What Is The NRDC?

The NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) is an New York-based environmental advocacy organization. The group is led by Frances Beineke; Robert Kennedy, Jr. is a senior attorney with the organization. It is an organization fueled by conflict - lawsuits are its specialty.

Here's how the News Herald described them in an editorial published March 5, 2005:

"The National Resources Defense Council is one of America's most influential environmental groups. It is also wealthy, with more than $100 million in net assets thanks in part to a Jesse Jackson-like propensity for strange bedfellow fundraising. It is thuggish, too often with too little regard for the truth..."

..."In the 1990s, the group sometimes seemed a front for Enron. It sang Ken Lay's praises to no end, and Lay praised back - when all he was cooking was the books, environmental regulations were of less concern..."

The conservative Consumer Freedom Foundation paints a distressing portrait of the the NRDC.

The NRDC turned up in Bay County a little over a year ago and joined with a group of local hobby pilots, the so-called "Friends of PFN", to oppose relocating the airport. The NRDC did not particpate when this community was working to find a solution to address deficiencies at our current airport.

Now they are pushing a solution to bring our airport up to federal safety and design standards that would require the involuntary taking of between 100 and 200 homes in Forest Park. (By the way, the NRDC-proposed solution would also cause damage to protected seagrass beds in Goose Bayou - ironic, no?)

As far as I know, there are no local NRDC members in Bay County. I could be wrong about this, but if there are NRDC members here, they are keeping a low profile.

You have to wonder why a New York City-based environmental group is interested enough in Bay County to challenge the FAA's Record of Decision on our airport - but not interested enough to really participate in a meaningful solution. What is their real motive?