I guess this is the outgrowth of Obama blaming unemployment on ATMs - Granite Grok

I guess this is the outgrowth of Obama blaming unemployment on ATMs

And one has to wonder when Statists say that there is never a regulation that is harmful?  Let’s see – 9% unemployment, people stuck on unemployment for an average >40 weeks, and Obama says his #1 Job is jobs?

And the answer by his we have to go back to mule power?

Jane Danowitz, director of the Pew Environmental Group’s U.S. public lands program acknowledges that the roadless rule blocks “logging, drilling and industrial development.”

Expressing disappointment with the decision, Stuart Sanderson, President of the Colorado Mining Association said, “The decision does not reflect a practical understanding of the impact that the rule will have upon mining jobs or access to needed minerals here in Colorado and the U.S. It is important to develop high quality coal and other mineral reserves, both to ensure our nation’s energy security and reduce our dependence on minerals produced in other countries.”

How does this roadless decision impact mining and jobs?

In Montana’s Finley Basin there are known tungsten deposits. An Australian company wanted to bring revenue and jobs to the state by developing the resource. While the property was successfully drilled and recognized by Union Carbide in the seventies, it is now about 200 yards inside a roadless study area. The Forest Service was willing to offer a conditional drilling permit. Among the conditions were these requirements:

  • The drill sites must be cleared using hand tools,
  • The drilling equipment and fuel must be transported to the site by a team of pack mules,
  • The mules must be fed certified weed-free hay, and
  • Drill site and trail reclamation must be done using hand tools.

The company gave up.

How can America remain competitive in a global marketplace when we are required to use pick axes and mules? How does this help America’s heavy equipment manufacturers like Caterpillar?

No wonder we are in trouble.

ATM’s replaced good paying teller jobs; the US Forest Service has decided that that employed manpower is just that – manly men working with their own two hands – instead of, say, modern power equipment. Globlization is a war amongst who can be the most productive – a hand shovel is not that.

But really, do they really have to nit-pick a diet for a mule?   I would say that would be on the side of over-regulation.  Anyone got Cass Sunstein’s email address?

(H/T: Town Hall)

>