The readers, part II: unlicensed geology

I also got a good response to Thursday's column (Hands up! Step away from the rock pile!) about a woman who spoke against mining at a public hearing and was charged by the state with "unlicensed practice of geology." I half-jokingly wondered whether this could be a new tactic to discourage public comments at public hearings, and most readers agreed:

What about HMOs - are they "practicing medicine without a license" when some claims person denies coverage for medical treatment recommended by the attending physician?  Maybe.  -- Stan

Could Coach Gruden be arrested for telling the team to pound the rock? -- Bill Hammond

Basically, it was a "slap lawsuit."  Thus, I, although retired, have maintained my Professional Geologist license at my own expense ... so that I might provide supportive services to environmental groups. Sadly, there are those in many professions, not just geology, who have "sold out" to commercial, agricultural, industrial and developer interests, to the potential detriment of the environment and the Public. -- John C Miller. PG #883

And on my closing claim that mining makes one's rear end turn blue (daring the Board of Buttology to press charges against me), this query:

I am concerned about one thing and you may know the answer to this. If one does not live next to a mine (I do not live next to one) are there any other reasons one ones derriere would turn blue? -- Wayne Mineo, Safety Harbor

Well, if we lived in a northern climate, I might suggest cold weather as a culprit. Otherwise I have no answers, and would not want to practice unlicensed medicine by guessing...

Comments

[jim]

Thank you for your interesting columns. I hope to relocate to St Pete someday.

I saw this rant re Florida politics on the housing bubble blog, which I thought you might appreciate:

“With the real estate and construction industries in the doldrums, retail sales dropping, student enrollment down 8,000 statewide this year and agriculture output threatened by a serious drought, the state’s problems have only been increasing in recent months.”

@#$%^&*! Oh, PLEASE! First of all, regarding drought. Florida used to have plenty of water to see the state through the dry times, having more freshwater springs than any state in the nation. And it used to have rainy seasons sufficient to make up for deficits of moisture. HELLO PEOPLE! When you pave over much of the state so that water runs off instead of percolating into the aquifer for storage, you have water problems. When you cut down trees wholesale without any thought for moisture, cooling and pollution control, you get more heat and desert eventually. HELLO!!!! When you allow private foreign companies to pump out the headwaters of rivers on which the populations of cities depend, the level of the rivers go down. HELLO!!!! But, OH, NO! Let’s not look at these factors, let’s just FREAK OUT about drought and build de-sal plants that are miserable failures and reservoirs that threaten neighborhoods. Let’s permit landscapes that have no business being in Florida and then institute water restrictions on the watering of those landscapes. Let’s just keep creating the problems and then coming up with solutions that DON’T WORK or create even more problems.

As to agriculture output, OH, PLEASE! What in the name of jeebus does anyone THINK happens to agriculture output when agricultural land is sold off for development? What happens to those illegal ag workers when they turn up their noses at ag jobs and go into construction? What happens when the construction jobs dry up? Can Florida think this through? No, it can’t. Why? Because we import economists from California who invent stuff to say with no basis in fact. And then decision makers listen to them."