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A “Resource Legacy” – of Pollution
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation – the major funder in this bid for private interests to buy and control huge areas of Northern California waters – made its money from the computer and semiconductor industries, in the once rich, fertile farmlands of Santa Clara Valley.
http://www.noyonews.net
A “Resource Legacy” – of Pollution
Posted on April 30, 2011 by David Gurney
The San Francisco Bay has been left last on the list of “Regional Study Regions,” as the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) "Initiative" boondoggle is railroaded through the state and legislative bodies, under the radar of well over 95% of the general population.
So far the MLPA “Initiative” appears to be stalled on tackling the S.F. Bay region, while at the same time other vast offshore areas are slated to be rubber stamped in the highly controversial process, funded by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation.
The opening of S.F. Bay will bring up some very uncomfortable issues that haunt the private funders of the so-called “Initiative.”
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation – the major funder in this bid for private interests to buy and control huge areas of Northern California waters – made its money from the computer and semiconductor industries, in the once rich, fertile farmlands of Santa Clara Valley.
Through the sixties, seventies and eighties, the semi-conductor industry illegally dumped thousands upon thousands of gallons of highly toxic solvents into the ground water. These toxic chemicals have inevitably found their way into San Francisco Bay.
These corrosive chemicals, similar to acetone, were used to the etch printed circuit boards that went into all computers and electronics.
The Santa Clara Valley was once home to the Ohlone Indians. Before the European conquest, the skies were reportedly thick with migratory birds of every kind. The estuaries were full of clams, the rivers with salmon, and the land with deer and elk. The abundant oak trees provided a staple of acorn mash. The Ohlone had no word in their language for starvation.
By the 1980′s, after the Santa Clara Valley had been re-named “Silicon Valley,” the area had more EPA toxic “Superfund” sites per square mile than anywhere else in the United States – from the severely polluted wells and groundwater.
The money that made the private contributors to the MLPAI rich, has left a very unpleasant “Resource Legacy” in their own backyard.
#
A “Resource Legacy” – of Pollution
Posted on April 30, 2011 by David Gurney
The San Francisco Bay has been left last on the list of “Regional Study Regions,” as the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) "Initiative" boondoggle is railroaded through the state and legislative bodies, under the radar of well over 95% of the general population.
So far the MLPA “Initiative” appears to be stalled on tackling the S.F. Bay region, while at the same time other vast offshore areas are slated to be rubber stamped in the highly controversial process, funded by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation.
The opening of S.F. Bay will bring up some very uncomfortable issues that haunt the private funders of the so-called “Initiative.”
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation – the major funder in this bid for private interests to buy and control huge areas of Northern California waters – made its money from the computer and semiconductor industries, in the once rich, fertile farmlands of Santa Clara Valley.
Through the sixties, seventies and eighties, the semi-conductor industry illegally dumped thousands upon thousands of gallons of highly toxic solvents into the ground water. These toxic chemicals have inevitably found their way into San Francisco Bay.
These corrosive chemicals, similar to acetone, were used to the etch printed circuit boards that went into all computers and electronics.
The Santa Clara Valley was once home to the Ohlone Indians. Before the European conquest, the skies were reportedly thick with migratory birds of every kind. The estuaries were full of clams, the rivers with salmon, and the land with deer and elk. The abundant oak trees provided a staple of acorn mash. The Ohlone had no word in their language for starvation.
By the 1980′s, after the Santa Clara Valley had been re-named “Silicon Valley,” the area had more EPA toxic “Superfund” sites per square mile than anywhere else in the United States – from the severely polluted wells and groundwater.
The money that made the private contributors to the MLPAI rich, has left a very unpleasant “Resource Legacy” in their own backyard.
#
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In 1851 the US government sent 3 "Indian" commissioners to California to make treaties with the indiginous population. They proposed 18 treaties with 139 tribes/bands and stated that the Indians would have permanent domicile on 7,488,000 acres of land. The business people lobbied congress so hard that not one treaty was ratified. When the only alternative left was to establish a reservation system a congressman by the name of Gwin wrote the following when trying get some funding.
"We have taken their acorns, grasshoppers, fisheries, and hunting grounds from them. The ponds where the wild fowl assemble in the winter, offering them for the time an abundant food supply of food, is now the mining and agricultural region of our citizens. The Indian must perish from cold and hunger if this Government does not interpose to save him. From his hunting-ground we export an annual average of $60,000,000 in gold, and the revenue paid to the Treasury, from one port in California, exceeds $3,000,000 annually; and yet the miserable pittance of $120,000 to feed and protect these original inhabitants of the country, is refused and cut down to 20,000 dollars by the grossly unjust policy adopted by the other House. If this is to be the policy of this Government towards this people, it will form a dark page in our history, if it does not bring the vengeance of heaven upon us as a nation".
Have things really changed? Now the wind, water, earth and fire elementals are getting more angry. Turning up the power, but will the dominant society learn anything. They still take and take even when there is almost nothing left. Like the old Romans that accused the Celtic people of being savages and barbarians while at the same time they watched people getting butchered in the Roman sports arenas, the business people have only learned how to be more hypocritical.
"We have taken their acorns, grasshoppers, fisheries, and hunting grounds from them. The ponds where the wild fowl assemble in the winter, offering them for the time an abundant food supply of food, is now the mining and agricultural region of our citizens. The Indian must perish from cold and hunger if this Government does not interpose to save him. From his hunting-ground we export an annual average of $60,000,000 in gold, and the revenue paid to the Treasury, from one port in California, exceeds $3,000,000 annually; and yet the miserable pittance of $120,000 to feed and protect these original inhabitants of the country, is refused and cut down to 20,000 dollars by the grossly unjust policy adopted by the other House. If this is to be the policy of this Government towards this people, it will form a dark page in our history, if it does not bring the vengeance of heaven upon us as a nation".
Have things really changed? Now the wind, water, earth and fire elementals are getting more angry. Turning up the power, but will the dominant society learn anything. They still take and take even when there is almost nothing left. Like the old Romans that accused the Celtic people of being savages and barbarians while at the same time they watched people getting butchered in the Roman sports arenas, the business people have only learned how to be more hypocritical.
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