Tag Archives: Politicians
Littleproud predicts rough seas ahead for Illawarra wind zone under Coalition government
A future Coalition government would not allow a wind energy zone to be developed off the Illawarra coast, Nationals Leader David Littleproud said in Wollongong on Monday (17 June). To the cheers of a group of anti-wind zone protesters at Belmore Basin, Mr Littleproud said the Coalition would stop wind farms from going ahead. “There will be no wind zone, there is a better way to do this. Make no mistake, we’re going to live up to our international commitments, but we’re not going to tear away your economy, your environment and tear up the social cohesion of this great community,” he said. Mr Littleproud and NSW Nationals Senator Ross Cadell visited the region following the weekend declaration by Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen of a 1022 square km wind zone area, 20 km off the coast. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:53
Offshore wind farm: Business owner fumes over controversial $10billion project on NSW south coast
A commercial fisherman fears his livelihood is under threat after last-minute amendments to a new offshore wind farm were given the green light. The final amendments to the 100-hectare plot of sea where the $10billion project will be built were completed by the federal government on Saturday. The project was initially planned to be just 10km off the coast, where local fisherman Mark Horne caught lobsters for a living, but was changed at the last minute. Fearing that his fishing spot would disappear, Mr Horne invested $500,000 in a new boat to expand into new fishing areas, which is now obsolete following the amendments. photos, charts, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:32
Andrew Montford: Politicians must drop their ‘Comical Ali’ approach to offshore wind costs
According to officials at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), offshore wind power is around half the cost of electricity from gas turbines. But in Parliament recently, David Frost exposed the problem with this claim. If what DESNZ says is true, he observed, it is hard to understand why we still have to subsidise windfarms. And harder still to understand why we have just had to give them a 70 per cent increase in the guaranteed price they receive. It was striking that the energy minister Martin Callanan, responding for the Government, failed to answer the question, merely reiterating the claim that wind is cheaper than gas. His evasion tells a story and highlights the great deception at the heart of the Net Zero policy. For years, governments have told us of a revolution in windfarms costs. Developers may even have believed it themselves, submitting extraordinarily low bids into the renewables auctions. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:18
Resistance to Offshore Wind Is Growing on US Coasts
A growing chorus of interest groups is calling for a pause in offshore wind activities to allow further assessment of the sector’s impacts on the marine ecosystem. Fishing groups and local residents have filed five lawsuits against proposed or under-construction wind projects along the Atlantic seaboard. A leading body for the U.S. Pacific fishing industry is urging the federal government to call off its proposed auction for offshore wind off the Oregon coast. And the United States’ largest lobbying group for Native Americans recently called for a halt to all offshore wind scoping and permitting. Wind energy is a key component of the Biden Administration’s climate agenda. >click to read< 08:10
Opinion: Who owns the oceans?
There is a question that has been asked in our household for years. For us, it’s a personal question. Generations of family fisherman have been affected by the decisions of others, some known and many invisible. We have had to sit on the sidelines watching the demise of our industry while power brokers, politicians, and the money hungry chart the course when we are not even invited to the table. Now we find ourselves watching the final chapters play out, knowing that we don’t even have a role. The high jacking of our oceans didn’t happen overnight. The slow, methodical process has lined the pockets of the politicians at every level of government. Working in conjunction with private industry and environmentalists they have driven our beloved industry past the brink and left fisherman with no place left to fish. >click to read< 09:59
Maine lobstermen, politicians rally in protest of fishing restrictions and Seafood Watch’s recommended boycott
At a rally in Portland’s Old Port on Friday, they protested a federal judge’s ruling issue Thursday allowing the National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association to impose limits on where and how lobstermen fish in order to protect endangered North Atlantic Right Whales. The rally was also protesting Seafood Watch, a California-based sustainable seafood advocacy group affiliated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, now recommending food distributors and restaurants boycott Maine lobster in the name of saving the whales. Video, >click to read< 09:55
Sold Out! Biden, Mitchell, and the Dems Jeopardize the New Bedford/New England Fishing Industry
The New Bedford fishing industry, which has kept New Bedford out of the poor house for years, opposes the windmills. Environmentalists say the windmills will mess with the migration patterns of whales and other inhabitants of the deep. They oppose wind farms, too. Vineyard Wind was stopped in its tracks by the Trump White House, but Biden fast-tracked it earlier this year along with a windmill farm in the New York Bight, a rich fishing ground frequented by the New Bedford fleet. The Mayflower Wind project could win federal approval soon as well. Remember, the Obama-Biden Administration banned fishing in an area just off the New England coast. Trump overturned that foolishness. Wonder where the news media is on all of this? >click to read< ,, Are journalists failing today’s public? – Most reporters appear to be amateurs with no formal training in the field. >click to read< 07:51
New Jersey: Legislators Propose Bill To Limit Local Say Over Offshore Wind Farm Projects
The bill comes at a time when Ørsted’s proposed offshore wind project has been gaining opposition from several coastal communities concerned about the cables running underneath New Jersey beaches, including Ocean City and Long Beach Island. Assemblyman John Burzichelli, a southern New Jersey Democrat who sponsored the bill,,, “I can assure you, having been at ground zero of these discussions, we will allow nothing to happen that will disrupt Ocean City and the true gem that it is,” Burzichelli said at the state Assembly hearing during which the bill was advanced. >click to read< 08:45
A “Must Read” for Media and Politicians – Seeing the bigger picture on right whales
Someone should point out to the media that the right whale population has shown dramatic growth from the 1990s up until the last few years, when birth rates leveled off. Without a doubt, 2017 to 2019 was a terrible time period for them,,, It is irresponsible for any scientist or oceanographer to take an extreme year (2017) and say that the population is headed to extinction. The bigger picture shows a much more hopeful story. By Jack Merrill, >click to read< 10:27
Fight for our fisheries. Provincial politicians need to pressure Ottawa to manage our fisheries
Gus Etchegary doesn’t mince words when it comes to the state of Newfoundland and Labrador’s fishery. The longtime fishery advocate laments that since the 1992 cod moratorium the federal government has “practically abandoned” the province’s fishery. The fishery is federally regulated, but he says doesn’t absolve the provincial government from its role “to be continuously pressuring Ottawa to take on the role that they were given in 1949, and that is to manage our fisheries in the same style as Iceland and Norway,” he said, pointing to two fishing powerhouses in the North Atlantic. >click to read< 12:15
Blue collar fishermen deserve to make a living, not persecution from weak minded politicians and wealthy enviros
Austen Brown started fishing commercially with his father off California’s coast when he was only 8 years old. By the time he was 13, Austen was making his own living as a fisherman, and he has spent the past few decades fishing for everything from codfish to shark. But perhaps his favorite target is the elusive swordfish.,, The swordfish is also a favorite catch for Chris Williams, who has spent more than 40 years plying his commercial fishing trade off the California coast, including targeting swordfish with drift gillnets. Tragically, California’s drift gillnet ban comes at the expense of the fishermen and their families who will be put out of business for no good reason. Video, >click to read< 08:34
2019: The Year Of Peak Green Bullsh*t
2019 was the most extraordinary year of green bullshit yet. Despite the planet being a wealthier, healthier and safer place than it was when fears of global warming first appeared on the political agenda in the 1980s – and despite the failure of more than half a century of green prognostications – crazy and destructive green ideas still dominate politics. >click to read< 10:48
June Mummery declared EU nations are desperate for Britain’s fish and the Dutch will be finished without it.
Ms Mummery is the Brexit Party’s spokeswoman for fisheries and coastal issues. The Brexiteer also slammed other MEPs for forgetting what the job is and getting too comfortable. She stated that an MEP’s job is to represent the people who pay your wages. “These politicians they’ve got these jobs or they’ve had MEPs over in Europe who have had a nice comfy number and I’ll tell you it is comfy. “They have forgotten, they have forgotten what the job is. >click to read< 10:15
A reminder from Sam Parisi to those interested in creating and implementing a U.S. Fish Bill
Greetings to all commercial fishermen, fish processors, equipment suppliers, politicians, and citizens, that are interested and supportive of creation of the U.S. Fish Bill. It is important that we create an atmosphere of unity and inclusion for all to reach out to their political representation, and inform them of need for a major Bill supporting all segments of the U.S. Fishing industry, and ask that they get involved. I am asking Senator Bruce Tarr, and Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante to attend. The meeting will be held at the Gloucester City Hall November 21 at 7 pm. For developing info, and input of idea’s, please call me! Thank you, and best regards! Sam Parisi, Gloucester Mass. at 978 491 7722 06:45
Politicians mum on fisheries during election campaign, says advocate
Kimberly Orren works to spread knowledge of the fishery’s place in Newfoundland and Labrador’s culture, but says politicians haven’t been spreading much of anything about the industry during this ongoing election campaign. Orren, a board member of the non-profit social enterprise Fishing For Success, said she’s been disappointed by the lack of talk she’s perceived. “There’s been no discourse about the fishery or fishing in the election talks so far. And I’m wondering where is it?” >click to read<09:24
The politically unifying potential of salmon
If there is any issue Democrats and Republicans in Washington State should come together on, it’s salmon. Salmon play a major role in our state’s economy, wildlife diversity and cultural heritage. In Washington alone, salmon help support nearly 16,000 jobs and a $1.1 billion annual fishing economy. Salmon alone provide over 134 million dollars of economic output to Washington state each year. They’re also a keystone species to 137 other animals, including orcas and bears. Unfortunately, the lowest counts of Pacific Northwest salmon in history — and a 60 percent decrease in the population since 1984 — now significantly threaten the essential role of salmon. >click to read<08:58
Looking for Reasons Why Wind Power Can Never Work? Here’s the Top 21
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that wind power is the greatest economic and environmental fraud of all time. All it takes is a little cognitive power and a sense of inquiry. Once people work out that they’ve been conned, they never turn back. In our travels we’ve met plenty who’ve started out in favour of wind power and turned against it; we’ve never found an example of the reverse. STT dishes up the facts on a daily basis, much to the annoyance of the wind cult. Anyone looking for a solid set of reasons as to why wind power can never work, need look no further than this cracking little list put together by John Droz. >click to read<14:13
Twenty-One Bad Things About Wind Energy — and Three Reasons Why
Trying to pin down the arguments of wind promoters is a bit like trying to grab a greased balloon. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, it morphs into a different story and escapes your grasp. Let’s take a quick highlight review of how things have evolved with merchandising industrial wind energy.,, Wind energy was abandoned for most commercial and industrial applications, well over a hundred years ago. Even in the late 1800s it was totally inconsistent with our burgeoning, more modern needs for power.,,, The claim that wind energy is “green” or “environmentally friendly” is laugh-out-loud hilarious – except for the fact that the reality is not funny at all.>click to read< 18:51
The understandable anger of British fishermen
When the fisheries-rich countries of the North Atlantic applied to join the EEC in the early 1970s, it was an opportunity for ministers in Brussels that was too good to miss. To the nervous embarrassment of the Dutch, a last minute deal was pushed through that bolted the resources of national fishing grounds onto the scanty treaty provisions that covered trade in fish produce. It was a shoddy fix and, it turned out, a major scandal at least for one of the applicant states. Norway’s fisheries minister resigned in protest, and the Norwegians voted against accession. But the UK did not. In 1973, the country joined the Brussels club. Ted Heath’s people accepted the stitch up as a political price worth paying – one of many, it might be said. And thus was created the original sin behind UK membership. >click to read<19:26
Billionaire crony corporatist schemes – Financing “green” companies and enviro groups, getting richer off taxpayers and consumers
Shady cash from Vladimir Putin’s Russian energy oligarchs and other rich donors is being laundered through Bermuda-based lawyers and middlemen to “green” pressure groups, lobbyists and spinmeisters – to promote “green energy” schemes that bring billions of dollars from government agencies (and thus from us taxpayers and consumers) to a cabal of billionaires and crony companies. At the epicenter are hedge fund millionaire Nathaniel Simons, his wife Laura and their secretive Sea Change Foundation. “Investors” become even wealthier, as billions of dollars are transferred annually to environmentalists, scientists, politicians, bureaucrats and crony-corporatists in Renewable Energy & Climate Crisis, Inc. The alleged “urgency” of replacing fossil fuels with “eco-friendly renewable energy” (to prevent catastrophic manmade climate change) drives and excuses operations that define or barely skirt “corrupt practices.” The arrangements are too convoluted to explain in one article. Even the US Senate’s “Billionaires’ Club” report, Environmental Policy Alliance’s “From Russia with Love” study, and articles by investigative journalists like Ron Arnold and Lachlan Markay (here, here and here) barely scratch the surface. Washington is out of control. The IRS targeting conservative groups, Clinton Foundation and national security scandals, FBI pseudo-investigations and whitewashing, bureaucrats imposing $1.9 trillion in economy-crushing regulations that ruin families and communities – with virtually no perpetrators ever held accountable. Read the essay here 16:12
‘Fishermen are tired of lies of politicians and environmental groups, plan wave of protests against Brussels
Dutch fishermen are planning a series of protests against European rules that they claim are destroying their industry. The ‘Eendracht Maakt Kracht’ (‘Unity Is Strength’) movement says it wants to inform the public about ‘the real story’ of Brussels interference. ‘Fishermen are tired of the lies of politicians and environmental organisations,’ spokesman Jan de Boer told the Volkskrant. EMK’s main grievance is with the fishing quotas imposed by Brussels and the tide of regulation that comes with them. The group, which evolved from a WhatsApp community in fishing communities such as Urk, is also critical of the existing representative groups in the industry, which it says have failed to stand up for fishermen’s interests. ‘The groups in the fisheries sector are always in talks but never strike a blow,’ said De Boer. Read the rest here 08:52
Elections fail to be a fisherman’s friend
This is what government looks like to us. Politicians a very long way from the action have or adopt ideas that range from the sensible to the downright idiotic. Without an effective check from an emaciated, austerity-hit civil service, they reach out to “stakeholders” – often organisations with no “stake” at all, such as green activists funded by giant multinationals – who hand them ready-made proposals for new regulations and laws. Once these policies are enacted, the politicians turn to the people and communities most affected and say, Read the rest here 07:37
Apalachicola: Fully-funded oysterman retraining stirs scant interest – they like what they do.
“This is understandable, this is generational work,” said Bodine. “They like what they’re doing. They like being their own boss. It’s difficult for them (to transition). They can make quite a bit of money out there, so it’s kind of a hard sell, to go to making less money after taxes and reporting to someone else.” Read the rest here 17:19
NEW BEDFORD —Offshore wind and fishing industries must ‘coexist to survive’
“Our people know what they’re doing at sea.” That’s the common refrain of city and state politicians alike as they try to convince industry leaders and the public that New Bedford should be America’s offshore wind hub. “There is a big feeling that this is just another thing encroaching on us,” said seafood consultant Jim Kendall. “But we know we’ll have to coexist to survive.” Read more here 08:18
“day of reckoning”? the fishing community “can’t take its foot off the pedal. This is a fight that has to continue,”
But Bullard was the person who made the official decision to slash quotas to rebuild stocks, and there were many in the crowd who are angry at him for that. Finally, after the speeches had ended, Paul Vitale, of Gloucester, owner of th
e 50-foot trawler Angela and Rose out of Gloucester, broke the silence over Bullard, angrily challenging Bullard to explain himself, but Bullard said nothing. Vitale told The Standard-Times that with the new quotas, he will be fishing “one or two times a month” and is looking for outside work. continued
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