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Squirrels have been running amok since 1975 when Executive Order 11870 banned the
most effective squirrel poison other approaches require more personnel
Department of the Army Historical Summary, 2004 (27 August 2004,
http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/DAHSUM/1977/ch11.htm, accessed 3/13/2007 7:08 PM,
Google)
The ground squirrel population in that area has increased to a point where the rodents pose
threats on several counts. They are potential carriers of bubonic plague, cause damage to
buildings and facilities, reduce crop production, and compete with other wild life for available
food. Since 1971 the Army has not applied effective pest control measures at Fort Ord.
Resumption of these measures has been precluded since 1975 by Executive Order 11870, which
forbade the use on federal lands of "secondary poisons" which make the tissue poisonous to other
creatures. In the meantime, most private landowners adjacent to Fort Ord continued to use
pesticide 1080, a secondary poison. Although the Army submitted its environmental impact
statements in the winter and spring of 1977, it selected zinc phosphide, a less controversial
rodenticide, as the prime agent to fight the squirrel menace in the spring of 1978 when the
rodents would be most active and susceptible to control measures.
And, Military budget crunch has caused severe cuts in pest management personnel
Kuffner, 2006 (Charles, http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/cat_national_news.html)
A "severe budget crunch" has hit Fort Hood, one of the nation's largest military posts and home
to a U.S. Army division serving in Iraq, officials said Thursday.
The funding squeeze forced the Central Texas installation to impose an immediate hiring freeze
and dramatic cuts in contracts with local providers of support services, officials said.
The move announced Thursday follows "significant internal steps to help manage existing funds
through the end of the fiscal year," an announcement from base headquarters said.
"Additional measures are necessary and will be implemented beginning (Thursday)," the
statement said.
In addition to the "100 percent civilian hiring freeze," other cutbacks will reduce custodial
contracts, on-post housing referrals, grounds maintenance contracts and government vehicle
contracts, officials said.
Additionally, pest management contracts were "severely" cut and other services were
"significantly" reduced, officials said.
Austin Energy in Texas is alone spending over one hundred thousand dollars on squirrel
guards WE DO NOT ENDORSE THE SQUIRREL GENDERED LANGUAGE IN THIS
CARD
UPI, 2006 (Dec. 25, http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/20061225-040356-2618r/, United Press International)
A report from the Austin Energy power company in Texas has revealed approximately 20 percent
of all its power outages are the result of squirrels. The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman
reports the rodents have a habit of coming into contact with sensitive electrical equipment on
utility poles and could likely be responsible for nearly 700 area outages a year."He's a formidable
foe," Austin Energy supervisor Karl Hauer admitted. "Ask anyone who has been stuck in traffic
or left in the dark because of a squirrel."By coming into contact with the poles' distribution
equipment, the critters quickly become a conduit for up to 7,200 volts of electricity.To fight the
increasing problem, Austin Energy is spending more than $100,000 annually to install deterrents
on equipment to keep the animals at bay.Yet many in the Texas city maintain such incidents
never occur and that energy companies simply use the squirrels as scapegoats when possible, a
charge Hauer strongly disputes."There is no truth to that," Hauer told the paper. "That might be
the lore, but who wants to carry around a dead squirrel?"
But squirrels cannot be stopped they can only be killed; they will squirrel their way
around any barriers, making guards a waste of money
Gomez, 2007 (3-11-07, Suicide squirrels driving utilities nuts, Alan,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-11-suicide-squirrels_N.htm)
In Lincoln, dubbed a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation, "squirrel guards"
have been placed on all 19,391 transformers.
The guards vary. Some are plastic or silicone caps that protect the point where the power line and
the transformer meet. The "Critter Guard" features a flat disk that spins around whenever a
squirrel tries to climb past. Others deliver a minor shock to the squirrel to scare it off.
PECO, which powers Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, spends $1 million a year on
squirrel guards to stop outages from "those rascally little varmints," Engel said.
But squirrels adapt to the technology, forcing the utilities to switch to different forms of what's
known in the business as "wildlife abatement technology."
"Whenever we think we've got them figured out, they try something else," Engelman said.
And, Electric sector is critical to the economy any negative effects ripple quickly through
the economy
Singh, 1998 (Hon. Ganja Singh, Minister of Public Utilities, September 11,
http://www.ttparliament.org/hansard/house/1998/hh980911.pdf, accessed 3/12/2007 3:14 PM)
I would now look at the rationale of this Bill by exploring the following areas: the importance of
the utilities sector, global trends, local trends and the limitation of the present Public Utilities
Commission legislation and key provisions of the new legislation. The importance of the sector.
Vital and essential to life in a modern society, utility services constitute the infrastructural
foundations of the development process. The level and quality of the provision of these services
are generally regarded as direct measures of the quality of life or the standard of living in a
country. Providing infrastructure services to meet the demand of users is, therefore, one of the
major challenges of economic development. Utility services have strong linkages to the national
economy and to human well-being. Inefficiencies in the provision of these services are likely to
be felt quickly and throughout the economy and, thereby, impact adversely on the
competitiveness of the national economy and the quality of life of the people. Good utility
infrastructure, on the other hand, raises productivity, lowers production costs and improves the
quality of life of people.
And, Economic struggles in the U.S. directly affect Japan and China and quickly spread
globally
Frontline, 5-6-2005
[India's National Magazine, from the publishers of THE HINDU, Volume 22 - Issue 09,
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2209/stories/20050506002012000.htm]
According to Tomomichi Akuta, an economist at the UFJ Institute in Japan, Japanese subsidiaries
in China exported around 4.9 trillion yen of electronics goods in 2004, of which 8 per cent were
direct exports to the U.S. The exports of electronics related items from Japanese firms to their
Chinese subsidiaries in that year were around 1.3 trillion yen. Of this, about 20 per cent was
linked to exports by these subsidiaries to the U.S. Further, about a third of the 846 billion yen of
unfinished goods exported by these subsidiaries to other Asian countries, were finally destined
for the U.S., Thus a slowdown in the U.S. would, at one remove, affect Japan as well. In fact, the
effect would be far greater than suggested by these figures since there are a number of nonJapanese firms in China exporting to the U.S. that import capital goods, intermediates and
components from Japanese firms. What all this implies is that a slowdown in the U.S. can not
only rein in growth in the other major growth-pole in the world economy, China, but also have
ripple effects in the form of deceleration across the globe that can spiral into a major crisis.
And, Global economic collapse equals global nuclear war
Thomas Bearden, Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, 2000 (June 24,
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3aaf97f22e23.htm)
History bears out that desperate nations take desperate actions. Prior to the final economic
collapse, the stress on nations will have increased the intensity and number of their conflicts, to
the point where the arsenals of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) now possessed by some 25
nations, are almost certain to be released. As an example, suppose a starving North Korea
launches nuclear weapons upon Japan and South Korea, including U.S. forces there, in a
spasmodic suicidal response. Or suppose a desperate China-whose long-range nuclear missiles
(some) can reach the United States-attacks Taiwan. In addition to immediate responses, the
mutual treaties involved in such scenarios will quickly draw other nations into the conflict,
escalating it significantly. Strategic nuclear studies have shown for decades that, under such
extreme stress conditions, once a few nukes are launched, adversaries and potential adversaries
are then compelled to launch on perception of preparations by one's adversary. The real legacy of
the MAD concept is this side of the MAD coin that is almost never discussed. Without effective
defense, the only chance a nation has to survive at all is to launch immediate full-bore preemptive strikes and try to take out its perceived foes as rapidly and massively as possible. As the
studies showed, rapid escalation to full WMD exchange occurs. Today, a great percent of the
WMD arsenals that will be unleashed, are already on site within the United States itself. The
resulting great Armageddon will destroy civilization as we know it, and perhaps most of the
biosphere, at least for many decades.
This response must include squirrel eradication they carry bubonic plague
NBC, 2007 (Santa Monica To Give Birth Control Shots To Local Squirrels, March 5,
http://www.nbc4.tv/news/11173312/detail.html?subid=10101581)
Experts say squirrels are aggressive and may carry rabies or host fleas that can spread disease,
such as bubonic plague.
The larger the squirrel population, the greater the chance for infestation, which in turn could
expose humans and predatory animals to disease, Gail Van Gordon, a Los Angeles County
Health Services Department entomologist, told The Times.
Finally, resistant microbes are the greatest threat to human survival
Bruce Sterling February 1995 (science journalist) in Bitter Resistance
At the close of this century, antibiotic resistance is one of the gravest threats that confronts the
human race. It ranks in scope with overpopulation, nuclear disaster, destruction of the ozone,
global warming, species extinction and massive habitat destruction. Although it gains very little
attention in comparison to those other horrors, there is nothing theoretical or speculative about
antibiotic resistance. The mere fact that we cant see it happening doesnt mean that its not
taking place. It is occurring, stealthily and steadily, in a world which we polluted drastically
before we ever took the trouble to understand it.
We have spent billions to kill bacteria but mere millions to truly comprehend them. In our
arrogance, we have gravely underestimated our enemys power and resourcefulness. Antibiotic
resistance is a very real threat which is well documented and increasing at considerable speed. In
its scope and its depth and the potential pain and horror of its implications, it may be the single
greatest menace that we human beings confront aside, of course, the steady increase in our own
numbers. And if we dont somehow resolve our grave problems with bacteria, then bacteria may
well resolve that population problem for us .
Thus the Plan: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase the
number of persons serving in the Armed Forces by substantially increasing the pecuniary
and educational benefits as well as end strength for Pest Management (3E4X3) in order to
enable the National Guard to apply its pest control operations procedure to the emerging
squirrel crisis.
And, we arent extra T, it is already standard policy for the National Guard to do animal
control
Heath et al, 1998 (Animals in Disasters, Secretary/Treasurer,AmericanAcademyon
VeterinaryDisasterMedicine,http://training.fema.gov/EMIWEB/downloads/IS11Comp.pdf,
accessed3/12/20076:11PM)
Ifyourinitialassessmentrequiresresourcesbeyondyourlocal
capability,yourStateemergencymanagementofficeshouldbe
notifiedofthisimmediately.MostStatesrequirethechief
executiveofthelocalgovernmenttoofficiallyrequesta
GovernorsdeclarationofdisasterinordertoobtainState
assistance.Thelocalemergencyprogrammanageris
responsibleforlocaldamageassessmentandthereporttothe
Stateemergencymanagementoffice.
TheState,actingontheinformationprovided,willdispatch
personnelandequipmenttothedisasterareaandassistinthe
responseandrecoveryeffort.The
NationalGuard
maybe
askedtoassistwithanimalcareandcontrolissuesandanimal
relatedclaimsinvestigations.Detailedassessmentsandspecific
requestsforassistancewillreceivethemostappropriate
response.IftheStatefeelsthatFederalassistanceisalso
required,theStatesdirectorofemergencymanagementalerts
FEMA.FEMAmayalsodispatchrepresentativestothearea.
The National Guard is already assigned to target pest disease vectors, its just that these are
subject to prioritizing
Pritt, 2002 (Douglass A., COL GS, Chief of Staff, Integrated Pest Management Plan,
http://www.mil.state.or.us/Agi-E/ORARNGRRegs/210-5/Regulations/PESTPLAN-TEXT.DOC.)
PRIORITY. Pest control operations will be prioritized at each facility, for reasons discussed
below, and conducted in the order shown below:
a. DISEASE VECTORS AND PUBLIC HEALTH PESTS
(1) Mosquito species found in Oregon have the potential to transmit St. Louis
encephalitis and Western equine encephalitis, although these diseases have not occurred in the
state for many years.
(2) Rabies has been found in Oregon, mainly in wild mammals.
(3) Plague has been found in field rodents located in the eastern and southwestern parts
of the State, and the hantavirus has been confirmed in rodents during tests at both Camp Rilea
and the Biak Training Center. The ORARNG Occupational Health Office has developed a
hantavirus exposure prevention program.
(4) Ticks may transmit disease organisms within the State. Tick-borne diseases include
Lyme disease, Colorado tick fever, tick-borne relapsing fever, and Rocky Mountain spotted
fever. Some ORARNG training sites were surveyed for ticks in 1992, with negative results for
target species. Since problems have occurred in adjoining states, ORARNG will periodically
complete additional surveys.
(5) Pest control operations will target all disease vectors and public health pests if they
are shown to be a problem. All persons engaged in pest control operations should ensure that
proper procedures are followed for all pest control operations involving disease vectors.