What’s Going On With The Environmental Movement?

As environmentalist now target homeowners and families, the question that more people are asking is just who is running the environmental movement in Washington State.  The goals are clearly commendable but the proposed legislation is suspect.  Many accuse the business community of putting “greenbacks” before “green,” but environmentalists need to also take a closer look. 

The scrupulous and the just, the noble, humane, and devoted natures; the unselfish and the intelligent may begin a movement --- but it passes away from them. They are not the leaders of a revolution. They are its victims.                       --Joseph Conrad

1.  Why do we continue to see ambiguous legislation that only benefits trial attorneys and other special interests?  

Two of the four Washington Environmental Council legislative priorities for 2009 lack any details and rely on generalities that could be implemented to either extreme, with onerous consequences for either the economy or environment.  The Cap & Trade “Plan” that environmental zealots supported so forcefully at the public hearings contains no details and even appears to reward coal power over hydro.  There is no question that it will increase homeowner utility costs.  The Transit Orientated Development legislation provides no guidance on the new “greenhouse gas emissions reduction” planning goal, an approach that will guarantee years of litigation. 

2.  Why are there so many hidden agendas in environmental legislation? 

At a time when we should all be working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Washington State, we have other environmentalist laws, like Initiative 937, which penalizes some utilities for using hydro power instead of higher carbon emission and more expensive alternatives--- further increasing utility costs.  Another provision places Washington utilities and businesses at a disadvantage with other states like California when it comes to competing for the optimum wind generation sites in the West.  These provisions may help certain local industries that make up a growing part of the environmental movement but certainly not the people of Washington State.  As far back as the original federal Clean Air Act, which protected dirty coal at the expense of cleaner western coal, hidden agendas have been ignored.

3.  Why do we continue to tolerate such unfortunate unintended consequences with environmentalist legislation? 

The science is clear on another issue:  inadequately designed government policies providing tax breaks and other incentives for biofuel production from food crops have driven 100 million people worldwide back into poverty and placed whole nations at risk --- even before the economic downturn began.  Yes, droughts, grain inventory changes, and oil price increases, contributed to the catastrophe, but as Foreign Policy editor Moises Naim summarized in June 2008, recent studies demonstrate that government biofuel policies “are responsible for more than 50% of the recent increase in food prices.” The Hazardous Waste Clean-Up law is another example where litigation made millions for attorneys instead of cleaning up sites.

It is time for all sides to set aside the self-righteous indignation and get to work on the really hard work, forging the detail on a realistic agenda for change that serves the people of Washington State.