Michael Barone

For Obama and Democrats It's Stimulus Versus Saving the Environment

February 6, 2009 RSS Feed Print

By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I've written before on this, and now Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming has offered an amendment to the stimulus package to limit NEPA environmental review of infrastructure projects to 270 days. Naturally, the environmental restriction organizations don't like this, and so, naturally, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California doesn't like it either. But you can't always have two good things at once, the two good things being (at least for liberals) "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects that can provide jobs real soon and environmental reviews that take forever. During the 1930s, New Dealers built amazing infrastructure projects like the Grand Coulee Dam and LaGuardia Airport that were completed in record time. That's impossible today because of environmental laws and environmental restrictionist lawsuits. If I were a senator, I would be tempted to offer an amendment similar to what I believe the Republican Congress put in the September 2006 border fence law: no environmental reviews at all. Senator Barrasso seems to be taking a position in the middle. We probably shouldn't be building big things without some environmental review. But it doesn't have to take forever. Two hundred seventy days is three quarters of a year, which seems long enough—if you really want workers to get those jobs as soon as possible.

Tags:
economic stimulus,
democratic party

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Maybe I'm a little slow on the uptake, or maybe you weren't real clear, even intentionally ambiguous - Maybe a little of both.

Now, MDSS, I'm sober enough to know the rantings of a secular progressive, relativist when I hear 'em. You'd better start rantin' louder, people are beginning to figure out what "hard left Environmentalism" really is.

R.L. Schaefer of CA 4:49PM February 08, 2009

r.l. schaefer of ca. you are pitiful. im sure mexico is in imminent danger of going red! oh noez.

sober up buddy, its not 1984 and youre not in "red dawn."

trying to conjunct environmentalism and state religion is a joke. you want to know what is the state religion? its christianity. surprise. who did the inaugural prayer, a wiccan or that fat christian dude?

MBSS of CA 7:43PM February 06, 2009

If the stimulus package doesn't take environmental concerns into account, there will be even bigger economic hits down the road as the ecological infrastructure - and public health - degrades. If on the other hand we invest in sustainable practices in forest management, energy generation, construction, and so on we'll see economic benefits now and in the future.

Skip Mendler (Green Party) of PA 2:30PM February 06, 2009

Michael Barone

Michael Barone

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Michael Barone is a senior writer for U.S.News & World Report and principal coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics. He has written for many publications—including the Economist and the New York Times.

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