After having been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, I decided to create a blog with the hope that it would provide an idle distraction. You are here.
-- Jacques Cousteau 1910-97: Testimony before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 28 January 1971
Can catastrophes and disasters be measured? I suppose they can be quantified statistically, but can they be described in language? Certainly, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis are so blindingly awesome as to present a horrifying sublimity that defies representation. Words fail and images pale.
But what of those disasters of our own doing: like Chernynobyl, Bophal, and the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (what will we call it?).
Chernyobyl was a level 7 Event on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), the worst nuclear power plant accident in history -- the only accident to ever achieve this rating. The meltdown began on April 26, 1986, and quickly subjected 600,000 people to high exposure radiation.
The Bhopal tragedy has to do with a Union Carbide pesticide plant that spewed lethal methyl isocyanate into the atmosphere, resulting in the exposure of over 500,000 people. Estimates vary on the death toll. A mixture of poisonous gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs. Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas and many were trampled in the panic. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths. Others estimate that 8,000 died within the first weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases. Some 25 years after the gas leak, 390 tons of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UCIL plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater in the region and affect thousands of Bhopal residents who depend on it.
And what has seen us through our wonton pollution of the biosphere? Why nature itself. Writing in the april, 2010 National Geographic, Barbara Kingsolver notes that,“Water is the gold standard of biological currency. Unlike petroleum, water will always be with us. Our trust in Earth’s infinite generosity was half right, as every raindrop will run to the ocean, and the ocean will rise into the firmament. And half wrong, because we are not important to water. It’s the other way around”(49).
This notion that the human species’ continuance of a parasitic rather than symbiotic relationship with mother earth has a shelf life was long a concern of American philosopher and natural science writer, Loren Eiseley. In his introduction to Marston Bates’, The Forest and the Sea (1960), he forecasts what we have now come to 50 years later: “Man has lived within nature until now, and taken her for granted. He has lived with nature like an unquestioning child. This is no longer enough. Man must now face the prospect of destroying nature and, in turn, being destroyed.”
The wanton spew of oil and unholy mix of petroleum and dispersant should give we Yoopers great pause in so cavalierly consenting to the degradation of the Yellow Dog watershed by Rio Tinto. Phillippe Cousteau Jr.s images and descriptions of the toxic brew beg the question of how much havoc nature can withstand before it turns our worst B-movie science fiction films into today’s reality show. Ironically, Bates’ work appeared in the heyday of just these kinds of movies, as well as Rachel Carson’s bestseller, Silent Spring (1962), which predicted the consequences of using toxic chemicals to alter the rhythm of nature. Bates sees humankind’s disregard for the importance of renewable natural resources as a breach of reciprocity between ourselves and the environment that sustains us: “It looks as though, as a part of nature, we have become a disease of nature – perhaps a fatal disease. And when the host dies, so does the pathogen”(247).
Technology has outstripped us. As greed has displaced caution in our need for more, so too have we rejected our higher calling as stewarts rather than plunderers of the environment. It is as if the drill has punched a whole in the Godhead, and no one can save us. Hubris defines us. In, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1961), C. J. Jung wrote: “It seems to me that the high mountains, the rivers, lakes, trees, flowers, and animals far better exemplify the essence of God than men with their meanness, vanity, mendacity, and abhorrent egotism”(45). By separating ourselves from nature we forsake the divine. We betray our best selves. And we neglect the idea of a covenant between our children and the future. Bates’ warning has been unheeded: “In defying nature, in destroying nature, in building an arrogantly selfish, man-centered, artificial world, I do not see how man can gain peace or freedom or joy”(255).
New York Times’ Science reporter, Carl Zimmer reports
that “Researchers studying the migration of bar-tailed godwits surgically implanted nine of the birds with battery-powered satellite transmitter, and found that the birds flew nonstop for distances of up to 7,100 miles from Alaska to their winter grounds in the South Pacific”(NYT 5/25/10).
The migratory and indigenous birds and fishes that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico and environs should be so lucky.
St. Augustine of Hippo AD 354-430: “De Duabus Animabis Manicheos”
What follows is a discussion thread between some U.P. poicas on the topic of immigration. The source of this interchange was a Youtube link posted on GF’s facebook ridiculing John McCain’s idea that more focus on building a fence between the southwest states and Mexico is a critical element in controlling illegal immigration.
Per usual, there are no edits.
AR: “Illegals have taken virtually all the farming jobs in the southwest, virtually all of the construction jobs, most of the line work in factories and a good portion of trucking. They have also taken over virtually all of the gang operations, the murders, rapes, robberies, drug dealing and methamphetamine production, and they make up approximately 40... See More% of the prison population here in California. They love liberal states with generous social benefits, and many are talking about Michigan as the next land of opportunity. I’m sure you guys will be welcoming them with open arms.”
GF: ”Actually, hard-working 'illegals' will do work that others won't do if you want to generalize. Building a fence will not work, nor will it stem the tide of the open border. I also find your posts mean-spirited and personally insulting. Don't bother voicing your internet wisdom here anymore dude.”
RT: "Bigotry may be roughly defined as the anger of men who have no opinions."
G.K. Chesterton 1874-1936: "Heretics" (1905)
PS: AR, perhaps we might put these illegals to work promoting a scam whereby we put them to work putting up phony TV satellite dishes by which we might bilk our unsuspecting friends and neighbors out of their hard earned money. It's the American way, dude!
GF: ”Randy, I think I may need to take one of your classes to gestate this.”
RT: ”The point of Chesterton's quote is that the teabagger's rely on a rhetoric of fear and xenophobia rather than logic and tolerance, on negative reaction rather than reasoned opinion. As for the PS:, there's a backstory here, young man.”
Peace - Randy.
AR: "Randall, I live in a mixed neighborhood, work with diverse ethnic groups, live in a city that is primarily Mexican/Mexican-American, in a state whose largest ethnic group is Latino. I have worked elbow to elbow with Mexicans, legal and illegal. Mexican-Americans and illegal Mexicans were at my house yesterday. Today there will be party here with a significant Mexican-American presence. You live in city and state that is overwhelmingly white. You work in a cloistered, rarified atmosphere with other white people, far from the realities and problems of illegal immigration, the southwest or working-class Americans. Your assertion that my opposition to illegal immigration is based on bigotry is patently absurd. My opposition is based on a number of things, here are the top four: 1) Illegal immigration drives down wages and restricts opportunities for the poorest of America’s citizens; 2) A country that does not defend its borders will soon cease to be a country; 3) Allowing unfettered illegal immigration is unfair to the millions of immigrants who go thorough legal channels to get here; and 4) Illegal immigrants cost taxpayers in border states billions in social services and in the housing violent felons in prisons.
Last, if the facts were on your side, I’m sure you’d argue facts. But since they aren’t, you’ve chosen name-calling instead. That’s disappointing coming from an old friend."
AR: “GF, words have meanings. If you look up the word “generalize you’ll find that it doesn’t fit my comments. I was quite specific. You’re right about one thing though, illegals do many jobs that others don’t want to do, field work in particular. But they also take jobs that many other DO want to do, such as construction, trucking and factory work. It’s too bad your sympathies do not extend to unemployed American citizens of all ethnic groups who would like to be working at these jobs right now . . . dude. I find your attitude mean-spirited and insulting.”
GF: “ the reality is 'they' don't 'take' jobs...someone is illegally hiring them. I will not be baited into an argument of non-rational thought. I know from observing family members who wants to work and who sits on their ass waiting for their check. If someone leaves their hometown, walks through a desert, pays a coyote $5000 to get them into a slave wage job to send money home to feed their family it reminds me how strong and fearless people can be.
Again-JOHN MCCAIN is a two-faced laffing stock spineless jellyfish who will latch onto any sordid idea to win...WIN WIN WIN. Sarah Palin?? That's who he picks to help run our country?!! Build a fence?? HAHAHAHA...whatta putz!
The point of me posting this video is for my friends to see this and LAUGH AT JOHN MCCAIN the ignoramus.
RT: “In your first post, AR, you used the phrase, "they love liberal states with generous social benefits." Yes, Al, "words have meanings." And oftentimes those meanings are simply code for a not-so-subtle ultra-conservative agenda. You suggest that things are somehow better for we out-of-touch liberals who live "in a cloistered, rarified atmosphere with other white people." As if Detroit is made up of white people," and that the realities of crime would go away in an all white world. Your "white people" reference is telling, since it suggests that the real problem is a deep-seated white, middle-class fear of a changing demographic where citizens of color will soon be the majority in this country. Note the way you easily elide the terms "they" and "liberal," setting up a convenient rhetorical polarity between an "us" and "them" in which the poor (those who crave generous social benefits), who are by extension of color, and those progressives (liberals of every stripe) who seek a color-blind social justice for all, comprise the "THEM," and you, who see socialism as an not only an invitation to illegals but an insidious government conspiracy and grave threat to the American way, as the "US." And that's what it's really about - us against them.
“I hate things all fiction…there should always be some foundation of fact for the most airy fabric and pure invention is but the talent of a liar.”
-- Lord Byron 1788-1824: “Letter to John Murray,” 2 April 1817
What follows is a true story.
In the late nineties I decided that buying some land would be a good investment. And so it I was somehow introduced to one Charles Heineken, who subsequently sold me on an inexpensive parcel in a beautiful tract of land with some upscale homes already in place, and available pieces for the heady future that was sure to unfold post 2000.
The homeowners in place, of course, had a covenant forbidding trailers, livestock, shooting ranges, and such. Agreeing to this covenant, which I was required to do as a part of the purchase agreement, meant that I was responsible for paying yearly dues that covered plowing the road, garbage pick up, and a number of other services enjoyed by the association homeowners.
Since I signed on, the dues have gradually escalated, as would be expected; but what haven’t escalated are the economic fortunes of those that live there, including my own.
Needless to say, I have struggled to keep up with my taxes and the association fees.
Understandably, then, upon paying my last installment my frustration got the best of me.
Let me preface this by saying that about a year ago a certain member of the association used the association’s group e-mail as a platform for his political agenda. I might also add that the board immediately made it clear that this was inappropriate behavior.
Here then is a discussion thread I hope you find amusing.
Dear Board:
Just a note about the small gift I recently sent your way.
As I recall, about a year or so ago some of the Tea Bagging Patriots in your sad little neighborhood held a meeting to discuss the socialist threat presented by the incoming administration. Since you all commute from your nouveau-riche McMansions (no doubt you also approve of expanded drilling in the gulf. Who cares about a few shrimp and seagulls) you need your Hummers!
Which brings me to clearing the snow for your gas-guzzlers, as well as the disposition of theamount of garbage (I’m sure quite ample) you generate holing up your rural enclave. Have you contributed to the Hutaree yet? After all, they do share your same values.
I’m sure a pillar of these values has to do with not wanting to spend your hard earned money on government assistance programs that benefit you not in the least. I mean it only makes sense that you wouldn’t want to carry the shiftless masses unwilling to work and make their own way.
Which is why I’m hoping you’ll see the wisdom of exempting me from paying for YOUR SERVICES, when they provide absolutely NO BENEFIT to me. I don’t live there. I don’t use the road. And I try to avoid visiting uncivilized rural areas like yours as much as possible.
In closing, let me reiterate that I hope you’ll see the injustice of your socialist association’s ways, and quit hounding me for money that subsidizes your burden on the carrying capacity of the planet.
Best – Randall L. Tessier
Dear Mr. Tessier,
1. You bought land in this neighborhood knowing there was an association fee. Next time, read your contract before you buy land in an 'uncivilized area' then make sure you understand the contract before signing.
2. Your drunken rant does nothing to help the wildlife or the people in Lousiana. Twenty families, not all of whom are teabaggers, did not cause the oil spill with thier hummers, their Fords, their VW bugs, or any other such thing.
My friend in Louisiana whose husband is currently working 24/7 trying to stop that catastophe from spreading says your rant did not help him in the least.In fact, if you really want to help, get your boots on and go down there and participate in the cleanup, like he is!
3. Thanks for making the left wing look as bad and as annoyingly brainless as the teabaggers look. For your information, there are many people in this neighborhood who voted for Obama; who support single payer health care; who are anti-oil drilling, pro-regulation, pro-union, pro-environmental protection, and who felt that Mr. **** (the teabagger) should not have used this list for his fundraising purpose and who said so to the board
respectfully at the time.
So maybe next time before you get drunk and send out spiteful emails, you can think before you act. Your words did nothing to help, unless your intent was to make you look foolish. You succeeded at that quite well. Mission accomplished!
-- Faith
And this rant originates from an employee of the University of Michigan, a taxpayer funded institution that prides itself on the intelligence and open mindedness of its staff. I would suggest that the Board bring the contents of this
email to the attention of the UM administration. Using public resources, like email accounts, to spew such vitriol needs to be exposed.
-- Hope and Charity Blaze
I would suggest we, as an Association, stay out of the emotional vitriol altogether and simply put a lien on the property.
When Mr. Tessier purchased the property, he became a part of the association and responsible to abide by the bylaws, one of which is obviously paying dues. The Association bylaws run with the land and were necessarily part of the closing on the property when Mr. Tessier bought it. If he chooses to disown his property and eventually let it default to others, that's his issue.
I think there is clear recourse for the Association to simply put a lien on the property if he refuses to pay.
I would also strongly suggest that the Association stay OUT of politics altogether in the future.
Regards,
Barbara Ann
Dear All:
While I don’t always have time to address every consideration that crosses my desk, let me attempt to patiently answer your concerns. First off, for those of you who may lack the intellectual savvy to recognize more nuanced forms of rhetoric, like irony and satire, I have no problem contributing to the welfare of others, including yours. This is what an enlightened society is all about. I know some of you voted for Obama, and I applaud you for that.
While I heartily agree that, as Ms. Ann suggests, the Association stay OUT of politics, as I recall, it was a group e-mail from your association, and a strong political statement against Obama’s policies, that landed in my mailbox last year. As for my, refusal to pay, the money was, of course, sent two days ago (why else would I send this?).
Lastly, I’d like to address Hope and Charity’s missive. As a university writing instructor, I am sorely disappointed in your response to my argument. Rather than address my claim: that some of you are benefiting from an act of socialism where I pay for your services while gaining nothing for it; you instead fall into a predictable rhetorical trap: the fallacy commonly known as the ad hominen argument (attack the man). It’s much easier to imply that I’m drunk, or vitriolic, or whatever, than to admit I PAY FOR YOUR SERVICES, and address that argument.
Best - Randy
Dear Mr Tessier,
I would like to address some of the concerns you raise in your email as well as a few of the responses. It is not my policy to begin a note in this manner, but since you don't know me personally, I will start by writing that I am classically liberal and very progressive. Furthermore, the residents of Manwich, in general, and Hilfigerlake Road, in particular, are a pretty even split of progressives and conservatives. In fact, Mancwich has become a bedroom community for UM professionals and I count as my local friends a number of physicists, conservationists, doctors, nurses, writers, and artists.
I empathize with your frustration with the fact that the official association mailing list was used as a conduit for a very contentious and provocative political advertisement. However, Mr. **** had never intended for this to happen and has told us personally that he regrets that it did. While I pretty much disagree with everything Mr. **** stands for politically, I can say that he is a decent person, like most people (excluding the Hutaree, of course). And like most conservatives, he does what he believes is best for the community, even if I believe he is seriously misguided.
Which brings me to the rhetorical style of your original post. I am not surprised you received some emotional responses. Frankly, I found your note insulting. While you claim to be writing irony or satire, this was neither. It is clear your intention was not to entertain through wit and irony, but rather to demean the members of this community and make a jagged point about the right wing's hypocritical despising of any social program. This is the difference between satire and a mean-spirited attack. In much the same way, Rush Limbaugh using the term "retard" is not satire, notwithstanding Ms. Palin claims.
Unfortunately, this style of rhetoric does nothing to alleviate the bad feelings between an already deeply divided polity. Furthermore, coming from a "university writing instructor" only affirms the ridiculous notion that intellectuals are out-of-touch, elitist prigs who disdain regular folk.
Concerning your critique of **** reply, I would advise reading up on your informal debate terminology. For his statement to be an ad hominem fallacy, he would have to be actively refuting your claim by using an attack on your character. In fact, he doesn't address your claim at all. Instead he avoids it completely and chooses to point out the fact that you are using a public service (the umich email service) to make a personal political statement. Simply stating that your email contained vitriol does not qualify as an ad hominem fallacy. If it is a rhetorical fallacy at all, it is a tu quoque fallacy. That is, pointing out that you have made a mistake justifies his making of a mistake; Or, the two wrongs don't make a right fallacy, as I like to call it. Personally, it looks more like a childish "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" kind of response to me.
Finally, regarding your argument concerning the association dues: I would point out that the dues are not for the purpose of paying for community services, per se, although recurring maintenance is part of the deal. The dues are primarily intended for maintaining the road for the long term. All garbage pick up is handled by individual homeowners on a parcel-by-parcel basis and does not come out of the association dues. Contrary to your assertion, this benefits you directly, assuming that your intention is to eventually sell your parcel(s) and make a profit. We have had to make a number of repairs to the road in the past decade due to normal wear and tear, although the wear on the road is much less than on a public road, thank goodness. When you get to the point of cashing in on your investment, you will get much more of a return if the road is paved and passable. For a real life example, take a look at the road directly across Austin, also developed by Chuck Heineken. It has not been maintained, nor even properly finished in the first place. The property is worth substantially less, if they can sell at all. The road is a disaster. I wouldnot advise investing in some of the many properties for sale in that development. However, they don't pay association dues either.
I am not trying to start an argument here. Honestly, I believe you and I have a lot in common philosophically. I would, however, caution against sending emotion-laden emails to a broad audience and I hope you will take this message in that context.
Respectfully,
David Ann
Manwich, MI
Dear David:
Allow me to ramble a bit over your concerns.
Firstly, I've vented sufficiently, I don't mind paying, and 'll try to keep up.
What prompted my letter was the very cold notice I received informing me that your kindly group would be placing a lien on my property should I not pay up now, even in the face of some hardships I won't cry about here (I'm not surprised there are some bad feelings in your deeply divided polity).
Regarding Mr. ****.s comments: the implication that I was drunk when I wrote this most certainly does qualify as an ad hominen response to my argument (unfortunately, it's the strategy du jour of the negative campaigning now in vogue). The lack of refutation is exactly why it's a fallacy.
My gripe is this, given that your association is a good example of a socialist model of governance -- which is a good thing -- why is it so hard to admit that your benefit from my dues far out weights mine?
As for finding my post insulting, thicken your skin. Do you find Mark Twain's prose insulting? I'm sure all of you have larger concerns than this tempest in a teapot.
On the topic of elitist intellectual prigs -- of which there are many at UM -- even a minimal investigation of my current position and background would disqualify me from that status. The majority of my students are minorities who come from lesser socioeconomic circumstances (please google the Comprehensive Studies Program CSP). Do you have and minority owners in your neighborhood demographic?
Finally, please send an e-mail to the group assuring them I have every intention of paying my dues, and that I've had my say and will heretofore confine myself to that cozy little socialist enclave, Ann Arbor. However, should any on you like to meet me, I'll be playing with George Bedard & the Kingpins at the Manwich River Festival in August.
Best - Randy Tessier
Mr. Tessier,
Sorry Mr. Tessier for not responding to you sooner but my frequent trips in my gas guzzling Hummer with my Hutaree buddies to attend all the tea bagger rallies has kept me pretty busy. I think I can only speak as one board member of the Timberlake Homeowners Association when I say that we will not be hounding you for money in the future. Really, what would be the point? It is obvious to me from the content of your response that whatever medicine you are taking is not working. I am going to encourage the other “tea baggers” on the board to just proceed with the lien process so we can be standing somewhere in the line when Washtenaw County seizes your
property for back taxes in 2012.
I was going to point out that your argument was flawed when you so skillfully alluded to the fact that you don’t use our roads so why should you have to pay for them. Don’t many of us pay for services that we don’t use, such as school taxes or taxes assessed for Washtenaw Community College? I was going to say that to you but then I realized you don’t pay your County taxes do you?
Also while I am thinking about it, I don’t know what “little gift” you have in mind for us collectively but please don’t hesitate in personally delivering mine. You wouldn’t the first person that has tried to give me a little gift. Sometimes it is better to give than receive, isn’t it?
Best regards. ****
Mr. Tessier,
Since sending this email, I have been advised that your “little gift” was a cashier’s check for $600. From the tone of your letter, that was not what I was anticipating. I wish to apologize to you for the sarcastic and derogatory statements I made to you. I perceived your response to be an underserved attack on our collective intentions and potentially a veiled threat to us all. I have a tendency to become “assertive” whenever I feel I or someone I am associated with is threatened. I let my emotions dictate what I wrote to you and that was unprofessional and just plain wrong. I know that you are under financial duress and I am hoping that you will be able to make things right with Washtenaw County soon.
“Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he’s been given. But up to now he hasn’t been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life’s become extinct, the climate’s ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.”
-- Anton Chekhov 1860-1904: “Uncle Vanya” (1897)
“What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped
Her and did her,
Stuck her with knives in the side of
The dawn,
And tied her with fences and dragged
Her down.
Jim Morrison 1943-71: “When the Music’s Over” (1967 song)
I had a list of things to talk about, let’s see.
Ok….my review.
Today, I
will attend a lunch to honor my passing of the
periodical review visited on we lecturers every three years. Three cheers for me! But seriously, negotiating this scrutiny can be nerve wracking. And why shouldn’t it be? I mean, it’s only one’s life we’re talking about here. Just the small things: health benefits, a salary, the modicum of dignity afforded one in a system set up to spend you like one more commodity, and a cheap one at that.
Ok…Mcgee's Birthday Bash.
70's today, 80's tomorrow. It’s spring,baby, and if you’re a native Michiganian, here comes the easy part of enjoying the four seasons. Commencement is upon us, and Shadow and I will be walking down to observe the hoopla surrounding the Prez’s speech. It’s also the time when the summer musical season arrives, festivals (the Blueberry and Medieval), concerts (Top of The Park and the Manchester River Fest), and special events (weddings and wakes) abound.
But first and foremost, it’s that time when our thoughts turn to Lake Superior, Marquette, and Big Bay. The plan is to repair to Squaw Beach for a month of R&R. As is our habit, during that time some music will be made. And it seems to me there is no better time to do that
than the weekend of Mcgee’s birthday, July 29, 30, and 31.
Ok…My last blog.
It’s the saddest scene I’ve ever witnessed
Ok…The Gulf Tragedy.
This is bad, really bad.
Consider these excerpts from letters concerning the catastrophe on the Gulf:
“Birds have always had an extraordinary capacity to fire the human imagination. Their beauty and variety are remarkable, but it is the power of flight that humans have always found magical — and enviable. That is why oil spills that devastate large bird populations are the most heartbreaking of all environmental catastrophes.
To see creatures suddenly robbed of the freedom to fly is both an assault on the natural order and an assault on our most primal fantasies. If negligence and greed are found to be contributing factors to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, our sadness and shame should be all the greater.
David Hayden
Wilton, Conn., May 2, 2010”
“To the Editor:
Recent coal mine accidents and the explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico deliver a message. It is the need to recognize modern society’s insatiable demand for energy.
Accidents in ever-deeper coal mines and oil wells bored three miles into a seabed beneath a mile of Gulf water show how demand for energy pushes energy companies toward, and sometimes beyond, the frontiers of technical feasibility.”
John J. Kohout III
Alexandria, Va., May 2, 2010
And why this push?
John Hofmeister, president of Shell’s U.S. operations, had these reassuring words for homeowners who live in coastal states like Florida and California, who fear that their views and property values would be hurt: "Those numbers of people are large, and influential, and politically active," he said. But he also believes that data and reason will bring them around. "The phenomenon of the roundness of the earth means that at a certain point away from the shoreline you can't see operations offshore." he said. He believes the industry's safety record—there hasn't been a devastating spill since the 1969 Santa Barbara debacle—should inspire confidence. "You'd have to say the industry has performed very well."
How does this apply to what’s happening in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula?
Simple, Kennecott, and their parent company, Rio Tinto, like BP, are ruthless corporate gangsters that can’t be trusted with our environment.
Consider the testimony of a BP employee on the rig that exploded and caught fire: “At least one worker who was on the rig when it exploded April 20 and who handled company records for BP said the rig was drilling deeper than 22,000 feet, even though the company's federal permit allowed it to go only to 18,000 to 20,000 feet.” (May 3, 2010 NYTimes)
Kennecott isn’t BP, you say?
Think about Alder Falls, Eagles on the Salmon Trout, and Bears on Squaw Beach. Don’t kid yourself brothers and sisters, it can happen here.
Also think about the irrevocable damage that liars can wreak. And what about the question of whom would benefit from the degradation of the Yellow Dog Plains -- China.
“China sentence Rio Tinto Employees in Bribe Case
By DAVID BARBOZA
SHANGHAI — Four employees of the British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, including an Australian citizen, were found guilty Monday of accepting millions of dollars in bribes and stealing commercial secrets.
They were given sentences of 7 years to 14 years in prison.
Rio Tinto, which until Monday had defended its employees, said court evidence showing that in recent years the employees had accepted about $13.5 million in bribes was ‘beyond doubt.’ Stern Hu, the Australian citizen who served as Rio Tinto’s general manager in Shanghai, was sentenced to seven years in prison for bribery and five years for stealing business secrets.
Although the court reduced his sentence to 10 years in prison, it is still one of the stiffest sentences ever handed down against a high-ranking executive working for a multinational company here.
From 2003 to 2009, the court said, the four defendants used “improper means” to gain information that allowed Rio Tinto to “jack up the price that China paid for its iron ore imports.” The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court said that it would soon charge at least two Chinese steel industry officials with passing trade secrets to Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto is one of the biggest suppliers of iron ore to China, which imports tens of billions of dollars’ worth of iron ore every year — a vital component for steel that is fueling this booming economy.”
The grim point: China’s economy -- Rio Tinto’s consumer focus -- is being fueled by the mortgaging of our children’s environment. Following the pillaging of the plains, the polluters simply move on to foul the earth where someone else eats and breathes.
There are those of us, however, who choose to do something, however futile.
Cynthia Pryor, a prominent opponent of a nickel sulfide mine planned for state land on the Yellow Dog plain northwest of Marquette, spent two days in jail this week after being arrested for trespassing on land where Kennecott Eagle Minerals has begun clearing trees for the first phase of construction for the mine.
Pryor, 58, the director of the non-profit Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve said that she was arrested midday Tuesday after she sat down on an uprooted tree on state land and refused to leave the area.
According to Pryor and other environmentalists and groups in the area, Kennecott’s construction activities are illegal because the company has not obtained a federal permit for its waste water disposal system.
On Wednesday Pryor was arraigned in Marquette County District Court and entered a plea of not guilty to the misdemeanor charge. Her bail was set at $1,000 but she refused to pay the $100 bond and spent another night in jail.
Pryor said that on Thursday afternoon she was re-arraigned and dismissed from the jail without bond.
“I think they were concerned about all the attention this was getting,” she said.
“I think the big question in everyone’s mind is who is really guilty here,“ said Kristi Mills, director of Save the Wild UP. “We are from the camp of believing that they do not have all of the legal permits needed to do what they are doing.”
Mills said that according to the land lease agreement between the mining company and the state all permits have to be in place before any work can begin on the site. This condition that has not yet been met, she said, because federal officials have yet to decide on a permit matter relating to wastewater.
“It was a bold move on [Kennecott’s] part,” she said. “It was pretty gutsy. They are pushing this forward as fast as they can.”
“No one is holding Rio Tinto accountable for this at all. Media has been so slanted here it is disgusting.”
Since 2007 Pryor’s organization, together with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), the National Wildlife Federation, and the Huron Mountain Club, have challenged state permits for the mine through administrative appeals and action in court. They argue that the planned mine will devastate the area.
Following a years long contested case hearing an administrative law judge determined that the rock outcropping known as Eagle Rock held religious significance for members of the KBIC. State officials were in the process of considering that finding when, in January, Granholm appointee Frank Ruswick intervened and determined that the permits for Kennecott should be finalized without further judicial review.
The state determined that because Eagle Rock was not a building it was not subject to protections as a place of religious worship.
That move left Kennecott with one final permit hurdle for the mine — it still required a permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to discharge treated wastewater into the ground.
But in a March 22 letter, Kennecott notified state and federal regulators that it had changed its design for a wastewater treatment system and determined that it no longer required an Underground Injection Control (UIC) permit from EPA.
That same day Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment Forest Management Division Chief Lynne Boyd responded that based on the company’s certifications, the state was giving the go ahead to begin work on the mine.
Mine opponents argue that Kennecott’s design modification — covering their discharge pipes with Styrofoam rather than a man-made mound of soil — does not change the fact that the company will be releasing 500,000 gallons of treated wastewater into the soil and and ultimately the drinking water.
They say that nothing in Kennecott’s design alteration changes the fact that EPA is responsible for regulating the mine discharge under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and they’ve urged the agency to insist that the company obtain a permit.
EPA spokeswoman Karen Thompson said Wednesday that the agency has not yet reached a decision on the matter.
MDNRE spokesman Bob McMann said that the state only requires the company to certify that it has all the necessary permits before beginning work on the site.
“If that turns out to be wrong (in other words, if EPA were to come back and decide they DID need a permit from them), that would put them in violation of their agreement with us which could result in penalties against them,” McCann said via email.
“Kennecott’s work on public land right now is illegal activity,” local activist Teresa Bertossi said in an e-mailed statement. “I don’t know what we’ve come to when a citizen can sit on a tree stump, with her dog next to her, and get arrested for being on public property while Kennecott blatantly breaks the law. Do foreign-owned companies now decide what we can do on our own land in the Upper Peninsula?”
I want to focus on a particular issue arising out of the "religious significance” issue: “The state determined that because Eagle Rock was not a building it was not subject to protections as a place of religious worship.” To do that,I’m simply going to provide some excerpts from an essay I had our Argumentative Writing Class (225) read in 2008.
If Nature Had Rights
What would people need to give up?
by Cormac Cullinan
“’SO WHAT WOULD A RADICALLY DIFFERENT law-driven consciousness look like?’ The question was posed over three decades ago by a University of Southern California law professor as his lecture drew to a close. “One in which Nature had rights,” he continued. “Yes, rivers, lakes, trees. . . . How could such a posture in law affect a community’s view of itself?” Professor Christopher Stone may as well have announced that he was an alien life form. Rivers and trees are objects, not subjects, in the eyes of the law and are by definition incapable of holding rights. His speculations created an uproar.”
“Stone stepped away from that lecture a little dazed by the response from the class but determined to back up his argument. He realized that for nature to have rights the law would have to be changed so that, first, a suit could be brought in the name of an aspect of nature, such as a river; second, a polluter could be held liable for harming a river; and third, judgments could be made that would benefit a river.”
"Stone’s seminal ‘Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects’ (‘Trees’) argues that courts should grant legal standing to guardians to represent the rights of nature, in much the same way as guardians are appointed to represent the rights of infants. In order to do so, the law would have to recognize that nature was not just a conglomeration of objects that could be owned, but was a subject that itself had legal rights and the standing to be represented in the courts to enforce those rights.”
“Throughout legal history, as he pointed out, each extension of legal rights had previously been unthinkable. The emancipation of slaves and the extension of civil rights to African Americans, women, and children were once rejected as absurd or dangerous by authorities. The Founding Fathers, after all, were hardly conscious of the hypocrisy inherent in proclaiming the inalienable rights of all men while simultaneously denying basic rights to children, women, and to African and Native Americans.”
“In the eyes of American law today, most of the community of life on Earth remains mere property, natural “resources” to be exploited, bought, and sold just as slaves were. This means that environmentalists are seldom seen as activists fighting to uphold fundamental rights, but rather as criminals who infringe upon the property rights of others. It also means that actions that damage the ecosystems and the natural processes on which life depends, such as Earth’s climate, are poorly regulated. Climate change is an obvious and dramatic symptom of the failure of human government to regulate human behavior in a manner that takes account of the fact that human welfare is directly dependent on the health of our planet and cannot be achieved at its expense.”
ds and fishes that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico and environs should be so lucky.
