Free Republic

This is an incredible story showing how far the federal government is from rational thought. Here’s what happened in Tombstone: Between May and July 2011, the Monument Fire engulfed a large part of the eastern portion of the Huachuca Mountains. Record-breaking monsoon rains followed. With no vegetation to absorb the runoff, huge mudslides forced boulders to tumble down the mountain sides, crushing Tombstone’s mountain spring waterlines, destroying reservoirs and shutting off Tombstone’s main source of water. In some areas, Tombstone’s pipeline is under 12 feet of mud, rocks and other debris; while in other places, it is hanging in mid-air...

One of the proposals for the Department of Defense to cut costs is having a Base Realignment and Closure round in fiscal year 2013, which begins on Oct. 1. While there is a possible impact on Fort Huachuca, exactly what it could be — closure, reduction of missions or new units being assigned — is unknown. The BRAC possibility is leading the co-chair of the Arizona Military Affairs Commission and former president of the Fort Huachuca 50 Tom Finnegan of Sierra Vista to issue a call to arms to not only defend the post but other military installations in the...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)—Four years after the GOP’s rallying cry became “drill, baby, drill,” environmental issues have barely registered a blip in this Republican presidential primary. That’s likely to change as the race turns to Florida. The candidates’ positions on environmental regulation, global warming as well as clean air and water are all but certain to get attention ahead of the Jan. 31 primary in a state where the twin issues of offshore oil drilling and Everglades restoration are considered mandatory topics for discussion. “It’s almost like eating fried cheese in Iowa,” said Jerry Karnas of the Everglades Foundation....

This will drive the Enviro-weenies nuts! http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3425246

A group of Sacramento-area property owners and land managers on Wednesday threatened to sue the federal government if it does not proceed with removing a native beetle from the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initially proposed removing the valley elderberry longhorn beetle from the endangered species list in 2006. But the process has dragged along and the beetle remains protected. On Wednesday, the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento-based nonprofit law firm, said the delay may have cost its clients millions of dollars over the past five years. Those clients include land owners, levee maintenance districts and...

With all the political posturing in Congress over the Keystone XL tar-sands oil pipeline, it’s easy to lose sight of the real issue: This pipeline is dangerous, unnecessary, and would cost the American people far more than we can afford. What we’re watching unfold in Washington, DC, is more than just a high-stakes political power play — it’s a scam undertaken by Big Oil’s congressional puppets on the orders of oil companies that have billions of dollars at stake. The politicians pushing the pipeline are (how can I put this politely?) lying to the American people and pandering for dirty...

Recently NLPC has reported about Coca-Cola’s holiday ad campaign to protect polar bears with donations up to $3 million to the World Wildlife Fund, which was a barely disguised effort to fund environmental pressure groups’ fraudulent global warming fight . But Coke’s passion to avert climate catastrophism runs deeper than the Arctic ice. The company even has a position statement that says “the consensus on climate science is increasingly unequivocal,” that “global climate change is happening” (everyone agrees with that – it always has changed and always will), and that “man-made greenhouse gas emissions are a crucial factor.” “Across...

A sharp increase in Oklahoma's seismic activity has many wondering if underground drilling is responsible. On Nov. 5, a 5.6-magnitude tremor rattled Oklahoma — one of the strongest to ever hit the state. Oklahoma is typically seismically stable with about 50 small quakes a year. But in 2009, that number jumped up to more than 1,000. Some people say the increasingly common use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — the controversial practice of blasting underground rock formations with high-pressure water, sand, and chemicals to extract natural gas — may have put stress on fault lines. Can human activity really cause...

Administration decision due on $7 billion projectA final public hearing on the proposed $7 billion Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline on Friday turned into a heated and often testy battle, filled with boos and cheers for speakers who traveled from across the country to testify. Protesters gathered outside the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center early in the morning, and then flooded into the hearing room, where a number of them pleaded with the State Department to reconsider its support for the pipeline. Supporters, which include both business and labor groups, say the project will provide needed energy from...

Many Global Warming Alarmists are pointing to the floods in the Midwest as the latest proof of global warming. But a powerful piece at AmericanThinker.com provides an alternative suggestion as to the real cause of the flooding: the perhaps unintended consequences of radical environmentalist policies regarding the system of dams on the Missouri River. Al Gore gave a speech in New York last week in which he linked the flooding in the Midwest and the fires in Arizona to global warming: “Today, the biggest fire in the history of the state of Arizona is spreading to New Mexico. Today, the...

SANTA FE – The Environmental Improvement Board asked for testimony about the best way to cost-effectively reduce haze caused by power plants, but many of the people EIB heard from Wednesday wanted to talk about eliminating coal as a fuel and switching to renewable energy. "Coal is a moral issue,” said Marlene Perroti of the Sisters of Mercy. Because of its environmental, health and climate effects, use of coal violates religious values of justice, stewardship and respect for life, she said. The haze that the federal Environmental Protection Agency is requiring states to address is “a superficial indicator” of bigger,...

proposal to consolidate a swath of 250,000 acres of wilderness study areas in New Mexico has sparked an outcry from groups fearing an influx of illegal immigrants and drugs from Mexico. But the Border Patrol says the designation has little effect on its work. Reporting from the Potrillo Mountains Wilderness — A new front has opened in the centuries-old battle over preserving federal lands in the West, with some advocates of a tighter border arguing that designating some lands as wilderness — meaning they are so precious that no mechanized vehicle can enter — hinders border security. The U.S. Border...

The UK’s leading scientific body has been forced to rewrite its guide on climate change and admit that it is not known how much warmer the Earth will become. The Royal Society has updated its guide after 43 of its members complained that the previous version failed to take into account the opinion of climate change sceptics. Now the new guide, called ‘Climate change: a summary of the science’, admits that there are some ‘uncertainties’ regarding the science behind climate change. And it says that it impossible to know for sure how the Earth's climate will change in the future...

You have got to be freaking kidding me. Mr. I Was The Nation’s Number One Illegal Alien Amnesty Champion Before I Was Against It/Mr. Call Me Maaaaaverick Except When I Need The Right To Get Re-elected is attacking his erstwhile friends in the “Eastern press” for creating the impression that he is a desperate political opportunist clinging to entrenched incumbency. Here is your emetic of the day, via The Hill:Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday blamed the “Eastern press” for planting the idea he has changed his positions on key issues in recent months. McCain dismissed the notion that he...

It is a lie to say America is “addicted” to “fossil fuels.” Oil is not a fossil fuel. It is not the result of dead dinosaurs. It is created deep in the bowels of the planet. There is an abundance of oil, but with the wealth it creates there is also massive corruption in many of the nations that possess it. We are no more addicted to oil than we are addicted to oxygen. This extraordinary mineral is a part of every aspect of our lives; used to create plastic, used in pharmaceuticals, used for the asphalt that pave our...

BREMERTON, Wash. — Washington and Oregon are banning the sale of phosphate-laden dishwasher detergent starting Thursday. The Kitsap Sun reports that familiar brands are still available but they will have lower levels of phosphates. Experts say phosphates promote plant growth and may degrade water quality in lakes and streams. The ban has already been in place in Spokane and Whatcom counties in Washington state since 2008. Some shoppers in Spokane had been crossing into Idaho to buy the older soaps.

British Petroleum’s (BP) reputation has been marred by the April oil rig explosion and subsequent oil spill which is still gushing more than 40 days later. But according to The Washington Post, the reputation of some left-wing environmental groups has also been polluted by the incident. “[T]he Nature Conservancy lists BP as one of its business partners. The Conservancy also has given BP a seat on its International Leadership Council and has accepted nearly $10 million in cash and land contributions from BP and affiliated corporations over the years,” Joe Stephens wrote for the Post May 24. It’s not just...

Climate Science: Noted scientists at a Chicago climate conference declare that global warming is not only dead, but that the planet faces a big chill for decades to come. What about those frozen wind turbines? It's not exactly Copenhagen or Kyoto, but the 700 scientists attending the fourth International Conference on Climate Change, sponsored by the Heartland Institute, had some chilling news of their own in the most liberal sense. "Global warming is over — at least for a few decades," Don Easterbrook, emeritus professor of geology at Western Washington University, told the gathering. "However, the bad news is that...

Need more proof that Global Warming is the problem to environmentalists’ solutions?  Take a whiff of this.  Researchers from the Australian Antarctic Division have announced that increased whale excrement in our oceans could help fight global warming by encouraging the growth of carbon dioxide-consuming algae.  It seems the iron-rich droppings help spark blooms of phytoplankton, which in turn help regulate the oceans’ carbon sink capabilities.    Researcher Steve Nicol claimed that a larger population of baleen whales in the Southern Ocean would do the trick, but admitted that just how much excrement it would take to have any significant...

Science: An Icelandic scientist says climate change spurs volcanic eruptions such as the one disrupting air traffic in Europe. Rather, the evidence suggests volcanoes cause global cooling and Arctic ice to melt. The stunning eruption of a volcano under Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier has disrupted air traffic over the continent of Europe as vast plumes of steam and ash were spewed into the atmosphere. Once again, we witness the power of nature over man even as man blames himself for nature's acts. Almost every malady on earth has been blamed on global warming, so it wasn't all that surprising when Freysteinn...