Media Scare Tactics and Manipulating Law - Center for Biological Diversity

It has been no secret that once the Center for Biological Diversity trashed the oyster farm, they would go after the ranchers.

Here is a simple explanation of their disturbing tactics.

http://www.undueinfluence.com/Center_for_Biological_Diversity.htm

"Self-description: As the country's leading endangered species advocates, the Center for Biological Diversity works through science, law, and creative media to secure a future for all species, great or small, hovering on the brink of extinction.
Actual: Anti-industry legal attack group uses the Endangered Species Act and media scare tactics as a weapon to destroy America's industrial strength and resource production by bringing lawsuits against a wide spectrum of resource use companies, private property owners and against government to stop resource use. The Center for Biological Diversity lost a 2005 defamation lawsuit to fifth-generation rancher Jim Chilton of Arivaca, Arizona, when a jury awarded him $600,000, including $500,000 in punitive damages for falsely accusing him of damaging the range. The Center appealed the decision to the Arizona State Supreme Court and lost again in 2007" - from "Undue Influence"

Trainer's Friend Writes Book Without Interviewing Protagonists

Trainer's friend did not once take the time to call up Kevin Lunny or Corey Goodman and ask for their side of the story yet writes a "non fiction" story in which they are the central characters and calls it a true story. Claims to it to be the "true," but also claims she was there from the beginning and throughout. She was not even 2 years old in the beginning, 39 years ago, and lived in another part of the county, miles from the oyster farm and schools where the Lunny family was and is a major contributing part of the community. The Lunny family is highly respected. But how would she know that? She didn't even talk with them.

Brennan lived in New York while the real battle was waged. Based on her previous writings, compulsive prevarication is likely to be the basis of this yet-to-be-released hit piece. What editor or publisher will let her get away with that?

Trainer, with a reputation a mile long for sneaky tricks, inventing false allegations and being a flat-out liar, was her friend and, based on the synopsis below, was a major source for this piece of landfill. Should save the trees, Brennan.

Reaction to Closure of Drake's Bay Oyster Farm by Jane Gyorgy

POSTED FOR Jane Gyorgy: 

This is shameful and, in my opinion, the National Park Service, the NPCA, the EAC and the leaders of those environmental organizations who opposed the continuation of the ecologically beneficial, sustainable, renewable, local oyster farm, as well as all those who mislead the public, are just this kind of dangerous! Joining those at the top of my list of dangerous is Judge Gonzales Rogers, for her kangaroo court shenanigans which effectively prevented proper hearing of the DBOC side in this issue in the first place.

My opinion:

1. Fire all involved,
2. Strip them of their pensions
3. Rescinding of the under graduate, graduate and doctorate degrees awarded any of them (for they have shat upon them, reducing those sheepskins to toilet paper).
4. Impeachment for Judge Rogers is in order as well as cancelling her pension and stripping her of all of her degrees.

At the National Park Service level, and from their involvement at the Point Reyes National Seashore level, those who should be ousted first and stripped of pensions and all letters include, yet are not limited to, Jon Jarvis, Don Neubacher, Dr. Sarah Allen, Dr. Ben Becker, David Press, Melanie Gunn and, Cicely Muldoon.

The EAC should be run out of town along with Amy Trainer and Gordon Bennett.

All those at the top of National Park Conservation Association and most especially Neal Desai.

Others that should be terminated and stripped include, but are not limited to, Dr. Tim Regan of the Marine Mammal Commission (see 

11-07-2012 Marine Mammal Commission Report on Drakes Estero Tainted By NPS-MMC Misconduct at http://oysterzone.wordpress.com/?s=dr+Ragen

In my opinion, so many have contributed to the abuse and misuse of science, the law, and history, but these people stand out as the most dangerous and would be a good place to start. Add whatever names you wish.

Finally, in my opinion, it is too bad tarring, feathering, and being run out of town on a rail is no longer an option, that would be a fitting end to all of the above mentioned.

More People Want Amy Trainer Exported

From letter to the editor, West Marin Citizen, July 10, 2014

Call for DBOC healing, but first…
Editor:
We are all aware of how divisive this
misadventure was, within our community
as well as within some families. A
number of people, Amy Trainer of the
EAC included, have called for a time of
healing.
I agree, we need a more united community
when the next environmental
challenge presents itself.
Within the past few months I reversed
my position on DBOC and concluded
that their time was up. I changed
my mind, not because their departure
would be a good idea or be beneficial
for the environment (it could have a
negative impact) but because the Secretary
of the Interior was within his legal
authority to decline an extension of a
lease, already expired.
This argument was not sufficient for
the opponents of the DBOC, the EAC in
particular, as well as the Sierra Club
and Earth Justice. They obfuscated the
argument with fabricated information
attacking the environmental stewardship
of the DBOC.
For healing to take place, those who
lied to us should not remain in positions
of responsibility. They should resign or
be fired. I wish that Amy Trainer were
the first to go.
Chet Seligman
Pt. Reyes Station

The Most Hated Woman in Marin

 

After the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Drakes Bay Oyster Farm, opponents paraded out the abrasive Amy Trainer to offer sneering and chiding public responses. A graduate of "mean-girl" tactics who offers disturbing reminders of 7th grade playground hair-pulling bullies, Trainer managed, once again to offend an estimated 85 percent of Marin folk - the ones who support the oyster farmers and truly care about the farm workers who are about to lose their homes, jobs, schools and friends. These images are from yet another Amy-gloat while she discussed the fate of the farm workers. It's time for Amy to ride off in her kayak to create a disturbance in yet another community. She's unwelcome in Washington and Colorado. Her alpaca farmer-father in Kansas must be ashamed of what she's become.
Really, non-profit corporations, is this who you want as the face of environmentalism?

Trainer and Desai - Feet held to the Fire in Real Clear Politics - Tactics Mimic the Right Wing. Are they really leftists?

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/05/11/protecting_a_bay_while_treading_on_truth_122602.html#ixzz31QIp3RA5
 
The problem is that one side (out-spoken environmental purists) rigged the game and is employing guilt-by-association, one of the most despicable (and least authentically liberal) methods of argumentation in the public policy arena.

Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/05/11/protecting_a_bay_while_treading_on_truth_122602.html#ixzz31QLh5rhb
Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter

... Neal Desai of the National Parks Conservation Association, has fudged facts when discussing this issue. He calls the Drakes Bay estuary “the only marine wilderness on the West Coast” (it isn’t) and claims harbor seals are “endangered” (they aren’t.)
The other spokesperson is Amy Trainer of the West Marin Environmental Action Committee. Her preferred method of argumentation is ad-hominem attacks. When Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter offered an amendment that would have directed the government to renew the farm’s lease, Trainer unleashed a rhetoric attack on Kevin Lunny, who doesn’t know Vitter and hadn’t asked him for anything.
“Apparently right-wing politicians and industry lobbyists on Capitol Hill have made this policy-based decision about protecting our most special waters into a national cause celebre of conservatives,” she said. “It appears that the corporation’s deep-dive into special interest, right-wing politics has backfired … in the rabid attempt to attack national parks, and [is] in fact making statements that inadvertently undermine the corporation’s own arguments before the court.”

Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/05/11/protecting_a_bay_while_treading_on_truth_122602.html#ixzz31QIp3RA5
Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter

Myth Buster, Laura Watt - Did park coerce sales of ranches to form PRNS?

While the Drakes Bay lawyers make the case that the oyster company was always intended to be part of the Point Reyes National Seashore historically, author Laura Watt is shredding one myth after another as she looks back into history. She found the ranches were never in danger of coming under development before the NPS bought them and that NPS maneuvered them into a corner that resulted in the ranchers selling their properties to Department of Interior. Listen to her interview with KOWS radio host, Arnold Levine by clicking here.

And in some non news, seemingly it is EAC and its mouthpiece who published more questionable science on a questionable blog here. Guess no professional reporter would pick up the story. Was that because there had been no fact-checking?

"Our government and its corporate sponsors have created a system of subsidies that has to be abolished. They turned the lands into a commodity. We have to get public land users off this welfare system. It is not a simple thing to break those chains." - Kieran Suckling, Founder, Center for Biological Diversity

For a well-documented overview of how the Center for Biological Diversity, with roots in Trainer's San Juan Islands, manages to kill off over 4,000 farms, most of them multi-generational family farms without a hint of guilt, skip on over to sister-site, trojanheron.blogspot.com. Succinct summary there.

Time to protect Pt. Reyes farms!

Yet another Letter to the Editor Demanding Trainer Be Fired:

Yet another Letter to the Editor Demanding Trainer Be Fired:

During my three-year tenure as board president of a non-profit organization, one of my responsibilities was to make sure that our executive director followed the letter and the spirit of the goals and objectives set forth in our mission statement. 

From my reading of the Environmental Action Committee’s (EAC) mission statement on their website (www.eacmarin.org) the conduct of their executive director Amy Trainer is similarly in conflict with the objectives of the organization she works for.

Here are some examples: “EAC works for...the preservation of a rural, community spirit”; EAC uses law, policy, science and education to: create a common ground of understanding and promote informed debate; and encourage and facilitate productive resolutions to land-use conflicts by working closely with those who own, manage and use West Marin lands.”

Ms. Trainer’s take-no-prisoners approach to problem solving has made an absolute mockery of the goals stated above. And even now that the fate of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company (DBOC) is squarely in the hands of the courts, and has been for several months, her most recent attempt to smear DBOC and the Lunny family is stark evidence of how she has allowed her role in this conflict to degenerate, without apology, into a personal vendetta. 

If this is the kind of reprehensible conduct the EAC is proud to support then the gaping wounds that have been opened in the hearts and minds of so many people in this community and beyond will only continue to fester. If not, then the EAC must take quick and decisive action to find new leadership for its executive position.

Having gone all in with Ms. Trainer in their wilderness-at-any-cost campaign, this will not be an easy task for the EAC, and it will be especially difficult because in a small organization where everyone knows each other, the bonds of association and friendship will frequently cause a board of directors to put off making such a crucial decision. I know from my own experience with this process, that the longer you wait to release a toxic employee the worse it gets for all concerned.

If the EAC has any hope of reclaiming its birthright as an organization dedicated to truth, scientific integrity and personal accountability in the pursuit of the goals and objectives as proclaimed by its founders, there is only one choice they can make. And only when they find the courage to do so can real healing truly begin.

Bruce Mitchell

Inverness

What Trainer Did in Washington

Someone asked what Trainer did up in Washington? If you have time to watch the first half of this show, you can learn a lot. Or, take a minute and read how she falsely accused a homeowner of violating ordinances, calling a halt to their home reconstruction, when they had permits in order and had taken the extra expense of hiring a specialist to make sure the permits had been been done properly. Trainer picked and chose minor parts of ordinances, etc. without investigating the situation as a whole. Sound familiar to people in Marin?

Did Trainer Feed False Info to Yellow Journalist Known for Kardashian Gossip? Then Tweet It?

Trainer immediately tweets false story after yellow journalist, Dina Exil publishes it combining year old information with a news story 3,000 miles away. The story claims DBOC, which never sells oysters that have to travel farther than their trucks can drive in a few hours, was part of an East Coast health warning.

How did Trainer know about the story and tweet about it so fast? She can't come up with the evidence that she found it in a tweet that doesn't seem to exist.

After DBOC lawyers contacted Trainer's lawyers, the tweet was removed. But, DBOC saw it and we have it:

Food Safety News, which was quoted in the false story, decried the false story here. Trainer and EAC must realize they are have smirched the reputation of the Environmental Action Committee, a once loved and supported non-profit. To what end? To eliminate a major source of organic food in Marin? Do realize they could be forcing a situation where  almost all of our food would have to travel on barges from Asia? Is that environmentalism?  Is Trainer is an invasive entity in West Marin, a traveling trouble-maker who leaves when the iron gets hot like she did in Colorado and Washington?

EAC board members, would you please let Trainer go on about her way before this tragic situation gets any worse here?

Trainer - Colorado Experience 100 signatures on Petition

Here is the Petition at end of Trainer's work in Colorado. Some say she resigned because of it, some say she just left because the fire was getting to hot and that she only stays for a short while everywhere she had been. According to a Colorado journalist, Trainer had changed the mission statement of the resort that had been home to a "naturalist" group (a.k.a nudist camp) removing that important wording and forever changing the resort and taken away a 25 year tradition of twice a year fireworks. All of this was done behind closed doors, so 100 people became very upset. 100 people signed a petition that led to Trainer resigning as executive director of conservancy group, Orient Land Trust on the very day that the petition was evaluated at a special meeting of the board of directors.

 "IMO, hiring her was the biggest mistake ever made at OLT." - Colorado Journalist and OLT Member.

Scroll to end of petition to see the board's decision to accept Amy Trainer's resignation. Trainer began to work at EAC by October of the same year, 2010.

Did EAC know Trainer's past tactics - stirring up  other communities? In Washington, vocal community activists blame Trainer for the trouble with the Friends of the San Juans.

The Lunny family, which is still under a barrage of attacks at the hands of the Environmental Action Committee, told their story in 2010. EAC employee Trainer mentions only one member of the family as being the "owner," Kevin Lunny, in her work, which she describes as "to kick ass and take names."

The Lunny family, including all of the siblings, meets at least weekly, often by conference phone, to make decisions together. Kevin is the public spokesperson for the entire family in their efforts to keep the oyster farm open and protect all agriculture on the Point Reyes Peninsula. Some generous donations of time and energy by Kevin are listed here:

Trainer Misreads Law & Science

Sarah Rolph spells out EAC's spokesperson, Amy Trainer's misunderstanding of the law and science. Journalists are wise not to rely on Trainer for legal information as Trainer is not a member of the California Bar.

Jerry Friedman Thought Oyster Were Part of PRNS Agriculture

The person who was closest to EAC founder, Jerry Friedman, wrote to local papers today saying he is disappointed and disgusted with the organization's present actions. You couldn't get a better source to find out what was the original purpose of EAC.  Trainer's spin?

"Jerry Friedman, who drafted the wilderness bill for Senator Phillip Burton, had also expressed his opinion that mariculture had been included under the broader term of agriculture as a protected entity in the park."-William Barrett

Harper's Author Takes Oyster-Foe Spokesperson to Task

Anonymous writer,  Amy Trainer? Gordon Bennett? wrote error-ridden comment below the Harper's DBOC article. Accomplished author, Michael Ames shows what professional journalism is. Good to see established press challenging for a return to civility and honesty. See his rebuttal here.

DBOC Files Motion Correcting Coastal Commission's False Statements

Drakes Bay Oyster Files Motion Correcting False Statements by Coastal Commission

California Coastal Commissioner said EAC had been "begging and pleading with them to take action against DBOC for a year and a half." If they relied on the false and misleading statements, Trainer's pat mantra, it's no wonder the agency got it wrong.
{follow link(s) for expanded story} (CCC Items 11.1 and 11.2)

Harper's magazine article The West Coast Oyster War, lists several 'established' publishers which repeat false 'facts,'  claims, and outright distortions with vetting them first. False information has been traced back to the office of Amy Trainer. It's important to keep track of what Trainer, as a public figure, is doing and what she has done. up in Washington. One wonders if EAC checked references or deliberately hired her as a henchman.

After contacting several different organizations in California and Washington, D.C., for comment, I learned that many of the country’s oldest and largest environmental groups have agreed that only two people — Neal Desai of the National Parks Conservation Association and Amy Trainer of the West Marin Environmental Action Committee — will speak on the record about Drakes Bay. 
The environmental lobby insists, for example, that Drakes Estero will now become “the first marine wilderness area on the West Coast” outside of Alaska, a claim that has been repeated as fact by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, ABC and NBC affiliates in San Francisco, the local West Marin Environmental Action Committee, most national environmental organizations, and the Park Service itself.

July 15th Farm & Foodshed Report Transcript - Last Half Hour

West Marin Farms are in clear danger! The rest of the Farm and Foodshed Report with Sam Dolcini, Phyllis Faber, Peter Prows is now ready here. The discussion reminds us of the importance of a proactive movement to protect West Marin's farms.

Sam: "The environmental action committee is supporting a coastal zone amendment that would say, “Even if you are on an organic dairy in West Marin, making your living that way, and there are already three homes built, sorry but you’ll have to commute from town or from another location. You will not even have the opportunity to easily build a home,” ... So there is a huge disconnect between the positives that we provide and the image that’s being put out. And, the challenge that we run into is that there is a very vocal minority that is getting a lot of attention. I think there is bigger support than we realize. And I think one of the challenges needs to be to come up with a way to maybe reproduce what Mr. Friedman once built that has been hijacked and see if we can’t follow that blue print and get a majority of us back on track protecting something that is so important and so valuable. 

The Truth and Trainer May Be Complete Strangers

Marin Superior Court rules in favor of Drakes Bay Oyster Farm and EAC's Amy Trainer sends out press release claiming the opposite. San Francisco Sentinel calls out Trainer for fear-mongering and ineffective tactics.