Page 8 - Sonoma County Gazette Juy 2019

Coastal Commission Sets July 10 Public Hearing on “Poison Drop” in Farallones National Marine Sanctuary this Fall
By Richard Charter, , The Ocean Foundation
The California Coastal Commission posted notice of their upcoming
public hearing on the Trump Administration’s proposed helicopter dispersal of 1.5 tons of poison bait pellets in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary off of Marin and San Francisco this fall.
OPINION: “DOCUMENTED” by Terrie Kully
“WE” as Americans, own a most unique set of documents. These documents are the personal property of EVERY one of “US”!
Abandoned by the Obama Administration in 2013 as being too risky to the Sanctuary and a threat to adjacent fragile coastal ecosystems, while also posing unnecessary danger to non-target species, the poison drop proposal here has recently been revived by federal officials, who are now pushing the Coastal Commission to find their plan to be “consistent” with California’s Coastal Plan.
Let’s get all of these together and start troubleshooting our current administrative situation, using the documents as the “rules”, and the Mueller report as the evidence of wrongdoing,.. or not , ”High crimes and misdemeanors”, as it were.
“The millions of citizens working to protect this treasured National Marine Sanctuary are counting on our Coastal Commissioners to ensure that the Wildlife Service instead comes up with a more precautionary approach than random airborne dispersal of dangerous poisons that needlessly kill and sicken harmless wildlife while becoming more concentrated throughout the predator food chain.” said Richard Charter of Bodega Bay, Senior Fellow with The Ocean Foundation and an appointed member of NOAA’s regional advisory council that helps to guide policies for the marine sanctuary.
I am not working to influence your’ opinion, only to influence you to use
our wealth of documents to decide for yourself, and to encourage public discussion and debate on the subject. Because there are real time constraints for congressional action, and therefore your time to inform your congressional representative of your findings in the matter, let me begin here and now by sharing one of my personal favorites; Benjamin Franklin’s speech at the end of the Continental Congress on September 17th, 1787.
The Wildlife Service asserts that burrowing owls from Marin pose a threat to Ashy Storm Petrels, a seabird that frequents the islands, but the same agency has also declined petitions to list the Ashy Storm Petrel as at risk under the Endangered Species Act, noting that their population is on the increase. The Wildlife Service is now claiming that not one single poison pellet will reach the water and that killing every single one of the islands’ house mice – accidentally introduced during the Gold Rush - using a slow- acting poison, represents the only way to discourage the small number of burrowing owls (6-8) from being attracted from Marin’s coastal headlands to feed on the mice.
“Mr. President, I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present but; Sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it; for, having
lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or or fuller consideration, to change my opinion even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.
The poisons being proposed are the subject of increased scientific scrutiny because of non-target wildlife disasters during similar air drops on island locations elsewhere.
But, though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as that of their Sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French Lady, who, in a little dispute with her sister, said, ”I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right.”
The State of California has outlawed retail sale of the same toxic compounds due to the unintended damage they inflict on mountain lions, bobcats, an iconic mammal called the Pacific Fisher, and in terrestrial urban interface locations, dangers to pets and children.
In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there
is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people, if well administered; and I believe, farther, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as others have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.
Legislation limiting their use is now moving through the California State Legislature. Some within the Wildlife Service admit that large numbers of gulls ingesting the poison pellets offshore during a helicopter drop this fall could return to die in mainland locations they frequent, such as at Fishermen’s Wharf. Any accidental wind- or wave-borne discharges of the poison into the ocean pose a contamination hazard to fish, crabs, and abalone.
I doubt, too, whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better constitution; for, when you assemble a number of men, who have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?
Public comments on this marine sanctuary poisoning proposal should be promptly directed to:
EORFC@coastal.ca.gov and identified with agenda item, number W14a. 8 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 7/19
OPED: DOCUMENTED cont’d on page 9
Together they tell the who, what, when, where, why, and how of our country. While most of us are familiar with a few of these documents, not all of us are as familiar with all of them as “WE” might be.
This controversial poisoning plan by the US Fish and Wildlife Service will be considered at a hearing of the Coastal Commission to be held on July 10 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obisp. Written public comments are now being taken by the Commission at EORFC@coastal.ca.gov
A Patriots’ Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories, and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love ; selected and introduced by Caroline Kennedy ( Hyperion Press ) is indispensable to me, and I recommend it to everyone I talk to.
Speaking for myself, I could stand to be much more familiar with all of them. The Declaration of Independence; the Bill of Rights; The Constitution; The Federalist Papers. Add to these the farewell address of George Washington, Benjamin Franklins’ speech at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and there are so many more.
Since there are no pearls of wisdom that a modestly educated person like myself can add to these remarkably insightful tracts, I will begin this public “discussion” by simply sharing them in this public space, and encouraging everyone to join in. Perhaps there are thousands of you out there who will decide to write to this wonderful publication, and share your thoughts with your’ fellow citizens!!!..
All of this information is public, and can be found either in print, or online. One of my favorite online sources is : American History from Revolution to Reconstruction and Beyond.....there are many other great U.S History sights to explore, and the Mueller Report is available as a download.
It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgement of others.
Most men, indeed, as well as most sects in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope, that “the only difference between our two churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrine is, the Romish Church is infallible, the Church of England is never in the wrong.”