Infrastructure and economic stimulus

Part of the reason that we are so rich is our investment in infrastructure: roads, bridges, railways, dams, water and sewer plants, pipelines, airports and the electrical grid to name a few. For the past thirty or more years, however, we have been addicted to consumption. As a result, not only have we not completed - let alone started - much in the way of new infrastructure projects, we have grossly neglected the proper maintenance of our existing infrastructure.

President-elect Obama plans to stimulate the economy by spending vast sums to improve and restore our infrastructure. At first sight, this looks good and there is little opposition to maintenance projects. The problem is that so-called shovel ready, deferred maintenance, projects account for, perhaps, $120 - $150 billion in spending. Since Senator Obama is suggesting that $600 - $750 billion (perhaps more) of economic stimulus is needed, it is not clear what projects will actually be funded.

The first issue is that major infrastructure projects take a lot of time to plan, for bids to be requested, and for contracts to be awarded. The second, and probably greatest problem is NIMBY - or Not In My Back Yard. People just don't want electrical transmission lines, power stations, new roads and rail, not to mention sewage treatment plants or trash incinerators anywhere near where they live.

Worse, there is an influential subset of extremists, highly skilled at using the legal system to impose major delays on infrastructure projects, who want us to return to a rural ideal that never actually existed. Their philosophy can be summed up with the word BANANA - or Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. Between NIMBY and BANANA, it will be a great surprise if anything much gets done in a timely manner.

All of which brings to mind the old, and cynical, definition of an environmentalist as someone who already has his cottage by the lake and who is resolutely opposed to any future building.