People eagerly donate to wealthy environmental groups. The Natural Resources Defense Council has $463 million in assets. [emphasis, links added]
It claims to use the law to “fight the climate crisis”.
What it really does is Pay lawyers to torture people who are trying to do something useful.
For example: America needs minerals like copper and silver to make things. Even President Joe Biden gave a speech saying that the United States will need 400-600% of these minerals to make “solar panels, wind turbines, and more!”
The iPhone alone requires aluminum, iron, lithium, gold, copper…
But when investors dare try to mine such minerals in the United States, the Natural Resources Defense Council objects and uses political connections to stop them.
Twenty years ago, entrepreneurs tried to open mines in Alaska. The EPA rejected their application before it could be submitted.
Why? Because groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council say the mine “would pose a catastrophic threat to wildlife and … fragile ecosystems.”
They got what they wanted because When Democrats were in charge of the EPA, they not only supported NRDC's positions but even hired NRDC employees.
The next Republican administration removed the EPA's veto power. The Army Corps of Engineers subsequently studied the mine and concluded it posed no threat to the environment.
So, is Pebble a busy mining operation today? No.
Democrats were elected and vetoed again.
Physicist Mark Mills wonders why anyone would try to mine in the United States today.
“Why would you risk millions or even billions of dollars and spend decades getting a permit, knowing there's a good chance they're going to take it away? How on earth do you do that knowing the landscape in America is like this?” America building mines?
Well, you don't know.
The United States now ranks second to last in the time it takes to develop new mines—about 29 years. Only Zambia is worse.
“You start applying for permits,” Mills said. “What you have to wait is not months, not years, but decades!”
NRDC sued and ran scary anti-landmine ads saying nature would be “destroyed by a 2,000-foot hole in the ground!”
Mills pointed out their deception.
Today's mines disrupt “a teeny tiny pinhole in the landscape” and we do need to disrupt the landscape a little, Because “We need metals, materials and minerals to build everything that exists and make society possible!”
I question NRDC spokesman Bob Deans, who says NRDC's elimination of mines also kills people's opportunities. He replied that “clean” energy creates jobs.
“We're creating 50,000 new jobs in this country, installing wind turbines, solar panels, building the next generation of energy-efficient cars. This is the future!
“Besides, you'll need copper and gold,” I pointed out.
“Yes,” Deans said, “we have to weigh the risks.”
But NRDC did not weigh the risks. They are just anti-American mines.
I asked Deans, “Have you any A mine that NRDC doesn’t complain about?
“Of course,” he replied.
He said he would give us some names. But he never did.
I asked again this month. Again, no names.
“Don't hold your breath,” Mills said. “The mines they covertly support are in Africa.”
“Implicitly” because they don't actually say mining should be done in poor countries.
“They don't say that,” Mills said. “But the green movement is more than happy to outsource mining to poor countries, where thousands of children work barefoot and by hand with shovels to dig minerals out of the ground.”
At least in America, kids won't be digging with their hands, advanced equipment will make mining safer, and our rules will reduce pollution. You might think environmentalists would want more Mining in the United States.
“To have a sane world,” Mills said, “We should do more. Not everything. But not nothing.
It would certainly be good for the United States to do more. We need minerals for our future.
“Society cannot exist without landmines” Mills concluded.
Read more at City Hall
