in response to the article
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/opinions/x1980207298/COLUMN-Hyper-environmentalism-isn-t-good-for-anyone

My radical environmentalism began with scouting, baptist camp, and rock climbing. I learned to kayak when I was 13. I learned to sail when I was 8. I was encouraged by great teachers who introduced me to the writings of Ed Abbey, Gary Schneider, Orwell, Hess, Kafka and a host of others. I remember everyone I ever respected quoting those famous lines by Joyce Kilmer,

' I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;'

It seems imprudent to suggest that the increasing cost of electricity is tied to anything but the increasing cost of fossil fuels. environmental cleanup, and the cost to the American public in litigation launched by companies subsidized by federal, state and local agencies, whose wages are paid by every consumer in the country. The cost of continuing to do business using this model when cleaner and more efficient means of production are available is overwhelming and is forced on us with indifference. We have whole towns in this country where people move from stable housing to public housing because cost of their utilities exceed their mortgage costs. Other towns are threatened by increasingly unstable sludge impoundments, earthen dams ready to give way, threatening to release a river of toxic mud According to the 2005 national energy outlook to 2025, our national demand for electricity will increase forty percent over 20 years. The standard estimated working life of a power plant project is 50 years. The finance industry has recognized that the return on monolithic coal fired power plant projects and coal mining are no longer worth the risk.
Coal will run out. Oil will run out. If they run out fast enough we'll find some clever way to replace them or we'll do without. If the solution technologies redefine industry as it relates to economy and environment, so much the better. If it reshapes political thought and public policy to include compassion and stewardship, great. If the modern solution to this debate resembles what I learned in the Bible and the Boy Scout Manual, it's a good reason to get excited. If my belief system includes some common sense modern engineering and a soft spot for the middle class, and that makes me a radical environmentalist in your eyes then so be it, I'll wear it with a smile. God and Baden Powell pointed me in that direction. The energy market has done nothing but inspire us to meet its demands. There is no mystical agenda. It's hard business with one goal - meet the market with intelligent solutions that heal the environment and put people to work. It's a tall order but with leadership and ingenuity we'll not only get the job done but we'll get rid of coal entirely by replacing it with technologies that employ more people at a better wage under cleaner, safer working conditions while trimming public dollars and cleaning up the legacy we'll otherwise leave behind.
So here it is. Radical ignorance and social bigotry have no place in the debate over modern energy policy while American families, American children go hungry. It's the cost of energy and all of its negatives that threatens the American way of life and threatens to 'saddle future generations with second-rate liberties and Third World lifestyles'. Get it straight. Get over your fear of long hair and blue jeans and get ready to get your hands dirty. We're all in this together and it's our responsibility to work together to fix it for our children and grandchildren. The American left believes in American Exceptionalism, we just haven't seen much of it lately.