Environmentalists: The Nuclear Option

A visit from national League of Conservation Voters president Gene Karpinski is expected next week. Sources hope he can talk some sense into the Washington environmental movement.

Consider: the Earth Liberation Front torching the Street of Dreams; the Sierra Club and Ron Sims torpedoing the ballot measure that would have expanded light rail. People who call themselves environmentalists picking scenery over wind power in Kittitas Valley and no action over carbon sequestration in Wallula. Washington environmentalists have gone way too far.

Instead of being willing to explore new technologies, thanking businesses for making tangible changes, or being pleased with the gains made every single year towards a cleaner, greener Washington, these "environmentalists" have proved that they will never be satisfied. Instead of moving in steps and allowing people and businesses to adjust, they want it all and they want it now.

No green buildings unless they’re also urban and dense. No expansion of light rail unless it’s extensive and exclusive of cars and roads. No alternative power sources unless they are pretty, pristine and popular. Washington environmentalists want all or nothing – and what ordinary, recycling, pollution-fearing people are left with is nothing. That is, until all of these unreasonable environmental demands force us to go nuclear.