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thedrifter
03-08-06, 07:06 AM
The Anti-Environmentalist
By Peter Schweizer
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 8, 2006

They care more about the environment than we do. No, they really do.

Anyone who has been following the story of Senator Ted Kennedy and the wind farm in Massachusetts was not surprised when recent reports surfaced that he is again at work trying to kill off this clean wind project. He tried the same thing back in 2004 when is good friend Senator John Warner tried to attach an amendment to a Department of Defense bill to kill the project. (who says the Pentagon isn't good for something?)

The wind project has been thoroughly vetted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who concluded in a study that the project was efficient, safe, and viable. It won't create an eye-sore, and it won't hurt local wildlife.

But that hasn't stopped Senator Kennedy from trying to kill the bill even as he continues to sermonize about how committed he is to a clean, Green future. During a recent speech at the National Press Club, Senator Kennedy exclaimed, "We should replace our dependence on foreign oil, not by drilling in the priceless Arctic National Wildlife Refugee in Alaska, but by investing in clean energy."

But the Kennedy hypocrisy goes beyond trying to halt a clean energy project. Over the course of more than three decades Kennedy has denounced the oil industry and laid at its feet the environmental problem of global warming. We need to "start demanding immediate action to reduce global warming and prevent catastrophic climate change that may be on our horizon now." But that hasn't stopped the Kennedys from owning two oil companies. Not stock in oil companies, mind you, but two oil companies, which drill for oil in five American states. Kenoil and Mokeen were merged in 1985 into the Kennedy family's Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership to avoid paying corporate taxes. The Kennedys are still getting their royalty checks today.

But Kennedy is not alone in his environmental hypocrisy. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and her husband are partners in a Bay-area golf resort called CordeValle. When Lions Gate Limited (with whom the Pelosis are major partners) were granted approval by local authorities to construct a 275 acre golf course, they attached several conditions. There were concerns about two endangered species, the California Tiger Salamander and the Western Pond Turtle, who were living on the property. Lions Gate was expected to build holding ponds and a habitat to make sure that these two species survived on the land. When the golf course opened in 2001, however, it quickly became clear that no habitat had been build. Local officials also found other issues of environmental concern, including the possibility of ground water contamination and the runoff of polluted water. Pelosi, winner of the 2004 Environmental Leadership Award from the Bluewater Network, exclaimed "In San Francisco, the environment is a core value, not just an issue." But apparently those core values don't extend to CordeValle. What did the Pelosis and the other partners in Lions Gate do in response to environmental concerns expressed by county officials? They hired lobbyists to try to get the regulations changed.

When you dig into the lives of leftists, you are often quick to find that their religious-like fervor for environmentalism ends at their own property. Michael Moore has been cited by authorities in Michigan for despoiling a wetland when he tried to expand his private beach. Barbra Streisand moved a natural running stream several hundred feet on her property in order to create a contiguous lawn.

One would hope these hypocrisies would convince leftists not to be so sanctimonious when discussing the environment. But no one should hold his breath.

Ellie