December 7, 2018 -- A Day That Will Live In Infamy

Pending today:

November jobs report.

EIA natural gas report.

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When Sage Hits The Fan

Trump To Dump Sage

Before folks get too upset with all this, remember, Barack Obama gave carte blanche to wind farm operators to kill hawks and eagles.

There will be a ton of stories on Trump's proposed action. It will be interesting to see if he can take the heat. This could be the "yellow vest" moment for US faux environmentalists.

First example from CNN:  huge picture of beautiful sage grouse. Then the story

The Trump administration moved to amend Obama-era protections on the habitat of the sage grouse bird, potentially opening up vast areas of land in the western United States for oil and gas drilling.

According to The New York Times, the new plan would reduce the bird's habitat to 1.8 million acres, and would make 9 million acres of land available for "drilling, mining and other development."

"The BLM recognizes the authority of the individual states in managing wildlife and that plans at the federal level for managing habitat should not be one-size-fits-all," said Heather Feeney, spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management, in a statement.

Environmental groups were swift to criticize Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the department's proposed changes.

Why do I get the feeling that Ryan is trying to save his job?

Federal vs states rights. And a lot of folks feel that the states can manage their backyard better than Washington, DC. I tend to agree.

By the way, from a science / biology point of view, there's much more to this story than is being reported.