Green with Envy, Riddled with Guilt

Still Too Soon to Buy Those (Green) Curtains

November 25, 2008 at 8:47 pm Leave a comment

The election of Barack Obama was good news for environmentalists, as he is likely to diverge from the Bush Administration’s policy of rape, pillage, dump and drill. Ever since November 4th, many of us have been drooling on our shirts and letting our eyes roll off into space as we daydream about the green curtains, solar panels and organic garden that the President Elect is no doubt planning to install in the White House. We shiver with anticipation at the thought of his newly empowered EPA, and giggle with glee as we count off possible USDA and EPA heads as if we’re reciting our Christmas list.

It’s an exciting time for the greenies (and for Americans, in general), but I’m writing to warn everybody that we aren’t there yet. He’s not really our president until January 20th, and there’s a lot of havoc that the Bush administration can wreak between now and then.

For example, on November 4th – our big win day when everybody was too exicted and distracted by the election to notice – good old W was busily signing his name to documents that would in essence lease out 360,000 acres of pristine federal land in Utah for oil drilling. It’s likely that Barack Obama will be able to reverse the damage when he gets into office, but who knows what kind of damage the oil companies can cause in the meantime.

And I’m sure there’s a lot more where that came from. Presidents are capable of doing all sorts of crazy things on their way out of office, especially if they’re not up for re-election.

So it’s up to all of us to keep an eye on things (always – even after January 20th), and to exercise our democratic rights by speaking up and making a fuss.

For starters, call Utah’s Senators and let them know that this whole “drilling on pristine public lands” thing is a non-starter. There’s a public comment (protest) period that ends December 4th, so give them a call (now!), and tell their staff that you are calling to protest the lease of Utah’s public lands to oil companies. And don’t write an email or letter – it’s much more effective to call. Here are their DC office numbers:

Senator Orrin Hatch: (202) 224-5251

Senator Bob Bennett: (202) 224-5444

Entry filed under: conservation, energy, rant time. Tags: barack obama, Brooklyn, call, drilling, environment, geaorge w bush, green, Gwen Schantz, living, New York, oil, protest, senator, sustainable, utah.