Posted on 11/27/2001 10:38:03 AM PST by AuntB
November 18, 2001
Presented by a Klamath Basin Farmer,
First the loggers’ lives and industry were decimated by the environmentalists in the guise of protecting spotted owls. Then Klamath Basin farmers were high and dry because of the environmentalists and USFWS in the guise of saving the suckerfish, and coho like those being clubbed in Oregon. Now the USFWS and National Marine Fisheries Services want to “notch” a little hole in the Elk Creek Dam the size of 65,000 cubic yards of concrete (according to Jackson County Commissioner Rick Holt, as much concrete as could be hauled by bumper-to-bumper dump trucks from the California border to Washington). The excuse for this is that the coho, which possibly have wild-coho ancestors, may possibly be threatened, and perhaps someday they can figure out how to tell the difference.
Former ODFW Chief Jim Greer states on May 2000, “there is no reliable way of taking an individual fish who was naturally produced and knowing whether or not it ever had a hatchery ancestor…..” Saturday, November 17, over 500 people rallied at the Elk Trail School, near Shady Cove, gathered with signs, songs, speeches, American flags and videos. The Jackson County Commissioners all spoke in support of saving the dam which was partially built The Army Corps of Engineers is planning to notch Elk Creek Dam for fish passage. According to Ralph McKechnie, reporter for the Upper Rogue Independent, “why is it imperative that the dam be notched when fish can move through the diversion tunnel? According to the Corps, darkness inside the tunnel frightens fish….if fear of darkness deterred fish from using the diversion tunnel, would they be likely to negotiate 1300 feet of culvert from Elk Creek to reach spawning beds on West Branch Creek? Lights could be installed in the tunnel for far less than the $7 million price tag of this project.” In 1962, 3 dams were authorized to be build for flood control and irrigation. A video was shown of the 1964 flood in which bridges were destroyed, and houses and cars were swept down the Rogue River. The community was devastated. Without finishing this dam, a flood like this can happen again. Notching dam, according to Commissioner Rich Holt, will deplete up-river water. Without the dam, there will be no cool clean water for the fish, and the community needs power.
Yes, this all sounds all too familiar to the people of the Klamath Basin. Their wells are going dry, their irrigation water is being drained into the ocean, the farmland of WWI and WWII veteran homesteaders and their families, and hundreds of species of wildlife on the refuges are being obliterated by flawed opinions of a few federal agencies and environmental groups. These feel that the rural folks of the West should vanish into thin air, along with their farm products.
Congressman Greg Walden is trying to have an environmental impact statement of the potential devastation threatening the communities. Jackson County Commissioner Jack Walker states that they are not chaining themselves to the dam, they are just wanting to preserve their community and resources.
In spite of this horrific plan, this wholesome community, a large percentage quite elderly, proudly held their flags, stood for the national anthem, and honored the nation that plans to blow a hole in a dam that can protect them from a tragic flood or depleted upriver water.
The last speaker was “Their favorite biologist Granny”, who everyone seemed to know. She said, “Mr President, Don’t you let them blow a hole in my dam---just dam it!!”
The endangered Coho is the biggest lie pushed by the lying envirals who hate humans daring to live in their Druid Cathedrals. Since, September, Oregon F&G raised the daily kill of hatchery Coho to 3 per day. They should make it about 6 per day and pay for fishers to come and catch and kill. The so called native Cohos are well represented in daily catches and are being release to go spawn! The Coho run on the Rogue this year may set a record re the numbers!
All who wish to prevent the breaching and want to see the dam completed should contact the USArmy Corp of Engineers, Attn CENWP-PM-E, P. O. Box 2046, Portland, Or 97208. Also contact Sen. Gordon Smith, Sen. Ron Wyden who are asking for the money to blow the thing up as well as Pres. Bush.
I think that we must agitate for change. Congressmen should openly support changes in law and in policy that sets our government right on these issues. When they fail to do this, then the proper responseis to throw the bums out. It doesn't matter whether they're Republican or Democrat. If they fail to actively support change, throw them out.
Too many conservatives and freepers support politicians only because of party label. If we systematically throw Republicans out for failing to support change, then eventually the Republicans will advocate change. Then we can have something to work with. Until then THROW THE BUMS OUT!!!
I'm voting against my worthless spineless RINO Republican representatives, I think you all should do the same. I anticipate that after they're thrown out the Dem candidates will be inferior, but that next time we may have a real choice. We as a people should not accept this tyranny. If we accept the RINOs, then that's what we're doing.
We can prevail. Let us pray dilligently and fervently.
Our day will come.
Yo Rocky!
"The corps' plan includes removing a v-shaped section of the dam 225 feet wide at the top, 150 feet at the base. This section would be removed down to the level of the original creek bed. In all, 65,000 cubic yards of concrete, enough to build a 12' by 20' patio slab for more than 21,500 homes, would be removed."
How good do you suppose all that concrete silt will be for the "fish".
http://www.denverpost.com/cda/article/detail/0,1040,73%257E237093%257E36%257E%257E,00.html
Terrorism in any form is intolerable
By Scott McInnis
Sunday, November 25, 2001 - Several of the comments attributed to me by critics are, at best, taken out of context in a self-serving manner in order to make their case appear stronger.
As America begins the long haul back following the monumentally tragic events of Sept. 11, we all have come to more fully appreciate and understand the cancerous effect of terrorism on a free and civilized people.
Now more than ever, America knows in its collective heart-of-hearts that terrorism, no matter its form and no matter its motivation, is intolerable. Whether it's crashing a plane into the Pentagon, sending a mysterious white powder to an abortion clinic, blowing up a Greenpeace ship or burning the Vail lodge, terrorism has no place.
I am chairman of a House subcommittee charged with overseeing our national forests, and one form of terrorism is high on the committee's radar screen: eco-terrorism. While not as menacing or destructive as the cataclysmic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, environmentally motivated violence has nonetheless reached such a level that the FBI now recognizes it as one of America's primary domestic terrorism threats.
Shockingly, eco-terrorists continued their war against American communities, fire-bombing a biomedical research lab and a federal facility just days after America was rocked by Osama bin Laden and his network of terrorists.
Eco-terrorism is not an imagined problem. Environmental vigilantism is on the rise and it is for real.
Recently, the national dialogue about eco-terrorism took a heated turn when a handful of environmental groups objected to a letter written by me and several of my House colleagues, urging the organizations to openly disavow the actions of eco-saboteurs like Earth Liberation Front and its sister organization, Animal Liberation Front.
ELF and ALF have rained terror on communities in all corners of the United States over the course of the last decade, setting fire to homes, academic research labs, government buildings and many businesses. Colorado hasn't been immune from this kind of eco-radicalism either. In 1998, ELF's henchman burned a $12 million ski lodge in Vail. In all, these groups have prosecuted a campaign of terror with a price tag of well over $40 million and it is just a matter of time before human life is taken.
Alarmingly, ELF, ALF and other like-minded radicals have found refuge in certain circles of the popular press. Instead of being forcefully condemned, too often these groups have received a wink and nod and a rhetorical pat on the head from those who view environmentally motivated violence as a lesser evil in the furtherance of a greater societal good.
A National Public Radio guest commentator, when recently reporting on a series of arsons in Arizona then thought to be the handiwork of eco-terrorists, offered a shocking on-air endorsement of environmental vigilantism, saying she'd be happy to buy matches for eco-arsonists the next time they were prepared to strike.
A 1999 story in The Portland Oregonian chronicled the subtle and sometimes not so subtle support that certain members of "mainstream" society offer groups like ELF.
It is exactly this kind of thinking and rhetoric that fuels the destructive tendencies of environmental terrorists. If America is going to get the upper hand on eco-terrorists, we've got to strip away the Robin Hood mystique and perceived moral high ground that some gleefully give these radicals.
Which brings us back to my letter to the environmental groups. Its purpose is not to impugn or otherwise link organizations like the Sierra Club to ELF or ALF, and nothing in my letter could reasonably send that impression. The letter has just one purpose: to send a powerful message to the eco-criminals at ELF and ALF, and their sympathizers, that even those who share a similar environmental ideology deny and reject the use of terror as a tool to promote that ideology.
So, notwithstanding the self-serving criticism and outrage coming from the lips of certain excitable commentators, this letter is singularly targeted at building a cultural coalition against environmental terrorism and provides the opportunity for those who care about the environment to openly express distaste and disapproval of eco-terrorists. Those who commit these shameless acts of terror should find themselves with no support because all of us can unite against it.
U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis is a Republican representing Colorado's Third District. **********************************************************************************************
I don't think that this kind of particulate would matter that much (although I don't know what kind of chemical additives are in the concrete), but about as the particulate I think that the concerns about silt are overblown in general.
I hate going onto the record about specific projects or recommendations for many of the same reason that I don't think the government should be doing it. I don't know enough about what is going on unless I have spent not a little time on the land in question, and even then, without a personal, long-term stake in the land and its health, my perceptions would be skewed.
What I prefer is to make an issue is how such decisions are made, the motives of the "decision-makers" and their sponsors, and how that combination affects outcomes (about which I am certain you agree).
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