Burning the furniture to heat the White House

In his final Earth Day message last April, the late Senator Gaylord Nelson denounced the Bush administration plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, saying it was like burning the furniture in the White House to keep the first family warm.

But we know how those tree-huggers exaggerate. Or do they? Read on, from the Washington Post this week:

Document Causes Roosevelt Island Uproar

By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer

Imagine Theodore Roosevelt Island filled with strip malls and hundreds of luxury townhouses, all with breathtaking views of the Potomac River and the monuments. A new bridge would connect the newly developed island with George Washington Memorial Parkway.

That vision of the island's future is contained in a House Resources Committee "brainstorming" document that was inadvertently released to the public. The committee's chairman, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) is looking for ways to raise $2.4 billion in new federal revenue.

The document suggests as options selling Roosevelt Island, in the Potomac between Washington and Arlington, to residential or commercial developers, and selling 15 other national parks across the county for "energy or commercial development."

"Imagine taking the island named after the greatest conservation president of all time and turning it into condo developments?'' said Craig Obey, spokesman for the National Parks Conservation Association. "I don't know what even to say about that.''