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| NATURAL RESOURCES... |
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| TO WHOM DO THEY BELONG? |
THE PERPETUAL
CONFLICT
There has been a virtually perpetual conflict between the
absolute preservation of natural resources and their wise use for well over a century in
America; between entities such as supporters of wilderness preservation, and
economic interests such as the logging, grazing, mining and energy industries and their supporters,
including workers and ranchers.
The Sierra Club and
the Forest Service, represented by their respective founders John Muir and
Gifford Pinchot, battled royally over the use of the Hetch-Hetchy Valley in Yellowstone National Park for construction of a dam and reservoir for water for San Fran Cisco
at the turn of the 20th Century. Similar disputes, just as
heated, arose thereafter and continue today. In many respects it
has always been, and remains a battle between idealism and practicality, between
utopia and common sense.
President Obama,
with the support of the environmental movement, continues to fuel the dispute
with his unilateral decisions to set aside vast ocean regions as preserves
under the Antiquities Act of 1906, last week in the Pacific Ocean around the
Hawaiian Islands, and now with the proclamation of a North Atlantic Ocean
Canyons and Sea Mounts National Monument off the coast of New England. He has also just
proclaimed the creation of a huge new monument/preserve in Main’s iconic North
Woods. These dictatorial actions negatively impact commercial fishermen, loggers and other local businesses and their small, mostly impoverished communities.
I believe the Antiquities Act, which gives carte blanche power to the President and
the Executive Branch, is very bad law; perhaps unconstitutional, and certainly
at many times damaging to the economic and social freedom of Americans.
That said, the ancient
enemies line up to charge at the first bugle call on every issue, each
determined to win not only the battle but the moral “war.” I think the last instance much too extreme, as
there are usually moral arguments on both sides. The environmentalists believe they are always
morally right, and they are decidedly not.
The right of
Americans to use natural resources, both public and private, and to live where they wish, is at the very core
of our republic. Natural resources and
use of the land and sea are not just for a few powerful elites but for all
Americans; and human rights are at least
as legitimate as the rights of animals and plants.
So what can be done
to end this long drawn out war? First,
I believe the Antiquities Act should be amended to shift the control of these
issues back to Congress, the branch of government closest to the people, or
abolish it entirely as an undemocratic anachronism. Second, let this war continue unabated; the
two philosophies are unalterably opposed, and over time and given a fair playing
field, first one will win a battle and next the other. The pendulum will always
swing back and forth, and at times even pause in the reasonable center.
The issues of the management
and equitable distribution of natural resources are much like those between
management and labor. The two sides will
always be in opposition to each other in a free society, and each will win some
issues and loose others. The role of a
representative and democratic government should be to provide a level playing
field of just laws and unbiased knowledge to all sides.
Currently we have neither.
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