Republican Anti-Science Committee

Good Grief! Do you still wonder why Republicans have no credibility with voters? The House Republican Steering Committee just named Wyoming representative Cynthia Lummis as the new chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Yes, THAT Cynthia Lummis. The one who said, “she believes the jury is still out on climate change.” “This subcommittee’s focus on the science of energy development and use is a perfect fit,” she said in a statement.” Where, exactly, in “Science, Space and Technology” does energy development and use fit in?

Lummis takes over the helm from former chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas). “In 2009, [Smith] criticized the media for not airing enough “dissenting opinions” about climate change.” Smith, in turn, replaced Texas Republican Ralph Hall.

“I don’t think we can control what God controls.” [Hall] also said he agrees with Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) that climate scientists are involved in a conspiracy to receive research funding.

This is the very same “Science” committee who gave us Paul Broun (R-Georgia) who used the term “Lies from the pit of Hell” to describe his scientific knowledge about the science behind evolution. “And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior.” he said at an appearance at Liberty University. “Bill Nye [The Science Guy] slammed Broun, for his comments about evolution, saying that Broun “is, by any measure, unqualified to make decisions about science, space, and technology.”  And, Nye went on to make the astonishing claim, in response to Broun, that the earth is simply not 9,000 years old.

And, let’s not forget committee member Todd “Legitimate rape” Akin. Oh, and, good ole boy Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.),

Rohrabacher has made a number of scientifically questionable statements, including the idea that an earlier period of global warming may have been caused by “dinosaur flatulence.” Last year, after coming under fire for seeming to suggest that if global warming is real it could be addressed by cutting down trees (when in fact forests reduce global warming by absorbing atmospheric carbon), he issued a statement saying, “I do not believe that CO2 is a cause of global warming.”

And so, the anti-”science” committee marches on under the same old, new leadership, embarrassing our country with a chairman and members who wouldn’t know science even if they weren’t sniffing dinosaur farts.

 

You Decide

The following news/opinion stories all showed up in my RSS reader this morning. Taken together I think they recognize a conundrum being played out in energy-producing states around the country. The first is an opinion piece by a policy analyst for a conservative think tank in Ohio, but similar opinions are showing up in newsprint and electronic media in most western and mid-western states.

Without coal, we lose
“When energy companies doing business in Ohio make profits, nearly everyone wins, and Ohio’s economy grows, which results in job creation and additional tax dollars for all levels of government.”

With Carbon Dioxide Emissions at Record High, Worries on How to Slow Warming
“Emissions continue to grow so rapidly that an international goal of limiting the ultimate warming of the planet to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, established three years ago, is on the verge of becoming unattainable, said researchers affiliated with the Global Carbon Project.”

Long-Term Research Reveals How Climate Change Is Playing out in Real Ecosystems
“Around the world, the effects of global climate change are increasingly evident and difficult to ignore.”

Off The Cliff And Into Deep Water? Cutting Clean Air And Clean Water Programs Could Incur Heavy Costs
“The health cost of power plant pollution is an estimated $100 billion each year, nationwide, when people get sick or die from breathing dirty air. When polluted water makes swimmers sick, the additional public health costs in just two southern California counties has been estimated at $21 to $51 million each year.”

Wyoming – A look into the effects of energy development on fish
“Most anglers are pretty even-keeled and realize the need for alternative energy development. I think most would agree, however, that if that development comes at the cost of our fisheries it’s not worth it. There are ways to mitigate the impact of energy development on our rivers; and studies like Carlin’s are helping to show how best to preserve fisheries while allowing energy development.”

This is but one day in an on-going argument that is playing out across the country. What does this mean for the Treasure State? Yes, Montana will continue to develop our natural resources. Our economy was built on the resource extraction, but we all need to remember that these resources are finite need to be developed for the benefit of all of the people in Montana and all of the people in our country. The need for alternative, less polluting, energy development must be given equal weight alongside the development of existing natural resources. Mining coal, or drilling for natural gas has consequences that can far outweigh their short-term effects on local economies. As we move forward, we need to keep in mind that we have no choice but to wean ourselves from technologies that kill our people and our environment. We will continue to mine our coal resources and remove our oil and gas from the earth for the near future, but as we do that we need to take into account all of the consequences, not just the monetary rewards or the short-term profit motive.

Please help with this important work

The good folks over at Conservation Hawks are up against a deadline. They need to raise $2,000 this week to match a grant from the Cinnabar Foundation to produce a couple of climate change videos for anglers and hunters. Check out their plea below and please help out if you are able.

Friends,

We need your help.  As Conservation Hawks supporters, you understand how important it is to educate other sportsmen about climate change, and how vital it is to create a groundswell of public support for strong climate & energy legislation.  It’s the only way we’re going to save our hunting and fishing for future generations, and it’s the best chance we have for passing on a healthy natural world to our kids & grandkids.
Unfortunately, we’re up against the wall.  We have to raise enough money to produce two educational climate videos, one for hunters and one for anglers, and we have to raise those funds this week.  Please visit the Conservation Hawks website and donate as much as you can afford to give, whether that’s $5, $25 or $250.  We’re all in this together and with your help, we can offer future generations of sportsmen a fighting chance.  Our world may be warming, but hard work and dedication can help change our political climate, slow our fossil fuel emissions and defend our sporting heritage.

Please visit the Conservation Hawks website and make your tax-deductible donation.
Todd Tanner
Chairman, Conservation Hawks

Mega Mitt

Last December, during the Republican debates Mitt Romney commented that it is, “immoral” for the federal government to unnecessarily spend money on disaster relief in the face of yawning deficits.” More recently he intimated that he would send FEMA responsibilities back to the states where they could be handled more efficiently.

“We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral,”

We now have a hurricane/mega-storm affecting as many as twenty states. Who thinks that a state-by-state response is the way to go? Could you imagine the chaos that would ensue from all those various governments attempting to coordinate relief efforts? Can you imagine the number of people who would die?

Dennis Rehberg: The Greatest Hoax

In a rare glimpse into the truth behind Dennis Rehberg’s senate campaign, Denny shared a microphone with notorious climate-change denier Senator James Inhofe in Billings on Monday. Inhofe is touring the country to promote his pro-coal agenda and his book calling climate change “The Greatest Hoax”. In Montana, Inhofe is acting as “the high pope of denial anointing candidates with the black mark of coal dust.”

Inhofe, ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee famously,

repeated his frequent claim that human influenced climate change is impossible because “God’s still up there.” Inhofe cited Genesis 8:22 to claim that it is “outrageous” and arrogant for people to believe human beings are “able to change what He is doing in the climate.”

While Inhofe travels the country proclaiming the evangelic mantra of “clean coal” and the denial of science, his home state of “Oklahoma – recently suffered its hottest summer on record, with July 2011 “becoming the hottest month for any state on record,” and heat-related damages to the state’s agricultural economy coming in at roughly $2 billion.”

The denialist pair repeated the Rehberg mantra that the Corette power plant near Billings was forced to close due to oppressive EPA regulations. However, earlier this month, David Hoffman, PPL spokesman, said that

“the Corette plant has been off line “a substantial period of time” this year because of the oversupply of power in the Northwest markets, including power from wind energy, and a flat or lower demand for electricity.” “The price for electricity is also low because natural gas is so cheap, Hoffman said.”

With profits of more than $1.5 billion in 2011 for Corette plant owner PPL, upgrading the plant would not have been a problem.

With both our Presidential candidates totally ignoring the reality of global warming during the campaign, the door is opened for climate denialists like Rehberg and Inhofe to promote their fantastical views of how our environment works. The reality for coal-fired power plants has been the closure of more than 200 plants across the country due to the glut of natural gas and attendant low prices.

…drillers punched so many holes and extracted so much gas through hydraulic fracturing that they have driven the price of natural gas to near-record lows. And because of the intricate financial deals and leasing arrangements that many of them struck during the boom, they were unable to pull their foot off the accelerator fast enough to avoid a crash in the price of natural gas, which is down more than 60 percent since the summer of 2008.

Following his Montana back-slapping stop for Rehberg, Inhofe will be campaigning in Missouri next week for “legitimate rape” candidate and true coal believer, Todd Akin. Nuff said…

Better Dead than Healthy

Daily Inter Lake Photo

Protester at the Senatorial debate in Kalispell Sunday.

Yes, this really is the sad state of political argument in Montana these days. Visiting your doctor is now a Communist plot. God forbid you take “medicine”, or need an expensive operation. Your physician is part of a vast Socialist conspiracy to keep you healthy.

Montana suggests pipelines should be safe

Following the spill of more than 1,500 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River from the rupture of the Exxon-Mobile Silvertip pipeline, Governor Schweitzer created the Montana Oil Pipeline Safety Review Council. Of the more than 1,500 barrels spilled, Exxon-Mobile reported that they cleaned up about 10 barrels or significantly less than 1% at a cost of $135 million. They also paid a fine to Montana of $1.6 million, which included $300,000 in cash and a promise of $1.3 million to be spent on “future environmental projects”.  The charge to the Council from the Governor was to,

advise the Governor on the status of all existing oil pipelines running underneath Montana’s rivers and stream beds. The Council will review all documentation necessary to analyze and critique the safety of each pipeline and the standards required at the time of the installation of each pipeline. The Council will assess the risk of ruptures and leaks in all sections of pipeline that cross rivers and streams.

In it’s report to the Governor, the Council relied on work done by the Federal Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA). Unfortunately, as the Council noted in it’s report,

The problem is that PHMSA is a relatively small, certainly understaffed federal agency. PHMSA devoted a lot of resources to Montana following the break of the Silvertip Pipeline in the Yellowstone River in July 2011. It inspected about 100 river crossings of 100 feet or more and some of the nearby smaller crossings. It discovered several “at risk” areas, and is overseeing the companies’ efforts to correct the problem crossings. Still, PHMSA could only inspect the major river crossings in Montana, and smaller creek crossings that are narrow or have intermittent flows, were not addressed.

Click for bigger

As noted on this graphic, the agencies identified 7,842 stream crossings of pipelines 8-inches to 42-inches in diameter in the state. In all, the Council identified more than 9,000 pipeline stream crossings in Montana. They cited 88 crossings of 21 navigable waters in the state such as the Yellowstone River. In all, PHMSA inspected only “about 100 river crossings” of 100 feet in width or greater.

In their report to the Governor, the Council pretty much followed the recommendations of the Montana Petroleum Association.

RECOMMENDATION: Support adequate funding for PHMSA and the PSC for their work to oversee pipeline safety.

RECOMMENDATION: Support all reasonable efforts to require pipeline companies to have state of the art leak detection systems in place.

RECOMMENDATION: Support all reasonable efforts to require emergency plans that allow the fastest possible valve shut off for stopping the flow of pipeline contents in case of a rupture.

RECOMMENDATION: Support local government and PSC efforts to obtain and operate notification systems for citizens to be informed as soon as possible when ruptures occur.

The Montana Petroleum Association believes that the PHMSA is “well positioned to regulate the pipeline industry”, just as they did before and after the Yellowstone spill regardless of being “a relatively small, certainly understaffed federal agency”.  As for public notification in the case of a spill, which was one of the major complaints during the Yellowstone spill, “MPA would support such notification only when necessary to protect the public’s safety and through the existing emergency alert system”.

Exposed pipeline reported by college student in Lewis & Clark County

Recommendations include a lot of “support”, such as, “Support all reasonable efforts”, but not a lot of action. As to how this aligns with the charge of the Council to “prevent future failures that could damage Montana’s pristine rivers and streams”, I’m not sure when we  looked at only about 1% of existing river crossings, and found “several at risk areas” and now work began this week on the new Keystone XL pipeline which will add several more critical river crossings in Montana and carry a much more hazardous cargo of toxic tar sands oil. It appears to me that Montana will continue to rely on insubstantial spill response rather than on spill prevention.

Important Action Alert from Montana Trout Unlimited!!

TELL FWP YOU SUPPORT CONTINUED NETTING OF LAKE TROUT AT SWAN LAKE IN ORDER TO PROTECT BULL TROUT AND OTHER SPORTFISH!

Fish Wildlife and Parks has prepared an environmental analysis that recommends continuing a program to reduce non-native, predacious lake trout at Swan Lake in order to protect one of the nation’s most important bull trout populations as well as an important sport fishery for kokanee salmon.

TU members and other anglers from across Montana need to tell FWP they support netting efforts at Swan Lake because it has great promise for protecting bull trout in Swan Lake and the Swan River watershed. Success in this project will also provide valuable insight for similar efforts to reduce the harmful effects lake trout are having on native trout elsewhere, including in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

Here’s what you can do:

Email Leo Rosenthal (Region 1 Fisheries Biologist) at lrosenthal@mt.gov TODAY, OR no later than June15, and simply tell him in your own words:

• You support continued suppression of lake trout in Swan Lake.
• You greatly appreciate the work done by FWP and its partners thus far and that too much good progress has been made to stop now.
• You support alternative B in the current Draft Environmental Assessment for the Extention of Lake Trout Removal in Swan Lake but that the recommended suppression efforts should cover a 10-year time period, subject to a review after five years.

If you have experience catching bull trout anywhere, especially in the Swan watershed, tell him.

Background

Non-native lake trout were first detected in Swan Lake in 1998. Since then, FWP has documented a significant reduction in bull trout spawning activity in the Swan watershed, indicating the decline in population of these native fish. Every water in the West where lake trout occur with native trout has resulted in serious declines in bull trout and cutthroat populations. In 2004 a collaborative group that includes FWP and Montana TU formed to address the growing problem at Swan Lake.

In 2007-08, a rigorous population survey was performed leading to a three-year experimental suppression effort from 2009-2012 that focused on gillnetting both juvenile and spawning lake trout. The results so far hold great promise. Between 5,000-10,000 lake trout were removed from Swan Lake annually – a level that scientists indicate if continued could result in significantly reduced predation on bull trout. At the same time, additional research continues on testing less costly alternative methods other than gillnetting.

Continued netting on Swan Lake will further reduce lake trout populations and allow researchers to measure how bull trout and kokanee respond. This is an extraordinarily critical effort that could benefit native trout in Northwest Montana as well as yield important information for similar projects throughout the West.

The full Environmental Assessment can be viewed here.

Don’t delay, contact Region 1 TODAY!

Again contact Leo Rosenthal at lrosenthal@mt.gov and tell him you support continuing experimental netting of lake trout at Swan Lake.

If you prefer snail mail, write:

Leo Rosenthal, Fisheries Biologist

FWP, Region 1

490 North Meridian Road

Kalispell, MT 59901

Or call:

406-751-4548

Thank you for taking the time to provide important comments to FWP

Montana Trout Unlimited
phone: 406-543-0054

A Sense of Place

A days catch on the Yellowstone 1900s
MSU Photo Archive

On the “Fourth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one” the Forty-Second Congress of the United States passed “AN ACT to set apart a certain tract of land lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River as a public park.” The world had its first National Park.

I first saw Yellowstone 60 years ago, nearly a century after its founding. It would be another 20 years before I cast my first fly to the eager cutthroats of the Yellowstone River. Even then, I knew this was an extraordinary place.

The park was established “under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior”. One of the responsibilities of the new protector was to “provide against the wanton destruction of the fish and game found within said park, and against their capture or destruction for the purposes of merchandise or profit.”

But, that was a different world and we were a different people. Protection of our wildlife and natural resources was seen much differently 140 years ago. We thought nothing of “enhancing” the bounty that nature provided. The American Acclimatization Society was founded in New York the same year Yellowstone was established. Their goal was to introduce “such foreign varieties of the animal and vegetable kingdom as may be useful or interesting.” The popular movement spread rapidly across the nation. The mission of The Ornithological and Piscatorial Acclimatizing Society of California was to import “all the game birds and fish of the older states and Europe” into California. They first introduced eastern brook trout to California in 1871. Even the fledgling Sierra Club became involved in stocking nonnative rainbow trout into fishless high-mountain lakes in the Sierra Nevada.

In 1874, Dr. Livingston Stone of the U.S. Fish Commission (later the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) accompanied the first transcontinental fish shipment by rail. 35,000 eastern shad fry in milk cans were transported cross-country for planting in the Sacramento River. The trip was such a success that the Fish Commission began to outfit specially built railroad “fish cars” and establish a national hatchery system to propagate fish species around the nation. The fleet of fish cars operated from 1881 to 1947. In the first 20 years of operation, the cars traveled over 2 million miles and distributed more than 72 billion fingerling fish around the country free of charge. Individual states began to emulate that success with their own hatchery systems and even their own fish cars. Pacific salmon and steelhead moved from west to east. Atlantic salmon moved to the west coast. Brook trout, lake trout and rainbow trout found new homes in every corner of the country.

In newly founded Yellowstone National Park, anglers found a true Eden. Fishing opportunities abounded and tourists were astonished at fish numbers unseen in eastern states for decades.  The scandal was that some 48% of the Park’s high-mountain lakes and low-nutrient streams remained fishless. Enter the U.S. Fish Commission. The first experimental nonnative fish stocking in Yellowstone began in 1881. Rainbows, browns and Atlantic salmon were planted in Park waters as well as warmwater species such as yellow perch and bass. Lake trout were introduced to Shoshone and Lewis lakes on the Snake River side of the divide.

Fishing Bridge 1962
NPS Photo

As Park visitation climbed, fishing on the river and in Yellowstone Lake remained outstanding for the largest concentration of native cutthroat trout anywhere in the world. Introduced brown and rainbow trout soon overwhelmed native populations of cutthroat and bull trout in the Madison and Yellowstone rivers and elsewhere, but the Yellowstone Lake population remained isolated and genetically pure above its protective waterfalls even in the face of prodigious fishing pressure and removal of 818 million eggs to hatcheries to supply new and declining fisheries elsewhere.

Slowly, the reality of over-use of the resource began to catch up with Yellowstone. Catch limits were reduced to 3 fish by 1954 and “fly-fishing only” areas were established. Stocking of native and nonnative fish on top of native populations was halted in 1955 following belated realization of the negative impacts on native stocks. Fishing pressure continued to ebb and flow as did fishing success. Current management practices today focus on native fish species, with some waters even being allowed to return to their historically fishless condition.

The first documented catches of lake trout occurred in Yellowstone Lake in 1994 and a reproducing population was confirmed. The invasive fish were genetically traced to fish from Lewis Lake. The illegal stocking, in the mid-1980s was presumed to have been intentional. Predation by lake trout has caused dramatic declines in native and nonnative fish populations around the West in recent years including stocks in Idaho, Montana, California and Colorado. Yellowstone Lake would be no different.

Lake trout are very efficient, long-lived predators and after 10,000 years of being the top dog in Yellowstone Lake, the native cutthroats had no defense against the voracious invader. Today, after less than two decades of lake trout predation, fewer than 5% of the historic Yellowstone Lake Cutthroat population remains. The U.S. Park Service instituted a netting program in 1995, but lacked adequate information on population dynamics and spawning locations to affect the lake trout population. More than 800,000 lake trout have been removed over nearly two decades, but suppression needs to be dramatically increased to accomplish the goal of reducing the predator population to restore the natives. 220,000 lake trout were removed in 2011 alone. The current lake trout population is still estimated at around 400,000 adult fish.

The author on a fine Yellowstone cutthroat 1977

Like millions before me, when I first fished Yellowstone in the 1960s, I was amazed at the abundance and productivity of the native cutthroat population and the profusion of insect life. I have fished the river many times over the years and never had a bad day. Nobody ever claimed that cutthroats are the most selective of trout. Pretty much any fly with bright colors and a little flash will bring cutts to the surface, but they are enthusiastic and animated on a light tippet. The last time I visited the Park, about a year ago, I made a point to stop at Fishing Bridge near the lake outlet. Over the years I had stopped many times to watch the abundant, large and colorful native fish cruising around the bridge piers and slipping across the rocky bottom. This time I didn’t see a single fish near the bridge. Most of the Yellowstone River within the Park is now off limits to angling and the few fishermen I observed were out more for the exercise and the scenery than for the fishing. For 10,000 years, nature tailored these unique fish to this special place. In a few short decades we have nearly let that slip away. I didn’t have the heart to unsheathe my fly rod.

This is my submission for the Trout Unlimited, Simms, the Yellowstone Park Foundation and the Outdoor Blogger Network – Blogger Tour 2012 contest.

Become The Jackass

“Ninety per cent of these jackasses that are complaining about the Keystone pipeline in Washington, D.C., one year ago wouldn’t have even known where the Keystone was. While we were doing the heavy lifting here in Montana and in South Dakota and in Kansas and Oklahoma … in Washington, D.C. … all these great defenders had never heard of Keystone before,”

Brian Schweitzer, Montana Governor – 02/23/2012

___________________________________________________________________

The Truth:

Oil sands mining is licensed to use twice the amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary uses in a year.-At least 90% of the fresh water used in the oil sands ends up in ends up in tailing ponds so toxic that propane cannons are used to keep ducks from landing.-Processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas in a day to heat 3 million homes. -The toxic tailing ponds are considered one of the largest human-made structures in the world. -The ponds span 50 square kilometers and can be seen from space.-Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil.