Tag Archives: Donald Trump
New Report Suggests “Whale Psychiatrist” Trump May be Right About Wind Farms and Whales
US Bureau of Ocean Management report says whales, dolphins, birds and bats can all be injured by wind turbine construction, and offshore fishing harmed. Trump has been an advocate for keeping America clean and healthy. He has not advocated for the anti-carbon push based on pseudoscience and the rush into green energy projects put forth by environmentalists. Admittedly. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has officials saying they have found no evidence linking offshore wind turbines to whale deaths. However, a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has just released a new report that said whales, dolphins, birds and more can be exposed to “unavoidable adverse impacts” by the construction of offshore wind farms. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:50
New Federal Report: Offshore Wind Farm Construction Can Harm Whales, Birds, Fisheries – >>CLICK TO READ<<
Maine’s massive “floating wind” folly — my report
Below is my Executive Summary, followed by the latest bad news on this ongoing silly saga. This report examines several fundamental aspects of the State of Maine’s offshore wind development plan. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 examines certain economic issues, such as feasibility, cost, and progress to date. Part 2 explores the proposed development as it relates to the entire Gulf of Maine, namely because the project has not advanced to the point where the State of Maine’s responsibilities have been defined. The offshore wind plan calls for development of 3,000 MW of generating capacity, an amount that is roughly double Maine’s average electricity usage. The viability of Maine’s offshore wind plan depends entirely on the massive transformation of the state’s grid from fossil fuel use to electrification. It is clear that the citizens of Maine have not been informed of this vast transformation requirement. They have certainly not approved it. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:34
Trump rally shooting – FBI names suspect shot dead after assassination attempt on ex-president
Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, with the former president bundled off stage with his face bloodied after a bullet hit his ear. The gunman was killed by Secret Service agents after he fired at the crowd from outside the perimeter. A person in the crowd was killed and two others were injured. The FBI has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the “subject involved” in the shooting. The assassination attempt happened 15 minutes after Trump went on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening, with around seven or eight popping sounds heard. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:32
Trump Vows ‘Day One’ Executive Order Targeting Offshore Wind
Donald Trump vowed to issue an executive order targeting offshore wind development if he wins a second term as president, making his most explicit threat yet toward the growing industry. The presumptive Republican nominee derided offshore wind projects as lethal for birds and whales during his oceanfront rally Saturday in Wildwood, New Jersey, and committed to take action. “We are going to make sure that that ends on day one,” he said. “I’m going to write it out in an executive order.” While Trump has made no secret of his animus to wind power, he had adopted a mostly hands-off posture during his first term in the White House. The remarks in New Jersey suggest he may take a more aggressive stance if given a second. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:03
NC fishermen concerned about uncertain impacts of offshore wind farms
Recreational and commercial fishermen alike have a lot of questions about these projects. The main ones: how much access will fishermen have to wind farms, and how will the wind farms impact the fish? Unfortunately, information is limited because offshore wind is still new in the United States. There are currently two offshore wind farms in various planning stages off North Carolina’s coast. One is off Kitty Hawk along the Outer Banks; the other, called Wilmington East, is off Wilmington. Avangrid Renewables is developing the wind farm off Kitty Hawk. Construction there is expected to start in 2026. >click to read< 11:17
Big Blow Joe – Biden’s Rush to put Windmills off the Coast of Massachusetts
It didn’t take long for fishermen to realize that Joe Biden is not their friend. Biden, or whoever is calling the shots these days in Washington, rushed through a review of the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm, moving the project, expected to be online by the end of 2023, closer to becoming a reality. It’s not the first time Joe Biden has dealt the fishing industry a losing hand. The Obama-Biden Administration closed fishing grounds off the New England coast by declaring the area a national monument. Trump reversed the decision upon taking office. >click to read< 07:10
6 Ocean Priorities for the Biden Administration from the Environmentalist
Since President-elect Biden was voted into office last November, he and his team have been sharing what they want to accomplish in their first 100 days in office.,, In the midst of any political transition, it is easy for environmental issues to be pushed aside in the name of more “urgent” issues. Fortunately, the new administration has given us promising signals that environmental action is high on their to-do list. Here are six things that must be prioritized in the coming weeks and months,,, >click to read< 09:48
Presidential order on aquaculture draws environmental concerns over proposed fish farm, like pollution and escapements?
The federal waters of the contiguous United States are free of aquaculture farms, but a new executive order from President Donald Trump could hasten attempts by fish farm companies to take the plunge. Southwest Florida could be at the forefront of the push for more farms as a pilot program works through a permitting process. Environmental groups worry the order will greenlight offshore operations, creating concentrated sources of pollution and putting wild species at risk. The executive order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth was signed May 7,,, Ocean Era, formerly Kampachi Farms, is waiting on permits for its pilot finfish farm, Velella Epsilon. The farm will be about 41 miles southwest of Sarasota in the Gulf of Mexico and raise 88,000 pounds of almaco jack fish each year. >click to read< 10:45
Greenland, the new US Alaska? Trump mocked, as Some Canadians Say “We Should Outbid Him!”
Greenland, the new US Alaska? – The United States’ interest in Greenland is not new. In 1867, secretary of state William Seward, then of the Andrew Johnson administration, showed interest in purchasing Greenland and Iceland from Denmark. >click to read< Trump Wants to Buy Greenland? We Should Outbid Him! – from the article, What would we get if we did obtain Greenland? It would certainly complete our set of Arctic islands. We would possess over two million square kilometres of land, almost all of it covered by an ice sheet with a volume of 2.8 million cubic kilometres. >click to read< 15:40
LePage talks to White House about controversy over lobstermen restrictions
Former Gov. Paul LePage continues to be involved with the debate over proposed new regulations on Maine lobstermen, designed to protect right whales. Several weeks ago, Gov. LePage sent a letter to President Donald Trump, opposing those new restrictions and saying they are an “overreach” by the government because Maine fishermen aren’t harming the whales. Now the former governor’s political organization says LePage had a phone conversation on the issue today with what it calls “senior White House officials.” >click to read< 18:27
Fishermen suit against Atlantic marine monument moves ahead
The fishing groups sued to challenge the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument created by President Barack Obama in 2016. It’s a 5,000-square-mile area off of New England that contains fragile deep sea corals and vulnerable species of marine life such as right whales. The fishermen’s lawsuit had been put on hold by a review of national monuments ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration in April 2017. But a coalition of environmental groups is also intervening in the case in an attempt to keep the monument area preserved. >click to read<13:20
April Showdown Looming for Battle Over Atlantic Ocean Monument – >click to read<
Obama Banned Fishing In 5,000 Square Miles Of Rich Ocean — Fishermen Want It Back
A Washington, D.C., district court lifted a stay Wednesday on a fishing industry lawsuit to reverse a 5,000 square mile marine national monument created off New England’s coast in 2016. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument will ban fishing in an area roughly the size of Connecticut in less than a decade. Seafood and fishing trade groups are suing to rescind the monument former President Barack Obama crafted near the end of his 2nd term, to restore an area of ocean that has been an important source of lobster and fish for decades, according to the lawsuit. >click to read<18:29
We must fight any plan to drill off the Jersey Shore
Drilling for oil and natural gas off the coast of New Jersey is a bad idea that never goes away.,,, Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, oil companies actually drilled exploratory wells off Atlantic City. They didn’t find significant enough deposits to continue the effort. But here we are again. New Jersey’s two U.S. senators and House members from coastal districts are opposing the latest push for offshore drilling, just as they have done every time this issue has bubbled to the surface, no matter their party. And the argument — a good one — against offshore drilling is always the same: Why endanger the state’s $44 billion-a-year tourism industry and the 500,000 jobs it supports? Half of that revenue is generated from counties along the coast. Offshore drilling could also threaten the state’s $7.9 billion-a-year fishing industry and the 50,000 jobs it creates. click here to read the story 17:54
‘Big Green’ and environmental activists 2016’s biggest losers (Commentary)
The day after the presidential elections, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, glumly called the Donald Trump victory “devastating for our climate and our future.” Well, yes, if you’re a climate-change alarmist who hates fossil fuels, you’re in for a bad four and maybe eight years. Greenpeace Executive Director Annie Leonard was even more apocalyptic, saying: “I never thought I’d have to write this. The election of Donald Trump as president has been devastating. … There’s no question, Donald Trump’s climate denial is staggering. He wants to shut down the EPA, ‘cancel’ the Paris Climate Agreement, stop funding clean energy research, and ‘drill, baby, drill.'” Ah, but if this is so crazy, why did he win? The short answer is that Americans went to the polls and rejected environmental extremism, among other things. The biggest loser on election night was America’s Big Green movement, dedicated to the anti-prosperity proposition that to save the planet from extinction we have de-industrialize the U.S. and throw millions and millions of our fellow citizens out of their jobs. Read the rest here 13:20:30
Canada’s opening stance for NAFTA talks: Common ground, not confrontation
The Canadian government is signalling the approach it intends to take should Donald Trump make good on his promise to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. is laying out some starting principles such as co-operation instead of confrontation. In a lengthy interview, David MacNaughton expressed his desire to see the countries propose common-ground, common-sense ideas that improve the old agreement instead of flinging out hardball demands that could produce deep, drama-filled bargaining. “We have done an extensive amount of work (to prepare for this),” MacNaughton said in the year-end interview. “We have a good sense of what would be in Canada’s interest…. “(But) the areas we need to focus on — and I think we are focusing on — is where is it not just in Canada’s interest, but in Canada and the United States’ interest… “I think if we’re just blatantly trying to push something that works for us but doesn’t work for them, that’s not going to be… quite as easy.” Read the rest here 17:41
Push for 35-mile-long canyon off Virginia coast to become marine sanctuary is suddenly put on hold
For more than a year, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center built a case for naming a vast canyon in the Atlantic the next national marine sanctuary. There were dozens of meetings held, hundreds of letters written and thousands of signatures gathered from supporters on a petition. Suddenly and quietly last month, however, an aquarium task force that had been pushing to make the Norfolk Canyon a sanctuary put everything on hold indefinitely. To make a long story short, what happened was Donald Trump. The Republican presidential candidate was elected, and the chances for a lot of conservation initiatives suddenly looked much iffier. “We’re not really sure where this new administration is going to go with environmental protection,” said Mark Swingle, the Virginia Beach aquarium’s director of research and conservation. “The timing just doesn’t look right now. So we just decided to take a pause here to see what’s going to happen.” Read the story here 08:15
Nova Scotia fish exporters not intimidated by Trump’s anti-free trade talk, nor should they be!
The fishing industry is used to dealing with crises, whether it’s collapsing fish stocks, low catch prices or the effects of climate change. But clouds of another kind may be gathering on the horizon. Donald Trump, president-elect of the United States, lashed out at trade agreements during the election campaign, and even pledged to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement if it wasn’t renegotiated. Even so, that doesn’t faze some people in Nova Scotia’s fishing industry — despite the fact that in 2015 the province exported $960 million worth of seafood to the U.S, according to provincial government. “He’s not going to tear that up. He’s mostly all talk,” said Dannie Hanson, vice-president of sustainability for Louisbourg Seafoods in Cape Breton. “His bark is worse than his bite.” Hanson expects Trump may try and alter some free-trade agreements rather than discard them, but he said that could end up benefiting Canada. Read the rest here 12:42
The election has enviro groups all worked up! – Reactions to Trump victory trickle in from seafood industry
Seafood companies and industry groups have begun to issue statements and responses to the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Trump has said little about the seafood industry directly, but he has expressed favor for policies that reduce environmental barriers preventing the further development American industry, which may lead to changes in the management of U.S. fisheries. Trump has also taken a strong stand against free-trade agreements, and if he acts on pledges to scuttle the Trans-Pacific Partnership framework, add tariffs on Chinese imports and renegotiate or withdraw from the North America Free Trade Agreement, it will likely have an significant effect on the global seafood trade.,, Fred Krupp, the president of nonprofit advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), posted his thoughts on the election in a blog post on EDF’s website. “The election of Donald Trump has profoundly altered the landscape in which environmentalists work. While environmental issues weren’t central to the campaign, President-elect Trump took positions during the campaign that were directly counter to ours — and contradicted by science,” Krupp wrote. “We are still assessing the challenges that lie ahead, but this much is clear: The next few years will bring some big fights and also some unpredictable fluidity.” World Wildlife Fund President and CEO Carter Roberts also issued a statement,,, Read the story here 13:53
Donald Trump wins presidential election in unexpected victory
In a shocking upset, Donald Trump won the presidential election held Tuesday, riding widespread discontent with political elites to become a president-elect unlike any other in American history. The victory will make the billionaire entrepreneur the first commander-in-chief never to have held a government office or served in the military, halting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s bid to become the nation’s first woman president. Trump’s victory shocked political observers who had predicted a victory for Clinton, a former secretary of state and first lady. But Clinton fell short in crucial states, including some projected to go blue such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Trump said Clinton called him and conceded the race, adding in his victory speech that the United States owed her a “major debt of gratitude” for her service to the country. Clinton has not yet given a concession speech. Read the story here 08:07
Clinton Outlines Policy on Coasts, Oceans in Response to Letter from 115 Ocean Leaders
Like it or not, surfers are stakeholders. A group of people with skin in the game regarding the health of our oceans. That manifests itself differently for everyone. Some just want to rest assured they can have fun in the water every once in a while without getting sick or dying. Others use it as a springboard to become a full fledged environmentalist, fighting to minimize global reliance on plastics, and otherwise reduce pollution. But regardless of where surfers fall individually along the spectrum, government policy toward oceans and coastlines matters collectively to the surfing population. U.S. presidential candidates have spoken at length about issues ranging from gun control to immigration, but a contingent of “ocean leaders” felt details about how each candidate would address oceanic and maritime issues were underrepresented. That’s why the group of 115, made up of CEOs of seafood companies and other businesses, directors of major science labs, aquariums and diver organizations, well-known ocean explorers, authors, artists, ocean conservationists, members of Congress and former heads of the EPA and NOAA, collectively addressed both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in a two-page letter. Read the story here 08:04
Pacific trading partners release Trans-Pacific Partnership pact details
The long-awaited text of a landmark U.S.-backed Pacific trade deal was released on Thursday, revealing the details of a pact aimed at freeing up commerce in 40 percent of the world’s economy but criticized for its opacity.,, Republican White House contender Donald Trump has labeled it a “disaster.” The TPP would be a boon for factory and export economies like Malaysia and Vietnam. Anticipated tariff perks are already luring record foreign investment into Vietnamese manufacturing and both countries are expected to see increased demand for their key exports, from palm oil and rubber to electronics, seafood and textiles. Read the rest here 07:37
