Michael Gaynor
Blame environmental extremists, not President Bush
By Michael Gaynor
Before Hurricane Katrina had been downgraded to a tropical storm and gas prices for Americans predictably spiked as a result of the effect on America's important Gulf Coast oil refineries, America's opportunistic environmental extremists were working assiduously not to help the victims, but to deflect much deserved blame from themselves, by blaming President Bush, who has been working to access oil reserves in Alaska throughout his presidency.
There was an inane attack article in the name of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. with a title suggesting that the writer somehow had received divine confirmation — "For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind."
Does that mean that the assassinations of his father and uncle were deserved?
Or do bad things happen to good people too?
The theme of the article: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and President Bush are responsible for Hurricane Katrina and her damage, because they opposed the Kyoto Treaty.
The rest of the story: the Kyoto Treaty was fundamentally flawed, the United States Senate needs to ratify a treaty to make it effective, and the Senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, were virtually unanimous in opposing the Kyoto Treaty.
Senator Charles Schumer took to the airwaves to say that he'd been urging President Bush to release oil from the national reserve for a year, as though he had been right instead of premature, and to reiterate his message.
If President Bush had listened to Senator Schumer, the national reserve would be empty instead of available for its intended purpose
Senator Schumer solemnly intoned: "Unless we change our policies we're not going to get the price [of gasoline] back down. And we are basically as a country — this country is sort of twiddling its thumbs while Rome burns."
It is Senator Schumer and his fellow environmental extremists who have been obstructing and need to change!
And it's not just a matter of acquiring oil. Oil needs to be refined! And America's refineries were operating near maximum capacity BEFORE Katrina.
America needs to build new refineries and to speedily access the oil reserves in Alaska that Alaska wants to develop but the environmental extremists in the Senate have been "protecting" 9instead of protecting the American people and making America less dependent on foreign oil).
The National Wildlife Federation is so removed from reality that it would be amusing if it were not tragic
Its website sets forth its preposterous position:
"It's simple. Right now, Congress is debating the fate of America's greatest wilderness: the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Its future could ride on a single vote.
"Oil companies see this precious wilderness as just another oil field. And now years of intense corporate lobbying have started to pay off: pro-drilling lawmakers have successfully inserted drilling authority into this year's federal budget.
"It's a sneaky maneuver designed to silence opposition — they attached the drilling authority to must-pass issues like Medicare and Homeland Security. That puts huge pressure on longtime defenders of wild places to vote against their beliefs — despite their campaign pledges to protect the Refuge.
"To beat the odds — to protect the Refuge — means changing the way we do business. We can't simply read the news any longer — it's time we made some ourselves.
"How can we do that? By asking serious questions of our lawmakers — and making the answers known to the voters they work for. Together we can guarantee that no one sweeps this issue under the carpet — or breaks a promise — without being held accountable.
"Working together, thousands of citizen-lobbyists can get every lawmaker on the record about the Arctic Refuge, identify those perched on the fence, and focus our resources on winning this critical decision.
"We can make that happen — and we won't stop there. If a Senator tells one story to voters at home and another in Washington, we'll act together to make that a news story with a barrage of phone calls and with postings at this high-traffic website. And through a nationwide organization with thousands of people generating news on the fight to protect the Arctic, we can shape the debate with fresh insights and bold questions.
"Look — we know the refuge is too special to lose to the likes of Exxon. Americans from all walks of life have fought to protect this land for 50 years. We can't stop now.
"Some folks in Congress try to have it both ways. But it's up to each of us to make sure they keep their promises. So join our campaign — and help us make democracy work for the Arctic Refuge."
Translation: Preserve the artic wilderness at all costs as the prices of oil and gasoline explode and Americans suffer for it.
America has not built an oil refinery since the 1970's.
Or accessed the vast oil reserves in the Artic National Wildlife Reserve
Hurricane Katrina has shown all but those in denial that Americans need to put their priorities in order.
And putting an end to filibusters by politicians like Senator Schumer who put caribous first should be a high priority.
Alaska's Senators did not obstruct massive aid to New York after September 11.
Environmental extremists, including New York's Senators, should admit their mistake, or at least quietly stop blocking America (and Alaska) from accessing oil reserves in Alaska.
Or else catastrophic natural disasters will continue to be much worse instead of as limited in their effect as sound public policy can make them.
© Michael Gaynor
Before Hurricane Katrina had been downgraded to a tropical storm and gas prices for Americans predictably spiked as a result of the effect on America's important Gulf Coast oil refineries, America's opportunistic environmental extremists were working assiduously not to help the victims, but to deflect much deserved blame from themselves, by blaming President Bush, who has been working to access oil reserves in Alaska throughout his presidency.
There was an inane attack article in the name of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. with a title suggesting that the writer somehow had received divine confirmation — "For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind."
Does that mean that the assassinations of his father and uncle were deserved?
Or do bad things happen to good people too?
The theme of the article: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and President Bush are responsible for Hurricane Katrina and her damage, because they opposed the Kyoto Treaty.
The rest of the story: the Kyoto Treaty was fundamentally flawed, the United States Senate needs to ratify a treaty to make it effective, and the Senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, were virtually unanimous in opposing the Kyoto Treaty.
Senator Charles Schumer took to the airwaves to say that he'd been urging President Bush to release oil from the national reserve for a year, as though he had been right instead of premature, and to reiterate his message.
If President Bush had listened to Senator Schumer, the national reserve would be empty instead of available for its intended purpose
Senator Schumer solemnly intoned: "Unless we change our policies we're not going to get the price [of gasoline] back down. And we are basically as a country — this country is sort of twiddling its thumbs while Rome burns."
It is Senator Schumer and his fellow environmental extremists who have been obstructing and need to change!
And it's not just a matter of acquiring oil. Oil needs to be refined! And America's refineries were operating near maximum capacity BEFORE Katrina.
America needs to build new refineries and to speedily access the oil reserves in Alaska that Alaska wants to develop but the environmental extremists in the Senate have been "protecting" 9instead of protecting the American people and making America less dependent on foreign oil).
The National Wildlife Federation is so removed from reality that it would be amusing if it were not tragic
Its website sets forth its preposterous position:
"It's simple. Right now, Congress is debating the fate of America's greatest wilderness: the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Its future could ride on a single vote.
"Oil companies see this precious wilderness as just another oil field. And now years of intense corporate lobbying have started to pay off: pro-drilling lawmakers have successfully inserted drilling authority into this year's federal budget.
"It's a sneaky maneuver designed to silence opposition — they attached the drilling authority to must-pass issues like Medicare and Homeland Security. That puts huge pressure on longtime defenders of wild places to vote against their beliefs — despite their campaign pledges to protect the Refuge.
"To beat the odds — to protect the Refuge — means changing the way we do business. We can't simply read the news any longer — it's time we made some ourselves.
"How can we do that? By asking serious questions of our lawmakers — and making the answers known to the voters they work for. Together we can guarantee that no one sweeps this issue under the carpet — or breaks a promise — without being held accountable.
"Working together, thousands of citizen-lobbyists can get every lawmaker on the record about the Arctic Refuge, identify those perched on the fence, and focus our resources on winning this critical decision.
"We can make that happen — and we won't stop there. If a Senator tells one story to voters at home and another in Washington, we'll act together to make that a news story with a barrage of phone calls and with postings at this high-traffic website. And through a nationwide organization with thousands of people generating news on the fight to protect the Arctic, we can shape the debate with fresh insights and bold questions.
"Look — we know the refuge is too special to lose to the likes of Exxon. Americans from all walks of life have fought to protect this land for 50 years. We can't stop now.
"Some folks in Congress try to have it both ways. But it's up to each of us to make sure they keep their promises. So join our campaign — and help us make democracy work for the Arctic Refuge."
Translation: Preserve the artic wilderness at all costs as the prices of oil and gasoline explode and Americans suffer for it.
America has not built an oil refinery since the 1970's.
Or accessed the vast oil reserves in the Artic National Wildlife Reserve
Hurricane Katrina has shown all but those in denial that Americans need to put their priorities in order.
And putting an end to filibusters by politicians like Senator Schumer who put caribous first should be a high priority.
Alaska's Senators did not obstruct massive aid to New York after September 11.
Environmental extremists, including New York's Senators, should admit their mistake, or at least quietly stop blocking America (and Alaska) from accessing oil reserves in Alaska.
Or else catastrophic natural disasters will continue to be much worse instead of as limited in their effect as sound public policy can make them.
© Michael Gaynor
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
