It's not often you see this issue examined, much less in a leading environmental magazine. So what about that Presidential appointee merry-go-round, where industry and greens take their turns running the Interior Department, the Forest Service et al? The High Country News story spurred a lively debate among its readers that seemed to illustrate, as Felice Pace, one blogger for the magazine noted,
the difference between special interests and the public interest.
In his post, Pace steers the debate into into a wider discussion of the Public Trust Doctrine, a concept most Americans know little about. Several years ago, Mark Dowie took a stab at making it more relevant here. In a country such as the U.S., where the tradition for environmental protection and preservation is fairly well established, (however controversially implemented), I'm surprised the concept is not the focus of much greater debate.
