The Bush Administration and their corporate babysitters cannot win all the time.
Yesterday, the Valle Vidal Protection Act passed the House unanimously. Today it moves on to the Senate. Proof that community voices, loud enough, focused enough and relentless enough can still win out over those trying to put the kabosh on our democracy.
You can read about these victories here and here.
People keep asking why this campaign is working. Today the Washington Post covered the Valle Vidal battle (top headline - ABOVE the fold) and hints at why we've been successful:
...resistance to drilling is growing, especially because environmentalists have enlisted sportsmen and other new allies in their fight, and because energy companies already have access to most of the public land in the Rocky Mountain West.
This is the key. For nearly a dozen years I have been saying that the environmental movement has failed of late because it has failed to reach out to new and diverse allies - and to reach out with a message that is appropriate for each concerned group.
If you want to get to the chambers of commerce, talk about how much money the area generates for our communities. If you want to get to the ranchers, talk about water and grasslands. Point out the hunting and fishing opportunities to the sportsmen and so on. Everyone has their own particular interest in these special places and those interests must be respected and accommodated. That respect brings people together and makes us all the more powerful.
"Something is happening here," said Chris Wood, vice president for conservation at the advocacy group Trout Unlimited. "What we're seeing is the emergence of a powerful new voice in conservation. It's not your garden-variety environmental groups. It's hunters and anglers and outfitters and guides that are helping convince Democrats and Republicans alike of the need to protect these last places."
For the most part, my drive has been to avoid the limelight. I see my job as one of enabling democracy, giving voice to people who want to speak but may not know how, given them the opportunity to say why they and their opinions matter.
That has not always been easy. Many are all too quick to take advantage and I think the quote above (while true to a certain extent) from Mr. Wood demonstrates that that tension. Dismissing "garden-variety environmental groups" is not helpful in the long run and makes a small but important special interest group (in this case hunters) seem more influential than they actually are. Our strength is in our collective interests and commitments to place NOT in allowing one special interest to dominate the discussion. That said....the overall goal of protection for this piece of ground is worth the struggle.
For me, this is a model of how we should be running the environmental movement in the future. Once you start sitting down at the table with folks you thought you hated....you find you have about 95% of all things in common and that last 5% can, usually, be easily set aside or ignored for the moment of achieving a shared goal.
Our success in the House does not by any means assure us full on victory in the end. We still have to bring Senator Domenici on board and get this bill through the House. If not?
"The Bush administration's drill, drill, drill philosophy is really upsetting many traditional recreationalists in the West," Richardson said. "This will have political repercussions for the Republican Party in the West, and for Republican candidates."
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