Liberty Matters News Service

April 22, 2003  

No Smart Growth for Wisconsin County

The Langlade County, Wisconsin Board of supervisors voted 15–6 last week against accepting $234,000 in grant money from the state’s Department of Administration to pay for formulating a comprehensive land planning program considered as a “smart growth” issue.   County supervisors turned down the grant money because they feared there would be unacceptable strings attached that could negatively impact the rights of property owners.  “Sometimes free money isn’t quite as free as it looks,” noted supervisor Richard Olsen.  The county had been studying the issue since 2001 in response to a “state statute that required communities to adopt a comprehensive plan by 2010 in order to engage in land use and create zoning regulations.”  Apparently, county leaders were not satisfied that property rights would be protected under the plan and whether towns would even be able to retain current zoning regulations.  Smart growth is being used nationwide as a means to control land use and more communities need to follow Langlade County’s lead.
Supervisors Refuse State Plan -  Smart growth told 'No go' in Langlade County, Wisconsin

Bush Encourages Environmental Policy Changes

Subtle changes in environmental policy are slowly occurring and environmental groups are crying fowl.  The groups charge the administration has settled lawsuits that favor resource based industries, they say.   As a result, millions of acres in Utah are no longer locked up as “de facto” wilderness, there will be further study of protections for salmon and northern spotted owls, the Clinton-era ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton has been lifted and logging rules have been softened.  But beyond annoying environmentalists, there has been very little backlash from the public, in sharp contrast to the Reagan years.  In fact, a Gallup poll released Monday, revealed that 53 percent believed Bush had maintained environmental protections, up from 48 percent in 2001.  The percentage of respondents saying the government is doing the ‘right amount’ of environmental protection stands at 37 percent, up from 30 percent in 2000 and 26 percent in 1992.  The figures don’t impress Sierra Club spokesman, Allen Mattison, who says the timing of the poll accounts for the positive outcome.  “They’re not going to tell a pollster something negative [when the U.S. is at war].  Gallup also found that most of the public are not rabid tree-huggers: 80 percent said they were not active in an environmental group, 69 percent have not voted for political candidates based on their environmental policy and 58 percent have not contributed money to an environmental group.”  The Bush administration should be thanked and encouraged for their common sense approach to environmental issues.
Bush has Growing Support for Environmental Policy
Bush Administration Settling Environmental Lawsuits

Sierra Club Loses Suit

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club to stop oil drilling on South Padre Island last week. The Club claimed actions by BNP Petroleum Corp would cause irreparable harm to turtle nesting grounds.  U.S. District Judge John Rainey disputed that argument saying BNP was taking appropriate steps to protect Kemp’s ridley sea turtles.  Oil drilling on South Padre Island is nothing new.  It has been going on since the 1950s and more than 70 oil and gas permits have been issued and officials have determined the “drilling would have a minimal impact on the wildlife.”  Fred Richardson of the Club said; “They [the officials] relied on their opinion, their intuition and their gut,” [to come to that conclusion] and all the Sierra Club asks for is the use of “good science.”  Now there’s a switch.
Judge Dismisses Sierra Club Lawsuit

The War On Wine

Lots of Americans are expressing their disgust with France by boycotting French products -- wine comes to mind.  But, writes Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, “environmentalists, as ever, have different priorities than the rest of the country; they are busy protesting Napa Valley wine.”  The greens demonize their fellow-yuppies’ vineyards as “alcohol farms,” resulting in “the graping of the land.”   The greens are against anything humans do.  As Lowry puts it, “A War on Anything You Might Happen to Find Pleasurable.”  They complain that the vineyards cause erosion and foul pristine streams that could harm endangered species such as the fairy shrimp that inhabit only vernal pools, we are told.  And Lowry correctly observes that “it is only by stretching the federal Endangered Species Act to the point of absurdity that vineyards can be portrayed as despoilers of the planet.”   “For vineyard opponents, putting property out of commission is the point.”  Lowry has a suggestion, though; “Boycott French wine to annoy Jacques Chirac and his countrymen.  Drink Californian to annoy the enviro-weenies.”
A New Wine From Enviros

Earth Day Poll

Earth Day came and went this year without much notice on the part of many in the United States.  But Gallup conducted its annual poll, nonetheless.  The poll discovered that fewer Americans worried about the environment than in years past.  While those who thought the environment was in trouble increased from 38 percent in 2002 to 47 percent in 2003, only 47 percent felt it should rate priority action, down from 54 percent last year.  42 percent thought economic growth was more important, up from 36 percent in 2002.
Poll Finds Environmental Concern on the Decline