Washington Announces New Wolf Killing Protocol

courtesy: Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife

After the state mercilessly exterminated the Profanity Peak pack last year, outraged Washington residents demanded the state revise its wolf kill policy.  The extermination lasted eleven weeks and cost Washington state taxpayers $135,000. {30.09.16} The new policy was not subjected to public comment before being finalized.  In contrast Oregon, which is also developing a wolf management policy, held public hearings on the issue; one such hearing was held in Portland were the urban-rural divide over wolf recovery was on display.  US Person attended the hearing and submitted written comments in support of full wolf recovery in Oregon.   Opinions supporting the wolf were strongly represented by numerous wildlife advocates who want to see extermination used only as a last resort to control wolf-human conflicts.

Washington now requires the implementation of two non-lethal methods to control livestock depredations before the Department of Fish & Wildlife will issue a kill order.  However, there are no time limits on how long the methods have to be used.  Three livestock kills or injury have to take place in thirty days, or four in ten months, but the depredations need not be confirmed before an order is issued.  Conservationists call the new policy flawed since it was developed without public notice or comment.  The Department does recognize in its policy statement that it has a trust responsibility to manage wolves for all residents of the Washington, not just those with an affected economic interest.  The Profanity Pack was exterminated at the insistence of a local rancher, who four years earlier succeeded in having another pack, the Wedge, exterminated too.  That owner refused to use non-lethal deterrents to wolf depredations.  Grey wolves have been federally de-listed in the eastern third of Washington state. 

COTW: The Fragmentation of the Middle East

Iraq's US backed government is preparing to announce the recapture of Mosul from ISIS jihadists as its forces clean out the remaining pockets of resistance in a city that has been turned into rubble by fierce fighting. But what Iraq's central government will be left once the second city is back under its nominal control, is not at all clear. The civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS in Iraq after the departure of the US military has produced a fragmentation of the region into areas of control by sectarian and ethnic groups, such as the Kurds (YPG and KRG), who have their own national ambitions inconsistent with the current state boundaries. This map shows the state of play:

The fact is that sectarianism has taken the place of nationhood in the Middle East. The Sunnis are nominally led by Saudi Arabia; the Shiites are nominally led by Iran. These two blocs are in conflict in Syria. Both Syrian and Iraq were created by the European Powers after World War I. What France and Britain drew on the map had little to do with ethnic and sectarian realities. Those realities have now come to dominate the region. ISIS has lost some territory it previously held, but those losses have benefited the groups occupying the land, not the national governments. Historically, power has shifted between the two Islamic sects about every 500 years. Currently, it appears the Shiites are in the ascendancy and the Sunni bloc in disrepair, having lost Iraq to a Shiite regime, and leadership of the Sunni rebellion in Syria challenged by ISIS jihadists.

Rwanda Brings Back Lions

credit: M. Poole

The genocide that struck Rwanda in the 1994 was a human tragedy of millennial proportions. An estimated one million Tutsi died at the hands of blood-thirsty Hutu. Beyond the human suffering, wildlife also suffered from the slaughter. The last lions in in Akagera National Park were poisoned by herders when the genocide left the park unmanaged and unprotected. Conservationists at the NGO, African Parks, with the cooperation of the Rwandan government are relocating seven South African lions to Akagera after a fifteen year absence. Lions are in deep trouble in Africa due to human conflicts, habitat and prey loss and hunting. The latest research shows that Africa has lost 68% of its lions in the last fifty years. More effort will be needed to protect these iconic felines in the future. The relocation to Akagera is a hopeful start to rebuilding lion populations in Africa.

white bottom, black top

Akagera was the location of the unfortunate death of a Hungarian researcher, Kirsztián Gyöngyi, on June 7th.  He was killed by an eastern black rhino he helped relocate to the park.  Black rhino (Diceros bicornus michaeli) are notoriously volatile compared to the more docile white rhino [illustration left].  Prior to their reintroduction in May, black rhino had not been seen in Akagera since 2007; its population of about fifty were wiped out by poachers. Only an estimated 5,250 black rhino remain in the wild.  Gyöngyi's death reminds animal advocates that protecting wildlife takes unselfish dedication and courage. The ecologist who specialized in rhino habitat leaves behind a wife and young daughter.    

'Toontime: Trumpery

credit: Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer
Wackydoodle sez: I hear he uses finger extentions.

The Donald is off to Poland, once a member of the Warsaw Pact, now a recent addition to NATO on the European border of Russia, where he could not resist a reminder for his good buddy, Valdimir Putin, whom he is scheduled to meet at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany this weekend. Already hundreds of protestors have been injured in violent demonstrations there.. Trump's modus operandi is painfully clear to 'Merican taxpayers by now: the presidency has become a world-wide free advertisement for Trump's business empire, as well as subsidized golf vacations for its Chief Twit.

credit: Steve Sack, Star Tribune
BC Idonwanna sez: The Donald need diet!

Watts Bar 2 Shuts Down

The first new atomic energy plant of the 21st century, Watts Bar 2, operated by the TVA had to be shut down after only six months of operation.  Failing condenser parts caused the generating station to be taken off-line on March 23rd.  The plant remains shut.  TVA has yet to locate the condenser problem which is critical to plant operation since this component returns steam driving electrical turbines back to water.    Once again, the extreme complexity of nuclear power generation has flummoxed an overly optimistic owner-operator.  The last new nuclear power facility to enter service is the plant's twin unit, Watts Bar 1, that came on-line in 1996.

Watts Bar 2 holds the dubious distinction of the longest construction period in US nuclear power, a whopping 43 years!  The condenser component is part of the original design, so consequently it is also outdated technology as welll as broken.  Such a long delay in producing commercial electricity added greatly to the plant's capital cost.  Construction got underway with an estimate of about $400 million in 1972.  The plant's total cost is now estimated at $6.1 billion.  Such skyrocketing construction costs are endemic to the nuclear power industry, and are largely responsible for making new plant construction uneconomic, even for industry enthusiasts.

A faulty condenser in a conventional fossil-fueled plant is not as critical as one in a nuclear facility.  A coal plant could be run for months before a shut-down was needed to fix the problem.  No such luxury exits with a hair-trigger nuclear boiler.  An operating condenser is absolutely critical for cooling a reactor running at full power, which is what TVA hoped to do during this peak summer cooling season.  NOT.  Accompanying  their mechanical problems, plant managers have created a toxic work atmosphere that intimidates employees who might be willing to report regulatory violations to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  The NRC ordered TVA to improve the safety culture at Watts Bar.  But a consultant reported just three weeks ago that conditions haven’t improved. The report found that “mistrust permeates the [Watts Bar] organization,” Notwithstanding the chilling atmosphere, the NRC recorded 33 allegations against TVA in 2016, the highest in the country.  Quite a record: from 'too cheap to meter' to too expensive to generate in half a century.

COTW: The Snail's Pace of Change

A reader might ask, why do national politics in the US seem so difficult to change? One reason is that incumbents, especially in the House of Representatives, have an enormous advantage over challengers.  In 2016 the entire House of 435 seats were up for election.  Of the 390 races in which incumbents ran for re-election, they won a staggering 96.4% of the contests. Democrats needed to win a net thirty seats to take over the House.  They won only a net 6. Yet, despite repeatedly voting for incumbents, 'Mericans hold Congress in very low regard with polls from various news sources averaging an approval rating of 14%. Apparently, Congress is another case of getting what you pay for. This chart shows the steadily increasing number of business people holding congressional office:

credit: Brookings Institute

DC Appeals Says Trump Circus "Arbitrary"

The influential federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled the Trump attempt to delay implementation of the rules restricting methane gas leaks from oil and gas operations, "arbitrary and capricious" in a decision handed down Monday. Clean Air Council v. Scott Pruitt, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, 17-1145.  Methane is a potent global warming gas that is leaked in huge amounts from the domestic drilling boom.  The case was brought by a coalition of environmental groups including NRDC and the Sierra Club.  They argued in court that the Pruitt EPA failed to follow the rules contained in the Clear Air Act of 1970.  The pro-exploitation administrator announced an implementation freeze earlier this month.  His decision was roundly criticized by scientists and environmentalists who think the rule is badly needed to protect the public's health.  Typically, Pruitt conceded that delaying implementation could have a adverse effect on children's health, but that consideration was outweighed by the implementation's effect on the industry's bottom line.

Trumps cut ribbon on DC hotel, credit: Getty Images

In related news a Department of Justice regulatory compliance official resigned Trump Circus' lack of ethics. Ms. Hui Chen wrote , "I am not willing nor able to compartmentalize my values as an professional, a citizen, and a human being,"  Welcome to the expensive club, Ms. Chen.