|
|
 |
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Connecticut’s Environment
|
|
|
Statement by Charlie Pillsbury, Green Party Candidate for Congress, CT-3rd District.
Delivered on June 1, 2001, at the Gay PRIDE Block Party on the New Haven Green.
Congresswoman DeLauro is concerned about the environment everywhere except in her District.
She has voted to keep Nevada from becoming a radioactive waste dumping site, and, as a good Democrat, she has traveled to Alaska to protect its vast wilderness from Republican oilmen, like President George Bush and Vice -President Dick Cheney. But when it comes to protecting her own backyard, she has been either asleep at the switch or actively involved in promoting corporate interests over the public interest.
The Cross Sound Cable Co. is in the process of laying cable across Long Island Sound to carry Canadian-generated electricity to eastern Long Island. To do this, the company received permits from President Bush’s Army Corps of Engineers and Governor John Rowland’s Dept. of Environmental Protection. The permitting process was so egregious that the City of New Haven’s Board of Aldermen and Connecticut’s General Assembly both voted to stop this project. Now, after all the permits have been issued and the project is near completion, Rep. DeLauro has jumped in front of the parade to protest the destruction of irreplaceable oyster beds and other environmental damage to the Sound. But where was she when the Corps was giving this Republican get rich quick scheme its seal of approval? She hasn’t yet answered that question.
We do know where Rep. DeLauro was, however, when her campaign contributor Lynn Fusco and family were convincing the city, state, and federal governments to support the construction of another boondoggle and environmental disaster, the Long Wharf Mall, at the intersection of two interstate highways within the City of New Haven. She was working with the Department of Transportation to find some way to accommodate the increased traffic (and air pollution) the proposed mall would generate; and with Senator Dodd and Lieberman, she was lobbying the U.S. Postal Service to sell its Brewery Street property to the mall’s developers, which included the Fusco Corporation at 555 Long Wharf Drive. Fortunately, despite nearly unanimous Democratic and Republican political support, the proposed mall died after numerous protests organized by the Green Party and other environmental activists, when a key retailer withdrew its economic support of this environmental nightmare.
Thus, as you can see, outside her District, Rep. DeLauro is actually a friend of America’s environment. In her own backyard, however, Ms. DeLauro is a supporter of Corporate America’s and her corporate contributors greedy “damn the environment, full speed ahead “ agenda.
In his new book Stupid White Men, Michael Moore asks: “So is there a difference between Democrats and Republicans?” (p. 215). His answer: “Sure. The Democrats say one thing (“Save the Planet”) and then do another--quietly holding hands behind the scenes with the bastards who make this world a dirtier, meaner place. The Republicans just come right out and give the bastards a corner office in the West Wing. That’s the difference.” (pp.215-16).
There is an alternative. Vote Green. Vote for Pillsbury for Congress in November.
|
|
|
