12-8-14 Commentary: What Do Ecuador And Alaska Have In Common Besides Incredible Beauty?

The transition for new Gov. Bill Walker is … unknown to most Alaskans, and what skills he brings in grappling with serious problems we face is equally unknown.

Reader Steve Borell writes: "The video clips at the site below (and above) document the lies and fabrications of a group that attacked Chevron/Texaco in Ecuador. The case initially resulted in a $17 billion judgment against Chevron/Texaco but has now been overturned.

"I attended a luncheon at the AEMA conference last week in Reno, featuring the attorney who won the case against Stratus Consulting and the environmental groups…. https://www.youtube.com/user/TexacoEcuador"

Commentary, (reference): We hope that advocates on both sides of the EPA effort to preemptively stop the Pebble Project in Alaska determine whether the defamed Stratus Consulting and/or its employees are, indeed, some of the "experts" from Ecuador attacking the Pebble project in Alaska.

This is critically important to the natural resource industries throughout North America. If a Stratus-supported or non-Stratus supported effort (to have EPA deny the Pebble sponsors their constitutional due process) were ultimately successful, project opponents would cite the 'precedent' from this day forward. No construction, mining, agricultural, highway, port, commercial fishing, logging, oil and gas or recreational project anywhere would be safe from unconstitutional, governmental, pre-emptive edicts–whether it be private, Native, state or locally sponsored.

In particular, honest citizens who oppose the Pebble Project should realize that big money forces are seeking to establish a precedent that could and will someday rise up to attack their own hopes, dreams, careers, family plans and subsistence lifestyles.

Deciding to support the EPA's pre-emptive, non-constitutional action is a much bigger issue than whether one supports or opposes the Pebble Project in particular. -dh