What do the Environmentalists Want?

I am a devotee of most of the principles of organic farming especially what the organic farmers have to say about soil fertilizer. It is better to apply rock minerals, fish oil, kelp, and incorporate legumes in the soil rather than apply nitrogen made using natural gas. On the one hand this is better for the environment. On the other hand it is better for the soil. And in the long run—a very long run—it costs less than buying fertilizer every year.

But this word “environment” has lost all meaning. Activists have embraced this whimsical notion--conjuring up images of flora, fauna, and pastoral visages--and used it to bully those who dare oppose their point of view. They claim the moral high ground by virtue of their moniker. To say "I am an environmentalist" means "you are not".

America is a confederation of thousands of fiefdoms. It is a cornucopia of city governments, county councils, state assembles, neighborhood associations, tax districts, sewer and water districts, and the federal government each with their own vested and usually opposing interests. We are not, say, France where power emanates from Paris and radiates out to the provincials as fiat. There is no Hugo Chavez dictator here. In the USA every councilor, congressman, senator, mayor, lobbyist, and grass roots activist has a say in every decision over where to build a bridge, pave a road, place a homeless shelter, dig a mine, or erect a tower.

To push through an idea among so many clamoring voices is tough enough. But it is made even more difficult by the environmental activists whose goal is to, frankly, gum up the works. By virtue of their lobbying we have environmental impact statements, lawsuits, counter lawsuits, email campaigns, telephone banks, the clean air act, the Kyoto accord, the clean water act, special usage restrictions---all kinds of complications to make what should be simple, well, complex.

Further the environmentalists are for the most part the well-heeled—what George Bernard Shaw would call “MIRC”, “Members of the Idle Rich Class.” These are people with the time, money, and wherewithal to attend local hearings, write checks to the Sierra Club, fund the World Wildlife Fund, devote time to legal campaigns, and drive to Richmond to lobby the legislature. That they represent the interests of the upper-class opens themselves up to criticism by labeling them with the word that they hate the most: elitist.

Rush Limbaugh says on his radio show that the true goal of the environmental activists is to destroy capitalism and replace it with socialism. But socialism is passé. It went out of vogue when George Orwell and Stalin dashed the aspirations of the intellectuals of the fifty years ago.

Capitalism is not what the environmentalists wish to destroy because those of them who made it into the ranks of the well-to-do did so through the free exchange of commerce. So that suggestion cannot be true. So what do the environmentalists want? You would have to conclude that the goal of the environmental movement is the death of the combustion engine and the elimination of fossil fuel. But if that is the case then why is this lobby opposed to nuclear power and mining uranium in Virginia? Such contradictions in logic is part of what makes their means often clash with their aims. People are sheep--following the whims of their leaders--no one is really thinking.

The environmental debate which is currently raging is whether or not to drill for oil in places which heretofore have been off limits. When I first started writing for magazines and newspapers more than 20 years ago I wrote an essay which I pitched to the American Petroleum Institute about companies gearing up to drill for natural gas off the coast of North Carolina. In 1991 there had been plans to build a pipeline on the Outer Banks. That idea fizzled in part due to pressure from you know who.

Virginia is said to have oil off its coast line as does Florida, California, and of course Alaska. Fisherman would say that oil drilling rigs are good for fishing for they make structures to which barnacles can attached which then attracts somewhat larger marine creates which attracts even larger marine creatures until you have blue marlin, wahoo, and mackerel. My father owned a tugboat company for 30 years. He spent much time sinking ships at sea exactly for this purpose.

But predictably the environmentalists have lined up again this idea. As if they have studied rhetoric from Cicero, they pick the most compelling argument and they go to war with this dogmatic phrase. In the heated battles of political discourse no one is allowed to say what they really think. No moderate politician, for example, is going to say something to offend his constituents and by definition if one is “moderate” their constituents are of course both sides of the argument. And moderates tend to win because they appeal to the greater numbers of voters.

The other bit of subterfuge is the argument over whether to build a power line through Rappahannock and Fauquier Counties. The environmentalist sitting in his air conditioned office writing emails and sending faxes obviously needs electricity. But they cannot admit that because it would undermine their opposition to what is obvious to most which is that as the country grows so does the demand for power. So the strategists at the Piedmont Environmental Council have latched upon the idea that Dominion Power wants to build this power line simply to enhance its bottom line. This despite the fact that utilities are regulated monopolies whose profit is regulated by the state. In good times and in bad the power company always makes its regulated return.

Because it is a monopoly the power company does not care what it costs to fend off the Piedmont Environmental Council. And because the environmentalists are Members of the Idle Rich Class they do not care what it costs to take depositions, make motions, conduct public hearings, send a zillion letters, emails, and faxes. Those who inevitably pay are the working poor and the middle class whose power bills rises in correlation with the costs of environmental activism. The only time the environmental lobby would be bothered by $8 per gallon gasoline or a power grid that is strained to capacity is when the lights go out and the pumps run dry. Then they are sitting in the dark, unable to drive to their soiree because commerce has ground to a halt. Is this the goal to which they aspire? Perhaps Rush Limbaugh is correct.

What do the Environmentalists Want?

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