“Bladder Pods” – Here We Go Again!!

“Bladder Pods” – Here We Go Again!!

By Leon Howard

This absolutely amazes me! If the government cannot shut down the farmers with logic, they come after them through a different agency (read “Thug”) with another trumped-up charge! Now it’s the “White Bluffs Bladder Pod”! They are using the Fish & Wildlife knit-wits on this one and botanist Dr. Greenwald of Portland; telling us the White Bluffs Bladder pod is a “endangered” sub-species bladder pod, attempting to place a 1,000 ft. ‘buffer-zone’ from the river’s edge. This would put all the farms and orchards on the bluff out of business!

This is so wrong from so many aspects, it is ridiculous we have to address it as an ‘issue’ because it should be a non-issue! My wife, Diana, and I attended a meeting on Thursday, June 6^th, sponsored by the Washington State Farm Bureau, to inform the farmers and interested public on this proposed action by the FWB. I would encourage everybody to get involved in this effort.

Why? Even if you aren’t a farmer, you eat! If the FWB imposes this stupid “rule”, the EPA will use it to follow suit and it would take 78% of Washington state’s agricultural lands out of production! These bureaucrats would be stealing 78% of privately owned agricultural property, using junk science to do it!

Do you know what science a botanist used to determine the White Bluff Bladder Pod was a “sub-species”? Hold onto your temper …. The botanist determined it a ‘sub-species’ because it “looks different” than other bladder pods! You heard me right; it looks different. Now that is top- rate “science” there – Junk science! There are over 200 “sub-species” of bladder pod in the United States because they “look different”! I have pulled this weed from my garden year after year and I don't live near White Bluffs!

My wife made a good point on this: She looked around the room and she saw people taller than her (that’s not hard, she’s 4’11”), she saw people with larger noses and smaller noses, some were overweight, some were slim … They all “looked different” than her and using the botanist’s “logic” and “science”, they must all be “sub-species” and because they are all “different”, they must be ‘endangered’! Ridiculous? Certainly; but no more ridiculous than a highly educated person labeling a weed “endangered” using the same “test” my wife applied!

None of the over 200 “sub-species” of bladder pod has ever been DNA tested to prove there are any “sub-species” and, surprisingly, none of the other listings had anybody challenge the classifications. This can be done for $10,000.00, and your would think that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service could afford that pittance from their $2,343,000,000.00 ($2.34 Billion) budget but, no; they’d rather just condemn the land without any expenditure! This time, they are not going to get away with it! There is some kind of Gel test that can be done and the U. of Idaho is doing it for the Washington State Farm Bureau but it is the farmers of Franklin County that “ponied-up” the $10,000.00, out of their individual farm budgets to prove once and for all whether we have “sub-species” of this weed.

The next question that went through my mind is, “Why would a highly educated, highly paid professional want to name a new sub-species without real proof?” I got my answer from an agronomist: The botanist gets to name the sub-species and any time the sub-species is talked about, it is referenced with the “discoverer’s” name! Ergo: EGO!! Plus, it assures that botanist a job.

They go to college for several years and when they get their diploma, they have two choices for a job in their chosen field: The “greenies” like the Sierra Club, or they can go to work for the government, looking for “sub-species”! Can you say government overreach? I knew you could.

Needless to say, the farmers and the Farm Bureau are fighting this but they need help. You can write letters and donate money:

Put bladderpod on the memo line of your check and mail to:

Franklin County Farm Bureau 

30 Aries Dr. 

Pasco, Washington 99301

Addresses to write the letters to:

Proposed Listing Address:

Public Comments Processing

Attn: FWS-R1-ES-2013-0017

Division of Policy and Directives Management

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

4401 N. Fairfax Dr., MS 2042-PDM

Arlington, Virginia 2203

Critical Habitat Rule Address:

Public Comments Processing

Attn: FWS-R1-ES-2013-0012

Division of Policy and Directives Management

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

4401 N. Fairfax Dr., MS 2042-PDM

Arlington, Virginia 22203

Two public hearings on the endangered species listing for the White Bluffs bladderpod are scheduled for July 11 in Pasco.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is holding the meetings as part of the 60-day comment period it recently reopened after public outcry and legal threats over the lack of notice during a comment period last year.

The sessions are from 3 to 5 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. at TRAC, 6600 Burden Blvd.

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/06/09/2427916/public-bladderpod-hearings-scheduled.html#storylink=cp