Gov. Bullock doesn't get it on environment

By Bill Baum

I am writing this to communicate with Gov. Steve Bullock. He is not inclined to reply to my e-mails to him, other than an occasional letter on the governor’s official stationery … perhaps written by his staff. He does seem to personally reply to my op-eds about him in newspapers though.

I have met with the governor twice in Whitefish and discussed highly toxic Canadian tar sands oil railroad cars traveling through the Flathead River Designated Scenic Corridor, the Glacier National Park perimeter, Coram, Martin City, Hungry Horse, Columbia Falls, and Whitefish.

There are no adequate PREVENTATIVE measures being taken to ensure no railroad car derailments that would destroy waterways, wildlife, and humans … only reactive, after the fact, clean-up training drills planning. That’s too late.

Also on my agenda with Bullock was the waterways toxicity left over from the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company’s reckless polluting and the need for EPA Superfund clean-up solutions. I also pressed U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and he collaborated with Steve to work on this problematic issue. The local business community, and Republican U.S. House member Ryan Zinke, opposed a Superfund solution, preferring the concealment from a bad pollution reputation in the business public’s eyes on local property values to saving humans and wildlife.

A special committee, formed with local “dignitaries” and politicians and others wanting to pad their resumes with membership status, proved relatively worthless, but the free meals were very good. I was allowed to attend, but not allowed to speak, even though it was my public pollution alerts that prompted the forming of the committee.

Generally speaking, I believe Bullock appeared irritated with me for embarrassing him by criticizing him in a public forum. Too bad, so sad, but he needs to step up to the plate and be PROACTIVE about these vital issues instead of me goading him into it.

Now, as Steve’s name appears constantly in the public news media during his re-election campaign, I cannot help but notice he is NOT a proponent of coming to the rescue of wildlife by advocating for adding wilderness designations in the national forests to protect their very necessary habitat from the insatiable capitalistic timber industry and self-obsessed motorized/mechanized vehicle access “wreckreationists” and insane grizzly bear trophy hunters (killers) and inhumane, murderous trappers (killers) of fur-bearing animals.

In fact, Bullock is outspokenly an advocate and proponent for hunting, trapping, motorized/mechanized vehicle access, and logging in wildlife habitat. This gets him crosswise with me.

He probably will not add me to his appointees on his far-fetched, suggested “Office of Outdoor Recreation” housed in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Nor do I sound eligible for the appointment as “public access specialist” in the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Sounds like economics trumps the environment in a Bullock administration.

Maybe he is really a secretive Republican DINO?

Gov. Steve Bullock is handicapped by not knowing what he does not know. He simply does not get it.

He is all suits and ties and fundraising and politicking and vote gathering. Only humans can vote … not animals … so why bother worrying about them?

Answer: They are the vital, essential part of the ecosystem, along with plant life, that keeps the planet going. As opposed to humans, who are the scourge of the Earth and destroy the planet. Governor, now do you get it?

Baum is a resident of Martin City.