Congress prevents funding
PCFFA 13 – Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, “The Advocate for the Independent Fisherman”, http://www.pcffa.org/FN0613_PCFFA.pdf
Another troubling part of the Implementation Plan and its schedule is lack of any discussion of how all of this is to be paid for. We’re not arguing against the Plan because of money, but there needs to be an honest discussion about where the funding is going to come from, other than just CWA 319 grants. True, some things such as coordination between states (e.g., the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health) are not costing the federal government anything, and some of the actions don’t have any substantive federal cost associated with them or are paid for from other sources, but a lot of new money will also be needed. Both of the ocean commission reports called for the establishment of an Ocean Trust Fund to financially support oceans conservation work. That concept is not to be found in this document, yet it needs discussion if we’re serious about protecting our oceans and the economies, such as fishing, that depend on ocean resources, In fact, the document fails to even mention in its discussion of ports that Congress is refusing to turn over monies from the existing harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (funded from a fee on goods coming into US ports) back to local ports for such things as maintenance dredging. This is particularly critical at this time for smaller, coastal fishing harbors, where we’re about to lease the economic activity and jobs these ports create.
Polls agree that warming isn’t anthropogenic and real – no one cares
Caruba 14 - Initially a fulltime journalist, Caruba is a veteran public relations counselor who is often asked by members of the news media to comment on news involving PR issues. A longtime member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of Science Writers, (Alan Caruba, “International climate skeptics gather in Las Vegas”, July 6, 2014, http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/caruba/140706
In June a Pew Research Center poll announced that 35% of Americans say there is not enough solid evidence to suggest mankind is warming the Earth while another 18% says the world has warmed due to "natural patterns" and not human activity. That's a total of 53% who disagree with the lies about climate change being told by President Obama and a host of politicians and scientists who have received millions to maintain the hoax. The poll also noted that 40% of Americans still believe that mankind is causing the planet to warm. They likely represent the cohort that has graduated from American schools whose curriculum has taught the Al Gore version of science.¶ Among the participants in Heartland's 9th conference are Habibulio Abdussamatov, a Russian astrophysicist; Sonya Boehmer-Christiansen, a research analyst from Great Britain; Fred Goldberg, an associated professor at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden; Madhav Khandekar, a research analyst from Environment Canada; William Kinimonth who worked with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for 38 years; and Lord Christopher Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, a chief policy advisor to the Science and Public Policy Institute. They will be joined by American scientists, longtime skeptics of the hoax, often called "deniers" by those advocating it.¶ It is doubtful that the U.S. media will give much, if any, news coverage of the conference, but the eight previous conferences have done much to debunk and dispel the deluge of lies about the Earth's climate.¶ Leading Heartland has been its president, Joseph Bast, who asks "How can there be a 'scientific consensus' on the causes or consequences of climate change when thousands of scientists, economists, and policy experts attend conferences devoted to expressing the opposite theme, that the science is still unsettled and climate change is not a crisis?" In May Bast was joined by research scientist, Roy Spencer, in a Wall Street Journal commentary that debunked the lie that 97% of scientists support climate change, noting that "surveys of meteorologists repeatedly find a majority oppose the alleged consensus."
NOP Bad – Links to Politics
Public opposes NOP – fishing groups
Eilperin 14- Juliet Eilperin joined The Washington Post as the House of Representatives reporter, where she covered the impeachment of Bill Clinton, lobbying, legislation, and four national congressional campaigns. Since April of 2004 she has covered the environment for the national desk, reporting on science, policy and politics in areas including climate change, oceans, and air quality (Juliet Eilperin, “Fishing groups criticize Obama’s Pacific plan”, July 2, 2014, http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140702/NEWS03/140709875
WASHINGTON – When President Barack Obama announced two weeks ago that he intended to expand federal protections around seven islands and atolls in the central Pacific Ocean, many environmentalists hailed the move as an important step for conservation.¶ But the main group overseeing fishing operators in Hawaii and three U.S. territories declared Monday that it opposes the proposal, on the grounds that it would hurt the U.S. fishing industry.¶ The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council - composed of fishing industry representatives as well as some state and federal officials - helps establish fishing policy for both commercial and recreational operators in Hawaii as well as the territories of American Samoa and Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In a statement Monday afternoon, members of the quasi-governmental agency said they would oppose any additional limits on commercial fishing in the area.¶ President George W. Bush used his executive authority to establish the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which now encompasses almost 87,000 square miles, in 2009. Obama is now contemplating widening those boundaries to cover nearly 782,000 square miles of federal waters, which would be off-limits to fishing, energy exploration and other activities. The designation now extends 50 miles out from shore; it could be extended as far out as 200 miles.¶ The statement argues that the move would deprive fishing operators of an important resource. “U.S. fishermen, including those in the Pacific, already abide by the strictest fishing regulations in the world, and this plan further inhibits their economic survival,” they wrote, adding it would yield “few, if any, ecological benefits from the restrictions.”¶ But Marine Conservation Institute founder and chief scientist Elliott Norse, who has lobbied for the expansion, challenged the council members’ assertion that “there is no scientific evidence indicating that the U.S. purse seine and longline fishing vessels operating in the offshore waters” outside the current monument “are impacting seabird populations.”¶ “Fishing for tunas mean there are fewer tunas,” Norse said in an interview, adding that the millions of seabirds that nest and forage in the area depend on the area’s tuna population. “We would like there to be more tunas in this ecosystem because they play an important role in that ecosystem.”
Commissions still causes political backlash
Brookings Fiscal Seminar 9 – The Brookings Institution Fiscal Seminar, group of scholars who meet on a regular basis, under the auspices of The Brookings Institution and The Heritage Foundation, June 2009, “The Potential Role of Entitlement or Budget Commissions in Addressing Long-Term Budget Problems,” online: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2009/06_commissions_sawhill/06_commissions_sawhill.pdf
Political. In some cases, reliance on the recommendations of commissions may have ¶ political ramifications as well. There are some instances where the recommendations of a ¶ commission have the effect of limiting debate in the Congress. (Indeed, that may be the ¶ intent.) For example, the Greenspan Commission’s set of recommendations was ¶ approved in part because proponents made a persuasive argument that the package was of ¶ a take-it-or-leave-it form. That is, to change or substitute a different proposal for one of those recommended by the commission could lead to the collapse of a delicately balanced ¶ compromise. Similarly, because amending the package was considered dangerous to the ¶ passage of a legislative response to the looming Social Security insolvency, even the ¶ debate on the merits of the package and its components was largely muted. ¶ ¶ The use of commissions can also be seen as a means of taking an issue outside of the ¶ political arena where unelected nonpartisan experts can be free to produce ¶ recommendations or findings based upon sound and reasoned analysis rather than ¶ partisan gains. More technical issues increase the desirability that a panel be comprised ¶ of unelected experts rather than elected representatives.2
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