The Serpentine Conflict Grows

Opposition is spreading to the misinformed law that would remove serpentinite as the California state rock. Here are new posts since the ones I mentioned a couple days ago and a few days before that.

The American Federation of Mineralogical Societies blog puts it baldly: "That means MILLIONS of dollars added to each construction plan anywhere near a serpentine deposit."

DailyTech's Science blog says, "The bill could aid in sending money to law firms and cleanup companies by offering a public shunning of serpentine."

Erik Klemetti's Eruptions blog says that "to lump all serpentine in with the exceedingly rare form that is carcinogenic is downright wrong [and] also not backed in science."

Gary Hayes' Geotripper blog says, "Let's get rid of poppies as our state flower" because poppies may contain morphine.

A lively thread on mindat.org includes the speculation, "I think this bill will extend to prohibiting the public from entering all public land for any purpose." And with suspicion of government so high these days, who knows?