In the category of “would it come to pass” –Fund on Gore’s emerging media dilemma
The Wall St Journal’s John Fund observes that the media is finally scrutinizing Al Gore’s real environmental record (like, his own personal record):
Last Tuesday, the Times reported that several eminent scientists “argue that some of Mr. Gore’s central points [on global warming] are exaggerated and erroneous.” The Tenessean reported yesterday that Mr. Gore received $570,000 in royalties from the owners of zinc mines who held mineral leases on his farm. The mines, which closed in 2003 but are scheduled to reopen under a new operator later this year, “emitted thousands of pounds of toxic substances and several times, the water discharged from the mines into nearby rivers had levels of toxins above what was legal.”
All of this comes in the wake of the enormous publicity Mr. Gore received after his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” won an Oscar. The film features Mr. Gore reprising his famous sighing and lamenting how the average American’s energy use is greedily off the charts. At the film’s end viewers are asked, “Are you ready to change the way you live?”
The Nashville-based Tennessee Center for Policy Research was skeptical that Mr. Gore had been “walking the walk” on the environment. It obtained public records showing that for years Mr. Gore has burned through more electricity at his Nashville home each month than the average American family uses in a year–and his consumption was increasing. The heated Gore pool house alone ran up more than $500 in natural-gas bills every month.
Yes, those stories have appeared –albeit belatedly. Fund argues thatthe media is “catching up” with Gore. But note that Gore hasn’t faced a “feeding frenzy” of scandal reporting.
Still, the Gore zinc mine is pretty damning, and the photos of the mine’s run-off reveal a hideous environmental hazard. Stay tuned.
