Bad News

I read a couple of stories recently that sound a little bad for our fair haired Governor, Brian Schweitzer.<br />n<br />nFirst off, regional veterinary experts are <a href="http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070609/BUSINESS/706090325/1046/rss03">not very keen</a> on his "buffer plan" around Yellowstone National Park for Brucellosis. <br />n<br />n<strong>The veterinary officials said the buffer plan, or regionalization, would be expensive and labor-intensive, and would cause an unnecessary division within the state that could harm the state's export market.</strong><br />n<br />nSo, a buffer zone could still affect the state as a wholes ability to market cattle. I never considered that. I knew it would be expensive and labor consuming which would be extremely unfair to those people who live in the zone but I had never considered the other aspect. This proposal is looking very grim.<br />n<br />nThe other story comes from abroad. It appears China is going to <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHINA_OIL_FROM_COAL?SITE=MTBIL&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT">kill their plans</a> for converting coal to fuel "due to concerns about the expense and energy demands" that this process requires. Now Governor Brian Schweitzer has been very big into pushing for this in Montana. If one of the largest polluters in the world, China, thinks it is going to be too expensive, what's it going to be like for Montanans? One of the things that always got me about the whole coal to fuel proposal is the Governors claim that it would use no water. A major industrial process that uses no water? Why is this one of the Chinese concerns?.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Concern about the expense and water demands of such projects were also expressed, Xinhua said.</blockquote><br />n<br />nI know this doesn't specify the amount of water used, but it is expressed as a concern. Why, <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2005/05/21/state/export207858.txt">if as our Governor states</a>, this uses no water, would they be concerned about the water the process uses?<br />n<br />nThis whole thing really looks bad for Schweitzer's coal to fuel idea. If China is afraid of doing it, why is our Governorso hot and bothered to jump in with both feet?<br />n<br />nReally looks like some bad news for our Governor but his supporters won't care. They will continue to tout him as the savior of Montana and Democrats in general. When will the polish finally rub off and people realize he is just a man like any other with no special, mystical attributes? I'm really beginning to doubt people will ever see.<br />n<br />n<strong>If you don't change, reality in the end forces that change upon you. Stuart Wilde</strong>