So how long do we continue to delay projects in 6 month blocks? That is functionally identical to Baltamore's 'give them space to destroy".
And then what about the next one? How long there? The original year and when they come back after a rainstorm, a month more?
I'm not trying to be a smartass here or Stalin. But these things need to be addressed definitively by people in power. You cannot reward bad behavior like this as it only breeds more. And without the protection of Obama, they are going to ramp way up until it is stopped cold. We cannot kick the can because the left/media cries about it. We have to have a functioning system of government and that included oil/mining/logging/shipping/transportation.
More or less true. But as the green lady said above, these things must be done delicately. Ham-fisted responses -- which they're hoping for! -- will make things even worse.
In cases like this, triangulation is the proper approach.
First, acknowledge that, hidden behind the protests, there are some legitimate concerns -- because there probably are. Next, find somebody on the other side who's reasonable -- and there will be such -- and make him the
de facto spokesman for the movement. Air concerns and arguments on both sides, and actually attempt to find middle ground -- it's almost certainly there.
This approach has worked well in other places. For example, the logging industry in Oregon was hamstrung like this until a series of enormous fires brought people to their senses. The enviros' total opposition to logging had created a tremendous fuel load, which of course burned. But they had legitimate grievances against the logging practices of the time (vast clear-cutting operations).
After the fires, sensible adults on all sides came together to work out a better way of doing things. As it stands now, the Forest Service, logging concerns, and the enviros seem to have actually done good work in coming up with a workable compromise solution.
I see no reason why it shouldn't be tried in ND as well.
