"WHITERIVER — If everything goes according to plan, the White Mountain Apache will be able to retire all their debt within the next year or two and start putting millions toward economic development. The source of the immediate funds, says Tribal Planner Joe Waters, is carbon sequestration payments from California companies.
Initial payments could run from $20-36 million, with an annual payment thereafter of $1.5-2 million.
The root cause of the bonanza is California’s recent legislation demanding refineries, utilities, and other manufacturers either cut their carbon emissions with expensive scrubbers, or find a way to buy credits through a “cap and trade” program. The best way to sequester carbon, says Waters, is when trees absorb carbon dioxide and emit only oxygen. Because public lands can’t be used for this program, says Waters, and the largest private forests are those owned by tribes, the Apache are a perfect source for California companies.
“The White Mountain Apache Tribe,” says tribal Chairman Ronnie Lupe, “continues to explore uses of our natural resources that yield optimal benefit to the tribe and its members while retaining the integrity of the resource.
The tribe has around 770,000 acres of pine forest, and will put 100,000 acres into the program. Because the Apache forests are in such good shape, says Waters, and sequestering even more than the baseline amount for such forests, they will be paid a one-time bonus."
You can read more at this small, online newspaper. This "social justice" steaming pile of fascist crap didn't make the mainstream papers at all. Imagine that.
Reminds me of a story which [redacted] told me once..
ReplyDelete...about meeting a [foreign guy] in [a foreign place].. story ends with [foreign guy] saying I can't believe we lost to you idiots...
...which is what the Apache must be saying about now.
No kidding lewy.
ReplyDeleteI lived a few miles from this reservation for many years; I know, and like, the WM Apache Tribe. They currently own a beautiful ski resort in the White Mountains which employs a small percentage of their people. Their reservation contains thousands of acres of high timber, and they have a struggling lumber operation. Sportsmen pay through the nose to hunt trophy elk on their lands.
Even with these monies, many of the tribal members are desperately poor. Corruption, infighting, violence, and alcohol play huge roles in the plight of the average Apache. They don't like white people very much. I'm sure they'll be grinning all the way to the bank with this latest idiocy.
I'll be interested to see if these pick-pocketed funds trickle down to families, and if they'll be used for educating (and protecting) their youngsters. Too often any profits from their business operations end up in the grubby fists of shrewd outsiders preying on the weaknesses of the tribe.
I wouldn't be surprised if a chunk of the carbon credit $$$ circle back to California politicians and bureaucrats. A big chunk.
Apparently, the owner of the San Francisco Chronicle posts as Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we've been getting a lot of anonymous posts with very similar language and links to various businesses.
ReplyDeleteUsually I simply delete when I see them.
If you have time to go to the Comments section of the Blogger dashboard, you can mark them as "spam".
DeleteThis will help Google block the comments in the future.
I know, and I've done that a few times. But it keeps coming back and I keep hoping for something at least semi-original that I can try to humiliate them with ; ^ )
Delete