Free Republic

Dutch farmers make for an unlikely cause célèbre. For starters, most are conservative, not liberal. And they are fighting against stricter environmental regulations, not for them. Yet they are winning over liberal-minded people like me who sympathize with the family farmers who provide us with our daily bread and yet receive so little respect from society’s ruling elites. And they’re inspiring protests by other farmers across Europe, including in Germany, Poland and Italy. ... But the government’s poor treatment of its farmers has shocked me. The prime minister recently called the protesting farmers “a – – holes,” and sniffed: “It...

A legislative Catch-22 may put a permanent stop to controversial suction dredge mining, which has been halted by a moratorium since 2009. Budget language approved in May by committees in both houses of the California Legislature would extend the moratorium for five years, or until there are sufficient regulations to mitigate all impacts of the dredging and a fee structure to cover program costs. At the same time, the language would prohibit the state Department of Fish and Game – which administers suction dredging – from spending any money to develop regulations to end the moratorium. Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/02/3670603/catch-22-in-california-budget.html#ixzz1O7x9xL9M

Isn't it nice how you just flip a switch and the lights come on, and you can sit down to work at your computer whenever you need to? Enjoy these conveniences while you can, because reliable electricity is among the privileges the moonbat ruling class plans to revoke: Electricity consumers in the UK will need to get used to flicking the switch and finding the power unavailable, according to Steve Holliday, CEO of National Grid, the country's grid operator. Because of a six-fold increase in wind generation, which won't be available when the wind doesn't blow, "The grid is going...

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In light of the recent environmental controversy over splattergate, where the green propaganda ad in the United Kingdom explosively became gory red in the classroom, it is time to be reminded that it was pacifist-leftist Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935) who pointed out that the Nazis started out green but became bloody red. This political reality came much to the dismay of many German conservationists as they slowly found out the real intent of Adolf Hitler. Naïve German greens had no idea that many of the Fuhrer’s savage premeditations about continental hegemony were often conjured up at his mountain retreat in the...

GOLDENDALE, Wash. – Steve Sall moved forward on uneven, rocky terrain in his motorized wheelchair and came to a stop at the edge of a sweeping vista of ponderosa pines and bright pockets of yellow wildflowers. Sall wanted to see the canyon he used to hike before Lou Gehrig's disease left him near death. Three months later, the 61-year-old Sall was laid to rest in the forest. He would be among the small but growing number of Americans choosing environmentally friendly burials. The so-called "green burials" are a departure from the norm in that they don't use concrete vaults, metal...

Damaged Meadowcreek Parkway Equipment Was Case Of Arson The Thursday night fire that damaged equipment used for construction of the Meadowcreek Parkway was deliberately set. That's the ruling of the Albemarle Fire Marshal's Office. A backhoe and several other pieces of equipment were damaged by fire or vandalism at a construction site off Melbourne Road. Firefighters responded shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday. Total damage is estimated at $110,000. The FBI has been brought in to assist with the arson investigation. Albemarle spokeswoman Lee Catlin says it's too early to speculate if there's any connection between the damage and the construction...

Obama tries to recruit Americans into the Green religion by saying Americans don’t want to just pay taxes, but also want be apart of the environmental ‘mission.’ President Obama discussing his energy plan in Newton, Iowa - Tuesday, April 22, 2009: Obama: Americans Don’t Want to Just Pay Taxes, They Also Want to be on an Environmental ‘Mission’ “We got to get everybody involved in this process. I don’t accept the conventional wisdom that suggests that the American people are unable or unwilling to participate in a national effort to transform the way we use energy.” “I don’t believe that...

Oil refineries across the country have been plagued by a record number of fires, power failures, leaks, spills and breakdowns this year, causing dozens of them to shut down temporarily or trim production. The disruptions are helping to drive gasoline prices to highs not seen since last summer’s records. A battery of tanks at an oil refinery in Wynnewood, Okla., burned in April after it was struck by lightning. These mechanical breakdowns, which one analyst likened to an “invisible hurricane,” have created a bottleneck in domestic energy supplies, helping to push up gasoline prices 50 cents this year to well...

Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and environmental groups are on the same page when it comes to curbing the Bureau of Land Management's ability to approve commercial oil shale leases next year: They want to revoke the authority. Udall is concerned the current push for oil shale development could mirror the sudden bust when Exxon pulled out of the Colony Shale Oil Project in 1982.

SEATTLE — When Boeing names an airplane design after a Muppet, it must be pretty different. Two small teams at the company are re-imagining the airplane in futuristic configurations that sprout wings, tails and engines in unexpected shapes and places. The research, illustrated in internal documents, aims in two directions: low-cost airplanes, and environment-friendly planes that will be quieter, use much less fuel and leave fewer pollutants in the upper atmosphere. In the latter category is the "Kermit Kruiser," a low-noise concept airplane with main wings radically swept forward rather than back, and sporting miniature wings on the front. Then...

Shepherdstown, W.Va. The American conservationist may be an endangered species, both in numbers and public influence. That's the bleak news suggested by some attendees at the National Conservation Learning Summit, held this weekend at the sprawling woodland campus of the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia. Some estimates indicate that as many as 60 percent of the most senior federal employees are eligible to retire in 2007. Many of those are in conservation and natural resource fields. Over one-half of the senior executives at the Department of the Interior, USDA Forest Service and Environmental Protection Agency will retire by...

Chafee (R-RI) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) DeWine (R-OH) McCain (R-AZ) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME)

Germany is stepping up its battle against 'Nazi' racoons after they ruined much of this year's wine harvest. The racoons were released into the German countryside in 1934 under the orders of Hermann Goering. Goering thought they would "enrich" the local wildlife - but they have spread throughout Central Europe, from the Low Countries to the Urals, according to conservationists. The nocturnal mammals have become a health hazard in many cities, where they rummage through garbage bins and invade homeowners' attics and cellars. Now, they are becoming a threat to agriculture as well, according to farmers. "Racoons wiped out almost...

Enviro-Elitist Poses As Gas-Pump Populist By Jeffrey, Terence P Sen. Biliary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) sometimes talks as if she wants oil and gas to be cheap and abundant, but she never stops working to make them expensive and scarce. But there's a key to predicting when she will start gushing about America's need for inexpensive fossil fuels. Call it Hillary's hurricane rule: When a storm interrupts oil and gas supplies from the Gulf Coast, she becomes an instant gas-pump populist. Flash back to Sept. 28, 2004. A headline in that day's New York Times read: "Oil Nears $50 As Gulf Storms...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Two key states have agreed to start the first stage of a $200 billion plan to link India's rivers, a scheme critics condemn as a recipe for ecological disaster and violence from those it will force from their homes. The deal between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is a major step toward a project first mooted by the British a century ago becoming a reality, but many details remain to be worked out before work on even the first canal and dams can start. "It would be wrong to promise early results," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...

Roundup Kills Frogs as well as Tadpoles, Pitt Biologist FindsPITTSBURGH — As amphibians continue to mysteriously disappear worldwide, a University of Pittsburgh researcher may have found more pieces of the puzzle. Elaborating on his previous research, University of Pittsburgh assistant professor of biological sciences Rick Relyea has discovered that Roundup, the most commonly used herbicide in the world, is deadly to tadpoles at lower concentrations than previously tested, that the presence of soil does not mitigate the chemical’s effects, and that the product kills frogs in addition to tadpoles. In two articles published in the August 1 issue of the...

ASHLAND, ORE. - Nobody's very happy with the federal Endangered Species Act - arguably the most powerful of all environmental protection laws. Scientists and activists say it fails to protect hundreds of "candidate" species headed for extinction because agencies haven't been able to get to them yet for lack of resources or political support. Property rights advocates say the law unfairly harms farmers, ranchers, and developers who have on their land what some deride as an inconsequential bug or weed. Western governors of both parties say they should have more influence over how the law is defined and enforced. And...

EDITORIAL: Endangered weedsInsignificant plants shouldn't halt auction The absurdity of the biodiversity movement was never more evident than Wednesday, when Las Vegas officials learned the federal government is moving to protect some 8,000 acres from development because of the presence of weeds. Much of the land, which extends across the far northern valley from North Las Vegas west into Las Vegas, was slated for auction to home builders in February. However, botanists found the Las Vegas bearpoppy, a scrub protected under state law, and a previously unknown form of the kindling known as the Las Vegas buckwheat. "It's a brand...

The roots of enviro-hysteria Peter Foster Financial Post June 2, 2004 Some of the environmentally concerned are not happy with The Day After Tomorrow. They worry that the Mother of all Disaster Movies, in which the Earth's climate shifts into a new Ice Age over a long weekend, will feed skepticism about global warming. As an antidote, the mediasphere is about to be hit with a shower of new and recycled disaster books. I learned all this in last Sunday's New York Times. Recently, we have been treated to yet another of the Times's bouts of editorial soul-searching, this time...