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bLoG oF fURy oNe:What ever happened to that dude with the crow?

7/24/2013

4 Comments

 
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Things are slow. If, that is, you are a Yanomami still undiscovered in the rainforest. Otherwise, you're being spied on, and the bombs are dropping on people and the Great Barrier Reef, and, well...it goes on and on- total insanity. But to be an effective activist, a real change agent, you have to stay upbeat. Somehow. And one good way I have found is to work on ocean issues. And music. And poetry. And make jokes!! Here's a good one- I was eating at a resteraunt tonite in Los Osos, at the 10th street grill. Good food good folks. But a group of ladies were at the bar talking about the new royal baby. About his li'l hand moved like this, and they held up their hands and did like this ***  Oh god it was too much for me. I had just heard Pelosi voted to let the NSA keep my e mails. Could not take any more. So I said, just loud enough to be heard..."Did you hear they made the baby go back to the hospital?"

Many gasps**

With a very big 'O' on their mouths, one asked, "Why?"

"Having trouble breathing" I said.

Place got real real quiet real fast.

Man that was funny! I mean, the planet's the wrong temperature, you knumbskulls!

Is that the way you spell knumbskulls? Is it with the K in the beginning like that? I always thought it should be. Hey this website is going to be pretty tame but I simply refuse to let the blog be. No way jose. It's the bLoG oF fURy!

with respect

joey racano 
4 Comments
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    Author

    Here it is, my blog of fury.
    Huh?
    Me, you know, JOEY.
    Joey WHO?

    ME darnit, joey Racano!

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Dedicated to activists the world over- victory for the whales!

Message received from Phil Kline, Senior Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace, USA: “What an unstoppable force captured in a photo, GP, SS, Joey - Congrats on a huge victory! Our oceans and everyone who loves them thank you all and so do I.”


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CA Coastal Commission Denies PG&E Seismic Testing Permit Great Whale Conservancy Applauds California Coastal Commission Decision!

By Gershon Cohen

On November 15th, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to deny a permit to Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to conduct seismic testing off the coast of California near the Diablo Canyon and San Onofre nuclear power facilities.

Both facilities were approaching relicensing deadlines, and a recently passed California law requires more analysis of the fault lines located near the remaining plant, both having been built in seismically active areas in the 1970 -1980’s.  While several options exist for conducting the sea-floor mapping analysis, PG&E proposed dragging an array of 18 air canons below the surface and emitting blasts of 250dB every 20 seconds for 42 days. 

The company’s proposal acknowledged there would be hundreds of “takes” of marine mammals during the testing procedure, which would be used to map the fault lines a few miles off-shore from the nuclear facilities.  “Takes,” as described by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, are anything from an annoyance that alters the behavior of the animal to more serious impacts and even death.  Given the size and repetitive nature of the blasts, there was a significant chance that many whales and other marine mammals would have been killed from ruptured eardrums.  They would almost certainly have been driven from the area, which at minimum would have forced them to leave critical feeding areas as winter approaches.  It was also acknowledged by the company that there could be a serious impact on local fish stocks.

A coalition of local citizens who love and respect these magnificent animals, along with fisherman, tourism companies, and civic leaders led by an ad hoc steering group formed by Joey Racano of Avila Beach, (see the Facebook page “stop the diablo canyon seismic testing”) held numerous meetings and actions to get people to write letters and testify in person as the issue was debated by State agencies.  GWC offered to help, and in October we went to Avila Beach with Mz Blue (see photo) to help Joey and his group educate and motivate the public to get involved. 


On November 15th, the California Coastal Commission met to review the application.  With hundreds of people in the room and thousands of letters in hand, the Commission voted unanimously to deny the permit!  It was a remarkable victory over the biggest energy utility corporation in California.

Our sincere thanks to Joey Racano and his team in California and everyone else who participated in this wonderful effort.  Stay tuned to our website www.greatwhaleconservancy.org and Facebook page (greatwhaleconservancy) for updates on this issue, and many other matters of importance regarding the protection of great whales and other marine mammals around the world.

Gershon Cohen PhD
Co-Director, GWC