Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
When you care enough to give the very best, don’t call on Hallmark, call Willie Soon.
Senators John D. Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe have written a scathing letter to Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil. Reading Tillerson the riot act, Rockefeller and Snowe are point blank accusing ExxonMobil of ‘longstanding support of a small cadre of global climate change skeptics’.
Hot words to be sure the letter goes on to say, …’ExxonMobil has helped foster the perception that the United States is insensitive to a matter of great urgency for all of mankind…’
The Senators call ExxonMobil’s support of the global warming ‘deniers’, dangerous.
Clearly the old saying, if you can dazzle them with your brilliance baffle them with your bullsh**, requires more than one astrophysicist ‘in pocket’.
So where is this all leading? It’s leading straight to the Hudson Bay in Canada and the Polar Bears that are skating on thin ice.
Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC) has sent a letter to ExxonMobil requesting ‘all records since 2002 related to their support for scientists working on polar bears and other Arctic animals.’
Miller, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and oversight is demanding that ExxonMobil explain just how it came to be that ExxonMobil funded an astrophysicist to research on polar bears!
“The subcommittee wants to understand how ExxonMobil decided to fund an astrophysicist to do research on polar bears,”
In 2006 Interior Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne announced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would begin gathering information and undertaking analyses before making a decision whether to add polar bears to the list of endangered species. In his announcement, Kempthorne, used the words ‘melting’, ‘receding sea ice’, loss of ice, decline of ice, thinning ice, reduction of ice and reduced ice. He pointed out analysis of what may be causing melting,receding, thinning etc. beyond the scope of the Endangered Species Act review process, and these things are discussed in ‘other’ analyses undertaken by the Bush Administration.
Kempthorne stated “our goal ultimately is to combine the best science available with the power of working hand in hand with states, tribes, foreign countries, industry, and other partners to minimize the threats to polar bears and conserve this great icon of the Arctic for future generations”.
The best science available, or in any case the best science ExxonMobil can buy from an astrophysicist.
In Miller’s letter to Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO he points out that Willie Soon’s articles published in Ecological Complexity is a ‘viewpoint’ not a peer-reviewed scientific article. “To the lay person, this “viewpoint” is indistinguishable from a peer-reviewed journal article.
Miller asserts ExxonMobil should come clean, “If the Governor of Alaska and the Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game cannot tell whether this paper is science or an elaborate editorial, what would a less sophisticated audience think?” “This essay, funded in part with ExxonMobil money is now a key exhibit for those who oppose a listing of the polar bear as threatened and deny that climate change is eroding the Bear’s habitat.”
Miller’s request has a due date of November 6, 2007…
Read the entire letter written by Sens. Snowe and Rockefeller to Tillerson at http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=9acba744-802a-23ad-47be-2683985c724e
Read the Department of the interior’s Dec.27,2006 press release at http://www.doi.gov/news/06_News_Releases/061227.html
Read Congressman Miller’s letter to Tillerson at http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/File/ForReleases/miller_exxonmobil_response_01jun07.pdf
Photo Thanks pb-scott-schilebe-usfws.
Labels: Brad Miller, DOI, ExxonMobil, Global Warming, John D. Rockefeller, Olympia Snowe, Polar Bear, Polar Bear Memo, Willie Soon
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Global Warming and Polar Bear Reports: You get what you pay for after all!
Monday, November 5, 2007
When you care enough to give the very best, don’t call on Hallmark, call Willie Soon.
Senators John D. Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe have written a scathing letter to Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil. Reading Tillerson the riot act, Rockefeller and Snowe are point blank accusing ExxonMobil of ‘longstanding support of a small cadre of global climate change skeptics’.
Hot words to be sure the letter goes on to say, …’ExxonMobil has helped foster the perception that the United States is insensitive to a matter of great urgency for all of mankind…’
The Senators call ExxonMobil’s support of the global warming ‘deniers’, dangerous.
Clearly the old saying, if you can dazzle them with your brilliance baffle them with your bullsh**, requires more than one astrophysicist ‘in pocket’.
So where is this all leading? It’s leading straight to the Hudson Bay in Canada and the Polar Bears that are skating on thin ice.
Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC) has sent a letter to ExxonMobil requesting ‘all records since 2002 related to their support for scientists working on polar bears and other Arctic animals.’
Miller, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and oversight is demanding that ExxonMobil explain just how it came to be that ExxonMobil funded an astrophysicist to research on polar bears!
“The subcommittee wants to understand how ExxonMobil decided to fund an astrophysicist to do research on polar bears,”
In 2006 Interior Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne announced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would begin gathering information and undertaking analyses before making a decision whether to add polar bears to the list of endangered species. In his announcement, Kempthorne, used the words ‘melting’, ‘receding sea ice’, loss of ice, decline of ice, thinning ice, reduction of ice and reduced ice. He pointed out analysis of what may be causing melting,receding, thinning etc. beyond the scope of the Endangered Species Act review process, and these things are discussed in ‘other’ analyses undertaken by the Bush Administration.
Kempthorne stated “our goal ultimately is to combine the best science available with the power of working hand in hand with states, tribes, foreign countries, industry, and other partners to minimize the threats to polar bears and conserve this great icon of the Arctic for future generations”.
The best science available, or in any case the best science ExxonMobil can buy from an astrophysicist.
In Miller’s letter to Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO he points out that Willie Soon’s articles published in Ecological Complexity is a ‘viewpoint’ not a peer-reviewed scientific article. “To the lay person, this “viewpoint” is indistinguishable from a peer-reviewed journal article.
Miller asserts ExxonMobil should come clean, “If the Governor of Alaska and the Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game cannot tell whether this paper is science or an elaborate editorial, what would a less sophisticated audience think?” “This essay, funded in part with ExxonMobil money is now a key exhibit for those who oppose a listing of the polar bear as threatened and deny that climate change is eroding the Bear’s habitat.”
Miller’s request has a due date of November 6, 2007…
Read the entire letter written by Sens. Snowe and Rockefeller to Tillerson at http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=9acba744-802a-23ad-47be-2683985c724e
Read the Department of the interior’s Dec.27,2006 press release at http://www.doi.gov/news/06_News_Releases/061227.html
Read Congressman Miller’s letter to Tillerson at http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/File/ForReleases/miller_exxonmobil_response_01jun07.pdf
Photo Thanks pb-scott-schilebe-usfws
Labels: Brad Miller, ExxonMobil, Global Warming, John D. Rockefeller, Olympia Snowe, Polar Bear, Polar Bear Memo, Polar Bears, Willie Soon
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Polar Bears and ExxonMobil:You Get What You Pay For After All
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
In 2004, the Office of Naval Reactors, which is part of the Department of Energy, sent a memo to the NRC, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, requesting that all correspondence between the NRC and Nuclear Fuel Services of Erwin, Tennessee be marked “Official Use Only”. This memo itself was labeled “Official Use Only”. The Memo that established the policy was itself kept secret.
Fast forward to March 6, 2006 when NFS of Erwin Tennessee had a spill of “high-enriched uranium” HEU solution at their Erwin plant. Approximately 35 liters and did not notify local officials, or their neighbors. Apparently not one word of this occurrence left the plant which employs approximately 715 employees until April of this year, 2007.
In its required annual report to Congress the NRC included this incident. Titled “Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences: Fiscal Year 2006″
Nuclear Fuel Services, NFS actually acted in compliance with the DOE and the NRC when it did NOT disclose the spill to the public, but did report the spill to the NRC. I find no fault in their compliance. Their fault will, no doubt, be determined in this instance to safety issues that led to the spill in the first place, not to their obligation to inform their neighbors of what happened.
I would have been freaked out had I found 35 liters of orange juice leaking out of my refrigerator and running down my hall. I can’t imagine the feeling a worker had when coming upon 9 gallons of yellow HEU flowing from under a door and into a hallway.
The spill could have caused a self-sustaing chain reaction, meaning this spill could have reached ‘criticality’. A simple explanation of ‘criticality’ is when a pooling of HEU material takes place. This particular spill, according to reports from the NRC itself, had 2 such opportunities and …”it was merely a matter of luck that a criticality accident did not occur”
It was reported by Matthew L. Wald in the NY Times July 6 that in fact this spill was so bad it kept the plant closed for 7 months last year. Nuclear Fuel Services, NFS, spokesperson Tony Treadway took extreme issue with this report saying NFS immediately and voluntarily shut down the ‘process’, and that numerous ‘other process operations within the plant were never “closed” due to the spill…
The potentially life-threatening spill was hidden for more than 13 months and US congressman John Dingell is demanding answers. Dingell is House energy Committee Chairman.
Since 9/11 the NRC has become increasingly more secretive claiming it is protecting the public from terrorists. This information begs the question’ “which terrorists?”
So, thanks to the DOE Memo, requesting “official use only” labels on all correspondence between NFS of Erwin and the NRC the public never heard of the accident. Wald wrote “after an investigation, the commission changed the terms of the factory’s license and said the public had 20 days to request a hearing…”
The public could not request a hearing because of course, that document was also labeled “Official Use Only” so the public couldn’t know about that either.
The “official use only’ stamp barred the public from even knowing about the document, let alone granting them their legal right to a hearing if they felt they were being adversely affected.
Chairman Dingell and subcommittee chair Bart Stupak’s demand letter in PDF form.
It would seem, the US is covering up its Nuclear accidents, while Japan is announcing theirs to the world.
We will be keeping an eye on this Memo and our “After the Downing Street Memo, Came the Polar Bear Memo” interesting stories, both.
Labels: After Downing Street, Congressman Dingell, HEU, Japan, Memo, NRC, Nuclear Spill, Polar Bear Memo
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
After Downing Street Memo: NRC Sends Its Own Memo: Don’t ask Don’t tell when Highly Enriched Uranium spills!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Do not mention a word about climate change, sea ice or polar bears! That is, of course, if you are a biologist or other employee of the US Interior Departments Fish and Wildlife Service.
On March 2, a travel requirement memo was issued warning biologists and other employees not to mention these apparently ‘tricky’ subjects while traveling abroad.
Fish and Wildlife Service Officials say the ‘polar bear memos’ as they have become known as, are consistent with a longstanding policy to ensure a coherent position in foreign negotiations and to prevent employees from discussing topics not on event agendas. (Say that 3 times fast!)
In January the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings on political interference with government climate-change scientists. The Union of Concerned Scientists, and advocacy group, cited a survey showing 500 scientists from 9 agencies said they had been barred from publishing new study results related to climate change.
Representatives Brad Miller, (D N.C.) and Bart Gordon, (D Tenn.) requested more information from interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Miller and Gordon wrote that the memos appear to be the latest effort by the Bush administration to block a full and free discussion of issues relating to climate change by the scientific community.
Just one of the perils polar bears are facing is an ever-shrinking habitat due to melting ice. Ice on the Hudson Bay is melting an average of 3 weeks earlier than in the mid-70’s.
These unique bears fast for 6 to 8 months during hibernation and rely on winter hunting for survival. Longer periods without ice during the Arctic summer is leaving polar bears stranded onshore longer, cutting down on their fat reserves. This is affecting reproduction and milk production. There is already a documented 15 percent drop in birth rates.
Did you get the memo?
Labels: After the Downing, Memo, Polar Bear, Polar Bear Memo, Speak no Evil
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
After the Downing Street Memo Came the…
