New roads could bring pollution to Yellowstone
SOME of the US’s pristine forests could soon be criss-crossed with roads for logging and mining as the federal government once again relaxes conservation rules – this time in Idaho.
US national parks are still protected, but at threat are so-called “roadless” areas of national forests. These cover more than 230,000 square kilometres – an area nearly as large as the UK. Bill Clinton banned virtually all development in these areas just before leaving office in January 2001. The Bush administration scrapped this policy in 2005, working out rules on a state-by-state basis instead.
On 16 October, the federal government announced it had opened up more than 1600 square kilometres of roadless forest in Idaho to development, including areas bordering Yellowstone national park .
The big worry is the opening of phosphate mines. Phosphates are used quite a bit in agriculture and industry. There is a combination of things – the roads created to get to the mines, the mined area – which obviously will no longer useful for anything else and then there is the run off of chemicals from the mines. The Yellowstone itself will not be mined, but park is not an island. Activities around the park effect the park’s ecosystem.
I’m not a big fan of eBay so it pains me to point out something good they’ve done, but credit where due and all, Wildlife group applauds EBay’s global ban on ivory sales
“eBay already had stringent regulations in place for the sale of ivory, which is regulated by a complex set of laws and treaties. Due to the unique nature of eBay’s global online marketplace and the complexity surrounding the sale of ivory, we will be rolling out a complete ban of the sale of ivory on eBay. We feel this is the best way to protect the endangered and protected species from which a significant portion of ivory products are derived. Price_of_poaching_2
“As with all policy changes, this one will take some time to roll out. As we roll out this change, we will continue to work with a number of international and domestic law enforcement authorities with any investigations they initiate into suspicious ivory sales on eBay sites. We will begin enforcing this global ban in January 2009.”
It has been suggested for years that the ivory trade be legalized to some extent. Then have some system in place to have legal sales, but still protect the elephants. The people that put this ivory on the net to sale use grenade launchers to kill wildlife workers. They’re not all that interested in regulated sales. Elephant numbers are down from around a million in the 80s to less then half a million now. The best long term answer to stop poachers is to provide a stable economy and legitimate sources of income so that the locals do not turn to poaching for income.
Palin’s Trajectory to National Prominence Powered by her Anti-Environmentalism
So her campaign was born because of her defiance of the Clean Water Act. But Palin has also shown a stunning disregard for other environmental values, as a recent article in The New Republic makes clear. Alaska, for example, has a birth-defect rate that’s twice the national average — and its Arctic regions end up as the final sink for persistent organic pollutants released all over the Northern Hemisphere. Palin can’t do much about airborne toxics — but when she has a chance to deal with local toxic threats, she comes down consistently against the public health. She opposed a requirement that schools give parents 48 hours notice before a school was to be sprayed with pesticides and other toxic chemicals.
And sometimes Palin’s indifference to environmental protection means creating toxic risks for others. In the summer of 2007, Palin allowed oil companies to move forward with a toxic-dumping plan in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, making it the only coastal fishery in the nation where toxic dumping is permitted …
tangledwing 