More stupidity from the Center for Biological Diversity
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) today sued the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Colorado for allowing caving to take place at the annual convention of the National Speleological Society.
The CBD claims that human activity can spread white nose syndrome, the mysterious ailment that has been killing millions of bats across the eastern United States. To quote:
It is well documented that the fungus believed to cause white-nose syndrome, aptly named Geomyces destructans, can be spread on the clothes and gear of people visiting caves. Scientists strongly suspect that the disease is a recent import from Europe, likely transported by someone who visited a cave there and then came to North America.
To be blunt, this statement is an outright lie.
Though it has been shown that in rare cases humans can carry the fungus from point to point on their clothes and gear, it has not been shown that this activity is able to transmit white nose. Nor does anyone have any idea how the fungus was brought over from Europe. To claim humans did it is pure fabrication.
Finally and most important: the main vector for transmitting white nose continues to be bats. You could kill every human on earth, and the bats would still pass it along.
As I noted earlier, the CBD is not really interested in saving bats. If they were they wouldn’t be doing everything they can to antagonize the caving community, the one amateur community which has actually done the most to help researchers find out what white nose syndrome is. CBD’s real goal is to generate cash from their legal activities, which is then plowed back into their coffers to produce more courtsuits. This must stop. The law must be changed to discourage these suits. And people have got to stop contributing money to these bloodsuckers.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
they don’t sue to make money. that is a rumour that holds no validity and such statements expose you as an ignoramus.
@requisite – Please tell us what exactly their lawsuits DO, other than waste government and NGO resources that would be better served studying the REAL problem.
Requiste – This from an April 20, 2011 New York Times Article by Todd Woody on environmental groups creating a logjam of lawsuits under the Endangered Species Act, specifically the Center for Biological Diversity: “The nonprofit group, based in Tucson, has 20 lawyers on its staff in more than a dozen offices across the country. The center raised $7.5 million in 2009, according to its annual report, including $4.8 million from membership donations and $1.2 million in what it calls “legal returns” from cases.” Anyone interested in the facts can check CBD’s 900 tax return, just as they can for any non-profit organization.
That should be 990 tax return.
to me it seems like it is much much more likely the bats transfer the fungus themselves , a bat stowed away on a ship or plane and came to america , then bats moved from cave to cave spreading it , doesn’t seem likely that people could spread the fungus to very many caves
Requiste–
They do indeed receive “piecework” payments for their lawsuits; the more they file, the more lawyers they can employ, as the government pays their costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) and in the federal 9th circuit (San Francisco, where else?), they needn’t even be successful. Congress is currently considering legislation requiring transparency by the government in reporting fees paid to groups which in many cases engage in friendly lawsuits with government agencies who use outside groups like CBD to compel them to do things they could not otherwise do. “Sue us, we’ll take a dive, and then you and we will get what we want, and we’ll pay your fees.”
The payment of their fees is de minimus; the damage such suits and settlements do to representative government and our economy are staggering.
I agree. A bit of humor though, the ad generator for your site put an advertisement for lawyers below the anti-lawsuit post!