Fighting environmental battles is tough when the cleanup costs are merely considered expenses instead of investments in a healthy, sustainable outdoor economy.
Normally, this is my cue to stab at the heart of the money-grubbing sleazes running PacifiCorp, who would happily extinct an economically valuable steelhead run for a few megawatts of power, but since it’s Friday, I won’t mention it. Really.
Instead, I’ll relate the findings of the The Brookings Institute, who studied the benefits of cleaning up things like sewer overruns, combating invasive species, remediating toxic sites, etc around the Great Lakes.
From the Battle Creek Enquirer:
A plan to clean up and protect the Great Lakes environment would boost the regional economy by more than twice its $26 billion price tag, according to a study released today.
…
They also would generate at least $50 billion worth of long-term economic benefits such as promoting tourism, raising coastal property values, cutting costs for cities and attracting new residents, the report said.
You listening, PacifiCorp?
[tags]environmental cleanup, great lakes, brooking institute, pacificorp[/tags]
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Dave 09.08.07 at 5:20 am
Clean up is good, but I would still have very little to do with the Great Lakes. Studies in the 1980s showed that Great Lakes fish are unfit for consumption by rats, and people living along the shores of the Great Lakes have the highest incidence of testicular cancer in the United States.