Free Republic

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Jimi Hendrix version of the Star Spangled Banner was playing out of one of the vessels and it was a cool, clear day on the Bay near Hathaway Bridge but Saturday’s gathering of charter boat captains was not a party. It was their last stand, local captains and their supporters said. See photos from the protest >> New regulations from the National Marine Fisheries Service of amberjack and red snapper are destroying the local fishing industry, the captains said. About 50 boats, including small two-man skiffs, large pleasure boats and mid-size trawlers took part in...

U.S. scientists in the Gulf of Mexico unexpectedly netted a 19.5-foot (5.9-meter) giant squid off the coast of Louisiana, the Interior Department said on Monday, showing how little is known about life in the deep waters of the Gulf. Not since 1954, when a giant squid was found floating dead off the Mississippi Delta, has the rare species been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico. The squid, weighing in at 103 pounds (46.7 kg), was caught July 30 in a trawl net more than 1,500 feet underwater as it was pulled by a research vessel. The giant squid, which did...

So, the full-frontal-nudity-enviro proganda assault begins. Are we really surprised by such a one-sided propaganda flick? If an alternative docu-drama was made, care to guess what lame excuse(s) ABC would give not to show it?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-83 Governor Palin Testifies on Outer Continental Shelf April 14, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today testified before Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a federal hearing in Anchorage, urging the Obama administration to stand by Salazar’s confirmation hearing statement favoring “wise, responsible use of conventional fuels,” such as the oil and gas resources found in abundance in the Outer Continental Shelf. “Alaska has consistently supported oil and gas development in our OCS,” Governor Palin testified. “We have done so recognizing that certain areas should be exempted from leasing, or have seasonal drilling...

WASHINGTON -- A popular but star-crossed public lands bill that would have extended additional protections to 200,000 acres in Oregon and millions more nationwide was defeated in the House Wednesday by a mere two votes. The measure earned a lopsided 282-144 vote but failed nonetheless because it did meet the required two-thirds majority. Under House rules, the bill needed 284 affirmative votes to pass based on the total number of lawmakers voting. The defeat was a bitter setback to supporters who labored for years and felt confident of victory after the Senate passed the bill in January. In the past,...

....a case against Washington State (WCI) Cap & Trade In an effort to take a leadership role in the WCI the state legislature is holding committee hearings on House Bill 1819 and its companion bill, Senate Bill 5735. This is in general a Statewide Cap & Trade “market” system for greenhouse emission on manufacturing & industry designed to meet the standards of a regional cap and trade program. Washington State is in partnership with six other states and four Canadian provinces, under a coalition called the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). The basic idea of a Cap & Trade system is...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-19 Governor Palin Releases Statement on Defenders of Wildlife Campaign February 3, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin released the following statement today in response to attacks by the Defenders of Wildlife: “It is reprehensible and hypocritical that the Defenders of Wildlife would use Alaska and my administration as a fundraising tool to deceive Americans into parting with their hard-earned money. “The ad campaign by this extreme fringe group, as Alaskans have witnessed over the last several years, distorts the facts about Alaska’s wildlife management programs. Alaskans depend on wildlife for food and cultural practices...

Some home builders already struggling in Florida's dismal housing market are facing another headache: The Chinese-made drywall they used is causing unpleasant odors and possibly leading to electric problems in dozens of homes constructed during the housing boom.

You think solar electrical generation is going to save you or the Planet? Think again. While it is true that photovoltaic solar panels do not pollute while they are producing electricity -- what about the manufacturing process? What happens when these panels reach the end of their projected lifecycle in twenty-five years? (This is, by the way, an optimistic view of their useful life.) Those questions are addressed in a study by the watchdog group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "Green Power" is being hyped as the "Safe Solution." It is anything but safe -- when all factors are considered. Here...

A report about why global warming due to carbon dioxide is flawed hypothesis based off of crappy math models. Some of these guys are from the UN's IPCC who left because they so strongly disagreed. Oh, also to give you an idea of how many scientists that is compared to those who think global warming is occurring thanks to carbon dioxide: "The over 650 dissenting scientists are more than 12 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers. " Here's the senate.gov link to where these quotes come from: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2158072e-802a-23ad-45f0-274616db87e6 Here...

NCPA: Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs Not Worth Cost and Trouble Report Says Government Should Not Force CFLs on Consumers DALLAS (Dec. 10, 2008) - Although touted by many as the smart energy choice, compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs are not suitable for many common uses and should not be required by the government, according to a new report by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). The Environmental Protection Agency states that CFLs will reduce energy use and will last longer than standard bulbs. However, NCPA Senior Fellow and report co-author Sterling Burnett argues: "For many uses, compact fluorescent bulbs...

<p>NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Snow is falling in the New Orleans area.</p> <p>The National Weather Service says a mixture of sleet and snow is falling Thursday morning from Baton Rouge east across much of southeastern Louisiana.</p> <p>The winter weather closed some schools and created hazardous driving conditions.</p>

Enviro Group Lawsuits, Cost Concerns, Climate Regulation Uncertainty Cited As Major Obstacles To Grid Improvements Denver, CO (Oct. 1, 2008) -- A new study released this week highlights what experts have been saying for years: the U.S. faces significant risk of power brownouts and blackouts as early as next summer that may cost tens of billions of dollars and threaten lives. The study, "Lights Out In 2009?" warns that the U.S. "faces potentially crippling electricity brownouts and blackouts beginning in the summer of 2009, which may cost tens of billions of dollars and threaten lives." "If particularly vulnerable regions, like...

Tire companies, big box stores, and the government are putting the brakes on the use of lead wheel weights. Through EPA's National Lead-Free Wheel Weight Initiative, partners have agreed to phase-in the use of lead-free alternative wheel weights and reduce the amount of lead released into the environment by 2011. "Our partners have pledged to reduce or eliminate their use of lead wheel weights," said Susan Parker Bodine, assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "Their efforts will remove millions of pounds of lead from the environment and the waste stream." Eliminating lead wheel weights is...

Cats with a fondness for gourmet meals are threatening fish supplies, an Australian scientist says. Deakin University scientist Dr Giovanni Turchini has discovered an estimated 2.48 million tonnes of forage fish - a limited biological resource - is consumed by the global cat food industry each year. "That such a large amount of fish is used for the pet food industry is real eye-opener," Dr Turchini said. "What is also interesting is that, in Australia, pet cats are eating an estimated 13.7 kilograms of fish a year which far exceeds the Australian average (human) per capita fish and seafood consumption...

A Spokane woman was sentenced Tuesday to three years in federal prison in the May 2001 firebombing of the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture. Lacey Phillabaum, 33, of Spokane, is one of five people -- members of a domestic terrorist group called the Earth Liberation Front -- who were accused by federal prosecutors of the arson attack that destroyed the building along with precious samples of rare and endangered plants species being cultivated for reintroduction into the Cascades. The ELF cell, dubbed "The Family," acted on the erroneous belief that a scientist at the center was doing the...

Is this a political harbinger? As the Democrats are about to gather in Denver, the famed Climate Impacts Center in neighboring Boulder is being shut down by its parent organization, the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Does this represent the “Tipping Point” as Climate Change alarmism reaches its zenith and enters a period of decline? What is remarkable is that this is happening BEFORE we know whether Al Gore will be named Climate Change Czar in an Obama administration.

When God made the world, He sprinkled it liberally with a soft, heavy, dull gray metal called lead. Humankind did the rest, finding countless uses for the abundant element. During the latter half of the 20th century, however, people began to grasp that certain applications of lead, particularly in gasoline and paint, posed a health hazard. The rest is history. Leaded gasoline came off the market in favor of low-lead, and finally unleaded. Paint manufacturers stopped using lead in pigments in 1978. But the stuff is still around, in homes, businesses, on old cars and trucks, and in public places...

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Oil companies once viewed drilling in the deep waters off Florida as cost prohibitive. Politicians feared even the slightest sign of support would be career suicide. No more. Record crude oil prices are fueling support for oil and natural gas exploration off the nation's shores. In Florida, movement was underway even before President Bush called on Congress last month to lift a federal moratorium that's barred new offshore drilling since 1981. The early activity here stems from a 2006 Congressional compromise that allows drilling on 8.3 million acres more than 125 miles off the Panhandle _ an...

Motorists in southeastern Wisconsin pay an average of 14 cents more a gallon for gasoline billed as cleaner for the environment, but the government and air quality experts now question how much the gas actually cuts pollution.