Let's Grill The Sierra Club and Greenpeace
By Randall Nunn (05/23/08)
Now that we have had the spectacle of oil company executives being grilled by our brave and caring United States Senators, why don’t we follow this bit of political theatre with another show trial? Let’s get the leaders of the environmental movement up before Congress and ask them some tough questions. Are our representatives in Congress brave enough to take them on? After all, the environmentalists have had a major role in the run-up of gasoline prices.
As the price of oil climbs and our economy reels from the impact of high gasoline prices, where are our elected representatives? They are sitting in hearing rooms bullying and threatening executives of the oil companies rather than taking actions to increase the supply of oil by allowing and encouraging more drilling in our country. And what is stopping them from taking effective action to increase oil supplies and secure energy independence? Their own lack of courage—their fear of confronting the media and the environmental movement.
It seems that few of our elected representatives want to be perceived as anything other than “eco-friendly”. Rather than go against the environmental movement—which is, in reality, a leftist political movement—our politicians prefer to go along with the herd and rail against those who are trying to improve our energy situation by exploring for, producing and refining oil within our own country.
Why do we not open the Artic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling? Simply because the left-wing environmentalists and the media have created a false world—one in which anything that alters the environment is equated with irreparable harm to the environment. We can drill for oil and gas within the environs of major American cities right next to schools and in residential neighborhoods without destruction of that environment or harm to children and adult human beings. Yet we cannot do the same thing in a remote area of Alaska that is even smaller in size than most continental U.S. oil fields?
Why isn’t President Bush speaking out daily and forcefully, pushing for the opening of ANWR and the coastal regions to oil drilling? Why aren’t the environmentalists shouted down when they propose to stop all drilling and all development that could secure a better energy future? And why do so many of us sit by quietly when we see our economy and our country in serious trouble due to the rapid rise in oil prices? Because it is easier to go along with the crowd than to be thought of as an uncaring friend of “big oil” or the business interests. Those who go along with this leftist environmental nonsense are simply giving in to the popular mania, much the same as those who tattoo themselves and pierce their ears in order to be “with it”. For the world’s superpower to jeopardize its economy and the security of its citizens because a vocal minority seeks personal power and control of our economic and political policies is not only wrong—it is unimaginably stupid.
The American people have allowed their elected representatives to delay, and in some cases stop, oil exploration and economic development that is vital to our national interests. The environmental interest groups represent a force for the hindrance of American society. The Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace and many other interest groups of similar orientation seek not to advance the United States economy or national interests, but to stop all economic progress that is contrary to their dogma. Only they know what is beneficial and what is harmful to the environment. Only they know where and how drilling can take place without damage to the environment. Only they love the natural environment and want to preserve and protect it. The rest of us are rude boors who would despoil the land and wreak havoc on pristine habitats and fragile wildlife just so we can have jobs, travel and live comfortably in a safe and secure country.
When are we going to come to our senses and banish the environmentalists to the outer fringes where they belong? It had better be soon. For when a recession turns into something worse, the economic and political survival of the American human will come to the fore and the travails of the kangaroo rat and the spotted owl will once again be placed into proper perspective.
Randall H. Nunn
(Printer friendly version) Email: Randall Nunn
