BAUPOST DEJAVU

Thanks to D.B. for posting this "Trouble in Paradise" gem on facebook.

With that lead and a little digging around, Minebuster has found that Baupost is pulling the EXACT same scam down in California that they are here and it started almost at the same time.

Down there they are interested in California's water and oil.

Here?  Limestone and in my opinion water.

Read all about it and if you are a provincial or federal politician read this then go change your underwear:

2007

“...the historic ranch was purchased for $136 million in early 2007 by a Massachusetts-based investment group Baupost Inc. Despite current and consistent rumors to the contrary, the new owners promised at the time of purchase that they had no immediate resale or development designs. And, according to Baupost’s local representative, Steve Amerikaner, that position hasn’t necessarily changed. ....before adding that Baupost had no immediate plans to apply for any sort of development or lot line adjustments with the County. .....lying just off the Bixby Ranch is the Santa Maria Basin, one of the largest untapped oil reserves in the West. There are reasons to believe the new owners are at least wondering how to reach it.
Full article: http://www.beachapedia.org/State_of_the_Beach/Perspectives/Save_Gaviota

2007
"Asked about the future of the Bixby, the new owners were circumspect. "We're sending out land planners, archeologists, ecologists, hydrologists, biologists," says respected land-use attorney Steven Amerikaner, the public face for the owners. "We're looking at perhaps a year of studying how best to use it." http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/13/magazine/tm-bixby19/5

Jan 2011
“Exactly four years after an East Coast investment firm, known as the Baupost Group, purchased the historic Cojo and Jalama ranches (known collectively as the Bixby Ranch) for some $136 million, the group is seeking to purchase a massive amount of State Water rights from the Carpinteria Valley Water District (CVWD). “The purpose of it is to assist with the ranch’s current needs and agricultural operations,” stated Amerikaner.” http://www.independent.com/news/2011/jan/27/trouble-paradise/

July , 2011
It appears, at least in the eyes of the California Coastal Commission (CCC), that the un-permitted dirt-moving done out at Bixby Ranch this past winter was not quite as harmless as the owners of the historic Gaviota ranch say. Coastal Commission staff concluded early last week that not only was the earth-moving indeed done illegally but that the soil in question was federally listed as critical habitat for the endangered Gaviota tarplant — a near-extinct, yellow-flowering annual from the sunflower family.Property managers at Bixby, which was bought for some $136 million by the Boston-based investment firm Baupost four years ago, have contended all along that the disking — which is similar to traditional tilling except that it only impacts the top three inches of the soil — was done purely for cattle-running purposes and with the intent to seed the area for future grazing: nothing more, nothing less.  http://www.independent.com/news/2011/jul/28/bixby-being-bad/#c60984