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Botany

(70,447 posts)
Tue Dec 16, 2014, 08:35 PM Dec 2014

What the President just did:

Source: Sec. of Interior Sally Jewell

Just now, the President took action to protect a place called Bristol Bay, Alaska. Here's why that matters:

It places a national treasure -- and one of the nation's most productive fisheries -- off limits for oil and gas leasing. Alaskans have been fighting to preserve Bristol Bay for decades. Today, we got it done.

Bristol Bay helps to produce 40 percent of America's wild-caught seafood each year. It supports $2 billion every year in commercial fishing, and supports good jobs in sport-fishing and tourism.

These waters are beautiful and valuable, and today's action will ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy their bounty.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/12/16/5-things-you-need-know-about-alaskas-bristol-bay?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email406-text1&utm_campaign=environment

Read more: mass email



This is very good news! Use your executive powers Mr. President.

Now if this helps to stop "The Pebble Mine Project" all the better

http://www.savebristolbay.org/about-the-bay/about-pebble-mine



Dear Republicans if you don't like this action please take it up w/this Bristol Bay "lobbyist."

39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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What the President just did: (Original Post) Botany Dec 2014 OP
It looks like a beautiful place that I would love to visit Bjorn Against Dec 2014 #1
we used to fly fish out of there on airplanes. It is a wondrous place. A really untamed place. roguevalley Dec 2014 #9
I use to visit with a friend of mine. fasttense Dec 2014 #30
Surely a republican president would do this? not NoJusticeNoPeace Dec 2014 #2
Don't call us Shirley - but back on point, these designations have indeed been made by presidents 24601 Dec 2014 #14
"No drill, baby, no drill" TheCowsCameHome Dec 2014 #3
Gorgeous photo, much-needed action. Unfortunately, if a Presidential Memorandum is anything like... Hekate Dec 2014 #4
I have given a little money to stopping the Pebble Mine and this is a very good start. Botany Dec 2014 #5
Kick for cool photos lovemydog Dec 2014 #6
I'm liking my unleashed president madokie Dec 2014 #7
Indeed. More details here: freshwest Dec 2014 #11
Thank you freshwest! sheshe2 Dec 2014 #26
as am i! power to hopemountain Dec 2014 #18
Thank you Mr. President! Scuba Dec 2014 #8
I've visited Alaska. It was the best vacation I've ever been on. C Moon Dec 2014 #10
Thanks for the great thread and magnificent photos! Good news! freshwest Dec 2014 #12
GOOD! hatrack Dec 2014 #13
That's beautiful. jtuck004 Dec 2014 #15
I've been following it too locks Dec 2014 #16
Thank you, Botany! Is the Bear pic a photo or a painting?! It looks so stunning and surreal.. Cha Dec 2014 #17
Hi Cha! I can feel Your heart smiling! Mine is also! hue Dec 2014 #20
That's a sweet way to put it, hue! Do you know if that's a pic or painting? Cha Dec 2014 #21
Really great news!! So much THANKS President Obama! hue Dec 2014 #19
K & R SunSeeker Dec 2014 #22
I wish Tom Corbett thought of that before he turned over PA State Game lands to the Oil Industry LynneSin Dec 2014 #23
Excellent. This is the only way he can do anything worthwhile in the next couple of years eridani Dec 2014 #24
KIck.. Mahalo Again, Botany! Cha Dec 2014 #25
Rec! progressoid Dec 2014 #27
Sarah just lost a few more hairs. LuvLoogie Dec 2014 #28
Snow Snookie is going to explode SnowCritter Dec 2014 #31
Beautiful pictures JustAnotherGen Dec 2014 #29
This is very good news. Thank you, Mr. President. greatlaurel Dec 2014 #32
Beautiful!..Thanks Mr. Prez! whathehell Dec 2014 #33
This is outstanding news. MBS Dec 2014 #34
So - No more drilling of Bristol Palin in Alaska. staggerleem Dec 2014 #35
Thank you, Mr. President! stage left Dec 2014 #36
I worked as a commercial fisherman in Alaska in '89, the year of the Exxon Valdez spill... yurbud Dec 2014 #37
Thanks for the new wallpaper. Hooray for Bristol Bay!! Elmer S. E. Dump Dec 2014 #38
Thank you, Mr. President! Faryn Balyncd Dec 2014 #39

Bjorn Against

(12,041 posts)
1. It looks like a beautiful place that I would love to visit
Tue Dec 16, 2014, 08:41 PM
Dec 2014

Somehow I don't think oil wells would improve the scenery however.

roguevalley

(40,656 posts)
9. we used to fly fish out of there on airplanes. It is a wondrous place. A really untamed place.
Tue Dec 16, 2014, 09:40 PM
Dec 2014

this is good news. F the Pebble Mine. Thanks Botany.

 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
30. I use to visit with a friend of mine.
Wed Dec 17, 2014, 09:26 AM
Dec 2014

He loved to fish and I loved the wilderness, though I tried my hand at fishing too.

But those were the days when I had a decent paying job. I could afford to fly in for a short vacation. Now I can barely afford to eat fish let alone to try and catch it in a pristine wilderness. I'm glad it is saved from destruction by the corporations...for now.

The protection of the area is just temporary though, until some corporation can convince a president to let them use it. Maybe the Dubai royal family will buy it up for a hunting preserve like they did in Tanzania. That would make the area slightly more protected. At least royal families have the money to hire huge amounts of lawyers to protect their purchases. (When feudalism and capitalism get together they act like kissing cousins).

Too bad I wont ever see it again due to such a very shitty economy.

Hekate

(90,556 posts)
4. Gorgeous photo, much-needed action. Unfortunately, if a Presidential Memorandum is anything like...
Tue Dec 16, 2014, 08:49 PM
Dec 2014

... an Executive Order, it is nonbinding on the next POTUS. If Jebbie or Ted Cruz is elected, they will overturn all of President Obama's painstakingly-wrought Executive Orders asap.

For the millionth time, it is imperative we elect a Democrat and give him/her a Congress that will work with him/her.

Kudos to this POTUS for at least paving the way and lighting it brightly.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
11. Indeed. More details here:
Tue Dec 16, 2014, 09:51 PM
Dec 2014
President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum protecting Bristol Bay, Alaska

Things You Need to Know About Alaska's Bristol Bay


1. Bristol Bay provides 40 percent of America's wild-caught seafood.
Bristol Bay is one of the world's most valuable fisheries, providing 40 percent of America's seafood and supporting up to $2 billion in commercial fishing every year.

2. Bristol Bay hosts one of the world's largest wild salmon runs. While remote, this area is also an economic engine for tourism in Alaska. Bristol Bay drives $100 million in recreational fishing and tourism activity every year.

3. Bristol Bay is home to multiple threatened species. Bristol Bay provides important habitat for many species, including the threatened Stellar's eider, sea otters, seals, walruses, Beluga and Killer whales, and the endangered North Pacific Right Whale.

4. The President's action protects millions of acres from drilling. The North Aleutian Basin Planning Area that includes Bristol Bay consists of about 32.5 million acres. The previous Administration set in motion a new lease sale for 2011 that would have opened approximately 5.6 million acres -- about one-fifth of the planning area -- for drilling. In 2010, President Obama temporarily withdrew the Bristol Bay area from oil and gas development, and today's action extends that protection indefinitely.

5. President Obama is not the only president to use his executive authority to protect lands. The President issues his temporary withdrawal in 2010 using his authority under section 12 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives the president authority to withdraw offshore areas from potential oil and gas leasing. President Eisenhower was the first to exercise the authority in 1960, withdrawing an area now included in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Since then, presidents on both sides of the aisle have acted to withdraw areas of the Outer Continental Shelf from oil and gas leasing.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/12/16/5-things-you-need-know-about-alaska-s-bristol-bay

to merryblooms:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025969300

eridani

(51,907 posts)
24. Excellent. This is the only way he can do anything worthwhile in the next couple of years
Wed Dec 17, 2014, 12:14 AM
Dec 2014

hope he takes advantage of it.

SnowCritter

(810 posts)
31. Snow Snookie is going to explode
Wed Dec 17, 2014, 10:18 AM
Dec 2014

She's gotta say something to denigrate the President's decision, but what?

I don't think she's going to be able to help herself. I'm expecting some sort of "word salad" from her.

greatlaurel

(2,004 posts)
32. This is very good news. Thank you, Mr. President.
Wed Dec 17, 2014, 10:34 AM
Dec 2014

This is a very important area to protect. Unexpected good news.

yurbud

(39,405 posts)
37. I worked as a commercial fisherman in Alaska in '89, the year of the Exxon Valdez spill...
Wed Dec 17, 2014, 05:49 PM
Dec 2014

so this means a lot to me.

It's hard for us in the Lower 48 to wrap our brains around how big Alaska is, and even harder to imagine that extraction industries can damage some place so big--but they can and have.

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