[Marxism] Swinging to the Democrats

["Anthony Boynton" <anthony.boynton@xxxxxxxxx>]

Drilling for Defeat?

By DAVID SIROTA
New York F***** Times Published: May 18, 2008

Nearly two decades ago, Republicans won the West by linking Democrats
to environmentalists, who supposedly cared more for the spotted owl
and other favored species than they did for the jobs of loggers or
miners. But now, as a boom in natural-gas drilling reshapes the
region, Western Democrats have found success recasting
environmentalism as a defense of threatened water supplies, fishing
spots and hunting grounds. As a result, the party may hold the
advantage this fall in the region's key Congressional races. The
simultaneous rise of Western energy production and the Western
Democrat is no coincidence.

The Rocky Mountain drilling boom has been aided by the 2005 Energy
Policy Act, which was once considered a partisan political
masterstroke. In providing incentives for energy development,
Republicans delivered a profitable gift to an industry that directs
most of its campaign contributions to G.O.P. candidates. That gift was
sweetened by the Bureau of Land Management, which, under President
Bush, has expanded the amount of federal land open to energy
development and increased the number of drilling permits.

But the acceleration of energy exploration has split the national
Republican Party from local Republicans upset by the downsides of the
energy boom. "Republicans created a monster for themselves," said Rick
Ridder, a Colorado-based Democratic consultant. "They put public
policy in direct conflict with their base voters."

In Wyoming's Upper North Platte Valley, Jeb Steward, a Republican
state representative, helped lead the successful 2007 opposition to
the B.L.M.'s proposed sale of 13 oil and gas parcels. "We have customs
and cultures that have developed over a hundred years based on the
utilization of multiple renewable resources — agriculture, tourism,
wildlife, fisheries," Steward said. "When B.L.M. proposed issuing the
leases, residents were asking, 'What does this mean to the lifestyles
that we've all grown accustomed to?' "

One wing of the Bush administration appears to have heard the message.
In February, the Environmental Protection Agency asked the Bureau of
Land Management to revise its plan to allow nearly 4,400 new
natural-gas wells on the Pinedale Anticline in Wyoming, citing ozone
pollution from drilling rigs. "We have to balance economic success,
energy development and the love that the people of Wyoming have for
their special places," said Gary Trauner, the Democratic candidate
hoping to replace Wyoming's retiring Republican congresswoman, Barbara
Cubin.

Energy is also likely to affect politics in two Western states where
the offspring of conservation icons are running for Senate. In New
Mexico, Representative Tom Udall, a Democrat and the son of Stewart
Udall, secretary of the interior under Kennedy and Johnson, may face
off against the Republican congresswoman Heather Wilson. Two years
ago, Wilson belatedly backed Udall's bill to limit local drilling
after being criticized on the issue by a 2006 election opponent.

In Colorado, Representative Mark Udall, Tom's cousin and the son of
the late environmentalist congressman Morris (Mo) Udall, is running
for the Senate against Bob Schaffer, a former Republican congressman
who works for a natural-gas company. Colorado has experienced a
sixfold increase in drilling permits since 1999, and the B.L.M. has
leased a New Jersey-size 5.2 million acres of federal land for new
energy exploration in the state. Already a conservative group has
broadcast television ads attacking Udall for trying to limit drilling.
But election trends suggest that such criticisms may be losing
effectiveness.

Of course, a recession — and corresponding fears of job losses — could
halt the political shift. At a recent hearing convened by the Colorado
Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, industry workers upbraided
officials for considering rules that could slow gas drilling along the
Colorado-New Mexico border. Century-old antigovernment emotions are
now aimed at state regulators — and much of the vitriol comes from
working-class Democrats.

But can they swing an election? According to Headwaters Economics, a
Montana-based research group, the energy sector currently employs only
1.3 percent of the region's work force. And mining generated just 2.9
percent of all personal income in the five natural-gas-producing
Western states in 2006. By contrast, retirement benefits, service jobs
and professional industries generated about 55 percent of the region's
income. Many of these sectors have an interest in reducing energy
development. After all, retirees, professionals and tourism businesses
often come to the region for the open spaces.

"Lots of drilling is great for the industry," said Headwaters
Economics' associate director, Ben Alexander. "But is it good for the
region as a whole?" The political battle for the West will be won by
whichever party offers the most convincing answer.

David Sirota is the author of "The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of
the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington."

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