Environmentalism is Deadly

The Duck Won

It is beyond dispute that coal mines can be deadly places. But it is also apparent that mines hobbled by the religion of environmentalism are likely to have a far higher mortality quotient. This is what is now emerging in the aftermath of the Pike River mine disaster.  Here is a quotation from MacDoctor: 

Finally, I have to agree with Mark Hubbard (also cross-posted to NotPC) who is of the opinion that environmentalism has a large part to play in the deaths of these men. Much of the coal at Pike River is superficial enough to remove by open cast mine, a far safer proposition for methane-rich coal like this. It is only the fact that this was conservation land that lead to Pike River being an underground mine (although I expect the owners of Pike River to be coy about this, because it does not reflect particularly well on them, either). DOC even scotched the insertion of a second ventilation shaft in order to preserve the habitat of a duck. Yes, a duck.

Should we arrest the duck and execute it for criminal negligence or manslaughter?  How about the responsible bureaucrats at the Department of Conservation?  Well, execution may be a bit extreme--but imprisonment must surely be on the cards.  Ok--so they were just carrying out government policy, and, as we know, greenism is an essential oil of the established religion of the age--a religion established by government and foisted upon us by laws and hosts of regulations innumerable. 

But it gets worse. 

But it is more than mere environmentalism that is going on here. As I commented at NotPC:

“Unfortunately, Mark, it is much worse than you portray. While an open-cast mine is undoubtably uglier than a side-shaft mine, it does not require a great deal of extra effort to restore the damaged environment. The cost difference between the two mines would have been more than enough to cover the extra cost involved. Most modern open-cast mines have a detailed plan to restore the environment and the eventual impact is minimal.
“I therefore come to the sad conclusion that 29 miners have just died, not for the sake of the environment, but because of aesthetics”

There was nothing unique in that environment that could not have been either transferred somewhere else or restored when the mine was decommissioned. Therefore one must conclude that a sensible open cast mine was not approved because it was ugly, not because of irreversible environmental damage.

And that is beyond sad…

Nail on the head, bro.