Conservation + Fiscal Conservatism = Free Market Environmentalism

Abstract

"Through their tax dollars, Americans are unknowingly subsidizing the destruction of some of their best wildlife habitat. This perverse outcome is especially unfortunate, for Americans' appreciation of their environment has increased substantially during the last decade-and-a-half. Public opinion surveys, whether taken by Gallup or the local newspaper,consistently demonstrate that public concern for the preservation of lands and waters, and the natural communities they support, has spread across the nation. Yet we continue to have our tax dollars fund the destruction of America's great 'duck factories,' the prairie potholes, most notably with the Garrison Diversion project of North Dakota. A coalition made up of fiscal conservatives and conservationists has the potential of redressing problems such as those created by the Garrison Diversion. These projects affront both ecological and economic sensitivities."