Bloodless Coup

Mountain, Mohammed; Mohammed, Mountain

There wasn't much in this article (free, but sign in required) that was new news to me, but it does do a pretty good job of describing two issues:

First, the whole issue of mountaintop removal. How anyone can think the practice of taking off the entire top of a mountain, dumping the literally tons of rock and dirt into the valleys next door, and removing the coal now exposed underneath is somehow, someway environmentally neutral is beyond me. Before: a mountain and a valley. After: a big, flat space. This is not something that will look "natural" after a few years (or even a few centuries). This is permanently changing the landscape, and not in a good way.

Second, the issue of regulatory versus legislative power. No one likes Congress. At least, however, with Congress you get public push and pull (debate) over issues. When the executive makes regulatory changes that have the force of overturning entire laws, the only alternative to preventing these changes is litigation. There is no real public debate or vote. And when you combine this with this executive's contempt and willful ignorance of policy and science (yes, I'm beating this dead horse again), you get frighteningly ignorant shifts in policy that do real damage to the future of the country. There is a reason many people (from both sides of the isle) argue that the best laws come from divided government - at least then you get debate and compromise.