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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 2001)
DECEMBER 15, 2001 Smoke Signals 9 RFK, Jr. Speaks to the Issue of Environmentalism in Portland Lobbyist, Attorney tells of his work with the Hudson Riverkeepers. By Chris Mercier To be completely honest, I can't really say what was the most im pressive thing about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s speech at Portland State University in early Novem ber. Maybe the fact that in less than one hour he was able to provide the most accurate, compelling, and up lifting overview of environmental ism in the United States today, drawing from childhood experi ences, a hobby in falconry and in sights as an environmental lawyer. That, or the fact he was able to make the most eloquent of speeches without so much as a note card. "He's definitely a Kennedy," said the man sitting next to me, who I learned was an Oregon State Leg islator. We had paid $30 for the honor of eating breakfast in the Smith Me morial Ballroom that day. I doubt we were paying to eat, really, but rather to have the honor of such a close seat to the podium from where Kennedy's speech "Our Sustainable World" would blow our hair back. At it turned out, Kennedy un leashed if not his life story, at least all the tidbits pertaining to environ mental issues, all of it explained in full. A person not even familiar with the word "environmentalism" could have listened and understood, only proving that the ability to commu nicate effectively and explain clearly is an enduring trait of the Kennedy clan, even to this generation. Kennedy probably would have attained fame even with a differ ent last name, particularly on the ecological front as an attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper organiza tion, a recent chapter of which opened up on the Willamette. For those not the familiar with the or ganization, the Riverkeeper is an organization of people who have established boat patrols in at least two dozen major waterways in the United States, with a new one just started in Canada. Their mission: reporting polluters. The story of the Hudson Riverkeepers exemplifies the late 20th century emergence of envi ronmentalism and perhaps that is why Kennedy stumps around the country touting its legacy. The story began in the Northeast of the United States, home to the Hudson River system. During the 1960's, the concept of anti-pollution enforcement was non-existent, even though laws existed protecting the rivers. Natu rally local industries polluted freely without conscience, dumping tox ins into the river that either killed fish or saturated them to the point that eating them was inconceivable and dangerous. Swimming was largely considered unhealthy. "These weren't your typical tweed-wearing, pipe-smoking, bearded environmentalists," said Kennedy. "These were fishermen... blue-collar workers." The fishing industry that many They (Republican?) tried to eliminate all federal environmental laws. That is a fact. That is not exaggeration that is not hyperbole. Most of our laws would have remained in the books but would have been unenforceable." Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. towns relied upon began to deterio rate, with no agency that existed to that had the authority to enforce environmental laws upon the whole river. But luckily an old law re mained from the 1800's that al lowed one who reported polluters to be rewarded half the fine a bounty to some degree. Report they did, Kennedy said, and with that reward money bought a boat, established a patrol and thus began the Hudson River keepers. Now the Hudson River is one of the cleanest waterways in the Atlantic, including tributaries like the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. And the Hudson is one of the few rivers of the Atlantic to still retain all original species. Kennedy still lobbies for the Riverkeepers on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., a vocation no doubt giving him an inside view. Unfortunately, Kennedy said, not everyone interprets environmental ism as a good thing, certainly not the corporations who have to spend millions in compliance of regulations. And now the battle rages on as those same corporations dole out money to politicians, who in turn attempt to undo environmental laws. Only the Clinton presidency, Kennedy said, stood between the Republican Congress of the mid 1990's and the eradication of envi ronmental laws. "They tried to eliminate all fed eral environmental laws," he said. "That is a fact. That is not exag geration that is not hyperbole. Most of our laws would have remained in the books but would have been unenforceable." The main argument against en vironmentalism that comes from conservatives, he said, is that the economic cost of compliance remains too heavy. Not so, he said, because long run costs generally amount to more. He used the Hudson River for another example, pointing to an instance in which a General Elec tric plant opened up in New Jer sey. General Electric promised one town hundreds of jobs in exchange for the right to dump PCB's in to the river. After making $20 mil lion in profit over a span of years, the plant closed down to relocate, laying off all workers and leaving millions of dollars of clean-up costs in its wake. This, Kennedy said, is a classic example of how taxpayers end up paying for the carelessness of cor porate polluters. While clean-up costs have a dollar value, the ex tinction of various animal species does not. Kennedy, who has been a falconer since the age of 11 and even writ ten one book on the subject, related seeing his first red-tailed peregrine falcon as child. He remembers it viv idly, he explained, because since then the bird has become extinct, the result of excessive pollution and habitat encroachment. "Here you have this amazing beautiful creature that took one mil lion years to evolve," he said. "And it goes extinct in the blink of an eye because of ignorance and greed." Oregon, when environmental is sues are involved, is an "exemplary community", Kennedy said. But the west still remains rife with eco logical abuse, much of it federally subsidized. Farmers in Idaho and Montana, he said, get access to fed eral (read: public) land and water for virtually nothing, playing once again the "jobs" card with politi cians. Farmers in Idaho, he said, can get water from the government for a fraction of the cost that a pri- I T if f- - j E, i t '.', J3S . p , 5 8 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. vate supplier would demand (One wonders why he didn't bring up Klamath Falls' water problems). And mining companies, he also said, can likewise get access to pub lic land and the resources for virtu ally nothing. It is the same for log gers and logging companies. And clean-up costs? U.S. taxpayers pay. No surprise then, he said, that log gers, miners and farmers are the biggest critics of environmental poli cies such laws prevent the exploi tation and curbs their profits. "But if you ask me," he said. "They are all really just a bunch of whiners." Not exactly the words one expects from a Harvard graduate, but ef fective nonetheless. D m. COYOTE CLUB APPRECIATION N1CHTS AT COYOTE'S BUFFET 4PM TO 11PM $3 off dinner buffet and a free gift with your Coyote Club card. Stop by the Coyote Club desk to receive your coupon. BINCO CLOSURES MARK YOUR CALENDAR Bingo will be closed December 13th-24th for the holidays. We will reopen on December 25th for the 2pm game. 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