This morning President Donald Trump just told Fox & Friends that he should go down as the “greatest environmental president” in history for signing the Great American Outdoors Act but he then proudly listed an array of rollbacks and attacks on environmental protections. If anything the President was understated in his damaging policies to the environment, including his opposition to efforts to deal with greenhouse gases and climate change. What made this statement the most glaring for many of us is that this morning the Wall Street Journal disclosed that Trump is likely to open up the pristine Arctic refuge area to drilling — an act of breathtaking loss to our natural park and wild refuge areas.
For thirty years, Republican and Democratic presidents have refused continual demands of oil companies to develop this pristine area. Three decades of protection could now be lost in a rush to open up the wildness area before the election. That would make it difficult for a possible Biden Administration to stop this damage.President Trump acknowledged that he is moving to open up the 19-million-acre wilderness to drilling for the first time and notably tied that decision (and other environmental rollbacks) to the election. He stated that voters in these states should vote for him for helping their economies.
Such drilling operations would impact already struggling polar bear populations and cause development of an area left in its natural state for decades. As many of you know, I love Alaska and our national parks (You can search Denali or Alaska to see some of the pictures like this one from past hiking trips). This approval is devastating news to those of us who love the natural beauty of Alaska. This area between the Arctic Ocean to the north and Canada’s Yukon to the east is considered one of the most unique places in the world. It will now be developed for oil at a time when the world has too much oil and demand is falling.
Congress passed a mandate to lease oil from part of the refuge in its tax overhaul in 2017 and many of us objected to the move. Various banks and major financial groups have pledged not to fund such ANWR drilling due to its damage to these natural areas. The approval will mean roads, drill pads, and hundreds of miles of pipe line.The 19.6-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to more than 200 migratory bird species as well as other populations of wolves, musk ox and the 130,000-member porcupine caribou herd.
“It will now be developed for oil at a time when the world has too much oil and demand is falling.”
I wonder whether the push is due, in part, to the derecho that destroyed over 8 million acres of corn in Iowa.
https: //farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2020/08/derecho-damage-begins-to-unfold-estimated-37-7-million-acres-of-farmland-impacted/#:~:text=Also%20last%20week%2C%20DTN%20writer,and%205.82%20million%20acres%20of
That’s not even counting whatever was damaged in other states. Iowa has been the number one producer of corn for 26 years. Ethanol prices will be very likely affected.
Another consideration, off-topic: how will this damage affect an already crop-stressed Africa?
https: //www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-13/east-africa-locust-coronavirus-crises-famine-food-shortage/12541404
California has large areas where fracking could produce lots of oil and natural gas, but the lefty’s won’ t do it.
Huh!? It would make much more sense to do some franking in California than Alaska.
California is a massive state, like Alaska, but bug difference, a lot of the land is 🏜 desert, and rather empty of life.
fracking*
big*
I thought Trump was the better pick between him and Biden, since Biden is not 100 % there mentally anymore. But now, I can’t vote for Trump either bc of his disdain for the planet and environment.
He only sees the Mighty Dollar, which means nothing. Money means nothing. It is not worth the piece of material it is printed on without a good environment, clean air, clean water, less volatile storms, etc., etc., to live in.
Of course, Trump wouldn’t know this coming from that disgusting concrete jungle we all refer to as NYC. Fun for 1 week, then you must leave.
Someone take Trump on a g-lamping trip to Yosemite, bring his clubs, let him golf in the wilderness, change his mind.
in this post, I am going to try and offend every reader.
this is a political calculation by Trump. Because, exploration of this new area is not really needed at this time. eventually it will be, say 5-10 years out, and it will happen no matter who is president. as shale oil extraction methods run out of steam. right now they are on pause as global oil demand is so slack. he may grant permits that actually see very little use….. so this was some kind of guess that Alaskan voters or such like will enjoy the gesture and it may shore up support.
and yes civilization and world population are still very, very dependent on fossil fuels.
and “renewables” are almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels to get online, and lack the storage capacity of fossil fuels.
I think Climate change is always happening, and I think there is a warming trend. I think it is caused in some part by CO2 emissions, though it;’s not clear either to me or with any precision, the “scientific community” how much of a causative agent it is. I know this last one will trigger the “climate change” dogmatists even though my first few remarks will not
but let me keep at it. World population is driving such C02 emissions as we have.
So without cutting world population, there will be almost no hope of cutting c02 very much.
Again, sorry guys, but “renewables” are very dependent on fossil fuels and renewables generally lack storage capacity. look it up.
The good news, is that Bill Gates, much hated by my Republican friends, is working on spreading the same “birth control” stuff in Africa, that decimated the European and American populations decades ago. Thanks Bill Gates, for helping “control population growth” in Africa and keep up the good work. A dramatic decrease in the growth rate of the African population of the world, is the one thing that greens can perhaps genuinely hope for, that will curtail global C02 emissions in the long run.
And perhaps not much else. Though a dropoff in the repro rate of the Muslim population of Asia would help too!
The ‘pristine area’ gets about 900 visitors a year. Present there are tundra and geological formations that look for all the world like slag heaps.
Said like someone who’s never been there.
Almost no one goes there because it’s a wasteland. The few who do take pictures and offer descriptions, which you can examine as readily as I can. The place as a habitat is of no interest to anyone but a tiny crew of biologists who study ecological extremes.
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
– George Berkeley
And the continents were contiguous a few years ago.*
Yep. Change always has and always will occur.
You want to worry?
One day the universe itself will cease to exist.
____________________________________
*Pangaea or Pangea ( /pænˈdʒiːə/[1]) was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras.[2][3] It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago.[4] In contrast to the present Earth and its distribution of continental mass, Pangaea was centered on the Equator and surrounded by the superocean Panthalassa. Pangaea is the most recent supercontinent to have existed and the first to be reconstructed by geologists.
– Wiki
George – that brings up horrid flashbacks to my physics days in high school. My teacher said no, I said yes. It depended on how you defined sound.
A falling tree simply pushes air.
Sound is what is perceived by the sense of hearing.
If a person is not there to hear it, the falling tree makes no sound.
If a person is not there to perceive it, oil drilling equipment in ANWR makes no noxious or, otherwise, offensive emissions.
Johnathan, I’m sorry to hear that you’ve drunk the “Climate Change Koolaide”. If only people would listen to “real scientists” instead of the “pseudo-elitist-political-intellectual scientist” that are worshiped by the MSM then they would discover that “Climate Change Alarmism” is as much a hoax as the “Russian Collusion” lie. If you were to live another 100 years you’d find the climate very much the same as we have today. The only real paradigm shift in the climate will come when the Lord Jesus Christ returns as stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Or, in the natural Armageddon, Papa Nature has the sun go almost nova as the wave of energy (frequency about 13,000 years) from the galactic center passes through our Sun. People underground in caves survive. The rest just die as they “see the light.”
And it is a sure bet this deal will be another prime example of Trump’s incompetence and corruption.
Oh, I guess Turley is truly non partisan, not a right wing lackey, not a Trump defender, not biased at all. What about Trump’s alleged sabotaging of one of the most important instruments of our voting rights, the post office? No comment? Yup. What about the 160,000 dead due to Trump’s incompetence? No comment? Yup. I bet you stand behind Rush Limbaugh getting the medal of freedom. No comment? Yup.
You meant ,”What about the 160,000 dead due to the Chinese Communist Party’s incompetence or murderous intent?” No comment? Yup. By the way, Issac, I got my mail to day, and it was postmarked 3 days ago(just as usual!)
Half the dead are directly attributable to Donald Trump’s six weeks of lies and incompetence.
TDS, on steroids! Talk about mental disorders.
It’s either that or open up the really big deposit in SW Texas and Mexico. None of the Greens have figured out they don’t need to move the coal and so forth if they use it to produce electricity at the mine head. the other half of that discovery in Mexico which has no refineries is looking hard at frack and ship as electricity. Shows how stupid the Stupid party is and their socialist leaders like Ocasio . That ought to lose them a lot of votes in Arizona.
Trump bends and breaks every hand book of law there is, and Turley says nothing to see here. Maybe if Trump had a consensual affair in a wildlife refuge maybe then, Turley would be for impeachment.
It’s a frozen wasteland. Berkeley has suffered blackouts over the last three days because of the reliance on unreliable solar and wind instead of natural gas and nuclear. Without cheap reliable fossil fuels we are back to the dark ages. That’s the choice. If global warming is happening it can be easily mitigated and managed. It’s not clear that any warming is happening.
All climate global warming models have proven wrong. One of the president’s greatest accomplishments has been making us energy independent.
But most of all our contribution to greenhouse gases is minuscule compared to India, China and Indonesia which are building hundreds of coal fired plants at a fast clip. Whatever we do is completely insignificant as far as greenhouse gases go, except of course it will destroy the economy, and that’s the goal of the left.
Coalman. Open pitman. Neanderthal..
“Berkeley has suffered blackouts over the last three days because of the reliance on unreliable solar and wind instead of natural gas and nuclear.”
Oh thank you sooo much for sharing this good news! It could not happen to nicer people!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I wonder how much fossil fuel is spent flying people back and forth to gambol around in this pristine wilderness???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Not a whole lot. A half dozen 737s could carry the whole annual visitor population.
FWIW, There is no polar bear problem at all.
if you opened WAPO, both pages, and pretended that was the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the space affected would be on letter on the page. One letter. Get real. The effect is so minimal it doesn’t deserve the time you spent writing this piece.
How do you know this?
Trump continues to show he is capable of the unthinkable to pick up even a few votes. He is a dangerous President and has to go
I couldn’t possibly care less about drilling in the Arctic.
I am waiting for you pro-Trumpers to ‘splain why we need more oil – and why the fossil fuel pollution is insignificant.
People voluntarily purchase the issue of fossil fuels on the open market. Go ahead and tell them they don’t ‘need’ to, but don’t be surprised if you are treated justly by them.
And, of course, no one said pollution was ‘insignificant’. They are balancing costs and benefits in ways of which you do not approve.
Typical Trump buy votes; steal votes; block votes and suppress voters. Typical Trump destroy, destroy destroy. Republicans enable this man. Vote blue up and down the ticket.
Thanks for the malicious fantasies. Always an education
It is 20 MILLION Acres for goodness sake. Certainly there is room for a few pipes and drills.
You seem clueless although I doubt that you are. You know the kind of damages this will cause but you just don’t care.
You seem clueless
If he actually were clueless, you’d have a substantive response.