Activists Threaten Food Supply

Ruling Imperils Sugar Production


By BILL TOMSON

Wall Street Journal

U.S. sugar production will be cut by about 20% if farmers are banned from planting genetically modified beets next year, according to data prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of a court case over whether to continue allowing the practice.

Genetically modified beets have come to account for 95% of the U.S. sugar-beet crop in the five years since they were approved by the Agriculture Department. But in August, a judge threw out the USDA's initial approval for the use of genetically modified seeds, saying it hadn't done enough research into the environmental impact. The department says the studies the judge required will take about two years.

That triggered concerns there wouldn't be enough traditional sugar-beet seeds for next spring's planting season, as many seed producers had switched to genetically modified varieties. It takes about two years to produce seeds.

Sugar beets, from which sugar is processed, will account for about 60% of domestic U.S. production this year.

If farmers can't plant genetically modified seeds next spring, a shortage of traditional seeds would likely cut 1.6 million tons from next year's sugar-beet crop, according to a declaration by the USDA prepared by Daniel Colacicco, director of the department's dairy and sweetener analysis group. The government has forecast next year's crop at 8.1 million tons.    Read More

This falls in line with the typical “shoot first, ask questions later” approach by anti-ag groups in their efforts to force agriculture to change without looking at the consequences.  Many of these groups have a similar philosophy to roll ag back 100 years in it’s technology use.  What they don’t realize is that these types of things reduce our ability to grow food at the exact time we need to be increasing our output.  All of these efforts come from people that live very comfortably and don’t worry about being able to afford food.  Those that live on a budget or don’t know where their next meal is coming from would certainly disagree with these elitist attacks on our food production system. 

El Paso Creates Endowment Supporting Grazing

New endowment aims to protect public-lands grazing


By Drovers news source
Wednesday, August 11, 2010



After many long conversations between representatives of the Public Lands Council (PLC), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Ruby Pipeline, an agreement has been reached, in principle, which seeks to ensure that the nearly 100-year relationship between the livestock industry and El Paso Corp. continues far into the future. While details of the agreement are still being finalized, it establishes a significant endowment with the mission to “protect, enhance and preserve the public lands grazing industry.” The concept was formally adopted earlier today after a unanimous vote by the board of directors of the Public Lands Council, whose board members represent 13 western states, NCBA, the American Sheep Industry Association, and the Association of National Grasslands.

“While we are concerned about the potential impacts of Ruby’s recent settlement agreement with the Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Association, we are satisfied that this endowment provides us a tool with which to mitigate many of our concerns,” said Skye Krebs, president of the Public Lands Council. “As the organization which has represented public lands ranchers in the West for over four decades, we are confident that our industry will benefit from this endowment for many years to come.”

The $15 million endowment, $7.5 million to be contributed later this year and $750,000 to be added into the endowment annually for the following 10 years, will be governed by one representative from the PLC and one representative from El Paso Corp. While the principal amount will not be used, the endowment’s earnings will go toward meeting PLC’s mission to serve the public lands livestock industry. Specific projects may include scientific research, education, range monitoring, fire restoration, media, and community outreach for the benefit of the public lands grazing industry. It is important to note that funds from the endowment will not be used for litigation.    Read More


It’s fantastic to see El Paso Corporation realize the importance of agriculture and public lands grazing. You will remember that they donated over $20 million to a couple of radical environmental groups that were going to use the money to force ranchers off their land. When the news broke about this, many of us in ag contacted El Paso to voice our disappointment in their decision. Like many other corporations that we’ve seen mistakenly give money to radical anti-ag groups, they’ve seemingly realized their error. So I say thank you to El Paso for taking the time to study this issue more closely and supporting hard working ranching families who rely on public lands to help feed this nation.

Whackos Prefer Fish over Food & Families in CA

Radical environmentalism threatens Fresno area agriculture, shut down water supply
November 16, 6:33 AM Fresno Public Policy Examiner Jeff Crow


California's agriculture industry is facing a potential meltdown due to radicalized environmentalists who have made it clear a three inch fish is to take precedent over people.

What the environmentalists (especially the "whackos" in the movement) are doing could actually end up backfiring in their faces. It's estimated that over 24 Million California residents in 3 major areas (Silicon Valley, Central Valley/Fresno and Los Angeles) will be "shut off" from our state's water system and on top of that, we're only getting 10% of the water allotment for Agriculture, which means were going to export far less food to other states and countries, which will then cost jobs at Supermarkets, Trucking and other ancillary businesses that rely upon this water and Fresno/Clovis CA's Ag goods which rely upon this water.

But hey, what does millions of job losses factor on the overall health of the economy. This point was brought up to some extent in a recent interview I did with the Former Mayor/Current City Councilman of the City of Clovis, CA.

Accorrding to to him, its the base industry for Fresno/Clovis and that "we need to think of the dollars and cents that are in this situation" while Mario Santoyo of the California Latino Water Coalition, who I talked to also, said "if California's agricultural breadbasket in the Central Valley continues to abide by a Federal Judge's ruling, it will only be a matter of time before the price of ag goods will skyrocket, we'll probably have to further import and thus enrich a Communist China which has taken entire sectors of the US economy or the nation will become such a starving country that we will literally be storming the White House and forcing the Washington DC politicians to vastly reform the ESA, or Endangered Species Act." Read More

It really does boil down to priorities in dealing with our water supply. Is a tiny fish more important than the families that live in those communities? Well to some animal rights activists, I’m sure the answer is yes. However, the fact of the matter is that our food supply and the families that grow it and eat it should carry some weight in these discussions. Food does not magically appear. It takes water to make it happen.

ELF/ALF Members Considered Terrorists

Domestic crimes may be considered ‘terrorist’ acts
by David Ziemer
November 12, 2009
Wisconsin Law Journal

Radical environmentalists may not see themselves as terrorists, but asked whether a terrorism enhancement applies to their sentences for destroying government property, the Seventh Circuit found the issue clear cut.

On Nov. 9, the court affirmed application of U.S.S.G. 3A1.4 to members of the Earth Liberation Front who destroyed several research projects at a U.S. Forest Service facility in Rhinelander.

In 2000, the defendants, Katherine Christianson and Bryan Rivera, and two others entered the facility and damaged or destroyed more than 500 trees that were part of a genetic engineering experiment, either by cutting them down or girdling them. (“Girdling” consists of removing a strip of bark from around a tree’s entire circumstance, causing eventual death.)

Christianson and Rivera were implicated in 2007, when one of the other conspirators was arrested for the attempted bombing of the Michigan Tech University campus.

Before addressing the merits, Judge Manion cautioned, “ELF and its members are not to be confused with the typical environmental protestor denouncing and peacefully demonstrating against such things as nuclear power, strip coal mining, cutting old-growth timber, offshore drilling, damming wild rivers, and so on.”

Instead, Manion observed, “ELF’s members take their activism to unconscionable levels: since ELF’s inception in 1987, its members have been responsible for bombings, arson, vandalism, and a host of other crimes. In fact, between 2000 and 2005, 43 of the 57 reported terrorist attacks committed on American soil were done by ELF members or their sister organization, the Animal Liberation Front. ELF’s terror attacks have caused over fifty million dollars in damage to public and private property.” Read More

If you are going to use violence, property destruction or threaten a person’s life in the name of your environmental or animal rights cause, you are going to be labeled a terrorist and dealt with accordingly. There terrorists are finding that out and hopefully others in their groups will realize this isn’t a game.

Hopi Tribe Tells Sierra Club To Take A Hike

Hopi Tribal Council Bans Environmental Groups
Navajo-Hopi Observer, News Report, Staff reports,
Posted: Sep 30, 2009

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. - The Hopi Tribe has a message for the Sierra Club and other environmental groups: Keep out!

That is the response of the Hopi Tribal Council on Monday to what it says has been continuous concerted attacks from local and national environmental groups "bent on advancing their interests and agenda at the expense of the Hopi Tribe and its sovereign interest."

The council wants the Sierra Club and other environmental groups and on-reservation organizations affiliated with these groups to know they are not welcome on the Hopi Reservation, declaring them persona non grata - no longer favored or welcome.

By a resolution approved 12-0, the council said environmentalists have deprived the tribe "of markets for its coal resources" and coal revenues needed to sustain governmental services, provide jobs for tribal members and safeguard Hopi culture and tradition.

In 2005, environmental groups played a significant role in the shutdown of the Mohave Generating Station, which the Hopi Council contends "deprived the Hopi Tribe of many millions of dollars of annual operating revenues," according to the resolution.

Revenue losses from the Mohave power plant range from an estimated $6.5 million to $8.5 million annually.

The council feels that the economic viability of the Navajo Generating Station - the tribe's only remaining coal customer - is also being threatened, and that environmentalists' actions could lead to "total economic collapse of the tribe."

The Navajo Generating Station provides about $11 million a year in revenue for the tribe.

"The Mohave closure did little more than balance the politically expedient needs of these environmental organizations on the already impoverished backs of the Hopi and Navajo people ... without providing any reasonable means of replacing the tribal revenues lost to the closure," the resolution states. Read More

Consider this an example of what will happen on a national scale if the Sierra Club is successful in passing cap and tax legislation through Congress. It will take away our ability as a nation to utilize these abundant natural resources and leave us with only “blue-sky” replacement options. The Sierra Club should start supporting responsible energy policies that guarantee we have affordable energy available to replace what they are trying to shut down. Their current efforts to take us back to the stone age are a far cry from that.

The Real Environmentalists

Meet Grand County’s environmentalists: Ranchers
By Tonya Bina
Sky-Hi Daily News
Grand County, Colorado,

The Whitmer Ranch in Kremmling is welcoming to nature. Ducks and geese are making homes out of four new irrigation ponds constructed last year.

They purposefully have shallow ends where water fowl can easily forage.

Eventually, riparian habitats around the ponds will create more wildlife benefits.

Temporary fencing that can be removed in the spring when sage grouse are present on nearby breeding grounds keeps grazing cattle from disturbing the new habitat.

The fencing, which takes a half day to take down, also is designed to have limited places for eagles and hawks to perch — predators of sage grouse.

These new improvements on the ranch “really makes irrigating a pleasure,” said ranch owner Kent Whitmer. To divert water out of the draw before, Whitmer said he had to dig a trench. Having the water in ponds makes irrigation easier.

“And we wanted to provide habitat for water fowl because that’s something that is important to me personally. And if we can get some fish in there, that’s good, too.” Read More

Farmers and ranchers were the first environmentalists and continue to be the most effective. Even though there is public money to help with these projects, the landowners still put in many thousands of dollars of their own money and many hours of their own time to make them successful. They not only talk to the talk, but they walk the walk, which is more than most people can say.

Environmentalists Doing More Harm Than Good?

How Environmentalism Misses the Forest for the Trees
By Edward L. Glaeser
Edward L. Glaeser is an economics professor at Harvard.

Can environmentalism be bad for the environment?

In Massachusetts, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound has led the fight against providing alternative energy with a wind farm off of Cape Cod. Greenpeace declares that “nuclear power is unsafe, uneconomical and unnecessary.” In Canada, the Sierra Club fights against the development of hydroelectric power, fearing “toxic mercury increases in fish.”

In these cases, groups are putting local environmental concerns first and the planet second. Wind farms, nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams are ways of providing clean energy, which would reduce carbon emissions and the threat of global warming.

The old mantra “think globally, act locally,” is pretty silly. Local environmentalism is often bad environmentalism, because keeping one’s backyard pristine can make the planet worse off.

Preventing wind farms leaves Cape Cod’s views untouched, but increases carbon emissions.

In my own field of housing, a similar phenomenon occurs when some environmental groups put their own local interests ahead of global warming. Read More

When do environmentalists hurt the environment? When the issue is in their backyard. They seem to be all for a project or regulation when it affects someone else, but when they are forced to make the sacrifice, they seem to change their tune. The thing this author doesn’t take into account is agriculture. He claims that California farmers should pay the “true social cost” of the water they are irrigating with. The author should weigh the true social cost of importing food.

Environmentalists Battle Each Other

March 24, 2009
Environmentalists in a Clash of Goals
By FELICITY BARRINGER

WHITEWATER CANYON, Calif. — As David Myers scans the rocky slopes of this desert canyon, looking vainly past clumps of brittlebush for bighorn sheep, he imagines an enemy advancing across the crags.

That specter is of an army of mirrors, generators and transmission towers transforming Mojave Desert vistas like this one. While Whitewater Canyon is privately owned and protected, others that Mr. Myers, as head of the Wildlands Conservancy, has fought to preserve are not.

To his chagrin, some of Mr. Myers’s fellow environmentalists are helping power companies pinpoint the best sites for solar-power technology. The goal of his former allies is to combat climate change by harnessing the desert’s solar-rich terrain, reducing the region’s reliance on carbon-emitting fuels.

Mr. Myers is indignant. “How can you say you’re going to blade off hundreds of thousands of acres of earth to preserve the Earth?” he said.

As the Obama administration puts development of geothermal, wind and solar power on a fast track, the environmental movement finds itself torn between fighting climate change and a passion for saving special places. Read More

It’s an interesting situation that these environmental groups are facing. The old saying of careful what you wish for is starting to come into play. They have been very vocal about all the things they wanted done for energy production yet now when they have the chance to see it come to fruition, they are facing arguments from their own. I have noticed this seems to be the problem with most of the ideas you see from animal rights and environmental groups. They propose these grand ideas but seldom will they work well in reality.

Pro-Coal

Saving Lives with Coal
Paul Driessen
Saturday, January 03, 2009

There is no such thing as “clean coal,” environmentalists insist. Burning coal to generate electricity emits soot particles that cause respiratory problems, lung cancer and heart disease, killing 24,000 Americans annually.

It’s the kind of claim that eco-activist Bruce Hamilton says “builds the Sierra Club,” by generating cash and lobbying clout for his and similar groups.

It’s also disingenuous, unethical and harmful.

Since 1970, unhealthy power plant pollutants have been reduced by almost 95% per unit of energy produced. Particulate emissions (soot) decreased 90% below 1970 levels, even as coal use tripled, and new technologies and regulations will nearly eliminate most coal-related pollution by 2020, notes air quality expert Joel Schwartz.

Moreover, the vast bulk of modern power plant particulates are ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate. “Neither substance is harmful, even at levels tens of times greater than are ever found in the air Americans breathe,” Schwartz says. Read More

If you follow coal stories in the media, you will see it being cussed and discussed, but rarely appreciated. The fact of the matter is that we need electricity and more of it all the time. With a growing population, demand continues to rise. There are alternative sources for electricity, but they all have their drawbacks as well. Meanwhile, we have several hundred years worth of coal at our disposal. It’s a great natural resource that can be used responsibly.

An "Honest" Mistake?

Clayoquot Rally Photo Not Sound

By Keven Drews

TOFINO — A photo used by environmentalists earlier this month to draw attention to local logging practices was not taken inside Clayoquot Sound.

Ken Matthews, forestry manager for the Coulson Group of Companies, said the photo held up by Adriane Carr, deputy leader Green Party of Canada, during the Aug. 2 rally was of an International Forest Products Ltd. cutblock, five kilometres north of Clayoquot Sound.

“It is not in Clayoquot Sound …It is not in the Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve which has a common boundary with the CS [Clayoquot Sound] land use decision,” said Matthews.The photo, titled Heartbreak 2008, depicts a massive heart-shaped clearcut. It was shown to more than 150 environmentalists who were protesting the industrialization of Clayoquot Sound, including plans by Coulson Forest Products, of Port Alberni, and First-Nations owned MaMook Natural Resources Ltd., to log an untouched watershed in the Hesquiat Point Creek, north of Tofino. Read More

Whether it is a photo or a video, these groups love to use these stunning images to shock people into supporting them. And an instance like this one shows how important it is for consumers to not believe everything they see from these activists. Normally, by the time they get caught, the damage is done and they will claim “honest mistake”.

Details get in Way of Global Warming

Are Volcanoes Melting Arctic?
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Monday, June 30, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Climate Change: While the media scream that man-made global warming is making the North Pole ice-free, another possible cause is as old as the Earth itself. They just have to look deeper.

To the delight of Al Gore and the rest of the Gaia groupies, scientists at the National Snow & Ice Data Center in Colorado are predicting that the North Pole will be completely free of ice this summer. The apocalyptic headlines already are starting to appear.

"From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important," says the center's Mark Serreze. "There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water."

Icebergs breaking away and polar bears supposedly drowning are good theater, but they do not reflect reality. In April, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a study, based on last September's data, showing Arctic ice has shrunk from 13 million square kilometers to just 3 million.

What the WWF didn't mention was that by March of this year the Arctic ice had recovered to 14 million square kilometers and that ice-cover around the Bering Strait and Alaska was at its highest level ever recorded. Ice freezes. Ice melts. That's what ice does. Read More

Has anyone else noticed this trend of global warming advocates not sharing all of the details. Details like the fact that this melted ice will freeze back up, like there have been a string of volcanic eruptions under the ice, and 98% of Antarctica has been on a cooling trend. Those dang detail always get in the way, don’t they!

When Environmentalists Cause Harm

World’s Scariest Words: ‘I’m an Environmentalist and I’m Here to Help’
June 11

Two weeks ago the media was thrilled and alarmed by a film of a “lost” tribe of naked, painted Indians, living somewhere on the Brazil-Peru border and firing arrows at a helicopter flying overhead. Some reports claimed that this tribe was previously uncontacted by the modern world. But some anthropologists admitted that “this group is one of many in the Amazon that have chosen isolation.”

The fact that this tribe chose isolation did not stop the activists from the Brazilian government’s National Indian Foundation from distributing these films worldwide. They deliberately violated this tribe’s privacy because they wanted to use these Indians to prove that logging can be harmful to indigenous people.

Of course, the film shows no proof that loggers have violated this indigenous group’s privacy. It only shows proof that environmentalists violated their privacy. It also shows how much the natives appreciated their presence. Read More

Environmentalists have never looked at the law of unintended consequences. Some of their proudest accomplishments have worsened the human condition. Malaria was once nearly eliminated throughout the world until DDT was banned to allegedly save the birds. And also consider this, countless numbers of birds have died from West Nile disease because DDT isn’t available to effectively control mosquitoes.

ELF Member to Serve Time

Environmental activist to serve 2 years under deal
By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An environmental activist and former fugitive who once won thousands of votes in a congressional election pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges under a deal that would send him to prison for two years.

Tre Arrow, 34, pleaded guilty to the destruction of concrete-mixing trucks in Portland in April 2001 and to firebombing logging trucks at a contested logging sale near Mount Hood in June 2001. He had faced up to 40 years in prison if convicted of two counts of arson.

Arrow legally changed his name from Michael Scarpitti because he said the trees told him to do so. In 1998, he was arrested in Cincinnati wearing a pink bunny suit outside a Procter & Gamble Co. executive's home. He was charged with leafleting without a permit and fined $130. Read More

ALF and ELF are recognized by the FBI as the top domestic terrorist threats in the United States. One of the reasons they have earned this distinction is because of their total disregard for human life. They have advocated for the murder of medical researchers and have destroyed millions of dollars worth of property.

Unintended Consequences

Allen Shirley: Law of unintended consequences

For too long, we as Americans have been held hostage by the liberal left and environmentalists involving our energy needs. Now, Ken Midkiff (Globe, May 25) of the Sierra Club conveniently denies that his kind have any more blame for our current energy mess than the average citizen. I say (lifting my arm above my head), “It’s a little late for the shoes, I’ll try to save my watch.”

Although Mr. Midkiff is correct that there is no “one” source to blame for this mess, it is absurd to act as if liberals in Congress and environmental groups have not led the pack in preventing America from attaining energy independence. The law of unintended consequences is the rule of the day in demonstrating the mess these groups have helped achieve.

More than a decade ago, environmental and liberal groups insisted that chemical agents must be added to gasoline to reduce emissions. Now we find these agents pollute ground water and had to be removed for public safety — the law of unintended consequences. Read More

The law of unintended consequences rears has reared it’s ugly head in several other areas as well. One of the reasons that we have seen such intense forest fires in the last several years is due to logging being stopped or slowed on public lands. The same thing will happen if grazing is stopped on public lands. Things like these need to be managed. It is imperative that we always look at cause and effect when making decisions such as drilling for oil in the United States.

Old Environmentalist Predictions

Environmentalists' wacky predictions

Now that another Earth Day has come and gone, let's look at some environmentalist predictions that they would prefer we forget.

At the first Earth Day celebration, in 1969, environmentalist Nigel Calder warned, "The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind." C.C. Wallen of the World Meteorological Organization said, "The cooling since 1940 has been large enough and consistent enough that it will not soon be reversed." In 1968, professor Paul Ehrlich, Vice President Gore's hero and mentor, predicted there would be a major food shortage in the U.S. and "in the 1970s ... hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death." Ehrlich forecasted that 65 million Americans would die of starvation between 1980 and 1989, and by 1999 the U.S. population would have declined to 22.6 million. Ehrlich's predictions about England were gloomier: "If I were a gambler, I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000." Read More

The predictions of environmentals from 40 years ago compared with their predictions today demonstrate that our climate has cycles. Everything on this planet tends to run in cycles, so it shouldn’t surprise us that the temperature can rise and fall regardless of human activity. After all, it’s been doing just that for the past 4 billion years.

No more Electricity?

Junk Science: A New 'Green' Body Count Begins

Thursday , April 17, 2008
By Steven Milloy

The world has an ever-growing population that needs more and more energy, but the greens are doing everything they can to constrict the world’s energy supply.

As the Sierra Club campaigns to shut down our coal-fired electricity capabilities, the Natural Resources Defense Council campaigns to prevent nuclear power from taking its place. The demise of coal-fired power and the blockage of increased nuclear power will increase the demand for supply constraints on, and the prices for, natural gas.

But then again, environmental advocacy group Earth First perhaps is helping to alleviate the looming natural gas crisis by campaigning against power plants that use the fuel. In a recent campaign against a South Florida power plant, an Earth First campaigner stated that the environment ought not be threatened "so that people can fuel their greedy energy desires." "Just say 'no' to electricity," seems to be the bottom line of eco-think.

Even wind power is becoming more and more politically incorrect. Environmentalist-friendly Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley this week announced that wind farms will not be allowed on state lands because they are eyesores. Read More

There won’t be much left to generate electricity with if we let the environmentalist have their way. One way we use now that wasn’t mentioned in this article was hydro-electric. Can you imagine what would happen if the government wanted to dam a river to generate electricity today? We should all feel fortunate that our grandfather’s generation realized the importance of utilizing this resource because my generation probably never will.

Eco-Terrorism is Public Enemy #1

FBI: Eco-Terrorism Remains No. 1 Domestic Terror Threat

Monday , March 31, 2008

For nearly seven years, the nation has turned its terror focus on Al Qaeda and the hunt for Usama bin Laden. But there is a domestic terror threat that federal officials still consider priority No. 1 — eco-terrorism.

The torching of luxury homes in the swank Seattle suburb of Woodinville earlier this month served as a reminder that the decades-long war with militant environmentalists on American soil has not ended.

"It remains what we would probably consider the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat, because they have successfully continued to conduct different types of attacks in and around the country," said FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko. Read More


These terrorists don’t just attack research facilities and or corporations, they have also attacked family farms and ranches. No options are off the table, for this group, when it comes to violently trying to stop the things they are against. If we have an agri-terrorism event in the United States, it is more likely to have come from these groups rather than from overseas.