlong into stopping ANY use of fossil fuels, but I have to wonder if we are looking as closely on what the environmental impacts of large scale windfarms, solar farms or tidal farms might have on more local ecosystems? Or are we blinded by the Green Halo that is alternative energy?
