The old, confused Guv Brown is a liar. He claimed it was climate change that caused the fires in Southern California—actually HE is the one to be blamed—these are the BROWN fires. He allowed forests to be overgrown, not allowed the clearing of underbrush, it was government policy that created the intensity and size of the fires. What should be done to him and his accessories? My good friend Andy Caldwell has a great idea:
“The verdict is already in! Guilty on all charges! For failing to proactively manage wildlands to prevent and mitigate wildfires on lands owned and controlled by the government, in addition to preventing private property owners from doing the same. The criminal acts include prohibiting control burns, tree and brush removal, the creation of roads and firebreaks, and the active protection of fuel loads via numerous resource protection machinations. Finally, the release of carbon from these wildfires completely eclipses all regulatory efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions making these decision-makers gross polluters!”
Brown and his buddies created criminal acts—knowing their lack of forest management would cause loss of forest, property and lives. Like any other criminal they need to be tried and punished.
Andy Caldwell, Santa Barbara News Press, 12/13/17
One of the spoils of war is exercising the prerogative of prosecuting the losing side for war crimes. That is, though war itself involves killing and destroying as many lives and as much property and infrastructure as necessary to vanquish your foe, nevertheless, the victorious side can pile on and prosecute the losers making the claim that certain acts of war go beyond the “normal” savagery into the area of criminality. Think Nuremberg.
Let’s apply this concept of “to the victors goes the spoils” to a different kind of war, the so-called war against pollution and climate change. As it goes, activists, bureaucrats, and politicians are prosecuting this war against producers in our society including farmers, ranchers, miners, manufacturers and industrialists. The producers are being regulated to death, in essence treated as criminals, for producing food, energy and other staples that consumers rely on each and every day. Moreover, in addition to regulations, some producers are prosecuted for accidents, despite no evidence of intentionality.
Currently, Plains All American Pipeline is being prosecuted for an oil pipeline break. In the past, charges were brought against several farmers for allegedly plowing over protected species and habitat. The most infamous case involved Peter Adam, before he became a supervisor. Pointedly, the case against him was determined to be based on government malice, fraud and abuse.
A week ago, the board of supervisors held the annual equivalent of a Nuremberg review of trifling spills, accidents and leaks involving the oil industry. Supervisor Steve Lavagnino was correct in his assessment that most all of the violations rose no higher than the equivalent level of a fix-it ticket. Nevertheless, certain supervisors love the annual opportunity to ride their very high horse down Sanctimonious Blvd. so that all the world can see how much they love the environment and hate fossil fuels.
Specifically, Supervisor Janet Wolf wished out loud that we could prosecute relatively minor and routine trifles as criminal offenses. Supervisor Das Williams, for his part, is suffering from the delusion that because he drives a hybrid, he is somehow living a virtual carbon-free existence! The truth, however, is something altogether different for even the greenest among us. All of our food, clothing, energy, medicine, transportation and electronic devices involve the use of fossil fuels and/or their byproducts. Not to mention the use of conflict minerals for green car batteries!
Now, if the war against pollution and greenhouse gases were to be judged evenhandedly, the people who should be prosecuted are the activists, bureaucrats and politicians. It is their actions and prerogatives that rise to the level of criminality in terms of willful negligence resulting in tremendous loss of life and infrastructure, along with ecological devastation. Think fire, in addition to, the inevitable resultant aftermath of debris flows and flood damage from denuded hillsides.
The guilty parties should be prosecuted for negligent homicide, unprecedented air and water pollution, wholesale massacre of wildlife, ecological devastation, and the loss of tens of billions of dollars in property damage, not to mention the cost of human suffering, along with the risk of life and limb of our emergency responders.
The verdict is already in! Guilty on all charges! For failing to proactively manage wildlands to prevent and mitigate wildfires on lands owned and controlled by the government, in addition to preventing private property owners from doing the same. The criminal acts include prohibiting control burns, tree and brush removal, the creation of roads and firebreaks, and the active protection of fuel loads via numerous resource protection machinations. Finally, the release of carbon from these wildfires completely eclipses all regulatory efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions making these decision-makers gross polluters!
Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB and the host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show weekdays from 3-5 pm on News Press Radio AM1290.
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