Let The Lawsuits and Injunctions Commence...

[Griz03]

m

[Griz03]

m

[Griz03]

m

[Griz03]

m

[Griz03]

m

[Appaholic]

This is about as frivolous as EPA suing TVA over Tellico dam..

Construction of the dam was delayed when a small endangered fish called the snail darter was discovered on the Little Tennessee River. Dam opponents brought a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act. The case, Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153 (1978), made it to the Supreme Court of the United States. In Hill, the Supreme Court affirmed, by a 6-3 vote, an injunction issued by a lower court to stop construction of the dam. Citing explicit wording of the Endangered Species Act ensuring habitat for listed species is not disrupted, the Court said "it is clear that the TVA's proposed operation of the dam will have precisely the opposite effect, namely the eradication of an endangered species."[2] In the ensuing controversy, the Endangered Species Committee (a.k.a. the "God Squad") was convened to issue a waiver for ESA protection of the snail darter. In a unanimous decision, the Committee refused an exemption of the Tellico Dam project. Charles Schulze, the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, later cited economic assessments that despite the Tellico Dam being 95% complete, "if one takes just the cost of finishing it against the benefits and does it properly, it doesn't pay, which says something about the original design."[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tellico_Dam

And, in the end, I have no doubt that properly distributed lobbyist money will result in an amendment or rider attached to an unrelated bill, thus, saving the day for extraction industries in Alaska like it did for Tellico...

In the meantime, both Tennessee senators, Howard Baker and Jim Sasser, and the House member representing the district, the now-deceased John J. Duncan Sr., were lobbying and maneuvering to get the dam finished. They argued for an exemption from the Endangered Species Act for the Tellico Dam.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, Sasser pushed through an amendment to a Senate appropriations bill, ordering the dam completed.

Attempts to get comment from Bell, Baker, Sasser and Sanger for this article were unsuccessful.

Quoting the amendment, "Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the following projects will be completed," Plater said Tellico Dam was first on the list.

That circumvented the Supreme Court decision, and the dam was completed. On Nov. 29, 1979, the dam's gates closed and the river was impounded.

So, who were the winners?

Plater and Hill say, without hesitation, dam opponents won the court case.

"The act says the fish wins," Hill said flatly.

But the valley residents still lost their homes. TVA built its dam. The politicians did an end-run around an act they had helped pass.

Cherokee tribal lands, which Plater said were the site of 10,000 years of continuous human habitation, ended up underwater.

Developers reaped a bucketful of money selling land around the lake to businesses and well-heeled retirees.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/apr/1 ... printer=1/

Wonder if children in East TN ask their parents why they let the goevernment flood their family's farmland unnecessarily.....I'm sure that farmland can be offset with a water project in the middle of the Central Valley....

[travelinman67]

The real reason polar bears were listed as "threatened"...wasn't protection...

...the listing merely facilitated another tool for the obstructionists to destroy America's economic progress and energy independence.


http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2 ... -drilling-

Alaska gov: Interior’s climate-change polar bear decision hinders oil drilling

By Ben Geman - 11/25/10 10:06 AM ET

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R) is slamming the Interior Department’s designation of large Arctic regions as “critical habitat” for polar bears threatened by climate change, alleging the decision will slow oil-and-gas drilling.

The designation requires federal agencies to consult with Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before allowing or funding actions that could harm the bear’s northern Alaskan habitat.

“Such consultations are increasingly being misused to challenge responsible resource development,” Parnell said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “This additional layer of regulatory burden will not only slow job creation and economic growth here and for our nation, but will also slow oil and gas exploration efforts.”

The state does not believe the decision was supported by “sound science,” and may mount a legal challenge, according to Parnell’s office.

The Fish and Wildlife Service announced a final decision Wednesday to designate 187,000 square miles of “on-shore barrier islands, denning areas and offshore sea-ice,” for the bears, which were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2008 in response to a lawsuit by environmental groups. Melting sea ice linked to global warming threatens the iconic bears.

Parnell praised some aspects of the critical habitat decision, but called it harmful overall.

“While the state is pleased that the final designation exempted existing U.S. Air Force installations, the communities of Barrow and Kaktovik, and manmade structures from critical habitat, we are disappointed that the State of Alaska was not consulted on its numerous other recommendations and comments submitted to the service. We are especially concerned regarding the limited consideration given to the additional economic information the state provided,” he said.

Parnell’s comments are the latest skirmish in a broader battle with Interior. He alleges Interior is illegally restricting oil exploration off Alaska’s northern coast.

Interior officials prevented Shell Oil from drilling this year. The company is leaning on the Obama administration to allow drilling in the Beaufort Sea to commence in 2011.

Obama administration officials say they are taking the time to ensure sufficient safeguards will accompany Arctic energy development.

Michael Bromwich, Interior’s top offshore drilling regulator, said earlier this month that the department would soon provide more “clarity” about its Artic energy policy.

[travelinman67]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/201 ... mates.html

Scientist confesses Polar Bear count numbers were bullshit.

I'm sure Sen. Boxer and NOAA will do the right thing and remove it from the ESA list and drop all regulatory actions against the energy industry...