Desert wilderness

This sign announces to passersby the presence of he visitor center at Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona. More than 800,000 acres of this NWR is designated wilderness. To get there, be sure and pass through the towns of Ajo and Why. Yes, Why not?

Obama admin extends roadless moratorium

Solid, good news for our remaining public land roadless areas.

http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/national/article_904a4724-b160-5f98-a7cf-f18197d9ced0.html

The spill questions mount

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/opinion/31mon1.html?hp

My latest newspaper column:

The recent oil rig explosion off the Louisiana coast, which claimed 11 lives and continues to spill (as I write) 200,000 gallons of oil daily into the Gulf of Mexico, is jeopardizing not only the wildlife habitats and coastlines throughout the region, but also putting our fragile economy in great peril. (The human and environmental impacts of the two Gulf hurricanes I flew into in the early 1980s – on board a U.S. Air Force hurricane reconnaissance plane – were puff when compared to BP’s spill.)

While officials from BP and government authorities work on the cleanup, talking heads and pundits are ramping up the blame game and are pointing fingers to score political points.  Whatever the cause of the actual disaster, we should be pointing our fingers at the real culprit:  the policy makers making energy policy that has left us dependent on fossil fuels for the past 30 years, even when we knew better.  It’s increasingly clear that this tragedy could have been prevented if Congress would simply have passed one piece of legislation that weaned America off of dirty fuels and instead moved us toward cleaner energy sources.

For decades, environmental and energy experts have sounded the alarm on not just the dangers offshore drilling, but on our unending dependence on dirty fuels which pose a clear and present danger to the United States’ economic, environmental and national security. Each time, these warnings have fallen on deaf ears. So in light of the latest catastrophe, how many $20 billion oil spills does America have to witness before Congress puts our nation’s interests ahead of big oil and passes a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill? Every day that Congress refuses to act on clean energy legislation, we miss the opportunity to create clean energy jobs for Americans that stay in America. That just hurts our economy, helps our enemies and puts our security at risk.

In short, the real cause of the Gulf Coast oil rig disaster is our addiction to oil. Our continued reliance on 19^thcentury, dirty energy sources like oil only increases the chance of another disaster like the one in the Gulf. Keep in mind that there are thousands of oilrigs off our coastline, and just one rig explosion is wreaking economic and environmental havoc, profoundly affecting the entire country. The fishing and tourism industries, vital to communities well beyond just the Gulf Coast, will feel the immediate impact of this man-made disaster, and the ripple effects will be felt globally and domestically.

While Congress debated climate and clean energy legislation over the past year, big polluters have often hyped the supposed increase in costs to taxpayers and damage they say clean energy legislation would do to our economy. However, Big Oil and their lobbyists are now conspicuously quiet as the price tag for cleaning up the mess they created steadily climbs from $12 billion to $20 billion to who knows how many billions of dollars when all is said and done. That staggering price tag doesn’t even take into account the countless number of jobs lost and other economic impacts in the wake of this oil spill. The economic costs are spreading like an oil slick itself.

Even as cleanup crews work to limit the devastating impact of this massive spill, lawmakers in Washington continue dithering when the long-term solution for preventing these types of disasters is right in front of their faces:  pass climate and clean energy legislation. We just need more courage, conviction and leadership from senators and members of Congress.

In the wake of the oil spill off Louisiana’s coast, Big Oil will undoubtedly continue to fight energy reform with an army of well-compensated lobbyists and special interest groups. The question is will Congress show the backbone to buck them and do what is in the best interest of all Americans by passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation now?  Will they learn a lesson from this and other dirty energy disasters and work together toward a stronger, more secure and cleaner national energy future? America continues to wait for an answer to this vital question.

Our fix-it faith, and the BP spill

As awful as the BP spill is, I really think most Americans are clueless when it comes to their own use/consumption of petroleum and its various “products.” I regularly see neighbors drive the quarter-mile to the post office or even, in a few cases, get into their cars and drive to the end of their exurban driveway to retrieve the morning paper. There are countless small oil spills daily. One can see the rainbow-like plumes on the pavement after a rainfall.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/weekinreview/30rosenthal.html?hp

Qote of the week

From Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire”:

In the first place you can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you’ll see something, maybe.

BP oil spill: And a child shall led the cleanup

Great, funny piece here from Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/15/1630663/bp-oil-spill-and-a-child-shall.html

The spill: It’s an ‘unnatural’ disaster, not a ‘natural’ one as BP’s chief said

NY Times columnist Bob Herbert rolled out this delicious offering this morning about the spill and the power that corporations wield over our governement and our lives. Think about Herbert’s thoughts on the spill before accepting what Tony Hayward and his moneyed ilk say to Tee Vee cameras next time. And there will be a next time.

With climate change, expect pollen/allergies to worsen

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2010/05/post_14.html

The spill: Undersea images pulling in viewers

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/05/27/1209221/arresting-images-of-oil-spill.html