By Kevin Mooney
Washington, D.C. media elites who are always quick to regurgitate the spin from far-left environmental pressure groups should carefully consider the counterarguments of government officials in underdeveloped regions of the world.
Industrial activity that could help lift third world populations out of poverty have been stifled and stopped in response to global warming alarmism that has been called into question by the latest scientific research, to say nothing of “climategate.” Argus Purnomo, a special assistant to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is set to comment on the activities of green pressure groups as part of his address to the National Press Club.
“After years of being accused of deforestation by environmental groups like Greenpeace, there is growing backlash brewing in Indonesia as government officials, scientists and civic leaders express anger at the environmental group and say that its accusations are baseless,” the advertisement for the Dec. 10 event states.
Journalists who have long championed the cause of third world populations should also revisit their criticisms of Western companies that remain ambitious to help developed poverty stricken regions.
Lee Raymond, now retired as CEO of ExxonMobil, often cautioned against government environmental regulations that lowered the living standards of the less developed world by depriving it of energy resources. Raymond’s address to the World Petroleum Congress meeting in Beijing in October 1997 sharply departed from BP CEO John Browne’s emphasis on “precautionary action” contained in his Stanford address the previous March.
Unlike Browne, Raymond suggested that more research on global warming was needed before governments imposed restrictions on energy production and use:
“We in the petroleum industry are not dismissing the global climate change issue. But I don’t believe anyone should have the moral authority to deny people the opportunity to improve their way in life by arbitrarily depriving them of the means… I hope that the governments of this region will work with us to resist policies that could strangle economic growth.” The Clinton White House was not pleased. Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry said American oil company executives “have a right to freely express” themselves, but “we would obviously consider the remarks of that petroleum executive to be shortsighted when it comes to a good faith discussion of this issue.”
In fact, Raymond’s address has held up quite well. In the years since Browne and Raymond’s dueling CEO speeches, the appeal to global warming alarmism as a rationale for government energy controls has suffered serious setbacks.
The official from Indonesia comes to Washington, D.C. with a telling message that should reverberate throughout media outlets that have repeatedly carried the water for green extremists.
Kevin Mooney is a contributing editor to Americans for Limited Government (ALG) News Bureau.
