Bacon's Rebellion

Why the Environmentalists Have Been So Quiet

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by

James A. Bacon
in

The conservationist/smart growth movement may be disappointed with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s about-face on key elements of his transportation platform, but leaders believe they have more to gain by working with him than opposing him. That’s the conclusion of Alec MacGillis at the Washington Post. (See “Environmentalists Avoiding Quarreling with Governor.”)

“We think there’s still a great opportunity for the governor and legislature to agree on planning reforms that could give the public greater confidence in how the money will be spent,” said Stewart Schwartz, director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Christopher G. Miller, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, said that among the items he and others mentioned in a meeting with the Democratic governor last week were that any roads funding program include more money for mass transit and that it include a reassessment of the roads projects that the state has on its to-do list.

MacGillis’ conclusions are consistent with my personal observations. So much for resurrecting the conservationist/taxpayer alliance of 2002.

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6 responses to “Why the Environmentalists Have Been So Quiet”

  1. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “What did you do yesterday?”
    “Went to church.”
    “What did the preacher talk about?”
    “Sin.”
    “What did he say about it?”
    “Said he was agin’ it.”

    Why does PEC want to re-evaluate every single road project and not re-evaluate whether more mass transit money actually makes sense? At what point do they realize that (right or wrong) they sound like country bumpkins?

    If you are the Governor, why waste time having meetings where the message is a foregone conclusion?

    The situation we face now is different from what it was when their message was crafted in the 1970’s. Time for a new message.

  2. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    …at least the Sierra Club continues to dog Kaine on mercury pollution…but yeah…lots of Democrat sell-outs….

    VOTE GREEN!

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    You know, I woulod really like to vote green. Much more so than either Republican or Democratic.

    But I’m not willing to spend an infinite amount of money to eliminate tha last micromilliscrump of naturally occurring Mercury just because some whiz kid invented a new mass spectrograph that can prove that it exists at the parts per jillion micromilliscrumps.

    Or just because another whiz kid using dubious statistics can show that globally 500 extra people a year will die from that micromilliscrump.

    Those 500 people probably cause a lot more other pollution than that micromilliscrump, and I don’t even like them that much.

    I’m aware that there is a difference between environmental economics and ecological economics, but the greens are just too whacky for my tastes. If there is ever such a thing as The Cost Effective Greens, or the Risk Benefit Greens, sign me up.

    But as long as a major source of solid waste is a result of the paper from their lawsuits, I’m not interested.

  4. Toomanytaxes Avatar
    Toomanytaxes

    Most active “environmentalists” are Democrats first and environmentalists second. Giving Kaine a pass on his running away from his land use campaign promise that put him in the Governor’s chair is a huge act of hyprocrisy. These same “Greens” would be hammering a Republican Governor who only did half the things that Kaine has done. What a fraud.

  5. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Active environmentalsts are what drove me out of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, I can’t go the the Republicans because they have no environmental conscience at all.

    I guess a rational environmentalist has no place in the world.

  6. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    Green Party is on the move in other states and it will happen in Va as well.

    As for anonymous’ post, 1 out of 4 women in Virginia of child-bearing age have mercury levels that can pose a danger to their babies. Its clearly linked to smoketacks and coal burning. And there is new technology that can not-so-expensively take care of this dreadful problem.

    Shame on Dominion Power and its lobbyists!

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