NOAA: Thieving Bastards

When the stated policy of a government agency is to regulate an industry, but the unstated, *actual* policy is to destroy that industry, personal livelihoods must die to satisfy the whims of bureaucrats.

In a decade-long battle, Yacubian was thwarted at every turn. When he was ready to show that the NOAA's equipment was so unreliable it couldn't prove he had been in a forbidden area, his expert witness -- a respected Massachusetts Environmental Police officer -- came under pressure and asked to be excused from testifying. Yacubian lost his case, his permits, his boat and his income.

When Yacubian asked for a discretionary appeal -- inside the agency -- he was refused, and had to make to make a costly appeal to a federal court. He won the appeal, and the federal judge ordered his vessel permit and operator permit restored, and sent the case back to the NOAA for reworking according to his instructions. The NOAA ignored the federal judge, withheld Yacubian's permits and went through the same motions and same decision as before.

Yacubian's attorney's fees mounted to more than $250,000, and he tried to sell his boat and permits, worth nearly a million dollars. The NOAA blocked the sale three times by refusing to release the permits -- without which the boat was unsalable. Without an income and out of resources, in July 2005 Yacubian gave up and settled with the NOAA. The agency got everything, and he got less than half the boat's sale price.

It just so happens, in an odd bit of good fortune for the NOAA, that the money corruptly stolen from the NOAA's victims is then used to furnish lavish party boat cruises for NOAA employees and their kin. Go figure! Who coulda seen that coming, right?

So. That's nice. For them. I don't see any conflict of interest here. Only justice.

Yep.

Thanks to Andy.

posted by Laura. at 04:58 PM

| Access Comments