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Friday, November 23, 2007
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The Moderate Voice: "Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth last night despite last-minute assurances from President Musharraf that he would lift the state of emergency soon, reports The Times."
Andrew Sullivan: "Between Fear and Loathing: Lying awake the other early morning, I found the twin images of Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton coming into my mind. Maybe it was the Ambien, but inevitably the choice between those two haunts the fevered brow in the dead of night."
"2008 pres"
5:29:10 PM 
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Environmental News Network: "Global warming is one of the most significant threats facing humankind, researchers warned, as they unveiled a study showing how climate changes in the past led to famine, wars and population declines. The world's growing population may be unable to adequately adapt to ecological changes brought about by the expected rise in global temperatures, scientists in China, Hong Kong, the United States and Britain wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The warmer temperatures are probably good for a while, but beyond some level plants will be stressed," said Peter Brecke, associate professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's Sam Nunn School of International Affairs."
"2008 pres"
5:16:52 PM
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Juan Cole: "Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that PM al-Maliki has taken the controversial decision to recruit 18,000 members of Shiite militias into the Iraqi government security forces. (In fact, the Iraqi military has de facto been recruiting a lot of Shiite militiamen anyway)."
"2008 pres"
5:07:27 PM
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Here's a report on H.R. 2262, the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007, from The Durango Telegraph. From the article:
Bill Simon is the coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, a coalition that has labored for more than a decade to undo damage from hardrock mining to the Upper Animas watershed. The group has remediated dozens of abandoned mine sites that were leaching toxins and heavy metals into the river and its tributaries. However, Simon remains an advocate for mining and recognizes the place of metals in modern life, as long as mining becomes much more environmentally responsible. "We need mining, and we need to support mining," he said. "We just need to do it right."[...]
However, there is movement to close many of the General Mining Law's loopholes. Last week, on Nov. 14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2262, a re-write of the General Mining Law sponsored by Congressman Nick Rahall, D-W.V. Among other things, the rewrite would create a royalty structure and provide Americans with a return for development of gold, silver, uranium and other hardrock minerals. It would also tighten the environmental standards that mines must meet, and allow local and tribal governments to petition to bar mining that would affect them adversely. "The bill would bring the 19th century mining law into the 21st century," said Stephen D'Esposito, president of the Washington, D.C.-based conservation group Earthworks. "With the bill passing the House, we're halfway toward achieving badly needed reforms that work for Western communities, taxpayers, the environment and responsible mining companies."
The U.S. mining industry, however, is not a big fan of the rewrite. The National Mining Association (NMA) has joined the Bush Administration and gone on record in opposing to the bill, saying it would create an undue hardship on American mining companies. Kraig R. Naasz, president and CEO of the NMA, commented, "The enormous costs that would be imposed on the hardrock mining industry by the bill and the failure to provide mining companies with greater security when operating on federal lands will only increase the nation's growing reliance on imported minerals vital to our economy and our national defense." Naasz added that the bill would levy the world's highest royalty for mineral mining; would impose "redundant environmental standards;" and does not provide investors with security from arbitrary federal regulations. In the end, the NMA and its concerns may carry the day. Following last week's passage in the House, the bill goes before the U.S. Senate. There, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a longtime supporter of the mining industry, has pledged to oppose the bill because it would require royalties of existing mines.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"2008 pres"
7:33:42 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:45:54 PM.
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