Principles in Practice: The Blog of the Objective Standard

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Enemies of Energy

Posted by ARI Media at 1:55 AM

Irvine, CA—King Ranch and the environmentalist coalition Coastal Habitat Alliance are suing Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson in an attempt to stop the creation of a windmill farm along the Gulf Coast in Kenedy County. According to the suit, the wind farm could kill migrating birds and damage the bay.

"From fossil fuels to nuclear energy, environmentalists have consistently opposed the development and use of every practical energy source," said Dr. Keith Lockitch, resident fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute. "For decades they have been urging us to find viable sources of 'alternative energy.' Yet now that wind farms have become just such a source, environmentalists object to them as well, making it unmistakably clear that enabling us to efficiently power our industrial society was never their goal.

"All of the wealth Americans enjoy—the computers, the cars, the homes, the food, the medicines that enable us to live longer, healthier, happier lives—depends on large-scale creation of energy. To demand that we scale back on energy production and willingly accept crippling privations in the name of 'conservation,' is to demand that we return to pre-industrial squalor.

"Might that be what environmentalists really want?"

Labels: Environmentalism, Science and Technology