Salem-News.com Articles written by Roger Butow

MCAS El Toro: Email Exchange Highlights Informational Roadblock

Proof that the committee overseeing the remediation of the environmental impacts from the closed El Toro Marine base, is simply not going to provide information to the public that it is legally bound to deliver.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - This is an email exchange between Salem-News.com's Roger Butow and Bob Woodings, city engineer in Lake Forest, California, regarding the reconfiguration of the old El Toro Marine base.

The old air station is highly contaminated according to the federal EPA which listed the base as an EPA 'Superfund site' in 1990...

Irvine Great Park Inherits Contaminants

Irvine Ranch and MCAS El Toro Residual Pesticides & Herbicides Persist.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - Recent scuttlebutt regarding the Superfund cleanup of former MCAS El Toro is that much of the hardscape will remain in place. Apparently it’s being given some spin by Larry Agran’s ass-covering minions as the homage (tribute) to the historical military use of the site, leaving the runways and possibly even entire arterial streets and sidewalks intact.

That’s PR for you when the people in charge have big marketing budgets provided on the backs of taxpayers.

Irvine-Corona Tunnel Is A Highway to Many Hells

A Tale of Two Counties That Ignore Biological Consequences.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - The “dig, baby, dig” crazies have taken over Southern California, matching their oil and natural gas drilling whacko friends in fantasy trade-offs that nonsensically create more problems than they solve.

After all, this is riotous Lotus or La-La Land, and no one typifies it more than those who think the next great concrete band-aid will be the one that instantly remedies our over-population hence traffic circulation problems.

Clean Water Underground? Halliburton says: `Fugetaboutit!`
America`s Water Supplies Get Freaking Fracked

"Only after the last tree has been cut down... Only after the last river has been poisoned… Only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten." - Cree Indian Prophecy

(LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.) - If you haven’t heard about “fracking,” the use of solvents, exotic chemicals and water injected by extreme high pressure boring tips to literally fracture deep subterranean strata releasing energy resources, then sit up and pay attention America:

If it isn’t already in your neighborhood or that of a relative or family friend, believe me, it will be coming soon.

Clean Water Now In The Gulf? I Don`t Think So!

“Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated” - George Santayana

(LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.) - It doesn’t feel good or make me righteous to say “I told you so” when the results in the Gulf oil catastrophe are so devastating.

The predictive modeling and forecasts in recent technical updates are now beyond the dire warnings of those of us who gasped at it initially anyway. I’m no longer angry, that’s in my rear view mirror-----Just color me stunned.

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Provokes Panic and State of Emergency

“I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours.” - Kurt Vonnegut

(LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.) - OK, all of you "Drill, baby, drill" imbeciles, where are you hiding right now, crawled back into whatever slimy, bitumen-encrusted asphalt sink hole you emerged from?

Still think drilling oil offshore is, like that traitorous Marine Colonel Ollie North said, a really neat idea?

Larry Agran and Bill Turner: A Tale of Two Traitors?

“The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed but that he cannot believe anyone else.” George Bernard Shaw

(LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.) - A recent article in the OC Register about the City of Irvine and EPA “greenwash” of water quality impairments at the former USMCAS El Toro is disturbing; it strikes a sore nerve, an open wound that won't heal.

It’s an insult to those who have already experienced injury and death, Marines and civilian vendors alike, plus other emerging casualties.

How I Spent My 2010 Spring Vacation: With Salem-News.com!

Note: Odd Man Out spent his 2010 Spring vacation with editors Bonnie and Tim King as his Oregon tour guides. It wasn’t exactly Homer (The Iliad and The Odyssey), but it was quite an adventure!

(LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.) - I found a few days for a whirlwind weekday tour of Salem and it’s environs recently.

This was a multi-purpose trip, allowing me to meet all of the King family-----not to mention a few members of that band of gypsies known as the S-N.com staff and friends.

Water Quality: An Exploration of the Myths, Lies and Misperceptions

“Don’t Test, Don’t Tell” PART II

(LAGUNA BEACH) - In this second and final installment, our caravan will be moving on to problems here in my home state of California.

Water Quality: An Exploration of the Myths, Lies and Misperceptions
Part I of a Two Part Series

“All is water.”
Thales of Miletus, Father of Western Philosophy

(LAGUNA BEACH) - This is going to be a two part series, so sit down, buckle up and get good and depressed! It’s about some disturbing technical aspects the public knows little about, concerns I’d like to share, and some unpleasant things I’ve learned about the world of water on my (now) 13-year journey.

Hope your food is settled.