"Trump’s Illegal Immigration Ban Threatens All of Us"
by Joel Reynolds, NRDC
The focus of my work and writing is the environment. But I write today to express my personal outrage, sorrow, and embarrassment at the ban imposed by Donald Trump on entrance to the United States by people from seven countries in the Middle East - based solely on their country of origin.
This action is inhumane, immoral, and indefensible. Not only is the ban based on the unsupportable factual premise that it will prevent acts of terrorism in the United States, but it violates constitutional protections and the explicit statutory prohibition against exclusion based on national origin enacted by Congress in 1965. Contrary to its asserted purpose, Trump’s action is more likely to fan the flames that feed terrorism in this country and around the civilized world.
The ban is blatantly un-American - inimical to our long-held values of equality and inclusion embodied in the Declaration of Independence and symbolized by the Statue of Liberty. All Americans should be outraged, and all of us need to oppose it.
I join in condemning this divisive, destructive, and despicable action taken in the name of our country by a dangerous President who has already demonstrated - and by this latest action once again confirmed - that he has little regard for facts, no apparent interest in the complexities of addressing the real needs of the people his office exists to serve, and a distorted understanding of the constitutional principles on which this country has been built - a foundation that for centuries has made this country unique in the world.
Each of us has a stake in collective action against the immigration ban, because the danger posed by Trump isn’t limited to one religion, region, gender, or ethnic classification, one social, cultural or economic group, or one special interest or issue. The attack launched this week against immigrants from the seven banned countries betrays a sickening lack of judgment that threatens all of us whatever our demographic or concern — from national security to environmental protection to civil rights to our constitutional system of laws. Complacency in the hope that, if given a chance, Donald Trump intends or will inevitably be compelled to moderate his behavior is a prescription for escalating, irreparable, and widespread harm — to our families, our communities, and our future.
The responsibility to oppose the dangerous demagoguery of this President isn’t dictated by political party or ideology. His reckless policies and blatant disregard for fact aren’t a matter of right or left but of right or wrong - and of our personal and national interest. His illegal ban on access to this country is antithetical to basic standards of human decency that Americans fought and died to defend in opposing dictatorship and genocide in World War II.
The good news is that Trump’s action is already being challenged in the streets and in court, and a stay of the ban was issued on Saturday by the federal court in Brooklyn. Other such actions - whether their focus is civil rights, environmental progress, our social fabric, or our humanity — must be challenged as well. No matter the issue - this one or the next — we will succeed only if each of us, together, does whatever we can.
Stand up, speak out, and be heard. Get involved. Oppose Trump’s immigration ban.
Take action. Today.
Printed by permission by Joel Reynolds, NRDC
Orvis ®
Monday, January 30, 2017
Monday, January 9, 2017
NRDC: Pebble Mine 2016 in Review: 'Salmon First, Pebble Never' by Joel Reynolds
2016 closed for the Pebble Mine like so many years before it — with no progress: no permit, no application, and no new financial partner. As it did in 2015, the last remaining company in the once-formidable Pebble Partnership - the small Canadian mining exploration company Northern Dynasty Minerals - continued frantically to tread water for dear life, suing EPA, lobbying Congress, threatening the U.S. State Department, and searching each quarter for more money to cover its legal fees. Prospects for actual mining activity remained non-existent as opposition deepened in Alaska and broadened to the international stage.
Despite short-term profit-taking on the ups and downs of the financial markets (including a surge in the wake of Donald Trump’s election), the Pebble prospect’s owner remains a bad long-term investment. Summed up last week by the Motley Fool’s stock analysts, “regardless of the reason for this latest move higher in Northern Dynasty Minerals, your best bet is going to be keep far, far away.”
Some highlights:
- In January, following a year and a half investigation conducted at Northern Dynasty ‘s request, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Inspector General announced its findings exonerating EPA of any misconduct, collusion, or improper process and rejecting Northern Dynasty’s claims of unfairness. According to the IG’s report, “[b]ased on available information, we found no evidence of bias in how the EPA conducted its assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed, or that the EPA predetermined the assessment outcome.” The Pebble Partnership promptly condemned the investigation that it had previously demanded.
- Also in January, Northern Dynasty repackaged its allegations of unfairness and sent them to the U.S. State Department, threatening a claim for damages under the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) Chapter 11. In a 42-page letter, the company alleged that EPA’s “decision” on the Pebble Mine “was taken in a grossly abusive, arbitrary and deliberately opaque manner, in breach of standards of due process and good administrative procedure, in violation of U.S. law, and in breach of Northern Dynasty’s legitimate expectation . . . .” In May, NRDC personally delivered to the State Department a detailed response to Northern Dynasty’s self-serving, groundless claim of entitlement to a taxpayer bail-out. No NAFTA claim has been submitted to date by the company.
- In March, in its own Consolidated Financial Statements (as well as Deloitte LLP’s audit and the company’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the year ending December 31, 2015), Northern Dynasty publicly acknowledged its depleted financial condition. The company conceded that there is now “material uncertainty that casts substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” Despite this, according to the company’ first quarter financial disclosure report, the company also committed to a series of multi-million dollar bonuses for its lawyers and Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier contingent on turning the company’s legal position around.
- Also in March, The Pebble Partnership issued a new (but significantly reduced in number) round of third-party subpoenas, continuing its fishing expedition for any basis in fact to support its lawsuit against EPA under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (“FACA”). But in late November - a year after the initial round of such subpoenas had been quashed — the federal court in Alaska once again thwarted Pebble’s continuing efforts to harass opponents, granting a motion to quash the subpoena issued to former Bristol Bay United Director Shoren Brown and University of Washington professor Tom Quinn. According to the court, these subpoenas “are extremely broad and are not focused on the real issues in this case” and “would impose an undue burden . . . .” None of the remaining subpoenas is expected to survive legal challenge.
- During the spring and summer, project opponents took the Pebble battle to the international arena through a motion condemning the project — introduced at, and ultimately approved virtually unanimously by, the World Conservation Congress in September. Hosted every four years by the world’s largest network of conservation experts, the 1,300 member International Union for the Conservation of Nature (or “IUCN”) brings together thousands of scientists and other environmental professionals from over 170 countries, including members from 89 states, 129 government agencies, and over 1,000 domestic and international non-governmental organizations. This is the first formal international condemnation of the Pebble Mine project.
- In November, more than two decades of Republican dominance in the Alaska State House of Representatives ended with the election of a new majority coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans. Longtime Pebble Mine opponent Bryce Edgmon from Dillingham has been tapped to become the first Native Speaker of the House, joining Alaska Governor Bill Walker in a growing wave of opposition to the Pebble project among the state’s political leadership.
- In late December, Alaska state resource managers for the first time delayed a decision on renewal of the land use permit for the Pebble site, granting instead only a 90-day extension during which the agency will be reviewing an unprecedented number of public comments and considering additional operational conditions. This latest setback for the project follows the release in November of a report by the Center for Science in Public Participation. Commissioned by United Tribes of Bristol Bay, the report found, among other problems, that some holes weren’t properly plugged, drill cuttings were leaching acid, tundra mat had been allowed to deteriorate, groundwater seeping up from holes has been contaminated with heavy metals (including potentially toxic levels of copper), and numerous steel pipes used to stabilize boreholes were sticking up from the ground. In all, 71 of the 107 sites inspected by the Center “were not fully reclaimed” based on observations of dead vegetation, flowing water, and open and abandoned drill casings.
- Finally, on the eve of 2017, The Pebble Partnership and EPA filed a joint request for a three-month stay of Pebble’s FACA lawsuit against the agency. The request was premised on the parties’ decision to focus exclusively on settlement discussions that, although under way for months, had thus far been unsuccessful. In January, the federal court granted the request for a stay.
While time will tell, what remains certain is the unrelenting opposition from the broad-based coalition that has dogged this project for over a decade. Most important is the deep and abiding unpopularity of the project among Alaskans themselves. The regional opposition to Pebble is near-unanimous, with over 80% opposition in the region (including from shareholders of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, the region’s largest developer). The state-wide opposition isn’t far behind - estimated consistently at over 60% based on polling and at 65% based on the state-wide adoption of the Bristol Bay Forever initiative in 2014.
For Northern Dynasty — and for any potential partner - the hard truth is that the Pebble Mine is going nowhere. Recall that this is the project abandoned by all of Northern Dynasty’s former mining partners, including Mitsubishi Corporation (in 2011), Anglo American (in 2013), and Rio Tinto (in 2014), three of the largest mining companies in the world. Northern Dynasty remains a lonely voice of desperation, searching for vindication of its investors’ mindless pursuit of profit at the expense of everyone else — and, most particularly, at the expense of the people and communities of Bristol Bay.
The Pebble Mine is and always will be a completely unacceptable project, unjustified by the science, inconsistent with the law, and at odds with common sense. NRDC is committed to doing whatever is required to ensure the mine’s definitive defeat.
Salmon first, Pebble never. Take action now.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Weekly Post: SUZHOU, 1985-to the present by RobertGlennKetchum
Welcome to Suzhou, 1985 - to the present by Robert Glenn Ketchum
During the reign of Mao (1949-1976), China was a closed country. China in the 1980’s was 80% rural, with no outside visitors, particularly from the West. When China opened to travelers, the Chinese government placed severe limitations on who was allowed to enter the country. These photographs are a continuation of other ongoing blog threads of the first glimpses into China in the mid-1980’s by world-renowned Conservation Photographer
Robert Glenn Ketchum.
Robert Glenn Ketchum.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Welcome to Suzhou, 1985 - to the present, #151
Suzhou #151: As this image ends this blog, I post it because I have photographed and written about a 35-year period of extraordinary change in Suzhou of which I have been lucky enough to witness. Yet, for all the changes, as I have tried to humorously point out, many things remain the same, or at least similar. When I look out across the city from my hotel room , I see that it IS very different, but there is also NO DOUBT that it is very Chinese. This nation did not have international style imposed upon it, but rather it took international style and reconfigured it in a Chinese way. Watching this transpire, and growing to understand it was a great gift to me as a person and an artist. The exchange with an embroidery guild that brought me to Suzhou not only created an unusual Chinese-American collaboration that redefined Suzhou-style embroidery, but it enriched my life in ways I never anticipated. For me, this exchange transcended the art we created and reformed the life I was creating and my view of the world. I hope my Chinese colleagues feel the same after putting up with me for all this time. I would also like to thank the city and citizens of Suzhou for making me feel welcome and comfortable, even though I clearly looked strange to them, AND I stuck my camera in their face. I will miss these travels. I am SO grateful to have done them. I will now sign off this blog with another billboard quotation: “Joyance Prevails, Dreams Are Approaching."
photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2016, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd #China #Suzhou
Follow Robert Glenn Ketchum's Photographic Activism & Art Online:
WEBSITE: http://www.robertglennketchum.com/
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Orvis Supports No Pebble Mine
