Book Review
The War for America’s Natural Resources
BY: William R. Nester




This is a fine book by William R. Nester, first published in 1997 by Macmillan Press LTD. It consists of 256pages and includes four case-study chapters on “Farming, Grazing, and Hunting”, “ Forests, Parks, and Wilderness”, “Mines, Drills, and Energy”, and “ Dams, Irrigation, and Faucets” plus one additional chapter on “Natural Resources Policy into the Twenty-first Century” . The War for America’s Natural Resources analyzes the conflict between natural resources politics, policies, and philosophies. Each chapter and its consequent parts deeply discusses the development of policies towards America’s soil, air, forests, water and many other natural resources.
William R. Nester is a Professor in the Department of Government and Politics at St. John's University in New York. He received his PhD in political science at the University of California in 1987. He’s the author of many critically reviewed books and numerous articles mostly dealing with international relations, and American foreign industrial policies.
Considering the book chapter by chapter would lead to repetitious conclusions since the whole book as an entity tries to demonstrate the challenge between “cornucopians”, “environmentalists”, and “conservationists”. He believes that in the eyes of the first group who exploited the earth and its resources saw the natural resources of the earth as endless, unlike the other two groups they believed that the government was responsible for protecting them and their benefits. But the second group emerged as a consequence of the impact of transcendentalist philosophers of New England in the 1800’s who believed that god manifested in nature and for that reason it should be kept safe. This second group is the environmentalists who are not unanimous on whether nature has a spiritual aspect or not. They believed that an ideal society must satisfy its needs without destroying the future generation’s life. The third group emerged in the 1900’s. Other than being called conservationists they could simply be called materialists who love the forest for its lumber, the river for its water and …. Conservationists and environmentalist both believe that the government should intervene in preserving natural resources and prevent culprits from playing their own game and gaining their interests; failing to comply with sustained development.
He believes that these three group’s main purpose is to influence politics and policies concerning environmental policy wars. Therefore special interests overcome national interests. As evidence he brings up the four case-study chapters named above. He realizes that the ruling congressional committee, or subcommittees, the jurisdiction sect and the administrative part of the government all play a major role in adopting policies in favor of either group which of course would be the group in power.
Even though he himself nearly admits that other than this triangle there are other factors at work but he insists on making the role of these three groups and the interest groups adhered to them very bold. For example he refers to the fact that cornucopians failed to adopt their major agenda in the 104th congress when they were at maximum power, therefore there must have been other influential hidden aspects. Therefore this relationship is more complex than Nester puts. Other than this major shortcoming the author seems very subjective on some matters. In addition the book fails to offer further study to complete itself.
He brings up natural resource disputes in a way that political scientists can attribute to, and make use of. Therefore this book would mostly be suitable for a person trying to analyze the policies concerning environmental issues due to its great effort to provide legal details. It would also be suitable for students who are in a way involved in environmental policies because it thoroughly explains laws and policies revolving around environmental issues step by step and provides tangible examples in each case. But anyone reading this book should pay great attention to not get stuck in the three angle prison which Nester has sketched. In other words this book should not be considered the gospel of environmental issues and conflicts; it should only be looked upon as an alternative perspective.
In the first chapter where he talks about farming he refers to major problems facing depressed prices, soil erosion, and water shortages. Among the most harmful obstacles facing farmers in his view was President Reagan, by signing laws and acts like the grain embargo against the Soviet Union, the technology embargo, and his high dollar policy. But on the other hand he refers to President Clinton who revolutionized the farm policy by “signing into the law the Freedom to Farm Act, which replaced government subsidies with steadily declining transition payments over seven years”. (Pg 43)
He believes that the government policies concerning grazing faulted for setting fees well below market rates and allowing the ranchers to overgraze and thus destroy the grassland.
Unlike what is presumed the United States has a small number of regional fisheries; but even these few regions have caused the fish species to drop dramatically. Therefore he believes the government must intervene and save fishes in order to save the industry.
In the case of forests he brings up an example in which influential group’s severe attempt for veto. President Clinton signed the budget bill with a rider attached that allowed logging firms to clear-cut in fire or disease-ravished areas despite receiving 50,000 calls, letters and names on petitions. Therefore the fears of environmentalists were realized when logging corporations clear-cut little touched regions.
In the third chapter he discusses the 1872 law and Mining industry, energy policy, coal policy, petroleum policy, natural gas policy, nuclear policy, electricity policy, and alternative energy policies like fossil fuels and sun.
Since water is one of the most vital elements and Americans use it so severely as though it would never end. The government started to take part in water policies by the 1902 Reclamation Act, in which the influence of interest groups was observable in government resources. In this case it is very hard for national environmentalists and conservationists to overcome the special cornucopian interests.
The last paragraph of the book is the most outstanding one in the book which is bale to summarize the whole idea of Nester’s book; therefore it will be quoted directly: “What will the future bring? Conservationists and environmentalists alike were heartened by Bill Clinton’s re-election. Yet while most battles may tilt against cornucopians, a final victory will prove to be elusive. The war for America’s natural resources is never-ending.”
Hajar Amidian