BLM TO BLAME - EARLE DIXON WINS CASE: Breaking News

Four years ago, I was embroiled in a bitter battle with BP ARCO, the BLM, the State of Nevada, and a Lyon County Commissioner over the Yerington Anaconda Copper Mine site. I was then the Tribal Manager for the Yerington Paiute Tribe and I had deep concerns about the mine site and its potential for negative impact upon the lives of Paiutes who lived on the Campbell Ranch Reservation, about three miles to the North and downstream of the mine site.

The mine site had been shuttered for several years following the bankruptcy of the then operating company called Arimetco. The tribe was trying to get the mine cleaned up from an environmental standpoint, but efforts had basically stalled when I arrived in December of 2002. The then Chairman, Elwood Emm, told me about their concerns and the then Tribal EPA Director, Duane Masters Sr., took me on a tour of the mine site. I was hooked.

It wasn't long before I discovered that the mine site was permeated with enriched uranium and radioactive cadmium that was leaching into the groundwater below the site. This was a matter that had been acknowledged, proven, and covered up through an elaborate networking of local and state officials. For many reasons, one of which is the fact that they bought the site from Anaconda, BP ARCO has a fundamental legal obligation to resolve the matter and they denied, denied, denied.

The Bureau of Land Management is part-owner of mine site lands and has a dual obligation. One is as a part-owner of a contaminated mine site, and the other is as a trustee of public lands. They hired a small crew of technicians to evaluate the site from an environmental standpoint, and one of those was Earle Dixon.

Part Cherokee Indian himself, Dixon was sympathetic to the Paiute dilemma. Dixon and I became friends and I was by then writing a column for the local newspaper, the MASON VALLEY NEWS. The column took the local "GOB" network to task over its stand on the mine site and fired off many volleys against BP ARCO.

It was at about this period of time in 2005 that Dixon pinpointed extremely high radiation on the mine site. BLM attempted to cover it up, but I carried the news in my column. A Lyon County Commissioner demanded that the tribe fire me, which did not happen. But the Council, fearing local political ramifications, did insist that I quit writing for the newspaper. That ignited a firestorm of public interest in getting at the facts.

I was by then concerned that the radiation was in the ground water and that the ground water was flowing under reservation lands. BP ARCO vehemently denied it and insisted that even if this were the case, that water under the mine site was contaminated, ground water only flowed at 1-3 feet per year at it could not possibly have migrated to the reservation.

Dixon discovered evidence that the groundwater was, in fact, contaminated. BP ARCO and Nevada State Environmental officials immediately claimed that the uranium in the groundwater was naturally occurring, flowing from the alluvial fan of nearby mountains and had nothing to do with the mine site. It was about this time that the BLM Director, Bob Abbey, demanded that Dixon's boss fire him. The boss refused, so the Director transferred Dixon's supervision from Carson City to the Reno office and fired Dixon himself.

The excuse for Dixon's firing was that his tenure was almost finished anyway and that his job performance was substandard, (inspite of the fact that Dixon had recently had a performance review that rated him as an "outstanding" employee.) Dixon claimed his firing was done because he was a "whistle blower" and that he was protected by law from being fired. The legal battle was under way.

In the meantime, I mentioned at a mine stakeholder's meeting that I was concerned that the water under reservation lands was already contaminated. The Lyon County Commissioner, a State Assemblyman, the Nevada EPA, and BP ARCO were quick to question my scientific basis but, in the process, I cornered them into conducting more water tests and I was proven to be correct. While denying that the contamination was coming from the mine site and insisting that it was naturally occurring, BP ARCO immediately started providing free bottled water to everyone living north of the mine site.

Dixon had an internal administrative hearing with the BLM and lost his case. He then appealed for a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge. The Judge ruled that the Commission, the Nevada Governor, the Nevada EPA Director, a Nevada State Senator and others had conspired to force the Federal BLM Director for Nevada, Bob Abbey, to fire Dixon and that Dixon had been telling the truth about what was going on at the mine site from a chemical and environmental standpoint. Indeed, some of the participants in the hearing were caught lying about what they knew and instructions they had given or been given. The BLM immediately appealed that ruling.

I left Yeringtion in June of 2006 to take a more lucrative job with another tribe, and those I left behind largely let their concern wane. Lyon County hired a public relations firm to pooh-pah the idea that the mine site was contaminated, and the USEPA official who had taken oversight of the mine assessment and cleanup was transferred to another project.

Finally, Earle Dixon has heard from his attorney that he won his case and the BLM will not further appeal the decision.

It's too early, of course, to tell what this ruling will mean, but I just might decide to get involved again. We'll see.

WE'RE NOT TO BLAME FOR NEW RUSSIAN AGGRESSION

There have been several stories told about how Georgia is not blameless in the recent and on-going invasion of their country. The latest news out of the Kremlin is that Russia may soon take on Poland, and they are quick to add that it will be our fault because we are refusing to stop our missile defense program in that country. All of this is mixed in with belligerent, bullying threats about NATO.

The American left seems too quick to echo the Russian line. It's our fault. Building those systems is somewhat like the Cuban missile crisis, except that we're the wrongdoers this time. Georgia was mistreating Russian citizens in its disputed territories, and Russia therefore was obliged to step in. Tommyrot.

Any one who has ever bothered to study the history of Russian and Soviet aggression knows that they never invade without some pretext. Take the Georgian invasion, for instance. Did Putin protest to the United Nations that Georgia was misbehaving? Did he consult with world leaders over how to best handle his "concerns?" Certainly not. Russian simply invaded and laid out the storyline later.

In further examination of the situation, Russia agreed to withdraw from Georgia, which they have not done. In fact, they booby-trapped and mined the relatively small areas from which they did withdraw. These actions do not at all sound like the Russians are being the least bit forthright. Their threats to take on Poland indicate to me that the invasion is already in the planning stages, and the Ukraine would not be far behind.

Once the Soviet Union has been reassembled, I suppose everything is content to think that they will stop there. However, if you study the economic and energy issues of the area, you certainly would have to suspect that they would partner with Iran in a Middle East showdown, right smack dab on the border with Iraq. Of course, if we get our troops out of Iraq now, we won't have to be in the middle of it.

Putin craves power, and he was miffed at rising to the leadership of a much diminished Russian world influence. He is bound and determined to reassert Soviet power and military dominance on the European continent. These claims of American and Georgian wrongdoing simply provide him with the cover.... the pretext for his actions.

EDWARDS DESERVES A BREAK: He's Not To Blame

What has he done that other politicians haven't done...and gotten away with?

If others get away with it, then that makes it legal.

What politico has ever faced criminal charges over such a situation? I can't think of any.

So, John, as far as I'm concerned, you have a free pass on this one. Even if you did use public funds, PAC money, or other restricted funds, you've got nothing to sweat.

Oh... About the wife..........?

GEORGIA IS ON ITS OWN, TWISTING IN THE WIND: Who Is To Blame?

While Russian troops continue to pound Georgia with bombs, rockets, tanks and troops, the free world flaps at the gums. Congress, away on vacation to duck the energy issue, is not even in Washington to provide the traditional wringing of hands and finger-pointing. Bush, Rice and Gates stand in the Rose Garden and announce they are sending a plane full of "humanitarian supplies" to Georgia and they sternly warn Russia to let it land....As if to say, "Or else!"

Or else what? First of all, the humanitarian aid is probably going to get confiscated by the Russians as soon as it lands; their troops are already storming Gori, regardless of their pledges to cease fire. And then, as history will show, Russia is not likely to honor any promises it makes until it is damned good and ready to. In fact, history will show that the Georgian exercise is most likely just a ramp up and training exercise for future actions to re-consolidate the Soviet Union and further, that this was a Russian test of the will and ability of the free world to respond.

And here we sit, impotently flapping at the gums while the tanks roll on. What else can we do?

We have a decidedly weak President and administration that has royally screwed up in Iraq and maybe Afghanistan, we have a war-weary military stretched beyond thin with a budget to match, we are faced with Islamic Terrorism at every turn, and we have lost so much stature in the rest of the world that no one is really willing to step up to the plate and support us.

So, I guess the real question of the day is not what we're going to do about Georgia, or the Ukraine or anything else. The real question of the day is whether or not that child belongs to Edwards or not.

THE PHONE RINGS AT 3:00 AM: Obama Fails To Answer

Friday, August 8, 2008, Russia began to bomb and invade Georgia. Obama was on a plane to Hawaii.

Bush reacted from China with a timorous statement through a generic White House employee. McCain issued a statement calling for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Georgia by Russian troops and called for an emergency session of the United Nations. Obama fumbled the ball, simultaneously condemning the attack and saying everyone should sit down and talk. And, he showed who's the guy who cares about the situation by staying in Hawaii and sunning himself on the beach.

Now, of course, he's not President yet, so what could he do anyway? Given his lack of expertise on the subject and a national question as to whether or not he is prepared to take the Presidential reins, I would think he'd want to calm the jittery nerves of the world by either flying back to the mainland or by flying some top, key advisers and staff down to join him in Hawaii to "bring him up to date on the situation." He didn't.

One can only surmise that he is too arrogant, doesn't care what people think, or in the hands of totally incompetent campaign staff. He has indicated to me, at least, that his response to national emergencies is going to be weak and fainthearted, somewhat like what we had in the Jimmy Carter years.

GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE FINANCIALLY LIABLE FOR FAILURE TO PROTECT US FROM OURSELVES

Since we have collectively abrogated our individual responsibilities to take care of ourselves, and have given those responsibilities over to the Government with nary a whimper of protest, and since the Government has taken the opportunity to issue laws, regulations and directives to regulate the conduct of our lives, I hereby assert that the Government is responsible to reimburse us for any losses occasioned by their failure to regulate.

If, therefore, we die of cancer that was caused by the smoking and inhaling of tobacco products, and the Government has allowed such products to be sold, the Government should compensate our families for the loss of our life.

If an assailant, using a gun that was not registered, shoots us and causes bodily harm, the Government should be liable for our hospital and medical costs because they failed to remove all illegal guns from the streets.

If we buy a cup of coffee and burn ourselves because the coffee is too hot, the Government is responsible for not testing the temperature of the coffee before it was sold.

Similar examples of Government liability are not necessary to make the point. By taking it upon itself to insert its regulatory self into the daily conduct of the many varied aspects of our lives, conduct which has traditionally been the responsibility of the individual, the Government thereby places itself legally responsible for the aspects of our lives that it fails to regulate.