The Commons Blog: Robert Kennedy on Environment

Robert Kennedy on Environment

Posted by Amy Ridenour · 4 August 2004 · Air Quality ~CAFE Standards ~Environmental Risk

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been known to make exaggerated claims -- utterly ridiculous, completely laughable statements -- about environmental issues.

This quote from him may explain why:

I have so much mercury in my body right now, having tested it recently, that if I were a woman of childbearing years, my child, according to Dr. David Carpenter, the national authority on mercury contamination, would have cognitive impairment -- permanent IQ loss.

Hmmm....

In the same interview, from Grist magazine, the following exchange occurs:

Grist: So if you were to tell our readers the single most important environmental action they should take, what would it be?

Kennedy: If your choice is to buy a Prius or go work for a politician who is going to implement the CAFE standards, you better work for the politician. The most important thing you can do is participate in the political process. Support the environmental groups that wage legal action and lobby for these bills. Get rid of the politicians who are whoring for industry. It's more important than recycling. It's more important than anything you can do.

So rather than drive a small, fuel-efficient car, Kennedy advises, it is better for you to vote for a politician who will force you to drive a small, fuel-efficient car.

Why not eliminate the middleman?

That is, if you want to take your life in your hands. In 2002, the U.S. government's National Academy of Sciences released a report (Effectiveness and Impact of CAFE Standards 2002) saying that since CAFE standards were imposed in 1975, an additional 2,000 deaths per year can be attributed to the down-sizing of cars required to meet these fuel efficiency standards.

The National Center has a webpage devoted to fuel economy standards, our Fuel Economy Information Center. Stop by and take our quick poll: Should CAFE standards be raised, lowered or left where they are?

TrackBack (358)

Your poll needs an additional category: eliminate CAFE standards altogether.

Posted by: EcoDude at August 4, 2004 08:18 AM

Option #3 on the poll is: "Reduce or repeal the standards..."

Posted by: Amy Ridenour at August 4, 2004 11:47 AM

I'm surprised the Commons Blog hasn't highlighted John Kerry's vision for the environment. It reads like a True-Green Granola Head's letter to Santa!

Posted by: Tad at August 5, 2004 04:34 PM

I appreciate the irony in the mercury quote, but seriously, wouldn't that be a matter of concern? I don't see how that's a "laughable" claim.

Posted by: Mike at August 5, 2004 07:34 PM

My use of the word "laughable" was intended to refer to very many of RFKJr's statements over Kennedy's career. I take no position on whether he suffers cognitive impairment due to excessive exposure to mercury. I have no information on how much mercury might be in his body.

Note, however, a typical "RFKJr-ism" in the very quote we discuss. According to Kennedy, Dr. David Carpenter is "the national authority on mercury contamination." Not one of the top authorities, or a reliable authority, or an expert authority, or one doggone smart dude, but "the national authority." Kennedy is not qualified to make this judgment. Doesn't stop him, though.

Posted by: Amy Ridenour at August 6, 2004 12:34 AM

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council the environmental organization which is a strong advocate of renewable non poluting energy sources such as wind power.

"I'm strongly in favor of wind-energy production at sea," said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the environmental lawyer, when asked about the issue after a recent speech to business leaders in Boston. But Mr. Kennedy said he believed Nantucket Sound was not an appropriate place to put a wind farm, adding, "You wouldn't put wind energy in Yosemite Park."

Mr. Kennedy spent part of his childhood visiting his family's compound in Hyannis on the cape - which would be about 6.8 miles from the wind farm, according to Cape Wind Associates. He said he also still fishes with his family on Horseshoe Shoals, where part of the farm would be situated.

"One of the most important assets we have in this state is Nantucket Sound," Mr. Kennedy said, adding that for many people, "it's their only access to wilderness."

Hypocrite? Jerk? Nimby? Let me ask this question, if his name were Robert Schwartz, would anybody give a rat's patootie what he said? let alone quoting it in the New york Times.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at August 8, 2004 12:16 AM

The Toyota Prius and other hybrid vehicles are the biggest crock of sh*t to come down the pike in years!

It gets about 50mpg from the gasoline it burns, but there is a MAJOR problem.

The energy needed to make the hybrid storage batteries EXCEEDS THE ENERGY SAVED BY THE FRIGGIN' CAR!

If you compare it to the most efficient Toyota conventionally powered car, which gets approx. 35mpg, the the Prius appears to save 15 mpg.

Over the 100000 mile life of the storage batteries (an optimistic assumption) that 15mpg equates to 857 gallons of gasoline saved.

The battery bank sells for approx. $5000
The energy to produce batteries is roughly 1/2 the cost, or $2500 worth of energy.

If we assume that Toyota pays the energy equivalent of $2500 of gasoline to produce the batteries (again a very generous assumption), then at current costs of $1.36 (wholesale) per gallon of gas, they just spent 1840 gallons of gasoline to save 857 gallons, or 1000 gallons of gasoline wasted.

So the actual mpg of the Prius is 2000gal, plus 1840 gallons to go 100000 miles, or
26 mpg!

Hell, I get better gas mileage than that in my Honda SUV!!!!

Posted by: j.pickens at August 9, 2004 11:17 AM

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