01-12-2019, 10:17 AM
Open-d: "You are Americans and deserve not to be scammed by the elite who wish to reduce you...to serfdom. The global warming scam is just one facet of this process."
It is not much the "global warming scam." Nor is it the "elite." And there is no big erosion of freedom. Huge exaggerations and worse--they are misdirected.
- - - -
The real problem: Fairly pernicious and damaging constraints on reasonable economic activity by environmental extremists who enacted a web of regulations that demand Environmental Impact Statements for almost anything. One main tool: The National Environment Policy Act of 1970.
Example: Decaying Uncle Billy's hotel needs to be torn down. It contains asbestos. Construction companies know exactly what to do. It is their expertise. But taxpayers have to spend $1 million and wait 2 years to please environmentalists.
T-H story: "Another study will be needed before the former Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel site can be redeveloped.... $1 million or more will be sought from the state Legislature....fund the environmental assessment or impact statement regarding demolition...
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/201...velopment/
This nonsense happens daily in the U.S. and adds huge costs to a variety of projects, including public interest initiatives (roads, parks). Construction companies know environmental safeguards; they don't need an expensive study every time to instruct them. Studies that often raise embellished environmental concerns. Worse, in some cases, such as coastal modification projects that would provide Hawaii beachgoers with new amenities, EIS rules can completely derail projects.
The cadre of environmental consultants writing these studies remind me--mildly--of the old organized crime scams in 1980s NY that tripled the cost of garbage collection; these people did not produce anything of value, merely stole from taxpayers. They're both rackets.
And a whole other larger group of environmentalists are gratified: They are engaging in their main hobby: Blocking or delaying projects.
It is not much the "global warming scam." Nor is it the "elite." And there is no big erosion of freedom. Huge exaggerations and worse--they are misdirected.
- - - -
The real problem: Fairly pernicious and damaging constraints on reasonable economic activity by environmental extremists who enacted a web of regulations that demand Environmental Impact Statements for almost anything. One main tool: The National Environment Policy Act of 1970.
Example: Decaying Uncle Billy's hotel needs to be torn down. It contains asbestos. Construction companies know exactly what to do. It is their expertise. But taxpayers have to spend $1 million and wait 2 years to please environmentalists.
T-H story: "Another study will be needed before the former Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel site can be redeveloped.... $1 million or more will be sought from the state Legislature....fund the environmental assessment or impact statement regarding demolition...
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/201...velopment/
This nonsense happens daily in the U.S. and adds huge costs to a variety of projects, including public interest initiatives (roads, parks). Construction companies know environmental safeguards; they don't need an expensive study every time to instruct them. Studies that often raise embellished environmental concerns. Worse, in some cases, such as coastal modification projects that would provide Hawaii beachgoers with new amenities, EIS rules can completely derail projects.
The cadre of environmental consultants writing these studies remind me--mildly--of the old organized crime scams in 1980s NY that tripled the cost of garbage collection; these people did not produce anything of value, merely stole from taxpayers. They're both rackets.
And a whole other larger group of environmentalists are gratified: They are engaging in their main hobby: Blocking or delaying projects.