[Coral-List] The Saga of Dean Jacobson and Majuro Coral Mining

[Jim Hendee]

If you want to see all that has been posted on Coral-List regarding
Majuro, put this into your Google search:

site:http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/pipermail/coral-list/ majuro

Jim
On 3/14/14, 1:05 PM, Steve LeGore wrote:
> Thank you for forwarding this message, Jim.  I was not familiar with this issue, nor am I acquainted with Dean Jacobson, but given that details in the message are true, I am outraged that the US FAA is funding this project without any environmental analysis, presumably to provide a runway foundation somewhere.  I must wonder where USAID is in this issue, not to mention the USEPA and the Dept. of State.  Again, given that the details are true, it would appear that our government is aiding and abetting local corruption, at least.
>
> If someone out there is familiar with this situation and wishes to correct the record by explaining why Dean's message is not true, I will welcome learning about your views.  Meanwhile, I have written to my Congressman and my two State Senators, asking them to look into the circumstances. 
>
> Steve LeGore 
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jim Hendee <jim.hendee at noaa.gov>
>> Sent: Mar 14, 2014 10:50 AM
>> To: Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>> Subject: [Coral-List] The Saga of Dean Jacobson and Majuro Coral Mining
>>
>> Greetings,
>>
>>    I don't usually do this [read: approximately never], but I've edited
>> (removed a name) from within this message from Dean Jacobson (because of
>> liability issues) and am forwarding it on to Coral-List; because as you
>> will see, his computer is probably in a container on its way to the
>> mainland and he can't edit the original message himself. 
>>
>>    This is one of the most unbelievable sagas of a person trying to do
>> the right thing against all odds for the benefit of a coral reef area I
>> think I've ever heard of.  This is one persistent fellow.  Perhaps he
>> proceeded incorrectly or against local tradition, but perhaps not.  The
>> fact appears to remain that the beautiful reefs depicted in his Youtube
>> video are about to be destroyed.  As if the locals didn't have enough
>> problems (see the video), destroying the reef will probably also
>> compromise shoreline protection and destroy habitat for the local
>> fishers.  At any rate, this looks to be a sad end to Dean's on-island
>> plight, and let's hope his tenure on the island was not all for naught. 
>> He mentions a petition in the video, but maybe more can be done.  I hope so.
>>
>>    Yours,
>>    Jim
>>
>> On 3/12/14, 6:09 PM, coral-list-owner at coral.aoml.noaa.gov wrote:
>>> Subject:
>>> Majuro coral mining
>>> From:
>>> Dean Jacobson <atolldino at yahoo.com>
>>> Date:
>>> 3/12/14, 6:08 PM
>>>
>>> To:
>>> "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>>>
>>>
>>> This update may seen too weird to be true, but trust me!  After trying
>>> for more than a year to gain an audience with the RMI EPA Board of
>>> Directors (who approved the ongoing US FAA-funded mining of the
>>> reservoir lagoon reef without any environmental assessment, even
>>> refusing to view my underwater photos), and being very polite and
>>> friendly with the EPA manager Lowell Alik, who was beginning to show
>>> some interest in visiting the still-intact "blue and gold reef" where
>>> yellow branched Porites and violet Pocillopora (blue at a distance)
>>> are interspersed, to great effect, I paid Lowell a recent visit.  He
>>> had been off island a lot, I had trouble finding him.  He asked (many
>>> months after our last talk) "when are we going to do the site visit?"
>>> but the conditions were impossible, due to the waves and the nearby
>>> dredging operation (visibility was near zero).  It triggered my pent
>>> up frustration, and I complained bitterly to him about the corruption
>>> of the entire permitting process.  A week later, I was arrested by 7
>>> policeman, manhandled and handcuffed, and thrown into jail, for
>>> "drunken disturbing the peace" (with drunken crossed out).  24 hours
>>> later I was released (after a very unpleasant, hot night trying to
>>> sleep on a hard board, being bitten by fire ants) and I was instantly
>>> terminated from my teaching contract, with no one to take over my two
>>> classes!  A week or two later, an unpredicted wave surge flooded parts
>>> of Majuro, damaging many homes, and I was able to document this on
>>> Gopro.  I made a video, linking coral destruction and increased risk
>>> of coastal flooding.  
>>> www.*youtube*.com/watch?v=ol5RKZwfKdI
>>> So, I made plans to move back to the mainland, unemployed, and my
>>> container is being loaded on a ship today.  Then I find this week that
>>> I am being arraigned, prosecuted for "criminal trespass" by the
>>> Attorney General's office for a snorkel survey I did in August 2012!
>>>  This is clearly the work of [name removed] of PII, who is dredging
>>> the reef, unconstrained by regulation.  I suggest you may want to take
>>> action I suggest in the video, and also email PII.  I really could use
>>> your support! 
>>>
>>> Thanks!      Dean Jacobson, Ph.D.
>>>
>>> inquiry at piimajuro.com
>>>  
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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> Steve LeGore, Ph.D.
> LeGore Environmental Associates, Inc.
> 2804 Gulf Drive N.
> Holmes Beach, Florida 34217 USA
> Tel: 941/778-4650
> Cell: 941/447-8010
> GMT - 5 hrs