Op-Ed: How the U.S. came to protect the natural world — and exploit it at the same time
How the U.S. became the world’s leading force to protect and exploit the natural world.
The United States has become the world’s leading force to protect and exploit the natural world — and doing so in a manner that threatens both the long-term health and the safety of our planet.
The problem
The U.S. government has for decades used the power of the federal government to preempt state and local laws to protect the interests of industry, oil and gas companies, and the military industrial complex.
More than 100 million acres of federal lands have been turned into protected areas for oil and gas production.
In the United States, more than 40 percent of the land remains inaccessible to most environmental regulations.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture produces a long, expensive, and highly controversial ‘hunting and fishing’ industry that relies on hunting and fishing to feed the population.
The U.S. Department of Energy produces energy from fossil fuels, including coal, oil and gas, and nuclear power plants.
In addition to these industries, a multi-billion dollar ‘clean energy’ industry is being built to exploit hydroelectric plants, geothermal, wind, nuclear, and ‘clean coal’ technologies, all on public land.
Environmental standards have to be ‘triggered’ on these ‘pollution free’ lands, and any oil or gas exploration or production must be approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The result: we are turning the American landscape into an oil-rich, hazardous landscape.
This ‘no-man’s land’ has resulted in a steady decline in natural resources and in a massive increase in pollution. The cost of clean-up is spiraling upward.
Many people blame the government-directed ecosystem destruction on the Federal government. But the truth is — it is