If you've spent some time surfing around on progressive blog sites, particularly those sites based in the western states, you're aware that there has been a discussion going on about the new western Democrats. Heck, there's even a blog dedicated to the emerging western Dems, Western Democrat, that sings the praises of such down-to-earth western Dems like Montana's popular governor Brian Schweitzer. Wait! A popular governor who's a Dem in Montana? That's right, and he's no Joe Lieberman faux Dem either. Schweitzer is for real.
So what got (from Sirotablog) hunters, fishermen and ranchers to vote for him: Environmental destruction and degradation. Of course we all know that hunters would rather hang themselves than have the word "environmentalist" stuck on their foreheads, but they certainly don't take issue with being considered conservationists. Western states are seeing an explosion of growth in mining and gas drilling, and they're also experiencing the subsequent environmental damage. The aforementioned groups have taken notice, and they don't like what they see, or don't see when it comes to elk hunting or fishing.
July's edition of the National Geographic magazine covers the drilling story in the West (the provided link is only an overview of the story. If you don't have a subscription, borrow the magazine from a friend or watch this great clip.) There are a lot of people who have been negatively effected by the drilling on or near their ranches and homes. There are cases where home owners' water wells are ruined by methane. A poignant picture in the magazine of a woman holding a glass of greenish brown water in her home attests to the destruction of water wells from nearby drilling.
A New Mexican rancher, Linn Blancett, who has deep family roots in the Rockies can no longer effectively ranch because the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to enforce regulations over the drilling wells in the area. In a letter to the local BLM manager Blancett wrote:
We understand the need to drill. What we don't understand is the destruction of our ranches in the process.
In Montana drilling companies are drooling over the state's Rocky Mountain Front. Recently there was a battle over the fate of Blindhorse Canyon:
A Canadian energy company was poised to sink some wells in that canyon, despite editorials deploring the project in major newspapers across Montana. The BLM, seeking public comment, received nearly 50,000 letters and e-mails, 99 percent of them opposed to drilling... Concerns for quality hunting and fishing, and for the vitality of local businesses that cater to the needs of outdoorsmen, are not easily dismissed in western Montana. Many ranchers supplement their incomes by serving as outfitters or guides, packing hunters into the backcountry.
(National Geographic 7/05)
Environmental groups, in a joint campaign with outdoorsmen organizations, successfully defeated the drilling plan, which proves environmentalists and outdoorsmen have a powerful connection, despite apparent differences. Kos puts it quite nicely:
Hunters and traditional environmentalists diverge in one key area -- the killing of furry creatures. But by forging such an alliance, environmentalists can sell 95 percent of their agenda to an important, influential bloc of voters otherwise turned off by both the Green movement and the Democratic Party in general.
Unfortunately for western state residents, drilling companies like Questar are trapped in the kind of short term thinking that permeates the GOP energy strategy:
...there's 20 trillion cubic feet of gas in that anticline. (Pinedale mesa, Wyoming) That's enough to supply the entire United States for a year.
(Quote in NG from a Questar rep.)
In the meantime, many residents of these states are stuck fighting powerful energy companies and they're getting tired of it:
We can't go on forever gobbling up natural resources. We've got to do something different.
(Quote in NG from a Front resident.)
That's where the western Democrats come in.
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