The Department of Natural Resources loves to repeat its “But it funds our schools” line. This is seemingly the strongest stratagem for saving face over the fact that it has been found in Superior Court multiple times to not be in compliance with its own policies, but what it actually does is obscure the fact that DNR stands to gain proportionately far more — almost $2 million from the Dabbler sale alone. Some of that revenue to be used for what? Repairs to the Olympia Capitol building complex? (Seriously.) “Funding schools” is the perfect legitimizer to get the public to look left and not right. The state schools superintendent himself is outspoken against this method of funding.
Bottom line: The state has failed to provide consistent school funding that does not rely on destroying the cheapest climate change solution we have. Talk about cutting off your arms to pay for shoes. Stating facts about dire warnings from peer-reviewed research authors from around the world is hardly “sky-falling rhetoric,” and one could argue that there is no journalistic integrity in omitting the viewpoints of the ones who have the most authority on this subject (scientists). “The Dabbler” forest is literally worth more standing. Not soundbite. Fact.
