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Index of Subjects This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_442F_01D01543.D9CAC0C0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi Rick & All, I am baffled by the notion that discussion might not be useful.=20 No doubt it is not possible to flick a switch and correct such = problems. But why avoid discussion ?=20 One rather large hydra has as usual many heads but only one body; a = civil service which has become threadbare as a result of attrition and, = in some cases, never furnished with the necessary resources to do the = mandated job in the first place; a large number of electric motors with = the copper windings removed and sold for scrap. =20 Battles are now lost on a regular basis all for the want of a = horseshoe nail and/or an ounce of common sense and the updating of = regulations that have long since passed their best before date. Amherst, due to public pressure, turned down $500,000 for disposal = of fracking water after being purified to drinking water standards. Why = ? Largely because the public is rightly skeptical of industry = assurances. Without government funded science, which is absolutely free = of any pressure and consequently able to act as a reliable way to = confirm or reject assurances by industry one can expect mob rule, = informed by misinformation, to become commonplace. And this can only = lead to economically destructive decisions. In any case, a back of envelope calculation showed the potential = dilution to be astronomical so there should never have been a fuss. But = when democracy is used to establish the value of pi then 21 people who = prefer 3 will beat 20 who say it is about 3.14159. The same considerations apply to the Alton gas storage project now = stalled, partly because there is a concern about adding Sodium to the = ocean. Huh ?? If the company were to release their water, following the = schedule which they propose, I really don't understand how there could = be a problem. If done by instant feedback, mixing and release or = shutdown could be automated. Once again, objective oversight by = government funded science would avoid these foolish and destructive = shouting matches.=20 About 10 years ago someone on the South Shore developed a way to = trap and use a truly invasive species of crab (Green crab I think and = used for Lobster bait) .He was fined for fishing Green Crabs without a = licence and lost his means of earning a living when he should have been = given some reward. But by the same agency he was denied a licence = because it was not an established fishery so they could not issue one. A = trace of common sense in the enforcement of regulations would = predictably lead to better outcomes. Some years ago the fur industry sleep walked into a Phosphate = pollution problem. This could never have happened if anyone involved in = advising this industry had known the first thing about the behavior of = Phosphate in soil and in waterways. After more than a decade I am not = sure that the "problem" has yet been solved. There is no substitute for = direct access to lab resources as opposed to reading the 'how to do it' = guide, often written by someone who has never done it. The only really = reliable teacher is ground truth. And, finally, on a personal level, a sad story of a stalled = transaction which shows how we are heading. When I bought a woodlot in = 1971 the widow who was selling it had never seen it so I had to make a = few phone calls one evening to find someone who could tell me how to = find it, I searched the title back 100 years and this took about an hour = plus a nominal fee. She arranged for someone to walk the lines with me = and within a week I had the deed, registered for a nominal fee, and she = had her money.=20 I received and accepted an offer to sell that lot on Aug 7 of this = year. The buyer had cash set aside and was ready to fork it over. But it = is still stalled in Migration. And cost of migration will likely exceed = the initial cost by a wide margin. The familiar problem; set up a = gold-plated system, provide inadequate resources to administer it and = let the public be dammed. Shortly after I bought the North Alton woodlot in 1981 I checked the = ownership of one adjacent lot on an orthophoto map at some county = planning office and noticed that my lot had the name of someone who had = never owned it. When I asked to have the name corrected I was told that = they could not correct it because funds for that program had been cut = and not to worry because their maps don't mean anything anyway. =20 End of rant for now. DW "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey" Oliver Goldsmith =20 =20 =20 ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Rick Whitman=20 To: naturens=20 Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2014 7:16 AM Subject: [NatureNS] Canada's position on at-risk species = 'unprecedented' = http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1256985-canada's-position-on-at-r= isk-species-'unprecedented' Perhaps this should just be read on its own merit. You may draw your = own conclusions. Discussion here might not be useful. Best, Rick Whitman No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2015.0.5577 / Virus Database: 4235/8712 - Release Date: = 12/10/14 ------=_NextPart_000_442F_01D01543.D9CAC0C0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" = http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META name=3DGENERATOR content=3D"MSHTML 8.00.6001.23588"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV>Hi Rick & All,</DIV> <DIV> I am baffled by the notion that discussion might = not be=20 useful. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> No doubt it is not possible to flick a switch = and=20 correct such problems. But why avoid discussion ? </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> One rather large hydra has as usual = many heads=20 but only one body; a civil service which has become threadbare as a = result=20 of attrition and, in some cases, never furnished with the necessary = resources to=20 do the mandated job in the first place; a large number of electric = motors with=20 the copper windings removed and sold for scrap. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> Battles are now lost on a regular = basis all=20 for the want of a horseshoe nail and/or an ounce of common sense and the = updating of regulations that have long since passed their best before=20 date.</DIV> <DIV>&nb