Whatever happens in the US Senate over oil and gas leasing of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, environmentalism's political foundation has shifted. For the oil and gas industry, the development is most welcome.
Approval of ANWR leasing by the US House of Representatives Aug. 2 happened largely because of support from organized labor. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters assessed the issue with better perspective than most groups on either side of the issue. It balanced the economic benefits against the likely environmental consequences and drew the proper conclusion: The coastal plain of ANWR should be open for leasing.
"We know it can be done safely," declared Jerry Hood, a Teamsters leader in Alaska. The union cited the 735,000 jobs that might be created by ANWR exploration.
In a radio ad the Teamsters ran in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, Hood said, "There is no reason why common ground cannot be sought when it comes to job creation and protecting the environment."
His statement is sound. But common ground on environmental issues is hard to find. Environmental politics tends to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Maybe the Teamsters have had their fill of that nonsense. If so, good for the Teamsters.
Senate battle
What a battle there will be in the Senate, which will consider energy legislation next month. Until now, the Democrats who control that house of Congress enjoyed consistent support from a colloidal alliance of environmental groups and labor. The former won't like the latter's support for ANWR leasing. And it will abhor labor's expression of confidence in the safety of drilling and production.
The union seems ready to defend in the Senate the solid ground it triangulated for itself in the House between economic and environmental values and the interests of its members. "Despite any pronouncements from opponents of this bill in the Senate," Hood said in a press conference, "we will make our case much the same way we did in the House."
Does this mean romance is through between labor and environmentalism? Time will tell. In any case, environmental fanaticism isn't going away.
Labor isn't the only institution veering off script over ANWR. At the end of July a group of Republicans gushing environmental righteousness sent a letter to President George W. Bush calling for an energy strategy that could have been written by former Vice-Pres. Al Gore.
"We urge you and members of Congress to build for America an energy policy that emphasizes efficiency, conservation, and development of clean energy sources," says the letter, signed by 300 Repub- licans under auspices of a group called Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) America. "A truly conservative energy policy can secure a bright and prosperous future for America and protect our environment and national treasures, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
In addition to opposing ANWR leasing, the letter calls for mandatory energy conservation, tax incentives for alternative energy sources via redirection of "fossil fuel subsidies," caps on emissions of carbon dioxide, and enhanced supply of natural gas through, among other things, "increased exploration and development on lands already open to these activities."
It all amounts to energy choice by government fiat. REP America Pres. Martha Marks put the agenda nicely in this July 25 statement: "Fossil fuels are finite resources that carry terrible environmental baggage. They are yesterday's technology. We can do better."
Better, that is, if nobody pays attention to values such as job creation, human progress, and factual discourse. Or would Marks have everyone believe those are "yesterday's" values?
Environmental progress
Yes, Americans can do better. They already are. They consistently lower their energy consumption in relation to economic growth. And they produce and consume energy-including energy from fossil sources-with steadily diminishing pollution and surface disturbance. It's time for piety brokers like Marks to start paying attention to real environmental progress and quit trying to frighten people.
For distancing itself from the economic death spiral into which political environmentalism such as this summons its faithful, the Teamsters union deserves applause. The oil and gas industry should hope that the distance applies to other issues needing a common ground between job creation and environmental protection. With environmentalists stirred up and an election year approaching, there will be plenty of them.
