BATTLING FOR THE FUTURE - One Small But Important Victory [and] Something Interesting at the Hot Springs

In our "Open Veins of Latin America - The Latest Chapter" post, from the 7th of this month, we examined the struggles of the Peruvian Indigenous people in the Amazonian rain forest area of that country. GOOD NEWS FROM THERE! They have temporarily won their struggle to save their homeland from destruction, and have helped humanity as a whole as well. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/06/19

Peru Indians Hail 'Historic' Day

Indigenous groups in Peru have called off protests after two land laws which led to deadly fighting were revoked.

Natives armed with spears set a roadblock at the entrance of the Amazonian town of Yurimaguas, northern Peru, on June 10, 2009. Peru's Congress on Thursday revoked two controversial decrees on land ownership in the Amazon river basin which triggered protests by indigenous groups that left at least 34 people dead in early June.(AFP/File/Ernesto Benavides)

Hailing victory, Amazonian Indian groups said it was an "historic day".

At least 34 people died during weeks of strikes against the legislation, which allowed foreign companies to exploit resources in the Amazon forest.

The violence provoked tension with Peru's neighbour, Bolivia, where Preisdent Evo Morales backed the Peruvian Indians' tribal rights.

"This is a historic day for indigenous people because it shows that our demands and our battles were just," said Daysi Zapata, vice president of the Amazon Indian confederation that led the protests.

She urged fellow activists to end their action by lifting blockades of jungle rivers and roads set up since April across six provinces in the Peruvian Amazon.

The controversial laws, passed to implement a free trade agreement with the US, were revoked by Peru's Congress by a margin of 82-12 after a five-hour debate.

Diplomatic dispute
The worst of the clashes occurred on 5 June when police tried to clear roadblocks set up by the groups at Bagua, 1,000km (600 miles) north of Lima.

At least 30 civilians died, according to Indian groups, as well as 23 police.

Peru's Prime Minister Yehude Simon said the reversal of policy would not put at risk Peru's free trade agreement with the US, but he has said he will step down once the dispute is settled.
The dispute led to a diplomatic row between Peru and Latin American neighbours Venezuela and Bolivia.

Peru recalled its ambassador to Bolivia for consultation on Tuesday after Bolivian President Evo Morales described the deaths of the indigenous protesters as a genocide caused by free trade.
Peru's Foreign Minister Jose Antonia Garcia Belaunde called Mr Morales an "enemy of Peru".
BBC © MMIX

And, as this article shows, http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/24-4, it is widely recognized just how important these people's struggle is, and what is at stake. Naturally, you heard about it here at A.P.R. first! We will continue to follow this important story, and keep you apprised of any future developments.

Something to ponder though, this victory against the forces of greed and environmental destruction was not won by writing or calling politicians, or at the ballot box. But through direct action, by people risking everything, for something they believed in. Just as all struggles for peace, social/environmental/political justice, and civil/human rights have been, over the past few centuries.

Here in the U.S.A., another important struggle is occurring in Appalachia, being waged by mining corporations with support of state and federal governments, against the environment, and the people living in that region. This is the fight to continue the incredibly destructive and short-sighted practice called "MOUNTAIN-TOP REMOVAL". A method of removing shallow seams of coal by blasting away entire tops of hills and mountains to access the coal seams, and filling in adjacent valleys with the rubble. The pictures and stories of the devastation are incredible, all done to deliver just 7 percent of the U.S.'s yearly coal needs for power generation. Thousands of tons of dynamite and ammonium nitrate explosives are used daily, mainly in West Virginia, in this process. The article below comes from acclaimed climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, who was one of the first researchers to start highlighting the perils of increasing CO2 and methane atmospheric levels, due to fossil fuel combustion.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/23-10

A Plea To President Obama: End Mountaintop Coal Mining

Tighter restrictions on mountaintop removal mining are simply not enough. Instead, a leading climate scientist argues, the Obama administration must prohibit this destructive practice, which is devastating vast stretches of Appalachia.

by James Hansen

President Obama speaks of “a planet in peril.” The president and the brilliant people he appointed in energy and science know that we must move rapidly to carbon-free energy to avoid handing our children a planet that has passed climate tipping points.The science is clear. Burning all fossil fuels will destroy the future of young people and the unborn. And the fossil fuel that we must stop burning is coal. Coal is the critical issue. Coal is the main cause of climate change. It is also the dirtiest fossil fuel — air pollution, arsenic, and mercury from coal have devastating effects on human health and cause birth defects.

We must make clear that we the people want a move toward a rapid phase-out of coal emissions now.

Recently, the administration unveiled its new position on mountaintop coal mining and set out a number of new restrictions on the practice in six Appalachian states. These new rules will require tougher environmental review before blowing up mountains. But it’s a minimal step.The Obama administration is being forced into a political compromise. It has sacrificed a strong position on mountaintop removal in order to ensure the support of coal-state legislators for a climate bill. The political pressures are very real. But this is an approach to coal that defeats the purpose of the administration’s larger efforts to fight climate change, a sad political bargain that will never get us the change we need on mountaintop removal, coal or the climate. Coal is the linchpin in mitigating global warming, and it’s senseless to allow cheap mountaintop-removal coal while the administration is simultaneously seeking policies to boost renewable energy.Mountaintop removal, which provides a mere 7 percent of the nation’s coal, is done by clear-cutting forests, blowing the tops off of mountains, and then dumping the debris into streambeds — an undeniably catastrophic way of mining.

This technique has buried more than 800 miles of Appalachian streams in mining debris and by 2012 will have serious damaged or destroyed an area larger than Delaware. Mountaintop removal also poisons water supplies and pollutes the air with coal and rock dust. Coal ash piles are so toxic and unstable that the Department of Homeland Security has declared that the location of the nation’s 44 most hazardous coal ash sites must be kept secret. They fear terrorists will find ways to spill the toxic substances. But storms and heavy rain can do the same. A recent collapse in Tennessee released 100 times more hazardous material than the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. If the Obama administration is unwilling or unable to stop the massive environmental destruction of historic mountain ranges and essential drinking water for a relatively tiny amount of coal, can we honestly believe they will be able to phase out coal emissions at the level necessary to stop climate change? The issue of mountaintop removal is so important that I and others concerned about this problem will engage in an act of civil disobedience on June 23rd at a mountaintop removal site in Coal River Valley, West Virginia. [Dr. Hansen was arrested there that day! eds.]

Experts agree that energy efficiency and carbon-free energies can satisfy our energy needs. Coal left in the ground is useful. It holds up the mountains, which, left intact, are an ideal site for wind energy. In contrast, mountaintop removal and strip mining of coal is a shameful abomination. Mining jobs have shrunk to a small fraction of past levels. With clean energy, there could be far more, green-energy jobs, and the government could support the retraining of miners, to a brighter, cleaner future.Politicians may have to make concessions on what is right for what is winnable. But as a scientist and a citizen, I believe the right course is very clear: The climate crisis demands a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants that do not capture and safely dispose of all emissions. And mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be permanently prohibited.

President Obama remains the best hope, perhaps the only hope, for real change. If the president uses his influence, his eloquence, and his bully pulpit, he could be the agent of real change. But he does need our help to overcome the political realities of compromise.We must make clear to Congress, to the EPA, and to the Obama administration that we the people want mountaintop removal abolished and we want a move toward a rapid phase-out of coal emissions now. The time for half measures and caving in to polluting industries is over. It is time for citizens to demand — yes, we can.
© 2009 Environment 360 (Yale)

Dr. James Hansen is director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and adjunct professor in the department of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University. He was the first scientist to warn the US Congress of the dangers of climate change and writes here as a private citizen.

It goes without saying that we here at A.P.R. fully support the struggles of the people of Appalachia to save their land from destruction. Dr. Hansen, and actress Darryl Hannah, along with dozens of other people, were arrested in direct-action protests two days ago, while blockading a road near a new mountain-top removal site. We are right there with you! What will future generations think, when they see this kind of devastation?

Here in Fairbanks, Alaska, our local power company, Golden Valley Electrical Association (GVEA - a non-profit cooperative!), generates electricity by burning lignite coal (a relatively dirty, low-grade variety). Which comes from the Alaska Range foothills near Healy, 70 miles south of Fairbanks. We at A.P.R. think this is frankly disgusting, for numerous reasons.

One, coal burning is terribly polluting, heavy metals and contaminants in the ash rain out from the plumes, and get into the water supply, as well into people's lungs.

Two, the mining of it, whether through conventional strip-mining (as is done in Healy), or mountain-top removal, is incredibly destructive.

Three, Fairbanks sits in the very large Tanana River Valley, in the Alaska Interior. Colder air in the months from October through March settles into the valley, forming extremely strong, stable, temperature inversions. Which act as a lid, preventing the dispersion of pollutants, holding them in. The picture above shows a late October view from the University of Alaska, looking out over the valley. Two coal-fired power plant plumes are visible, one from the Univ. power station, the other from the larger GVEA plant. These are right in the middle of the population of Fairbanks! All the contaminants from this dirty coal are pumping into the airshed where 80,000 + people live. And when the temperature inversions are very strong, as in November-March, when it is very cold, more coal is burned, to produce the electricity people need for heating, etc.. The emissions of which then settle in over the city, sometimes creating ice fog, as seen below, when temperatures drop to -30 F or lower.

Ice fog does make for some interesting and beautiful optical effects, and some of it is from the thousands of home furnaces and cars. But the coal-fired power plant components are surely the most dirty and dangerous.

This is primarily why our A.P.R. Chena Ridge Research Centre is located 500 feet above, and 10 km west of the city. To always be above this unhealthy brew, in the warmer (during winter), cleaner air.

Something Interesting at the Hot Springs

Chena Hot Springs is one of the favorite places for everyone living around Fairbanks to take visitors for a soak in the relaxing warm waters, especially in the winter. And, after a marathon, fast-pack, or long ski outing, nothing better than a visit out there to soak some tired muscles.

But something interesting is going on at Chena Hot Springs.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4245896.html

The owner, Bernie Karls, has for some years now, been engaged in serious efforts to develop the geothermal power potential there. Not just to make the resort self-sufficient, but to export power for use in Fairbanks, as well as even generate hydrogen gas. This provides great hope for the future for green energy production and use in Alaska.

However, the fossil fuel industries, oil, coal, and natural gas, are very powerful forces in Alaska politics. And so Mr. Karl's efforts have not been getting the full governmental support and assistance they should, to expedite his efforts to generate and export clean, geothermally-derived electricity. We'll look at the status of these efforts out at Chena Hot Springs, in a future article. Cheers.

KAHILTNA DREAMING

As most of you know, my other job, which funds the Chena Ridge Research Centre, allowing the A.P.R. to continue bringing you the most up to date, incisive socio-political and environmental news and commentary, has travel occasionally involved.


It was my privelege to be allowed to travel last week with one of my colleagues to the climbing Base Camp of Denali, the highest peak in North America, at 20,320 feet, in Denali National Park. Our purpose, as meteorologists for the federal government, was to interact with the climbers present, and the National Park Service rangers, to see if their forecasting needs were being met. To see if there were any significant problems with our forecasting (the NWS prepares a climbing forecast twice-daily for Denali in the late April-mid July peak climbing season), obtain suggestions for improvement, and conduct a site survey, examining and calibrating their weather instruments. All these goals were met, and informative and valuable interactions occurred, making the trip a success on those counts. But that is incidental to this story.
I want to just describe this amazing place, which is unique in the World, and which is still gripping my daily reality. A place I will never forget, and to which I will be returning, several times, since a Denali summit is planned year after next.


The only way in to the Kahiltna glacier, in summer, which the Base Camp sits on the southeast spur of, at 7200 feet, is by ski-plane, from the climbing base town of Talkeetna, 50 miles southeast of Denali National Park. This is the 1961 De Havilland Beaver, which took us over from Talkeetna. One could ski in, in winter, on a several day traverse, when the rivers and swamps are frozen, which would be a tempting option next March or April, when days are longer, and temperatures a little warmer than in January or February. Something we would like to do, since Mattie would be able to accompany me, and whoever else was able to go.


For now though, our short plane ride only took 35 minutes over the wide Susitna River, the swampy taiga beyond, then the foothills, and finally over the 6000-10000 foot spurs of the Denali massif, separated by glaciers in the valleys. We landed in camp at noon, under a bright sunny sky, with a nearly unprecedented 42 degree F temperature.


Base Camp is a collection of four rigid-frame shelters occupied by the National Park Service climbing rangers, and employees of the aviation services in Talkeetna, who coordinate the drop-offs and pick-ups of the dozens of climbers daily, from Talkeetna. Most climbers usually spend a night there before beginning their ascent process (which involves hauling supplies successively higher, to different camps, before the actual ascent), and there are sometimes mountaineering classes present as well (I will be in one of those there next year). So, there can be dozens of people camped there at any given time. To keep the area clean, CMC's (clean mountain cans) are used. You have to sit on these for your solid wastes, it is a plastic bucket with a lid and bag inside. These biodegradable bags are disposed of in deep crevasses.


Here a 12 day mountaineering course (the one my friend Erik Hursh and I will be taking next year) sets out on the most popular and least strenuous West Buttress climbing route (in green, on map, above), for different tasks and lessons.

This is Chris Erikson, one of the NPS climbing rangers. He was nothing but helpful and professional, as he went about his busy day answering questions from climbers, interacting with us, and collaborating in two incidents (more on these later). They have our greatest admiration in their duties of assisting climbers, sometimes in extremely adverse conditions, when problems arise.

Chris began his mountaineering growing up in Oregon and summiting all the Cascade volcanoes, and worked his way up from there. These are highly sought-after jobs, and only extremely skilled, courageous mountaineers are selected, and receive extensive training in trauma and high altitude emergency medicine. He and a volunteer assistant remain in Base Camp on 21 day assignments, while another ranger works at the 14,200 foot camp, on the West Buttress trail. There are others also standing by at the ranger station in Talkeetna, with a helicopter, in case a complicated rescue situtation occurs. They can only provide assistance though that does not pose undue hazards to themselves, which is why summitting Denali, especially on more difficult routes, is not something to be taken lightly, without extensive planning and preparation.

So what makes this area so unique? Well, for starters, the terrain. The vertical relief of Denali, from the 7200 feet Base Camp, to it's summit at 20,320 feet, is 1000 feet greater than Everest's, from it's climbing base to it's summit. This is 17,450 ft. Mt. Foraker, looming 10,000 + feet over the Kahiltna glacier, just a few miles west from camp.

The broad summit of the Denali massif looms 13,000 vertical feet above camp just six straight-line miles away. This is more vertical relief than Everest offers from it's base at 17,800 feet, to it's summit at 29,028. On this amazing day, winds were light, even on the summit, since there is no banner of blowing snow, which is often present with stronger winds. And, no clouds either. Not many days a year like this, though the reason the climbing season is late April through mid-July, is that this time is the driest in the area, when temperatures are warmest. Later in the summer, precipitation increases as the jet stream begins to gather strength and more low pressure systems move over, bringing heavy snow, strong winds, and white-out conditions for days at a time. We were sure lucky to be there in conditions like this!

My favorite view, which held me for hours, was this, to the south. 14,570 foot Mt. Hunter rears 7300 ft. vertically above the Kahiltna, just a half-mile across from camp. I was simply transfixed by this amazing mass of rock, snow, and ice. Avalanches were frequent, booming across the valley, day and night. Some incredibly brave and skilled climbers ascend this, but of course, rock and ice anchors are needed, and it is a slow, and dangerous process!

Around 1800 in the evening of our first day in camp, a radio message came in from some Italian climbers at 18,200 feet on Cassin ridge, which faces toward camp. They had miscalculated climbing a different route, run out of food and water, and were calling for help. They felt they could go no further.

Chris and his supervisor, who happened to be at camp that day quickly determined that a helicopter pick-up was impossible, in that precarious location. It was decided to drop a bag of food and water to them. The first bag slid down the mountain, the climbers couldn't catch it. One more chance. At 2000, a second bag was lifted up, this time the climbers snagged it. Fortunately for them, the weather was favorable for helicopter operations, otherwise, they would have been in much more dire straits. We could see them through the powerful spotting telescope in camp, setting up for the night, then, packing up the next morning, heading for the summit, so they could descend on the easier West Buttress climbing route.

The evening lighting on all the peaks was stunning. This is looking up the southeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier, that interesting altocumulus standing lenticular cloud (ACSL) was there all day, in the same position, indicative of a very stable, and persistent weather pattern.

I decided to stay up late that night, the shifting pattern of sunlight and shadows on the peaks was too amazing to let go of. Around 2300 hours, I had to put my down parka on. It was fairly warm, about +32F, but a cool 10-15 mph wind was blowing, and since I wasn't moving, just sitting in my camp chair drinking in the views, or going for short walks, bundling up was mandatory. Even though I had all my glacier travel gear (crampons, ice axe, helmet, rope, etc..) Chris warned us that he couldn't guarantee our safety if we wandered outside of camp. The recent warm weather had weakened snow bridges over the many crevasses. I was not about to doubt his word.

Mt. Hunter this evening at 2300 was particularly stunning. I must have gazed at it a total of several hours that night, thinking of climbing routes, and the dangers all that ice and rock could pose, for someone trying to ascend it.

The lower ridges north of Mt. Foraker shaded it after 2200 hours, leaving just the top in the gentle northern summer sun. It must have been nearly calm up there on it's summit, judging by the lack of any blowing snow.

Denali was just as beautiful as all the others that evening. And again, look at how smooth it looks up there, I can only hope for such conditions when I make it up to that summit the year after next.

I didn't get to bed until well after midnight, but slept well in my 4-season tent and -20F down bag. Climbers rousing early for 0400 departures woke me up, but I just listened in and occasionally dozed until about 0600. The morning views were just as amazing as the previous evening.

Ski planes (DeHavilland Beavers and Otters, and Cessna 185s) began dropping off and picking up climbers by 0800.

They look like little gnats compared to the gigantic peaks.

My colleague Ray and I packed up by noon, for our planned 1300 departure.

As accurately forecast by my co-worker Corey Bogel, in the office the previous day, clouds began increasing by then, the fore-runner of an incoming low pressure trough from the Bering Sea, which promised to bring some snow, stronger winds, and occasional white-out conditions to much of the area.

Just before 1400 hours, our plane was late, and clouds kept thickening. We hoped we'd make it out, before the weather closed in around the landing strip there at 7200 feet (most of the interior surrounding the Alaska Range is much lower, only 100 to 2500 feet above sea level, so even that elevation is very high, comparatively).

Then, right at about 1400 hours, the radio traffic began:

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2009/06/roped-together-climbers-die-fall-mount-mckinley-denali-national-park-and-preserve

Roped-Together Climbers Die in Fall On Mount McKinley in Denali National Park and Preserve

Posted June 12th, 2009 by Kurt Repanshek
Two acclaimed climbers fell to their deaths on Mount McKinley in the vicinity of the mountain's West Rib and West Buttress routes. NPS photo.

Two acclaimed climbers who were roped together while climbing on Mount McKinley in Denali National Park and Preserve have fallen several thousand feet to their deaths.

While two medics and an emergency room were quick to reach the two, there was nothing they could do.

Killed in the accident Thursday were Dr. John Mislow, 39, of Newton, Massachusetts, and Dr. Andrew Swanson, age 36, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While part of the fall was observed by other climbers on the mountain, park officials say many factors remain unknown about the accident, such as the location where the initial fall occurred and whether the team was ascending or descending at the time.

Although the onset of the fall was not witnessed, a team did observe them falling between the 16,500-foot elevation on the Messner Couloir and its base at 14,500 feet.

Park rangers at the 14,200-foot camp were notified via FRS radio within minutes of the event, which occurred shortly before 2:00 p.m. on Thursday. Three skiers in the vicinity were first to respond to the climbers, who were located approximately 30 minutes away from the 14,200-foot camp. A team of four volunteer NPS rangers, including an emergency room nurse and two medics, followed close behind and confirmed that the two men had died in the fall.

The bodies were recovered by the park’s A-Star B3 helicopter that same evening and flown to Talkeetna.

The two men began an ascent of the West Rib route on May 30, and their climbing registration forms did not specify a particular descent route. Situated in between the West Rib and the West Buttress routes, the Messner Couloir is a steep, hourglass-shaped snow gully that drops from near Archdeacon’s Tower at 19,000 feet down to the 14,200-foot basin. With a 40- to 50-degree snow and ice slope, the Messner Couloir is an occasional advanced ski descent route, but is rarely descended on foot or ascended.

Drs. Mislow and Swanson were both experienced mountaineers. In 2000, Denali National Park and Preserve presented the two men with the Denali Pro Award, an honor recognizing the highest standards in the sport for safety, self-sufficiency, and assisting fellow mountaineers.
During their 2000 attempt of the West Rib route they aided several different teams in distress; assisted a National Park Service patrol with multiple visitor protection projects; and

demonstrated sound risk assessment in their climbing objectives.

The rangers Chris, and his volunteer assistant Kurt swung into action, communicating with the 14,200 foot camp, and preparing supplies, in case they would need to be ferried up for a rescue operation. The tragic news came shortly though, there would be no need for one. Judging from the radio traffic we heard, death came to these poor men quickly. The conditions on Denali were still quite good, no banner clouds indicating increasing winds were visible, and it was still mostly in the clear. Which makes this tragic accident all the more mysterious, especially since they were such experienced mountaineers. May they be at peace.

The mood in camp plummeted. Our plane arrived at 1500, and we loaded in to our Talkeetna Air Taxi DeHavilland Beaver. Chris and Kurt, in spite of all this, wished us safe travels, and we said our goodbyes. Their jobs are just as, or even more, stressful, than what I can remember of my worst days in our local volunteer fire department, when we had the occasional mass casualty incident. We were all heavy of heart, thinking of what terrifying moments the two climbers must have experienced, and what those they left behind would soon be experiencing.

The flight back went a slightly different route, more directly through the Alaska range. Which would make sense, to avoid the incoming planes, ferrying in fresh teams and classes, for their adventures.

As we flew over the main part of the Kahiltna glacier, I saw these large areas of meltwater ponds on it. A very stunning shade of blue. We were told by the air service people working in camp that it was highly unusual to see so many of these so early. And it had been unprecedentedly warm there over the past few weeks. Not only that, but there had been no snow in Base Camp, since it was set up on 27 April, only a little rain the week before. Again without precedent in anyone's experience working there.

Although I only spent about 30 hours in that amazing place, it's an experience I'll never forget. I've always been drawn to snow-capped peaks, whether they were in Southern California in winter, the Cascade volcanoes, shimmering in the distance above the gentle lowlands of the Willamette Valley of Oregon in summer, or the high Andes of Bolivia and Peru, floating above the Altiplano. They radiate some sort of essential purity, and to be among them, is truly a spiritual experience. I look forward to my return trips to the Andes and Alaska Range, and perhaps others, as well.

OPEN VEINS OF LATIN AMERICA - The Latest Chapter

The title of today's article is the title of this book that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez gave to President Obama in April, at the Organization of American States (OAS). I hope Pres. Obama took time to read at least some of it.

http://www.amazon.com/Open-Veins-Latin-America-Centuries/dp/0853459916/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244500842&sr=8-1

As soon as word got out about this interesting meeting, the first time Mr. Chavez and an American president were cordial together, and the book exchange, this book shot up to 2nd on Amazon.com's order list. Naturally, we here at A.P.R. had to get a copy, to see what the fuss was about.

It was truly eye-opening. The author, Eduardo Galeano, was a Uruguayan journalist when he wrote it in 1973, and it documents the centuries of exploitation of South America, first by the European imperial powers, and then the U.S. and multi-national corporations. It was last updated in 1997, before the rise to power of the many more left-leaning/progressive politicians in some of the Latin American countries. We learned many interesting things from this book. One little-known fact, the country of Paraguay in the 1850s-1860s actually developed, for it's time, a fairly progressive political structure, without the strong European-based oligarchy of all the other South American countries. Most workers in the cities were payed well, and farmers and ranchers received fair prices for their commodities. A coalition of countries, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, upset about this, afraid that this kind of government could serve as an example to the peasantry in their countries, invaded Paraguay in 1865, and thoroughly destroyed it. Only 250,000 of the two million people in that country survived! Brazil at this time was led by brutal oligarchs and still had slavery in place, which was not abolished until 1888! The last major country in the World to do so.

The common thread through the book, Open Veins..., is that first European countries, and then the U.S. and multi-national corporations, conspire with the European-descended oligarchical power structures in the Latin American countries to keep them in power, prevent them through economic policies from developing their own strong industrial bases, and keep prices low of the raw materials these countries export, coffee, bananas, timber, minerals, etc..

The latest chapter in this tragic history is unfolding as you read this.

http://www.truthout.org/060709G
SUNDAY 7 JUNE 2009

Nine More Police Killed in Amazon Protests in Peru

Thousands of native people blocked the highway in the Amazon jungle in northern Peru. (Photo: Reuters)
Lima, Peru - President Alan Garcia labored Saturday to contain Peru's worst political violence in years, as nine more police officers were killed in a bloody standoff with Amazon Indians fighting his efforts to exploit oil and gas on their native lands.

The new deaths brought to 22 the number of police killed - seven with spears - since security forces moved early Friday to break up a roadblock manned by 5,000 protesters.
Protest leaders said at least 30 Indians, including three children, died in the clashes. Authorities said they could confirm only nine civilian deaths, but cabinet chief Yehude Simon told reporters that 155 people had been injured, about a third of them with bullet wounds.

He announced a 3 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew in the affected region and said authorities had made 72 arrests.

"The government was required to take these measures, not only for the president of the republic but for all 28 million Peruvians," Simon said of breaking up the protests, which blocked the flow of oil and gas out of the Amazon and prevented food and supplies from coming in. "We've all been affected one way or another by the protest ... when they take over highways and strategic points that can affect the national economy."

The political violence is the Andean country's worst since the Shining Path insurgency was quelled more than a decade ago, and it bodes ill for Garcia's ambitious plans to boost Peru's oil and gas output.

It began early Friday when security forces moved to break up a roadblock protesters mounted in early April. About 1,000 protesters seized police during the melee, taking more than three dozen hostage, officials said.
Twenty-two officers were rescued in Saturday's storming of Station No. 6 at state-owned Petroperu in Imacita, in the jungle state of Amazonas, Defense Minister Antero Florez told the Radioprogramas radio network. He said seven officers were missing.
Simon said the nine killed were taken more than a mile from the station and slain while an army general was negotiating protesters' retreat from the facility.
Among at least 45 casualties being treated at the main hospital in the Amazonas town of Bagua was local Indian leader Santiago Manuin, who received eight bullet wounds on Friday, said a nurse who identified herself only as "Sandra" for security reasons. She said no doctors could come to the phone because they were attending to the wounded.

Also Saturday, a judge ordered the arrest of protest group leader Alberto Pizango on sedition charges for allegedly inciting the violence, said the president of Peru's supreme court, Javier Villa Stein.
Neither Pizango nor other senior members of his organization, the Peruvian Jungle Interethnic Development Association, could immediately be reached by telephone.
Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillos said Pizango had fled, likely to neighboring Bolivia where the government is dominated by the country's indigenous majority.
On Friday, Pizango accused the government of "genocide" for attacking what he called a peaceful protest. Indians have been blocking roads, waterways and a state oil pipeline intermittently since April 9, demanding that Peru's government repeal laws they say help foreign companies exploit their lands.
The laws, decreed by Garcia as he implemented a Peru-U.S. free trade pact, open communal jungle lands and water resources to oil drilling, logging, mining and large-scale farming, Indian leaders and environmental groups say.
In addition to violating Peru's constitution, indigenous groups add, Garcia is breaking international law by failing to obtain their consent for the projects.

Garcia defends the laws as necessary to help develop Peru. The government owns all subsoil rights across the country and Garcia has vigorously sought to exploit its mineral resources.

Contract blocks for oil and gas exploration cover approximately 72 percent of Peru's rain forest, according to a study published last year by Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
And though Peru's growth rate has led Latin America in recent years, Garcia's critics say little wealth has trickled down in a country where roughly half the population is indigenous and the poverty rate tops 40 percent.

Indians say Garcia's government does not consult them in good faith before signing contracts that could affect at least 30,000 Amazon Indians across six provinces.

Last month, Roman Catholic bishops in the region issued a statement calling the complaints legitimate.

Protests prompted Garcia to declare a state of emergency on May 9, suspending some constitutional rights in four jungle provinces including Amazonas.

Because of the protests, Petroperu stopped pumping oil through its northern Peru pipeline from the jungle on April 26. Company spokesman Fernando Daffos said Friday that the interruption had cost it $448,000.

Also affected is the Argentine company Pluspetrol, which halted oil production in two jungle blocks in the Loreto region of northeastern Peru.
-------
Associated Press Writers Tamy Higa in Lima and Frank Bajak in Bogota contributed to this report.




Now, contrast the above article, from the U.S. Associated Press, with this one:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/06/08-3

Peru Police Accused of Disposing of Dead Indigenous to Cover Up Death Toll (6/08/09)

Indigenous Leaders and Allies Call for an End to Violence on All Sides

BAGUA, Peru - June 8 - In the aftermath of Friday’s bloody raid on a peaceful indigenous road blockade near Bagua in the Peruvian Amazon, numerous eyewitnesses are reporting that the Special Forces of the Peruvian Police have been disposing of the bodies of indigenous protesters who were killed. “Today I spoke to many eyewitnesses in Bagua reporting that they saw police throw the bodies of the dead into the Marañon River from a helicopter in an apparent attempt by the Government to underreport the number of indigenous people killed by police,” said Gregor MacLennan, spokesperson for Amazon Watch speaking. “Hospital workers in Bagua Chica and Bagua Grande corroborated that the police took bodies of the dead from their premises to an undisclosed location. I spoke to several people who reported that there are bodies lying at the bottom of a deep crevasse up in the hills, about 2 kilometers from the incident site. When the Church and local leaders went to investigate, the police stopped them from approaching the area,” reported MacLennan.Police and government officials have been consistently underreporting the number of indigenous people killed by police gunfire.

Indigenous organizations place the number of protesters killed at least at 40, while Government officials claiming that only a handful of indigenous people were killed. Also the Garcia Government claims that 22 police officers were killed and several still missing.“Witnesses say that it was the police who opened fire last Friday on the protesters from helicopters,” MacLennan said. “Now the government appears to be destroying the bodies of slain protesters and giving very low estimates of the casualty. Given that the demonstrators were unarmed or carrying only wooden spears and the police were firing automatic weapons, the actual number of indigenous people killed is likely to be much higher.” “Another eyewitness reported seeing the bodies of five indigenous people that had been burned beyond identification at the morgue. I have listened to testimony of people in tears talking about witnessing the police burning bodies,” continued MacLennan.At least 150 people from the demonstration on Friday are still being detained.

Eye-witness reports also confirm that police forcibly removed some of the wounded indigenous protesters from hospitals, taking them to unknown destinations. Their families expressed concern for their well being while in detention. There are many people still reported missing and access to medical attention in the region is horribly inadequate. The Organizing Committee for the Indigenous Peoples of Alto Amazonas Province issued this statement: “It is appalling that political powers have acted in such a cruel and inhuman manner against Amazonian Peoples, failing to recognize the fundamental rights and protections guaranteed to us by the Constitution. We express deep grief over the death of our indigenous brothers, of civilians and the officers of the National Police.”

The government expanded the State of Emergency and established a curfew on all traffic in the region from 3 pm to 6 am. Indigenous and international human rights organizations are worried about plans of another National Police raid on a blockade in Yurimaguas close to the town of Tarapoto where thousands are blocking a road.President Alan Garcia is being widely criticized for fomenting a climate of fear mongering against indigenous peoples by drawing parallels to the brutal Shinning Path guerrilla movement of the 1980s and early 1990s, and by vaguely referring to external and anti-democratic threats to the country.

The Amazonian indigenous peoples’ mobilizations have been peaceful, locally coordinated, and extremely well organized for nearly two months. Yet Garcia insists on calling them terrorist acts and anti-democratic. Garcia has even gone so far as to describe the indigenous mobilizations as “savage and barbaric.” Garcia has made his discrimination explicit, saying directly that the Amazonian indigenous people are not first-class citizens.“These people don't have crowns," Garcia said about the protesters. “These people aren't first-class citizens who can say -- 400,000 natives to 28 million Peruvians -- 'You don't have the right to be here.' No way. That is a huge error.”

Ironically, Peru was the country that introduced the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the floor of the General Assembly when it was adopted in September 2007. A coalition of indigenous and human rights organizations will protest in front of the Peruvian Embassy in Washington D.C. on Monday, June 8 at 12:30 pm. Indigenous peoples have vowed to continue protests until the Peruvian Congress revokes the “free trade” decrees issued by President Garcia under special powers granted by Congress in the context of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Among the outpouring of statements condemning the violence in Peru were those from Peru’s Ombudsman’s office, the chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, a coalition of 45 international human rights organizations, Indigenous organizations from throughout the Americas, and the Conference of Bishops of Peru. Also famous personalities including Q’orianka Kilcher, Benjamin Bratt, Peter Bratt, and Daryl Hannah and Bianca Jagger called on the Peruvian Government to cease the violence and seek peaceful resolution to the conflict. AIDESEP, the national indigenous organization of Peru has called for a nationwide general strike starting June 11th. Amazon Watch is continually updating photographs, audio testimony, and video footage from Bagua on www.amazonwatch.org.Newly released b-roll at http://amazonwatch.org/peru-protests-highres-photos.php
###

We here at A.P.R. think it extremely likely that there is political pressure from the U.S., and corporate entities, to force an end to this conflict, in favor of the Peruvian government. Remember that "free-trade" pact with the U.S.? All of those seemingly innocuous sounding trade agreements, like NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), etc.., have been disastrous for all people, and the environment, in all the countries involved, except for the very rich, and multi-national corporations. Because these agreements force the governments of the signing countries to accept economic and environmental policies that are to their detriment.

http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/

The Amazonian Rain Forest are the "lungs of the planet", providing a significant source of the global oxygen from CO2 in the atmosphere from photosynthesis by the incredibly diverse jungle vegetation. Continued deforestation there is only adding to the Global Warming problem, most of which is done for expansion of cattle ranching (for cheap U.S. and European beef), soybean farming (to feed the cattle for cheap U.S. and European beef), mining, and lately, expansion of oil and gas exploration/production.

Indigenous people in Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia have been under great threat over the last several decades, from the expansion into the Amazonian Rain Forest by these governments and multi-national corporations.

This is bad news for two reasons.

The first is the pure physical environmental destruction that is occurring, hastening Global Climate Change. Once these forests are cleared, it is hard for them to be restored, as the soils in these tropical areas are very nutrient-poor, and erode quickly. During the dry season, after being eroded in the preceding wet season, they bake under the tropical sun to a brick-hard, impoverished gully-carved surface. In which it is very difficult for vegetative re-growth to occur.

This accelerates the destruction, and can lead to actual desertification of vast areas of the tropics, hastening global climate change, and removing a significant source of CO2 sequestration from the global system.

The second is that the destruction of indigenous cultures bodes ill for the future of the human race. It is our contention here at A.P.R., that all the indigenous cultures of the World's view of the planet and all creatures in it, as a unified, spiritual system, and sacredness of all it's parts must be incorporated into the prevailing "western" or "developed" culture. If we are to survive the looming threats of overpopulation/resource depletion, climate change, and environmental collapse.

For it is only by realizing that the Earth is a finite system, with limited resources, and that all countries, cultures, and beings are sacred, and equal in the overall spiritual sense, that countries and cultures can work together in trust, to solve these global problems. And that it is unsustainable and immoral that vast tracts of poor countries must produce cheap destructive products for richer countries, at the expense of their people and environment.

The next time you buy non-organic, non-free trade red meat, bananas, or coffee, try and remember these things. Because they arrive here to you at great expense and detriment to the people and countries of their origin.

This conflict in Peru now is similar to what we saw in the U.S. with the indigenous people here over the past three centuries. Did you know that if some superior culture, with the power to disable all weaponry instantaneously across the World, were to force the U.S. to honor it's treaties over the past two centuries with the indigenous people of this continent, it would cease to exist?

A small example. The Black Hills of South Dakota were ceded by the Treaty of 1868 by the U.S. Government (meaning it passed House and Senate votes, and was signed into law by President Andrew Johnson) forever to the Lakota people, which was their traditional hunting ground, and spiritual center. By 1874, the influx of miners after gold there was so great, the U.S. government forced the Lakota out, leading to the famous battles which culminated in 1876 at Little Big Horn.

This was just one example of many. The whole tragic story can be found in that seminal work which burst upon the U.S. progressive scene, in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
http://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart-Wounded-Knee/dp/0805086846/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244867595&sr=8-1

This book, written by historian Dee Brown, is a devastating account of the history of indigenous peoples in the U.S., told from their viewpoints. It should be required reading in every high school and college. These kind of events are still unfolding in Latin America, because they have more indigenous people.

And we wonder why life on Indian reservations in the Lower 48, or amongst the indigenous peoples in our villages and cities, including here in Fairbanks and Anchorage seems so dysfunctional, with high rates of alcoholism/drug abuse, physical and sexual abuse, etc... We think it safe to say, if some other culture were able to forcibly impose itself upon ours, and force complete changes in our ways of living and spirituality, that we and our descendants would be in similar positions. This is still happening, in Latin America (and Africa in the Niger River Delta, with the oil industry there, imagine that...). Will it ever end?

Cheers.

THE TRUTH OF WAR [and] 20 YEARS AFTER

Greetings folks. I had originally wanted to put out a little more uplifting piece this week, since spring/early summer is fully underway here in the sub-arctic, and it's hard not to feel the new life and energy in the air after our long winter. I had several ideas in mind, and was wracking my brain about putting them together. But, as often happens, answers to questions we have often arrive at unexpected times, and right in front of our eyes. When I was scanning my usual news-sites today, I came across the article below, which I felt was worthy of sharing and commentary. It's very powerful, and brought tears to my eyes, I have to admit.

Published on Monday, June 1, 2009 by TruthDig.com

War Is Sin

by Chris Hedges

The crisis faced by combat veterans returning from war is not simply a profound struggle with trauma and alienation. It is often, for those who can slice through the suffering to self-awareness, an existential crisis. War exposes the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. It rips open the hypocrisy of our religions and secular institutions. Those who return from war have learned something which is often incomprehensible to those who have stayed home. We are not a virtuous nation. God and fate have not blessed us above others. Victory is not assured. War is neither glorious nor noble. And we carry within us the capacity for evil we ascribe to those we fight.

Those who return to speak this truth, such as members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, are our contemporary prophets. But like all prophets they are condemned and ignored for their courage. They struggle, in a culture awash in lies, to tell what few have the fortitude to digest. They know that what we are taught in school, in worship, by the press, through the entertainment industry and at home, that the melding of the state's rhetoric with the rhetoric of religion, is empty and false.

The words these prophets speak are painful. We, as a nation, prefer to listen to those who speak from the patriotic script. We prefer to hear ourselves exalted. If veterans speak of terrible wounds visible and invisible, of lies told to make them kill, of evil committed in our name, we fill our ears with wax. Not our boys, we say, not them, bred in our homes, endowed with goodness and decency. For if it is easy for them to murder, what about us? And so it is simpler and more comfortable not to hear. We do not listen to the angry words that cascade forth from their lips, wishing only that they would calm down, be reasonable, get some help, and go away. We, the deformed, brand our prophets as madmen. We cast them into the desert. And this is why so many veterans are estranged and enraged. This is why so many succumb to suicide or addictions.

War comes wrapped in patriotic slogans, calls for sacrifice, honor and heroism and promises of glory. It comes wrapped in the claims of divine providence. It is what a grateful nation asks of its children. It is what is right and just. It is waged to make the nation and the world a better place, to cleanse evil. War is touted as the ultimate test of manhood, where the young can find out what they are made of. War, from a distance, seems noble. It gives us comrades and power and a chance to play a small bit in the great drama of history. It promises to give us an identity as a warrior, a patriot, as long as we go along with the myth, the one the war-makers need to wage wars and the defense contractors need to increase their profits.

But up close war is a soulless void. War is about barbarity, perversion and pain, an unchecked orgy of death. Human decency and tenderness are crushed. Those who make war work overtime to reduce love to smut, and all human beings become objects, pawns to use or kill. The noise, the stench, the fear, the scenes of eviscerated bodies and bloated corpses, the cries of the wounded, all combine to spin those in combat into another universe. In this moral void, naively blessed by secular and religious institutions at home, the hypocrisy of our social conventions, our strict adherence to moral precepts, come unglued. War, for all its horror, has the power to strip away the trivial and the banal, the empty chatter and foolish obsessions that fill our days. It lets us see, although the cost is tremendous.

The Rev. William P. Mahedy, who was a Catholic chaplain in Vietnam, tells of a soldier, a former altar boy, in his book "Out of the Night: The Spiritual Journey of Vietnam Vets," who says to him: "Hey, Chaplain ... how come it's a sin to hop into bed with a mama-san but it's okay to blow away gooks out in the bush?"

"Consider the question that he and I were forced to confront on that day in a jungle clearing," Mahedy writes. "How is it that a Christian can, with a clear conscience, spend a year in a war zone killing people and yet place his soul in jeopardy by spending a few minutes with a prostitute? If the New Testament prohibitions of sexual misconduct are to be stringently interpreted, why, then, are Jesus' injunctions against violence not binding in the same way? In other words, what does the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill' really mean?"

Military chaplains, a majority of whom are evangelical Christians, defend the life of the unborn, tout America as a Christian nation and eagerly bless the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as holy crusades. The hollowness of their morality, the staggering disconnect between the values they claim to promote, is ripped open in war.

There is a difference between killing someone who is trying to kill you and taking the life of someone who does not have the power to harm you. The first is killing. The second is murder. But in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the enemy is elusive and rarely seen, murder occurs far more often than killing. Families are massacred in airstrikes. Children are gunned down in blistering suppressing fire laid down in neighborhoods after an improvised explosive device goes off near a convoy. Artillery shells obliterate homes. And no one stops to look. The dead and maimed are left behind.

The utter failure of nearly all our religious institutions-whose texts are unequivocal about murder-to address the essence of war has rendered them useless. These institutions have little or nothing to say in wartime because the god they worship is a false god, one that promises victory to those who obey the law and believe in the manifest destiny of the nation.
We all have the capacity to commit evil. It takes little to unleash it. For those of us who have been to war this is the awful knowledge that is hardest to digest, the knowledge that the line between the victims and the victimizers is razor-thin, that human beings find a perverse delight in destruction and death, and that few can resist the pull. At best, most of us become silent accomplices.

Wars may have to be fought to ensure survival, but they are always tragic. They always bring to the surface the worst elements of any society, those who have a penchant for violence and a lust for absolute power. They turn the moral order upside down. It was the criminal class that first organized the defense of Sarajevo. When these goons were not manning roadblocks to hold off the besieging Bosnian Serb army they were looting, raping and killing the Serb residents in the city. And those politicians who speak of war as an instrument of power, those who wage war but do not know its reality, those powerful statesmen-the Henry Kissingers, Robert McNamaras, Donald Rumsfelds, the Dick Cheneys-those who treat war as part of the great game of nations, are as amoral as the religious stooges who assist them. And when the wars are over what they have to say to us in their thick memoirs about war is also hollow, vacant and useless.
"In theological terms, war is sin," writes Mahedy. "This has nothing to do with whether a particular war is justified or whether isolated incidents in a soldier's war were right or wrong. The point is that war as a human enterprise is a matter of sin. It is a form of hatred for one's fellow human beings. It produces alienation from others and nihilism, and it ultimately represents a turning away from God."

The young soldiers and Marines do not plan or organize the war. They do not seek to justify it or explain its causes. They are taught to believe. The symbols of the nation and religion are interwoven. The will of God becomes the will of the nation. This trust is forever shattered for many in war. Soldiers in combat see the myth used to send them to war implode. They see that war is not clean or neat or noble, but venal and frightening. They see into war's essence, which is death.

War is always about betrayal. It is about betrayal of the young by the old, of cynics by idealists, and of soldiers and Marines by politicians. Society's institutions, including our religious institutions, which mold us into compliant citizens, are unmasked. This betrayal is so deep that many never find their way back to faith in the nation or in any god. They nurse a self-destructive anger and resentment, understandable and justified, but also crippling. Ask a combat veteran struggling to piece his or her life together about God and watch the raw vitriol and pain pour out. They have seen into the corrupt heart of America, into the emptiness of its most sacred institutions, into our staggering hypocrisy, and those of us who refuse to heed their words become complicit in the evil they denounce.

© 2009 TruthDig.com

Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. Hedges graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of many books, including: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should Know About War, and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. His most recent book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, will be out in July, but is available for pre-order.

Mr. Hedges knows whereof he speaks, having been a foreign correspondent for the New York Times, and has seen the horrors of war first-hand. And talked with hundreds of soldiers about their experiences. Living here in "The Belly of the Beast" as my Mother calls the U.S. (because of our empire and horrible warring history), and especially Fairbanks, because of it's large army and air force bases, really has opened my eyes, since my arrival here in 2001. Fairbanks is the most conservative place I've ever lived; other than the area around the University of Alaska, culturally speaking, it is not much different than living in Great Falls, Montana, or Amarillo Texas. The majority of the churches seem to be of the more fundamentalist Christian type, one of which in particular occasionally displays venomous, polarizing statements on its light-board next to the busy Steese Highway, for all the passing drivers to see. Part of this also stems from the fact that many thousands of people from Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana came to Alaska in the 1970s to help build the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, and work in the rapidly expanding oil industry.

Their culture came with them, to the detriment of Alaska as a whole (that could be a great future topic, the change in Alaska state politics from the 1960s, to the present. There were some surprisingly diverse and progressive Alaska politicians up until the 1970s, who could never be elected now). Those of you who have spent time in those places would know exactly what I mean by that. One of the best illustrations of this is that in the Fairbanks North Star Borough (population around 90,000), there is no natural food store! Even tiny Valdez, Alaska, population 2000 or so, has one! Enough said. [fortunately in the past year serious effort is going in to start a natural foods coop here, eds.]

Many of the bars downtown have banned G.I.'s from their establishments. Because some of the soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan went wild, more or less, causing a large amount of fighting and property damage in them. Which is sad, since many of them are probably in great emotional and physical trauma, from what they experienced there. There are some support groups available locally for these returning vets, and it's vital that progressive people and groups interact with them, so that they can help teach people about THE TRUTH OF WAR. That will help in the efforts to make the U.S. a less militarized, and non-imperialistic country. Because if we don't, more 9/11 type attacks will occur in this country, and/or other countries may choose to cut their economic and other ties with ours.

Why do you think North Korea, at great expense and sacrifice to their population and land, develops nuclear weapons and long-range missile technology? Because they know that is the only way their integrity as a country and political system can be maintained. Not that their system is ideal, by any means, there is great repression and suffering there, to be sure. But all smaller countries know now, after the criminal Iraq invasion especially, that the only way to protect themselves from foreign, and U.S., aggression, is through the possession of nuclear weapons, and the ability to deliver them.


20 YEARS AFTER

One of the joys of living in Alaska is showing relatives and family from the lower 48 the beauty of this land, and experiencing that with/through them. When my mother and sister came up from Oregon and California last week, we drove down to Valdez, so they could see that amazing area around Prince William Sound, and all the country between it and Fairbanks.

Of course, we all remember what happened there in March, 1989:
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill

"Introduction:

On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez, en route from Valdez, Alaska to Los Angeles, California, ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The vessel was traveling outside normal shipping lanes in an attempt to avoid ice. Within six hours of the grounding, the Exxon Valdez spilled approximately 10.9 million gallons of its 53 million gallon cargo of Prudhoe Bay crude oil. Eight of the eleven tanks on board were damaged. The oil would eventually impact over 1,100 miles of non-continuous coastline in Alaska, making the Exxon Valdez the largest oil spill to date in U.S. waters.

The response to the Exxon Valdez involved more personnel and equipment over a longer period of time than did any other spill in U.S. history. Logistical problems in providing fuel, meals, berthing, response equipment, waste management and other resources were one of the largest challenges to response management. At the height of the response, more than 11,000 personnel, 1,400 vessels and 85 aircraft were involved in the cleanup.

Shoreline cleanup began in April of 1989 and continued until September of 1989 for the first year of the response. The response effort continued in 1990 and 1991 with cleanup in the summer months, and limited shoreline monitoring in the winter months. Fate and effects monitoring by state and Federal agencies are ongoing.

The images that the world saw on television and descriptions they heard on the radio that spring were of heavily oiled shorelines, dead and dying wildlife, and thousands of workers mobilized to clean beaches. These images reflected what many people felt was a severe environmental insult to a relatively pristine, ecologically important area that was home to many species of wildlife endangered elsewhere. In the weeks and months that followed, the oil spread over a wide area in Prince William Sound and beyond, resulting in an unprecedented response and cleanup—in fact, the largest oil spill cleanup ever mobilized. Many local, state, federal, and private agencies and groups took part in the effort. Even today, scientists continue to study the affected shorelines to understand how an ecosystem like Prince William Sound responds to, and recovers from, an incident like the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

How much oil remains?
Based on the areas that were studied in the aftermath of the spill, scientists made estimates of the ultimate fate of the oil. A 2001 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) study surveyed 96 sites along 8,000 miles of coastline.

A pit dug on a Prince William Sound beach in 2001 revealing oil in the sediments. (Source: NOAA)
The survey distinguished between surface and buried oil. Buried or subsurface oil is of greater concern than surface oil. Subsurface oil can remain dormant for many years before being dispersed and is more liquid, still toxic, and may become biologically available. A disturbance event such as burrowing animals or a severe storm reworks the beach and can reintroduce unweathered oil into the water. Results of the summer shoreline survey showed that the oil remaining on the surface of beaches in Prince William Sound is weathered and mostly hardened into an asphalt-like layer. The toxic components of this type of surface oil are not as readily available to biota, although some softer forms do cause sheens in tide pools.

The survey indicates a total area of approximately 20 acres of shoreline in Prince William Sound are still contaminated with oil. Oil was found at 58 percent of the 91 sites assessed and is estimated to have the linear equivalent of 5.8 km of contaminated shoreline.
In addition to the estimated area of remaining oiled beach, several other important points were evident:
Surface oil was determined to be not a good indicator of subsurface oil.

Twenty subsurface pits were classified as heavily oiled. Oil saturated all of the interstitial spaces and was extremely repugnant. These “worst case” pits exhibited an oil mixture that resembled oil encountered in 1989 a few weeks after the spill—highly odiferous, lightly weathered, and very fluid.

Subsurface oil was also found at a lower tide height than expected (between 0 and 6 feet), in contrast to the surface oil, which was found mostly at the highest levels of the beach. This is significant, because the pits with the most oil were found low in the intertidal zone, closest to the zone of biological production, and indicate that the survey estimates are conservative at best.

Ecosystem response to the spill
Recovery is a very difficult term to define and measure for a complex ecosystem such as Prince William Sound. If you ask a fisherman from Kodiak Island, a villager from the town of Valdez, an Exxon engineer, or a NOAA biologist, you are likely to receive such different answers that you may wonder if they heard the same question. In particular, disagreements exist between Exxon and government-funded scientists, and unknowns persist, especially in understanding how multiple processes combine to drive observed dynamics.

Despite this, there are some things known with a high degree of certainty: oil persisted beyond a decade in surprising amounts and in toxic forms, was sufficiently bioavailable to induce chronic biological exposures, and had long-term impacts at the population level. Three major pathways of long-term impacts emerge: (1) chronic persistence of oil, biological exposures, and population impacts to species closely associated with shallow sediments; (2) delayed population impacts of sublethal doses compromising health, growth, and reproduction; and (3) indirect effects of trophic and interaction cascades, all of which transmit impacts well beyond the acute-phase mortality.

Acute Mortality
Marine mammals and seabirds are at great risk from floating oil because they have routine contact with the sea surface. Oiling of fur or feathers causes loss of insulating capacity and can lead to death from hypothermia, smothering, drowning, and ingestion of toxic hydrocabons. Scientists estimate mass mortalities of 1000 to 2800 sea otters, 302 harbor seals, and unprecedented numbers of seabird deaths estimated at 250,000 in the days immediately after the oil spill. Mass mortality also occurred among macroalgae and benthic invertebrates on oiled shores from a combination of chemical toxicity, smothering, and physical displacement from the habitat by pressurized wash-water applied after the spill.

Long-term impacts
The persistent nature of oil in sediments produce chronic, long-term exposure risks from some species. For example, chronic exposures for years after the spill to oil persisting in sedimentary refuges were evident from biomarkers in fish, sea otters, and seaducks intimately associated with sediments for egg laying or foraging. These chronic exposures enhanced mortality for years.

Clean-up attempts can be more damaging than the oil itself, with impacts recurring as long as clean-up (including both chemical and physical methods) continues. Because of the pervasiveness of strong biological interactions in rocky intertidal and kelp forest communities, cascades of delayed, indirect impacts (especially of trophic cascades and biogenic habitat loss) expand the scope of injury well beyond the initial direct losses and thereby also delay recoveries.
Oil that penetrates deeply into beaches can remain relatively fresh for years and can later come back to the surface and affect nearby animals. In addition, oil degrades at varying rates depending on environment, with subsurface sediments physically protected from disturbance, oxygenation, and photolysis retaining contamination by only partially weathered oil for years.
Rocky rubble shores should be of high priority for protection and cleanup because oil tends to penetrate deep and weather very slowly in these habitats, prolonging the harmful effects of the oil when it leaches out.

Oil effects to sea birds and mammals also are substantial (independent of means of insulation) over the long-term through interactions between natural environmental stressors and compromised health of exposed animals, through chronic toxic exposure from ingesting contaminated prey or during foraging around persistent sedimentary pools of oil, and through disruption of vital social functions (caregiving or reproduction) in socially organized species.
Long-term exposure of fish embryos to weathered oil at parts per billion (ppb) concentrations has population consequences through indirect effects on growth, deformities, and behavior with long-term consequences on mortality and reproduction.

The Exxon Valdez also triggered major improvements in oil spill prevention and response planning.

The U.S. Coast Guard now monitors fully-laden tankers via satellite as they pass through Valdez Narrows, cruise by Bligh Island, and exit Prince William Sound at Hinchinbrook Entrance. In 1989, the Coast Guard watched the tankers only through Valdez Narrows and Valdez Arm.
Two escort vessels accompany each tanker while passing through the entire Sound. They not only watch over the tankers, but are capable of assisting them in the event of an emergency, such as a loss of power or loss of rudder control. Fifteen years ago, there was only one escort vessel through Valdez Narrows.

Specially trained marine pilots, with considerable experience in Prince William Sound, board tankers from their new pilot station at Bligh Reef and are aboard the ship for 25 miles out of the 70-mile transit through the Sound. Weather criteria for safe navigation are firmly established.
Congress enacted legislation requiring that all tankers in Prince William Sound be double-hulled by the year 2015. It is estimated that if the Exxon Valdez had had a double-hull structure, the amount of the spill would have been reduced by more than half. There are presently three double-hulled and twelve double-bottomed tankers moving oil through Prince William Sound. Two more Endeavor class tankers are under construction by ConocoPhillips, their expected induction into service is 2004 and 2005.

Contingency planning for oil spills in Prince William Sound must now include a scenario for a spill of 12.6 million gallons. Drills are held in the Sound each year.
The combined ability of skimming systems to remove oil from the water is now 10 times greater than it was in 1989, with equipment in place capable of recovering over 300,000 barrels of oil in 72 hours.

Even if oil could have been skimmed up in 1989, there was no place to put the oil-water mix. Today, seven barges are available with a capacity to hold 818,000 barrels of recovered oil.
There are now 40 miles of containment boom in Prince William Sound, seven times the amount available at the time of the Exxon Valdez spill.
Dispersants are now stockpiled for use and systems are in place to apply them from helicopters, airplanes, and boats. "

My sister and I took a day-long glacier cruise from Valdez aboard the LuLuBelle, a 70 foot touring boat, one of the goals of which is to reach the face of the 3rd largest glacier in Alaska, the Columbia Glacier. As with most here, it has receded quite a bit in the past few decades.

Here is one of the countless small islands in the Valdez Arm of Prince William Sound on that cool, grey, rainy wednesday, of last week.

Most of the shoreline around the Valdez Arm and the main Prince William Sound areas we saw rises nearly vertically thousands of feet directly out of the water, with little or no beach. In some cases, just sheer cliffs rise straight out of the water, and at one point our boat even nudged in to a cave-like entrance with an arch overhead.

The sea lion population is doing quite well there apparently. Though the locals are not too crazy about them.

They eat a prodigious amount of salmon, and our boat captain told us the stories of how they have swam north from California to the Ballard Locks in Seattle's Lake Washington, and up the Columbia River Gorge, and decimated salmon stocks there. But they are protected in Alaskan waters, so they are mostly left alone.

They sure were entertaining to watch though, cavorting around the boat, but their fishy breath was incredible, almost nauseating!

Heading toward Columbia glacier, we only saw one humpback whale, and it wasn't very active, just slowly searching the base of the cliffs for fish.

So we proceeded on toward the Columbia Glacier rendezvous. But, unfortunately, there were too many icebergs in front that have calved off. There were no leads wide enough that the boat could get through to approach the glacier's face in the tidewater. We could only get to within about five miles of it, and since it was rainy and foggy, couldn't even see it. But the icebergs themselves were just as beautiful.

The deep blue ones are deep, compressed ice from the bottoms of the glacier, not containing very many air bubbles. The whiter the ice, the shallower in the glacier it was, and hence, less compressed.

It was also much colder nearer to the glacier. It had been about 43 degrees F out in Prince William Sound, and when we reached our turn-around point, at the iceberg front, it was down to near 32 F, and some snowflakes were mixing in with the rain.

It was disappointing not being able to see Columbia Glacier, but the ride back through Prince William Sound made up for it.

Two humpback whales gave us a show we'll never forget. The sight and sound of their breath, and splashing as they reared up and breached, then slammed back down into the water was an experience not to be missed!

Hard not to believe some great intelligence drives these amazing creatures, and to wonder in awe at their lives in the sea. Migrating thousands of miles through the seasons, in search of the fish they eat, and for birthing areas. How do they sleep? Obviously they must stay afloat while they do.

It was a full eight hour 80 mile or so cruise, and all 15 of us on the boat will never forget it. A multi-day kayak trip will have to be undertaken someday by the A.P.R. staff, to fully experience and appreciate this beautiful wilderness, which fortunately seems to have recovered much of it's former abundance, as the above article mentioned.

Of course, while in Valdez, I had to continue my marathon training, for the Anchorage one on 6/20. My friend Erik told me about Mineral Canyon, a dirt road goes up it for several miles.

It is a beautiful steep, glacially carved canyon, 4000-5000 feet deep, as you can see, and only about a quarter-mile wide.

Wednesday morning, before the 2 pm boat tour, I took off from our hotel near the harbor, and ran up into the canyon. About 3 miles in, an old avalanche blocked the road, which I had to scramble over. It probably came down a month or two ago, was melting, but still brick hard. Not something to be in the path of!

I just went a mile past that, then turned back, I only could take 90 min. for this run, my sister and mother were waiting for me. Just a half-mile back, I had to stop. A black bear had taken up residence by the side of the road and was munching greens. I stayed back 100 feet or so, and talked to it. I told it how beautiful it was, and asked permission to pass. I never felt any threat, and just waited a few minutes. Sure enough, it finished up munching it's greens, and ambled back into the woods. I ran past the area and thanked it.

The next morning, I ran back up Mineral Canyon, but this time, just before the old avalanche, I felt chills run up my neck and head, something just didn't feel right. I turned right around and headed back. I don't ignore those feelings, and am still here! I don't know what, if anything, would have happened, had I continued on, but feel it is extremely important to listen to these feelings/intuition we all get from time to time, and act on them. Cheers.