Klamath beating up enviros 041607

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Beating up enviros

The Director of Member Services for the Assembly Republican Caucus knows water

By Caleb Maplesden Pioneer Press April 11, 2007

YREKA - As Doug Haaland took the podium at the Republican Women's meeting on April 4, he posed for a couple of pictures, then took off his tie as if to say, "let's get down to business."

Earlier in the day, Haaland toured the Irongate and Copco facilities with Siskiyou District 1 Supervisor Jim Cook and Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa's field representative Willie Preston.

Haaland commented on several environmental scares in the past that have turned out to be false.

"Their track record on global crises is not very good," Haaland said.

"They tell us that the only way the fish are going to survive is to tear down the dams, deprive people of power and basically ruin the river for a good decade, and depreciate real estate values for a lifetime."

Haaland's overall message was that while the environmentalists themselves may have good intentions, they are going to end up causing more harm than good in their attempts to save the planet.

"The carbon footprint of the dam is zero," Haaland stated in his speech. Haaland said that the carbon footprint to remove the dams is enormous. "It would produce tens to hundreds of thousands of tons of CO2 [carbon dioxide]," he said.

It is possible that the relationship between carbon dioxide and temperature rise actually goes the other way. The rise in temperature could be causing carbon dioxide levels to rise, according to Haaland. Rising costs and increased regulation of business is causing businesses to either leave California or avoid coming here in the first place.

"Environmental policy is pushing industry right out of California," Haaland said.

Haaland also described how environmentalism makes it harder for the poor to survive because costs increase.

When the government puts a tax or some other financial burden on a business, the business can just transfer that burden to the people who buy from the business.

By forcing PacifiCorp to spend extra money to make improvements, the government is, in effect, raising the cost of power to PacifiCorp's customers.