| This is one of a series. We welcome editorial content and non-commercial news from our readers, and will create a page like this each time we receive input. Feel free to offer a new news or editorial item, or to append your own comments to an existing editorial. | 
|
by Ted Mooney, March 2009
Excuse the bathroom language. But considering connotations, there is no synonym :-)
In New Jersey, fines imposed by the DEP provide more than half of their own budget. A gubernatorial candidate, Chris Christie, a former "corruption buster" federal prosecutor, is trying to reduce the corruption by having the DEP funded like the other departments, with fines going into the general fund -- in lieu of this corrupt scheme whereby bureaucrats build a free-standing empire by tripping up New Jersey businesses, extracting large fines for "gotcha!" trivialities, and keeping the money for themselves.
So a spokesperson for the NJ Sierra Club goes on the radio today to defend this corruption, and says that reports that claim that this is harming New Jersey business are wrong, and quote, "Nothing could be further from the truth."
I'm a longtime member of the Sierra Club and in favor of strong environmental protection. But dislike of a candidate doesn't give the Sierra Club license to make stuff up! The fact is that many metal finishing facilities decided to close in NJ precisely because these swarms of officers continuously disrupted their attempts to run a business, harassing them with countless spot inspections designed to collect large fines for an uncrossed "T" or undotted "i", and eventually ate out their spirit. I know the owners of several of these now closed-down facilities -- at least one is now surviving by installing plating lines in China and Mexico, passing on his lifetime of precious knowledge to America's off-shore competitors.
So let me lay it out very clearly in case you missed it: The Sierra Club is full of shit.
David Wichern
Dedalus Environmental - The Bronx, NY, March 2009
Ted, you are entirely right. They are full of shit.
I am an environmentalist from a long way back. But some of these people know exactly d**k about science...I've tried to talk to them, to no avail.
What they are is leisure class Luddites who threaten our jobs and livelihood. All they accomplish is exporting our jobs to some Third World craphole where there are no effective environmental regs at all. And, where, if people complain about their kids getting poisoned, they wind up being beaten up, jailed, or murdered by some "peoples army" or some such.
Some folks might do better putting down "Das Kapital" and picking up a chemistry book.
Mary Mennona Ventresca
- Royersford, PA, June 2018
Modern environmentalism does more harm than good, to both the environment and to the U.S. economy. It appropriates scientific language, but ignores the scientific method. It starts with foregone conclusions, and cherry picks facts that support those pre-determined conclusions, while ignoring anything that contradicts them.
For many on the Left, modern environmentalism has turned into a substitute for religion, and its adherents respect neither facts, nor reason. It's all about their precious feelings, and creating more opportunities for virtue signaling.
Ridiculous, yes, but unfortunately NOT harmless, as the results of many of these environmental crusades damaged the U.S. economy, destroyed high-paying jobs yet did little to protect the environment. Worse, it worked to export entire industries out of the U.S., to countries with no environmental protections at all.
Ted Mooney
- Pine Beach, NJ, June 2018
We did many stupid, harmful things before "Silent Spring". It was a wakeup call telling us to pay attention ... but unfortunately we didn't stay awake for long. Instead we quickly fell into the usual human trap of everyone trying to place the blame on the other guy. To me, the urgent need is to end mindlessness on all sides.
Global warming is real, exhaustion of resources is real, extinction of species is real, the need for sustainability is real. But trying to solve such problems by harassing finishing shops resulted in steel products which last 2-3 years when we've long known how to very easily make them last 15-20. We saved a pound of phosphate and a gallon of water at the cost of mining, smelting, fabricating, painting, packaging, marketing, and landfilling a ton of steel every 3 years, transporting it in between each step instead of building it to last. All the while putting the best shops out of business, and razing the Arsenal of Democracy while building a Peoples Arsenal in its place :-(
Back to finishing.com Home Page