Wildfires on Maui

The Maui fires may turn out to be our worst national disaster, but NYT*, WaPo and other leftist green organizations will blame global warming/climate change/unnamed "they" rather than the ineptitude of the electric company and bad management of the land areas ripe for disaster. This is how Democrats handle disasters, natural and political. Their administrations never have dirty hands (remember George Floyd?), but can build computer models for what could possibly happen in 1000 years and slap another tax on you while bureaucrats get rich .

*I have seen a NYT article that does provide some facts on the poor choices of Hawaiin Electric.

Hazy and smoky in central Ohio

This is from a Forbes article 4 years ago. But we had heard it from an Arizona tourist guide in 2003--environmental regulations are part of the problem with wildfires. You wonder what other "green" goals will cause havoc in 20 years.

"Yet in spite of blaming climate change and attacking President Trump for suggesting bad environmental policies made California’s fires worse, California’s outgoing governor, Jerry Brown, quietly signed two bills to correct the worst of the state’s fire management policy missteps, proving Trump was right all along." (Forbes, Nov. 27, 2018)

Not a topic I usually research, but central Ohio is pretty smoky from 161 fires in Canada. A friend posted on Facebook an aerial photo of Mt. Verson, OH, and you can barely see the town. Our dinner guest last night had already sought emergency medical attention for his asthma earlier in the day.

Update: Everyone's talking about the smoky haze and hot weather. Photos of downtown Columbus are amazing--we can hardly see it.   And I'm concerned about the guys on my neighbor's roof. They've been replacing it for over 12 hours. Want to bet they are immigrants?

Quebec on fire

 Massive forest fires are coating much of Quebec in haze and smoke | CBC News

"Yan Boulanger, a research scientist with Natural Resources Canada said that the ground covered by the fires in Quebec's commercial forests in the past four days is massive and estimates that it's equal to what was covered in the past 10 years combined."

Fires Burn Across Quebec (nasa.gov)

Fire season in Quebec usually starts in late May. In an average year, only 247 hectares (a square mile) of area would be burned by June 5, according to Quebec’s fire prevention agency (SOPFEU). But so far this year, 160,000 hectares (600 square miles) have burned.

Climate change caused by humans

Hurricanes, blizzards and fires—apparently the globe has never had them  before Europeans landed on the shores of North America, the land of a peaceful people who never did anything to disturb the fish, trees and buffalo. Not even when Ohio was buried under a glacier 8,000 years ago was there such weather according to the white man causes everything bad movement.  Now there’s an argument about whether environmental regulations are creating the hazards that cause this massive loss of life, homes and natural beauty.  I read yesterday that some students are finding safe spaces inside the Pepperdine University Library!  We can only pray for their safety since they weren’t evacuated in time.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pepperdine-shelter-20181113-story.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winter-storm-northeast-slammed-with-early-snow-latest-weather-forecast-live-updates-2018-11-15/

The natural environment and the built environment don’t always play well together.  We have more damage from hurricanes because people are building in areas that have always had storms, but not necessarily air conditioning or this much wealth to create massive estates “with a view.” We have terrible fires on wooded and scrub land because there are regulations  written by well meaning people  that encourage these tinderbox areas.  We have blizzards in the northeast that cause massive pile ups and traffic jams because when it happened 200 years ago there wasn’t a 24/7 news cycle and no one had long commutes to work attempting to funnel thousands of people into New York or DC.

https://www.breitbart.com/local/2018/11/15/winter-storm-avery-leaves-5-dead-as-snow-blankets-northeast/

Don’t blame President Trump just because he tweeted about the damage some regulations create.  He doesn’t hate ALL regulations and Executive Orders. It’s just that our media have the attention span of a gnat.   It has been well known for years what over-regulatory zeal has done to our country.  When we travelled in Arizona, California and Idaho in 2003 we certainly heard about it—and it was very apparent then.  Thousands of acres were dead or tinder dry, and no one was allowed to remove the dead wood or have controlled burns.  Glacier Park in Montana was on fire and we could hardly breathe.

https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/29738-california-fires-government-policies-not-global-warming

Here’s a list of the necessary laws, regulations, boards, ruling agencies etc. that were required for ONE development in California. The Twin Lakes Fuel Reduction Project is located on the Bridgeport Ranger District of the HumboldtToiyabe National Forest  in Mono County, California.

A roadless rule?  How helpful is that during a fire?

Clean Air Act of 1970, as amended – The selected action is in compliance with the Clean Air Act, 1977 as amended.  All required permits will be secured to ensure compliance with federal and state laws. Pollutant emissions will be within state and federal standards.

The Great Basin Air Quality Control Board enforces compliance with the Clean Air Act. Burning permits are issued and administered by the GBAQCB Smoke production and management, as analyzed in the EA. 
 
Clean Water Act of 1977, as amended - The Clean Water Act (CWA) is a federal statute that requires states and tribes to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters (33U.S.C. 466 et seq., Title I, Section 101). The project does not involve the filling, alteration, or modification of any waterway or riparian area

Consultation with Tribal Governments (E.O. 13175) – Consultation with the interested Tribes of California and Nevada and consultation has been ongoing during project analysis and will continue through implementation. Other laws requiring consultation include: 
 
American Indian Treaty Rights – The proposed hazardous fuels treatments will not conflict with any known treaty provisions. 
 
Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 Public Law 96-95 12USC 470 
 
Native American Graves & Repatriation Act of 1990 - Public Law 101-60125 USC 3001

  Endangered Species Act of 1973 - The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2011) identified the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep (SNBS) as the only endangered species that may occur in the analysis area. The analysis area contains a portion of the Twin Lakes herd unit and is adjacent to the Green Creek herd unit (USDI 2007a.) No SNBS have been documented in the Twin Lakes herd unit and no SNBS have been documented in the analysis area. 
 
Environmental Justice (E.O. 12898) (59 Fed. Register 7629, 1994) directs federal agencies to identify and address, as appropriate, any disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority populations and low income populations. This action will not result in unequal impacts on minority populations and low income population and complies with E.O. 12898. 
 
Floodplain Management (Executive Order 11988) and Protection of Wetlands (Executive Order 11990) – This action will not result in significant adverse impacts on wetlands or floodplains as they relate to protection of human health, safety, and welfare; preventing the loss of property values, and; maintaining natural systems. The goals of Executive Orders 11988 and 11990 will be met. All wetlands will be protected through design features which conform to Executive Order 11990. 
 
Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Executive Order 13186 – This action will comply with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This project may result in an “unintentional take” of individuals during proposed activities; however, the project complies with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director’s Order #131 related to the applicability of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to federal agencies and requirements for permits for “take”. This project complies with Executive Order 13186 because the analysis meets agency obligations as defined under the January 16, 2001 Memorandum of Understanding between the Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designed to complement Executive Order 13186. 
 
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 - The Forest Service conducted an intensive cultural site survey of the project area. Results of the survey were documented in the Cultural Resource Report (see project record),. In a letter dated November 1, 2012, the California State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) concurred with the no adverse effect to Historic Properties and potentially eligible resources determination. This action will not have any direct or indirect effects on historically significant sites if the design features incorporated into the selected action are followed. 
 
2001 Roadless Rule - When developing the treatment proposal in the Inventoried Roadless Areas of the project, the Forest Service followed the direction outlined in the August 18, 2008, memorandum from the Chief of the Forest Service. The project was also reviewed for consistency by the Regional Forester as per the direction from the Chief dated June 8, 2012. Documentation of the Regional Forester’s review for consistency is available in the project file.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/72379_FSPLT3_1424480.pdf

The Left never gets it right

but sometimes the Right doesn't either. The very first people I heard politicizing the California wildfires were the conservative talkers on radio. Now, maybe that's because I don't watch the MSM, but I think they jumped in first on Monday, without naming names, designating parties, or blaming anyone. They simply pointed out the difference between the Katrina rescue efforts (local Democrats) and the California rescue efforts (local Republicans). By the time I heard the lefties, they were off-topic and screaming global warming (Bush's fault) even though 1936 was a much hotter year with worse fires and environmental regulations have made the state a tinderbox, and not enough resources (War in Iraq, also Bush's fault) even though Schwarzenegger all but called Barbara Boxer and her bag ladies liars and alarmists.

Then Nancy Pelosi looked like she had a heart of ice and a freshly botoxed face in explaining why she just had to ram through another SCHIP bill while the California people had gone home to check out the situation. Bush actually took longer to go out to look than he did in Louisiana (remember, until the levees broke after the hurricane, people thought they had escaped the BIG one) and Blanco didn't call for help from the feds until it was way too late. (Must be a woman thing.) Two years and billions of dollars later, Katrina's devastation has shown the total incompetency of Nagin and Blanco, not George Bush or FEMA, with the only bright spot being Bobby Jindal's election.

Then today a letter writer to USAToday smugly says: "Did the residents of Southern California benefit from their economic status and race?" Actually, she's on to something, because the Democrats in New Orleans had so demoralized and weakened its poor black population with government handouts and a soaring crime rate over the years, they couldn't even help themselves. Middle-class, educated NOLAns, black and white, didn't have a problem getting out and fleeing to Texas, Ohio or Calfornia. People who are accustomed to looking after themselves and their neighbors know how to take action. When it's too smokey to breathe, or someone drives through the neighborhood telling them to leave, I'm sure a certain amount of learned self-interest goes a long way. It's a shame that buses were swamped in New Orleans that should have transported the poor, but that doesn't make people driving SUVs down a burning hillside more fortunate because of their income or color.