Romney on a path to the past

Here is the list of pretty much every environmental accomplishment Romney wants to roll back to the last century.

18 days

Montana FWP Abandons Native Fish

The primary culprit in unleashing a hungry hoard of invasive lake trout on native fish populations of the Flathead has decided to step away from the table and give up the fight to save our remnant populations of native fish in favor of protecting an exclusive and declining lake trout fishery. Since the 1980s, Montana FWP has been working in a collaborative process with other agencies and organizations designed to restore native bull trout and cutthroat trout in northwest Montana. On March 1,

Just over a week after the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes decided to expand an environmental review process for a controversial lake trout netting project on Flathead Lake, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has withdrawn its support for the process.

The current process has been under way since 2009 when CSKT proposed a reasonable plan to remove lake trout from Flathead Lake using netting and angling. FWP agreed to sit down with other stakeholders to craft a reasonable solution. At that time, Jim Satterfield, Regional Manager for FWP Region 1 in Kalispell said;

…the department’s legal counsel has determined that such an effort would have to be preceded by a full environmental impact statement and public review process.

“It’s reasonable to say that when you’re talking about removing 50,000 fish from the largest natural lake in the West that probably rises to the level of an EIS,” Satterfield said. “It’s a substantial impact on the environment and the public.”

Last week the Tribes agreed to move to a full-blown EIS process and FWP backed away once again. Even though the EIS is undeniably incomplete at this point, Bruce Rich, FWP State Fisheries Bureau Chief gave the lame excuse, “Our staff believes that the draft EIS, in its present state, is incomplete in both content and process.” and they walked away from the table. He is, of course, talking about a plan that FWP has been intimately involved in crafting for the past three years.

North Fork Bull Trout

In 1999, in setting up a collaborative panel to create a rational plan to restore bull trout in Montana, former Governor Marc Racicot said;

The bottom line of all this is simple: the bull trout is a native Montana fish, and Montanans have not only a legal but a moral obligation to maintain viable populations of native species. We owe it to future generations of Montanans to be good stewards of resources that are as much theirs as ours.

In 2000, that Montana-created Bull Trout Restoration Plan set a goal;

The goal of the Montana Bull Trout Restoration Plan is to ensure the long-term persistence of complex (all life histories represented), interacting groups of bull trout distributed across the species range and manage for sufficient abundance within restored RCAs [Restoration/Conservation Areas] to allow for recreational utilization.

FWP has never been comfortable with that goal. Since 2002, CSKT has hosted the Mack Days fishing contests on Flathead Lake in an attempt to control the exploding lake trout population. FWP reluctantly agreed to support this weak effort. From 2000 to 2010, the lake was jointly managed under a co-management plan by both FWP and CSKT. In 1999, FWP estimated the population of catchable-sized lake trout (>16 inches) at 353,732. Today that population has swelled to over 500,000 with a total population now estimated to be near 2 million fish. Clearly attempts to reduce the lake trout population by recreational angling have failed. Research indicates that the current management has only succeeded in keeping the lake trout population at about 5% below carrying capacity.

With Flathead Lake overstocked with lake trout, they have been pioneering out into the rest of the watershed, invading 10 of 13 lakes in Glacier National Park connected to Flathead Lake that were once home to healthy populations of bull trout and cutthroats. They have invaded the Swan Lake drainage and are decimating perch populations in the upper Stillwater.

The bull trout population continues to decline. In the last round of redd counts in the North Fork Flathead spawning streams, only single-digit redd counts were found for four of the five index streams. Under these conditions, the agreed-to co-management plan clearly calls for exploring taking further steps to reduce the lake trout population. Those steps will likely involve netting to remove a greater proportion of nonnative lake trout. FWP has never been on-board with this obvious escalation, but decided to join other stakeholders in exploring prudent solutions to restoring declining native fish populations. When the obvious solution became one that did not agree with the FWP’s narrow view, they decided to no longer support the entire collaborative process.

For generations, Montanans had access to a truly unique and productive fishery. Inland salmon to more than 20 pounds and large healthy cutthroat roamed the Flathead River Watershed. We lost access to that fishery due to declining numbers of native fish more than 20 years ago. We have lost more than 50% of those native populations. Now we are in danger of entirely losing those native fish to predation by an excessive and impaired lake trout population exclusive to Flathead Lake and due to mismanagement of the fishery. The agency charged by the citizens of Montana with protecting and recovering our outdoor legacy has unilaterally decided that they don’t even want to talk about making changes to the current untenable management. Like a petulant child, FWP has decided that they don’t want to be associated with any plan that may actually have a chance to succeed in accomplishing a recovery of our native fishery. The real losers, other than our valued native fish, will be the sportsmen of Montana who will now have no voice in crafting the ultimate plan.

Email Bruce Rich, FWP Bureau Director, and let him know that the sportsmen of Montana deserve to have a voice in this important decision. We need to be a part of a reasonable solution.

(cross-posted from Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited)

Nuff Said

Mitt Romney: “I’m not concerned about the very poor…”

If you build it, it will leak

You would think that a company with record profits of $11 billion in the first quarter of this year and $45 billion in 2008, a company that can afford to pay its CEO $29 million last year, could afford to put a few million into its aging infrastructure. ExxonMobil Corporation has a problem keeping it’s products out of our waterways. On the same day that the oil giant spilled 42,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River, a Maryland judge awarded plaintiffs $1.5 billion for a 26,000 gallon Exxon gasoline spill in 2006. That’s even more than the $900 million the 10-million gallon Exxon Valdez spill cost ‘em. I guess it’s cheaper to  pay the fines than to make the pipelines safe.  That ain’t the first and won’t be the last. Here’s the short list, there are many more.

• 1972 – The 10-inch Yellowstone Pipeline that originates in Billings spilled an “unknown quantity” of diesel fuel into the Clark Fork River near Clinton. “The spill was not pinpointed until a farmer noticed the light oil on the surface of the river.”
• 1979 – A 40,000 gallon oil slick spread down the Yellowstone River for more than a 100 miles from a spill at the Billings Exxon refinery. A 15-mile long slick was reported on the river near Hysham. Sound familiar?
• 1983 – Yellowtone Pipeline spilled 20,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline into Wolf Lodge Creek near Cour d’Alene when the line was struck by front-end loader run by a private contractor.
• 1990 – New Jersey A 500,000 gallon heating oil spill found it’s way into the Arthur Kill separating New Jersey and Staten Island. Exxon initially estimated the spill at 5,000 gallons.
• 2007 – An explosion and fire at the Exxon refinery in Billings sent flames more than 100 feet into the air. “The fire began at the refinery after piping leaked hydrogen and hydrocarbon gases that ignited and caused the large explosion and fireball.”

ExxonMobil initially said that the current damage was limited to a ten mile stretch of the Yellowstone below the refinery.

There is “very little soiling” of the river banks beyond the 10-mile mark, Gary Pruessing, president of Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co., said at a news conference telecast from Billings.

Somehow, the company is now saying that those remarks were “misunderstood”, but they have now expanded the scope of their cleanup efforts.

“We’re not limiting the scope of our cleanup to the immediate site,” Pruessing said at a news conference along the river near Laurel, as crews mopped up oil in the background. “We are not trying to suggest in any way that that’s the limit of exposure.”

TransCanada is now worried that this small mishap will sour Montanans on the prospect of building a new 300-mile, 36-inch crude oil pipeline through the state and across both  the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers.

“I think that Montana had in the past not really been too concerned about the Keystone XL pipeline, and I think this is really going to change that,” said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s international program.

Hmmm… ya think? Check out the 2010 report “Assault on America” by the National Wildlife Federation for lots more spill  information.

Waging War on Wiley Wolf Trout

We’ve got a problem in Montana. A large, voracious, carnivore is gobbling up our native wildlife. No, I’m not talking about wolves. In the 1980s, the lake trout population in Flathead Lake was estimated to be around 40,000 fish. Then we mistakenly introduced mysis shrimp, another non-native intruder. Due to unexpected interactions between the shrimp, phytoplankton, kokanee and trout, the lake trout population boomed and kokanee disappeared. By 1989 it became obvious that we had a problem. Since the lake sits within both the State of Montana and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal boundaries, both entities agreed to co-manage the resource. By the time they came up with a new plan in 1999, the lake trout population had grown to 200,000 fish. Today, that population is estimated to be 400,000 lake trout in Flathead Lake. Redd counts in both the north and middle fork clearly show a steady decline in bull trout numbers. Increased lake trout predation is the primary reason for the decline. The population of native bull trout in the entire Flathead drainage has now fallen to 3,000 fish. Lake trout are moving out of Flathead Lake in ever increasing numbers and endangering distinct genetic populations of native fish throughout the drainage.

Sunday morning (Feb. 21), I noted two earnest opinion letters in the Kalispell Daily Inter Lake attacking a Draft of a Proposed Pilot project which would attempt to lower the population of lake trout under 26 inches in Flathead Lake by 25% over three years using a combination of angling pressure and netting. The proposal grows out of many years of co-management of Flathead Lake by FWP and the CS&KT. One stated goal of that co-management plan is to “increase and protect native trout populations”. Bull trout have been listed as “threatened” under the ESA since 1998. For the past nine years, under the most current iteration of the plan, managers have attempted to boost native fish populations in Flathead Lake through angling pressure alone on lake trout. They instituted liberal catch limits and established the Mack Days fishing contests to decrease lake trout populations. It hasn’t worked. Lake trout continue to proliferate throughout the basin. The 2008 report on the management plan said “There was a fall back in harvest in 2008 that may indicate that the peak potential of the contests has been reached.” It’s time to take the next logical step, or as the report says “Begin preparation to implement additional methods of lake trout reduction outlined in the Co-management plan.“

This pilot project is not a “fall back proposal”. Netting and trapping of lake trout has been addressed in the Flathead’s management plan since it began in 2000 as a next logical step if angling pressure is not sufficient. Gill netting is a well known technique. It has been tried elsewhere with good results. In Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, netting lake trout is being used to recover the valuable kokanee fishery. Yes, they have seen a decline in the lake trout catch, but in the 2009 report on that effort they found that after removal of nearly 90,000 lake trout over four years, survival rates for 1-2 year-old kokanee have hit 70%, up from 10% just two years ago. Bull trout bycatch is insignificant and they have found an increase in bull trout spawning in nearly all tributaries. They are accomplishing their goals.

In Yellowstone Lake, they are running a netting operation similar in scope to the one proposed for Flathead Lake. They began netting in 1995 to try to save a $40 million native Yellowstone Cutthroat fishery. Review of the program last year shows that they have so far failed to stop the growth of the lake trout population. The data do show however, that they have reduced the growth rate of lake trout which has decreased the predation on cutthroats and given them some breathing room. The median size of spawning-age lake trout has actually increased even as predation on cutthroats has declined. Yellowstone netting has been a qualified success, but will require a larger effort to fully succeed.

The science clearly shows that a project such as that proposed for Flathead Lake can succeed in reducing lake trout populations and helping native fish. One of the goals of the project is to maintain recreational fishing at its current level. Tom McDonald, Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation manager for the CS&KT has clearly stated that “If we see a decline in recreational fishing or people not coming out to fish, we’ll cease the program”. The proposed project is just that, “proposed” at this point. The procedures will have to survive a full NEPA scoping review and all stakeholders will be able to participate in the process and get answers to their questions. What we have been doing for the past nine years is not working. Native fish populations are disappearing. Netting can be done in a responsible way that will not harm the Flathead fishery or the economy that depends on it. Failure to do so will open the door to increased federal management of our Montana fisheries. There is no hidden agenda here. We owe it to our native fish to proceed with the scoping process and openly discuss the proposal using logical scientific arguments and not scare tactics.

Venom is not a strategy

Maybe I missed something, but I really don’t understand the hate the Republicans feel for America. They obviously hate Chicago. They could hardly contain their enthusiasm when America lost the Olympics. Their party leaders are now all from hate radio/tv. Rush Limbaugh finally admitted today that he agrees with the Taliban although that’s hardly news. He wants a return to segregated buses and believes that the American President is destroying our country.

Republicans think that Texas should secede from the Union. They hope that more Americans will die because they cannot be insured. They cheered for General Motors to fail. They are disgusted by the elderly and want to destroy Social Security and Medicare. They obviously hate minorities as illustrated by their stance on Sonia Sotomayor and Van Jones. They loathe the American education system. They would remove science from the classroom and abolish the Department of Education.

Republicans celebrate every time America fails and cheer and applaud for more failures in the future. Republicans have moved well beyond political opposition into a state of actual abhorrence for our country. I can only imagine the abject joy that will be felt and demonstrated by Republicans should another real tragedy strike America. They not only agree with the Taliban, they have become the Taliban.

Another Baucus Blunder

There were a couple of good articles on Salon.com yesterday about the bizarre goings on in the Finance Committee. Alex Koppelman reminded us that Max Baucus actually supports a public option. During the hearing, Max said, “The public option would help hold insurance companies’ feet to the fire…” Yep, that’s our boy. The public option is a good idea, he just can’t get some Democrats to vote for it. Like Max Baucus of Montana. Republican arguments continue to come more and more from Fantasyland .

“Nevada Republican John Ensign said the U.S. healthcare system is actually better than people think it is — because certain types of bad health outcomes simply can’t be compared to those in other countries. Namely, gun deaths, which add a lot to U.S. mortality stats every year. “We like our guns in the United States,” he said.”

Better than what? The more people we shoot, the healthier we become? “Republicans painted both amendments as nothing less than the beginning of the end of the free market in America.” I’m glad we have Max to stand with crazy people and keep us from ruining the country.

Joan Walsh said that “Montana Sen. Max Baucus had to decide whether he represented Montana or the insurance industry. Tuesday he made his choice,“

“It’s not Baucus’ role to prejudge what can or can’t ultimately prevail, when the real action is probably going to come in the conference committee that reconciles what the more liberal House passes with what the Senate decides on.

Baucus didn’t vote against the public option despite the fact that it would “hold insurance companies’ feet to the fire,” but because it would. His insurance industry contributors got their money’s worth today, but the people of Montana did not.“

Baucus keeps saying that he can count and there aren’t enough votes to pass a bill with a public option through the Senate. Well Senator, we can count too. I count 60 Democrats in the Senate. If Democrats cannot govern after we gave them the Presidency and a hefty majority in both houses of Congress, maybe they don’t deserve to be there. You guys just vote on what’s good for Montana. We’ll do the math later.

Republicans never had a problem pushing their agenda with smaller majorities. We gave Democrats two jobs, get us out of Iraq, and fix the health care system. If Democrats don’t stop telling us how hard it is and get the job done, we will find someone who will. Just take the vote and any Democrat who votes against decent health care can go home and explain to his constituents why he sold out the American people and prepare for a tough challenge.

Breaking Snooze

Boy, here’s a big surprise.  Baucus Unveils Health Care Plan Without Public Option.

We’ll instead go with some kind of funky Co-op thingy that nobody really understands and can’t possibly do any good, in order to win over Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine. One single Republican vote. Oh, by the way, Snowe doesn’t want a co-op, she wants a public option with a trigger. See ya Max. You have just become even more irrelevant to the discussion, if that’s possible.

“To da moon, Alice!”

Pennsylvania – “As of October 1, 2009 Aetna health insurance will be increasing the Aetna HMO rates in Pennsylvania“. “10.3% is the average overall increase amongst all the Aetna health insurance HMO plans“.

New Jersey – “Health insurance premiums for public employees in more than 250 school districts will rise by 25 percent next year, after a state commission voted to approve it today“.

Michigan – “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has tentatively agreed to raise rates for nearly 200,000 of its health insurance customers by an average of 22 percent, a significantly lower rate increase than originally sought“.

Utah – “For the past three years, Kelly Moynahan of Park City has struggled to deal with average annual increases of 20 percent in her family’s health insurance premiums“.

Indiana – “Employers who offer health insurance coverage could see a 9% cost increase next year, and their workers may face an even bigger hit, according to a report Thursday from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers“.

Even if we were to pass health care reform tomorrow, you would still see a couple of more years of these double digit insurance premium increases. If we don’t pass reform this year, you can expect to see your premiums double in the next 8-10 years. Double. That means that if you now pay, on average, $13,000 in Montana, you can expect to see your annual health insurance premium to rise to around $26,000. In Montana, you are also paying $2,100 a month in your premium to pay for health care for those without insurance. It’s called “uncompensated care” in insurance-speak. If we don’t pass health care reform this year, I don’t expect to hear ONE SINGLE REPUBLICAN whine about the cost of health insurance.

Weed Killer Mine

Idaho's Blackfoot River - from Fly Fishing Frenzy

Monsanto Corporation, the world’s leading producer of agricultural chemicals and the people who brought you such environmentally friendly products as Roundup, NutraSweet, Bovine Growth Hormone and Agent Orange, wants to gouge a new open pit, mountain-top-removal mine just yards from the Blackfoot River… No, the other Blackfoot River. The one in southeastern Idaho. The Idaho Blackfoot River is situated just north of Soda Springs, Idaho and just east of Pocatello. It does have some similarities with the Montana Blackfoot River. According to the blog Fly Fishing Frenzy, the Idaho Blackfoot “can offer some of the best ‘Cutt’ fishing a river could offer“. In May, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality added Sheep Creek, a tributary to the Blackfoot, to its list of streams polluted by selenium. The state says that they now have 15 streams in the southeast that exceed selenium standards.

Monsanto wants to mine phosphate, which is the main component in it’s signature weed killer Roundup. There are some problems. Monsanto is already responsible polluting 17 sites in the region. Three of it’s former phosphate mines are now EPA-administered super fund sites and their current mine has been in violation of state and federal water-quality rules for seven years, polluting surface and groundwaters with selenium and other heavy metals. The company has never been able to find a way to stop the pollution. “The measures they have implemented aren’t working,” said Eva DeMaria, an EPA enforcement official in Seattle”. The mining permit for the Rasmussen mine requires that Monsanto leave no selenium pollution problems when they finish mining. So ““We have not finished our mining in that area, and our commitment is, we will be addressing these issues,” the company reports. Monsanto says they have learned their lesson and the new mine will be a high-tech, eco-friendly marvel. I wonder if they said the same thing about their other new mine seven years ago?

Monsanto has a heavy investment in the weed killer Roundup. They have developed a strain of “Roundup Ready” crops, which allow farmers to drench their soil with the herbicide without killing crops. Some farmers claim that over-dependence on herbicide-resistant chemicals could lead to an infestation of resistant weeds. Glyco-phosphate weed killers mostly show low toxicity to humans though there is a possible link to lymphoma in farm workers. However, fish and invertebrates are more sensitive to the chemicals. The company is also under attack from generic versions of the product although, Monsanto showed a profit of $256 million in the third quarter of 2008 with income from Roundup and other herbicides of $1 billion. The company must also now deal with more stringent environmental regulations following a large kill-off of sheep and horses in southeast Idaho  in the 1990s due to selenium poisoning.

Bill Stout, a BLM geologist in Pocatello stated the obvious when he said “…problems sometimes occur despite the best intentions of his agency and mining companies“. I’m not really opposed to new mining if it is done correctly, but it seems that Monsanto has a responsibility to clean up one mess, or 17,  before it moves on to creating new problems.