In a society that reportedly has a per capita
resource consumption 25 times larger than the global average, it is
not surprising that the gritty piece by Hannah Nordhaus has more
than a grain of truth. To some degree, however, Nordhaus’
cozy interviews with the various perpetrators obscure the fact that
pots and kettles come in various shades of black.
It is
difficult for some of us, for example, to empathize with Tweeti
Blancett as regards the drilling for coalbed methane having
“threatened the very existence of her family’s
business,” when that business has apparently for 50 years (or
even longer) depended on 30,000 acres of public land, most likely
at a significant cost to the taxpayer and undoubtedly at a much
higher cost to the resident flora and fauna. The significant point,
of course, is that the environmental destruction resulting from
coalbed methane development is so extreme as to preclude even
bovine use, a dire result indeed.
The notion that
Blancett is a “wise-use
Republican-turned-environmentalist” would appear to be
skin-deep at best. There may, of course, be a silver lining to
Blancett’s experience, should it discourage others from
serving as future campaign coordinators for the rapacious types
that have controlled resource extraction on federal lands since the
2000 presidential election.
Riding bicycles and tithing
10 percent of gas royalties to worthy causes may serve as useful
symbols to heighten awareness of our collective profligate use of
energy. It is of paramount importance, however, to counter and
eliminate the political forces and governmental subsidies that
result in destructive drilling for oil and gas in unproductive
areas, in excessive livestock production at high environmental
cost, in the use of highly inefficient processes to extract ethanol
from corn, or in placing scores of giant windmills in poor wind
zones where their utility is marginal, but they still kill bats,
birds and other critters.
Doyle McClure Colfax,
Washington
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Fiddling while oil burns.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
