May 24, 2017

Times’ Green Baloney

The New York Times’ hostility to industry gets worse every day. Last week, the Times ran a big picture of a bay in Alaska with the headline “In Reversal, E.P.A. Eases Path for a Mine Near Alaska’s Bristol Bay.” While this was just another of their stories about how Donald Trump will poison America, it caught my eye because of the big photo and because I once reported on that mine.

The New York Times’ hostility to industry gets worse every day.

Last week, the Times ran a big picture of a bay in Alaska with the headline “In Reversal, E.P.A. Eases Path for a Mine Near Alaska’s Bristol Bay.”

While this was just another of their stories about how Donald Trump will poison America, it caught my eye because of the big photo and because I once reported on that mine.

Attempted mine, I should say. No holes have been dug.

I reported on Pebble Mine because the EPA rejected the mine even before its environmental impact statement was submitted.

The Obama EPA squashed Pebble like it squashed the Keystone XL pipeline. It just said no.

This shocked CEO Tom Collier. He’s a Democrat who managed environment policy for Al Gore and Bill Clinton. He was convinced Pebble could be developed safely and assumed EPA regulators would follow their own rules. They didn’t.

“They killed this project before any science was done, and there are memos that show that!” Collier complained.

I’m skeptical when sources say things like that, but in this case, there are documents that reveal collusion between the EPA and Pebble’s political opponents.

One of America’s richest environmental groups (they collect more than $10 million per month) is the Natural Resources Defense Council. Its website claims “Science empowers NRDC’s work,” but the NRDC is run by lawyers, not scientists, and many are anti-progress activists upset about “corporate greed.”

NRDC spokesman Bob Deans told me that the NRDC isn’t anti-progress — it just wants the “right” kind: “Wind turbines, solar panels … this is what the future needs.”

“But we also need copper and gold,” I said.

“Well, that’s right,” he replied. “But we have to weigh those risks.”

“Are there some mines where NRDC says, ‘Go ahead!’?” I asked.

After thinking for a while, he said, “It’s not up to us to greenlight mines.”

I asked, “Are there any you don’t complain about?”

“Sure,” he told me. He said he’d send us names. He never did.

Unfortunately, there’s a revolving door between groups like the NRDC and the EPA.

One NRDC activist who walked through that door was Nancy Stoner. EPA administrators aren’t supposed to conspire with former activist colleagues, but she did, telling them that she couldn’t coordinate with them directly but could meet with them so long as they communicated via other people and invited people besides her to meetings.

After her correspondence about that was revealed, Stoner left the EPA, but Pebble had already been rejected.

Now Trump’s in charge and his EPA says it will reevaluate the mine. Good. It should.

But New York Times reporters can’t stand that. They’ve smeared Pebble year after year in their headlines.

2008: “Mine would irreparably harm a centuries-old salmon fishing industry.”

2012: “A Threat to Bristol Bay.”

2013: “Native Alaska, Under Threat.”

Last week’s smear piece was written by Tatiana Schlossberg. Name sound familiar? She’s Caroline Kennedy’s daughter, granddaughter of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Her Times articles are a litany of enviro-hysteria: “Mass Die-off of Whales”; “…Bring Coal’s Hidden Hazard to Light”; “How Lowering Crime Could Contribute to Global Warming.”

I’m not making this up.

Her last anti-Trump column was headlined: “23 Environmental Rules Rolled Back.” But the article lists only nine. Fourteen others were “under review” or in “limbo” — not rolled back.

Her Bristol Bay story claimed the proposed Pebble Mine was “on” Bristol Bay. But it isn’t. It’s more than 100 miles away.

When we asked Schlossberg about that, she replied, “I’m not going to comment on that. If you have a problem or a question, you can direct it to the standards editor.”

So we did, and to my surprise, the standards editor published a correction: “The mine is not on Bristol Bay itself.”

But he defended the Times’ headline saying “near Bristol Bay” because “it is in the watershed of Bristol Bay … (T)he mine could affect the fishery.”

I suppose it “could.” Most anything “could.” But “near” the bay? To me, “near” is 200 yards, or maybe half a mile, but not 100 miles.

Forget the anti-development phrase NIMBY (Not In My Backyard). Now it’s BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody).

The Schlossberg-Kennedys have hundreds of millions of dollars and already own 300 acres of waterfront property. They won’t be crushed by insane environmental restrictions.

You, however, may be.

COPYRIGHT 2017 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.