Activist groups do more to cause poverty than cure it: The ‘Environmental Justice’ movement is doing much to harm whole economies and strip tax dollars from otherwise good projects.

One cost of living in a free society is this: Those who produce nothing have the right, and too often the free time, to criticize those who produce everything.
   Case in point: the Borba Dairies project, which returns to Kern County Superior Court in Bakersfield, Calif. this month for a hearing. George and James Borba will once again humbly ask permission to grow crops and raise milk cows on their property.
   If this sounds like a good idea to you, welcome to the majority. The democratically elected board of supervisors twice approved the dairies. Even those who don’t particularly care about farming, when pressed, acknowledge the Borbas’ right to use their rural homestead to put food on the tables of so many others.
   For three years, a tiny band of activists grandly calling itself the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment has derailed the project through misuse of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). While complex, CEQA is based on a simple notion — that leaders need good information about potential environmental impacts before making decisions. Unfortunately, CEQA also provides a rich vein of opportunities to hold projects hostage, long after decision-makers have been adequately informed.
   CEQA is a gold mine for un-elected second-guessers. Such opportunities helped America become, according to Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, “the most litigious society in the history of mankind” — probably not what our forefathers envisioned for this “land of opportunity.”
   CRPE and the Sierra Club used CEQA to bury the Borbas and county officials under mountains of legal paperwork. As one set of questions appeared answered, they fired another salvo. Even before the judge has ruled on the lawsuit they filed in 2000, they filed another lawsuit last month, in an attempt to guarantee more lengthy, expensive court delays. The Bakersfield Californian reported, “even if (Superior Court Judge) Randall agrees to allow the dairies to go forward, his decision could be appealed.” Based on the record, count on it.
   CRPE’s very name indicates they are supposed to be concerned about poverty. However, they’re causing it. CRPE Attorney Brent Newell’s answer to that charge manages to be both flip and confusing. He told the Lindsay Gazette: “(our) purpose is not to promote economic development in low-income communities but rather to help low-income communities avoid toxic waste dumps that further sink communities into environmental degradation.”
   Cow manure is toxic waste? Then why is it so sought after to fertilize so many crops? Even more ridiculous is Newell’s assertion that by denying good-paying, year-round jobs to needy people, he’s somehow helping them — especially in counties where chronic, double-digit unemployment is the rule. On Dec. 4, farm laborers begged Kern County supervisors to approve the Borba Dairies so they could have jobs. No doubt they will thank CRPE for protecting their interests as they try to survive on meager unemployment checks.
   Make no mistake: CRPE opposes farming as we know it. It is everything they hate — efficient, modern and productive. Because most of us spend our days struggling to achieve those same goals, CRPE’s fringe view largely falls on deaf ears in the court of public opinion. So they take it to a court of law. If they scare someone into settling, that funds the next lawsuit. Even if they don’t win their case, they “win,” costing productive people and taxpayers thousands of lost hours and millions of dollars.
   There is a ray of light at the end of this tunnel. Despite the legal harassment, the Borba Dairies are progressing through the bureaucratic hoops. So are other exciting projects, such as the Hilarides Dairy in Tulare County, Calif. And slowly but surely, several Central Valley counties are pushing forward with plans to enable dairies to grow again. A break in the permitting logjam appears to be nearing. Sadly, it is an effort that has come at an expense of thousands of hours and millions of dollars that could have been put to much better use.
   Rest assured, when the bill for all this wasted time and effort comes due, CRPE will not stand up to pay it. That duty, as always, will rest on the shoulders of the portion of society that chooses to spend its time being productive.