Monday, September 26, 2005
"NIMBY" No More
People want greenspace or parks backing up to their property. Greenery is irresistible and soothing. It looks alive, growing, vital, inviting, and fun. Sounds good, but...
First, Katrina plowed through refineries in the New Orleans area. Then, Rita took aim at the Galveston and Houston refineries. Shutdowns and damages resulted. Both will have a negative impact on us all, not just at the pump, but when heating our homes this Winter, when we buy something at the store, when we purchase a house, virtually everything.
So, of course, the folks at CNBC, a supposedly pro-business station, keep saying that more refineries are needed but that everyone says, "Not in My Back Yard!"
The NIMBY crowd has held sway for a long time and have made building any refineries very difficult to get approved, let alone built. This crowd are backed, at least philosophically, by environmental radicals. One of the radicals was on CNBC today, claiming that "We can't back off of the environmental protections that have been put in place." Why not? Will we have a clean environment but no food to eat and no heat in our homes? I, personally, would live next to a refinery if it meant having affordable gasoline to fill up my car's tank.
Katrina and Rita are wake-up calls. They are telling us that if we want to have our Hummers and SUVs, if we want affordable heat in Winter and air conditioning in Summer, if we want to keep more jobs from migrating offshore as businesses try to keep their overhead low, if we want affordable food, then we all have to rethink "NIMBY."
Green is good, but not just when it's grass. Green is also good in our wallets, especially when it buys us the things that keep us civilized.
Maybe NIMBY should be revised to stand for: "Now Income Means Business 'Yes'."
Copyright © 2005 A.C. Cargill
: 11:18 PM In fact, recent car sales figures are showing that actually, we DON'T want our Hummers and SUV's, at least not as much as we used to. Hummer sales are plummeting, and SUV sales too.
: 9:20 AM << Home
