The Environmental Do-Right Rule

A few decades ago Lou Holtz used the Do-Right rule to discipline a football team. The Do-Right rule was simple. You did what was right, not necessarily what the rules said, but what was right. Does that make sense? Well, Lou ruled with an iron hand, and if you broke the Do-Right rule, you didn’t play football for Arkansas. Do you remember the 1978 Orange Bowl? Three starters on the sidelines for breaking… no not the law or the School’s rules or regulations, but Lou’s Do-Right rule. (I was there and I thought Oklahoma was going to kick our ass… but, in my opinion, that was Arkansas’s greatest victory.)

Now, you might ask what the Do-Right rule has to do with the environment. Aren’t we a nation of laws, rules, and regulations? Surely you aren’t suggesting the Do Right rule should override our judicial system? Yeah, I am saying that. Consider the following: A couple of years back, a man who had worked in the south Arkansas oil fields, years ago, before we had a Department of Environmental Quality or any regulations concerning the dumping of saltwater, made the following comments: “You know, when I worked on those wells, we just pumped oil and saltwater into one tank, ran the mixture through a treater, which separated the oil to a holding tank, and then we dumped the saltwater on the ground and it ran off into a nearby creek. I remember looking out across a barren, dead creek bottom, and seeing all the damage this saltwater was doing. I never felt right about it. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Yes, as a young boy growing up in the little oilfield town of Norphlet, I remember walking on salt crusted land by those dead creeks. Violations of the Do-Right rule? You bet!!! I also remember going into the courthouse and walking up to the drinking fountain and reading a sign that said. “Colored Only”. “Why?” I asked. “It’s the law,” my dad informed me, but was it right? Didn’t fit the Do-Right rule, did it? Of course, back then, our voting laws also inhibited Black Americans from voting by tacking a Poll Tax on the right to vote, and up until 1919 women couldn’t even vote. If those aren’t violations of the Do-Right rule, what is?

As we review our country’s history, it’s easy to see the clear difference in what our laws let us do and what is right. We have cut our ancient, virgin forest into oblivion. We managed to shoot, trap or in some manner kill most of the wildlife living on the land, thereby driving numerous species into extinction, and just consider the plight of the Indians.

“Now hold on a minute.” You might say. “All this destruction happened years ago. We’re enlightened. We don’t do

that today.” Do we? Let’s look closely at several situations. Consider the paper manufacturing industry. Is there a Do-Right rule in paper products manufacturing? Consider this example: For years, discharge from a large south Arkansas paper mill essentially killed a natural lake. Well, they were within the limits of their permit, so it’s okay. Right? Wrong!!! They were violating the Do-Right rule.

Now, let’s focus on a great Arkansas example, the Crater of Diamonds. Back in the 1980s there was a push to commercially mine the diamonds. I was President of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, and the Federation strongly opposed the idea. I even led a group to picket the park. This is why I opposed the mining. If the authorization had been granted, it would have legally destroyed a state park. Violation of the Do Right rule? Let’s look closer. First the park: The park is some 850 plus acres with as its primary attraction a diamond-bearing, igneous pipe. It is a unique state park; a world class attraction. The park features a forty acre plowed field that has yielded thousands of diamonds to visitors from all fifty states and dozens of foreign countries. It’s set in the middle of one of the most scenic areas of southwest central Arkansas. Back in the 1980s plans were formulated to begin a commercial diamond mine at the park. If we mine diamonds, why not cut the timber and dredge gravel? What’s the difference? If we decide to mine or cut or dredge one state park, then why stop there?

How about Yellowstone National Park? Any geologist will tell you Yellowstone would make a company a lot of money. Consider the geothermal resource and the heavily mineralized area. Unthinkable? That’s right. It is unthinkable that Yellowstone would be mined. However, as spectacular as Yellowstone is, it is not unique. Other parks around the world have many of the special features found at Yellowstone, but our Crater of Diamonds is one of a kind. This beautiful park resource is for all practical purposes perpetual. It will always be an attraction to come and look for diamonds; we could never find all the diamonds. The only one in the world. Unique, priceless, scenic. Now, what did the special interest groups and the politicians want to do with it? You guessed it! Put in an open pit mine!

Now let’s look back to the 1920 when Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was formed. Yes, they have done a remarkable job in many areas of game management, but back then they violated the Do-Right rule in a big way when they put bounties on the apex predators in the state and eliminate all the cougars, wolves, bears, and most of the bobcats. (“Hey guys it’s not too late to restore.”)

However, the slaughter of apex predators was just a drop in the bucket compared to the slaughter of the snowy egret. In the early 1900’s the fashion houses of Paris deemed it absolutely necessary for the fashion statement of the day to use the plumes of the snowy egret, and what was our response? Well, we provided the plumes. We killed millions of snowy egrets just to pluck the plumes and send them to Paris for a lady’s bonnet. The Do-Right rule? We blew it again, didn’t we? Do you think the ladies who pranced down 5th Avenue thought about the egrets that were killed to satisfy their vanity?

No, maybe not then, but today we don’t live in the environmental dark ages, and we should abide by the Do-Right rule because it’s the right way to live. Could you give your wife a diamond knowing a scenic park was destroyed for a chip of stone? Maybe you can, but I can’t because without a doubt, if we had allowed the Crater of Diamonds State Park to be mined it would violate the Do-Right rule.

I think it’s easy to see that when an individual, company, or state commission violates the Do-Right rule, the results always create a loss of quality, whether it is in the wildlife, the air we breathe, or the water we drink. Basically we live under the ultimate Do-Right rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Earth Day’s 50th anniversary is April 22…get ready to march!