[at-l] Fw: Roanoke Times piece on the AT

[RoksnRoots at aol.com]

“I understand the ecological benefits” of conservation easements and 
land-use regulations, said Wingate, “but I’m against those restrictions without fair 
compensation. We certainly need to consider benefits to the majority, but 
also the rights of the individual property owners.”

           Thanks for that article Chainsaw.

           That's why I say "False government". There's more than enough 
money if those in charge set proper long-term priorities. You can't have talk in 
America about the environment without action. If you talk about the environment 
and do nothing it is known as "lip service". Since government is in the best 
position to do something about it, and the AT is definitely the place to do 
it, then if nothing gets done the interest was false. 
         Recently government has blown tens of millions on oil exploration 
royalties from major oil companies extracting on public lands. Interestingly 
enough, extraction from private lands managed to recoup $70 million in lost 
royalties. Since the energy gotten from this extraction goes directly to sprawl it 
is only just that part of the lost revenue should have been used to buffer the 
Trail. So, the man above is right, but he is part of a rationalization that 
has currently justified what can only be the death of the Trail. False people = 
false government and vice versa. It's definitely disingenuous to say "don't 
gripe with cheap shots, give us your solution", when you have been reading it 
for years. Way back in the 1920's a wise man foresaw all this and tried to 
establish a wide, national forest-sized corridor for the AT that would have 
prevented this "death by a thousand cuts" scenario. He was basically cut down by the 
same bullsh*t you are seeing here by people asking "what should we do"? 
Meanwhile record profit-accruing energy companies are being given royalty breaks by 
free-market purist maniacs at the AT's expense.  
            Iraq will probably piss-away 2 trillion for the military 
industrial complex's new front to make a demand for itself.

            


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