The drilling leases adjacent to Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument are off the December 19 auction block (see previous post), thanks to fierce opposition from the National Park Service, congressional representatives and President-elect Barack Obama’s transition (as well as any of you who have already sent in letters of protest.) But it is a shallow victory given what remains on the block: thousands of acres of wilderness-quality land, including two-thirds of the lease areas that the National Park Service wanted removed from the auction. Crux of the problem: BLM’s resource-management plans for 11 million acres of redrock desert in southern and eastern Utah, finalized in the last few months of the Bush administration, which in effect turn the keys of our public land over to the oil and gas industry. Best Quote of the Day: Dave Nimkin, a regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, referring to drilling on nature’s red rock masterpiece, said the BLM “would burn the Rembrandts to heat the castles.”
National Parks, Utah
Smugglers' Creek by Charlie Kulander
I won’t even get into the surreal futuresque mirage that is modern Dubai. Instead, what intrigued me the most while staying at the Hilton Dubai was the view out my window of a chaotic harbor full of rickety dhows, those ancient ships that have been plying the Arabian Sea for centuries. I’d watch these diesel-powered dhows come in from Pakistan, Iran, India, Oman — who could tell?– and jockey for moorage among the boats loading and off-loading their exotic cargos. Later, I strolled down to the harbor for a closer look at the wooden-hulled ships with their cargo nets, their hammocks slung among the rigging, their forward decks chock-a-block with tarp-covered pallets. Customs inspections are practically nonexistent here, and this part of the Dubai River is called Smuggler’s Creek for a reason. It’s an unrestricted point of contact among Middle Eastern nations. You’ve got Iranian arms traffickers, Arab jihadists, and Indian mobsters. Taliban traders come in on these dhows to turn their opium taxes, paid in gold bullion, into laundered dollars at Dubai’s unregulated gold market just downriver. Walking among these dhows is probably the closest I’ve ever come to feeling like a CIA agent. (if Bin Laden ever gets caught, it might be while jumping into the harbor from one of these dhows,) This harbor has the intrigue, history, and sense of adventure that is so missing in the imagineered paradise of Dubai. It’s a place I would like to go back to.
10
After jails, I think airports are where people are forced to spend the most time against their will. So imagine Hiroshi Nohara, a Japanese citizen who has lived the last three months at one of the most frenetic airports in the world: the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City. He has become a celebrity in Mexico, where there are daily news reports on his life in the food court, where he sleeps in a chair, eats handouts, and poses for photographs. From his quotes in the Miami Herald story, he sounds like an existential nihilist: “I don’t understand why I’m here. I don’t have a reason.” And then there’s this succinct zinger, a universal truth among frequent travelers: “My life is Terminal 2.” If you are traveling through Mexico City, you’ll find him sitting with an interpreter at the food court. Don’t miss your chance to pick up some enlightenment to go with that super burrito. But you better hurry. His visa expires in March 09.
Uncategorized
Airports, Mexico
Here’s proof that Dubai is still the biggest bubble in the world, just waiting to burst. As the price for a barrel of oil drops to $48, as the world hovers on the brink of a global economic meltdown, as the Consumer Price Index in the United States is actually falling, mega-resort Atlantis celebrates its official opening on Dubai’s man-made Palm Jumeirah Island with a $35-million extravaganza that is being billed as the biggest party in the world. (The fireworks alone cost $6.5-million). Ironically, the original Atlantis in the Bahamas, which sired this monstrosity, just laid off 800 workers this week, a result of slumping occupancy.
CK
Dubai
As the Bush administration tries to push 11th-hour regulations meant to defang environmental protection, ProPublica is following the action closely. Will the new Obama administration be able to reverse this last-hour massacre? Depend on where it stands in the rule-making process. After these rules have been finalized, it takes 30 to 60 day for them to go into effect. According to Politico:
During this period, Obama can void the rule by directing agency heads and OMB to halt work on it until his administration can review it. That’s what President Bush did in response to the dozens of rules President Bill Clinton finalized in the weeks before he left office in January 2001.
ProPublica has published a list of 20 rules that the Bush administration is trying to push through by Inauguration Day. And if you want to go micro on it, here is a way to track these last minute regulatory change.
Uncategorized
Last night, we watched a career-ending movie by director M. Night Shyamalan: The Happening. (Note: if you plan to watch this movie, stop right here, though the movie telegraphs the plot with far more clarity than I will.) What happens is nature goes on a rampage, releasing toxins that make human beings commit suicide by doing stupid things, like lying down in the path of the very tool we use to keep nature in check: a lawnmower. The violence begins in our city parks, where nature, encircled by the press of urban life, strikes back. What bothered me more than a man being turned into garden mulch was the overriding philosophy of nature having a malevolent dark side, a world view that went out with the Middle Ages. So this morning, it is with relief that I read a report from BBC News that even a small amount of greenery near our homes — a park, a garden — will prove not lethal, but life giving. Using records of 366,000 people who died over four years, scientists reported that even tiny green spaces in the areas in which they lived made a big difference in diminishing their risk of fatal diseases.
David Tibbatts, from GreenSpace, a charity which promotes parks in urban areas, said that they were threatened by “decades of decline” in some areas. “The study confirms what we have been saying for many years – parks are important for health and everyone should have access to high quality, beautiful and vibrant green spaces. “Unfortunately, despite the benefits green spaces bring to communities, our research has shown a decline in park services that has spread across more than 30 years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7714950.stm
Charlie Kulander
Health
The Bureau of Land Management’s controversial plan to open several dozen parcels of land bordering Arches and Canyonlands National Park for oil and gas drilling is being countered by the incoming Obama administration, which threatens use of an executive order reversing the decision. According to the Associated Press, John Podesta, in charge of President-elect Obama’s transition team, said “There’s a lot the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we’ll see the president do that.” He went on to say, “They want to have oil and gas drilling in some of the most sensitive, fragile lands in Utah. That they’re going to try to do this right as they are walking out the door, I think that’s a mistake.” An executive order rescinding the sale would be quick to implement, and would not require congressional approval, but could result in energy companies filing legal suits that could last years. Backstory: the BLM typically holds quarterly lease sales, informing the Park Service three months in advance, especially when the lease of certain parcels might have environmental impact on the national parks. But on Tuesday, Nov. 4, the BLM released information about the sale without informing the National Park Service. Nor did the BLM provide any maps or details about the sale for either the Park Service or the public to see. (Publishing news of the lease sale on election day is consistent with what Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz, chairman of the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands subcommittee, claims is the BLM’s penchant to release information when the public is least likely to know about it, such as during holiday weekends.) The Park Service wishes to delay the lease sale — the last one before President Bush leaves office — until next year, as there is precious little time to comment: 37 days and counting. The BLM refuses to change the auction date, slated for Friday, Dec 19. BLM finally did release maps of the parcels bordering the national parks, which can been seen only at the BLM’s state office Public Room, 440 W. 200 South, Suite 500, Salt Lake City. What you can do: the 30-day public protest period began Nov. 4, and will end on Dec. 4, 2008. I’ve been trying to get hold of more specific information but four phone calls to BLM in Salt Lake City and Moab have so far been unanswered. You can send a message to President-Elect Obama by clicking here: http://change.gov/page/s/contact
And send a letter to Utah senators Hatch and Bennett: here: https://secure2.convio.net/suwa/site/Advocacy?page=ActionAlertTakenPage&id=319
More on BLM’s oil and gas lease auction:http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/info/newsroom/2008/november/blm_utah_posts_list.html
Charlie Kulander
National Parks, Utah
Arches, BLM, Canyonlands, Drilling