Anti-immigration forces defeated in Sierra Club election

[maddezmom]

Sierra Club leaders have beaten back an effort by anti-immigration forces to gain control of the nation's largest and most influential environmental group.

In elections for the Sierra Club's 15-member board of directors, candidates picked by the leadership won all five open seats in a landslide, according to vote tallies released Wednesday, several hours after voting closed. The bitterly contested election had been conducted by mail and online since March 1.

"It's a stunning rejection of the anti-immigration forces," said Adam Werbach, the club's president from 1996 to 1998. "I think people realized that there's no role for racism or anti-immigrant feelings in the environmental movement."
~snip~
more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/04/21/national1930EDT0825.DTL

:)

[Alex146]

1. good news!

[doubleplusgood]

3. Can't see how this is good news

As a former Sierra Club member I have been appalled by how otherwise intelligent people can completely ignore the fact that THE number one enemy of the environment in the U.S. is runaway population growth, which is largely driven by immigration. (Note: We would be at zero population growth except for immigration). If the U.S. doesn't set an example on poplation growth, who will ?

[ithacan]

4. it's excellent news because

you don't deal with the problem of US overconsumption by scapegoating immigrants, by creating a racist view of the US, of who should and should not be here. That is not the way for progressives to deal with problems of overconsumption by the US. It IS of course the right wing way, the way extremists seek to "deal" with these problems, but of course it never deals with the root problem, which is injustice, unequal distribution of wealth and income not only in the US but globally.

[Snow]

5. It's not population growth, it's population shift,

and like tides, there's no way in heaven or earth anyone can stop it. At least, not with anything the usual anti-brown people propose. However, I've seen some interesting articles about the effect of NAFTA on the ability of Mexican farmers to seel their produce in their own country for a price that allows them to make a living. That might be a battle worth getting into, if you'd like to help Mexicans live better lives in their home territory (or rather, what's left of their home territory after the US took half the country away).

[doubleplusgood]

15. you're right aout the NAFTA thing

It's my understanding that, thanks to NAFTA, Mexican farmers now have to compete with U.S. agribusiness in the local markets. Sorta has the effect of an agricultural "Walmart" moving into the area.

[yardwork]

6. Immigration is not our number one environmental issue.

There is plenty of room in the U.S. for recent immigrants. They aren't the ones building enormous golf communities in the mountains and filling in wetlands for resorts. They aren't the ones rolling back the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act and all kinds of other environmental controls.

And we would have all those problems even if we shut immigration to zero.

Americans use up way more than our share of resources. There is room in our huge country for immigrants.

[doubleplusgood]

17. Question

"Americans use up way more than our share of resources. There is room in our huge country for immigrants".

Question: Won't letting in more immigrants simply result in more American-level overconsumption ?

And as for all the "room" that we have well, sure, there is a lot of empty "flyover" space. But think of all of the resources that we as a nation would have to use in order to provide infrastructure, water, power, etc. for the additional population. Not to mention the resulting environmental impacts due to accomodating more people.

[Snow]

23. Question back atcha: How do you propose stopping immigration?

Unless you give poor people better reason to stay where they are, all the walls, patrols, and guns in the world won't keep them out. Yet those are the sorts of proposals I hear from most anti-immigration people. And again, I think it needs emphasis: this is not really population growth; it's population shift, like Ghenghis Khan. Only friendlier, & Mexican food is better than Mongol food. Spanish is easier to speak, too.

[doubleplusgood]

36. first off by recognizing it as an environmental issue

as a component of overall population growth in this country, and looking at all of the factors that lead to immigration in the first place. Mostly, people come here for economic reasons, so improving the education & economic opportunities in related countries would be paramount, in addition to supporting real democracy, not authoritarian governments. Reducing legal immigration limits to 300,000 or so (this roughly matches the number of pepole that leave the U.S. each year) would be another step to look at, although this may be mostly a symbolic act.

Now, my question back at you, would be this: If it is a matter of population shift and not population growth then:

A. Would you agree that population "shift" is an environmental concern ?
B. If so, what would YOU do to deal with the environmental consequences of this "shift" ?

And yes, I DO like Mexican food over Mongolian food.

[Snow]

39. Okay, I don't see anything overt about walls, so I won't start

throwing a fit at you. And IMHO your emphasis on improving economics in poor countries, ie Central America, is the way to go. My argument about population shift I keep harping on because other than immigration, the US has stable population. But in sort of answer to your question, I frankly don't have enough information to judge whether the shift is harmful to the environment. My inclination is to say that dirty big companies, whether industrial or agricultural, are a lot more harmful, and that needs dealing with much more urgently. The only way to start to do that is by throwing bush and company out, and that's coming, we all hope.

Okay, let me ruminate on the consequences of bunches of immigrants. It's mostly the space they take up and the resources they use, right? So some of what's going on is that southern california and texas are getting more crowded...maybe a lot more crowded pretty damn quickly. I suspect the new arrivals aren't buying new houses out in the suburbs; they're moving into Watts and similar places, assuming they're here more-or-less to stay and not doing the seasonal worker two-step. So they're going into existing housing; where's the pressure? Hmmm.

In LA, the so-called inland empire and the high desert, like Apple Valley are burgeoning - they're cheap and you can get a lot for your money, even if you're living in the desert. I'm guessing the Central Americans who buy houses in, say, San Bernardino, have been here a few years, most likely have papers & all. Or, alternatively, people moving out are doing a white-flight thing. Either way you have expansion of the city, with all the pressures on resources that creates. And while I could argue that the new arrivals are less wasteful of the earth than Americans, the truth is they probably adapt the American whole-hog lifestyle within a few years. One way to control all this is the whole free-market philosophy - demand for housing etc drives prices in the area up so much that the pressure is taken off because people get sticker shock & go live somewhere else. That seems to be about all that's happening in LA at the moment, and I don't know how effective it'll be.

So, anyway, there's your long answer - I don't really understand the issue very well.

[doubleplusgood]

41. where's the pressure ?

I think that newcomers to any area will inevitably put some kind of pressure on the existing system (assuming that the people they are "replacing" aren't moving too far away); everyone needs water, electricity, garbage pickup, food, gas, etc. Like you observed, a lot of the new development in So.Cal. is in the outlying suburbs/exurbs, fueled by people seeking cheaper housing, cleaner air and, yes, the "white flight" factor.

You may be right about market forces. I once read a comment from a developer on when he thought So. Cal. would stop growing. He said it would stop growing when it became as dirty, congested, and overpriced as some of the more undesireable cities on the east coast.

We seem to be trapped in sort of an urban-development version of slash-and-burn agriculture: develop a county, allow a good quality of life to exist (for a while), screw it up with over-development, then move on to the next county. I just think that one of these days, we are going to run out of places to develop. When L.A., Las Vegas & Phoenix all merge together into one giant megalopolis, then what ?

[Snow]

43. Yeah, we haven't figured out urban planning yet, although

we're beginning to see people doing things like compact housing around Gold Line stations (you sound like you know Southern Cal/LA, so I'm working on that assumption. Lemme know if I'm wrong). LA, in fact, has one of the higher population densities in the nation. And your nightmare scenario of a Vegas/Phoenix/LA sprawl doesn't seem possible to me - the environment is a whole lot friendlier on the east coast to that kind of thing. Here the desert will stop you. I could be wrong, but I think we're probably pushing the limits of spread in LA right now.

The market forces IMO are a crappy way, fairly hit-or-miss, method to regulate - but they really do seem to be working here. Irritating way to do it though. And a lot of that is a result of the old city hall/real estate/housing contracters network, playing the same games they've been playing for over 100 years. There's your environmental threat, not the Mexicans. In short, and considering all things, I firmly believe the anti-immigration people are getting upset about the wrong thing. And there's no question there's a strong tinge of racism to it as well, which bothers me a lot because some people I hold in pretty high regard, like Lester Brown of Worldwatch, are on this bandwagon. Makes it hard to dismiss it all casually as straight-up "brown tide" hysteria, but it does lower my respect for some of these folks several notches.

[DrBB]

8. White supremacist groups behind the putch attempt

If David Neiwert has it right, the people involved in this takeover attempt--a strategy that has been successfully used to undermine other left-wing groups--had some pretty ugly ties to white-supremacist organizations.

[maddezmom]

19. thanks for that link

:(

[ldoolin]

24. David Neiwert is full of shit

The candidates had ties to the population control movement which goes back to some groups founded in the 1970s that have their roots in Zero Population Growth. Hardly right-wing. David Neiwert is a liar who thinks that him calling somebody "right-wing", without him showing any evidence for same, makes them right-wing. His credibility has fallen to zero. Time to find a new liberal blogger hero.

[willmcw]

27. No lie.

I looked into the accusations that Lamm, Morris, and Pimental had ties to organizations funded by right-wing foundations. In fact, I wrote to all three candidates. Pimental responded that he had never received any money from such foundations, but Morris and Lamm admitted that their organizations are indeed funded by Scaife, etc. There is ample proof on websites that specialize in tracking foundation money.

That doesn't mean the Lamm and Morris are right-wingers. But it does call their judgement into questions if they feel comfortable taking Scaife's money and making alliances with fringe right-wingers like Tom Tancredo.

Lamm, Morris and Pimental had nothing to do with the Sierra Club before they decided to run for the Board. My guess is they they won't have anything to do with it in the future, either. They, and their supporters, apparently assumed that they could just wander in and win due to their name-recognition.

[ldoolin]

28. Not true

Lamm first joined in the 1960s. He rejoined in 2003.

Pimentel joined in 1993, Morris in 1998.

"Lamm, Morris and Pimental had nothing to do with the Sierra Club before they decided to run for the Board."? Really? Prof. David Pimentel has been a member longer than some of the people that Groundswell endorsed.

"Morris and Lamm admitted that their organizations are indeed funded by Scaife"

Scaife also funds the Cato Institute and groups of that ilk which favor open borders. Therefore any conspiracy theory that taking Scaife money somehow means anti-immigration doesn't hold water.

"But it does call their judgement into questions if they feel comfortable taking Scaife's money and making alliances with fringe right-wingers like Tom Tancredo."

*I* would feel comfortable taking Scaife's money if he were willing to give it up to whatever causes I am involved in. For one thing, it would be less money Scaife would have to give to groups I diametrically oppose across the board, like the Cato Institute. As for Tancredo - making alliances even with people you don't agree with on much is what politics is all about. Maybe if the Sierra Club would reach out to Tancredo it would improve his environmental record. Fat chance of that happening now. I hope you are satisfied, since you apparently got what you wanted.

[willmcw]

44. Sierra Club Election

Lamm first joined in the 1960s. He rejoined in 2003.
Pimentel joined in 1993, Morris in 1998.

And during that time how many club meetings or events did they attend? There are currently more than 700,000 members. While they are all qualified to run, they are not all qualified to serve as a director of as large and complicated an organization as the Sierra Club.

Scaife also funds the Cato Institute and groups of that ilk which favor open borders. Therefore any conspiracy theory that taking Scaife money somehow means anti-immigration doesn't hold water.
*I* would feel comfortable taking Scaife's money if he were willing to give it up to whatever causes I am involved in. For one thing, it would be less money Scaife would have to give to groups I diametrically oppose across the board, like the Cato Institute.

I don't think that the Sierra Club should have directors who are funded by the same foundations that fund the Cato Institute. The theory that more money for FAIR is good because it means less money for CATO is bizarre. The Scaife's interests are not the same as the Sierra Club's. Maybe your interests are not either. That's ok.

As for Tancredo - making alliances even with people you don't agree with on much is what politics is all about. Maybe if the Sierra Club would reach out to Tancredo it would improve his environmental record. Fat chance of that happening now.

If pigs had wings they could fly.

I hope you are satisfied, since you apparently got what you wanted.

Yes I am satisfied. This election was an important victory for the Sierra Club and for organizational democracy.

We need to defeat Bush and Tancredo because of their environmental positions, not their party affiliations or their immigration policies.

[ldoolin]

45. Tancredo Schmancredo

The theory that more money for FAIR is good because it means less money for CATO is bizarre. The Scaife's interests are not the same as the Sierra Club's. Maybe your interests are not either. That's ok.

FAIR's interests are not the same as Cato's. FAIR's agenda, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you think John Tanton is on, is benificial to the environment, to keeping workplaces in the U.S. unionized, to protecting good wages in the U.S., and to halting U.S. population growth. Cato's agenda is harmful to each of those things.

My interests are the same as the Sierra Club's to the extent that the Sierra Club is going to campaign strongly for preserving wilderness for its own sake, a halt to any further human population growth, removing Glen Canyon Dam, opposing U.S. wars in the middle east for the oil industry, and so on. The Sierra Club may or may not be on board with this agenda, I don't know, but as long as I'm a member I'm going to vote for those board candidates who most closely reflect it. Carl Pope most definitely does not reflect most of that agenda, while Paul Watson does.

I don't entirely know what Sacife's agenda is and I don't care; taking donations from somebody does NOT equal agreeing with all or even some of their agenda.

Bush has to go for quite a number of reasons, his environmental record among them. I probably wouldn't vote for Tancredo either if I lived in his district, except maybe to spite the neo-McCarthyites of the world.

[shanti]

30. ugh

white racism rearing its ugly head again. does this mean that we are inching past this? we can only hope.

[Frances]

10. Population growth

should be tackled on a global basis. If you are truly concerned about his issue, join an organization devoted to this problem.

Let the Sierra Club do what it was intended to do--look after the environment.

[doubleplusgood]

14. "Let the Sierra Club...look after the environment"

"Let the Sierra Club do what it was intended to do--look after the environment."

I'm assuming that by this statement that you are inferring that population growth has no impact on the environment. This is a serious disconnect. This reminds me of a poll that the Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club did back in the 1980', asking members what they thought the major environmental problems were. The top vote-getters were things like "Air Pollution", "Water Pollution", "Traffic Congestion", "Habitat Loss", "Species Extinction", etc. Way, way down the list in the 19th or so position was "Population Growth", the ONE thing that directly caused or exacerbated all of the other problems.

And yes, I do agree that population issues should be addressed on a global basis, including social justice, education, etc.

[Frances]

16. Suppose we had zero population growth in the U.S. today

Would we still have water pollution? air pollution? Yes. The Sierra Club should go after those issues.

Or if you still don't get my point, why not have the Sierra Club take a position on the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few? The shift of power and influence away from the middle class has been bad for the environment, so why not focus on this issue?

[doubleplusgood]

18. If we had ZPG in the U.S.

...then, Yes, I agree, we would definitely still have water pollution, etc. The point is that, with ZPG, we could actually be working on improving the quality of life instead of just accomodating increased quantity of life. That's all I'm saying.

[Frances]

29. If you are really concerned about immigration,

you should do everything you can to defeat Bush.

Based on what happened aftr Vietnam, I predict thousands of Iraqis who support the U.S. now will be offered safe haven in this country just as the Vietnamese and Hmong were.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Misunderestimator]

26. *sniff sniff*... what's that smell?

Xenophobia?

[shanti]

31. it's the american way!

/sarcasm, well, sorta

[doubleplusgood]

37. no

...Asphaltiphobia

[Rayen]

33. It isn't good news!!

Spanish is easier to speak, too.

I thought this was America! Americans speak English as their first language, not Spanish. Implying otherwise reminds me of some Mexicans I use to work with. They told me they would NEVER assimulate into the American society. Yet they are citizens?? That's the problem. According to our very own oath required for citizenship - all alliegence to any other countries must be broken. If you cannot trust your country's own "citizens", who can you trust??

If you are really concerned about immigration, you should do everything you can to defeat Bush

It's not just Bush. It's anyone who happens to be in office. mark my words - kerry will be no different concerning legal, and illegal, immigration!
:eyes:

[Bridget Burke]

34. So, xenophobia is the real reason--not "the environment"

Some have said the movement to subvert the Sierra Club was led by forces who were using concern about the effect of overpopulation on the environment as a cover for hatred of immigrants--legal or not. Thanks for confirming this.

Somebody's language & national allegiance have nothing to do with the environment. So, you "use to work with" Mexicans? Since you could understand them, they must have spoken English; they just hadn't abandoned Spanish. That beautiful language has been spoken in Texas since Cabeza de Vaca stumbled ashore on Galveston & it's not going away. As far as their "alliegence" goes--how many of them have relatives serving in Iraq? Check out the casualty lists for Spanish names.

And, yes, immigration will continue. The old white, Protestant, Anglo-Saxon, English-only country you dream about never really existed.

[NickB79]

38. No nation's language is set in stone

Otherwise, we should all be talking some dialect of a Native American tribe, since that was the language spoken here when white settlers arrived. English was just as much a foreign language then as Spanish is now.

Not giving up speaking your native language and not giving up alliegences to other nations are two very different things. Do you feel Catholics should not be trusted because they believe in the power of the Pope? That was actually an argument made when JFK ran for president, since he was Catholic. Looking back, it was laughable. How does speaking in Spanish make it any more impossible to trust another person than that?

[Piperay]

35. Immigration wasn't the only issue...

PETA was also trying to take control of the Sierra Club. Do you want radical animal rights groups gaining control of an environmental organization and turning it into a laughing stock. I know that I didn't even though I am all for animal rights, PETAs awhole other thing.

[Just Me]

2. I have noticed that there are some evolving developments,...

,...within the Sierra Club. I am a total neophyte, only recently becoming familiar with their frightening struggles. As a neophyte, I am observing a virus that seems to have invaded that community's basic health - tenets.

I am grateful that they have successfully defended their inclusiveness. I wish I could offer an immunization against the disease that seems to challenge their health.

[Snow]

7. It's a deliberate tactid of the right against progressive

organizations. For example, new leadership in the league of women voters came out in support of computer voting. One needs to be alert for these stealth takeovers in any progressive group.

[Gingergal]

9. look at how a hostile group hijacked the AARP.

And Ashcroft is trying to destroy Greenpeace.

[Zhade]

11. Three words for you: Democratic Leadership Council.

Two more words: New Democrats.

It's a virus, and, human beings that we are, some refuse to recognize the illness.

[Snow]

13. Yup. School boards and city/county councils are another place

to keep a very close eye upon, those of you who are new to this. While living in Omaha, I came within a whisker of having to run for the city school board because of a takeover developing that was right-wing even for Omaha. Fortunately, a moderate republican who'd done school board before came out of her kitchen and rescued me. I shudder to think what I would've looked like in the local newspaper if I'd run. On the other hand, Omaha can do weird things - in the mid 90's they came within about 200 voted of electing a black woman democrat as mayor. Instead we got 4 years of Hal Daub ~sigh~

[ElsewheresDaughter]

22. yup just like Trent Lott and Bob Barr infiltratging the ACLU...interlopers

[ldoolin]

25. Paranoia

The stealth right-wing takeover already happened. It's called "Americans for Jobs, Healthcare, and Progressive Values."

[Bridget Burke]

20. Good. Now I can re-up.

My membership had lapsed so I was not eligible for this vote. Glad things went the right way--will send them another check. And I won't feel bad about using that nifty backpack they sent when I joined the first time.

Overpopulation is definitely a problem but it needs to be faced on a worldwide basis. Turning the USA into a gated community is not the answer.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

21. well done!

[seemslikeadream]

32. Gold, Greed, and Terrorism -- Sierra Club

Gold, Greed, and Terrorism -- Bush Sr. connection to Echo bay



Echo Bay Mines aided the New People's Army (NPA), pictured here. The NPA was labeled a terrorist group by the State Department in 1996.

The Cost of Doing Business Tell Some Friends!


By Marilyn Berlin Snell

"If you harbored a terrorist, if you fed a terrorist, if you hid a terrorist, you're just as guilty as a terrorist."
— President George W. Bush, February 2002


Echo Bay Mines aided the New People's Army (NPA), pictured here. The NPA was labeled a terrorist group by the State Department in 1996.
WHEN KAPITAN INGGO WALKED THROUGH THE GATES at Echo Bay's mining operation in the Philippines, he bypassed the reception area and went round the building to the offices of the security personnel. He didn't ask directions. Inggo, one of the Philippines' ten most-wanted men, knew his way around.

Allan Laird, the newly appointed project manager at the Kingking gold and copper mine, was in a warehouse when he saw the unfamiliar man walk by. A Filipino employee told Laird that the man was a murderer who specialized in extortion and the kidnapping of businessmen for ransom. There was a one-million-peso bounty on his head.

Laird had a crisis on his hands: Two board members from Echo Bay Mines Limited — a Denver-headquartered, Canadian-chartered company — were at a nearby hotel preparing for a site visit. Laird had to head them off. He raced to the hotel and found the men having breakfast with his Denver-based supervisor. "I told them not to come down to the offices because we had a security situation — Kapitan Inggo was on the premises and we needed to get rid of him," Laird says. He thought it strange at the time that the directors reacted "with equanimity" to news that a notorious criminal was in Echo Bay's office complex.

Trained as an engineer and employed by Echo Bay for nine years, Laird had been assigned to the Kingking exploration project on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao only the month before. Prior to his arrival in August 1996, he had been informed that ore grades were low, projected development costs high, and disposal of cyanide-laced mine tailings problematic. But he did not know about Kingking's security issues. "I was sent in blind," he says. "Superiors knew what I was getting into and didn't tell me."

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200405/terrorism/page1.asp



1. Read the Documents


The Cost of Doing Business Tell Some Friends!



Read the Documents

Whistleblowers like Allan Laird, who come forward with stories of corporate wrongdoing, are often accused of not telling the truth. Fortunately for Mr. Laird — and for those who care about holding corporations accountable for their actions — he held onto the documents that substantiate his claims against Echo Bay Mines. Here are a few of the hundreds of pages he provided Sierra.

Receipts for payment to the New People’s Army
Receipt for payment to the Moro National Liberation Front
Project critique written for corporate headquarters after Kingking Mine project failed in 1997

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200405/terrorism/documents /




Photos: Echo Bay Mines aided the New People's Army (top) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (middle), which has trained with Al Qaeda. The NPA and the MILF were labeled "terrorists" by the State Department in 1996. Bottom: Kingking mine headquarters.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200405/terrorism /




How We Got the Story:




How We Got the Story:
Interviews with Author Marilyn Berlin Snell
and Whistleblower Allan Laird

Sierra Magazine: Why did Allan Laird come to the Sierra Club with his information?

Marilyn Berlin Snell: Before Allan Laird came to the Sierra Club, he went to both his Colorado Congressman, Tom Tancredo, and Homeland Security. Tancredo didn't even bother to respond. Homeland Security, after a cursory interview and no follow up (including getting the documentation that Mr. Laird had offered to provide), told him via email: "The local U.S. Attorney's Office is not interested in prosecuting this matter. Please feel free to do with it as you see fit."

more
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200405/terrorism/behind_the_story.asp


3. resource curse


It's no coincidence that developing countries rich in gold and diamonds have the poorest populations. According to the Worldwatch Institute, "Mineral dependence has been shown to slow and even reduce economic growth in developing countries — a phenomenon economists have dubbed 'the resource curse.'" In Africa, for example, 60 percent of all private investment goes to the mining sector, and extracting raw materials for export provides no added value. Countries like the Philippines are left with a dwindling patrimony and a legacy of environmental degradation.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200405/terrorism /



4. Support investigations into corporate ties to terrorism


http://whistler.sierraclub.org/action/tamain?alid=330

Americans have the right to know whether this was an isolated incident confined to the operations of one company, or if this is standard practice for extractive industries. There are many other U.S. multinationals involved in natural resource extraction operations in politically unstable countries around the world. We've always known that the mining industry is one of the planet's biggest polluters, but one company's greed should not jeopardize the environment abroad and our safety here at home.

This message will be sent to:
Your Representative
Your Senators
Governor Thomas Kean








Support investigations into corporate ties to terrorism


http://whistler.sierraclub.org/action/tamain?alid=330

Americans have the right to know whether this was an isolated incident confined to the operations of one company, or if this is standard practice for extractive industries. There are many other U.S. multinationals involved in natural resource extraction operations in politically unstable countries around the world. We've always known that the mining industry is one of the planet's biggest polluters, but one company's greed should not jeopardize the environment abroad and our safety here at home.

This message will be sent to:
Your Representative
Your Senators
Governor Thomas Kean






I believe Homestake is Barrick?

Commercial production commenced in 1977. In 1984, Homestake Mining Company acquired the Felmont Oil interest in the operation and, in 1985, Echo Bay Mines Inc. acquired Copper Range interest. Effective July 1, 2000, Homestake increased its interest in the Round Mountain mine from 25% to 50% when it acquired the Case Pomeroy interest. Effective December 14, 2001 Barrick Gold Corporation completed a merger with Homestake Mining Company thereby acquiring the Homestake interest in the mine.

http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:roUfK0bBUasJ:www.kinross.com/op/m ...

So Barrick does own Round Mountain mine and

The Round Mountain mine, located in Nye County, Nevada, USA, is a 50:50 joint venture between Kinross, operator, and Barrick Gold Corporation. Kinross acquired its interest in the Round Mountain mine from Echo Bay Mines as part of the Kinross-Echo Bay-TVX Gold merger effective January 31, 2003.

http://www.kinross.com/op/min/rdm.htm


well they did do something together?


April 28, 1995 - The Company announced that it had reached agreement to purchase the Macassa Mine from Barrick Gold Corporation for consideration of U.S. $42.5 million and 2.5 million warrants to purchase Kinross common shares (at an exercise price of Cdn. $10.00 per share with an expiry date of October 31, 1997).




Algorem (591 posts) Thu Apr-15-04 10:36 PM
Response to Reply #9

11. Kinross,TVX,Echo Bay merger 12/31/03



Sierra Magazine Story Reveals U.S. Mining Company's Support of Terrorists


To: National Desk

Contact: Brian O'Malley of the Sierra Club, 202-675-6279 or 202-744-8487 (cell)

WASHINGTON, April 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Sierra Club announced today that an expose will appear in the May/June issue of Sierra, the official magazine of the Sierra Club, revealing how a Denver-based mining company secretly paid off Al-Qaeda- linked terrorists under the auspices of "international security."

The story also shows how the Bush administration's Homeland Security and Justice Departments turned a blind eye when first informed that Denver-based Echo Bay Mining Co. paid millions of dollars to the international terrorist group Abu Sayaff and other terror groups in the Philippines in exchange for protection of its gold-mining operations.

However, shortly before the Sierra magazine investigation was reported on tonight's edition of ABC's World News Tonight, the Justice Department reversed course and announced that it would open an investigation into Echo Bay's operations. Tipped off by the Sierra story, U.S. Reps. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Mark Udall, D-Co, also issued letters calling for a congressional investigation into Echo Bay and the general practice of U.S. corporate support for international terrorism.

"Americans have the right to know whether this was an isolated incident confined to the operations of one company, or if this is standard practice for extractive industries," Mills said. "Attorney General (John) Ashcroft should return to the 9-11 Commission to explain his failure to pursue this dangerous financial relationship with Al-Qaeda and other known terrorist groups. It makes you wonder if multinational polluters are exempt from the Patriot Act just because they are Bush campaign contributors

more
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=177-04152004






<...> "It empowers the mining companies to open up large, open-pit mines on ore bodies that are not worth it," said. "They can dump an unlimited amount of waste on public land and give it a higher priority than recreation, timber, grazing and clean water."

An example of a Kinross open-pit gold mine is the Fort Knox/True North mine in Alaska. The loader photo and aerial photo are from the Northern Alaska Environmental Center.




Kinross Gold (KGC) and Barrick Gold (ABX) are both located in Toronto. And according to kinross.com, Kinross and Barrick are business partners in at least one venture, the Round Mountain Mine in Nevada. As noted in the May 24, 2003 UnderReported.com story Bush Sr. involved in "biggest gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy", Bush Sr. is on the board of Barrick Gold. As noted in that story, U.S. gold is being handed over to a Canadian company. Only in this world where paper rather than gold is money, and where where we have free trade, can the giveaway of U.S. gold be considered a mere free-trade mining operation as opposed to an act of treason.





Greg Palast Discusses the Congo War and Reveals Internal USAID Documents that Outline a Master Plan for Reorganizing the Entire Economy of Iraq
Greg Palast has been called “the greatest investigative reporter of our time” (Tribune Magazine). His book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy exposed the racketeering, swindling and backroom deals that passes for democracy in the new global economy. It became a New York Times bestseller.

Today on Democracy Now!, he talks about internal USAID documents that outline a master plan for reorganizing the entire economy of Iraq. The plans include the elimination of trade protections and the mass privatization of every industry in Iraq, including selling-off the oilfields.

Palast’s book also explores the relationship between the Bush family and a Canadian mining company, the Barrick Corporation.

Palast explains how as president, George Bush Senior changed a century old mining law that allowed Barrick to “swiftly lay claim to the largest gold find in America”. In return, the company named Bush to a senior advisory position after he lost the White House. The company also poured money into the Republican party coffers during the 1997-2000 election cycle, an exceedingly generous gesture for a company based in Canada.

So, what is Barrick? According to Palast- the initial stake came from none other than Adnan Khashoggi- the Saudi arms dealer who arranged the Iran-Contra arms for hostage deal.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/27/1955236


Federal inquiry eyeing Echo Bay


Former worker says mining firm helped fund terror groups

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
April 16, 2004

Federal officials are investigating a Littleton man's claims that a now-defunct mining company based in Denver illegally aided terrorist groups in the Philippines by giving them an estimated $1.7 million in protection payments under the guise of "security."

Allan Laird, 62, a former project manager for Echo Bay Mines Limited, has spent the past year trying to persuade the Department of Homeland Security to investigate former company officials for what he says amounted to illegal funding of terrorism.




A former executive with the company, which was absorbed by a merger in 2003, categorically denied Laird's allegations Thursday and questioned why Laird didn't go public with them until after he had been laid off.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a reporter's inquiries.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Colorado declined to comment on Laird's allegations but said the matter "remains under investigation."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_2 ...

Article Published: Friday, April 16, 2004
Firm accused of terrorist aid
Former Denver company: No record of pay for mine security


In the Sierra article, Laird said he issued repeated warnings to Echo Bay executives about what he viewed as a dangerous situation. Laird said one of his supervisors, John Anthony, responded with this e-mail: "You need to be more discreet in some of your observations ... and (in) the distribution of such a report which could be incriminating under certain scenarios."

Laird said he was aghast that Echo Bay executives viewed the terrorist payments as a routine cost of doing business.

"What disturbs me the most is there was a situation where a company was providing aid to terrorist groups," Laird said. "We should not be supporting terrorism under the guise of corporate security."

Laird was project manager of the Kingking mine for 14 months in 1996 and 1997, until shortly before Echo Bay abandoned the property and recorded a $50 million loss. He estimates that during Echo Bay's involvement in the mine from 1995 through 1997, terrorist groups were paid at least $1.8 million. The Sierra article estimates the payments "in excess of $1.7 million."

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2086949,00.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=489067

[tom_paine]

40. I forgot to vote, but it turned out OK anyway

However (and I may get flamed for this) we DO need to overhaul and scale back (NOT close down) our immigration ploicies, IMHO.

[blindpig]

42. this issue will not go away

the defeated candidates may or may not have been part of some racist conspiracy, I can't tell, this has become way too muddied. However, to deny that immigration is an environmental issue is ignoring reality in a way we normally associate with the right wing. Understandably we on the left are wary and vigilant for anything smacking of racism but I think this time we're throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Fact is most immigrants will become consumption hogs just like the rest of us. That alone is bad news for the world. To deny that wholesale immigration suppresses wages is silly. And while immigrants are not themselves propelling the obscene growth of up scale housing in the Tuscon or Charston SC areas those folks are having an effect on the overall housing market.
I don't think anyone here is proposing, deportations or walls, and if they do I'll be the first to smack them down. But enlightened policies on the part of the US government could alleviate the desire to migrate. We could impell our corporations to pay a fair wages and follow good environmental rules. These considerations should also condition our trade and aid relations with other countries.
Our goal should be to stabilize and reduce the population through family planning, large scale immigration wrecks that. If we could swap those hard working, hopeful people on a 1 to 1 basis for the useless rich, real estate developers and other parasites I'd be happy as a clam.