Chris288

Harry Klemm on the Lake Mead Ban, and the Bluewater Network
Posted on Wednesday, July 24 @ 15:40:14 EDT by Rob



Recently there have been numerous headlines referring to the ban of PWCs
at the Lake Mead Nat'l Park, but the local press has offered very incomplete
information about the actual story. As the papers stated, this "possible" ban
is a result of a lawsuit filed by the Blue Water Network (BWN). Reviews of
public records showed that over 60% of the BWNs $80+ million annual
budget is donated by Ted Turner (yes that Ted Turner). For his own reasons,
Mr. Turner does not only hate PWCs … he hates ALL motorized pleasure
crafts.

With Mr. Turner's donation funds, the tax exempt San Francisco based BWN has never planted a tree or
cleaned up a beach. What they do is employ a small army of lawyers to travel the nation and file
lawsuits. BWN first tried to sue the PWC/boat makers, but lost each time because the BWNs "facts" are
either fabricated or based on data over 30 years old. Since BWN couldn't scientifically prove that pwcs
had greater emissions than other crafts, they set out to sue the, already under-budgeted, NPS (National
Park System) to prove that PWCs "were" environmentally appropriate to be used in the national parks.
It was a very "back door" ,but effective, legal maneuver to get a ban, even though BWN knew it would
just be temporary.

BWN also set a deadline date for that study that they knew no federal agency, including NPS could
meet. To file this suit, BWN had to produce no scientific facts nor any data on any pwcs manufactured in
the last 12 years … That would now be the NPSs job. Despite NPS pleas for more time to complete the
study, a BWN friendly judge in Washington allowed the suit and the deadline to stand.

In truth, ALL the most reputable and scientific studies to date prove that the PWCs manufactured in the
last 7 years are among the quietest of all maritime crafts. The newer "Direct Injection 2 stroke" and
4-stroke PWCs released in the last 3 years are "THE" quietest and lowest emission motorized maritime
crafts available in the world today. BWN is fully aware of these facts, but doesn't really care because
their goal is not to improve the environment, but rather to justify their existence to their financiers.

BWN fully realizes that when the NPS reports are finally completed, PWCs will be again allowed in the
Nat'l Parks, but they don't care about that. What they truly care about is getting local newspaper
headlines proclaiming "PWCs Banned" that they can lay on Ted Turner's desk to justify his donations.

The correct headlines for our local papers should read "Environmentalists Refuse to Allow Time For
Proper Study". Such a headline would offer far more truth, and far less value to the jet-setting
environmentalists seeking more tax free donations with which to sue under funded governmental
agencies.

Boaters who feel that a ban of PWCs is a good thing should know that BWN does not want to ban PWCs
… They wish to ban "ALL" motorized pleasure crafts. They started with PWCs because it was the easiest
category to mount a hate campaign against, based on fabricated data. Most importantly, they needed
to set a legal precedent whereby they can begin the banning of other types of crafts one category at a
time (i.e. large displacement outboards, 25'+ offshore boats, carbureted V8 driven boats etc). For those
boaters who are pleased about a possible PWC ban … know that your boat is certainly next on the BWN
hit list.

Harry Klemm, Fort Mohave, AZ.

CigDaze

What a bunch of whacked-out people...
Check out their other 'campaigns.' What a joke, Sounds like they want to completely erradicate all forms of water-borne transportation.

-The Global Warming Initiative
-The Renewable Fuels Campaign
-The Big Ship Emissions Campaign
-The Cruise Ship Campaign
-The Oil Spills Prevention Campaign
-The Public Lands Campaign - continues to build on its success in limiting and restricting thrillcraft – personal watercraft (PWC), snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles (ATV’s) – from National Parks, Seashores and Lakeshores
-The MTBE Campaign
-The Two-Stroke Engines Campaign - will continue to lead the nation in fighting the damage caused by high-polluting personal watercraft (PWC), outboards, snowmobiles, and all-terrain vehicles using two-stroke engines.
-The Fast Ferries Campaign

bajadude

Typical chit! I'm glad there are so many people looking out for my ^&$$%ing well being! Hmmm, I used to think I new what was best for me and that I could take care of myself. Thanks Ted for showing me the light!

TomR

This type of crap is happening all over. Here on Cape Cod they have already banned the PWC's from most of the ponds and from the National Seashore parks. What they have done in the ponds is to make it illegal to launch them from public ramps not actually banning them from the water!
What is happening is the Elitest are trying to control what we can and can't do based on what they feel is appropriate. I ended up in a conversation with one of these "enviromentalist" (which is the cause that they hide behind) about a week ago and he came out and told me that power boats are not safe and that they are going to try to ban "ALL" powerboats from the ponds and lakes in the area. The tactics that they are using is to make a pest of themselves to local law enforcement with exagerated & fabricated complaints.
There is a group trying to organize a "task Force" to examine "Cigarette Boats" in the Falmouth Massachusetts area. They are talking about use on the ocean!!
Like PWC's, Performance boats are the next easy target.
The speed boat stands out & most people who don't have one are very easily convinced that they are run by a bunch of irresponsible "Cow Boys", as one sailor put it, "those speed boats are the bane of my existance". Please!!!!
This is the type of stuff being published in the local papers that are owned & controled by a very few powerful people that apparently don't like anyone that doesn't have a sailboat.
We as a group had better start organizing a voice or these few powerful people are going to ruin it for all pleasure boaters, performance or not!!

mopower

No wonder Jane dumped Ted

Iggy

Wonder if they have their hand in the manatee law suits.

Dean Ferry

Iggy,
I believe they probobly are, if you dig deep enough! The lawsuit that was filed in DC acouple of years ago by 18 or so Eco-Radical groups, was lead by the SMC!
These groups are DANGEROUS! So is Ted! AN idiot with that much wealth, and DONATING it to BWN, is almost ANTI-AMERICAN, just like "Hanio (sp) Jane"!!!
MD

Erie Desire

Chris,
Thanks for posting this. Hopefully it will open the eyes to many of the PWC bashers out there. We all have the right to be out there. If you take away the rights of others what rights do we have? Even if I hated PWCs, I still want the FREEDOM to ride one!
Brian

Playn

Guys and Gals,

Don't think for a second that these Wackos are only content on banning PWC's. Here is their misson statement below;

Bluewater Network is a national environmental organization aggressively confronting the root causes of climate change and fighting environmental damage from the shipping, oil, and motorized recreation industries.

You can visit their website at;

http://www.bluewaternetwork.org

Ted G

iTrader: (1)

What's even more pathetic about these clowns is their history. The "doctor" that runs BWN is like a psychologist or something and he is an ex sailboat racer(just like Ted). After reading all the lies and phony data on their website I really believe they will stop at nothing to get rid of all powerboats. I haven't been over there lately but they used to have a bunch of "testing" done on a 60's era 3 horsepower outboard that they used for all their HUGE pollution numbers. This is how they can say that a PWC produces more pollution in a day than a car does in a year They also use a bunch of data from the Ca. Air Resources Board, but when you go to CARB's website you see the data attributed to BWN- great science there. These are the same type of people that will trash a Mc Donald's for selling hamburgers.