The New Golden Rule

The recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court in favor of a gold mining company operating near Juneau, Alaska, is a golden spike driven into the heart of the Clean Water Act. Apparently gold mining is a strategically necessary industry worthy of sacrificing a lake here and there for the sake of keeping that ever precious supply of gold in the market place ready to serve the greater good. According to the Supreme Court majority, gold-mining trumps clean water.
The convoluted thinking that led to these polluted waters is mind boggling. The majority opinion said the Army Corps of Engineers has the power to determine what the least damaging impact mine waste might have, and that polluting and destroying all of the life in one measly 23 acre lake is better than the alternatives. Apparently the Court did not consider the possibility that there might be lower-impact solutions more costly to the mining company or that upholding the Clean Water Act in its original intent is not an option. As Calvin Coolidge used to say, ‘The business of America is business” and the current Court is all about business as usual.
I never realized that gold was as strategic as, say, oil and gas. The American currency went off the gold standard back in 1934. Sure, we hear about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, but we never hear about reducing our dependence on foreign gold. So why would the Supreme Court go so far as to show support of a gold mine over clean water?
My guess is that the majority of the Supreme Court is subconsciously using a combination of “NIMBY” and supply and demand. Clearly, the lake near Juneau is far removed from, say, the Potomac (remoteness). And there are thousands of lakes up there in Alaska (supply). Besides, Alaska is much bigger than Texas and is closer to the Soviet Union than the lower 48, so why worry about losing a little lake so far removed from civilization as they know it?
Moreover, given the rate at which the Fed is printing money, we may find it necessary to go back on the gold standard at some time in the future just to restore confidence in those Chinese investors who practically own us already. Therefore, deep down inside their combined centers of primordial fear, those conservative judges are just looking out for the future welfare of America. What’s a little lake when you think of all the jobs, the product, the gold flowing into our mint molds, and into our very own shiny bars. The thought feels so solid, so safe, so business-like, so standard!
Perhaps the conservative justices are taking their cue from watching our military leaders testify before Congress about how well the wars are going, thanks to surges and drones, in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan…and eventually in Iran and North Korea…and later in Zimbabwe and off the coast of Somalia, etc. They like to hear from officials “in charge” who are the real data collectors and data generators, not some flimsy activist organization like Amnesty International or the Sierra Club or Earth-Justice that throw around these theories about genocide or global warming without really being grounded in the hard facts of the real business…as usual.
So when the Army Corps of Engineers speaks, conservative justices listen. And so we have a new golden rule: an ounce of gold is worth more than a pristine lake, especially when it’s way over there.”