Dear HCN,
Ed Marston wrote:
“Environmentalism in the West is no longer a puny movement
struggling to get the attention of the American public. For eight
years, we sat at the right hand of power in the Clinton
administration, working a revolution.
“We had
that power because the American people have bought into
environmentalism and Clinton knew it. In a brief few decades,
everything in the West has changed except one thing: We in the
environmental movement still see ourselves as a beleaguered
minority fighting against all odds to change the American
West.
Wow. What a piece of
revisionism!
In reality, in eight years “at the
right hand of power in the Clinton administration,” we saw the
resumption of old-growth logging on a 50-year liquidation plan,
called a “victory” by the Big Green right handers. As if that
wasn’t enough, Clinton then signed (with his left hand) into law
the “Salvage Rider.” We saw the opening of the California and
Alaska national petroleum reserves and the lifting of the ban on
exports of Alaskan oil. We saw the proliferation of chip mills in
the Southeast. We saw the only administration since Ford to not
increase vehicles’ mileage requirements. We saw an administration
continue to exempt SUVs from mileage requirements. (According to
Harper’s Index, if SUVs got just 3 percent better efficiency –
saving some 49,000,000 gallons of fuel per day – it would more than
offset the 42,000,000 per day estimates available from ANWR!) We
saw no dams come down and we saw Gore put off a decision on the
Snake River salmon killer dams for 10 years! Not a thing was
actually accomplished regarding hardrock mining – I have no idea
what Marston’s puffing here. And so on.
And, Bush
Sr. didn’t end nuclear testing, as Marston asserts. That was
achieved by the heroic efforts of Rep. Mike Kopetski, D-Ore., who
also was instrumental in gaining the sole new Northwest Wilderness
during Clintontime – Opal Creek.
Under the
“Environmental President” Bush Sr., we did have an Injunction
against any Ancient Forest logging. We had the spotted owl on the
cover of Time. Marston’s Clinton “revolution” undid that and gave
us the liquidation plan. The real environmental movement still is a
“beleaguered minority,” still fending off rapacious industries
across the West. The Big Green/Big Oil foundation industry Marston
belongs to is just another exploiter we have to take
on.
Michael
Donnelly
Salem,
Oregon
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Ed Marston’s revisionism.
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