[Coral-List] Majuro updates

[Dean Jacobson]

Jim:
After weeks of having my updates rejected by the list, I am glad you are back in the saddle, and also (as I had imagined might have been the case) I am glad you weren't sick.  Hope you had a good trip.  And yes, as you suggested to me, I am writing a book!
I am so grateful for the List; without it the picnic reef would have already been mined (now it is being silted, a silt curtain has not been put up to protect it from the adjacent RSA fill-operation)
 
I honestly believe that much of the reservoir reef can also, still, be saved.  I presented a long list of petition comments to the new US ambassador, Tom Armbruster, who recently invited me over for a meeting at the embassy.  Tom was very receptive and sympathetic, my presentation went very well.  Without the List I would not have had these commments, including those of Ove, Laurie Richardson, Greta Aeby etc (Charlie Veron also signed).  Now that the RMI EPA office is refusing to cooperate or even respond to my complaints and suggestions, the pressure now being applied by Tom is the only way to pry open the door of access to the environmental regulatory process again.  (I believe he realizes that I am a credible and responsible actor in this saga; his position is that "It is in the US's best interest that this project be done well".)  International pressure is the only thing that will work, and for that pressure I am endebted to the list.  The
 details of misdeeds by Majuro regulators/leaders/corporations and their campaign against me, which I provide here, clearly motivates people to get involved.  I think you can see that my posts are not flames, but have a single goal, to get the towering ecological value of reefs taken more seriously in the RMI (and elsewhere).  I am sure you will agree that this is an appropriate topic for the list.
 
I'd like to remind listers (several of whom have asked about my petition) that my petition is still, inexplicably, closed, and that I have started a petition asking the petition website to reopen this petition to stop US-funded coral mining in the RMI.  Listers can contact me for the site of this new petition (this seems like a joke, but is not!).
Cheers,
Dean Jacobson

From: Jim Hendee <jim.hendee at noaa.gov>
To: Dean Jacobson <atolldino at yahoo.com> 
Cc: Lew Gramer <lew.gramer at noaa.gov>; Mike Jankulak <mike.jankulak at noaa.gov> 
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 1:11 AM
Subject: Re: question


Good morning (8:25am EST), Dean!

  No, you haven't been banned; and Tom wasn't until he kept telling everybody I had banned him, and I hadn't, so finally I said, "Okay, NOW you're banned!"  But I've got nothing against Tom--he's a very smart guy and a good biologist.

  Here's the deal.  I've been on vacation for three weeks, and two of my team (Mike Jankulak and Lew Gramer) moderate the list while I'm away.  They're brilliant dudes, but as you have no doubt seen, sometimes the call by any of us on whether or not to let a message go through can be a judgement call.  In administrating this list, it's safer to err on the side of being conservative (i.e., strictly legal); however, the good ol' American way is to let everybody have their say.  We also have to take into account the rules that we've arrived at after almost 20 years of running this list.  You will note that the informational page says, "...inflammatory commentary and other messages not appropriate for Coral-List..."  This has become more of a gray area than some might think.  

  In your particular case, I think we all (at least I do) are cheering you on from the sidelines in your plight to go up against Big Brother & The Establishment in doing what's right for coral reef conservation.  However, when you cc Coral-List in emails that chronicle your plight, you are exposing all 7,000 list members to a personal communication, which is not fair to those you're battling (even if you're right).  You mention threats of deportation and lies, etc.  All that is, as Mike Jankulak said, of an adversarial nature and not relevant to Coral-List..  Furthermore, the length of some of your messages detracts from your purpose:  it's intimidating!  

  My personal suggestion, which I believe I mentioned to you before, is to try to consolidate the new events into bullets, or post on a blog or something.  The running narrative of your troubles is noteworthy and even heroic, but at some point it strays into a dialog of confrontation.  Don't get me wrong, the whole story is fascinating and should be in a major outlet like theNew York Times or the journals Conservation and Society or many other areas of environmental journalism (see especially this page and the journals listed near the end).  You should contact the Society of Environmental Journalists and ask for some guidance, I say (in fact, at least one member is a Coral-List subscriber).  By the way, I did send one of your posts to a very good environmental journalist who works for a local TV station, but apparently he didn't pick it up (not a big surprise since the story isn't local).

  I know you want to stop them NOW, but I think you've done what you can through this list (except I don't mean to dissuade you from keeping us all apprised).  Posting what the progress is, or lack of it, without all the personalities involved (at least in an antagonistic sense), would be better.

  I hope this helps.

   Cheers, Jim


On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 6:32 PM, Dean Jacobson <atolldino at yahoo.com> wrote:

Jim:
>I don't know if you saw my last email.  I was wondering if like Tom Goreau I've been banned. Recent messages have not been posted, and I have not been told why.  BTW, I met with the new US ambassador here, a very simpathetic fellow, he is trying to re-open communication with local EPA, which has banned me.
>(My sense of anger, of betrayal was well-justified, EPA is not enforcing the environmental management plan which they approved, not even requiring silt curtains to block the sediment plume at the RSA fill site!).
>
>thanks for your attention
>Cheers,
>Dean Jacobson